Pickles and Rupert, thank you for your reviews. I'm glad you're enjoying the story.
Final chapter! Please continue posting reviews if you enjoyed this story, I love the feedback.
That said, I give you my standard disclaimer. I still don't own the titans.
Chapter Twelve: Apotheosis
Speedy was up early, with a cup of coffee in hand. It was unusual for him to be the first one up, but his sleep had been interrupted and he decided to just cut his losses and wake up early. He could hear Aqualad singing something in Atlantian to himself as he walked down the hall and into the living room.
Speedy nodded to his compatriot and hid a smile with his coffee mug. Something was up and he knew it. "So, how did your evening with Raven go?"
Aqualad shrugged. "Oh, it was alright." Since Speedy had his date with Jinx, all the other resident couples in the tower decided that they would go out, too. With Jump City being so big, it wasn't really any surprise that no one saw anyone else the entire night.
Speedy scratched his head. "Just alright? Because I noticed you came in from the right hall today. Our guest rooms are down the left hall. Unless I'm mistaken, Raven's room is down the right hall."
Aqualad paled. "Umm…yeah. Look, let's not mention this to anyone."
"I think that can be arranged."
They were interrupted by Terra wandering into the kitchen dressed in short shorts and a green football jersey that Beast Boy wore when they played flag football. Aqualad raised his eyebrows and looked to Speedy who had a similar reaction.
Terra waved shyly at them and looked around the kitchen. "Hey guys, where does BB keep the tofu? I want to make him breakfast."
Speedy pointed. "In the fridge."
Terra nodded and opened up the fridge, leaning in to look for the tofu eggs and bacon. Behind her, sitting at the table, the two male east titans soaked in the view and nearly choked on their coffee. Aqualad recovered first and turned to Speedy. "How did your evening with Jinx go?"
Robin turned the corner into the room, followed by a hovering Starfire. Her normally straight red hair was as messy as Robin's. Aqualad shook his head and Speedy looked down into his coffee. Starfire caught their reaction and tried her best to smile an innocent smile. She failed. Robin headed to the coffeepot. "Yeah, Speedy, how did that go?"
Speedy smiled. "It was great. Dinner at Pasta Luna, then we caught a movie. Then she asked me to help with her opera paper. Believe it or not, we actually had fun doing that."
Terra piped up from the kitchen. "You helped her with her paper? How did you do that? She said it was ten pages and you'd need a computer or something to write it all out."
Speedy looked a little nervous. "Um, yeah. Listen, Robin, about that…"
Before he could continue, a very tired looking Jinx with her pink hair down, wearing a pair of black shorts with HIVE in yellow letters on the backside and a long t-shirt that obviously belonged to Speedy, walked into the room. "You guys got any coffee?"
Aqualad punched Speedy in the shoulder and grinned. Robin froze, and the coffee he was pouring spilt down the sides of the mug. He was shocked back into reality by the hot liquid burning his gloved hand. He put his mug down and got a dishtowel. Despite it all, he was smiling. "Yeah, Jinx, we got coffee. Three kinds. What do you drink?"
She looked over to Speedy and winked. "I'll have what he's having."
The combined titans were gathered in the living room. Anyone walking in would have thought the atmosphere in the room resembled a trail by jury. Jinx had seated herself in Speedy's lap and was looking across at the others. Starfire was again confused and held onto Robin's hand. "Love Robin, then we are not to consider Jinx as evil anymore?"
Jinx sighed. "Look, this isn't a decision that I just made. Honestly I've been thinking of it for a while. Since Cyborg got into the academy. It got me thinking, you guys always have fun and you stick together. I can't imagine what it would be like to not have to worry about being stabbed in the back by a teammate."
Cyborg shifted a little. "Yeah, that reminds me, I never did get a chance to apologize. I'm sorry."
Jinx looked up and smiled. "It's okay. And then with Speedy here, well, I don't know. I guess I'm going soft or something. I really don't feel like going back to the academy tomorrow and then starting all over again, especially knowing that I might have to fight him again. Maybe next time he won't get out of the building in time." She shivered softly.
Speedy put his arms around her and held her tight, reassuring her. Across the room, Robin shook his head. "Jinx, this is all well and good, but I don't think there's any way we could let you into the titans."
The witch sighed and looked down at the carpeted floor. "That's okay, I'm still going to put in my resignation letter tomorrow, anyway. If I'm not fighting with you guys, at least I won't be fighting against you."
Robin nodded and smiled a little before he looked over at Bumblebee. She rose and walked over to the witch. In her hand she held a communicator. "I think what he means is that his team is full. We've got a room you could have in the east tower. Besides, I need a girlfriend to hang out with. Those four guys drive me crazy sometimes."
Jinx looked up, a genuine smile on her face. She took the communicator and rose, giving Bee a hug, her pink eyes tearing up. Her expression then changed a little as she looked around. She had her trademark mischievous grin on her face. "Hey, do you guys have any stationary that has a Teen Titans letterhead on it?"
The headmistress of HIVE academy walked through the halls slowly. It was just another Monday morning and classes would be starting soon. She made her way to her office and checked the mailbox. Sure enough, resting in the slot were three typewritten papers, each appreciably thick.
She fixed a cup of coffee and started reading through the first one, Gizmo's. His writing style was short and choppy. He seemed to have either not paid attention to the performance or was in some other way distracted. He had probably brought some form of video game. In retrospect, she realized that she hadn't specified that he shouldn't bring anything like that. However, the general tone of the paper seemed to be that he enjoyed the experience.
After that was Mammoth's paper. His writing was simpler, but still choppy. Despite that, he seemed to get a lot out of the performance. Her only complaint was that for some reason, he kept going on and on about how he got to wear a tuxedo. She smiled; the simple things in life are usually the most pleasing.
Finally, she started into Jinx's paper. She read through the work, which was well written and obviously had been well thought out. It was the best paper of the three, not surprising to her at all. Jinx was one of the HIVE's best students. She finished the paper and turned to the last page. It was written on different paper, this paper had a letterhead with a dark blue 'T' in a circle on it. She read the address and gasped. The letterhead was from the Teen Titans.
Headmistress,
Due in no small part to your decision to culture me by a night at the opera, I have been exposed to many different influences. The most lasting of which, I have decided, has been the titans, with whom we shared box seats. After a long discussion and some searching, but with no hesitancy, I have decided to accept their offer to become a member of the Titans East.
Please find this to be my letter of resignation, effective immediately.
Sincerely,
Jinx
THE END of A NIGHT AT THE OPERA
But don't worry, the Teen Titans will be back in...
BETWEEN LIFE AND BURNING SPACE
The second book in the "The Life Heroic" series.