The prompt "dreaming" for BBRae week is on my tumblr (same name, bittersweetromanticide). I'm not posting it here because it's smut, and I try to stay in line with the site's rules as much as possible. So, if you want some BBRae smut, hop over there for it.

Protection: Beast Boy's instincts sometimes spiral out of control. Raven will protect him from himself.

Beast Boy was possessive, painfully so. He had warned her at the beginning of their relationship, saying he was nervous about it, saying even without dating her he already felt himself getting overly aggressive, rage curling in his stomach whenever any male who wasn't Robin or Cyborg got too close or God forbid touched her. He even felt a bit annoyed when it was Robin or Cyborg. She took him anyway. She said she had enough problems to fill the Grand Canyon, she could handle a few of his – especially one as minor as being over protective.

But Titans East came, and with them came Aqualad, and he couldn't take it. He was already competitive. He already knew Raven found him attractive. He was furious, let alone all of the animals screaming inside him to keep Raven protected, to keep their relationship safe. All it took was standing next to Raven, smiling at her, and a furious roar shook his chest, a tiger sound, deep and terrifying and so loud that all conversation in the room stopped. It didn't stop him. Oblivious to several eyes on him, his lips curled back and he growled like a wolf, until Raven stepped in front of him.

She put her hand on his cheek, completely calm. "Easy, Gar," she murmured.

He came back to himself in an instant, looking horrified. He stumbled over himself to apologize. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I knew this would happen. I knew it would. I shouldn't have been here. I can't do this. I'm really so-"

"You're sorry, as you should be," she said evenly. "I am too. I should have realized what a problem this was earlier instead of brushing it aside. We're going to fix this, Gar."

He looked helplessly at Aqualad, feeling anger well up in him even now, and his voice cracked. "I'm sorry I lost it."

He shrugged. "No problem."

"I growled at you!"

"I work with sharks. At least you're giving me a heads up before you try to take a bite out of me." He laughed.

Robin clapped Beast Boy's shoulder, surprising him. "You didn't attack anyone. Seriously, I think you might have been worse the first time we met Aqualad." He expression turned stern. "But fix it."

Things returned to normal, with Aqualad taking care to stay a bit further from Raven. After awhile, even that got under Beast Boy's skin. He excused himself earlier and forced himself to sleep, hoping that would ease his jealously. It didn't help in the slightest. By the time morning rolled around, he had a night a fitful sleep, with constant jealousy and rage pooling in his stomach.

He rolled out of bed and headed to Raven's room, unsure of what he was even planning to do or say, and found her surrounded by books. They were all open, spread across her room so close together one could've mistook them for white tile. He stared at them, realizing he couldn't get close to her without changing shape or stepping on all the books.

"Rae, what is this?"

"Research," she looked up from her book briefly. "On mating habits. I mean, they can't all possibly be violent. I thought we could find some more pleasant ones, shut up some of the animals inside you to make it easier to control the rest."

"Oh."

She looked down at her book again. "There's a lot of dancing, thought that could be a problem – I really don't dance. Aqualad said that puffer fish build elaborate nests to attract females, but I don't think you could realistically build me a house whenever you get jealous. He didn't have much else helpful on the subject. I picked up a few books from the library."

He felt a smile crawling over his face. "Really? Wasn't it closed?"

She slowly turned the pages in the large volume. "I pulled a bit of hero rank. I've found out a lot. Birds singing is popular, monkeys too, or apes. I can't remember which they were. I believe the article was on gibbons."

"Gibbons are apes, not monkeys. Should I serenade you, Rae?"

She was so involved in her book she missed his joking tone completely. "No, no. I suppose you could sometimes, but it's hardly an adequate fix in public. I read about penguins, Gentoo penguins? They seemed to be fairly famous for giving females pebbles. That could work, but I've no idea what I would do with so many pebbles. I suppose I could buy a box for them. A nice box, obviously."

"Mmmhmm," he said, barely holding back his laughter as she rambled on. He began working his way toward her, closing the books and stacking them neatly as they went. She didn't notice at all.

"Honestly, so much of it is dancing. Everything – birds, mammals, reptiles, fish – everything dances. I'm starting to think we should dance." She blushed, and he couldn't help but chuckle at that. "I don't need to be a good dancer. Just dancing with you should make you feel better."

He sat in front of her and gently took the encyclopedia from her hands, setting them aside. She looked at him, blinking like she was coming out of a dream. He smiled. "Raven, why are you doing all of this? This is insane."

"I can't protect you from all the animals inside you," she said, gesturing to the books around her. "This is the only way I can think of to keep you sane."

He kissed her, slow and deep and sweet. She squeaked, surprised by the suddenness of it, but her hands soon crawled up to rest on his hips and she leaned against him, smiling even as he pulled away. "What was that for?"

He laughed. "You're the best girlfriend ever, Rae! All this animal stuff, I can't believe you did all this for me! After last night, I thought you were gonna break up with me."

"You never gave up on me, Beast Boy. I'm not about to give up on you." She took his hand and squeezed it. "Yes, you have rams and lions and cobras inside you, but you've also got gibbons and Gentoo penguins and you inside of you. I can stand the lions if it means I still have you at the end of the day."

He leaned his forehead against hers. "Want me to tell you about the nice guys inside me? I know them all pretty well."

She kissed his nose lightly. "I'd love that."