I can't be bothered to own the Teen Titans
Beast Boy could hardly contain his excitement as he sped down the hall and towards his room. He sent a quick prayer of gratitude that he had actually done his laundry as he pulled on a crisp, clean blue t-shirt and a pair of cargo shorts. Slipping on his regular shoes, he hurriedly sprayed himself with deodorant and rushed towards his window. He had barely gotten it open when he shifted into a falcon and flew towards the market.
Landing on the dock as he shifted back, he started for the magic shop immediately. Usually he'd spend some time looking at the other shops, but the fact that Raven had invited him to one of his favorite places in Jump City overshadowed the fact that he was at one of his favorite places in Jump City. Because Raven was here. And waiting for him.
He knew he had a dopey smile on his face as he shuffled through the crowd, aimlessly waving to fans. He scoped out his surroundings momentarily, his excitement bubbling over as he caught sight of Houdini's Safe, the somewhat mundane name of the magic shop. As his eyes traveled further down, he saw what he assumed to be the store the girls were at.
The sign was hand-painted in the girliest cursive he had ever seen, and was almost completely illegible, so he was only able to make out the word Boutique. At least, he was pretty sure it said that.
Shrugging his shoulders, he began making his way towards its entrance. With a quick sniff, he almost gagged at the smell of old-lady perfume and mothballs. But there were also traces of the easily recognizable scents of his two female teammates; the strong scent of something fruity, as well as the more subtle scent of something floral.
Beast Boy passed through the entrance cautiously, bracing himself for the onslaught to his senses as his eyes searched for his teammates. Right away he was able to spot the glowing red hair of Starfire as she scored through the racks of old, strangely-scentless clothing. His eyes quickly darted to the other side of the shop, where he was greeted with the familiar scowl of his empathetic teammate as she browsed through the jewelry.
He was torn on who to approach first - Raven was the one who invited him, but he didn't want to be too obvious by automatically greeting her. On the other hand, Starfire probably wasn't aware that he had been invited at all, and he didn't want to be the one to break it to her that their girl's day now had a boy tagging along.
Beast Boy snorted in amusement at that thought - like Starfire would ever be upset that he was invited. She was a big advocate of "the more, the merrier" (although she never quite got the saying right), and she'd be nothing short of thrilled that another friend joined them.
"Oh! Beast Boy!"
The changeling smiled to himself as his predicament was resolved. He casually made his way over to Starfire as she smiled cheerfully at him from behind the piles of clothes in her hands.
"Hey, Star!" he grinned, attempting to keep his eyes from wandering over to the other side of the room. Thanks to the alien's loud greeting, he was certain Raven had realized his presence as well, and he hoped she was on her way over.
"I did not realize you enjoyed the vintage!" his redheaded teammate enthused, earning a slight grimace from the green teen.
"Uh, it's... alright," he supplied lamely, somewhat embarrassed that Starfire had genuinely thought he came here on his own. "Rae said I could tag along, since I love the market."
A knowing smile graced Starfire's features as her green eyes darted towards the half-demon. "Oh, that was most thoughtful of her."
Beast Boy felt his curiosity get the better of him as he followed her gaze, only to see that Raven was still browsing the jewelry, showing no signs that she even knew he was there.
He was hardly able to muffle his disappointed sigh as he explored his options. Either he could greet her himself, wait until she noticed him, or hope that Starfire would see to it that Raven became aware of his presence.
Luckily, the alien intervened once more.
"Raven! Beast Boy has done the arriving!"
The changeling tried to look nonchalant as the empath looked up from the case in front of her. Their eyes met briefly, before her gaze shifted to the redhead.
"I know."
Beast Boy felt his heart sink at the way she dismissed him as her eyes returned to the jewelry.
"I could sense his excitement the moment he landed on the dock," she continued, as small smirk playing at her lips. Beast Boy could feel a blush rising to his cheeks as she glanced at him once more. "You really do love this place," she mused.
"Heh, uh..." he began awkwardly, cursing himself for feeling so loudly. Sure, next to the comic book store and the video game shop and the pizza place and the park, this was somewhere he liked to go. But definitely not a place that would garnish so much excitement from him. No, his excitement was directed more towards who else was going to be here. "Old school video games and parlor tricks are the best..?"
Raven nodded her head absently, effectively ending their conversation by returning to her shopping. Starfire, too, seemed bored with the exchange as she floated towards the front desk, where a sweet-looking elderly lady stood.
Suddenly feeling totally out of place, Beast Boy glanced around the shop once more. There wasn't really anything that caught his eye (other than the half-demon, as well as an ancient-looking umbrella that he felt the urge to open), so he wasn't really sure what to do. Deciding that standing around awkwardly wasn't the best option, he made his way across the small room and towards the empath, who was still staring longingly at the jewelry on display.
He tried to figure out what it was that had her so captivated as he peered into the case as well.
"Whatcha looking at, Rae?"
Again, she tore her eyes away from the display and met his. "Nothing, really. Just... nothing..."
Beast Boy could feel his curiosity spike as her casual demeanor clashed with the pure wonder shining through her eyes. He took another look at the case, feeling determined to figure out what it was that Raven wanted.
"I didn't think you were one for bling," he teased gently, earning a quick glare.
"This would hardly be considered 'bling'," she scoffed, and he could sense a lecture coming on. "That necklace," she began, pointing towards a purple pendant and silver chain, "would never be referred to as 'bling'. It is pure amethyst, as well as decades old. I'm surprised it's even here - it's tremendously valuable, compared to its counterparts."
Beast Boy felt a small sense of pride as he realized he had inadvertently gotten her to tell him what it was that caught her eye. He examined the necklace, noting that it did look misplaced as it sat among the various mood-rings and twine bracelets.
"It's pretty," he commented, giving it a look of approval. He glanced back at her, smiling slightly as he realized she was staring at it again. "You gonna get it?"
The content look on her face faded as she sigh wistfully. "No. Despite it being extremely under-priced, I've exceeded my spending limit for the month."
Yeah, 'cuz you bought a freaking 300 dollar dress! he thought in amusement, but knew not to say it out loud. Instead, he tried looking for the price tag to see how much it would cost, but found that it didn't have one.
"How much is it, anyway?" he asked, feigning nonchalance.
"Too much for my budget."
He rolled his eyes fondly at her answer. "And how do you even know that?"
Raven gave him another glare as she again tore her eyes away from it. "Because I've already exceeded my budget, Beast Boy," she replied, somewhat patronizingly. "Plus, I had asked the sales clerk the price."
The changeling nodded his head in understanding, suddenly feeling extremely curious. "Ohhh..." Pause. "So how much is it?"
Raven growled in frustration as she pushed herself away from the case. "Just drop it, Beast Boy. I'm already disappointed as it is, and I don't need you to keep reminding me of the deal I'm missing out on."
Beast Boy tried to suppress his grin as the empath attempted not to pout.
"Let's just get out of here," she muttered, making her way towards the front desk. Beast Boy followed along, though his eyes lingered on the necklace a moment longer. Though Robin had given each titan a generous spending allowance, he knew that Raven put most of it into her savings and gave herself a limit, as to be "responsible" or whatever. She rarely ever splurged on anything other than books, so it was probably frustrating for her to know that any other month, she would have been able to afford the necklace.
Beast Boy smiled to himself as he realized that he could probably buy it instead - for her, of course. Despite being anything but frugal, the changeling managed his money pretty well. Sure, his room was filled with comic books and he had drawers full of video games, but he always made sure he had extra spending money on the side - mostly for eating out or going to the movies - but some spare cash, nonetheless. So depending on the price, he was certain that he could buy it for her - what better way to admit his feelings than with a gift?
It would be foolproof; she'd be beyond ecstatic with the gift, and at the same time he'd let her know that he liked her. And if his suspicions were correct, she'd freely admit that she felt something for him, too. And if not, well... friends buy each other things all the time, right?
His smile only grew as he reached the front counter with Raven. They waited a few more moments as the lady bagged the rest of Starfire's purchase, and then all three titans exited the store. Beast Boy took a quick peek at the store's hours, sighing in relief as he saw it didn't close til eight pm. He knew that buying it now would not only ruin the surprise, but probably piss Raven off a bit as well, so he figured that he could stop by later today - before the ball.
"I apologize for the detour, friend," Starfire began, giving Raven a sheepish look, "but we may now continue the shopping for the root of an arrow!"
Beast Boy gave his teammates a confused look as Raven sighed in exasperation. "It's arrowroot, Star."
Starfire, too, gave the empath a bewildered look as she pulled a list out of her pocket. "Is that not what I said?"
Well isn't BB just the sweetest thing ever! Hopefully the necklace isn't too much - after all, what Raven considers a "good deal" is vastly different than Beast Boy's idea of what a deal is!
Hey! Look at that - I got this chapter out considerably faster than before, so I hope I can regain your trust! Also, I've decided that I want to finish this story before focusing on my others, so I'll update those two once this one is done (which hopefully won't be too much longer - I know I tend to drag things out lol)! I've already got the ending for Future blahblahblah all worked out, I just need to extract it from my brain and get it on paper (well, the computer), so that one will be coming to an end shortly as well. As for The After Party... well, like I've said, it's basically a plotless pile of fluff, so I don't really see it ending anytime soon. It'll probably be updated randomly (like it already is lol), so if you're following that story, keep an eye out for it!
Anywhoo, leave a review if you'd like - or even PM me! I don't care so much about the review count as I do just hearing all of your opinions! Like seriously, you guys being all nice and stuff makes my day!