Episode 3: New Teen Titans Go vs. The Teen Titans Boy Band!
Six days later, in the cheerfully decorated room they now shared, Jinx and Terra were in bed together. Jinx was brushing Terra's hair after they'd just had a bubble bath together. "You really should take better care of this..." She said fawningly of Terra's long blonde hair. "It's really pretty." She complemented, getting in closer and whispering in her ear. "I like touching it... a lot." She confessed.
Terra shivered a little in delight. She closed her eyes and sighed. "You do, huh?" She asked, feeling dreamy.
"Well... I do like to touch other parts of you too, I'll have you know." Jinx told her softly, running a hand down one of her arms. "You want me to do that, right?" She asked.
"...Heck, yeah." Terra admitted, letting out a sigh of contentment as Jinx let the brush drop on the bed and moved to press up against her from behind, touching one of her thighs now. She let her eyes flutter closed as Jinx started to kiss her shoulder. "Oh, wow... This feels like it's too good to be true..." She confessed, feeling even more dreamy inside. It was true though. Her life had kind of really sucked rocks thus far, in large part. She was kind of afraid all this would go away if she stopped paying attention or something.
"That's the thing though, it's not. I'm right here... and I'm yours, Terra. I promise I am." Jinx cooed to her, just happy to have her girlfriend to herself for a while. Their team had just gotten back from stopping Mumbo Jumbo from robbing a jewelry exchange. Which, you know, actually kind of sucked. She missed robbing places sometimes. The chaos, the excitement... It was totally worth it to have given up her life of crime for a starring role and a knockout gorgeous girlfriend who made her feel so special though. She'd been emailing with her brother too, and she'd been relieved to find out that the former Titans boys had moved in on H.I.V.E. Island and things were going okay for him. She'd been worried he'd miss her too much. But he understood though, that she'd met someone, and he was happy for her.
"Yeah?" Terra asked, turning in her girlfriend's arms, gazing into her eyes, wanting to kiss her.
"Yeah." Jinx said back, putting heat into the word.
Terra wordlessly moved forward and kissed her, lowering her down onto her back on the bed, the two touching and groping at each other with an urgent passion that quickly became a thoughtless need.
Raven yawned theatrically as she floated there in the new training dojo they'd put in. She was currently sparring with Rose, having used her dark shadowy magic powers to create two swords and a shadow self to do the actual fighting on her behalf. She'd cast a spell to give her other self a copy of Rose's ability at fighting too, so Rose would have a challenge. It was actually fun for her, to feel like she was in two places at once. The demon half of her was starting to feel the battle-lust thing a bit too much for her liking though, so she crossed her legs and started to meditate.
"Oh, am I boring you now, demon girl?" Rose asked.
"Yeah, that's it. I'm so bored." Raven couldn't help quirking a little of a smile that she quickly hid. She liked Rose, really she did. Even if she was a bad influence on her... No, yeah, or probably because of that, actually. Her other bad influence was her dad of course, so it was actually a good thing for her, she figured, to have a... well, good sort of bad influence for once. Anyway, today was Starfire's last day with her sister being her bet-loser slave, and, as much fun as it had been for her to watch, there was only so much girl stuff and sister bonding torture she could watch her girlfriend subject Blackfire to before Raven actually started to feel sorry for the girl... which was something she could not allow. So she'd hey Rose, wanna go fight me with swordsed Rose, who had said sure and followed after her, and here they were.
"Yeah, well... bored this!" Rose feinted and slipped in to kick out shadow Raven's feet from under her.
Only shadow Raven didn't fall on her butt, she just floated off the ground and smiled evilly at her opponent, knocking Rose's sword out of her hand with a negligent seeming swipe of her blade, causing it to clatter to the ground.
"Damn it!" Rose cursed, rolling out of the way and coming up in a crouch, having retrieved her sword.
"Terra did tell you, you know? I always win." Raven told her, taunting her. She wasn't really as competitive as she was pretending to be, but she figured this was one of those nean things she could do. Rose would definitely come back at her even harder now, more motivated to prove her wrong. Plus, you know, it was funny to see Rose's face get all pink when she was frustrated, too.
"Yeah, whatever!" Rose said, rushing in and furiously rejoining the fight until, sure enough, a minute later, shadow Raven's swords went flying and she found herself backed up against the dojo's wall, Rose's sword at her throat. "Who won now, huh?" Rose asked, breathing hard but feeling totally triumphant.
"Totally you." Raven said, dissolving shadow Raven and moving out of her meditation pose. "Wanna go eat?" She asked.
Rose smirked. "Yeah, we could do that."
So they left the dojo and headed to the kitchen.
"Peek-a-boo, peek-a-boo..." Starfire said, popping her head up and the head of a stuffed animal kitten up from one side of the bed.
Blackfire sighed. "I see you, oh humble stuffed kitten. What would ask of me, the um, the..." She actually blushed. "Goddess of kittens?" She managed to make herself say. Dressed as she was now, in an I heart kittens tee-shirt, cat-ears barrette, and cat themed face paint, she really didn't know how she could be embarrassed about anything anymore, but her little sister just seemed to keep finding new ways, didn't she? ...Who knew she could be this creative? She almost had to admire her for her sheer ingenuity. Almost.
"Oh! But I only wish to have the tummy rubs, oh wise goddess of the kittens." Starfire said, handing over the stuffed kitten to her sister with beseeching eyes. She had the shirt, the cat ears, and the face paint too.
Why, Xhal? Why...? She asked her Tamaranian goddess. That's what Blackfire wanted to know as she took the stuffed kitten and dutifully began to rub its soft, sickeningly cute yet wholly inanimate tummy. She was sure she'd be haunted by kittens in her dreams by this point. They, her entire team, Starfire, Raven, Jinx, Terra, herself, and her hot new girlfriend, Rose the Ravager, had gone to Cat-Con in Jump City earlier today. There had been cat videos, a cat pageant, cat toys, cat memorabilia, and, of course... cats. So many cats, and, well, kittens too, obviously. Starfire had made her buy an obscene amount of merchandise for her too, including a small mountain of stuffed animals. She was only grateful that Starfire was worried that Silkie would eat any actual kittens if she brought one home. It was a small mercy, but she'd take it. She really did have to admit that Rose was a great girlfriend for suffering through it all with her though... even if the wench had lost the bet that had doomed them to Cat-Con in the first place.
Starfire was giggling as her sister tickled the tummy of the stuffed kitten that she had named The Bob. She smiled, because it had gotten so very easy to smile this last week. Not only could she now be open with her romance with her girlfriend, Raven, but her formerly estranged older sister had come back to her at long last and found a cute girlfriend to share the lurvs with as well. She had been worried that perhaps Blackfire would seek to trick her in some way, and be mean to her again. And her sister had tried to do the cheating when they'd made the best girlfriend bet, but, once she had lost the bet, she had not done the chickening out. Starfire sighed. It was only of the sadness that the week was almost all gone now. She wished that Blackfire could be her bet-losing slave forever. She could only hope to herself that her sister would be nice to her for real once it was over. Who was to say? Perhaps the kittens had worked their magic cuteness on her and she would be after all? That would be wonderful, she mused, dreamily...
"Um, so there, tummy... thoroughly rubbed. Happy now?" Blackfire asked, blushing a little more because she'd let herself rub the stupid stuffed animal's tummy longer than she'd meant to.
Starfire looked up at her then, eyes round and pleading. "Me next?" She asked hopefully.
As if I have a choice, Blackfire grumbled to herself. "Fine..." She said. Starfire had made her be nice and sisterly to her all this time, so she did her best to dig out another smile from somewhere. "Um, get up here... you little cutie, you." She told her.
Starfire squealed in happiness and did so. Laying on her side and looking impossibly cute and pretty laying there. Blackfire gulped a little, then tentatively reached out a hand to rub her sister's belly. Starfire giggled when she touched her and Blackfire withdrew her hand immediately, surprised. She reached out again to touch her and she did it again. Blackfire sighed, starting to tickle her sister in earnest. Soon enough, they were wrestling around on the bed, in a tickle-fight.
Internally, Blackfire groaned to herself. I am such a cliché right now.
I blame Raven, Blackfire thought later, laying there and breathing hard next to her sister on the bed after the fight was over and she'd managed to pin her sister to the bed and convince her to surrender. She determined to herself then and there that, somehow, some way, she would get revenge on her sister's girlfriend for this.
And it would be epic.
Later that day, as the sun was going down.
"...I think we should just order pizza." Terra said.
"Pizza's boring." Rose said, watching from the corner of her eye as her girlfriend was giving Starfire a backrub. That was getting so very old, yes it was. Tomorrow couldn't get here fast enough, as far as she was concerned. Stupid bet.
"I could go for Chinese?" Raven put forward.
"Yeah, okay. I'm in for that." Rose put in her vote.
Terra shrugged. "Okay."
"Works for me." Jinx agreed. "I am cooking breakfast in the morning though. So, no sleeping in too late, okay?" She asked everyone. She'd been making meals sometimes the last week. She had at H.I.V.E. sometimes too, though her brother had bogarted her consistently about it, because he was addicted to playing chef (he was awesome at it too). She liked being able to contribute.
The others all agreed. Except Rose. "No promises." She said, still feeling disgruntled about the backrub.
Jinx slumped a little at that, and Terra wrapped her arms around her girlfriend's waist from behind. "I think you make great breakfasts. I'll be your assistant again, if you want?" She offered to cheer her up. This having a girlfriend thing was so great, she thought to herself.
"Yeah? Um, okay then." Jinx said, feeling a little shy somehow, but liking the feeling a lot. This having a girlfriend thing was so great, she thought to herself.
"Settled then." Raven said. "I'll go make the food run." She offered, looking over at Starfire, who's eyes were closed, tuning out everything and enjoying the backrub. She sighed and looked to Rose.
"Yeah, I think I'll tag along." Rose said in commiseration.
"Sold." Raven agreed, opening a portal and floating through.
Rose walked through after, casting a backward glance at her girlfriend as she did. Blackfire met her gaze and pleaded for forgiveness with her eyes. Rose smiled to her to let her know it really wasn't all that bad. Blackfire looked relieved, and that made Rose feel a lot better about it as she turned to follow Raven to get Chinese.
"Should we go watch TV while we wait?" Terra asked.
"Yeah, that sounds okay." Jinx agreed.
"Can we watch the show about the monkey that is the curious and the man with the funny yellow hat?" Starfire asked hopefully, blinking her eyes open with interest.
Jinx looked at Terra. "Yeah, I guess we could do that." Terra said, agreeable about it because, really, she was just going to make out with her girlfriend until the food got here anyway. And it was a cute monkey.
"Joy!" Starfire said, levitating up and pulling her sister along with her into the living room. "Sister bonding time continues!" Jinx and Terra heard Starfire say from the other room.
Jinx and Terra looked at each other and smiled, finding the whole thing endlessly amusing. "They're so cute together, aren't they?"
"Yeah. Way more entertainment value than I thought it would be." Terra had to admit, referring to the bet last week.
Jinx giggled, took Terra's hand in hers, and went with her into the living room so they could make out while watching the monkey show.
Meanwhile, in Jump City, at Hong Kong Stir-fry (Raven's favorite Chinese food place), Raven and Rose stood in line to place their order at the to-go counter. It was a popular place, but, in Raven's opinion, worth the wait.
"It could have been worse." Raven said as they moved up a spot in the line. Only one person ahead of them now.
"What, the bet thing, you mean?" Rose asked, a little lost in thought. Blackfire really... got under her skin, she admitted to herself. She admitted to herself too that she was feeling more insecure about the whole relationship thing than she'd ever want to admit. Somehow, she was worried she'd find a way to screw it up or something. She didn't want that to happen.
"Yeah. Can you imagine what would have happened if Blackfire had won?" Raven asked, shuddering a little at the thought.
Rose blinked, not having considered that. She did now, and actually started giggling to herself. Which was odd—she obviously wasn't the kind of girl who usually did that sort of thing.
Raven caught the humor and joined in giggling.
The guy in front of them in line moved on then, and they were just about to place their order when there was the sound of a falling building outside.
The two Teen Titans looked at each other and then Rose nodded and they hurried out to see what was going on.
They looked down the street and saw Cinderblock. He was punching at something they couldn't quite make out.
"Let's go!" Raven said, flying down the street towards the big rock monster villain guy.
"Ha!" They heard a familiar voice shout, as a boy jumped down from a nearby roof and bashed Cinderblock in the head with a familiar looking staff. "I've got you now, Cinderblock!" He said as he acrobatically landed on the ground in a familiar pose.
"Is that?" Rose asked.
Raven took in the black and blue leather outfit and shook her head. "Can't be. He's so... unembarrassing to look at." She observed.
"Yeah, he's actually kind of cute now." Rose observed.
Raven looked at her flatly. "What? It's a cool haircut." Rose defended, wondering if she should try something new in that department herself? No way was she going to let freaking loser Robin have a cooler haircut than she had. It just wasn't happening.
The whatever it was that Cinderblock had been punching at ineffectively slid in to a stop next to the boy in black, facing off against Cinderblock. "Kid Flash?" Raven asked.
Just then, a green pterodactyl named Beast Boy swooped in and dropped off Aqualad, and Cyborg flew in on his jet-boots and dropped off Speedy.
"All right, Teen Titans, let's take him down!" The mystery boy (who was obviously Robin) said.
"Yeah, that's totally Robin." Raven finally had to admit.
"Wait, did he just say they were the Teen Titans?" Rose asked. "I thought we were the Teen Titans?"
"We are." Raven retorted, now officially annoyed.
"I mean, we've got the tower and everything... Does this mean we're going to have a grudge match soon or something?" She asked.
"Totally." Raven said flatly.
(And now, cue the flashback to explain stuff.)
Carried in Kid Flash's arms as he ran across the water, Nightwing had to admit to himself that he'd gone all gooey inside over this boy. Who'd have thought, right? Life sure could throw you a curveball sometimes. It was like, one minute, a boy could be heartless and cruel to you, stomp on your self-esteem mercilessly every time you saw him and leave you crying in a corner in your room, feeling hopeless and alone, and the next minute, your only two remaining friends and an odd assortment of villain types could give you a makeover and next thing you knew, you'd be dating the very same boy who'd crushed your heart under his fashionable boots so many times before. Go figure. Sometimes, shallowness could be great, couldn't it?
On the shore of H.I.V.E. Island, Kid Flash set Nightwing down on his feet. "No, no, you don't have to say it. I know your heart's going all pitter-pat, pitter-pat. I'd be alright with it if you wanted to swoon though? I look great catching people when they swoon."
"Maybe... some other time." Nightwing said, feeling kind of uncomfortable about it, actually.
"No, yeah. I get it. Totally better to wait until the press is around. You're clever." Kid Flash complemented, patting Nightwing's butt. "Plus, really nice buns. I can tell you've put a lot of work in." He complemented further. It was all an act, really—the shallow thing. Or, at least he hoped it was anyway. Somedays he wasn't so sure.
Nightwing smiled, tearing up a little. "I have, actually. I'm... glad someone finally noticed." He said, wiping away a tear. It had been so long... Such a long and difficult path he'd walked, to sculpt his buns into the completely prefect specimens of bunness that they'd become, and now, finally, after all this time, all the work, sweat, and toil—here, at last, was the payoff...
Feeling uncharacteristically tentative, Kid Flash held out a hand to his date and smiled when Nightwing gazed into his eyes and took it.
And so it was that, hand in hand, the two walked down the path back to the H.I.V.E. base that Nightwing and his sidekicks, Cyborg and Beast Boy (who, in actuality, were only his sidekicks in the privacy of his own mind... so far, anyway) were crashing at until they could get back on their feet.
"You know, I know this place up the coast where they have really good seafood. We could, you know, go out on another date, if you want?" Kid Flash asked.
"Yeah... Yeah, I think I'd like that." Nightwing admitted, his heart beating a bit faster in his chest.
As they got close to the door though, it opened and Cyborg and Beast Boy were kicked out, landing on their buns in front of them. "Uh, what's going on?" Nightwing asked Gizmo and the other H.I.V.E. guys.
"What's going on is we're kicking you losers out. Get lost." Gizmo told them.
"Yeah, and don't come back." Billy-Numerous said as the door closed on them.
"Guys? ...What'd you do?" Nightwing asked, marveling over how he even sounded more mature wearing this getup. Could it be true that clothes really did make the man?
"There... may have been an incident involving Beast Boy's world famous vegetarian chili recipe?" Cyborg admitted.
"Oh no." Nightwing slapped his hand over his face and dragged it down.
"Yeah." Cyborg said.
"Oh, come on!" Beast Boy protested. "It's a natural bodily function! Besides, the gas wasn't that bad."
"No, it totally was." Cyborg corrected.
Beast Boy gave him a look. "Traitor." He accused.
Cyborg held up his hands. "Peace, man. Peace." He extolled the virtues of peace.
"Yeah, whatevs, brah." Beast Boy said, getting to his feet and dusting off his soiled buns.
"Hey, come on guys, what happened to the bromance?" Nightwing asked.
Beast Boy looked down at Cyborg, who was still on the ground and felt his chin quiver a little. He held out his hand, and Cyborg smiled hopefully. Cyborg reached out, clasped his boyfriend's hand, and was gallantly helped to his feet.
"Aw, Beasty. You didn't leave me hanging." Cyborg said, having been afraid his boyfriend would have pulled his helping hand away at the last second as a cruel joke (as revenge for not having his back on the chili issue).
"I couldn't do that to you, brah, so way. You're my guy." Beast Boy said.
"Aw. Aren't they just adorable?" Nightwing asked as he watched the two share makeup kisses.
"Yeah... Not so much, really." Kid Flash said with the shallow, cutting honesty that had become his trademark.
"Dude. Harsh." Nightwing defended his hopefully-one-day-soon official sidekicks.
"Yeah, I know. Sorry guys. You aren't complete losers or anything. So, look on the bright side?" Kid Flash offered.
Nightwing groaned. Well, at least it wasn't targeted at him this time, right?
"Yeah, whatever hater." Beast Boy said.
"Total hater." Cyborg agreed.
"Guys, come on. No fighting, okay? We've... kind of got to figure out where we're going to sleep tonight and stuff." Nightwing told them.
"I've got a place." Kid Flash offered, eying Beast Boy and Cyborg dubiously. "Firm, firm no chili allowed rule though. Comprende?"
"Scout's honor." Beast Boys said.
"You were a Boy Scout?" Cyborg asked.
"Well, I have lots of practice at scouting for boys?" Beast Boy countered.
"Yeah, well, no more of that now. You are off the market, better recognize." Cyborg put down his foot on the issue.
"Dude, dude, no worries. There's no one else." Beast Boy tried to be smooth his way out of this.
"Better not be, is all I'm saying." Cyborg muttered.
"Yeah, well, a place to stay is fine and all, but what are we going to do for work?" Nightwing asked practically.
"Yeah, dude, I just realized." Beast Boy laughed. "We totally just got fired from being superheroes and supervillains. You'd think there was something wrong with us or something."
"...Damn, we really are losers, aren't we?" Cyborg said, incredulous. Honestly, he'd thought he was way more cool than this. Who knew?
Kid Flash snickered. "I could have told you that."
"Hater, you better not be." Beast Boy warned.
"Oooh, so scared." Kid Flash scoffed.
"Guys, guys. Please, no fighting." Nightwing again played peacemaker. He really was more mature now. Who knew?
"Yeah, yeah." Beast Boy said. "So, what we gonna do now? Work retail or something?" He asked.
"Oh hell no. We are not!" Cyborg put his foot down (again).
"Yeah, I'm with you there." Nightwing had to agree. That was a hell he was in no way ready to go through at this point in his life.
Kid Flash shook his head. "Jeez. Slow people are so slow sometimes." He said.
"What, do you have an idea?" Nightwing asked, hopeful.
"Duh." Kid Flash said. "Just because you got fired from the Teen Titans, doesn't mean you have to take it lying down. You want to be heroes? Be heroes. It's not like its hard or anything. For me. You two? Maybe." He said, eyeing Cyborg and Beast Boy dubiously (again).
"Oh, it is so on now, brah. We are going to have ourselves a good old fashion Grudge Match!"
And, yeah, next they went out and convinced Aqualad and Speedy (who, predictably by this point, also happened to be a couple) to join up, and thus the seeds of strife have been scattered to the wind, only to bear... um, grudge match fruit? Yeah, okay, bad analogy. You should come back for the next episode anyway though. It's going to be awesome!
Next Episode: New Teen Titans vs The Grudge Match Apples!
Yes, dear wonderful readers, it is a literal fruit (specifically, they are apples), as it turns out... but anyway, join us next time as a mysterious and sinister villain sneaks around to sow discord among our favorite heroes. That, and there's gratuitous violence too! =)
(everybody likes a little gratuitous violence in their cartoons every now and then, right?)