Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans. I'm tired of saying I don't own them. I mean, sure, why not rub it in?
Review Replies: Macabeak; Good work, yeah, I'll do that...has NOTHING to do with the school on fire! Shifts eyes SxStrngSamurai13; that makes one of us... Wordbearer; they weren't forving him into admitting his feelings- he already did that! Just forcing him to ask her out...I'm so lame. Anyway, pressure's on, I guess...Lain the Fluff-Master; Yes, they will, and yes, she has (sort of), and you are so sweet...I'm glad you liked the poems one. Nevermore-raven; thank you!! TigerCat; Don't kill Cyborg, he's necessary to the fic! Well, actually, after this, no, so go ahead. Um, I AM joking. Change-of-Heart2, I wouldn't either...ha, my mom gardens too, but her love of flowers is apparently non-genetic. RavenForever, you...rock. Because you made me feel better. SilentVectorX- dude, cool quotes. That said, thanks for the advice. I too, was slow that day, and I'll go back and edit it to make it clearer. DarkBird2; blows nose Thanks! I feel better. Jimaine; I'm sorry about the length- I love long chapters too! It just seems that I'm like, physically incapable of writing long chapters. It annoys me. Also, I LOVE when people tell me exactly what they liked about the chapter, therefore I love you. Soul Stealer Immortal; thanks, I got the idea from that one where Star goes into the future. I was wondering where she got the cloak, lol! Werewolf of Fire, thanks. Katinstyle2, I've never had a boy talk either! Huh. As for the 'can the Ravens come out too?', you just gave me an idea for a sequel. Whoa. And one possibly with an actual plot! Tell me what you think of that. Also, cookie for you for catching the candlestick reference from chapter 9, yes, Robin is sort of mean, sorry winces, and I remember those scenes from the Amanda show. Hee, thanks. The Mad Shoe, my feelings exactly! Apatha; wow, brutally honest isn't too bad! Fanfic Gurl, thanks!(!!!) Weeble Wobble Chic, sorry I took so long! Red52, I'm gonna go look up coercion now...Kimuu, thanks. Wow, this is long. That's what I get for taking so long to update, I guess...
Author's Note: AAUGH. SO LATE! I'm SO SORRY!!! Explanations at end of chapter. This chapter is pretty short, I think...not quite sure, since I'm doing it in a different font. Anyhoodles, this is the moment you've all been waiting for...but it is not the end. There are still one or two to go! So don't stop reading!
Timeline: Occurs about twenty minutes after the previous two chapters.
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Chapter Ten: Twisted Logic
Raven sat on the roof of Titan's Tower, waiting for the sunset. Her legs dangled lazily off the edge. She had no fear of falling, for she had absolute faith in her powers of levitation.
"Whoa, nice clothes, Rae." She turned at the quiet voice behind her.
"Hey Beast Boy." Raven momentarily forgot what she was going to have to do as he sat down easily beside her. "It's from Starfire, she thought it would be fitting for my new circumstances."
He grinned at her. "Right, the mind thing. Which," he said gloatingly, buffing his nails against his chest, "I helped you with!"
Raven rolled her eyes. "You're so obnoxious."
"It's a gift."
"From who? Because if it's from a man with a pointed tail, goat feet, and horns, I've got some news for you..."
He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Come to think of it..." She just shook her head at him. He leaned his upper body way over, so that his forearms were resting on his knees and he could look directly down over the edge of the roof.
"Careful," she told him automatically.
He just grinned at her and looked back down, wiggling his feet. "Ever think what it'd be like if you jumped? Maybe like skydiving, except with a big splat at the end."
"Have you ever gone skydiving?"
"Yeah, once with my parents. I think...I'm pretty sure I did. I was like, five or six though."
"Is that even legal?"
"Judging from all the obscure countries in Africa we went to, it'd probably be legal in one of them. Really though, what do you think it'd be like?"
She frowned at him. "I thought I was the allegedly depressed one. You're the comic relief, remember?"
He turned his head again. "The handsome comic relief guy!" He pointedly ignored her smirk and stared at the ground below again.
"Why are you asking?"
"Because. What I'm about to do. Is scary. So this seems like an okay alternative..." At her slightly panicked look, he snickered. "I'm joking!"
"So what were you about to do?"
She wasn't sure, but it seemed like he paled a bit. "Asking. Asking you..."
Before she ask what he was going to ask her, he jumped.
She actually shrieked, before gasping loudly in relief as he morphed into a hawk before he'd even fallen two stories. Her heart was beating and her stomach had plummeted as if it had been her who'd made the jump. He swooped through the air, into a circle and upside-down back to the roof of the tower. Just before he hit it, he turned into an armadillo, curling up into a ball and rolling forward a foot or two before smoothly changing into himself again, standing effortlessly with arms thrown up.
"TA-DA!"
She laughed out loud and he grinned, quite obviously pleased with himself. It really was nice talking and being with Beast Boy, and that was one of the main reasons she liked him. He almost always made her laugh or smile- at least on the inside. And now on the outside, thanks to his journey in her mirror, as he had been so quick to point out. Really, he seemed to take her mind off things like...
And of course, that brought what she had to do rushing back to her.
"Hey, are you okay? You look kind of nauseous." He had eased himself back down next to her, and now rested his hand on her shoulder, brow furrowed in concern. "I didn't make you that nervous, did I?"
"I'm fine. I just- I realized I haven't had any dinner yet."
He nudged her and nodded toward the door. "Some tofu would fix that."
Her nose wrinkled. "Please, no."
He whined. "Aw, come on, Raven! What's so bad about it?"
"It has no taste."
"You could put ketchup on it."
"It's...too healthy."
"You drink herbal tea like, every day."
"I have too many healthy things, then."
"Not gonna cut it, Rae..."
"Fine. I'm biased against it because you always tell us to eat it. But that doesn't change the result. I'm not having any."
He smirked. "You admitted the reason though! I knew I'd wear you down. It's only a matter of time before you're stuffing yourself with tofu like there's no tomorrow."
She bit her lip, amused. "I suggest a therapist. Maybe he'll be able to disillusion you."
"I'll pretend I didn't hear that." They were silent for a second or two, before Beast Boy finally blurted, "Did you want to talk to me?"
Gah. He had to remind her. She felt vaguely nauseous again. She glanced at him, then quickly back, wondering what Starfire would do if she didn't tell him...She nearly winced as she remembered how much those starbolts hurt.
"Yes."
"Is it really important? Because, I uh, have something to ask you. And I'd rather get it out really, really fast. So can I go first? Please? Then you can go...if you don't kill me by the time I'm done." He grinned awkwardly, and she noticed he was blushing. What brought that on? She nearly smiled at the obvious dread he felt from whatever he was going to ask her.
Raven thought for a moment, thinking she probably ought to go as soon as possible, before she lost any nerve she had left.
"Well...ask away."
'As soon as possible' was overrated anyway. She'd much rather stall.
And there went years of training for self-discipline.
Beast Boy gulped, and said in a rush, "Do you like me?"
Her jaw actually dropped. She hadn't thought people did that outside of books and movies. She took a moment to digest this question before saying, "I take it you don't mean in a platonic way?"
He blinked at her owlishly. "Uh, this has nothing to do with tonic..."
If she hadn't been feeling so flustered, she would have laughed at him. "Platonic. As in, non-romantic."
He smiled sheepishly. "Ah, right. Well, yeah." After a pause, he asked, "So, do you like me?" He seemed a trifle less apprehensive, probably because he felt he had already asked the question- all he had to wait for now was the consequences.
Her mind went blank. What was one supposed to do when somebody asked a question like that so bluntly?
Oh. He was expecting an answer sometime today, wasn't he?
"I...do you like me?"
"I asked first," was his immediate answer.
"I..." Should she deny it? Or just admit it? After all, that was why she was there, she might as well.
"I'd rather not answer that question." Coward.
He turned away. "Oh. Okay. Well, I won't answer your question either, then." She snuck a peak at him. He seemed embarrassed. Then unexpectedly, his face changed. A small, mischievous smile spread across his face as he turned to her. "So, you do like me."
Raven blinked at him. "What??"
"If you didn't, you would have said so! So that means you like me."
Her mouth opened, and then closed again. "Well- just- that logic is so twisted."
Beast Boy grinned at her. "I don't see you denying it."
She stared at him for a few seconds. Finally, "Well, then according to that twisted logic of yours, you like me. So...there." Raven couldn't help but smile at how stupid this was sounding. He actually smiled back, which eased the awkwardness just a little.
Only a little, though.
"Well. Okay then."
"All right."
"Fine."
"Fine."
"So we both like each other then."
That gave her pause. What exactly was going on here? Did he actually just say that? Well, it wasn't like she could deny it now, she'd all but said she liked him. And if he was going to say he liked her back...well, she wasn't going to argue. "Fine."
There was silence as they watched the sun sink below the city skyline. The gold, pinks, and purples faded as darkness took over and stars appeared, and Raven contemplated the odd conversation they had just shared.
Abruptly, he said, "So if we both like each other, we might as well go on a date, huh?"
Raven's jaw dropped for the second time in minutes. She glance at Beast Boy, only to see he was staring pointedly at the spot where the sun had gone down, not looking at her. She thought she saw the corners of his mouth tug up though.
Tilting her head, she thought for a moment. A date sounded nice. She was a superhero after all, so she could surely handle this. Especially now that she was 'pure'. No pesky demon father to worry about... Yes, a date sounded nice.
"All right then."
Now his mouth was definitely forming a smile, and she felt her mouth curve too as they looked at each other.
"Cool."
"Right."
"Dinner and a movie?"
She felt herself blushing as he waited for her approval. Dinner and a movie...she'd never done that. Dinner, yes. Movie, yes. Not both, and definitely not with Beast Boy. Sounded nice. She said so. "Sounds nice." The fading blush came back full force as he beamed at her, and she looked away and pulled her hood up. For some reason, it didn't feel like it hid her as well as the dark blue one did.
"Tomorrow?"
She nodded. "Tomorrow. Does around six sound good?"
He grinned. "Any time sounds good with me."
Would the blushing never stop? "Ahm...six it is then. She moved to get up, but he swiftly rose and offered his hand.
And the blushing lived on. She took the proffered hand and stood, quickly pulling the hood further over her head. He shook his head. "Nope." He pulled her hood down.
She pulled it up again.
He pulled it down.
She pulled it up.
He pulled it down.
Cyborg opened the door.
"Hey, BB, mission accomplished?" Seeing Raven's raised eyebrows, he blanched. "I mean...you guys want dinner? It's kinda getting cold." He quickly withdrew, and Raven turned to Beast Boy.
"'Mission accomplished'? Was this just some kind of dare?"
His mouth dropped open. "NO! Just...I was sort of too scared to ask you out, but then they told me too. Rob and Cy are...convincing." He glared at the door as if they were there, and then smiled at her. The contrast in the two looks was enough to make her smile. He looked hopeful. "You aren't mad, right?"
She sighed. "No." It was a plausible explanation, seeing how reluctant she'd been to voice her feelings.
He offered an arm. "Shall we go then, milady?" She tilted her head as if considering the arm, then raised her hands to her hood again. She felt a hand on her arm. The hand moved it down to the proffered arm, and she let him hook her arm around his.
They walked downstairs, and she left her hood down.
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Final Author's Note: Hey, you know when she was thinking about dinner and a movie? There was foreshadowing there. Can you figure it out?
Due to a near fatal mix of procrastination, inconvenient stuff to do, having an actual social life for the first time, reading a really, really good book, reading several badly-written Draco/Ginny Ron/Hermione fanfics (my favorite fanon HP pairings ) whose writing rubbed off on me so that anything I wrote sucked, an extreme lack of inspiration and this blasted emotional roller coaster I've been riding all week, rendering me unfit to write (I cried four times on Sunday alone), this chapter is very, very overdue.
Don't kill me.
It's not (by any stretch of the imagination) my best work, but I like it A LOT better than my last chapter, which stunk more than those pesky skunks outside. PLEASE review and tell me what you think, and ways to improve it are ALWAYS welcome, as usual, and vastly appreciated. Seriously, I actually use your ideas, I swear! Speaking of, does anyone know of a super scary movie for the date? Better yet, can anyone tell me the name of the movie that they watched in the Fear Itself episode? I think it was the sequel to something, so maybe they can watch the triquel. Anyone who can think of the name of it gets a cookie and the chapter where Raven and Beast Boy watch the movie dedicated to him/her. Thanks.