I know this one doesn't have our favorite green bean in it, but I felt as though this was necessary. Plus I love Raven's relationships with the other Titans as well.

I do not own Teen Titans.

"Haven't seen you down here in a while."

Raven merely shrugged, pulling her feet up to sit cross-legged on the rolling stool. She had traveled down to the Tower garage, though she still wasn't sure if it was a good idea. Normally she felt comfortable coming to her friend for advice- after all, he treated her like a little sister. She enjoyed the familial relationship. Robin was great in certain situations, but sometimes he overanalyzed simple problems. Starfire would be too excited to take her seriously.

Beast Boy was the problem.

Cyborg treated her with respect. He would quietly listen to her struggles while working on his projects, and then the two would sit in silence until he thought of an appropriate response. It was a trait of his that Raven very much appreciated. Most people felt as though they needed to provide advice immediately after hearing a predicament, which is exactly why they often gave bad advice. Cyborg would take his time. He was strong, unyielding, and loyal. He was the rock she relied on in tough situations.

He was also, however, the best friend of a certain green mischief-maker that was causing her so much grief. She was relying on his promise not to tell others what she shared with him, despite knowing that he and Beast Boy had a knack for landing her in trouble.

"Everything's been… fine, lately," she said, knowing that her response was inadequate the second it left her mouth. Cyborg kept a fixed gaze on her a moment longer, waiting for her to continue. She coughed, hunching her shoulders a bit more as she crossed her arms and leaned on her knees. "How have you been?"

He looked at her a bit longer before turning back to his work, accepting that she was not ready to talk about whatever was bothering her. Raven bit her lip, not needing to read his thoughts to understand what was going through his mind. She had disappointed him somehow.

"I've been alright. Since that fight with Cinderblock, I've been making more adjustments to the T-Car. Using her as a secret weapon worked like a charm!" He sat upright on his creeper to kiss his 'baby,' wrapping his large arms around as much of the car as he could to hug it. "She's a tough one."

Raven's lips curled upward, her mood brightening in seconds due to his silly antics. "She certainly is." The mechanic lied back down, rolling under the car to continue tweaking something underneath. There were a few minutes of silence, and the empath tried to think of a way to sway the conversation to what she wanted to talk about. Despite cringing, knowing that her plan was idiotic, she continued with it. "Speaking of charm, how is everything with Bee going?"

A loud clang echoed throughout the spacious area as Cyborg slammed into the bottom of the T-Car. Profanity streamed from his mouth as he rolled back out, rubbing his head. His glower convinced her to refrain from smiling. "We're just friends."

"If she was just a friend, you wouldn't have hit your head," she countered, pointing to the growing lump on his forehead. A stream of blue flowed from her outstretched fingers to the bump, and the cybernetic teen slumped back onto his creeper in relief. While it had been funny, she had still felt bad about causing the injury. Healing him was the least she could do, even for a minor head bump.

"I don't know," he started, sliding off of the rolling device to sit on the floor and face her. "I mean, I thought something was happening there. She flirts with me all the time. I've seen her talk to other guys, she doesn't flirt as much with them!" Raven nodded in agreement. "But every time I bring up the subject of, you know, us, she finds some excuse to leave."

The half-demon dropped one leg off the chair, letting it swing beneath her as she thought. "Maybe she's just scared of commitment. I know that she and Herald had a brief thing, but he told me that she would never give him a straight answer when it came to their relationship."

"Maybe." He frowned, mulling over her reply. "I guess I just need to be moving on." Turning, he smiled at the T-Car. "At least I know of one gorgeous lady who won't ever leave me."

The two shared a laugh- one loud and boisterous, the other quiet and withdrawn- before turning to look at each other again. Raven squirmed slightly under his gaze, but forced herself to speak. Time for the moment of truth. "How did you know that you liked her?"

Cyborg's eyes widened and he snapped his mouth shut before he could say something that would set her off. She watched with caution as a plethora of facial expressions flashed over his visage before he regained his composure. It wasn't a surprise that he easily deduced the meaning behind the question, but she still felt on edge waiting for his response. This could have been a very bad mistake.

"Well, I really wanted to spend time with her. I would think of excuses just to be near her, 'cause just being in the same room made the butterflies in my stomach go crazy. But it's not like in the movies, where everything is perfect!" He pointed at her with determination. "Don't let that cheesy romance ruin what you have. 'Cause romance doesn't work like that.

"She definitely had flaws. She wasn't perfect. But I liked her flaws, because they made her her, you know? And I would feel nervous and overconfident at the same time when I talked to her. I was so scared of saying the wrong thing, but she made me so happy that I felt like flying. It was kind of nauseating, but in a good way. And I'd keep thinking about what it would be like to hold her hand, or take her to the movies, or anything with just the two of us really, because I loved making her happy. I loved her smile, I loved her sass. I loved her… I loved her."

His gaze had lowered to the floor as the huge realization sunk in. Raven's heart was pounding in her chest. She had wanted a simple answer, not a proclamation of love. The current situation was making her slightly uncomfortable, but she owed Cyborg for the many times he had helped her, and she was not about to ditch her friend during his time of need. His shocked expression made her spine tingle, though. If love was that terrifying, she wanted no part of it.

"Aw, man. I loved her, Rae. And I just let her go."

She climbed off of the stool to sit beside him on the grimy floor, not caring if the dirt got on her pants. A brief memory of the two of them sitting outside a fast food restaurant, bonding over the loss of his stolen car, flashed through her mind. She had helped him before by connecting over a common feeling. She could do it again, even without the sixteen extra milkshakes.

"When I was younger, there was a girl my age who also lived in the Temple. I spent most of my time with Azar though, studying and practicing to control my powers, so I never saw her. I didn't know that she was there for the longest time.

"Sometimes, when I wasn't busy, I would leave my room to explore Azarath. The first time I went out, I got helplessly lost. I didn't know where I was and it was getting dark. The people of Azarath wouldn't stop to help me because they were scared of me, so I couldn't figure out how to get home. I was terrified, but the girl from the Temple saw me running around and helped me get back.

"I was excited at first to learn that someone else my age lived there. I hadn't ever had a friend, so it was a new experience for me. We would sneak around the city, pretending that we were on a different planet and that I didn't have powers that I constantly needed to worry about.

"But as I grew older, I realized that I liked her in a different way than I had when I was younger. We had always held hands, but I started longing for her touch. I had to focus more on my studies around then, but all I wanted to do was spend time with her. I would sneak out at night and the two of us would just lie outside the Temple on the ground, looking up at the sky and talking about life. She was my first kiss, and I loved her more than anything else.

"One day she invited a friend of hers with us. I was excited at first, as I still hadn't had much experience with other people. But when he walked in, she ran over to him and they kissed." She paused, seeing Cyborg's face flinch in pity. "I was heartbroken. I had thought that we were something special, but she obviously saw us in a different perspective. She hadn't even told me about her relationship with him because she knew how I felt about her.

"I was so upset that I refused to talk to her again. I poured everything I had into focusing my powers and gaining control, and I stopped leaving the Temple at night to explore with her. I had a messenger approach me once with an apology letter, but I burned it. I didn't even bother listening to her explanation.

"The point is," Raven said, taking a breath to gather her thoughts before she started rambling again. "I let her go. I didn't bother fighting for our relationship, and because of me, we never saw each other again. I lost someone I cared about a lot. Don't let that happen with Bee. You still have time to talk and figure it out."

A large metal hand gripped hers, and she looked up to see him grinning. "You're right, Rae. I shouldn't be moping about it while she moves on. I should be working with her to set things straight. Thanks."

She stood up and brushed some dirt off her legs. While she hadn't accomplished what she had meant to, she still appreciated the time spent with her friends, and was glad that she helped him work through his own problems. She incorrectly assumed that the conversation was over and that he had forgotten about her as she headed for the door.

"Now, none of this would have anything to do with a certain string-bean on the team, would it?"

Raven turned slowly, the hand she had on the handrail dropping to her side as she curled her fingers in dread. The other Titan simply grinned, amused at her embarrassment. Taking a deep breath, she walked back into the room and reclaimed the stool as hers. This had been what she wanted to take about, so she wasn't sure why she was filled with shame. She took another breath to calm her nerves before she risked looking back at him.

"How'd you know?" She didn't bother hiding the truth. This was one subject where Cyborg could see right through her, so there was no point.

The grin dropped from his face as he leaned back to rest his elbows on the creeper, stretching his legs out in front of him. "I think I've been guessing at it since Thanksgiving. You started acting a bit differently around him. I just watched you two interact, and it didn't take long to see what was going on."

Her blood froze and she felt chills down her spine. "Is it that obvious? Does everyone know? I wasn't even sure until Christmas Eve, when I-" She stopped talking before she blurted out anything she would regret.

Cyborg laughed at her sudden silence. "Don't worry, the two lovebird are too stuck in their own world to notice anything like that. Heck, I don't even think grass stain knows." His eyes squinted at her in amusement. "But what happened Christmas Eve? Do tell."

"He was teasing me, and he found some mistletoe, so- stop looking at me like that!" Cyborg's eyes had started bulging as he had obviously not expected her answer to involve the traditional kissing plant. "We didn't kiss! Well, I kinda… I kissed him on the cheek. Very quickly."

"And I thought you said you weren't sure."

"I wasn't! We were just, I don't know, teasing each other-"

"-Flirting, you mean-"

"-and he asked for a kiss, and for some reason I kissed him. I thought that it would be over after that, but then I went back to my room and I couldn't stop thinking about it. It's Beast Boy! Why am I so confused? Ugh!" she groaned, rubbing her temples.

The team mechanic waited until she was finished ranting before speaking up. "It sounds to me like you aren't confused at all. You just don't want to accept how you feel, because you've never considered Beast Boy to be more than a slightly annoying friend before."

"I hate when people say 'more than friends,' because it implies that romantic relationships are more significant than platonic ones, which isn't true. But," she said, closing her eyes in defeat, "I get what you mean. I haven't really thought about how I feel before now. I just don't know what to do at this point."

"Just follow the advice you gave me," Cyborg suggested, flashing her a beaming smile. "Don't let it slip away. Go talk to him and figure it out. Between you and me, I'm pretty sure he likes you too."

The pale girl stood up, walking over to give him a high-five before heading for the stairs. It wasn't the same as a hug, but the two teens knew each other's boundaries and had an unspoken agreement to end every deep conversation with a high-five to leave it on a high note. She heard him slide back onto the creeper and roll under the car as she ascended the first step.

"Thanks, Cyborg."

He hollered a similar farewell, and she walked up, some of the dread in her chest gone. Raven had known what she had to do the whole time, but getting confirmation from Cyborg was all she needed to get ready for action. She was going to talk to Beast Boy, and they were going to figure this out together.

When she was going to do that was another question altogether.

And because I feel as though some of you may ask: Raven is not straight in this story. I hardcore headcanon her as biromantic asexual, and that is going to reflect in my stories. This is still a BBRae fic, so don't fret. I just wanted to make it clear that yes, she did romantically love the girl she described in the story. It is important for invisible orientations to get representation, so I want you all to know that in this story

Raven

is

not

straight.

At all.

Thanks!