Chapter 11: Sleeping Together?

Starfire led Robin down the stairs and into the corridor that led to her room. She seemed almost giddy. Robin, however, was nervous beyond words. And perhaps a little scared.

Starfire wanted him to sleep with her. Just lay in the same bed and sleep, nothing more. Even so, every alarm in Robin's head was going off: This is a bad idea! He wasn't sure why, exactly. Technically, they'd done this before, that night in the forest. And Robin had to admit that he'd liked it: being near her was intoxicating and incredibly soothing all at the same time. He'd actually slept fairly well that night, especially considering the fact that they were on the lumpy, cold forest floor.

They arrived at her door, and she opened it. Swallowing hard, Robin stepped in after her.

The room was so pink. He'd been in here before, but only briefly, and he'd usually had some business that meant they were going to be leaving it soon, so he'd never really paid much attention to the décor. The walls were a pale pink, the bedspread was hot pink. The carpeting was a pinky-purple. The curtains were purple, but everything else in the room had a pink something on it. Robin squeezed his eyes shut for a moment to rest them from the onslaught.

"Here we are!" Starfire chirped.

"Here we are," Robin parroted absently. He swallowed again, and then finally focused his gaze on Starfire. "So…what do we do now?"

Starfire's effervescence fizzled down a few notches. "I am…uncertain. What I know of this comes from our literature and ballads. Few of them speak of what happens before sleeping." She frowned. "Perhaps we should start by just doing what we normally do before retiring."

Robin nodded. "I'll go brush my teeth."

"And I shall change into my nightclothes."

After scrubbing his teeth for an inordinately long time, Robin returned to Starfire's room. She was clad in her normal nightgown: a very short, wispy pink thing that left little to the imagination.

"Um, Star?" Robin had a hard time keeping his voice level. "Maybe you should wear something else to bed."

Starfire blinked at him. "What is wrong with my sleepwear, Aiyknrwa Robin?"

"It's uh….rather revealing." He tried not to look at her.

Starfire blinked again. "But you have seen me in this before: nearly every night when you come to kiss me goodnight."

"Yes, and every night I fight to look straight into your eyes and not…elsewhere." Robin swallowed hard.

Starfire stood quietly for a long moment, her face blank as she digested what Robin was saying. Slowly, a bemused grin grew across her features. "Robin…are you saying that you find my figure…arousing?"

"Yes!" Robin heaved a sigh and sank onto the edge of Starfire's bed, his shoulders slumped. Talking to Starfire about these things was almost as exhausting as fighting Slade. "I don't know if you know this about Earth boys, but we have a tendency to let our hormones do our thinking for us. I'm pretty good at ignoring it, but when it comes to you…." He trailed off, looking up at her with a sheepish smile.

Starfire smiled back. "Tameranian boys are not so different." She turned and leaned over her dresser, rummaging through the drawers. Robin cast his eyes toward the ceiling after getting a good look at the back of her bare thighs. He had to smile when he saw that she had star decals on her ceiling.

"Aha!" Starfire produced a matching cami and cropped pants set. "Friend Raven insisted I purchase these; she said that Earth nights can be cold." She frowned. "Perhaps she said that because she knows how Earth boys think."

Robin's mouth quirked into a half-grin. "Well, you do live with three of them."

Starfire nodded. "I shall use the room for bathing to change and to do the brushing of the teeth. Perhaps you could use this time to change into your sleeping attire?"

Robin gulped. Sleeping attire? "Uh, Star…I uh…usually sleep in my underwear."

"Is this a problem?"

"Yes it's a problem!" Robin heaved a deep breath. He didn't want to yell at her, and he did want to do this, but he was more nervous than he'd ever been. The logical side of his brain seemed to shorting out. He purposely lowered his voice. "Just as your nightgown is inappropriate, so is my underwear."

Starfire nodded. "Is there something more appropriate you could wear?"

Robin's mind raced. He was pretty sure he didn't even own a set of pajamas. "Well… I do have some sweats."

Starfire's bubbliness returned. "Perfect! You go and change into your sweats, and I shall change into these, and then we shall proceed!" She turned on her toe and practically skipped out of the room.

Robin watched her go. He seemed rooted to the spot he sitting on. He was quickly losing his nerve. He was here, and that had taken a lot of courage. He was afraid that if he went back to his room, he wouldn't be able to come back here.

Oh, come on, he thought to himself. You're Robin, the Boy Wonder. You've faced some of the world's worst villains. You can't possibly be afraid of your own teammate!

But that wasn't right. Of course he wasn't afraid of Starfire. He was afraid of where they were going. He'd admitted that he loved her, and, as hard as that was, it was the truth. Even so, he was afraid of letting himself love her. It meant letting his guard down, and that was truly frightening.

Swallowing hard, he went to his room to get his sweats.

--

Robin was cold. Still mostly asleep, he reached around for the blankets. When he didn't immediately find them, he rolled over, only to have them brush his nose. Opening one eye, he saw that Starfire was floating in her sleep again, taking the covers with her.

Sighing, he hooked a finger under the waistband of her sleep pants and pulled her back to his side, making sure he got his share of the blankets. They'd been sharing a bed for several weeks now, and she'd done this three or four times before. She'd told him it was because she was having happy dreams. He was glad she was having pleasant dreams, but he wished she could do it without hogging the blankets!

Starfire stirred. "Robin…?"

"You were flying in your sleep again," he mumbled, his voice thick with sleep.

"I apologize," she replied, settling against him. "Are you quite warm now?"

Robin smiled to himself. "I'm fine now." He wrapped an arm around her and dropped a kiss on her forehead before settling in to go back to sleep.

Sleeping with Starfire had turned out to be everything she said it would be. After that first skittish night, they'd found they had the same rhythm while sleeping that they did in everything else. It was easy to be with her, and, indeed, he slept better with her by his side. Those Tamerainian poets had been right; there really was no better feeling than holding your aiyknrwa as you drifted in that place between awake and asleep…

He awoke several hours later to the touch of her lips on the back of his neck. Her hand was splayed across his chest and he could feel her body pressed against his back. Unconsciously, he snuggled against her.

But as he came more awake, Robin realized that maybe he his body was more awake than his mind was. "Star," he said, his voice gravelly. "We said we weren't going to do this in bed."

Starfire ceased her affections and rested her chin on his shoulder. "I know. But it is sometimes hard to resist."

"Which is exactly why we should," he replied, taking her hand in his.

Starfire was quiet for a few moments, and Robin had nearly gone back to sleep when she finally spoke again. "Robin, I believe the time has come for us to become revoleths."

The haze of sleep evaporated from Robin's brain. She was suggesting another step in the very regimented Tameranian courting process. He scooted over onto his back so he could look at her. "How is that different from aiyknrwa?"

"It is not. As I mentioned when we became aiyknrwad, it is a parallel step. Revoleth is the next step after drysfus."

"I see. And what's the difference between drysfus and revoleth?"

Starfire snuggled closer, dropping a few kisses on his shoulder. "Revoleths perform xioykrw."

Xioykrw! Robin knew that word. Fully awake now, he pushed Starfire away a few inches so he could look her full in the face. "I..I thought we said we weren't ready."

"That was several weeks ago."

"And…what's changed since then?" Robin was starting to panic a little.

Starfire seemed to ponder that. "We have become most comfortable around each other. Our love has grown. Robin," Starfire climbed on top of him, taking his face in her hands. "I cannot imagine loving or trusting anyone as much I do you. I believe I am ready to share myself with you."

"Yeah, well…" Robin sat up, pushing Starfire off of him. "I'm not sure I feel the same way."

Starfire looked like she'd been struck. "You mean you do not love me? What has changed?"

"Nothing! Star…" Robin sighed and ran his hands through his hair. "I do love you. I am very comfortable with you. I'm just not ready. It's not you…"

Starfire still looked pained. "So you do not wish to xioykrw with me?"

"I don't wish to xioykrw with anybody! It's a huge step, Star." He reached out and took her hand. "When I'm ready, you'll be the first to know."

Starfire's face grew hard. "What are you afraid of?"

Robin wasn't sure how to answer that. He stammered. "Nothing…everything!" He looked at her; for once she was nearly impossible to read. "I get the feeling that sex is much less complicated on Tameran."

"What is complicated about wanting to share your love with your aiyknrwa? To open your soul to him through your body? I do not know anyone on Tameran that does not wish that!"

Robin was taken aback. "Wait a minute…do they have like…orgies on Tameran or something?"

"I do not know what that means"

"It means…does everybody just have sex with everybody else?"

"No, of course not! Robin," Starfire took a breath. "We are blessed by being aiyknrwan. Most Tameranians spend their entire lives seeking their aiyknrwa. The ones that are lucky enough to find them want nothing more than to share their entire being: heart, mind, soul and body. I want that for us!"

"That sounds really wonderful, Star, but there's a lot of responsibility associated with sex. I mean…you could get pregnant…"

"I have done some research. There are ways to prevent that."

"None of them are 100 percent. And not just that…You keep talking about giving your whole self to me…" He looked away, his emotions roiling. "I'm not sure I'm ready to give my whole self to you."

Starfire's face contorted, every possible line on it making itself visible as she pushed herself off the edge of the bed. "Perhaps we are not aiyknrwa after all." She burst into tears and ran from the room.

Robin launched himself from the bed. "Starfire!"

He chased her into the hall, only to see the bathroom door shut. Clenching a fist, he forced his voice down. "Starfire, open the door."

"Why? You do not wish to be with me!"

Robin banged his forehead against the door. "I didn't say that. I never said that. I said…"

Before Robin could go on, the alarm sounded. "Not now!" He punched the door and rushed back into Starfire's room long enough to grab his mask before heading back to his own room to put his uniform on. He refused to keep any clothes in Starfire's room. Maybe that needed to change.

He arrived in the Control Room still pulling on his gloves. "What is it?"

"It's S.T.A.R. Labs," Cyborg replied. "The creature's escaped."

Ooo, cliffie! I know it's been forever since I've updated, and I am sorry, but my life has been an absolute mess lately. Unfortunately, fanfic is waaaaay down on the list of things I have to worry about. I can't make any promises about the next chapter, but hopefully it'll be faster. Keep those reviews coming!