It seems as though I finally got three reviews for this story, so I shall continue now! .!
I really thought that more people would review that, but I suppose that it is the price I pay for leaving unexpectedly for several months and randomly coming back!
Oh! By the way, I have now enabled anonymous reviews!
Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Titans.
BIG NEWS! (Almost forgot about it, it was so big!) I've always wondered how you pronounce "Nguyen." Well, here is how I found out. Note: Mr. Bucsko is our Spanish teacher that never teaches Spanish, but enjoys teaching the origin of words instead.
Me: (Half asleep) Mr. Bucsko just keeps going on and on and on and on...
Mr. Bucsko: Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah...
Me: I suppose I should pay attention before he realizes that I've been daydreaming throughout all of the class...
Mr. Bucsko: There are lots of common names everywhere. (Duh!) You may not know it, but English actually has 12 vowels. That's right, 12. You just pronounce them differently. Here, take this common surname from the Middle East. (Writes name on board)
Me: That...it can't...it can't be!
Mr. Bucsko: See, "Nguyen isn't pronounced with a G like you might think. It's pronounced like this: Na-you-en.
(Rest of class wonders how this relates to the English language having 12 vowels)
Me: Jenny! (Has a spazz attack from finally learning, after so many years)
Jenny: (Raises eyebrow) You don't get out much, do you?
X
Baby I
have been here before
I know this room, I've walked this floor
I
used to live alone before I knew you.
I've seen your flag on the
marble arch
Love is not a victory march
It's a cold and it's a
broken Hallelujah
-3rd verse of Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen
"Alright, since you're so eager, where do you want to go?" Jade turned to him, after just getting off the phone with an angry boss. Roy shrugged.
"I don't know. You're the one who lives here, right? Why don't you tell me where we go first? You'll be like a tour guide!" Jade was beginning to regret listening to him about taking the day off.
"Well, I suppose we could-" He didn't let her finish.
"The Eiffel Tower! Let's climb up the Eiffel Tower!" He shouted. He acted as though he was a four year old waking up at six in the morning to find Santa Clause eating the cookies he had baked for him.
"Are you sure? It's a long walk from here to there. It may take a few hours. Plus, if we go, I'll have to stop home and...uh...change into Eiffel Tower climbing clothes," she lied. The briefcases and envelopes that she was carrying began to feel heavier, and for the first time, Roy noticed that she was holding them.
"Here, let me take those for you," he offered, trying to take them away from her.
"No, that's alright, they aren't that heavy," she felt as if she was just spewing out lies. Her only justification was the fact that you wouldn't tell some random person you just met off the street that you were a deadly assassin, especially if this random person was the only one who could ever make her do anything by simply asking you to do so.
"But it wouldn't be very polite to let you carry those, and I refuse to allow you to go on carrying them when I am here," he told her. Jade stopped completely and looked him up and down.
"So, do you just pretend to be a jerk to strangers, or are you just hitting on me?" She asked, suspicious of his intentions. He shrugged.
"Could be both," he answered calmly, "But seriously, let me carry those." It wasn't an offer that he was going to allow to be declined. Before she knew it, he had taken the load out of her arm, which were now exhausted, and was walking down the street with them.
"Come on; let's go to the Eiffel Tower!" He shouted, acting normally again. Jade smirked.
"You're going the wrong way," she stated, turning in the right direction. From behind her, she could hear him turning around and walking towards her.
"I knew that, I was just testing you," He lied. She stopped and looked at him.
"That is the most overused excuse you could possibly use," she told him. He shook his head.
"No, the most overused excuse I could possibly think of is 'My dog ate my homework,' but I suppose that it really doesn't apply right now," he replied. Then it happened. For the first time in years, Jade began to laugh. Roy was shocked; he didn't think she was capable of laughing.
"You're...laughing?" she choked. She continued, shaking her head.
"You're just...the sunburn, and all of that stuff you're carrying, and your terrible sense of direction..." she began to catch her breath, "You're just...hopeless!"
"You know," Roy began, "You're really pretty when you smile."
Jade froze. Her face, which had never before betrayed her, (Which was somewhat important to avoid during battle) began to turn a light pink. In a desperate attempt to hide this newfound weakness, she turned around and began to march off.
"Oh, what do you know?!" She stormed down the sidewalk, before turning back to face Roy. "Well, are you coming or what?"
Roy, on the other hand, was still in his own state of shock. Her voice, however, brought him back to reality.
"Women..." he muttered under his breath, "You can never win with them."
X
United States of America-Steel City
"He's gone, he's gone, he's finally GONE!" She shouted, albeit a little too excited for Roy's absence.
"No more grumpy red heads, no more fish tacos," In the background, Aqualad shouted something along the lines of 'See? I'm not the only one who hates fish tacos!' "And no more having to listen to hair-boy and his rude comments!"
Karen had been celebrating, nonstop, since the moment she saw Roy leave on his bike. She was till a little aggravated due to losing 40 dollars, but if it kept 'hair-boy' away, then she would give up her life savings to him.
Her party had been a bit extreme, causing Mas y Menos to work day and night to just keep the Tower decent. Aqualad would have helped, too, but he was busy remodeling 'fish-murderer's' bedroom to look like a giant fish tank.
It was no wonder that they never noticed the message that Robin had sent them to forward to Roy.
X
Paris, France
"What's your favorite color? Mine is red. Well, actually, I really like yellow, too. So I guess I have two favorite colors. What is your favorite color?" he asked. They had walked for nearly an hour now, and Roy had been shooting questions at her faster than he could shoot an arrow.
"Uh, green and white," she mumbled. She was only tolerating him because, if she lost him, then how would she find him again once his slow and painful death was decided?
"Really? Why do you choose those colors?" he asked her.
"Because I do," she replied. She had to find some way out of this. Her eyes began to dart around, looking for some excuse. All she saw was a designer boutique, a park, a church, and...perfect.
"Hey, Roy? Why don't we stop at that café?" she offered, "We'll need our strength if we want to climb the Eiffel Tower." Or, should I say, if I want to effectively escape without you noticing.
"Alright, sure, if you want to go," he shrugged. They crossed the street and entered the small, almost normal looking building. However, Jade, who had been here-surprisingly-several times before, knew it wasn't just your average café.
"Une table pour deux, s'il vous plait," she spoke to the man. He nodded. Roy hoped that she wasn't saying something bad about him. Stupid Canary. Stupid French lessons.
The two sat down at a table in another room, just as a man walked up onto a stage near them. He began to speak, although Roy could not understand. Jade listened for a while, before deciding that she was going to stick around instead of quietly sneaking away.
"Hey, Roy?" she asked him. She wore the most innocent look on her face. "I never got the chance to ask you a question. May I?"
"Of course," he responded. Wow, a smile, a laugh...now she wants to know more about me! Score!
"When I was little, I used to hate this one song, I can't even remember the name now, but it seemed to always be on the radio. In fact, I hated it so much that I actually learned the lyrics and could sing it right now if I wanted to. Have you ever had an experience like that?" She asked him.
"Actually, yeah. There is this one song that I know all the lyrics to, but absolutely can't stand it. I could also sing it now, but I suck at singing. I think it was called 'Bennie and the Jets,'" he told her.
"Oh, really?"
"Yeah, why did you want me to tell you that?"
The man on the stage spoke once more. "Volontaires?" he asked.
"This is a karaoke café," she responded, and evil look dancing across her face. She jumped up, and pointed to Roy. "Par ici!" She shouted. The man turned to her.
"Qu'est-ce que la chanson?" He asked her.
"Bennie and the Jets!" she shouted. Roy looked horrified.
"Wha...what?!" he cried as she pushed him onto the stage. "I'm not singing!"
"Yes you are; you know all of the words, don't you?" she asked.
"Yeah, but I'm not singing. There's nothing you can do to change my-" Jade had just about had enough of his whining, and she really wanted to see him make a fool of himself, too. So, she did the only thing she could think of. She leaned over and kissed his cheek.
If not for his face already covered in red, due to that oh-so-pleasant sunburn of his, then most people would have mistaken him for a tomato.
"Please? For me?" she asked him, loving every minute of it. She didn't have to ask twice.
"Start the music!" Of course, no one understood English, but with a wave of her hand the man from before started the music.
Suddenly he wasn't so sure about this. Everyone was staring at him…...one person had a camera.
What if he posts it on the internet and Robin finds it? What will birdboy do then? Wait...why would he be looking for something like that? I'm just overreacting...but what abut Beast Boy! He'll show it to Birdboy!
And then he suddenly found himself singing.
Hey kids, shake it
loose together
The spotlight's hitting something
That's been
known to change the weather
We'll kill the fatted calf tonight
So
stick around
You're gonna hear electric music
Solid walls of
sound
Say, Candy and Ronnie, have you seen them yet
But
they're so spaced out, Bennie and the Jets
Oh but they're weird
and they're wonderful
Oh Bennie she's really keen
She's got
electric boots a mohair suit
You know I read it in a
magazine
Bennie and the Jets
Hey kids, plug into the
faithless
Maybe they're blinded
But Bennie makes them
ageless
We shall survive, let us take ourselves along
Where we
fight our parents out in the streets
To find who's right and who's
wrong
The song faded, as did his dignity. He stepped off of the stage, and glared at the man with the camera. He apparently spoke English, and was saying something about uploading the video to the internet.
"Are you happy?" he asked Jade, frowning.
"Hopeless...completely hopeless," laughed once more. This time, however, he chose to not say anything and just laughed along.
X
Jump City, California
"Hey, Robin?" Raven asked the masked teenager.
"Yeah, Raven?" he looked up fro, his newspaper.
"Are you sure that sending Speedy to France to look for Cheshire was a good idea? He's the type of guy who I would picture goofing off in Paris rather than researching all day. Why did you pick him?" she wondered aloud.
"Well, he's the only one of us who wouldn't look suspicious. I mean, I'm famous whether or not I'm wearing a mask, Beast Boy is green, Cyborg is a cyborg, you're just a little lacking on your people skills, and everyone at Titans east, excluding Speedy, is either a kid, half fish, or would shop all day instead of working," he replied, covering his face with the newspaper once more.
"You forgot Starfire."
Silence.
"Oh, you just don't want her learning the language, do you?" A glare shot up from the top of the paper.
X
"Well, here we are; the Eiffel Tower. Ready?" She asked. Jade had just bought the tickets to go up to the top of the tower. Suddenly it occurred to her that Roy wasn't around. "Roy?"
"Jeez, what do you keep in these?" Roy came up from behind her, panting heavily due to carrying her stuff around all day. "Rocks?"
"Rocks? No," she shook her head. I only have those to make me less suspicious when I walk around. When I go into battle, I can't just have them lying on the ground with valuable items! Of course I keep rocks in those. What are my other choices?
"Well, I'm ready to go," Roy said, walking over to the stairs. Jade followed behind.
"You sure that you don't want to take the elevator? It might be easier," she stated. He refused.
"Nope, I'm going to walk because I'm a man and men don't take the elevator," he responded. She rolled her eyes at him. Turning, she took off up the stairs.
-Several hours later-
"I'm (pant) finally...(pant) here...(pant)," Roy pulled himself up the last step. Jade turned from where she was standing. It was night at this point, and the moonlight shone on her hair perfectly.
"Hey Roy?" she called, "You know how there are three floors on the Eiffel Tower, the third being the highest?" she asked him. He nodded.
"We're on the first."
X
-One hour later-
"Well, I guess I should get going, huh?" Jade asked. Roy stood up from the park bench he had been resting on.
"Yeah...do you want me to walk you home?" he asked. She declined.
"No, but thank you anyway. So, uh, nice meeting you," she held out her hand for him to shake. He did the same.
She took the rock filled briefcase and envelopes from him, and began to walk away. After a minute or so, she realized that he was following her.
"Uh, I said I didn't need you to walk me home," she told him.
"Oh, well, my apartment is this way, too," he told her. They walked in silence before she finally stopped.
"I have to go see a friend tonight. My stop is here," she stood at a street corner. He said goodbye and he left her for his room.
-One more hour later-
"Hmmm...this place is still really dusty and dirty. It's not too late. I'll ask my neighbor if I can borrow their vacuum. He strolled out of his room and knocked on the door of room 932. The door opened slowly after a few seconds.
"Hey, can I borrow your vacuum cleaner?" It was then that the two noticed who they were look at.
"What are you doing here?!" Jade nearly hissed at him. She had only gone to her friend's house, which was really a bakery, because she had the feeling that he was stalking her. She had left as she determined it was safe, and had only arrived a few minutes before.
"I wanted to borrow your vacuum," he stated, clueless as ever.
"No, I mean, why are you-"
"YOU'RE THE CAT LADY!" He gasped. She jumped back a little.
"What?!" she exclaimed.
"An old man told me that you were a cat lady. So, how many cats do you have?" he asked her.
"Why are you here?" she questioned him.
"I live next door," he pointed to his apartment.
Jade could've cried.
X
A special thanks to Seraephina, Somewhere In Time, and waves2622 for your ideas, and congratulations on being the first three reviewers!
Please Review!
XxNightfirexX