Disclaimer - please see previous chapter(s)
Beast Boy knew not to expect a positive reaction from his meddling, but he was in no way prepared for the burst of energy that shot out from Raven and throughout the tower. It had thankfully missed him, but he had heard a very unfortunate sound from within the ceiling, and the few lights that did work in the hallway suddenly exploded.
"Aqualad?" she repeated incredulously. She looked completely dumbfounded.
Beast Boy smiled sheepishly as he took a small step away from her - he wasn't positive that her powers were under control yet.
"Was that not... right?" he asked with a smile as a sense of pure panic began welling up inside of him. He had to be right - Aqualad was the only guy who made sense.
She shook her head slowly, and he couldn't tell if she was being condescending, or still in shock.
"Oh," he squeaked, taking another step back. "Well, that's awkward."
He held back a yelp of fear when he suddenly found a fuming empath a few inches from his face.
"Fix this, Beast Boy," she growled, her hand hooking onto his collar and pulling him even closer. "Now."
If it had been under any other circumstances, Beast Boy probably would have enjoyed their close proximity, but the look of pure rage in her eyes kept his mind from wandering and his emotions from giving away his delight at their current position. Even though being so close to a beautiful girl was nice, the fact that she looked like she was going to kill him put a damper on it.
"H-how?"
Dread flashed in her eyes for a moment, and he could tell she was at a loss for words.
"Figure it out," she muttered, releasing him and rushing off towards her room.
He watched her go, a sense of confusion blanketing over him, until the angry voice of Cyborg bellowed down the hall.
"What the hell did you do to her?!"
Beast Boy turned around slowly, giving his best friend an innocent look. "What do you mean - "
"Nuh uh, do not play dumb with me, BB," the half-robot growled. "I know what dark energy looks like, and I can tell when it blasts through every socket in this tower! You're lucky I had upgraded our important electronics to withstand a blast like that, but we've still lost the toaster, and half of the lights, and Robin's hair dryer, and - "
"The game station?" Beast Boy gasped, his eyes widening in fear.
Cyborg merely huffed in frustration. "I said I upgraded all the important stuff."
Beast Boy sighed in relief, until he felt the robotic titan's glare on him once more.
"So, again, what the hell did you do?!"
The green teen gave his teammate a sheepish smile. "Don't worry - I'm gonna fix it."
He then turned around and raced after the empath, leaving the half-robot alone in the dark hallway.
Every instinct he possessed was begging him to run as he stood outside of Raven's door. Despite no longer seeing her as a constant threat, the animals inside of him knew that an angry, raging half-demon was something to avoid. But he couldn't avoid all of his problems (which all had to do with her in the first place), so he merely bucked up the courage and knocked on her door.
It slid open automatically, and he didn't even have time to scream as a tendril of dark energy pulled him in.
Surprisingly, when he opened his eyes, he was faced with the slightly calmed-down version of his crush, and they were both surrounded by the usual items that adorned her bedroom. Meaning she probably didn't banish him to another dimension. Yet.
"I'm guessing you didn't fix the problem, since it's only been three minutes," she hissed.
Okay, so she wasn't totally calmed down.
Hoping she'd find the familiarity of his toothy grin comforting, he desperately searched his mind for a solution.
"Don't you dare smile at me."
Okay, he was wrong again.
His smile disappeared instantly, and he gulped in nervousness.
"I can fix this, Rae," he whimpered, cursing himself for sounding so scared. But he was scared.
She continued to glare at him.
His mind began racing for a solution. He couldn't very well ask Cyborg to hack into Aqualad's communicator and delete the message, so that was out. He also didn't have the skills required to do it himself, so that was out, too. And with another glance into Raven's hatred-filled eyes, he knew asking her to teleport them to Steel City was also out of the question. So that left only one option.
He felt a fine layer of sweat seep through his forehead as he pulled out his communicator and quickly dialed in a number.
His heart rate quickened as the other person picked up.
"Hey there, Beast Boy. Wasn't expecting a call from you."
He nodded slowly, attempting to hide his fear as he glanced over the screen at the confused face of the empath. He felt himself blush as they made eye contact, and his eyes darted back to his communicator.
"Y-yeah, h-hey, Bee," he stuttered.
Bumble Bee merely smirked through the screen at him, and he could tell she enjoyed her authoritative aura. The Titans East leader was number three on his list of top-three scariest girls he had ever met. Raven was naturally number one, with Jinx as a close second.
"Is Sparky using you to apologize for him?" she mused, looking off nonchalantly.
Beast Boy was about to correct her, until an idea popped into his head.
"Actually, he wanted to ask you something really important, but was too embarrassed, I guess."
The yellow-clad girl's eyes whipped back to his, and Beast Boy had to hold back a devious smirk at her obvious interest.
"What'd he wanna ask?"
Sparing another glance at Raven, he saw her eyebrows were arched in curiosity as well.
"I guess it's pretty important," the changeling went on, feeling less afraid as his mind raced with the hilarious outcomes that were sure to happen if he went through with what he was about to do.
"Spit it out, green bean," the Titans East leader snapped, causing his ears to lower slightly in submission.
"Uh, I'll get to it, b-but first, I, uh, need a favor."
He was once again filled with dread as Bumble Bee's eyes narrowed dangerously. "Excuse me?"
Again, he gulped in nervousness. Maybe Bumble Bee was tied as number two with Jinx.
"I-it's not anything big, I promise," he squeaked.
She still looked wary, but gave him a look that clearly said go on.
"So, uh... is Aqualad around?"
Bumble Bee looked entirely confused at his question. "What?"
Beast Boy sighed in frustration. "Is he?"
The yellow-clad girl looked unimpressed at the green teens impatience, but answer anyway. "No, he's in Atlantis for a couple of days. He'll be back tomorrow though. Why?"
"Did he take his communicator with him?"
Again, the Titans East leader looked bewildered. "No, actually. He forgot it."
Beast Boy peeked over at Raven, whose eyes were closed in what he assumed to be relief.
"Sweet!" he exclaimed. It seemed as if everything was working out perfectly.
"Why'd you wanna know?"
No longer feeling terrified, Beast Boy gave his fellow titan a brilliant smile. "Alright, this is gonna sound really weird, but I left him a message yesterday... on accident. It was meant for this, uh, other fish-dude, and I don't want Aquadu -er, uhm, Aqualad to think it was for him." 'Cuz there's no way in hell fish-boy is gonna think he's got a shot with Raven.
Bumble Bee tilted her head in curiosity. "What'd the message say?"
Beast Boy's eyes darted to Raven, who was again glaring at him. "Uh... I rather not say," he replied.
"I could always just listen to it then," the other girl mused, a glint of mischief in her grey-brown eyes.
Beast Boy suppressed a yelp of nervousness as he tried to maintain a serious façade. "If you do, I won't tell you what Cyborg wanted me to," he threatened.
Again, her eyes narrowed, and he could see her sigh in reluctance as the background behind her started moving.
"Fiiiine."
This time, the changeling suppressed a grin as he watched the Titans East leader enter the Atlantean's room. She made a show of picking up his forgotten communicator and waving it in front of her own, before flipping it open and scrolling through the messages. She then turned it around so Beast Boy could see the screen. His unopened message was highlighted, and her finger hovered over the button for a moment, before pressing it quickly. The word "DELETED" flashed across the screen.
Beast Boy let out a lengthy sigh of relief, before catching Raven's eyes and winking cheekily.
She still just glared at him.
"Alright, so what did Sparky wanna ask me?"
His relief was immediately washed away as a sense of fear overcame him.
"He... uh... he wanted to ask you to the ball."
Thankfully, it seemed the Titans East leader was too excited to fact-check Beast Boy's story as the changeling watched Cyborg out of the corner of his eye. He was still grumbling about the appliances they had lost during Raven's little... episode, but Beast Boy could tell the half-robot wasn't blaming the empath.
Instead, he sent an annoyed glare to the green teen every couple of minutes.
Beast Boy would merely smile innocently, before giving Raven a sheepish look.
She seemed to have forgiven him for the most part, though she definitely wasn't going out of her way to talk to him during dinner. He guessed she had felt rather embarrassed (and maybe even a tad bit betrayed) that he had gone behind her back and tried setting her up with Aqualad- who apparently wasn't her crush.
He knew that he should have felt horrible, which he sort of did, but he was mainly ecstatic. Raven wasn't crushing on fish-boy. Which meant the odds of him being her crush were a little better, though he knew not to get his hopes up.
But the odds were better!
He knew smiling at his salad like a maniac was sure to raise a few eyebrows, so he tried to reel in his delight. Especially since Raven could potentially pick up on it.
Sparing another glance at her, he felt like beaming as he found she was already staring at him. She looked away immediately, a small blush on her face. Beast Boy covered up the curl of his lips with a glass of water.
He knew not to think too much into it, but he couldn't help but feel hope rising in him. Raven didn't like Aqualad.
And the only other guys she knew well enough to actually have a crush on all had girlfriends.
Except him.
Making up his mind, he decided that he was going to get to the bottom of who her mystery guy was. And if that meant asking her out on a date and seeing if it was him, he'd do it.
Because worse-case scenario - she'd say no.
And best-case scenario... well, he couldn't imagine it without totally giving away his feelings at the dinner table. Because no amount of suppression, nor focus on a dumb children's song, could ever hide the happiness he would feel if she said yes.
So it looks like BB's feeling a little more confident! He's not 100 percent sure that he's the mystery guy, but the odds are in his favor. And he's willing to risk it all to see if he's right! Hopefully he is! (Though we all totally know he is already lol)
Anywhoo, you guys never cease to amaze me with the reviews and follows and favorites! I literally wake up every morning (feeling like P Diddy) and see a couple more, and I can't stop the dumb smile that spreads across my face! You guys always make my day!
And I was planning on writing and posting this last night, but I ended up going to Olive Garden (yum!), and then my brother made me watch Man of Steel (and can I just say that Henry Cavill is yummy as well? lmao)
Anyways, hopefully this chapter will get this story past 300 reviews! :D