Reading with Beast Boy yesterday had surprisingly turned out to be a nice way to spend a couple hours, but Raven couldn't shake the feeling of unease she had gotten when he mentioned his parents. To most people, his comment seemed unimportant and not noteworthy, but to an empath like her, it was impossible to ignore.

The feeling of guilt she'd felt from him when he mentioned the subject was especially concerning to her, he seemed fine of course, but guilt that powerful didn't come from nowhere, there was something else going on.

She wanted to just ask him about it, but she doubted he'd actually tell her. Most of the group had hard childhoods, but they weren't exactly open about the details. If anyone knew she was sure, it would be Robin.

"Beast Boy's parents?" Robin asked, looking up from his screen. "Why the sudden interest?"

"Well, he mentioned them yesterday, and it seemed to get him down, I'm trying to find out why, so do you have any information on them?"

"Mark and Marie Logan were geneticists who studied wildlife, Beast Boy's early childhood was spent living in research stations." As Robin spoke about them, he brought a sheet with a little information on them up on the screen, and Raven noticed that it said Deceased.

"How did they die?" She hadn't meant to ask that outloud.

"Well that I'm not sure on, It was a pretty remote place so there wasn't much media coverage and Beast Boy doesn't like to talk about it, whenever I ask he dodges the question. From what I can gather, they died in a boating accident, but you'd need to ask Beast Boy what actually happened." Robin wasn't going to push him to answer. He wasn't Batman. He'd respect his teammates' privacy.

"I don't think he'd tell me," Raven sighed

"That's just how he is. Beast Boy doesn't really like to talk about his feelings. When something is bothering him, he doesn't want to burden others with it, so he jokes around. That said, if he ever did want to talk about it, I'm sure he'd be happy to have you there to listen." Robin explained. He was always good at seeing through the facades people build, probably part of his training as a detective.

"I suppose you're right," Raven conceded. "What right did she have to tell someone not to hide how they feel? She could write a book on concealing her emotions. "Thanks, Dick. I appreciate it."

"Please just call me Robin."

"Not gonna happen."

Robin sighed. Ever since the other Titans had overheard a phone call with Alfred, they hadn't let him hear the end of it.

Raven bid Robin farewell before leaving to get dressed for the day, She had agreed to go to a bookstore with Beast Boy, mostly because he'd asked for more recommendations and she didn't really have many books she thought he'd be interested in, that and she enjoyed visiting the store herself.

Seeing as it was just the two of them going, they decided not to bother Cyborg with asking him to drive them. They could both fly anyway. "Hey Raven, Race ya!"

Beast Boy challenged before shifting into a Seagull. Raven normally wouldn't play along with such a childish challenge, but she decided to humour him. "You're on, on three, one, two"

"Three!" The pair took off towards the city, and the race seemed initially quite even. It wasn't obvious who the winner would be.

Though as they approached the city, Beast Boy shifted into a Falcon to speed past her. Under normal circumstances, she would just let him win, but when was feeling uncharacteristically competitive. She focused her magic and boosted forward, quickly catching up with him.

Beast Boy clumsily landed in a heap outside the bookstore. He needed a minute to catch his breath, around the same time Raven landed beside him, and neither were sure who had won.

"Di-did I win?" Beast Boy panted as he sat up he needed a moment to catch his breath.

"Not sure, too close to call." Raven shrugged, looking down at him. "But I think the real winner is the one who can still stand, wouldn't you agree?" She smirked as she kneeled down, grabbing his hand and helping him up.

"I can stand, I'm perfectly fine," Beast Boy protested, and to his credit, he could stand though his legs were a bit wobbly.

"Call it a draw, then?" She asked with a wry smile as he tried to pretend he was fine.

"Alright, I guess that seems fair," He conceded as he steadied himself, confident he could walk now.

The pair headed into the bookstore, and while Raven immediately headed over to the mystery section, Beast Boy found himself a little distracted by a selection of fantasy novels.

She decided to just leave him to his own devices. Eventually, she found her way to the nonfiction section, a place she didn't visit all that often. By chance, she picked up and encyclopedia of Birds of Paradise, not that she had much interest in ornithology, she just wanted to pass the time.

She glanced over the cover and paused. "Written by Marie Logan, Photos by Mark Logan." She knew his parents had been renowned researchers, but she didn't know they'd had books published.

Garfield did, though, as he recognised the book she was holding immediately, but he did his damndest not to let it get him down. "Oh hey, I know this one, I was about 3 when my parents were taking the pictures of the birds for this book. One of my earlier memories is getting pecked by a Kumul,"

Raven was surprised to hear him recount his childhood in such an upbeat tone. Had yesterday been a fluke?

"That was before I had my powers, of course, before… well, it's not something worth talking about." Before Raven could ask any further questions, Beast Boy held up a bookmark that was the exact shade of purple as the wallpaper in her room. "Before I forget, I got you something. It goes with your aesthetic, right?"

There it was again that feeling of guilt, she'd wanted to ask more about his parents, but the opportunity had slipped by her, still she appreciated the gesture and she took the bookmark. "Thank you, I needed a new one,"

"Don't mention it, I got myself one as well," He boasted as he held up a green bookmark that matched his hair.

"So you got us matching gifts? Isn't that normally a couples thing?"

Raven has not anticipated how Beast Boy would take that he seemed to lose his voice like he was nervous, her amethyst eyes glanced over him scanning for a reaction and he decided to turn away mumbling to himself.

"I mean uh, friends do that to, but I guess a guy buying a girl a gift is kinda different to me buying something for Cy, sorry I didn't think, if it makes you uncomfortable I could take it ba-"

He was cut off by Raven flicking his forehead. "I don't mind, really. I just thought you might want to be more aware of how things look"

Garfield sheepishly nodded, From that point on, he seemed a little more conscious of how he acted around her. Frankly, it was overly conscious for her liking. Like keeping his distance while they paid for the books or him moving a chair at the cafe so he sat next to her instead of across from her so it looked less 'Date Like' that wasn't at all necessary.

She ordered tea while Beast Boy ordered himself a hot chocolate with almond milk, a childish choice in Raven's eyes, but she decided not to say anything.

"So what books did you end up getting?" She asked as she waited for her tea to cool.

"A few fantasy books and this one's called 'The Terror' Cyborg told me it's scary, but it's good." He held up the book for a moment before sipping his drink and immediately regretting it because it was still too hot.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, but I think I burned my tongue." It was a little hard to understand him, but Raven just seemed slightly amused by his predicament.

"Yeah, it's called a 'Hot' Chocolate for a reason, Garfield." She never really used his name unless she was making fun of him.

"Very funny, Rachel." He shot back. Of course, Rachel was a relatively normal name and not nearly as embarrassing as Garfield.

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Thanks as always for reading. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, I know it took a little while, but honestly, I couldn't decide if I should have this be a one shot or keep it going. But I decided I still wanted to write this though I don't see it being much longer than a few chapters, for now though enjoy the ride, make sure to leave a review I make sure to read all of them, Enjoy the rest of your day bye