"So, that alien girl... kinda hot, right?" Beast Boy was smiling, but not all his humor was in it. Spirits were pretty low.
"Really?" Raven snapped. "Must you?"
"Totally. Tall enough for you, Cy?" Beast Boy nudged him in the shoulder.
"It's okay, guys. She didn't get any gems, really. Three or four, maybe. Nothing the jeweler's insurance won't handle. I want to talk teamwork. We're improving, honestly, and I think we'd rally benefit from working out the kinks in our individual forms-"
"What's that supposed to mean?" Cyborg demanded.
"For example, you need to be a quicker shot. A little more subtle with your movements. Beast Boy and Raven did well, although I don't think the hippopotamus approach was a good one because if you cracked the roof of the-"
"And what about you, Boy Wonder? Whadda you gotta fix?" Cyborg growled sulkily.
Robin knew he was being baited, but the question was still valid and he considered it. "I probably could've been more communicative. More decisive. Given orders and taken control."
"Speaking of you being communicative," Raven interrupted calmly, "care to inform us of where you've seen that alien girl before?"
"Oh. Yeah. Her name's Starfire. She started out in Gotham-"
"I thought she was an alien?" Beast Boy cut in. "How can she be from Gotham?"
"No, not from Gotham. She was just there. She crash landed," Robin clarified. And then there was that stupid kiss... Yeah, he wasn't going to be telling them about that. He gulped and continued. "Um, anyway, she kinda ran into Catwoman while she was there and I think she's modeled herself after her."
"I got a question," Beast Boy said. "Why's she talk in English?"
Cyborg rolled his eyes. "Just cuz that alien on Clash of the Planets learned new languages by drinkin' brains through a straw don't mean it's real, green for brains."
Beast Boy crossed his arms and huffed. "I know that! I was just curious!" He paused. "And maybe she learned through a psychic mind meld like that alien from season one, episode-"
"She ain't psychic, neither!"
Robin was glad for their arguing, as Beast Boy's question made a blush creep up his neck and his voice come out in a high-pitched squeak.
Raven was looking at him curiously. She must have felt his reaction. She narrowed her eyes and he shook his head, warning her not to-
"How did she learn English, Robin?" she asked softly.
"I don't really think that's necessary for our information," he said, trying to sound diplomatic and stern.
Raven shrugged. "Just to end the argument, then."
"Yeah, how?" Beast Boy asked. He was genuinely interested , which Robin supposed was good. But then, he was only curious because he thought it had something to do with Clash of the Planets.
"I, um..."
"You were there, right? I'd kind of like to know. If she knows a multitude of languages, that could be helpful, plus if she leaves the country we could guess where she went by the languages she speaks." Cyborg raised an eyebrow at Robin.
"Um, it seems that she's able to learn languages through, ah, a kiss."
Beast Boy considered this. "That makes sense, actually," he mumbled.
Raven's eyes widened at him. She knew right away what he was trying to avoid saying, but thankfully she kept her mouth shut about it. It was a little unnerving that he couldn't hide anything from her. He knew that she was hiding a lot from him.
"Do you think she only absorbs the first language? Or any language the other person speaks?" Cyborg was in full analyzing mode now. "Do you think you can find out who she kissed and see how many languages they speak?"
"No!" Robin answered quickly.
Confused silence.
"Um, I mean, there were a lot of people there and I wasn't really-"
"It's gotta be on some kinda footage, right? From a store camera or something? Don't you and Bats have your own CCTV system rigged through the whole city?" Cyborg started tapping on his arm. "If you give me entrance, I can look if you want.
Cyborg would never get entrance to the bat-cameras, but that was beside the point. "I'm sure it's not important." Robin crossed his arms to signify that he was done with this conversation when Beast Boy broke out in a laugh. "It's you, isn't it!"
Robin stared at him.
"It so is! Look at his face, Rae!" He nudged her in the ribs and got a flash of glowing angry eyes for his trouble, but he was enjoying this too much to care.
"Beast Boy," Robin growled, "it's not-"
He jumped onto the back of the sofa. "Robin and Starfire sitting in a tree! K-I-S-S-I-N-G!"
"Beast Boy!" Robin snapped. "Cut it out!"
"First comes luuuurve, then comes marriage, then comes orange alien baby in the- oof!"
Robin had had about enough of this, and he threw a birdarang at Beast Boy. It connected with the changeling's ankles and he was knocked off the back of the couch, landing on the floor in a heap.
Robin caught the birdarang again and stowed it back in his belt. "Anyone want to add anything else?"
Raven looked as annoyed as Robin felt and Cyborg looked kind of smug.
"Naw. I think we're good." Cyborg glanced over at Beast Boy on the ground.
"Honestly," Raven grumbled. "How old are you?"
"I still wanna try an' find out how many languages she talks, so it's kinda good that she learned from you, objectively speaking." A light smile tugged at Cyborg's mouth and he said, "So, did you teach her French?"
Robin growled and stomped toward the door.
"The language of luuuuuurve, dude!" Cyborg called as robin punched in the keycode to make the door slide open.
Beast Boy reached a hand up for a high five and Cyborg slapped him one.
Raven shook her head. "Honestly. You embarrassed him."
"'Bout time, too. He's always so perfect during training and on the field, it's about time we got material. You're the emotion eater, Rae, is he totally head over heels for our gem-snatching alien?"
"I'm not sharing emotions," she snapped. She didn't like it when Cyborg referred to her as an emotion eater.
"Dude, I wouldn't blame him, honestly. I mean, legs. So long."
Raven scrunched her nose and stood. "You're disgusting."
"There's nothing wrong with looking!" Beast Boy defended himself. "Like you didn't think Plasmus was super cute."
"Congratulations. You've chased two people out of the common room now." Raven levitated to the door and just made a portal for herself.
Robin would be fine. He was embarrassed and angry and... Something else. Raven didn't like to pry and she usually avoided actively reading her friends' emotions, but to divulge exactly what he was feeling would take some digging. It was better just to leave him alone.