Sorry it's taken me a bit to update. Writing schedule's been tight with real life stuff going on.
Jump City, Daylight.
Some things never change, even for the most extraordinary of people. This certainly includes the Teen Titans, because, even through the ever morphing landscape that is their life together, there is one thing that remains a constant.
Pizza.
Brother Blood has always been one of the stronger Titan foes, and he definitely gave the Titans a formidable challenge today when he and some of his newly brainwashed minions attempted to steal valuable technology from a local armory. However, momentum shifted in the heroes' favor after one of the villains' Aerosol guns extemporaneously jammed, and Robin opportunistically charged at him with a nearby pry bar. A few ultraviolet lasers, psychokinetic bolts, and a transformation into a Japanese Spitz later, and the criminal mastermind was handed over to the proper authorities soon enough.
How else would they celebrate than by heading to the nearest pizzeria and stuffing their faces?
Of course, while some things never change, some things do. For starters, while the last visit to a pizza place ended with Raven storming out over Beast Boy's refusal to pay for pizza, today he actually volunteered to buy today's pie with some money he earned selling some of his (and Cyborg's) old CDs on the internet.
He even offers to let her have the first slice.
"Here, Momma," he says to her with a smile.
She smiles back, but then directs it to someone else at the table. "No thanks. How about you take the first slice, Starfire?"
"Uh, yeah! I was just about to say that!" Robin abruptly chimes in with an almost desperate look on his face.
Starfire simply shrugs at the sudden attention from her peers, "Alright," and then proceeds to take a very generous first 'slice' of the pizza for herself.
While Cyborg and Beast Boy watch her with impressed looks of their faces, Raven and Robin wistfully gaze upon her.
She could care less though, as made evident by a large belch after scoffing down her lunch.
BUUUUUUURP! "Hee hee… Excuse me," she says with a little blush.
Everyone looks to the empty box on the table, realizing that the chick just ate the whole flippin' pizza.
"Uhhh… Starfire…" Beast Boy begins. "That was kind of for all of us."
"Oh, excuse me!" she proclaims. "I am sorry. I guess all that defeating of the bad guys has just made me very famished!"
"S'all good, fam. We can just go buy another," Cyborg suggests.
"I can't. That was my Night Begins to Shine money," Beast Boy explains.
"What?! You done sold my favorite CD?!" Cyborg blurts out.
"Heh heh… Did I say that out loud?" Beast Boy nervously utters.
Just then, Robin's communicator begins to buzz, and he glues his eyes to it almost as if his very existence depends on it.
"Uhm, are you alright, Robin? Is that a crime alert?" Raven asks.
"Huh? Oh, no. It's a super long text wall from this dude who spams me on my stories site… I'm gonna go outside for a minute where I can think of a pity response in peace," he tells the others before excusing himself.
The others just shrug it off.
"Well, I will go and purchase another pizza for us. Should we get bacon on it since Robin is no longer present?" she asks.
"Oh, definitely," Cyborg answers.
"Absolutely," Raven agrees.
"I'm a vegetarian. But yeah, whatevs," Beast Boy finishes.
WIth that, Starfire giddily excuses herself from the table now, making her way to the service area to place another order.
Raven can't help but somewhat crestfallenly watch her as she leaves. It's been a few days since their so-called 'friend kiss,' and she's done her best to try and move past it, but it hasn't been easy. Her thoughts, even her dreams, have been filled with Starfire. She's just such a great girl. The way she's always laughing and smiling, the way she's always excessively and unnecessarily saying 'the', the fact that she's actually very attractive...
She's in too much of a daze staring at Starfire to notice Beast Boy and Cyborg whispering to themselves about something.
"Dude, please don't!" Beast Boy pleas.
"Bro, you need to do this," Cyborg firmly states. "If you two don't spend some alone time together, you'll never get passed the whole awkward post break-up stage."
Beast Boy swallows hard. "You're right."
"Darn right, I'm right. Also, I'm selling your Live 2 Lynn CD to get back at you," Cyborg says before standing up and pulling himself out of his seat, making sure to take his soft drink with him.
"What?!" Beats Boy cries, but Cyborg straight ignores him.
He fakes a stretch. "Awwww! Man, the circuits in my legs are all laggy. I think I'll go see if Star needs help placing our order," he says as he makes his exit and heads that way.
Which… leaves the former boyfriend and girlfriend to one another. Raven breaks from her pining to see Beast Boy nervously smiling at her, and she does a little double take as she begins to feel a little anxious.
"Uhm, where did Cyborg go?" she asks.
"He uh… He just wanted to see if Starfire needed any help. You know she can be sometimes, heh heh," BB nervously responds.
Raven raises a brow, then somewhat sullenly slouches over. "Yeah… Yeah I do…"
Cyborg heads to the service station, where there is a very long line of people waiting to place orders. He frowns at this, especially since he doesn't see Starfire standing in the line. After getting a refill for his drink, he looks around for her, and finds her sitting over at a nearby table. She's looking out the glass wall like she's got a lot on her mind, which piques her teammate's interest.
He paces over to her, and takes a seat across from her. "Hey, Star. Everything alright?" he asks.
She meets him with a bit of a surprised expression, but eases up as she preens a strand of hair behind her ear. "What? Yes. Everything is well. Why do you ask?"
"Well, you were looking out the glass like you got a lot on your mind, which piqued my interest," Cyborg cleverly details.
Starfire considers her next words for a moment as she eyes a very interesting spot on the floor from the corner of her eye, but sighs as she gives up trying to think of something other than what's really troubling her.
"Cyborg… May I speak to you about something that I would like to remain private?" she requests.
"Uhm, alright," Cyborg responds. "This wouldn't happen to be about Robin, would it?" he says with a little smile.
"No, I am not interested in his so called 'cringey fics,'" Starfire stoically answers.
"Oh," Cyborg simply utters. "Okay then. What's on your mind, Star Firefly?"
"Well, as I have stated, it is a very delicate matter, and I sincerely wish that you will keep it between the two of us. It is actually regarding something that I have promised not to speak of with anyone else, but I have so many questions that I cannot ask her about," Starfire explains.
"Hey, I'm cool. Scout's honor," Cyborg insists with a smile and the matching gesture. "Lay some of that girl talk on me, girl."
Starfire smiles too for a moment before getting serious again. "Okay. Well, something recently happened to me, but I am going to tell the story as if it is a scenario that has happened to a friend of mine," she begins.
"Uh, you do realize you just said that out loud, right?" Cyborg asks, but Starfire continues like she didn't even hear him.
"So, I have a friend, and she was enjoying a lovely walk with a girlfriend of hers."
"Alright, you and this chick were walking together," Cyborg says for clarification.
"No no. A friend of mine was walking with a girlfriend of mine," Starfire says.
"Alright, the hypotheticals have completely escaped me at this point, but go ahead," Cyborg tells her before giving her his undivided attention.
Starfire takes a deep breath before continuing.
"Alright. Well… the friend and the friend of the friend were walking, and then they took a rest to regain their strength. During the momentary recess, we bonded over the feelings of loneliness and misunderstandings of earth life. She told me I was strong and beautiful, and I told her that she was as well."
Cyborg raises an eyebrow. "Alright. I think I'm following. So then what happened with your… friend?"
Starfire takes another breath, this one hitching a little as her heart begins to race.
"Well, she… she kissed me."
Cyborg's eyes widen now with obvious surprise in them. "Dang. That escalated quickly."
Starfire steels herself a moment before continuing. "I was… confused. I did not understand why she would kiss me like this. When I asked her why, she told me that it was a 'friend kiss.'"
"A friend kiss?" Cyborg questions.
"Yes," Starfire replies. "She told me that it was a kiss to show how much our friendship means to her, and that it was very special. So special that I must not tell anyone else about it."
Cyborg takes a moment to wrap his head around this new information, then composes a response.
"Alright, so, your friend kissed you-"
"No, she kissed my friend."
"Right… So, your friend kissed your friend. Uhm, what did you- your friend do, after she was kissed?"
"Well, I was quite perplexed. I was certain that kisses were gestures meant to be shared between romantic partners," Starfire explains.
"Okay… Well, maybe she kissed you-"
"My friend."
"Maybe she kissed your friend…" Cyborg proceeds, clearly getting frustrated with Starfire's inconsistencies, "...because she wanted it to be a romantic gesture?"
"That is strange," Starfire thinks aloud.
"Uh, you do know that sometimes boys like boys and girls like girls, right?" Cyborg asks.
"I do know that, but that would mean she lied about it being a friend kiss. Why would she do that?"
"Maybe she realized you didn't feel the same way and didn't wanna make things weirder than already were?" Cyborg speculates. "Man, I did not expect to be talking to you about the birds and the bees today," he says to himself before taking a sip of his drink.
They take a moment to think about everything, and then Starfire speaks up again.
"This does not make sense! I have never heard of the friend kisses, and Raven was in a relationship with Beast Boy! Why has she been acting so strange?"
Upon realizing Starfire just said Raven's name, he does an actual spit take. "Woah woah woah… Time out!" he says as he wipes his lips with his forearm. "Did you just say Raven? Raven kissed you?!"
Starfire becomes visibly flustered. "I- my friend- uhm- Raven…" she stammers. She concedes soon enough though. "Okay, this was not the story of my hypothetical friend. It was me. And the hypothetical girlfriend was Raven."
"Yeah, I picked up on that," Cyborg says with a grimace. He ebbs on the grumpiness though as he forms a rebuttal. "But just so I got this straight, you're telling me that Raven kissed you? On the lips?!"
"Shhh shh shhhh!" Starfire frantically shushes as she shoves her finger to his lips. She does a neurotic little look around to make sure no one is paying attention to them, and when she's sure the coast is clear, she presses forward.
"Yes, Raven delivered the kiss onto me. I have felt so strange about it ever since," she confesses. "It is as if she does not wish to speak to me now. Before then, she seemed quite content in spending time with me. She was even the one to suggest that we go for a walk! I do not understand what I have done wrong…"
Cyborg rests a comforting hand over hers. "Hey, you didn't do anything wrong," he assures her. "I think Raven is just trying to give you some space while she works through her feelings. I mean, you know how she is about that stuff."
"I suppose that make sense," Starfire says, but there's still some disappointment in her voice.
"Hey," Cyborg starts with a smile, "It doesn't mean she doesn't still wanna be friends. I just think maybe she's a little bummed out you didn't like her the way she likes you, or thinks she likes you."
Starfire sneaks a look over to the table where the girl in discussion sits, and Raven happens to look over shortly after. She briefly smiles at her before turning away with some transparent despondence.
And with this exchange of looks, it's as if the proverbial light bulb shines over Starfire's head.
"Oh my gosh!... You are right, Cyborg!" she blurts out. "Raven… She-"
"She might," Cyborg finishes for her, and he can't help but smile a little at the prospect. "I mean, it's hard to say for sure, but I ain't never heard of no 'friend kisses' either, know what I'm sayin'?"
Starfire takes a moment to digest his words, wearing the feeling that comes with an epiphany clearly on her face.
Which… just makes Cyborg smile more. Starfire picks up on this, and calls him out on it.
"What are you smiling at me like that for?" she asks with a wince.
"Oh, this? This is my shipping smile," Cyborg proudly states. "I smiles it when I think about two of my friends becoming more than just friends."
"Whuh- what do you mean?" Starfire questions with an almost beseeching tone.
"What I mean is: maybe you two would be kind of cute together. I mean, I was kind of on team BBRae, team Robfire there for a while… But maybe this is the couple for me. Hmm… I think I'll call you… Starven! Er, wait!... Ravenfire! Ah yeah!"
While he gushes about his new portmanteau, Starfire sneaks another gaze at Raven from afar. This time she's able to do so without the other girl noticing, and she's able to just get lost looking upon her for a little while.
It's the first time she sees her in such a way. Raven was always just her friend; just like Beast Boy, Cyborg, and Robin. She never even considered the prospect that she could feel that way about her, and more importantly… if she herself could feel that way.
But now...
"Is it possible?"
She goes back to looking out the glass with a face that conveys deep thought, and Cyborg tries to get her attention. "Is what possible? Starfire?"
She doesn't answer though. She's just got her thinking to do.
"Oh, you're doing that look out some glass deep thinkin' again," Cyborg thinks aloud. Then he shrugs, and kicks his feet up on the table before taking a drink of his soda. "Oh well."
"Hmm… I wonder what Batman and Gordon's ship name would be? Never mind… That's just wrong…" he wonders as he too looks out to the world beyond the glass.
While this was all going on, Raven had the company of her ex-boyfriend Beast Boy, which wasn't weird at all.
Or, yes it was.
Shortly after Cyborg left, the two got nice and uncomfortable in a good old fashioned awkward silence. Raven would try and sneak in little pining glances at her crush Starfire here and there, but it became increasingly difficult with Beast Boy sneaking in his own little glances at her.
Finally, just as her discomfort is almost enough to call him out on it, he speaks up.
"So, how ya been?" he coyly asks her.
It's a nice enough gesture, and it's actually is enough to make Raven feel a little remorseful for almost wanting to snap at him.
She knows he means well, and just like they established with their previous conversation, he wants things to be normal between them again.
"This is one of those treading the waters things" she thinks to herself.
"I've been okay," she timidly answers. She doesn't elaborate, and it makes for a brief hiccup in conversation, but she's quick on her feet to make a recovery much like she was with a certain someone about a certain kiss the other day.
"What about you?" she asks him now.
"I've been good," he answers with a little nod. He puts on a smile though as he thinks of a new topic of conversation. "You know, I was playing that stupid game with Cy the other night, and we made some necromancer demon chicks… It kind of reminded me of you."
She half smiles at that. "Oh really? How so?" she asks.
"Well, we made sure the leader character had a really dry sense of humor," he quips.
That half smile becomes a full smile. For treading waters, this really isn't so bad. "Hmm, I don't know anybody like that," she jokes back.
And they actually find themselves laughing a little laugh at their back-and-forth. It's the first laugh they've shared in a long time, and it really feels great.
But, of course, Raven just so happens to catch a glimpse of the red headed Tameranian girl staring out at the world through the glass though.
She stops laughing, and slouches a sorry slouch accompanied by a sad little sigh that pretty much sucks the life out of the room, or at least the table where she and Beast Boy are sitting.
"Did I say something wrong?" Beast Boy asks with concern.
She frowns to herself before responding to him. "No, it's not you. It's just-"
There's hesitation on both their behalves, but Beast Boy takes initiative.
"Yeah, I get it. Things are still a little weird between us, huh?" he says while anxiously rubbing the back of his neck.
"No! I mean, no…" Raven sputters. "It's… something else…"
BB curiously raises his brow. "Okay. Well, what's the matter? Everything alright?"
Raven waves him off. "It's fine, really."
Beast Boy frowns, but he decides not to push any further. "Alright. Well, I mean, if you decide you need to talk to somebody or whatever. You can always bend my ear," he suggests. "If fact…" he adds with a smile, and then he morphs his head into that of an elephant so he can flap his big ol' ears around like a goof.
As much as she doesn't want to laugh at his being an idiot, she can't help but break into a little chuckle. "You're such a goon," she tells him.
He turns his head back to normal and smiles. "I know. But for real, I got your back, girl. And that ain't changing."
They share a look of happy understanding, and then turn away from one another once the point has been made. Beast Boy decides to check his communicator, and Raven just kind of wanders her eyes nowhere in particular.
She just can't help herself though. As much as she wants to just forget that kiss ever happened, or the very thought that she could ever maybe be more than just friends with this girl…
She settles her gaze on Starfire, who actually turns out to be looking over to her.
For a moment, she tenses up, and her heart begins to race. But she decides to play it off cool, offering a soft little smile to her before turning away. Maybe Starfire keeps looking, maybe she doesn't. It's something she's dying to know while needing to forget all the same.
She wanders her eyes to Beast Boy again, and he's focused on the screen of his communicator. She steels herself for a little while before deciding that, if worse comes to worse… she can always summon enough latent demon energy to destroy the universe.
Or at least anyone who would blab about her secret.
WIth that, she put her big girl cloak on, and decides it's time to work through her feelings with someone other than projections of her own self.
"Beast Boy," she begins, and he looks up from his communicator to acknowledge her once more. "If I tell you something, do you promise to keep it a secret?"
"Uhm," he utters as he thinks it over and pockets his communicator, "Sure. Definitely."
He meets his Azarathian ex with another grin, which reminds her that, even if he says things are cool, he might not take the news of her switching teams so well.
"And do you promise not to hate me?" she adds, almost remorsefully.
"What? No way," he assures her. "Heck, if I can sell Cy's stupid BER CD and he brush it off like it's nothin', I don't think there's much you can do to rock the boat."
"You might not think that when I tell you the truth," Raven quietly retorts.
She braces herself, then takes the proverbial leap of faith.
"Beast Boy, I have feelings for someone. Someone you know," she tells him.
He dons a somewhat surprised expression before gruffly frowning. "Let me guess… You've been talking to Aqualad?"
She rolls her eyes. "No. It's not Aqualad."
He gets over his brief spell and eases up on the attitude. "Oh. Well… Okay… So, who is it then?" he softly asks.
After a moment to let the words linger, and to let the awkward silence get nice and tense, Raven decides to follow through.
"I'll tell you, but please, please don't say anything to the others. Not Robin, not Cyborg… and especially not Starfire…"
"Afraid you might step on her toes?" he says somewhat jokingly before getting serious again. "Hey, seriously, I won't say a word to anybody. I promise. And I promise not to get mad."
His demeanor becomes a little somber before he continues.
"When we broke up, I realized it meant you'd start seeing other people eventually. I mean, a catch like you can't stay single forever," he says with a soft little smile.
Raven returns one of her own. "Well… Thanks."
She takes a deep breath, then looks him dead in the eyes.
"Beast Boy… I like Starfire."
His eyes grow as wide as saucers, and he stays dumb as she just stares at her. It goes on long enough to make her regret saying anything. Not just to him, but to Starfire on that bridge at the park, or in her bedroom when she needed advice, or, ever really.
Just when she feels like she may need to open up a portal and then reduce to a puddle so she can spill inside of it, that green face of Beast Boy's finally begins to change.
As a matter of fact, he smiles.
"No way," he begins, the corners of his mouth stretching wider with every passing second. "That's awesome!"
Of all the things she anticipated he might say about her revelation, "That's awesome" was not one of them. It's not unwelcome, but she surely isn't sure how to respond to it, which is made obvious by her reply.
"Huh?"
"That's too cool," Beast Boy follows-up. "I mean, really? You really like her?"
His enthusiasm is the very last thing she expected. Shock? Yeah. Disappointment? Sure. Anger even? Maybe.
But… "That's too cool?"
"Did- did you hear me right? I said I like Starfire," Raven is sure to reiterate, almost with a hint of guilt in her voice.
"Are you saying that's a bad thing?" Beast Boy contends, "She's a doll! She's amazing!"
He straightens up and cuts some slack as he realizes his good intentions could be misinterpreted, probably because of the way Raven narrows her eyes at him.
"I mean, not that I think of her like that… But I definitely can see why someone would."
They take a moment to return to form, and Beast Boy can't help but keep smiling.
"Seriously, Raven, I'm happy for you. I'm glad you're telling me this."
She folds her arms as she tries to play it cool, but enough of her true vehemence bleeds through the facade with the glistening in her eyes.
"You really mean that?"
"Darn right, I do, momma," he gladly tells her.
She softly smiles as she looks down to the table, unable to hide how nice it really is to hear him say that.
He waits a moment, then decides to start prying like the leech he could turn himself into. "So… Gimme the details! What happened? When did it happen? Are you guys gonna tell Robin?" he says with a little playfulness.
She rolls her eyes. "Eww. You're spazzing," she jokes back.
"Come on! Don't leave me hangin'!" BB excitedly responds.
"Alright, alright. Just settle down before you have a coronary," she retorts, looking around to make sure he hasn't drawn too much attention with his sudden loudness.
Most importantly, she sneaks another look at Starfire, but by now she and Cyborg have started just staring out the glass panes for some reason.
"They must not have anything to talk about," she thinks.
She turns her attention back to Eager McBeaver though, who alluringly raises his eyebrows to egg her on.
"Okay… But I swear to Flutterpie and Pinky Shy if you tell anyone about this-"
"Oof. Your two favorite Pegasuses? Pegasees?... Alright. My lips are sealed," Beast Boy says.
With that, Raven sighs, and readies herself to start from the beginning.
"Well… It all started after the last time we went to go get pizza."
Holy ess Night Begins to Shine has been my earworm for like a week now.
Oy waht wif da cliffhanger cous? Well, this chapter was getting pretty long, so I decided to stop it here. I promise the next one will pick up right where this one leaves off. I also have a busy week ahead of me with real life being like, "Hey, you should do stuff," (meh, amirite?), so I wanna get something out so no one thinks I've died.
Anyway...
I really like the platonic pairing of Starfire and Cyborg for some reason, so I thought I'd explore it here with that 'girl talk' scene. I had a lot of fun writing it, so I hope you peoples had fun reading it.
Also, the joke about Batman x Gordon was a play on the somewhat creepy relationship the two have in Teen Titans Go! I don't care what anyone says, TTG is hilarious.
As always, thanks for reading. Sorry if I dragged this out more than Ru Paul, but I wanted these talks to happen so we can set the next series of events into motion. You'll see what I mean during the next mission, should you choose to accept it.
This message will self destruct in 3… 2… 1...