Author's Note: Okay, I know I haven't updated 'Beautiful Malice' in ages. Since late June, I've had half of the chapter done and I just needed to finish off a little bit. However I'm now on holiday and I wasn't allowed to bring my laptop and because I'm an idiot, I forgot to send myself the other half of the chapter and therefore I cannot finish it off or post it! I'm so sorry! Anyways, welcome to 'The Teen Titan Tales' a new series of seperate one-shots based on the Teen Titans (any of them). Right now I'm looking for one word prompts only. Anyway, I'm going to try and update this as much as possible!
Lots of love
- Valentina.
This wasn't what best friends were supposed to do together.
It was highly inappropriate for several reasons; the first being that they were two teenagers of the opposite gender, regardless of their relationship. Another argument was that he was her leader; favouritism was unneeded on the battlefield.
People don't share a bed with their best friend, especially when she was an innocent alien girl.
But as he trudged towards the door, fully aware that Starfire would be standing on the other side expectingly, Robin mused on the nature of their relationship. They'd always thrived in the grey areas, bouncing between the boundaries of best friends, and something more. He cared for her more than the others, and the temperament of the bond was different to the one he shared with Raven.
The first time they'd done this was after the Red X suit had been stolen. He'd been so ashamed, felt so disgusted with himself that he'd been so careless to allow some person to take control. Starfire had spent a large majority of the night reassuring him that he wasn't to blame, and when he'd woken up she had still been there, curled up into a ball, a curtain of hair resting on his shoulder.
After that, he'd lost track of how many times this had happened. Sometimes she would come to him, and other times he would find himself standing at the foot of her bed, consumed by feelings of loneliness and disrepair.
The doors parted and Starfire stood there, the epitome of perfection. Bright copper strands resting on her shoulders, a charcoal-coloured t-shirt and white shorts. She looked exhausted; dust pooling at the corner of her long lashes, but kept a pleasant expression - the corners of her lips turned up - regardless.
His breath hitched for a second before he grinned. "Hey," he acknowledged.
"Greetings," she replied, but her words lacked the typical cheerfulness they usually held. It didn't take a detective to figure out why. The events of the day had hurt her; Val-Yor had spent eight hours calling her an evil name, cursing her existence and they'd blindly worshipped him; letting his talents cloud their judgement of him. Robin had been unaware of Starfire's cold demeanour until Cyborg had notified him, and he'd been feeling guilty about it ever since.
She was his best friend, and he hadn't even paid attention to her reactions.
There was an empty silence as she settled on his bed, yawning slightly. Her eyes fluttered, and her arms stretched to the side. The moonlight shining through the windows made her movements seem ethereal and unearthly, like a beautiful ghost. She didn't speak; she bundled the covers up to her chest and leant towards him, hair pooling around her like liquid silk.
"Star?" he whispered, daring to break the tranquility. "I'm so sorry for not realising what Val-Yor was calling you." The words tumbled out of his mouth quickly, and he winced at how childish he sounded.
"It is alright," she murmured, her eyes already closed.
He copies her, snuggling closer. But as the minutes trickled by, her hushed sobs became more audible and the tears splashed more frequently on the side of her pillow.
"Starfire?!" Robin asked, his voice betraying his attempt to stay calm. "Are you okay?"
She nodded and her words were slow and steady, almost as if she was struggling to let them out.
"That word." she snarled, but then her voice softened considerably. "I...I have not heard it since my time with the Gordanians. I-It brings back bad memories. Memories I do not want to remember."
His grip against the pillow tightened anger cascading off of him in large waves. Starfire didn't like to refer to her time spent as a slave - an action he understood greatly - and the few words that referred to it portrayed the worst imaginable place. His stomach always lurched at the thought of Starfire - kind Starfire who cried when she crushed a spider - forced to stay there for two fucking years. While normal kids were finishing Middle School and developing crushes, she was doing God knows what in some dingy prison cell.
Robin shuffled closer to her body, her impenetrable warmth brushing against his skin. "I'm so sorry."
Her green eyes open and she blinked at him. "You are sorry," the alien repeated. "For what?"
He almost chuckled at her innocence. "I'm sorry that you had to deal with the Gordanians." he amended, and a small smile tugged at her lips.
She closed any remaining space between them and lay her head on his shoulder breathing quietly. "Me too." Starfire admitted.
He listened to her soft breaths before checking that his mask was positioned correctly on his face. Robin wasn't comfortable with sleeping with his mask off, especially when Starfire was sharing the same bed.
"Good night," she mumbled.
"Good night," he replied.
And for the next seven hours, everything was right in the world — or at least for the two sleeping teenagers located in the second room, of the east corridor in the Titans Tower, wrapped in red blankets, curled up against one another.