Sting

)O(

I cannot fix on the hour, or the spot, or the look or the words, which laid the foundation. It is too long ago. I was in the middle before I knew that I had begun.

Raven was pleasantly transfixed onto her television screen, chewing her lower lip as she watched the love story between Elizabeth Bennett and Fitzwilliam Darcy play out before her. Beast Boy had to keep himself from laughing. Raven was a lot of things, quick-witted, strong, smart, powerful… but a hopeless romantic was not a term that would have ever been used in the same sentence. Unless that sentence was: Raven destroyed the young hopeless-romantic with her strong sense of logic and pragmatism.

But she, like most other women on the face of the planet, swooned over the timeless tale; her toes curling just so when Mr. Darcy confessed his love for the first time. The quick skip in her heart when Lizzy Bennett finally realized her feelings.

It was enough to make him heave.

But, whatever made her happy.

He pulled her back against his chest as they both lay lengthwise on her sofa, kissing the top of her head innocently and indulging in her sweet scent for the hundredth time that day.

She turned and looked at him over her shoulder. "What?"

"I can't just kiss you?"

She shrugged and turned back to the screen. "I'm not used to the attention."

"That's because you live alone. You don't have any attention." He felt her indignant huff, and hoped he hadn't overstepped his boundaries. When nothing blew up, and an elbow didn't ram into his chest, he assumed he was safe to push a little more. "I mean it, Raven. You sit all alone at work, you obviously don't make friends at school, and you live all by yourself… don't you get, I don't know, lonely?"

She shrugged again, but he could feel her spine curve just slightly, as if she were hurt. Beast Boy winced and wrapped his arms around her tighter, silently chastising himself for his stupidity. He really hadn't meant to hurt or insult her, but even she had to admit that it seemed lonely. She didn't even have a cat or some kind or animal to keep her company on nights like this. All she had was just a quiet apartment and a whole lot of books.

"I don't do well with people, Gar," she said finally, breaking the tension between them. "You know how much effort it took to integrate me into the team without exploding everything in a ten-mile radium, how well do you think I can integrate with the rest of normal, human society?"

He never thought of it like that. He knew that Raven was a ticking time-bomb, that her powers (while much more controllable now than they had been when he first met her) were dangerous and he'd seen city blocks destroyed because of her inability to get a hold of them. She'd adjusted to the team slowly and carefully, and he couldn't imagine what her reaction would be if someone threw her into a bar and told her to socialize and make friends. The earth's core would probably explode. She had a very valid point.

But still… it seemed lonely.

"Don't feel sorry for me, Gar." She rolled on her back to look at him, eyes searching his face. "Most of my life on Azarath consisted of solitude, and I've adjusted back to it just fine here on earth. These past few years that you and the rest of the team have given me are invaluable to me, and I appreciate the friendship and camaraderie that you've shown me. I would have never been able to imagine myself where I am now if it wasn't for you."

He waited a moment. "But…?"

"But I am not meant to interact with the rest of society." She rolled back on her side and lost herself in the television again. "It's just how it is. I'm far too dangerous."

He ran his hand down her arm carefully, trying not to linger on the thought that had rolled around in his head all night. It was too much to think about, and too much to consider. Their relationship (whatever it was) was still in its infancy, still young and unstable, and introducing an idea like that could easily break its precarious balance.

But his mouth betrayed him anyway.

"Have you thought about coming back to the tower?"

He felt Raven stiffen under his touch and winced in reaction. He shouldn't have said that outloud. He should have kept his big, stupid mouth shut. Clearing his throat, he ran his hand back down her arm and tangled his fingers between her own, squeezing. "Sorry, I shouldn't have brought that up, Raven. I didn't mean to push."

She let go of a long, slow breath. "I can't go back there just yet, Gar, all of our… peculiar interactions aside. I might not be entirely happy here, but it's what's best for me right now. I'm not responsible for lives, I'm not a liability to the team, and I have the opportunity to learn and better myself." Pause. "It's not an ideal life, but it makes me happy, and I am content."

"Content or complacent?"

Damnit. Why couldn't he learn to keep his trap closed?

"Both." Her voice was still and calm, proof that she was holding back her anger. "I know you don't understand it entirely, but just trust my judgement. For right now, this is what I need." She turned around to face him, her nose nearly touching his. "This is what both of us need. Please trust me for right now."

Something in his heart tightened violently and he pressed his forehead against hers, closing his eyes. How could he tell her no? How could he feel anger at her when she was being perfectly open with him? He knew that he was being selfish, and that he had some fantastical idea that the team would get back together and be a perfect, happy family all over again as if nothing had ever happened. But most of all he knew that by being away she was giving everyone, even himself, the opportunity to heal and change.

He knew that.

But that knowledge didn't make her distance hurt any less.

"I just want you back in my life."

Her low laughter made him open his eyes.

"Where do you think I am now?" She leaned forward and kissed him softly, running her fingertips down the side of his face. "I am in your arms and you are in mine. Like it or not, Gar, we are in each other's lives. Inextricably."

He secretly found it sexy when she used fancy words.

"And sometimes much to my dismay."

He chuckled. "Admit it. You like me here."

She raised an eyebrow, frowning at him. "When you're not forcing me to watch porn."

"We only listened to porn. We haven't watched it… yet." He nipped at her lower lip and ran his fingertips down her back. Much to his libido's dismay, he couldn't quite force Raven to watch porn. She looked so frightened and distraught at the title alone that forcing her to watch the actual video seemed like some kind of cruel torture. He caved under pressure and watched her silly Pride and Prejudice with her instead. Thank god the guys weren't around to see this, he was sure to get an earful.

Her face paled. "You're not actually going to hold me to that, are you?"

He laughed and kissed her. "We'll just have to see, won't we?"

)O(

Sorry it's short, but I had to put in something sugary to counteract whatever nonsense I wrote in the last chapter.
The quote was obviously from Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen.

Anyway, let me know what you think. Thanks for reading.