AN: I generally won't touch country music with a ten-foot pole, but this song showed up in my library somehow, and I'm actually quite fond of it.
All Things Considered- Yankee Grey
The common room had been rebuilt, all the damage from the robotic army's assault patched and painted over. New furniture was in place, still wrapped in plastic; the Titans in the room were unwilling to remove it without their last member present.
No one had seen Beast Boy for three days. The green boy had locked himself in Terra's room and jammed something into the door controls so that nothing short of breaking it down would allow entry. Cyborg had considered doing just that, but Robin had insisted that they give Beast Boy time to heal on his own.
There was, however, the issue of nutrition. The few stashes of food Terra had kept in her room out of habit would not hold Beast Boy for long; he needed protein, and lots of it. His shapeshifting required large amounts of available amino acids in order to make the necessary changes rapidly and with less pain. Cyborg always feared what might happen if his best friend's unstable DNA needed more amino acids than he had available; he had nightmares of coming home to find a puddle of primordial soup that would never again shift back into his little buddy.
Therefore, Cyborg had overcome his distaste for tofu enough to prepare food for his friend. Three times a day, he would transform a block of the white gunk into the best meal he could make: tofu burgers with all of BB's favorite toppings, Caesar salad piled high with blocks of seared tofu, tofu with apricot and onion sauce over rice (a tribute to his own grandmother's chicken recipe). He had even looked up African dishes and found a Lamumban peanut stew that he deemed to have sufficient protein for Beast Boy's dietary needs.
Raven had volunteered to be the delivery system for these meals; she would knock twice on his door, then phase a tray with the dish through onto the floor. She didn't tell any of the others, but it was getting progressively more difficult to find a space on the floor that wasn't already occupied by one of the trays. It appeared the food was going untouched.
And so they all stood in the common room, unsure of what to do next. Starfire was eager to knock on friend Beast Boy's door to invite him to the ritual of removal of the wrap of plastic, but the others were concerned about trying to pull him out of his room too early. All of them were still showing emotional wounds from Terra's betrayal, and that might not be the best environment for Beast Boy.
As they stood around in silence, trying to find a solution, the clatter of dishes from the kitchen snapped them out of their joint reverie. Beast Boy, looking haggard and thinner than they had ever seen him, was organizing his stacked dishes to begin washing them.
Starfire flew over and seized the green boy in a hug, nearly causing him to drop the last bowl. "Friend Beast Boy! It is joyous to see you once more! Please, allow me to do the washing of my friend's dishes. I have been missing you so very much and unable to help you these past days."
With a weak smile, the changeling nodded and extricated himself from the hug to wander over to the others.
Cyborg had quickly scanned the plates and found that the majority of the food had gone largely untouched, with two exceptions. As he pulled the Grass Stain in for a hug, he heard mumbling from his chest. "Y'know, Cy, if I'd known I could get you to cook tofu, I'd have locked myself in my room a long time ago."
Chuckling for his friend's benefit, he pulled away and held him at arm's length. "Nah, this was a one-time deal. Next time you do that, you're gettin' nothin' but baby back ribs till you come out."
"Fair enough." The green young man scratched at the back of his head, looking down at the ground. "I thought you said Grandma Stone's apricot and onion sauce would never touch tofu."
Cyborg smiled. "Well, maybe that rule can slide every now and then. And how'd you like the peanut stew?"
Tears shone in Beast Boy's eyes, but he had a tiny smile on his face. "It tasted just like the one King Tawaba used to make... thank you, Cy."
His own eye welling up, Cyborg swiped at his face with a knuckle. "None of that, now, String Bean. You're gonna make me rust here."
With a pat to his friend's shoulder, Beast Boy turned to face Robin.
"The common room's all fixed up, Beast Boy. All that's left is pulling the plastic off the couch, and you'll be back to playing Mega Monkeys 4. Care to do the honors?"
Beast Boy nodded, then transformed into a cat and began tearing at the plastic, shredding it to ribbons as the Titans' leader watched with satisfaction. It seemed Beast Boy was slowly getting back to normal.
Raven stood to the side, observing Beast Boy's behavior closely. Robin might be fooled, but she could feel the rage and hopelessness pouring out of the cat as it attacked the wrapping. There was no playful spirit to this; only catharsis. Still, that might be just what he needed at the moment.
When he shifted back to his normal form and stood panting, Raven approached and pulled him into a hug. It was not a long, lingering hug, but it was a hug nonetheless— not something given lightly. She felt mild shock from him before the warmth of friendship and gratefulness shone through.
"How do you feel, Beast Boy?" The question was as uncharacteristic of her as the hug, but she felt it necessary. No one else would get the degree of honesty from him with that question that she would, and so she took it upon herself to ask. That wasn't to say, however, that she didn't ram the strongest shield that she could quickly form into place.
His ears drooped, and the flood of painful emotions she had expected crashed into her. She was glad she had prepared for it; the backlash would likely have destroyed the common room again.
"All things considered..." the changeling's voice cracked, and she saw his fang pierce his lip as he tried to suppress his emotions. "All things considered, I'm doing just fine." He forced a grin onto his face, and though Raven saw the effort it cost him, though she knew it was all a sham put on for his friends' benefit, she made herself return the smile. She even ignored the trickle of blood running down his chin.
Beast Boy was smiling again. That smile held the team together. That was what mattered for now.