I, uhm, I don't own the Teen Titans. I w-wish I did, b-but I, uh, I don't.

The initial excitement of the three titans shopping in the mall began to die down a bit, allowing Beast Boy to let out a sigh of relief. He had no idea how hard going in public must have been for Raven - sure, they all dealt with crazy fans, but her fans were always rather creepy. And male. And if she could sense what they were thinking... well, no wonder she hadn't realized she was beautiful.

He gave her a sideways glance as they continued walking. She was too busy talking to Starfire to notice, so he allowed his eyes to linger. Yes, he stared at her often, especially during training, but he had never really looked at her.

She was damn near perfect. At least, to him. He knew that other people might find her darkness and creepiness off-putting (hell, his own instincts felt that way), but nobody could deny how beautiful she was. He was happy he had told her, and though he knew it probably didn't mean much coming from him, she needed to know.

He tore his eyes off of her to do another quick scan of their surroundings. His teammates were still receiving a few awestruck looks, and even he was earning a few flirty smiles from a group of teenage girls.

What can I say? Chicks dig the ears! he thought to himself as he smiled back. The girls giggled and looked away bashfully, and he felt a slight pain in his chest. Civilian life was a lot simpler, and he knew that he could never date a non-super. He hadn't really seen any girls that he wanted to date, but he didn't like the fact that he didn't get the option.

Cyborg had somehow managed to kind of see a civilian girl, but Beast Boy knew it wouldn't last - especially if Bumble Bee was still in the picture.

He suddenly felt a little jealous of his robotic best friend. He literally had girls fighting over him, and here Beast Boy was, shopping with his two female teammates, who had him so far in the friendzone, he could barely see any light. Of course, Starfire was practically a sister (and dating Robin), so there was no surprise with her. And Raven... well, Raven...

Okay, so he couldn't really bring himself to see Raven as a sister - especially with his primal side somewhat affecting his judgement. And she didn't have a boyfriend (though he was still wanting to find one for her), so he couldn't use that excuse, either.

Basically, he was only in the friendzone with her because, well, she was Raven. And someone like Raven could never like someone like Beast Boy. It was just common knowledge - no surprise there.

So why did it kind of... hurt?

Beast Boy quickly shook away his thoughts and started singing a children's song in his head - it was one of the techniques Mento had taught him to ward off any unwanted visitors to his mind. And though he knew Raven wouldn't purposefully listen to his emotions, he didn't want her to be subjected to them.

Once the repetitive tune began to annoy him, he decided to distract himself with his surroundings. Jump City's mall was quite the sight; the high ceilings, huge skylights, and beautiful fountains every twenty feet made him feel as if he were in some fancy hotel. A hotel with a ton of gift shops.

He almost didn't notice Starfire pull Raven into a store, and if it wasn't for the empath grabbing hold of the collar of his shirt, he would have probably continued down the mall, staring at the ceiling.

The alien came to a sudden stop, causing Raven to crash into her, and Beast Boy to crash into Raven.

"Oh, my sincerest apologies, friends!" Starfire smiled, seemingly unaffected by the two superheroes colliding with her.

Beast Boy quickly pulled back from Raven, not wanting to invade her personal space at the moment. She seemed to ignore his sheepish grin as she looked around the store, a grimace slowly consuming her face.

Beast Boy couldn't blame her - everything in the store was pink. And sparkly. And totally not Raven.

"Are we shopping for you first, Starfire?" Raven asked warily, and Beast Boy had to stifle a snort of amusement at the fear etched on her face.

"We are shopping for us both, Raven!" the orange girl exclaimed cheerfully as she began running her hands over the racks of dresses. "Do not fret, though! I realize the color of pink is not your favorite, so I had done the making of the sure that there were other colors here, as well!"

Beast Boy smiled to himself as he watched Raven cautiously make her way towards the back of the store, where there was a shocking lack of pink. He followed her, naturally, since the only reason he was tagging along was to insure the colors didn't clash.

Plus, he had a lot of free time on his hands.

"See anything that catches your eye?" he grinned, watching as she slowly inspected every gown. He was half expecting her to just grab a random one and be done with it, but apparently her girly side was making an appearance.

"Well, since you're my date, what colors do you prefer? I'm pretty open-minded - as long as it isn't pink," she warned, giving him a pointed look from over her shoulder.

Beast Boy gave her his signature toothy grin. "I'm not picky - besides, you're the girl. I'm supposed to just go along with whatever you want."

She shrugged indifferently at his response, and pulled down a long, sparkly black gown.

"Black?" he questioned teasingly, earning a huff of frustration from his date.

"You said whatever I want! And black goes with everything!" she defended, pulling the dress close to her and giving him another glare. "And this one is sparkly, so Starfire shouldn't object too much." She paused for a few moments as her hand traced the seam line. "And I like this one..." she admitted quietly.

Beast Boy couldn't stop the small smile from appearing on his lips at her confession. If she liked the dress, then they'd get the dress.

"Well, try it on!" he insisted, pushing her towards the fitting rooms. Another look of horror passed over her face, and he had to suppress a chuckle.

"R-right now?" she asked incredulously, her eyes widening comically.

Beast Boy snorted in amusement at her obvious reluctance. "Yes, Rae! We need to make sure it fits!"

She quickly looked down at the tag. "It's my size - and on sale. I say we just get it."

Letting out a sigh, Beast Boy shook his head. "We need to make sure it looks good, too."

Raven gave him a pleading look, and he felt his breath hitch slightly. He and Starfire were masters at the puppy-dog eyes, and used them often to get their way. But he had never seen Raven use the technique, and it startled him slightly. Especially since she seemed to be an expert.

"Can't it just be a surprise? I really don't feel like parading around the store in it - and you know Starfire will demand to see me in it."

Beast Boy literally had to look away from her, but disguised it by acting like he was searching for Starfire. When he did catch a glimpse of her red hair burrowing into a rack of dresses, he breathed a sigh of relief. "Star's distracted right now, so just change quickly. You don't even have to show me - if you like it, that's all that matters."

She sighed in defeat as she backed into an open fitting room. "Fine, just make sure Starfire doesn't notice."

He nodded animatedly, which earned him an eye roll. She shut the door after her, and Beast Boy idly wondered how long it took for a girl to change into a dress. It only took him like thirty seconds to change his clothes, so he figured no more than a minute.

Five minutes later, he began to feel a little impatient. Starfire was still too busy shopping to notice what was going on, but she could potentially turn around any minute and see him standing in front of the fitting rooms.

"Rae?" he whispered, leaning against the door. "You almost done?"

There was a long pause, before he heard her let out a huff of frustration. "Uhm, I... I need your help, Beast Boy."

He felt his throat go dry at her response - what did she need help with? "W-what?"

The door opened suddenly, causing him to lose his balance momentarily. He regained it quickly, giving the empath a dirty look through the crack of the door.

"Sorry," she mumbled halfheartedly as she peeked through the door. Satisfied that no one was watching, she ushered him in. He gave her a confused look as he felt his cheeks heat up; why did she want him to go in there? Wasn't there some rule about boys in the fitting room?

He seemed to have taken too long for her liking, and the next thing he knew, he was pulled into the room.

"Rae - " he began in horror, before he lost the ability to speak.

She was standing before him, her face set in a glare and her hands on her hips - and a long, form-fitting dress on her body. It was strapless, showing off her delicate shoulders and lean arms. The top part was acting like a second-skin, fitting snugly against her body and showing off every curve, until it draped effortlessly past her hips and to the floor. If she moved even the slightest, the sparkly material would catch the light, making it look as if she were wearing the night sky.

She looked absolutely stunning.

And undeniably pissed-off.

"It's stuck," she hissed, obviously not wanting him in the room either.

He blinked slowly, trying to snap out of it. Raven would probably not appreciate the way he was staring at her.

"Huh?"

She rolled her eyes in exasperation, before turning around.

He felt his heart speed up as he took in the back of the dress, which dipped past her shoulder blades and fitted very nicely against - okay, he wasn't even going to finish that thought.

"The zipper is stuck," she elaborated, looking over her shoulder at him.

His brain finally started working again as he processed her statement. "Oh!"

He could practically see steam rising off of her as she growled in frustration. "Yes, now can you stop being completely useless and help me?"

He gulped nervously, before reaching his shaking hands towards the little zipper positioned at the middle of her back. He tried to avoid touching her skin as he attempted to yank down the little silver contraption, but found that it wouldn't budge. His frustration outweighing his embarrassment, he grabbed hold of the top of the dress, his glove-less fingers making contact with her skin, and used his other hand to pull on the zipper.

"What the hell?" he muttered to himself when it still refused to budge. He started yanking it harder.

"Careful!" she hissed, looking over her shoulder again. "If I wanted to break it, I'd just use my powers!"

He rolled his eyes in frustration as he lessened his force. "Can't you just phase out of it or something?"

He watched her back arch as she let out a sigh. "I'm accustomed to keeping my clothes on when I phase through something, and I don't want to learn how to phase out of them, and risk doing that by accident during battle."

Beast Boy felt a blush consume his face as he unwillingly pictured that happening. "Well, it'd be one hell of a distraction," he mused lightly, singing another song in his head.

She let out a dry chuckle at his statement. "Something tells me Robin wouldn't be too keen on that tactic."

He opened his mouth to agree, but the zipper suddenly gave, and he found his hand traveling down towards Raven's backside. He quickly pulled away, letting go of the dress.

She was obviously unprepared, too, as the dress began sliding down her body. She recovered quickly, though, and pulled it back up before she became totally exposed.

His throat went dry again as she turned around swiftly, her hands holding up the top of her dress and a bright red blush covering her face.

"Thank you," she breathed, obviously flustered.

Beast Boy could only nod in response.

They stared at each other awkwardly for a full minute, before Raven gestured to the door. "You can go now."

He felt as if his face were on fire as he hurriedly opened the door and slipped out, the song in his head a jumbled mess. He kept telling himself that it was just Raven; that it was no big deal; that he had seen her covered in sweat as her clothes clung to her body, but those images weren't helping at the moment either. He wanted to say that it was just his primal side causing all of these feelings, but deep down, he knew that was a lie.

And that scared the shit out of him.

As his mind cleared slightly, he felt his voice return as he cleared his throat awkwardly.

"Uhm, R-Rae?" he stuttered nervously, his back still to the door.

There was a brief pause, before he heard her clear her throat as well. "Yes, Beast Boy?"

He smiled at the flustered sound of her voice, hoping maybe her embarrassment was outweighing his own strange feelings. Or at least matching them. Regardless, he knew that he needed to say something to maybe dispel the sudden awkwardness between them.

"I, uh... I like that dress, too."

Omg I just have way too much fun with awkward moments. Like flustered, embarrassed, nervous characters are so much fun - ugh, I need help! Lol

I hope you all enjoyed this awkward little chapter! And for those of you asking if BB and Rae will end up together, you'll have to just wait and see! I build things super-duper slow, so patience is a must when reading one of my stories! But I will say that I am planning a happy ending for this one, but that doesn't mean this story will be happy the whole time! ;P

Anywhoo, review? :D