Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans.
Breakfast has never been so lonely for Robin. He sits at the table, staring at Starfire's empty spot. The toast on his plate is almost untouched as he contemplates his friend's absence.
'I need to compensate for the lack of power when fighting.' The boy wonder notes. 'Cyborg mentioned that he called in Kid Flash and Jinx, but I haven't seen or heard from them at all.'
"Cyborg!" Robin barks suddenly, startling the metallic teen who had just sat down to play a racing game with his green friend. "Where are KF and Jinx?"
"They arrived an hour or two after we left the tower." Cyborg replies.
"Yo."
Robin spins around during and comes face-to-face with the yellow-clad speedster. The red-haired boy grins upon seeing Robin's surprised expression.
"Long time no see!" He laughs.
"Uhh. Yeah." The boy wonder replies awkwardly. "It's been a while hasn't it?"
"Yeah." Kid Flash zips over to the kitchen area, fixes himself some cereal, and sits down in Starfire's normal spot all within one second. "Speaking of time, how long are Jinx and myself staying for?"
"As long as it takes for Starfire to sort herself out." Beast Boy calls from the couch. "Hopefully Rob will do the same!"
Kid Flash lets out a snort of laughter at seeing Robin's furious expression. The boy wonder gives Beast Boy a glare befitting Raven herself. "I don't need to "Sort myself out"! I'm perfectly fine!" He hisses.
"Uh huh, and my name is Santa Claus, ho ho ho." Beast Boy mutters before returning his attention to the screen.
As Robin seethes Kid Flash slips quietly out of the room, not wanting to stick around with the annoyed martial artist.
"What are you implying?" Robin growls.
"Nothing." Beast Boy replies innocently. "Just that you might be confusing the hell out of Starfire and don't seem to realize it. We did mention he was the reason Star needed to leave in the first place right?" The green-skinned changeling turns to his metallic friend as he asks the question.
Cyborg doesn't look away from the game and just nods.
Steam was coming out of Robin's head as his face grew red with rage. "You're blaming this on me?!"
"Yep. Pretty much."
Robin stands there for a moment; his eyes shoot daggers at the back of Beast Boy's head as the shapeshifter returns to playing his game. Abruptly, the boy wonder turns around and stalks out of the room, nearly knocking over a certain half-demon who had just entered at the same instant.
"Alright. What happened to keeping him distracted?" Raven sighs and gives the two gaming Titans a withering look.
"Well... Uh..." Beast Boy mumbles, squirming in his seat.
"As much as Rob needs to chill out, he's also gotta consider his part in this." Cyborg jumps in to save the changeling. "If only Starfire figures out what she wants and Rob doesn't, then we're just gonna have a repeat of this at some point in the future."
Raven considers this for a moment before nodding. "Fair enough." She turns swiftly to look Beast Boy. "You're lucky Cyborg came up with a good reason." She growls.
"What did I do?" The green boy whines pitifully to the metallic-teen next to him after Raven walks to the kitchen area to make tea. He is sure to remain quiet so the empath cannot hear.
Cyborg just chuckles, not giving Beast Boy a proper response.
###
Shadow sits silently in the corner of the bedroom, watching over his sleeping friend. Suddenly, a red flash can be seen coming from under the door. The pale boy quickly leaps to his feet and silently pushes his way into the main room.
The light is well known to the guardian of Blacksoak City. He set up the system in the first place. Sadly, it is NOT a good thing.
The small flashing red light is being emitted from a small stalk rising from his computer. Pushing the stalk back into the computer causes an alert log to pop up, detailing all police alerts. The system is designed to only emit the red light when a certain level of alert is sent out.
Reading the top alert on the list causes the Night Shadow to grimace. The Shock has escaped custody once more.
Realizing that there is no way he will be able to find the electric villain in time, Shadow grudgingly shuts off the computer, goes back to the bedroom, and resumes his former position.
"Damn supervillains." He whispers, sitting back down.
And few more hours pass in silence. Shadow guards his friend as he watches the sun comes up through the window.
"Another day, another dollar." He sighs. "Time for breakfast." He walks out of the room and quietly closes the door.
A few minutes later Starfire awakens to the smell of bacon. She rubs her eyes blearily and gets out of bed. Dressing herself, the peppy alien pushes open the door to see Shadow cooking once more.
After a hearty breakfast of bacon, toast, and chocolate milk the two Titans proceed to laze about the house, generally doing nothing of interest.
The sun beats down, but the lake effect combined with how far north the city is renders the temperature to only be moderate.
Starfire is occupied with thoughts of her Robin problem, while Shadow simply dislikes leaving the house.
...
"Shadow?"
"Yes?"
"Why do humans hide their feelings?"
The pale boy sighs and leans back in his seat. "Multiple reasons, but I'd guess that fear is a big part of it. We might be happy, but if we don't think others will like us being happy then we don't show it."
"Fear?"
"Yeah. Humans are fragile compared to many other things, so we generally try to avoid trouble in any way possible. Heroes and villains are exceptions to that rule, as are the army, police, and everyday thugs, but even so that still leaves much more than half the world's population."
Starfire goes silent for a moment. "But Robin is a hero. Why does he hide himself from me?"
"Like I said, humans are fragile. We don't all live in the present either, so something bad can stick with us for a long time. We are very weary of opening up emotionally, and we are scared to get romantically involved because it is one of the most risky things a person do. It either elevates you to the top of he world, or throws you in a ditch to die."
"Oh... I was unaware that having the relationship with someone else was such a dangerous thing for you."
"Truth be told, I'm just telling you what I've seen by watching and listening to others. I've never been romantically involved with anyone myself, I would never force such a burden upon someone I cared about, but I'm still fairly good at reading behavior, so I have a decent idea of why it is so dangerous."
Starfire goes quiet again. Her green eyes are glazed and unfocused as she considers this information. "Tamerainians are much different when it comes to how we feel." She says suddenly. "We do the wearing of our organs on our clothes."
"You mean you wear your heart on your sleeve."
"Yes. We have no fear of showing our true feelings. I have been trying to be less... Extreme, when it comes to Robin, but it does not seem to be helping. I wish to make him more comfortable around me, but it seems I am being too much of the subtle."
"Actually, I think Robin is just really dense." Shadow says bluntly, with a small smile on his face.
"Oh."
"The guy couldn't tell what a flirtatious move was if it punched him in the face. According to Big Brother that is." The pale boy lets out a quiet chuckle.
Starfire couldn't help but smile. Shadow had brought up some good points and simultaneously kept the situation from becoming too serious. He was quite a good person to talk too. The alien princess felt reassured.
"What do you think I should do?" She asks.
Shadow gives her an apologetic look. "That's out of my area of expertise."
"Ah. Well thank you for the help."
"Anytime."
And comfortable silence permeates the air for the remainder of the day.
###
The clock ticks slowly, one second at at time.
Tick.
Tock.
Tick.
Tock.
Robin growls and tears his eyes away from the device. He tries to focus on the police reports in front of him. The boy wonder needs a distraction, badly. Anything to keep from thinking of her.
He stands up abruptly and leaves the room. He knows what to do, he does it all the time when he needs a distraction.
The gym doors open up and Robin steps inside. He is surprised to see that Raven is already here beating the stuffing out of a sandbag.
"Hey Raven." He says casually, hooking up his own bag.
She just nods and delivers a series of rapid kicks to the bag in front of her. What she lacks in power she makes up for in precision.
Robin turns to face his own target and starts his toughest routine. It requires fighting non-stop for a full three hours, something he only ever does when he needs to forget everything.
Raven stops her training for a moment to watch her leader. The boy has gone into a whirlwind, punching and kicking the sandbag lime it's some sort of fiend. Eventually he slows his pace, but he doesn't stop moving and attacking.
"Robin." She calls out, realizing something. "Why did you come here? I thought you were organizing reports."
"Needed a distraction." He grunts, landing a particularly nasty uppercut.
"Running away from your problems won't help." The empath informs him bluntly. "You know this."
Robin sighs and shifts to the side. He launches into a series of kicks while speaking. "I know, but emotions aren't something I'm particularly adept at dealing with."
"Tell me about it." Raven sighs. "I end up snapping at people when I just mean to ask a question, just because I'm slightly annoyed."
"I'm a bit better when it comes to irritation." Robin says. "But when it comes to anger? Not a chance."
"It also seems you have a problem with affairs of he heart." Raven points out.
"And you don't?"
Raven sighs. "Fair point."
"I guess we both need a bit of help, huh?"
The half-demon throws him a look. "Hey, you're the one who caused Starfire to leave because you confused the hell out of her."
Robin winces as he chops the sandbag with a knife hand. "Yeah. I know. You guys only remind me every five minutes."
"Then start doing something about it if you want us to stop." With that said Raven twirls about, picks up her cloak, and walks out of the room.
'Why me?' Robin whines mentally.
Chapter 6 complete. Both Starfire and Robin talked it out with someone. Shadow was much nicer about it than Raven wasn't he?