Raven woke at the expected time the next day. Today was Raven's day with Robin and boy was she excited! (A/N: note sarcasm). The boy wonder never really did anything interesting. He mainly did crime files, training schedules, status checks on the villains at the county jail, work out, spend time with Starfire, and play videogames with Beast boy and Cyborg.
She walked down the hall towards the common room where she and Robin would have breakfast and apparently get down to business, seeing as he didn't do too much else. Starfire was playing with Silkie so she was cancelled out. She assumed Beast boy and Cyborg would be consumed with videogames and plus it was Tuesday. Every Tuesday he would organize his crime files and check up on the villains at the prison. This day was going to be fun….ugh. Well, at least she was able to feel. That was the whole point of doing this. Maybe she could learn a little more about her team mates and teach them a bit about her if they asked.
The doors to the common room opened with a hiss and Raven walked in. She saw Robin sitting on at the table sipping his coffee and reading the paper. He turned around to see Raven walking over to the counter.
"Morning Raven!" he said…a little too cheery. The whole tower knew that Robin was a morning person. He and Star were probably the only ones in the entire city!
"Morning." she said nonetheless. "Are you going to have more of this or could I have a cup?" she asked, indicating the coffee pot. Robin shook his head.
"No. Go ahead. I didn't know you drink coffee." he said, turning back to his paper.
"I don't. I'm just experimenting." she said, taking a seat on the far end of the couch.
"So what do you want to do today?" he asked.
"Whatever you want. Remember, the whole point is for me to do something different."
"I know but I don't want you to be completely bored either. I mean, most of the stuff I do is paperwork and leader stuff. I always find time to hang out with you guys but basically. My free time is work." he replied.
"That's okay with me. Maybe I could help you, and get it done a lot faster." she offered.
"Are you sure?"
"Of course. I wouldn't be offering if I didn't want to."
"Thanks. You're like the sister I never had." Robin said.
"And you're like my brother. So what do you usually do after breakfast?" she asked, though she already knew the answer.
"Well, I'm thinking of organizing the crime files and checking on the prison and see how the villains are holding."
'Yep, just an average Tuesday.' she thought.
The doors to the common room swished open and Cyborg and Starfire walked in. They were speaking Tamaranean. It annoyed everyone to death. Ever since Cyborg learned her language, they would occasionally bring up a topic and no other titan knew what they were saying!
"Flargaxini metworm nopturn oruga neth." Starfire said
"Chinitan! Globstar recktang kattl lee marphlnon." Cyborg replied
"Blognaftar!" Starfire laughed.
"Sorry to interrupt but could you please speak English while you're around us?" Robin asked.
"Why? English doesn't annoy you." Cyborg snickered
"Yes but still. We feel kind of uncomfortable when you two are in a discussion that we can't understand."
"Very well Robin. If you must know, we were discussing Cyborg's car." Starfire said.
"Okay thanks." he replied, giving Starfire a warm smile. She blushed and floated off to make herself breakfast. Cyborg and Raven were watching him watch her as she flew off to the kitchen.
Cyborg cocked his eyebrow and waved his hand in front of Robin's face
"Hellooo, Earth to Robin! You there?" he mocked. Robin snapped out of his daze.
"Huh?"
"Dude, you were staring at Starfire again." Cyborg said, smiling wide. Robin blushed a bright crimson.
"I was not staring at her!"
"Uh, yeah you were."
"I was not!"
"Were so!"
"Was not!"
"Yes"
"No"
"No"
"Yes!"
"Ha! I got you to say yes! Well, not as smart as you think you are huh? You just fell for a Beast boy trick!" Cyborg laughed. Robin rolled his eyes.
"Fine, so I was. Big deal! I don't like her like that!" Robin snapped
"Are you sure?" Cyborg asked incredulously
"Yes now quit bugging me about it!" Robin ordered.
"Okay chill man I'll stop talking about it."
"Thank You."
During this whole argument over virtually nothing, Raven just sipped her coffee and paid attention to the windows. She had never had coffee before and the taste of was a little bitter but not all that unpleasant. It was definitely thicker than tea but yet the warm liquid ran down her throat smoothly. She could feel the caffeine seeping into her muscles and making her tense up a bit. She finished her cup and walked it over to the sink. When she sat back down, Robin got up and placed the newspaper on the table and set his coffee mug next to Raven's.
"Okay so I was thinking of checking on the criminals now. You coming?" he asked Raven. She nodded and stood up.
"I wish you a pleasant morning friends!" Starfire called.
"Thanks. We'll see you guys later." Robin called back.
As He and Raven walked down the hallway to the garage, they past a still sleepy Beast boy. He muttered them good morning then walked down to the common room. Robin smiled as he saw Beast boy take a second glance at Raven then blush mildly after he saw Robin had caught him.
"What are you smiling about?" Raven asked.
"Nothing." Robin replied coolly.
When the two reached the garage, Robin got on his R-Cycle while Raven flew beside him. The morning was just as boring as she was warned. They stopped at the prison to check on all the villains. They walked past each villains cell and each one sneered at them or made a crude comment. Some however shrieked and huddled into a corner as soon as they saw Raven cough cough… Dr. Light… cough. But otherwise none of their behavior changed and they were all still trying to escape…as usual.
Once everything was clear there, the chief gave Robin some files for him to fill out and organize on the crime rates of the city's normal bad guys, the super villains, and the crime rate for the neighboring county's, in case a new villain would happen to show up. Robin and Raven rolled their eyes and flew/drove back home, unwilling to do the paperwork ahead.
Back at the tower, Starfire was giving Silkie a bath while Cyborg and Beast boy battled it out on the Game station. After a couple dozen times of losing to Cyborg and one victory. The two could barely look at the screen their eyes hurt so much. When the T.V. was off, Beast boy blinked a couple times, seeing large blue dots appearing everywhere.
"You know Raven might be right about videogames, they're dangerous!" he said as he tried to get up and walk blindly to the fridge without tripping, he wasn't having much luck.
"Psh, you're only agreeing with her because you like her" Cyborg said casually.
"SHHHH! Don't say it so loud!" he whispered harshly.
"Why not? No one else is here." Cyborg said. Beast boy rolled his eyes and took a seat on the couch. He threw Cyborg his root beer he had asked for and the two clinked their beverages together and drank their fill.
"So, you got any plans for Friday?" Cyborg asked.
"Ha, ha, very funny. I know that's my day with Raven." he said in a 'duh' voice.
"Yeah but what are you going to do? You seriously aren't just going to sit around and tell her meaningless jokes are you?" he asked.
Beast boy thought of this for a moment. "I don't know. I don't want to make her do something she doesn't want to do like play videogames but I don't know of anything that we can do together. She and I are so…different." Beast boy said sadly. He had already thought of everything that they could do together but had come up with nothing.
"Well, maybe you're looking at it the wrong way." he said. Beast boy cocked his eyebrow.
"What do you mean?"
"Don't think about you and Raven doing something that you both would like, if you do that then you'll focus on how different you two are."
"Well we are."
"I guess so. But there are some similarities."
"Such as…"
"Well you both got a damn good tempers." he said. Beast boy shrugged and took another sip of his root beer.
"I guess but I don't get angry often."
"Yeah but when you do you're like the Beast in human form." Cyborg said.
"Oh" was all Beast boy could say. He had no idea how angry he could actually get until Cyborg had just said it. "Well, sorry dude but can you help me with the whole Raven thing?" he asked
"Oh right. Well, again don't think of it as an outing. Think of it as a…date." Cyborg said. Beast boy looked at him like he was crazy.
"Are you crazy!" he nearly shouted "I can't do that! If I asked her out…"
"Whoa man chill…I said think of it as a date…don't actually ask her out yet." he replied, sipping his root beer. Beast boy eyed him curiously.
"Yet?" he asked. Cyborg only looked at him like he was stupid. "What I'm just kidding!" he chuckled. His smile left him as quickly as it had come.
"I don't know Cyborg…this is…I just…I know I like her but…I have my doubts…" Beast boy said sadly.
"Well I'm sure you do. You don't know whether she likes you or not. Now come on man cheer up. If you were to take her on a date and it was around noon, where would you take her?" Cyborg said, trying to comfort his friend. Beast boy sighed and thought about the question.
"Let's see, a date huh? Well I'd probably take her to a movie, maybe see Lord of the Rings or something that would interest both of us, Then I'd take her to the boardwalk and amusement park and maybe win her a prize that she actually likes, we would probably ride the Ferris wheel once cause you know she hates roller coasters, then maybe since it would be around three by that time then I'd take her to this really cool place I found, sorry dude no details on where, for dinner maybe I'd make her a picnic at the beach cause I know she hates fancy restaurants and so do I, and afterwards go for a walk through the park and walk off the meal and to wrap it all up I would take her to this really cool dance club I found in the city, it's not that big and it's hardly ever crowded. I know how she hates places that are too public." Beast boy finished. He took a breath at saying all these things so fast.
Cyborg only looked at him and raised his eyebrow. He smirked a bit then took another swing of root beer and let out a loud belch.
"Well, it sounds like you have Friday planned out." he snickered. Beast boy shook his head.
"No way. That's date stuff, if I took her out to those places, she'd think that we were actually on a date!"
"Well, what if you were?" he inquired
"What are you saying?' Beast boy asked cautiously. Cyborg rolled his eyes and moaned.
"Ugh! Do I have to spell it out for you man! You. Ask. Out. Raven. By. Fri-day! Am. I. Going. Too. Fast?" he mocked. Beast boy frowned but then relaxed and sighed.
"I dunno Cy. What if she says no? I don't think she even feels the same way about me!" Beast boy groaned.
"You never know if you don't ask. Cyborg said wisely.
--
"UGH! Finally! The paperwork is done!" Robin groaned. He was glad that Raven was helping him otherwise it would have taken twice as long.
"How're you doing? Did you exercise any emotions today?" he asked her. Raven was rubbing her eyes, she had never read anything as boring as those files. Epics, yes, Dark fantasies, of course, even some romance novels, but she has never read anything as monotonous as this. She had to give Robin some credit for taking on all this responsibility. She had such trouble focusing, she had to frequently reread some sentences before taking them in. Now she knew why Beast boy didn't like to read much.
"Stress and Boredom." she replied. Robin chuckled.
"Such is the life of the team leader." he said. Raven blinked and rubbed her eyes once more. So she could focus.
"You hungry?" he asked.
"A little, maybe we should get some lunch." she replied. Robin nodded and the two made their way to the common room.
Once the doors opened, the foul smell of mayonnaise, turkey, chicken, beef, ham, salami, pastrami, and bologna filled the air. Yep, it was lunchtime and that meant that Cyborg was having his meat filled, 5 foot long sub. The two titans both clenched their noses and breathed through their mouths.
"Need some?" Beast boy asked, holding out two clothespins. He had his own clothespin on his nose, blocking the awful scent of Cyborg's meaty sub.
"No thanks." Robin said, releasing his nose as Cyborg consumed the last of his sub. Raven did the same and walked over to the table where Beast boy was.
"Well, I've lost my appetite." she said.
"Tell me about it." Beast boy said sarcastically. His voice a little nasally from the clothespin.
"Well, what do you want to do now?" Robin asked.
"I told you, you pick."
"I can't keep picking. Come on, there's got to be something that you want to do, exercise emotions that you haven't already." he said. Raven thought about this. She then smiled a devious smile.
"Well there is ONE that I would like to use." she said.
"What?" he asked.
Raven paused for a moment. "Bravery." she said. This caught Beast boy and Cyborg's attention immediately and they listened in on what she had in mind.
"So you wanna spar?" he asked. She nodded.
"All right, you're on!" he smirked. He reached his hand over the table and they shook hands. Suddenly Beast boy burst out laughing. This caught all of them by surprise, Cyborg even choked on his last bit of sandwich. They all stared at him like he was crazy.
"What!?" Raven practically yelled, thinking he was laughing at her. He didn't answer, his laughter becoming more hyena-like by the second.
"What's up? Meat fumes getting to you?" Cyborg joked. Beast boy calmed down a bit but he was still laughing hard.
"No…it's just…HA HA HA…I can't…believe…Rob thinks…he can beat Raven!" he cackled. Raven then gave Robin a smug smile and gave Beast boy a grateful one.
"What?" Robin almost shouted.
"Yeah man are you crazy? Rob's the one who has all the combat practice and kung fu skills." Cyborg defended. Raven gave him a glare that screamed 'Traitor!'
"Heh…yeah but that's nothing compared to Raven. You remember what Brave did to the statue the last time we saw her. Trust me, Robin's got no chance." Beast boy defended.
Raven gave him a large smile. "Thanks." she said a little sheepishly.
"No problem. Besides, you and I both know you can take him down, despite what he and his boyfriend over there say." he joked.
Then she did something that no one expected. Something that they never knew Raven would ever do in her life. Something that completely redefined Raven's personality and everything they've come to know her to be. She laughed…at Beast boy's joke!
The three titans were shocked but none as much as Beast boy. Once he heard her laugh, his heart skipped a beat. He had only heard her laugh at his jokes twice. Once when they first met, and when he and Cyborg met Raven's happy emotion. This time was different. It wasn't a shy giggle or a loud, annoying laugh that was clouded with unbridled joy and too out of character for her. It was…cute. It was a cross between the two and he found it beautiful. It wasn't too out of character yet, it was like the dark, mysterious girl he had come to know was…dare he say…coming out of her shell! He couldn't help the ear to ear grin the spread across his face.
"Did you just…laugh?" he asked. Raven nodded, still smiling.
"At one of HIS jokes!" Cyborg said, she nodded again.
"Does that mean you think I'm funny?" he asked hopefully. Her smile was then replaced by a playful grin.
"Let's not get ahead of ourselves shall we. I laughed, I didn't say anything." she said. Beast boy felt his ears droop a little. Raven noticed this
"Even if I did say it, would you be sure you wouldn't get egotistic on me?" she asked. He thought for a moment then chuckled.
"Heh I guess that does sound like me. All right I'll see if I can get you to laugh again this week, then we'll see who's funny." he said, his ears raising again. Raven smiled again.
"Okay! Raven! We still have something to settle remember?" Robin said challengingly.
"Fine! Let's do this then!" she said just as threateningly as Robin.
--
"Fifty bucks says Robin kicks you're Azarathian ass!" Cyborg shouted once they were all in the training room.
"Yeah well up yours!" Raven shouted giving him a gesture to show what she meant.
"Better get ready to pay up tin man. Cause my money's that Raven beats Boy Wonder to a pulp!" Beast boy smirked.
"Oh I'll take that bet" Cyborg smirked, shaking Beast boy's hand
Raven and Robin both rolled their eyes. They got into the sparring circle and each took off their cloak and cape.
"All right y'all here are the rules!" Cyborg announced. "First one to stay down for more than 5 seconds loses. Three rounds. No powers! No Gadgets! No Groin!" he said this more to Raven than Robin "No Mercy! Deal?" Raven and Robin both nodded. They shook hands and returned to their designated corners.
"Ready? Let's get it on!" He shouted. He hit a bell to mark the first round. Then it was on. Raven and Robin both circled each other to see who would make the first move, finally Raven went in to fake a punch to his face but then swipe his legs out. He saw this coming but dodged it and went in for a kick of his own. She jumped out of the way and away from him. He jumped at her and grabbed her by the stomach. He pinned her down and waited for the 5 seconds.
"One…Two…Three…" Cyborg shouted.
Raven put her feet under Robin's stomach and pushed him over her. She quickly stood up and jumped to pin him down. He stayed down for three seconds before punching her in the jaw and knocking her to the ground. He stood up in front of her and she saw her chance. She swiped her legs underneath him, knocking him off balance. He fell to the ground with a thud.
She stood up and rubbed her jaw. She could hear the boys shouting from the side lines.
"Yeah Raven!" Beast boy shouted
"Come on Rob you can beat her! She's just a girl." Cyborg only said this last comment as an instinctual boy thing, though once he said it Raven went from confident and determined to hurt and enraged. Beast boy shot Cyborg a death glare and he could have sworn he heard him growl. Robin had apparently not heard this comment and stood right up. He noticed that Raven was now angry, he figured that she was pissed from the punch. He smiled, he knew that anger was almost always your down fall.
Raven lunged for him but he ducked down and kicked her in the stomach. She fell to her knees, gasping for breath and clutching her stomach. Robin put his foot on her back and pushed her down once more. He held her there and waited for Cyborg to count.
"One…Two…"
This was it, she was just going to give up. Who cares what Cyborg said, it was just a slip of the tongue, he didn't mean it. It doesn't even matter who won this match, it was over already.
"…Three…Four…"
"RAVEN GET UP!" Beast boy shouted. This alone for some reason caused her to twist around and grab Robin's foot and pull him to the ground. Beast boy smiled a wide grin and watched as the fight continued. Robin was caught off guard by this attack but it did not stop there. She had jumped out of the way and while Robin was struggling to get up, she rammed herself into his stomach, pushing him backwards. He tried to do a flip and kick her in the process but she caught his foot and threw him to the other side of the ring. She smiled wickedly.
As soon as she had done that Starfire had walked in the room. At first she was afraid that they were actually trying to hurt each other, but Beast boy and Cyborg explained the situation. Soon she was yelling and cheering for Robin and Raven at the same time.
The two began to circle each other again, trying to catch their breath. They were both sweating profusely with scratches and bruises on them. Robin had large bruises on his head in several places where Raven had kicked, punched and thrown him. Raven's jaw had begun to bruise from when Robin had kicked her and she had a small scratch on her leg from when Robin's belt accidentally nipped her. Robin saw Starfire out of the corner of his eye and realized that she was cheering each of them on.
He took off his shirt and threw it aside. Raven smirked. "Showing off for Starfire are we?" she whispered so only Robin could hear her. Strangely he became enraged by this and he lunged for her, she smiled. She ducked out of the way aimed a punch into his gut like he had done before. She thrust her arm as hard as she could. She hit him in the stomach and he coughed and gagged. She didn't give him a chance to stand, she kicked him in the jaw and she pinned him to the ground.
"One…Two…Three…Four…" Cyborg said, he hesitated on the last number. Raven gave him a glare as well as Beast boy.
"FIVE!" Beast boy shouted, a little angry that Cyborg had tried to cheat for Robin. Raven stood up, took her cloak and left. Starfire immediately came to the aid of Robin as soon as she had left. Cyborg sighed and looked down to his green friend next to him.
"All right man you win. Raven won so here's the cash." Cyborg sighed, handing Beast boy a fifty. He smacked his robotic hand away.
"I don't want it." he said coldly.
"What?" he asked completely surprised. Beast boy's answer also made Starfire and Robin stop what they were doing to pay attention to the angry changeling and the confused metal man.
"Why did you say that? Why did you do that?" he practically shouted at him
"Do what?"
"You said that she shouldn't win because she's a girl." he shouted. At this, Starfire clenched her teeth and her eyes began to flicker a green glow.
"Yeah well I'm sure she knows that I was just kidding."
"And what about hesitating to call out that she won?"
"It was a joke! I didn't mean to hurt her feelings."
"Yeah. Apologize to her tomorrow, I'll go see if she's okay." Beast boy said coldly.
The green changeling bolted out the door and after Raven. Which left Cyborg alone with Starfire's angry glare and Robin's disapproving look. Beast boy jogged down the hallway and stopped at Raven's door. He knocked on it softly.
"Raven? Are you in there?" he asked. There was no answer. He put his ear up to the door and he could hear the lung spasms of her crying inside, he could smell the salt of her tears.
"Look Raven it's okay. Cyborg didn't mean what he said. I admit that was a crappy thing to say but it'll be okay. You proved him wrong! You beat Robin, and I bet Star's going to give him one hell of a time." he chuckled. She still did not answer him. He sighed and leaned his head against her door.
"Raven please say something. I can't stand knowing that you're upset."
"Yeah well it's nothing fifty bucks can't fix right!" she shouted coldly through the door. This startled Beast boy though he was a little hurt at what she had just said.
"Raven do you think I care? I called off the bet! I want to make sure you're okay." he said calmly.
"I'm just DANDY!" she shouted.
"Raven please let me in. Let me help you." he said desperately
"I don't need your help!" she shouted
"Raven!" He said a little louder.
"NO! I don't need you to apologize for him Beast boy! And I certainly DON'T need your PITY!" She scolded
"Raven I'm not pitying you! I just want to help you feel better!" he practically shouted.
"Why? You wouldn't understand anyways!" she shouted.
Again Beast boy felt his heart sink at her words. How does she know that he doesn't understand? She knows nothing about him! But…that's because he never shared. He looked down at the ground for a while. He could hear her sobbing even harder from the other side. He leaned up against the wall and slid down it. He rested his forehead on his knees and just sat there.
Soon the crying stopped and he didn't hear her sobbing anymore. He thought that she had gone to bed and decided to leave her alone. He stood up and was about to go to the common room when her door opened. She had her hood up and was staring at the ground. He could see the dried on tears on her reddened cheeks.
"I'm sorry." she mumbled. Beast boy looked at her confused.
"Why? You didn't do anything. It's Cyborg who should apologize to you." he said.
"No…I'm…sorry I yelled at you…I shouldn't have taken my anger out on you. Not after all you've done for me, with getting me this necklace that'll let me feel, and cheering me on at the match…I'm sorry." she said softly. She was on the verge of tears again. Beast boy sensed this and quickly went over to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. She felt a strange spark throughout her body when he touched her.
"No, you don't have to apologize. You didn't do anything wrong. Now don't listen to Cyborg okay? You're one of the strongest, prettiest, bravest, smartest people I know." he said with a smile.
She looked him right in the eyes with a bewildered expression. Her face was red and raw from crying and her eyes appeared to be glassy and fragile.
"you…you think I'm…pretty?" she asked, utterly surprised. Beast boy's smile disappeared and his face flushed a deep red. He broke out in a cold sweat and his heart began to race. He retracted his arm and rubbed the back of his neck.
"uh…uh…" was all he managed to say. "I…uh…I…I…uh…ye…yeah I do." he said finally. He was having trouble finding the words and he knew that if he took it back, she would get hurt and he didn't want that. The only thing to do now was to wait and hope that she wouldn't be angry at him. Though what she did next shocked him the most.
She leaped into his arms and wrapped her arms around his neck. She hugged him tightly and smiled. She had never been called pretty before. Beautiful yes, but that was from an evil dragon in a book, his words didn't matter anymore. Beast boy however, she trusted him with her life, there could be no way he was lying.
He was completely taken aback by this but he happily wrapped his arms around her and hugged her back. They stood like that for a minute or two before Raven pulled away, a smile painted on her lips and her eyes, shining like they were in the moonlight.
"Thank you Beast boy. You have no idea how much that means to me." she said. "I'm going to go to bed, I'll see you tomorrow." she said before giving him another quick hug and retreating to her room.
Beast boy was left flabbergasted and flushed. He shook his head and smiled dreamily to himself. He practically floated back to his room. He couldn't wait for Friday.