BBAre A Slippery Slope, A Green Horizon

4

Starfire, contrary to popular belief, was quite perceptive. She noticed how Raven would shift slightly, whenever Beast Boy moved from the couch to the kitchen. She saw her lips quirk at the sides, just a little, when he entered the room for breakfast. She saw Beast Boy blush when Ravens hand brushed his at the table. She could see how much more he worried when she was hurt. When the Titans sat for a movie, she noticed that only once the changeling had asked her, would Raven join them, and how happy it made the green teen that she was there.

Starfire, Princess Koriand'r of Tamaran was many things, but a fool was not one of them.

She knew there was something more to the two than friendship, she saw it in the way they moved, the way they fought, the way he laughed around her and the way she softened around him.

“Do you think that Friend Beast Boy and Friend Raven are not telling us something Dick?” She asked Robin quietly, as they walked through the Jump City Botanic Gardens. “They seem so close lately.”

“I don't think so Kori. Beast Boy can hardly stop himself from telling us the plot of a movie he's seen, much less keep a relationship secret.” Laughed the Boy Wonder. “Besides, he and I talked about it, Beast Boy isn't all that sure Raven likes him in the same way.”

Starfire considered this for a moment, her hand catching Robins as the two crossed over a small stream. “I think Friend Beast Boy is mistaken.”

Robin flashed a surprised glance at her before nodding, his smile turning curious as he regarded the alien princess. “I think so as well. How are you so sure though? I only just found out about this whole thing a couple days ago.”

“It is obvious!” She laughed, drifting into the air slightly at the joy brought about by two of her favourite people finding such happiness in one another. “Friend Beast Boy turns off the games of video when she reads, because he knows she dislikes the noise. Friend Raven never makes her tea with milk of the cow around him, because she knows it upsets him, even though he does not say it.”

Robin released her hand to sit on a rock by the trail watching her admiringly as she drifted above the garden path. “You should be the detective here, I had to catch them asleep together on the sofa before putting it together in my head.”

Starfire giggled, moving over to sit with him. “You're amazing with everything but feelings, on Tamaran people must know emotions, both their own and others, for it is where our power comes from and seeing it in battle is crucial.”

Robin grinned ruefully, moving his face closer to hers. “I'm pretty good with some feelings. Like now, for instance, you feel like kissing me.”

Starfire, not one for being patient, grasped the back of his neck and pulled his lips to hers, humming in agreement.

Cyborg, meanwhile, was wrestling both with the engine of the T-Car and his own thoughts.

“It ain't your damn business Cy. The human hairball and Rae are grown enough to look after themselves, no need for any help from you.” Cyborg sighed in exasperation as he straightened up, wiping oil from his hands with a cloth. “It's not like you're any good with making the ladies stick around anyway.”
“What about the boys?”

Cyborg- big, strong Cyborg, squealed as he spun around, finding the purple haired sorceress herself perched atop his workbench, a half-smile resting on her face.

“Raven! Don't do that to me girl, I almost had a heart attack!” He gasped, clutching his metal chest theatrically. “You ah… Didn't hear everything I said right?”

“I heard enough.” She supplied, her gravely tones doing well to hide most of her amusement. “And you're wrong, sort of, I do need your help.”

Cyborg looked, really looked at her then, at her tired eyes and her slightly tangled hair. He moved a few steps closer to her. “Anything Raven, you know I've got your back.”

“I… I don't know what to do. About Garfield or… about how I feel at least. I thought I could just meditate on it and let this thing I have with him go, but that didn't work. What's happening Vic?” She asked, her voice quiet and just a little scared.

Cyborg, who in another life was the college football star Victor Stone, knew exactly what was happening to Raven. He had seen dozens of girls go through the same thing, with his team mates, with him.

“You're falling for him.” Cyborg said, a sad smile on his face. “Falling hard too.”

“No, no I know what that feels like. Malchior tricked me into it, this isn't what I felt.” Raven shook her head, her arms wrapping around herself as the memory jabbed at her and a drill shattered on the bench beside her. She sighed deeply, embracing the feeling and pushing it aside to meditate on later. “This is different.”

“Of course it's different. Beast Boy isn't some evil little prick bent on...” Cyborg took a few breaths himself, moving on. “It's different, because he's different. How long have you felt like this? Do you love him?”

“Of course I love him. I love all of you.” Raven said nonchalantly, as though such a thing should be obvious. “You're my friends.”

“No, that's not what I meant and you know it.” Her tall friend snorted. “How long has our B-Boy made you lose sleep Rae?”

“That's only just started.” She muttered, looking away from him. “ I didn't lose sleep until I realized what was happening, and I started considering what it meant. I've been feeling like this about him since… Maybe a little before Trigon attacked.”

“That long?” Cyborg gaped. “It's a miracle the Tower is still standing if you've been holding it in all that time. Most people get over a crush in a month or so. I'd bet my motherboard that this, this is something else.”

“Something like what?”

Cyborg smiled wickedly. “Girl, I don't think you don't just love him. You're in love with him.”

The lights exploded.