Chapter 1: Hairpin
Nobody has ever thought of her as the feminine type of girl.
Not that she wasn't feminine, not in the least. She was just as ladylike and womanly as any other girl. They knew she still went shopping, though not frequently, and still spent hours at the rare stores she liked trying to find an outfit that suited her most. They knew she was fond of makeup, and sometimes they even saw her putting on some. They knew that she did girly things like all the normal ladies on the world.
But they also knew that she never enjoyed showing off, and never got pleasure from having all eyes on her. Attention to somebody else can be a reward, a delight, but to her, it was nothing different from torment itself. Maybe she would rather serve her father than to be in the center of the crowd, you would never know.
That's why none of them say anything when they noticed she started doing girlish stuff, like applying a thin layer of blush on her cheeks, or turning her lips gleaming in the light with the freshly released lips gloss. They were well aware of the fact that she disliked being bombarded with questions, especially for such a regular thing, and they respected her.
Well, that was just a part of the reason. Another part, a much bigger one, was that they didn't want her to blast them across the room or into another dimension. They had already seen more than enough what would happen if anyone dared to get on her nerve.
Besides, she was very discreet in her way of displaying her feminine side. Like she was afraid that somebody would notice that she was being girlish. So, most of the time, it wasn't until the end of the day that they actually noticed something different about her.
But today, things seemed to have taken a new turn.
"Friend Raven, you look so pretty today! Those small flowers are really cute on your hair!"
Starfire beamed as she flew in circle around her best friend in total excitement, her fiery red hair trailed behind her, like a blaze of fire fueled by her endless elation and could flare up any minute now. Opposite to her bubbly friend, Raven kept on sitting there on the couch with her legs crouched, eyes glued into the book in her hands, which she occasionally flipped a page, her back straight and her posture as motionless as a statue. It was like she was too absorbed in her precious leather-back massive book that she didn't notice that the alien princess was here. Or it could be that she just didn't care.
But Starfire wasn't bothered with this silent treatment at all. She had already grown used to it during her time living with the quiet empath, besides, her attention had already been captured by something else.
On Raven's violet hair lay a sprig of violet – or rather, a hairpin resembled a sprig of violet. The tiny flowers huddled next to one another with a few green leaves nestled between their petals, all were attached to a delicate metal branch to form a lovely and elegant piece of ornament. It was placed just above her pale little ear, pulling back a thick lock of hair and holding it in place. Strangely, despite being something so dainty, it suited her. Like it was born just to be on her hair.
"What're you on about?" Eventually, Raven shut her massive book with a sigh and rolled her eyes. Shooting Starfire a look of displeasure, obviously unhappy to have her reading time disrupted, she replied with a monotone voice: "It's just a hairpin. Nothing more. Nothing less. Nothing special. Why you must make such a fuss about it?"
"But this piece of hair ornament is so cute, Raven." Starfire exclaimed, inching her face closer to Raven's to get a good look at the details of the little flowers, ignoring the expression of vexation and discomposure the empath put on upon having someone invading her personal space too much for her liking. The alien princess rose a finger, tapping it on the delicate petals as though examining them: "They look so much like the flower we find at the store of plants in the city! Oh, just behold these cute tiny details…"
"I know, I know, my hairpin looks nice and real. So, can you please stop… poking it?" Raven winced, the irritation had already crept into her voice by now as her head bounced from side to side every time Starfire made contact with her hair. Sometimes that girl just somehow forgot that she was from another planet and had physical strength that can bypass that of all the humans in the universe combined. "I know that you just want to see it more clearly, but I honestly don't want to see my neck snapped in half."
"I am mostly sorry, friend Raven." Starfire said sheepishly, instantly removing her fingers from the object on Raven's head: "I just simply adored the beauty of your hair ornament. Even mine do not look as pretty as this. These little purple flowers are exactly what the women dressing beautifully on the magazines of fashion put on. Do you mind telling me where you bought this pin of hair? I would like to make a purchase on one too."
"I don't know." Raven replied nonchalantly. Her slender pale fingers ghosted on the metallic surface of the hairpin, before curling around one of the flowers. The petals feel cool on her skin, and she trailed her finger on their angles, as though finally having the chance to thoroughly check her little sprig of flowers out for the first time. The exquisite details gave out that this tiny thing was nowhere near cheap, and nowhere near easy to find either. Somehow, that brought a small smile on her usual calm-and-collected face: "It was a gift."
"Oh, such a thoughtful present then!" Starfire's emerald eyes lit up as her mouth formed into a perfect O: "Whoever gave you this must be caring for you so deeply. Such a beautiful thing like this is not what you can get at any store. They must have poured their heart and mind into the buying of this item."
Swept away by her own thoughts, Starfire never realized that Raven's violet eyes had stretched up wider when hearing the words coming from her mouth. For a while, the corner of her lips twitched up, and she seemed to have completely spaced out. The usual emotionless state that often shielded her expression dissolved, and the dark girl looked like she was brimmed with happiness, a kind of happiness that engulfed her heart and sent her to a land of utter bliss.
By the time Starfire returned her gaze to the empath, she had already regained her composure and went on devouring her thick book, her entire feature void of any emotion.
oOo
From the corner of his eyes, Robin observed the girls lazing off on the couch, enjoying a rare peaceful, eventless day. Well, correction, Raven was having a time for herself, and trying not to let Starfire ruin it with buckets after buckets of questions throwing at her. Strange as it might sound, this is simile the dark girl herself frequently used whenever talking about the alien princess. She said that the red-headed wasn't just expressing her opinions, she was splashing them around. And you have to be extra careful if you didn't want them to drown you.
It wasn't an ordinary way of talking, he had to admit. But it was her way. And he liked that.
Just as he liked many things about her.
Her sarcasm. Her humor. The way she never failed to make him laugh with her choice of words.
Her power, her ability, her enormous strength. She always seemed to be just a small, fragile girl, and yet, underneath that vulnerable shell hidden an untamable, fearless spirit.
Her endless attempt to try and overcome challenging situations. Sometimes, she even impressed him.
And of course, her discreet feminine side that she rarely revealed to anyone else.
The others knew that she was into girlish stuff, but they always thought of it as a moment of sudden interest or something. Can't blame them. Even she wanted them to think that way. She said that showing it out to them would be annoying, and she wasn't ready to be bombarded with questions and endless teasing.
Robin's eyes lit up behind his mask as he broke out in full grin when seeing her fingers clenched around the perfect hairpin he spent the entire afternoon looking for, and her usual cold and distant expression almost glowed in joy. He knew that it would look great on her.
Everything would look great on her.
And the fact that she actually clipped it on her hair and walked around with it almost made him want to jump up in utter delight. He knew the gift would be important to her, but he never expected her to actually display it to anyone else. Raven had literally gone to great length to ensure that nobody found out about her secret hobby, but now she was letting anyone see the little hairpin – the one he giving to her.
Knowing Raven, this would be just as admitting that he himself has a place in her heart, one that is so, so big that her own limits meant nothing to it.
And only this was enough to make his day.
Raven knew he was watching her, she always knew whenever he set his gazed on her. And slowly, the empath turned around. Her short violet hair gently swayed around as she did so, and he couldn't help but let his eyes linger on the cute little flowers attaching themselves to her hair. Yup, they suited her so well…
Violet eyes met domino mask. Lips set in straight line met an amusing smirk. And the girl quirked an eyebrow, as if asking why he was staring at her.
Quickly, naturally, like he had always had this in mind whenever he was near her, Robin blew her a small kiss and mouthed a "Love you" before giving her an ear-to-ear grin. And he could have sworn that his grin had actually managed to stretch even wider the moment he saw her pretty pale face turned into a slight shade of red.