Hidden Jewel
Beastboy's learning greatly helped him with understanding the world around him. He already past basic science and American and World History in Beast's school in five weeks. Now he was on Physical Science, English and Algebra II. In Algebra II and Physical Science, Beastboy discovered a way for him to interact with the world in a way he didn't think was possible. He finally understood Cyborg when he blabbered on about the tech stuff. English also helped him understand Literature better. That's when Beast introduced Spanish to Beastboy and it worked wonders for him. It took him about ten months but he mastered it. Beastboy's interaction with the world was endless.
However, Beastboy's interaction with the world stopped at a certain point, the ACTUAL interaction. Beastboy had all but contained himself to his room, the fridge, and the library. When he was fighting with the others, he would do it in the least amount of time and then fly back to the tower to study, not even waiting for Cyborg to start the car. He rarely came out and it was only Raven that saw him daily. Beast noticed this. So one day, after about a year of Beast's school. Beast said, "Your brain capacity is expanding but your physic is lacking. It's time for you to train more." Beastboy didn't object and went right along with the idea. He didn't know that Beast had planned this so that the teammates may at least see him more. So Beastboy started to train, however, the team didn't see him that much in the Training Room. So Beast's plan failed.
Nobody noticed the change due to the fact that Beast had told Beastboy to wear a slightly bigger uniform to hide his new toned muscles from showing. But Beast couldn't stop his growth. He had grown to about 6'1" in his year of being taught. Yes, progress as usual.
One day, the alarm went off. It was Dr. Light stealing a bank. The whole gang got there. Cyborg blasted his sonic cannon at the doc, but Light reflected it back at Cyborg and Starfire. Robin and Raven charged at him. Raven lifted Robin into the air and Robin threw his freeze disk. Nothing, it just blew away. Then Beastboy got an idea. "Cyborg, Throw me hard!" he shouted as he turned into an armadillo. Cy chucked Beastboy. Beastboy quickly changed into a bird to increase the speed, and at the last minute, turned into an elephant. The blow was devastating. Dr. Light laid there barely able to move.
"Alright, my dog!" Cyborg complemented. As the news media started to take pictures, Beastboy heard some things the people were whispering.
"He looks like a walking barf bag" "I'd hate to be him, changing into all those nasty things" "Why did they let him on the team?" "He must be sick, he's green all over." Beastboy got angry, turned into a falcon and flew away in a hurry. He sat in the library quickly looking through the books and angrily turning the pages.
"You keep doing that and you'll rip the papers out," Beast said appearing. Beastboy huffed.
"I've been saving this town for a long time, and the people still look at me like I'm a freak," he fumed.
"What about the ears? Chicks dig the ears don't they?" Beast asked. Beastboy glared menacingly at Beast. "Bad memories, sorry," he apologized. Beastboy sighed.
"I just wish people would just stop looking at me like a freak of nature or look at me like I'm...I'm,"
"Creepy?" a voice spoke from the other side of the library door. Beastboy jumped and Beast disappeared.
"Come in, Raven," Beastboy said. The door slid open and Raven walked in and sat down next to Beastboy. "You scared me."
"Sorry," Raven said in a monotone voice. "So you're tired of the people looking at you like you're creepy?" Beastboy winced at that word. "What's wrong?"
"No, it's just when you say that word, it brings back memories. Bad ones," he said. He was referring to the time Malchoir came. "I regret ever saying that word. To you I mean."
"It's alright. Of course, sometimes I wonder why you really said it," Raven said in more of a question than a statement. Beastboy sighed.
"I guess the real reason was that...you didn't seem to open up to m- us. I guess that's why," he said looking away. Raven put her hands on her lap and started rubbing her right arm with her left hand.
"So why were you so mad after the battle?" she asked.
"I was...tired of just hearing the same things I've heard ever since I was green. You guys know that you're the only 'friends' I've ever had in my whole life?" Beastboy stated. This shocked Raven a little.
"Really, but you have a great personality," Raven said with a little smirk. Beastboy laughed.
"Yeah, and so do dead fish. People don't want a little green boy that's an idiot. They'd rather throw stones at him," he said laughing again. This made Raven sad a little, the fact that he was laughing at his own misfortune.
"You're not what they say you are. You're much better than them and that's why they are doing that," Raven said seriously. Beastboy calmed down a bit and smiled at her.
"Thanks Raven, but that won't change people," he said with a smile. It was sad to see him like this. There was a long silence then a question came into Raven's mind.
"How did you know that it was me? Besides the voice." she asked.
"Simple. You're the only one who comes and checks up on me," Beastboy replied casually. This made Raven truly shocked.
"No one else comes to see you? But the others told me that they already came to your room and you didn't answer," she replied.
"That's mostly because I spend most of my time here, studying," Beastboy explained. Raven put a hand on Beastboy's leg.
"Don't worry. I'll come and see you more from now on, so you don't get lonely," Raven said with a small smile.
"Ah so you can't survive without my annoying self, can you?" Beastboy said smirking. Raven rolled her eyes. "But thanks, it really helps me," he said as he placed his hand on hers. They looked at each other's eyes until they looked away blushing. Beastboy cleared his throat. "Well, I have to get back to studying. Thanks for stopping by."
"You're welcome and Beastboy, who were you talking to?" Raven asked. Beastboy smiled.
"No one, well, technically I was talking to myself," he said confusing Raven as she walked out the door. Beast reappeared while Beastboy was still smiling. Beast grinned. "What?" Beastboy asked.
"Someone's in love!" Beast shouted.
"SHHH! Quiet! okay yes, I am. But I doubt that she would like to be with me," Beastboy said sadly as he continued with his work.
About another day went by and Beast confronted Beastboy about his interaction...and self-esteem. "You doubt yourself too much, my friend," Beast said as he threw his arm around Beastboy's shoulders. "What happened to that cocky confident Beastboy that everyone admired?"
"He dead," Beastboy said sounding more like a southerner. Beast sighed sadly.
"You've changed so much. It's like you're different. I know that the other part of you was not liked, but it was appreciated," he replied. Beastboy smiled darkly.
"I've been in here for about a year now and it only took ten days for them to stop knocking on my door. Do you really think that they would appreciate me?" He asked rhetorically as he opened up the textbook. Beast growled and shut the textbook back.
"Okay, how about this? We do some Social Science for a change. Get to interact with the people," Beast said in a rather fast and frustrated way. "Start with the Titans. See how they act. Then study the ordinary people just for comparison. You can do it in secret." Beastboy sighed.
"Beast, I know that this is a way of you trying to get me closer to the others, but I have to-"
"Balance is the key to everything in life," Beast interrupted. "You have the knowledge about the world around you, you just don't have the experience. Now it is time. Now GO!" Beast then disappeared. Beastboy sighed as he grumbled out of the library to see what the others were doing.
