What It Means
A/N: Plot bunnies are fun little creatures. This is a little BBRae drabble, but it's actually my first attempt at romance. In my opinion, it's still not very romantic... At least it's humorous. It's also my longest oneshot. Anyway, enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans or its characters.
Some facts in life were undeniable.
The sky was blue.
The grass was green.
And Beast Boy was annoying.
But Beast Boy was especially annoying when he insisted on skipping around the Commons Room, repeating a question over and over again. Raven, the room's only other occupant, couldn't figure out why in the world he'd pick that question, but there was a lot about him she couldn't figure out. It wasn't as if she stayed up at night pondering these questions.
He meant to sing, but to Raven, it was more of a wail—sort of like the kind one heard in badly-made horror movies where the monster had a throat problem. Something like that.
"What does it mean? What does it mean?"
It was also horribly off-key—assuming that he had a 'key' to begin with. Someone with the gift of perfect pitch would feel the uncontrollable urge to cover their ears and cringe, or maybe send the 'singer' to another dimension. Or both.
Raven, who did not possess perfect pitch, felt the exact same urge, and she had the power to do it. But she would refrain, because then there wouldn't be such a mess to clean up.
"What does it mean? What does it mean?"
Her thoughts wandering away from the book she held in her lap alarmingly fast, she wondered what she could do to settle the racket. Ten minutes later, Raven had devised a few options.
She could ignore Beast Boy and hope that he'd go away. But she had already been here for the last twenty minutes, and he'd shown absolutely no signs of giving up. She wondered if his vocal cords were even tired. His voice didn't sound strained. Perhaps it was because of his powers. Besides, the past had proven that ignoring Beast Boy didn't make him go away. If anything, the opposite.
Another option was teleporting to her room, or the roof, or to another room, where she could read her book in peace and quiet. But the couch was particularly comfortable today, and while she didn't want to admit it, she liked the spot too much to move. The pool of sunlight that gathered on the couch, streaming in from the window, made it even better. If not for Beast Boy, then reading undisturbed in a quiet room, washed in a gentle pool of sunlight, would have been a perfect day. Alas, Beast Boy was the reason why she was not enjoying this wonderful day. She sensed him hurtling around the couch in another loop, still wailing at the top of his lungs.
"What does it mean? What does it mean?"
Then there was the option of smacking him on the head with her book. That seemed like a good idea, until she realized she might lose her page or damage the book. If something bad happened, the consequences would be disastrous. It would probably be best to avoid setting the tower on fire or whatever else her book could conjure up.
Yet another option—she had many, she realized now—was to cover his mouth with her magic. It would work, but it wouldn't provide quiet, as he'd still run around and bother her. She sighed. This was harder than she'd thought. Her book lay on her lap, forgotten.
There was always the option of throwing him out the window. While that would solve the problem, it would also give her a mess to clean up and she'd have to replace the window. That was too much work. Plus, she could be accused of animal cruelty if she subjected the poor fish and other animals in the ocean to Beast Boy's terrible singing voice. It was not a fate she would wish on anyone.
Or, and she thought of this hesitantly and reluctantly, she had the final option of simply talking to him and telling him to shut it. It was simple and straightforward.
Raven looked up in annoyance as Beast Boy circled the couch once again, running around for another loop. Her book silently slid off her lap and onto the couch.
"What does it mean? What does it mean?"
Focusing, Raven allowed a thin tendril of black energy to ensnare his foot and bring him crashing to the ground. His singing, if it could be called even that, stopped abruptly.
"Ow!" He sat up, rubbing his head where it had collided with the ground. "What'd you do that for, Raven?"
She ignored his question and asked her own. "Would you kindly tell me why you felt it was appropriate at this time to disturb me by making a horrendous racket passed off as singing?"
He thought for a moment, processing her long question. Then the light bulb came on in his head. "Oh! You mean that! Well, I was just asking a question." He grinned innocently, his fall long forgotten.
"No," she corrected him with a sigh, "you were being annoyingly loud and off-key, disrupting my quiet reading." She almost wished one of the other Titans was here. They could drag Beast Boy off her hands.
As far as she knew, Robin and Starfire were 'out' (whatever that meant) and Cyborg was… wherever Cyborg was whenever he wasn't in the Tower. That could mean any number of places. Well, she was on her own. At least she had experience dealing with Beast Boy; it wasn't as if this was her first time.
Beast Boy's voice cut into her thoughts. "How about this," he offered, "I'll stop asking if you give me an answer." He decided to repeat his question, disregarding the fact that Raven had heard it constantly for the last half hour now. He asked once again, and far too loudly for Raven's comfort, "What does it mean?"
She started to wonder if playing all those monster video games made him sound like one, too. Remembering that she was attempting to answer his question, she looked at him, irritated. "What does what mean?" Her tone was exasperated.
Just then, the microwave dinged from the kitchen.
As if a shock had jolted through his system, Beast Boy leaped up and started to run towards it. Halfway there, he remembered Raven, and stopped suddenly. The green Titan flashed Raven yet another grin—he seemed to be grinning a lot these past few days, but that was typical of Beast Boy—and called back, "Don't forget to answer my question!" Then he disappeared into the kitchen.
Raven sighed. Perhaps now that he'd had some nourishment, he would leave.
Of course that was too much to ask for, as Beast Boy quickly returned, tofu snack in one hand—it was wobbling like one of Starfire's otherworldly dishes—and an opened coke bottle in another. "Have an answer yet?" he asked casually, as if he actually expected her to think of an answer to a question she didn't know in moments.
"No," she answered, and the topic was dropped.
He leaped on the couch, and it was a miracle that nothing spilled or toppled over. He noticed Raven looking at him. "What?"
"Must you sit here?" She looked pointedly at his coke bottle and snack. A bad move could send something onto her or her book.
"There's nowhere else to sit that's this comfortable," he argued. He was right about that, at least. "I'll be careful, okay?" he pleaded. "I won't spill anything on ya."
Raven decided it was less trouble to just let him be. She could always send him to another dimension if he became too much of a nuisance.
He lunged for the remote control, but the shifting of the couch knocked over the coke and dark liquid spilled out onto the floor. Beast Boy, remote in one hand, quickly righted the can with the other, but the damage had already been done. He looked up sheepishly to find Raven's gaze unwaveringly fixed on him.
"At least it's not on you," he offered, trying to hide behind a grin.
He raced back to the kitchen, grabbed a few paper towels, and mopped up the mess. A minute later, he was back again—and grinning. Still. Didn't his mouth ever get tired?
Raven tried to concentrate on her book, but found she couldn't. Her attention kept drifting to the green-skinned boy next to her, who was munching contently while channel surfing. The annoying racket filled the room, constantly switching channels, but what had taken up more of Raven's mind was Beast Boy and his Question.
For some reason, she couldn't push it out of her mind. At least she was quiet now, but it still lingered in her mind. It shouldn't. She didn't even know what the question was. Raven could ask, but that would be admitting that she was still thinking about it.
She sighed, and went up to the roof to meditate. Hopefully she could forget the conversation. It would be best.
Raven really wanted to throw Beast Boy out of the window (whether it was the Tower's window later or the T-Car's window now, she didn't know) for implanting the question in her mind. All throughout the battle with Cinderblock, she'd been distracted. The empath had fought well enough—she'd defended her friends and hadn't gotten too hurt, although there was that one instant where Starfire had to shove her out of the way when Cinderblock's fist came crashing down. Nobody had any serious injuries, but she still blamed Beast Boy.
And she blamed him even more now, as he tried to lighten the mood in the T-Car, where everyone was squished together. Raven could have simply teleported, but with her jumbled mind, she didn't want to accidentally land somewhere else. Beast Boy and Starfire could have flown, but Star didn't have the energy to fly and Beast Boy didn't want to go alone.
To make matters even worse, they hadn't even had dinner. At least Cinderblock had waited until the five of them were assembled before deciding to ravage the city. That had been about the only good thing.
Her mind returned to Beast Boy as he opened his mouth. "What does it mean? What does it mean?" He looked around at the others, grinning. His gaze seemed to linger on Raven a bit longer than the rest.
Oh, no, Raven thought. Not again, Beast Boy. This time, though, he had the full audience. Two heads swivelled his way—not Cyborg, because he was driving, and not Raven, because she didn't need to hear the question any more.
"What does what mean?" Starfire asked pleasantly, leaning towards the green Titan who was sitting in the middle.
Robin gave his own interpretation from the front. "I think," he started in a firm tone, "that it means we haven't trained well enough, if it took that long to take down Cinderblock." He shook his head slightly. "We need more training sessions!"
A silent groan rippled throughout the T-Car.
Cyborg spoke up, changing the topic. "Anyone want pizza? There's the place up ahead." He pointed.
The rest of the Titans agreed, and they filed out of the car, Beast Boy's Question apparently forgotten.
After ordering their usual pizzas and sitting at their usual table, Beast Boy decided to bring up the matter again. "What does it mean? What does it mean?"
A few patrons from other tables looked over curiously. Raven put her hood up and suppressed a groan. Did he have to do it here, now, too? And if he absolutely had to, why couldn't he just say it? Why did he have to wail it?
This time it was Cyborg that replied. "I think it means this is the best pizza place in the town, if I'm eatin' so well!"
Beast Boy wrinkled his nose. "Meat—that's disgusting."
Cyborg glanced over at Beast Boy's dish. "BB—hate to tell ya this," he grinned widely, "yours is even worse."
Starfire pushed her plate closer to the two boys, smiling happily. "If you ordered the wrong dishes of pizza, you may share mine, friends!" she offered. Mustard dribbled down the side of the pizza, forming a gooey yellow puddle on the plate.
Robin looked at them, eyes narrowed.
"Um, no thanks," Beast Boy declined nervously. "It's nice and all, but it was Cyborg's piece I didn't like."
"Yeah," Cyborg agreed in the same tone. "I'm fine with mine, thanks."
Robin dropped his gaze and continued eating.
After a few minutes, the silence got too much for Beast Boy. "What does it mean? What does it mean?" he wailed.
Starfire answered. "It means that the pizza is a wonderful Earth dish we should enjoy often!"
"Good idea, Star," Robin agreed, nodding his head fervently.
"We already eat this often," muttered Raven, but no one appeared to hear her.
The rest of dinner turned to other topics, and Beast Boy thankfully didn't ask his Question.
Of course, expecting Beast Boy to remain quiet about it for the rest of the night was too much to ask. Both Robin and Starfire had their night patrols today (together, everyone else noted) and Cyborg was—somewhere else again. Once again, Raven was reading in the common room, and Beast Boy was—
"What does it mean? What does it mean?" he half-wailed, half-attempted-to-sing, skipping around and around the couch.
Raven decided to give an answer. "It means that if you don't shut your mouth this instant, you will find yourself on the other side of the window and dropping towards the ocean. I hear the temperatures are supposed to drop tonight."
Beast Boy slowed down and flopped onto the couch, wearing a contemplative expression. "What do you think the question is, Rae?" he asked seriously.
"My name is Raven, and I think the question doesn't mean anything." She glared at him menacingly.
He tapped his finger on his chin. "What does it mean?" he mused to himself.
Raven snapped and something exploded somewhere—she didn't care at this moment. "Will you tell me what you're talking about?"
The green Titan sighed a breath of relief as he realized she still only had two eyes. He looked at her directly.
She looked at him, and their eyes locked. As green met purple, Beast Boy knew what he had to do to make her understand.
He grinned, breaking his gaze. "You haven't figured it out already?"
"No," she snapped. Why was he playing these games with her? He didn't bother anyone else this much.
"You'll figure it out eventually. G'night, Rae. I'm heading in early tonight." He vaulted over the couch and headed to his room with a spring in his step. First stop, his room, and then… He rubbed his hands in anticipation, grinning to himself.
Once again, Raven couldn't focus on her book. With a defeated sigh, she also decided to go to sleep early. Perhaps a good night's sleep would refresh her mind.
As she walked to her room, she tried to push the Question out of her mind. No such luck, of course. The hallways never felt so long and endless. Why was her room so far away from the Commons Room? Why was it so dark? Oh, right—the lights had exploded. She made a mental note to replace them tomorrow, if she could get to the store—but wasn't it Cyborg's turn to go shopping tomorrow? Maybe she could accompany him, or simply tell him to stock up on their light bulbs. Their supplies had been running low again—
Her thoughts dissipated quickly when she reached her door. Raven gasped with surprise. Leaning against the wall next to the door was a red plush heart. A scribbled note sat on top of it. It read, Figured it out yet, Rae? On the back of the note read the full question What does it mean when I say to you…
It trailed off, but Raven already knew what he wanted her to know. She hurried inside her room, heart pounding fast.
The next morning Beast Boy was padding sleepily out of his room when he was jolted awake by tripping over a red plush heart. A note sat on top of it, exactly as he had left at the door for Raven. Then what does it mean when I say to you… The handwriting was neater than his, he noted.
It was a challenge, he knew. And he was up to it.
Thanks for reading. Reviews are appreciated; tell me what you liked, didn't like, etc.