…..
" 'Forget about fighting - it won't save you.' ...dude, what does that even mean?"
Beast Boy turned the mirror over in his hands and Raven grabbed it from him, speaking with a chilly monotone, "It means someone broke into my room and is trying to scare me."
"Who?" Starfire asked. At this, Raven ignored her question, fruitlessly trying to wipe the stubborn words off the glass. Robin spoke up when she gave up.
"We didn't see anyone. We were following you the entire time until you went back."
"They distracted us with the monster while whoever this person was came into my room to get my mirror."
"But who would go through the trouble of doing this?"
She glanced at Cyborg as he spoke, eyes narrowed. "I wish I knew," she muttered darkly "Why don't you check your cameras?"
"I already have, Raven. Someone circuited them out. I don't know how but they did. Don't think-"
Beast Boy interrupted the beginnings of a confrontation by counting off with his fingers, "Well, who can we think of that's a bad guy and wants revenge on Raven? . . . .there's Doctor Light; she scared him pretty bad- I think he's still in that mental institution, though. . . Mumbo picks on her a lot. . . Jinx seems to really hate Raven, but she doesn't count. . . . . Actually, a lot of villains don't like Raven -"
"Thanks for your useless input. But I can think of one person."
Starfire protested, clasping her hands together, "But you were victorious in battle and destroyed him."
"When has destroying Slade ever stopped him?" Raven growled, not really meaning to direct her hostility to her. Starfire was not an empath, but even she could feel the anger rolling off her friend and stepped back meekly. Cyborg came to Starfire's defense, quickly.
"Raven, we understand the whole deal with Slade hurt you... some of us more then others." He stared at Robin who crossed his arms, defensively. "But could you be more considerate to other people's feelings? No one else here wants to say anything, but you need to chill out."
Raven's upper lip twitched.
"...You have no idea. What it feels like to have a vision that gives you a near heart attack, and have this disgusting slop explode all you... or to find out some psycho has been messing with your things and raiding your room doing Azar knows what else! Right now, I can't comprehend the meaning of 'CHILL OUT'!" Blue power surrounded her body like flames and her eyes glowed all black. The Titans stepped back.
As if she could see what she looked like, Raven buried her face into her hands. She quickly spun around, pressing her head against the wall.
'Get a hold of yourself…'
After a moment, a pair of hands touched her agitated shoulders. Hands connected to gentle fingertips. She removed her face from her hands. "I didn't mean to lose control like that."
"It's fine," Cyborg muttered. Robin had already withdrawn from her as she looked backed at them, fixing her gaze on Starfire.
'I didn't mean it.'
Beast Boy whistled lowly. "Great. It looks like we've got two PMS-ing girls this week."He was promptly elbowed in the gut. Robin cleared his throat.
"Maybe we should-" His communicator buzzed and he flipped it open. "Nevermind. Overload is loose. We'd better deal with this." As the rest of the Titans exited the hallway, he looked back at Raven.
She answered his look, automatically, "I'm going to wash this stuff off. One of you will give me the play-by-play of how you kicked butt."
A hint of a smile curled on his mouth.
"Yeah… I can smell you from here."
"You won't smell anything when I rip your nose off."
He left laughing and she shook her head. What on Azarath did she see in him? She'd never know.
Still, Raven felt shame for that outburst. Her friends didn't deserve it, no matter what was going on. But how could she make it up?
After she showered for the third time and threw out the rest of her ruined blankets, her eyes wandered over pots and pans scattered from the breakfast feast. Violet eyes gleamed a little brighter.
…..
Four figures slowly made their way to the island out in the California bay. One was carrying their leader; the green changeling shifted back to human and limped slightly as the other man hunkered down, examining a broken weapon. Just as they descended, the last two of their team appeared beside them. Starfire gingerly patted her red hair that stood up on its roots, and occasionally, a feeble electrical current stunned her. The metal man and Robin looked otherwise unharmed.
Beast Boy winced, clutching his hip. "Is it… ahhh… just me or is the villains becoming more villainous?"
Robin supported him by wrapping an arm around his waist and holding him under the armpit. "Who knows," he commented. "Need help back?"
"Unfortunately, dude."
The Teen Titans made their way through the garage entrance and boarded one of the elevators to Titans Tower. Robin offered to his friend, "Maybe Raven will heal you when we get upstairs."
Cyborg snorted, murmuring so softly that he almost didn't hear it, "Don't count on it."
Robin peered over his shoulder to glare at him. The latter didn't look miffed at the least. "I know she's your girlfriend and she doesn't treat you like crap. We're all happy for you, man, but sometimes I have this urge to knock her upside her moody little head. Raven thinks we don't accept her and still keeps her distance, a very long distance I might add, away from us. Even when she has her emotions. Rob, I don't get her. Does she want to be a part of this-?"
"-There are things we must earn over time. One of which we have obtained from Raven is her trust. If there is something she wishes to speak of to us, then she will. Her business is her own and we are her friends that need to be supportive. That is all that matters." Starfire smoothed her frizzy hair absently and left the elevator first. The boys left with her words washing over them.
"I thought she'd be the last person to defend Raven after she yelled at her."
Robin handed Beast Boy over to Cyborg, giving them both an intensely serious look.
"Star can be very forgiving. I'd know."
He followed after the alien woman and found her staring confused at the top of the staircase in the operations center.
"Starfire… what-?"
He saw why she stopped.
Lumps of food residue were wadded on the stairs mixed in with tossed spoons and forks. The kitchen tabletop covered with unsealed leftovers and waffle batter dripped from the ceiling above where the empath stood. Raven glanced up at them, embarrassed. "Oh…you're back. Uh, I tried-" She sidestepped an overturned sofa. "I tried to cook something… to make up for shouting - I, uh, gave up after the microwave volcanoed." She saw Beast Boy and Cyborg behind the first approaches. "I ordered Chinese. It will cost a few extra for getting here, but I'll pay for it."
Robin and Starfire gazed at Cyborg with what-do-you-say-now expressions and he chuckled sheepishly.
"That was nice of you, Raven. You didn't have to do that." Robin jumped nimbly over the mess and rested leaning on the back of the arched sofa, propped up by his elbows.
"I'm not the finest cook." Raven made an effort to look apologetic. "I figured after making this disaster, I should at least pay more."
Beast Boy asked, "Did you order the vegetarian dinner for me?"
She nodded, raising an eyebrow. "Yes…"
"Then I'll clean it up."
He accidentally stepped into one of the unnamed lumps- "Eww! Gross!" -and hobbled backwards, almost sliding onto the floor. The wall caught his fall.
Raven walked to where he strained to stay on his feet. "How are you holding up?" she asked.
Beast Boy forced a laugh, slapping his leg, "It's nothing I can't hand- OW!" She placed her hands over his injury, the tingling of her healing powers working immediately as he flexed his muscle. Beast Boy planted his fists on his hips and puffed out his chest, valiantly.
"Beast MAN lives on!"
She couldn't take it anymore. Raven positioned a finger on his chest and zapped him. Beast Boy stumbled back and she said dryly, "And now… you're just getting on my nerves." Ordinarily whenever she did this to him, he would look offended or pissed off. But an eccentric smile crept up his face. One that Raven didn't like so much.
Little did she know that someone had put a finger to their lips and prepared to spring.
Beast Boy shouted, running out of the way, "Do it! Tackle her!"
She didn't have time to react. Somebody had seized her from behind, tackling her onto her back. Sitting on top of her was an exceedingly smug Robin. The laughter of her teammates was distant. Raven was only interested in the fact that he had seated between her legs and holding her arms down forcefully.
"Thrash all you want, sweetheart; you're not getting off this floor."
"This is how you get your kicks, Boy Wonder? Trapping innocent girls under 165 pounds of muscle?" She said low as only he could hear her, "...Remember our conversation this morning?"
He loosened his grip. "You wouldn't…"
Raven drew in a big breath and he concealed her mouth with both of his hands. Robin realized his mistake when he was staring up to her smirking face above his.
"The tables have turned, sweetheart. Are you going to stop roughhousing or am I going to have to get mean with you?"
Robin happened to have lots of upper body strength. He only needed to hold it for a few minutes.
She felt his tongue brush against her lips, lightly. A knot of heat rising in her stomach as he rendered her powerless with just a trail of wet kisses behind her ear. Raven fought for as long as she could against the attack, but eventually gave in. They sat up, still moaning between kisses.
Beast Boy chucked his tofu-flavored popcorn at the wall. "Hey, not fairrrr! He used lips! I wanted to see some action, but not this!"
They pulled away from each other. Raven put a hand over her flushing cheek, avoiding Robin's hungry stare. Cyborg managed to pull himself together after seeing that show of PDA and called out, "If y'all still feel like eating- hard to say- the food's arrived. Raven, you got the money?"
"Hmmm? …Oh, right."
She blundered over her cloak as if drunk and left to pay. To her disgust, the delivery man was attempting to flirt with a mildly bewildered Starfire who unfortunately got to the door first. Raven didn't like the way he was eyeing at her stammering friend. Her good mood dampened and she gently pushed the other woman aside, throwing the wad of cash in his free hand, "You got the food?"
The hefty guy leered with nicotine-stained teeth and held the bag over her head, clearly out of reach, "Come'en and get it from ole Bill, babe."
'This is why I don't want Dick calling me that.'
Raven gestured tiresome with a glowing finger. "Isn't that your boat going out to sea?"
With a dumb grunt, he turned around to see his way-out also glowing and slowly drifting from the wharf. 'Ole Bill' dropped the bag and ran.
Starfire asked as Raven grasped up their dinner, "Will that man get his boat back?"
"Eventually."
"They will not let us order the take-out anymore, will they?"
"Probably not."
Both woman smiled.