Teen Titans Fan Fiction ❯ Back to the Present ❯ Bagels and Clowns ( Chapter 5 )

BACK TO THE PRESENT
Chapter 5: Bagel Bungalow

By Jacque Nicole

“Morning salutations, everyone!” Starfire's cheery voice echoed through the Main Room as she entered. Her teammates and their look-alikes were scattered about the room, each of them trying to occupy themselves. Not to her surprise, Cyborg was lifting the couch, enabling his older counterpart to search below it; they were looking for the remote. Near them, the Beast Boys were bickering over the music collection; Future Beast Boy suggested that his younger look-alike should consider buying some hip hop CDs but teen Beast Boy insisted that techno was the only type of music he grooved to. The two Ravens had already begun to meditate. Starfire noticed that, as they floated near the windows, sitting Indian style in mid air, they contrasted each other; her comrade's darkness clashed the other Raven's light. Nightwing sat in a stool near the kitchen entrance reading a rather large book. Starfire had to squint her eyes to read the title—Stephen Kng's IT. She didn't realize that he had a thing for scary clowns.

Starfire's eyes skimmed over the room again, not finding the one person she was looking for. Suddenly, the door she stood in front of swished open, revealing a very tired Robin.

He yawned. “Morin' Star.” With a gloved hand, he ruffled his unruly black hair, fixing it to his liking.

“Morning salutations, Robin. I was just about to prepare fuzzy blue food for us to consume for breakfast. Would you like to assist me?”

His face paled at the thought of eating more of the science experiment gone wrong that they called food. `Why doesn't anyone ever go shopping around here?' he thought. “Actually I was thinking was all could go out for food.” He dropped his voice to a whisper. “Don't tell the others, but I don't think the food here is safe to eat,” he joked.

Starfire giggled. “I am sure it is not.” Starfire kept the small smile on her face even after Robin left the room to finish getting ready. “Everyone, please listen!” Everybody, including the two Ravens, turned towards her. “Robin has announced that we will be `going out' to eat. No fuzzy food this morning!”

“All right!” Cyborg cheered from his position on the couch. He had found the remote and was leaning back in a comfortable position, flipping through channels on the tube. Future Cyborg sat next to him, mimicking his position.

“Great! Where to?” Future Beast Boy asked. He had quit trying to listen to another type of music and had joined the Cyborgs on the couch.

“Denny's, I hope. They've got the best breakfast stuff there,” Future Cyborg replied.

“Damn straight!” The two robots slapped hands in agreement.

Raven frowned as she joined the group on the large semi-circular couch. A lamp began to wobble at the other side of the room, but Future Raven was able to catch it with her powers before it fell. Teen Raven immediately stopped frowning. “I refuse to eat such garbage. That stuff will clog up your arteries quicker than you can say `cheeseburger'.”

“Cheeseburger,” teen Cyborg said, just out of spite.

“Cheeseburgers? How can you even think of eating those? It's made from a cow! A COW!” Beast Boy said, morphing into a cow for emphasis. “MOO!”

Future Cyborg shrugged. “Cows tastes good.”

“Cannibals,” the older Beast Boy accused.

Starfire sighed. Her teammates had the same argument every day. She moved from her spot near the door and approached Nightwing who was still engrossed in the book. She stood behind him, waiting for him to notice her. After a few seconds, she tapped his shoulder.

Nightwing yelped in surprise. He was at a particularly scary part in the book when he felt a tap on the shoulder. “Don't ever do that to me again...” He turned around to see who nudged him. He grinned. “Starfire.”

Starfire cast her eyes down, ashamed of disturbing him from his book. “I am sorry, Nightwing. You may return to reading the book of evil clowns if you wish.” She began to walk away.

Nightwing caught her hand and pulled her back to him. “No, I do not wish to read the stupid book. I wish to talk with you.”

Starfire smiled and blushed, noticing the close proximity of their bodies. “Me too,” she replied.

Meanwhile, Robin reentered the room through the large metal doors. His eyes swept over the area and found Starfire talking to Nightwing, but he found that he didn't care much. `Who had she kissed last night?' Robin thought smugly. He was torn from his thoughts when she laughed loudly and made herself comfortable on his lap.

`Okay, now I care.'

But he ignored it. He had better things to do than senselessly arguing with Nightwing again. “So guys,” he addressed the group. “Did you decide on where to eat?”

“NO!” they simultaneously shouted and continued their arguing.

“How about that new place that opened downtown near the pizza place? Bagel Bungalow, I think it's called,” Robin shouted over their voices.

Teen Cyborg wrinkled his nose. “Bagels? Boring...”

“I heard they have doughnuts there too, kind of like Dunkin' Donuts.”

Beast Boy perked up at the mention of sugar. “Last one to the T-Car is a klorbag!” Starfire giggled at his misuse of the Tamaranian term.

The older Beast Boy pulled him back down to the couch. “Slow down, eager beaver. We're not all going to fit in the car.” He turned to his teammate. “Cyborg, how many does it seat?”

Both robots answered simultaneously. “Five.”

“Fine,” the younger Beast Boy said. “We can just fly there.” The two changelings turned into pigeons and perched on the back of the couch.

“And I can take my motorcycle. Star can ride with me,” Robin said, taking advantage of the opportunity to be alone with Starfire.

Starfire hopped off of Nightwing's lap much to his displeasure. “Of course!” she said.

Robin smiled widely. “Well then, we're ready. Can we finally get going?”

Nightwing was silent as everyone began to leave the room. He glared at Robin's back as he exited his arm protectively around Starfire's shoulder.

“Man,” a voice said from next to him, surprising the vigilante. Nightwing turned his head toward the voice.

“Cyborg.”

Future Cyborg shook his head disapprovingly. “I know how you feel about her, but it looks like someone else feels the same way.” Cyborg put his hand on his best friend's shoulder in attempt to comfort him.

Nightwing shrugged it off. He stared at the robot. “Does it look like I care?”

Future Cyborg crossed his arms. “Maybe you should.”

Nightwing paused, thinking about what his friend had said. Should he let her go? Should he let Robin win her heart, without so much as a fight? No fuckin' way.

Fed up, Cyborg began to leave. “Let it go bro. If you keep going like this it's gonna drive you insane.” The door slid shut behind him.

Nightwing looked down at his lap, considering Cyborg's statement. “I think it's too late, bro. I'm already crazy. Crazy in love.” He left the book on the coffee table and followed his teammate out of the door.

XOXOXOXOX

The ride to the Bagel Bungalow was made in mostly silence except for the music drifting out of the sound system. Nightwing sat in the back seat between the Ravens while the two Cyborgs occupied the front seat. Future Cyborg was at the wheel, much to the annoyance of his younger counterpart, who wanted to have the honors.

Nightwing turned his head to look out the back window, trying to drown out the sound of the annoying boy band tune that was playing from the radio. His eyes swept over the perfect form of his goddess. She rode on the back of the R-Cycle, her long red hair flowing in the wind from under her helmet. Her mouth was moving. Nightwing assumed she was saying something to Robin, whose waist she had her arms tightly around. Robin said something and Starfire took a firmer grip of his waist. All of a sudden, Robin's front wheel of the motorcycle rose, and he began riding on the back wheel.

“Showoff...” Nightwing grumbled before he turned back around in his seat and folded his arms, feeling an emotion that he had been feeling often lately. Jealousy.

XOXOXOXOX

“AHHH!” Starfire screamed as the front of the motorcycle lifted.

Robin laughed. “I told you I could do it!”

“Yes, you did. I should have known better than to doubt you.” She shrieked as the bike gave a lurch. She gripped Robin's waist tighter, but the Boy Wonder didn't mind. “Ummm, I would like to come down now, please.”

“Oh, sure,” he replied, slightly embarrassed. He let the bike down as gently as he could, but Starfire gave a little yelp when it roughly hit the ground.

Robin revved the engine and sped down the street behind the T-Car. He could feel Starfire's head resting on the crook of his neck, her warm breath tickling him in the cool spring air. He never wanted the moment to end.

“Robin!” Starfire's urgent voice whispered in his ear. “Slow down!”

Robin immediately slowed to prevent hitting the T-Car. He had been so lost in his thoughts that he hadn't even noticed they'd arrived at the Bagel Bungalow.

He turned off the bike as everyone in the T-Car began to pile out.

“So this is the place, huh?” Teenage Cyborg said, observing the building decorated as a hut as he stepped out of the vehicle.

“Yeah, the food's supposed to be great,” Robin replied, combing his hand through his wind blown hair.

“Delightful. Let us enter, then,” Starfire said as she disappeared through the doors. The group began to follow after her. Before Robin entered he felt a tap on his shoulder.

“I saw what you did on your bike,” Nightwing said stonily. “Very impressive.” Robin knew he was being sarcastic.

The Boy Wonder narrowed his eyes. “Thanks.” Then he walked through the double doors, resting the urge to scream at the man following him.

XOXOXOXOX

“...And then, he bet me he could lift more weights than I could!”

The Teen Titans roared in laughter at their teammate's story.

Robin glanced at the older Cyborg with humor still dancing in his eyes under his mask. “You know, you're really funny.”

Elder Cyborg opened his mouth to retort, but Nightwing beat him to it. “And why, pray tell, is he funny?”

Robin raised an eyebrow. “Well, Cy is the strongest guy I know.”

“And Cyborg,” Nightwing tilted his head toward his friend, “is the strongest guy I know.”

Starfire sat back in her seat and chewed her bagel. Her eyes went back and forth between the two vigilantes as their argument continued. `Sometimes males are so odd,' she thought to herself in bewilderment. `Who cares which one was stronger? Aren't the both pretty much the same person anyway?'

“Fine then!” Robin's words jarred her from her thoughts. “Cyborg challenges Cyborg to a weightlifting match. Winner gets the title of strongest man in the world!”

Elder Cyborg once again opened his mouth to retort.

“Cyborg accepts!” Nightwing interrupted his friend. “Tonight at six in the gym. Be there.”

“Oh, we will be. We will be.” And with that, both Nightwing and Robin left the table in opposite directions.

Teen Cyborg sighed and muttered, “That's what we were planning on doing tonight... minus the drama.”

The group sat the table in silence. After a couple of minutes, Elder Beast Boy's words brought everyone out of their brooding states.

“Hey, who's paying the bill?”

XOXOXOXOX

“Master Slade, step one of the plan is complete. I have sent one of the Slade-bots out to insure that she'll be where we want her to be the day of the apprehension.”

“Incognito?”

“Of course, sir. They won't suspect a thing.”

“Excellent.”

XOXOXOXOX

Nightwing leaned against the T-Car, waiting for his company outside of the Bagel Bungalow. Out the corner of his eye, he could see a crowd of people accumulating in the middle of the busy sidewalks. He let his curiosity get the best of him and joined the group.

“Come one, come all to Wilson's Three Ring Circus! Come and have the time of your lives!” A buff man stood in a suit atop a wooden crate. He wore purple slacks with a rainbow checkered tunic. An immense sombrero-like hat was on his head, shadowing his face from his audience. He was swiftly passing out fliers to the awaiting crowd. As soon as he reached out to take one, Nightwing found that there was already one in his hand.

WILSON'S THREE RING CIRCUS

5/13 - 5/20

The chance of a lifetime!

Bring family, friends, or that special someone

The smile on Nightwing's face grew. `Perfect.'

...End Chapter 5...

Number of Words: 2,143

Posted: November 27, 2004
Edited: July 15, 2006