I control the Teen Titans in this fic, but I don't own them... :(
The next morning, Raven found herself standing in the hall outside of her teammate's room, dressed in a pair of cropped leggings and a blue hoodie . She exhaled slowly as she mentally prepared herself for what she was about to do. She knew that this would undoubtedly put a strain on her powers, but if she wanted to ease her mind, it had to be done.
Steeling her reserve, she tentatively knocked on the door.
At first, she wasn't even sure if anybody was in the room, due to the unnatural silence from behind the door. But it suddenly slid open, her teammate's green eyes giving her a questioning look.
Before she could talk herself out of it, she asked the one question she knew would change their relationship for good.
"Uhm, hello, Starfire. Would you like to go to the mall?"
The pure excitement that shone out of the alien's eyes was enough to blind the pale girl.
"You are requesting a trip to the mall of shopping? With me?"
It took everything Raven had as she nodded her head slowly.
Starfire hadn't looked this excited since Robin had finally mustered up the courage to ask her out. She was staring wide-eyed at all of the window displays, as if she hadn't ever been to the mall in her life.
Which Raven knew wasn't the case.
She had asked her why she was, well, more cheerful than usual, and Starfire had merely replied with something about it being an "exceptionally glorious day of surprise."
Raven had to agree - she was surprised that she had actually gone through with her silent promise. She knew the alien didn't have a clue that she had helped her empathetic friend when she was grilling Beast Boy in the kitchen; which, in turn, earned her this rare opportunity. Raven just hoped Starfire would realize that this wasn't going to be an everyday thing, and that it was just a special occasion.
"Perhaps we should do the shopping for the heels?" her redheaded friend suggested sweetly.
Raven merely nodded - this was Starfire's reward, after all.
The alien's face split in two as she grinned. "Glorious!"
She then hooked her arm with the pale girl's and pulled her towards the shoe department.
Raven glanced around helplessly as she took in the sight before her: the floor to ceiling shelves were covered in boxes of the footwear, ranging in every size, color, and even height. And glancing over at her awed teammate, she got the distinct feeling that they'd both be several inches taller at the ball.
Speaking of the ball, Raven suddenly remembered her slightly vertically challenged teammate. Beast Boy was maybe on the verge of 5'9", though he insisted that he just hadn't hit his last growth spurt, and that his powers messed with his human height. Raven herself was standing (not so) tall at the generous height of 5'5", meaning the four-inch heels Starfire was eyeing would put the empath at eye-level with the changeling, and cause Robin to have to look up at his orange girlfriend. Again.
Although Raven herself didn't mind Beast Boy's "shortness" (as Cyborg and Robin delicately called it, though the boy wonder was just barely 5'10"), she knew the green teen would feel a little self-conscious if they were the same height.
She knew Starfire would never let her get away with flats, meaning Raven had to again give her self an internal pep-talk as she scoped out the three-inch heels - as long as Beast Boy was a little taller, she knew he'd be happy.
As the empath wandered further from her alien companion, she caught sight of a sales associate barreling towards her. Giving the girl a look that clearly said no, the peppy blonde did an impressive one-eighty and skipped back to the other side of the store.
Smirking to herself, Raven then began the grueling task of finding the perfect pair of shoes to go with her perfect dress - something she never thought she'd be doing.
A pair of strappy black heels caught her eye, and using her powers, she was able to bring them down. An honest-to-god smile stretched across her face when she realized that not only were they in her size and matched her dress perfectly - they would still give Beast Boy a slight height-advantage. She wasn't sure why, but it seemed the universe was keen on making her experience at the ball worthwhile.
An excited squeal from Starfire knocked her from her musing, and she turned back around to see what the alien was so happy about.
"These shoes are spectacular!"
Raven gave the girl a tight smile as she tried to think of a polite way to tell her that red and pink didn't go together very well.
After a quick lunch at the little bistro in the mall, Raven was ready to return to the tower. She was in desperate need of a round of meditation, due to her exposure to the alien's excitement, as well as the strain the civilians' emotions were putting on her. Thankfully, the search for their shoes was over, and Raven had successfully talked the redhead out of her red pumps, and into a more modest, sparkly gold pair. Unfortunately, she wasn't able to persuade the alien from getting anything less than four-inches, so their leader was destined to be shorter than his date. But knowing how absolutely gorgeous Starfire would look, something told Raven that the boy wonder wouldn't mind too much.
Trying to stifle a weary sigh, Raven glanced over at her teammate as the girl attempted to leave a generous tip.
"Is it the percentage of fifteen?" she asked in confusion as she dug through her purse.
Raven felt herself shrug. "Just leave a five - I'm sure that's plenty."
Starfire looked unconvinced as she tried to do the math in her head. "But I do not wish to look ungrateful for the excellent service... Perhaps a ten would suffice?"
Again, the empath shrugged. "That's like forty percent, Star."
The alien made a face that clearly said she didn't mind as she put the corner of a crisp, ten dollar bill underneath her glass of water.
"Well, it is only fair that I do the making of someone else's day, since you had done the making of mine!" she grinned, gesturing to her bag of newly purchased shoes.
Raven gave her friend a genuine smile, happy she had gone through with her silent promise, despite the fact that the mall was the last place she wanted to be.
After another lap through the mall, the two girls returned home to the familiar sight of the boys playing video games. Raven was thankful her little power-surge yesterday hadn't ruined their gamestation, despite the fact that she had threaten to destroy in countless times. Even though the obnoxious sound effects the games (and the boys themselves) made drove her crazy, she knew it made them happy. And she liked it when her team was happy.
Speaking of happy, she felt another burst of joy from her fellow female titan, who had just opened the fridge (despite the fact that they had just had lunch).
"Oh! My everlasting gratitude to whoever had done the purchasing of the mustard!" she exclaimed, pulling out the condiment and taking a disgusting (though somewhat impressive) swig.
Raven felt a small smile tug at the corner of her mouth as she made her way to the couch and sat down delicately in her usual spot. Trying to ignore the fact that she was sitting beside Beast Boy, she attempted to look annoyed as she watched Cyborg and Robin battle it our for first place. It seemed her crush had been taking out of the running a while ago.
She held back a gasp of surprise when the green boy occupying her thoughts leaned over and whispered in her ear.
"Just so you know, Cyborg totally cheated."
"Quit being a poor-sport grass stain. I won fair and square!" the accused-cheater defended, his eyes never leaving the screen.
Raven arched her brows curiously at the changeling, who mouthed a simple "he cheated."
Smirking at his usual excuse, Raven turned her sights back on the game. Cyborg seemed to have been winning when her and Starfire had returned, but it seemed the presence of the alien gave Robin new incentive, and the boy wonder was catching up. She found it odd that they could become so captivated by the racing game, and wondered idly about how it could distract them so well.
"...go to lunch?"
Raven felt herself blush as she realized she had just fallen prey to the same thing she was criticizing the boys for doing as she realized Beast Boy had just asked her a question.
"I'm sorry, what?" she responded, giving him her full attention.
His ears lowered slightly, and a blush of his own began forming on his cheeks. "Y-you know, just to hang o-out - as friends! Friends hang out," he replied, and she could feel an increasing amount of embarrassment and disappointment seeping off of him.
She tilted her head in confusion, still unsure of what they were talking about. "What?" she repeated.
His emotions began doing the static-y thing again, and her curiosity of what he had initially asked her began to grow.
"Never mind," he muttered, turning his attention back to the screen before him.
Feeling her own disappointment set in at his dismissal, she tried one more time. "No, I meant 'what' as in I hadn't heard you, Beast Boy," she clarified.
His embarrassment became even more apparent as he laughed sheepishly. "Hehe, ohhh."
She suppressed a small smile at how endearing he was being, and waited patiently for him to continue.
Beast Boy turned to face her once more, but was having a hard time maintaining eye contact. "I, uh, I had asked if you wanted to like, get lunch or something," he mumbled.
Despite his lowered voice, Raven had heard him clearly as her heart sped up the slightest. Is he asking me out? she wondered excitedly, before she remembered his earlier rambling where he had said the word "friends". Several times. But still, she felt a feeling of pure bliss ignite in the pit of her stomach.
"I just had lunch with Starfire."
She wanted to physically slap herself as the words left her mouth. Did she really just say that? Did she really just turn down the chance to go to lunch with her incredibly attractive teammate? Hell, she didn't care if she had to eat a whole other meal - the training regimen Robin had them all on kept her from gaining too much weight. Plus, she didn't eat much as it was, and her demonic heritage granted her with a lightening fast metabolism. So did she just really turn down his offer?
He looked completely crestfallen as he opened his mouth to undoubtedly accept her refusal.
"But maybe we can get coffee?" she blurted.
His eyes widened in shock at her offer, before his signature toothy grin spread across his face.
"Sure! Coffee sounds great!"
She felt a smile of her own play at her lips, before she caught the knowing look Cyborg was giving her. Narrowing her eyes ever so slightly, she used an almost invisible spark of her dark energy to tug on the half-robot's controller, causing his car to crash into the barrier of the track in a somewhat impressive explosion.
"Hell yeah! Robin is the CHAMP!" the boy wonder cried, jumping up from the couch in excitement and earning a congratulatory kiss from his alien girlfriend.
Raven held back a snort of amusement as Cyborg's jaw dropped in shock at his loss, and Robin's jaw clenched in disgust at his mustard-flavored reward.
Can I be honest right now? I HATE mustard lol
So I hope this chapter wasn't too girly, but I felt Raven needed to reward Starfire for her excellent (and accidental) detective work! Plus, I loooove shoe-shopping (and shopping in general)! And my favorite pair of shoes I own happen to be exactly like the ones Starfire just got! They're so pretty and sparkly and make me like five inches taller (and I'm like 5'5" and a half, so five inches more is pretty tall haha). I wore them for homecoming senior year, and was like two inches taller than my date, but whateves :P
Anyway, it looks like BB might have found the courage to ask Rae-Rae out, but took it back when he thought she was rejecting him. Hopefully their little coffee date (eeeee!) will go well!
And in other news, this had passed 300 reviews! That's so incredible! I know I say it all the time, but THANK YOU! You guys are absolutely amazing! Haha I should really look up a synonym for amazing, but it just describes you wonderful people perfectly :)