So, I've been meaning to work on my other stories, but you see –insert terribly crafted excuse here- so how could I possibly update with that going on, right? I just decided that I needed to make some one-shot for the fun of it. It's Raven and Jinx so you know the drill- if you do not like, then you may leave. Oh, and lady – you know who you are and I swear if you try to play the whole 'I-don't-know-what-you're-talking-about' card there will be hell to pay – this story is for you.
Disclaimer: I own no such thing as the Titans who happen to be Teens.
Raven sighed and rolled onto her side for what seemed like the millionth time that night. It'd been a long day with rigorous training and annoyingly persistent villains – not naming names, Dr. Light – terrorizing the city, but no matter what, the empath couldn't sleep. For the past three hours or so, she lay in bed trying to succumb to her ever present exhaustion, but sadly, it seemed that sleep would, yet again, evade her.
To put it lightly, Raven was irritated.
What irritated her the most, however, wasn't the inability to sleep, but was more of the reasoning behind her sudden insomnia. More specifically, the person. Namely, a pink-haired, ex-thief who'd been plaguing Raven's thoughts more frequently than the sorceress would really care to admit. See, about a month after the Brotherhood was taken down, Raven had gone to one of her favorite tea and coffee shops in search of some peace and quiet that was seriously lacking at the Tower as of late, only to run – literally – into none other than Jinx.
The empath had just accepted her herbal tea, and had started to walk to a lone table in the back corner when her shoulder surprisingly connected with someone else's – hard. The unexpected jarring caused her tea to fly out of her hands and splash onto the floor. Raven rolled her eyes and started to mutter a curse towards the other café-goer, but they beat her to it.
"Don't expect me to pay for that. It's not my fault you can't watch where you're going." The stranger bit out. The Titan raised a brow and spun on her heel, ready to verbally rip apart whoever dared to approach her in such a manner. The words died in her throat though when she recognized the 'stranger'.
A girl her size with pink hair that had once been held up in horns but was now laying down in a simple pair of pig-tails and bright pink eyes with slit-like pupils stood before Raven looking utterly annoyed. The irked glint in her eyes slowly faded to something more amused and smug.
"Jinx," Raven gave her a once over. "What are you doing here?"
The right side of Jinx's mouth ticked up in a grin. "What, I'm not allowed to stop by for a nice sugary latte and reunion with my favorite Titan?"
Raven rolled her eyes for a second time and she couldn't shake the feeling that it wouldn't be the last time of the evening. "Cheeky as always." She deadpanned. A look of mock-hurt crossed Jinx's features. She placed a hand over her heart while she gasped dramatically.
"Me? Cheeky? Never." Her grin blew full force and the empath found herself momentarily stunned. It didn't last and soon Raven was shaking her head as she used her soul-self to clean the spilled tea from the floor and place it in a nearby trash bin.
"Besides," Jinx started, "If anyone is cheeky right now it's you."
Raven scoffed. "And how, pray tell, am I being cheeky?" Jinx smirked and nodded down at the Titan's clothes.
"Well, I mean, look at what you're wearing. Isn't it like, I don't know, blasphemy for you to wear something that isn't your uniform? Seems pretty cheeky to me, Rae."
The empath sighed and rubbed her temple. She could feel a headache coming on. "No. Believe it or not, we wear civilian dress almost as much as we wear our uniforms." She shrugged then narrowed her gaze. "And don't call me 'Rae'." The pinkette grinned. "Sure thing, Ravey."
Raven definitely had a headache now. She rolled her eyes and muttered a, "Whatever," while she turned and began to leave the shop. Before she could put any real distance between herself and the ex-thief though, Jinx caught onto her arm and gently – surprisingly – tugged her back to her previous spot.
"Hey, I was only messing with you, Rae- er, Raven. No need to run out like it's the damn apocalypse or something." The other girl mumbled. The empath raised an eyebrow at her and pulled her arm back to herself.
"I wasn't running. But, even if I was, it wouldn't matter. I'm leaving."
Jinx rocked on her heels and rubbed at her arm slightly. "You don't have to. I mean, I wouldn't mind if you wanted to stay. Hell, we could even split that nice little table back there, yeah?" Raven was shocked at first that Jinx was actually putting up an invitation for her to take. But, Raven turned it down.
"Thank you, but no thank you. I brought just enough money for my tea that was sadly wasted," The pinkette smiled sheepishly. Raven ignored it and continued. "And honestly, I don't see the point in just sitting around in this shop just to talk without any form of drink considering that was my purpose in coming here today."
Jinx frowned. "Ouch. Well… what if I buy you another tea? Then keeping me company wouldn't be so pointless."
"I vaguely remember you saying, 'don't expect me to pay for that' along with a lovely exclamation that our meeting was clearly my fault." Raven drawled.
Shrugging, Jinx fished out a five from the back pocket of her jeans to buy Raven another tea. "Technically, I said I wouldn't pay for that tea. This tea is totally different. Now, you just sit yourself down, and I'll be right back." She took off towards the counter to order Raven a tea and perhaps another latte since hers had gone cold. Raven sighed, but sat down at the table in the corner nonetheless.
Once Jinx returned with the drinks, the two girls sat and – after much coaxing and persuading on Jinx's part – had an actual conversation full of this and that, and naturally, riddled with banter. They'd stayed out late into the night talking. Before either of them knew it, a fast friendship had formed.
Ever since, they would meet at the same shop almost once a week and would sit at the same table and talk. Lately though, Raven would be a fool not to notice the slight shift in their certainly platonic relationship. Well, aside from the unexpected occasional flirting every now and then from both parties. Anyway, it was odd to her. One day everything was normal, just discussing different tastes in tea, the next the atmosphere changed. Jinx barely added to their conversation, which was weird on its own given Jinx was a natural chatterbox, and wouldn't even look Raven in the eye. Being an empath, Raven could feel the other girl's uneasiness, but when she asked the ex-thief if everything was alright, Jinx simply nodded while flashing her signature Cheshire cat grin, giving some bogus excuse for her leaving and left – quickly, Raven might add.
That was three weeks ago, and Raven hadn't heard word from the girl since.
The empath's stomach lurched painfully as she thought on the lack of contact. She tried to convince herself that it was only because it'd been abnormally boring around the tower, but a voice – more or less the voices of all her emotions – smashed that notion in a heartbeat telling her that it wasn't that she was bored, but rather that she wasn't in the company of a certain someone. Raven tried to deny the thought, but who was she kidding? She missed the pink troublemaker.
Raven rolled onto her stomach and buried her head deep into her pillows when her stomach lurched again. It'd been months since she'd formed this friendship – that was strictly platonic – with the pink-haired girl and in doing so, something within was planted and had started to grow more and more each day.
'Unfortunately', Raven thought with a slight eye roll. It wasn't that she was irritated with having a crush – because she didn't, at all – on Jinx per say, so much as it was she was irritated with the crush in general, that she didn't have of course. Crushes were irksome and left you to lie in your bed, not being able to sleep whatsoever while you wonder why said crush-but-not-really-a-crush made such a hasty exit on your last rendezvous and hadn't said anything since.
Which brings us back to square one.
The irked empath pushed her pillows aside in agitation as she sat up with a huff.
'Azar. I swear, if this keeps up, I'm taking pills.' Raven pinched the bridge of her nose, rising from her bed intending to make her way to the tower's kitchen for a midnight cup of tea, but a sharp tnk! tnk! tnk! coming from her window caused the empath to whirl away from her still closed door to face the cat-like grin beaming at her from the other side of the glass.
The breath whooshed out of Raven's lungs when she saw Jinx precariously perched on the barely-there edge beneath her window. Without a second thought, the normally reserved Titan flew to her window and threw it open, nearly sending the other girl toppling backward. That would have been fun.
"Jinx," She hissed. "What in Azar's name are you doing here?" Raven had a sudden sense of déjà vu. "You're going to trigger the tower's alarms. I'm amazed you haven't already."
Jinx shrugged then offered the titan her signature grin accompanied by a wink. "I'm just that lucky. Now, can you do me a favor? Move your pretty-self back a bit so I can come in. This thing is hella uncomfortable." She grimaced and tugged at her midsection.
That was when – after willing down the blush that threatened to explode across her face – Raven noticed the harness strapped around Jinx's middle, waist, and thighs. Said harness being attached to a nylon rope hooked to the main belt of her harness that Jinx was holding onto like she wasn't being suspended hundreds of feet off the ground.
Realization took that moment to tap Raven on her shoulder. "Seriously? You scaled the tower and rappelled to my window?" Despite being flattered that the other girl would go to such lengths just to see her, this was dangerous! And frankly, it was really stupid. "You're going to get yourself killed!"
The other girl nodded, grabbed the window sill with one hand, and stepped into the dark titan's room. "Yeah, well, knockin' on the front door is way overrated. Not to mention, I haven't been able to use my climbing gear since I left the Hive, and I really wanted to." A chuckle bubbled up in Raven's throat, but then she remembered that she was supposed to be angry with the ex-thief, not encouraging her antics by showing her amusement.
'Right. Angry.' Crossing her arms, Raven gave Jinx a glare loaded with questions and annoyance, but Jinx stood firm and nonchalantly unhooked and stepped out of her harness. No sooner had the harness dropped to the ground did Jinx turn on her heel and flop back onto the empath's mussed bed. She stretched out on the sheets for a moment then turned to Raven.
"So, Ravey. I was thinking. We should go out."
Raven's eyes widened substantially and she choked out a, "W-what?"
Jinx grinned at the sputtered response she received from the dark Titan who seldom even got tongue tied.
'Damn those grins of hers…' The empath thought bitterly.
"You know, go out. Like, go out and get some fresh air, or do something that doesn't involve just sitting around in your boring old room." She sat up and crossed her legs beneath. "What do you say?"
It took a moment for the conflicting emotions of relief and disappointment to settle, but once they did, they quickly gave leave for Raven's previous irritation to come back. 'She suddenly disappears for three weeks and doesn't even give me a reason, and she just expects me to agree to go out in the middle of the night? Fat chance.'
"I was going to make some tea anyway… Just give me a moment to change clothes, and we can go." Raven mumbled as she made her way to her closet to grab a set of civies. As Raven stepped into her adjoined bathroom to change, Jinx rose off the bed and sat back down on the window sill.
"Actually," She said loud enough for Raven to be able to hear her. "I was thinking we could do something a little bit…different." Jinx bit her lip while she waited for a reply.
"Different like how?" Raven called back.
"Different like a walk through the park then some tea, maybe…?" She bit down even harder on her lip when the bathroom door opened revealing Raven standing in a pair of dark wash jeans and a blue hoodie. The dark Titan raised an eyebrow at her suggestion, but couldn't deny that it sounded nice.
"That'd be okay with me."
Another grin was sent Raven's way and Jinx quickly grabbed her harness off the floor. "It's a date then!" Both girls stiffened and blood rushed to their faces at Jinx's slip of the tongue. "Uh, I-I mean… Well, you know what I meant." She turned towards the open window to try and avoid the awkwardness in the air.
Raven cleared her throat. "Y-yeah… We should get going." Jinx nodded and started to hook her harness back up. She had just finished when she felt a pair of eyes on her back. Slowly, the ex-thief turned around to find Raven staring at her incredulously.
"What?"
"You're not seriously going to rappel down, are you?"
Jinx sighed. "Didn't we just have this conversation? I'm not waltzing through the front door."
Raven rolled her eyes. "Obviously, Jinx. We'll teleport." Almost instantly Jinx recoiled and her face contorted with a look of pure disgust.
"Oh my lord, no. No. A thousand times no. I still have nightmares about the first time you teleported me using your creepy-weird-ass-magicy-shit-whoa!" Jinx scrambled to grab the nylon rope as she was promptly shoved out of Raven's window.
-xXx-
"Oh, come on, Jinx. You're blowing this out of proportion." Raven crossed her arms as the two continued to walk through Jump City Central Park. Without missing a beat, Jinx whirled on the Titan and threw her arms up in the air. "You pushed me out of your window!"
Raven shrugged. "You asked for it. Just be glad I caught you."
The pinkette's eye gave an involuntary twitch. "You didn't catch me. You pulled the rope up with your powers-"
"Indirectly, that's catching."
"-After I had already hit the damn ground! If it weren't for my powers screwing up probability and practically the whole make up of reality and physics, I'd be dead!" She seethed. Yeah, she was alright, thanks to her abilities and meta genetics, but still it was the principle of the matter. You just don't push a girl out of your window ten stories up. It lacks class.
The empath shook her head as she tried to hide a smirk. "Just keep this in mind the next time you try and label my powers with whatever the hell you and Beast Boy come up with because next time," Raven turned to the other girl, "I won't even bother pulling up the rope."
Jinx gave a nervous chuckle at the look in the Titan's eyes. She doubted the girl was lying. "Heh, cold as ever, Ravey…"
The two girls kept walking along the path that wound its way in and out and around the park like a cement snake. After they got to the halfway mark on the path the aura around Jinx became immensely tense and she started to fidget more and more as they walked on.
Finally, Raven had had enough and she turned to face the ex-thief. "Okay, what is it?"
"Huh?" Jinx tilted her head to side in confusion. Raven raised a brow. "You're emotions are going crazy and your fidgeting is getting on my nerves." The other girl quickly moved her arms to her sides to try and keep them still while they walked. "Sorry. Guess I'm just a bit jumpy…" Her eyes darted further up the path.
"Why? Is there something I should know about?" The empath inquired. The ex-thief looked back at Raven and shook her head before offering up her infamous Cheshire cat grin again.
"Nope, 'cause we're here." Reaching down, Jinx took hold of Raven's hand and sped along the concrete walkway until they reached what Raven assumed was Jinx's original destination.
In a pool of light from one of the multiple street lamps, there lay a pink and black checkered blanket with a small wicker basket set off to the side. Jinx practically skipped up to the blanket and sat right in the middle, grinning brightly.
"Have a seat, Ravey-dearest." She patted the seat next to her on the blanket. Although slightly skeptical as always to Jinx's plans, Raven followed after her not-crush and sat across from her on the blanket.
"Uhm, Jinx," Raven raised an eyebrow at the girl. "What is this?"
Jinx shuffled awkwardly and smiled sheepishly at the Titan. "Well… it's a picnic. With tea!" She turned around to paw through the basket, pulling out a thermos full of herbal tea, two mugs, and two small plates with cake on them wrapped in saran wrap. "And cake, because honestly, it isn't a picnic without cake."
Raven shook her head. "You would be the person to drag me out of my home in the middle of a night for some silly picnic." Jinx frowned and shoved one of the plates onto Raven's lap then set a mug filled with tea next to her.
"Oh? Tell me again what it was you were doing that was so much better than coming out here with me?"
"I was trying to sleep." 'Without much success.'
"Well it didn't really seem to be working, huh?" Raven internally snorted. 'You have no idea.'
"It was going to." 'Yeah, right.' "But, then I was interrupted by a trespasser outside my window." Jinx nodded in understanding then took a bite of cake.
"Hm… I hate it when that happens. So why couldn't you sleep?"
Raven attempted to not choke on her tea but ended up failing miserably. "I-I just couldn't sleep. Had a lot on my mind, I suppose…" She looked off to the side and tried to act as though she hadn't reacted so unexpectedly to what should have been such a normal question. 'Great. Really great, Raven. Make the girl think you're crazy. Always a wonderful plan.'
Jinx scooted a bit closer and tilted her head to the side. "Yeah? Like what? Demon stuff? Titan business? What?" Raven shook her head.
"No…actually, I couldn't sleep because," 'Tell her you had a song stuck in your head. "I was thinking about," 'No. No. Damn it, Raven, don't say it. Why are you saying it?' "Why I hadn't heard from you in weeks… I mean, we'd been hanging out for months and then out of nowhere you just dropped off the face of the planet. Azar, you didn't even let me know what was going on."
A blush blossomed on Jinx's cheeks. "Oh…right… Listen, Ravey…" She started, but Raven cut her off.
"I kept wondering, had I done something? Everything had seemed like it was fine. I'd noticed something change, but I couldn't put my finger on it."
"Rae-"
Raven continued without pausing to notice Jinx trying to talk to her. "I suppose it made sense though."
"Huh? What made sense? Rave-"
"That you wouldn't want to be around me. I'm a demon spawn not to mention, I'm not exactly the friendliest person out there, so it made sense that you wouldn't want to keep me in your company any more. It's not that surprising honestly-"
"Raven!" The Titan raised her head up at the sound of her full name coming from the other girl's mouth. Before Raven had time to question her though, Jinx had placed her hands on either side of the empath's face and crashed their lips together – effectively knocking the breath out of them both.
The kiss was hard and almost bruising at first, but it eventually softened to something gentler. Raven at first didn't know how to respond, so she sat there and let the other girl kiss her. She tried to ignore the jolts of electricity that were setting her nerve endings on fire. Tried to ignore all her emotions screaming at her to kiss Jinx back. When Raven had finally made her decision on what to do the kiss was over.
Jinx pulled away slowly and kept her eyes glued to the blanket. Raven hadn't kissed her back, and she was just waiting for the blistering rejection soon to come.
"I had to sort some stuff out… Once I did, I knew I needed to tell you. I just didn't know how. I don't really plan these things out… All I know is- oh, screw it. Look, I like you, okay? A lot, actually. If you don't feel that way and this whole thing has totally grossed you out then I'm sorry and you can go on your merry way hating me and all. I just… ugh, I had to tell you." Jinx waited for Raven to stand and leave, or tell her she was an idiot, or something. But, when nothing happened Jinx became worried. She looked up from the blanket to see Raven staring intently at her.
"Uhm, Rave-mmfh!" A pair of lips cut the pinkette's question off and also caught her off guard. But she was quick to recover, and she threaded her fingers through the empath's hair as she kissed the girl back, willing forth every emotion she'd been keeping bottled up for the last three weeks. This feeling of utter elation erupted like a thousand stars bursting all at once within Jinx as she pulled Raven closer and deepened the kiss she'd been waiting months for.
Reluctantly, they parted for air, and Jinx rested her forehead against Raven's, letting everything sink in. She never wanted to forget this moment, nor did she ever want it to end.
Raven pulled back slightly to look at the ex-thief seated in front of her. A smile worked its way across the Titan's lips as she loosely draped her arms around Jinx's neck. "It's about time. Any longer and my denial would have gotten the best of me."
Jinx laughed and hugged the empath around her waist. "I don't think I could have waited any longer if I'd tried. It was only going to be a matter of time before I actually just snuck into your room and kissed you while you were sleeping."
"Jinx!" Jinx laughed louder and grinned down at the frowning Raven. Looking up at that all too familiar grin, Raven's heart soared and she leaned up to claim that grin for her own.
'I suppose those grins aren't so bad…'
Well. There you have it. I'm sorry if the ending seemed awkward or poorly written to you. I'm not sure why but that part was strangely difficult for me to write. Maybe it's because it's late. Or maybe it's because I'm just naturally awkward. Either way, thank you for reading! I hope you have a wonderful morning (or evening depending on the time zone you're in) and read on! (To what I have no clue. But it sounded really cool in my head.)
Slightly Unkempt