Raven slowly awoke, stretched her arms and legs and rolled off her bed. She landed on her feet with a small thud and walked toward her door to head for the bathroom.
She suddenly stopped five feet in front of her door as confusion swept over her.
"Wait, how did I get back in my bed?" Raven wondered. "I don't remember walking back to my room. I'm pretty sure I fell asleep watching the movie last night."
She made her way to the bathroom hastily, showered and changed quickly, and then headed to Beast Boy's room.
She heard an unusual noise coming from his room, one that she had never heard come from his room before. It sounded like…a vacuum cleaner. She knocked firmly on his door.
"Beast Boy!" she said loudly.
The vacuum cleaner drowned out her call, and she could hear his stereo blasting rock music.
"BEAST BOY!" she screamed at the top of her lungs while banging vociferously on the door.
She heard the vacuum cleaner shut off, then the music turned down, and ten seconds later, the door opened.
"What's up, Raven?" Beast Boy said, sounding a bit irritated. "Animal I Have Become" by Three Days Grace played in the background from his speakers.
"You got a minute to talk?" The sorceress asked.
"Sure, I guess," Beast Boy answered. "Come on in."
Raven stood in the doorway, frozen in amazement at what she saw.
Beast Boy's floor was spotless, except for the vacuum cleaner. He had neatly made his bed, and there were no dirty dishes or dirty clothes to be found.
And the biggest surprise: there was no horrible odor hanging in the air. Beast Boy had placed air freshener plug-ins in five of the outlets in his room. "Animal I Have Become" faded away, and "Creatures (For a While)" by 311 had begun playing on the speakers.
"Beast Boy, your room looks wonderful!" Raven said, soaking it all in. "I can actually breathe! And I ca—"
"Thanks," Beast Boy interrupted her with noticeable indifference. "I still have more vacuuming to do."
Raven studied his facial expressions, or lack thereof, and wondered why he was suddenly acting so cold toward her.
"Beast Boy, is something wrong?" Raven asked, with a concerned look on her pale face.
"Nope," he replied sternly, staring directly into her dark, violet eyes. "No problems at all. I'm just spending the entire morning cleaning my room, making it nice and pleasant, in the hopes that someone special might want to actually spend some time with me in here."
"He couldn't possibly be talking about me," Raven thought, as her heart sank.
"B-But…" Raven stuttered, "Terra's gone, Beast Boy."
"You know Goddamn well that I'm not talking about Terra!" Beast Boy shouted. Raven looked into his eyes, which were glowing with anger.
"He doesn't love Terra?" Raven became confused. "I had hoped that he cared about me, but I never thought he actually did." She was both worried and excited that he was talking about her.
"You know, Raven, you might deny it, and hide from your feelings like you usually do, but I know that there was something special between us that night when we kissed for three milliseconds, when Johnny Rancid fucked it all up."
Raven couldn't say a word. She just stood there, in pure shock.
"I never shared a moment with Terra that was anywhere near as intimate as the one we shared that night in here," he admitted, in a voice that was still fairly loud. "Yeah, I liked her, but...it was never in the same way that I feel about you." He amazed even himself at how much he was admitting to her face.
"Last night, you fell asleep in my arms during the movie," Beast Boy continued, with slightly lower volume, so none of the other Titans could overhear their conversation. "I held you in my arms, and I kissed your forehead, and I ran my fingers through your hair, hoping that maybe, just maybe, you were dreaming about me."
Raven's eyes began to form tears at his words, both out of fear and out of love.
"After the movie ended, I stayed with you on the couch for over an hour, just to be alone with you. Then I carried you back to your room, and I laid you in your bed," Beast Boy continued. "You looked so beautiful, like you always do. Yeah, I think you're beautiful. I always have. There, I said it."
Raven was still stunned, speechless. "Creatures (For a While)" ended, and "Lying from You" by Linkin Park came on.
"And you know what I realized, as I lay in my bed, alone?" The anger in his voice began to slowly rise again, almost perfectly synchronized with the intense guitar riff and drums from the song. "I realized that I might be wasting my time, my energy, and my life for someone who doesn't feel the same way about me that I feel about her."
Raven couldn't stop tears from slowly rolling down her face, and she stared at the ground, now unable to look Beast Boy in the eyes.
"It's now or never for me at this point, and I'm making a huge leap of faith, here," Beast Boy said with a suddenly soft voice. Raven had a feeling that she knew what was about to happen.
"I love you, Raven. I love you so much that it burns my insides when you ignore me, when you turn me away, when you spurn my friendship."
Raven's worst fear, which was also her strongest desire, had come true.
"He does love me," Raven thought. Love and Happy were holding hands and jumping for joy. Even Timid grew a wide smile.
"It's about damn time!" Brave shouted. "Woo-hoo! See, Raven? I told you he was hot for you! Now you can ride him like a stallion!"
Raven silenced her emotions, and continued listening to Beast Boy.
"If you have anywhere close to as much love for me as I have for you, I would think you would push your emotions aside and just tell me how you really feel," Beast Boy declared, with a tone of finality in his voice. "Or maybe I just don't know you as well as I think I do."
Raven couldn't speak, but her tears multiplied, and she let out a sob. Beast Boy stood there, taken completely by surprise. She ran out the door and into her room without saying a word, and locked the door behind her.
Beast Boy stood in his room for a few moments, then shook his head and let out a sorrowful sigh. He picked the vacuum cleaner up off the floor and put it back in the closet. He shut his speakers off and opened his window. He took a deep breath, just staring out at the water below, and the city on the horizon.
He closed his eyes and breathed in the morning air. Then, on impulse, he jumped out the window.
He let himself free-fall in his human form for a few seconds, just taking in the feeling of imminent death. Then at the last possible instant, he morphed into a falcon and swooped back upwards, and flew off into the distance.
...