#titans 18

The empath gave her friend an amused grin. She tried biting the inside of her cheek to keep it in check.

“What about me?”

“C’mon, kid, I’m trying here. It’s taking all I’ve got.”

“And I imagine that must be torture,” Raven rolled her eyes.

“And I should know a thing or two about that-”

“Is there some kind of point you’re trying to make here, Rose?” she asked, finally shutting her book and raising her chin up in a challenge. There was a spark in the assassin’s eye as her grin grew again.

“I wanna ask you the same thing Jaybird asked me today. You know what he asked me?”

“I don’t really care-” Raven made an effort to push off Rose’s legs, one of which held fast in place.

“He said to me, ‘Rose’,” she paused, waiting for the empath to meet her eyes again before continuing, “‘Why do I still like you, knowing you’re a giant asshole?’”

They sat a moment in silence, each waiting for the other to speak. Raven was the first to break it, gently shaking her head and gesturing with her hand.

“And you said…?”

“No, no,” Rose wagged a finger, pointing it at her, “I wanna hear what you have to say to that first.”

Raven rolled her eyes again, taking in a breath to puff up her cheeks and slowly releasing it.

“I don’t know,” she shrugged, “Maybe it’s because you like looking into a mirror.”

Rose’s eye widened in shock for a moment, her grin finally dropping completely. She could feel a tightening in her gut and something was there, reflected in Raven’s eyes, that told her she felt all of those shifts too.

And all too quickly, she began chuckling, a slow sound that built louder until it was an outright cackle.

“God, that’s way better than the quip I gave him. Holy sh-”

“You’re quick on your feet, Ro’. You don’t need to be quick with your mouth,” Dick interrupted. The girls turned, Rose lifting her hand to deftly catch the water bottle he had thrown her way.

“Wit comes with experience. Of which, you all have very little-”

“More training, new Titans need,” Rose said mockingly in her best Yoda impression. Raven laughed along with her and Dick only smiled indulgently.

“For the record, though,” he said, leveling a serious look at each of them, “None of you guys are assholes.”