AN: Revised 4/29/23 in an attempt to improve overall quality.
Beast Boy was bored. He was not just bored. He was lonely, too, tired of sitting alone with nothing to do.
Most of the Teen Titans were away for a "mental health break" after the mentally taxing attacks used by the most recent villain they had put down. Which was totally fine by him; healthy teammates were needed for their line of work. It is just that it left him in the Tower with Raven.
Not a problem, honestly. He was just tired of being alone; she hid away in her room as she always did before he would come along and provoke her to come out. Yet, he continued playing his video game, knowing she needed to meditate. Healthy teammates and all…
After the team's last throwdown with Mister Twister, everyone needed a breath of fresh air. Fighting a literal demon does that to you. The whispers Twister would leave in their mind, to manipulate them and try to turn them on each other– It was a bit much. Plus, Raven always had an adverse reaction to demons. He felt fine, giving her some space.
It is just that… he wanted, no, he needed, someone near him. He was a social creature, just like the many animals he could morph into, and Raven was the only one nearby for companionship. Yet, she did not budge from her room.
Beast Boy just needed a distraction.
Fishing into the couch cushion, he pulled out his yellow Titan's communicator. Quickly flipping open the device to see the inner screen, he looked for a message from either Cyborg or Starfire about being home soon. Nada. He tossed the device to the other side of the couch and instead picked up his game controller and restarted the match against the computer. Maybe he could finally beat this level now that no one would try to usurp his time with the big screen in the commons room.
His attempts were in vain.
He just couldn't focus. He couldn't find a reason to perform. His motivation was zilch.
He was bored. Too bored to even enjoy a video game or to give it an honest effort.
Maybe Raven could at least sit out there with him? It would give him some sense of companionship, even if she just silently read her "dark" and "mysterious" poems near him. He knew they weren't. They were actually poems of lovey-dovey nonsense.
But could he make her agree to that? To read her poems, just near him?
No point in wondering when he could ask her.
He morphed into a raven himself and flew to the kitchen, to the leftmost bottom cabinet that everyone knew was where he stored his stuff. Reaching in, he grabbed into a stash of candies that he kept on reserve for bribing Raven. She was a sucker for dark chocolates. So, with candies in hand, he jaunted back to the commons room and into the elevator to go down to the housing floor where all the rooms were.
As he neared her door, he put the candies behind his back so she wouldn't see them when she opened the door on the first two attempts. Only on the third would he reveal them. It always worked.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
"Don't care. Leave me alone."
Except when it didn't work.
That was Raven's go-to way of saying she would not even entertain the thought of opening the door once, so there would be zero chance of getting her out of her room. After years of trying to pry at the prison walls she hid behind, he knew that about her well enough and her safe place.
"Sorry," he started, dejected that his attempt didn't even make it off the ground. "I'll just leave this candy at your door, then. Grab it whenever. I'll be on the couch if you, you know, wanna chill. I wouldn't mind the company. So uh, yeah... Bye?"
He waited a moment on the other side of the door, hoping for a miracle that she would open it, but he knew better. She didn't respond. He didn't expect her to either. She probably didn't even hear him talk back. He tried not to take it personally as he walked away back to his boring games.
He woke on the couch with drool dripping onto the leather cushion. Oops. He didn't remember passing out, but does anyone really remember the moment they fell asleep?
He raised his head and cleaned his face quickly as he searched for anyone nearby who could have seen that embarrassing moment.
Not a soul. He was alone. Again. Maybe he should have listened to Robin when he suggested everyone take a few days to themselves. He could have visited the Doom Patrol, seen Rita for a little while, and relaxed with Cliff and Larry. But that part of him, the part that didn't want to be alone, didn't want Raven to be alone either. So, he stayed just in case she wanted to be around someone. Oh well, he already dug his grave.
He checked his communicator that was peeking out from the cracks of the cushions. He had slept through the night and had a new message.
"I shall be back by the third hour after the noon," sent by Starfire.
That would be a little over five hours from now.
Deciding to at least salvage the morning he mostly slept through, he meandered to the kitchen to make himself breakfast. As he threw away the packaging of his microwaveable food, he noticed the remains of where Raven had already been awake and serviced herself. She could have woken him.
But why would she reach out to him?
With a vegan breakfast sandwich in hand, he sat back on the couch again. Now, he scrolled through the tv channels. Mindlessly, he filtered out things that sounded boring, or he had already seen a thousand times. Then he saw it. Hamlet was about to play at the top of the hour a few minutes from now. The perfect amount of time to convince Raven to join him for it. She would love it. After all, didn't she read 'Shookspear' all the time?
He finished his breakfast and raced to grab another bag of candies.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
The door slid open, and there she stood. Her obsidian-purple hair was perfectly smoothed down as it reached her shoulders, with not a hair or frizz out of place. Her face was ever so passive as she stood quiet. One could mistake her for a beautiful art piece.
"Movie?" He asked hopefully.
She shut the door.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
A glare had already formed, and her lips were already frowning as she opened the door.
"Hamlet? Two minutes before it starts. Grab your blanket, and let's go."
"Not interested."
He sighed as the door closed once again.
"It always comes to this," He sighed as he brought the candies out.
Knock. Knock. Knoc-
Her hair was askew as if she just ran a hand through it.
"Look, I got your favorite as usual. Let's do it- "
"What do you not understand about me not wanting to watch a movie? I didn't want to be bothered at all for this weekend, and yet you keep knocking. Are you daft? Does a shut door mean nothing?"
"I just wanted to hang…."
"Well, I don't!"
"You never do," he threw his hands into the air before letting them smack into his thigh.
"Take. The. Hint."
"But, you always come around."
"Not today."
"It doesn't have to be Hamlet. I am sure we could find something else," he stepped closer and tried to reason. "I mean, the TV has a zillion options. We could find something."
"You don't understand, do you?" She snarled, and he felt his throat clench and stepped back. He really disliked when she got like this without reason. "I don't want to 'hang.' I don't want to watch a movie or even a show. I don't want my brain turning to mush like yours!"
"Hey, my brain isn't-"
"I am trying to refocus myself so that I can be ready for any trouble this week. Something that may seem foreign to you."
"Hey! I'm always ready for trouble."
"Really?" She deadpanned, crossing her arms, and tilted her head.
"Yeah! Say what you want, but when it comes to it, I am always ready to go."
"You are always half asleep and end up getting hurt. Then, I am forced to heal you afterward because you are too lazy and a slouch of a hero to be ready."
Ow. He wasn't a slouch of a hero…
"I'll have you know," he growled. "I get hurt because I," he jerked his thumb into his chest as he stepped to her, "am jumping first into the fight to deal with the baddie while you and Robin devise how to stop them. I am always ready."
"Oh really? Then are you ready for this?"
He watched in slow motion as her eyes flared white and her powers activated. A portal below his feet opened up, and he felt himself falling through it, arms flailing, trying to grasp anything to stop him from going all the way through.
His feet hit the ground, and he felt his legs buckle as a shot of pain lanced through his body. His face proceeded to follow the pull of gravity, and he smacked into the wet sand of the Tower's beach, just near the rocks where Raven once comforted him after Terra.
"Ouch," He monotoned, unmoving as the water licked the tips of his hair as the tide pushed and pulled.
Why did she always have to be like this? Why did she always have to hurt him, physically and emotionally?
He forced himself to sit up and out of the tide, ignoring the glancing pains in his legs. He would need to get them checked once he got back inside. He would have to grab a bag of ice or some Tylenol from the med bay, at least. No point bothering Raven. She'd probably try to snap his legs with the mood she was in.
Raven…
They sometimes got along in their own ways. Lately, though, she always seemed to be rude more often than not. It was becoming taxing, to say the least, trying to include her in everything. She always wanted to lash out at him whenever he tried to make her feel happy or included.
What was the point?
He sat there a little longer, resting his head on the jutting outcrops of rocks. It wasn't comfortable, but it didn't include him being thrown through portals mid-conversation. He sighed, sinking into the noise and small comfort of the beach.
Before he knew it, someone spoke to him as they poked his cheek.
"Oh, sleepy head, wakey-wakey," Starfire sing-songed. "Beastie boy."
"Hmmm?" He moaned as he opened his eyes to the glaring light that stabbed his eyes from around the silhouette of his teammate. She was bent over before him, her hair nearly touching the ground, unlike her feet. "Oh, hey, Star. You're back."
"What are you doing out here?" Starfire asked, confused as she hovered above the ground. She must be in a good mood, but when was she not?
"Oh, you know, just catching some sunlight," he lied, trying his best to force a natural smile.
"I see," she started, pondering as she tapped a finger to her lips. "Perhaps, you'd like to join me in the mornings when I, too, catch the sunlight."
"Yeah, yeah, sure," he responded good-naturedly, trying to move along the conversation, not realizing what he agreed to as he adjusted himself on the ground to get ready to stand. However, as he made to get up, he moaned in discomfort and pain from the weight of his body on his legs.
He shouldn't have hurt himself that much….
"Are you okay? Are you hurt, friend?"
"I'm fine, Star. Just fell out of a tree," he lied. "No need to sweat it. I'll be fine tomorrow."
She paused and looked around. They both knew there were no trees nearby before she looked at him again with a slight squint in her eyes. Busted…
"Then let us depart to see Raven. She can-"
"NO!" He lunged at his teammate, keeping her from floating off to find Raven. "That isn't necessary. I can go to the med bay for a few minutes and treat myself."
Star only lowered herself closer to his height as she studied his face. Her completely green eyes peered into his soul.
"I thought it smelled weird to you?"
"It'll be fine."
"I shall carry you then," she offered.
"Come on, Star. I'm not that bad," he tried as he took a step and winced. He honestly wanted to hide it from her, but before he knew it, she scooped him up into her arms like he was a bride. Heat blazed on his cheeks and neck as he struggled to hide his blush. His poor attempts to break free from her iron-tight grasp only led him to blush more as she smiled down at him.
Stupid alien physique. Why did she have to be super strong?
He met her gaze and realized he wouldn't break free no matter how hard the struggle. Her cheshire smile only served to tease him. With one last adjustment, he settled into her arms, leaning his head onto her shoulder near her heart.
"We shall depart for the med bay at once, you silly goose bird."
"It's just silly goose. You don't add the bird to it."
"Of course, silly goose," she responded without missing a beat.
As they rode the elevator, he realized he didn't mind being carried. It felt nice having someone blatantly care for him instead of hurting him. Starfire, meanwhile, was humming along with the elevator music swaying slightly as she floated as always.
"Are you sure you do not want to see Raven?" She asked once again as they passed by the housing level.
"Yeah, it's no biggie. I need some ice and some pills for the swelling from the med bay. I'll be good to go by tomorrow."
"Okay."
The doors proceeded to open on the medical floor. As the name suggested, it was a floor designated to being a condensed hospital. Although, with Raven, it hardly got properly used. Cyborg used it mainly to store medical equipment and medication, just in case. Beast Boy hated it, however. He hated all hospitals; they burned his nose with the foul odors of cleaning supplies. Plus, having a turbulent history of being in the hospital never helped.
Starfire noticed his discomfort, as anyone would just by seeing his scrunched nose, and she brought him closer to her chest to the point he really was just being cradled almost like a baby. He totally didn't try to focus on her strawberry shampoo or anything. The two floated further into the room closer to the cabinets when out from the shadows emerged Raven with her hood up.
"There you are," She mumbled before seeing the situation before her. "Star, you're back."
"Yes! I had the most splendid time while I was away, Friend Raven. Perhaps after I help Friend Beast Boy, we can have a 'Girls' Talk' about it?"
Raven did not respond right away as she looked over the cradled changling, "What is wrong with Beast Boy?"
"He somehow fell from a tree on the treeless beach," Starfire forced a giggle.
"Oh…" Raven approached them, "I can heal him, then."
Starfire casually pulled him away from the sorceress, "He said it was no biggie. He can handle it."
"Then why are you carrying him?"
"Because the silly goose was too hurt to walk."
"If that is the case, are you sure you don't want me just to heal it?" Raven asked Beast Boy.
"Y-yeah," He stumbled. "I am sure. I wouldn't want to bother you anyways."
He could see her flinch from beneath her hood ever so lightly, "It wouldn't be a bother."
"It's fine," he doubled down. "Onwards, Star."
"Wee!" Star cheered as she flew forward and closed the distance to the pills cabinet, leaving Raven to stand there and watch as Beast Boy turned from her aide—a thing he never did before.
Raven silently melted back into the shadows stealing one last glance at her friends before returning to her room.
"Hey, Star?" Beast Boy spoke up.
"Yes, friend?"
"Would you like to watch a movie or something? I've been incredibly bored and alone."
"Oh! Can we watch one with the Brendan of Fraser?"
"Him? Absolutely. I know, just the one. It's about this mummy that comes back from the dead."
"Should we invite friend Raven, too?"
He hesitated for a single moment, his mind circling back to their conversation earlier in the day, "Nah, she wouldn't want to anyways."
"Are you sure?"
"There was a reason I was outside."
"I thought so…" she frowned before instantly smiling wide. "Well, shall I carry you there too?"
"I mean, you don't have to."
"I do not mind," Starfire professed, meeting his gaze, and Beast Boy knew that to be true. She really just was happy to help. The alien was really just the happiest being on the planet that he had ever known.
"Then let's go, my Warrior Princess! We have a mummy to watch die!"
"Wee!"
Beast Boy couldn't stop the smile that formed on his face as he tucked himself into her grasp as she took off.
AN: First story! A short one with small chapters. Just trying to get used to doing all of this as I work on larger projects.
For this story, I want to preface that this won't be a story about BBRae, but rather a take at separating them and their friendship and exploring the dynamics of their friendship by looking at its emptiness when they have a fallout.
I hope this works out as well as it does on my roadmap, so here is to executing it and learning along the way.
Also, join the Emerald Library on Discord to talk to and explore a server full of FF writers from all sorts of fandoms. You can always reach out to me there. My handle is the same on FF and Discord; just find me on the server roster.
-Manke