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"So Slade expected to fight you Star" Richard replied with the same nervous tone "How would he have known you were here?" he paused thinking quickly "The only time we have been out is when we went to the wine festiv-" he paused again turning a sickly colour "He knows who I am"
"That's impossible" Bruce stated firmly "if he knew he would have leaked that kind of information"
"Slade loved to mess with us back in Jump, especially me. I guess he's keeping this information to himself. So he worked out my identity and then must have recognized Star as well" he elaborated in a panicking tone
"Well he's in Arkham now so he shouldn't be an issue" Bruce replied with an edge of concern
"Let's hope he stays in there then…." Richard replied with a frown
Chapter 14 – All Hallows' Eve
The summer months had ended and it was well and truly into Fall as Halloween rolled around the corner. Halloween had always been a favourite tradition of Starfire, ever she had arrived on Earth. She loved how enthusiastic people were to join in with the tradition and that for a day in the year people could dress up and enjoy themselves. She had been eagerly anticipating the day for the past month and had entailed Richard with countless pieces of information and traditions about the holiday. Richard, of course knew all of these facts already, but he didn't have the heart to put an end to the adorable jittering's of his over enthusiastic girlfriend. Her exuberance over the festivities had somehow even managed to convince Bruce into hosting a Halloween party at the manor and to Starfire's ever increasing joy, the other Titans had decided they would come along.
Richard had promised her that they would celebrate Halloween properly this year. Every other year the Titans had put up some decorations but never actually got to go out because funnily enough Halloween night was primetime for petty crooks trying to rob some stores or mug people on the streets. This year Starfire would be able to enjoy herself and actually get to wear a costume for once, the idea of her costume sprung to mind some rather adult themed images of what her choices could be. It didn't help that she was actually considering some of these outfits herself and when she proposed the idea of going as Ariel from 'The Little Mermaid' it took him a while to close his hanging jaw. He had decided whilst he would love to see her as Ariel, he didn't really enjoy the idea of other people getting to see her as it as well. In the end the two had come to an agreement over snorting laughter that they would dress as Beast Boy and Raven this year and couldn't wait to see their reactions.
In Starfire's excitement she had decided to fly all the way back to jump city at night in order to retrieve the costumes from the tower itself to make sure they were authentic. When she had returned gasping for breath but grinning madly as she held up the costumes Richard could barely stand as he laughed. Alfred had adjusted the costumes slightly to match the height difference compared to the original owners but after some slight modifications the outfits were ready for when the night of October 31st fell upon them. Richard had bought some cheap hairspray from a costume shop and sprayed his entire hair a toxic shade of green before donning his outfit and waiting patiently for Starfire to finish getting changed. He was torn between staring and bursting out laughing when Starfire eventually came out wearing Raven's signature leotard and blue cloak, she had even dyed her hair a dark shade of purple to match her friend's look.
She stared at her boyfriend's appearance "Oh X'hal Richard, I did not even believe there could be such a shade of green as that" she wheezed out between fits of giggles. She collected herself, "How do I look?" she asked as she did a twirl so he could see the rotation of the outfit.
"You look umm…" he paused as he racked his brain with that to say, he wasn't sure he liked that he found her this attractive whilst she was dressed in Raven's uniform. He noted that they would have to dress up more often, "great" he finally answered, with a smile.
"That is excellent news!" she replied with a smile, they both walked over to a large mirror on the wall on one side of the corridor and stood facing it, giggling at their appearances. A pasty guy with badly spray-painted green hair wearing a weird purple and black uniform, and a 6ft tall alien with purple dyed hair wearing a leotard and a cloak. They made their way down into the foyer and awaited the arrival of the hundreds of guests who would all be flocking to the manor.
Starfire smiled at the variety of costumes that some of the guests were wearing, most wore more traditional Halloween costumes like vampires and zombies but she spotted quite a few people representing their favourite heroes, someone had made a bright red Flash suit whilst another was dressed as Green Arrow. She prodded Richard and gestured over to the two men and he snorted when he noticed that Oliver Queen himself, was chatting with Bruce and seemed to be oblivious to the cosplayer.
After a while Starfire's ears picked up at the sound of chatting coming from the entrance, she turned her head and noticed 3 teenagers discussing something and looking around as if trying to search for something. She prodded Richard and he turned to look, one teen was tall with dark skin whom he instantly recognised as Cyborg who was wearing a knock off Batman costume that seemed to be at least a size or 2 too small for him. Raven's normal purple hair had been replaced with a dark brown shade and she wore a fluffy white Rabbit suit whilst she looked immensely displeased.
Even Raven's bunny suit didn't startle Richard as much as the sight of Beast Boy, his normal green skin had been hologrammed to a pale white and his green hair was now a blonde tone. He wore a cheap version of the Robin costume that looked like it had been designed by a toddler. Richard had to cover his mouth with his hand to stop the hysterical laughter escaping as he stared in awe at how bizarre Beast Boy looked. After a moment he smirked, rose to his feet, offered Starfire his hand and they made their way over to the confused trio.
"Hi guys" Richard greeted with a smirk
Cyborg turned to look at the greeter but initially looked away before his brain connected who he was looking at "Rob?" he asked in cautious whisper
"Dick" Richard corrected
Beast Boy grinned widely "Dude we both had the same idea"
Raven smiled at him but then her eyebrows raised as she noticed the girl stood next to him "Umm?..."
"Do you not recognise me friend Raven?" Starfire replied with a giggle
"Dude! Star, you look like Raven!"
"Yes, that was my goal" she paused, her face lighting up "Oh, I have done the missing of you all so much, friends!" she cried as she squeezed the life out of each of them
"Congrats by the way you two" Raven added with a smile
Richard and Starfire gave each other confused glances and looked back at Raven. Who then gestured down to their hands which had subconsciously re-linked once more "Oh yes of course! We have been performing the courtship ritual for over 2 months now" she replied with a smile.
"Yeah, most people just say 'dating', Star" Cyborg replied with a smirk
Richard turned his attention Raven in her bunny suit and smirked wickedly "So Rae, I didn't realise you were a fan of bunnies"
Starfire giggled whilst Raven's face twisted into a scowl "I lost a bet to Bat-bitch and boy blunder over there" she said pointing at the crude costumes of Cyborg and Beast Boy.
"What was the bet?" Richard asked
"The bet was that we wouldn't be able to find Batman and Robin costumes before the party, so we've made her dress as a bunny because she lost" Cyborg explained with hearty laugh as Raven glared at him.
Richard chuckled "Okay guys remember, only use our normal names. So I'm Dick and Star is Kori"
"Trust me man, we already knew you were a dick" Cyborg chuckled as he nudged Beast Boy who joined in.
"Dick, Kori! You guys look amazing" A feminine voice shouted as she rushed over to the group
Starfire turned and smiled brightly at the figure "Greetings Babs!" her face contorted in confusion as she attempted to work out what the costume was.
Babs smiled at the confused expression on Starfire's face "I came as Starfire" she explained as she gestured to her purple halter top and skirt.
Starfire's face lit up at the realisation and she lifted up Babs in a squeezing hug "Thank you friend!"
"I might look like Starfire….but…don't have…alien strength" Babs wheezed. Starfire released her immediately and stood back with a sheepish smile. "So who are your friends?" she asked after she re-collected herself.
Richard smirked "The other Titans"
Babs screwed up her face in confusion "But I thought Beast Boy was green? Why is he white with blonde hair? And why is Cyborg missing his robotic parts?"
"Hologram rings" Richard explained
"Oh! It's so cool to meet you guys!"
"Feelings mutual" Cyborg said with a smirk
Richard was still in some kind of shellshock from Babs' costume "Babs, why are you dressed as my girlfriend?"
Babs smirked wickedly "Oh well I thought, who else is a redhead that could kick Dick's ass in a fight"
"I would never wish to do battle with Richard!" Starfire gasped
"Richard?" Beast Boy and Raven questioned
"Yeah, I let Kori call me Richard" he explained "and Kori, don't worry. Babs just meant that you're strong"
"So what does this place have to drink?" Cyborg asked as he scanned the room for a bar
"You name it, Bruce will have it somewhere. Since we're in costume no one will question us about our age so you can drink what you want"
"Awesome!" Beast Boy cried as he dragged Raven by the arm behind him on his way to the bar "There's so many drinks you need to try Rae!" Raven groaned but gave in and followed Beast Boy to the bar whilst the other snickered at the pair.
A few hours had passed and the party had begun to empty out, many people had already left. Starfire and Richard had mostly been sat at the bar watching as a drunk Beast Boy attempted to flirt with Raven, who appeared to be enjoying his attempts. Starfire hoped that they would not wait as long as she and Richard did to reveal their feelings. Richard looked across the bar and saw that Cyborg had spent most of his time chatting with Babs who seemed to be making no attempt to end their conversation.
Starfire was intrigued by the multi-coloured rainbow of drinks that Beast Boy was consuming and decided that she wished to partake in the drink known as the 'margarita' which he had already drank a few of. Richard was enthralled watching her sample each of the drinks and found it hilarious as she tried to describe what the drink tasted like. It was either that she was a light-weight or that Tamaraneans have a different alcohol tolerance, but after 2 or 3 margaritas Starfire was already beginning to stumble over her words along with frequent hiccupping.
"Are you having fun Kori?" Richard asked with a smirk as he watched her stare into space
"Oh…yes I am very much having the fun" as if speaking suddenly reminded her of something she spun around on her bar stool and faced the server "I wish to partake in the bomb of Jager"
"You sure you want a Jager Bomb, Kori?" Richard asked with slight concern
"Oh very well…" she sighed sadly "2 Jager of the bombs!" she repeated with a smile. She stared with intent as the server poured out the fluid mixture into 2 glasses.
Richard went to take one of the glasses but before his hand even reached the glass, Starfire had already reached forwards and downed both of them. He chuckled as she hiccupped again and he rubbed her back soothingly. "How's the 'Bomb of Jager'?" he asked with a smirk
"A strange concoction but it was most pleasant" she replied with a goofy looking smile
"I think you're drunk, gorgeous"
"I am not! How dare you do the saying of…" she said with mock appal but lost her train of thought before she could finish her sentence
Richard chuckled and patted her on the back and turned his attention over to Beast Boy and Raven who both appeared to be as drunk as each other by this point. "You okay guys?"
Raven turned around on her bar stool and gave a goofy grin and waved her hand at him "Us?...yeah we're fine"
"Yeah you're the one who's drunk dude" Beast Boy added
"I never said you were drunk" Richard explained with a grin
"Oh…well, were not…so go away other me, so I can get back to talking to the pretty lady" he slurred out
Raven gave him a dreamy smile "You're pretty as well Gar" and within what seemed like split seconds the drunken pair were kissing each other.
"Raven and the Beast Boy are doing the making out!" Starfire exclaimed in her slurred voice whilst she prodded Richard
Richard chuckled at the state of his friends "Yeah, she's not going to be happy when she finds this out tomorrow" he looked over to his barely functioning girlfriend "Come on beautiful, let's get you up to bed"
Starfire smirked playfully "The bedroom is indeed a good choice" she said trying to put on an alluring voice despite the fact that she was slurring her words
He chuckled "Not like that Star. I mean to sleep"
"You are the spoil of sports" she said with a huff
He chuckled broadly as they headed down the corridor and into their room.
End of chapter 14
Author's Notes:
Thank you for reading! I'm really sorry it's took me over a month to update this, I've been busy with my other stories and also university work. It will definitely not take me as long to post the next chapter.
I'm thinking of bringing this story to a close pretty soon so let me know if you would like anything specific in the story before it finishes.
Have a great Halloween everyone and if you are over 18 like myself, don't drink too much!
Next Chapter: Aftermath of the party