Hard Feelings

Beast Boy flinched when Robin stood up, but tried not to show it. He looked hard at his leader, honestly sorry that they hadn't told him. 'But it was so soon, the thought hadn't even crossed our minds yet… But I'm not here to make excuses.' BB walked, slowly and carefully but trying to remain casual, to the counter. He grabbed a sponge and some paper towels, and leaned down to help Robin clean the floor. Blood was a messy business.

"Beast Boy." Robin said at last, after the horrid silence of a minute that had passed. He didn't look up, but kept scrubbing. "Y-yeah?" the green boy asked, afraid. "I'm… Sorry. I shouldn't have over reacted. Although I wish you two had told me. I really do." Robin was apologizing, sincerely, yet the tone of sadness could hardly be hidden.

"Robin, you don't have to apologize." Beast Boy stopped scrubbing and looked at his leader in the eyes. Or the mask, whichever you prefer me say. "I should be apologizing. I should have … I don't know… We should have told you, but we just… It was just yesterday, dude, and I don't know, we didn't think… I'm sorry, Robin. If it makes you feel any better, it's not like we were trying to keep it secret or anything…" He was finally able to conclude his rambling of an explanation.

They shook hands and finished cleaning the blood up. As Beast Boy turned to leave, to tell Starfire that things were okay now, Robin called out, "Take care of her." The green boy turned, "Of course I will. She's the most precious thing in this tower." He left the room and started down the hallway. Robin agreed and left for the training room.

Raven was sitting on the roof, meditating her friends' troubles out of her mind. The wind blew and birds chirped, but she didn't notice them, of course. She was busy thinking of... Nothing. Until the scrape of the door against the roof screeched behind her. She cringed.

"Oh, Raven. Hi. Sorry, I didn't know you were meditating. I'll go."

"No. Come here."

Robin was surprised. Since when did Raven want company? He didn't really feel at all like talking to someone. But he might as well. He knew that's what she would do. He walked over and stood, cape blowing in all its glory.

"You didn't hurt him any more, did you?" she asked. "No," came the cold reply. "Good. He didn't deserve that." "I know. I apologized. Thank you for healing him." Robin's speech was very formal, as if his attitude were to be expected of him. He was their leader, after all.

"I know you liked her. You like her a lot, I know. But he feels more than that for her." Raven spoke softly with the comfort of a counselor in her voice. Robin nodded. "I just thought we were perfect for each other..." he looked down at the lake beneath them and watched the sparkle. He sighed and looked up. Raven spoke again, "She thinks of you as her closest friend in the world. Even if you're not a romantic thought in her heart, you opened her to this world. She won't ever forget you, even if she leaves this world forever. She will always remember you."

There was silence as the afternoon wind rushed past them. Robin looked over to the bridge and nodded. "Thank you, Raven." He walked back into the Tower and left Raven back to her meditation. He did feel better, knowing he would always be her friend. He felt like a much better leader, really feeling good for them rather than only acting like it.

He decided to go see Starfire to apologize to her, as well. If he really were her dearest friend, she would forgive him, maybe not right away. He hoped she would soon.

If you would forgive me. School has been killing me. I've been going to my boyfriend's more often. But now I have a laptop. I'm going to put each new chapter's file on my desktop. I'll see it there. Hopefully I'll update far sooner and far more frequently (because I do get quite bored at times). For any of those still reading, I hope you can forgive me. I don't know the next update date any more than you do, but I hope as much as you all that I will update sooner as well. Patience is a virtue, and please don't criticize me. I came back, didn't I?