Roomies
Raven gave a contented sigh as she closed her novel. It had been a very satisfying read, but it had taken her over a month to finish. That was so unlike her; she never took that long to read a single novel. Granted, her month had been filled with many…unexpected pop-ups. Raven's violet flicked up to her closet, where a certain pop-up now resided.
She still couldn't believe her friendship with Elliot had progressed to a point that they now shared a room. She had been with the Titans for nearly two years and still felt uncomfortable when in their presence for too long. As hard as they tried, they still radiated too much emotion for her to handle for too long a time. She wondered what made Elliot so different.
She concluded that it was probably because he was a half-demon. Raven guessed there was some kind of comfort about being around your own kind; that and the fact that he was able to mask his emotions from her empathy. A skill she was grateful he had. All in all, Raven had to admit that Elliot was a pretty good roommate. He didn't make a mess of her closet, didn't bother Raven herself, and he barely made any noise. Raven wasn't sure how, but she never heard the sound of his flat screen TV through the thin wood of the closet doors. Above all, he managed to keep that wretched cat to himself.
They had worked out a system. Raven would rise at dawn and meditate; Elliot would join her later with Midnight perched on his shoulders. Raven would force herself to go down to breakfast, drink tea as her friends ate and teleport some of the meal to Elliot while they weren't watching. She would do the same for lunch and dinner, occasionally fitting in a lesson with Elliot between meals.
Elliot pretty much left her alone at all other times. Sometimes he would invite into his 'man cave' for a movie or two, trying to ease her into their current situation. Raven appreciated the effort; it was certainly helping.
Raven cast her eyes to the clock on the wall above the door. It was nearly dinnertime. Raven scowled when she remembered the one downside of having Elliot as a secret roommate. He had a much larger appetite than she did, which meant she had to leave her room more than three times a day to get him breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks. If it weren't for Starfire smuggling an occasional meal in, Raven would have let Elliot starve.
Raven slid off her bed and pulled her hood up. She hovered just above the ground, drifting over to her closet door. She knocked briskly and the door immediately opened.
"Hi Raven." Elliot greeted.
Raven nodded in greeting. "It's almost time for dinner. Aside from the meal, is there anything in particular that you want?" she asked.
"Some tuna would be excellent." Midnight said, appearing near Elliot's ankle and interrupting them. "I've been craving it since yesterday."
"You don't get to make demands." Raven said harshly, glaring at the feline.
"Some water would be nice." Elliot said, trying to end an impending argument. He gave her an apologetic smile. "Sorry to put you through all this. I keep thinking about getting a mini-fridge or something, so your trips would be less frequent."
"I hope your thoughts all involved purchasing it with honest money." Raven said.
Elliot gave her a look of mock disbelief. "Raven! I thought you had more faith in me."
Raven rolled her eyes at him. "Whatever." She deadpanned. "You should expect dinner to show up in about twenty minutes."
"If you could teleport the food onto the coffee table instead of the floor, that'd be great." Elliot said.
"Beggars can't be choosers, Elliot."
/
Cyborg had made pot roast for dinner, which Raven was sure Elliot and Midnight would love. Despite the short amount of time they had spent here, both of them had quickly agreed that Cyborg was the best cook. Unfortunately for them, Raven wasn't sure that she was going to be able to teleport the meal to them. Robin had demanded that they eat dinner at the table, which put the team much too close together for Raven to teleport the food unnoticed. For now, she settled for picking at the roast, trying to look like she was actually eating it.
Of course, Cyborg would always notice if someone wasn't eating his food. "What's wrong Rae? Aren't you hungry?" he asked.
"Not particularly." Raven said putting her fork down and giving up her charade. She caught Cyborg's hurt look and quickly added, "I'll take it with me to my room and eat it there."
"You've been spending an awful lot of time in your room." Robin said.
"What do you mean?" Raven asked. "I've been at almost every meal for the past week."
"Aside from that." Robin said with a passive wave of his fork. "You've stopped meditating or reading books in the common room."
"Yeah!" Beast Boy agreed, abandoning his salad. "You don't even try to rip apart the game console when Cy and I are making too much noise."
"Friend Raven has been rather…preoccupied, friend Robin." Starfire said.
"With what?" Robin asked.
"I have been helping her to redecorate her room." Starfire chirped. "It took much persuasion and quite a bit of pleading, but I managed to convince her to allow me to add a bit of color to her room"
"Not too much color." Raven reminded. If this was their new cover-up, she wasn't about to have Starfire have free reign with it. She did not want her room to be transformed into a pink atrocity.
Starfire nodded. "Of course, friend Raven."
Beast Boy gaped at her in disbelief. "Seriously? Can we come check it out?" he asked.
"No." Raven snapped, causing Beast Boy to recoil in fear. Raven sighed and rubbed her temples. "I'm going to my room." She announced, standing up.
"I shall make sure you dinner is brought to your room, friend Raven!" Starfire shouted after her.
/
As soon as Raven was in the corridor, she had teleported straight to her bathroom; not even bothering to announce her presence to Elliot. He wouldn't bother her anyway. She made her way to her bathtub and filled it with near scalding water. Raven had been unable to convince Robin to buy her another glass shower after Elliot broke the last one. He had given her a rather large bathtub though. Raven wasn't complaining.
She opened her bathroom cabinet and pulled out her favorite lavender body wash. It had originally been a gift from Starfire. Raven had tried it once out of politeness and soon fell in love with it. A quick charm made sure the bottle was never empty and it was now the only soap she used to bath. Raven poured a generous amount into the bath and shook the water, working up a thick lather. As she returned the soap to the cabinet, she switched off the light, plunging the room into pitch darkness.
She quickly stripped off her cloak and leotard and sank into the hot water. She could feel the heat of the water biting her skin and inhaled deeply, filling her lungs with the moist, lavender scented air. She held her breath for several seconds, and released it with a loud exhale that left her slightly light headed. She sank deeper into the bubbles and rested her head on the edge of the basin.
Suddenly, her bathroom door slammed open. Startled, Raven instinctively sank deeper still into the bubbles without making a sound. In the dim light, she could just make out Elliot's silhouette. Far too embarrassed at her situation, she remained silent. Elliot didn't even seem to notice her. Raven hoped he would just hurry up and leave.
"I wish her bathroom was less scented." Raven heard Midnight say. "My nose is rather sensitive."
"I like it. Smells much better than the bathroom back at-"
Midnight shuddered. "Ugh. Don't remind me. Just hurry up and finish your business before Raven comes back."
"Alright, alright. Geez. Keep a look out."
Raven heard a zipper descend. There was a pause before she heard the unmistakable tinkling of liquid against liquid. Raven blushed furiously. He was…going in her presence. Granted, he didn't know she was there and Raven prayed to Azar that he wouldn't notice her. The bubbles were slowly starting to dissipate. If he didn't leave soon, the only thing covering Raven would be bubble-less soapy water.
The zipper slid up and there was a soft flow of water as the toilet was flushed and Raven sighed in relief. He could finally get out now. There was the sound of several things being knocked over as Elliot fumbled in the dark.
"What are you doing now, boy?" Midnight hissed. "Raven will be here any minute now."
"Well, I just can't leave without washing my hands. I can't find the soap." Elliot said.
"Just turn on the light, you fool!"
Azar, no.
Raven sank up to her neck in the water just as the light turned on. Elliot and Raven locked eyes almost instantly, identical expressions of mortification on their faces. A blush was quickly making its way up Elliot's neck and across his face. He glanced at the bathtub and Raven's face, blinking rapidly. Raven found herself unable to move, not that she even wanted to. Her layer of bubbles had thinned so much that one wrong move would expose more than she would ever want anyone to see.
"Oh, my." Midnight said, more amused by the whole thing than anything else.
"I didn't see anything!" Elliot shouted in desperation.
"GET THE HELL OUT!" Raven yelled.
Elliot scrambled out the door, scooping up a yowling Midnight on the way. The door slammed shut with such force Raven could feel the vibrations as she sat in the bath. She sighed, trying to expel her embarrassment with her breath. Maybe having a roommate was going to be tougher than she thought.
Her head shot up when the door cracked open and Elliot hand snaked into the bathroom.
"You wouldn't happen to have any had sani-"
"GET OUT!"