Beast Boy did not get home till late night. The hospital was able to accommodate vegan meals for him while he was entertaining the kids, so he was able to go straight to bed once he got home, especially since he was going to go back for second round at the same ungodly hour.
Like the day before, Garfield woke up early. He felt dreadfully tired, especially since he got home late and had to wake up again early, but he found it to be worth it. So worth it. He met so many kids from all age groups, from babies to teenagers as tall as Cyborg. Some cases tugged at his heart strings, especially those that seemed that their lives were based on an hourglass.
There was this one case, a little girl that could not be older than 5 years old who approached him that convinced him to come again tomorrow.
She had long dark brown hair tied into a long braid with dark blue eyes. When it was her turn to meet Garfield, she asked for an autograph with a handmade drawing of Beast Boy. It was actually pretty good in his opinion for a 5-year-old, but then again Garfield's artistic abilities only extended to stick figures.
"Of course, and whose beautiful name should I sign this autograph for?" Garfield asked with his signature toothy grin. The little girl giggled and shook her head with for a no.
"It's not for me Mr. Beast Boy. It is actually for my older brother Danny. He is a big fan of yours and he drew this picture. He is too sick right now to come see you, but I know he is a big fan of yours! Mommy said he is being checked right now by the nice doctor lady and he was real sad 'bout not meeting you", she said with a sad pout, but instantly perked up again, "He drew this picture and a couple of others that are back home, but I borrowed this so you can sign it to surprise him! I wanted to bring in my Teen Titans doll set but my mommy said you could only sign maybe one thing, and this would mean a lot to Danny".
Garfield did not know how to respond. How could he? This adorable little girl went out of her way to surprise her big brother. He did not know what her brother was sick from, but it must be something serious considering he glanced over at her mother and she had tears rolling down her face when she mentioned her brother. He only looked at the girl with his mouth open, not sure how to start.
"Mr. Beast Boy, are you ok?"
Garfield shook off his thoughts and continued. "Yeah! Of course I can sign this for…Danny right?"
"Yeah! Danny, you're his absolute favorite, mine is Raven! She is so strong and cool. She saved a friend of mine from a car accident once with her cool powers!... But you are also my favorite!". Garfield couldn't help but chuckle and got down to one knee to face the little girl.
"Don't worry, Raven is my favorite too. Just don't tell anyone I said that, especially Raven". The little girl giggled. Garfield signed the picture, "Well I hope Danny gets better real soon and when you give him this, tell him that I really loved his drawing of me! He captured my ears just right. Now you never did give me your name pretty lady".
"My name is Brooke, thank you again Mr. Beast Boy!". Brooke ran over back to her mom who mouthed "Thank you" to Beast Boy.
Garfield felt terrible and wanted to meet his "biggest fan" so he approached Brooke's mother and asked if he would be able to be visited tomorrow. She told him that he would be recovering from surgery but should be able to take visitors. Garfield said he would be there tomorrow to visit him, with his mother's permission of course and the mother just burst to tears and could not help but give Garfield a surprisingly strong hug. Garfield was taken aback, but the hug felt nice. A nice motherly hug.
So that was why he decided to sign up for a second volunteering shift and made sure to section a time off to meet Danny.
Raven found herself waking up earlier than usual, she was only able to sleep a few hours last night. She was not sure exactly why she couldn't sleep, but she had an idea why considering her final thoughts before she went to bed.
I wonder if he's back home…I should go check.
As soon as she was about to exit her room to go towards Beast Boy's room she halted in place.
No, I can't go check in. He is old enough.
But what if he never got back home?
She decided she would just go near his room and check for his signature snoring and carry on with her day.
Normally she would be able to detect his presence easily, due to his boisterous energy, but she could not sense him when she was going towards his room. She wanted to make sure by pressing her ear against the door but heard nothing.
No snores, no breathing, just nothing. Now she was getting worried.
She began pacing towards the common room and started worrying to herself.
I am sure Robin is on it already if he never came home. Cyborg can check the security tapes and make sure that…until the doors opened, and she caught eyes with just the person that was the cause for her early worrying.
They looked at each other until the closing of the double doors broke their silence.
She walked into Beast Boy with her cup in his hand, making tea.
"Oh hey Rae! I did not expect to see you here so early. I mean I know you always wake up early but I thought this was so too early for you…Not saying that you're too lazy to wake up this early…wait that doesn't make sense. Sorry I meant.." before Raven cut him off.
"Where in the Trigon's hell have you been and what are you doing up so early? I thought you only woke up early yesterday to volunteer" she said with a concerned brow.
Beast Boy began rubbing his neck, something he usually did when he was caught doing something he should not have or when he was nervous. Given his emotions, she knew it was due to the latter. "Actually, I am volunteering again today. I got here super late yesterday because I wanted to talk a bit longer than just taking a photo and shaking their hands".
Raven nodded surprised, "Oh. That is real nice of you. I mean, that sounds like you. It is a good thing you are doing Beast Boy, and I never thought I would ever say this but, I am proud of you…we are all proud of you".
Beast Boy's ears shot up and he had a huge satisfied grin on his face. He didn't hear words of praise so often, especially from Raven.
"You mean it, Raven?". She nodded her head in response.
Beast Boy's ecstatic grin narrowed and shook his head, "There is nothing to be proud about. I am happy doing this, I regret not doing this earlier. It means so much to them and I never really thought about how much we mean to people…", he changed his tone to a more joking one, "I mean I know the effect I have on the ladies" which on cue garnered an eyeroll from Raven. He then went back to his normal voice, "All jokes aside, it is crazy how happy those kids looked meeting me. I mean me out of all people. I thought they would have asked if I could have brought Robin or Star over or something…but nah, they all wanted to see me".
"Of course, they would want to see you. You're Beast Boy. You turn into animals, kids love that stuff. Besides, you've always been the most social among us…so I have no idea where you would get the absurd idea that kids would not like you".
He shrugged, "I don't know, I guess it's just something with me personally guess…the concept is kinda hard to wrap around for me…"
"Feeling wanted?". Rare for Raven to say something out loud without really thinking, she did not mean to say that out loud, but she did and now she had to deal with what she sure was the conversation she was originally avoiding him for.
He ears drooped down, "Yeah.." but quickly changed his hurt demeanor and shifted, "So did I make it right yesterday?"
"Make what right?"
"You know the tea I made you. I hope I didn't make it all bitter and stuff, or maybe not bitter enough?"
Raven almost forgot about the sweet gesture, but found herself involuntarily smiling remembering about it. She noticed that he was in the process of making tea and had her mug out.
"Yeah, you made it just right and chose the right tea too. That was really sweet of you, but you did not have to do that nor make me tea again".
Garfield shook his head and started pouring in the hot water in the loose leaves. "I know I did not need to do that, but I wanted to. Thought you might appreciate it, and for you to stop avoiding me. You know we eventually have to talk right?" as he handed her the freshly brewed tea.
She gripped the mug a bit tighter than she should've and quickly set it down almost burning her hand underestimating the heat radiating form the cup, or did she just feel hot all of a sudden?
She avoided his gaze and faced the kitchen countertop leaning in, "Yeah I suppose, but aren't you going to be late to go volunteer?"
Beast Boy almost forgot how early it was and why he was up so early in the first place.
"Oh God I almost forgot…Hey! I have a great idea, why don't you come down with me? I am sure the kids would love to see you!".
She gave him a bewildered look, "Me? I think you might mean Starfire, they wouldn't want me there. Besides, I can't just leave out of nowhere, what if something happens?".
"Well for starters, we will be in town already so we probably will get there before the rest of the team, and what do you mean they would not want you there? They love you!".
She scoffed, "Okay sure Beast Boy, thanks for the offer, but…"
"I will make you a deal". She gave him her full attention. "Come with me to volunteer, I think you will be more surprised than you think. If you feel uncomfortable by the presence of so many cute kids adoring you, then we can make up any excuse and come right back. I know Robin will support and approve of it, he was happy for me to volunteer and it will make the team look good. C'mon Rae, what's the worst that can happen?"
"Not sure if that was a joke or not. Let's see, me in a building filled with kids and expensive medical equipment, what could go wrong?".
He knew she was not going to be easily convinced so he had to pull out the big guns. "….and we can put off that talk to whenever works best for you. I know how uncomfortable you might feel, so I will give you time to think. But only if you come with me to volunteer and give it a real shot. I will even tell them to give us a room where we can talk to kids one on one so too many kids will not be overwhelming. Please Rae? For me?".
A lot of people had the impression that Raven was heartless. Heck some were convinced she was born without one even physiologically, she was half demon after all, did they even need one? Raven did indeed have a heart, a big one at that, and the whole team knew, she just had to suppress her emotions due to her power.
How could she possibly say no to seeing these children? Why did it take Beast Boy to beg for her to be convinced? She felt embarrassed that he offered to put off their "talk" just to convince her. She was going to say yes, not for Beast Boy and not because she was dreading that bloody talk, but for the kids.
"Okay. I will do it, with those conditions though. Let me finish and wash up my cup and I can teleport us there.".
"You won't regret it Rae, I swear! They are all so cool. They are totally going to be psyched!"
"Don't hold your breath, and no more "Rae", you must only call me Raven there, that is my additional condition".
"That's it?" She nodded. "Okay cool! Let me leave a note for Robin that you are coming along, he will be so stoked to hear about it".
"I am sure he will be just jolly about it". She finished her tea and cleaned up and took a long deep breath.
I hope I don't blow anything up or kill Beast Boy…at least we will be in a hospital already.
"Okay, are you ready?"
"Sure am!" He got close to Raven and gently gripped her wrist in order to teleport. He did not have to touch her, he just needed to be next to her. He knew his intentions, but she was not sure if he did it on purpose or it was just afterthought. Regardless of the answer, she could not help but blush and was glad to be covered by her cloak.
She teleported them to one of the side entrances of the hospital. Beast Boy led the way and asked the in-charge nurse. "Hello, we are here to visit Danny Connor. Can I bring my friend along?".
"Sure thing, you just need to sign the paper work and get his parent's per-"and froze in place. The nurse was not there yesterday and did not expect to see the two heroes there.
"Don't worry Stacey, they have been cleared" said Dr Ojeda. Beast Boy grinned and shook the doctor's hand, Stacey still lost for words. Both heroes followed the doctor inside and the nurse finally was able to mutter out "-mission".
I had these chapters drafted and now have been caught up on my writing so updates will be slower.
Thank you for all the lovely reviews! The favorites, follows and reviews really help and encourage me to keep on with the story :)
Hope you all enjoy the chapter and stay safe!
-B