"Don't get too close
It's dark inside
It's where my demons hide" ~Imagine Dragons, Demons
It was Valentine's Day in Jump City, and it showed. Shops everywhere advertised chocolates and candies and stuffed bears much larger than really necessary. Restaurants with the most romantic views and expensive menus were completely full, most reservations having been made weeks in advance. Love was in the air.
Titans Tower was in no way unaffected by the time of year. Robin had spent at least a month planning out the day for him and Starfire, from breakfast to after-dinner cuddling (much to the chagrin of his three other teammates). Cyborg claimed to be 'single as a Pringle and proud of it,' although it was a very badly-kept secret that he had had plans to spend some time with Bumblebee before Titans East got called on a special mission somewhere in Chile and she couldn't make it. She had promised to bring something back for him, so he supposed he could wait.
Raven, on the other hand, had a sizeable distaste for all things lovey-dovey and wasn't excited in the least for the day ahead. As she rolled out of bed and slipped into her uniform, she silently hoped some monster would pop up and crush a few of the flower-and-candy vendors that lined the streets this time of year. Then she could whip its abnormally-colored backside and get her mind off the sappy mess all around her.
As she was about to leave her room, however, there came a knock at the door. She opened it to find a short green teen rocking back and forth on the balls of his feet.
"What do you want, Beast Boy?" she asked, a tinge of annoyance in her crossed her arms, hopefully conveying that she wanted to be left alone.
"Well," he began, obviously not sure how to go about phrasing anything coming out of his mouth. "I was just wondering, 'cuz you know it's, uh, Valentine's Day 'n' all, and everyone's doin' stuff, if you'd maybe wanna, I dunno…" He was fumbling and floundering at this point, although Raven was clueless as to why. "I just thought you might wanna…." He shrugged in a bad imitation of nonchalance. "...Go to the movies or something?"
She still looked somewhat confused, so he cleared his throat. "With me," he clarified.
Raven blinked. Oh. "You...want to go to the movies… with me."
"Yes?" He subtly braced for a smack in the face.
"I…" Raven felt something warm blossoming in her chest, spreading up to her reddening cheeks. Beast Boy wants to go somewhere with me. Beast Boy. And me. At the movies. Oh, Azarath, I think he likes me.
The changeling shrugged nervously. "I mean, it wouldn't have to be a movie. We could do whatever. Not that we can't go to a movie, if you wanna, but if-"
A cold sliver shot through Raven's chest. "I can't," she interrupted.
Beast Boy stopped mid-sentence and looked away. "Oh. I, uh… didn't mean to bother ya." He took a step backwards, unsure of how to back out of the conversation now.
"No, wait." Raven took a deep breath. "It's not that. I… I really appreciate the gesture, but I can't go with you."
"Wait, what does that mean?" Realization dawned on him. "You already have plans today with someone else, huh?"
Raven rolled her eyes. "No, Beast Boy. I do not have a date with anyone today. In fact, I wasn't exactly planning on leaving the Tower at all today."
"Come on, Rae!" Beast Boy protested. "Just 'cuz Valentine's Day isn't your favorite day doesn't mean you can't have fun like any other day. There's this new movie out I think you would actually like-"
"Beast Boy." The changeling looked disappointed. She stopped for a second, trying to figure out how to phrase this next bit without hurting him further. "Listen. I think… you're a great person. Really. You should go find someone to spend the day with who likes all this. The flowers and hearts and everything. Trust me when I say you don't want to get too close to me."
He frowned. "But you're totally awesome! Lemme think- you've saved, like, a million people's lives so far, beat a ton of bad guys, sometimes by yourself, I think you're some kinda gum mascot back in Japan, which is way cooler than you think-"
"Yeah, and I'm also part demon, if you haven't forgotten!" Beast Boy blinked in surprise. "Because of me, the world was nearly destroyed, remember? There was something unbelievably evil inside of me and it's not completely gone. It never will be." Suddenly, she felt like crying. It took all of her willpower to keep her emotions down and eyes tearless.
After taking a moment to catch her breath, she put a hand on Beast Boy's shoulder. "It is very, very dark inside me," she murmured. "Darker than you can imagine. You don't want to go there. And I don't blame you." With that, she closed the door and retreated to a dark corner, wrapping herself as tightly in her cloak as possible.
It took a long time to sort out exactly what she was feeling, to keep everything in check. With the revelation that Beast Boy, the member of the team who was probably the most unlike her, liked her, she had no idea what to do. Yes, she'd suspected for a while he might have a tiny crush on her (he was awfully nice every once in a while, and she was an empath, for goodness' sakes), but she didn't think it was large enough for him to act on it. Now was as good a time as ever to turn him away from any romantic endeavors. It was no doubt easier to disappoint him now and have him find someone more suitable than to wait and have him horrified and possibly physically and/or emotionally scarred by the terrible things that lay within her if he got too close.
It was somewhat disappointing to herself, she realized, thinking back to his face, so sincere as it was, because she may have accidentally believed for a moment that she might have had the potential to like him, too.
Hours later, after reading and meditating for a while, Raven decided to risk leaving her room to fetch a cup of tea. She didn't really feel like looking at all the garish lovey-dovey decorations she knew Starfire had hung that morning, but she supposed she could ignore them for the sake of her stomach.
Opening her door, she nearly tripped on something on the ground right outside. Grumbling something about how the boys shouldn't leave things lying around as they did, she picked it up.
It was a flashlight- average quality, bought recently from a local superstore. Attached was a large, homemade tag with an inscription (Magic Marker, she noticed, with less-than-neat handwriting): I'm not as brave as you are, but I'm not afraid of the dark. Happy Valentine's Day, Raven.
She could feel a smile and a blush creep slightly onto her face as she flicked the light on and off a few times. Beast Boy could be an idiot sometimes, but he could get legitimately poetic if he tried.
And maybe, just maybe, he could also be right.