Starfire smiled, a smile full of past hurts and fears, yet completely engulfed in love and peace. Nightwing returned her smile with one of his own.
Nightwing lifted back the covers inviting her to slumber, and Starfire welcomed the long missed softness of the pillows and mattress.
They fell asleep almost instantly, leaning against each other the whole night.
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Pizza
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Light surrounded her, softly filtering through the warm cocoon of blankets surrounding her. She twitched slightly in her sleep, trying to keep the warm, semiconscious state of half-dreaming, but she could already feel the sleep leaving her like water through her fingers.
She reluctantly opened her eyes.
"Good morning, sunshine," Nightwing said, a tender smile gracing his lips.
Starfire pushed herself up onto her elbows, for a moment not believing that she was really back at the Tower, but Nightwing's smile dispelled all doubt.
"Good morning!" she exclaimed cheerily. She tilted her head a little to the side. "You are already in the costume. Was there a disturbance while I slumbered?"
Nightwing gave a small shrug. "Yep, but our friends didn't wake us. They even disconnected the alarm from our room. But, they forgot about my communicator. Anyway, I was so tired I slept through the alarm."
He reached over to give a small kiss on Starfire's cheek. "I think it's high time we went down before they get worried."
Starfire grumbled and sunk deeper into the covers, giving Nightwing an imploring puppy eyed glance.
Nightwing smirked. "Nuh-uh. You need to get dressed," he said, pulling Starfire out of bed by the hand and giving her a light push towards the hallway and the bathroom. Starfire flashed a small smile at him before traipsing out the door.
She soon returned with sopping hair dripping water behind her, a pink towel wrapped around her shoulders. She snuggled the towel rather lovingly.
"I simply could not resist," she told Nightwing with a slightly self-conscious smile at his raised eyebrow. "It feels so wondrous to be home once again and just have a slow, hot bath."
"I know what you mean," Nightwing said emphatically as Starfire rummaged through the closet and started to undress. A newfound surge of rage coursed through Nightwing like venom at the scars that crisscrossed Starfire's slender back. He saw her wince as the strap of the bra scraped her as she attempted to strap it on. He ground his teeth, his hand forming into a tight fist. He noticed that she pulled on long pants and a long sleeved shirt instead of her usual uniform, and he knew it was because she didn't want to worry her friends with her wounds.
Once she had everything on, he wrapped his arms gently around her waist.
"Promise me you'll ask Raven to heal you later today," he said quietly.
Starfire twisted around to capture his lips with hers. "As you wish," she whispered when they parted, which admittedly took quite some time.
Starfire looked into his masked face, and something seemed to crash over her.
"So you became Nightwing," she murmured, a hint of sadness trailing behind the name. "It was you sierja to do so."
Sierja. Fate. Destiny.
"I can become Robin again," Nightwing told her, biting back the last two words, for you.
Starfire shook her head, and her emerald eyes locked onto the sapphires that she knew was hidden behind the length of cloth.
"No. Nightwing is his own man. He is not tethered to his mentor, to his past."
He knew she was referring to the death of his parents.
And Nightwing could still see the regret and yearning swimming beneath the surface of her twin lakes, but he knew there was also pride, pride that he had found himself.
"Let's go."
Beastboy lounged on the sofa, a movie blaring from the TV and a can of root beer in one hand. He glanced at Raven, who was deeply engaged in a thick fantasy novel she had started the day before. He found himself staring at her, marveling at the glossy purple hair that the sunlight gave a rich tint. Her flawless gray skin only enhanced the bright spark she held in her eyes, the only sign of her excitement as she read page after page.
The sound of her shifting slightly in her seat brought him back to reality, and he took a deep draught of the root beer before speaking.
"So, Nightwing and Starfire still asleep?"
Raven looked up from the book, looking faintly dazed. "Hmm?" Her eyes regained their focus. "Oh, yes, I'm pretty sure they still are. They've had a tough time."
"Do you think it was the right thing to disconnect the alarm from their room?"
Raven placed a bookmark carefully in her book before closing it. "Definitely. Robin might get a bit ruffled over it, but they needed a good night's rest. Heaven knows how many they're going to get, now that they're back here."
Beastboy reached over to the remote and switched off the television. "You're right. Robin has his work cut out for him. The Titans have been in a muddle ever since he got married."
They were now mere inches from each other.
Raven nodded. "Nightwing also needs to contact his father, and I know Batman's going to demand him to come to Gotham when he finds out Nightwing and Starfire's back on Planet Earth."
"So, Raven…I was wondering…" Beastboy started a little hesitantly.
Raven's voice was surprisingly soft and dusky. "What, Beastboy?" she whispered.
The distance between the two Titans was quickly decreasing.
"If you would like to –!" Beastboy's words were cut short as the door of the Ops room swished open, and Raven hurriedly put some distance between them. Beastboy managed to bite back a snarl of annoyance at Nightwing's bad timing. But he still had to take a few deep breaths before he could get his typical smile back on his face.
Raven had already buried her head in the book she was reading before, but he could see she wasn't really reading the text. For one thing, she was at the wrong place in the book, and her eyes weren't moving across the page.
When he had composed himself, Beastboy turned in his seat and waved energetically at Nightwing and Starfire. If he and Raven noticed that Starfire wasn't in her uniform, they didn't mention it.
"Hey dudes!" he cried, and his joy was genuine, no matter what had happened beforehand. He couldn't say in words what the two's return meant to him. "What's up?"
"Nothing, really." Nightwing replied. "I noticed there was trouble in the morning. Did you wrap it up?"
Beastboy shot Raven a look that said, 'I told you he would notice.'
Out loud he said, "Yeah, it was easy. Just some punk who thought early morning was better than midnight for a little stealing spree."
"Thanks for being so considerate, guys. We really needed a good night's sleep."
"I know. I could practically see the dark circles through your mask." Raven said dryly, placing her closed book on the space next to her before getting up. She approached Starfire, who was sitting at the table at the back of the room, unusually quiet and pale.
"Are you okay, Starfire?" Raven asked worriedly. Nightwing stopped rummaging through the refrigerator and shot Starfire a worried look.
Starfire managed a weak smile. "Yes, friend. I am the o and the k."
"No you're not."
Nightwing had walked up to her side, abandoning all search of breakfast except to bring Starfire a bottle of mustard. He handed the "beverage" to her, and she accepted it with a brightened expression and a small "Thank you."
Raven looked quizzically at Nightwing, wondering what he had meant.
"Later, love." Starfire said, standing up and heading towards the kitchen and the fridge.
"We don't have anything, we need to go out if you want lunch." Beastboy told Starfire. "I'll just call Cyborg and Bee," he said, flipping open his communicator. "Then we'll be all set, cuz I'm hungry too and we didn't have lunch yet."
"Let us go to eat at the place of pizza!" suggested Starfire.
Beastboy looked to Raven and Nightwing who both nodded. "Right now, I welcome anything that isn't canned soup," Nightwing said with a shudder.
"Okay then. Beastboy calling Cyborg!"
Cyborg's face fizzled into existence on the small circular screen. "What's up?" he asked.
"Nightwing and Star are both awake and we're all hungry."
"Ah," he said, his tone unreadable. "Pizza place?"
Beastboy nodded. "Yep. We'll be down. Beastboy out."
"Cyborg is with his 'baby', yes?" Starfie said rather knowingly.
"Yes, and he's with Bumblebee. If it's okay with all of you, I'll transport us down."
Everyone nodded in ascent and drew near to her, and was promptly encased in black energy.
It was amazing how excruciatingly normal everything seemed to be. Beastboy told lame jokes in the T-car while Raven got annoyed at him. At P.I.Z.Z.A, Beastboy and Cyborg resumed their never-ending debate about tofu and meat.
"Veggies are good for you, and so's tofu!" Beastboy shouted across the table.
"When it's so dang disgusting?" Cyborg retorted.
Beastboy glared at him with crossed arms. "Have you even tried it properly?" he accused.
Cyborg wasn't deterred in the slightest. "Well, the types you cook are an insult to my tastebuds."
"We'll have one cheese, one supreme, and one pepperoni." Nightwing told the waitress who was standing a little to the side, waiting for the Titans to make up their mind.
"One cheese, one supreme, one pepperoni." she repeated. "Okay, the pizza will be here soon."
She hesitated for a moment then asked, "If you don't mind my asking, where's Robin? None of us have seen him for such a long time. I heard he was on a mission with Starfire…" She glanced at Starfire, curiosity stamped all over her face.
All of the Titans' eyes fixed on Nightwing, and an eerie silence fell over the table. For a few moments, the only sound that could be heard was the roar of the traffic below them and the general chatter of the other customers.
The waitress looked extremely uncomfortable and slowly started to back away.
"Ah, you see, I'm Robin," Nightwing explained with a slight smile. "Or, I used to be. The name's Nightwing now."
"Oh," she said, looking a bit confused. "Uh, thank you," she added before speeding away with their order.
The Titans were silent for a long time, even after she had left. Then Raven spoke.
"You know, that really is a problem."
She locked her fingers and propped her elbows on the table, placing her chin on her knuckles. "No one knows your new name, or that you used to be Robin. How are you planning to manage that?"
"Uh, I don't know?" he said, scratching the back of his head, looking awkward.
Thankfully, before he could look more stupid, the pizza arrived.
"All right!" Cyborg shouted, picking up a slice of the pepperoni at once.
Starfire folded back her sleeves just a little bit, and picked up a slice of the supreme, and bit into it tentatively. Then she closed her eyes and smiled before taking another bite, savoring every last bit. "I have never thought that I would enjoy pizza this much," she said, licking each finger delicately after she had finished.
"Me neither," Nightwing agreed after clearing his mouth with a large gulp, though unlike Starfire, who treated every bite as if it were holy, he had wolfed down three pieces already.
In her hurry to get another piece before the boys ate it all, Starfire was slightly careless and her sleeve slipped back to reveal her bruised arm. There was a collective gasp across the table at the black and blue blemishes across her golden skin.
"Starfire!" Bumblebee said, shock evident in her voice as well as her face.
Raven immediately reached over to her sister-friend, her hands glowing periwinkle with her healing power, and laid both on Starfire's arm.
"Why didn't you tell me at once?" Raven growled, trying to disguise her pain with irritation.
"I would have, truly I would," Starfire said. "I did not wish to worry our friends, and besides, I wished to spend time with our friends and I knew too well that they would insist upon my resting."
"But still," persisted Raven, though she had nothing more to say. Starfire had said exactly what they would have done if they had known.
Starfire tugged her arms gently away from Raven. "Later, my friend. Right now, let us enjoy the day."
The table was silent again, no one knowing what to say.
"Hey guys," piped up Beastboy, "Why don't anteaters get sick? Because they're full of anty-bodies! Get it?" He looked around expectantly at the assembly who merely groaned loudly.
Raven silently thanked the heavens for Beastboy's tactfulness.
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That's all for today!!
Hey guys, want some more lame jokes? Listen to this – What did Batman say to Robin before they got in the car? Robin, get in the car.
-rolls over laughing- Sorry…I just had to tell you this…now erase it from your memory after a review. It'll help with the trauma, I promise.