Today should have been the perfect day. It had been heavily raining all day, as it had the past few days. Crime was at a low, because let's be honest: Nobody likes running around in wet socks.
With that being said, it makes one wonder what I mean by perfect. Well that, kids, is a bit of a broad term according to who you ask. To the random citizen, it means a day on their porch watching the rain pour while enjoying a nice cola. To a government worker, it means a paid day of sitting around doing nothing. To a prison guard, it means that they don't have to take their charges out and watch them in the yard. To a bus driver, it means the kids are quieter because they're wet. To fast food workers, it means customers want to get in and out (lobby and drive through) as quickly as possible and thus not annoy said workers with stupid questions. To librarians, no hoodlums were coming in to possibly vandalize books. To traffic cops, it meant on the clock naps below bridges (shhh, it's a secret to everybody!). To construction workers, it was a day away from the worksite meant for sleeping in and going to bed early for even more precious sleep. The only people who didn't have it made were the guys on garbage trucks, but let's face it, their job sucks anyways.
And then there were the Teen Titans.
Who were they, to be exact? Well, my dear reader, I shall tell you about these unusual teenaged children this very moment.
We'll start with their leader, the mysteriously masked young man called Robin. This youngster, at the ripe at of 18, was easily the most recognizable of the group. His stint as the sidekick to the highly feared hero named Batman made the teenster famous at a younger age, though for the past few years he's been running this team. A black eye mask adorned his face, his black hair was gelled and spikey, and he always seemed to be on the verge of a either a scowl or a smile. It was hard to tell at times, more so when crime was involved. His crime fighting attire consisted of a black cap with a yellow underlay, a red long sleeved tunic, lime green gloves, red pants, and steel-toed black combat boots. His entire uniform was made out of a highly refined version of Kevlar, making him borderline bullet proof. At his waist was his utility belt, a mysterious contraption that seemed to hold everything from birdarangs (rotating projectiles that had a variety of abilities) to spare communicators to a pack of straws (don't ask) to telescopic bo staffs for close-quarters combat. At 5'8', Richard Grayson, the team leader, was a serious as heart attack 7 times out of 10. It wasn't that he couldn't laugh and have fun; it's that he took his job way too seriously (sometimes to the point of obsession!). He could be a proverbial wet blanket at the worst times, though he would always chalk it up for it being 'for the good of the team'.
And yes, he does look like a walking traffic light.
Up next we'll take a look at the opposite end of the gender spectrum. This being said, the young lady upcoming was more than a little odd in more than one way. From her fiery red hair to her large green eyes, Starfire was an alien girl of much strength. Being physically superior to the average human and emotionally more sensitive than the most cringe-worthy preteen, Princess Koriand'r of the planet Tamaran in the Vegan system was anything but normal. She had inhumanly high levels of strength and stamina, she could fly, she could launch concentrated blasts of energy (dubbed 'starbolts' due to her body absorbing cosmic radiation and releasing in in said manner) from her hands and fire them from her eyes, she did not require any form of breathing apparatus while in space, and to top it all off, she had nine stomachs.
Oh yeah, this girl could eat.
Though she was a naïve stranger to our world at first, the 5'10' girl grew to love her new home quite rapidly. The public grew to love her ever-cheerful attitude, though the males around her age all paid quite a bit of attention to her rather unusual attire. She wore large metal gauntlets that reached from the back of her hands to wrap around her entire forearm, a large green crystal embedded on the back of the hand. Around her neck was a sort of metal shawl with yet another green crystal embedded at the base of her neck. Her top was sleeveless and showed a bit of her cleavage. It also ended three inches below her bust, showing off her belly-buttonless midriff. She wore a miniskirt, though the gap between the hem of her skirt and the hem of her unusually tall boots was a mere six inches. All of her clothes were a lovely shade of purple, aside from the metal parts and the gems. Age wise, she too was 18 by Earth standards.
Taking another 360 on this route, we come to the ultimate techie, the true machine lover. Not in a perverted sense, mind you. More of a literal one. Cyborg, the tallest of the Titans (6'6' and PROUD OF IT!), was a walking and talking computer meshed with a young man. Some months prior to meeting the other Titans, Victor Stone had been visiting his fathers' science lab when something went terribly wrong. An explosion occurred, killing Victor's mother and devastating his body. Thinking quickly, Silas Stone used experimental technology to save his son's life and turn him into Cyborg, the half machine hero. A silvery blue metal coated 90% of his body now, save for the bulk of his head and a small section on each upper arm. From the left eye and up to the back of his head was an identically matching metal. From the eye, it tapered down at an angle, going around his mouth and down to engulf the majority of his chin and neck. His torso was big and bulky, as was his lower half, but also seamlessly streamlined. Within his arms he carried sonic cannons, devastating weapons more than one enemy had underestimated. Highly intelligent, mechanically inclined, pretty playful, and loyal to a T, Cyborg was the one anyone could count on. Being 20 and the oldest, he had also had the pleasure of being everyone's big brother.
And here, guys and gals, is where we fall down the rabbit hole into Wonderland, for the next two Titans were more unusual than the ones previously mentioned.
Once more to the other side of the gender spectrum, we have Raven. Mysterious, magical, moody, and oddly mean at times, Raven of Azarath (another dimension that is now destroyed) was the last person you wanted to cross. At 17 and a half and 5'3', she was considered unusual to look at by some, for she had shoulder length purple hair and eyes to match. Upon her forehead was a mysterious stone, something no one ever questioned her about. Truth be told, Raven was a fairly introverted and private girl, preferring to be left alone in her room with her books, meditation, and magical tomes (though the other Titans would never know she had a stash of romance novels tucked away under her bed!) She was easily the most powerful Titan around, though she kept her emotions and powers under lock and key almost all the time. Only after the defeat of her demonic warlord of a father, Trigon the Terrible, did the borderline apathetic teenaged empathic half demon sorceress start to open up.
Well…'open up' is such a strong term for what she did. Let's just say she was a bit more sociable and even let some of her emotions out from time to time.
BUT…it was mostly anger (Still counts!) towards a certain handsome green shapeshifter, though she would be hard pressed to name the true source of her anger towards him. Maybe it was that he constantly talking to her? Maybe it was all the hilarious jokes he told her, trying to make her laugh? Maybe it was the way he (innocently) blackmailed her from time to time to come join in his and the others fun? Perhaps it was the way those big green eyes of his seemed to look into her soul and ask her to join the others in the light instead of being alone in the dark?
She hadn't figured out this obviously simple situation, irritatingly enough.
And who was this young shapeshifter? Why, it was no one other than Beast Boy! At 17 years and three weeks old, we had this devilishly handsome and courageous shapeshifter, a real manly man who could transform into any animal at will, be it something miniscule like an amoeba or something ginormous like a blue sperm whale.
Well…it was actually green.
He couldn't help that though. In his youth, Beast Boy had been a normal looking little boy up until he was attacked by a feral green monkey while touring Africa with his biologist parents. Using an experimental serum, Marie and Mark Logan had saved the life of their son Garfield Logan. The unfortunate side effect was turning him green from head to toe and giving him animalistic characteristics in addition to his awesome shapeshifting powers. Jutting from the left side of his mouth was a fang, no longer little. His ears were half again as long as a normal persons' and were pointy as well. His eyesight, hearing, sense of smell, sense of touch, and sense of taste were easy ten times stronger than any normal persons. He could tell you who went through an area an hour before hand, tell you what they had for lunch, and then tell you what kind of shampoo they used.
Of course, all of this just made him far more of a chick magnet. Chicks loved the ears and who thinks green is a bad color? Nobody! So of course he had waves of beautiful girls just throwing themselves at him on a daily basis. It helped that his frame was lithe and fairly muscled. It was awesome that he had the highest stamina of the Titans. And of course, he only had eyes for one girl whom he was far too shy to tell his feelings about.
In the end, all that (really) mattered was that Beast Boy was one sexy motherf-
"Beast Boy, what are you doing in there?" A voice called out.
With a shriek of surprise, Beast Boy slammed his laptop shut and threw it in the closet. His heart in his throat, he jumped up and ran towards his door. Slinging it open, he found a mildly curious empath looking at him, her eyes slightly tilted upwards as her only acknowledgement that he had finally surpassed her in height.
At least a little bit.
"Uh, hi Rae, what's up?" Beast Boy grinned nervously at her. He never could tell what she was thinking and he hoped she couldn't hear what he was thinking. Oh god, what if she could? She'd know he was in there writing fanfiction! Crap, this was bad! Think of something else! Comics, smurfs, Batman doing the tango with Superman while wearing a grass skirt, Pokemon…yes! That's it! Pokemon! There were a gazillion of the little critters and she couldn't possibly keep up with all of them! Uh, let's see…Caterpie, Weedle, Venemoth, Galvantula, Combee, Wurmple…wait, why was he only thinking of Bug-type?
"Beast Boy, there's smoke coming out of your ears. You're obviously thinking too much." Raven rolled her eyes in exasperation.
"Oh…uh, um, yeah, sorry." He stammered. He planted his eyes on the ground and away from Raven's petite form in front of him.
She sighed this time. "You have nothing to apologize for that I know of. I was only wondering why I could hear you cackling madly to yourself out here in the hallway."
Beast Boy licked his lips nervously. "I…uh…I…I just thought of a new prank a few minutes ago! I was totally writing my plan out to get Cyborg back for the Swapping Tofu Eggs With Real Eggs prank he got me with last week!"
Raven stared at him for a long, long moment, as if digesting his words. Finally, she turned away from him with a small shake of her head. "You don't have to lie to me, Beast Boy, but I understand that you don't want to tell me."
Startled by her reaction, Beast Boy only hesitated for a moment before racing after her. When he finally caught the surprisingly quick footed empath, he leapt in front of her and held his arms out.
"Look, Rae, it's not that I don't want to tell you, even though I technically don't cause you'd probably make fun of me, it's more like I shouldn't tell you until I'm better at it cause then you won't make fun of me and that would be totally rad cause-" He said this really fast. Raven's hand appeared over his mouth, a quizzical look on her face.
"Beast Boy." She said simply, "You don't have to tell me. I understand that you don't trust me and even though it stings, I accept that."
Beast Boy's eyes popped open and he snatched her hand away from his mouth. "No! I DO trust you Raven, I trust you more than anyone else in the tower!"
His eyes only widened further when Raven put on a face that was borderline pouting. It was absolutely adorable on her and he was really hoping she couldn't read his thoughts right now.
"Then why won't you tell me?" She asked quietly.
He gulped in nervousness. "W-w-well…I wanna get better at it before I show you…"
She raised an eyebrow. "It's not belching your ABC's or a song with armpit farts, is it?"
Mentally striking those off his list of 'Things That Might Impress Raven', Beast Boy shook his head vigorously. "No way dude. Those things are immature, even for me."
The eyebrow rose further and he found himself very, very nervous under her scrutinizing gaze. And that's when he made his mistake by raising his hand to scratch the back of his head, showing just how nervous he truly was. Raven caught this instantly and pursed those cute little lips of hers.
Oh god, my imagination is going to get me killed one day. The changeling thought to himself as he looked anywhere but at her.
Raven sighed. "Alright Beast Boy. I'll trust you this once. It's okay if you don't tell me…I suppose."
And with that, she left the confused changeling where he stood. He reached out for her and opened his mouth, only for no words to come out. She thought he didn't trust her? After everything they had been through together over the past years she really thought that?! He had literally been through Hell for this girl, had had his DNA reach the verge of collapsing just trying to protect her, had consoled her on her first and only heartbreak, had gone through a war with this girl, and so much more.
She thinks I don't trust her.
Numbly, Beast Boy drug himself back to his room. His friend, the most awesome girl on the whole freaking planet, his crush, thought that he didn't trust her. This made him feel like crap. No, lower than crap. Scum. Yeah. Wait, no. What's lower than scum? Dirt? Yeah, that's what he felt like. Dirt. Not even the good kind either. No, he was the hard packed kind that wouldn't grow anything no matter how much you fertilized it and tilled it. Dirty dirt. Dirtied dirty dirt dirt...dirt.
God, he felt awful.
After an hour, he couldn't take it anymore. The thought of hurting Raven's feelings like that was driving him insane. His inner animal was screaming at him to grovel for her forgiveness and he had half a mind to try that. But eventually his human half won that argument by saying that Raven was a smart female and wouldn't be fooled by a distracting show of regret. She would still want to know what he was up to.
And if he ever wanted to impress her enough to consider him for a mate, he would have to be more honest with her.
So he had gathered up his courage and strode out his door. He could do this. He could tell Raven, the smartest and prettiest girl he knew, that he had taken up being a silly little fanfiction writer because he wanted to get good enough to write a book of his own one day. That would surely impress her. It had to. He had to show her that he was good enough to be her mate. Yes, this was going to work.
But what if she just laughs at us? We know she thinks we are an ignorant animal.
Beast Boy growled at himself, willing the doubt in his mind to go away. Okay, he wouldn't tell her why he started writing but he would still tell her that he does it. Maybe she wouldn't laugh so much when she realized he was serious about this. Could she even take him seriously? Heck, did he take himself seriously?
"Beast Boy, how long are you going to stare at the wall across from my door?"
For the second time that day, Beast Boy shrieked in surprise and leapt away. His heart back in his throat once more, he turned to the mildly amused empath. She was leaning in her doorway, her arms crossed and those little pale legs of hers in plain sight. Her hood was pulled down, letting him know that he had her attention. He licked his lips nervously.
"W-w-well Rae, I was gonna tell you what I was doing cause I do trust you and I guess it's fair to tell you since I'm always snooping on you and-"
"Beast Boy…you're rambling." She said softly. The changeling was sent reeling, mentally. She didn't yell at him. Oh god, how was he going to survive this?
"Well…um… I wr-"
The klaxon blared.
The common room door opened, causing Cyborg to look towards it, then do a double take when he saw that Raven had entered with her hand on Beast Boy's arm as if she were trying to restrain him from doing something. His human eye wide, he tilted his head just enough to catch the rest of their conversation.
"Beast Boy, I didn't know that you spoke French, let alone Swahili. How long have you been able to do that?"
The changelings' apparent anger bubble popped, making him sigh and shrug. "I've traveled around the world, Rae. Some things were bound to stick sooner or later. Sorry I used that kinda language around you."
Frowning slightly, the empath looked him in the eye. "I wasn't aware your vocabulary was so…coarse."
He winched. "Only when I'm mad."
Ravens' eyebrow rose once more. "What was there to be mad about? Getting interrupted? Why don't you tell me now what was making you so nervous?"
Cyborg's eyeball almost popped out his skull. Had Beast Boy been in the middle of confessing?! JEEZUM PEACH, what a horrid time for an alert!
He cleared his throat loudly (the changeling looked ridiculously relieved), drawing the attention of the others. "Iight y'all, we got a robbery in progress, one of the side branches of Jump City Banking. Five armed men, ten hostages."
"Beast Boy, Raven, recon and rescue. Cyborg, Star, we're going in the front door as soon as the hostages are safe!" Robin pounded his fist into his open palm. Cyborg and Beast Boy let out a small groan while Raven rolled her eyes. Starfire, on the other hand, merely smiled. She loved how enthusiastic her team leader was about helping people.
Even if he didn't pay enough attention to her.
As the car blasted out of the garage into the underwater tunnel, Cyborg couldn't contain his curiosity. He glanced over to the empath and made his comment as casual as he could.
"Soooo…Raven." He said as he eyeballed the road. "You and BB were lookin' a lil…close…a few minutes ago."
Her face set in stone, Raven turned to look at him. "Is that so?"
"Ummm…yes?"
The empath turned her head towards the road. "As a matter of fact, I was about to get him to confess to something just before the alarm went off."
Cyborg's human eye glanced at her. "Any…any idea what it was?"
She frowned, her brows furrowed in thought. "I'm not entirely sure. Earlier I felt something weird emanating from him while he was in his room, so I went to figure it out. It was a sensation of intense concentration and amusement, mixed with affection and self-praise. When I knocked on his door I heard a shriek and two thumps before he opened the door. And when he wouldn't tell me what he was up to…"
Oh god, what did she do to him? Cyborg thought as they took a sharp right. In his rear view mirror he could see Robin on his R-cycle.
"…I might have messed with his head a little bit."
Cyborg scoffed. "That ain't hard to do. Hethinks that Santa and the Easter Bunny argue about whose holiday is better."
"Well…I might have used some reverse psychology to make him think that I think he doesn't trust me and to guilt trip him into telling me whatever it was he was up to, which was he was going to do when the alarm went off." She said this simply, with little to no emotion in her words.
"That's…that's kinda messed up, Raven." Her friend said, shaking his head. She merely shrugged and they were silent for a few minutes before curiosity got the better of Cyborg once again. "So…whaddaya think he was gonna say?"
"I'm not sure, really." Raven looked out the window. "It must have been something of some importance for him to want to confess it so quickly."
"Could be anything." Cyborg chuckled. "Knowing him, he thought of some new prank to get me with."
"That's actually what he said to begin with, but I knew he was lying and called him out on it."
"New jokes to try to make you smile?"
"Hm…maybe." She mused.
"Nah, he was gonna confess his love for you and ask you to out on a date." Cyborg laughed at this statement as if it were a joke, even though he knew that Beast Boy did harbor romantic feelings for Raven.
Raven snorted. "As if."
Two minutes later, the car slowed and stopped dead in the road. Raven knew that they weren't near the bank, so she turned to find her driver staring at her with a rather bewildered expression on his face.
She looked at him blankly. "What?"
Cyborg chose his words carefully. "No…spiteful comments about him never having a chance in hell with you? No biting remarks about his immaturity? No scathing snipes at his less-than-stellar hygiene? No hateful bashing on his hobbies for being as far from anything you ever want to deal with? No…nothing?"
She looked away, lost in thought.
He gaped at her now. "Raven…do you…"
"I haven't exactly been the nicest person the past few years. Logically, none of you, especially Beast Boy, should want to have anything to do with me. Yet, you all stuck around and didn't give up on me. Beast Boy has gone as far as coming back again and again after punishing him for bothering me. After we defeated my father, I told you all that I would be able to express more emotions. I've been working on that in secret, though my progress is abysmal."
She shifted uncomfortably in her seat. "I'm learning to feel more things from all of you. You stretch my intelligence and test my reasoning, Robin inspires loyalty and bravery, and Starfire a sense of comradery and sibling affection I never knew I wanted. Beast Boy…well…he makes me feel all of those and more at times. It's like every time I turn around he's underfoot and trying to get me to smile or something. Just trying to do something, anything, to spend time with me or at least include me in everyone's activities…"
Cyborg leaned towards her. "And…?"
Her eyes were half closed now as she sat there in thought. After a moment, she spoke rather quietly. "I… like the attention."
Cyborg returned to his upright seating position and wordlessly resumed driving. It wasn't until they reached the heist that he spoke again.
"So what are you going to do about it?"
"For now…nothing." She said before getting out of the car. His eye twitching in irritation, Cyborg jumped out of the car and raced after her. He caught her just before they reached the others and grabbed her shoulder. Putting his considerable bulk between her and the other Titans, he leaned down to her eye level.
"This conversation is not over." He said quietly. Raven raised an eyebrow but their approaching friends made her give him a small nod.
Satisfied, Cyborg turned to his friends. "Alright y'all, let's get this party started!"
The rescue and capture of the bank robbers went so ridiculously smooth that they decided to celebrate with a small party at the pizza parlor. Once there, things went as they usually do.
A.k.a. The infamous Tofu vs. Meat debate.
"Dude, I'm telling you, you're eating a murdered animal! What if I was the one who was killed and turned into pepperonis and sausage?!"
Cyborg looked down at his meat lovers' pizza, his face thoughtful. After a moment he looked up grinning. "I'd say you taste delicious with ranch dressing!"
The cybernetic man howled in laughter at Beast Boy's horrified expression and his protests were drowned out as Robin joined in the laughter, followed by Starfire. Hurt, Beast Boy turned to the one person who might be his ally.
It was a fat chance, but one he'd take.
"Raaaeee! Did you hear that?! Cyborg said he would eat me if I was put on a pizza!" He whined.
"Well, you'd be in luck Beast Boy." She replied. "I don't like green eggs and ham."
The table sat quiet for a moment as they digested her words. Then as one, Cyborg and Robin hit the floor and rolled around laughing. Starfire sat there quietly, rather confused, before looking to the boys.
"Please friends, I do not understand. I thought Earthly meat was considered most foul if it was green? And what does that have to do with friend Beast Boy?" She asked, shaking Robin's leg.
His ears drooping and his face dejected, Beast Boy nibbled quietly on his food. Feeling bad about making that joke (surely a first for her), Raven reached out for another slice of pizza. But instead of one of the cheese slices, she grabbed one from Beast Boys' pizza. Without a word to the surprised expression of her friend, she bit down into it. Big mistake.
Sriracha BBQ Tofu Pizza with pepperjack cheese.
Nearly choking on the bizarre taste, Raven still managed to swallow it. Her tongue going berserk, she reached for her drink and guzzled it down. A sly and smug grin began to sneak up on Beast Boy's face.
"So…" He said nonchalantly, "How was it?"
She could feel Cyborg's eyes boring holes into her, so she chose her words carefully. "It was…unusual. Overwhelming, for sure."
"Yer darn right it's overwhelming." The changeling said smugly. "See what happens when you try new things?"
"You're so right, Beast Boy." Raven deadpanned. A mischievous look in her eye appeared a split second later, making Cyborg flinch at the sight. He knew what was fixing to happen. The empath continued on. "It was a traumatic experience. That just means you'll have to leave me alone in my room from now on and not ever drag me along for another outing like this. It would be truly terrible and I'm not sure if I can handle it again."
Robin and Starfire exchanged worried looks while confusion filled Beast Boys'. Struggling with what she was saying, he eventually shook his head. "No way, Rae! I'm not leaving you alone in there all by yourself! You spend too much time alone already, you need to be out here with us, living and being happy and stuff! So what if one little bite of my awesome pizza was too much for you, there's plenty of other awesome things I can show you!"
Raven shook her head. "Its fine Beast Boy, I know you don't like spending time with me. I understand, I'm not the easiest person to get along with."
"Are you freaking kidding me?!" Beast Boy practically shouted. "You aren't that hard to get along with at all! I mean seriously, once I figured you out more it was actually really easy to talk to you and stuff, kinda. I mean, like, now it's not so hard for me to talk to you without you wanting to throw me out a window and stuff! I just have to think a bit more before I open my mouth, which I really should have been doing to begin with instead of just rambling on like-"
"Beast Boy," Raven interrupted him. "I understand that you don't trust me or like spending time with me, but you don't have to lie about liking talking to me. It's okay."
The changeling's face changed to a lovely shade of purple as he struggled to not lose his cool. He was borderline growling at this point. "Raven, there is nothing wrong with spending time with you or talking to you, nothing at all! It's fun! And I do trust you!"
Raven frowned slightly. "Beast Boy, I-"
"No no no no no, I'm not lettin' ya off that easy!" He shook a finger in her face. "Just ta' prove it to you, you and me are gonna hang out tonight!"
Ignoring the astonished looks her friends were giving her, Raven gaped at the changeling. "Did…did you just ask me out on a date?"
"If that's what it takes, then yeah, I did!" He crossed his arms and glared at his pizza. "All that nonsense about not liking spending time with you or trusting you or talking to you is just crazy, so I'm gonna prove you wrong even if it kills me. There's nothing wrong with you, Raven. You're just a different person than me, so it's natural that we don't see eye to eye on everything."
Smiling ever so softly, she replied. "Well, I suppose I should go meditate for a little while then. See you this evening."
And with that, she disappeared into a dark portal. Beast Boy sat there staring at his pizza while his three shell shocked friends (not to mention everyone else in the restaurant) stared at him. After what seemed like forever he looked up to them, confusion smattering every inch of his face.
"What the hell just happened?"