Shamandalie

By Trollhammer

Disclaimer: I own nothing yada yada yada...

Summery: A story about coming of age, inspired by recent events in my own life.

I just want to say a huge thank you to TexMurphy for all of his help and support.

Chapter One

Blue lights flashed and flickered blindingly as the police led away the Hive Five in handcuffs, having failed a recent attempt at bank robbery. A small crowd had gathered to witness the event unfold, as this was a chance to witness one of the city's biggest threats up close in...relative safety. After all, they knew that if they wanted to break free of their bonds they could accomplish said task with tremendous ease...if not for the other reason the crowd had gathered: the Teen Titans. They stood a small distance away from the escort van, with no small hint of pride on their faces at their recent triumph. The politely smiled and waved at cheering fans while simultaneously dealing with police enquiries and standard protocols. After about 20 minutes of this, they were finally given the all-clear to leave. They briskly left for the T-car, clambered in and began the drive back to the tower. As much as they enjoyed some measure of their fame, they were exhausted and needed some well deserved rest.

"Man, are those guys getting tougher or is it just me?" Beast Boy piped up from the back.

"Probably the latter," came Raven's characteristic dead-pan response.

"What ladder?" he asked, scratching his head, until the realisation that he was being mocked...again, dawned on him. "Hey!"

"He may have a point Raven," Robin spoke up from the passenger seat.

Beast Boy stuck his tongue out at Raven, who just rolled her eyes and sighed to herself. He sat back into his seat comfortably with a slightly smug expression on his face, believing for a brief second he'd got one over on her, until his subconscious interjected.

'Like that's ever going to happen.'

His face drooped slightly and he turned to absent-mindedly gaze out of the window at the passing scenery; a bland and seemingly endless collage of glass, concrete and steel mesh.

'I wish a lot of things would happen.' he thought sadly to himself.

Although he never had the courage to openly say it, the young changeling had been admiring Raven from afar for some time now. At first, he had been captivated by the empath's more obvious qualities such as her incidental beauty and her shining, amethyst eyes. But over time, he had picked up on the...other things...her almost hypnotically monotonous yet silky voice...her sense of self-awareness...her sharp, rhetorical wit...dammit, just the way she would sit and read a book got him flustered! Over the last few months, his feelings of admiration for her had developed into...something more. But as much as he longed for her, he respected and feared her too much to confront her with a situation as awkward as the one which would likely unfold should he pluck up the courage to speak. So as much as it was torturing him...for the sake of the team and their friendship (or whatever there was of it)...he had to remain silent.

But it was a silence that spoke volumes...volumes that hadn't gone unnoticed.

Although he was unaware of it, Cyborg had been regularly exchanging glances between the road and his rear-view mirror...watching Beast Boy's usually chirpy mood deteriorate. Knowing full well what he was thinking about, he let out a shallow sigh of pity.

'BB got it bad,' he thought sadly.

He hated seeing his best friend suffer like that, and wanted desperately to help him. But in the back of his mind, as much as he wanted things to work between Beast Boy and Raven, he knew it would never happen...it couldn't...they were too different. Although he couldn't help but wonder...did Raven even know how deep Beast Boy's feelings ran? Did she even care?

"Anyone for Pizza?"

Both Cyborg and Beast Boy snapped out of their thoughts by the sound of Robin's voice. After a few tired grunts of approval, Cyborg pulled up alongside their regular pizzeria, grabbed their favourite table outside on the second floor, and placed their order. They sipped slowly on their cold drinks while chatting nonchalantly amongst themselves. At least three of them were. Raven sat silently and calmly, content to listen to the conversation...and Beast Boy sat watching Raven.

'She's such a good listener...she's like the calm centre of the world, while everything else around h-'

"Raven?"

The sudden unknown voice caught everyone's attention, and five pairs of eyes turned to glance at the source. He was tall and thin, with medium length black hair that obscured one of his eyes. The other eye had just the slightest hint of eyeshadow, and he wore plain a black T-shirt and black jeans. They all recognised him immediately, even though it had been some time; it was the guy Raven had met at the party Blackfire had taken them to so long ago.

"Hey Derek."

Beast Boy couldn't help but notice Raven's tone was suddenly...a bit...chirpier than normal. As...Derek approached, his lips curled into a small smile, a smile that may have roused suspicion had it not been for the sincerity in his eyes. He stopped a small distance in front of Raven, who stood up to greet him

"How's it going?" he asked.

"Pretty good" she replied with a small smile of her own, "just been doing the usual rounds; beating the bad guys, saving the day..."

"Yeah, I saw that." He said, jabbing a thumb behind his shoulder, "Pretty cool. Hey! That reminds me, did you read through my copy of Neitzche's 'Beyond Good and Evil'?"

"Actually, I finished it a couple of weeks ago...I've been meaning to return it to you but...I guess I've just been kinda busy recently." she reasoned with the slightest flush of embarrassment.

"It's no big deal." he reassured, "Just come down to the coffee shop when you get the time and leave it at the counter."

"Well what are you doing later?"

"I was about to grab a bite to eat then head back to my apartment, check a few mails, write some more..." he cracked another small smile "...the usual rounds."

Raven let out a small chuckle.

"Well if you wanted you could make a stop at the tower this evening...I didn't have any other plans. Besides, you told me you planned on making a visit sometime soon."

Derek wrapped his long, slender fingers around his chin and looked as he thought about her proposal for a brief second.

"I suppose I could...pop over for a spell" he said with a cheeky grin.

Raven chuckled again.

"Good one."

Hearing Raven say that made Beast Boy's heart leap to his throat, remembering the pink, happy Raven from his journey inside her mind. Although she had told him she'd always found him funny, the real Raven would never admit to it. But to hear that from her...did she genuinely like this guy's humor? Did he make her...happy? After saying their goodbyes Derek vanished inside the palor. Raven gracefully reclaimed her seat...with a slight glimmer in her eyes only the sharpest observer would catch once in a blue moon.

"So Raven..." Robin finally spoke, "how long have you two been in touch?"

"Yeah, we all thought you two went your own ways after that warehouse party a couple of years back," Cyborg interjected.

"He works in my favourite coffee shop on the other side of town. We bumped into each other again and we got talking during his lunch break, and we've been friends ever since. We keep in touch via E-mail and online messenger when I don't have time for coffee."

"But I thought...that..." Beast Boy stammered.

"What? Just because I have to meditate every day I don't have a social life?" she replied icily.

Beast Boy looked away feeling embarrassed and ashamed.

"So then Raven, are the two of you...close?" Starfire chirped with her irritating optimism Raven thought.

"No. We're just friends." She replied, narrowing her eyes beneath her hood at the Tamaranian girl, "We swap books mostly."

"Oh." came her disappointed response...that faded as soon as the pizza arrived.

Robin and Cyborg gorged themselves on a huge pizza loaded with various meats while Starfire gorged on her own...specially prepared pizza that the others didn't even want to guess what was on it. Raven and Beast Boy shared a large soy cheese pizza.

'At least that's something we have in common.' Beast Boy thought to himself reassuringly.

He knew Raven never had much of an appetite, and was never one for fanciful foods, so when it came to pizza that often shared. Something Beast Boy had come to cherish, as it was the only time they really did anything together. As they ate, he noticed Raven's eyes began to wander as she chewed absent-mindedly...was she thinking about him? And why did this pizza slice feel like a hand? He noticed Raven snap out of her trance and look at the pizza...first in confusion...then surprise. Beast Boy looked down to see that they had both reached for the same slice and were touching hands. They instantly pulled away and averted their gazes.

"Sorry," they both whispered.

They finished the remainder of their meal in silence without even so much as a glance at one another. Unbeknownst to them, Cyborg had again being taking notice of their behavior. And he was worried.

'Oh man...I gotta say something soon...or people are gonna start gettin' hurt.'

TBC