A/N: Thank you for taking the time to review. I'm fairly new to writing fanfiction so I appreciate any feedback on how I'm doing.
Robin wandered down the long hallway leading to their rooms. The girls' rooms were on the right side of the hall and the boys were on the left. He hesitated just before he rounded the corner. None of the others had brought many things with them. All Raven's possessions fit in the navy backpack she had slung over her shoulder, Beast Boy didn't appear to have even a change of clothes, and despite its apparent weight, Starfire's bag was not large.
"Dude!" Beast Boy cried when Robin walked passed his door. The changeling bounded into the corridor flapping his arms excitedly. "A bunk bed? I've always wanted a bunk bed!" Robin smiled.
"I know. You wrote it down on your wish list five times." Beast Boy's ears drooped slightly with embarrassment.
"Did you see Raven's room? It's wicked spooky!" He dropped his voice and glanced over his shoulder. The door across the hallway slammed shut with a loud bang. Beast Boy flinched.
"D'you think she heard me?"
"Probably." Robin moved away while Beast Boy squirmed, looking at Raven's door with trepidation. The next room on the left belonged to Cyborg. He also had his door opened, and he was standing next to a glass trophy case carefully lining up a set of trophies. The one in his hands was molded into the shape of a hand throwing a football. One look at Cyborg's face and Robin quickly moved past the room without interrupting. He understood Cyborg's resentment, but there was not much he could do to change the cards fate had dealt him.
"Oh it is glorious!" Starfire called, soaring out of her room to take his arm. "I have never had such a room before. Robin you have been most generous in choosing the 'room designated for a bed even when it contains other pieces of furniture.' I have observed that humans do not sleep in circular beds, or with their heads hanging off the side. You must have gone to great trouble to find one for me." Happiness radiated from her as she pulled him inside her room to see. Robin checked himself on the threshold. There hadn't been time to brief them on the rules concerning appropriate visiting hours. Starfire took no notice and simply tugged harder until his choices were to either enter the room or lose his arm.
"I have never seen such an abundance of pink before. It is most pleasing."
"What was your room like before?" he asked politely. He hoped that he had understood her requests and that his choices reminded her of her home planet. To his surprise, her smile faded.
"It has been a long time since I have had the room to call my own. I do not remember." He didn't know what to say to that. Clearly he had touched on a nerve and he backpedaled quickly.
"Well, I'm glad you like it, Star. If there's anything else you need, just tell me."
"Thank you, Robin," she said, and the way she said his name put a glow in his heart as he headed for the door.
"When you're finished in here I've got an announcement to make in the common room—that's the main room next to the kitchen—and afterwards I want to do a little training so put on your uniform." She drew herself up formally and gave an efficient nod, as if she were a soldier being addressed by a general. He opened his mouth to correct her, couldn't find the right words, and wandered back up the hallway, repeating the message to the other three.
"You're not even going to let us settle in before you start going on about training?" Cyborg complained. Beast Boy's jaw dropped in astonishment.
"Dude, Robin's going to train us to fight crime! He learned to fight from the Batman! It's totally like we're being trained by the Batman!" He was so excited that he was practically bouncing. Robin froze. At the sound of his former mentor's name his hands curled into fists. He wasn't a sidekick anymore; he wasn't going to live in Batman's shadow forever, and he certainly wasn't going to act like Batman when he trained his team.
"See you in the common room in five," he muttered. Behind him he heard Cyborg mutter, "He thinks he's so cool—"
"Dude, he is cool!" Beast Boy insisted. Robin stopped walking and lifted his head. "He started fighting crime in Gotham when he was twelve. Twelve! And Gotham's got the worst villains out of anywhere. D'you think you could've taken on the Joker when you were twelve?" Cyborg didn't say anything, a small victory Robin supposed.
They took their time in getting to the common room, all except Beast Boy who scrambled through the doors like an over-excited puppy. His eyes were shining as he looked expectantly at Robin.
"Are we going on our first mission?"
"Uh, no. Actually we're—"
"Not ready for a mission yet," said Raven, appearing beside him. "We defeated the Gordanians because we were lucky and they weren't prepared." Beast Boy poked out his lower lip petulantly.
"So what's this all about then?" asked Cyborg.
"I'll tell you just as soon as Star—" Robin's voice died in his throat as the Tamaranean beauty glided into view. His face went scarlet and he became incredibly aware of everyone else in the room. Frowning, Beast Boy turned to look and was struck by the same spell that had him frozen in place. Even Cyborg, when he turned, couldn't keep from letting his mouth fall open.
"What is the announcement, Robin?" asked Starfire.
"I think I speak for everyone when I say, Starfire, what are you wearing?" asked Raven. Her face was hidden in the deep shadow cast by her cowl, but she twisted away so that she didn't have to look. Starfire paused and took in the array of scandalized faces around her. Some of the color slipped from her face and she curled in on herself.
"You said we were to prepare for training. I have changed into my battle attire. Have I done something wrong?"
Robin's mouth went dry. Her 'battle attire' was a skin-tight, purple, leotard with a plunging V-neck that dove down to her bellybutton, exposing a generous amount of orange skin on its way, and showed off the whole of her muscular back. She wore purple wrist-guards and a thin metallic bracelet that encircled her left bicep. Her long legs were encased in a pair of thigh-high purple boots that managed to reveal every rippling contour of her shapely legs.
"W-what happened to the uniform you were wearing when we fought off the Gordanians?" Robin stammered, training his eyes to look no lower than the scrap of purple that encircled her throat and looked to be the sole piece of fabric holding the outfit in place. She cocked her head to the side, casting anxious looks at each of them before she answered.
"Tamaraneans derive our energy from the sun. The Gordanians that were transporting me put me in that suit to prevent me from absorbing sunlight through my skin. On my planet this is the customary battle attire so that we may stay energized during combat. This is a problem?"
Robin didn't know what to say. If wearing the suit helped her in battle then he didn't want her get rid of it, but one glance at her and he knew that he would never be able to fight alongside her dressed like that without getting majorly distracted. If she had been wearing that when she'd pulled him in for that kiss in the street that day…
"I think you look great, Starfire," Beast Boy blurted out. She blushed.
"Rob, if she goes out like that people are going to talk," Cyborg stepped closer so Starfire wouldn't hear. Robin bristled.
"She's an alien, they're going to talk no matter what." Robin made up his mind. Less than ten minutes ago he had told her to do whatever she needed to in order to feel at home on their world. He couldn't start off by telling her not to wear her traditional battle suit just because it made him painfully aware of the hormones he normally pushed to a distant compartment of his brain he pretended he didn't have time for. He took a deep breath. He could handle this. She was beautiful, but he'd been around beautiful women before. He could handle this…
"You look fine, Star," he said. Raven made a small noise from beneath her hood, but her face was turned away so he couldn't read her expression. Quickly, he cleared his throat and arranged his face into a serious expression.
"Before the mayor left, he invited us to a banquet." He held up the glossy envelope. As expected, the announcement was met with groans, all except Starfire who looked merely wary due to the others' reactions. Robin looked at each of them in turn.
"This is pointless," said Raven immediately, gliding backwards and drawing her cloak tight around her.
"This is our opportunity to make a good impression on some of the more influential people in Jump."
"Exactly," said Cyborg, speaking over him. "You want to parade us around in front of a bunch of rich snobs." Robin clenched his fists, crushing the envelope.
"The more those 'rich snobs' like us the easier it will be when we need their help." No one looked convinced. In fact, Raven and Cyborg looked downright mutinous. Robin crossed his arms in frustration.
"We're going, and that's final."
He strode off in the direction of the gymnasium. The others followed slowly. Starfire could be heard asking why no one else wished to partake in the 'ceremonial feasting' with the mayor. He glanced over his shoulder and quickly swept his gaze over her woefully inadequate attire. Inwardly he groaned at the thought of having to explain the human concept of modesty to her. Not until that moment had he realized that modesty was a human notion.
She was the last to file in past him as he held open the door. She spiraled through the doorway, smiling innocently as the trails of her long, red hair brushed across his cheek. The scent of strawberries filled his brain and he steeled himself against the ridiculous thoughts threatening to bombard his mind. Focus, he told himself. It was time to see what the Titans were truly made of.
A/N: I own nothing. The costume that Starfire is wearing is her original one from the comics (from the pre-New 52 era). It might be more revealing but I can't imagine they weren't still getting an eyeful if she was flying overhead and doing kicks in that miniskirt from the cartoon. R/R.