In… Out… Beast Boy was meditating. In… Beast Boy was clearing his mind. Out… He was balancing his humours. In… He was centering his emotions. Out… Or at least he was trying to, but somebody was being a dick. Damn it boy! I'm only "being a dick" because you're too cowardly to listen to me! He was honestly starting to feel like the Beast was more trouble than it was worth. I saved your life, you ungrateful whelp! A fact that would be easier to appreciate were it not for its apparent obsession with getting some half-demon ass. Don't even try to pretend you haven't thought about it. Whether or not he'd thought about it was totally irrelevant, because Raven was both his friend, and in a relationship. And too good for you. And then there's this asshole. See what happens when you lie to yourself?

As much as Beast Boy hated his intrusive thoughts (and he hated them even more since the incident with Psimon), at least they never urged him to risk ruining one of his most cherished friendships for something that could never happen anyway. Okay, so clearly meditating wasn't going to be much help. He'd just have to work out another way to calm down.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Raven demanded, teleporting in front of him and scowling. Well, so much for calming down.

"Hi Rae," Beast Boy muttered. "I see you're cheerful as always."

"I thought you understood how important it was to me that you guys got along with Leopold, I thought I could trust you not to be an asshole." She glared at him. "Apparently I was wrong."

"Oh yeah, can't have anything upsetting Leopold," Beast Boy snarled.

Raven narrowed her eyes. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"You heard me!" Careful Boy; you're letting your anger get the better of you. "If your boy-toy's got a problem with me, he can say it to my face!"

Raven narrowed her eyes. "Unbelievable. I asked you for one thing, and you can't even do that." She turned away. "That'll teach me to count on you for anything."

Beast Boy's eyes fell to the floor as Raven stormed out. "Yeah," he sighed. "I guess so."

"I'm sorry Raven, I've made things weird for you," Leopold's voice carried softly across the phone. "I shouldn't have said anything."

"Don't you dare apologise for this, Leopold; it's not your fault." Raven sighed. "If Beast Boy's got a problem with you, he can deal with it."

He chuckled. "I still can't believe my luck; how the hell was a girl like you single?"

Raven blushed, "Well, right now I'd say my friends apparently have something to do with it."

"Don't worry about it," Leopold cooed. "He just doesn't understand, that's all."

"Why not?" Raven demanded. "Why doesn't he understand me after all these years?"

"Hey there," Leopold murmured. "I understand you; isn't that enough? Who cares if the world understands us or not, as long as we understand each other?"

"Maybe you're right," Raven muttered.

"Of course I'm right!"

"You're right," Beast Boy said to the empty air. "Something doesn't add up."

It's that worm, Leopold.

"You don't know that for sure, buddy." The Beast hated being referred to casually.

What else could it be?

"Maybe she's not feeling well."

She's in perfect health! We'd smell any irregularities.

"Kinds creepy when you say it out loud," Beast Boy muttered. "You don't think Psimon's trying to get back at her, do you?"

Vermin like him could never affect Raven, he's beneath her!

Beast Boy couldn't help but grin at the Beast's blatant fanboy behaviour. "You don't think Trigon's back, do you?"

Not a chance; Raven would be afraid if that were the case.

"Okay," Beast Boy conceded. "It was probably Leopold's fault."

We should rip his throat out with our teeth.

"Let's not go that far big guy; dial it back a bit."

Beat him senseless?

"No, that's still too much; I'm a hero."

Can we at least threaten to disembowel him?

"And with that, I'm done asking for your advice. I'll talk to Raven," Beast Boy decided.

She won't want to talk to you. She hates you.

"I'd better make her some tea first," Beast Boy decided. "As a peace offering."

Heading into the kitchen, Beast Boy kept his head on a swivel; he didn't want to stumble right into Raven before he'd made her some tea; it'd just be awkward, apart from anything else.

"Definitely want some chamomile," Beast Boy muttered, reaching for the cupboard Raven kept her loose-leaf teas in. "Lemon balm is good too, and throw in some lavender."

"Don't forget the Hibiscus," A gravelly voice reminded him.

"Thanks Rae," Beast Boy replied absentmindedly, reaching up for the correct jar before realisation struck him. "Raven! What brings you to the kitchen?"

"I was going to make myself some tea, but it looks like you beat me to it," Raven replied, one eyebrow expertly raised.

"Y-yeah," Beast Boy chuckled nervously. "I, uh, figured that you'd want some right about now, and I needed to talk to you anyway, so…" He shrugged.

"So you figured you'd bribe me with your unholy talent for mixing tea," said Raven.

"Pretty much," Beast Boy chuckled, portioning ingredients into the infuser. Some six months ago, it was discovered that Beast Boy's superhuman sense of smell lent itself well to tasks like mixing teas, leaving Raven equal parts impressed and irritated when he was able to make tea better than she personally could. "Okay, just needs time to steep."

"I know," Raven replied.

"Right," Beast Boy chuckled awkwardly. "I guess you would."

"So," Raven drawled. "What was it you needed to talk about?"

"Well, I kinda wanted to talk about that argument we had earlier today."

"Of course," Raven sighed.

"Look, I'm sorry for how I acted back there, but I really don't know why you were mad at me in the first place."

"Seriously?" Raven scowled. "You don't know? You don't remember threatening my boyfriend?"

"What?!" Beat Boy spluttered. "Raven, I don't know what he said, but I promise you, I never threatened Leopold."

"So what?" Raven demanded. "I'm just supposed to believe that my boyfriend is lying to make you look bad?"

"I don't know why he'd say that, but I didn't threaten him,'' Beast Boy responded, carefully keeping his voice level. "And I can prove it." He looked her dead in the eye. "Read my emotions. Tell me I'm lying."

"Seriously?" Raven asked. "You'd go that far? You're talking about a huge violation of privacy."

"I don't care," Beast Boy replied simply. "If the alternative is having you think that I'd hurt you, then I want you to read my emotions." He frowned, his brow furrowing. "Do it."

Okay," Raven sighed. "Let's do this." With that, she laid her hands on either side of Beast Boy's head, closing her eyes.

"Well?" Beast Boy asked, smirking at her.

"You were telling the truth," Raven sighed. "Which means that Leopold lied to me, right to my face."

"Well, he might not have been lying," said Beast Boy. He was definitely lying. "Maybe he just got the wrong end of things, you know? He might have misunderstood."

"Yeah," Raven sighed. "You're probably right."

"No need to sound so surprised," Beast Boy chuckled. "Stranger things have happened. So," Beast Boy scratched the back of his head. "Are we good?"

Raven shot him one of her rare, brief smiles. "We're good," She said, before her expression shifted to something more serious. "But now we've got a new problem."

"What's that?"

"You know what it is," Raven sighed. "I just read your emotions, and they're a mess."

"...Oh." Busted.

"Beast Boy, you can tell me what's wrong," Raven said, her amethyst eyes boring into his own. "You promised you wouldn't keep it all bottled up." Ah, the guilt trip. She's got you good.

"Fine," Beast Boy sighed. "I'll talk. Long story short, me and the Beast have had some issues lately. Things have been… tense." Not inaccurate.

"What kind of issues?"

"Eh," Beast Boy shrugged. "Differences of opinion. The Beast has a very different approach to problem solving. Very direct." And final. "And final," Beast Boy amended.

"Kind of like a molotov cocktail, huh?" Raven joked.

"Every time I had a problem and I threw a molotov cocktail, I had a totally different problem!" Beast Boy replied, leaning into the impression.

"So glad you got me into that show," Raven muttered. "So, are you sure you've got this?"

"Definitely," Beast Boy replied, more confidently than he felt. "Me and the Beast might argue, but it never lasts long." Liar.

"Make sure it doesn't," Raven said, her tone somehow both gentle and stern.

"Careful Rae," Beast Boy chuckled. "Keep acting like this and people might start to think you actually like me."

"I do," Raven replied simply, and Beast Boy felt his heart rate spike. "I know we don't always get along, but you're one of my closest friends, and I'll always care about you." He wasn't sure why, but for some reason his stomach seemed to drop at that. "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to talk to Leopold and sort this out."

"Yeah," Beast Boy muttered. "Friends." Fucking coward.

Author's Notes

And that's chapter 2! Sorry for the delay, my life's gotten kind of crazy. For those wondering, nobody got all the red flags in chapter one, but they got close. The red flag everyone missed was Leopold calling Raven his muse. I know it sounds romantic, but no man has ever treated a woman well after calling her his muse. Now, who can spot Leopold's latest hits?