I do not own Teen Titans or any of the characters.
High Tension
Beast Boy groaned, sitting on the couch. Cyborg was seated beside him, playing a racing game with Robin. Beast Boy shifted to try to get comfortable but brushed one of his burns on the couch and his breath hitched before he groaned.
"Do you have to be so loud?" Raven asked, voice flat as she read a book off to the side.
"Raven, he's covered in second degree burns still," Robin said. "He can't help it."
"It's alright, Robin," Beast Boy said. "Sorry, Raven. I'll try to be quieter."
She actually looked up at him in surprise for a moment before grunting and returning to her book. Robin looked at Beast Boy unsurely as Beast Boy shifted again and scrunched his face up, a hiss of pain escaping from him, though much quieter than it was. Robin and Cyborg both glanced at Raven who narrowed her eyes at the book before her face relaxed. They turned their attention back to the game and things were good for a couple of minutes, until Cyborg leaned a little too far to the left while turning his car and bumped into Beast Boy's burned shoulder. Beast Boy yelped in pain before clapping a hand over his mouth, cutting the sound short less than a second in. Raven's hands clenched the book tightly as she fought to keep her face emotionless. After a moment, Beast Boy lowered his hands, swallowing.
Just then, the door opened and Robin turned to look as Starfire floated into the room, opening the fridge and bending over to look, Robin's eyes glueing to her. He didn't even notice when Cyborg beat him, so Cyborg shoved him on the shoulder.
"Hey!" Robin complained. "No fair!"
"Well maybe if you weren't making dewy eyes at Star you wouldn't have lost," Cyborg grinned.
"Doing what?" Starfire asked, floating over to sit on the couch beside Robin who turned scarlet. "How does one make eyes made of dew? I believed dew was only either the water on the grass in the mornings or that wonderfully colored soda."
Cyborg chuckled and shook his head, Robin restarting the race and instantly taking off while Cyborg was distracted.
"Hey!" Cyborg shouted, massing his gas button and hunkering forward.
Beast Boy watched the two race for a time, glancing at Raven anytime they were extra loud. She didn't react once. He turned back to the screen just in time for Cyborg to take a sharp corner, leaning toward him. Beast Boy thought to move only for his burns to flare in pain, holding him still for Cyborg to ram into his shoulder hard. He clamped his teeth shut, already seeing Raven's hands squeezing the book. He swallowed several times, struggling to keep the shout of pain in. Cyborg leaned away almost instantly, quickly apologizing and Beast Boy squeezed his eyes shut, putting a hand over his mouth. Then, finally, a groan escaped into his hand, muffled but still audible. Raven's book slammed closed, the window behind the Game Station shattering.
"God, do you even know how to shut up!?" Raven demanded, Beast Boy shrinking back from her silently. "You're so annoying!"
She turned to leave but now Beast Boy was angry. What did he ever do to make her angry?
"Then maybe you should have just let me die," Beast Boy said, everyone in the room freezing, Raven with her hand reaching for the control panel for the door.
Starfire clapped her hands over her mouth, Robin dropped his controller, and Cyborg accidentally crushed his, all three staring at him.
"If I'm so annoying, you missed your chance," Beast Boy said. "You could be free of me right now. I mean, you clearly regret saving me. The only times you visited me in the infirmary were to heal me, and then ever since I got out of that room, you've been unable to stay in the same room as me for more than a minute without biting my head off. If I'm so horrible, maybe you should have just let me die."
Raven remained rooted in place for another moment before her hand fell and she shot forward, passing through the door. Beast Boy stared at it before turning to the broken window and turning into a sparrow, flying out of it and to the shore, changing back and sitting on the rocks. He pulled his knees to his chest and rested his forehead on them, listening to the waves, struggling to ignore the stabbing pain from his burns resulting from him shifting. he should have known it was a bad idea, much less to fly, but he had needed to get away.
A sound reached his ears. The Titan Alarm. He smiled humorlessly. He couldn't go, so he had no reason to react. Still he groaned, pushing himself up to see Cyborg and Robin speed off, Raven and Starfire flying above them. He sighed. He knew they didn't need them. They never really had. They could handle anything they found waiting easily. Then, they would be back. He sighed, making his way painfully back to the tower, returning to the common room and unplugging Cyborg's broken controller, throwing it away and getting his personal one, plugging it in instead, then beginning to pick up the pieces of glass that had landed inside the room. By the time he was done, the others had been gone for nearly an hour. He began to worry but kept himself busy by cleaning as much as his burns allowed. Finally he finished dusting for the third time and stopped, staring at the door. He couldn't leave. If he left, he'd be in the way. He'd get hurt. Raven would have to heal him all over again. He stared at the ground. He'd be an even bigger annoyance than he already was.
He sighed and walked out of the tower and back to the shore, sitting back down He couldn't hear any battles raging, or super villains terrorizing the city, which meant that they had most likely finished, or were hurt. He shook his head. No, he wasn't going to think like that. They were fine. They were just mobbed by cameras, or children, or fans, or something. He stared at the water. They could have been back by now if that were the case. Raven could carry the vehicles, and Starfire and Raven together could carry Cyborg and Robin.
"Somebody looks awful lonely," a female voice said behind him.
He spun, agitating his burns and wincing before focusing his sight on the person. Bumblebee.
"What are you doing here?" Beast Boy asked.
"It's girls' night," Bumblebee said. "The others are handling things back home."
"If you say so," Beast Boy sighed. "Anyway, the others went out on an alarm. They've been out a while."
"You worried?" Bumblebee asked.
"They've never needed me before," Beast Boy said. "They'll probably be back soon."
Bumblebee nodded and walked over, kneeling beside him.
"I heard about the accident," she said. "You alright?"
"Physically sure," Beast Boy said. "But...nevermind. It doesn't matter."
"What?" Bumblebee asked.
"You'll see soon enough," Beast Boy said. "I can hear the bike and the car."
Bumblebee nodded and flew back to the tower to wait for their arrival, Beast Boy remaining where he was.
Robin and the others stepped into the common room and stopped.
"Hey guys!" Bumblebee greeted, standing and walking over. "How was the fight?"
"Easy," Robin said. "Thankfully it was just a few robbers. Wow, did you clean?"
"No," Bumblebee frowned. "I just got here."
"But the only other person here is...hey, where's Grass Stain?" Cyborg asked.
"Beast Boy?" Bumblebee asked. "He's out by the water."
"Still?" Cyborg blinked.
"Perhaps I should go and check on Friend Beast Boy," Starfire offered.
"Good idea," Robin nodded. "See if you can get him to come inside."
"Oh let him stay out there," Raven said. "He's less annoying out there."
"Did you two have a fight or something?" Bumblebee asked.
Raven didn't respond and simply floated over to the couch, sitting down and picking up her book.
"If only it was only one," Robin sighed. "She's been at his throat ever since he got out of the infirmary. It's getting annoying."
"She yelled at him earlier for being too loud because I accidentally bumped into his burn twice," Cyborg said.
Bumblebee's eyebrows rose a bit and she turned to look at Raven just as Starfire flew Beast Boy back in through the missing window, setting him down inside.
"Hey Beast Boy," Robin said.
"We brought you pizza," Cyborg said, holding out the box. "Sorry, we got hungry and decided to grab a bite."
Beast Boy nodded, walking over and accepting the box, setting it on the table before stopping, sniffing. He opened it and simply stared at it, letting the top fall back.
"It's pepperoni," Beast Boy said, turning and walking away from the table, heading toward his room.
"Couldn't you pick it off?" Robin asked, shooting Cyborg a dirty look as he shrugged apologetically.
"The taste would still be there," Beast Boy said simply. "I'm just going to go try and sleep."
He left the room and the others all stood silently for a few seconds.
"So, what brings you here Friend Bumblebee?" Starfire asked.
"It's girls' night," Bumblebee grinned.
"Oh, that is right!" Starfire grinned broadly. "Friend Raven, will you be joining us for the painting of the nails?"
"No," Raven said flatly. "I have to meditate."
"But could you not do the meditating after?" Starfire asked hopefully.
"I said no, Starfire!" Raven snapped before sighing. "I'm going to meditate. Don't disturb me."
They remained silent while Raven left the room.
"Is she mad about something?" Bumblebee asked.
"You heard what happened to Grass Stain, right?" Cyborg asked, getting a nod. "Well, best we can figure, she was too scared that he was going to die to try to control her emotions. She was pretty bad. To say terrified would be an understatement. She was so bad off she couldn't even heal him. She resorted to CPR."
"Don't you have chest paddles?" Bumblebee asked.
Cyborg shifted nervously.
"Well..." Cyborg said.
"You didn't use them?" Bumblebee gaped.
"I did," Cyborg said. "But he...it didn't work. I tried it a few times but...Grass Stain was gone. Raven lost it, hitting anyone who tried to stop her and giving him CPR. We're not sure how, but it worked. She saved him. Course, as soon as she saw he was going to be okay, she realized how much she had lost control of her emotions and ran off to get control. For days, she stayed locked up in her room, meditating and healing him at night, when everyone else was asleep. We all figured it was because she was still too worried to keep control. But then, after he got out, she started biting his head off every time he made a sound, acting like he was using a bull horn next to her ear. It just got worse. Earlier..."
"What?" Bumblebee asked.
"It was bad," Robin said. "Raven said that he was always annoying, and that he didn't know how to shut up. Granted, he is covered in burns and Cyborg did bump into him a couple of times."
"That's understandable that he'd make noise the," Bumblebee said.
"We know," Robin said. "But, she was mad. She started to leave but...Beast Boy...He seemed to finally snap. She had been yelling at him for nothing, and calling him annoying, and he had had enough. He said..."
"He said that if she found him so annoying she shouldn't have saved him," Cyborg said, Bumblebee covering her mouth. "He said that if she hadn't, she'd be free of him. And how she'd be so much happier without him there."
"Oh my God," Bumblebee breathed. "That's awful!"
"Like we said," Robin said. "It's been bad. We can't figure out why she's so mad at him. But she just seems to keep getting worse."
Bumblebee nodded and sighed.
"I'm really sorry," Bumblebee said. "I'm sure she'll calm down soon."
Robin nodded before Bumblebee grinned, grabbing Starfire's hand and dragging her away.
"No interrupting!" Bumblebee called back as she ran.
Robin sighed.
"Well," Robin sighed. "Wanna put the window back in, or play some more first?"
Cyborg grinned and a moment later, they were both on the couch, hooting and hollering as they raced.
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