This story was written for pinkalarmclock's fic swap for ABoxFullOfSharpObjects.
When every other Titan hooks up, Robin is left all alone. So he gives the only other single Titan a call. Will this new friendship turn into a little something more? Umm...duh... But little do these two new love-birds know that a third person will soon come into play...
Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Titans. The End.
She had said yes.
Well, what was I to expect, honestly? It had been obvious that he liked her, and it had only been a matter of time before he asked. I just wish I had asked first.
Why was I so against this? Really, why was I? Was it because I was scared he would hurt her? That he would use her?
No. I was afraid that I had lost her forever.
She didn't know what a 'break up' was. She wouldn't know what to do if she because unhappy with the way things between the two of them were going. She would no doubt come to me when that happened, asking for advice. And what was I supposed to do? Was I supposed to give her 'How to break up with your significant other' lessons?
Why was I so slow to act? I had been planning for months how exactly to ask her the question he had uttered in barely five seconds. If it had been a choice between me and him, she would have picked me, no doubt, but I didn't want to put her in that situation.
So here I was, all alone in the tower on a clear Saturday afternoon with nothing to do. All the other Titans were out. And when I say 'out' I mean out on dates.
Yes. Hormones had finally sprung into action, sending every single other Titan out to do who knows what with someone they hardly knew. The only exception to this was the recent pairing-up of Starfire and Speedy, who had known each other for a year.
I will admit that it was Starfire I had wanted to ask, and Speedy whose name was tacit to jealousy.
So sitting there on the couch with a half-drunk can of root beer in my hand and the afternoon sun shining through the window and onto my face, my mind finally realized the solution to my boredom.
When I had said that every other Titan was out dating someone, I had forgotten about one.
I switched on the large communication/television screen, which immediately began buzzing with static and showing me moving black and white squares. I punched in the communication code onto the keyboard below, and soon had a view of the Titans East headquarters.
Just as I had predicted, she was there, sitting on their couch, a bored expression on her face. It took her a few seconds to realize that she was no longer zoning out to the empty window but a communication screen occupied by me sitting on our couch.
"Robin!" Bumblebee exclaimed. "I was wondering if anyone would call today!"
"Same here," I shrugged. "Everyone else is out over here. How're things in Steel City?"
"Pretty dull," she admitted, stretching her arms above her head. "Everyone over here is out too." She sighed, then asked, in a sarcastic voice, "Is it lame that Mas Y Menos can get dates and we can't?"
"Most definitely," I laughed.
"So, what drove you to call the Titans over here?" Bumblebee asked, her mood changing from cheerful to serious in a second. "There isn't some mass prison breakout you need help with or anything?"
"Nothing. The crime rate has been down so far we've actually considered going to school once summer is over."
"Now that's drastic."
"Tell me about it."
The two of us sat in silence, and I became uncomfortably aware of how little I knew about her and how little she knew about me. The two of us never had really talked before; all the villains we were constantly after limited conversation considerably. I began darting my eyes around the screen, as if looking for something in their tower that would spark a conversation, and she was biting her lip, unsure of what to say next.
"So how's Starfire?" I asked, instantly regretting it.
"I'm not sure," Bumblebee looked behind her, obviously checking to see if anyone was coming home. They obviously weren't, as she turned back around to talk to me again. "I haven't seen much of her to be honest. She and Speedy are always doing stuff, so the most I see of her is at mealtimes. If that. Well, and sleeping. Sometimes."
"Oh," I said quickly, not wanting Bumblebee to ramble on farther into this subject and make me worry that Speedy was taking advantage of Starfire's naïve personality.
'Snap out of it Robin,' I scolded myself mentally. 'Speedy's your friend. Just because he and Starfire are going out now doesn't mean you have to be paranoid about him doing something to her. He's not like that.'
"I'm really glad Starfire's visiting us, though," Bumblebee said quickly, jerking me out of this train of thought. "It's nice to have another girl around. With four boys, it can feel a bit lonely over here at times."
"We'll need to find you a new teammate," I suggested.
"Maybe." She paused before saying, "So, Robin, if you don't have a crisis on your hands, why did you call me?"
"'Cause I was bored," I admitted. "So I figured I might as well call you."
"That's a good enough reason," she agreed. "We don't really know each other that well, do we?"
"I guess not."
"Well, let's change that," Bumblebee smiled.
"Good plan." I nodded.
The two of us sat in silence again, obviously unsure of how to go about this 'get-to-know-each-other' thing.
"I'm not so good at the whole getting to know people thing," Bumblebee said, mirroring my thoughts.
"Same here. I was taught that getting to know someone led to attachment, which led to weaknesses your enemies could exploit."
"Who told you that, Superman?"
"Well, actually it was Batman."
"You knew Batman?"
"I was his sidekick."
"Oh, duh!" she clapped a hand to her forehead. "Batman and Robin of Gotham City! I'm such an idiot!"
"Yep," I nodded. "He was awesome."
"Is that how you first got into the whole superhero business?"
"Yep. How 'bout you?"
"My old best friend was really into superheroes, so I decided to put my abilities to good use."
"Awesome."
The silence engulfed us again.
"Okay, I'm horrible at this," Bumblebee groaned. "Being a girl, you'd think I'd be better at this."
"Hey, I'm on Starfire's team, and she asks enough questions to use for hour long conversations, so you'd think I was better at this."
"Well, let's just ask each other questions," she suggested. "I mean, it can't hurt, right?"
"Yeah," I agreed. "Um, what's your favorite color?"
"Yellow. What's yours?"
"Red."
"We're so boring!" Bumblebee laughed. "Okay, favorite color not on your uniform."
"Oh man," I sighed, closing my eyes. "Please don't make me answer that."
"Tell me," she insisted. "I'll tell you mine."
"Fine," I opened my eyes and whispered, "purple."
"Purple?" Bumblebee raised her eyebrows. "I could say something, but I won't, because mine is pink."
"Yeah, but you're a girl," I argued.
"Is Robin being sexist?" she asked, faking shock. Both of us laughed at this.
"Okay, I have a question. What's your real name?"
"Karen Beecher," she answered without hesitation. "And yours?"
"Richard Grayson."
"Nickname? Or should I just call you 'Richie?'"
"It's 'Dick,'" I laughed. "Do you have one?"
"Well, some of my friends called me 'Kari,' but I haven't used that one for a while. Well, not like I used 'Karen' either, but still."
"Then I'll call you Kari," I nodded. "Only when it's just us, though."
"Just like I'll call you Dick," Bumblebee agreed. "Maybe an occasional Richie if I feel like it."
"So Kari, is your bedroom pink with flowery bed sheets?"
"Why no it isn't, Dick. Is yours purple with rainbows on the ceiling?"
We erupted into laughter at this, and I tried to imagine what the other Titans would think if they could hear us talking about flowers and rainbows.
"Actually, my room is yellow and black," she told me. "No pink."
"Mine's boring compared to that," I sighed. "It's just black with newspaper clippings on the walls."
"Man, you've gotta get away from crime-fighting once in a while!" she exclaimed. "No wonder you get so obsessive; you never take a break!"
"I am now," I argued.
"Ooh, big deal," Bumblebee said sarcastically, waving her hands. "Okay, truth or dare?"
"What?" I was taken aback by this.
"Truth or dare?" she repeated. "I know it's a sleepover game that guys never play and that is considered to be the stupidest human creation by half of the population, but, seriously, truth or dare?"
"Dare," I chose quickly, afraid of what evil questions were spinning around in her head. I had seen enough of those darn chick flicks Starfire sometimes watched to know that, when it came to truth or dare questions, girls were the spawn of Satan.
"Go change into your most embarrassing pair of pajamas," Bumblebee said immediately, a small laugh escaping her mouth.
"How do you know I have embarrassing pajamas?"
"Everyone does."
"Do you?"
She blushed. "Yes."
"Then I'll change if you will."
"Deal."
- - - -
"I now officially hate Beast Boy," I muttered as I trudged back into the main room, now clad in a pair of pajamas I would rather die than admit I owned. I looked up at the screen upon entering, and saw Bumblebee sitting on the cough at the Titans East tower, her knees tucked into her chest, trying to hide herself.
"All right, how bad are yours?" she asked, looking at me and trying not to laugh.
My pajama bottoms weren't that bad; they were black with gray bats on them. But the shirt had a humungous glow-in-the-dark Batman symbol on it and large yellow letters that read, 'Batman's #1 Fan.'
"I would laugh, but mine are worse," she stood up, her arms down by her sides, to reveal her new attire.
She wore a flattering purple tank top that had the word 'Princess' emblazoned across it in sparkly pink letters. Her pajama bottoms were also purple, but they had little crowns on them.
"I have to agree that yours are worse," I bit my lip, my face turning red from the laugh that was bursting to come out. "How did those find their way into your closet?"
"Speedy," Bumblebee rolled her eyes. "Who was it in your case? Beast Boy?"
"Beast Boy," I said, now laughing as the image of Speedy clothes shopping in a girl store in my head. Bumblebee also started laughing, and we both sat down.
Silence came after our bout of laughter, and we sat looking at each other for a few seconds before I made a discovery that was so shocking that I broke the silence.
"Where are your wings?" I asked.
"What?" She looked behind her, obviously checking to see if they were there. "Oh, yeah, they're not real." She gave me a sheepish smile.
"Wait, so you can't really fly?" I was confused.
"No," she admitted. "They're part of my suit, just like you have a utility belt."
"I never knew that before."
"Well, it's not something I want spread around. If that information got into the wrong hands, well, I'd lose one of my most valuable weapons."
Little did both of them know that at that very moment, information was getting into the wrong hands…
