Disclaimer- I do not own Teen Titans, if I did there would be more Star and Robin fluff episodes!

Hostage Syndrome: Birthday Wishes.

"Robin, I still think it is not a good idea." Starfire said sternly, "The City of Jump should not be left alone for one night. I would much rather prefer to patrol rather then celebrate." She saw the Robin begin to protest, and quickly went on. "There is no need to celebrate and leave our beloved city at the hands of villains, I am only a year older- I believe here on Earth it is called Day of Birth? -, And that is not a legitimate reason to abandon our duties."

At this Robin would have let out a sigh of frustration, but he didn't, he only smiled warmly at the Tamaranian girl. Starfire was always so modest about everything she did, anything that concerned her; she never wanted to draw attention to herself especially if it was at the cost of depriving something or someone else of attention. But this was a special day, its was her birthday, Starfire was seventeen. Earlier that day, the rest of the Titans made her breakfast in bed, lead in by Robin himself, and presented a bushel of gifts to her. Starfire furiously blushed with embarrassment and stated that they didn't have to do such a thing for her- her statement was met with replies of "Aw, Star, we do it because we love you. Now lets see what you got!" Beast Boy never letting the opportunity of laughter slip by, had not only pulled a prank on the birthday girl, but gave her a whoopee cushion. He slyly whispered to her, "Now we can both get Cyborg." Confusion was painted all over the girl's face, wondering what the rubber material present did.

"For your Earth cooking experience," Raven said bluntly as she usually did. A cookbook. Not only did Starfire enjoy the book and its wonderful recipes, but Raven had managed to save the Titans a few meals of Tamaranian food. Cyborg unable to control himself had lugged up a rather huge looked gift, placing it in the red head's lap.

"Oh my!" She stated in bewilderment. "What is it?"

"Open it!" Cy said proudly, "Ive been working on it for the past week, I think you'll really enjoy it.

Starfire gingerly opened the gift, making sure not to damage the wrapping paper. 'That…isn't what I think it is…' Robin thought to himself as he watched Star pull it free from the wrapping. To the Boy Wonder's relief it wasn't what he thought it was- some high tech camera system and video developer. If there was one thing Robin hated the most, it was being caught for a picture, or being seen on video- but he would gladly bare the fear if Starfire wanted a picture of him. He would gladly do anything for her. He watched on as she pulled open the wrapped box, and out came a smaller black box. She opened the lid of the box and the Teen Titan tuned filled the room, except it was slower and calmer, relaxing. "It's a Keep Sake Box, and you'll never forget youre a Titan, possibly cant with that catchy tune!"

Starfire beamed with pleasure, it truly was a wonderful gift, and even Robin saw that. She floated from out of her bed and hugged the Inventor tightly. "It truly is wonderful Cyborg! I thank you!" Robin felt a pang of jealousy, maybe worry. 'Yes, it is a nice gift…I only hope she likes mine just as much.' Robin shyly, if it was at all possible for the Boy Wonder to be shy, pulled a small gift from his back. He planned on giving it to her whenever the right opportunity presented itself. He attempted on Valentines Day, but backed out, only giving Star a single rose. 'But now,' he told himself earlier that week, 'Now it's the right time.' He gingerly placed the box in her delicate hands and watched with a speeding heart as she opened the wrapping. Another small box, black, no bigger then the width of Starfire palm. She opened the lid, Robin flinched in pain, afraid, and the girl gasped at the utter beauty of the gift.

"Robin," she said lowly, wondering if the gift was truly meant for her. Something such a beautiful as this could not be meant for her, but for someone Robin loved deeply. "Are you sure this is for me?" She questioned. Her voice seemed longing, almost fearful of his answer. He looked up at her in confusion, and looked at the contents of the black box. Afraid of the reply, Starfire was tempted to hide the gift in her embrace, but kept it out for him to make sure.

'She doesn't like it, she hates it. I knew she would have! What? Oh damn, don't tell me I gave her the wrong gift! What kind of idiot am I? Giving her the wrong thing!' Robin looked at the box, 'No…that's right…That's her gift.' He looked at her again, "Im sure it is for you Starfire. Happy Birthday."

Her arms flung around Robin's neck, hugging him tightly. "Thank you so much Robin! Thank you!"

He smiled happily, "Your very much welcome." He moved closer to ear and spoke only in a voice she could hear. "Your welcome, my princess." He looked at her; she blushed violently at the title and smiled with innocence. Robin felt his heart melt. In private he always teased Starfire about her being a princess, and in his mind he teased himself about being her Knight in Shinning Armor. He sighed to himself, 'If only.' Robin saw as Starfire gently pulled the contents of the box out, looking at it more closely. A bracelet. A bracelet that took Robin two years to put together. He ordered the finest silver himself, he melted it down in the privacy of one of the many labs in the tower, and fitted it perfectly to Starfire's soft wrist. Small emeralds clung to the silver, complimenting Star's gorgeous eyes, and silver charms clad or trimmed with emerald hung loosely. Robin put a lot of thought, put in many hours of perfecting, a lot of his love into the gift. If he couldn't tell Starfire how he truly felt, he figured why not show her a small portion of his love into a gift, made specifically for her.

The charm bracelet hung on Starfire's left wrist, he looked at her, her face, her eyes, her lips…She looked beautiful, she always did. Robin noticed, as he listened to her side of the argument as why not to celebrate tonight, that her long red hair grew longer. It touched the end of her back, she allowed her bangs to grow out, and her figure began to round out- in the nicest of ways. "Star," Robin began, it was now his turn for her to listen to his side of the argument. "You deserve a day off, its your birthday! I already spoke with the Police Commissioner about all of us taking the night off, he agreed. Actually," Robin smirked, "He looked rather relived that I told him we weren't going to be on patrol tonight. We have been depriving the man of his duties." Starfire bit her lip; Robin could read what was on her mind. The years before it was like this as well, Starfire never wanted to go out on her birthday, she always said she would rather patrol the city. And the years past, Robin let her have what she wanted, except with a few special treats. Not this year. No sir. It was time Star should go out and have a good time, and not worry about a thing.

"Look Star, how about I meet you half way." The girl looked confused as she took a step forward to Robin. He smiled fondly at her. 'She's so cute when she confused about things like this.' "Its just a expression Starfire, a figure of speech. I mean to say, Ill cut you a deal, a compromise." She listened to him, "We wont go out tonight, but we will celebrate. Here in the Tower. That way, if we're really needed we can be contacted- but we WILL celebrate your birthday. Just a small party," he finished quickly, he already saw the Tamaranian begin to protest if the celebration was anything beyond small.

"Alright friend Robin, we shall celebrate at the Tower tonight. But no where else!" She warned him.

"No where else." Robin repeated to her.

Starfire smiled and hugged him lightly, "Thank you again Robin." With that, she floated out of the room.

"I didn't say I promised though," Robin said more to himself then to anybody else.

It was latter into the afternoon when Beast Boy arrived home from his errand. Junk food. Bags after bags of junk food, were poured onto the table. Chips, soda, anything that would rot a persons teeth out and gain massive amounts of weight "Oh man! This is going to be great tonight!" Searching in the kitchen he found large bowls, pouring bangs of chips into them, happily humming to himself.

"Think you over did it?" Asked a cut-to-the-chase sort of voice. Raven entered the room, a large box balancing in her hands.

Beast Boy made a face at her, "Hardly! Is that the cake?" He asked excitedly

"If I told you no, would not eat it?"

"Very funny…" Beast Boy said with a grim face, but he cheered, "Whats it look like?" He tried peeking into the box; Raven swatted him away, placing the cake amongst the various bowls of chips. She opened the lid gingerly, Beast Boy marveled. "Its…its…so…" He was at a lost for words. Raven smirked, 'So that's how I can get him to shut up' she mused to herself. Black energy slyly slipped from her index finger, lifting the birthday cake from its box, and gently landing it on the table. It was rather nice. It was marble cake, vanilla and chocolate swirls, the frosting fluffy and midnight blue, the decorations of various stars and part of the solar system. "Happy Birthday Starfire," was written in orange curvy frosting.

"She'll love it," A voice said from behind the two Titans. Robin had a smile plastered onto his face, the Boy Wonder never looked so pleased. "Wonderful job Raven, its perfect." He complimented his fellow Titan; personally, he couldn't have found a better cake for Starfire.

"Dude! What about me?" Beast boy asked in a whiny voice.

Robin looked around the table- lots and lots of junk food. He felt the weight coming on. "Er…Uh…Good job…Im sure Starfire will be rather pleased…" Robin looked to Raven; they both had the same thought running across their mind, 'Not to mention a stomach ache by the end of the night.' Beast Boy took a pleasant bow, praising himself as he did so. The changeling was rather amusing at times. Managing to settle down Beast Boy, Robin cleared his throat and stealthily looked around the room, being careful to make sure no one else heard. "Okay, listen up guys. We'll stick around here for a bit and have some fun. Cut the cake, eat, do whatever- but later on we'll drag Starfire out. I was able to get us into a club for the night."

Raven shot a death glare to Robin, "A…Club?" She asked

Robin scratched the back of his head, giving her a nervous laugh. "Yeah a club…You know dancing, wild lights, lots of people, music…" He trailed off; Raven was ready to kill him.

"Im not going, you have to drag me to go. Plus we cant; all the clubs are 18 and up. Mind you, only Cyborg is 18 and hes not going to get all of us in." Raven countered.

"That's where being a super hero comes in! I checked in with one of the owners and he's more then happy too have the Teen Titans party in his club- good advertisement he says."

"We're going clubbing!" Beast Boy said loudly, "Dude, all the chicks will be attracted to my charm, my whits!" He turned himself into a dashing looking horse, then to a dog with huge tearing eyes. "They wont be able to resist me!"

"They'll be running away at your stupidity." Raven said coldly.

"That hurts Rae…." Beast Boy said with hurt face, she was silent.

"Come on Raven cheer up," Robin said, "Its not like we do this all the time, or even for someone's birthday. For the past couple of years we've just been sitting around or go watch a football game or something. Star is seventeen, I don't know how much longer Star will be…here on Earth." Robin secretly worried on a daily basis, specially on days like holidays were turning points in the year, that Star would so be summoned back to her home planet. She received monthly messages from the Palace, and she ensured Robin each time that things were going smoothly, and it seemed she would be residing on Earth for as long as she liked. He still worried. Robin could hardly explain the fear he felt two years back when Starfire was to be married, luckily it was just a scheme and squished with much relief. He remembered how much he panicked; loosing Starfire was like being shot through the heart a million times over.

"Are you sure Star wont mind?" Raven asked bluntly.

"You know she'll mind, but I figured going out to a club would be something she should experience, I have a hunch Star would rather enjoy it." Robin replied. He wouldn't say it out loud, but he was afraid he would ruin Starfire's birthday, but it was risk he had to take.

"Happy Birthday Starfire," Robin said gently into her ears. He lead her into a darkened room, taking her delicate hand within his. 'It feels so right,' He told himself. The lights were flipped on and an enormous "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" erupted from the room. Starfire beamed, balloons hung in ever corner with bright cherry colors, a long table of treats looked inviting, and center of it all was her birthday cake. She marveled.

"Oh my friends!" Star cried out, "This is truly magnificent!" Flying gracefully to her fellow Titans, she hugged them all tightly.

"Star!" Cyborg gasped out, "Need---to breath!" She let go of him, smiling sheepishly.

"Enough with the thanks stuff! Lets get our munching on!" Beast Boy declared, and with that, he dug into the bowls of junk food.

Starfire watched with wide eyes as Beast Boy and Cyborg clear half the table. She giggled and started to make her way over to the table, the look on Raven's face clearly told her to grab what you can, but Robin took hold of her hand. "Don't wear yourself out too much." He said with an impish grin, and walked off. Star looked at him in confusion, but her confusion was soon gone as she heard the fight for the last slice of pizza between Cyborg and Beast Boy.

The birthday girl laid on the couch, her stomach on the verge of exploding. Starfire made a small groan, but she was in every possible way content. Her eyelids fell heavy, as she rested on the couch. Beast Boy was sprawled out onto the floor with Cyborg crashed on the table. Robin looked down onto her. 'If that only that could be the first thing I see every morning' she thought to herself. Star smiled up at him. "Yes, friend Robin?" He returned her smile and pulled himself over the couch, sitting next to her feet.

"Youre not tired are you?" he asked.

"Only a bit. All this celebrating as you call it, had…how you say, 'wiped me out."

"That's a shame."

Starfire sat up and looked at Robin with worry. "What is a shame?"

"That youre tired. We still have one more gift for you."

She looked at him with sincere surprise. "Another?" She began to worry openly, "But Robin! We do not need to celebrate any further! You all have done enough for me!"

Robin shook his head, "Not yet Star, just one last gift from the guys." He didn't mention his last surprise for her. "Besides its only 900, we have plenty of time. Cyborg?" Robin called out

The large Titan stood behind him after much groaning, "Yeah?"

"Get the T-Car ready, we're going out."

Cyborg smiled broadly, "About time! Time to get my groove thang on!"

The lights dazzled Starfire's eyes. Streaks of yellow and green, red and blue. ' So this is what they call a club of night…' People were dancing on the floor, their bodies moving freely in the most hypnotizing ways. 'They are dancing! What joy!' Starfire smiled. 'Maybe coming to this club of night was not such a bad idea.' At first, in the Tower, Starfire had put up a rather talkative fight about not wanting or needing to go, "But what about the city!" Starfire stated. Robin countered her argument saying that if there was any real danger to the city they would have gotten a call by now. The rest of the Titans literally had to wrestle her down flights of stairs and into the car, and after much persuading from Robin, entered the club. It was a feast for the eyes, and she felt the sudden urge to join the figures on the dance floor, she was filled with excitement. "Robin!" She said loudly, trying to be heard over the music, "This is fascinating! Watching all these citizens of the City of Jump move as they do!"

"Its called dancing!" Robin replied, yelling over the music.

"It is not the sort of dance that I am use to witnessing!"

It was true, Starfire never saw other people dance as they did as this club. She saw the formal dances for proms, and picked up at it rather well, and enjoyed it when she was leading. "Why do the call it leading?" Starfire asked a long time ago, Robin tried to explain the concept to her, that it was like following the leader, the read head innocently thought that if you followed your partners and lead in any way it was a form of dancing. He recalled Starfire enjoyed ballroom dancing and traditional forms, things that took practice to learn. Tap, ballet, jig- she knew them all and learned them quickly, but Starfire never knew there was such a free form to dance, Robin came to realize this.

"Its just…" Robin tried to find the words, "Its dancing, but not a disciplined dance, you just…" He was at a lost for words.

"Just moving your body to the music!" Cyborg roared, "Letting your body do as it pleases, sorta like expressing, but just instead with your face, you do it with everything on you! Come on Star, lets go dance!" The mechanical man grabbed the girls hand and took her out to the dance floor. Robin stood where he was and observered the birthday girl. He smiled. Cyborg was moving freely like he usually did, Starfire watching him, unsure of what to do. He coaxed Star into moving her body, doing whatever she wanted to, not thinking about how to move- she did so, and did so in a rather provocative matter. The Boy Wonder's jaw dropped, and his face became an instant shade of red. Starfire didn't seem to notice that she was oozing with sex appeal, especially with the way she was dancing. Her hips moved freely from side to side, up and down, the muscles in her stomach visible. Starfire's delicate and slender arms slowly moved to different angles above her head, eventually her fingers grasping around her waist, or trailing up her sides. Many of the dance floors occupants had stopped their own dancing to marvel at Star. Robin felt as if he was being mesmerized, his vision and sharp observation skills were penetrated. It seemed tunnel vision was the only way Robin could see things, and Starfire was his focal point.

Starfire was not only Robin's focal point, but many others, mainly males. They all gaped at the beautiful girl; they watched her move her body is such ways that seemed normal, perfunctory- but they way she danced was different from any other woman that attended the nightclub. Starfire had them all transfixed, except she didn't know it. Her ears pounded with the fast pulsed music, her eyes adjusting to the beaming neon lights and disco ball, everything seemed to vanish, her body did as it wanted instead of being forced to perform a certain dance move on command, on beat, on count. 'Maybe this form of dancing isn't so bad after all!' She giggled out loud as she danced away. The crowd melted. Having the beautiful red head dance so freely, so sexually was one thing, but to have her dance and have her giggle ring out above the music was an experience none of them forget, including Robin. Starfire's body started to slow down, its movements less and less, she stopped dancing. She was catching her breath, her chest heaving up and down, a smile spread across her face. Robin's trance had stopped; her looked at her, his smile broadening as she happily skipped over to him. "Robin! This is such a joyous occasion!" She said loudly.

"I thought you would enjoy it!" Robin replied, "Arent you glad we didn't stay at the Tower tonight?" Shyly Starfire nodded her head. "C'mon Star, don't worry about it, just enjoy yourself. You are allowed a little time off you know" He smiled reassuringly.

Starfire smiled to him, ready to reply, but there was a strong tap on Starfire's shoulder, a shadow loomed next to them, and there stood a young man, with a smile of a playboy, looking directly at the birthday girl. "Hey there Pretty, you wanna go get a drink? My treat," he said in a false gentleman like tone. The sirens went off in Robin's head, it wasn't only jealousy. 'HE WANTS A ONE NIGHT STAND!' The Boy Wonder's voice screamed out in his head.

"Hey pal, I don't think the lady wants to go get a drink with you," Robin said taking a step in front of Starfire

The playboy looked onto the masked super hero, "Yeah? Well, why don't we ask the lady herself?" He set his gaze onto Starfire, "What do you say Pretty? How about that drink?"

"Im telling you, she wont be going anywhere with you."

"Hey man! Im just trying to"-

"Find a quick lay?" Robin said venomously. He knew Starfire didn't know the term, so he used it freely in front of her for the time being.

The man swallowed hard and looked deathly at Robin, "Wasn't worth my time anyways," He said bitterly and turned on his heel seeking out his next prey.

"Not…worth his time?" Starfire repeated slowly, "Was I the object that was not worth his time?" She questioned.

Robin winced, "Don't listen to him, youre worth every second of time," He said sternly, but continued in barley above a whisper that the Tamaranian couldn't hear, "Specially mine." He smiled at her, trying to hide his emotions, "So, how about that drink Star?"

She smiled and nodded her head, "Yes! That would be wonderful!"

There was a vibration at Robin's hip, after handing Starfire his drink he detached the round communicator, the police commissioner popped onto the screen, his face drawn fight and anxious. "Robin! Thank goodness!" the Commissioner cried, "We have a bit of problem…"

Robin let out a groan, 'Great, just great, he wants us to work tonight…' He straightened his face and tried not to look disappointed, "Yes Commissioner?"

"Synovium" Was all he said.

Rage swelled within Robin, some stupid scientist probably ordered the chemical, and wasn't taking extra security measures with it. Red X. "We're on it." He looked over to Starfire, "Im sorry Star"-

"We shall leave at once, Red X will not steal the synovium. Let us go." She turned quickly dropping the drinks, Robin grabbed onto her wrist.

"Im sorry Star…Its your birthday and" –

Again she cut Robin off, and smiled fondly at him, "The city and its well being comes before anything else. There is no need to apologize, we must do what we must do, and we are, after all- Titans."

Robin smiled apologetically, she was so understanding. "Alright then." With no regard for the club rules or the protesting bar tender- Robin stood up onto the countertop, "TITANS LETS MOVE OUT!"

Dear Readers,

How did you like the first chapter? I know it's a bit slow right now, but the next chapter will be action packed! - Sorta, maybe, never know! Just have to tune in, now don't we? Please remember to review on your way out! And- keep writing to express, create, and learn. Break all your boundaries.

-Crimsy

"Nun cagná 'a via vecchia p'a nova, ca save chello che lasse nun saie chello ca trouve"