Maybe I'm just not meant to own the Teen Titans...
Things were starting to get weird. But, not in the traditional sense of the word. It was beginning to feel weird, because it was beginning to feel normal. Being intimate with Raven was no longer strange - it was just a part of his day. And that was weird.
But not weird.
He obviously had no idea how to explain it - it should have been weird, so it was weird that it wasn't weird. But even that still confused him.
Beast Boy let out an agitated sigh as he splashed his face with cold water. They had just gotten back from a mission involving Cinderblock, and the changeling was covered head to toe in a fine layer of dust. But because training was scheduled next, he knew there would be no point in showering. Looking up at his reflection, he lazily traced his finger over a deep cut above his brow. The cut would most likely need stitches, if he had a normal life, but thankfully the resident empath could heal it up in a matter of seconds, without even a scar to show for it.
But Raven wouldn't be at training with him that afternoon; Robin assigned her to train with Starfire, since the half-demon wasn't susceptible to whatever strange disease the alien had. Their leader figured that keeping his girlfriend on bed-rest wouldn't do any good, so he had agreed that she could continue training, but without him. Common sense had finally caught up with him, after several lectures from the empath and half-robot.
Beast Boy was happy that Starfire had something to do. She had been bedridden for nearly a month, and though her symptoms had basically vanished, Cyborg still couldn't give her the all clear. There was a strange toxin floating around in her system, and the robotic titan had done several blood tests, and realized that, if exposed to it for too long, Starfire's presence alone could potentially kill a human. And, obviously, nobody wanted that to happen.
Luckily, Raven, Kid Flash, and Beast Boy, himself, seemed to be immune to the toxin, thanks to the bizarre nature of their genetic makeup. Cyborg was also immune to it, due to the mechanics of several of his engineered organs. The only member who had to take extreme precautions was Robin, though he had been rather careless at the start. Starfire had only showed the symptoms of a cold, and their fearless leader had done everything in his power to rid her of it - meaning he spent an awful lot of time in the same room as her. Thankfully, his extremely dedicated personal-hygiene routine had kept him from catching anything, but Cyborg continuously took blood samples, just in case.
Beast Boy knew it must have been hard for the couple - Starfire loved all kinds of physical interactions. She was a notorious hugger, snuggler, and hand-holder. But now, she couldn't even be in the same room as Robin for more than five minutes. And though their leader did his best to deny it, Beast Boy knew Robin was having a hard time not being able to touch his girlfriend at all.
Their relationship had basically turned into the exact opposite of the changeling's relationship with Raven. Starfire and Robin shared the feelings, but couldn't touch, whereas the other two shared nothing but friendship, and often times the same bed.
And that was definitely weird. Beast Boy still couldn't wrap his mind around the idea of being intimate with Raven, though the act was somewhat normal. He no longer blushed when she cuddled with him on the couch, nor did he hesitant when she'd lean in for a kiss. It was like a second nature to him now - part of his routine. Eat, sleep, play video games, fight bad guys, and kiss Raven. Obviously not in that order, but that was really the gist of his day. But sometimes they wouldn't kiss; sometimes she'd come to him, just for the sake of having someone around.
He liked when that happened. He liked it a lot.
He liked just being in the same room as her. The sound of her voice was oddly soothing, but even just the sound of her breathing relaxed him. They didn't have to talk, though he thoroughly enjoyed their conversations. He especially enjoyed when she'd open up to him.
So far, Beast Boy had learned that he and Raven had a lot in common - a less-than-desirable childhood, a fear of losing control, and, for lack of a better term, a romantic-betrayal. But they also shared a love for nature, though Raven preferred viewing it through a window, whereas Beast Boy knew there was nothing better than reconnecting with the earth by actually touching it. The both of them also hated the smell of freshly cut grass, which the changeling had found to be an incredibly unique trait to share. They both loved waffles, hated grape-flavored candy, and couldn't roll their tongues.
Beast Boy had never thought he would learn so much about her - though, in all honesty, he never really tried. When he was younger, he was determined to be her friend, but he hadn't gone about it the right way. Instead of taking his time to get to know her, he had carelessly thrown them into situations that grudgingly pulled them closer.
But now he was actually talking with her, rather than just to her. And he loved it.
But the silent times spent with her were great, too. Just letting her soak in his aura was enough to make him feel useful, even if all he was doing was taking a nap. She had said that the lightness he gave off helped to calm her tremendously, and his inner bits of darkness reminded her that she wasn't the only one struggling with something. Beast Boy hadn't liked the idea of her sensing his self-doubt at first, but he was slowly getting over it.
But right now, all he wanted to do was get training over with. He hated the new training regiment with just the guys; Robin basically used the time for strength-training, since the girls no longer had a say. But Starfire and Raven weren't the only two annoyed by the idea of weight-lifting; Beast Boy hated it as well. He relied on shifting when in battle, and though keeping a good physique helped a bit, bulking up wouldn't do a thing for when he was a sparrow. It wasn't like he ran around, doing flips and round-house kicking baddies. He'd just ram into them in the form of a ram, and then laugh about it afterwards. Rams didn't lift weights.
Luckily, Kid Flash wasn't too into bulking up either, so the two of them would spar. Rumors of a power-canceling device had been circulating through the superhero world for a while now, and though he didn't want to turn into a total beef-head, Beast Boy figured knowing how to fight as a human was a good fall-back plan. After hitting his growth spurt a year prior, Beast Boy no longer held the title of shortest team-member, though he still was the lankiest. Not to say he didn't have muscle - he just didn't have gratuitous amounts of it. He wasn't a body-builder, but he was definitely fitter than the average Joe.
But Robin was still bulkier, and Starfire and Cyborg were still stronger - though that was to be expected. And though he was probably physically stronger than Raven, he would never describe her as lanky. But he never let his mind wander any further than that - which was pretty impressive, since she was basically throwing herself at him every other day.
Shaking away those thoughts, Beast Boy gave his reflection once last glance before slipping out of the bathroom, only to run into the empath herself. She, too, was covered in dust, though her eyes were shining surprisingly bright.
"Oh, there you are."
He knew what that statement entailed - she needed him.
He didn't stop her as she pushed him back into their shared bathroom, and he didn't protest as she turned and locked the door. He didn't flinch as she turned back around and came closer, and he didn't even blink as she placed her hand on his face.
What did come as a surprise, though, was the soothing sensation of her powers as she quickly healed up his cut.
"You really need to come to me right away when you're injured like that - you don't want to risk infection. Especially with Starfire already spreading weird diseases around the tower," she lectured lightly, her monotone the only thing normal with her sentence. She never really cared too much about whether or not he had a cut, but now she was all of a sudden ordering him to be more careful. Honestly, the girl confused the hell out of him.
"Uh, sorry?" he replied with a shrug, giving her a strange look.
"No need to apologize - it's your own health that's at risk. Though I'd prefer if you tried to remain healthy, to the best of your abilities, because you're not much use to me otherwise."
She must have noticed his offended look, for she quickly added, "Besides being my friend."
Beast Boy rolled his eyes at her quick save, though he was pretty sure she was being genuine. Their friendship wasn't just his imagination. Wondering idly if she only planned on healing him, he attempted to exit the room, but she held her arm out to stop him.
"Not so fast, Beast Boy."
Sighing dramatically, the changeling gave him teammate a bored look.
"Raaae, we're supposed to go to traaaining," he whined playfully.
Raven merely arched her brow, before motioning him back towards the sink with the nod of her head.
With another sigh, Beast Boy complied absently as he moved towards the sink. He wasn't sure what she was wanting, but the effort of arguing with her seemed like too much.
"I just need to talk," she explained dryly when he turned back around to face her. She quickly made her way to the sink, before pulling herself onto the counter and crossing her legs. Beast Boy mirrored her position as he pulled himself up on the other side.
"And you can't talk to Star?" he wondered aloud, earning a slight glare from the half-demon.
"Not about this," she drawled, motioning between the two of them with her hand. Beast Boy's eyes widened in realization, and he suddenly felt a bit panicky. Raven never talked about them.
"Uh, what about... this?"
He watched as she leaned her head back against the mirror behind her, before letting a frustrated huff slip past her lips.
"Is..." she began timidly, shooting him a fleeting glance, before redirecting her sights to the shower on the opposite side of the room from them. "Is it weird that this doesn't feel weird, anymore?"
Beast Boy was a bit taken aback by the echoing of his earlier thoughts, and Raven seemed to have taken his silence the wrong way.
"I mean, I don't mean I like this or anything, if that's what you're thinking. I just meant that it's not awkward for me, anymore. Well, at least it wasn't, but now I'm probably making it awkward."
Letting out a quiet laugh at her rare rambling, Beast Boy waved his hands in front of him dismissively. "No, no, I agree!" he assured, still smiling. "I was actually thinking the exact same thing earlier."
Raven gave him a relieved look, before furrowing her brows in thought.
"Why... why is that?"
The changeling let out a low whistle as he tried to figure it out. Obviously, they were just friends. So it wasn't like they were falling for each other or anything - and he knew she knew that. She probably just wanted to know why their routine was becoming so... routine, and why neither of them found their arrangement strange.
"I think we're just getting closer - as friends, of course," he guessed, adding a shrug for good measure. She seemed to weigh his words in her head, before furrowing her brows once more.
"This doesn't seem like the healthiest way of achieving that," she mused, giving him a pointed look.
Beast Boy shrugged again, not knowing what to say. "Well, sure, it's a roundabout way of building a friendship, but I've been dying to be your friend since we met, so I'm all for it!"
Raven seemed to be put off by his statement as she arched her brows incredulously, and the changeling quickly scrambled to amend his sentence.
"You know, since I'm good friends with everyone else! I just wanted to make sure we were friends, too, since we live together and all..."
He let out a quiet sigh of relief as she seemed to accept his answer. A somewhat awkward silence settled between them as she stared off in thought, before turning back to face him.
"So, you think our friendship has gotten stronger?" she questioned hesitantly, obviously not understanding his view.
Beast Boy nodded animatedly, a cheeky smile spreading across his face. "Well, yeah!" he enthused, turning himself to face her better. "I mean, we're actually talking, and learning about each other, and we rarely fight much anymore!"
He was surprised by the incredulous scoff that slipped out of his teammate's mouth as she gave him an amused look.
"Rarely? Please, Beast Boy - we argue constantly."
The green titan let out a snort of amusement as he shook his head. "Uh, no; we barely ever argue anymore," he protested.
Raven let out a dry laugh of her own as she regarded him skeptically. "That sentence doesn't have a single ounce of truth to it - we always argue."
Again, Beast Boy shook his head. "We do not."
"Do to."
"Do not."
"Do to."
"Okay, fine; when was our last argument, hmm?" he challenged, giving his teammate a knowing smirk.
Raven returned it as she answered, "We're arguing right now, Beast Boy."
The changeling opened his mouth to retaliate, until he realized that she was right. Huffing in defeat, he shot her a wavering glare.
"Yeah, well, you started it on purpose, just to prove yourself right."
The half-demon merely rolled her eyes at his response, before tucking a stray piece of hair behind her ear and letting out a labored sigh.
"We should probably get to training," she suggested after a few minutes of silence.
Beast Boy nodded his agreement as he slipped off of the counter, landing on his feet with a dull thud. Raven did the same, only barely making a sound as her boots hit the floor. The changeling suddenly found himself a little jealous of her effortless grace, and wondered why he was burdened to be such a klutz.
As he continued to ponder over it, he didn't notice the small puddle of water on the floor before him, and proceeded to lose his footing. In an attempt to keep himself from falling, he grabbed onto the empath, who wasn't prepared to handle his excess weight, and he pulled her down with him. He landed on his butt, with his teammate haphazardly in his lap.
She looked beyond annoyed as she glared at him, before she quickly removed herself from his person.
"You were right about one thing, Beast Boy," she deadpanned, standing herself up as he scrambled back onto his own feet.
"What?" he asked, genuinely curious, albeit a bit scared of her answer.
She observed him coolly, before turning herself towards the door and unlocking it.
"We've definitely become better friends," she replied dryly, shooting him a glare from over her shoulder. "Otherwise, I probably would have killed you by now."
So I think I've built up the friendship pretty well, so that means phase one is complete! Now, for phase two: the development of feelings! And that's sure to be a bunch of awkward! Also, I'm planning on bringing Jinx in a bit later to add a little chaos and dynamic, and maybe unknowingly give BB a hard time as he faces the fact that he and Rae-Rae are totes endgame!
Also, since I usually make RobStar the happy couple in my fics, I decided to give them a few obstacles to overcome, even if it's just the side plot. I think it'll give our favorite little lovebirds in denial some perspective to see those two go through some rough patches. But don't worry, although I am planning on making this story a little more serious, I am also a sucker for a happy ending. So the RobStar is safe, and the BBRae is probably definite. And then I love me some Flinx, so of course that's being thrown in. And Cyborg is an independent guy who don't need no woman to make him feel complete. (Also, I'm not the best CyBee writer, since I don't know Bumble Bee's character too well.) And not everybody needs to be paired up!
Anywhoo, leave a review? Oh, and I want to know how you guys feel about this story being solely in BB's perspective so far - yay? Nay? I personally have fun writing him, since he's such a goof, but then my Raven always comes off a bit harsh when you're not aware of her thought process. So how do y'all feel?