(A/N)- This one would have probably been super easy to just AU and call it a day but I never do anything half-assed and have to make everything ten times longer than it needs to be, apparently, so I wound up sending the Titans undercover to justify the setting and then because I did that I had to have a plot and, well...
*looks at 2700+ word count*
Anyway, I was actually really happy with this one when it finished. Read on my dears!
Disclaimer: Author does not make any copyright claims on the characters depicted within.
RobStar Week 2016, Day 2 - High School
"Beast Boy..." Robin groaned. "If you're not going to eat your food, at least quit picking at it."
The changeling stopped swirling his mystery meatloaf around on his tray and dropped his plastic fork glumly. "Man..." he whined. "I hate Meat Monday! I mean, they even put meat in the salad! Who does that?" He put his head down on his arms. "I'm not gonna make it to last period, guys."
Robin rolled his eyes and, next to him, Starfire giggled. "You're not gonna starve because you skipped lunch," he said sternly, passing him the apple from his own tray. "Here."
Beast Boy lit up, popping up off his arms and eagerly taking the apple. "Thanks dude!" he chirped.
"You could have been Mrs. Whitmore's biology class pet turtle," Robin reminded him.
"Yeah right," snarked Beast Boy, around his munching. "Eating lettuce and getting poked at with sticks for a week before winding up on the dissection table. No thanks."
Now it was Robin's turn to bury his face in his arms. "That's not how it works, Beast Boy," he groaned.
Starfire laid a hand on his shoulder and patted it comfortingly. Robin turned to look in her direction, sporting a tired smile.
The holo ring she sported on her left middle finger hadn't needed to change her much; mostly just toned down the vibrant orange of her skin to a more natural tan and changed her scelera and pupils to a normal human white and black. Her natural Tamaranian beauty still shone through-a fact which the hormonal teenage boys at Dixon Cedar High had not failed to notice.
After the first few attempted hit-ons, Robin had very quickly established himself as Starfire's boyfriend, as part of his own cover story. It seemed to make Starfire more comfortable as well.
Plus it gave them an excuse to be openly affectionate while undercover.
"So has anyone found the guy yet?" Beast Boy complained, tossing the apple core neatly over his shoulder and into the nearby trash can. "Heard any news from Cyborg or Raven?" Despite the Titans' best efforts it was impossible—and suspicious-looking—for them to have all the same scheduled classes together, so at several junction points throughout the day they were split up across the school. Cyborg had the lunch period after them, and Raven had the one before, and none of them shared a single class with Beast Boy, who'd been stuck in the younger grade level.
He'd been very put out by it all.
"I saw Raven in second-period Geometry," Starfire offered before shaking her head. "Thus far she has been unable to sense out our villainous recruiter."
"Well, I've got Biology with her right after this," Robin said. "I'll check in with her again, see if anything new's developed."
"Good," said Beast Boy, leaning back in his seat. "The sooner we find out who's recruiting kids from the new HIVE Academy from here and pop him, the sooner we can get back to our nice, normal, homework-free lives," he emphasized.
"Indeed," Starfire agreed. "This experience has been interesting, but I am very much beginning to miss Silkie," she confessed, eyes pinched with worry.
Robin squeezed her hand. "We'll see him after school," he told her. "Promise."
She beamed. They leaned in together for a kiss, a quick peck or two on the lips.
"Ugh," groaned Beast Boy. "I think you two are even mushier undercover than you are in costume."
-TT-
Robin caught Raven's eyes amid the quiet shuffling of the classroom before the bell rang, and leaned out of his seat towards her.
"Anything?" he asked, keeping his voice just above a whisper.
She nodded, brushing a strand of her holo-ring disguised black hair out of her face. She tilted her head towards a knot of boys in the corner, crowding one desk in particular and joking around.
"Him," she said, pointing out a lanky, brown-haired junior standing casually at the front. "Derrick Miller."
Robin's face puckered and he scowled. "That guy?" Robin had encountered the older student only once before, but already despised him. He'd been one of the first to make a pass at Starfire.
Not even five minutes on the school grounds that first morning and already he was singling her out from the crowd and swaggering in with his combed hair and sly charming smile and his smooth-talk like, "Oh hello Beautiful, you must be new. I'd love to show you around the school." She'd been walking fairly close to Robin's side, shadowing the Boy Wonder a little shyly, nervous about their first day, and the wannabe-cassanova had all but physically plucked her from that position, spiriting her almost halfway up the front steps before Robin even noticed she was gone.
Starfire had given him a rather bewildered look from over her shoulder as her "helper" guided her into the building and all Robin had been able to do was stand there, gaping in disbelief.
He narrowed his eyes at the junior, studying him suspiciously.
"Are you sure?" he asked Raven.
"Fairly," she replied. Her eyes flicked to him. "Something wrong?"
Robin shook his head. "It's nothing." He wouldn't have pegged the boy for a supervillain but, now that he thought about it, his smooth-talking charm could be put to very persuasive use in such a career. Still, he had to ask. "What makes you think it's him?"
"The way he observes a room when he enters it," Raven explained, thumbing through their textbook to the relevant section they were covering. "He keeps to the edges. Takes in the whole room. Scans it. It's like he's sizing up the kids. He's good at masking himself, but I can sense nefarious intent whenever he does it."
Robin took a peek from the corner of his eye. Indeed, Derrick Miller seemed to have his gaze on everyone, looking with a little too much interest at a couple students in particular. "You're right."
He checked the clock on the wall. Two minutes before class. The teacher would be walking in any moment now.
Scooting forward in his seat, Robin whispered urgently, "So how do we catch him?"
"Well we know he's attracted to redheads..." Raven drawled, with a little smirk.
Robin frowned. "No," he said firmly.
Raven leaned back in her desk, crossing her arms. "Anyone ever talked to you about your overprotective tendencies?"
"We're not using Starfire to bait him out," Robin repeated. "After what Control Freak put her through last month, we owe her that."
The empath shrugged. "Fair enough." She glanced towards the door, sensing the teacher's approach down the hall, and quickly assumed a studious posture. "We should hurry though; he's been creeping on two kids in particular and I think he might approach them soon."
Robin nodded, turning face forward as the shrill ring of the bell cut through the clamor and the teacher took her place at the front.
-TT-
Starfire tugged at the hem of her skirt as surreptitiously as she could. She had chosen the pleated blue number that morning because it was cute (and it had made Robin braindead for a few wonderful seconds), but it was dangerously close to skirting the acceptable length for the dress code. Raven had kindly warned her about it when she'd seen the girl in second-period and now it was all the self-conscious Starfire could think about.
As she descended the steps to the first floor, though, she spotted Robin waiting at the bottom for her and forgot all about her insecurities. Warmth colored her cheeks as he beamed up at her. She hadn't told him, but she thought he looked very fetching in that black leather jacket. She was hoping he would hang onto it after the end of this mission. (Baggy ripped jeans, a white tee, and a fake stud in his left ear completed the look.)
"Hey," he greeted her, sliding a hand around her waist as they turned down the hall. "How was class?"
Starfire frowned, her brows wrinkling. "Your English grammar is most perplexing," she told him. "I do not understand the purpose of putting the adjective modifier before the noun it describes. And why is the 'i before e' rule so inconsistent?"
Robin chuckled. "English is kind of a hodgepodge language. We took bits and pieces from everything." He nudged her playfully. "You should learn Mandarin sometime. That one will really throw you."
She gave him a sly smile and a coquettish look. "Perhaps I merely require more in-depth study," she breathed, teasing his ear with her flirty whisper.
"Hey now..." he whispered back, pulling his head away slightly. "Careful. They frown on excessive PDA around here."
Starfire was ready with a quip about "private after-school tutoring", but the words died as they came upon a scene of some high tension outside the boys' bathroom. "Oh dear..." she said.
Robin frowned as well, as he beheld the drama.
A small freckle-faced kid, likely a freshman, was cowering against the lockers from a trio of older boys, the largest of which had hold of his collar and was giving him a predatory grin.
"Come on, Marcus," the freshman was pleading. "I missed breakfast today and my mom gets in late on Tuesdays."
"Well that's a shame. But the Marcus Personal Happiness Fund don't pay for itself Freshie. Pony up."
The freshman whimpered pitifully.
Robin glared at the tall junior. Marcus Cole, a school bully so comically two-dimensional that Robin had to wonder if he was a plant from HIVE to soften the kids up before their recruiter swooped in and snagged them. Beast Boy had had an encounter with him their first day, which had probably lent a great deal to the changeling's unfavorable opinions about the mission.
(He was also one of the many boys who had tried to hit on Starfire. Robin hadn't even needed to say anything to that one; Starfire had shut him down cold. It was extremely satisfying.)
The Boy Wonder exchanged a glance with Starfire. Undercover or not, they couldn't just let it happen without comment.
"If it starts getting too hairy, I want you to go get a teacher," Robin ordered her softly.
She nodded. "Understood." She looked with some concern at the trio of bullies. "Are you sure you will be able to handle them?" she asked.
He grinned, popping his shoulders casually. "Piece of cake."
They approached, in time to hear Marcus growling, "What's the matter, Freshie? Hard of hearing? I said pay up!"
One of the sidekicks punched a fist into his palm. "Maybe he needs to be taught a lesson."
"Or maybe you should just bug off and leave the kid alone," Robin called, assuming a slouched, hands-in-pockets posture as he and Starfire closed in.
Sidekick #2 groaned loudly. "Oh great. It's the skater punk and his girlfriend."
Marcus turned his head to scowl at them. "Butt out, Grayson."
"Love to," Robin said with a shrug. "But you're blocking my locker. Move."
"Make me, you little punk." Turning to face Robin, the bully released the freshman's collar, and the younger boy very quickly ducked out from the midst of the older trio—despite a clumsy grab from Sidekick #1—and darted behind Starfire. Marcus's eyes flashed with anger. "Hey, our business wasn't finished, pipsqueak!" he snapped, jabbing a finger at the freshman.
Starfire shielded him with her arm, green eyes narrow and dangerous. "It most certainly is," she said calmly.
Marcus drew himself up to his full, rather intimidating height, one thick arm starting to reach for her, palm flat as if he was going to shove her.
In a blink, Robin had grabbed his arm, twisted the junior around, and slammed him face first into the lockers. His startled yelp attracted the attention of several other students in the hall, who had otherwise been ignoring the whole drama.
Robin let go with a small push and stood back, crossing his arms. "Don't do that again," he warned.
"You little shit!" Marcus recovered quickly from nursing his arm and charged, Sidekicks # 1 and 2 quickly following suit.
Robin ducked a heavy swing, elbowing Marcus in the breadbasket and crumpling him, breathless, to the linoleum floor. Sidekick #2 was a little harder, especially since—in keeping with his cover—Robin held back from using the more fluid and acrobatic forms in his repertoire, keeping to basic, gritty, street brawling. Sidekick #2 had studied at least one such more disciplined form, and it was a struggle for Robin not to respond in kind.
Maybe that was why he didn't notice Sidekick #1's incoming right fist before it socked him—hard—in the cheek.
His ears rang from the blow as he skidded on his shoulder. Momentarily dazed, Robin put up his arms to guard against what was sure to be a follow-up attack.
It wasn't necessary. No sooner had the bully knocked him over than Starfire lunged. Her punch to the stomach earned a loud, "Oof!" and sent the junior flying several impressive feet, to flop limply to the floor by the water fountains, earning Starfire some light applause and a small cheer from the curious onlookers.
Sidekick #2 took one look at his fallen companion, one look at the seemingly tiny Starfire, and then decided to vanish into the boy's bathroom, yanking open the door like he couldn't make it in fast enough.
Chagrined, Starfire knelt to Robin's side. She took firm hold of his arm to help him up.
The Boy Wonder blinked in confusion, seeing Sidekick #1 much farther down the hall than should be possible.
"Are you okay?" Starfire asked him.
"Uh... fine," he said blankly. "Was that...?"
She grimaced sheepishly. "I... may have forgotten to pull my punch a little," she whispered. She turned to the freshman. "And are you uninjured as well?"
He grinned at her. "Thanks to you!" he gushed. "You're a lifesaver, Kory!" He turned to Robin and had to rack his brain a few moments to find the name. "Ricky. See you guys around!" he chirped, hoisting up his backpack and hurrying down the hall to his lunch period.
A few teachers were poking their heads out of their classrooms now, but there was no longer anything to see. Marcus and Sidekick #1 were slowly peeling themselves off the floor, and even the sprinkling of onlookers were beginning to scatter.
But they weren't the only ones observing.
Robin nudged Starfire, drawing her attention to Derrick Miller, leaning against the lockers on the other side of the hall, arms crossed and looking impressed.
"That looks like it hurts, Marcus," he commented from his position. "Maybe you should go see the nurse about that."
"Bugger off, you weasel," Marcus grumbled, but slowly turned to begin limping in that direction, his remaining sidekick following after and holding his stomach.
The two Titans both straightened as Derrick shoved casually off from the lockers and walked up to them.
"Those were some pretty sweet moves you had there, Grayson."
He feigned a nonchalant shrug. "Whatever," he dismissed. "The guy was in my space. Someone had to kick him down a few pegs."
"So you like to pick fights, huh?" probed Derrick.
Behind his back, Robin beckoned for Starfire to join him. As she attached herself to his arm he proceeded cautiously, "Occasionally. When it's inevitable. What's it to you?"
"Ever fought a super before?"
Robin faked a frown. "A super? You mean one of those idiots flying around in capes and tights?"
Starfire could barely hold back her giggle at the self-depreciating joke.
"No love for the supers I see," Derrick commented lightly. "You ever want to kick one of them down a few pegs?" he asked, the charm on full throttle.
Robin narrowed his eyes. Starfire leaned in, getting the hidden microphone in her necklace closer to their conversation.
"What are you offering?" demanded Robin.
Derrick gave a winsome, oily smile and spread his hands. "An opportunity. How'd you like to do a little after-school work?"
Starfire squeezed his hand excitedly and Robin felt a rush of satisfaction flood through him. He darted a glance at Starfire, hiding his grin behind an impassive poker face that would've made Raven proud.
They had him.
"Keep talking..." he urged, pulling Starfire into the crook of his arm affectionately.