Okay, I'm terrible at keeping my word. I'll probably end up posting on Sundays and Wednesdays though, because I love getting chapters out. I feel very, very accomplished.
So get ready for some Starfire. And some Robin/Raven friendship love.
Chapter Two
The students shuffled out of the auditorium, and this time, the students who thought Robin and Raven to be friends were correct. The two chatted endlessly as they exited, discussing everything from literature to United States History.
"No, you're wrong!" Robin insisted, shaking his head fiercely. "Nixon was the worst president. He completely betrayed the trust of his people by committing crimes so underhandedly. He lied and cheated and stole. Despicable," he practically spat.
"No, you're wrong," Raven retaliated. The two were fully arguing now as they headed towards the Common Room where they would get their schedules and roommates and other valuable information. It was a long way off, and they had separated from the rest of the freshmen due to their incessant chatter and had opted for a quieter albeit longer route. "Jackson was the worst president. He failed to maintain the balance between the branches of the government, completely defying the Supreme Court and going ahead with prejudiced actions towards the Native Americans. To let such power become tainted and unbalanced is the highest crime a president can commit. And he was racist," Raven added haughtily.
Robin glared at her, and Raven glared at him. Finally, he laughed and rubbed the back of his neck in what looked like defeat. "Alright, both of them are bad." Raven nodded firmly and continued to walk, comfortable silence filling the absence of chatter.
"It's funny how our choices were so reflective of our personalities," Raven commented suddenly.
"What do you mean?" Robin asked curiously.
"You dislike Nixon because you think betrayal is the worst thing a person can do. You find trust a sacred thing, a responsibility to be dealt with carefully, and breaking that trust in unforgivable. Am I right?" Raven asked. Robin nodded slowly, and Raven smiled triumphantly. All that time of silence and observation had helped her understand people quickly and deeply in a short amount of time – proven by her new friendship with Robin.
But there was something different about Robin – they connected surprisingly well. She knew Robin could feel it, too.
"And you think Jackson is the worst president because not being careful with power and responsibility is what you fear the most," Robin commented.
"Fear?" Raven repeated, almost challenging him as she narrowed her eyes at him.
"Well, yeah. I mean, thinking something is the worst thing a person can do is kind of like fearing it. I think betrayal is unforgivable because I'm afraid that one day, I'll let down the trust of the people I care about most. So you must be afraid of losing control of your powers," Robin shrugged, not meeting Raven's eyes as he admitted one of his own fears to a girl he had just met.
She stared at him, and after a long pause, nodded. "You're right."
The two walked quietly from then on, not saying much until they were right in front of the Common Room. Before they walked in, Raven put a hand on Robin's shoulder, and said, "Thanks for sharing that fear with me."
Robin smiled at her with the carefree abandon of a child, completely different than the first impression she had of him. "You make me feel comfortable" he said with a shrug. Before Raven could respond, he turned and went towards the Male line.
She raised an eyebrow, but went to the Female line, waiting behind a girl with long red curls. Wasn't it annoying to wash? It was down to her waist, and it was probably full of split ends.. She had chopped off all of her hair a week before she started her journey to Jump City from Azarath. Arella had always wanted Raven to have long hair, and until a week ago, her hair had been the same length as the girl in front of her. But it made showering exhausting, and if she was going to train, she needed her hair out of her face at all times.
Before she knew it, she was second in line, and the girl in front of her was receiving her things. But instead of moving out of line, she was flipping through the papers, oblivious to the expectant stares of the people around her. "Who is Raven?" she called out as she turned to examine the area, her voice high and much more girlish than Raven had been expected. The stunning shade of red had made her assume that the girl was a fierce, strong character, as well... but now that she could see her face, it was clear that this girl was not that sort of girl. Her face was open and sweet, and undoubtedly alien.
"I am," Raven said reluctantly as she raised her hand, already feeling that this wasn't going to end well.
The girl beamed at her and embraced her so tightly, Raven was positive her face turned the same shade as her hair. "I am pleased to meet you, roommate Raven!"
"Roommate?" Raven repeated, alarms ringing all over her body. This cheerful, bubbly girl was going to be her roommate?
So, Arella, I think I might have to come back from Hive... They might get mad because I just killed one of their happiest students, Raven imagined telling her mother back at Azarath.
"Yes, roommate! We will have the most delightful of times, I assure you! We will paint our toes and adorn our hair with the shining ornaments known as hair clips and-"
"I should get my stuff first," Raven interrupted, moving around the girl and sending the lady behind the desk a begging glance with her eyes. The woman smirked and shook her head as she flipped through a large folder before pulling out a folder.
"Raven, I assume?" she mocked.
"Yes," Raven said dryly, taking the folder and flipping through it. Starfire. So that was Miss America's name. Or maybe not Miss America; her skin was a unique shade of orange that couldn't come from human genes or a spray tan, and her eyes were completely green, so she must be from outer space.
Before she could skim through the rest of the large packet of papers, Starfire grabbed her wrist and pulled her with a strength that would have sent Raven to the ground if she wasn't so quick on her feet. Her new roommate dragged Raven out of the Common Room and up the stairs, most likely heading for the room they would now share.
"Glorious!" she bellowed at the top of her lungs as she sped forward, as the girl she held onto muttered beneath her breath and looked absolutely miserable.
"Yeah. Glorious."
"This room is most wonderful, is it not?"
"Yeah, it's great, Starfire."
"Oh, please, let us shorten our names and use them to call one another in a sign of affection and friendship!" the alien girl said cheerfully, lifting a pointed finger as she continued to ramble.
"You mean give each other nicknames?" Raven clarified, her back turned to her new roommate as she dropped a few large bags onto a bed.
"Yes!" Starfire clapped, pleased that she had a name to go with the act of shortening names. "I hear it is an action meant for people who are dear friends, and we are certainly friends! Only friends would choose to live with each other for the entirety of four years!"
"Four years?" Raven turned around with wide eyes, and Starfire nodded her head happily, oblivious to the darkening of her new roommate's cheeks and the horror dripping in her eyes. Aghast, the Azarathian sat down on her bed and stared at Starfire in dread. "Four years," she murmured, deciding not to mention that neither of them had chosen each other for roommates. She didn't make friends easily, Robin being the only exception as of yet, and she would have preferred a quieter roommate, one who would slip in and out without starting small talk or attempting to establish close girlish bonds.
But she had Starfire now, and she might as well get used to it.
"Well, then, I guess we better start getting comfortable now," Raven said hesitantly, if not slightly unwillingly. Starfire flew over – literally flew over – and took the seat by Raven, scooting her luggage aside with little trouble. The perky girl beamed at Raven, who managed a weak smile in return.
"We will be great friends," Starfire said, "and I am excited to share all of the next four years with you!"
"Yeah, me too," Raven lied. She's nice, she mentally scolded herself, she's sweet, and she wants to be your friend. What's wrong with that?
She really had to relax and stop being so reclusive.
With that thought in mind, Raven levitated and turned her body towards Starfire, resolving to dedicate her efforts to befriending the sweet alien girl. "So where are you from? Not from Earth, obviously," Raven managed to joke.
Starfire giggled, but Raven saw a slight spark of insecurity in the bright green of her eyes. "You can tell?" she said nervously, affirming Raven's suspicions: she was incredibly self-conscious about her presence on Earth, and more than a little scared to be at Hive.
Raven nodded, feeling sympathy for a girl who felt as much as of an outsider as she did; Azarath was so different than the rest of the world, and it felt like she was from outer space, too. She didn't reach out physically in comfort, but Starfire seemed to sense the softening of Raven's heart, and she brightened slightly.
"I am from Tamaran, a planet light years away," Starfire explained, considerably more interested in telling her story than before. "I have read much of Earth and its inhabitants, and I thought... I thought it would be nice to make myself a home here."
"Tamaran isn't your home?" Raven probed gently.
Starfire stiffened slightly and turned her head away, giving off such strong sadness that Raven wouldn't have needed to call upon her powers as an empath even if she wanted to. "No," she replied simply.
A little uncomfortable but affected by Starfire's sudden unhappiness, Raven reached out and put her hand on Starfire's shoulder, smiling when her confused roommate met her eyes. "Well then, welcome home, Starfire."
"Eeeeeh!" Starfire's squeal shocked Raven and prevented her from fighting the arms that suffocated Raven again. She flailed her arms in a futile attempt to break free from the Tamaranian's strong grip, her face turning white as she struggled to maintain her breathing.
"St... Star... Starf-"
"Star! What a glorious nickname!" Starfire pulled back and beamed. Raven took a deep breath, relieved and grateful for the gust of air that paraded through her lungs.
"A nick-ack!" Raven gasped for a precious gulp of air as she was once again smothered by another one of Star's quickly-becoming-infamous death hugs.
"Yes, a nickname! Star for me, and for you... Rae!"
At that horrid idea, Raven used her powers to unwrap the orange arms from her neck and shook her head stubbornly. "No. No Rae. Just Raven."
Her roommate pouted, but she wouldn't fall for it. Nope, Rae just would not work, Rae was not a good nickname at all...
"Fine," Starfire heeded. She glanced towards the clock on the other side of the room and gasped. "Raven! We must go to class!"
"Class? What, how do you know – let go of my arm!"
"Welcome to Survival Training," a large muscular man boomed as two rather skinny girls walked in. "Take a seat wherever you like!" he said as he thought, If I had that metabolism...
Starfire giggled once they were past their new teacher, eliciting a questioning glance from Raven. "He has lightning bolts fastened to his head; it is quite ridiculous," she whispered, her quiet giggles becoming more and more audible as time passed.
Raven looked over her shoulder and, when she was certain that Flash hadn't heard her, chuckled (because Azarathians do not giggle) with her new friend. "I guess it does look pretty silly," she conceded.
"Hey, Raven! Over here!"
At the familiar voice, Raven brightened and headed towards Robin's direction. "This way; I have a friend here," she explained when she saw Starfire, frozen a few feet behind her, looking surprised and a little scared.
"Oh!" Starfire exclaimed, her entire body relaxing in relief. She began to walk after Raven, exclaiming, "how fortunate you are, to have a friend already!"
"Yeah, sure," Raven said absent-mindedly, wondering who Robin had for a roommate. Would he mind if she brought her roommate with her? Probably not; he didn't seem the type to hate people immediately... unless they bumped into him, anyway...
"Oh, I apologize profusely!" Starfire's apology brought Raven back from her thoughts. When she turned around to see what had happened, her insides immediately began to drain.
In her deep thinking, Raven had passed Robin's seat, and to grab her attention, he had stood up... only to have Starfire collide into him seconds after.
Wasn't she just recalling how angry Robin had been when someone had crashed into him...?
Raven rushed over, ready to act as the mediator, but it wasn't necessary; Robin laughed and waved the incident away with a few words of introductions, holding out his hand. Starfire took it and shook it with vehemence. Raven smirked when she realized Robin was wincing and murmuring under his breath about "stronger than she looks" as he turned around before he saw her.
"Raven!" he called, "over here."
The three sat by each other, Raven uncomfortably placed in the middle. The room was relatively simple; incredibly spacious, the walls shaped it like a large oval, and the chairs were constructed so that there was a space in the center made only of earth. The seats were made of a dark metal that Raven couldn't name, and placed on a platform that rose a few inches above the dirt.
"How's your roommate, Robin?" Raven asked, turning to the boy on her left.
He shrugged. "His name's Speedy. We already know each other, so at least it's not a complete stranger. He's pretty cool."
"Aw, you think I'm cool?"
The three students turned towards the new voice, and found a redhead smirking at them confidently, arms crossed. He jumped over the row of seats separating the two parties and sat by Starfire, leaning in and examining her as the girl shifted nervously. "You're Tamaranian, aren't you?" he suddenly said, looking pleased with himself when the girl clapped her heads happily.
"How did you know?" she queried.
"Oh, I had a thing with a girl who had the same eyes," he said, leaning back against his chair and resting his head on the back of his seat. After a moment of silence, he turned to me, noticing me for what seemed to be the first time. "Hey, you must be the girl Boy Wonder over here mentioned."
"I only said you were one of the only smart girls here," Robin quickly said.
"The only smart girl here?" Starfire repeated, a fiery and oddly short eyebrow arched teasingly at Robin.
He laughed nervously and said, "One of them."
"I'm Raven," said the purple-haired girl, interrupting her new friends' banter and focusing on Speedy.
"Like Robin said, I'm Speedy, the best archer here." The 'best archer here' pulled out an arrow and blew at its tip, sending a wink at Starfire as he did so. The girl blushed at his attention. He slid the arrow back into the bag at his back and commented, "Looks like the class isn't going to start for a bit. How about you and I get acquainted?"
Starfire and Speedy quickly indulged themselves in a deep conversation about Tamaran and whatever else the two had in common as Robin shook his head to himself and looked knowingly at Raven. "He thinks he's such a lady killer," he whispered.
Raven smirked and nodded her head in agreement. "So do you, I bet," she added softly, waiting for his reaction.
"What?!" he scoffed defensively, "I'm not."
"You think she's cute," Raven deadpanned factually.
"Do not."
"Do too."
"Do not."
"Stop bickering over there, Mr. and Mrs. Boy Wonder!" Speedy called out. Starfire smacked his arm playfully, whispering something along the lines of "leave them alone." Raven smiled smugly when he rubbed the spot, the signs of a bruise clear to her all-seeing eyes.
"Besides, it doesn't even matter; she likes him," Robin said dejectedly.
Raven rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. "She just met him."
"She just met me, too!"
"Exactly. Go get the prize."
Robin glared at Raven, who returned the scornful gaze. Finally, he shook his head and smiled, changing the subject to a more agreeable one. "Do you think she'll want to be a part of our team?"
"Team?"
"Yeah. You heard Headmaster; we should be choosing a team now. I bet most people here don't even know who they want on their team. They're probably too focused on Hive to think of the bigger picture. But we're one step ahead, and we can beat them. We just have to be on the lookout early." Robin smacked his open palm with a fist, looking so determined and serious Raven couldn't help but believe all of his droning on about 'getting ahead of the game' and 'being on top.'
"You don't even know my powers, though, much less Starfire's," Raven insisted.
"I don't need to," Robin shrugged. "I know enough. Besides, isn't that why we're here anyway? To learn?"
Raven evaluated him for a few minutes, gauging whether he was sincere or not. He looked serious; he looked eager, young, brimming with enthusiasm and excitement and an overly competitive nature. He really wanted her on his team. She could understand him wanting Starfire; he was clearly interested in her, and she was beautiful enough to catch anyone's eye. But Raven was new to the world as a whole, having been sheltered in Azarath her entire life. She didn't particularly understand why he would want her, too; she had told him just how little she knew of the real world.
Finally, she gave in. She had nothing better to do, after all.
"I'm in."
"Great!" Robin beamed.
"And Robin?"
"Yeah?"
"For all that it's worth, I think Starfire would be more than happy to join our team."
"Great!"
"And Robin?"
"Yeah?"
"I think you're better suited for her than Mr. Greatest Archer Here."
"Uh, anyway, who else do you think should be on our team? That guy over there looks pretty strong but also kind of stupid, like he has no idea what kind of cheese molds the fastest, which is pretty standard for any guy who eats as much as he does, because look at how big he is-"
Raven smiled. Her first day at Hive was already starting to turn out very, very interesting.
I don't even want to think about who Starfire kissed to learn English. But we'll pretend it was some random boy who was freaked out and ran away.
You guys might have thought her arguing with Robin didn't fit Raven, but that was kind of the point. I wanted to emphasize the connection they had and how quickly the two became friends, and that translated into how comfortable she was and how she let herself just get kind of feisty with him as they argued!
And please don't hate on Speedy! I really really like him. Hitting on Starfire fit his character, but that doesn't mean he's a bad guy. He just likes girls, and there is nothing wrong with that, even if he does get in the way of everyone's OTP. He just makes a little bit of a bad impression, though, doesn't he? My boy.
