It's a Friday afternoon; I have recently enjoyed the discovery of the BBRae pairing and have become obsessed.
In this moment I'm listening to the Best of the Simple Minds and I'm in a total writing mood. This little plot bunny came to be last night (I was attacked yet again by the evil insomnia rabbit) and it's been bouncing in the back of my mind, screaming for attention.
I hope you enjoy this little one-shot.
Disclaimer applies.
NOTE (April 29th) : I worked a little more on the ending. It's better now, I hope.
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Bailar con Ti
By Ryuu no Taiyo
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The Teen Titans' tower, as usual, was bustling with activity and it was not helping that it was a Friday night, and the teens' were getting ready for the weekend. Even though, they didn't go to school, the superheroes were home-schooled by either Robin, Cyborg or even occasionally Raven, when she even bothered. The Titans, who were used to the most nerve-racking fights and battles to protect their beloved Jump City, were in a sense like any other teen, they HATED school. Take note that 'hate' was spelled capitalized. So teaching them math or grammar was torture. Especially since StarFire, who had just begun mastering the spoken English language, now had to master writing and reading.
But on the weekends, they were free of their home-schooling, not to mention Robin's training. He drove the team like an army sergeant, and only went soft when StarFire grew tired.
The Titans had decided to go and do their usual thing on Friday nights: grab a pizza, maybe hang out at the 'mall of shopping', then try to catch a movie.
There was a new movie coming out. A movie that BeastBoy had been freaking out about for the past…what was it? Decade? Six weeks actually. And Raven was up to her forehead with his ravings about how great this sci-fi epic was going to be.
Raven, who couldn't care less, had ended up shutting herself in her room just to stop from decapitating the green changeling and BeastBoy never stopped. And he didn't keep his enthusiasm hidden from the others either. Even StarFire grew tired of him. So now the Titans were going to catch an early dinner then make their way to the cinema.
The were about halfway through pizza when a bank robbery was signalled not to far from them, so the team decided to investigate it. Then the police asked them for help to catch another gang of misfits. After that was taken care of, an even bigger problem arised. A new villain was seen on the other side, and his name was The Cloak. As Cyborg and BeastBoy remarked, that name was unmistakably lame.
He ended up being more of an annoyance than a real thread. He was just some kid who had control over the winds and he wore a long cape. He used the wind to knock the Titans back away from him, which prevented the team from getting anywhere near him and would use the time to get away with the amount of goods he had stolen.
Raven had finally gotten annoyed, and had used her powers to try to control the winds herself.
And that had used a hell of a lot of energy from her.
So much that she could barely stand up when the fight was over.
Winds are not to be harnessed or stopped, and Raven had tried. She had ended up encircling them all in black energy and the others had a tough time moving. But it only lasted for seconds, and during that time the superhuman Titans (except Raven) had launched themselves on the Cloak before her control over the wind weakened.
The Cloak was taken away, and StarFire ended up carrying Raven home to the Tower and their Friday night had officially been ruined. BeastBoy whined and gave the Cloak an extra kick on the head for ruining their night, and his mood was considerably dampened.
He was worried for Raven too, she could barely keep her eyes open so when StarFire flew off with the Goth empathy in her arms BeastBoy had followed in the shape of an eagle. Robin and Cyborg took the T-Car and drove behind them on the ground.
So much for a fun Friday afternoon.
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BeastBoy tossed around on his bed, annoyed by his incapability to fall asleep. He was wearing nothing but his boxers, and he was half tangled up in his sheets, half practically falling of the bed. His room was a real mess, so he did his best to not end up on the floor.
He turned around again and glanced at his alarm clock. The bright red digits read 2:37. He groaned.
Getting up he stretched his back a little before jumping off his rather bouncy bed and headed towards the door.
He didn't bother putting a shirt on because, as his alarm clock so nicely had pointed out, it was two o'clock in the morning and after today, he doubted anyone else would be awake.
He treaded silently on the cold floors, making his way towards the kitchen. He opened the fridge and was about to grab some soya milk when an unfamiliar sound reached his pointy green ears. It sounded like it was coming from the recreational room. He put the milk away and soundlessly transformed into a green kitten. He crept over towards the recreational room and hid in a shadow as he listened to the music. It was loud compared to the silence of the tower.
He peered over with his cat eyes able to see in the pure darkness, the large windows only letting a few stars' rays shine through, but they were not enough to light the room.
The music had a techno background, the kind that made you want to dance until you dropped, and they're was soft voice singing up front, but BeastBoy didn't pay any attention to the words. His attention was snapped by a figure in the middle of the room. A silent, dancing figure.
His green cat eyes grew extremely wide.
It was Raven.
She was dancing by herself, moving along with the music.
Raven? What the hell? His mind yelled, but he stopped himself, suddenly remembering that Raven could feel emotion…He wondered if she could feel the emotion of an animal.
His mind shook itself, and he went back to looking at Raven. She was dressed in her normal clothing, except the cloak was lying on the couch.
She faced him for a moment, oblivious of his presence as her eyes were closed, and his hearts skipped a beat.
The small, very small part of his mind who actually had some self-preservation instincts reminded him that if he was caught, he was BeastBoy paté. As in: big-gloopy-green-glob-of-BeastBoy-that-people-spread-on-their-crackers.
His ears vaguely registered the change of the song, and the soft beat slowed down considerably and Raven stopped moving. She sighed, and took out the CD from the player. She grabbed her cloak and walked past BeastBoy, leaving the room. BeastBoy shifted back to his human form and stared after her, left in the darkness.
He was in shock. He was in awe.
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The green changeling didn't even remember having gone back to his room the next morning. It was a brilliant Saturday, the sky was a clear blue and the shores and water around the Tower were calm and inviting. His room was still a mess and BeastBoy still felt no urge to clean it up. But there was something just amazing about today in the air. And BeastBoy had absolutely no idea what it was.
He got up and put on his usual clothes. He checked his clock right before leaving the room, and it said 9:38.
He jumped out, his stomach grumbling, demanding nourishment.
Walking into the rec room, he saw StarFire and Robin making pancakes and Cyborg preparing some toast. He sat down at the table.
"Hello, BeastBoy." StarFire said cheerily, "Is it not a glorious morning?"
"Yup." He answered. "Are you making my tofu pancakes, Rob?"
"Yeah. I made a couple. They're over there." He motioned an untouched plate on the counter.
BeastBoy grabbed them and sat back down and talked to Cyborg about maybe going to the movie hey had missed last night today and even argued a little about tofu. Halfway through his first pancake, Raven walked in.
And BeastBoy's appetite disappeared so suddenly as his stomach tied itself in a knot that he almost choked.
"I told'ya that stuff kills." Cyborg said, motioning his tofu pancakes.
BeastBoy looked evenly at Cyborg, but refrained from comment as he coughed.
"I'm not hungry anymore." He said sheepishly.
Cyborg shrugged the comment off and challenged the green changeling to a game on FAST DASH IV. BeastBoy nodded absent-mindedly, his mind focusing on Raven as she warmed the water up for her morning tea.
The two boys started playing their loud videogame as Robin and StarFire disappeared somewhere in the Tower and Raven drank her tea. She decided to read the book she had brought with her and settle down above the other end of the couch, hvering in the air. She was just in BeastBoy's view, and he kept on sneaking sideways glances at her.
When Cyborg won for the thirteenth time in a row, he finally exclaimed.
"Com'on, BB. You ain't that bad! You're not even puttin' up a fight!"
BeastBoy looked at his score. They were already at the fourteenth round?
Grumbling, annoyed, he said something unheard before focusing on the game.
¤¤¤They had caught the movie, to BeastBoyt's happiness, and he had almost forgotten about what happened the night before, until he found himself laying in bed again, wondering if Raven would be dancing again.
He suddenly had an urge to go and check it out.
If I'm caught, she'll kill me.
No you won't. Because you won't get caught.
And if I am?
Pull THE FACE on her, beg for forgiveness and become a hermit to live on the Kilimanjaro in Africa.
BeastBoy frowned.
Aw com'on. What are you, chicken? You know you wanna!
Aren't you my conscience? Shouldn't you be the little voice of reason?
There was no response as he realized he had been taking to himself. He shook his head, and jumped off the bed, landing on the floor in the form of a green cat. Cats could see in the dark. Cats didn't make a noise when they walked. Green cats could make the FACE if Raven caught him.
Gathering up his courage, he opened the door.
She probably won't be there anyways…
But he was wrong.
The music, although not loud and not the same as yesterday, was in the same genre and flowed through the half-open door of the recreation room. He crawled inside slowly, making absolutely no noise.
She was dancing by herself, and this time, hidden in the darkness, BeastBoy wasn't under shock and was able to just concentrate on her slender form, normally hidden by her long dark blue cloak.
She was very pretty, he noticed.
She danced a sort of modern ballet, very graceful and fluid, moving in perfect time with the music.
The beat slowed down for a few seconds, then started speeding up. She danced in tune.
Her eyes were closed, and yet she didn't crash into anything.
He studied her face every time it came into view. It was slightly passive and neutral, but there was a feeling of content that hung around her expression, the same look that came to her face when she meditated.
Maybe this is like meditation for her…
She suddenly stopped, and he realized the music was still playing. She fell to the floor and stared out the window.
She might have whispered something, but whatever it was, BeastBoy, even in his cat form and its superior-than-human-hearing did not catch the words. She didn't move for what seemed like ages and was breathing evenly. She got up again and changed the song on the player, lowering the volume slightly.
Raven closed her eyes for a moment, letting the new song's music reach her mind and invade her, before she started moving along with it, as if her body was animated by the music itself.
BeastBoy followed her with his eyes, his adorable kitty form concealed in the shadows.
She's not a bad dancer…She's kinda…good… His mind was slightly hesitant. This music is interesting. It was the complete opposite of what he listened to. His music was loud and even obnoxious sometimes. But he liked it. But he could see why Raven enjoyed this. It was a mixture of techno and soft rock…
He wasn't big on music (that was Robin's department), but he did know a thing or two.
He looked up as she suddenly made a full circle and almost knocked into the couch. Sighing, she used her powers to pop the CD out of the player and bring it to her. She grabbed her cloak and left the room.
BeastBoy caught his breath.
He hadn't been caught.
Thank God. Or whatever was up there.
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The next night, and the next, BeastBoy would slip into the rec. room and look at Raven as she danced to her music.
He would always assume the kitten form.
The same kitten form that made 'The FACE'.
His mind always reminded him how he would be green spreading on crackers if Raven found out.
Yet he continued, ignoring the part of his mind that called him a 'weirdo stalker thingamajig'.
He grew more and more tired. He would wake up later and later and he had a hard time focusing on his fighting, wither in real life or against Cyborg on the GameStation. Thankfully, there weren't too many important battles. But StarFire and Robin, and eventually Cyborg, all noticed a slight change in the changeling. To them, he had trouble sleeping. To him, he had a problem, yes, the problem that he was mesmerized by Raven, as creepy as that sounded, even to him. A week later, she had not performed her normal midnight dances for a couple of days and BeastBoy realized that even though he had slept longer, he had missed it.
Damn it… His mind said. It's your entire fault. You made me. He tried to accuse someone else, someone non-existent, but failed miserably.
I'm going insane…
The next night, he entered the rec. room silently in his cat form, there was no music but decided to wait.
"I was wondering if you were going to come."
BeastBoy jumped, even in his kitten form.
His mind swore profusely.
"How long have you been spying on me?"
He hated the way it sounded. He didn't look at it that way. He wasn't spying on her. But he refrained from voicing his opinion as usual. He did have some self-preservation instincts, and he decided to follow them by answering Raven's question directly and by not putting his foot in his mouth. He turned back into a human and stood awkwardly in front of her.
"A…a…week?"
The girl stared at him through the hood of her cloak. It was pulled down, and her face was completely shadowed.
"Why?"
He blinked, not understanding her question.
"Why?" she repeated impatiently.
"Because…Because…" Open mouth. "I like y-to?" Insert foot.
Raven stared at him. It was a long hard stare.
"This isn't part of a prank, is it? Is anyone else your accomplice?"
"No…I didn't tell anyone…" he was starting to blush. "Why would this be a prank?"
"Because you enjoy tormenting me?"
True, seeing her reaction to some of his stunts was often highly entertaining, but most of the time he actually wanted to survive his jokes.
He didn't answer…
"Why?"
BeastBoy looked at her and realized her hood was pulled down.
"Why what?" he asked, slightly confused.
"Why did you look at me? Why didn't you laugh? Why aren't you laughing? Why-"
"Yo…Chill Rae. I won't laugh at you." BeastBoy said hurriedly. "Not for something like this." He added, realizing he had unintentionally put his food in his mouth again.
Raven looked down.
"I still don't understand…" she asked, and her voice lost its hard tone, and instead came out a little lost.
BeastBoy went up closer to her and spoke in a low voice, a near whisper, afraid to break the fragile silence that hung in the darkness.
"I like…watching you. I really do. You dance well…" he said suddenly, feeling awkward, but wanting to offer some comfort.
Raven hid the blush that was rising to her cheeks well.
"It's something I was taught to do on Azarath…" she said, revealing her past to him for the first time. "It's a bit like meditation. But it works better…alone…I…Yeah…" she finished rather lamely, and he noticed something shake dangerously in the darkness.
Raven's head snapped up.
Are you losing control?...
Raven sighed.
"I hate thinking of Azarath." She said finally.
BeastBoy nodded, understanding. He absolutely despised talking about his past.
"It's ok. I won't say anything to the others if you want."
Raven looked up to his face and her gaze was much softer than the normal look she wore. BeastBoy noticed how close they were, and oddly felt conscious of a cold breeze behind his neck. Gulping silently, they stood in silence for a moment.
Spontaneously, he suddenly leaned his head forward and let his lips brush against hers.
Raven's eyes snapped wide-open.
Something crashed around them, but BeastBoy ignored it and grabbed her wrist when Raven tried to turn around and locate what had just broken.
"BeastBoy…" she said, slightly desperate, "I can't do this…You know that-"
"I don't care about that right now." BeastBoy said firmly, pulling her in a tight hug. He was still alive, and it didn't look like Raven was about to kill him for what he had just done.
Raven was still taken aback by his actions to think clearly about anything.
Finally, she recollected herself and somewhat hesitantly separated herself from BeastBoy's warm arms.
"Wanna dance?" BeastBoy asked with that goofy grin of his, before she could say anything.
"Uh…I…"
"Ok. I want to dance with you too." There he was being cocky again. He walked over to the CD player and put on one of her CD's that was lying on top of the player.
He took her hand and blushed.
"I probably really can't dance as well as you can, so you won't turn me into cracker spreading if I do something wrong, right?"
Raven looked at him as the music started playing. BeastBoy, in the back of his mind, noted that it was the same one he had heard the first time he had seen her dance.
She smiled slightly.
"Nah. I'll just turn you into one of the ingredients in StarFire's puddings."
BeastBoy gulped and laughed nervously.
He took her hand and they didn't know what to do for a moment, BeastBoy stared at their joined hands for a small while.
He suddenly started turning around, dragging Raven along as softly as he could. They danced together for a small while, enjoying the goofy little moment, because BeastBoy had obviously no idea what he was doing and Raven ended up having to guide him most of the way.
He suddenly let go of her hand and she continued dancing alone, her eyes open and staring at him every time her face looked his way, a small smile making its way unto her face.
The waxing moon was visible through the tall windows of the rec. room, and at a sudden moment the moonlight hit her face and her hair, and something just happened. BeastBoy made his way towards her and just kissed her as she finished twirling in a circle. Raven, taken slightly aback, wrapped her arms around his neck. There faces separated after a moment.
"Hey. See? Nothing went 'boom'!" BeastBoy said happily.
"For once BeastBoy." She said, in a mocking voice that feigned terror, "You're absolutely right."
BeastBoy smiled, realizing she was just playing with him.
This time, she placed a feathery kiss on his lips. She then smiled softly, then turned off the CD player with her powers and pulled her cloak over her.
She walked noiselessly towards the metal door of the recreational room. BeastBoy stared after her, a slightly giddy smile playing on his lips.
He suddenly realized something.
"Wanna dance again tomorrow?" he exclaimed softly.
She turned back and smiled brilliantly.
"Sure."
"OK. 'Night."
"Sleep well, BB." She said kindly, before disappearing into the hallway.
BeastBoy nearly jumped to touch the ceiling, so much he was feeling happy and light. He felt like a balloon had swelled inside him and that any second now he would start floating. He ran silently to his room and threw himself on his bed.
"Yes." He smiled victoriously.
He couldn't believe how happy he was feeling.
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He fell asleep rather quickly, and woke up the next morning as happy as he was before he fell into dreamland. Feeling a burst of energy at the thought of getting up and meeting the new day (and the prospect of seeing Raven as he would enter into the kitchen), he got up, stretched and scratched the back of his head.
He went to his dresser, not even bothering to look where he was stepping, as the ground of his room was completely covered in random clothes and other various useless things. He pulled out one of the last clean set of clothes he had. He put his clothes on, headed outside his room and almost ran towards the kitchen.
He sat down at his usual place at the kitchen table, right in front of Robin who was talking to Cyborg about something. BeastBoy didn't pay any attention to the conversation: his stomach was calling to him.
"Here friend BeastBoy! I have managed to prepare the pancakes of tofu as to fit your liking!" StarFire cried excitedly, placing the plate in front of the green changeling, who knew StarFire's cooking a little too well to be able to rejoice that breakfast was already ready.
He sniffed a pancake peace, then grinned as he realised it smelled normal. He shoved a bite in his mouth, chewed, then ate another. His grin grew wider. StarFire, who was serving Robin and Cyborg some cereal (Cyborg's customary bacon and eggs were under way, sizzling on the frying pan), wondered why BeastBoy's grin was so wide and why was he staring in the air as if he was under the influence of Corbakz Poison?
Robin and Cyborg had noticed after a few seconds, noticing that BeastBoy had said nothing since his arrival in the kitchen and Cyborg noted his smile was…unnerving…It was the type of smile that etched itself on his face after he did something that Cyborg wasn't sure he would like…
"BeastBoy." Asked StarFire after a couple of minutes.
"Yeah?" BeastBoy realized Robin, StarFire and Cyborg were staring at him curiously.
"Why are you smiling like a maniac?" Robin asked.
BeastBoy's grin grew even larger (if that was possible) and he felt like a little kid who had a secret he couldn't tell to anyone.
Raven entered the room at that exact instant and looked at the rest of the team questioningly.
"What's going on?"
"BB is smilin' like an insane person and we wanna know why." Cyborg said, his eyes darting from Raven then back to BeastBoy.
A blush crept up Raven's neck into face and although it didn't last long, the three others didn't miss it.
"What did you to do?" Cyborg asked, his human eye filled with suspicion.
Raven walked past them, bent on ignoring them.
"Oh com'on." Cyborg said, protesting. "Are you going to keep us in the dark for ever?"
"Sounds about right." Raven said in the same monotone voice.
BeastBoy got up.
"Cy, how about a little one-on-one on that new racing game we bought?" he proposed.
StarFire and Robin looked at each other, StarFire smiled knowingly and Robin chuckled.
"BB, com'on man! Tell me what's goin' on! What? Star? ROBIN! You too? Guys! Com'on! Guys?"
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Poor Cyborg. I still think he'll end up with Jinx. LOL. Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed this one shot from hell!
I wrote it all in one sitting and it is now midnight. I'm going to bed now.
Nighty night!
Cookies for all!
Ryuu no Taiyo
