A/N:
Boom another! I don't have a set interval or anything for publishing stuff, so just a heads up that I won't be updating according to any kind of schedule. This one is a little shorter so that's part of it.
I promise all of these won't rely on the whole "Beast Boy and Cyborg tease Robin" thing, it just so happened that that's how it's going so far. But yeah. It'll diversify, promise.
Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans or any other copyrighted/trademarked things mentioned.
The Teen Titans had been living together for about three weeks now, and by this point everyone was beginning to understand each other's personalities and quirks.
For example, now that Raven was beginning to come out of her shell, the other Titans quickly became aware of her quick wit and intense desire for privacy. Beast Boy had learned the hard way to not enter her room with her express permission, even if he was just trying to find her.
Speaking of the changling, Beast Boy's upbeat personality had not disappeared, though he had learned to tone down his enthusiasm. After the first two weeks of continually deferring in awe to Robin, Beast Boy had finally stopped calling him 'sir' (to the older boy's relief), though this resulted his acting more mischievously.
Cyborg had taken a liking to Beast Boy, revealing a decidedly less-serious, childish side that gelled well with the green boy (that is, when they weren't arguing over food). Beast Boy had been the first person to make Cyborg feel better about his appearance, and for that he truly appreciated the imp. Cyborg also appreciated his developing friendship with Robin, who was closer to his age and shared his intellectual interests. Once Robin had warmed up to Cyborg enough to talk to him in a more relaxed manner, Cyborg had experienced a fanboy moment over the fact that he was talking to Robin, of Batman and Robin (luckily, he managed to control his excitement better than Beast Boy). Even though he had initially been put off by Robin's attitude when they first met, through working with him on the communicators, Cyborg had come to understand that Robin was not as arrogant or aloof as he had first seemed.
Robin was slowly starting to loosen up more often and for longer periods of time, revealing a teenager who was able to actually smile and joke around once in a while. This more relaxed side came out most often around Starfire, who he had obviously taken a shine to.
Starfire had also developed a fondness for her leader, though this initially hard to tell due to her extremely affectionate nature that was in stark contrast to the fierce girl who tried to fry them with her starbolts almost a month ago. Though she was doing her best to adjust to Earth life and customs, she was still very prone to doing things that surprised (and on the occasion of their very first meal together, terrified) her new friends.
Like today, for example.
The Tower was just about completed. The teens were still in the process of moving in and making it a home, but the basics had been covered: they were able to eat, sleep, and communicate well enough for now.
Cyborg and Robin were near the large windows that looked out over the bay, working on the computer they had hooked up into the middle window. Robin sat at the console and tapped away while Cyborg finished up the final touches on the monitor.
Since the TV was unusable at this time, Beast Boy was slouched in his seat at the table, his entire posture screaming how bored he was. He was flipping listlessly through a gossip magazine he'd found somewhere in the Tower when the door swished open and Starfire and Raven walked through.
To say the girls were engaged in conversation would not be exactly correct – more like, Starfire was engaged in conversation and Raven was seeing how long her patience would last. Though none of the other Titans knew much about relationships on Starfire's home planet, Starfire had begun to pick up on Earth's and had recently started to try to bond with Raven like she had seen girls on TV do. Unfortunately for Starfire, Raven was not much for hair-braiding or nail-painting, so she had altered her strategy and was trying to understand things Raven liked.
"So must the phrase one chants always be 'Azarath, Metrion, Zynthos,' or is it something to be decided invididually?" Starfire was asking.
"It works for me," Raven muttered, veering over to the kitchen in an attempt to end the conversation. Starfire was nice, she really was, but Raven was still not used to living with people and having friends and she just wanted some time to be by herself. In an attempt to divert Starfire's attention, Raven locked on to the first thing she saw: Beast Boy.
"So…" she began as she slid into a seat across from him, trying and failing to sound sincerely interested, "whatcha reading, Beast Boy?"
The green teen straightened up immediately in surprise, staring at Raven in disbelief for a moment. "Uhh…" He looked at the cover of the magazine in his hands, then back at Raven. "A magazine?"
"Anything interesting in it?" she asked in that same oddly-upbeat voice as Starfire sat next to her.
He squinted at her suspiciously, but a second later his face light up as he remembered something. "Yeah! Dude, check this out," he said excitedly, quickly rifling through the pages.
Raven groaned inwardly; she had wanted Starfire's attention on Beast Boy, not both of theirs on her.
Beast Boy finally found the page he was looking for and shoved the magazine in the girls' direction to show them. "Look, it's us!"
Her interest genuinely peaked this time, Raven leaned in with Starfire to see a picture of the Titans taken during a peaceful moment. Judging from the beaten-up criminal in the background, the photo had been taken last week. Underneath the image were a few paragraphs gushing over the Titans, specifically their appearances.
"They said I had 'boyish good looks,'" Beast Boy pointed out proudly, wiggling his eyebrows at Raven.
She gave him a look and continued to read the article, her eyebrows furrowing as she frowned. "'Saved by Sex Appeal'?" she read disbelievingly. "This article is about how attractive some reporter thinks we are!"
"What, you don't think we're attractive?" Beast Boy teased, only to let out a squeak of terror as Raven glared at him.
"We saved the city, and all they can talk about is our looks? Look at what they said about Robin and his-" Feeling herself starting to flush, Raven stopped herself and scowled at the red that she knew was easily visible on her grey cheeks.
Beast Boy's confidence returned again and he grinned, pulling the magazine back to see what had made her blush. "And his butt?" he finished for her, cackling.
Across the room, Robin stiffened abruptly as Cyborg let out a guffaw.
"What!?" he exclaimed, dropping his tools and racing over to read for himself.
Robin twisted in his seat and protested. "Cyborg-!"
"Hold on dude, I just wanna read about your butt," Cyborg said over his shoulder, waving a hand at him. After a moment he burst into laughter. "Oh man- oh, man," he managed between giggles, wiping a tear from his eye. "That is too good. Star, do you agree with this?"
Starfire, who had been looking from person to person in confusion during the whole conversation, turned to Cyborg, hoping to understand what was going on. "Agree with what?" she asked.
Robin shot Cyborg an angry look and he amended his question to be more appropriate for Starfire. "Uh, do you think Robin is attractive?" he clarified, grinning as he made eye contact with Beast Boy. Across the room, Robin's ears became red and he swiveled back around to place his hands on the keyboard console, though no clicking keys could be heard.
The room was silent for a moment, and then:
"Very much so," Starfire replied in a matter-of-fact voice, as if she was giving Cyborg the time. She barely had time to register the looks of surprise on her friends' faces before the monitor suddenly came to life, a random cartoon blaring across the speakers.
The Titans in the kitchen covered their ears as Robin quickly shut the system off, mumbling something about how his "finger slipped" as he hastily retreated to his room.
Starfire did not understand what she had done wrong until it was explained to her that, unlike on Tamaran, directly acknowledging someone's physical attractiveness in front of them was not something most friends did outside of romantic relationships. Upon learning this she blushed appropriately and made her own exit, finally giving Raven the peace she desired.
"Hey Raven, wanna see what they said about you?"
Or not.
A/N:
So there's two. Being pale also I feel Raven's pain; we had a discussion of a bidet in one of my classes this past semester (which went on way longer than it should've, I don't understand why everyone couldn't move on, like oh you wash yourself instead of using toilet paper big deal) and my teacher actually attempted to demonstrate with a desk, and my roommate told me my face was super red when it happened, which does not surprise me cause I felt pretty embarassed but it's still sort of annoying because my face doesn't feel hot, just my ears. It happened a lot my senior year of high school too.
Anyways, yeah. I forgot to mention that these are going to vary in length and there will definitely be some in the future that will just be Robin and Starfire and not so much of the rest of the team. I just love all the friendships and relationships between all of them and yeah good dynamics. They're my teamtp (or something).
Ok bye! Til next update.
- Renee