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“Remind me why I agreed to this?”
“Star suggested you and BB switch your normal Halloween costumes and then BB whined until you gave in?”
“That was rhetorical, Cy.” He shrugs where he stands beside her and Raven watches the movement in her mirror. With a sigh, she returns to adjusting the stupid dog ears Gar had given her. “Why does he even have these? He can choose to have dog ears if he wants them.”
“I think it’s the principal of it,” Cyborg says. “We all could go as ourselves and still pass. Robin is just the only one who’s actually lazy enough to do that.”
She snorts, “he’s going as himself again?”
Raven gives herself a final glance in the mirror, a wave of self-consciousness coming over her. With her dark cloak and accessories put away in favor of clip-on fur ears and a flannel, she almost looks… normal. Like any other dumb teen dressing up for Halloween. The only thing giving her away is the ruby settled into her temple.
“You nervous?”
Frowning, Raven glances back at Cyborg through the mirror. “Why would I be nervous? It’s just a dumb Halloween party; we do this every year.”
“Sure, but this is the first one since you and Beast Boy started dating.” His reminder sends a bolt of anxiety through her, causing the corners of her mirror to crack and splinter. With a calming breath she smooths the feeling over. Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos. “You know you don’t… need to be nervous, right?”
She fiddles with one of the clips, looking down so she doesn’t have to meet Cyborg’s knowing gaze. The fact that she can feel his quiet, steady concern is already bad enough. “I know it doesn’t… make much sense,” she admits. “This couples’ costume thing is just… reminding me that I’ve gotten attached, I guess.”
It’s not that Raven doesn’t trust Gar. At this point she trusts the Titans implicitly. It’s more that Raven doesn’t like to think about how much she trusts them. How close she’s gotten to these four in a way she’d always been warned against. She was dangerous. A demon that would soon act as the harbinger of the apocalypse. She should've been finding a way to take down her father, not going to dumb Halloween parties.
“Is that a bad thing?” Cyborg walks up to her and Raven finally looks up at him. “I know you’re not used to having friends, but is it so bad?”
“No,” she sighs, crossing her arms. “That’s just it, though. I can’t help but feel like something bad is going to happen. Things never stay this good for long. Not for me.”
She’d been attracting danger since she was born. Nobody in her life ever stayed around for very long. Either they grew scared of her or she did something that drove them away. Even those who did stay around for a while never truly trusted her. She could always feel their fear when they were reminded how inhuman she was.
The Titans were different, Raven knew. They understood her in a way others couldn’t. All of them were as alienated as she was; struggled with their powers as much as her. Raven just… doesn’t know what to do with this certainty. This trust. She doesn’t know how to behave when she’s not worrying about managing herself.
“Even if something bad does happen, we’ll handle it.” Cyborg smiles at her, reaching a heavy arm over her shoulder and leading her to the door of her room. She’s tempted to pull away and snap at him but… it’s not so bad. His easy confidence in their strength is comforting. “Come on, Raven. Let’s go have some fun before the next stupid villain starts rampaging and we have to go fix it.”
She tugs the door open with her magic only to come to a stop. Gar is standing outside her door, hand poised to knock. He greets them with a sheepish grin, raised hand going back to rub at his neck. He has a black witch’s hat perched on his head and dark robes thrown over one of his striped long-sleeves. Raven finds herself eyeing the way her robe sweeps over him, tight collar pressed against his neck.
It makes her feel better to find Gar looking too. His gaze lingers on the clip-on ears in her hair, the casual blue flannel over a Fall Out Boy t-shirt. She'd had to pull from the small assortment of clothes she keeps around for ‘Rachel Roth.' If Raven couldn't feel Gar's intrigue so clearly she might have been self-conscious.
“Hey guys!” Gar grins, sharp canine glinting in the hallway’s fluorescents. It sort of takes away from the whole ‘witch’ thing but Raven doesn’t particularly mind. “Rob and Star finished setting things up, they sent me to come get you guys. Are you ready?”
Raven allows herself a small smile, “yes.”