A/N: Hope you like this. Also hopefully there's more dialogue in this one. The last one was a little tedious, sorry. Message me if you have questions. Thanks!
Disclaimer: I don't own the Teen Titans.
When the curtain opened and they started into their first song, Raven sighed. She enjoyed it, the rush of the crowd, but she was always sidelined, back in the corner strumming one or two bass notes during the entire song. She was talented. She could read and compose music, she could play other instruments, and she could play the bass really well. However, she never seemed to get that chance to just show off a little bit. Raven wasn't looking for the spotlight, she didn't want to be splashed across the tabloids like the others, but she wanted people to know what she could do.
Raven noticed Starfire smiling and blowing kisses to the crowd from behind her keyboard. Starfire was nervous when they first started playing, but now she loved the crowds and the fans. She got multiple marriage proposals per night, but she enjoyed flirting with the less serious and slightly crazy ones.
All of the boys appealed to the crowds. The younger girls in middle school or so loved Beast Boy, as did most of their fans in Japan. They liked his smile and they all wanted to wipe off his green face paint and find out what was underneath. Older girls liked Robin and his mysterious persona. Cyborg seemed to appeal more to older girls as well, but not as much as Robin did.
Raven didn't know where she fit in. She was still thinking about it when she made her way back to the bus after the show. She never had the amount of fans looking for autographs as the others did, and she didn't want to go to the parties, so she usually just headed straight for the bus. Her band mates would probably head out to an after party, stay up till the wee hours of the morning, and sleep on the bus ride to the next show. Raven didn't mind. She enjoyed her time alone.
"Hey Raven, why are you back at the bus so early?" Robin stuck his head in, startling her out of her ramblings.
"I always come straight back here. I don't have the crazed fans or marriage proposals to deal with." She replied stoically.
"That's kind of a shame." Robin said. "You're a central part of our group. Sometimes I think you are who really keeps us grounded."
"Well thanks. I'd rather hear that from you than praise from fans." Raven said honestly.
"I mean it. You're just as pretty as Starfire, maybe even prettier."
She raised an eyebrow. "Me? Are you serious?"
Raven could feel his intense look from behind his glasses. "Everyone's beautiful in their own way, and you definitely are." She could feel the blush creeping up on her cheeks as she realized how serious he was. "Come here." He offered her his hand, and she took it, standing up. He led her over to a mirror. "Have you ever really looked at yourself in the mirror?"
"Yeah, I suppose so." Looking in the mirror was actually an activity Raven only performed when it was extremely necessary. Doing so always made her feel… inadequate.
"No, I mean really looked yourself. Studied yourself. You can learn a lot about yourself that you never realized." He smiled at her, squeezed her shoulder and left the bus, leaving her feeling mystified.
She spent the rest of the night avoiding the mirror, trying to read, write, even watching some stupid show on TV, trying to stay away from that mirror. Sometime around 2 AM she gave up, and stood in front of it.
Raven looked into it, trying to see herself through his eyes. What had he meant during the entire conversation? How did he see her? When he looked at her, did he see a sister? A best friend? Or something else?
It made her brain hurt. Why did she even care what he thought? She stared into her reflection's eyes, deep and purple. They seemed to go on for miles, and they seemed to reveal nothing. Suddenly, a shade passed over them, and she was struck with a miraculous realization that he had promised. You care about him, more than for anything else.