A/N: I do not own the Teen Titans. Trust me, you'd know if I did.

Chapter 6: Pleasant Dreams

Beast Boy stirred and slowly woke up. His throat felt dry and his bladder seemed too full. An odd feeling, but it woke him up. It was dark out and he looked at his clock. 3:06 a.m., he had only been asleep for four hours. He had watched a movie with his friends after dinner and then gone to bed. His nap earlier that day seemed to have no affect on him.

He dragged his feet down the hall and made it to the bathroom. After relieving his bladder he got a cup of water. He downed about two and a half cups and then, quite satisfied, headed back to his room. On his way he passed Ravens room and stopped when his sensitive ears heard a faint sound. He knew that it had to be coming from within her room, so he pressed his elf ear to the cold steel of the door. He heard her moaning and whimpering. Suddenly the light above him shattered. He was quite happy that it had been off.

He wasn't sure what to do, but he decided he would take his chances and go in. He slid her door open and crept inside. She was tossing and turning in her bed, the sheet tangled within her legs. She gripped the mattress tightly and was breathing quickly. He could see sweat gleaming off of her skin in the moonlight. Various objects were flying off of her shelves and piling up on the floor.

He kneeled next to her bed and slowly touched her arm. "Raven," he whispered. The sound of his voice seemed to only intensify her nightmare. She writhed and tossed back and forth. "Raven," he said again, this time a little louder. He took her hand and said her name again. "Raven." She suddenly jumped and sat up. She saw the dark figure in her room and nearly screamed and fell off of her bed. "Whoa, calm down, it's me," he said quickly.

"Beast Boy?" she said shocked. "What… what the hell are you doing in here?"

"I got up to get a drink and I heard you moaning," he said honestly. "It sounded like you were having one hell of a nightmare."

Raven thought about her dream and grabbed her head. She felt her heart racing and waited for it to calm down. "Yes, I was," she said finally. She had been propped up on her knees and now slowly went to a sitting position. She rubbed her face and sighed.

Beast Boy knew he was pushing the boundaries, but he crawled onto her bed and sat in front of her. "You wanna talk about it?"

"No," she said in a tired voice. "I just… I don't want to think about it."

"That bad, huh?"

"Yeah," she said running her fingers through her hair.

"It wasn't about me, was it?" he asked with a smile.

"Well…" she started and looked away.

The smile left his face and he looked down. "Oh."

"It was just a dream, Beast Boy, you don't have to get offended," she said feeling his rejection.

"I know," he said quickly. There was a slight pause between them. "What was I doing?" he asked hesitantly.

"I'm not sure," she said a bit confused. "All I know is that you were there yelling at me and I was crying. I'm not really sure what was going on. It's all a blur now."

"I was yelling at you?" he asked sadly.

"Yes," she said sighing. "And I don't know why. You were mad at me or something. I think you were telling me to go away, that I didn't matter to you anymore. That I was useless."

"I would never say anything like that to you," he said very upset.

"I know," she said calmly. "Like I said, it was just a dream." She paused again and then added, "But it felt so real." She leaned back onto her pillows and hid her face in her hands. "Oh I hate dreams."

"I'm guessing you don't have many nice ones, huh?" he asked with a kind smile.

"I've never had a nice one," she said plainly. "Demons don't have pleasant dreams."

This news was a little shocking to Beast Boy. True, he had never seen Raven get up in the morning and say, "Boy, did I have a nice dream last night." But he never figured that she had never had one.

"Wow, that sucks." Those were the only words he could manage to say, and he wanted to kick himself the moment it left his lips. He sounded so unintelligent and infantile.

"Tell me about it," she said with a bitter chuckle.

A silence grew between them. Beast Boy looked at the floor and then felt the blanket he was sitting on. He suddenly realized that it was three o'clock in the morning and he was in Ravens room. There was something he never thought he would… think about.

"Beast Boy?"

"Yeah?" he said, being jerked out of his own thoughts.

She slowly sat up and rested her elbows on her knees. "Why did you stop telling me jokes?"

He was caught completely off guard and his mind went blank. "What?"

"Why did you stop telling me jokes? Why did you stop trying to make me smile? Why did you decide to stop?"

"Why are you asking me this?"

"I just… I want to know why."

"Raven…" started Beast Boy but it took him a long time to form the right words. "You just…" He sighed. "It became obvious to me that as much as I tried, you were never going to smile. You were never going to laugh. And I couldn't take it anymore. All I ever did was be nice to you and try to be your friend. And all you ever did to me was verbally abuse me and act like I was a fly buzzing around your head. So I finally decided that what I was doing, telling you jokes and trying to make you smile, was pointless and a waste of my time."

"It wasn't pointless," said Raven shaking her head. "As much as I hated your constant spew of bad jokes, I liked your determination. I liked that no matter how much I told you to stop you wouldn't give up on me. And when you did…" She stopped.

"Raven, why didn't you tell me?" he asked putting his hand on her knee.

"Well I'm telling you now," she said a little coldly.

Beast Boy looked at her, but she couldn't bring herself to look at him. She just stared down at the covers with a furrowed brow. She seemed angry, but he wasn't sure who she was angry with. Him or her.

"Jesus, Raven, I had no idea," he said softly. "I really must have been misreading your signals."

"No, you weren't," she said plainly. "I was just too stubborn to actually let you know. Too stubborn and too damn proud."

"Well… I'm glad I know now," he said with a small smile. "I've got a few dozen jokes I've been waiting to try out on someone."

"That's okay," said Raven. "You don't have to."

"Oh, you're not getting off that easily," he said with an evil grin.

"Well could you at least hold off until sunrise?" she asked.

"Okay, but you better be ready tomorrow," he said almost jumping up and down from the excitement.

"Oh, I can't wait," she said sarcastically and rolling her eyes. Beast Boy knew that she was just being herself, but he couldn't help feeling a little hurt by the comment. Then he saw her look at him out of the corner of her eye and then give a little smile. "Thanks Beast Boy."

"Hey, what are friends for?" he said with a smile.

Then she did something else he never expected. She leaned over to him and hugged him. "And thanks for making sure I was okay."

"I wouldn't have been a good friend or teammate if I had just left you lying there in pain," he said mimicking what she had said to him after healing him.

She smiled and he smiled as well, even though they couldn't see each other. They were still in the hug and it felt quite… nice. Not like the one they had had earlier that day, or the day before since it was now early morning. This one was warm and soft, not intense and full of mixed emotions.

They released the hug and stared at each other for a few moment; their soft smiles still on their faces. It took a few moments for them to snap back and adjust themselves. It had been an odd moment and they suddenly felt awkward.

"Well, I better go back to my room," said Best Boy with a nervous smile.

"Yeah," said Raven, her eyes darting around the room.

He stood up and as he reached the door he turned to he and said, "Good night."

"Good night," she said back, her voice a little queer.

He was about to leave when he turned back and said, "Oh, and pleasant dreams."

"Thanks," she said with an innocent smile. He smiled back and closed her door. She sat there for a few moments, thinking about what had just happened. Too many things to think about. She sighed and laid back on her pillow. She didn't know why, but she felt lonely for the rest of the night. Even when she was asleep.

Beast Boy crawled into his bed and lay down. He stared up at the ceiling and thought about his conversations with Raven. So many things he hadn't known about her. She had never had a good dream. She had liked his jokes and his constant bothering her. She liked that he had went into her room to make sure she was okay. Over the past few years he had barely thought about her at all. But that night he fell asleep with a slight smile on his face knowing that he mattered to her.