It's Dark Inside (BbRae)

6

"It may not seem like it, but I care about you, Rae."

The words echoed into Raven's soul. She looked at Beast Boy terrified, and wasn't quite sure what to say, but Beast Boy did.

"Can we--" Beast Boy hesitates, and Raven has to fight the urge to put on her hood. She didn't want him to read her emotions as they began to break free from her strong grip of control. A meditation session was heavily needed.

"Can we what?" Raven says in a timid tone, shocking Beast Boy. He raises an eyebrow. Raven clears her throat. Surpressing her timid emotions.

Her words were exactly what Beast Boy needed to continue. "Can we talk about your book you were reading last night?" He scratches his head sheepishly again. He tended to do that a lot. Breaking eye contact for a moment, Beast Boy locks eyes with Raven again.

"Oh, that." Raven frowns, angling her eyes toward the ground away from Beast Boy.

A bit of black mist appears behind them, wrapping itself around the volleyball net the Titans used. It flung the volleyball in the air, and the ball began to bounce towards Beastboy and Raven.

Raven looks back, noticing her black magic out of control. She presses her fingers to her temples and scrunches  her eyes together, focusing her strength on controlling the timid emotions she was feeling. The ball rolls back to where it had been before.

"Raven?"

"Sorry." Raven says in a timid tone, trying to hold back the emotions she was feeling, but it was too much. "I should have laughed at your jokes more. I should have ate tofu with you and played stink ball. Why am I like this? I don't even know who I am anymore!" Suddenly Raven stands, putting her hands over her mouth with embarrassment.

Beast Boy looks at her like she's crazy. Where did all of that come from?

"Rae it's okay!" Beast Boy stands up next to her and puts his arms around her tiny waist, stunning Raven in place.

Raven pulls away, putting her hood on. She turns away, not wanting to look him in the eyes. Now she was feeling the urge to leave to her room where she could figure this out for herself.

Beast Boy watches with concern. What could he do? He had never seen Raven like this before and nothing in his notebook could prepare him for such a thing. Maybe he should stick to what he was good at: video games and watching TV.

Then an idea popped into his head. "Why did the cookie go to the doctor?"

Raven turns her head and Beast could only see her eye.

"Because he felt crummy!" Beast Boy began to laugh at his own joke, but stopped as he noticed Raven hadn't had a single reaction. He was stunned.

Raven turns away once again, she could feel another emotion fighting to take control. At first it was a quiet laugh, but then it started to grow.

Now hearing Raven laugh, Beast Boy smiles, and decides to tell her more jokes. and Raven faces him once more, stepping closer. She gets a glimpse of the joy in his eyes.

Raven was now laughing hysterically. "You're so funny!" Then she stopped. Raven looks around mortified. The volleyball net looked as though it were blowing in the wind, except it wasn't the wind, it was black aura. Raven throws her hands over her mouth once more.

Beast Boy's confusion was bigger than the empire state building. "You think I'm funny?" Raven notices a smile grow on his face. He looked so happy.

Raven's emotions fade as quickly as they had came and her stone face returned. She scrunches her eyes again, this time in frustration. "I need to meditate, can I be alone for a bit?"

"Oh.." Beast Boy practically whispers. "Can I--" He slows down, frowning. He makes eye contact with Raven. "Nevermind." He concludes. "I'll see you later." Beast Boy head drops. His efforts had amounted to nothing.

Everything was holding Raven back from saying the words on her tongue. She didn't want Beast Boy to leave, but her emotions were out of control and she didn't want him to see her like that any longer. It was uncomfortable being judged.

"S-stay." Raven manages to get out, she was quieter than the wind, but surprisingly Beast Boy stopped his walk towards the door. He had heard her?

***

Cyborg ate more than a stack of pancakes, and each one was drizzled in maple syrup, just the way he liked it.

Beast Boy entered the room, his exhaustion was easily noticeable, but definitely worth it to him. Remembering earlier in the morning the time he spent with Raven, Beast Boy couldn't help but smile.

She had asked him to stay and the two of them enjoyed the sun rise together. Raven put off meditating and Beast Boy had finally talked to Raven about her book.

"You don't need to lose weight, Rae." Beast Boy had said earlier, looking into her dark eyes. She was positively gorgeous. His cheeks flushed pink easily just at the sight of her.

"You're perfect just the way you are." His words echoed in his own mind and he couldn't help but blush again at the thoughts of Raven's beauty.

Robin and Starfire looked at Beast Boy clueless, and Cyborg  was ignorant to what was going on. Then Raven entered the room.

"I uhh, Good morning." Raven says as all eyes meet hers. She didn't want to see Beast Boy right now and felt a little awkward after their conversation. Did he really mean what he said?

"Raven, is everything okay?" Robin asks, lifting an eyebrow. He was holding a plate of pancakes in his right hand and Cyborg came back over to snatch a few more from the pile.

"I'm fine." Raven mumbles, and makes her way over to the counter to make herself herbal tea. The recipes of the weight loss teas fresh in her mind.

Beast Boy watches Raven closely as she goes over to make herself some tea. He crosses his arms, were his words enough?

"Friends!" Starfire interrupts his thoughts. She looks at both Raven and Beast Boy. "We have made pancakes, please, eat!"

Robin smiles at Star. She was so sweet and caring of her friends. It was nice having someone like her around to keep him in line. She had made sure he stayed away from the 'Slade room' she called it, and he got plenty of rest just because of it.

"Who's ready to kick some butt today?" Cyborg says smiling as Beast Boy starts piling the 'specifically vegan' pancakes onto his plate.

Raven looks over at him, remembering she hadn't gotten a good enough meditation this morning, despite meditating for a good half hour.

It was 7:12 in the morning and here Raven was flustered and tired already. Manually controlling her emotions was a lot harder.

"You going to eat some?" Beast Boy says to her, interrupting her thoughts.

Luckily, she caught herself, but she was about to say no. Biting her tongue, she picks up a few pancakes and nods.

Before the two of them can eat, the tower's alarm system goes off and red lights flash in the room, following the sounds.