Another Alternate Universe

Chapter 15: Time

"Hello?! Raven?!" A frantic voice called from inside the tower outside of her room. She still soundly slept through the frantic calling.
"Robin she's not answering the door and I can hear her heart beat but this isn't like her." The voice continued.  "Maybe she wanna be alone BeastBoy" Robins voice replied. "Just give her time."
"Time?! It's 11pm she's usually awake at sunrise !" He yelled back.
Robin signed. "Fine, do it."
"Thank you" BeastBoy replied. He shifted into a gorilla and began forcing the metal door open until he was half way inside of his mates room. The smell of lavender and rain crept out of the door way and began to swirl around his head. He changed back to a human as he noticed a slight breeze coming from an open balcony door.
"Raven !" BeastBoy yelled as he rushed to her side.
"Hmmm..." she slowly awoke to the sound of her favorite voice.
"Are you okay? What are you doing out here? God your freezing." He started rambling on.
"I don't know I guess I just fell asleep out here. I don't remember a lot." Raven said as she rubbed her eyes.
Robin stood in the door way and watched the young couple. One worried about the other, the way he cared and talked to her. It was everything he wanted with Starfire, he began to think about Steel. His jaw clenched at the thought of what that monster did to her. She became scared of sudden movements from the boys, she was also plagued with nightmares. Robin would often find her in the common room in the middle of the night passed out at the kitchen table with a bottle of mustard in her hand and a red teddy bear he had won her at a carnival long ago. If she wasn't there she could be found under cyborgs watchful eye.
*Maybe it's time.*  He confessed to himself.
With that he left Raven and BeastBoy to go find  Starfire. He knew what he had to do.

He walked through the halls, listening for any sound of the girl he dreamed of.  He stopped by her room, he peaked his head in as the door slid open. No sign of her. He walked to the common room to find no one there except Silkie. He walked past the empty bathrooms up to the roof, no luck. Down to the garage he went, she wasn't there. He searched the whole tower until he found himself in front of the last room he hadn't looked in. Cyborgs room.
He quietly knocked on the door.
The door slid open as Cyborg held his finger to his lips signaling the bird boy to hush. As he stepped aside he revealed a sleeping Starfire.
"She was up all night, walking through the tower, making sure the security systems were on. She knocked at my door around 4am and asked if she could sleep in here." The Tin man whispered. Robin nodded.  "Did y'all find Raven?" Cyborg asked
"Yea she fell asleep on her balcony." Robin replied.
"The girls are having a tough time lately." Cyborg stated. "You think something's wrong."
"I don't know, something feels off." Robin replied.
"Why is she still asleep so late?" He asked
"I gave her a small dose of a sedative to help her sleep. It should be wearing off soon." Cyborg replied. "You can take her to your room or the common room if you want. I have to go work on the T-car and I don't want to leave her alone."
Robin nodded as he scooped the beautiful alien up in his arms. She rustled in her sleep but quickly settled back down as she nestled into his shirt.
He carried her bridal style all the way to his room. He then laid her on his bed and sat in his desk chair patiently awaiting her to awake from her slumber. He stared at her gorgeous face. The way her nose twitched in her sleep, the way her hair fell and framed her shoulders and face. Everything about her is just so perfect to him.
Everyone's room had its own scent. Starfire always smelled like strawberries and cream. Sweet and fun. Raven smelled like lavender and rain. Beautiful and calm. Cyborg smelled like old spice and cinnamon. Manly and spicy. BeastBoys room smelled like, well BeastBoy, under all the clothes and shoes there was an underlying tone of Irish spring and crisp linen. Fresh and springy.  Robins room smelled like axe and woods. Like a mahogany and teakwood mix. Young adult and natural. Each rooms smell mirrored the occupants personality and attitude. Every time you walked into a different room you were being told a different story. The story of the person who makes their home in the tower, and how they came to be there. You can see their lives play out in front of you as you start to understand what each one has been through.
"Robin?" Starfire mumbled in her sleep.
"Star, I'm here." Robin said as he got up and sat next to her on the edge of his bed.
"It's okay." He stroked her hair.
"What am I doing in your room?" She asked as she began to wake up. "I remember going to friend cyborgs room late at night."
Robin chuckled. The way she talked, she was so innocent. She still had hardly any understanding of earth and its many strange ways. "I know Star, I brought you here because he didn't want to leave you alone."
Robin quieted down.
"Hey Star?"
Robin asked
"Yes robin."
She replied.
"There's something I kinda need to tell you." He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.
She sat up in his bed.
"What is troubling you?" She asked.
He breathed in.
"From the day I met you, I've been trying to work up the courage to tell you something." He began.
"It's just I'm not very good with these things and I mean, well. You're my best friend Star and I don't want anything to ruin that." He began to ramble on.
Starfire began to understand where he was going.
"Robin?" She asked "I like you a lot more than just the friendship." She smiled.
"Star I like you too and I was hoping maybe you would like to go out with me sometime." He said nervously.
"Eeeeeeeeeeee!" Starfire flew up into the air and pulled Robin into a bone crushing embrace.
"I would most certainly love too!" She exclaimed.
"I must go find Friend Raven!" She said as she dropped him and flew throughout the tower in search of her best friend.
"Man I shoulda done this earlier." Robin said out-loud.
"Yea you should've." Two voices echoed in the hallway. BeastBoy and Cyborg has been listening this whole time through the walls.
"It took you long enough." Cyborg said. "Yea!" BeastBoy replied "who knew I would ask out Raven before you asked out Star."
"I don't know, I'm just glad I finally did." Robin said.
"You never know how much time you have with someone. Whether it's temporary or permanent everything can change in a matter of seconds." Cyborg stated. All three boys looked at each other and nodded in sync. No one knew anything about their future and if they had any clue about what they had in store for them, they would've cherish this time a little more.