Saving Grace

Gone?

The tragedy happened late one night. It had been a normal night for the Titans. Beast Boy and Cyborg were battling it out in a daylong marathon of Turbo Races 3. Raven sat by idly, sipping on her tea, deemed as ref by Beast Boy. She didn't protest though, it wasn't like she was going to do something else. She'd had the job before and she was very good at it. All she had to do was yell at them to shut up when they started arguing. She sometimes did quite enjoy it, especially when she got to use her powers to break them up. Even when they didn't ask her, she kept up that half of the job. The other half was to simply turn her attention from her book to the piece of paper next to her and mark a point on the winner's side. This she did out of the kindness of her heart, and because Beast Boy looked extremely pathetic when he begged her to do it.

She could always escape to her room for solitude, if she ever wanted to. However, she liked to sit in the common room. It made her feel closer to her friends and, the squealing tires and explosions made good background noise.

Beast boy sat closer to Raven, sub-consciously feeling an attraction to her. He was scared to death to bother her, but heck, why not try to impress her. It was failing. So far, the score was 32 to 0. Cyborg's favor.

Crash! Make that 33 to 0.

"Boo-yah! Eat it grass stain, you got owned!"

"Dude, not fair! I'm in a car, and you're on a fricken' motorcycle!"

"Don't you mean...motor-CY-cle?"

"I see what you did there!" Beast Boy smirked.

"Clever." Raven rolled her eyes.

"Another round?" BB asked

"You bet dip."

"Dip? Why dip?"

"’Cause I'm about to smash you like an avocado!" Tires squealed as Cy pulled out of the virtual starting gate.

A smile ghosted across Raven's face.

And where are Robin and Starfire you ask? Well, on the roof, of course. The roost for our little love birds. As every other night, the couple will sit up there and watch the sunset over the city. Tonight was no exception, besides the fact that Starfire was sitting and Robin stood behind her, blush evident on his face and hands full of long auburn tresses. How he got roped into this, he will never understand. No, he knew exactly what it was. That timid request, the pink dusting on her cheeks, the batting of the eyelashes and the big emerald eyes staring into his soul.

He just had to do it, no matter how much he didn't want to, or felt unable to. The request ran clear in his head. Robin, I have gotten the most recent edition of my magazine, glamour, and I wish for you to assist me in the styling of the hair!

The words had just barely escaped his mouth. What he had meant to say was, Sorry Star, why don't you ask Raven? But instead it came out as, I'd love too. Doh, he could be so stupid sometimes! So here they were, Star content and Rob confused. He looked at the directions in the magazine and found them to be written in gibberish. After a while of staring and decoding, he finally got some idea of what he was doing. Deciding it would be best to remove his gloves to effectively do the procedure, he suddenly realized he'd be touching Starfire's hair, with his bare hands!

The do was called a waterfall braid, and on the model, it looked like a crown that wrapped around her head. Fitting for a princess, he mused. He began. After he got the hang of it, it didn't take very long to do. It was helpful Star had silky smooth hair. He blushed. This was the most contact they'd had besides that 'kiss' that happened when they first met, and her ritual, after-battle hugs. How he loved her oxygen depriving embraces.