Chapter Text
The evening passed slowly and awkwardly. Cyborg and Raven were off working on a way to send Nightwing home, while Starfire worked just as hard to ease the tension among the others. Nightwing obviously had no interest in reconciling with the Titans, and would only respond to Starfire with any amount of tact, even though all four of them were sitting in the living room together.
Robin didn't understand why Starfire was so forgiving of the man who'd put her and a pair of little kids in direct danger just a few hours earlier. Wasn't she hurt, or at least upset on behalf of the children? Why try so hard to befriend him when he was so unconcerned with her safety?
Robin stared idly at her from his spot on the couch as she talked animatedly to Beast Boy and Nightwing. Despite the circumstances, he was deeply fond of how friendly and talkative the sweet alien girl could be.
He was jolted from his haze when Starfire looked over and made eye contact with him suddenly. "Is something wrong, Robin? You look very sad."
"Wha--I--no! No, everything is fine, I'm not sad, why would I be sad?" he blurted out, surprised.
"Probably because somebody else has Star's attention for--" Beast Boy grumbled, stopping with a yelp when Robin whipped a couch cushion at him, his face hot.
"My attention?" Starfire looked confused.
"He means mini-me is jealous," Nightwing said smugly, not bothering to hide his triumphant expression.
"I'm not jealous, I'm just, uh, worried. About the dimensional… stuff. Don't want another Larry in the tower," he rambled.
At the mention of Robin's first dimensional doppelganger to visit, Starfire grinned widely. "Oh, he was very funny!"
"He turned the whole city into a cartoon nightmarescape," Beast Boy pointed out. "And then he sent Robin to that nothing-dimension and it took Rae a whole week to get him back!"
Robin shuddered involuntarily. There wasn't much that scared the Boy Wonder, but being stuck alone in an infinite void would take a toll on anybody, he thought. Though he tried not to think about it often.
"That's true. We missed him dearly," Starfire's smile fell away.
Robin felt his face warm again. "I--"
"You know, I would actually like to eat something today," Nightwing butted in, looking uncharacteristically tired.
Beast Boy perked up. "We should get pizza."
"You know what, I'm with you on that one," Nightwing drawled, still managing to be unfriendly even as the two agreed on something.
Starfire beamed. "Great! I can go get it," she offered, already starting to hover off the couch. It was almost always either her or Beast Boy fetching takeout for the team, being that they were the quickest. Robin wasn't looking forward to spending time with Nightwing without her mediating, though. Maybe he could convince Beast Boy to go instead?
He opened his mouth to suggest it, but before he could, the shortest Titan had already shot out of his seat and pointed an accusatory finger at Star. "Oh, no, you don't! Last time we let you get the pizza, you came back with a mayonnaise-and-pickles combo. I'll go, you all can wait here." Beast Boy turned and marched out of the room as Nightwing laughed.
"You've got interesting tastes, huh, hot stuff?"
"I thought it was good." Starfire protested, sitting back down.
"So, mini-me, what's this about another one of us? Figure I ought to know." Nightwing asked.
"Oh, yeah. A few months back, another rift popped open and spit out a very… different version. He was just a little kid, but he was ludicrously powerful." Robin grimaced, recalling the havoc Larry had reaped on their city. "But he had no control over his powers, at all. He caused a lot of problems here, and even once we got it fixed, something about the way he left kicked me out of this dimension, too."
"Where'd you go?" Nightwing actually looked interested for once.
Robin drew in a long breath and sighed it out. "It's hard to explain."
"He does not like to talk about it," Starfire cut in softly. He looked up at her, startled. He'd never told her, or anyone, that. He'd done all he could to convince his teammates he was fine, there was no need for them to worry about him, he was home and safe and that was all.
"Aw, come on. I could get stuck in the same situation, shouldn't I get some pointers?" Nightwing pressed.
"There's nothing you can do from the inside," Robin said flatly. "I only got out because Raven managed to find me. You won't get stuck, though. She and Cyborg will figure out how to get you to your dimension."
"Okay, call it curiosity then. Spill, little brother."
Robin shut his eyes, screwing them up to stop himself from openly glaring at Nightwing and his stupid nicknames. "It was just nothingness. All white. I was standing on a surface, and I could walk as far as I wanted in any direction, but it never changed. Everything was--" He stopped himself and forced his eyes open to stare across the room, past Starfire and Nightwing. The more he thought about it, the more that cold, endless white seemed to creep into the black behind his eyelids.
"Robin…" Starfire's voice was soft and filled with concern.
Nightwing chuckled. "Damn, you're actually shaking."
Robin clenched his fists, anger bubbling up inside him at his counterpart's flippant response. He got up from his seat stiffly. "I'm going to go check in on Raven and Cyborg." Don't flip out in front of her, he reminded himself.
He made it all the way out of the room, tunnel vision glaring at the floor in front of him, before he heard the steps following him. Robin spun around, furious, assuming Nightwing had come to mock him, but all his vitriol and annoyance drained away when he saw the kind face of his best friend.
"Robin, what's wrong?" Starfire asked as she approached him.
"Nothing," he replied automatically. "I'm fine, Star."
"You do not seem fine. You did not seem fine when you spoke about… your time away." Looking at her face, all Robin could see was worry. It pulled at his heart, and he knew he couldn't lie to her.
He sighed and looked away, reaching to rub the back of his neck nervously. "No, you're right. I don't like to talk about it."
Starfire nodded. "He should not have pushed you. I tried to stop him, but…" She trailed off, frowning.
"I appreciated it," he assured her. "But, uh… how did you know? I never told you I didn't want to talk about it, did I?"
"No, it was just clear that it was upsetting to you." Starfire looked like she had something more to say, but stopped again. "Would you like me to come check on our friends with you?"
Robin sighed. "I'm not sure we should leave Nightwing alone." Privately, he liked the idea of leaving him with Starfire even less, but he couldn't explain that to her.
"I don't think he will be lonely," she said matter-of-factly, making Robin laugh despite himself.
"Yeah, you're right. Let's go see how their work is going."
Starfire perked up immediately, giving him a big smile and taking his hand to pull him down the hall towards Raven's room.
Her door was open, which was highly uncommon but not surprising, Robin supposed, considering Cy was inside working with her. "Friends, how do you fare?" Starfire called as she entered.
Raven was hovering cross-legged above her bed reading a huge book in a language Robin didn't recognize, her eyes moving across the pages so quickly he assumed she must have been in some trance. Cyborg was sitting on the edge of her bed, tinkering with a small metallic vessel. He looked up as they approached. "Oh, hey, guys. We're making progress. This thing–" he lifted the vessel to show them a deep blue crystal inside, "It's supposed to have properties that connect it to other dimensions. Rae's looking into its exact qualities right now, and I'm trying to figure out how I could hook it into some kind of machine to utilize it."
"That sounds promising," Robin replied, leaning closer to get a better look. The crystal, which had originally appeared solidly blue, actually had many tiny specks of white inside.
"What's number three up to? Y'all didn't leave him alone, did you?" Cyborg asked, eyebrows furrowing.
"Nightwing is alone in the living room, yes. He was being very rude to Robin," Starfire explained crossly. Cyborg made confused eye contact with Robin, looking pointedly between him and the hand that was still in Starfire's.
Embarrassed, he dropped it, disguising the movement by grabbing his communicator and checking Beast Boy's location. "It was nothing. Beast Boy will be back with food in a few minutes, anyway. He can't cause that much trouble in that time."
"If you're sure, man."
"I don't think we should leave him unattended in the tower. We can't fully trust him." Startled, Robin looked up to see Raven setting her book down. Her eyes were dark and somewhat drooping, like she'd just woken up, but she seemed alert nonetheless.
"Why wouldn't we trust him?" Starfire asked, looking confused. "He's–"
"Just because he fills the place in his universe our Robin fills in ours doesn't mean he is our Robin. He might have ulterior motives for being here." Raven explained flatly.
"I don't like him much either, Rae, but that seems excessive. Are you really saying you think he's here on purpose?" Cyborg asked, clearly skeptical.
"Not necessarily." She shook her head. "I just think we can't be too careful. We should go back and wait for Beast Boy."
After a pause, nobody could find a fault in her logic. "You're right," Robin admitted, feeling somewhat ashamed for letting his frustration with Nightwing overcome reason.
"Well, let's go babysit, gang." Cyborg set the crystal in its vessel down on Raven's bed and the team left her room.
As they walked, Robin noticed that Starfire was lagging behind the group, and her face was an open book of conflicting emotions. Almost more surprisingly, she was walking rather than hovering along as she usually did. Robin dropped his pace to keep step with her, letting Raven and Cyborg talk shop a few feet in front of them.
"What's wrong?" he asked softly.
"I do not like feeling that I cannot trust him. It feels like I am not trusting you." Starfire's eyes were sad and her eyebrows deeply furrowed.
"He's not me, Star. He's like me, but we're not exactly the same. I–" Robin's voice caught in his throat. "I would never endanger you like he did today. Or those kids," he added hastily.
"He didn't mean to," she replied. Robin studied her face, still not understanding why she was trying so hard to defend and forgive Nightwing, but found no clues. She simply looked sad.
"I'm sure he didn't," he allowed. "But he still should have been more careful. You could have been really hurt because he wasn't paying attention."
After a long moment, Starfire nodded. "I know."
Robin could tell he hadn't fully convinced her but decided to let it go for now. "He could have at least apologized," he said playfully, gently knocking his shoulder into hers.
To his surprise and relief, her eyes brightened and she looked back at him with a small smile. "You're right."
Once Beast Boy returned, dinner passed easily enough, everyone too preoccupied with eating to argue. (Even if Robin couldn't help but notice how close Nightwing had moved to Starfire over the evening.)
"Robin, we have extra rooms ready, right?" Cyborg asked.
"Yeah, a few. One is still set up for–" Robin cut himself off before mentioning Terra's name, surreptitiously glancing at Beast Boy who luckily didn't seem to have noticed. "Anyway, yes. I'll show you where you can stay, Nightwing."
Nightwing's face split in a lecherous grin as he nudged Starfire. "Couldn't I just–"
"Let's go." Robin stood up suddenly, knowing that sentence wasn't going anywhere acceptable. "If you're done eating."
Nightwing rolled his eyes, but set his plate down. "Yeah, we can go."
Out of the corner of Robin's eye, he saw his friends exchanging worried looks as he led his (frustratingly taller) counterpart out of the living room.
They passed through a few hallways in awkward silence before getting to the section of the towers where they had some "guest rooms", which were rarely used but did come in handy on occasion.
"Alright, you can stay in this room. It's got everything you'll need for the night and we can find you extra clothes later," Robin explained, unlocking the door across from where Terra had stayed. None of the Titans had the heart to clean it out after the last time she'd stayed with them.
"Listen, kid, is the girl taken or are you just a coward?" Nightwing asked mockingly.
"Excuse me?" Robin worked to control his tone.
"I'm saying I like Starfire. Obviously you do as well, but that's no competition. Does she have some kind of freaky alien boyfriend, or is she easy pickings?" Nightwing leaned against the wall, smirking.
Robin glared at him, but took a deep breath before daring to respond. "Leave her alone. This is a Titans communicator. You can use it to call us in an emergency." Anger bubbling, he turned and left Nightwing standing alone.
Practically blind with annoyance, Robin walked through several halls and ascended the floors without thinking, eventually finding himself on the roof where he walked to the edge to sit and look over the city in the moonlight. This view always calmed him down. The bright lights of skyscraper windows and countless cars on the road reminded him of his responsibilities and made him feel deeply protective.
Robin didn't know how much time had passed when he heard the roof door open behind him. He sighed, feeling embarrassed again for letting Nightwing get to him.
"Robin?"
"Hey, Starfire."
She came and sat next to him. Ridiculously, he felt an urge to remind her to be careful on the edge despite knowing she could fly .
"It has been some time since you left with Nightwing. We were worried." Her voice was gentle.
"Were you guys waiting for me?" Robin asked, feeling even worse when Starfire nodded. "You didn't need to."
"Raven said she had something to tell you about how she and Cyborg plan to send Nightwing home. Also…" Starfire paused for longer than he expected.
"What is it?"
"I am worried about you, Robin. You do not get along with this version of you, and I do not understand why, nor do I understand why our friends don't like him either." Starfire sighed deeply. Robin's hand went to the back of his neck again, anxiously trying to plan an explanation that didn't include his or Nightwing's feelings for her.
"Hold on a second." He took out his communicator and sent Raven a message telling her to explain whatever new information she had to him in the morning. She replied immediately in the affirmative, and after a moment sent another message reminding him to actually sleep tonight. Robin chuckled before asking her to tell the others the same from him.
He put it away and looked back at Starfire, who was staring intently down at the waters between the city and their little island. Selfishly, Robin let himself just study her face for a moment instead of speaking. Really, he couldn't blame his inter-dimensional counterpart for falling for her so quickly when he'd done the same thing long ago.
"So, uh…" She looked back at him as he tried to go on. "Well, it's hard to explain. For me, it's uncomfortable talking to someone who's supposed to be… well, me, sort of. It's very strange. Beast Boy doesn't like that he ignores him when he talks, and we all don't like that he was careless in that fight. We work as a team, and he doesn't."
Starfire was quiet for a moment, seemingly considering his answer, before nodding. "That makes sense. But… I still want us to get along with him. I know he must be good inside."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, if he's like you, he has to be," she said matter-of-factly. Robin felt his cheeks grow warm at her (albeit indirect) praise.
"Maybe you're right, Star. I'll try."
Starfire smiled. "I am glad."
They sat in companionable silence for a few minutes, watching the waves crash and flow.
"What happened when you brought him back to his room? Was he bothering you about…" Starfire trailed off, seemingly unwilling to bring up the topic of his disappearance herself.
"No, uh, nothing happened. I just gave him a communicator, just in case, and then wanted to come up here to… think. I didn't know you all were waiting for me," Robin repeated apologetically.
Starfire looked unbothered by his mistake and simply nodded before standing up. "You should get some rest, Robin. It is late." She offered him a hand up.
He took it with a smile and got up. "Yeah, you're right."
They chatted easily as they went back inside and to their rooms. They got to Starfire's door first, where she made Robin promise he'd go right to his own room and sleep. Her concern made something in his chest feel warm and shaky.
He was thinking about her serene face silhouetted against the starry night sky when he fell asleep.