Hi! I wanted to mention this is my first story in the Teen Titans tag, and I want to thank my beta, GrimBarillian, for the great insight on my story, and my two friends who I discussed ideas with for my story. If you like the story, please favorite, follow and review!

-SAVE THE NARGLES

Richard Grayson made one appearance every year, at one of Bruce Wayne's famous events, which was basically cocktail hour with a speech. This year, Dick was at Bruce's annual visit to Jump City. He was standing near the large hall in Wayne Enterprises, now covered in tables with fancy tablecloths. He swirled a glass of champagne around, watching it fizz. He hadn't wanted to leave his new home, but he had to, just for tonight. His suit was irritable. It felt odd wearing it, compared to his uniform. He felt out of place, yet he disappeared into the crowd easily. It was annoying. He felt that he needed to be elsewhere, anywhere but there. Not as Dick Grayson, but as Robin, the Boy Wonder. Even though he was not a boy anymore.

He quietly fidgeted with the tracker in his pocket, taking small sips from his glass. The T on the tracker represented his new life. After the night he got shot by the Joker, he wasn't Batman's sidekick anymore. He still loved Bruce though, and Alfred and Barbra, as his family. It's sad that it would never be the same, especially with Bruce. Not after that night.

"Never thought I'd see you here, Dick." Speak of the devil.

"Hey, Barbara. Never thought I'd see you here. Thought you were still in Gotham." He answered. She was wearing a black dress, with long sleeves and short heels. Her makeup was flawless, and her hair fell gently around her shoulders.

"Well, I still run the streets, but I'm more independent. I do a lot of missions by myself. Still live in the household, if that's what you mean. But little Robin joined a team." Her teasing comment made him feel like he was twelve again, being pushed around all the time, and it bugged him, more than she would ever know, even though she didn't mean any harm.

"Things have changed, haven't they?" She asked, blowing a piece of hair out of her face.

"What do you mean?" He watched her take his glass from him and finish what little was left off.

"I do solo missions now in Gotham, you have a well-known team made up of teenagers, and Bruce is still... Bruce. We both are different from what we were." His brow furrowed slightly at her comment, like she was better than his team. He knew she wasn't.

Dick felt a smirk grow on his face. "Of course."

Barbara brushed a piece of hair from her face. "Really, after all those years we worked together, I knew you had the potential to go solo."

"But I didn't."

"I know you didn't, Dick. Heck, I didn't do it myself because my dad still lives in Gotham. I can't just leave him to try to figure out his daughter. There's little chance I'll leave in the near future. At least for as long as you've been gone."

"I'm only seventeen, and I've only been gone for two years. Barely."

"A lot can happen in two years. I haven't had a proper conversation with you in two years. You've gotten taller than me in two years. But you've done a lot more with your life at your age than I did. Especially since you left. I was only just beginning my superhero career when I was your age. I wish I was you."

That was the straw that broke the camel's back. He broke her gaze, remembering the events that got him here, the events that made him who he was. She didn't see her parents fall to their death. She was never in the circus. She didn't get shot in the shoulder at age fifteen by a madman. She had a good early life compared to his. His eyes dropped to the ground, avoiding her with all his might, waiting for the pain to go away, the pain of feeling inferior, unimportant, and the tinge of sadness that was packaged with his parent's death. The words she said hurt. She should never want to be him. He had enough.

He pulled away from her, seeing as it was time for him to make his exit. He started walking quickly away from Barbara, ignoring the unsatisfied click of her heels. Why did she have to be so careless? A gentle hand grasped his shoulder.

"I didn't mean anything bad at heart, Richard, if that's why you're not looking at me."

"But you are talking like you are better than me. Like you are better than my team. You have forgotten how much I have lost." He continued walking.

"Well then, I'm sorry."

"Don't say sorry. There are things in this world we don't say sorry for. I'm the one who left my closest friend in Gotham by herself. You're the one who wishes to be me, even knowing my tragic past. Don't say sorry"

"You sounded like Bruce."

"What?"

"We're turning into Bruce, more than we like. You are so much like him now, it's crazy."

Dick turned towards her. "You think? Why?"

"You are so serious now, it scares me. I remember a little boy with Bat-a-rangs, not what you are now, and you know I've certainly changed since I first became Batgirl, don't lie."

She brushed a piece of his hair behind his ear. It was not gelled today. "Truthfully, I'm secretly happy you left. I bet you're happy, probably have a girlfriend, maybe even get to eat pizza and play video games, and be a teenager, like you're supposed to be. Along with being a hero. Just don't forget your past, no matter how much you want to. And don't you dare let Bruce drag you back either."

He felt his communicator buzz in his pocket. Perfect timing. He turned to Barbara. "Excuse me." He quickly walked outside and placed on his mask and quickly opened his communicator.

"Robin," Starfire's green eyes peered at him. "Are you okay? You have been gone for a terribly long time." He could hear the commotion on her side, in the living room. He saw Beast Boy run past behind her as a cheetah, holding a bag of chips in his mouth.

"Oh, um..." He stuttered, trying to find the right words, his cheeks slowly turning red. "I'm okay. I'll be home in a few minutes, Star."

"Are you alright? You look the upset, and slightly confused. Your eyes are furrowed inwards."

"I'm fine. I'll see you later. Bye." He quickly snapped the communicator shut, slipping it into his pocket, then took the mask off. He hated not telling Starfire, but he had to keep it this way. Out of the blue, a hand grasped his wrist. On reflex, he yanked away, taking off his mask.

Barbara pulled the mask out of his hand and placed it on his face, brushing his hair out of his face. "You still gel your hair right? I want to see Robin in person."

He pulled out a small container of hair gel, twisting it open, putting a bit in his hair, spiking it upwards. "Well, Barbara, the Robin Jump knows has spiked hair."

A smile escaped her. "That's good enough for me." She planted a small kiss on his cheek. "I'll tell Bruce you were here. Good luck saving the city. It was nice seeing you. Robin."

Robin returned the grin. "Nice seeing you too, Batgirl."

She watched him run down the alley, and disappear around the corner. "Don't repeat your mistakes, Robin." She said quietly, wondering whether he really gave up Gotham.

"SCRAMBLED EGGS ARE SUPPOSED TO BE MADE WITH EGGS, GRASS STAIN!"

"NOT MY FAULT I'M A VEGAN!"

Robin's day did not start well. The usual breakfast argument was longer than usual; Cyborg was trying to defend the right for eggs to be in scrambled eggs. Raven had whisked off with her tea right when the fighting started, and Starfire wasn't up yet, so he was stuck babysitting until they stopped fighting. This now seemed like forever.

"These eggs belong in the trash. At least I'm saving your tofu bacon an- GET OFF OF ME GRASS STAIN!" Beast Boy was crawling up his arm, in monkey form, trying to save his beloved eggs. Robin was glad he stuck to a whole wheat bagel with lox and an apple for breakfast.

"Good morning, Cyborg. Good morning, Beast Boy!" Starfire flew into the kitchen, dodging the flying eggs, sitting down next to Robin. "Good morning, Robin." She whispered into his ear, kissing his cheek.

"Morning, Star." he said returning the gesture. "I saved you some food, to avoid World War Three over there." He pushed a plate towards her, a bagel with strawberry cream cheese and capers on it, with a little mustard on the side. Her favorite.

"Thank you, dear boyfriend. There is a calamitous battle over our early meal between our friends today. I see that Raven has already fled to her lodgings." She dodged the flying eggs, letting them splatter behind her.

"Beast Boy and Cyborg are totally gonna have to clean the kitchen today."

"Agreed."

"Why don't we eat on the couch?" Robin suggested, leaving Beast Boy and Cyborg to throw eggs at each other, probably hoping to cause some harm to each other with the food.

"That sounds wonderful." Starfire grabbed their plates and set them on the coffee table. Robin sat down, shining the apple with his glove, glancing at Starfire, who was still eating. He watched her brush a piece of hair behind her ear. He smiled, knowing that she was his.

Starfire set her plate down, and turned towards him. "Robin, when do you think we will get a mission? We have not had one since the day before yesterday."

Robin glanced out into the city, still unused to the calm there. "Not sure. Feels weird having all this time free. Ever since the Brotherhood of Evil's defeat, we don't have any villains to catch. At least two-thirds of the villains we ever fought were part of that association. Only a few villains stayed in Jump City."

Starfire leaned against his shoulder, and wrapped her arms around his waist. "At least if we get the excess time of freedom, I get to spend it with you."

Did he say that his day wasn't good so far? Well, scratch that. Starfire was all he really needed.

He could still hear Cyborg and Beast Boy bickering in the kitchen. The sun shined though the window, the sky clear and blue. Starfire's head was against his shoulder, a small smile on her face, her green eyes shining with happiness. He tilted her head toward his and kissed her on the lips softly.

She pulled back, and stared at him, then wrapped her arms around his neck, as he slid his around her waist, returning his kiss, with more gusto. She crawled into his lap as they continue kissing each other. He knew he was in love with her, but he never accepted that until now.

"Um... guys." They pulled away quickly. Beast Boy was standing in front of them, holding his favorite controller. "Can I play a video game? I was kicked out of the kitchen, and Cy's making real eggs and training starts in half an hour..."

Starfire stood up, and grabbed their plates. "Yes, Friend Beast Boy, we will move our enjoyable pass time elsewhere so you may play the video games."

Robin felt his face go red and he unconsciously ran his hair though his gelled spiky hair. "Yeah sure, you can play." He noted how Starfire walked to the kitchen with the plates, a small smile on her face and a spring in her step, happiness practically spilling from her presence. Cyborg was humming happily while cooking eggs, and adding lots of cheese and bacon, exactly how Beast Boy didn't want it. Beast Boy himself was cursing at his single player fighting game. Raven had snuck back in, and was quietly meditating by the window, her cup of tea steaming next to her. Secretly, Robin was praying that the peace in Jump City would last a bit longer. A little more time to enjoy what they deserved.

"AHHHHH!" The scream pierced the air. Loud static noises slammed into his ear. He saw Beast Boy scramble as a cat behind the couch, clinging onto the back. "W-What was that?" He pointed shakily towards the screen.

Cyborg grabbed the remote and turned the sound down, then grabbed Beast Boy by his neck. "Ok, dude, what did you mess up this time?"

"Nothing, I swear! And put me down." Beast Boy returned to his normal form, and ran to the TV stand. "The PS3 turned off! I nearly hit my high score!"

"What's more important?" Raven floated over, her tea in hand, her voice hostile. "Why the monitor isn't working, or your high score in a stupid game?"

"Raven does propose a justified argument over the importance of your video games." Starfire told Beast Boy, who was still fiddling with the buttons on the machine.

"Beast Boy, what happened to the TV?" Robin asked him, pulling him away from the PS3.

"Well, I was playing my favorite game single player, and then the screen turned off and I was really upset! Then the screen turned all weird." Beast Boy took a deep breath.

"BUT, then this old dude appeared on the screen for like a second! But I don't think he's evil, he looked sort of normal looking actually, and he was pressing some buttons. Then there was the loud noises so I freaked out and the screen went back to being all weird." He could barely register Beast Boy's explanation, but it did make sense.

"That was a rather swell speech you had there." A voice said.

"Holy Tofu, what the heck was that!" Beast Boy quickly scrambled onto Cyborg's arm.

The screen cleared, and Robin quickly saw that Beast Boy was right. It was an old man. An old man Robin knew.

"Alfred!" Robin yelled, jumping over the couch.

"Master Robin! It's wonderful to see you! It's been what, two years?" Alfred exclaimed, his face coming clear into view, a large smile on his face, then sighed. "Out of all this equipment he has, I have never needed to use this until today."

"Third button on the left stabilizes the focus." Robin told him.

"Thank you, and please tell your green friend not to refer to me as an 'old dude'."

Beast Boy blushed, as he crawled back onto the couch, turning back human. "Sorry 'bout that. And you are...?"

Alfred sighs. "Alfred, let Master Robin explain to you."

"Wait a second, Master?" Beast Boy asked incredulously.

"Yes, I work for his mentor, isn't that perfectly reasonable?"

"Um..."

Alfred continued despite Beast Boy's comment. "Continuing on with the topic, the reason I'm contacting you is not a good one. He doesn't know that I'm contacting you. Miss Batgirl and I made the choice ourselves, he wouldn't stoop so low if possible. She is distracting him right now."

"Wait please," Starfire asked. "This 'he' you speak of, this is Robin's former mentor, and famous hero, the Batman of the Gotham City, am I correct?"

"Y-"

"ALFRED!" Robin saw Barbara run towards the screen. "THE DAY HAS ARRIVED!" She was in full suit, holding something shiny in her hands.

"And what day is that, Miss?"

She did a hair flip, and grinned. "I, Batgirl, have finally got the keys to the Batmobile. Before. Robin. Best day of my life. Hands down." She held the keys in her hand, letting the light glint off the metal and dangled them in front of Robin.

"I do own a motorcycle, Batgirl." Robin glared at her though the screen

Batgirl moved Alfred's chair over, and kneeled next to him. "Nice to see you, Robbie." He glowered at the comment, at her taking him so light heartedly.

"Can you introduce your present team mates, Robin? Then I will expound on the topic we need to discuss."

Starfire stepped forward. "I am Starfire, Raven is the one in the cloak, Beast Boy is the green one and then there is Cyborg."

"Cool. Now, down to business." Barbara interjected. "Alfred, you start."

Alfred sighed. "We have a new villain in Gotham, very tough, and we are asking for your help. We as in Miss Barbara and I."

"Who's the new villain?" Cyborg asked.

"Mr. Cyborg, please do not interrupt."

"The Bat and I first tracked down his minions a couple months ago, stealing two microchips." Batgirl started playing with the keys. "But each time we were...defeated, some of them got away with the item. Not money, but high-tech equipment."

"Sounds serious." Raven answered, flipping through a book, clearly uninterested.

"Most of the villains here don't steal stuff like microchips. And we knew the minions were working for someone. The last time we fought them was five days ago, and one of them dropped this." She grabbed something from the desk, and held it up. It was an orange and black flash drive.

"Then there was this creepy video from the villain. At that moment we knew we needed help. Alfred, can you pull it up?"

Alfred started typing quickly on the computer, and the video pulled up on the screen.

"Hello. You may have heard of me, or maybe not. I've certainly have heard of you two. The famous Batman and Batgirl of Gotham City."

Robin's blood ran cold. Fear was clear in his team's faces. One name echoed unanimously though all their minds, and Robin knew it.

Slade.

There was the noise of machinery pounding, and Slade walked towards the front of the screen, in all of his former glory. The gears twisting around behind him glowed in a dangerous orange light.

"I am rather new to Gotham. A mixture of good and bad omens are the reasons I am here. My old enemies could never defeat me, yet they foiled my plans every single time. I was kind to them, and after our last ordeal, I left. I had a certain fondness of them, they were stronger than most would be. I hope you are that way too. I do enjoy a reasonable fight."

Slade turned and sat down in a chair behind him, and faced the camera. "But what will I do here in Gotham? I do not wish to destroy the city, or you, or any heroes in general. I am here for revenge. I have gotten so low that I do not want the world anymore. I want to make you suffer, along with my old enemies. One last strike. Speaking of which, you are probably wondering what I'm up to. I'll tell you, I am a generous person."

He looked off to the side, then turned back. "I'm creating a weapon of mass destruction, very complicated and extremely unstable at the moment. I have to gather my parts, and I also have to experiment, but when I'm done, it will have the ability to destroy your city. It will be the end of both of you, your reputations, and your alliances outside Gotham."

He waved a hand nearby, and another group of gears started moving, meters of chains, pulling something up. Something heavy. The chains creaked with the weight. "Oh, and if you find my former enemies, let them know that my secret weapon for them is... closer to home. Goodbye."

Robin quickly turned towards his teammates. "Don't tell them, not yet." They nodded, right when Alfred and Barbara reappeared.

"As you see here, he is a threat, and he has mass numbers of workers here to do his bidding-"

"Making it hard for us." Batgirl butted in. "That's why we need your help."

Raven shut her book suddenly, then pulled her hood down. "But why us? Why not the Flash or Superman or the Justice League?"

"Any other superhero would tell Batman what we are doing, Miss Raven. We do not want him to know." Alfred answered.

"So, you want to come to Gotham or what?" Barbara summarized, her eyes yearning for Robin to say yes. He wasn't going that easily.

"Give us a few minutes to decide." He answered, disconnecting the call, leaving the team by themselves.

"Slade has returned." Starfire blurted.

"Yeah, we know." Cyborg answered miserably.

"This sucks."

Raven looked at him expectantly. "What are we going to do?"

"Do you want to fight him? That's what I want to hear. What do you guys think? I don't really want to go back, even if it means finally beating Slade."

"WHAT! We need to kick Slade's butt!" Beast Boy shouted.

"Yeah!"

"It would be satisfying to see our major enemy fall."

"It would be nice."

""Yeah, even Raven's on the band wagon!" Beast Boy jumped over the couch to Raven. "High Five!" He held his hand up.

"No." Raven opened up her book again. "Robin, you do want to defeat Slade, don't you?"

Robin did want to defeat Slade, so badly, more badly than anyone knew. But after what Robin did to his friends because of wanting to defeat Slade, they had resented him. He hadn't been there for his team, he didn't want that to happen again, now that he was dating Star and the Brotherhood of Evil was defeated. He didn't want the old Robin to come back.

Starfire placed a hand on his shoulder. "We trust you, Robin. It is what my people call thoghaneg, or blind faith. I trust you. We all trust you."

"Yeah but there will be so much that we would have to hide. They think that when we come, when I come, our loyalties will go to them. We have to remain a team, not a group of sidekicks to them, just because they live in Gotham. Star... we'll have to hide our relationship."

She placed on a determined face. "It will be the worth of it when we defeat Slade."

"Yep."

"Totally."

"She's right."

"Robin, we shall go with our barriers in front of our darkest secrets like you have asked. The decision is up to you."

Starfire kissed his cheek. Robin felt sick to his stomach. He was nervous. What if he went crazy again? What if he let his team down?

"Have you made a decision?" Alfred's face appeared again on the screen, etched with anticipation.

Robin took a deep breath. "When should we come?"

"WOO HOO! WE'RE GOING TO GOTHAM CITY! Cyborg, fetch the industrial waffle iron!" Beast Boy flew out of the room, while Cyborg ran off to find their industrial waffle iron.

Alfred stared at the team with mild amusement. "He will not be present for three days, and he just left ten minutes ago. It will be wisest to come during that period."

Robin did some estimates in his head. "We can be there by tomorrow afternoon. I'll call Kid Flash and Jinx to watch Jump for us, and we can take the car to Gotham. We'll make the arrangements once Cyborg and Beast Boy clean the kitchen."

Beast Boy and Cyborg were dragging the industrial waffle iron out, then peered over the counter top. "RUN!"

Beast Boy turned into a cheetah, with Cyborg on his tail, running away from the wrecked kitchen.

Raven suddenly appeared in front of them, her cloak fanning out. She placed them in a box, then used her powers to give them towels and mops. "Go clean." Taking her hand of his shoulder, Starfire flew to help Raven contain the two guys.

Alfred smiled at him, now that it was just the two of them. "I'm glad you're coming, Richard. I bet Master Bruce will be happy to see you."

"I hope so. Goodbye Alfred." He turned off the TV, turning towards the image of Cyborg and Beast Boy scrubbing the floor, while Raven sits by them, drinking her tea.

"We will kick the butt." Starfire sat next to him, grasping his hand quickly, rubbing the back of it with her thumb. "We will go and make your former mentor proud and joyous. I can hide my feelings for the mission, but may I have the pleasure of savoring a kiss from my boyfriend before we set off?" She gave him a small smile, placing her hand on his cheek. He would miss the closeness they had right now, the freedom.

"Yes." He leaned in to kiss her once more. Who knew what would happen next?

Thanks for reading! Please fav, follow and review if you liked the story!