Beast Boy was confused.
This was not unusual. A lot of things made him feel confused. Like math, or space travel, or Starfire's cooking concoctions. What he was currently confused about was also not unusual: Raven. What was unusual, however, was why Beast Boy was confused.
He was developing feelings for her.
But, of course, being Beast Boy, he had no idea what was happening or why. His feelings for Raven were not as blatantly obvious as his feelings for Terra. It was just…he liked being around her. All the time. It was almost something of a compulsion. Every day, he'd find another way to spend time with her, no matter how Raven felt about it. He had been doing this for a while, almost entirely subconsciously. It took someone pointing it out for him to actually notice.
He had casually suggested that he and Raven take the night's patrol at the Team meeting. Unbeknownst to him, this was the third time that week that this particular suggestion had come up. Robin had raised an eyebrow, but chose not to make a comment. After the meeting, while Beast Boy and Cyborg played video games, the half-robot brought it up.
"What's up with you and Rae?" he asked casually. In reality, he was paying very close attention to Beast Boy's reaction. But the kid wouldn't react normally if he knew Cyborg was seriously asking.
"Whatdya mean?" the green teen asked, eyes still glued to the screen.
Cyborg chewed on the inside of his cheek. "You're always askin' to be on patrol with her."
"Am I?" There was a genuine question there. Cyborg's eyebrows drew together.
"…Yeah."
"Huh." And that was it. They resumed their game and never mentioned it again. But the idea of it lurked in the back of Beast Boy's mind, slowly trudging its way forward.
Why had he requested that patrol? Why had he been doing it so often? What was wrong with it? Why did he suddenly feel so weird?
He and Raven were friends. At least, he thought they were. He loved her presence; it made his heart lift and his face get all smilely. That was a friend thing!
Right?
Their patrol that night was relatively standard. Nothing particularly interesting happened. Due to this, Beast Boy had a lot of time to ponder. He crouched beside the girl in question, looking at her out of the corner of his eye. She had taken her hood off, something that rarely – if ever – happened on patrol. Her face was relaxed, her eyes shut. Had he never noticed how pretty she was before? Her skin was smooth and clear, as if carved from marble. Her nose was small and slightly quirked up at the end. Her lips were round and supple. They looked soft.
Beast Boy blushed and turned back to his look-out. His heart was pounding against his ribcage so hard he was afraid that she'd be able to hear it. His head was running on a million separate tracks, the most prominent being of when he had first made her smile. It was so long ago, but he remembered it perfectly. She had such a sweet smile.
Okay, so maybe he had a teensy crush on Raven. No big deal! He had crushes on girls all the time! But as the week wore on, Beast Boy became increasingly worried. He thought about her so often that it was turning into something of a minor obsession. It was driving him crazy. Questions marched around his brain in circles: Does she like me too? Would she ever like me? God, why do I like her so much?
Questions. Always questions. Beast Boy was terrified of answers.