Work Text:
Raven was a little surprised when it was Beast Boy—and not Starfire—who was at her side and asking her if she 'needed to talk' the day following the whole Malchior incident. She knew he was the most concerned throughout the ordeal, but she had chalked a lot of his solicitousness up to a mixture of nosiness and jealousy and figured now that the enchanted traitor was gone, Beast Boy would be quick to put him out of his mind.
But evidently, that was not the case.
The entire team was sympathetic to her, which was both flattering and irritating; Raven was honestly just eager for things to revert to normalcy, wishing to forget that anything had caused ripples in the first place. Robin and Cyborg showed their sympathy mainly through actions. They both treated Raven with particular cautiousness, and it made her feel like a crate of glass tiaras, but at least they were quiet. Starfire, on the other hand, kept giving her these pitying expressions, like she felt really terrible for Raven and just wanted to hold her and bake her questionable cookies and girl talk all the problems away, none of which the empath was in the mood for, of course. Yet at the same time, Starfire took meticulous care to not breach the subject, and Raven was starting to get the impression that the Tamaranian was trying to leave room for…
Beast Boy. Raven had escaped up to the roof—for once, not to get away from noise, but rather to embrace the ambient sounds and escape the unspoken condolences of her friends. Beast Boy just did what he did best—not taking a hint—and followed her up.
"Do you need to talk about it?" he offered meagerly, settling down beside the girl with a wary smile.
"No," she responded flatly, and the speed with which his expression deflated was enough to guilt her into elaborating, "I mean, I appreciate it. But there's not really anything to talk about."
"Come on, Raven. You can't keep locking this kinda stuff up. Trust me, it tears you up inside… having your heart broken like that."
Raven bristled slightly at the strange timbre of his voice, a worried crease marring her otherwise stoic face. "Beast Boy…" She sighed and shook her head, as if resigning herself to something. "I can't even begin to compare my own situation to yours. It hurts, yes, I won't lie. But I should have known from the beginning that trusting him so blindly, even against my better judgment, was foolish. The blame falls on my shoulders. I feel bad, but I wouldn't really call this the stereotypical 'post-breakup' depression. If anything, it's more like guilt."
"Don't blame yourself," he said with a certain seriousness that captured Raven's attention and made her search his mannerisms for sincerity. "It's not your fault that he was a jerk. A really convincing jerk."
"That he was," she conceded, crossing her legs and leaning forward on her elbows. "In any case, I'm not dwelling on it as much as I could be because I realized I wasn't really in love with him."
Beast Boy's eyes widened with genuine surprise at this information. "Really? Coulda fooled me, I thought you were gonna up and marry Mr. Paper-Mâché for a while there…"
"Pft." It was almost a laugh. Almost, but not quite. "No. I mean, I thought I was in love with him. Manipulation aside, he was thoughtful and charming and funny…" Beast Boy's gaze was growing prickly, so she abruptly ended that thought, "…but I didn't really know him as a person. Outside of the whole magic thing, I don't know that he even really had any hobbies or interests. I was infatuated, but I didn't love him. Just the way he made me feel."
"How did he make you feel?"
Raven cast her eyes downwards, embarrassed and slightly ashamed of herself for being just as susceptible to foolish whimsies as any other human girl. "I don't know… Maybe, accepted."
"You'll always be accepted among the Titans," he reminded her gently, his characteristic fang popping out as he gave a timid smile. "Sorry if I've ever made you feel otherwise. In case you haven't noticed, fitting in has never exactly been a walk in the park for me either."
"I know. It must be so hard being so short."
Beast Boy exclaimed in mock offense, but the small quirk in her lips did not escape his sight, and he was proud of himself for cheering her up enough to joke again. Even if it was at his own expense. "You know I meant the green thing, smartass. And just you wait. In a few years, I'm gonna shoot up like a tree."
"Will you still be as scrawny as one, too?" Raven suggested with a full-blown smirk, playfulness flashing in her eyes. Beast Boy loved that face. She looked so vivid and alive, so close to accepting the idea of emotional expression. He knew that after this exchange, she would probably revert to the usual blank-faced, deadpan snarker that he'd become so accustomed to, but that was okay. He'd still be around for the next time she showed a brief glimpse into herself. He'd make sure of it.
"No way, dude, I'm not talking about any wimpy palm trees… I'm talkin', like, full on sequoia trees."
"Are you using trees as a euphemism for something?"
"I'm n—what? NO!"