Chapter 3: Out of Hiding
Disclaimer: I don't own anything. But I have a friend who can act like Starfire and she says she has a guy friend who acts like Robin. (shrug) Go figure.
Glor: Sorry about the delay. (shakes her fist at fanfiction(.)net and then shakes her fist at her e-mail provider) And because my e-mail's a bitch, I think only one of the e-mails got through to people. Two cookies for all who were waiting and didn't get it in an e-mail. (hands them out)
Her burns began to heal after a week of reluctant bed rest. The sun poured through the window in the bedroom of the small apartment. Terra stretched her arms over her head and then quietly slipped out of the bed. She slipped on some shoes she had borrowed from Jason's closet and tried to sneak outside the front.
The operative word being 'tried,' "Where do you think you're going, blondie?" Jason asked from the kitchen.
Terra froze at the door and then got an idea as she turned to face him, "Well, RED, I was going to go take a walk!" she said with smile.
He cringed at the new nickname she had given him. She had come up with it when she saw him with red hair dye for his highlights. She had called him Red and he visibly twitched so it stuck, unfortunately for him.
Terra had made and her opening and she ran out the door, "I'll be back later!" she yelled as she left.
Jason sighed as he headed for his small living room. He sat on the couch, put his feet up on the coffee table, and flicked the television on, 'Whatever, I'll get her back later,' he thought with a grin.
"Friend Robin, you've stayed in your room for this whole week. Will you please join us for some couch potatoing?" Starfire's voice broke Robin's concentration.
"Star, I can't, not until we find Red X. That suit was my fault, whatever he does is my responsibility," he said as he turned his head back to his researching.
Starfire glared at him, a rare occurrence for Starfire, at his desk. Soon her anger boiled over and she fired a star bolt at the desk, incinerating the research. Robin turned to Starfire in shock, partially because his research was gone and partially because Starfire had never reacted like this.
"Robin, I hate when you become this way! You become detached from m- Us, the team," she said sadly, as she looked down, then she looked up and raised her voice, "It's either Red X or Slade! Why must you always do this, hide behind your mask or in your room? Do you think the world will end just because you are not there to save the day?"
Robin's eyes widened beneath his mask as Starfire continued her rant, although her voice lowered a bit, "Do you not see you are hurting all of us when you do this? We're a team, we are supposed to work together..." she said in a hushed voice as she began to leave.
Robin's mouth hung agape but once the words sunk in, he grabbed Starfire's wrist and Robin had forcefully turned Starfire to him with a look of guilt etched in his face. A serious tone earlier had replaced Starfire's normally happy and bouncy tone but now her eyes softened.
They stood like that, in a comfortable silence that was only broken when Starfire felt compelled to reach for Robin's face. She caressed his cheek and he leaned into her touch. Soon her fingertips wandered to his mask. On reflex, Robin's hand grabbed Starfire's hand to stop her from removing his mask.
Hurt shone in her eyes so instead of stopping her, he helped her peel off the mask. The mask dropped to the floor to reveal bright blue eyes reflected in bright green eyes that had widened in shock.
"Am I hiding behind my mask now, Star?" Robin's voice rang out through the room, hoarse and full of emotion.
Starfire shook her head as a smile formed on her face and she pounced him with a hug, which caught him by surprise causing them to crash onto his bed. With the loud sound the bed made, Robin's door opened to reveal Beastboy.
"Sorry, wrong room! Eh, keep doing whatever you two were doing!" Beastboy said quickly and left as fast as he came, shutting the door behind him.
Starfire blinked in her naiveté as Robin's mind started to work again and decipher the gibberish Beastboy had said.
"Beastboy!"
Beastboy ran back to the couch, out of breath, "What happened to you?" Raven asked in her monotone voice from her spot on the couch as Cyborg walked over to his friend.
"Yeah, man. And where's Star and Robin?" Cyborg asked.
"Robin... no... mask... and... Starfire... on-his-bed..." he said with big gulps of air and then rushed out the last part as fell down from exhaustion but Cyborg caught before he hit the floor.
"Beastboy!"
Cyborg and Raven cringed at Robin's voice as they heard the stomping of his steal-toed boots clomp down the hallway on his way to the main room.
Everyone looked up when the Boy Wonder entered the room and quickly made his way over to Beast Boy, "That was not what it looked like!" Robin exclaimed which caused to Raven and Cyborg to wonder what did happen.
Glor: Okay, sorry for the really long delay and the rather short chapter. I only ended where I did because it seemed like a good end spot. (sweatdrops and then hands out her cookie bribes to reviewers)