Disclaimer: I don't own the Teen Titans nor alcohol, but that would be sweet, I am like all of the drinking countries in Europe so I guess I could own alcohol if I was determined enough….
Alright, this is number five, I think so thanks for reading and I'll probably have number six out by the end of the week.
Take It Off
"Jinx?"
Jinx smiled politely, "You mind scootin' in?"
Raven looked at Jinx in utter terror for a split second and then changed back to her usual emotionless expression and looked back at Cyborg, "What are you doing with Jinx?"
Cyborg frowned, "Come on, Rae, we're taking the night off. Just relax and hang out, I'm sure you'll think Jinx is pretty cool, she is like the H.I.V.E.'s you."
"What?" Raven snapped annoyed at the insinuation.
Jinx stood there not quite sure what to do, usual she didn't have this much of an issue picking someone up from her own bar. But this whole situation had suddenly entangled itself in a complexity of issues, she saw her way out when two hair buns caught her eye. "Hey, Karen!" She called out and Cyborg's head shot out in the woman's direction just as she turned around.
"Bee?" He whispered and walked away from the booth in a daze. Jinx watched the two met up and started arguing nearly immediately as they were within shouting distance. Jinx looked back at Raven sadly, "Am I welcome here?"
Raven glanced at her drink, "Did you buy my drink?"
"No," Jinx answered a little confused by the question.
Raven shook her head, "Then no, really, you should know to buy a girl a drink before you sit at her table." Rave reprimanded playfully and pointed to the seat across from her, "but I think I can make an exception just this once."
Jinx slid into the booth and looked at Raven's glass, "What'cha drinkin'?"
Raven picked up the glass experimentally glancing at the amber liquid and then took a swig. "Tequila."
"Straight?" Jinx asked her jaw nearly falling open. Her mojito was suddenly seeming very wimpy.
"Not entirely straight," Raven said her face expressionless but Jinx still saw the allusion in it.
"Have much have you had to drink?" Jinx asked now beginning to recognize just why Cyborg had been keeping tabs on the girl.
Raven looked up causing her hair to drift over her eyes, "Enough to take the edge off." Jinx nodded and sipped her own drink, "Why are you here?" She asked solemnly.
"Killing the edge," Jinx replied, the pink-haired teen wasn't an empath but she could sense the sadness emanating from the girl.
"Nobody comes to a bar alone." Raven observed, she was trying to figure out how Jinx kept her hair that color but when she looked at the girl's eyes and how they matched perfectly she figured it must be natural.
"Maybe I was here to find some company…" Jinx countered slightly unnerved by how the teen before her kept staring at her eyes.
"Did you find some?" Raven asked emotionlessly before taking another swig and draining her glass. The liquor swished in her head and she smiled at that. Alcohol always seemed to null her powers and Raven was grateful, it was a pain to have to always be in control all the time. She thought for a moment and realized she'd been less than in control with Jinx and yet nothing had blown up. Even though Raven's mind was foggy she was still able to find that very strange indeed, "Why does nothing happen around you?"
Jinx looked at Raven baffled by what she had just said, "What?"
Raven blinked and shook her head, "Never mind."
"What'd you say?" Jinx asked now very curious about what Raven had meant by that. The feline was beginning to worry that Raven thought something was wrong with her.
"It doesn't matter. I'm going to go get another drink." The empath said and attempted to stand only to feel the world spin. She started to fall back only to feel Jinx's arms around her waist.
"How many of those have you had?" Jinx asked as she set Raven back down on her seat.
"Two…" Raven said looking at Jinx's concerned expression, "okay, maybe three…or four."
"Jesus Raven, what is that a martini extra extra dry?" Jinx asked squatting down so she could check Raven's eyes. They were pretty much bloodshot. "How long have you been here?"
"What's with the interrogation?" Raven asked and she reached for her glass which had found its way back to the table. Jinx swatted her hand away from the glass.
"You're drunk." Jinx explained and then she stood up searching for Cyborg or any of the Titans but they all seemed to have disappeared in the crowd of people.
"I am not," Raven replied glaring at Jinx, the feline looked back and the empath's expression softened. "I am not drunk." Raven repeated.
Jinx sighed and shook her head stepping back, "Then I invite you to stand up and get your next drink."
Raven attempted to stand up and then let herself fall backwards onto the booth. "Okay, so maybe I'm a little drunk."
"A little, you had four of them. How long have you been here?" Jinx scolded and stopped herself from saying more as she realized she sounded like someone's mother, not her own obviously, her mother hadn't been around much to scold her, but a mother nonetheless.
"Like a half hour, maybe forty-five." Raven answered and she grabbed Jinx's hand, "you wanta dance?"
Jinx's jaw nearly dropped, "You had four of those in a half-hour? Are you crazy?" She let Raven hold her hand though, she knew the girl wouldn't attempt to stand again, or at least she hoped not anyway.
"They taste good, I like Tequila." Raven answered and pulled on Jinx's arm, "Come on."
I'm on my second drink
But I've had a few before...
I'm tryin' hard to think
And I think that I want you on the floor
Uh huh, yeah on the floor!
"You can't even stand up on your own, and I think that's just the first one kicking in," Jinx stated and scanned the seemingly increasing mass of humans for any Titans. Still she saw none. Jinx sighed and looked back at the empath, "do you think you could fly back to the tower if I took you to the shore?"
Raven shook her head, "No, I can't even stand up, you think I can fly?" Raven laughed slightly at this and Jinx tried to blink back the screaming voice in her head.
This was not good, not only was Jinx stuck with a soon to be very drunk girl, but a very drunk Raven for that matter. Jinx noticed someone behind her and turned to find Tony standing there.
"Jen, you okay? You want me to call a cab for her?" He asked glancing down at the seated Raven.
"No, it's okay Tony. Look have you seen a tall, kind of bulky black guy?" Jinx asked holding her hand up to about how tell Cyborg was.
"You mean the guy who was talking to Karen?" Tony asked looking back at Jinx, "What'cha want with him."
"Have you seen him lately?" Jinx asked turning her attention back to the crowd for another futile look for Titans.
"He left with Karen, thought you knew. You seemed to know both of 'em, figured you set it up or something'." Tony answered and followed Jinx's gaze into the crowd.
"Damn it." Jinx muttered, she wasn't about to ask Tony is he had seen a green kid or a tall red-head because it just would've been too obvious. Jinx looked at Raven to accent her point, "I'm gana take her home, okay?"
Tony nodded and smiled softly, "You're a good kid."
"Thanks Tony." Jinx said and watched him disappear into the crowd. Jinx sighed as she looked at the girl who was currently trying to blink away sleepiness. "Come on, I'll let you sleep this off at my place."
"That sounds good," Raven muttered and wrapped an arm around Jinx's shoulder when the feline bent down. Jinx snaked her arm around the empath's waist and felt he girl rest her head on her shoulder, "hey, try to keep awake for right now, okay?" Jinx whispered as she navigated through the groups of people and finally to the door.
"Do you have a bed?" Raven asked meekly into Jinx's ear.
"I have three," Jinx answered softly into Raven's ear.
"That sounds nice," Raven whispered back and Jinx could tell she was on the verge of sleep.
Jinx sighed as the bouncers opened the door, "You need some help, Jen?" One of them asked and Jinx nodded.
"One of you mind hailing a cab?" Jinx asked and the taller one nodded and walked out to the street. Luck enough there was a cab already pulling up to drop off a group of girls and the bouncer knocked on the hood.
"Hey, buddy. Got a pick-up for yeah." The bulky man said through the open passenger side window, he handed a twenty to the driver who grinned, "High-profile package here, alright?"
The driver nodded and glanced into his rear-view mirror to see the two girls who were sitting in the back seat, he looked back at the bouncer, "You got it, man. Thanks."
"It's not a tip, it's for them." The bouncer said and then looked back at Jinx who nodded and the bulky man backed up and returned to his place in front of the door.
"Where to sweetheart?" The driver asked glancing at the rear-view mirror again.
Jinx put Raven down on her bed gingerly, it still surprised the feline how she had managed to carry the girl to her room in the first place. She grudgingly pulled away only to feel Raven's hand pull on her arm, "Don't go."
"Rae?" Jinx asked looking at the drowsy girl
"I don't want you to go," the girl whimpered and pulled on Jinx's arm harder causing the girl to fall forward towards the empath. There were mere inches between the two's lips and Jinx was able to smell the alcohol on Raven's breath. She watched Raven move closer and felt the soft touch of her lips.
"Raven…" Jinx muttered puling away, "you're very, very drunk." The feline's breath was stuck somewhere in her larynx and she could feel her pulse racing, no, this is wrong, no.
Raven glared at Jinx, "Come on, I won't tell anyone." She purred and tried to pull Jinx closer again but the other girl stepped back.
"Raven, just get some sleep. Just…just…" Jinx shook her head and backed up into the door, "Just go to sleep, Raven." At which point she opened the door and practically jumped out of the room, snapping the door closed behind her.
The feline pressed her back against the door and slid down to her knees, letting her head rest behind her and allowing her mind to wander for once. What was Raven doing? Goddess this isn't good, she can't—we can't—I can't do something like that. It wasn't the fact that Raven was a girl that dismayed her, nor the fact that she was currently drunk off her ass, though this did bother Jinx, but what bothered her was the undeniable truth that Raven was a hero and Jinx was a villain.
All the girl wanted was to go back into her room and just lay next to Raven, not even do anything, but just be next to her. The second best thing was to open up her liquor cabinet and drain it entirely to make her forget, but she couldn't do that now, not with Raven so close. Thirdly, Jinx could just leave; the door would auto-lock anyway, but then what would happen if Raven sobered up and came out to find Jinx only to have the girl gone. No, I can't just leave her here, which leaves…
Jinx sat there for a moment longer and then stood up and walked to her closet, grabbing a fleece blanket and shrugging off the leather jacket onto a hanger and placing it next to the two other jackets just like it. She grinned sadly at how terrified of fashion change she was and then walked back to her couch and lied down.
Trying to sleep wasn't working as whenever she was tired enough she'd close her eyes and her thoughts would drift to the girl just a room over, lying innocently in her bed. Jinx's eyes snapped open and she sat up, snatching the remote from her coffee table and cranking down the volume before recklessly flipping through stations in an attempt to find something boring enough to put her to sleep.
She could tell it was going to be a very long night.
Raven awoke in Jinx's bed with a killer headache and a sudden, mind-blasting memory of exactly what happened last night, down to the last detail. She looked to her right and sighed in relief that Jinx wasn't next to her, few, at least that was a dream. She still couldn't deny that she was in Jinx's apartment, in Jinx's room, on Jinx's bed, on top of Jinx's sheet, and resting her head on Jinx's pink pillows that upon closer inspection had a cat's face printed on the pillow case.
Obsessive much? She thought slyly and then groaned at the nearly unbearable headache that assaulted her senses. The window suddenly opened and Raven knew it was her powers, she also knew just what her powers were counseling her to do. She thought back to when Jinx had told her no.
More like recoiled from me, Raven thought and she looked at the window, wondering what good staying would do. She had been drunk, and probably was just going to be more a hassle to Jinx anyway…She shivered at the cold and sat up, clutching her head at the sharp pain.
For a moment Raven considered leaving a note and then thought better of it, she'll probably just be grateful to be rid of me, and then Raven levitated herself, judging to make sure she was capable of flying out. Her powers seemed under control and she floated through the window, only to be awed for a moment by where Jinx lived, it was one of the most expensive apartments in all of Jump. A skyscraper dedicated to housing some of Jump City's most notorious faces, and here Jinx lived only two floors from the top of the forty-some floors of the building, how can she afford that? Raven wondered while closing the window with her powers, it made even the Titan Tower seem average, but then Cyborg would've made the structure taller if he'd had more room on the island to set up a more fortified base for the Tower to sit on.
Raven shook her head away from such thoughts and turned in the air to face the direction of the Tower, it was actually visible from her altitude and Raven wondered if Jinx had picked that particular apartment for a reason. The empath glided in the air towards the Tower and eventually deposited herself on the roof.
Punching in numbers to the keypad next to the door Raven let herself in with no alarms, she glanced back at the skyline before the door closed behind her and caught the sun just beginning to rise over the city, it must've been early.
The door swooshed close and plunged the corridor into darkness, it didn't bother Raven much as her eyes adjusted to the lack of light, she shifted through the floor and into the hallways that led to her room only to find a note on her door.
Package for you in the living room. You owe me five bucks for tipping the delivery boy.
-Robin
Raven frowned and rubbed her temples, she needed tea anyway. It would kill the ache hopefully. So Raven let herself drop through the many floors and into the hallways leading to the living room. Raven let her feet hit the floor and she walked out to find the room disserted for once, and there upon the coffee table was a cardboard packaging box with Raven written in pink.
The empath didn't need powers to see who had sent it and she glanced at the box wondering if she should open it, "I think I'll send you something, when it gets there you can tell me whether you'd like to see me again." Jinx's words echoed in her head and Raven shivered at the memory.
The empath stood up and went to the kitchen, filling a kettle with water and placing it on the stove to boil. She opened the cabinet to get a mug out and then lifted her hand higher to get a box of tea only to find herself pulling out the tea she had gotten from Jinx. She threw it back into the cabinet and grabbed a generic box of green tea with her powers.
I really screwed up, she thought letting her mind wander to last night. It was amazing how little in control of herself she had been, and yet how unbelievable aware of everything she had done she was now. She groaned at how she had practically begged Jinx, goddess, I ruined everything.
She wouldn't let herself think about how Jinx had recoiled at her touch and Raven decided to let herself be more concerned with fixing her mug with the proper amounts of sugar, tossing out sugar and adding more until she had poured around half the container's amount of sugar down the sink. She blinked at the realization and caught the tea as it whistled, tossing in a bit of sugar and pouring the boiling water into the mug.
Replacing the kettle on the back burner she turned back to the living room, mug in hand. She sat on the couch and looked solemnly at the box, Jinx had to of sent it before the club which meant she might not want Raven to have it now. The box flew off the table and hit the entertainment center, turning on the t.v.
Raven sighed and looked up at the mega screen, Beast Boy had left Animal Planet on and they were doing a special on cats. Raven flipped the station. Sabrina the Teenage Witch rerun on abcFamily. Raven flipped the station. Pink playing a concert on Mad TV. Frustrated Raven flipped that channel again to Spike which was playing a re-run of CSI and this one had a girl in a leather jacket arguing with the cops.
"Fucking t.v." Raven said and suddenly the screen broke scattering black plexi-glass everywhere. Raven growled and threw her head back to rest on the back pillows of the couch. She felt a tear slide down her cheek and wondered why she was crying, rolling over to her side she buried her face in a pillow and fell asleep with red, puffy eyes.
Jinx woke to find herself stretched out on her couch with a slightly weight on her stomach. She opened a lazy eye to find a black cat sleeping contently on her stomach. "Mornin' Diz," she greeted the cat and scratched his ear waking him up. The furry feline mewed pleasantly and Jinx smiled slightly, her cat usually left her be for the most part, he generally had the apartment to himself and always had two bedrooms Jinx never used along with enough toys to keep twelve cats entertained. She had thought he was too lonely at one point and gotten the cat a girlfriend only to find his dislike of female cats and so she had gotten him a boyfriend to entertain himself with, only to find that her cat was just too antisocial and so she had gotten rid of the other cat and told him he took after his owner too much.
Jinx picked up Diz and sat up turning to leave space on the couch and placed him down on the cushion causing the cat to mew at the move, yet curl back into a ball and return to sleep.
Jinx stood and checked the digital clock sitting on top of her dvd player which also displayed the time making the clock useless, but Jinx had owned it before she had gotten a dvd player and had thought not to simply get rid of it because she had found better electronics. The clock read out ten-twelve and Jinx groaned, stupid Monday morning.
She walked to her bedroom door and only then remembered why she had woken up on her couch instead of her bed. And who was sleeping on her bed. Jinx raised her hand to knock and then moved it to comb her hair back, this was silly, Raven wasn't going to suddenly wake up enough to tell Jinx to "come in."
Jinx's hand wrapped around the door-knob and she hesitated again, what am I gana tell Raven? "You were drunk out of your mind so I let you sleep it off in my apartment, in my bed. She shook her head and decided she'd wing it, Raven's head was going to be killing her anyway, she'd probably agree to whatever Jinx said to get her to shut-up. Jinx sighed, straightened her shoulders and opened the door.
There was no one there, not even a note, Jinx's eyes found their way to the window, it was closed and locked but Jinx knew Raven had left through it. The empath's magic seemed to linger on the spot and Jinx walked over to the window and looked out.
She could see the Tower sitting isolated out off the coast. The sun lit up the entire area but it wasn't overhead enough to be seen by the westward facing window. Jinx watched the waves crash against the island and thought about how peaceful it must be, Raven could just walk out to the roof and sit and listen to the waves while she mediated, she might even walked out and jump from the roof to drive into the water. Jinx shivered at the thought, she really did hate water.
She jumped when her phone suddenly went off, and then felt foolish as she pulled the little flip-phone out of her pocket and answered, "Jinx."
"Hey, I'm coming over." Karen's voice replied and Jinx could hear cars zooming in the background.
"I'm not sure if this is a good time." Jinx warned as she scanned the streets for her friends who she suspected was approaching
"I slept with Victor," Karen said and Jinx watched at the woman stepped out of a taxi cab with a large paper bag in hand.
"Oh, Karen." Jinx whispered, "So I'm guessing that bag doesn't have stuffed animal in it."
Karen was already inside the building by this time, "Do you mind, I really need a friend right now…"
"No, come up. Cell phones don't work in the elevator though," Jinx said and she walked out into her living room and then into the kitchen, she heard a bell ring on the other end.
"Be there in a sec, then." Karen said and Jinx heard the click as the woman hung up. The feline grabbed two shot glasses and two normal glasses. Karen could drink, and Jinx knew she'd need something to eat to keep up with the older woman. She was toasting ciabatta bread in her toaster oven and mixing vinegar with balsamic vinaigrette when she heard a knock on the door.
Jinx opened it to see a very distressed Karen, the feline moved to let the woman come in. "How you holdin' up?"
"Better after I finish drinking." Karen said as she walked into the living room and grabbed a stool from the bar that separated the kitchen from Jinx's dinning room. Karen put the bag down and pulled out a bottle of tequila and Jinx felt like throwing herself out the window.
"No tequila." Jinx said as she went back to fixing her snack.
"Why not?" Karen asked looking up from the shot she had already poured. Jinx opened a cabinet below the counter and pulled out a bottle of gin.
"Please, just don't drink tequila in front of me right now." Jinx explained as she poured herself a shot. She looked at the clear liquid carefully, and then raised her shot to Karen's, "What are we drinkin' to here?"
"Alcohol." Karen said and Jinx grinned before she gulped the liquor and slammed the glass down. Jinx turned back to her toaster over and grabbed the already cut slices of bread, pulling them onto a wooden cutting board and lacing them on the bar between Karen and herself. Karen looked at the bread and how Jinx was now busy making tomato sauce. "What's with the food?" She glanced at Jinx as the girl grabbed a can of tomato paste, "You only cook when you're upset…what happened last night?"
Jinx clicked on the heat to the stove and poured half-frozen raviolis into a pot of water. She didn't say anything for a while and instead moved back to the bar and poured herself a glass of scotch. "That bad, huh?" Karen said as she watched Jinx pour a shot of gin and place it before the older woman.
"I don't want to talk about it." Jinx said and she stirred the sauce while looking at Karen, "So what happened, I heard from Tony that you two left together.."
"Yeah, he walked me to my apartment and…"
Raven wasn't dreaming in the casual sense, her subconscious mind had dragged up the memory of last year's Rite.
The Nine were gathered together in a circle, eight of them dressed in black and Raven in white. She watched as the person in the center finished their recount of the year and visions for the future, the man had his hood down as was customary for the person speaking and his eyes were fogged over with the prophesied future.
Then his head snapped back and his eyes cleared. He bowed to Raven and sat down in his seat causing another to stand. It was obvious even with the robe that this was a female and Raven watched as she lowered her hood and presented her orange tiger-like eyes to Raven's vision. The girl before her had blonde hair with a streak of brown on her bangs but Raven knew it was Jinx. No amount of dye or contacts could change something so imprinted on the girl.
Raven nodded to her as she bowed and watched as the feline produced a small fire-wood sized log along with a match. She struck the match against the log and the top half caught on fire while the bottom seemed unscathed. The sun was just setting and Jinx began to narrate about the changes in nature and the cycles while throwing the log into the air and allowing it to spin, yet oddly only half was ever on fire and the flame never went out.
Raven wasn't paying attention, she was more concerned with the magic in the air and the way Jinx seemed to be able to manipulate the air currents to keep the flame alive. Then suddenly Jinx caught the log and as the sun's last rays receded from the ground the feline blew lightly on the piece of half-charred wood and the flame blinked out of existence.
Jinx walked before Raven, her task complete and yet her hood not replaced on the top of her head. Jinx sank to her knees so she was eyelevel to Raven and she held out the firewood to the other girl, "For you." Jinx whispered and her words caught on the breeze that suddenly blew.
The magic made everything take on such a dreamy appearance and all in the Nine knew the presented object was a lover's gift and they patiently wait for Raven to call an end to the Rite. Jinx had been the last one and none would take umbrage at what Jinx had done, during the Rite none were safe to the allure of magic. Bonds of marriage, or others were put aside at the call of the magic for that one night a year and the end of the ceremony meant the beginning of something quite different.
Raven's eyes looked into Jinx's, she could see that silent plea and feel the girl's emotions rage inside her and suddenly Raven leaned up and kissed the girl. The other's sighed in relief and began to rise from their spots knowing the ceremony was over but the two were too entangled with each other to care.
"I missed this," Raven whispered to Jinx as she felt the girl moved to her ear.
"I missed you." Was Jinx's seductive reply into her ear and Raven wiggled under Jinx's body. She had been in control throughout the entire ceremony and even before, Jinx would've done anything she said but here she was with Jinx taking control somehow, she liked it.
"Jen," Raven whispered using Jinx's given name and not knowing why, she could feel the other girl's teeth as they ran down her left collar bone and rested on the hollow of her throat.
"Raven."
"Don't make me stop," Jinx begged even though she was currently in control.
"Never, never." Raven panted as she felt the feline bite against her throat. It felt like all of her nerves were overreacting and she could feel the grass beneath her and Jinx's constantly moving body on top.
"Raven."
"Jen," Raven moaned again as she felt the girl start to pull on the sash keeping her white robe on.
"Raven!"
Raven's eyes snapped open and she jerked straight up hitting Starfire on the chin with her forehead. "I'm sorry, Star." Raven apologized blushing deeply at the dream.
"Who is 'Jen'?" Starefire asked and Raven blushed deeper.
"What do you mean, 'Jen'?" The empath countered trying to figure out how she could get out of this situation.
"You were saying her name and mo—" Raven's hand covered Starfire's mouth suddenly and Raven could sense the girl's surprise.
"Don't finish that, please." Raven said and when she judged Starfire wouldn't immediately continue talking Raven moved her hand.
"Why, Friend Raven?" Starfire asked naively.
"I just—it's—girl's don't—" Raven sighed and looked around to see if anyone else was there but found the living room empty save for herself and Starfire. "I was just dreaming."
"It sounded like a very good dream." Starefire observed and Raven blushed further causing a light bulb to burst. This made Starfire jump and Raven looked at the broken glass from the t.v. screen on the floor. Beast Boy and Cyborg were going to kill her if they walked in and found their precious t.v. in pieces.
Raven glanced back at Starfire, "If you could just not repeat what you heard, that would be really nice."
Starfire nodded, "Our secret, Friend Raven."
"What secret?" Beast Boy asked and then he began to scream when he saw the busted out t.v. "WHAT HAPPENED?"
Oh, for the love of, Raven thought as she watched the shape-shifter begin to freak out over the electronic.
Author's Side-note:
Sorry this took so long like I said I had family in town so I had to show them around the amazing sites (which there's aren't many) instead of write. I'll try to kick out a few this week though.
The song is by The Donnas called "Take It Off" and is one of my favorites, though I like "Fall Behind Me" more, and they did this really weird cover of "Safety Dance" but it's so much better with a British accent.
Oh, and I hoped I spiced this up a bit, I realized the whole romantic bits were lacking and I actually had a rewrite a bit, but it's okay, this worked out pretty well.