Keep her fingers crossed that I can use this to overcome my writers block for Those Violet Eyes!

Beast Boy was annoyed. No, wait, peeved. Yeah, that was a better word. Peeved was what he was right now. Why? Well, it was because there were A LOT of people in the tower right now. All the Titans, honorary and actual members, were in the tower celebrating their victory over the Brotherhood of Evil. A victory that Beast Boy ensured.

He could admit that he liked the praises, it was pretty cool to be the hero of the day. But he didn't want too much. A couple of congratulations and well dones were all he needed, maybe a free tofu pizza or two and a pint of chunky monkey ice cream to top it off, followed by hours and hours of uninterrupted gaming, then a tofu feast. Okay, all he wanted was the food. Shape shifting was pretty tiring and he hadn't fully recovered from the fight.

It was only yesterday that they had all returned from Paris and he was still wore out from it. He hadn't fought that hard since the fight against Raven's dad, now that he thought about it. That had been a way tougher fight though, seeing as he had to deal with some kinda super demon and some evil version of himself that said some pretty nasty things. Raven was totes lucky she didn't have to fight that one.

Speaking of Raven, she had been awfully quiet today, even for her. He'd only seen her twice today, once at breakfast and once when Lightning had went to try her tea without asking permission. She had appeared out of nowhere, quite irritated, and quite plainly told him to take a hike.

Normally Beast Boy would have argued in Lightning's defense, but Raven was obviously still tired from being on the front line with him during the fight yesterday. She didn't usually snap at someone so quickly unless she was tired. Heck, she hadn't yelled at him in a pretty good while, even though he had pulled a few pranks on her in the past few weeks. She had just shook them off and scolded him. It was kinda odd, especially for her.

But yesterday he had seen her fighting Malchior. How that damned dragon got there nobody knew, but Beast Boy had been pissed when he saw that scaly bastard. He still hadn't, and probably never would, forgive him for making Raven cry.

Raven, on the other hand, had merely beat him down once more and added him to the collection of frozen villains. How she had remained calm during that fight was beyond him. But she had been barely able to stand after all the fighting was done, so he guessed she had put a bit more into her attacks that she let on. Beast Boy had volunteered to carry her through Herald's portal to the tower, knowing that he still owed her one or two for healing him after some backfired pranks on Cyborg. To his surprise, as well as some of the other Titans, she had accepted without protest.

He had toted Raven from a battlefield a time or two before, but this was…different. She was oddly quiet the whole time, but she did say thank you after he lay her down in the med bay. She had even given him a little smile.

It was weird.

Back in the present, Beast Boy frowned at himself for letting his mind wander again. He really needed to keep better track of it. He glared at the empty cabinet before him.

His stash of sugar cookies was gone, as was Raven's stash of macadamia nut cookies. He specifically hid his behind hers because she had thrown Cyborg out of the tower for taking some after eating his own. All the Titans learned that day Raven didn't share her tea or cookies (something about them helping her meditation or whatnot) and Cyborg hadn't come near that cabinet ever since.

But someone had taken both packs and, judging from the scents in the room, handed them out.

Beast Boy scowled and closed the cabinet door. Maybe there was some ice cream in the fridge. He wanted something sugary right now, something sweet to deal with all these aggravating new scents and noises in his home. It wasn't bad if it was just Titans East, but all these other people? Nah, not cool.

He opened the freezer and found that there was no ice cream.

Soda?

He opened the fridge and found there was no soda.

Candy?

He opened his super secret stash of licorice and laffy taffy, hidden in a 'spare' bread box, and found that there was no candy.

Beast Boy was about three seconds from screaming when someone spoke behind him.

"Whatcha lookin for Beast Boy?"

Said boy turned and found Robin leaning against the counter, sipping a glass of water. Beast Boy frowned.

"What am I looking for? Dude, there's no soda or ice cream and someone's been in both my stashes! They even took Raven's cookies!" He said in exasperation.

Robin nodded. "I know, they got my jolly ranchers, Starfire's pixie stix, and Cy's snickers too. But its just a temporary thing, Beast Boy. We invited them all to stay with us for a couple of days to get everyone sorted out and introduced and to start new teams so that we don't have a repeat of yesterday. We all knew our food was up for grabs and our privacy was at risk when we did this."

Beast Boy couldn't help but to pout. "Fiiiine. But the sooner they leave, the better. I haven't even got to play the game station with them here hogging it!"

"Agreed." Robin said with a nod as he looked out at the assembled teenagers. There were a few that weren't present. Starfire, Red Star, and Argent were out grocery shopping with a list Cyborg had made. When they had left the alien princess was speaking excitedly to the Russian in a language Robin didn't understand. It made him very suspicious when Red Star had laughed and responded to whatever she said. If that stinkin' Ruski had kis-

"Dude, do you think we should tell Rae about her cookies?" Beast Boy said fearfully.

Robin immediately shook his head. "No thanks, I chose life."

"Me too, but she might think that I ate them and I totally don't want her to kill me over something I haven't done!"

"She's going to know you didn't do it. You've kept yours hidden behind hers for two months and didn't take any."

Beast Boy glanced at his team leader. "Dude, how'd you know that?"

Robin grinned. "Raven told me the first day she found them."

"Was she mad?"

"Nah, she thought it was amusing. And then she took a cookie from your pack and ate it."

Beast Boy frowned and opened his mouth to protest, but he paused in thought. Losing one or two cookies to Raven in exchange for protecting the whole pack from the bottomless pit named Cyborg was actually kind of a good deal.

"She still better not blame me." Beast Boy muttered as he leaned against the fridge.

"If she does, just offer to use your enhanced sense of smell to find out who actually did it and point them out."

"Pft, like she'd believe me."

"She would." Robin reassured his friend. "You know how hard it is to lie to her, being an empath and all."

Beast Boy thought about this for a few minutes before nodding. "Yeah, okay. I'll give ya that."

Robin started to say something, but they were interrupted by three loud noises.

The first was Booyah!

The second was the sound of cracking wood.

The third was Oops!

Both heads snapped over to find Cyborg sitting with arm laying over, Thunder's under his from where they were arm wrestling. The table they had been using was broken from the impact of the final slam.

"Cyborg! Thunder!" Robin shouted, storming off in their direction.

"It wasn't me!" Cy shouted back, jumping up and backing away to leave the other guy in the danger zone.

Beast Boy got a good laugh as Robin started chewing the two of them out, happy that it wasn't him getting yelled at. After his mirth had dispersed, he looked around the room. Aqualad, Speedy, Kid Flash, and Jericho were playing the game station, Kole was sitting with Pantha and Bumblebee, Jinx (man, it was weird to see her here!) was relaxing in a chair across from Kilowatt and Lightning, who were playing cards. Herald was cleaning his trumpet, with Mas y Minos watching and asking questions as he did so. Gnark was sitting near a window and looking out over the bay as Bushido wiped his blade clean a few feet away. That left-

"Where are my cookies?"

Beast Boy nearly jumped out of his skin at the sound of Raven's voice behind him. He hadn't heard her enter and hadn't smelt her vanilla incense scent getting closer. She hadn't always smelled like that, it was something that started the day after her father's defeat, but Beast Boy knew it well enough that he should have noticed her the moment she entered the room. But he hadn't since all these new people were here.

"Uhhh…." Was all he could say as he looked at her nervously.

She stepped closer, an annoyed look on her hooded face. "Beast Boy. Tell me who ate my cookies. I know you can track the scents, that's how you find your tofu when Cyborg hides it."

Cheesus Crust, Rob was right! He thought to himself as he looked around the room and inhaled deeply. Determining things by scent was a unique experience that only he could partake in and he thoroughly enjoyed doing it not just because he could identify people by their scent, but because he could determine their mood too. It wasn't something he knew how to explain though.

For example, he knew that both Gnark and Kole had had a cookie of Raven's, but it had been given to them because someone else's scent faintly mingled with theirs. Kilowatt had also had a couple of cookies, but he too had received them. He knew that Bushido was actually feeling gassy (TMI dude) and that Jinx had been kissing Kid Flash recently. Aqualad smelled like he needed a shower and Speedy…

"Speedy." Beast Boy declared. Several people looked at him, then at Raven as her head snapped towards the boy in question.

She didn't hesitate to call out. "Speedy!"

The archer tore his eyes away from the television screen for a moment. "Huh?"

"You took my cookies." Raven said in a level tone. "Admit it and apologize."

"What? I'm not saying sorry for taking some cookies that were just sitting in the cabinet!" Speedy huffed.

"Is that so?" She said softly. The room got deadly quiet as Raven stared at Speedy, who suddenly began to feel very nervous under the icy glare.

"Look, Raven, it's just a pack of cookies!" He said defensively. Raven instantly teleported over to the couch and loomed over the now cowering boy.

"No, Speedy, it wasn't just a pack of cookies. They were my cookies, cookies I eat when I drink my tea, tea that I drink that helps keep me calm when the maelstrom of emotions known as my friends comes knock at the door to my sanity. You people are noisy, both physically and emotionally, and it is very patience testing to someone who likes the peace and quiet like me. So when I come out of a nice meditating session to spend time with my friends, I want a cup of tea and my cookies. I have half a mind to drop you in another dimension for this!" She hissed, growing larger and shadowy. Other than Speedy, the people around her bolted for cover. The poor archer was stricken with fear, unable to look away from the now towering empath. A shadowy tentacle snaked out of her form and reached for Speedy to-

"Gnark?"

Raven paused, glancing at the trembling caveman who had somehow approached her unnoticed. He was covering his head and holding up…a cookie. One of her cookies! Her glance turned into a questioning stare as she looked at Kole.

"Speedy gave both of us a couple but Gnark didn't like the first one so he didn't eat the second." Kole said hurriedly.

"Gnark gnark gnark gnark, gnark gnark gnark gnark gnark gnark!"

"He also said 'tell her I'm sorry, I didn't know they were yours'." Kole translated again. "I'm sorry too!"

Raven was quiet for a moment before she took a deep breath and released it slowly. The shadowy form faded away as she shrunk back down to her original size. After she had done so, she gently reached over and took the cookie from the caveman.

"Thank you Gnark, Kole, for being honest and apologizing. I know it seems silly to get upset over cookies, but Cyborg has a bad habit of eating whatever he can get his hands on and its left me without the only thing that I enjoy eating with herbal tea more than a few times." Raven said softly. "I'm sorry for scaring you."

"Gnark gnark gnark."

"He said 'its okay Raven'." Kole nodded. "I've gotten mad at Gnark for eating my blueberries, so I can kinda understand."

Raven returned the nod and proceeded to the kitchen once more. Beast Boy saw Gnark look over at Speedy, who was still frozen with fear.

"Gnark."

Kole gasped. "Gnark! Language!"

The animorph then glanced at Raven, who had telekinetically retrieved her tea kettle and put it on the stove. She didn't look annoyed anymore, but looks were very deceiving with this girl. He glanced around the room, looking for anything her powers damaged. When he found nothing, he looked back at her.

She was floating there in front of the stove with a faint smile on her face as she waited on her water to boil. She was happy…over a cookie? Definitely not a normal thing for her.

"Heya Rae…you okay?" He asked after a moment.

"Hm?" She looked over at him. "Yes? Why do you ask?"

"Well…" Beast Boy trailed off as he tried to figure out how to explain his concern over her behavior. When he couldn't think of anything, he decided to just wing it. "Nothing blew up."

Raven looked around the room, at the people who were slowly resuming their activities, and at the undamaged furniture. She then glanced back at him, her smile widening minutely.

"You're quite right."

He scratched his head in confusion. "But why? I thought when you got mad stuff blew up."

"That was because I had to keep my emotions suppressed to lessen any effects that might father could have on me. Now that he's destroyed, I'm mostly free to feel whatever I desire."

"Mostly?"

Raven nodded. "Yes, mostly. There are a few emotions I have yet to test."

That caught Beast Boy's attention. "Oh? Like what?"

"Hm…let's see. Excitement, jealousy, anxiety, just to name a few." Raven said offhandedly before her kettle began to whistle. Knowing about her companions sensitive ears, she quickly took it off the burner. Beast Boy pondered what she said as she prepared a cup of tea.

Maybe there's a way I can help her try that stuff out? Might be kinda fun, I hardly ever get to do stuff with Rae. Hm…lets see…Wicked Scary Two is coming out in a few days, that should be exciting, right? I could talk Robin into the team going to watch it, even if I gotta trick Starfire into doing it for me. Hm, what's next? Jealousy? Dunno if I got anything she would want…oh, what if I bought I book SHE wants, that would make her jealous, right?! Ohh, then I could read it and tease her about the good parts without telling her the details! That would totally make her anxious to read it! Shoot, I'll do all three! Yes! Perfect plan, Beast Boy!

"Oh, and love."

Beast Boy's plan came to a screeching halt in his brain, resulting in a five car pile up, two train wrecks, and someone letting the chickens out of the coop. "Huh?"

She turned back to him, sipping her tea. Her eyes were filled with the same kind of look that Starfire gave Robin and he had no idea why. After a moment, she spoke softly. "You heard me correctly, Beast Boy. I want to know what loving someone and being loved by someone feel like."

"Ooookaaayyy." Beast Boy said slowly. That was something he had no idea how to help her with, seeing as the only girl he had liked (that liked him back) turned traitor and tried to kill all of them. "Uhh…so…does that mean there's a guy you like?"

"Mmhmm." She replied, taking another sip of her tea, her eyes still planted on him. "I've had my eye on him for a while now, but I had to make sure I was free to express my interest in him before I tried asking him out."

"Oh, okay. That's cool, Rae, honest." Beast Boy smiled. "I'm glad you can run around and be happy like the rest of us."

Her smiled widened a little. "Thank you Beast Boy."

"So what's this dude like?" He asked, looking around the room. He was sure he could figure out who it was with enough hints.

"Well…he's kind and sweet, a bit protective of his friends, and kinda funny in the right situations." Raven said softly into her teacup. "I'm pretty sure he's smarter than he let's on too."

Kind and sweet? Hmm…Jericho seems to fit that, but we just met him. Protective of his friends? Robin? Nah, Rob's the obsessive type. Kinda funny? Hmm…well, I'm the only funny one here, but Rae's only laughed at two of my jokes. Maybe this dude is the smart funny type? I need more info!

"So, uh, is this dude a hottie or something? I mean, does he look good to you?" He asked, glancing at her.

There was a slight blush on her face as she looked away. "…yes. I think he looks…exotic."

Exotic, huh? Beast Boy thought to himself. Gotta be Aqualad. He is a pretty nice guy and I know he's the first to jump in a fight for his Titans East buddies. He does have a few good fish jokes too…yeah, definitely Aqualad.

"You should ask him out. Like, today." Beast Boy said suddenly, knowing he needed to talk her into it now, before she went and hid in her room as usual.

Raven appeared to be startled. "I should?"

He nodded. "Yeah, definitely."

"Why's that?"

"Dude, you are the one person in this entire room that deserves to smile! If you seriously think this dude can do that for you, then you need to ask him out! He's gotta be in this room, right? Go ask him out!" Beast Boy said with a hint of disbelief. How could the smartest person he knew not know this? She had more right to happiness more than anyone he knew.

The girl before him proceeded to look down at her drink almost sadly. It was a very un-Raven-like thing to do and unnerved him slightly "I want to…but we haven't always gotten along. I had to keep everyone at arms length for a long time, remember? I…had to be harsh with him a few times…so that what I felt for him couldn't be used against me. I kind of doubt he'd even say yes. I know I just said that I want to experience love, but at the same time I'm kind of… scared… he will reject me."

I don't remember her being like that with Aqualad. Maybe it IS Robin? Gosh, I hope not, Starfire hasn't told him her feelings yet. That would make things soooo weird around here. Beast Boy thought to himself. Still…she needs to say it. If I had said it to Terra sooner, we could have saved her, I'm sure of it.

"You still need to tell him, Rae. You're not the same person you were back then. You're way cooler now." Beast Boy said with a grin, hoping what he said would cheer her up. "If there was a girl crushin' on me, I'd definitely wanna know."

It must have cheered her up considerably, seeing as her smile returned. "Well…if you insist. Will you-"

"Yo BB!"

Beast Boy turned around to see Cyborg holding up a huge bag candy, an evil grin on his face.

"You, me, candy eating test, now!" Cy said daringly.

"You're on!" Beast Boy yelled at him. Then he looked back at Raven. "Dude, go ask him out. Seriously."

As he darted over to his other friend and the growing crowd of people, he couldn't help but wonder why Raven had scowled.