Allll righty, here we are at the start of my latest big project! Surprisingly, there don't seem to be many if any fanfics about the big ol' vacation the Titans went on just after Trouble in Tokyo; the closest I've seen were a handful of oneshots about Robin and Starfire being cute together during a short part of the trip, and a couple fics that started out during or just after the vacation but then turned into sweeping adventures. And while those make for some great stories, I thought it would be nice to explore a more fun and relaxed scenario featuring all of the Titans just hanging out and getting into vacation shenanigans. There will be a bit more going on as well, of course, but I'll be leaving those details for the story itself to unveil. Enjoy!

Prologue: Something More

It was a dark and stormy night, but in the grand scheme of things, Raven thought it was actually pretty nice.

Not in the "doom and gloom fits the vibe I'm going for" sense, either. The rain was cleansing, in a way – it was certainly doing an excellent job of cleaning up the stray ink from the monster Daizo had become, and with how late everyone had been up, the cold shower and the distant crash of thunder were a welcome replacement for the ebbing rush of monster-fueled adrenaline.

Besides that was the simple relief of a job well done. Brushogun's spell was broken, Daizo's reliance on said spell meant that he had been thoroughly defeated, and after that last display, the Titans surely had enough evidence to clear their names.

Also, Robin and Starfire were kissing.

Raven wasn't sure what she thought of that. Well, yeah, she was happy for them. That much was a given. But she also couldn't decide whether she was more surprised at the fact that they had finally gotten together, or that it had taken them this long in the first place.

And then there was Robin himself. Tonight had been an excellent reminder of her love-hate relationship with their whole empathic bond thing – mostly because he'd spent the majority of it flipping back and forth between locking his emotions up tight and carelessly projecting them everywhere. It had helped her and the others pinpoint his location when he was dealing with the Tokyo Troopers, but darn it all if it wasn't also giving her a headache. Now, too, it leant an extra sense of invasion of privacy to what was clearly a genuine first kiss.

Still, he and Starfire should be grateful for her empathic sense. Cyborg and Beast Boy had nearly interrupted their little moment by declaring a victory celebration, but with Robin's emotional walls so far down, she'd known well enough to hold them off.

Back to the present. The… couple?… had broken off after a few seconds and were now just sitting and basking in the warmth of each other's affection. For several moments, the other three just waited and watched, silent but for a quick quip from Cyborg.

But then Raven was distracted by the sound of rapid tapping. She turned back to see Cyborg typing something into the console on his arm and grinning like a loon.

"What are you doing?" she asked, eyes narrowed.

Cyborg glanced back at her and plastered an innocent smile on his face. "Just… letting the Titans Network know we're all right," he claimed. "Uhh, you know, because some of them probably saw the whole 'Robin got arrested' newsflash and everything."

Raven raised an eyebrow. "Right."

Between them, Beast Boy suddenly perked, his smile widening into a grin. "Helloooo!" he called, waving.

Raven looked back ahead to see that Robin and Starfire had finally remembered she and the others were there. Both faces had gone crimson, and Robin rubbed the back of his neck as he stood and reached out a hand to help Starfire to her feet.

And that was about when the police sirens entered hearing range, breaking the spell completely.

It was a long night. It had already been a long night, between Robin's arrest and the ink creature attacks and the chase through Tokyo and the final altercation with Daizo. But then once the police showed up, they had to explain everything and provide enough evidence to clear Robin's name.

That part, at least, was even easier than Raven had predicted. While most of the ink from the creatures outside had been washed away in the rain, there was still some intact equipment left in the old factory – including footage from all the surveillance Daizo had been doing, and in particular the second Saico-Tek's calculated attack. There was also the matter of the Tokyo Troopers – most of them had, after all, been Brushogun's creations, and the few humans Daizo had hired to allay suspicion were ready witnesses to the fact that their coworkers had apparently melted in the same moment the monster went down.

Even so, by the time Daizo had been arrested and the mayor had offered the Titans a formal apology and clearance of all charges, nobody really wanted to do anything other than sleep.

That was why Robin found himself standing awkwardly outside the girls' room the next morning, at once extremely tired and far too full of nervous energy.

Robin clicked his teeth as he raised a hand to the door for the hundredth time in the past five minutes. The girls were probably still asleep, and Raven wasn't even the one he needed to talk to. He wasn't sure how much longer he could stand putting this off, though.

Finally, he took a deep breath and rapped lightly on the door.

After a few moments, it opened to an equally exhausted-looking Starfire. Her boots had been kicked off and her hair was a tangled mess, but in Robin's eyes she was as beautiful as ever. He felt his cheeks flush.

"Um… hi," he whispered. "I didn't wake you up, did I?"

Starfire shook her head, her cheeks coloring as well. "Truthfully, I did not get very much sleep," she admitted.

Robin nodded and cleared his throat. "Me neither. Umm… We didn't really get to talk last night, after, uhh…" he trailed off, blushing again. Starfire smiled, her eyes glittering with mischief.

"I seem to recall that I did not want you to talk too much." She thought for a moment, biting her lip. "But yes, perhaps now would be a good time."

Robin nodded again and took a moment to glance around the room he was in. It was the common area of a modest but well-sized hotel suite, and Cyborg had set up a makeshift charging station for himself on the pull-out couch. He was still fast asleep, and as far as Robin could tell, Beast Boy and Raven were the same way in their respective rooms, but he didn't want to risk waking anyone up. Not with the nature of the discussion he and Starfire needed to have.

With that in mind, he turned back to her. "Do you think we can talk on the roof?"

The hotel they were staying in had a rooftop terrace, dotted with decorative plants and lined with tables for guests to sit at as they enjoyed the view of the city. It was empty now as the pair stole up to the roof, and without saying a word they chose a spot on the floor as close to the edge as the safety fencing would allow.

They sat side by side, looking out over the city below. Neither said anything for several minutes, opting instead to simply enjoy one another's company. It was pleasant – wonderful even, to have a truly quiet moment together after everything that had happened the night before. But Robin knew there was still just a little more to be done.

Finally, he let out a low sigh.

"I'm sorry."

Starfire blinked and turned to look at him, her brows furrowed. "Whatever for?"

Robin frowned. "What for? For being so… afraid, for starters. For taking so long to do anything about us. For pushing you away at the last second when we were on Tokyo Tower." He groaned and ground the heel of his hand into his forehead. "And for suggesting that the alien princess who gave up the crown she'd been groomed for so she could go back to hero work on Earth didn't appreciate it."

Starfire winced, and the little knife that had been in Robin's gut all morning twisted. "I… will not deny that that hurt," she admitted.

Robin squeezed his eyes shut for a moment and sighed again. "I know. It was stupid and stubborn of me to say that and… I'm sorry. I was just so wrapped up in the Brushogun case that I let it distract me and then I worried that… that us was the distraction and…"

Starfire's gaze softened, and she placed her hand over his. "Robin, you cannot be too hard on yourself. You are a brilliant and determined leader, and you were right to worry about Brushogun." She bit her lip. "Perhaps if I had been more understanding about your concerns, we could have prevented –"

Robin shook his head. "Star, don't. I was the one pushing you away, and I know you would have supported me if I'd given you a chance."

The two of them stopped, just now realizing how close their faces had become. Robin had placed a hand over the side of her jaw without thinking, and for a moment they just looked at each other.

Starfire dropped her gaze first, though she leaned a little into his hand even as her expression darkened. "Robin? You have always been so uncertain about our relationship… Is there a chance you may come to regret this?"

"No!" The amount of fierce certainty in his reply surprised even him. He let his hand fall and really thought over the question. Wasn't this the whole reason he'd wanted to talk?

"I… I don't want to. I don't want to be that person anymore, who gets so caught up in the mission that he's afraid of letting himself be vulnerable. I want to remember that I've got a whole team behind me, and to deal with problems without getting obsessive, and… I want to be with you."

He let his gaze drop and frowned. "But… I'm afraid that I might forget that sometimes. I might need you to remind me."

Starfire didn't answer at first, but when he looked up again, he saw that a soft and understanding smile had made its way to her face.

"Of course I will remind you," she murmured, cupping a hand behind his neck and leaning in to rest her forehead against his. "We are at our best when we are together, and I will gladly help you to be the best version of yourself if you will do the same for me."

Robin returned her smile and let his eyes drift closed. "Always." After only a moment's thought, he leaned forward and caught her up in a kiss.

It was a simple thing, not as short as their first had been but still a little new and uncertain. Even so, he felt her smile against his mouth as she returned the kiss, her other arm snaking up to loop both around his neck. His skin tingled at her touch, and his heart pounded with the joy of the intimate moment.

How on earth had he ever resisted this? And more importantly, why? All the arguments he'd had with himself before – that this was a distraction, that she'd somehow end up in more danger than she regularly put herself through already, that he'd mess something up and lose her altogether – seemed so foolish now.

They parted, and Robin dimly realized that, as usual, they had managed to dance around the specifics while discussing their relationship. They knew what they were now, and what they meant to each other, but as he sat there, eyes still closed, forehead still resting against hers as her soft breath tickled his face, he realized he was finally ready to say it out loud.

"I love you," he murmured.

Starfire's breath caught, and Robin stiffened. Had he said that too soon? Panic washed over him – of course he'd said that too soon, they had only just become a couple and now she was going to either turn him down or feel pressured to return this level of affection and it was going to make everything horribly awkward and –

Robin forced himself to take a deep breath. Face flushing, he sat back and opened his eyes to properly gauge her reaction.

Starfire was staring at him, wide-eyed with a slack expression, but before he could scramble for an explanation it split into an overjoyed grin. All at once, she threw her arms around him in a tight hug.

"I love you too," she whispered, her breath hot against his ear. "With all my heart."

Just like that, panic turned to relief to pure exhilaration and bliss. Robin melted as he returned her embrace, relishing the warmth of her arms around his shoulders and the lingering scent of rain in her hair. For just a moment, there in the early morning sun, everything was perfect.

So naturally, that was the moment Beast Boy chose to come bursting in.

"There you guys are!" The scratchy voice startled Robin and Starfire out of their hug, and they turned around to see their green teammate standing in the terrace doorway. He folded his arms and cocked an eyebrow.

"You were gone for so long, we were starting to wonder if you'd snuck off somewhere to have– WAH!"

Beast Boy was interrupted by a dark aura engulfing the back of his shirt and yanking him back through the doorway. From inside, Robin could hear Raven's voice scolding, "I thought I told you to give them another minute!"

Robin shared a glance with Starfire. He raised an eyebrow, but a tiny smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. She giggled.

"It would appear that the others are awake," she commented. Robin felt his smile widen.

Raven appeared in the doorway, Beast Boy peeking around her shoulder. "The mayor called a few minutes ago," she reported. "Apparently he's setting up a medal ceremony for us. We're supposed to be there at noon."

Robin blinked. "A medal ceremony? That was a fast turnaround."

Beast Boy snorted as Robin and Starfire stood up. "With the way Daizo was going on, I bet he gave a ton of them to those fake troopers before we kicked their butts," he pointed out. "He probably wants to fix that ASAP."

Robin stretched – this new development had reminded him of his lingering exhaustion. "Thanks for the update. If we're going out in public in a few hours, I'm going to try and get a little more rest first." He bit back a yawn. "And then maybe a gallon of coffee."

As he started forward, he felt a hand come to rest on his shoulder and give it a gentle squeeze. He looked over to see Starfire, still smiling at him.

"Perhaps we can find some time to ourselves after the ceremony?" she suggested, in too soft a voice for their teammates to hear.

Robin reached up and intertwined his fingers with hers. A part of him marveled at how readily he could just… hold hands with her now.

"I'd like that," he said.