Raven, Robin, Cyborg, and BeastBoy surrounded the breakfast table, half-sleeping in front of plates with toast, glasses of juice, and Raven's cup of tea. Weary-eyed, one of the titans took an occasional sip or bite.
Breaking the silence, BeastBoy chuckled, "Wow, it's finally quiet again."
"Don't speak too soon," Raven responded, "you don't want to press our luck."
"It's not like any of us are going to get any more sleep tonight anyway," added Robin.
"I would have," said BeastBoy.
"Yeah," Cyborg added, "but as soon as someone falls asleep, the noise begins."
"That's true," BeastBoy replied, "I wish she'd just shut him up."
"It's not her fault he's noisy," Raven commented after shooting him a dirty look, "That's just the way he is."
"Yeah, you're right," he replied grudgingly, after which his face lit up and he said, "it's Robin's fault."
Cyborg laughed, Raven sighed, and Robin yelled, "how many times do I have to tell you? It wasn't me!"
"Denial, Denial, Denial!" BeastBoy Chortled, after which Robin gave a disgusted grunt and Raven simply vanished.
"Woah, what's up with her?" Cyborg asked, indicating Raven.
To which Robin replied, "She actually believes me, and she's disgusted with the way you two have been acting about this whole thing.
"Hey, we're just teasing you Rob," Cyborg said sounding sympathetic, "Even if it wasn't you, we'd still tease you that it was."
BeastBoy started singing, "Robin is a -----" But got cut short by a gloved hand.
"Knock it off!" said Robin, "I am not!"
"Well, if it wasn't you, who was it?" inquired the curious changeling.
"I have no idea, that would be a question for Starfire," Robin said, "don't you think so?"
"You only don't know who else it could be because it couldn't be anyone else." BeastBoy exclaimed.
"He's got a point," Cyborg added, "we all know that if it wasn't you, you'd find out who it was."
"Maybe I don't want to know," the suddenly saddened voice of their leader said, "Maybe I'd rather not know, did you ever consider that?"
Both of his male comrades looked ashamed and somewhat understanding, "But she is your girlfriend!" the green one said.
"Was" Robin said, "She hasn't been my girlfriend for a long time."
Both Cyborg and BeastBoy looked surprised. "You mean you dumped her over this?" Cyborg blurted.
"Wow Robin, that's low," followed BeastBoy, "After all, you did it"
"I DID NOT!" Robin shouted, "besides, I didn't dump her over this; I didn't dump her at all. She quit being my girlfriend before it happened."
"What are you talking about Robin?" Cyborg asked, looking very puzzled, "You guys went out all the time, right up to the day she broke down and told us her 'terrible news.'"
"Yeah," Robin half chuckled "We left together, we went together, we showed up together, and suddenly, I was on my own, sometimes I didn't see her again until the next day. Some days I'd come back to find that she had left without me, other days, I beat her home," he sighed and concluded, "She wasn't my girlfriend."
"No way!" Exclaimed BeastBoy, "She really did that?"
Robin simply nodded.
"I noticed you came back separate sometimes, but I just figured," he paused, "well, I dunno what I thought," Cyborg added. "How long has she been doing it?"
"I don't know exactly," Robin sighed "It happened once, and I blew it off, but then it happened again; pretty soon it was happening all the time, there were days I'd go with her and as soon as she disappeared I'd come right back. I don't know why she kept bringing me along. It got bad a while before this happened, so it must have started at least a year and a half ago, maybe even two."
"Wow," was all BeastBoy could utter.
"Sorry man, we didn't know," Cyborg said, patting Robin on the shoulder, "I never would have suspected you two split, with the way you two usually act. It's like, she still treats you like her boyfriend, around here anyway."
"Yeah, she does, that's what I don't understand," Robin said, "I don't know why, or where she got these ideas; she won't give up calling me her boyfriend. I tried to explain that she's not acting like she has a boyfriend. She just doesn't understand that I'm not her boyfriend."
"I'm glad you've finally told these two," came a voice from the doorway, "now they can stop being jerks about it," she said as she took a step out of the darkness.
"Raven! I didn't see you come in," said Robin.
"Rae!" Cyborg exclaimed at the same time.
"Don't do that!" BeastBoy squealed, "you scared me!"
"Very funny," Raven mocked. "So, you two believe him?" she added in a tone that implied they'd better.
"Yeah," BeastBoy said, looking down
"Oh Yeah," Cyborg breathed. "You mean he already told you all of this?" he queried the dark youth.
"Actually, I put it together by myself and asked him," she replied, "before she even confessed what had happened. When she did come out with it, I believed his claim to no involvement."
The four teens sat -and stood- in silence with many thoughts flowing through each of their minds. Yet none of them could find anything to say. The longer the silence continued the larger and more awkward it became.
Suddenly, a red haired girl burst into the room, shattering the silence "Good Morning Friends!" Starfire exclaimed with an exceeding amount of enthusiasm, especially for someone who frequently got as little sleep as she did. "Have we made anything for breakfast yet?"
"Uh, yeah," Raven said motioning to the table, "I think we're all done, knock yourself out."
"Why would I want to knock myself out?" Star asked, looking quite puzzled.
"She meant you can eat anything you want, we're all done" Robin groaned.
"Yes, I know that she said you are done, but, still, I don't know why she would want me to harm myself" Starfire replied. Then, turning, she asked Raven "Are you angry with me, Friend Raven?"
"No Star," Raven said, clenching her teeth "Forget I said it, don't knock yourself out."
Starfire only looked puzzled for a few more seconds before turning and eating everything left on the table. After which she promptly turned to the refrigerator to begin rummaging. While she was submerged in the chilled cupboard, BeastBoy and Cyborg decided to have a competition in their latest violent video game and Raven vanished once more, leaving Robin alone with Starfire.
Upon emerging from the refrigerator with several items, Starfire, seeing she was alone with robin, asked "Would you like me to make you some breakfast too?"
"No thanks, I've already eaten," Robin replied, even though it wasn't entirely truthful. Then, searching for a reason to leave, he added "I've got some paperwork I've got to do anyway, I'll see you around."
As Robin began to leave the room, slightly saddened, Starfire responded "All right, I will dine alone once again."
Feeling a sting of guilt, Robin thought to himself, "How does she always do that?" Turning back to face her, he said "Well, the papers can wait, I'll stay and keep you company."
"Thank you Robin!" she squealed while hugging him.
Sitting down to keep Star company while she cooked and ate her breakfast, Robin thought to himself "Why is it that she can manipulate me like this? Is this how she kept me going to those clubs and parties with her? How come I still let her convince me to do things? I can't possibly still care, not after what she did, can I?" After a few minutes, Starfire had also sat down, and robin forced himself to make conversation "So, how's … Everything going?"
"Everything is going … going fine," she replied slowly, trying to come up with something to say.
"How is … is…"
"Seaspark?" she finished for him. "Seaspark is doing much better now, he is almost well again. I do hope his crying has not kept you and the others awake these past two weeks.
"Oh, no," Robin lied, "not at all."
"Why can't I tell her the truth?" Robin asked himself, "Why do I always lie to make her feel better? I guess there isn't a nice way to say 'no, actually your son has disturbed all of our sleep ever since he was born,' and that is just to cruel to say, even if it is true."
"That's good, I was afraid he had woken you up, especially when I find that you are all awake very early, like today."
"She knows I'm lying," he thought to himself, feeling guilty. Trying to find a spot somewhere in the middle he said "Well, maybe once or twice," to which he hurriedly added "but it's all right, he's sick."
"Do you think any of the others are angry with me?"
"No, why do you think they would be?"
"It's just that I'm not very helpful anymore and I'm afraid they are annoyed with Seaspark."
"You're helpful! We still need you. We never see him, so how could he annoy us?"
"He just takes up all of my time and I'm never around to see any of you and sometimes I cannot help you in battle and-" she broke off, her words turning into sobs.
"Oh, Starfire!" He put his arms around her, trying to stop her tears, "you think we're mad at you for that? You have more responsibility than we do and you still try your hardest to help, how could we be mad at you?"
"I – I – I"
"We should be proud that you're trying so hard"
"Th-th-thank you R-Robin," she sputtered and buried her face in his chest.
-♦-♦-♦-♦-♦-♦-
Poking his head out onto the roof, Cyborg did a quick scan, and began to pull himself back in, He then turned his head back and saw what he had almost missed. He walked up softly behind her, and before he could say anything "Hello Cyborg" came from the dark girl seated on the edge of the building.
"Hey, I didn't mean to disturb you; I was just seeing what was up."
"I'm not busy" She replied "What happened to the death match?"
"Ah, we could hear Robin and Star talking, so we left – didn't need to know their business." Quickly changing the tone and path of the conversation he asked, "What are you doing up here anyway? I know you aren't meditating."
"Ah, they're speaking… I see." She replied to his first comment, then responded to the question, "You're right, I'm not meditating. I'm just taking in the day," motioning for him to sit, she added "feel free to join me."
"Taking in the day?" he asked while situating himself next to her, "What does that mean? It's not even light yet."
"I'm soaking it in, it's beautiful."
"Soaking is right, it's raining, you've gotta be freezing."
"I'm fine. It's not raining. More like a light mist," She said dreamily, "I like it out here, the wind blowing the fog over the ocean onto the land, the clouds barely glowing out on the horizon, it's very calming."
"HeHeHe, I would have used the word depressing, but if you like it, that's just fine with me," he put his arm around her, and they sat there that way as they watched the sunrise create rainbows throughout the mist.
Tee hee! How did you like it? If you're very mad that the characters are, well, out of character, I'm sorry, I haven't seen the show in a while. Dusty, I sure hope I didn't make you puke, I wouldn't want to hurt my score or anything :-P Anyway, luffs to you all! Review if you like:) oh, and if anybody has a better idea for a name than -starts laughing- Seaspark... please, let me know and if I like your idea, I'll change it. LOL!