Prologue
Title subject to change.
Summary: When Mumbo casts a spell over the titan guys to make them overly receptive to their more sensitive emotions (their emotions of "love"), can Starfire and Raven get them back to normal? And does Star truly want Robin to return to his rather distant and aloof self? (RobStar, Raveast)
"Raven…do you have a minute?"
The door slid open, slightly, revealing the hooded head of a slightly disgruntled looking Raven. "Uh…Robin? It's about two in the morning…is there an emergency or something?" Robin grinned sheepishly. He didn't ever seem to be able to catch her on one of her better days.
"Well…it's not really an emergency, rather a question." She raised her eyebrows quizzically and sighed. "And of the twenty-four hours in which we occupy the same tower, you choose to ask me a question about girls at two in the morning. Could you have picked a better time?"
"Well, actually no. My schedule has been pretty packed since now. I wanted to finish filing the case study on that criminal we just apprehended, and I like getting my midnight fix of training." He stood silent for a moment as she continued to stare at him, rather disapprovingly; he must have disturbed her during meditation. "Look, I'm sorry Raven. This probably isn't the best time for you, but it's a sort of a private question…that I don't really want the others to hear."
"So what's your question?"
"I-well let's just say that hypothetically, one of my friends-"
"Robin, I know you're referring to yourself." There was no fooling Raven. Perhaps, asking her for advice wasn't the most ingenious plan, but she was the only other female in the tower.
"Okay, fine. Well, okay, there's this girl-"
"Yes, and you assume that since I am female I would be able to explicitly provide you with a large manual on how to go about talking to this girl and displaying your affections in such a way that it doesn't infringe upon your status as a guy and a tough leader. Hm…how should I subtly describe this in terms that you couldn't possibly deny." She muttered and seemed to be contemplating a euphemism, but seemingly, finding none, she continued. "Actually, I'll just be direct and blunt. The girl, I'm assuming, unless you've been deceiving us all for the past year is Starfire. It's so painfully obvious that sometimes, I'd wish that you two would just get together and end all of this 'romantic' tension in the tower."
"We don't have romantic tension in the tower…" He began to sweat nervously. Oddly enough, although he'd learned several lifetimes' worth of martial arts from Batman and the True Master and defeated malicious villains from both Gotham and Jump City in restrictive, tight outfits through the years as a superhero, when it comes to speaking of romance, thinking of her, having feelings for her…he just didn't know how to handle himself…
"I would beg to differ."
"Well…"
"It's late, and I want to get some sleep. So, now, dear Charlie Brown, I think I'll need a quarter from you." Raven turned around and prepared to shut her door, when Robin recognized some odd voices from within her room, masculine voices filled with mirth.
"Wait a sec Raven, what is that noise coming from your room…" Robin shoved his arm through the door as he attempted to prevent Raven from shutting it.
In the meantime, she tried to safely shut the door as much as possible without amputating Boy Wonder's limb. "It's your schizophrenia kicking in. My apologies, Cyborg has been giving the placebo to you and the actual drug to Beast Boy for the past week as a part of his experiment."
"I heard something, Raven."
"And you're invading my room. Can I see your warrant?"
"Hey! I-"
And just as if she were on cue, Starfire strolled past Raven's room, hands filled with nachos doused with freshly melted but slightly emerald tinted cheese, three sodas, and one large, Cotsco-sized gallon of mustard. Before Raven could stop the Tamaranean from saying anything critical, Starfire smiled and beckoned to Robin. "Joyous! You have come to join our company in our festivities tonight? Apologies Raven, I could not discover the manner in which the curious earthen instrument of heating functions upon melting the dairy product called cheese, so in desperation, I had to use my star bolts."
Raven sighed and sank towards the wall, her reputation as the queen of darkness and mystery ruined in Robin's eyes, as she allowed Starfire to pass by with refreshments and grudgingly Robin to saunter into the room with a "I told you so" look. However, Raven was the one to truly get the last laugh when Cyborg and Beast Boy broke out into loud guffaws upon seeing him.
"Man, Robin, you've got it bad."
Clutching his stomach, Beast Boy squeaked out a "I think that it'd be very romantic if you caught a certain someone a delicious bass."
As usual, Starfire was confused by this odd behavior of her earthen friends. "Erm…I enjoy earthen fisheries as well?" When this caused further blushing on Robin's part, more loud laughs form Beast Boy and Cyborg, and a sheepish grin from Raven, she merely smiled…it was one of those quirky earthen moments that could only possibly be understood by earthlings and those who have been naturalized upon earth (such as Raven), and her best manner to overcome such a moment was to simply nod and smile brightly.
"Anyhow, let's get back to the game." Cyborg uttered moments later after the guffaws had ceased as he began reshuffling the cards. "How about some old maid in honor of the upcoming holiday today?"
"Sure, but dude, why can't it be old bachelor? That's a-" The green changeling paused and furrowed his brow in concentration as he tried to think of the suitable word. "a…um…sexy…no…sexist card game right there."
"So one vote against poker. Anyone else got an opinion?"
"But it's Beast Boy, so it doesn't count."
"Hey!" As the elf was prepared to give Raven a friendly shove for her remark, she protected herself with a dark shield. "Too slow." She muttered, as Beast Boy pouted. One of these days, he was going to get Raven back good. Or rather "well."
"Friends! I would like to recommence in the delightful game of the poker!"
"Er…Star. I'm not sure how much of my money I can afford to lose to you two girls." Cyborg sighed as he literally saw his hard earned superhero money dissipate. There goes his college education money, but at least, he was having a chance to earn her-that laptop which he secretly lusted after. Not only did she provide an immense amount of storage space, but her infrastructure was something else: excellent resolution and undeniably hot with a shiny and smooth laptop lid.
"Wait, you guys bet actual money?"
Observing that Robin was still a newbie when it came to the newly discovered Titan tradition of late night card games, Beast Boy decided to clear the situation up for his friend. "No, Boy Wonder, we bet like the Amish, based on faith." A momentary pause commenced as the titans realized in shock that Beast Boy may have said something slightly, just the tad bit witty. Although giggles, smirks, and wry grins quickly escaped from Starfire, Cyborg, and Robin, respectfully, Beast Boy was focused on the reaction of Raven…wondering if he had met her standards.
"You know, Beast Boy, that was actually kind of good." She uttered rather unwillingly moments later, to Beast Boy's relief.
"Really Raven? Hey, I got more jokes I could tell like this one- So this guy walks into a bar, and he says-"
"Don't ruin your one moment of humor glory."
"Hey, but that one…was actually good; even you would have found it funny."
"Beast Boy…I found it slightly amusing the first time I heard it. The next dozen times you used that one, it got old…and now, it's reached the point of apocalyptic rage."
"Oh…all right then. Um…so…er, more poker guys?"
"Glorious!" "Sure." "Okay…" "Luck be a lady tonight."
As Robin and his team continued playing card games until odd hours of the night and watched in somewhat of a shock as Raven and Starfire garnered most of the winnings, he realized that two mysteries were solved: the reason why the titans were nearly always so lethargic during early morning training sessions on Wednesdays and Raven's source of money. He had always wondered how she managed (with the adequate but far from luxurious Titan salary) to live rather comfortably. During the previous week alone, Robin had observed Raven lugging a large collection of obscure and no doubt expensive tomes and several new antique statues and tapestries for her room, all the while she walked about with her handy, new ipod. He wondered at times whether Raven had other superpowers such as the ability to conjure money.
In contrast, Beast Boy looked as if he were on the brink of welfare. Much to Raven's chagrin, he had gone to the busy metropolitan areas of the city disguised as a blind man to peddle for money. Other times, he went as an animal of some sort and performed "amazing" feats as them. But the mystery of money was clearly solved as he watched Raven and to a lesser extent, Starfire, literally clear the rest of them out in poker.
Certainly, as morning came about, the furthest concern upon his mind was crime fighting. Although he was awake to an extent, his energy stemmed from an excess of caffeine and sugar, both of which were wearing low. For once, he considered delaying the daily training session until perhaps afternoon, so that he could get some rest. Of course, there was also Starfire flittering about his mind…it was Valentine's Day, should he do something a bit extraordinary for her or simply let things past as he always had?
Suddenly, a loud alarm resonated within the tower. Mumbo had returned, and he had robbed a store off of Diagon Alley (certainly an odd street name that Robin wasn't quite familiar with although the name had a certain ring to it…) Forgetting his exhaustion, he, regretfully (how he wished he had time for another mug of coffee), yelled out, "Titans go!"
AN: Hope that wasn't too bad...I'm a bit rusty at writing; I haven't really written any fiction since May.
This is sort of a pilot for my other fic, Stardom in which the Teen Titans is treated as a television show. Stardom will follow the Titans in their TV storyline as well as the actors who play the titans (who will be titled by the titans' "real" names, ex. Starfire is Kori Anders, Cyborg is Victor Stone). This is one of the "episodes" featuring the titans that will be done on the show. Gauging by how much time it takes to finish this episode alone and how well it is received, I will decide whether or not I will continue work on Stardom.
Reviews of any sort are welcome: flames, constructive criticism, etc…everything is welcome! Also, this is perhaps a bit picky on my part, but if you do have the extra time, could you also answer why you felt a certain way about this fic. Ex. If you hated it, why did you hate it…
And no, this will not be a Harry Potter crossover.