Spurt

To know myself, one would need to know not only my past but what I know to be my future.

Taking many forms, this future includes my continued place on a team of heroes on Earth and the found family I have created an unbreakable bond with. It is in the form of laughter and doing good for the world and for my planet Tamaran. It is doing what is just and righteous when all other options have been extinguished. Most importantly, in my formative years and presently, it takes the shape of a human boy named Robin and the values he has instilled in me.

While not always the case, or even a guarantee, I had known early on that Robin was someone special. More than a best friend from the very start. And I think deep down, he knew too.

It was not only his dark, boyish looks and mysterious ways that drew me to him like a moth to a flame, but his hope and determination that set me on the path to him. His kindness and the rejection of the concept of rutha, the weakness of relying on others, was ousted from my heart and love filled in its place instead. It was with his kindness that had started that growth within me, that the future would not be a brutal one but one filled with hope and serving others through our work.

While always friends, our relationship status was always a question in my mind, whether something more was on the horizon. Only after a language transfer and a long road to a real Earthen kiss much later, he had finally committed to the feelings that felt like electricity between us and just acted, less thinking involved. And in that first year of dating, while all innocence, it was all easy pecks and holding hands, and (lest we forget) merciless teasing from our friends.

It was an ongoing joke among the Titans that I not only 'robbed the cradle' (my age being 33 in Tameranean years at the time) when Robin and I first got together but that I also wore the proverbial pants in the relationship. While quite the opposite, me being taller did not help the situation. Endless teasing, especially by Speedy and Aqualad, plagued us for the first year of our relationship. While harmless, it grated on me greatly.

Did my height embarrass him? Was my Tameranean stature, as they say, the 'turn off'?

These were the questions that I often thought of, I just a timid lamb that did not want to ruin the bond between us.

But there was no indication that their teasing affected Robin.

His reassurances quelled any uneasiness, this touch and words an anchor for canceling any doubt. His resolve quieted my questioning of worthiness and reaffirmed that he did indeed want to be with me, that there was an 'us' against the world mentality.

Speedy and Aqualad, it was just boy talk and jest. That was all it boiled down to. And I just put up with it.

But in the year or two that followed, something miraculous happened.

Slow and unnoticeable at first, it was hard to detect when we spent almost every day together. And my flight did not help as I was hardly able to ground myself when I was with him. Always having to hunch down to his level, it was a surprise when he wrapped his arms around my middle one day, my back against his chest.

"Gotcha," he whispered, his mouth right at my ear, and turned our backs to the team to give us more privacy.

His breath on my neck. His gloved hands on my midriff. My feet solidly on the ground. These things I remember most.

A blush staining my cheeks, I turned into his embrace after a long cuddle, our friends blissfully ignorant on the couch while we stood in the kitchen.

Placing my arms around his waist, I looked up to see his smirk and into his mask.

I had looked up.

Too stunned to gasp, my mouth hung open.

Like a rare flower that had unfolded unknowingly, before everyone, he had grown and flourished.

And bloom he did. Right before my eyes, he had blossomed. This "late boomer" still looked a bit lengthy, like his body was still growing into itself, but now, it was me on the receiving of his hunched over posture. The possessiveness of his stance throwing me off, he lifted my chin to press his lips to mine in a tender moment.

At this instant, it was me spinning around his axis, this grin pressing into me as if he knew what I was thinking.

I now felt small with him. Oh, how these new, few inches of height felt like miles, the playing field only leveled if and when I decided to float next to him to bestow another kiss or look into his eyes.

To be clear, I would have loved Robin if he was the height of a flobnarf but, oh my, did this feel glorious, his mouth sweet from the breakfast cereal he had just eaten.

Releasing me from this rare instance of a public display of affection, I nearly shot toward the ceiling, only stopped by the caging of his arms.

Laughing and teasing abounded during that afternoon and the joking from the others immediately halted from then on.

Little did I know, it was only the beginning of his human transformation. That my boy was to develop into something further remarkable through the trials and tribulations of our relationship.

Unknowing of what was to come and still in this perfect moment, I did not waver as my younger self loved him dearly and fully.

And to this day, I still do.

Author's Note: Hi there. This story will be a collection of drabble like chapters and fluff and some drama for you RobStar fans. Hope you enjoy :).