Disclaimer: Yeah yeah yeah, whatever, I don't own teen titans (though if I can recruit the bunny from Monty Python, that will all soon change!)
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The sun was setting over Jump City. People walking in the streets on their way home would stop and stare at the evening light bouncing off the bay and a certain tower jutting up into the sky.
The citizens of Jump City looked upon this tower with deep affection. It stood for protection and security to the people, for it housed their guardians, the Teen Titans.
One such keeper walked the streets at that moment, cleverly disguised in jeans, a long black wool duster and blond wig cut so short that it barely reached the top of her ears. Raven liked to keep to herself when she ventured out into the city alone. The last thing she wanted was to be besieged by the populace.
Especially when she chose to visit her friends in the lower city.
At the moment, Raven was moving quickly away from an old apartment building in the more dilapidated area of the metropolis near the River Ides known as the Lower City. A decaying memory of the meager beginnings of what could have been a thriving hot spot for artists and performers alike, but when the drugs moved into the area, all hope for an artistic haven was lost in a swarm of needles and dime bags.
Yet Raven's friends persisted in living in this stinking hole day after day. She could understand why; it was the perfect place for a group of social outcasts like Marcus and his lovers Lillith and Natasha, Lillith's brother Skyle and his tiny, shadow-like companion Julius. Raven had just come from an afternoon spent listening to Lillith's newest stream of complaints concerning her younger brother. Skyle was becoming more and more reclusive, keeping only Julius for company. Lillith worried about what was happening when the pair closed Skyle's bedroom door. She had begged Raven, as the girl gathered up her coat to leave, to talk to Skyle and figure out what was going on with him.
"Please Aurora, Skyle talks to you, maybe he will tell you what the two of them are doing in there. I wouldn't even care if it turned out that they were lovers, I just want to know."
But Raven, or Aurora as she was known among them, refused, "No Lillith, what goes on behind closed doors is for Skyle and Julius only. I'm sure that when they are ready they will tell you."
Raven didn't quite know why she had refused to help Lillith, except that she could appreciate Skyle's need to keep secrets from his sister. Raven herself continually kept secrets from the pack in that tiny, dirty apartment. And they all understood this. Marcus and his bunch understood that Raven had secrets she had to keep; they did not know of her status as a Titan, they simply knew not to ask. They were content to have the occasional companionship of the "blond" chica who came and went as she pleased.
Raven stopped at the corner of the block on which her friend's apartment building resided. She was staring down on the river, admiring the way it curved down to the bay and her home, when the sound of someone calling her second name grabbed her attention.
"Aurora! Aurooooora!"
Raven turned and found Skyle climbing down the rusting fire escape outside his window. Julius's pale face hovered behind him in the bedroom.
Raven waited for Skyle to catch up with her on the sidewalk. She watched his thin, anemic form panting from the run and she felt an unusual pang of worry. Raven knew now what secrets Skyle was keeping from his sister Lillith; she recognized the signs of a growing crack fiend. She could pickup the stink from the burner in Skyle's clothes even out in the breezy street and she began to mourn for her doomed friend. He was only eighteen, like Raven.
"Hey, I'm glad I found you." His breathing was still labored and he paused to catch his breath, hands on knees and back bowed.
"What is it?"
"I was wondering what you were doing tonight."
"Nothing as far as I know," And this was true. Unless some jackass villain should suddenly pop up, Raven didn't have any definite plans for her evening.
"Well, Julius and I got some tickets to see Benito Alvarez tonight. Wanna come?"
"Who the hell is Benito Alvarez?"
Skyle's face broke in shock that she should even have to ask. "Are you kidding me? He's like… the rising star in underground boxing right now! A fucking prodigy! I can't believe you've never heard of him!"
"Sorry, I don't usually follow boxing, underground or otherwise."
"Well then you should totally come out with us tonight!"
"Oh…I don't know…uh." Raven was hesitant to travel anywhere with a pair of junkies after midnight.
Skyle seemed to pick up on this fact and his eager smile faltered somewhat. "You know, we actually have an extra ticket, me and Julius were just gonna scalp it but if you wanna bring a friend I guess that would be cool."
"Well…alright. Where should we meet?"
Skyle new enough not to ask to meet at her place, none of his group had the least idea where she lived anyway.
"Meet us on the corner of Westing and 84th at 11:00 tonight."
"Right. See you later." And as Raven turned the corner on her way home, she heard Skyle give a heavy, chest-heaving cough.
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Ten minutes later Raven had crossed the undeclared boundary out of the Lower City and was back in what most people considered to be the secure part of town. When she was sure no one she knew was watching her, she slipped into a deserted alley and transported herself home in a cloud of black power.
Back in her room in the tower again, Raven removed her short fair hair and put it safely away in her armoire. So now she had to shake up a friend to take to an underground boxing ring. Fun. Why did she always have to give in when Skyle asked for anything? Deep down, Raven really was a sucker for a wasted bum.
Raven lay back on her bed, thinking about how her life had changed in the last few years. Her father was gone, and with him it seemed as though all vestiges of true evil had been eradicated from this dimension. The only real threats the titans had to deal with anymore were minor criminals, thieves and con artists.
The titans were all growing up; Raven, Starfire, and Robin had celebrated their eighteenth birthdays in the last few months, Beastboy had just turned nineteen the past spring and Cyborg was looking forward to turning twenty-one with a burning passion.
Raven rolled onto her side and took in the small array of photographs of her family through the years arranged on her nightstand. There was Cyborg at fifteen grilling burgers in the park, Starfire at sixteen in a stunning black evening gown at a function thrown by the city, everyone circled around Robin at his eighteenth birthday as a lit cake illuminated their faces. They were all growing up and changing; the team still kept their uniforms, but now took to hanging around the tower in street clothes, Raven's jeans and black-lace corset-top giving testament to this fact.
Suddenly there was a light tapping on Raven's door.
She sighed deeply, "Come in."
The door opened to reveal Starfire looking very sweet in a pair of white women's lacrosse shorts and white sweatshirt. She looked slightly sweaty and a more than a little rumpled.
"Been sparring with the boys again?" Raven asked.
"Yes. I succeeded in beating Beastboy twice and Robin three out of four times. We tried to find you earlier but you had vanished. Where did your travels bring you to today?"
"I was just wandering around the city." Raven said evasively. Just as Skyle and the others didn't know about the Titans, neither did Raven's teammates know about them.
Starfire moved to join her friend on Raven's bed. "Oh, well I was curious to see if you would like to adjourn to the mall of shopping with me to purchase something to wear to the mayor's bicentennial revelries. They are next week if you will remember."
Raven swore, "Damn it all to hell! I'd completely forgotten. God above, why does Robin always insist that we go to these boring parties. He probably hates them more than all of us put together, it doesn't make sense."
"I believe that Robin thinks we have an image as a team to uphold and if going to a few city council soirées does us no harm, then what is the trouble. Besides, he does not make us go to every single party that we are invited to, just enough each year to keep us on good terms with the mayor."
"I guess your right about that, and also the fact that the two of us really need to go shopping."
"Well I can tell you actually mean that because I know how much you detest shopping!" Starfire laughed.
"You got that right. Let's just try to make this as quick and painless as possible."
"Agreed. I simply need to change my clothes before we set out." Starfire had risen to her feet, presumably to return to her own room, but with a swish of her hand Raven had transported the pair to Starfire's much brighter chamber.
"Thank you my friend." Starfire bounced over to her closet and began riffling through the contents as Raven relaxed on Star's bed.
"God though, I really do hate shopping." Raven groaned. "The boys get off so lucky. All they have do is throw on a tux and they're ready to go while the two of us are stuck spending a load of money on dresses we wear maybe once and then spending even more time getting ready for the god dammed party. Ugghhhhh!" She thumped one of Starfire's pillows for dramatic effect
Starfire had taken no real notice of any of this, she was far to use to Raven's rants about these situations. She pulled a short jean skirt and filmy white tunic out of her closet, throwing them on the bed next to her wallowing friend. A quick look inside her dresser provided her with a strapless white bra and lacy black thong, essentials for any girl preparing to try on evening gowns.
She stripped with Raven still in the room. It didn't really matter to Starfire; they had shared too much together over the years to really care if they saw the other naked.
But Raven studied her friend as she changed from a sports bra into her strapless. Starfire was quickly turning into a woman and Raven supposed that to some degree she was as well. She had witnessed it in the boys too, Robin and Beastboy more so than Cyborg, their broadening chests, the morning stubble before they had properly shaved, their pleasantly deeper voices. Starfire brought her out of her reverie.
"I am ready, shall we depart?" she said as the grabbed up a Prada knockoff purse bought from a man on a street corner, first checking to see that her wallet and credit card were inside; the titans were kept on a considerable yearly retainer by the city.
"If we must. Let's just let the guys know where we're going incase there's an emergency, like the time Beastboy couldn't open the peanut butter."
Starfire laughed, leading the way out of her bedroom and down into the main common room of the tower.
Cyborg was seated on the round couch speaking directly to the enormous TV screen on which Bumblebee's face was projected. The pair was giggling and didn't seem to have noticed that the two girls had appeared in the doorway.
Something told Raven and Starfire that this was a conversation best not intruded upon.
Instead they made their way stealthily past Cyborg into the kitchen where Beastboy stood next to the stove, one hand stirring the unseen contents of a large pot while the other held up a cookbook. The shifter was only allowed to cook if he promised to use a cookbook and recipes that did not involve tofu. Besides that he was actually a gifted cook whom greatly enjoyed the task.
"Hey girls," he said cheerfully, green skin slightly moist from the steam of his cookery. "I hope your hungry, I'm making vegan chili."
"Actually Star and I are going shopping now. We just wanted to let you guys know where we were going to be incase something came up." Raven moved to join Beastboy beside the stove. The bubbling chili actually smelled rather inviting and Raven marveled at how her juvenile green teammate had matured so quickly. He still retained his corny jokes but Raven found that they had grown her.
"What are you guys going out for?" he asked.
"We need new evening gowns for that fucking bicentennial thing next week."
"Right, well I'll let Robin know where you and Star are."
"Thanks."
"No problem." Beastboy responded.
Raven had turned back to Starfire where she stood in the kitchen doorway when Beastboy's hand on her arm halted her. His voice whispered in her ear, "Hold on a minute Raven." The green man turned his attention onto Starfire. "Why don't you go warm up the T-car, Starfire?"
"Oh, but Raven and I could very easily fly to the mall." The redhead said bemusedly.
"Yeah but the other guys and I decided that you need a lot more practice driving cars. We can't have you taking out anymore mail boxes, now can we?"
Starfire blushed, remembering her last disastrous cruise in Cyborg's baby. "Thank you Beastboy, you are always thinking ahead." She flitted out of the room.
"The keys are hanging in the garage!" Beastboy called after her before turning back to Raven.
"What do you want Beastboy? I'm kind of on a tight schedule here." Raven droned.
"Fine then, I'll get right to the point, Miss Uppity. It's about Starfire."
"Yeah?"
Beastboy seemed suddenly abashed. "Just…do you remember the last time you two went shopping for that Chinese ambassador's visit last spring?"
"Mmmhmm."
"And Starfire came home with that backless green silk dress?"
"Mmmhmm."
"And do you remember the way the ambassador's assistant reacted to her?"
"Yeah, the guy came on to her, big deal, he was pretty young, it wasn't sick. What about it?"
"Well, Robin almost tore the poor little guy's throat out."
"Well that is Robin's hang up, not mine, yours or Starfire's. So tell me now what you want or let me get on with my day."
"My point is, don't let Starfire come home with something else that will have every junior P.A. to the mayor drooling all over her. Cyborg and I don't want to spend the entire night pulling Robin off of whoever is dumb enough to hit on her."
"She has the right to wear whatever she wants, never mind what Robin thinks. If he is too much of a coward to tell Starfire how he feels, that is his problem."
Beastboy wore a confused look, "What do you mean Rae? Star knows that Robin is her best friend."
"Ok, first off, don't call me Rae. And secondly, are you really that dense? Am I the only one around here who can see what is right in front of all our eyes?"
"Apparently."
"I've seen inside his head before. Starfire might not know it, Robin might not know it, and I am not entirely sure if I know what I saw, but there is something in him for her besides friendship."
"Well then you see my point. Don't let Star buy anything too…too…well, you know."
"I got ya."
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The girls rode to the mall in almost total silence, though for very different reasons.
Starfire was trying desperately to concentrate on the rode, while Raven's mind was still too full of her conversation with Beastboy to bother making small talk.
Was Raven really the only one out of all the Titans who could see that their leader was attracted to the Tameranian princess? It seemed that way, or else Robin's odd behavior of the last few months wouldn't have had all of the others taken so by surprise. The lingering glances Robin cast over Starfire when he though no one was looking, the way his fists tightened up whenever the team was out in public and a man was foolish enough to so much as look at Starfire.
The way Starfire was the only one Robin would confide in.
Raven and Robin were close, true, but she was sure Robin felt something for Starfire besides normal friendly affection.
Was Raven really the only one on her team intelligent enough to figure that out?
That was just plain sad. Simply pathetic.
"We have arrived!" Starfire piped up as she carefully guided the T-car into a parking spot far away from any other vehicles.
"Peachy," Raven droned.
Starfire ignored her friend's pessimism.
Twenty minutes later the girls were walking slowly through a small boutique sequestered away in the back of the humongous mall, searching through racks of everything from cocktail dresses to ball gowns.
"Raven! How do you think I would look in this!" Raven turned to find Starfire holding up a great monstrosity of a dress, all fluffy gold taffeta and huge faux pearls. The redhead was fighting a losing battle against the urge to laugh at the expression on Raven's face.
The dark one said, with all the seriousness she possessed, "Put that thing back where it belongs before I kill you, and don't ever spring something that hideous on me again."
A salesgirl behind the counter coughed pointedly. Raven had to battle the urge to flip the little twit off.
As Raven fingered the hem of a gray silk evening dress, she had an unexpected flash of Skyle; his eyes were almost the exact same shade of gray as the dress. She still did not know what to do about that night.
"I am going to be in the dressing room Raven," Starfire said, breezing past in the direction of the stalls in the back of the shop.
And Raven suddenly had an absolutely crazy idea.
She mulled it over in the dressing room as she pinned her hair atop her head and stripped down to her skivvies and slipped into the gray silk. Dare she take Starfire out with her and the boys tonight? Boxing might not really be Star's thing. But then again, Starfire was a particularly talented fist-to-fist fighter; maybe she would appreciate a good spar.
Raven secured the dress's only hook at the base of her back and turned to check her self out in the mirror. Her breath caught in her throat.
The gown clung to Raven's body in all the right places, accentuating a thin waist and generous chest. The sleek fabric showed just enough cleavage to seem enticing without being overly slutty. The sleeves were secured just off of her shoulders to flow down to her wrists, where they belled out to sway with Raven's every movement. Someone gasped behind her.
Without Raven hearing her, Starfire had slipped thorough the curtain that served as the dressing stall door. She was wearing a floor length beaded affaire that would have looked gaudy on any other woman in the world, but somehow Starfire made it not only sexy, but also classy.
Champagne colored glass beads poured down a formfitting bodice to follow the skirt as it moved away from Starfire's body ever so subtly. The sleeves were smooth and French cut to rest lightly on the other girl's shoulders.
In short, Starfire was stunning.
The two girls stared at each other in wide-eyed amazement; neither had ever seen the other look more beautiful.
They locked eyes, grinned and nodded: these were the dresses.
As the pair stood at the register paying, Raven sprang the question she had been considering in the dressing room.
"Starfire, are you doing anything tonight?"
The other woman looked up from the display of rhinestone key chains next to the cash register she had been examining.
"Nothing in particular, why?"
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At 10:30 that night, Raven was busy pulling on a pair of blood red leather pants while Starfire fizzed with her long scarlet locks in Raven's bedroom mirror.
Starfire had both shocked and worried Raven when she appeared in Raven's room in a tight white dress cut so short, she would have heads turning all night. And given the company the girls would be in, that might not be the best of ideas.
But Rave had made such big deal to Beastboy about Starfire being allowed to wear whatever she wanted, that the only thing Raven had said to Starfire was to remind the girl not to bend over from the waist, unless she wanted a hundred perverts looking up her dress.
"Ready?"
"Ready"
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Ok, I know that was a totally crappy ending, but I have been trying to finish this for a few months now, and there is no way to cleanly end the first night without it stretching on for like 60 freaken pages. So I have posted this much for the moment with the promise that in the next two chapters this will become a totally awesome story (totally pompous…sooooooooooo don't care) anyway, the next few chappies will bring in Skyle and Julius again, introduce Benito Alvarez and his entourage and the gazillions of sexy offers that come w/ being a part of said entourage. Heh heh heh also soon in coming will be a major …well you will just have to wait and see, won't you? Heh heh heh