Teen Titans – Dangerous Dance

The Heart Will Tell –

D/N: I actually wrote this chapter before the fifth one, but I figured that I should even out the stuff going on with Raven, Beast Boy, and Cyborg first. This in the continuation of the scene with Robin and Starfire. See you next chapter.

A bright sun was shining overhead as Robin ran against the wind. He had to get away, had to get away from something...but what? He couldn't remember. Something was chasing him, though, that much he knew. He brought his hands up to his face. His mask was gone... Panic surged over him, he had to find it. He stopped running and went back to look for his mask. Just then, something pushed him and he fell into a giant hole that he hadn't seen there before. He tried to grab onto a ledge somewhere, but he couldn't find anything. He tried to scream, but no sound would come out of his mouth. Suddenly, as the darkness swallowed him, he felt himself hit the ground.

Robin gasped and his eyes opened, suddenly leaning forward in his already sitting position, he felt sweat trickling down every part of him. Every part of his body ached and burned. He felt two hands reach forward and drag him gently back towards where they had originated. Robin tensely looked behind him to see who it was, and was relieved to see Starfire. It was obvious that she had taken off his tuxedo while he slept, because it was laying on the ground, to her left. It also appeared that she had undid the top button and cuff buttons of his dress shirt, rolling up the sleeves above his elbows.

Starfire leaned forward slightly, putting an arm around Robin's chest. She reached forward with her remaining hand, putting it on his forehead for a moment. "Mm..." Robin listened to this, remaining silent. Then after a brief pause, Starfire got down to what she wanted to say.

"Another nightmare?" Starfire asked, a worried expression was pasted on her face.

Robin hesitated, thinking of denying it, but then deciding that right now, down here, was not the time nor the place to be stubborn. He swallowed with some difficulty, then nodded. "Yeah."

Starfire nodded seriously, "Not surprising. You've been twitching and talk in your sleep for hours."

Horror struck Robin when he heard this. He tried to remember all the details of his dreams, hoping against all hope that he hadn't said the names of any of the Teen Titans. The urgent search of his mind was interrupted by Starfire's mumbling behind him.

"You said my name a few times too..." Starfire broke off and Robin's eyes closed in horror. What had he said about her? He didn't look back, afraid to see an angry or confused expression on his friend's face. He felt Starfire's grip around his chest tighten a little. His brain suddenly matched an emotion from one of his dreams and he suddenly realized without even looking at her face, what it looked like. When he finally turned to look at her, his face flushed at his guess being correct. Starfire was blushing, a deep shade of red that was even visible in this dim light. It was then that his stomach dropped to the floor.

In one of his more pleasant dreams, he gone back to the dance and actually told Starfire that he loved her. The reality of the situation smashed into him like a brick wall. There was no way to take it back now. He had said it out loud, and he had obviously meant it. This meant that Starfire believed him, no matter how incoherent he was. The ache in his body only increased with his sudden stress. His head started to spin, making him close his eyes. It was also quite obvious that, under the circumstances, Starfire didn't expect for Robin to tell her anything about what she had previously heard, right away.

Starfire's grip loosened a little, allowing him a few more inches. Robin would have never admitted it to anyone other than himself, but he felt comfortable being this close to Starfire. He leaned back against her again, carefully positioning his head on her shoulder. The strength in his body was giving out again, but he was able to keep himself conscious without much effort. Then, seeing that Starfire's words would not go away, he spoke quietly.

"Did I say anything after your name?" Robin needed to know for sure that he was right before he told Starfire what he was feeling and what she needed to hear.

Starfire hesitated, "You said...that...you loved me." If Robin's stomach had dropped to the floor before, it was now being dragged through the floor by and anchor that was on a one way trip to the center of the earth.

Robin had never taken the time to step back and take a good look at himself before now. He found the feeling uncomfortable. There was something unnerving about sorting through all one's emotions for certain people, not to mention how he viewed himself. Instead of letting things be they way they were fated to be, he had buried himself in being the leader. Feeling nothing intensely—anger, love, or anything else. Now that he was forced to examine exactly how he felt about Starfire, he found that he couldn't brush the explanation away so easily. He had always thought about Starfire as his best friend, and that was, perhaps, what made it so hard to let go of that; to move onto something more. He couldn't deny anymore that his feelings at the dance had had nothing to do with his allergic reaction to the lavender he smelled. Sure his actions were blurred, but his feelings were genuine.

There was still silence for several long moments. His mind was trying to come up with the right words to make what she had heard the truth, yet to not get into dramatics. Robin had almost thought of trying to deny it again, but canceled it out of his mind the moment it had appeared there. He couldn't run from the truth anymore, certainly not at Starfire's expense.

"Starfire...I...what I said—" His voice was strong but struggling to keep stable. Then starting over, he gathered strength to make Starfire see that he meant everything that he was saying, "Starfire, the things that I said to you when I was asleep. I—"

"I know you didn't mean them, Robin. That's okay, really," Starfire interrupted.

"No, Starfire!" Robin could hear himself shout. His voice echoed loudly in the small cavernous space. With the last of his strength, he lifted his head off her shoulder, unlaced her hands around his chest and slowly turned himself around to look at her. His soft brown eyes penetrated her green ones with such intensity that it looked, for a moment, as if he might start to cry. "No," he repeated softly, lifting a hand to brush away a few strands of hair from her eyes, "I wanted to tell you...I meant every word of what I said. I just didn't want to put our friendship at risk. I didn't want that, because our friendship meant too much to me, for me care about some extra feelings that were there."

Starfire was startled by his sudden openness with her. She could tell that he was completely at her mercy now. His eyes were boring into her like knives. His expression was a lot sharper and coherent than it had been in many hours, which told Starfire that he truly meant everything he said and expected some sort of reaction from her, to it. Eventually, Starfire got her voice back. All she could say was, "Robin, I have similar feelings for you as well."

Robin's pressing look softened into an expression of silent shock and joy. He nodded, causing a wave of dizziness to come over him. He had to press a hand to the floor to keep himself upright, but it soon passed. When he could once again tell where everything around him was, he found that, not only had he nearly taken a nasty dip to the floor, but Starfire's hand was pressed hard on his chest. He supposed that this as well, had been to keep him from hitting the floor. He looked up at Starfire questioningly, just as she drew back her hand.

Their gaze was locked eye to eye for a moment before Robin's eyes closed involuntarily and he his hole body seemed to tilt to the side. A feeling of complete exhaustion came over him and his mind went suddenly blank. Starfire saw this and grabbed his arms, pulling him upright again. Then, when he didn't make any movement at all, she dragged him back towards her, putting his back against her chest again and carefully leaning his head back on her shoulder. A worried expression came over her face. She knew that the stress and effort of everything he had just had to endure had made him pass out. She hadn't told Robin, but her body, being not mortal human, had healed itself a long time ago, after he had lifted the ruble off her leg. Meaning, her broken leg and dust pneumonia were no more.

She had gone over the possibility of trying to transport some of this healing power to Robin, but what he would think about how it would have to be done, was nagging at her constantly. She put a hand up to his forehead again and flinched at the now, even-hotter feel of it. The way she saw it...she had two options...either she got Robin out of here very soon to get him professional care—this was out of the question because she wasn't sure exactly how far under the rubble they were—or she would have to kiss him. It wasn't the action itself that bothered her at all. She actually liked the idea a little bit. It was, what Robin would think after receiving it, that bothered her. Sure, he had said all those things only a few minutes before and she knew he meant them, but she wasn't sure if he had meant it in that way...if he truly wanted to be that close to her. As thoughts of confusion chased themselves through her mind, she wrapped her hands gently around his chest. Slowly she drifted into a troubled sleep.

Starfire awoke to Robin restlessly moaning and gasping for air in his sleep. She could tell that he was in pain, but she was afraid to do anything. She shifted her hold, so that there was only one hand around his chest, then reached up with the other to check the temperature on his forehead. She could feel the sweat on his bangs as she brushed them away. The heat from his forehead heated her palm unnaturally, making a chill run through her spine. She couldn't wait any longer...she had to do something.

She gently shifted his body to her knees and his head to her hand, then lifted it hesitantly upwards. She leaned down slightly, turning her head slightly. Her hair, which had mostly fallen out of its elegant bun since the dance, came down around her, becoming a curtain around Robin's head. She closed her eyes as she felt her lips make contact with his. Robin's breathing suddenly calmed slightly. This went on for a long moment before Starfire leaned away from him. After a minute or two, she could see that his breathing was already much improved. He wasn't gasping for air very much anymore. His restless moaning, however, had not ceased. She guessed that his healing would take time, but for the most part, he did seem to be leaning towards being on the mend, now.

She gently shifted him again, so that his body was once again leaning on her chest, while his head rested on her shoulder. She had just closed her eyes when she heard shouting from somewhere overhead. Her eyes snapped back open in time to see a rock being lifted off of what she had know for several days to be the ceiling. A bright light shown through the small space where the rock had been lifted off of. There were more voices overhead, shouting all at once. She could only catch a few words, "look over here...yeah, looks like it...two...at least one is alive."

Suddenly, several more pieces of ruble were lifted off by something black, revealing the sky. Raven could be seen floating overhead as she threw the ruble far to the side. Beast Boy's head came into view. He had a wide grin on his face at the sight of her with Robin laying against her; Robin still not conscious.

"Hey, guys! What's up?" Beast Boy shouted down to her. This was enough to vaguely alert Robin that something was going on. He stirred slightly, just in time to catch Cyborg pop his head into view.

"Sorry to interrupt, but we thought you two lovebirds might want a ride back to a more romantic location. Say, home?" Cyborg teased.

A wide grin slowly came across Robin's face at this remark and a heart felt chuckle escaped him. Starfire looked utterly confused.

"Love...birds?" Starfire questioned.

"Don't worry...about it...Star..." Robin managed to say before Beast Boy and Raven came into the small cavern-like area. Beast Boy turned into a phoenix, lifting Robin out of the ruble and laying him a few feet away from the hole. Raven picked Starfire up roughly by the waste and lifted her out of the hole, too. Then laying Starfire in a sitting position, Raven watched as Robin passed out again.

"Is he alright?" Raven asked, her voice sounded calm as always.

Starfire shrugged, "I think he is now...but he's been sick almost he entire time we've down there."

There was silence for a moment before Cyborg picked up Robin and started heading for the Titan Tower.

"Can you walk?" Raven asked as Beast Boy started making signs for Raven to come with him.

Starfire nodded, and shakily got to her feet. Raven turned and started walking next to Beast Boy, making Starfire follow close behind. So, the site of ruble and agony for all the Teen Titans was left behind, as was Robin's tux. The sun rose into full blown rays of light as the morning went by, reuniting the Teen Titans again.