Raven's POV
I lazily pull my body out of bed. After all that happened last night I feel drained. I don't exactly know what got into me when I talked to Beast Boy, or Gar, as I apparently now call him, but it was spontaneous, unplanned, and entirely on impulse. Maybe it was surpressed anger at Terra that made me so sympathetic towards him or maybe I just hadn't meditated enough.
Either way, it all made no sense as to why I was suddenly so...unlike myself that evening. He thought it too. I could sense the confusion felt when I offered to help and to hear him out. I'll admit, normally I'm not very nice to him. Maybe I should try to change that. Whatever. I need tea.
"Glorious morning Raven!" Starfire squeals. She seems perkier than normal, if that's possible. It probably had something to do with she and Robin's date last night and the long, lively make out session that followed. Sometimes I really hate being an empath.
"Good morning, Starfire." I say, sparing her a tiny smile. Starfire's one of the few people who can get a smile out of me, even if it's out of pity. I keep making my tea while Victor and Starfire gabble about some TV show they watch together. As usual Robin's in the gym setting up the course and Beast Boy hasn't woken up yet. He probably won't be for a while, given it was around midnight he went to bed. Vic will probably have to wake him up once Robin calls us down there.
"Morning, Ray!" Victor greets me, his usual smile on his face.
"Morning." I say, sipping my finished tea.
"Look what I got." He sings, holding up a batch of waffles. My eyes light up a little when I see that fresh batch of waffles, the only thing I eat more than my tea.
"Thanks." I say as I sit down, plate in front of me. He serves Starfire and I our breakfast, giving me an extra waffle as usual. I spare him a tiny smile only he can see when he winks at me. Starfire, Victor, and I gobble our waffles down, Starfire's covered in mustard as usual. Aliens. I'm so immersed in the waffle I'm currently scarfing down that I don't see our fearless leader enter wearing his usual workout wear.
"You guys ready for training?" He asks. The three of us finally look up from our plates to acknowledge him.
"Oh yes! I shall collect my water bottle!" Starfire squeals, delighted to see her boyfriend again after waiting a whole eight hours. She kisses him on the cheek as she zips by him to grab her water bottle. She's already dressed for the gym in her black short shorts and tank top, revealing her slim, toned figure to whoever dare look with Robin around. I'm also dressed for training, wearing a thick strapped shirt and black shorts. Training is one of the rare occasions when my hair is up and out of my face, as are Starfire's long locks. Vic doesn't wear clothes for training or for anything in general unless we're off duty. Now all that's left is waiting for Beast Boy.
"Lemme guess. Beast Boy's not up yet." Robin drawls, an annoyed edge in his voice. Normally I would agree with Robin on that one, but considering what Beast Boy went through yesterday I can't blame him for not wanting to face the world yet.
"He was up late last night. He probably won't be up for a while." I say, almost defensively. I don't know why I'm saying it, it just came out.
Everyone looks at me like I gave three heads. "And...you know this...how?" Victor asks, raising his one eyebrow.
I'm about to tell them what happened last night, but that feels like I'm betraying Beast Boy some how. I think of a lie. "I could sense he was having nightmares last night and was waking up throughout the night because of them." I say quickly, hoping I didn't embarrass him.
"Oh. Well we still need him in training today. Mind waking him up, Vic?" Robin asks him, as expected. I notice that Vic seems worried once I mention Beast Boy having nightmares, and for good reason. A couple of years ago when the team was new, Beast Boy wouldn't just have nightmares, he'd have night terrors. He'd wake up screaming in the middle of the night, begging in some foreign language. Victor was usually the one who went to him to calm him down. He never told anyone besides Victor maybe what his nightmares were about, but judging by the emotions that radiated off of him during his traumas they were pretty terrifying. Victor and I knew how much he was affected by them, and we were both worried for him whenever it happened.
"Sure Rob." Vic says, getting off of his chair and exiting the kitchen. I consider stopping him halfway and telling him not to worry, but I keep quiet.
"Shall we head down while our friends get ready?" Starfire suggests, directing to Robin. I know why she wants to head down early, and I do not want to be there when they do.
"Sure, Star. Raven?" Robin asks, just to be polite. He doesn't want me down there while they exercise their tongue muscles either.
"You two go ahead. I'll wait for the others." I say passively, pretending I can't feel their every emotion even when they're in the gym.
"Glorious! Let us go!" Starfire cheers, taking Robin's wrist and pulling him to the doorway. Now for me to focus on anything but my empathy.
-/-/-/-/-/-
Beast Boy POV
If it takes hollering, pounding on my door, and my alarm clock going off three times to wake me up then anyone can tell I didn't sleep last night. Did I sleep at all? Yes. But in a sum total I'd say it was no more than four hours. I kept waking up at night, tossing and turning. Terra, or Mariah, or whoever she is, kept popping up in my head. But not in a good way, obviously. I keep replaying her calling me an animal over and over in my mind. After a while I feel myself start to believe it. I try to block it out with what Raven said to me last night, about me not being an animal and all, but it doesn't work. Terra was always the one I was thinking about, wondering if she'd like it if I did something or if she'd dislike it. And now that I know it's me she dislikes, well, it hurts. It hurt the first time, it hurt the fourth time, and I have a feeling it will hurt for a while. Lucky me.
"B! Get up! We've got training! Let's go!" Victor yells, slamming his metal hands on the door. There's a chorus of beeping, thumping, and Vic's voice in my ears.
"Alright, alright, I'm up." I groan, slamming my palm on my alarm clock. I practically fall out of bed and onto the the floor, groaning to myself. Vic finally stops yelling and pounding on my door.
"Get dressed for the course, man. Rob's waiting on us." He says, then I hear him walk away. But I know he'll probably hang back to walk down with me once I get out.
I do as he says and change into my gym clothes. Once I'm done I walk through the hallway where Vic is waiting for me. "Hey dude." I say, gym bag draped over my shoulder.
"Hey B." He says. We start walking down the hall. There's no sign of Raven, so I assume she already went to the gym. We walk in silence for a while until Vic breaks it.
"So...you were having nightmares last night?" He asks me. I stop short and turn to him, confused.
"What are you talking about?" I ask. It's an honest question. I have no idea what he's talking about.
Now Vic looks confused. "Raven said you were up late because you were having nightmares last night. Said she could sense them." He says.
I'm about to abject when I realize something: Raven just covered for me. Rather than giving away what really happened last night she made up an excuse for me to save my neck. Wow. I didn't see that coming. Now all I've got to do is go with it. "Aw, dude...she could sense them?" I exclaim, putting my hand to my face like I'm ashamed.
"Yeah. Were they bad?" Vic asks me. I can tell he's worried and I feel kind up guilty for lying to him about this.
"No. They woke me up, sure, but nothing to worry about." I say, trying to brush the subject off. "So what's Rob got in store for our torture today?" I ask him, a cheeky grin on my face.
Vic seems to relax and joins in with me. "Weight lifting. Looks like your scrawny ass is about to get whipped." He says, smirking at him.
We continue to banter about the course and stuff until we get to the gym. Robin glares at us. "Took you long enough." He says. I know it's more directed at me than anyone.
"Heh heh." I chuckle weakly, scratching behind my neck. Robin ignores me and starts explaining the training course today and what we're doing, bla bla bla. Once he's done we go to the weight lifting area and get started. I go straight to the pull up bar to avoid lifting weights. I prefer cardio to body mass exercises. Starfire and Vic go straight to the heaviest weights while Robin starts bench pressing, probably hoping to catch Starfire's eye. Raven's on some other weight pulling machine, succeeding at lifting impressive amounts. It probably has something to do with her genes.
I looked over at Raven while I was staring into space. It was weird of her to listen to me and even, dare I say, comfort me last night, but not the bad kind of weird. I liked it. Up until now Raven always seemed so...untouchable. No one could approach her. No one was good enough to be her friend. But now things seem different. She doesn't seem so far away or hard to reach like before. I dunno. I hope I'm right though. I like the idea of being more than an annoyance to Raven. It's about time we start acting like friends. I've known her for what- four years now, and we barely do more than bicker and hang around Vic sometimes? Sheesh. I mean I used to approach her all the time but once Terra, I mean Mariah, and I got together we just... Damn. I've barely done anything with her since then. We have some major catching up to do.
I finally switch exercises and go over to the dumbbells. The rest of the team's switched too. Robin's at the pull-up bar now while Starfire is obviously ogling him. Gross. Vic's doing one arm push-ups without breaking a sweat while Raven carries small weights while jogging on the treadmill. She actually seems tired after all these workouts. I am too. I zoned out for way too long and ended up doing more pull-ups than I planned. Hopefully Robin calls us off soon.
"Alright team. That's enough for today." He announces, as if on cue.
"Thank God." I mutter as I drop the dumbbell. My arms feel like noodles. I should probably hit the gym more.
We all leave the gym, going to our seperate showers. I'm on my way up befire Vic stops me. "Hey B. Rob and Star are out tonight. Rae and I are going to the pizza place then a movie later. Wanna come?" He asks.
"Woah, dude. Sounds like you and Rae were planning a date at first." I say, smirking at him. I'm joking though. The idea of Vic and Rae being a thing makes me puke inside.
"Like hell, man. Are you coming or what?" He asks again.
"I'm in. Lemme change first." I tell him. I keep walking down the hall, feeling kind of excited about tonight. Vic and I usually go to the arcade of for pizza when Rob and Star go out to pass the time. Sometimes Raven comes along but it's not a usual thing, nor has it happened in a while. But now that Raven is coming it'll be way more interesting. This should be fun.
-/-/-/-/-/-/-
No One's POV
"That sucked."
Victor, Raven, and Beast Boy exited the movie theater, disappointed looks on their faces. Victor was the first to call out the horrible movie as they left, resenting that he had wasted money on that thing. It was supposed to be an action packed dark comedy, something even Raven would like, but it turned out to be nothing but bad special effects and dramatic looks from the actors (who were pretty bad themselves).
"Indeed it did." Raven droned.
"Ditto." Beast Boy said. "We can still get pizza, though, right?" He asked hopefully.
"Sure thing, man. Anything to make this night better." Vic said. "You still in, Rae?"
"Well, I am starving, so yes. I'm still in." She said. This night hadn't been that horrible, really. It was fun being with her friends even if they had to sit though a crumby movie most of the time. She had actually enjoyed making snarky comments and laughing about the actors during the movie with Beast Boy. He was proving to be funnier than she originally thought, though she wouldn't dare say it. And pizza would only make the night better.
"Race you guys!" Beast Boy said, then darted away without warning.
"What the hell man! You get your ass back here-" Vic called after him. Raven chuckled at the two as they ran for the pizza place. Though they had changed with time, their childish nature would always be there, keeping them young. She liked that about them. She had been forced to live without a childhood, so when she saw people her age and older than her acting like children she shied away from them, finding them strange. But now she grew to enjoy their antics as a source of entertainment. They also helped her loosen up whenever they got her involved. They could still be annoying though.
Raven walked at her own pace to the restaurant while the other two were already seated at the booth. "I totally beat you." Beast Boy gloated to his friend.
"That's only cause you ran without warning." Vic retorted.
"Whatever you say. Hey where's Raven?" He realized then that she wasn't with them.
"We ditched her, didn't we." Vic stated, realization coming over his face.
"You did." Both boys turned to see Raven half glaring at them, her arms crossed.
"Uh..hey Rae! Wanna...sit down?" Victor asked nervously.
She rolled her eyes. "Whatever. Have you two ordered or did I miss that too?" She asked, sitting beside Beast Boy.
"Nope. Whataya want Rae?" Beast Boy asked, pleased she had chosen to sit next to him.
"I'll just get the buffalo chicken to myself to spare your feelings." She said, keeping Beast Boy's diet in mind.
The waitress soon came and took their orders, not seeming to recognize them, thankfully. Though she did give Beast Boy and Victor odd looks, something Raven disliked. Then the banter began. Beast Bou brought up Titans East which lead to the discussion of its members, specifically Aqualad. Five minutes later they had all done a Speedy or an Aqualad impression, resulting in more laughter, even from Raven.
Beast Boy stared at her, jaw slack, as Raven burst into a laughing fit. He'd never seen her like this in his life, and he loved it. She seemed so happy and carefree. It made her look... different. A good different. She looked, dare he say, pretty. Sure he always knew Raven had something going for her, but now... She was different. When did her hair get so long? He wondered, noticing how her hair had grown out to her shoulders. He decided it suited her much better than her short hair.
"You guys ready to get going?" Victor asked after a while. It was around ten and most sensible people weren't out this late in their line of work. Beast Boy and Raven agreed, divided the check, then left.
"Oh, c'mon, Raven! You gotta admit it's kind of catchy!" Beast Boy said. Vic had turned on the radio in the car and was jamming out to some pop song with Beast Boy.
"Yes. Like Ebola." She said flatly. Vic and Beast Boy laughed and kept dancing until the song finally ended. By then they were home.
"Well I'm beat. It was fun guys." Vic said, gaming and stretching as they entered the Tower.
"Hell yeah it was. Rob and Star should ditch us more often!" Beast Boy explained.
"I'll admit I enjoyed myself too Gar. Perhaps I'll invite you next time." Raven said. Beast Boy's breath hitched and his eyes widened at Raven, who simply smiled at him. He hadn't expected her to remember his nick name and was kind of flustered she had.
"Heh heh. Yeah." He said, blushing.
"Well, 'night guys!" Vic called to them as he walked away.
"'Night!" They called back.
They were silent for a few moments. "Um...Gar?" Raven asked.
"Yeah Rae?" He replied.
"Um...about yesterday...with Terra..." She said, looking at her thumbs.
"I'll tell Vic tomorrow." He said, putting his hand on her shoulder. He expected her to brush his hand off but she didn't seem to mind, another different thing about Raven. There was so much about her that changed that he hadn't noticed until now. He wanted to find out more about this new Raven that, as it turned out, wasn't that new to people like Robin or Vic. But then again, he liked finding things out for himself.
She nodded. "No pressure. I understand not wanting to talk about stuff like this..." She trailed off.
"Don't worry about me, Rae. Vic and I are best friends. It'll be easy telling him." He assured her. He knew, though, it would be hard even admitting it to himself.
"Whatever you say. But if you do want to talk about it...I stand by what I said." She said shyly.
He smiled at her. "You got it." He said.
Raven smiled at him and nodded. They both left for bed after that, saying goodnight in the hallway. The changeling was almost sad he couldn't spend more time with her, but made no objections. Beast Boy lay in his bed that night, not sure if he feared tomorrow because of what he'd have to tell Vic, or anticipated tomorrow to find out more about the all new Raven.