Teen Titans: The Mod Initiative

Chapter 1

Titans Tower was quiet. It never used to be quiet. Beast Boy and Cyborg used to constantly be in a battle of who could play their music or video games the loudest. Starfire would be playing with Silkie or floating around trying to understand Earthly functions. Robin would be explaining to her mundane things like what a toaster is while simultaneously trying to practice his fight technique. Even Raven, who would usually sit quietly and mediaite or read, seemed to be more silent than usual.

She was the first to pick up on the energy of the tower. Raven found herself getting less annoyed these days. She could remember clearly the first time she managed to get through half of a novel uninterrupted or disturbed by obnoxious video game sounds or Starfire's quippy questions. It felt strange to her.

A little before seven, for what felt like the first time in days, noise echoed through the dull hallways of the tower. The stove clicking on, the refrigerator opening, a pot being filled with water. Beast Boy was the first to hear the commotion going on in the kitchen. Taller than he was when he first joined the team, almost everything about Gar was still the same. His face had aged only slightly as he took on a more mature look, but his skin was still green, his hair still in some ruffled mess atop his head and joy still somewhere behind his eyes, though buried deeper than it used to be.

He practically sprinted down the hallway to the kitchen, but before entering, made sure he slowed down to look as though he was just passing by. In the kitchen he found Starfire. She was taller and more beautiful than she was when she had first joined the team. After years of being on Earth, she had adapted well, for the most part. She still wore her classic Tamarian clothing and tended to float around more than she walked. Her understanding of Earth functions had improved tremendously. She could now, with confidence, explain what the purpose of a bendy straw was.

Though she understood Earth better now, some things still never seemed to improve. One of those things was her cooking ability with Earth ingredients. Every time Starfire was responsible for cooking in the tower, the team seemed to want to engage in having a meal together less than usual. Most of her cooking started with a base in normal, human ingredients but she usually assumed that one teaspoon of cayenne pepper in recipes was clearly a mistake and would take it into her own hands to correct the recipe and add one cup instead. No one, especially Robin, ever had the heart to tell her.

"Hey Star," Gar said as casually as he could, taking a seat in one of the stools in front of the counter. Starfire broke her gaze on the recipe book she had in her hands.

"Oh hello, Gar!" She practically screamed, slightly startled by another Titan's presence in a common area, but more excited than anything. They both heard as her voice echoed throughout the halls. She blushed a bit, and resumed reading her recipe.

"What are you cooking?" Gar said as he skeptically looked into the pot of water on the stove.

"Well, I thought I would make something the whole team would enjoy so I am cooking pasta!" She said in a hushed voice, despite her excitement and joy. She didn't want to disturb the silence of the tower again. Gar smiled at her, hoping she understood that he, like her, wished the tower wasn't as quiet as it was.

Gar looked again at the ingredients on the counter. He would have never guessed that Starfire was cooking pasta based off of what was lined up. There were lemons, pickles, various spices (one being nutmeg), a bottle of ketchup and barbecue sauce, what appeared to be cut up salmon and a box of spaghetti amongst other things.

After a few minutes of near silent whispering between the two of them, some absurd odors began to arise from Starfire's 'pasta' dish. The two of them were so immersed in the deep orange color her 'sauce' had turned they didn't notice Raven float in without making a sound. Starfire turned to get some celery out of the refrigerator when she noticed Raven. She lit up.