Kitten: Gothic Turtle does not own teen titans.
Me: (silently weeps in the corner)
Kitten: Oh get over it already!
Robin: (sweatdrops and turns to readers) I suggest you all read the story before this get ugly. Again.
Also, I'm not going to bother stating whose POV it is, as I'm just going to stick with Kitten's. I had considered retyping the whole thing in third person, but that would involve rewriting the entire thing. Plus, I need practice writing from different viewpoints.
We drove around the city aimlessly until Robin decided to briefly halt outside of a small diner-like restaurant on the other side of town.
"Nearly out of gas?" We had been driving for nearly two hours, which meant suddenly having to stand up made my butt feel weird and my legs sore. To my surprise he shook his head.
"I just figured we should stop in case I get a call from the other Titans…and I haven't had anything to eat all day." I nodded my understanding. Not another word was exchanged as I followed him into the diner.
It was the kind of place you could tell just by looking that it was cheap. All of the tables were made out of plastic, but were designed to look like wood. The chairs and small booths in the corners were made of fake, faded red leather. There were no decorations on the walls other than an outdated karaoke night ad and the large menu next to the entrance. The walls themselves were a light brown and the smell of grease, melted cheese, and cheap air freshener hung in the air.
I went to go sit at a nearby table, only to notice my (reluctant) date was heading over to a small booth in the furthest corner of the room. I eased myself back into standing on my sore feet before making my way over.
"Why–"
"So that no-one comes over to us while we're here. The whole city knows what I look like you know." He spoke slower than usual, as though having to explain something to small child. It made me scowled at him.
"Duh, but if you don't want to be recognised, why don't we go somewhere less public?" Though bearing in mind, we seemed to be the only people there. Robin, in reply, just looked slightly taken aback. Probably wondering why he didn't think of that. I have to say I felt a tad smug at having put such stupid look on the boy. A man in a dirty white apron popped up in front of our table just as I was about to comment on it.
"Can I help you kids?" I took a good look at him. He couldn't have been any younger than fifty. The guy was completely bald except for his black sideburns and large bushy moustache, both having noticeable wisps grey flowing through them. His moustache was large enough to almost completely cover his mouth, though you could tell he was smiling by the way his face wrinkled. He kinda looked like a friendly old uncle out of a kid's book - the kind of character you instinctively found yourself smiling back at.
"I'll just have a regular Coke please." I widened my smile at his cheerful expression.
"Right right! And what for your lucky lil' date?" he winked at Robin. Retard, as it happened, had also appeared to eyeing the man for anything suspicious (What did he honestly expect this guy to do? Have a knife in his sleeve to kill his customers with? Seriously now!). As soon as the man's words caught up with us, we both turned bright red, spluttering out random words of denial. Our waiter held up his hands in an amused mock-defensive pose.
"Sure sure, I believe you! Now can I get you anything sonny?" He smiled again, once more turning to Robin.
"N-no, I'm good, thanks." The man nodded and slotted the pad he'd been writing on in his front apron pocket.
"Be right with ya," he waved before disappearing through a rusty white door at the back. The sound of the hinges creaked, resounding off of the empty walls to highlight the awkward silence between me and one teenaged superhero.
I sighed and scooted down a little further in my seat. The fake leather was cheap, but sure as hell was more comfortable that being on motorcycle in a prom dress. Plus the material was surprisingly squishy.
A sigh from across the table reminded me of my company. For the first time that night, I looked at him properly. I could help but notice how miserable the poor guy looked. Hell, he looked as down as I felt, and I felt pretty damn shitty. Guilt took over me by surprise.
"I'm sorry," I blurted. He jumped a little, clearly having also forgotten I was here. After blinking for a bit, he glared.
"If you're so sorry, why did you have your dad blackmail me into this? Why didn't you try and stop him from letting his mutants lose all over the city?" I inhaled and moved to sit up properly in my seat.
"I had no idea about that. Honestly, I usually just try to keep to myself whenever at home. As for the blackmailing….well, y'know Fang, the guy that just attacked us?" His glared intensified as he spoke.
"Yes, he's the whole reason we're here. He's also been robbing jewellery stores all over the city." I chewed me lip a little before continuing. This was bad. This was really, really bad.
"Well…last night he….broke up with me." Despite having a mask on, I could see the shock written clearly across his face.
"He's your ex-boyfriend?" His voice a little louder than he probably intended. I nodded slowly.
"My dad found out and kind of…uh…took my indifference for being upset. He really liked Fang, him being a mutant and all," I grimaced, remembering when the two first met and had hit it off. Robin scowled in agreement, letting out a shudder.
"I can see that."
"Well, I guess he thought I would want him back, being as he was my first boyfriend and all. According to 'Dad Logic' he was positive that the best way for me to get him back was to make him jealous. And what better way to do that than by taking another guy to the dance?" I sighed. Honestly, I'll never understand my own father. It was like living with another teenager. Robin frowned.
"But if you didn't want any of this, why didn't you say something? And why me anyway?" I threw him an apologetic smile.
"Like I said, I had no idea about the whole moth thing. I did try to say something when you and Starfire were talking to my dad, but you either didn't hear me or didn't want to." Much to my satisfaction, a blush took over his cheeks. He snapped his head to the side in a vain effort to hide it. Too late; I could already tell how embarrassed he was.
"Sorry, but I still don't get why me." I could barely make out the muttered apology, but I still heard it nonetheless, responding with a shrug.
"Let's just say that Fang… has always been quite open with his hatred for you." He cringed.
"Yikes."
"I know."
"Here ya go!" Our waiter suddenly popped up out of nowhere as he had before. "One drink for the lil' lady, and a basket o' fries to share between you two." I smiled and thanked him. Robin frowned. I was beginning to think it was his default expression.
"We didn't order any fries sir." The man just chuckled in reply.
"I know, but you kids looked like ya had a rough night. Where are you two comin' from anyway? You're dressed awfully fancy just to hang around this old heap. Name's Mikey by the way," he rambled. I spoke just as Retard opened his mouth.
"We've just left prom and were looking for somewhere to grab a bite. The whole thing was rather a bore," I explained. Mikey chuckled again.
"I hear ya there! School stuff always bored me to tears when was your age. Of course, the trick was to wait until the after-party. Then things would liven up! Now hurry up and eat, you kids should be out enjoying ourselves, not cooped up in here! And it's all on the house, seein' as it yer special night an' all." He gave one last wink before disappearing into the back once more. I couldn't help but throw a grateful look at his retreating back.
"That was awfully kind of him. Funny, the people you meet when you have nowhere in particular to go," I grinned. Robin shrugged.
"Never really happened to me before. I've always had somewhere to go and something to do." I frowned in returned.
"That's not very good. You are a teenager as well as a superhero you know. You should get out more." He just shrugged again, ending the conversation.
We sat like that for a while, sharing the fries and not saying anything. I was under the impression that he hadn't meant to tell me about how busy he always was, as he refused to meet my eyes after that. When the fries were gone, we stood up at the same time and walked out the door without a word between us. It was when Robin was handing me his spare helmet again that I remembered something.
"Hey". He jumped again, obviously having not been paying me any mind. "I just remembered somewhere we can hang out until your friends call." He gave me a sceptical look.
"Where?" I rambled off the address. He sighed, throwing a half-hearted look of suspicion my way, but didn't ask any questions as he revved up his bike.
'Tonight might have sucked so far…,' I grinned mischievously to myself. '…but it's about to get a whole lot more interesting!'
For the record, I don't own Coke either, just to add a little to the disclaimer from above. If I did own coke, I would either be rich or arrested.