I do not own Teen Titans.

A gunshot suddenly blasted in Raven's ear as she stumbled in the foggy darkness, her head swimming in noise. Strobe lights were flashing on the ceiling as hundreds of various games gave off alternating patterns of colors. The lingering smell of nachos and sweat hung in the thick air as she coughed, spinning around to try and find the green teen that had led her into such a horrible place. She could distantly hear bells chiming and an explosion shook the upstairs, causing dust to fall from the ceiling and land on her cloak.

Through the dim lighting, she saw a hand snag hers and yank her forward. Her pulse quickened until she saw the lean silhouette of her guide against the flickering shadows of the crowd- Beast Boy. She let him lead her to the back corner of the downstairs area, where the fog was being circulated through a ceiling vent. He gave her a floppy smile and began to insert a dollar into the coin machine that was placed directly beneath the vent. She leaned against the machine and glared out at the steady throb of children and teenagers rushing past them.

"You like this?"

He grinned up at her as the coins poured into his greedy hands. "Yeah! It's exciting and fun! Plus it's hard to see in, so a lot of people don't realize who I am right away." She stopped her retort at his last statement. Raven knew that Beast Boy had his insecurities, and his skin color was one. While he played it off as an attractive feature, his exaggerations often revealed how much he missed being normal. Even in animal form, fans could always tell it was him.

He stood up and squinted his eyes, peering out into the fog as the coins clanged noisily in his fingers. "Now, which game to pick. Do you like dancing?" Her face dropped any emotion and her eyes dulled to half-open, violet orbs.

"With all of my heart."

"Right. Well, do you like watching people dance? 'Cause I can bust a move." Her eyebrows raised in disbelief, causing his to cast downward. "I'm serious! I have the top score at all of the other arcades. Come on!"

Beast Boy messily shoved the coins into his pockets and tugged on Raven's hand again, pulling her back into the crowded area. Before she could protest, she found herself next to a glowing platform with arrows on it. Her green friend had already hopped on it and was busy tapping on some screen. She rolled her eyes and leaned against the bar that was keeping the platform separated from the rest of the arcade.

"You ready for this?" he asked, flashing her a brief smirk. His finger slammed on his song choice and the lights began to flicker and shine various colors. Music suddenly roared through the speakers surrounding the game and almost knocked the empath off of her feet. Irritated, she pulled her hood over her face.

Beast Boy's feet began to move slowly at first, and then gradually picked up speed. They pounded along with the rhythm of the song- one she had never heard of- and the resulting good scores sounded from the screen in front of him.

Alright! Nice moves!

Perfect step! Keep it up!

The changling cheered as the music ended and pumped his fists in the air. "Another high score! Told you, Rae!" He spun and held up a hand to high-five. After rolling her eyes again, she reluctantly high-fived him back, scowling the entire time. His initials were entered within a minute and they flashed at the top of the score list.

"Cyborg may be good at racing games, but he'll never beat me at this," Beast Boy exclaimed, hopping down to join her on the floor.

"Maybe that's because his feet are mechanical and can't move as quickly as yours."

His celebration stopped as he processed what she had said. Raven didn't like the look he gave her. "So, you're saying that he just can't beat me because he's robotic? That if he were normal, he could?"

"Obviously."

"Well, you're not robotic. Think you could beat me?"

"Nice try. I'm not playing the stupid game."

Even a quick transformation into a puppy couldn't alter her decision. He changed back and frowned, looking around the room. "What about a different game, then? Obviously a quieter one." After a few minutes and some complaining from other kids who wanted a turn on the dance platform, he spotted a machine that he thought would appeal to the half-demon. "This way!"

He didn't grab her hand this time, and while she liked the freedom of walking at her own pace, Raven found herself almost missing his touch as she walked across the noisy floor. His hand had been warm and friendly against hers and-

What?

Shaking her head to scatter her confusing thoughts, Raven found herself in front of the last game she would have expected to end up at. After a reassuring nod from Beast Boy that it was indeed the right game, she sighed. Perhaps he didn't know her as well as he thought he did.

"Whack-a-Mole? Really?"

"Well, I know you can't really express your emotions, and that fighting sometimes releases some of that pent-up stuff, so I figured you might enjoy this. You just hit the mole with the hammer."

"I understand how the game works. But I'm not playing it."

This time his eyes rolled. "Why won't you even try it? You're already here, can't you just have fun for once?"

Raven grew quiet at his last statement. She knew that she was most reserved on the team, but it was mostly due to her powers. While the others could laugh and enjoy themselves, she constantly had to keep her emotions under control. It wasn't often that she could let loose safely. While the others knew her predicament, it still sometimes hurt that her friends saw her as boring and bland.

Beast Boy seemed to sense what his words had done and flinched. "Sorry, I didn't mean-"

"It's fine." She looked down at the ground, trying to keep his guilt from rushing over her. "I know I'm boring."

"No! You're not! I know it's 'cause you have to watch what you feel, but that's why I picked this game. It's a way to just… let it out. You know?"

She looked up and saw that he was smiling and holding the hammer out for her. Her fingers tentatively wrapped around the handle and took it from him before she shifted her gaze over to the game. The other Titan plopped two coins into the slot and the soft music began to play.

A mole popped up on the left of the board and she slowly put the hammer down on the spot, missing it as it quickly went back down. She missed the next two as well, as the mole seemingly jumped from spot to spot just ahead of her swing. She was playing the game for her friend, but that didn't mean she had to try.

"Come on, Raven! Little kids can play better than that!" She gave her friend a dead-pan look that said 'As if I care' and continued to purposely miss the mole. He growled as the music stopped playing and the game ended.

"Can we go home now?"

His exasperation was growing almost tangible. "Look, we're not leaving until you actually play the game. We'll stay here all night if we have to-"

A passing employer stuck his head in their direction to briefly add, "We're only open until eleven" as he walked to the back counter.

"-We'll stay here until eleven if we have to," Beast Boy continued, hardly missing a beat. After another silent moment, his eyes narrowed and he exhaled loudly, rubbing the back of his head. "Alright, I didn't want to have to do this, but you leave me no choice. You forced this upon yourself."

"What are you-"

In a flash- a green flash- her cloak vanished from where it had been comfortably resting across her shoulders and mysteriously flew into one of the holes in the Whack-a-Mole board. Raven's face paled as her hands quickly wrapped around her thin arms, a blush reddening her cheeks as she realized that she was exposed to the gamers. Sure, she was still wearing her leotard, but she had always felt as though she were naked when her cloak wasn't there to offer its protection. The crowd of people in the fog didn't seem to notice her predicament, but she was thoroughly embarrassed either way.

A tiny green mole poked its head out of one of the holes in front of her, the corner of her cloak caught within its teeth. Her shame fell way to anger as she saw the snarky grin on the animal's face. She knew what he was planning, but she couldn't seem to stop herself as her shaky hands tightened their grip on the hammer and raised it above her head.

"Oh, you are so dead!"

Though he managed to avoid the first few swings, soon Raven was able to anticipate where her teammate would appear next, and smacked him repeatedly until a dazed teenager tumbled out of the game, collapsing onto the floor next to her. A giggle escaped her lips as she watched him fall, but she quickly quieted herself, snatching back the cloak and reattaching it to her uniform. Beast Boy unsteadily climbed to his feet.

"Wow. I didn't think that would actually work. You know, you probably would have set a high score if the game was on." Although slightly rattled, his eyes seemed to glimmer with something akin to pride. Raven hadn't seen that look very often.

"Don't you ever do something like that again, or I will send you to another dimension. Understand?"

The changeling saluted bravely, laughing as her irritated face slowly gave way to an amused smile. "Come on, we can go now, it's getting late. Starfire will probably leave the mall within the next hour or so."

The two slowly made their way to the entrance of the arcade, breathing in the cool night air as it rushed into them. The stars were difficult to see in the midst of the city lights, but the moon was large and bright, looming over the two as it hung low over the skyscrapers above them. Raven was about to take flight when she heard her companion mumble something to her left.

"What was that?"

His cheeks grew a bit rosy as he coughed, repeating what he had previously said. "I like your laugh. I heard you giggle when I turned back." His arms immediately rose to a defensive position. He already knew that he was pushing his boundaries with the dark girl next to him, and the reminder of her emotional slip might have pushed her over the edge.

"Yeah, well…" she started hesitantly, "…don't get used to it."

Beast Boy could only stand quietly in awe as her feet lifted off of the sidewalk and she began the journey back to the Tower. The only other time he had heard her laugh was when they had first started the team, and that had obviously been an accident. Now it had happened again, and she wasn't even going to hurt him for pointing it out? He was thoroughly confused.

But… strangely… he was okay with it.