Note: Sorry if this isn't my best work. It's been several years since I've written fanfiction, but I've wanted to get back into it for a long time. I had the idea for this story today and had to write it.
Raven tried to ignore the sounds of rock music blasting out of the common room as she flipped through the pages in the book she was reading. Her eyes narrowed in annoyance as she realized that she still had another two hundred pages to read before the book was over. She had another ten before she reached the end of the chapter.
She had been reading for most of the day, and though she thoroughly enjoyed the peace and quiet, the loud music had been slowly getting to her for the last few hours. With each beat that traveled through the halls, Raven winced as her concentration started to wane. She closed her book irritably, making mental note of the page she stopped on for later.
"What's going on out there," she asked herself, playing with the idea of going to investigate but wanting to keep her privacy at the same time. Finally, she shrugged, "Might as well. Maybe I can at least get them to turn the music down."
She set her book aside and swung her feet off the bed before heading out into the hallway. She sighed as the music proved to be even louder outside the walls of her room.
As she stepped out, Raven noticed movement from down the hall. Beast Boy stopped a few feet away from her, giving her a nervous grin, "Oh, hey Rae. I was just coming to get you."
"For what," Raven asked. She didn't really know what to think of Beast Boy, and she was puzzled why anyone would choose him to get her in the first place. The whole group had only known each other a short amount of time, and Robin seemed to be the only one who could command her to do anything. As self-appointed leader, he was really the only person who could even try. It irritated her to no end.
"We're having a party," Beast Boy replied, "You know, to celebrate."
"Celebrate what," Raven was quickly getting tired of playing twenty questions, "It's not a holiday."
"Just…come on," Beast Boy looked like he wanted to reach out and drag her after him, but he hesitated as his fingers neared her skin. He drew his hand back and laughed nervously again, "Why don't you just follow me?"
"Good idea."
Beast Boy led the way, Raven following after him with her arms crossed.
"So, whose idea was this anyway," Raven asked. She had to suppress a smile when Beast Boy jumped at the question. She may not have known him well, but something about making him squirm gave her a deep satisfaction, though it saddened her as well. People knew to keep their distance, but they only knew her as "that weird goth girl", proving more and more that she didn't fit in with the group dynamic. Even in a group of freaks she felt like an outsider, and that was never a good sign.
"I think it was Starfire," Beast Boy shrugged, "She seemed pretty excited at least. She asked Cyborg to cook. I think he's the one who started the music." Raven nodded but remained silent the rest of the way to the common area. She probably wouldn't have been able to hear him anyway. The music had reached the point where she couldn't even hear herself think, and Raven found herself plotting ways to destroy the sound system without anyone knowing it was her.
"I was trying to read back there," Raven declared as they walked through the doors to the common room. She sighed as nobody seemed to hear her, but luckily the music cut off the next second.
"Happy first anniversary," Cyborg announced from the kitchen where he was cooking a variety of meats from hotdogs to hamburgers. She noted a measly one tofu dog in the corner of the plate that was set out.
"What for?"
"Do you not know? If I remember correctly, it was a year ago today that we met and formed the Titans of Teens."
"Uh…that's Teen Titans, Starfire," Robin corrected her cautiously.
"Sorry," Starfire looked embarrassed.
Had it really been one whole year since the team had gotten together? As Raven thought about it, she realized that it had. They really had changed.
Since their meeting, Starfire had done her best to improve in the "being nice" as she referred to it, perhaps a little too well. Raven couldn't recall the last time Starfire had done something even remotely mean.
Beast Boy had stopped calling Robin 'sir' after months of reminders, though he still slipped up from time to time. He no longer wore his mask either, but his lame jokes continued. Raven thought it was a defense mechanism and a sign of insecurity, as he often cracked jokes around her, much more than he did around the others. She knew that she made him nervous.
Cyborg stopped trying to hide his obvious mechanical bulk underneath sweat suits, and Robin slowly started to trust the other team members. For a few months, Robin had kept them at a distance as he wanted to do everything on his own, but eventually they worked better together than apart.
Raven herself, though, she wasn't quite sure. She still kept to herself. She still kept her distance. She still kept her abilities to herself unless she absolutely had to use them. And she still felt like she didn't fit in despite what Cyborg had said.
None of her teammates truly knew what she could do. They only saw what she allowed them to see. There was still a lot about her that they didn't know.
Raven didn't know what to do as she watched the festivities in front of her. Cyborg and Beast Boy were fighting over the food, Beast Boy complaining that Cyborg only made one tofu dog. Starfire and Robin were going over some wording that Starfire was struggling to understand
Since when had Robin become a makeshift teacher to Starfire she wondered. Since when had Beast Boy fought with Cyborg like they were brothers?
She wasn't the same person herself, Raven realized. As much as she tried to deny it, she was more open than she had been in the past. No, she wasn't about to reveal her darkest secrets, but she wasn't exactly hiding anymore either.
In a weird way, it was like she had gained a family. As dysfunctional as it was, it was a drastic improvement from her true family. It wasn't perfect, and they all got on each other's nerves, but nobody got along one hundred percent of the time.
Listening to the conversations floating around and taking in the feeling of camaraderie in the room, Raven thought, in the grand scheme of things, it was a good start.