Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Titans or any of the characters associated with them.
Author's Note: Alright, just a few quick things to address before the story. Numero uno, this story is sort of breaking continuity with the show. The Hive I'm using in this story is not the same Hive 5 (6, whatever) that's being used in the show. I just want you all to know that I am aware of that. I just came up with the idea for this story before season five began. Also, in the episode "Things Change", SPOILER WARNING Slade kind of came back (or rather a robot version) END SPOILERS. I'm aware of this too. It's the same situation as the one above.
Number two, you've probably noticed that there's coming to be a lot of action in this story (and trust me, there's more coming). Considering this, and the amount of humorous one-liners (I think they're humorous) and yadda yadda yadda, I'm changing the story's genre to "Romance/General". This really doesn't affect anyone's reading ability or anything, I just figured I'd let you know.
Number 3, and last, I've decided that I'm going to start responding to reviews. I may answer any questions you have, or just say "thanks for reviewing". Either way, I'm going to start doing it with this chapter. If you submit a review but specifically don't want me to respond to it, then say so, and I won't.
Now, without further adieu (spelled that right on the first try!), here's chapter 9.
Chapter 9
Beast Boy anxiously walked through the hallways on his way to the living room. He had woken up around fifteen minutes ago and gotten dressed. For whatever reason, his alarm had not gone off that morning, so it was late and beginning to near lunch time. Because it was almost noon, he was sure all the rest of the Titans were already up and about. However, there was only one he was particularly hoping, as well dreading, to see: Raven.
He knew he had to talk to her; he had come to that conclusion last night. The little calamity between them had been going on long enough. He now realized he had feelings for her, and the two of them needed to sort the situation out before it escalated somewhere it did not need to go.
Hopefully, when he arrived in the living room, he would have some sort of chance to talk with Raven alone. Granted, all the other Titans were likely to be up by now, but he hoped to at least have a chance to tell her he wanted to talk. They did not need to carry on their conversation in front of everyone else; she just needed to know that he wanted to sort things out, maybe even start something with her.
At the same time though, Beast Boy found himself experiencing a bit of apprehension. Hundreds of questions and scenarios were running through his mind. How would Raven react? What would she say? Would she even want to talk to him? Would she completely reject him? The possibilities were endless, but one thing was sure: this had to be done.
Beast Boy found himself at the door to the living room. When it opened for him, he passed from the relative darkness of the hallway into the sun-imbued common room. It was one of those days when the sun was out, uncovered, and shining at its fullest. The warm, scintillating sunlight poured through the windows and pervaded throughout the room. It struck the far side of the wall with intensity, silhouetting anything and everything in the middle of the room. For this reason, Beast Boy immediately noticed Raven sitting on the couch. Her slender upper body and head conspicuously stuck out from the otherwise flat form of the sofa, a similarly-shaped shadow extending all the way behind her figure.
Miraculously, Beast Boy noticed, she was completely alone; aside from themselves, there were no other people in the room. He also noted that she looked somewhat different this morning. It may have been partially due to the profuse amount of sunlight enveloping her face, but she just looked…radiant. There was a light about her that made her look more open, less moody, less like herself. For whatever reason, this served to assuage Beast Boy's nervousness a bit, though only by a little.
"Hey, Rae?" Beast Boy called out, accidentally using her self-despised pet name. Surprisingly, she didn't lash out at him for it like normal. She didn't even attempt a snappy little quip at his intelligence or mere existence. Instead, she turned around and was actually smiling.
"Hey, Garfield." She spoke cheerfully. A slight prickling sensation shot up his spine at the sound of her using his real name. "I'm glad you are here."
"Since when do you call me Garfield?" he questioned her. He knew that the entire team was now aware of his birth-given name thanks to a visit from the Doom Patrol. He also knew she had said she might use it to blackmail him later on. However, it was not so much the fact that she used the name; it was how she used it. The way she had said it did not sound mischievous, or even annoyed. It had an almost…affectionate quality to it.
"I don't know. I just thought it was more…you." She replied. She smiled. "Besides, I don't think you really disliked it all that much."
"Ooookay…" responded Beast Boy, completely stumped by her newfound effervescence. "Whatever…I just, wanted to talk to you about somethin'. It's kind of important."
"Cool." She said, her voice still full of abnormal sparkle. "I wanted to talk to you too."
"Really?" Beast Boy asked, his face turning as red as his skin tone permitted.
"Well, yeah." She told him. "I always love talking to you Gar."
Needless to say, the conversation was going extensively better than Beast Boy had originally hoped. Not only was Raven not biting his head off for wanting to talk to her (something he was half expecting given the situation), but she actually wanted to talk to him too. Though he was not sure what it was she wanted to say, her present demeanor made him think that it was nothing negative. His face was beginning to get notably warm; not to mention that he kept getting weak-kneed every time she used his name…
"About what?" he asked her, trying to contain the anxious yet dreamy feeling that was forming in his stomach.
"Well, you know…a lot of things have been going on between us lately. A lot of emotions have been going around in my head. I figured it is about time to do something about them."
"Dude really? That's what I wanted to talk to you about!" He practically shouted. The dreamy sensation that had been contriving in his stomach grew ten-fold as he rushed over to the couch and sat down next to Raven. He made sure not to sit too close; she had a sudden amiability today that led him to believe that she was not angry with him, and that she might even reciprocate his newfound feelings for her. However, he did not want to change that by imposing himself.
"That's good. Let me go first then." She told him.
"Sure." He conceded.
"Well…ummm…It's just…I-I guess I don't know where to begin." She confessed.
"How 'bout the kiss?" he said, hoping to get the discussion rolling.
"Which one?" she laughed.
"True." He laughed with her. Since the whole ordeal started, they had kissed more than once. Beast Boy decided to interject his own thoughts. "Like, for me, when we first…you know…"
"Made out?"
"Yeah, that." He chuckled. "I was kind of confused. I mean, when I went to bed that night, I was pretty weirded out."
Raven looked a bit downcast at his last comment.
"No no no! I mean…I meant that in a good way, sorta. I was confused about it at first and all; I just didn't know what to think."
"I know what you mean." She admitted. "I was reasonably disconcerted about it too. At first, I adjudged that it would be better to disregard you, as well as the entire situation. However, everything in my mind just kind of amalgamated and compounded in on itself. It has gotten to the point that I can't handle it any longer."
Beast Boy stared at her.
"I have no idea what you just said." He told her with a confused look on his face.
"I mean…like you, I was confused too. I thought that, considering my powers, I should just ignore what was happening. Because of that though, my emotions all sort of…fell down on me. You probably noticed that my powers have been acting strange lately."
"Yeah." He agreed. "So…what does this mean...for us?"
"I…don't know." She almost whispered, scooting closer to Beast Boy. "I just…really like you Gar."
Had Beast Boy not been completely absorbed by the fact that his and Raven's faces were slowly inching toward one another, he would have been confused by her words. However, he found himself experiencing that now familiar feeling of getting lost in her gorgeous purple eyes.
"I really like you too." He said, almost inaudibly just before their lips met. For the umpteenth time this week, they had their faces pressed against the others. This time however, it was no accident. It was intentional and not to be held back or stopped. Slowly, almost without thinking, their arms found their way to the other's bodies. Raven rested her arms around Beast Boy's neck, while Beast Boy's arms found their way to her smooth, gentle backside.
Slowly, he ran his hands along her back. Even through her leotard and cloak, he could feel all of her ridges, dips, and curves. Eventually, his hands managed to locate the small of her back. Keeping pressure on this spot so the rest of her body remained supported, he leaned into her and deepened the kiss. Raven followed suit and leaned over with the kiss too, all the while, keeping her arms snug over Beast Boy's shoulders. Little by little, the two found themselves reaching a more and more "horizontal" position. Eventually, Raven was laid down on the sofa completely on her back, with Beast Boy lying gently on top of her.
Without warning, red lights signaled the tower's alarm system, and were accompanied by a consistent, loud, buzzing noise.
Beast Boy eyes shot open and he was awake instantly. Right behind him, contained within the pile of items on the nightstand, the intruder of his dreams was going off: his alarm clock.
"Unnh…" Beast Boy groaned at being awakened and having his dream interrupted. "Crap." He lifted his hand and reached to turn the alarm clock off. When he was unable to locate the insufferable device, he simply knocked everything off of the nightstand. The buzzing ceased when the clock, along with the other sundry items, hit the floor.
After a few minutes, Beast Boy sat up in bed, still rubbing a bit of sleep out his eyes. Groggily, he got out of bed and put some clothes on. About twenty minutes later, after brushing his teeth and having a chance to wake up, Beast Boy was on his way to the living room. He still knew he needed to talk to Raven, but did not exactly know how to go about doing it. He only hoped he would have half the success as he did in his dream.
As the doors to the living room opened, Beast Boy was distressed (but not surprised) to see that things were pretty much the opposite of what had occurred in his dream. Raven was on sitting on the couch. However, there was no inexplicable radiance around her, and the sun outside was completely covered up by dense, foreboding clouds. The rest of the room was occupied by the others. Robin and Cyborg were sitting down in the kitchen talking to each other. Their discussion was apparently very important seeing as neither of them were distressed that Starfire was buzzing around preparing some kind of food.
Beast Boy nervously walked over to the couch where Raven was seated. It was at least important to say something to her.
"Hey Raven." He said. "What'cha doin?" At first, she made no reply.
"Reading." She said finally. "Don't interrupt me." Her voice and general temperament were completely different from Beast Boy's dream not twenty minutes ago. She was, as per usual, quiet, impatient, and not the least bit interested in maintaining any form of conversation. Her entire appearance just screamed "go away!". Beast Boy however, was not to be deterred. He knew Raven may be reluctant to talk with him due to the tension between them lately, but he also knew that it was more important to get the situation sorted out. The outcome may not necessarily be what he was wanting, but something had to be done.
Across the room, Robin and Cyborg were discussing what to do about the possibility of Slade's return and the conclusion they had come to last night. They were debating whether or not the rest of the team should be alerted, and what their plan needed to be to prevent whatever was causing this string of crime (be it Slade or another) from striking again.
"Do you think we should tell 'em?" Cyborg asked in a hushed manner.
"Honestly? I'm not sure." responded Robin. "This could be important, so they do need to know…"
"But?"
"But, at the same time, if Slade actually isn't behind this, it might not be good to alert them over something that's not worth worrying about."
"Maybe you should give them a little more credit. You never know." Cyborg told him.
"I know." Robin sighed. "I just…don't want them to potentially get into the wrong frame of mind. It could make it difficult to stop whoever's behind this, Slade or not."
"True." Cyborg agreed. "But, on the other hand, if we do tell 'em, they might be able to help. Maybe BB'll have one of his rare smart moments."
"Yeah." Robin laughed. "I guess you're right."
"So…agreed?"
"Agreed. We tell them. But when?"
"Better be now." Cyborg said resolutely. "We really need to take care o' this before it escalates. If we don't figure out somethin' soon, it could become more than just random attacks. Besides, I think your girlfriend's tryin' to whip up one o' her stomach flus a la Tamaran."
"Yeah, looks like she is." Robin replied. "Wait! She's not…my…ah."
Meanwhile, Beast Boy was still standing near Raven, much to her disapproval. He was currently brainstorming ways to ease into a talk with her. It was not working.
"Beast Boy, is there something you want?" Raven snapped, putting her book down. "Because unless you have something meaningful to say, which I highly doubt you do, you should just go."
"Well, uh…yeah." Beast Boy told her. "I just kinda thought that…you know…we should talk about—"
"In fact, it would probably be better if you just left irregardless." Raven cut him off.
"Yeah Raven, but—"
"Hey ya'll, we got somethin' to tell you." Cyborg shouted as he and Robin walked into the living room. Beast Boy sighed.
"What is it friends?" Starfire asked delightedly once she had sped into the room. She took a seat on the couch right next to Raven. Beast Boy too sat down, followed by Cyborg.
"Cyborg and I have something we need to tell you guys." Robin spoke. "We weren't sure at first, but we decided that it's important that you know."
"Oh jeez." Beast Boy sighed, raising his hand to his head.
"Man, shut up! It's not that! He's talkin' about the attacks on the city." Cyborg said, smacking the back of Beast Boy's head.
"Anyway…" Robin spoke up again, "Me and Cyborg were talking last night. We think we might know why the Hive has been attacking recently. We think that they're working for someone else. Each time they showed up, they never actually did anything. All they seemed to want was to attack us. Now, we think that they didn't necessarily want to attack us, but to distract us."
"From what?" Beast Boy asked.
"From whoever they are working for." Raven thought out loud once she came to the realization.
"Which is somethin' else we wanted to talk about." Cyborg interjected. "We might know who it is they're working for." There was a hesitant pause.
"Well, who is it?" Starfire questioned.
"It's…Slade." Robin finally said. The other three Titans merely sat there with confused looks on their faces. Neither of them was sure whether this was going to be another one of Robin's obsessions, a joke, or whatnot. "Of course, we're not completely sure it's him. But, unless a new, big villain with a lot of intelligence has showed up in the past few weeks, Slade's really the only one with the cunning to put something this intricate together."
"So, what is he trying to do?" Raven asked.
"We don't really know." Cyborg answered. "Me and Rob were kinda hoping you guys would have some ideas. If we figure it out quick enough, we might be able to stop whatever's in the works before anyone or anything gets damaged."
"You do not think he is attempting to take over the city, or the planet, again do you?" Starfire asked.
"We don't know yet Star." replied Robin. "We're not going to know anything until we do some investigating."
Everyone groaned.
"Dude, what kind of 'investigating' are we talking about?" Beast Boy asked, expecting the worst.
"Well," Robin began. "I think each of us should be assigned something to go through and research thoroughly."
"Crud." Beast Boy muttered to himself. "I hate research."
"It may be monotonous, but it's necessary if we want to protect the city." Robin spoke. "I'll go down to the evidence room and search through the boxes and items there. Anyone else have some ideas?"
"I can go through the mainframe and search for any kind of video or data files that might have somethin' on 'em." Cyborg said.
"That's good." Robin told him. "What about you Star?"
"Perhaps I could search through the city for any kind of information. I would be able to navigate it very quickly." The Tameranian responded. With her quick flying abilities, she could search through the city and pick up any significant information at a very efficient rate.
"Great. Beast Boy, Raven, what about the two of you?" Robin asked, turning to them.
"I can go through any books or recent newspaper articles for information on other crimes or activities in the city." Raven replied.
"That could be a good idea. Slade might have been able to slip through the city's detection, especially with the Hive attacking." said Robin.
"So, what's that leave me with?" Beast Boy asked.
"Hmm…" Robin said, thinking. There really was not much left to do. With Starfire searching the city, and Cyborg going through the computer files, what else was there? "Maybe you should help Raven." He said at last.
"What?" Beast Boy and Raven asked simultaneously.
"Well, all those books and newspapers can get pretty tedious." Robin told them. "And an extra set of eyes never hurt."
"Fine." Raven grumbled.
"Okay, so it's settled. Go off on your own, and do whatever it takes to find the necessary information. If anybody needs anything, we've got our communicators. We'll meet back in here at the end of the day for dinner. Say, six-thirty-ish?"
"Sounds like a plan to me dawg." Cyborg said, rising off of the sofa.
"It is most wonderful!" Starfire said as she too rose. "I shall begin right away!" With that, the girl rose into the air and flew out to begin her task. Robin headed off to the elevator in order to get to the level of the evidence room. Cyborg walked off to locate the server room where he would have access to all the files stored on the tower's mainframe. That left only Beast Boy and Raven alone in the room to begin their own research.
"Let's just get this over with." Raven sighed. She got off the couch and began walking off to find some reading material to start on.
"Wait Rae…ven." Beast Boy stopped her. "I think we need to…you know…talk about some stuff."
"No. We really don't." she said sternly and turned to continue walking. She was stopped though when Beast Boy grabbed her hand in an attempt to reason with her.
"I think we do." He told her. His speech was not harsh or mean like hers was. On the same token, he was not overly imploring either. He was merely saying what needed to be said, and speaking what he thought.
"No Beast Boy, we don't." she said again, her tone of voice growing in edge. "We don't need to talk, because we do not have anything to talk about."
"Rae, you know as well as I do that that's not true." He said softly.
"It's Ra-VEN." She said, finally pulling her hand from his. "And no I don't. There is absolutely nothing to talk about, because absolutely nothing happened." She turned around and began to walk off again.
Normally, when Raven used that tone of voice, Beast Boy would have tried everything within his ability to leave her alone. Normally however, he and Raven did not make out every other day. Plus, Raven's complete inflexibility with the situation was beginning to make him irate as well. Here he was, trying to make something out of their problems, and all Raven seemed to want to do was ignore them.
"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked, his voice slowly losing its previous compatibility. Raven stopped and turned around.
"It means what it says." She said almost menacingly. "Nothing. Happened."
"How can you say that?" Beast Boy suddenly shouted angrily. All thoughts of coming to an agreeable solution had left his mind. "Of course something happened! Weren't you there!"
"It meant nothing. Nothing that happened in the past week was worth a thing." She spat. "It meant nothing to me, and it shouldn't mean anything to you either."
"You can't tell me what to think!" The changeling shouted at her irately.
"No, but I can tell you this!" she countered. "Nothing will ever happen between us! At all! I feel nothing for you whatsoever! I am a mature and intelligent person, and you are an immature, whiny, unintelligent pinhead incapable of sentient thought! And I never wanted to kiss you!"
"Well I never wanted to kiss you!" he shouted back. "You think I just got up one morning and wanted to make out with the rudest, snottiest, selfishest girl in the world!"
"Oh, 'selfishest', that's great Beast Boy! I think you've actually managed to become even stupider than you were ten seconds ago!"
"It doesn't even matter! You're still the rudest, snottiest girl I've ever had to meet!"
"Well, as long as it keeps me from having to be with someone like you." Raven hissed, getting closer to Beast Boy's face to emphasize her point.
"Guess it's fucking settled then huh?" Beast Boy whispered.
"Sure is." Raven replied. Beast Boy backed away.
"Then you can forget about me helping you with your stupid books!" he resumed shouting.
"Like you actually know how to use a book!" Raven yelled back.
"Well I'll probably do it better than you!"
"Then I guess I'll go!" she shouted, turning to leave the room.
"Please! Don't let the door hit you on the way out!" The changeling shouted as she left.
"Our doors don't even swing!" was the last thing she said before exiting the room.
"Aughhh!" Beast Boy shouted in frustration.
"Arghh!" Raven yelled to herself as she stormed down the hallway, just as she had the day before. In her anger, she did not have the time to notice, but with every furious step she took, one item or another shattered in her wake.
Author's Note: gets hit by onslaught of fruits, vegetables and spit balls. Sorry, sorry! I know this seems like abit of a stepback for our young heroes' relationship, but don't worry. I PROMISE that this story is BB/Rae. Please don't flame me for this. They WILL get together.
Anyway, wow, no line breaks the whole chapter! I think that's a first for me. Just one quick note. From here on out, things in the story are going to, for the most part, start picking up the pace. I won't give any clues as to what's going to happen, but I will say that from here on out, it's going to be all downhill until the end. I've got a very rough outline of the rest of the story, and it looks like it's going to end with 12 chapters, plus a short epilogue. I don't know how many words that'll be, but it does look like chapter 12 is going to be very long.
'Til next time. GoldenBlade416
