Author's Note: This is my favorite chapter, I hope you enjoy it.
I don't own any of these characters.
Chapter 4 "Cries in Night"
In the middle of the night Beast Boy woke up to the sound of crying. 'Must be Starfire. Should I get up? It's not like I can do anything about it. I can't cheer her up; I can't make a joke, or make her laugh...what's the point?' He rolled over to go back to sleep, but he couldn't go back to sleep. The crying continued. He was surprised someone else hadn't heard it yet. Starfire's room was pretty far away from his, and Robin's room was right next to hers, 'why hasn't Robin gotten up yet?' If she's loud enough for me to hear, I think someone should go see if she's okay.' After a few moments he thought 'Fine, I'll go, even if she doesn't respect me...' Beast Boy jumped out of the top bunk of his bunk bed. In midair, he transformed into a cat, so he could see his way to Starfire's room in the dark. As his feet hit the soft carpet, they made a delicate 'thump', and he began on his way. He gingerly poked his head out of his room, and looked around. The crying had become softer now, but he was still confused at why no one else had gotten up. To get to Starfire's room, he had to pass Raven and Robin's rooms, and he didn't want to wake them up. 'If I wake up Raven, I'm sure to end up getting in a fight with her, and I'm not in the mood to fight with someone at 3:00 in the morning.' He had to pass Raven's room first, but the closer he got to her room, the more he realized that the crying was coming from her room. 'Maybe Raven got up, and talked to Starfire, and now Starfire is in Raven's room.' Beast Boy considered the possibility for a moment, and then decided that he should still check on Starfire. 'She's still my friend, even if she doesn't think I can control myself...' Slowly Beast Boy (in cat form) pawed open the door. He crept inside, it was pitch black, but in his cat form he could see perfectly. He could see perfectly that Raven was by herself, and the crying was coming from her. Quickly changing back into his true form, "Raven, are you okay? I...heard you crying, and...I...is there anything I can do?" Beast Boy asked awkwardly.
"Beast Boy?" Raven said in the dark, "Where are you?"
"I'm right here," he answered as he sat next to her on the bed, "Are you okay" Raven said nothing as she suddenly started hugging him as if she'd never see him again. She was now sniffing, and crying into his nightshirt, and he was unsure of what to do. Raven had never been this close to him, and it wasn't something he was prepared for. 'What do I do?! Am I supposed to hug her, or talk or what?' he thought frantically. After a moment he decided to go with the first option and just put his arm around her. Unexpectedly, Raven spoke. "I keep having this dream..."
"You...you want to talk about it?" Beast Boy asked, slightly afraid of what her dream might be about.
"I keep dreaming that...that I didn't save you...you died, and it was my fault...I was supposed to catch you. The battle the other day...I" Raven said, but before she could finish, her tears started coming harder, and she couldn't talk.
"I know. Its okay...I'm here. I'll always be here-" Beast Boy said in a voice that was strangely more comforting than he realized.
"You can't always be here! You're not even here now," Raven said as she tried to push him away from her, but he was holding on too tight.
"What do you mean? I'm here now."
"No, you're not. Not the real you. This is the "serious Beast Boy". This is the Beast Boy that's trying to win the bet-"
"No! It's not. This is the real me. You were right. I was being reckless the other day. There are times to joke, and there are times to be serious. I know the difference...most of the time. It's just, the other day; I didn't think that...that he'd be that hard to beat. We've beaten him before. The other day, I was showing off trying to get your attention...I'm sorry. I know I joke too much, but if things are quiet and serious, like they've been lately, I get nervous...it scares me." Beast Boy said as he held her a little closer. Raven was rather surprised at how nice it felt to have someone hold her. Gradually, she began to realize that her emotions didn't seem so hard to control. It was almost as if he was helping her control them, it was like he was holding her emotions in.
"Why does it scare you?"
"It's the times when things are really serious, I realize that I could get hurt, those are the times, I know that one wrong move, and one of my friends could die. I'm afraid of things being serious for the same reason you're afraid of your dream. I don't want someone I care about to get hurt."
"You win." Raven whispered.
Beast Boy let out a hushed laugh, "What do you me, 'you win'?"
"I mean you win the bet, I give in. I shouldn't have made the bet with you in the first place...I knew you'd win anyway, but I just wanted you to prove it to me that you could be serious. I shouldn't have asked you to prove it..."
"You actually thought I'd win?" Beast Boy said looking into her eyes.
"Of course. You can be pretty stubborn sometimes, I knew if you put your mind to it, you could win." Raven replied.
"You're the only one that thought I could do it," Beast Boy said, as he looked away.
"What do you mean? 'I was the only one'?"
"I overheard the others talking and, I heard them say that I wouldn't last 2 days...it really sort of hurt, knowing that they didn't think I could do it..." he told her. After a moment, neither of them said anything. Beast Boy looked at Raven once again. He looked straight into her eyes, and once again saw the timid, vulnerable side of her, a side of her that needed comforting. He wanted so much to comfort her, but he was afraid. He was afraid that if he eased her pain, he would get to close to her. Beast Boy couldn't bear to get too close to her 'How close can you get to a girl who isn't allowed to feel? If I allow myself to feel for her, I'll only be hurting myself.'
"I should go." Beast Boy said, unable to put his thoughts out his head.
"Yeah, I guess you should," she replied. They held each other for an instant and neither one of them moved. Raven whispered, "Maybe you should hold me for a little longer..."
"All right, just a little longer," Beast Boy, said as he held her closer. He listened as her breathing became slow, and regular. The next morning, as the sun flashed across his face, he was surprised to see that Raven wasn't upset to find that she was still in his arms.