The sun had set and the city went to sleep hours ago. Soon people would grudgingly get out of bed to prepare the pot of caffeine they required in order to face the long day ahead of them. And on the other hand, there were those, the insomniacs of the night, who wouldn't be getting up at all on account of the fact that they had never gone to bed in the first place.
Robin was one of those people today. It was pretty late, even for him. Luckily, he got pretty good at operating on only a few hours of sleep or even no sleep at all. Besides, he had to make sure that everything was in place for tomorrow's big plans. Tomorrow the Titans were giving themselves a small, but much deserved break. A break from all the training, fighting, practicing, and hopefully from any unlucky enough villain who might decide to crash their day. Robin prayed that there would be no emergencies tomorrow. They really did deserve a bit of relaxation for once.
Lately, it had been feeling that if they weren't cooped up in the Tower doing busy work, than they were dealing with the H.I.V.E or Plasmus or Cinderblock or whoever existed just to make their lives and the lives of the citizens of Jump City worse.
So a little picnic, some barbecue, some volleyball, and a day of soaking up some of that California sun was just what they needed. They weren't even going out that far, deciding that the grassy patch and non-rocky side of their little island would do just fine.
Of course, in order to make all of that happen, Robin needed his headphones. He wouldn't mind kicking back and listening to some music on his new iPod. New as in he finally found his old as dirt 3rd generation iPod which he had lost the week they all moved into the Tower, two years ago.
Didn't matter though. It held some classics. Or at the very least, he could cringe over some of the music he used to listen to.
"Think, Dick. Where'd you put em?"
Suddenly it hit him. Beast Boy had them last. He let him borrow them. For whatever reason, Robin wasn't even really sure. Beast Boy didn't own an iPod or any other device that required headphones. But Robin didn't have a reason to say no when he asked if he could use them.
Hoping they weren't broken or lost, he set out to go retrieve them.
Robin left his room and strode down the hallway over to the door marked "Beast Boy", and punched in the master key to get inside. Not wanting to wake him up, he resigned to look for the headphones by himself. The boy wonder silently walked in and, as quietly as he possibly could, began sifting through the various piles of junk and papers that his teammate kept scattered about on his desk, using his communicator to cast light on it all.
Beast Boy was sound asleep, and Robin could hear his deep and steady breathing in the background. He found it somewhat comfortable to listen to, in the way that sleeping people were comfortable to be around. It was also reminding him just how tired he himself was.
However, trying to find something without even knowing exactly where to look for it, and working with a measly light source in the dark, was proving to try Robin's patience. Growing increasingly frustrated, he was growing less careful and started rummaging around, moving things here and there with less and less concern of whether it was too loud.
Beast Boy was a deep sleeper anyway. On some days, the alarm would barely even manage to get him out of bed, into clothes, and on the rooftop, rushing to catch up to the others.
In his frenzy, Robin accidentally smacked his hand against a drawer handle, causing him to drop the communicator thus sending it clattering to the ground. He breathed in sharply, thinking surely that the noise was enough to wake his sleeping friend.
Holding his breath, he glanced over at him and sure enough the younger member was stirring awake.
In his daze, Beast Boy was muttering about something or another, and Robin watched as he raised his head a bit, using his arm for support, and looked directly at him through squinting, drowsy eyes.
With the way the communicator landed on its back, it was spreading its light directly upwards at his intruder, making him clearly visible in the dark.
"Rob'n?" the still half-asleep Titan mumbled before falling back into his pillow. With the 'intruder' being no one other than a trusted a friend, he allowed himself to relax.
"Sorry, Beast Boy. I'm just looking for my earbuds," Robin explained, bending down to pick up his comm. Thinking now that he probably should have just waited until morning and asked for them.
"Second drawer," came the tired reply, although a little bit more coherent than before. Robin opened said drawer and lo and behold there they were, laying in a tangled mess on top of a giant pile of pens. Why did Beast Boy have so many pens?
Grabbing the headphones, he closed the drawer and rose so that he may leave. Passing his bed, he thanked Beast Boy on the way out.
"Mh. So you the one coming in n' out of here all night?" the green changeling asked causing Robin to freeze where he stood.
"What?" he asked in a concerned whisper.
The logical answer was that Beast Boy had likely been dreaming that part up. It was next to impossible to break into the Tower without setting off some kind of alarm. Cyborg had made sure of that after the Phobia incident. And all the other Titans were asleep. But Robin simply wouldn't be himself if he wasn't ten kinds of paranoid.
Before he could pester Beast Boy anymore on the matter; however, the tired Titan was already softly snoring as he had dozed off.
Robin still hadn't moved from his spot. He was now debating with himself if he should simply let this go or go with his gut and shake the young changeling awake to demand answers. Somehow, he managed to convince himself to wait until morning to bring it up. That was his first mistake in what was soon to become a series of many.
Throwing one last troubled glance at his friend, he left his room, the door swishing close behind him.
"It was nothing. Nothing can get to us when we're in here."
Despite the whole incident still at the back of his mind, Robin mostly forgot about the whole thing by the time he got to his own room. Dressing out of his uniform, and into a pair of pajama bottoms, he climbed into the folds of the light blanket neatly laid out on his bed. No sooner had his head hit the pillow; however, was his ears met with a hoarse, piercing scream.
AN: Insanely short, I know. Every time I start a new story, the first chapters always are for some reason. Anywho, what you can expect is some horror, some friendship, and some bonding. Romance is boring.