Archive of Our Own

The city was saved, the team was formed, and the girl was hovering on the edge of oblivion like she hadn’t just played a huge part in all of it. Raven, as she’d introduced herself, seemed to stay just within hearing distance of the others as they discussed the highlights and pitfalls of the night none of them had seemed to be expecting. Garfield watched her out of the corner of his eye, a sharp ear aimed in her direction, trying to pluck up the courage to go and speak with her again.

It wasn’t every day a pretty girl with magical powers laughed at one of his jokes and then backed him up in an all-or-nothing fight to save the town. He had to say he was a little impressed and a lot embarrassed about different moments of the evening. She’d noticed his green skin and didn’t think his mask was cool; was now really the time to go over there and try to make a move?

He huffed quietly to himself, just barely catching what the cyborg had said to him before he finally decided it was now or never. She maybe had no intention of staying and this could be his only chance! He idled towards her as if at random, watching the way she fiddled her thin, pale fingers in front of her cape. She seemed shy.

“H-Hey,” he greeted once he was right in front of her. Her purple eyes picked up beneath her hood and she cast him a furtive glance. “Good work today!”

“Hey,” she mimicked back. Her voice was deep and gravelly and Beast Boy bemoaned not for the first time that puberty had not seen his own voice reach a lower pitch. “Thanks.”

Silence fell again and Garfield floundered for something to say. They’d already introduced themselves, it’d be stupid to do it again. It was way too early to reveal his secret identity, even if she thought it wasn’t very secret at all. The weather wasn’t noteworthy, neither of them had been injured, asking where she was from seemed stupid, and unless another fleet of aliens fell from the sky at that exact moment he felt it’d be rude to ask about her powers. Plus it wasn’t like she had asked about his.

They shifted their weight around and Beast Boy eyed her up and down trying to find some sort of topic for discussion, but it was like she had made it intentionally difficult! Her cape was draped over her petite frame like an ocean of darkness and it had no flashy designs or eye catching baubles on it, not really. He knew beneath the thing she had a belt of some sort and a rather revealing leotard, but he wasn’t trying to scare her away by complimenting her legs. Still, whatever interest might have been in her eyes was fading fast and he noticed for the first time how her face was nearly obscured beneath her heavy hood, hair completely hidden and red diamond on her forehead just barely peeking out. Maybe…

“Umm, I like your cowl,” he complimented lamely, one gloved hand reaching up to scratch the back of his neck. “Very Batman.”

“It’s not a cowl,” she grumbled, looking simultaneously extremely embarrassed and incredibly irritated. “It’s a hijab.”

He wanted nothing more than for another fleet of aliens to fall from the sky at that exact moment and blast him into oblivion. He muttered a surprised little, “Oh” which only helped to make the atmosphere around them more awkward. Raven was watching him with an intense sort of scowl, and figuring he had insulted her enough for one night, Garfield took his leave.

They’d lived together for months and Beast Boy had still never seen Raven without her hijab. After the rest of the newly named Teen Titans had learned the true nature of her modest head covering, the boys became very respectful and seemed to give the empath her space and privacy willingly. The alien Starfire, not knowledgeable of human customs, had asked several questions which Garfield had to assume Raven had answered in private because after all this time he still didn’t know why she never took the thing off.

When they were home, the hijab stayed on and Raven usually wore leggings or pants of some sort, only dawning her leotard when they had to go out into the city to fight. This made sense since the outfit allowed for a range of mobility most clothes did not, but even in the heat of battle the hijab stayed on. Garfield had never gotten even a glimpse of her hair, wasn’t even one hundred percent sure she had any. The rest of his team didn’t seem half so interested and had even warned him a few times to leave the topic alone, but he simply couldn’t. 

It was frustrating really. It had absolutely no effect on his life at all, but it was a mystery and Beast Boy had always loved solving mysteries. Which was why any moment that wasn’t spent eating, sleeping, playing video games, or doing super hero work was spent covertly spying on Raven. In truth this didn’t leave him too much time, but he’d work with what he could, sneaking around the tower in the early morning when he knew the girl liked to make tea and meditate. 

That particular morning Raven was floating three feet off the ground chanting her usual mantra; legs folded, hands poised, and hijab secure. Garfield wondered if she even had more than just the plain navy blue one she always seemed to be wearing as he snuck up behind her. He was in the form of a mouse, but his plan was to get close, transform into a human, remove her head cover, and finally see what all the fuss was about. Maybe he’d change into a bird and fly the thing around a bit if he was in a playful mood, which he always was, but he had to get up behind her first.

Raven’s powers were another seemingly endless mystery, but saying she could sense her teammates was no great stretch of the imagination. When she was awake and aware she always seemed to turn towards a door right before Starfire floated through it. Always phased through the floor to the garage just as Cyborg needed a hand. Yes, she could definitely sense things, but when she was meditating she appeared to go into a deep mental lockdown, only active in that she continuously repeated her mantra for sometimes hours on end. Which was why, Beast Boy reasoned as he morphed back to his human form, now was the perfect time to strike…

“Friend Raven!”

He was glad he was already a human when Starfire shouted from the entryway, because his tiny mouse heart definitely would have given out at the fright her booming voice gave him. As it was, the shape shifter clutched at his chest, turned in time to see Starfire casting him a bemused look, and quickly transformed into a fly to get the hell out of there. Raven didn’t even stir in those few brief moments, but he still took to a spot on the wall, high above the refrigerator to watch as the Tamaranean shook her friend's shoulder, pulling her from her meditative state. 

The two spoke briefly about plans they had apparently made before Starfire apologized for interrupting her and left the room. Beast Boy was a little miffed at having his plan foiled, especially when Raven did not go back to meditating and instead headed for her room. Still, he figured tomorrow was another day and waited until he heard her bedroom door slide closed before he dropped back down to the kitchen floor as himself again.

“Beast Boy.”

“Jeez!” he gasped, turning a half-hearted glare on his leader. Robin had just entered from his side of the tower and the younger man winced as he noticed Starfire and Cyborg flanking him. “Can you guys stop sneaking up on me? Not all animals have great hearing, you know?”

“We need to talk.”

In Robin’s office, things were all business and the former Doom Patrol member slumped down low in a chair as his team lit into him for what he had almost done. Starfire was not as ditzy as she sometimes appeared and had realized immediately what he had been trying to do when she spotted him sneaking up on an unaware Raven. Beast Boy wasn’t really mad that she had told on him to the others, but he didn’t really get why it was such a big deal.

“Beast Boy, removing Raven’s hijab would be extremely disrespectful and in complete violation of her religious freedom,” their leader grouched, eyes steely behind the mask. “You have no right.”

“Religious freedom?” the shape shifted scoffed, “It’s a scarf!”

“Come on, man,” Cyborg said from the wall, massive arms crossed over his chest. His obvious disappointment in the matter was probably the worst part. “I know you are not that stupid; you’ve been all over the world and seen all kinds of cultures.”

Garfield really had no argument for that and proclaiming he was just curious as to what their teammate’s hair looked like sounded too stupid to justify his actions. Maybe it was…

“But,” he floundered on, “Don’t you think it’s weird she lives with us and we never see her without it?”

The other two boys seemed completely unconcerned and merely shrugged and restated it was none of their business, but Starfire stepped forward. She clearly felt guilty for getting her beloved teammate in trouble, but the glare she leveled at Beast Boy was reminiscent of the look on her face when they had all first met. He shrank down even lower in his seat.

“Friend Beast Boy, that is not true. I have seen Friend Raven without her hijab-” He jumped up as if to declare the injustice of the whole thing and with one impossibly strong finger she pushed him back down into the chair. “-Because I am a female. Her choice of head gear is designed to keep male eyes from her to show modesty and respect for herself. If you remove it, you will be shaming her.”

Beast Boy honestly felt a bit like horse manure and the rest of his team made sure to help that feeling sink in so that he was not tempted to try something so foolish again. Starfire declared if he was truly a man he would respect his female teammate’s wishes and refrain from touching her person. Cyborg merely told him to get educated and promised should he ever slip up again, there would be a broken arm in his future.

“Just remember Beast Boy,” Robin threw at his back once he was finally dismissed. The green teen looked over his shoulder, ears down. “Raven’s religion is non-negotiable. Your spot on this team isn’t.”

Beast Boy took his team’s words to heart and really did try to educate himself in the following weeks. The internet was a many splendored thing and he found a great deal of information he was a bit embarrassed he hadn’t known before, but still it seemed lacking. There were so many different types of veils and scarves women wore and so many different reasons to wear them! True, it mostly stemmed from religious obligation, but in many instances it looked like more of a simple cultural phenomenon. Maybe even a fashion statement. The colors and designs and honest glamour that some of the different fabrics had was nothing like what Raven wore and so it almost didn’t seem to apply to her.

What's more, some blogs made it sound as if it were a show of feminine power and choice while other news sources condemned it as oppressive and belittling. There were just as many comment sections crying for the freedom to wear them as there were condemning their existence. They were all over the world and yet no one could seem to agree on a universal opinion of them. They weren’t like tofu which everyone loved, or animal cruelty which everyone hated. There were many varied takes on the matter.

More varied than that even was the different types of head coverings. Garfield had begun his research with the idea that hijabs were a singular type of clothing only to find that it was more of an umbrella term for a plethora of scarf styles worn for countless different reasons. A chador was different from a turban was different from a burqa was different from a niqab. If forced to choose, Beast Boy would have to guess the style of hijab Raven wore was a shayla, but he just couldn’t be sure without an expert’s opinion.

Which was why he was standing behind Raven early in the morning again. He was in human form, not trying to mask his presence at all, and he had waited until she had stepped down from her meditation stance, black pants shifting as she turned. She seemed surprised to see him there and she reached up and adjusted the side of her head scarf subtly.

“Uh, hi.”

Raven blinked at him, they didn’t talk one on one too often, but nodded her greeting all the same. “Hello.”

“Can I...can I ask you some stuff about your…” He gestured vaguely at her hijab and he noticed the area around her cheeks turn a dusty pink before she nodded jerkily and motioned him towards the couch. They sat on opposite sides, a whole universe spread out between them. Beast Boy wiped his sweaty palms on his pajama pants. “So...why do you wear it?”

Without hesitation or emotion she recited, “It’s part of my religion. I’m Muslim and that calls for me to be modest in how I dress.”

He had read as much and felt a little stupid for having her have to explain it to him so simply, but merely nodded before going on, “Yeah, but...I read you don’t necessarily have to…?”

If Raven was impressed or surprised he had tried to learn about her religion on his own, she didn’t show it. Instead she merely gave him a brief history of Islam and it’s different denominations (she was Sufis and Sunni), and explained that while some rules and expectations had changed through time, others remained fardh . Some things she mentioned Garfield had read about, some things were completely new information and he listened with rapt attention.

“But really the society and situation you live in can have a lot to do with when you start wearing hijab,” the empath rounded out, still seeming a bit tense but no less willing to help. “I chose to start wearing mine at around ten. Some people wait longer, or are expected to wear it sooner, or never wear it at all.”

The young man nodded, leaning slightly closer in his interest as he tried to get to the root of the mystery. “Yes, but why do you wear it?”

Raven tilted her head at him, now openly showing surprise at his continued questioning, but then simply shrugged and turned her face away. Her cheeks were pink again. 

“When I wear the hijab people don’t get to judge me based on my looks,” she murmured, reaching up to fiddle with the lower folds of her scarf. “Instead they have to focus on my intellect  and what I have to say. It helps me and everyone dealing with me focus on what really matters.”

Beast Boy stared openly at her, noting the delicate upturn of her nose and the full curve of her lips. Her eyes were an unusual color and her skin was nearly grey with how pale she was. The one spark of true color was the red chakra diamond front and center on her forehead and it caught the light now as the sun fell in through the windows. He wasn’t exactly sure how she thought covering her hair kept people from judging her by her looks. 

“That...doesn’t really make sense,” he mused to himself, only realizing his mistake when the girl across from him whipped her head back around with a rather ferocious scowl. He flinched back.

“Women’s hair is glamorized to the point of distraction and we end up putting all of a girl’s worth into whether or not she’s pretty- !”

“Well, yeah, but your face is still beautiful,” he interrupted. Raven’s mouth snapped shut with an audible click of her teeth and Garfield prayed she would call one of her shadows to gobble him up into the abyss, but instead she just stared at him with wide eyes. Her face was red now.

A beat passed in total silence and Beast Boy wondered why one of their other teammates wasn’t walking through the common area to save him from himself. He was honestly surprised Raven hadn’t thrown him against a wall and stormed out by this point, but just chalked it up to her being far more mature and controlled. Unlike him who couldn’t even keep his own stupid mouth shut! The girl shifted on the couch, folding her hands lightly in her lap as she apparently struggled to continue.

“The modesty,” she began shakily, “Is a two way street; both men and women are part of the equation.” She caught her teammate in her side eyed gaze. “If I’m decent enough to not be vain and cover my hair the man is supposed to be decent enough to lower his gaze...and not stare at me.”

Beast Boy lowered his gaze quickly to his own feet, feeling extremely embarrassed and oddly naked in that moment. He knew he stared at Raven a lot and was only now starting to wonder if he had been shaming her all this time. The thought made him feel honestly sick and he moved his fisted hands beneath his thighs. His face was burning.

“Some women cover their faces,” Raven went on, “So that men aren’t tempted to look at them, but I never thought I really needed to worry about that.”

He wanted to die. He wanted to jump out the window, plummet to the rocky shore below, and die . Raven was blessedly polite enough to ask if he had any more questions and he addressed his final one for the day to his lap.

“Isn’t Islam more for...Middle Eastern people?”

“Beast Boy, Islam is the second largest religion in the entire world. It’s for anyone who believes.”

The questions continued after that though they were spaced out in intervals of when Beast Boy could think of them. Raven fielded them all no matter how random, or invasive, or oddly timed and the rest of the team gave them space to explore this new topic.

Why was Starfire allowed to see her without her hijab?

What did she do in the summer when it got hot?

How did she justify the leotard?

Some things Raven offered willingly when she came across gaps in his knowledge. She informed him that her hours of meditation coincided with and directly followed her scheduled prayer times. Usually she did these in her room, but sunrise prayer she preferred to do in front of the living room window to enjoy the sunrise. She explained how she observed Ramadan and what that entailed for her. The fasting, she explained, was no great burden since she ate so little to begin with, but Beast Boy looked at her with a whole new respect after that conversation and marked his calendar with 'Be Nice to Raven!' almost immediately after Easter.

Some things Garfield did attempt to learn on his own, but certain answers he found seemed to be based around personal preference and he wasn’t really interested in why random hijabis on the internet did what they did. He wanted to know more about Raven . Still, some questions he was simply too shy to take to Raven; too worried about making her feel like she was the focus of his gaze. Questions like...

“What's Raven’s hair look like?” 

Starfire pulled her head out of the fridge and turned her emerald eyes on her teammate. She and Beast Boy were the only two in the kitchen, the other Titans having retired to their rooms since it was getting a bit late. They had agreed to stay up and compare some favorite snack choices; Starfire had an obscenely large squeeze bottle of mustard in her hand as she approached the counter.

“Friend Raven’s hair is most beautiful!” she enthused honestly. Garfield leaned closer. “She has cut it close to her skull in the back-” She gripped the nape of her own neck before moving her hand down and forward almost in a slicing motion over her neck. “-And the strands grow longer closer to her face. The fronts brush her chin. It is a deep shade of purple and is very shiny and soft!”

“You’ve touched it!?” Beast Boy felt an odd stone settle in his stomach as he frowned at the alien, but she merely nodded, pulling plates down from the cabinets as she went on.

“Yes!” she continued, “In the morning I help her brush it back so she can fit it under her umpta.”

The shapeshifter nodded, already familiar with this terminology after several Q&A sessions with Raven. Her umpta was a smaller, tighter scarf she wore under her shayla. It kept her hair from slipping out and she wore it whenever they went on a mission, or if she knew she was going to be moving around a lot. It was like a second line of defense. Sometimes while they were home she would walk around with only her umpta and Beast Boy always appreciated the rare glimpse of her slender neck.

“Friend Raven is very beautiful,” Starfire’s words interrupted her teammate’s musings. He blinked up at her only to catch her already grinning back. “Would you not agree?”

The green teen sputtered some lame explanation about not subjecting Raven to his gaze in that way before excusing himself to bed. He was sorry to disappoint Starfire, who had truly been looking forward to fixing him a snack, but the stone in his stomach wouldn’t let him ingest a mountain of mustard right now.

“ Masha’allah !”

The odd jumble of syllables meant very little to Beast Boy, especially amongst the general chaos of getting into the event, but he noticed how Raven perked up and turned towards the barrier. There was a group of young girls pushed towards the front of the crowd waving wildly at her and they all had on hijabs. The shapeshifter watched as Raven, who never addressed their fans, approached them with a rare smile on her lips.

They spoke to the empath rapidly and excitedly and she spoke back. They smiled and she laughed and they cried and before parting ways they all embraced in a quick group hug. Beast Boy nearly had to pick his jaw up off the street. Raven returned to his side and continued their trek through the press walkway and regained her calm, indifferent expression.

“Did you know them?” he shouted into her ear, waving at a group of girls with faces painted green screaming off to his left. Raven shook her head and merely fingered the edge of her shayla and gave him a meaningful look. He nodded his understanding as they finally reached the entrance to the Jump City Convention Center.

It was usually only emergencies that brought the different branches of the Teen Titans together, but when the idea of an annual dinner to honor them came down the pipeline, all team leaders had agreed as humbly as they were able. It was a nice change of pace to be able to take a night off and get a free meal. That several other heroes and even the Justice League made an appearance was also very exciting. 

Before too long the night was in full swing and Beast Boy was catching up with his old Doom Patrol teammates when Duela Dent sauntered over to him. That alcohol was being served was sort of an unspoken perk. They were all underage, but also they fought day and night to defend their respective cities and could die at any moment. So that Joker’s Daughter was a touch tipsy was no great surprise. What was a surprise was the way she flung herself onto Garfield’s shoulder and fixed him with a lazy smirk.

“So, Garfield,” she slurred. Most of them knew each other’s true identities after all this time. Beast Boy had been extremely elated when Raven had murmured her civilian name quietly to him as they waited their turn to spar in training months prior. “What’s up with your teammate?”

“Who?”

“That one.” She pointed a purple gloved hand towards a far table and Beast Boy’s sharp eyes caught Raven sitting there in the dim light. She was alone and sipping slowly on a glass of iced tea and the shapeshifter had to smile seeing her refraining from the celebrations, but still staying to be supportive. “Why does she wear that...thing?”

“Raven’s Muslim,” he explained, peeling the young woman off him as she swayed and chuckled. Her face paint made him a little uncomfortable especially with the way she was scowling at Raven. “She wears a hijab to stay modest.”

“Pfft, modest,” the clown grouched, her mouth dripping down so dramatically she looked like an optical illusion. Her tone made Garfield extremely uncomfortable. “Seems un-American.”

A growl crawled out of his chest unexpectedly and while he could feel it rumbling there, he was glad the music was so loud that Duela couldn’t hear it. She didn’t seem to notice his reaction at all as she traipsed away to catch Ravager who had just walked by. Beast Boy watched her go with an irate scowl and a mental note to talk to Bumblebee about her rude teammate. However, he wanted to avoid ruining the night and so checked on Raven often, but mostly tried to enjoy himself.

The party wore on and the hour grew late and before too long Garfield had also enjoyed some of the complimentary booze provided. He had to admit, it helped dull his sensitive hearing which made being out on the dance floor more bearable, but it also made it hard to keep track of things. Which was why it was embarrassingly late when he realized Raven was absent from their table. There were too many people around to try and sniff her out, but he knew she wouldn’t just leave without letting her team know.

“Where’s Rae?”

“She went to grab some fresh air,” Cyborg shouted back, his large feet making the dance floor shake all around him and adding to the wild atmosphere of the night.

The shapeshifter nodded and headed towards the only patio door in the hall. Fresh air would be easiest to get there and he didn’t figure Raven would walk through the halls and head towards the main entrance just to take a breather. The patio was off beyond the catering table which had been picked clean a while ago. Beyond the glass doors the city glittered and Garfield perked up as one of the doors was thrown open rather roughly. It was with no lack of disappointment he watched Duela Dent and Rose Wilson stumble through, cackling wildly and leaning all over each other. They completely ignored him as he passed, Ravager bumping his shoulder carelessly before they both disappeared into the crowd. The green teen rolled his eyes and caught the swinging door, stepping out onto the patio and casting his eyes about for Raven.

There was a cold breeze, a crouched figure, and a glimpse of purple hair that looked inky black in the night time.

“Raven?”

“Don’t look at me!”

Her frantic shout startled him so bad he complied and immediately turned his back to her. The door shut off to his side and he gazed out over the cityscape beyond the convention center. Behind him, Raven breathed shakily.

“Are you okay?” he asked the wind. Silence was the immediate reply and for a moment he was worried Raven had traveled into her void and left.

“They...they threw my scarf off the balcony.”

“They what?!” He moved to turn again, but caught himself, his whole body shaking in rage. He couldn’t believe two members of a superhero team could be so disgusting and rude and then he had to be confronted with the fact that he had nearly done the same thing several months ago. He felt sick. “Where’s your umpta?!”

“I didn’t wear one. It’s fine I’ll just...leave.” He heard her cape shifting around her, hiding the rest of her body from the world, and could picture the way her pale fingers fisted in her short locks, mortified and frantic, and he just couldn’t let her go.

“Rae, wait,” he insisted, reaching to his waist with little to no thought. He pulled his uniform shirt quickly over his head, his hair getting even more mussed than usual, and held it out behind him. His eyes remained on the distant skyline. “Here.”

Another painful stint of silence and then a tiny hand was taking the shirt out of his larger one and he listened as Raven constructed herself a makeshift cover for her head. He never turned to look at her. A breeze blew by and he shivered.

From behind him she noted, “I always thought your uniform was one piece.”

“It used to be, but...you know...bathroom.”

He wanted to die. He wanted to jump off the edge, plummet to the crowded street below, and die .

Raven made a small noise of understanding and then indicated he could finally turn around. When Beast Boy faced her he made sure to keep his eyes near her face but to not stare openly. His shirt looked...like a shirt, but she wore it well. She had put her head through his neckhole and used the long sleeves to wrap it snugly around her hair. Shades of black and purple overlapped each other and Garfield wondered idly not for the first time if she owned hijabs in any other colors.

“It looks good,” he complimented without thinking. She ducked her head and he cursed himself angrily. “Sorry.”

“It’s fine,” she murmured, not looking at him at all, likely because his bare chest was on full display. He tried to not puff it up and found it exceedingly easy as the night grew colder around them. He shivered and Raven glanced towards the doors which had remained thankfully closed this whole time. “I should head back to the tower.”

“Me too,” he conceded, mood to party completely gone and not willing to continue shirtless anyway. His teammate nodded again and murmured a quiet thanks for the shirt to his feet. He vehemently waved her off, swearing Duela and Rose would be reported as soon as he was decent and the two lapsed into silence again. Inside the party raged on.

“See you at home?”

“Yeah...see you at home.”

The incident at the dinner had sparked quite the conversation among the super community about being tolerant and inclusive of all supers regardless of gender, race, religion, or anything of the like. Beast Boy had refused to let the issue slide, even when Raven’s ire had faded, and took his complaint of the situation straight to Batman. Joker’s Daughter and Ravager were on probation until further notice and replacements had been sent to pick up their slack for Teen Titans East.

The rest of the Jump City team were all very proud of their little green mascot, but Garfield found himself avoiding their praise in an attempt to keep the focus on Raven and her desire to be treated with respect. The two of them didn’t grow closer necessarily, but there was a warm camaraderie between them now that had not been present before. Now their short question sessions were interwoven with quiet afternoons reading side by side and Raven perching on the arm of the couch with a cup of tea as Beast Boy blasted through the latest level of some video game or another.

Some questions he was still too embarrassed to ask and he figured that was for the better. After all these months he had gotten pretty good about finding reliable and relevant resources online for answers and when in doubt, Robin was very knowledgeable on several subjects. Still Beast Boy never dared to ask or to search the little acknowledged fact that hijabis were allowed to expose their hair to their immediate family and more importantly, their husbands. He knew Raven wasn’t covering her head in order to attract a partner, but still some nights he stayed up wondering what man, if any, would ever get to see her hair freely.

It was months after the party when it happened. They were fighting Cinderblock when the concrete monster swung wide and smacked Raven out of the air. She went crashing through the window of a nearby building and the whole team shouted their concern.

“Beast Boy!” Robin ordered from his position on the front line, staff in hand. “Check on Raven!”

“Cyborg, cover me!”

“I got it!”

He flew into the building in the form of an eagle and quickly dropped down and began searching around for his teammate. The building had unfortunately not been evacuated and so there were a huddle of terrified office workers off to the side screaming their heads off about the humanoid monster outside, a girl being flung through the window, and now a green man appearing from a bird right in front of them. Desks and chairs were all askew in the path of the shattered glass letting Garfield know his teammate had been thrown quite a ways.

“Raven!”

He rushed towards the back of the office space where a group of brave employees were hesitantly approaching the prone form of theTeen Titan who was only just starting to stir. Beast Boy shouted for them to get out of the way, coming upon Raven right as she pushed herself up onto her hands, glass falling off her cape and down her shoulders. She was panting, the wind having been knocked out of her, and she was covered in tiny scrapes all across her hands and face. More noticeable than everything else, however, was the way her purple hair fell half-hazardly over her forehead, littered with glass and debris. 

Beast Boy sucked in a stuttering breath and without further adieu transformed into a pterodactyl. With an ear splitting screech, he spread his wings wide, swiping back any workers that had gotten close and effectively scaring off any others in the vicinity. He flapped wildly, large beak slicing through the air as he looked left and right for his friend’s shayla, but it was nowhere. He screeched again and watched as the civilians scrambled to leave the room. Raven was on her feet now, stumbling on a leg that had a deep gash traveling up the calf, and Garfield folded her into his wing span.

“What’re you doing?” she rasped, angry but also clearly in pain as she rested a hand on his propatagium for support. He double checked the room was clear and then Beast Boy morphed back into himself, careful to support Raven’s weight as he grew smaller and smaller until they were standing face to face. His arms were reached out touching her shoulders and hers were doing the same, gripping him more tightly as she staggered on the spot.

Beast Boy had stood face to face with Raven plenty of times, they had been teammates and roommates for over a year, but this felt different. Her hijab was gone and while he had admired merely her face for long enough for her hair to not truly add to her beauty for him in any way, it made her look different. The tresses were sweaty and tangled, but they framed her cheeks in such a soft and inviting way that he found himself wanting to reach up and brush them back behind her ear. She was still Raven, but he was seeing her the way only a handful of people ever would in her life. He was seeing her the way her husband was meant to be seeing her.

He lowered his gaze.

“Raven, your hijab came off,” 

The empath was slow to jump into action, maybe still dazed from the hit, but soon she was casting around for her scarf and found it near the window, ripped but salvageable. Her umpta had not come off, merely slipped down to circle around her neck and she rushed trying to pull it back up and conceal her hair. Outside, the fight could still be heard, but it did not sound as if their team was struggling too terribly without the two of them. Beast Boy refused to leave Raven’s side until she was ready, but he kept his eyes firmly out the window.

The moments ticked by and it was awkward and tense and then Raven let out an irritated huff. Beat Boy chanced a glance in her direction to see her tossing the umpta away with a frustrated gesture and moving to quickly wrap her hijab round her head. She had no pins to secure it, so instead stuffed the loose ends down the front of her leotard. When she stood and turned to Beast Boy, small wisps of purple were sticking out around her face.

“Lets go,” she huffed, clearly at a loss, this was really no time to be stingy. Garfield nodded, ready to follow her lead, but not to have her feel shame in front of her teammates. Without warning, he reached out with both hands and used one to cup her chin while the other brushed the loose strands back beneath her shayla. The air between them grew tense and electrified; he had never touched her before.

The two teens stayed locked in intense eye contact for a long moment and Beast Boy wondered if this was the moment his audacity had finally gone too far. After all the months of staring at her he wondered if she’d attack him, or scream, or worst of all leave him there all alone. However, all she did was stare at him, violet eyes wide, and he tried to convey the purest of intentions through his own gaze.

“I won’t tell anyone.”

Her hair, her beauty, her image, was hers and hers alone and was only to be shared with people she deemed worthy. He was not that person, not yet. If he never got to see her without her hijab again it would be his own fault, though no great burden. It did nothing to hide her beauty. However, he hoped he would get to see her without it again someday. Either as a friend who was so close he was considered family, or as something more.

“Thank you.”