A Date for a Debt

by Riles

So it was a date with a ruthless criminal. Big deal. Two dates on the same night, one boy who she loves, another jealous Titan, and an annoyed Beast Boy? That could cause some difficulties. The lesson to be learned: the Dating Game is very dangerous.

13. Normal

Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans. Yet. –insert evil cackle here-

---

Starfire jumped several feet into the air. "Raven?"

"Where have you been?" Raven fully emerged from the shadows where she had been hiding, a book clutched in her arms. "The others are out looking for you."

Starfire gulped. "All of them?"

"Yes."

Starfire didn't respond to that, and Raven asked her question again. "Where have you been?"

Starfire hesitated. "I… have been at the mall of shopping, just as I said."

"They went through the mall, Starfire; interrogated every living being in there. None of them saw you."

"I… was in a fight."

Raven cocked an eyebrow as her hood fell do to the wind. "Elaborate."

"I… um… was going to get my nails done, as I told you." Raven listened, but by the look in her eyes, Starfire knew she did not believe her. "A… a girl pushed me… Kitten! Yes, Kitten pushed me and we started fighting."

"In the mall? The security would have stopped you long ago, and someone would've mentioned something to the boys."

"It… was not in the mall. We… fought outside."

"And it took you two and a half hours to finish your fight?"

"Um… yes?"

Raven stared at Starfire. "Why don't you tell me what really happened?"

"STARFIRE!"

It was Robin's voice. Starfire turned sharply around to see Beast Boy as a rather large bird carrying both Cyborg and Robin in his claws. Starfire did her best to look normal—to not show how frightened she was at how easily Raven could see through her. She jumped up and down and waved at the oncoming Titans.

"Friends! Where have you been?"

"WHAT D'YOU MEAN WHERE HAVE WE BEEN?!?! WHERE THE HECK WERE YOU?!?!" Cyborg yelled.

"WE SEARCHED THE ENTIRE FREAKIN' MALL AND YOU WEREN'T THERE! I'D SWEAR WE SEARCHED THE ENTIRETY OF JUMP CITY AND YOU WEREN'T THERE EITHER!" Beast Boy said. He stopped dead, as if just realizing something. "WHAT DID YOU DO TO YOUR HAIR?!?!"

Raven immediately turned around and left them. Starfire glanced back at her friend, whose hand was covering her mouth as she went downstairs, and Starfire was under the impression that she was hiding her laughter at Beast Boy's idiocy.

"Star, are you okay?" Robin brought her tightly into a hug, something Starfire was not expecting. "We were so worried. We had to save Aqualad from this huge crowd of girls, and he said you two met on the street and you were taken away by these drunk guys and—"

"Robin, I am fine," Starfire said, hugging him back and closing her eyes, enjoying the feel of being in his arms. It wasn't one of her usual hugs when she was happy to see you, the ones that cut off your air, but a light one full of compassion. "I am glad to see you again."

Robin hugged her tighter. "Star, where did you go?"

Starfire's eyes shot open, though she did not move away. "I… went to the mall of shopping."

"THERE IS NO WAY YOU WERE ANYWHERE NEAR THAT—"

"No, Cyborg, I was there," Starfire said, thinking hard as she twisted the truth. She had gone to the mall with Beast Boy. "And then I left and I met Aqualad on the street." They had gone outside together, but who's to say they didn't "meet" there?

"And then… those guys? We searched all around but couldn't find you," Robin said.

"I… used an energy blast to put them 'out'."

"But shouldn't we have found their bodies then?" Cyborg asked.

"My attack would not have put them 'out' for long," Starfire said.

"NO, BUT YOUR ATTACK CERTAINLY PUT OUT YOUR HAIR! COME WITH ME RIGHT NOW!"

Starfire didn't want to leave Robin's arms, but Beast Boy dragged her—literally—to the stairs and down them, then straight to her room.

"BRUSH!" Beast Boy ordered.

"Friend, please do not yell."

"DON'T YELL? YOU DON'T WANT ME TO—" Beast Boy suddenly got his head back together. "Gimme the brush."

Starfire gently handed him her brush. Beast Boy removed the clips in her hair that now were only just hanging on and brushed out her hair to perfection. He brushed back the front of her hair into the barrettes and stepped back to admire his own work.

"Maybe I don't need to get your hair done after all! I can do it myself!"

"I am enthralled at your victory, Beast Boy," Starfire said. "May I—?"

"Oh, but that make-up!" Beast Boy interjected. "That cannot go untouched."

Then, in a voice that made then entire tower shake, he called out, "OH RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAVEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEN!"

Raven was at Starfire's door in an instant. "If you do that again, I shall personally murder you."

Beast Boy sweat dropped, then handed Raven a bag. "Your turn!"

"My turn what?" Raven asked.

"Make-up!"

"WHAT MAKES YOU THINK I CAN DO MAKE-UP?!?!"

Beast Boy paused at the door. "What, are you telling me that's not mascara?" The door shut behind him.

Raven had a very angry look on her face and looked as though she was seriously considering following him and further discussing their argument.

"Friend Raven? You will help me?"

Raven sighed. "I guess." She walked over to Starfire, opened the bag and looked at the contents in confusion. "I don't even know what half this stuff is."

Beast Boy skipped down Starfire's hallway tauntingly. "RAVEN WEARS MASCARA! RAVEN WEARS MASCARA! RAVEN WEARS MASCARA!"

Steam was coming from Raven's head.

"Friend Beast Boy, please stop shouting!" Starfire said in an effort to help.

Beast Boy couldn't hear her over his own shouting. "RAVEN WEARS MASCARA!"

Raven's face was red in fury.

"YOU KNOW IT'S TRUE, I FOUND SOME IN HER SCARY OLD ROOM!"

Raven stood up, her furious personality nearing control, and fazed through Starfire's door as a shadow. Horrifying screams from Beast Boy soon followed.

Starfire looked in the bag. She would have to try and do this herself, and had a grand total of ten minutes to do so. This would be fun—hopefully.

Starfire emerged from her room ten minutes later and flew down the hallway carefully but quickly. She entered the main room and landed. "I am ready!"

Robin turned around, and his mouth dropped open. Cyborg could only stare, horrified, even as his game continued. Beast Boy, slung on the couch, gave a silent scream.

Raven was the only one who made any movement, any sound. She stared at Starfire for her a moment over her book, and then fell on the floor in front of her, laughing. Everyone turned to stare at her. She was on all fours, in hysterics, and having great difficulty breathing. Her cloak turned pink.

"You… make… and the… terrible!" Raven was having difficulty getting a full sentence out. "THAT'S GREAT!" Laughter.

The pans in the kitchen cracked into a thousand pieces, the fridge door flew off, and the windows shattered.

"Raven… are you okay?" Cyborg asked.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Beast Boy screamed. "STARFIRE, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!?!"

"What have I done?" Starfire repeated the question with genuine curiosity.

"THAT—NO!" Beast Boy ran to her and looked her over. "You mixed up the eye shadow and blush—is that eyeliner for lipstick?—lipstick as cover-up—oh, this is really not good—"

"That is not right?" Starfire asked. "I was not certain what to do, so—"

"We should go out like that," Robin said seriously.

Everything in the room, even Happy Raven, seemed to freeze in time.

"Are you joking?" Beast Boy asked.

"Nope!" Robin said happily. "C'mon, Star!"

"But Robin, you're not in your suit!" Beast Boy complained as Robin pulled Starfire out of the room and soon afterwards, out the door. "Robiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiin!" Beast Boy complained, even though he knew Robin couldn't hear him. "You look normal!"

"Robin!" Starfire said, shocked.

"Yes?" Robin asked, in that same innocent way Starfire sometimes used.

"What… what is it you are doing?" Starfire asked.

"Star, this is too much," Robin said. He took out her barrettes and chucked them in the water. Her boots followed the barrettes, and then the jade clothing itself. Starfire looked down at herself. She had her purple outfit on underneath, and as far as she could tell, she looked completely normal.

"You… do not wish to dress up?" Starfire asked.

"Takes too much work," Robin said carelessly. "Don't know how you put up with Beast Boy. He tried to help me earlier, and I knew there was no way I was letting him help me again."

"So you wish to look normal?"

"That's right."

Starfire flew over to the substantial body of water just outside the tower and lay down beside it. She stuck her head in and washed her face for several minutes, to make sure it was all off.

Starfire stood up, her hair on the wrong end of her head. She flipped her hair to make it return to her back and faced Robin again. "It is all off?"

Robin mentally shook his head. She looked beautiful. "Yeah, yeah, it's off."

"Then let us go. We do not wish to miss our movie. What movie are we to be seeing?"

"It's a surprise," Robin said.

Starfire giggled with delight. "I cannot wait!"

I can, Robin thought to himself. It was a movie Starfire would love to see in theaters again, he knew it, but he was not quite so joyous on the prospect. Romance wasn't quite his thing.

Starfire did the honors of flying them to the movie theater she had not seen in many months. Ever since her embarrassing outburst during A Walk to Remember, the Teen Titans had decided to never go to the movie theater again. It wasn't the first time Starfire had shouted out during a movie, but it was the first time only she had been the one shouting. The other Titans would either have something to say to the actors on screen, or several other members in the theater would. What Starfire did had been "downright mortifying", according to Cyborg.

Robin led Starfire to a ticket booth with no line, where a sign that read "Closed" was on it. A woman stood behind the counter anyway, her chin in her hand.

"Hi, we spoke on the phone?" Robin said.

"Oh, Robin, yes." The woman stepped out of the booth and met them. "Right this way."

The woman led them through the double doors that guided them into a large, dome-shaped room that was closer to the size of a ballroom. She led the two through it and down a hall to their right, then took a left and stopped in front of a theater with no name above it to divulge what movie they were to see. The woman said she hoped they enjoyed themselves and left.

"Robin, what movie are we to be seeing?"

"You'll see. C'mon, I think they left the snacks in here."

"'You shall see' is no longer an adequate response!" Starfire said, tugging on his sleeve. "I cannot bear the suspense!"

Robin laughed. "It'll be starting soon."

Starfire stopped her begging as they saw the seating. "Robin… there is no one here."

"The beauty of renting a theater," Robin said.

"You rented the theater?" Starfire asked. "No one else will be joining us?"

"We're not exactly seeing an up-to-date movie. Oh, there're the snacks. Good, they got them right."

Starfire's eyes lit up. "MUSTARD!" She ran towards a bottle and drained it in seconds. "Please, is there more?"

"Behind you," Robin said, grinning as he grabbed a box of hot nachos and melted cheese. He'd known this would happen.

Starfire jumped into the air with delight. She ran back and hugged Robin, then went back to the army of mustards and began draining them, one by one.

"Where d'you want to sit, Star?" Robin asked. "Sit anywhere you like."

"Here," Starfire said, taking the seat nearest the mustard.

Robin smiled. "Of course."

The lights suddenly dimmed, and without previews, the movie began playing.

---

A/N:

I AM SO SORRY EVERYONE!!! Some IDIOT deleted Microsoft Works off my computer, and I couldn't update! We shall all band together and murder my step-dad for his "updates" to the computer. I just got it fixed. You have no idea how long it took me to fix this chapter up again…. Notepad had it completely jumbled. And then when we fixed it, everything corrected itself. -insert seething Riles here-

Starfirerobin5- Glad you liked it! Here's your update!

SocialButterfli- We all love Starfire. xD You're actually not going to see Robert again. . Unless, in the sequel that D-I-WaRrIa suggested, he appears. Which if I make a sequel, is a very big possibility. You were right, though--hell has come for me not updating. I have no Microsoft Word, and that thing is my life. I must listen to you more! xD

SocialKween- No offense taken. I know what it's like to be pressed for time. Glad you liked it, and sorry for not updating!

D-I-WaRrIa- xD I'd probably put all the boys in the hospital too. Perhaps I'll write a sequel to this. I never thought of it…. Remind me to ask if you guys want one at the end! I think you'll be mad at me in a few chapters, though…. I did something that even I hate myself for.

Terra Basher- Would you like another cookie? xD You're welcome to them all. -hands a jar of cookies- xD Here's your update. Sorry it took so long! We shall all band against the step-dad!

StarfireRobin3ever- Yay! So it begins, does it not? And I could make the chapters longer…. But I already separated them and stuff. So in the next fic I do, I'll try to make them a bit longer. How long were thinking? I try to make them somewhere… 4-6 pages in Word as it is. Never more or less than that.

All right! Next chapter! (If I can find out what happens through the mess of Notepad….) BB replays an old joke. You find out just what movie Robin got the theater to play. And then Starfire sings prettyfully. And you all must bear with me. I didn't have the words to the song at my disposal, so I had to watch the movie… over… and over… and over… and over trying to figure out what the words were. So if they're not right, forgive me, but do correct me! Then there's fluff as Robin and Starfire finish off their date! But nothing good lasts forever. There's a surprise at the door as the two return to Titans Tower, and it can only mean trouble. Starfire has been caught in the act, and now all three in the love triangle are paying the price.

Thanks for reading everyone! Don't forget to throw tomatoes at my step-dad for his "updates". And most importantly--well, okay, tomatoes at the step-dad is most important, so second most importantly--don't forget to review!

Riles