Why does ffnet keep eating my stories. D:
Prompt: Beast Boy tossing snowballs at Raven's window, not knowing the window is open and has no screen.
Winter
Beast Boy loves winter. He loves making snow angels and fifteen foot tall snowmen, and pelting snow in Cyborg's face during snowball fights. He loves sliding across the ice as a penguin and plowing through snow banks as a polar bear. Of course, being on the West coast, he doesn't always get to do all that. Even when it snows, it's rarely enough to make his giant snowmen. Not unless he collects all the snow from the entire island.
This year, however, sees record-breaking waves of heavy, wet snow, and Beast Boy spends every moment he can rolling around in it.
Between his body heat and the peak of noon sun, the snow under his prone form starts to melt and seep into his pants, sloshing around his winter coat every time he fidgets. Even though his skin's beginning to go numb, he's happy to remain nested in the cold snow, eyes shut and hands folded over his stomach.
He fidgets again. Then again.
Well, he's happy to stay in the snow, but he's quickly growing bored.
Beast Boy's eyes pop open, roving over to the tower where his teammates are warm, cozy, and boring, inside away from the ice and snow. Without meaning to, he lets his gaze drift to the window he knows belongs to Raven. It's towards the top of the tower, but he bets if he tries really hard, he can hit it with a snowball.
Propping his hands in the slushy snow around him, Beast Boy sits himself up, and then manages to stand after a few tries wherein he slips and falls on his rear-end. The snow comes up to his knees as he plows through it, further soaking his pants and trickling into his boots. He barely notices, too intent on the growing distance Raven's room seems to have from the ground as he approaches the tower.
He slows, eventually stopping when he has to crane his neck up to spot her window. Then he stoops, packs a solid snowball, and takes a deep breath while he aims. He almost throws his arm out of its socket, chucking the snowball with every ounce of strength he has. It sounds satisfyingly against the window, somewhere between a thud and a splat, and he stares at it with pursed lips.
Alright, so, the second floor is a good start. He needs to get to the eighth, so in six more tries he should be golden.
He winds up again, and somehow manages to do worse. Shaking it off, he takes a step back, tripping against a solid spot of ice and nearly careening into the snow.
Clearly, he isn't going to accomplish this from the ground. He spends a moment staring at Raven's window, chin between his thumb and index finger, seriously contemplating viable solutions. He's going to need to take to the sky.
Taking off as a falcon, Beast Boy navigates to the top of the tower. The snow up here is mostly untouched, glistening in smooth waves. He has to break the melted and refrozen top layer of the nearest pile to reach packable snow. Satisfied with the mother of all snowballs he's created, he steps up to the edge of the roof.
He takes two bracing breaths, each exhale puffing and drifting away in a small cloud. Then he turns his back to the bay and he jumps. He times his throw just right, and as he releases the snowball he's exceptionally pleased to see it hurtling directly towards Raven's window. He shifts quickly into a hummingbird, hovering in place as he watches the snow fly, and fly… and fly past where it should have connected with glass, and thereupon connects with Raven's face.
Horrified, Beast Boy shoots forward and shifts back the moment he's cleared the open window. His hands shoot out and begin hastily wiping the slushy snow off Raven's nonplussed face. "What the heck, Rae, why's your window open? It's the middle of winter."
That breaks her shock, and she scoffs. "You're blaming me for this? You're the idiot throwing snow into windows."
"I wouldn't be an idiot throwing snow into windows if certain windows were closed."
Raven swats his hands away, using her cloak to dry her snow-burned cheeks. "I was burning candles, it got warm."
Beast Boy's nose wrinkles. "It's not even that warm in here, what's wrong with you?'
Sparing him little more than a withering glare, Raven pivots and heads to her closet. She withdraws a fluffy purple towel, which she promptly deposits at Beast Boy's feet. "You're dripping."
Blinking, he rocks back onto his heels and looks down at the puddle he's made. "Oh, wow, sorry." He lifts one foot at a time, letting the towel flop under his boots so that he's standing on it while it slowly soaks up his little pool of melted snow. There's a strange noise across from him, but when he whips his head up, Raven's staring at him impassively. Still, he raises an accusatory finger and points at her. "You just laughed."
"I most certainly did not."
"You most certainly did!" A grin splits his face and he leans in close, finger moving close enough for her to bite. She pretends to go for it, and he ducks back with a chuckle.
"There is nothing funny about being hit in the face with a snowball."
Smirking, he shoots her a look. "Everything's funny about that."
She shakes her head. "Your humor is so evolved, Beast Boy."
That just makes him shrug, though. "Maybe I just like to laugh at things. You should try it." He's not being too serious, since he has a sort of understanding of her and why she's so carefully closed off. At the same time, he doesn't think a laugh here or there will make her implode.
"Maybe I'll laugh when you finally do something funny."
Beast Boy hums, stepping off the towel and into her space. "Yeah, well, you did laugh just now. So, correct me if I'm wrong, you do find me funny."
Her jaw shifts, and in the silence that follows he just watches her think. "Sometimes," she admits eventually. "But not when you're throwing snow in my face."
Which, Beast Boy thinks, is fair enough.