A/N: Yes! Finally, I have published something after school started waaaay back in August.
Raven sighed into her tea mug. As a rule, life as a Titan was always… hectic. But whenever Titans East came over, things tended to become three times as loud.
At the moment, Robin and Bumble Bee were comparing crime rates from Steel and Jump in the Filing Room.
The other Titans knew the routine by now; Robin and Bee would remain in the Filing Room for several hours, the amount of time needed to update each other's databases with new super villains, calculate the crime rate for the last month, and ensure that no suspicious activity was occurring. Neither leader would leave for anything short of a mission until the whole endeavor was complete. Afterwards everyone would go to the park, Cyborg would grill, Starfire and Bee would have a girl day tomorrow, Raven would be dragged to said girl day, somehow get out of having to attend 'the party of slumber' in Starfire's room, and then Titans East would leave and return in two months' time.
It was tradition for the members of both teams, one that had been established in the early days of Titans East.
Unfortunately, Beast Boy, Speedy, Más and Menos had learned to take to take advantage of these rare occasions where they weren't being supervised, and that only meant trouble.
Beast Boy's aura hovered at the edge of her senses, radiating mischief in waves of pink and orange ether that told her he was devising yet another brilliant prank. She didn't need her empathy to know that Speedy was chasing Más y Menos around the tower.
Raven frowned faintly at the memory. Speedy had tried flirting with Starfire while the Boy Wonder was occupied, but while his advances had been lost on the oblivious alien, they were not lost on Más y Menos. He'd started chasing the twins around the tower when they started teasing him about it in Spanish.
As Raven watched, Más y Menos stopped in the Ops room, allowing a fuming Speedy to catch up.
"Ay, Más, eres bonita, muy bonita," Menos exalted, pretending to swoon over his sniggering brother.
"¿Qué?" Más said, doing his best to look confused and feminine in what was admittedly not a bad impersonation of Starfire.
Menos chuckled. "Me quieres," he said arrogantly, combing his fingers through the single lock of hair on his forehead. "Debido a mi pelo, ¿no? ¡Mírenme! ¡Yo soy pelo grande! ¡Arrodillarse y admiren mi pelo hermoso!"
Speedy appeared just in time to catch the last of Más y Menos' little skit.
"Hey!" He protested. "I do not sound like that!"
By this point, Más y Menos were having a hard time standing upright, but they managed to join hands, and with their usual cry – "¡Más y Menos, sí podemos!" – they ran off before Speedy's net arrow could hit them. Speedy growled and sprinted in the direction they'd gone.
Raven blinked.
The rooms only other occupant, Aqualad, was bent over double in silent laughter; evidently, he knew what was going on.
"What just happened?" she asked flatly.
Aqualad held up a finger, telling her to give him a moment, and Raven frowned. She hated not fully understanding something that had just happened right in front of her.
Finally regaining himself, Aqualad proceeded to explain to Raven what had just transpired.
"… And then Menos said 'You like me. It's the hair, right? Look at me! I'm big hair! Kneel and admire my handsome hair!'"
Raven smiled briefly – Speedy really did spend more time on his hair than less than an inch deserved - but then she frowned again.
"What's wrong?" Aqualad asked, noticing the slight change in her expression.
Raven shrugged. "Nothing. It's just annoying, never knowing what they're saying."
"I could teach you, if you want," Aqualad offered. Please say yes, please say yes, please say-
"Alright." Raven placed her mug by the sink, and the two Titans sat down by the window overlooking the bay.
"La mar." He said, pointing out the window. "The sea."
"La mar." Raven repeated.
"El libro, the book. Los libros, the books."
"If libro is book, than how do you say library?" Raven questioned.
"Biblioteca," Aqualad said, after thinking a moment.
"Bliblioteca," Raven repeated softly to herself, memorizing it.
They went on like this for a while, with Aqualad explaining words and phrases like '¿hablas inglés?' do you speak English; 'mañana,' tomorrow, morning; 'noche', night; chico, boy; chica, girl; when suddenly, Aqualad stopped talking.
"What?" Raven asked.
"I…. was thinking we should try some phrases now."
"Um, okay?" Raven asked, confused by his shifts in emotion. He'd been about to do something else, but what? No, Raven should forget about it; it was rude to examine other people's emotions with her empathy. Shame her sense of empathy didn't agree.
"Raven, ¿qué hora es?" Aqualad watched Raven's brow furrow.
"What… hour, is? What time is it?"
"Muy bien," Aqualad complemented her. "Te gusta waffles?"
To his surprise, an irritated expression crossed Raven's face. "Why do people keep asking me that?" she huffed, annoyed.
"Perdón, perdón," Aqualad apologized. She looked so cute when she was annoyed at little things like that… the temptation was too great. When would he find an opportunity like this again?
"Raven, I was thinking… tomorrow… would you…?" Aqualad forced himself to spit it out."¿Tú, yo, mañana por la noche?
There was a moment of suspenseful silence as Raven worked out what the words meant, before a light blush began to creep over her cheeks. Hesitantly, a shy smile appeared on her lips. "Sí, es buena," she said in halting Spanish.
A/N: Tada! What'd you think? This is both my second attempt at pairing and Aquarae (with my first attempt being I'm not a Vampire!)
Translations:
"Oh, Mas, you are beautiful, very beautiful."
"What?"
"You like me… Because of my hair, no?Look at me! I'm big hair! Kneel and admire my handsome hair!"
Do you like waffles?
"You, me, tomorrow night?
"Yes, is good"
REVIEW POR FAVOR!
Edit 12/17/2021 – I am updating this because my knowledge of Spanish has improved somewhat since 2012.