Rain poured down from the sky, torrents sliding off windows and down across asphalt to gutters clogged with leaves and other debris. Stop lights shifted through their colors for no one while they left muted streamers upon the road glazed slick with water. Above towering high-rise buildings, rough hewn clouds rumbled indistinctly, often alight with electricity. The bay was covered in froth, waves turning against themselves and falling back into black water ripped apart by hailstones. No one dared to leave the safety of their house to brave the storm. Except for one particular group of teenagers.
What's that piece of scum doing out in this weather, hissed Robin.
He was drenched. His hair was plastered to his forehead, obscuring his vision, while his suit clung limply to his stringy body. The rest of his team were equally soaked, it encumbered some more than others. Raven's cloak was waterlogged and increasingly heavy, restricting her movements and eyesight as it flopped over her face, trying to suffocate her. Angry, she unlatched the brooch holding the cloak together and tore it off, allowing it to drop to the ground.
Ahead of them was Plasmus, screeching as he slogged through the rain. The downpour was creating a flood of reddish-brown discharge that was everywhere he was, clogging drains and spilling over the curb onto the pavement. Beast Boy fidgeted in his place, eager to get back inside their safe, dry tower. Robin's mouth twitched as his fingers slid over the metal of a birdarang, then he let forth those words and on cue, all titans sprang into action.
Starfire had been holding a starbolt in her hand for quite some time, steadily feeding it the energy she held inside her body. Now she released the supercharged ball of energy, rain vaporizing into steam as it soared into one of Plasmus' eyes. Plasmus reared and retched, clawing at the injury until it healed. Cyborg ran forward to meet a green pterodactyl. Beast Boy lifted him in the air, giving him a better shot at Plasmus.
Robin flung birdarangs in quick succession at Plasmus, but they did not incapacitate him as much as Robin would have liked. He swiped at his face as if they were flies, then opened his mouth wide and spat goo at the airborne titans. Raven deflected it with a wall of black energy, then began to uproot what she could to fling at the enemy, now that she was unencumbered by her cloak. Beast Boy set Cyborg back on the ground so they could rid themselves of goo and remembered how quick Raven was able to defeat Plasmus before.
Hey Raven! he said. He cupped his hands around his mouth to channel the sound further through the humid air. Do that thing you did before to stop Plasmus so we can all go home!
Raven looked down at him, then her eyes flitted up towards the sky where lightning snaked across the clouds. Fine, she said. Assuming a lotus position in mid-air, Raven closed her eyes and positioned her arms. Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos. Her soul self erupted from her body and flew toward Plasmus, effectively penetrating his concious mind and forcing it back into unconsciousness.
The man fell ungracefully onto the ground, throwing muddy red discharge and water swirled on top all over the titans. Raven's soul self returned to her body and she floated down, pulling goo out of her hair. Thanks Raven, Robin said, breathing hard as he wiped his hair out of his face. JCPD should be here soon.
I'll stay and make sure they get him locked up right, Cyborg said. Ya'll head home and get dried off.
Okay, thanks man. Beast Boy clapped Cyborg's shoulder.
Starfire grabbed Robin's hands and took to the air. Raven grabbed her cloak from the middle of the road where she left it before joining Starfire in the air. Beast Boy waved to Cyborg, then transformed into a swallow and took off for the Tower, leaving Raven and Starfire to follow.
{forty days of rain, pouring down on me}
Starfire's eyes moved under their lids, she was waking up. She had left her curtains open, hoping to wake up looking at a sunny sky. Her eyes sprung open and she found herself gazing at the same lumpy dark grey clouds. Her window was free of water droplets, it had not started raining yet. Starfire swung her feet from the head of her bed onto the floor and sat up.
Her head was filled with a dull ache when she rose to her feet. She wanted the sun, it was the source of her strength. It had been cloudy and rainy for many days now. Several times she had flown above the clouds to meet the sun when it was not turbulent, but now the storm system seemed to grow worse. Of course she could carry on, she was resilient, but her spirits would be higher if she could stretch out in the light and feel the warmth encompass her.
Starfire met Robin on the way to the common room. He was wearing a pair of black sweatpants and a sporty, form-fitting black jacket. She noticed that he smelled good, a clean, soapy scent. While his hair was still wet and not gelled so that it hung limply around his eyes and ears, his mask was on.
Sometimes, Starfire ached to see his eyes. She found herself dreaming of his eyes. Often, she fancied them being blue, an intense, harsh spot with a crisp edge against the whites of his eyes. She fancied this especially when she saw him being the strong, confident leader of the team. When she was close to him, when he rested his chin on her shoulder and his chest against her back, just watching her write odd poems in her native language, she imagined his eyes as a soft, warm grey, neither intense nor dispassionate, just filmy and indistinct. Starfire thought that his eyes could perhaps be a muddy brown, when she saw him training, his forehead a tangled knot of concentration and determination. It was then that she noticed his doubt, his unbelief in his abilities, the want to push harder and faster than ever before to be someone better, someone strong, someone who could live up to what he needed to live up to.
When they reached the common room, Robin pressed a hand to his forehead and pushed his hair out of his face. Starfire glanced at the windows upon hearing the steady white noise of rain against the expansive windows.
I'd kill to see the sun again, Robin said as he made his way into the kitchen to brew his usual pot of coffee. He and Starfire were the only ones who were up this early. Robin presumed Raven to be an early riser too, but she never came out of her room before ten. He was absolutely sure that Beast Boy would not rise before one in the afternoon, but he saw Cyborg up early sometimes, lifting weights.
Starfire yawned and stepped in beside Robin, pulling ingredients out of the refrigerator to make herself a light breakfast. Robin merely leaned against the counter. He sipped his coffee as he watched Starfire drown her breakfast in mustard. Behind his mask, his eyes watched her; he watched how she moved, the soft fluttering of her lashes, her chest expanding and falling with her breath, the way her fingers moved and grasped utensils. He noticed that she always held everything delicately, he knew how strong she was. Robin wondered what kind of strength and restraint it took to always be gentle with all things.
Friend Robin, Starfire began, pausing to pluck her words from an unknown coil of sentences. When will this rain cease? It is… melancholy.
Rain makes most people feel that way. Robin took a long sip of coffee.
Yes, Starfire paused again, pursing her lips into a pink ink-blot line. It reminds me of things I thought I would not think of. She smiled a sad smile.
Robin looked at Starfire for a second, his brow furrowing as he thought of what could be bothering her. If you want to talk about it Star, he started.
No, she said, her voice soft spoken. It is fine, Friend Robin. I have, ah, come to terms with it all. I am fine and any hurt those past experiences have caused is far outweighed by the joy I have felt by being a Teen Titan. Starfire smiled again, a stronger, less watery smile.
Robin gave a smile back to her. It was a practice smile, he meant it, but he was not sure how sincere it looked. He meant to get better at smiling, but it was low on his priority list. His team mates and the city came first. And his team mate right then seemed to him, stronger than he ever thought she could be.
{can you wash away everything}
He removed his mask. The fabric peeled away, and he knew he had a red line snaking around the outline of the mask. But he was Richard Grayson again. He was just stringy, too tall, a-little-to-skinny Dick again, the circus freak who's parents were dead. Often, he felt like two different people. Sometimes he wondered if he was two different people.
He knew that he could never be a good enough leader riddled with self-doubt, so that was where he was glad he was Robin. Robin never failed, never faltered, Robin cared about everyone, Robin was good, and chaste, everything he was not. Richard Grayson was not perfect, he made mistakes, he fell and floundered and tripped over his big feet. Richard was angry, at his parents' deaths, at how he did not contribute enough to the fight yesterday. Richard was not chaste, he was dirty and wanted satisfaction. Richard sometimes wanted to cross that line that other superheroes would never cross. Richard sometimes came close to crossing that line.
But how could he be such a contradiction living in one nature? Richard rubbed his temples, sitting down on his be, letting the sheets crinkles and fall, folds as soft and cool as water. They were not tepid and humid like the water outside.
…any hurt those past experiences have caused is far outweighed by the joy I have felt by being a Teen Titan. Her words still repeated themselves, they were lyrics on a scratched CD, a dirty record, something broken, something scabbed.
Far outweighed by the joy of being a titan, Richard said.
Richard was a titan, he was Robin who was a titan, so therefore Richard must be a titan too. Yet Robin was not Richard, they were incongruous, incompatible, they were opposites, and opposites cancelled out. Richard laid back on his bed. He was having that argument again. It had happened, many times in his head, each time coming to no conclusion. Robin's more sound mind realised how fallacious those arguments were, but at night, he was Richard.
Friend Robin, a soft familiar voice came through his door.
Richard Grayson walked to his dresser, replaced his mask, and Robin answered the door.
{i'm not myself, I hope you realise}
Robin, you are quiet, Starfire said.
She watched him stare out the window into the pure black outside. She wondered if he heard the wild note in the howling song of the wind. If he did, Starfire thought, he made no note or comment about it. Starfire wanted him to come back to bed. It was childish, but with the weather outside, she felt better with Robin next to her.
I know. Robin said.
Come to me. Starfire said, voice commanding.
Robin turned away from the window, shut the curtains, and walked over to the edge of the bed. His hair was coming down, falling in his face and clustering behind his ears. Starfire sat on the edge, sheets pulled around her. He sat down next to her, elbows resting on his bare knees.
I want to see your eyes, Starfire reached up for his face.
Robin pushed her slim fingers away; set her hand down on her lap. Starfire looked up at him, her hand curling around the sheet over her legs. He unconsciously smoothed non-existent ridges from the black edge. She then reached up and cupped his face in her hands, running her thumbs over the thin line between the mask and his thin under-eye skin. The thin line between Robin and Richard.
I'm not the same behind the mask. his voice was barely a whisper, a breath, drowned out by the sound of the wind.
You do not have to be. She placed her lips upon his, eyes fluttering closed. You will still be the man I love.
He shivered as he felt her lips form the words on his, soft skin sliding on flesh. Starfire pulled away and looked up at him, eyes full of a spark of passion. She was still much stronger than he. Robin's fingers released themselves from her shoulders and slowly rose to pull off his mask. As it lifted itself away from his skin, he felt exposed, vulnerable; he was no longer a superhero as his eyes met hers. He was just Richard.
{but i'm becoming better, please realise}
Starfire opened her eyes, incredibly warm. Strong arms were wrapped around her, and the kiss of weak morning sunlight was on her face.
"The storm is gone."
{for behind the clouds is the sun}
{∙∙∙}
I tried to write about somebody else besides BB and Rae. I most likely over analysed Mr Robin.
But it's cool.
This was just for fun.
I have intentionally left out the quotation marks.
Okay?
Okay.