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The empath opened her eyes to the soft rap of knuckles against her metal door. The hard sound was followed by the chirpy voice of the tower's other female resident. "It is time to be doing the shining and rising, friend Raven! Robin has informed me that we will be engaging in the early out of works in one hour!" Starfire's uncanny talent to sound cheerful even when speaking about the most tiring of tasks was inhuman; then again, considering she came from another planet, it shouldn't have been much of a surprise. While Raven was not entirely human either, the half-demon inside of her agreed only with her human genes on one thing, and that was the amount of sleep she received should be more.
With a groan, the dark empath crawled out of bed and stumbled around her room in the dark, searching for her cloak. Her hand passed by the light switch without contact; there would be no unnecessary brightness in her sleeping quarters until a hood was fastened securely over her head. Remembering that she had thrown the cape at the base of her bed, the girl finally located the desired article of clothing and, fastening it around her neck, she flicked her finger at the switch on the wall. The dim light bulb above clicked on, and, shielding her eyes with the shadows of her hood, Raven trudged toward the door, still only half awake.
Raven had all but forgotten about her previous plan to give Starfire a talking-to about the alien princess's storytelling the night before. In fact, doing so was the furthest thing from her mind; at the moment, the only thing Raven was thinking about was that she was exhausted and it was much too early for rousing from her bed. Why was it that Robin insisted everyone participated in early morning practices again? Sighing to herself, the empath entered the hallway.
Despite her drowsy state of mind, Raven was quick to realize that Starfire was still waiting for her outside her door, and the empath's intentions for questioning came rushing back. It seemed that her taller friend was expecting it, seeing how her hands were held behind her back patiently, an apologetic look glimmering in her emerald eye, and she'd waited all this time for Raven to leave her room.
Raven, as everyone in the tower knew, was not a morning person. She wasted little time in getting to her accusations. "You told him I wanted to talk to him."
Starfire tightened her grip on her fingers behind her back, reminding the empath of a guilty puppy with tail between legs. "Yes. I am very sorry, Raven. I hope you can forgive me."
Raven did not waver. "You told him I wanted to go to the movies with him."
Starfire winced. She rarely suffered Raven's wrath, and she did not wish to today, but the alien princess believed she was deserving of it, so she simply nodded. The empath lifted an eyebrow. "You told him I was scared." Starfire bowed her head, her sights locked on the rims of her shoes, but then stopped in surprise when Raven added under her breath, "But… he said okay, so I suppose I can't really be mad at you." The alien princess broke out into a broad grin, and without thinking she threw her arms around Raven. The empath glared at her in annoyance. "But that doesn't mean I like being hugged."
Laughing lightly, Starfire released her hold on her friend. "I apologize, friend Raven, but I am most happy for you!"
"Mhm." Raven rolled her eyes, suppressing a blush that slipped through her defenses. The girls started to make their way slowly in the direction of the workout room. "Since you mentioned it," Raven began, "I assume you have a movie in mind for us to see?"
"Oh yes!" Starfire nodded with vigorous energy. "I happened to be reading the news of papers with Robin yesterday-," –at this Raven smirked, knowing that her taller teammate probably had no real interest in the news and was just present because Robin was-, "-and noticed the listings of movies coming up this week. One had an interesting title; I believe it was Wicked Scary 3. I am sorry to admit that I thought of you friend Raven. I was going to invite you out to see it with me, but Robin believed it to be the bad idea, and so I instead suggested it to you and Beast Boy."
"Yes, suggested," Raven snorted.
Starfire was undeterred, continuing to chat as if she had not heard the comment. "I wished to keep Beast Boy from finding out about our deal and could not think of a better distraction." She failed to mention that Robin might already know about their deal. Of course, the alien princess was not sure this was true, and that -despite the other fact that she did not want to make Raven more nervous about the whole thing than she already was- was why she avoided telling the empath.
With reluctance, Raven had to concur with Starfire's statement; the alien princess certainly had distracted Beast Boy. It seemed that there was nothing they could do about keeping Cyborg from telling Robin or Beast Boy, save for physically taking their communicators away from them and then shutting off all electronic contact within and outside the tower, -and neither Raven nor Starfire were going to go to such lengths to keep the secret- so they agreed to let whatever happen play out. At least Beast Boy was going to be spending time away from the other boys while at the movies, so that should lessen the chance of him finding out. Still, if Cyborg wanted to tell Beast Boy, it wouldn't be too hard of a task to contact the shape-shifter. The empath only hoped that Starfire's meddling didn't cause Raven's powers to lose control and result in her blowing up the movie theater.
The two Titans entered the workout room to find Robin hanging up the phone with Beast Boy beside him who was sleepily rubbing his eyes. The green boy brightened considerably at the sight of his friends. "Hey Star! Good morning, Rae!" he greeted, grinning.
Starfire smiled in response, but Raven just lifted an eyebrow, grunting, "Is it?" Beast Boy's cheery demeanor faltered, and, seeing his pause in attitude, Raven added, "It seems more early than good to me. We'd better have a good breakfast after this." Her words directed her irritation at Robin instead of the shape-shifter, and they both noticed the change. The young leader glanced in Raven's direction, trying to read her expression, but the girl's face was a blank gray slate. Beast Boy piped up before Robin could speak.
"Oh, hey," he jumped in, focusing on Raven as she and Starfire descended the stairs, "so Rae, when we gonna go to that scary movie you were talking about? 'Cause I totally forgot to ask last night."
Raven ignored the strange and confused air that Robin took on about him, replying in monotone, "It will be about a week."
Beast Boy wiped imaginary sweat from his forehead. "Okay, phew, good. I was hoping I wouldn't miss it."
The two's leader switched his sights between the two, his mouth open in a question he wasn't sure how to ask. Starfire tilted her head, distracting her boyfriend before he could voice his inquiry and probably saving him from Raven's wrath that was sure to follow. "Friend Robin? What is it that you have planned for us today in the out of works?"
Robin cleared his throat, hurrying to remember what he had aroused his teammates so early in the morning for. "Uh yes," he coughed. "S-since Cyborg isn't here today, I believed that we should break apart into teams of two and work onhand-to-hand combat. Last night was more trouble for us than it should have been, so we are going to have to start working better and harder,"he finished, mentally cueing the collective groans that were sure to follow. Sure enough, a moan erupted from Beast Boy's mouth, overpowering Raven and Starfire's subtler grunts of annoyance.
The shape-shifter frowned, facing Raven. "Alright, come on then, Rae; let's get this over with." Raven lifted an eyebrow, and even Starfire and Robin were surprised. Beast Boy wasn't usually so quick to assume Raven would be his partner, and he never was this open about it since she almost always turned him down, insisting to work on her own instead. Raven dismissed these thoughts and had taken a step forward to follow her friend when Robin presented everyone with another surprise.
"Actually Beast Boy, you're going to partner with Starfire today," he instructed. "I'd like to work with Raven." His request was met with blank and bewildered expressions.
Beast Boy spoke up first, exchanging a look with Raven. "Um, you sure, dude? I figured you woulda wanted to go with Star. I mean, she is your girlfriend."
Robin didn't budge, crossing his arms. "Relationships do not interfere with work, Beast Boy. Besides," he smiled at the alien princess, "we're always partners. I decided that we should mix things up for once." Seeing Beast Boy's doubtful pout, he added with a sigh, "I also would like to test Raven's physical abilities; out of the four of us, she relies on them the least." At this, everyone's eyes shifted to the empath.
She shrugged, walking over to Robin. "Joy."
The team split up into groups of two, Raven and Robin commencing their way to a padded ring which was used for sparring, and Starfire and Beast Boy steering toward the weights. Raven glided over the ropes that were tightened into a squared shape around four posts, not unlike that of a commercial boxing ring, and then faced Robin, waiting as he ducked in between the cords.
Robin snatched up two cushioned pairs of gloves and tossed some to Raven. "Alright, let's start with your punches and then we'll move onto kicks." Raven dipped her head, reaching to unclasp her cape, but Robin interrupted. "No, leave it on. You'll probably have it on in a fight, so you'll need to get used to fighting with your cloak on."
Sparring with Robin was different than the others; the Titan leader was specially trained for hand-to-hand fighting, which was the reason it made sense for him to want to help Raven with hers. Unlike Beast Boy, Robin didn't call for breaks. Unlike Cyborg, he didn't allow one to have a long time for a warm-up, and unlike Starfire, he did not take it easy on his teammate when the warm-up was finished. Robin was tough, and while it did make the team better fighters, he could be exhausting.
Raven tugged on her bright red pair of gloves, grimacing at the contrast of the color with her outfit, and faced her leader. He held out his own claret-colored glove for her to hit, and thus the training began. The empath huffed as she hit the center of the padding with a firm punch. "Robin," she grunted in between hits, "what is this all about?"
Her leader narrowed an eyebrow, creating creases in his mask. "What's what about?"
"You. Instead of Starfire, you're sparring with me." Raven shook her head, striking the glove again. "You never do that," she pointed out, "so why now?"
"I told you," Robin braced himself for another punch. "To work on your physical form and technique."
Raven snorted. "Don't lie. I'm an empath, remember? I can tell it's more than that."
He'd forgotten about that. Robin smiled guiltily, knowing he was caught. He was silent for a moment before replying, "I wanted to talk."
"What about?"
His mouth turned up a little. "What's going on between you and Beast Boy." Raven's punch wavered, grazing off of his glove, and a flicker of unguarded surprise briefly appeared on her face. It vanished before Robin could read into it –or even really establish it was there- and she squinted at him, behaving as if her moment of vulnerability had not happened.
"What makes you think something is going on between us?" she challenged, hammering her fist into his padded hand a little harder than before.
"Well, considering that he automatically assumed you two would be partners, I say that something must be happening that I have not been told about," Robin stated.
The smack of leather against leather echoed throughout the gym, and Raven's eyes remained glued on the palm of Robin's red glove. "I expected you and Starfire would be partners too; it's an easy mistake to make."
"I think there's more to it, Raven," Robin said. Raven remained silent, and Robin regarded her a moment before continuing. "He's been acting strangely for a while now, and so have you."
The line that was Raven's mouth curved down. "Why not talk to Beast Boy about your 'ideas'? He's more likely to be cooperative than me."
Robin covered up a smile, his expression almost the opposite of Raven's. He hurried to contain it. "That's the thing; I've tried. He doesn't seem to want to talk about it with me." When Raven said nothing, he added, "I have talked to Cyborg; he has some interesting theories too."
"Cyborg always does."
"That's why I'm asking you," Robin concluded. "I believed that you would have the most realistic outlook on this." The young leader had barely finished his sentence when a foot flew at his head. He just managed to dodge it, and then looked accusingly at Raven.
"I thought you wanted to move onto kicks," she uttered, lowering her leg. Robin nodded, holding up his glove this time, and felt her foot thud against the padding. She remained mute, seeming to concentrate on her actions without any intent on replying to Robin's earlier statement. After several minutes of the silence passed and Raven had given no impression of striking up the conversation again with her teammate, Robin tried once more.
"Raven, are you planning on telling me what's going on?" he questioned. If she wasn't going to reply to his indirect questions, he might as well ask her straight.
Raven paused, inhaling deep breaths that resulted from her work-out. At first Robin thought she wasn't going to say anything and he was about to forget trying to get an answer out of her altogether when she looked at him dead in the eye. "Why don't you figure out what this 'something' is first, and then you can interrogate me all you want?"
Robin dropped his shoulders only to snap them back up when Raven continued to kick at him. He blocked an incoming blow with his glove. "Raven, you can't blame me for being curious. As leader of this team, I think it's important for me to know if anything is happening between my teammates," he clarified. Raven glanced at him. "And I want to know if there is anything that could possibly endanger others because of it," the teenager continued explaining. If his hunch was correct, Raven's emotions could very well be a problem. Her powers were run by what she felt, and things could go very wrong if she felt too strongly. It was unfair by all means, but she had to live with it, and the rest of the Titans had learned to as well.
"I appreciate the concern, Robin. Really." Raven rolled her eyes, long since having guessed his misgivings. "But you have nothing to worry about."
"So I won't have to worry about running to the movie theater next week anytime to find it in flames?" Robin and Raven looked at each other, purple eyes boring against the white mask. Abruptly the empath lost interest in their "staring contest" and lifted an eyebrow.
"No, you won't. You'll be too busy on your date with Starfire."
"What?" Raven was content to see the expression of utter alarm cross her leader's face. "What date?!"
"You forgot?" Raven shook her head in disappointment. Poor Robin was unaware that Starfire had not told him about her plans for a date. It had been the alien princess's excuse for why Raven couldn't take her or Robin to the movies; Starfire had failed to ask Robin ahead of time, and now the dark sorceress was using the knowledge to her advantage. "I thought you were a better boyfriend, Robin."
Robin had opened his mouth to say something –or maybe implore her help; Raven wasn't sure- when a shout of pain came from over by the weights. The two instantly stopped their small fighting match and, flying and jumping out of the ring, they ran over to Beast Boy and Starfire. Beast Boy was sitting on the ground, clutching his nose, and Starfire was trying to coax him into showing it to her. Several weights were strewn about the floor nearby.
"What happened?" Robin inquired as Raven glided to the ground beside him. Beast Boy's eyes were tearing up, water glistening at the corners of his eyelashes.
Starfire's eyebrows were drawn up in worry. "I am afraid that Beast Boy was assisting me in moving the metal bars and tripped. I believe he hit his nose on the foolish bells, but he will not let me see it." Robin glanced at the dumbbells scattered on the ground, realizing they were the "foolish bells" that Starfire had mentioned.
"That's because it hurts!" Beast Boy whined, whimpering at the pain speaking brought. "Ow, ow, ow." He shifted his eyes down to his hand where a stream of blood from his nose was starting to stain the glove. "Okay, and it's bleeding. Ow, ow."
Raven stooped down beside her teammate. "Let me see it." Squeezing his eyes shut, Beast Boy started to shake his head, but, stopping at the painful motion, moaned instead. Raven frowned. "Beast Boy, let me see it."
"But it hurts!"
"Well, do you want me to heal it or not?" Raven snapped. The green Titan glanced up at her, his hands still over his nose and ears drooping, and Raven softened her tone. "Let me see it," she insisted, reached her hand out and placing it over the ones on his nose. Beast Boy whimpered and at last released his hold. His nose was already quite swollen, and blood was streaming out of it so much that Beast Boy had to hold his finger underneath so it wouldn't drip on the floor. Raven gently brushed her fingertips over the bridge of his nose, feeling the bone structure underneath. After a few moments, she announced, "It's not broken, but it is fractured. I should be able to heal it completely. Do you feel like you can stand?" the empath asked Beast Boy.
"Yeah," he replied, his hand taking the place of hers once again on his nose. His gray gloves had already absorbed a lot of the blood, and he would need to change them afterwards. Slowly he got to his feet, Raven and Starfire standing beside their friend to make sure he had his balance.
Raven glanced at Robin. "I'm going to take him to the infirmary to stop the bleeding before I heal his nose." She lifted an eyebrow. "You can come if you want; that is, unless you need to stay and talk with Starfire about something." The young leader cleared his throat, turning to his girlfriend.
"Well, I always could use a bit more sparring practice."
Starfire smiled, and she and Robin headed toward the boxing ring as Raven and Beast Boy left for the infirmary.
"Did it stop bleeding yet?"
Beast Boy peered at the tissue in his hand stained red from his blood. He and Raven were in the medical wing of the tower, waiting for the shape-shifter's nose to stop leaking red liquid. "Uh, not yet. It doesn't hurt as much though." The boy swung his feet back and forth. He was seated on the side of an infirmary bed; neither he nor Raven thought his injury was so bad he needed to lie down.
"Good." Raven lowered herself to sit on the edge of the bed opposite of his. She took on a somewhat inquisitive expression. "So how exactly did you manage to fracture your nose in the first place?"
Beast Boy smiled, a bit embarrassed. "Uh, well, it's like Star said. I was trying to move too many weights and managed to hit my nose on one on hanging up nearby. It was pretty stupid," he laughed.
"Yes, it was," Raven sighed. Beast Boy's ears drooped. "You could have hurt yourself worse than you did. You need to be more careful, Beast Boy."
Beast Boy lifted his head a little, grinning. "So… what I'm hearing is that you're worried about me?" Raven smirked in response and rolled her eyes. Beast Boy pinched the tissue around his nose, feeling the liquid slowing but not quite coming to a stop. "What was it like sparring with Robin? Have fun?" he asked with a chuckle, both he and Raven knowing how Robin could be when it came to training.
"More than you had with Starfire, it seems." Beast Boy stopped swinging his feet back and forth below the bed, and Raven added, "But I wouldn't call it fun. It was more like an interrogation of a sort." Her teammate glanced at her, confusion in his eyes now instead the unfocused look he'd had before.
"About what?"
"Well-," Raven paused, unsure of how she should explain. Robin's accusation had more than surprised her, and she'd barely managed to keep it together, so how would Beast Boy react? How did she want him to react, and most importantly, did she want him to know? Yes, he had just as much reason to know as she did what Robin had said; besides, if their leader had been telling the truth, he'd already have mentioned something like this to Beast Boy. Raven lowered her hood. If she was going to find out what the green boy felt eventually, she might as well try to give him a push, if just a slight one. Raven ignored the small voice in her head that reminded her how little time there was left to complete the deal. She didn't want to think about that; she hadn't even wanted to be involved in it. The voice –probably Knowledge's or one of her other emotions'- didn't know what she was talking about anyways. "He wanted to know… if anything was going on between us that he hadn't been told about."
Raven was almost certain the shock that crossed over Beast Boy's face was identical to hers after hearing the same sentence come out of Robin's mouth back in the workout room. She waited as Beast Boy stammered for a response. It took a while, but Raven remained patient until he finally coughed out, "Heh, uh well, if there's anything going on between us, I'd like to know too, right?"
His answer gave little to no insight on what was going on in his head, and Raven, feeling disappointment drop in her stomach, nodded. "Then you don't know what Robin was talking about?"
Beast Boy shrugged, kicking at the space under the bed. "Uh, I know probably as much as you do." Again, there was no easy interpretation Raven could make out of his sentence. He was like a sheep baaing with no real meaning behind the sound, and if he wanted to, he could very well do it literally. The teenager glanced down at his nose. "Hey, I think it finally stopped bleeding."
Raven got to her feet again, and, having Beast Boy remove the tissue, examined his nose. "It seems so." She touched her fingertips against either side of the boy's nose. "Alright, don't move." Beast Boy obliged, staying completely still even when Raven pressed one of her hands under his chin, tilting his head up at a slight angle for her to reach the injury easier. Her fingers enveloped in a soft white glow, surrounding both her hand and Beast Boy's nose with the magical healing light. Beast Boy closed his eyes as cool air seeped into his skin, soothing the heated pain and numbing it into nothing.
The empath recognized the tranquil emotions rolling off of Beast Boy, and it relaxed her as well, causing her healing to flow smoothly through her into the green boy. She could sense the magic working around the bones, finding the fault, and mending the fracture back together. Raven had almost completed the task when Beast Boy opened his eyes halfway, peering through his eyelashes at her. Raven's magic faded away, having accomplished its task, and the two Titans were left staring at one another in gentle silence. It had crept up on them without warning, but neither wanted to break the calm.
Eventually Beast Boy smiled. "Wow, thanks Rae. That felt amazing."
Raven's brain went blank for a moment, and then she did something she never thought she would do; she stuttered. Very noticeably. "It was n-no pr-problem." The empath mentally cursed. It was hard to concentrate on words when his gaze seemed to be wholly consisting on her. She noticed Beast Boy's concerned look he was giving her and tried to think quickly. Much to her dismay, her brain was still turning on and what came out of her mouth was, "I have, ah,… I-I get…"
Her lack of words did little to make Beast Boy feel less worried and he scratched his arm. "Uh, Rae? You okay?"
Realizing that she had her hand yet positioned under Beast Boy's chin and the other on his nose, the empath quickly withdrew her arms. As if the break of physical contact had released her from a stuttering spell, Raven found she could speak again. "Healing has different effects on me. It goes away after a moment or two."
"Oh, okay."
Raven swallowed, her mouth feeling like she hadn't had a drink of water in days. "The swelling will diminish soon; my magic speeded it up so it shouldn't take as long as it normally would. I'd wait an hour or so."
"Sweet!" Beast Boy poked his nose as if to test that it was really fixed. He grinned. "Thanks again, Rae." The boy twitched it back and forth, inhaling deeply and reminding Raven vaguely of a rabbit.
"No problem."
Beast Boy narrowed an eyebrow, sniffing the air once more. Raven's healing must have worked its magic quickly, for the shape-shifter was already detecting scents again, and more specifically the aroma of cooked food wafting in from the hallway. "Do you smell that?" Raven breathed in softly, noting the warm air. She nodded. Beast Boy grinned at her. "Dude, someone's cooking waffles." The shape-shifter scampered off to the ops room, following his newly healed nose, and soon, as Raven followed at a much slower pace, she heard him shouting, "I thought it was too good to be true!" The exclamation was promptly followed by the sound of chewing and burping, Robin's authoritative voice just audible beneath it all and telling the shape-shifter to slow down. The empath allowed herself a rare smile. It seemed that Robin had listened when she'd requested breakfast after practice.