A.N. I got a lot of positive feedback on the last chapter, and I really appreciate all the encouragement and suggestions that have been sent my way. My thanks goes out to those of you who left me reviews, and especially those of you who responded to my little contest and guessed where Raven was. Everyone who guessed correctly is listed at the bottom. This chapter took me a little longer to turn out than I thought it would, but I hope it was worth the wait.
Without further ado, please enjoy the chapter.
Chapter eight of Like It Or Not, entitled "Roommates"
Thursday, May 24; two days remaining
The darkened room was illuminated only by the watery, white-yellow light cast by a few buzzing light bulbs that hung precariously from exposed wires across the ceiling rafters. A heavy foot tapped impatiently against the cracked concrete floor, the rhythmic noise reverberating off the stone walls of the otherwise silent underground chamber. The room's sole occupant growled with impatience. It must have been just before daybreak, and he'd be damned if he was going to wait there much longer.
The creaking of a door made him turn his head and squint into the darkness ahead of him. The sound of loud, shuffling footsteps made his visitor's approach known, and a hulking figure made its way into the dank room. The visitor was obviously wary from the time he set foot in the chamber. A bungling, muscle-bound brute, he kept shifting his weight as he glanced around the room suspiciously, obviously expecting some sort of trap.
"Well, I showed up," the visitor announced, his harsh voice breaking the eerie, pre-dawn silence.
"You're taking me up on my offer then?" the first man asked evenly, affecting a domineering expression.
The brutish second man shrugged his massive shoulders. "I'm listenin'," he replied simply, crossing his arms and planting his feet.
"I'll make this quick," the first villain promised. "I'm just looking for some help with a little, uh, project I've been wanting to do."
"What's that?" the visitor asked suspiciously.
"What else?" his host snorted, "I'm gunna bring down those runts who call themselves heroes, like I should've a long time ago."
The guest guffawed loudly. "Yeah, you and every one'a us."
The first man narrowed his eyes in irritation at his guest's reaction. "Lousy kids only get lucky in fights 'cause it's five against one."
"So you're saying we team up then? You 'n' me take down the Titans?"
The host shook his head. "No, but I'm gunna have a little fun, and I knew you'd want in. You've heard all about how I got away takin' six hundred pounds of steel, I'm sure," the first man boasted.
"I'll be damned," the second man whistled in amazement. "That was you?"
"Wasn't even that hard."
"Huh. Well looks to me like you got it pretty good then. So 'xactly what do ya need my help for?"
The first man shrugged. "I need a favor. It's nothing difficult, and I'll pay you for your trouble. I'd do it all myself, but you've got opportunities that would be a whole lot harder for me to come by."
"So, what's your plan?" the visitor questioned, his obviously mounting interest shining through the wariness in his voice.
"I," the first man said smugly in reply, "Am going to take out one of the Titans. Without 'im the rest of those kids won't last long. I know their type. They'll get all torn up without their little friend, then I'll finish them off easy. Jump City'll be lost without 'em, and guys like us'll be free to, eh, step up and take what we deserve."
The hulking visitor snorted. "That's a whole lotta talk for a man hiding underground. So you want me to kill one of them or something?"
The host shook his head. "There's no fun in that. If were gunna make the Titans fall, we might as well milk it. We've gotta destroy 'em on all sides and make it hurt."
The visitor blinked dumbly, trying to decide if it was such a good idea to concert with this guy. This man before him spoke with such hatred for the Titans that he didn't doubt his cruel intentions for a second. What exactly the Titans had done to anger him so much remained a mystery. But that didn't matter, right? Besides, what was wrong with making them suffer a little before they bit the dust? It would be in his best interests to have them gone, after all, and it would be awfully sweet to make them pay for all the times they had thrown him around.
"I'm in," the guest said foolishly. "Those kids have had it too good for too long." His host nodded enthusiastically. "But," he hesitantly added, "Still, they're, ya know… kids."
"Look, if you're gunna chicken out on me 'cause you're afraid to play dirty–"
"I'm not gunna chicken out," the second man growled. "But'cha haven't told me what you 'xpect me to do for you. I just don't want to do anythin' too…"
"Heinous?" the first man offered with a dark chuckle. "I assure you, we'll be as civil as they deserve," he assured his guest. That feral glint of hatred returned to his eye as he spoke further, "It'll take a couple weeks tops to do this, then we'll be done with the Titans forever. Just imagine the prestige; two criminals taking out a whole team of heroes."
"They're damn good fighters though," the visitor replied dubiously, "How're you even gunna catch a Titan in the first place?"
The first man grinned. "That, my friend, is where you come in."
TT
It had been nine hours since the attack when Raven finally awoke from incredibly sound sleep. Long after her brain slowly began to warm up and memories of the pain she had suffered came flooding back, Raven remained lying still, trying to piece together the mystery of what had happened.
Groaning to herself, Raven opened her eyes, immediately shutting them when sunlight overwhelmed them. She nestled deeper into the soft surface she was resting on, which she had decided was a warm bed. She squinted her eyes open again and blinked back sleep. The tired girl raised her head slightly, brushing disheveled, violet hair from her face. Raven felt weaker than usual, her muscles straining just a little more than normal to support her body as she held herself up on elbows.
When her eyes focused, Raven became aware that she was not in her bedroom on her bed like she had hoped (although that did explain the sunlight, since her drapes had been drawn at the time of the attack). Her brow furrowed anxiously. She was lying on her stomach on a mess of pale green sheets, her left side touching a cold, hard surface that she identified as a wall. Where was she? Was she even in the Tower anymore? She glanced to her right, past a sizable lump of sheets in the bed she occupied. The room surrounding her was smaller than her bedroom, with green painted walls and every surface and inch of floor space cluttered with only God knows what.
Raven's eyes widened and her insides sunk.
"Azar," she whispered hoarsely, and no doubt was left in her mind that the goddess despised her.
Green everywhere, untidy heaps of whatnot littering the floor; she had to be in Beast Boy's bedroom! Worse, she was in Beast Boy's bed. Suddenly the thought of waking up far outside the Tower seemed a whole lot more appealing. But if she was here, then where was…?
Her question was answered when the lump of sheets in the bed beside her shifted, groaning slightly and pushing the covers away from a face. It was, of course, Beast Boy. He had twisted his body so that he was lying on his back, still breathing deeply with sleep. Raven found herself staring dumbly down at her green teammate as she struggled to heave herself into a sitting position. Embarrassment flooded her, making her face flush intensely as she scrabbled away from the lightly snoring boy, all the while hurling silent epithets at Azar, the monks, the law, this curse, and every other potential cause of this latest wretched situation.
This was really bad. Not only was she in Beast Boy's bed, but she was trapped between him and the wall. The fact that they were on his bottom bunk meant that there was less than half a foot of clearance over her head as she sat, shoulders hunched and frozen against the wall in horror. Climbing over the changeling without waking him would be nearly impossible, but it was either that or wait until he woke up and then try to explain why she was there, but by that time no amount of sputtering excuses would allow her to escape without utter humiliation.
Why was she here anyway? Raven vaguely remembered thinking that Beast Boy could somehow save her from that horrid pain she had been experiencing. The next thing she knew she hand landed in Beast Boy's bed. Had she teleported herself? That was the only logical explanation, Raven decided, but precisely how she accomplished that without having access to her powers was a frustrating mystery.
Raven glanced down at Beast Boy and his tranquil expression told her that he was completely unaware of her presence.
Although she didn't want to recall the attack, a single sentence seemed to be etched into her memory, like a souvenir of what she had been through.
A closed mind will be your demise.
Those were the words that had struck her mind like a lightning bolt the night before. What was it supposed to mean anyway? It wasn't her own opinion, so had it been put there by someone else? And who the hell was able to do that anyway?
Raven huffed indignantly, but she stilled again when this noise caused the changeling to stir. Raven swallowed. She had to get out of there.
She looked down at Beast Boy, making sure he was still asleep. Then, so slowly that it was almost painful, Raven rose up on trembling arms and legs, preparing to slowly shift her weight to the opposite side of the slumbering changeling before she completely lost her resolve and spiraled downward into hysterics. His mattress creaked with her motion and she stopped altogether, holding her breath and praying that he had not been awakened. After a minute she decided that he had not, and she resumed inching her way over Beast Boy more slowly than before, carefully stretching the right side of her body across his and towards the edge of the bed. Her back brushed the bottom of the top bunk as she struggled to maintain balance, making her crouch down even further.
Just when Raven was hopeful that she could actually pull this off, something happened that made her shallow breath catch in her throat. While her body was almost completely over his and all her weight was held precariously by her left palm and knee, Beast Boy shifted to his right, catching her off guard and almost causing her trembling arm near the wall to give way. She quickly moved her left hand to keep it from becoming trapped beneath him, and as her right hand grasped for the top bunk's wooden frame, she couldn't keep the shaking fingers of her left hand from brushing his shoulder.
She stilled immediately, as did Beast Boy, and Raven waited in agony for a sign that he was still asleep. She carefully lifted her left arm, intent on quickly shifting it over his body and bolting for the door, but as she did so, Beast Boy's hand shot out from under the covers, reaching up and latching onto her forearm with a vise-like grip. Raven gasped in surprise, and it took quite a measure of self-control to not fall on him in her shock. Beast Boy opened his eyes quickly. His sleep-muddled mind was utterly confused, but it only took a split second for the changeling's brain to register that Raven was hovering over him. He immediately dropped his gaze and realized that he was holding onto her arm.
With a cry, Beast Boy released her and sat up in one fluid motion, trying to scoot away from Raven at the same time. He had already been very near the edge of his bed, so this action sent him tumbling with a mess of bed sheets to the floor. He landed hard on his rear, and Raven barely managed not to go careening off the edge along with him.
For a moment neither of them moved. Both Titans seemed completely frozen, eyes locked, Beast Boy sitting on the floor, tangled in sheets, while Raven was still kneeling on his bed. Her right hand was still clamped to the frame of the upper bunk.
The changeling, utterly stupefied at what the heck had just transpired, was furiously trying to get his mind over the shock of finding Raven here like this and to figure out why she was there. How did she get in his room? Why couldn't he remember what happened? Oh God…
"What the hell?" Beast Boy finally managed to eloquently croak through his astonishment.
Raven swallowed. She mentally stumbled over what to say, but her mortification clouded her rationality. She could feel her mind going completely blank. This was precisely what she had been trying to avoid by sneaking out.
Words escaping her, Raven retracted her appendages and sat down on the bed, finally recovering from her daze enough to at least note that she was not wearing her cloak over her leotard. She blushed yet again, which she tried to hide by looking down at her lap. Could this possibly get any worse? Raven seriously doubted that it could.
"Last night," Raven began as soon as she trusted herself to speak intelligibly, her voice still betraying her embarrassment, "I had another attack, like the other ones I've told you about. Only this one was… notably worse than the others. I… believe that I teleported myself here."
Beast Boy blinked, her explanation doing little to dispel his confusion.
"Why?" he asked at last, voice still hoarse with sleep. He cleared his throat by coughing into his hand. "Why did you teleport into my bed?"
Raven attempted to meet his gaze, giving up when her blushing only intensified.
"I remember thinking that since the attacks happen if I'm not obeying the curse, you would be the only way to prove that I'm following the law," she muttered, wringing her hands, "I didn't know I teleported here until I woke up next to you."
The changeling shook his head. "Whoa," he mumbled, finally making an effort to untangle himself from his sheets. He kicked them off and stood slowly, eyes not leaving the girl still sitting awkwardly on his lower bunk.
Looking vainly for something, anything to do that would spare her from making eye contact with Beast Boy, Raven glanced at the forearm that he had previously latched onto. Red marks were left where his fingers had grabbed her tightly and she wondered if the area would bruise. Raven couldn't even remember the last time she had a bruise. Every wound she sustained during battle was healed almost immediately upon receiving it, so this tiny injury would be oddly significant. The reminder that she was not able to heal herself filled Raven with a strange sort of irritation, the fact of her own mortality manifesting itself in a subtle, but somehow uncomfortably obtrusive fashion. With self-pity now stacked on top of utter mortification, Raven deftly slipped behind her comfortingly familiar shield of sarcasm to try to remedy the awkward situation.
"Think you could have gripped my arm any tighter?" she asked dryly without making eye contact with the green boy. "It's still got circulation."
"Oh no, don't even try to turn yourself into the offended party," Beast Boy replied while attempting to adjust his skewed pajama pants. "We're not just going to forget who decided to show up in whose bed."
"We've already established why I 'decided to show up' in your bed," Raven answered evenly, "Besides, you're the one who shaved a good five years off my life with your little sneak attack method of figuring out who I was."
"Seriously, dude, what did you expect?" Beast Boy replied indignantly. "I wake up to find someone or something moving and breathing right over me when I haven't even shared a room with anyone for, like, ten years. Obviously I was gunna freak out, so just be happy I realized it was you before I went all kung fu on your ass."
Raven scoffed. "I'd like to see you try."
"Hello? I'm just trying to make a point here."
"Point taken," Raven responded, "You're easily spooked and resort to grabbing at things that pose no threat to you."
"Exac– hey!" Beast Boy whined, crossing his arms and glaring at Raven. After losing a quick staring contest with the still embarrassed girl, Beast Boy turned his gaze to his sheets, most of which still lay in tangled heaps around his feet. The changeling looked back up at her. "Wanna help me make the bed?"
"Tempting, but no," Raven replied.
"Come on," Beast Boy insisted, "If you're going to sleep in my bed, you might as well help me make it too."
Raven resisted the urge to wrinkle her nose in disgust, shaking her head in a vain attempt to keep herself from blushing again.
"You might want to wash those before putting them back on your bed," she offered, glancing at the pile of pale-green sheets that he was picking up.
"Why?"
"They were on your floor," Raven replied, as if the meaning behind her words was obvious.
"So?"
"You're rather infamous for keeping a bedroom that's more filthy than the average dumpster," she replied wryly.
Beast Boy sniffed. "Fine, maybe it's a little bit cluttered, but it's not dirty. Maybe you've been too busy enjoying confined quarters with me to realize that it's not that bad in here. Go ahead, smell something or something."
Raven inhaled carefully and realized that Beast Boy wasn't lying. She was at a loss. Everyone knew that Beast Boy's room stank to high heaven, so why the heck didn't it? Maybe this was just a terrible dream after all…
Beast Boy could tell from Raven's lack of a snappy comeback that she had become aware of her mistake. He smiled triumphantly.
"Maybe you've never taken the time to think about it before," he explained a bit condescendingly, "But the whole animal senses thing and strong smells don't mix all that well. So yeah, my room's messy, but it's not dirty, or I'd never be able to live in it."
"I never realized," Raven replied reluctantly, and she could almost feel her pride being kicked down a few notches.
"That's ok, Rae. There's a lot of stuff about me you don't realize," Beast Boy said with a shrug. "And if you're not gunna help me make my bed, can you at least get off of it for a minute so I can?"
Raven rose carefully to her feet, happy to step away from the bed that had so unmercifully inhibited her escape attempt earlier. Her new vantage point allowed her to catch a glimpse of Beast Boy's digital clock. It's face read 12:18 pm. Her eyes widened. Had she actually been asleep for almost nine hours? Well, considering what she had been through, perhaps nine hours of recuperation time wasn't all that much, but still, the day was practically half over and she had just gotten up! What if the others had gone looking for her in her bedroom and hadn't found her there? Would she have to suffer through explaining this embarrassing situation again? No, her dignity was already bruised, and it couldn't take much more of a beating before it shattered completely.
Speaking of bruised dignity, she might as well take this already painfully embarrassing opportunity to deal with the argument she had had with Beast Boy the day before. After all, it was that argument that had left her up half the night worrying that he would do something stupid in his anger. Apparently he hadn't, and even though he wasn't the kind of guy to keep a grudge (or so she thought), there was no point in leaving the argument as a source of awkwardness between them when there was already far too much to worry about. Besides, it wasn't likely that she would ever have a better opportunity to apologize, and quite frankly, what did she have left to lose?
"Beast Boy," Raven began, choosing her words carefully, "You know that I'm not trying to be unreasonable about all of this, right?"
Her green teammate did not look up from his efforts in making his bed.
"Whatever you say," he shrugged. Raven watched as Beast Boy finished fixing the sheets, haphazardly tucking them in so that his bed semi-resembled being made.
"When did you get back from patrol duty?" Raven asked half-heartedly.
"My shift was over by two a.m., and Robin ordered me back to the Tower. Something about not wanting me out all night when I'm not completely rational." Beast Boy shrugged again. "This new schedule is a killer. I mean, going from patrol duty two nights a week to half the night every night is intense."
"It will get better once I can patrol again," Raven replied.
"Yeah, it will," the changeling agreed. "Well, I dunno 'bout you, but I'm starving," he announced, his stomach growling almost on cue. "Wanna join me for breakfast?"
"Why not?" Raven sighed, taking his offer as a good sign that he didn't still resent her completely.
Beast Boy glanced at her. "You might want to stop by your room and throw on a cloak first though," he suggested. "Not that I mind just the leotard but it might distract me from carrying on a proper conversation with you."
Scowling fiercely and blushing yet again, Raven glared at Beast Boy, which only made him laugh at her flustered attitude.
"If it really makes you feel better you could take a towel or something for until you get to your bedroom," Beast Boy offered.
Raven accepted and Beast Boy found a slightly damp, light blue towel on top of a pile of clothes. Trying not to think about how disgusting it probably was, Raven draped the offered cloth over her shoulders and made for the door. When she got there she stopped for a moment and turned.
"Beast Boy?" she said, deciding to try her apology one more time.
"Hm?" he replied from behind her, in the middle of searching for a fresh uniform top.
"About everything I said yesterday about the vows –"
"Don't worry about it," Beast Boy cut in. "I felt bad about what I said too."
"There's no reason for you to feel bad," Raven replied, careful to keep her voice level "I think you're starting to see this all rationally."
Beast Boy made a face. "You think so?"
"Yes. Just try to consider the long term, alright?"
Beast Boy shrugged. "I already am."
TT
After a long shower Raven made her way down to the kitchen to make a quick cup of her favorite tea to go with a bagel for lunch. While carefully preparing her beverage, she discovered a note that Cyborg had scrawled and left on the kitchen table earlier that morning. It informed the rest of the team that he had gone to visit the Titans East for the day to work on their security system, which had been destroyed during a battle the day before. Starfire happened by the kitchen while Raven was busy stirring sugar into her hot drink, and eagerly recounted the lunch outing with Robin that she had just returned from. After tossing a couple of catalogs at Raven and making her promise to look through them soon, Starfire quickly skipped off, explaining that Robin had invited her to watch The Little Mermaid on the ancient VHS player in his room, that she might learn more about a "traditional" earth wedding.
Raven ate her little meal in silence and might have enjoyed the solitude if her mind hadn't been bogged down by questions and those familiar, pesky feelings of anxiousness and embarrassment. The mystery of her last attack and rescue still niggled in her mind (it really was a miracle that Beast Boy had been in the Tower at the time of the attack, and she didn't want to think about what would have happened if he hadn't been). She was fairly certain that Beast Boy would have the decency not to tell anyone what had happened that morning, but he was liable to "accidentally" let something slip if he got angry with her again. She would never hear the end of the ridicule from her team if that happened, and no amount of explaining would be able to mend her pride.
Searching for some sort of distraction, Raven had ended up in the common room with the magazines Starfire had given to her, noting with disgust that the magazines were all about floral arrangements. Beast Boy entered the room a while after she had settled in at the table with her catalogs. He waved at her in greeting and made his way over to the huge couch, where he flopped down and comfortably stretched out.
When she thought about it, Raven failed to see how her current task fit into the agreement that she would only be consulted on important wedding matters. Normally she would have come up with a half-dozen solid arguments with which to get herself out of a job like this, but quick excuses had escaped her while talking with Starfire in the kitchen, and now she was paying for that dearly.
Time passed slowly and the dark girl scowled at the catalog on the table in front of her, struggling to focus. She had been sitting at the table for almost thirty minutes without getting anything accomplished. She felt thoroughly exasperated by her second time through the magazines without finding anything remotely appealing.
Alas, not for lack of trying (but perhaps for lack of interest), and despite the incredible amount of selection in her catalogs, she selected nothing. Everything was too fancy, too bright, and too expensive. It irritated her to no end that a piddling task like this was taking her so long, even if it could easily be justified by the facts that she was too preoccupied to concentrate and that she didn't care a bit about flowers.
Raven glanced across the room. She could see Beast Boy's messy green hair sticking out past the edge of the couch on which he was sprawled. She wasn't sure if he was asleep, but he hadn't spoken a word or moved in a while.
A moment later, however, out of her peripheral vision, Raven saw Beast Boy's dark green hair move as he shifted his position on the couch.
"Hey Rae?" he called.
Ah well, apparently he wasn't sleeping.
"What?" she replied, flipping a page.
"What do you think our kids would look like?" Beast Boy asked, completely out of the blue.
Raven blinked, caught off guard, and looked up towards the couch.
"Come again?" she requested.
Beast Boy sat up, casually throwing his arms over the back of the couch so he could look at her. "I was just wondering," he said, shrugging his shoulders indifferently. "Humor me?"
Raven stared at him indignantly, trying to decide if she should snap at him for wasting her time with such a ridiculous question.
"I've never thought about it," she reluctantly admitted at last, "Why?"
"I bet they'd have some pretty awesome powers," Beast Boy grinned. "Between my shape shifting and your telekinesis and stuff."
Raven nodded slightly, unsure of why she was bothering to carry on the absurd conversation.
"That is probably part of why you were chosen for me," she agreed hesitantly. "More abilities mean more power. It makes sense that marriages would be set up in a way that would maximize potential power for the offspring."
Beast Boy smiled broadly. "So, since I got chosen, that means I'm more powerful than Rob and Cy, right?"
"And so much more humble too," Raven replied.
Beast Boy wrinkled his nose. He appeared thoughtful for a moment.
"Ya know what? I don't think Cy can even have children," he stated matter-of-factly.
"That's something I do not want to think about," Raven said.
Beast Boy chuckled. "So, back to my original question, what do you think our kids would look like?"
Raven sighed, flipping shut her catalog. "Probably like the two of us combined."
"Well duh," Beast Boy said, rolling his eyes, "But do you think they would have green skin?"
"How am I supposed to know?" Raven asked.
Beast Boy suddenly looked amused. "Hey, what if the kid got my green skin and your purple eyes and hair?"
"Then we'd have to name the thing Barney," she replied with a wry grin.
Beast Boy scoffed. "No way," he insisted, "I am not naming my child after a fat dinosaur."
"It really is a moot point, though," Raven said, "Seeing as there will be no children to name."
"That's a shame," Beast Boy sighed, "I'm sure we could have some pretty cute kids."
Raven felt a blush rising to her face for the umpteenth time that day. "If you value your life, I'd stop right there," she warned the changeling.
"I've never though about baby names either," he declared, apparently ignoring her threat. "Gosh, there's a lot of stuff I've never even considered before."
"Which is perfectly normal, because seventeen year-old boys shouldn't need to be worried about baby names."
Beast Boy scowled at her. "Seventeen year-old men, Raven," he insisted.
Raven rolled her eyes. "Whatever," she muttered. She was silent for a moment. "What the heck. Let's just name the kid after my dad," she said dryly.
"No way!" Beast Boy said adamantly, obviously missing her sarcasm. "I'd pick a purple dinosaur over a creepy demon guy any day."
"I was kidding, Beast Boy."
"Of course you were."
Raven shrugged. "Why don't you help me with a more relevant decision," she offered.
"What's that?"
Raven motioned for him to come see the magazine she had on the table in front of her. He slowly got up and made his way over, immediately frowning and walking back for the couch when he saw what catalog it was.
"No way, Rae," he insisted. "That's girl stuff."
"It's our wedding," she reminded him.
"But Starfire asked you to pick out all that pointless junk."
"But we must practice being a team for when we unite our souls in matrimony and become as one," Raven sardonically replied.
Beast Boy shivered. "That sounds creepy," he remarked.
"And it is," Raven nodded in agreement.
The changeling sighed sadly. "Commitment scares me," he lamented, falling down against the couch dramatically and leaning his arms over the back again to stare at Raven with a pitiful expression.
Raven couldn't help but smirk. "This is why teenagers shouldn't marry." She sighed. "Well, we'll still be teenagers when we end this."
Beast Boy's face clouded over. "Would you stop bringing that up?" he demanded.
"You know the only other alternative," Raven reminded him.
"And would the alternative really be that bad?" he pressed.
Raven looked at him. Hadn't they been over this enough? "Beast Boy, we don't love each other. We can't be expected to spend our entire lives together."
"Well, what about all the other people on your planet? They stayed married, didn't they? You know what they say about arranged marriages; you can learn to love anyone."
"Let's be realistic, Beast Boy," Raven insisted. "Neither of us will want to stay together longer than we need to. And what happened to your decision about cutting out love and cherish from your vow?"
"I already told you I was sorry about that."
"You didn't say you were changing it back, though."
"That's because you'd have my head if I swore something like that to you."
"So you're leaving it out if I don't tell you to do otherwise?"
"I'm leaving it out because I decided to. I know you've got your opinions about it and unlike you, I'm taking both of our interests into account."
Before Raven could reply, the door to the room hissed open and Robin walked in, carrying a steaming bag of microwave popcorn. He stopped at the entrance to the room upon seeing the two alone. "Am I interrupting something?" he asked.
"Nope, we were just discussing baby names," Beast Boy replied cheerfully, apparently pausing their serious discussion.
Robin cast an odd glance at Raven. "Baby names?" he said skeptically.
"He's just taunting you, Robin," she insisted.
"Right. Well, Starfire wanted me to ask if you've picked out the floral arrangements yet," Robin said.
"I'm working on it," Raven said with a sigh.
"Fine," Robin replied, "But Star says she wants to have them ordered today."
Raven frowned. "Maybe I should go talk to her."
"Be my guest," Robin replied.
"Why not just choose something simple and get it over with?" Beast Boy asked. The other two Titans in the room turned to look at him. "Seriously, it's not a big deal."
Raven shot him a look. "Then what do you suggest?"
The changeling shrugged. "I dunno, roses would work," he offered, naming the first variety of flower that popped into his head.
"Only roses?" Raven asked dubiously.
"Sure. You're the one who wants the wedding to be as little as possible," Beast Boy reasoned.
"Fine," Raven agreed. It certainly would be simpler to only order one type of flower. In fact, why hadn't she thought of that? "Roses it is. Robin, tell Starfire she can pick out whatever arrangements she wants. No pink."
Robin shrugged. "Alright, I'll tell her," he promised, making his way out of the room. The door slid shut behind him.
"There," Beast Boy said with satisfaction, "We compromised."
Raven grinned slightly. "I guess we did."
"Wasn't that easy?"
"Sure, when nothing but flowers is at stake."
"Baby steps, Rae. We're making progress here." The changeling crossed the room and took a seat at the table next to Raven, resting his arms on the counter top.
"Was there something else you wanted?" Raven asked upon glancing up and seeing that Beast Boy was staring at her.
Beast Boy looked thoughtful. "Actually, yes," he began slowly, a pink hue tingeing his cheeks. "I've been doing some thinking about these random attack things you're having. By the way you describe 'em they're getting worse."
"Which I was told would happen as my birthday draws nearer."
"So what're you gunna do?" Beast Boy inquired.
Raven raised an eyebrow. "What am I going to do?"
"I know, obviously the whole marriage thing," he conceded, "But what about short term?"
The dark girl looked at him expressionlessly. "I'm afraid I don't follow."
Beast Boy swallowed. "So the only reason you got over this last attack was 'cause I was there," he continued, "What if you have another when I'm not around?"
Raven met his worried gaze evenly. "You can waste your whole life on 'what ifs', Beast Boy," she reasoned.
"I just can't stand the thought of you… dying or something just because I'm not around." Beast Boy said seriously, and his concern made Raven feel awkward.
"What do you propose then?" Raven asked.
Beast Boy looked uncomfortable. "Well, you know I have a bunk bed and all…" Raven just stared at him as his voice trailed off. "I was thinking that you could, ya know, sleep in my room until the curse is gone," the changeling said quickly and abruptly tensed, as if expecting a tirade from the dark girl for his offer. Instead he was met only by a stunned silence, and he eventually took his chances and met her gaze. "Well?" he prompted her uneasily.
Raven blinked at him dumbly, holding back the resounding "no" that begged to be uttered. Her pride was in shambles as it was, and while not wanting to risk her own death, she would almost prefer taking that chance than risk the further mortification of taking up Beast Boy on his offer. Even so, it would be awfully childish to place her pride over her life. She had barely made it past her last birthday, and she'd be damned if she had gone through so much just to die from one of these attacks.
"I wish I could say no," Raven replied grimly, the sincerity in her voice not lost on the changeling. "However, I am worried that if I experience another attack, I would not be as lucky as I was with the last one," Raven admitted. Her unreadable stare remained focused on the changeling's face. "I don't have much of a choice."
Beast Boy's face lit up, his worried mood disappearing as rapidly as it had come.
"Sweet, now we're roomies!" he exclaimed, punching a fist in the air.
"I'd appreciate it if you kept the proclaiming of that fact to a minimum," the empath said quickly, glaring at her giddy fiancée.
Beast Boy shrugged, grinning sheepishly. "Fine, fine, I get it. You don't want the others to think that you're sleeping with the green kid, I understand."
"That's not what I said."
"Ah, but it's what you were clearly implying," Beast Boy stated. "Whatever. I'll get my extra sheets."
With that, Beast Boy leaped up and exited the room. Raven, alone at the table once more, shut her eyes. Her head sunk down slowly into her palms as she groaned. Azar, what had she done?
--
Thanks again to everyone who reviewed chapter seven, and everyone who guessed at where Raven was after the last chapter. The answer was, of course, with Beast Boy in his bedroom/bed. There were ten readers who guessed correctly, so congratulations to you all! There were also a couple of people who came pretty close to getting it right, but I was a bit picky with selecting winners. The usernames of the correct guessers are listed below in alphabetical order.
demongurl111, God's Child aka kgnascimento, JeMS7, NightWarrior, Orider,purplerave, RaeBoy, The Flying Frog, TheSilentShotgun, titanfan45
As for this chapter, as always, I'm happy to receive constructive criticism, ideas, and the like. Tell me what you think, what you want to see next, and whatever else you feel like sending my way.
Thank you for reading.
