Raven held tightly to the thin handles of the shopping bag as she stood in the dimly lit hallway of the tower. For a second, she considered dropping the bag at Beast Boy's door and then teleporting back to her own room to avoid speaking to him. But she knew that would be wrong. So, she exhaled through her nostrils and knocked lightly on his bedroom door.
"Beast Boy?" she said above a whisper, knowing he would hear her anyway because of his sensitivity to noise.
Beast Boy's door swished open to reveal him standing there with his hands casually tucked into the pockets of his purple hoodie. He had the hood circled around his face with the strings pulled tight. Raven felt guilt in the pit of her stomach, but she took a deep breath to prevent another emotional flare up like the one that had caused the problem in the first place.
"Hey, Rae!" He grinned even though he looked surprised to see her. "What's up?"
"I wanted to apologize for earlier," she said in monotone. She let go of the bag with one hand and pointed awkwardly at his head. "For that."
Beast Boy shrugged and patted his head covered in dark purple. "Eh, no big deal. Could've happened to anyone!"
Raven's mouth formed the smallest frown possible to keep her overall expression neutral. She replied with skepticism in her tone, "Anyone?"
"Well," he drawled as he scratched the back of his neck through the fabric, "I guess just not anyone could freak out and make magical tentacle thingies spring out of their cloak and give me a buzz cut."
Beast Boy let out a nervous chuckle, but Raven just stared at him. He noticed that her frown had deepened, so he held out his hands and waved them frantically. "But it's cool! I promise!"
Raven's expression remained the same, not revealing much. But Beast Boy knew she wasn't convinced that everything was cool between them.
He fumbled with the strings under his chin and said, "Rae, I needed a haircut. And you did awesome!"
He flung off his hood to reveal the monstrosity that was his chopped off hair. Raven took another deep breath as the guilt nudged her gut again. She didn't think he looked completely awful, but he did look like his hair had gotten in a fight with a pair of scissors and lost. Badly. He wiggled his eyebrows at her and leaned casually in the doorframe.
"Only a guy this handsome could pull off this look," he said in a confident tone before chuckling at his own joke.
His ease with the situation made Raven feel a little better. She was an empath, so she knew he didn't feel any strong negative emotions about the whole thing. But, to respect her friends' privacy, she didn't like to use her powers to tune into milder feelings. So, he could have just been saying that he was okay. Either way, she was glad that he wasn't holding a grudge. She wasn't sure if things would have worked out that way if she had been on the receiving end of the impromptu haircut.
"It was my fault anyway," Beast Boy said as he twirled the strings of his hoodie. "I should know better than to catch you off guard like that. Sometimes I just forget that…"
"I'm not normal," she said flatly.
Beast Boy blinked. "I was gonna say I just needed to give you a heads up." He glanced down at the bag in her hands. He chuckled, "Did Starfire make you go to the mall again?"
"No." Raven opened the bag in her hand and lifted out a dark purple hat with a video game controller logo on the front of it. Her small frown shifted into a small smile when she saw his eyes light up.
"Dude! Is that for me?" Beast Boy asked as he practically snatched the hat from Raven's hands.
"I went to that store you like in the mall… Sorry if it's not your style."
"Are you kidding me?" He pulled the hat over his messily cut hair. "This thing is sick! Thanks!"
He skipped forward to give her a hug, but froze with his arms outstretched before he made contact. He chuckled nervously and took a step back. He folded his arms behind his back as if it were the only way to keep him from wrapping them around her.
"Uh, guess I haven't learned my lesson. Note to self: give Raven a verbal heads up before going in for the hug to avoid slicey demon tentacles," he said good-naturedly and with a nod for emphasis.
Raven gave him a blank look and asked blandly, "That's what you learned from all this? Didn't the quote 'slicey demon tentacles' make you want to keep your arms to yourself."
Beast Boy snorted and looked at her as if what she had said didn't make any sense. "What? No! I don't want that. You're so huggable!"
Raven's face heated and her heart thumped in her chest. She could feel her powers wanting to go haywire again, like they had done that morning at breakfast when Beast Boy tried to hug her in the kitchen. Lately any physical contact as friendly as a hug or an affectionate comment that the guy made left Raven needing to meditate for a few hours afterward. She didn't want to think too hard on why that may be, but she knew she needed to leave the hallway before she gave him another accidental haircut.
"Bye," she murmured as she fazed through the floor.
"Uh, bye," he replied in a confused tone. "And thanks, Raven!" He shouted into the empty hallway.
End note: This oneshot was based off the prompt haircut from the September OTP Prompt Challenge posted by . Thank you for sharing prompts, person from the internet.