Midnight Flight

Starfire was laid frozen on the sofa in the common room. Cyborg was searching through the computers for a solution to quicken the effect of the venom while Raven levitated over her, attempting to “meditate the venom away” as Beast Boy put it. Robin sat on a bar stool by the kitchen, staring at Raven deep in thought. Beast Boy, who showed up about ten minutes after the rest of the Titans, was pacing back and forth thinking, or at least pretending to.

“Nah, I don’t see anything. Sorry, Star. Looks like you’re gonna have to wait for that stuff to wear off.” Cyborg said as he gave up typing on the main computer. Starfire groaned. “Any luck Raven?” He asked. Raven ignored him for a moment as to finish her chant.

“No.” She said sternly before lowering herself to the ground.

“Then we’ll just have to wait.” Robin suddenly said getting off the stool and heading over to them near the sofa. “Raven, you didn’t answer me back there, on 5th. What happened?” Raven’s face fell farther then it normally did and she immediately glanced at Starfire.

“I think we should focus on our current situation.”

“We already have, and we’ve decided to wait. Now what happened?” Robin asked more frustrated sounding.

“We should really wait until she unfreezes...” She begged quietly.

“No.” Said Robin angrily. “I asked you‒”

“And I suggested that we wait for Starfire.” She retorted, releasing a sigh of anger.

“Why don’t you just answer the question?” Robin shouted.

“Why don’t you just accept my suggestion?” She shouted back before floating out of the room before anyone could speak. Robin groaned in frustration.

“What is going on with her?” But no one answered. Robin turned to see Cyborg and Beast Boy head out the door, both glancing back at him wearily. Robin grunted and turned to go after Raven.

When Raven did not open her door after several pounds of fists and refused to respond to anything Robin shouted, he gave up and stalked down to the office to sulk. He let out an exasperated sigh as he leaned back in his big, black chair and crossed his feet up on the desk. It had been, overall, a terrible morning. He couldn’t get any sleep the night before, he didn’t have enough guts to tell Starfire how he was really feeling, the alarm went off before he had breakfast; way before, Raven was having some sort of mysterious outburst which could have gotten someone killed, but instead paralyzed the only member of the team who knew the therapeutic technique to stop it. They stopped Fang once again, which was good, at least. However, his reply to Starfire’s question of Kitten having escaped prison unnerved Robin. The idea of Kitten out of jail made him cringe. Though she couldn’t do much harm without Fang or Killer Moth, she still could have been planning something with anyone; and there was a frightening amount of dangerous connections one such as Kitten could obtain in Jump City. Either way, Robin wasn’t going to wait around to find out.

Robin ran a hand through his hair as he pushed off the desk with his feet to roll the chair to the wall with the many screens and computers holding data and security files. He stopped the chair abruptly and immediately turned to face the criminal archives. He tapped his fingers lightly over the keyboard. Where would he start? Kitten? No, no, if she had escaped from jail, no one would know yet. Killer Moth? He might not even be a part of this. They were placed in separate facilities. Robin’s fingers slid over the keyboard as he pressed in the word “Fang”. A small loading bar appeared across the screen. He rested his chin in his hand as he let his eyes absently drift to the neighboring screen, which he did every so often. It was the security camera of the tower’s common room. The camera that was positioned right above their television enabled 24‒7 Surveillance on the room. As of right now, all that remained was Starfire, stiff and pale, stretched out like a stick on the sofa. Robin’s stomach gave an unwanted churn.
Starfire had put him in quite an awkward position, was it, what, only hours ago? Robin wasn’t very good at expressing feelings to begin with, so why did she expect him to come right out and tell her how much he cared about her? What did she expect? A confession of his undying love for her? A poem? Another kiss? Seriously, why couldn’t she just give him time to think about this? He didn’t know the first thing about how relationships work. He didn’t even know what “they” were. Was he simply her best friend who happened to have shared an amazing kiss with her once or twice? Was he her boyfriend? For god’s sake, Robin wasn’t even sure what a boyfriend was, much less how to act like one.
What would that mean for their friendship? Would they still be best friends? Would he still be able to tell her anything he wanted? She was the only one he trusted enough to share even the things that he wouldn’t reveal to any of the others. If they became an “us” would they still be able to laugh and play and touch like nothing had changed? What if everything became awkward? What if they couldn’t look each other in the eyes anymore? And if Robin didn’t have the answers to any of these questions, how could she? Robin was always the one Starfire would run to with her many questions about Earth’s strange ways. If he couldn’t answer his own questions, then how could he answer hers? How could they expect to have a conversation about this when there seemed to be no end? If neither of them had answers, then where did that leave them?
Without hesitation, Robin pressed a button or two and watched as time rewound itself on the small screen. He glanced away as a flash of him and Starfire on the sofa went by. He pushed play just before Starfire entered the kitchen the night before.

There she was, just as beautiful as ever; even with only the moonlight shining through the windows. Something was wrong, though, terribly wrong. Her steps were heavier. She was shaking and hugging herself tightly as she made her way to the fridge. Robin leaned in closer. Tears were streaming down her face as she inhaled deep breaths. It must have been one hell of a nightmare. She opened the fridge and bent over to look inside. Robin almost gawked at the way her body looked when she did so, but quickly forgot when she let out a pained whine and clutched her stomach. Robin’s eyes grew worried as Starfire slammed the fridge door shut. Robin watched himself appear on the screen behind her. This Robin jumped slightly when he noticed her and approached her cautiously as she slouched over to the sofa groaning. Was she sick? She brought her knees to her chest immediately and held herself together in a ball. Robin’s heart throbbed.

“Starfire?” Said the other Robin as he reached the back of the sofa. His brows furrowed when she did not answer. Starfire’s glazed expression on the screen made Robin cringe. The Robin on the screen casually walked around the sofa before the confusion on his face fell into sheer horror. “Star...” He knelt down on the floor and put his face level to hers as he continued, “What is it? What’s wrong?” Her eyes hadn’t shifted from the gaze they held out the window. Robin noticed this Robin’s hand tremble as he lifted it up to remove her silky red hair out of her face. “Starfire?”

“Please go away.” Robin smirked to himself. She was so predictable; trying to sound too proud to accept comfort. She was the sweetest girl he’d ever known and there she was, attempting to make firm yet polite demands like that to her very best friend; especially with her voice sounding pitiful and weak. The Robin on screen leaned back slightly in surprise.

“What? I’m not going anywhere.” He snapped. Robin bet she knew he’s say something like that. Even if she wouldn’t admit it, she constantly needed comfort from her friends. “Now tell me what happened.” But she’d never acted like this before. Starfire turned her head sideways to dig her face into the cushion and began to weep. It was just as hard to watch her cry on screen as it was in person that morning. Robin found himself slowly bringing a finger up to the screen in attempt to stroke her hair as the on screen Robin got up to sit on the sofa beside her. “Starfire...” Robin pulled his hand back quickly. What the hell was wrong with him? He watched as the Robin lifted her upper body and laid it against him before holding her gently. He loved the way she felt in his arms. Normally he only got to hold her when he saved her from falling or occasionally when playing outdoor games with the Titans and they were teaming up against Cyborg and Beast Boy. It had never been like that though. It was, honest; intimate.

“I am sorry.” Said the weeping girl on the screen.

“Don’t be. Can you tell me what happened?” He watched himself breathe in her hair as she shifted it to the perfect position. He loved all of her smells. They were so exotic, and just so... Starfire. But he had displayed quite a weakness just now. If one of the boys found it, he’d never hear the end of it. He would have to erase this when it was finished.

“It was a nightmare.” She replied.

“What was it?” Said the on screen Robin. The face Starfire made was not one Robin was expecting. He hadn’t seen it from the angle he was in at the time. Her face became distorted in silent horror and dread. There was a pause. “Star? You can tell me anything. You know that, right?” And he had meant it, too. He loved that Starfire seemed to trust him more than the others, and he relished the fact that he was the one she went to first for everything. He loved they way they could share things with each other that no one else knew; it was like they had their own little world.

“The last time I experienced a dream as realistic and horrifying as this, Blackfire arrived shortly after.” Robin rested his chin in his hand again as he pondered the statement... before coming up with exactly what the on screen Robin said.

“Do you think she’s coming back?” He noticed Starfire’s mouth twitch as she shook her head. She wasn’t telling him something. She squinted her eyes suddenly and shivered. “Are you cold?” He asked as he tightened his arms around her. The Robin watching the recording smirked to himself.

“Perhaps a little.” She replied before sniggling against him even more. Robin watched awkwardly as the on screen Robin froze up. His eyes were wide, realizing how close they actually were, and how tight he was holding her. He recalled the thoughts that had gone through his head at the time. Is this okay? Should we be doing this? What if I’m driving her away? Does she expect me to kiss her? Am I a bad kisser? He laughed in spite of himself. The things that seemed so important at that moment had nothing to do with what he was watching on the screen. “Robin?” She had asked in her innocent, silky questioning voice which, even after hearing it fifty times a day, he adored.

“Yeah, Star?”

“You are angry with me?”

“What? Why would I be angry with you?” He remembered feeling disappointed when she sat up and away from him.

“Then... you do not like me?” The words cut him like a knife, just as they had that morning.

“Starfire, what are you talking about? Of course I like you.”

“Then, you do not like me in the way... I would like.” Robin watched as he made several attempts to speak with no words following. He hardly remembered this part. He had been totally put on the spot. What did she possibly expect him to say?

“Starfire...” And the alarms sounded. Robin grunted angrily and pounded the “stop” button with his fist.

Robin glanced back at the screen which displayed Fang’s criminal record, but for the first time, he disregarded it. He exhaled deeply and put his face into his hands. Okay, so maybe he did know exactly how he felt about her. But he wasn’t ready to just blurt it out.

“God, Robin, grow some balls. She’s not going to wait around forever.” Robin spun his chair around instantly to see an angry looking Raven leaning against the door frame. She couldn’t have seen the tape; his head would’ve been blocking her view. How‒

“Wh‒ I‒ Raven, what are you‒ How‒” Then it dawned on him. “You were spying on my thoughts, weren’t you?” He concluded. Raven’s frown turned into a smirk which faded quickly.

“I could feel your emotions from my room. I thought maybe it was my fault, so I came to... uh... apologize. Sort of. But when I got here, I found out what you were really thinking about, so... I kind of helped myself.” Robin glared at her in silence. “It’s not like I could block out your thoughts once I was got up close. They were the strongest I’ve ever felt from you.” She claimed. Robin raised an eyebrow at her. “...and I was kind of curious, you know.” She added. Robin looked at her blandly. “Look, I don’t need to explain myself. Get over it.” She said shrugging. “But Robin, I’m telling you this as a friend. Tell her. Everything. Tell her how uncertain you are, and how you’re just as confused about this as she is.” Robin was standing up at this point with his arms crossed. “I’m just saying. I mean... you’re really in love with her, aren’t you?” The way she said it sounded like more of a statement then a question.

“So now you can tell me how I feel, but you still haven’t answered my question. Are you going to tell me what went on out there?” Robin demanded in desperate attempt to change the subject.

“Are you going to talk over all your issues with Starfire?”

“That’s not fair.”

“Neither is life. Is that my fault? You know, you can be a real jerk sometimes.” She finished in monotone before stepping back and shutting the door in between them. Robin sighed and groaned in frustration again.