Per Robin's orders, each of the Titans was expected to get a physical twice a year to make sure they were all in peak physical condition. For convenience, most of them went to Cyborg to get their physicals. His technology was better than most hospitals', and he had a way of putting them at ease that other doctors seemed to lack. He also went above and beyond for their health, sometimes making suggestions that other doctors might deem unorthodox. It wasn't that Cyborg was trying to make his friends do things they didn't need to; he just wanted to make sure that they knew about all their options. Occasionally, his friends thought he went a little too far, but they knew his heart was in the right place.
This tendency to present unusual treatments to his friends almost got him into trouble one day. It was at the end of Raven's second check-up of the year, and, as usual, she had gotten a clean bill of health. She was about to leave the infirmary when Cyborg stopped her.
"Hold up, Rae. I wanna talk to you about something. Sit down?"
Giving him a quizzical look, she obeyed, and he tossed her a packet of blue-gray pills.
"What are these?" she asked, turning the package over in her hands.
"They're birth control pills. Take one every night before bed with a snack. I'm serious about that. I know you skip meals sometimes, but they'll make you nauseous if you take 'em on an empty stomach. I'll need you to report back to me next month, because they're experimental. They shouldn't cause you any harm, but since they weren't made for someone with demon blood in mind, I had to tweak the doses. Talk to me sooner if you start getting really bad headaches or—"
"Slow down," Raven interrupted. "Why are you even giving these to me?"
"I thought they could help you out with Beast Boy."
Plastic squeaked and cracked as the pill pack was crushed in Raven's fist. "What?" she growled.
Now, Cyborg looked a little nervous. "They're...uh, to help you out with BB?"
He swallowed hard. The look on Raven's face was as furious as he'd ever seen it without Rage herself paying a visit.
"Uh...Rae?" he asked when she didn't say anything after several seconds.
"Is this some kind of joke?" she hissed, getting up from the exam table. "Did Beast Boy put you up to this?"
"What?! No!" Cyborg exclaimed, getting out of his seat. "He doesn't know anything about it!" As a matter of fact, Beast Boy probably would have died of embarrassment if he'd known about this.
"Then why?!" she demanded, walking towards him. "Why give me birth control and make that crack about Beast Boy?"
Cyborg backed up, but Raven matched him step for step, glaring the whole way. When he felt his back hit an exam table, and he tried not to flinch.
"Why?!" Raven snapped again, throwing the pill pack to the floor.
"It wasn't meant to be a crack, Rae! I swear! I honestly thought you and B had somethin' goin' on is all." He raised his hands in a gesture of surrender.
"Why the hell would you think that?"
"Game of Thrones..." he said, and this time he did flinch.
"I wasn't aware watching television together required birth control!"
"There's also the flying thing..."
"What. Flying thing?" Raven asked through gritted teeth.
"You fly together at night sometimes. I've seen you. I thought they were like dates or something!"
"We do that when neither of us can sleep!" she yelled.
"Well, it seemed couple-y!" Cyborg yelled back. "You add all that to the kiss you laid on him on his birthday, and what else am I supposed to think?!"
"That we're just friends! How about that?!"
"I know damn well you don't go macking on people who are 'just friends'!"
"It was a distraction, so Starfire could finish his party!"
"Bullshit! That kiss overheated my circuits from across the room!"
"Well, maybe you should get them checked, because obviously your circuits are faulty!" Raven snapped.
"My system is one of the best in the world!" Cyborg shot back. Just after he said it, he realized how stupid he just sounded. This wasn't even about him. It was about Raven. And Beast Boy. And what was best for both of them. He couldn't help anyone if he got mad too. Even if Raven did say mean, totally inaccurate things about his circuits. He took a deep breath, and the next thing he said was much calmer.
"Faulty circuits or not, Rae. I was there. Remember? And I could tell that that kiss meant something. For both of you. That's the biggest reason I thought there was something going on between you."
At his calm response, Raven took a deep breath as well. Her reply still sounded irritated, but she wasn't yelling at anymore.
"There's nothing going on between us."
"Do you want there to be?" Cyborg asked before he thought about it. When Raven didn't reply, he called her name.
"Why would I want something between us?" she asked.
She was dodging the question. Good. That meant she was on the defensive.
"You both like Game of Thrones..."
"So? Liking the same TV show is hardly the basis for a relationship."
"You do that night flying thing..." Cyborg continued, ignoring her protest.
"I told you. We do that when we—"
"And if that kiss was anything to go by, ya'll obviously have chemistry..."
"Again, not a good basis for a relationship!"
"And he makes you happy." Cyborg added, "I remember you actually smiled when he said you could be Tyrion."
"That was a smirk. It doesn't count."
"It totally does."
"It doesn't." Raven insisted. "I'm never happy."
"Are too. I've met her!" Cyborg said smugly. "She even thinks BB's funny, so that's another point on the 'ya'll should get together' scale."
"Except I can't show him that I think he's funny." Raven replied, and this time, instead of angry, she sounded...resigned. "Or that I like flying with him. Or that I appreciate when he actually makes intelligent points when we talk about Game of Thrones. Or anything else."
Now, we're getting somewhere, Cyborg thought. He'd better make sure though.
"Like you wanna kiss him again?" he teased gently.
Raven glared at him, but she didn't deny it. After a moment, she spoke again.
"You know how dangerous my emotions are. If I let him close, I could literally hurt him. I might even kill him if we fight."
"Ya'll fight all the time, and you haven't killed him yet." Cyborg pointed out.
"Because every time we do fight, I have to leave and meditate for an hour."
"So, keep doing that. Next issue."
"Positive emotions make my powers flare too, Cyborg." she snapped.
"Not nearly as much as the bad ones. I've known you long enough to see that. Next."
She scowled at him but didn't say anything else.
"Okay. One more question then: if you found something that could make you worry just a little bit less about your emotions, would you date Beast Boy?"
"It's impossible." Raven declared.
"That doesn't answer the question."
"If what I 'found' wasn't surgery or massive amounts of drugs, then yes, I would date Beast Boy if it made me feel better about my emotions."
Cyborg grinned. "That's what I like to hear. Move back a little, will you?"
She was still glaring at him, but she obeyed.
He bent down and picked up the pill pack she'd thrown. When he straightened, he saw that she looked even angrier, but this time he wasn't afraid. He held up the now misshapen pill pack.
"Did you know that these things do more than keep you from regretting a hook up for eighteen years?"
"I've heard some things, but I've never had reason to look into it." Raven admitted.
"I actually didn't know they did more stuff than that until I went to a medical conference a few months ago. There was a lot of women's health stuff up there that I checked out, because I wanted to be more help to you and Star. Some things I learned about these is that they regulate periods, ease cramping, lessen acne breakouts..."
"And what does any of that have to do with me?" Raven interrupted.
"I wasn't finished." Cyborg pointed out. "Anyway, these things do all that stuff by regulating hormones. You know what regulating hormones does? It regulates emotions. It's not like actually drugging you or anything. It just makes your hormones more chill, so you're not as prone to mood swings. Less mood swings means less anger means less power flares for you. See what I'm gettin' at?"
Raven was wide-eyed now. "So, you were giving me these because..."
"Because they help with your emotions," Cyborg confirmed. "So you don't have to worry as much about possibly hurting BB. And yeah, I'll admit, I kinda thought you guys were gonna have sex."
It was a testament to how shocked and touched Raven was that she didn't smack him for that last part. Instead, she was staring at the birth control pills like each one was made from solid gold.
"You gonna take 'em?" he asked, lightly waving the packet.
She gently took them from his hands.
"You gonna think about possibly dating Beast Boy?"
Still staring at the pills, she nodded.
"Hey." Cyborg said. He gently took Raven's chin and made her look at him. "It's not gonna be like a cure-all, but I thought they'd help. I hope that's enough."
"It's really more than I could have hoped for." Raven said sincerely. "Thank you."
Cyborg grinned. "Just don't forget to use a condom, now." he teased.
Raven smacked him.
Birth Control...protection in more ways than one, hm? :)
I hope people don't think I'm feeding into the stereotype that the only reason women feel negative emotions is because of their period. Obviously not true. However, hormones do have an effect on mood/emotions, so regulating them helps mood and emotions. I feel like Raven would feel more secure about her emotions if she had something that she felt helped a little. Hope you like it!