It was a lazy Monday morning when it all began.
Bees were buzzing, birds were singing, and the smell of tofu waffles filled the air.
Starfire was stroking silky on the couch while Raven floated next to the window, her cape occasionally flapping from the open glassdoor.
Beast Boy was, in the meantime, working steadily on making a breakfast nobody would eat except the green shapeshifter himself.
Cyborg was,as he was every morning, in the garage working on the T car.
This was their normal morning routine except for one small detail, none of them had seen Robin yet. He was usually up before any of them were, working out in the gym or ironing one of his numerous and identical his capes. However, today he had not come out of his room yet. No one thought much of it though, they all knew how much of a workaholic he could be at times, sometimes not eating or sleeping for days on end, especially when Slade was involved. He was probably just working overtime on a new case. Or at least that's what they thought.
"Aaaaand breakfast is served" Beast Boy said with an overly dramatic splat of tofu on a plate.
He looked up see a raised eyebrow followed with chatoyant lilac eyes staring at him from across the common room.
"Hey Rae, you want some?" he asked hopefully.
She looked at him disbelievingly for a moment and then rolled her eyes.
"Why would I eat fake meat?" she asked, floating over to the stove. She opened the dark, wooden cabinet above and pulled out her favorite dark green mug.
He sighed but his cheery smile remained. She never liked anything he did but that never stopped him from trying.
"I would like some of the waffles of tofu" Starfire said enthusiastically.
BB smiled. At least he could always rely on Star to like his cooking.
The redhead floated over next to him, smiling like the sun.
He carefully took 3 golden-brown tofu waffles off the pan and placed them onto Starfire's favorite butterfly and ladybug covered plate that Robin had gotten her at the "mall of shopping".
"Hey, anybody seen Robin", an oil covered Cyborg asked, coming into the room holding a rag that looked like it had been used at least 20 times.
"No, I have not seen Robin all day" Starfire said, swallowing a waffle down in one gulp after coating the entire thing in spicy mustard, "Shall we go do the checking on him?"
"Nah, he's probably just know how he gets, he'll be up as soon as he smells coffee" Cyborg said, sitting down at the marble kitchen counter.
The teens fell into a somewhat tense silence, none of them really sure what to do. Most mornings, Robin would already be up here brewing his morning coffee which he seemed to survive on. He would then, after they finished eating breakfast, tell them what they would be doing that day. Usually this included long training sessions, street patrol, or a meeting with Titans East. But sometimes, they got a day off and just hung around the tower.
But this wasn't a normal morning.
"Yes, yes, I know." Robin grumbled, "I just don't understand why he can't stay in Gotham with you, he doesn't even like me and I know he won't like the team or Jump City."
He ran a hand through his already mussed-up hair. It was also slightly oily on account of him not having taken his morning shower yet.
His uniform was the same one from yesterday, not having changed and his mask stuck to his brow, creased with a mixture of frustration and worry.
"Why can't Tim take care of him?" he growled, "Or has he run off again?"
The line was silent for a moment before he got a reply.
"Fine, whatever. Just make sure he doesn't bring any of his weapons or his suit with him, we have enough explosions around here as it is"
He hung up and leaned on the cold steel desk, pulling his mask off.
What do I do, he thought, More importantly, how do I tell Star and the others. They don't know anything about this. Except Raven, she probably already figured it out. She always did.
He opened the bottom drawer of his desk and pulled out a fresh domino mask.
Slipping it on, he felt his head clear somewhat of the chaotic thoughts that had been clouding his mind for most of the night and into the morning. He looked at the clock in the corner of the room.
It read 9:00 in bright green numbers in the otherwise dark room.
Crap. That late already. He really should go upstairs, his friends were probably worried about him, especially Star, his girlfriend.
He stood up and stretched his sore muscles.
The door swished open as he made his way upstairs. He was greeted by the sight of a meditating Raven, a worried Starfire, and a Beast Boy and Cyborg duking it out over a round of Mega Mounkies 3.
"ROBIN!" Starfire greeted, throwing her arms around him in a bone- crushing hug.
"We were worried you had been eaten by a wild Zlorg" she whimpered.
"Very" Raven said, not even looking up from her book.
"It's ok Star, I'm fine. I just had to take a call and it lasted longer than I expected"
He attempted to smile but it just came out as a frustrated thin lip.
That last line grabbed Beast Boy's attention causing him to put down his controller.
"A call? This early? What kind of insomniac calls a tower-full of teenagers before 3 pm?" he scoffed.
"The Batman" Robin said simply, walking over to the coffee pot. He was waiting to gage their reaction.
The room went silent.