Hi Everyone! I hope you enjoy my first Teen Titans Fanfic!

Disclaimer: Teen Titans belongs to DC and Cartoon Network, this story is an Ann-Banann original. If you'd like to use it, please ask first and give credit.

Chapter Rated K+

Robin cartwheeled with perfect symmetry drifting into a slide under a set of bars. Sliding underneath he grabbed the bars and almost floated up with his momentum into a perfect handstand atop the bars. He stayed a moment, pausing the routine. He'd had a lot on his mind lately, well, more than usual anyway. He thought of a recent mission involving Cinderblock. Their take down had been sloppy and caused more damage than it should have. Beast Boy had directly forgone an order further complicating the matter and after had told him he needed to "lighten up." Strangely enough, the rest of the team seemed to agree with Beast Boy, even Raven. Robin shifted into a one handed hand stand staying motionless. Was the problem him? Was he the best leader for the titans? Nobody would have questioned Batman... Batman, he thought of his mentor and adoptive father. Batman was the ultimate crime fighter and detective. Robin jumped down from the bars firmly landing on his feet. With calculated pace and perfect timing he jumped, sprung from the wall, caught a higher set of bars swung up with his momentum and alighted on top of the high bar. He stood there with effortless balance pacing the bar as if it where a sidewalk. He thought of the circus high wire. The death of his parents had been on his mind more this past while as well, on account of the anniversary of their murder approaching. What if he WAS leading the Titans poorly, or even holding them back? What if it resulted in a civilian being taken out in the crossfire or his team being harmed, or worse? Was it simply that the Titans didn't take him seriously as a leader? Was he trying too hard? Did they actually respect his decisions and leadership? He began to cartwheel, jump and spin atop the bar, his acrobatics reminiscent of a dance. Unbeknownst to him lost in his thoughts, Starfire watched him float atop the high bar, his movements seamlessly strung together with intensity, precision and grace. She sighed leaning on the wall a little. She loved watching him train. Of all the titans Robin was the most fluid and practiced. Unlike the rest of her friends, Robin had no special powers and yet was equally as formidable if not the most of all; strong, skilled, smart, handsome... She blushed a little more.

Raven came up beside her following her dreamy gaze to Robin training. She looked back at Starfire. "What are you doing?" she asked flatly.

Starfire squealed and jumped turning to look at Raven. "Oh umm, happiest of mornings dear friend Raven!" She was blushing furiously, "I wished to speak to Robin and was waiting as to not interrupt his marvelous dance, TRAINING!" She smiled sheepishly. Raven's expression had remained unchanged for the entire spiel.

Robin landed next to the two silently. "What did you want to..." Starfire squealed again, once again jumping and turning to Robin. Robin's eyes were a bit wider and Raven was frowning now. "Sorry Star, I wasn't trying to scare you," he said holding his hands up. He relaxed and continued, "you wanted to talk to me about something?"

Starfire froze, she HAD merely been admiring his beautiful dance! "Oh umm, yes... I was standing here waiting to speak to you and not for any other reason..." Robin tilted his head a little, looking at Starfire curiously.

Raven looked up to the ceiling, "I'm going to meditate some more." Raven about faced and floated away. Both remaining titans watched her leave and then faced each other again.

After a moment of awkward silence Robin spoke, "Uhh Starfire, what did you want to say?"

"Oh yes!" She shouted far louder than intended almost blowing Robin's hair, she grinned from ear to ear her blush returning intensely. "Today is... Glorkabrek thogforrk, the breakfast of friends! I wish to make for you a traditional Tamaranean breakfast! Starfire smiled brightly.

Robin scratched his head, "Uhh, thanks Star, but it's 10:30, I've already had breakfast... Any chance we could do lunch instead?"

"Certainly! I had not considered the time, but the doing of a second breakfast for lunch could be quite wonderful yes?"

Robin smiled warmly, though internally wondering what kind of bizarre concoction Starfire had in mind for breakfast, if it was even palatable on earth, he also appreciated how she liked to share her traditions and time with him and the others. She was thoughtful and kind and helped him remain a little more lighthearted even on the toughest of days. "Sure Starfire, sounds great."

Starfire's heart glowed within her, she thought Robin must have the sweetest smile in all the universe. "Glorious! I will begin the preparation then." Starfire turned and happily made her way to the kitchen. Robin smiled softly watching her go and then turned to resume training. He heard a long groggy lion like yawn behind him. "Hey Beast Boy, did you just get up?" Robin asked cocking one brow.

Beast Boy was dragging himself to the kitchen, "uhhh, yah."

Robin looked at the time and it was closer to 10:45 now. He shook his head a little. Extending his staff, he poll vaulted with ease back onto the high bar. Just as he resumed his exercise, the alarm sounded! Robin stopped his routine pulling out his communicator. "Titans!" Robin shouted, "Rancid's been reported on the south side. Let's go!" Robin swung down from the bar and took off in a run followed by Starfire, Cyborg and Raven. Beast Boy moaned and dragged himself along behind them.

The Titans arrived swiftly at the south side of town to find Rancid on a rampage. Civilians were fleeing the scene in a panic. Rancid was riding some kind of crude dragon bot shooting fire!

"Hey Teeny Titans! You ready for another round? Say hello to my new beast, DRAGOON!" Fire shot at the titans who all swiftly evaded the attack.

Robin turned to his team, "Raven, Beast Boy, get those civilians clear; Starfire, Cyborg with me. Titans GO!"

Robin, Cyborg and Starfire charged towards Rancid, Robin signaling Starfire high and Cyborg low. Beast Boy and Raven broke off and started protecting and clearing civilians from the skirmish. Starfire flew at Rancid green eyes glowing and pelting his dragon bot with starbolts. Rancid was distracted which gave Robin the chance to leap from his motorcycle and land a solid kick right in the monsters head. The machine was thrown significantly off balance when Cyborg landed a hard plasma canon blow to the dragon's legs. The dragon bot tried to compensate flapping its wings but the flight mechanics didn't seem to be working very well. The large machine fell hard on it's side throwing Rancid from it's back. Johnny tumbled off and lunged to his feet growling. Robin seemed to appear out of nowhere landing in front of him.

He crossed his arms and smirked, "Why don't you give it a rest Rancid, this just gets easier and easier."

Johnny glowered at Robin, "That's what you think bird boy!"

Johnny produced a large flame thrower and shot a huge stream of fire at Robin! Robin's eyes widened! He threw himself down under the blast, cloaking himself with his cape and then rolled to safety. Johnny was suddenly shot hard from behind! He stopped firing grabbing his shoulder and turned to see a Tamaranean of death flying straight at him! Starfire yelled angrily shooting energy from her eyes nearly slicing Johnny's cannon in half! He narrowly avoided her and ran towards his robot.

Starfire landed hard almost damaging the ground and ran to Robin who was already back on his feat.

"Robin! You are aflame!"

"What?"

Robin looked at Starfire alarmed, then looked up at his hair which had a small flame on top. Robin promptly and vigorously rubbed his hair extinguishing the fire. Starfire smiled blushing and giggled, finding the whole scene rather adorable. Robin's shoulders slumped a little and he steamed, eyes narrowing, looking very irritated if not slightly embarrassed.

"Can we focus here? Rancid's getting away!"

Starfire sucked her cheeks in a little looking innocent and nodded. She took off again followed by Robin. Rancid's robot was back up again.

Robin's communicator buzzed, "Robin, the civilians are clear," Raven reported.

Robin's voice dropped seriously, "Good! Let's end this."

All the titans joined Starfire and Robin in their charge converging on the dragon bot. The Titans attacked mercilessly, even pulling parts from the large machine.

Robin's eyes darted around searching for Johnny who was not aboard his machine. "Does anyone have a fix on Rancid?" Raven was about to answer, when the creature's tail smacked into her!

"RAVEN," Beast Boy yelped! He changed into a leopard, charging and lept into the air catching Raven's cloak and tumbling to the ground. Robin noted the two seemed fine and turned his attention back to the robot.

Raven untangled herself from Beast Boy. "Ow," she said flatly.

Beast Boy blushed smiling sheepishly. "Kind of a rough landing huh?" Raven didn't respond but stood up and offered her hand to Beast Boy. Beast Boy gladly accepted and Raven helped him to his feet. The two looked over to see that Starfire and Cyborg had also been hit. The dragon was charging full steam heading straight for Robin!

"HEY BIRDIE," Rancid shouted mockingly from on top of a large structure, "HANDLE THIS!" The titans were blinded by a huge explosion! Raven pulled her cloak over her eyes, the others holding up their arms to shield themselves. Rancid cackled like a delinquent, surveying the carnage below. The titans all looked horrified!

"ROBIN!" Starfire screamed! All the titans hurried towards the wreckage. Raven broke off to take down a certain villain! The smoke had cleared revealing a large blast zone with charred robot remains everywhere. Starfire was the first to arrive amongst the wreckage. "Robin! Robin? Please you are alright? ROBIN!?"

"Robin!" Beast Boy shouted, he changed into a dog and started sniffing around. Cyborg immediately put a trace on Robin's communicator.

"Over here guys!" Cyborg shouted heading over to some rubble. Cyborg was about to start moving aside debris when a large metal frame was pushed forcefully aside. Robin pulled himself out coughing, having breathed in the smoke. Before Cyborg could even ask if he was okay, Starfire flew up embracing him!

"Robin!" she beamed, "You have not been exploded!" Robin blushed slightly at the gesture, his arms locked to his sides from the very strong embrace.

"Yah," he coughed a little more this time from smoke inhalation and feeling awkward, "I'm okay guys." Starfire released him and Robin steadied himself. He had hit his head and that in combination with Starfire nearly crushing his rib cage caused some dizziness. Beast Boy ran up in dog form and changed back into himself.

Robin looked around, "Did anyone grab Rancid?"

"Right here." The titans turned to Raven who was dragging an unconscious Johnny Rancid behind her. Though her countenance hardly changed, relief washed over her seeing Robin was alright.

Robin nodded to Raven and then sighed surveying the damage, "Well, that could have gone better." The other titans looked around also frowning. "Let's get Rancid back to prison," Robin said turning to go. He retrieved his R-cycle and the titans returned Johnny to the police.

With Johnny back in custody, the titans exited the police station together.

"Alright, lunch time! It's pizza time ya all!

"Oh yes! I do so enjoy the bread disk of curdled milk!"

"Totally!" Beast Boy agreed, "I'm starved, I didn't even get to have breakfast!"

"On account of you sleeping till almost 11." Beast Boy frowned at Raven,

"Hey, I had a late night!"

"Playing Spy Squids 3," Cyborg teased. Robin was silent, pushing his cycle beside his team, his countenance serious and preoccupied.

"Hey! I'm third on the SS3 mmorpg top 10 list! If I get the inkinator before Captain Suction08, it'll boost my score to numero uno." Beast Boy stopped, crossing his arms and posing like a stud.

"Wow... I couldn't imagine a more fulfilling experience." Cyborg snickered at Raven's sarcasm as Beast Boy shot a petulant look at both.

"Please, what is this inkinator and how will it's retrieval raise your score to the numero uno?" Starfire asked inquisitively. Raven looked over at Starfire, eyebrows slightly lowered in indifference and distaste,

"You won't want to go there..."

"Come on guys, lay off!" Beast Boy cried pettishly.

"Common BB, we're just messing with ya," Cyborg said with a grin. Raven looked at him raising one brow. Cyborg looked at her then back to Beast Boy, "Well I was anyway." Beast Boy huffed crossing his arms, but then turned to Starfire.

"They just don't get what a big deal it is. The inkinator is the most wanted power up in the whole game! There are a tonn of upgrades you can collect for it once you get it!" Beast Boy proceeded to explain SS3 to Starfire in detail, much to Raven's dismay, all the way to lunch.

As the team sat around with piping hot pizza relaxing and chatting, Robin sat quietly, chin lightly rested on pressed hands, lost in thought. His pose was reminiscent of Sherlock Holmes contemplating. Starfire looked at him with concern. He hadn't said a word for sometime or had a single slice of pizza.

"Robin," she said gently, "something is troubling you? You have not partaken in any of the pizza." Robin glanced at Starfire, remembering they were out to lunch.

"Oh, sorry Star, I was just thinking about our fight with Rancid." By this time, all the titans had turned their attention to Starfire and Robin.

"Please tell me your not obsessing over how we could have been more efficient while we're out for pizza," Cyborg commented with some irritation.

"It's not that," Robin said, his contemplative look returning, "the whole thing was sloppy and I don't mean us, I mean Rancid." The team looked at him curiously.

"Uhh, whaddya mean?" Beast Boy asked confused.

"Rancid had the upper hand when he detonated his dragon. Blowing it when he did was a big tactical error that turned the battle in our favor. And if blowing his robot was his ultimate goal, there were better opportunities that would have put us at far greater risk. I was the only one in real danger."

Beast Boy flung himself backwards on his chair dramatically palming his forehead. "Duuude, give it a rest for once!"

"Yah Robin," added Cyborg, "this is Rancid you're talking about, it's not like the guy thinks when he does something. He was probably just holding the biggest beef with you."

Starfire added gently, "Is the battle still of concern now that Johnny is once again imprisoned?"

Robin looked at his friends, they didn't know it, but they're remarks stung, discounting his intuition. It wasn't just what he'd said, he could feel something was off about the whole thing. Robin was quiet a moment, a little more self doubt creeping into his thoughts.

"I guess you're right, it's not like Rancid's a strategist," he finally said.

Beast Boy looked relieved and grabbed another slice as did Cyborg. Starfire smiled at Robin sweetly, trying to cheer him up. Raven hadn't said a word, she was considering what Robin had said. In working with Robin she had learned he was exceptionally intelligent and intuitive and not to dismiss his concerns. He was rarely wrong albeit obsessive at times. The only time he'd truly gone off the deep end believing something was happening for real when it wasn't was when he'd been drugged by Slade. She didn't dismiss the issue, instead she put it aside in her mind to revisit if Robin brought it up again. The titans all resumed lunch and Robin's more relaxed self seemed to return, outwardly anyway...

Thanks to thoughts-of-joy-dreams-of-love for recommending some additional formatting. I hope the story is easier to read now :)