Another chapter, not sure how long this story is going to be- I'm thinking probably a total of 20 chapters, give or take, but don't quote me on that. When writing this chapter I started thinking about how the Titans were able to buy things (how would Speedy be able to afford this date and some other things he buys). I'm not convinced that there would be enough in a city's tax budget to cover both typical law enforcement salary and superhero/vigilante salary, so I came up with my own theory using Robin's and Speedy's past- not sure if it's 100% canon with the background or not (I try to stay as close as possible), but it makes sense to me. Also started to threw in some Speedy/Aqualad bromance (not much of that in the FF archives that isn't slash).

Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans, DC Comics, or cell phones/touch screens. As always, please R&R. Enjoy.


Chapter 11: Drive

Later that night Speedy called Blackfire so they could start planning. The next day he slipped out after a mission to purchase a cell phone. Nothing too fancy; just a standard touch screen with talk, text, and internet access. While Speedy did enjoy the Titan gadgets, he was pretty simple when it came to his own technological needs and didn't really see the need to always keep up with the latest digital trends (unlike Cyborg). Speedy's previous relationships with fangirls never really lasted long enough for him to want to invest in a cell phone; seeing as his former flings only lasted an average of about 4 days max.

Shortly after the Titans East formed, Robin had arranged for both official Titan teams, and some of the honorary Titans, to receive regular allowances; in addition to the free room and board at the designated towers. The team didn't really question much where the money came from, but in the off occasion someone would ask Robin about it, he would only disclose that it came from the trust fund of an 'anonymous donor' - though Speedy, Kid Flash, and possibly Starfire and Raven (mind-link) knew the truth. Before Speedy gave up dating civilians, he would often run through his money fairly quickly; even though in addition to his Titan allowance, he also had his own trust fund (courtesy of his former partner, Green Arrow). However, it's been about 4 months since he's stopped dating fans and since he started talking to Blackfire, he had become more responsible with managing his money. Since he has been good with his money for a while, Speedy decided to spoil himself a little. While he was out getting his new phone, Speedy also bought some new clothes for his date, and a few video games (partially because he wanted them and partially to throw off suspicion from his other teammates).

The night before the Titans East's westward trip, Speedy called Blackfire on his new cell to confirm their plans. Blackfire had made reservations for them at Rosetta's Bistro at 7pm, under the last name Anderson. They decided to meet up at the restaurant instead of either of them picking the other up. They felt it would be less pressure on both of them; though they wouldn't admit this to each other. Out loud they just agreed that it would be wiser, in case they ran into anyone who might recognize either of them- particularly Blackfire.

Though they both were well known for their cool and calm attitudes, they were both really nervous about the date. Sure they had been talking to each other every day for almost a month, and sure they had technically met in person before; but last time it was dark and they could just barely make out the other persons features. What if they were disappointed when they saw the other in other person face-to-face for the first time in a well-lit environment? Or worse, what if the other person was the one who was disappointed? What if the other person didn't even show up?

Speedy had plenty of time to worry about the date on his long cross country drive. After all, that's why Speedy volunteered to drive the Titans East's T-car: so he could have privacy to think more about his plans for the night ahead. Normally a cross country road trip would take forever; however Cyborg, with his technological affinity, found a way to maximize the T-car's velocity; seeing as every second counts when it comes to crime fighting. Once Cyborg mastered his own T-car and couldn't think of anything more to improve it, he decided to make another almost exact replica of his T-car for the Titans East. The only difference being that their car was a little more discreet looking on the outside, seeing as both Aqualad and Speedy preferred to keep a lower profile and were the ones who drove the T-car the most; since Bumblebee could fly and usually piloted the T-ship, and Más y Menos had the power of super speed while touching (that and the fact that they weren't old enough to drive yet). While Cyborg still hasn't found a way to make the T-cars go quite as fast as the T-ships, they could still hover; which would save a lot of time just by not having to worry about traffic or crashing into anything. But while the T-car wasn't quite as fast as the T-ship, the difference in travel time still wasn't much of lag anyway- only about an extra half hour, give or take.


Finally, Saturday morning had arrived. Everyone was packed and preparing everything for the trip: filling the tanks, changing the oil, and any other maintenance the vehicles needed. Aqualad woke up a few hours early to pick up Batgirl, so they could hang out at the tower for a little bit before the trip. Bumblebee and Speedy slept in a little, since they were going to be doing most of the driving and needed the extra energy to stay focused. Bumblebee was able to get Argent, Harold, and Hot Spot to agree to watch over the tower and the town while they were gone. Más y Menos couldn't wait to see Starfire, though Bumblebee reminded them multiple times that Starfire was with Robin now and they needed to respect that; meaning no flirting with her.

"Alright, Argent and Hot Spot are here. Harold should be on his way. I'm going to give them a quick synopsis of my Crime Watch report for the next 24 hours and we'll leave in a few minutes." Bumblebee informed her team as the doorbell rang. "That must be Harold." Bee ran to get the door, Aqualad and Batgirl followed, hand-in-hand. Más y Menos continued washing the windows on the ship; while Speedy started putting everyone's belongings in the cargo space under the T-ship.

Speedy was starting to get excited. While it was mostly because he really wanted to see Blackfire again, he really did genuinely miss his other Titan friends. Though Speedy was wondering how he could get out of the boys night out event that Bee had mentioned to make his date with Blackfire; he did kind of look forward to the mystery group activity Bee and Robin planned. Speedy did feel a bit guilty about sneaking around behind his friends' backs. Speedy especially felt guilty about having to hide Blackfire like she was his dirty little secre. On the other hand, he knew at this point in time that they most likely wouldn't approve and he didn't want to put Blackfire in an uncomfortable situation.

A few minutes later Bumblebee returned and announced that it was time to leave. Más y Menos went to the bathroom one last time before the trip and Aqualad and Batgirl were talking by the T-ship.

"Okay Speedy, I already have the T-car's GPS preset to Titans Tower. All you need to do is follow the map and activate hover mode. It might take a little while longer than it will take us, we'll unpack the T-ship while we're waiting for you." Bee instructed.

"Yes, Ma'am." Speedy responded, chomping at the bit to leave.

"When everyone's there, we're all going to go out for brunch. Followed by the group activity." Bee informed the eager driver.

"Brunch?" Speedy said confused 'Who does brunch anymore?' he thought to himself.

"With the time difference it will be about 9am when we get there. We already had breakfast and when we get there it will feel like lunch time to us. So we're splitting the difference and calling it 'brunch'." Bee rationalized.

"When you put it that way, I guess it does make sense." Speedy replied.

A moment later Más y Menos returned and started heading towards their designated pods on the T-ship.

"Titans East, Go!" The leader called out to her team.

Speedy got into the T-car and got out his road music. As he was getting ready to leave he saw Aqualad coming towards the car.

"Something wrong?" Speedy asked as Aqualad opened the door.

"No. I'm riding with you." Aqualad answered.

"Don't you have to..?" Speedy started to ask.

"Bee already said it was okay." Aqualad assured his friend.

"Great." Was all that Speedy said, 'This is going to be a long drive.' The archer thought to himself. Speedy really wanted this time alone to mentally prepare for the day- especially since he shouldn't think about his plans around Raven, but part of him was glad because he did get to hang out with his long lost best friend for the first time in a while.


It had been almost 2 hours since they left. If it weren't for the music playing in the car, it would have been dead silent. When the last song on the second CD finished, Speedy decided to finally break the ice.

"So, why did you decide to ride with me?" Speedy asked.

"It's a long drive and I figured you can use some company. So I thought I'd join you." The Atlantean responded casually.

"I thought you'd want to be with your girlfriend." The archer countered almost bitterly.

"I guess it's been a while since we got to really hang out together as buds." Aqualad stated, with a hint of guilt in his voice; "I thought maybe we could catch up."

"Are you sure Batgirl doesn't mind?" The ginger questioned.

"Actually, it was her idea." The ebony countered.

That surprised Speedy; it seems that Aqualad and Batgirl had been inseparable since they started seeing each other 2 months ago.

"Trouble in paradise?" The marksmen investigated.

"No. She just said that on the last trip you seemed lonely; like you had no one to talk to. Back at the fair, she actually thought you didn't like her." Aqualad informed Speedy.

"Oh." Speedy responded with a little remorse, he had forgotten how lonely he felt on the last trip, before he met Blackfire. He didn't mean for Batgirl to feel bad- he just felt like a third wheel talking to them. "I'm sorry; I didn't realize I made her feel that way." He apologized.

"It's fine, I told her you probably didn't mean to come across that way." Aqualad reasoned. "And she felt better after your overnight 180." he continued.

"What do you mean my '180'?" The redhead countered.

"The day before you wouldn't even talk to anyone; and the next day you wake up and decide to make everyone breakfast?" The ebony questioned. "Not to mention, you talked to Raven a lot the next day." he continued with a hinting tone.

"Hey, Raven was the one talking to me." The copper haired teen corrected his aquatic friend's assumption. "In fact, I thought she might have had a crush on me." Speeded added.

"You don't say." Aquatic teen said with a smirk on his face at this new information.

"But I told her that I didn't want to come between whatever her and Beast Boy had going on." Speedy enlightened his friend trying to sound noble.

"So, have you talked to Raven since we came back home?" The sea-loving teen questioned, looking more confused this time.

"No. Why do you ask?" The archer wondered why his friend would ask an unusual question.

"Well, I'm apparently the only one who checks the mail. So Bumblebee put me in charge of sending all the bills to Robin." Aqualad informed Speedy.

"So?" the redhead countered.

"So: I check the invoices and noticed that this month the phone records said that there have been regular calls to a private number in Jump City." Aqualad told his friend. "All of which happen to be dated back to when we came back from Jump City. And last night when I walked past your room, it sounded like you were talking to someone."

"Oh well. Guess I'm busted. Don't worry if the bill was too high; just have Robin take it out of my allowance." Speedy admitted, trying to end the conversation.

"Relax, you're not in trouble. We have an unlimited long distance plan since Más y Menos talk to friends and family out of the country and I only send Robin the invoice number and the total." Aqualad informed his ginger haired friend. "I was just wondering who it was you were talking to."

"None of your business." The ginger stated.

"Well, apparently it wasn't Raven." The Atlantean fished; ignoring Speedy's request. "Just please tell me it's not Starfire. I mean no one knows for sure what Beast Boy and Raven have going on; Robin and Starfire, on the other hand, have been an official couple for a while. I know you used to have a bit of a crush on her but..." He rambled before he was interrupted.

"No, it's not Starfire!" The redhead said with a flushed face; somewhat angry that his best friend would accuse him of doing that to his other best friend, Robin. But even more irritated that Aqualad kept pushing the subject.

"Phew, that's a relief. I don't know if I could lie about something like that to Robin." Aqualad admitted before he investigated some more.. "So, anyone I know?"

"No." The marksman said sharply.

"Is it a Titan?" The aquatic teen searched for more information.

"No." Speedy said with an irritated sigh. "What is this: 20 questions?" The archer added sarcastically.

"Is it a civilian?" Aqualad ignored his archer friends quip.

Before Speedy could even respond with another sarcastic remark, Aqualad's T-communicator went off and he answered it.

"Hey, Bumblebee. What's up?" Aqualad answered his T-communicator.

'Saved by the queen.' Speedy thought to himself.

"How much farther are you guys?" Bumblebee asked over the communicator.

"About 17 more minutes." Aqualad informed his leader, looking at the estimated timer on the GPS.

"Well, we already unloaded the T-ship and we're heading out for brunch. Meet us at Aunt Martha's Dinner on 6th street." Bee instructed.

"Got it." Aqualad said before hanging up to reset the T-car's GPS. Much to Speedy's relief, they were only 8 minutes away from the dinner. Speedy slowed down the car and prepared to disengage the hover mode to lower the car back down to street level so they could park. Aqualad stopped his inquisition because he was aware of how much concentration it took to convert back to on-road mode. By the time they got there the other Titans were already waiting.