Blackberry Tea

Anise and Chamomile

"Just how I like it," she sighed contentedly.

As she drank she looked around her recently changed room. After the whole end of the world dilemma with her father Raven had decided maybe it wasn't the best idea to keep all of the creepy stuff she kept just in case directly within her line of sight. She wanted to turn a new leaf now that she had this second chance and for that reason most of her magical oddities now sat in her closet on a bookshelf she had crammed in since she didn't normally use her closet for clothing storage. The dresser by the door sufficed. She mostly only wore her uniform and the odd oversized dark shirt to sleep in occasionally. Either way it gave the closet actual utility. She found she actually wanted to use the things she had more when they weren't peering at her menacingly even in her downtime. Aside from that her other bookshelves were still packed with all the books she loved and even some she didn't. There were even some comics she had swiped from Beast Boy eons ago sitting cheekily on the top shelf. He had never asked for them back and to be honest she didn't remember she even had them anymore. Nonetheless, there they sat.

The only other piece of furniture in the room aside from the dresser, shelves and the desk to her back was the large bed in the center of the room's back wall. The bed brought the largest change in dynamic to the room. While mostly all of the furniture in the room was dark to match the floor and walls, the bed shone out like the pale moon on a dark night. The comforter was pure white as well as the squished pillows. It represented the biggest change in Raven recently. She wanted to be more than just the reclusive mysterious titan, too unstable to control her emotions and open up to those closest to her. She wanted to become someone who was in control and could handle all the emotions that came from having real friends, real family. The change in color seemed obvious to her. Afterall, it was the same color as her cloak whenever she was able to achieve true balance within herself. It didn't change the fact that her favorite color was still dark blue and that she still wanted to surround herself with those cool comforting colors she knew and loved for so many years but she also wanted that constant reminder whenever she woke up and before she went to bed that she could enjoy life if she just tried to maintain emotional structure.

The bed had also subconsciously become a reminder to be grateful that she got to wake up everyday to her team. She really didn't know what she would do without them. She would be nothing without Robin's guidance, Starfire's optimism, Cyborg's comforting nature, and Beast Boy's well... his.

"His persistence? His humor, his good heart, she pondered. He really defies categorization. He's the absolute most annoying being to have ever existed but he's so full of goodwill. Sometimes he's funny. Sometimes... He always makes me feel like I'm part of the group. Maybe even if I rather not be included."

She thought back to that hot dog/ tofu dog eating contest he had tried to rope her into. She also remembered blasting him into the ocean when he got really persistent. She smiled. He had flown back as a half drowned hawk and had gotten Cyborg drenched when he shook himself to get the water out of his feathers. Raven had opted to sit as far as humanly possible from the two dripping boy's without having to exit the room and watched disinterestedly as they exchanged meaningless insults. After a generic squabble between the "grass stain" and "metal butt" they ended up laughing and going over to the kitchen to begin the competition anyway but Beast Boy had offered her a shy smile before exiting the common area and she accepted his apology with a nod of her head and the smallest twitch at the corners of her lips. It had been nearly impossible to catch but he had noticed and she could tell with the swell of satisfaction she felt from his emotions.

"At least I always know everyday will have him there to annoy me."

A few years ago that realization would have made her ill but she couldn't bring herself to dislike the thought anymore. She enjoyed his annoyances, even if they were still annoyances. Recently he had brought it upon himself to annoy her at least once a day. Sometimes twice if she had that extraordinary luck. She had begun looking forward to the daily interaction. He usually just came up to her to ask her some meaningless question or tell her a very bad joke but sometimes he would actually get a good conversation out of her and she had had to stop herself more than once from getting too enthused with the direction of conversation with the most unlikely person. She was hesitant to get really invested should it all turn into some confusing prank scheme of his but for now it was enjoyable.

She looked behind her at the photograph of the team and herself she kept on her desk. It was a picture the paparazzi had taken of them all in the corner booth of their favorite pizzeria. Robin had his arm hung around Starfire's shoulder as they both laughed heartily, Cyborg was rubbing his hands together staring hungrily at his personal all meats pizza, Raven was smirking; almost invisible hiding under her lifted hood and Beast Boy held up a book she had brought with her upside down while holding up a breadstick as if it were a spy scope that would allow him to better read the letters on the page. She really liked this photo. It was one of the few she had of her little family but she liked it the most out of all of their photos because they all looked happy there. This was one of the few dinners they had been able to have all together that wasn't interrupted by some scum with big dreams. Smiling drowsily Raven put her mug down on the desk, giving the image of her and Beast Boy smiling one last glance before turning towards her bed.

She changed into a black shirt near the foot of her bed and crawled under the heavy comforter, instantly feeling cozy and closer to sleep than ever. As her eyes floated closed she saw the white of her comforter: a reminder. Tomorrow she would keep her emotions in their place and try to chat with Beast Boy again. She wanted to show him at least some headway for all the work he had put in. She could already see his moronic smile behind her eyelids and thus she drifted off to sleep.

Wow. I literally spent a lot of hours in the wee morning to get this done. Finished just before 5 am. Once I started I had to finish so I hope you enjoyed this part. Any critiques are appreciated. I really want to make these characters feel like they are themselves so I hope it's coming across. I want them to be realistic so they don't jump each others bones right off the bat but I also want it to seem like them. I'm very tired of reading fanfics were they are immediately in love or realize it right away which isn't bad cause the two have been teammates for years and have had time to develop those emotions but I would really like to explore what the early foundations of that are instead of diving head first. okay yeah I hate reading authors notes too so buhbye