Animals have far better senses than humans. This is a well-known fact, and one Beast Boy could always appreciate. Being able to hear even the smallest shift in someone's voice, see every glittering aspect of the city across the water, taste the difference in the air whenever Cyborg put bacon to frying pan…it all rocked! He was the closest he could get to everything around him. The whole world, in all its glory, was his to sense and experience to the fullest. He couldn't understand how the others lived without that unbelievably awesome feeling. Without the feeling that you could do anything, be anything you wanted.
But the part of all this that he loved most? It had to be the week that came every six months, just after his carpet got replaced. Half a year was the average time it took for his room to become a serious health hazard. So, whenever it got too much for them to bear, the others dragged his carpet and remaining piles of clothes outside and burned them. It had become something of a ceremony. Then the NEW carpets came in, with all his new clothes and clean bedspread. And for the next week, Beast Boy was at his happiest.
He didn't care whether his room was clean or not. No, what he loved was the SMELL for that whole glorious week…the smell of brand new carpet. It overloaded his senses, every last one of them, with the softly warm feeling only the smell of carpet could provide. He drowned in that feeling happily enough. No one else noticed…unless you counted comments about being able to breathe through your nose without fear of gagging. Spoilsports! He just couldn't stay angry during that week, though. No matter how much he tried to. Carpet was like catnip to the little green guy, a comparison he could personally vouch for. But that's another story.
"BB?" Cyborg raised his human eyebrow sceptically, "You okay?"
Beast Boy breathed in another appreciative, deep breath.
"Where's that coming from?" he murmured.
"What? I don't smell anything." Cy shrugged.
"It's not my room, the carpet smell wore off a month ago…so where is it?" BB twisted and turned, searching for the source of his unconditional joy.
"Um…BB? Carpet doesn't HAVE a smell." His friend blinked in confusion.
"I think it's that way…" Beast Boy trudged off happily.
"Fine, don't explain your random insanity." Cyborg rolled his eyes, "But at least keep it to yourself, hmmm? Otherwise Robin'll want a full medical examination of your brain."
He just carried on following the smell, ignoring Cy's advice. No one else EVER replaced their carpet. How could there be fresh carpet smell without the fresh carpet? His route took him to Raven's door, where the trail stopped.
"I'm glad that's over with," her voice came through the door, "I never realised how much I hate that damn vacuum cleaner…"
Vacuuming? Would that account for the smell? Probably, although BB had thought the buzzing noise was Cyborg's computer on standby, or something. He breathed in that perfect, newly cleaned carpetty smell, complimented by Raven's vanilla-scented candles and dusty old relics.
"Beast Boy? What on EARTH are you doing?"
Raven had slid open the door while he'd been inhaling contentedly, and now looked seriously pissed off.
"Uh…nothing?" he scratched the back of his neck nervously, "Just hangin' around, you know?"
"Go do it elsewhere, before I decide to throw you off the Tower." She scowled.
For the rest of the day, Beast Boy could be found in Raven's general vicinity, breathing very deeply for no apparent reason. At first, Robin thought he was hyperventilating. Then he started to wonder if he'd found more catnip somewhere on the island…but there wasn't any, he'd made sure of that. Eventually, he gave up and left him to do whatever the hell he wanted to.
The next day, Beast Boy was spotted dragging the vacuum cleaner down the hallway to his room, a determined look on his face. If anyone felt the urge to ask him about this, they never acted on it. Some things just aren't worth the potential brain damage.