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"It has been said that something as small as the flutter of a butterfly's wing can ultimately cause a typhoon halfway around the world."

Chaos Theory

Every event since the dawn of creation, the explosion that spawned the milky ribbon of shimmering specks in Earth's night skies 13.6 billion years ago, the fusion of dust and gas 4.6 billion years ago that produced the blazing giant that nurtures the planets of our solar system, the collision of small particles bound by the force of gravity that created our mother Earth 4.54 billion years ago, the first drop of water that sparked the existence of life in this planet thousands of centuries ago—every event, no matter the magnitude, coincided to devise a complex network of effects that led to this precise second.

And Raven wasn't exactly very grateful about that at the moment.

First, she had awoken that morning sprawled out on Kory's couch with the worst (and first) hangover she'd ever had after her so-called friends had convinced her to attend a bar with them the previous day to "mend her broken heart" after he who shall not be named had shown up at her footstep to ask for her hand in marriage and reopened an already healed wound. Needless to say, it wasn't the most rational decision Raven had taken.

Then, after the initial shock of her situation, she had scrambled out of Kory's apartment without so much of a warning (considering all of her friends were slouched in odd places of the room snoring and drooling all over themselves) to catch the bus to her job.

Alas, she had spent the bus ride to Wayne Enterprise Headquarters sandwiched between an overweight guy who smelled faintly like cigarettes and a creepy forty-year-old man who continuously tried to place his palm on Raven's thigh.

When she had finally arrived at her destination, she had hurried into the third elevator to the right of the main reception area (an odd move considering she always took the stairs) precisely seven minutes after her shift was supposed to begin. Any second later and the messy blonde with the oh-so-typical troublemaker grin plastered on his expression would not have been able to stick his arm inside the elevator doors to prevent them from closing.

Lastly, had it not been for the recent, on-going maintenance issues for all the elevators in the building, perhaps the machine wouldn't have malfunctioned and abruptly frozen mid-way to the thirty-sixth floor of the building.

And now she was here—suffering from an intense headache and thoroughly famished considering she hadn't had breakfast this morning nor dinner the previous night, not to mention plopped down in front of an irritating guy who kept trying to start a conversation with her.

Raven admired her life, she really did, but at the moment, life wasn't being exactly generous to her.

"Can I at least know your name?" the aggravating idiot insisted. "I'm Gar."

She massaged the bridge of her nose gently in an attempt to soothe the aching inside her skull. "Raven," she deadpanned.

"Are, uh… are you okay?" he stammered sheepishly. She internally smiled, feeling glad that her ability to intimidate people could also affect morons like him. Alright, so perhaps she was being too cruel in her judgment of him, but to her defense, the pounding in her head prevented her from making any kind of reasonable thinking at the moment.

"No, I'm not," she gritted her teeth. "But I'd be more than fine if you'd just shut up."

He stayed silent for a few minutes, and just when she began to believe that he may have miraculously teleported out of her plane of existence, he spoke, "How long do you think we'll be in here?"

"I don't know," she snarled.

"I mean, they have to know we're stuck in here right? I really wish I hadn't forgotten my phone in my car… Are you sure your phone is completely dead?" he asked for the third time.

Raven scrunched up her eyebrows but managed to keep her voice calm, "I already told you no. If my phone were to somehow magically gain charge and turn on or I find a charger and an outlet magically appears next to me, you would be the first one to know."

"Why couldn't they at least bother to fix their emergency call button?" he loudly complained, his voice resonating like an echo chamber inside her head more than it should have. Why did he have to be so fucking irritating?

Raven frowned, her fingers now massaging her forehead, "I don't know. Maybe it's because they didn't bother fixing the elevator at all," she retorted.

"So, uh, why are you here?" he asked awkwardly, his voice seemingly gaining a few octaves.

"Why do you think?" she snapped. "I'm here for work. Where I should have been twenty-five minutes ago."

"Oh… I'm here to visit a friend," he unnecessarily shared.

"Nice to know," she uttered sarcastically.

"So… How are you?" he questioned while toying around with his keychain. Raven swore he could pass off as a child if it wasn't for his appearance. She felt like a mother stuck inside a car during a road trip with a toddler continuously asking her if they were there yet.

"You already asked that," she grumbled.

"Well, you didn't answer…" he replied with a snicker that made her blood boil. She really had to control her temper before she exploded on him. Sure, he was thoroughly annoying, but even he didn't deserve that. "So I thought I'd ask again."

"How's that going for you so far?" she bumped the back of her head against the wall and shut her eyes tightly.

He shrugged before answering, "You haven't answered yet so… not good?"

"And what do you think that means..?" she continued.

"Uh…" he furrowed his eyebrows at her. "... That you don't want to answer?"

"Bingo."

"Why not?" he tilted his head.

She arched an eyebrow, "What?"

"Why don't you want to answer?" he asked.

Raven finally opened her eyes and regarded him with a blank expression, "God, could you be any more annoying?" she whispered under her breath, though she didn't answer his question.

"You know, you'd look so much prettier if you smiled or if you acted just a little nicer…" he blurted out.

"What's that supposed to mean?" she scowled at him.

He raised his hands up in defense and grinned like an idiot, "No offense, really. You're really pretty. But you'd be prettier if you smiled and… adjusted your attitude a bit," he confessed.

"Excuse me?" she sent him a piercing glare that made him shift in his seat. She hoped it was a sign of fear. "I don't need attitude lessons from someone like you," she retorted.

He looked taken aback, and he opened his mouth to respond but seemingly thought best of it. Instead, he sat back and avoided her gaze. Raven considered getting him to shut his mouth a sign of success.

After fifteen more minutes, he appeared to finally snap. He groaned loudly and jumped to his feet. "Is no one really fucking aware of the fact that we're in here!?" he slammed his hands against the wall, causing the elevator to rattle.

"Keep that up and you'll make things worse," Raven rolled her eyes.

"We really have to get out of here," he ran a hand through his messy locks and paced around the small space, otherwise aggravating Raven further. She had never before been more desperate to gain the ability to teleport.

"You're not going to accomplish anything by panicking," she noted.

He stopped in his place and crossed his arms, his nice-guy act finally faltering, "Well I'm trying to think of something! Meanwhile, you're sitting there acting like a total bitch!"

"That's because you were being an annoying moron," she countered.

"Ugh!" he let out a frustrated howl and placed his palms against the wall while staring down at the ground, most likely to calm down. They really had to get out of there before they killed each other.

Then, he raised his head abruptly as if a light bulb had switched on above his head. "Wait a second! Doesn't this elevator have-" he reached his hand up and gently pressed on the ceiling tiles in the elevator until he found a loose one. "Ah ha!" he uttered like he was a total genius. Raven hoped he wasn't considering what she was thinking.

"Get on my shoulders!" he turned to her and offered a hand.

Raven only gaped at him, "Excuse me?" she questioned with an arched eyebrow.

"Get on my shoulders and get out through the ceiling and see if you can find a way to get us out of here. I've seen it happen in movies hundreds of times!" he insisted.

"You do realize we're not in a movie?" Raven scoffed.

"Come on Rae! Chill out and follow my lead," he gave her that stupid grin of his.

She narrowed her eyes, "My name is Raven, and I'd rather not," she scorned.

"Alright, Raven," he mocked before grabbing her wrists forcefully and pulling her up. A tumult of butterflies erupted inside her gut when she realized their faces were only a few centimeters apart, and for some reason, her eyes took a strange interest upon his plump rosy lips. She only snapped out of her trance when his face flushed, and he quickly stepped back with a nervous chuckle. Why the hell was she staring at his lips? And why the hell was she getting butterflies in her stomach because of it?

"Um, sorry…" his eyes wandered everywhere but her. "What was I-oh!" His eyes widened comically. "Like I was saying," he cleared his throat in an attempt to lessen the awkwardness in the elevator. "We don't have many other options and so far, there's no sign that they even know we're in here. So, I don't know about you, but I have a lot of things to do, and I'd prefer to not spend the rest of my day stuck inside an elevator."

Though he had a point, there was no way Raven was going to agree with his ludicrous plan. She crossed her arms and scrutinized his expression carefully, searching for any sign that he could be joking about it. She found that he wasn't. And that he was a bigger idiot than she had originally guessed.

"No," Raven declared in a flat tone. "Your plan is utterly-"

She was interrupted by a faint voice above them calling out, "Is anybody in there?"

"Vic!? Is that you!?" the idiot before her shouted, and her headache suddenly returned at full force. "We're in here!"

"Green bean? What are you doing in there? Who's with you?" the male voice exclaimed.

The guy's face turned tomato-red at the nickname, and Raven contained a snicker. "Uh, Raven's her name. We've been trapped in here for almost an hour now!" he replied.

"Oh! Well, I got bad news and good news for you," he called. "The good news is you're getting out. The bad news is the elevator is stuck between floors so we can't force open the doors for you, and the maintenance workers have to work from the inside to get it moving again. Luckily, there's a removable tile in the ceiling above you. If you just raise it, you can crawl out and then get out through here."

Raven's stomach fell as she noted the cocky grin that undoubtedly screamed 'I told you so.' She didn't dare to comment on it, and instead disguised her displeasure, and admittedly embarrassment, behind a scowl. "Just kneel down," she muttered, her expression daring him to boast about it.

He got on his knees and grasped the front of her ankles when she positioned herself on his shoulders. She tried to ignore the undoubtedly red coloring of her face as she became aware of just how short her pencil skirt really was. He stood up, and she pushed the tile up to reveal the silhouette of a head poking out from the propped open elevator doors of the floor above them. Her hands grasped the sides of the elevator roof, and she pulled herself up. Then, she peeked below her where the guy was avoiding her eyes while scratching the back of his neck nervously. She narrowed her eyes but reached down to offer a hand. He grasped it firmly.

"Ready? One, two, three-" he forced out as she pulled him up with all of her strength, and he used the rails on the side of the elevator to prop himself up and climb out of the elevator.

"Thanks…" he whispered as he raised his gaze and locked eyes with her own—forest green to dark indigo. Her breath hitched when she caught a whiff of the minty aroma of his mouth, and she attempted to reply with a 'you're welcome,' but she found that her mouth was too dry to utter the words. Her eyes traced the outline of his lips carefully, and she noticed how he did the same. They found the distance between them shrinking little by little, their lips magnetizing each other before-

"Ahem," the man above them interrupted.

The two jerked away from each other, and their eyes took an abrupt interest on everything but each other.

"I thought you guys would be more eager to get out of there…" the man above them smirked. "Come on, I can help you out," he offered a hand.

The guy—she supposed she should start referring to him as Gar, but that made it sound like they were acquaintances (or dare she say friends), and considering she was almost out of this predicament, she'd rather him be out of her hair as soon as possible—took a step back and signaled for her to go first. Raven took the burly man's large hand and crawled out. Gar followed shortly behind her.

She glanced down and dusted her skirt, though it was really just an excuse to avoid peeking at him. Her face was barely cooling off, and she'd rather it not heat up again.

"Um, I guess this is where we part ways?" he asked her awkwardly. Raven glanced at him and nodded.

"So, uh, farewell?" he strode forwards with his hands buried inside his pockets. "I… um, hope I see you again soon?" he squeaked.

Before she could gain enough sense to stop herself, she responded, "Perhaps," with a faint smile. To make things even worse, she completely froze up like a deer in the headlights the moment he removed his right hand from his pocket and planted a gentle kiss on the back of her hand, his gaze studying her intently as if he were trying to memorize her appearance. Her eyes grew as wide as saucers, and she heard dozens of different alarms blaring inside her head. This was bad. This was really bad.

She bit her lip and retreated, her feet seemingly on autopilot as she hurried down an unfamiliar hallway. What the hell had just happened? Why the hell was she freaking out about it?

She was Raven for God's sake! The impassive, stoic, impenetrable girl who did not flirt or let herself be wooed by unfamiliar guys under any circumstances. Yet here she was getting weak-kneed over some idiot she'd been stuck in an elevator with for almost an hour. An idiot who she found absolutely aggravating, mind you. What the hell was wrong with her!?

Raven sighed and clutched her forehead, her headache coming back at full force. God, that girl's night out had been a really fucking stupid idea. Why had she let herself be convinced? If she had just stayed home and woken up early, abiding by her normal routine, none of this would have happened. She was really starting to lose it.

Her heels clicked against the marble floor rhythmically, and she suddenly found herself stopping. She huffed out in annoyance when she realized she'd been roaming the hallways with no remote idea where she was headed to. She decided to take the stairs for the remaining two floors until she finally reached Dick's office, a total of fifty-six minutes late.

Raven opened the door to his office and noticed he was pacing around talking frantically on the phone. When he noticed her, his face shifted from panicked to puzzled to relieved within the span of five seconds.

"Raven!" he exclaimed while hanging up the phone. "Where the hell have you been!? I've been calling everyone to ask for you! You're never late! Kory said she woke up and you were already gone, but when you didn't arrive after half an hour, I started to worry. You weren't answering your phone, and after forty-five minutes I finally started making calls to see if anyone knew where you were! Do you have any idea how worried I was!?"

"Control yourself, Richard, I was stuck in the elevator this whole time," Raven sighed and crossed her arms.

"For an hour!?" he exclaimed.

"Yes, if you'd just bother to tell your guys to fix the elevators for once, we wouldn't have had this complication," she rebutted.

Dick finally shut his mouth, "Alright. You have a point, let's just forget this. Next time you're late, mind giving me a call?"

"My phone was dead, but I'll make sure it doesn't happen again," she nodded.

With that, they went on with their respective jobs, Raven managing important business emails and taking phone calls while Dick attended his daily meetings to analyze the progress of the company. Needless to say, Raven wasn't properly focused on her job considering a certain emerald-eyed idiot seemingly invaded her thoughts.

God, she really had to get a grip on herself before things got bad. The good news was, she wasn't planning on running into him ever again.

Date: Thursday, March 14, 2019

A/N: I've been working on this story for a long while now, so no, I did not postpone Glass. I do want to have a little fun releasing these chapters so... I've decided that you guys might have to work a little if you want to see this story continued. That is, if you want it to be continued, of course. We're going to have a fun game of Teen Titans trivia every chapter and if someone guesses correctly I will update the next chapter in the coming days. So if it takes months for the correct answer to come through, then it'll probably take months for the next update. I will be nice, though, if in a few weeks you still haven't figured it out (which I doubt), I'll edit this chapter with a hint. Let the games begin!

We're going to start off easy...

Question

Beast Boy once "[dug] around in someone's intestines" for Raven's sake (romantic, huh?)
Can you name the comic Issue and Volume when this took place?

Answer
?