BBRae Week: Day 6

Beach vs Rainy Days

Garfield Logan could pinpoint the exact moment in which he fell in love with Raven.

It hadn't been like anything the books or the movies quite described. It hadn't even been anything like what he'd experienced before.

The feeling had come sudden and strange, both foreign and familiar, as if it had been but a shadow, clinging to his heart all along. His feelings were a genuine paradox, but he couldn't have been any more certain. If anything, he should have berated himself for taking so long in the first place.

She'd stood in the centre of it all, oblivious to every living thing around her, including him.

The rain came down from the heavens in angry sheets, the thunder roaring through the darkening sky. Lightning crackled in the distance, illuminating the encroaching bleakness of the day. The black clouds rolled in, hovering precariously over the roiling waters. Wave after crashing wave, matching the quickening of his own pulse.

It was the thunderstorm, as predicted, with the two of them caught in its menacing winds. The same winds that had effectively ruined Beast Boy's weekend trip he'd so meticulously planned. He'd never have thought it would also have been responsible for such a wonderful discovery. It was like inhaling the first breath of a crisp, winter day; an icy, cold shock to the system.

The difference was, he hadn't minded in the slightest…

"You have to make the best of it," she'd told him, but not without sympathy. "Moping around won't change anything."

Beast Boy groaned loudly, flopping down onto her bed in dramatic fashion, arms and legs spread-eagle. A bit of his shirt rode up to reveal his toned, green abdomen, and he rubbed a hand along the curves of the taut muscles subconsciously.

"Four days! Four days of constant rain, Rae! It's like the weather gods were pulling my leg just for fun," he whined, staring up at the cabin ceiling, disheartened.

The fan blades moved slowly overhead, and he tried to focus on them instead of his drearier thoughts. If he let himself, he could have cried, but the last thing he wanted to do was let Raven see him so emotional. She'd probably only think he was overreacting, anyways.

Beast Boy had spent months planning the extravagant summer trip for his teammates. Booking a highly-coveted cabin located right by the water meant that he had to be early with reserving it, especially during a long weekend in July. It was supposed to be sunny and warm this time of year, and with the sandy beach literally just outside their doorstep, nothing was supposed to ruin the fun.

Garfield had envisioned beach volleyball, swimming, tanning, barbecues, hikes, and late night drinking parties out on the patio by the fire pit.

However, not a moment after they'd arrived, so had the clouds.

"I could have handled one day, maybe even two. But the entire weekend? What the heck are we supposed to do when most of the activities require being outside? This whole trip was a giant waste," he continued to gripe, growing more frustrated with every passing second.

Raven closed the heavy book she was reading, and placed it on the side table next to her. "Beast Boy, everyone is having a good time except for you," Raven informed him, folding her arms over her chest and fixing him with a worried, purple stare.

He grunted. "Star and Dick are treating this like a romantic getaway, Cy started talking to this girl staying at the lodge over, and now he's never around, and you spend all day reading, Rae," he pointed out.

Raven pursed her lips, her brows furrowing. "Kory and Richard have hardly had any time to themselves, Gar. Especially when he's busy running around as Nightwing these days. As for Vic's new friend, have you even met the girl? She's there leading a retreat for a group of kids with prosthetic limbs," Raven explained.

There was a lump in his throat that was a sure sign of his impending guilt, but Garfield was feeling down on himself and no amount of logic was going to make that go away. The rain poured heavy against the windows, and thunder could be heard plundering in the distance.

"Well then, what about you? Back at the tower, all you ever did was read," he pressed, sounding petulant even to his own ears.

Raven seemed a bit caught off guard by his accusation, and a subtle look of surprise crossed her features before she could mask the emotion completely. She averted her gaze to the ground, feeling very much like she'd been put on the spot. "I…I like the rain, actually," she confessed, self-conscious.

Beast Boy sat up on the bed, cocking his head to the side as he examined the peculiar empath with a growing curiosity. "Really?"

She nodded once, and then looked fondly over at the window, where the gentle pitter patter of the slowing storm could still be heard rapping against the glass. "It's comforting, and somewhat serene, don't you think?"

Garfield rolled his eyes. "Not really. Not when I could be outside, sipping rum from a coconut, and showing off the summer bod to cute girls in bikinis."

Raven's expression soured, the dream-like look in her eyes replaced with the familiar hardness the changeling was more accustomed to.

"Maybe if you were less into the superficial things of life, and more appreciative of the finer details, you'd enjoy yourself a bit more, Gar," she implored him.

"Yeah, well, if you love the rain so damn much, why don't you just go outside and see how great it is for yourself, Rae?" he snapped back, not in the mood for one her lectures that evening.

He flopped back down onto the bed, a scowl on his youthful features. It was never a wise idea to try and contain someone with as much energy in their system as Beast Boy had.

The old clock ticked on gently in the background.

Tick.

Tock.

Tick.

Tock…

He waited for the comeback; waited for her to lash out after he'd been so cruel as to take out some of his frustrations on her. However, it didn't come, and the clock sang its boring tune instead, the loudest thing in the room.

Raven stared longingly out the window, at the lovely, misty view of the beach, so bleak and grey and foggy. The waves crashed against the shore, the golden sand appearing more ashen without the tender love and care from the sun. She stared, and sighed hopelessly.

By the time Beast Boy sat up again, the empath was gone.

"Has anyone seen friend Raven?" Starfire was the first to acknowledge the lack of a darker presence among the group at the dinner table.

The Titans had gathered together for a meal in the cozy cottage, all the while the blustering winds from the storm continued to howl outside their walls. Richard, Victor, Kory, and Garfield had been sitting around the dining table, ready to dig into the dishes that Cyborg had conjured. Until, of course, it was all brought to a halt by the alien princess' observation. She stared openly at the empty chair next to her.

Like magnets, the other Titans' eyes followed hers, drawn to the spot Raven would have been otherwise seated.

Richard scratched at the light stubble on his chin. "I knocked on her bedroom door earlier, and she didn't answer. Now that I think about it, I don't think I've seen her around the cabin at all today."

"I was busy in the kitchen, figured she was with one of you," Victor shrugged.

Kory shook her head. "I have not seen friend Raven since the morning at breakfast."

Garfield yawned. "Maybe she went outside or something," he deduced in a bored tone.

Richard raised an eyebrow. "In this weather?" He indicated the persistent rain furiously tapping against their windows.

"Hey, you're the detective, not me," Garfield replied, raising his arms in defense.

Their leader put down his fork and sighed, staring down at his empty plate. "We need to go look for her," he stated matter-of-factly.

"Agreed," Starfire seconded in earnest.

"Vic, you stay here in case she comes back. I'll look through the house and surrounding area. Star, you can fly out to town and see if she's in the marketplace. Gar, can you check out the beach?" Richard dictated, standing up to his full height as his chair scraped against the wood tiles of the floor.

Beast Boy slumped back in his seat, a souring look on his youthful features. "The beach? Why would she be on the beach?"

"I don't know, but we need to cover all our bases, in case something's gone wrong here," Dick explained, making to grab his rain coat as Starfire, too, stood up.

"I'll hang around, make sure to keep the food warm," Victor added somewhat dejectedly, covering the various dishes with lids to prevent the heat from escaping. "If she comes back, I'll buzz."

Beast Boy stared down at his casual summer clothes consisting of a plain white t-shirt and cropped denim shorts that hit just above his knees. "Guess I gotta change," he noted with a frown.

He'd been looking forward to not having to wear his uniform around all the time, and he would be damned if the rain took even that simple pleasure away from him. However, if he was going to turn into a mud crab or a fish, it probably wouldn't help Raven any if he transformed back entirely nude.

"We will make haste, Beast Boy. I do not wish to stay out in this weather any longer than is necessary." Starfire tried to lighten the mood, and fixed the green shapeshifter with a gentle smile that made her eerie eyes glow with warmth.

He tried to return her sign of affection, but couldn't quite manage it. Like the heavy, black clouds looming overhead, Beast Boy's mood was also dark, gloomy, and equally persistent.

"It isn't like Raven to just take off and not say anything. Hope she's okay," Victor added, a tightening in his jaw as he fretted over the possibilities.

Beast Boy sighed. "The only thing that could possibly make this trip any worse is having do deal with some sort of villain while we're on vacation."

"Raven can handle herself," Starfire added confidently. "I am certain she is fine."

"Yeah, I don't think even the bad guys want to be out in this storm," said Richard with a half smile, but there was a grimness that brought about the lines around his eyes and mouth.

If that had been an attempt by their leader to help uplift the changeling's spirits, it didn't work. Beast Boy merely narrowed his eyes at the taller man, clenching his jaw in irritation. Dick's smile dissipated rather quickly after that.

If the rain had been an awful pest when he'd been indoors, it was even worse when he was outside in it.

Like it had somehow predicted his presence, the storm was yet again back in full force, strong gusts of wind sweeping through the trees and wildlife with no restraint. No matter what critter he shifted into, it continued to obscure both his vision and his path. The beach was completely abandoned from what he could see, and the sand was swallowing his feet up with every step, effectively slowing him down.

The whole way, Garfield grumbled and complained to himself, growing increasingly irritable at the whole situation the more he pressed on.

He wanted to be angry with Raven, but knew there was no true justification for that. How could he blame her for not wanting to stay cooped up in a stuffy house all day, all by her lonesome? It was driving him bonkers, and he'd even briefly contemplated swimming in the voracious waters regardless of the ongoing storm.

So tormented by his own thoughts and emotional turmoil, he'd almost missed her entirely. He hadn't even expected her to be there in the first place, if he was being truly honest. Somehow, it had made more sense for Starfire or Dick to stumble upon her rather than him.

Her cloak was like an inky blue smudge against the backdrop of infinite grey sky. She was the only sign of life on the horizon, where earth and heaven touched ever so fleetingly.

Beast Boy paused in his step, wiping the water from his eyes with his hands as if he couldn't believe what he was seeing.

Raven stood in the thick of the storm, her face, pale as moonlight, turned up towards the oncoming downpour. If his vision hadn't been so blurry, Garfield might have thought that she was almost smiling with her eyes closed.

Her lips were parted ever so slightly, and the rain rolled down the soft curves of her mouth until her tongue would dart out to lick at the cool moisture.

Her clothes were soaked, her bare feet vanishing at the shoreline, where the smallest of waves would crash and bubble against her ankles, frothing cold. Even her short hair, normally with a sheen of violet in the onyx accents, was matted down and dulled by the glum canvas that was the weather. It stuck to the sides of her face, windswept and wet, a sharp contrast to the pallor of her skin.

By the time she'd felt his presence, Beast Boy realized that he'd been standing in the rain, watching her.

Raven turned her head, opening her eyes as she spotted him just down the shore.

She blinked a few times, no doubt to clear the heavy raindrops that clung to her thick lashes.

Thunder boomed, and a bolt of lightning, angry and bright, split the clouds.

What was it that she had said about the finer things?

When Beast Boy remembered how to use his legs again, he walked towards her, closing the distance between them.

He took in the appearance of her drenched form with mild concern before licking his lips and speaking up over the storm. "Why are you out here, Rae?"

She wiped at a piece of dark hair stuck to her forehead, and shrugged. "I told you; I like the rain."

"But this is a storm. You could get sick."

Raven sighed, her chest heaving with the effort. "Why don't you just stay out here with me for a bit?"

He gave her an incredulous look, like she was some sort of crazy person for even suggesting such a thing. "Look, bad weather aside, the others are worried about you. If we don't go back, they'll think something happened to us."

"They'll be fine." Without a word of warning, she took him by the hand and pulled him next to her.

Beast Boy nearly stumbled in the wet sand. The waves came crashing against his legs, cold and wet and frothing.

She didn't let go of his hand, and he couldn't help but notice.

Raven promptly returned to examining the bleak horizon, and Garfield continued to examine her with equal fascination and interest.

After a moment of silence, of playing the game of watcher and watched, she said, "I don't think you realize the amount of good you've done here, Gar."

"What do you mean?" he sputtered through the rain that slipped down the slope of his nose to his mouth.

"Kory and Dick were on the verge of a breakup. This getaway, it helped rekindle their feelings, and allowed them to connect again. They needed this. As for Victor, I could feel him slipping into a slow, spiralling depression. He's really found something important with those kids, and maybe something more with Sara," she explained, never taking her eyes off the distant waters.

Her hand was wet and freezing over his, and he wondered how she wasn't shivering. How long exactly had she been out here by her lonesome?

"And you? Is this your idea of a good time, Rae?" he spoke over the heavy downpour.

She cocked her head to the side, uncertain of how to answer. "I guess…you could say, I really needed to go outside."

The dubious look he gave her pushed Raven to elaborate. "I got to thinking about what you said; that if I really enjoyed it, I'd be out here truly enjoying it."

A pang of guilt consumed him; if Raven did get sick, it would be all his fault. He shouldn't have opened his mouth to begin with. "Rae, I wasn't serious. I was just being moody, and I took it out on you. Which, by the way, I do apologize for. That was…unfair of me. I'm sorry."

She shook her head adamantly, her wet hair sending droplets flying about. "You were right, though. I've spent this whole time just admiring life from a distance, always looking out the glass panes. I never really got to experience much of it, and, somewhere along the way, I grew comfortable with that."

She then turned so that she was facing him, her normally cold, amethyst stare softening in the rain. The drops in her fringe of lashes almost looked like tears. "I don't want that. I didn't defy my father, and my fate, just to let life slip by. You guys didn't jeopardize almost everything to help me do it just so that I could sit and stare by a window, or end up like the girl in the future Starfire saw."

His hands came up to hold her by the shoulders, because he was certain now that she was shaking. "Rae," he called her name, got her to focus her eyes on him. "Rae, that won't happen. I won't let it happen."

His tone was stern, and in the quiet that followed, it seemed she was searching the planes of his face for a betrayal of some kind. "Do you promise? Can you promise me that?" Her voice was hoarse, more-so than usual, and he knew that she was choking back tears.

A genuine smile crossed his features, and it was like a rainbow appearing after the monsoon; the only flicker of light in a desolate place. "If I need to bug you every single day, and drag you out on adventures myself, I'll do it. Heck, I'll enjoy doing it."

Something like a smile tugged at the corners of her lips. "I don't know if I deserve it, but thank you, Gar. I…I promise I'll try harder."

Beast Boy had spent plenty of time with Raven over the course of their friendship; he'd gotten to know her, fought alongside her against the terror of Trigon, and endured plenty of other shenanigans the Titans often found themselves in.

However, he never thought that he'd seen the true colours of Raven more so than he did in that moment. She was so achingly honest and raw. She was so scared; openly terrified, without anyone having to help her realize it. She'd come to terms with her own flaws without any assistance.

Somehow, somewhere along the way, Raven had grown. She'd matured into not only a beautiful young woman, but an adult who was both wizened and self-aware.

And somehow, Beast Boy had fallen in love with her, although he wouldn't quite realize it until he reflected on that point years later, when she'd ask him, in a small, uncertain voice: "When did you know?"

Every time, like clockwork, she'd bring it up. Every time they got into an argument, furious with one another, eventually, she'd join him on the couch, tuck her legs beneath her, and ask him the same question in the same tone of voice.

Every time, he told her the same story, and every time, it somehow mended any rift they'd thought had come between them…

-FIN