Unfaithful
Her throat hurt. It wasn't like the kind of pain that happened whenever you had a cold, no, this pain was more like she didn't know whether to choke back a sob or… interrupt them. She couldn't speak and wouldn't be able to even if her life was depended on it.
Her hands and knees where trembling. How she managed to continue standing on her feet? She didn't know nor did she want to. She felt fear for the future, rage for the present, and sorrow for the past as all of those feelings were coming in and out of her mind. She should have known that this would happen. In her mind, all she thought was that it was only a matter of time before he got bored with her and moved on to another woman that could give him what he wanted, what he deserved.
Her eyes were wide open and were beginning to get soaking wet. Was her love for him not enough? Did she not give him enough attention? No, that's not it. If anything, she treated him like he was her world. Did she not give him enough space? Maybe she followed him around like a lost puppy a couple of times, but that was only because she wished to be around him. She loved him and always wanted to be with him, ever since she realized that she loved him in fact. The feeling was obviously not mutual. Well, maybe it wasn't how she acted around him. Who knew? Maybe it was because of her physical features. But what did he want from her? Was she not pretty enough? No, she got many compliments on her beauty. Did he not like the color of her hair? Was he even fond of red hair? Well, he must have. She once brought on the subject of cutting it and dying it, but instead of agreeing with her he looked her deeply in the eyes and said that he loved her hair. He couldn't be lying, his face was stern and the eyes that he finally unmasked to her held nothing but true words. Was it because she was an alien? Ugh, that couldn't be it either! If they made out, then she would usually do something that was common in her culture and he would always say, "I love you and your alien traditions." What did she do then?
Her mind turned to mush. What should she do? Should she speak up? No, she already knew that no words would come out of her, not yet at least. Should she leave and let them continue? Why would she? Why should she? How could she? No, this had to stop now. Should she break up with him? The small part of her mind that still functioned said yes, but her heart said no. Damn you heart, you're wrong.
Her heart shattered. It felt as though a fist held her heart and was crushing it. She loved him. They were happy together. He used the three dangerous words multiple times and it always made her filled with glee.
'I love you.'
Psh, yeah right. If he really loved her then he wouldn't hurt her like this. He honestly didn't think that she wouldn't find out sooner or later, did he? Well, he was the prodigal son of the Caped Crusader and could hide his tracks easily. Plus, it was working for who knows how long and she had no idea. The next question was: did anyone else know about this?
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As the time passed, Starfire continued to stare at the two, unable to run away or do anything. It was obvious that the person that betrayed her was too infatuated with the…with the…clorbag.
"Who's she?" Those two words were enough to snap Starfire out of her trance.
"Huh?" Robin turned away from the random girl he was with to the direction her eyes went. It was clearly visible that his eyes had widened as his mask copied its movements. A moment of silence passed through the room before he spoke up.
"S-Starfire, what are you doing here? You weren't supposed to be back for another hour." Robin got off the bed that he and the girl were on and took a step towards Starfire.
'You weren't supposed to come back for another hour.' Was he serious? So it was her fault?! No, she did not accept this as she knew who was to blame. She would no longer think that his betrayal was because of her. She did nothing wrong, right?
Wrong again. There was no 'right' as she knew that she would not doubt herself in this situation. She was a great girlfriend. She gave him space when necessary, protected him, gave him what he wanted if she was okay with it, and also made sure that they were both respected in the relationship. This was his fault. If he felt uncomfortable or wanted change in the relationship then he should have said something. This. Was. His. Fault.
"I am sorry; I did not know that coming home early from my day with Raven was wrong! Forgive me for interrupting you! Please continue with that clorbag!" Starfire turned on her heel and stomped off, but before she could turn the corner, someone had taken hold of her wrist.
"Star, please stop!" All she did was glare at the hand that held her wrist. Starfire felt her anger growing and she did her best to sustain it, just a little longer.
Her voice darkened with each coming word. "Do. Not. Touch. Me." Almost immediately did she feel the cold air on her skin again.
"Star, can't we talk about-"
Starfire turned to face him once more, except this time, her eyes glowed a neon green color. "NO! WE CANNOT AND WILL NOT SPEAK ABOUT THIS! ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS ROBIN AND YOUR PREVIOUS ACTIONS DEMONSTRATE HOW YOU TRULY THINK OF OUR RELATIONSHIP!"
"Hey, you seriously need to calm down." Starfire looked past Robin's shoulder and made it obvious that she was looking at the other woman. Her hands quickly disappeared behind the starbolts. "Leave if you wish to live."
"Listen Red, you don't scare me so you better-"
In the blink of an eye, Starfire was directly in front of the girl and looked down at her. "I see you do not mind death, well then." She raised her starbolts and made it appear as though she was about to fire them. Luckily for the girl, she had grabbed her items and fled out of Robin's room without another word.
Now that that was taken care of, Starfire turned her head back to look at Robin. His hair was messy and ruffled, belt off along with the cape, and guilt mixed with fear written all over his face. Good.
"Star, you didn't have to do that!" Threaten to kill her? That was not okay in his book, no matter who it was.
She scoffed. "You did not have to do a lot of things Robin. Besides, I knew that it would be the only way she would leave. If I had approached her with kind words then she would see me as rutha." Her eyes trained themselves deep into his mask. "And believe me when I say that I am anything but rutha."
"I know you're not weak! Everyone knows you're not weak! That still doesn't mean that you had to threaten her! Who knows? Maybe she would have left if you asked her kindly!" By now, he was a couple more steps closer to the angry Tamaranian.
"Ha, as if she deserves respect after what you two have done! Robin! YOU BETRAYED ME! YOU WERE UNFAITHFUL! SHE KNOWS THAT WE WERE DOING THE DATING! WHO DOES NOT KNOW?! I REMEMBER SEEING HEADINGS IN THE NEWSPAPER AND ON THE INTERNET ABOUT HOW WE WERE DATING! 'ROBIN AND STARFIRE FINALLY TOGETHER', 'THE BOY WONDER WITH THE ALIEN', 'HAS IT FINALLY HAPPENED?'! THERE WERE MANY MORE THAT I CANNOT REMEMBER BUT I KNOW THAT I SAW THEM! THERE IS NO DOUBT SHE KNEW! SHE KNEW THAT SHE HAD BECOME INVOLVED WITH A MAN WHO WAS ALREADY IN A RELATIONSHIP!"
"Star, I-"
"No!" She shouted, "You do not get to call me by that name anymore! Only the people who I know will not hurt me may call me that."
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The only thing that was heard was the heavy breathing of the Tamaranian as she caught her breath. Her throat hurt again.
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"Starfire, I am so sorry." By now, the mask was off his face, revealing the eyes that she had come to love. "I don't know why I did what I did," he was on his knees and his head bowed, not daring to look at her expression as he held onto her wrists tightly, "but please don't say that it's over. I love you so much," his voice had become unstable as tears freely flowed down his cheeks and onto the ground, "I always have. There is no excuse as to why I…cheated on you. I know that. You are an amazing girlfriend and have done nothing wrong to deserve this. You're beautiful inside and out, pure, selfless, and you think about others before you think of yourself. I don't deserve you and your good, good heart. I don't even deserve a second chance, but I'm here, on my knees, begging for you to give me one more. Please," he whispered.
She'd be lying if she said that she wasn't surprised by the fact that he was crying. A part of her wanted him to feel terrible for what he did to her. Another part hated herself for being the reason that he was crying in the first place. At that moment, all she wanted to do was hug him and wipe off the tears, telling him that it would be okay; that they would be okay. The ugly truth was that they wouldn't be okay. As friends: maybe, but not as lovers. She wouldn't take the risk again.
"Robin, please release me." She slowly raised her arms as they detached themselves from his grip. However, all that did was force Robin to wrap them around her waist. His heart pounded against his chest as he feared for what would come.
"Robin, do not do this. Please do not make this more difficult than it already is." His grip tightened. 'No, this can't be happening. This can't be happening right now! Please let this be a dream. A nightmare…'
"Koriand'r," she froze in her place. He just had to use her Tamaranian name, "don't do this to me. I was dead inside before I met you. You brought me back to life. You are the reason that I'm still here, the reason that I'm still fighting. I want to protect you and if something happened to you…then I'd be miserable. My life would be dark without you." Robin was choking back sobs but was still trembling.
"Richard," Starfire paused as she lowered herself to his level. They were both on their knees as she placed her head on his shoulder wrapped her arms around him, "why would you do this to me? To yourself?" She felt his head shake as he answered in a raspy voice, "I don't know."
The two stayed in that position for many moments, as they spent the time soaking in the other's warmth. They were two halves that made a whole when together. Richard knew what he wanted. He wanted, no, needed her in his life and he knew this. Koriand'r on the other hand, had no idea what she wanted. Did she really need him? Did she want to spend the rest of their relationship, maybe even life, fearing if he made the same mistake twice? It took a few more minutes until she made her decision.
"Richard, I love you. I always will."
"I love you too, more than anything in the world." He responded.
"However," his breath hitched, "I cannot spend the rest of my life wondering if you were unfaithful once again. A part of me no longer knows if I can trust you as much as I did. The other part says that I can, but I cannot take this risk. I refuse to be heartbroken once again. I am sorry Richard, but we can no longer be together."
The room turned cold and quiet. Too quiet.
.
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He hadn't responded or moved for some time.
.
.
"Robin?" No response, and yet he still hadn't released her. She tried pulling away but it wasn't until she heard something that made her stop.
"Pardon?"
"Please, keep calling me 'Richard'. No matter what, don't stop calling me by my name. It's the only thing I have left," he pleaded more clearly.
"Oh…are you certain? You may come to regret this later on."
"I'm one-hundred and ten percent sure Starfire. Call me Richard." He abruptly pulled away and looked around for his mask.
"Rob-" she cleared her throat. "Richard?" He looked up at the sound of his name and she saw the redness and puffiness his eyes showed. "Please call me Koriand'r, preferably Kori."
A faint light shimmered in his sapphire eyes. "Alright, Kori." As Kori stood, the mask that Richard had previously lost appeared where her foot was. She noticed, reached down, and picked it up. Kori looked at it with a sad smile on her face, knowing that she may never see his eyes again. "I believe this is yours." She held out the mask and when he didn't reach out to take it, she placed it on his face.
"Kori," Richard's hand reached up to hold onto one of her hands, but before he made contact, the mask was in place and she took a few steps back.
"I shall be leaving now. Goodbye, Richard." She turned towards the door and slowly walked towards it.
"Kori," he called. She stopped in her tracks as he continued, "do you think that things will go back to the way they were?"
Kori's head bowed down before she answered. "Truthfully, we may never return to how we were before." She left without another word.
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Starfire gasped as she sat up. One of her hands automatically went over her heart, feeling how fast the beating drummed. She looked around and saw the pale moonlight streaked across her room. It illuminated the bottom half of her bed as her head remained in the dark.
What time was it? She looked at the Mumbo clock that was located at her bedside. 4:23, huh? Why did she get up this early again? Was there something she wanted to do?
It didn't take long before she recalled her nightmare and hopped out of bed. Swiftly opening her door, she zoomed out and stopped when she arrived at Robin's door.
'Must I wake him at this hour? I do not wish to bother him but I must be sure.'
With that, she punched in the code-which they shortly exchanged after they had begun dating- and gracefully entered the dark room. After dating for a year, she knew where his bed was located, due to the amount of nights she spent there when she couldn't sleep, and sauntered over. She could hear his breathing and it calmed her.
'Do this now before you lose confidence.'
"Robin?" She whispered.
For a moment, she didn't hear anything before she felt herself be pushed to the ground, him being on top, trapping her. "Robin, it is I, Starfire."
She knew that he was verifying it was her when it went silent once again. He finally spoke. "Star? What are you doing up this," Robin fixated his gaze on the alarm clock that was on his bedside table and read the time, "early. What's wrong? Are you okay?"
He let himself up and held out his hand for her to hold as she got up. She took it without hesitation. "I… I am fine physically but I do not know emotionally. Only you can reassure me." As she finished, the small desk lamp that was on his desk turned on, with Robin next to it. He turned back to her and had a confused expression on his face that held no mask.
"What's wrong?" He strode over to where she was and pulled her towards his bed.
As they sat down, Starfire took a deep breath. "Robin, have you ever been unfaithful since we have started our relationship?" She didn't dare to look at him. But if she did, then she would have noticed how bewildered he appeared.
"Of course not Star, I love you too much to do something like that. I don't want to let you go and I'll make sure that I don't." Starfire's corners of her mouth twitched upwards. Something in his voice reassured her that he was telling the truth. Her eyes closed as she felt a little better. She had to make sure and wanted the truth.
"Thank you Robin, I feel the same way. However, do you believe that you will become…tired of me one day and wish to be with someone else?" Not another moment passed before she felt something on her hand. Robin had gripped her hand and used his free one to cup her cheek and turn it towards his face.
"Star, I want you to listen to me. I love you. I love you I love you I love you. You don't ever have to worry about me being with someone else because I know for a fact that it won't happen. The past four years have been amazing, albeit we weren't technically together for three of those years, and yet there has never been a moment when I was tired of you. I adore everything about you and nothing could change that. You're as beautiful as a diamond, but you are also pretty tough sometimes. I want to keep you and show you off, but I also want to keep you hidden away from everyone else so they won't try to steal you. I love you to the moon, no; I love you to Tamaran and back. I honestly don't think that I will ever fall out of love with you and I don't want to. I want to protect you forever and ever, and if I fail to do so, then you can bet that I will catch you when you fall. I promise." Robin ended it with a kiss to her forehead, cheeks, nose, and mouth. That action and declaration of love caused Starfire to tear up and begin floating. Robin noticed and quickly jumped on top of Starfire so she was below him on his bed. His hands gripped the mattress, knowing that they would end up on the ceiling if he didn't pull them towards the ground.
"Where do you think you're going?" They both smiled and continued to kiss. It wasn't until the two ran out of breath when he saw her half-lidded eyes. He chuckled lightly and pecked her one final time before climbing off of her and pulling said girl towards him as he lied on the bed. "Do you want to sleep here or in your room?"
"Mm, we are already here are we not?" Her response was quiet and slurred. She was tired and most likely half-asleep.
"Alright then," Robin pulled the blanket over them and positioned themselves so they were lying on their sides. His left arm rested itself on top of her waist while his right arm snaked itself under her and held onto his other arm. If possible, Starfire was pulled closer towards him as her hair was practically the only he could smell. No complaints on Robin's part, he loved strawberries.
"Goodnight Kori."
"Pleasant shlorvaks Richard."
*sighs* You guys lucked out today when it comes to happy endings huh?
I haven't written in a while so that may be why this was a little rusty. I made a little poll with a few people and asked them what the scariest thing they could think of was. As it turned out, heartbreak was the number one answer. Ha, I feel like I'm on Family Feud. (A show that I don't own by the way).
I know that women cheat on their partners as well, but I decided that Robin would be the unfaithful one since I made my previous one shot sad for him. Just thought that you guys should know so don't assume that I don't believe in equality, I do.
Happy Halloween everyone or Feliz Día de Los Muertos ((otherwise known as Day of the Dead) if you're reading this on November first or second)! Then again, I never really thought of Day of the Dead as a happy holiday… Anyway, please do something that you want to do today! I am sixteen and I'm still going to go trick-or-treating because, well, FREE CANDY GUYS! WHO WOULD PASS THAT UP!? Have a movie marathon, go to the theaters, hang out with friends, read, pass out candy, write (I will also be doing this-homework can wait), or just do whatever makes you happy! Sorry, I love October along with Halloween with a passion. Do what you want! Okay, no more talking. Or writing? I'm a little confused at the moment.
Please review and all that other good stuff! I don't own anything but Warner Bros. and DC Comics do!
Always yours,
light is in the dark
P.S. You can also watch, write, or read creepy pasta (one word or two?)! I love that as well :)