Woot! Finally done! Man I haven't updated since February! Thank you guys for being patient with the procrastinator! I'm sure all you writers out their feel my pain because it is hard getting new ones out there! There is sooo much to think about and it takes you a looong time to type it out (especially if it's a long chapter!) I hope it's worth it because it has tons of BBxRae fluff in this chapter and it is also 14 pages long with around 8,300 words! That is my longest chapter yet! The next one should also be out quicker because I only have 7 full days left of school! 4 day after memorial day and 3 days the week after! And Thursday I go to fun-and-stuff which doesn't really count as a school day :D. So now I'm going to have all day and night to type out chapters, and draw, and watch the History Channel (my favorite channel!), etc. Alright. Hope you enjoy the chapter!
The Past Can Really Explain Things
Chapter 12: Damn that Squeaky Wheel!
Beast Boy and Lily fell to their knees breathing heavily. Sweat rolled down both their faces as they tried to catch their breath. Lily looked up at him and said, "Frankly, I'm…quite…impressed!" she said in between breaths. "Your progressing…more than…I…thought you would!" she congratulated him.
"Yes," Raven agreed from the chair not too far away from them, with her book in her lap. Raven had been joining them in these lessons. It interested her of Beast Boy's full abilities. She also helped Lily at times. After wards, Lily would teach something to Raven about her powers and that was just another reason to stay. Beast Boy usually stayed and watched Raven's lesson if he wasn't too exhausted. But a reason both of them stayed that they both didn't want to admit was that they simply wanted to be around each other. "You really are progressing…I'm proud of you," Raven said proudly, yet surprised tone. She was never afraid to admit when he was doing a good job.
"Thanks," he said in a short breath, finally looking up at Lily. He turned to Raven. "Naw Rae! Your proud of me?" he asked in a cooing tone, letting her know that he just heard her and wasn't going to let her forget about what she had just said.
"Don't make me regret it," she said in her usual monotone, narrowing her eyes behind her hood playfully.
"Wouldn't dream of it!" he said in a mocking tone, smirking at her. These days they've been going more at each other in a playful way that was caused by being around each other more constantly.
Lily was face palming inside, but yet, also laughing. Her parents always flirting in the future in this way, it usually disgusted her. But now, it was just funny! How clueless they were about how they were going to be together. It was off the wall hilarious to her.
Lily was the one who caught up to her breath first and stood up. She offered a hand to Beast Boy, which he took gladly as she helped him up.
Beast Boy and Lily had spent a lot of time with each other over the last week, even without Raven.
Lily turned to her soon-to-be father, "Want to go get some wa….." Lily was cut off suddenly.
"Water? Water? YES WATER!" Beast Boy asked as if he was a dog and someone just said squirrel (A/N: has anyone seen Up? Yeah I got it from there! LOVE YA DOUG! SQUIRREL!).
Raven gave an annoyed half smile as she rolled her eyes.
"Well, then," Lily said with an amused smirk on her face. "Let's go!" she said as she spun around quickly and sprinted down one of the many Titans Tower corridors.
"HEY! Wait for me!" Beast Boy explained as he spun around almost as fast as Lily did and started moving his legs with rapidity after her.
Raven got up like a normal person, book in hand and walked out of the training room casually.
"LAST ONE TO THE COMMON ROOM IS A ROTTEN EGG DA-"Lily's eyes widened in horror when she almost said what she was about to say. Her mind was on overload that she didn't even notice how the hallway turned at a 90 degree angle.
She ran, at full speed, into a metal wall. Wow. As soon as her body and the wall collided, she felt a shock wave spread through her body. She was at a standstill. Her body had no other choice than to fall backwards.
Beast Boy was shocked. 'Did Lily just run into a wall?' If it didn't look like it hurt, he would laugh (AN: think about it. Wouldn't you? Picture a person just running into a wall at full speed. It's one of those bitter sweet funny things). But he flinched when he saw her hit the wall. Then she started to fall backwards. He composed his mind and caught her at just the right moment.
Lily had stars throbbing in her eyes and birds flying around her head in a circular motion. She also felt as dizzy as if she just jumped off a merry-go-round.
"Lily! Are you okay?" Beast Boy asked quite loudly for Lily's taste. She didn't exactly like loud noises with the mind splitting headache that was developing like a heard of buffalos.
Raven heard what Beast Boy had commented and ran down the hall to see what happened. She also heard a thud that sounded like a head to metal and she was curious.
Lily grunted in response. "My head hurts…." She managed to get out in a low voice, because she knew he would hear her, no matter how low she said it.
"Oh crap," is what he said. "We need to get you to the others, pronto," he tried to say in a quiet voice so he wouldn't add to her throbbing head.
"What happened?" Raven half screamed as she was shocked.
"She ran into the wall!" Beast Boy whispered to Raven, being quiet out of sympathy of Lily.
"Why did she do that?" Raven whispered back.
"How am I supposed to know?" he whispered sternly as he kneeled on the ground beside Lily.
He put his arm at the back of where her joints connected at the bottom half of her limbs. He swung his other arm to her upper back to support the rest of her weight. He picked her up bridal style with almost no problem. His workouts for the last week had really made an impact.
"What are you doing?" Lily yelped as she was surprised when he hoisted her up.
"Would you rather walk?" Beast Boy asked skeptically.
Lily thought of her merry-go-round of a head for a moment. "Just walk," she gave in quite easily.
Raven was still a little in shock and didn't really jump into the conversation.
But Beast Boy didn't walk, he ran as fast as could with the extra weight in his arms. Raven ran beside him.
Lily was too dizzy to care. But she couldn't help but feel like a child again. She remembered when she stayed up too late in the 'teen' common room or even the main common room, and her dad had picked her up ever so slightly to take her to her room. He picked her up as if she was as light as a feather.
She could hear him breathing heavier than he should. 'He must have buffed up after he started dating mom,' she thought.
Raven ran beside Beast Boy, she was scared for her daughter. Even though she knew that she was going to be alright.
"Are you going to be okay Lily?" Raven lowered her head so her mouth was adjacent to Lily's ear.
Lily's facial expression tightened at the sound. She groaned a bit until she got out her answer.
"I will be," Lily said in an annoyed quiet voice. She wasn't going to hide her aggravation at the moment.
After a couple of more feet, they arrived at the medical wing of Titans tower. The room was a soft white baize color with two rectangular windows on the wall opposite from the white and flaw-less looking hospital beds. The place looked like a room in any old hospital and not in a house full of tech gear and gadgets for crime fighting heroes.
Beast Boy set Lily down softly on the first bed. Lily's face scrunched in pain from her head as she was laid down.
Raven went outside and called Cyborg and the two remaining Titans to come to the medical bay immediately.
She walked in the room to see Lily on the bed with her face creased in annoying pain. Raven felt for her, she really did. She got mind splitting headaches when the Titans' emotions are running haywire, but they didn't purposely want to bother Raven. But it still did.
She walked over to where Beast Boy was standing. "Tell me what happened exactly," Raven asked Beast Boy.
Beast Boy sighed. He hated to see his friends hurt but this almost seemed different… in a way. "I'm not exactly sure what happened," he started. "At first we were running down the hall way. Then she started to say something, and then just stopped. She had a horrified look on her face as she ran into the wall!" Beast Boy explained to Raven.
Raven's gears were turning. Questions popped into her head. "What was Lily about to say? Why was the horrified look on her face? What is she hiding?"
As she thought, the remaining Titans walked into the room.
"What happened?" Robin asked loudly.
Beast Boy rushed up to Robin and clamped his gloved hand over Robin's mouth. And thinking about where Beast Boy's hands have been that probably isn't too sanitary!
"SHH!" Beast Boy hushed. "Lily ran into a wall and she has a mind splitting headache. Not that I'm a doctor, even though I do have the 'listen to the heart' thingy from when I was five, but I think it should be quiet!" he explained.
"Oh yes friend Beast Boy! We will be silent for Lily's sake!" Starfire said in a hushed tone.
"Wait, so tell me what happened again…" Cyborg asked trying to get on the right track.
"Okay so-," Beast Boy was cut off.
"She ran at full speed into the wall and we have no idea why." Raven gave him a short story to quicken things up.
"Wow, that was a little unexpected! I thought it was a training accident!" Cyborg exclaimed in a hushed tone, which was difficult with his deep voice.
"She may have some head trauma. I think you should check her out… You know just to be sure." Raven said with a little bit of timid in her voice. Raven never looked or acted timid ever before. This was new. She had some motherly instincts in her. Who knew?
"What she said!" Beast Boy quickly spurred out without even thinking. Now that was usual.
Cyborg ran some tests on her. While the remaining of the team stayed silent and waited for results. Lily was still conscience and groaned and answered Cyborg's questions as he asked her. The crinkled look on her face in pain still showed but her facial muscles had relaxed to an extent.
Robin knew to be calm and convinced himself that it wasn't going to do future damage. They still needed her for the big mission that was a little less than a two month's now. Starfire was on the verge of tears, being her usual sensitive self. Raven was nervous but was hiding it quiet well, only Beast Boy really noticed. HE was nervous himself. He didn't want anything to happen to Lily.
He put his hand on her shoulder.
She looked over at him in confusion. Her gaze followed from up his hand to his face.
Beast Boy ignored her surprised expression and smiled and said, "She'll be okay," he said in a reassuring voice.
To his shock, Raven smirked the slightest bit at him before her facial expression faded back to normal.
"She's fine", Cyborg said all of a sudden. No fractured skull, might have a slight concussion, but I doubt it. But… she will probably have a bad headache for a while though."
"Fabulous," Lily said sarcastically.
Cyborg chuckled slightly. "She'll need some quiet for a while to rest."
The five Titans were filling out the door to give Lily some peace and quiet, but something stopped them.
"Wait," Lily said in her regular voice despite her pounding headache. "Raven, we were going to go grocery shopping today," Lily realized.
"It's okay, I can go alone," Raven said brushing it off as nothing.
Robin intervened, "No. That's too dangerous. One of the Titans going out in public by themselves? No way."
"Robin, you don't need to treat me like a child, I can handle myself," Raven said in her usual monotone, but a slight touch of sneer in her voice as she glared at Robin.
"Raven, I'm not doubting your powers, it's just that if we go out in public, when we have to in pairs for precaution. Plus, it will throw our schedule off." Robin explained.
"Well…" Raven said giving Robin one final glare. "Fine." She relented.
"Okay, who wants to switch with Lily?" Robin faced the team.
It was only silence for a couple of seconds.
In the mean time, Beast Boy was looking at the rest of the Titans, wondering if he should volunteer. Raven would kill him if he volunteered, thinking he was up to something. But yet, he wanted to take the chance, just a reason to spend time with her.
He looked at all of them once again. Starfire looked at him and smirked, it looked like she was hiding something, but Beast Boy was too ignorant to notice. It was just a friendly gesture Starfire gave to everyone. Robin seemed to be looked at all of them, but his eyes lingered on Beast Boy for a little longer. And lastly, Cyborg's foot slipped 'accidently' and kicked Beast Boy in the shin. And man, when a metal foot hits you, it hurts!
Beast Boy gave a yelp and immediately, grabbed his leg in pain.
"Sorry BB!" Cyborg said almost convincingly.
Beast Boy bit his lip so hard it almost bled (also because of the fact that it was his fang that was connecting with his skin.)
He took a deep breath so he wouldn't start the water works. After he opened his eyes and relaxed, even with his leg still throbbing and raised his hand.
"I'll go," he said coolly (not in the 'coolly' way Beast Boy would usually use that term).
"Alright then, it's settled, Beast Boy will go with Raven to the store, the list is on the fridge," Robin added towards Raven. "Cyborg will look over Lily's recovery. And Star and I will train for the day. If there is a call, drop what you're doing and go. Everyone except Lily. Okay then, let's go," Robin said as he turned towards the door.
A half hour later…
"What did you do that made you run into a wall?" Cyborg asked Lily while he was checking on her to make sure she doesn't have a concussion again.
"Cy, let's just say I'm going to fail before I succeed," Lily said quietly because of her head and sadly because she was kicking herself since she kept screwing up.
Cyborg stood there and thought for a minute.
After a couple of minutes, Lily heard metal clanking against metal leave the room and down the hall.
Cyborg was heading towards the hall where the video camera records were held. No one really looked at them unless completely necessary. The Titans agreed that everyone in the tower deserved to have privacy.
The metal man walked in the control room where more than a dozen television screens where implanted on the wall. There was also a desk where a plain, but nice computer sat stationary, waiting to be used.
Cyborg sat on the swivel chair in front of the computer and moved the mouse lightly with his metal hand, making sure not to break it.
He pulled up the video record that read November 18th, 1:27pm, Hallway #9.
The clip loaded on the screen and started to play. The screen showed just a hallway as seconds ticked by at the bottom of the screen. Cyborg grew impatient and fast forward until he saw a blur on purple and green running. He moved the little arrow back a millimeter or so and let it play.
At first it was just the hall, with footsteps being heard scampering down the hallway. Right before they appeared Cyborg heard a woman's voice say, "LAST ONE TO THE COMMON ROOM IS A ROTTEN EGG DA-" as Lily came into view with a look of horror imprinted on her face as she realized her own words.
It all seemed to happen fast. She ran into the wall, but it seemed more like bouncing off the wall to Cyborg. He flinched when she hit the wall.
"OO!" He said with displeasure on his face.
Beast Boy caught Lily before she could hit the ground again. "Lily! Are you okay!"
Cyborg replayed the clip to look more closely now that he won't react the second time. "LAST ONE TO THE COMMON ROOM IS A ROTTEN EGG DA-" Lily said as the horrified look came upon her face once again.
"Ohh." Cyborg said as he got it. Lily was about to call Beast Boy 'Dad'. That's what made her react like that.
Cyborg got up and walked to the other side of the room and grabbed a wire from a box and proceeded back to his seat. He opened up a layer of his blue metal shell which revealed a whole panel of plug-ins and switches. He plugged in one end of the wire into his arm in the USB slot (if you don't know what it means, it's just the little outlet that you plug in your iPod cord into your computer or where you plug a flash drive in, etc. Well, there's your computer info for the day!) and the other end into the USB port in the computer.
He loaded the file into his own systems where it would be safe and deleted it from the computer. He didn't want Raven getting a hold of it. He knew how she was suspicious enough about Lily's father.
Cyborg walked out of the room, feeling pretty happy with his self. He walked back down to the medical bay to check on Lily.
"Pleaaaasssse?" Beast Boy begged.
"Do you really think I'm doing this because I want to? If I let you drive Cyborg would kill me," Raven retorted in her casual monotone.
"Nuhuh! Come on Rae! I won't do anything! I just wanna drive! I have my license! It took me two tries to get it… but I can STILL drive!" (I realized when I looked back to chapter 1 that they were 18, but I think I think I'm going to bump them back two years, so Beast Boy, Raven, and Starfire are 16, Robin is 17, and Cyborg is 18).
Raven rolled her eyes and jumped into the driver's seat.
Beast Boy glared at her as she shut the driver's door, started the car, and she adjusted her seat from super-buff-robot-guy size to medium sized female teenager. She looked back to him and rolled down the T car window. Beast Boy was still glaring at her, and desperately trying to keep a straight face.
'How can Raven stand to do this ALL the time!' Beast Boy thought feebly trying.
"Are you coming or not?" Raven asked with a perfectly straight monotone.
Beast Boy's face was on the verge of cracking but still just stared at her and tried (but does not succeed) to be intimidating.
"Fine. Suit yourself," Raven said as she pulled out of the drive way and drove steadily on the road leading to the bridge they get off of.
Once Raven was on the bridge she relaxed into her seat and just took in the art of driving. Until she saw a green bird in her rearview mirror. She sighed in knowing.
The oddly colored bird came up on the passenger's window and looked at Raven, as if to give a signal. Raven understood, but she was just going to let him learn his lesson. Also she didn't want him to get into the car so easily.
The bird urged to keep up with the car. It also tried to do everything to get the dark Titans attention such as pecking at the window, making loud squeals when ever road signs came close, he even tried ramming his little body at the window.
Raven almost had the urge to laugh at his feebleness to get into the car.
Finally after ten minutes of Raven's fun, she let Beast Boy into the car.
He flew into the car and then morphed so he was in his human form.
"Rae!" Beast Boy threw his arms in the air, "What did you do that for!"
"I'm sorry, but that was very amusing," Raven said smirking as her face was straight forward, looking at the road.
"Well! I'm glad I amused you with my pain!" Beast Boy shot back, but he wasn't too angry.
"You weren't in pain." Raven protested.
"Well…I could have been! You where driving fast and those signs were so close!"
"Well…I'm sorry you didn't get hurt," Raven smirked.
"Thank-" he paused, "Well…" he said pretending to be hurt.
"Okay, okay, fine, I'm sorry Beast Boy," Raven relented but said her apology in her monotone.
"So…does this mean you owe me?" Beast Boy asked curiously as he looked towards Raven.
"Nope."
"Yes it does," Beast Boy said in a sing-song voice.
"No."
"Yes."
"No."
"Yes."
"No."
"No."
"You think I'd fall for that? No."
"Yes."
"No."
"Yes."
"FINE! Just stop pestering me!" Raven was getting frustrated.
"Hmm…" Beast Boy thought as they pulled into the grocery store parking lot.
"You do need to be more careful. But if you keep your guard up when you're around them, then you'll be fine!" Cyborg tried to cheer Lily up.
"I know, I know!" Lily groaned. "It's so hard being in a place that's so familiar to you but yet, so not! It's odd with you guys here as teenagers and it's hard to be guarded around my family."
"Lily, it will all be okay, you'll see. I know it might be weird, trust me I feel your pain, but you have to push through this and then you'll be home sooner. Everything will be normal again." Cyborg kept trying his hardest for Lily to stop kicking herself.
It was quiet for a while. Lily broke the silence.
"Cy?"
"Yes?"
"Can you do me a favor?" Lily asked him.
"Sure, what can I do?"
"Can you make me a cup of tea? And bring me my amino acid pills?" Lily asked, wanting herself to calm down. She also forgot to take her pills this morning. ( A/N: Okay, at the beginning of this story, I wasn't in health yet and I didn't know that you have to have protein in your body and those are only provided through meat, tofu, and other veggies. So I figure for Lily to have proper health she has to eat a lot of veggies and take some protein pills each day, just so you know…LILY IS NO DRUGY! XD)
"Sure thing." Cyborg reassured as he walked out of the room.
Lily lay back slowly and relaxed her muscles; she had to take it easy for one day. Just one day…
"You let me call you Rae for a week," Beast Boy grinned.
"No way." Raven said firmly as she pushed her annoying squeaky wheeled cart down the produce aisle.
"Yes way." Beast Boy twisted her words.
"You call me that ever, and I break your legs." It was an empty threat but it was still intimidating.
"Well…my legs seem fine! And I called you Rae at least two times today!" Beast Boy was testing his limits for sure.
"Do you have a death wish?" Raven whipped her head around to look at him asked sternly as she examined the apples they had set out.
"Maybe…" Beast Boy said childishly.
Raven just ignored it and pushed the cart onward.
"Look at the lettuce, while I look at the carrots." Raven instructed as she walked towards the long, orange vegetables.
Beast Boy walked up to the lettuce and examined them. He wasn't stupid; he could tell what was good and what was bad.
"Hey Rae, do we get iceberg or green leaf?" Beast Boy asked her loudly from where he was.
Some of the shopper's heads turned and looked at them. It was odd enough seeing two Teen Titans at the grocery store, but why is it odd? They had to eat too! But the really, really odd thing was that Beast Boy called Raven her 'so called nickname' across the store! (Beast Boy, your funeral)
Raven's face turned bright red as she realized what Beast Boy just called her and now people were looking at her. It would have been bad enough, but blushes come out easily in Raven because of her pale face.
Raven looked up and saw some people looking between the two Titans in awe. "Move. Along." Raven said loudly enough for the shoppers to hear as they moved on with their shopping.
Raven picked up the carrots and put them inside the cart. She moved to Beast Boy who was looking around nervously. "Green leaf." She growled the answer.
After she turned on her heal and pushed the cart away, the wheel squeaking away from him into the bakery area.
He ran after her. "Raven! Raven! I'm sorry come on!" he pleaded to the figure in the dark blue cloak.
Raven kept a straight face and walked on despite the cart that was driving her up a wall. Step. SQUEEAK! Step. SQUEEAK!
"Damn this squeaky wheel!" Raven murmured harshly in a hushed tone.
He ran ahead and stood firmly in front of the cart. "Come on Raven," he said pleadingly. "You know I would never do that on purpose! It slipped! Please don't be mad at me!" He practically begged.
Raven sighed. "Knowing you and your stupidity, I know you don't think before you speak, so I'll be the saint that I am today and forgive you. But if you do anything of that sort of thing again, I will personally break you, let you suffer, then heal you," She threatened with a smirk on her face, she was just playing with his mind.
He grinned. "Just as long as you don't hate me!"
"Beast Boy, I could technically never hate you. Because if I did, you'd be dead by now. I can't always control my powers 100% of the time." Raven stated.
"Naw! I knew you could never hate me Rae!" he teased. But all he received from Raven was a glare as she glanced down at his legs.
"My bad!" he said holding up his arms defensively.
She nodded as she picked up a loaf of wheat bread.
"So…what else is on the list?" He asked as they walked down the aisles with everything that you needed to cook with. The raucous cart being pushed all the way.
"Rice," She said looking up and down the shelves until she finally spotted packages of brown rice that you microwave and eat. They were on the top shelf.
Raven reached for it on the top shelf, but her hand was just missing it by inches.
"Let me get that." Beast Boy interjected.
"Beast Boy, you're shorter than I-" Raven started and then stopped when Beast Boy grabbed two packages and threw them in the cart. Of course, he went on his tip toes, but it still counted.
Raven looked at him with her eye brows raised. She looked him up and down, trying to find something abnormal.
At first Beast Boy thought Raven was checking him out…awkward. But Raven found the abnormality before his mind got past that thought.
"You've gotten taller." Raven told him.
The words rang in Beast Boy's ears. Beast Boy and the word 'tall' were never in the same sentence unless the word 'isn't' was between them.
Beast Boy's first words out of his mouth were, "Is this some sick joke?"
"For once, I wish it was," Raven responded.
Beast Boy's jaw dropped. "That explains why my legs have been hurting!" he said happily, he thought something was seriously wrong with him.
"You've been having growing pains and you've never said anything?" Raven asked, clearly astonished but the expression did not show on her face.
"What am I? A whiner?" he asked.
"Well…there was that one time you cried about that stubbed toe you got." Raven remembered that story vividly because he kept bothering her to heal it that day, but after she said she couldn't do anything, like Beast Boy, he still kept bothering her.
"Hey! That really hurt!" he retorted.
"That one time when you got covered in goo when we fought Plasmas…" She continued.
"Whatever, so am I seriously taller?"Beast Boy asked excitedly.
"I'm not precisely sure, but we can measure when we get home." She promised.
It was silent for a few minutes as they gathered some canned ravioli and chicken noodle soup.
"I still can't believe you didn't whine…" Raven said out of the blue, which was very un-Raven like.
"Hey! I go through more pain through one day than you do in a whole month!" he said half jokingly and half serious.
Raven raised her eyebrow and looked at him, she basically asked 'how?' through body language.
"Nothing." He suddenly seemed un-Beast Boy like, timid and hiding something. "Forget I said anything." Beast Boy said stuffing his hands in his pockets as they walked.
Raven, somehow, felt kind of hurt. He could trust her with anything, couldn't he? Her curiosity was also struck. Her curiosity had been high for Raven lately, hadn't it?
"Beast Boy?" Raven asked looking straight at him so he would look at her.
Eventually he looked at her. "Yes?"
"You know you can trust me, right?" she asked, sincerely, but timid was taking full effect inside.
"Yes, I know that. I trust you with my life every day, and you with yours."
His answer took Raven back a little. In a way it was all true each day the Titans trusted each other with their lives. That's heavy.
It was silent for a minute, both thinking over what was said. Raven unexpectedly again broke the silence. "What did you mean by the statement, that you go through more pain a day than I do in a month?" Raven said with her voice peaking out of her monotone with the strange curiosity.
Beast Boy was silent for a moment, debating on whether or not he should tell her. He let out a sigh after a moment and started to talk.
"Each time I morph, my body totally warps itself. Bones break and crack and muscles rip and then put it all back together again. It feels like your whole body just breaks, for one second you feel the excruciating pain unlike anything on earth. Also despite the fact if I do it too fast at once, you can get pretty sore!" He chuckled nervously and put his hand behind his neck, almost like it was no big deal and was passing it off as nothing.
Raven was silent in shock. The only sound that surrounded the duo was the squeaking cart. She never really thought about it before but Beast Boy goes through pain every time he has to morph. And he morphs quite a lot each day. Whether it's for fighting a villain or for simply hiding from Cyborg. She was completely shocked that he never mentioned it once. But to think back, Beast Boy was never the one for pity. He may be childish at times but he never once wanted people to feel sorry for him.
'Something deeper is in play here…' Raven thought to herself.
"I'm sorry." Raven apologized, looking up at him from his newly found height difference. She did feel guilty to underestimate him. He wasn't a two year old after all.
"It's okay." He said as he looked over to her and gave her a genuine smile. Not the cocky grin he usually wore but his lips curved in a genuine and heart breaking smile. She also caught a bit of twinkle in his eyes. She felt her heart lurch and the core warmth feeling filling her to the brim once again.
The warmth forced her lips to curve upward as she looked ahead and felt the happy presence next to her. Even though she wouldn't admit it, she was in perfect bliss. Until…
CRACK!
A pickle jar flew off the shelf which was incased in black energy and hit the cart so hard that it cracked along the side. It would have broken for sure if Beast Boy didn't catch it at the last second before it could hit the tiled floor.
Raven was knocked out of her daydream and got her powers under control right away before anything else flew off the shelves. She took a deep breath.
She looked at the pickle jar that looked on the verge of breaking in Beast Boy's hands. "We needed pickles anyways…" Raven said referring to the 'break it, you buy it' rule, in her monotone as she composed her face once again in the fixed emotion of nothingness.
Beast Boy got the message and set the jar gingerly in the cart.
Raven pushed the screeching cart in the awkward silence for the next couple of minutes. Beast Boy, for the first time, didn't know what to say, thinking that he didn't want to say something wrong because he couldn't stand it if Raven was mad at him because he was finally hanging out with her without protest and he didn't want to ruin it! He liked Raven too much for that.
Raven wanted to get back in a conversation just as much as Beast Boy, he has been coming oddly mature lately (to an extent) and she wasn't as annoyed around him as much as usual. She has actually wanted him to talk to her lately, more than she would admit. And he has, most certainly.
Raven thought back to what they had been talking about before the 'pickle jar' incident. And suddenly she realized something.
"With your new training, you have been turning into objects instead of animals, which means you lose your bones completely…" Raven pointed out.
Beast Boy was surprised to hear the break in silence. He already knew this but he just put two and two together in his mind.
"I guess I do. I would have thought that I would have been more sore than usual, that's why I passed off my growing pains…" he put the puzzle together. "Man, that would have never came into my mind without you. I guess we make a good team!" he exclaimed with that goofy grin on his face.
"Well…yeah, I guess we do." Raven shockingly agreed. That kind of surprised Beast Boy a bit.
The rest of the shopping went very well.
Raven could tell Beast Boy let down his guard a little and what resulted in that was that he was actually pretty funny. He wasn't telling her lame jokes but instead by being himself he was just naturally funny. He actually almost made Raven smile a few times. Almost.
'He's actually charming right now…' Knowledge pointed out.
'He's SOO SWEET!' Happy cooed.
'He's also opening up to us which has to take a lot of guts!' Bravery said clearly impressed.
'The butterflies are being released! And I like it!' Affection had a dreamy look on her face as she spun gracefully as her purple cape flew behind her.
Rude's mouth stayed a gape, "I got nothing…"
'I wonder if he likes us…' Timid said, well… timidly.
'He's probably like all the others…' Rage reassured herself, acting loathingly.
"Raaaaavenn?" Beast Boy snapped her out of her thoughts.
Raven shook her head. 'SHUT UP!' she shouted at her emotions, choosing to be ignorant.
"Yes?" Raven said with a blush making an unusual appearance on her face with her thoughts.
"Nothing, you kind of zoned out on me! I asked what was next on the list…" he chuckled.
Raven rolled her eyes.
Eventually they had to get meat. Beast Boy ran towards the tofu (for his life) as Raven went into the meat aisle.
Raven came out of the meat aisle and met up with Beast Boy safely away from the meat aisle.
"You used to smell good Rae! Now you smell like death!" Beast Boy said holding his nose while pretending to fan her out.
"Ha-ha, you're funny." Raven said sarcastically.
'He thought we smelled nice!' Happy ran in circles.
"She finally admits it! I'm actually funny!" Beast Boy exclaimed pretty loud which made a few customers look up at the duo (again).
But instead of Beast Boy giving it up, he went on.
"Ladies and gentlemen! Raven actually admits that I, Beast Boy am HILARIOUS!" Beast Boy bowed. Little kids that were watching feet away were giggling like mad and everyone else also found it amusing. Everyone knew about the Titans attitudes and personalities, and its kind hard not to when their saving your butt all the time!
"Ladies and gentlemen!" Raven announced in a high tone that sounded odd to everyone (because Raven never really talked too loud…) and they looked up to Raven. "It is clear that Beast Boy does not know the definition of 'sarcasm'!" All the adults laughed, knowing exactly what happened. Even though the children didn't know the word 'sarcasm' let alone the definition, they still laughed because their parents thought it was funny, why not themselves?
Beast Boy opened up his mouth to say more but Raven used her powers to hold Beast Boy's lips shut and turned toward their audience and said, "Thank you! Thank you very much! Now enjoy your shopping at the Jump City market!" she said as she bowed and started to push the cart again which she was now used to the piercing noise coming from the axel.
Beast Boy caught up with her as soon as she let his mouth free from her powers. "Raven!" he said in awe. "How- How did you do that? The social skills and the talking and…" he didn't even bother to finish because he knew she got it.
She shrugged. "I'm not totally shut out." She went directly back to her monotone. "Plus I learned a little by observing you…" admitted with a hint of blush on her pale cheeks.
"Me?" he raised his eyebrows and looked at her non-believingly.
"Well… you are very social and you have a lot of people skills. Don't act so surprised." Raven explained.
"Well… thanks." He said still a little shocked.
Finally, they were eventually at the last aisle which was the dairy products.
It was a comfortable silence between both them, both immersed in their own thoughts. Raven felt like a curtain had just been ripped open and warmth is now flooding a once dark room now a room with every little nook and cranny radiating happiness.
She was so filled with the warmth that she didn't notice that she was smiling.
Beast Boy, of course, noticed.
"Raven?" he asked grinning like mad.
Her face faded back to emotionless. "Yes?"
"You were smiling!" Beast Boy pointed out as his grin grew bigger.
The warm feeling was coming back as his smile grew.
Raven did her best to look confused. She knew she was smiling, unconsciously. She was puzzled because something should have exploded. "No I wasn't," she said with a straight voice.
"You sooo were! You were smiling!"
"So not."
"O yes you were!" he said as he nudged her a little to the side.
"Was not." She said nudging him back.
"You where!" He nudged.
"Was not!" "Were too!" they both said at the same time as they both nudged at the exact same moment also.
The impact made them go the opposite ways. They both fell in a mess on the ground. Beast Boy burst out laughing, clutching his gut.
Raven couldn't help but smile and giggle too. Even though she was not conscience of it, she ended up laughing with him.
It was Beast Boy's turn to be filled to the brim. 'She looks soo beautiful when she smiles and laughs…'
"Raven?" he asked recovering from laugher.
"Yes?" she responded, also recovering.
"You're laughing!" he pointed out.
Her face suddenly melted from laughter to utter horror. In the process 3 gallons of milk were covered in aura and exploded to encompass the area. The area was covered with the white liquid.
The manager happened to come around the corner when it happened…
"WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?" he yelled shrilly.
Besides what happened in the last aisle, it all went along fine.
They got everything that was on the list and they both actually had a really good time in one another's company.
Raven wouldn't admit it now but it was the most fun she had in a while. She also got to know the changeling a little more.
Beast Boy was pretty shocked that he and Raven had a good time. He thought she would be… you know, the stick in the mud. But she was actually pretty fun. She had the kind of comebacks that were her but she also put them in a funny way instead of just plain mean.
The way home was actually kind of quiet. They were both wondering what made Raven laugh the way she did.
"Do you know what…exactly happened at the store?" he brought it up timidly.
"I think my powers reacted after I was laughing because I was unaware of my own emotions. I guess it was…a caught up in the moment?" she said the words more slowly and staccato.
"I guess that would make sense…" he willingly agreed.
The silence was now becoming awkward.
"Soo… you still owe me…" Beast Boy brought the way to the store back up.
"Beast Boy, I don't owe you anything." Raven said in a serious voice, serious, but not scary.
"Come on! Let me call you Rae!"
"No."
"Pleeeeease?"
"What part of 'no' do you not understand?"
"Come on! Just between you and me! When we're alone!"
"No."
"Come on! No one will hear us when were alone!"
"N.O."
"You owe me! Pleeease?" Beast Boy pleaded while turning into a green kitten with the big eyes. "Mew?"
"Ha-ha. Cute. No." Raven said in her monotone.
"You almost killed me!"
"And right now I'm sorry I didn't."
"Ooo! That hurt Rae!"
"Do you like your legs?"
"Why? You likey?" he asked as he acted as a leg model from his seat.
Raven rolled her eyes.
"Ple-"
"Fine! If you stop bothering me then yes, call me Rae! But if you call me your little pet name in front of other people just remember that you can't run while you're in a wheel chair…"
"WOO! Score for BB!"
Raven just rolled her eyes.
"Love ya too, Rae!" he said sarcastically.
The two missing Titans walked back into the tower. One carrying all the groceries and the other holding the door open. It's the opposite of what you would think…
Raven levitated the groceries and Beast Boy held the door open for her. The system worked out quite nicely. Raven brought them up while Beast Boy put them all away.
When they came home no one was in the common room or the kitchen, they were still left alone. It was near dinner time too…
Raven sat on a bar stool while Beast Boy unpacked and put away everything.
"Soo…where do you think everyone is?" Beast Boy attempts to start a conversation.
"Well…Robin and Starfire are probably 'training' which probably means their making out in the training room, which I'll be shocked if they actually got in more than an hour… Cyborg is either in his room or checking up on Lily. And we both know where Lily is…"
"True… O! That reminds me!"
"And what would that be?"
Beast Boy looked ecstatic. "We've got to measure how tall I am! I also thought my uniform is getting a little tight… so I have to talk to Robin… and we got to tell everyone! I'm not the shortest anymore!" Beast Boy said at light speed which Raven was surprised that he had room to put spaces in between his words.
"What do you mean by 'we'?" Raven asked.
"What? No help?" he asked trying to act sad.
"Nope," Was her statement.
"You are NOT pressing the emergency button for this!" Raven told plain and simple Beast Boy.
"Why not! This is an important moment!" Beast Boy exclaimed as Raven set down the measuring tape and pencil on the table in the medical bay.
"I'm with Raven on this one… it might freak them out…" Lily told him as she sat up in bed. She felt tons better, but she still had the type of headache that it hurt to move her head, let alone breathe.
"Fine… but I'll still make them come up here!" he said as he wiped out his communicator.
He called Starfire, Robin, and Cyborg at the same time.
They all answered within the same seconds.
"Guys! This is important! Get down to the med bay! Now!" Beast Boy said grinning as he hung up the communicator without a response from any of them.
"You still freaked them out… I can feel it." Raven sighed.
A minute passed before all three Titans ran into the med bay one after another.
"WHAT'S WRONG!" They all asked, each a second off from each other.
Beast Boy remained calm. "Okay." He started before he got interrupted.
"What's wrong?" the Titans leader asked hastily and impatiently as if it was life or death.
"Whoa! Robin! Chill out! Nothing is wrong! It's just one of the most important days of my life!" he exclaimed again. Before any of them could guess Beast Boy continued. "Lately, I've been experiencing growing pains and today me and Raven-" he was cut off.
"Raven and I," Raven corrected.
"Whatever! -noticed that I'm now taller than her! So we are going to measure me!" he said proudly.
"Alright 'Mr. I am so Tall' let's get this over with…" Raven said reluctantly.
Beast Boy stepped against the wall as Raven took the pencil and marked where the top of his head reached.
Then she took out the measuring tape and told Beast Boy to hold it at the bottom as she looked at the measurements.
"5 feet, 8 inches." Raven stated. "I am 5 feet, 6 inches"
"YES!" Beast boy exclaimed so loud that all of Jump city must have heard it.
"Man B! You've really grown! Last time we checked you were 5 feet, 4 inches! And when you met us, you were 5 feet! I think it's time for a new costume!" Cyborg congratulated.
"Yes! I knew these things were getting tight a couple of months ago! Plus I'm ready to get out of the "Doom Patrol" uniform and be my own man!" Beast Boy expressed vibrantly.
"Don't push the calling yourself a 'man' just yet." Raven warned.
"Come on! I don't think I'm worthy of 'Beast Boy' anymore! I need a new name!" Beast Boy whined.
"One day Beast Boy, One day," Robin promised.
_
Raven was done with all the madness for one day. It was time for bed. Before she got a chance to get to her room she saw someone walking a head of her.
He was tallish, had pointed ears, and his hair and face no one could miss anywhere.
"Hey, Beast Boy." Raven called out to him.
He turned. "O, hey Raven…"
"I just wanted to let you know, I had a… good time, today… with you…" she said a little nervously.
He blushed as his hand suddenly went to the back of his neck which is what he does when he gets nervous. "I did too…"
They stood there in silence for a couple of moments.
"Good night, Rae."
"Good night you nuisance."
Beast Boy laughed as they both walked to their rooms.
Raven got to her room and collapsed on her bed. Lily was going to stay in the medical bay for the night but she should be back to normal by tomorrow.
She turned her head to look at her book shelf. The first thing that caught her eye was her journal. She bit her lip and she picked herself off the bed.
With her slender fingers she pulled out the journal as she sat down and put it on her lap. She flipped through pages until she got to her most recent entry:
November 6, 2009
Starfire gave me some advice and I just wanted to write them down.
-heart beats a little stronger
-When you look into his eyes, you can't look away
-He makes you blush-Feel a warm feeling in your heart
-He makes you feel like your at home when your with him
-Get nervous around him
-You can't imagine life without him
I'm not feeling anything for any one, just wanted to write them down for future reference.
Raven sighed deeply. She read through the list slowly, thinking of what has been going on lately:
1. Her heart has been doing odd flips lately
2. The day she wrote this down, she looked deeply into his eyes.
3. He made her blush plenty of times today.
4. Was that what she was feeling today?
5. Nope
6. She got nervous when she said good night didn't she?
7. Erm…
'5/7, you don't love him.' Raven commanded herself.
'Who do you think you're kidding Raven?' Affection asked.
Raven paused and sighed. She put her hand up to her heart, wondering if it would give her the answer.
She looked left and right, as if she was embarrassed of what she was about to do.
She went to her bed side drawer and received a dark blue pen from out of it. She looked around again, as if she was about to cross a dangerous road. She lifted the pen and started to check off 5 out of the 7.
She smirked as she looked down at the page. Her heart fluttered.
"At least out loud, I won't say I'm in love." She stated.
Like it? Hate it? REVIEW! Plz?
O, just wanted to say this: I'm sorry if you think the heights are off or if you think it's too tall. ^^; I'm tall myself and I think 5ft is pretty short (that's my mom's height) but if you think about it, all the Titans are pretty tall. If you think about it Beast Boy can be any size because think of how tall Cyborg and Starfire are! In reality Beast Boy might not be that just the shortest out of the group! (If any of you were wondering I'm 5ft 7in. Which is tall for my age! XD)