Chapter Text
Prologue
It took three weeks and five days before Robin was happy with the updates to the communicators.
He was so angry - angry at himself for falling for Madam Rouge’s trick, mostly. He knew that she could disguise herself as others, she had literally done it early. But he had been tired, and stressed, and worried for the other titans.
And it had been three weeks and six days since they defeated the Brotherhood of Evil, so it was time to focus on something else.
He landed on the roof silently, surveying the scene. The building was abandoned - the Brotherhood of Evil was defeated, their equipment confiscated, their members arrested. Most of the investigation had ended, although there were still some questions about the long-term effects of being frozen.
But the roof was occupied that night. It was, after all, a good meeting location - still in Paris, but past Hawkmoth’s suspected range.
Robin landed silently, but made noise as he stood up. Making his presence known.
Ladybug turned towards him.
“Robin?”
“Thought it was about time I introduced myself,” Robin replied.
He held a hand out, and Ladybug shook it.
The original idea was to leave Paris alone. Hawkmoth could turn anyone into a supervillain, so it was better if the already-deadly trained heroes stayed away.
But the Brotherhood of Evil had set up their base here. It was a bold (stupid) move that ticked off everyone involved, but it did give Robin a reason to reach out to the Parisian heroes.
“It’s an honor to meet you,” Ladybug said. “Although, we do appreciate the hands-off approach. I do not want to see Superman or Batman akumatized.”
“Yeah, us either. But after the Brotherhood of Evil set up base here, I think we need a way to stay in contact.”
“I’ve been working on that, actually,” Ladybug said. “My yo-yo works as a communicator. And I have all these security measures set up-“
She had a lot of security measures set up - Ladybug had a similar paranoia around her secret identity that Robin had.
It took a minute to figure out how to link the miraculous-magic yo-yo to the Titan’s communication system, but eventually Ladybug’s symbol popped up on Robin’s communicator.
“Great,” Robin said. “Oh, just so you know, Bumblebee is setting up an event - she’s calling it Titans’ Prom. It’s next Thursday, if you’re interested. Harold will be there to send anyone back if there’s a villain attack.”
“Prom?” Ladybug asked. “So, super formal and romantic?”
“Doesn’t have to be romantic,” Robin said. “But pretty formal, yeah.”
It would have been Bumblebee’s senior year, if she had stayed at her old school. So she had decided that she “was not missing senior prom,” and now Titans East was holding the big event.
Robin didn’t understand it, but then again, he had willingly and quite happily left his school in Gotham. Bumblebee hadn’t had the same choice.
Besides, Starfire was excited about it.
“I’ll be there, if there isn’t an Akuma,” Ladybug said.
“The invitation is extended to you and Chat Noir,” Robin said, “and feel free to bring a plus one.”
Ladybug nodded.
A beep from her yo-yo ended the conversation - there was an Akuma she had to go deal with - so they quickly said goodbye and parted ways.
“See you Friday,” Ladybug said before yo-yoing away.
“I’m so glad we’re doubling up on these assignments now!” Starfire said.
“Yeah,” Raven replied. “As far as Robin’s paranoia goes, this isn’t too bad.”
Ever since Brotherhood of Evil separated the titans to ambush them alone, Robin’s insisted on no Titan being solo on missions.
Of course, his own mission didn’t count. Something about Paris being dangerous and no need to risk having more people there. Hypocrite.
Amity was small, for somewhere with so much villain activity. Raven could feel the thrum of a portal - the source of most of the problems in town, although good old greed caused its fair share.
Cyborg had the T-Car, so Raven and Starfire had driven a rental car. It had been a hassle to find a rental car they could rent as teenagers, and Raven was determined to return it better than new. Just to make a point.
She parked the rental car on the top of a hill, overlooking a park. It was a frequent location of the hero they were looking for.
Phantom. It had been an ongoing argument for a year whether to reach out to him, since information coming out of Amity was so spotty and conflicting and Phantom handled different types of situations than the rest of the titans. But as they talked with the other, newer titans, who had more experience with ghosts, it became clearer.
Raven and Starfire waited outside the car. Amity had less light pollution than Jump City, letting the stars shine bright in the sky. In fact, they seemed a little too clear, even for Middle of Nowhere, Nebransas, or wherever they were.
“You two don’t look like locals.”
Raven and Starfire turned.
It was hard to sneak up on them, but then again, Phantom was a ghost.
He was flying upside down, hands behind his head in faux casualness. There was an aura around him - probably not visible to most, not even Starfire, but Raven could see the ectoplasm green pulsing from and around him. He was a powerful ghost, if newly dead, and still very much a teenager.
“We’re not!” Starfire replied cheerfully. “I am Starfire, and this is Raven.“
“Oh, I know who you are.” Phantom straightened out, still hovering over the ground. “What brings you to Amity?”
“You do,” Raven said. “Robin wants to extend our network of heroes. He sent us to give you this.”
She held out a communicator - now updated with even more security.
“By extending your network, you mean…”
“You’re invited to join the titans!” Starfire said.
“I - the titans?” Phantom asked. “Me? You don’t think I’m a villain or, evil, or something?”
“Why?” Raven challenged. “Just because you’re a ghost? We aren’t like that.”
“Hm,” Phantom replied. His eyes were still fixed on the communicator.
“Oh, we are also holding a party!” Starfire added. “It is called the prom? I am told it is a high school tradition here, that many titans would otherwise miss if we did not hold one ourselves! It is this Thursday at the Titans East.”
“That sounds fun.” Phantom finally grabbed the communicator. “I’ll see you there?”
“Maybe,” Raven said.
Starfire elbowed her (lightly) in the ribs.
“Of course you will! We look forward to seeing you there!”
“Pound it!”
Ladybug checked her earrings quickly - still three minutes left. She had enough time for this conversation.
“Hey Chat,” she called. “Can we talk?”
Chat Noir glanced at his ring, and nodded.
They left the scene of the akuma, where the victim was being greeted by his crying parents, and landed at a nearby rooftop.
“The Titans contacted me,” Ladybug said.
“The Titans!” Chat Noir repeated. “That’s so cool! Wait, why were they contacting you? They know you’re needed in Paris, right?”
“Right,” Ladybug confirmed. “They just wanted to set up a communication channel with us… and they invited me to a party. Prom, actually.”
“When?”
“Thursday.” Ladybug stood up and started to pace. “I know you probably want to go too, but one of us needs to stay here to contact the other, and they asked me, so I figured it would only be polite if-“
“It’s fine,” Chat Noir said. “I would only want to go if I went with you - as friends, of course!”
“Okay, if you’re fine with it. I was going to ask Rena if she could go with me.”
“Sounds good,” Chat Noir said. “A lot of people go to prom with friends.”
“Um, well…” Her earrings beeped. “Got to go, talk to you later!”
She threw her yoyo, glad to get out of that conversation.
“Uh, talk to you later?” Chat Noir replied.
“Prom” was maybe not the best word for the party at Titans East.
It was definitely a party. Cyborg had rigged up a music system, and Titans East had a disco ball. There was plenty of food - even vegetarian options - and lots of card and board games.
There was some dancing, especially among the few couples that had shown up. Lots more game playing, and storytelling as everyone talked about the different villains they faced. There were some ridiculous stories, and even the more serious ones brought laughter.
Beast Boy told the story of the final battle with the Brotherhood of Evil - with Panthera’s occasional interjections. Cyborg and Bumblebee were off to the side, sharing a bowl of chips, smirking at the story.
Most of the Titans had been there. Danny had not - he didn’t know the reasons why they had only reached out to him now, but he was glad they did.
Sam and Tucker knew him well, but there were things they didn’t understand. And none of the other Titans were half-ghost, but.
But at some point, at what had to be after midnight, Danny ended up on a couch still talking to Beast Boy. It had started as a joke battle, but then they kept talking.
He had never met someone who got it. Who understood what it meant to be a normal human one day, and something else the next.
It was nice.