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"Raven! Oh, Friend!" A almost annoyingly happy voice drifted through a large steel door and into a dark, quiet room.
"Azarath...Metrion...Zint---"
"Raaaaven!" The persistent voice was accompanied by light knocking.
"Azarath.....Metrion....Fuck it..." Raven's feet hit the ground with light paps, and a black aura encasing the hood of her dark blue cloak, pulling it over her head and giving her that real mysterious look. Yeah, maybe if she looked as creepy as possible Starfire would choose to spend her time with a cheerier companion.
Almost as soon as she stepped within a few feet of the door, it slid open with 'whoosh' and all Raven could see was too-green-to-be-fair-eyes and locks of auburn hair.
"Raven! My friend!" Starfire's sweet voice flooded into Raven's ears as the ever-peppy Tamaranean stepped forward, not quite stepping into her room. "May we spend the afternoon together discussing the subjects of nail polish and fashion?"
Raven's mind searched for a million ways to say 'no' but of course a "Sure, Star." slipped past her lips, her usual gravely emotionless tone seeming to disobey Raven's thoughts. Starfire's reaction was over-the-top-excited, as Raven had grown to expect from the alien girl. She floated, literally floated, into Raven's gloomy room, Starfire's smile seeming to brighten everything up exponentially.
Raven let out a sigh, rubbing the bridge of her nose, although, honestly, she wasn't entirely annoyed by Starfire's presence. In reality, Starfire was probably the most bearable Titan on the team for Raven.
Raven trusted Robin, don't get her wrong, but he often carried the weight of the world, or at least Jump City on his shoulders and it tired Raven out just being near him.
Beast Boy always tried so hard to be funny or interesting, as if he thought it would somehow cheer Raven up or make her friendlier, and after you've heard one of his jokes (or twelve) you've heard them all.
And Cyborg was...well he was a dude. He liked to hug Raven after working out, and even though he was mostly robot, he still sweat like crazy, and he always wanted to be competing. Or eating. Or something. His enthusiasm was infectious, sure, but it was also annoying too at times.
Starfire wasn't perfect either. In a lot of ways, She was Raven's exact polar opposite. She was very emotional constantly, and being an Empath, Raven felt a lot of what she felt, but she was also the first person to take interest in mediating with her, or really doing anything she liked with her. She never treated Raven like she was creepy or really, even different. Maybe it was because Starfire was an alien, or maybe it just wasn't in her nature to see those sorts of things. Either way, Raven loved her for it. Not that she'd ever ever ever admit that.
Starfire was already camped out on Raven's bed by the time the Empath turned around. She had spread out several magazines across the purple-ish-blue-ish sheets in front of her and had a at least a dozen of nail polish bottles in her lap. That almost blindingly bright smile was still distorting Starfires features cheerily. Raven almost wanted to laugh about how out of place she seemed, surrounded by dusty old books and darkness. Yet she seemed so comfortable.
Raven took her seat just across the ocean of Magazine pages from Starfire, floating just above the sheets of her bed.
"Raven...What is a Boy Friend?" The red haired girl asked suddenly.
Raven raised her eyebrows, glancing down at the Magazines for an indications of what caused the Tamarean to ask that.
"I assumed it was a boy in which one was friends with, as that seemed to make sense, right? But it would appear I am wrong." She pointed a long tan finger to a picture of a dark haired boy kissing a blonde girl.
'Oh, cool, boyfriend jeans are back in style.' Raven thought sarcastically.
This was another thing that sometimes made Raven's relationship with Starfire a bit complicated. She had to explain a lot of things to her, and at first she avoided doing so, but after an incident involving Beast Boy seeing a little more of Starfire than he'd expected one morning (the morning of Starfires apparent Birthday) , Raven chose to keep her friend as informed as she could.
"Well..." Raven began, thinking of how exactly to word this, fiddling with the fabric covering her wrist. "It is a boy whom you share a special relationship that usually involves giving each other gifts and flowers and...uh...kissing." Raven really disliked explaining these sorts of things to Starfire, it was always such an awkward hassle.
"Oh!" Starfire's emerald eyes lit up as she compared it to some form of relationship they had back on Tamaran, using words Raven didn't understand and kind of sounded like Starfire about to cough halfway through saying something. The half demon just nodded and lazily flipped through a magazine in front of her.
"Can one not have that sort of relationship with a girl?" Starfire inquired softly. Raven just about choked. Starfire was apparently going for the big questions here.
"Uh...Well that's sort of a controversy for some people." Raven was considering how bad it would be to just leave Starfire out of the loop on this one and just answer with a 'Nah you totes can.' But of course those curious wow-how-can-those-be-that-green eyes peering at her forced more words out of Raven's mouth. "Some people think dating someone of the same sex is wrong...."
"Why would it be wrong, Friend?" Starfire pressed further, leaning forward slightly, seeming to have lost interest in the magazines and nail polishes in her lap and focusing completely on Raven. "Is there some sort of human disease that is passed between those of the same sex?"
"No, No. Well actually yes...but also no." Raven facepalmed internally. 'Yes, good job at this whole explaining thing, Rae, you're totally not confusing her. Nope, you are the master of explaining things to alien girls. Woo.' Raven watched Starfires eyebrows scrunch together and her head tilt a little. 'She's really cute when she does that. Kind of like a cat...' Raven thought absently before adding on more to her explanation. "Not really. There's a disease that can be passed between anyone who..uhh..engages in sexual activities together if they aren't safe....Uh." Wow, this was going really well.
"But no, there isn't one that specifically affects homosexuals." Raven said quickly, unclipping her cloak and letting it fall off her shoulders because wow was it getting hot in here or was it just her?
Starfire processed this information, the gears in her head almost actually visible as they turned. She tapped her chin absent-mindedly before returning her gaze to Raven.
"So it...is not wrong to be a girl who is in a relationship with another girl?" She asked and Raven simply shook her head in reply, feeling like she might just phase through the floor if she had to explain in further detail. "Oh, wonderful!" Starfire grinned before returning to deciding which nail polish color she wanted to try now.
Raven lifted her eyebrows, watching the Tamarean for a few more moments. It was times like this that it was hard not to take a look into her mind, but of course she resisted.
They continued chatting idly about odd earth customs, various demons and which nail polish went best with the feeling 'happy'. By the time the sun was setting and Starfire was yawning, they had read through all of the magazines and discussed all of the latest trends.
"Thank you, my dear friend for spending all of this time doing the 'haning out' with me." Starfire offered a sleepy smile as she gathered the magazines and nail polish.
"No problem, Star." Raven said, a smile of her own pulling at the corners of her mouth. She was caught completely off guard by the smell of flowers and oddly sulfur being much closer to her than normal. Soft lips were pressed against a pale grey cheek (that was then soon burning a bright pink) and the empaths field of vision was filled with Auburn hair and tan skin. Before Raven could even process what had happened Starfire was already stepping out of the door of her room.
"Goodnight, Raven. Have the sweetness of dreams." Starfires voice said as she left, the sound of Raven's bedroom door 'whoosing' open and closed again snapping Raven back into reality.
Raven did not sleep that night.