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The first sensation he became aware of was the cold pavement against his cheek. His eyes slowly blinked open, taking in the image of a blurry flying truck in the sky. A rumble thundered, shaking the ground and rattling his head. With unsteady hands, Beast Boy lifted himself to his elbows, squinting against the searing headache that accompanied his movement. He could feel heavy beads of blood dripping down the side of his face and grimaced as he lightly touched a stinging wound near his hairline.
Frenzied shouts drew his attention away from his wound and down to the battle taking place down the street. His hazy vision focused on a sharp gleam of metal- Cyborg- powering through a large piece of rubble to smash into Cinderblock, drawing his attention away from the alien girl he was previously attacking. Starfire continued her assault of starbolts, aggravating the criminal while the other Titan fought him from below.
Robin had his bo staff held fast in his hand, standing off to the side as he waited for the perfect opportunity to strike. Beast Boy could almost see his eyes calculating when to throw a grenade at the behemoth before him. Normally the leader was the first into the heat of battle, but Cinderblock was different. Hand-to-hand combat was not as efficient as his friends' powers. So, he used more strategy than pure aggression.
The green teenager flinched as a hand settled lightly on his shoulder, but he relaxed as he looked upwards. Concerned violet orbs gazed back down at him, a small smile of relief passing over Raven's lips as she glanced over his injuries. He let her help him to a sitting position against a store front, both cringing as the occasional battle cry erupted from a mile down the road.
"Does it hurt very much?"
He shook his head, and then regretted it as his vision swam and his stomach turned. "Not really, but I feel all out of it. Moving makes me feel nauseous." He paused to groan, resting one hand on his midsection. "What happened?"
She seemed worried that he didn't remember, but a faint blue glow surrounded her hands as she set to work healing him. "Cinderblock managed to hit you with an eighteen-wheeler while you were in the middle of transforming. He threw it after you, but I set it down further away while Starfire distracted him." He sighed as the cooling touch of her magic slowly dwindled away, leaving a distant ache where he had hit his head on the pavement, like an old bruise. "You should be fine now."
"Thanks. We should get back-"
"No," she interrupted, blushing slightly as he gave her a strange look. "I healed you, but it's still not completely gone. Especially because you might have had a concussion. Head injuries aren't as easy to fix as broken bones are. It would be safer for you to sit out the rest of the battle."
"Sit out? What, am I chopped liver? I can do it, Rae!" He jumped to his feet and turned to run, but found that his shaky legs would hardly support him. The empath was next to him in a flash, supporting his weight with his arm around her shoulder and her hand around his waist. "Whoah, what?"
She gritted her teeth, helping him back down. "Like I said, head injuries aren't my specialty. It's still going to take a few hours for it to completely heal. You should rest while we-"
"RAE, LOOK OUT!"
She hardly had time to blink before a large cement hand slammed into her side, knocking her across the street and into the window of a local thrift store. Beast Boy's shout still rung in her ears as her eyes opened, blinking in the harsh light that spilled onto the store carpet where she was resting. Glass sparkled around her as she got to her knees, gagging at the sight of her own blood splattered lightly across the broken pieces. A tinkling sound brushed her ears as she crawled out of the hole she had created in the window.
Cinderblock was standing where she had been seconds ago, towering over Beast Boy as he scuttled backwards across the sidewalk. She could see his face contorted in concentration as he attempted to morph, but his head injury kept him from properly accessing his powers. A brief look to her left revealed that Robin had also been hurt, and that Starfire was busy tending to him to help with her other teammates. Cyborg was nowhere to be found.
She could do this.
"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!" Raven shouted, levitating into the air on the boost of her mantra. She created two large hands of black magic and used them to rip the nearby streetlights out. They easily wrapped around Cinderblock's torso, pinning his arms to his sides and keeping him from snatching the changeling furiously still trying to defend himself.
Landing in front of her friend, she spared him a quick reassuring smile. His eyes were wide with frustration and confusion, but they also showed a hint of trust. Beast Boy had never liked relying on others for help- none of the Titans did-, but he knew that he couldn't protect himself as he was. His faith resided solidly in the half-demon fighting before him.
A large snap blasted in the two heroes' ears as Cinderblock managed to break his bindings. Raven quickly created an ebony shield around herself and Beast Boy, grunting as the hefty criminal pounded his powerful fists against it. Her lean friend got to his feet and slowly made his way toward her, struggling to stay upright. She hardly noticed, her attention solely focused on maintaining the shield.
"Raven," he started, pausing as he surprised her and caused a momentary weakness of the shield. A car crashed into it and Raven's feet slid backwards a few inches as she struggled to maintain her hold. Her teeth were clenched together in determination, her arms thrown out in front of her to spread the influence of her magic.
"What?" she hissed, more out of pain than of annoyance, which was the usual tone she took with him.
"Form a ramp with your power."
She ignored him for a few moments as she concentrated on Cinderblock's new artillery of bulldozers. They creaked as they flew in the air, causing the energy shield to shudder as each one banged into it. Right as he was about to repeat his statement, her eyebrows furrowed together. "What?"
"Form a ramp with your powers."
"Why? There isn't anything to launch at him, except…" as she trailed off, Beast Boy's eyes squinted upwards in confirmation. Her confused face stared back at his, tightening slightly as Cinderblock resorted back to punching the shield with his fists. "But, he wouldn't. Would he?"
He shrugged, almost grinning. "We had talked about it before while I was helping him clean the living room, and he seemed excited. Now seems as good a time as any to try it. I can hear him coming, anyway."
Raven's face flickered with doubt, but the back of the black bubble encasing them began to flatten into a steep slope. A distant roaring from behind them began to increase in volume. Beast Boy had already been hurt in this battle, along with Robin, and she hadn't even been able to heal them. She wouldn't be able to stand herself if it happened again. "But what if-"
"S'okay," he said quietly, placing a hand on her shoulder and flashing her a grin. "He'll be fine." She nodded back, steepening the ramp some more.
Within a minute, a loud revving filled the street, and the T-car screeched around the corner behind them. The window was down, and even though Raven was focused on her magic, she couldn't repress an amused sigh as a loud "BOOYAH!" bounced around the storefronts. The automobile screeched onto her ramp and shot into the air, knocking Cinderblock to the ground before he could raise a hand to defend himself. Dust and bits of pavement rose in a dense fog and the empath released her hold on the shield, causing her and Beast Boy to start coughing in the gritty air.
"Cyborg?" Beast Boy called, placing a hand back onto Raven's shoulder to support himself as they looked cautiously into the cloudy impact zone. They heard a brief whining, almost as if wheels were spinning and attempting to free themselves from mud, and the T-car emerged victorious as it drifted out of the fog. The two Titans on the sidewalk gaped as they saw that it hadn't even received a scratch.
"New defensive shield enabled last week," Cyborg smugly bragged at their expressions, pulling up beside them. His arm was casually leaning out of his window as his other hand pulled down sunglasses to look solidly at them and their injuries. Despite his concern, he seemed relaxed, as though he hadn't just flown a car at a monster. "B.B., you okay?"
The green Titan gave him a thumbs-up, grinning widely. "Dude, that was awesome! Is he down?"
"He's out harder than you after Christmas dinner. Can you two direct the police while I check on Rob and Star? We are so going for pizza after this."
As he took off again, Beast Boy only had time for a quick yelp of "IT BETTER BE VEGETARIAN!" before the two remaining teens were left by themselves again. They hobbled over to the other side of the street, where the cautious police officers were beginning to emerge. Raven frowned at the window she had accidentally destroyed, feeling bad for the owners, but she knew that the police would help pay to have it fixed.
"So, uh, thanks again for the help. It's nice to have a healer on the team," Beast Boy smiled, pointing at his head. When she didn't respond, he caught her looking at the window and gasped. "I forgot about you hitting that store! Are you alright?"
"I'm fine. Just a few scratches, but once we sit down for a while they'll heal quickly. I'll need to meditate when we get home, and then I might be able to clear away the rest of the concussion."
He shook his head as they collapsed onto a bench, waiting for the officers to walk over to them. The two were sitting closer together than usual as the dark girl had been escorting Beast Boy, but she didn't bring up her usual retort about personal space. She also didn't say anything when his hand came to rest right next to hers, their pinkie fingers barely touching, though her breath did briefly catch in her throat.
Trying to ignore the pink rising in his cheeks, Beast Boy shook his head again, this time just to shake away the happy anxiety growing high up in his stomach. "Nah, I think it's mostly gone. I'm feeling a lot better."
"Good," she replied hesitantly.
Another moment of silence festered into a strong uncomfortableness as the two both tried to come up with something to stimulate the conversation. Finally, Beast Boy blurted out, "I want to meditate with you," and Raven internally thanked him for taking the initiative.
"You… want to meditate. You know that involves being quiet. No talking?"
His nervous laughter seemed to be shared with her a lot more often than usual, and this conversation did not fail to induce it.
"Yeah, I know. But I figured I might as well try it. Plus you've saved my butt how many times now, and all I do is bother you when you try it in the living room." She couldn't believe the maturity he was displaying.
"Oh… um, yeah. That would be nice. I've taught Starfire before, I'm sure I could teach you." His eyes widened as he turned to face her, trying to ignore their proximity.
"Really? I thought you would just yell at me. Thank you!"
Before he could stop himself, his arms were around her as he pulled her into a tight hug. Raven froze, the top of her face peeking out over his shoulder. The two had only hugged once before, right after her breakup with Malchior. She had been the one to hug him, and it had certainly been awkward.
Her hands gently patted his shoulders as she waited for him to release her. "You're doing the thing where you hug me, Beast Boy." Slowly, he drew back, smiling at her the whole time. His mouth opened to speak, but right before he could, a police officer finally walked up to them to ask about the battle. The Titan's shoulders slumped in defeat.
"I'll talk to him. You should go find the others and see if Robin needs healing."
Their departure was similar to many they had shared during previous battles, but for some reason, Raven felt empty as she rose to fly to meet her friends. It wasn't until she was coming in for landing that she realized it was that she missed the feeling of her friend's arms around her. She wasn't sure why, he was just a friend. And the hug was been uncomfortable. If there was one thing Raven knew about herself, it was that she didn't like hugs.
So why was she so upset that it was over?