Hello, everyone, I'm back, and thankfully it isn't late anymore so I have plenty of time to waste on an intro. But for your sake, I'll refrain from that, and instead I'll move on to the disclaimer of: I don't own the Teen Titans.

Now that that's done, enjoy this chapter!

The door to her room shut silently behind her as she set the cup of hot tea on the dull nightstand beside her bed. Raven had thought she was going to go right back to sleep, as the time-consuming day had taken a lot of her energy out of her. But instead of pulling the covers over herself and closing her eyes, she simply lowered herself onto the bed in a sitting position, legs hanging over the side.

Why couldn't she go to sleep?

Maybe it was Raven's very angsty, edgy bedroom. There was no customization within the room whatsoever, leaving the room dark and blank. The only things that resided in her room were three tall bookshelves, the Victorian-style lamp, her nightstand, and her meditation mirror lying across the surface of the nightstand. Raven had newly equipped the mirror with a magical seal that kept everyone but herself out of it, in order to prevent the mishap that had happened a few months ago from happening again. She didn't need the two biggest clowns in the tower sneaking through her mind again.

Or maybe Raven hadn't meditated enough that day. There certainly hadn't been a lot of free time. It was possible that maybe the loose thoughts and excess energy she had failed to control were running around in her head and keeping her awake.

But Raven knew it wasn't that.

It was Beast Boy.

The realization that it was him keeping her up was definitely jarring and kind of made her want to gag. But it was true.

He just...confused her so much.

Beast Boy had always been a friend of hers, though she'd never admit that she saw him as such to the changeling himself. It was their unspoken inside joke, Raven always acting as if Beast Boy was the most annoying person on Earth and Beast Boy constantly trying to make her see him as otherwise.

But Raven was aware that some of her more mean-spirited "jokes" hurt his feelings. She hated that she was able to hurt him so easily when she hadn't intended to. But she hated being as confused as she was...especially by him, now that he wasn't the ignorant kid he'd been when he'd first joined the Titans.

Of course, just like Beast Boy had done a few minutes ago, he still poked fun at her, but his jokes had become a little more...suggestive. Instead of forcing her to eat fake meat and gluing video game controllers to her hands, his jokes had become more like "You know you love me" and "I dare you to admit I'm handsome."

Unconsciously, Raven chuckled lightly at the memories. He was actually pretty funny...

Wait. What?

She was losing it.

But- it was true that Beast Boy's looks had definitely...matured a little. His pear-colored eyes that had normally contained that childish, goofy spark now had faded and was replaced with a wiser, more clever glint. His muscles had grown and strengthened by quite a bit ever since the primal form of The Beast had introduced itself. That was what had first made Raven began viewing him differently. They could finally share something in common- a hideous, terrifying monster within the both of them that they were both equally afraid of. Maybe it was a little gruesome, but it was something.

And the most noticeable change in the teen had been his height. Raven had always stood about half a head taller than Beast Boy, which she knew probably wasn't going to last long anyway due to the fact that males more often than not were taller than females. But she hasn't expected this growth spurt to arrive so quickly. Beast Boy now stood a full head taller than her, and he never missed a chance to rub it in Raven's face that she was now the shortest Titan.

And he was actually somewhat...attractive now.

Raven never thought she'd admit this to herself, and saying so to Beast Boy was absolutely out of the question. But it was true.

Unbelievable.

This was probably just some weird hormone thing. A child-like crush that wouldn't last more than a week.

And if it wasn't?

She needed to go to sleep.

After his hurtful outburst of Raven being "creepy" right before the incident with the dragon Malchior, Raven had never thought that these thoughts about Beast Boy would have ever surfaced- or even formed to begin with. It had hurt her greatly, especially since she knew he was right. Raven was creepy. She didn't mean to be. But she didn't want to end up pushing everyone away if she ever decided to be..."outgoing." Raven felt it was safer to isolate herself rather than hurt someone.

But she'd found something in her that had forgiven him... even hugged him. Raven still had no clue to this day why she'd done that. Beast Boy was probably more freaked out by her than ever. If she were to act on her present feelings for him, he'd never reciprocate them. She was way too dark for him. He wanted someone else.

Someone like Terra.

Terra had been skinny, blonde, and blue-eyed. She'd been pretty much everyone's dream girl, but if Robin and Cyborg had ever thought that she was...pretty, or anything like that, they'd never shown it. But the green shapeshifter had been infatuated with her. And it had absolutely shattered him when the girl had turned against the team, against him, and tried to kill them with the help of Slade. Adding on to the aftermath of the volcano explosion underground, in which Terra had apparently forgotten everything in her time with the Teen Titans and Slade, Beast Boy had taken months to recover from the heartbreak, and even then Raven knew he would never completely get over the blonde traitor. Raven despised Terra for hurting him so badly, as well as the entire team, but clearly she had never shown her regret it in the slightest.

Terra was, Raven thought, quite the disturbed young individual.

Great. Now I'm thinking about Terra?

It was definitely time to go to sleep.

Raven sighed gloomily and flopped down on the mattress, pulling the blankets over her body securely. Maybe some rest would set her mind straight.

Suddenly, the remark from the earlier interaction with Beast Boy popped up in her head, making Raven cringe. "So you can dreeeeeaaaam about things? Like me, perhaps?"

God, was he irritating.

But still kinda funny.

But Raven was not going to dream about him.

Or, she would try not to.