Disclaimer: I don't own any rights to the Teen Titans or any characters in the DC Universe.
Two weeks passed since Raven and Beast Boy's dinner at Luigi's. As agreed upon they went to the mall the next day and together were able to select a movie to see. The pickings were slim that day and they ended up seeing the current Disney flick that was playing. The next day Beast Boy treated her to lunch at a small vegetarian café downtown, after which the spent the afternoon at her favorite bookstore, where she purchased a boxed set of the Lord of the Rings along with the Hobbit for him. She even threw in a small dictionary for good measure.
The transubstantiating monster had not made any more appearances during that fortnight and the pair spent quite a bit of time reading together in the common room. This did not go unnoticed by their teammates, who were beginning to wonder what was going on between the couple who were better known for their incessant bickering. Raven's new found civility towards Beast Boy was especially obvious to the others, who wisely chose to say nothing about the matter, at least for the time being.
Beast Boy only told his teammates about his encounter with the SladeBot and kept Terra's formal dumping private between Raven and himself. Robin, as expected, became completely obsessed when he heard about Slade and had been combing the city for clues on the whereabouts of his nemesis, much to Starfire's chagrin, as the walking traffic light now hardly spent any time at all with his girlfriend. The Boy Wonder found few clues and those that he did find pointed to Murakami High School. He made an appointment to speak with the Principal at the school, but it would have to wait as the school was closed during a 4 week break.
One afternoon Raven went down to the garage to help Cyborg wax the T-Car. Beast Boy was away that afternoon, visiting some kids at a local hospital, and she had some time on her hands that day. For some reason she found the activity to be therapeutic in a Zen kind of way. It was mid afternoon and Cyborg asked her to meet him at 3PM in the garage. She walked into the cavernous room and looked around for the tin man. She didn't see him, but the car was there and judging from the damp floor underneath it was apparent he had just washed it and it was ready to be waxed.
She walked over to the supply cabinet and grabbed a fresh can of car wax, some application cloths and the electric buffer. Cyborg had trained her in all the nuances of properly waxing his baby and she began to apply the wax to the front right fender as the Bionic Titan entered the garage, carrying several cases of soda pop, with which he began to restock the garage fridge.
"Want one?" he asked.
"I'll have an orange soda, if there're any cold ones." She yelled back as she applied the wax with a circular motion.
"You're in luck, there's one cold orange soda left." He produced a glass and filled it with the contents of the can and left it on the bench closest to the sorceress, after which he joined her in the waxing process.
"Say Raven" he began in an innocent tone. "You and the grass stain have been hanging out a lot lately, right?"
"Uh huh" she replied disinterestedly.
"So, uh, anything going on between you two?"
"What do you mean?" she replied without even looking up from the fender, which she was now buffing.
"You know, uh, I mean, you guys are spending a lot of time together"
Raven turned the buffer off and looked her friend in the eye.
"If you're asking whether or not we're romantically involved, the answer is no." she replied in her monotone, masterfully hiding that the question unnerved her. "Yes, we have been spending more time together than we usually do. We have become better friends as a result and I would hope that the three of you would appreciate that."
Cyborg took in his grey friend's words. He had known her for a long time and he could now recognize when she was being disingenuous. He grinned as he replied.
"That's very thoughtful of you Raven. And this has nothing to do with the fact that he's stopped obsessing over Terra, right?"
"A mere coincidence." she replied as she resumed buffing the fender.
Beast Boy and Raven went out to catch another movie together. They arrived early and had already entered the modest sized theatre. Raven insisted they avoid the multiplexes this time along with their usual fare and had somehow talked him into seeing an independent film at the "artsy fartsy" theater, as he called it, in the city's Bohemian district . He had no idea what to expect but figured he had nothing to lose as he could nap if the movie was boring. So far her track record at picking movies had been good and he ha actually enjoyed every movie she had selected for them to see. The movie was "Push" and it had won awards at the recent Sundance film festival. This wouldn't be "Cannibal Zombies 5", that much was certain.
Much to his relief the old Rialto Theatre had a well stocked concession stand where he purchased a huge tub of popcorn and a jumbo sized soda which they agreed they would share. Armed with their treats they headed for the rear of the small theatre, which they usually did to avoid being noticed by the other movie goers. This wasn't an issue this time as the theater, which was located near downtown, was nearly vacant for the matinee. The movie wasn't scheduled to start for another 15 minutes so they had some time to kill.
"I saw her again." He mentioned off handedly.
She turned to face him as she replied, almost grateful for a distraction from the pre-movie ads that continued to cycle on the screen. The smiling realtor ads were the worst, in her opinion.
"Really? Where did you see her?"
"Not far from here. It was right after we caught Mumbo yesterday. I saw her get on a bus with her two goons."
"Goons?" Raven asked. "Terra has goons?"
Beat Boy laughed. "They're just a couple of her classmates at the high school. A pair of ordinary bullies."
"Big and muscular I presume."
"They are for girls."
"Her goons are girls?" Raven said as she raised an eyebrow. "Did she see you?"
"I don't know. I saw them just as they got on the bus, why?"
"Just curious." She said as the lights finally dimmed and the movie began. Once again, to Beast Boy's surprise he found Raven's choice of flick to be interesting if somewhat disturbing and was soon lost in the plot. That is until about 40 minutes into the movie he felt something on his left hand, which was resting on the armrest. To his immense surprise Raven was caressing his hand, absentmindedly and judging by her face she was unaware that she was doing so, as she was absorbed in the movie. He debated what to do. Should he withdraw his hand? Cough? Kiss her?
No way! He knew the best thing to do was to play dumb. It was the only way to spare her any embarrassment. And she would be embarrassed. Anyway, why interrupt her? He was enjoying it, so what harm could there be in letting her continue? She continued to fondle his hand for a quite a while, and he began to worry that the movie would end before she stopped. Then he had an idea. With his other hand he silently offered her some popcorn, which she accepted using the caressing hand. He deftly removed his now freed hand from armrest. He was pleased with his cunning.
The only problem was that it didn't work. When he stuck the tub of popcorn in her face she became aware of her embarrassing predicament. There was no way he didn't know, she realized. What would she tell him? In a fit of panic she decided to adopt one of Beast Boy's time honored tactics: pretend nothing had happened and act dumb.
Robin slammed his fist onto the top of his desk. Starfire was sitting on the other side with her arms crossed and a frown on her face. Not that it did any good. He was completely unaware of her presence until he looked up from the scattered papers on his desk.
"How does he do it?" he snarled through clenched teeth. "How does he stay a step ahead of me?"
"Because he is Slade?" the princess answered in huff.
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" the boy blunder growled before he looked up, straight into a pair of glowing green eyes.
"I'm sorry, Star." He sighed. "It's just that I know he's getting ready to try to pull off something. Something big. And I have no idea of what it is. The only clue I have leads to a local high school. How could a high school fit into his plans?" he moaned.
Starfire's expression changed. "You need to relax, my boyfriend. Let us go out for a coffee. We can go to Raven's favorite depressing café. It is nearby and the coffee they serve is satisfactory."
Robin marveled at his alien sweetheart. She was so forgiving and easy to please. With a supreme effort he let go of his obsession.
"Sure, a cappuccino sounds good".
Raven and Beast Boy stopped at the "depressing café" to have a snack before heading back to the Tower. Beast Boy was still trying to process the strange movie he had just seen.
"Gee Raven, I though the villains we fought were screwed up, but those characters in that movie, they really take the cake!"
"Sorry about that." She replied. "You get to pick next time, OK?"
The green boy smiled back "Oh, it wasn't that bad."
She briefly cracked a small smile before changing both the subject and the expression on her face.
"Garfield?" she asked. His ears perked up, as she had only begin to call him by this given name.
"Yeah?" he replied.
"Don't tell anyone, understand?"
"You mean, about what happened in the theater?"
She nodded. "That was something I consider very intimate and private. I don't want to hear Cyborg or Robin teasing us about that, or Starfire gushing like a school girl. Understand?"
"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone." He paused nervously, obviously wanting to say something more.
"What is it, Garfield?"
He nervously tapped his index fingers together. "Any chance, you know, we might do that again?"
"Maybe" she replied, completely unaware that Starfire and Robin were seated a few tables away and had heard everything she had said.