Hearts and Heroes

Sunrise at Titan's Tower. Robin had reached the roof only a few minutes ago, and now he stood, leaning over the ledge, watching the sun rise. The crisp air off the water ruffled his hair and he breathed deep, enjoying the cool and the stillness.

"I will tell her today," he whispered to the dawn.

Every day for the last week he had come up here, he had faced the sunrise, he had made a promise to himself. And he hadn't told Starfire a damn thing.

He heard a noise behind him; Raven stepping out of the elevator. They nodded to each other – as they had done every day for the last week – when she passed him going to the far end of the roof to meditate.

Robin turned back to the sunrise. One gloved hand made a fist and he tapped it hard against the ledge. "I will tell her today. I will!"

"Something the matter?"

Startled, Robin realized that he had spoken louder than he had intended. He turned and saw Raven watching him, hood up, already sitting in what he thought of as her "meditation pose" but not yet lost in concentration. "Yes! I mean, no. I mean – Raven," he blurted out impulsively, "Can I ask you a – personal – question?"

Raven reached up and pulled her hood down. One eyebrow went up. "Let's see," she said slowly. "You know I'm a half-demon who was recently responsible for the destruction of the world. You know I am still having trouble controlling my powers and how I looked when I was four years old. How personal did you want to get?"

Robin laughed nervously. "If you put it that way, maybe not too personal." He ran a hand through his hair and half-gestured out over the ledge. "I come up here at dawn because it makes me feel strong, like there are so many possibilities. I want to … there's someone … I've been promising myself I would..."

He trailed off, shifting from foot to foot, afraid he was blushing and he hadn't even said anything yet. Raven let him tie himself in knots for a while and then took pity on him. "This is about you and Starfire, isn't it?"

"Yes!" Robin half-yelled in relief. "How did you know?"

"Besides the fact that I'm not blind?" Raven looked away from him and out over the ledge, where the air was warming and the water was glittering with white sparks of sunshine. "After we got back from Tokyo, Starfire asked me to go to the mall with her. We had a –" Raven grimaced – "girl talk. Hours and hours of girl talk. And much 'painting of the toenails,' and 'wearing of the hair ornaments.' She told me what happened between you two on the ledge in Tokyo. And no," she added before Robin could ask, "I haven't said anything to Beast Boy and Cyborg and I won't. Why should I?"

Embarrassed, Robin began, "I'm sorry you had to –"

Raven let out an exasperated sigh. "Robin, I didn't mind." She stopped and cocked her head a moment, violet eyes narrowing. "On second thought, I did mind a little. But after a while, I stopped minding and I just felt sorry for Starfire."

"Sorry – why?"

"Because I hadn't realized how lonely she was." Raven watched the water. "Robin, you and Cyborg and Beast Boy are from Earth. Even if you don't have any relatives nearby, all your ancestors came from this place. You belong here. I – I'm from Azarath, and that doesn't exist anymore -" her voice wobbled but she shook her head and continued normally, "- but I like it here.

"But Starfire is from Tamaran. All her people are on an entirely different planet." Raven glanced at him. "What do you think it's like? Everyone you grew up with? Who loved you? Light years away?"

Sometimes Batman seemed like he was on a different planet, but Robin knew that wasn't the same thing. He tried to visualize everyone he cared about, out in space somewhere, beyond a simple call or e-mail. He looked up into the bright blue morning sky, which suddenly seemed vast and endless. "It's hard to imagine."

"Yes." Raven smiled crookedly. "And the only person Starfire could have a girl talk with was me, which wasn't fair to her at all. I'm just not the type to go squee. And it was so important to her, Robin. What you did."

"I wish she had someone else to talk to."

Raven turned away from the water and gave him a long stare. "She does. And you know it."

Robin stood frozen under her gaze. Yes, definitely blushing now.

Raven watched him for a moment, then said quietly, "You're like me. You live in your head, and it's hard to deal with your emotions that way. But I've been in your mind, Robin. I know that you have made a space for Starfire there. And since you've made a space in your mind, I know there's a space in your heart. You just have to tell her." She broke eye contact and looked back toward the waves, her cloak settling around her like ruffled feathers.

Robin leaned back against the ledge, feeling like a spotlight had been taken off him. Getting stared at by Raven wasn't fun, even when she wasn't in a particularly bad mood. "That's what I wanted to ask you. If someone were – talking to you – what would want them to sa-?"

"Wrong question, even if I weren't the last person in the world to ask." Now it was Raven who looked into the morning sky. "When you were with her, you were just you. You weren't fighting at her side, or leading a charge, or being a hero. You were just being you. And she was just her." She pointed at the moon, which was coming off the horizon. "And the way Starfire described it, it was like the two of you had your own planet, your own people, for just a moment. And she wasn't so lonely." She spun a little sphere of black energy on her outstretched hand and set it down before Robin. "Be yourself, so the two of you can be the world for each other."

Robin watched the little globe turn. "That's not easy," he muttered, "I can't just –"

"Of course it's not easy," Raven said testily. "If it were as simple as being Robin the Hero all the time, you'd probably be married and have twelve kids by now." She put her hood up and took a deep breath. "Now go away. I have to meditate."

Robin grinned. Dismissed. "Raven, tha -"

"Don't thank me," she interrupted him, her voice a little muffled by the hood. "Just keep me from any more 'paintings of the toenails,' that's all I ask."

"I'll try," he promised, and turned to the elevator, feeling better than he had – well, than he had that whole week.