Disclaimer: Same as last time.
"Try it."
"I'm not gonna try it!"
"Why not? Raven drinks it, it can't be that bad."
"How do you know?"
Cyborg shrugged, massive shoulders bobbing up and down. "Don't."
Beast Boy contemplated for a moment, taking a gloved hand and raising it to his chin, eyes half-open in thought. "Good enough." Trembling, he reached for the tea bag. And stared.
"So... Anyone know how to make tea?"
Cyborg peered into the empty cup. Then the tea bag. Then back to the cup.
"You just pour the water in, right?" Cyborg asked, looking at him questioningly. Beast Boy squinted, turning his head to the side.
"But Raven's water is always like... Brown," Beast Boy said slowly, tracing the rim of the cup. Then he brightened, sitting up a bit. "Hey! I know! Syrup is brown right? Maple syrup? So we'll put some of that in."
Cyborg's eyes got round and boyish, feet moving towards the cupboards. "Oh yeeeah. She likes milk too, huh?" Beast Boy nodded excitedly, ripping the refrigerator door open.
"And that white sugary stuff in those little pink packets! Whassitcalled?"
"Pudding mix!"
"Yeah!"
Cyborg spilled the ingredients onto the table, filling the cup with tap water. Beast Boy mixed in the maple syrup and pudding. Cyborg poured milk in slowly, as the cup was overfilling and giving off a sickly sweet stench. They stared down proudly at their creation.
"How about we give it to Raven?" Cyborg suggested. "She's the one who loves tea, after all." Beast Boy's stomach plummeted to his feet. Giving her tea would mean seeing her. And that couldn't happen. It had been his duty as a lovesick Titan to completely destroy all feelings for her. It couldn't happen–wouldn't happen. So he hadn't talked to her, looked at her, or tried to think of her. It was so hard–every moment it felt as if she had wormed her way into his puny mind, plastered her gorgeous picture up, so no matter where he went, she was there. And he kept smelling lilies. Those damn lilies! No matter what he ate, what he smelled, lilies had managed to overpower it, like she had been there all along.
And, in a way, Raven had been.
"How 'bout you give it to Raven," Beast Boy said uncomfortably, laughing nervously. Cyborg raised his one eyebrow.
"Why me?"
Beast Boy began to sweat. Cyborg continued to bore into his head with his intimidating stare. The cup of 'tea' began to bubble slightly.
"Uh... I-I'm in uh... In uh... A fight with her. Totally nasty. She like, hates me now," Beast Boy said hurriedly, crossing his arms and attempting to look cool. Cyborg looked at him with a knowing smile.
"Did it again, eh?"
Beast Boy let out a relieved sigh.
"Yeah. I sure did."
.oOo.
Cyborg came in minutes later, cracked cup in hand, head covered in sticky goo. He shrugged unhappily, flicking a piece of the mess onto Beast Boy.
"Apparently, she doesn't like tea."
Beast Boy nodded absent-mindedly, staring dully at the countertop. He failed to notice the glob on the side of his head, but only concentrated on the salt-and-pepper marble. It swirled and bent until it formed a raven.
"Argh!" He muttered, thrusting his head onto his hands. Cyborg looked down at him while scrubbing his head violently.
"Go talk to her man. Maybe she's cooled off–Give it a try," He suggested, patting Beast Boy roughly on the back while discreetly wiping the substance off of his head. "She'll be happy to see anyone other than me right now."
That burning sensation in his stomach returned. He couldn't do it! Rejection was too hard to face. Besides, there was no way. She was beautiful, dark, and sarcastic. He was less than perfect, light as the sun, and funny (So he thought, at least). But this couldn't go on forever. They lived in the same Tower, fought on the same team. It would be impossible not to see each other. What other choice did he have?
Beast Boy wiped his forehead and chewed his lip. "You're right. I–I'll go talk to her."
Pushing his chair back shakily, he swallowed harshly, stumbling into the darkness that was his home.
Cyborg chuckled quietly to himself, wringing out the soaked towel into the kitchen sink. "Dead man walking..."
.oOo.
A faint clang rings out through my room. I slid my eyes open and grimace. If it was Cyborg again with that mockery of nature—
"Raven... It's uh... Me. Beast Boy. Yeah, betcha you can kinda tell, huh, with me being, uh, me and all but just in case you—" Beast Boy. I don't know what to feel right now, so I simply don't. I do get up though, and dust myself off. Pulling my hood up, I open the door with a creak. It was a sliding door; How could it creak?
"Uh... Hi," I croak, voice harsh from yelling at Cyborg. That stupid incident with Beast Boy–How could I not see that sneaker?–replays over and over and over in my head, just by looking at him. He avoids my eyes, like he's been doing for the past week. I've never even seen him at all this week. It's a horrible feeling; Letting go of everything you stood for, just to be ignored and unwanted.
Beast Boy's eyes finally move upward to my face, lips curled into a smile. I can't believe him! He's laughing at me. I pull my hood down lower, to cover my face even more. Could he see what I felt for him through my eyes? Could he sense my shame and embarrassment just by standing here? His smile grows and turns into a grin. Why was he laughing?
"Are you going to actually say something, or just stand here?"
Beast Boy snaps his eyes closed, then reels them back up again, though they no longer drill into my skull. His smile, hateful or not, is gone, and he's closed himself up again, folding himself into the cliched jokester king that he was born to play.
"I shouldn't, probably. I'd just screw things up even more," Beast Boy chortles, laughing in that kind of funny-but-I'm-not-really-laughing way only he can pull off.
"True," I say coldly, crossing my arms. He winces, and chews his lip, a nervous habit. He ignores me for a week, laughs at me, and then tells me he's going to screw up again. What a guy. "But I'm guessing you're going to say something anyway."
"I'm guessing you're right," He mutters, looking up at the ceiling, as if that would help. A moment passes, and Beast Boy continues gazing at the ceiling whilst I get more annoyed by the second. This is pointless; A useless conversation that could only end in my frustration and his confusion. I uncross my arms and sigh.
"Look, this is going nowhere. Talk to me when you have something to say–" I motion to close the door when I hear his voice, soft and raspy.
"I love you."
It's silent for a moment.
Then I slam the door in his face.
Author's Note:
I forgot how to do the... thing... on top of cliched. Sorry about that. I'm also sorry about reposting this "darn" chapter over and over. Fanfiction seems to think it's funny to leave out the spaces between some words HALF of the time. Ha. Ha.
