One for all, and all for one.

Disclaimer: If I owned Teen Titans, Raven would be Blue X.

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Chapter 9: United We Stand

Turns out that both groups of teens had met at the pizza parlor for the exact same thing.

"So, how'd it go with the De Los Santos kids?" Dick asks. Always the leader. Jason frowns ever-so-slightly. How these guys put up with the pushy, bossy, obsessive know-it-all was beyond him.

"It was cool, man. Little Ricky took us on an adventure through the park," the bald guy smiles. "The 'lava pits' were not so cool, though," he adds.

"And friend Brendali was so happy to spend time with us! She asked when we would be coming again!" The red head continues with excitement.

"Well, I'm sure we can work out something," Dick smiles.

They all look at Raven. She's looking down. Picking at her pizza. She looks up, slightly annoyed. "What?"

The boy wonder blinks. "Well, how was it?"

"Fine." She doesn't elaborate. And she gives no indication of intending to. She pushes away her plate. "I'm not hungry."

"I'll take it!" The short boy with the high pitched voice reaches over delightedly, snatching the dejected cheesy goodness with glee.

"Is something wrong, Rae?" Dick probes a little.

Raven's jaw clenches just a little.

Aha, so he did get under someone's skin, after all.

"I just wish we could help them all. There's so many kids like this who never get to have a so-called 'normal' childhood. The De Los Santos family is so needy, but there are hundreds of other kids in Jump City alone that are in the same, if not worse, condition."

"What is this? Social Workers 101?" Jinx says. It almost sounds mocking, but there's a note of genuine curiosity in it.

"Yeah, it is actually. Really advanced material, don't hurt yourself, short stuff," baldy jumps in before Raven bursts a vein.

"EXCUSE me?" Jinx begins to stand up to her full height before Jason tugs her back down.

Uh oh.

Not what he wanted to happen.

If anybody was gonna be the bad guy, it was him. No one else.

"Why don't you try us, Mr. My-Kicks-Are-Too-Fresh-For-Lava-Puddles?"

"What?! You- what- how?!" Mr. Kicks sputters.

Jason just smirks. "Nah, for real, though. What are you guys doing? Is this for that competition?"

All five Titans stop and stare blankly.

"Well, judging by your extremely effective poker faces, I'll take that as a yes." Yup, Jason's on a roll tonight.

"So? Why should we tell you? You're the enemy!" High-pitched defends.

"Enemy?" Oh no, quick, save the ship- she's going down fast! "But I thought we could be a team! You know? A family effort," Jason winks.

Dick glowers at the twist.

Oh yes, 'big bro.' Tables are turning.

And, just as expected, Violet falls for it. "Can we?"

"Jason!"

"Hey, booger picker, wanna ask US if we wanna team up with some snot snorters first?"

"Yeah."

Jason looks at his classmates. "Come on, guys. What else are we gonna do? Be a traveling circus? Raven here is right, there are a ton of kids in the city that need help. They can't do it on their own!"

Protests erupt from both sides.

"Are you kidding me?! Work with some snobbish-"

"Uh, no way, no how am I gonna team up with these rude, sarcastic little-"

"Bum brains and barf buckets-"

"I think it's a good idea."

All heads swivel to look at Dick.

"Bro, say WHAT?"

"Friend Richard, are you sure this is what you wish to do?"

"Of course," Dick says tentatively. He's obviously not. But he continues confidently, "Raven said it herself, we can't do all this on our own. Yeah, it's a competition, but there are real and hurting kids involved and we can't pass them up because we just want to win something. What do you say, Hive? You in?"

The private schoolers look at Jason, scowling.

"Of course we are."

Twenty minutes and a lot of attempts at team-building-effort later, everyone's pushing in their chairs and throwing out paper plates, heading for the stairs to the exit.

"Hey, can I talk to you for a sec?" Jason lightly touches Raven's arm as she turns to walk away with her friends. Dick is the only one who notices, or cares really, as evidenced by his half turned posture and narrowed eyes.

It's much less threatening when the guy's on crutches, though.

"We've been talking all night," Raven says flatly.

A bit put off, Jason's about to say something smart right back before he realizes that she's smiling. Oh. "Uh, can we go somewhere a little more private?" He quickly adds, "Not for long." Can't have her thinking he's a creeper or anything.

Without a word, she walks past him to go out on the balcony of pizza parlor. There are only two other people there, but they seem to be too enamored with their food and each other to care about the teens.

Jason decides to just cut to the chase. "How did you know I was there today?"

"In the park?"

He nods once.

"Lucky guess, I suppose."

"No way. That was totally like magic powers, sweets."

"I have a name. Use it. And seriously, I don't know. I just felt like we were being watched. And lo and behold." Raven crosses her arms in a way that clearly says, 'are we done with this conversation?' Jason chuckles and leans back on the railing with an, 'I don't think so.'

Too bad Raven doesn't care.

She walks off, leaving a dumbfounded Jason on the balcony.

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A/N: Alright, so this is because of the last couple reviews I got. Wow. Thanks so much! You have no idea how much it means. But I am really sorry, I'm gonna have to put this story on hold for now. I'm leaving Sunday and training starts tomorrow and I have no idea when I can get back on. I'll still try to write some but I can't promise I can get online to update anytime soon. So, thanks for reading! Til next time.