A round of applause rose up from the spectators as the teen Titans finished off some routine butt-kicking. The battle consisted of grunting, shouting, "hiyas", star bolts, telekinetic dark energy, a shiny rod, sonic blasts, several mice, a T. Rex, and a hippo. Children and fans started pouring into the remains of their battle, taking pictures and talking excitedly, in the case of children. Raven stood in the shadow, looking for "crazies" as Cyborg called them. Robin was in the corner being fawned over by drooling teenage girls, Starfire was simultaneously glaring at the girls while talking to little boys and girls, and several teenage boys, as well as some strangely old men….Beastboy was turning into cute little animals for little kids, mostly girls, and Cyborg was showing little boys his arm/canon.
Something odd caught Raven's eye. A strange, pale girl, with big , slightly crazed brown eyes, and wild hair that had green highlights in them was eyeing Beastboy in a strange way.
Better keep an eye out on that one, thought Raven as she subtly inched closer towards the girl, who was shoving, albeit gently, through the children and toward Beastboy.
----
Beastboy patted a little redhead's head, before turning to a blonde boy and shaking his hand, when suddenly, a loud, low, girl's voice cut through the praise and questions of children.
"Hi!!! OH. MY. GOD. It's Beastboy, I LOVE YOU! You're so green, and you totally kick butt. I just adore you. See, I even highlighted my hair green, like yours. My mom wouldn't let me completely dye it, so I got highlights," she said very quickly, while pointing at her crazy tangle of hair, which indeed had some green in it, "and I just love you, and your team, of course." she added quickly.
"Anyways, I'm Mariana," she stuck ot her hand for him to shake, and he shook it slowly, with a grin spreading across his face.
"Hey, uh Mariana? These kids might wanna get past you, so why don't I just talk to them first?"
"Sure!" She cried, smiling hugely and bounding past the children to the sidewalk where slightly worried parents stood waiting.
Beastboy leaned over to Cyborg and whispered, "Dude, I just got a fan that's a girl, and NOT under ten. You just got owned!"
"Yeah, we'll see about that back at the tower when I beat you at Super Monkey Madness 3."
"Dude! Not cool!"
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Beastboy got back to Mariana after the crowd had dispersed and only a few teenage girls were trying to convince Robin to take them out while Star tried to rip their heads off inconspicuously.
"So, uhh, hey." Beastboy said awkwardly while Mariana beamed at him.
"Oh. Hi! I'm a really big fan, did I mention that? "
"Yeah, maybe once, or twice."
"Umm, yeah, wow, you're awfully quiet-- but not that it's bad or anything-- because I heard you were really jokey and funny and cool and everything, because that's what my sister said when I asked her to go meet you, and then I begged her to tell me everything-----I mean, wow, you're kinda quieter than I imagined…" She broke of embarrassedly, as if she had said too much.
Damnit Mariana, why do you have to have such a big mouth? UGH, he's gonna think I'm a stalker or something...
"Wait, you got your little sister to spy on me for you? That's…awesome! Dude, that's beyond awesome...cuz it's just me, you know? And whoa, did I tell you that I love the highlights? But they might be a little too...limey, because... see my hair here?" He pointed at his hair," it's a more brownish green, and…" He rambled on, with Mariana squeaking excitedly at everything he said, and both waving their arms madly at every point.
----
Robin, Starfire, Cyborg, and Raven watched as the rest of the people left, and Beastboy and Mariana spoke louder and louder at each passing minute. Robin smirked, and nudged Cyborg.
"Looks like Beastboy may've found his rebound girl from Terra. That's good, because he was really quiet today with the kids, I thought he was a lost cause or something."
"I don't know, maybe he's just acting…" Cyborg whispered back, watching as Beastboy flailed madly at something Mariana said.
Starfire leaned over to Raven, "Raven, do you not think it is wonderful that Beastboy has found a new girl friend?"
"Just peachy. Can we go home now?" She snarled unnaturally. A car tire blew up spontaneously.
Starfire looked worried.
"Is it not good? Is something the matter? Do you think they will start the practise of...dating?" Starfire looked elated.
"Look Star, I'm not in the mood for talk, I just want to get home and meditate." A car window smashed. Stafire deflated a bit. Raven surprised herself with her snappy responses.
What did she care that the little green freak was talking to a dimwit fan?
"Dude, you guys, she's so cool, and she likes video games, and she thinks I'm awesome--- well, everyone thinks I'm awesome, but that's beside the point--- and she does gymnastics and karate, and she's a vegetarian too, and…" Beastboy rambled on about Mariana while everyone ignored with gusto.
Raven was reading her book and sipping herbal tea, Cyborg was creaming a very distracted Beastboy at Super Racing Monkeys 2: New York Nights, and Robin and Starfire were discussing condiments. Suddenly, Raven slammed her book down, put on her hood, and glided past the titans and out of the living room.
"And she's thinking about making a----hey, why's Raven leaving?---- Anyways, guys, she's really good at martial arts, cuz she's been taking lessons, and she's super smart with computers, and she loves helping people--- and animals--- and she's really good at athletics, and she totally looks cool, and Robin, Robin, could she PLEASE be a Titan?" Beastboy;s voice cracked at the second 'please'.
"Ummm, I'll think about it. We'll have to…test her, but since we can't contact her…" Robin desperately looked for an excuse.
"Wait, Robin, she gave me her number!!! You can call it right now! Here."
Beastboy picked up the phone and dialed, while Cyborg looked flabbergasted and said, " You got a girl's NUMBER??? I-I-I--" He seemed speechless for the moment as he stuttered over his words. Beastboy's ears drooped as he heard a click and the fake cheery voice of a little girl saying, "Hi, you've reached the Krandalls, we're not available, so just leave a message after the beep!"
Beastboy hung up before it beeped, and said, "Maybe we can call her later, but, for now, I'm hungry." He opened up the fridge to search for something vegetarian, while Cyborg put on his apron and began to make dinner.
******************************
After dinner, Robin announced, "Seeing as our rooms are kind of far away, and sometimes we're busy with things, and we don't wanna leave it to ask each other for things, I've decided to make a Titans Networking System, where we can message each other and chat. It's very private, so there's only one chat room, but you can still message each other as well. Seeing as it's so simple, the security systems we set up are pretty powerful, so it should be hard for someone to hack in or anything, because it is still online, and we might have private things to say. So, I just wanted everyone to try it out, Star, could you pass that along to Raven?" Starfire nodded, and then proceeded to float out of the living room.