This could be considered a 'Season 6' episode.

I don't own Teen Titans.

The Setup

Robin had called a morning meeting, and all the titans were in the common room. He stood in front of the view screen, which displayed a huge background picture of Mumbo, with a map of the city overlaid which showed the locations of his attacks.

The other four Titans sat on the sofa. Beast Boy sat at one end, still not fully awake and trying to finish his bowl of Lucky Charms. Next to him was Cyborg with a large cup of coffee. Both boys had been up late the night before, watching a marathon of all three Back To The Future movies.

Starfire was checking her messages on a tablet device, and Raven sat at the other end, sipping her tea and finishing a bagel.

"Mumbo has been causing havoc all over town already this morning," Robin briefed them. "His targets are all completely random and we have no way to track him."

"Still just nonviolent stuff?" asked Cyborg.

"Yes," Robin confirmed. "He's using his powers to make ATM machines spit out Monopoly money, re-outfitting women in miniskirts, and filling police cars with shaving cream."

"At least it's only shaving cream this time," Beast Boy mumbled.

"I got another internet message from him," Raven said. "More pictures of him posing with 'Bunnyraven' memorabilia." Her distaste for that word was apparent.

"The Mumbo has a fascination with you, yes?" offered Starfire.

Raven rolled her eyes. "Why do I always attract the weird ones?"

"You know," Robin said, thinking out loud, "If Raven went out in public, Mumbo would probably approach her…"

"She couldn't be surrounded by all of us," Cyborg noted. "And she'd have to be doing something that he'd find interesting."

"He doesn't show up when I go to the coffee shop," Raven remarked.

"No wonder, that place is filled with freaks," Beast Boy muttered, but soon became aware of a glare from Raven. "I mean it is filled with totally normal, nice people just pursuing alternative lifestyles. Totally normal. Nothing freaky about that."

"Oooh, if she went out on a date with someone, that would certainly catch his attention," Starfire suggested.

"No," Raven said flatly.

"Yeah," Cyborg nodded thoughtfully. "That would be hard for him to resist."

"No way," Raven insisted.

"It is a pretty good idea," Robin agreed. "We can't just keep guessing where he is going to strike and being wrong, or discovering where he is too late. He's making fools out of us."

"Ok, fine," she grumbled. "Who wants to be my date?"

There was silence. Almost instantly she regretted saying that. Open mouth, insert foot.

"Well, don't everyone shout at once," she said sarcastically. A little bit of pink color was coming to her cheeks.

Robin was about to volunteer, but out of the corner of his eye he could see Starfire looking at him intently. He hesitated.

"Um, I guess I could do it," Beast Boy said reluctantly, breaking the silence.

Raven sighed. "That's great," she deadpanned. "Once again, I must be the luckiest girl alive." She stood up and walked toward the door. "I need to go meditate. Or kill myself. One of the two."

"That's what all my dates say!" Beast Boy quipped.

Raven went out the sliding metal door. No one could see, but she had a little involuntary smile on her face after Beast Boy's last remark.

"It's not a date! It's a decoy assignment," Robin insisted, as the door closed behind her. Then he looked at Beast Boy.

"Beast Boy, are you sure you can handle this? It's got to look realistic. You can't go to a fancy restaurant and be blowing bubbles in your drink with the straw up your nose."

"That was one time, one time! And it was two and a half years ago!"

"Yes, at my birthday celebration hosted by Batman," Robin noted dryly.

"Is that why we now only go out for the pizza?" Starfire asked.

"It's a contributing factor," Robin allowed.

"Hey, I only volunteered because no one else was speaking up! Raven was going to get all upset."

"I guess you'd know. You upset her so much," quipped Cyborg.

"I didn't hear you volunteering," he retorted.

"Hey, don't look at me! I was performing a Level 10 Diagnostic!" He made many lights blink in the transparent part of his half metal skull.

Starfire looked at Beast Boy with a sparkle in her eyes. "I think that was very sweet of you."

Beast Boy shrugged.

.

.

Later in the day, Raven was in her room, sitting on the foot of her bed, thinking. The lights were dimmed very low and she had several candles lit. The gargoyles and stone artifacts on the walls, and those on her bookcases, flickered in the candle light.

She was pulled out of her reverie by a knock on her door.

"It is Starfire. May I come in?"

"Uh, sure." Raven didn't get up; she used her power to press the button that unlocked the door, and she increased the brightness of the lights a bit. Starfire entered.

In the past year, Raven had loosened her policy and allowed her teammates into her room for brief period of time as long as they didn't interrupt her when she was meditating, sleeping, reading a good book, or obsessively thinking about characters in one of her good books. Other rules were: no snooping, no touching breakable items, and knowing when it was time to leave. Needless to say, Beast Boy had trouble with pretty much all of them. Still, she did allow him in from time to time.

Starfire was a little better, however, and so had slightly more access privileges. Most times she would simply drop by to chat about innocuous things, or show off something that she had bought, and that wasn't too annoying.

"Are you nervous about the date with friend Beast Boy?"

Raven sighed. Unfortunately, this didn't look like it was going to be one of those times.

"Starfire," Raven said, clearing her throat. "One: It's not a date; it's a decoy assignment. Two: I don't get nervous."

"But…" Starfire said diplomatically, "I am not aware of you previously going out on any dates."

"I've been out on dates," she said, a little defensively. "I just don't tell all of you about them."

Starfire looked hurt. "Why would you not tell me about them?"

Raven sighed. "Ok. Fine. Last year I went out a couple times with a boy I met at the coffee shop."

"Ooooh! What happened?"

"I'd rather not say."

"Please?"

"He wanted me to…bite him. He thought I could turn him into a vampire."

Starfire's eyes widened a little. "Did you do it?"

"No!" She paused to shake her head. "I told you I always get the weird ones."

Starfire looked puzzled for a moment.

"Starfire, you know I can't turn people into vampires, right?"

"Oh, I know that. I was just recalling that sometimes, after arguing with Beast Boy, you say to him 'Bite me!' and leave the room…"

"I don't mean for him to really do it! It's just an expression."

"So it means something like 'Goodbye'?"

"Uh…sure. That's one way to say goodbye to Beast Boy."

Starfire seemed satisfied. She turned the conversation back around to her real purpose.

"So what are you going to wear tomorrow?"

"Just what I've got on?"

"Oh, no, no. Robin has pulled some of the 'strings' to get you two into one of the finest restaurants in town, so the Mumbo will know it is important. You will have to do the 'dressing up'."

"I'm sure I will be fine."

"Let me give you a make over!" she suggested with excitement.

"No."

Starfire sighed with dejection.

"You always want to give me a make over in this type of story," Raven noted with a slight conciliatory smile. "You know I never let you."

"But you want to make a good impression on Beast Boy, do you not?"

"Starfire, this isn't a real date! And why should I care what impression I make on him?"

"Hmmm…I am curious. What would be different in a real date?"

"How should I know?" Raven said in exasperation. But Starfire was still looking at her, wanting a better answer. "OK, the boy would actually ask the girl out, for one thing."

"I see," Starfire said thoughtfully. "Thank you, Raven. I will leave you to your meditation now."

But Raven didn't meditate. Instead she lay on her back on the bed and stared at the ceiling. What had she gotten herself into?