A/N: I do not own the Titans that are Teens.
Fourteen: Actually, the DP isn't dead, and I have plans for them and several other characters to appear in later chapters. And I never really realized I'm not giving Starfire a lot of attention, but I'll try to put her in more without making it too obvious that I'm trying.
Derekctomlinson: I am studying hard. And maybe we'll see some of that later.
Eris: I might give him the ability to change into aliens, but I don't want to make him too OP because there's no fun in writing if there's no struggle.
Mr. Ursine: Me too man.
asterid lupinus del terra: glad you're enjoying it.
Chapter 14:
The next morning proceeded as any other. Raven was meditating in the commons room and Robin was finishing up an early morning training session. "Hey Raven. How did the lessons go last night?" the leader asked as he entered the room. "Actually, pretty well. We're starting small, but he's giving me another lesson after lunch." the empath replied. "Would you mind if I watched?" Robin asked cautiously. "I guess it's up to him." Raven responded. Robin accepted that as an answer and went to make his breakfast. Half an hour later the resident alien appeared. "Good morning friends Raven and Robin." she declared with her typical cheeriness. "Morning Star." the two replied. The orange skinned girl pulled something from the fridge that Robin could only describe as a horror movie prop and sat down at the table, rather close to Robin. He blushed at the closeness, but made no effort to put space between them. Another hour later Cyborg made his entry. "Mornin' guys." he offered before opening the freezer. The familiar sounds of meat cooking soon filled the room.
Much to everyone's surprise, Beast Boy arrived soon after Cyborg. "wassup dudes?" he asked as he rubbed his eyes. All four of his friends froze and slowly turned as if any sudden movement would startle him. "B? you do know it's only 9:00, right?" the cybernetic teen asked. "Yeah yeah, laugh it up tin can." he retorted before pulling some tofu from the fridge. Still not willing to let it go, Cyborg circled Beast Boy and inspected him up and down. "Is that really you?" he jokingly asked. "No, I was abducted around midnight and replaced with an android in order to infiltrate the tower." the green teen sarcastically replied. "Ahhhh, now it makes sense." Cyborg chuckled before sitting at the table with a plate full of various meats.
"Friends, may we go to the park today?" Starfire happily asked. "Maybe. What time were you thinking of?" Robin asked. "Perhaps after the lunch.". "Sorry Starfire, but Beast Boy was going to give me another lesson after lunch." the empath replied. "Wait, you're having ANOTHER lesson with him? As in, he didn't ruin it for you last night?" the metal teen asked dumbfounded. Raven shrugged and replied, "He's a good teacher.". She could feel the changeling's pride soar at the remark. "Actually, I could bring a few things and we could have the lessons at the park." Beast Boy offered. "Wonderful!" Starfire exclaimed. "And you, friend Cyborg?" she asked as she turned to the Titan in question. "I don't see why not." he responded eagerly. With the plans laid out, the five heroes finished their breakfasts and got ready for the day out.
After retrieving his comics and the origami cube from the training arena, Beast Boy returned to his room. All in all, he didn't have a lot that could be used to help teach Raven other than pictures in his comic books. He walked over to his desk and opened the bottom drawer. It took a little rummaging around, but eventually he found a piece of paper that met his needs. Spending several minutes folding and creasing the sheet resulted in another cube. Satisfied with his work, he pulled a small drawstring bag from his closet and placed the comics, two cubes, his phone and his earbuds inside and headed towards the commons room.
Unfortunately for him, Cyborg and Robin had already gotten to the Gamestation, so that left him to watch. The two players were currently engaged in a racing game, both tied for first. They made several attempts to push the other's car off the track, but neither managed. Approaching the finish line, Cyborg quickly pressed a series of buttons that launched his car into the lead and won him the game. "What did you do?" Robin demanded. "Nitrous oxide. You should really read the cheats online." Cyborg gloated before passing the controller to Beast Boy. "I'm going to eat. You're up." he said as the green teen took the offered controller. Robin and Beast Boy played two races as Starfire and even Raven watched. Robin won both with Beast Boy close behind.
"Ya know, I think I get why Cyborg doesn't let me drive." Beast Boy muttered to himself. "Because you can't drive?" Cyborg jokingly replied. "Nope. Because I'm too awesome for the T-car to handle." he responded as he also started making lunch. "Maybe if you consider adequate video game skills to be awesome." Robin retorted. "This coming from the guy who lost to Cyborg." Raven quipped, earning laughs from the mentioned teen and Beast Boy. Within a few minutes all five teens were seated at the table and chowing down. Once they all finished, they made their way to the garage and hopped in the T-car. Cyborg took a suspiciously long time inspecting everything before starting, but found nothing out of place. He started the car and took it back into Jump City.
As usual, fans flocked the T-car when they saw it pull into the parking lot. The five had barely stepped out when they were surrounded by teens and young adults asking for signatures and photos with their heroes. Naturally, three of the heroes loved the attention, but Robin and Raven were a different story. Being raised to be stealthy and sneaky left an imprint on Robin that caused him to be uncomfortable when put in situations like these. And Raven simply didn't care for the screaming girls or guys drooling over her and Starfire. After what felt like an eternity, the crowds got their photos and signatures and disappeared.
"That was a most pleasant welcoming!" Starfire exclaimed. "Yeah, but they were too loud." Beast Boy replied as he massaged the bases of his ears. Raven lifted her hands with a blue glow and held them towards her teammate's ears. "Better?" she asked a few seconds later. "Much. Thanks." he replied as the look of discomfort left his face. Neither of them saw the rather knowing smile Starfire gave Robin and Cyborg at the sight of the two. "Let's go find a quiet spot." Beast Boy offered Raven, and both left in search of a decent place to hold the lesson.
"I know I said it before, but now I'm certain the two have a thing." Cyborg said before a football landed a few feet away from him and bounced in his direction. He caught it with ease and saw a handful of teens heading his way. "Nice catch dude. And I love the car. How much horsepower it got?" the lead teen asked. Not one to pass up an opportunity to brag about his baby, Cyborg walked the interested group through the basics of the car, leaving Robin and Starfire on their own. "Hey Star, if you want, would you like to just take a walk? You don't have too, but I-". Luckily for Robin, Starfire cut off his stammering. "That would be lovely friend Robin." she replied. The two walked down the parking lot until it led to a nature trail. The two teens followed the trail standing nearly shoulder to shoulder.
"This looks like a good place." Beast Boy said to himself. The two were at the top of a small hill, and three medium sized trees offered shade that would be useful later in the day. The green teen pulled the bag off his back and pulled out the two cubes. "We'll just warm up and go over what we did yesterday for a little bit." Beast Boy stated as he turned to Raven, holding out one of the cubes. Raven nodded and enveloped the cube in her dark magic. It floated for twelve seconds before she let the paper cube fall through and held the construct for half a minute. Two repeats later and she was already breaking records with each attempt. "Good job." Beast Boy praised. "Let's try altering the size of you constructs." he said as he placed the second cube in his hand. "Do what I had you do for the first cube, but hold these together end to end." Beast Boy requested. Raven nodded and used her magic to envelop the two cubes.
She had only held them in the air for half a second when someone spoke from behind them. "Well, if it ain't the hottest goth chick around." a guy who appeared to be a late teen stated with a snide tone. He had a friend around the same age, and both looked like the typical high school jocks and bullies from movies. "We're busy." was all Raven said in an attempt to get them to leave. Unfortunately, neither of the strangers had a lot of common sense. "You can never be too busy for this." the first jock said as he gestured to himself and his friend. "My name's Butch, and this here's Carl." he added. "And we're in the middle of something." Beast Boy retorted. Obviously, neither of the guys cared. The one who called himself Butch reached down to grab the end of Raven's cloak and pulled hard, forcing Raven to take a few steps back to avoid falling. "Damn girl, let's see those legs." he arrogantly said. Raven turned and gave them a death glare that should have stopped them in their tracks, but their stupidity only saw it as flirting. "You like what you see?" Carl questioned. "Look guys, leave us alone." Beast Boy ordered. He didn't like seeing Raven get treated this way, and he didn't know how much longer he could hold himself back. "Or what? You'll go cryin' to your mommy and daddy?" Butch mocked. Both of the jocks started laughing, but Butch's laughter was suddenly cut off by a tight grip around his throat.
A bit too late, Butch realized he crossed a line. The green teen was baring his teeth, which showed off his sharp fangs. More so, his eyes had this look to them. A look that sent shivers down the bully's spine. And this was after he had been unfazed by Raven's glare. Beast Boy quickly pulled Butch forward while pushing down, causing the teen to trip to his knees. "Unfortunately, I can't talk to the dead..." Beast Boy growled out as his gloved hand tightened around the throat. "...But if you don't watch your attitude I'll make sure you can." he threatened. Butch did the best he could to nod despite the death grip around his neck. Beast Boy pulled his victim closer and morphed his mouth into a lion's maw, letting Butch get a good look at the teeth designed for laceration before roughly throwing him backwards, causing him to stumble and roll down the hill. Carl chased after his friend, and both ran away as fast as they could.
Raven had seen the entire scene fold out, but what got her attention was his reaction. Beast Boy was typically calm and collected during confrontation, but this time he practically snapped at the mention of parents. Then there was the threat. He had threatened to kill the kid, but his delivery of the line sparked something in Raven, as if he was sending an unsent message. Slowly, the puzzle, or at least a reasonable theory, formed in Raven's head. The two grown ups in the nightmare who knew him and claimed he let them die, his reaction to the mention of parents, and the insinuation that his parents were dead. It was odd, but the pieces fit.
"Are you ok Raven?" Beast Boy asked, drawing her from her thoughts. "Whatever. They were jerks." Raven responded with her monotone voice. She looked at her teammate and noticed the unease on his face. "What's wrong?" she asked with a concerned tone. "I-I threatened to kill him. Like an a-animal." the green teen replied with a voice that was starting to break. The empath could understand his worries. She had been considered a demon for a long time, even after she had joined the Titans. Beast Boy probably went through similar experiences, given how he reacted to Mammoth using the word 'freak'. Raven reached up and cupped his cheek, then angled his face to look her in the eye. "You always tell me that just because I'm part demon doesn't mean I am a demon. Now I'm going to tell you that just because you have animal traits inside you doesn't mean you are an animal." she tenderly stated. The green teen brought his hand up and cupped the hand holding his cheek. She could feel his worries and fears calming down, but not completely. Affection was urging her to do something more, so she did the first thing she thought off. She closed the distance between them and wrapped her arms around him, a gesture he returned. "Thanks for standing up for me." the empath offered.
Slowly, Beast Boy calmed down. He still was a bit anxious that somehow the police or sheriffs would get involved, but didn't think too much would happen. What had worried him more was that Raven would think he overreacted; that he was implying she couldn't defend herself. Or that she would be put off by his threat and warn Robin. He was thankful that she hadn't portrayed fear of him, and instead had embraced and thanked him. "You know I would never do nothing." he replied, but cringed at the terrible grammar. "Do you think you continue teaching me?" Raven asked as she pulled away, hoping to distract him from what happened. "Sure." he replied. He picked up the cubes and went about experimenting with Raven's abilities.
"You don't have any secret powers you haven't told us about, do you?" Robin asked the girl walking with him. "If I were to tell you, they would not be very much of a secret, would they?" Starfire teasingly replied. "But, that does bring up an interesting question." Starfire started. "What's that?" Robin curiously asked. "When you rescued me from Tamaran, you told me that friend Beast Boy was able to transform into a species not native to Earth, correct?" the alien pondered. Already having a feeling what her point was, Robin responded. "You're wondering if he can turn into life forms from other planets." he stated. "Yes. Have there not been several instances where having another Tamaranean would have been helpful?". Robin brought his hand to his chin and thought it over. "Maybe you should ask him later." the leader offered. Their conversation ended there, and they soon found themselves exiting the end of the trail. They could see Beast Boy and Raven on a hill a few dozen feet away and walked over.
"Ok, once you've gotten the feel of the two together, try to drop one while maintaining the form." Beast Boy said. "I'll try." Raven offered. She let one of the cubes fall while holding the rectangle formed of magic. The black form lasted for a minute before Beast Boy had Raven stop. "Great job. Now, what I'm going to hav-". He stopped when he saw two of his teammates approach. "Hey guys. What've you been up to?" the green teen asked. "We took a walk through one of the trails." Robin replied. "Friend Raven, how is the lesson?" Starfire asked the fellow female. "Pretty good." Raven replied while repeating the process Beast Boy had given her for the previous exercise. "Mind if we watch?" the leader asked. "Sure. Just try to keep your jokes to a minimum." Beast Boy replied, and turned back to his student. He held out one cube, and Raven instinctively enveloped it in her magic. "Now, I want you to remember the shape of the rectangle. I want you to try to remember how it felt to have your magic molded in that shape. Then try to recreate it." Beast Boy explained. Raven did as he told, and tried to remember what the rectangle felt like in her powers. She closed her eyes in concentration and forced her powers to respond. "Cool." she heard Beast Boy say, and opened her eyes to see that she had pulled it off. She dropped the rectangle construct and let the cube fall.
He walked her through similar exercises, and after an hour she could create a rough rectangle construct without any physical objects to start with. "You are a most excellent teacher friend Beast Boy. Tell me, where did you learn to be such a good mentor?" Starfire asked. "I had a...less than friendly teacher a while ago. Basically, I learned how NOT to go about things from him." the teen in question replied. Before the others could ask about this mystery teacher, Cyborg trudged up the hill. "Hey guys. How's it going?" the cybernetic man asked. "All in all, not too bad." Raven replied. "Great. If y'all are ready, I'd like to head home. It's almost dinner time!" Cyborg exclaimed hungrily. Raven teleported the five heroes back to the T-car, where they all piled in and headed back to the giant tower.
A/N: A bit of another filler chapter. I hope it wasn't too boring, but if things go right, some of the details in this chapter will help push along the story later on. I will warn that most of the next chapter will probably be a filler/transition chapter as well. I hope you enjoyed.