Hi. This is still my first fanfic, but now it's the second chapter. Exciting, eh?
If you find anything to criticize, please do. Constructive criticism is much more valuable than flames or even praise. If you feel the need to flame, however, please do. I'm tough, I can take it. If you want to praise, that's very welcome. No matter how constructive the criticism, it still doesn't do anything for my ego.
I still don't own Teen Titans and I still don't know if I really have to say that, but everybody else persists in doing so and I wouldn't want to rock the boat.
Firenze2000: Yeah, I think Raven's almost embarrassed to admit to liking Beast Boy. She sees him as being very childish. He is, but mostly it's a façade to hide his own insecurity.
Anony Miss: A bit played out? I can see where you're coming from. Personally, I feel that a lot of the fics I've read have rushed the relationships to fruition. When other fics do that, it just ruins the story for me, because it makes it impossible for me to believe in the relationship. So I take my time. It might seem a little slow, but at least it'll be believable (I hope so, anyway).
Invader Johnny: Long reviews are good, because it means you care enough about the story to criticize it and try to help me improve it. The reason I didn't do BB and Raven POV was because POVs always seemed messy to me. Either the writer has to label them with "Begin/End Character POV" or he has to take the risk that the switch won't confuse the reader. I prefer omniscient third person, because it allows me to show what the characters are thinking but doesn't confine me to one character, as first person was. As for Beast Boy being OOC, I really didn't think that he was. See the Author's Note before the beginning of this chapter for my take on Beast Boy and Raven.
Wolf-blades-wings: No, not a one-shot. Those always leave me unsatisfied when I read them, so I don't see how I could possibly be content with writing one. I'd hate to leave you guys thinking, "Yeah, but what happens after?" So I won't. I'll write this thing out 'till it's over and done with.
IGAF-kun: Thank you.
Overactive Mind: Actually, I'm using Word, so I do have spell check. Spell check isn't perfect, though. For example, if I were to use the word groin where I meant to use the word grin, spell check wouldn't catch it. And I'm pretty sure that you don't want to read anything like, "When Cyborg beat Robin's car to the finish line, a groin spread slowly across his face." Not an altogether pleasing image, right? So if you catch anything like that, please make sure to tell me. Anyway, I'm glad you like the story.
Funk'dup: Thanks.
Regrem Erutaerc: Thank you! I'd be happy to make you able to review without logging in, but then I wouldn't get to snoop around your profile, and that would make me unhappy. Sorry. About the emotional wisdom bit, was that directed at me or at Invader Johnny? If you were talking to me, I'm afraid I don't understand what you mean. As for Raven's emotions… it's been done before. I mean, at least half the Raven/BB fanfics I've read involve her emotions. Some dealt with her emotions as much or more than with Raven herself. I'm not going to steer clear of that altogether, because it's an important part of Raven, but they're not going to be coming out of the mirror, and BB/Raven are going to be spending very limited time there. BB will have to love Raven as a whole person, not as her separated emotional facets. I'm not saying that they won't be in the story, but they'll be the supporting characters rather than the stars of the show.
Tammy Tamborine: Good. I'm glad you like it. Thanks for the ego-boost.
fernnu: I know what you mean. Everybody else seems to think that NJ is exactly like The Sopranos. And the story alerts I get make me feel all fuzzy inside.
endless fate: I appreciate your praise, but I don't think I'm a great writer. Mighty good, maybe, but not great. Mark Twain was great. Charles Dickens was great. I'm just good, at best. But for now, I'm content with that. Thank you for the review!
Author's Note: Much like Raven, Beast Boy finds it hard to show that he cares about someone. The difference is, Raven tries to mask her emotions with apathy, while Beast Boy tries to mask his with humor. Raven shies away from social interaction because she fears rejection (not to mention her powers going haywire), while Beast Boy tries overly hard to make friends and be accepted. I've read lots of stuff at the Titan's Tower website (it's a website that provides a good basic storyline of the original comics). If you look at Beast Boy's origin from the original comics, you'll see that he's experienced betrayal and loss many times, both before and during his time with the Titans. So he acts immature, but in actuality, his immaturity is just a façade. Raven's emotionally scared as well, although she shows it differently than Beast Boy does. When they talked in the first chapter, both those façades were temporarily dropped, allowing them to express themselves openly. They're not acting out of character; they're just displaying facets of the characters that are rarely seen on the show.
Chapter 2
The next morning, Raven took her eyes off her book to glance around the common room as she took a long sip of her tea. She noticed that Cyborg was beating Robin horribly at some racing game. Beast Boy was reading some book, and Starfire was whipping up one of… wait.
Beast Boy was reading? She looked back in his direction, and saw that he was really reading a book. Amazing. Will wonders never cease?
-----
Robin, meanwhile, threw down his controller in disgust. "Cyborg, one of these days I'm going to beat you."
Cyborg replied, "Doubt it. BB plays tons better than you, and he only beats me maybe once a month."
Robin, realizing that arguing would be useless and that a rematch would just be embarrassing, decided to call it quits. He stood up. "Okay guys, time for training. I'm going to be sparring with Cyborg. Raven, you'll be trying to get full control over your time-stopping abilities again. Starfire, work on target practice with your starbolts. Your aim's been a little off lately. Beast Boy, you're going to be working on transforming into whatever dinosaurs you haven't covered yet."
Beast Boy replied, "I've already got all the good ones down, dude."
"Fine, work on something else. Just don't fool around. It was disturbing enough the first time I saw a sperm whale appear in the middle of the training room."
-----
As the team headed towards the training area, Beast Boy noticed Raven was walking to his side, with her hood down. Usually, she trailed a few yards behind everybody.
"Beast Boy, what were you reading back there?" Raven asked him.
"What, surprised I know how?" Beast Boy retorted.
"Frankly, yes, a little," Raven answered, honestly.
Beast Boy gave her an annoyed look and said, "It's called Fast Food Nation. This guy did all this research into where meat comes from and stuff. I mean, we buy it at the grocery store and everything, but the food or whatever, it was a cow or something sometime, right? So he found out about the factories and stuff." Raven nodded. Beast Boy was really getting into this speech. "And the factories, they treat the animals like crap, you know? And they treat the employees like crap too. People have gotten seriously messed up in the factory equipment, and McDonald's doesn't get in trouble because they just blame it on the company that owns the factory, right?" At this point, Beast Boy was sermonizing. He was moving his arms around to illustrate his point. Raven had to admit, he seemed like he knew what he was talking about. "And it's not just McDonald's or anything. I mean, they're the worst, but all the fast food places do it, and even the supermarkets. Most people just don't care, though. That's what really ticks me off." He noticed Raven looking at him quizzically. "What?"
"You know your stuff," Raven said, sounding impressed.
Beast Boy looked annoyed again. "Of course I do. Why do you think I'm a vegan?"
Raven shrugged her shoulders beneath her cloak. "I guess I just assumed that you thought it was disgusting," she answered.
Beast Boy replied, "Well, yeah, I do. I mean, if you could turn into a chicken, you wouldn't be munching eggs at breakfast either. But still, that's not the only reason. I eat tofu and stuff because I think it's the right thing to do. Plus it tastes better."
"Could I borrow the book after you're done with it?" Raven asked Beast Boy.
Beast Boy looked surprised. "Sure, sure. You can borrow it today, if you want to," replied Beast Boy.
"No rush," said Raven.
"Um, yeah. Sure. I'll tell you when I'm done with it," Beast Boy said.
"You know, you should do this more often," Raven told him.
"Do what?" asked Beast Boy.
"Use your brain when you talk, instead of relying solely on your mouth. It makes conversations a lot more interesting."
Before Beast Boy had time to respond, Raven had slowed her walk and drifted behind the green titan, effectively ending the conversation.
-----
Beast Boy, meanwhile, was doing everything he could to hide his glee.
He'd already read Fast Food Nation. It was a big part of what had convinced him to go vegetarian. But Raven didn't even know he could read books, so he'd decided he'd show her.
And she said he was interesting! He couldn't remember her ever saying that about anything before, except for that documentary about mosquitoes that Starfire had made them watch, and that had been more to avoid hurting Starfire's feelings than because she had actually found it interesting. Of course, she had said he didn't use his brain to talk, and that wasn't such a good thing. At least she thought he was interesting sometimes! Not very often, but sometimes was good! At least, it was better than none of the time. Which was probably what she thought before she talked to him about the book. Actually, she probably still thought so. After all, she was Raven, and there was no way Raven could possibly think Beast Boy was smart.
Crap.
-----
Meanwhile, Raven was still grappling with the fact that Beast Boy could actually handle a book. For some reason, he didn't strike her as the intellectual type.
Still, she was impressed. She hadn't expected him to have a plausible reason for being vegetarian; the only rationale he'd ever given for not eating meat was that it was "gross."
Maybe Beast Boy was smarter than she thought.
Of course, he had tried to tell her yesterday that escargot was a NASCAR race. He had to be a moron.
-----
The training session had drained her. Raven had meditated diligently for an hour, but hadn't gotten anywhere. Of course, she hadn't been trying to get anywhere, but she couldn't explain that to Robin. He was a great leader, but he was obsessed with enhancing his own ability, as well that of his teammates. There was no way that Raven would possibly tell him that she wasn't really trying to master her abilities, and no way he'd understand her reasons even if she told him. Nobody would understand. Everybody else was perfectly content with their lives, their powers. They didn't have to deal with being demon spawn. Even the meditation hadn't helped take her mind off things.
A knock came on her door, breaking her train of thought.
"Hey, Raven? Are you in there?" Beast Boy said, hopefully.
She got up. As she walked toward the door, he knocked again.
Raven opened the door a crack, allowing one of her eyes to see outside. "Yes?" she asked Beast Boy, sounding annoyed.
"Did I do something to you?" Beast Boy asked, confused and a little put off by her attitude.
Raven just stared at him.
"Could you let me in?" he asked, getting a little annoyed at Raven's insensitivity.
She gave in. "Fine. Just don't touch anything." Raven opened the door wide enough to let him in, turned around and started to walk away from him towards her bed.
Beast Boy, meanwhile, was getting royally pissed off by her attitude. "Thanks the warm welcome, dude," he said bitterly.
Raven sighed. She turned around. "Look Beast Boy, I'm tired and cranky, okay? Whatever it is you want from me, now is not the time."
"I do not want anything– whatever, you know what, it's just not worth it. Here, take the freaking thing, so I can get out of here and stop wasting your valuable time." At this he pushed something at here, and started toward the door.
As he left the room, he stopped and turned his head around for a second. "You know Raven, people might like you a little better if you said 'Thank you' sometimes." Then he was gone.
Raven looked down at the book in her hands. You blew it, Raven. Way to go.
Damn it.
She looked out of her room down the hall, but Beast Boy had already left.
Author's Note: Yeah, it's about 400 words shorter than the last one. Yeah, I didn't update very fast. You can handle it. I write whatever and whenever I feel like writing, so the frequency and length of my chapters isn't going to be steady. I will keep 'em coming, though. It'll only get slower, however, with school starting on Wednesday. Trust me, I like it even less than you do.
Anyhow, they got mad at each other. Yeah, it's not very romantic, but it is completely in character, and I can't just dive into the romance unless the characters get there naturally. Beast Boy and Raven having a tiff is completely natural, so I wrote it. After all, as much as I like Raven, she would be really hard to get along with. At least, not if you're trying to get to know her, which is what Beast Boy is trying to do now.
By the way, escargot is a French dish constituted primarily of snails. It's pronounced es -car -go. I know it's not the greatest anecdote of Beast Boy's stupidity, but it was the best one I could think up. If you come up with a better one, tell me and I might use it, either to replace the one in this chapter or in another future chapter.
Yeah, Raven's having some trouble with her powers. You'll find out later.
I'm done. That's all I have to say for now.
No, really, buzz off. I don't want you here. Stop reading.
Toodle-oo!