quick poll: Anyone here actually think that I own Teen Titans? No? Good.


Mutual Feelings

"You wished to speak to me?"

Robin smirked in a twisted sort of way. Her tone was brisk, angry. He also noted her use of the word to. 'Speak to me.' Not 'with me.' Which meant she was fully intent on listening silently. She stepped into the room and let the door slide shut behind her. She did not venture much further. She was pissed.

"Yeah. Your aim is getting sloppy. Target practice," he said, taking care to match his tone to hers. He didn't make small talk with her like he would have before. He didn't wish her a good morning or allow her to hug him(not that she was offering). He was pissed too.

Starfire's eyes widened in shock and then narrowed in fury. Her aim was perfectly fine. She knew that. He knew that. Everyone knew that.

But thus was the silent, yet obvious, war that waged between the two. So far, the hostility had extended for more than two weeks, an all-time record in Titan history.

Without protest, she stepped forward to a painted line on the floor. Robin lined himself up opposite her. Her eyes were nothing more than thin shards of green light. Instantly, her hands were ablaze with emerald fire. She waited for him to give her a signal to start.

Robin extended his bow-staff and held it, poised to deflect any of Starfire's attacks. He stood in a defensive stance and readied to dodge in any direction. For a moment, he watched Starfire, motionless across from him.

Her stare was unreadable, a fact that chilled him. Starfire was an individual who took pride in her emotions. The fact that she shielded them was shocking, but the fact that she did so with such skill was ever more unbelievable.

Robin quickly shook himself from these thoughts. He readied to give the signal.

"Go!"

Outside, Raven and Cyborg cringed at the explosions.

"Is it... healthy for them to be alone with each other?" Cyborg asked skeptically, thinking of the past two weeks. Raven grimaced as she listened to the explosions coming from inside the room.

"Probably not, but this battle they've got going now isn't much healthier," she said. Cyborg nodded reluctantly as he and Raven continued on their way to the rec. room.

In the training room, Starfire immediately sprang into action, firing her starbolts directly at Robin. She watched him evade everything she threw at him, analyzing and scanning for patterns. They continued like this for only a moment before Robin became bored.

"Come on, you're holding back," he said. He had to shout only to be heard over the explosions of Starfire's starbolts. It didn't take a genius to tell that the craters in the floor were not the product of holding back. Robin was taunting her. And it was infuriating.

With a growl, Starfire fired five blasts in rapid succession, two to Robin's left, two to his right, and one going straight at him.

Robin casually dodged to his left when he saw the bolt coming toward him. Calmly, he deflected the second with his bow-staff. In shock, he watched half of the room fly past him as he was thrown against the opposite wall, never having seen the second projectile.

Robin grunted as he collided with the wall, but he did not have the chance to slide down, as Starfire was there immediately, forcing him against the wall.

She held him down with her hand firmly planted in the middle of his chest. Not by his neck as she so desperately wanted to. She didn't trust herself though. After almost two weeks of desperately wanting to get her hands around that neck, she did not trust herself now.

"Why can you not just be... less you!" Starfire exclaimed in frustration. For days this question had been buzzing around in her head. Her eyes were still ablaze. Slowly, she forced her eyes to dim and go out. She now stared at Robin with green eyes, darkened with displeasure. Robin narrowed his own eyes.

"The same reason you won't be less you!" he retorted. "Stop trying to change me, Starfire," he growled angrily.

"Try to change you? Try to change you? Robin, you are as stubborn as your earthen donkey-horse hybrid!"

"It's a mule," Robin interrupted on impulse. He promptly began to thank God that looks could not kill.

"To try to change, persuade, or otherwise when dealing with you is an utter waste of time," she scoffed, pretending as if the interruption had never happened. It was easy enough for her. How many times had she forgotten them? How many had she let go of those moments when she knew something would have happened, should have happenedbut she let them go for him?"Your eyes are closed and no amount of coaxing will open them," she snapped, quite bitterly

"Stuffing and dressing," Robin grumbled. Starfire blinked at this proclamation, before her eyes clouded in agitated confusion. The term, "Stuffing and dressing," had started off as an inside joke between the two(coming from a long and difficult conversation about the difference between stuffing and dressing), but it quickly became a phrase between them for two things that were exactly the same, but made different because of a technicality.

"You're just like me, maybe worse. You're too busy looking for your solutions to fall out of the sky that you can't see what's right in front of you! I'm looking straight ahead, Starfire, and I'm seeing just fine."

"It is not as if you are enlightened in all subjects. X'hal, half the time I just want to hit you over the head until you get it!" Starfire hissed back.

Robin growled low in his throat. With a swift shove he turned the tables, now pinning Starfire with her back pressed to the wall.

"What is your problem? Why are you doing this to yourself? To us?" he questioned scathingly.

"What us? There is no us! There is no Robin helping me to understand; there is no leader who steps down just to 'hang out' with his fighters. You have pulled away, Robin, and it hurts, the team and me," Starfire retorted. Involuntarily, her mind was forced to the hours, days when Robin was shut in his room, brooding. Painfully, she remembered offering him companionship and his cruel rejection.

"Why do you care? You aren't hurt. You're inconvenienced. You never cared," Robin sneered. Similarly, his mind drifted to the times Starfire was so close to being gone. The countless times she tried to run away, even, subconsciously, the alternate lifetime he spent without her. Desperately, his mind groped for some explanation to these things. Feebly, he told himself that she never cared.

Starfire's eyes narrowed. Roughly, she shoved Robin away from her. He landed a few feet away from her still glowering.

"Do not ever tell me what I feel and what I do not. Do not ever assume that I never cared about you!" Starfire commanded icily. Her eyes regained their menacing green glow as she pushed away from the wall and levitated slightly in the air.

Robin pushed himself from the floor, glaring daggers at the girl opposite him. "I'm so sick of you!" he yelled. "I'm sick of you looking at everything but me! I'm sick of dancing around like your pet monkey! Why won't you just get it!"

Starfire narrowed her eyes as she glided swiftly to hover over Robin. She hung in the air, looking down menacingly. She pushed her face close to his and scowled deeply. "I cannot say that I am very fond of you right now, but I will indulge you. What in your earthen hell do you want me to comprehend!"

There was silence for a moment as Starfire stared fiercely down into his eyes. Robin glared back at her, his jaw set in determination. With a wild glint in his eye, Robin suddenly seized her by the base of her neck and with a quick jerk, placed a fierce kiss on her lips.

Starfire stiffened in shock, falling promptly out of the air. She froze there, neither returning the kiss nor denying it.

Robin continued to kiss her for moments that felt like an eternity. His kiss grew more desperate with each instant that she did not respond. It was almost as if the kiss were a plea. A silent plea that screamed, "Feel what I feel!"

But no. She was still for too long, cementing his thoughts on her feelings for him. He pushed her away roughly and locked her briefly with a searing glare. She looked at him with glazed eyes with a sparkle of confusion. But he hardly saw her. He was too busy building up his walls.

"I wanted you to understand... But no– how could I think that you of all—" He paused in his angry retreat from the room, not even bothering to look at Starfire. "Practice is over," he snapped over his shoulder, though in that short sentence he said so much more. Our bond is over. Our friendship is over. We are over.

Starfire's eyes widened in shock and slight anger at herself. Quickly, she zipped forward calling, "Robin!"

Robin ignored her and continued to stalk out of the room.

"Robin!" she called again, urgently this time.

Again he ignored her.

Starfire growled softly and grasped his shoulder, spinning him to look at her. Robin, already on edge, spun and gripped her upper arm rather tightly.

"What do you..." the vehement question died in his throat upon seeing the teasing and slightly annoyed smirk on her lips, a look he had never associated Starfire's lovely face with. She smirked at him with that smirk while her eyes danced and sparkled in delight.

He listened, dumbstruck, as she giggled melodiously. Slowly, meaningfully, she rested her hand on his jaw, cupping his face gently. For a moment, she held his gaze. She let him see into her very soul and she watched him recognize the deep and undying love that lay there.

Starfire couldn't help but let out yet another small laugh as she heard him gasp sharply. She allowed herself to float a few inched off of the ground so that they were level.

"Always so impatient," she murmured, before leaning forward to catch his lips in a searing kiss. It took Robin only an instant to return the gesture with the same intensity. The kiss gathered heat and lust as the two stood there, a tangle of arm and hands and legs.

And then, almost randomly, the kiss began to slow. The rough and lustful grabs became soft and tender caresses and the bruising force of the kiss transformed into a light brush, gentle and caring in every way.

Finally, the pair separated from each other. They were silent, save for some heavy breathing and the occasional contented sigh. Finally, Starfire decided to break the silence.

"I suppose we have been acting quite childishly," she murmured, nuzzling Robin's cheek. Robin grunted in agreement, though the grunt did not have the same harsh edge as it had the past few days.

"Well, you started it," he said softly, speaking directly into her ear and taking note of the small shiver that ran down her spine. Starfire giggled at his teasing, something she just couldn't seem to stop doing.

"I may admit to that, however had I not "started it," as you say, where would we be now? Certainly not..." she lost her focus temporarily as Robin began to trace patterns on her back absently. "Here," she breathed. Robin chuckled at this.

"Fine, you win. Years from now, we can tell our children that it was mommy who got us together and daddy was just the poor guy along for the ride," he laughed. Starfire pouted in mock annoyance.

"Do not mock me," she complained. Robin laughed again kissed her lips briefly. He then stepped away from her and held out his hand for her to take.

"Come on. The others must be having a fit, we've been in here so long," he said. "They probably think that one of us is dead by now."

"And knowing Cyborg and Beastboy, they will have a bet going about which one," Starfire chuckled, taking his hand. She smiled absently as their fingers intertwined, a new feeling, yet totally right.


A/N: not sure if i really like this one. I really didn't know how to end it and I hope it didn't get too random and ooc. just for reference, causeI know there are gonna be questions:

stuffing and dressing:I know it was stupid. it was supposed to be a stupid inside jokey thingy.

that "we can tell our kids" thing: no they are not thinking of getting married and no they are not gonna run off and start having babies. it was a joke. they both knew it was a joke.

kinda in a bad mood. stupid drama teacher...

thanks for reading.