Disclaimer: I do not own anything even remotely resembling Teen Titans.
A\N Okay so this is my first story. It is based off of something from another author on this site where he has a list of "Titles without stories" and put them up for grabs. If any others are interested in this the name is Rabula Tasa. So as far as I can recall that is all credit I owe to anyone here. Of course don't forget the makers of Teen Titans.
Beep,beep,beep. Slam.
Garfield Mark Logan woke up at eight am ,like he had for the last year with only about 4 hours of sleep. Robin had been making the team go to the gym at 9 am every morning, so Gar decided that he may as well get up early enough to be fully functional, even if not willing, by the time Rob wanted to drill them into the ground.
He went about his normal routine, shower, find clean jumpsuit, remind self to do laundry at some point in the future, brush teeth, etc.
As he walked down to the common room he mentally prepared himself to face his friends. This involved only one thing really. Like every other day he was preparing his mask. The mask he lived with everyday of his life. The mask his friends knew by the name of Beast Boy.
He walked into the main room with a big goofy grin which he managed to get to show in his eyes for that final touch of realism. "Hey Cy, Robin!" he exclaimed excitedly, "Starfire and Rae still not up?"
He received a little more than a look and a grunt from Robin. "Hey B, Stars still asleep as far as I know. And Rae threatened my soul last time I knocked when I woke up so I haven't checked on her." Cyborg replied, "but she'll probably be here soon for her tea."
As Cy finished Raven walked through the door. "Speak of the Devil," Beast Boy said then hurriedly to avoid any threats or glares, "sorry bad taste, Cy was just saying you'd probably be here soon."
She decided to let him off with a stern look then spoke, "Morning Robin, Cyborg."
"Glorious morning friends!" Star came bursting in the room narrowly avoiding collision with Raven, who for her part did not even flinch. "Would anyone care for some nutritious Borgnash?" even though she already knew the answer, which turned out to be a unanimous no. She then flew over and gave Robin a hug and a kiss which he returned somewhat shyly seeing as he isn't much for showing his emotions much less displays of affection, and even less so for those of the public kind.
"Aw where's my kiss," Beast Boy said with the same goofy grin which of course caused Robin to start in surprise as Star flew over and gave BB a kiss on the cheek, "well I guess I'll take what I can get," getting a snicker out of Cyborg and an eye-roll from Rae.
After Breakfast, which of course contained an infamous tofu vs. meat battle, they assembled in the gym. "Okay today we're gonna focus on team drills." Robin started.
"Come on Rob I think we got the idea by now as far as that goes."
"Okay then Beast Boy, what would we all do if we were confronted with Cinderblock and a dozen thugs armed with high powered assault rifles on a crowded street."
Without hesitation he replied, "Raven would put up shields while providing long range support if her powers weren't already being used to their limit. Cyborg would use his sonic blaster to keep them away from Raven's shields as much as possible and knock out any to come close enough. I would dive into the gunmen and push them apart to keep them from using the rifles as much as they would otherwise. While you and Star would focus on taking Cinderblock down as fast as possible since he could do far more damage unchecked than the bozos with the guns."
There was a silence as all in the room but Raven stared at him in shock. "What did you really think I didn't pay attention to the strategy meetings?"
"I told you all he needed to do was apply himself." Raven said to Robin.
"Yeah, I just never figured he would."
"You know guys, I'm still here!" BB said with a slight scowl.
"How could we forget if you never let us grass-stain," Cyborg joked.
"Well I guess we could just focus on sharpening our individual fighting skills, but I do want you to spar with me Beast Boy since you know the least about hand-to-hand combat in the group," Robin declared.
"But I don't even ever use that!"
"What if something stops you from using your powers or you're in a position where it would be unwise to use them? Of course, you could always spar with Star."
He eyed her carefully before smiling and saying, "Sure I'd love to spar with you Robbie."
"Robin," the teen corrected automatically.
Two hours later Gar stumbled into his room more sore than he would have thought was physically possible if it hadn't been the Boy-Wonder beating him around the ring. He didn't really begrudge Robin for the pain, he really did understand the need for martial arts training, he was just getting back into the mask when whining about it since he almost slipped up with the rhetorical Cinderblock thing. He just wished Rob would have cut him some slack Garfield had only been trained in martial arts for a few months. Especially since Robin had been in the biz for 10 years or so, and if what Gar had heard about the Batman was true then he had trained Robin for some time before ever letting him loose on Gotham's thugs.
He got up and went to what was blessedly his own bathroom, Robin had finally had private bathrooms installed for everyone. I've always wondered where he gets all the money for these things, he thought idly, maybe he did convince the city to give us more money, whatever, it isn't important anyway. He looked around inspecting the bathroom. It was as always messy and to the untrained eye a complete mess. Despite this it was very clean, after all Garfield's sense of smell was many times more acute than a normal human's.
After cleaning up he laid on his bed and for the first time for what seemed like years got more than his 4 nightly hours of sleep.
"Garfield."
Gar ran across course grass and hard packed dirt towards the voice calling him, "Momma!" he yelled as she scooped him up.
"Your dad is supposed to be back from the tribe anytime so we need to get you cleaned up and dinner ready since we don't know if they even ate while he was there."
A short time later footsteps are heard and Marie goes out with Garfield to greet his dad only to see him carrying what appeared to be a green monkey in a cage. As Mark neared she realized that it was indeed a green monkey.
"What is that and do you really plan on keeping it in our home?" Marie said with an edge creeping into her voice.
"This is exactly what it looks like dear, a green monkey," Mark replied as he carefully set it down to hug Gar.
"And I just happen to know that monkeys aren't naturally green, so what exactly if I may ask causes a monkey to be green?" she said the edge growing sharper by the word.
"It's probably what the tribes people around here call Sakutia they cau..."
"ARE YOU INSANE!" Marie went off on her husband while both Garfield and Mark looked upon her in fear, "If that thing infects Garfield he will die! And you plan on bringing it into our home?"
Quickly in hopes to cut off more yelling Mark replied, "I swear it will stay in the lab the whole time, I'll only take it out when the whole place is locked down. Besides it's only communicable through saliva. Everything will be fine."
"Somehow that doesn't make me feel any better."
"Please this disease needs to be researched for the benefit of the children of Africa."
"Fine, but you will tell me every time you are letting it out and I will be the one to make sure everything is locked up before we leave it alone."
"OK then, well I'll just go put him in the lab then," he said as he retreated to the lab.
Throughout this whole conversation Garfield watch with a sense of curiosity and the whole time wondered why they wouldn't let him play with the monkey. He decided he would just have to find out on his own.
Gar woke up with a start in his room in Titan's Tower, he looked around confused for a moment before he realized where he was and that was when reality struck him. "Mom, Dad," he whispered and sat there with a hollow feeling inside.
A few minutes later he went to the bathroom to clean up a little before going down to the common room. As he left his room he checked the clock on his nightstand it was almost 6 o'clock he realized with a start and realized he had just gotten more sleep then than any other time for the last half year but he still felt pretty much the same as he did so he wasn't sure why he had been able to sleep as much as he had. Gar figured it was a question for a later time and walked out.
"Yo, B! Where you been all day? No ones seen you since training today," Cyborg called to him.
"Actually I passed out once I got cleaned up," Beast Boy replied.
"You do realize its almost six right?"
"Yeah, I noticed, I just haven't been getting much sleep this week."
"Any specific reason?" Cy asked in a worried tone.
"No, its nothing really, I just been staying up too late," BB replied with one of his pre-fabricated lines.
"Cool, well just don't let it happen too much, kay?" Cy said with a face that told Beast Boy he wasn't buying it, then walked off mumbling something about sound waves and metallic stress.
"Crap," Gar said under his breath then made a mental note to be more prepared when he left his room. He honestly had no clue why he was slipping up lately causing a few more questions to pop up than before. He had decided that the jokester was what his team needed him to be and he was determined not to let some dreams prevent that from being what they got.
He made it down to the common room where Robin was flipping through channels, Starfire was playing with Silkie and Raven was reading. "Hey guys," he said loudly as he walked in.
"Hello friend Beast Boy," Star said jovially while playing with her beloved pet.
"Hey, where have you been all day?" Robin questioned.
"In my room," Beast Boy said vaguely.
"OK then, we were thinking of going out for some pizza after Cy does some maintenance on his arm cannon, you in?"
"Sure," Beast Boy said after deciding it would just bring up more questions than it was worth if he refused, and barely remembered to put on a grin before anyone got suspicious.
On the drive to the pizza place Beast Boy found himself while staring out the window trying to ignore the bagpipe music that was Star's choice since it "reminded her of Fernglog" which no one had decided to ask her to elaborate on, and it was her turn to pick so it wasn't disputed.
"You have been awfully quiet the whole drive," Raven said snapping the green teen out of his reverie.
"I was just thinking,"
"About?" she pressed.
"The consequences of a national monkey Kung-fu championship might have on the sports world as a whole," he said without even thinking.
"Sure," Raven replied then after a moment, "what where you really thinking about?"
"What does it matter," Beast said tiredly.
After a few moments of thought she decided to leave it at that until later.
For the most part while at the pizza place Beast Boy didn't say a whole lot just kept thinking about his dreams and what he could do to stop them from keeping him from sleeping and functioning as his normal self.
"You gonna answer B?" Cyborg questioned loudly.
"I'm sorry what did you ask?"
"I asked if you were sick friend Beast Boy because you have been acting odd this whole time," Starfire said.
"No I'm fine just thinking."
"Well if you keep that up as much as you have you may just rip a whole in the space-time continuum," Cyborg said and then let out a chuckle, "but seriously is something going on? You been actin strange recently."
"I agree you have been different," Robin stated plainly in a tone that just as plainly said he wasn't going to leave it alone.
"Relax dudes I guess I'm just having an off day can't a guy catch a break?"
"We are just worried for you friend Beast Boy."
"Yeah if you ever need anything just talk to us we're your friends," Robin.
"I'll remember that," BB told them, "but really nothins goin' on."
When they got home Cyborg of course challenged Beast Boy to a match on the new game that they got the day before. This was something else he could not refuse without bringing up too many questions. As he played he got to thinking again. He felt like every action he did every day was based on that one criteria. If he didn't crack jokes they questioned, if he refused to watch a movie with the team they looked at him quizzically, if he didn't take Cyborg's bait for another meat vs. tofu debate there was curious silence, he honestly didn't know if he could keep it up.
At about 10 pm he excused himself citing a need for sleep and leaving Cy with the gamestation without another word, followed by somewhat confused looks from the others since he never went to bed before everyone else. He heard Cyborg repeating his story about staying up too late before he got in the elevator.
When he got close to his room Raven came out of a portal next to his door, "Hey Rae, you missed your room by quite a bit there."
She gave him a serious look for a moment before saying, "We need to talk."
"I agree, you should change the look, blue and black just doesn't work for you, I was thinking more of a mauve scheme" he said with a smile.
"Do you even know what mauve looks like?"
"Not a clue," his smile growing bigger.
"You know that isn't why I came to talk," she paused for a few seconds then continued, "I want the truth, what is wrong Beast Boy."
"I told you guys nothins wrong."
"Beast Boy, you know I'm an empath why are you even trying that on me?"
He grimaced and then said, "What do you want me to say?"
"We could start with the truth."
"Well I don't need any help."
"Everyone needs help Beast Boy, just remember what Robin said, we are your friends, and when you're ready for help we will still be here."
"Yeah? Well don't hold your breath," he said and then walked into his room.
That night like every other night he lay on his bed and stared into the darkness until sleep over took him.
Garfield was still awake even though his parents had put to bed hours ago. They had stopped making noises some time ago but he wanted to be sure so he waited for snoring before he made his move.
First thing he had to do was get the key to the lab which was hanging up on a hook in the kitchen too high for him to reach. So when he got to the room his first instinct was to move a chair so he could grab them, he stopped himself a foot away from the chair realizing he would make too much noise while trying to move it. After a few minutes of thinking and nearly giving up on the idea all together he saw the broom on the wall. He took the broom and pushed the keys around until they slid off the hook and hit the floor. He froze with his heart hammering away in his chest. Hearing no break in the snoring Garfield decided it was safe to continue.
He got through the door on the second try and then made his way quietly through the hall leading to the lab. When he got there he marveled at all the stuff in the room. It wasn't the first time he had been here, but all the scientific equipment, mostly nameless to him, had always been awe inspiring to him. Then after a few moments he laid eyes on his target. The Green Monkey. Which was already watching him from its cage on one of the counters. This unnerved him a bit but he tried to shake it off. He came here mostly to see if he could figure out y his parents didn't want him to be around the monkey. So he intently studied it while coming with many reasons why, but all sounded stupid to him. So after a short while he decided to just let the thing out.
The moment the lock on the cage was undone all hell broke loose. The monkey started screeching and jumped out landing next to Gar. It then immediately jumped at him and latched onto his leg and bit him through his pajamas. In this short time Gar had not been able to react until he had been bit. He did the first thing that came to mind, he let out a blood curdling scream. Just then his parents burst through the door both yelling his name at the same time and running to him. Mark got the monkey off of Garfield, resisting the urge to strangle the thing, and shoved it unceremoniously into its cage. After things were calm once more and Marie was checking Gar's wound things were dead silent, and Garfield started panicking trying to think of a plausible reason for to have been in there alone in the middle of the night. Then his mother burst into tears and he could see on his dad's that he too was ready to cry.
They began more experiments immediately, without even yelling at him for sneaking in at that. He could not figure out was wrong and his mom had stopped crying while they were both engrossed in their work so he decided to play it safe and went back to his room while he still had the chance.
The next day he was woken up by his mother and served a breakfast that was steaming hot on the table and all three of them ate together. They still didn't say anything about the night before and he counted this as a good thing so he let it lie.
After breakfast his dad said, "OK Garfield today we need to do some tests on you so we are bringing you into the lab and you can play in the open areas of the floor away from the equipment when you aren't needed."
"What are the tests for?"
"We need to take a look at your immune system to see how healthy you are," Marie said simply.
He wasn't really sure how to take this so he just agreed and went with his parents to the lab.
A/N To be honest I'm not sure how I feel about that ending. It is a bit of a cliff hanger, although there was one point where I actually considered leaving off after the monkey bit him. I figured there are more than enough full cliffy's on this site though. So please review. I never got why some authors ask you to read at the end of the story. I'm just going to guess that if you are down this far you already did.