Chapter Text
RAVEN
Raven lounged on her couch, owlishly blinking at the dull, wide flatscreen television that displayed the setting that she had long forgotten to set up. The couch was softer than the marshmallows she used to steal at the supermarket; felt like laying down with the clouds, but nothing satisfied her as much as sitting on the carved cobblestone back there in her chamber that rested beneath the crumbling library. The darkness always swarmed every corner of her vision, and it used to be a blanket of comfort being basked in the shadows; her very home.
The demoness knew it was time to settle into a new, modern home to fit in better and maintain her privacy when villains turned up from her chamber from time to time, yapping about joining forces together to wipe the Titans from the map of California, and she’d often doze off in the middle of their talking. Her rats and ghouls stopped defending her chamber from the villains ever since she oriented sides with them. She wished she could let her demonic rats bite some villain or two to make them doubt their decision to visit her place.
Fed up with constant visits, she sought a new place, something casual to blend in with the civilians: a little apartment near the port so the Titan’s Tower was in view the whole time. It was small, a little one-bedroom unit with a balcony, a sliding window was set up in her bedroom wall, offering her a view of the port and the Titan’s tower near the port, a little view of the road in front since she chose a unit on the third floor of the place.
She left the place, only letting Red-X know where she currently lived, tired of the others. Speaking of the anti-hero, she grabbed the phone he bought for her, eyes slanting as the phone lit up as she raised it, scanning her face, and it unlocked of its own accord.
‘Celebrating a little would be nice with a company.’ Raven scrolled on the phone, trying to remember all of X’s little tutorials. She only had one contact on her phone anyway, and it was the bastard little bitch who forced her to pay for a phone because it was much better than stealing one.
Her finger hovered over Jason’s contact. ‘The Most Handsome Fucker’ was his name on her contact, a circular icon of his selfie where he wore sunglasses and smiled widely that gave off a so desired ‘fuck-boy’ vibe, as he said. With a heavy groan, Raven clicked and heard it dial, foot impatiently tapping, muted by the carpet.
“Hey, Rae, ‘sup?” X answered on his end, his background a roaring wind and an angry revving motorbike. The man was outside, probably on a commission.
“I just moved in. Don’t have items with me, so help me buy one to make this homey, as you call it. Wanna celebrate, too? Champagne or whatever liquor and takeout are on me,” Raven drawled, slouching further on her couch as she stretched her legs, feeling lazier as time passed. She should try sleeping on the queen-sized bed soon. The duvets, as the agent emphasized upon her viewing of the place, were heavenly.
“I’ll be there by nine p.m.? I just landed from my flight. Oh, by the way, order me pepperoni pizza and all meat? And beer! I’d rent a movie on my way there.”
“And shit on my newly bought condo and taint my pristine bathroom?”
“Yup! It’s the first thing you do when your friend finally moves out!”
“I hope you crash on your way here,” Raven joked and ended the call. When the phone shut its screen, she got a view of her face from the reflection, lit by the television’s blue screen, still on its setting. She needed a minor change in her face too if she didn’t want to scare off her neighbors. Amethyst eyes stared back at her, waist-long lavender hair pooling at her shoulders, and much to her disappointment, choosing pale milky skin for red skin would declare her heritage and she would stand out like a sore thumb. Besides, having a life outside her life as a villainess who’s known for white hair, yellow eyes, and red skin was nice. People didn’t stupidly scream and run away when she was clad in this disguise she maintained with a steady thrum of her powers.
X had told her she looked like an average American teenage girl and could pass off as a dying college student who had continuously piled up student debts and suffered from it. Raven didn’t bother exploring the education system in this world, preferring to remain in her home and help Jason with his literature homework if he ever visited. Jason tried college, with mostly absences and accepting parties, leaving Raven confused about how he still aced his subjects and getting by smoothly every semester.
It was a system of sorts. Raven would have payment of her favorite spell books and books as she did Jason’s literature reflection papers, synthesis, and a lot more, and she was puzzled at how a single subject kept on spewing out so much paperwork, and realized why every college student went out from their campus resembling the undead she used to see.
Raven hesitantly opened up her phone contacts, fingertips hovering on the first number of the pizzeria where X always bought his pizza. He was the one who often ordered for her, and she was a villain, sure, but dialing a store to order was so anxiety-inducing! Later on, she’d always chide herself for being so nervous about talking to staff yet acting so confident when taunting the Titans during her heists.
She typed in the number quickly and dreaded every ring of her phone until someone answered and her brain short-circuited for a moment, forgetting X’s orders entirely and she was fumbling.
“Give me a moment…” she started, “sorry, order for family-size pepperoni and all-meat?” Raven hoped that was enough.
“Name and address?” The staff droned over his end.
“Rachel and my address is…” she stood up hastily, walking to the countertop of her kitchen and swatting away the paperwork, finding her new address. Papers slowly flitted down on the floor as she frantically tried to search the paper where she signed the lease. Aha! She found it. “Block 6 Lot 9 on Sunny St., it’s an apartment, and I’m on the third floor. 66C is my unit…thanks.”
“Got it. Total of 39.90, be there half an hour from now. Thanks for ordering!”
Half an hour…Raven guessed she could buy beers before the guy arrived. She trotted to her bathroom, swinging the door open to get a look at herself, and deemed it fine to go outside.
One perk of being outside of the chamber was that all the stores were so nearby and convenient. She could teleport, sure, but she preferred to walk to burn a lot of time, not that she needed a lot, not when most of her day was spent basking in the dark like a bat, reading books with a single candle while the darkness read the book line by line with her, a little squeak from her demonic rats here and then.
With only a thin spaghetti top and sweatpants, she set out to go outside but grabbed a sweater just in case the breeze by the port froze her skin. She shuffled to get her sandals on, resting her arm on the doorframe as she wiggled her feet, cursing in Daemon language as the sandals despised her. After a little tussle with the sandal, she exited the apartment building, glad at the decision to bring her sweater as the chilly breeze from the port danced on her skin, chilling her with its frosty kiss. The weather was tolerable here in San Francisco; the city adjusted and transitioned to the cool temperature during the night, and a spin of the wheel on the day if it would be warm, cool, or raining.
The port was still alive, teenagers walking in groups to destress, some dressed up fancy, others looked like they wanted time off from burying their noses in thick textbooks. She knew these were civilians who wanted nothing but peaceful times, so she avoided creating any heists that involved them being brought into harm. She was a villain, but she became one to mess with other villains and the Titans for one sole reason. For fun.
“Hm,” Raven hummed on the busy sidewalk, avoiding people by an inch as she turned her body expertly to avoid a collision, already eyeing the convenience store across from her. She stopped at the group of people waiting at the end of the sidewalk, waiting for the signal to turn green and she groaned, hating this part of blending in with the civilians. Rules. Yeugh.
She hurriedly crossed the street, avoiding the person handing out flyers. She knew the guy was already heading toward her so she almost yanked out the handle of the convenience store as she opened it, taking one last glance at the flyer guy who turned away to seek the next person to give it to.
“Hah! Better luck next time-” Raven’s cheeky little celebration was snuffed out as she collided with someone squarely. She took a step back, puzzled. Raven shook her head and apologized to the person she bumped into. “Sorry…?”
“Hey, there, sunshine, little care next time.”
‘Oh, Nine Hells,’ Raven’s jaw slackened, and she gulped just to hide her surprise, eyes wide as saucers as the person in front of her was the hex-caster; the witch of the Titans. Jinx was not clad in her dark, silly uniform, instead, she wore a black sleeveless ribbed shirt, her shoulders the area where Raven’s eyes never wanted to part from, then a shining accessory on her neck drew her eyes there, a thick, long, black strip of choker decorated her neck, another small line of silver chains that hung a little lower where it held a small, silver pendant stopped just nicely at the center of her collarbone. A quick peek and the witch wore wide-leg jeans, paired with brown high-heeled heels that had two golden straps.
“Uhm, yeah, you want an autograph or selfie?” Jinx smiled. “I get it. It’s not every day you bump into a hero.”
All the banter she used to throw at the heat of the battle with Jinx, the smoothness and comeback she stored, went past her brain and into the night, leaving her dumb and clueless.
“No, sorry…bout that…” Raven said, struggling to form the proper words. Her jaw was taut and her words were broken as if she’d forgotten English. She curtly took a step back. “Sorry, I’m just not at my best.”
‘Azar, why is she here?’
“I get that, tired and all, look it’s not early anymore. How about I walk you home before I begin my patrol?” Jinx offered, stepping back and allowing Raven a space to walk inside the store. Compared to the chilly breeze outside and the comfortable temperature of the store, Raven chose the store and stepped inside. The door closed with a soft ding and she had forgotten what she should be buying.
“Are you sure this is alright?” Raven settled on a small conversation as she shyly walked toward the beverages aisle, knew stores like this wouldn’t have the best liquor but she and X weren’t hungry alcoholics who wanted those top-shelf liquors that cost a grand for a bottle. They just wanted to drink to lengthen the conversation.
“Yup. Think of it as community service. Besides, it’s for your safety, with you being under the weather and all. It’ll make me happy to know you got home safely,” Jinx replied, grabbing a small shopping basket that she handed to Raven. The empath received it, feeling like a silly little kid who received candy from her crush.
‘Or I could take you home and we can have fun in the sheets.’ Raven swung her head in the other direction, blood rushing up to heat her cheeks. She could blame it on the cold outside!
“If that's what makes you happy,” Raven muttered under her breath, looking down at her empty shopping basket so she wouldn’t have to look at the heroine. Raven hurriedly went to the section she wanted, stopping at the liquor aisle and swinging the large, commercial refrigerator open, honing on the beer brand Red-X loved and grabbing two right away by its neck.
“Woah, woah.” Jinx cradled her wrist, and she bit her cheek from the inside. Her hold on the liquor loosened, and they gently landed on the surface, held back by a barrier. Azar, Raven wished her mental barriers were as strong as the one in the refrigerator because the soft hold of the heroine had her brain short-circuiting, her heart pumping even stronger. Her mind teased her further, where those grips were not gentle but tight, her wrists pinned above her head, a warm tongue teasing her collarbone.
‘No, no, no!’ her mind screamed, yet her body couldn’t deny the symphony of ‘yes!’
Jinx leaned at her, concern pooling in those fuchsia eyes. “Everything okay back there, hon?”
“Y-yeah, I and a friend will just celebrate…” Oh, Hells, why was lying so hard right now? It used to slip out of her tongue smooth as butter, yet it stuck to the truth, or maybe she melted right away at the concern that lapped over her empathy, sweet as nectar and she wanted more of that attention, those eyes looking at her like that.
“Are you sure?” Jinx didn’t seem to believe her. The heroine’s body was blocking Raven from the liquor, preventing the demoness from any access or attempt to grab a bottle. Raven resorted to looking at that pendant hanging from her choker because it held her attention, but she’d drown if she ever made eye contact when Jinx was this near.
“I moved out,” Raven said, close to blurring the words together, “got a place nearby, and me and my friend are going to celebrate it.”
“Oh, oh! Okay, that makes more sense now.” Jinx sheepishly stepped out of the way. “Just drink responsibly, okay?”
“We’re not heavy drinkers, so there’s no need to worry.” After Raven was sure Jinx wouldn’t block her again, she grabbed six beers, knew five were for Jason and one for her. She glanced at her side when Jinx walked away, returning to dump something in her small basket. Raven glanced at it. Cans of vanilla Coke and a box of Advil.
“Cola. So you won’t be drinking beer straight…and Advil…just in case, depends on your tolerance.” Jinx grabbed around her pockets, retrieving a wallet. “It’s on me.”
“There’s no need,” Raven said, about to decline, “I can pay for them.”
“I’m the one who put it, so I’ll pay for it, so hush. Just caring for my citizens, okay?”
“As you say so…” Raven agreed after thinking about it, a tad shy now that her rival (crush) paid, and that Jinx cared! This was a little hilarious, considering she always stole as a hobby, yet she couldn’t take a penny now from the witch’s pocket.
It was a weird pace toward the counter, with the cashier staff looking shyly toward them, barely masking his excitement at the presence of a hero so close. Raven remained shy, and it grew now that she realized she went out of her apartment dressed in literally house clothes and wished she’d dressed for something better! Or even a single spray of perfume would’ve done, but it was too late. Jinx would see her as a lazy alcoholic bum who lazed on the couch all day. Boo-hoo.
“Are you two…” The cashier said after he finished punching all the products. “Are you two together, Miss Jinx?”
Raven’s face heated up while Jinx laughed loudly beside her.‘I wish.’
“No, no, just helping some peeps out.” Jinx grabbed the plastic bag, surprising Raven, and the empath tried to pry it out of her hands, but the heroine was already ushering both of them out while waving goodbye to the staff.
“Whew! Sorry, that was awkward. Here.” Jinx handed her the bag, and Raven could see the manicure on the witch’s nails, glossy white with stars and glitter. Hmm, it would look better if Jinx chose a darker one. Purple or pink, like her. It suited her better.
“Oh, yeah, sorry about that. Girls' night out with Starfire led to this.” Jinx followed where she was staring and wiggled her fingers for Raven to see her nails closer.
“Are you seriously going to walk me home? Isn’t your team looking for you?” Raven began to walk as the signal for the pedestrian lane turned green. No waiting and awkward conversations. However, right now, she wanted any sort of conversation with Jinx, be it awkward or not.
“Soon yeah, my patrol’s starting soon and I’m just gonna begin by the port.”
“Oh. I live near the port.”
“Perfect! Two birds in one stone. Good thing it’s near for the both of us.” Jinx chuckled, walking alongside her and the heels clicked and clacked much clearer compared to her thick combat boots and Raven felt so small walking alongside the tall witch. It’s not helping that they were walking with each other so near…it felt so foreign to her, who was used to exchanging powers and punches, but this… wasn’t so bad.
“Don’t you guys get tired of the everyday patrol?” She asked, having known Jinx as a talkative gal, and she didn’t want to disappoint her crush. Ahem, sorry, she meant rival.
“Eh, you get used to it, like having a job, y’know? Surely you can relate to it.”
“Err.” Raven’s memories instantly went to nagging the Titans and annoying the heck out of them with her powers, leaving them frustrated by the end of the day as she always escaped with a wisp of black smoke. “Yeah. Totally.”
“I like questions. Got any more?”
“Villains you consider as your rivals?” The empath took a risk, anticipating an answer, deep down, expecting it to be her.
“Hm. That’s hard. Well, Raven is the most irritating out there for me. Demons are hard to catch, as you can see.”
A swell of pride blossomed in the empath’s chest, and she couldn’t stop smiling. ‘Hah, damn right. Besides, no one can taunt you like I do, wrapped around my fingers.’
Raven stopped at her block. “I’m here. Have fun with your patrol? And beat your rival for me.”
Jinx shot her a thumbs-up and a wink. “I’ll let ya know if I did.”
Raven smiled. “Then let’s celebrate by the time you do, Jinx. Good luck. You know where to find me.”
The heroine laughed. “Then I’ll see you soon!”
As soon as Jinx walked away and faded from her view, Raven released a sigh and chuckled, and much to her chagrin, the pizza delivery boy arrived, witnessing her laughing in the empty block all alone. And after paying for that pizza, the distant hum of a thunderous engine signaled her drinking friend for the night.
“C’mon, let me sleep on the couch?” Jason tried to reason, standing across her with knees bent a little as he pleaded, hair tussled wildly as he took the helmet out, a bottle in his right hand as he raised his hands at her in a pleading motion.
“A pleading puppy is much more convincing than your shitty act.” Raven picked up a slice and threw it on his face, but he was fast, catching it in his mouth, and mumbling a muted thanks. The gall to even ask for a packet of hot sauce, she ended up throwing the Sriracha sauce bottle she bought weeks ago on his face and it hit like bullseye, a plus for her as a drop ended up on Jason’s eye and he was screaming.
A carton of milk (yes, they tried washing it on Jason’s eye) wasted and a crying Jason leaning over the sink later; they calmed themselves down enough to watch Jason’s crappy movie that he had rented in a rush because the movie rental was about to close and he chose the closest thing to him that was a new release.
“Really, Jason, a horror movie?” Raven groaned, sipping lightly at the beverage, rolling her eyes at the eerie music echoing from the television that slowly raised its volume, signaling for a jump scare.
“An idea for you if someone tries to pull something. C’mon, Insidious is scary, okay!” Jason shushed her, pushing a sweaty hand over her mouth as he anticipated the jump scare. As revenge, Raven manifested the ghost behind Jason in inky shadows and manipulated it to have sharp claws. She grinned as her manifestation tapped Jason’s shoulders.
“Shush, wait, Raven-” Jason turned to face her, then his head sharply turned at the manifestation and let out a blood-curdling scream his throat would allow and crashed on her carpet, the beer seeping into the fabric. “Fuck!”
“My carpet!”
“Your fault!” Jason wiped away the liquor that splashed on his cheeks, then shook his head, spraying droplets further on her newly bought apartment.
“Oh, you little fucking shit.” Raven growled and kicked Jason’s shin painfully, grabbing the box of tissues she placed on the coffee table in front of the couch and hurled it toward the mercenary’s stomach with a burst of her powers.
“Okay, okay!” Jason went on his fours, cleaning the floor and cursing at the liquid that seeped into the carpet. “I’ll buy you a new one?”
“As you should or you’re going to be my next carpet.” Raven groaned, laying back down on the couch.
“You’re still invited to that annual villain meet up. Light’s hosting the party on a yacht and he told me to invite you,” Jason said after throwing away the crumpled tissues.
“That’s still a thing? I told them to stop inviting me.”
“Eh, they want to ally with the so so scary daughter of Trigon.” Jason mocked her by raising his hand, wriggling his fingers above his head to look scary, then mimicked the voice of the empath. “The Daughter of Darkness, the harbinger of Chaos!”
“I'm not ending the world.”
“Maybe, maybe not.”
“We’ll never know,” Raven dismissed.
“Your power is a threat alone for all of us. You’re the only one who has a standing with no loss against the Titans.”
“I’m just playing with them. I don’t do those mastermind villains planning of world domination.”
“Which you could probably do.” Jason took a hand on his chest and the other on his forehead as he arched his back a little. “Oh, poor me, left but a stone in this world, forever gone!”
“The couch is now off-limits for you. Your sleeping place is by the bathroom floor.”
“No! Couch, couch! I’ll go with you with the meet up, please, it’s fun! There’s a condition in the invitation,” Jason explained further.
That caught Raven’s interest. “Like what?”
“It’s Halloween! We go there dressing up as the hero we hate most. I’m going to choose Robin and put a pole up my ass. You can go as Jinx! It’ll be fun. There are drinks, too.”
“... I’ll pass. It’s weird and boring.” Raven huffed.
“Come with me and I’ll hack the Titans Tower and make Robin’s hair pink.”
Raven hummed, deep in thought. “Leave a gift for me for Jinx?”
“Sure. Hack the controls and set every villain alarm with Slade’s logo? Let’s see Robin go bald from pulling his hair from worrying too much.”
Raven caved in. “Fine. When is it?”
Jason smiled. “Tomorrow. I already have both of their outfits, so you don’t need to steal anything.”
“Outfit? Not costume?” Raven repeated.
“I know their measurements.” Jason laughed. “I know where Robin tailored Red X’s clothes. Turns out all of them also went and did their outfit tailoring there.”
“Where’s the yacht at? They’d be dumb to host it on the port.”
“San Francisco bay. Let’s experience Light’s private mega yacht, and we’re going to pass the Golden Bridge. It’s also intel for us, see which one they hate most, use it against them.”
“Here I thought you just wanted to have fun, but no you’re here planning to manipulate people.”
“Please, as if I can hold a candle to you.”
“Excuse me?”
“Stating facts, demon!”
“Fucker!”
“Now, with that settled, can I sleep on the couch now?”
“Ugh.” Raven stood up and turned the television off. “Clean up.”
“You got it, little bird. Also, go shopping with me tomorrow to pick Robin’s dye.”
“...hot neon pink plausible?”
“Of course.” Jason smiled wickedly.
JINX
Robin stared at Jinx with a grim look. “There’s intel that there’s a gathering of villains on a yacht. Go and see.”
Jinx shuffled from one boot to another, unease pooling in her stomach. “No disguise and back-up?”
Robin smiled uncannily, adding to Jinx’s unease. “The thing is, they’re dressed up as us. No need for disguise.”
Jinx reeled back. “What? They’d know right away it’s me!”
Cyborg called their attention as he looked over from the couch. “Trust me, Superman can go around walking as Clark and no one even noticed the similarities! Charlie Chaplin lost in a lookalike contest. You’d be fine, girl!”
Jinx grumbled, crossing her arms. “And why is it only me? Where are the four of you?”
“We’ll be monitoring from the distance. Beastboy will be with you in the water. You're good with mingling with people. Please?”
Jinx looked at Robin’s pleading face. She’d rather kick it. “Okay. ”
“Nice! Then get ready.”
“When will it happen?”
“Tomorrow,” Robin replied.
“What do I get?”
“Your stupid manicure,” Robin offered. “With Starfire in that expensive parlor, where the two of you go to.”
“Wanna bet if I’d see Raven?” Jinx joked. It was a running joke that the villainess liked to stay holed up in her chamber and disregard any villain meetings.
“Five dollars you won’t see her.” Robin took the offer.
“I’ll bet you a hundred I’d see her.” Jinx's instinct told her she'd see the demoness. She would visit the girl and celebrate! She was cute and Jinx admitted that she loved those amethyst eyes being so star-struck.
Beastboy perked up next to Cyborg. “Betting game! You get to do my chores if you lost the bet!”
Cyborg joined. “If Jinx wins, Beastboy gets to have an ugly haircut!”
Jinx gave Cyborg a high-five. “Oh, it is on!”