~Seven Months Ago~

"We need to talk."

Starfire's shoulder's fell, and it took everything he had in him to keep his gaze on her and not look away. "You wish to talk about us, yes?" She asked quietly, hands clutching her knees tightly as she kept her gaze on the ground.

He sighed, walking over and sitting beside her on his bed. He stayed quiet as he tried to come up with a way to help soften the blow. "I tried to make this work Starfire, I really did." He said truthfully, quietly, as memories of their relationship came to his mind. Or more accurately, the beginning of their relationship; the Tamaranean bonding rituals and the dates and the freedom to just be with her, to hold her and kiss her without any lingering doubt or hesitation between them any more. "But I've realized…" He paused, trying to figure out how to correctly word what he was feeling.

"That there is something missing." Starfire filled in. He nodded, leaning forward and resting his face on his hands while he gazed at the ground. "That there is more to love than just friendship and attraction." She continued, gaze turning to the ceiling. "Something that cannot be described."

Robin nodded once again. "I think that sometimes its easy to confuse a deep friendship for love." He said into the silence. "But when you recognize the difference, that love is so much more than friendship…" He trailed off again.

After his relationship with Starfire had been made official and the honeymoon wore off, it didn't take long for him to notice that Raven had been more withdrawn than she'd ever been before; almost never leaving her room, missing meals and barely eating when she did show up, flat out refusing to socialize even when they begged her… When she wouldn't talk to them, he tried to feel out what was ailing her through the empathetic bond they'd shared, but found Raven closed off from him. He wasn't a natural empath, he had no natural magic abilities to speak of so it had always been difficult for him to tap into it, to her thoughts and feelings, but he had been able to before. And then when he couldn't, for the first time since before defeating her father, he was scared for her, because he had no idea how to help her.

The day that Raven had punched him, when she had turned on him so angrily and claimed he didn't care about her, something inside of him had twisted so painfully at her words. Of course he'd been angry in the moment, getting attacked for trying to help, but… He cared, of course he cared; Raven was his best friend, she was even closer to him than Starfire was in a lot of ways. If he really didn't care about her, about how angry and distant and quiet she'd been back then, he wouldn't have followed after her to check on her when she'd stormed away from them. And then there had been the way she acted afterwards… eyes so empty and vacant and lacking the light he always saw in them, like she'd put herself on autopilot and wasn't really there, that had been when things had started to change between him and Starfire. No matter what he was doing with the others, how his dates with Starfire were going, he was always distracted because he was worried about her.

And then one night when he couldn't sleep because he wanted to see her, while he paced around his room while Starfire continued snoring as his resolve had broken down and he went to sit with her, to talk with Raven like he had before… and then she'd started crying, startling him as that twisting feeling returned even stronger than before and he reached out to her so automatically to help her, to try and make her feel better.

That was when things started breaking down between him and Starfire.

Dates had stopped being looked forward to or planned outright, everytime Starfire took his hand or kissed him in an attempt to cheer him up it failed, because there was no way he could sit there and forget about Raven while she suffered. Which made it worse when Starfire asked why he wasn't acting like her lover anymore, why he only put effort into their relationship when the others were around but not when it was just the two of them… because he couldn't tell her something he wasn't even aware of himself yet; that his happiness was dependent on Raven's happiness, that he loved her and didn't love Starfire.

And then Raven had started acting like her usual self, socializing a little more and spending time with everyone like she used to. It had put his mind at ease seeing her not so troubled, and so in an attempt to salvage things with Starfire, he'd planned to tell her about his past because it was something she'd always wanted to know about but he could never tell her. Starfire had always been one for grand gestures over small ones, and he knew that it would mean a lot to her if he told her something about him no one else knew about.

Almost no one.

It wasn't until Raven disappeared and left a confession behind that he realized how stupid he'd been.

"What made you realize this? That you did not love me the way you thought?" Starfire asked, breaking the silence and pulling him from his thoughts.

Robin took a deep breath and exhaled, wondering what he should say. Starfire did not deserve to be lied to; even if he didn't love her, it wouldn't be right to treat her that way and he knew it. "Raven leaving made me realize." He admitted quietly. "It made me realize that… that-" He sighed, because he knew this was going to hurt to say and to hear, "That while I want you to be happy, I don't need you to be happy." At her confused look, he cleared his throat and continued. "I mean that I do not need you to be happy. I don't need you in that way." He stood up and walked to the wall so he could lean against it before continuing. "But with Raven, I do. I want to be there for her to make her happy because…"

"Because you love her." Starfire finished when he hesitated. She closed her eyes, trying not to think about the fact that the simple way he'd spoken about Raven had been completely different to any way he'd ever talked about her or to her. "Even though she is gone and is not coming back."

"She may not come back…" Robin said, "...But I'll catch up to her one day. And when I do, I'm going to tell her the truth." He finished quietly. "Which is why I'm breaking up with you." He let his head hang for a second before he looked up into her eyes. "I don't want to pretend, or lead you or anyone else on, anymore. I'm not in love with you."

For a long while, Starfire simply stared at him with a carefully neutral gaze before she slowly looked away. "I think this is for the best." She said quietly. "If you do not love me, it would not be right of me to keep you in a relationship. You should be allowed to follow your own heart, not be held down by mine."

Robin frowned lightly. "I'm sorry things had to be this way, Star."

She shook her head and stood up. "Do not be. I have many happy memories of us, and I will always have those memories." She reached forward and squeezed his hand lightly. "Even though we did not work as lovers, we will always be friends." She smiled brightly when Robin nodded his confirmation, then let go of his hand. Her gaze flicked to the ground for a second before meeting his again. "Which is why I will return. I am going to go back to Tamaran to heal." She held up a hand to stop him from saying anything when he opened his mouth. "I promise to return someday. I would not want to go the rest of my life without seeing you ever again, or Cyborg or Beastboy or Titans East or Raven if you find her. And I hope you do."

Easing up a little at her promise, Robin nodded. "Are you going to leave right now?"

"I will pack first, then I think we should tell Cyborg and Beastboy that we are no longer together. It will make my leaving easier for them to understand, I believe." She said. "Then I will go."

He nodded slowly. "I'll help you pack."

It didn't take very long to gather everything from her room and his and move it downstairs so Starfire could use one fifth of the T-Ship to fly back home. But the day wasn't over and that meant that Cyborg and Beastboy noticed what was going on, exchanging confused looks with one another as Robin and Starfire stayed silent, until finally Cyborg cleared his throat and asked, "Um… are y'all taking a trip somewhere or something?"

Robin let Starfire step forward and explain the decision that had been made earlier and promise them that she would return, keeping his gaze on the horizon as Starfire hugged the other two, then let his features relax as she gave him one final hug.

Then she left.

For a long time, the three remaining Titans stood shoulder to shoulder and just watched the sky turn orange as the sun set. Then Robin turned to face the other two, bracing himself for what they would say. Both of their expressions were unreadable, and then Cyborg turned and left quietly. The sound of waves crashing against the island was all that was heard until Beastboy cleared his throat and looked to the ground. He opened his mouth to say something, then closed it and turned to leave as well.

Robin sighed wearily, pulling his mask off. He reached into one of the pockets on his utility belt and gently unfolded the note Raven had left him and read it again the way he'd often done when he was alone and she was on his mind. His hands trembled as he blinked away the tears that formed, and he wondered for the millionth time since all this had started why he hadn't seen what had been right in front of him for so long.

~Choose~

A/N

There was more support for this than I thought there would be, so I went back and polished it (aka completely rewrote it because that second draft was bad). There will be at least five more chapters for this story, so stay tuned!