Peter awakened late one morning to the sound of his phone going off on his bedside table. The blaring of the alarm was an extreme shock to his senses and Peter immediately shot out of bed, before falling to the floor with a thud, wincing in pain as he peeled his eyes open, the alarm still blaring over him.
He quickly shot to his feet like a spring and grabbed the phone, fumbling it in his hand with haste as he accepted the call and Robin's face stared back at him.
"Robin." Peter yawned. "What's up? We got trouble?"
"Not quite." Robin replied with a smirk. "It's almost time for training, where are you?"
"I'm uh..." he paused to yawn again with abig stretch, before continuing. "I was still sleeping. What time is it?"
"Almost noon." Robin replied with an amused smirk. "Not a very heroic sleeping schedule you have, is it?" He chuckled in a teasing manner.
"It IS, just not for me." Peter replied with a chuckle, rubbing his eyes as he tried to wake up more. "I'll be down in a minute."
He quickly hung up the call and tossed the communicator onto his bed before pulling off his pajamas. He went over to his dresser and quickly slipped on his uniform halfway up before grabbing his mask and running hurriedly into the hall. He slid into the kitchen, still slipping his arms into the suit as he grabbed a cup and poured some coffee, not even stopping for cream or sugar. He quickly slipped his other arm into the suit, before picking up the cup an running for the training room. As he ran, he practically chugged the black coffee, wincing with disgust, but still drinking it in order to wake up.
By the time he got to the training room the cup was empty, leaving a terribly bitter after taste in his mouth. He set the cup on a table as he entered and watched with amusement as Beastboy lied on the floor with a dazed look on his face, with Starfire standing over him.
"I can't feel my anything." Beastboy groaned.
"You did give it your best." Starfire chimed apologetically and offered him a hand up. "You lasted far longer his time."
Robin saw Peter from behind the small observation room to the right of the door with the other Titan sitting in there. He immediately exited the room as Starfire helped Beastboy into he room to sit down.
"Whats going on?" Peter asked, looking at Beastboy with a worried expression. "Is he okay?"
"Oh yeah. He'll be fine." Robin waved it off. "Today we're doing training a little differently."
"No team training today?" He replied.
Robin shook his head. "Nope. We will practicing facing other super powered people. YOU will be sparring with one of us."
Peter's stomach dropped at that and he gave his leader a worried look and he looked one more to Beastboy in the observation room groaning in pain still from his match with Starfire.
"Are you sure?" Peter replied. "I-I mean I don't wanna hurt you guys."
"Ooh, cocky!" Cyborg replied with a challenging grin. "I like it!"
"No-no-no!" Peter stammered with worry. "It's not like that. I-its just... well." He gestured to Robin. "You've seen what I can do. And... we're on the same side, you know?"
"Relax." Robin chuckled patting Peter on the shoulder. "Youre not fighting to the death. Sparring is just the best way for a fighter to improve their skills. Practicing against an actual person makes it more challenging, you know?"
Peter was still worried, however. "Hehe, sure... whatever you say, Robin."
"Ooh! Ooh!" Cyborg perked up, raising his mechanical arm into the air and eagerly waving it overhead. "I wanna spar with the fresh meat first!"
"Actually I was gonna take the first one, just to start off slowly." Robin replied.
"No way!" Cyborg argued, stepping out of the observation room into the big open training room. "I called dibs first!"
"No I did!" Beastboy argued, making tk get out of his seat, before sitting back down groaning in pain.
"Yeah right, BB, you ain't fighting anyone in your current condition." Cyborg replied with a teasing smirk.
Peter simply watched their antics with a mix of amusement and anxiety as to who his opponent would be.
"Guys, cut it out!" Robin replied, stepping Between Cyborg and the observation room. "Look I would let you go first, but it's clear your way too... over eager."
"Heck yeah, I'm over eager!" Cyborg replied. "It's like getting new gym equipment! Why wouldn't I wanna try it out?"
"Peter's still new." Robin argued with a chuckle. "We can't go so hard on him the first time around."
Raven peeked over the top of the book she was reading from the other side of the glass with a look of disinterest across her violet eyes. "Just pick somebody already."
Peter couldn't help but to smile when he heard her voice, soothing as ever. He quickly snapped his gaze to the floor when she caught him staring, hoping her expression wasn't one of anger.
"What about you?" Robin replied with a teasing smirk. "You havent participted yet. Think you can handle a guy in tights?"
Peter's entire body tensed up at he suggestion and he internally prayed that Robin was joking. He had seen her powers during team training. Not only could she fly and use portals, but she had telekinesis, as well as many other powers that he didn't know about. He wasn't sure exactly how powerful she was, however, her cold and stern demeanor filled him with dread at the possibility of facing her. Batman told him not to get on her bad side, and fighting her, even if it was practice, seemed like he quickest way to her bad side.
"Ugh!" She replied with a roll of the eyes. "Do I have to?"
"Come on." Robin replied. "It'll be good practice for the new recruit. Help me out."
"I thought you said you were gonna go easy on me!" Peter stammered in a panic.
"Exactly." Robin replied with a shrug. "Raven's not too eager, so you know she'll barely try."
"Not that it'll matter." Cyborg snickered, before returning to the observation room.
Raven peered at Robin with a challenging glare, before finally she rolled her eyes and snapped her book shut. "Ugh! Fine!"
Peter tensed up again and took a few steps back as Raven walked out of the room and headed toward the circle in the middle of the room.
"Oh shit." Peter mumbled to himself under his breath.
"You good?" Robin asked with an amused smirk.
"Yeah." Peter lied with a quick nod.
"You'll be okay. " Robin chuckled, before returning to the observation room.
Raven stopped in the middle of the circle and looked back at him, her arms folded with an impatient huff.
"We doing this, or what?" She asked flatly.
Peter took a deep breath before nodding. "Yeah." He pulled his mask on and started walking to the space in front of her. "Okay, Peter... you got this- you got this- you got this." He whispered to himself before stopping in front of Raven.
He stared at her awkwardly, feeling a great tension between having to fight her and internally fawning over her incredible beauty. How the hell was he supposed to fight her?
"Ready?!" Robin called from inside the observation room. Raven nodded silently to him and Peter shakily did the same. "Three two one." Raven raised her hands in a ready position and Peter lowered himself into his ready position. "Begin!"
Peter saw an opening to attack first, but his mind immediately froze. He didn't even want to hit this girl. On top of that, he wasn't even sure of he would stand a chance against her. Raven, however, did not hesitate and delivered a spinning back kick into Peter's midsection, blowing him back a few a few steps. He immediately leaned back, dodging her fist that barely missed his face. Raven stumbled past him slightly and Peter immediately pushed her forward with her back turned to him. Raven quickly caught her footing and turned to attack again, but Peter immediately front flipped over her head, flicking his wrists and webbing her feet to the floor before landing behind her again.
Raven was surprised at being stuck and quickly waved her hand, using her dark energy to rip through the webbing, before levitating into the air.
Robin's eyes widened and he covered his mouth in shock. "Uh oh... mayyybe having him face Raven first WASN'T such a good idea."
"Oh man, she's about to whipe the floor with him." Beastboy snickered to Cyborg.
"Oh I cannot look!" Starfire replied, covering her eyes with worry.
"Uh..." Peter stammered, frozen in place as he watched the dark cloaked girl rising further over his head, her eyes glowing a ghostly white. "Are you mad because you lost your pupils? Cause... I can help you look for them!" He joked.
Raven gritted her teeth at the comment, before waving her hands again and every box sitting around the outside of the room rose into the air all around him. Peter took a step back with fear, then looked back to Raven.
"Okay, that was a mistake." He said to himself. "Wait wait wait!" He shouted, waving his hands in front of him in a panic. "I-I-I take it back!" Suddenly one of the boxes floating in the air darted at him out of no where. Peter instinctively dove through the air, narrowly dodging the box before rolling swiftly to his feet "I take it back!"
Another box came darting at his head from behind and his Spider Sense kicked in just in time for him to duck. Peter laughed withbrelief, as this was the very first time his Spider Sense worked properly since he jumped universes. He immediately front flipped, dodging another box, before taking a third one to the face, which knocked him to the floor. Peter scrambled to his feet and looked back to Raven as she floated in the middle of the room, her eyes fixed on him with intense fury that shook him to his very core.
"I take it it's too late to talk it out?!" He shouted, webbing the wall on the far side of the wall.
He gave a heavy tug and slid himself across the room, seamlessly passing though each of the boxes as they all flew at him at once and all missed. He landed on the side of the wall and Raven immediately spun around to face him. Before she could react, Peter jumped into the air and flicked his wrist, shooting a web line that stuck directly to her chest. Peter swung from Raven as she floated there, tucking an rolling to dodge the I coming crates that she threw to get him off. He flicked his wrist again and shot a second web line to her chest, before landing on the other side of her. Her gripped the webs tightly and pulled back with all his might, dragging her from the air onto the floor.
"Ooh!" Peter winced and took a few hesitant steps toward her as she picked herself up off the floor. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"
Raven rose to her feet and glared at him with intense fury as her black aura surrounded the boxes once more. "This is getting REALLY annoying!"
"Yeah I've been told that!" Peter shouted back at her, flipping through the air and dodging boxes left and right. "Hey, Raven!" He shouted as he caught a box before it could hit him, then attached a web line and begun spinning it around himself. "What always begins with 'W' and ends with 'T'?"
Raven furrowed her brows with annoyance. "What?"
Suddenly Peter let go of the box and hurled it right at her, knocking her from the air once more.
"That's correct!" Peter chimed.
"Hahaha! Nice one!" Beastboy laughed.
Peter watched as Raven turned around to face him in a fury. His eyes widened and he froze in absolute terror to see that her eyes were now glowing red and she had also grown an extra set of glowing red eyes on top of them. Her teeth bared and suddenly she rose into the air again, suspended by long black tendrils that slithered outward, flinging the boxes all over the room.
"Raven, stop!" Robin shouted up at her, but had no affect on her.
The black tendrils slithered across the floor right at him with great speed. He immediately flipped over the nearest tentacle as it tried swiping at him, before webbing the wall and sliding underneath another one.
"You're pissing me off!" She shouted, her voice deepened into a low demonic growl.
Peter jumped through the air away from her, webbing the ceiling in the corner of the room. However, her powers were too fast for him and he soon felt one of the tendrils wrapping its icy self around his ankle. He held onto the web with all his strength, feeling his legs start to burn from being over stretched. His grip did not fail, however her powers soon overpowered the strength of the wall and it soon crumpled away, allowing Raven to pull Peter to her with great speed. She dangled him upside down in front of her and Peter gasped in terror at her demonic form as she gave a devilish grin.
"Any more jokes you want to tell?" She asked.
"Uh... n-n-no!" He shouted shakily. "I-I'm sorry! Is it too late to talk about it?"
"Raven!" Robin shouted as he and the other Titans sprinted over to them.
Raven wrapped another black tendril around his head and he winced in pain, trying with all his might to pry himself free, but she was clearly FAR stronger than he was. He cried out in pain as he began to feel her squeeze his head and he reached out, pushing her face away from him.
As soon as his hand touched her face, her eyes widened and she could hear a voice inside her head. The disembodied voice came from Peter's mind as her powers inevitably crawled its way in.
"I'm sorry." The voice whispered, shakily, sobbing with flames and police sirens in the back ground. "I'm so sorry. I'm so-so-so-so sorry!"
Another voice could be heard in the distance soon after. "Alright, Parker, come out with you hands up!"
Suddenly, she gasped in extreme shock, her eyes and face reverting back to their original form in an instant. Whatever she heard practically oozed pain and sorrow, which seemed to snap her out of her demonic form and her mind began immediately racing with what the memory was. Peter and Raven both fell to the floor with a thud. Robin and Cyborg rushed to help Peter up, while Starfire and Beastboy ran to Raven. Peter groaned, feeling his muscles ache all over as he gasped for air.
"Oh my god." He breathed out weakly as he panted.
"We gotcha, buddy." Cyborg replied, helping Peter sit up to catch his breath easier.
"Are you okay?" Robin asked.
"Yeah." Peter panted with a shaky nod, still regaining his composure. "That was scary."
Robin's eyebrows furrowed and he immediately spun around and marched over to Raven who's violet eyes were locked with Peter's. He stared back at her with fear, but mostly confusion. Raven looked back at him still in shock, but her stomach dropped from the guilt of what just happened.
"Would you mind telling me what that was about?" Robin asked, sounding a bit angry at her. "You TOTALLY lost control back there. This was just supposed to be TRAINING!"
Raven looked back at him a bit longer, her mind torn between the enigma that was him and the fact that she almost just killed him. He pushed her buttons and she let herself lose control.
She immediately shot to her feet and hung her head in shame. Almost feeling the stares from the others. She clenched her fists in frustration. "I'm sorry." She replied without looking back. "I should go meditate."
The other Titans watched as she floated out of the room, their jaws hung open in disbelief.
"Is she okay?" Peter asked as he stood up and pulled his mask off.
"Is SHE okay?!" Cyborg replied incredulously. "Are YOU okay?"
"She was way over the line." Robin replied. "I'm sorry."
"It's okay." Peter shook his head. "It's MY fault."
"How the heck is it YOUR fault?!" Beastboy asked.
"Batman told me not to get on her bad side." Peter replied with a shrug. "I didn't listen. I shouldn't have messed with her, that wasn't cool."
"Is he serious?!" Cyborg looked to Robin with an amused smirk.
"Oh you mustn't blame yourself." Starfire replied.
"Yeah, seriously." Robin replied.
Peter looked back to them for a moment in silence. He didn't want them to blame her for what happened. She was already so reclusive with everybody.
"No, for real." He replied, locking eyes with Robin. "Everybody gets mad every once in a while. Be fair."
Robin and the others were at a loss for words and stared at him with their jaws agape as he turned his back to them.
"I'm gonna go talk to her." He replied and started for the door.
"She's NOT gonna let you in." Beastboy chuckled with a shake of the head. "Like, seriously, dude. Don't waste your time."
Peter glanced back at them hesitantly. He couldn't stand the thought of not talking things out after such an intense encounter. Then he turned back to the door.
"What's five minutes?" He shook his head and immediately walked out of the training room and went directly to Raven's door.
He stood in front of her door, his hands trembling in fear as he recalled the image of her four glowing red eyes and sneering furious expression. The helpless feeling if being caught in her powers. He shook his head, reminding himself of the unpredictable nature of her powers. The girl he had gotten to know was nothing like the one he faced. The image in his mind, then changed and he only saw the image of her normal face. Her soft pale cheeks and her deep pools of violet caused him to flutter at the very thought. Her gaze stole his confidence; made him buckle under the her sheer beauty. Under her gaze, he was like putty in her hands. Her soft words could swindle him every which way they so desired.
He took a deep breath and immediately swallowed his fear, before knocking on the door three times. Only silence came as he stood there staring at her door, anxiously praying that she would just open the door. He reached his hand up and knocked again and was greeted only by the same indifferent silence. He remembered his first night at the tower, something Robin mentioned about her blocking outside noise.
"Raven?!" Peter called. "It Peter! I just wanna talk!"
Still only silence came and Peter knew that she wasn't hearing anything he was saying. He pursed his lips and thought about what his next move would be, determined to talk things out with her. Suddenly, he got an idea and went next door into his room and wrote a note on a small piece of paper. Then he went back out into the hallway and slipped the piece of paper underneath her door into her room.
Raven sat on the other side, floating in a meditative stance over her bed, trying to focus as much as possible. The silence in her room was so deafening that, when the note slid under the door, she could easily hear it clear across the room. She looked at it in confusion for a moment, hesitating to go read it, but then rolled her eyes and shook her head in frustration. She assumed it was probably Starfire writing her a little note to try and cheer her up. Or Robin telling her he needed to speak to her.
She huffed in annoyance and let herself out of the air, before walking across the room and picking it up. Her gaze softened as she read the note that simply read, 'I'm sorry', with an illustration of a Spider-Man mask in the corner in red pen.
She was instantly shocked and even more frustrated at the note and waved her hand, throwing her door open, only to see an empty hallway. She peeked her head to the left and saw Peter walking back to his room slowly with his head hung.
"Hey, YOU! New guy!" Raven called to him in a flat tone.
Peter immediately spun around, his eyes widened in both excitement and nervousness. She motioned him toward her silently with her finger and Peter slowly made his way over to her and waited in anxious anticipation for her to speak. She held up the nod and showed it to him and he glanced at it with a guilty stare.
"Whats this?" She asked with a huff.
"Y-yeah." He stammered, rubbing the back of his head nearvously. "I just wanted to apologize."
"Yeah WHY?" She asked with a shake of the head. "You didn't do anything."
"I taunted you." He replied with a sorrowful look. "I knew better than to mess with you... I really just do that when I'm in an uncomfortable situation. Like a fight... I'm sorry."
Raven's eyes widened in shock at that and she could feel herself blushing. She felt so guilty for what had happened and the logical answer was that it was her fault. She was supposed to keep her emotions and powers in check and let Peter get under her skin. She didn't expect anybody to feel any different. However, here Peter was apologizing to HER.
"I'M the one who lost my cool." She replied. "You have NO IDEA what you're talking about!" She shouted in frustration.
"No I do!" Peter replied. "I mean, okay, your powers are a little... different." She felt a tinge of guilt at that, and Peter could tell. He didn't want to make her feel bad about what happened, but he didn't know how else to talk about her powers, and the last thing he wanted was to say something ignorant. "But you have feelings just like everybody else. Your feelings matter too, you know?"
Raven's jaw hung open and for a moment she couldn't think of how to respond. Given the nature of hr powers, her life was more or less devoid of such treatment. To have somebody actually care about her feelings, rather than scared of them.
"I'm sorry I messed with you." Peter repeated again. "I promise I won't do it again."
Raven could feel herself blushing and looked away immediately to hide her flattered expression. After taking a deep breath, she looked back to Peter with a sigh.
"It's okay." She replied with an awkward shake of the head, trying to bury her want to smile, deep within. "I'M the one who owes you an apology. A SERIOUS apology." She replied with a stressful sigh.
"It's no big deal." Peter waved it off. "Like I said, it happens."
"I almost KILLED you!" She snapped.
"I'VE almost killed me." Peter argued with a chuckle. Raven opened her mouth, her frustration noticeably rising. "Look." Peter interrupted, feeling the urge to deescalate the situation. "This is just a boundaries thing. Learning experience, you know?" He extended his hand in front of him and Raven stared at him in confusion. "Friends?"
Raven's eyes widened again with surprise. "After all that?... you REALLY want to be friends with ME?"
Peter gave her a kind smile and eagerly nodded his head. "Absolutely! Uh- I mean if... if you want to." He replied, nearvously rubbing the back of his head whole giving her a hopeful smile.
Raven pondered it for a moment and couldn't believe what she was hearing. Either she hit him harder than she thought or he was a complete and total idiot. Part of her wondered if both were true. Any sane person would have wanted to keep their distance as much as possible after that, but not him. Peter had to be crazy, or just that naive. She was sure of it.
Still as she stared into his big brown puppy dog eyes he was giving her, something else lingered. She saw in his eyes something familiar to her; a sort of loneliness hidden behind the exterior. His eyes shimmered like the sun, but told her a story of something lost, something missing. Eve though she questioned why he wanted to, hearing him say it made her heart instantly flutter. Somebody wanted to be her friend, even after seeing the bad side, even after being ON her bad side. The wise choice would be to chose solitude as always. Nobody around, nobody can get hurt.
Then again, was it really so wise to get a chance at genuine friendship and let it pass her by?
She looked back at him, her expression ever blank. "Sure." She nodded and extended her hand, which Peter eagerly shook. "Friends."
"Cool." Peter nodded with an awkward grin. "So uh, I... take it you wanna meditate in silence tonight?"
Raven folded her arms and gave a shrug. "That was the general idea."
Peter rubbed the back of his head awkwardly and began slowly inching toward his door. "Cool. Cool. Then, I guess I'll uh-"
"Did... you wanna join me?" Raven suddenly asked, her cheeks slightly flushed as she asked the question.
Peter immediately perked up, his eyes lighting up with excitement. "Really?!" He replied with excitement, before catching himself, his face blushing slightly in embarrassment. "Uh- I mean uh..."
"Do you want to meditate or not?" She deadpanned at Peter's nearvous demeanor, but internally she found it kind of cute. This came as a shock to her, because she didn't find ANYTHING cute. She pointed over her shoulder at her door and began walking back slowly. "Cause... your window is closing fast."
"Right!" Peter shook his head, regaining his composure and followed her hurriedly into her room. "Coming!" He chimed.