Teen Titans: The Art of Indifference
By SRC
Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognize.
Chapter 3
After the dishes were cleaned, dried, and neatly put in there assigned position, Raven moved along to the game room where she quickly set to work, throwing all of yesterdays garbage in a giant black trash bag. Cans were thrown into a tub just outside the mud room, and paper and cardboard products were squashed down in a cardboard box. Cyborg would take them over to the city recycling center when he and Beast Boy went food shopping in a few days.
When cleaning the Titans Tower, Raven had only a few goals in mind; create a walking path, so you didn't trip over something a break a leg or other appendage (long story), clean up any food that could be forgotten about until it started to decompose a week later and the smell would make the bravest hero cower with fear (gross story), and finally and most importantly; sterilize/quarantine. She may put up the front that she was unconcerned with how her fellow team mates lived, like slobs but it was all an act and she was thoroughly grossed out most of the time.
The closet germ-a-phobe was armed with a can of lemon scented Lysol disinfectant, a makeshift rag that was previously an old shirt of Beast Boys that he was going to throw away, and orange latex rubber cloves. She began to scrub viciously at all hard furniture in the room and spraying the disinfectant in the air. She worked until her arms were sore and she has acquired a slight sweat. Thirty minutes of methodically vigorous cleaning and the room smelled like a hospital, Raven deemed the room livable once again.
Saving the Titans from one virus at a time, Raven thought sarcastically.
After arranging the nine remotes on the coffee table in parallel lines, so Cyborg and Beast Boy wouldn't bitch about not finding them, the sullen girl collapsed on the sofa rejoining with her now room temperature herbal tea.
There was another reason to as why she liked to do chores, a deeper, more personal reason.
When she was doing something, anything, thinking about what she was going to do was that much harder. Focusing on a task as menial as dishes served to distract her enough to forget about the pain she would be looking forward to in the near future. It was something she had learned to live with each day, but facing it was always a challenge she backed away from.
It's been three days since her 16th birthday. She felt like she was stuck in the eye of the storm. She felt mellow and subdued, vaguely disjointed and scatterbrained which scared her to death. Because of her actions that day, she knew she would pay the price, higher than normally. It hummed through her veins and pulsed in her head.
But of course she couldn't be scared. That emotion was too strong.
So she just slumped deeper into the upholstered sofa cushions and allowed her eyelids to droop shut as she sipped her beverage of choice, trying not to think, just focus on drinking the tea. And she felt the caffeine seep into her blood.
To be perfectly honest she didn't particularly like tea. Like Robin, she was more of a coffee person. To her, the comparison between coffee and tea was no competition. Coffee was a warm-rich brown and tea was kind of a murky gray. It was not bad, but it didn't warm Raven's chilly soul the way coffee did. Coffee was an intimate friend and Tea was a distant acquaintance.
Yet this was the kind of balance Raven had to revolve her life around day in and day out. It was like being in purgatory; neither good nor bad; just ok. Except she had the ability to feel, but knew the reaps of it rewards and what it may cost her. She had indifference down to a science.
A sigh and a sip later and she daintily cradled the mug on her lap. Unconsciously, her tired self had reached a half meditative state and was currently comfortable there. So, if she gotten more than two hours of sleep last night, she probably would have heard Robins padded, yet calculated foot steps in the kitchen. And she may have registered the slamming cabinets and the opening and closing of kitchen drawers as well as the quiet sleepy sighs. And she definitely would have notice when, a few minutes later, the sinking pressure of the sofa cushion next to hers.
But after several minutes of relaxed silence, Robin's deep, sleepy, groggy voice pierced her bubble of peace.
"Are -you- slouching?" Robin asked with incredulity.
Raven snapped her eyelids open and bolted upwards, straightening her spine, each vertebrae popping and shifting into alignment, while the remaining contents in ceramic mug spilt down her pajama pants and onto her newly cleaned floor.
Inhale…exhale. Raven calmly thought to herself as she rolled her eyes upward.
After three deep breathes she turned her head sharply toward Robin and shot him a look that could strip paint off the wall.
…and that look lasted an impressive, oh, three seconds until she got a good look at Boy Wonder.
Starting from his face, his distinctive, spiky black hair was even more construed than normal. Behind his mask his eyes were still bleary and sleep filled. Sheet lines were creased down his face and neck and disappeared under his white, wife beater. A pair of light green flannel pajama pants with hundreds of miniature sheep all over them slung low on his hips, a wait band of Joe-Boxer could be seen an inch above them. And above that, a well toned abdominal cortex.
To give Raven credit, her jaw dropped, shell-shocked look only look was more fleeting than her original glare had been and she covered it well.
She quickly rose off the coach and headed over to the kitchen to retrieve a sponge.
Embarrassed by her previous reaction to Robin, she had to cover it with sarcasm, "Yes, Robin. You see, we can't all be graceful with the poise of a fairy." Deadpan.
Heh.
The fairy thing had started off with something Star had noticed and said with that naiveté of hers. "Robin! You are like a ballerina when you fight against villains!"
Needless to say Cyborg and Beast Boy had a field day with that one. And it wasn't long before he had the nickname of "Pansy" and "Twinkle Toes" from the duo.
Robin didn't share the joke.
Still half asleep, "But you're Raven! Queen of superiority complex, meditation guru. Slouching is just so out of character for… Hey! Did you call me a pansy?" Sleepy quickly transformed to annoyance.
"No. I would never compare you to a Pansy".
"Good, because I" –
"I compared you to a fairy. Pansy is Cyborg's pet name." Smirk. "Nice pants, by the way."
Now it was Robins turn to glare and he did so while stomping back into the kitchen, grabbing Ravens empty mug to place in the sink, grumbling something about a gift from Star and "smrgroffs" or something.
As soon as he was out of the room Raven dropped her hood on her navy blue hoodie to reveal a flushed face and a dazed expression on her face.
Robin often forgot that Raven was a girl; a hormonal teenage girl to boot. If Starfire was sitting in the room Robin always seemed to be modestly clothed. She didn't know how he dressed around the males of the group, nor did she want to.
Guys tended to be gross like that.
After cleaning up the spill she followed Robin path towards the kitchen where he sat slumped over the table rubbing sleep from his masked eyes with the back of his hand. Silently, wordlessly, Raven poured the boy a cup of black coffee, effectively continuing their morning routine, Raven with a book and Robin with the Jump City Times.
Tea. Check.
Calming down so she didn't blow something up. Check.
Cleaning. Check.
Self Reflection. Check.
Witty banter with Robin. Check.
The day was so normal she couldn't help but hope that maybe it wouldn't be so bad this time.
Notes:
This was the most I have ever written, but I hadn't updated in a few weeks. PLEASE REVIEW!
A plot begins to trickle out like the first few grains of sand from a timer.
I give Raven a lot of my own qualities. I don't know exactly why, but I think it has something to do with my idea of her not being "Goth" I hate labels but just someone who has to repress all of her real emotions.
Hope you enjoyed Robin and Ravens banter. We may not see Robin for a bit.
He has to go work out.
Star will always be pretty consistent within my story because I like her and I hate how she is often portrayed so out of character in Raven-centered fan fiction. Oh well. I guess that's why it's -fan- fiction, not Sam-fiction.
Haha.
Pun was intended.
Gladdecease – Thanks once again for the encouraging review! I'm so happy it seems like I am keeping her in character.
Ace Grey Manx – Oh. My. God. I love Seinfeld! However, there are a lot of stories out there that are a series of oneshots and I don't want to blend in with them.
I strive to be eccentric.
Mysti-eyed – lol. I have always wondered that, so I made up my own idea. If I was Raven, and I blew everything up, I would feel required to replace it.
Swift – My mom actually was the one who used to scream at my brother and I when we would leave the house trashed, "There is no magical cleaning fairy …That's me!" Thanks for your review. I appreciate it.
