I've been really looking forward to this one, mostly because Cyborg and Starfire have a great friendship that is woefully overlooked but that I always love seeing when it does appear. It also ties into a headcanon I've had for a while about the differences between human and Tamaranean tastes, and how Starfire's misadventures in making Tamaranean foods for the rest of the team could evolve over time. Since she and Cyborg seem to both be especially fond of cooking, it just seems natural that they'd become cooking buddies.

Also, the quote that goes with this oneshot suggests that the Titans use a Tamaranean sauce as their official marinade and there has got to be a story behind that.

"I thought our official marinade was Zorbrian spider juice." – Starfire, Overdrive

Tamaranean Fusion

Starfire was in the kitchen when Cyborg entered ops one morning, elbow-deep in some kind of pink sludge and humming gently to herself. He recognized the tune: one of her Tamaranean folk songs, which he had to admit sounded nice when not being customarily belted out at the top of the singer's lungs. She caught his eye and offered him a small smile, but otherwise remained absorbed in her work.

Cyborg walked over to the kitchen and leaned his arms on the counter across from her. "What's cookin'?" he asked.

"Zorbrian nut pudding," Starfire replied, pulling her arms carefully from the concoction and wiping them down. "It has a rather high viscosity at this stage, and so requires an especially direct touch."

Cyborg hummed and nodded along. Just a few months ago, Starfire's presence in the kitchen was an automatic warning bell to stay away lest he be volunteered to try her latest alien concoction. But her attempts to feed her teammates had been gradually waning lately, and just because he couldn't handle her bizarre foods didn't mean he couldn't appreciate a fellow chef at work. He didn't think he'd ever tried "Zorbrian nut pudding" before, though the vaguely acrid scent drifting from the other end of the counter told him he didn't want to.

"I confess I will not know what to do with it all," she went on, "but I needed to use the kemberries in something before they spoil. Zorbrian nut pudding is intended for groups to share, but… Well…"

She gave a little bashful blush as she trailed off, but Cyborg swore he caught a hint of sadness in her eyes. He winced. It wasn't like Starfire was a bad cook – at least, he was pretty sure she wasn't – but humans and Tamaraneans had very different tastes. The flavors in her food were overpowering, often in bizarre combinations of sweet, spicy and bitter, and "charring" was apparently a legitimate method of preparation. It certainly gave her own strange twists to Earth foods some context, and it had him convinced that she was far from a picky eater to like any normal Earth foods at all.

Still… it was no fun for a chef's dishes to go unappreciated, that much Cyborg knew firsthand. Why did Beast Boy think he kept wanting him to try his delicious meals?

(Okay, so maybe it was a little unfair to keep pushing meat dishes on a vegetarian. Beast Boy said it was a shapeshifter thing, but weren't most of his favorite forms supposed to be predators? Cyborg didn't get it.)

(And no, BB's own concoctions didn't count. Tofu was not the answer to everything, and it was most certainly not meant to go into pastries. Honestly.)

Anyway, point was, Starfire was disappointed with the state of her artistry and Cyborg could not stand for that. Before he could think it through, he blurted out, "I'll try some."

Starfire immediately perked up. "Truly?"

Cyborg was already starting to regret this, but he nodded anyway. "Sure. I mean… as long as it's not going to make me sick like, uh, some of the Tamaranean stuff I've tried. That shouldn't be a problem, right?"

Starfire's eyes widened, and she clasped her hands in front of her and shook her head. "Oh, I would never wish to risk such a thing! I have become very careful in determining which ingredients are bad for humans, and I can assure you that this has none."

Cyborg grinned and clapped his hands together. "Well then, I don't see anything wrong with at least giving it a try. Lay it on me!"

So, the good news: Starfire was right about the pudding not making him sick.

The bad news: it tasted almost as bad as it smelled.

Beast Boy had wandered in while she was finishing the recipe, and he was now playing a video game from the couch and pretending not to watch the event with morbid curiosity. Cyborg twirled his spoon in his fingers, trying to distract himself enough to choke down his latest bite of the vaguely grainy pudding.

Starfire took another eager bite of her own serving. "How do you like it?" she asked, a hopeful note in her voice.

Cyborg tapped his spoon against the table a couple times. "It's… umm…" He searched for the right word. "Bitter."

As he'd hoped, that comment made his companion beam. "Yes!" she chirped. "The bitterness of the kemberries is truly brought out in this plate, is it not?"

"I think you mean 'dish,'" Cyborg said, stirring his pudding absently. "But, uh, yeah, it sure is."

Starfire didn't miss the hesitation in his voice. Her expression fell. "You do not like it."

Cyborg winced, sighing as he put his spoon down. "I'm sorry, Star. I guess bitter's just… kind of a hard sell for a lot of people, you know?"

Starfire pushed her bowl away and slumped over, resting her chin on folded arms. "Your Earth tastes are most frustrating. I only wish to share some of my culture in return for all you have shared with me, and yet there is always something wrong with Tamaranean foods."

Her mouth twisted in a grimace as she added, "And then when I simply try to make Earth foods, they are wrong too! What tastes perfect to me is always over-seasoned, or too bitter, or 'burned.' Are our senses of taste really so different?"

Cyborg leaned over the table and rested a hand on her arm. "Hey, it's not your fault," he said gently. "I bet you're a great cook by Tamaranean tastes! And I've got to imagine it goes both ways."

Starfire remained in her defeated position, but she frowned thoughtfully. "I suppose I am what you would call an 'adventurous' eater, but… I must confess that I still find many Earth foods somewhat bland." She let out a small huff. "Mustard was the tangiest beverage I have been able to find, yet you insist it is not a beverage."

"Oh, come on!" The sudden shout startled Cyborg from his seat, and he turned back to glare at Beast Boy for interrupting them. To his surprise though, BB had paused his game and was instead looking their way.

With a grin he added, "You can't hate all our stuff that much. You totally downed that Thai food we tried the other day!"

Starfire blushed a little and sat up. "That was very good. Especially with the lime juice."

Cyborg grinned as well. He remembered that night – it was right after he got over his little computer virus mishap, and he'd wanted to order something extra spicy to help clear out his sinuses. He was pretty sure Starfire had managed to coax the lime wedges off half the team's plates, but that was honestly pretty tame as far as ways she'd tried to doctor up her meals.

"See? There's gotta be some overlap," he pointed out. The gears in his head started turning at that thought, and he started tapping his spoon on his bowl again.

"You know, there's a couple Tamaranean foods I've liked too," he added. "Like that wiggly spotted black stuff they had at your engagement feast. You know what I'm talking about?"

Starfire visibly brightened at that. "You liked the sputlinks?" She clapped her hands together. "Oh, I knew you would! Why did you never tell me? I know the recipe, and I can procure the ingredients without too much trouble."

Cyborg snorted with amusement. "Sorry. There was kind of a lot going on." He pointed his spoon at her. "But see what I mean? All we gotta do is figure out what kinda foods humans and Tamaraneans both like, and boom! Everyone's happy."

Starfire squealed and bounced in her seat. "Yes! Come Cyborg, we should begin experimenting straightaway!"

With that she floated out of her chair and grabbed Cyborg by the arm, pulling him gratefully away from his remaining pudding with a strength that nobody else on the team could hope to match.

Beast Boy watched them return to the kitchen with a bemused look on his face. "…Well, you're welcome for the inspiration!" he called after them.

The kitchen was a regular hodgepodge of interplanetary foods. Starfire and Cyborg had spent the past week suggesting, preparing and sampling dishes from both their own and each other's worlds, discussing them in depth and taking meticulous notes on what worked and what didn't for each of them.

Now, both parties had laid out some of the more noteworthy ingredients from their experiments. The kitchen counters were covered in spicy peppers, citrus fruits, thick bars of dark chocolate and any number of sauces and spices, several mustards included. Alongside these were several brightly colored Tamaranean fruits, knobby (and in one case wriggling) fungi, and strange-smelling liquids that Cyborg could only guess the origins of, many of these ingredients freshly delivered but a few cultivated by Starfire herself. The other Titans had quickly caught wind of their teammates' recent project, and it was no coincidence that the two currently found themselves alone.

That was fine. Not everybody had the stomach for this kind of experimentation, and Starfire and Cyborg would present them with the results when they were good and ready.

Cyborg leaned back against the far counter and popped a deep maroon berry into his mouth. "You know, these kemberries aren't half bad on their own," he mused aloud. "They kinda remind me of grapefruit. With the right amount of sugar, I bet they make a great dessert!"

Starfire hummed in thought as she nibbled on a habanero pepper. "You did seem to prefer them in the sweet glorg. Did you have anything specific in mind?"

"I'm thinking some kind of citrus bar. Well, not citrus technically, but you get the idea." He eyed her pepper. "You know, I'm not sure whether to be impressed or terrified by how easily you can eat that."

"It is very good. I would like to find more recipes which use them." She cocked her head. "But I do not believe Tamaran has anything like your citrus bars."

Cyborg grinned and rubbed his hands together. "Now see, that's the next step of our little project. I've been thinking, now we know what kinds of fruit and spices and stuff work for both of us, but actual recipes still tend to be a little more on the extreme side of human versus Tamaranean tastes, right?"

Starfire pursed her lips. "I suppose."

"And it's not exactly the easiest thing to get regular orders of ingredients from halfway across the galaxy, not to mention the gasket Robin's gonna blow if we keep up those extra expenses."

Starfire narrowed her eyes a little. "Is this meant to make me feel better about my cooking?"

Cyborg put up a placating hand and shook his head. "I promise I'm getting somewhere with this. My point is, maybe the easiest way to enjoy both of our foods is to use the ingredients we have together and get creative. You know, fusion cuisine!"

"Fusion… cuisine?"

"Yeah, it's when you take foods from different cultures and combine the ideas together. You know, like Tex-Mex." He took a moment to look around at the spread on the counter before continuing, picking up relevant ingredients as he did.

"Like, we could make tacos, but instead of lettuce, tomato and salsa, we chop up some of these fruits and maybe make some strips of this mushroomy thing. And to season the meat, we marinate it in this."

Cyborg paused as he picked up the small bottle of clear yellow liquid. "What is this stuff anyway? It's the real spicy sauce you used in the relmak yesterday, right?"

Starfire nodded. "That is Zorbrian spider juice."

Cyborg's train of thought screeched to a halt. "Zorbrian… spider juice? They have spiders on Tamaran? And you make juice with them?"

Starfire bit her lip and suddenly found the computer console on the other side of ops very interesting. "They are similar enough to Earth spiders to translate. The juice is… something that I gather humans may not appreciate knowing the process behind."

Cyborg just blinked at that, but then shook his head. "Okay, so call it a secret forbidden recipe then. Point is, it's good stuff and I wanna use it to marinate chicken."

A tiny smile quirked at the corner of Starfire's mouth. "It would be nice to have some familiarity when trying Earth recipes… Could we attempt something with spaghetti? I think I know of a few sauces that would pair with the noodles well."

Cyborg threw an arm around her shoulders and gestured dramatically with the other. "Star, we can make all the spaghetti your alien heart desires. Watch out, culinary galaxy! The Titan Chefs are about to make history!"

It could never be said that Cyborg lacked a flair for the dramatic, but that was what made these projects fun. Starfire giggled a little at the display, and it wasn't long before the two of them were reabsorbed in their work, shouting ideas to each other as they planned out the next step of the experiment.

It was another week before Robin, Raven and Beast Boy tentatively sat down at the small dining area by the kitchen. Cyborg and Starfire stood next to a kitchen counter piled high with a variety of foods, looking immensely pleased with themselves.

Beast Boy raised a hand. "Is this another one of those Tamaranean feasts?" he asked. Smirking, he added, "Does it mean Starfire got engaged again?"

Everyone dutifully pretended not to notice as Robin stiffened at the thought, eyes widening slightly, and then turned a not-so-subtle glare on him. Cyborg merely shook his head.

"Not just Tamaranean! Ladies and gentlemen, what we are about to show you is a feat that nobody outside this tower has ever witnessed! A culinary creation that dares to take flavors from two very different worlds and blend them in delicious harmony. Tonight, we present –" here he stepped aside and flourished toward the spread, "– Tamaranean fusion!"

Alas, his grand announcement didn't bring in quite the level of enthusiasm he'd been shooting for, but Robin did perk up with obvious interest. Beast Boy and Raven still looked a bit skeptical, but flashes of intrigue crossed their expressions.

Starfire took over as she and Cyborg started setting out dishes. "We wanted to start with something relatively simple and flexible," she explained, "so this meal is based on Mexican tacos. You will see a variety of traditional topping options, as well as sliced ginga cap, crushed ri'a nuts and a sweet salsa we derived from Tamaranean fruits. The meat is plainly seasoned, but you can add Zorbrian spider juice to it if you wish for something spicy."

"The ginga cap can also be used as an alternative to the meat," Cyborg cut in. Eyeing Beast Boy, he added, "Don't ever tell me I never think of you."

Beast Boy gave the bowl of greyish-brown strips a wary look. He pulled it over and sniffed at the contents. "I dunno, I think Star's talked about this stuff before. Isn't it some sort of fungus?"

Raven rolled her eyes. "You know mushroom's a fungus too, right?" She started spooning ground beef onto a tortilla and eyed the Tamaranean salsa curiously.

Cyborg nodded. "Raven's right, it's like an extra-savory mushroom. Anyway, that brings us to sides: I made some fresh tortilla chips to go with the salsa, and Starfire made her sputlinks. Those, ah, do have meat in 'em."

"I knew it," Beast Boy muttered to himself as the bowl of wiggly black sputlinks were placed on the table. He gave it a wide berth, but still grabbed a slice of ginga cap to try out.

Robin took a handful of chips and spooned some of the Tamaranean salsa onto his plate. "I have to admit, I was kind of nervous about the idea, but this all looks really good!" He used a chip to scoop up a hearty portion of salsa and popped it in his mouth, humming in contentment. "It is really good!"

Starfire beamed at the compliment, stars practically in her eyes as she sat down beside him to prepare her own plate. Cyborg recognized that feeling – the same sense of pride and satisfaction in his work was swelling in his own chest, after all. He had to say, he really looked forward to finding out what else he and Star could make together. For now, though, he took his own seat between Beast Boy and Raven, and it wasn't long before all five Titans were chatting and laughing over a meal well underway.