The two of them landed with a thud, Beast Boy breaking Raven's fall.
"Oof!" he let out a groan as she fell into his lap.
Raven rubbed her head and shook it in an attempt to clear her thoughts.
'What's going on?" she asked groggily.
"You went all crazy seductive on me and I thought-"
"What in the hell am I wearing?!" Raven asked, glancing down at herself. "And what did I do?!" she shrieked, looking wildly at Beast Boy.
Beast Boy blushed and stuttered. "Well, uh… you…"
"Tell me Beast Boy, I want to know exactly what I did," she said severely.
"You might not… like it…" he said slowly.
"Of course she will. I would know," a low taunting voice came from off to their right.
The two gasped as an emotion appeared.
Beast Boy's mouth dropped open in astonishment.
This Raven had long hair, teased and wavy. Dark smoky eyes, red lipstick, and the same corset and panties Raven had been wearing. Fishnet stocking and the knee high stiletto boots adorned her legs and feet. She wore no cape.
"Who are you?" Raven asked steadily.
"Don't you know, darling?" the emotion cooed. She sauntered over and leaned down over Beast Boy, cupping his chin. "What a handsome one he is," she grinned, batting her long lashes at him. Beast Boy's insides turned to jelly.
"Who are you?" Raven asked again, even more severely.
The emotion just giggled coquettishly. She straightened up and walked around Beast Boy, who now had little hearts floating around him, and his expression was droopy and love-sick.
Raven scrambled to her feet as the emotion approached her.
"Knowledge," Raven called.
The yellow-clad bespectacled emotion suddenly appeared at her side.
"Who is she, and how did she get here?" Raven asked.
"Well," Knowledge began, pushing her spectacles up her nose, "to answer your first question, she is 'Lust.' To answer your second question, she is here because you have had your first… well… pang of desire."
"Desire?" Raven said incredulously. "For who?!"
"I think you already know," Knowledge said hesitantly, nodding towards Beast Boy, who had slightly recovered now.
"Ooooh," Raven groaned, covering her face with her hands. So it was true… She had really been hoping it wasn't.
"Honestly, Raven, you didn't think you would grow up and never experience sex? Everyone experiences lust at least once," Lust said grinning. "You've kept me away for so long, but now I'm here and I want to play," she said, sauntering back towards Beast Boy, who felt his knees go weak again.
She pushed up behind him and cupped his chin, wiggling it as she spoke, "How could you resist this wonderful hunk of man meat?"
"Ugh… man meat?" Raven raised her eyebrow.
"Face it Ravie darling, you've got the hots for him, and the fact that I'm here means you've finally admitted it to yourself," Lust grinned maliciously.
"I admit nothing," Raven said stubbornly, crossing her arms.
"Maybe not verbally, but I can do all the admitting for you," Lust retorted. "You know you liked it."
Raven sniffed and turned away.
"That thought in the shower didn't come from me, darling."
At this statement Raven lost her composure, and Beast Boy became even more confused.
"Uh, Raven? What's going on? And what thought in the… shower…?"
"No…" she whispered, holding her head and squeezing her eyes shut.
Raven took in a deep breath and turned to Knowledge.
"Is she evil?"
Knowledge pushed her glasses up again, a sign that she was about to give a very factual lecture.
"It depends on your point of view," she half chuckled. "Certain groups most certainly view lust as evil, as one of the seven vices. But, if you are concerned that Lust is as powerful as Hate, then you should have no fear. She is not influenced by your heritage. She is a normal emotion that every human being experiences and you are not above her. You're growing up Raven, and she was bound to come about sooner or later. You're a young woman now, and this is a completely normal emotion for a young woman to feel."
Raven took this in, trying to ignore the attentions Lust was giving Beast Boy, who was looking like a mixture of feeling somewhat uncomfortable but also somewhat seduced.
"How do I make her go away?" Raven grit through her teeth.
"Well, you can't. But, you can control her. She has been taking over you because you've been confused and in a weakened soul state. You may not like what I'm about to say…" Knowledge stopped and blinked owlishly through her lenses.
Raven sighed. "What? Say it."
"Well first off, it would be best to admit your feelings. Lust has had such power over you because you've confused yourself and were too stubborn to sort out your feelings. If you do that, she will no longer be able to sway you so much. Also…"
Raven was getting irritated with all of Knowledge's dramatic pauses.
"Also?" she prompted, waving her hand.
"Also, you may want to… give in a little. To Lust, I mean. What she really is looking for is to be satisfied."
Raven shrieked vehemently. "Satisfied?! I am not sleeping with-"
"No no no!" Knowledge cut her off. "I don't mean that. All I mean is you don't have to hold yourself back so much. There are more ways of being intimate than that. I suggest you go on a date with him, and then maybe… try being intimate a little."
Raven calmed down somewhat, and looked pensive. "This will get her out of here?"
"She won't trouble you as much afterwards, I promise," Knowledge said earnestly.
"Well… okay," Raven said slowly.
"But there is one more thing... lust is evil when people do not control it, and hurt themselves, other people, and their bodies in the process. But, there is a good side to lust when it's controlled. Lust is what attracts someone to a person in the first place. Lust won't be so bad when she's coupled with Love. Coupling Lust with Love and commitment makes for a very strong bond between lovers."
"It's impossible to love someone so soon," Raven insisted. "I don't love him. At least, not yet…" she reddened.
"Of course you don't yet. But in time, when you do realize you love him, Lust will help you keep things interesting."
"I don't need to know what you mean by interesting, and frankly I'm only concerned with getting Lust out of my hair right now."
"Well, satisfying her and admitting your feelings to him when you get back will do the trick," Knowledge said as Raven started for Beast Boy.
"Yeah yeah, whatever," she said, waving her hand behind her. She grabbed Beast Boy by the collar and dragged him toward the Forbidden Door. "You, go away," she said severely, pointing at Lust. Lust gave an exclamation of dismay as she faded from sight.
"Raven? Is… everything all right now?" Beast Boy asked as Raven pulled them through the portal.
"Yeah," she said shortly. They landed back in Raven's bedroom.
She sighed as she and Beast Boy sat on the floor, staring blankly at each other.
"Um… Beast Boy?" Raven started. All of a sudden she felt really nervous, and her heart was pounding in her chest. She frantically tried to think of what to say, when Beast Boy spoke instead.
"Raven? After seeing… that you… feel the way you do, I just want to know if you really do feel that way and to let you know that I… feel that way too," he said quickly, some of his words stringing together nervously.
"You… you like me?" she asked timidly.
"Yeah. Like, a lot," Beast Boy blushed, shrugging his shoulders shyly.
"Wow, I…" Raven blushed herself and she suddenly felt extremely happy and giddy, and she impulsively leaped forward and hugged him as tight as she could.
Beast Boy returned the hug, and they sat back and grinned at each other. Raven wrung her hands as nervousness began to settle in again.
"Knowledge said we should… go on a date," she said, looking down at the floor.
"I'd love to," Beast Boy said confidently.
Raven smiled.
"Hey, Raven? What was that thought that Lust was talking about? In the shower…?" Beast Boy inquired.
Raven's cheeks flushed and she turned away. "Later. I'll tell you later."
"Um… kay." Beast Boy let it go.
At this moment, they heard their friends come back home.
"Ugh, damn that Mumbo. I look like a deranged circus clown," Cyborg complained. He pulled at the brightly colored body suit and orange curly wig on his head. He kicked off the ridiculously large red clown shoes and wiped away the face paint.
"At least you're not wearing matching spandex suits," Robin whined. "This damn thing leaves little to the imagination." He pulled at the bright green and purple suit.
Cyborg scoffed. "Like your little green spandex number that you wear all the time don't?!"
"Shut up," Robin fired back.
"Please, we must not argue! We shall just change back into our regular costumes, yes?" Starfire walked in behind the two, pushing the enormous tutu on her purple and green spandex suit out of the way.
"Heh… at least Mumbo spared you the skirt, Robin," Cyborg chuckled.
"I said shut up Tinman!"
At this point in time Raven and Beast Boy had entered the common room. They stared for a moment at their friend's new attire.
"Uh, what happened to you guys?" Beast Boy asked.
"Mumbo," Robin mumbled angrily.
"Oh." Beast Boy was visibly nervous. "Should we tell them?" he whispered to Raven.
Raven shrugged. "I guess. They're gonna find out anyway. Those three always poke their noses into everything."
Beast Boy cleared his throat. "Uh, guys? We have something to tell you…"
"Wheeeeeeeeeeee! Congratulations friends!"
"Starfire…. You're hurting me…. us!! You're hurting us! You're cutting off our air supply!"
"Oh, I am sorry. I forget my strength sometimes."
Starfire let go of Beast Boy and Raven.
"I am most happy and excited for you, friends! When shall the dating commence?"
"Uh… tomorrow night, I guess?" Beast Boy said.
"Glorious!"
Robin and Cyborg had yet to join the conversation. They were both still in complete and utter shock from the announcement they had just heard moments before.
Robin was the first to speak.
"I think hell just froze over. Satan's making snowmen right now."
"Dude, is the world ending? Last I checked there were plenty more guys out there; Beast Boy is not the last man on Earth," Cyborg stated.
"Oh look! Pigs just flew past the window."
Raven scoffed. "And this is coming from a trio who look like a bunch of circus rejects."
Starfire came back up to Robin and excitedly linked arms with him.
"Is it not wonderful that our friends have finally as you say, 'done the hooking up?' I have seen the coming of this for several months," Starfire winked.
"You've seen this coming?" Cyborg asked, astonished.
"Why of course! Could you not feel the tension between them?"
"There was tension between them?" Cyborg asked Robin. "You know, other than the 'they're gonna kill each other one of these days' kind?"
Robin shrugged.
Starfire suddenly had an idea. She raced back over to Raven and grabbed her hand.
"Raven, do you have the dating outfit chosen already?"
Uh oh. Raven grimaced.
"No, I don't. Not yet, anyway. I will have to look-aah!"
Starfire dragged Raven off to her room.
After the girls were gone, Cyborg and Robin descended on Beast Boy.
"Dude! You hooked up with Raven?!" Cyborg exclaimed, waving his hands. "The Ice Queen herself?!"
"How the hell did you manage that one, Beast Boy?" Robin asked, impressed.
"Well… to be honest… I, uh," Beast Boy stuttered. He rubbed the back of his head, and decided not to tell them that Raven had actually been the one to come on to him.
"It just… happened."
"What happened?" Cyborg pressed.
"Nuh uh, man! I don't kiss and tell!" Beast Boy shouted defensively.
"You kissed Raven?!" Cyborg shouted thunderously. "Oh man, green bean, spill it!"
Beast Boy slapped his hand across his mouth, knowing he had said too much. Robin and Cyborg continued to pressure him, asking for details. Robin felt slightly bad for the teasing, but he mostly considered it payback for Beast Boy's comments on him and Starfire.
Beast Boy shut his eyes and grabbed his head, suddenly feeling rather overwhelmed. He fell back against the wall and then slid down it, feeling weak. Robin and Cyborg stopped then, in genuine concern.
"Hey man, you all right?" Cyborg extended a hand to help him back up.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just gonna go lay back down on the couch."
The two watched him go.
"She must've worked him over good," Cyborg said slyly. Robin smirked.
Starfire flung open Raven's closet and surveyed it intently.
"Hmm," she mused, cupping her chin with one hand. "At first glance I see no formal attire."
"Do I look like a person who needs 'formal attire' often?" Raven asked skeptically.
"Do you own any dresses, Raven?" Starfire asked, poking through the hanging clothes. Most were spare leotards and cloaks, the rest Raven's civilian wear, mostly dark hoodies and long or short-sleeved t-shirts.
"Unless you forced me to buy one, no," Raven said, arms still crossed.
"Hmm, then this will not do," Starfire said, closing the closet doors. "Perhaps you could borrow one of mine?" the perky alien girl offered.
"Sorry Starfire, but you're a size or two smaller than I am and you're taller. And no offense, but most of them are… pink," Raven said, trying to keep the distaste out of her voice.
"No, I am not smaller than you are," Starfire insisted. "You are very thin."
"Thunder thighs," Raven pointed to herself.
"You mean what they call 'child-bearing hips'?" Starfire said slyly.
"That disturbed me more than you will ever know," Raven said flatly, trying to keep emotion out of her voice, knowing that Starfire was purposely trying to get a rise out of her.
"Well," Starfire said matter-of-factly, changing the subject, "It seems that since you do not own the proper attire for a date, we shall just have to arrange a trip to the mall of shopping!" Her eyes gleamed.
"Oh no," Raven groaned.
"Fear not, friend Raven! We shall find the perfect dress for your date with Beast Boy tomorrow night," Starfire said jubilantly. "I shall go get ready, and then we can go to the mall of shopping."
About an hour later Raven and Starfire flew to the mall's entrance and landed near the doors. Several people pointed and exclaimed at the two Titan girls, who were minor celebrities in Jump City. People knew better than to approach them, however. There was an incident with a portal into hell and Raven after an annoyingly zealous fan tried to get her autograph…
Starfire dragged Raven to a slew of shops, looking for the perfect dress.
While they were walking among the throngs of people, Starfire attempted to entice details out of Raven, with little success.
"So, how is it that you and Beast Boy have done the 'hooking up'?" she asked as casually as possible.
"Uh, there's really nothing to tell," Raven said evasively.
"Did he ask you to do the hanging out?" Starfire pursued.
"No," Raven dodged again.
"Well, then what did he say?" Starfire prodded.
"Um… oh, look, let's go in here," Raven said, quickly dodging into a store without looking at which store it was to hopefully get Starfire off her line of questions. To her horror however, she had walked right into a novelty store with a slightly naughty reputation, only slightly better than an 'adult book store' so as to be appropriate enough for a mall setting. Starfire followed her in.
"Raven? This does not look like a clothing store…" Starfire started, pushing past Raven to browse over all the knickknacks. Raven frantically tried to grab Starfire's arm and pull her out of the store, but she was no match for the Tamaranian's strength.
Starfire eyed everything curiously, and Raven desperately hoped she didn't look at anything too inappropriate and ask Raven to explain.
Raven continued to protest and attempted to persuade Starfire to leave, but Starfire had migrated towards the back of the store, where Raven knew there were certain things that were definitely inappropriate and things she definitely didn't want to explain.
Starfire giggled at the paraphernalia on the shelves, knowing what a few things were. She picked up a package.
"Edible undergarments?!" She looked at Raven with a giggle. 'This one is chocolate. Mmm!"
"Put them down, Starfire," Raven said, exasperated.
Starfire snickered at some 'decorative' men's underwear.
"Perhaps I should get one of these for Robin," she laughed, picking up one that had a tuxedo motif.
"I did not just hear that," Raven said, covering her ears and shutting her eyes.
"Oh! Look at that jungle print one with fringes! Would not that be perfect for-mmmph!"
Raven quickly jumped and pressed her hand to Starfire's mouth.
"Are you done now?" Raven asked severely.
Starfire nodded, and gave Raven a wicked smile. She turned back to the shelf.
She spotted a pair of large stuffed fabric dice with words written on them. She grabbed them down curiously.
"Starfire, please, let's get out of here," Raven hissed, looking around.
"What are these?" Starfire asked, turning the pair of fuzzy dice over in her hands.
Raven looked at them for a minute, then turned red.
"Uh, they're… uh…"
"Do you know how one uses these, Raven?" Starfire asked.
'Damn it,' Raven silently cursed. 'Why didn't I look where I was going?!' she thought desperately.
She sighed. "They're… role-playing dice, I guess. One dice has actions on it; the other has… body parts. You role both of them to see where and what you're going to do to your… partner." She blushed.
"I see…" Starfire murmured. "These are sexual acts…" she read the labels on the dice faces. "Interesting."
"Interesting?" Raven repeated.
Starfire thoughtfully put the dice back on the shelf.
"Come on, Starfire, let's get out of here and go look for my dress," Raven pleaded. She never thought she would ever say something like that, but this was extenuating circumstances.
"Oh, yes! We must continue looking for your perfect dress," Starfire said, perking up and hauling Raven out of the store.
They went into a trendy store that carried clothing for young women and found a variety of dresses on a side wall.
"We should be able to find something here, yes?" Starfire said, looking up at all the many different styles.
"I guess," Raven said, arms crossed and still sulking from the experience in the novelty store.
"I like that one," Starfire pointed.
"You would," Raven said, a little note of viciousness in her voice, which did not go undetected by Starfire.
"Please Raven, I am most sorry for embarrassing you. Can you not forgive me and 'lighten up?' Our shopping experience will be much more pleasurable that way."
Raven remained silent for a moment, then gave an aggravated growl. "I'll behave if you quit dragging me into questionable stores and suggesting that sex accessory items would be perfect for-"
"If I recall correctly, it was you who dragged us into that store, Raven," Starfire said cheekily.
"Whatever," Raven said shortly.
"Are you going to try on that dress or not?" Starfire pointed.
Raven snatched it down, and grabbed a couple others and stalked off grumbling to the fitting rooms. Starfire smiled and waltzed after her.
"I'm not coming out," Raven declared.
"Please Raven? Let me see it," Starfire insisted.
"It's too short. It's more like a glorified shirt than a dress."
"Which one is it?"
"The one you picked out," Raven accused. "Figures."
"Let me see it then! Raven, do not think I will not go to the means of breaking down this door!"
"If you do, I'll break you."
Starfire rapped persistently on the door.
"Fine."
Raven opened the door a crack and Starfire peeked in.
"Hmmm. I see what you mean. It is rather short."
"Ya think?" Raven snapped. "I want Beast Boy to look at my face all night, not to watch my skirt riding up my thighs."
"But seeing as how you have such great hips, perhaps it will get him thinking about bearing children," Starfire said shutting the door.
A tendril of black magic shot out from the fitting room and zapped Starfire's hair, poofing it out like she had been electrocuted.
"I deserved that," she grinned, smoothing her hair back down.
Raven opened the door after she had a new dress on, this one longer and a dark navy blue with sequined detail. She definitely felt more comfortable, but it was not very special, either. Starfire agreed.
Raven tried on several more before they found the perfect dress.
When she stepped out, Starfire squealed and clapped her hands.
"Oh Raven! It is perfect! This is the dress!" she said gleefully.
Raven nodded shyly, not used to feeling… pretty.
Starfire was always the 'pretty' one, and Raven, aware of Starfire's background, always did wonder how a girl who had been raised by a big burly man on a warrior planet had turned out so… girly. Really girly. Starfire was the epitome of girly. Raven never really did question it further than that, however.
But Raven herself was used to being dark and creepy, and dark and creepy people were rarely considered 'pretty' by the majority. It was surprising however that Raven herself wasn't more girly, because Raven had been raised by a woman. Perhaps it was more due to the fact that on Azarath there were not stressed gender types and people were allowed to be more ambiguous. Maybe in Starfire's culture there were very clear gender roles.
Whatever the case was it didn't matter at the moment, because Raven was looking absolutely stunning and Starfire was grabbing her hands and shaking them vigorously, exclaiming how gorgeous she was. And Raven was blushing madly, because she was not used to the compliments.
"Beast Boy will absolutely faint when he sees you," Starfire said, jumping up and down. "Now we need shoes to go with it! Stay here, I will go get some," she said, rushing over to the shoe displays.
After an exhausting afternoon of gathering up accessories for Raven's date, the two were ready to return home.
"Oh! Just one moment. I have forgotten to purchase something. Please, will you wait right here, Raven?" Starfire asked.
Raven sighed, eager to get home and rest, and maybe finish off that romance novel…
"Be quick," she said grumpily, and flopped down on a bench with her purchases.
Starfire flew off with her bags and returned after ten minutes.
Raven eyed her bags suspiciously. "What did you go get, that was so important?"
"Nothing!" Starfire squeaked, giggling nervously and hiding her bags behind her back.
Raven sighed. "Whatever. Can we go home now?"
"Yes! I am ready."
The two returned home to find Beast Boy napping on the couch again, Robin in the evidence room, and Cyborg was playing a videogame next to the sleeping Beast Boy.
"How is friend Beast Boy?" Starfire enquired, dropping her mountain of shopping bags.
"He's okay. Said he wasn't feeling too good after y'all left though. He's sleeping again."
"Will he be okay by tomorrow?" Raven asked.
"If he gets enough rest. Don't worry Raven, we'll have him ready to go and perfectly acceptable by tomorrow night for your date," Cyborg grinned, pausing his game to look over his shoulder at her.
Raven blushed and mumbled a short, "Good," as she hurried back to her room.
"Friend Cyborg, I enquire as to where Robin is…?" Starfire asked.
"In the evidence room, of course," Cyborg scoffed. "He's going over paperwork concerning Mumbo's capture today."
"Thank you," Starfire chirped and headed off to find their leader.
She entered the evidence room to find Robin leaning over a keyboard intently and staring into the glowing light of the computer monitor. The rest of the room was dark except for a small desk lamp.
Starfire smiled at his back. She never understood why he always kept the room so dark and never turned on the lights in there, but she had a guess that it was due to cave-like familiarity of his former 'evidence room.'
Robin seemingly was concentrating so hard on his work that he didn't hear his girlfriend saunter up behind him, and didn't know she was there until she wrapped her arms around his neck lovingly.
The truth was, Robin was using work as a cover, and he was really sitting in his haunt musing about Starfire. Scenes from last night kept running through his head, and he kept getting an excited tingle through his middle. The last thing he needed was teasing from Cyborg, so he holed himself away in the evidence room where he knew neither Cyborg nor Beast Boy would want to disturb him.
He was so enveloped in his dream that when the real Starfire showed up he was startled.
"What are you doing, my love? You are not working too hard?" She leaned over him and gently nibbled on his ear.
Robin turned around in his chair after embarrassingly closing the empty window he had been 'working' on.
"Uh, no," he mumbled.
"Friend Cyborg told me you were working down here, so I thought I would come and offer my… services," she grinned.
Robin's eyes widened. Boys were often not good at picking up hints from the opposite sex, but when it was of a certain nature, it was loud and clear.
"Services?" he gulped.
"Yes. Is there anything I can… help… you with?" she asked lightly, scanning him up and down, lingering at a certain area. She leaned back down and touched her nose to his, smiling seductively.
"Well… I… uh…" Robin stumbled, flustered.
"Come. I believe I can help relax you in your private domain," she said, tugging on his hands to bring him to his feet. "You work too hard, and it is necessary for your wellbeing." She grinned before giving him a teasing kiss, and then pushed him for the door. Before it slid open she gave him a reassuring pat on his backside, then pushed him out the door. Robin meekly went to his room with Starfire following. They stopped outside the threshold.
"Starfire," he started, raising a finger in attempt to admonish her for disturbing him while he was "working," and also to gain some control over the situation.
But before he could get a word out she punched in his code and lightly shoved him through the door before following.
"Relax. You will enjoy yourself now please." She grinned as Robin gulped as she laid him back on the bed.
She picked up her bag and pulled out two items.
"What are those?" Robin asked curiously.
"I purchased these today. I thought you and I might try them. They look like fun," she purred.
"What are they?" Robin asked, eyeing them suspiciously.
"These are the role-playing dice. This one has actions on it. This one has body parts. We roll both of them to see where and what we shall be doing to one another," Starfire grinned.
Robin's eyes widened. "Where did you get those?!" he exclaimed.
"From a store. But that is irrelevant right now. Please, may I roll first?" Starfire tossed them onto the bed.
Robin back peddled and pressed against his headboard when he viewed the selections of the dice.
"Starfire! We haven't done that before. We can't… this is… eep."
He watched as Starfire sauntered towards the bed.
"Then we shall try something new, yes?" she grinned, her eyes gleaming.
Robin nervously tugged on the collar of his shirt.
Oh I couldn't resist! Hoped you liked this chapter, everyone :)
Coming up, Raven muses about her attraction to Beast Boy and their upcoming date while Robin and Starfire have a serious talk...