Robin gave the newspaper a sharp rustle. He crossed his legs and lay back on the sofa. Less than a foot away, Cyborg and Beast Boy were playing with the game-station. As usual. When did anyone ever win that game anyway? Robin bet he could've won easy, but decided that he had more important things to do. However, reading the newspaper proved to be as boring as it looked, if not more so. The tiny, tight strings of words had already begun to hurt Robin's eyes. He pulled the paper a little closer and tried to ignore the growing pain in his temples.

It was hard to concentrate with the cars roaring from the video game, which were only rivaled by the frequent shouts of BB and Cy. For what seemed like an hour, Robin stared at the newspaper, the gray of the pages finally beginning to nag him. But now there was a good part: it was over! Robin stood up and tossed the papers on the table. What a waste. If Robin remembered, the only difference between this and the last newspaper was that the reporter had changed her name from Emily Smith to Emily Smithe. Junk. Robin leaped back on the couch, agitated to see that Cyborg and Beast Boy still hadn't even finished one game.

"Why don't you play a different game?" he asked, not even trying to hide his annoyance.

"Dude!" Beast Boy whined. "I haven't won yet!"

"You mean lost yet," Cyborg spat back, but he was grinning.

Robin sighed. He noticed the only noise in the room was the tapping and clicking of the game-station controllers. "Anyone seen the girls?"

"They left while you were reading. Man, I thought you were going to pass out from that newspaper or something!" Cyborg gasped as Beast Boy's car slammed into his. He added after regaining his position in the lead, "I think Starfire meant the mall when she said glorbnix of mensiltoes."

Robin nodded. After the titans' encounter with the Puppet King, the two got along like sisters. That was a good way to put it, as the titans had developed into a big family. He stared the screen blankly for a minute. Why couldn't somebody just win? He knew no one would, so he left the OPS room.

Robin decided to actually step in his room for a minute. He passed Raven's door in the hall, and thought about knocking. No answer. She had gone out. No one was ever allowed in Raven's room, but only because she didn't want anyone in. He didn't know why. Now would be the perfect time to—no. Robin stopped himself and took his hand away from the door. It was disrespectful. Besides, if Robin wanted to snoop, he'd go to Starfire's room. Now was the time to go to his place. It really couldn't be called his place.

Robin was bored after being in his room for a mere three seconds and headed for the crime lab.

He picked up a mask—shiny orange on one side and pitch black on the other—and stared hard and long at it. He didn't learn anything new. That's all Robin's obsession with Slade had done for him: wasted his time, and kept him away from his friends. Was that Slade's plan all along? Robin sighed, plopping down in his chair. His headache had increased incredibly, and it didn't help that more newspaper and magazine articles were posted all about the room.

He narrowed his eyes at the lock on a safe across from him. With the skull and x printed on it, no one needed to open it to know what was inside. Someone had stolen the Red X suit a while ago. It had once been Robin's, used as an alias to try and get to Slade. He had failed, and almost lost his friends. Robin was dying to know who this new Red X was, but he wasn't any closer to unveiling that mystery as he was to solving Slade's. He looked at the mask in his hand again defiantly.

"I will figure you out, Slade, and I will end this madness."

Robin let go of the mask with a start when he heard two solid knocks on the door. He opened it with a touch of the button. Cyborg and Beast Boy seemed to have finally pried themselves away from the game-station.

Robin smiled and cocked an eyebrow. "So, who won?"

They grinned back. "No one," Beast Boy admitted, "but the girls called. They asked if we could go out for pizza."

"At the usual? Right now?"

"That's what Star said." Cyborg scrunched his face in thought. "But she mentioned something about her hair, so it could be hours until they finish up."

"Sweet, then we're ordering vegetarian!" Beast Boy made a wild dash for the door.

"Oh no, you don't! We're getting double pepperoni!"

"Dude!"
"What about black olives?"

"No way, man!"

Raven tucked her communicator away. Starfire had always wondered exactly where it was put (since her friend had no pockets) but never asked.

She clapped her hands together gleefully. "Come, Raven! Let us perform the doing of our hair so we may join the boys at the shop of pizza! I do so favor the mint frosting."

Raven humored her with a small smile. "Whatever."

Star carried the loads of shopping bags through the mall effortlessly; happiness streaming off her face so vividly you could catch it with a bucket and bake a cake. Aliens. Raven pulled out one of her books from a bag. She had no idea of doing her hair, at all.

In the hair salon, Starfire stared in amazement at all the accessories, shampoos, and such. Raven could tell the workers were bored while Starfire flipped through a magazine for what could've been hours. She laughed at the simplest picture of a ponytail.

"The tail of a pony! The imitation in the hair is adorable, yes?"

Raven pretended not to hear.

Eventually, Starfire asked one of the stylists to put her hair in three braids with two ponytails in between and crimp anything else left over. She also wanted to freely adorn rollers of assorted colors like barrettes. Even later, the hairstylist convinced Starfire to keep it to just a ponytail with the loose ends in front curled. She giggled as the employee worked and insisted to put a green bow on at the end.

"My appearance is soothing to the eyes?" Starfire asked Raven, pleased with herself.

"You look good," she replied, devoid of emotion.

"But Raven, why do you not participate in the tails of animals and such doings with your hair?"

"I like the way my hair is. I leave it alone."

"You would not even permit me to brush it with the brush used for hair and not paint?" Starfire's green eyes sparkled pleadingly with a puppy-like look to them; she held up a cheap comb that came free with purchase.

Raven could say no to puppies, but not to Starfire, and she didn't mention that combs were different from brushes. Especially ones that break on the first try. She stuck her nose deeper in her book and muttered, "Knock yourself out."

Unlike Raven predicted, the comb did not break due to Starfire's gentle strokes.

"Glorious!" She picked up their bags earnestly. "We must show the boys our discoveries and partake in the gorging of bananas, pickles, and mint frosting!"

"Joy."

The boys had already ordered and finished two pizzas (mainly because Cyborg had devoured one and a half of them), but they didn't mind getting more. And they got a lot more. Starfire was the only one who ate the mustard and mint deluxe though. She slurped frosting off pizzas with almost as much relish as she sipped mustard right out of the bottle. Beast Boy and Robin took time to observe the girls' hair for a moment, however Cyborg was too busy ordering sevenths. BB nudged Robin's arm.

He whispered, "I dare you to ask Star out to a date and go to apartment number 177 on Todd Avenue."

"No!" Robin automatically responded, but everyone knew he didn't back off from dares. "Wait, did you make that up at the top of your head?"

"I saw the building on the way here. Anyway, should I change your badge letter to a C?"

"Why would you want to change Robin to Cyborg?" Cyborg cut in rather loudly.

BB shushed him. "It's for chicken."

"Did I happen to overhear the word, chicken? As in the small, adorable birds with white feathers who take pleasure in fluttering, clucking, and producing eggs upon Raven's head?" Starfire asked hopefully.

Raven chose to ignore the whole conversation and flipped open her book from the mall.

"Something like that," Beast Boy muttered.

Starfire's face lit up and she pulled one of her bags from the mountainous pile and dug around in it before tossing it back and retrieving another. Soon, she found a plush chicken, snow white with piercing black beads for eyes that glittered in the sunlight. It had a cute look, which was obviously what had struck Starfire when she purchased it.

She giggled and squashed it in a hug so hard its little eyes might've popped out. "I thought Raven would enjoy the company of this tiny replica of the birds she and I so admire. I believe this is what you would call the inside of a joke."

Maybe it was, but the boys didn't need to know it to understand that Raven plus chickens equals a room full of feathers, and not from a pillow fight. Starfire tried offering the toy to Raven, but the girl did not move.

"I don't do stuffed animals," she replied flatly.

Starfire leaned back to the boys, looking slightly disappointed. "Due to her complications over animals being stuffed, I will have to find Raven a different object to express her love for the chickens." She held out the doll, smiling enthusiastically. "Would any of you be willing to accept this delightful memorial to the birds?"

Beast Boy and Cyborg casually pointed to Robin, and Starfire thrust it into his hands. She busied herself with handing out her other various items to the titans so Robin couldn't force the chicken back. He stared at the toy silently, solemnly brooding over everything wrong with his life. The little plush chicken made him think of everything good in his life. Sometimes it didn't seem like much. He knew his friends wouldn't last forever with Slade around. There had to be a way for Robin to prevent that, to preserve the precious times with his companions.

He glanced at Starfire, her joy so apparent it seemed to glow. Or maybe it was her beauty. She was a very pretty girl—were all Tamaraneans?—with long, bright auburn hair and emerald eyes. They were the same vibrant green as her star bolts. Robin had to admit to himself that he was rather fond of the alien, and it must've shown because even Beast Boy had managed to discover his crush. But more importantly, did Starfire know?

I can't tell her, he promised himself. If she doesn't like me, she won't know how to say no.

Out of nowhere, an image of Slade flickered through Robin's head. Before he could stop it, memories of being forced to be Slade's apprentice took over. His friends, the trigger—how he hated that button—and worst of all, Slade himself. He shuddered at the reminiscence of thoughts and clenched his hands into fists. The chicken he was still holding let out a squeaky cluck, startling Robin back to the pizza shop. He looked at the doll once more, glaring intensely at the tiny black beads. Beast Boy perked up at the noise, green ears twitching.

"Well?"

The two boys tuned out Starfire's constant chatter, and Robin continued his observation in make-believe silence.

"I'll ask her. I'll ask her tonight."

Beast Boy rooted around his pocket frantically. He shifted to his other, then to the first, then back, pulling out junk here and there.

"Come on, come on, I know I have it somewhere…"

Cyborg yawned, eyeing the apartment door. "They're going to be here any minute, BB."

"I know, I know-Aha!" He pulled out a white card with 277 printed on it in bold. Dangling from it was a small, golden key.

Beast Boy jammed it into the lock and opened the door. "We've gotta set up the pranks before they get here!"

"Star's not gonna like that." The last time Beast Boy pulled a joke on Starfire, he had had quite a difficult time regaining her favor that day.

"Well, it's not like I'm going to throw motor oil balloons at them," Beast Boy muttered. "It'll be small things." He quickly tied a string across the doorway.

"Don't you think they'll suspect something if the door's wide open?" Cyborg opened up the Beast Boy's plan book.

"No, because we're going to make it look like I turned nice and set up a party." He took a bag of balloons into the bathroom, calling, "And these are only water balloons. We'll hang them from the ceiling, and maybe just one of them will slip."

Cyborg shook his head. "Glue on the couch?"

"Dude, it's special glue!" He snatched the bottle of glue from Cyborg and spread it on the seats. "They won't be stuck forever if they sit on it, just until they get splashed."

"BB, did you give them a key to this room?" Cyborg taped a piece of black paper to the TV screen.

"No, I told Robin he could get one if he asked at the front desk. I already informed the workers down there to expect it, so they shouldn't have to provide proof or anything. Oh god, it's five!" He exclaimed before winding the clock two hours back. "Find yourself a place to hide, Cy!"

"Say what-" Cyborg yelped as he slipped on some access shaving cream; then he dived for an empty closet.

"This is gonna be good." He morphed into a green fly and fluttered to the door for a front row seat.

Robin looked at the sign. Rooms 150-180 were on the right hallway. He and Starfire continued down the corridor. Starfire was very excited, anyone could tell. She had never been out of the tower with only Robin when they weren't crime-fighting. She wondered if it had anything to do with the going out. Some earthly customs were so strange.

"Robin, might I ask what we are planning to do in the room of 177?" she asked, smiling with energy.

"Sounds like it'll be a surprise," Robin murmured. He was aware that Beast Boy had probably booby-trapped the whole date and he wasn't looking forward to it.

Robin stopped at a door, seeing yet not seeing the large numbers engraved in a musty gold. He had a lot on his mind, but no matter where he went, he always seemed to be seeing his Slade. Hearing his slow, smooth voice echoing in his ears. It infuriated him. He cautiously inserted the shiny, silver key into the hole and waited a few seconds before turning it with a click. It was sure to trigger, something so Robin pushed open the door without entering. There were only two words for what happened so quickly after he did this: absolutely nothing. Surprised, Robin stood idly a moment, still anticipating a bucket of mud, or an attack of spitballs. Just something.

Starfire peeked over his shoulder, trying to find what was so interesting. "Robin, is everything KO?" She gasped, blushing. "I mean, okay?"

Robin had to smile at her blunder. "I think so," he lied. He didn't know if Beast Boy was only smart when it came to pranks, but he was sure this trap was only made to let his guard down. He wouldn't fall for it.

The couple proceeded into the room. Robin checked every nook and cranny for tripwires and such, but didn't find a thing. Not one speck of dust willing to reveal one of Beast Boy's practical jokes, and no green flies. No bugs of any sort as a matter of fact.

"Robin, is there nothing we are meant to do here?"

Starfire, in truth, was very dismayed. Robin's pacing, serious face, and signs of a hard mind at work were identical to the behavior he used in the crime lab. Starfire knew of Robin's reputation for working all the time and, more importantly, or Slade's impact on him. She hoped it wasn't selfish, but Starfire was certain that this night was not about Slade. It was about them, and she intended to make it so. She felt a hint of anger in her face.

"If you did not wish to spend your time practicing the going out with me, you need not have asked."

Robin stiffened, stopping his step, and bit his lip. He had completely forgotten the actual date. Now that Beast Boy appeared to have not really planned anything, what did Robin have in mind? Nothing. "I'm sorry, Star-"

"Do not be. I shall journey back to the tower."

"No." Robin placed a hand on her shoulder. They both blushed at the contact. "I'm sorry," he repeated. "I promise we'll have a good time tonight. Okay?"

A long pause passed by, and Robin started to worry. But Starfire turned, eyes sparkling, with a smile too large to be human (of course). She grabbed him in a bone-crushing hug.

"Glorious!"