A/N: Hello again! I know I've been MIA for months now, but being a person in the real world will do that do you... I haven't written anything in so long that I fear that I might be horrendously out of practice. This piece is actually something I started almost an entire year ago, and WILL be chaptered! (Woo! A break from one-shots!) However, I can't guarantee that each chapter will be up to par-- as I've said, I'm extremely out of practice as well as ridiculously busy. But we'll see how it goes. It's mostly something to give me the opportunity to analyze each of the Titans in turn, which is something I've wanted to do for a long while.

Anyways, a warning: there are NO official pairings for this story! NONE! But there will be some implied romance for those of you looking for it. I won't say who, because by now you should all know which couples I support and which I absolutely loathe, so it shouldn't come as any surprise. However, this will be an IC (In Character) fiction, meaning I will try my damndest to portray each of the characters as close to the way they do on the TV series.

But enough of me blathering. Enjoy the fic!

Disclaimer: Not mine. If it was, the series wouldn't be cancelled, Beast Boy would be less irritating, Raven would have more screen-time than any other character, and Robin would be shirtless ALL. THE. TIME.

Prologue: The Solution

"Why do we have to do this?" Raven droned, a quirked eyebrow her only outward expression of skepticism as she drew a folded slip of paper from the baseball cap.

"It's an exercise in teammate analysis, as well as a reinforcement of the bond we share as friends," Robin replied evenly, passing the hat to Starfire. "We're doing this to better know our team, and those in it."

Beast Boy frowned, chewing his pen cap and eyeing his piece of loose-leaf paper with exaggerated suspicion. "Sounds an awful lot like homework to me."

"It's not homework. It's an exercise."

The rest of the team made a low noise of disgruntlement, knowing fully well that this was a sort of earned punishment. It wasn't everyday that drama in the tower had escalated to the point where Robin decided a "friendship reinforcement exercise" was necessary.

But it was what it was. Superheroes or not, they were teenagers living in close quarters—it was inevitable that they'd all be at odds sooner or later.

There was no use pointing fingers at who or what triggered the foul attitudes to emerge, but the end result was Cyborg's beef with Robin over whether or not a new super-computer upgrade was feasible for the Titan's checkbook, Starfire's offense to Raven's blunt honesty about her newest wardrobe accessories (apparently, some fan had thought Starfire would appreciate a Bedazzler for her birthday),and Beast Boy's vinegar-filled water balloon prank falling on Raven's last working nerve.

For the most part, the tension in the Tower was purely passive-aggressive, a few snide comments passed and rude finger gestures behind turned backs. Harmless teenage conflict. Robin took careful note of each confrontation but figured it would pass with time. After all, they were the Teen Titans, professional vigilantes and guardians of Jump City. They could handle hardened criminals, and they could certainly handle each other.

However, it wasn't apparent to Robin just how wound up the team was until everybody's irritability peaked during the day's previous combat training.

A few cheap shots were exchanged—Cyborg almost took off his head with his blaster cannon "malfunction", Starfire singed Raven's cloak with a starbolt "by mistake," Raven "accidentally" threw Beast Boy over Titan's Tower and into the bay.

It wasn't training. It wasn't practice. It was an all-out brawl.

Luckily, none of the team sustained any major injuries (other than a few bruised egos), but the work-out had left the team leader feeling appalled and uneasy.

Robin shook his head. What had happened to the Teen Titans? They were once so comfortable with each other, such a close-knit family, and now? Now he was afraid to open the fridge in case Beast Boy left an exploding ink-bomb meant for Raven in the butter tray. This was a bud in serious need of nipping, he decided, especially if these personal issues were affecting the team's performance.

The squabbles had to stop, and they had to stop now.

Cyborg pulled one of the last two papers from the hat and passed it back to Robin, who took the remaining slip. His large metal fingers carefully unfurled the paper in order to read its contents.

"Star, your name's on this," he told her, brow furrowed in confusion.

Starfire returned his puzzled expression and held up her own slip. "I received a paper with Friend Robin's name."

The boy stood to address his team, arms folded across his chest and a no-nonsense look on his face. He knew the activity was trivial, and that the others would probably hate it, but he was sick of the bitching and sick of the backhanded tricks and he was damn ready for it to stop.

"I know that lately there's been some tension in the tower," Robin began, his tone all business. "But as a team, we can't have unrest within our ranks. It's a liability. And quite frankly, I'm disappointed in all of you for letting it get so bad." His frown deepened. "You know as well as I do that you've all been behaving like spoiled children, and I won't stand for it. Not anymore."

A tinge of guilt permeated the room as the Titans accepted the verbal slap-on-the-wrist from their leader.

But Robin wasn't done yet.

He held up his own slip. "Each person drew a slip with one of their teammate's names written on it. Your assignment is to give me a full report on that person, from an objective point of view. Everything you know about them, starting from their name, age and beginnings."

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Raven's shoulders stiffen beneath her cloak.

"No fair asking the person for details either," Robin specified, and saw the empath relax slightly.

He knew he was asking for a lot by making his friends complete this assignment; not everyone had a past they liked to revisit from time to time. But it was necessary for the team to become one cooperating unit again, instead of five bickering kids.

"The point is to try and get out of yourself and inside your friend's head, to better understand them and how they think and act."

Cyborg shifted in his seat, eyeing the way Raven's fingers anxiously unfolded and re-creased the paper with Beast Boy's name on it. "Sounds like you want us to get real personal, Rob. Do you really think that's… I don't know, appropriate?"

Robin nodded. "I understand what you're getting at. No one will read your analysis but you and me, so be honest. Don't worry about offending anyone—the person you're writing on will never know what you wrote if you don't tell them, and you all know that you can trust me."

He waited for this to sink in before continuing. "I want you to give it to me by the end of the day, and hopefully tomorrow's training will go a lot smoother."

"Erragh!" Came an aggravated whine from Beast Boy, whose chair made a loud fwumping noise as all four legs hit the floor. "But why do we have to do this?"

Raven shot him a glare. "Weren't you listening at all?"

"I'll paraphrase," Robin offered with a smirk, leaning over the kitchen table to pointedly tap the piece of paper in front of Beast Boy. "Basically, the gist was: because I'm the leader and I say so."

Hard to argue with that.

"Aw, man!" the shape-shifter groaned. "You mean we have to spend all day writing a stupid essay? That is so lame!"

"How can a writing assignment be injured to the point where it limps?"

Raven rolled her eyes from under the shadow of her cowl and sighed, picking up her pen and beginning her essay with small, perfectly-shaped cursive. "Just… do you homework, Star."

And then, miraculously, the team was silent, save for the scratching noises of their pens against paper.