The first sign something was wrong was that Robin was late.

Robin was never late.

He was early.

Painfully early.

Annoyingly early.

The kind of early that made everyone else feel irresponsible.

So when ten minutes passed and he still hadn’t shown up to briefing?

The entire common room had gone suspiciously quiet.

Beast Boy looked up from the couch.

“…Did he die?”

“No,” said Raven without looking up.

Five more minutes.

Then the elevator opened.

Robin stepped out.

Not unusual.

The woman beside him?

Very unusual.

The room froze.

Completely.

Robin stopped in the middle of the room like he had rehearsed this and still hated every second of it.

“I need everyone to be normal for five minutes.”

Immediate silence.

That sentence alone was terrifying.

Across the room, Cyborg slowly sat up.

Beast Boy looked emotionally unprepared.

Raven finally looked up.

And near the window—

Starfire went still.

Robin noticed.

Of course he noticed.

He always noticed.

His shoulders tightened for half a second before he looked back toward the team.

“This is my girlfriend.”

The sentence landed like a grenade.

Nobody moved.

Nobody breathed.

Beast Boy looked seconds away from collapsing.

Cyborg physically blinked twice.

Raven’s expression shifted exactly one degree.

Which, for her, was basically screaming.

Robin exhaled slowly.

“…Please don’t make this weird.”

The room remained silent.

Beast Boy raised a hand.

“Buddy,” he said carefully.

A pause.

“It became weird the second you walked in holding hands.”