Would You Like A Cookie?
It was raining outside.
Dear Diary,
The sky was gray and occasionally a sudden streak of light would burst across the sky high above the city.Today we are planning a most wondrous surprise for Robin! There is going to be…
Although it was dreary and wet outside, the interior mood of Titan Tower did not reflect its slow air. Perhaps had there been a raging thunderstorm, the mood would have been more suited.
…and also great tasting food! Beastboy and Cyborg are doing the helping with Raven in the kitchen as I write! I can smell the lovely aromas from up here and…
"Dude! It's burning! Cyborg, get it out of the oven!" a flour covered Beastboy yelled through the blackening smoke seeping out of the oven.
A black force covered the door before Cyborg could reach it.
…and Robin will be so happy! I wonder where he has gone off to? Oh well, I will most certainly be seeing him at his surprise!
Love,
Starfire
"I told you to keep an eye on it! Now it's all black and burnt!" Raven poked at the charcoal object (that was the best way to classify it) as if it would rear up and attack.
It was actually more likely to crumple into a pile of sorry ashes, but somehow it still stood.
"We need to make a new one." Raven decided out loud.
"But we don't have any more of the ingredients! Somebody forgot to pick them up at the store." Beastboy emphasized his "somebody" to mean Cyborg, who in turn gave him a small whap on the head.
"Ow!"
"What're you ya'll pointing at me for? You were the one on oven duty!"
"But that doesn't mean I was in charge of it!"
"Yes it does!"
They glared at each other for a good three seconds before Raven said her bit, "Enough! We'll just have to use to use this one."
She gingerly picked the tray up, "Let's get to work. We have half an hour to make this look normal."
The boys gawked at the thing. Somehow making that look normal seemed impossible.
§ § §
Robin sat in his room. Papers surrounded the computer he worked at in a hectic sort of manner. Slade's old mask hung on the wall nearby, appearing to watch him in the darkness as he feverishly typed. That didn't bother him; Slade had long been defeated. Out of his ashes had risen a more mysterious competitor, who had only revealed himself so far as The Forgotten.
Robin was sure that this wasn't his real name, and it was this reason, along with several strange disappearance involving people who would just suddenly just vanish, with only a scrap of paper with the words: The Forgotten written on them left behind, that Robin was completely engrossed in uncovering who he was. A fork of lighting struck the sky, briefly lighting up the room and snapping Robin's attention away from the screen.
"Oh. It's raining." he hadn't noticed with his eyes practically glued to the monitor.
His gaze fell upon a plate on his desk. It lay on top of a mess of papers, relatively full of cold cookies that Starfire had baked for everyone hours earlier. He picked one up and bit into it, the taste still delicious despite it's temperature. Star had become quite skilled with an oven, although the stove and microwave were still another matter entirely. She was learning though, along with her knowledge of Earth culture, which she had recently started to get a grip on.
Another flash of light and a knock at his door ensued as he gulped down the remainder of the cookie.
"Come in."
The door slowly opened to reveal Starfire, a huge smile on her face.
"Oh, hey Starfire. Anything wrong?" he asked, despite the fact that her grin was a lot wider than usual.
"Nothing! Nothing is wrong! In fact, nothing is so wrong that I want you to come downstairs with me!" her smile widened and Robin's heartbeat started going crazy.
He really did like Starfire, very much in fact, and for one wild moment he had thought that her words had had a hidden meaning. After all, going downstairs? The huge grin on her face?
No he thought as his heartbeat lowered disappointedly, Star's just being Star."Uh…sure. What for?"
"Come and you will see!" and with this she grabbed him by the wrist and lurched him unexpectantly forward out the door.
"Whoa, wait! I didn'twhere are we going?"
She merely giggled loudly and propelled them down the stairs even faster.
And then he realized, She's touching me.
All of a sudden his cheeks flamed red and an explosion of prickling sensations spread from his wrist and up his arm and chest where his racing heart was thumping painfully against his ribs. A twisting, uncomfortable feeling surrounded his stomach, and for some reason, he liked it. He liked having Starfire's hand wrapped around his wrist and the heat running through his veins. He liked being pulled along at the alien's unearthly speed, even if he felt like the circulation was going to get cut off from his fingers, his mind fazing in and out without oxygen from his lack of breathing. To tell the truth, he loved it.
They neared the end of the steps, the lights continually dimming the farther they descended until they were shrouded in almost complete darkness. Robin was pulled around a few corners before he heard Starfire open a door and laugh once more, her laugh ringing in his ears. Where the door led to, he couldn't tell in the darkness.
"Where are we?"
He felt her fingers slip away from his arm, a sort of coldness piercing the spots on his skin where they had been, as if missing the contact.
"Starfire?" he called out.
No answer. He took a step forward and fumbled into something hard, the back of the couch; from this he gathered that he must be in the main room. But what would Starfire be planning in the main room? And in the dark no less.
"Star?"
All of a sudden the lights went up and he blinked in shock as he heard, "SURPRISE!"
When his eyes adjusted his saw the other Titans around him, a table stacked with food close by as they shouted, "HAPPY 19TH BIRTHDAY!"
At first he looked taken aback but he looked at them strangely, his brow arched questioningly, "It's not my birthday today."
Beastboy laughed, "Yes it is! You've been so busy that you forgot your own birthday."
"But nobody can forget their own birthday."
"Well apparently you did." Raven's raspy voice objected to his statement as she pushed a tray of something oddly shaped and smothered in blue and white icing into his hands.
He set the tray down defiantly and pulled out his communicator, "But I was born on June 26th. Today is…" he flipped it open and pushed a button, upon which the words: July 26, 2021 flashed up at him, "…the 26th." (a/n: I have no idea of his real birth date. I thought June 26th was a reasonable date for Robin. Don't ask me why.)
He stared stupidly at the screen, contemplating with his eyes wide open. He'd forgotten his birthday. His own birthday!
Beastboy appeared over his shoulder, read the date as proof, and said in a victorious sort of way, "Told ya'."
"I can't believe…I forgot…my own…"
"Do not feel so bad Robin! You have been so busy with working on figuring out The Forgotten, it was simply impossible to remember!"
Robin smiled slightly. Starfire's words made him feel a little bit better. He laughed with everyone else as he grabbed a fork, his cheeks somewhat pink at the thought of forgetting something so obvious, and sliced a piece of what he identified to be his cake and bit off a chunk. And almost gagged.
"Robin? Are you alright?"
He coughed between words, banging on his chest with his fist, "Yeah…I'm…fine—"
He started coughing even more vigorously to the point where Star started hysterically whacking at his back.
"Robin! Can you breathe!"
To be perfectly honest, he had been doing a lot better before the whacking.
Starfire hittingplus Tamaranian strength equals even more hacking
"S-star, I'm o-okay. Just s-top—"
Of course by this point Starfire was too frantic to listen; she was focusing on getting Robin to breathe.
Oh please breathe, please breathe again. My current actions aren't doing anything! I need to do something to help him! Anything! Anything at all…
So she did. And everyone froze.§ § §
He felt like he was going to be sick, and it wasn't entirely the cake's fault. He ran up the stairs that he had enjoyed speeding down just only a small while ago, almost tripping the last step. Why did that have to happen? Why? Why hadn't Beastboy kept his mouth shut?
Robin would have made a mental note to bash in his green head later, had his mind not been occupied with glazing, wild, incomplete, jumpy thoughts. To sum it up, he couldn't think straight. All he knew was that he felt like he was going to die. He reached his room and slammed it shut, locking it straight away before he slumped to the floor in a heap.
Within the muddled mess that was his brain, he managed to pull up one intact thought, It's over. I'm never coming out of this room.
And so concludes our story……just kidding! I'm not going to leave it hanging here forever! At least not for forever….I might leave you hanging onto that cliff for a while. -/-grins-/- This is only part one of a three-parter, and I've already started up the second part, so yeah……well, you've read the first part. Now review! Please….?