One of the many stories in my recently revamped Midnight Girl series, where I write a bunch of stories that are completely Raven-focused, because, well, I love Raven. I try to keep the characters as close to the original Titan's, but I take liberties here and there.

Chapter One

Body-Suits

"Friend Raven!" Starfire's overly joyous voice spread through the halls of Titan's Tower as she flew from room to room searching for her dark friend. Unsuccessful at finding Raven, and certain that the empath neither sulked nor hid in her mysterious and always off limits room, Starfire flew downtrodden into the common area of the Tower.

"S'up Star? You're lookin' down." Cyborg lifted his brow as he watched Starfire slump onto an empty armchair.

"I have searched all morning and have been unsuccessful in finding Friend Raven. She has been avoiding me and I wanted to share in the painting of nails with her today."

"You know what," Beast Boy sat up from his position on the couch, tossing aside his handheld game system, "She's been avoiding everyone lately. Like, more than normal avoiding."

Cyborg shrugged, "Girl's got some stuff goin' on I guess." He sounded dismissive, but Robin could hear the worry in his voice.

Although she had adjusted well to life on Earth, and as a hero, in the past three years since joining the team, Raven remained withdrawn for the most part. She seemed afraid to get too close, afraid to let any of them in on what her life on Azarath had been like, on who she was as a person, or even on the thoughts that she had day to day.

"Raven is quiet, we know this about her," Robin leaned forward on the kitchen table and set aside his newspaper, "We need to give her space, and she will figure herself out or let us know what's going on... eventually."

As if she had sensed their distress, or heard her name and decided to stop the conversation, the front door of the Tower opened and Raven floated in, her cloak hiding her body and hood hiding her face.

"Raven!" Starfire rushed toward her and stopped, with much effort and wise judgement, just in range of the 'too close for comfort' area. "Oh Raven I have looked all day for you!"

"Um," the gritty, boyish voice came out in a whisper, "I had to run an errand. But, uh, I'm back now."

Robin walked over to the doorway of the common area, leaning against it casually, so he would hopefully look like he had chosen to move closer to Raven and in her way not on purpose. "Go anywhere good?" He asked, again, too casually.

"What's with the twenty-questions?" Raven mumbled, darting around Robin and Starfire to head to her tea kettle.

"No reason. Just wondering if you did anything interesting."

"No."

"You left your tracker in the Tower, so I figured you were doing something personal."

Raven's back stiffened. Robin knew he had struck a nerve.

"No. Just," she paused, taking a breath, "I just had to run an errand."

"Raven," Robin walked up behind her and set a hand on her shoulder in his familiar way, showing her that he only wanted to help.

Raven sighed and poured the hot water into her favorite mug. "I... I needed some clothes, okay?"

Robin looked confused. "Like uniform or street clothes?"

"Um, both. And, uh, other kinds. Like, girl clothes? That girls need?"

He had never seen Raven struggle so much to find the right words.

"You went shopping," he raised an eyebrow.

She nodded.

"But you came back empty handed?"

She nodded again. Her irritated expression communicating a silent "obviously."

"You had no idea where to go, did you?"

Raven nodded for the third time, a quick, swift nod that Robin wouldn't have noticed had he not been paying such close attention to her, her eyes looking left and right, and anywhere but at Robin.

"Well then. Looks like it's time for the Titan's to take a civilian shopping day."

Starfire squealed with happiness. "I will get my purse and meet everyone at the T-Car!"

Before Raven could protest, Beast Boy and Cyborg had each grabbed one of her arms and run to the T-Car. Everyone piled in, Raven squished unhappily in the middle back seat because, as Beast Boy said, "she was the smallest," and the Titan's were on their way to shop.

After four and a half hours of being drug around to store after store, Robin could see Raven was one more dressing room away from snapping.

"Okay team! Let's head back to the Tower. We can stop at the Pizza Place and pick up dinner."

"Meet you at home." Raven disappeared into one of her portals with two shopping bags, leaving Starfire to excitedly gather the rest and rush to put them in the trunk.

"Come, friends! Pizza is calling!" Starfire dove into the front seat of the car, leaving Robin and Beast Boy to settle for the back.

The boys all loved Starfire. They really did. She was exuberant, happy, loving, everything about her and everything she did seemed focused on making others happy, too. By the end of the car ride back to the Tower, though, they could all see why Raven had chosen to teleport home rather than drive with them.

In fact, Starfire had not stopped talking since they left the mall, and she kept up the endless stream of conversation until Robin had the idea to say, as they reached the doorway to enter the common area and kitchen, "Hey, guys, let's make sure we're on the quiet side when we get in there. Raven did a lot of socializing today and we don't want to overwhelm her."

"Wow, Rob. That's, man, that's a great idea. Let's start right now." Cyborg shot the team leader a grateful look.

Starfire drew in an excited breath and let it out in loud puff, nodding at the suggestion.

The team set down the shopping bags and went to work setting up the four pizza boxes, dipping sauces, cans of soda, and dessert cookie, which they had bought at Starfire's insistence.

"Should we go get Rae? Or think she needs some down time?" Cyborg asked.

Before anyone could answer, the common room door swung open and Raven, looking very un-Raven-like, walked in, her eyes glued to the pages of a thick novel she carried in her hands.

Four mouths dropped open. While they had all worn street clothes before, Raven had never worn anything other than her black bodysuit and long blue cloak. The most shocking difference in wardrobe up until this point had been when she put on thick, black tights under her suit during the colder months in winter. For the first time in three years, Raven did not wear her uniform. She had put on a pair of gray leggings, socks, and a form fitting purple knit top. For the first time in three years, her face and body were fully in view without her cloak providing any shield.

Ignoring their looks quite purposefully, Raven set her book on the arm of her favorite armchair, levitated a plate and piece of pizza over the still frozen heads of her teammates, and sat herself quite contentedly in the corner of the kitchen tables' bench seat.

When no one said anything, and their eyes had still not blinked or look away, Raven sighed. "What?"

"Nothing!" Four voices chorused at once, their owners immediately scrambling to look normal and claim both pizza and a spot at the table.

For a few moments, Raven was happy to sit in silence, but eventually, that silence broke.

"I had no idea that your cloak was removable." Beast Boy said, trying his best to maintain a straight face.

"What." Raven replied in a flat, unenthused tone.

He leaned forward, nodding enthusiastically. "Yeah, I mean, I thought it must be part of your body or something."

"Don't be an idiot, Garfield." Raven snapped, setting her cup down a little too hard so the water splashed up over the side and landed on her half eaten pizza. She scowled at Beast Boy and then her sopping wet pizza, and he cackled, his grin showing his sharp canines.

"I think what BB here is tryin' to say is that you look nice." Cyborg tried to cover, purposely throwing an arm over Beast Boy a little too hard and shoving the changeling almost under the table.

"Yeah, uh," Robin scrambled for words, "It's different. But it's nice to see you branching out."

"I'm wearing a shirt. It's not like I shaved my head or got another tattoo." Raven rolled her eyes and shimmied out of her spot to get a new plate and piece of pizza.

When she stood, Robin realized that she had grown. Not only had she definitely gotten taller, but she had filled out. Raven no longer looked like the scared, thin eleven year old that she had been. She looked healthy and toned, her arms lightly muscled under the thin fabric of her top. And she had a chest now, and hips. The youthful body of a woman, not a kid anymore. When had that happened? He shifted his glance over to Cyborg and BB, and saw that they, too, were looking at their teammate with wide eyes.

He thought they were lucky that Raven faced the opposite direction, especially when the hormonal teenage changeling leaned just a little too obviously to the side, gaining a better look. Cyborg, in his typical, protective, older brother way, brought his hand down on Beast Boy's head and shoved him back under the table.

"Wait!" Something Raven said dawned on him, "Another tattoo? As in you already have a tattoo?"

"Raven has a tatt?" Beast Boy's mouth dropped open, again, and he popped back up into his seat.

"A tattoo? The art on the body? Where? Raven please may I see!" Starfire could no longer contain her excitement.

"I'm going to eat in my room." A portal opened on the floor and Raven dropped through without another word.

"When did Rae get taller?" Cyborg looked at Robin with raised eyebrows.

"When did Rae get a tattoo?" Beast Boy's eyes were still wide with shock at their new discovery.
"How old is Raven now?" Robin muttered, quickly doing the math, "14? Hm. I wonder..." He trailed off and shook his head as if dismissing the thoughts in it.