Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Titans.
Cliché situations ahead.
…..
"Friend Raven. Are you in there?"
It had been fifteen minutes since Robin had last talked to her. She had half hoped he had given up on recruiting her for the group's night out. Life sucked.
"Starfire, I'm not going. I told our soon-to-be-doomed leader that."
"Oh but you must! We will experience the beating of the music and the 'flirtation' of the Earth humans when they talk to us! Then we will eat many unique foods of Happiness-!"
Raven said patiently, "I need to meditate. Let me be."
"Please, Friend Raven? I was very much looking forward to dancing with you!"
This was useless. Why wouldn't she go away? What would she have to do- kill her? The sudden thought brought a small shiver down her spine and Raven plopped onto her bed from her floating position, uncurling her legs and pulling her knees to her chest. Oh hell, what could it hurt? It was only one night.
"...Alright, you can come in."
A high-pitched squealing was her answer as the green-eyed alien burst through the open door and stopped when she looked at Raven.
"Friend, why are you in a ball?" Raven realized that she was still clutching her knees to her chest and stood up gracefully, her cloak encasing her body. Starfire grinned. "See what I have for you!"
With a wild gesture, she held up two pieces of clothing. A see-through emerald tank top was clasped in her left hand. Raven eyed it disapprovingly. There was also matching tight leggings with a short skirt to cover any intimate areas. A little less scandalous. She asked drearily, "That's all you have?"
"I have much pink if that's what you prefer, Friend Raven."
She cringed. "This is fine."
…..
Raven didn't want to look in a mirror. She didn't want to know how ridiculous she looked.
'Leave it to Starfire to accidentally dress me up like a slut.'
For her own sake, she slipped a black camisole under the green top, even though her chest was now pressing uncomfortably against the material. Should have known, Starfire had a smaller chest than her. Raven absently smoothed the cotton skirt, the edge barely covering her ass. This was just peachy.
Before she left the comfort of her haven, Raven wrapped herself tightly in her heavy, indigo cloak.
Cyborg and Robin were already in the front room, lodging with pop cans in their hands, and watching the blinding television screen to some mindless program playing on the prime time hour. She could have sworn that she saw their brains slowly begin to ooze out of their ears.
"You two look snazzy," she said sarcastically.
They jumped up when they heard her. Cyborg was wearing something resembling a track suit. Robin, on the other hand, wore a black hoodie and jeans. It vaguely disturbed her to see him in dark street clothes. The only thing that gave him away was the mask. She never expected him to take it off; he wouldn't do it for the world.
"Yo Dark Girl, I thought Star gave you an outfit," Cyborg said.
"I like my cloak," came her dull response.
"You're not leaving with it. You're not hiding tonight."
From behind her in tiger form, Beast Boy leapt at her back and snatched her cloak, flipping it over her head so that it flew behind him like a curtain. He looked up at her with the cloak in his mouth and turned back into human form, gaping. The rest of the male occupants followed, only Cyborg closed his mouth after a moment.
"Dear Friend Raven, you look beautiful!" Starfire snuck up behind her to exclaim this and hugged her around the waist, hard enough to cause the poor girl to gasp for stolen breath.
"Star... let her go before she faints from the lack of oxygen."
Beast Boy pulled the pink-clothed alien girl back and smiled at Raven. "Wow, Rae, you look… hot." Her violet eyes narrowed and her hands glowed black.
"You'll regret that remark later."
Beast Boy eeped mouse-like and scurried off before she could do anything. She looked at the rest of the Titans humorlessly.
Robin shrugged, a hand slipping into his jean pocket. "You look nice." Raven gazed back at him, grim and defeated. With just a hint of humiliation. He walked over to her and smirked, but it was gentle. "Don't look so glum, we all are going to have fun tonight," he said encouragingly.
Cyborg pumped a fist in the air. "Yeah, babes here we come!" Beast Boy joined in obnoxiously and they high-fived each other.
She needed tea. And a mallet.
…..
The flashing lights and loud music made her head ache something terrible. Did people actually enjoy this? Raven entered the building that smelled like perspiration and cheap perfume. Bodies pressed against each other seductively and they chewed on each other's neck like savage beasts…
Eyeing her environment sordidly, she noticed Robin behind her, watching her patiently. To his amusement, she had winced from the direct attention.
"Stop staring at me, Robin."
He chuckled, moving past her to take Starfire's hand, and pulled her into the pulsing crowd. Cyborg and Beast Boy had disappeared somewhere too.
A new song picked up, the techno beat thumping more violently throughout the club, and the lights flashing brighter with a rainbow of colors. Strobes blinked in her face and she sank into the dark corners. Several drunken adults passed her, reeking of weed, and then to her surprise, someone like herself sulking against the wall. The person had been sneering at everyone until a man in a white shirt took her hand. By the way her aura changed, Raven knew that she was glad to see him. A genuine smile appeared on the girl's face and they danced their way out of sight.
Goddamn happy people.
A few songs had passed before she got bored. Many couples had left the dance floor and there was space to move. She didn't see any of her friends.
'Perfect time to leave...'
But her body was strangely itching to follow the beat of the music and she let herself get lost to it, not needing to worry about her emotions. Her mind was relaxed. She was spellbound in a tide of figures and shadows, her hips rocking, twisting, and her arms moving freely. Her hand went through her short indigo hair; occasionally, she felt someone brush against her. Non-threatening. Beads of sweat grew on her face and trickled down her back. Nothing could break her from this haze of confusion and melody.
Her arm slid across her stomach and settled on her hip where a hand gently rested upon it. A hand...?
Raven spun around to see Robin. She blinked, regaining an unruffled composure, "...You shouldn't sneak up on people," she said. "That's how accidents happen."
"I didn't want interrupt you, you looked really into it."
She sneered and started pushing through the dancing mass but his hand had not let hers go. Robin smirked, lighthearted. "One dance?"
"Not on your life, Robbie-Boy."
But he had spun her around and she found herself pressing her small hands against his surprisingly hard chest, his large hands on her shoulders in an semi-embrace. Hands that drew blood and struck with ferocity… they held her with such a contrast of care.
"Won't your girlfriend miss you?"
"...really, Raven?" He scoffed. "Star wouldn't care. I was just asking for a dance. "
Raven snapped, her eyes flashing red momentarily, "Back off."
"What do you take me for, Raven?" The smirk was long lost with the scowl replacing it. "I just want you to enjoy being out here with your friends."
"I don't need you telling me when I should be enjoying myself. I don't enjoy anything because I don't feel."
"Really? Not even this," he countered daringly, tilting his head down. His masked eyes met her violet eyes before his lips easily captured hers in a tender kiss.
The shot glasses on the bar table exploded but the drunken figures sitting on the stools didn't seem to notice. Nearby, the two people who were kissing did so with such an intense force that even the stoners kept a note to stay a few feet away. The air around them was suffocating and pulsing with intensity.
She knew this was wrong. He was Robin, her leader, he had someone, and she was a empathic monster who deserved no love and no emotions. So why couldn't she stop herself? Stop herself now? Why was there a tingling going up and down her body, from her head to feet?
Raven had not moved from his embrace, but did not welcome it either. His warm lips left her cold ones. He gazed at her, but she could not tell what his eyes were saying. If only that mask was gone…
His unanswered question still hung in the air between them.
"Nope. Not a thing," she said, dully, before grasping the front of his hoodie and kissing him full on the mouth.
…..
A/N: Let's give it up for hormones! Yeah... I have bad humor. I'd like to thank my reviewers: angstequinox, Darkofthenight, and specail1 for checking this little ficcy out. I swear, the story gets more interesting. Now for Chapter Three!