I needed a break. I'm not extremely happy with the story but I learned that past and present are really difficult to write when they go together.

---

"Happy Birthday Titans!"

The sign was huge and right smack dab in the middle of the Common Room in Titans' Tower. The banner was bright, colorful, and had all the marking of causing brain damage if you looked at it too hard. However, Beast Boy was a lot louder than the banner.

"Dudes!" he yelled happily, "Today's the day we all became—" he struck a dramatic pose, pointing at the sky heroically and sticking his chest out, "The Teen Titans!"

He did a couple of kicks and punches while speaking excitedly.

"Today's the day we kicked Plasmus' butt and became the heroic, the daring, the gallant, the unstoppable Titans."

Sighing, Raven rolled her eyes.

"Can I kill him now?" she asked Robin seriously, casting the dancing Beast Boy with a murderous glance.

Robin chuckled, walking into the room with the over joyous team (well, all except for Raven but everyone knew she was excited as well--- just on the inside). Cyborg had been talking non-stop about this day, the third anniversary of the Titans. Life had eroded them quite a bit by now, caused them much pain and sorrow. A Titan had been lost, villains had been the cause of many emotional disturbances, and the Titans had fought among each other relentlessly, hurting each other as well as themselves in the process.

Still, here they were, celebrating their third year together not only as the Titans but also, as the incredible friends they had become. Starfire flew in the room, her smile big and wide, lighting her entire face and melting anyone's heart in the process. Cyborg chuckled as she landed on top of his shoulder, giving Beast Boy a glare as he tried to do the same. Beast Boy laughed and turned into a small hamster, crawling over to Starfire who put him in her lap and let Cyborg carry them to the couch. Raven rolled her eyes at the sight but she looked as excited about the occasion as the rest of them were. Robin jumped over the couch and landed next to Starfire who groaned loudly as he put his legs over hers.

"You're so heavy, Robin," she complained, smiling all the while. He smiled back as he tugged her hair gently. Beast Boy imitated them, letting his legs drop on Raven. She gave him a low growl but Beast Boy was too happy to care. He too gave her his best smile: a small, sweet, and honest one that made Raven sigh heavily but left his legs on top of her lap.

"You guys ready?" asked Cyborg from Starfire's other side, his eyes brightening excitedly. They nodded at him and taking his cue, he pressed the play button on the seventh remote control they had.

The screen flickered and at once, the loud screech from Plasmus filled the Common Room.

"Reports are coming in from all over the districts----oh my god, there it is!"

The screen filled with Plasmus' ugly self, causing the Titans to groan with disgust simultaneously.

The reporter was in a helicopter but it was closing in on the scene. Plasmus, as always, had been causing damage to the downtown area. This area had more sewer pipes than anywhere else in the city as obviously a hot spot for creatures who liked to drink delicious sewer water. The reporter kept commentary,

"The creature seems to be drinking from the pipes below the city. Police have arrived but I have received word that bullets do very little against it. Chopper 24 is landing on the Trade Building to give you, the viewers, a closer look."

The chopper landed on the building's roof and though it wasn't the closest area to the scene, it was close enough for him.

"You guys ready?" asked Beast Boy happily, jumping in his seat and causing Raven to slap his legs as he almost kicked her. Apologizing, he held her hand in excitement, his eyes glued to the screen. Raven's eyes also flickered to the screen, after a moment or two of staring at their joined hands.

"Almost—" said Robin excitedly, a smile forming on his lips. After a small while, the camera seemed to catch something on its side.

"What was that?" asked the Camera-man and quickly turned the camera to see. The reporter had also turned from the scene to see.

"Booyah!" cried out Cyborg elatedly.

There, on the building adjacent from them stood five heroes, observing the scene below them.

"Titans," Robin called out, loud enough for even the camera to catch it, "GO!"

The five heroes fearlessly threw themselves from the edge of the building. Raven carried Cyborg on a small dark aura circle while she floated gracefully down. Beast boy turned into a pterodactyl and screeched as he flew down. Starfire flew elegantly down, Robin swinging like Tarzan right behind her.

"Who in the world are the Teem Titans" said the reporter, signaling for the camera man to focus on them.

"Raven," said Beast Boy knowingly, giving a flick of his wrist toward the screen, "The honors please."

Sighing as if this was the last thing she wanted to do, she couldn't help the smile that escaped her lips.

"Titans: In Greek mythology it was a family of giants, the children of Uranus and Gaea that ruled during the Golden Age. One of prodigious size, strength, and achievement."

"Good one, Raven!" nodded Cyborg, smiling at her, "Better than what Beast Boy wanted to call us."

"Hey!" exclaimed Beast Boy, pointing a finger at him, "Mighty Mutant Ninja Teenagers sounded good at the time."

"But we are not mutants," chipped in Starfire, her eyes still glued to the screen.

Beast Boy was about to speak when the action started. Distracted by the punches and blows on screen, he let it go. Fighting with Plasmus had been an extremely hard fight---- back then. Nowadays, they wished villains like Plasmus would come back. The villains they encountered now were incredible, fast, agile, and extremely powerful. Their unique abilities seemed to have been made just so the Titans had to work extra hard to bring the bad guys down.

They watched, fascinated, as Beast boy turned into a rhinoceros and tried to push him back against the building's wall. However, his horn sunk into his sticky body and with a push, the part that held Beast Boy to Plasmus extended and knocked Beast boy out.

"Awww!" groaned Beast Boy in his seat, hiding his face in Raven's neck, "I can still smell him!"

Laughing, the rest of the Titans watched as Raven send out her dark magic and lifted a couple of cars, sending them down to explode on top of the creature. The screen filled with smoke and the reported started talking again.

"It seems as if the creature had been conta----" he turned to see the creature scream out in rage and send a car flying Raven's way. Using her powers, she made a shield and protected herself but the force of the impact between the car and her shield knocked her out of the air. Beast Boy could be seen below trying to catch her as the camera panned to Cyborg and Starfire. They had joined with Robin for multiple attacks. Starfire lifted Cyborg and spun him, giving him the force to impel him to hit Plasmus as hard as he could. He did but it was not enough. The creature got louder and angrier. Starfire tried her bolts which seemed to work but after a while, she stopped, very suddenly when she saw the creature had gotten ahold of Cyborg and was now holding him up, letting the starbolts hit the half man half robot instead of himself. Plasmus threw him at Starfire, knocking her out of the air as well.

"Ahh girl, we gave it our best," said Cyborg easily, giving her the pound, something she had learned a couple of days ago. She giggled and pounded his fist back enthusiastically, making him cry out in pain as he shook his hand. Looking at the half destroyed metal knuckles, his eyes watered at the sight.

"I am sorry, Cyborg," apologized Starfire, her worried eyes traveling to his injured hand. But he had already forgotten about it as he looked at the screen.

"Whoo, boy!" he whistled, "Batman sure as hell taught you well."

Starfire turned to see the fantastic fight. One against one, Plasmus held the obvious advantage. Towering over Robin, he spewed out as much gunk as he could to knock the Boy Wonder out. However, Robin had the advantage of natural, god-given agility that rivaled even Batman's. He swung, kicked, punched, and twirled around Plasmus, hitting sensitive spots and leaving explosive disks on his gooey body without the creature knowing.

"The Boy Wonder, otherwise knows as Robin is, to tell you the honest truth, kicking some serious ass," said the reporter, keeping his eyes glued to the hero as he fought around the disgusting figure. Unfortunately, after all the muck flying around, a piece flew into Robin's face and Plasmus found the perfect moment to knock him out. Robin was thrown back, right into Starfire who tumbled back with Robin down the hard city pavement. They helped each other get up, exchanging a few words and joined the team.

"Titans, let's finish this."

Raven and Cyborg let out their powers, Cyborg with his powerful blaster and Raven with her dark energy, pushing Plasmus back. Beast boy flew to him and began attacking him at close range, unafraid by the combined powers of Raven and Cyborg. They concentrated very hard on not hitting their teammate and Beast Boy trusted them enough to blindly charge forward. Finally, Robin called them back, noticing they had done an excellent job at tiring Plasmus out. He nodded at Starfire who was on his right and charged forward.

"Oh, here come the show stopper!" Cyborg cried out.

Starfire stretched her hand out and Robin grabbed it, letting her swing him around and directly send him to Plasmus. Increasing her speed, she traveled with him and slammed Plasmus with powerful punches. Starfire was incredibly strong but combined with Robin, the beast took the potent blows without any protection, too tired and confused to figure out what was happening. With powerful kicks and punches, the ex-sidekick and ex-princess released their combined strengths to move seamlessly with one another, delivering blow after blow.

The Titans watched soundlessly at the screen, never getting tired of the now familiar fight.

Robin stood in front of the sleeping man covered in purple goo with the rest of the team behind him and the reporter went on and on about the fight. However, the Titans were not paying attention to the screen anymore.

"When you roundhoused him, girl, you were on fire!"

"Thank you, friend but I presume you mean that I was hot and not really on fire, yes?"

"Exactly!"

"Oh, wonderful!"

"Raven's scary when she gets mad. Did you see her powers---"

"They kinda just seep out of her---"

"I know! Sorta creepy in a way."

"I'm right here, you know."

The talking over lapped the reporter's voice but they knew this part by heart. The entire had recognized the Titans as their protectors, thanking them for saving the city and all that good stuff. At first, the team had taken apart everything they had done the first year they saw the tape. However, they fought so effortlessly now, very much as a team of heroes and not five individuals that they soon gave up trying to correct past mistakes.

"Who wants waffles?" asked Cyborg happily, clapping his hands.

"Oh, with mustard please!"

"Just honey for me,"

"Plain."

"Oooh, with ice cream and whipped cream and maybe those little marshmallows we have hanging around in the cupboard---"

Cyborg practically brought the entire kitchen into the Common Room with him as his arms were filled with different goodies. He joined in the conversation quickly, the video on the background still playing loudly.

"Yes, we are the Teen Titans," said Robin in his leader voice on screen, pointing to each and telling the entire city who they were.

"Nah, man, Raven's the one who keeps us level," continued Cyborg, engulfing his waffles contently.

"Yes, Raven, your strange impassiveness keeps us composed," added Starfire, eyeing the mustard with greedy eyes.

"Star's the one who brought us all together," Robin piped in, casting Starfire with a warm look.

"Robin is our fearless leader, of course," she added, eyeing him with a smile before turning to Cyborg, "And Cyborg keeps up 'easy-going', yes?"

Nodding, Cyborg winked at her before saying,

"And Beast Boy's the family pet," chuckling, Cyborg shrugged as Beast Boy growled at him.

"Which one was the one with the magic?" the reporter's voice floated back to them, asking the question to no one in particular.

"The scary looking Raven," joked Beast Boy but Raven did not take it as a joke. She glared at him, a glare so malicious that even Raven herself commented on it once.

"Yeah, well you're--- you're the robot who----you—" Beast boy trailed off back at the Common room.

"Great comeback," deadpanned Raven, but gave him one of her rare smiles, something that would have never happened before. He quickly forgot about the fight and offered her another waffle, a small glimmer appearing in his eyes.

"Cyborg is your name? And your powers are only your robot extensions? That's it?"

"Listen here, man—"

Starfire giggled as she added fruit into the blender built into Cyborg. Once the smoothie was done, she thanked him and offered him some, to which he accepted gratefully.

"By the way, Cy, the repairs on the Rcycle are incredible," commented Robin as Raven reached for the smoothie Starfire handed her. She was feeling in a smoothie mood for some strange reason.

"Did you see the new engine I installed?"

"Yeah, it purrs beautifully."

"That's what I thought hen I first heard it but I trouble with it cause it's not really meant for a motorcycles, you know."

"I know, I was just about to ask you how---"

"No, Miss Starfire, I did not really mean for the millionth time, it's just a saying--" said the reporter hastingly. .

"Well, then, why did you say—"

"You're going to have to excuse her," interjected Raven, "She's a little on the slow side."

"When you meditate," started Raven, moving closer to Starfire as they sat around on the cushions on the floor, "the mudras are very important to keep your balance, you understand?"

"Yes, Raven which is why I chose a different one than your Buddha Mudra. I chose the Gesture of Meditation since I am a beginner. I need to open my mind and try to understand and enlighten myself with what you are teaching me."

"Exactly," said Raven proudly, "That's a good choice but I think after a while, you need to advance to a more evolving mudra. You're intelligent and strong enough to handle it."

Starfire smiled at Raven as they sipped their smoothie, listening to the conversations of the boys and the television on the background.

"Beast Boy, I know you ain't using the main computer to search for chicken jokes," said Cyborg accusingly to which Beast Boy put the best innocent impression and said very convincingly,

"Who? Me? No!!"

Starfire laughed, turning to watch the screen as it showed Beast Boy being interviewed by the reporter.

"Are you hurt? Compared to the other Titans, you took quite a beating, little one."

"Nah, I'm pretty strong when I want to be, you know, grrr and all that---- not weak, you know, nah----hey! What did the evil chicken lay? Give up? Deviled Eggs!"

She chuckled, turning back to see Beast Boy and Raven arguing once again.

"Just take the muffin," he insisted, thrusting it in her face. Raven scowled, giving him a dirty look.

"I told you I don't want it. You eat it."

"Why'd you reach for it then?" Beast Boy inquired, narrowing his eyes at her. She sighed and ignored him though he kept insisting she take it.

"Beast Boy!" she finally snapped, something that happened too common for anyone to get too worried, "You reached for it as well which means you're hungry. Now leave me alone. Why can't you just go away!?"

But this did not deter Beast Boy. He laughed softly though Starfire could see his feelings were a little hurt.

"Just thought you really wanted the waffles. It's your favorite filling, after all." His eyes met Raven's dark ones and something clicked between them.

Starfire looked away. This was not her moment.

After listening to the boys' boring conversation on mileage and engines, she glanced back at Raven and Beast Boy. Beast Boy was happily drowning the half his waffle with syrup and looking happily at Raven while she ate her half. Raven rolled her eyes out of habit but a minute smile graced her lips.

"Robin, since you are the leader, does this mean you have officially left the Batman?"

"Hey Star!" called out Robin.

Cyborg had finished talking to Robin and moved toward Beast boy who began talking excitedly about the new game that was coming out in a couple of months.

"Yes, Robin?"

He crawled next to her, sitting on the red cushions that were strewed all over the floor.

"I don't know yet," said Robin on screen and his eyes flickered to the alien girl next to him, standing wide eyed as he said this.

"There's a movie fest going on today at the mid center park. You wanna go?"

She studied his face, covered by the mask but somehow he always seemed to be honest with her. He always looked at her straight in her eyes.

"What movies are they showing?" she asked, taking a bit out of her waffle.

"Robin, are you truly leaving?" asked Starfire, after the reporter had finished and was removing his microphone. The camera had been left rolling.

The team had never watched it this far and they stopped mid-conversation to watch. Starfire turned in surprise and forgot to hear the answer to her question.

"I don't know if Jump City is the place for me yet," Robin said hesitantly, avoiding any eye contact with her, "and anyway, you don't need me anymore."

"But--- I don't know my way around yet," she said lamely, reaching for anything that would make him stay.

"The team will help you. I have other things to worry about," he said nonchalantly, as if she didn't concern him anymore.

He turned ad walked back to the team, leaving her behind for the camera to watch her face fall and witness her first tears shed because of Robin.

The team stood quiet as the tape flickered and the screen turned black. Slowly, the two felt the eyes of their teammates on them.

"Star?" said Robin cautiously, his hand reaching for her.

She turned, seemingly unaffected by what she had witnessed, and asked her question again.

"Is that why you guys were so weird afterwards and had that big fight?" asked Raven, who otherwise would not ask about their business but everyone knew about Starfire and Robin's relationship.

"That was a long time ago," Starfire said off handedly, "It is ancient history."

Smiling at getting the saying right, she turned and looked at Robin expectedly. He kept his eyes on her a little too long for comfort but he answered her question.

"They're showing 'Dolls.'"

She squealed with pleasure for that was her favorite movie. She accepted his invitation and excused herself.

When she left, he looked at them questioningly.

"No offense, Rob," Cyborg started gently, "But you've done worse to her than that," he pointed to the screen, "by now."

Robin glowered at him but let it go. No use fighting the truth. As the Titans continued to talk about other things, he let his mind wander. He had done a lot of bad things to her, that was true, but she'd forgiven them all. After three years, she had taken a lot of shit from him to be hurt by something like that. While the thought of Starfire being used to being hurt by her best friend made him sad, it also made him feel thankful to have such luck. What other person would do that for him? Stick with him through the good and the bad? He knew Starfire better than anyone else but at the same time, she knew him like the back of her hand. He usually felt uncomfortable with this fact but after a while, he realized he wouldn't have it any other way.

After the Titans had met each other for the first time, he had made it his own mission to make sure Starfire was all right in the city. She had told him that she had no place to go and sadly added that she had no home to return to. Perhaps it was because she looked so innocent and naïve or maybe it was the way he recognized the lost look in her eyes, the same feelings he had felt when he had lost his parents. So Robin took her under his wing (no pun intended) and took her to his hotel room. Needless to say, he had received a lot of weird looks from the bellboy, the manager, the receptionist, and everyone he met along the way. But really, was it so strange that he was going to share a one bedroom hotel room with an incredibly beautiful alien girl who had just landed on the planet?

Obviously it was.

That first night would be the day Robin became more than Robin. That night, without either of them knowing, the Titans had started, friendships had been born, and two souls had found each other. Of course Robin would have never thought this at the time but reflecting on it now, Robin recognized it. Even back then, the sight of another boy looking at Starfire with unholy thoughts in his head made his blood boil. He had told himself it was brotherly love he felt for her; in fact, he told that to himself quite often, even after he knew it was anything but brotherly love.

To think where he would be if Starfire hadn't crashed on Earth was something he could not picture for the life of him and neither did he want to.

When he had voiced this thought to her once upon a time, she had answered surprisingly.

"Why not? You may have met a far more entrancing person than I."

"More entrancing? Are you shitting me?"

"Uh---- I am not sure what---"

Cutting her off, he laughed at her and waved his hand to dispel the comment.

"No! No way. My life would be a piece of shit if it wasn't for you."

"This shit is bad, yes?"

Fighting back a laugh at hearing her curse, he nodded seriously.

"Very."

"Why would your life be this 'shit' then?"

He gave her a knowing glance and responded gently,

"You know why."

She allowed a smile to escape her lips, indeed knowing why. It was the same for her as well.

"I think I do."

Cyborg and Beast Boy soon got entranced by their video game and Raven called it a night, bidding them good night. Robin pretended not to see as Raven hugged Beast Boy and thanked him for the waffle. Left with a goofy grin on his face, he continued playing (more like loosing) the game and paid no attention to anything else.

Starfire entered the room and signaled for Robin to come. He excused himself and walked to her, still pondering his last thought. As they walked arm in arm through the halls, he expressed his thoughts to her.

"Robin, I do not know where I would be if I hadn't met you," Starfire admitted, her face honest and true, "I had traveled for many light-years, hurt and scared of what I had left behind but I've often wondered why fate decided to bring me to Earth out of all planets."

She smiled, more to herself than to Robin.

"Now I know why."

Curiously, Robin asked,

"Why?"

Starfire offered him her brightest smile, a smile that could melt the coldest heart in the world within the second and to Robin, it offered a warmth that he had never felt before, something so fulfilling he could have just kissed her right there and then. He slipped his hand into hers kissed her knuckles gently.

"I think you know."

"I think I do."