A/N: SOOO EXCITED! I'm going to Boston this weekend but I'll ahve my laptop so I might update on the car ride there. Yay for you!

Disclaimer: I wish I owned the Teen Titans...

TT2

Thursday September 24, 2019

It was a quiet day in Titans' Tower the next day. Sara woke up and showered, dressing down in jeans and a baggy tee. She quickly brushed her hair and applied eyeliner, before letting herself be drawn by the intoxicating aroma of pancakes that filled the Tower. She opened up her door and found a bundle of red roses at the foot of her door. She sighed and shook her head to herself. "Poor boy," she murmured, bending down to pick them up. The day before it had been chocolates, and the day before THAT it had been a mixtape with a nice silver and baby blue bracelet. Sara took them into her room and put them into an empty vase. Then, a small white card fell out.

Sara picked it up from the floor and held it up, reading slowly.

Sara-

I know I'm not exactly the most romantic person in the world. Hell, twelve years with Bruce has put me into an emotionless shell. But I'm learning. I'm learning to let people in because you and the other Titans mean a lot to me.

And, I'm afraid to say that I've never really been in a real relationship before and I know nothing about the opposite sex. But I'll still try to "woo" you the best I can because I care about you.

-Kyle

Sara half-smiled and laid the card before the vase on her bedside table. She then began again on her way up to the kitchen to grab a bite to eat. Danny came out from his room, dressed in cargo shorts and a lacrosse tee. "Hey there," she started, smiling warmly. "How's life?"

"Great. Kimi and I have a stronger relationship now. Don't tell Kyle, but we snuck out the other night to go to a movie. It was awesome being out and not worrying about anything for once," he told her. "How are you and Kyle?"

"Eh," she responded heartlessly, shrugging. "I'm still really pissed at him but I can't remember whyanymore. I guess I'm just mad at him because I'm the scared one here."

"Hm?" he inquired.

"I just...I'm not sure if it's smart going into a relationship in this position. What if someone wanted to use him against me?" Sara asked, chewing her bottom lip. "I don't want to lose him to someone, I care about him that much."

"That's the same reason why we don't act like we're going out when we're in public. Kimi and I both know that since we're Titans people will use the people we care about as weapons. It's a hard business," he sighed. "But we get by." Danny stuffed his hands into his pockets and scuffed at the floor.

"I wish I could learn to get by."

Danny took one hand from his pocket and patted her on the shoulder. "I'm sure it'll work itself out, Sare. C'mon, the kid's been moping because he loves ya that much. You think you could cut him a little slack?" He asked.

"I know, I've forgiven him, it's just my own insecurities getting in the way now. I want to be close to him, he's definitely the most amazing guy I've ever met, but I just...if you knew me, you'd know that I don't trust people easily. Especially with my heart. I've been..." she trailed off and sighed. "Hurt...in the past. I don't want it to happen again."

"It wouldn't. Kyle cares about you so much. He'd never let anything happen to you," Danny told her softly. "Trust me. Guys bond quickly. It may not seem like it, but they share their secrets too. Kyle, Taku, and I have shared more than a few secrets. We're downright tight like jeans on an emo boy."

Sara giggled. "That was funny."

"Thanks."

They entered the living room/kitchen together to see Kimi, Taku, and Kyle already eating, Kimi and Taku talking jubilantly. "So, did you get the roses?" Danny asked her.

"How did you know?" she questioned.

"I told you, we boys share secrets." Sara smiled and nodded, in regards to his previous question. "He'll be happy to hear."

They both sat down at the table, Danny next to Kimi giving her a peck hello, and Sara next to Taku, across from Kyle. "I'll grab ya a plate, Sara," Danny told her, reaching into the cabinet to grab two plates. He set one down in front of Sara and kept one for himself.

"Thanks."

Sara grabbed two pancakes and slowly began to eat, keeping her head down. She could feel Kyle's gaze on her, and then heard his slight sigh. It was so quiet that you couldn't hear it in the noisy room, but she could. Sara slowly looked up to see he had gone back to eating his pancakes, silent, one hand in his lap and the other pushing around little pieces on his plate.

"Is Clara still sleeping?" she asked the table.

"Yea," Kimi replied. "I knocked, and I got no answer, so I went inside and saw the lump on her bed. She's out like a light."

TT2

Clara groaned as she awoke, waking up next to Jake, one of her arms across his abdomen, her head tilted against his arm. He shifted slightly and wrapped his arm around her, pulling her closer. "Hey there," she started, her eyes slowly peeking open, to see his head blocking out the sun. She chuckled. "Nice bedhair."

Then it dawned on her.

"Oh God!" she snapped awake and shot up straight. "You've got to be kidding me. You kept me out all night? What were you thinking? Kyle's gonna flip a shit!" Clara jumped up and gathered her things into a small backpack she had brought with her when she went out with Jake the night before.

"Hey, hey, it's ok. He would've done something by now if he noticed you were gone. I mean-" it was then that he pulled his cell-phone out of his pocket and looked at the time. "Fuck!" he yelled, and a mother nearby clamped her son's ears shut (they were in a park, and had been sleeping on a spread blanket). "I have to get home, right now!" He started, jumping up and stuffing everything into his own bag. "I have a heist to pull off in thirty minutes. Warn the Titans, at the Mall on Central Street, because you still won't beat me," he said in one breath, rushing about, but stopped to smirk at her.

"So confident," she breathed, swinging her bag over her should, before coming forward to kiss him roughly. "I gotta go. I'll warn them. Later, babe."

Clara took off, and began flying back to the Tower. Within ten minutes she had clamored into her window and quickly changed into her Pjs to pretend she had just stumbled out of bed, ruffled her hair a bit, and smacked her lips. She successfully achieved the 'just woke up' look.

The young magician then began on a fast stride towards the kitchen and once she entered, she stumbled in, her eyes half-lidded. It shocked her, sometimes, with how good she could act. She groaned and said "Whas for breakfast?"

"Pancakes," Sara announced.

"By the way," Clara started, taking a seat and merely using Sara's empty plate after she announced she was finished. "I want to go to the mall today. Any way we can make a team trip? We haven't done anything very group-ish in a while."

"Sounds like fun," Sara started, smiling happily. "What does everyone else say?" There was a murmur of approval and Kimi looked absolutely delighted. "Great!" Sara exclaimed. "I really have wanted to go shopping with the money I got from Michelle. Over two-hundred bucks." Sara smirked.

"Michelle? Who would give you that much money?" Kimi asked.

"Our mother," the two twins responded in unison. Kimi nodded in comprehension. "So, how about now?" Clara asked. "Good a time as any," she told them, adding a shrug to look inconspicuous.

"Why do you want to go to the mall?" Danny questioned, one eyebrow raised. "I thought you were morally opposed to so many preps in one place.

"I am, but I saw this shirt in Hot Topic that's to die for," she lied. And my villainous boyfriend told me he's pulling off a heist somewhere in the mall on Central Street. No biggie. "And I thought the whole team might like to go."

Danny turned to Kyle and shrugged, who then turned to Taku who seemed to be thinking about it. "Whatever," he complied, shrugging. "Sounds like a plan."

They all piled into a more modern and less lethal version of the T-car (which had the names and logos of the new Titans on it) while Kyle slipped into the driver's seat. He had been taking online driving courses and received his driver's license a few days prior, being sixteen. He started up the car, made sure they were all buckled in, and they lurched to a start.

It was a fairly short drive, and they were chattering all throughout, until Kyle parked in the front of the parking lot and they ventured inside. Kyle suggested they split up, but Clara insisted they stay together at least for the first thirty minutes. Sara and Taku both found this slightly odd of her behavior, but no one questioned it.

And then, the alarm rang.

"You've GOT to be kidding me!" Kyle exclaimed in exasperation. "One day! I'd like one day without being interrupted from something that could possibly be promising for fun."

The mall alarm rang and the monotonous voice ordered the regular people out of the mall, saying that an emergencywas now taking place within it's walls. Kyle brought his whole team into a deserted corner and let Sara and Clara change them into their uniforms, before the timeless phrase was shouted and they were on their way to the jewelry store. "It holds the largest ruby this side of Gotham City, so we'll be wanting to make sure that is safe," Kyle ordered.

So that's what Jake was after, Clara mused.

All of them landed (each of them having flown in their own way) down in front of the jewelry store and rushed in immediately. Except, they weren't alone. There were two other people in the jewelry store, besides Baron. One took a woman's physique, and the other took a man's, but they were both fully clothed, from head to toe, in black, with only silver belts offsetting the dark shade.

"Any last words, Baron?" Hawk asked through gritted teeth, getting into the traditional ass-kicking pose.

"Yeah, suck my-" he started, but Clara's voice came between the two.

"Hey, hey, hey!" Clara interrupted, perturbed but hiding a small smile. "Let's watch our language, kiddies!"

"Fine, let's skip to the fighting!" Baron declared, charging forward and taking Kyle head-on.

Sara and Moonfire paired to the woman and Taku and Danny took the man while Clara backed up Hawk, though he was doing fine by himself. The man, though, pulled out a knife and began stabbing towards Taku and Danny. "Danny, Moon, switch!" Hawk yelled, and they immediately switched fighting places so Danny was now fighting the woman and she was fighting the man. "Clara, fall in!" Hawk ordered and when Baron aimed a punch he flipped back, aimed his grappling hook, and swung away into the rafters.

Clara fell in, as ordered, and smirked maliciously. "Hey babe," she started, swirling her arms in an intricate fashion and spitting out a curse of hers. Baron fell to the floor just in time to avoid it, and instead it hit one of the jewelry store's workers that was holed up in the corner.

"Likewise," he retorted. "Ready to get beat by your one and only favorite Jake?" He aimed a low kick towards her mid-section but she jumped backwards and came forward with a fake, then a high kick. It caught him off guard and he was sent to the ground, but jumped back up and cracked his jaw. "No biggie. I won't be the only one tasting the blood in my mouth tonight."

"How are you so sure, Don Juan?" she asked, an eyebrow cocked above what seemed normal for any human.

"Because you can't resist me. I'm downright sexy."

Clara snorted, getting even more into the fight to show him she was NOT some damsel in distress. "Keep telling yourself that."

Hawk returned and winked towards Clara to show him the ruby was safe, but it was then that Danny was wounded by the woman, so Taku took his place and Hawk took the man. "Moon," he ordered. "Go take Sara's place and send her over here."

Sara appeared right beside him and they perfectly planned a double kick that left the man in great pain, but leaping back up. He again pulled a sharp and dangerous weapon from his tool belt and in an instant's notice he drove it into Hawk's shoulder. "NO!" Sara screamed and pushed the man back, watching Kyle fall to the ground out of the corner of her eye. She summoned up one of her darkest spells. One of the worst things ever created in the known world of magic (that didn't result in death), and sent it straight towards the man. He fell to the ground in crippling pain, grabbing his sides and rolling each way. "Don't you DARE touch him ever again!" she yelled, turning to land on her knees by his side. His eyes were wide open but blood was pouring from a stab wound on his shoulder, deep. He would pass out in a few minutes if it kept going.

"BARON, MOVE OUT!" the woman called, grabbing the man and hoisting him onto her back, using a grappling hook to jump onto the rafters and disappear from their sight.

"Kyle, are you ok?" she asked him worriedly, her fingers moving up his arm to rest just before the wound.

"I'm ok. The bone stopped the blade," was his lame attempt at a joke. Sara gasped and her eyes brimmed with tears.

"Hold on, this might hurt a little,"she told him, before she took the handle firmly but gently and pushed his shoulder back so the blade slid out. She dropped it onto the ground as the other Titans gathered and watched the scene unfold. Sara pressed a ripped piece of her cape against the wound before chanting her healing mantra. It healed somewhat, and the bleeding stopped, but a deep and open wound still remained.

"Am I ok?" he asked, hissing in pain and closing his eyes in a deep concentration. He squealed slightly, but pretended as if he didn't.

"You're fine, but this might hurt a bit more," she told him, before chanting another mantra. Out of nowhere a needle and thread popped out and began stitching up the slash.

"Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow," Kimi began murmuring, covering her eyes. Danny looked away and made a sound a lot like gagging, and Clara looked indifferent. Taku seemed to be taking it fine, but his eye twitched every so often.

When the thread and needle were done, they both disappeared. Sara ran her hand over the stitched slash and hissed, even though it wasn't her pain. "Does it hurt?"

"No," he bald-face lied.

"Stop being so noble," she told him. "It might kill you some day."

"As long as it makes you happy, I'll never stop."

"Quit it with the cheesy lines, Romeo," Sara told him, looking him in the eyes and raising an eyebrow. "You're not that slick."

"I try, though."

"I can see that."

Sara sighed and watched him as he sat up, using only one arm with the other pressed against his chest. Sara chanted a few foreign words and the arm was immediately in a sling. "Thanks," he sighed. Sara surged forward and hugged him tight, before pulling back and slapping his good shoulder.

"Don't ever scare me like that!" she screeched. "Gosh."

"It got you to talk to me again," he started with a smile.

"So you did that just to talk to me again?" she asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

"No, but it worked great."

"Loser."

TT2