Author's Note: I'm trying my best to get as many of these out before I go on vacation at the end of the month. Which seems futile since the two big projects I have are taking forever. Oh well. Hope you enjoy this one! I really enjoyed writing one with Star and BB; I feel we never got much of a look at their friendship. Read and Review!
For once it was a quiet evening at home. Pushing himself away from the table, Gar stretched and cracked his back. The art center had asked him to draw some examples for the next art class, and he'd lost track of time. It wasn't that big of a deal; the others were all busy tonight anyway. Robin was going to be in conference calls all night and had put the 'Don't Disturb' sign on his door. Raven was absorbed in her new novel series and he didn't want to bother her and had decided to get ahead on this project.
He figured the kitchen would be empty, so he headed upstairs to make a quick snack. Unlike the first home the team lived in, their second house didn't have an elevator. There stairs weren't that bad. Two flights later he was on the main floor and was surprised to find Star sitting at the table. Her head was resting on her arms and the bucket of cookie dough (emergency cookie dough, because it didn't come out unless something was wrong) was in front of her. It didn't look like it was opened. Gar sat down next to her without waiting.
"What's up, Star?" Starfire turned her head to face him and she pouted just a bit.
"Gar, are you busy?" He reached over, taking the clean spoon and the tub of cookie dough, and took a small spoonful.
"Nope. Was actually going to make something to eat then unwind for the rest of the night."
The amount of downtime they all had these past few months was a bit of change. It wasn't odd to find one of them bored stiff.
"Oh, that sounds nice." Starfire turned her head back and let out a long sigh. Gar didn't like that.
Starfire was supposed to be smiling and happy; when he last saw her she was, so he didn't know what changed. But he wasn't going to let her go through it alone. So, licking his spoon clean before tossing it into the sink, he started rummaging through the cabinets. Starfire looked up at the noise and watched in confusion as he pulled out a box of pasta and filled the pot with water. Contrary to belief, he could make food for himself, and over time his cooking skills got better. But anyone could boil a simple box of uncooked pasta.
"So, I was thinking, if you wanted, you could join me in a little movie night. Raven's probably going to be up reading all night, and Cy and Lisa are on another date, and I'm not stupid enough to bug Robin. I think we'll be lucky if he pokes his head out tomorrow for coffee." Starfire laughed a little at that comment and Gar relaxed a bit more. So, Star was feeling lonely. He could fix that. Getting up from the table, Starfire handed him the salt and they both watched the pot as they waited for it to boil.
"Friend, you are familiar with earth customs, correct?" Sometimes, Starfire still got a bit confused on culture, but after being friends for so long, it wasn't hard to help her understand. When he nodded, she continued. "Since we will be having dinner and a movie together, might we call this a sleepover?" Again, it wasn't weird for them to crash in one another's rooms. The common room was fair game and at least once a week one of them passed out on the couches. This wouldn't be any different from that; plus, it had been a long time for them.
The last time he and Star had done something without the rest of the team was when they first moved into the new house. They had decided to paint the lower level this nice shade of blue and ended up having a pretty good time with it. But that was months ago, and now was the perfect opportunity to hang out again. Gar grabbed the box of pasta when the bubbles started to appear.
"Ya, I'm familiar with them, Star." She nodded as she watched him dump the pasta in, and then hopped up onto the counter with unsurprising ease.
"So, would you be opposed to including some sleepover traditions in tonight's affair?" Now, Gar had done a lot of weird things in his life. So, anything that Star threw at him probably wouldn't faze him. After all, superheroes didn't have normal lives. Tearing the box up and putting it in the recycling bin, Gar leaned against the opposite side of the counter.
"That's fine with me. Whatever you want to do, Star." The way her face lit up made Gar feel a lot better. He hated it when any of his friends were upset. It just didn't feel right.
"I will be right back then! I need to collect some materials for the hanging out!" Starfire practically leapt off the counter, Gar making sure she didn't accidently burn herself on the hot pot, before laughing quietly at her excitement. A few minutes later the timer went off and Gar strained the pasta out, putting it in two bowls for them. He was just pulling a bottle of water out of the fridge when Starfire came back. She had a box with her, pink of course, and it looked like the sleepover one that Raven told him about long ago.
After she had set the box down on the table, Gar handed her one of the bowls and she dragged him to the couch. He let her pick the first movie while they ate, not bothered that it was some sort of romantic comedy, and they settled in. Before long, the bowls were empty, and the movie was mostly over. Starfire was stretched out along one end, her back against his shoulder, and he had propped his legs on the arm of the couch. Neither of them could find the effort to send a message to the others to join.
They watched two movies before Starfire brought over the box. Taking a break, Gar checked his communicator and fired off a reply to something that Aqualad had asked. Starfire set the box down on the floor and pulled out several items; nail polish, some sort of face mask thing, and god that was a hair braiding kit. Maybe he should have listened more to Raven when she came back from girl's night. He could have used some pointers. Finally, she stopped searching and put the hair kit back. Straightening up, and pushing the box off to the side, Starfire got settled back into the couch.
"Friend, might we do the painting of the nails?" Again with the damn hands thing. He had no problem with painting her nails, but Gar was still getting used to walking around with no gloves.
"I can do yours," Gar replied. "I might be able to put a little flower or something on there, too, if you want." Excited, Starfire grabbed the nearest bottle, it was a bright blue, and thrust it into his hand. Gar chuckled as he started to paint the nail. Starfire was patient, not moving, and looked like she was having fun.
"I got to paint Robin's nails once." Gar looked up from what he was doing and raised an eyebrow.
"Really? I would have thought he'd try to get out of it."
"No, he did it to cheer me up, like you are. Only, he wanted clear nail polish. He was worried about his 'manly image'." Starfire enjoyed poking fun at her boyfriend. She wondered if they should check on him, then remember how he didn't like to be disturbed unless it was a major emergency. Dealing with the Justice League at times could be taxing, and Starfire figured that Robin would crash for several hours after it was over.
"He wears gloves, not sure what he'd be worried about." Gar said as he switched hands. Starfire examined the nails that had been done; not a single drop of paint was on her hands.
"So do you." Starfire pointed out. "But, since yours are off, may I do yours?" Gar shrugged.
"If you want to, sure."
Starfire lightly tapped his knee. "I am not demanding, friend. I won't if you don't want me to." Gar gave her a smile.
"I don't mind if you want to do them, Star. If anything changes, I'll tell you." Pleased with the answer, Starfire allowed herself to continue watching what he was doing. When the blue coat was finished, he selected a white bottle and started doing stripes down the middle of the nail. Before long, her nails were done and Starfire blew gently on them to dry them quicker. She scanned the different colors on the table.
"Can I do purple for you?" Raven would get a kick out of it. Gar laughed as he nodded. She grabbed it and then shook it. Shifting positions, Starfire took one of his hands gently.
They didn't talk much, but once or twice they would point out things from the movie they were watching. Finally, Starfire had finished what she was doing. The purple seemed to stand out much more than he thought, but he wasn't about to say anything. It'd probably be chipped off by the next day anyway. Happy for now, they put the nail stuff away and went back to watching the movie. Starfire was more than happy to lean against him; he snuggled into the couch and laughed at the one liners in the film. When it ended, Starfire put in another one.
By now it was pitch black outside, and Gar had assumed that Cyborg was spending the night with Lisa. He didn't hear anything from Raven, but she could still sense that he was in the tower, and if she really wanted to find him she would. Suddenly, Starfire jumped from her spot.
"May we make a fort?" Typically, the forts were made after nightmares, but Gar hadn't been one to not take part in something fun, so he readily agreed. Soon most of the blankets were on the floor and they were tucking and tying them to the couch and chairs. All of the pillows were on the floor.
"Part of me wonders if we should check on Rob." Gar hadn't heard any loud banging or yelling for a while. He wasn't concerned; Robin probably just passed out on his desk again. Starfire stopped what she was doing for a moment, before smirking.
"We will, but after we have enjoyed ourselves." When the fort was constructed to Star's liking, they had to redo half of it since it fell apart, and they continued the movie from inside. The red head seemed pretty amused with all of this Gar noticed.
They had to pause the movie to make more popcorn, and it was only then that they seemed to remember that they both had significant others. They decided to take a quick break to check on them. Gar made a cup of tea for Raven, while Starfire got a simple sandwich and a cup of coffee ready. They made their way down the hall, splitting at the middle, Star off to the office room and Gar to Raven's room. His girlfriend was curled up with her new book… and one of his sweatshirts. He set the mug down on the side table.
"How's the book?" He sat down next to her and propped his head on her shoulder. Absently, Raven's hand came up to scratch the back on his head.
"Decent. The plot is good." She spotted the tea and smiled. "Though, I've got a better boyfriend. The main character doesn't have someone who brings them tea." Gar laughed.
"Ya, well, just thought I'd check on you."
"How nice," Raven grabbed the mug and took a sip. She sighed in delight. "Thanks for this."
"No problem. Enjoy your book. Now, I've got a movie night to get back to."
Starfire didn't come back in tears, which he counted as a win, and told him that Robin took the food. Honestly, that's all they could ask for when Robin got into the work zone. They poured the popcorn into a bigger bowl to share, then parked in front of the TV.
"We should put on face masks!" Starfire shouted. Gar nearly jumped, but he caught himself at the last minute. "Please, friend! We've already done several of the sleepover rituals, might we do this one as well?" The puppy dog look had him agreeing before he even answered her.
"Alright, what do we have to do?" Gar asked. Starfire took the bowl from him and put it down. Searching through the box for a moment, she pulled out a tube of something and then dragged him over to the sink. They washed their faces, then Starfire batted his hands away when it was time to put the gunk on. She expertly spread it on, then did her own. It was a grayish color, but it smelled nice, so that was a plus. After that, Starfire set a timer on her phone and walked back into the fort to resume the movie.
"So what is all this supposed to do?" Gar pointed to the stuff on his face. It felt a bit weird, but not the kind of weird that made him want to take it off right away. At least it wasn't burning. Starfire read the back of the product.
"For a deep cleanse, hydration, and a youthful glow."
"Youthful? We're in our twenties, I don't think we need that just yet." Starfire laughed at the joke but had to keep his hands away from touching the face mask several times. She didn't want him to ruin it yet.
"This is really nice." Starfire leaned against the back of the couch. She moved one of the pillows under legs so she was more comfortable. "When was the last time either of us spent time alone, just the two of us?"
"Maybe last week? It's been a while, but at least we aren't on call anymore."
"You don't miss it?" Starfire had always wondered how they would react to being retired from the crime scene. So far they seemed to be handling it pretty well.
"Nah, I've been at it for a long time, Star. It's nice to be done."
Starfire seemed happy with his answer and they finished the movie. When the timer went off they washed their faces off in the sink.
"I have an idea." There was that devious grin again. Gar should have been worried, but after living with his friends for so long, he tended to just roll with it. Starfire went over to one of the cabinets in the living room and pulled out two nerf guns. She tossed him one and then led the way into the hall. Gar had an idea of what they were doing. Raven's door was closed, but the office door was wide open.
Robin had his back to them as he shut down the computer and started putting away the files that had been spread out over every surface. Starfire held up her hand and counted down from three. When the last finger went down, Starfire started shooting. Robin jumped and when tried to dodge to foam bullets with a paper folder. When they ran out, Starfire and Gar sprinted down the hall, laughing, as Robin tried to catch them. Star pulled him into her room, where she locked it, and they fell to the floor in giggles.
"Oh, my god. His face was priceless!" Gar couldn't stop laughing long enough to take a deep enough breath. Starfire had tears in her eyes from laughing so hard. When they had finally calmed down longer enough to look at each other and not lose it, they could hear Robin on the other side of the door.
"Oh, come on. That's not fair! You ambushed me!" Robin's voice was broken up by his own laughter. Geez, when was the last time any of them had actually kicked back and had fun like this. Weren't they supposed to be retired people?
"Should we give him a chance to prove himself?" Starfire was already grabbing a package of more darts. Gar wondered if she had planned this whole thing in advance, but didn't think too hard on it since she tossed him an unopened packet of foam bullets. When they had reloaded, Starfire went to the door and answered Robin's calls. The boy wonder was standing in the middle of the door, on the balls of his feet, not trusting his girlfriend's sweet demeanor at all. Gar could barely contain his laughter, but waited until Starfire was ready to start going again.
"Since when did you two plan to gang up on me?" Robin peered around Star to look at him.
"I can understand you doing something like this."
"She used the puppy dog eyes on me. Everyone knows that they can't say no to her when she does that."
"Doesn't mean you aren't guilty."
"Are you jealous that we kicked your ass?"
"I didn't have a gun!"
"Doesn't matter. You might have had less on the field."
Before a banter of insults could start, Starfire stepped forward, keeping the nerf gun out of sight and pressed a chaste kiss to Robin's lips. Then she brought the gun up and shot him right in the forehead.
The rest of the night was spent running all over the house, drawing the attention of Raven who started filming this, and eventually ended with a video call to Vic and Lisa so that they could see the chaos unfold. Two hours later, and with the darts scattered all over the house and yard, they all settled into the couches to catch their breath. When Vic got home the next morning, he found all his friends passed out on the floor, eerily similar to their days back in the old tower.