I. Don't. Own. The. Teen. Titans.
Beast Boy turned back towards the couch with his mouth opening in the start of a question, but he felt the words die in his throat as he observed the empty seat where Raven had been sitting not a moment ago. He turned his attention to Cyborg, giving him a questioning glance.
The half-robot merely shrugged. "Must have been something you said."
Beast Boy racked his brain for anything that would have set the half-demon off, but he came up short. What did he say?
He let out a lengthy sigh, his shoulders sagging in defeat as he trudged his way towards the common room doors.
"I'll go apologize."
As he walked down the hall, he continued to replay their conversation. Neither had said anything out of the ordinary, so he had no idea why she had disappeared.
Maybe it had to do with yesterday's conversation, he mulled, stopping dead in his tracks as he remembered.
He had found out that Raven had a crush on some guy.
And he had realized that he had a crush on Raven.
At least, he was pretty sure that's what it was. He had noticed that her presence was electing some strange behavior from him lately, but he only thought it was due to his primal side getting antsy. But now he realized that it was a lot more than just that; his human side - his thoughts and emotions - were starting to see Raven in a new light as well.
Perfect timing, he thought sarcastically. It was really just his luck to figure all this out after she admitted to liking someone else.
Though technically she never said who she liked, Beast Boy wasn't going to give himself any false hope. Raven was elegant and poised, whereas he was awkward and clumsy. Raven was intelligent - he was absentminded. Raven was witty - he was immature.
Raven was beautiful... and he... he was green.
He could feel the bitter disappointment and jealousy build up inside of him, and he knew he had to squash it down before Raven picked up on it - the only thing that would make his pathetic crush on her worse was if she found out about it.
And god, that would be humiliating.
He hated having to hide from her, because in a way he was lying to her. But he knew that it was for the best - despite her cold exterior, Raven had a warm heart, and he couldn't stand to see her pity him. Plus, he feared that it would drive a wedge between them, since she would no doubt become careful around him to avoid giving him the wrong idea, which would, in turn, frustrate him to no end.
No, she couldn't find out about this.
He buried his troublesome emotions underneath his usual, goofy facade, and projected a feeling of remorse. After all, he was apologizing.
Once he reached her door, he knocked tentatively. After a long pause, he figured she must have gone to the roof, but as he began turning around, her door slid open.
He gave her a sheepish smile, before noting that her usual blank expression was clouded by what seemed like... hurt?
What the hell had he said to her?!
"Raven?"
She regarded him coolly, though he could see the pain in her eyes.
"Yes, Beast Boy?"
He felt a blush rise to his cheeks as he became lost in the depths of her eyes. How could someone seemingly so emotionless have such a captivating gaze?
"I'm sorry," he breathed, finally finding his voice.
Her reaction was strange; at first, she seemed to accept his apology, until her brows furrowed in confusion. She then tilted her head quizzically, and he got the distinct feeling that she was reading his emotions.
But why was she doing that?
He felt an overwhelming sense of panic build up inside of him, and he tried his hardest to block it all out. She couldn't find out about his crush - she just couldn't. No matter what, she couldn't know. He wouldn't be able to stand the awkwardness, nor the disappointment.
He could manage to live with the knowledge that she was completely unattainable, but only if she had no idea that he wished to obtain her. If he had to watch her snuggle up with her mystery guy, he'd do so - but only if he were the only one to know how much it'd hurt. If she knew, he was pretty sure his primal side would take over and make her like him back - it wouldn't be fair any other way.
Beast Boy realized how wrong that was, but unrequited love didn't hurt as bad when the other was unaware of it. And he didn't want to hurt any more than he did now.
It surprised him how quickly all these feelings were coming - it was as if he'd been feeling them for a while now. But he knew that was insane - he only figured it all out yesterday. His primal side was just influencing it, and his instincts to protect what was his weren't helping either. Though it did come as a shock to know his animalistic side no longer viewed her as a threat.
His internal struggle came to a halt when he remembered that he was supposed to be suppressing these emotions.
Raven was giving him a look of complete and utter confusion, and he breathed a sigh of relief that she hadn't realized what his inner turmoil was about.
"What are you sorry for?"
Beast Boy tilted his head in confusion as well. "I... I have no idea," he admitted with a laugh. "I saw you disappeared, and Cy said it was probably something I said, so I just assumed I needed to apologize."
A small smile graced her lips, and he had to put in extra effort to keep his new-found appreciation for that smile from surfacing.
"I think it's a bad sign that every time I leave the room, you automatically feel the need to apologize," she mused, crossing her arms against her chest as she leaned against her door frame.
Beast Boy let out a flustered chuckle. "Yeah," he agreed, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly, before a troubling thought crossed his mind. "Wait, if I didn't need to apologize, then why did you leave?"
Raven's smirk vanished almost instantly, her carefree demeanor along with it. She stared at him for almost a minute, and he again felt as if she were searching through his emotions once more.
Was he really being that obvious with his crush?
"I just wanted to grab some clothes before I showered," she replied suddenly.
Beast Boy inadvertently checked her out as he scoped out her current outfit; her pajamas.
His eyes quickly darted back to hers, and he breath a small sigh of relief that she hadn't seemed to notice his wandering gaze.
"And walking was too much effort?" he teased, earning an eye-roll and feeling a little more confident. "Psh, and you call me lazy!"
Her lips twitched as she fought a smile, and he watched as she used her powers to summon a clean uniform, before she pushed past him and towards the bathroom.
"That's because you are lazy, Beast Boy."
He rolled his eyes fondly as he watched her go, before he retreated back into his mind to sort out all his new feelings. No longer hungry, he made his way back to his own room, deciding to sulk in the privacy of his domain.
As the door slid open, he gave his room an unappreciative glance. Nobody would dare to call him tidy, but the usual disaster-zone that was his bedroom was now probably described as "cluttered".
He made his way towards his bed, before flopping down on the bottom bunk. And though he knew he shouldn't, his mind began going through a list of every titan who could potentially be Raven's secret crush.
He crossed off Robin, Cyborg, and himself immediately, since the former two had girlfriends, and the latter was, well, him. And he didn't want to give himself any hope.
Kid Flash was next - he also had a girlfriend, and Beast Boy doubted the empath would want to cross Jinx. And besides, neither would even want to fight over the speedster.
Jericho was a possibility - quiet, humble, and incredibly sweet. Despite being mute, Beast Boy knew the blonde had a better chance of sweet-talking the half-demon than he did.
And speaking of sweet-talkers - Aqualad was also a possibility. And he hoped to god it wasn't Aqualad.
He probably didn't have to worry about Speedy, since the dude cared more about his looks than Raven did.
And Raven didn't really know any of the other guys well enough to form an honest-to-god crush on them, so that left him with Jericho and fish-boy. And putting it into perspective, Raven didn't see the mute nearly enough to "wonder if he likes her back", so that left Aquadude as the lone suspect.
Again, Beast Boy's stomach churned uncomfortably - especially since he had the knowledge that the Titans East member was interested in the empath, meaning Raven's secret crush did like her back.
Though he knew that the Atlantean didn't like her anywhere close to as much as he did.
Burying his face in his pillows, he decided that today was a perfect day to fall asleep while wallowing in self-pity.
He awoke a few hours later to a persistent knocking on his door. Groaning in frustration, he pulled himself out of bed to answer it, groaning even louder when the door opened to reveal his fearless leader.
"Nice to see you, too," Robin barked sarcastically.
Beast Boy only glared in response.
Sensing that the changeling wasn't in the mood to talk, Robin began the mundane routine of grilling him.
"What's got you so mopey?"
Beast Boy continued to glare at the boy wonder. "None of your business, bird-boy," he bit back.
He could see surprise flash across Robin's face, and he almost regretted his outburst.
"If your behavior affects the team negatively, I have the right to find out what's wrong - " the leader began, but Beast Boy cut him off with another groan.
"Maybe if you came to me as a friend and asked me what was wrong, I'd be more inclined to tell you," he snapped.
Robin remained quiet for a few moments, obviously weighing the shape-shifter's words in his head.
"Well, if I do now, it wouldn't seem genuine," he mused, earning a snort of amusement from the green teen.
"No, it wouldn't," he agreed, giving his leader a smirk. "So maybe next time you should play the concerned friend card first."
The titan leader nodded his head dutifully. "Noted."
Beast Boy let out a sigh as he realized that Robin was still expecting an answer to his "mopey-ness".
"I'm just having a bad day," he explained - and it was partially true. Any day that consisted of you realizing your crush was crushing on some pretty-boy show-off would be filed under "bad".
"If you need to talk..." the masked titan began warily, before his socially-awkward self made a full appearance, "...uh... Starfire is always here for you."
Beast Boy let out a curt laugh at his leader's offer. "Thanks; tell her I appreciate it," he replied, rolling his eyes playfully.
Robin nodded again as he turned to leave, obviously feeling somewhat satisfied with the information Beast Boy had given him.
The changeling sighed again as he retreated back into his room. He knew moping around wasn't going to help, so he allowed himself the rest of the day to throw a pity-party.
And then tomorrow, he'd help Raven find out if her crush liked her back, like he promised.
Because Beast Boy was a good friend.
Poor BB, all sad and stuff. If only both of them would stop being emotionally-stinted idiots and buck up the courage to admit their loooooooove. Huh, wouldn't it be nice if someone had the power to control their every move, as if they were just characters in a story? ;)
Anywhoo, here's the third chapter I promised! You all were way too awesome by making me have to do this lol. I hope they didn't seem rushed or anything! Anyway, leave a review? Oh! This has reached 250 reviews, which is amazing! And it's so close to 100 favorites! Feel free to review, follow, or favorite! Maybe I'll be inclined to post another chapter?