Disclaimer: No, I don't own anything. You should know by now. Why do I keep bothering to put these things? Why? Habit? Fear of gorillas?
Yay! Chapter twelve! Sorry about the almost weeklong pause. I tried to write, I really did, but school got in the way. Horribly. Damn high school! I hate it! Two and half years left until total freedom.
I saw 'The Quest'. It was hilarious. I liked it when the other Titans were 'Robin-ing'. It was so childishly fun. I laughed a lot and squirted pop out of my nose. I can't help but wonder, though, how Cyborg managed not to rip the outfit…
Enjoy this chapter, which is the product of a long struggle against my desire to go and make kool-aid.
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Beast Boy walked slowly down the hall away from Raven's room. He had just left a moment ago, and he still felt a bit warm and melted inside from her embrace. He certainly felt better than he had when he'd entered the room. He wondered how it was possible for Raven to be able to comfort him so quickly in any situation. He hadn't met anyone who could get through to him so easily and make him feel so secure since he had been around his mother.
He quickly shook himself out of these thoughts. He didn't need to remember unpleasant memories, especially not now. He sighed and dropped all thoughts of his parents like a weight he had been carrying down the hall and walked toward the kitchen.
The light was off in the room, and it was silent, so Beast Boy was startled when he heard a voice.
"Who's there?" it asked, familiarity dripping from every dip in the syllables.
"It's Beast Boy…Robin, what are you doing here?" Beast Boy asked as his sensitive eyes focused on the image of the Boy Wonder sitting on the counter near the fridge with his knees pulled up to his chest. He looked very strange indeed, small and crumpled and out of place. Sitting there in an image of defeat, Beast Boy wouldn't have recognized him if he couldn't hear his voice. Robin was not the proud leader of the Teen Titans at the moment. Robin was just helpless little boy.
"Thinking," Robin said, his voice helpless and desperate.
"About what? What's the matter? You look…" it was hard for Beast Boy to put how his friend looked into words. "Um…kind of…broken." that was the only thing Beast Boy could come up with. Robin's eyes were quivering behind his mask.
Robin tried to shrug casually. "Just…about things," he said guardedly. "I just…" Robin sighed. The normally closed off teenager looked as though he desperately needed someone to talk to.
Beast Boy walked over and sat down across from him on the other side of the counter. "What's wrong?" he asked. Robin looked at him over his knees and sighed.
"I was just thinking about…well….things." he paused. "Do you know what it's like to be in love?" this question caught Beast Boy slightly by surprise. Robin was never one to talk very personal.
"Uh…I don't think so," Beast Boy said after a moment of consideration.
"Well, it's an incredible feeling. You feel so high and warm and…just fantastic. But the problem is when you…when you love someone and you're…afraid of it," Robin said.
Beast Boy knew instantly what Robin was talking about. Robin's love for Starfire was almost painfully obvious. His almost childlike devotion to her was very apparent. It was very clear that Starfire returned his feelings. And yet he was afraid of it. Somehow, it didn't make any sense. Beast Boy was confused.
"You're afraid of loving Starfire?" he asked. Robin looked slightly alarmed.
"How did you know that's what I was talking about?" he asked.
"Well…sorry dude, but it's kinda obvious," Beast Boy answered. He hadn't said 'dude' since before Terra's death. It gave him a feeling of routine.
"Is it really that obvious?" Robin asked, looking slightly surprised. Beast Boy nodded. Robin shrugged. "Well, I guess it's true how they say that you can't hide love," he said.
"Yeah," Beast Boy said. He was very glad that he was getting the opportunity to talk about this subject, because he had been bothered by something for a while now. "How do you know if it's love or not?" He asked, feeling like he was breaking some kind of boy code by talking about feelings. He wondered if this made him a nancy boy.
"I guess….when you love someone, it's like you feel when you love a friend or a family member, but different. You would do pretty much anything for that person, die or rip out your own liver or whatever. And you just can't imagine what life would be like without that person, you can't imagine surviving without them, and you know you wouldn't want to survive without them. Whenever you're around that person, everything else just disappears and they're all you can see, they're all you care about. You could just spend forever with them and you feel like you would never get tired of their voice," Robin said thoughtfully, and then looked as though he were furious with himself for being so sentimental.
"OK," BB said, shrugging and showing Robin that he didn't have to talk about it anymore. Beast Boy found it just a tad funny that the Boy Wonder could be so sappy, but he didn't say what was on his mind for once. "Thanks…you know, you shouldn't be afraid to love Star," he said. "You're just making yourself miss out…a lot."
Robin sighed and then nodded. "I guess you're right Beast Boy," he said, standing up and surprising Beast Boy in the fact that Robin had actually taken his opinion seriously. Robin looked a lot more like his normal self now, a bit more controlled and less hopeless. "Thanks. See you tomorrow, then," he said, walking out of the kitchen.
Beast Boy sat there for a few minutes, staring off into space. He was letting his mind wander. He sat there sipping a glass of soymilk slowly and letting his mind slip over issues. He thought about what Robin had said. He couldn't be quite sure, but he felt like everything that Robin had said about love was true about the way he felt about Raven.
He was pretty sure it wasn't actually love he felt for her.
But it was close.
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Aww. That was a pretty pointless chapter, and I'm sorry. But it had some significance. It was building on feelings. The root of this story is emotions.
