#1: Don't Panic
That is what I tell myself when the lights above me flicker out, letting out a small pop. I am sitting with my legs crossed, arms resting loosely around in me a meditative stance, when lightning flashes across the sky, followed quickly by thunder. My eyes snap open, hands fisting at my side. Another crack of thunder and lightning and my breath catches. It's ridiculous to be scared of the dark, especially when I've seen much worse, but- I curse, and force my body to move to the light switch on my wall. Getting up slowly, I flick the switch up and down a couple times, to no avail. On the one day that the rest of the titans take a trip to the East. I swear again, and a low moan comes back in response. My back arches and I freeze, perking my ears up and pressing myself against the wall. There is a stretch of silence, before another moan, accompanied with a small crash, sounds again. I take a deep breath and make my way over to the door, sliding it open and hovering down the hallway. The sound gets louder as I approach the living room, and I wrap my aura around chair just in case as I enter the room. For a moment I panic at the figure on the ground, then as he looks up at me I seem to deflate.
"Beast Boy?" I ask, and through the darkness his frown deepens. Of course. Beast Boy's didn't go with them.
"My game, Rae, my gaame!" He whines. I squint my eyes, and make out his figure, sitting on the ground in front of the TV with his arms thrown up in frustration. Beast Boy stares up at me with large eyes, and I raise a brow. "I was halfway through level 66. That took me so long, Rae. So long. And I lost it all-" I have spun around before he finishes his sentence.
"The answer to a question I never asked." I say over my shoulder, and I can feel him deflating behind me.
"Come on!" He calls out, scrambling to his feet, and I spare him a glance. "It's like - uh, when you're reading a book and you're at the really good part and then somebody-" He does something violent with his arms. "Rips the book away!"
"That sounds like whenever you want me to referee for your stank ball games." He stops.
"That's different!"
"Oh is it now?" He doesn't have a response to that. We both stand in silence for a while, staring at each other in the darkness till blood rushes to my face as I realize more than a few seconds have passed.
"Sooo, why'd ya come in?" Beast Boy says, sidling up to me. I roll my eyes and step away. "Scared?"
"I don't get scared, Beast Boy." He smirks.
"Oh, really?" He looks at me. "It's okay, Rae, we all know you get scared."
"Well, that's - that's still not why I came out." I say, trying to collect myself. "I wanted to get some tea." He hesitates, weighing my words, before shrugging and walks back to his video game. Leaning down at picking up the console, he smiles.
"Kay. I'll come join you in a bit."
"I didn't ask you too." Lightning flashed, I jumped. We make eye contact, his smile growing.
"It's okay. I want to." He says. I give him a small nod, then turn on my heel and make my way to the kitchen.
"Hey, by the way." He calls out, causing me to stop once again. "Do you have any ideas on how we should get some light in here?" I shake my head.
"I'll think of something." I say, then enter the kitchen, fumbling around for the correct ingredients and ignoring my pounding heart.