This is a birthday present for my friend Peachmelba (3/4/05). She asked me to do a Raven fic for her, and I came up with this. She wanted a Raven/someone fic, and there's RavenBeastboy if you REALLY look for it, but it's mostly about a kitten called Othello. Anyway, happy birthday you kick-ass-wonder-mog!
"Raven?" Beastboy knocked at Raven's door loudly. "Ra-ven!" The door slid open and Beastboy found himself face to face with Raven, who was currently glaring at him. "What?" She asked tersely. Beastboy took a step back, laughing nervously. "Starfire asked me to come get you. She says she has a surprise for you!"
"A surprise? I don't like surprises."
"You'll like this one!"
Raven raised her eyebrows questioningly, then walked out of her room. "Where's this 'surprise', then?" Beastboy grinned. He hadn't been expecting Raven to agree so easily.
"This way!" He pelted off up the corridor, leaving Raven to follow behind him.
"A -kitten-!" Raven asked, incredulous. Starfire clasped her hands, hovering slightly, and smiled. "Friend Raven, is he not beautiful? Do you not want to give him hugs and allow him to sleep on your bed?"
Raven looked down at the tiny kitten Starfire had thrust into her arms doubtfully. "Not really." She said honestly. Starfire's face fell.
"You do not like him?"
"I..." The tiny grey kitten licked Raven's hand affectionately. "I suppose...I could get used to him." She held the kitten awkwardly in one hand, stroking it gently. Starfire smiled happily as she walked away, still holding the kitten as if it were about to explode.
"Robin, is it not marvellous?"
"Yeah..." Robin said, voice muffled owing to the fact that he was currently lying face down on the sofa. Starfire, seemingly oblivious of this fact, whisked off to the kitchen.
"Kitten..." Raven sat the kitten on her desk and looked down at it appraisingly. "Hm...what am I going to call you?" The kitten squeaked and looked up at her with wide blue eyes. It blinked, then sneezed and looked surprised. Raven found a small smile tugging up the corners of her lips. "Maybe...Othello?" She looked up as someone knocked on her door. "Yeah?"
"It's me, Cyborg! Can I come in?"
"...If you have to."
Cyborg bounded in. "Where's the kitten? BB just told me about it..." Cyborg went to lean on the desk, and Raven panicked, seeing Cyborg's fist headed for Othello. He flung out her hands and yanked the desk away, leaving Cyborg to fall to the floor with a clank. He got up, looking puzzled, then heard the squeaks and mews coming from the desk, which was currently hovering three feet in the air, and understood. "Hey, sorry, man. I didn't see it!" Raven brought the desk down and Cyborg stroked Othello, who promptly tried to bite him. He snatched his hand away and smiled, scratching the back of his head. "Uh, I guess it doesn't like me..."
"Hey, Raven!" Beastboy ran in, almost bouncing with excitement. Raven twitched.
"Did you -ask- to come into my room?" She growled. Beastboy scooted back to the door and leaned in, too happy for her anger to depress him. "Star said you liked him! What did you call him?"
"Othello. Not that it's any of your business..." Said Raven sourly, picking up Othello and petting him. Othello purred and looked over at Beastboy. Beastboy could have sworn it was glaring at him. "Hey, wanna play some Gamestation with me?" Thankfully Cyborg did want to, and they went out, leaving Raven in peace.
She set Othello down on her bed and drifted over to the window, looking out across the city. When she looked back, Othello was gone... "Othello..."
"Mew!" Raven looked around, but still couldn't see her pet. "Mew! Mew!" She felt something brush against her leg and looked down. There was nothing there...but there -was- something there... She reached down and felt something fluffy...
"Starfire, you didn't tell me you bought a cat that could turn invisible!" "Invisible?" Robin piped up, dragging his eyes from the TV for a brief second. "Yes, invisible!" Raven held out her hands, and the assembled titans heard a squeak. "So someone'll STAND on him!"
"Oh. We could take him back to the shop of pets and get a new one...if you would like..." Offered Starfire. Raven clutched the invisible Othello to her chest and glared. "If we didn't like you could we take you back to Tamaran and exchange you for a new one?" Raven ground her teeth then turned and stalked away.
Much later that day, all the titans were relaxing in the TV room, with Raven keeping a close watch on her sometimes-visible but often invisible pet. She was sitting in a sort of radius that no-one dared cross for fear of being severely chastised for coming near Othello and thus being a threat to him. By the end of the evening, Robin and Beastboy were both contemplating ways of getting rid of Othello without hurting Raven's feelings, but Raven had adopted a very pet-owner-like attitude; Othello was wonderful, and anyone who thought anything else was a misguided fool. Othello played cute all night, begging for chicken, purring, nuzzling, licking...but all the time Cyborg was sure it was glaring at him.
"RAVEN!" Robin stormed into Raven's room, not bothering to knock or be polite. He thrust something at her, boiling with anger. Raven took what he was holding and found it to be Othello, mewling scaredly. "I found him in my room! Reading my diary!" Raven cradled Othello to her chest, glowering ominously.
"Cats can't read! Get out of my room!" Robin made no attempt to leave, only serving to make Raven angrier. "Stop scaring him! Anyway, I never gave you permission to come in here!" With an exasperated cry, Robin threw up his hands, stalking out and letting the door slam behind him. Raven cuddled Othello and put him on the bed where he proceeded to snuggle himself up into a little ball and fall asleep. Raven looked at him for a while, then felt her lips pull up into a smile. She looked in the mirror, amazed. She was smiling!
"Uh, Raven? Your cat was messing with my recharger..." Cyborg plopped Othello into Raven's lap. She looked up, severely unimpressed.
"He's a kitten. Kittens don't know how to mess with electronics."
"Hey, kittens don't turn invisible either, but he does."
"Othello was not messing with your recharger!" Raven snapped tautly. She glared around at the other titans.
"Raven, we've been talking...we don't think Othello is actually a kitten."
"What? Don't be so obtuse!" Raven stood up, Othello tucked under one arm, and walked out, leaving the others staring after her.
That night, Raven awoke to a scuffling noise. She looked about sleepily, and her eyes fixed on her bookshelf. She hadn't left those books open... She blinked a few times and the picture became clearer. Othello was sitting on one of the books, looking up at her inquisitively. But...he seemed somehow bigger than before.
"Othello? What are you doing over there?" She sat up and gasped. Othello's previously blue eyes were a striking blood red, and his teeth had grown out into evil-looking fangs. "My name is not Othello, foolish child!"
"What?"
"You should have listened to your friends...I am not a kitten. I am Wuzastnich, a servant of Trigon!"
"W-What?" Raven stood up, walking over to Othello. "Othello?" Her face dropped, making her look like a little child who has had their sweets stolen.
"I am not Othello! I am Wuzastnich! And I've come for this..." Othello seemed to swell and grow bigger before her very eyes, leaping at her and snatching the jewel from her head. Raven screamed in despair and anger, and then-
"Not so fast, cat-man!" Beastboy appeared in the doorway, morphing into a lion and pouncing on Wuzastnich. Cyborg appeared behind him, menacing the cat-demon with his gun-arm. "Raven, man, I -told- you this cat was evil!"
Raven sat and watched miserably as Cyborg and Beastboy subdued Wuzastnich. When they were done she replaced the jewel on her forehead and drifted away. As she went, Beastboy swore he heard a sob.
"Raven?" Beastboy knocked on Raven's door. "Ra-ven?" The door opened and Raven glared at him.
"Real sense of deja-vu here Beastboy."
"Uh...yeah...Raven...I know you're real upset about Othello...so I thought...maybe you'd like to help me look after Silky!"
"No. No more pets." The door started to shut, and then stopped. "But thank you"
Beastboy followed her in, persistent, oblivious to her pointed glances to the door. He held Silky out, eyes shining. "Silky really likes you! Look!" More to shut him up than anything Raven took the proffered larva. However, once she did, she started to smile. "He's...cute. Sort of".
"Yah, I know what you mean. He's nice...in a minging sort of way... So...will you help me look after him?"
"Okay. If you get out of my room." Beastboy laughed and scooted out. "I'll be back later and you can help me give him a bath!"
Strangely enough Raven didn't find the prospect as horrifying as she thought she would...
fin
PS. The line 'minging in a nice way' is from real life- me, Peachmelba and Fire Fairy kept saying it to someone we know to annoy them- we even got a couple of our teachers to say it! Anyway, R&R please, I'd really appreciate your opinion (as long as it doesn't involve me going to hell! If you don't know what I mean, check the reviews for my fic 'Persuade Me'!).