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"Greetings, friend, you must be... Jericho?" Starfire greeted him, flying into the seat next to the blond honorary Titan. "It it most joyous to finally meet you. I am a friend of Beast Boy's: Starfire."
Jericho nodded, waving hello with a friendly smile.
"Why does friend Jericho not speak with us Robin?" She asked over her shoulder as the Titans' leader started to walk over.
"Star, Jericho can't. He's…"
"Oh, he does not speak English!" She concluded, cutting of the rest of his sentence and grinning happily before pulling the startled blond into a kiss.
Jericho just stared at her as she pulled away. She looked just as confused as him, but she didn't look scared - unlike him.
He quickly looked over at Robin, his wide green eyes desperately wanting an explanation as he shuffled further away from the Tameranian. The Titans' leader looked even more shocked than Jericho did, but he also looked annoyed.
"But Robin... Jericho's language is the same as our own." Starfire tilted her head to the side. "So why does he not speak with us?"
Jericho didn't miss the dirty look that Robin gave him before turning to answer her question. Starfire seemed completely oblivious to how annoyed the spiky-haired leader was getting.
"Star, I was going to say that he's a mute." He sighed as he saw her questioning look. "He can't talk. Not in any spoken language..."
"But, if our friend cannot speak, then how is he to communicate with us?"
"Through sign language... You do speak sign language - don't you?" Robin asked, his voice softening as he saw the fear in the young mute's eyes.
Jericho lifted his hands to 'talk' to the Boy Wonder. Yes, A-S-L
"Good." Robin nodded. "Cyborg, Bumble Bee and I are fluent. I don't know about everyone else, though."
Jericho nodded back, smiling nervously and looking between Robin and Starfire.
"Oh!" Starfire exclaimed, grabbing one of his hands. "He 'talks' with his hands?" She asked Robin, not wanting to make another mistake. Jericho tried pull away from her, worried at what she was about to do.
"Hey Jerry, relax! Star's not exactly gonna hurt ya." Beast boy grinned, jumping over the sofa to sit next to him. Jericho stopped struggling and gave his green friend a very sceptical look.
"She's just trying to learn your language. Right, Robin?" His cheeky smirk caused the Titans' leader to blush a deep red colour. "Hasn't anyone explained to you about Starfire?" He asked Jericho.
Jericho shook his head, his fearful expression now replaced with curiosity.
"Well, Star's like an alien princess, right? And she can learn any language just by kissing someone. She had to kiss Robin over here to learn English."
Jericho's green eyes widened with realisation.
"That's the only reason she kissed you just now." Robin stated bluntly.
"Robins a little protective over his princess..." Beast Boy muttered quietly, so that only Jericho could hear, causing both boys to break into a grin - though Beast Boy's was more mysterious.
All three boys watched as Starfire lifted Jericho's hand to her lips and kissed his palm.
"So, did it work?" Beast Boy was the first to ask.
I don't know.
"Uh, yeah... You know I still can't understand you, right?" Beast Boy rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.
"Star?" Robin raised an eyebrow, as Starfire looked down at her hands.
"Strange - I can understand him, but I still do not know how to do the talking with my hands." She frowned.
Don't worry, I can understand speech just fine, S-t-a-r-f-i-r-e... I'll just sign S; your name is a little long.
"Oh!" Starfire broke into a smile. "Glorious - I am sure we shall be getting along just fine, then!" She flew a foot into the air with barely-supressed delight, and Jericho watched open-mouthed.
"Oh, yeah. Sorry, dude. I forgot to mention her powers... You think this is weird, just wait till ya see her get mad..." Beast Boy winked at Jericho, whispering the last part so he wouldn't risk the princess's wrath.
"If you give me a nickname, may I too return the favour, Jericho?"
Yes. Why not?
"How about 'Jerry'? Or just Jay?"
J and S - that works quite well.
"That's settled, then, Jay - welcome to the team!"