Just a weird idea that popped in my head and demanded to be written, BB may be a bit ooc, but I was trying to make him a little more serious than he is normally, after all when your friend is crying (which is very not like her) you want to help make things right.
Reviews feed a starving ego :)
Not owning them yet, give me time...it's right up their with world domination on my wishlist.
"And they call me the idiot on the team." Beastboy's voice came from the doorway as Robin continued to pummel his punching bag.
"You are the idiot on the team." Came Robin's harsh reply, he just wanted to be left alone, sweat stung his eyes and he paused to wipe his face with the bottom of his cape.
"Sure, that is why I am the one who has had to be Slade's apprentice or turn into Red-X, or…" He paused for the dramatics of it. "Or in here punching a bag and sweating like a pig instead of on a date with one of the hottest chicks on this planet." BB sauntered over to the bench that lined the wall and sat down, lounging back in his normal pose.
"Well at least I never got kidnapped and forced to be some one's pet, besides what is it to you." He had stopped punching and had moved to kicks, his breath was heavy, making his speech slightly choppy.
"I don't like to see her sad, she has enough to cry about she doesn't need to be crying about you." Beastboy may have been the joker, the comedian of their team, but he was also one of the most emotional astute. Just because he hid behind laughter so often didn't mean he didn't know sadness.
"Raven is always unhappy." Was Robin's reply and he winced as he realized that he had been the one to bring her name up first.
"Well at least you know who we are talking about, and she isn't always unhappy and you know it." Beastboy sat up on the bench and leaned over to put his elbows on his knees; his face in his hands. "You made her cry." He said this quietly, but it had the effect that he had been looking for.
Robin stopped his movements, froze in place by that statement. He hadn't meant to make her cry; he had only thought to avoid the possible trouble that would have inevitably come if he had done what he wanted.
"I didn't know she cried."
"Very rarely, but she does." BB paused again, keeping his eyes on Robin to keep track of the impact of the conversation. "She was still crying when I left her."
"Don't you understand?" Robin turned to BB and asked desperately, "I can't have a relationship with anyone, it would be too dangerous. Just because her feelings got exposed by accident, doesn't mean that I can return them."
"You already do, I understand where you are coming from dude, but you are an idiot." He grinned his crooked grin as Robin's eyes widened behind his mask. "You think that she finds it easy to care like this about you? You don't think she would have kept this bottled up until she died if she could have?"
"I know," Robin ran a hand over his face and through his hair. "I know." A sense of helplessness filled him, yes he did care very much for Raven and if not for his stand on relationships he would have jumped at this chance.
"You're not just an idiot dude, you're scared." Beastboy grinned again, obviously enjoying calling his revered leader an idiot, it was very rare that tables were turned and BB was the one offering comfort or advice.
"She didn't even mean to say it BB, she wouldn't have said it if she hadn't thought I had died out there." He said, referring to earlier that night when he had been slammed into a building and had lost consciousness for a time, with a heavily bleeding head wound. Raven had been the one to find him and quite out of character for her, she had held him trying to bring him back with her powers while whispering her feelings over and over. He had heard her as he swum back to the land of the living.
"Well you didn't and she did." Was his simple response, "Besides the way you reacted, like she was toxic or something was worse than just saying that you didn't want her to feel that way." BB felt a slight twinge at the thought of how his simply calling her creepy had affected her in the beginning of the team.
Robin stared at Beastboy a full minute, then turned on his heel and headed out of the room at a near run. BB sat back and smiled sadly, at least he could help some relationships.
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Robin stood outside her door looking at her name emblazoned across the nameplate, fear and nervousness tasting like BB's tofu in his mouth. Sighing softly he raised his ungloved fist to knock on the door, he listened to it echo slightly in the hallway.
Silence…
He knocked again, "Raven I know you are in there, I need to talk to you."
"You have said enough for two lifetimes Robin, I am sorry that my emotions over ran me earlier. I am fine now and the problem has been rectified." Her monosyllabic voice came from the other side, no trace of tears or emotion in it.
"Raven," Frustration and a twinge of fear filled him now, what did she mean rectified? "I am coming in, regardless of whether you open the door yourself."
"Very well." Her sigh was soft and almost hidden by the whoosh of the door sliding open, her hood was up and her face hidden. She blocked the doorway and he could feel her eyes boring into him even if he couldn't see them.
"Can I come in?" He asked, "I would rather have this conversation in private." He knew she valued privacy and it was the only real card he had to play here.
"Very well." She repeated and moved to let him pass her into the darkness of her room.
"I'm sorry I made you cry." He said softly, after the door had closed. Her shoulders stiffened and she stayed turned away from him.
"I am going to kill Beastboy." She murmured so quietly he barely caught it, "I am fine now Robin, as I said my emotions were slightly over dramatic today, I have not been meditating as I should. The difficulty has been rectified." The air of finality in her tone worried him.
"Still, I am sorry." He stepped towards her, wanting to get close enough to take her hood down.
"Alright, apology accepted." She paused and turned towards him; her face still covered by the shadows of her hood and the room. "Are we done now?"
"No," He replied quickly and realized that he would need to talk fast and with some persuasion to make everything turn out the way he wanted it to, for the first time the amount of damage he had done to her psyche and emotions hit him. He prayed silently to a god he had stopped believing in long ago. "Raven, I…I didn't mean what I said, what I did." He took another step towards her, encouraged when she didn't back away.
"So you aren't sorry." She was deliberately misinterpreting what he was alluding to.
"No, I mean yes." He shoved a hand through his hair. "Damnit it Raven, this isn't easy for me." His voice was pleading as well as a study in deep frustration.
"And it's easy for me?" She replied harshly, for the first time dropping her mask of indifference towards him. This time it was she who took a step forward, "You hurt me Robin, it was bad enough that my emotions go haywire and cause me to blurt out things that should never be said, but to have you treat me as if I had the plague." She paused and took a breath, "I thought you were a friend, someone who would understand that I understand you and would never force anything on you when I am in total control. You did not behave this way when Star was like that." Her last statement burned him right to his core.
"I wasn't in love with Star." They both froze at this admission, Robin because he hadn't meant to blurt it out quite like that and Raven wasn't sure she had heard him correctly.
"What?" Her tone was even and cold, but somehow Robin could read the fear that permeated her entire body.
"You scared me Raven, because I am in love with you." He ran a hand through his hair again, sighing roughly. "I shouldn't fall in love with anyone; it places a larger danger on their head. I was okay with it, with keeping it hidden when I was sure you didn't feel the same way about me, but when your feelings were revealed I felt a real fear that I would lose you, that you would be hurt because of me." They were now toe to toe and he could feel her breath on his cheek, he reached up slowly and drew down her hood. He could now see the traces of tears on her face and the sadness in her eyes.
"So instead of letting a villain maybe get past my defenses and hurt me, you did it yourself." She replied, emphasizing the word 'maybe'
"I didn't mean to." He said softly.
"I know," She sighed quietly and they stood in silence for a moment staring at each other. "Now what?"
"I don't know." He looked away briefly and then back, shrugging a shoulder in a way that was pure Robin.
"I was telling the truth when I said that I am fine, with my emotions under wraps you can go on pretending whatever you want." She said, watching him closely for his reaction.
"I don't think I want to pretend anymore."
"I don't know if I can do anything but go on pretending Robin." The pain was still too fresh in her mind and heart.
"Don't say that, not now that I have come to my senses." He laid a hand on her cheek; glad he wasn't wearing his trademark gloves and could feel the softness of her skin.
"Robin…" She sighed and her voice trailed off, her eyes fluttered shut and she leaned into the warmth of his hand, reveling in the touch, so few people actually touched her on purpose.
"Step off the ledge with me Raven and we'll fly, don't make me fall alone." He pleaded and leaned towards her more, his heart thundered in his chest.
"How could I let you fall?" She gave him a rare smile and completed what her own heart was begging for.
Warm lips met soft and a first kiss was shared; only their whispered breathing filled the room.
Tonight they flew and neither thought on the changeling that was laying flowers at the feet of a statue, a sad smile on his face.