Chapter 8: Confessions and Decisions

Starfire sighed and fell onto her bed. What was she going to do? When she had left Tamaran, she had sworn to herself that she would never return. However, she had no idea she would be so missed. So much so that her parents would recruit her best friend to come to Earth and bring her back.

She went over the pros in her head. If she went, she would get to see again the friends and family she left behind. While she did hate that her parents wanted her to follow in their exact footprints, she had to admit that she missed them dearly. And she did miss the Tamaran customs she was used to. Nobody here ate, or even liked, Tamaran food, and she knew that everybody thought that her planet's traditions were strange.

At least there I fit in, she thought sadly.

But then, an image of a certain Titan floated into her head and all thoughts of leaving suddenly seemed like a distant memory. She also thought of all her friends on the team. Surely, they could not go to Tamaran with her, because they had to stay here and protect the city. She would miss them all so much, how could she leave them behind? Starfire also thought of the consequences that would take place in her homeland. Certainly, her parents would want her to fulfill her royal duties, which was the exact thing she ran away from. Starfire hated the idea of ordering around one person, much less ruling over an entire planet.

Her parents merely thought she was running away from the responsibility of it all, and while part of that may be true, Starfire knew that there was more to it.

Or was there?

She sighed. This was going to be a harder decision that she had first thought.

Robin wandered down the hallway as if in a daze. Would Starfire really leave them....leave him, for her home planet? She had never divulged to them the reasons why she had left in the first place, but Robin had always assumed that she was some kind of runaway. Which, he supposed, she was, but he had never guessed that she was running away from the royal family.

Well, no matter what, Robin would keep her here on Earth. With him. He had to. He would make it his mission, and Robin knew that he never failed a mission.

With that thought in mind, he trekked down to Starfire's door and knocked hard.

"Entry is granted," came the spirited voice from inside. The door opened.

He found Starfire sitting up on her bed. She gave him a usual cheerful smile, but her eyes didn't reflect this happiness.

"What brings you to my room, Robin?"

"Hey Star," he greeted her, deflecting the question. He had to decide how he was going to go about this mission. "Um, listen, can we talk?"

She seemed to perk up a bit, he noticed. "Of course!" she exclaimed, patting the side of the bed. "Come and sit."

"Look, I don't know exactly how to say this, so I'm just going to go ahead and say it," he said, ignoring her request to sit down. He rubbed his arm nervously. Starfire gave him an expectant look, but said nothing.

After a few moments of silence, he finally came out with it, "I don't want you to leave."

A look of surprise washed over her face as her eyes grew about 3 sizes. "W-w-what?" she stammered.

"I don't want you to go back to Tamaran," he repeated solidly. There. He'd said it. Now it was completely up to her.

"How-how do you know about that?" she asked, still looking a bit astounded.

"I overheard you and Sandi talking."

"You were sleeping."

"Not exactly...."

Starfire sighed and hugged herself. The surprise of him knowing was beginning to wear off and replacing it were a number of emotions. Flattery that he wanted her to stay. Confusion, because her decision had just become all the harder. And a small part of her was also angry that he had been listening to her private conversation in the first place.

But only a small part.

"Robin....you must understand," she finally began. "This decision, it is not an easy one for me to make. At first, I was like you; completely against going back there. However, I have been thinking over this for a long time now and I have realized that my decision affects a lot more people than just me. Because of this, I really must choose the decision that is best for everybody involved."

Robin stared down at the floor. Not exactly the answer he was going for when he had gone over this conversation in his head.

"Do you know which one that is yet?"

She groaned and fell back onto the bed. "No. Oh Robin, I am so torn. I do not want to leave you and the Titans, but however I have the planet of Tamaran to think about too. And the people of my planet are very important to me. I would never want to leave here but...."

She trailed off, not willing to say what she was actually thinking.

Inwardly, Robin was panicking. This was not going well for him. He couldn't let Starfire leave. There was no way that he was going to fail this plan. He never failed, and he wasn't about to start now.

But how would he get her to stay? What could he do to make her decide that Earth was the best place for her to stay? He didn't know what he would do with himself if she decided to go. A lump was beginning to form in his throat at the mere thought.

"Star-Starfire?" he choked out.

She looked up at him. "Yes?"

"Listen. You can't go, because you.....you just can't. This team....we need you. It wouldn't be the same without you," Robin confessed.

"Nonsense Robin, I'm sure that the team...."

"No," he cut her off quickly. "No, Star, the team wouldn't be the same, because I wouldn't be the same. I....don't know what I would do with myself if you left me here."

He hesitated and she remained silent, trying to consume all of this information as best she could.

"I guess what I'm trying to say is that—"

He paused, looking around for some sort of interruption. One of the Titans would enter, or the alarm would go off, or something would explode.

Nothing did, and so with a deep breath he continued on.

"Iloveyou."

If Starfire thought she'd been shocked before, well, that was nothing. She was floored by the news she'd just received.

He what? Loves me? But....how?

Noticing the silence, Robin shifted awkwardly. Again, not the response he was going for.

"Well. Okay then. Now that I've spilled my heart to you, I'm just going to be going now," he said, pointing to the door as he slowly backed away.

Starfire began to snap out of her trance.

Wait, leave? Why is he leaving? Did I do something wrong? Perhaps I should say something.

"Robin," she called out. He stopped and looked straight at her. Well, this was it. She either hated him or loved him. The 50/50 odds were scary.

"Come here," she instead requested. Robin slowly took a few steps towards the bed, until he was right at her side.

She stood up so that she could be at eye level with him. Gently, she brought a hand to his face.

"Can I....remove this?" she asked, touching the mask that hid more than just his eyes.

His mask. He had almost forgotten he was wearing it. He swallowed and nodded; his voice ineffective at the moment.

Delicately, she pulled up the white material to reveal two stormy blue eyes. She smiled at him, and finally she let those three words sink in. He loves me. The feelings that overcame her were inexplicable. Her heart felt like it was engulfed by a sea of happiness and a huge grin overtook her face. Starfire felt like she was capable of anything at that very moment. Like she could save the world with one hand tied behind her back. Instead, she settled on just reciprocating the feeling.

"I love you, too," she whispered.

Robin was first overwhelmed by a huge sense of relief, and that was followed by extreme joy. He did the only thing that was left to do, and that was to lean in and bring his lips to hers.

She responded to the kiss almost immediately, running her hands through his ebony locks and opening her mouth to deepen the kiss. He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her closer.

Starfire was the first to pull away, and a deep blush colored her cheeks.

"Wow, that is so much better than it looks," she stated.

He grinned at her. "Yeah, I agree."

She gave him a sideways glance. "Perhaps we should do it again?" she asked innocently. He laughed.

"Well, if you insist...."

AN: And a gratuitous make-out scene that I don't feel like describing ensues. LOL. Imagine amongst yourselves.

But hey, they finally told each other! Yay! :does happy dance: