Disclaimer

Teen Titans is a registered trademark of DC Comics and Cartoon Network Inc. All trademarked characters, locations, themes and ideas are used without permission in a work of fan-created fiction. The following has been done without profit for purely entertainment purposes. All original concepts, characters, themes and ideas within are the copyrighted property of the author, and are not to be reproduced without his prior consent. Additional information used in creating Teen Titans: Adaptation is courtesy of Titans Tower Online.

Raven sat curled beneath the gauzy curtains of a four-poster bed, naked beneath red satin sheets, lying next to a slumbering boy whom she hardly knew in a room she didn't recognize in the slightest.

She had a plethora of questions to ask herself, chief among them regarding how and why she had come here. But those questions were drowned out by a deafening scream that rang inside her mind. She clutched her hair and stared down into her lap, and waited for her screaming mind to run out of breath.

Panic overwhelmed her practiced serenity. She felt her father's influence grasp that panic and twist it into outrage. She had been tricked. She had been kidnapped. She had been seduced. She had been violated!

Her forehead burned with the budding of two red eyes above her wide twilight stare. Quickly, she crushed all of her eyes shut and grasped her temples. Breath whistled through her teeth in a ghostly whisper of her mantra: Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos. She mouthed the words over and over, keeping the demonic eyes closed, until the words overcame her mind's scream. Her heart rate slowed. Her breath steadied. The red eyes vanished.

She kept her other eyes closed for several minutes more, reinforcing her calmness lest her panic be turned against her again. Only when she was sure that she wouldn't erupt did she plumb her memory for its missing pieces.

Dominic had taken her to a quiet pub for dinner. The restaurant was small, dark, and secluded, leaving the two of them to talk about nothing and everything well into the evening. When he had noticed the time, he had offered to take Raven home, something to which she reluctantly agreed.

They had held hands on the walk back to the Compound without exchanging a single word. The entire way, Raven had been immersed in the incredible sense of peace his touch brought her. There had been no pedestrians, no traffic, to interrupt them. Even her friends' voices coming from the patio garden couldn't break the spell between her and Dominic.

When they had reached the front door, there had been shuffling of feet. Awkward smiles. Trailing sentences. Raven had felt him pull away to say goodnight, and suddenly she had known, known, she couldn't let him leave. Not again. Not ever.

So when Dominic had taken his hand from hers, Raven had wrapped him in a bone-crushing embrace. When he had opened his mouth to speak, to question, Raven had flown from her tiptoes to silence him with a kiss.

She remembered the electric jolt of his lips. Her whole body had ached with a totally new sensation. Standing there, aloft in his arms, she had awakened something inside of her that grew with rampant abandon. For the first time in her life, Raven's humanity had overwhelmed her demonic nature, swallowing it whole and filling her with raw human need.

And when she could bear that need no more, she had reached into his thoughts for a safe place he knew. She had opened a portal, and had dragged him through into this room. And then…

Well. And then.

Raven drew a deep, shuddery breath and looked upon Dominic as he slept. Her look became a stare. She watched him snore softly. The smooth sculpt of his back rose and fell in a way that made the sated humanity in her hungry once more.

She looked away and thought desperately on what she should do next. Mediation. She needed to mediate. That much was made painfully clear by the tenuous thread on which her inner calm hung. As smoothly as she could, she lifted the sheets aside and slid from the curtained bed to begin the hunt for her clothes.

Her high heels lay at the door like a pair of toppled sentries. She snatched them up on her way to her dress, which lay a disturbing distance across the room, flung carelessly over the arm of an antique chair. As she draped the dress over her arm, she scoured the floor with a pinball gaze, growing more frustrated and anxious by the second.

"They're under the bed," Dominic said, making Raven yelp and drop her collected clothes. He sat up in bed, the sheets draped over his lap, his eyes drowsily piercing the curtain between them. An unreadable expression formed in his face as he asked, "Sneaking out?"

Raven felt her features darken with embarrassment. Her heart raced. She yanked the dress from the floor and pressed it over her body. "I wasn't…sneaking," she said, unable to meet his gaze.

"It's a little late for modesty, don't you think?" he asked with a trace of impishness. "Your underwear. It got kicked under the bed, I think. I'm still a little groggy."

Raven's face burned. She looked further away, and pressed her dress tighter to her front when he rose from the bed to stand outside the curtain. Like her, Dominic had lost his underwear. He didn't seem as perturbed about it as she. "I have to go. I'm sorry," she mumbled.

His impishness evaporated. "Sorry about what? Are you okay?" he asked.

When he took a step forward, Raven backed away sharply. Her back struck a dresser on the far side of the room, rattling its contents. She tried to veil herself completely behind her dress as she said, "I just…I have to go. I have to."

Dominic stopped. He raised his hands, and spoke in a soothing tone. "Okay. Okay. This is… You're obviously really upset right now. Would…" He paused, frowning to himself.

Raven felt her panic return in the silence. Part of her longed to fly to Dominic, to press herself to him and drink in his peace. She could no longer trust that part of herself. Her panic became rage in the distant hands of her father, who sought to consume her with the maddening emotion. She tugged at the air, parting it into a small portal. "I'm sorry," she said again.

"Wait!" Dominic cried. His voice echoed the panic inside of Raven, surprising her. Her portal waned as he reached out, and said, more calmly, "Would you…would you like a drink of water? Are you thirsty?"

He pointed to a sweating carafe on a silver platter, which sat atop the dresser behind her. Crystal glasses clinked next to the carafe as Raven bumped the dresser again. "No," she said.

"I…I'm thirsty. Let me just get a drink of water. Then we can talk," Dominic said.

Impatience tinged Raven's panic. She did not want to wait. She did not want to talk. She just wanted to teleport to her room, lock the door, and isolate herself until this whole mess made sense to her, or until time stopped, whichever came first.

She had just drawn breath to tell Dominic exactly that. Then she held her breath in curiosity as Dominic reached out, focusing intently on the carafe behind her.

The air next to Raven stirred. Then, slowly, ether began to manifest from the space between, culling into wisps of pure red. The ethereal matter drew together into a four-clawed hand that hovered over Raven's shoulder. Beneath her astonished stare, the red claw picked up the carafe and poured water into a glass, and then lifted the glass into the air.

Raven said nothing while the disembodied claw carried its glass to Dominic. She couldn't breathe. She couldn't think, save for one horrifying realization as he accepted the glass.

Dominic waved his free hand. The ethereal claw dissipated back from whence it came. After taking a sip, he smiled uncertainly, and said, "Tada?"

The glass flew from his grasp and shattered on the floor as Raven slammed into him. Her dress forgotten, she grabbed him by the neck and slammed him against the wall, unseating several of the portraits hung behind him. Both of their toes dangled above the floor as she lofted him with ease, crushing his throat.

Her face twisted. "You're a demon!" she snarled.

Teen Titans
Adaptation

By Cyberwraith9

A Love Story, Part I

"Hlax-dnaxxghhhhhh…" gargled Dominic.

Raven shook with rage and tightened her grip, which he pulled upon to no avail with both his hands. "You tricked me! You lied to me!" she cried.

"Rvghhnn…" His eyes bulged, and his face turned blue.

"Why do it? Why do all this just to get to me?" she demanded. "Is this all some kind of sick game? Am I just a game to you?"

Red ether seeped beneath her hand. It expanded around his throat, affording him a desperate breath that inflated his chest. He gasped, and wheezed, "I'm half-demon!"

Hearing his choked voice broke Raven's baleful concentration. She saw her hand around his shielded throat and jerked back at the realization of what she was doing to him.

Dominic slid to the floor, sitting with his back to the wall. He coughed and wheezed while Raven fought for control of herself above him. "Ack," he coughed, doubled over. "I'm a half-demon. Like you…"

Raven clutched the hand that had choked him. She still felt her demonic eyes threatening to split her forehead. Her nakedness lay entirely forgotten. "Why didn't you tell me? Why did you keep it a secret?" she said, tensed and ready for retaliation.

Rubbing his throat, Dominic rasped, "I was afraid you would flip out and do…pretty much what you just did. I wanted to wait for the right time to tell you, after we got to know each other a little better."

"And you picked now?"

Her incredulous tone might have made him smile if he wasn't in so much pain. "Yes. That was some choice stupidity on my part, I admit. I just…" He looked up through watering eyes, and said hoarsely, "I wasn't sure if I would ever see you again if you ran through that portal. I got scared that I would never see you again, and I wanted you to know. It seemed like one of those 'now or never' moments."

Prickling self-consciously, Raven draped her arms across her breasts and turned away. "Why bother?" she snapped, blushing blue all over. "Why go to all that worry if I'm just another notch in your bedpost? Which, by the way, most straight guys wouldn't be caught dead in," she added acerbically, and eyed the poster bed.

She felt outrage well up in him. It was the first emotion she could ever recall sensing in him, and it gave her a start. Looking back, she saw him scowl as he snapped, "In the last two minutes, you've tried to run out on me, accused me of date-raping you, called me a monster, attacked me, attacked my masculinity, and now you're calling me a man-slut. At what point is it my turn to get angry, Raven? This wasn't even my idea!"

Shame tempered her temper. Her glare cooled on its way to the floor. Modesty did seem ridiculous to her at this point, so she let her arms drop to her sides. "You're right. I…I'm sorry. Nothing makes sense to me right now," she said.

She knelt down and put a hand to his throat. Dominic flinched, and then relaxed when a soft black glow emanated from her touch. Her throat burned with the pain she accepted from him to heal him. The pain lasted only a few seconds, and then both of them felt fine, if confused and embarrassed.

"Thanks," he said, testing his voice gingerly.

She backed away as he rose, averting her eyes with sudden abashment. They stood uncomfortably close, unable to speak, unwilling to look. The moments of passion that had run roughshod over their inhibitions mere hours before felt like a lifetime ago.

"Okay," Dominic said. "We're both clearly freaked out. Why don't we get dressed and grab a snack in the kitchen? I think there's some chocolate cake in the fridge."

Raven shook her head. "You're thinking about food now?" she asked in disbelief.

Chagrined, Dominic countered, "There is no way that sugar can do anything but improve this disaster of a moment."

His confectionary logic narrowly won her over. She owed him a few moments' talk at least after attacking him, and her curiosity at his revealed nature overpowered her skittish instincts.

She stretched her soul-self from her hands. Black tendrils crossed the room to consume her dress and scour the floor beneath the bed until they found and devoured a black thong. Bringing them back, Raven wrapped the soul-self around her body. It faded a second later, revealing the dress back in place over her. She tugged it higher, still self-conscious, and said, "I'll wait outside."

Dominic had stopped in mid-collection of his clothes to stare at her magical dressing. "Wow. That's neat. You'll have to show…" As she stalked quickly for his door, he called, "Promise me you won't leave. Please?"

She hesitated with her hand on the knob. "I…promise," she said.

The door closed with a soft click behind her. Raven leaned back against the door, closing her eyes. The solitude of the hallway comforted her little, yet she welcomed it anyway. She drew the solitude in with a shaky breath, trying to force it into her tumultuous soul without success.

When she opened her eyes, she drew another breath, this one for surprise. The hallway outside made Dominic' gothic, antiquely-furnished room appear cheery and impoverished by comparison. All of the numerous doors in the hallway, including the one on which Raven leaned, were handcrafted from polished oak and decorated with ornate carvings. Oil paintings hung between the doors, each in custom frames, each likely worth more money than Raven could fathom.

She wandered down the hall, her bare feet kissed by luxurious, immaculate rugs draped over waxed hardwood floors. Each of the doorways was separated in the hall by a high archway carved with the likenesses of lamenting angels. The long hallway instilled a sense of privilege in Raven that gave even her sensibilities pause.

The hallway opened into a balcony overlooking what she assumed to be the entrance to Dominic's home. It was a grand hall, replete with tapestries and paintings that boggled her sense of scale. A sprawling staircase and banisters tapered from the balcony to the floor, which could have doubled as a sports stadium of the players' choice. Stained glass above the doors depicted a three-story mosaic of an angel reaching out for a fiery red sky. The dead of night made the mosaic dark.

Leaning against the balcony rail, Raven stared at the darkened hall. Everything around her made her redefine her understanding of the word "opulent." She was used to large homes and sprawling interiors, but as bases of operation, not palaces of splendor.

A throat cleared softly behind her. She turned and found Dominic standing at a noticeable distance. He wore sweatpants and a monogrammed silk dressing robe, and spoke in a tight, carefully neutral tone, as if she were a wild animal he feared to startle. "I hope you don't think less of me because I live in a mansion," he said.

Raven could hear tepid truth behind the joke. She turned back to the sight of the hall. His voice still echoed faintly off the far stained glass window.

It struck Raven how empty such a large house felt. There was no empathic noise in the background to offset Dominic's trepidation. She and he were the only souls in the mansion, and she gathered that such an occurrence wasn't uncommon. "You live here?" she asked, incredulous that anyone could call such a lonely place home. Anyone besides her, that is.

"With my mother. Though she's gone a lot," he said. He looked uncertain of what to do with his hands, and so he placed them in the pockets of his robe. "Come on. I think I remember there being a kitchen somewhere downstairs. It shouldn't be impossible to find."

She trailed behind Dominic down the stairs, always remaining several steps behind him regardless of his pace. As her eyes wandered the mansion, she kept him always in peripheral sight.

They traversed the cavernous hall, and then a gloomier corridor, and came upon his fabled kitchen. It was larger than that of many restaurants, and clean to the point of sterilization. There were industrial ovens, gas ranges, two walk-in freezers, and more equipment that Raven couldn't identify. She gravitated to a stool set at the counter while Dominic flipped the lights, illuminating the room in white brilliance.

As with everything else in the mansion, the kitchen gave Raven pause. "I have to say, I didn't expect this of you. This…house, I mean," she admitted, while Dominic unsealed one of the large walk-ins. "Everything about this place feels…"

"Compensatory?" he called from inside the walk-in.

When he came out with a gallon of milk and a covered tray, she had an annoyed look waiting for him. "I was going to say, 'grandiose.' This isn't the lifestyle you project," she told him.

Dominic shrugged as he set the food down to search for flatware. "I always felt more like a Jughead than a Richie Rich, I guess. I like comfortable clothes and hamburgers better than spats and foie gras. The tops hats and monocles come in handy when I'm rounding the Boardwalk, though. It's the only way to pass Go in style."

As he set a plate before her, Raven scrutinized his straight face. "Why do you do that? You make jokes when I ask you something about yourself," she said.

He lifted the platter cover, revealing three-quarters of a triple layer fudge cake that won Raven over with its smell alone. Her mouth watered at the slab that Dominic plated for her. He dished his own slab, and then poured milk for the both of them. "I joke," he said, filling her glass, "because I'm feeling really vulnerable right now. You make me nervous, Raven."

Her fork paused halfway to her mouth. She stared as he pulled a stool to the opposite side of the counter. After all the butterflies her stomach had endured on his behalf, his admission sounded ridiculous. "How on Earth do I make you nervous?" she said.

Flecks of frosting followed his derisive laugh. "Now you're the one who's joking. You're a high-profile super hero, probably one of the most powerful people on the planet, amazingly beautiful, and you're dating someone like me? Some guy who accosted you in a chain bookstore with Emily Dickenson?"

Raven's cheeks darkened. She looked down, popping her fork into her mouth. "Stupid," she mumbled around the best cake she had ever tasted.

Raising a stern eyebrow, he added, "And even if none of that were true, there'd still be the fact that I like you. I like you a lot, Raven. Much too much to ever consider you a notch in my gay, gay bedpost." His voice and eyes trailed bitterly to his sweet cake.

Raven swallowed in guilt. "You didn't deserve that. I'm sorry," she said. They spent a moment emptying their plates, keeping their eyes lowered in mutual dread. Raven's appetite betrayed her, leaving her with a bare plate first and no excuse. She looked up, and said, "We're avoiding the real issue here."

Lifting his glass, Dominic asked, "What's that?"

A three-toed talon of black ether stretched across the mouth of his glass, pressing it back to the countertop. Dominic looked up as Raven pulled her soul-self back, and said, "This. You. What you—we—are. You can't pretend it's a coincidence. How am I supposed to trust you when you keep something like that hidden from me?"

Dominic leveled a piercing look at her. "Do you friends know what you are? Have you told them?"

Raven bit her lip. She recalled Robin's words at their battle in Jump City. He had known, somehow. She was sure of it. But Robin was gone. The rest of the Titans only knew of her extra-dimensional origin, and not the whole story. "They know enough," she said lamely.

"That's what I thought. It's not something I talk about. It's not something any of our kind talks about if we can help it," he said. "It's a miracle my mother carried me to term. She was attacked by a soldier demon, and…"

She guessed the rest. "Some women don't have a choice. The stronger the demon, the more likely that the…conception is irreversible," she said darkly.

"Your father was…?"

Storm clouds hooded her eyes. "…not a soldier demon," she said. "I was…"

Raven hesitated. She had only ever told her tale to Starfire, and that had been out of necessity. And even then, Starfire knew nothing of her heritage. But Dominic already did. And looking into his eyes, Raven saw genuine curiosity mixed with something else, something she had never seen for her in another person, not even from her own mother. It parted the storm clouds in her, giving way to a flood she hadn't realized she had been holding back.

She told him of Azarath. She told him of Arella, or what little she knew about the mother she was hardly allowed to see. She spoke of Azar, of the priests of Azarath, of becoming one of them and accepting their vestments, and, when she could stay no longer for risk to her home, of coming to Earth.

Her tale lasted an eternity, during which Dominic did not speak. He listened, nodding, visibly bursting to ask more, yet letting her talk. When Raven finished, she couldn't believe how easily the story had left her.

He sipped his milk for a moment, making sure she had finished. Then he said, "Wow. I…wow. I wish I had something that exciting to tell you."

Raven knew better, but did not say so. Instead, she said, "I have enough excitement in my life. Tell me about you."

Dominic told her about growing up on the East Coast as a child of old wealth. He and his mother had moved to Jump City shortly before Slade's Attack. Their home, deep in the distant and wealthiest suburbs, had suffered little damage. He had finished prep school last fall, and had gotten a day job simply for something to do.

Though his story was shorter, Raven let him finish without interruption. Listening came easier to her than speaking. "And that's when I met you," he said. "I saw you in the bookstore, and I…I could sense you. What you were. Are."

She frowned. "But why couldn't I sense you?" she asked. Even now, she felt no demonic stirrings in him, as if he were just another human. Normally demons and demi-demons raised terrible alarm in Raven's senses.

Dominic actually looked sheepish. "You're a lot more powerful than I am. Plus, growing up here—on Earth, I mean—I couldn't exactly be open about what I was. I've learned to control my thoughts and emotions to hide what I am. People just think I'm the weird, pale rich kid."

Quiet hesitation quivered in Raven's lips. There was something he wasn't telling her, she knew. She wanted to ask him about his emotional control. Was that the reason for the peace she felt when she touched him? But she did not ask. They had pried into each other's lives so much so recently that she did not want to push him, or herself, any harder.

"We're avoiding the other issue here," Dominic said. "What happens next?"

Raven stared at her plate, unable to answer. She didn't know if she could answer. No, that wasn't it. The problem lay in that she knew what her answer had to be, and she wanted to give him the complete opposite. She wanted to tell him exactly how she felt, even if she wasn't sure of what those feelings were. But she could not.

The inner battle must have leaked into her face. Dominic leaned forward, not quite offering her his hand. "I didn't plan on tonight happening, Raven. But I'm not sorry it did," he admitted. "Like I said, I like you. Maybe…maybe more than like."

She closed her eyes, steeling herself, and said the exact opposite of what they both wanted to hear. "I can't. I can't feel that way about you. This has to end. I'm…sorry."

"Why?" He sounded hurt, but calmly confused. He wanted to know the reason behind her answer, not just reject it out of hand like a petulant child. "Why can't you?"

"Edon…"

The word slipped from her mouth without thought. Raven's eyes exploded. Her hands flew to her mouth, covering her gasp. The empty glasses in front of them cracked as her horror slipped from her grasp. She reined in her emotions, locking them tightly back into place and screwing her defenses over them in triplicate.

"Edon?" Dominic echoed with a frown. "What's Edon? …who? Who is Edon? Raven, talk to me."

Her eyes welled up at the word repeated. The name. His name. It was a memory she had fought to suppress every day of her life. It haunted her. It was the reason she gave him her answer again. "I can't. I'm so sorry," she said, and flew from her stool.

Dominic sprang up and grabbed her arm across the counter. He held her firmly, and said, "Raven, please. If that's the way you feel, I can accept it. But I don't think it is. I think you feel the same way about me." Piercing her with a look, he said, "Why is this 'Edon' thing keeping us apart?"

She shut her eyes, losing two tears as she bottled the rest. "I can't," she said again. "Please, if you knew… If you knew what I did…what I am…you wouldn't…"

Dominic's grasp eased. She could have broken it without effort, yet remained. The stillness of his touch beckoned her even through the raging storm of her own soul. "What did you do?" he asked.

It wasn't a demand, or even an accusation. He asked as though he could never imagine anything about Raven that could upset him the way she upset herself. He asked with such earnestness, with such quiet confidence in her. Raven could not help but acquiesce.

She stood in his gentle grasp, fighting to keep control of herself, and told him the story of Edon. Once more, Dominic listened. He possessed the patience of a statue, never moving, hardly breathing, and always meeting her gaze even when she could not meet his. When her story ended, and tears threatened her eyes again, Dominic stood. His hand slid down her arm as he rounded the counter to stand with her.

Taking her hand in his, Dominic told her, "I'm not afraid of you."

Raven felt her control slip. In his touch, she felt it so easy to let go, knowing the peace inside of him would protect her. In Dominic, she felt safe from the thundering emotions of the outside world, and from the distant torment of her father. But that freedom terrified her. If she lost control, even for a moment…

"I can't…" she whispered.

He took her in his arms, pulling her to him. Her chin rested on his chest as their eyes pooled together, unable to break. "You're scared. That's okay, so am I. But not of you," he said. "You can't be afraid of yourself either. You won't hurt me. I promise."

Red ether seeped from his hands. His eyes glowed white with arcane focus. Raven felt her whole body tingle as the ether spread over her skin, permeating her clothes to touch her everywhere at once. She stiffened, wondering if he would try to force her.

But he didn't. He stood there with his arms around her and his soul bared, looking down through a glow to ask a silent question.

Raven understood. She embraced him, linking her hands at the small of his back. Power burned in her eyes as blackness poured from her touch, soaking Dominic in the colors of midnight. Black and red swallowed the teens until only their white eyes pierced the colors to meet betwixt them.

They stood in the kitchen, wrapped in each other's soul. The sensation made them shiver. As the red and black pooled together into deep violet, an incredible connection surged into both of them. The link went beyond physicality, beyond sexuality, beyond friendship. They saw into each other's core, deeper than any two people could ever experience. Awash in the connection, they clutched one another and learned more in a heartbeat than they could in a lifetime.

The colors evaporated from their bodies, which heaved for breath in the afterglow of the moment. Dominic took Raven's face into his hands. He kissed her, pouring into her the passion she had showed him at the night's beginning.

Raven did not resist. She responded in kind. She still knew barely of his past, of his likes and dislikes, and of the paltry details that had terrified her a moment ago. She had looked into his soul, been held in his soul, and knew everything she needed to know about him.

Their kiss broke with another pant. Raven rested her head on his heaving chest, gasping, grasping him as her fear and doubt skirted her clouded thoughts once more. No matter her feelings, she could only silence her rational mind for so long. "I'm still scared," she admitted to him in a small voice.

"I'm not?" he said into her hair. "I mean, before tonight, I had never…I hadn't…yeah." He was glad she could not see his face as it turned bright scarlet. "I'm not asking for promises, Raven. I want a chance. I know I don't exactly fit into your world, but—"

"I want you to," she said into his chest, unwilling to break their embrace to look up. "I want you in my world. I want you," she murmured.

They lapsed into stillness, simply content to savor each other's touch. Their arms drew tighter, as though they feared the moment's end. Raven sensed doubts and fears in Dominic that mirrored her own. But beneath them, she sensed something much stronger. It floored her to imagine anyone feeling that way about her, but she knew she felt the same way for him. That terrified and exhilarated her.

A deep yawn rustled Raven's hair. She looked up into Dominic's gaping mouth, which he quickly covered. "Sorry," he said sheepishly. Glancing at the clock, he said, "I'm not used to this much drama so late at night."

Raven caught sight of the time. Another embrace like their last one might carry them through the sunrise. "Or early in the morning," she said.

They broke with reluctance. Raven caught his fingertips as they left her hip and held onto his peacefulness as long as she could. He could see what she was about to say, and beat her to it, asking her, "When can I see you again?"

Her fingers slipped from his. The turmoil in her hit her psychic defenses from the inside, stirring her father's hate. "Not today," she said. "I'm going to need a lot of meditation just to keep from blowing up at this point." She was glad for the smile her comment drew from him, even if she did mean it. "Tomorrow?" she asked.

He thought for a moment. "I have a thing in the morning. Lunch?"

"Where?"

With a knowing smile, he said, "I'll pick you up at your place. One-thirty sharp."

They sealed the pact with a long, longing look. Raven wanted nothing so much as to kiss him again, but her temples already pounded with the effort of controlling her emotions. Tasting and then abandoning his quieting touch again might end her. But what a way to go…

Desire surged up through Raven's closed gates. Before she could succumb to another kiss, she pushed the air aside, opening a portal. Her eyes lingered on Dominic as she backed through the cold, swirling breach. The look on his face was an eager promise. Then the portal swallowed her, whisking her between worlds.

She stepped from the shadows into her room. The portal shut behind her with a gust of cold, stirring the pages of the open books draped across her desk. Physical silence pervaded the Compound, save for the soft gasp of air conditioning from the vent. Outside, past her heavy drapes and her soundproofed windows, Raven could hear the cacophony of feelings from all over the city. Simple, confused emotions, those of dreams coming to an end with the impending dawn, inundated Raven's exhausted defenses.

Leaden steps carried her across the room. She hadn't realized until seeing her own bed how tired she was. But instead of crawling beneath the sheets, she floated over them, folding her legs beneath her. Her weary eyes closed as she quieted her mind and focused on her center.

"Azarath. Metrion. Zinthos." She chanted the words until they became a part of her. Then she stilled her lips, letting the words echo inside of her. The mantra flowed over her stormy feelings like a balm, and poured into the cracks of her psychic walls until they were whole again. Her mental grip tightened until her emotions choked and receded, returning to her the practiced peace she sought.

But as she relaxed her choke hold on the subdued emotions, she felt something new. It was a soft, gentle sensation, so deep and slight within her that her father's influence could not reach it, or could not use it, or both. It felt warm, and…nice.

She felt content.

No. She was content.

The sensation threatened to make her smile and ruin her meditation's work. She stifled her joy and tentatively allowed that contentment to spread, slipping into it as she might a tepid bath. Tension in her body melted away. She floated down onto her bedspread, tired but wholly at peace.

With her emotions under control, and the rest of the world's sloppy feelings locked out, Raven opened her eyes. A sliver of sunlight streamed between her curtains. The clock had raced through her mediation, and now sat at a mid-morning hour.

Raven was a notorious early riser. If she slept now, as her body ached to do, the other Titans might wonder why she hadn't appeared the morning after her date. Her thoughtful gaze wandered to her desk, where she had left her meditation mirror. It reflected back to her the rumpled, disheveled, bed-headed sight of a girl Raven could scarcely believe was her.

She shucked her dress, donned a towel from her hamper, and teleported directly into the bathroom down the hall. The shower scoured her with scalding water as she scrubbed a bottle of body wash into her skin. She lathered, rinsed, and repeated her hair with three different berry scents of shampoo. Her fingers turned to ashen prunes by the time she finished. She brushed, flossed, brushed, and then brushed her teeth.

It took an hour before she teleported back to her room to dress. Five minutes and one deep breath later, she left her room to face the day. Two steps beyond her door, her stomach gurgled, giving her the first order of business.

Breakfast was in full swing downstairs in the Commons. Bushido plucked at a steaming bowl of rice at the counter while he read the paper. Pancakes sizzled and flipped at Cyborg's deft pan work over the stovetop. Sitting on the couch, Tek surfed through television channels in between dripping spoonfuls of her cereal.

Raven caught herself holding her breath as she entered the room. She forced air through her nose and walked stiffly to the refrigerator, where her tea leaves waited in a plastic bag. Thousands of imaginary eyes pressed upon her. They knew. They knew. She shook the feeling away and forced herself to act normal.

Cyborg glanced over as Raven closed the fridge. "Morning," he said cheerfully. "You get in late last night? The lobby didn't log any entrances."

"Yes. I…teleported," Raven said. She hid her moment's hesitation in the cupboard as she pulled out her teakettle. "I didn't want to disturb anyone. I teleported into my room last night."

Tek walked up next to her at the sink as Raven filled her teakettle. Unusually chipper, Tek hummed as she dumped out the dregs of her cereal, and asked, "So, how was your date? Did you have fun?"

Raven had to convince herself of the innocence of Tek's question. They know. They know! "Yes. It was nice," Raven said.

Grinning, Tek chirped, "That's great! Dominic seems like such a nice guy."

"You got to talk to him?" Cyborg asked Tek, and gave Raven a sly look that made her heart jump. "All I got to do was say 'hello' before they made me a third wheel. What's he like?"

Cyborg and Tek began a merry back-and-forth, sharing what little they knew about Dominic and parlaying the information into outlandish theories. As they posited his robo-vampiric heritage, Raven set her kettle on the stove to boil. A secret smile tugged her lips.

While the great Dominic debate snowballed on, Beast Boy appeared in the Commons doorway. His pajamas hung at a forty-five degree angle to his body, which loped with sluggish stiffness. Toe-claws clicked on the tile with each staggered step he took toward the refrigerator. His eyes blinked out of sequence, and his legs and arms moved on autopilot. Opening the fridge, he reached for the soy milk, uncapped it with his thumb, and hefted the jug to his lips. A sleepy sigh whistled through his nose.

Then he stopped. The jug hovered halfway between the open fridge and his open mouth as his nostrils tested the air. His head slowly turned to Raven, who stood next to him in peaceful obliviousness at the stove. Surprise widened his eyes into saucers and resounded in Raven's empathic senses, turning her head to meet his wide stare a moment too late to stop him.

"Holy crap!" he cried. "You had sex!"

All motion in the Commons ceased. Time and space came to a screeching halt, ending molecular motion in one trans-entropic moment of horror that filled the room. Cyborg and Tek stopped talking to stare at the blurted revelation. Caught in a storm of nightmarish attention, Raven could only glare at the ouster of her discretion.

The temperature of the room plummeted with the arctic stillness. Beast Boy slowly closed his mouth, realizing what he had done, and likely what Raven would now do to him. He looked around. Bushido's paper and chopsticks clattered onto the countertop, their owner nowhere in sight. Tek opened her mouth to say something, but Cyborg stopped her with a hand to her shoulder. Cyborg pulled Tek slowly toward the door, never taking his eyes off Raven as he and Tek backed out of the Commons.

Beast Boy felt his innards roll up into a ball beneath Raven's unblinking glare. He took a step back, lifting his hands. "Whoa. Okay. I am really, really sorry. That did not come out right. I mean, that shouldn't have come out at all. I, uh, I mean, I was kidding. I was kidding, guys!" he called to the empty doorway. "Ha! Ha. …ha?"

A ponderous breath filled Raven's chest. She closed her eyes and released the breath glacially, making Beast Boy wait in clenching fear until she finished. When she opened her eyes again, their temperature had warmed slightly. "Clearly I need to switch to a better body wash," she uttered, and returned to her tea preparation.

Still coiled and ready to run, Beast Boy said, "Seriously, Raven, I'm sorry. I didn't—"

"It's fine," she said flatly. "I don't need apologies. Let's just drop it."

Beast Boy dug his claws from the tile to risk a tentative step forward. When Raven continued to pour out her tea leaves, and mystic forces didn't turn him inside-out, he unfurled the wadded ball of intestines clenched in his chest. By all appearances, he would survive at least the next few minutes. Once her tea was ready and Raven became caffeinated, he wouldn't be so certain.

He celebrated his stay of execution with a drink straight from the carton in his hand. But somewhere around his third gulp, a realization struck him hard. He choked and sprayed soy milk across the counter. Coughing, he exclaimed, "You? Had sex?"

Raven slammed her palm on the countertop, crushing her bag of leaves. The lights above her fizzled and popped. "What part of 'drop it' confused you?" she said through her teeth. "Even you have to be able to figure out that I do not want to talk about this."

"You had sex!" he cried, throwing his hands in the air, sloshing soy milk across the floor. "I can't believe it!"

Her scowl narrowed into twin slits of burning twilight. "What's that supposed to mean?" she said. Two more lights in the Commons died with a pop.

"No, I mean, I seriously can't believe it," he said, clutching his hair. "I mean, the idea, it doesn't make sense. Like if the sky turned out to be a big blue monster that burped chocolate pudding whenever it felt sad. It's scientastically impossible! If I didn't smell it on you…"

She watched his face screw with disgust. "Gee, thanks," she smarmed.

"Oh, man, I can smell it! That means particles of it are going up my nose!" He grasped his face and made retching noises.

Enough was more than enough. Raven shoved past him and stalked toward the door, drawing her cloak about her. "It's nice to see you're taking this as maturely as I expected," she snapped.

Still clutching his nose, Beast Boy retorted nasally, "You wanna talk mature? Miss 'I hop in bed with El Gotho Magnifico right out of the starting gate?' Huh?"

The long windows of the Commons webbed with dozens of cracks and fogged at the intense cold that stormed the room. Raven whirled on the spot, her eyes glowing dangerously in a glare that made him drop his hands. The soy milk hit the floor and gushed over his bare feet.

Steam rolled from her sharp tongue. "You're judging me? You? You let Terra ravish you the same night she blew up our home and laid waste to the city!"

Terra's name brought Beast Boy's fangs from his mouth. His slitted pupils flexed with anger as he growled, "Yeah, I slept with Terra. My friend. My girlfriend! Who I knew! Not some random guy I just met last week."

"Dominic is not some random guy," she said, her voice rising above his. "He's someone I care about."

"And what are we?" Beast Boy demanded. "If you care about him, then what about us?"

Confusion steeped her heated reply. "What? Are you saying I should sleep with you too? Are you really so hard up, Garfield?"

"Ew! Eww!" he squealed, and cringed.

"Honestly, I'm trying to understand what's making you act like a colossal jackass right now, but I suppose I can't shut off that much of my brain."

He bristled, and shouted, "We've been living together for two years! Two! Years! And after all that time, you barely give me the time of day! But in comes Johnny-Come-Gothly, who sweeps you off your feet, and gets everything from you with…what? A smile and a wink? Cheap cologne? What does it take to get through this creepy ice queen thing of yours, Raven? Why do we get the cold shoulder and not him?"

Raven's whole face quirked. "You're…jealous?" she said.

"I'm pissed!" he burst. "I've—'We've' been trying to get you to open up for years. I've been in your head, for God's sake! But we get put-downs and snarky comments and doors slammed in our faces. You act like you can't stand us! Like being around us, being with us, is nothing but a pain in the ass for you! But him? Him? He gets the…the…the whole pie!" he yelled.

His shoulders dropped steadily as he huffed for breath. The bitter look on his face relaxed into an expression of hurt. "I just thought…" His voice dropped in volume and pitch. "I thought, with the way you helped me deal with…with Terra…with this," he said, and bared his clawed hands. "I just thought…"

The kettle on the stovetop whistled with a burst of steam.

Raven's hood glowed with the strength of her glower. She straightened, the ends of her cloak swishing with kinetic anger rolling off her body. "I'm sick of this," she uttered. "I'm sick of your whining. I'm sick of your jokes. I'm sick of being your Terra patch. I'm sick of you, Garfield. For once, I've finally found something—someone—who makes me happy. And all you can do is attack me because of it?"

Her glare didn't rattle him. It hardened his cat-like eyes into a scowl. "I thought we were friends," he said, finishing his thought.

Her eyes narrowed. "If this is how you treat your friends, then think again," she told him coldly.

Beast Boy's features sank with feral spite. He stalked past her, brushing through the edge of her billowing cloak. His spite and hurt burned against her psychic walls. As he left, he swiped the door frame, leaving claw marks in stainless steel. His clicking footsteps faded down the hall.

A deep breath steadied Raven's frazzled nerves. She shut off the stove to silence her whistling kettle. Then she sank against the countertop and buried her face in her hands. She needed more meditation and sleep, in that order, and immediately.

Her words to Beast Boy had been mean. Perhaps deserved, perhaps even necessary, but mean nonetheless. She didn't know how to apologize for the outburst, or even that she should. He had started the whole mess with his hyperactive nose and total lack of thought-to-mouth filter.

Her deep breath turned into a sigh. Suddenly, distantly, she was glad she would not see Dominic today. Their situation was becoming more complicated than she had feared.

To Be Continued