I don't own any of the characters or anything.
Telephone
Beast Boy was a bit upset that the moped that he, more or less, stole from his old job at the meat place had been destroyed. He had gotten such a rush riding it, even if he was saving the world from aliens while doing it. The moped fell apart as soon as he got it home, thanks to the rough riding he had to do on it.
It really was too bad that the job never got a chance to pay him, or even give him a reference to help him out with finding another job. He wondered if he could put it on his resume.
"Ah, screw it. I don't need to make a resume. Who wouldn't want to hire a Titan?" he said to himself.
Walking into the common room, he noticed Raven sitting on the couch reading. He smiled involuntarily. He had developed sort of a crush on her in the last few months. But he saw her eyes dart over to him, and he instantly looked at the floor. Raven wasn't the most social person in the world, and he honestly didn't know how she'd react if she knew he liked her like that.
To distract himself, he turned on the television. He was just in time to see an Ultimate Spiderman episode coming on. (Author's Note: I don't own that either.) In this episode, a villain had created synthezoids and used them to replace some of Spiderman's friends. Beast Boy was mildly interested in the show, but he kept thinking about his teammate on the couch next to him.
When the commercial came on, he spoke up. "Hey Raven, want to hear a joke?"
"When do I ever want to hear one of your jokes?" she said, glancing up from her book. It was true, she never seemed to want to hear his jokes. His face fell slightly, but he quickly recovered and started telling it anyway.
"What spell words would you say if you wanted to summon those monsters from the TV show?"
"So you combined your wild imagination and your bad jokes? I can't wait to hear this." she said unenthusiastically.
"Azarath Metrion Syntho's!" he cracked up at his own joke. After a while he noticed Raven sitting there with an unamused expression on her face. Man, it was impossoble to get her to laugh.
"Aw, you don't think it's funny?" he asked with a pouty face.
"No Beast Boy, it wasn't funny. Kind of clever, but not funny." she said.
"You think I'm clever?" he asked, his face lighting up.
"Oh boy, here we go" she said with a sigh. Then she smirked. "Were you clever enough to get that next job you've been talking about getting for weeks?" she asked. He grimaced.
"I can't find anyone that will hire people under eighteen years old." he said. He was only sixteen, so that meant that it was hard for him to get a job.
"I might know a place that can hire you. I'll tell you what place it is, but it'll cost you." she said with a smirk. He wondered what she could possibly want him to do. Not tell her another joke for some long period of time?
"I'll do what you want, just tell me." he said, a sparkle of curiosity behind his eyes.
"Fine, but you'll have to meditate with me one day next week." she said to him.
'That could work' he thought to himself. Meditating with her meant spending some quality time together. "Sure thing Rae!" he said excitedly. He didn't realize how much he was smiling.
"I didn't know you liked meditation so much." she said catching him off guard. She chuckled at how flustered he immediately became, after which she spoke again.
"There's a bakery in downtown Jump that hires anyone at least sixteen. They really need help too so you should have no problem getting a job there." she said, filling him in on the situation.
Beast Boy was also glad that she trusted him enough that she told him where the place was and didn't wait until he meditated with her to tell him.
"And if you try skipping out on our session, I will find you and drag you to my room kicking and screaming."
'Never mind', he thought.
The next day
"So here's your schedule, Mr. Logan. You can start as early as tomorrow." said Josie, the owner of the bakery. He was a middle-aged guy who seemed friendly. Beast Boy was ecstatic. He didn't expect to start making money so soon. It was only eight dollars an hour, but if he saved, he could have enough money for a moped in no time.
The day after that
He flew most of the way to his job, then morphed back into human and walked the rest of the way when he got close. Once he arrived, Josie quickly trained him to use the register and a few other things he'd need to know.
"Okay, I'm heading out, but another employee should be coming in a few mnutes. If you have any questions, just ask him." Josie said as he exited the small shop.
There weren't that many customers. Three had come in since Josie left, about twenty minutes ago, and Beast Boy only had to ring up two of them because the other one couldn't find what he was looking for. Just then, he heard the door open. He figured it was another customer, but when he came out from the back, his eyes widened in shock.
"Hey loser, guess I'm stuck with you today." said the other employee who was just starting his shift.
It was Adonis.
Beast Boy couldn't believe it. How was he working here? Shouldn't he be in jail? Adonis wasn't a very likable guy, at least not to Gar. He was known to be kind of a white knight. Now Gar didn't mind that he was nice to all the women (well, maybe not always, since he attacked Raven before) or that he sometimes would defend them. But his fellow guys were people too, and Adonis didn't seem to know that. Sure, he had his crew that he was cool with, but he treated all the other guys like competition. Beast Boy would show chivalry as well, but he also respected men who showed a deserving of it. More recently he tangled with the Titans and Beast Boy was the one to take him down.
"Hey, I kind of thought you were in jail."
"I knew a guy. Had money. Said I can get out by doing an easy job for him, got me into this reformation program, and gave me a big check on top!" Adonis announced proudly. "Only catch is I gotta work somewhere to prove I'm responsible or something like that. Whatever, beats jail!"
A couple of girls walked in. Beast Boy walked up to the counter ready to take their orders.
"Hello. May I-"
"Get away from them, loser! Only I get to take hot customers! You don't get to talk to them!" Adonis shouted, cutting him off. He raced to the counter and shoved Gar away.
"Hey ladies. Was this loser botherin' ya? Don't worry, he won't do it anymore, because I'll pound him if he does!" he said glaring at his coworker. The girls cast a worried glance at Gar, but then gushed at how 'dreamy' Adonis was.
This sucked. Adonis sucked. Now his new job sucked. He was going to have to put up with this every time they worked together? 'It's for the moped' he reminded himself. He started fantasizing about running Adonis over with the moped. Just then, a smelly, middle aged man came in. Beast Boy could smell it all the way from the counter as soon as the man entered.
"Hey squirt, get up here and do this!" Adonis barked. It would have been so unprofessional to argue with him at that point, so he just went up there and did his thing.
After the customer left, Beast Boy seethed. "Adonis sucks." When he was angry, his voice sounded different, deeper. Almost unrecognizable.
By the end of the night, there had been only three more customers, all of which Adonis insisted Beast Boy take. They didn't smell, but Adonis only wanted to take the orders of pretty girls and flirt with them. He left first and wanted to stick Gar with the nightly clean up duties. When the store was clean and it was time to lock up, he dialed Josie's cell number. He didn't know how to lock up.
Josie wasn't happy to hear that Adonis left an employee high and dry on their first night with no clue how to lock up. "I'd get rid of him, but the place needs good press, and getting a former jail inmate to thrive at a place is good press. It would make this place the business it needs to stay alive." Josie explained.
Beast Boy understood. He didn't like Adonis, but he'd have to put up with him. For now, at least. When he got home, he expected the others to be asleep. But to his surprise, they were all in the common room, waiting to bombard him with questions when he arrived. Robin was the first to speak.
"Hey Beast Boy, how was work?" he asked.
"It was okay."
"That is most wonderful to hear, Friend Beast Boy. Perhaps someday you can help me do the job hunting?"
"We'll see. It just takes a little adjustment."
"Beast Boy had the mental capacity for adjustment? Mind. Blown."
"Friend Raven, it is not nice to make the fun at Friend Beast Boy."
"Yea well, it wasn't that hard, just a handful of people came in."
"Good, then you won't be too tired to get your butt whooped in Mega Monkeys 5 again, B."
"You're on, dude!" he said to Cyborg.
A gaming session went on until late in the night. Luckily, Beast Boy didn't have a shift the next day, so he could sleep in. Eventually they both turned in for the night. The next day, he mostly relaxed. He ended up thinking a lot about Raven, but he decided not to bother her too much today. He'd spend plenty of time with her during their session.
They did get a crime alert that day, though. It was the H.I.V.E. The fight wasn't too eventful. The Titans creamed them. "You crud muffins got lucky today. We'll get you next time!" shouted Gizmo as he was lead away by police.
Beast Boy decided to have some fun with this. "Funny, I didn't know Jinx was supposed to bring her own team bad luck."
Cyborg and Robin started cracking up. Starfire looked confused. "Why would the H.I.V.E. want to have the bad luck?"
"It's just a joke, Star." Robin explained.
Gar saw Raven give him a small smirk. "Getting better, Beast Boy. Getting better."
Beast Boy was momentarily mezmerized by the sight of her. He could see her lips moving but he didn't actually hear what she said.
"... Okay, Beast Boy? Hello?" she said waving her hands in front of his face. He quickly shot up and muttered a response. She seemed to accept his answer and made her way to her room.
Beast Boy had a couple more shifts that week. One of them was with a coworker that he hadn't met before. The guy's name was Marvin, and he was a nice fellow. The other shift was with Adonis. The big bully had broken a few items around the shop that day too. Josie yelled at him but wouldn't fire him, due to needing the good press.
Now it was Beast Boy's first shift of the new week. Again he was working with Adonis. This time, he had an early shift and got out at three o'clock in the afternoon. Adonis would be staying and closing, but he arrived at one. It was about ten minutes until three when Gar heard the door open and a customer walk in. He was surprised to see Raven walking up to the counter. He wanted to go talk to her, but he was pretty sure Adonis would push him out of the way, and it would be so embarassing for that to happen to him in front of her.
Surprisingly enough, though, Adonis said, "Hey freak, why don't you come take care of your freak friend here!"
'Wow. I guess Adonis doesn't like Raven' Beast Boy thought. According to Josie, Adonis loved Raven and 'her style'. He must have been fronting in front of the manager to make himself look good. 'Oh well, good for me.'
"Hey Raven, would you like to buy something?" he asked.
"No. Robin wanted us to come see you, and walk you home."
"Robin? I don't see Robin."
"He's coming. He and Cyborg got into some pointless discussion and I walked ahead of them."
Raven then gave Beast Boy a quizzical look, just as Robin, Cyborg, and Starfire entered the small shop. "What's he doing here?" she asked. Beast Boy scratched his head awkwardly.
"Oh yeah, that."
Back home, the Titans were all in the common room. They weren't too happy to see Adonis working at the same place with Beast Boy.
"We have to talk to the police. Get them to revoke his parole or something." Robin said.
"I'd like him gone too Robin, but Josie needs the good press so his business can grow. The poor guy can't even afford to have more than one camera there." said Beast Boy. He didn't like Adonis but he didn't want Josie to suffer because of their grudge.
"Beast Boy, I just don't feel comfortable with you working with him. What if he tries something, or sets up some kind of trap for you there?" Robin asked. The leader was always known for being somewhat paranoid.
"How is he going to be a threat if he doesn't even have his suit?" Raven deadpanned.
"I can totally handle it dude. I've always got my communicator, so if anything goes south, you'll know." Beast Boy told him.
"BB's right. Besides, Adonis isn't exactly the evil genius type." Cyborg agreed.
"I, too, believe Friend Beast Boy will be the okay." Starfire offered.
"Okay, if you're okay with it, then so am I." Robin conceded. He knew he had to work on trusting his teammates' judgment more.
Gar smiled. He was glad that his friends were so concerned about him, and even more glad that they still backed him up on his decision. It really was good to have friends.
The next day, he had off. After he ate breakfast, he was deciding to laze around in his room when two hands shot up and pulled him through the floor. He let out a startled yelp. A second later he was in Raven's room.
"Huh? How did I get here?" he asked to no one in particular.
"Remember how I said that if you tried to skip out on this, I'd drag you kicking and screaming? I wasn't joking." Raven said from beside him.
"The meditation session was today?" he asked, confused.
"I told you that. Remember?" she said. He realized it was the day he was mezmerized. He never did ask her what she said again.
She instructed him to sit in a lotus position and find his center. He didn't really know what that meant, but he tried. He sat still with his eyes closed and she started her chant.
"Azarath Metrion Zinthos... Azarath Metrion Zinthos..."
Beast Boy was getting bored. He knew he would, but he really did want to spend time with her. He decided that now might be a good time to just kind of stare at her while she had her eyes closed. He opened his eyes and took in all of her beauty. He never had gotten a really good look at her, since she was so antisocial and always wore her hood, but now that he looked, she was even more beautiful than he realized. Her hair hung loosely and framed her face perfectly. He looked down at her hands. Her nails were painted black with artistic precision.
As she opened one eye, he noticed how he could get lost in their violet color. He also noticed that he was caught.
"Beast Boy, you're supposed to be meditating, not staring at me." Yikes! He didn't want her to know he had feelings for her right now. He was scared of what she would do if she found out.
He felt himself get sleepy. He began to slouch, eventually lying down with his head on his arms, closed his eyes, and preparing to take a nap. He also noticed that her voice sounded almost unrecognizable when she said her chant, different from how she normally sounded. It was hypnotic, and the perfect thing to go to sleep to. Suddenly, he was encased in black energy, picked up, forced back into the lotus position, and held there. He couldn't move.
"Meditation doesn't involve sleeping either. I will keep you here all day until you do this right!" she hissed.
Well, he was stuck in that position, so he just closed his eyes and listened to her chant. Eventually, he felt his body loosen up and he was relaxed, but not tired and sleepy. It stayed this way for about an hour. After that, her powers let him go and she told him that their session was over.
"So, uh, can we maybe hang out again sometime?" he asked nervously.
"You want to meditate with me again next week? Alright." Raven said with a smile. She knew he didn't really want to do that.
His expression faltered at that. "Wait, what? I was hoping we could do something else..." he trailed off, trying to think of something.
"We could spar in the training room, that way I can kick your butt." she said with a sadistic grin.
"How about we just go out for ice cream?"
"Sure, after our training. Don't make me drag you there this time." she said, but he saw the playful look in her eyes. He was sure she wouldn't hurt him... much... and ice cream afterwards was worth it.
The next day he was working with Adonis again. He had been informed by Josie that there was a special cake that was supposed to be picked up today. The man who ordered it was a rich, high profile figure, and this was bound to put the bakery in good standing with the public. It was for the man's daughter for her birthday, and he was told it was to feature the Teen Titans.
He saw the cake sitting in the back on the counter. It was beautiful and delicious looking. The icing was done artistically to look like the five Teen Titans. He smiled as he saw his own face on the cake.
Two female customers walked in, and Adonis sprang up to take them. After he gave them their orders, he stepped outside with them to talk to them some more. "Do not bother me while I'm out there, punk!" Adonis spat at Beast Boy.
While Adonis was outside, the phone rang. Beast Boy picked it up.
"Hello, Josie's Bakery. Can I help you?"
"Hi, I'd like to know if the cake I ordered for my daughter's birthday is ready." He already knew it was the rich guy.
"Yes it is."
"Does the cake have all five Titans on it?"
"Yes it does."
"What? No, that's not right. How could you guys screw this up like this?" The customer's voice became instantly angry.
"I'm sorry sir, what would you like adjusted on it?"
"The cake is only supposed to have Robin, Starfire, and Cyborg on it. Beast Boy and Raven are freaks! My daughter doesn't want them on her cake, and frankly, I support her in that!"
"I'm sorry sir, we'll have them off and have it ready by tomorrow." Beast Boy was angry with this man. Obviously he didn't realize that it was Beast Boy that he was talking to, but he had clearly taught his daughter terrible manners. Still, Gar tried to remain calm.
"Tomorrow? The party is tonight! Look, we can tolerate Beast Boy on the cake, but get Raven off of it as soon as possible."
Feeling angry, but trying to bite his tongue, Gar picked up a stray spatula and threw it hard in a random direction. It landed right on the small plastic beam holding the camera up, and broke it. The camera crashed to the floor and broke apart. The customer still continued his angry rant.
"I can't believe that anyone would have been dumb enough to put a demon like Raven on my cake! I mean, she's Trigon's daughter! Who in their right mind would want to celebrate her being here?"
Beast Boy was really getting fed up with him. This was a friend he was talking about, not to mention calling his nice, polite manager stupid.
"How could you say those things about her? Do you know that Raven risks her life to save people like you every day, every time a villain attacks?"
"So what? She's still a freak! If it were up to me, I'd kick her out of this city right now!"
"Maybe you should be kicked out of the city. She works so hard to control her powers so that she doesn't hurt anyone, and she sacrifices a great deal of her time to protect the innocent. But you just want to kick her out because she's different. You should be ashamed of yourself!"
He wanted the moped. He really did. But there was no way he could let some rich jerk talk this trash about his friend, or any of his friends.
"I don't care what you think! In fact, I'm reporting you to the manager. You'll be fired so fast your head will spin. What is your name?"
At this point Gar became nervous. He hadn't sufficiently prepared for the consequences of his actions. Then an idea struck him. The person who'd take the fall for this definitely deserved it. He deepened his voice even more.
"My name is Adonis, and don't you forget it!" With that, Gar hung up the phone angrily.
Josie stormed into the bakery within the hour. "Adonis, what did you do?"
Adonis came walking up. "I ain't do nothin"
"Why did my customer call me and tell me that you yelled at him, trying to insist on putting Raven on his cake?"
"I didn't. It must have been Beast Boy."
"Are you serious? Everyone knows you love defending women. But this is going too far. This man was going to help me put this bakery on the map, but because of you, he left the country."
"I didn't do that. I don't even like Raven! In fact, I can't stand her!"
"That's not what you said a week ago when you claimed that you 'absolutely loved her style' in front of the press. So which is it?" Adonis was fronting when he said that, and now it came back to bite him.
"I'm telling you, the little runt did it!"
"Sure, and he broke the camera too, right? Both Beast Boy and Marvin told me you break stuff. And you think you can get away with everything. Being rude to the other clerks, only wanting to serve attractive women, breaking merchandise. And now you thought you'd scream at a customer and break the camera so you can blame Beast Boy. But he doesn't break things, you do. And you obviously weren't smart enough to think of blaming him when you were on the phone, which is why you used your real name."
"No! I...I... I didn't-"
"Get out of here. You're fired! Go before I lose my temper!"
"But if you fire me, I have to go back to jail!"
"Beast Boy, please escort this guy out of my shop." Beast Boy gladly agreed and turned into a gorrilla.
As Gar escorted him out, a journalist approached. He was looking for a story and thought Beast Boy was saving Josie from a robbery. Upon learning that the green teen actually worked at the place, he made the story headline news. He included how Adonis was fired and how Beast Boy dealt with him after he became 'unruly'. The bakery became instantly popular becasue of this. By the end of the week, Josie had made a ton of money. Instead of just paying Beast Boy, he actually bought him the moped that he wanted. He had also been able to hire more workers. Josie offered Gar a permanent position there, but Beast Boy declined. He decided that the job wasn't really for him.
"If you ever want your job back, just say the word!" Josie told him as he waved goodbye. "And don't be a stranger."
They never did find out the truth about that phone call.
A few days later
"I know I said you were clever, but I never thought you were clever enough to pull that off." Raven said, sitting across from him at the ice cream parlor.
The Titans all knew what really happened. Starfire was the only one who expressed any... reservations... about what he did, but she didn't consider it a big deal. The rest of them just thought it was funny, Raven included.
As the two were walking back home, Beast Boy shuffled nervously. "So Raven, there's something I wanted to tell you."
"You like me. Am I right?"
"Wha.. How did you...?" He was startled.
"I can sense your emotions, Beast Boy. Remember?"
"Well, would you like to go out with me?"
"I thought you'd never ask."
And then the two shared a passionate kiss.