chapter four. Let's do it. my laptop is melting my crotch :( As always, please be sure to read my notes at the bottom ;)
.
.
.
In the days that followed, Cyborg, Robin and Starfire didn't see much of Beast Boy or Raven. In fact, Cyborg didn't see much of Robin or Starfire either. The two of them spent most of their time together, and lately they had been disappearing together. Cyborg wasn't sure where. Sometimes they would just spend the day in Robin's room, some days they went out for long hours.
Today was no exception, and he sat alone on a kitchen stool, drumming his fingers on the countertop. He sighed. "I really have to get a dog or something. I'm getting tired of being all by my lonesome."
He stood up and walked out of the commonroom. He walked through the halls in search of someone else. Knocking on doors yielded no response, neither did calling out his team mates names.
Exasperated, he cried out, "Where is everyone!?"
In reality, Beast Boy and Raven were not even in the tower. He had offered to take her out for ice cream today, since the summer heat was particularly affecting them today. It was a dry heat in the city, and he suggested that the two of them get something to cool themselves down.
The two of them were walking through the city, deciding a leisurely walk would be best for today. They were in their street clothes, which was usual lately. Raven wore a blue t-shirt and a pair thin black shorts. She also wore her uniform boots, because they matched her shirt and she found them rather comfortable. This amused Beast Boy, who laughed when he first saw her that day.
"What is it?" she had asked, putting her hands on her hips.
"Nothing," he grinned. "You're just wearing your uniform boots."
"They're comfortable!" she pouted.
He was wearing a white t-shirt and a pair of brown cargo shorts. He kept transforming into a dog and following behind Raven, his long dog tongue hanging out of his mouth as he panted and wagged his tail.
She rolled her eyes and continued walking ahead, trying to ignore him. The emerald skinned teen transformed back into his human self and ran after Raven. When he caught up, he nudged her.
"Did you see that?" he asked, grinning.
"Yes, how could I not? I had a green labrador retriever following me, Beast Boy."
"Did you know that dogs can't sweat except through their paws? That's why their tongues hang out. It's a way to keep cool."
She sighed. "Everyone knows that, Beast Boy."
He frowned. "It's interesting! And I hope you appreciate the sacrifice I was making to show you that! That fur is sweltering in this heat!"
She turned to him as they continued down the sidewalk. "You know you didn't have to give me a visual example. You could have just made your point without submitting yourself to heat stroke."
He shook his head. "It's more powerful this way," he said matter-of-factly, nodding his head to accentuate.
She rolled her eyes again.
"You roll your eyes a lot at me, don't you?"
Raven laughed, finding this amusing. "Yes, I do. I'm not the only one though, Beast Boy, your humor is very dry."
He grinned and nudged her. "Well you're smiling now aren't you?"
She tried to contain her smile and shoved him. "Come on, let's just hurry up and get ice cream already. I'm dying in this heat."
"Almost there!" he chuckled, wiping beads of sweat off of his brow.
They approached a small little ice cream parlor Beast Boy opened the door for Raven. The little bell on the door tinkled as they entered, giving it a cheesy, but welcoming feel. They stepped inside and immediately felt relief as a gust of air conditioning blew across their faces. Raven smiled, sighing in relief, glad to be out of the heat.
There was obviously a line, as ice cream on a hot day is a seller's market. Raven shifted her weight from foot to foot, reading over the board, trying to decide what flavor of ice cream she wanted. Beast Boy looked over the list too, feeling something on his fingers. He looked down and saw that Raven had slipped her hand into his. He gave her hand a squeeze and saw her smile without looking at him. Her hand was soft and delicate, but she had a firm enough grip to let you know she was there.
When it was their turn in line, Raven pulled Beast Boy by his hand up to the counter.
"Come on, order quick, I'm melting!"
Beast Boy laughed. "I'll have a single scoop of chocolate."
"And a scoop of vanilla for me," Raven piped in.
The fellow scooping their ice cream was a scrawny, redheaded teen with bad acne scars and a few stray chin hairs that he had overlooked while shaving, but he had some very clear blue eyes and a nice smile, and his disposition was more sunny than one would expect. He handed them their cones and rang up their order, passing the two a few napkins as well.
Beast Boy fished around in his pants for his wallet, going through just about every pocket before finally finding it. He fished out a wrinkled five dollar bill and handed it to the man behind the counter, taking Raven's hand again and leading her back outside, weaving through the ocean of human bodies waiting in line to get ice cream.
They stopped when they got outside for a moment to lick their cones. The sun was already taking its toll on the frozen dairy treats, tears of brown and white sliding down the cone.
"Better eat it quick, Raven. Soon you'll just have some vanilla soup in a cone!" he informed her, scarfing down his ice cream quickly. He stopped for a moment and his face contorted in agony, his hands flying to his temples.
"Ahhh! Oh God, God, God, God, brain freeze! Ahhhh!" he stamped his foot and turned around in a circle, squeezing his head.
Raven raised an eyebrow as she watched, standing there awkwardly eating her cone.
When he stopped his dance of pain, he smiled and stuffed the rest of his cone into his mouth, chewing and swallowing, wiping his mouth off on his wrist.
"Classy," Raven commented.
Beast Boy cocked his head and frowned, studying her face.
"What?"
"You've got a little something," he started, reaching his thumb out to the corner of her mouth, "right there," he finished, wiping off a trace of ice cream she had on her face.
She blushed lightly, reaching a hand up to her lips and wiping it. "Um.. thanks," she mumbled.
He licked the ice cream off of his thumb and smiled at her, extending his hand to her again.
She smiled and gently entwined her fingers with his, and they started off down the street again.
"Want to go to the park?" Beast Boy asked, turning towards her.
"Sure," she said, nodding in confirmation.
It was only a few blocks walk to the park, so they decided to walk instead of fly there. Besides, the two of them had just planned a relaxing day together, and Raven had wanted to spend it outside. Although to get out of the tower was a separate issue. They left fairly early in the day, before Starfire and Robin did, so they had to deal with their questioning too. They had to leave the tower at separate times, each giving a different excuse so as not to arouse suspicion.
There were a lot of people at the park today, sitting on blankets, having picnics, playing frisbee, jogging, playing football, making out under trees. It was a beautiful day, so it wasn't unexpected that the park drew a crowd.
The two teens walked hand in hand down the pathway that led through the park. Children ran past them, laughing as they ran, playing with soccer balls or footballs, their overprotective mothers following from a safe distance, maintaining an eye on their young. They passed people making out on their picnic blankets, others riding their bikes. A group of pre-teens were sitting around a jukebox, blasting their music.
Raven and Beast Boy came to a secluded park bench underneath a large oak tree.
Beast Boy gestured towards the bench. "Want to sit down?"
She sat on the edge of the bench and scooted over across the wooden slats, giving him room to sit down next to her. He sat down next to her, keeping a bit of distance so she'd have a bit of personal space. He knew that she wasn't entirely comfortable letting people into her personal bubble.
"So, Beast Boy," Raven started. "Tell me some more about you."
He shrugged. "Well, you know about how I got my powers and all of that.."
She nodded.
"Umm.. Well I think most of the team knows most about me. You know I vocalize that whenever people ask."
She shrugged. "Well yeah, but.. You know. Up until this point I haven't really ever spent much time socializing with you guys. So c'mon, tell me something new. What about plans for the future?"
He chuckled. "Well, well, look who's being social today," Beast Boy teased.
Raven crossed her arms in front of her chest.
"This is what couples do!" she pouted. "And while I'm not usually the most social person, people in a relationship are meant to talk."
Beast Boy's face flushed. "What.. did you say?"
Raven raised her eyebrows expectantly, repeating what she said slowly, as if it were difficult for him to understand. "People in a relationship are meant to talk?"
He shook his head. "No, no, before that.. you said that we're a couple?"
Raven's eyebrows went up again, this time in surprise. "Well.. aren't.. we?" she asked, looking him in the eye.
Beast Boy just sat there, dumbfounded, mouth agape.
The girl before him waved her hand in front of his face. "Beast Boy?"
Just then, the changeling wrapped his arms around the girl before him and enwrapped her in a bear hug.
"Yes!"
Raven's eyes widened as Beast Boy crushed her in his arms. She wiggled her arms free from his grip, and wrapped them around him as well, hugging him back.
"Beast Boy?"
"Raven!" he said happily in return.
"Beast Boy, you're crushing my ribs."
He opened up his eyes and let her go, ushering forth a wave of apologies. "Ack! I'm sorry Raven! Are you okay?!"
She loosened her hug slightly, pulling away just enough to be able to look him in the eyes. "I think you punctured my lungs," she joked.
He chuckled to himself and pulled her close to his chest again in a hug.
"We really are a couple though?" he asked quietly into her ear.
He felt her nuzzle against his neck and whisper her reply. "Yeah.. yeah we are."
.
.
.
Next chapter: Things are a bit hard to keep secret for a long time, aren't they? ;) And don't worry, I'm not even close to being done with this!
.
Oh, and did everyone notice what I did there? Chocolate and vanilla.. opposites attract.. Tee hee, subtlety! Sorry if this one was a bit slow as well, but I'm building character! Don't want to rush through the story and skip over the nuances of the relationship.
*****Oh, and feel free to throw ideas at me. I could use some good plot points! You can send me a personal message, put it in a review, or email me :) My creative writing email is on my profile, gotta type in one of those spambot tests to make sure you're human, but it's a 4 second process.*****
All of you loyally following this story, I love you with mouth. I just want you to know that. Like, here, if I could type out left arrows I would make a less than 3 heart for you all. Curses. :(
Thank you for your continued patronage! At the present I update daily, gonna try to keep that up, I know what it's like waiting for a story :) (might slow down to being updated every few days when classes start, but when my roomie and I aren't partying or studying, updates will be made!) classes don't start for a few weeks, so continue enjoying the daily update and me begging like a heroin addict for reviews