Disclaimer: The Teen Titans is not under my ownership.
Summary: Robin's been spending most of his time with the resident princess, but will he soon regret this decision when he sees how much more fun the team is having together…?
Author's Note: This is my long overdue 'friendship' story for SweetNCrazieSugarmuffin. I hope you enjoy Bria! This one especially goes out to you.
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Smooth Diplomacy
Perhaps the most interesting fact about the weather that day was how drastically it changed from a seemingly irrevocable heat to a chilling cold in a matter of minutes. It hadn't dawned on them that maybe winter had decided to bluster by earlier than the seasons of change had forecasted.
In any case, the situation was gravely unfortunate for the Titans, crushing their plans for a long anticipated stroll in the park that pleasant evening. What made matters even worse was that the annual carnival was hosting its last opening on that same day. The green little changeling moaned and groaned as he and the rest of the supernatural teenagers unwillingly entered their home. They all sighed at another free day wasted.
"Why does this always happen to us! It's not fair!" he cried. As he rambled away towards the kitchen, the rest of the team gloomily headed for the living room hearing faint phrases of disappointment such as "...it decides to be cold now..." or "... why today of all days?..."
Aggravated at his childish antics, a glint in the psychic's eye insinuated a desire to shut the boy up. Upon noticing this, the leader of the group summoned her attention and simply shook his head with disapproval of her obvious agenda.
"Alright, listen up everyone." Said leader gathered the remaining three's attention. A slight rhythm in his voice evoked a form of command and leadership. "We can still go outside, but we have to wear jackets or else we'll get sick. Or, we can stay at home and entertain ourselves here." He stiffly stood in place, standing his ground in preparation for his team's normally random responses.
"Hell yeah I'm going outside! I don't even feel the cold!" Cyborg's voice shackled like thunder inside the echo-friendly living room, causing a hint of discomfort for his comrades' ears. "Come on BB! Turn into a snow wolf or something; we're going out to the carnival!"
The older titan cheerfully called out to his friend who immediately paid heed to the call by transforming into a snow wolf. The two Titans, without regard to the team, merrily zoomed out of the Tower. A distraught blonde grumbled something underneath her breath before she soon followed suit. "Wait up guys!" Terra groaned.
"What about you two?" Robin pressed on. His eyes rested blankly at the alien princess, studying her naivety of the situation with sheer amusement.
"I shall join the three as well. My skin will not be caught in a frost-bite." A satisfied smile charmed her lips, acknowledging how proud she was of her execution of 'the right words'. Her leader grinned as well, encouraging the situation. Without excusing herself either, the empath teleported out of the common room, leaving Robin and Starfire to fluff the day away.
The psychic soared over the city for several minutes, catching a quiet glimpse of the afternoon sun before joining the others. Raven wouldn't admit why she took the time to gaze at such an uncomplicated wonder of the world, but either way her heart always gravitated towards its soothing warmth. After a moment's worth of silence and a breath of sweet bliss, Raven teleported behind her friends just in time to hear Beast Boy's plan of action.
"So guys, what do you wanna do first? I got dibs on Cy." Beast Boy announced. It was definitely strange seeing a snow wolf in the middle of a public festival, let alone a green snow wolf. But what made the situation more disturbing was that the green snow wolf was talking rather than barking.
"I don't know. I'll most likely hang out with tofu-head and tin-man here. How about you Rae?" Terra forwarded the question to Raven. The blonde comfortably leaned her forearm on Cyborg's shoulder, exchanging smirks of delight with the cybernetic before returning her attention to the reclusive psychic.
"I don't know; maybe I'll take a stab at getting that giant chicken again." The other three laughed in amusement at her sarcastic monotone. Admittedly, Raven was still as withdrawn as ever, but she was definitely coming out of her emotional shell little by little with each passing day. Raven simply rolled her eyes at the gang's reaction. 'Was my joke really that funny?'
"It's settled then." Cyborg inserted, "The four of us are gonna have a good time while Robin and Star do whatever it is they like doing. Yo Terra, you think you can heat us up a bit?"
Nodding, Tara's hands immediately blazed an eerie golden light which she pulled over her head, mentally struggling in her mind to slightly crack the park's outer borders. Not long afterwards, her eyes throttled beams of powerful light exposing the difficulty she had with her task.
Raven empathically sensed that her intention was to crack open the border's grounds so that a limited amount of warmth could bounce off from underneath the surface and onto the park. It was complicated yet clever, and considering how much effort it required to carefully cut slits around the entire park, Raven couldn't help but smile.
"All done." Terra beamed with content at the awe-inspired civilians around them. Everyone around the Titans removed their parkas and sweaters as quickly as the chilly draft of wind swept passed. "I didn't affect the uppermost layer of the Earth's plates so the cracks should gradually close together in a day or two." Terra reported to Cyborg.
"Alright then, let the fun begin! To the bumper cars!" Cyborg roared. It was only a few yards away from them, but he obviously motioned for the idea of a race. "On my mark, get set…" Cyborg eyed down his teammates. Terra had already lifted a boulder from seemingly out of nowhere and was leaning forward against it, Beast Boy morphed into a cheetah, and Raven was… well, Raven was just standing there. Deciding that the time was right, he finally boomed the word "Go!"
In a flash of sound Cyborg activated his sonic boots and zoomed towards the registration desk in a flurry of speed. Terra launched pebbles at Cyborg who easily maneuvered around them, forcing Terra to avert her concentration on Beast Boy, who wasn't as fortunate. By simply raising a platform of rock in front of him, the changeling smashed head strong into it, thus knocking him out of the race.
Terra and Cyborg glared each other down, gritting their teeth in pure spite. Slowing their speed a notch, both of them realized that it required luck to reach the desk first, acknowledging the fact that both were on the same level of velocity. As the suspense heightened and the anticipation of the winner came to an unforgiving high, Raven was just about finished signing the list of participants on the front desk.
Within a blink of an eye, it became quite apparent that Terra's brown boot was the one to touch the receptionist's desk first. Cyborg rushed in a second later, a tear sliding down his handsome face.
"Oh yeah!" The winner, on the other hand, was as passionate and lively as ever. The supple blonde jumped in joy at her victory, savoring the moment of kicking the robot-man's butt. "Who owes me a soda? Whoooo owes meeee a soda?" Terra chanted in glee. Beast Boy meekly ambled miserably towards his two best friends, cradling the protruding bump on his forehead.
"Actually, you owe me a soda." The three titans broke out of their own individual thoughts and looked in the direction of the bumper-car arena, only to find Raven already seat belted in a purple vehicle. Terra was now the one shedding tears of disappointment, muttering words such as unfair and others of the like. "Well are you three coming in or not? The receptionist is waiting for you three, just in case you were wondering."
Terra hopped into Raven's car, riding as shotgun. "Alright guys, its girls against guys. Me and Raven versus you and Beast Boy." Terra competitively spat at her cybernetic rival. He and the little changeling contemplated the idea, whispering to each other what eventually became the stakes for the contest.
"Okay, no powers that mess up any chance of us hitting you guys. That means no shields Raven and no ground-moving Terra." Beast Boy glowered at his own rival, who shot back a glare far more threatening than his own. "And whoever loses has to give Starfire a kiss on the lips, each of you. Deal or no deal." The two rugrats gave each other high fives, thinking that they've got the game in the bag.
The empath turned to Terra with an evil grin. 'Terra, my mind is a playing field they forgot to mention, so we'll be one step ahead of them as long as we can read their thoughts. You game?' She telepathically asked. Terra maliciously nodded, allowing Raven to declare their agreement to the boys' terms.Cyborg sprinted over to a silver car with Beast Boy next to him. The four obviously didn't notice the 'oooohs' and 'aaaaahs' of the children around them, intent on figuring out how to win the competition instead.
Closing the gate shut, the receptionist turned the key and the vehicles were activated. Unlike other rinks, these bumpers were sensitive to impact. If the front bumper was hit, that car earned points, but if the back and side bumpers her hit, than the car would lose points. It was a little advancement in technology the carnival made due to Cyborg's involvement in last year's configuration setup.
Beep…
and the competitors were off.
'Hey, Cy, lets go around them and hit them from behind…' Terra used Raven's mind link to listen in on Beast Boy's thoughts. Apparently he was so stupid that he would suggest something as mediocre as that, so Terra adjusted the link to listen in on Cyborg's thoughts. She heard nothing.
"Raven," Terra nudged, "I can't hear Cyborg's thoughts." Raven was shuffling around a little boy's car, dodging his strike and slipping out of Cyborg's auto-attack as well.
"That's because he's only half human; I'm not talented enough to listen in on both of their minds, so try to focus on Beast Boy's. It requires my skills to invade Cyborg's mental barriers." Raven answered. After agreeing to Raven's proposal, Terra stood up and looked around for any incoming cars. The psychic's hands glided smoothly over the wheel, whizzing passed a congregation of cars that didn't seem to know what was happening.
"The only way to beat the master of driving," Raven whispered to herself, "is to think like the master of driving. Azaroth Metrione Zynthos…" In an instant, she clearly heard the ideas racing through her friend's mind. 'Raven doesn't know how to drive that well, so if I can get her stuck between those two cars, I can hit her from the side.'
A smile graced Raven's face. All she needed to do was get one point before the minute was over, and now that she knew what his scheme was, her success with Terra was completely guaranteed. Raven proceeded to drive between the two cars Cyborg predicted her to pass through, but before he could turn fast enough to strike her, Raven zoomed ahead and scurried heatedly around, making a ninety degree turn.
As they were about to hit the side of Cyborg's car, the silver vehicle rocketed around unexpectedly and dodged the attack, hurling itself mercilessly at Raven's rear soon afterwards. By the time Cyborg acquired the point, the bell had already rung. 'What happened? I thought he didn't see it coming.'
"Raven, Raven, Raven…" Cyborg cooed, "I knew you were going to invade my head. But you forgot one thing. My cybernetic calculations are not part of my brain and it compensated for my human instincts. Woot! You gotta kiss Starfire now! Ahahahaha!" He and Beast Boy broke in a fit of laughter, but Raven and Terra were pretty sure Beast Boy didn't know what he was laughing about.
"I just checked, Raven." Terra deadpanned, "He doesn't know what he's laughing about." After dealing with the boys snicker all throughout the ending process of the bumper car arena, they all realized that the night was young, and more fun was sure to come… except for the dreaded kiss when they return home. Yuck.
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Ending Note: Yay! I released it! I hope you liked it guys! It wasn't romantic, I know, but it's going to end with Robin and Raven next chapter. Okay, see y'all later! Holler!