A Closer Friend
Raven poured the batter into the bowl, manually whisked it, and dripped it onto the hot plate. As the pancake batter solidified, she expertly flipped it and browned the other side before giving it to the metal man. "Here you go."
"Hehe, wow, this actually looks edible!" Cyborg quickly saw the purple-haired girl's death glare. "I-I-I mean, it looks good." And it was, at least that's what Raven thought by the way he was eating it. She tasted it herself.
A little more butter, but it was still good.
"Girl, I think Beast Boy's going to be jealous when he comes back," Cyborg laughed, stuffing another pile of pancakes. The small smile on Raven's face disappeared. She reached and played with her back-length hair. She had grown it out for a while and had been meaning to cut it. But for some reason, she didn't have the strength.
After the Titans called Interpol and the state government to crack down on the local administration's shady uranium dealing, Beast Boy decided to stay with Toros for a while to help him get back on his feet. "Are you sure?" Raven could remember saying. Beast Boy smiled.
"Come on, Rae. It's not gonna be hard. Plus, the East African Titans will help me and someone needs to look after Toros."
"Do you think he'll do something... drastic?"
"I know what it was like when I lost my parents. I can't imagine being in his place," Beast Boy said, looking back over his shoulder at Toros. The blonde told the authorities everything he could. "Besides, all of his life, he's been doing this for a reason. Now it's is gone. He needs someone. I promised his parents that I would look after him, and I'm gonna do that." Raven nodded. "Besides, it'll only be one, maybe two months tops."
It had been a whole year since they last saw Beast Boy. He kept in touch: a few video calls, some letters, and phone-ins. He kept saying that Toros needed a bit more time, but the team could see his lying grin. It's not just that Toros needed Beast Boy; Beast Boy needed Toros. And the trust that Toros broke would have to be rebuilt almost from the ground up.
There were other things that made Raven worried about Beast Boy. Several times during his video calls, he looked disheveled, tired with dark green circles under his eyes. At times, he would close his eyes and nearly fall asleep. A Titan's life is usually hectic when it comes to sleep, but Beast Boy would have been used to that. There was some added stressor affecting him that he wasn't telling others.
"When do you think he's comin' back?" Cyborg asked.
"I... I don't know," Raven sighed.
Cyborg stood up from his stool and walked over to the sorceress. "Hey, you okay?"
"I... I'm fine." She tucked her hair back and refocused on the hashbrowns.
"Tell me again why you became so interested in cooking?"
"Because my cooking sucked."
"Ahh... well... that's uh..."
"I know what my food tasted like. I tasted it myself," Raven said.
"Hey, I didn't mean to-"
"I'm fine."
"Why don't I believe you?"
"I am fine, Beast Boy." Her voice elevated just a bit, but her clenched teeth and narrowed eyes were unmistakable. Though Cyborg paused and stepped back, shooing away an annoying fly, Raven suddenly realized her mistake.
"Oh, I see. You miss Beast Boy."
"I-"
"Now before you say anything," Cyborg interrupted, waving his hand at the annoying fly buzzing around, "Remember that your powers aren't good at keeping a secret."
Raven sighed, "Yeah, I miss him." The big metal man rested his hand on her shoulder and smiled.
"I'm sure he misses you too."
Suddenly, the fly that had been annoying Cyborg morphed into a human.
"Did someone call me?" Beast Boy smirked.
"BB!" Cyborg exclaimed, rounding the counter and bear-hugging the green teen. "You finally came back!"
"Whoa! Easy there, dude! HAHAHA! I'm fine! I'm fine." But the metal man didn't care, laughing up a storm as he finally put Garfield down.
"Man! You've grown since you left! Is that a new suit?" Cyborg pinched at Beast Boy's white and red jumpsuit. It was fashioned after his old Doom Patrol suit, with the red band sliding down the middle. The green teen was taller, about half a head taller than Raven. Beast Boy looked over to the purple-haired sorceress and gave a small calm smile. Her face still had a dropped jaw and a pair of big wide eyes.
"Hey, Raven," He said quietly.
"H-Hey."
Cyborg noiselessly watched the two lock eyes and suddenly clapped his hands together. "Welp! I should get the others and tell them you're here," he said.
"Huh? Oh yeah, thanks man," Garfield smiled. Cyborg ran and the sliding doors hissed shut behind him. Beast Boy rubbed his neck, grinning anxiously as the silence grew denser.
What do you say after a year away? Do you just sit there and try to work back from square one? After another minute or so being silent, Beast Boy finally looked at Raven's breakfast.
"You're... you're cooking?"
"Um... yes," Raven said.
"Could I try some?"
"Sure." Beast Boy sat down and jammed a forkful of food into his mouth. His eyes lit up in stars.
"This... this is amazing! Wow, Ra... Raven, you've gotten much better!"
Raven smiled at the teen's award-winning grin. She took her plate of food and sat next to him on the kitchen stools. "I admit it. You were onto something when you said I could learn to make some better food."
Gulp. "I never said-"
"It's okay. You were right," Raven said. The room was comfortably quiet for a moment as the two enjoyed their food. As Garfield ate, he wondered what he was going to say. There was only so much food he could jam into his gut and not talk, even though Raven normally didn't talk. She was pensive and anxious. He could see the slight jitters in her hand when she sipped her tea. He tried his best to not alarm her. But why was she like this?
Beast Boy shrugged. Returning the way he did would make someone a little on edge. He mentally chewed himself out for not telling them beforehand. Finally, after trying to prolong the length of his orange juice, Beast Boy sighed. Raven had been finished a while ago, so he said, "So... how are you?"
"I've been fine."
"You grew out your hair?"
"I've been meaning to cut it, but-"
"Don't!" Raven looked at him. "I mean... it... it looks good on you. But... I guess it's a safety hazard and the idea of you in pigtails doesn't suit you," Garfield chuckled. Raven smiled back.
"How have you been? How is Toros?" His smile disappeared when she said his name. "Is something wrong with him?"
"No... not anymore."
"What happened?" Raven asked.
"He's fine and well it's just..." Garfield slightly shivered as he stared at the countertop. "Dealing with the political mess that his parents made was only half the problem. Finding good people, reworking the government, we even had to ship people from outside of the state to get things remotely stable! Then there was the uranium and figuring out what to do since it was on the tribe's land." Garfield sighed. "Well turns out the Dapper Mense thought there was too much bad blood on the land, so they allowed the government to take it anyways. Thankfully, the state government did a better job of keeping the toxic stuff away from nature." Beast Boy rubbed his eyes and sighed like all the wind had just left his lungs. "Then there was Toros. Because his parents were gone... there were times that he would..."
He couldn't say it, but a nod from Raven's head made it clear that she knew what he meant. "What's worse is that I had to convince the other Titans that he wasn't going to turn on them or betray them, so I had to be the stupid voice of reason for a bunch of kids!"
"Aren't we a bunch of kids?"
"Not funny, Raven," Garfield muttered out.
"That wasn't a joke."
Beast Boy groaned, "Anyway, it took a while but the team finally started to like Toros like their own, and he even opened up to them a bit more." He looked up from the countertop and gave a big sigh of relief. "That's when I knew it was time for me to come back home. Thankfully, Toros has a support group to fall back on. So yeah, that's why it looked like I wasn't sleeping."
"I...I'm so sorry." Beast Boy spun his head to Raven. "I didn't know that... if you-"
"No, no, no, no," Garfield said, picking Raven's head up by her chin. "Don't go blaming yourself for something you couldn't control. I already had enough of that with the others. I'm just glad to be back."
"Hmm," Raven smiled softly. She suddenly roped her arms around his torso and squeezed him. Garfield froze. Was his heart stopping? No, he could feel it beating, just louder and stronger. Beast Boy looked at the beautiful sorceress as she silently hugged him.
"R... Rav-en?"
"I've... I've missed you... a lot," Raven struggled to say. She inhaled his air, letting the flood of memories wash over her.
"Hehe uh...thanks I uh..." Slowly getting over the nerves in his hands, he wrapped his arms around her. "I missed you too." His naked hand, green like the rest of him, stroked her hair as his heightened nose filled with her sweet lavender scent. He smiled, and tears streamed down his face. "I missed you too." He could feel her tears soaking into his jumpsuit. He wasn't an empath, but he knew worry when he saw it. "It's okay," He soothed, gently stroking her hair. Raven listened to his heartbeat. It was in sync with hers, but the fact she could hear it at all was more dear to her. She closed her eyes, trying to restrain at least some of the tears, but they fell past her happy smile and onto Beast Boy's super suit.
Suddenly, he pulled her head back and wiped the tears from her eyes. Raven jumped a bit.
"What's wrong?" He asked.
"Nothing," She said in a whisper, "It's...the first time I've felt your bare hands."
"Hehe, yeah. Sorry if they're hard."
"No... they're very warm."
Suddenly, his ear twitched. "Why don't we see what the others are doing?"
"Uh... okay," Raven said. Beast Boy smiled. They got off their seats and headed for the others. "You can hear them?"
"Yeah, and I know you don't want us looking... weird in front of them," Beast Boy nervously said. Raven rose her eyebrow.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, I... I don't want them to... you know... tease us... I mean... we were hugging... and... they might think we're..." He shifted his pointing finger between her and him. Raven nodded in understanding. They walked a little bit in quiet before she asked.
"And if we were?" Beast Boy's eyes nearly rolled right out of his sockets. "Maybe we could be... closer friends? Ones that don't leave each others' side?" Words. What kind of words was he supposed to say? Crap! Why do women have such a paralyzing effect on men! Beast Boy quieted his head with a shake and settled down a bit, scratching the back of his messy green hair.
"Well... After everything with Toros... I think I want a... closer friend."
Raven smiled as the others rounded the corner. "Me too."
The End
Not one of my best ones, but I think it's a good little thing on my shelf. I hope you enjoyed the story.
