It was the day before Speedy was to arrive. Cyborg had nearly completed the work that needed to be done to restore his leg in record time. Raven still felt significantly uncomfortable about the pain and inconvenience she had caused him, but whenever she brought it up Cyborg laughed and replied, "I needed the challenge anyway." Then he would brandish a wrench for emphasis.
Robin had given her space, which Raven was surprised by. She figured he would be down her throat ever since her screw up, but he had instead opted to step back and focus on the case with Cheshire.
Beast Boy acted as if nothing odd had happened between them, which Raven appreciated. That being said, that didn't stop him from sending glances her way. The worst part was she had trouble reading them. Were they pitying looks? Maybe he just hoped she would accept his offer? She understood that he would benefit from a good night's sleep, but did he want her to accept just for his benefit? Or did he honestly care about helping her that much? The thought made her feel warm.
The hardest interaction out of all of her teammates was currently with Starfire. If Raven had tried to limit her time with Robin, than she made sure to especially go out of her way to avoid Starfire. What was even more terrible was Raven suspected the girl was beginning to notice. The half-demon hated treating her friend this way, but she felt trapped. This issue of hers was embarrassing, and it had been bad enough admitting it to Beast Boy. How could she possibly survive telling the person she lived the experiences through?
Despite her wariness in her interactions with Starfire, Raven decided to accept the girl's previous offer to get their toenails painted, if only to salvage their bond. The two female Titans had journeyed to the dreaded 'mall of shopping' for such an occasion.
Raven didn't particularly like being touched in general, so having her feet scrubbed by a stranger was certainly an interesting experience. Her powers were behaving rather well that day though, so all in all, it was a win so far.
"Thank you so much for partaking in the pedicure with me, Friend!" Starfire gushed as she squeezed Raven's hand in gratitude.
"No problem, Starfire," Raven responded, wincing against the alien's strength.
As Starfire released the girl's hand, she sat back in her chair and sighed in contentment. "Tell me, why did you do the changing of your mind?"
"I just wanted to spend time with you," Raven answered honestly.
Starfire's eyes lit up. "I too enjoy spending time with you. Perhaps later we can partake in meditation together?"
Raven glanced off to the side. That probably wasn't the best idea. "Actually, I should probably do that alone. My powers…"
"Say no more, Raven. I understand," Starfire said, giggling as polish was applied to her pinkie toe. "Sometimes it is difficult to have your powers connected to you emotions, yes?"
Raven nodded. If anyone could understand that on a personal level, it would be Starfire. "I'm sure you don't always enjoy having to rely on your emotions either."
Starfire gave a small smile in return. "Sometimes it is most inconvenient. Surely you remember when we were stranded on an alien planet? This was before Robin and I had become the item. He was being most difficult with his feelings, and I had not realized this was an 'Earth boy thing.' I was troubled by the mixed signals. I was not able to easily produce starbolts, and my ability to fly was rendered useless for most of our time there."
Raven raised her eyebrows. "I didn't realize."
Starfire nodded, examining her finished toenails, which glimmered with a lime green color. "It was most terrifying, but I knew I would be the o and the k with Robin by my side." Starfire's eyes glazed over in a faraway look, and she sighed dreamily.
Raven's powers spat out without warning, startling some of the workers and effectively spilling her selected color of black polish all over her toes. Raven cursed, reaching down to mop up the mess with a towel, apologizing to the workers as she did so.
"Friend Raven? Are you alright?" Starfire asked, her eyes wide with concern.
Raven nodded and managed a weak smile, but inside she was churning with anxiety. Starfire hadn't even been near Robin, and yet the mere thought of him had produced enough lust to affect Raven's powers.
The symptoms were getting worse.
When the girls returned to the Tower, the sun had mostly set. Raven hadn't felt very hungry since the mall incident, so she bid Starfire good night and retired to her room. Raven lay on her back and stared up at the ceiling for what felt like hours. It was still too early for anyone to have gone to bed, yet she lay in a bundle of nerves waiting for the inevitable tryst of the evening.
She frowned. Is this what her life had become? Hiding from her friends while her powers spiraled out of control without a solution in sight? Raven sat up in her bed. There was a solution. She was just too stubborn to go through with it. But things were getting out of hand.
Determination filling her chest, Raven left her room in search of her solution. Once she was in front of his door, she raised her hand and rapped three times. The door slid open a few moments later revealing a tired Beast Boy. Raven idly wondered if her own face looked as haggard as his. When Beast Boy realized who had knocked on his door, he cocked his head to the side in bemusement. Raven straightened her shoulders and tried to look as dignified as possible.
"Pack your things. You'll be sleeping in my room tonight."
~0~0~0~
Beast Boy dumped his sleeping bag and pillow unceremoniously onto the floor of Raven's room. She watched in mild amusement as he looked around in wonder, not used to being invited into her chamber. Breaking and entering was another matter of course.
"Just don't touch anything," she warned, but he didn't seem to take her threat too seriously. She watched as he fluffed his pillow and adjusted his sleeping bag next to her bed. "You won't be uncomfortable?" she questioned, wondering why she even cared enough to inquire.
Beast Boy shrugged. "I've slept on worse. I can always shift if I have trouble sleeping, but something tells me I'm actually gonna get a good night's rest tonight." He fell back against his pillow, smiling contently.
Raven let a ghost of a smile cross her lips. He might be able to get a better sleep not being quite so close to Starfire and Robin's 'roughhousing,' but she wondered if she would be as fortunate. Only one way to find out. Casting one more glance at Beast Boy to make sure his eyes were closed, Raven reached up and unclasped her cloak before climbing into bed. As her head rested against the pillow, she noted that Beast Boy's mouth was already hanging open in sleep. She empathized with him. He must be just as exhausted as she was. Shutting her eyes, she prayed she would find a peaceful slumber.
Thankfully she had little trouble falling asleep, but controlling her dreams was another matter. Green-gloves began to touch her bare body, and she recognized through her muddled, sleep-deprived mind that Robin and Starfire were probably being intimate again. She moaned in half pain, half pleasure as her demonic side fed on lust that was not her own. She didn't know how much more of this she could take.
Then, suddenly, it stopped, and everything was at peace.
Raven's eyes opened again in the morning, and she discovered she had just had her first real night's sleep in several weeks. She could have cried in relief. She craned her neck to the side, figuring Beast Boy was still asleep in his sleeping bag. She wondered if he'd had just as restful a night. When his pillow came into view, she frowned when she discovered his body was not in his sleeping bag.
That was when she fell the deep purr against her stomach. Letting out a gasp in surprise, Raven nearly fell off the bed in her bewilderment. Beast Boy, in his cat form, let out a shriek of alarm and then morphed back into his human self.
"What do you think you're doing?" Raven demanded while tugging the sheet even more over her body.
Beast Boy sat back over the blankets, his bare, green feet flat against the blanket. He looked at her in bafflement. "You woke me up last night! You were making all these noises and thrashing around, and I just thought about when we were in the elevator and…and…" he paused, looking a bit sheepish, "No one can resist the kitty."
Raven blinked. "You're telling me you slept as a cat the entire night?" she inquired, trying to keep her voice calm.
"I promise!" Beast Boy said, nodding earnestly.
Raven narrowed her eyes in thought. She had woken up feeling refreshed. Maybe Beast Boy was on to something…but it was so improper! Raven lifted her hand to rub her temple. On the other hand, last night was the first night in Azar knew how long since she was able to get any sort of decent sleep. It had been heavenly.
Raven sighed, knowing she had come to her conclusion. "No one can know," she emphasized, still watching him warily.
Beast Boy nodded. "Right. Gotcha. My lips are sealed!"
Raven shook her head to herself before reaching for her cloak on the floor and slipping out of her bed. She could sense Beast Boy's eyes watching her from her bed, and she felt her face heat up. She was glad her back was to him.
"Do you mind?" she asked dryly, feeling a twinge of satisfaction as he squeaked in surprise and rolled off her bed. Raven wrapped her cloak around herself, glad for the safety of cover once more. She glanced at Beast Boy, watching him as he put on his shoes. "I didn't realize you slept in your animal forms often," she mused, trying to make light conversation.
"I don't really, only when I need to," he explained from the ground. "Only times I have trouble doing it is when I'm completely out, but I got a pretty good sleep before you woke me up with…um…" he gulped, not quite knowing how to describe her lust filled state.
"I didn't mean to wake you," Raven said instead, not wanting to go into specifics.
"It's alright. Better than hearing Rob and Star go at it ya know?" He sent her this dazzling grin that made her blink a couple of times. Was Passion trying to push into her consciousness? Damn her.
"Yo, Raven!" Cyborg called from outside her door, making both of them jump. "Speedy's here."
Raven gazed at Beast Boy, watching his eyes fill with alarm. "I'll be right there," she called back, already shoving Beast Boy towards her window.
As the changeling clambered over her pane, he turned back around, sending her a devilish grin. "I'll see you tonight then," he said, giving an exaggerated wink for effect.
Raven gave him the final push out her window.
~0~0~0~
"I've been tracking her for a couple of months now," Speedy explained in ops later that day. "Bee's been up my ass about it because it's taking longer than I thought to detain her. Guess Bee misses me after all, who'da thought?" Speedy smirked.
"She thought maybe we could help you, given that Cheshire's been spotted around Jump recently," Robin commented.
"Always strength in numbers," Cyborg added. He subconsciously flexed his new and improved left leg.
Speedy sighed. "Look, I really appreciate your guys' help, but I only came out here on Bee's orders. I really think I can handle Cheshire myself."
"Is that why she's still at large?" Raven droned, unable to resist pointing out the obvious.
Speedy huffed but didn't offer up an explanation.
"No one likes asking for help," Robin told Speedy, coming to stand by him, "but Cheshire just became our problem too. We can't have her near the city. She's too much of a threat."
"Plus it's not like we wanna mess with Bee," Beast Boy said. "I'd rather not get stung, thanks." Raven watched as the changeling sent a rather apologetic look in Cyborg's direction. Curious.
"Fine," Speedy agreed, but he didn't look pleased about it. "We should start tracking her again soon though. She usually comes out at dusk."
Starfire nodded. "Yes, let us make with the haste!"
Everyone but Beast Boy and Raven started moving towards the door. Speedy, noticing the hesitation of the other Titans turned around, his mask lifting in inquisition. "You guys alright?"
"We…have our own mission," Raven explained lamely. Speedy, however, just shrugged, and then proceeded to exit ops with the other Titans.
Beast Boy turned to Raven after the others had left. "So…now what?"
"Now, you leave me alone while I meditate," Raven replied, levitating into lotus position.
"Oh, come on," Beast Boy whined, plopping down next to her. "What am I supposed to do?"
"Something that involves minimal noise. Why don't you try reading?"
Beast Boy grumbled something, but nonetheless, got up to retrieve a comic book. He sat down crossed legged on the sofa, leafing through the pages aimlessly while Raven balanced her mind.
She assumed about half an hour had past-Beast Boy wasn't known for his patience-before he prodded her in the side. She cracked an eye open in irritation, drifting to the ground as she did so.
"You done yet?" Beast Boy asked, crossing his arms.
"Well, I am now," she responded wryly.
"Great! I'll go make us some dinner, and then we can flip on a movie."
"No tofu in mine."
Beast Boy rolled his eyes as he bounded over to the kitchen. "Yeah, yeah."
Raven rose from the floor and sat down on the sofa. She would have helped Beast Boy in the kitchen, but both of them knew she would be more of a hazard than an aid. She craned her head to see outside and discovered the sun had completely set. Just how long were the others planning on tracking Cheshire?
"Here ya go," Beast Boy said, plunking a bowl of udon noodle soup onto her lap. He sat down next to her with his tofu burger, and then picked up the remote and flipped on the television.
"Thanks," Raven said, delicately slurping the noodles up with the chopsticks she had been provided.
Beast Boy mustered a noise in response, but his mouth was currently crammed with tofu burger. Swallowing heavily, he gestured to the TV. "Any requests?"
"You're letting me decide?" Raven asked.
"This time," he responded cheekily.
Raven rolled her eyes, thinking back to the note he had passed to her earlier. "I guess the sociopath one seemed interesting."
"I always knew I liked a woman who's into sociopaths," Beast Boy joked, earning a glare from the empath.
About twenty minutes into the movie, Raven found it wasn't as interesting as she had hoped it would be. The premise was intriguing, but the execution of the film was a little bizarre. Beast Boy must have gotten the same vibe, for the two began wrapped up in light conversation while the movie provided background noise.
"…Yeah so I guess they're just, like, seeing other people now," Beast Boy continued, referring to Cyborg and Bumblebee's relationship.
"I suppose it's for the best," Raven mused.
"What do you mean?" he questioned, scooting closer to her.
"Cyborg and Bumblebee have very similar personalities," Raven explained, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "Sometimes that doesn't work so well for people." She paused. "It doesn't matter. It's not really our business anyway."
"You saying opposites attract, Rae-Rae?" Beast Boy teased, wiggling his eyebrows.
She gave him a deadpan look. "Not always. Sometimes they can go horrible wrong."
Beast Boy huffed, slumping against the back of the sofa. "You're such a downer."
Raven frowned, finding the comment had offended her. She cast her eyes downwards. "That's me, I suppose," she mumbled.
She felt his arm swing around her shoulders. "Aw, come on, Rae. I'm just joking. You know I think you're loads of fun." He gave her one of those grins again and she felt herself shudder. She realized it had nothing to do with his grin. Those feelings…they were coming back.
"Everything okay?" Beast Boy asked, removing his arm.
"I'm fine," Raven told him, but her mind was racing. There was no way these feelings were from Robin and Starfire. They were too far away, and even if her symptoms had gotten stronger, Beast Boy had helped her settle her emotions last night. Yet she still felt a small spark of lust that wasn't her own…
"You sure?" he asked again. "Maybe I could shift or…"
"That won't be necessary. It's passed." Raven glanced over, and it suddenly occurred to her how close they were sitting. She moved away from him, almost at the exact moment the ops door slid open.
"Well, that was a huge waste of time," Cyborg said tiredly, then paused, discovering the lights were off. He flipped a switch, and ops flooded with light. "Oh," he said, noticing Beast Boy and Raven, "sorry y'all, didn't realize you were watching a movie in here."
"It's okay, Dude. We weren't really watching it that much anyway," Beast Boy told him as he and Raven got up to meet the cybernetic teen.
"Oh really?" Cyborg responded with a raise of his eyebrow.
Raven watched curiously as Beast Boy's entire face became beet red, a rather unflattering color against his green skin. "Very funny," she heard him mutter.
Starfire flew in seconds later with Robin and Speedy. Like Cyborg, all three Titans seemed completely wiped.
"Cheshire was most cunning," Starfire explained to Raven and Beast Boy when they gave them curious looks.
"We still learned nothing about what she's after," Robin said, the frustration evident in his voice.
"I told you. That's why I've had trouble tracking her all this time," Speedy said, pulling a twig out of his hair. He grunted. "Ugh, my do is ruined!"
Cyborg turned to Speedy. "You're lucky that's all it was. She got you separated from us for quite some time. How did you-?"
"I'm crafty," Speedy said, brushing him off.
"Well it doesn't appear as though she's leaving the area any time soon," Robin observed. "I don't get it. She's supposed to be this slick assassin. If her target is in the city, why hasn't she crossed the border?"
"Even if her target does not reside in the city, she has done little but wander through the forest," Starfire added.
"Weird," Beast Boy said.
Raven felt uneasiness coming from Speedy, which she found odd, but she didn't think anything of it. Not until Robin and Cyborg offered for him to stay at the Tower, at least.
"Actually," Speedy said, scratching the back of his neck, "Bee's got a place hooked up for me."
Robin frowned. "She never mentioned anything about that to me. I assumed you would be staying in the Tower for the next couple of days."
Speedy shrugged, already backing out of the room. "Huh, she's a mystery that one. I'll just see you guys in the morning. We can head out again first thing."
After he had gone, the other Titans looked to each other in confusion. Raven noticed how the rest of her friends seemed to drop his odd behavior rather easily, even Robin, but she just chalked that up to how exhausted they all were. Raven, however, didn't quite let it go, considering she could literally feel how unsettled Speedy had been. He was hiding something from them. Something he might not have even told Bumblebee.
"I'm definitely heading in for tonight, y'all," Cyborg said, letting out a bear of a yawn. "See you bright and early."
"Good night, Friend Cyborg!" Starfire called to him as he left. The Tamaranean turned to Robin and whispered something in his ear. Raven didn't catch what it was, but judging by Beast Boy's uncomfortable expression and Robin's smirk, she could guess.
"We're going to turn in for the night too," Robin said suddenly, and Raven fought the urge to snort. His mask met Raven's eyes. "We need to talk soon about your progress."
Raven felt a twinge of annoyance, but she buried it. "You know where to find me," she answered unenthusiastically. When Robin and Starfire left, Raven could feel Beast Boy's eyes on her. "What?"
"Are you gonna go to bed?"
Raven sighed. "I don't know. I'm not exactly tired, but I imagine Starfire and Robin will…" she cleared her throat uncomfortably, "start soon."
Beast Boy nodded. "Yeah, hehe, um, probably." He gazed out the window and then an idea seemed to pop into his mind. "We could, like, get out of the Tower for a bit."
"It's fairly late to be out."
"We don't have to go out then. We could just sit by the shore or something," he suggested.
Raven thought it over. Right outside the Tower probably wasn't far enough to avoid Robin and Starfire's lust entirely, but it could be far enough that the effects might be less violent. Either way she would have Beast Boy there, and Robin was expecting some sort of progress on her end. How would she know if she didn't test it out?
"Alright," Raven agreed, to Beast Boy's delight.