works of fiction
Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans.
Note: In later chapters, I will make references to a "Firepanda19" and "Emerald and Amethyst Hero" these authors were kind enough to let me use their usernames for this story. Thank you both.
Chapter 1,
"And they lived happily ever after?" Raven read out loud as she slammed her book shut. Such a cheesy line for a tale of romance. She really enjoyed the book, with all the fighting and interior dialogue, but that last line just ruined most of the book. Shaking her head, she placed the book back on the shelf and looked for another romance to read.
"Read it, read it, hate it, read it twice, bored me." She quietly muttered as she scanned the available books. When she didn't find something that interested her she decided to grab a spell book and read in the common room. When the doors of the OPs room swung open, she saw Cyborg and Robin playing a video game and Beast Boy was sprawled out on the floor reading comic books. Raven quietly entered the room, sat on the far end of the couch, and began studying her spells.
"Hello, princess." Beast Boy said in a nonchalant tone. Raven glared at him from over her book.
"What did you call me?" Raven asked. Beast Boy gave a small shrug , rolled over unto his back, so that he could see her, and carefully tucked his arm under his head.
"Did I say something that was incorrect?" Beast Boy asked and Raven sighed. It seems as if the older Beast Boy gets, the taller he gets; the problem is that the taller he gets, the more confident he gets.
"Beast Boy, why on earth would you think that I am a princess?" Raven asked annoyed, but the tall green man only smiled.
"Well, I was going through the mail today and there was a lovely blue envelope, but it didn't have a name on it-" Beast Boy paused when he saw Raven's eye twitch.
"So I opened it." He finished and enjoyed how Raven's eyes widened ever-so slightly.
"Apparently the monks of Azarath have hosted a ball in your honor for several years now. If I am remembering correctly the invitation said 'Please attend the eleventh annual celebration of peace. Your people miss you.' and down at the bottom it said 'Princess Rachel Roth' and that proves that you're a princess." Beast Boy said with a smirk. Beside them the boys hooted and hollered as they defeated a boss level. Raven immediately thanked Azar for the boys ability to ignore the world when playing video games. Raven lowered her book to her lap and glared at the green Titan.
"I am no princess, Beast Boy. What did you do with that invitation?" Raven asked, expecting him to hand it over to her right then and now.
"I am pretty sure that princesses are the only ones who can have people miss them." Beast Boy argued as he sat up to be a little closer to her.
"We're heroes, you twit. People miss us if we don't save them." Raven countered and Beast Boy rose an eyebrow.
"We save the people of Jumpy City, but they are not OUR people. Only people of royalty can have people." Beast Boy said and Raven gently rubbed the bridge of her nose.
"I'm no princess, now give me the invitation." Raven hissed and Beast Boy could tell that he was getting on her nerves.
"Why would you deny the fact that you have royal blood?" Beast Boy asked and Raven paused for a moment, as if saying the answer in her head and then she held her hand out.
"Give. Me. The. Invitation. Now." Raven stressed as she tried to remain calm. With a grin, Beast Boy grabbed her hand, and slowly stood up, so that he could remind her that he was taller then her.
"The invitation is in my room, so come on." He said, pulling her to her feet and dragging her out of the room.
"Why is Beast Boy leading Raven out of the room? Robin asked when he saw them leave at the last minute.
"Maybe they admitted their feeling for each other and went to go make out in a closet." Cyborg said before making the sound of kissing.
"Does Beast Boy really like Raven?" Robin asked and Cyborg rose an eyebrow at him.
"Does Raven really like Beast Boy?" Cyborg asked and they both played the game in silence as they thought of their best friends dating.
On a normal day, Raven wanted that stupid invitation. The last thing Raven needed was for Beast Boy to have proof that she was, in fact a princess. Robin may have said that heroes don't take vacations but she didn't want to chance that he may order her to go to the ball. He may even say something to the effect that she should be a beacon of hope for Azarath like Batman is a beacon of hope for Gotham. Not only that but Starfire is a princess and she may try to relate to Raven. Raven may be a princess but she is the daughter of Trigon. Royal mom and demon dad hardly makes a princess.
Stop thinking about your past, Raven. If you feel even the smallest amount of sadness then Beast Boy will sense it with all of his stupid instincts. Raven reminded herself as they got closer to Beast Boy's room. Beast Boy pulled the two of them into the confined space and let go of her hand before he walked over to his bed.
"Where is the invitation?" Raven asked not wanting to spend a lot of time in Beast Boy's room.
"Come on, Raven, we're alone now. So, please be honest with me. Why don't you want people to know that your a princess?" Beast Boy said, sitting on his bed and he patted the spot beside him. Raven took a few steps towards him and crossed her arms.
"Why do you keep insisting that I must be a princess? And why won't you give me that invitation?" Raven asked, and Beast Boy gave her a sad smile.
"Because, right now, that invitation is the only thing that's telling me the truth." He said and Raven blinked at how sincere he sounded.
"Beast Boy, I... I... I want that invitation." Raven said and she subconsciously took a bit of her cloak in her right hand.
"Raven, come and sit." Beast Boy said and this time Raven sat next to him on the king-size bed with green sheets.
"Alright, Mama, time to spill." Beast Boy said.
"Boy, you are persistent." Raven said and Beast Boy grinned.
"Thanks, but changing the subject isn't going to help you right now." He said and Raven allowed herself to smile a little.
"Curse you." She said and Beast Boy chuckled quietly.
"Seriously, now. From one empath to another, why don't you want us to know that you're a princess?" Beast Boy said and Raven sighed in defeat.
"It was never important, and now that we have known each other for so long, I just didn't want to be treated differently. I didn't want things to change." Raven said and Beast Boy nodded.
"Well, you must have thought about what might have happened if we did find out. So what did you think would change?" Beast Boy asked and Raven searched for the right words.
"Robin would probably want to know about the politics on my planet because of Starfire's arranged marriage. He would want to know if there was anything that could take me away from the Titans. I can see Starfire wanting to go to the ball, so that she can collect recipes, to make here at the tower. Honestly I can't imagine Starfire being able to choke Tamaranian, Earthling, and Azarathian food down our throats without someone snapping. When Cyborg was lonely or got in a fight with Bumble Bee, I always imagined him wanting to go to Azarath to meet some girls. Granted I imagine that you would want to met some girls too, but I also saw you following me around so that you can pick up on some new animal forms." Raven said and Beast Boy nodded.
"I feel like your holding something back." Beast Boy said and Raven bit her bottom lip.
"Have you ever noticed that, even when we first became a team, that we never ask about each other's past?" Raven asked and Beast Boy looked away as his ears dropped down.
"So you have noticed?" Raven repeated and Beast Boy nodded.
"Yeah, at first I just thought that I was lucky. Then Father's Day came around and I saw Robin mail a big box of stuff to Batman. I wanted to ask him why he was sending something to Batman and not his own father, but I didn't want him to ask me about my dad. Then I realized that's Kind of how all of us acted. We don't ask each other questions if we are afraid of a retaliation question." Beast Boy said and Raven looked at him. It wasn't the first time Beast Boy showed how much he thought about stuff, but it was still a bit rare.
"Exactly, but if you guys found out that I was a princess then you would have been more willing to ask me questions that I wasn't comfortable answering." Raven said and Beast Boy reached under his pillow and pulled out a blue envelope.
"But what about this?" He asked as he pulled the invitation out and handed it to her.
"Why don't you go to this Celebration Ball?" He continued and Raven hesitated before taking the thin piece of paper.
"We killed Trigon eleven years ago. We killed him. They would never even attempt to lift a finger to help me and yet they want to throw this pathetic party to try and make up for it?" Raven said and Beast Boy sensed the disgust rolling off her.
"Maybe they want to apologize or celebrate your accomplishment, or just celebrating the fact that the universe didn't get destroyed by Trigon." Beast Boy said trying to calm her down. Raven looked at him and they locked eyes.
"Well, what do you expect me to do? Buy an Azarathian appropriate formal gown and go back home, all by myself, just to see why there are making this ball? Raven asked after what seemed like an eternity of blissful silence.
"You don't have to go alone. I can go with you, since I know your little secret. We could go shopping at some formal stores and attend the party. It's in a few weeks so we should have plenty of time to find something 'Azarathian appropriate'." Beast Boy said with a grin and Raven looked at the door as she felt a blush appear on her face.
"Well, that doesn't sound horrible." Raven admitted and opened the small invitation in her hand. Inside there laid a picture of a group of Azarathians in black cloaks and a young woman with purple hair, a slender face and tanned skin, who wore a white cloak. Beast Boy smiled a little as he saw the picture again.
"She kind of looks like you. Is she related to you?" Beast Boy asked and Raven nodded.
"Yeah, um. That's my mom with the monks of Azarath, who raised me." Raven said and Beast Boy looked at her.
"Is this the first time they sent a picture?" He asked, trying to not get too personal.
"They send a picture every year, I keep them in a small photo album. It's just kind of odd for me to see my mother, even in a picture." Raven explained and Beast Boy nodded.
"You know, I'll go to that Celebration Ball if you want me to, but I am not forcing you to go." Beast Boy said and Raven looked at him.
"So I can have you go by yourself?" Raven asked and Beast Boy laughed.
"Me, on a strange planet where I wouldn't be able to tell what's meat and what's vegetarian? No, thanks. If you stay, I stay." Beast Boy said and Raven smirked.
"Ok, well, I guess that is enough interrogation for today. And I am serious about going to that ball with you. Just say the word and I'm there." Beast Boy said as he stood and opened the door for Raven.
"I know you're serious, which is kind of scary since you're so silly all the time. Especially when you're around Cyborg and Robin." Raven said and Beast Boy's eyes widened.
"Oh, right. I was waiting for the next game when you walked in. I bet I earned like three turns since we started talking." Beast Boy said before running down the hall and Raven allowed a small laugh at this cute display. She carefully tucked her invitation in her spell book and silently walked down the hall. She still wanted to read a romance story, but she sisn't have a lot of other choices unless she left to go to the book store now and they close in less than an hour. As Raven approached Starfire's room she heard something that was unfamiliar. It was the rhythmic sound of button's being pressed.
Was Starfire typing? No, that's silly, Starfire doesn't even own a computer. Raven went ahead and knocked on the door and she heard a small gasp and the sound of things being moved around. Finally Starfire opened her door and she looked relieved when she saw Raven.
"Oh, hello friend Raven, I thought you were boyfriend Robin." She said as she relaxed a little.
"I thought I heard typing and since all the guys are in the common room, I was just wondering what you were doing?" Raven asked and Starfire looked nervous again.
"I will show you, if you promise to not do the judging." She said and Raven nodded. Starfire took a deep breath, walked over to her bed, and pulled out a laptop from under it. She opened it and handed it to Raven.
"This... this is FanFiction... about you and Robin... and it's dirty." Raven said as she stared at the screen.
"Yes, I have a friend who helps me edit my stories so that it sounds better." Starfire said as she blushed.
"But you're with Robin? You've been with him for years. Why write this stuff?" Raven asked and Starfire chuckled.
"Friend Raven, I love Robin with all my heart. But the way he acts is not always boyfriendy. Instead of complaining about things that weren't that important, I simply write out a scenario of us making love and I usually feel better and more girlfriendy." Starfire explained and Raven shakily put the laptop on the bed.
"When did you start doing this?" Raven asked and Starfire thought about it.
"Several years before Robin and I finally started dating." Starfire said and Raven blinked.
"I can't imagine doing that." Raven admitted and Starfire giggled as she carefully nudged Raven out of the room.
"For me, FanFiction is nothing more then safely exploring my fantasies. I believe you would enjoy doing the same. A story you write can be glorious and you could get lost in the telling of it. Now please let me finish this one-shot." Starfire said before closing the door. Raven thought about that concept as she walked down the hall and into the common room. This time, Cyborg and Beast Boy were playing games, while Robin sat at the table and read case files. Raven placed her hand on her chin and stared at the back of Beast Boy's head.
"Safely exploring your fantasies, huh?" She quietly muttered to herself.