Summary: The Titans go to the zoo. Yes… that's it.

Rating: K

xXx

"You know what I miss?" Cyborg asked thoughtfully one day, apropos of nothing, head tipped lazily back on the couch in the Titans lounge. He got only vaguely interested glances from his fellow Titans, but continued anyways, rambling— "just, those times like when I was a little kid, and I'd just like, go somewhere on my free time. You know, like the zoo, or the science center, or whatever."

Robin stared at Cyborg a long time, mask somehow conveying a somewhat stunned are you stupid look. "Cyborg," he began, then paused as though unsure how to properly explain— Robin continued forward unsurely and slowly to inform Cyborg, "you have free time and money. You can go do something like that."

Cyborg sat up slowly, the concept of independence seeming to fully sink in with a soft, dumb, "oh." There was a beat of silence, broken by a loud caw of, "we're goin' to the zoo!"

xXx

"I can't believe we let Beast Boy choose the zoo," Cyborg gruffed.

Robin shrugged, "I'm with BB about the animal cruelty of some zoos on this one—"

He was interrupted by a loud, "in your face!" by said changeling.

"Anyways, he's not Beast Boy like this," Robin enforced, tapping his civilian shades and smoothing his abnormally calm looking hair down for emphasis.

"Ugh, I don't get why we hafta' wear these," Beast Boy huffed, fiddling with the holographic ring that made his skin tone a pale, ordinary color.

In turn, Cyborg fiddled with his own and shrugged. "Do you really want to deal with all the interview questions and fans?"

"Guess not," Beast Boy conceded.

"Personally, I am very excited," Starfire butted in, changing the subject. "On Tamaran we never contained and displayed our creatures in such an organized manner! They were far too dangerous and nobody desired to see them, I think. Friend Raven, are you not excited as well?"

Raven shrugged, burrowing into her sunhat and goth wear. "Sure," she ground out.

"But you agreed without us doing the pressure on you?" Starfire asked, tipping her head in question.

Raven just huffed, not dignifying that with a response. Just ahead of the two, Robin gave a small, knowing smirk at Raven's secret softness.

Starfire then bounced up to the first animal— a little too much of a floaty bounce, but nobody commented— and cawed over the cuteness of the meerkats and their doe eyes.

...And then she began to tip forward into the cage.

"Star, no!" all the Titans barked in freakishly perfect sync, lunging forward to haul her back.

"Oh! Are these creatures deceptively dangerous?" she questioned innocently. "Their confines don't indicate such," she admitted, eyeing the clear plastic fence.

"They need to be left alone by us so they don't get stressed," Beast Boy said in a display of uncharacteristic intelligence. At the incredulous looks from the other Titans he squawked an offended, "what, I know a lot about animals! Don't look so…" he trailed off, simply gesturing at their faces. At their continued sarcastic looks, Beast Boy merely grumbled a, "let's just go."

xXx

"You know, I thought you'd be most excited to see a raven," Beast Boy mused, staring at the bats next to the enraptured Raven.

"We get to see ravens all the time," she deadpanned back.

"Bats are out every night," Beast Boy shot back.

"Not ones that are this big," Raven retorted calmly, watching the fruit bats stretch their huge wings and lap at the various fruits available.

Beast Boy shrugged, then turned to Robin, who was staring at a seperate bat exhibit set up to look like a large cavern with a look that could only be described as sad nostalgia.

"Dude," Beast Boy breathed, half laughing and half concerned. "Are you OK?"

"Fine," Robin choked out.

xXx

"Star, we can't spend all day with the otters—" Cyborg gently began.

He was cut off by a ferocious, "yes we can," as said alien stared unblinkingly at the concentrated cuteness. The rest of the group were fairly mesmerized (yes, even Raven) though not nearly to the extent of Starfire— despite that, they were ready to move on… unlike Star.

Cyborg realized he needed to be tactical. "Star, we can go see the penguins! Those are very cute, too." He paused for dramatic effect. "I bet you know what those are, huh?" Cyborg tried to think of a cute but obscure animal he'd seen here— then whispered conspiratorially, "betcha don't know what a pygmy falcon* is though, huh?"

Her eyes shifted, glittering with interest.

xXx

"You know, I never pegged you as a guy who liked elephants a ton, Robin," Cyborg admitted.

"Yeah! I thought like, birds, or maybe monkeys," Beast Boy hummed.

Robin glared at the mention of the latter animal. "We are not talking about that."

"I was actually just thinking about gymnastics, not that," Beast Boy giggled. "But now I'm totally thinking about that."

Robin growled.

Thankfully Starfire was there to make peace via distraction (as usual). "What magnificent creatures! And what a fun to say name," she hummed. Starfire then (badly) repeated elephant to herself several times, only stopping to gasp in wonder as said animal picked a stick up with its trunk.

"It has a nose hand!" she cawed, truly awed.

That was too cute for Robin to stay mad over the mention of the Mumbo incident.

Beast Boy was allowed to breathe easy as Robin began rambling on how much an elephant could lift with its trunk.

xXx

Raven stared at the nocturnal Aye-Aye in its lair of complete darkness, musing on the relatability of the weird animal.

"Its eyes are so big," Star whispered to her, green eyes gleaming a little in the dark. "And its finger, too!" Raven expected to hear "it's ugly," or "it's weird," following that, but instead only heard Star softly whisper, "I love it."

(Another tactical tear-Star-away was needed).

xXx

"I love these guys," Cyborg sighed, staring at the sea lion. It stared back, playfully twirling in the glass.

"So typical," Beast Boy jabbed playfully as Cyborg let the thing see his red eye— which it seemed to be interested in (alas, the holographic ring couldn't exactly get rid of a glow). "We see those guys at the Tower*!" Beast Boy huffed laughingly. "Pick something weird!"

"I can't help it that they're cute," Cyborg huffed. "And playful," he added, bobbing up and down, getting the sea lion to mimic him.

"Fair," Robin chirped, also amused with the sea lion's antics.

Even Raven watched, for who didn't love a playful sea lion…?

And Star… well, she'd likely need yet another of those strategic exits.

xXx

"The zoo is closing in five minutes," a loudspeaker announced. The Titans glanced up.

"Hey," Cyborg started slowly. "There's been no villains all day." A pause. "And that was fun."

"We barely made it through, like, half the zoo, slowpokes," Beast Boy cawed, though his tone indicated that he too had fun.

"I very much enjoyed this exhibition as well, friends!" Starfire joyously sang out.

Before anything else could be said, all the communicators tucked safely in pockets buzzed loudly.

"You jinxed it, Cy," Robin joked. "Titans, go!"

xXx

*pygmy falcons are some of the cutest birds, possibly the cutest animal. Look up "pygmy falcon size" to understand what I'm saying.

*Jump City is (supposedly) in California, so they'd get a lot of sea lions.