I don't own the Teen Titans.

She was use to suppressing her emotions. It was completely normal for her; a second nature, even. She knew what would happen if she expressed herself freely.

She also knew what would happen if she denied her feelings.

So when it first started - that little spark of affection - she decided to let it happen. It was after he had been into her mind and solidified their friendship. It was after she found out he really did care. She liked that feeling - being cared for. It was warm and comforting, and she felt like she could literally pull the emotion from the air and wrap it around herself like a warm, soft blanket. A green blanket, naturally.

But she knew she couldn't pursue these new feelings. Accepting them and acting on them were two entirely different concepts, and the latter would most definitely end up messy. So she just let herself feel the affection; allowed herself to cocoon in the warmth of his friendship, and maybe pretend he felt the same.

It was remarkably simple.

It was no different from holding back her smile or reigning in her rage; it wasn't hard to keep her affection in check. And because of that, it didn't really affect her. Nobody knew of her little crush, and she planned on keeping it that way. Because it was less complicated to go on as if nothing changed between them, rather than dredge up her feelings and screw up their friendship.

She felt a small smile tug at her lips as she hovered delicately over her bed. She liked having a friendship with him. It was simple - no strings attached. She didn't have to do anything different, because he was the one who constantly kept up with it. His jokes were becoming cornier than usual as he vainly attempted to get her to laugh, and she liked his determination. It made her feel special.

Even though she wasn't supposed to feel anything.

Her smile widened at the sound of someone knocking on her door. She opened her eyes slowly, letting them adjust to the dim lighting of her bedroom. He always told her she should consider redecorating, but she liked her room as it was. Creepy.

She let herself land gracefully on her soft bed, taking her time to stretch her back as the knocking became louder. He was getting impatient. She liked the fact that he was eager to see her - even if it was only to tell her dinner was ready.

"Rae!" he exclaimed from the other side of the door, clearly frustrated.

She sighed as she pulled herself off of her bed and stepped soundlessly to her door. With years of practice, her smile slipped off of her face and she congratulated herself on her stoic demeanor.

Sliding her door open, she felt her stomach flutter at the sight of him, even though his usual grin was replaced by a stubborn frown.

"Took you long enough," he muttered. She could see him discreetly look past her, making sure she was alone in her room.

She felt a warm feeling course through her at his protectiveness - after the Malchior incident, he had made it his own personal mission to protect her from heartbreak. He even went to the extent of flipping through all of her books to assure himself that there were no deceitful dragons lurking within the pages.

"I was meditating," she replied in her signature monotone.

He gave her a skeptical look, his green eyes burning into hers with an intensity that made her heart skip a beat. She knew it wasn't anything to swoon over - he felt everything intensely; even friendships.

His eyes slowly lost their emerald fire and returned to their normal, grass-green color. She ignored the pleasant tightening of her chest as his face was slowly consumed by his trademark, toothy grin.

"Dinner's ready!" he announced cheerfully. She knew he had no reason to tell her this, since she was obviously aware of the tower's schedule. Dinner was always at six pm, unless an alert caused a delay. Their leader liked his schedules almost as much as he liked training. Or crime-fighting. Or shamelessly staring at their resident alien.

But back to the point, her teammate made a habit of reminding her to come to dinner. She liked to pretend it was because he wanted to spend time with her; she even knew that it was likely his reason, but only because they were friends.

Regardless of her merriment, she rolled her eyes in exasperation - and honestly, out of habit. Just because she wasn't denying her affection didn't mean he suddenly became less annoying.

"I never would have guessed," she drawled sarcastically as she stepped out of her room.

She watched as his eyes quickly looked her over, lingering slightly. Even though he only saw her as a friend, she could tell he liked looking at her. And that was also a nice feeling she wasn't supposed to feel.

She started down the hall silently, rejoicing in the fact that he jogged beside slightly to catch up with her. He always had to walked beside her. She liked that.

"Why did the toilet paper roll down the hill?"

She rolled her eyes again. "Why?"

Beast Boy could hardly hold back a giggle as he choked out his answer. "To get to the bottom!"

A small smile tugged at Raven's lips, but it disappeared before her green companion could notice.

"Awe, come on, Rae!" he whined as they turned the corner. "You have to admit that one was funny!"

Raven gave him a sideways glance. "I have to do no such thing," she deadpanned, her eyes darting back in front of her. "And I will not admit to something that isn't true."

The changeling continued to pout as they neared the common room. The doors slide open with a hiss and the bright lighting of the room washed over the pair.

"I know you think I'm funny," he muttered under his breath as they neared the table.

The empath opted to ignore him.

"Hello, friends! I bid you both a glorious evening!"

Raven gave her fellow female titan a tight smile. Starfire was another teammate who felt everything so strongly. The empath envied that about her.

"Back at ya, Star," Beast Boy mumbled halfheartedly as he took his seat at the table.

Raven followed his example, sitting down in her usual spot beside the changeling.

"I made lasagna!" the robotic titan announced smugly, setting the still-steaming dish in the center of the table.

Again, the green boy beside her mumbled something under his breath, though she wasn't sure if it was a complaint of the lack of tofu in the meal, or if he was still pouting about her not laughing.

Obviously, she preferred to think it was the latter.

"Don't worry, B!" Cyborg smirked, also noticing the shape-shifter's displeasure. "I made a salad!"

Raven gave the bowl of limp lettuce in front of her green teammate an apprehensive look.

"Wow, Cy - way to spoil me," he replied sarcastically.

The half-robot snorted in amusement. "Do my sensors detect sarcasm? Wow, Rae's really rubbing off on you, huh?" he teased, a somewhat knowing look on his face.

Raven felt a spark of hope ignite inside her, before reason squashed it down. Hope was a special feeling, reserved specifically for defeating inter-dimensional demons.

Regardless, she spared a quick glance at the green teen beside her, who had the faintest trace of a blush on his cheeks.

Again, she shook away her hope. She was an empath; if Beast Boy felt anything besides friendship for her, she'd know right away - hell, she'd probably suffocate from his emotions, since he always felt so intensely.

She redirected her gaze to the clock above the common room doors, three ticks away from six o'clock.

Three.

Two.

One.

Right on cue, the doors swished open, and their determined leader strode in.

Habitually, Raven glanced at Starfire, whose face seemed to split open with an inhumanly large smile.

"Boyfriend Robin!" she greeted in a sickeningly sweet voice, as if she hadn't seen him fifteen minutes ago during their "private training session". Ever since the team's trip to Tokyo, the power couple had become nearly inseparable, though the boy wonder attempted to keep their relationship on the down-low.

But being an empath graced Raven with the unfortunate knowledge of what their little training sessions really consisted of. Naturally, though, she didn't let on to the fact that she knew the only muscle the two teens worked out happened to be their tongues.

"She's acting like she hasn't seen him in days," Beast Boy whispered into her ear, causing her to shudder slightly at the sensation of his breath on her skin.

Cursing herself for feeling, Raven gave the changeling her signature glare. "Personal space, Beast Boy," she seethed.

Feeling slightly proud of her excellent acting abilities, she watched triumphantly as a sheepish grin sprouted on the green teen's face.

"Sorry, Rae," he replied with a shrug as he leaned away.

Narrowing her eyes further, she continued to bask in the embarrassment radiating off of him. "It's Raven," she hissed.

Even though she actually liked it when he called her Rae, but she couldn't let him know that.

She knew this little crush would soon fade, but until then, she was perfectly content with handling it.

So this little story has been floating in my head for a while now, and I decided to damn it all to hell and actually type it out. So now I'm writing three stories!

In all seriousness though, I wanted to try something different, since my other stories have BB falling for Raven first, rather than the other way around. But this couple is so adorably versatile that I felt it could be believable either way - especially if you read between the lines in the show like a crazy BBRae shipper who may possible see things that aren't really there (who am I kidding, of course they're there)!

Anywhoo, I am completely and utterly blocked with The After Party, so I am so sorry if you're waiting for an update! I haven't given up - I promise!

I hope that maybe you can enjoy this new get-together story until I figure out what to do? :)