What's this?! Another chapter!? Already?! Wow! I must REALLY be on a role! ^_^ That being said, I actually managed to finish writing this chapter yesterday, but only now have I managed to get the proper chance to upload it, so here's to hoping it proves worth the (actually quite short) wait! In this chapter, with the five founders back at the Tower, they soon get quite immersed in work at decorating the tower for the coming holiday. But at the same time though, there's still plenty of reason for worry where Beast Boy's currently concerned. And for that matter, just what IS wrong with our favorite shape shifter? Find out now, in this new chapter! Here's to hoping you read, review, and enjoy!

A/N: Just to get this out of the way, I do not own Teen Titans, nor anything else in this chapter that is copyrighted and owned by someone else. That being said, onward with the fic!

Chapter 3:

Love is in the Air

About an hour later, Cyborg, Beast Boy, and Raven finally arrived back at Titans Tower, with Raven carefully hovering both the R-Cycle and the T-Car over to a proper place to set them down with her shadowy telekinetic energy. Cyborg was in good spirits. Raven and Beast Boy, however, not quite so much. Raven in particular, while not outwardly showing it, was still feeling quite worried about Beast Boy's current emotions; or to be more accurate, his apparent lack of emotions.

Even now, in spite of what little genuine emotional feedback she'd managed to detect from him with her powers, it was all overshadowed to this very moment by a very unnerving mass of emotional numbness that was even now amassing within him, particularly around his heart, in the form of what seemed like dark shadowy clouds. She mentally sighed. She hadn't wanted to belief it, but she now had more than enough proof to know that she could no longer deny it. Her theory was correct. She carefully levitated the two vehicles the remainder of the distance necessary to reach the spot she planned to have them dropped off at, and then gently had them placed down on the ground within said area. She knew that it would be of just as much importance to get everything else taken care of before she broke the news to the other Titans.

"Hoowee," said Cyborg. "Sure looking forward to seeing what Robin and Star have managed to do to the place while we were gone."

Raven let a small smile that didn't reach her eyes cross her face. Beast Boy, however, didn't show any outward sign of emotional response to these words at all, much to Raven's discomfort.

Still unaware of this matter, Cyborg walked over to the elevator that served as the front door. "Well guys, we're home. Let's get inside and see if there's anything left for us to help the lucky couple out with." The elevator opened, and Cyborg entered. Raven hurriedly hovered over to join the bionic teen in the elevator. Beast Boy, however, briefly remained standing where he was; but then he let out a low snarl (unnervingly while still in human form), and he calmly walked into the elevator as well.

After what felt like an hour to the concerned Raven and the seemingly emotionally numb Beast Boy, the elevator came to a stop and opened up at their destination. The three Titans made their way straight to the common room. Upon entry, even Beast Boy managed to let out a small spark of genuine pleasure at the sight of what lay before them. Starfire had most certainly not been kidding earlier when she'd started on her way back to the Tower. If the Grizzwald family treated Valentine's Day with the same degree of enthusiasm as they did Christmas, then the Titans were quite certain that virtually the entirety of their house's interior would be just as elaborately decorated and over the top as the common room currently appeared to be. And even so, Starfire still appeared to not be satisfied as she was still hovering around in the room carrying an armload of random unplaced Valentine's Day décor and trying to see if she could find anywhere to put them, while also asking Robin's opinion on various locations within the common room.

"Um Star," said Robin. "I'm pretty sure we've done quite enough decorating in the common room." Evidently, even the Boy Wonder seemed to think that Starfire was starting to go a little overboard in her decorating spree. "We don't have all those decorations just to have them all placed in this room you know."

"I know Robin," said Starfire. "But surely you understand the gravity of this particular Valentine's Day! We must have this tower as appropriately spectacular in regards to how well decorated it is!"

"I understand Star," Robin said patiently. "But please, trust me, the common room is perfectly as we've now currently got it."

"I certainly hope so," said Cyborg. Starfire and Robin turned their heads to face their three friends, who were all directing varying looks at different areas of the common room. "With the amount of decorations you've already got set up in here, I'd say it will be a miracle if there's any room for us to hang around in here, let alone to avoid accidentally crashing into or slipping on some random decoration."

"Not to mention the fact that this is the only room to appear to even be decorated at all." Beast Boy then commented dryly while directing a quite dismayed looking face towards what looked like a piñata in the shape of two intertwined alien-looking snake-like creatures with vulture-like wings and tiny deer-like antlers dangling from the ceiling not too far above the kitchen sink, a decoration he was quite certain he'd never seen in the tower before.

Robin appeared to have a grateful look on his face at how the other boys among the founding branch had sided with him. Starfire, meanwhile, now had a wide eyed look of what looked like a mix between shock and horror. "Oh no!" she screamed. "I completely forgot about all the other areas! I must rectify this immediately!" She zoomed out through the main door to the common room and off to somewhere else within the tower before the three newly arrived other Titans had a chance to even get a glimpse of exactly where she was going upon exiting the common room.

Robin, clearly now more than a little unnerved, hurriedly ran past the other three Titans and into the hallway to pursue his now seemingly quite frantic girlfriend. "Starfire wait up!" he yelled.

The other three Titans just stared blankly in the direction of the still open main doorway to the common room, quite uncertain as to what to say.

"Dang," said Cyborg. "Star's really got Robin beat this Valentine's Day season."

"No kidding," Beast Boy said dryly with a roll of his eyes.

Raven directed a look of concern towards Beast Boy, then shook her head to clear her thoughts. "This matter can wait just another few minutes or so more," she thought to herself. After all, as she was now reasoning to herself, it would be considerably easier for Robin, Starfire, and Cyborg to pay attention and truly grasp the gravity of the situation if they weren't distracted by other things, such as the current Tower decorating craze. "Well we might as well see if we can help." She then pointed at a quite massive bunch of boxes that were still filled with Valentine's Day decorations. "Let's get to work."

. . . . .

About a couple hours later, Robin, Starfire, Beast Boy, and Raven were lying around on the sofa in the common room. All four of them looked quite exhausted and worn out from all the work they'd done in decorating the tower.

"Man I'm tired," said Robin.

"Join the club," Raven agreed.

"Took the words right out of my mouth," Beast Boy grumbled. He closed his eyes and let off a very unnervingly lion-like yawn. "Man, who'd have guessed that decorating for Valentine's Day could leave someone this tired?"

"I will admit," said Starfire. "Considering how we have never suffered this effect in previous years, perhaps I may have gone a little over the board."

Robin placed his hand on his girlfriend's shoulder. "It's ok Star," he reassured the Tamaranean. "Trust me, with all the work that's been done today in getting the Tower ready, I'm sure it all prove quite worthwhile by the time Valentine's Day actually arrives this year." And indeed, Robin had to admit that he was actually quite certain now that the entire tower was now more than properly decorated for the coming holiday. "Having an excited girlfriend around this time of year certainly does come with its perks," he thought to himself.

"You know guys," said Beast Boy, who was now directing a partially concerned and partially annoyed glare towards the main entrance to the common room. "Is anyone else wondering where Cyborg is right now?"

The other three Titans thought to themselves, and then they realized just like Beast Boy that Cyborg wasn't present in the room with them. "Where is he?" Robin thought to himself.

Then the four Titans within the common room heard footsteps coming from in the main hallway outside the common room accompanied by Cyborg's familiar voice, and they all got their answer. Sure enough, the common room doors opened up and Cyborg came walking in, his face directed towards his left arm, which was positioned in a way that clearly indicated that he had the video phone inside it activated.

"Don't you worry Bee," said Cyborg. "I'll make sure to let them know real soon. Thanks again." He shut off his video phone and lowered his left arm before looking over at his fellow founders, all of whom had varying degrees of interest on their faces. "Just got off the phone with Bee," said Cyborg. "And I've got some good news from her."

The phrase 'good news' was all Starfire needed to hear, and she bolted up into an erect seating position. "Ooh, ooh, what is it friend?" the Tamaranean eagerly asked.

Cyborg smiled. "Looks like this year we're all in luck." He folded his arms across his chest. "This year, the entire extended team could very well be able to drop by and visit us this Valentine's Day."

At the sound of this, Robin couldn't help but smile. "Well that's nice to hear," said the Boy Wonder. He had to admit, it would be nice to see everyone in person and figure out from them how everything was going. After all, the entire extended team hadn't met up together in the same area since the previous May immediately after the Brotherhood of Evil's defeat and the effective birth of the entire extended team. The way he saw it, it was about high time all the Titans got the chance to gather together and trade stories once more.

Cyborg chuckled. "I know right?" Cyborg rubbed his hand across his head as if rubbing it through nonexistent hair. "And while we're at it, I'm sure looking forward to seeing who may have gotten inspired to follow the same route as you and Star over the last few months."

Robin felt a small smirk come on his face. "Oh really?" he asked in a slightly teasing manner.

"You betcha!" Cyborg responded. "I mean hey, you and Star are the team's biggest power couple, and all the others in the team seem to be just as big on the whole business as all the civilian fans. And even without that in mind, with Aqualad and Terra having paired up two months after you and Kid Flash and Jinx having already gotten things set up a month or two before you were even willing to openly support the idea of dating between team mates, let alone to finally hook up with Star, I wouldn't be surprised if other members of the team ended up getting inspired to take a shot at the whole romance business with each other."

Robin's grin widened, Starfire giggled, and Raven rolled her eyes while feeling somewhat touched on the inside. Beast Boy, however, suddenly seemed to take an interest in a small rip on the sofa area he was sitting against, a venomous bestial glare on his face, and his hands clenching quietly into fists. Miraculously enough, Raven was once again the only Titan to notice, though admittedly she only noticed this particular instance out of the corner of her eyes.

Cyborg chuckled once more, and then looked over at the central front window that doubled as the TV. "Well I don't know about you guys, but I say we start celebrating early with a movie!" Starfire practically squealed in delight at the idea, and Robin gave his second-in-command a thumbs up. Raven let a small nervous smile come on her face, clearly hoping to somewhat allow the mood to stay brightened.

Then Beast Boy stretched his arms up towards the ceiling, letting out another yawn in the process. "Actually Cyborg, mind if I sit out on the movies this time? I really worked by butt off with all that decorating, and I think I could really use a nap right now."

Cyborg nodded, clearly not seeing anything wrong. "Sure thing man, you go on ahead. I can admit, now that you've mentioned it, you certainly do look tired. Go ahead man. We'll have other movie days."

"Thank you," said Beast Boy. He got up from the sofa, and then tiredly and slowly walked past Cyborg, through the main doors to the common room and down through the hallway to reach his bedroom. As this happened, Raven kept a tiny empathic lock on him as he continued to make his way through the tower corridors. It wasn't until she sensed him finally entering his bedroom when she cut the connection.

"Alright guys," said Cyborg. "Let's get it started! Anything in particular you'd like to watch?"

In that instant, right as Starfire and Robin seemed practically seconds away from responding, Raven made her move. Now was as good of a time as ever. "Wait." The other three Titans with her heard this, and turned their heads to her, confusion on their faces. "There's something I need to talk to you guys about first."

Her fellow founders looked each other in the eyes, then back at Raven. "Well ok then," said Cyborg. "But why didn't you bring this up sooner?" Robin and Starfire nodded in agreement.

Raven took a deep breath, and then exhaled. There was no turning back now. "I'm not entirely certain if it's a good idea to bring this particular matter up in Beast Boy's immediate presence just yet."

That was enough to get the other three Tians interested. "Is something wrong?" Robin asked.

"Yes please Raven, tell us," said Starfire. "Is something the matter with friend Beast Boy?"

"What's going on Raven? Tell me. If there's something wrong with the grass stain, I definitely need to know," Cyborg agreed.

Raven took another deep breath, and then exhaled. "There may very well be something wrong," Raven responded. "And if my theory is correct, we could all be in big trouble."

Robin, Starfire, and Cyborg leaned forward, listening intently.

"Have any of you noticed anything unusual, or at the very least different, about Beast Boy lately?"

Raven's three friends looked each other in the eyes. "Not really," said Robin.

"Don't think so," said Cyborg.

Starfire shook her head side to side, her eyes closed.

Raven sighed. "Well I have." She directed her gaze directly at her three fellow Titans. "And quite frankly, from what I've managed to notice over the course of just this day alone, I'm both surprised and regretful that I didn't notice it sooner."

At the sound of this, Cyborg seemed to become even more concerned. "What happened?"

Raven mentally prepared herself once more. "You are all aware of how my empathic abilities work right?" Her three friends nodded. "Well from what I've managed to gather, the abilities of most emotional vampires seem to somewhat rely on a similar principle."

"So?" Robin asked.

"At the time Beast Boy knocked Capricarn out and allowed him to be apprehended, I was able to shake off the effects of getting temporarily blinded by the spot light I got flashed with in time to arrive in the alley they were in and witness Capricarn's attempt to escape from Beast Boy." She took another deep breath, and then exhaled. "As it turns out, Capricarn is a type of emotional vampire capable of one particularly dangerous trick. By concentrating enough energy into a single strike at the area around the heart, emotional vampires capable of this trick are able to instantaneously absorb and extract all emotional energy, favored food and otherwise, from a victim all at once; stopping their heart and frying their brain in the process."

At the sound of this, the eyes of the other three Titans widened. "However," said Raven. "In spite of receiving a direct hit, Beast Boy was able to survive."

Cyborg and Starfire exhaled in relief in a clearly instinctive act. Robin, however, had a feeling that there was more to the matter then Raven had currently let on. "I have a feeling that there's a 'however' factor on the way," he then said.

Raven nodded her head in confirmation. "Indeed there is." She looked back at her three friends directly. "Surviving an experience of being on the receiving end of such a trick . . . that shouldn't be at all possible. And in the event that it does happen, it's just as much a bad thing in the long run as it is a good thing in the short run."

"How?" Cyborg asked. Starfire, likewise, looked unnerved.

"At the same time that Capricarn was in the process of subjecting Beast Boy to his last resort trick," Raven began, "I was unwittingly exposed to Beast Boy's empathic aura in full force . . . and I detected nothing from him."

The eyes of the other three Titans widened. "Nothing?" Robin asked. "Nothing at all?"

Raven nodded her head. "Nothing," she confirmed. "Not even a tiny spark of any emotion whatsoever." She hung her head. "And over the course of all the time that's passed since that attack and Capricarn's apprehension, Beast Boy's only continued to give off that kind of feedback. Granted, he's managed to give off a tiny spark of genuine emotion every now and then, but they've always been overshadowed by that terrifying emotional numbness inside him. And this numbness is seriously strong; to the point that it's taken on the form of a gigantic mass of shadows encasing his heart and the vast majority of the surrounding area in my empathic senses." Raven sighed again. "And what's worse, this didn't start today. With something of this level, it never starts over the course of a single day or night. From the level he's currently appeared to have reached, I'd say it may have started sometime last month at the latest, and possibly sometime last October of November at the very earliest. Don't even ask how I managed to not notice this until today."

The other three Titans looked each other in the eyes, clearly nervous. "Do you know how that happened?" Robin asked.

"Yes and no," Raven responded. "I am aware of the process that would lead to this happening, but I'm uncertain as to just what served as the stimulus that caused Beast Boy to trigger this process inside him." She lifted her head. "As I'm sure you in particular would be aware Robin," Raven began, "even an ordinary civilian without any psionic or similarly mind-based abilities can guard and block their emotions and minds from telepaths and other beings with similar mind-based powers."

Robin nodded his head in agreement.

"Well as appears to have happened with Beast Boy," Raven continued, "he appears to have, without even realizing it, managed to put up such strong barriers and defenses around his emotions that he's almost completely severed both my capability of sensing his emotions as well as his own emotional capabilities." She took a deep breath, and then sighed once more. "To put it simply, he's putting so much focus into guarding his emotions that he's now put himself at risk of being completely unable to express any emotion whatsoever."

"You mean like you?" Cyborg asked in a clearly jovial manner.

All of two seconds passed before Cyborg found himself quite regretting his words. Starfire was directing a look at him that made her look as if she were on the verge of tears. Robin, had his eyes narrowed, and the rest of his face conveying a clear 'really?' message. Raven, however, had an absolutely nightmarish death glare on her face directed towards the bionic teen hero. "I'm serious," Raven almost growled. "I may keep my emotions guarded a large majority of the time and have difficulty expressing them properly, but I keep them guarded at a survivable degree, do it entirely consciously, and am more than capable of expressing them and letting down my guard every now and then." She took a deep breath, and then exhaled once more; but this time in a mixture of both willing herself to continue and in trying to reign in her irritation at Cyborg's not entirely appropriate or well-timed attempt at a joke. "Beast Boy, however, is unconsciously keeping his emotions so strongly guarded that he could end up even worse than me in regard to emotions."

She looked back at her three friends once more. Now was the time to lay down the final powerful cards in regard to what she now had to say. "And if we don't find a way to somehow get him to let his guard down, and I mean down, then I don't even want to think of the trouble that could unfold."

"Why?" Cyborg asked. "What could end up happening?"

Raven took another deep breath. "I already said that he's so far still capable of letting off small sparks and glimmers of genuine emotion every now and then. However, if he continues to keep up all these shadows that he's currently unwittingly amassed around his heart and emotions, then he will over time become less and less empathetic to the point that he will literally be incapable of expressing any emotion whatsoever. He will literally be an empty, emotionless, unfeeling shell." She hung her head. "And that's not the worst part either."

"Say what?!" Cyborg yelled.

"No," Starfire whimpered.

"Are you serious?" Robin asked. "How could things possibly get any worse after that last bit you just described?"

Raven took one final deep breath, and then exhaled with a hint of finality. Here was the moment of truth. "Are any of you familiar with Aerys II?"

Starfire raised her eyebrow in confusion, but Cyborg and Robin's eyes widened in horrified recognition. "The Mad King?" Robin asked.

Raven nodded her head.

"What about him?" Cyborg asked.

"As has been somewhat potentially could happen to Daenerys without Tyrion around to keep her grounded in the TV show or any other proper advisor in the books, and almost certainly likely happened to Aerys himself, this may very well be what is now happening to Beast Boy."

"Please," said Starfire. "Who is this Mad King of which you speak?"

"He's this character from a book series on Earth called A Song of Ice and Fire, and the TV show based off of it called Game of Thrones," Robin explained. He turned his head to face his girlfriend. "And trust me, he was not a pleasant character."

"No kidding," Cyborg agreed. "That dude developed a very unhealthy obsession with this very dangerous substance from the universe these stories take place in called Wild Fire. It is a nasty oil that explosively erupts in violent green flames when ignited. And not only is this fire extremely hot and painful, but it can't be extinguished with water or any other quick acting extinguishing method, and has to be allowed to eventually go out on its own over time, kind of like the real-life historical alchemical material it's based on called Greek Fire."

"And not only that," Robin continued. "But at one point, when this obsession, combined with several other not particularly pleasant actions carried out under his perfectly willing consent and order, led to a massive rebellion against him, his response? 'Burn them all'. And by that, his intended order was for all the caches of Wild Fire he kept within multiple secret storage chambers to be ignited; essentially both destroying the entire royal capital, and also killing off all his subjects, both loyal and disloyal. He was that insane."

Starfire's eyes couldn't have possibly been any wider than they were upon hearing all this. "I see," Starfire said nervously.

Raven also looked quite unnerved. "I couldn't have said it better myself."

Then Cyborg managed to connect the two major dots of the equation. "So basically you're saying," he began. "That if we don't find some way to get Beast Boy aware of all this and get him to do away with all this high guard he's got around his emotions, we could end up having a 'Mad King' level psychopath on our hands?"

Raven nodded her head gravely. "Again, this is only a theory I've got so far," she then said. "But so far, I've received no evidence whatsoever that would point against it being correct."

The other three Titans looked each other in the eyes, and then back at Raven. "What do we do?" Robin asked.

"You heard the man," said Cyborg. "There's gotta be some way to get Beast Boy to let his guard down before it makes him go 'burn them all' level crazy. And if you know what it is, now's the time for us to hear it."

"Yes, please," Starfire agreed. "We must help friend Beast Boy. How do we save him from this?"

Raven took a deep breath, and then exhaled. "Right now, I need just a tiny bit of time to think on that. I can tell you now that it would be easier if we knew just what triggered him into putting up such high guard. But it is not impossible to get him to let it down without knowing the triggering stimulus. But still, I need some time, hopefully the rest of the day at maximum, to think of a proper plan. And I can only hope, and so can you, that by the time I do manage to think up such a plan, that it won't be too late."

. . . . .

Meanwhile, in Beast Boy's room, the green shape shifter in question was lying around on the top bunk of his bunkbed, glaring numbly at the headboard, wide awake. Granted, he had been telling the truth about feeling tired and in need of a nap. But at the moment, in spite of how tired he felt, he just could not get himself to fall asleep. The thoughts on his mind that were even now burning with crystal clarity at the forefront of his thoughts were still too strong.

He directed a look towards the calendar hanging on the wall next to his closet, his eyes narrowing at the sight of the big red circle he'd drawn in marker around the Valentine's Day square. Right now, what little happiness and excitement he did have for the coming holiday was almost completely overshadowed by a blazing venomous sense of bitterness and derision. Any time before Halloween last year, he would have never felt the way he currently felt, assuming you could even truly call it 'felt'. However, at one point on Halloween, while he'd been in the midst of his part of the yearly patrol that the Titans went on for that holiday, he'd managed to overhear a group of teenage boys talking about him, and they hadn't been saying nice things about him either. However, one thing he'd heard them say that had really gotten under his skin that time was some comments they'd made about him not only being ugly, but that Terra, all the civilian girls he'd hung around with, and even all the Titans only hung around with him and pretended to like or be happy with being around him out of pity. At most other times, this wouldn't have affected him. However, he'd had a small argument with Raven not too long before the Halloween night patrol that time that had left him in a particularly unhappy and unwelcome mood; and the sound of what these boys had now said had only served to start reinforcing his newfound suspicions. Then he'd overheard other civilians talking in a similar tangent, with comments ranging from Starfire and several of the other Titans looking abnormal but at least still attractive to making comments about wondering why Beast Boy wasn't in a zoo all the way to him looking like a monster out of their worst nightmares. And after spending almost the entirety of his patrol seemingly hearing nothing but all that and others of a similar nature, he'd been all too eager to get back to the tower and sleep it off. But over the course of the days and months that had followed up to today, he'd never quite managed to get it all out of his mind. And from what he'd managed to notice going on among the other Titans, he'd received very little to assuage his fear and suspicion.

He then narrowed his eyes and snarled once more. Truth be told, he'd actually already been aware of the other Titans within the team's extended branches coming over to visit this Valentine's Day several weeks before Cyborg had learned about it from Bumblebee and broken the news that afternoon. He had become aware of the matter early himself thanks to Terra and Aqualad talking about it together on the Titans' private social network account. And of course, Beast Boy just had to always be the only founding member these days who ever got the time to go onto that site anymore. And not only had he become aware of the upcoming visit, but he'd also become aware over the course of all the months that had come before that fateful week he'd gotten the news, of various other couples that appeared to have managed to pop up among the Titans seemingly in exactly the way Cyborg had theorized.

Indeed, quite a large number of Titans among the current roster appeared to have been inspired by the successfully blossomed and still smoothly functioning relationships between Robin and Starfire, Kid Flash and Jinx, and Aqualad and Terra. Among the quite short Titans Central branch located in Keystone City not too far away from Central City, the only members among the teams currently only three members that were both in a relationship and living in the same headquarters together were Kid Flash and Jinx.

Among the good deal larger Titans South branch located somewhere around Florida or so, he was pretty sure there weren't any intact couples living together, but he'd heard rumors that there was something building up between active Titans South member Pantha and the Titans North leader, Red Star. And he'd also heard that Wildebeest seemed to be both quite interested and possibly even actively supporting the idea.

As for the Titans North branch, there was definitely more than one intact official couple living among its members. For starters, he'd heard that Hot Spot and Argent, who had apparently been close old friends long before both becoming Titans, and even before gaining their own individual powers, had decided to take things to the next level just one week after Aqualad and Terra had publically announced their own relationship status. He'd also learned that Jericho and Kole, who were both two years younger than the four founders younger than Cyborg and were able to live together with Gnarrk at the Titans North headquarters thanks to some arrangements that Herald and Cyborg had managed to set up in regard to ability to visit Kole and Gnarrk's old home in the subterranean world they'd previously lived in, had managed to romantically connect while hanging out together in the weeks after the Brotherhood of Evil's defeat before then apparently starting a romantic relationship that they'd managed to keep hidden until finally deciding to let it be revealed to the other Titans following the combined success of the other couples that had been formed.

Then came Titans East. He already knew about Aqualad and Terra. But apparently, they weren't the only members romantically linked either. Turns out, and quite frankly he was surprised that Cyborg didn't appear to know at this point, Bumblebee had been one of the first Titans to say yes to taking a shot at the 'more than friends' level with someone, and her apparent boyfriend was Herald, the leader of Titans Central, who'd managed to get off to quite a strong friendship with her over the course of hanging out together at the Tower in the days immediately following the defeat of the Brotherhood of Evil. And as for Speedy, while he still hadn't said a single word to confirm whether or not he had a girlfriend, or any romantic interest for that matter, he had said several times over the past few days that he had 'plans' for this year's Valentine's Day. And Beast Boy didn't need to be as skilled of a detective as Robin to understand the subtext he had a feeling was hidden within Speedy's mentioning of said 'plans'.

And all this, combined with Robin and Starfire being the Titans' power couple as well as Cyborg appearing to have potentially got himself a date and a new girlfriend in Sarah Simms, had Beast Boy feeling more than a little under the weather. And of course, the fact that all those couples would be coming over to visit was now only strengthening his current bleak mood that had come upon him following those stray comments he'd been unlucky enough to overhear. And he'd refused to talk about any of it for fear of getting direct confirmation of his fears from his supposed 'friends' as well as a strong desire to not make himself look weak.

Granted, there were still plenty of other Titans that he was quite sure weren't in romantic relationships, but he was not entirely certain that any of them would really prove all that helpful in cheering him up. For starters Mas, Menos, Timmy Tantrum, Teether, and Melvin were all still much too young to really be all that interested in romance, and the latter three currently still seemed to be more comfortable around Raven than any of the other older members of the Titans. Thunder and Lightning were both a little too happy about their own status as bachelors and not entirely certain as to whether they'd be accompanying their team mates due to uncertainty over whether or not there'd be anyone able to substitute for their team while they were away. Bushido always put a little too much focus on training and very rarely ever devoted much time to leisure and pleasure. Kilowatt was more of a loner and very difficult for any of the Titans to get to know. Gnark and Wildebeest were a little too happy in providing support for the confirmed relationship between Kole and Jericho and the alleged possible one between Pantha and Red Star to really be all that helpful in putting his mind off of such matters (though Gnark had admittedly made it very clear that he was serving the role of protective big brother for Kole and was keeping his eye out on Jericho). And as for Wonder Girl, he snarled in derision. Considering how long it had been since she'd ever initiated any form of contact with the other members of the team ever since she'd first joined as an independent free-lance member, he highly doubted that she would show up, and he quite frankly doubted she'd only make him feel even more bitter by commenting on her own views of the matter; views that he was certain she shared with her rumored older cousin a couple times removed. Finally, there was Raven. But given her lack of interest she'd shown for Valentine's Day and everything else romance-related he could think of, he was quite certain she wouldn't be entirely all that helpful in the way he needed.

Beast Boy sighed, now directing an apparently wistful gaze at the calendar. "It's not fair," he thought to himself. Then, slowly but surely, his eyes narrowed into a glare, and he turned his head to face the headboard once more. "It's not fair," he thought to himself once more, but this time with a considerably angrier sounding mental tone. Then he slowly directed his gaze down towards his pillow, a vicious glare and silent snarl forming on his face and his hands clenching into fists. "Its. Not. Fair," he hissed. And then, with a low snarl of rage, he slammed his head upon his pillow and unleashed a bitter animalistic roar of rage and despair that, surprisingly enough, was almost completely drowned out by the presence of the pillow and the walls that made up the shape shifter's room. Love may have been in the air for a vast majority of the Titans, but Beast Boy was not feeling it, not at all. And in this particular case, that would prove to be especially bad news if something wasn't done in the near future.

And just like that, another chapter done! Here's me hoping that you all enjoyed it and will leave plenty of feedback! And once again, it is MANDATORY that I receive at least one review for this new chapter before I post the next one. Again, hope you all enjoyed this new chapter!

Coming up next: The very next day, Raven has a plan for how to hopefully get Beast Boy out of his dangerously black mood (assuming you can even really call it a mood), and she and the other Titans set it into action. Will they succeed? And if they do, will the end result entirely be what they'd hoped for? Find out in the next chapter, of Shadows of Love! :)