Jordan sighed contently as she stretched out on the sofa. The day had been pretty slow, with only a couple criminals to catch, so the team had mostly just chilled at home. Jordan sighed again. Home. Titans Tower had only been up for a couple weeks. The Teen Titans had only just met each other a couple months ago, then after about a week they'd all decided to set up a place for them all to live together, since most of them didn't really have a place to call home at the moment, including herself and her adopted brother, Robin.
They'd moved to Jump City for a change of scenery. Well, more to get away from their father. Bruce wasn't technically their father, since he adopted both of them, but Jordan had never known any other father. Her real dad died before she was born, then her mom died when she was two.
Jordan shook her head. She didn't want to feel all down in the dumps. Looking around the room she called to Cyborg in the kitchen, "Hey Cy! Have you seen Beast Boy around?" whenever she felt down she tried to hang out with Beast Boy. He always seem to make her laugh, and she found him really fun to be around.
"Grass stain?" Cyborg pondered as he stirred his chili in a big pot. "I, uh, think he went outside for something."
"Oh, okay. Thanks." Jordan got off the sofa and left the room, going to ground floor in the elevator. Casting out her telepathic senses she scanned the surrounding area for Beast Boy's thoughts. She picked up some unhappy thoughts and feelings from him and zeroed in on them. He was sitting near the water on the far side of their little island.
Jordan walked over the rocky terrain that lead to the shore. When she neared the water's edge she saw Beast Boy sitting on a large boulder.
"Hey." she said quietly as she came up behind him.
"Hey." he mumbled back. For the most part it seemed like he wasn't really acknowledging her but he scooted over a little so she could sit next to him on the boulder.
Jordan could sense a dim cloud of misery fogging the changeling's mind. "What's wrong?" she asked worriedly.
Beast Boy jumped a little. Then he straightened his back, perked his ears, and smiled. "Nothing." he said as he smiled warmly at her. Jordan narrowed her eyes at him.
"I know I don't know you that well, but, well, you kinda seem like your upset about something. You don't have to tell me, but you can, ya know." she looked at him gently.
Beast Boy looked away for a moment, his pointed ears drooping ever so slightly. Then he looked back at her with a hint of suspicion in his green eyes. "You aren't reading my mind, are you?" he asked accusingly.
Jordan tried not to feel offended by the question, they'd only known each other for a couple months, so of course he might still be uncomfortable being friends with a telepath. Jordan shook her head. "I try to refrain from doing that when I can. I'll admit I skimmed your mind a little when I first met you, I do that to everyone so I can get to know them a little, but I only learned a couple things like you're a vegetarian, you're a changeling, and you like videogames. I always avoid reading minds more than I have to."
Beast Boy was silent as he listened to her, watching the water lap the rocks. When she'd finished he simply asked, "Why?"
Jordan sighed. "Well, sometimes when you read farther into someone's mind than you should you find out things that you really wish you didn't." Jordan looked away from him for a moment; she was speaking from experience. When she looked back at Beast Boy he cocked his head a little bit, she heard the question echoing in his mind, 'Like what?'
Jordan closed her eyes for a moment, sighing, "When I first got my powers and was still learning to use them I accidentally read the mind of this girl who I thought was my friend." Jordan paused, "I quickly found out what she really thought of me." Jordan straightened, mentally brushing off her self-pity, and turned back to BB who was staring back at the water. "Anyway, like I said, you don't have to tell me anything. I just wanted to know if you wanted to hang out, or something."
Beast Boy was quiet for a long moment. Then, almost silently, he whispered, "Can you keep a secret?" he looked at her with big, green eyes. Jordan nodded gently. Beast Boy sighed again, and was silent for so long Jordan wondered if he'd changed his mind about telling her. Then he spoke, as if to himself, "Basically, a few years ago I was out with my parents on a boat ride. My dad was driving and I was goofing off with him, distracting him. Then this-this rock came out of nowhere. I didn't even have time to think. My dad shoved me out of the boat into the water. I-I saw the boat hit the rock." Beast Boy squeezed his eyes shut, as if trying to block out the memory, "It-it exploded and… and it burst into flames. I tried to find them. I turned into any water animal I could think of to find them. A dolphin. A shark. An octopus. Heck, I even tried a turtle. No matter what I did I couldn't find them." Beast Boy looked over at Jordan, his green eyes glistening with tears, "They were dead." Beast Boy covered his face in his arms and his shoulders shook as he began to cry.
Jordan looked at the ground for a moment. Then, hesitantly, she scooted a little closer to him and put her arm around his shoulder. Jordan almost couldn't believe what she'd heard. Beast Boy was fourteen now. A few years ago he would've been…eleven? Maybe ten? Jordan almost shuddered. To see something like that at such a young age was unbelievable. At least she never SAW her parents die. She caught a thought from Beast Boy, as if he'd screamed it, 'It was all my fault. I could've saved them.'
Jordan's throat tightened. "It's NOT your fault." she whispered hoarsely, "You were just a kid. There wasn't anything you could've done."
More thoughts spun out of BB's head, as if he'd decided to communicate with her that way, 'I could've turned into a pterodactyl and flown them out of there. Or a seal. Or something!'
"You were young." Jordan reasoned, "You probably weren't that used to using your powers yet. It's sometimes hard to think on the spot like that." Beast Boy rubbed his head on his arms, still hiding his face for a moment. Then he turned his head and looked up at her, his face having a red tint from crying. Her gentle blue eyes met his green ones and she smiled reassuringly down at him.
He was the youngest member of the team, besides her. Jordan was still only thirteen. In a way she felt a stronger bond with Beast Boy. Did it have something to do with them being the youngest? Jordan didn't know for sure, and at that moment she didn't really care. She'd never really had any friends before. Growing up in a huge mansion, being the adopted daughter of a well-known millionaire, you look extremely weird to the other kids your age. But with Beast Boy she felt she could be herself. She felt like, for the first time, she actually had a friend. She could tell, from the warm look in his eyes as he looked back up at her, that he felt the same with her.