Took a little while on this update, but lucky for you guys, the next one should be quite soon! You see, I suddenly had the inspiration to knock out most of the next chapter before this one... one of the scenes for that chapter just kinda hit me like a bus. When you have point A and B, it's actually harder than you'd think to connect the two, so thats why it took longer than usual. Anyway, read on!
This week proved to be a bad one for peace and quiet.
"Dude! Again?! We literally just ordered pizza and now we've gotta go take out the Hive?!"
"Beast Boy, if I could make all crime just disappear at the most convenient moments, I would. But since thats not an option, we've got to go," Robin said rather impatiently as he waited for the green 18 year old to get out of the booth in the pizza place.
"Geez, Rob, leave the sarcasm to Raven. Its not a good look on you," the changeling muttered, sliding out of the booth at short, jerky intervals. There had been crimes at least every day, which took its toll on the team when compared to the peaceful week they had just experienced. It seemed that all the crime in Jump had been planned the week before and was now in action this seven day period.
It was Tuesday at noon and already they had tangled with The "Amazing" Mumbo, Cinderblock, and Dr. Light. And here was the first criminal activity of the day with the remaining members of the Hive robbing the mall.
"Make the haste, Friend Beast Boy! I would not enjoy seeing the mall of shopping badly damaged!" Starfire said, bringing her fist up to her mouth as she worried for her favorite hangout. Beast Boy grabbed the pizza from the woman at the counter and threw a twenty at her. He winked.
"Keep the change, we've got work to do. Later!" With that, he sprinted out of the parlor, pizza in hand while the cashier swooned a little and Raven rolled her eyes before taking to the sky.
With Jinx no longer on the Hive, presumably having gone off somewhere with Kid Flash after the Brotherhood incident, battles with them had gotten a lot easier. Rumor had it that the hex wielder had gone off to travel, with Kid Flash following behind, something he rarely did for anyone.
When the Titans arrived at the mall, Mammoth was carrying some heavy electronics while Gizmo screeched at him while Billy Numerous, Seemore, and Kyd Wykkyd dashed about, each in their own ways, snatching all the cash in the registers along with anything else that suited their fancies.
"Watch it, Scuzbag! We need those for the hideout!" Gizmo yelled. Mammoth growled at him, but otherwise did nothing to change the way he carried the high-tech gear.
"You're all under arrest!" Robin yelled as he skidded his R-cycle to a stop.
"We're not going anywhere, Cludmunchers!" Gizmo said, crossing his arms and smirking as his newly advanced robot-pack grew it's signature spider legs.
"Fine, we'll do this the hard way. Titans, GO!"
Time had not left the Hive team unscathed. Gizmo was now a lanky preteen and Billy Numerous, Seemore, and Kyd Wykkyd had all grown into sizable young adults like the male Titans had. Mammoth was the only one who seemed unchanged; no one knew how old he was anyway. However, none of these changes made it any more difficult to beat the super villain team. Within a half hour, Robin was waiting for the police to arrive so he could explain the situation and fill out any necessary paperwork. Cyborg tapped a few buttons on his arm and looked a the flip up screen that was attached.
"Man, I've already gotta recharge my battery. It might be time for a new one, I've had to recharge this one so much," the metal man said with some annoyance.
"Perhaps it is from the amount of fighting that has transpired in the past three days?"
"I guess, luckily none of those were any serious threats or we'd be in some deep trouble. I mean, just think if our first crime alert had been Slade, Robin woulda gone nuts trying to find a connection between all the recent crime."
"I'm just glad its not Adonis. That guy just really pushes my buttons," Beast Boy said, leaning on the T-car. "Its probably just 'cause he knows all about the 'inner beast' thing or something, but all I know is I hate that dude." Cyborg got a wicked grin on his face.
"You sure its not because every time we fight him, he hits on a certain resident empath, is it?"
"Dude, knock it off…"
"Whatever, grass stain, you just make a move when 'the time is right.' Just like you planned. In other words, you're just gonna let it fester in you until it kills you."
"Shut up, she'll hear you!" Beast Boy hissed. Starfire giggled and looked over to where her friend levitated above the grass. Her look of joy became one of concern. Raven's eyebrows were scrunched together in a look that could have either been pain, frustration, or anger, none of which were good signs. But she knew better than to interrupt and went back to listening to Cyborg and Beast Boy bicker.
In all honesty, Raven wouldn't have heard Cyborg's comment even if she hadn't been trying to meditate. She had unwisely continued to meditate during the nights and days when she could because peaceful time had been rare the past few days. This Tuesday she was just praying for time to relax. Her exhaustion had been paying a toll on her control and therefore, every emotion was heightened. Before she could calm herself, something would happen to make the problem worse. And that something was usually Beast Boy.
He wasn't doing anything special. Of course he had been much nicer to her than in the past but she certainly wasn't going to ask him to stop. But now, because of how she felt about him, every touch, every word, every look, everything made her emotional control get out of hand. Even if he passed her the salt from across the table and their fingers brushed briefly a light pink blush would bloom on her cheeks to the point that she no longer took her hood down for dinner.
So now, as she tried to wrangle her emoticlones and sensed Robin's approach, she sighed, knowing that this session would have to be cut short as well. She slowly lighted on her feet and hoped that no sign of her exhaustion was apparent on her blank face. In any case, she pulled up her hood for good measure.
"Okay, every thing is taken care of. We can head back now."
"Sounds good. Beast Boy left the pizza in the car, said he had something to do."
"Thanks for telling me, Cy. Star, you want a ride?" Starfire smiled widely and floated herself down to land on the back of the motorcycle. She wrapped her arms around Robin's waist and leaned her head on his shoulder.
"Yes, very much so! The motorcycle is a delightful mode of transportation, is it not?" Robin blushed at the sudden contact and nodded sheepishly. Cyborg chuckled.
"Have fun you two. But, you know, not too much." Cyborg said jokingly. Robin shot the robotic man a glare and zoomed away as the motorcycle roared to life. Cyborg laughed, noticing that Robin had deliberately taken his girlfriend the 'scenic route.' The Tamaranian princess wouldn't mind. He turned to Raven.
"Alright, Rae, I guess it's just you and me in the T-car today. Hop up front." Cyborg leaned into the open door of the driver's seat and shut it behind him as Raven walked around to the passenger side. As soon as she got in, the smell of half meat lovers, half vegetarian pizza wafted around her nose. The pizza parlor had decided to add the curious combination to their menu and call it "The Titan" in their honor because it was their usual. Whenever the team walked in, the cashier immediately told the chef to make one and the non-food Titans went to sit at their usual table, which no one else ever sat in for reverence of their resident crime fighting team. Cyborg took a deep breath and smiled dreamily.
"Can't wait to dig into my side of the pizza when we get home! We haven't gotten enough pizza this week for my tastes," He said, glancing over at the empath.
"Yup."
"Uh, which side do you like? I'm always paying more attention to eating than what you eat I guess." The robotic man laughed and glanced back at the girl sitting next to him. She merely stared ahead and shrugged. His smile straightened and his look turned to one of concern.
"You alright, Rae or do you just not want to talk?" Her eyes flicked up to his for a moment, but focused on the road again.
"I'm fine."
"The fact that you didn't just glare at me says you're not. If you didn't want to talk you woulda just said so or glared at me. Whether you like it or not, Rae, we're not half bad at reading you after all these years," Cyborg said.
"It's just a little trouble with my focus. It's nothing meditation can't fix," Raven said calmly.
"It's never just that. I'm not sure—"
"I'm fine."
"But what if—"
"I'm FINE." With that, the extra large pizza box in the back of the car exploded, splattering pizza toppings on both of them. Cyborg had stopped the car in the middle of the connecting tunnel and the two were staring at each other, wide eyed. Raven's fearful expression was enough to cue Cyborg in that the situation wasn't one he could help with. He nodded his head in realization and continued driving.
"Cyborg, I'm—"
"Don't worry about it. I'll clean it up. It's okay, I can tell that this is something I can't do anything about," he said as the car pulled into the garage.
"But—"
"Go meditate. You need it." Raven bit her lip, as if holding back a reply. Instead of continuing the argument, she merely nodded and ran up the stairs. Cyborg noted that she didn't levitate herself or teleport and then set about cleaning up the remains of an extra large pizza.
An hour later, Beast Boy flew into the open garage door as a falcon looking for Cyborg. In his beak, he held a paper bag with a Paint-a-Cup logo on it. He landed on a bench near Cyborg and shifted back to normal.
"Wassup, Cy—" He was quickly shushed as Cyborg turned, revealing a phone held up to his ear.
"Sorry 'bout that. Beast Boy just came in." A pause.
"Yeah, another Titan for delivery please. To the tower of course." Cyborg turned and looked at Beast Boy as the pizza worker responded. With his animal hearing, the changeling could make out the pizza girls side of the conversation as well as his friend's.
Another? You guys must be hungry today! That'll be $20 when the pizza delivery guy gets there.
"Hungry? Yeah… I guess you could say that. Thanks, bye." Beast Boy wrinkled his nose and glared at Cyborg as he hung up the phone.
"Dude!? You guys finished the pizza without me?! Who even ate the vegetarian half?!"
Cyborg merely looked over at the still cheesy T-car. A still angry Beast Boy turned his gaze in the same direction and his anger turned to disbelief.
"What happened?" he said, returning his attention to the automaton in front of him.
"Raven has some… stuff to deal with… She said she needed to meditate."
"Is she okay?!'
"I think, but she looked pretty freaked out. I know you want to, but this may not be the time to try and cheer her up. Emphasis on try. I think she's been having some control issues lately." The changeling looked conflicted for a moment before he brightened.
"Don't worry. I've got something that will definitely make her feel better." With that, the green 18 year old dashed up the stairs with his paper bag in tow. Cyborg stared after him and shook his head.
"If he gets snapped in half, I'm not puttin' him back together."
On the roof, Raven was trying desperately to get herself together. Nothing seemed to be working; tea, meditation, reading, nothing. Even her levitation was wavering and after pressing her hands to her head, she finally sighed and resigned herself to sit on the edge of the roof with her feet dangling. What was blocking her focus? Her emotional stress with Beast Boy? Her exhaustion? A combination of the two? The empath shook her head and lowered her face in defeat. She had no idea what was happening. She wasn't exactly experienced in the emotional turmoil of crushes and it wasn't exactly like she could go online and search for "effects of crushes on empaths." That wouldn't be a frequently asked question on Ask or anything. And suddenly she could feel the energy of the source of her troubles dashing up the stairs to the roof at record speed. She knew when he reached the door, but the creak of the metal hinges opening slowly still made her jump. She said nothing when he stood behind her, looking for an invitation to conversation. After a few seconds, it appeared that he decided to make his own.
"Uh, Rae?"
"Yes, Beast Boy?" Her voice did little to conceal her tired disposition. Beast Boy bit his lip as he realized he had to be the one driving this conversation.
"Guess what day it is!" the changeling said with much more enthusiasm than the question warranted. Raven snapped her head around to look at him, her passive expression quickly exchanging for a look of pure rage.
"If you say hump day, I swear, I will separate your head from your body." Beast Boy flinched and she registered the intense fear coming off of him in waves. It only sped up the vortex of emotion in her mind, but she didn't care at the moment.
"I-I wasn't! It's Tuesday!" She looked at him, quirking her eyebrow as she waited for clarification.
"You know, Tuesday? The day we could go get our mugs?" Beast Boy laughed nervously and held up the bag. Her face quickly melted into a look of concern and fear.
"I-I'm so sorry! I… I think I need to be alone…" Raven got up and tried to walk around him to the door. Her progress was halted by a gloved hand on her shoulder that sent tingles down her spine.
"Raven? It's totally fine, really!" She tried to pull away, but he tightened his grip.
"Raven." With that one word, she stopped immediately and turned to look at him. The way he said it was firm, a tone used to reprimand a small child, but his eyebrows were merely furrowed in concern. She shook out of his grasp softly, but turned fully so that she was facing him, eyes adverted.
"You're acting really weird, Rae, what's wrong?"
"…"
"Rae?"
"Don't call me that…" she muttered under her breath. It was his turn to raise his eyebrow. Realizing he wasn't getting anywhere, he led her by the wrist back to the edge of the roof. He sat down and when he gestured for her to follow suit, she complied wordlessly, still looking down. His eyebrow twitched before he started digging in the bag in his hand.
"So I got the mugs back from the shop today! They both look good, but, I like yours best. My glaze is all splotchy." Beast Boy said.
He held her mug out to her in one hand while the other held his directly in front of his face, examining the imperfections with a slight frown. Raven looked at the mug that was presented to her. It was directly in front of her face; it seemed that Beast Boy had forgotten the height difference. He was right. It was perfect. Too perfect. She looked up at his face as he turned his own mug about, his powerful eyesight searching out each and every white spot and discoloration. With a little hesitation she reached up and took the mug from his left hand and examined it for herself. He looked a little surprised and looked from her to the mug he had originally presented her with. She turned it back and forth, using only her fingertips to avoid dirtying the smooth surface.
"Can I have this one?" She said in a wavering, almost fearful voice. The changeling's eyebrows rose almost off his face.
"Uh, sure. But… why do you want it? You deserve a perfect mug like the one you made," he said, displaying the mug she had glazed once again. But she shook her head.
"No, I like this one. You made it. It's perfect." The empath stared him in the eyes for a moment before she returned her gaze to the mug, pink dusting her cheeks. The blush was infectious and Beast Boy's cheeks gained some different color as well. He tilted his head to the side and slowly took the mug from her hands and set both on the ground. The empath looked at him questioningly.
"So, care to talk about what's wrong, Rae… Raven?" he started uncertainly.
"I'm fine, don't worry."
"Raven, I saw the pizza." She froze and Beast Boy tilted his head so that he could get a better look at her downturned face. He liked being tall, but at moments like this he cursed his ten inch growth spurt. It made looking certain short empath's directly in the face very difficult.
"Why won't you just tell me what's wrong?" She looked up at him and he could see the conflict before his very eyes.
"It's hard to put into words…" She said in a soft voice that made him melt a little. He realized that her walls were down, she was too weak to keep them up. Was it his imagination or did she keep flicking her gaze down to his lips? In response he started chewing on his lower lip. After a pause, he leaned forward a bit, not enough to be intimidating, but she definitely noticed by the way her eyes widened and the pink on her cheeks changed to a deep red.
"Well, you don't always need words to say something, do you?" He said, a brief smile wavering on his lips.
"Gar…" She practically whispered his name. The emotional signature drifting around him was clear, she caught his meaning. But she was frozen; she had no idea what to do in this situation. But that didn't stop him.
"I mean, I've wanted to tell you something for a while… but, I've never been great with words, you know?" He chuckled slightly. The pleading look in his eyes made her shiver. What was in that look? Hope? Fear?
"I… suppose I know what you mean…" She began a slow ascent up towards him. Raven had no clue what she was doing, but it felt natural somehow.
"Then, I suppose I'll tell you…" Beast Boy whispered as he closed the distance between them. Raven's eyes began closing, but suddenly her fear got the best of her and her eyes shot open in shock. Beast Boy's own closed eyes shot open to the sound of all the windows on the top floor of the tower shattering and his eyes just barely caught a glimpse of a terrified Raven teleporting away from the roof. He sat there for a few moment's, allowing the moment's events to sink in. He looked down at his feet and saw caught a black bubble dissipating. The mug she had painted had been shattered along with everything else nearby, but his splotchy, imperfect mug had been preserved by her powers. As the heartbreak hit him along with his anger at himself, tears began to stream down his face and he bit back a roar. Instead, he took a heavy breath and tried to calm himself. Beast Boy slowly got up and stalked to the door of the roof, slamming it as he exited, leaving the mug sitting on the roof, forgotten.
Haha, I bet you guys thought you were gonna get a kiss. Psych.