"Serve!" Raven shouted as the ball flew over the net. It landed right in between Robin and Starfire, catching them off guard. Raven smiled, raising up another volleyball with her black magic, tossing it high in the air into the clouds. As it fell down she levitated and hit it with her palm over the net.
Robin jumped up and kicked it backwards, far beyond the tower grounds. Starfire flew as fast as lightning to where the ball was and slammed it hard back toward Robin, who shot it over the net.
Beast boy turned into a kangaroo, box-kicking the ball up into the air. Cyborg used high frequency sound waves to shoot it far upwards into the sky. Beast boy changed into a gorilla and tossed Raven up into the air, who did a side-winder kick and shot it hard toward the ground on the other side of the net. It fell past Robin and hit the ground with such and impact that it left a mark.
"Duuude! That was awesome!" Beast boy shouted, now back to his regular form.
Raven landed on the net, balancing herself to make sure she didn't look like a klutz. Cyborg ran under her and helped her down. "That was seriously tight, y'all! Boo-ya!" He yelled and pumped his mechanical fist in the air.
"That game was quite fun! Now we shall go to the living room and watch terrifying movies and eat unhealthy junk food until Beast boy throws it up!" Starfire clapped her hands together and pulled on Robin's cape. "Come, friend Robin!"
"You guys go...I'm gonna...I'm gonna stay out here for a while." Raven said in her monotone voice, sauntering over to the edge of the tower facing the wide open sea.
"Suit yourself! Let's order some pepperoni pizza with sausage and bacon bits to go!" Cyborg shouted and ran down the stairs to the main room.
"Dude, not cool!" Beast boy ran after him, but stopped at the entrance to the stairway and turned around.
Raven was sitting on the edge of the tower, the wind was blowing through her hair and she was...smiling?
"Whoa..." Beast boy accidentally said allowed.
She turned, a bit surprised to see him there. But her face turned to her usual stoic features as he came up and sat beside her. "What?" she basically whispered.
Realizing that she must have heard him, he blushed and scratched the back of his neck nervously. "Oh...nothing...it's just...you look...really pretty...when you smile like that...I don't know, I'm an idiot, remember?"
"You are not an idiot...you just...you're different than the other Titans...your kinder, I guess is what I'm trying to say...who's the idiot now?"
"No! You have got to be the smartest person I know!" he tried to look into her eyes, but they were hidden by her hood.
"That may be the case around a lot of people...but around you...I'm just...I don't know...different?" It sounded like more of a question than an answer.
"Listen, Raven-" he began, but was cut off by her voice.
"I know I come off like I...like I hate you sometimes," it was hard to phrase the words, "but I really don't! It's just...it's hard for me to keep my emotions intact when you're around...you're the only one who bothers to try to make me laugh...and I'm pretty sure being inside my mind may have triggered something...and when it was my birthday, you went out of your way to make me a party...and when Malchior," they both flinched at the name, "...when Malchior hurt me, you were the only one who cared and-"
"Listen, Rae," he cut her off this time, taking her shoulders and looking into her eyes, "I know you don't think this, but I really do love you and care about you...you're...you're actually one of the closest friends I'll have here. Robin and Starfire may be my good friends, and Cy may be my best friend, but you'll always be my Raven."
All she could do was stare up in fear at him, wondering why he was touching her and, even more peculiarly, why she wasn't pushing him away. "You-you mean that?" was all she could manage to say.
"Yes, I do...you're a really good friend...and I-" But his phrase was interrupted by Raven, who had pulled him into a tight hug. He was stunned for a second, his hands simply hung in the air, but when he warmed up to it, he wrapped them around her waist.
When the brief hug ended, Raven stood and walked about three steps to the door, but then stopped dead in her tracks. She stood for a second, then held her breath and turned around, not knowing exactly what she was doing. She bent down, paying extra attention to her footing so as she looked somewhat graceful, and gently placed a soft kiss on the green boy's cheek.
"Thank you..." she breathed in his ear, and turned and walked away.
Beast boy reached up and touched his cheek, still in shock that Raven would do something like that. "You're...you're welcome..." he stuttered.