Something a little different from me. You might even call it angst, though I think that might be going a tad far. I've always figured that with all the villains a super hero fights, it would probably be just some Joe Nobody that actually gets a pot shot in on them.

Anyways, I hope that you enjoy it. Reviews are always welcome.

Story: Shaken
By: Shawn "The Unfunny Joke" Wheeler
Disclaimer: I own none of the characters depicted or mentioned below.
Summary: From time to time, knocking on wood is the best you can do.

Raven had been home for nearly an hour now. The Titans had been out for most of the day shopping and enjoying a typical day out on the town doing errands, which was to be ended with an uneventful dinner at their favourite pizza parlour.

Of course, she had learned many years ago that there is no such thing as a typical and uneventful day when you are a hero. In truth, all five of the Titans had been surprised that a person would be dumb enough to actually rob the place. But there they had been, two complete idiots wearing improvised face masks and wielding semi-automatics, attempting to get a shaking teenager to empty out the register.

Textbook really, protect the innocent and stop the bad guys. It's a shame that nothing ever truly goes by the book. Even complete idiots can get a lucky shot in.

But that had been an hour ago, and now everything was okay. There wasn't much left of the wound anymore, barely any evidence that a bullet had pierced skin, though Cyborg would be in the garage for quite some time trying to get the blood out of his car's upholstery.

But still, Raven was worried. Not much had been said about the incident, at least not by the victim. Instead, he had been very swift to laugh and joke after being healed and was quick to go to his room once okayed to do so. The others had voiced no objections, which Raven couldn't really blame; they had all been relieved that their friend was alive. If he wanted to rest, why couldn't he? He was obviously fine otherwise.

However, Raven didn't believe that for a second. Not with the emotions he had radiating off of him.

And thus she was at Beastboy's door. She donned the most sympathetic facial expression she could muster and lowered her hood. He would be much more willing to talk if she herself wasn't attempting to hide.

As she knocked she wondered slightly if the other Titans prepared themselves in similar ways before attempting something like this with her. But this train of thought was cut short as the door opened and Beastboy emerged.

"Hey Raven," He started, smiling at her. "What brings you here? Come to double check the wound?"

Actually, that wasn't such a bad idea and it could help her ease into the conversation as well. She nodded her agreement and followed as Beastboy allowed her into his room. He sat himself on his bed and Raven stood nearby.

"I just want to make sure I didn't miss anything important."

"Sure thing, though you didn't miss anything." Beastboy lifted his shirt slightly to show the circular bruise gracing his side. "It looks much better than a gaping hole, and Cy's scans say there isn't anything wrong under the skin."

"I know, but it's best to be sure of these things." She looked at it for a few more seconds before motioning to Beastboy that it was okay to lower his shirt again. "How bad does it hurt? You could probably get some medication to dull any pain."

He simply shook his head at her, dismissing her idea entirely. Boys and their macho acts.

"It's just a little tender, nothing I can't handle. It's more annoying that I've been ordered by Robin and Cyborg not to change for a few days just in case it puts too much strain on the wound.." He rolled his eyes. "Though they never specified what I have to stop changing. I could probably just stay in the same clothing for a week and say I misunderstood."

"Please don't. Neither Starfire nor myself would enjoy smelling you for that week." Raven half smiled before straightening up her face again. "So your injury is more or less taken care of. How about you? How are you holding up?"

"I'm fine. This kind of thing is an occupational hazard. We're just lucky we have the best health insurance plan in the world." He motioned towards her. "Thanks a lot Raven, I don't think I said that earlier, but I should have."

"You're welcome Beastboy, it wasn't much trouble." She was starting to get a bit away from her reason for being here. "But you can't possibly be just fine. You have to be feeling something. You were shot."

"Yes Raven, I think we've covered that already." He laughed a little. "I was there after all."

"And you're trying to tell me that you're not at least a little shaken by that?" He had to be an idiot to think that she would believe that.

"Honestly Raven. It's not that big of a deal, I'm okay with it. It's a risky job, and I've come to terms with the thought of giving up my life to save someone else."

Raven thought about that for a moment. She herself felt the same way; though she'd much rather not entertain the thought. And Beastboy had been trained by Mento, a firm believer in the suicide mission. But still, it would be much easier to believe his story if Beastboy wasn't still radiating a fairly strong aura of fear. Maybe it was time to call him out.

"No Beastboy, something is wrong." He motioned for him to stop talking before he could say a word. "And don't tell me there isn't. I can feel it. Why must you always forget that I can do that?"

She saw his bright smile falter and soon vanish, being replaced by a straight slit of a mouth.

"No getting anything past you, is there?" He asked in a feeble attempt to lighten the mood. "Okay fine, so my mind's a bit cluttered with thoughts at the moment, it's not a big deal though. You don't have to worry about it."

Right, didn't have to worry about it; just like he never had to worry about anyone.

"Well it's too late now. Here I am, and I am worried about it." She looked him square in the eyes. "There's nothing wrong about being scared after being shot, it's-"

This time Beastboy had motioned towards her in order to get her to stop talking.

"Look, I already told you, it isn't my getting shot that's got me worried. Sure, I was scared like hell when it happened, but I more or less got over it once Robin had the bullet out and you had your hands glowing."

Raven studied Beastboy for a moment, and soon came to the conclusion that he was more or less telling the truth. However, he still hadn't told her exactly what the problem was.

"Then what is the problem? For the life of me I can't fathom what could have happened that was worse than getting shot."

Beastboy replied to this by looking towards the ground and muttering a sentence that was impossible for her to hear.

"Pardon?"

"It could have been one of you." It was still quiet, and Raven could barely make out what he was saying. "The guy was completely lucky to have gotten me, and it could have just as easily have been Starfire, Robin, Cyborg or you."

Raven didn't quite know how to respond to that and kept herself quiet. Luckily Beastboy didn't seem to care and quietly continued.

"I was shot, and it sucked. But that's nothing compared to the thought of losing a member of my family. I don't think I could handle going through that again. What if you had been shot," At this point he rapped softly on his wooden bedpost. "And, god forbid, you died? The guilt of knowing I could have done something…."

He didn't finish.

"And you think we don't feel the same way?" Raven shook her head. "Trust me, the only reason I wasn't overwhelmed by everyone else's fear when you were shot is because I was too busy being overwhelmed with my own."

She took a deep breath to arrange her thoughts. This conversation was much different than the one she had halfway prepared herself for.

"However, I do understand what you mentioned about guilt. The first thing that came into my mind after I saw that you had been hit was that I could have stopped the bullet."

She saw as Beastboy's eyes widened to an almost comic proportion.

"Don't think that! There was no way you could have stopped it, you were busy shielding Robin and Star."

Raven raised an eyebrow at him while a tiny half smile graced her lips.

"Exactly, and if our roles are ever reversed some day, it won't be your fault either. You'd have done everything you could to help as many people as possible, especially a friend." She was probably going to regret feeding his ego like that later. "Guilt is natural, but you can't let it eat you alive, especially guilt over things that haven't happened yet and might not."

Beastboy suddenly exhaled as if he had been holding in his breath for a few minutes and ran his fingers through his hair.

"I've really been acting stupid, haven't I?"

"That depends. It's not stupid to worry about people, especially those you care about." She paused for a moment, just to make it seem like she had finished. "But it is stupid to shut yourself down because of it. If you like us so much, come out of your room and talk with us."

Beastboy laughed at that, and Raven could tell that she had helped at least a little to alleviate his worries. He motioned towards his door and smiled.

"Okay Raven, fine. I'm going to shower real quick and I'll be right down. Tell Star and Robin to pick a movie and Cyborg to nuke some popcorn."

Raven nodded her agreement for this improvised movie night and headed towards the door. Before it could close behind her however she heard a parting remark.

"And thanks a lot Raven, despite the… less than cheerful topic, it was a nice talk. We should do this more often."

"Maybe, though it would be nice if we could skip the emotional breakdown."

"Ah, but Raven, that's half the charm."

And with that she shut the door.

It wasn't until about halfway down the hall that the irony of the situation truly hit her. She had just interrupted Beastboy in his room and ended their conversation by asking that he come out to be more social with the rest of the Titans.

Well, at least he hadn't been reading or meditating.