Chapter Text
As Starfire and Raven walked along Jump City Mall, they were surrounded by bright decorations and loud playing romantic music. Excitement was in the air as hundreds of shoppers visited different stores trying to get the last good deals for the day.
Raven sighed and rubbed her temples in frustration. This was the tenth shop they had looked at and yet Starfire still couldn’t make up her mind. The atmosphere was only making her more irritable.
“Starfire can we hurry up? How much longer do you need to find a gift?” She said with annoyance. It seemed as if Starfire was taking her sweet time today.
“Oh Raven, we have to stay here a little longer. I want to buy the perfect gift for Robin! Do you think this will be to his liking?” Starfire asked, showing her friend some golden hoop earrings.
Raven raised an eyebrow. “Umm…Starfire? Why don’t you buy something that you know he’ll like? Like hair gel for instance? He uses that stuff by the gallon!”
Starfire wasn’t listening however; she had already put down the jewelry and had made her way to the junior men’s department.
“I bet this will make my booforf happy!” Starfire exclaimed. In her hands was a white sweater with bright red polka dots. “What do you think Raven?”
Raven shrugged. “Whatever. Let’s just buy it and get out of here.”
Starfire hesitated for a few moments, looking at it carefully. Finally, grinning broadly she flew back towards Raven and placed the sweater into the cart.
“It will be a perfect surprise and whenever he does the wearing of it, it will be me he’ll think about me!” The girl squealed happily.
“Yep, he will certainly be surprised, that’s for sure.” Raven said sarcastically. Though, she couldn’t help but look forward too seeing Robin’s face. He wasn’t going to live this one down that’s for sure!
“Raven?” Starfire asked, breaking her from her thoughts. “Raven are you going to get anything for the special day?”
Raven was silent for a few moments, before saying “No.”
“But Raven, The day of Valentine’s is in a week! Surely there must be something?” Starfire protested, but Raven just glared at her.
“I don’t do Valentine’s Day. It’s just a lame holiday for the love crazy. I have better things to worry about!” Raven exclaimed angrily.
Merchandise started flying around the room in black energy, as her anger grew. When she realized what was going on, Raven took a deep breath and tried to relax her nerves. It wasn’t Starfire’s fault that the familiar feeling was coming back.
“Raven? Are you okay? I didn’t mean to offend you about the day of Valentine’s; I just wanted you to join in the fun of giving wrapped packages!” Starfire said sadly.
Raven stopped pushing the cart and looked at her friend for a few seconds. Finally she sighed. “It just brings back bad memories, okay? Now, please I don’t want to talk about it. Let’s just buy your gift and get out of here.”
Starfire agreed and gathered up her gifts. Something about the way Raven had spoken made her curious to what she meant.
Bad memories? Of what? Surely the day was meant to be joyful. She thought to herself.
By the time they got back to the tower, Beast Boy was already waiting for them
“Hi Guys! Pick up anything nice?” He said cheerfully, eyeing the bags they carried. He was obviously trying to see what was inside them.
Starfire smiled brightly. “I got the perfect thing for Robin at the mall of shopping!”
Raven looked around curiously. Then she asked Beast Boy. “Where is Robin?”
“Oh, Robin’s in the gym doing his martial arts thing and Cyborg is working on his car.”
“Glorious! Then I should hide my gift till the day of Valentine’s!” She quickly flew off and started looking for possible hiding places.
“What about you Rae? Did you pick up something special for the big day?” Beast Boy said wiggling his eyebrows and smiling smugly.
“No, Just some books!” Raven said coldly.
Why do they always have to bring that holiday up? It’s not like anybody loves me anyway. She thought as she teleported to her room.
Beast Boy’s ears drooped sadly when he saw her disappear. It wasn’t until Starfire popped out from the other room did he look away from the spot Raven teleported from.
“I found the best place of hiding! Robin will never guess where I put it!”
Beast Boy shrugged and gave a small smile. “That’s great Star.”
His gaze drifted towards Raven’s door that lay just down the hallway.
“Do you know what Raven’s problem is? I just asked her if she got something for Valentine’s Day. She practically gave me the evil eye just for asking!”
Starfire sighed sadly. “Raven mentioned earlier that she greatly disliked the day of Valentine’s. She claimed it brought back bad memories.”
Beast Boy’s sad expression turned to one of shock. “Bad memories? Of what?”
Starfire shrugged. “Raven wishes not to talk about it. Please don’t mention it to her. Now I have some last minute preparations to accomplish. I’ll see you soon Friend Beast Boy.”
She flew off again, leaving Beast Boy alone in the common room.
Well, I’ll just have to give Raven good memories of Valentine’s Day! Now how do that? Beast Boy thought to himself as he pondered Raven’s problem.
“I got it! It’s so perfect!” Beast Boy exclaimed happily.
“What’s perfect?” A new voice in the room asked.
Beast Boy whirled around to see Cyborg walking in. He smiled sheepishly.
“Oh, hey Cy!” Beast Boy greeted. Before Cyborg could reply the green boy raced towards his room.
Cyborg watched him go with a look of confusion on his face.
“I wonder what that was all about.” He said scratching his head. Shrugging to himself, he grabbed a drink from the fridge and headed back to the garage.