As the T-Car slowed to a stop Cyborg pulled the parking brake and briskly turned the car off. The pair stepped out into the warm summer air.
"Where to first?"
"I say we wander and see what piques our interest."
"As you wish." As he bowed in mock servantry.
"Oh, please." She said as she let out a little giggle.
"A laugh? Now I couldn't tell you the last time I've made you do that."
"Hmm, maybe you should just try being funnier."
"Ow, Rae. Straight through the heart with that one."
"You know what they say, don't shoot the messenger."
"Yeah yeah, whatever, but when the ac unit in your room mysteriously stops working, don't come crawling to me to fix it."
"You wouldn't dare."
"I'll guess we'll just have to wait and see, won't we?" Before she could reply with a witty comeback a pair of giddy teenagers walked up to the pair. After taking a couple of pictures and a little bit of convincing to get Cyborg to sign one of their foreheads the two continued on their way. They spent the rest of the remaining day walking around town. Going into big and small shops alike. Raven got some new clothes and a couple of books while Cyborg got more parts for whatever he could be building. The drive back to the tower was silent but content as the day's fun was ending. Pulling into the garage the two got out and started making their way to the elevator to retire for the night. When the elevator door dinged, signaling their stop they began walking opposite ways to their rooms.
"Hey Cyborg." With a sharp turn, he looked toward his teammate.
"Yeah?"
"Thanks for today."
"Anytime, Girlie." With a smile, he turned back around. Turning on her heel she also turned and continued on her way to her room.
Raven settled back into her usual mundane routine. Wake up. Make tea. Hide in the sanctum that was her room. And fight the occasional villain if the need arose. She was content with how her day-to-day played out. She didn't need anything else is what she realized. Nothing more and nothing less than what she already had. She also decided that she would give no other Titan the special attention that she craved. They were her family and she couldn't forgive herself if her selfish actions cost her that connection with any of them. "If he's happy, then I'm happy." That is what she repeated to herself when a pensive night might leave her feeling melancholy. It was all she could do to keep herself sane in this thorny prison of unrequited love.
A knock woke her up on this day—the familiar sound of metal hitting metal. Moving the covers from her body she stood up and looked at herself in the mirror before answering-a practice she adopted that became more muscle memory than anything. She didn't want Cyborg to see the tears that stained her face from the night before. Another thing that became semi-routine for her. The night seemed to carry with it the thoughts she so desperately tried to ignore. Another set of knocks rang through the dark room as Raven finished washing off her face. Briskly she walked to the door and slid it open about an inch.
"Good morning, Raven!"
"Yeah."
"You don't seem too cheery today. Wake up on the wrong side of the bed again?" He asked jokingly.
"You should know I'm not a morning person."
"You're right, but that only counts when you wake up in the morning." He turned his forearm towards her as it showed the current time: 3:09. "I guess you're not much of an afternoon person either. Noted." Raven had spent a lot more time with Cyborg in the past couple of weeks, ever since coming back from Tokyo, so it wasn't unnatural for him to crack jokes at her expense. She knew he meant nothing by it.
"Ha. Ha. Now, what do you want?" With a grin, he pulled his arm back and somehow seemed to get even cheerier than he already seemed to be.
"We were talking last night and we all decided to spend some time together. Go out about the town and live it up." She raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, we didn't decide on anything specific."
"And you guys thought I'd want to join?"
"Oh, Raven, my dear naïve, Raven. You don't have a choice today!"
"Oh, I don't?"
"You've been cooped up in the tower for weeks now. And we're in a major villain drought season. All the excuses to get out and actually, you know, live life."
"I'm fine with my routine."
"Yeah, but when that routine consists of constantly skirting around one of your teammates, I don't think that's healthy for you or the team." He was right. She had been avoiding her leader for the past couple of weeks but after another second of reconsidering she came to her answer.
"Fine" Cyborg pumped his fist in cheer. "But! Only for the rest of the team, alright? I'll ignore him if I want to."
"Sure, but don't be surprised if doing that will come back to haunt you."
"Whatever. Are we leaving right now?"
"You got thirty minutes. Also, plain clothes if you choose to, we don't plan on there being any problems while we're out." Smiling as he left. "We're taking the T-Car!" He yelled from down the hallway just as she was closing the door. With limited time she hopped in the shower to freshen herself up. Afterward, she rifled through her limited selection of clothes and pulled out a simple black hoodie and a pair of jeans. Pulling them on over her leotard-just in case-she glanced in her mirror. Satisfied with what she saw she then teleported herself to the garage where the T-Car was parked. Seeing that she was the last to arrive she walked to the backseat and quickly got in. Clicking her seatbelt closed she realized that it was Robin that she was sitting next to with Starfire glued to his side. Her stomach tightened slightly as she sat back up.
"I'm glad you decided to join us." He just couldn't help himself.
"Cyborg's very convincing."
"Okay, it's time to go have fun!" Cyborg began his way towards the city as everyone was throwing out ideas for where to go.
"Arcades are always fun!" As expected of Beast Boy.
"We could go see a play." You would almost think Robin was a member of high society with the things he'd suggest some days.
"There's a car show happening today. It'd be nice to show off my baby for once." A very Cyborg kind of suggestion.
"Friends, we could venture to the place of many animals!" Her cheerful glee was almost contagious sometimes. Almost.
"The zoo, Star?"
"Uh, hello? I'm literally a walking zoo! Besides it'd make me sick to see all those animals locked up like that."
"Did you have any place in mind, Raven?" The knot in her stomach grew with every word he directed toward her.
"No, I'll just go with whatever you guys decide." With a small chuckle, he returned his gaze back to the road. 'What was that for! It's almost like he knows that he broke my heart and wants to rub it in. Him and that stupid cute laugh.' Realizing what she thought she pulled up her hood to hide her embarrassed face.
Cyborg piped up right after. "Well we have all day, so I say we do a bit of everything. Sound good?" A sure and two yeahs was his response. "I guess we can just go in order, so BB, which arcade are we heading to?"
Arcades are all the same. Black and neon carpet. Bright lights competing to try and capture your attention first. An uninterested clerk scrolling through their phone at the counter with a backdrop of cheap prizes and gimmick toys that you'll get for the novelty and then forget about in a week. Beast Boy happily jumped towards the machine that happily accepts your money in exchange for the currency of this land. Alongside a very convenient ATM. Raven placed herself in the least populated corner she could find, not before having a fistful of coins dropped into her hands. Luckily it wasn't the prime time for this specific place-at least she hoped it wasn't. Finding a lone crane game full of stuffed animals she felt no harm in wasting the coins she was given. Throwing glances from behind her hood to see if any of her friends were near. The last thing she needed was rumors that she secretly liked stuffed animals. Focusing back on the machine she slipped two comically golden circles into the designated slot. There were many options that she could choose from, a multitude of animals, members of the Justice League, and even emojis apparently. Noticing a small snake plushie coiled up in the back of the pile. Even the daughter of a demon could admit that it was pretty cute. Pushing the stick forward and then to the left she was confident in her placement-only to be rewarded with an empty prize box of shame. Utterly humiliated, but it was her job to free that snake from its plexiglass prison. Two more coins were slotted and again she eyed the perfect position for the claw to seize the snake she repined for. But yet again she was met with disappointment. 'How is this machine cheating me?' Using her powers she could just as easily grab it without a second thought, but imaging thee pestering from Beast Boy in her head she chose her sanity. Pushing more coins in, the machine started again. A few more tries got her closer and closer, picking it up a time or two, but still empty-handed. The seeds of doubt that were planted had now begun to sprout. Taking a break to lean on the clear box her attention was accosted by a familiar voice.
"Has it been giving you trouble?" Letting out a sigh she backed up from the glass and turned to face her leader.
"More than I'm used to."
"Mind if I give it a go?"
"Knock yourself out." Her ever-dwindling pile of coins was still next to the stick but Robin still reached into his pocket and slotted in two coins.
"Did you have an eye for a particular one?"
"Nope." She would die before admitting that to him. With a slight nod, he skimmed the fuzzy crowd for his target. With a couple of pushes of the stick and in another moment a small black plushie was making its way to the prize box-only for the claws' grip to fail and send the poor plushie back to its confinement. "Seems you can't best it either."
"Yeah, but can it beat the two of us I wonder?" Flicking his fingers he signaled for her to come over, he then moved to the side of the machine. "For now, I am your eyes." Gesturing to the stick Raven deposited more coins and absentmindedly moved for the snake. "Slowly now, slow." Waiting for his signal she started feeling a little anxious. "Stop." She let out a breath she didn't know she was holding. Leaning on the corner of the machine he offered a smile. "You got this." Slowly moving the claw over top of the snake. Watching it descend in slow motion she got a little excited when her snake was scooped up handily. Unblinking eyes watched it move diagonally until it rocked as it reached its destination. The claws unfurled and her prize was safely deposited below. Robin reached into the compartment and pulled out the stuffed animal. "Cute."
Instead of Raven exploding out of embarrassment the front of the building did. Both heroes turned immediately. Even through the sudden commotion, they could recognize the nasally voice of Control Freak. Quickly, Raven began tugging at her hoodie.
"Uh, what-." Pulling off her hoodie to show her usual leotard. "Ah." After that, she started to pull off her jeans. "Ah!" Robin turned away as he tore off his civilian clothes revealing his costume as well. During that time he switched out his sunglasses for his mask and smoothed his hair back. Raven quickly opened a portal to pull out her belt and cape as well as to toss back her clothes. Both heroes, now combat-ready, were quick to join their teammates in subduing the assault that followed the villain.
Hi again! This is probably like 13 months earlier than my usual 'schedule' but hopefully you wont be annoyed by that. This chapter is a little shorter, true filler and with a cliffhanger, but after seeing a good couple of genuine comments that wanted more I would be amiss to not deliver. This chapter was probably not as good sounding as the last. I seem to fall apart when I write dialogue but I am learning... I hope. I have a rough guideline for what I want from this story and its about 4-5 chapters all things depending. Im always trying to write more all the time really, but I seem to write a chunk of story for a draft and then move on to the next smh. Anyway I would love to hear if you want more or if you don't want any more. And I promise that I have not forgotten about most of my stories! One day they will receive updates and hopefully conclusions as well as new stories with them. Anyway my girls boys and NBs, Ill see you when I see you 3