I sat cross-legged at the end of my bed, a mystery novel in hand. It was getting late and dusk had settled, setting a mood lighting in my room, perfect for reading. I sipped my peppermint tea and wished I could hurry and finish my novel before dark.
As the story climaxed and the plot thickened, I was eager to discover the resolution of the story.
Suddenly, a soft knock was heard at my door, I ignored it not saying a word, hoping that the person on the other side of the door would get the message and leave me to be alone.
Seconds later, I heard another soft tap on the door. I sighed in reluctance, they didn't seem to be giving up anytime soon, "Come in", I didn't look up from my novel, and the door creaked open.
I looked up, startled at who'd entered my room, "Hey Rave!" Beast Boy said softly but with prevalent zeal in his voice. He sat next to me on my bedside, awfully close. Which annoyed me that he hadn't asked if he could take a seat. I wondered what stupid reason he'd come to bother me for.
I attempted to refocus my attention to my novel and ignore his presence. Despite my efforts to concentrate on my book, his close proximity unsettled me and made me anxious and uneasy.
It went silent for a few moments, and out of the corner of my eye, I could feel him staring at me intensely.
He reached over and closed my book, which frustrated me, but before I could retort to his uncalled for action, he spoke up in a rather serious tone.
"Raven, I wanna talk to you...", he stood from my bed and shut the door to my room,"...but I want it to be private, ya know? Just us!"
He walked back over with an innocent smile, and plopped back down next to me on the middle of my bed.
I refrained from speaking, but proceeded to stare into his eyes with annoyance and a menacing smirk. I was glad my hood was up, I didn't want him to notice my ears turning a magnificent scarlet. His body so close to mine was making me nervous, and I was hoping my cheeks weren't flushing along with my ears.
I waited and wondered what he could possibly want to talk to me about.
"So how's the novel?" He said with a sheepish grin, while rubbing the back of his neck nervously.
"It's okay", I said shortly.
"Ugh, that's not what I came here to talk to you about, to be honest, I don't care about what you're reading, I care about you."
That last line caught me off guard and I blushed instantaneously. Again feeling lucky that my embarrassment was shielded by the hood of my cloak.
"Raven, look at me."
It fell silent again, I ignored his request and continued to glance to the side opposite of him. Then I felt a warm hand placed atop of mine and then another on my chin. He took my chin in hand and turned my head, so that we looked at one another straight in the eyes. I was frozen due to his direct demeanor and light touch, in any other instance I would have moved out of his grasp, but I let him control me.
His deep green eyes beckoned me, the look of desperation on his face proved that he was eager to speak, but for some reason, he never spoke a word. And we just sat here, staring at one another, with one of his hands on my chin and the other rested in my palm.
Beast Boy gave a defeated sigh. Hearing this I had hoped he'd leave. I decided to break the silence and softly stated,
"Beast Boy, what did you need to talk about with me?" I refrained from sounding annoyed when I asked this question because at this point I was genuinely curious. Plus the situation couldn't get any more awkward than it was right now.
"Well ya see...", he trailed off then chuckled nervously, "...ya see, um... I've been thinking for a while." He didn't complete his sentence so I questioned him,"Thinking of what exactly?"
He gripped my hand more firmly,"Actually, I've been thinking of you a lot lately." He mentioned this while continuing to stare at me. I was confused, 'why on earth would I be on his mind.' I thought to myself.
I asked in a skeptical tone,"I'm confused, why would you be thinking of me?"
"What do you mean 'why'? It's cuz I like you, Raven."
I was still confused as to what he was insinuating, 'what was the point of this conversation and where was it going', I asked myself inwardly.
"Beast Boy...," I hesitated, "Why?"
"What's not to like? I could fall in love with you simply staring into those vibrant violet eyes of yours, Raven."
The mention of the word 'love' sent my thoughts into a tailspin and only increased my confusion. It was so unusual for him to be so serious. But just maybe he was being genuine about his feelings, maybe just maybe, he did have feelings set aside just for me. But soon I started to think realistically, 'What reason would he have to like me as more than a teammate? And was this all a joke?' I'd had enough of this mental torment and my thoughts were rummaging and shuffling through my head. Anxiety settled in and I thought' 'That's it, there's no way anything he said could be true, he's just toying with my emotions.'
I couldn't handle the thought of this all being a hoax, I stood abruptly in saddened frustration.
"Beast Boy, I can't handle this anymore, what is this "love" you mention, and why in the world would you be thinking of someone as boring as me?!"
He seemed to be taken aback in astonishment at my abrupt and harsh statement. I instantly regret lashing out on the innocent green boy. I stood there looking at his sad and defeated expression, he soon stood up next to me and he looked at the ground but his body faced mine, it fell silent yet again.
A sudden rush of sympathy came over me, I hadn't wished to go off on him like that. I've never seen him this upset before, and for the first time, I missed that jokester side of Beast Boy.
"Beast Boy, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to shout at you, I was just confused, please just be real and truthful with me." I said softly and sighed, ashamed of my previous words.
"Raven... Everything I mentioned earlier was true, and I meant all that I said. And to be completely straightforward with you, I do really like you, I think you're interesting and mysterious. But when I said I 'could' fall in love with you, I lied, because honestly I'm already in love with you, which is what I'd been trying to explain to you this entire time."
It fell silent but he was still looking at me intently, hoping to get a response out of me. Since neither of us spoke up, Beast Boy then proceeded to turn in attempts to leave my room. His snaggle-toothed frown and the dimmed glimmer in his eyes almost pushed me to tears. I regret what I'd said to him. I took a deep breath and before he could make it to the exit of my room, I grabbed his wrist in my hand. "I... Beast Boy... I didn't mean...", at this point I'd caught his attention and he'd given up on his efforts to leave. He was now looking for a response, an explanation, something, anything...
"I... Um... Was what you mentioned earlier...", I whispered looking down, "Was it true? Because if it were, I don't think I'd mind if you...um...kinda, ya know, 'loved' me." I couldn't help but blush, trying to cover my crimson cheeks with the hood of my clock was a lost cause at this point.
His lack of response irked me, and I could do anything but feel frustrated as he stared at me blankly and unresponsively.
At this point in time, I also realized that I was still grasping his wrist firmly in my fist. I felt ashamed and proceeded to release his hand. But as I let go, he clasped his hand over mine, he revealed my face by slipping off the hood of my cloak, then continued to hold my other hand.
It was a pretty awkward scene, he was silent, we were facing one another, holding both of each other's hands, my eyes on the floor and his eyes on me. My breath and my heart rate quickened.
"Raven... Look at me."
I disobeyed his request at first, but after a few seconds, reluctantly gazed up at him, feeling emotionally defeated and drained.
"I know I'm not usually this serious and that I rarely speak my feelings. But just know that while I do speak my emotions, I would never lie about them, especially not to you Raven."
He said this and continued to stare at me with a stern look in his deep green eyes.
"You probably don't believe that I'm being truthful," I sighed heavily, "but let's just say that in some odd world, I secretly possessed feelings for you. How would it make you feel?"
He seemed intrigued by the question, and his expression seemed to lighten up slightly. I gulped and prepared my mind for his response.
"Damn, I wouldn't even know how to start, I would want to do just about everything with you" he said as that cheerful sparkle reappeared in his eyes, "Spend time together and share life together. And if this instance were true, then for right now, I'd just like to acknowledge and define our fervor that we hold for one another and just live."
I was astonished, and wide eyed, I truly and genuinely wanted to respond, but I could not do or say much due to my prior amazement, despite this I managed to stutter a few nervous words.
"Well then," I already sensed that my cheeks had started to flush profusely yet again. "I...um... thanks, uh... I mean, I..."
Beast Boy somehow noticed that I was nervous and at a loss for words. He gripped both of my hands more tightly, we were still facing one another, and he proceeded to take a step towards me, even though our bodies, and our lips, were already especially close to one another.
As I continued to stutter and blurt out nonsense, he spoke up and interrupted me, "Raven... Stop talking..."
Stunned by his abrupt statement, I shut my mouth, but my eyes remained wide open. Along with this insinuation, Beast Boy pressed his chest against mine, his warm body enveloping mine, and seconds later his eyes fluttered shut. Corresponding with his body, I found his lips pressed against mine as well.
Despite my earlier objections to him being so close to me, I accepted his soft and plush invitation to a kiss, letting go of his hands and soon clasping them to the back of his neck, and my arms around his shoulders. This seemed to tempt him to place his hands on the small of my back, his arms hovering over my waist. Pulling our bodies closer to one another.
Holding one another, arm in arm, we simultaneously hugged more engagingly, which only intensified the contact of our lips.
Seconds upon seconds ticked by. And neither of us seemed to relent from indulging into the other any time soon. So I took this as a sign to take our current situation a step further.
Nervously but sensuously, I raised my hand and ran it through his dark green locks, cascading them from his hairline to his nape.
Soon after, before the situation got too serious, we seceded and avoided eye contact. A highly prevalent blush had shown through his green complexion and he attempted to smother his embarrassed smile with a smirk.
Neither of us spoke, and instead, we decided to make it less awkward by returning to our spots we sat in earlier on my bed. We both refused to break the silence, but I sensed that our previous actions conveyed all that we had wished to confess to one another.
Instead of trying to peruse a conversation, I proceeded to instead dedicate myself to finishing my mystery novel from earlier. Beast Boy followed this notion by morphing into a small green cat, and curled up beside me on my bed.
For the rest of the night we refrained from exchanging words, and just relaxed in the presence of each other, savoring the euphoric and tranquil atmosphere.
