AN: This story has three genres: Angst, Drama, and Romance. Despite how it begins, it will end as bbrae and robstar.
Also, I'm back.
"I think we should break up."
Clearly, there was something wrong with their relationship when those words caused so little pain to hear, or say. In fact, it was a relief.
The common room had been destroyed, courtesy of Raven's powers and the high emotions of the short, but violent argument she just had with Nightwing. The two of them had only been dating a couple weeks now, but apparently, that was enough.
It hurt her, that a relationship with her was evidently so intolerable, but that was all- not that he had just requested to break things off. And not that she nodded in return. "We should. It will just be more of… this." She murmured, gesturing to the wreckage around them.
It was in the heat of the moment that their relationship began. A mission together, alone, that had gone south. It was beginning to look like they weren't going to make it out alive. Neither could remember who started it or why, but neither wanted to fight it as they pressed themselves against each other as closely as they could, pawing all over the other's body looking for somewhere to hold.
After they did make it out of their hiding place in one piece, they both agreed it would be best to leave it as a one-time thing. Nightwing had Starfire to think about, after all. But even so, it wasn't long after they got home that they found themselves in the other's arms again.
It was easy at first, what they had. The ice seemed long since broken, they didn't need to talk. It was easy for her to call him up to her room, where no one would bother them. It was easy for him to ask her to stay after training, while the others rested.
When the affair started growing too big to hide, They made the decision to just announce that they were in a relationship to the team. It would hurt Star less than if she found out by accident, they thought. They underestimated her reaction.
Starfire left the tower for a week, after letting loose on them both a variety of choice Tamaranean insults and curses, and when she returned, she refused to speak to either of them. She still to this day hadn't said a word to Nightwing, and only the tersest of greetings to Raven. Instead, she had begun spending her time with Cyborg and Beast Boy.
Speaking of Beast Boy, Nightwing hadn't expected a reaction from him at all. Maybe some teasing, some jokes. He was blindsided by the depression his younger teammate slipped into, and how he barricaded himself in his room, the same way he had with Terra.
It had been a difficult few weeks for the new couple even before their fighting began.
When Starfire returned from her week-long self-imposed exile, back before the arguments started, it was in the dead of night, and she went straight to Beast Boy's door. It was the first time since the announcement that he had opened his door for anyone. Garfield couldn't imagine he'd ever forget what he saw: Starfire, her hair a dirty mess, wearing the same costume she had left in, now ripped and filthy, and desperately trying to hold herself back from crying her eyes out right there on his doorstep. She barely managed to choke out "Why did he not want me?" before grabbing him in a hug and slamming his door shut behind her.
She used his shower that night, insisting that she did not wish to offend him with her bodily odors after having spent the last week alone in the woods where no one could bother her. Once she was out and dressed in his borrowed civvies, they sat together in the common room. The TV was off, the lights were out, and no teammates stirred to disturb them, least of all those two.
Starfire was a very perceptive person, especially with emotions. Raven may have been an empath, but she had little in the way of understanding. Starfire perceived emotions just as well as Raven could sense them, and she understood near-flawlessly. That was how she knew of Beast Boy's love for Raven when Raven herself seemed so oblivious.
She thought it a horrible thing, but some part of her was glad to have a friend who was suffering with her for the same reason.
"Hey, Star." He whispered haltingly, like he hadn't spoken in a while. He probably hadn't, she realized. "Want to see something?"
Anything was better than sitting around and moping, so she nodded her agreement. He stood and took her by the hand, leading her into the elevator. He pushed a number for a floor that she couldn't remember ever being on, and took her down into the basement levels, deep below the tower.
When the door opened, it was a huge room full of boxes, arranged into almost a maze. Beast Boy took her in, weaving through the box-maze with familiarity, and took her behind a large wall of the aforementioned boxes.
She couldn't help but smile a little at what she saw. Beast Boy had hollowed out a clearing among the boxes on this storage level, scattered pillows and rugs all over the concrete floor, and was keeping a pile of comic books in the corner. There was a metal shelf with snacks stocked on it, a boombox, and the end of an extension cord with a power strip connected to it in case he wanted to plug anything in. Beast Boy had built himself a little den down here, to keep him away from the pain aboveground.
"So, whatddya think?" He asked, still a bit raspy.
"I think… it is a good beginning, Beast Boy, however… a little more, and we could do the improving."
In the dead of night, before the sun could rise, the heartbroken pair found a thrift store somehow still open, and purchased a few more things that Starfire suggested, including an old couch, a minifridge and a few floor lamps, and took them back to what they began calling their "hideout." That done, they raided a storage room of back-up furniture and found a table and chairs.
It had become their getaway. Whenever the stress of seeing their love in the arms of the others' got too hard, one of them would go down there. And every time, they were never alone for long until the other showed up.
And today, the day that, so far unbeknownst to them, Nightwing and Raven had broken up, that was where they were headed together. Starfire had knocked on his bedroom door in their particular, special way, letting him know that she wanted him to come with her to the hideout. When he emerged, he found her carrying a large, flat object covered in a cloth. He followed her down, wondering what it was, but when he asked her in the elevator, he only got a smirk in response.
Once in their lair, Starfire calmly hung the object on a nail she had apparently driven into the wall some time prior, and pulled off the cloth. Beast Boy had to choke back a laugh; it was a dartboard… with a picture of Nightwing's obliviously smiling face taped to the middle.
"Starfire… is that-" He began.
"It is!" She chirped, feeling better than she had in quite some time. "I wish I could have procured a less flattering photo, but I am pleased enough with this one. I am hoping to relieve some stress tonight."
Beast Boy watched with unconcealed amusement (and perhaps a little vindictiveness) as Starfire floated over to the couch and plopped down, grabbing an impressive pile of darts on their side table, and made a big show of lining up her throw, shutting one eye and stretching her arm forward and back. When she did throw, it got Nightwing right in the eye. Starbolts were not the only thing she was good at shooting. Beast Boy reminded himself not to get on her bad side.
Seeing what their intrepid leader has gotten himself into is frightening enough without thinking of putting himself in Nightwing's position.
"Pardon me for taking the first of the turns, Beast Boy," Starfire said, "I have brought a photo for you to perforate as well!" And she showed him a picture of Raven. This one was rather unflattering, as it showed her attempting to stuff an entire waffle in her mouth, apparently at a time when they were in a hurry. Cyborg must have taken this one. Despite the rather out of character, unattractive nature of the photo, just seeing her face made something deep in his chest clench, and his breath hitch.
"...No thanks, Starfire, you can keep going. Maybe later." He sank back into the couch and watched Starfire wreck Nightwing's face. He knew he would just feel worse trying to take out his rage and sadness on Raven, even indirectly. Unlike Starfire, who was radiating fury, he just felt hollowed out and empty.
Starfire finally ran out of darts, and stood to retrieve them. When she had pulled all of them from the board, she also ripped off the picture of Nightwing, and tacked on Raven's picture in it's place. She sat back down on the sofa, but, seeing Beast Boy to her right looking dejectedly away, she set down her darts and laid her hand on his shoulder- The shoulder furthest from her, that is- and pulled him in tight. "Forgive me, friend," she started. "In my own anger, I neglected to consider that I would be harming you by doing the reminding of her..."
Beast Boy sighed, but leaned into her, making it almost a cuddle. "It's fine, Star, I don't wanna keep you from workin' through things your own way… I just... I dunno. I don't really feel angry"
Starfire rubbed his shoulder, and took hold of his hand with her free one. "Beast Boy, what do you feel, then?"
"I… Star, it's kinda stupid. I don't wanna talk much about it."
Now sitting up straight, Starfire made him look directly into her eyes, green meeting green- one a lush forest, the other unearthly, and powerful. "Friend Beast Boy, you have done an admirable job of the consoling and the comforting for me during this trying period. I ask that you please allow me to do this for you in return."
Beast Boy blinked, not just a little intimidated, and relented. "Okay, Star. I just… I already knew that I was out of her league, but it hurts to see it confirmed. Hurts a lot, y'know?"
Starfire blinked back a bit of moisture boiling in her eyelids, pushing down her sadness and rage at what Raven has allowed him to feel. She resumed rubbing his shoulder and his hand, drawing him even closer into her embrace than he was before. "Beast Boy… That is not true. She is most certainly not thebetter of you. You must cease in believing these lies you have told yourself."
"It's not a lie, Starfire. Every girl I've ever met… they've all been too good for me. Jillian, Terra… Raven most of all. I mean, I'm green. What girl's gonna want that?" His tone was resigned. Like the words he spoke were a fact that he had to believe in regardless of how much he hated it.
Starfire took her hand off of his so she could clench her fist safely. "If Raven was not so blinded, She could have seen how you felt about her. If she were not so foolish…"
Beast Boy laughed. A bitter laugh that told stories of suffering. "Star… Rae- I mean, Raven isn't blinded. She knew how I felt. I mean, she's an empath. She knows how ALL of us feel, remember? We talked about it once."
"Talked… about your feelings for her? Is that what you are saying?" Something unpleasant was welling up inside of Starfire. Her finely tuned emotional instincts were telling her that disaster was imminent. She was certainly about to learn something horrible. "You are saying to me that you and Raven have discussed your romantic feelings for her, correct?"
"Yeah." Was the answer she dreaded. "It was back before… back before the two of them got together. A long time before."
"Beast Boy... You do not need to tell me about it. However, I would greatly appreciate it if you would relay to me the events to which you refer." Her voice came out measured, precise.
Beast Boy leaned back into the couch, wetting his lips and going over, in his mind, what had happened to him, before he started his story.
In the form of a peregrine falcon he landed on the roof, slowing his descent with massive, powerful wings, and returned seamlessly to human form as soon as his claws touched the concrete.
Two hours ago, Raven had requested that he meet her on the roof after training, and that there was something that she wished to speak with him about in private. It was very rare that she did anything like that, and he couldn't help but be excited. He really did like his friend and teammate, and the thought of spending time alone with her, especially when she was the one that asked him to meet her? He knew it was not just friendly affection that made his heart pound in his chest, butterflies alight in his stomach, and his palms sweat. He had no illusions that his feelings for her were that felt toward a friend, or sibling. And as remote a possibility as it felt like it might be, he could smell the nervous emotions coming off of her when she asked, and now again as he approached her on the roof. She, too, was feeling something, and he hoped that maybe, just maybe, she had called him here because she was also feeling affection not of a merely friendly nature.
"Heya, Rae." He said as he sat down beside her and sensed her nervous pheromones increase, before her emotions were battered back down. He could almost imagine her in Nevermore, trying to shut up all of the multi-colored Ravens that lived there, gagging one with her cloak while yelling at another. It almost made him snicker, but he didn't want her to think he was laughing at her.
"Beast Boy." She answered. "Good, you remembered."
"How could I… forget?" He answered. His odd pause owed to the fact he had initially intended to say "How could I turn you down?" but decided that, as he still didn't know why she called him out here, not to get too ahead of himself. As much as he wanted this to be about her confessing having romantic feelings about him too, it could be anything. He had to keep his excitement down.
She glanced at him, but didn't mention his self-correction. "I know you have feelings for me, Beast Boy." She said, quieter than usual. Her cheeks were a little red, as well.
Beast Boy felt his heart speed up, he started sweating from his palms again. This could be it, he thought. Every effort he spent to try to keep himself grounded was failing, and his breathing grew rapid, while Raven grew concerned.
"Please, try to relax, Garfield." Could anything sound better, he wondered, than his name, his real name, spoken in her voice? He almost melted. "I'm not upset with you at all," she finished.
"I know," he said, a little too quickly. "I-I mean, you're right, of course, y-you always are. I fi-figured you might know, since you're, well..."
"An empath, right?" the corner of her mouth twitched like she was about to smile.
"Well, y-yeah." He grinned at her in a way he hoped she found acceptable, and maybe even charming.
Raven returned her gaze to the horizon. "Beast Boy… I'm sorry. I can't return your feelings."
All of it stopped. Beast Boy's thoughts, his heart, everything, he swore it stopped in that moment. His worst fear come to pass, and he let it. It washed over him, and emptied him. "...Why not?" He asked her.
"Because… I'm not ready." She angled her eyes down to look at the floor, her hood falling further over her eyes. "You know how dangerous my emotions are. I'm not ready for a relationship, emotionally. It's not only that it's dangerous. I don't know if I can even love someone like that, Beast Boy." She looked, once again, at him. "I might never be ready. I don't want you waiting for me, when it might never happen."
Blood began making it's way through his body again as his heart forced itself back to life, and neurons fired as they should to process her words. "But… but you might? Sometime in the future?"
She grimaced and looked away. "Beast Boy, please… don't make this harder than it needs to be. The only answer I can give you is that I'm not ready, and I probably never will be. Don't wait for me, don't get your hopes up. I'm… I'm sorry."
She fell through a dark portal in the roof and left Beast Boy to digest her pronouncement alone.
Silence. Dead Silence. Starfire couldn't move a muscle as Beast Boy's story came to an end.
"So… that's what happened that day. I know I told you I was just tired at the time, but I was really, really… not feeling good," he continued. "But… she never promised me anything. She didn't say that it would be me she went with if she changed her mind… It hurts, though. When she did change her mind, it was for him. Figures. I can't blame her. Who'd want to get with a green kid, anyway?" He mumbled, staring up at the ceiling.
Starfire stood up, which drew Beast Boy's eyes. Her hair was somewhat unkempt and wild today, and he couldn't see her face through it from this angle. What he could see was the green glow coming from her hands, as a powerful Starbolt formed in her right hand. He barely had time to react before she wound up like a baseball pitcher and threw the bolt, hard, at the dartboard that still had Raven's picture taped to it.
A massive green explosion filled that whole half of the room as photo and dartboard were vaporized by the righteous fury of Starfire, Warrior Princess and Heir-Apparent of the world of Tamaran. Beast Boy threw up his arms to protect himself from shrapnel, but it seemed all the remains from Star's attack was too small to be even noticed, if anything was left besides an expanding cloud of vapor. As the dust cleared, he could see that there was now about a cubic foot of metal that had been sheared right out of the wall where the dartboard had been.
Starfire stood in place, her balled fists and eyes alike glowing brightly and fearsomely. Even the tips of her hair, which she had been allowing to grow much longer than usual through recent apathy regarding her appearance, shone bright orange as if on fire. She shook with barely concealed rage as Beast Boy sat, beholding the power of her emotions in awe.
"You are wrong, Beast Boy, about one thing. She is not blameless." The glow slowly ebbed away as she turned to regard her friend. "You say you do not do the blaming of her… You should. She misled you. She lied to you. And you deserve better than her." She spat the last word out like it sickened her.
Beast Boy, taken aback by the intensity of her declarations, took a moment to reply. "Star… it's… it's fine. ...Well, no, it's not fine, but… it's like I said, she didn't promise anything. It's not like she would have ever gone for me anyway. She needs someone that leaves her alone when she's meditating and is quiet when she reads. You've heard her insult me for being immature… I mean, that's one of her favorite things to pick on me for. She needs someone who's mature. Not a stupid, green brat that never grew past fifteen."
Starfire loomed over him and grabbed him by the shoulders. "GARFIELD! You will cease insulting my dearest friend this instant!"
Alarmed, he sputtered, "W-wh-what!? Who!?"
"You!" She shouted again, choking back a sob. "You are my dearest friend! I do not want you speaking of yourself or thinking of yourself in such a such a manner!" She sniffled, a tear streaming down her cheek as she did. "Curse her, for making you think of yourself this way! That Clorbag was NEVER worthy of you!" She pulled him by his shoulders into her chest and crushed him in a powerful hug.
Beast Boy was rather stunned. For one thing, that was a very impressive show of power he just witnessed, and for another… well, he wasn't really used to people sticking up for him like that. Especially not in such an intense, harsh way. "S-Starfire..."
"Koriand'r..." She murmured into his ear.
"Huh?"
"My true name… It is Koriand'r. It felt… unfair, that I know your true name when you do not know mine." She explained. "And… I would quite like to be called 'Koriand'r' by you. And I would like that right now." She sounded kind of shy. At least, shy for Starfire.
"Koriand'r…? I love it!" Beast Boy cheered, brightening a little from how he had been. "Hey, is it okay if I call you 'Kory'?"
The smile that Beast Boy thought should always adorn Koriand'r's face returned in strength, and she nodded. "I love your nickname, Garfield. You may call me that whenever you like!"
"Well," he said. "If I'm gonna call you Kory, you can call me 'Gar'. I'm not a big fan of my actual name."
Kory grabbed him again, this time her happiness lifted her off the ground with him in tow, and she spun in a circle with him clutched to her chest. "Joyous! I am honored, Friend Gar, to be allowed to use this nickname for you." When they landed, She let him go, but took him by the hand once more. "Gar… I want to say one thing more. If you are ever feeling the down, or you are thinking such terrible things of yourself again… please, come to me immediately so that I may help and make you see truth. I never want to hear you believing yourself worthless again. You are my beloved friend, and I am honored and overjoyed to be able to call you that."
Beast Boy looked up, into her warm, loving eyes and brilliant smile, and felt… safe. He felt like the barbs that had been tearing into him were lifted out and his wounds salved. He really believed that he was worth something, that Raven and Terra were not too good for him, and that he was right in feeling wronged. And yet despite that, he felt no anger at the moment. He knew he would shortly, but looking up at his wonderful teammate and friend, how could he feel rage? He threw himself into her arms again, squeezing her tightly around the midsection.
They stayed that way for a minute or so, allowing themselves to bask in the warmth and love to recharge and repair their damaged hearts. Kory gently rubbed Gar's back and he squeezed tighter.
When they separated, they each had to force themselves to come away, and shivered in the colder feeling air without the other. They bade each other goodnight and separated, Kory staying behind, insisting on cleaning up the mess herself.
Garfield clenched his fists, leaning his head back against the rear wall of the elevator. Now that he had left Starfire's- or rather, Koriand'r's presence, his emotions began to return to normal. She had been bringing out only the positive in him, but now…
He felt rectified. Like he had been a trolley with a wheel out of it's tracks, but had been set straight. His mind unclouded, he saw, thanks to Kory, what Raven had really done to him… In fact, what Raven and Nightwing had both done to Kory and him. She was right- Raven had knowingly hurt him. So had Nightwing. They had said, when they announced their new relationship, that it "just happened" during their mission. Well, Nightwing knew that Kory was exclusive to him at the time. Raven had known full well everything she told him on the roof about probably never being ready. And yet they let it happen anyway.
A surge of anger fluttered down his body from the top of his head to his feet, and he took a deep breath to control it. He stopped the elevator, redirecting it from his bedroom floor to the training room.
Now that he was feeling it, it was time to face this rage.
AN: That was a lot of story to write out. So with Robin and Raven broken up, will they pursue Starfire and Beast Boy right away? What will Starfire and Beast Boy do next? How will they learn that their loves have broken up, and how will they feel about it? To be continued...
I hope you enjoyed my story, and I would very much appreciate a review!