Chapter 10 Beastie in Bad Company

As Beast Boy woke up, his senses came back to life and slammed him in the face. He was currently lying on a pile of garbage. As the green changeling sat up, a plastic-sounding crunch echoed through his interdimensional counterpart's bedroom. He yawned, but instantly closed his mouth. The room's stench was so strong that Beast Boy could taste it.

"Man," he said as he turned toward his counterpart. "Beast Boy, do you ever clean this place?"

To his surprise, his goofy counterpart was not in the box he slept in the night before. Beast Boy glanced around the landfill-like room, trying to locate him, but he was nowhere to be seen.

Confused, Beast Boy rose to his feet and exited the room, stepping over a pair of moldy socks in order to get to the door. The smell of the hallway was a relief to his nose, but it was not a relief to his confusion.

"Beast Boy?" Beast Boy called out as he began walking down the hallway. He passed by Robin's room, but when he considered the scene from last night, Beast Boy reasoned that disturbing him wouldn't be the best idea. He then passed by Starfire's room. He opened the door to encounter a sweet scent and bright colors. "Star, have you seen…." Beast Boy's voice trailed off when he saw what the alien Princess was doing. She held her version of Silkie in her arms and licked his back in the most disturbing of ways.

"Oh the yes," Starfire said, drawing her tongue back into her mouth. "That gunk is now the gone."

Beast Boy put his hand to his mouth and closed the door. Spotting a plant at the end of the hallway, he rushed over and vomited into it. Once he was done, he sputtered and coughed.

"Oh man, that is disgusting."

"What's disgusting?"

Beast Boy turned and saw his interdimensional counterpart. He was wearing the pair of purple pajamas that he wore last night. His hand was intertwined with Raven's, who was staring at Beast Boy with a smirk on her face.

"Did you just barf?" she asked, trying to suppress a giggle.

"Oh man," said Beast Boy. "He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed is not going to be happy with you when he finds out what you dids."

"WHAT DID YOU CALL ME!" A voice rang out. Standing at the very end of the hallway was Robin, already dressed up in his superhero uniform. He approached the Titans, his teeth gritted tighter than a choker. Beast Boy and Raven turned, causing the former to let out a sigh.

"Oh great. Yous awake."

"Yes, I'm awake!" Robin yelled. He sniffed the air, his nose leading him directly to the plant. He glared at Beast Boy. "You come into my house only to empty the contents of your stomach in my plants?"

Beast Boy gulped. "I'm sorry, man. I'll clean it up."

Robin crossed his arms. "Well, there's no point in doing that now; the vomit has already seeped its way into the soil." He shook his head. "We're gonna have to toss the plant."

"Oh, yes, finally!" Raven exclaimed with a smile.

"Yeah!" said Beast Boy. "That thing was ugly."

Robin glared at his two teammates. He looked like he was just minutes away from punching them in the nose. His face was tomato red.

Beast Boy hastily picked up the plant. "Don't worry, Robin. I'll throw this thing out for you."

"Ooh, ooh!" Beast Boy exclaimed. "I'll come with you!"

…

Outside, the waves were crashing against the rocks of Titan Island. The scent of saltwater washed over Beast Boy as he chucked the plant into the ocean.

"There," he said. "That thing will naturally decompose and provide food for the sea creatures."

Beast Boy laughed. "Man, sea creatures will eat just about anything!"

"Yeah," Beast Boy said as his shoulders slumped. He turned toward his counterpart. "Hey man, I'm sorry about the plant."

"Pfft," Beast Boy said with a wave of the hand. "Please. Robin is just being an overreacting control freak. There's nothing to worry about."

"Are you sure?" Beast Boy shrunk back a little. "I don't think your Robin likes me."

Once again, Beast Boy laughed. "He's hating on everybody! He doesn't like the fact that people have this thing called 'free will.'"

Beast Boy nodded. "I know. But still…"

"Hey, hey. Don't think about Robin; you ain't in love with him. Instead, let's think about Raven. We need to keep working on the song about her, remember?"

Beast Boy smiled, his eyes twinkled. "Of course. How could I forget?"

"I don't know, man." Beast Boy grabbed his serious counterpart's hand. "Come on, serious me. Let's go do some sound mixing!"

…

The two changelings now stood in a studio. Beast Boy stood in front of the sound mixer and its many, many buttons. Beast Boy was tapping on it, adjusting the different sliders to create the perfect audio quality. He laughed once he was done.

"Okay," he said. He turned back to his counterpart. "Sometimes, sound mixing can really help out with finding inspiration. Messing around with different sounds can help you find the sound that you want."

Beast Boy nodded. "I suppose that could help." He pressed a button on the mixer. The sweet, fluttery voice of a flute echoed down the walls of the room. He then pressed another button, this one sounding like a trumpet. Beast Boy grimaced a little. "These aren't the sounds I want."

"That's fine, dude!" Beast Boy said with a grin. "Just allow the music inside to flow through you. Let it fill your brain until you can think of nothing else."

Beast Boy nodded. He closed his eyes and tried to envision the sound he wanted. He imagined it would sound soft like a flute, but also spunky like a trumpet. He tapped on a button, and a sound similar to a piano echoed across the room. He smiled.

"Ooh, I like that!" He tapped the button again and again. "I think that should be my main instrument!"

"Great! Now get your butt in the recording room and start singing!"

A little taken aback by Beast Boy's tone, Beast Boy made his way into the recording studio. Beast Boy smiled at him from outside the window and started to play some background music. Beast Boy hesitated before singing into the microphone in the most clunky manner possible.

"Uhhh...flowers and grackle...fly with you through the night….you are awesome, Raven!"

Beast Boy cringed at the off key singing. Beast Boy felt his stomach drop before he cleared his throat.

"PLEASE GO OUT WITH ME…." Finally, he shook his head. "No, I can't do this! I sound horrible."

Beast Boy shook his head. "You only sound horrible because you aren't singing from your heart, yo!"

"And how am I supposed to do that?" Beast Boy asked.

Beast Boy grinned. "Well, I thinks you might need some vocal lessons! Thankfully, I know just the guy!"