A/N: Hey. This is a RavenxSpeedy story, which you prolly already know... I've liked this couple for a while. and I ran out of good stories to read, so I've been writing. Anyway, not much to say besides that. This story was going to end at less than a third of its current length, but it was too short, so I wrote more. Hope you like it. Oh and the title is meant to be ironic. Couldn't think of anything better to call it.
Ice Queen
Speedy walked into the common room of the tower to find it, to his surprise, empty. Shrugging at the rare occurrence, he walked to the kitchen and picked up a Christmas cookie- store bought, not homemade, not after Starfire's last attempt. He munched on it and hummed a dance club favorite as he searched the fridge for something lacking blue fuzz. Never would he understand how the Titans West managed to grow that blue fuzz. The mold on Titans West's food was always orange.
When his absent humming reached the song's chorus he started singing aloud. It didn't matter that he was a poor singer if no one was around to hear, right?
Wrong. He looked up from the sandwich he was making when he heard a polite cough alert him to another person's presence.
She closed her book and got up from the couch while he realized that she'd been curled up there the whole time. He hadn't seen her.
Not one to let embarrassment show, or the type to let a chance to flirt with a pretty girl slip, he quirked a cocky smile, which she ignored. Raven just padded silently on bare feet towards her tea kettle and box of imported green tea- the only thing she required get put on the Titans' grocery list every week. Anything else she ate she left up to the others', excluding Beast Boy's, discretion. Oddly enough, she started humming the same song as him. His smile grew.
"If you like that song, how about you and I go out dancing tonight, Rae?" He leaned toward her while he said it with his trademark grin.
The look she shot him was withering as she said, "Pass." She turned and filled the kettle with water and turned the stove on. Pulling out a tea bag from the box and placing it in her mug, she sarcastically inquired, "What, no hot date tonight?"
Her tone didn't encourage flirting, but he was a sucker for a hard-to-get girl, and Raven here wasn't 'playing.'
"Nah," he said, "I tend to avoid dating during the holidays. Girls always seem to get the wrong idea- you know, that I want a relationship or something." He rolled his eyes and then chuckled as he joked, "Last year I practically quarantined myself on V-day."
It was her turn to roll her eyes. This conversation was clearly going nowhere. She'd had intelligent, thoughtful, enjoyable conversations with Roy on many occasions before. She considered him one of her closest friends, after years of West and East Titans calling on each other for help fighting, random visits, and holidays spent together. But conversing with him seemed impossible when women were on his one-track mind.
"So since I can't date casually, and it's Christmas Eve, I'll ask you again: wanna go dancing?" She gave him a surprised, slightly confused look, and he continued, "Or, hey, we could just go see a movie and get dinner. Oh, I have a great idea: ice skating!"
Raven laughed. And actual amused, from-the-gut laugh.
Could she do that?
Apparently she could. And Roy loved the sound. Especially since he had caused it. He grinned widely, "What's so funny?"
"You. You're not afraid that I might get the wrong idea?" She teased.
Roy kept smiling. "If I said I wanted you to, what would you say?"
"No."
He shrugged one shoulder and said, "Well, then, how about I want you to get the right idea?"
She slowly turned away from the kettle and towards him, seeming casual and indifferent. She asked, "And what would the right idea be, Roy?"
"Well, Raven, a fair conclusion for someone as smart as you to reach is that I don't want to be alone on Christmas Eve, so I'm asking my friend to spend the evening with me since she also happens to be alone."
Her smile slipped away. Roy wasn't what she would consider "her type," especially considering that only goth and emo boys ever tried to approach her when she went out. But things change; she got to know Roy, found that she didn't want to always be alone, and started getting attached. A stupid thing to do, she knew, as she looked at the smiling womanizer. She didn't retort, afraid to admit that being in the friend zone hurt.
Rather than allow her to let her believe what he'd said, he continued, "Or, you might conclude, and probably should considering this is what I really mean, that I'm asking you out on a romantic venture at a time I usually avoid dating because I have serious interest in you and decided to act on it."
Raven was, in a word, surprised.
Roy grinned, quite happy with himself.
As Raven started to form an answer and she opened her mouth to break the silence, her kettle finally whistled loudly, blowing steam into the kitchen. She turned to the stove and poured out the hot water into her cup. Pulling at the string of the teabag, she mixed the tea and took a relaxed sip. She put the cup down and turned back to him.
The previously hopeful boy standing with her in the kitchen took her silence as a no, and had his head bowed in theatrical defeat. Light footsteps approached him, making him look up. Amethyst eyes smiled at him, though the lips barely turned up. Quickly, leaving him no time to react, she kissed him on the cheek. The sweet gesture brought his hand up to the hot spot.
She asked, "So, ice skating. What time should I be ready?"
He grabbed her around the waist and spun her around. He laughed- the sound of one who had just won a great battle.
"Put me down. Now!" she demanded.
After he did as she asked, chuckling as he did it, she slapped him lightly on the chest and headed to her room, forgetting the rest of her tea and her book.
He called out, "Be ready at five. We'll go to dinner first, then head to the rink."
She ignored him. But that was alright with him- she had already said yes.
He pulled out his cellphone and dialed. "Hey Jack? It's Roy Harper. I need a favor."
At four thirty, Raven still wasn't ready. She stood in her walk-in closet in nothing but a towel. What the Hell would work for dinner and ice skating? When she checked her clock and saw that she had twenty-five minutes to dress before Roy would come get her she huffed and picked out a set of comfortable black underwear, dropped her towel and put them on. She yanked out a dark wash pair of skinny jeans from a drawer and pulled them on, jumping up and down to get them to sit right on her hips. She scowled as she buttoned them- she didn't like covering her legs, which was why she wore a leotard.
Now the hard part was choosing a shirt. She had never had to think about the appropriate depth of a neckline on a first date. Any shirt she wore would show more skin than her high-necked uniform. For a moment she looked at the row of clothes she'd bought on shopping trips with Starfire, clueless. Then she had an idea.
She threw on a t-shirt she usually wore to sleep- a loose ratty old thing with cutoff sleeves- and tied a knot at the hem so it was tighter around her body. Eyes out for Speedy, who she didn't want to see while wearing the pajama shirt, she ran down the hallway to Starfire's bedroom and knocked once on the door before it swished open to a very excited Starfire wearing a pink dress.
"Oh, friend Raven. I thought that you were Robin, arrived for our date. Why are you not dressed in your customary uniform?"
Raven looked at Starfire and said, "I wanted your advice on something. But if Robin's picking you up soon, I'll just figure it out myself."
As she started to walk away, Starfire followed her, saying, "Oh, no, Robin will not be here for another hour at least. I was just waiting out of anxiousness."
Looking at Star out of the corner or her eye, Raven wondered how long Starfire had already waited for Robin.
Once again in her closet, Raven listened to Starfire gab about different shirts that would be "just perfect." She checked her clock again- fifteen minutes. Crap. She grabbed the shirt that Starfire held at that moment and pulled it on. It would have to do.
Checking the mirror, she found herself wearing a white t-shirt, covered in white lace. It was fitted, but comfortable. It had capped sleeves and a scoop neckline. Wow. Star was right- this one was perfect.
She hadn't done anything with her hair after she had washed it, just let it lay flat as usual. She didn't intend to wear any makeup, but as she tried to thank her friend and exit the closet she found herself pulled back and forced into a chair. She looked up at the redhead to find her grinning ear to ear, holding a makeup set Raven had forgotten she owned.
Ten minutes later, Starfire left Raven's room, quite proud of the results of her work. Raven hadn't been keen on the idea of makeup, but she insisted, and in the end it was totally worth it. Speedy was going to fall so hopelessly in love with her friend. That would be excellent news!
Out in the hallway Starfire saw Speedy already waiting, wearing jeans and a t-shirt, no mask, and holding a black leather jacket. He'd looked up in shock when the door opened, but was disappointed when Starfire walked out instead of Raven- this was Raven's door, right?
Nearly glowing with happiness for her friends, Starfire exclaimed, "Best of luck, friend Speedy! She is ready for your date now, and I believe most anxious and excited!" Roy grinned in response, but she continued with green fire burning in her irises, and a devilish tone, scaring him half to death, "But be warned that if you break the heart of my dearest friend there will be no place in this universe that you will be able to hide in."
With that taken care of, Starfire hummed a happy little tune as she returned to her bedroom to wait for her own date, leaving behind a terrified archer clutching his chest dramatically.
Two minutes later, still a bit early, he knocked on Raven's door. On the other side, she counted to five so as to not seem overeager, then opened the door.
Roy smiled at her, and looked her over. "Wow. You look gorgeous."
She rolled her eyes, though secretly a little happy. He asked, "You ready?"
Grabbing her coat, she nodded. As they walked down the hall, him directing their feet towards the garage, he took her hand and put it in the crook of his elbow. She chuckled at his imagined gallantry.
She didn't ask where they were going until they were in his car- a black Ferrari- and halfway through the tunnel under the bay that connected the tower to the mainland. She knew it killed him for her to not be wondering about it, and she had fun making him sweat. But when it seemed he was about to burst from not saying anything, she smirked as said, "So where are we going?"
"Finally! God, Rae, weren't you curious at all? Does it mean so little to you?"
She scoffed, "Stop being such a drama queen and answer the question."
"Well," he said, "I hope you know that it is completely impossible to get reservations to any of the popular romantic restaurants on Christmas Eve. So when I called a friend about the rink, he told me about a place the locals like."
Raven shrugged. That works.
They spent over an hour in the little diner. Over burgers they told each other funny stories about their friends and old villains, swapped stories of childhood- he told her about his old Navajo reservation and Green Arrow, she told him about Arella and Azar. She couldn't remember ever talking so much about herself. The only time had been when she and Starfire switched bodies, and that was out of necessity.
After Roy paid, he drove her across town to a skating rink. It was nearing seven PM already. Looking at the large modern office building, she commented seriously, "I remember getting thrown into this building by Cinderblock once. They seem to have rebuilt nicely."
Laughing at the dry humor, he grabbed her hand and pulled her into the building. He led her through a marble tiled lobby, past a fountain, down a large, bright hallway, and down a side staircase to an empty locker room. She looked around, wondering why it was empty when usually it would be full of people pulling on skates.
Roy called out for a man named Jack, who appeared behind a booth and asked for their shoe sizes. Roy said twelve and handed over the Vans sneakers he wore while Raven said seven and handed over the brown suede high heels boots Starfire had made her wear.
While Roy laced his skates up without a problem, Raven couldn't manage hers. After her third growl of frustration her date laughed and got on his knees in front of her to lace up her boots. After a couple of awkward- for her- minutes, he patted her foot and stood, reaching a hand out to help her up. Walking slowly, feeling unsteady on the blades of the skates, Raven followed him up a different set of stairs directly up to the ice.
"Why is there no one else here?"
He grinned, quite proud of himself. "Jack is a friend. He set this up. Plus I paid him off."
The speakers pumped dance music, the type of beat meant to keep people moving. Raven smiled when she recognized the song, telling him, "This is one of my favorite songs."
Another flash of that proud smirk, "I know."
With a quirked eyebrow she asked, "How?"
"Oh I have my methods. Have you ever been ice skating before?"
She shook her head. He shrugged.
"Alright then, I'll have to teach you. Come on."
He pulled on her hand he still held and brought her to the entrance. When she hesitated he squeezed her hand and said, "It's alright, the first step is the scariest."
"I don't do scared."
"I seem to recall an interesting story told to me by Robin that begs to differ. It involved a movie called Wicked Scary and losing your powers?"
She ignored him and stepped onto the ice first. Not knowing how to move forward, she tried to take a step, and almost fell on her ass. Roy caught her. Looking upside-down at the red-head, she almost scowled. "This is so cliche."
"You know you love it." Smirk.
Another eye roll later she was upright with one hand in his and the other on the wall that edged the rink.
"Alright, so first of all, make sure your blades are parallel, otherwise your legs will be all over the place. To move forward, you sort of sway your hips- don't try to use your ankles, the point of the high boots is to keep your ankles from moving- and push one foot forward, followed by the other one."
Following his instructions, she tried to create forward momentum. But it didn't work. Instead, she just pulled on the wall and tried to remain upright.
Chuckling, he continued to coach her. He soon found that the empath had a steep learning curve. Within and hour and two falls she was skating fluidly, though still a little nervous when she left the support of the wall. Soon he took her hand and led her to the center of the ice. He felt her squeeze his hand a little in nervousness as they skated in the open space, so he quickly pulled her to him and spun her in a twirl just as he had earlier that day in the kitchen. She shrieked and hugged him. He grinned; mission accomplished.
When he let her down, she was scowling and he was smiling sheepishly. Her scowl lessened at the look on his face, but she said, "Would you quit that?"
He shook his head. "Why should I?"
"Because I don't like being picked up and twirled! And because I'm more powerful than you!" A four-foot section of the half-wall dissolved in black magic.
"Aw c'mon, Rae, don't lie like that," he teased.
Another section of wall crumbled under her anger. He looked at it, amused with her reaction. One of the reasons he discovered that he loved Raven was because he enjoyed forcing emotions past her shields. And he felt jealous when anyone else managed it.
He let go of her hand and skated backwards, just out of her reach. Angry, off balance, and in the middle of trying to hit him, as she reached towards his retreating arm her arms started flailing in an attempt to remain upright. All of her training and knowledge of hand-to-hand fighting passed to her straight from the Boy Wonder couldn't save her against gravity and lack of friction. Her fingers reached out and barely grabbed the sleeve of Roy's coat. Her shriek and his grunt echoed through the empty rink as they both hit the ground. He twisted mid-fall so that he landed on his ass and she landed on his lap.
Shocked out of her anger, she looked into his eyes and realized how very close they were- holy crap his eyes were so green. She blinked, then used her powers to lift herself to her feet and offered a hand to him as he shifted onto his knees.
He took it and yanked her back down, so she landed on her knees. "Ow."
"Sorry," he said, "but you're not getting away that easy."
For the third time that day he wrapped his arms around her waist. This time, though, when he pulled her body against his he completed the contact by bringing his lips down on hers.
In the background the song he had hummed in the kitchen that afternoon played. He pulled away to observe, "I really like this song."
Never too shocked, or too well kissed, to make a sarcastic remark, Raven deadpanned, "It should be our song."
He chuckled, "I agree. Now come here."
Ready this time, she returned his kiss fully, and wrapped her arms around his neck, leisurely enjoying the taste and feel of him.
The creeping cold in her legs made Raven pull back. The bottoms halves of her legs were soaked with cold water. She pulled herself up and used her powers to stand him up, not trusting that he wouldn't pull the same stunt twice.
He checked his watch. "It's about eight. We have the place until nine, when Jack heads home and needs to shut the place down. You wanna stick around a while longer?"
She nodded. "This is nice. We should do it again sometime." She started skating away from him, arms out for balance.
He followed, easily catching up and taking her hand, asking, "So you'll go out with me again?"
She sped up, aided slightly by her powers, teasing him. He chased after her.
"Come on, Rae!"
She laughed; she could see why he liked teasing her. Using her powers to slow down, she let him put his arm around her waist, and said, blushing, "Of course I'll go out with you again. I haven't been this happy and carefree in, well, in my entire life. Thank you Roy."
He grinned a million-dollar smile. Absently, as he leaned in to kiss her again, she thought that she wouldn't mind seeing that smile every day.
When he pulled back and she smiled slightly at him, he thought the same thing.
A/N: Wow, I seem to be more full of cheesy bullshit than I ever knew. Freakin' hell. I am actually in the midst of planning a story that is more than useless fluff. Look forward to that.
Review. You know you want to. Cheers.
PS. I really dislike RobxStar; I nearly gagged writing about that. I swear it was hard to stop myself from making a cut scene back to them just so they would break up and not ruin my story. *sigh* oh well.