Musical Deception
My first Teen Titans Fanfiction, so be nice. Its slash (Male/Male, yaoi, dude on dude) so if you dislike anything slashy please leave. I dont own Teen Titans, but i do own Music, my uber cute/moody superhero. Im writing this to improve my skills, and to get rid of this annoying idea floating in my head. Hope you enjoy!
Chapter 1
Two figures trudged through the mud towards the tower. It was raining, cold and dark. It was almost always raining in Jump city. Speedy was further ahead, and seemed to be running some internal fantasy about beating Robin in a contest. Speedy stopped when he heard the sound of grinding teeth.
"Oh, sorry music boy, I forgot." Music growled faintly at Speedy's apology.
"My name is Muh-Sek, not Music." Music cursed his father for picking such a stupid name. And for the inherited empathic skills.
"Whatever." Speedy hurried his pace, sensing the annoyance flowing off his travel partner. A few minutes passed and the tower became cleared against the torrents of rain.
"We're being transferred here why?" Speedy smirked at him.
"They need additional help, that's why..." Pale blue eyes scowled back from under the wet hood. "…And you need to learn some more skills, mainly teamwork if you want to remain a Titan." Music snorted. He'd been in Titans East less that two months and already he was under threat of being kicked out.
Music didn't respond, being too distracted by the unpleasantly damp, stickiness clinging to his clothes. His jeans were probably too muddy to use ever again, and the red mesh shirt had probably begun to dissolve. His hooded cloak felt the worst. It was soaked through. He wondered what had ever possessed him to make his costume heatproof but not waterproof. Music snapped out of his thoughts as they approached the front entrance.
Robin yawned and looked up at the clock. Speedy and the new guy were late by about two hours. Raven was sitting by the window reading a black book which Robin had the creeping suspicion was about magic, Cyborg and Beastboy were busy playing videogames, with random obscenities being thrown around every few seconds and Starfire was making something with noodles, chocolate, and a bright pink alien vegetable that seemed to be attempting escape. Robin looked back at the screen, looking for a logical reason for the sharp increase in crime in the last three months amongst the reports and leads. He was actually bracing himself for an upset stomach from Starfire's cooking.
The door into the common room opened, and in stepped Speedy and his yet to be introduced companion. Starfire's eyes ignited with what seemed to insane glee.
"Friend Speedy, we have all missed you!" Speedy was pulled into a bone crushing hug.
"Need air." Starfire dropped him and smiled sheepishly. Robin, Cyborg and Beastboy approached, saying hello.
"This your new recruit?" Robin looked Music up and down, assessing him. Music dropped the grey hood, and shook some of the water from his hair. Robin instantly memorised his face by habit.
Chocolate coloured hair, loosely swept back with flame red highlights. Vivid blue eyes, but the pupils looked wrong. The edge of the pupil had orange flecks. He wore a self confident smirk, exposing elongated canines comparable to Beastboys. His cloak was similar to Ravens, but with a deeper hood and dark grey colouration.
A droplet of moisture traced a path down a tendril of wet hair, which came down to his mouth in length. His tongue darted out and caught it before it could drop.
"Yeah, he's got a lot of talent but…" Speedy ignored the glare from next to him. "…He's reckless, out of control, and unmotivated."
"He gets me up at five in the morning for training, that's why I'm unmotivated. I never have enough energy to do anything." Music's eyes narrowed.
"He eats, sleeps or plays videogames. Little else." Speedy seemed to be having a staring contest with Music. The air between them was tense. Cyborg nodded to Beastboy covertly. Music was pulled sideways across the room and dropped on the sofa. Speedy walked to the corner to talk with Robin.
"Cyborg." Cyborg said bluntly as he dropped onto the opposite end of the sofa.
"Beastboy." Music was greeted by a goofy smile. Beastboy was to his immediate left.
"Muh-Sek, but everybody calls me Music." Music smiled as a controller was thrust into his hands. He put it down long enough to remove his cloak. The three sets of eyes instant glued to the screen as the race started.
Robin looked at the new Titan and then Speedy. "He seems to fit in well." The sound of wheels filled the room.
"He gets annoying after a while. And his powers don't help. We once found him on the ceiling asleep, snoring loud enough to shake the windows." Speedy suppressed the chuckle the memory evoked.
"He can cling to the ceiling?" Robin asked turning back to the group playing the game.
"Only in his sleep apparently. When we finally woke him he panicked and fell." Robin let out a small laugh. There was an explosion and shouts of:
"Booya!"
and
"Dude, you so cheated."
"So what can he do?" Robin quizzed, watching Music's red and black car catch up with the other two.
"Empathic stuff mostly, some physical combat, and some pretty dark magic." Speedy mumbled the last bit. Robin heard it clearly anyway.
"Explain." Robin's voice was instantly commanding.
"Its mostly simple stuff, creating fire, moving objects, teleporting, but it makes him unstable. He tends to be irritable and down right violent after using too much." Speedy avoided locking gazes.
A sharp laugh echoed across the room, followed by a crunch of metal.
"NO WAY!" Beastboy and Cyborg chorused in unity.
On the screen the words 'Player 3-Music- wins' flashed on and off. Music had a victorious grin plastered all over his face.
Music stopped grinning when he noticed Beastboy was staring intently. He looked at his new green team-mate and focused on him. He recognised the emotion swirling behind the emerald eyes. He let loose a seductive smirk, hinting at his intentions. Beastboy coloured a slight pink purple around his cheeks and looked away. Music moved slightly closer.
'I'm here less than an hour and already I'm flirting, that's got to be a record.' Music laughed within his mind.
Before he could do anything more Raven sat beside him. He was going to ask her if she wanted to join but his thoughts couldn't collect themselves. He attempted not to choke. Raven had the scent of a powerful demon around her. It was thick and perfume like, but was riddled with decay and death. He recognised it instantly. It was the scent of the demon god Skath. He had encountered it before. He remembered it most distinctly from the ruins of one of the temples Skath's worshipers had built. It was enough to make him want to throw up, but he didn't show it outwardly.
"Hi." Music forced a smile.
"Hello." Icy monotone in response.
Raven was looking at him strangely, like he was a caged animal in a petting zoo. He couldn't help but cringe slightly. Then it clicked in his mind, Raven was a mind reader with the ability to sense magic. She could feel what he was more than likely. He put up mental barriers as he felt her mind probing his own. She gave him a penetrating look. Music let out the breath he didn't even know he was holding. The confusion in her eyes showed he hadn't been discovered. Music made a mental note to avoid Raven. He turned his attention to Beastboy, who had witnessed the silent exchange. Music brushed his hand across the back of Beastboy's glove. Beastboy inched away, giving an embarrassed look. All thoughts of what he had witnessed melted away. Cyborg remained oblivious. The game started again, this time with insults being thrown at Music as well.
Food was served an hour later. Music poked it with a chopstick, grunted and considered swapping it for something edible with a spell. The noodles were pink, from the juices of the alien vegetable. Starfire was happily talking about how it was a delicacy on her home world. It smelt worse than Raven's demon essence. Cautious glares jumped across the table, warning certain death to all brave enough to eat. Cyborg dropped a note in his lap.
'When Starfire goes to get mustard help hide the food.'
Music looked up, catching a knowing glance from everybody but Starfire. Speedy bit his thumb, signalling to use a spell the moment the opportunity arose. Cyborg, Beastboy and Music started talking about videogames, trying to waste as much time as possible. Speedy and Robin were doing the same, pretending to be discussing Robin's explosive discs. Realisation dawned on Starfire, she had forgotten the mustard. She immediately got up and stuck her head in the fridge searching.
Raven brought the 'forgotten' mustard down from the ceiling, having levitated it away when Starfire was distracted. Robin mouthed 'go' to the team and they proceeded to pour the contents of the meal into a plastic bag Robin had under the table. Speedy bit his thumb again. Music made a cupping shape with his hand, and proceeded to bite into his own thumb using his sharp fang teeth. Blood flowed freely from the wound and settled in his palm. He planted his hand onto the table. The bowls refilled with regular noodles. He grinned and started eating them. Raven gave him a glance, but proceeded to eat. Starfire returned to discover the mustard on the table. She emptied the contents onto her own meal, which hadn't been swapped. A few appreciative looks were directed to Music, who beamed happily. Everybody ate in silence.
Music immediately noticed Raven was looking up at him every few minutes; He could feel her eyes burning into the top of his head. She had awkward questions.
"So…how did you learn blood magic?" The usually stoic Raven spoke across the table. Music swore mentally in every way he knew.
"Family trait." He didn't go into detail. He shot a brief smile at Beastboy, who blushed in response. He briefly considered if it was safe to blush that many times in one day. Speedy caught the gesture and gave Music a knowing look. Robin who was silently observing suddenly understood Beastboy's uncharacteristic silence. Cyborg and Starfire were talking animatedly; blissfully unaware of what was starting.
"So, where are me and Music boy sleeping?" Speedy asked aloud.
"You're room is already ready, but Music's needs another day." Robin said between slurps of noodle. Music gave him an annoyed glare and opened his mouth to ask where he was going to sleep.
"Sofa." Robin answered before he could ask.
"I have to sleep on the sofa?" Music's eyebrow twitched in annoyance. His forehead crinkled and his eyes narrowed.
"He could stay in my room!" Beastboy chimed all too quickly. He managed to suppress yet another blush. Music smiled and let his perverted thoughts run around for a while. Beastboy was cute embarrassed.
"Your room is uninhabitable; nothing human could survive in there." Raven's monotone voice shot down his hopes, taking Music's down with it.
'Well…I'm not technically human…'
Music realised too late that he didn't have any mental barriers up, and a quick glance in her direction told him Raven had heard his every thought of internal monologue. She was already assessing what he could be. Before she could get to a conclusion red light filled the room and a deafening siren killed any other noise. Everybody instinctively headed to the door. Music grabbed his cloak, which was slightly less wet then before but still very uncomfortable. From his back pocket he withdrew a strip of red cloth and tied it around his eyes. It was made from a special material that could be seen through from the inside, but not outside. He wore it to look heroic rather than to hide his identity. It impressed people that he could fight seemingly blind. He turned on his heel and raced after the rest of the Titans.
Music stood with the team, in the wreckage of the empty street. Glass shards littered the floor, with traces of blood and oil. Several cars were overturned and on fire. Deep tyre marks zigzagged over everything. The air had the sickly scent of smoke lingering, mixed with engine oil. A deep screeching echoed from an alley, followed by a bright light. The team scattered as a motorcycle raced through. Robin smirked.
"Johnny." The biker grinned wildly.
"This is what the fuss is about." Music was unimpressed.
"Watch your mouth kid." Johnny turned and accelerated towards Music. Starfire picked Robin up threw him upwards. He came down, planting his head into Johnny in the process. The bike skittered off and crashed. Johnny hit the ground, but managed to draw a gun and open fire. Raven stopped the bullets with her dark energy and disarmed him effortlessly. Music took his chance and darted in. Cyborg fired his arm cannon, making Johnny jump back to avoid being hit. Johnny pulled a knife and swung for Music, who ducked below it. He made another swing, but this time it was blocked by a broadsword. Everybody looked blankly at Music, all wondering where the sword had appeared from. Blood was dripping from Music's palm, which was bleeding over the hilt. His free hand was stained, mostly at the tips. Everybody immediately noticed that extending from his fingertips were very small black spikes, like claws. Music knocked Johnny back, and dug the claws into his palm. He stretched his arm, and a red hilted katana appeared. He swung both and began laughing slightly in an intoxicated way. Johnny managed to land a kick, throwing Music back. An arrow landed next to Johnny, and exploded with enough force to knock his back a bit. In the smoke nobody noticed Music had misplaced his katana. Beastboy ran in, taking the form of a rhino and hit Johnny, knocking him into a wall.
During his flight Johnny made one last stab. Music fell backwards, with the blade protruding through his chest. He coughed faintly and used the last of his energy to swear. Loudly. Beastboy was the first at his side, checking his pulse and trying to remove the blade. Robin and Speedy next, both scrambling for medical equipment. Starfire was horrified and Raven was staring, she could already sense the injury healing. She added it to the list of things he could do, intending on using it to find out what he was. Because he was clearly not all human. As he slipped between the real world and the void of unconsciousness he felt his powers slip. His fingertips burnt as the claws extended out, as did his scalp as two perfectly vertical horns revealed themselves. Both perfect shiny black. His eyes itched as sight left him, they would surely notice the lenses colouring them. He wasn't looking forward to explaining this. Several gasps, then silence.
I appreciate any reviews, criticisms and ideas. And I need feedback on Music, because he has an important role in the story, and it involves Slade. And Skath is one of Trigon's aliases, that's why Music can smell his scent on Raven. Just thought that needed clearing up.