I know for god damned fact someone requested this but Wattpad is homophobic so they DELETED THE FUCKING USERNAME *ahem* so if this is your request you know the deal - comment that this is your request and I'll tag you!!

TW: SLIGHT BODY HORROR?

it was Queen1Anonymous

Robin woke up on a table, strapped down with tough leather and unbreakable buckles yet he still tried to wiggle his way out. He wouldn't just sit there. He went through his memories to see what the hell happened to him for this to be his current situation. Kid Flash, Aqualad and himself went to CADMUS after finding out their mentors weren't giving them anything they didn't already have. They went down the elevator, to the depths of the facility and found Project Kr who when freed fought them. Not very grateful if you asked him. He'd passed out in the fight and he could feel the ache of where the clone had pressed down on him. That was going to hurt in the morning. He let his eyes wander around the room, finding it to be unmanned. They were confident enough to leave him alone here so that couldn't be good. He tilted his head to see an IV drip of something definitely not good for him. Following the tubing of the bag proved that it was stuck in his arm. Great. Just fabulous. He was being experimented on by a super shady business that already had a clone of Superman in their basement. Maybe they were cloning him and then killing him? Perhaps they were turning him into some sort of super-soldier. Whatever they were doing, they wouldn't succeed in doing it. He fidgeted and pulled more when he noticed something. Part of his skin poked out between his sleeve and his glove. It wasn't a very big space but it was a space nonetheless. He'd glanced at it partially when he'd seen the tubing of the IV but now that he really looked, he knew something was off. There was something there. Peaking out from beneath his sleeve was what looked like the end of a wing. A feathered wing to be precise. He tilted his head as he got as close as he could to it. It looked like a tattoo. Did they tattoo him whilst he was out of it? Batman was so going to kill him if he came back with a tattoo. What was he saying? The guy was going to kill him already for sneaking out and getting captured! A tattoo would just be the cherry on top. He glanced over to his other arm and found the same thing peeking out from under his other sleeve. How big was this tattoo? Robin huffed and put his head back as he tried to think about what to do next. That's when he noticed a screen. On the screen was a percentage written in bold. 90%. Underneath that percentage was some writing. 

Subject stable. Entering the final stage of mutation. 

Entering what now? His brain buzzed at the word mutation. What did that mean? Was he the subject? Logically, he was the subject and logically this IV drip was something that was mutating his DNA. Exactly what it was doing, he didn't know and he hated not knowing. He had a feeling it was related to the weird tattoos. Final stage was what stumped him. Was something supposed to- "SHIT!" His own scream had cut off the thought. Something had just stabbed him in the back, hard enough to go deep into his flesh. He felt something awful. A scrape against his spine then the feeling of something drilling. He screamed louder as white-hot pain raced through his body. The drilling didn't cease even as he tried to buck away. He couldn't move away from it thanks to the straps pressing him against the table. Robin had been tortured before but this was something else entirely. The feeling of your bones being drilled without any sort of painkiller or anaesthesia. There was nothing he could do to escape the pain so he turned his head and did his best to watch the percentages grow with each moment he was drilled into. It felt painfully slow but soon enough the drilling stopped and something was slotted into him. He didn't know what it was, whether it was organic or not but he found himself thankful that the pain at least stopped. Through vision blurred with tears, he read the screen. 

Subject stable. Experimentation complete. Proceed to catalogue. Paging Dr Nova.

Whatever the mutation was, it was done now. He hoped it wasn't anything bad.

No doctor ever arrived as moments later, Superboy had broken in and Kid Flash had undone the clasps. "Let's get out of here," he stated. None of them questioned him, all of them focused on getting the fuck out of dodge but he was sure questions would come sooner or later. He wasn't sure what he'd say to them. 

From that moment on, he just tried to ignore what happened. Wally had tried to pry but he just said it was probably some cloning procedure they had to do on non-metas. The ginger didn't seem content with that response but it was the one he, and everyone else who asked, received. When he'd gotten home that night, Dick went into the bathroom to see the extent of the tattoos. They ran along his biceps and up to his shoulders before connecting between his shoulder blades. The lines were intricate and connected, bold against his skin. There wasn't much he could do about that without letting Bruce know so he just ignored it. Pretended like it wasn't there. He made modifications to his suit so it was long-sleeved so there was no hope of Bruce finding the issue. He made sure to be extra careful not to hurt anything that would require inspection. He wore long sleeves all the time and made sure that his arms and back were forever covered. Thinking this would just have to be his new normal, Dick dealt with it until he could find a way to fix it. Maybe with secret tattoo removal. 

After a while of nothing happening, he started to second guess that he even saw mutation. Maybe he just misread it or perhaps mutation was being used in a different context than he originally thought. Whatever it was, the tattoo seemed to be his only lasting token of the dreadful experience. Or so he thought. That was until one morning, he woke up with his face pressed against something soft and feathery. He scrunched his face up at the feeling but it took a good few minutes for him to feel coherent enough that this wasn't just a funny feeling. He opened his eyes to inspect his surrounding area only to find big black wings cocooning him. Tilting his head to the side, he petted the wings and felt a tingle run through him. His eyes widened and he shot up because he felt that. He shouldn't be feeling that. He fell backwards off the bed and became all too aware that knocking had been what roused him that morning. The thump and yelp only made the knocking harder with calls for his name laced in between. His brain went into panic mode since he had two wings now and the last time he checked, he didn't have wings. "Dick? Are you okay?"

"Fine!" he yelled back all too quickly. He sounded so suspicious and he knew his mentor wouldn't listen to him. 

"You don't sound fine."

"Of course I'm fine! I'm great, wonderful even."

"No, you're not. I'm coming in so make yourself decent." Why did Bruce decide now was a great time for the dad instinct to kick in? It was surprisingly lacking when he was sleep-deprived and still forced to go to school. He hit the ground running into the bathroom, knocking anything within arm's length onto the floor and only just closed the door by the time his mentor broke in. "Dick, what're you hiding?" Shit. If he thought he was hiding something then he was well and truly screwed because everyone knew that Bruce wasn't the type to let go of something. He couldn't tell him what was really up. Bruce notoriously had a gripe against metas. It wasn't so much that he hated working with them, he just thought they were full of themselves in some way. Dick always got too mad to delve deep into that kind of thinking and he always told him to knock it off which didn't exactly leave room to have an in-depth talk about it. So, with this in mind, Dick needed another thing to be hiding. He took a deep breath and steadied himself against the counter. Think, think, think. What was awkward enough for there to be no further investigation but real enough to not prompt suspicion? He went through a Rolodex of excuses before he landed on something. "B, I-I was trying makeup on. I'll wash it off I promise. I just wanted to see if it was as fun as Babs says it is." Great the complexities of gender expression should shut the guy up. There was a beat of silence before there was a sigh.

"O-okay. Uhm. Do you...do you want me to get you it?" He thought about it for a moment. Actually, it would be quite nice to have an eyeshadow pallet. Maybe some lipstick. No, no, he needed to get Bruce out of there.

"It's fine. Just- can you leave? I'm embarrassed." Perfect, end with emotion. That'll scare him. 

"Yep, sure, yes. Uh, masculinity isn't just- well yeah you know- I'm going." Dick waited until he heard the door close to let out a relieved breath. Ah, the benefits of an emotionally stunted guardian. They didn't outweigh the disadvantages but they had their moments. Like right now. Dick took a deep breath as he studied the wings, carding his fingers through the soft black feathers. This was so weird. He looked across his arms and found the tattoos were gone. 

"Huh, now this is interesting," he muttered to himself. He chewed on his bottom lip as he thought about how to get them back in. Was it a magic word or did they go back in themselves? He braced himself against the marble counter, staring at his reflection. "Alright boys, back to tattoo form. Pretty please?" They fluttered but they didn't go back in yet which was annoying but at least he knew they weren't voice-activated. His eyes focused in on his arms and, with a hail mary, he chanted the phrase go back over and over. It was slow going but that seemed to work and the tattoos that stained his skin returned. "Oh thank Athena." So, now he knew what happened to him in CADMUS. Now how was he going to get rid of them? 

Before he could come up with anything, Gotham's number one clown had to get involved to make everything worse. Robin was patrolling like he didn't have a random mutation vibing in his body when he felt something stab him in his back. He wasn't in sight of Batman when it happened and when he whipped around he found Joker grinning at him, razor playing cards in hand. Putting two and two together he guessed the pain in his back was a playing card. Shit. He quickly pulled it out and tossed it to the ground, ignoring the very clear crimson-stained corner. He hoped he could hide the injury and all its evidence from Batman otherwise he'd have a very tiresome night. Maybe if he just ignored that it happened and pretended it got stuck on his cape then he'd get away with it. Lying to Batman was surprisingly easy when you were his protege. He guessed it was the dad energy or something along those lines that clouded his judgement. That or the fear that it could all be over a person they liked at school and Batman was truly out of his depth when it came to that stuff. "Ugh, you're the very last person I want to see."

"Oh birdie, you hurt me so. How could you be so mean to your elders?"

"When those elders stab me."

"Fair point. Let's get a smile on that face." Batman swooped down from a rooftop, drop-kicking the villain which was admittedly anti-climatic for the young hero. He'd been looking forward to a good fight to take his mind off things.

"I had him," Robin complained. The older tutted at the disappointment.

"Did you get hurt?"

"No, we hardly got to fighting. I bagsie next villain."

He totally got hurt but the D in Dick stood for denial and he wasn't about to let anyone know about his wing predicament. The R in Robin also stood for repression so it was a double whammy. This would prove to be his downfall when the very next day he remembered that he had training. With the Young Justice team. That had new members joining. In front of Dinah who he knew for a fact would tell Bruce who would then flip out over his once human ward being a mutant. A headache was heading his way and he knew that he couldn't keep this up forever. Eventually, someone was going to break or shoot or stab somewhere around his torso area and they'd take his shirt off to reveal a tattoo that turned into wings. Then there'd be a fun fight about it and it would all be needlessly dramatic because his mentor had the emotional range of a teaspoon who couldn't communicate even if he wanted to which he rarely did. Still, as Robin stood there trying to ignore both the twinge of pain in the middle of his back and the anxiety of being found out, he didn't feel bad about hiding the wings. So much would change and change usually meant heartbreak for him. Surprisingly he didn't want that. Batman's whole thing was being a hero without powers. Gotham didn't want people with powers protecting their city when all the villains held the superpowers. If they found out, God knows what would happen. The disappointment was his first thought. He was the boy wonder because he did everything without powers. He was the hero for the people who didn't have powers, who inspired hope for younger Gothamites and proved himself to be just as good as the others. If Robin had powers, it would negate all of that inspiration. It wouldn't make him that special. He wouldn't be the hero that little kids looked up to anymore. His brooding had taken all of his attention to do so when his hyperactive best friend went over to clap him on the back, encouraging him to join in the training, he was left unprepared. 

A cry of agony left his mouth as he fell to the floor. "Robin!" Wally exclaimed worriedly, dropping to his knees beside his friend. Training was swiftly abandoned upon hearing the commotion and soon enough a crowd of heroes was standing around the crumpled bird. He couldn't find it in himself to care though because his back was in absolute agony. Didn't Joker keep his playing cards clean? He had to have gotten an infection for it to hurt this bad. Infections always made things feel much worse than they actually were. Robin was vaguely aware of Canary now kneeling in front of him but he was much too aware of the prickling under his skin. The skin where the tattoo had been. His eyes went wide but it wasn't like he could do anything. He'd hardly gotten them under control the last time they popped out which felt like an age ago. He got into a system of ignoring them but now they were impossible to ignore when they were sending pinpricks along his nerves. There were shouting and panicked voices overlapping around him yet he was unable to get words out. All he could do was whine and yelp if anyone touched his upper back and arms. He knew he was scaring them. He knew that causing such a scene would find him out but he was exhausted. Spending nights looking and studying articles that all started to blur together whilst offering nothing helpful. There was nothing on how to de-wing yourself when some secret organisation gave you them apparently. Truly an underfunded part of science. He doubted that it would stay that way once billionaire brooder Bruce Wayne figured out his ward was mutated. He was never going to live this down. Such a failure getting himself captured and experimented on. Those locks couldn't have been past his level of understanding and if he'd tried harder then this mess wouldn't have been happening. Yet he sat there and dealt with it like an idiot. Now he'd have this permanent reminder of his mistake that night and the lingering disappointment surrounding him. That's the price of being Robin he supposed. Everyone expected better of you and their views were force-fed all the wins whilst being deprived of all the losses so when he did lose, they wondered how on Earth it was possible. Voices were swirling around him and he just about caught a robotic voice announce the arrival of the one and only Batman. He guessed not explaining anything that was going on with him whilst crying on all fours would make someone call his mentor. So embarrassing, he was never going to live this down. The Boy Wonder was defeated by a simple slap on the back. 

"I knew you were hurt," Batman commented in a tone Robin wasn't sure of. It bordered on aggravated but he wasn't sure where that was directed and there was some concern there but again, he wasn't sure where it was directed. All he knew was that he was suddenly plucked up off the floor and held bridal style which made things both worse and better. Worse because the pain blooming along his back and arms were now intensified by the constant pressure of his weight being in someone's arms. Better because as much as he was embarrassed and shameful of the experience, it was nice to be held by his mentor. It always felt safe. Every time he ended up in Batman's arms, he knew that he'd get help and he'd get better. He hoped this time would be no different.

Bruce, decidedly, had no idea what was going on. He'd noticed there'd been something up with his ward ever since CADMUS but he could never figure out what it was. He was pleased to be with the team, he was happy working with Superboy despite their prior fight, he was doing okay in school and all of his cases were pretty much solved. Yet Bruce knew something was happening. He'd become reclusive after patrols and absolutely refused to take his shirt off. His arms were almost always covered and there'd be arguments if announcements to people coming into the changing room weren't made. So when he was called to the Mountain to pick up his sobbing protege who would under no circumstances tell them what was happening, he was certain it was all connected in the worst of ways. Dick was a traumatised kid after all and he'd been taught how to maintain a neutral expression so it wasn't implausible he'd use the same techniques to maintain a happy expression. Guilt seeped in as Bruce walked into Mount Justice and saw the young hero crying his heart out, surrounded by concerned teens. Wally looked the most concerned out of the group which was understandable. Even the most naive could see the crush he had from a mile off. "What happened?"

"I-I slapped him on the back and he's been like this since!" the ginger told him, concern dripping from every word. On the back. He remembered their recent run-in with Joker. He knew for a fact that Joker had done something and yet when he was told there was nothing wrong, he let it go. It should've been something he pressed further but it was so much easier to pretend things were okay than addressing the elephant in the room. Evidently, he couldn't afford to do that with his ward. "I swear I didn't do anything to hurt him on purpose." 

"I know," Batman replied. He knelt beside his protege and under his breath whispered, "I knew you were hurt." Guilt ate away at him but it didn't stop him from moving to fix this. He suspected it was some sort of cut or infection that reacted poorly to the friendly slap on the back so he was careful as he moved his ward into his arms. He caught Wally's worried expression and wracked his brain for a good moment for something to say. "He'll call you." With that, he turned and left. 

Shushes filled the cave as Bruce desperately to calm his sobbing protege down. At this point, he had a feeling this wasn't all about the pain but something was lying beneath it. Right now wasn't the best time to psychoanalyze the younger though so he continued his stride to the med bay where he gently placed Dick down. Upon doing so, he noticed two long lumps pushing up against the fabric of his suit. Confused and almost horrified, he put a hand on one to see if it was some sort of terrible swelling but it felt soft. Even through the fabric, he knew it wasn't the skin he was feeling. "Dick?" he questioned, not expecting an answer. 

"I'm sorry," the boy whimpered. His voice cracked and he could barely get his words out in between the gulps of breath. The billionaire's eyebrows furrowed with confusion and some sense of concerned curiosity. He sat Dick up and began to undo the clasp on his cape, placing it to the side, then undid the straps of his tunic. These actions were allowed by an exhausted teenager who, despite his concern about what would happen after, couldn't see a way out. Allowing him to see what he'd been hiding was the best option and he'd deal with it from there. Worst-case scenario, Hawkman was going to get a sidekick. At least he was already bird-themed so the transition shouldn't be too bad. He'd miss Bruce though. He'd miss Gotham. Their villains were just deadly enough to be a threat but goofy enough for some good quips. Bruce tensed as he slipped off the tunic and his gaze was directed at the teen's forearms but upon finding nothing he looked up further to be met with a sight he definitely hadn't been expecting. At all. His eyes went wide as two big black wings rested on Dick's back. Now, he wasn't the most attentive of fathers, he knew that but he was very sure that Dick hadn't started out with wings. His mind jumped through fifty different feelings and theories all at once before he realised he'd just been staring at the new addition to his protege's form in silence. Then he thought about was Dick had said before he went on the search for what was hurting him. An apology. Was he sorry for this? Was he sorry for keeping it a secret? Was he sorry about the circumstances? He tried to trace back when the weird behaviour began and found it appeared after CADMUS. Whilst ecstatic at the prospect of a new team and new missions, he was reserved in some cases. Bruce should've said something earlier because CADMUS was ages ago and his poor ward had been dealing with this ever since then. Alone. He knew he'd been alone because Wally didn't know what was going on and he always knew what was going on. 

"Dickie, what happened?" he asked softly. Dick seemed to be calming down upon revealing the secret but tears were still slipping down his face and his breathing wasn't great. It took him a bit too long for either of their likings for him to respond.

"I-I'm sorry. It just- I didn't- Dad." The call for him was said in a broken tone. Bruce immediately wrapped his arms as carefully as he could with the wings around his ward and held him close. They could come back to this. 

"It's okay. You're okay. We'll figure this out."

"I should've fought harder."

"I know for a fact you did everything you could. You're never one to give up. Trust me, I've been trying to get you to give up that whole whelmed thing for months." The teen let out a sad chuckle and let himself feel comfortable in the arms of his mentor. He'd been dreading this moment and yet he needed it so badly. "Please Dick, don't hide something like this from me again. If-if it had been something else or-"

"You'll be the first I tell." Bruce hummed and held him tighter. Wings were much easier to treat than what he thought was happening. "Now, don't be mad but I think I've got an infection."

"I swear to God if you have sepsis you're grounded."

"So is Robin coming after the brutal attack?" Artemis asked snarkily. They'd all been clued in on what really happened but the truth only served to allow jokes about the incident-free game. Wally, being the butt of these jokes and still having guilt over aggravating an injury, didn't find much humour in the situation. 

"You heard him! He was so upset," the ginger barked back.

"Aww don't worry, I'm sure your man crush will still love you," she continued. He rolled his eyes despite the blush covering his cheeks. "So, is he?"

"Arriving: Robin B01. Batman 02."

"Take that as a yes," the archer said with a smile. The group turned to the zetatubes and smiled softly when they saw Robin step out alongside his mentor. He returned their smile, clearly excited to be back to work. He'd been gone for a week a so and they had a theory that he'd been training the wings he'd gotten as a result of CADMUS. No doubt Batman wanted to get them gone but it would take a while so living with wings that could pop out under pain stimuli would only end badly without training. 

"Miss me?" Robin asked as he strode over to stand by the group. Wally barely gave him a second of warning before he wrapped his arms around the younger but he gladly returned it. "Aww, you did."

"You scared me, man. You never cry like that for no good reason," he replied. He pulled away and messed up the shorter's hair for good measure. "So?"

"So?"

"Your wings. Can we see?" Robin hummed and rolled his shoulders back, seemingly triggering the transformation of tattoos to fluffy wings. They slipped out of the hidden slits in his tunic and cape, allowing them to be viewed in their full glory. The team watched them in awe and M'gann floated over with an especially awe-inspired look. 

"Yes, you can touch them." She let out a small squeal of excitement and gently touched his wings. 

"They're so soft!" 

"Thanks. Honestly didn't expect that avian care rabbit hole I went down one night to actually pay off but what do you know?" he replied good-naturedly. He seemed happy about this next step in his adventure of being a vigilante. 

"They suit you," Wally commented. "Full of surprises eh Rob?" 

"You betcha."