10 Leisurely Days
by Blue Ten
Summary:
Robin finds out that Starfire will be leaving for Tamaran in 10 days. Keeping his discovery a secret, he has a little over a week to give her a reason to stay. But when things keep getting in the way, will he even get the chance? RobinxStarfire
Disclaimer:
I do not own Teen Titans.
Day 4, Part One: What Am I So Afraid Of?
The sound of car horns and tires screeching abruptly awakened Robin from his sleep. Shaking his head out of a groggy daze, he yawned and looked to the sky; the moon and the blaring lights from the city jointly washed out the stars from view. The city, which never slept, was alive with the sounds of traffic in the streets below. Robin looked to his side, there he saw Starfire sleeping; curled up beside him, she had taken hold of his arm and rested her head on his shoulder, while they both leaned on a wall for support. 'Did she do that in her sleep?' he wondered, feeling his heart become electrified by her touch. She was beautiful to him no matter what amount or hue of light was being reflected off of her, as she seemed to be so full of radiant light herself; looking at her face as she slept, all he felt like doing at this moment, was to lean in and kiss her. Robin chuckled anxiously at his thoughts, fully awakened by his now violently pulsing heart; it was the second time he had fallen asleep and woken up next to her. 'I could get used to this...' he thought, immediately scolding himself for thinking something so pretentious. Picking up his communicator, Robin checked the time; the display read, 2:18 AM. Robin sighed, he couldn't very well carry her back to the tower from here; he had to wake her up, though it pained him to do so.
"Star." he whispered, gingerly nudging her. Starfire let go of his arm and sat up, rubbing her eyes; suddenly, she looked panicked.
"...I fell asleep. I am sorry, I did not mean--" she said with a contrite expression to her face, sounding as though she had done something terrible.
"No, it's alright, really." he replied instantly, admiring that selfless quality she had. Robin didn't even remember falling asleep, let alone who did first; and even then it didn't seem like something to apologize for. "You were probably really tired after flying. I don't blame you for falling asleep." he reassured her with a smile, though he wouldn't be surprised if he had been the one who fell asleep first.
"Oh, yes... it was quite tiring." she said, telling the truth to some extent; though she was a little more embarrassed that she had been holding on to his arm like that when he woke up. She asked herself why she did these things, but she had no answers.
"The others are probably asleep right now, so... could you fly us back?" Robin smiled nervously, hoping that he wasn't asking too much of her.
Starfire giggled, relieved that he didn't seem to mind what she had done. "Of course." she said, letting an energetic smile return to her face as she held out her hand. As Robin took hold of her hand, Starfire floated over the edge of the building and stopped to look back at him where he stood, "You are sure you will not be frightened?" she asked, raising her voice slightly over the wind and traffic.
"Yeah. Actually, I can't remember the last time I had so much fun." he admitted, remembering vividly that rush he felt while soaring through the air. As Starfire nodded happily in response and turned around to fly, Robin braced himself to be pulled from the rooftop. He was surprised as she gently lifted him from the roof and they began to float at a reasonable pace to the bay in the distance. However, he still found himself a little shaken as he looked to the glowing streets below. The cars were so far from view that they appeared to be plain blurry lights without distinguishable shape or form; holding on by one hand was a little more nerve racking as well, but Starfire had a good grip, and he trusted her with his life.
Taking his eyes away from the distant streets, he looked up to Starfire; though she was masking it with a smile, she seemed pretty tired, which was probably the reason she was flying so slowly. Robin sighed, feeling bad that she had to carry him; if he could fly her back to the tower, just to let her rest a little, he wouldn't think twice about it. Suddenly, the thoughts that ran through his mind that evening returned; that intensity which made his heart race and his pulse quicken. He was astounded that these feelings he had hidden from her for so long, were realized in such an instant; it changed the way he looked at her... it changed the way he looked at himself. He knew it was love; and he knew now, that he had always felt this way toward her.
'What was it that Bruce told you about love?' he asked himself thoughtfully. Bruce Wayne, Robin's mentor and adopted father, had always told him that love was an obstacle to be overcome, a weakness. When a guy was in love, he was ready to put his life on the line to protect his girl... that was the weakness he spoke of, the willingness to die for the sake of love; it should be avoided at all costs. Robin scoffed at his father's detached and cold ideals, 'Screw Bruce! He never met a girl like Starfire.' he thought. Starfire was someone who Robin would die for if he had to, but she was so strong that such an opportunity would never present itself; proof positive that Bruce was just being hard headed about his own problems.
Now that the issue of fatherly advice had been addressed, Robin had something much more pressing to decide on... 'Should I tell her?' the thought of doing so made his heart drop into the pit of his stomach; there were so many possible results, some were too unpleasant and heart wrenching to think of... rejection, acceptance, indifference... With only one good outcome, the odds were definitely not in his favor the way he saw it.
- - - - - -
Iris remained on the edge of her rooftop, eyeing Robin and Starfire's movements closely as she reached for her communication device, switching it on with a static crackling.
"Subjects are on the move. Commencing pursuit, over." she spoke into the mechanism with her soft childlike voice. Standing up, Iris walked nonchalantly over to the edge of the roof facing the bay. With one quick leap, she bounded across several rooftops at once, landing with complete silence on another flat; she continued to do so, making sure to stay a reasonable distance behind Robin and Starfire, while keeping a watchful eye on their position.
- - - - - -
Robin and Starfire now hovered above the bay, steadily flying toward Titans Tower. Hearing an interesting sound like a flag flapping in the wind, Robin turned his attention to the city behind him, scanning the rooftops with curiosity. As far as he could see, the area was empty; shaking his head and looking back to the tower, Robin figured he must have heard his own cape whipping around. 'I must be more tired than I realized...' he thought to himself, yawning.
Hearing his yawn and feeling his grip soften, Starfire looked down to Robin; he was using his free hand to cover his mouth as he yawned with his eyes closed. Starfire smiled, thinking about how cute he looked as he did this. "Here, take my hand." she said, holding out her other hand to him, wondering why she hadn't done so in the first place.
Struggling through his sleepiness, Robin reached up as best he could and took hold of her hand. "Thanks, that's much better." Robin exhaled, feeling the tension lessen in his other arm. "Hey Star, I forgot to ask you... Was flying over the city what you imagined it would be?" he asked; if it was, then the day before had gone perfectly.
"No." she said, causing Robin to falter with his planned response. "It was much better." she finished, smiling down at him.
Robin sighed in relief, "I'm glad." he said. 'YES!' he thought loudly. One day had actually gone well, now all he had to do was make sure the six remaining days went just as smoothly... 'Easier said than done.' he hung his head forward. Now that he understood his feelings for her, he felt stronger, and more determined than ever; but he also felt tremendously powerless and hesitant at the same time, if that was at all possible. Love... like climbing and finally reaching the zenith of your dreams, it had the potential to make a person feel as though they were on top of the world; but in its other form it could lift your feet and send you hurtling back to the ground, leaving you broken and defeated at the base, making you never want to climb that mountain again... unrequited love. 'Stop it! Stop thinking stuff like that.' Robin thought, astounded by his ability to frighten himself with his own over examinations. 'You're acting like it's already over, and you haven't even told her yet!' he informed himself, almost feeling as though he should laugh at his own stupidity. Before he could dwell on his thoughts any more, Starfire's enchanting voice brought him back to reality.
"We have arrived." she said, slowing down and descending onto the roof of the tower. Letting go of Starfire's hands as his feet touched the ground, Robin looked to the sky. The absence of the light pollution from the city allowed the stars to be seen in their full spectrum; if not for the haunting light of the moon, the sky would be as clear as it had been on that night, nearly three days ago.
Robin shifted his eyes to gaze at Sirius, 'I hope you really can grant wishes...' he thought. Turning his attention to her, Robin saw that Starfire had also been looking to the star.
As Starfire turned to Robin, her face suddenly went hot red when she realized he might have seen what she was doing; quickly, she hid it with a wide smile. "Shall we?" she giggled nervously, pulling him toward the door. Robin was now stricken with curiosity as he was being led down the stairs into the tower, wondering what it was she had wished for on that night.
The halls were dark and empty, Beast Boy's snoring could be heard resonating from his partially opened door; everyone was asleep. Robin wondered why they didn't seem to be worried at all that he and Starfire had been gone since late yesterday... they didn't even call to make sure they were okay; something was going on here, but he realized he didn't really care.
Although he knew that Starfire could find her way in the dark by herself, Robin decided to lead her to her room anyway, feeling like it was just the right thing to do. Starfire opened the door to her room; stepping inside, she turned around to face Robin, "Good morning Robin." she said with a grin.
"Good morning? Don't you mean good night?" he inquired.
"But it is no longer night." she explained.
"Heh, right. Well, good morning Star." Robin chuckled; it was that charming naive quality which was one of the many reasons he loved her. With a sugary sweet smile, Starfire closed her door. '...I love you.' Robin thought, as he watched the door close and heard her footsteps retreat within.
- - - - - -
Hiding stiffly behind a wall which jutted up from the rooftop, Iris breathed heavily as she peeked around the corner to make sure the coast was clear. 'He almost saw me...' breathing a sigh of relief, she finally stepped out from behind the wall, 'Need to be more careful.' she thought. Walking to the edge, Iris leapt over the streets and landed on the beach near the bay. Retreating to a well hidden shadowed area in the rocky sections, she pulled the hood of her cloak over her head, and focused on the windows of Titans Tower.
"Now, talk to me." she said quietly.
- - - - - -
'Y'know, thinking it, doesn't really count as telling her.' Robin thought to himself as he sat on the edge of his bed, unable to sleep. Moonlight from outside the window cast a surreal glowing ray through the opening, creating an elongated rectangle of light that spread across the open floor. The curtains rustled from the slight wind that penetrated the open window; glowing in the moonlight like apparitions, Robin felt as though he was being watched by them.
'I know... but what if I told her, and she hated me for it... I couldn't live with that.' Robin's fear stated, hesitant and timid.
'Oh come on. You'll never know unless you try.' said the confident voice of optimism, 'You're only thinking about what'll happen if she rejects you. I mean, what if she feels the same way, can you imagine the good side of this for a second?'
'Yeah, think about it! You could get next to her whenever you wanted, kiss her... my god, she's so HOT--' pent up emotion started, before being interrupted by reason.
'Okay, how about we leave him out of this conversation.'
'Agreed.'
'Anyway, make a choice, are you gonna tell her or not?'
'...I need more time to think about this.' Robin spoke up amongst his alter egos.
'Yeah, because you have all the time in the world.' sarcasm cut in.
'Don't be such a coward.'
'Would you please...' Robin thought, feeling a little overwhelmed by the voices.
'Come on man, we already know you like her.'
'Cyborg?'
'Dude, who do you think you're kidding?'
'Beast Boy?'
'I didn't even need to read your mind to figure it out.'
'Raven? What are you guys doing in here? Get out now!'
'Kiss me Robin, kiss me.'
'Starfire?'
'Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep--'
- - - - - -
Robin violently tore the covers off of himself and sat up quickly in his bed, breathing heavily; the sound of his alarm clock was blaring in his ears. Reaching over to the side of his bed, Robin shut down his alarm by blindly slamming a hand against it, hoping he had hit the right button by chance. As the persistent beeping came to an end, he looked up to see his room fading slowly in to view, the bright morning light streaming in through the window caused him to squint. Robin inhaled deeply, and let all the air out in an exhausted sigh. 'It was a dream.' he thought, relieved that it was; if not, he had some serious split personality issues. But, he thought that those voices did make some good points... mostly; he wondered which one, if any, he should listen to. A lot of them seemed to be in favor of telling her.
Robin shook his head as he stood up from his bed; walking over to the open window, he let the sunshine and fresh air hit him while he stretched. Casting a bright silver sheen across the ocean, the sun had risen fairly high above the horizon. Confused about the time of day, Robin examined the clock he had knocked over on the ground, which read, 7:32 AM; he realized he had actually gotten a good amount of sleep, though he couldn't say it was restful. Knowing that the others were probably awake already, Robin decided to think about the subject more after breakfast.
- - - - - -
Cyborg sat alone on the couch in the common room with the remote in his hand, intentionally avoiding the news as he flipped through the stations; anything they had to report at this point, he already knew. Cyborg anxiously tapped on the ground with his foot as he waited for Beast Boy to return, wishing he had gone in his stead; he knew that at any moment, Beast Boy would probably burst through the doors, holding the details of his plan high in the air for everyone to see, ruining the surprise. But, he figured he had to give Beast Boy a little more credit than that; after all, he did manage to come up with the whole thing by himself.
Raven walked into the living room, "Is he back yet?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.
"No, but I hope he gets here before the other two wake up--" Cyborg stopped as the main doors slid open. Beast Boy stood in the doorway for a moment, looking at the others; without saying a word, he casually walked across the room and sat down on the couch beside Cyborg, wearing an unconcerned facial expression while he turned his attention to the television. "Well?" Cyborg questioned him.
"Well, what?" Beast Boy asked, without turning away from the screen.
"Did you get them?"
"Oh you mean..." Beast Boy reached behind his back, "THESE!" he yelled, standing up on the couch and waving five blue envelopes in the air with a huge grin plastered across his face.
"Oh for--GIMME THOSE!" quickly standing up, Cyborg angrily snatched the envelopes out of Beast Boy's hand, "When I said 'covertly', that's not what I meant!"
"Relax; they're not even up yet."
"Yeah, but with the way you keep waving your genius plan around, they're bound to find out about the..." Cyborg trailed off as Starfire walked from the hall into the living room, happily waving at the others as she headed to the kitchen, "The thing." he finished, intentionally vague. Sitting back down on the couch, Cyborg hid the envelopes behind his back, "What do we do now?" he asked quietly, keeping an eye on Starfire.
"It's not for five days." Beast Boy responded, "So now, we just sit back, wait a few days, then spring it on Robin before he can say no." Beast Boy put his hands behind his head and leaned back on the couch, continuing to grin.
Suddenly, all expression left Cyborg's face. "That's it?" he asked, narrowing his eye, "That's your entire plan? Don't you have anything going for the days in between?"
"Well, if you're so smart, why don't you think of something?" Beast Boy crossed his arms in front of himself, looking to Cyborg expectantly.
"Alright then I will."
"You sure? I mean you haven't exactly had the best luck when it comes to stuff like this." Beast Boy stated, unintentionally rude, referring to Cyborg's bad luck with girls.
"Well, neither have you..." Cyborg paused as he saw Beast Boy's expression falter, "S-Sorry, I didn't mean--"
"It's alright." Beast Boy stood up with a blank look on his face, turning around to face the hallway, "Um, I'm gonna go back to sleep now... on an unrelated matter." he said glumly, walking away into the hall. "Sorry I said that about you, I didn't mean it." he said as he disappeared around the corner.
Raven turned an expressionless face to Cyborg, who was sitting on the couch, mentally beating himself up. "...I'm an idiot?" he stated for her.
"No, just tactless." she said, making Cyborg feel a little better; turning around, she followed after Beast Boy, asking herself what she thought she was doing. Catching up to him, Raven watched as Beast Boy stood outside of his door, leaning his weight against it with a hand.
Hearing Raven's approaching footsteps, Beast Boy turned slightly to face her. "You'd think after so long I'd have let it go already, but it just sticks with you y'know? ...Bad memories." he said, unmoving.
"Look, none of us can say we've had any luck in that subject... except Robin and Starfire, but they don't even know it." she said, almost jokingly, trying to sound as comforting as she could through her monotone voice. "Memories, as bad as they seem, are just memories. It's the past that affects us the most; scars that never seem to go away. But the past is there to draw strength from as well; eventually, you'll learn to heal."
"What are you doing?" he asked, stepping away from the door to look at her inquisitively.
"Trying to cheer you up." she replied, keeping a staid expression; such a sentence sounded very strange coming from her mouth, a fact which was reinforced by Beast Boy's astounded face.
Shaking away his astonishment, Beast Boy chuckled, "Well, cut it out, you're scaring me." he said, smiling.
"Come on genius, we can't pull this off without you." Raven said, impassively. Turning around, she began walking back to the living room.
"Thanks." he said to her back, "Looks like Cyborg has some competition for the position of best friend." Beast Boy joked.
"Um... right." Raven responded, as Beast Boy proceeded to follow her back to the living room.
Hearing two sets of footsteps emerging from the hallway, Cyborg braced himself to be yelled at. Raven stepped out from the hallway first, making her way quietly across the room, passed the couch, and to the corner where she sat down and began to meditate; floating above the ground, she spoke her three famous words repeatedly, seemingly in deep thought. As Beast Boy came from the hall, Cyborg was surprised and relieved to see that he had apparently forgotten, or forgiven, what was said. The huge mischievous grin had returned to his face as he came to sit back on the couch.
"So, what should we do about the next five days?" Beast Boy asked.
"Alright!" Cyborg exclaimed, toning it down as he saw Starfire's attention shift from her breakfast for a short while. Cyborg put a hand on his chin thoughtfully, thinking up something diabolical. "I've got the perfect thing." he said; feeling back in the game, Cyborg let an evil grin spread across his face.
- - - - - -
Walking down the hallway, Robin could hear the muffled chuckling of Cyborg and Beast Boy coming from the living room. His stomach growled as he continued, realizing he hadn't eaten anything since lunch the other day. Turning the corner into the common room, Robin expected to see the others gathered around the table, eating breakfast; instead, he saw Starfire sitting alone at the table, eating a bowl of something he assumed was a Tamaranian form of cereal. The Titans didn't often make their own individual breakfasts, but turning to look at the couch, Robin saw that the usual cooks were busy with... something. Looking at the bright side of things, Robin saw that the situation was perfect; the others were gathered on the far side of the room, out of earshot, now he could try his best to talk to Starfire... after breakfast.
Searching through the cupboards in the kitchen, Robin poured himself a bowl of cereal. Sitting across from Starfire at the table, he examined her food, which under closer inspection, appeared to be moving blobs of stuff; surprisingly, it didn't look that bad to him. After taking a few bites of his breakfast, Robin realized he had lost his appetite, with his mind too preoccupied by thoughts of his dream. He figured he would never get any sleep, or sustenance, until he got something off his chest; the only problem was, saying anything at this moment, felt like trying to lift a weight his muscles couldn't handle. Before he could force himself to speak, Robin looked back to Starfire, who seemed happy and content with things the way they were; he wondered if perhaps he had already convinced her to stay. He realized he might be ruining something by telling her; after coming so far, he decided not to wreck everything by throwing his selfish emotions into the mix. After all, it would be much easier to show her how he felt, and he had six more days to do it. Feeling like he had come to a compromise with himself, Robin felt his hunger return and proceeded to eat his breakfast.
Sitting in front of an empty bowl, Robin looked across to Starfire who had long since finished her breakfast; she was smiling at him, which made him feel confident that things were working out for the best, the way they were. Although he was a little worried that the city would be due for another crime at any moment, he was glad that things had slowed down since Iron was arrested; hoping that today would be no exception to that fact, he decided to find something else that Starfire wanted to do.
"...Star." he called her attention.
"Yes." she replied quickly, as though she had been waiting for him to speak.
"Is there anything you wanted to do today? If you want to... maybe we could--" he started.
"I've got an idea." Cyborg interrupted; Robin shakily turned his head to the side, to see Cyborg, Beast Boy, and Raven standing beside the table. "How about we go see a movie tonight?" he finished. Robin felt like cursing out loud, but when he saw Starfire's face, he calmed himself, thinking that maybe it wasn't such a bad idea after all.
"A movie?" she asked, sounding interested. Movies had always proven a good way to spend quality time with her friends, so she couldn't resist, thinking that she could use it to spend some quality time with one friend in particular.
"Yeah, Space Beast 2, I hear it's supposed to be... good." Beast Boy added.
"Hey, isn't that--" Robin started, looking at Cyborg and Beast Boy curiously.
"That's right, the sequel to Space Beast 1!" Cyborg cut him off.
"Please, what type of movie is this Space Beast? I have not heard of it before." Starfire asked.
"Well... it's a movie, about a beast... from space." Beast Boy explained, intentionally avoiding the genre. "So what do you say, wanna see it?" he asked, turning to Robin for an answer.
Robin sighed, 'What are they trying to do?' he wondered. Robin looked to Starfire, who seemed genuinely interested by Beast Boy's vague description; he figured he had no choice now. He thought that maybe it was for the best anyway; after all, if he kept trying to do things with her on his own, it would seem suspicious.
"...Sure." he said, defeated. The movie was at night anyway, leaving plenty of the day open for other things.
Author's Note: If you're reading this fic and you like it, feel free to review (especially if you never have); anonymous or not, a review in any form helps me out a lot. Another delay... sorry about that, I'll try hard to get this next one up quick :P. I had a lot of fun writing that dream sequence, showing Robin's different emotions arguing with each other was funny to me. Fluffy chapter coming up next, prepare yourself XD.
As usual, reviews are very much appreciated. :)
Tritium - You are very critical of what I have written... I like that, please continue XD. I'll take some time to answer those questions of yours; Cloak and Dagger were meant to be dorks, so I gave them dorky lines (by the way, I had BB say that on purpose; a joke at my own expense); Mad Mod vs. Iron was simply a coincidence, meant to show you what The Tempest is doing to the other villains of Jump City; I knew of Raven's healing powers, but I was a little unsure if she could extract poisons, so I just decided against it (I probably should have written in something about that though :P). A Rob/Rae fan eh? Watcha doin' reading a Rob/Star fic? Just wondering. :)
darktank - Tempest's plan for Robin and Starfire: You've probably figured out by now that they're trying to recruit them as operatives, but there's much more to it than that... keep reading. :) Starfire equalsSuperman, Robin equalsLois Lane... XD.
tigerchic121 - I already used Ra's Al Ghul as a plot point in one of my other fics, and I want to try and refrain from repetition as much as I can. I should probably know this but, what's the League of Shadows?
starfire's flame - Something big... yep. :P
iluvrobbie - LOL
CatGirl R and S Fan - Cool, thanks! I hope I wasn't the only one who guessed right.
Next Chapter Preview: Robin decides to hold off on telling Starfire how he feels until the day before she leaves. Per Cyborg's suggestion, the Titans go see a movie which, to Starfire's terrified surprise, is a horror movie. And what happens when a certain remote Control weilding Freak is thrown into the mix? Find out in Day 4, Part Two: A Nightmare and a Dream.
