Different

Chapter Nineteen

I shot up on the hospital bed with a gasp. Within seconds my blurry vision cleared. I was in the infirmary at the tower.

"Raven!"

He startled me with his surprisingly strong voice. Bandages snaked around his chest all the way down to his lower abs.

"Are you checking me out?" He teased.

"N-no," the heart monitor caught my lie and brought it out for him clearly see.

"Whatever, Rae, I know you dig me." He winked.

"Idiot," I mumbled.

He stood up from the chair, wincing slightly as he took a spot next to me on the bed.

"I'm sorry she hurt you," I whispered, "I'm sorry I let this happen."

My voice sounded meek. It was although I were a 10-year-old girl apologizing for letting her pet out a cage and letting it run wild.

"You didn't know what was going on, Raven. How could you? We weren't at the tower."

"I should have known," my voice raised. "I should have known when nothing was blowing up on our date!"

Beast Boy's body tensed up next to me. I craned my neck. He had a stupid grin on his face, coupled with a bright blush.

"So...it was a date?"

"That's...that's not the point," I grappled to return to the subject. "I should have known something was wrong."

"Because you were finally giving yourself a chance to feel? What's wrong with that?"

I was shocked by his abrupt questioning. Usually I would reply with some snarky comment. I would be mean. But I remembered everything Amour had told me. I didn't want to push him away anymore.

"I'm not like you guys," I admitted. "I'm not meant to love anyone."

Beast Boy draped his arm over my shoulder and pulled me against him.

"Beast Boy, what are you-"

"Shhh." He commanded, "listen."

He pressed me closer to his chest. His warmth enclosed around me, overwhelming everyone of my senses. There was a small pop from one of the glasses breaking. I struggled to free myself from his embrace.

"Beast Boy, I really shouldn't-"

"Not until you tell me what you hear."

He held me tighter to him.

I sighed. I pressed my cheek against his chest. There was the soft thump of his heart, steadily increasing the longer I laid against him. I could feel the vibrations of each pulse pounding against my cheek. I listened longer, expecting there to be something I was missing.

"I only hear your heart." I said after a couple more minutes.

"Bingo," he said.

He grabbed my hand and held it against my chest.

"What do you feel."

I gave him a look that said 'you have clearly lost your mind'.

"I promise there is a reason for this.

"I feel my heart, but that doesn't-"

"So your father was a demon lord. Big whoop." He laughed. "Starfire is an alien princess. Cyborg can't go through metal detractors without having to dismember more than half his own body. Robin was raised by Batman, and I can turn into every animal in the world because I got bit by a disease-carrying monkey!"

"Okay..." I smiled. "You've officially lost your mind."

"What I am saying, Rae, is that you and I," he used his finger as though drawing an imaginary line connecting us, "we aren't that different."