It didn't get to Cyborg as much anymore. The accident which had replaced more than half his body with robotic parts and at the time he thought ruined his life. He had done so many things since then, so many things which he had never dreamed of doing before. He was a hero now and had come far from being who he was immediately following the accident, a boy who thought that he was a monster. After battling Brother Blood he realized that despite the majority of his body being metal he was still human, even if he didn't look it. But today was one of those days when something reminded him that there are things he would never be able to do, today was what should've been his high school graduation.
The assembly was outside on the football field and Cyborg watched from afar as all of his old friends took the stage to receive their diplomas. He was far from the field in some of the surrounding woods hiding behind a tree to avoid being seen. He didn't want anyone to know he was here, after all most of the graduates had probably assumed that their old friend Victor died along with his mother in that horrible accident. So he watched the ceremony from a great distance, using his bionic eyes to recognize the faces of the students as he was too far to tell who was who with his human eye. They called one name and Cyborg couldn't help but be surprised that the guy had actually graduated, how many times had he repeated senior year?
After the ceremony Cyborg hung around in his hiding spot waiting for most of the people to leave so he would go unnoticed heading back to the tower. Of course he could've just gone back through the woods the way he came but secretly he couldn't stop watching his old classmates chatting happily with their families, it made him wonder what this day could've been like for him had the accident never happened. Also he was looking for one person in particular, Jayleen Nichols. She had been one of his best friends before and he knew that she had gone to his mother's funeral, he sometimes wondered if she ever worried about him. He just wanted to see her, even if she wouldn't see him. Of course that was another worry of his. If anyone was to somehow spot him hidden among the trees today it would be Jayleen. The girl practically had a super power, if something was just slightly out of the ordinary she would see it and you could forget about trying to sneak up on her. If something was moving she would spot it from a mile away. But he kept looking for her and still didn't see her then he realized that he might be looking in the wrong place. He was checking the crowd, searching for her grandparents who oddly enough he did find but without her then he was checking with everyone ever he knew her to be friends with but still no sight of her. So he moved his scanners to the edge of the woods looking for something moving but still saw nothing, was she even here?
"Didn't think you'd show" a voice came from behind him causing Cyborg to jump with a girlish shout as he turned to see the black haired girl standing beside him giggling.
"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you" she apologized as he sighed, yup Jayleen had spotted him.
"I see you haven't lost your touch" he teased a little annoyed that even with his scanners she could still sneak up on him.
"Hey you're the one with the super powers now" she said taking a seat next to him on the ground. She was still wearing her black graduation robe and cap and her midnight black hair which last Cyborg had seen had been cut short almost to her ears was now long enough to reach past her shoulders and was curled for today's occasion.
"I look a lot different now, how did you know it was me?" He asked as the girl smiled, she was just happy to see him again.
"There were rumors about what happened to you and when the Teen Titians came to town and had a Cyborg on their team, I guess you can say that I was hopeful" she explained and Cyborg gave his old friend a small smile.
"Plus I remember seeing you at your mom's funeral. Wearing your black pants and your hoodie, you wouldn't look anybody in the eye" she mused remembering that sad, sad day.
"I know it wasn't my place when I put my hand on your shoulder but-" she began only for Cyborg to cut her off.
"No it was" he said and he was telling the truth. He had shaken her attempt at comfort off that day and left refusing to speak to her. It was who she was, she was a person who wanted to help people but that day when he knew that she could feel the metal underneath the fabric of his sweatshirt he didn't want to face her or anybody for that matter.
Jayleen looked at him in surprise, she hadn't expected him to regret the last time they saw each other but that seemed to be exactly what was happening.
"Even so I should've respected that you didn't want anyone to see you but I'm glad that you joined the titans" she said with a smile but Cyborg only looked down.
"We were fighting a guy once, he tried to get me to join him" Cyborg began as Jayleen looked at him curiously waiting for him to continue.
"He said that if I joined him he would make me human again and he showed me for a second, he really could do it" he explained watching as Jayleen went wide eyed.
"That's amazing but something tells me it wasn't worth the price" she said obviously impressed that he could've been human again but also understanding that whatever he would've had to do for it would not have been worth his flesh.
"It wasn't" Cyborg responded with a frown, he knew he had made the right choice but sitting here next to her hidden from the crowd of people he almost wished he could've taken the deal, he wished he could've gone and picked up his high school life where it left off.
Jayleen smiled sweetly "I'm glad" she said but he only looked at her in surprise.
"No offence Victor but last I saw you you would've done anything to be one hundred percent human again. It's good to know you didn't" she said playing with the ends of her hair as Cyborg gave her a small smile.
A quiet moment passed between the two before Jayleen got up
"Well I've got to go, my grandparents are going to start worrying" she said as she began to leave and Cyborg stood up.
"Hey Jayleen" he said causing her to stop and look back at him, he smiled
"See you around" he said earning a big but sweet grin from his friend who although she didn't say anything before running off but her smile said it all, he would see her around.