The China Closet
Kkori is back again after so many long months. Once again this is a Robin/Starfire fic. Just….sit back and enjoy. Please.
A sigh echoed through the corridor. A teenage girl floated down the aisle. She was feeling troubled, plagued by unseen fears. The Titans were going to be evicted. (A/N: Referring to the cancellation) Silkie was devouring her supply of zorka berries. Soon there would be none left. If the Titans were separated, she would never see Robin again…
"Robin…" she sighed inwards and whimpered. She turned abruptly to the left. She roamed through the tower, trying to find a certain room. Finally, she found it. The china closet.
It was a big closet, about the size of one of the Titans' rooms. She gazed around at the china articles. Even though there were plenty, they were never used.
Why, do you ask, did the Titans keep the china? It was something between Robin and Starfire. Every time they did something 'special' or anything like that, he would buy an object made of china, show it to Starfire and she would put it in the closet.
Starfire smiled as she gazed around at the fragile souvenirs. She remembered how the 'tradition' had been started.
'What is china?' she had said.
Robin had looked at her and the book in her hand. He looked at the encyclopaedia in her hand.
"China? It's a country."
"A country?" Starfire looked down at the encyclopaedia. "This pot of tea is a country?" She pointed to the teapot on the page.
"Oh, that china. It's a material."
"What is this 'material' of which you speak?"
The room flashed red.
Starfire's gaze fell on a little saucer with a picture of the prison in it. She remembered the first fight she had ever taken part in with friends.
After rounding up the inmates and Cyborg had steamed up and ran off, Robin disappeared for a while. He came back with something in his hand. He walked up to Starfire and held out this hand. "This is china," he said, nodding at the tiny saucer.
After that it had become a tradition.
Starfire strolled around the room. Something caught her eye. There was a little china pizza box. She thought about the day she had heard about the HIVE. The day she had suggested having a pineapple banana mint frosting mustard pizza (A/N: Did I get that right?). The day Robin was nearly killed…
She had been crying.
What was wrong, Robin said.
Nothing, she replied.
There is something wrong. Tell me, he replied.
I am just troubled. You could have died, Starfire wiped away a tear.
Cheer up, Robin said, smiled and handed her a china pizza box. Picked it out from some alligator tooth in the sewers. It must have had a good meal.
Starfire stared at Robin. Then she had smiled.
Starfire smiled again remembering those beautiful memories. She picked up a slightly stained china cup. It was slightly chipped, but she had treasured it all the same.
She remembered finding Cyborg in the junkyard and coming back to the tower to rest. She remembered Robin sitting next to her. She remembered him telling her how he found it in the junkyard. She remembered how she had held it close to her chest, and then finding the room she made the china closet.
Her hand reached out to stroke a china doll. China sheep flocked around the fair maiden.
After the puppets had arrived and Raven had left the room, Robin pulled Starfire aside and handed her the china shepherdess. She had asked him about nursery rhymes. He had told her about Little Bo Peep.
Little Bo Peep seems to have found her sheep, Starfire thought. She sat down and her mind raced through all the things in the closet. The television from Cook's Electronics. The video cassette player from the video store. The blorthog made from the Tamaranian equivalent to china. An ethnic charm made from china dropped on the hill Robin had climbed when he was away.
They had started hunting for china together when they started going overseas for other missions. They had got a china reward from the Doom Patrol. Robin had given it to her. A china teapot from a store in Siberia. Another from the Arctic. The china bird he placed in her hand in the final battle with the Brotherhood of Evil.
Finally, she gazed upon a china angel. It was placed on a prominent shelf. After the battle with that last weird monster, he had placed it in her hand once again.
"Robin…" She held the angel close to her heart. She wept. Tears fell down her cheeks, dripping onto the angel.
A green-gloved hand landed gently on her shoulder.
"Robin…" she murmured again. She threw herself on him and wept full-force.
"Starfire," Robin grasped her hand. Starfire looked up, her wet eyes like shining emeralds.
"No matter what happens…" Robin smiled at her. "We'll be together."
He let go, leaving a small white object in her hand. A white china heart.
Starfire stared at the heart. Then back at him, eyes shining.
"Oh, Robin!" she pressed her head into his muscled chest, eyes shedding tears of joy.
A long short story. Thank you very much! I got the idea for this in bed, and then perfected it in the bath. See you, everybody!