Author's Note: I totally didn't.

Oh, Kiono-Chan on Deviantart did an awesome picture of Starfire in her Masks outfit. Go and have a look, link on my profile.

At the time, Robin supposed it was for the best. At least Starfire hadn't turned him down directly to his face. He hadn't realised until much later she'd taken his gift literally.

It was his own fault though. Jonquils, "it's a secret". Sheesh. He knew she took a lot of things at face value, there was so much to learn, so many things different about her culture and his, if she didn't believe what she was first told, she'd be asking questions all day. Of course, she really only took what he said as truth, she always, always questioned Beast Boy's proclamations. After that first time, "Tuesday is hopping day, Wednesday is walking backward, on Thursdays, do the shuffle-", she never believed him unless she confirmed it for herself. Still, wasn't very nice of Beast Boy at the time to play on every alien insecurity Starfire had about herself, but Robin had gotten him to stop pretty quickly.

Robin had just been too subtle about his attraction. Which had been fine, at the time, because they were still becoming acquainted and learning team dynamics, Starfire was still getting used to being on a different planet. Robin reasoned a boyfriend would have complicated everything. So, fine, she didn't see him that way, she never showed any interest in anyone else, (except Aqualad maybe), but that didn't mean Robin couldn't be the best damn friend he could be.

And it was enough.

Sometimes, Robin wondered what it would be like to be more with her. Kissing her, holding her hand, cuddling on the couch. Idly wonderings, flights of fancy, he was a teenage boy after all.

He'd missed Starfire the most when he'd become Slade's apprentice. Unable to lay a finger on her when Slade had forced him to attack the Titans, he'd managed to keep his emotions under control. Right up until she'd barred his way on the E, fire in her eyes and coating her hands, her faced determined as she proclaimed that she couldn't live in a world where they had to fight. It had been her strength and belief in him that had spurred him to make a stand against Slade.

"Robin, you are my best friend..." He still had nightmares about her face at that moment.

He hated that he'd disappointed her.

Best friend.

Okay. Fine. Best friend it was. She turned to him for guidance and companionship. The long conversations on the roof. Physics and powers and discussions about science. Her point of view for practical applications was vastly different than his but it was so refreshing too. They even had a few friendly debates about the particulars of mathematics, wow, Robin had hated to admit how behind humans were in Quantum physics. If he'd wanted the publicity, he'd publish a paper using her knowledge as a foundation. As it was, he sent a discrete message to Wayne Tech with her proofs. He wondered what people would think if they knew the Antigravity upgrades to the Watch Tower had come from the 'naive redhead alien'. Her secrets to faster than light transportation advanced the space program years.

She didn't sell her smarts, though. The general populous always took her at face value. In fact, there were times it seemed she played up a 'silly alien' facade to keep herself from embarrassment when she did things that weren't quite like everyone else. Social blunders for example. He could just see it in her eyes, the embarrassment and shame she felt when she missed something, even after spending a year or two on Earth, then hid it behind a giggling alien and the line "On my planet-".

He wished she wouldn't. He wished she didn't have to explain herself, that people would just remember she wasn't born here, that even people born here still got things wrong.

But then, he also liked that she wasn't shy about her culture. It was like she was trying to keep it alive. Tamaran was in her blood. And it was only fair that if she had to endure human customs, they should experience hers. Like the wustlepus for example. Just because the food had actually fought back, its slimy tentacles and suckers that attached themselves to his face, didn't mean he wasn't grateful that she tried.

They didn't talk feelings, although they could talk about practically everything else. It had been surprising how... anxious, a word could make him.

"Girlfriend."

Nuh-ah. No. Not a girlfriend. Not because he didn't want her to be. Did he? No. Because she turned him down. She wanted a best friend and by God, he was good at that role. Best friend. Not boyfriend.

Never mind that the word made him anxious. Never mind that he was suddenly drenched in sweat and having a panic attack.

Robin had... become content with his role as a best friend and having to change it... Could it be changed? What if she still didn't want it? Even though she was making all the right signals by Earthen standards, he didn't think he could handle rejection twice. More to the point, Robin didn't have a clue on how to shift a relationship from best friend to boyfriend.

So he denied it. Vehemently. Loudly. Much to Starfire's discontent apparently.

She'd been stroppy and snippy at him for the first time and he'd hated it. The insights she revealed to the relationship she thought she had with him had surprised him. He'd not realised.

And she brought up the flowers.

After all this time, she brought up the freakin' flowers. They're stranded on some planet, no clue where the others were, and she wants to talk feelings.

Pssh. Girls.

That meant he had to bloody well figure out what he felt for her, after denying and suppressing emotions all this time. But, at least it gave him a clear signal of what she wanted.

"How am I to know what you think of me?" Well... if that wasn't a leading question, Robin didn't know what was. Manuals definitely would have made things easier. Wayne Tech should get to work on that.

"I... ahh... think... uh... it's awesome... the way you shoot starbolts?" A question, Robin? You don't phase a sentence like that as a freakin' question. Be confident, suave. Starfire is awesome, no question. No, wait, add some more floundering "and you're, like, the strongest girl ever". Like? LIKE? What are you, some sort of teenage girl? Like, y'know, whateva.

Of course, he managed to pull himself together by the end. It had taken a rush of adrenaline, the shrieky monster attack and running out of grappling hooks before he manned up enough to hold her hand (hold her freakin' hand, fingers entwined and all) and say "As long as we're together, we'll be okay."

He scored a hug. A proper hug, with Starfire going all doe eyed on him, one he actually returned with gusto. Kept his arms around her as Cyborg and Beast Boy magically appeared with the T-Ship and didn't care that they'd been interrupted. Starfire hugs were worth the teasing.

Thoughts slipped back into the boyfriend area and the possibilities. Certainly, she was making all the right noises, cues on par with Earth girls. Then the world had ended and he still hadn't found the courage to kiss her and he sooooooo wasn't kissing her with Slade watching. No.

Although, the way she'd thrown her arms around him, held him so tightly, regardless of who had been watching, he'd been tempted. So tempted.

After that, they'd been separated, dragged to the ends of the Earth after Mallaha and Brain and Madam Rouge and activating the network. Then he'd been frozen, the only one of the main Titans to be caught. How embarrassing.

Being unfrozen, Starfire's was the first face he looked for in among the sea of Titans. Everyone else automatically threw themselves into battle, but Robin looked for her. And when he spotted her, he held out his hand, called her name and the look of delight on her face replaced the look of disappointment in his dreams.

He'd been sneaky. She'd thrown her arms around him, proclaimed it was glorious to see him unharmed and how she'd missed him and he'd snuck in a kiss to the cheek before she'd carried him off to battle.

He could still feel her cheek against his lips.

Of course, Tokyo ruined everything.

He'd been so close, so damn close to kissing her atop that lookout tower. It had been perfect. Sunset. A day together having fun. Laughter. Conversation about feelings which he hadn't made a total fool of himself discussing. Perfect opening. Everything.

And then his brain had engaged.

"A hero is all that I am." LIAR. Liarliarliarliarliar. You just said that to avoid the embarrassment from pulling away mid setup for a kiss. For killing the moment completely. Opps, sorry Starfire, didn't mean to leave you hanging. DENY WANTING TO KISS HER IN THE FIRST PLACE.

Robin still hated that he did that. Hated that he hurt her. Stupid boy and his stupid boy feelings and being a dick and lack of ability to handle said stupid boy feelings. Even if he did kiss her before the end of that trip and only because she pretty much said to shut up and get on with it.

Now, though. They were back at the Tower and Robin had no clue what to do next. He'd had to agree with Cyborg's "About time" proclamation. It was about damn time he kissed her. About damn time they became a couple. About damn time he admitted that what he felt for the redhead was more than friendship. But... transposing that romantic feeling from Tokyo to the Tower was harder than it looked.

They had duties at the tower. Villains to fight. Paperwork to do. Crimes to solve.

It was like... those girly movies, where they have romances during summer vacation that never translated to romances back at school. Exactly like that.

Robin paced around his room, back and forth, back and forth. He supposed it would get easier when they were comfortable with each other. Once he knew what she expected, once Starfire was aware of what human romances consisted of, once he knew how Tamaranian she wanted their relationship to be.

Relationship.

That was a very scary word. Of course, they'd have a relationship before as best friends, but now it was... more... and there might be more kissing. He hoped there would be more kissing. Hugs. Cuddles. Body parts that sent his teenage hormones raging. He'd held back for so long, kept himself in the friend corner, but now, when she wanted more... when they were both ready for more, Robin didn't know where to start.

He was actually seriously considering breaking his 'exile' and asking for advice. Only... Batman probably already knew of the budding romance, it was all over the news after all... and hadn't contacted him. And asking the great Batman for girl advice would be like pulling nostril hairs with tweezers. Unnecessarily painful.

Of course, acting like a mature grown up and just asking to talk to Starfire failed to cross Robin's mind.

Robin knew he had a tendency to over think things. Analysing criminal activities and working for Batman did that to him. He also knew he was in great danger of over thinking his relationship to Starfire, but then he'd never, ever, been a go-with-the-flow kind of guy. So, here he was, a week after returning from Tokyo, pacing around his bedroom, contemplating how hard he was going to bang his head against the wall in frustration.

How hard could it be?

"Excuse me, Starfire, I was wondering if you'd like to go to the movies tonight. Just you and me?" Oh, c'mon, he was the leader of the Titans, he could be more confident.

"Hey Star, you, me, date, tonight. Wear something sexy." Okay, so maybe not that confident.

"Starfire, there's a concert at the amphitheatre, if I got us tickets, would you be interested?" Ugg, Robin, you are such a dork.

"Star. How about dinner?" Well... that might actually work.

Robin sighed and stopped pacing, resting his forehead against the wall. "This is just ridiculous," he muttered. "I should just-"

There was a soft knock at his door. "Robin?"

Abruptly he was anxious. Starfire. He cleared his throat. Fixed his cape, ran his fingers through his hair, breathed on his hand to check his breath, then answered the door. "Hi."

Starfire beamed and held out two flowers, one in each hand. A brilliant red rose and a jonquil.

He looked at the flowers, then up at her. "What's this?"

She flushed. "A red rose to illustrate adoration and a jonquil for secrecy because 'the guys do not get flowers'. I was hopeful that we may attempt 'the date', which was not a form of fruit."

Ahh, yeah, because Beast Boy had a habit of eating them and she'd confused them with actually dating. Wait... "Jonquil's don't mean secrecy."

Starfire blinked, the same expression she used when she didn't understand. "You gave me one and said it was the secret."

Oh... crap. She'd misunderstood. That explained a few things. A lot of things. "Um... I meant the meaning was a secret, not that-"

"Ooooooh, Robin's getting floooooowers," Beast Boy teased, strolling down the hallway.

Robin flicked a glance at him, scowled, then grabbed Starfire's wrist, dragging her into his bedroom and completely ignoring Beast Boy's suddenly teasing face regarding that move, slamming the door in the changeling's face.

Striding to his bed, Robin yanked off his blanket. Returning to the door, he grabbed the green lizard by the tail before it could scamper off to hide. "We need to talk about privacy," he said, opening the door to toss the lizard out, then re-closed it and stuffed the blanket at the base so Beast Boy couldn't sneak through again.

"Robin?"

"Sorry," he said, smiling sheepishly at Starfire as he got to his feet.

She looked at the yellow flower in her hand forlornly. "What does the jonquil mean if it does not mean secrecy?"

Robin knew that look. She was afraid she'd done another social blunder. Which meant, he was going to have to face embarrassment to fix that. Which was fine, he shouldn't have given her that crappy secrecy line to begin with. Being daring and because he was her boyfriend now and not just a friend who was a boy, he took the flower from her, transferred it to his other hand, then took her hand as well. "It's a request."

She brightened at the physical contact, her eyes on their joined hands, before she looked up to meet his masked eyes. "A request?"

He nodded. "One I waited a long time for an answer, but I think if I had've given you the real meaning then, you would've given me an answer much sooner."

Her brow furrowed. "I do not understand."

"It means... um... it's a request for returned affection. Not the friendship kind."

Starfire blinked. Twice. "I..."

He rubbed the back of his neck. "I thought you'd look it up."

She had this vacant look on her face that made Robin a little nervous.

"Star?" he prompted.

"I... it was a request for the date? And I missed it?"

"Well, I didn't exactly make it very clear-"

"But you wished for it. And you would have taken my lack of courtesy to reply as a refusal."

Oh... crap. That was a fast connection. Quick, say something reassuring. "Ahh-"

"Is that why we have taken so long to become the boyfriend and girlfriend? Because I was not nice to reply when you requested more in the beginning?"

"Star-"

"Oh, what must you have thought of me, the ill-mannered alien, hurtful and rude in my refusal of you-"

He kissed her to shut her up. Closed the distance and placed his mouth against hers in a fierce but brief display of affection. At her completely doped out, smiley look she gave him when he was finished, he filed that action away as his go-to move when she got over anxious about something.

"I thought you must be learning so much about Earth and humans and life here that a relationship would complicate things. That we didn't know each other well enough to adapt to being together. That I'd probably screw things up by expecting too much or not enough. I don't care that you missed my rather pathetic choice for a signal, Star, because we're together now." He squeezed her hand. "I should've just said something, that's what most people do."

"Oh..." she breathed, still obviously dazzled.

He really should just take his own advice. "Do you want to go and see a movie together tonight? My treat."

She beamed at him, actually rising off the ground a little, her feet lifting up behind her and he became an anchor to prevent her hitting the roof. "I would enjoy that."

He grinned, relieved. "Okay... um... dinner first?"

Starfire cocked her head inquiringly. "Is that customary?"

He shrugged. "We don't have to be customary, Star. We can be however we want to be."

Starfire smiled. "Dinner would be most pleasant."

He took the rose from her, removed a little of its long stem and tucked it behind her ear. When that was done, he trailed his fingers along her face to her chin, really liking the way she went a little oranger from the contact and then tugged her in for another kiss.

It was sweet, kissing her like this, feeling her lips move slowly against his. They were both trying new things, timid and unsure and really very awkward, but daring enough to have a go. Still, they were both pretty new at it so it wasn't long before he pulled away. It took Starfire a long moment to flutter open her eyes and she put her fingers to her lips as she smiled at him.

"Shall we go and see what movies are on tonight?" he asked.

Starfire nodded.

Feeling a little silly and kind of giddy from kissing her, he grinned, then tucked the jonquil behind his ear, not caring in the slightest that Beast Boy was probably lurking outside ready to pounce.

They held hands all the way to the common room.

Author's Note:

Jonquils mean "Love me, a desire for affection returned". Where as pink roses are friendship based. And despite being similar to a daffodil in appearence (and having interchangeable names), they're not actually one, so florists and gardeners have different meanings for them than a daffodil.

There might be more. If you're lucky.