Disclaimer: This is a fan work created at no profit and for entertainment purposes only. The author acknowledges that Teen Titans and related characters are property of Warner Entertainment.
Teen Titans: Menace in Mexico City
Chapter 9 – Alone Together Part 1
The suite was nicer than Beast Boy had expected. There was a huge living area that not only had a TV to rival the main monitor in Titans Tower in terms of size, but a Foosball table in the corner that could be converted for air hockey or pool, a sofa so plush he could get lost in it, and a wide, curved window with a bench seat built in so one could sit and watch the entire city sprawling below. Through an accordion-style folding door, there was a hallway leading to a cozy sitting room with a fireplace and a pair of stuff chairs, a kitchen/dining area with all the essentials, and a of course, the two bedrooms complete with two queen-sized beds each.
"Guys in the left-hand room, ladies on the right." Robin declared after scouting the area out. Beast Boy wanted to roll his eyes. He himself had gone exploring too, but to see the new digs. Raven had, of course, immediately gravitated to the couch in the living area and pulled a book out of her bag, not planning to move until bedtime no doubt. Starfire had flitted out to the balcony off the living area to get a better look at the city.
But Robin just had to do the leader thing, vacation or no vacation. Check for escape routes, check for traps... probably checking for bed bugs. Beast Boy was pretty sure he'd seen the reflection of a black light when the Boy Wonder disappeared into the back hallway.
No one argued. Neither couple was exactly in a place where sharing a room was a thing. At least that's what Beast Boy assumed. Considering how long it had taken Star to get Robin out on a date, he was pretty sure they were still in 'hardy handshake and stale complement goodnight' territory.
"Also, I noticed that the room have a mini-bar in them. I've taken the liberty of installing a small alarm on the doors. Under no circumstances s anyone—at this, he looked to beast Boy—to buy and twenty dollar cashews... again."
"Dude, I said I was sorry. I'd never been in a place with a mini-bar before and the sign was in Japanese. I just thought they were super-good hosts." Beast boy exclaimed.
Robin gave him the Bat-glare. "Just in case."
Ears drooping, Beast Boy looked away. "Probably for the best."
"Friends!" It was weird seeing an excited Starfire walking into a room, and with the holo-ring's goth makeover, Beast Boy almost forgot it was her. She was waving her cellphone (another thing Robin had insisted they all get because using the communicators was out for 'normal teens') and grinning. "Friend Cyborg says that he has don the meeting of a girl and for us not to stay away waiting for his return. Is it not joyous that our friend is already making new friends?"
Her question fell on deaf ears as both Beast Boy and Robin gaped and chorused. "Already?!"
"Go Vic." Beast Boy added.
"He hasn't even finished parking the car." Robin said, "Did she fall through his sun roof?"
Starfire, impervious to sarcasm or perhaps just ignoring it, said, "No, Friend Cyborg... excuse me, 'Victor'... says that he saved her from walking in front of a bus."
"That... sounds unlikely." Robin said awkwardly. Even before it was out of his mouth, he knew how it sounded. He only barely kept himself from wincing.
"Dude, unlikely things happen to us every week." Beast Boy pointed out. "Or do I have to remind you of the time we almost got baked into a pie?"
"If it's a set-up," Raven piped up, "It's a set-up for Victor Stone, American tourist, not Cyborg. He can deal with it. Worst case scenario, this girl is just looking for a soft-hearted tourist to be her meal ticket."
Robin's eyes narrowed. "You know full well that isn't the worst case scenario."
Before things could go any further, Starfire swooped into Robin's line of sight, completely ignoring that 'Kori Anders' couldn't fly. "Friend Robin... I mean Dick, did you not promise to show me the 'night life' of this city? I would think you would wish to attend this very important business as soon as possible, yes?"
She could be smooth when she wanted to. Robin often wondered if the other even knew the sweet and seemingly naieve alien was capable of subtext like that.
A show of sputtering sold the idea that this was a real date. If he were forced to be honest, he might admit that in the event of a real date, there would be real sputtering. "Uh... oh, right, Star. I did. Just let me get my coat and I'll take you dancing."
He rushed to grab up his luggage and pull it into the room he'd designated for the guys, emerging moments later pulling on the white trenchcoat he'd 'acquired' in Japan. If Bruce got to keep a giant penny and a robotic dinosaur, he had no room to admonish.
Starfire similarly disappeared into the girls' room and returned with a huge black leather purse with spikes hot glued on it. She'd insisted on buying it to match her holoring-produced look. As soon as she was back, she practically glued herself to Robin's arm, giggling all the while.
With Star on his arm, Robin couldn't help but smile. So it was an effort to look stern when turning to the remaining pair of Titans. "Beast Boy, don't... there's really no point in telling you, is there?"
"Nope." grinned the normally green teen.
"Right." Robin glared at him. "Raven, don't let him do anything stupid."
"What do I look like, his babysitter?"
"Better." Robin said with a malicious smirk that made Beast Boy flinch. "His girlfriend." He returned his gaze to Beast Boy. "Just remember, Gar: if I'm not happy, I'll make Raven unhappy. And if she's not happy..."
Beast Boy gulped. "Picture's coming in crystal clear, sir."
Raven glared at both of them. "I never signed up for any of this."
"You were drafted." Robin said, turning away and walking with Starfire toward the door. They were gone before either of the remaining pair could retort.
Beast Boy made a face at the door. "Dude, that was so not cool." He threw himself down on the couch next to Raven. "And totally unfair! How can he punish you for me doing stupid things? Is it my fault that stupid things are the most fun?" He shrank away from the scowl he saw her face.
That little reaction made Raven flinch. Internally, she berated herself because she really had been expecting to palm Beast Boy off on Cyborg. Not because she didn't want him around but because that's what she usually did before... Except now it was after and that wasn't what she was supposed to do, was it? They should be taking advantage of their vacation to do things together, right?
If only she knew what sort of things they were supposed to do. For once she wished she's paid attention to all those stupid romantic comedies Starfire dragged her to or sneaked a peek at one of the alien's teen magazines.
It wasn't much of a start, but she decided to stop scowling at him. "So..." she said, suddenly aware of how rough her voice was. And that she hadn't thought of ho to end that sentence.
Lucky for her, one of Beast Boy's specialties was banishing silences. This time it was an awkward one instead of a peaceful one and everything. Taking his cue from Raven's expression returning to neutral (which would have been a mild smile for anyone else), Beast Boy straightened up. Rubbing the back of his head, he chuckled. "You know, a month ago, they would've been terrified to leave the two of us alone like this. They would've thought we'd kill each other or something."
"They might have even been right." Raven said dryly.
Beast Boy snorted. "And they never would have expected you to be telling jokes."
"Who said I was joking?" She asked, giving him a side-long look. If she didn't know better, she could have sworn Beast Boy's eyes had shrank to pin-points. She held his gaze a while longer, but let her lips curl up ever so slightly.
Somehow, the green teen managed to laugh and let out a nervous sigh of relief at the same time. "Oh man, Rae, you've got a crazy awesome poker face!" Talking however, was not enough stimulation to sate his attention span. "So... what do you wanna do? I mean... well, we should do like... couple stuff, right? But Rob and Star are already dancing and all the movies here are probably in French."
"Spanish."
"They talk the same language here as in Spain?"
Raven opened her mouth to snark at that, but realized he actually got one right. "Well... yeah."
"That's kinda cool. But anyway, what do you wanna do?"
Read. That was Raven's instant answer, but that wasn't really something they could do together—not unless there was an English language comic book store in the city. Suddenly, the answer dawned on her in a blaze of brilliance.
"Well..." she stated shyly. "I mean Robin did just tell us off and leave us alone in a five-star hotel room..."
Beast Boy actually did a double take, eyes going wide as saucers. "You don't mean. I-I mean I didn't think you'd be the one to suggest it, Rae. Especially not this soon..."
"I think I'm properly motivated now." Raven said, a slow, mildly sadistic smirk crossing her features. "Let's do this Beast Boy-" She lunged forward and picked up the room service catalog from the coffee table. "Let's see just how much luxury we can charge to billionaire heir, Dick Grayson's room service tab in a single night."
"Rae, you are the best girlfriend ever!" Beast Boy grinned, scooting over so they could both read the catalog. "Dude! They have Swedish massages and hot rocks massages! Let's get one of each and order the Fruits from Around the Globe Mega-Platter."
"Followed by an authentic Japanese tea service and a nice, expensive dinner." Raven added. "Oh, and we should watch some pay-per view movies."
"Cool, what's showing?"
"Who cares?"
"Dude, you are extra awesome when you're being all vengeful."
A/N: Hey all, it's been a while. Very, very busy with my original fiction (which, as always, you can check at the site in my profile). I haven't forgotten you guys or this story though. I'm hoping to get back into practice with my fan-fics this year, so look for my stuff updating more regularly!