Me: At the age of seventeen, I, ZehHyperactiveAuthor, four years running fan fiction writer, have discovered Teen Titans. It. Rocks.

For all those who don't know me, I came up this in the middle of the night and I had, had, to write it down. I had fun.

For all those who do know me, no, my other stories aren't dead. I'm just having trouble writing them with Teen Titans characters running circles in my brain. Give it awhile. I promise I'll get back to them.

Disclaimer: If I owned Teen Titans, there would be twice as many moments between Beast Boy and Raven, and Starfire would be a liiiiitle more forceful with Robin.

Enjoy!

Prologue

Raven honestly didn't know what to make of him. He was too random, too complicated. One moment, he was completely irritating, and the next…It was like he'd become a different person.

Beast Boy hadn't always been so confusing. At first, his personality was pretty straightforward. He was a jokester, an immature prankster who never knew when to stop talking and was only funny when he wasn't trying to be. He was whiny and childish and irritating.

And then they grew up.

It had been hard to see, at first. She'd almost missed it. It'd seemed like the green nuisance would never change. He was still obsessed with video games, pranking, and tofu. He still told jokes and watched stupid movies. He still didn't know when to shut up.

However, somewhere amidst the chaos, he had started to mature. She supposed it'd been happening in little ways since they met, but she never really took notice until the incident with Malchiore.

That had really been a wake-up call for her. Apologizing, checking up on her, noticing that something was wrong…Those just weren't things that Beast Boy did. And after she was betrayed, when all the others thought it best to give her space, Beast Boy was the one to comfort her, refusing to let her stay locked in her room, telling her she wasn't alone.

She'd really started to pay attention after that. In the days that followed, he'd quickly reverted to his normal, idiotic ways, and she wondered if she might've imagined it. And then, he'd snapped, and that beast…

After that, she began to see it everywhere. First there was the incident with Trigon, then his old patrol…Suddenly, he wasn't a child anymore. He was a young adult who seemed to know what he was doing…most of the time.

His biggest display of maturity was at the final battle against the Brotherhood of Evil. Not only did he thwart the Brotherhood's attempts to capture him, he actually led, led the scattered Titans into battle. He gave orders, listened to advice, and gave everyone hope when everything seemed hopeless, only relenting when Robin regained command.

Somewhere amidst the insanity and chaos, with all that they'd been through together, she started to grudgingly respect him.

Then the nightmares began.

And suddenly…Everything changed.

XXxxXXxxXX Chapter 1 XXxxXXxxXX

No matter what she told you, no matter how much she tried to deny it, Raven was never really the same after the incident with Trigon.

She'd thought that after he'd been defeated, after she no longer had that prophecy of destruction hanging over her, she would finally be at peace. She was wrong. The crumbling city, the fire, the emptiness, the cries of her friends, they forever burned in the back of her mind. It had all been destroyed, everything was gone, and it was all her fault.

She had never wanted to die more than on that day. Her whole life, those she loved had foretold how she would bring the destruction of the cosmos, and there was nothing she could do to stop it. Watching it happen, causing it, had torn a hole deep inside her. The prophecy haunted her every waking step, even after it had been fulfilled.

It was only logical she'd have bad dreams.

From the day her father destroyed everything, the day she lost hope, the day her friends were forced to fight the darkest parts of themselves, from that day onward she had nightmares. Flashbacks, visions, horrors, the very darkness within her haunted her dreams. Everything that meant pain to her returned every time she closed her eyes. She began to dread sleeping, usually only lasting half the night before giving up completely.

Because of her normal, emotionless state, Raven didn't have much trouble hiding her discontent. At night, when her friends were asleep, she would fight her own, internal 'demons'. By day, everything was fine. She was Raven, completely normal, irritable, sarcastic, and serious.

However, little by little, her small secret started to create a rift between her and the other teammates. It was barely noticeable at first, progressing so slowly, but it gradually grew wider and wider. At first, she'd been alarmed, scared even to see her friends slipping away from her. Now, however, the distance simply made her feel safe, as it once had. She instinctually reverted into her shell, retracting to protect herself, to protect those around her, as she'd been raised to do. She was meant for being alone; it was easier for everyone.

No one knew, no one ever suspected the distance she'd created. She preferred it that way. The empath was tired of being pitied, of being a child that needed protecting. She could handle it. She would. And nobody would be the wiser. Or…so she thought.

Beast Boy noticed immediately. At first, he'd played it off as aftershock. She'd just experienced something horrific; she had every right to be a little more tense than usual, a little edgier. He let her slip away; she needed space. He told himself to not bother her for once, figuring this was something she would eventually get over.

Big mistake.

At first, she'd seemed to just be putting a bit of distance between herself and her teammates, but then he blinked, and suddenly, she was far away, unreachable, simply existing in the same building as them, barely acknowledging their presence.

He found himself wishing she would get angry with him; anything was better than the empty stares they'd all been growing accustomed to. He began to pester her, constantly, trying to get a spark of recognition from her. Instead of getting riled up, like she was supposed to, she'd just brush him off like a fly, emotionlessly dismissing his attempts at including her.

It actually frightened him. They'd all been through so much, and now here she was, slowly shutting down. He blamed himself. He should've said something. He was the one who noticed; it was his responsibility. The one time he'd decided to give her space was the one time she didn't need it.

After a year, he couldn't take it anymore. The changeling felt like they were losing her, and if he didn't do something, she'd slip away completely and he'd never get her back.

So, after a year of keeping his mouth shut, he finally said something.

"Raven?"

Raven jerked slightly, startled, her tea sloshing in its mug. Beast Boy? What was…? Confused, she glanced at the kitchen clock. 2:00 AM. For a moment, she kept staring at it, wondering if it was broken. No…it was really two in the morning. What was Beast Boy doing up at two in the morning?

"Uh…Hellooo? Earth to Raven!"

She jerked back again at the pair of fingers snapping in front of her face, then turned to glare at him. Great…All she'd wanted was to sip her soothing tea and calm herself down. The last thing she needed right now was the little green irritant pestering her. She was jumpy enough as it was. Besides, after just managing to escape the horrors her most recent nightmare, she wasn't quite ready to face anyone yet.

"What?" she grumbled, annoyed.

The changeling was wearing a peculiar expression. He bit his lip, eyes narrowed slightly, looking uncharacteristically serious. "…What're you doing up so early?"

For a second, she blanked, forgetting her prepared response to a question like this. Then, she remembered wasn't supposed to respond. "I could say the same about you," she pointed out irritably. "What on earth could possible posses you to be awake at this ungodly hour?" Turn the question around. Make it about them. The hostility came naturally to her.

For a moment, Beast Boy stared at her, the corners of his mouth tilted in the smallest of frowns. The look he gave made her suddenly uncomfortable, like he could see something she couldn't. Then, he grinned, holding up a wireless controller. "Dude, I just totally beat fifteen levels on Mega Monkeys 5! I swear, these things are getting easier! The boss only took me, like, five minutes!"

She rolled her eyes. Of course. Videogames. He probably hadn't even gone to sleep yet.

…

Which meant he'd been here the whole time. She peered at him inquisitively, suspicious, but if he'd seen her come in trembling and gasping, trying to pull herself together, he didn't give any indication. He just grinned at her giddily, holding up the controller like a trophy.

She put her glare back in place. Okay, she was officially done talking. She needed to be alone again; she was already beginning to feel suffocated by the presence of another person. "You do realize we have somewhere to go tomorrow?" At his blank look, she sighed. "The meeting? In Gotham City?"

His eyes lit up. "Oh, that!" He shrugged. "Naw, it's no big deal. I'm part animal. I don't need much sleep."

Raven raised an eyebrow, tempted to ask why then he never woke up before ten.

He grinned at her, folding his arms and leaning against the kitchen counter. "So what's your excuse?"

For a moment, she blinked, suddenly realizing he'd completely brushed off her subtle hints to be left alone. But then, this was Beast Boy. Subtle hints never really worked on him.

Oh. Right. She'd been asked a question. She was awake too. She took a moment to close her eyes and calmly sip her tea, stalling, and never saw his worried frown. She could simply ignore him, but then he'd probably pester her until she either relented or hurt him, and she really didn't feel like throwing him through the ceiling right now. She sighed internally, mulling over her options before finally deciding on honesty.

Raven cracked an eye open. "Couldn't sleep." Almost honesty. Just enough honesty to satisfy him without giving anything away.

He frowned at her, apparently not satisfied, and that penetrating look returned, making her skin crawl. "Why not?"

The way he asked made it sound like he already knew the answer. Raven frowned, irked that he was digging into her carefully constructed shield. Couldn't he just drop it? Didn't he see she just wanted to be left alone? Again, she pushed for nonchalance, hoping to play it off as nothing. "Just a dream." She shrugged and sipped her tea, then though she might've said too much. There was only one reason a dream would keep you awake…She hoped he was too dense to notice her slip.

Beast Boy's eyes narrowed as he studied her, and she wondered briefly why she was getting so much attention from him. Sure, he'd been bugging her a lot lately, but now he was making a point to see how she was doing, and it unnerved her. She wasn't used to being in the spotlight; she hadn't for a very long time. Had he seen her come in? Was that why he was suddenly so suspicious?

After a moments more silence, Beast Boy's expression softened into something she couldn't quite place. "You know he's gone, right Rae?"

Everything stopped.

The words shattered the silence abruptly, dropping heavily around her. The breath caught in her throat as her shield was suddenly proven useless. She froze, unable to keep her eyes from widening in shock as his quiet question sunk in. What…?

"It's over," he continued, his posture full of finality. He took a step closer to her, trying to meet her eyes, to get her to understand. "We beat him. Disaster averted. End of story."

Raven couldn't speak, staring ahead with the tea to her lips. Was he talking about…? No. He couldn't be. He…He must be talking about someone else. Who did they defeat recently? She couldn't think of anything but petty criminals. Brother Blood had been their last big battle, and he knew she wouldn't be worried about them. And he certainly couldn't be talking about…

She blinked, the meaning behind his words suddenly registering. Each declaration he made slowly sunk into her skin. He was comforting her. Beast Boy was comforting her, or trying to. He must've seen her come in, wild-eyed and desperate. It was the only explanation. No matter how big the rift had grown, no one could see her like that and not try to help. Especially not Beast Boy. It was against his nature.

Cheeks hot with embarrassment, she whirled to glare at him, her natural shield easily sliding into place, trying to cover just how shaken she was. "What are you talking about?" The demand came out bitter, but there was fear behind her words.

He didn't respond to her hostility, only smiling slightly. "Like you don't know." He leaned forward, worry etched across his features as he studied her. "…You've been having nightmares? Dude…No wonder you're so tense."

She took a step back, feeling vulnerable and exposed under his gaze. He knew about the nightmares? She stared at him incomprehensively. Who was this strange, empathetic person and what did he do with Beast Boy? How was he reading her so well? It didn't make any sense!

"I'm…it…It's just a dream!"

"Yeah, and that's why you're totally freaking out right now."

She glared at him, desperate to defend herself, to withdraw. "What do you know?"

He calmly folded his arms and stared at her. "I know you haven't been the same since Trigon."

The room went completely silent. His gaze was challenging, daring her to retaliate, but she had no words. It had been a year since…Trigon. Did this mean he'd known she'd been off the whole year? Had he noticed the rift? Wait, wasn't this Beast Boy she was talking to?

Raven flinched at the name of her father, trying to find words. "I…I'm…" She sighed, realizing that if he already knew this much, then there really wasn't any point in pretending. "I'm working on it," she admitted quietly, afraid to meet his eyes. After an entire year of keeping to herself, talking of her emotions was leaving her reeling. Part of her mind was still in shock, trying to recover from having its shield so abruptly shattered.

She could feel his stare on her. After an eternity of silence, she gathered her courage and returned it, looking bolder than she felt. She could barely remember the last time she'd felt so nervous. How had this person managed to break her so completely?

Beast Boy was looking at her with a soft, near affectionate smile.

Raven had no idea how to deal with that. So, she attempted to reassemble the shattered remnants of her shield with a vicious glare.

His smile wavered slightly as he seemed to wince. "…Anything I can do to…uh…help?"

She scowled at him. "You can quit bothering me."

The changeling flinched again, but nodded quietly, and she knew he'd leave her alone for the time being. That was good, because she really needed to think.

The empath just couldn't come to terms with the fact that, out of all of her teammates, it had been Beast Boy who'd noticed the differences in her. Even Robin, with his superior powers of deduction hadn't suspected a thing.

As bewildered as the notion made her, she couldn't help but recall a previous experience, one over a year ago, that held surprising similarities. Hadn't Beast Boy been the one to comfort her when Malchiore had used her? She could still picture him, nervously scratching the back of his head, admitting sheepishly that he kinda maybe had been spying on her, just to make sure she was okay. He hadn't trusted Malchiore from the start.

And for that matter, wasn't Beast Boy the one who gave her hope, on the darkest day of her life?

The cool penny pressed into her hands, and she felt him curl her fingers around it, clasping her hand with his own. He'd given her a confident and completely innocent smile. "For luck," he'd said, and had left her standing there with the warmth of his hands lingering on hers.

It was actually interesting, now that she thought about it. He'd always made a point to look out for her, hadn't he? Well, if that's the case, her mind thought, unbidden, Then where has he been in the last year? She was surprised at the bitterness in that question, but if she was honest with herself, a part of her had been hurt that he'd seemed to have forgotten her…

"Uh…Raven?"

Oh, right. He was still here. She frowned at him, still a little peeved he'd read her so easily. Yes, that was it. She wasn't hurt at all. Just irritated.

The teen squirmed under her scowl, seeming nervous for some reason. Oh, what did he want now? Hadn't he done enough, hadn't she done enough to satisfy his stupid concerns for the time being? When he bit his lip, though, she couldn't help but relent somewhat. Since when did that little fang become so endearing?

"Listen, uh…," he stuttered, shifting his weight from foot to foot. "I know this totally isn't my thing, but…um…" He bit his lip again, staring at her.

Raven, meanwhile, was mentally thrashing herself for calling this action 'endearing'. Oh, Azar, what was wrong with her? She narrowed her eyes, more annoyed at herself then him. "What?" she urged. It came out harsher than she intended and he flinched slightly. She sighed. One moment, he was the bravest person she knew, but the next he could be an outright pansy. "What is it?" she asked again, more gently this time.

A second's more hesitation passed, then his eyes narrowed in resolve. "Look, I know I'm probably the last person you'd want to tell anything, but…" He leaned forward against the counter, willing her to see the sincerity in his expression. "If you ever need to…talk…or whatever…You know I'll always be there to listen…right?"

Well…That was completely unexpected. Words entirely deserted her. All she could do was nod quietly, and do her best to stuff the proposition in 'mull over later'.

In a flash, his grin returned. "Awesome. Uh…Yeah so…" He held up the remote, nearly forgotten on the counter. "Um…Glad I got that out of the way. I was really, uh…worried and…Yeah." He laughed nervously, scratching behind his head, and quietly slinked back to the couch to push play.

The hectic sound of gaming filled the air, breaking the empty silence and interrupting the chaos of Raven's thoughts. She subconsciously walked back to her room, still in a daze from the entire night's events.

What just happened?

XXXxxxXXXxxxXXX

The next day, the two carried on like it was nothing. Stupid jokes, sarcastic remarks, business as usual. Nevertheless, every now and then, she'd catch him frowning at her, contemplating something. Like it still wasn't resolved.

That unnerved her, it really did. Because if there was one thing she knew about Beast Boy…

He never left things unresolved.

Me: *demented giggle* *rubs hands together* This is going to be fun….

Truth is, I watched (nearly) every episode, and I had pretty much the same thoughts Raven did in the prologue. Sure, he's an idiot, but sometimes he's just randomly wise.

Also, in The Beast Within, I find it…interesting that Raven was the only one Beast Boy's 'beast' form didn't attack. In fact, he was trying to protect her. Yeah, just thought I'd put that out there. ;)

Hey, Readers! See that shiiiiiiiiiiny blue button down there? Poke it!

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