Chapter 3

"Starfire?" said Raven from the other side of Starfire's door. Starfire emerged from the bathroom flanked by a cloud of steam, wearing a fluffy white dressing-gown and towelling her wet hair. She opened the door,

"Hello, Raven, what is it?" she said with a smile.

"Just letting you know, dinner's going to be on the table in ten minutes." Raven turned to leave but Starfire called her back.

"Er, Raven, will Robin be eating with us?" She tried to make it sound innocent, but Raven saw straight through her and sighed,

"I'm afraid he will be, Star, or at least, Cyborg's gone to tell him to come and eat. But don't let him stop you spending time with us. We're your friends too." Starfire felt a twinge of guilt,

"I know, and as I told Cyborg earlier, I will no longer avoid all of you, just for his sake."

Raven smiled that serene smile again," Good. See you at dinner."

Star shut her door and turned to her bag. Hands on her hips, she stared at it impatiently, trying to decide on what she would wear, since she'd left her uniform at home, not that it still fit anyway.

Meanwhile…

"Rob? It's me, Cy,"

Robin opened his door a crack, with just one side of his face showing, like Raven used to do. "What is it, Cy?"

"Can I come in?"

Robin seemed to contemplate this for a while, before swinging the door wide and motioning for his friend to come in. He turned his back on Cyborg, leaving him to close the door. Robin went back to his desk and whatever he had been working on before the interruption.

"So what did you want to talk to me about?" he said.

"Well I'm supposed to be telling you that dinner will be ready in ten minutes…" said Cyborg.

"But?" said Robin, picking up on his friend's loaded pause and bracing himself for what he knew was coming.

"But what I really want to talk to you about is Starfire." Cyborg finished warily.

"There's nothing to talk about." said Robin dismissively.

"That's not how I see it."

"Well it's how I see it. Besides, this really has nothing to do with you."

Cyborg knew his friend was stressed, so he didn't take his comments to heart.

"It has something to do with me if you two tear each other apart before she's even been here 24 hours. It has something to do with all of us," Cyborg waited, evaluating Robin's composure to see if he could make this next accusation. Robin remained silent, and continued to stare at the maps and newspaper clippings that baffled Cyborg. "if you force her away again."

His leader's reaction was instantaneous. Robin span around to face him, indignation plain on his masked face.

"I did not force her away, Cyborg. She left on her own, and without even letting me explain, so don't you try to blame me for it. You know what happened." He turned away again, giving Cyborg a mildly dirty look as he did so. Cyborg sighed,

"Look man, I can tell you still love her. Why don't you just tell her, apologise, see if she'll take you back? All this fighting is killing you, both of you." He implored.

"In that case I guess I'll die." Robin mumbled, he was just being difficult, but Cyborg couldn't ignore that. He frowned,

"So you'd rather die than be with Starfire?" he said angrily. Robin paused,

"No," he sighed, all the spirit going out of him. He put his hands on his desk, bracing his elbows to hold himself up. "I'd rather die than be without her."

Cyborg was taken aback,

"Tell her that, then." he said.

"I can't"

"Why not?" Cyborg couldn't understand it. His fearless leader was resolutely refusing to take a chance for what he obviously wanted. Robin turned back to face him, and the barely hidden vulnerability and honesty in his face was startling.

"Because what if she takes me back, and I screw it up again? I couldn't go through that, I couldn't lose her a second time." Robin said. Cyborg didn't know what to say, he just let Robin continue, "At least now she's around, at least now I can see her smile, even if it's not for me." The last was said quietly, almost as if he was saying for himself.

"Okay man," said Cyborg, not having the heart to pursue the matter, turning to leave Robin alone. When he reached the door, he had to turn back. " I forgot, are you coming to dinner?"

Robin muttered something and waved his hand, which Cyborg took to mean yes.

At dinner, all the Titans sat down together at the table. Robin and Starfire were trying their best to ignore each other, and the others were watching them apprehensively. No-one was talking, and everyone felt it.

"Hey, why did the tofu cross the road?" Beastboy said at last. Raven shot him a warning glance and Cyborg shook his head. "What? Come on, it's like somebody's died in here" he said.

"Maybe we just don't have anything to talk about." said Raven trying to smooth things over and pretend the air wasn't so thick with tension you could cut it with a knife.

"I bet I could think of a few things to talk about" mumbled Beastboy glancing meaningfully at Starfire and Robin. Cyborg jerked and Beastboy howled in pain. He had just kicked him under the table. "Hey man, what the hell was that for? I'm only saying what everybody's thinking."

"Cut it out, both of you." snapped Robin.

"Oh, I enjoy Beastboy and Cyborg's discourse even if you don't, Robin. And you know all about that." came Starfire's venomous reply.

"And just what is that supposed to mean?" said Robin, responding to Starfire's challenge in kind.

"Nothing Robin," said Starfire innocently, making her eyes wide, "Just that you are experienced in enjoying things that hurt others." The other Titans winced low down in their chairs, their heads snapping from side to side, watching Starfire and Robin fight like watching a tennis match.

"God Star, what's happened to you? Where's the Starfire I knew? Does she even exist anymore?" said Robin, shocked.

"Oh yes Robin, she still exists. Just not for you." And with that parting remark, Starfire stood up and took her plate to the sink. Taking advantage of Robin's stunned silence she turned to Raven, "Thank you for dinner Raven, I can only regret I did not get to enjoy it." Then she turned and stalked back to her room.

Three pairs of cautious eyes turned to look at Robin but he didn't seem to notice. Instead he slowly leant forward and put his head in his hands.