Cyborg In The Middle
Prompt from just-violet ^_^
Cyborg tapped enthusiastically at the buttons on his controller, tongue sticking from his mouth in rapt attention. His avatar on the screen before him ducked and weaved and danced around the surrounding enemies, dispatching them with similarly graceful efficiency. It was a thing of beauty... our would have been if the other character hadn't kept bumbling into walls, enemies, dead ends while destroying valuable items and even - horror of horrors - hurling an explosive device which landed at the feet of Cyborg's character. Fortunately, thanks to his quick thinking and his character's shield ability, he emerged unscathed. Cyborg grumbled as his sidekick began to vanish in a sea of objectively inferior enemies. Again. He hit the pause button and turned to his real-world compatriot.
"Dude. What the hell?" he asked, simply. The green teenager pouted and sulked at Cyborg and the screen.
"I dunno man, in the suck zone or something," he mumbled. Cyborg arched an eyebrow.
"You sure?" he pressed. Beast Boy nodded and waved at the screen, indicating he was ready to continue. He looked at his friend aghast when Cyborg instead elected to deactivate the console altogether.
"Dude! Why'd you do that, I was just about to stage an awesome comeback!" he claimed. Cyborg only stared back with narrowed eyes. "Well... maybe I wuz gonna..." the rest of Beast Boy's sentence fizzled into incomprehensible grumbles. Cyborg shook his head and put on what he liked to think of as the 'buddy Cy' face, laying one hand on his friend's shoulder.
"Come on, BB. You think I can't tell when something's wrong? I even noticed when you had heartburn that time," he said. Beast Boy smirked back at him.
"Yeah, but I wasn't exactly subtle: I think I was shouting about an alien getting ready to punch it's way outta my rib cage," he chortled. Cyborg laughed in agreement.
"You still ain't said what's wrong, man. You gonna lie to me now?" Cyborg questioned. Beast Boy growled - that was a pretty low blow. He glared at his friend but shortly relented, just as Cyborg had planned. The cybernetic hero watched with mild amusement as Beast Boy looked around them and even went so far as to rise from the couch and check the room and the corridor outside. Once he was satisfied they were alone, he returned to the couch and took a deep breath.
"I'm gonna ask Raven out."
"..."
"..."
"WHAT!?"
"Shhhhhhh! Shush, quiet, keep it down! Just stop. You heard me, I'm gonna ask Rav-"
"WHAT!?"
"D-DUDE! Wouldya keep it down?" Beast Boy pleaded. Cyborg finaly calmed down and looked at his friend. He was blushing, shivering and sweating, his eyes darting around as if the mere mention of his secret would invite disaster.
"Man... you got it bad, huh?" Cyborg asked gently. Beast Boy slumped, though his mouth turned up at the corners.
"Yeah... yeah, I got it bad," he answered dreamily. He shook himself and glanced at the clock before looking back at Cyborg. "Get out."
"Huh?" Cyborg replied. Beast Boy stood and started trying to shoo him from the room.
"It's nearly two o'clock. Raven always comes for her after-meditation tea at two o'clock on Tuesdays," he explained. Cyborg allowed himself to be ushered along while giving Beast Boy an odd look.
"That's kinda stalker-y, man," he deadpanned. Beast Boy huffed at him.
"We live in the same building and I have a crush on her. I'm gonna pick up on a few things," he argued. Cyborg shrugged and nodded and was finally pushed out the door. With a smirk and whistle, he made his way to the elevator, thinking he might as welel head to the garage while he wasn't welcome in the common room. After a dozen steps or so, he stopped as someone stepped into his path. With a knowing grin, he greeted them
"Hey, Rae! Off to get your tea?" he asked. Raven eyed him suspiciously.
"... yes." she replied. She considered him a moment, then the door behind him. Her eyes took on a glazed quality he recognised as her using her empathic senses. "Is Beast Boy alone in there?" she asked, nodding at the door to the common room.
"Uh... yeah, I was just gonna head to the garage to do... things?" he answered. Raven took his ambiguous reply without a single remark, a sure sign something was up. "You okay, Rae-Rae?"
"Fine. And don't call me that," she answered, still watching the door. Cyborg put on what he liked to think of as the 'big brother Cy' face and folded his arms in false impatience.
"You know you can't fool me, Raven," he stated. Raven gave him a long, impassionate stare.
"I'm going to ask Beast Boy out," she blurted suddenly. Cyborg's eyes very nearly popped out of his skull, but he managed to keep his voice down this time.
"What?!" he hissed. Raven folded her arms and turned her head away, cheeks blazing.
"I'm going to ask him out. I like him. Is that a crime?" she snarled. Cyborg shook his head.
"A crime? What? No... no, it's great!" he enthused. And now Raven was back to suspicious.
"It is?" she murmured. Cyborg backtracked.
"Well, I just mean it's good you're putting yourself out there, Raven, you know? I think you and the green bean could be good for each other and I'm gonna stop talking cos you already walked past me and I'm gonna go good luck bye." Indeed, Raven had ignored his rambling and walked around him toward the common room.
THE GARAGE, LATER
Cyborg dropped his tools the moment Beast Boy stepped through the door.
"Well? How'd it go?" he asked, ready to cheer when his friend gave him the good news.
"I... I choked. I never asked her."
RAVEN'S ROOM, LATER STILL
"You choked?" Cyborg cried. Raven nodded, pouting as she sat cross-legged on her bed.
"It turned out to be more difficult than I anticipated," she admitted. Big brother Cy to the rescue.
"Hey, we got the picnic planned for Starfire at the weekend, right? What if I managed to get Rob and Star away for a bit, give you some time with BB?" he offered.
BEAST BOY'S ROOM, EVEN LATER
"You'd do that?" Beast Boy asked, wide eyed. Buddy Cy gave him a huge thumbs up
"Of course!"
RAVEN'S ROOM, POST-PICNIC
"You got scared? You?" Cyborg whined. Raven glared at him.
"Even I'm human in some ways, you know," she said, defensively. He held his hands up in surrender.
"Okay, okay..."
BEAST BOY'S ROOM, POST-RAVEN'S ROOM
"You got scared, huh?" Cyborg asked defeatedly. Beast Boy nodded in dejection.
"Yeah. She's even scarier when you have a crush on her," he said.
"I'll take your word for it," Cyborg joked. "Listen, Rob's visiting Gotham next weekend. I bet I can get him to take Starfire with him."
"How?" Beast Boy queried. Cyborg stroked his chin with a smile.
"I have my ways..."
THE COMMON ROOM, THE NEXT DAY
"Hey Star, are you going to Gotham with Rob at the weekend?"
"Cyborg!" Starfire gasped, her eyes actually sparkling. "That is a wondrous idea! I will suggest it to Robin immediately." Cyborg chuckled as she flew through the door, knowing Robin would crumble before Starfire's luminous enthusiasm.
RAVEN'S ROOM, THE DAY AFTER THAT
"Rae, I managed to swing it so Starfire goes with Robin this weekend. I'll get myself out the tower for a while on the Saturday, give you plenty of time. Sound good?" Cyborg said. Raven nodded, a shy smile on her normally blank face.
"It sounds wonderful. Thank you, Cyborg."
THE COMMON ROOM, SATURDAY EVENING
"YOU STILL DIDN'T ASK HER?!" Cyborg yelled. Beast Boy shook his head.
"No... she came in and just sat down. We were watching whatever was on and... I guess I just wanted to enjoy it without ruining it. Cy? Uhhhh... Cy?"
"You are coming with me, little man." With those words, Cyborg grabbed Beast Boy around the waist and carried him through the door like a complaining green football. He marched purposefully and Beast Boy squirmed when Cyborg finally stopped and he saw the name on the door: Raven. He knocked, none too gently. Raven appeared and stared in shock at the captured Beast Boy.
"Ummm..." she started. Cyborg stepped past her into her room and dumped Beast Boy on the floor. He looked at Raven and pointed at the green changeling.
"He likes you," he stated. Beast Boy started to panic.
"Cy, what the hell?!" He was silent when Cyborg's angry glare settled on him as he pointed at Raven.
"She likes you," he stated, even more firmly. Beast Boy goggled and looked to a speechless and flushed Raven. His own cheeks started to burn.
"R-Rae?"
"Figure it out, you two. I'm out!" Cyborg exclaimed, stomping out into the corridor and back to the common room. Beast Boy stood, rubbing the back of his head and chuckling nervously.
"So that was pretty crazy," he said.
"You like me?" Raven asked quietly, a new vulnerability in her eyes. Beast Boy swallowed and nodded.
"Yeah. Do you like me?" he asked in return. Raven trembled for a long moment and then nodded. "Wow. Then... then I guess we like each other."
"I guess so," Raven agreed. "Maybe we should go out or something." Beast Boy grinned.
"Join me for a walk?" he asked. Raven smiled at him and the pair made their way to the elevator, getting out at the ground floor and wandering aimlessly around their tiny island. Beast Boy jumped when Raven slipped her hand into his. She flushed bright red.
"I've wanted to do this for a long time," she confessed. Beast Boy relaxed and squeezed her hand experimentally.
"Me too."
THE COMMON ROOM
Cyborg stood at the window, watching his friends saunter about outside, hand-in-hand.
"It's about time!" he grumbled.
THE END
See that? I paraphrased his line from Tokyo regarding Robin and Starfire and had fun doing it. Hope you like this!
-Jack