Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Titans.

A Stroke of Luck

By Redios

"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos…"

Raven was floating cross-legged on the rooftop of Titans Tower, her arms outstretched and her thumbs and index fingers joined at the tip. She was facing due east, where the first rays of sunlight threatened to break across the horizon. Dawn was one of Raven's favorite times of the day to meditate; she found that the soft sunlight and the resultant shimmer of the ocean helped her to maintain an inner balance not often possible during the chaos of her daily life as a superhero.

"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos…"

She closed her eyes again, releasing a sigh as a gentle morning breeze caressed her cheek.

"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos…"

Suddenly, Raven heard the soft click of someone opening the door to the rooftop, and knew she was not alone. As the door slid shut, she sensed excessive giddiness emanating from her new companion. It was obviously Starfire. However, Raven decided that the Tamaranian princess likely only wished to join her in meditating, as she had often done in the past.

She repeated her mantra, expecting to hear Starfire's distinct voice join in at any time.

"Azarath, Metrion, Zin— OW!"

Raven was rudely interrupted by a sharp, fleeting pain in her left forearm. She snapped her eyes open, only to be met with a Starfire who was extremely happy and… green.

Starfire was wearing her normal outfit, but she had switched around the colors. Her top, skirt, and boots were a bright emerald green instead of the usual purple, and the decorative gems that she wore on the backs of her hands and on her neckline were purple instead of the usual green. Raven also thought she saw several green streaks in Starfire's hair, but she reasoned that it could have just been the poor lighting playing tricks on her.

The abundance of green accompanied by a splash of purple reminded Raven all too well of a certain teammate, but she banished that thought as quickly as it had arrived.

Surprised and mildly annoyed that Starfire of all people had broken her concentration, she asked bluntly, "Starfire, what are you doing?"

"Friend Raven, you do not know? I have pinched you!" Starfire giggled, hastily covering her mouth with her hand when she saw that Raven was frowning.

Raven groaned, partly out of pain and partly out of frustration. "I am aware of that. It still hurts. But why did you pinch me? And since when did you start taking fashion advice from Beast Boy?" Mentioning the changeling's name caused another thought to pop into her head. "Wait a minute. Is this one of Beast Boy's stupid pranks? Because if he thinks that he can get me to laugh by hurting me, I'll—"

Starfire laughed again, cutting her off. "No, Raven, it is not Beast Boy's fault. I have pinched you because you are not wearing any of the color green!"

Raven stared at Starfire blankly. Green. Pinching. The middle of March. …Crap.

By now, Starfire looked as if she might burst from sheer excitement. When she saw that Raven had finally gained a measure of understanding, she exclaimed, "Yes! Today is the celebration of the day of the Saint Patrick!" She twirled around with her hands high in the air, then put her hands on her hips and said to Raven in a tone of authority, "And you, Friend Raven, are not wearing green today. Therefore, you must be pinched. Is it not glorious? Come; I shall take you to our friends so that they may do the pinching as well!"

And before Raven knew it, she was being dragged into the Tower by her overly enthusiastic teammate.

The sun didn't seem to mind Raven's predicament, however, as it faithfully rose, projecting its warmth and light onto the citizens of Jump City.

Having extricated herself from her friend's ironlike grip, Raven floated lightly alongside Starfire to the common room, dreading what lay in wait for her there. As they passed her room, she remembered that she did not own any articles of clothing that were even the slightest shade of green. She had no intention of dressing in green solely to protect herself from being pinched – it would give her teammates the satisfaction of knowing that she did care about the dumb holiday, at least enough to act different than normal – yet still she regretted never buying anything on her frequent trips to the mall with Starfire.

Raven wasn't one for jovial holidays that involved rowdy parties and unnatural infusions of color, but she knew that her friends would never forgive her if she didn't at least show her face and pretend to have some semblance of fun. Especially Beast Boy, she thought grudgingly as they turned a corner.

"How do you know about St. Patrick's Day, Starfire?" she asked, suddenly curious. "I'm pretty sure there's no such thing on Tamaran."

Starfire smiled widely. "It is true that this 'St. Patrick's Day,' as you call it, is an Earth celebration. But friend Beast Boy was kind enough to explain it to me."

"Oh. I see. How… nice… of him." Stupid Beast Boy, this is all his fault.

"Yes, is he not a wonderful friend?" Starfire said gleefully, oblivious to Raven's displeased look.

"The very best," said Raven dryly. She was about to make a decidedly snide comment about Beast Boy, but was prevented from doing so by Starfire's sudden squeal. Looking up, Raven realized that they had reached the common room.

She entered, and her jaw promptly dropped a few inches.

The room was green. Very green. So green, in fact, that in any other circumstance she would've guessed that it had been a team of global warming activists and not Cyborg who had done the paint job. Scattered around the spacious room were dozens – no, there must have been hundreds – of gnomes, elves, and other such figurines. They were occupying the couch, they were investigating the refrigerator, they were sleeping in the sink, they were captivated by the large screen in the middle of the room.

Raven couldn't help but feel slightly creeped out by this unexpected invasion of inanimate objects as she walked to the kitchen to brew herself a cup of tea. She picked up the closest bearded green-capped figure, and nearly dropped it when she thought she saw him wink at her. No, she thought, it's just my imagination.

She turned back towards Starfire. "Starfire, just what is going on he—" She froze mid-sentence when she saw that her alien friend was cradling one of the chubbier elves in her arms, her previous objective of getting her friends to pinch Raven completely forgotten. More than a little unnerved at the sight, Raven scanned the room, her eyes falling on the three boys of the team.

Robin was watching TV; he turned his head briefly and smiled to acknowledge her presence, and she noticed that his mask was green instead of the usual white. Meanwhile, Cyborg and Beast Boy were staring happily at a mysterious Ziploc bag that lay on the coffee table. Cyborg had somehow managed to change the color of his tech from blue to green; Beast Boy, of course, having an appropriate skin tone, had not altered anything about his appearance.

"Man BB, I can't believe you found one! What'd you do, wake up at midnight?"

"Yeah dude, you gotta get there early, before all the kids, you know? Or else they walk all over them and there's nothing left!"

"Still, you gotta be pretty lucky to find one of these babies. Think you can give it to me?"

"No way, Cy! I found it, so it's mine! Besides, I kinda wanted to give it to…" Beast Boy faltered, nervously scratching the back of his neck.

Seeing that he wasn't going to get the plastic bag from Beast Boy easily, Cyborg pulled out his trump card. "I'll let you beat me at Super Monkey Showdown for a weeeeeek…"

"Dude, talk about tough decisions!"

Beast Boy was about to make his final choice when he noticed that Raven was standing in the kitchen, watching him and Cyborg with mild interest. Quickly yet carefully shoving the plastic bag into his back pocket, he walked up to her and beamed.

"So Raven, whatcha think? Me and Cyborg gathered all these leprechauns in the spirit of St. Patrick's Day!"

"Amazing," said Raven, not looking amazed in the least. Truth be told, she was somewhat awed that they had managed to collect such a vast amount of figures overnight, but she would never admit it.

Cyborg grinned. "Girl, you're looking at the most St. Patrick-y living room in Jump City!"

Raven didn't reply. Instead, she glared at a gnome who had settled himself near the teakettle. Seeing that the water was boiled, she pulled out a mug from the cupboard, poured herself a cupful of tea, and took a sip.

She turned towards Robin. "Is it really alright to have all these… things here?" She gestured to all the figurines lying around the room.

Robin chuckled. "Yeah, it's just for one day, so it shouldn't hurt. But what I can't figure out is… where did you two get all these, anyways? Did you raid a factory?"

"Either that or every garden in Jump City," muttered Raven under her breath.

"What? We didn't steal them, if that's what you were wondering," said Beast Boy, waving his hands in front of himself defensively.

"Whatever. Happy St. Patrick's Day," said Raven, her voice devoid of emotion. She walked quietly out of the common room, leaving the other four Titans staring at each other in silence.

Beast Boy's face immediately fell. Without a word, he hurriedly followed Raven out of the room, the door hissing shut behind him.

Robin and Cyborg exchanged a knowing smile.

"Raven, wait up!"

Raven sighed in exasperation. This was the second time that day that Beast Boy had intervened in her plans to meditate.

"What is it, Beast Boy. Come to give me a pinch?"

Beast Boy shuffled his feet nervously, occasionally thumbing the plastic bag that stuck out of his back pocket. "No! I… I was wondering if you wanted to stay with all of us out there a little longer. Today's a great day for luck, you know! You never know what might happen." He grinned, showing off his fang.

An awkward silence passed between them before Raven replied shortly, "I don't believe in luck, Beast Boy. Today is nothing special. I'm not going to force you to agree with me, but in return, you can't force me to agree with you. Understood?"

Beast Boy bit his lip. Finally, he looked up and caught Raven's steely gaze. "Fine. But you're at least going to be eating with us later, right? I'll be making my world-famous tofu soufflé! …Oh, and Cyborg's making his corned beef too." A hint of disgust was evident in his last remark, and it was all Raven could do to keep from smiling in amusement.

"If I say yes, will you leave me alone?" She was planning on eating with her friends anyway, but she couldn't resist the opportunity he was giving her.

"Yes."

"Okay, Beast Boy, I'll be at dinner tonight."

Raven turned and started walking to her room again, but not before Beast Boy smiled a smile that made her heart skip a beat. Shaking off the strange sensation, she glanced back at his retreating form. The plastic bag was still protruding halfway out of his pocket. She allowed her lips to quirk upwards in the tiniest of smiles as she took another sip of tea.

As it happened, dinner wasn't as unbearable as Raven had thought it would be. In fact, aside from the unsettling, beady gazes of the gnomes, elves, and leprechauns, it was fairly pleasant. Cyborg had cooked the corned beef to perfection, and even Beast Boy's soufflé didn't taste half bad. Starfire kept the conversation lively by asking such questions as "why it is called the corned beef when there is no corn," to which Robin would patiently provide an answer. Much to her dismay, Raven found herself more than once sneaking a look at Beast Boy. She told herself it was because of that stray crumb of soufflé that refused to dislodge itself from his nose.

After the meal, Raven excused herself and walked to her room, feeling oddly tired. Just as she was about to open her door, she sensed someone's presence. The smell of tofu wafting through the hallways alerted her immediately to whom it was.

"Beast Boy?"

No answer.

Shrugging and rolling her eyes, Raven entered her room, closing the door behind her. She was about to lie down on her bed when she heard the crisp crinkle of plastic behind her. She turned around; there, at the foot of her door, was the Ziploc plastic bag that Beast Boy had been carrying around all day.

Allowing her curiosity to get the best of her, Raven stooped down and picked up the bag. Walking over to her bed and sitting down, she opened the bag. There was a folded piece of paper inside, but nothing else.

As she opened the paper, something small and green slipped out and fell onto the soft folds of her quilt.

It was a four-leafed clover.

Raven's eyes widened. Part of her immediately wished to tear up the clover and tell Beast Boy that he was being foolish and childish, but she knew that she could never do that without regretting it. She knew that four-leafed clovers were rare; to some degree, she knew that she was touched by the gesture. So that's what he was talking about this morning… But why would he give it to me?

Gently setting the clover down on her bed so as not to accidentally break off any of the leaflets, Raven gingerly opened the piece of paper, clearly a letter. Inside was a messy scrawl that could only be Beast Boy's.

Raven—

I know you don't believe in luck, but I do. Do you know why? I believe that I am lucky to know people like you, and to have friends like Robin, Cyborg, and Starfire. Maybe this clover can change your mind.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Beast Boy

Raven felt her cheeks warm up slightly as she read Beast Boy's letter a second time. She held up the clover to the last remnants of sunlight, and briefly imagined her four friends, one as each leaflet. She smiled.

I may not believe in luck, but I am fortunate to have you all.

Yes, you too… Beast Boy.

Thank you.

Finis

Author's Notes: Just a little something I wrote spur-of-the-moment on St. Patrick's Day. If it sounds a little unpolished, it's because I wrote it today, and wanted to get it published by today (St. Patrick's Day, of course). I am aware that I used only the stereotypes that come to mind when one hears "St. Patrick's Day;" my intention here is not to offend, but to amuse. If you were offended by my insincerity in that regard, then I apologize. Also, I'm sorry if it wasn't fluffy enough; aside from the fact that I'm not particularly good at writing romance, I also feel that it would take more than a mere oneshot to justify a more intense connection. But maybe that's just me making excuses.

Anyway, reviews are always appreciated. Thank you for taking the time to read this.