A/N: Look at me, writing all these one-shots and two-shots. Guess I need a minor hiatus from multi chapter fic writing. Enjoy.
"who a person kisses
sleeps with or even marries
is of no real consequence.
it's who a person misses
in the middle of night
who matters, who is of
most importance..."
- Beau Taplin
Black Honey
Part 1
The Titans were happy for Robin and Starfire.
Genuinely happy.
It had been a long, long time coming, after all. The couple had been dancing around one another for as long as anyone could remember, neither ever bold enough to act on their genuine feelings for each other. Robin had been too thick headed, and Starfire apparently too subtle and unsure. So, when they had finally established their new, romantic relationship, every other Titan had been thrilled with the news.
That is, until their incessant romping sessions.
No one could blame them; something vague about teenagers, hormones, and pent up sexual frustration while living in close quarters. Not to mention, the bubbling sexual tension that had finally culminated into one hot, passionate affair after all those years. It was well earned, well deserved, and perfectly understandable that both the Titans leader and the alien beauty couldn't keep their hands off each other. Once they'd tasted that forbidden fruit, it was near impossible to go back to anything else.
When the 'sleepovers' grew in frequency, and often throughout the wee hours of the early morning, the other Titans put up with it. They dealt with the lust filled cries, the sound of the creaking bedframe, of the steady banging against the thin walls while the mattress springs squeaked beneath their weight. It was all sweet in the beginning, and it was always nice to see the usually tense boy wonder unwind and relax after spending a relaxing evening with his girlfriend.
However, eventually, it became grating.
Most especially for Raven.
As she had come to learn, it was extremely inconvenient that her room had to be sandwiched between both Starfire and Robin's bedrooms, so it never mattered which one they chose to inhabit for the night, she was always subjected to the guttural sounds of their lovemaking.
She had tried everything to drown them out. Raven had initially started going to bed earlier, hoping to fall asleep by the time they started in on it, only to be awoken in the middle of the night by one of Starfire's high pitched moans. She tried stuffing her pillow over her head, but her empathic abilities could pick up on the nauseating, primal emotions that seeped into her room through the vents and her doorway. They knotted her stomach and made her heart flutter, all the while she fed off the lust like it was her own body consumed by the fanning flames of such passion. She couldn't sleep, she couldn't meditate, she couldn't think straight half the time, her mind clouded by hormones and emotions she wasn't used to experiencing.
Eventually, Raven would give up on sleeping in her own bed entirely. She'd wait until everyone was tuckered out for the night, then slip out of her bedroom and head for the couch with pillow and blanket under her arm. Since she was always the first one up in the mornings anyways, she'd rush back to her room before anyone even noticed where she'd been all night. The sofa certainly didn't have the same level of comfort her bed did, but any reprieve from Robin and Starfire was well worth the compromise.
Of course, her other option had been to confront the two teens about their late night activities, but that conversation could go wrong in so many ways, and Raven didn't really see it changing anything at all. How does one go about making love 'quietly' and with less vibrant emotion? Raven may have been a bit new to the experience, but even she was aware such things were impossible to control when deep in the throes of passion. Besides, she hardly even knew how to broach the topic, let alone politely ask them to put a stop to it or, in the least, quiet down.
After a couple of unperturbed nights of somewhat successful sleeping on the big, red sofa in the common room, Raven was slowly growing accustomed to her new habit. Only, nothing good ever lasted long.
One night, as she'd prepared to ditch her bed in favor of the comfortable couch yet again after picking up on Starfire's shrill giggles from next door, she was quick to realize that she was not to be alone in the lounge after all.
She could hear the sounds from the television echoing down in the silence of the hallway, despite the lowered volume. Raven, so curious and so perplexed by this new development, quietly shuffled along quicker to investigate the source of the sound. What she found, along with the growing noises of the TV as she inched closer, were familiar voices as well.
"Aw, hell no! You cheated, string bean!"
"Dude, how do you even cheat in this game? It's a race!"
"I don't know what sort of slimy tricks you got up your sleeve! All I know is, you were dead last by the third lap and then, by the end, you came in first! That does not smell right!"
"You're just being a sore loser. It's called skill, Cy. Maybe you should look up the word."
"Oh, you did not just go there, B."
"Best two out of three?"
"…You're on! If I win, you have all my dish duty for the next month!"
"Fine! But if I win, you have to take care of all my dirty laundry for the month!"
"That is disgusting, and totally unfair!"
"How is it unfair?! I have to touch your meat slops for a month!"
"And I gotta touch your nasty underwear!"
Cyborg and Beast Boy went at it for a while yet by the time either of them clued into Raven's presence in the corridor.
Just as Victor was getting ready to chew out the changeling for the umpteenth time, Beast Boy stopped him by pressing a firm palm against his robotic chest, and sniffed at the air skeptically. "…Raven?"He called out tentatively, his brows scrunching up in confusion.
She couldn't help the way her heated blood rushed to her face upon learning that Beast Boy had memorized her scent. Knowing she was caught, she stepped forth out of the shadows and tried to appear more nonchalant about being discovered than she actually was.
Both Titans stared at her standing there in her skimpy pajamas, clutching her silken blanket and fluffy, oversized pillow to her chest. Beast Boy and Cyborg had sat up on the couch to acknowledge her, puzzled by her sudden existence in the otherwise dark, quiet tower.
"Uhm, Rae, what are you doin' up so late?" Cyborg asked her in a quiet voice.
"I should ask the same of you," she replied coolly.
Beast Boy and Cyborg exchanged looks, almost like they could read one another's mind perfectly. The two of them were often in sync with one another anyways, Raven figured. Judging by the spike of nervousness in their emotional scales, she was certain that they were hiding something from her.
Garfield scratched the back of his head. "Guess our gaming session just went on later than we'd anticipated," he lied.
"Yeah, we didn't mean to wake you up, Rae," Cyborg apologized.
Before she could think of a coherent sentence, Beast Boy pointed out the more glaring observation that their other teammate seemed to have missed. "Uh, why do you have your pillow and blanket, Raven?"
She glanced at the two of them then, startled and taken off guard by the unforeseen question. Raven gripped the soft fabric in her arms tightly. "I…I was just going to take them to the wash," she tried to lie, her voice uncharacteristically quivering.
Cyborg raised a suspicious brow. "Really...? At two thirty in the morning?"
Suddenly feeling uncomfortably flushed under her teammate's scrutinizing eyes, Raven panicked. She hated being the centre of attention, and she'd always been a pretty bad liar, so whenever she was called out for her bluff, she'd grow flustered and defensive, like a cornered animal.
With a fresh wave of annoyance overcoming her, Raven glared and barked back at her unsuspecting teammates, "Yeah, because it makes so much more sense to be playing video games at this time when Mr. Robot over here needs, at minimum, a full nine hours of system recharge for optimal function!"
Beast Boy flinched at the coldness in Raven's tone while Cyborg appeared embarrassed by her keen memory. Finally, he sighed deeply and raised his mechanical hands up in surrender. "Alright, alright. You got us, Rae. Truth is…I ain't been gettin' much beauty sleep anyways. I figured it's better I spent the time kicking Beast Boy's scrawny butt at video games than having to lie still and listen to…," he trailed off, his human eye darting to the floor nervously. It was as if he was having a hard time formulating the right words for such a taboo subject.
Gulping, he licked his dry lips, and made strange motions with his hands to help him elaborate. "…ya know."
Much to Raven's surprise, even the changeling looked to be a mite bashful when the elephant in the room was acknowledged. "What Cy's trying to say is, well, that, uh, Rob and Star go at it like rabbits in heat, and, I mean, as nice as it is for them, it gets hard to…fall asleep," he explained hurriedly, his words nearly jumbling together in his rush. Like an old band-aid on a freshly scabbed wound, Beast Boy simply wanted to get it over with as quickly as possible.
It did not escape Raven when he tried to amend his comment by the end.
Finally finding some common ground, the empath sighed as her features settled into a defeated frown. "You too, huh?" She conceded, padding over on bare feet to take a seat in between the two boys.
She closed her eyes and ran her fingers over her tired, aching lids. "They've become…insufferable," she complained breathily, slumping into the soft cushion.
"Tell me about it," Beast Boy agreed, his teeth grinding together in frustration.
"I feel for ya, Rae. Being between the both of their rooms, that's got to be the worst. I just figured you had a solid pair of ear plugs or somethin', which is why you put up with it for so long." Cyborg patted her shoulder in comfort.
She could feel Beast Boy shifting next to her. "Yeah, Cy and I only really have to deal with it occasionally. My room's across from yours, so I've gotten pretty good at tuning it out. Cy's bunked close to Robin's room, so when they're in Star's, he's usually fine, too. But you…" The changeling gave her a pitying, sincere smile.
Raven rubbed at her temples and let out another long, drawn out sigh. "Just my luck, really," she moaned hopelessly, sinking even deeper into her seat.
"Wait, B, if you're across from Rae's room, you probably don't get anything at all!" Cyborg pointed out, his tone raising an octave upon coming to realize such an obvious fact.
This caused Raven to snap back to attention, focusing her accusing, amethyst toned gaze on the green skinned boy beside her.
Beast Boy looked alarmed, breaking out into an uncomfortable sweat as the glaring spotlight had suddenly shifted over to him. "Uh, well, you see, I've got pretty sensitive…ears. Yeah, ears. Besides, I wouldn't want to let Cy beat my high score while I was sleeping, you know!"
It sounded like excuses, and Raven couldn't shake the feeling that there was still something Beast Boy wasn't sharing with them, not even with his closest friend on the team.
"I see," Raven pondered monotonously, her eyes like icy violet slits when she narrowed her gaze at him.
"Right. So, Rae, how long you been sleepin' on the couch, anyways?" Cyborg directed his questions back to the empath, ignoring the fidgeting green boy on the other end of the couch. It was obvious they weren't going to get any more out of him on the subject for the time being, anyways.
Raven had to think about that one. She stared up at the ceiling in deep concentration, as she rummaged through her memory. With a long inhale through her nose, she answered, "Almost a month now. Maybe three or four times a week."
It weirded her out that she was always aware of Robin and Starfire's…schedule.
Cyborg whistled. "That is a lot of…uh…never mind."
Under his breath, Raven could have sworn she heard Beast Boy mumble, "Lucky jerk…"
When she looked over at him, he was scowling at a spot on the wall, his arms folded over his chest, a gentle rumble emanating from his throat.
"I know this might seem a bit crazy, but hear me out. I think we should at least openly consider it…Have you ever thought that, maybe, we should tell them about all this?" Cyborg's voice of reason drew Raven back to reality like the pull of gravity.
Her eyes widened as both her and Beast Boy cried out protests at the same time.
Raven screeched, "Are you serious?!"
"Do you have a death wish by starbolts?!" Beast Boy shrieked.
"More like mortification," Raven groaned miserably, clutching her hair at the mere thought.
"Okay, so that's a hard pass," Cyborg commented, mentally checking off that idea.
Beast Boy threw his back into the sofa, lightly bouncing off the soft, red cushion. He then stared unblinking at the television screen, still frozen on the pause menu of the game the two Titans had been previously playing.
"Still, Rae, you've got to admit that you have it the worst. There's no way you can function like this if you keep sleeping on the couch. I mean, you do know they've done it on here a couple of times, too, right?" Cyborg informed the demoness.
Raven blanched before slowly taking her hands off the edge of the couch, and visibly stiffening from being in direct contact with it. Beast Boy on the other hand, sniffed at the cushion a couple of times. "Hmm, nope. Smells like laundry detergent, pizza, Silkie, and…farts." Garfield scrunched up his nose in disgust at the mention of the last odour.
"Let's just skip past the part about how you would even know what it smells like, and talk about whose farts it is you're whiffin' on my couch!" Cyborg fumed, his jaw clenched in anger as he fixed his menacing glare onto the changeling.
"Are you telling me…that I've been sleeping on this contaminated sofa all this time? That I've practically inhaled their…their…," Raven couldn't finish her sentence, beginning to feel physically ill at the thought. Her stomach turned, and she clutched at it in an effort to keep the cramps at bay.
"Relax, Rae! I wash the covers during my turn at laundry duty. Can't say the same for everyone else, though," Cyborg attempted to console the shivering girl while shooting Garfield a knowing glare.
Raven gagged. "Ugh, where am I supposed to sleep now?! The floor?!" She exclaimed, choosing to stand up and distance herself from the object of her turmoil.
"Way to go, tin can. Now you've traumatized Rae," chided Beast Boy.
Cyborg, flabbergasted by his teammate's bold accusation, objected, "That isn't my fault! I saved the girl, if anything!"
Raven began pacing in front of them, grabbing her hair as she tried to think, while also pushing her worst thoughts to the back of her mind. Beast Boy and Cyborg watched her before exchanging worrying glances.
"Uhm, you know, Raven, my room is, uh, pretty unaffected by Robin and Star's, uhm," Beast Boy paused, clearing his throat with a forced cough, "night time fun. So, I mean, if you really wanted to, I could-" He never got to finish his sentence.
Raven stopped pacing and fixed her eyes on the changeling, silencing him instantly with a chilling look. In a soft but menacing voice, she growled, "I am not sleeping in your room, Beast Boy."
Both Cyborg and Garfield shivered from the nip in the air after Raven's icy declaration. There was a finality in her tone that said suggesting otherwise would have been equivalent to a death sentence.
Nonetheless, Victor had to try, now that the idea was in his head.
"Normally, I'd agree with you there, Rae. Ain't nobody deserve to smell the scent of the entire animal kingdom in a cramped room. However, how much do you value a good night's sleep?" Cyborg postulated very, very carefully. It was always thin ice with the empath, especially concerning Beast Boy.
Raven's initial reaction was to vehemently argue the point, but after she recalled the many, many sleepless nights in her room, fighting with her pillow and her covers to shut them out, she was shocked to find herself actually considering the idea.
How bad was it, that she'd be willing to share a room with Beast Boy, of all people?
It would be a couple times a month, and, during Starfire's lady days, even less. Once her eyes were shut, she wouldn't even realize where she was anymore, and it wouldn't matter again until the next morning. Beast Boy slept in all the time anyways, so she'd slip out before anyone would even notice where she'd spent the night.
Her features must have unconsciously softened because a small but grim victory smile tugged at the corners of Cyborg's mouth.
The empath had spent many agonizing nights tormented by impure thoughts and emotions, tossing and turning in the heat of her bed, overcome with an insatiable lust she could not douse. Sometimes, she'd catch herself thinking that taking on her father a second time wouldn't have been half as bad as the invading emotions that consumed her body.
To answer her own question; it was pretty bad when fighting an interdimensional demon seemed like a better alternative.
Raven's eyes shot open, and she turned to acknowledge Beast Boy, who was currently too cowardly to meet her eyes.
When she finally caught the changeling's attention after boring her stare into the top of his green mop of hair, Raven posed her question in a tone as unfeeling as she could manage. "Do I at least get the bed?"
A/N: The rest of the story will be posted soon, as I sort of wrote up too much content to stay a one-shot. So, it'll be a two-shot, with the second chapter probably being a lot longer. Feedback is appreciated. :)
