Beast Boy liked to think he got along well with his Team, Him and Cyborg were almost inseparable, Robin was stern but he'd still on occasion joke around with him and he loved starfire like his sister. There was just one outlier Raven, now he liked Raven well enough and he was pretty sure she didn't hate him but she never really took the time to hang out with him either and admittedly that bugged him a little.
Still, he remained ever determined to break through that apathetic facade, get her to lighten up a bit, and have fun with the group.
"Hey Raven! You wanna play Mario Kart!" He offered as she passed through the living room.
"Not really," She answered simply, pouring herself some tea, effectively ending the conversation.
No matter, he'd try again later!
Around 4 pm ish, he happened upon Raven when he was about to head into town with Cyborg, so he decided to invite her.
"Afternoon Raven, you wanna come to the Mall with me and Cyborg?" Okay, he kind of knew Raven wasn't into Video Games when he asked earlier, but surely this would he a little more up her alley, right? He knew she liked to visit the bookstore.
She paused to think for a moment. But only for a moment. "No, thank you, I get car sick if I read in the car, and I don't want to put this book down now."
Another failure, well, she had a reason, so it wasn't a flat-out no. He'd stay optimistic.
He tried one more time when he and Cyborg were watching some B-Horror movies. It was pretty late, and come to think of it, Raven was probably about to head to bed, but he still decided to ask anyway.
"Yo Raven, you wanna watch "Dread Castle" ? The Remake"
"Pass," Raven answered without a second of hesitation, her tone letting him know she wouldn't be convinced otherwise.
Beast Boy sighed as he sat back on the couch to watch the movie. "Man, it's like she never wants to do anything with me,"
"So? That's not new, " Cyborg replied absentmindedly as he ate some popcorn that Beast Boy wouldn't touch due to the Butter.
"Well, yeah, but it just feels like I'm wasting my time making the effort." Garfield was well and truly sulking by this point, but his friend wasn't having it.
"Doesn't seem like you're trying that hard." Victor mumbled, but Beast Boy managed to pick up on it.
"How'd you figure that? I've been trying to hang out with her!"
"Yeah, but you're always trying to get her to do what you wanna do. You could try taking an interest in something she likes."
"Like meditation?"
"You don't have the patience for that. Maybe try reading. I'm sure she'd lend you a book if you promise to take care of it."
That was actually not a bad idea. He liked to read comics anyway. Books weren't too different, right? There were just fewer pictures.
"Good idea, Cy. I'll go ask her, "
"Not now, Genius, you can't ask to go into a girls' room this late at night,
Beast Boy sat back down and just watched the movie with Cyborg. Honestly, Raven had been right to say no. This movie was kind of boring. Maybe the original was better even if Basil Karlo had turned into a giant clay monster and tried to kill Batman a few times.
At some point he fell asleep he wasn't really sure when it had happened but he woke up on the couch, as a rabbit, man he had to stop morphing in his sleep he was still half asleep but when he looked up he saw that its was already almost 11am, he really shouldn't have tried to stay up so late.
"About time you got up," Robin remarked from the kitchen area, startling Beast Boy a little.
"Uh, sorry, I didn't miss anything important, did I?
"No, I'd have woken you if we needed you, now go wash up and get dressed, and Garfield"
Uh, oh, Robin used his name, which meant he was in trouble.
"If you aren't going to get up at a reasonable time, quit staying up so late."
Beast Boy nodded sheepishly before heading back to his room and getting a shower. As the water ran through his hair, he began to remember the conversation he had with Cyborg last night. Once he was dressed, he tentatively knocked on Raven's door.
She opened it ever so slightly just enough to see who it was, it was actually pretty rare for someone to knock on her door, probably because they knew she wouldn't talk to them if it wasn't important.
"Do you need something?" Raven asked in a dry tone. It was probably something frivolous. She liked Beast Boy well enough, but she really wasn't interested in any of his hobbies.
"I was wondering if I could borrow a book?" This gave the empath a moment's pause, had she heard him right?
"Why?"
"Too read, what else is a book for?"
Okay, admittedly, that was a dumb question on her part, but his tone wasn't even sarcastic he was completely genuine. Raven paused for a moment before opening the door for him.
"Don't touch anything." She warned as he entered her room. She immediately went to her shelves, pausing to ask. "Is there any specific book you were looking for?"
"No, just something you think I'd enjoy. I've heard reading makes you smarter, and we both know I need all the help that I can get." Beast Boy answered somewhat casually as he sat down on the floor.
"You're smarter than you give yourself credit for, but I guess it's good you want to improve." She continued to look through her books, trying to find something she thought he'd actually read.
After about 10 minutes of looking and a rather awkward silence, she found what she was looking for. "I think you'd like this. It's called 'The Grey Ghost' . Robin recommended it to me. Apparently, Batman used to read these books as a kid."
She handed him the book before opening the door for him. "Oh, and make sure to take care of it,"
Beast Boy gave a thumbs up before taking the book and heading to the main room. He placed the book on the table while he got breakfast before sitting down to read.
Raven simply sat back on her bed, picking her own book back up. She was admittedly slightly amused by her friend's sudden interest in reading. It came out of left field.
She wouldn't have time to ponder it for long. However , after about 2 minutes, someone knocked on her door again. It was a somewhat sheepish looking beast Boy.
"Sorry to bug you, but how do you say this word?"
Raven looked at the page for a moment before sighing. "Incomprehensibility, it means something is impossible to understand."
Raven turned him away again before trying to get back to reading. But again, she was disturbed. "Can't you ask someone else about this?"
"Well, Star didn't know either, Cy is working on his car, and Robin is helping Batman look into a case."
Raven rolled her eyes before just deciding to let him read in her room so that way he wouldn't be knocking on her door when he needed help with a word.
Beast Boy just sat down and read quietly, doing his best not to ask too many questions. Though he would sometimes mumble to himself. "Man, I could have gotten out of that easily."
"Well, yeah, but the Grey Ghost doesn't have super powers. He's a detective."
"Oh right, yeah,"
They would continue to read in relative silence broken occasionally by a beast Boy, thinking out loud about what he was reading.
Raven actually found herself enjoying his company when he wasn't being so loud and boisterous. Some of his comments about the book were actually pretty funny, not that she'd tell him that.
After about 3 hours of this, he closed the book. He was actually a pretty fast reader,
"You're done already?"
"Yeah, I've always been a pretty quick reader. My parents were scientists, and they didn't really have a TV at the research station." Beast Boy sighed before getting up to put the book back.
Raven actually didn't know that, he never really spoke about his past before joining the team but her empathic abilities made it clear that he didn't want to talk about them and there was something else, Guilt maybe?
"Sorry, I kinda brought down the mood, didn't I?" He put the book away before turning to leave.
"Wait, it's fine really, how about you tell me what you thought of the book? It's been a while since I've read it, but I remember enough to hold a conversation. "
This was unexpected out of Raven, but Beast Boy did remember his original goal was to hang out with her a little more. So this was perfect.
"Well, I thought the mystery was pretty good. I couldn't even guess who the thief was, but when he was revealed, it all made sense."
Raven smiled as he began to list his thoughts about the book. It was a disorganised mess and a little hard to follow, but it had taken his mind off of his parents. He was always so chipper whatever had gotten him down like that must be bad, she wanted to ask but she knew he wouldn't answer, for today she'd just quietly listen to him talk about nothing in particular if it helped him keep his mind off it.
This is an Idea I've had for a little while and I even tried to write it once before but I wasn't happy with the results this version is a little better, it may just be a one shot or I might continue it, I'm not sure yet but whatever happens hope you enjoyed this, feel free to leave a review I always read them and I hope you enjoy your day bye.
