DISCLAIMER: I do not own Teen Titans!

Hi there!

By now tears were trickling down her face. Some would land on the page she was writing on and she would carefully wipe them away to not smudge the pages. Every once in a while she would wipe them away from her eyes with her sleeve so she could see better and continue writing.

"Friend Raven, open the door." She could hear Starfire's sad voice say from the other side of her door.

"Let us in." Said Cyborg's voice, just as sad as Starfire's.

The only response they got back were a few sniffles on Raven's behalf.

"Raven, please." She heard Robin say. His voice filled with compassion and sorrow.

Unwilling to hear anyone else, she surrounded herself in a bubble of black aura, blocking out all other voices or sounds. Never once did she stop writing.

Chapter 4

A week of Robin's orders had passed and not much had changed between Beast Boy and I. We kept our distance and avoided getting in each other's way, without disobeying orders of course. As much as I could tell Robin didn't like it, he couldn't do anything about it. We weren't breaking the deal, so there was nothing he could really do. Or at least, that's what I thought.

The next morning started like any other. I was the first one to get to the common room, other than Robin of course.

"Good morning Raven." He said like he always did every morning to everyone.

I nodded a good morning and went on to make my tea.

He eyed me nervously for a while and every time I looked back at him, he would look away. I ignored him and I sat at the table to wait for the water to boil. "So Raven, how are you and Beast Boy doing?" He said joining me at the table.

"Ok I guess." I said trying not to push the conversation any further. But apparently,, Robin took this as an invitation to go further into the conversation.

"So do you think this deal is working?" He asked.

I glared at him. "Sure." To my relief the kettle gave a low whistle and moments later, Cyborg and Starfire walked through the door.

"Good morning Friend Robin and Friend Raven. What a glorious day today."

Robin stood up and gestured Cyborg to come with him. They headed to one of the corners of the living room far away from Starfire and I. I could hear them whispering something but couldn't really make out what they were saying. Cyborg kept looking at Robin disapprovingly and Robin kept trying to explain something to him. I was getting tired of all the secrecy and was about to head over there when Beast Boy walked in.

Robin and Cyborg immediately stopped their whispering and walked back to the table.

"So," Cyborg started. "Anyone got plans for today?"

Robin glared at him.

"I wish to try the artifact of the styling of hairs and the dyes I got at the mall of shopping." Said Starfire excitedly. Now that Robin had explained to her that dyes wasn't something you used for killing people, she was pretty exited to try it out.

"That's great Star." Said Robin immediately regretting his words.

"May you wish to join me?" Asked Starfire with gleaming eyes.

"I-I um," Started Robin. "That's not really my thing."

"I see." Said Starfire sadly. "I shall go alone then."

I smirked. When it came to Starfire, Robin was putty in her hands.

"Wait Star," He started nervously. "Maybe I could.. for a little while-"

"Oh joy! Let us go to my sleeping quarters to begin!" And with that, Starfire dragged Robin away.

I noticed Robin give a look to Cyborg and Cyborg nod. Thinking it was probably nothing I should worry about, I let it be.

"I need your help with something." Said Cyborg to both Beast Boy and I after a while.

"What?" Asked Beast Boy joining us at the table with a tofu sandwich.

"I want to upgrade the T-car's headlight system and I have the stuff I need in the basement and need help looking for it. I asked Robin if I could just buy new stuff instead of looking for it but he said it will be money wasted."

Beast Boy and I remained silent for a while.

"So um... will you help me?"

"Um, sure dude." Responded Beast Boy.

"Can't you and Beast Boy look for it? Why do you need me around?" I asked.

"Well you are still under Robin's orders so you have to go too." Said Cyborg.

I sighed and rolled my eyes. Again we entered that awkward silence.

"So... let's go then." Said Cyborg.

We followed him downstairs to the basement which was full of cardboard boxes.

"Alright so the box is labeled... T-car and has... um... lights inside." Said Cyborg.

Beast Boy searched the right side of the basement and I searched the left.

"Cy, I don't see anything." Said Beast Boy. There was no response. "Cy?"

We heard a swish come from the front of the basement.

"He locked us in didn't he?" Asked Beast Boy looking at the closed door. Though it sounded more like a statement.

I sighed and nodded. "I'm pretty sure Robin was in on this as well." I said.

"How do you know?" He asked.

"This morning he was acting all nervous around me and then called Cyborg and whispered something in his ear." I said.

"I guess I'll have to fly out through the air vents." He tried to morph but nothing happened. "Hey what gives?"

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" My powers didn't work either. "Cyborg must have blocked our powers. Looks like we're stuck in here for a while." I took a seat at one of the boxes.

"You're not mad about this?" He asked.

"There's not much I can do about it now."

He took a seat at a box across from me.

"I'm going to meditate." I said breaking the silence that seemed to last forever.

"What? You mean you're going to leave me here to find stuff to do by myself?"

"Beast Boy, we're in a basement full of stuff, I'm sure you can find plenty to occupy yourself with." I said.

He groaned and slouched in his seat.

I got up and got in my meditating position. I could hear Beast Boy shuffling through many boxes. He would stop every once in a while, I'm guessing, to weigh his options. About half an hour passed before he spoke again.

"Ooh Raven look." Said Beast Boy.

I opened an eye and looked to his direction. He was standing by this 1960 vintage foosball table.

"Isn't it great?!" He asked excitedly, rolling the little wooden people around over and over.

I closed my eye again, doing my best to tune him out.

"Oh come on Raven, I'm bored." Seeing that didn't get much recognition out of me, he started pulling on my cloak. "Come on, one game."

I sighed and got up, making my way to the foosball table.

"Sweet!" He said rushing over to the other side of the table and grabbing the handles. He placed the ball in the middle and looked at me. "You do know how to play right?"

I swung my middle row and the ball shot right into his goal.

"Dude," Started Beast Boy. He plucked the ball from the side of the table and placed it back in the middle. "Ok, I'm ready this ti-"

I swung my middle row and the ball shot right into his goal again.

"How do you keep doing that?" He asked.

I let a small smile escape my lips.

Beast Boy froze and stared at me with slightly widened eyes.

"What?" I asked, my smile disappearing.

"You smiled!" He said with a cheeky grin. "So that's all it takes huh? My misery is your pleasure."

I don't know why everyone thinks that. I mean, sure people's misery can sometimes be funny but why does everyone think I find it pleasurable when people are miserable?

Sensing my quietness at his statement, he placed the ball back in the middle of the table and we began the next round.

Five minutes after, the score was Beast Boy one, and me nine.

"One more game." He said hurriedly.

"Beast Boy, you've been saying that for the past three games now." I said.

"Please?" He pleaded.

"No."

He pursed his lips frowned. We entered the dreaded awkward silence.

"Truth or dare?" He asked, not looking at me.

"You can't be serious." I said. I suddenly realized what he was doing. He was trying to break the ice. To get all those awkward moments of silence to turn into... comfortable silence. He was trying, and like always, I was pushing him away. I looked over and noticed his facial expression. It matched his aura perfectly. He was feeling nervous, disappointed and for some odd reason, anxious. I sighed and looked back down at my hands.

"Truth." I said after the relatively long silence.

His ears perked up and a huge smile spread across his face at the sound of my response.

"Alright, um," He started raising his finger. "Do you think I'm funny?" He asked grinning widely in anticipation.

'Predictable question.' I thought.

"Dare." I said trying to avoid the question.

He frowned. "That's not how you play Rae, and you know it."

"First, its Raven. And second... dare." I said in monotone.

"Fine!" He said raising his arms in the air. "I dare you to tell me the truth. Do you think I'm funny?"

He got me there. I sighed and thought about the question. Weighing in my head how to answer him. At last, I settled upon...

"You always try so hard to make people laugh and be funny that what you end up saying... isn't." I said.

"So..." I could tell he was confused. "Is that a no?" He asked, his ears drooping.

I sighed. "Look Beast Boy, you try too hard to have everyone think you're funny. You tell lame jokes that are not humoring at all. You pull pranks on people that might end up getting you, or us, in big trouble,"

He drooped down, clearly disappointed.

"But," I started again, his attention returning back to me. "When you don't try so hard and... just be... yourself... then yeah. You're funny when you don't try too hard."

"So, you're saying that I'm funny because I'm naturally stupid?" He asked with an eyebrow raised.

"No. I'm saying that by being yourself, goofy, ridiculous, self-obsessed Beast Boy, you're funny."

That well known mischievous, toothy grin made it's way to his face. "Self-obsessed?" He asked. "Who wouldn't be obsessed with the sexiness that is Beast Boy?" He stated, giving me a boyish grin.

I rolled my eyes and plopped back down on the box I was sitting on previously.

"You're turn." He said.

"Truth or dare." I said in the driest form possible.

"Dare." He said.

I smirked. I remembered seeing something that could make a pretty good dare when I was looking for the imaginary box Cyborg had us looking for. I stood up and searched the boxes on the left side of the basement. Finally I found what I was looking for.

"I dare you to eat a spoonful of this." I said giving him the items.

He looked at them queerly and then back up at me.

"Really Raven?" He asked. I let my small smirk linger for a while. "Cinnamon?"

"Yes." I responded.

He looked back down at the cinnamon jar and spoon in his hands. "Truth." He said.

I lifted an eyebrow. "That's not how you play Beast Boy, and you know it." I said, using his own words against him.

"But I let you switch to dare." He protested.

"I had to answer to truth anyways." I said.

He sighed and opened the jar. He scooped a spoonful of the cinnamon and lifted it right in front of his mouth. He looked back up at me with pleading eyes and then looked back down at the spoon with disgust. In one swift motion he plopped the spoonful in his mouth. He stood there motionless for a while, just staring at me blankly.

"Well," I said with arms crossed. "You have to swallow it."

Slowly his jaw started to move. His eyes widened and he spat out a cloud of the brown dust.

He paused for a while and spat out another cloud of cinnamon, as if he had just discovered some amazing discovery. He kept exhaling the clouds of cinnamon and gazing at the sight wondrously.

"Well you failed." I said.

"Nu-uh!" He said opening his mouth for me to see it was empty.

"You spit it all out." I pointed out.

He pouted. "My turn, truth or dare."

"Truth." I said.

He paused for a while. His expression turned into a serious one.

"What?" I asked.

"Raven... what's it like... to... die?" He asked.

I was a bit taken back by this question. I didn't expect for him to ask something like this.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"You know, how does it feel?" He looked up at me. I analyzed his expression and could tell he wasn't kidding.

"Well, um... it's like... it feels like...," It's not easy explaining something like this. Explaining death and the whole experience all together. I was at a loss for words.

He looked back down, patiently waiting for my response.

"Why do you want to know?" I asked.

"Well," He started. I noticed his cheeks turn a rosy shade of pink for a slight second before disappearing again. "Well I figured that since you... you know, experienced it then maybe you could tell me how it feels."

I raised an eyebrow. "What are you not telling me?" I asked.

He sighed, refusing to meet my gaze. "It's just... I thought you might want to talk about yourself for once." He knew his answer was dumb, but let it happen anyways. I waited patiently for him to tell me the real reason. "You just always isolate yourself and don't want to be with anyone else."

I wondered where all of this was coming from, but let it be. "Beast Boy, I...I don't know where all this is coming from but... I have something with everyone. We are all together and don't need to be close to each other all the time to be real good friends and even family. Robin and I have the bond, Starfire and I are practically sisters, and Cyborg and I have this sibling sort of relationship and the T-car."

"What do we have?" He asked.

That shut me up. I didn't know what to say. What did we have?

"I just feel like... we... aren't real friends." He continued.

I had to admit, even I felt bad at his comment.

"Beast Boy... we don't have to have anything to be real friends." I said lamely.

"I know it's just... we don't act like it. I mean, one minute we're friends. Then it looks like we're great friends. And sometimes it even looks like we could be..." He cut himself short, shaking the blush that had spread across his cheeks. "And then something happens and we start acting like we hate each other and never want to see each other again."

"Well," I started. "Maybe... maybe that is what we have."

"Huh?" He arched an eyebrow.

"I mean, maybe we don't have something... similar to everyone else but that's the thing, your different. We have... a different bond."

He still looked confused but didn't push it too much.

"So, you're saying that we are... great friends?" He asked.

"Yes." I responded.

He smiled. Not his happy-go-lucky grin, but his real smile.

"Since when did this become a healing season?" I asked, flashing an almost nonexistent smile.

He chuckled and looked up at me. We stayed in that position for a while without even noticing. I was staring into his emerald eyes and how they seemed so... inviting and hopeful. After what seemed like a while, we both broke eye contact simultaneously, feeling the heat making it's way to our cheeks. This looked odd on him. Usually the combination of the colors bright pink and green didn't mix very well but with him it was... different.

"Truth or dare?" I asked.

"Truth." I knew he wasn't going to pick dare, due to my previews challenge, and asked the question that had been in the back of my head for some time now.

"Do you like your name?" I asked. He looked at me funny. "You're real name." I clarified.

"Oh." He said sheepishly, his voice cracking half way through the oh. "Well, it's grown on me."

"Do you mind people calling you that?" I asked.

He pondered on it for a while. "Well it depends , I guess. I mean, if it was someone I barely knew then I would probably mind because, you know, my secret identity.

"Secret identity?" I asked, giving him a look.

"Right." He said, recalling my comment about it when we first met.

"Well Garfield," I said teasingly in an almost whisper. "I like your name."

His eyes widened and he looked at me. "Really?"

"Yeah." I responded.

"Well, you'd be the first. At least the first to say it." He said.

I looked at the clock on the far right corner of the room. "Well, we managed to kill a couple hours." I said.

He looked up at the clock as well. "Dude, it's almost two and we haven't eaten lunch!"

As if on schedule, Starfire burst through the doors. "Friends, you are undamaged!" She said while grabbing us on one of her signature, bone crushing, hugs.

Robin and Cyborg followed through the door slowly and cautiously. Robin was wearing a grey beanie. Beast Boy and I glared at them. They smiled sheepishly.

"You have a lot of explaining to do." I told them.

"You bet you do." Said Beast Boy. He looked at Robin strangely. "Dude, what's with the beanie?"

Robin blushed and turned away. "I-It's nothing." Before he could walk away, Beast Boy snatched the beanie from his head. It was dead silent for a while until Cyborg and Beast Boy erupted in a fit of laughter. Robin's blush deepened.

Robin's hair was now a goldish shade of yellow and was slightly curled at the tips.

"Nice hair do Goldy Locks." Said Cyborg between laughs.

Robin grunted.

"I think he looks very cute." Said Starfire.

Cyborg and Beast Boy quit their laughing and looked at each other, before hollering again with laughter.

I smirked. "That's what you get." I told him.

"Now all you need is a plaid blue dress." Said Beast Boy.

Cyborg's stomach grumbled, loud enough for everyone to hear. "Any on up for some pizza?" He asked.

I shrugged.

"Yes let us go." Said Starfire.

"I'm in." Said Beast Boy. "I'm starving thanks to somebody." He said, exaggerating the somebody.

"No way am I going." Said Robin with arms crossed.

"Oh come on Robin. I bet they have three sizes." Said Beast Boy. Everyone groaned and headed out the door. All except for Robin, who flushed and stormed back into his room.

Long chapter? Mmmm, sort of. Mostly dialog but it had it's moments. The ending was kinda lame but hey, it's midnight and I just finished writing six essays for school. I'm exhausted but wanted to update.

If Raven seamed off on at some point of the chapter, then that was my intention and I did my job. Later on you will understand what is going on.

Hope you liked the chapter. Review, favorite and follow.