A Harmless Question 2: Conversation

I would like to thank all the people following this story after only one chapter. You encourage me!

On we go, let's see what BB's gonna do with his little epiphany about Raven!

Beast Boy pondered his options. Even before movie night, Raven had been his favourite conundrum, one he had attempted to solve with blunt optimism and blanket joke campaigns. That hadn't really got him anywhere. In fact, the biggest leaps their friendship had taken had been in rare situations where he spoke more sincerely, like after the Beast or Malchior. This, he concluded, was his first challenge in asking Raven out: conversation. As the days passed, he studied her a little, too afraid of discovery to follow her constantly. He was a little disconcerted to find that all of her habits and mannerisms had taken on new significance in his eyes. The way she exhaled after the first sip of a fresh cup of tea had previously just been a fact... now it sent a shiver down his spine. When Cyborg cooked waffles for breakfast one morning... he could detect the pleasure she took in them by her scent. He had never taken the time to notice before but now that little burst of simple pleasure caused a warm tingle in his chest. Through it all, he failed to find anything that might help him talk to her. Then, he had a brain wave: he joined an online discussion forum. He tried to keep to more intellectual and witty threads, frequently consulting the dictionary at his side. After a week, he even began to engage in a few discussions as his confidence and vocabulary began to expand. After another week, he decided he was ready for a test run.

Beast Boy and Cyborg sat in the common room, completely engrossed in their favourite video game. Their eyes barely blinked as their fingers flew across the controllers, the on-screen characters leaping and fighting in perfect coordination. Soon enough, their foe was vanquished and the credits were rolling. Cyborg shot to his feet the moment the ending had finished.

"BOOYAH! Way to go, green bean!" the cybernetic teen said through a toothy grin, holding up his clenched fist for his friend and comrade to 'bump'. Naturally, Beast Boy obliged him.

"Oh yeah, dude! That last fight was a thing of beauty." They moved from the fist bump to an exaggerated high-five before Beast Boy sat back down while Cyborg moved to the kitchen, looking for something to eat. The green boy looked along the couch toward the room's third, silent occupant: Raven. She sat, as always, with a book in her hands and an empty tea-cup on the table in front of her. With a nervous lump in his throat, Beast Boy slid toward her. The sorceress glanced at him with suspicion.

"What do you want, Beast Boy?" she sighed, already exasperated. Beast Boy fought back his disappointment and grinned at her.

"Hi Rae...VEN! Hi, Raven." The grey girl smirked a little at his correction. "You wanna hear a joke?" he said. Raven's smirk suddenly dissolved into a frown.

"*sigh* Beast Boy, haven't you learned by now?" she asked. His reply came quickly.

"Past experience can't prove the future, Rae... so you never know," he said, smoothly. Raven's eyes were as wide as saucers and staring at him like he was an alien invader. He could almost see the questions working from her brain to her mouth.

"What did-" she was interrupted as he continued.

"So my joke... What do you get when you cross a joke with a rhetorical question?" Without another word, Beast Boy stood and joined Cyborg in the kitchen, getting himself a soda. Once there, he started talking with Cyborg about their recent victory, already planning which game they should "conquer" next. Raven's eyes followed his every move for a full minute, her brain still stuck on his bit about 'past experience'. Eventually, she concluded that she hadn't gone mad (yet) and that it had indeed been real. Then the joke filtered through... it certainly wasn't a gutbuster but had a wit to it that she could appreciate. She didn't laugh... but Beast Boy, keeping a careful eye on her now that she had stopped staring, caught the smile she wore before concealing it with her hood. He counted that as his second victory of the day. Cyborg eyed his friend as he sighed in relief.

"What's up, BB?" Cyborg asked. When Beast Boy looked back blankly, Cyborg elaborated. "We're talking about the next Imminent Doom game and then you go all spacy and start staring - and sighing! -at Raven. So what gives?" Thankfully, the cybernetic teen had been uncharacteristically quiet during his speech, though Beast Boy spared a glance at Raven to make sure she hadn't heard... she remained engrossed in her book. The green teen contemplated his cybernetic friend... Beast Boy never could keep a secret and decided he would prefer to tell Cyborg rather than let him find out on his own.

"Okay, dude, I'll tell you... but not here. This is confidential stuff!" Cyborg nodded and, sandwich in hand (and mouth), led the way to the garage. When they arrived, Cyborg had already polished off his snack and he licked his lips in satisfaction. As the door closed behind them, he turned...

"This better be good, B. Lay it on me." To Cyborg's amusement, Beast Boy started to circle the room, apparently checking for eavesdroppers. Eventually, he stood in front of Cyborg who patiently awaited his explanation. Beast Boy thought about what to say... he thought about the first night when she had slept on the couch next to him. He thought about describing the way she looked under moonlight during a recent night-time mission. He thought about waxing lyrical about her unique scent, a blend of tea, incense and smoke. His mouth opened, its owner still unsure of what to say.

"Dude... I'm totally crushing on Rae." Well... that worked too. Cyborg didn't reply immediately, only staring in disbelief at the changeling. The disbelief eventually gave way to annoyance. That Beast Boy had not expected.

"Beast Boy... don't even think about messin' about with her." Cyborg's voice was low and even a little menacing.

"Messing...?" Beast Boy said, puzzled. "Hey man, c'mon-"

"You 'c'mon', B! You crush on a different girl every weekend and... I don't want you to start with Rae and then switch. Even if she never went out with you, that could really hurt her." Beast Boy thought the insult was a little harsh... but only a little. He had been pretty vocal in the past about whatever celebrity, fangirl or superheroine had his 'attention'. None of it had been real, though, he had just been talking... nonsense, really.

"Cy... all those other times... I never really meant it. I was just... I dunno... talking big, y'know?" Cyborg eyed him doubtfully. "Okay... you wanna know when I first really noticed her? Movie night, when Robin made us watch that stupid movie for Starfire. That one with the paediatrician (A/N: because I'm paranoid, I will say here and now that a paediatrician is a doctor that specialises in treating children, not... anything untoward) that got kidnapped on vacation by a Sheikh before curing his blind, deaf and terminally ill son, then falling in love with the Sheikh guy and-"

"Enough, man, watching it was torture enough." Cyborg winced at the memory. Then his eyes snapped wide open. "That was a month ago... and you're only now telling me about it?" This detail was enough to convince Cyborg that this was at least different from Beast Boy's other 'crushes'. "You'd better be serious about her, B..." the warning tone was back.

"...Let's say I'm serious about finding out if I'm serious, okay?" Cyborg, once again, appeared skeptical. "I like her, okay? But that's all I got right now. If I wanna see if there's anything more to this... well that's what dating and flirting and stuff is for, right?" Cyborg nodded grudgingly... then another concern hit him.

"Dating? Flirting? Raven?! You know she swore off all that stuff after Malchior... she even turned away that goth kid she had a thing for." At Beast Boy's questioning (and jealous) look, Cyborg elaborated. "The kid came and called on her but I answered the door. I called her and when she showed up, he started to speak... and without waiting for more than a few words, she cuts him off, says 'no' and shuts the door. I kinda thought she might lighten up after the Trigon thing, finding out she might have a life to live after all... and she has. With us, anyway. But she seems set against boyfriends. So what next, Beast Boy genius?" Cyborgs little speech had Beast Boy wondering the same thing. Then it hit him: there was only one avenue for him to take.

"You say she won't think about romance? At all? There's only one way to make her think about it..." Beast Boy said, to Cyborg and himself. His friend saw the look in his eye. That look only appeared when the changeling decided on doing something unspeakably stupid.

"BB..." Cyborg said, cautiously. The green boy only grinned at him and sprinted from the garage, taking the stairs back to the common room. Cyborg swore and gave chase... but he was too late. When he reached the common room, Beast Boy was already initiating conversation.

"Hey Rae! Did you like the joke?" he asked. Raven could sense his jitters, carefully placing her book on her lap.

"It's Ra-ven. And... it was passable." Beast Boy beamed at her answer: that was high praise, coming from Raven! He even saw a light pink tint to her cheeks... she was embarrassed by even that little almost-compliment. How on Earth had he ever thought her incapable of being cute?!

"Thanks, Rae," he said, deliberately ignoring her pointed stare at the nickname. "So I was wondering, you wanna do something some time?" Raven's head jerked toward him so severely her hood fell to her shoulders, her face showing absolute bewilderment.

"Um...what?!" she said. Beast Boy was sure this was the right thing to do... he couldn't keep a secret, might as well tell her what he was up to now. He wasn't especially concerned with her answer at this stage, it was far too early for any real progress. Still, she was thinking about it, at least.

"I was wondering if you might want to do something with me some time," Beast Boy said, admirably calm in the face of Raven's stare, now with one eye twitching.

"You... you're asking me out?" she asked. He nodded. "On a date?!" He nodded again. Silence... "A date? With me? And you?!" Beast Boy chuckled a little at this reaction. This amount of fluster seemed like a good result.

"Yes, Raven, I am asking you out. On a date. With me." She stared at him for a few more seconds.

"Are you insane?!" she hissed. He had expected this (or something like it) and had even thought of a suitable answer.

"Are you saying I would have to be mentally unsound to find you attractive, Rae?" he responded. The familiar territory of arguing with Beast Boy brought Raven back down to Earth... but she had no answer. She decided to ignore his second question and focus on the first.

"I can't go out with you, Beast Boy. My answer is no." The green boy's smile faltered... but he nodded in acceptance and started to move away from the sorceress. But he had one more question.

"What day is it again?"

"Tuesday..." Raven answered, keeping a suspicious eye on him.

"Tuesday... right." He wandered off, back toward Cyborg. The cybernetic Titan was ready to offer consolation but, to his surprise, the green boy was smiling and muttering to himself. He walked past his friend and out the door, heading to his room.

The next week passed awkwardly... for Raven, anyway. Every time she saw her green comrade, her thoughts replayed the absurd conversation in perfect detail. The boy himself seemed completely unconcerned... she found this oddly disappointing. She held no affection for Beast Boy, not romantic affection anyway, but it would have been nice if he was a little depressed. No wait, that didn't sound right... never mind. She decided to just let it go and did her best to carry on as normal... until one day, Raven sat in her spot on the couch, another book in her hands. A voice at her shoulder startled her...

"Hey, Rae!" Beast Boy said. "Tuesday again, huh?" Raven was perplexed and deeply suspicious.

"... Yyyyyyesss..." she replied, cautiously. Beast Boy smiled and looked out the window. After a minute, she followed his gaze, staring at the horizon. It seemed that that was all he had to say...

"So Raven, you wanna do something some time?"

"..."

"..."

"...WHAT!?"

Ta da! Here it is, the second bit of story. DId I surprise anyone? I hope I amused you at least. Things are getting interesting now. What the heck is BB planning? We'll find out, my friends... and we'll do it together!

-Jack