Chapter Text
Beep, beep, beep…
Great, he was in the Med Bay. He could tell by all the annoying noises and the headache that seemed like it would never end.
He had asked Cyborg to find a way to mute the sounds of the machinery; his ears are extremely sensitive, especially when he wakes up, but instead of thanking him for the genius suggestion Cyborg started giving a long explanation - one that Beast Boy didn’t pay attention to - on why it was so important to keep them on.
Tap, tap, tap…
Okay, that was new. Someone was next to him. On their phone. How rude.
He needed to open his eyes, but the light was too bright for his liking. Another thing he should discuss with Cyborg.
After what felt like hours, he managed to get one eye open, and then the other followed. It was still too damn bright but he needed to wake up to see if his body was still mostly attached to him... and to assure whoever was supervising him that his brain was still functioning.
He hoped they'd take a break from their phone to notice him. He was too tired to speak yet, just a few more minutes.
To his relief he heard a sigh, “You’re awake.”
Raven.
Before he said anything, the lights were all turned off and her hands were already on his ears. Immediately his headache and the noise was all gone. How did she know he needed that?
God, it almost made him fall back asleep.
“Don’t fall back to sleep!” Her tone was different, like she was teasing him.
'Just a few seconds', he wanted to say. He was confident his lips moved to say it out loud but no sound came out.
“I’m gonna remove my hands if you don’t wake up,” she warned, still with that tone that made it seem like they were best buddies when, in reality, she tolerated him at best.
That got him to open his eyes. He wasn’t gonna risk her soft hands leaving his ears. He knew she was using some sort of reversed healing process to block out the noise but if she just kept her hands around his face he would start blocking them himself by just focusing on her. Especially when she smiled at him like that.
Wait, why was she smiling at him?
It felt weird. Not that he didn’t like it. It was just something you wouldn’t see Raven do willingly unless it was a special occasion.
What if he lost his leg or some other part and that was her way of comforting him before he learned the truth? It would make sense to keep him supervised in case he woke up to find half of his body missing.
He pushed himself up with his hands, he still had his hands at least, to get into a sitting position and get a clear view of his legs.
Raven mirrored his position by sitting on the edge of his bed with her hands still attached to his face.
Her smile only grew bigger. “Don’t worry. You still have two legs and ten toes.”
Right, he forgot to count his toes! Again, how did she know that? Did Raven have a mind reading ability that he was unaware of? Sure, him and Raven were friends, but he doesn’t recall telling her about his sensitive ears or his fear of losing his legs after waking from unconsciousness.
“It’s only a matter of time.” He finally found his voice.
“Not if I’m around.”
He didn’t know what to reply to that so he didn’t.
“I’m gonna remove my hands slowly so you get used to the noises again, okay?”
She asked like he was a little child who was still learning what any of those words meant... probably because that’s how he usually felt when he woke up in this state. How did she know all of this? Seriously. It was getting freaky.
He nodded as she started moving her hands away from his ears, left hand settled on her left thigh while the right one stayed on his cheek.
Her expression now turned into concern, "How are you feeling?”
“Okay,” he could only find himself able to say. The noise didn’t bother him anymore, he couldn't even hear any of it. His senses were too occupied with her hand now.
He always craved her attention and now that it was fully on him he didn’t know how to act. It was just unusual, her sitting so close to him, touching him without the intention to heal him. It was a lot.
He tried to find anything else to focus on other than her captivating eyes. Bad idea.
His eyes shifted to her other hand instead, where he noticed a ring. If you knew Raven, you knew that she liked to wear rings. Vintage silver rings, to be specific, but never at home. She made sure to remove all of them the moment she entered the tower.
But this ring was different. It was a vintage red sapphire ring. A ring that if you saw you couldn't think of anyone to wear but her.
If you knew Raven, you'd also know she never liked red gems. He always suspected it was because of her own gem. He still remembered her bangs phase where she cut them in hopes of hiding the stone. Much to her frustration it still shone through.
But most importantly, Raven never bought herself expensive stuff.
Someone had given this ring to her.
Someone who wasn’t him. That left a bad taste in his mouth.
He wished he saw it first. He loved her red gem. He didn’t understand why she hated it so much. He almost threw a party when she stopped hiding it with her hair. But even if he bought it, he still wouldn’t have had the guts to give such a gift to her. Friends didn’t buy each other expensive rings.
“Gar.”
His eyes were back on hers. When did she start calling him Gar?
“I was so worried,” she gently brushed his cheek with her thumb, “I know it comes with the job, but… I don’t know how to deal with these feelings.”
What feelings? What was happening?
Her close proximity and her soft hand were messing with his mind, and that ring on her hand wasn’t helping.
“Who gave you that ring?” he asked, hoping the answer would give him some relief. She found it in a thrift shop stuck in one of those 10$ jewelry bags. The shop didn’t know its value and she got herself an expensive ring with a very low price. The end.
Her smile told a different story. She looked at her hand and back to him.
“A guy gave it to me, tall, handsome, beautiful green eyes, do you happen to know him?”
Beast Boy tried to keep himself as calm as possible. She wasn’t his, she was free to date whoever she wanted. He hated that.
“I don’t think you've introduced him.”
The sorceress was very secretive about her love life. He had hoped it was because she didn’t have one. Well, he was wrong.
She grinned at him, like she knew a secret he didn’t know. “Too bad. He’s such a great guy, you would’ve loved him.”
“Do you love him?” he found himself asking. He needed to know.
“I do.” She was now cupping his face with both hands. She took a long moment to stare into his eyes before closing the space between them.
He had imagined a thousand first kisses between them. Different scenarios at different locations but none of them were initiated by her.
He couldn’t move. He couldn’t find it in him to kiss her back. He had always dreamed of this moment, but not like this. She had just confessed to loving another man, wearing the ring of his dreams given to her by said man, and then kissed him. What kind of a sociopath does that?
It felt like ages before he found the strength to push her off. He wanted to leave the room and run far away where no one could find him but his body was still too weak for that.
Her eyes were full with concern. “What’s wrong? Why are you crying! Are you hurt?”
Fuck, he tried to hold the tears back but his eyes gave him away. She brushed them with her thumbs. “Are you in pain?”
“Listen, I’m happy for you. Really!” He tried not to stutter. He couldn’t embarrass himself even more than he already did. “I hope this guy makes you happy. But I don’t know what you’re trying to do here. If this is your way of telling me to back off, to overcome my feelings for you, you could’ve just said so. But to kiss me while telling me you love him is honestly so fucked up. I never expected that from you.”
Now she was looking at him like he had grown a second head, but he continued anyway, “and believe me, I tried to get over you! But it’s so fucking hard, okay? But if it bothers you so much I’m sorry. I’ll leave you alone if you need that. I just-"
“What guy are you talking about?” she cut him off before he could embarrass himself even further. He was actually grateful.
“The one that gave you the ring.” He was a bit confused with her question.
“Gar, you gave me the ring!” She said it like it was the most obvious thing. “You don’t… you don’t remember our engagement ring?”
“I… what?” He didn’t know what to think anymore. Engagegment ring?
“You don’t remember the ring you proposed with?” She was hurt by that, he could tell.
“I proposed?” he was sure he would remember if he had done such a thing. What was she talking about?
“Yes, on our 3rd anniversary, you don’t remember?”
“Our anniversary? What-” he stopped for a moment, “We’re… together?”
She stared at him for a while before she opened her mouth again, “Gar how old are you?”
He thought for a second before answering, “17.”
“Gar, you’re 22 years old.”
That couldn’t be real. Had he just forgotten 5 years of his life? And not just any years of his life, the best five years of his life? Where Raven was his girlfriend AND fiancée, apparently?
She removed her hands from his face not knowing what to do anymore. “I need to call Cyborg.”
He held her wrist before she got up. “Are we together?”
She moved closer to him, he thought she was going to kiss him again, but instead she leaned until their foreheads were touching
“For almost 4 years now.”
“And I proposed?”
She nodded. “8 months ago.”
“And you said yes.”
She nodded again.
“How?” He couldn’t finish the question because there wasn’t just one. How did they get together? How did he propose? How did she say yes? How did he forget any of this?
His eyes were barely open but he could see her smiling.
“Because I couldn’t get over you either.”
She kissed him again but this time he made sure to kiss her back.
She pulled back just enough to look back at his eyes. “We still need to get Cyborg. He’ll know how to help.”
“No,” he held her face with both hands, “he might wake me up from this dream.”
“Gar, it’s all real, you just need to remember it.” Her smile grew bigger. “Plus, I lost my charger and you’re the last person who used it.”