Thanks to my Beta Reader Darth Azrael, and my readers and reviewers! :))

I'm going to try and upload twice a week? Don't know if I can keep up with that pace but I'll try...

Anyway, on with the chapter!

Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans or the songs I use.


Dear Maria, Count Me In

Alex sighed dramatically as she watched the TV alone one day in the Titans Tower, with Raven sitting in the adjacent chair. Everyone else, apparently, was busy doing their own thing, and Alex was just plain bored. Sighing again, Alex changed positions in the chair to watch the TV upside down to see if that would make it anymore entertaining.

It just made her feel dizzy.

Sighing again, she looked at the Game Station and had a brilliant idea, but then frowned once she realized she had no one to play with.

She glanced over at Raven, who seemed to have somehow read her mind because she immediately said, "No," flipping a page of her book.

"Aw, but Raven—" Alex started, sitting upright

"No."

"You know you want to..."

"No, I don't. Leave me alone."

"But it's more fun with two people..." Alex whined.

"Go get someone else."

"But they're all busy."

"What does it look like I'm doing?"

"But you can read whenever you want. Come on, I'm so bored."

"That sounds like a personal problem."

Alex huffed in her seat for a second, like she had given up. After a few moments of quiet fuming, she continued to whine, "Raven..."

"No."

"Fine. I'll just sit here and watch TV then." Alex huffed again, crossing her arms as she stared at the screen in front of her.

A few moments passed as the two did their own thing before Raven had to ask, "Can't you just play by yourself?"

"It's not as much fun." Alex answered.

Nodding, Raven once again began reading before a sliver of guilt began gnawing itself inside her. She tried to ignore it until she glanced up at Alex and noticed how she looked absolutely adorable with the way she was pouting, arms crossed and sunk into the sofa.

...But there was no way she just thought that.

Sighing, she walked over to Alex and sat next to her, picking up a controller on her way. "How do you work this thing."

Alex gasped in shock, "Really? What game do you want to play?" She asked, not being able to hold back her grin.

Raven raked her eyes over the games in front of her and stopped as soon as she saw Zombie Hunter 4, "That one." She pointed.

Alex chuckled, "Good choice." She said, putting it in, "Now, do you want to be on the same team or against each other? Either way we're kind of against each other, because we're going for more points. But if we're literally against each other we try to kill each other."

"Same team." Raven answered. She never played before; she didn't want to see the wrath of Alex against her.

Alex smirked, "Good choice." She said as she showed Raven which buttons did what, "Remember, this shoots, this blocks. I got those two confused for the longest time."

"Got it."

"Ready?"

"Yeah."

"You sure?"

"Yes."

"Okay. Kill as many zombies as you can...and...go!" Alex said, pressing the 'start' button on her controller, and the game started, immediately sending a wave of zombies towards their virtual characters. "You realize that I'm on the right, and you're on the left, don't you?"

"...Yes."

"Okay." Alex chucked. A few more moments passed by and the sounds of shots and zombies being slain were heard, before Alex looked over and saw Raven's health, "No, ahh, Raven. Don't die; I come save you..." She said in a playful voice, as she sent her character to heal Raven's. "No! Ah! What are you doing! Don't shoot me!"

"...You looked like a zombie." Raven replied sheepishly as the screen flashed PLAYER 1 DEAD.

Alex bowed her head and sighed, "That's okay. I had a bonus so I should be revived in a few seconds. Just don't. Shoot me."

"Okay." Raven said

Alex revived a few moments later and stayed in the same corner as Raven's character as they shot at the zombies. As Alex looked over at Raven's screen, she realized that Raven was barely hitting any zombies at all, and was practically dying again. She had to giggle.

"What?" Raven asked.

"Nothing." Alex replied, before another softer laugh escaped.

"What?" Raven persisted.

"You just...kind of suck at this, you know?" Alex answered, still giggling.

Raven's face fell. The only reason she was even doing this was to make Alex happy, and that's what she gets out of it? Raven quickly lifted a hand off her controller and waved it in the air, concentrating on Alex's controller as it was surrounded in a black aura before it was whipped out of Alex's hands and thrown across the room. Satisfied, Raven went back to playing the game with a smirk on her lips.

Alex, on the other hand, was completely dumbfounded. With wide eyes, she looked over at Raven, and saw the smirk playing at her lips, "Hey!" Alex called out, though not being able to hold back a grin, surprised that Raven would do such a thing, "That's cheating! You are such a cheater."

Raven seemed to completely ignore Alex's name-calling and continued the game, so Alex reached over and grabbed Raven's controller and phased it away from her grasp. Shocked, Raven looked over at Alex who was grinning from ear to ear, wagging the controller she just stole.

By now, the screen was blinking PLAYER 1 DEAD; PLAYER 2 DEAD.

"Give it back." Raven warned, narrowing her eyes.

"No." Alex continued grinning. "Not until you admit you're a cheater."

Raven growled and reached for the controller, only for Alex to lean back out of her reach. Raven scooted closer, and Alex leaned back farther away, still grinning. Sitting back, Raven glared at Alex as she waved the controller back and forth tauntingly. Raven wondered if it was really worth it. Then she saw the smirk playing at Alex's lips, and decided that yeah, it really was. Raven practically tackled Alex on the couch, and tried to grab it out of Alex's hands. However, shocked by being tackled, Alex dropped the controller on the floor. Raven, still on top of Alex at the time, realized this and looked down at Alex, who was still in shock that Raven tackled her. They both looked at each other and blinked before they raced off the couch and grabbed for the controller, only for Alex to reach it first.

"Ha! Ahh!" Alex said, as Raven once again tackled her, reaching for the controller, "No! Admit it! You cheated!" Alex laughed.

"Give it!" Raven reached again, laughing softly. Raven was actually having fun. And laughing. She couldn't remember the last time she felt that light-hearted.

"Never!" Alex said, still laughing. Every time Raven reached for the controller, Alex would phase it through the ground, and then bring it back out to tease Raven into reaching for it again.

"Ahem..." They heard, and quickly looked over to see an amused Cyborg, an awestruck Beast Boy, and a smirking Robin.

Raven blushed and immediately off of Alex, clearing her throat she said, "She started it." Pointing down at Alex.

Alex got up as well, blushing; she did a double take, "What? You're the one who cheated!"

"Oh...my...god..." Beast Boy started. "You got Raven to play a video game!"

Alex just cleared her throat while Raven developed into her soul self and disappeared.

"Well...that wasn't weird." Cyborg smirked.

"No. No it wasn't." Alex replied still blushing, wishing she could disappear much in the same way Raven did.

XXX

Later that afternoon the group decided to take advantage of the beautiful day and go to the park with Titans East. Alex, having never met anyone from Titans East before, finally met Bumblebee, Aqualad, Speedy, and Mas y Menos.

"It's nice to finally meet the almighty Alex," Speedy grinned charmingly, grabbing Alex's hand and giving it a quick peck.

"Uh...nice to meet you too..." Alex said, slowly pulling her hand away.

"Please ignore him; he flirts with everything that moves." Bumblebee said, rolling her eyes. When Speedy's hands began to wander further upward, Bumblebee smacked his hands and said, "Hands to yourself snowbird." Speedy whipped around and held his face inches from Bumblebee's.

"Don't you ever, call me that again.", Speedy said with acid in his voice before storming off. Alex thought about what a snowbird was, then gasped.

"He was a—", was all she got out before Bumblebee cut her off,

"He doesn't like to talk about it, was a dark part of his life. He told me that in confidence, and I shouldn't have called him that." Bumblebee said*. "Sorry about his flirting though", she said.

"Sounds kind of familiar." Alex said, glancing at Beast Boy.

"What?" Beast Boy asked innocently, rubbing the back of his neck, catching her glance.

"Nothing." Alex giggled.

"Yo, who's up for a game of football?" Cyborg called, tossing a football into the air.

All the guys immediately save for Aqualad jumped in, "Maybe next time." Aqualad said as he waved everyone off, walking away. Everyone just shrugged and waved him goodbye.

"You know I'm not missing a chance to beat the crap out of these morons." Bumblebee said, motioning towards the guys.

"I would enjoy a game as well. I think I am finally starting to understand your rules." Starfire nodded.

"Alright, that makes the teams even." Cyborg said.

Robin and Bumblebee were respective team leaders, picking their teams. In the end Robin had Starfire, Mas, and Beast Boy, while Bumblebee had Cyborg, Speedy, and Menos.

Alex and Raven sat quietly at a bench while they watched the others play. "Oh-ho! Beast Boy just got owned by Menos!" Alex laughed, "Who knew he had it in him?"

Raven, who was barely paying any actual attention to the game, looked over at Alex who was cheering both teams on and laughing.

"And...Touchdown for Cyborg!" Alex cheered, getting up from her seat and clapping wildly. Cyborg noticed and grinned from ear to ear, even doing a Touchdown jig for a moment. The others laughed at his antics.

"Lucky break!" Robin said, Cyborg just snorted in response.

After Alex cheered for a few more minutes, Raven looked over and asked, "Why don't you just go play?"

Alex looked like she was unsure for a moment, "I would make the teams uneven..." She said, before she had an idea, "Raven—"

"No."

"You don't even know what I'm going to say."

"I'm an empath, yes I do, and the answer is no."

"Okay...maybe you do. But it would be fun, come on..."

"No."

"You know you want to..."

Raven immediately flashed back to earlier that morning when Alex somehow convinced her to play a video game, and she somehow did end up having fun. But she was also more humiliated than she could remember in her entire life.

"No."

Alex sighed, "Fine, I'll go see if I can find Aqualad and ask him to play."

Satisfied, Raven nodded as Alex got up and searched for Aqualad. It wasn't long until she felt a nagging feeling being to arise within her as she watched Alex walk away. She wasn't quite sure what it was, but whatever it may have been, she was sure she didn't like it. Soon enough, Raven grumbled to herself and walked up to Alex, who had by that time stopped in her tracks, and grabbed her by the shoulder.

"Fine." She mumbled.

Alex turned around, shock evident on her face, "Really?"

"Just one game."

"Yay!" Alex resisted the urge to jump up and down, "Let's go join them." She said, walking next to Raven. She had trouble keeping pace with Raven as Raven walked normally, while Alex wanted to rush up to the group. After they reached the field, Alex and Raven walked up to Robin, Starfire, Beast Boy and Mas as they were in a small huddle, "Care for a couple more?"

Robin glanced up at Alex and then noticed Raven and did a double take, looking at her quizzically, "Raven?"

Raven just muttered something incoherent in response.

The rest of the group soon noticed her and looked at her quizzically, Mas even poked her in the leg, making sure she was actually there, earning a small growl from Raven.

"Yo! What's the hold up?" Cyborg called from the other side of the field.

"Alex and Raven want to join!" Beast Boy called.

After the group across the field stared at Raven for a moment in quizzical silence, Cyborg called over, "Well one of y'all come on over here then!"

"Me!" Beast Boy volunteered quickly, raising his hand, "There's no way I'm missing a chance at this." He smirked, glancing at Raven, who just rolled her eyes as he made his way over to the other group.

Robin called for another huddle, "Alright, here's what we'll do. Since they have the ball again, we'll try to rush them and sack Cy. But keep yours eyes open for the ball, okay?" Everyone nodded. "Alright."

Everyone got into their positions with Raven crouching at the end across from Beast Boy who smirked evilly at her. Next to him was Speedy, who kissed in the air playfully towards Alex across from him, who just rolled her eyes in disgust. Next to her was Robin, pure determination in his eyes as he looked at Bumblebee across from him, and behind her was Cyborg ready to call for the ball. Next to Bumblebee was Menos, staring at an equally determined Mas, who was standing next to Starfire.

"Hut, hut, hike!" Cyborg called, reaching out for the ball. As soon as he got the ball, Alex knocked Speedy to the ground, shocking him with her prowess, and went straight for Cyborg. However, before she could reach him, she was tackled to the ground with an 'umph'.

Shaking her head, she opened her eyes to see an array of familiar violet-blue hair. "Raven." Alex called, and said girl lifted her head off of Alex's shoulder to look into her eyes, also with a confused look, "You know you're supposed to tackle the other team, right?"

Raven's face fell. The last thing she remembered was a green blur and the feeling of being pushed. Narrowing her eyes, she said, "Beast Boy pushed me."

Alex chuckled, remembering earlier that morning when Raven had tackled her to the ground not only once, but twice. And all the times Raven and her had sparred, Raven had won and tackled her to the ground with a smirk on her face.

Alex smirked, "Or you just like being on top."

Raven's eyes widened. Did Alex say what she thought she heard? Alex's smirking lips confirmed that indeed, she did. Raven couldn't contain the blush that spread across her cheeks. Quickly regaining her composure, Raven leaned down and whispered into Alex's ear, "I always just figured you liked it that way." After saying that, Raven looked back at Alex, who looked like she was having trouble breathing, and had turned red. Mistaking it for her weight, Raven quickly got off and offered Alex a hand up.

"I'm okay." Alex said, clearing her throat, though her face was still red.

"Oh, I just came over to see if the two of you were alright, you were down for an awfully long time." Starfire said. "I was wondering if you needed any assistance, but you seem alright."

"Yeah...we're fine." Alex said, nervously combing her fingers through her hair.

"We are taking a break from the Earthly game for dinner, would you like to join us?"

"Sure. That sounds great."

"Wonderful! I shall go tell the others that you are joining us." Starfire said, clasping her hands together as she walked off towards the group, who had already began taking out the food from the picnic baskets.

Alex began following Starfire until she felt something randomly patting on her rear end. Looking behind her curiously, she saw Raven caught red handed with an outstretched hand. "Uh?..."

"...You have grass on you." Raven answered, looking away awkwardly.

"Oh. Thanks." Alex said trying to pat it off herself.

"No, you missed some." Raven said, swatting Alex's hand away. Reaching down she swatted the rest of the grass away.

"Thanks..." Alex said, trying to hide her blush.

"Yeah."

"Well, if you two are finished groping each other, can we eat now?" Beast Boy asked with a smirk as he walked up.

Alex and Raven immediately froze before Alex glared, "What?"

"Raven was totally grabbing your ass just then." He said wiggling his brows, "Hot."

"No—she—I—" Alex stuttered, before she huffed, "It doesn't even matter."

"So you admit—"

"Go away before I hurt you." Raven warned, eyes glowing white.

Beast Boy chuckled nervously before he ran off towards the rest of the group.

"See, why can't I have that effect on him?" Alex asked.

"It took years. It starts by calling him by his first name." Raven said.

"Which is?", Alex asked. Raven smirked.

"Garfield.", she responded.

"Hey guys! Guess what I just saw Raven doing to Alex!" Beast Boy shouted.

Alex face-palmed, "I'm going to kill him." She said and immediately ran towards him, "Beast Boy! Get over hear you idiot!"

The rest of the group watched in wonder as Alex chased Beast Boy around the field as he cried out every once in a while in submission while she yelled out threats.

"Stop running Garfield!" Alex huffed.

"Stop chasing me!" Beast Boy countered.

Raven wandered over to the group and watched Alex chase Beast Boy in amusement.

"...What's going on?" Robin asked in curiosity.

Raven simply shrugged as she took a bite out of a carrot that was lying out on a plate.

"Raven, for some reason, you eating that carrot reminds me of that time when we were all transformed into animals by Mumbo Jumbo and you were a rabbit." Starfire said, furrowing her brows in thought.

"You say that every time I eat a carrot, Star."

Alex happened to run by at this moment, catching what Starfire said. Not believing what she heard, she turned around and tried to catch her breath as she stood next to Raven, doing odd hand movements as she tried to act out what she was trying to say.

"You...rabbit?" Alex huffed out as she caught her breath. Raven just looked at her rather quizzically. Eventually Alex took a deep breath, "You were transformed into a rabbit?"

Raven's face fell at the memory, "Yes."

Alex tried her very, very hardest to keep her laughter in. But as she looked over Raven, who nearly always had an emotionless look on her face, and imagined her transformed into a cute fluffy rabbit, with ears and paws and fur, and she just couldn't hold it in any longer. Holding on to the table in front of her for support, she began laughing hysterically. She even snorted.

"It's really not that funny." Raven said.

"I'm—I'm sorry." Alex said through her laughter. "You must have been so adorable!"

"Indeed she was!" Starfire agreed, nodding vigorously.

"Shouldn't you be chasing Beast Boy?" Raven asked, trying to change the subject.

"He morphed into a bird and flew away..." Alex said, still grinning. "Anyway, someone please tell me the story. I want to know everything about this."

Raven rolled her eyes, while Cyborg volunteered to tell the story as everyone ate their dinner. Laughter rang around the table as he told what animals the Titans were turned into and that Beast Boy wasn't an animal at all. During the rest of the story everyone was hanging on every word Cyborg had to say.

"That must have been awesome." Alex said at the end of the story, before she quirked her head to the side in thought, "I wonder what animal I would have been, though."

"A platypus." Beast Boy offered. He had come back halfway through the story and began digging into his dinner.

Alex's face fell, "Really? That's all you've got?"

"Perhaps an eagle, because that is your favorite animal." Starfire suggested.

Alex shrugged, "That would be pretty cool I guess..."

"A red kite." Raven suddenly offered.

"Uhh, Raven, I hate to burst your bubble, but we're talking about animals." Speedy said, waving towards Beast Boy, who rolled his eyes.

"A red kite is a bird, douche bag. They're elegant and beautiful." He said as he morphed into one and ruffled his feathers. "See?"

Alex studied the medium sized bird and raised a curious brow, "You really think so, Raven?"

Raven shrugged and looked away, "It fits you."

Alex blushed as she realized Raven practically called her beautiful and elegant. "Thanks."

"Your welcome."

"Well, I still think she'd be a platypus." Beast Boy said before morphing back. "Because no one knows what the heck those are."

"Wait, you're saying no one knows what I am?" Alex asked.

"Yeah, who knows what's hiding under that jacket." He joked.

Alex waved a dismissive hand, rolling her eyes, "Like I'd ever show you."

"Ooooo" The group called.

Beast Boy huffed before he suddenly smirked evilly, "I bet you'd show Raven." he said, wiggling his brows suggestively.

"Whoa. What's that supposed to mean?" Speedy asked, raising a curious masked brow.

"Can it snowbird. Beast Boy don't you da—" Alex started.

"I saw Raven groping Alex's ass!" Beast Boy exclaimed with a giant grin on his face before he darted away as Alex began chasing him.

"I'm going to kill you!"

"Only if you can catch me!" He sing-songed.

Everyone else watched as an angry Alex chased a laughing Beast Boy around the field, before they all turned their attention to a blushing Raven.

"Uhh...I can explain."

XXX

Later that night at the tower the group minus Titans East went back to the Titan's Tower and Raven and Alex found themselves again alone in the common room.

"So..." Alex began.

"No."

Alex giggled, "I wasn't even going to ask you for anything this time. I just wanted to thank you for playing football earlier. It was fun. Besides, I don't think Aqualad would have played even if I asked him; he was busy."

"Was he?" Raven asked.

"Yeah. He was with his," Alex faltered for a moment, "Friend."

"He was making out with Steven again, wasn't he." It wasn't a question.

"Okay, so he's out?" Alex questioned. "I didn't want to say anything unless I knew other people knew..."

"Not specifically, but he's not keeping it a secret either."

"What? Who?" Beast Boy asked as he walked into the room, taking a seat next Alex.

"Aqualad." Raven and Alex said in unison.

"...Aqualad is gay?" Beast Boy questioned with wide eyes. Alex shrugged and nodded in response. "But, dude...we've like...wrestled before." Alex immediately began laughing at Beast Boy's expense, "Dude! That's not funny! What if he's into me!"

Alex continued laughing, "He apparently has a boyfriend, dude, so I wouldn't look too far into it."

"But...I'm irresistible! Look at these ears! And this smile! Any lady or guy is lucky to get away from my charms. How do I let him down easy?" Beast Boy asked, obviously quite upset.

"Um, what's going on?" Cyborg asked as he walked in.

"Beast Boy thinks Aqualad has a crush on him." Raven explained.

Cyborg took a moment to digest this information before all he could think to ask was, "...Why?"

"Because they've wrestled before." Alex answered with a grin.

Cyborg bowed his head and sighed before he walked over in front of Beast Boy and said, "The guy's crazy for Steven. There's no way he likes you. In fact, I can't understand how anybody would like you." He finished with a grin.

Beast Boy's face fell as he stared at Cyborg, "That's not cool."

Cyborg shrugged, "It's the truth, man."

Beast Boy just huffed. After a few minutes of silence, which was quite amusing for Alex and Cyborg, Beast Boy reached for one of the Game Station controllers and asked, "Who's up for a game?"

"You two go ahead, I'll just watch." Alex said.

"Rave—?" Beast Boy started asking.

"No."

"But you played with Ale—!"

"No."

"I bet if Alex asked you'd say yes." Beast Boy mumbled.

Alex just rolled her eyes while Raven completely ignored him and started to read her book.

"Give it up, green bean." Cyborg said as he grabbed the other controller and turned the game on.

"I at least want to know if she's any good!" Beast Boy complained.

Alex started giggling and refrained from saying anything while Raven sent a glare her way.


Song: Dear Maria, Count Me In - All Time Low

Thanks for reading :) Review plawkkss.

*for those of you confused by the snowbird reference, look up Snowbirds don't fly on wikipedia.