(A/N: -sniffles- I am so happy at the fan response! I received over 20 reviews for chapter 6! –squee- Oh, I just went on the new stories for Teen Titans, let me just say that since it has not been on the air, the new stories that are coming out are crap…. Not any of my reviewers, just these random people writing 200 word chapters… it's sad… I fear my Titans will be lost… -sob- well anywho, here is the next chapter of Chance, hope you enjoy! OH! Before I forget, Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Merry/Happy Kwanzaa, and MERRY VACATION!
Disclaimer: -sighs- I don't own anything, except the cookie I ate a few minutes ago…. But even then, I didn't buy it… so I guess I don't own that either…
Dedication: Sevvy101, Agent of the Divine One, Slim Shady, PinkCrayon and Maniacal Genius--- for in chapter 5 she reviewed and said that I kicked ass ;D.
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"What do you mean there is only one bedroom?" Beast Boy cocked his head forward, staring at her with confusion.
'What, are you so stupid you can't understand English?!' A voice in the back of her mind snapped. "I mean, there is one bedroom with one bed. Get. Me. The phone." She hissed angrily as she stormed back into the bedroom, making sure there was, in fact, only one bedroom.
"Uh- Raven?" Beast Boy's voice was slightly muffled as he called in from the kitchen. "We-um, don't have a phone…" He said, his voice sounding slightly worried.
Raven's shoulders slowly crept up to her ears, as she shut her eyes, trying to calm herself. 'This is not a big deal.' She tried to calm herself; she tried to reassure herself that she would not be living in a one-bedroom apartment with Beast Boy for 365 more days. "Raven?" Beast Boy asked as she felt him take a step towards her.
"Then get. A phone." She bit out two words at a time, trying her hardest to sound calm, but it didn't work as well as she had planned it in her head. He stared at her nervously, then he started towards the door, opened it, and left.
"I'm going to kill the mayor." Her voice unintentionally spoke, her eyes blinking red for only a second. She tried breathing deeply to boryths, as Starfire had told her to do in the past, which Raven guessed was the number ten.
'One…. Two…. Three… Four… Fi-' Her thoughts were interrupted by a certain changeling's voice. "RAE! I found a phone!" He shouted happily as his face could be seen from the door. Raven sighed and followed him out of their apartment and into the open door across the hall.
She walked in and was slightly surprised that the room was almost exactly like Beast Boy's and hers. A young Chinese girl with black hair and swoop bangs stood in the hall way, baggy sweatpants, some sort of oversized anime t-shirt and rectangular-shaped glasses stood holding a portable phone in her hand, staring at the two in a semi-glazed, tired look. Raven guessed that they probably had woken her up, but it was only around 7:30…
"You- erm, wanted my phone?" She questioned and handed the phone to Raven. Raven nodded and took it in her hand, she suddenly felt stupid… she didn't know the mayor's telephone number. She closed her eyes.
"Be-Gar? Do you know the number of the person we are supposed to call?" Raven asked, not bothering to look at Beast Boy. The girls' eyes moved over to look at Beast Boy.
He looked at her blankly, his eyes large. "Uh, no?" He said and shrugged his shoulders. Raven sighed agitatedly.
"Do you even know who I'm talking about?" She said frustrated.
"…Was I supposed to?"
Raven took in a sharp in take of breath. "Do you think I could take for a minute?" Raven said looking at the girl.
"Sure." The girl shrugged. "I'm Scarlett, by the way…" She said as they walked out of her room.
"Gar!" Beast Boy smiled as he followed Raven into their room, he shut the door behind him.
"Bizarre…" Scarlett said as she rubbed a hand through her hair and walked into her kitchen, bare feet barely lifting off the tile floor as she shuffled into it.
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"Starfire?" Raven asked as she held the phone to her ear and the small card with Starfire and Robin's number on it.
"Friend Raven?" Starfire's cheery voice asked hopefully. "FRIEND RAVEN!" Starfire shrieked. "Oh, Friend Raven, I'm so pleased it is you!"
"Nice to talk to you too Starfire, but I have a question to ask you." Raven said simply and to the point.
"I believe the correct term is, shoot?" Starfire said, unsure of the correct Earth terminology.
"What is the mayor's phone number?" Raven asked quickly.
"Oh, please do the hanging on Raven." Starfire said and Raven heard Starfire put the phone down. A minute later Starfire was back on the other line. "Friend Raven?"
"I'm here Starfire." Raven said, rolling her eyes slightly.
"Joyous!" Starfire exclaimed, "Oh yes, here is the number…"
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"What do you mean there is nothing you can do about it?" Raven said through grit teeth. Beast Boy was pacing the small kitchen, running a hand through his hair every-so-often, and in the few minutes Raven and the mayor were on the phone, he had gone back into the bedroom.
"I mean, that there is nothing I can do, our budget for you Titans has been used up… the initial payment's for the apartment's has been made and we have no money left for you Titans. I'm sorry, it's out of my hands." The mayor stated simply, but Raven wasn't convinced that he was truly sorry, and if he wasn't, she would make him be sorry.
"Okay." Raven said uneasily. "Thanks for nothing." She said monotonously and pushed the 'Off' button. She breathed out, this was not going to be fun.
"So… what'd he say?" Beast Boy said, his beautiful green eyes peering down at Raven. She reverted her gaze to the floor.
"He said there is nothing he can do about it." She said simply and walked out of the apartment, she knocked simply on Scarlett's door and a surprised Scarlett opened the door. "Thanks." Raven said, handed the phone to Scarlett, turned on her heel and went back into her own apartment.
"You're welcome?" Scarlett said quietly as she slowly closed her door.
When Raven walked into the apartment, Beast Boy was staring at the good number of remaining boxes littering the floor. "So…?" He started, not really sure of what to say.
"You can have the couch." Raven stated simply as she picked up a box of her clothes and walked back in the hall towards the bedroom. Beast Boy's brows furrowed as he followed her back. When he pushed open the door, she was loading some of her clothes on hangers in the closet.
"Don't I get a say in this?" He questioned, crossing his arms over his chest, he glared slightly at the telepath, wondering what was going on in that head of hers.
"Yeah." She said putting down the black sweater she was about to hang up. "How about you grow up and be a gentleman?" She snapped, when she looked at him, he noticed there were tears, very small, but tears in the corners of her eyes. He figured they were from exhaustion or frustration, but he didn't say anything. Exhaling and running a hand through his hair, he sighed.
"Could I put my stuff in the clothes dresser?" He asked as he nodded his head towards the dark wood clothes dresser on the far wall. She nodded and continued unfolding clothes and placing them on the hangers that James had supplied her with.
Beast Boy breathed out heavily, walking out of Raven's bedroom and into the living room where he found two of his boxes and loaded one in each arm. He walked back and walked in the room sideways, sine the boxes were oversized. The two unfolded their clothing in silence, the sound of a clanking hanger or the sound of the dresser drawers being opened sounded deafening in the quiet room.
Raven unloaded the last of her boxes and shoes into the closet, sighing in semi-satisfaction that one more thing was done. But then, her shoulders sagged. Where was she going to put her… unmentionable's? She couldn't put them in a drawer, Beast Boy would see them. She sighed, and she noticed that Beast Boy had brought in the last of both of their clothes boxes, the last box with her name on it was a small one, one filled with her socks, underwear and bras. She looked at her watch, it was already 8:33, it was too late to go to a store and get a storage bin or something.
Beast Boy suddenly stuck his arms above his head, lacing his fingers together and pushing them up towards the ceiling until Raven heard a disgusting, (yet to Beast Boy a very pleasing) crack. He let out a huge yawn, and then walked out of the room without a word, he didn't even look at her.
Raven knew that she and Beast Boy hadn't been the best of friends at the Tower, but that didn't mean she didn't care for him. He didn't have that same feeling she got when she was around Robin or Cyborg, with them; it was always a caring-older-brother feeling. But with Beast Boy, she didn't know what it was, she guessed it wasn't hate, it wasn't really dislike either, it wasn't that she didn't like him, she just didn't and did. So she supposed that she was slightly offended when the usual chattering changeling wasn't talking.
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After Raven had put her pajama's on and brushed her teeth, she walked into the living room, where Beast Boy was sprawled out across the couch, drooling on one of the pictures, his newly blonde hair really suited him, she had to admit that he was really cute- she shook her head to rid the thought. She turned on her heel and walked into the bedroom, picked up a pillow from the bed, and walked into the closet, she saw that there were two extra blankets folded neatly on top of the closet, she grabbed one and walked out into the living room.
Beast Boy's light snoring escaped his mouth and she placed the pillow and blanket on the ground. She gently and slowly lifted Beast Boy's head off of the couch pillow, quickly removed the couch pillow and stuck the other pillow under his head. She then unfolded the blanket and draped it over him. She stared down at his sleeping form. "Good night Beast Boy." She whispered, walked down the hallway and into her bedroom, slipping under the covers and turning off the lights.
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The next morning Raven woke up, not sure of what time it was, she picked up the watch that she set on the nightstand the night before. It was 9:30, her eyes widened; she'd never slept in this late before, ever. She laid in bed for a minute, staring up at the ceiling. She arched her shoulders, stretching her back, then relaxed, lying back down. She slowly lifted the covers off of her and placed her feet on the ground, her dark gray and black plaid flannel pajama pants came to the floor, and her oversized white T-shirt made her look five times bigger then she normally was. She supposed she would get dressed before Beast Boy woke up. She opened the closet and pondered what to wear. There were a lot of options, James had done a good job of supplying her with clothes.
She opted for a pair of jeans, a pair of dark pink ballet flats, a dark navy blue t-shirt with a Japanese pagoda outlined with dark pink and a big out-lined dark pink cat, with JAPAN written in gray down the side of the shirt. She personally didn't like pink, but this was a nice shade. She laid them out on her bed and walked into the bathroom, grabbing a towel and washcloth.
Once she was done with her shower, she hurried across the hall to her bedroom and locked the door. She quickly put on her clothes, dried her hair and let it fall in slight curly waves at her shoulders. She walked to the nightstand, picking up the watch, 10:07. She walked out of the bedroom towards the living room where Beast Boy was still lying asleep on the couch, the blanket she had given him last night tangled around him. She sighed and rolled her eyes.
She placed her hand on his shoulder. "Get up." She said simply as she shook his shoulder slightly, she turned and walked into the kitchen. He mumbled some incoherent words and blinked.
"Where am I?" He mumbled as he scratched his head and propped himself up on his elbows, scanning his surroundings with tired eyes. Then he remembered, he swung his feet off the couch and onto the carpeted floor where he cracked his toes. "Raven?" He called out. He waited for a reply, but it didn't come. "Raven?" He asked, his voice slightly panicking, where was she?
She walked into his sight, when he sighed; she went back into the kitchen. She was making a list of things they needed on a piece of scrap paper. The list consisted of soap, shampoo, cleaning supplies, some bedding, and other small things.
"What's for breakfast?" Beast Boy came into the kitchen, standing behind her, scratching his neck. She could feel his breath on the back of her neck and she shifted her position. Her hair hid her one eye slightly as she turned to face him.
"Make yourself cereal." She stated icily. "But hurry, we're going to the store." She said folding her list and slipping it into her back pocket.
After Beast Boy downed his sugary cereal, took a 5 minute shower, took 3 minutes to get dressed and 4 minutes to put on his sneakers, they were slowly walking down to the store. As they walked down the busy streets of Jump City, Raven couldn't help but get annoyed as Beast Boy clicked his tongue on the roof of his mouth. "Is that necessary?" She asked as they turned into the front door of the home supply store.
He stopped and sighed. "What do we need?" He asked exasperatedly. "Oh!" He stopped and admired the soft, squishy pillows that were on display in the front of the store. "Can we get one?"
"No." Raven sighed and grabbed a cart, wheeling it into one of the aisles, Beast Boy following, reluctantly, close behind. They were doing down a long aisle with tons of beddings squashed in small plastic bags. She looked at a cream-colored queen set of sheets. "Get this." She said and started walking down the aisle again. Beast Boy's eyes widened when he heard her speak. He grabbed the bag and scurried behind Raven.
"Whoa now, slow down a bit here Rae." He said as he dumped the bag into the cart, walking next to her. "What do we need now?" He asked as he looked sideways at her profile. He had to admit, well to himself anyway, that she looked better with longer hair.
"A two wall clocks and an alarm clock. Then soap, shampoo and cleaning supplies." She said simply, stopping at where the long aisle ended, looking up at the directory signs that hung from the ceiling. "This way." She said and turned the carts, the wheels making a scratching sound as they turned.
They turned down another aisle where there was a distinct smell of cleaning supplies. "Bea- Garfi-Gar." Raven corrected herself three times. Beast Boy turned to look at her. "Gar, could you get me that toilet bowl scrubber and the container it comes in?" She asked him, her voice, unlike before, had become calm and almost nice. He nodded, grabbed the white and blue toilet bowl cleaner and dumped that in the cart while Raven grabbed some toilet bowl cleaner, shower cleaner, sink cleaner and a few sponges.
"Oh, honey look." An old woman said to her husband as they walked down the same aisle as Beast Boy and Raven. "What an adorable couple." She whispered the last part, but Raven and Beast Boy still caught it. Beast Boy's eyes widened and Raven turned a few shades of red.
"Newly weds." The old man said and the two walked arm-in-arm down the aisle.
Beast Boy chuckled nervously as he scratched the back of his head; his cheeks were still a little red. "Senile old people." He laughed nervously. Raven just pushed the cart and walked out of the aisle, walking down a few aisle's before they came to clocks, lamps and more. Raven picked out two cream colored clocks and dumped them in, she let Beast Boy chose an alarm clock and he came back with a green colored alarm with two bobbing eyes on the top.
"What is that?" She asked, as he was about to drop it in.
"Don't you like it?" He asked as he looked at her. "It's a frog!" He laughed as he pushed a button and it made some croaking sounds. She cocked an eyebrow and sighed.
"Fine." She said and he smiled, dropping the annoying alarm clock into the cart.
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As Beast Boy and Raven walked home with their arms full of bags the mid-day sun beat down on them, even though it was November, it was quite warm. They were close to the apartment building and they were crossing the street, a little boy ran out past them, his mother not far behind. "Jake!" She hollered. "JAKE!" She yelled as he ran down the jam-packed streets.
Raven sighed, that kid might be kidnapped, and they wouldn't know who did it. But she stopped thinking about it as they walked into the building and into the elevator. The few seconds it took to get up to their floor and down the hall was the quietest Raven had ever--- not heard Beast Boy.
As they made it into their apartment, she sighed as she placed the bags on the floor. All of their boxes were unpacked, but they still had a lot to do. "Beast Boy?" She asked as she leaned against the wall.
"Yeah Raven?" He asked, looking at her.
"We need to find jobs." She said as she stared at him with her amethyst eyes. He cast his gaze down at the floor and sighed.
"I guess you're right."
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After putting their cleaning supplies away, hanging their clocks, and Raven sticking the sheets in the washing machine, the two teens walked down the streets again, this time, in search for jobs. As they stopped at a street corner, Beast Boy spoke up. "How about I go this way, and you go that way?" He said, not even looking at her. She supposed she was dull and he didn't want to be around her anymore.
"Fine." She said monotonously.
"I'll see you lat-" He started, but she was already crossing the street. "-er." He finished and walked down the sideway in the opposite direction.
Raven walked past many shops that had 'Help Wanted' signs in the windows, but she preferred to work in places where perverts and hobo's didn't work and where rats weren't resident's in. She walked past a small, family owned bookshop. She paused, biting her bottom lip, but went in anyway. The smells of vanilla and jasmine filled the air as she walked in, a tiny bell ringing as she pushed open the door. Tall bookshelves lined the walls and a few filled the center, a cash register sat on the far right side, but Raven didn't see anyone behind it. She walked up to it, and noticed that there was someone behind it she was just sitting reading.
The girl behind the cash register looked to be about twenty years old, maybe even nineteen. She had short chocolate brown hair that came to just below her chin. She had big green eyes that were practically hidden behind funky black rimmed rectangular glasses, a jean skirt with leg warmers and converse adorned her bottom half while a red shirt that read, 'I like big books and I can not lie' finished off her look. "Oh!" She yelped as she noticed Raven was standing in front of her. She almost fell off her chair, but she managed to catch herself. "hi." She said simply and stuck out a hand.
"Hi." Raven said simply and hesitantly shook the girl's hand.
"I'm Quinnlyn, what can I do for you? Whoa, those are spiffy shoes." Quinnlyn admired as she cleaned over the counter, looking at Raven's pink colored shoes.
"Thanks?" Raven said, more of a question then a statement. "I'm Raven, and I'm wondering if you have a job opening?"
"Hey Raven. Sorry, we don't have any openings, Amy and I work this shift." She said and pointed a thumb down one of the aisles where a red head was stacking books. "But hey, write down your name, number, and address and maybe if something comes up, we'll give you a call okay?" Quinnlyn said and handed Raven a piece of paper and pen. Raven nodded and wrote down the information. Raven Roth. She wrote down the name that she was given just a few days ago.
As she finished she slide the paper over to Quinnlyn. "Thankies Raven, stop in sometime and get a book, we got a lot of different genres!" Quinnlyn called as Raven was leaving the store.
"Alright." Raven said as she pushed open the door and the cool air blew at her face.
She hoped Beast Boy was doing all right.
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Beast Boy sat in an unemployment office that smelled of cheese mixed with body odor and eight week old smell socks. It was warm in the office, even though it was November, it felt like July. Papers, paper cups and other debris was scattered all of the floor, he was sitting on a bench waiting outside an office, and he could of sworn that he had just saw a rat run by his foot as he looked down at the ground. "NEXT!" A booming voice yelled as a young man walked out of the office, running a hand through his hair.
"Screw this." Beast Boy muttered as he followed the other guy out of the smelly building. As he walked out into the nice cool street he wondered what Raven would say if he didn't come back with a job. "Shit." He swore as she leaned his head up towards the sun. "Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit." He said through grit teeth.
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The next day, Raven and Beast Boy decided they would paint the kitchen. What color, they had no idea. It turned out that when Beast Boy got home, Raven wasn't mad at him, because she didn't find a job either! So Beast Boy was saved, but only temporarily.
They were walking in a paint store, looking for the right color. "How about green?" Beast Boy asked as they passed a nice shade of olive green. Raven looked up at him.
"You're not just picking that because-" She started, and then whispered. "Because you are green?" She said tauntingly.
He crossed his arms over his chest, then what do you think we should paint it then?" He asked, eyeing her. Her hair was pulled into a ponytail on the back of her neck, her swoop bangs still hung on the side of her face. Beast Boy's bed head hair and deep green eyes had gotten him a few looks from the lady's, and he couldn't give the excuse that it was his "pointy ears".
"I don't know." She said and looked down at the swatches. "Purple?"
"OOOOOOOOH!" He yelled loudly and she looked up at him with wide-eyes. "Is that because it's your favorite color?" He taunted, leaning in closer to her. She turned her head.
"Fine. No purple, and no green either." She said and then came to a deep burgundy color. She looked up at Beast Boy as she pulled the swatch out. Beast Boy eyed it and shrugged.
"I don't hate it." He said. "Burgundy it is." He said, grabbed the swatch from her hand and ran down the aisle to where they got the paint. She gaped at him, but then quickly closed her mouth; she walked down the aisle with painter's tape, brushes and rollers in her hand.
Beast Boy carried the paint can and the rollers and Raven carried the tape and brushes. He insisted that he would carry the heavier things and that she should carry the lighter things. She couldn't help but smile as she noticed he was being more polite.
"Hey Rae?" He asked as they walked down the street.
"Hm?" She said quietly as they crossed the street to get to the apartment building.
"I think you look better when you smile." He said and smiled charmingly at her as she slightly blushed and looked at the ground.
"Thanks." She said quietly and the two walked into the apartment building, side-by-side
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(A/N: Okay, the ending was horrible, and I'm sorry you had to witness such horribleness, but I wanted to get this chapter out before Christmas! Beast Boy and Raven are learning to get along with each other, but in the next chapter, not sooo much… -winks and laughs evilly- MERRY CHRISTMAS/HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
So please review, or I'll have Quinnlyn beat you over the head with a big book…
swn)
