A/N: Sorry I took so long! My comp broke down for ages! ;
Accidental Meeting
" Come on Rae!" Beast boy begged, totally unfazed by his previous failed attempts. "Everyone's going, it wont be the same without you there to frighten the barman!" He took a few seconds to recall their latest trip to the quiet placid bar, and how Raven managed to reduce a relatively attractive young barman to tears after he indignantly and repetitively hit on her. He chuckled at the memory. Raven was definitely the sort of girl that needed to be charmed.
She watched him make a fool of himself for a while longer before shaking her head and sighing. She could also recollect the man's feeble effort to impress her with sickening pick up lines and inappropriate touching. Her anger flared at the memory but was soon to calm quickly when she remembered her temporary loss of control and how she lashed out and relatively scared the cocky bar tender's drinks out of his own hand. She smirked darkly under her hood before recomposing herself and turning back to her hopeful looking companion, standing to attention at her side, dressed in normal clothing, a purple shirt and dark pants, and pleading for her to agree. She shook her head and turned back around, walking into the living room of which her friends occupied. With Beast boy still pestering at her side she growled quietly and spun to face him once more.
"No. I have no current desire to watch you dance yourself stupid and get assaulted by women and their drinks, again. Neither do I wish to sit at the bar to play touch and glare with the staff!" Beast boy pouted at this, but ignored the comment on his awesome flirting skills. He was about to protest further when a voice, from the kitchen area. interrupted his thoughts.
"How bout if we force BB to cook the steaks for a week!" Cyborg joked, approaching the two with raw meat in his left hand. Beast boy took one look at the steak and started to gag and turn a strange colour. Raven smirked at the changeling who was currently holding a gloved hand to his mouth in an attempt to stop the dry reaching. She pretended to think deeply before answering.
"As tempting as that sounds, I think I'll pass…" She insisted, before she was once again bombarded with rambling to convince her otherwise.
"You must accompany us friend Raven! It has taken us many weeks to convince Robin to let us do the winding down again!" Starfire appeared in front of her from somewhere behind and grabbed her shoulders, lightly shaking her in hopes of persuading the dark teen, needless to say, her tries were in vain. Raven simply rejected the offer politely, again walking away from the group to the kitchen, probably about to make some herbal tea.
Just as the group were going to give up, their team leader spoke from the couch, his back turned to the Titans, and a devilish smile on his face.
"Raven…" The girl turned to her leader when her name was called, a questioning and somewhat dreading expression on her face, as well as everyone else. Still not facing them, the boy wonder spoke again. "As leader of the Titans I hereby command you to accompany us." He stated, only now he chose to look at the pale, if slightly scared demoness.
Still though, she chose to resist.
"Robin, there is no way in this world I will be caught dead, back in that place…"
--
Raven sat alone at the far end of the bar, a lemonade in her hand and a face like thunder. She had been forced to go with her friends to 'burn off steam' which is exactly what everyone else was doing. Cyborg had been nominated to be the DJ for the night, and wasn't doing too bad a job, if the job was to cause a heart pumping, booming noise (that would cause rappers headaches), that people called 'Dance/Techno'. Robin and Starfire were sitting in a dark corner pretending not to make out. And BB was… Raven scanned the room to find the little Green shape shifter in the middle of a crowd of girls with his shirt off, attempting to dance to the racket that was playing. She shook her head, obviously he was drunk, she would have to lecture Cyborg about buying drinks for the under aged again. She sipped her beverage and scanned across the club. It was incredibly dark, except for dim lights scattered about, a disco light above the exceptionally crowded dance floor and a bright light at the bar, of which Raven had carefully avoided when she chose to sit.
Through the crowd of dancers and wannabies, she saw a familiar jet black haired Goth who had been so kind as to amuse her when she was dragged to a club by Starfire's sister. He leaned against a tall wooden beam in between the scattered tables, only a few were occupied. His expression was one of extreme boredom and he carried an apathetic nature in his stance. His hair was semi- long and he wore black skinny jeans and a black and white 'scene' T. He had a studded collar around his neck and a mixture of red, purple and black bangles clung to his left wrist. Every few seconds he looked down and scuffed his converses along the hardwood dance floor.
Raven raised the hood of her black unzipped hoodie over her head and watched him for a few seconds, pending on his posture and temperament before finally deciding to return the favour and go talk for a while. It was the least she could do, plus she didn't like the look the creepy maintenance guy had been giving her for the past hour. Just as she set her half finished drink down on the polished surface of the bar, the sickeningly drunk and half dressed changeling came over and fell onto the bar in front of her. Eventually regaining his composure he stood unsteadily in front of the empath and gave her a somewhat quizzical look. Raven sighed and prepared to answer his slurred questions on why she had been sitting on her own all night.
"If you choke a smurf, what colour does it turn?" he asked unexpectedly. Raven furrowed at him and was about to throw a sarcastic comment about the random stupidity he possessed but decided it would be a waste of time and would probably make him feel wanted.
"I don't know Beast Boy." She stated unenthusiastically. "Why don't you ask artificial intelligence?" She motioned to the eternally amused Cyborg behind the base platform, mixing and scratching songs. "Although I'm pretty sure the answers going to be as stupid as the question."
Beast boy stood tall and proud before simply stating "Artificial intelligence is no match for natural stupidity!" and running off to the blue half human teen.
Raven raised an eyebrow. Even though he didn't exactly make sense, it was unnaturally rare for BB to say, let alone know and use in the proper context, words longer than 3 syllables long. She then wondered if he had even realised he had just admitted to being naturally stupid. She thought about it for a moment longer before passing it off on the alcohol. Remembering her original plan of action she looked back to her Goth friend.
--
"Thing's are getting slow in here today aint' they Matt?" A familiar pink horned-haired villainess asked, with a bored observant tone, scanning the club. Slow was an understatement, if any more people were to join the dance floor the manager would have to think about extensions. A shirtless 20 something year old man turned around behind the polished wooden bar to face her, namely 'Matt'. His expression was one of slight tiredness and annoyance. He was cleaning a pint glass, with a clean cut cloth and there was no need to ask why he was shirtless… the women drooling at him at the other end of the bar just proved that. His hair was short and a light crisp brown, his eyes a powerful green. He raised an eyebrow at her and sighed.
"Jinx, you can barely move! It's so hot in here I wouldn't ware my shirt even if they didn't ask me to! The boy in the corner, the one you cant see because of all the PEOPLE in the way, has just collapsed from the crowded-ness! …and stop using my real name!" He snapped, all the while never stopping wiping the inside of the now crystal clear glass.
Jinx simply shrugged and grinned.
"Not in the mood for sarcasm tonight, Mattie?" She teased ignoring the request, earning a grunt and roll of eyes from the older Bartender.
"Why are you still here? Aren't you usually on the look out for potential one-night stands?" He asked, placing the glass beneath the bar and leaning onto his hands on the polished surface, about a foot away from jinx who was also leaning against it beside him on the opposite side. She gave him a sideway glance before downing the vodka shot in front of her.
"Not one-night stands! Just… short relationships…" She muttered as a defence, earning herself a scoff. Nevertheless she continued. "Mm, well, I've scanned, and I need your opinion…" Matt nodded and searched the bar for any she may have been talking about. "There's… that guy, over there…" She slyly pointed out a 17 year old laughing with a small group of teens, drinking alcohol which he should not have been served. He was tall, about 5'7 and obviously had some sense of style, but his hair was long, hiding the colour of his glazed eyes. Matt looked unsure. He tilted his head and squinted a bit, raising a quiet chuckle from the black clad girl. He went back to a straight face and furrowed at her.
"Well?"
"I don't know… I'm not good at checking out guys…"
"You should be, enough check you out." Jinx smirked. Matt glared at her but ignored the comment, placing a drink down in front of her roughly instead.
"…but isn't he a little… young?" Jinx raised an eyebrow and looked the boy over.
"He looks the same age as me!" She protested looking offended. Matt just laughed and shook his head. One day he was going to stop letting in underage drinkers… one day. He smiled to himself. Yeah, like that's gonna happen anytime soon. He thought, turning his attention to the DJ and a familiar green face that seemed pretty out of it, standing next to him. Even the Titan's come here illegally… like teenagers could blow off steam any other way… poor guys…. Lost in his own thoughts, he missed Jinx's analysis of the drunken boy. And it's not like me or them are committin' bad crimes or anything… and there are hardly any fights or thefts… By the time Jinx had brought her attention back to her friend, he was mentally listing the reasons why he should continue to let his best customers drink.
"Hey… hey Matt..? MATTIE!" The forever growing impatient and teasing Jinx yelled, regaining his full attention… right after he stopped nearly dropping the new glass he was cleaning.
"YEAH! Ok, ok I'm still here!" He mumbled before being called to the other end of the bar by more drooling women… and one drooling guy, how he hated that. Giving Jinx an apologetic smile he migrated towards the customers, a fake enthusiastic smile plastered on his face. Jinx grinned at the obvious lack of comfort he had, and the desire he possessed to go home. Going back to her newly acquired drink, she scanned over the next potential person of company. Focusing on a tall blonde, with every trait of a naturally stupid beautiful girl (including long legs, partially decent branded clothing and a large bust) she failed to notice the drink in her hand, wasn't alcohol, but tap water. She spit out the offending liquid, only to receive a few odd glares and a small smirk from the sneaky bartender. She scowled at him before turning her attention back.
She started her analysis quickly, checking the girl for age (around 19) style (branded, expensive quality crap) and hotness (wow). Being satisfied with that she went onto body language, unfortunately, the girl was dancing in a not so graceful drunken fashion. This put Jinx off immediately, sick and tired of wasted teens, they never seemed as good as the sober ones. Needless to say, she turned away and drank the water again, only to realise a second time and spit it out again, a disgusted expression on her face. She lit up though, when she saw that the painfully neutral tasting liquid had splattered on Matt's chest. She smirked evilly and threw the rest of the water too, just for kicks.
He tried to defend himself the second time with the small, useless dishcloth.
"Jinx! What the hell?!" He screamed when the cold mass hit him. She didn't answer, on the basis that she was in hysterics, clutching her sides and propping herself against the bar for support. He smiled slightly and shook his head, growling in mock anger. "Come on then! Who else you looking at?" He commanded, letting his friend recover. After calming down to the point of sighing and giggling a little, she updated him on her findings.
"Well…(snicker) um, I liked her," She pointed to the blonde, now laughing loudly with a 30 something male, obviously trying to flirt. "But she's completely wasted, so she's basically useless." She stated, looking back to Matt for a second opinion. He stroked his chin in thought.
"Mm, I agree with you there… and you know what else?" He grinned back at her smugly. Jinx grimaced. "She's totally straight!" A look of dawning arose on Jinx's face as he said this, and she smiled sheepishly.
"Heh, sorry… it's hard to remember everyone has an orientation!" She sighed in exasperation.
"And that's why you gave up with yours?" He leant against the bar, a triumphant smirk gracing his lips, but all he received was a mutter and a blush from said undecided girl. "Ok, so she's out. You still into that guy?" He motioned back over to the teen and his friends. Jinx turned and nodded slightly, then looked back to her empty glass and frowned. Matt took the hint and topped her up, being watched to make sure no water was used this time. He smirked to himself, how he loved to know he was getting a reaction.
"Ok, so who's the last candidate?" At this Jinx smiled happily and not so subtly pointed to a dark girl sitting at the end of the bar, where the light wasn't so bright. Matt looked over to where she motioned and laughed. "You gotta' be kidding?!"
Jinx looked extremely offended. "Why? What's wrong with her?" She asked hysterically, prodding a finger against his hard chest.
"Nothing's wrong with her!" He defended, taking her hand and pushing it away to stop the painful pokes he received from the meta-human. The almost feline retreated, still squinting expectantly at him to elaborate. "It's just that… she hasn't had a single drop of alcohol since she came in… and she's been approached like 5 times… and they all left clutching a valuable body part…" Matt noticeably shuddered at this and Jinx smirked.
"Ok wiseass, one- I like a challenge," she winked at him and he simply rolled his eyes playfully. "two- that just means she's hot, and three- were they all guys?" Matt paled slightly.
"Well, yeah… but I don't think she's the type to be-" He was cut off with a sharp blow to the stomach and as he slowly sunk behind the bar, clutching himself in pain and sporting a look of revenge in his eye, a feline figure left the scene, obviously decided on who was her next victim.
--
Raven sighed in utter annoyance, a fifth male had just approached her with a cocky smile, obviously stuffed pants and a crappy pick up line that would even make BB cringe. She pulled the hood further over her head to hide her features in the darkness and silently pray for an escape or someone interesting to talk to, who didn't have one thing only on their mind.
Her prayer was half answered.
"Hey there, I kinda noticed you look a little fed up and lonely… thought I might join you." Said a reasonably calm and surprisingly friendly voice. Well, at least it's not a pick up line… Raven reasoned with herself before deciding some small interaction wouldn't hurt too much. Not raising her head to face the stranger, Raven answered in a slightly less drear and dull voice than what she usually used, for reasons unknown to her.
"Hm, it's that noticeable huh?" She asked in a straight and sarcastic manner. This earned a small feminine chuckle from the mysterious intruder which provoked a small but visible smile from herself.
"Just a little…" the girl said, with what Raven assumed was a smirk, guessing since she had chosen not to face her. Raven gave an audible sigh and took a sip from her drink, making sure to keep her head down. As much as she denied it, she liked the image of being mysterious as everyone perceived her to be. "You don't drink?"
Raven stopped herself from looking up and frowned slightly. "Not really, I like there to be at least one sober person on the way home…"
Jinx frowned after the statement too. She's here with friends… she thought, a little downhearted but she soon picked herself up again, after all, it had never stopped her before. She chuckled slightly and sat down on the stool next to hers, leaning smoothly on the bar. "You should try it, it might help with your anger."
Raven raised an eyebrow, slightly bemused by the comeback. "But I'm not angry," she replied. "Just mildly depressed…"
"Ah, but depression is merely anger without the enthusiasm." Jinx grinned, proud at how smart she just sounded. Alcohol really did have an affect on her intelligence.
Raven smiled inwardly, she felt she could have a playful but intellectual argument with this stranger. Some good banter. "Either way, I'm not going to drink."
"But why not? Alcohol will help, seems to me to be the answer to everything-"
"Alcohol is not the answer, it just makes you forget the question." Raven swiftly cut her off, and it was easy to hear the grin in her voice. She took another sip of her lemonade. "And can you remember the question?"
"Uh…" Jinx stuttered. She wasn't used to her charms being played against like this. As much as she was actually enjoying talking to this challenging girl, she hated to be speechless. "Um…"
"Precisely."
Jinx grinned, ignoring the fact she just beaten at banter. "Ok, smart one, if you're not going to let me buy you a drink, name something else I could help you with…"
Ravens breath caught for a few seconds. Did the presumed female next to her just make a suggestive comment? Was she… flirting? Without thinking Raven looked up into the eyes of her playful companion…
--
Jinx's eyes widened with terror. The hot young girl she was just flirting with was…
"R-Raven?" The already pale girl paled a little more when the indigo eyes usually filled with hatred and duty on the battlefield, now showed confusion, disappointment and annoyance. "Oh shi-" She didn't wait around to finish her sentence and instead bolted for the door.
Raven watched as the sleek meta human fled her place and ran towards the exit. Her hero state kicking in, she flew after her, almost relieved to have an excuse to escape the torture of loud music and idiotic teens crowding the dance floor. They both left unnoticed by her team-mates and the few sober spectators. The only one that noticed them leave, was a topless bartender that seemed to have a slight bruise on his abs.
Huh… I guess I should give Jinx a little more credit, it only took her about 5 minutes! Matt thought as he watched the hasty exit of the two girls, each charging through the crowd to get to the door.
--
"JINX! Stop Now!" Raven yelled, utterly irritated. She used her powers to throw obstacles in the way of her former enemy, to either slow her down or stop her altogether. Nothing worked though as the agile girl just jumped and dodged every item in her way. Jinx's breath was rugged as she sprinted away from her captor, through the cold streets of Jump City and past on looking curious pedestrians. The pavement was wet, and she could smell the early rain still in the air. Despite it being wet, it wasn't slippery and she managed to stumble around the corners of buildings without slipping too much. She glanced behind her briefly to Ravens frustrated silhouette still chasing her, levitating through the cold air. Deciding to change tactics she skidded away from the dull coloured buildings toward the more natural area of the park.
Ravens irritation grew when she saw the young offender running toward trees, where it would be much harder to follow her. Also changing tactics, she stopped and landed softly. Black aura surrounded her and swallowed her into the floor, transporting her from behind the sorceress to in front.
Jinx looked in horror at the hero standing in front of her and tried to stop, fearing knocking the girl over she sidestepped too which caused her to fall to the floor beside Raven. Clutching her injured hand she rolled onto her back and looked up at the dark teen. Raven wore a look of apathy and annoyance, as always, and Jinx just sighed and sat up, deciding it would be useless to fight. She looked down at her wet, dirty cut hand and growled. Quickly shooting Raven an angry expression, she did the only thing she could think of.
"What the hell do you want?!" She screamed. Raven looked slightly shocked but regained her hard gaze and stood over the girl.
"What did you do Jinx?" The empath growled between gritted teeth. Jinx looked at her bemused and fuming.
"What?! You chased me and you don't even know what for? How the fuck do you know I did anything?!" She yelled. Passers by moved swiftly away from the two girls from fear of a bloodbath.
"You've done something." Raven stated calmly, eyeing Jinx's cut and bleeding palm.
"No I haven't! Why would you assume that?!" Jinx was almost near tears from frustration and feeling worthless, sitting on the cold damp and dirty floor in front of the girl she intended on charming.
"Why else would you have ran?" Raven asked, sensing the girls strong emotions and almost feeling pity. Jinx seemed to ponder this for a moment before smiling sheepishly. Raven dreaded what was to come.
"You looked pissed…" she explained shyly. Raven raised an eyebrow and resisted the urge to smirk. Since when is Jinx afraid of me? She thought. She watched the embarrassed girl, still on the floor, examine her hand and sigh sadly. I guess this isn't the night she had planned… Raven suddenly felt a wave of guilt strike her and she offered the pink haired punk a hand up. Jinx gazed up at her confused, her cat like eyes sparkling with something Raven couldn't place.
Raven huffed and motioned for the girl to take her hand. Jinx smiled slightly and took it in her other hand, the one that wasn't hurt. Raven pulled her to her feet then crossed her arms. "So you haven't done anything illegal?" Raven pressed suspiciously. Jinx glared angrily at her.
"No, but you have!" She said irritated, shoving a blood and dust covered hand under ravens nose. Raven backed off slightly and sweat dropped. "That's assault!"
"Um…" Raven looked around awkwardly, not at all feeling comfortable with the villain. "Sorry?" she offered half-heartedly. Jinx's jaw dropped.
"Raven?" Jinx smirked evilly. "Cynical, cold hearted, stubborn Raven of the Teen Titans just apologised to her enemy?" Raven frowned, though she would never admit it, hearing herself being described like that hurt. She glared back at Jinx totally emotionless.
"Are you saying you're my enemy again? So you have done something." Raven questioned.
Jinx looked at her, judging by her stiff posture and monotone voice that had lost all sense of playfulness, she had upset her. Jinx felt a little disappointed, but saw no reason for it and brushed the emotion away. "No Raven, I've been clean for months now, you know that…" She said sadly, her head down and looking toward her general direction. She shuffled awkwardly from one foot to the other.
Raven nodded in understanding and turned to leave, stepping back into the streets toward the bar before being stopped by the feminine voice that had intrigued her before.
"You really going back there?" Jinx asked curiously, standing in the same place Raven had helped her up to. She watched as Raven, without turning around, stood still and pondered for a few moments. Raven began to think to herself. She didn't want to go back, but there wasn't anything else to do, and she found it inappropriate to stand in the middle of the street, conversing with her former enemy.
"What else is there to do?" She replied, not really expecting an answer. She turned to face Jinx once more and felt herself shiver as her eyes caught pink irises and dark, enticing slit pupils staring intently at her. Raven swallowed hard. For the first time in a while she felt as though someone saw her. Not just an everyday glance and hello, but someone was actually watching, seeing her. She felt almost scared. Jinx's eyes had locked with hers so deeply, that she could feel the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. There was nothing in her eyes that was readable, it was just warm colour and hardness that was focused solely onto her and nothing else. Jinx smiled, despite the intensity of the lock they had and with some difficulty turned away.
She looked behind her at the park and then back to Raven. She smiled. "You could come with me?" Jinx suppressed a giggle as Raven shook her head and blinked unsurely, as if coming out of deep thought. She looked completely dumbfounded and Jinx thought it best to elaborate. "Walk in the park?" She offered, almost shy. Raven had to stop herself from looking around for camera's and people waiting to jump out and announce she was on some kind of prank show like Beast boy watched. But instead she furrowed her brow and stepped toward the girl in front of her.
"Why?" Was all she managed. Jinx smirked but in an unhappy, sulky way that made Raven feel like the answer was the most obvious thing in the world.
"Cause you owe me!" Jinx said, again tossing her hand up to face Raven. She merely grunted, as if needing more. "And…" Jinx looked around unsurely. "And you've practically ruined my night, I can't go back there now, can I?"
Raven sighed and measured her options. On the one hand she could go back to the bar and sit alone and depressed until one of her friends made themselves so ill or were so hard to ignore that they were all forced to leave and argue about driving before passing out on the curb and trying to get a date with a woman's pet poodle… again. On the other hand she could go with Jinx, possibly have a short conversation, some arguments and maybe a little combat practice before leaving with the others, or, she could go home now and get woken up by drunken idiots singing '100 bottles of oil on the T-car' with Cyborg's special chorus of course.
Option 2 sounded best.
"Ok, but if you try anything Jinx…" Raven tried to sound aggravated, but she couldn't help the small smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. Jinx picked up on this and grinned broadly.
"I promise you'll have fun Rae, I don't disappoint.."