The next day Raven had hardly left her room or spoken. In fact the only time the titans actually saw either Beastboy or Raven was when they were completing their morning ‘routine’ of tea and relaxing. The tower had been quite quiet most of the day after that, mostly because Beastboy was nowhere to be found either, which they all found strange.
Raven knocked on the sliding metal door leading to the changeling’s room. He opened it and she went in. It was surprisingly still kept clean and she wondered if keeping his room clean was now a permanent change for him.
“Thanks.” he said walking over to the keyboard.
“For what?”
“For helping me” he clarified and she sat next to him hesitantly, hood still up. Her right arm and shoulder were touching his. He loved the feel of her, her touch always sent small shivers around his body.
“No problem” she said simply. He smiled softly and began to play. She loved his song, the melody, the memories and closed her eyes taking in each note. Half way through he caught a glance at her and saw that her hood was down and her eyes were closed. She was clearly in deep thought.
“So any words come to you yet?” he asked turning to face her. Her eyes began to slowly creep open but looked like she was in a daze. “Yo Rae, is everything ok?”
“Hmm?” she questioned still a bit stunned. “Sorry was lost in thought” she quickly added dryly. He sighed.
“So got any ideas?” he asked again.
“Not at the moment”
He began playing again. She listened more intently this time trying to focus on the task and not her past but it was incredibly difficult. Every so often he would look at her for any sign of pretty much anything but there was nothing. He hated how secluded she was but then again knew how she felt. It was almost ¾ way through and he saw a single tear slowly run down her cheek. He stopped playing and looked at her. She hadn’t noticed him stop and was still staring ahead into space. ‘Strange’ he thought to himself as he watched her. He had never really seen Raven show much emotion and he didn’t like that she was sad. Beastboy hated seeing any of his friends sad and it being her made a pain shoot through his chest. His instincts wanted to comfort her but a debate remained in his head. Slowly reaching over he wiped away the tear with his thumb. She quickly snapped out of it and stared at him plainly. Concerne shook him and she didn’t know why. Suddenly his hand left her cheek and it went cold, she reached up confused, tracing with her fingers where his had been a few seconds before and felt dampness. Realization hit her and she knew she let her gaurd down and he saw it. She reached for her hood pulling it up but his hand interfered and it fell back down. She turned to him with a mix of anger and confusion.
“I don’t think your hood will help.” He stated but her stare was blank. He breathed in and reached up caressing her cheek once again. Slight shock went through his mind when Raven subconsciously closed her eyes and leaned into his touch, though relieved she didn’t push away. The fiery feeling of his touch coursed through her body. He made her feel safe but vulnerable with her inner feelings. She didn’t like it. “Raven are you okay? Do you want to talk about it?” he asked with worry deep in his eyes.
“About what?” she replied though this time her voice broke and she knew he noticed. Another tear slid down her cheek and he didn’t hesitate to wipe it away. She hated what the changeling was doing to her especially as this had never happened before. “I’m sorry” she whispered and turned away.
“For what?” confusion clear in his voice. But there was no reply. Not a moment after he asked she melted through the floor. The green titan wasn’t stupid no matter what he showed on the outside and he knew she needed comfort or at least that’s what he always felt he needed, especially under his happy-go-lucky attitude.
Thankfully his and Ravens room was on the same corridor. His heightened senses began to hear soft crying and the green titan knew who it was. He picked up the pace and knocked on her door.
“Raven? Are you alright?” he asked pressing his ears up against the door. He could her weeps dying down as she tried to calm herself but no response. “Raven, please open up.” He pleaded. “Was it something I said? Did I do something wrong?” No answer. “Rae…please say something, I really am sorry for whatever I done to make you upset” he pleaded desperately once again but no reply. “Fine. I’m coming in” he announced loudly and waited for anything but nothing came. He sighed and turned into an ant crawling under her door.
As soon as he was under he transformed back. Her room was dark but his heightened senses allowed him to see more clearly. His ears guided him over to her bed were he could hear soft weeps and sniffling. He had never seen her so upset, let alone cry. His heart ached from seeing her like this though he doubted she knew he was there as she was curled up on her side. Slowly making his way over to her he made his presence known.
“Rae? Are you ok?” he asked concerned. He saw her tense slightly from shock. She didn’t care that he saw her and buried herself deeper into her bed crying harder. The pain in his chest grew and he slowly lowered himself on the other side of her bed waiting for a response. Nothing came. Sighing, he wrapped both arms around her bringing her close to try and comfort her. She hesitated but quickly turned around to him and buried her face in his chest curling up to him for comfort. She knew this was wrong but no one had ever cared enough to go against her wishes and try to help. That is unless it’s Beastboy. She slowly stopped crying and he carried on running his hands down her hair shushing her.
“Thank you” she managed to mutter out.
“For what?” he asked softly still holding her.
“For not leaving me”
“I’ll always be here for you Rae.” He said reassuringly. “Raven?”
“Mmmhmmm” she replied, her voice still soft and raspy from crying.
“Can you tell me what happened?” By now he had worked out it wasn’t his fault and was desperate to know what made her cry. She slowly lifted her gaze to him and pulled out his grasp. They both readjusted and sat in silence as she gathered her thoughts. “It’s okay, you don’t have to”
“No, It’s okay…I…I…I want to” she admitted and looked down into her lap.
“It’s okay, take your time” he said with a soft smile. A small smile graced on her lips as well but vanished in an instant as she went into deep thought. She cleared her throat and straightened up.
“I only have a few good memories of Azarath because when I was child everyone was scared of me due to the prophecy, my powers and my father. My mother was even going to kill herself and me because of it…” A sad look drifted over her face and a single tear fell down her cheek, she quickly wiped it away. “Me and my mother were only allowed to see each other every so often and both were grateful for any interaction we were granted. Anyway one of the few moments we shared were playing the piano and singing…my mother had a beautiful voice, I loved it dearly. And so the song you have composed brings me back those memories.” He could hear the sadness in her voice as she spoke about her past. He knew how hard it was, he hated talking about his past as well.
“You know Raven, were more alike than we are different.” He said grinning.
“Excuse me?” back in her monotone voice. He smiled.
“Rae we both have pasts we don’t like to talk about and our childhoods weren’t all that great.” She was about to intervene but he stopped her. “And we both hide ourselves under a mask to protect ourselves and make sure no one knows of our pain but… we hide it differently. You can’t let your emotions show so hide yourself in the shadows to not get attention however I act immature and all happy to make up for lost time.” He grinned widely at his last words and tucked a stray strand of Ravens hair behind her ear. She stared at him shocked with wide eyes. She had never known that it was all an act, she thought he was annoying and happy because… wait she actually didn’t know why. Come to think of it he had a pretty hard life himself.
“Is that why you try to make me smile?” she asked. The changeling looked at her confused. “Is it because you hate to see people sad and emotionless that you want to make them happy.”
He suddenly realized what she meant and how it linked. Raven wasn’t going to object to what he had discovered but kept an open mind and tried to understand him. “Yes”
“Thank you Gar” she said and got off her bed. He sat there dumbfounded at what she just said.
“Did you… did you... did you just call me Gar.” He sputtered
“Yes because it seems you have no intention of dropping my nickname ‘Rae’ and I have no intention of calling you ‘B’, ‘BB’ or ‘grass stain’ it seems that is my only other option. Now good bye Beastboy, and I take it your smart enough to keep this between us?” she said as she almost dragged him to her door.
“Rae, I may act stupid but I’m sure as hell not an idiot and now you know that. So no, I’m not gonna tell anyone” he said as he came out of his own daze. She sighed and began closing her door.
“Good night Gar”