Chapter 20 – Bubbles

August 15th 2009, 5:07 am

Michael arrived to the construction area annoyed. He had just graduated and he felt his co-workers – specially the constructors – didn't really respect him. On the contrary, that they saw him as some kind of a joke.

That's why he totally lost it when he put his helmet on and found all the employees just standing there.

"John!" he called firmly. The head of the constructors turned to him with no trace of intimidation.

"What is it chief?" he asked plainly.

"What exactly are you guys doing here?"

"Well… It looks like the project is finished" he shrugged "Although is a little bit different from the original design"

"What the hell are you talking about?" Michael walked to where the constructors were. Then he stopped, surprised.

The fountain was ready. Something very weird, because he had been there in the afternoon of the previous day and only half of the work was done. And the design was, indeed, very different. Instead of his initial project of three vertical fountains with the taller one in the middle, the steel beams were arranged in a big heart, with water running along all of its shape.

Michael didn't really know what to feel. It was completely different from his plan. And it was beautiful.

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August 15th 2009, 9:03 am

Beast Boy woke up with a smile on his face. He took some seconds to remember why he was feeling so happy. The previous night had flew perfectly, even better than he had hoped. He laid staring at the ceiling. Now he could almost believe… At least have some hope… That Raven could return his feelings.

Was it only his imagination the fact that she blushed when he insisted to pay? Was the electric current that ran through his body when their hands touched only by his side? Did the fact that she tried hard to treat him like a normal person mean she was trying to make their friendship stronger or turn this friendship into something more?

He closed his eyes, feeling a chill to remember the end of the night. They watched the movie in silence and came back talking about the plot and in some minutes – at least that was what it felt for Beast Boy – they were back to the Tower. He walked her to her room's door and found out he didn't want to separate from her just yet. He was almost putting this on words when Raven turned to him and looked straight on his eyes. That look… It seemed to be staring to his vey soul, and there was a wonderful feeling about it. He was still vaguely hypnotized when she seemed to be a little embarrassed and closed the door in a hurry.

All he knew now was that he wanted to spend more time with her.

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Raven had woken up with similar feelings, three hours earlier. She made an effort to wipe the smile from her face, but she couldn't stop thinking about the memories of the night before. It was so stupid, nothing happened. Well, maybe something. She blushed to remember the warm wave she felt when he touched her hand.

She remembered how his hand was warm and the contrast his green skin had made with her pale one and…

Waves…

She felt waves.

Did she feel?

It was only then she realized. She did something forbidden and didn't even notice it! She had been in a public place, with people around her – although not that much – alone with someone she knew she had strong feelings for, and felt!

She dropped the hairbrush from her hand and ran to the hand mirror next to her bed. Some minutes later, she was in Nevermore.

This time, there was nothing gray at Wisdom's Forest. She walked through the almost golden trees, hearing the pleasant noise of the dry leaves breaking under her hurry steps. In the middle of a clearing, she found Wisdom, floating with her legs crossed, eyes closed.

"Wisdom!" she called, anxious.

"Yes?" asked her clone, not opening her eyes.

"What… What happened yesterday?"

"Well, you were there, you tell me" she said, opening her eyes.

"What's going on with you lately…?" she groaned "I couldn't have gone yesterday, you should have told me…"

"Why shouldn't you?" she interrupted her, still calm "Yesterday, all you could possibly think – and Timidity tell everyone – was that it wasn't a date"

"And if it wasn't a date" she added quickly, before Raven could argue "Why shouldn't you go?"

Raven bit her bottom lip. Damn.

"But it was a… Situation where I'd be with the person I… like" she explained, but the emotion shrugged.

"You found out your feelings for Beast Boy months ago, and you still live with him without the world exploding, don't you?"

"But that's different! We were… Alone!" she said, distressed "I… I felt"

"Was it bad?"

"No, it was…" she stopped herself, blushing "The point is that it was dangerous. For me, for him, for the people around us"

"What remind me" she said suddenly "Why nothing happened?"

"Well…" she sighed and finally left her position, softly landing her feet on the ground full of leaves "Maybe it's best to continue this conversation at Knowledge's library…"

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"Good morning!" greeted Beast Boy to them all, entering the kitchen.

"Good morning, friend!"

"There you go cook this damn tofu again" teased Cyborg, his mouth full of ham.

"Yeah, tofu is great" said Beast Boy happily to everyone's surprise, apparently not noticing the insult.

"You're pretty happy today" observed Robin, lifting his eyes from his computer.

"Yeah, it's a nice day" explained the changeling, putting the soy food on the pan.

They all looked to the window.

"It's raining" informed Terra holding a spoon of cereal, like there was contradiction in Beast Boy's words.

"Rain can be nice" he answered without turning. Terra and Cyborg looked at each other, like they thought the green friend had gone crazy.

"Where did you go last night, friend Beast Boy?" asked Starfire, who had finished her breakfast "When I ended the laundry of our clothes, I tried to call everyone to see the TV together, but you weren't home"

"I went… ahn… to the arc…pizza" he gagged.

"Arc…pizza?" repeated Robin, suspicious.

"Yeah, it's a… new machine at the arcade… where you play a game… about pizza" he explained, wishing to come up with a better excuse sooner. He didn't want to tell anyone he had a date with Raven. It would lead to embarrassing questions. Considering her ex girlfriend was there too, it was just smarter to avoid the type of situation, at least at the time being.

"And you didn't call me?" asked Cyborg, upset.

"I thought you were going out with Sarah" he said, and that was actually true. Sarah was a girl Cyborg was dating for some weeks now.

"No… She had to go take care of some kids…" he told.

"Well, we can go next time" he playfully punched the robot man's shoulder. Then he added, trying to be casual: "So did you guys watch TV? All of you?"

"No… Since you and friend Terra were away, I gave up, I didn't even bother friend Cyborg or friend Raven" said Starfire, but she sounded happy enough. That probably meant she got to spend some time alone with her boyfriend.

Beast Boy sighed. So they didn't know Raven had gone out last night. That made things simpler.

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"But…" muttered Raven, not believing the words in front of her "… That means my powers did express themselves!"

"Yes" agreed Knowledge "But you guys were so absorbed you didn't even notice…"

"Are you kidding me?" she closed the book suddenly "A heart-shaped fountain? Seriously?"

"That wasn't what they told me it was gonna happen!" she continued, indignant "They said it would be explosions, destruction and pain!"

"Well Raven… As for that, I'm know just as much as you do" the emotion in the yellow cloak shrugged.

"Beast Boy… appears to have a calming effect on us" said Wisdom, with her index finger and her thumb on her chin. "You focus on him… And that doesn't allow the energy to overflow in a destructive way"

"Of course… because at the end, the emotions aren't that strong, right?" the two emotions looked at each other significantly, but Raven didn't notice, lost in her thoughts "It was just as friends… Get to know each other as friends… Just like I spend time with Star, Cyborg or all of them together… There's no danger"

A smile took shape at the empath's mouth.

"I can be around him… Without danger…"

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That was how Saturday became a very expected day for both Beast Boy and Raven. The changeling spent all week trying to think of something for them to do together that could please both, and he found out it wasn't so hard as he had imagined. It even became a fun thing to do – to go against his common sense, to do new things. After all, he had gone to the obvious places a million times with Terra, and he didn't want to mix things. This way, they both found out that Jump City was bigger and more interesting than they had thought.

The next Friday, Beast Boy invited her to go to a fair of used books, CDs, DVDs and games at a neighborhood north of the city. She could have fun with books and he could find old movies and games that weren't in normal stores anymore or too expensive in their new version. They went on Saturday afternoon, when the sun was setting and the sky was orange. There were more people than Beast Boy had expected, but Raven didn't mind. She got really excited to find books that weren't printed anymore and some rare editions of others, and both of them came back at night with full bags, after a quick stop to have some coffee.

The Friday after that, Beast Boy invited her to an event of alternative cinematography, on Sunday, since it was his week of doing laundry. This time, the event was really boring, and they went to an ice cream parlor nearby and spent the whole afternoon talking. Beast Boy asked her which topping she preferred in her ice cream and she said peanut crumbs. When she wasn't looking, he poured a lot of it on her bowl and managed to pull out a small smile of the empath, even if after he had been punched by an astral fist.

Next Saturday was Raven's turn to do laundry, so Beast Boy only accompany her to the laundry room and helped her, what gave them a good time of talking, although Raven kept saying he was getting on her way instead of helping. Some particularly lacy panties got mixed up with the uniforms, and he asked her if they were hers, getting a strong slap by an astral hand as an answer.

The next week, Beast Boy warned her to wear something comfy and that she wouldn't mind getting dirt. Raven got a little hesitant, but went anyway, meeting him not a night, but extremely early, at 5 o'clock in the morning.

"Here, Rae!" called Beast Boy when she landed at a desert street, behind her "You look nice"

Raven looked down. She was wearing light pink sweatpants Starfire gave her and an old gray T-Shirt. Beast Boy wasn't very different: he was wearing black tactel pants and a faded blue T-Shirt.

"What did we come here to do, anyway?" she asked, insecure "What is this place?"

"It's the Jump City Kennel" he explained "They need help to take the dogs out for a walk. I come here at least once a month"

"Do you remember that time when Johnny got a real gigantic dog to attack people?"

She nodded, distracted, looking at the cages where the dogs barked or jumped, staring at them.

"And then, you calmed him down with your powers? Well, I thought maybe you could help with some of these dogs"

"Good morning, Beast Boy!" greeted a young girl with red hair "You came early today!"

"Hey, Lily!" he waved to her, smiling "This is my friend Raven. Rae, Lily takes care of the dogs and she supervises the walking"

"Nice to meet you, Raven" said the girl, eyes sparkling. She was clearly a Teen Titan fan. Raven nodded, a little embarrassed.

"So can we go see the dogs?"

"Yeah, they're in the back, you know it" she pointed, and they both continued walking.

"The back is where the aggressive dogs are, Rae" he explained, and Raven noticed these dogs had scars, hostile looks and were in separated cages, unlike the previous dogs. "The official walking is actually a little later, there're a lot of people, but these can't go out, they're too dangerous. I thought maybe you could try to calm them down so we could take them outside a bit…"

"I'll try" said Raven, kneeling in front of one of the cages. She didn't feel so good. Animals also emanated emotions, although they weren't as complex as human's. What she felt in this area was a big negativity. The closest to sadness as something could be.

"They were mistreated or used in fights" told Beast Boy, serious "They can't trust humans anymore"

Raven looked deep inside the eyes of the dog in front of her. It was an American Pit Bull Terrier, and it started to growl when she approached her hand between bars. Beast Boy saw a black line coming out of Raven's jewel in the forehead to inside the animal's head. It kept staring for some seconds, teeth exposed. Then its expression lightened and she went to Raven's hand, letting her pet its head.

"Wow, awesome!" he muttered, kneeling next to Raven and petting the dog. His fingers touched Raven's and she retread her hand quickly.

"So, who else?"

Some minutes later, they were walking through the street in the dim light of the sun, Beast Boy with three anxious dogs on the collar pulling him and sniffing all they could, and Raven was taking only one, the first she calmed down, which was a female and was called Bubbles. She still was a little fearful and walked calmly and carefully.

"What you did was incredible, Raven!" said Beast Boy, when he managed to be next to the empath. "Thank you so much!"

"It's not a big deal" Raven shrugged, surprised that she was actually enjoying this activity.

"So are you a dog person or a cat person?" he questioned, being dragged ahead of her.

"I'm more comfortable around cats" she answered loudly so he could hear her "But I don't hate dogs, at least when they're not trying to pull me down or filling my face with saliva"

"Oh, that's right" he laughed, remembering the green dog that had passed by him some years ago "I really like both"

"Yeah, I thought so…" A car passed next to them and Bubbles hid behind Raven's leg. She kneeled down and calmed her with low words.

"Hey, Raven?"

"What?"

"I noticed you used your powers to pick up… you know… Bubbles's little presents…" he said, scratching the back of his neck "Could you help me with that?"

Raven raised her eyebrows, seeing that the three dogs had decided to go the 'bathroom'.

"No way" she turned, so he couldn't see she was smiling "One is responsible for the dogs one picked"

"Oh, man…"

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