BBRae Weekend 2015 6 - Crush

Fair warning: this one will be slightly naughtier than the others. Only slightly.

Raven had found Beast Boy. Not that she'd been looking for him in the first place. In fact, she had been happily going about her day, no villains to interrupt her quiet time and no friends to do it either. That is to say, her friends had left her alone today, busy with their own hobbies during their unlooked-for day of rest. Anyway, Raven had eventually been forced to leave her spot on the gloriously comfortable couch by... the needs of the body.

She had to pee.

So, content and relaxed, she marched into the bathroom nearest the common room. The door swept open under its own power and Raven stepped inside.

"Oh... hello, Beast Boy," she had said. It was an impressively calm reaction, considering the young green man was standing there wearing nary a stitch of clothing. He was too startled to move immediately and Raven's brain had stalled. She could see everything. Everything. Finally, time resumed.

"R-Raven!" Beast Boy shrieked, grabbing a towel. Raven turned around, covering her flushing face with her hands.

"I'm sorry, Beast Boy! I didn't think anyone was in here," she explained, already leaving the room and making sure the door was shut before opening her eyes. She breathed in relief when she heard the tell-tale click of Beast Boy locking the door, something he had plainly neglected to do earlier. Some time later, Raven having gone to use the bathroom in her own room, the sorceress had returned to her book in the common room. She was glad no-one else was in there for the moment - she was bizarrely afraid they would somehow see her embarrassment in the air around her. Speaking of embarrassment...

"Um... Raven?" Beast Boy. Raven subtly turned her head a little so she couldn't see him. He stepped around to the front of the couch and sat down nearby, but out of reach.

"Beast Boy," she acknowledged.

"I'm uh... I'm sorry about earlier. I guess I forgot to lock the door," he said, stating the glaringly obvious.

"I guess so," Raven answered. Beast Boy forced a nervous laugh.

"Yeah... listen, you aren't gonna, like, tell anyone are you? If Cy found out you saw me naked-"

"Stop... right there, Beast Boy. If you keep up that line of conversation I'm liable to stuff my fingers in my ears and hum until you leave. I won't talk about it. I don't want to talk about it. I don't want to hear about it. I don't want to think about it." Assured by her words, Beast Boy sighed and grinned.

"Cool. Thanks, Rae. I'll see you later or something," he said, already on his way out of the room. Raven watched him go. Very closely. Alone now, she was forced to deal with her disobedient thoughts. Several of them involved a nude changeling. She was only human, after all. Well, not only human, but you get the idea. She knew several people she objectively understood to be physically attractive. Robin and Starfire came to mind. She had even had the odd flush of adolescent attraction in her teenage years: Aqualad looked really good in spandex. She hadn't given Beast Boy a second look in that way. Hadn't given anyone a second look in that way, even as they reached adulthood. But now, she had to admit... the boy was hot. She filed the thought away and returned to her book, thinking the matter resolved.

Days later, she admitted her error. She daydreamed (something she never usually liked to do) about lithe muscles shifting beneath delicious green skin. She was dismayed how often her mind recalled the sight of him. His chest, his stomach, his legs, his arms... and the rest. Sipping her tea at the table, Raven momentarily flushed bright red. It was so quick, the other Titans at the table didn't even notice.

"Mornin', dudes!" Beast Boy said in greeting, always the last one to the breakfast table. Raven eyed his messy hair with interest and found herself gripped with the desire to play with it. When he got his cereal, he plopped into an empty seat next to Cyborg and Raven found herself alarmingly disappointed he hadn't sat next to her. That night, after a day of unwilling observation of the changeling, Raven dreamed of him again. This time, she had approached him and asked if there was room for two in the shower. The rest of the dream was, no pun intended, steamy. Raven woke and glared at the ceiling. This could not be allowed to continue... the encounter in the bathroom had knocked their relationship out of balance, somehow. Now she was growing more and more interested in every detail about him and it was driving her to distraction. She needed to right things somehow. Needed to restore the balance. The solution came to her in what she would later call a 'moment of madness'. She wasn't wrong.

*KNOCK KNOCK*

Beast Boy's ears pricked at the sound. He got to his feet and shuffled over to his door, idly glancing at his clock: 23:15. Who would visit him at this hour?

"Raven?" he said. Indeed, it was Raven and, without waiting, she pushed past him into his room.

"Shut the door," she said.

"Wha-"

"Shut. The. Door." This time her command was obeyed.

"What's going on, Rae?" he asked, at a loss. Raven paced the floor.

"I need you to let me speak for a minute. No interruptions, okay?" He nodded his agreement. "Okay. Ever since I saw you in the bathroom, I haven't been able to get you out of my mind. I keep seeing it in my head. I've been dreaming about it. About you. I've been watching you, watching you move, watching you play, watching you fight. You're in my head... and it isn't fair. So I'm going to fix it." Dumbfounded by her admission, it took Beast Boy a few moments to register that Raven had removed her cloak and was now fiddling with the zipper at the back of her leotard. He spluttered incoherently for several moments, his eyes wide and manic.

"Raven, stop!" he managed eventually.

"No," she grumbled, still fiddling with her uniform. "I have to fix it. Have to restore balance."

"What are you talking about, Rae?" he asked desperately. Raven gave up on the zipper for a moment to face him, stepping toward him angrily.

"Our whole relationship has been changed by this! I'm... I'm at a disadvantage, somehow. I saw you and... and now I can't look away. If you see me, you'll know what it's like. We'll be on the same footing again." Her hands moved back to her collar but were caught and held by Beast Boy's. They were warm.

"Okay, no. This can't be you. I'm guessing one of those Ravens in your head is messing with you. Think, Raven: you were about to strip naked in my room, in front of me. On purpose!" he said. Raven blinked once, twice... then her cheeks turned bright pink.

"Oh Azar... I'm sorry. I feel so humiliated!" she said.

"What is it you were trying to do?" he asked. She didn't extract her hands but couldn't look at him.

"The idea was for you to see me n-... with no clothes on. Then you'd be stuck thinking about me and we'd be even. Oh, I am going to tear Nevermore apart!" she hissed.

"You wanted to get me to crush on you like you're crushing on me?" he tried. Raven blinked again, now looking at him once more.

"A crush? I have a crush on you?" she mumbled. Beast Boy nodded.

"That's kinda what it sounds like. I mighta thought your lust-Raven or whatever you have in there was playing up but that wouldn't explain why you watch me doing other stuff, like playing games. Right?" he explained. Raven sat on his bed, pulling her hands away from him and burying her face in them.

"I have a crush on you. Awesome," she groaned. Beast Boy actually chuckled at hearing Raven say 'awesome' like that. He sat next to her, deciding there was something she deserved to know. A secret she had earned.

"Don't worry, Rae. Your crazy get naked plan wouldn't have made the difference you wanted it too," he admitted. Raven moved a finger so one eye could watch him.

"No?" she asked, a little dismayed he was so certain he wouldn't be enamored by the sight of her as she had been by the sight of him.

"No," he confirmed. He took a deep breath. "Because I already can't stop thinking about you."

"..."

"..."

"Oh..."

Where it goes from there, I leave to you ^_^

-Jack