AN: I do not own Teen Titans… if you didn't already know.
Chapter 1
Robin, Cyborg, and Beast Boy walked down the streets of Jump City, casually. It had been a slow day, so after taking care of a robbery that morning they decided to spend the day out. Starfire had dragged Raven off to some free makeover thing at the mall, leaving the boys alone for the day. They spent that free time going to the arcade, watching a pretty gruesome movie that they knew the girls wouldn't agree to go see, and getting some pizza.
The girls had contacted them and told them that they were back home. So the boys were walking the streets a little more before heading back to the tower. They were just passing an elementary school and watched as the children played during their recess.
"Dudes, can you believe that if we were normal we'd be in school right now?" laughed Beast Boy.
"Yeah, but we wouldn't have recess," said Cyborg. "We'd be in high school."
"Still, we'd be in school," said Beast Boy.
"Well I've certainly never regretted earning my high school diploma early," said Robin.
"Me neither," said Cyborg.
"Eh, they're over rated," said Beast Boy, brushing the subject off.
"But you've got one, right?" asked Robin.
"Well… not exactly," said Beast Boy. "I mean, I was kinda home schooled by the Doom Patrol so I didn't get an official diploma."
"Beast Boy, you need to get your diploma," said Robin.
"Why?" asked Beast Boy. "It's not like I'm ever gonna need it. I mean, I'm a superhero! Besides, I completed all of my schooling, what will a little piece of paper do?"
"You know, you can get it online," said Cyborg. "When we get back you can take the test and we can print you out one."
"Uh, no thanks," said Beast Boy, nervously. "Knowing me, I'd probably fail. I mean, it has been a few years since I've learned anything."
"I'd agree to that," Cyborg smiled, causing Beast Boy to give him a small growl.
The three young men took a glance onto the playground and saw various children swinging, playing tag, or sliding down the slide. They spotted a little red headed girl picking on a little blond boy. He looked quite peeved and kept screaming for her to go away, but she only pushed him down before running off with her friends.
"Ah, young love," Cyborg chuckled.
"What?" asked a clueless Beast Boy.
"That little red headed girl has a crush on that blond boy," said Robin, pointing to the children.
"What are you talking about?" asked Beast Boy. "She was picking on him, not flirting with him."
"Well that's how a lot of kids act out their affection," said Robin. "They pick on the one they have a crush on just to get their attention and to lead them off course so they don't figure it out."
Suddenly Cyborg began to laugh. "Hey, I bet that's why Raven's always yelling and slapping you, B," he chuckled. "She's got a crush on you!"
Robin joined in laughing with Cyborg at the sheer insanity of the idea. Raven have a crush on Beast Boy? Now that would be a sign that either the world was ending or hell was freezing over. But Beast Boy did not laugh at this, quite the opposite. He froze completely in his tracks and his eyes widened as if he had just had an epiphany.
"Oh… my… god," he said at last, causing Robin and Cyborg to stop and turn around. They hadn't noticed that Beast Boy had stopped walking. "She likes me!"
"What? No, man, I was just joking around," said Cyborg.
"Come on, it explains everything!" said Beast Boy, waving his arms in the air dramatically. "Why she's always snapping at me, why she hits me every chance she gets, why she throws all of those sarcastic comments at me."
"She throws all of those sarcastic comments at all of us," said Robin. "She doesn't have a crush on you."
"Dude, she's gotta!" said Beast Boy. "I'm cool, I'm hot, I've got a great movie star grin, what's not to have a crush on?"
"B, I think you're goin off the deep end," said Cyborg seriously and putting his hand on Beast Boy's shoulder.
"No, I'm not!" said Beast Boy. "It all makes sense now. Oh man, I've go to find Raven and tell her that I don't like her like that. Maybe then she'll leave me alone." And with that he turned into a hawk and flew off towards the tower to talk to Raven.
"She doesn't like you, Beast Boy!" Robin screamed after him, afraid for his teammate's life.
"Yeah, man, I was only kiddin!" Cyborg added.
Beast Boy landed on the roof of the tower and quickly made his way inside. His mind was racing and he kind of felt proud that Raven had a crush on him. Boy, had she done a good job of hiding her feelings. But, after all these years, he had figured it out. He made it to her door and rapped his knuckles against it.
"For the last time, Starfire, I'm not keeping that makeup on!" Raven almost yelled.
"Uh, Raven, it's me," said Beast Boy.
Slowly Raven opened her door a crack to make sure it really was Beast Boy. When she saw his green skin she opened her door to see him. "Can I help you?" she asked in a tired tone.
"Well, Raven," he said, clearing his throat. "It's come to my attention that you have a crush on me."
Raven only raised an eyebrow at this statement.
"I mean, yeah, it took me a while to figure it out, but now I have," he said. "You see, I never went to public school or anything so I never knew that when a girl picks on you it means they have a crush on you. That's why it took me so long to catch on."
"Beast Boy…"
"Anyway, I just wanted to tell you that as flattered as I am I don't like you like that," said Beast Boy in a slightly cocky way.
"Beast Boy…"
"I mean, you're one of my best friends and I think we should just keep it at that," he continued. "Not that I can blame you for having a crush on me. I am quite a ladies man."
"Beast Boy!" Raven said sternly.
"Yes?" he asked.
"I don't have a crush on you," said Raven, a little confused as to why he was saying all of this to her.
"Come on, Raven, I know you do," said Beast Boy. "You don't have to pretend anymore, or hit me for that matter."
"I don't have a crush on you," she said again, firmly.
"Oh really?" he asked in a slight chuckle. "Then why do you always hit me and make sarcastic comments?"
"Because you're irritating," said Raven plainly. "You spew horrible, corny jokes at me, you annoy me, you bug me when I try to meditate, and you have that arrogant, cocky attitude. That's why I hit you and make sarcastic comments."
Beast Boy stood there silent for a moment and let all of that sink in. "So… you don't have a crush on me?" he asked.
"Of course not," said Raven, plainly. "You're not exactly my type. I would have thought that you of all people would know that."
"Oh," he said, suddenly feeling quite awkward and stupid. "Well, uh, sorry. My mistake." He tried to back out of there, but Raven wasn't about to have that.
"Beast Boy, why in the world would you jump to the conclusion that I have a crush on you all of a sudden?" asked Raven.
"Well, uh, you see," he stuttered, feeling his throat go suddenly completely dry. "Like I said, I kinda found out that when little girls like boys they pick on them. So, we kinda assumed…"
"We?" asked Raven, sharply.
"Oh, yeah, uh, Cyborg, Robin, and I," said Beast Boy. "We kinda thought that that might be why you were always picking on me. Well, I kinda thought that, Robin and Cyborg said I was crazy. I guess I am."
"Not crazy, just self absorbed," said Raven, crossing her arms.
"Yeah, well, sorry about this," said Beast Boy blushing with embarrassment. "Look, can we, uh, put all of this behind us and pretend it never happened?"
"You read my mind," said Raven, closing her door.
Beast Boy had never felt so embarrassed in his entire life and he quickly ran to his room and locked the door. "You moron!" he yelled at himself. "Why are you so stupid? You knew that Raven didn't like you like that, so why did you do that? Why didn't you listen to Cy and Robin?" He took a seat on his bed and sighed. "And now I've got to put up with a wonderful awkwardness between Raven and me. Like our friendship wasn't strained enough already."
He groaned and fell backwards onto his bed. Then he had another thought that jump started his brain once more. "Not her type?" he asked himself. "What did she mean by that? Then what is her type? Does she think she deserves someone better than me? What's not to love about me? Why shouldn't she have a crush on me? What's so far fetched about that? I bet if I tried hard enough I could get her to like me."
He suddenly got a very devious idea. "I'll show her," he said, rubbing his hands together with a wicked grin. "I'll make her have a crush on me. No girl can resist the Beast Boy charm. Then she'll see that I can be her type. She'll see that she's not better than me."
Raven felt a bit flustered by her conversation with Beast Boy and was quite happy that she had gotten out of it. She had never thought he'd catch on. Heck, it had taken her nearly three years to catch on. It had taken her three years to figure out why she almost enjoyed hitting Beast Boy. It had taken her three years to figure out why she liked sending as many sarcastic, degrading comments his way as she could. It had taken her three years to realize that as much as she didn't want to believe it, she had a crush on Beast Boy.
She decided to meditate for a little while and get the conversation out of her head. It was too close for comfort. She didn't want him to find out, for she knew he'd just act like he was earlier; all cocky and proud. She hated it when he got like that. It was one of the few things that she actually did dislike about him. The rest was just a cover to keep him off of her trail.
She did like it when bugged her and told her jokes and annoyed her, for he was giving her attention. And when she hit him and yelled at him she was getting even more attention from him. She might have been quiet, but any idiot should have been able to see all of the signs she had been giving him. She was surprised that Robin the great detective hadn't confronted her on it. But, for some reason, none of them had ever caught onto what she was doing. That is, until today.