Boundary

Hunched over, Starfire sat on her round bed and towel dried her hair. She would have liked to blow dry it, as well as taking the time to straighten it, but four Titans all needing to use the bathroom at once and Hal's impending arrival prevented that. She'd just have to deal with the slight fluffy curl her hair tended to have when allowed to dry on its own.

Hal'd asked for an hour to get the information together about the Locrix and then fly to the Tower to deliver it. Something in his eyes told Starfire he knew more than he let on. She supposed his ring supplied all the information needed within moments but, knowing Hal, he'd be double checking. And/or possibly determining how to deliver bad news.

She sighed and checked the saturation of her hair. Still damp, but it would have to do for the moment. Reaching for her brush, she was stalled by a knock on the door. "Yes?"

"Um… can I come in?"

She straightened in surprise. Surely Robin did not wish to have that discussion now. "Yes, of course."

"Are you decent?"

Starfire rose, walking to the door. "That would depend on how you felt about bare ankles."

He laughed. "I'm not opposed to that." The door slid open to reveal him back in his normal Robin uniform and carrying two jugs of mustard.

Starfire blinked rapidly at the sudden appearance of his normal uniform. "Why…?"

"It's a reminder," he said, understanding her question. "Of who I am. Being Tamaranian is fun, but you're right, I shouldn't forget."

She felt disappointed. "I liked the purple. It looked good on you."

"I liked it too," Robin admitted. He held out the bottle of mustard. "Can we talk?"

Starfire nodded, suddenly nervous. She took the bottle and stepped away from the door. "Do we have time? Hal is due soon—"

"Not that conversation," Robin said. "That can wait. There was something else."

"Oh?" Crossing back to her bed, switched the mustard bottle for her brush.

He stepped into the room far enough so that the door closed. "Does your hair normally go curly when wet?"

Starfire raised her eyebrows at the question. "Yes." She ran her brush through her locks. "I do not care for it much."

"It's pretty."

"It is unruly," Starfire corrected and smiled. "But I thank you for the compliment."

Robin took a step further into the room and held up his container of mustard. "You know… I thought I'd try mustard, with my new and improved taste buds."

Random conversation, Starfire knew he was going to skirt around whatever issue he had until he felt brave enough. "And?"

He took a few more steps toward her. "I can see why you like it so much. It's quite different with my new tastebuds. Tangy and delicious. I'm not sure what I was expecting."

Starfire beamed. "I am glad you understand." She sat on the bed and bent her head over so she brush her hair over her shoulder and reach the entire length of her locks.

Feeling brave, he sat beside her on the bed. "Also, you never told me about your tongue."

Starfire paused mid-stroke. "My tongue?"

He opened his mouth and extended it completely for a brief moment. "That."

Starfire sat up. "What about it?"

"It can snatch up popcorn from ten paces!" Robin said. He bounced on the bed so he faced her more, clearly excited about his discovery. "Seriously, that thing is amazing, how come you never told me?!"

She tilted her head, trying to decipher what he was talking about. "I… it does… do humans… I am confused. What is different about our tongues?"

Some of his excitement dimmed. "Oh… um… humans… only a few humans can touch their nose with the tip of our tongues." He illustrated by touching his nose. "It's not… that long." The excitement picked up again. "I mean, this thing grips! Do you know what I can do with this? Oh. I suppose you do 'cause you have one too, but I mean, it's like an extra appendage! I can fight crime with it!"

She giggled. "You can give crime the 'licking', yes?"

"I can!" Robin laughed. "Although, I suppose that might be a bit gross to see."

"Also, the saliva," Starfire pointed out.

He screwed up his face. "Yeah. Ew."

Starfire hid a smirk. "There are stories of what some Tamaranian males do with it, especially in their adolescent years."

Robin's bouncing ceased and he looked at her with at her in horror. "Holy shit."

She blinked her eyes and kept her expression innocent.

"I didn't even… wow. They really? … how would that… um…" He coughed, his cheeks went red and he pressed his knees together. "Oh God. Can we just forget that? Didn't happen."

Starfire couldn't keep her expression and burst into giggles.

"Wait, wait, do… do I have to go through transformation?!"

Starfire stopped giggling and stared at him. "How did you get to transformation from prehensile tongues and their impractical usage?"

His face was pale. "Um… I just… um…"

She decided to save him from the obvious embarrassment of the male mind. "Someone should write that manual."

He chuckled nervously. "Yeah. It'd come in handy right about now."

"No, you do not," she said and began brushing her hair again. "Transformation is for females."

"Is there a male equivalent?"

"I would think, given your age, your body would have already gone through it."

He honed in on her hesitance. "But?"

"If you turn purple or sprout horns," she said and tossed her hair back over her shoulders, running the brush through the top of her head. "You should inform me."

He snorted. "Purple or horns. Right. Okay. Thanks. I'll watch for that."

Finished, she rested her brush on the bed beside her. "I do not think you came here to discuss prehensile tongues and its possibilities, or the Tamaranian reproductive cycle."

He lost the excitement. "No. No, I didn't." He clasped his hands together and looked at his boots. "Um… reproductive cycle?"

"Indeed. That is, essentially, the core of the transformation. We can discuss it, if you like."

He swallowed. "I think we need a lot more time for that." Running a hand through his hair, he said, "And I thought enduring sex talks with Alfred was bad enough." He tapped his forehead with his fingers. "But we definitely need to talk about that."

"Very well. What was the intent of your visit today?"

He re-clasped his hands and looked at them. "I suppose, if we're gonna have the sex talk sometime soon, I shouldn't be embarrassed about what I want to talk to you about."

"Is not the embarrassment a pre-requisite of the sex talk?" Starfire teased, smiling.

Robin raised his head but did not look at her. "You said 'l'ani'."

Starfire blinked. "I… what?"

The floor was subjected to the intensity of his gaze. "You called me your l'ani. To Pelithrior."

That surprised her. She hadn't realised she'd done something like that. "I did?"

"I've been racking my brain, trying to figure out if I misheard, or screwed up the translation or something but…" He shrugged and flexed his hands. "I can only come up with one meaning."

Starfire swallowed and waited.

"I mean… since… since I got your powers, it seems like... we've been getting closer, y'know?"

"We have always been close," Starfire murmured. "You are my best friend."

"You're mine too." He glanced at her. "Lately… it seems… more."

She reached for her brush, looking for something to fiddle with while they conducted this incredibly awkward conversation.

Robin unclasped his hands. "Maybe I'm just noticing it more. It might have always been there, I'm just aware of it better now."

"Perhaps."

"Star."

Her brush was suddenly incredibly interesting.

He half turned on the bed, lifting one foot of the ground so his knee rested on the mattress. "You kissed me earlier and—" he gulped and squared his shoulders, "Well, I was wondering if maybe we could—"

"Language transfer," she interrupted to correct him.

He looked taken aback. "Language transfer?"

"Our people have the ability to absorb languages through lip contact," she said, knowing she had to do this and hated herself for it. "There were several languages you required for our journey and… it was the most efficient way."

"So… really?"

"You must have realised the amount of languages you now know."

"Um… yeah…"

She ducked her head. "My apologies, I was distracted by the potential trouble we could fall into at the station and not paying attention to ramifications of what I did. If you perceived it different than the intent, then I am at fault."

Robin seemed to deflate. "Language transfer."

"I imagine a human kiss would be a different experience. There seems to be more involvement."

His eyes narrowed. "A human kiss? Don't Tamaranians kiss?"

"A query," Starfire said, ignoring the question. "It sounds… it sounds as though you might be having increased affection for me, now that you are Tamaranian. I know our hormones can be…" she couldn't think of a way to word this delicately. "Is it possible… Now that you are able to feel freely, without hiding your emotions…." She sighed. "Would you act on any increased affection were you still human?"

He drew back. "You think…"

"I think…" she begun, standing and moving away. She kept her back to him so he couldn't see how hard this was for her. "I know my feelings regarding you have not changed since you transformed, but if yours have, how are you to be certain they have not formed because you are now Tamaranian, and if Raven were to find a cure and you went back to human, they would not disappear with your powers."

Silence. With a fluttering heartbeat, Starfire stole a glance behind her.

Elbows on his knees, Robin had one hand across his face. "I see what you're saying."

"You have… not been yourself," she continued. "In many aspects. I…" Helpless, she turned to face him and sighed. "Robin, I am… I think…"

"I get it." He rubbed his face. "You're right, we need to be sensible about this." One of his legs jiggled in the moment before he stood. "Hal'll be here soon. We should go wait for him."

Starfire closed her eyes. "Agreed."

He brushed past her to head to the door. "We'll talk more later. I still have lots of questions about what I could expect now I'm like you."

Tears stung her eyes and she blinked them away before turning to follow him. "Very well."

"Answer this," Robin said, halting at the door. "Language transfer happens through lip contact."

Her brow creased as she wondered why he clarified that. "Yes."

He turned to face her. "So, how did I learn Tamaranian? Because you said 'most efficient'. Not 'only'. You didn't have to kiss me."

Her heart skipped a beat, then doubled in speed. "I…"

"You called me l'ani. Even if I was human, that would be something I'd pay attention to, you calling me anything other than my name. I'd still be here right now, asking you what it meant. Except now I can tell if you lie to me or brush it off as nothing, because it's not nothing."

He approached her and she took a step backward and her back hit her cupboard, preventing her from retreating anymore.

"The power gem hasn't just messed with my emotions, has it? You're more relaxed around me. Saying things you wouldn't normally, doing things you wouldn't do. Is it because you see possibilities with me now that didn't exist before?"

Starfire swallowed. "No, I would never—"

"Or the feelings which were there before have become so much harder to hide."

Starfire stared at him wide eyed. "I—"

"Don't think I haven't noticed your flirting has been on the increase, and they were increasing before the gem," he said, his lips curling up in to a smirk. "I thought we covered most of what was between us on that planet. But I see there are still a few things we need to say to each other."

Her mouth felt dry and her stomachs filled with butterflies. "We do?"

Robin's hand settled on either side of her cupboard, trapping her in the middle. "Firstly, my l'ani, I'd really like to know what Tamaranians do do instead of kissing, because I'd like to try."

Her breath hitched.

Floating up so he matched her height, his face dipped toward hers. "Maybe we can blame the new me. Boundless confidence and all. I probably would have screwed this up—"

Tired of his babble, Starfire fisted his shirt and met him in the middle. Teeth bumped together before they found the perfect distance apart.

It was bad and it was wrong, he wasn't in a stable condition right now and she knew this was going to cause more complications than it solved, but she was a creature of emotion. She was tired of fighting, tired of denying, if he was going to offer himself so readily, she would partake and X'hal be damned of the consequences.

With parted lips, Robin lifted his hands from the cupboard and rested them on her hips. Their lips moved together, slow and gentle at first but with growing conviction. Clasped together, her hands buried in his hair, his hands sneaking up her back. Nerve endings fired where he touched her and against her breast, she could feel his quickening heartbeat.

Her feet weren't touching the floor anymore and she didn't care. It meant their ankles could twine together and hold them closer. The years of waiting and yearning melted away.

Robin's breath fanned against her face, small snatches of intake between moments. A deep rumble at the back of his throat mingled with her own purr. Robin tilted his head and pushed into her, his hand lifting to rest on her cheek and his purr deepened and Starfire felt a stirring within.

Robin broke the kiss as their heads hit the ceiling. "Umm… oops?"

"Oh," Starfire blurted and released him out of surprise.

Robin's whole body shot upward, his heels bashing against the ceiling before the rest of his body lay flat. "I think you were anchoring me," he said after a moment's struggle.

"I am sorry—"

"Don't be," he said with a smile as he tried to push away. "I enjoyed that."

She smiled. "Obviously."

"Better not go outside, I'm liable to float completely away." Stuck fast, he flailed his arms as he tried to swim down and failed. "Okay, how do I get down?"

Giggling, Starfire floated to aid him.

Author's note: Oops.