Disclaimer: A sparkly-eyed kid once said: "When I grow up, I want to become the owner of Teen Titans!" His dream did not come true. (I own nothing please don't sue)
Last time:
Is that Robin?
"Clear."
In less than one one-thousandth of a second, three thousand volts zapped Beastboy's body. When he regained consciousness a moment later, he was hanging off of the bottom of the top bunk, no less than three feet above his mattress.
"What is wrong with you people?!" the shaken boy shrieked. The Titans were all present. Robin was holding the defibrillator nodes, glaring at Beastboy. Starfire and Raven were floating, the latter even wearing full hazmat gear to protect herself from the hazardous atmosphere of the room. Cyborg had the wires to the defibrillator hooked up to his hand and wary eyes, as he scanned the room around him.
"Whose idea was this?!" Beastboy continued, still outraged.
Raven silently raised her hand, expressionless.
"Beastboy, I warned you last night." Robin answered.
"I expect to see you in the training room in five minutes."
Cyborg couldn't take it anymore and burst out laughing.
"Oh man, green bean, you should've seen your face!"
Starfire was the next to crack a smile before she started to laugh as well. They all paraded out of the room cheerfully, leaving a shaken Beastboy in their wake.
He understood. It was a funny prank to them and it was their way of telling him that he shouldn't be late for practice. It was only fair that all of them undergo Robin's ego trips and toughen up for foes together.
But for a faint moment as they were leaving and laughing, he felt a bit detached. And that very memory, like a splinter, lodged itself deep in his mind.
Beastboy realized what he was thinking, put on his best serious face and tinfoil hat. "Conspiracy..." he uttered in a deep, spooky voice. Then, after sharing a chuckle with himself, he took off for the training room.
The green changeling let out a massive groan. Training was unforgiving, especially because Robin paid extra care to make sure he suffered as thoroughly as possible. However, now that the warm shower had watered down the bitter wake-up call, he remembered his purpose and also came up with an explanation for the morning events.
Today was going to be the best day of his life. He was going to overcome his fears, speak to the girl he's liked for so long, and finally get a girlfriend. Yes. His manly determination had returned that very moment, and he was ready. And what the team did to him? It was just fate. Testing his will. Trying his best to make a powerful, serious face, he trudged towards the common room.
The common room of the Titan's tower was usually empty and quiet at this time of day. Cyborg was likely to be found in the garage working on the T-Car, out driving the T-Car, taking a walk and thinking about the T-Car or in his room praying at his altar... To the T-Car. Robin was far more flexible. Before, he'd barely have time to think about Starfire and Batman as he was preoccupied with Slade. Now, he knew better. He barely thought about Slade and Batman as Starfire constantly floated around inside his head. Speaking of whom, Starfire was probably even better than Robin, with a wide spectrum of activities filling her schedule, varying from feeding Silkie, visiting the 'Mall of Shopping', or cooking Tamaranian specialties, which put the largest chemical plants and radioactive waste facilities to shame. Raven, to Beastboy's knowledge, was just being creepy in her room.
Which is why he was shocked when he found her being creepy in the common room.
This was a slight nuisance. Beastboy loved the loud noise the custom TV set could rack up. Raven did not. Raven could also send him to another dimension, which would be a terrible waste, because he could hardly follow through with his afternoon plan.
Thus, he decided for a strategic approach.
"Hey Rae."
She didn't move. Bad sign.
"Sorry, hey Rae-ven!"
Beastboy emphasized his correction to try and get her to respond.
Raven seemed to tense up.
"Whatcha readin'?" he asked, slowly walking towards her.
Raven curled up a little, as if in fear. It didn't take animal instincts to see that something was off.
"Are you okay?" as if approaching a scared kitten, Beastboy slowed his pace and lowered his body somewhat. He didn't know whether it was his mind playing tricks on him, but it looked like Raven was scooting - no - floating away slowly. His suspicions were confirmed when her cloak started dragging behind her.
Beastboy put his foot on the cloak gently. "Come on, Raven! I'm not mad about the Morning Glory. It's not like you have to be afraid of me..." Beastboy's mouth continued, but it was mostly to fill the preying silence, so he lost track of thought. "I know you hate me Rae, but-"
"No..." Raven's voice was her usual monotone. "The defibrilator, I suggested it because last night-"
"Last night?" he inquired.
Raven's cheeks blazed red with glory. "Last night I... We..."
Beastboy looked very intrigued. He was honestly curious about Raven's story. What was she about to reveal? What did they do that he failed to remember? Was it something bad? He was enamoured with the mystery behind it. Maybe that was why his feet decided to try tying a knot while walking, but we may never know. The look on his face went from shock, as he realized he was falling, to a blank look of awe as he was enlightened.
Beastboy unceremoniously tumbled down onto Raven. As they laid on the floor, images flashed through their minds.
Beastboy, running around the corner, wearing nothing but a towel. Raven, walking back to her room after meditating on the roof. The moment their bodies collided and fell to the ground. A full second of surprised eye-contact, and a few neon tubes in the lights turning to confetti. The empath phasing through the ground.
Beastboy felt as if he was continually hooked up to a defibrilator. The shocking images zapping him one after the other. Their bodies, pressed together... Her scent...
When he finally came back to his senses, Raven was gone. He looked at the palm of his hand and the fingers slowly performed a squeezing motion. Soft.
Playing videogames on the big screen is a bitter experience when you know you're a dead man. He could see it now; leaving a note as he slung a sack with his belongings over the shoulder, shedding a single tear as he bid goodbye to the T-Tower disappearing in the sunset. He'd live a happy life with Terra, being a good, hardworking house-husband. He thought about it - no one would employ a green-skinned person. He would die at age sixty-five, and would be buried under the old oak tree.
First thing was first, though. He had to get Terra to become his girlfriend. He checked the clock on the console and decided that a few extra minutes for preparation couldn't hurt.
Beastboy had been waiting for two hours. The few extra minutes had turned out to be overkill. Sweat beads were popping out of his forehead - the early summer was always warm in Jump City.
"Gaaaah, what's taking her so long? She should've finished a good fifteen minutes ago!" he grouchily muttered. The uneven surface of the wall he was up against mercilessly poked into his back and his underwear was now giving him a wedgie. He quickly adjusted his pants. The relief was real. He closed his eyes and sighed happily. When he reopened them, a rather uncomfortable Terra was standing in front of him. Becoming aware of his dodgy stature, he quickly straightened up.
"Uhh... Hiya!" he started. She took a step back.
"I was wondering, umm, you wanna grab, you know, some slushies or something?" He mentally slapped himself. Slushies were way out of fashion, froyo was the 'in' option, obviously.
"Uhh, could you please leave me alone?"
"I know slushies are a bit... nostalgic, but I know this really nice place..." his voice was lower, as was his head.
"Seriously, please, stop stalking me."
"It'll be really good..." he continued, not listening.
"STOP!" she yelled. Beastboy, at this point, was slumped and silent.
"Please," Terra continued. "Stop. I know it must be hard for you to understand, but I cannot remember, for the life of me, what you claim had happened." she stopped and choked down tears, before winding herself up again and continuing.
"I've tried, okay? I've laid awake for nights at a time, trying to see if I was wrong. I looked at my old pictures, asked everyone, dug through the internet. It even came to the point where I doubted my whole life and everyone around me."
Her eyes shifted from staring off into the distance to looking him straight in the eye.
"So please. Could you finally listen to me?" She paused. Beastboy made no move to stop her. "I didn't let you down because I wanted to. All I did was be myself. There's only one explanation: you have the wrong person. Whoever it is you are missing, I am sorry, I really am. It must be very tough and I don't pretend to understand the pain you are feeling, but I beg you. I beg you." she broke down, tears finally getting the better of her. "Realize that I'm not her. Don't try to make me someone else. And leave me alone."
Beastboy felt like he had been stabbed. But the blond-haired girl continued speaking through her tears and occssional sobs.
"I... Am so scared of you. I would dread walking home, I wouldn't go out at night because of you stalking me. Even today, I had a bad feeling about going home. It's horrible!"
He stared at the floor, motionless, listening to his judgement.
"None of my friends would believe me, they called me a liar and stopped talking to me! That one of the Titans was stalking me. Even my parents scolded me for making up stories. But today, I'm being different. Today I'm being brave. And I'm asking you, please, please never come close to me again. You have no right to call yourself a superhero if you abuse me like this. Today I'm being the hero you're supposed to be, by not just reporting you to the police but giving you a chance. You're not a bad person, but please. Please. Leave me alone."
She turned around and ran away. But she felt relieved, after such a long time. Living in fear of what he might do, looking through the window at night to make sure he's not watching. Paranoically glancing over her shoulder, fearing a flash of green might show up. But now it was all over; she told him off, and somehow, she was sure that he would never show up again. She knew he meant her no harm, but he was so persistent, it was creeping her out. And what is more, he never seemed to listen to anything she said, like someone suffering from dementia. But now she could finally sleep peacefully.
Oh man, oh man, what have you done BB?
I apologize for any spelling mistakes, smack me in the reviews! Ta-taa!
