Note: Sequita is pronounced (Sa-KEY-ta) And yes, she does actually exist, and Precious Cargo is actually her restaurant in Memphis, Tennessee. Look it up on Google - .

Chapter 8: Near-Confessions at Precious Cargo

"Pull over here." After driving for what seemed like forever, the Titans found themselves parked on the side of the street in front of a small, unpainted structure, much like the others around it. It was one-story and looked to be very, very old with a sort of dusty look to it.

There were two doors on the front of the building: one on the far right, the other the far left. It seemed to be split into two different stores. Raven was first to get out of the car, and, shielding her eyes from the sun, walked toward the door on the left. Slowly, everyone followed her. A hand-painted sign over the door said 'Precious Cargo' in purple and blue.

Raven pushed open the glass door and stepped inside. The front room of the café had white walls and dim lights with a few tables by the windows and a small bar across from where the Titans stood in the doorway. There was a small window above the bar that let you see into another room: the back room.

Through a doorway right of the bar, there was a room with absolutely no lights and walls painted black. There was a small stage on the left side of the room, and black, square tables placed in no particular order or pattern.

"Um... is this place deserted?" Beast Boy asked, breaking the awed silence.

Raven smirked. "May as well be. You guys go ahead and pick a table. I'll go find Sequita," Raven said, gesturing to the back room, then heading off behind the bar area and through a door labeled 'Employees Only.' Shrugging, Robin led the others into the other room and sat down in one of the black chairs at a table for six.

"So... this isn't so bad," he offered, looking around at the jazz paintings on the walls; just about the only color in the room.

"Yeah. I was expecting a lot worse," Beast Boy said, sounding relieved and taking a seat across from Robin.

"Is it okay with you, Terra?" Robin asked, remembering they had a 'guest.'

Terra nodded. "It's really cool. I just can't see much..."

"That's when you open the blinds, child."

Everyone turned. In the doorway, Raven stood with an amused smile on her face; beside her was a tall African-American woman wearing a colorful dress and a scarf wrapped around her head; they were traditional African clothes.

Robin stood up. "Um, hi. Uh," he searched for something to say, "nice place you got here."

The woman smiled. "Hello to you too. And thank you." She gestured extravagantly around her. "Welcome to Precious Cargo. My name is Sequita."

"I'm Robin, and this is-"

"Oh, I know who you are; Raven's told me all about you. Except for you," Sequita looked at Terra, still smiling.

"Oh. This is Terra," Robin said.

Sequita went to her and shook her hand. "Well, it's nice to meet you, Terra. Are you new to the city?"

"Um, sort of," Terra replied, not wanting to retell her story; especially the part with Slade and the betrayal and all.

Sequita seemed to sense that. "Well, I hope you'll be likin' it in the city and in my little place here," she said sincerely.

Terra smiled. "Yeah, it's really cool here. And nice outfit."

"Sequita likes to dress up," Raven commented jokingly, walking up to them.

"Speaking of, it's nice to see you out of spandex and a cape for once, too," the woman teased, pointing at Raven's studded shirt and jeans.

"It was a special occasion," Raven said simply. Sequita stepped closer to her and spoke in an almost impossible-to-hear whisper.

"Which 'occasion' are we talking about? The new girl? Or the boy?" Though he didn't hear what she said, Beast Boy saw a mischievous gleam in Sequita's eyes and a blush on Raven's face, telling him this woman knew what was going on. She was Raven's old friend, obviously, and friends talk. Maybe Raven had told the woman about Beast Boy...

There was an awkward silence then, until Sequita spoke. "All right, now that we're introduced, you can all sit down, and I'll be back in a moment with the menus," she said, purposely steering Raven toward the seat to Beast Boy's right; then she turned around and headed into the front room.

Cyborg, who was sitting on Beast Boy's left, seemed to get an idea from the look on Sequita's face and shot a glance at Robin to see if he got it too. He gave a slight nod of confirmation; this was going to be fun.

Sequita came back with six menus and handed them out. They ordered their meals and drinks, and she went back into the front. While the others were reading their menus, Robin mouthed to Cyborg, "We've gotta set them up," and nodded his head toward Beast Boy and Raven. Cyborg nodded. Neither of them thought of what Terra would think of this.

"So, Cyborg, how're things with you and Bee?" Robin asked, building up to the real question.

"Pretty good, for a semi-long-distance relationship. And I would ask how you two were doing if I couldn't hear you from my room," Cyborg teased, pointing with his fork at Robin and Starfire, who was sitting to Robin's right, across from Cyborg.

The color in Robin's face deepened for a moment as he shot Cyborg a look that said 'Remember who we're trying to humiliate, okay?'

Raven laughed quietly at Cyborg's comment from behind her menu.

"I'm sorry, do you have something to say on that matter, Raven?" Robin asked sarcastically. "Is there anything we should know about?"

"What do you think?" she asked, scowling at him.

Robin smirked. "You're blushing," he taunted in a sing-song voice.

"No I'm not," Raven said and slouched lower in her seat.

"Oh, come on, Raven, tell us who it is," Cyborg insisted.

Terra sat across from Raven, thinking Oh, God... Please don't let me be right!

"Tell us!"

"There's no one, I swear!"

"Please, Raven, we do wish to know of whom your heart desires," Starfire begged earnestly.

"My God, I swear there's nobody, okay? Why do you care anyway?" Raven asked.

"Because we thought we'd rather hear it from you than Beast Boy," Robin replied matter-of-factily.

Beast Boy choked on his drink and started coughing until Cyborg smacked him in the back.

"Thanks. And WHAT?" he asked, giving Robin a confused yet affective death-glare.

Robin seemed immune. "So, how long have you been going out? Like a year?"

"What the hell..." Raven sighed, exasperated. She glanced at Beast Boy, who seemed equally embarrassed.

"Dude, we've been set up."

"No shit, Sherlock."

"So what'ta we do?"

"Set them up right back."

"All right, Robin, we'll play your little game. But you're going to play too."

"Alright," Robin said, leaning in a little. "You name it."

"Whatever question you ask me, I'll answer truthfully, and if you think I'm lying, I have to do a dare."

"Basically truth or dare, cool."

"Sort of. But... then I get to ask you my own question, and if I think you didn't answer truthfully..." Raven was now smiling mischievously, and Robin didn't like it. "Your ass is mine."

"Well put."

"I thought so too."

"Alright. But I ask my question first."

"Shoot."

"Okay, do you have a boyfriend?"

"Kind of. I don't know if he considers me his girlfriend yet."

"I do."

"Never mind, he does. Yes, I have a boyfriend."

Robin looked slightly taken aback. "...you're lying. I dare you to kiss Beast Boy."

"What! I'm not lying! I swear! You can ask him yourself... later."

Robin sighed. "Okay, fine. Wait, what happens to me since I thought you were lying, but you weren't?"

Raven thought for a moment. "I dare you to kiss Beast Boy."

"What the fuck? Are you kidding me!"

"No. You thought I was lying when I wasn't, so now you have to do a dare. Kind of like playing BS, only you get a dare instead of the pile," Raven said, smirking.

"You're fucked up..." Robin muttered.

"Uh, Raven? Let's stop for a minute and think about BOTH SIDES OF THIS DARE!" Beast Boy said nervously.

Raven sighed, mock-exasperated. "Fine. Robin, I dare you to... Actually, I'm not going to dare you, but then you can't dare me the next time you think I'm lying."

"Fine," Robin said, trying not to show his relief.

"All in all, at least I've proven you're a sissy."

"That's it. Beast Boy, get your ass over here."

Beast Boy shrieked and turned into a turtle, which landed on the table, spinning around in circles.

"Ooh, spin the bottle," Robin said, another idea forming in his mind.

"Turtle..." Raven corrected him.

"Whatever. Okay, whoever Beast Boy lands on has to kiss him. Open mouth."

Raven smirked. "You better hope to God it isn't one of you," she nodded at him and Cyborg.

Cyborg gulped. "Um, maybe you should re-think at least the open mouth part, Rob."

When the turtle started slowing down... "Oh...my...God... You are kidding me!" ...it was heading toward Cyborg.

"You'd think BB'd have some control over the spinning... Oh my God, Beast Boy's gay!" Robin proclaimed.

"Dude, so not true," a very dizzy turtle contradicted as it was about to land on Cyborg.

Shrieking like a girl, Cyborg grabbed Raven and pulled her in front of him, shielding himself from the turtle.

"Hey! Not fair! He moved me!" Raven said, trying to hit Cyborg with a chair (telekinetically).

"Moved you? I was just hiding!" Cyborg protested.

"How 'bout this," Beast Boy suggested, morphing back to his human form and sitting down in his chair. "No one has to kiss me."

Damn, Terra thought; all this time, she had been practically praying it would land on her.

"Good idea. We don't need you throwing up in anybodies' mouth..." Raven said, sitting down in her own seat again, Cyborg having released her.

"Okay, back to business. Raven, your turn to ask a question," Robin said.

"Right. Um... okay. Robin, have you ever had a crush on me during all our years of being a Titan?"

For a moment he didn't answer; he just stared at Raven with a vacant expression on his face. "I'll just kiss Beast Boy."

"I knew it!" Cyborg said, pointing an accusing finger at Robin.

"What can I say? I was young, I was stupid. I won't make the same mistake again," Robin jested.

"Hey!" both Raven and Beast Boy yelled at the same time. Then they were silent.

"Nice, Beast Boy. You only just completely gave yourself and US away. Kudos."

"Heh heh. My bad..."

Robin looked at them, gaping. "Okay, new question," he started, finding his voice. "Raven, have you seen this boyfriend of yours in the past twenty-four hours?"

No way. No way, no way, no way! This can't be happening! He told me he didn't love Raven; he wouldn't lie to me! Terra thought. She had paled a lot during this conversation, but no one seemed to notice.

Raven was blushing uncontrollably. "Yes."

"Ha!" Robin laughed triumphantly, pointing at Raven. "And have you by any chance left the Tower in the past twenty-four hours?"

"What is this? A court interrogation?" she asked desperately, avoiding the question by all means.

"Something like that."

"Raven, just say yes. And technically, you're not lying either. We came here within the last day."

"Yes, I have left the Tower."

"In the past-"

"Twenty-four hours, yes."

"You're lying."

"No, I'm not."

Robin rolled his eyes. "Coming here doesn't count."

"It answers the question."

He sighed. "Whatever."

"And I'm not going to make you do a dare again. So that's two times you can't dare me, lying or not."

"I hate you."

"You should."

"Okay then, have you kissed?"

"No."

"That's bullshit."

"So? What're you gonna do about it?"

Robin thought for a second. "...nothing..." He couldn't think of anything. Figures...

"You're down to one grace-question," said Cyborg, who was apparently keeping score.

"Good, 'cause I have a few left," Robin said, smirking. "Raven, have you known this guy for a long time? I'm assuming it's a guy, anyway."

"Yes, it's a guy. And no, we just met."

"What are you doing! You just completely wasted a free-bee!"

"I know, I know. I just don't want to give them any more hints."

"You're lying."

"Grace period's over," Cyborg announced.

Robin smiled triumphantly. "Final question: does your boyfriend live in Titans' Tower?"

"We're screwed."

"Thanks for the words of encouragement, Beast Boy."

"Um... he lives-"

"Food's here!" Just then, Sequita entered the room carrying a tray loaded with food. A few more people had just entered the restaurant and were seated a few tables away from the Titans.

"Oh, thank God..."

"Um, Raven? Is your friend here by any chance psychic?"

"Only telepathic. Like Aqualad."

"Oh. And speaking of... do you still have a crush on him?"

"Funny you should ask."

"Excuse me?"

"I'm kidding."

"Oh."

"I hate to interrupt your little conversation, but your food's on the table," Sequita teased.

"Oh, thanks."

"Uh, what she said..."

Before they started to eat, the two looked around the table at the others. Cyborg was wolfing down a hamburger; Starfire was also eating a burger and trying to resist sucking all the mustard out of the mustard packets at the end of the table (their table's against the wall); Robin had soup; and Terra was picking at spaghetti, looking a little depressed. Everyone was too distracted with eating, it seemed, to continue the questioning. This was lucky for Raven and Beast Boy; even if everyone knew the answer, at least they didn't have to say it. But if everyone knew it, that meant...

I knew it. He lied to me. He is in love with Raven. Why couldn't he have just told me when I'd asked? It would've been a lot better than this. No, I guess it wouldn't be. I can't believe that after all this time I've been waiting, I'm finally back and... there's nothing here anymore. All that I came back for is gone. It was probably never here in the first place. I wonder if I should've come back at all.

Raven heard this and was worried. The last thing they needed was Terra opposing them again out of spite. Raven looked at Terra. This whole thing has to be so strange for her. All her friends are older than her, and they've changed; Terra is still exactly the same. Fourteen's a hard year as it is, but to have the world around you change and yourself stay the same, for time to pass around you but within your kemosphere stand still... not knowing anything that happened those four years, not remembering or sensing or being... I can't believe I'm saying this, but I feel sorry for her.

What does she have that I don't? What's the difference? She's older than him, and she's darker and weirder and- and she's half demon for Christ's sake! Why would he want to get involved with her? But she has changed a lot; I can tell. And she doesn't have to be so... contained anymore. I guess I should be happy for her... Uhh! But why couldn't I have just been there when her father was defeated, when she took Slade down, when... When Beast Boy fell in love with her... This is all my fault. It never should have been this way. If I hadn't gone with Slade, I would be nineteen years old, I'd have friends who actually trusted me with reason, not pity, and Beast Boy would be mine. I hope he only likes her 'cause she has good figure, or something. Any guy would fall for her, with what she wears. Everything's so tight on her around her breasts; I'm surprised Robin and Cyborg haven't... Oh yeah, they have. God! Can't Beat Boy just wait a few years until I get huge boobs and stuff? Oh, but I hope Beast Boy isn't like that. Then all we were before I joined Slade was just because of stupid stuff that doesn't matter. I just wish I never came back...