Reaching for her Hand

A Beast Boy and Raven love story

(*)

Chapter 1:

Harmless Expectations

(*)

Everyone in Titan's Tower was now fast asleep. Beast Boy laid sprawled out on his top bunk of his bed in the midst of his messy room. Cyborg was asleep while the machines around him hummed with life. Robin had put down the local crime reports long enough to fall asleep with his face on his desk. Starfire dreamt happily of her home planet Tamaran in her bedroom oozing with pink and purple. Even Raven had fallen asleep in her dark room.

Correction: she had awakened with a start. Something had moved in her room. Not a mouse or something like that. Something big.

"Who's there?" she called out, summoning her cloak and placing in on her shoulders.

It moved again.

"I'm warning you. You have no idea who you are dealing with." Black masses of energy surrounded her fists.

Silence.

And more silence.

Two minutes passed while Raven searched her room, her violet eyes darting back and forth.

She backed up slowly to her bed, not letting her guard down. After she finally gave up, she took her cloak off and slid into her bed. A few moments passed, and the empath fell asleep.

Meanwhile, in the corner of her room, a chest shook for the fourth time. This time, it quietly opened. There lay a book, which not only contained words. A slight red glow came from the book. Silently, the silhouette of a man formed. This shadow ever so carefully made its way towards the sleeping heroine.

A slight smile came onto the shadows face.

"My sweet Raven, I know exactly who I am dealing with."

(*)

The rest of the Titans files into the main leader and plopped down on the couch, looking up at their leader. Beast Boy and Cyborg were still glaring at Robin and Raven. They had been in the middle of a head to head game when Robin instructed Raven to use her powers to pull the plug on their game. This made them furious.

Starfire spoke up.

"Friend Robin, I ask you, is something 'the matter'?"

"Titans, as you know, today is the first day of spring…" Robin started. Raven rolled her eyes. This was going to be one of those meaningless and stupid conversations about what was expected of them this season.

The alien girl spoke again.

"Please, this 'spring' you talk of, it is the time of Earth's 365 rotations in which humans grow winded metal cords on their bodies, yes?"

Everyone laughed. Even Raven's lips curved into a small smile. Starfire looked confused.

"No, Star. It's when plants, trees, grass, and stuff like that start growing again. It also gets hotter," Robin said, correcting his girlfriend for the thousandth time. He didn't mind though.

"It's also a time for cleaning."

Beast Boy stood up and flailed his arms around in protest. "DUDE! WE'RE A BUNCH OF CRIME FIGHTING TEENAGERS! Now you want us to clean the tower, too?" His face turned red from yelling.

"There is something good in this too. After we clean out all of our old stuff, we can donate it to that charity that sponsors that big dance that everyone liked so much last year," he paused and looked around to his teammates, seeing if that had changed the impact. "I'm sure they'd invite us back…"

"Everyone?" Raven asked in her monotone.

"Well, everyone minus Raven." Cyborg corrected.

Robin sighed. "Nobody likes cleaning. But it's necessary. Today, everyone is to clean out their own rooms, putting aside everything that you don't need or want anymore. Once you're done with your own room, please report to Beast Boy's room. He's going to need the most help." He snickered.

"Yeah, I… HEY!" the changeling yelled. Another round of laughter filled the room. Raven actually laughed along.

"Well, the sooner we start, the sooner we finish."