Disclaimer: Come on, if I owned the Teen Titans, would I really be sitting here writing fan fiction?
Rating: K+
The Price of Comfort
Beast Boy trudged down the pitch-black hallway in a white undershirt and excessively baggy pajama pants that barely clung to his waist. He didn't even bother to lift his feet in between his sluggish steps. He was hardly awake, but he didn't let that stop him. He needed to get at least one bite of food. Not anything that would keep him up any later, though. In other words, sugar and caffeine were out of the question. Maybe some nice, fresh fruit would do. Of course, fresh food was scarce in Titan's Tower. Food was either consumed within five minutes of being served, or it was left behind to spawn some new apocalyptic pathogen. He sure hoped the fruit wasn't that old…
'Do we even have any fruit?' he wondered.
Beast Boy came to the entrance of the Tower's main operations room. He stood there momentarily, trying to find the memory inside his brain that would tell him how to open a door.
Forgetting that the tower was put on lockdown during the night (and the fact that the doors slid automatically when they were unlocked), he pushed on them, expecting them to swing open. Alas, nothing happened. Out of frustration, the sleep-deprived boy continued to push on the doors until finally he lost his footing and face-planted onto the cold floor. If he had been more awake, he probably would have cared about the throbbing pain in his nose. Fortunately for him, sleepiness was a pain-nullifying condition. He very well could have fallen asleep right there on the ground if it weren't for his stomach speaking to him quite loudly. He groaned as a lengthy gurgle emanated from his midsection.
From his belly-flop position, he rose to try to open the doors once more. This time he noticed the identification pad on the right side of the door and clumsily slapped his hand to it. Hand prints had to be verified to allow access through any door during nighttime lockdown. After a couple seconds, the red light on the pad turned green and the doors pulled away to reveal his destination.
He was about to step into the room when he noticed something peculiar. The television was on… and he wasn't in front of it… and neither was anyone else. Peculiar indeed. This sparked a few synapses and, gradually, Beast Boy became more awake. He was the last one to leave the operations room that night and he remembered turning off the enormous flat-panel TV. The obvious conclusion was that someone else had gotten up in the middle of the night to watch television. That person was probably lying on the couch. But who else besides Beast Boy could have been there?
Without making a sound, he tiptoed into the room, determined to solve this mystery. Then he resorted to creeping closely to the floor; he didn't want to make his presence known. As he thought about it, he realized there was only one person it could have possibly been: Cyborg. He was the only other person who enjoyed watching as much television as Beast Boy. Pertaining to his mischievous ways, Beast Boy figured that this whole situation was too good to pass up. Pranking took higher priority over hunger and sleep when he was presented with opportunities like this.
He made it to the back of the couch successfully. The volume of the TV helped; it blocked out any other disruptive noises. Beast Boy grinned wickedly and rubbed his hands together in anticipation. With his heightened sense of hearing, he could detect the faint sounds of breathing coming from what was the right side of couch when facing the panoramic windows. So he crawled over to that arm of the couch, no doubt where Cyborg's head was resting. There, he formulated his plan. The classic jump scare—popping up out of nowhere and bellowing some unearthly sound—seemed to catch his fancy tonight. It was simple yet effective.
He giggled to himself. Messing with the mechanical teen was well worth the consequences that were bound to follow.
All he had to do now was count to three. Three simple counts and Cyborg would be screaming his head off like a little girl (it always amazed Beast Boy how wide the guy's vocal range was).
"One," he whispered, turning around to face where Cyborg was.
"Two." He crouched, compressing like a spring, ready to scare the wits out of his defenseless victim.
He smirked. "Three."
Beast Boy sprung up with his arms flailing like some kind of monster. However, upon setting his sights on his victim, he fell backwards onto his rear before any sound could escape his mouth. And it wasn't out of clumsiness. He was bewildered. Wasn't Cyborg supposed to be there? Wasn't he supposed to get a good laugh out of this?
In a daze, Beast Boy sat on his sore buttocks for several seconds. That's what he got for not checking who it was first, he figured. Once regaining his composure with a good shake of the head, he crawled back over to the couch and peered over the arm at the sleeping person that was most definitely not Cyborg. Instead, it was none other than Raven. She lay on her stomach in a pair of form-fitting, blue satin pajamas. Her face was stuffed into the couch pillow and her hair was all askew. Her right arm was draped over the pillow while the left was buried beneath it.
'Raven?' Beast Boy thought, 'Asleep on the couch? With the TV on? In the middle of the night?'
Yes, this was indeed even more peculiar than before. It was Raven of all people, after all. She probably hadn't meant to fall asleep there. Beast Boy began to think he should wake her. At this moment, his hunger was forgotten.
He got up from the floor and sat down on the edge of the couch next to where she was lying. He put his hand on her shoulder and shook it lightly.
"Raven," he whispered. If he wanted to see the next morning, a rude awakening was definitely not the way to go. "Hey, Raven, wake up."
She didn't show any signs of coming to; she really must have been out.
He leaned over so that his mouth was close to her ear. He gripped her shoulder a little tighter, but he still shook with the same gentle force.
He whispered into her ear. "Raven, wake up. You fell asleep on the couch… C'mon, wake up. Please wake up."
Suddenly, soft mumbles escaped her lips. Beast Boy moved back to sit upright again.
Raven moaned a sleepy, groggy moan right into the pillow. She readjusted her head so that she wasn't breathing through cloth anymore. Her eyes fluttered open and she tilted her head to look at the person that had woken her from her slumber. Beast Boy looked back down at her. He smiled.
"Beast Boy?" she grumbled tiredly.
"Hmm?"
"What are you doing?" She didn't sound too pleasant.
Beast Boy gave one of his signature nervous laughs.
She propped herself up on her right arm. "What? Tell me," she demanded.
"Wellllll, I was comin' for a late night snack, but when I got here I saw the TV on. I thought you were Cyborg."
"Why would you think that?" she inquired further.
"Heh, didn't really expect anyone 'sides him to be watchin' TV this late. And, um, I was gunna pull a prank, but uh… then I saw you instead, so yeah," he explained hesitantly. He felt it was in his best interest to leave out the part where he was a split second away from screaming in her face.
"Typical," she said apathetically.
"How'd you end up down here?" he wondered out loud.
"Couldn't sleep," she replied simply.
"Looks like you solved that problem," he commented.
"Yeah, everything on TV was so mindless it drained me of my ability to think. Guess that did the trick," she reasoned.
"Ah." Beast Boy nodded knowingly.
"…Until you woke me up," she added, glaring at him.
Beast Boy stood up rather quickly. "I'm gunna go get that snack I was lookin' for," he said with a nervous smile, pointing to the kitchen with both thumbs.
He swiftly walked over to the fridge. Looking back, he saw that Raven had reclined to a lying position; her hair flowed over the arm of the couch. Returning his attention back to the task at hand, he opened the fridge and jumped backwards in case anything lurched off the shelves to attack him. He let out an extremely relieved sigh when he saw that the interior of the fridge was relatively clean. Just about spotless, actually. A rare occurrence in Titan's Tower, to say the least.
He scanned the shelves before singling out what he wanted: a batch of grapes. He broke off a small bunch of grapes from the batch and was happy to see that none of them were home to sentient mold creatures. He popped one in his mouth. It was slightly tart and very crunchy, just the way he liked them. The taste of the sweet juices caused him to close his eyes in satisfaction. Common fruits never seemed to fail him.
"Mmmm, these are really good," he said with delight. "You want any, Raven?"
When he received no answer, he walked back to the couch only to find that Raven had fallen back into the grasps of sleep. Except this time she had turned onto her right side, her arms curled up to her chest with her hands lying relaxed, palm-to-palm. Her left leg crossed over top her outstretched right leg.
He stopped chewing on a succulent grape and the hand holding the rest dropped lifelessly to his side, sending one falling to the floor. Beast Boy swallowed as he lost his concentration at the sight before him. Raven looked so peaceful in her slumber. Her eyes were completely still behind her eyelids. She kept her mouth closed, but it wasn't clenched together. Her features were softened and he could see no sign of tension within her. She lay there in a state of tranquility while her body prepared itself for the coming day. Her light breathing was masked only by the noises still exuding from the television. Beast Boy's cat-like hearing picked up the soothing sound, welcoming it. Her respirations weren't forceful, barely holding the weight of a feather. Her torso rose and fell ever so slightly with each breath.
Beast Boy stood there in a mixture of awe and relaxation. Just the sight of such a delicate being in a deep, restful sleep calmed him. His heart beat slowed down to an adagio and his breathing mimicked the steady rhythm of hers.
This was so different from the hardened, shell of a girl he had gotten to know during the daytime. Had Raven always been this… beautiful? He pondered on this and realized he wasn't afraid to think of her this way. He had no rational reason to be afraid to think that. Why deny something that was of the utmost truth? To him, she really was an Azarathian Angel—her demonic heritage be damned. And Beast Boy had the privilege of witnessing one. Through her placid expression, he saw the girl she probably always wished she could be. Beast Boy could now see that, at least in slumber, she was capable of escaping the cold façade she put up every day to control her powers. Now, a warm aura emanated off her, spreading throughout the whole room and into his very veins.
There was no doubt about it; she was beautiful. It just disappointed him that he had never noticed before. He had always thought she had her looks going for her, but this was unlike anything he had ever seen. He counted himself lucky to stumble upon this rare and wonderful find. However, he was confused as to what he should do next. He knew he didn't want to leave. Not now. How often would he see her like this? For some reason, it gave him great joy to see one of his friends this serene. Especially Raven.
Beast Boy laid the bunch of grapes on the coffee table. Perhaps he would eat more in a little while before waking Raven to take her back to her room; she'd probably prefer not to wake up to all her friends coming in in the morning. He walked over to her feet and sat down on the next cushion over. He leaned up against the back of the couch, exhaling and closing his eyes. When he opened them again, he looked back over at Raven, who still slept contently. Then he turned his attention to the television. There was an overly enthusiastic infomercial playing on the current channel. He had no desire to burn his eyes away on the screen, so he reached for the remote and switched off the TV.
It all of a sudden became gravely quiet, except for the sound of Raven's soft breathing. It provided the only sense of comfort in the dark room, but it was all he needed. Outside the bay windows, he could see the dazzling stars in the clear night sky. The moon was not visible on this night, so the stars were the main source of what little illumination there was. Even Jump City was, for the most part, asleep at this early hour. There were still a few more hours until sunrise.
As he sat there, his eyelids began to grow heavy. His eyes stayed closed longer and longer with each blink. Eventually, they were closed more often than they were open. And finally, sleep washed over him. The last thing he heard was Raven taking in another breath.
-X-X-X-
Raven opened her eyes, except there was one problem: she saw the same darkness she saw with her eyes closed. As she looked around, she could make out the very faint light of the stars twinkling through the windows. She was still unfathomably tired and apparently it was still night. For this she was thankful, but through her fuzzy, drowsy senses, she realized that she had become rather cold. There were no blankets within her reach and her body longed for the warmth and coziness of her bed. Thus another problem: in order to get that warmth and coziness, she would have to stand up and walk all the way back to her room… she decided against that idea. Her tired body would not allow her to walk that far anyway and she couldn't focus enough to use her powers. Thus, the initial problem remained: she was still cold.
She gave a languid stretch in her lying position. It was then that she felt something. She stretched her feet out repeatedly, tapping it with her toes. It was soft, yet firm. Whatever "it" was, it retained great heat.
With what little energy she had, she sat up, retracted her legs, and made a one-hundred eighty degree turn so that her head was facing the heated object. She could barely make out the outline of this object in front of her through the darkness of the night and her still-hazy vision. Using her hands, she felt it cautiously. It emitted such inviting warmth, causing Raven to grin deliriously in her half-awake state. What she was touching did not budge, so she assumed it was safe to move further.
Raven could feel herself dozing off again, so she needed to be quick. She crawled further up this soft, warm, sturdy object until most of her uncomfortably cold body rested upon it. With her hands, she felt six masses beneath a fabric surface. Moving her hands up, she found two larger and somewhat thicker structures. She laid her head on one of them and it proved to be an excellent pillow. This is where she would sleep for the rest of the night, she decided. It was so very comfortable. She extended her right arm so that it draped over a round mass at the top right side of her "pillow" and gripped another round mass at the top left side with her left hand. She smiled contently as her body relaxed. Within seconds, she drifted back off to sleep.
-X-X-X-
For some reason Beast Boy felt heavy, like something was pressing down on his chest and abdomen. As his mind slipped back into the realm of consciousness and reasonable thought, he noticed there was something weighing him down. The question, though, was what?
His eyes seemed to be glued shut, as it took great effort to pry them open. The morning sun beamed into his squinting eyes and he waited for them to adjust to the new light of day. Soon his blurry surroundings came into focus and he could see clearly once more. But as soon as he looked down his body, he was caught in a stupor. He wasn't sure if he could trust his eyes. Maybe he was still sleeping.
Lying stretched out on top of him, still in a graceful slumber, was Raven. He stared at her wide-eyed. The dark beauty had laid her head on his chest while her left hand gripped his right shoulder and the other was draped over his left shoulder.
Stunned would have been a vast understatement for what Beast Boy was feeling. What were the chances of this happening? How did he not wake when she climbed on top of him? He knew he was a deep sleeper, but this just didn't seem possible. He was baffled by the mere sight of her so… close. Then something else occurred to him: why was she on top of him?
Raven stirred. Beast Boy worried that his rapidly increasing heartbeat may have woken her. Her eyes opened and she slowly turned her head to look Beast Boy directly in his fear-filled eyes. She looked at him, momentarily confused as to why he was staring at her the same way Dr. Light did when he encountered her. It was then that she realized where exactly she was. The feel another human body was the dead giveaway. Her eyes shot open to match his. Neither Raven nor Beast Boy moved a muscle. They were completely frozen with shock in the uncomfortable silence. It was as if time itself stopped moving so it could savor this moment and laugh at their predicament.
It wasn't until the two of them blinked simultaneously that their brain juices resumed flowing and they registered what was going on. Raven clambered off him and he frantically scooted backwards. They were now at the opposite ends of the couch. A bright red tinge touched both of their cheeks as they desperately looked anywhere but at each other.
"Umm, Raven?" Beast Boy finally asked timidly.
"Yes?" she responded. Her voice held an uncharacteristic nervousness. It was definitely not the same Raven he woke up in the middle of the night.
"How did that happen?"
A few seconds that felt like an eternity passed before she said anything. "…I was cold," she said softly as she pieced together vague memories from the night.
Beast Boy turned to look at her. "Huh?"
She sat with her legs curled up to her chest and stared absently at the floor. "I remember waking up and feeling cold," she explained. "Then before I fell asleep again, I was warm."
A moment of silence passed between them.
"Raven?" he inquired again.
"Hmm?"
"Are you mad at me?"
Her head snapped towards him. From the look she gave him, he could tell she thought he was being ridiculous.
"Mad at you? Why would I be mad?" she asked, curious as to why Beast Boy would think that. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but I have no reason to be. It's not your fault. I'm the one that used you as a body pillow."
He gave a simple "oh" for a lack of anything better to say and then they both turned to look at the floor. She noted he always seemed to be worried about upsetting her.
Raven sighed. "Beast Boy?"
"Yeah?"
"Are you mad at me?"
He looked at her again, but she was peering out one of the large windows overlooking Jump Bay.
"No," he said mildly, "I'm just feelin' a little—"
"Embarrassed?" she interrupted. "I know the feeling." She looked at him finally, offering a small, tired kind of smile.
"Well, yeah, but that's not what I was gunna say." His voice held some anxiousness.
She gave him a questioning look.
"I'm just a little confused," he submitted. "Like, I get the feeling that I should be mad or upset or somethin', but I'm not. I dunno. It's no big deal to me," Beast Boy said and smiled shyly.
These words made Raven feel even more embarrassed. She turned away very quickly. "Well, um, I'm glad I didn't put you in a weird position," she said as the warm sensation of a blush rushed to her cheeks yet again.
"I mean waking up with you, um… right there was sorta surprising," Beast Boy pointed out. "And by sorta I mean super."
Raven stifled a small laugh. "Yeah, I'll say." She couldn't control the words that followed. "You're really warm."
Beast Boy showed absolutely no outward reaction. He just looked at her steadily, calmly. Raven found this eerie, considering it was Beast Boy. She cursed herself for that mental slip.
Beast Boy eventually twitched as if coming out of a trance. "Oh, uh, thanks," he said, remembering he was being talked to. "So did you get that good night sleep you were lookin' for?"
He seemed eager to change the subject, for which Raven was silently thankful. She decided to follow along.
"Yeah, I did," she replied.
They both smiled at each other.
Then Raven had a curious thought and furrowed her eyebrows. "Hey, why did you fall asleep on the c—"
Just then, the main doors opened and the three other Titans barged into the operations room. Cyborg started down the steps until he noticed the two other Titans sitting on the couch, staring at him.
"Well well well, look what we have here," he teased. "A lil' bird minglin' with the grass stain. What's the occasion?" He grinned slyly.
Beast Boy narrowed his eyes at him. The two others standing beside Cyborg snickered at the remark.
"No occasion," Raven said suddenly, speaking in her usual monotone. "I fell asleep out here. Beast Boy came in a few minutes ago and woke me up."
"He woke you up?" Cyborg asked incredulously, pointing at the green kid sitting on the couch. "You sayin' he was the first one outta bed?"
"Yeah, sounds kind of odd for Beast Boy," Robin interjected, chuckling a little bit. He smiled, reveling in his suspicion of the two Titans under investigation.
"Oh, you know how he likes to bug me," Raven supplied, casting a fake glare at Beast Boy.
Cyborg looked from Raven to Beast Boy, who rolled his eyes at Raven. Cyborg just grinned. "Well, just be sure you don't get ya'self killed, man," he kidded, to which Beast Boy replied by pulling down an eyelid and sticking out his tongue.
When Cyborg and the others continued on to the kitchen without further interrogation, Raven felt a wave of relief wash over her. 'This is the price I pay…' she thought.
As the others went about their business, Raven and Beast Boy brought their attention back to each other.
Beast Boy was now grinning broadly. "Nice cover," he whispered to her.
"Thanks," she said, now feeling much better about herself. The interruption brought some needed humor to the situation.
"So, are we okay?" Beast Boy asked hopefully.
"Yes, we are," she replied, confidence back in her voice.
Then Beast Boy's grin morphed into a wan smile and his ears drooped. "Soooooo, in other words it never happened?" he asked. He knew he had to ask her this and he had a feeling what her answer might be. However, he didn't know why he started to feel disappointed.
"I'm afraid so," she said.
The unusually light tone accompanied by those words intrigued Beast Boy. He looked at her and caught her eyes in his. It was almost as if, for once, he could see her thoughts through them. At the moment, he knew she would never forget what happened. It would remain their little secret.
While the other three Titans prepared breakfast, the pair engaged in small talk for a few more minutes. They wanted to avoid appearing to be in rush to leave. Robin and Cyborg were struggling to fight off Starfire's attempts to add traditional Tamaranian ingredients to their meals.
Raven couldn't help but feel she was forgetting something she wanted to ask Beast Boy, but she decided to let it slide. She started feeling grimy and wanted to take a nice, long, hot shower. She never liked the way she felt right after getting up in the morning plus she needed to get ready for the day. It also provided the opportunity to avoid any further embarrassment.
"If you don't mind, I'm going to go freshen up," she told him.
And with that, she rose from the couch and began to walk away. Beast Boy's smile returned, larger than ever. Remembering the sight of her sleeping on the couch, he let out a content sigh. That would always be his secret: what he witnessed last night. He kind of hoped she would fall asleep out on the couch more often. As he pondered, he watched like a fool as the Azarathian Angel gracefully strode away in her tight, blue satin pajamas.
Cyborg walked over to the couch holding a giant platter stacked with a foot-high tower of bacon and a dozen sunny side up eggs. He halted after hearing an unexpected squish below his foot. He lifted his foot to examine the underside and grimaced. Peering around the platter, he looked over at the coffee table and then narrowed his eyes at Beast Boy.
"Maaan, how long have those grapes been sittin' out on the coffee table?"
A/N's:
I'd like to say that I believe Beast Boy is one DEEP, DEEP sleeper. I gather this from his habits in the show. So of course, Raven could've gotten up there without waking him – completely plausible. :P
Hope y'all enjoyed it and thanks for reading!