Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans.

Stuck

The leader of the Teen Titans frowned deeply, his mask wrinkling as he did so.

"I don't like it."

He felt a heavy metallic hand on his shoulder. Cyborg smiled confidently.

"Don't worry, man. We'll be fine. It's not like we haven't earned it."

"Yeah, dude. It's just a trip to the mall."

The green changeling let loose what he considered to be his most charming smile. It didn't have the desired effect.

"I just don't think we should be doing this when the Brotherhood of Evil is still lurking out there. What if they attack while-?"

Cyborg raised an arm to silence his spiky haired comrade. "Then we'll stop shopping and kick their butts. But we need some time to relax; we've been on the road for months now."

A low grumble came from Robin's throat. "I still don't like it."

If they could, both of Cyborg's eyes would have rolled. He snapped his finger and smiled. "Ah ha! But I have a practical reason for the going to the mall!"

"And that would be?"

"Supplies! We're running low on food!"

"We have plenty of rations."

Raven interrupted the quarrelling pair from where she was sat behind them. "Rations. Yum."

The spiky haired teen turned and thinned his eyes threateningly, though it had no effect on the empath. Starfire waved her arm around in the air, and Raven gestured over to her.

"Would you please let her talk? She's been holding up her hand for about an hour now."

Robin smiled and cocked an eyebrow at the orange skinned Tamaranian. "What's up, Star?"

She sighed and gratefully dropped her arm, rubbing her hand to get the feeling back. "Thank you, Robin. I would just like to express my desire to eat some real food. It has been quite some time since I have tasted mustard."

Beast Boy leaned heavily on Robin's shoulder. "Looks like everyone's against you, dude."

The Boy Wonder muttered something unintelligible and most likely highly offensive to Beast Boy. "Fine. But don't blame me when-"

"We won't, don't worry," Cyborg cut in, already walking towards the huge building in front of them. The other Titans followed suit, leaving Robin stood with his arms crossed, the heavy frown still creasing his brow. Starfire paused and turned.

"Robin?"

He hesitated for a moment, casting a quick glance at the T ship behind them. He wasn't sure if the mall staff would appreciate Cyborg taking up about ten spaces by parking it there. He looked back to Starfire, who was smiling hopefully at him. His head dropped in defeat.

"Coming…"

Someday he would have to learn to say no to that girl.

Someday… when I'm a very old man…

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Cyborg's red eye lit up. "Ooo, wine…"

Robin made a vague noise of protest, but quickly shut up when the other Titans turned and scowled at him. Well, Beast Boy and Cyborg scowled. Robin didn't think that Starfire had it in her to scowl, and Raven… well, Raven was always either scowling or indifferent.

Starfire had latched on to his arm for the entire journey around the mall, and Robin couldn't help but feel a small measure of pride.

Okay, it was a huge measure of pride. He was loving every minute of it. He glanced over his shoulder and saw another jealous glare from a passing teenage boy. He tried to hide the smile, but it didn't work well. Starfire cocked her head curiously.

"Robin? What are smiling about?"

The other Titans stopped their perusing about the liquor shop to look at him. With blood rushing to his face and his mind a blank, all he could manage was a cough and a nervous smile.

"Uh… nothing."

She thinned her eyes in a way that Robin had never seen before. Strike that; he had seen it; when Batman was interrogating the most hardened criminals. Robin had seen the most frightening men reduced to tears from that look; the look he had silently dubbed 'The Bat Glare'.

And now Starfire was using it on him. He pulled at his collar nervously. "Uh… that is, I was… um… it… uh…"

Raven stepped forward. "Starfire, do you want to-"

The Tamaranian raised a hand. "In a moment, Raven. Once Robin has told me what he was smiling at, we will go."

Under different circumstances, Robin would have found Raven's surprised facial expression amusing. As it was, it just horrified him more. She shrugged, as if silently saying:

"You're on your own."

Robin gulped noisily. "Okay, now, let's just… calm down…"

"But I am calm, Robin."

And she was. Dammit, she was beginning to become a human female. Robin looked around at the other Titans. Beast Boy was snickering quietly in the corner, while Raven and Cyborg looked at different bottles of wine nonchalantly. Robin mentally frowned. He wanted to tell her why; he really did. But not in front of everyone else. They would just make him feel embarrassed, and that would end up being a repeat of the space station incident all over again.

And they didn't need that during a vital mission. Yeah, that was the reason.

Resolving to fix the situation, he grabbed Starfire by the arm and pulled her outside the shop. A surprised look crossed her delicate features, and Robin took a deep breath. Making sure that Cyborg and Beast Boy were out of earshot, he looked Starfire in the eyes.

"Starfire… I was smiling because…"

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"Dude."

Cyborg looked at the list of wines in front of him. He had no freaking idea why he was looking at a wine list. He didn't know a thing about wine. He looked down at his green friend, who was cupping his hand around his ear, trying to listen to what Robin and Starfire were saying outside.

"BB, seriously, just leave them alone."

"Can you hear them?"

"No, and apparently you didn't hear me. Leave them. Alone."

His green skinned companion turned to face him. "Since when are you so… so…"

"Mature?"

"Boring."

"I'm not boring!"

"Oh, you so are, dude."

Cyborg dropped the wine list and poked a thumb at his chest. "I am not boring. You are boring, Garfield."

The grin disappeared from the changeling's face and he ducked his head, putting his finger to his lips as he looked around the small shop. "Dude! I said to keep it to yourself when we're in public!"

"Keep what to himself, Garfield?"

Beast Boy turned and glared at Raven, who had the barest hint of a smile on her lips. She pulled a bottle of wine from beneath her cloak.

"What do you think of this?" she asked, showing the label to Cyborg. He leaned forward to more closely inspect the label and scratched his chin, hoping to look like he knew what he was talking about.

"Yeah, that'll do."

Raven nodded and floated over to the counter. Beast Boy looked at his half machine friend incredulously. "Dude, you so know nothing about wine."

Cyborg adopted a shocked face. "I do!" he said, doing his best to sound appalled. The small changeling pointed a finger at him, but was interrupted by a delighted squeal from Starfire outside as she crushed Robin in a bear hug. Cyborg smiled and shook his head.

"It took him that long to tell her?" he mumbled, and Beast Boy frowned.

"Dude! You said you couldn't hear them!"

Cyborg's human eye widened in shock. "I uh… I can't."

The spiky haired teen eyed his friend suspiciously. "You are so not mature yet, dude."

"I thought you said I was boring."

"You are! You're really boring! You're all into wine and stuff now. You're like a politician or something."

That was it. Cyborg had had enough. "All right. What do I have to do to prove to you that I'm not boring?"

Beast Boy grinned. "I knew you had it in you, dude! Okay, make the loud speaker say something stupid."

The hulking teen rotated his hand, indicating for Beast Boy to elaborate. "Something stupid like…"

"Uh… how about… 'I smell of poop'."

"'I…" he looked at his small friend through half closed eyes. "…smell of poop'."

"Yeah!"

He remained silent for a few moments, the only noises being of the musak playing in the mall, just staring at his green friend.

"…right."

Cyborg sighed and stood, activating his jamming equipment. This was meant for usage on high security bands that supervillains commonly used, but it could be used for this… mission… as well, he guessed. The speaker system sprang to life, noisily cutting off the musak. Robin and Starfire, who were just entering the shop, paused at the entrance, looking up as the mall was plunged into silence. Raven, who was turning away from the counter, also paused and looked up, wondering what idiotic thing Beast Boy and Cyborg were getting up to now.

And just when Cyborg was acting halfway mature, too. A loud voice interrupted her thoughts.

"Attention Shoppers; I smell of poop. That is all."

The musak resumed, and Raven instantly heard Beast Boy's snickering.

"Dude… that was awesome!"

Suddenly, the lights flickered, and the electricity in the entire mall went out. Raven turned the corner and appeared behind Cyborg.

"What did you do?"

Frantically pushing buttons on his arm, Cyborg's eyes widened. "I don't know. I guess I must've overloaded-"

The lights came back on.

"-it. Heh. Or not."

Raven just shook her head and floated past.

Beast Boy made a funny face as she passed, mimicking her as she went. She quickly turned, catching Beast Boy in mid-impression.

"Uh… hey," he said, offering a small wave before running out of the shop. Robin sighed.

"I'll get him."

With a lingering smile on Starfire, he walked away in the same direction. Starfire entered the wine shop with a beaming smile on her face, and began browsing. Cyborg and Raven exchanged looks.

"Uh… Star?"

"Mmm?"

"Do you even know what you're looking for?"

Starfire paused for a moment, then blushed slightly. "Um… no."

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"But, dude, she's going to kill me."

Robin sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger. "She's not going to kill you, Beast Boy. She's threatened to kill you plenty of times and never followed through."

Beast Boy was about to respond, but then paused, leaning against the wall of the elevator. "Was that a joke, dude?"

"Uh… yeah."

"Wow."

"What?"

"Nothing, it's just… weird for you, is all."

Robin raised an eyebrow beneath his thin mask. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"I mean… well, c'mon dude, you're not exactly the happiest guy in the world."

Robin frowned. "Well, I-"

Suddenly, the elevator shook, and the lights flickered. There was a slight groaning sound, and Beast Boy let out a high pitched wail of fear.

"We're gonna die!"

The Boy Wonder winced as his ears were assaulted by the high pitched noise. "Beast Boy, calm down." He pulled out his communicator. "Raven, what's going on?"

"Cyborg's messing around with the system earlier messed up the electrical system too. Everything's shut down. All the shops are locked tight automatically when the power goes out, so we're stuck in the wine shop."

An eyebrow rose beneath his mask. "Why are you still in the wine shop?"

"I don't know, ask Starfire."

The Tamaranians voice came over frantically in the distance. "Many apologies, friends, but I was most curious about-"

"It's okay Star. Don't sweat it."

Robin smiled. He was glad Cyborg was there to ease her conscience. "We should just stay put until the power comes back on."

Beast Boy looked up in horror. "But dude, I need the bathroom!"

"You couldn't have gone during the thirty minutes I was looking for you?"

"I didn't need to go then!"

Raven smiled. "Have fun." Raven's smug face was replaced by static, and Robin silently vowed some kind of vengeance. He looked over at his struggling companion, who was now sweating bullets.

"Okay, okay. We'll just have to climb up the elevator shaft. You could fly us up."

The green changeling shook his head. "No way, dude. If I transform now, I'll probably, uh… you know…"

Robin shook his head and shrugged.

"Release… the pressure…" Beast Boy elaborated. The Boy Wonder's eyes widened beneath his mask.

"Oh… you mean you'll…"

Beast Boy nodded embarrassedly. Robin frowned. "And I can't use my grappling hook either…"

"Why not?"

"Because I don't want to damage public property if I can help it."

"Oh… but dude… I'm gonna pop!"

Robin scowled. "You weren't going to pop a few minutes ago."

"Yeah, well, that was a few minutes ago. This is now."

Robin groaned and covered his face with his hand. He wondered what the others were doing right now.

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"Okay, now just breathe in… don't hold it… just breathe it in."

Cyborg snorted loudly, sucking some wine into his nose. He coughed and punched his chest, grunting in discomfort.

"Done?" Raven asked, cocking her eyebrow. Cyborg nodded, tears still in his human eye from coughing too much. Starfire, meanwhile, was still enjoying the smell of the wine. The wine store owner had fallen asleep in his chair, being quite an elderly man. Raven hadn't seen any harm in having some of the wine she had bought while they waited, since they had little else to do.

Starfire smiled. "Mmm… may I now taste the wine, Raven?"

"Well, the smelling is supposed to be part of the tasting, Starfire. But yes, you can. Sip it steadily, don't gulp it down."

Cyborg, well over his coughing fit, studied Raven for a moment. She noticed and looked over at him, an eyebrow cocked.

"What?"

"How do you know so much about wine?"

"I'll tell you if you admit you don't know a thing about wine."

Cyborg crossed his arms indignantly. "I do know about wine."

"Really? What year is this wine we're drinking?"

"It's uh…" he looked around the room nervously, before finally looking back at Raven. "…a very good year?" he offered hopefully. Raven shook her head and smiled slightly.

"Nice try, Sinatra, but no."

"Fine, I don't know anything about wine. Now how do you know so much about wine?"

She took a sip of her wine and closed her eyes as she enjoyed the taste. She slowly opened them and looked at her hulking friend. "I read about it."

Cyborg sat in silence for a moment. "That's it?"

"That's it."

Another silence. "I've got to start readin' more books…"

"Ooo! This is most enjoyable!"

The pair looked over to see Starfire floating upside down, her legs still crossed. Raven looked over at Cyborg.

"Do we know anything about Tamaranian physiology? Namely how they respond to alcohol?"

He shrugged. "We will now."

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Beast Boy groaned as he pulled himself up the elevator cable. Robin raised a concerned eyebrow.

"Beast Boy?"

"I'm okay dude."

"Easy for you to say. I'm behind you, so if the dam bursts, it'll be on my head."

"C'mon dude, I've got more self control than that."

Robin mumbled something under his breath, and Beast Boy's sensitive ears perked up.

"I do so show self control on missions!"

The Boy Wonder paused, not wondering how to respond. "Just keep climbing, Beast Boy; we're almost there."

Beast Boy grumbled and continued to climb up the cable. "I've got plenty of self control," he said suddenly, and Robin frowned.

"All right, Beast Boy. You really want to do this? Fine. I think you could stand to take the work a bit more seriously. Cyborg knows how to separate those two parts of his personality, so why can't you?"

The green changeling grunted with effort as he pulled himself up. "Because we need someone who isn't all serious all the time! Without me, you guys would end up killing each other."

"Instead of wanting to kill you all the time."

"Exactly! And you know… you need to learn how to lighten up and joke around once in awhile. That's what I was saying in the elevator before."

After pulling himself up the cable with a grunt, Robin paused. "But that's just not… me."

"Duh, I know that, dude. I'm not saying you should turn into Woody Allen. I'm just saying try and look on the funny side once in a while. It's okay to be serious sometimes, as long as you're not so serious the rest of the time. It actually like, helps the whole 'team dynamic' thing."

The spiky haired leader thought back to his partnership with Batman, and what caused him to leave Gotham for Jump City in the first place; they were too similar. Constantly dour and serious all the time… it was no wonder they clashed so much.

"I suppose."

They both pulled themselves up the cable again. "But hey, Starfire's helping you with that already."

"She- what?"

Beast Boy let out a small laugh. "She's helping you to lighten up. That's why you two are a good couple; you like, stop her from floating away on all the super happiness, and she helps you to stop being so dark and… uh… Batman-ish, I guess."

Robin smiled fondly. "Yeah, I- hey, wait a minute. A couple?"

"Here's the door, dude. What do we do now?"

"A couple?"

"Never mind, I'll do it."

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The five teenaged superheroes walked towards the T ship, feeling well and truly exhausted. Robin looked over his team.

Wiped out from a trip to the mall. What a team we make.

"You know, Robin, your hair has always been adorable."

Robin sighed and looked over at the more than slightly tipsy Tamaranian draped on his arm. He smiled fondly.

"Well, I worked hard on it, so I guess I deserve a little credit."

Cyborg and Raven stopped in their tracks and turned to look at their leader.

"Was that a joke?" Cyborg mumbled to Raven, who simply shrugged.

Robin stopped at the T ship and turned to face the other Titans. "All right. We'll set up camp somewhere so we can all-"

"Hello, feet!"

Starfire was doubled over forward talking to her toes.

"-recover," Robin finished.

Cyborg looked at the screen on his arm. He squinted at the readout. "There's a clearing a few miles east of here."

Robin nodded. "All right. Starfire, time to go."

"Oh, but I was talking to my-" she looked up from her feet to see that it was Robin asking her. "Oh, all right. Since you are asking." She happily linked her arm through his and promptly fell unconscious.

As he put her in her section of the T ship, he took a moment to look at her. Her hair was ruffled, she was snoring loudly, and some drool slowly dribbled down her chin.

She was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.

A couple? I could do that.

He closed the glass sheath of her pod and hopped into his, leaving Cyborg and Raven stood outside the T ship.

"Cyborg, Raven. Let's go."

"Yeah, dudes. I need my beauty nap."

Cyborg looked over at Raven.

"Y'know… I'm piloting the ship… should I tell them we're very drunk?"

Raven thought for a moment. "Mmm… no."

Cyborg grinned. "I love wine."

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(A/N: I couldn't think of any way for Beast Boy and Robin to open the elevator doors without the former transforming or the latter using his grappling hook, so you'll have to make up your own explanation as to how they got out of the elevator shaft. It doesn't really matter, anyway. Also, I know Raven's not old enough to buy wine, but…

Look at it this way: would you refuse to serve Raven? I didn't think so.

Reviews are full of protein.)