...T E M P T I N G F A T E...
- Chapter 2: Let The Festivities Begin!
That morning of the dance, there was a loud knock on the door. Cyborg got up groggily, rubbed his eyes and headed for the door.
"I'm comin' I'm comin'." Cyborg lazily answered. When he got to the door, he opened it and there in the doorway, was a boy holding up three plastic bags.
"These are the tuxes you ordered." The young boy said, handing the half- robot the three bags. Cyborg raised an eyebrow and turned to the clock. 11:43 am. Cyborg was too tired and didn't argue with the boy. He took the tuxes, shut the door, and headed back to the living room, dropping the plastic-wrapped tuxes on the couch.
"Who was that?" Robin asked, coming out of the hallway with Beast Boy.
"The tuxes." Cyborg answered, still rubbing his eyes.
"Kinda early isn't it?" Beast Boy asked, inspecting the smallest tux, which was undoubtedly his. After five minutes of looking at it, he took it out of its plastic protector.
"Doesn't matter, at least we got it." Cyborg said. Beast Boy headed to the bathroom. Minutes later, he came out wearing the tux.
"I hate it." Beast Boy complained, having trouble with the tie.
"Oh Beast Boy, get over yourself and tie the damn tie." Cyborg rolled his eyes at his refusing friend.
"Aren't we supposed to eat first?" Robin asked curiously while fiddling with the tie, having problems with his own suit for the upcoming dance.
"Good idea!" Beast Boy inwardly thanked his bird-named friend about the sudden change of subject. Dropping his annoying tie, he ran towards the kitchen. "TOFU!!"
"OH NO YOU DON'T!" Cyborg yelled, dropping his own tie in hot pursuit after his green changeling friend.
Turning the corner, the two rowdy boys raced to the kitchen.
"AND Cyborg wins! Getting ready to cook his TOFU-LESS breakfast for the almighty Titans!" Cyborg threw his arms up in victory, when suddenly his eyes dropped to the table and bulged.
"What the?!" Cyborg exclaimed. Through his eyes, breakfast was already neatly set up for everyone.
"Good morning Cyborg! I have cooked breakfast so that you would not have to go through the trouble you do every morning." The redheaded alien placed a plate of soy waffles on Beast Boy's side of the table.
"Wow... this actually looks good for once-gah!" Beast Boy said, coming in just when Cyborg elbowed him.
"Whatever you do is good Star." Robin said, walking in and sitting on a chair.
"Kiss-up." Raven said in her monotone, just before sipping her tea. The masked teen shot a spark at the hooded girl.
"So when do I get to see your dress on you Starfire?" Robin asked. Cyborg eyed Beast Boy and they both started chuckling quietly.
"Robin translation," Cyborg mimicked a computer voice. "When do I get to see what's under your dress, sexy mama?"
Starfire looked at Cyborg with a confused look.
"Ahem. I mean, yeah Star, when does Robin get to see your dress?" The tall teen covered.
"At the Ball of Winter. Is that not the reason we bought our clothing?" Starfire enquired. She softened as she saw tears in Cyborg's eyes. "Cyborg, are you...alright?" She asked worriedly.
"Fine!" He choked. What the alien didn't see was that Robin was pinching the taller teen's left ear, and threatening to rip it off. Starfire shrugged off the thought and sat down.
"So, are you all excited about tonight?" Beast Boy asked, trying to start a conversation.
"I'm so excited, you can hear my mind screaming." Raven sarcastically remarked.
"Me too!" The green teen squealed, not catching Raven's drift.
"You're just going to meet all the girls." Raven scoffed.
"Of course! And then I'm... wait. Are you JEALOUS?" Beast Boy leaned in. Raven practically choked on her tea.
"Jealous?! No no, of course not. I would never, I mean. Of you?!" Raven coughed. "Go eat your tofu." The toaster blew up.
"RAVEN! ANOTHER TOASTER?!" Cyborg threw his hands up. "That's the fourth one this month! And it's only the twentieth of December!" Raven clenched her teeth together and pulled an apologetic look.
"It's fine. Anyway, I'm excited about tonight too. So I'm in a good mood." Cyborg took a bite of his eggs. "You guys got a date? I'm going solo." All the teens looked at each other and nodded in a 'no' matter.
"Were we supposed to have a date?" Robin asked. The others shrugged.
"I have a date." One teen spoke up. They all turned towards Raven.
"Beast Boy!" Cyborg coughed.
"You... have a... date?" Beast Boy said a bit skeptical. His frown suddenly turned into a chuckling grin. "OH I get it. You're trying to get ME jealous, just so you can get back at me for saying YOU were jealous. Very funny, Raven. Haha. That's a good one." Raven glared, set her tea down, and crossed her arms.
"As a matter of fact Beast boy, I do have a date. You're not the only one who can charm men for just standing there. Of course I actually looked smart."
"Yeah, yeah whatever." Beast Boy snorted. "Hey wait! I don't charm men! And I do too look smart! Right guys!?" The changeling turned to his friends and instantly they all coughed and turned the other way, either whistling or acting as though they had something more interesting to look at, except for the oblivious Starfire.
Raven cracked a grin. "Now that's funny."
"I agree!" Starfire said, pathetically trying to understand the situation.
"I'm done! Thanks for breakfast Star." Robin said, getting up and putting his dishes in the sink.
"So what time is this," Beast Boy took a bite of his tofu dog and irrespectively started on with his question. "Wiwer wall?"
"Ew that's gross, dude!" Cyborg stuck out his tongue with food bits still half chewed. He made gagging noises while Beast Boy's eyes widened.
"Oh dude! Now that's gross!" He said, swallowing chewed tofu. "Stick that nasty half-chewed food tongue of yours BACK in your gross, disgusting, vile mouth!"
"Ya know Beast Boy. What you called Cyborg's tongue, is basically what you are yourself." Raven mused, sipping her tea lightly.
Robin walked towards the living room and sat down on the couch. "Let's see, it's 12 and we have about 7 hours left. What do we do now? I'm bored."
Beast Boy flipped over the couch and landed. "Figures. Whenever we have something we DON'T want to go to, no villains threaten Jump City. But when we WANT to do something, they are all over like ketchup on hotdogs. Damn. Just our luck."
"I have an idea!" Starfire squealed with delight. Everyone turned to her and she cleared her throat. "Why not we go to the park? "
"Or we can just stay in and laze around until we fall asleep before the dance and never go??" Robin insisted. Cyborg gave him a lazy look. Raven looked around the tower and gave a slight kick at the floor.
"How about we clean the tower?" Raven suggested.
"It's clean!" Beast Boy complained.
"You must be blind then." Cyborg pointed out. "Well, since we have nothing else to do... I guess we should clean." Everyone else groaned but cooperated. After almost a whole day of cleaning, they were tired out and headed for their rooms.
About an hour later, Robin decided he got hungry so he left his room for the kitchen. When Robin got into the living room, he noticed Cyborg on the couch, dressed up and ready to go to the Winter Ball.
"Ready already? It's only 5:45pm." Robin pointed out.
"Yeah. We all decided that we wanted to go early..." Cyborg coughed. "Decided without you I mean... seeing as how you were gonna rebel."
"How early are you talking?" Robin asked.
"Oh around 6:00pm, 6:05pm at the latest."
"That's in fifteen minutes! I'm not even ready!" Robin yelled.
"Well get changing bro, we're leaving soon." Cyborg reminded. Robin decided to give it one more try to make it out of this dance. He stepped forward.
"But I'm gonna miss Gilligan's Island!"
Talk about pathetic.
Cyborg slowly turned his head towards Robin, giving him a look that said, 'You're SO lucky that I know you, or I'd pound you so you'd stop suffering from insanity.'
"Get it through your mind, Robin! We're going! I don't know what the big deal is, just get dressed!" Cyborg raised his voice. Robin groaned but complied. He let out a big sigh and headed for his room.
"Besides, they aint ever gettin' off that island." Cyborg added. Robin shrugged and left the living room.
In Starfire's room, the alien somehow got the native from Azarath to help her get ready. Starfire was struggling to put a cute bow in a half ponytail in the back of her head as she watched Raven simply dab a small amount of shiny lip-gloss on her pale lips.
"Raven, is that all you are going to do to prepare for Winter Ball?" The naïve girl asked.
"It's all I need, Starfire. I don't really care about looks. I just want to get this dance over with." Raven said. "Let me help you with your hair." She offered, getting a bit irritated from her struggle.
"Thank you Raven." Starfire said as she sat on the edge of her round bed across a vanity mirror. Raven got on her knees, behind Starfire.
"What about your date? Do you not want to impress him?" Starfire asked. "Ouch!" She yelped as Raven accidentally jerked a comb through the silky red hair.
"Oh! You mean Neo?" The pale girl blushed. She had completely forgotten about him.
"Neo? That name sounds interesting. Please, enlighten me!" Starfire practically begged.
"I don't really know him, though he does look interesting. But it's not my place to judge." There was a silence, followed by a distant muffling outside of Starfire's door.
"Man, why do I have to go to this dance... seems stupid to me. I'm gonna make a fool of myself... hope I just don't make too big of a fool." A masculine voice was heard mumbling to himself, then there was a squeak as if someone had just did a fast turn with their shoe. "Whoa, I missed my room." The girls were silent until they heard Robin's door close with a hiss.
"You are good at figuring out emotions. Tell me, why is Robin being so resistant about Winter Ball?" Starfire asked, looking at Raven through the mirror.
"I'm not EXACTLY psychic, but it's obvious." Raven breathed in. "Robin is afraid that he's going to make a fool of himself in front of everyone."
"But Robin has clearly done that a countless number of times and-"
"Let me rephrase." Raven interrupted. "He's afraid that he's going to make a fool of himself, in front of YOU." The emotionless girl finished.
"Excuse me?" Starfire didn't get it at first.
"He doesn't want to embarrass himself in front of you." Raven saw that Starfire was completely clueless. "In your eyes, he wants to stick out. He wants you to notice him. And what he really OBVIOUSLY wants is for you to think he's perfect." Starfire was stunned and for the first time, she was speechless.
"It's not that hard to figure out, I just won't tell you anymore that what I've said." Raven said as she clipped the bow to Starfire's hair. Raven got up, and straightened her dress as she walked out her door.
"I'll be in the living room." She said. Starfire was still stunned, she was also flattered but she didn't know why. Her thoughts were cut short when she heard a door open. Soon after, Robin passed by, fidgeting with his tie. Seconds later, he reappeared in Starfire's doorway.
"Star, you coming?" The masked teen questioned. Starfire stared at his face for a while.
'Why do you try to be perfect for me?' Starfire asked in her mind.
"Star?" Starfire was snapped back to reality as she stood up and walked over to Robin.
"Hey, you look nice tonight." Robin complimented, along with a flashing smile.
'You try so hard to be perfect when you already are.'
"Thank you Robin. Shall we go?" Starfire questioned.
"You guys, hurry up!" Beast Boy's squeaky voice was heard from down the hallway.
"I guess we should, we don't want Beast Boy waiting." Robin allowed Starfire to walk ahead of him in a gentleman manner. When the two titans got to the living room, they were only greeting with constant nagging.
"Dude! It's only a three piece suit and a tie, not exactly worth 15 minutes!" Beast Boy complained.
"You try putting on a three piece with perfectly gelled hair." Robin challenged.
"How bout you try getting black, white, and green to match." Beast Boy said, pointing to his suit, then his skin.
"Black goes with everything." Raven added.
"6:07! Let's go!" Cyborg pushed everyone out the door, and off to the Winter Ball it was.
... A U T H O R S N O T E ...
-Happy? An update!
{Joha: Yup, finally updated, I worked on most of the chapter because when Serenity finally got back, I didn't wanna spend a lot of time thinking of chapter 2.
{Serenity: Yeah. And I'm sorry for the delay, some things happened and we were unable to update sooner. I'm VERY sorry to have had to make you fans wait.
-Well, we'll be working on chapter three now. So, hope you enjoyed chapter two.
- Chapter 2: Let The Festivities Begin!
That morning of the dance, there was a loud knock on the door. Cyborg got up groggily, rubbed his eyes and headed for the door.
"I'm comin' I'm comin'." Cyborg lazily answered. When he got to the door, he opened it and there in the doorway, was a boy holding up three plastic bags.
"These are the tuxes you ordered." The young boy said, handing the half- robot the three bags. Cyborg raised an eyebrow and turned to the clock. 11:43 am. Cyborg was too tired and didn't argue with the boy. He took the tuxes, shut the door, and headed back to the living room, dropping the plastic-wrapped tuxes on the couch.
"Who was that?" Robin asked, coming out of the hallway with Beast Boy.
"The tuxes." Cyborg answered, still rubbing his eyes.
"Kinda early isn't it?" Beast Boy asked, inspecting the smallest tux, which was undoubtedly his. After five minutes of looking at it, he took it out of its plastic protector.
"Doesn't matter, at least we got it." Cyborg said. Beast Boy headed to the bathroom. Minutes later, he came out wearing the tux.
"I hate it." Beast Boy complained, having trouble with the tie.
"Oh Beast Boy, get over yourself and tie the damn tie." Cyborg rolled his eyes at his refusing friend.
"Aren't we supposed to eat first?" Robin asked curiously while fiddling with the tie, having problems with his own suit for the upcoming dance.
"Good idea!" Beast Boy inwardly thanked his bird-named friend about the sudden change of subject. Dropping his annoying tie, he ran towards the kitchen. "TOFU!!"
"OH NO YOU DON'T!" Cyborg yelled, dropping his own tie in hot pursuit after his green changeling friend.
Turning the corner, the two rowdy boys raced to the kitchen.
"AND Cyborg wins! Getting ready to cook his TOFU-LESS breakfast for the almighty Titans!" Cyborg threw his arms up in victory, when suddenly his eyes dropped to the table and bulged.
"What the?!" Cyborg exclaimed. Through his eyes, breakfast was already neatly set up for everyone.
"Good morning Cyborg! I have cooked breakfast so that you would not have to go through the trouble you do every morning." The redheaded alien placed a plate of soy waffles on Beast Boy's side of the table.
"Wow... this actually looks good for once-gah!" Beast Boy said, coming in just when Cyborg elbowed him.
"Whatever you do is good Star." Robin said, walking in and sitting on a chair.
"Kiss-up." Raven said in her monotone, just before sipping her tea. The masked teen shot a spark at the hooded girl.
"So when do I get to see your dress on you Starfire?" Robin asked. Cyborg eyed Beast Boy and they both started chuckling quietly.
"Robin translation," Cyborg mimicked a computer voice. "When do I get to see what's under your dress, sexy mama?"
Starfire looked at Cyborg with a confused look.
"Ahem. I mean, yeah Star, when does Robin get to see your dress?" The tall teen covered.
"At the Ball of Winter. Is that not the reason we bought our clothing?" Starfire enquired. She softened as she saw tears in Cyborg's eyes. "Cyborg, are you...alright?" She asked worriedly.
"Fine!" He choked. What the alien didn't see was that Robin was pinching the taller teen's left ear, and threatening to rip it off. Starfire shrugged off the thought and sat down.
"So, are you all excited about tonight?" Beast Boy asked, trying to start a conversation.
"I'm so excited, you can hear my mind screaming." Raven sarcastically remarked.
"Me too!" The green teen squealed, not catching Raven's drift.
"You're just going to meet all the girls." Raven scoffed.
"Of course! And then I'm... wait. Are you JEALOUS?" Beast Boy leaned in. Raven practically choked on her tea.
"Jealous?! No no, of course not. I would never, I mean. Of you?!" Raven coughed. "Go eat your tofu." The toaster blew up.
"RAVEN! ANOTHER TOASTER?!" Cyborg threw his hands up. "That's the fourth one this month! And it's only the twentieth of December!" Raven clenched her teeth together and pulled an apologetic look.
"It's fine. Anyway, I'm excited about tonight too. So I'm in a good mood." Cyborg took a bite of his eggs. "You guys got a date? I'm going solo." All the teens looked at each other and nodded in a 'no' matter.
"Were we supposed to have a date?" Robin asked. The others shrugged.
"I have a date." One teen spoke up. They all turned towards Raven.
"Beast Boy!" Cyborg coughed.
"You... have a... date?" Beast Boy said a bit skeptical. His frown suddenly turned into a chuckling grin. "OH I get it. You're trying to get ME jealous, just so you can get back at me for saying YOU were jealous. Very funny, Raven. Haha. That's a good one." Raven glared, set her tea down, and crossed her arms.
"As a matter of fact Beast boy, I do have a date. You're not the only one who can charm men for just standing there. Of course I actually looked smart."
"Yeah, yeah whatever." Beast Boy snorted. "Hey wait! I don't charm men! And I do too look smart! Right guys!?" The changeling turned to his friends and instantly they all coughed and turned the other way, either whistling or acting as though they had something more interesting to look at, except for the oblivious Starfire.
Raven cracked a grin. "Now that's funny."
"I agree!" Starfire said, pathetically trying to understand the situation.
"I'm done! Thanks for breakfast Star." Robin said, getting up and putting his dishes in the sink.
"So what time is this," Beast Boy took a bite of his tofu dog and irrespectively started on with his question. "Wiwer wall?"
"Ew that's gross, dude!" Cyborg stuck out his tongue with food bits still half chewed. He made gagging noises while Beast Boy's eyes widened.
"Oh dude! Now that's gross!" He said, swallowing chewed tofu. "Stick that nasty half-chewed food tongue of yours BACK in your gross, disgusting, vile mouth!"
"Ya know Beast Boy. What you called Cyborg's tongue, is basically what you are yourself." Raven mused, sipping her tea lightly.
Robin walked towards the living room and sat down on the couch. "Let's see, it's 12 and we have about 7 hours left. What do we do now? I'm bored."
Beast Boy flipped over the couch and landed. "Figures. Whenever we have something we DON'T want to go to, no villains threaten Jump City. But when we WANT to do something, they are all over like ketchup on hotdogs. Damn. Just our luck."
"I have an idea!" Starfire squealed with delight. Everyone turned to her and she cleared her throat. "Why not we go to the park? "
"Or we can just stay in and laze around until we fall asleep before the dance and never go??" Robin insisted. Cyborg gave him a lazy look. Raven looked around the tower and gave a slight kick at the floor.
"How about we clean the tower?" Raven suggested.
"It's clean!" Beast Boy complained.
"You must be blind then." Cyborg pointed out. "Well, since we have nothing else to do... I guess we should clean." Everyone else groaned but cooperated. After almost a whole day of cleaning, they were tired out and headed for their rooms.
About an hour later, Robin decided he got hungry so he left his room for the kitchen. When Robin got into the living room, he noticed Cyborg on the couch, dressed up and ready to go to the Winter Ball.
"Ready already? It's only 5:45pm." Robin pointed out.
"Yeah. We all decided that we wanted to go early..." Cyborg coughed. "Decided without you I mean... seeing as how you were gonna rebel."
"How early are you talking?" Robin asked.
"Oh around 6:00pm, 6:05pm at the latest."
"That's in fifteen minutes! I'm not even ready!" Robin yelled.
"Well get changing bro, we're leaving soon." Cyborg reminded. Robin decided to give it one more try to make it out of this dance. He stepped forward.
"But I'm gonna miss Gilligan's Island!"
Talk about pathetic.
Cyborg slowly turned his head towards Robin, giving him a look that said, 'You're SO lucky that I know you, or I'd pound you so you'd stop suffering from insanity.'
"Get it through your mind, Robin! We're going! I don't know what the big deal is, just get dressed!" Cyborg raised his voice. Robin groaned but complied. He let out a big sigh and headed for his room.
"Besides, they aint ever gettin' off that island." Cyborg added. Robin shrugged and left the living room.
In Starfire's room, the alien somehow got the native from Azarath to help her get ready. Starfire was struggling to put a cute bow in a half ponytail in the back of her head as she watched Raven simply dab a small amount of shiny lip-gloss on her pale lips.
"Raven, is that all you are going to do to prepare for Winter Ball?" The naïve girl asked.
"It's all I need, Starfire. I don't really care about looks. I just want to get this dance over with." Raven said. "Let me help you with your hair." She offered, getting a bit irritated from her struggle.
"Thank you Raven." Starfire said as she sat on the edge of her round bed across a vanity mirror. Raven got on her knees, behind Starfire.
"What about your date? Do you not want to impress him?" Starfire asked. "Ouch!" She yelped as Raven accidentally jerked a comb through the silky red hair.
"Oh! You mean Neo?" The pale girl blushed. She had completely forgotten about him.
"Neo? That name sounds interesting. Please, enlighten me!" Starfire practically begged.
"I don't really know him, though he does look interesting. But it's not my place to judge." There was a silence, followed by a distant muffling outside of Starfire's door.
"Man, why do I have to go to this dance... seems stupid to me. I'm gonna make a fool of myself... hope I just don't make too big of a fool." A masculine voice was heard mumbling to himself, then there was a squeak as if someone had just did a fast turn with their shoe. "Whoa, I missed my room." The girls were silent until they heard Robin's door close with a hiss.
"You are good at figuring out emotions. Tell me, why is Robin being so resistant about Winter Ball?" Starfire asked, looking at Raven through the mirror.
"I'm not EXACTLY psychic, but it's obvious." Raven breathed in. "Robin is afraid that he's going to make a fool of himself in front of everyone."
"But Robin has clearly done that a countless number of times and-"
"Let me rephrase." Raven interrupted. "He's afraid that he's going to make a fool of himself, in front of YOU." The emotionless girl finished.
"Excuse me?" Starfire didn't get it at first.
"He doesn't want to embarrass himself in front of you." Raven saw that Starfire was completely clueless. "In your eyes, he wants to stick out. He wants you to notice him. And what he really OBVIOUSLY wants is for you to think he's perfect." Starfire was stunned and for the first time, she was speechless.
"It's not that hard to figure out, I just won't tell you anymore that what I've said." Raven said as she clipped the bow to Starfire's hair. Raven got up, and straightened her dress as she walked out her door.
"I'll be in the living room." She said. Starfire was still stunned, she was also flattered but she didn't know why. Her thoughts were cut short when she heard a door open. Soon after, Robin passed by, fidgeting with his tie. Seconds later, he reappeared in Starfire's doorway.
"Star, you coming?" The masked teen questioned. Starfire stared at his face for a while.
'Why do you try to be perfect for me?' Starfire asked in her mind.
"Star?" Starfire was snapped back to reality as she stood up and walked over to Robin.
"Hey, you look nice tonight." Robin complimented, along with a flashing smile.
'You try so hard to be perfect when you already are.'
"Thank you Robin. Shall we go?" Starfire questioned.
"You guys, hurry up!" Beast Boy's squeaky voice was heard from down the hallway.
"I guess we should, we don't want Beast Boy waiting." Robin allowed Starfire to walk ahead of him in a gentleman manner. When the two titans got to the living room, they were only greeting with constant nagging.
"Dude! It's only a three piece suit and a tie, not exactly worth 15 minutes!" Beast Boy complained.
"You try putting on a three piece with perfectly gelled hair." Robin challenged.
"How bout you try getting black, white, and green to match." Beast Boy said, pointing to his suit, then his skin.
"Black goes with everything." Raven added.
"6:07! Let's go!" Cyborg pushed everyone out the door, and off to the Winter Ball it was.
... A U T H O R S N O T E ...
-Happy? An update!
{Joha: Yup, finally updated, I worked on most of the chapter because when Serenity finally got back, I didn't wanna spend a lot of time thinking of chapter 2.
{Serenity: Yeah. And I'm sorry for the delay, some things happened and we were unable to update sooner. I'm VERY sorry to have had to make you fans wait.
-Well, we'll be working on chapter three now. So, hope you enjoyed chapter two.