Hearts and Heroes, Chapter 4

Robin went flying backwards, toward the colonnade from which they'd just come, hitting one of the columns so hard it rocked. As he rolled to his feet he noticed he'd lost one of his shoes and torn the jacket of his suit.

Oh well, he thought muzzily, rubbing his jaw, It was a nice suit. I'll have to get another one. And some more shoes.

He kicked his other shoe off and ran back toward Mammoth in his sock feet, seeing as he got closer Billy, now in his uniform, and Gizmo (who greeted him with "Nice tie, fartknocker! Selling insurance door to door?") Facing them was Starfire, alone. Her eyes were aglow and green energy outlined her hands, but the fight hadn't started yet.

Robin stepped in front of her protectively. "Billy, what part of I want to have dinner and I don't want trouble did you not understand?"

Billy's eyes widened, the picture of innocence. "But I did leave you alone, Robin. And I thought there's nothing better than a little after-dinner socializing. So when I went back to my table, I sent a couple of texts, waited a while, and here we are."

"All ready for dessert," Mammoth rumbled.

"Look," Robin said, trying to salvage his date, "We're going for a walk, and then we're going home. There's no reason for us to fight. You're not robbing a bank or stealing anything. Why don't you just leave us alone?"

Gizmo sneered. "Like I need a reason to kick your ass, you spiky-haired traffic light."

So much for the date. Robin sized up the three in front of him. Mammoth was an idiot, no problem there, and he and Starfire could probably outfight Billy. But Gizmo depended on what gadgets he had brought with him and how mean he was feeling. Robin half-turned and whispered, "I'm sorry, Star.."

Starfire patted his shoulder. "It is all right. Where are your shoes?"

"Mammoth knocked me out of them." Robin squared off against the three in front of him, wishing desperately he had his uniform, a couple of fighting sticks, something. "All right, let's get this over with." He crouched and waited.

Mammoth stepped forward, huge fists swinging, scowling with concentration, but the scowl changed to a blank look of surprise half a second before he was hit by a blue and white sonic cannon blast.

"Booyah!" Cyborg yelled from ten feet overhead. Looking up, Robin saw Raven, Cyborg, and Beast Boy on one of Raven's flying platforms. Beast Boy leapt off, transforming into a hippo midair, and plowed into Billy Numerous. Cyborg jumped at Mammoth, sending the two of them into the street. Starfire and Robin were left facing Gizmo, who was going frantically through his pockets.

Raven landed beside him. "Gizmo. I can't stand Gizmo. Give me your coat, Robin." Robin, bewildered, hastily took it off and tossed it to her, and Raven in turn threw it at Gizmo, wrapping up his head in the coat and a wave of black energy. "He's so obnoxious. He's more obnoxious than Beast Boy. There should be a law against being more obnoxious than Beast Boy."

"Hey!" came Gizmo's muffled voice. "Get me out of this sweatypit jacket, you poopwipe!"

"And those insults." Raven's voice was as calm as ever but inside the hood her eyes flickered red. Swearing came from the coat as it tightened around Gizmo. "Do you think he sits around and writes them down? And then rehearses them?"

There was a scratching noise, and then the boom of a small explosion. Scraps of jacket flew everywhere as Gizmo freed himself.

"Damn." Raven started after him, saying over her shoulder to Robin, "I thought the three of us could take them, but we'll probably need a little help. Gizmo's hard to predict." She took off down the street.

"Raven," Robin yelled after her, "How did you know we needed help?"

"Because of me," Starfire said behind him. She smiled apologetically and tapped the bracelet on her right wrist. "I did not like the way Billy Numerous looked when he left. I did not trust him. So when I went to the room of the ladies, I called Cyborg with my own communicator. He promised to bring help."

"But, Starfire," Robin said, befuddled, "Now we have to fight, and our date -"

"We would have had to fight anyway, only now perhaps it will go faster." Starfire looked down at her dress and sighed. "I hope I can avoid damaging my clothing."

"Me too." Robin loosened his tie and ran toward the faceoff between Raven and Gizmo. "This shouldn't take long!"

It was over in twenty minutes. The police had been called, the three criminals were tossed in the back of a transport van, and Robin was sitting on a bench, putting on his finally-found shoes.

Cyborg sauntered up. "I'll do the police report. Why don't you and Star head back?"

"Don't you guys want to ride with us?"

"Naw. You go ahead. Beast Boy bet Raven a pizza that he could be more obnoxious than Gizmo, and I get to ref. Oughta be fun. Raven'll take us home."

"Okay. Starfire's waiting in the car." Robin stuck his hand out. "Thanks for the save."

Cyborg shook. "No problem, man. It was fun. We'll all have to come here for dinner sometime."

Robin looked around. The fight had been brief but some of the street was torn up and a couple of columns had been knocked over. "Sounds good. But let's wear our uniforms."

"There you go." Cyborg winked, and walked back to the police.

Starfire was in the passenger seat when Robin got back to the T-Car. He buckled himself in and turned to Starfire. "I hope your dress got through the fight better than my suit."

"It is undamaged." Starfire surveyed Robin in his shirt sleeves, his collar torn and even his mask scraped up. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine. They don't make suits to wear to fights." Robin drummed his fingers on the steering wheel, shaking his head. Finally he turned to Starfire and said helplessly, "Star... I am so sorry."

"For what?"

"Everything was going so well, and then this happened. I know that you want us to be us, not be Titans sometimes. And when things like this happen I feel like it's my fault. Being a Titan – it's so much of my life." He laughed a little. "Even when I try to be normal, stuff happens. I'm really sorry."

Starfire leaned toward him, and this time she took his hand. "Robin, on my world we have a saying, fle'blortaza." She hesitated. "I think you would say, love-in-the-rock.

"In the deserts of Tamaran the winds never stop blowing. Even sometimes the plants get uprooted from the winds. The warriors and travelers make their way across the desert using signs that are implanted deep in the bedrock of Tamaran, because the stones do not shift and they do not change."

Starfire smiled, remembering. "Sometimes you will see a family, or a clan, or even a nation where the people are strong for each other, where there is much misfortune but all will raise their weapons and fight together. And you might say X'Hal! Grehe fle'blortaza. X'Hal! Their love is in the rock. It is like a blessing for the people who are strong together, and do not change."

She tilted her face up to his. "Being a Titan is like being in the desert, with the wind blowing, and everything changing. But when we were together in Tokyo, I sensed the rock. The two of us, together in a way that cannot change even though we are heroes. As long as I know the rock is there, you can -"

Robin leaned forward and kissed her. Everything else seemed to vanish from his senses, everything but the touch of Starfire's mouth on his and her arms around his neck.

He broke the kiss a moment later – or a hundred years later, it was hard to tell with his heart going like a triphammer and his lungs not working right – and said, forehead resting against hers, voice not quite steady, "Take that as a sign in the desert, in the rock."

"Very well," Starfire said, a little breathless herself. She touched his lips, looking at him shyly, and added, "But it felt more like the rise of the first sun on Tamaran."

Robin smiled in the dark. "Yes, it did." Kissing her lightly on the cheek he straightened and started the car. "We should get home. Cyborg will be wondering where we are."

A few days later Starfire came to her room to find a small box and a note on her pillow.

She unfolded the note first and read,

Starfire,

When it's hard to remember the rock, wear this and know that I will always be here.

Robin

She opened the box to find a silver chain strung with a small pendant of flat, polished granite. On one side was carved the emblem of her people on Tamaran. On the other, Robin's insignia.

Starfire's eyes filled with happy tears as she held the pendant up to the light, letting it catch a last red ray from the sunset. "X'Hal!" she whispered. "Grehe fle'blortaza."

The End