Disclaimer: The Teen Titans animation is the property of Glen Murakami and Warner Bros. Animation. Any thinly veiled reference to Teen Titans Go! is completely on purpose.
The rapid thumping of the buttons had a weird eerie calm to them.
"Holy crap! That was too close!"
The constant nitpicking was grating, however.
"Dodge left! Dodge right!"
But also a little soothing.
"Get the power-up!"
It let her know that she wasn't completely alone.
"Booooost!"
...But did it have to be him of all people?
"Beast Boy, I'm trying to read here."
"You know, you could go back up to your room if I'm being too loud for you," he said with a wry smile.
"Can't. It's too dark."
CRASH!
The car that Beast Boy had been driving on the screen was now in a ditch and on fire. But he didn't care about that at this point in time.
"Wait a minute. The all-mighty Raven is complaining that it's too dark in her room?"
"I know, right?" Raven said monotonously, turning a page in her book. "But you guys short-circuited the wiring to my room when you decided to play Stankball next to the power supply. Cyborg can't fix it until tomorrow."
"Why can't he fix it today?"
"Because I shoved him into said power supply after my lights went out. And if you don't want to join him," Raven added as she looked over her book at Beast Boy," I suggest you not burst my eardrums with your yelling."
"Why can't you just open your curtains?"
Raven narrowed her eyes in his direction.
"Right." Beast Boy turned his attention back toward the game. "I forgot who I was talking to. Why not the roof?"
"Too windy."
"The garage?"
"Too grimey."
"The bathroom?"
"Are you trying to get me to leave?"
"No, nonono!" Beast Boy waved his arms fanatically. "I'm just...you usually don't come out of your room that often."
"I can go back to my room if you wish." Raven sat up to make for the doorway, but Beast Boy's hand grabbed her arm before she got very far.
"No, that's fine. I'm done with gaming for now anyway." He leapt over the back of the couch. "I'm gonna grab a drink. You want anything?"
"I have my herbal tea here," Raven replied, nodding to her cup. "But thank you anyway."
As Beast Boy made his way to the kitchen, the spell caster returned to her book. Usually, the travels and adventures of Avolza the Wise were enough to withstand anything Beast Boy was able to throw at her, but something seemed off. Not in a bad way, of course. She would take this Beast Boy over the one that trashed the power supply any day of the week.
The couch's weight shifted as Beast Boy made his return, armed with a soda and a notebook. He pulled a pencil out of his pocket and began to jot some things down. Raven glanced over at him, her eyes falling on his notebook.
His very familiar notebook...
"I'm surprised you haven't gotten tired of writing yet."
"I know, right?" Beast Boy retorted, in the same vein Raven had earlier. "It's like it was made for someone with my level of intelligence."
"So...no intelligence?"
He ignored her comment as he turned to a blank page. "Just to let you know, I've put some of my stories online and they've been very well received."
"If you say so."
"You didn't like the one where Robin got turned into a bird?"
"That one was stupid."
"Remember when Cyborg and I spent an entire weekend doing nothing and I wrote a story about that?"
"That one was stupider."
"What about the one with Silkie?"
Raven paused, looking up from her book. "OK, that one was sort of funny, if only because Starfire almost killed you for actually losing Silkie."
"Hey, how was I suppose to know he would jump into the delivery guy's car? We got him back in the end."
"I don't think she's going to let you order Mexican food anymore."
Beast Boy shrugged and went back to his notebook. Raven, done with her literary trip down memory lane, tried to find her spot again, but was unsuccessful. She kept thinking back to those dumb stories her teammate had written.
Well, not all of them were dumb. Some had been legitimately clever, and all had been well written. She had to give Beast Boy credit; he had actually found a talent beside annoying the ever loving-
"Hey, Raven."
She lost her train of thought again. "Yeah?" she said.
"Can I ask you a question?"
"Only if it's six words or less."
He paused, probably to make sure his query was indeed within the allotted number of words.
"Why do you wear a cloak?"
Raven looked up again, raising an eyebrow. "Why do you ask?"
"I'm just curious."
"No, you're never just curious. Spill."
Beast Boy began to wave his pencil around dramatically. "You know how we all have our own costumes."
"Well spotted."
"Robin has his costume because of Batman. Cyborg's got his metal because he's a super awesome crime-fighting justice robot. Star has her uniform partly from her planet and partly from being a prisoner of the Gungaloonians..."
"Gordanians."
"Them too," Beast Boy waved the correction off. "Mine is from being part of the Doom Patrol. Yours is just..."
She raised an eyebrow at him. "Just what?"
"...Mysterious."
"It's really not."
"I'm listening."
Raven sighed as she set her book down. "You really want to know?"
"Mmhmm."
She crossed her legs and huffed. "My 'costume' is a standard Azarathian spellcaster regalia. The freeform cloak gives enough space for me to concentrate on my magic-"
She stopped when she saw Beast Boy's face looking down at her legs. He was drumming his pencil with a weird look in his eyes.
"Are you even paying attention?"
"What?" Beast Boy shook his head, as if to get the cobwebs out of his skull. "Yeah, I was listening. Regularity and three forms and all that."
"I'm leaving." Raven slammed her book shut and made her way toward the door again.
"Waitwaitwaitwait!" Beast Boy vaulted over the couch, blocking her progress. "You can't leave!"
"And why, in your infinite wisdom, should I not?"
"Because." Raven tilted her head to see a large piece of fabric held behind his back.
"I have your cloak."
"How-" The spellcaster brought her hand up to her neck, and sure enough, her clasp was not there.
"Don't worry about it; I'm not going to do anything to your cloak." The green-skinned teen threw it around his neck. "I just want to get into your mind for a bit."
"I'm going to put a stop sign into your mind if you don't give it back."
He ignored her as he modeled the cloak, walking around for a bit before shrugging. "Meh, I'm not feeling it. Too dark for me."
Raven tapped her foot impatiently. "Are you done yet?"
"Yup!"
She snatched the cloak back from him, fastening the clasp on the hood. "Now, if you don't mind-"
"Hold on a sec."
She froze. "What is it now?"
"Just...humor me for a second." Beast Boy walked around his teammate, pulling the cloak back over her shoulders.
"The last time I tried to humor you, I ended up dressed in a hot dog costume."
"And everybody was thankful for that." He brushed her shoulders and stood back to admire his handiwork. "There, all done."
Raven cast a glance around herself. "Beast Boy, you haven't done anything. I'm just wearing my cloak on my back."
"Well, you look better without your cloak covering you!" he almost yelled. "You look like a shower curtain otherwise."
"Why do you even care how I wear my stuff?" Raven grabbed the hem of her hood and began to bring it over her head...
Only to be stopped by Beast Boy, who had her wrist in his hand.
"You definitely shouldn't wear the hood."
OK, now things were getting strange. His tone had gotten softer, more intimate. Nothing like a few seconds ago. Her next words would have to be more careful.
"And why in the world should I not?"
Beast Boy took a deep breath, and Raven, being an empath, could feel the nervousness radiating off of him.
"Because you look better that way."
And there was the kicker.
"You shouldn't have to hide yourself, Raven. None of the rest of us do that," he continued. He snickered slightly. "Well, except for Robin wearing a mask, and I have this green skin deal going on, but other than that, you have no excuse. You can't keep yourself wrapped in a mystery forever. You're..."
Raven was pretty sure her face was emanating heat like nobody's business, but she found herself unable to do anything about it.
"You're a beautiful person, Raven. Don't hide it from everyone."
BAM!
Raven would have loved to spend some time thinking about the fact that Beast Boy had given her the best compliment she had ever received in her life. We say "would", because at that moment, in a single second of lost control, her emotions had managed to make the sofa fly through the air and land directly on Beast Boy.
"Aaah!"
The couch landed with a dull thud. Raven stood stone-faced in front of it, her face now a lovely shade of red. For a moment, there was just silence.
"I'm OK!"
Beast Boy's declaration of not being crushed to death shook Raven out of her funk. Slowly, she grabbed the book off of the floor and floated toward the door.
"I'm going up to my room."
"Hold on!"
She turned to see a tiny mole dig out from beneath the sofa and turn back into human form. "I thought you said it was too dark up there. How are you going to read your book?"
Raven twisted back to the door, glad that Beast Boy couldn't see her face.
"I guess that's one mystery we're not going to solve."
AUTHOR'S NOTE: You know, one of these days, Raven's going to blow up all of the furniture in the house, and Ikea's going to have a field day with the Teen Titans.
A long time ago, when I made Imagination, one of my reviewers gave me the suggestion to continue this TT/TTG! mini-crossover. At the time I didn't have any intention to do so, since I had so many other things I had wanted to do. Now, with me reevaluating some of my other things, this came back into the forefront.
It also didn't hurt the fact that TTG! is still going strong. And is still quite a hilarious show.
With this fic and the Phineas & Ferb one I uploaded last night, I've done 200% more stuff than over the previous year. I wish I could say this as an accomplishment, but I've only done one chapter in the past...14 months? It's not a good thing to say. Hopefully I can get myself back into the swing of things.
Read and review, if you like. Until next time, people.