Prompt One: Raven assumes the only 'book' Beast Boy has ever cracked open is a comic book. She would be dead wrong.

Characters: Raven, Beast Boy

Point-in-Time: Pre-Season 5

Genre: Friendship, Humor

It was a very rare experience for Raven to enter the Common Room in the afternoon and not have the TV blaring. If it wasn't Beast Boy and Cyborg noisily competing in some video game or another, it was Robin casually flipping between channels as he kept an eye on the news, and if it wasn't Robin, it was Starfire being captivated by some commercial or some weird educational show.

No, really. Starfire once showed them a documentary on hotdogs. Even for an alien, Star had some very weird tastes.

None of that was going on at the moment, however. The Common Room seemed empty for once, so Raven took the rare opportunity to read a book in peace. Contrary to what the others thought about her choice in books, they were not all strictly Spellbooks. She did have some novels mixed in with her collection, so she wasn't an "obsessive bookworm" like Beast Boy would joke from time to time.

Raven thought she had the Common Room all to herself for once, so imagine her surprise when she found Beast Boy sprawled out over half the elongated sofa, his nose in one of those cheaply printed comic books. Deciding not to openly provoke the green changeling, Raven simply decided to bask in the pleasant silence and sit down on the other end of the sofa to read her novel.

Raven knew better than anyone that Beast Boy could be quiet when he wanted to. It's just that those moments were usually reserved for when he was depressed or in a prankful mood. This… did not appear to be one of those times – at least if his emotions on the surface were any indication. Raven tried not to dig further into people's emotions than she absolutely had to.

"What ya doin', Rae?"

… Well, there went the blissful silence.

"Reading, same as you." She deadpanned. "I take it the others are out?"

"Well, Star and Rob are out patrolling, yeah," Beast Boy conceded. "Cy's in the garage. Rob kinda asked me to keep an eye on things here, but it's been pretty boring today."

Raven gave Beast Boy a sidelong glance, lightly suppressing the urge to give a sarcastic comment about Beast Boy having some actual responsibility for once. The silence might be gone, but at least right now she could control how much noise there was.

"So what? You're not using the free time to play Mega Chimps or whatever?"

"It's Mega Monkeys," Beast Boy absentmindedly corrected her. "And nah, a new one's supposed to be released next week, so I'm waiting for that, really. So I'm just relaxing with a comic, y'know?"

"The only 'literature' you know," Raven rolled her eyes. … Well, so much for keeping the snark in check.

"Hey! I've read other books before, too! Comics are just my favorite. Beats reading a stuffy book all the time…"

"Beast Boy, I've never seen you with another type of book. Not even a novella or a play. Forgive me if you don't seem the reading type."

Beast Boy scratched his head, comic book long since discarded to the side.

"A whatta?"

"A novella. A short novel or a long short story." Raven patiently explained. She waved the book she was holding, "Typically half the size of this."

"Oh." Beast Boy muttered as he learned something new. Shaking his head, he mused aloud. "I guess you're right, though. It's been a while since I cracked open a book on, well, any book related to animals, really. I know, like, every animal that's been relevant to what I usually transform into, so there kinda hasn't been a need…"

Raven looked at him fully now.

"You're serious? You don't seem… the studious type."

"Well, no, I'm really not," Beast Boy conceded, grinning sheepishly. "But when you spontaneously get infected with a deadly virus and get the power to transform into any animal, you kinda wanna at least get an idea of some of the more troublesome animals that affect your body and mind."

Raven mulled this new information over in her head. Come to think of it, Beast Boy was the only one out of the five of them that wasn't very talkative about his origins. Ironic, considering his tendency to act out for attention, but it was true. Robin was once the Dark Knight's sidekick, she was an interdimensional half-demon, Starfire was an alien, and they even vaguely knew that Cyborg had some sort of accident that caused him to replace half his body with cybernetic parts. But Beast Boy? She vaguely recalled a brief mention of him being on some other team prior to the Titans, but she couldn't even remember the name of the group. Raven personally didn't want people digging into her past, so it was only common courtesy to extend the same privacy to the other Titans, including Beast Boy. If Beast Boy didn't want to talk about it, then Raven wouldn't press.

But seeing as how he was bringing it up anyway…

"Your powers are artificial? It must have been hard learning to control them," Raven neutrally replied.

Beast Boy let out a sheepish laugh.

"You have no idea. If Rob's childhood was rough being under Batman's wing, I don't even wanna know what others would label mine as. At first I didn't even want powers, y'know? Any other kid would think it'd be cool, but not me. Not after actually experiencing animalistic instincts and struggling to stay human. I guess that's why my… foster family… worked so hard to get me to study. Not just to fight crime, but to stay sane, y'know? They were really strict, but I… I guess they meant well. I'm not some kid out in the wild or in some lab where they dissect you; I'm a hero, y'know?"

On the surface, Beast Boy was giving a cheesy grin, but Raven didn't need to look very deep to tell that there was some underlying tension with Beast Boy's 'foster family'. Deciding it was best not to pry anymore, Raven's eyes flicked back to her still-open book.

"Well… good. So you've cradled a book in your two hands. Woohoo."

"Bet you didn't know that, huh?" Beast Boy wiggled his eyebrows playfully.

"Nope." Raven dryly replied. With that, Beast Boy finally seemed to get the hint that the conversation was over. Scooping up the comic book off the floor, he returned to his own reading, and the two stayed there like that in amicable silence. Honestly, he was kinda secretly glad she dropped it there; he wasn't too big on talking about the Doom Patrol, and he suspected he wouldn't be in quite some time.

Hey, they might've squabbled a lot because of their different personalities, but they could get along, too.

Author's Note: Well, that's it for this one. As the summary suggests, there will be more in the future, varying in genre, number of characters, and setting – though mostly these 'drabbles' focus on Raven and Beast Boy, 'cause I like writing for this pair of characters. I just do. :P I'll largely focus on what I'm feeling like writing, but if you have any suggestions, I will take them into consideration. I will be doing my darnedest to ensure there is no character-bashing, let alone portraying them wrong, though I guess you guys will be the judge of that. Hope you enjoyed!