small cw for blood and injury

Cyborg and Beast Boy had been out on their first patrol without their other teammates. Usually splitting up wasn't planned or a matter of necessity, but Robin had insisted on practising for those occasions and the pair were more than happy to volunteer first. They assumed that they would be able to take it as an opportunity to hang out and take it easy. Unfortunately, they were a little too eager and naive although they weren't severely hurt, they still returned worse than they'd left. A few lucky hits whilst they'd been bantering and not paying complete attention to the fight was all that happened but they were both dreading what lecture it would get them from their leader. Cyborg always felt embarrassed being scolded by someone younger than himself so he silently hoped that Beast Boy could keep his mouth shut about being distracted.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Cyborg asked as they approached the tower. By now, most people would be asleep besides Robin (the guy never slept) and he was hoping the teen was already hauled up in his office and invested in another case.

"We eat Rae's ice cream then blame it on Robin?"

"It'd be better to blame it on Starfire but that's not it. I'm thinking we keep getting our butts handed to us off the books," he replied although he did very much like the idea of eating Raven's ice cream even if it was playing with death. She always got the best stuff and she didn't eat it all in one go like they did.

"Didn't he say he'd kill us himself if we ever did that?"

"Yeah but do you really want to sit there and listen to him calling us irresponsible? Who knows what our punishment will be? Do you want to be doing twenty laps around the island?" Well, that was an easy question, Beast Boy shook his head. "All you need is a few stitches and you'll be fine. He doesn't need to know."

"And what if he finds out?"

"He won't find out," Cyborg insisted.

"Okay, but he most definitely will because he's Robin and he's been a detective since diapers probably." It was an over-exaggeration that day by day felt less made up. Especially when Robin somehow figured out about ten years' worth of cold cases within his first month in Jump City purely out of boredom. His favourite toy as a child was probably a corkboard with red yarn.

"But he won't."

"But he absolutely will."

"But he won't."

"But he will." Cyborg stopped and took the younger by the shoulders, forcing him to look him in the eye.

"Beast Boy, can you just agree to this and if we get found out I'll take the fall okay?" There was a beat of silence before Beast Boy let out an exaggerated sigh.

"Yeah, alright."

"Thanks, bro, I owe you one."

They managed to avoid their leader sneaking back into the Tower and into the medbay without question before they snuck to their rooms. It seemed like they were going to get away with it until one morning two days later when Beast Boy woke up feeling like he'd been run over by a truck. He had no appetite which felt so weird since he was constantly craving something and his side was killing him. He wasn't very good at hiding away when he felt horrible, he needed to be around other people who could hear his discomfort so despite feeling so awful whenever he moved, he made his way to the living room to hopefully make it someone else's job to make him feel better. Unfortunately, the only person in the living room was Robin and he was supposed to be keeping the hiccup on patrol a secret. Then again, he didn't fancy changing his tactics and going somewhere else when he'd already spied the couch that looked unbelievably comfy. He mentally apologised to his best friend before continuing his journey. He reasoned to himself that Robin would've found out eventually.

Robin's eyes were glued to his casefile causing him to miss how Beast Boy had limped over to the couch and collapsed into the cushions rather than sitting down. He heard the younger move closer to him and peek at the work, his head resting on his shoulder. A wave of heat was coming off Beast Boy and he immediately looked down to see his sweaty brow and pained expression. Was he getting sick or did he just make something stomach-turning to eat whilst unsupervised? He'd never forget the dreaded pizzas the kid made when left alone one night.

"Are you alright?" He didn't get a verbal reply and instead got a shake of the head as his teammate tried to move closer perhaps for comfort or to get comfortable or just to simply annoy him. He frowned and took a glove off, pressing the back of his hand against Beast Boy's green skin and finding it boiling hot. Yeah no, this wasn't good and he wasn't comfortable sending him to bed without a proper check-up. "Okay buddy, let's get you to the medbay and I'll call Cyborg to fix you up."

"Want you to do it," Beast Boy whined, latching onto his arm as though to prove his point. He was initially surprised at the request but went along with it anyway. Maybe they'd gotten into an argument or he didn't want to bother his best friend with it. It was Robin's responsibility to make sure everyone was in fighting condition so he supposed it was his job.

"Alright, let's go then."

"Can't walk," the teen stated.

"You mean you don't want to." He received a half-hearted hum in response. With a roll of his eyes and a sigh, he bent down and let the green teen climb onto his back for a piggyback ride. Beast Boy wasn't heavy and he was pretty strong so it wasn't entirely uncomfortable to carry him about but that didn't mean he couldn't make a show of it. "Proud of yourself?" he asked when he felt the other smiling against his shoulder.

"Just a bit."

"Give it another year and you won't be able to convince me to do this."

"Nah, you'll be doing it even when I'm twenty."

"Why's that?"

"Because you wuv me." He chuckled at that.

"You're damn lucky I do."

Once in the medbay, he placed the teen down on a cot and then fetched a thermometer to get a better idea of the fever. Beat Boy watched him with half-lidded eyes and kept reaching for his stomach but never fully wrapping his arms around himself which Robin mentally took note of.

"Open up and keep that in your mouth until it beeps," he instructed as he followed up on a hunch he hoped was wrong. He wasn't an idiot and knew someone hiding an injury when he saw one. He'd seen it himself when he was younger and didn't want Alfred poking about. If he remembered right, and he did despite the many head traumas he'd collected over the years, the last time Beast Boy could've received an injury that could cause a fever was when he went out with Cyborg. He'd noticed both of them were a little worse for wear so he could assume that they'd patched each other up instead of dealing with him which yeah he knew he could be a bit much sometimes. It was only because he worried and he hadn't exactly grown up with people who showed him how to worry without a lecture first. He went to the medicine cabinet where they kept supplies for stitches and frowned when he counted a needle missing. So it'd definitely required stitches and Cyborg likely did them so they were of a good standard. Still, things got infected and he wouldn't be surprised with how much of a mess Beast Boy's room was that he'd picked up something. 

A beep broke through the quiet and he returned to the green teen to inspect the thermometer. 

"You've got a fever alright but nothing I can't bring down."

"That's good." He put the thermometer to the side and folded his arms, staring down at the kid. Now he could just treat him for what he already knew the problem was but that was no way to learn not to hide things from him.

"Mhm, and since you are sick I'm gonna go easy on you by giving you two options. You tell what I already know or you play dumb and get benched."

"What?" Beast Boy exclaimed. "That's so not fair!"

"It's fair if you tell me what I know," the older replied firmly causing his teammate to groan dramatically and flop back onto the bed.

"You're doing your dad voice."

"It's not a dad voice, it's an authoritative voice. Do you see me as a father figure BB?" he asked with a smirk, full-on grinning as Beast Boy made a few aborted attempts at denying the accusation. "So?"

"I got caught by a knife when we were working and Cy stitched it up good I swear I didn't do it myself." Oh, he'd know if Beast Boy did it himself. He'd probably take a needle from the sewing kit or use brightly coloured thread to look cool and he'd be in a lot more trouble than a mild fever.

"Shirt off, I bet you didn't change the dressings regularly enough or you've caught something in your room. I need to get around to sorting that."

"How'd you know it was my stomach?"

"You keep holding yourself there. I'll get some painkillers for you and maybe some fever reducers. You're probably dehydrated, you're horrible at keeping up with that."

"Says you. You live off coffee and spite."

"And I'm doing damn well doing so."

Beast Boy removed his shirt with a pained expression, revealing a dressing that definitely needed changing judging by the rust-coloured blood splatter and how the tape was peeling at the edges. Robin gently pulled it away to reveal an angry stitched-up cut with inflamed skin and some bruising. Still, it looked rather healthy given the circumstances so he couldn't kick up too much of a fuss. It needed cleaning and some medicine but nothing life-threatening. He sighed and gathered something to clean it, grabbing some pills on the way and handing them to the teen.

"Uh, Rob, I need water."

"Oh right. Sorry, I forget you guys aren't used to taking pills yet," he replied, a little embarrassed at the oversight. He quickly went to the fridge and returned with a bottle of water, passing it along to the younger. He knew it was a good idea to keep water in there even if it was meant for blood bags. That reminded him, he needed to get everyone to do a donation at some point. He wasn't confident enough in his research that they wouldn't reject regular blood. Even Cyborg was spotty with how much of his insides were mechanical. He shook his head and refocused on the matter at hand. "Is this the only injury I need to clean?"

"Yeah, just that one. It was a lucky hit," he explained honestly.

"Always is the lucky hits that get you," Robin concurred wistfully. He carefully dabbed the area with antiseptic, getting a pained hiss in response. "You give 'em hell in return?" Talking should help. He'd memorised what offered comfort to his teammates when they were hurt. Beast Boy liked chatter, Cyborg wanted to be told what was happening every step of the way, Starfire usually wanted hugs or words of comfort if she couldn't be touched and Raven preferred silence with the occasional comforting sentence here and there.

"You know I did!"

"I'd expect no different from you. You always do good when you're having fun," he commented.

"You think I do good work?" Beast Boy asked, sounding a little too surprised at his comment. He glanced up from his work with a frown.

"Have I implied that I don't?"

"I mean no you just usually talk about what we do wrong."

"That's how you learn, isn't it? Bats used to sit me down after missions and tell me ten things I did wrong and how to work on them for next time." It always worked for him. Sure he felt dejected after but it was worth it to be better, wasn't it? "I always know what I did right unless it was actually wrong. Most of the time I knew so there was no point in telling me that."

"Comes across as a little negative dude."

"Oh," he replied, his voice soft. "Do you guys think I'm negative?"

"You're a lil stoney? We know you care, it's just behind a scowl most of the time."

"Is that why you didn't come to me with this? Because I'd be negative?"

"I mean, it was Cy's idea and maybe I went along with it because I didn't want the lecture." Huh. He hadn't thought that it would make them draw away from him. "Is that what Bats did with you?"

"Usually. Gotham is different from here. You make the wrong move here, you end up with a shallow knife wound. Make a mistake there and there's blood on your hands," he answered. He didn't let his mind linger on that and instead pushed on with the matter at hand. "What can I do better?"

"Maybe do a compliment sandwich?"

"What's that?"

"One good thing, a bad thing and then a good thing. Makes the bad thing less mean." Robin nodded thoughtfully. "Practice on me! Gimme a compliment sandwich." He hummed and took a minute to think of how to word things before deciding.

"You are a great teammate because you're supportive of your friends both on the field and off it. You struggle with keeping focus though which is bad because it could get you hurt and I don't want to lose you. You're good at thinking outside of the box and coming up with solutions I wouldn't have thought of," he said, pausing every now and then to gauge a reaction. "How was that?"

"Good!" He grinned at the praise. "Are you nearly done?"

"Mhm. Just needed a cleaning. I'm gonna give you a new dressing and I'll keep an eye on you. You can either go back to bed or you can go back to the couch?"

"Would you be able to stay with me?"

"Sure but only on the couch. Your room is a mess."