Evening had arrived at the warm, bustling California city. Lights were scattered in an organized chaos as traffic delayed busy people's commute home, most likely a humble apartment unit for most of them.
One of these units was currently empty, but it wasn't quite the ordinary apartment. Yes, there was the living room with shelves of books and a flat screen TV with the GameStation console set plugged in even in its user's absence, ready to go. The one-bedroom apartment had all the usual fixtures.
Except, it also had an advanced transmission system, and a room specifically for meditation and/or magic usage. And although there were windows with a city view of decent coverage, they were plastered with reflective privacy films.
This private base fit for two had a front door, but it was connected to a special travelator with high-security authorized access. Embossed on the door of this special elevator was a 'T'. For Titans.
A couple of footsteps could be heard from right outside the front door, making their way in, their quarrelling gradually louder.
"I'm not in the mood for needless puns, Gar," a faintly audible voice could be heard, her tone slightly exasperated, although her vocal fry was natural and not necessarily a result of her frustration.
A second voice tittered, laughing nervously as he responded with his raspy voice, "Pumping the brakes on the jokes... now."
A turn of a doorknob, and entered the couple - The exasperated one with purple hair, grey skin, a pointed glare, a flustered frown, and a blue hooded cloak, and the tittering one with green hair, green skin, pointy ears, a toothy-fanged grin, and a purple-black form-fitting suit.
As he used his own feet to remove his purple sneakers, he asked his girlfriend, "Although, Raven, I thought our first Titans mission in months went swell. What didn't go right?"
Raven, levitating so that she could gently remove her blue boots via telekinesis, replied in a deadpan, "There wasn't anything wrong with the mission, per se. It was the way we presented ourselves that I took issue with."
Gar, transformed into a dog, shut the door as he watched Raven head to the kitchen, trailing her.
"Okay, that feels directed at me but I thought I represented myself to a T!" he said defensively after resuming human form.
Raven had pulled a box of vegetarian pizza out of the fridge and placed two slices into the microwave. She sent Gar an unimpressed look, to his bemusement.
"You did... if you were going for the nonchalant goober goofball persona," she muttered. "A little more professionalism would have helped."
Gar reached for the jug of water and poured himself a glass as Raven went on.
"Those teens needed our help because they were uncoordinated in their mission, hence calling us for reinforcements. And by help, I don't just mean to rescue them, but to give them productive input. We're role models, Gar, whether you like it or not."
After gulping down his refreshment, Gar flailed his arms. "I did just that! Did you not see me teach Blue Beetle and Traci Thirteen a thing or two about teamwork?"
Raven rolled her eyes, giving her boyfriend another look, this time a pointed frown.
"You were giving them romantic relationship advice."
Gar's stares were blank with confusion. "Your point being...?"
Ding! Raven's exasperated sigh was drowned out by their pizzas being ready.
Gar added, "Blue Beetle's a young goofball, just like I was - "
"Is," Raven corrected as she served one slice of pizza to Gar.
"He's practically the new B.B. of the Jump City Teen Titans division!" Gar justified. "And Traci uses magic and has a green pet like you."
Raven was about to bite into her dinner until Gar's green pet comment. She looked up quizzically at the shapeshifter, who was haphazardly swallowing his pizza.
"Like me? I don't have a green p- " she realised his wisecrack. "Ha ha. You're hilarious."
After gulping down his dinner, Gar exclaimed, "They're the new BBRae! They're... BBTrace!"
Raven shook her head disapprovingly. "Did you even give them notes on how they fought?"
"What? How could I give them notes if I never saw them arguing?"
Raven's eyes were glowing at this point. "I mean in combat!"
Her frustration manifested into a stroke of stray telekinetic energy that knocked out a hanging photo frame in the kitchen, plummeting it on to the tiled floor.
Raven sighed. "Thanks, now I need to cool off."
Levitating herself and her plate of pizza, she hovered to their room, closing the door with her powers.
Gar stood outside, nose at the door, locked out of his own room.
"Uhh Raven? You do remember we share a bed, right?"
"I know." Raven's reply was blunt, though the door was still shut. Gar heaved a sigh as he returned to the kitchen to put his dish in the sink and pick up the dropped photo frame.
He hung back the photo of the five founding Titans' fun-filled group picture on the rooftop of the original Titans Tower. Himself and Raven, his cybernetic best friend, her alien best friend, and their fierce and friendly masked leader.
It was a day he would fondly remember for a long time, as the last day all five friends were altogether as a team before opening the roster up for a new generation of heroes to protect Jump City.
The five of them had built a potentially long-lasting legacy in the Titans. Though they've passed on the reign to new brave souls, they're forever imprinted in the Titans name, and forever Titans they were. Every now and then, someone would request for their help, and they'd willingly get into crime-fighting, butt-kicking, justice-pursuing mode, such as that afternoon.
However, adulthood was shaping up to be a new battle in its own right for the couple.
Half an hour later in the living room, after changing, Gar had set up a camera on a tripod, and hit the record button, filming himself. He flashed his charismatic fanged grin.
"What up, my Beast Fam. It's ya Best Boy, the one and only Beast Boy once again!"
If one would look up the dictionary definition of 'entertainer', an image of the green changeling would belong there. Ever since retiring from full-time Titans duty and moving in with Raven, Gar had somehow made a name for himself in the entertainment industry. At least, on the Internet in a singular social media platform.
"Hope all you lovely dudes and dudettes on Chirrup have had a superb week! I sure did. Check out my latest vlogs in the links down in the descripsh!" Gar pointed his fingers downward, as if the video description box was a literal physical item in his presence. He'd learnt video-editing in his free time, and made a mental note to superimpose said links in the editing. "Thanks again for all of your support. I'd love to kick off the laughs and good times, but this episode is gonna start off as an apology video. To my girlfriend, Raven. Thought it'd be fun to air out some of our relationship laundry on the Internet -"
"No, it's me that should apologize."
Gar's ears perked up at the sound of Raven's voice coming from behind him. He spun around. She had finally exited the bedroom, having unhooked her cloak and was now in just her black leotard.
Raven had just then noticed the camera.
"Oh, sorry, am I interrupting another livestream?"
Gar held up his hand reassuringly, getting up as he paused the recording. "Nah, I'm pre-recording. All good! And really, I should be the one saying sorry. I should be more helpful helping out the new Teen Titans."
Raven shook her head. "You are, Gar. Sometimes, the lighthearted approach is the best way to go about that. And sometimes, I forget that. I'm just frazzled with my duties, training current, incoming and potential Titans who possess even a lick of supernatural, magical, or mystical abilities in hopes that they'd master their powers and utilise them as heroes. I may not be on missions as frequently anymore, but I'm far busier than I've ever been as a Teen Titan."
Gar made his way to her, grabbing her hands firmly.
"We really need to normalize people with powers," he uttered. "Not every decent metahuman, magician - people with powers in general - wants to be a superhero. But everyone considers our abilities as superpowers and hence must either be a superhero tasked to serve cities, or a villain, and I think that's just not fair."
He'd noticed that, though Raven took great honor and joy in coaching the Titans, she was struggling to keep up with the demands. However, she'd refused to skip a session, taking her responsibilities seriously.
"Still, I'm sorry I was dismissive with my duties," Gar added. "But you do have to take a break sometimes, Rae."
Raven contemplated his suggestion.
"... Maybe you're right. I almost feel guilty at the thought of taking a break. Robin and Starfire are returning to Jump City Titans Tower from Tamaran this week, and Cyborg and Bumblebee relocated not too far off Steel City's Titans Tower. Then there's us, living far away from any Titans Tower by choice."
"Because we thought that it would give us a bit of a breather. And it did, until -"
"Until I couldn't say no to coaching new heroes."
Gar gave Raven a gentle hug, easing her stress.
Raven eventually fell in love with Gar years back for many reasons, his unwavering goal of bringing her out of her shell and caring for her wellbeing - usually before his - being a couple of them.
"I'm sorry for snapping at you, Gar. You do give good input to the new team. You're not dismissive."
"Just say you love my jokes and all is forgiven."
Raven smirked. "You doofus. Will you ever retire that joke?"
"It's a banger of a bit!"
Raven pushed herself back, arm's length away from her lover, her hands on his shoulders, his now on her hips.
She only looked at him for one second, but many things raced in her mind in that span of time. How did she get so lucky to realise all she wanted and needed had been her sometimes-funny and always-caring teammate all along? How did it take so long for them both to make a move? And how did it take even longer for her to give in to her emotions?
As for what was racing in Gar's mind, he'd usually require more than a second to appreciate all of his girlfriend's 'enchanting beauty', to quote him. Unfortunately and fortunately for him, he didn't have enough time, for Raven had just leaned forward for a kiss.
Yeah, let's kiss first, his mind said. He couldn't focus on her face and her lips at the same time. It would be too much goodness for him to handle. He allowed her to navigate her lips and tongue inside his, not moving so as not to accidentally stab her tongue with his fangs. Again. Also, he was stiffening too much to be able to move without ruining the moment.
There was so much to navigate between them after officially dating. Not only because of their polarizing personalities, but also because of their sets of powers and characteristics. Gar's spontaneity, though mostly welcome, was an obstacle when it came to intimate moments. Raven's emotion-based abilities would spiral whenever he'd make a surprise move, often resulting in something nearby damaged.
After much trial and error, they discovered that if Raven were to instigate these intimate moments more often instead of Gar, she would be able to rein her powers in. Reluctant at first, Raven grew to appreciate the shift in leverage there. For Gar, well, he thoroughly enjoyed it, not in a kinky way. Maybe. But he certainly thoroughly basked in the attention.
Gar found himself chuckling mid-kiss.
Raven backed off, eyebrow raised.
"What's so funny?"
"We're just like beavers," he blurted out, tittering.
Way to relish this affectionate moment by comparing my kiss to beavers, Raven thought sarcastically, letting him explain.
"See, scientists don't understand how their pair bond works, but what they do know is that they pair bond for life."
At that, Raven at least was not frowning.
"That's cute," she replied as she about-turned and headed back into the bedroom. "I'm not into dams, though."
Gar hastily followed her in. "Okay, we're albatrosses then! Or Great Hornbills! Those romantic birds are super faithful. They wait for their lover up to the end!"
The bonded pair hopped on to their California king bed, ready to call it a night.
"Don't they gift their partners bones and twigs?" Raven quipped, pulling the sheets. "So, that's not too far off then, considering our collective lack of craftiness."
Gar gave a playful scowl, going shirtless. "Hey, I can be crafty and all smart too. I just enjoy being underestimated. You know how I love surprising and impressing people."
Raven, unimpressed, prepared to doze off.
"In that case, I'll look forward to the situation where you have no choice but to be crafty... Can you switch off the light?"
As a giant octopus, almost shoving Raven out of the bed, Gar stretched out a tentacle for a button on the wall.
Instead of lights out, the speakers started playing an upbeat guitar tune. The screen on the wall in front of them lit up.
'Now Playing: Always Be My Baby by Mariah Carey' the screen read.
Raven tiredly scowled at Gar's reverted, embarrassed human form.
"Hehe... whoops. We really oughta install voice command."
Raven heaved a sigh. "Why did I see this coming?"
Her eyes glowed, as she switched off both the lights and the music player, cutting Mariah off after a single "Doo doo doo -".
"Good night," Raven mumbled.
Gar giggled.
"I still can't get over this guilty pleasure song of yours."
Raven groaned. "I'll take that secret to the grave. That, and my stance on how I feel about your mostly lame jokes. Now, good night, Gar."
"Good night, Raven," Gar said, giving her one last kiss before closing his eyes, his arms affectionately and protectively wrapped around her.
Raven heaved a content sigh.
Gar whispered, "Mostly lame."
Raven audibly groaned. Love was never supposed to be smooth sailing, she supposed.
But, she enjoyed his company. He enjoyed hers. And they had their whole lives ahead of them. Full of adventures and countless possibilities. They had paved the way as heroic Titans to better the lives of the innocent, including themselves.
Yet, even though the Titans legacy may last forever, a lot of things don't...