Chapter 5

Robin shot up in bed. Everything was quiet and dark, but he was panting and covered in a cold sweat. He had been having a nightmare. About Starfire, and the night she left.

It was Starfire's voice that had woken him, she was knocking on his door, which had confused him for a second. He looked down at the girl next to him, at the sparkling purple eyes and silken mass of black hair. His skin crawled instinctively at the sight of her.

"Blackfire?..." Robin's brain was having trouble processing it all. Unfortunately, Blackfire got up and threw his cape over her shoulders, tossing him a coy glance with a sway of her hips. Understanding poured over him like a bucket of ice water. He decided he didn't need to know how she got there, everything depended on him stopping Starfire from seeing her there, standing in his doorway wearing only his cape. He flung himself out of the bed and frantically reached for his trousers. But he was too late. He heard the door click open and the world ground to a halt. Starfire's voice float through the gap.

"Blackfire? Where is Robin? What have you done with him?" She sounded hurt and confused. Robin wrenched his trousers on so fast he thought they'd tear. He was going to explain everything, she would understand, she would forgive him, she had to. He was vaguely aware of Blackfire making some snide comment. Trousers on, he turned ready to tell Starfire what happened so they could boot Blackfire out together. But the disbelief and tears in her beautiful emerald eyes tore the words from his throat. Knowing that he was the cause of her pain hurt like a wrecking ball to the chest.

"Starfire, I-" But she was gone. He tore after her, knocking Blackfire down as he went. He almost had her but she opened a window and took off. Blackfire's laughter rang through the corridor as Robin could only watch as his angel flew away from him and into the night.

Robin flopped back onto his bed and ran his hands through his tousled hair. How am I going to get through this? he thought.

Raven was talking to Cyborg and Beastboy in one corner of the room.

"The first thing we have to do is implant the idea of getting back together in their heads. Even if they dismiss it, it will still be there. Cyborg, I'm going to need you to talk to Robin, ask him if he still loves her, would he take her back, etc,"

"Um, I kinda already did that," said Cyborg.

"Doesn't matter, do it again. I'll take Starfire."

"What about me?" said Beastboy

"Beastboy, you prepare this room for them. Fix the door, check that there isn't anything sharp in here." said Raven. Beastboy smiled, but didn't laugh, in case she wasn't joking.

Then Starfire walked in and they separated to have breakfast.

Cyborg did as instructed and after breakfast he followed Robin out of the room.

"Hey, Robin!" he called. Robin turned and smiled at him.

"Yeah?"

"Er," Cyborg didn't really know what to say. He probably should have come up with something before hand. "How are you?" he said fishing around. "You don't look so good." It was true Robin was looking a bit dishevelled this morning.

"Oh, I'm okay, I didn't really sleep well last night. Nightmares." Robin said, turning away and starting to walk again. Cyborg saw his window of opportunity.

"Oh yeah? About what? Starfire?" He guessed. If he was wrong, Robin would get suspicious and maybe blow the whole thing. But his friend just laughed unhappily and said,

"That obvious, huh?" Cyborg held in a sigh of relief.

"I just know you, you know? If you're losing sleep about it, I still say you should just explain to her what happened, it could really make a difference."

"Well I still say I shouldn't. I'm not about to start making excuses, besides she hates my guts."

"It wouldn't be making excuses, it would be… explaining what made you do it."

"I can't help but notice you didn't deny her hating me." said Robin.

"No" sighed Cyborg, he was losing this battle. "Just think about it, okay?"

"Maybe" said Robin, shutting his door in Cyborg's face. Cyborg had been so preoccupied in convincing Robin to tell Starfire the truth that he hadn't even noticed they'd reached his room. Cyborg shook his head, he'd done the best he could.

Raven was having a slightly easier time of things, but only because her charge was naturally more amicable.

"What if Robin said he still loved you? Would you consider it then?" she asked.

"Maybe, I don't know. I still don't see why we're even having this conversation." replied Starfire.

"I don't like to see you unhappy." Raven could sense her friend's suspicion.

"You ask me if I would consider taking Robin back if he still loved me, but that's irrelevant. If he loved me he wouldn't have slept with Blackfire." said Starfire. Raven bit her tongue. "Please, Raven, I would like to be alone now."

"Okay, I'll leave you alone." Raven left her friend's room, then walked down to the main room to wait for Cyborg and see how Beastboy was doing.

At noon, Raven declared that she and Beastboy were going out to the new vegy bar downtown for lunch, then Cyborg said he was going to go over to Steel City and check in on the Titans East. All this meant that Robin and Starfire would be alone in the tower for a couple of hours. They didn't say anything but Raven could sense Robin's suspicion and Starfire's annoyance.

The time alone was going well, mainly because they never saw or spoke to each other. Robin spent time in the gym, and when he finished he made his way up to the kitchen for something to eat. He reached the thick doors and they slid open automatically. What he saw made him stop in his tracks. Starfire was inside, and she was dancing. Robin could see the silver case of a diskman and he couldn't help himself from leaning on the door to watch. It seemed Starfire had picked up how to dance in her three years away, because this wasn't the erratic dancing of Tameran that Robin was so used to, but the slow, seductive weave of Earth's various clubs. Her hips swung side to side and her shoulders rolled in the opposite direction. He was mesmerized and sinking fast, but was brought quickly to his senses as she turned and saw him watching her. She angrily pressed a button on her diskman and put it down on the counter.

"Don't you knock?" she spat.

"Why would I knock? I'm the one who lives here." Robin replied. She scowled at him as he walked towards the kitchen part of the room. Starfire marched past him to leave, but stopped at the door, she frowned and punched in a code on the panel next to the door, but still it didn't open. She turned to him with her arms crossed.

"The door will not open."

"What?" said Robin. He walked to the door and tried his own code, not failing to noticed the way Starfire took several steps back when he got even remotely close to her, but the panel just beeped and rejected him. He frowned for a second, then he smiled.

"This is your doing." said Starfire.

"What! Me! Why would I lock myself in a room alone with you?" he said. "It's the others. They want us to talk. We did something similar to Raven and BB. Except with them we didn't lock them in together, we just left the tower. They must not trust us to spend any time with each other."

"There is nothing to talk about" she said, moving away from the door and charging up her hands with starbolts.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," said Robin, "Not only would the blast be reflected back at you, but the others are probably on the other side of the door anyway."

"How did he know?" whispered Beastboy to Raven, who were indeed listening outside in the corridor.

"But it's good to know that you would rather blast your way through six inches of re-enforced steel than be in the same room as me." said Robin sarcastically. He went and sat down in front of the TV and began flicking through channels. After a minute, Starfire sat down across from him without looking at him.

"I think I have every right to be angry, Robin, unlike you." she said.

"What!" Robin gasped, tossing the remote and forgetting the TV. "You abandoned us, Star, all of us. You left without even letting me explain."

"You want to explain? Go ahead, I'm listening." said Starfire hostily, leaning forward. Robin held her stare for a while, but ultimately looked away without speaking. Starfire leant back.

"I thought so. I loved you, you know, I really did. But what did you do? You slept with my sister and broke my heart. Seemingly for no reason. So excuse me for being a little upset." She look away from him and crossed her arms. There was a small pause, then Robin said quietly,

"Do you still love me?" Starfire's eyes narrowed and she turned to look at him.

"How dare you ask me that? I can't even look at you anymore." she said.

Outside, the other Titans were getting bored. They'd heard the argument enough times not to want to hear it again. Then they heard the arguing inside stop.

"What happened?" said Beastboy.

"They've stopped fighting." replied Cyborg in wonder. Just then Robin's voice spoke from their communicators.

"Nice try, guys," he said, "but she flew out the window."

Cyborg sighed, "Why do they have to be so difficult?"

"You didn't lock the windows?" said Raven to Beastboy.

Robin tapped his communicator thoughtfully. Starfire hadn't answered his question.