Chapter One (A/N: I updated quickly because inspiration would not stop. Wider breaks between updates are in the future.)

Beast Boy touched his toes, flinching as he did so. He was aching unusually painfully today, but like the rest of the titans, they had to exercise for at least one hour. And he groaned as he looked at the clock, realizing he had only been in the gym for ten minutes. He had already confirmed that he was doing nothing but toe touching.

That thought in mind, Beast Boy grinned, and thought of an octopus. His form rapidly changed to that of his musings. Chuckling to himself, he lifted each toe to his rounded head, extremely quickly. Amazingly, taking this way, an hour came and went.

He yawned, changed back to his normal form, and exited the gym. He marched happily to the kitchen/living room section of the tower. Beast Boy started humming a tune. He opened the refrigerator, and reached for the tofu. When it wasn't in the usual place, he checked around, scavenging the fridge, even the freezer, and he let out a panicked yelp when he came out empty handed. "No! The tofu! My tofu!" He rechecked every food container as he rambled. "Where the heck is the tofu? WHO DID WHAT WITH MY TOFU?"

"I'm to assume, you ate it," said a quiet voice.

Beast Boy faced Raven with a sour look as she slowly ascended the small number of steps. "Of course, this is why you should never assume." Raven went to the bookshelf on the other side of the room, selected a novel, perched herself on the couch near the shelf, and opened the book over her face to read.

Beast Boy shook his fist at Raven, and raised a finger in the air. "Dude! I'm serious! I had tofu leftover last night, and now it's gone!"

Raven's eyes peeked over the top of the book, making Beast Boy face a raised eyebrow. "And who, in this entire tower, likes tofu, besides you?"

Beast boy helplessly held out his arms. "No one! That's just it. Nobody besides me likes the taste of tofu! But I…" Realization crossed over Beast Boy's face. "SILKIEEE!"

A snoring larva stretched out its little cylindrical body, and blinked a couple times before Beast Boy walked over and picked him up. "Silkie?" Beast boy asked in a pleading voice. "Did someone eat the tofu I left in the fridge last night?"

A loud belch in Beast Boy's face that practically shook the room answered his question. "Tofu breathe." He placed Silkie gently on the couch. "Great, now what can I eat?" A bright light bulb flashed above his head. "I got it!"

Raven lowered the book, watching Beast Boy busily take out several spices from the cupboard, and also, many different ingredients from the fridge. Including milk and a watermelon.

Curiosity, one of the many emotions she tried not to associate with, reared its head suddenly and unexpectedly. "Hey Beast Boy, why aren't you a vegan?"

Beast Boy looked up only for a second, and shrugged while digging for food. "I don't know. I guess I like certain foods with milk too much."

Raven looked away, nodded, raised the book again, and continued to read.

The electronic doors slid open, and Robin stretched as he entered. "Good morning."

"Morning," Raven said quietly.

"Mornin' Dude!" Beast Boy said cheerfully, from his perch at the kitchen counter.

"Whatcha making Beast Boy?" Robin said, sitting at a bar stool on the counter.

"I'm not really sure. I just kind of took out some food and stuff and started improvising."

"We couldn't tell."

Beast Boy turned, wrinkling his nose at Raven before looking back at his bubbling concoction. "Let's see…looks like it needs some peanut butter." Beast Boy emptied the jar, and stirred up the mixture.

He turned off the stove, and after he was sure it had cooled down. Beast Boy sampled some with the spoon. "Mmm…Not bad."

Raven's eyes were wide with disgust. "Congratulations. You're a master chef."

Beast Boy appeared with a bowl right in front of her, putting her book aside. "Come on! Don't knock it until you tried it."

Even though whatever it was did smell appetizing, the dark green, blobby appearance was not. "No thanks."

Beast Boy unexpectedly poked the spoon into her mouth, and pulled it out quickly. Raven chewed bitterly, expecting foul tasting goo. Instead, she got a mixture of sweet and tang. She swallowed after a while. "Not bad."

"See! I know what I'm talking about!" Beast Boy zapped back to the cupboards, setting out plates, and distributing the food.

Raven eyed Beast Boy for a moment. How was it possible that one person could contain such boundless energy…perhaps it was his ability that gave him such…vigor. He was almost always happy, even in the face of the most adverse situations. Raven blinked, her focus on Beast Boy gone. 'As his eyes rose to the light, he let out a cry, the blood crusting on his fingers.'

Beast Boy started humming again after he finished what he decided to call, 'Gloppity Goodness.'

He took out a toothpick for the seeds from the watermelon, and twirled in the bar stool as Robin ate the new dish. His first site was Raven. Her lids were now low over her eyes as they shifted back and forth over the text. It amazed, and disappointed him that she was able to keep all her feelings under lock. The emotion she tended to display the most of was annoyance.

Spitting out the toothpick, Beast Boy leapt over to the couch, and held up the portable gaming controller. "Who's ready to get their butt whooped by a master game player?"

The doors slid open as Beast Boy spoke.

"I hope you are man!" Cyborg said gamely. He took his plate, scarfed it down instantly, and grabbed his controller, then he and Beast Boy fell back on the couch in unison.

A few hours later, Raven glanced up at the scenery around her. The counter was empty, because everyone had gathered at the couch to play/watch video games. She set the book down in confusion. What was so amusing about that game? She herself managed to stay entertained by playing chess. Usually with herself, sometimes Robin, and on occasion, Cyborg. Then again, she had played Stankball once or twice with Cyborg and Beast Boy…and that had been enjoyable.

But this game…it seemed to be mindless blather. Well, to each his own. No matter how ridiculous 'his own' was.

Raven's thoughts were disrupted as Beast Boy reluctantly made his way away from the TV. He stopped to blink at Raven. "What?"

"Nothing." She lifted her book again.

Beast Boy blinked again. Raven could be such an enigma when she wanted to be; which was pretty much all the time. Grinning, Beast Boy took a few steps towards Raven, and plopped down onto the floor, sitting in a classic yoga position, his grin never leaving from his face. He stared at the book, until Raven realized that he hadn't moved. She slowly lowered the book again. "What?"

Beast Boy grinned cheekily. "Nothing."

Raven slammed the book shut with both hands. "What are you doing down there?"

"I'm just sitting here. Whatchya readin'?"

"A gory gothic book you wouldn't find remotely appealing."

Beast Boy wrinkled his nose again. "Come on!" He tilted his head to read the title. "The…Wizard &…the…Light? What's this?"

Raven bristled. "It's a book."

Beast Boy looked up from the title. "About what?"

Raven sighed. "It's about a Wizard who starts questioning the worth of life and love."

Beast Boy's brows furrowed. "Why?"

She got up from her seat. "He just has some spare time on his hands, and he's very lonely."

"Why?"

"He just DOES okay?" Raven said, her voice rising in volume as she quickly left the room.

Beast Boy's perky green ears fell. He didn't really didn't mean to bug Raven, he was just trying to get interested. Quickly, Beast Boy leapt from the floor, and went to the hall, and tried to follow Raven. "Raven, wait up! Raven! Raven!"

He finally managed to catch up. "Look, Raven, I wasn't trying to make you mad this time. It's just that I was wondering why the wizard was all lonely and stuff."

Raven finally stopped. She didn't turn to talk to Beast Boy as she spoke. "He hadn't known love in a very long time."

Beast Boy turned to her. "So what does all this have to do with light?"

She brought her chin lower. "It's a reference to the end of the story."

He looked down, noticing Raven's very slight grip on the book. Smirking, he transformed into a small chimp, and snatched the book away, and changed back, all in the matter of three seconds.

Raven grasped air for a moment, looked at her hand, and glared at Beast Boy. "Hey, give that back!" As she pounced for the book, he cleverly side-stepped, making her lose her balance, but he caught her arm before she fell. She blinked at him, and her brows furrowed.

"Have you read this already?"

Raven's fist's clenched, and she forced herself to keep her annoyance under control. "Of course I have."

Beast Boy gave her a haughty look. "Then I just have one question…can I borrow it?"

Her mouth gaped open, and she tilted her head in confusion. "Huh?"

He looked at the book title, thoughtfully this time. "Based on what you said, it sounds pretty good. I kind of want to see what happens."

Raven straightened, and bit her lip. This was very unusually. Beast Boy could read her books? Beast Boy could read?

Too stunned to think up a bad side, Raven said, "Uh, sure, go ahead."

He gave her a peace sign, and smiled. "Thanks Raven. I'll get it back."

Raven watched with undesired interest as Beast Boy walked away. Because of his forever humorous and happy-go-lucky attitude, Raven instinctively never thought about him as an intellectual. But as she watched him walk down the hall, and into his room, the book open to the first page, she began to consider if she could be wrong…

(Later.)

Raven sipped her tea, and looked around. Everyone had gathered around, waiting for the pizza to arrive. Everyone except Beast Boy, who was waiting outside for the delivery man to arrive. It appeared quite peculiar to Raven that the Pizza Slice company had an exclusive delivery boat for the Titan Tower. But she wasn't complaining. Perhaps it was their way of giving thanks for saving the city so often. She looked up at the antique cuckoo clock that Starfire insisted they buy. They all heard a motor outside about ten minutes ago, and for someone familiar to the tower, particularly Beast Boy, the trip up didn't take that long.

Finally, the doors to the kitchen/living room, and Raven looked up to see Beast Boy, aglow with excitement, the pizza in one hand, and her book in the other. He rushed over, and grinned. "Sorry that took so long, but I was almost done with a book and I couldn't put it down."

Raven dropped her tea cup saucer into her lap. She picked it up, and placed it on the table as he opened the box and the others dug in to their individual sections of the pie. "You're finished already?"

His eyes had an unusual gleam. "Yeah. I couldn't help it, the wizard guy was going through all these problems and things, and I just wanted to turn the page, over and over again!" He was being so cheerful; Starfire looked up at him from her mint-frosting pizza.

"What have you read Beast Boy? Please, tell us!"

Smirking, Raven reached for her pizza slice at last. At this point, she knew he would be stumped. He was probably just pretending to read it, for some weird reasons she'd probably never know. "Yes Beast Boy, tell them."

She was expecting him to stutter, and say something like, 'Oh, but…Raven knows it so much better, let her tell you,' and she was partially correct.

"Okay, I'm not as big as an expert as Raven is on all this stuff," Beast Boy began, just as Raven bent to bite the pizza, that had cheese ready to fall off the slice. "But this wizard, he's like, one of the best magical dudes in the land right? He's got money, a title, and all the ladies he wants!" His eyes grew wide with excitement at that point, the story he was telling casting an animated picture in everyone's mind. (A/N: By that, I mean when he told Starfire how he came about Silkie.)

"Anyway, even though he has all that, he begins to wonder if all the material stuff is worth all the love and happiness he lost trying to get where he is. So he actually begins thinking about killing himself! Can you believe it? Anyway, he looks at a candle by his throne, and gets tossed into a flashback. He thinks about being a baby, losing his mom when he was a kid, all the girl trouble as a teenager, and even when he almost got married! Then he's suddenly all alone, and there's only this tiny white light above his head.

"He's thinking to himself that there's nothing he can do to change his life right? So he starts talking to the light like so crazy guy or something. Suddenly, he says this freaky sounding spell or something, and he sees NOTHING…BUT…THE LIGHT!"

Robin, Star, and Cyborg were listening intently, not making a sound except for the munching of their slices. "Then suddenly, he comes back, and he's in his castle! On his throne! The whole thing was a dream! It ends with him running off the meet Azalea, the woman he ALMOST married!"

Everyone was silent, for almost three seconds, and then they glanced at each other, and laughed. Starfire began to clap. "That sounds marvelous Beast Boy!"

"Yeah, it sounds really interesting."

"Seriously dawg, no wonder the pizza was a little cold!"

"What do you think of this story Raven? Raven?"

Raven had her mouth open, just as wide as her eyes, and a glob of pizza cheese, olives, and sauce in her lap.

If you R, I hope you R too! Anyway, hope you enjoyed chapter one!