By Nyassa Kaiba
Notes: I decided to try an experiment. I'm going to experiment with Robin/Beastboy.
Starfire: Oh dear.
Raven: Robin, I would advise you run for your life.
Robin: Good idea. (runs away, walks into snare) Oh no.
(evil laugh) At least it's Beastboy and not Kitten or somebody.
Robin: Not Kitten, no way…
(cackle) Kitten can't have you. (smirk) Relax, if it doesn't work out I'll have the two of you break up and you can go back to crushing over Starfire. But remember I cast Starfire as a lesbian earlier, which means that I need some place to put you.
Robin: Sigh. I suppose you're not going to shut up until I do it.
That's right I won't.
Robin: Fine, whatever! But only for fanfiction.
YEAY! (lets him down and glomps him)
Chapter 13
I ache for the touch of your lips dear
But much more for the touch of your whips dear
You can raise welts like nobody else
As we dance to the Masochism Tango...
Your heart is hard as stone or mahogany
That's why I'm in such exquisite agony
My soul is on fire
It's aflame with desire
Which is why I perspire when we tango...
-Tom Leher, "Masochism Tango"
Beastboy and Robin made it to their room that night exhausted. "Raven… I… I still can't believe that she tried to… to…" Beastboy couldn't say it.
"Stubborn pride." Replied Robin. "That and fear. She's afraid we'll kick her off the team."
"I heard that. But why?"
Robin sighed and looked out the window by his bed. Then he slipped off his shirt and sighed again, leaving it on the floor. "Think about it Beastboy. Fear of abandonment."
Beastboy shuddered. "But it's true, she can't fight without her eyesight."
"I've fought blinded before. Remember True Master?" Robin asked.
"Yeah, I remember, but every single battle?" Beastboy asked as he folded back the blankets on his bed. He sat down, but didn't go to bed.
"Isn't there a comic book about a blind superhero?" Asked Robin.
"Daredevil is different. He has echolocation." Beastboy pointed out. "And unless she suddenly changes into a dolphin or something Raven isn't going to get it either."
Robin sighed. "I have faith in her." Robin told him. "She'll find a way."
"You also didn't seem to have trouble with Raven being a lesbian." Beastboy stated.
"I don't." Robin pointed out.
"Why?" Beastboy asked, perking up.
"Why should I tell you?"
"Because I'm curious and I won't tell anybody the answer if you don't want me to." Beastboy stated, climbing up onto Robin's bed with the cutest expression on his face.
"Fine, I don't have a problem with it because I'm bisexual." Robin stated.
"SAY WHAT?" Beastboy cried.
"I already told you, now I'm going to sleep." Robin stated, rolling over in bed.
"Oh no you don't! You are going to tell me exactly what it feels like to be gay because I want to know and I'm your friend and I'm curious." Beastboy said all at once.
Robin growled. "Leave me alone okay? I'm tired."
"Oh no you don't! You're using that as an excuse." Beastboy grinned wickedly. Then he started tickling Robin. "I'll tickle you to death if you don't tell me…"
Robin started giggling, rolling over so that they were face to face. "Hehe… stop… he he… that… ha ha…" He wasn't quite annoyed, but he wasn't very happy about it either. And the tickling was starting to arouse him.
"Tell me!" Beastboy giggled.
A moan was all the reply he got.
"You like that huh?"
The reply he got was not the one he wanted. Robin grabbed him and hauled the littlest Titan down to kiss him. Beastboy froze, then melted into the kiss, moaning into his leader's lips. It felt so good. And he wanted… "Oh god…" Beastboy moaned. "So good…"
Robin broke the kiss for air, sighed, and scooped Beastboy up like a package. Then the leader carried the littlest Titan over to his own bed, pulled the covers up to cover him, and then walked back over to his own bed. Within moments Robin's even breathing told the littlest Titan that he was asleep.
Beastboy thought for awhile. "Man… that felt so good." He whispered. "But why are you staying away from us?" He changed into a cat, slipped out from under the covers, and climbed up onto Robin's bed, purring in pleasure.
Robin smiled in his sleep and Beastboy hoped that the smile was for him. Or was it? For all he knew Robin might have a boyfriend back home that he never mentioned, maybe that was why he had pushed the littlest Titan away.
The next morning Beastboy woke to find the bed deserted. The sound of a shower came from the next room. "Hello?" Beastboy called.
"Almost finished." Robin called. "Stay out until I'm finished okay?"
"Fine." Beastboy sighed. Man, he should have expected this. After all, Starfire showed a HUGE interest in Robin and still, did he show any interest in HER? The answer, Beastboy knew, was no.
It would be hard then. That was the only romantic interest that Robin had ever showed in anybody and he knew that this was because he was trying to shut Beastboy up. That last realization HURT.
Robin walked right past him, wrapped in a towel, dirty uniform in hand. There was no point in talking right now. Beastboy slipped into the shower, tossed his uniform outside the stall, shut the door, and turned on the water.
Even as the littlest Titan's body went through the motions of cleanliness his mind replayed last night in his head. Just a kiss had provoked THAT kind of reaction. "Man I must be out of it." Beastboy muttered to himself, turning the shower from hot to cold until he was shivering.
Robin was nowhere to be seen when Beastboy came out. So Beastboy followed his nose to the kitchens where he managed to get breakfast. Searching the dining hall he found Robin sitting at one of the tables at the back, obviously trying not to be seen. No luck. Beastboy sat down next to him. "Hey, um…"
Robin got up to leave. "Stop following me."
"You can't pretend last night didn't happen!" Beastboy protested.
"Yes I can!" Robin said with a growl. "It never happened."
"Friend Robin!" Starfire cried as she and Terra came running over with their trays. Feralae followed at a slower pace as she and Cyborg led Raven slowly over to the table. Feralae pulled out a chair and guided her lover into it. Feralae gave Raven a hug before sitting down next to her. Raven didn't resist the embrace like she normally would have. It just went to show how much she had changed in the space of a day.
"I have an idea about how to get Raven's sight back." Feralae said as she sat down and started guiding Raven through the motions of eating. "It's complicated, but it might work."
"I'd like to hear it." Robin told her.
"Raven has a guardian dragon that hasn't appeared yet. If we can get it to appear, and if we can convince it to merge with Raven permanently then she might be able to see again." Feralae told them. "The problem is that the ritual is complicated. Raven would have to be initiated into the dragon clan. Normally this is only done after a year and a day of study. But this is an emergency."
Robin nodded. "We should definitely try."
"You mean that Deva my mother told me about was really a dragon?" Raven asked, dropping her fork. Then she swore, feeling around until she found it again. She had gotten disoriented in the process and had to find where she'd attempted to cut her food. Feralae corrected her direction and Raven continued eating.
"Yes, Himiko came to me this morning to tell me she'd spotted it." Feralae told her. "Your eyes would change, but that's about it."
"How would they change?" Raven asked, startled.
"If you recall most of the adult members of the Dragon Clan have slitted eyes in different colors. Our auras have an individual color. Channeling a dragon changes your eyes to the color of your aura and gives you a dragon's sense of sight. The difference being that dragons see color as being a lot brighter than a human would, and their vision is practically binocular. You'd be able to see a bug on a tree from like, thirty feet away. That's how good their sense of sight is." Feralae explained. "They don't see things the way we do. Normally a dragonmage only sees that way when they're channeling a dragon. But since the channel would be permanent…"
Raven finished her mouthful of pancakes before she spoke. "I… I'd have to think about it… I'd want to see with MY eyes, not with a dragon's."
Feralae nodded. "The ritual is very important to us. We normally don't initiate outsiders." Feralae told her. "Himiko is willing to make an exception because you're the Priestess of Darkness. Normally the person would have to study for a year and a day." Feralae told her. "That's a long time to study dragonlore."
Beastboy finished his food, got up, and left. Robin let him go. It REALLY hadn't been fair to him last night. But man, when people asked questions about his sexuality it REALLY pissed the boy wonder off. Great Tim, Robin thought, using his real name in his thoughts, you managed to alienate a team member. This mission is getting better and better.
"Penny for your thoughts Robin?" Raven asked. "I sense that you're upset."
"Beastboy and I had an argument last night." Robin sighed. "I'm gonna have to find a way to make it up to him."
"It wasn't an argument about me was it?" Raven asked.
"No, nothing you did, or that happened to you." Robin told him. "Just a disagreement that I don't want to talk about."
"Perhaps it would be better if you DID talk to him." Starfire suggested.
"Yeah." Cyborg chuckled. "Man, Beastboy may be the most cheerful of us, but when he holds a grudge he doesn't let it go."
"Yeah, I've noticed." Robin finished his food. "Excuse me." He got up, put his tray in the cleaner, and went to their room.
He found Beastboy curled up on his bed. "Beastboy." Robin called softly. He locked the door, just in case somebody walked in on them talking.
"I know I shouldn't have kept my hopes up." Beastboy muttered. "After all, Starfire's always all over you and you don't pay HER any attention. Why would I think of myself as any different from her." He rolled over and Robin saw the bitter tears on his face.
"I'm sorry, it wasn't fair of me last night." Robin told him sitting on the edge of the bed. "I kissed you last night to shut you up. That's no way to treat a teammate."
"You think I don't know that?" Beastboy asked, an edge of bitterness in his voice.
"I… I tried to stay away from romance. I'm the leader, I always thought that it wasn't appropriate to get involved with somebody on my own team." Robin told him. "That's part of the reason why I ignored Starfire like that." He pulled the younger boy into his arms and held him close. "So you understand why I'd avoid you."
Beastboy snuggled closer. "But you're not. That says something."
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have…"
"You don't have to apologize." Beastboy said as he pulled his new boyfriend into a kiss. "Say, when this is over and we're safely back in San Francisco, wanna go out for pizza?"
"My treat." Robin said with a smile.
Meanwhile…
"SHE WHAT?" The other titans demanded at once.
Raven winced.
"Raven tried to hang herself last night."
"WHAT THE FUCK WERE YOU THINKING?" Demanded Cyborg.
"Are you CRAZY?" Terra cried.
"Friend Raven, we'd be so sorry to see you go." Starfire had bambi eyes that, of course, Raven couldn't see. Not for the first or last time she wanted to blast something in frustration.
"I was thinking that without my eyesight I'd be taken off the team." Raven replied. "I don't want to go."
"Then don't." Feralae said softly, pulling her lover into a warm grip. "Nobody's going to throw you off the team. We'll help you, you'll rise from the ashes like the phoenix. And eventually you'll be the greatest out of all of us!"
"I wish I could be as optimistic as you are right now." Raven sighed.
"Your link will save your life." Feralae quoted. "I will stay with you. Come on." She helped Raven up from her empty place. "Let's get lost before they start looking for somebody to help with chore sections."
They were tiptoeing past Robin and Beastboy's room and they heard the soft moan coming from Beastboy, followed by a gentle sounding whisper, a giggle, and a series of soft, intimate noises. "No way." Raven stated. "Am I hearing who I think I am."
"You are." Feralae said with a soft laugh, so as not to disturb whatever it was her leader and teammate were doing right now. "But I don't think we should mention this to Starfire."
"No, I don't think we should." Raven replied, pulling her lover into her arms and giving her a kiss on the lips.
"I also don't think we should be making out in front of his door either." Raven grinned as she tapped her staff on the ground to look for their door.
Feralae made it and helped Raven sit down on her bed. "Right." Feralae grinned as she pulled out her guitar. "Want me to play something for you?"
"Anything." Raven smiled, looking in the general direction of her lover.
So Feralae played "Dreams Go By," by Harry Chapin, as well as "I wanna learn a love song." Raven smiled. "I know those. I remember hearing them while we were at the hospital."
"I love this singer." She replied. "'You say you should have been a ballarina babe, there are songs I should have sung…'" First time I heard it I cried.
"You? Miss sunshine? Crying? I can't imagine it." Raven replied.
"If I had a band to accompany me I could play 'Mr. Pinstripe Suit.'"
"You play swing?"
"I can play or write almost any kind of music or instrument with a few lessons. That's why I have the name Dragonsinger."
"Speaking of which, what does the braille on the staff say? I can tell what language it is, I just can't tell what it says. And what's this other kind of rune that I feel on the other side?"
"The Braille says 'to Raven, from Dragonsinger' and the other side is Dragon Runes for the same thing." Replied Feralae.
"Love, that staff is beautiful." Raven told her. "I'd love to actually see it." She sighed.
"You will, one day, I know you'll get your sight back." Feralae pulled her lover into a kiss, deftly setting aside the guitar. Feralae stroked her lover's beautiful purple hair, and as she felt her lover respond she made sure that Raven felt her love all through their precious link.
"Thank you…" Raven said softly. "You saved me… oh Feralae you saved me…"