The Beauty and the Beast
Garfield,
I've finished that order you asked for a few months ago. Sorry it was so delayed but an image inducer is a little hard to create... especially since you had no prior knowledge of how it would work.
- C. J.
Beast Boy crumpled the note attached to the sent package, wasting no time to tear off the thin layers of material. Inside it was a tiny wrist watch with a black face. He attached it to his wrist and the face lit up.
Hello, Master!
He looked at it in awe, as he felt a tiny tingle down his spine and shuddered, looking at the wrist watch, which now read: do you find this look appealing?
Beast Boy dashed over to the mirror. His clothes were still the same, purple, black and formfitting, but his skin tone was caucasian as it once was, downy reddish-red hair tickled his forehead and bright blue eyes twinkled back at him. He looked like an older version of what he looked like before he turned green.
"This looks great!" He shouted. He crossed over to his closet, digging out suitable clothes to wear now that he wasn't bright green and had pointy ears. He uprooted several pairs of faded jeans, a belt, multi-colored tees and a fleece sweatshirt. He picked the ones least hideous and slipped the baggy jeans over his thin body, a shirt that had the batman symbol and the fleece red sweatshirt.
Beast Boy was glad to walk down main street again now that people weren't stopping and staring. In fact, most people just passed him without a second glance. One girl bumped into and didn't even turn enough to catch a glimpse to snarl: "Watch where you're going".
He was on main street for one reason, so he sucked in his courage before walking into the dusty old bookstore.
"'Ello," an old man with a toothy grin welcomed. "Did you get lost?"
Gar felt his heart sink a little. This man was so used to people not in there for books that he didn't even expect him to sit down with a dusty leather bound book and a cup of peppermint tea. "Uh, I actually wanted to buy A Tale Of Two Cities? I just moved in last week, so..."
He sighed in relief as the man shuffled off to grab the book. Paying the twelve dollars, Garfield took a seat at an empty table- actually, the only table- and flipped open the book to start reading.
Halfway through the second chapter, the bell rung throughout the tiny store, and in all her beauty, Raven floated in, her dark hood drawn around her head. "Hi, Lou. Did my book come in?"
The man whistled, "Sure did. It's in the back. Why don't you take a seat? I'll warm up some tea for you too."
Raven nodded, but when she turned to sit at the circular table she stopped in her tracks to at seeing him sit there. Probably because he was so devishly handsome.
"Who's he?"
"New fella. Kinda quiet. Didn't get his name, though," Lou said, before bustling off with his cracked teapot.
Raven stood a distance away from him, so he didn't push it. He definitely didn't want to reveal who he was just yet- he wanted to test his theory. After a minute or so though, he looked up with a lopsided smirk, "I'm not gonna bite."
She let out a small giggle to this, covering her mouth with her palm as if she couldn't believe she had made that sound.
"Seriously, go ahead and take a seat."
She strides over, pulls out the chair and sits at the very end of it. "And you are...?"
"... Logan," he mumbles, almost blurting out Garfield. Nobody is named Garfield besides himself and a cat. It was much safer to use his last name. "Logan Morse."
"I'm Raven, one of the Teen Titans."
He was right, Raven had absolutely no problem with him while he wasn't bright green and furry. That also stabbed his heart a little too. If she couldn't like him for everything that he was... Well, technically, he had been an adorable red head at one point in his life.
"So, who else is in this 'Teen Titans'?" He asked, trying to keep his cover for as long as possible.
She gave him a funny look, "Well there's lots, actually. But the main ones are Robin- our leader, Starfire- an alien, Cyborg, and Beast Boy- a changeling. Why, were you hoping to apply?"
Lie, he thought, "Oh, no, I just wondering. Also, to make sure someone as beautiful as you wasn't already taken."
She blushed, and he smiled, until Lou walked over with a thick bound book, giving Raven enough time to thank him and pay.
"Hey, wait! Do you wanna go out sometime?"
Beast Boy laid on his back in his bed, staring at the cieling intently. He- well, Logan- had a date with Raven tomorrow. Which meant he had to think of a reason as to why he was ditching Cy again and skip out on training with Robin.
A sharp knock on his door revealed Raven. Which surprised him a lot since Raven had two rules 1) Don't go near her room and 2) She wasn't going anywhere near your room.
"Hi Beast Boy."
"Uh, hi." He said dorkily. "What are you doing in my room?"
Smooth move. He scratched his head awkwardly, while Raven went on, "I have a date tomorrow, and since Starfire seems to be colorblind and you're the closest to my room, I need an opinion."
"An opinion?"
She held up to hangers with outfits attached. One had simple black pants with a white shirt that had a black rose. The second was a simple dark purple dress.
"Do you have anything that doesn't scream dark and depressing?"
She looked at the two outfits in surprise, "I don't think so..."
"Rae, we need to go shopping."
The dress shop was overflowing with pink clothes. Garfield was nauseated just by looking at it, he couldn't imagine how Raven felt. "Uh, okay, maybe green or light purple instead?"
She glanced at the short dresses and see-through baggy cardigan, lip curling in distaste.
"I'm heading out."
Beast Boy scrambled up from his spot on the couch, causing Cyborg to push him off, "Uh, I have to use the bathroom."
"Whatever," Cy said, eyes focused on the bloody game, "Be back in time for the end boss."
Beast Boy hurried to his room, feeling the familiar tingle down his back and lept out the window, transforming into a green pigeon. He flapped downtown before landing a few stores down from the coffee shop he was meeting Raven at. He looked at his watch impatiently, before it blinked back. Low battery. 23%
"What are you, a phone?" He groaned. Had CJ included a way for him to charge the watch? Or mentioned it dying at all? He flipped the switch and brushed the floppy layers out of eyes.
He pushes his way into the coffee shop. It's actually a very nice, well kept place with dark wood chairs and tables. The entire shop smelled of freshly made coffee. It also mostly consisted of college students cramming and papers spread out across their table and a few stragglers reading paperbacks.
He reaches the front and the woman working gave him a sheepish look. "Can I help you?"
"Two black coffees."
Battery low, consider charging. 16%
Gar sighed, glancing at the watch while the waitress slid across the counter two coffeees in styrofoam cups and a napkin wrapped around them. She placed straws, spoons and a few packets of sugar on the cup holder as well.
He looked around, trying to find Raven. After a few minutes he deemed she wasn't there and waited patiently against the counter.
"Hi there," Raven said, walking over to him and talking a cup in her pale, tiny hands. He smiled, while his watch beeped annoyingly again.
He covered his wrist before she got suspicious and gestured over to one of the open tables, "Wanna sit?"
Beep, beep, beep.
"So, how's your family?" Raven asked, sipping her coffee. Garfield tried to ignore the beeping coming from his wrist.
He exhaled, "Uh, never met my dad... my mom died when I was ten- drove off the side of the road, and I lived with my older sister for a little while."
"And what's your favorite color?"
"Green," he answered, far too quickly.
She swirled her coffee with her spoon. "So. Charles Dickens?"
He leaned forward in surprise, "well, yeah. He's the man who started it all!"
"I didn't take you as a Charles Dickens type person."
His watch beeped. "Well... my mom used to read Great Expectations and A Christmas Carol."
She batted her eyelashes, "Sounds like fun. I prefer the fantasy stuff, if you know what I mean. Dragons, princes-"
"The Beauty and the Beast?"
"Something like that," She mumbled, taking a drink of her coffee. He looked glumly at his cold coffee lid. "Ready to head out?" He finally blurted out, discreetly vomiting his cold coffee into a napkin after finding out it tasted like sludge once it was cold shower temperature. He tossed the napkin into a nearby trashcan while he waited for Raven to get her belongings around to leave.
Her communicator suddenly started making a ringing sound and she stopped dead in her tracks, reaching into her purse for the piece of tech before switching it on and answering Robin's call. When she was done, she turned towards him. "I'm so sorry, I've gotta cut this short. Maybe next time?"
He smiled awkwardly. "Uh, yeah. I'd like that."
That's when he noticed his reflection in the window. He no longer sported soft, downy, red hair and eyes shining back blue. Everything was green. A patch of unruly green hair, complexion was bright green and his eyes didn't shine anymore. He groaned, poking at his pointed teeth that had just an hour ago looked like normal human teeth; flat.
She leaned up and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and he felt the cool imprint from where she had touched him. He felt his entire body heat up in that one second, and knew he was blushing. Raven left immediately.
"Beast was right," He sighed, waving goodbye to the waitress. Outside it was dark, and he wasted no time throwing the image inducer in the trash now that it was junk. He transformed into a pterodactyl just as his communicator buzzed on his belt.
"He looked down at it in his clawed dinosaur hands. It was just a message... from Raven. He felt his heart drop and almost didn't read it.
Almost.
Date number Two?
A.N. Lots and LOTS of thanks to my friend, who kept pushing me to write this.
And also to all you people who got me hooked into the BBRae fandom.
I hope you enjoy this.
-TN