Hello Beautiful Readers, I may have fallen out of love with Sting at chapter 7. I still intend to finish it, but this popped in my head and demanded to get written. It's summer time and I am attempting Wednesday weekly updates when possible. This time I'm editing which might make this better, but I don't have a Beta so expect some mistakes. Though enjoy, leave a review if you can.
Hot nights were harder to handle in the tower, while the Conditioner of Air was doing it's best there was a stickiness that seemed harder to escape. I did not find offense to the heat, but it made it harder to sleep through the night. There were more sounds, more life through the nights and it was so tempting to listen and join the world in staying up. Some days I would skip sleep through the nights and doze while sunbathing.
I was not alone in being affected by the season change. Beast Boy stayed very reptilian during the days as being cold blooded was an easy shift to enjoy the heat. Raven spent more nights reading. When I flew outside her window when exploring it was always lit. The Barnes and Noble boxes were also constantly arriving when I got the mail on the mainland. Cyborg had been on a vendetta with a broken cooling system in the Tower's gym. It had been blasting hot air whenever it turned on which made inside training even more unpleasant. After Raven got near second degree sunburn in a powerless training session we had been trying to do more sessions outside the UV rays. It was hard to see something that gave me such power and life could hurt my friends. Raven had healed quickly of course, but I knew seeing red skin in her reflection had deeply bothered her.
Robin had been the only one whose habits did not noticeably change in the change of season. He went to bed at a reasonable hour and the only sign of him being bothered by the heat was him shifting his wardrobe to basketball shorts and actual t-shirts with the Robin logo of course. His suit had been designed for Gotham nights and while he still wore it for missions it became obvious he was more comfortable outside of it. It also showed he had gotten more comfortable with us. Three years of living and fighting together opened a few boundaries, but not all…
While we had shown many of our vulnerabilities to him, his eyes and his past were kept locked up out of our reach. I knew that Raven had seen more of him through her empathy, but knew she locked that away her self to not compromise the friendship. He received the most healing from her so she was in his energy the most. She got to see how he hurt and what he hid. She did that with us all and I felt bad that she had so many keys, but only into dark basements. None of our backstories came from a perfect past and secrets could be kept as long as they did not put another in harms way. I had kept my status of Princess hidden since it felt fake to claim after being enslaved. It hurt no one until we were on Tamaran and customs needed to be acknowledged. All of us kept that unspoken rule of respect and privacy well, the breaking point was risk of others. While Robin was a wonderful leader the Red X and Slade instances had shown sometimes he took things more personal and did not see the risk in our unawareness. It was always annoying when Mad Mod would appear and his schooling would prove valid.
Still Friend Robin was worthy to place my trust in. He meant well, and when he would make mistakes it was a reminder that he was just like the rest of us. He put higher expectations upon himself, but I would take him at his lowest and respect him. Though I may have a blind spot when it came to him. Caring for someone often left an ease at doing what is best for them. I loved my people on Tamaran and went into slavery to spare them. Doing things that would spare those you love was an easier medicine to swallow. I just worried that he could be scared off by my caring. He often shut down my attempts to discuss my caring of him, but always apologized when he knew he had pushed hard enough to hurt. Our dynamic was not completely simple, but trusting him could be. Or at least it was…
Tonight while I had been out on our island. Beast Boy had told me a story that you can tell the temperature by the number of cricket chirps. He had given me the conversion and I was curious of whether he had told me the truth or if it was just a prank. Both were possible options, but curiosity had struck me. I had heard the chirping from other flights and explorations. In summer I saw bats and algae blooms and other things I never expected to see. The bats were small and cute which made me wonder how Batman chose them as his mascot and namesake. The algae blooms were interesting since there bioluminescence reminded me of space and other creatures that I had familiarity. I had assumed it was one giant creature until I asked Beast Boy the next day. I had been taking photos and sharing my findings with him since I had started my summer night explorations. He was a great resource for animal findings and other ecological questions I had. Once I had decided earth might be my forever home I decided I needed to understand it better through observation. My English still needed work my accent remained and slang could "go over my head". I had once went to catch something going over my head and Cyborg decided to explain that one to me. I felt bad asking for him to explain everything since it often felt like that was the exclusive language him and Beast Boy spoke. Though the moments he did I was very grateful since they saved me from looking foolish. In this instance Beast Boy had been telling the truth about crickets and his formula to calculate the temperature proved mostly accurate they were a degree off, but still impressive to have an animal be able to relate to man-made measurement. Especially Fahrenheit, Celsius was much closer to Univel measurement.
This discovery was quite satisfying, but quickly was short ended. The bridge to the main land slowly rose from the sea and an unfamiliar bike rolled across with clear efforts for stealth. The lack of noise made me very suspicious since Robin always preached a loud motorcycle was a safe motorcycle since it would alert other cars and vehicles to not crush the driver. The driver was dressed in black and had red streaks of led light outlining a mask and gloves. It wasn't Red X, but the suit reminded me of his. I continued to lay on the ground to see what would happen. He pulled straight up to the tower and went to the garage. It didn't completely rule out a villain infiltrating, but it did point some fingers at Robin. Motorcycle, red and black color scheme for alter ego, and flawless use of bridge and garage code felt familiar. Robin, please do not be hiding things from us. Please do not be hiding things from me. Not again.