"Please?" He asked
"No." She replied monotonously
"Pretty please?" He asked, a little more hopeful this time.
"Maybe with a cherry on top." She replied, it would have been a hopeful answer if her words were not heavily laced with their usual sarcasm.
"Fine." He sighed which caught her attention.
Raven's head lifted from her book, her facial features hidden by the shadow of her cloaks hood, her eyes wandering to the green changeling sat on the other end of the rounded couch. The two teenagers were sat in the Towers common room, it was just another normal day, the sun shining through the windows but not causing any glaring, filling the room with a comfortable warmth. Raven and Beastboy had been sat on the couch for the better part of the hour, Raven reading her book and Beastboy playing his usual video games.
The other Titans were off doing what was expected of them, Starfire had rushed off to the mall and after nearly 20minutes of begging, Raven was quite tempted to join her just to shut her up, but still refused. Cyborg had also left the tower, neither Beastboy nor Raven had listened to him, just catching the odd word from him, something about a car show. Surprisingly enough Robin for once instead of Cyborg had flown to Titans East, they needed help with their training regiments, which Robin of course was more than happy to help them with.
Now, what had caught her attention was that Beastboy had actually stopped begging her to play with him, not after an hour of begging, trying to blackmail her or using any form of deal, he gave up after just two attempts, that certainly was unlike him. Raven tried reading his emotions but once again it was futile, she noticed that Beastboy seemed to be able to block her from reading his emotions when he wanted too, how he did it she didn't know, but it was a little unnerving. She tried probing his mind, just the top layer of his current thoughts, she was aware that it was quite rude to do so without asking but she couldn't admit that she was concerned. Once more, she was blocked, worse yet Beastboy was looking her, or rather glaring at her with a low growl rumbling in the back of his throat, he had caught her, how?
"I'll be in the gym if you need me." Beastboy simply said, the growl having ceased and that silly smile plastered on his face, she had always figured that it was a mask, this was one of the occasions that proved her right.
Her lips parted slightly, she wanted to ask him if he was alright, apologize for her crossing the line by trying to probe his mind without permission, especially since she had been caught, but no words escaped. Beastboy leaned forward and pressed the power button on the console and it flicked off with the screen turning back, only now Raven realized that the room wasn't silent with the lack of explosions and screeching tires from the game, it had already been silent.
Jumping over the couch, Beastboy walked into the kitchen area and grabbed a few things out of the fridge and cupboards, a bottle of water, some rice crackers and a cereal bar.
Raven was truly confused now as the changeling left the room, doors hissing shut after his exit. Her head turned to the TV, noticing the small red lettering saying 'MUTE', there weren't any of his comics laying around, he said he was going to the gym, without having been forced too and didn't even touch anything Tofu or unhealthy while in the kitchen. She closed the book on her lap, closing her eyes, running through the memories of the last couple of weeks, trying to piece whatever she could together and though it was easier to do so while chanting, she entered nevermore.
The dark sorceress found herself in a old bookstore which Beastboy would have called creepy, dust seeming to cover the bookshelf's and books themselves, by the sales counter in the at the back of the store, Raven noticed her yellow cloaked counter part, Knowledge. The emotion did not notice the approaching woman and was jotting a few things down in a book with Quill and Ink, not noticing Raven even as she stood by the counter now, watching Knowledge.
The book looked fairly unimpressive, Knowledge was writing on what appeared to be the last page and then turned it, exposing another page seemingly from nowhere, the book becoming a little thicker as a few dozen blank pages faded into existence.
Knowledges' head suddenly shot up at the sound of Raven clearing her throat, catching the emotion off guard but small smile graced her lips as she looked to Raven, her hands however still working, even without her looking.
"Ah, Raven, its been some time, what can i help you with?" Knowledge asked a little more cheerfully then Raven would have liked.
"I need to go over my memories of the last few weeks." She stated with the usual monotone.
"Anything to narrow it down?" Knowledge asked, finally putting the quill back into the ink and raised herself off the stool, walking around the counter towards a completely filled bookshelf, on the side of the bookshelf rather than stating a genre of the novels, such as fiction, nor lettering, it had simply a date on it, matching this month and year.
"Beastboy." Raven stated and the knowledge turned with a slightly surprised look but shrugged it off.
Standing in front of the books now, Knowledge tapped her left index finger against her chin as she looked over the various volumes, some as thin as a comic, others as thick as the bible but picked up a descent sized book and sighed a little as she inspected the book. Raven was a little surprised herself now, granted everything had a layer of dust to give it a antique feel, but the cover of the book looked as though an animal had its way with it, the cover shredded and as Knowledge opened the book, the pages were taped poorly together.
"What happened to that book? I thought you are meant to keep my memories in perfect condition." Raven asked, annoyance heavy in her voice.
"Oh i do, no information was lost, but with any book regarding Beastboy, Rage had its way with it." Knowledge replied casually though it were an every day occurrence.
"Excuse me?" Raven clearly surprised.
"I haven't told you have i? Sorry, Rage doesn't like Beastboy, well, she does, but its one of those love hate things." Knowledge said with a casual shrug and headed for the counter.
"Explain, now." Raven practically shouted.
"Well, its been going on ever since Beastboy first went into your mind." Knowledge said, sitting down on the stool again. "When Beastboy, Cyborg and yourself faced Rage in battle, he caught her attention." Knowledge looked to Raven and could see the agitation on her face.
"Though on the surface it may have seem so, he was not afraid, the opposite in fact, he saw her, even if in the form of Trigon and he was excited about the challenge and challenged her he did. While Cyborg wanted to leave, Beastboy convinced him to stay. When you said there was no way to win, it was in fact Beastboy who suggested the method in which to defeat her, no?" Knowledge partially explained and waited for a response from Raven.
"So, she wants vengeance?" Raven asked, confused about how the events meant to explain the state of the book.
"No, she loves him, but also hates him, he was the cause of her defeat that's why she hates him, but he did not fear her, in fact seemed to enjoy fighting her, that's why for the lack of a better term, she loves him." Knowledge tried to explain clearly to Raven.
"Just show me the information from the last few weeks." Raven replied monotonously, she would need to have a good talk with Rage later.
"Anything specific concerning him?" Knowledge inquired.
"His behaviour and habits." Raven replied.
"Its not the right time of the year for his heat cycle is it?" Knowledge asked with some concern.
Raven blushed a little as this was brought up, remembering some rather embarrassing moments with Beastboy rubbing against her in the form of a wolf and quickly shook her head.
"No, just looking for discrepancies from his usual behaviour." Raven said and Knowledge audibly let out a sigh of relief.
"Good, can't stand it, love practically doesn't leave my domain during that time waiting to read any new, well, guess you could call it gossip." Knowledge sighed again and went over the book.
Raven waited patiently but didn't like what she had heard so far, apparently some of her emotions having some form of infatuation with Beastboy, that she didn't like one bit. Without a word Knowledge stood up and moved over another bookshelf, the sign stating the books to be the memory of the month before and brought over another book which looked rather beaten.
"You're right." Knowledge said after a few more minutes. "His behaviour has been changing slowly but surely." She continued.
"When did it start?" Raven asked.
"Shortly after you threw him out of the window because he offered to take you out into the city and after you heard that yell from his room just a few minutes after he came back." Knowledge said and shrugged.
"Anything before is Beastboy, being Beastboy." Knowledge finished.
"Maybe that throw finally dislodged whatever was wrong in his head." Raven sighed and nodded to Knowledge before her form faded from the realm of nevermore.
Ravens eyes slowly opened, still sat on the couch in the Titans common room, raising herself from the couch, Raven looked down to her book and after minor concentration a small black portal opened and she let the book drop into it where it should end up landing comfortably on her bed.
She decided that she needed to apologize, if she had just thrown him out of the window, against a wall, thrown something at him or accidentally sent him to her fathers dimension, she wouldn't have felt the need to but she had never heard him growl at her like that, the anger if not hate in his eyes, there was the beast incident, but he wasn't himself then.
Now Raven could have phased herself down through the tower and into the gym, but she felt nervous, she may not have been able to feel the emotions of him, but seeing them in his emerald eyes, it was different and was taking her time heading down the tower to form an apology. Knowing Beastboy she would simply have to say sorry and he would shrug it off with one of his jokes like he did with everyone, even the beast incident, she didn't want that.
The dark sorceress approached the gym doors, stopping just in time when the sensor did not seem to acknowledge her presence and the door did not slide open causing her to almost walk into it, her hand reached to the panel and pressed the open button, only for it to beep at her defiantly. Left eye brow raised, Raven looked at the control panel and it stated that the room was locked. She felt stupid really, the door was locked, Beastboy wasn't in there, he must be somewhere else, probably his room, turning to leave, her head turned back towards the door at the sound of loud shouting and yelling.
Before she could catch up with herself, her body phased through the wall and into the gym to be greeted with startling sight. Now, each of the Titans had their own punching bags depending on their own physical strength so that they could work out but not end up breaking the equipment or themselves. What one of the startling thing was that Beastboy was standing topless before Starfires Punching bag, specially designed to be able to withstand the Tameranians immense strenght and yet he was going at it without pause, yelling and shouting with every punch and kick he threw at it. Blood was covering the fabric which had metal woven into it, but more and more blood covered it as he continued, either not noticing or ignoring her presence until Raven called out to him.
"Beastboy! What are you doing?" Raven walked as calmly as she could, which wasn't very, towards the green changeling.
"What'ya mean?" Beastboy asked in his usual dumbfounded manner.
"Your hands, look at them." Raven sighed and grabbed one of his hands and lifted her own to start healing it but as the glow encased her hand, she didn't detect any damage in his.
"I'm fine, no need to heal me as always." Beastboy chuckled and eased his hand away, Raven couldn't help but notice the claws at the tips of his fingers, she never knew why he wore the gloves, guess that was one reason.
"So where did all the blood come from?" Raven said.
"Oh, that's mine, but i heal quickly enough." He said, shrugging his shoulders slightly
"You don't heal that fast, No one does on their own." She said with some anger in her voice.
"I do." He said and she gasped, quickly her hands shot out but she was too late. He used one of his claw like nails to cut deeply across the back of his hand, the blood seeping quickly from the wound.
"Are you out of your mind." Raven shouted and grabbed his hand but before she could heal it he took her free hand and shook his head. "Just watch." He stated and she did.
The wound had already stopped bleeding, drying on his hand moments later and she could see as the wound was knitting itself shut and less than ten seconds after it had been opened, the wound was sealed shut.
"That's why i never needed you to heal me." He said while Raven looked rather shockingly at the now cut free hand.
"What about the time when i healed your leg? I healed it within a matter of moments, it was a simple ripped muscle, why didn't your body heal it?" She asked curiously now.
"Because it was almost healed, By the time you got to it the five cracks in my femur bone were already healed." He chuckled.
Raven was about to reply when her eyes finally fell on his exposed upper body and her eyes widened, granted the woman in her was looking at his well toned form, his strong and dense looking muscles, always hidden under his uniform and from what she saw him do to Starfires punching bag, it showed just how strong he actually was. The teammate in her however was looking along hs skin, seeing countless scars of all sizes, she wouldn't be able to press her palm anywhere on his form without touching one or more scars..
"Oh come on Raven, everyone has scars." He suddenly said with a dismissive chuckle and turned to face the punching bag again.
"How?" She whispered, his twitching ears hearing her.
"How what?" He asked simply.
"How are you this strong, how did you get all those scars and how could you not scream out in pain and agony from not only the punching bag but from your other injuries." Raven said a little breathlessly.
"Wow, mouthful." Beastboy chuckled but ceased doing so as he saw her glare.
"Sorry, well i can answer your first two questions at the same time. I was a member of the Doom Patrol for 5 years Raven, from the age of 7 till i was 12, did you think we just held hands all the time? The Doom Patrol train their members to become a one person army so they can handle any situation and force, though a child, i was no exception." He smiled.
"But still, Look at you...let me heal them." Raven said and lifted her hand but once again he took her wrist and stopped her from doing so.
"Don't worry Raven, not like anyone will see them, well, unless by accident like you." Beastboy chuckled but by her look she was obviously confused. "What? I'm green, pointy ears, fangs and turn into animals, doubt many women would be interested, unless they are those crazy types that 'like' animals, never going out with one of those." He shuddered but laughed slightly.
Did he really think that lowly of himself? Raven thought.
"As for your third question, i am a changeling, i have to deal with the pain every time i change, or did you think that skin, flesh, muscles, bones, organs, nervs etc. growing, shrinking, snapping and rearranging wasn't painful? I am used to pain." He asked, but Raven turned her eyes away, clearly she didn't think it did.
"Anyway, better clean this before Star gets back." Beastboy sighed and left Raven standing there as he walked towards the bench and the bucket of water on it until both their attention was snapped towards the ceiling.
A loud but brief sound was heard, like someone taking a photo with one of the old Victorian cameras that required powder, this was followed by a loud scream scream as someone fell from the ceiling on top of Beastboy.
The green changeling fell to the floor, growling loudly but before he could see who had landed on him, another plume of smoke filled the air and he quickly stood up, his left ear twitch, left hand reached out and just as the person seemed to appear from a plume of smoke, he grabbed them by the throat and threw whoever it was down to the floor, pinning the person down with his hands and form.
His fangs slightly bared, growling loudly when suddenly all anger faded as his emerald eyes stared into the amber eyes before him as they stared back into his, closing his mouth slowly, hiding his fangs, Beastboy slowly looked down at who he was actually pinning to the floor.
Her eyes as said before were a beautiful amber, her face was blue, it wasn't her skin, though barely noticeable, his eyes could see that she had a very thin layer of fur covering her skin. Her hair was a slightly darker shade of blue, cut shoulder length with strands of hair resting on her face, her ears, her ears were pointed like his. At the same time the woman looked up at him, his toned form, his green skin and short darker shaded green hair, his eyes, his pointed ear and fangs.
"Dude..." She whispered and couldn't help but giggle softly as she noticed his gaze change and ears twitch.
Beastboys attention broke and looked to his hand which yes, held her throat but eased its grasp as what seemed to be a blue tail brushing against it and eased his hand away.
"S-Sorry, you just startled me." Beastboy finally said and tried not to blush as he realized how he was pinning her down with his body and shot up, holding his hand out and she took it. Her hand, it wasn't normal, by human standards anyway, she had three fingers but that did not startle him, nothing about her did in fact, she was beautiful.
"I'm sorry as well, don't know how i got here, well, i know how i got here i just don't know why here or where here." She said a little averting her eyes from the topless green man before her, nervousness evident in her voice.
Raven watched this, clearing her throat to make them aware of her presence.
"Oh, right, sorry, that is Raven and my name Garfield but most know me as Beastboy." Beastboy said smiling holding his hand out.
" Thea, Thea Wagner, but you can call me Nightcrawler." She smiled, shaking his hand.