When The Lights Are Off

Summary: AU. Visit the set and go behind the scenes of Teen Titans. There you will see two promising actors, Rachel and Richard, acting Raven and Robin respectively. See the bloopers, interviews, scandals, and much more in this story. RaeRob

Author's Note: This fic is dedicated to Kiki whose creativity never seems to stop flowing. This may be short at first but chapters will be long in the later parts.

Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans and its plot.

Prologue

Silence befell inside a T-shaped tower that was under a gloomy evening sky. The Teen Titans had another job well done since they defeated Dr. Light again a while ago. Rejoice would be the right word to describe how they feel. However, only one didn't sense such emotion. Worried would be the right term to describe her feeling. There, she shut herself inside her room, spending time with darkness.

She sat on the edge of her bed while watching an alarm clock's hands nearing to six. As time sped itself, the hour she was expecting had already begun. "Six pm," she told herself, still watching the hands of the clock move, "Just six more hours and it'll be over. Six more…"

Then, a loud knock on the door was heard. She immediately got up from her bed, wondering who it was.

"Hello?" she called out. No one answered.

Since she sensed no one inside her room, she got out. At the hallway, she looked around, hoping that there's no enemy inside the T-tower. She decided to track whoever that person was by passing through the stairs, the hallway, then at the operations center. Who was the person who knocked on her door? Was it just her imagination?

Slowly now, she headed towards the living room. As the door slid open, what she only saw was darkness, making her even more disappointed. Then, as she made one step forward, the lights from the ceiling flashed as if she stepped on a hidden button on the floor. Falling from the ceiling were confetti and balloons. Not to mention, a "Happy Birthday" banner was tied on the upper limit.

"Surprise," chorused four teenagers. One was a boy with spiky jet black hair who wore a mask on his face, donning on a green, red, and yellow costume that made him look like a walking traffic light. The other one was the tallest of the group. Almost all of his body was covered with robotic parts. Thirdly, a green changeling stood before her while a redhead with tanned skin floated in midair.

Seeing this unexpected phenomenon, her eyes grew wide and her skin became pale due to fear. Besides that, dark hair that rested calmly on her head stood up, causing her to black out (cartoon style).

"Um… Raven?" uttered the half-mechanical teen with a point blank expression.

"It is merely us, your friends, with warm wishes for the day of your birth," said the Tamaranian in her usual cheery tone.

"I told you a surprise party was a bad idea," reminded the black-haired adolescent.

After a few minutes, she gave out the strength she could muster and asked, "How did you know it was my birthday?"

Answers attacked her after saying her query. Her friends convinced her to celebrate this special event with not-so-persuasive reasons.

"We put up tons of decorations."

"I baked my famous eight-layer cake with three kinds of frosting."

"And I have assembled for you a traditional Tamaranean throknar. The crown of meat!"

Still, she appreciated what they were doing but her interest showed zero percent only, making her go out of the room and walking back to the deserted places she passed by a while ago.

"I told you a surprise party was a bad idea," said the green-skinned teenager. Annoyed, the masked teen told him to give it a rest.

"Raven, what's wrong?"

The Boy Wonder followed her until she stopped on her tracks. She looked at him with those cheerless amethyst eyes and answered, "I just don't like parties."

"It's more than that. I can tell," said the spiky-haired teen, "We have a bond, remember? You've been inside my mind. Let me be inside yours."

"Robin, you know me better than anyone," she said, "You should know"-she was interrupted by a sound coming from nowhere-"You should know that…" The sound grew louder and louder as if someone was carrying a radio closer and closer to her ear. And, as she turned around to see who was turning up the radio...

"CUT!" yelled the director with a megaphone on his hand, "All right… who is listening to Hilary Duff while we are filming this scene?"

The crew looked around and saw a tall red-headed actress that acted the Tamaranian princess a while ago singing near the radio. "Just do it with love, love, love, love…" she sang in her high-pitched voice. The director coughed to grab her attention. When she heard it, she smiled then frowned seeing the director's face.

"Oopsie," she said, "Was I disturbing you?"

"No, not at all, Kori," said Richard sarcastically, "not at all."

While the crew was busy scolding the actress, hiding herself in the shadows was Rachel. She took off the hood covering her head and smirked.

Author's Note: Lemme just mention one thing…

Those italicized words tell you that they're filming a scene. Or in the later chapters, the show is being aired.

In addition, I was inspired by Itchyworms' Love Team while writing this. It's about an onscreen couple's on-cam and off-cam relationship. The band explained that the guy likes the girl in real life but the gal just pretends for the sake of the fans. Pinoys would know this because it's only aired in the Philippines.

Well… that's all for now. I want to improve this story so please give me your constructive criticisms, comments, or suggestions. Thank you.