Notes: Note the date here, kids. It's ten or so months later. There's a reason. I think. Bleh. Some of the rating comes into play here. Beware the teenage hormones!
Insert appropriate disclaimer here
The Man Without
Chapter 2 – The Hours Between
February 19th
Titan Tower bore witness to more arguments, spats, conflicts, bickering fights and shouting matches than perhaps any other superheroic headquarters in the world. The reason for this lies in the unusual youth of the Tower's residents. The good-natured quarreling between Beast Boy and Cyborg over the comparative merits of veganism were nothing compared to the howling anger that occasionally swept through the halls when one or another of the Titans were on a teenage rampage. Cyborg regularly left oil tracks in the hallway that Beast Boy cleaned with obsessive meticulousness, prompting frequent snits and slightly less frequent fistfights. It was well-known that Raven transformed into a vicious harpy if disturbed during her meditation, likely to randomly detonate household objects in her anger, but Starfire took to joining her friend in meditative exercises, and Starfire's wrath was much, much worse. Even Robin, who adored Starfire to the point of arrant idiocy, screamed obscenities at her when she clogged the shower drain for the fifth time in as many days.
Such aggression usually found a more constructive outlet in, say, the apprehension of vicious criminals. Unfortunately, no team of superheroes can patrol 24 hours a day. They must sleep and eat and meditate and play video games in between the heroics.
It's in these small hours between, when tensions and hormones and aggression run rampant, that we find our story.
Exactly one week before Raven's nineteenth birthday, Starfire announced that it was time for another metamorphic chrysalis. After the trauma of the last time, it was decided that it would be best for Starfire to remain in her room for the duration of the chrysalid stage.
Robin, of course, visited her frequently during those long hours. Raven would sometimes arrive for a visit only to find that her time with her unconscious friend had been preempted by a moody Boy Wonder moping around Starfire's bed. His worry was palpable.
"There's no need to be so down, Robin," Raven called out when she'd finally had enough.
Robin didn't look surprised to see her lurking in the doorway. "It's been four days, Raven," he said, staring at the sleek shell of Starfire's chrysalis. "Last time it took a matter of hours. What if something's gone wrong? What if she's dying?"
Raven placed a hand soothingly on Robin's shoulder. "We don't know enough about Tamaranian physiology to worry, at this point, Robin," she replied. "And Starfire didn't seem worried when it started, so I think we should just wait it out."
Robin sighed.
"And you should eat," Raven told him.
"Yes, Mom," Robin muttered, rising from his seat and heading for the door.
"I'll keep an eye on her for a while," Raven said. "So don't worry. I don't sense any distress from her, so I think she's fine."
Robin smiled. "Thanks."
Not thirty seconds after Robin had left the room, there was a crunching noise and a long crack appeared in the glossy outer casing of the chrysalis. A damp, golden-skinned fist punched its way through a moment later.
"Holy shit," Raven said as Starfire pulled herself out of the dripping wreckage of her chrysalis.
"There is something wrong, Friend Raven?" Starfire asked, her voice slightly husky. Droplets of liquid the color of honey slid down her bare skin, merely emphasizing not only how very naked Starfire was, but also her body had changed. Aside from longer legs and an additional cup size, Starfire had gained a sort of knowing look in her eye, a look that Raven might have called 'predatory' had she not known her friend as well as she did.
"Nothing's wrong, Starfire," Raven finally said, tearing her eyes away from her friend's newly developed body.
"You keep staring at me," Starfire noted, leaning closer. "What are you thinking, dear friend?"
Raven suddenly caught a hint at Starfire's emotional state. "Oh, shit," she said eloquently before standing up so fast her chair fell over.
Starfire gave her a smoldering look up through her long eyelashes.
"I'm going to go get Robin, Star," she said hurriedly. "Stay here."
Starfire pouted and tossed her hair back over her shoulder, but didn't seem inclined to move.
Raven shot out of the room in search of the team's leader.
"She's not hurt or anything, right?" Robin asked desperately once Raven found him in the common room eating a sandwich.
"No, she seems fine, but she needs you there with her," Raven temporized.
Robin sped up and skidded around the corner and into Starfire's room. "Starfire!" he called.
"I'm in the bath, Robin," Starfire said throatily from the bathroom. "Come on in, though."
Robin bolted for the bathroom door.
"Good luck, Rob," Raven called before backing out through the door and locking it behind her. "I think you're going to need it," she added to herself.
The last thing she heard from Star's room before she headed back toward the common room was Robin's muffled, "Oh, my god!" and then a splash.
Robin never told anyone about what happened that afternoon behind Starfire's closed door. But something happened in that missing two and a half hours between the time when Raven shoved him into Starfire's room and the moment when a glaze-eyed Robin drifted through the common room in search of food, exhausted, drained, but grinning like a madman.
"You know they did the deed," Cyclops said authoritatively once the Boy Wonder was out of earshot again. He was currently winning a game of gin rummy with Raven and Beast Boy.
"'The deed?'" Raven repeated. "What are you, eight years old?" She wore an expression of utter disdain on her face.
"You mean you don't think they were humping like bunnies?" Beast Boy asked, attempting to look innocent.
Raven absently decked him and played her turn out. "We shouldn't speculate about our friends," she noted primly. "Besides, I had a hard enough time blocking out the psychic echoes of Starfire's orgasmic howls without you two nattering on like two gossipy old ladies."
Cyborg and Beast Boy stared at her in complete and utter shock.
"Wha – ?" Beast Boy finally managed.
"You mean you were listening in on them?" Cyborg wrinkled the flesh side of his nose. "That's sick, Rae."
"It's not like I want to hear it!" Raven snapped. "All that meditation's made Starfire a lot more psychically noisy. She's fucking hard to shield out." Her normally pale cheeks flushed in a way that both boys would probably agree was rather fetching.
"Dude, that sucks," Beast Boy consoled her, patting her back while trying not to psychically project how much he enjoyed the view down the front of her tank top.
"I can't wait until everyone in the Tower finishes growing up," Raven said with a long- suffering sigh. "I'm tired of being privy to the dreams of all you oversexed lunatics."
Beast Boy looked horrified. "You watch my dreams?"
"It's not my choice!" Raven snarled.
"Ha!" Cyborg said, pointing at Beast Boy. "I guess someone over there has some naughty dreams." He snickered. "At least I'm a robot and don't have to deal with that kind of shit."
Raven gave Cyborg a Look.
"What?" he said innocently.
"Why don't you tell Beast Boy about that dream you had last night about that girl, Jinx?" Raven suggested with a hint of a smirk.
"Eeew! Jinx?!" The green boy howled with laughter while Cyborg just looked humiliated.
"And don't even get me started on the lunacy that goes on in Beast Boy's dreams . . ." Raven continued.
Beast Boy leaped onto her back and slapped both hands over her mouth. "Raven!" he whined, horrified.
"Mmph," said Raven.
"Way to go Beast Boy!" Starfire cheered upon entering the living room and spotting Beast Boy clinging to Raven's back with his arm's wound around her head.
"Star, this probably isn't the best time," Cyborg noted, a little warningly, as he watched Raven attempt to peel Beast Boy from her.
Starfire watched Beast Boy and Raven for a moment before raising an eyebrow and calmly asking, "Or is it Raven who has finally decided to seduce Beast Boy? I still don't really understand the mating rituals of your planet." She cinched the sash of her short robe a little more securely. She looked delightfully rumpled.
All movement ceased in the common room.
A lamp exploded.
"I'm. Not. Seducing. Beast Boy," Raven ground out before finally pulling the boy in question from her back and flinging him across the table.
"Oh, I must have misunderstood your actions, Friend Raven," Starfire replied, pursing her lips. "I'm afraid that my mind incorrectly interpreted the scene because I just had a lot of sex with Robin." She smiled sunnily and sauntered over to the refrigerator.
"Holy shit," Cyborg muttered.
"You said it, bro," Beast Boy agreed, hauling himself back into his chair.
"You didn't hurt him, did you, Star?" Raven asked suspiciously. "I didn't think you would, but I don't know much about Tamaranians and your, um."
"Mating procedures?" Starfire suggested mildly.
"Er," said Raven.
"Oh, Robin is perfectly fine. A little tired, that's all." Starfire pulled a fresh bottle of mustard from the fridge and took a long drink. "Did you see where he went? I wasn't done with him and he should be rested again by now."
"I think he went to his room to pass out," Raven told her.
"Thank you, Friend Raven," Starfire said before walking over to Raven and kissing her full on the mouth.
The boys gaped in astonishment.
Perhaps thirty seconds later Raven finally managed to pull away. "Uh . . ."
"Thank you for visiting me while I was undergoing my transformation, dear friend," the Tamaranian girl said with a beatific smile. "It also meant a lot to me that you delivered Robin to me afterward."
"Hey, I visited you too, Star," Cyborg began. "Does that mean that I get . . ."
"Shut up, dude," Beast Boy interrupted, elbowing him with a clunk of bone against steel. "It we're quiet, they might forget we're here and start making out again." He grinned blissfully. "This'll fuel my fantasy life for weeks."
Not much of either Robin or Starfire was seen for the next several days. Raven took charge of patrolling and between herself, Cyborg and Beast Boy, they kept crime in check in Jump City. Inside the Tower, there was a palpable tension in the air as the three active Titans learned to adjust to the changes in the relationship of Robin and Starfire.
The absence of a good portion of the team meant that Raven and Beast Boy began to spend a great deal of time alone together. Raven had spent months avoiding being alone with the shifter only to find that Starfire's hormones would blow the whole process. It wasn't exactly that Raven didn't want to be around Beast Boy, because she still cared for him a great deal. But he'd seemed encouraged by their banter after the Chrysalis Incident and had resumed his shameless flirting.
Her unwanted intrusion into his dreams had grown more frequent as well.
On the eve of Raven's nineteenth birthday, she found herself once again pulled into Beast Boy's dream.
One nice thing about Beast Boys dreams was his portrayal of herself. Whenever Robin included Raven in his weird little crime-fighting-turned-sex-romp dreams, she was always leggier, bustier, and generally friendlier. In Beast Boy's dreams, Raven was exactly as she always was, short and cold and generally at least a little cranky.
"Happy Birthday!" Beast Boy told her before transforming to a puppy and jumping into her lap so he could lick her face.
"Stop licking me," Dream Raven grated out, trying not to giggle. They were seated together on the couch in the living room of the Tower, but no one else was in sight.
Beast Boy shifted back to his normal dream self: tall, lanky, and charming. He sprawled across Dream Raven's lap. "I have a special present for you," he said with mock-seriousness.
Raven raised an eyebrow. "Does it involve something noisy? Your presents usually do . . ."
He leaned his head up and kissed the underside of her chin. "It might turn out noisy," he said with a wicked smile. "But I think you'll like it anyway."
The living room of the Tower melted away and they were suddenly somewhere in the jungle. The two of them were still seated together, but they were now nestled with their backs against a huge tree, feet dangling into a waterfall-fed pool.
"It's beautiful, Beast Boy," Raven said, her gaze soft as she looked around the small clearing.
"It's all for you, Raven," Beast Boy said. "But the scenery's not your present." He suddenly pushed her into the water and cleanly dove in after her.
"What the hell?" Raven demanded as she broke the surface. Her cloak tangled wetly around her arms and her leotard stuck to her in uncomfortable places.
Beast Boy was suddenly in front of her, pushing her back against the rocky bank, one hand ensuring that she didn't move, the other wound in her short, wet hair. "The water's nice," he purred in her ear.
Dream Raven was used to such things from Beast Boy. She seemed to melt a little in his grasp, then tilted her face up to meet his kiss, mouth opening beneath his.
Both Beast Boy and Raven's clothes disappeared soon afterward.
The real Raven, a trapped observer in her friend's dream, was, as usual, very uncomfortable. Robin and Cyborg had very traditional sexual fantasies, and hell, even Robin's occasional dreams about getting under Raven's leotard were almost comfortably normal. Beast Boy, however, fantasized about not only screwing Raven, but loving her. And her regular eavesdropping on his dreams was wreaking havoc with her emotional stability. She'd never really returned his adolescent crush, but she he was still her dearest friend. His affection for her strained their relationship at times. She cared deeply for him, but it was difficult to be truly attracted to a boy who looked and acted like a twelve-year-old.
Except in dreams, she reminded herself as she watched the sleek muscles of the dreaming changeling's back shift as he gently rocked against Dream Raven.
Against her will and better reason, Raven, the cool observer, was forced to admit that she rather enjoyed certain portions of Beast Boy's dreams. The imaginary adult Beast Boy was handsome in a way that Raven generally didn't like to acknowledge.
This has to stop, she told herself, feeling heat rise to her face and settle in her abdomen. I'm attracted to a person who doesn't quite exist, a man with the personality of my best friend and the body that he dreams about.
With a tremendous effort, Raven wrenched her mind from the dream and into wakefulness. She sat bolt upright in bed, panting, trying to gather her thoughts and calm her rebellious body.
A glance at her alarm clock told her that it was really too early to be awake, but she knew that if she went back to sleep she would be treated to the continuing love affair between Beast Boy's dream self and his vision of herself. It would be too difficult to watch. She'd had about enough of her imaginary paramour for one night.
Raven stood up and wrapped herself in a long robe before fetching a glass of water from the bathroom she shared with Starfire. As she was stepping back into her room she noted the sliver of light shining from beneath Beast Boy's door.
Did my abrupt departure from his dream disrupt his mind enough to wake him? Raven wondered, padding toward his room instead of her own.
"You awake?" she asked quietly, rapping softly on the door.
From inside, Beast Boy made a noise that sounded like it might have been assent, so Raven took a deep breath and pushed her way into the room.
She noticed, almost immediately, just what was out of place.
The reading lamp had been left on and there, lying sprawled and tangled among the sheets was a young man who was most certainly not the Beast Boy she regularly bickered with every morning over cereal. This man was much taller, though still slim and fine-boned. He had heavier musculature than Beast Boy and his shoulders were broader, tapering down to narrow hips. The white tank top he wore seemed a couple sizes too small and the bottom hem rode up a little, revealing a flat stomach and a line of hair stretching from the waistband of his boxers to his navel. Every inch of his skin was green.
If Raven thought there was some way to accelerate the growth of Beast Boy, to somehow transform his barely-pubescent body into this man's . . . but there wasn't, so it was a moot point. More important was the fact that the young man who was still sleeping in Beast Boy's bed was quite obviously the same person who Raven had just watched seduce her in Beast Boy's dream.
"Oh, sweet Azar," she murmured in shock.
"Raven," the man sighed in his sleep, generous mouth curling into a contented smile.
Next Up: The morning after. That's always fun. Will Raven finally confront Beast Boy about whatever the hell's going on? Will Robin and Starfire emerge from the bedroom for more than a few minutes at a time? Will poor, dear Cyborg continue to get remarkably little screen time in this story?