Man, it's been months since I updated.  To be honest, I don't know where life is taking me at this point, or how much free time I'll have.  I do love these characters, though, so there's a good chance this story isn't going to sputter out just yet.  And yeah, I'm probably as surprised as you are.  The Titans aren't mine, but Downbeat and Blueprint are mine.  Remedy, Marble and Mykos belong to friends of mine.  Here's chapter 4!

"How the heck did he…"  Downbeat glanced down at the boy, perplexed.

"There's another set of stairs, moron."  Mykos shot a glance in the opposite direction… right at a second set of stairs.  A set of stairs far nearer to the rooms than the one the others had taken.

"…"  Downbeat took a good look at the obvious, then back at his grounded team mate.  It wasn't exactly the greatest of signs that he was already having to hold himself back from retaliating with an "At least I'm not an anti-social windbag."  Still, he knew that if he was ever going to make it as the team leader, he was going to have to try to get along with the team.  All of the team.  "Heheh…  Didn't see that there."

"Maybe that's because none of you bothered to look."  The boy stood up, bracing himself against the wall behind him.  "I'm going to bed, and you'd be wise to do the same."  With that, Mykos made his way into the room he'd be spending the week in.  Downbeat was thanking his lucky stars that the guy needed to have a room to himself for meditation.

"He's got a point."  Blueprint yawned and stretched a bit.  "I don't want to be the one falling asleep on the first day of training."  At the comment, Marble pulled out her cell and began to check the time.  She nodded in agreement.

"It's eleven thirty, yes?  We will have to get up early tomorrow."

Despite the disappointment of losing a race to someone who wasn't even a participant, the new team was settling nicely into the rooms they had been given.  In the first room, Remedy and Marble, as they were the only two girls.  The room next to them belonged to Blueprint and Downbeat.  For reasons unknown, the two had actually requested in advance to be roomed together.  In the room beside them, Mykos meditated alone.

"Just like old times…"  Downbeat unzipped his hoodie and tossed it carelessly aside.  The poor thing landed crumpled against the wall.  "…Huh, roomie?"  The boy glanced over to his new room mate, who was currently unpacking a box of pop-tarts from his bag, as well as a piece of pie snatched from the up-stairs buffet the Titans had so courteously provided them with.

"The only thing that's similar is that we're together."  Blueprint pulled a pop-tart from his bag.  "I don't think I need to play it back to remind you that those weren't exactly the best of times.  There's no way I ever want to be that hungry again in my entire life…"  Blueprint shook his head, taking a huge bite of his snack.

"What, no hug?"  Downbeat smirked, recalling well exactly what Blueprint was talking about.  Blueprint looked a bit remorseful.

"It's good to see you again, DB."  Blueprint slapped his hand against Downbeat's, silently affirming the solidarity the two shared.

"You too, bro."  Downbeat flopped onto his new bed, reveling in the feeling of an actual bed underneath his head for once.  As he relaxed Blueprint ate, and uneasy silence hung in the air.  The boy snapped back to himself, and determined to break it.  Unfortunately, it wasn't exactly an easy subject for him to address.  "I… Those were hard times, for sure…  But you know what?"  Downbeat rolled himself over to look at his room mate.  "I wouldn't have wanted to go hungry with anybody else, dude."  Downbeat mustered up a smile.

"You super-heroes are all so melodramatic."  Blueprint stifled a laugh through a mouth full of pastry delight.

"Ha!  And you're not a hero, Mr. Mini-Cyborg?"  Downbeat playfully made robotic movements with his hands.

"Hey, for one, I'm not a robot."  Blueprint raised his index finger.  "B, since when have I ever done anything heroic?"  Blueprint wolfed down the rest of the food he held in his hand.

"You know, you're surprisingly scatterbrained for somebody with a photographic memory.  You totally just jumped from the number one to the letter B."  Downbeat sat up on the bed.

"And you're not exactly what I pictured in a leader.  Beggars can't be choosers."  Blueprint smirked and reached for another Pop-tart.  Downbeat quickly snatched the treat and took a bite.

"My first decree as leader: I'm eating this."

"HEY!"  Blueprint watched the food fly from his hand, and sat helplessly as the food was devoured by his so-called leader.  If anything, Downbeat was more like a little brother to him than anything.  It felt so weird having the boy as commander in chief.  He was so headstrong and immature… but then again, there was probably nobody in the entire world Blueprint trusted more than Downbeat.  They'd spent almost their entire childhood together, and though DB didn't always make the best of decisions, Blueprint almost never had anything to worry about when it came to the motivation behind them.  He was a good kid, and it though he wasn't about to outright admit it, even having DB steal his food felt great.  It was like things were actually returning to some fraction of normal.  It made him… hopeful.  It was a good feeling, and one he hadn't had in a while.  "You're lucky I like you."  Blueprint slid a bag of chips from his bag, and popped them open.

Downbeat might have made a comment about how much food Blueprint brought, or how much he was going to eat, but…  He knew much better than that.  He'd gone through some hard times in his life, and he knew Blueprint was there every step of the way.  It was weird, but after going an extended period of time without anything to eat, it seemed like the boy didn't go anywhere without food with him nowadays.  It was understandable, really, and in a weird way, kind of comforting.  Just having him there was doing a world of good for the boy's mood.  It was great to have the old duo back together.

"Hey, Blueprint.  How about I make it up to you?"  Blueprint glanced up.

"Hmmm?"  Downbeat cracked the door and peered down the hallway.

"How about we do something fun?"  The boy smirked, and the expression was returned by his room mate.  This was going to be fun, indeed.

It was only a matter of minutes before a knock echoed on the door of the girls' room.  "…So I told the guy that I, like, totally wasn't interested, you know?  I mean, he was just…"  Marble perked up.

"There's someone at the door, yes?"  The girl popped up and skipped merrily to the door, opening it without hesitation.  Outside the door were the two miscreants from next door, standing in pajamas… dancing.  Suddenly, before the girl could utter a word, music began to play.

Never gonna give you up
Never gonna let you down
Never gonna run around and desert you
Never gonna make you cry
Never gonna say goodbye
Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you

Now, both girls were watching with wonder and confusion at the spectacle unfolding in front of them.  Suddenly, the music stopped, as did the dancing, and the two boys calmly and triumphantly strutted back to their room, shutting the door.  Both girls blinked repeatedly, and it was a few seconds before Remedy spoke up.

"…Like…  Uh…  Did our team leader and fellow team member Rick Roll us?"  Remedy scratched her head.  This was going to be an odd experience.