Hi everyone,

Currently I'm in China, though not in Wuhan. Everything is kind have weird here. Many things are closed, but we're all keeping our spirits up. #jiayouwuhan

TFG

Chapter Two: Cyborg

Since the first day they had met, when the little grass stain had enthusiastically gushed about how cool he was while clambering all over his metallic body, Cyborg had considered the younger hero his best friend. Beast Boy had managed to pull him out of such a depressive funk that he would never be able to truly thank him for. Cyborg was convinced that he might not be standing in the living-room of Titans Tower, if he had not found such a deep and meaningful friendship with the younger boy.

Before the Titans had formed, Victor had completely believed that his life was over when he was rebuilt into some sort of cybernetic monster. He had been ashamed of everything about himself, from his lost dreams to his chrome detailing. Cyborg had thought that no one would ever see him as anything more than a thing that shouldn't exist.

But the squeaky little green teenager, with bright jade-green eyes, had looked at him with wonder. Saying how cool he was. Then, when Cyborg had tried dismiss him and get away, the boy had just remarked at how great he was, and that he wanted to hang out.

Over the course of the four years that they had worked and lived together, the two Titans had formed such a close friendship, despite the age difference. They felt almost like brothers, complete with mocking and an unconditional love that meant they would give each other a kidney if needed, or take a bullet for the other.

It was Beast Boy who Cyborg first willingly confided his real name to. He had told him that he had once been a top high school athlete who had already secured several athletic scholarships to several influential schools. He knew that he might not make it to the big leagues in the future, but he was planning to use his free ride to study engineering and maybe work for NASA one day, or Star Labs.

He confided how bright his future had been. How he had so many plans for what his life would be. He had shown Beast Boy photos from his varsity days. Photos of his playing football, or going to school dances with his girlfriend. Photos from a life that had effectively been ended the day he became a cyborg.

And, in return, Beast Boy had opened up about how his life had been before his exposure to the deadly virus that almost killed him. And about how his father's antidote had made life as a family difficult, with the surrounding tribes thinking that he had been changed into a demon.

He had even opened up about his parent's death and his life with the Doom Patrol. How he felt like a failure to both his biological parents for not saving them and his adoptive parents for not living up what Mento wanted him to be.

Which was why Cyborg was so shocked when he found out that Beast Boy had been keeping a huge secret from him for so long. Especially, as it concerned a girl that he also thought of as a sister, and a relationship that could change everything forever.

It wasn't that Cyborg was ignorant of how Beast Boy felt for the empath. He was pretty sure that he might have been the first person to figure it out. After all, the young green hero was always going out of his way to make Raven laugh or to include her in their activities in some way. And, he was always hurt when she refused. He probably understood Beast Boy's feelings for Raven before the younger hero had realised what he was really feeling.

Cyborg had often tried to fish to get Beast Boy to admit to his feelings, but this was one of the things that he was always a little cagey about. Or, was completely oblivious to. It wasn't until Beast Boy turned seventeen and got a little drunk that he admitted that he found Raven hot.

"She's just so, so Raven, you know?" Beast Boy had slurred into his bottle of beer that he had snuck in under Robin's nose.

"Yeah, yeah, of course, 'lil man," Cyborg replied, not exactly sure what his young friend meant.

"She's like, this, perfect, dark, unattainable, demonic angel," Beast Boy had continued while gazing longingly out the window, as if expecting Raven to suddenly descend from it.

When Beast Boy had sobered up, Cyborg had asked him about the exchange. It was odd to see such a jovial, light-hearted friend suddenly get a little melancholy. It seemed the young hero didn't hold out much hope for Raven ever returning his feelings and that he was sure that it was just a silly crush that he would eventually get over.

Cyborg hoped that that was true. He also hoped that his young friend would find another girl to bestow his affection on, one who was more likely to return them. Especially after what happened with Terra. That was a wound that had taken years to finally heal.

If Beast Boy were not to get over Raven, then there would be several issues for the team. It would make hanging out really uncomfortable, especially since it seemed to be the three of them together most of the time. As Starfire and Robin would often go off for 'alone time', as the two had been an official couple for the last year.

That was why, when Robin came to him to discuss the changes in Beast Boy's behaviour, Cyborg wasn't at all surprised. He had often suspected that his green friend would eventually try something like that. He had hoped that Beast Boy wouldn't though, as he felt he was only going to get hurt in the long run.

"Hey, yo, BB, watcha reading?" Cyborg asked, walking into Ops after he had arrived back from visiting Bumblebee and the Titans East.

"Hey, Cy, it's The Hobbit," Beast Boy replied, holding up the worn paperback.

"Right, why you reading it?"

"Um, Rae...ven, Raven gave it to me to read. I liked Lord of the Rings movies so she thought I might like this," Beast Boy replied, putting his bookmark in so as not to bend the pages back.

Coming across the room, the large hero took a seat next to his young friend, trying not to give him a sad look. He remembered all the times when Beast Boy tried to get Raven to like the things that he liked, trying to include her in their activities. And, the one time he had tried to meditate to try something she liked.

"Watcha doing, lil man?" Cyborg asked after a few moments of silence.

"Huh? I'm...reading...this book...in my hands," Beast Boy replied, looking up from the paperback, completely confused by the line of questioning.

"You know what I mean. Why are you doing this? Why are you suddenly reading books, and playing chess, and working out more? What do you think is going to happen?" Cyborg asked, as softly as he could.

"I don't think anything's going to happen," Beast Boy replied trying to ignore the sceptical look on his best friends face, "What! I Don't think anything's going to happen! Maybe I wanna try new things, and learn new things and that's why I'm reading actual books. And I've always played chess! I did it with Rita, and Mento, and my dad. Did you think that maybe it could have just taken me a little while to get over the things I associated with it to finally play it again? And, maybe since this stupid growth spurt I've needed to work out more to stop me getting too aggressive and burn off energy. If it was anyone else in this tower, none of you would be this negative!"

"Alright, listen, I'm sorry man. I really didn't mean anything by it. I think it's great that you wanna improve yourself. I just hope that, well, you don't build it up to anything."

The look of hurt that passed over his young friend's face as he said that made his heart strings twinge. He didn't want to hurt his friend's feelings. He just didn't want him to get hurt, again.

"So, you wanna play some Game Station?" Cyborg asked trying to break the awkward tension.

"Sure, man, my head was starting to hurt with this chapter. The language, it's really confusing," Beast Boy replied, placing his bookmark into the book and laying it down on the coffee table.

The two then played video games for the rest of the afternoon, and while they did trash talk quite a lot, they didn't have a very in-depth conversation. Cyborg had realised that he had upset his friend enough to try and keep it light and frothy rather than delve into anything else.

Cyborg's relationship with Raven was something entirely different from his relationship with Beast Boy, yet very similar. They had first bonded during that first mission when they were helping Starfire against the Gordanians. And, since then, it had grown into something beautiful.

It had taken a lot for their relationship to grow. It wasn't as simple as his relationship with Beast Boy. It had taken Raven a long time to trust anyone, as she thought that she was something that wasn't worth tender feelings or companionship. And she had bonded with Cyborg over cars of all things.

Since he had created the T-Car, she was often the one to come and help him in the garage. She was the only other person who really knew how all of their vehicles worked. The two would spend hours fine-tuning the engines of the T-Car or R-Cycle. Or they would upgrade the T-Ship, taking it apart and then lovingly putting it back together. Both working with their hands and getting grease everywhere.

Over the four years that they had worked together, Raven might not have filled the role of his best friend, but she most definitely became his younger sister.

They had, surprisingly, opened up about lots of different things. It seemed that getting Raven to work through things physically would allow her enough of a distraction to open up emotionally. It was rather strange that no one else in the tower expected.

After the debacle that was Malchior, it had taken a while to get Raven to open up about the whole affair. The only one who she did seem to talk to was Beast Boy, who did not betray a thing that she told him. When Cyborg finally got Raven to start talking it was during one of their auto shop afternoons.

It had been hard for her to talk about. She had felt so utterly betrayed and hurt, that some man had taken something so special and twisted it. Raven was sure that no man would ever make her feel the way that Malchior had made her feel. Or that any man would be willing to deal with her bottled up emotions.

It had hurt Cyborg so much to hear that. That she felt that she was not good enough for any man. If they hadn't had already sent the dragon into another dimension, Cyborg would have hunted him down and beat him to a pulp.

The big brother instinct had fully taken over at that point. Whenever any guy would get close to Raven, Cyborg would be there to scope them out. The only guy would he would let near his pseudo-baby sister was Beast Boy. As he fully believed that no man would ever be good enough for Raven. She was a wonderfully courageous young woman, who was smart and self-reliant.

And, it seemed as if Raven didn't want anything from any of the guys who approached her after Malchior. She never got googly-eyed over pretty boys, or swooned whenever a guy would talk to her like she had done with Aqualad years previously.

That was part of the reason why he continued to invite her down to his garage. He had noticed that Raven didn't divulge much just by talking. That whenever she was willing to share, she always had to be doing something, as if to distract her mind enough so that her emotions didn't get the better of her.

They were working on a motorcycle for Beast Boy, to give him for his seventeenth birthday. Everyone had finally agreed that he had grown up enough to be trusted with a mode of transportation that didn't rely on his own muscles.

The design was simple enough, it was going to be very similar to Robin's new bike. A sleek racing bike, that could be used for missions as well as for his own day to day life. It was going to be black with some green detailing, so that it was inconspicuous enough so that if Garfield was to use it while wearing a disguise no one would put two and two together.

Though, it did still have some of the special features that their other vehicles had. Such as weapon systems and guidance systems. Not as many as the T-Car or the R-Cycle, as Cyborg still didn't trust Beast Boy enough with something so technologically advanced.

"If you Don't trust him with it, why are you making it for him?" Raven asked, as she tightened some of the nuts of the chaises.

"Well, he's always complaining, and it's getting annoying," Cyborg replied, tightened some nuts on the other side.

"Are you even gonna let him ride it?"

"Of course. Once he shows me that he is responsible enough to ride it," Cyborg said with a sarcastic smile.

"You do realise that he actually went and got his licence," Raven said nonchalantly, picking up another spanner.

"Really?" Cyborg asked, almost dropping his tool. The little green bean hadn't said anything about getting a licence. In fact, if he had, he would be one of the few Titans who actually had a legal licence. His licence had been voided as it was in his real name, which he no longer went by as Victor Stone was legally dead. And Robin had created a fake licence years ago, as a thirteen-year-old can't get licenced, even if said thirteen-year-old was a superhero. While both girls had not been born on this planet, let alone in America, so both drove without a licence.

"Yeah, he wanted to learn properly, and since both you and Dick kept on treating him like a kid when you were teaching him, so he went to learn himself. He got his licence a few months back."

"Why didn't he say anything?" Cyborg asked, a little annoyed that his best friend hadn't told him this.

"I don't know, maybe he thought you would make fun of him for it," Raven replied with a shrug of her shoulders.

"That's fair, but why did he tell you?" Cyborg asked innocently.

The reaction he got was something that he wasn't expecting, for Raven completely froze. There was a look of utter guilt across her face before she managed to school her features enough to something that resembled innocence. Or, at least to someone who didn't know Raven.

"It, um, it came up recently," Raven replied, a little stuttered before she began to fidget with her tools.

It had been a while since Cyborg had seen her so fidgety. The last time had been when she had told him about how Malchior made her feel. It almost looked as if she was fighting some emotions.

"Um, did I hit a sore spot, Rae?" Cyborg asked, confused about what was going on.

"Of course not, let's just get this finished, before Gar decides to come snooping," Raven said quickly, getting back to work.

The confusion piqued at the use of the name. In all the time that they had been together, Cyborg had never known Raven to call Beast Boy 'Gar'. They had all lightened up recently with their names. Using real names and nicknames, but Raven didn't seem to enough using nicknames. She would always use their full name or their codename.

"Um, okay, Rae," Cyborg replied, picking up his tools and getting back to work. He didn't know what else to do. If he pushed Raven, she could retreat fairly quickly, but he made a mental note to keep an eye on things.

It was several weeks before Cyborg gave any thoughts to Raven and Beast Boy again. He did notice some small acts here and there during that time. Such as how Beast Boy would always make a mug of herbal tea when he made his breakfast so that it would be ready and waiting for Raven when she finished her meditation. Or Raven would ask for a vegetarian pizza as well, so that Beast Boy could get a few more slices than he usually did.

But, these were acts of two people who's friendship had grown a lot more over the last few years. He remembered the days when they couldn't be in the same room without riling each other up or irritating each other. Now though, they seemed to have a genuine camaraderie.

"Hey, you guys want to go out today? That fair is back on the boardwalk, we could actually enjoy it this time? Oh, and me and BB can win you another chicken!" Cyborg asked his two friends, who were sitting at the dinning table playing chess.

"Nah, I'm good," Beast Boy replied, moving his white rook almost entirely across the board.

"I think I'll pass as well," Raven replied looking at the board intently, before she moved her black knight and took the white rook.

"Oh, come on, Star and Rob have volunteered for monitor duty tonight. There's a rom-com double feature on tonight that Star really wants to watch," Cyborg exclaimed. It wasn't often that the three of them got to go out together, as Star and Robin usually took most of the nights off together.

"Sorry Cy, want to finish that book tonight," Beast Boy replied, ignoring the exasperated noise that his friend made.

"I'm just going to meditate," Raven added, looking towards the board.

"Why don't you just go yourself?" Beast Boy asked, moving his white knight.

"Come on man! That's just pathetic!" Cyborg exclaimed, annoyed that his friends were not going to partake in the fair with him.

"Maybe tomorrow? All five of us could go together? And, uh, Rae, check-mate," Beast Boy said with a smile causing both Cyborg and Raven to exclaim in surprise.

Cyborg left the two to start another game. Apparently, they had each won one, and this decider was going to be who would take dish duty next week. He was disappointed that he wouldn't get to go to fair that evening, as it was something that would be more fun to do with others rather than alone.

Whenever he went anywhere himself, he would get so many people coming up to him and asking some really ridiculous questions. Such as 'did he still poop?', but recently a lot of people had been asking about his plumbing. There seemed to be a lot of Internet debate on whether he still had a penis or not. A few women had even come up to him and tried to take him home so that they could find out.

Walking into his room, Cyborg eyed his holoring sitting on his dresser. It had been a while since he had worn it out. The last time had been when he went to see the exhibition basketball game at the university. All five had gone, but had not wanted to take focus away from any of the college athletes, so he had created holorings for everyone.

Picking up the ring, Cyborg placed it on his right middle finger. Almost instantly he felt the light ripple around him, just minutely, before there was a steady flutter. Looking at himself in the mirror he saw what he would look like if he never had his accident.

That was the trick with the holorings. You had to base the hologram off of something real so that you knew it was you and could interact normally. That was why Robin's hologram had similar facial features, but tanner skin and lighter hair. Star's ring projected a tanned woman with green eyes and red hair, very similar to what she actually looked like, but a little more human. Raven's image was almost exactly the same, except with a human skin tone as well with black hair that had purple highlights. And, Beast Boy's was based on what he would have looked like if he wasn't green. Except, he still had green eyes and slightly tinted green hair.

"Hey, Rob, I'm gonna go out tonight, call me if anything happens," Cyborg said into his communicator. He didn't say any more than that, in case Robin began to mock him for going to a fair alone. He still wanted to go with his friends and hoped they could all go tomorrow, but tonight he just wanted to do something.

Throwing on some jeans and a t-shirt, the holoring didn't project clothes, Victor walked down to the T-Car. He had also installed a holo-projector onto the car, so that it can appear to be a regular sedan. It didn't take him long to drive to the fair, which wasn't that busy as it was still fairly early.

Going from ride to ride he met a lot of different people, chatting with a few groups of college aged girls. He also felt a little more comfortable talking to strangers when he was wearing his holoring. He had come to accept how he looked now, thanks to his friendship with Beast Boy, but when he was alone it was easier to be Victor again.

He had even gotten a few girls phone numbers. He was most likely never going to call them, as he didn't want to mislead anyone into a relationship. He had no idea how other heroes did that, it seemed so dishonest to keep such a large part of yourself secret from someone else. After all, relationships are based on trust and honesty.

Leaving the last group, he was with, Victor made his way towards the area of the fair that was devoted to games. He loved playing these fair games, even though the majority were rigged. When he was a child he would often go to fairs with her grandparents and his grandfather would win him a prize every time.

As he rounded the corner to play some of the games, he stopped dead, causing a few people to walk into his back. For, standing playing the ring toss was a young, pale skin woman with purple highlights, and a tanned young man with green eyes and green tinted hair.

If he had not designed those holograms himself, he would have completely walked past the two of them. To anyone else they just looked like any other couple of young people out together. Both looked very comfortable out of their uniforms.

Raven was wearing a short, dark grey, flared skirt with a what looked like a navy-blue corset shirt, with a black jacket over the top. It made her look really pretty and showed off her long legs, like she was used to doing with her uniform. While Garfield was wearing jeans, a white t-shirt with a red and white hoodie. He had rolled up the sleeves, showing off his toned arms with the hoodie undone. He looked really comfortable. In fact, so did Raven.

Which was really odd, as they normally did not go out much with their holorings on. Nor did they often go out in civilian clothes. In fact, Cyborg thought that Raven didn't own many civilian clothes, at least not that much of a variety. Even tonigh, he could see the Azarathian style in what she was wearing.

Walking up to the two, Cyborg was going to grill them about their sudden change of plans and why they didn't let him know. It was a little irritating, as both had been very clear that they didn't want to go to the fair tonight.

He was almost there when he saw Garfield knock over all the bottles in the game and hollar with glee. Seeing Raven roll her eyes at his exuberance made him chuckle a little. The boy then began to point at some of the prizes behind the bottles to the grumbling of the game owner.

"See, I told you I'd win you another prize," Garfield said with a goofy grin as he handed Raven what appeared to be a light grey bunny with very floppy ears.

"Well, at least it's better than the chicken," Raven said accepting the gift with a small smile.

Cyborg was about to agree when he saw Garfield pull on Raven's hand so that she came closer. His eyes almost completely bugged out of his head when the young green hair man leaned down and sweetly kissed the purple haired girl.

Not knowing what to do, and not wanting to be cuaght, Cyborg almost leapt behind a food cart. His heart was pounding and his mind was spinning as he tried to understand what he saw. Peeking back from behind his hiding place, Cyborg watched as Raven brought her hand up to cup Garfield's face softly, still kissing him.

"Hey, buddy, what the hell do you think you're doing here?" a gruff voice said, causing Cyborg to look around.

"Um, sorry, I was just, you know, um..." Cyborg stuttered trying to find a legitimate reason for why he was crouching behind a taco stand.

"Hiding? Kissing couple with the bunny?" the gruff man said with a knowing smile.

"Yeah, I know them, and I didn't know they were, you know, doing that," Cyborg replied looking back around at the kissing couple, who had thankfully broken apart. He saw Raven give Garfield a playful slap, obviously admonishing him for what he just done. But Garfield only smiled and took her hand, leading her away from the games.

"Looks like a cute couple," the gruff man said, making up some tacos.

"I didn't know they were dating. They didn't say anything! Why didn't they say anything?" Cyborg exclaimed, his eyes following his friends.

"Beats me kid, why don't you ask them like an adult? Or you could follow them like a kid and spy on them? Beef okay? That's four ninety-five, by the way," the gruff man said handing over the tacos that Cyborg didn't order.

Cyborg quickly handed over his money and followed the young couple, not stopping to take his change. He only stopped long enough to stuff the food into his mouth. For the rest of the night, he watched the two go on various rides together, touch each other and occasionally kiss.

After a few hours, Cyborg decided to give up for the evening, as he was beginning to feel a little bit perverted. Giving up for the night, as he was not going to be able to enjoy the fair knowing that his friends were on a secret date, he headed back to the tower.

Deciding not to venture into the common room, in case he saw some lovey-dovey stuff between Robin and Starfire, Cyborg went into his room. Sitting down on his desk chair, he tried to come to grips with what he had seen that night.

He still couldn't believe that he had seen Raven and Beast Boy out together, on what was obviously a date. He had no idea how this could have happened, or why neither had said anything to him. He thought that they all had a deep and meaningful friendship. To hide something this big and this important, something that was going to impact everyone seemed so incredibly selfish to him.

Not realising how much time he had been siting at his desk brooding, he was almost startled out of his chair when the proximity alarm went off. It was only a momentary bleep, meaning that it was someone who actually lived in the tower coming back.

Turning on the monitor to watch the security cameras, Cyborg watched as Raven and Garfield, now both looking like themselves, walked down the hallway hand in hand. It was after midnight, and the rest of the tower would normally be asleep. He watched as they both giggled, Raven still holding her stuffed rabbit.

They stopped outside of Beast Boy's room, both getting closer again until they were kissing. It was not as chaste as it was at the fair, as Raven had thrown her arms around Beast Boy's neck and his hands were roaming up her back.

It was when Beast Boy pushed Raven up against the wall, one of his hands hoisting her leg up, that Cyborg switched off the monitor. He didn't want to see what was going to happen next, but he had a sneaking suspicion he knew what was about to happen.

He didn't know how he was going to look at the two of them the next morning, knowing that they had been lying to him. All he wanted to know was why they felt the need to lie. Yes, he did see Raven as his little sister and would gladly beat the living crap out of any guy who tried anything on with her and had threatened to do that to Aqualad fairly recently. And yes, the little grass stain was his best friend who he would also defend with his life. But that didn't mean he wouldn't listen if they wanted to talk to him about their relationship.

Trying to power down for the night, the images of Raven and Beast Boy kept playing in his mind. It was like his subconscious was using his memory files to try and find a connection. Then his imagination took control, and he didn't want to go to sleep after that.

The next morning, neither Raven nor Beast Boy showed up to breakfast. This was noted by Starfire, who wondered where her friends were, while Robin just made a noncommittal noise at their lack of appearance. Whereas Cyborg was almost boiling over in rage.

He knew exactly where the two of them were. He had checked the hallway monitors when he woke up that morning. He knew that Beast Boy's door had opened and closed last night around midnight, and then didn't open again. The only reason for this was that Raven spent the night in Beast Boy's room.

It was around noon that the changeling eventually showed his face. He was back to being his exuberant green self, almost giddy. This made Cyborg even more irritated, as he knew the reason for the grass stain's good mood.

"Did you have a glorious evening, Friend Beast Boy? You seem to be in the most joyous mood!" Starfire asked, flying next to him.

"Yeah, did you finish your, book?" Cyborg asked venomously.

"Um, yeah, I, uh, finished it. Was up most of the night though," Beast Boy replied with a slight blush across his face. This caused Cyborg to scowl and Robin's eyebrows to shot up into his hairline. Only Starfire seemed to be completely naive about the statement.

"So, friends, shall we go to the fair of the boardwalk this evening?" Starfire asked, hoping to get caught on the Ferris wheel again with Robin.

"Sure Star, we can go," Robin replied, nodding towards Beast Boy and Cyborg.

"Actually Star, I think I'll give it a pass. You guys can go and I'll stay on monitor duty?" Beast Boy said with a small smile while rubbing the back of his head.

"Oh, but friend Beast Boy, we have to go together! We have visited this fair every year for the last five years. It is now a tradition. And, if we do not go tomorrow then we shall not get to go for a whole other year!" Starfire exclaimed, her face held a look of utter horror at the thought of missing the fair.

"Yeah, Beast Boy, why wouldn't you want to go the fair? Got something else to do?" Cyborg asked, his voice still holding a little bit of an edge.

With a sigh, Beast Boy agreed to the plan which caused a squeal of excitement from Starfire. She then flew off to tell Raven the plans for the evening.

"Hey Cy, you okay man? You seem a little, I Don't know, annoyed?" Beast Boy asked as he came to sit down next to his friend.

"Hey, I'm fine. I mean, I would tell you if anything was wrong. Or if anything was right. You'd tell me too, if you had any news. Do you, have any news that is?" Cyborg asked, confusing both Robin and Beast Boy.

"Uh, no, nothing new, sorry?" Beast Boy said, which was obviously not what Cyborg wanted to hear. As the larger hero threw down his game controller, mumbling darkly as he stormed out of the room.

Both Robin and Beast Boy didn't know what to make of Cyborg's mood, but both knew not to disturb the cybernetic man as he brooded about whatever it was that was annoying him. They merely left him to his own devices down in the garage.

By the time they all met in the garage to drive to the fair, it was obvious that Cyborg was in a really bad mood with Beast Boy and the poor younger boy had no idea why. The tension in the car was so thick that it could be cut with a knife and only Starfire was able to break it away slightly.

"Okay, Cyborg, what's wrong? What did I do?" Beast Boy asked after about an hour at the fair. They were all playing the fair games, with Cyborg throwing the rubber balls so hard that he broke a backboard.

"I thought we were friends, man!" Cyborg almost yelled out, dropping the balls and stalking off.

"We are!" Beast Boy exclaimed, nonplussed at the angry statement.

"Friends don't keep secrets! Friends trust each other! You know what, I don't want to talk 'bout this, just leave me alone," Cyborg ground out before stomping off, leaving his friend to stand stock still, being too shocked to move.

It was hours later that Cyborg found Robin and Starfire waiting for him at the T-Car. The two carrying a few stuffed animals and a large bag of cotton candy. Scanning the area, Cyborg couldn't spot either Raven or Beast Boy.

"Oh, I think Raven left a while ago and Beast Boy went with her," Robin answered the unasked question.

"Of course he did," Cyborg muttered under his breath as he climbed into the drivers' seat and started up the T-Car.

When they arrived back at the Tower, Starfire flew off to her room to find a place for the new stuffed animals that Robin had won for her. But, Robin held Cyborg back, grabbing his arm and asking what was wrong and why he was so upset.

"Nothing's wrong, everything's fine. I mean, I would tell you if something was wrong. Or if something was happening in my life. Just because the green bean doesn't share that common courtesy, doesn't mean I'm angry about anything," Cyborg rambled angrily as he filled the T-Car with fuel.

"Do you know something?" Robin asked, leaning against the car hood.

"I don't know anything, as no ones told me anything," Cyborg mumbled.

"But, do you know anything?" Robin asked, causing the metallic man to stop.

Putting down the fuel line, Cyborg looked up at his young leader. His body language appeared calm and natural to a casual observer, but Cyborg was not a casual observer. He could see how tightly coiled Robin was, and how he was almost vibrating with nervous energy.

"Do you know something?" Cyborg asked.

"I might know something. What do you know?"

"I can't tell you what I know, until you tell me what you know, you know."

"I can't tell you, unless I know you know what I know."

It seemed the two were at an impasse, as they looked suspiciously at the other. Neither willing to give away anything until the other did it first.

"Right, that's it, I'm gonna go and get some answers! I'm gonna march right up to BB's room, knock on that door and see what I think I know is the thing I know!" Cyborg yelled out, stomping towards the elevator.

"You know!" Robin yelled out, in almost girlish glee.

"And you know! How, how long man?" Cyborg asked, his anger dissipating as he came back towards his friend.

"Far too long. And I know why they haven't told anyone. I, uh, overheard them talking about it."

The two young men made their way back up to the common room, Robin explaining that this was something that needed to be discussed over coffee, as it was going to take a while. He explained that Raven and Beast Boy had been together for at least the last five months, going by what he had witnessed on the security cameras, but he still wasn't sure. And that the two didn't know that he knew they were together.

He calmly explained that though he had not approached them, he was still keeping tabs on the situation and aiding their secrecy. When Robin explained that, Cyborg almost blew a circuit, as he couldn't understand why he would be helping them keep this secret from everyone else.

"They're not ready to let us know. It seems that though Raven is letting her emotions out more, she is still afraid. She doesn't want people to know and judge her, or Beast Boy. She also a little weirded out by the fact that someone wants her for her, and I think Beast Boy feels the same way. That someone could look past the green skin, pointy ears, claws and fangs. So, I've just been letting them get on with it. When they're ready, they'll come to us. I also know, that BB is dying to tell you. But, he's a afraid that you'll think he isn't good enough for her."

"Well, that's just ridiculous!" Cyborg said, but then took a deep breath and realised why Beast Boy would think that. He did recently tell him that Aqualad wasn't good enough for Raven, and that guy hung out with royalty when he was back in Atlantis.

"Do me a favour, just let them be. I Don't think they'll keep it secret forever. I mean, it's really not that practical. If they Don't tell us in the next few months, then we can go to them. What do you think?"

"Yeah man, that sounds good. Um, do you think They're, you know, doing it?" Cyborg asked, concerned for his younger friends. He wasn't sure if anyone had given either of them the birds and the bees talk.

"Don't look too much into the security footage. Not if you ever want to look them both in the eye again," Robin replied with a grimace.

Review replies:

Butterfry: thank you, I enjoy trying to get into character.

Michelle Anders: thank you, as a teacher, I disapprove of your distraction, but as a writer trying to work through her writers block I am grateful for the feedback.

TFG