It was Wally's birthday today.
Everything was in order and everyone was waiting for the guests to arrive.
Starfire insisted Raven to join her in her room to give her a complete makeover, which Raven retorted with, "What is wrong with how I look?".
She already did her manicure and pedicure with her yesterday. Raven did enjoy them every once in a while, but did not see a point since they got ruined after any fight. She always chose dark blue or black, nothing in between. Starfire told her that she was watching internet tutorials on new designs and practiced on Raven. Raven still wanted her dark blue nails, but Starfire did a white to dark blue ombre on her hands and painted her feet white to match with her floral accents. Raven was quite impressed by her friend's newly developed skills.
I guess the internet can be useful.
Starfire kept her composure and replied with, "Nothing at all. I have no issues with my appearance, but I do enjoy of the glamming it up. I have the perfect eyeshadow to compliment your dress! I also have…".
Raven took a deep breath, "Look Star, this is all new territory for me, including my new attire. Even though I do love what you chose for me, I do not want to go overboard with makeup. How about, you give me a simple black eyeliner and call it a night?".
Raven can handle that, she bought one a year back and practiced it in her room. She has worn it on occasion, that would not have people talking. If she were to give Starfire full control everyone might have thought that they hired a clown for the party.
"What about lip gloss? Your dress has a nice shine to it, your lips should match!".
Raven was stretching herself thin here.
"Okay, I will go with lipstick. No glitter. No gloss. No satin. No bright colors. I will deal with a dark matte lipstick. That is my final offer and no other exceptions or features. Deal?". Raven glared at Starfire to show how serious she was being.
Starfire stared Raven down, but Raven was not going to give in this time.
Starfire sighed, "Fine Raven, you are victorious. Thankfully I do have a lipstick that fits your requisites that will match for tonight".
For the guys, getting ready was not a big deal. While this wasn't a black-tie event, everyone usually came a bit more dressed up than usual for birthdays unless stated otherwise. Everyone more or less had to have their unform on every day in case of an emergency, some found it nice to have something to dress for every once in a while.
Cyborg didn't wear any clothes unless it was a formal event, which has led to some colorful conversations mainly initiated by Beast Boy whether if Cyborg is always technically naked or not all the time.
There was no official consensus, though surprisingly Cyborg sent Beast Boy to the Bay that day.
Robin did take the longest, he always had to get his hair just right. He was not only raised by Batman, but Bruce Wayne. Richard Grayson knew how to dress for the occasion. He put on a white polo accompanied with brown slacks and an accompanying belt and loafers. He also did the appropriate grooming required, which did still keep his mask on.
Beast Boy as with all things in life, was pretty lax about his style. He did not do all the extra steps that Robin did, but he still liked to dress appropriately since all the others were coming. He chose to wear a long sleeve army green button up, with dark washed jeans and a casual matching black belt. He wore black suede shoes, which normally he would wear for team public appearances, but he meant it when he said he was outgrowing his shoes. These always ran big, but it was the only ones that fit just right that were not his uniform shoes.
He really did need to go buy new clothes.
"Alright, the first round of people aka Titans East are 15 minutes away and North will be here shortly after that. The only ones from Titans North not coming are Pantha and Gnarrk and the kids of course. Pantha wanted to stay behind to look over the kids and Gnarrk doesn't feel well leaving the tower behind with her and the kids, especially since the tower is pretty new", Robin updated.
Titans North comprised of Pantha, Kole, Gnarrk, Argent and Jericho and now Melvin and her younger brothers. The kids wanted to come, but Robin and many felt it was inappropriate due to the drinking and language that were common for these parties. In order to make them feel better, Raven offered to visit them tomorrow and take them somewhere. That was able to calm them down, especially Timmy and his signature tantrums.
The freelance Titans that always came through were Kid Flash, Hot Spot, Wildebeest, Thunder, Lightning, Herald, and of course, Jinx.
The first year or so was really awkward when Jinx would pass by. There were many who were skeptical, but it was all in good reason. The one that had the most trust issues was as you would expect, Raven. This was finally put to rest when during a collaborative mission, Jinx saved Raven and got injured in the process. Jinx got a broken arm, and Raven offered to heal it. During healing, Raven took an opportunity to check Jinx's intention and found her to be sincere.
She really did change.
Raven formally apologized and they buried the hatchet. Ironically, Jinx was the one that Raven talked to the most during get togethers. Jinx could be social, but also respected her privacy. Raven felt a tinge of jealousy of Jinx's perfect balance, but she still enjoyed catching up with her every once in a while.
By the time East arrived, Starfire was putting the last touches on Raven. She also convinced Raven to wear a necklace. Well, it was more of a blue velvet choker, that was one of the many compromises from the last couple of days, but Raven did like the new accessory.
Hmm this wouldn't get in the way if I did not have time to change for a battle. It is also virtually weightless. Maybe I should look into some…
When both heroines stepped out, everyone already arrived, which may have been intentional by Starfire, she took the term fashionably late too literally.
All eyes were on them and it stayed on them for a decent minute.
Starfire's hair was a bit longer compared to when she first joined. She gave herself bouncy curls compared to her normally straightened hair, which Raven also recently found out was not natural.
Her natural hair was much wilder in the best way possible. Starfire just straightened her hair because she never saw any models on Earth with that type of hair. She also made an excuse that it was more manageable, but Raven knew it was a façade. She planned to have a talk to her about it after this weekend.
For tonight, Starfire chose to wear a short summer white dress with a slim gold belt and strappy white high heeled platforms with gold buckles. She wore matching gold earrings and necklace with a beautiful emerald in the center, gifted to her by Robin on their first anniversary. Her makeup looked as if she brought in a professional to do it. It looks so natural but yet she still looked like she was airbrushed. Not a single pore or hair out of place, a real life princess.
It was no surprise that all the eyes would be on Starfire, that was normal. However to Raven's surprise, some eyes were towards her.
She saw Aqualad, Speedy, Cyborg and Beast Boy staring at Raven. Cyborg gave Raven more of a look of shock, while Aqualad gave Raven a polite smile and wave. Unlike his gentleman mannered teammate, Speedy passed a wink towards her direction.
Garfield reaction was just to have his jaw wide open. He was still like that even after people started talking to each other again and mingling with the late pair of heroines. Cyborg had to snap him out of it.
Cyborg smacked Beast Boy in the back of the head, "Boy, that is Starfire and Raven! Don't be nasty! Put your eyes back in your head and talk to some other girl that doesn't live here".
That snapped Garfield back into reality. His reality.
Right. Starfire was dating one of his best friends and who he viewed as a big sister and Raven was….Raven.
When he saw Raven, he felt as if time stood still.
He always thought Raven was beautiful. She was beautiful, only a blind person would deny her beauty. At the same time her mysterious, hot headed, and reclusive personality pushed people away from ever approaching her.
That of course did not mind Raven, nor did it bother Garfield.
Growing up he always found her attractive but never acted upon it due to his certainty that she loathed him, which of course he debunked that fateful day with Cyborg, but nonetheless he knew he was not her type. The guy that broke her heart was a living library, which in some way might have been also a literal metaphor. They exchanged ideas and he was very in tune with her dark persona, at least he pretended to.
It was all a lie and he just used Raven, which Garfield did not take lightly. He went to check on her to see how she was doing since he very well knew how it was to be betrayed by your first love. Even though it did not work out with him, he saw how hurt Raven was. He assumed that Raven was so heartbroken because he was everything she wanted in a guy. Garfield had nothing in common with Malchior, or at least the guy that he made Raven believe he was.
With that, Beast Boy never bothered to pursue it any further, besides like Cyborg unfortunately reminded him, he lived with Raven and worked alongside her. If things ever went South, it would be an uncomfortable situation.
It was going good for Robin and Starfire though…so why not?
Oh yeah, I am Beast Boy.
He began to look around the room and noticed Kid Flash was not there yet. For the fastest kid alive, he always came late. While looking around, he saw Robin and Starfire were talking to Bumblebee and Herald. Of course, Robin and Starfire were matching, they tend to do that in these sorts of things. I think I heard Karen and Herald are together? Well, I guess so by the way he has his arm around her. Huh, I wonder if Cyborg knows, I thought he had a thing for her. …so wait, another Titans couple? Cyborg was talking to Thunder and Lightning and it appeared that they were on their way up to the roof. Cyborg yelled out to Beast Boy, "Yo B, we're going to set up beer pong, want in?". Beast Boy replied with, "I will meet you up there, just want to make sure I say hi to everyone". Garfield still was looking around the room. Cyborg knew they all already did their round of introductions before Starfire and Raven came out, the only ones missing was Kid Flash and Jinx, but Cyborg didn't bother to question it. Garfield began looking around the room to find the person that made his mind go haywire just a few moments ago. Raven appeared to have finished saying hello to Argent and appeared to be walking towards him. He managed to put on a smile and was about to approach her but did not get a chance to. Unfortunately, Speedy went up to Raven and engaged her in conversation. With his somewhat newly developed sensitive hearing, he heard him tell Raven, "Raven…Wow you look amazing", while eying her up and down. "I don't think we ever got to talk to each other, other than a professional setting of course, my name is Roy", and he extended his hand to shake hers and she did but she wore a slightly surprised face. No one would have known the difference between that faint expression from her regular face, unless they knew her well. Garfield did not notice when he started balling his hands to a fist and let go a small snarl. He was not even aware of his physical reaction towards Speedy's interaction, but Mas and Menos near him witnessed it all. Mas told his brother, "¿De qué crees que está enojado?". The other speedster replied with, "No estoy seguro, pero espero que no se vuelva Increíble Hulk".
He was only able to readjust when Kid Flash finally arrived with Jinx.
"Alright guys sorry I am late, you know it takes this beauty queen forever to get ready", glancing towards Jinx. "Now that the birthday boy has arrived, let's get this party really started".
World's fastest kid, worlds fastest metabolism.
"First round of party shots!"
The night had only begun.
Some little author's notes!
Either the next chapter is the last for part I and it would be long or two more chapters. I am leaning more towards one, so the next update would probably take awhile.
Also for LW (thank you for all of the reviews by the way!), yes! I wrote Z-box to resemble the X-box. The show mentions gamestation which I assume is for playstation so I tried to do the same :)