It all started after a mission, particularly easy, too easy, Beast Boy didn't give much attention to it, he was just happy that he had finished early, the green boy could finally enjoy his afternoon alone in his room, maybe playing video game, maybe reading a book, or just enjoying a good and long bath.
On the way to his room, the boy saw that Raven's door was open, which was strange since Raven would never leave his door like this, it was very private.
Contrary to the voice in his head that told him he would die if he entered Raven's room, he still enters.
"Raven? Beast Boy asks while trying to see something, the room was so dark, he took the cell phone in his pocket and turned on the flashlight, the young witch's room was the same as a few years ago when he and Cyborg were there, apart from some new books and artifacts. The youngest of the titans searched everywhere in the room but couldn't find Raven, he started to worry, so he went looking elsewhere in the tower, hoping she would be there.
Earlier elsewhere in the Robin Tower was going to his room to pick up the police report regarding today's mission, but apparently life had other plans for him this morning. A young alien and a young half robot were running through the corridors, which was nothing new but Starfire seemed to be very angry with Cyborg, so the leader decided to follow them to avoid a mess.
The three youths eventually entered the training room, more specifically the locker room. Starfire was almost hitting Cyborg with his powers, Robin entered between the two.
"What's going on here? The young leader asks by arcing his eyebrow over his mask.
"We're just playing pick-me-up friend Robin" Starfire answers as he's floating through the air.
"I said Star pick-up, not mass annihilation" Cyborg said trying to recover from almost being burned alive.
"Isn't that how you earthlings play? Beast Boy told me that's exactly how you play on my homeworld" The confused alien asks the two kids.
"I'm going to kill that spinach head." The older one says in answer.
"Okay..." Robin would have to talk to BB about not manipulating Starfire to kill Cyborg. "If you don't need me, I'll..."
"RAVEEEEN" The leader is interrupted by a scream from the green boy.
While the three young men were talking, Beast Boy entered the training room but not the dressing room, the room was large, so he thought of looking behind some exercise device.
"RAVEEEEN" The youngest keeps calling the witch.
"Can you speak your mouth?" A voice answers him, he is relieved when he meets Raven, in the corner of the wall behind the strange "wall" that Cyborg pushes around.
"Your bedroom door was open and you weren't there, I was worried." The boy says sitting next to the witch, "You never leave your bedroom door open, did anything happen?
"I... Maybe she did a spell that didn't do me much good," she was being vague, but Beast Boy could work with it.
"And you couldn't stay in that space anymore?" The demon half said with their heads, "I understand..." They're silent for a while.
"Do you think we should get out of here?" Cyborg asks.
"Maybe... But then Raven would think we were spying on her" The leader answers
"But isn't it wrong to listen to other people's conversations?" The young girl asks.
"Yeah, but I don't think they need to know," Cyborg answers.
"You... Do you know why I've never talked about my past?" BB asks after a few minutes of silence.
"I never stopped to think about it, you're always so open about things, I think I created this image in my head about you and your happy parents and then you going on patrol to do good" Raven bites his lips wondering why she had never stopped to notice that, in fact she knew almost nothing about BB.
The green boy let out a kind of sad laugh, "I understand Rav, I guess in time I just thought that instead of dealing with my problems, it would be better to put on a mask of the person I want to be." The green boy closes his eyes with a sigh, "I understand because you're not an open person, and if you don't want to tell me what's afflicting you, fine. But, I've wanted to tell you something for a while now, I feel like I'm not being true".
"I don't... I don't... A mask of the person you want to be? What does that mean?" Raven turned to face BB with curiosity.
"You didn't choose to tell us about your past, it just came out of nowhere and hit you hard, I understand it's frustrating, mine came out of nowhere too. Haunting me again." Beast Boy opened her eyes staring at the witch, "Yeah, I like to go out and have fun, sometimes, not all the time, I understand when you babble about spells, or when Cyborg talks about science, sometimes I understand Starfire talking about her planet, and I understand Robin about the fights. I like reading books as much as you do, sometimes I need a quiet place to clear my head, or I just need to play video games with Cyborg, it depends on whether I want to be alone or not" BB shrugged his shoulders.
"Why didn't you ever tell us?" Raven was looking for an answer in his mind.
"Well, first when I joined the Young Titans, I wasn't so open, so I thought I'd just put on a fun face and try to distract myself with parties, video games or drinks, which didn't work, so I found myself in that time, I still like parties, drinks and video games but there are so many other things I like, honestly you never asked me so I didn't feel like saying, but that's not why I understand you" The green boy takes a deep breath, so he feels a hand on his, giving him comfort.
"I also understand if you don't want to talk BB" Raven speaks surprisingly with a loving voice, she had understood that she wasn't the only one with secrets.
"No, I do. I do. As I was saying, the reason I understand science is because my parents were scientists. I" The voice of BB cracks "When I was 4 years old, my parents were looking for a cure for a disease, so they thought they had finally found it, but there was only one way to find out, and since everyone in our village had families who were taking care of them, and nobody wanted to be the experiment, they made me catch the disease, and then injected the healing into me" Tears were flowing down his face at this moment, Raven shook his hand harder "They didn't find the healing complete, but I didn't die from the disease, I just got a new color and super powers, after that, they were fascinated, and locked me up as a research object. They researched a lot about magic, too, and I heard them arguing, sometimes when I managed to steal books. They even mentioned several planets, including yours and Star's."
"BB, I can't even... I'm sorry" Raven also had tears in his eyes.
"It's okay, Rav, it's not your fault." BB comforts her "After that, my father and mother... When I did 10 they wondered if I could get pregnant from a man" Raven held his breath "Hum... When they tried to test the theory, I panicked, and when my clothes were being torn I just saw it dark. When I woke up everything was destroyed, a pool of blood on the floor, and my parents had disappeared. It was the first time the Beast had gone out. Then I ran out of that place, I didn't know if they were alive or not, and I didn't even care. After 1 week living on the streets a man found me, he called me Stick, he was blind, he said he saw potential in me at his gym, so he took me there and trained me, I also know self-defense, although I don't need to use, he taught me how to control my powers, how to channel my anger and how to control my feelings, like the monks of Azarath. One day he just disappeared, and the u was left aimless again, until I met the Patrol of Destiny, you know the story later" BB wipes her tears.
"I'm sorry you thought you couldn't talk to me about it, I never wanted to-" BB cuts Raven in the middle.
"It's not your fault, I just needed to solve my own feelings alone, with no mind influencing me about how I should be, I just want you to know that I understand you, and you're not alone, I'm the same person that you know Rav, only a little changed" The witch's green boy a smile, the same retribute.
"You know, if I wasn't a lesbian and you weren't gay, I'd even see the future in our relationship." The demon half plays to relax.
"I won't ask how you know, but I believe in Almada platonic twins, and I'm sure you're mine, even when we didn't tell each other things.
"I did a spell to see if I could control my emotions, they've been very messy lately, as if something had kept them agitated, and it went wrong, because anger got angry that it was being kept" BB swallows dry.
"He reveals, "You know, besides the stick training, I'm still half animal, I can control myself so I don't express my emotions to your empathy, but... After this mission I... I couldn't, I wasn't thinking straight," Raven looks at him worried.
"What do you mean? She wasn't surprised that BB could hide two emotions from her, it made sense.
"The boy reveals the edge of tears again. Raven does the most sensible thing to do at that moment and pulls him into a hug. "I think it's time for parents to resurface to hell with their children's lives" BB releases a laugh that looks more like a hiccup.
"Remember you were always there for me when I was dealing with Trigon? I'm always here for you, too, we'll go through this together." BB and Raven were happy that, finally after so long, there was someone who really understood them, they were no longer alone.
"How about we go clean up your room? Or spend some time in mine, you know, after those years I think you'll find it organized. And also, you could help me find a way to talk to Star, Robin and Cy. I really didn't want them to worry about me, but I think my parents might be a problem." BB puts his head against Raven's.
"I think it's perfect. The 3 options. And no matter what happens, we'll be able to handle this problem together. As a family," Raven wasn't used to being so affectionate, but this situation made her emotional.
"Thank you
And then they both left the training room.
"..." In the dressing room I could only hear a silence. Cyborg was wondering how he had never noticed that BB understood the things he was talking about; after all, BB suggested several changes in his technologies, he just hadn't noticed that, some of his improvements were Beast Boy's credit.
Starfire was wondering how she hadn't noticed before that BB didn't have the confusing face of her friends several times when she mentioned her home planet.
And Robin, well, Robin was blaming himself because he hadn't realized what was happening to the green boy.
"It's time to go now" With these words he leaves the thoughtful locker room, leaving his friends who were in the same state as him. All lost in they thoughts about Beast Boy.