After numerous attempts to at least force food into her mouth, even more so getting her to talk, they stayed clear of the broken girl. The silence around her stretched, widening until anyone that stepped near her instantly closed their mouth tightly, and walked softly, as not to terrify the girl.
They had taken to calling her Esper, the only name that seemed appropriate enough to suit her, despite Beastboy's many attempts at trying to think up a ridiculous name for her. She even responded to it at times, when she wasn't lost in a hollow mind.
She seemed to like the night, when no-one was around. When she was sure that the hurried footsteps and the worried gazes had drifted away from her, she crawled from her cocoon of blankets, though she still dragged one behind her like a lost child for comfort, dragging it around her shoulders. The ground is cold, sending shivers arching across her darkened skin, but she was used to the cold. Her fingers scraped at the floor, the nails cut and torn down to nubs against her curved fingertips, and her hair no longer fell in front of her. Despite the pain that blossomed across her skin when she moved, bruises and cuts that still had to heal, she found herself at the window, nose almost brushing against the cool exterior.
Her legs crossed in front of her, and her eyes caught the shimmer of the skyline in dark hues. She didn't dare look down, only looked forwards, and awe captures her in an iron embrace. The moon balances on the spikes and curves of the city across the water like a tightrope walker, and the stars seem to bleed light across the darkened world. She lifts her hand, peeling it from the brief warmth around her body, as if to pass through the glass and hold the moon in the palm of her hand, but she only hits glass. Sighing, she settles for spreading her fingers outwards.
Suddenly, a scuff of feet alerts her to something behind her, and a small gasp of fright pulls from her lips. She pulls the blanket closer, as if a form of armour around her body, and turns, pulling the blanket over her head like a hood. A shape, a boy, blinks at her, paused in mid-step. Her chuckles nervously, rubbing a green hand across a purple shoulder. She knew his face, but not his name. When she begins to shake and press back against the glass, his eyes widen and he jumps the curve of the sofa, hands out towards her in peace, though it makes her breathing accelerate.
Groaning, he shakes his head. "Whoa, little chickie, I'm not gonna hurt you. Scouts honour," he mutters, crossing one hand across his chest, as if in promise. The familiar gesture, from years before, calms her slightly, but her fingers still grasp at the glass, as if she can somehow press it open and drop into the oblivion. Beastboy stands still, careful not to move until she's calm. Cyborg's warned him. "I-I'm Beastboy, I won't hurt you, seriously."
He shuffles back, until her breathing is normal and he smiles, before dropping his hands. Her eyes are calculating, intelligent. They remind him of the earth, and he hooks a thumb over his shoulder. "I-I was just gonna make a snack, you can get back to your...city-watching?"
The boy tilts his head to the side, innocence clouding his vision. The notion brings something foreign to her features – a small curve of her lips. But as quickly as it came, she turns, desperate to hide the curl on her mouth. Not allowed to smile, never.
Unbeknownst of her inner thoughts, Beastboy feels a victorious grin pull across his own mouth at the sight. None of them had seen her smile, and slight pride flowed through him at the notion that he had been the one to do so. But his growling stomach had other matters, and tearing his eyes from the girl, who was so close yet so far away, he shuffled towards the kitchen on the opposite side of the main room. His legs swung across the counter, and he fell beside the fridge expertly.
As he gathered the ingredients to make a sandwich, a thought occurred to him, and he twisted, sitting the ingredients onto the counter whilst mindlessly pawing around for the bread. His eyes caught sight of the jaw-slackened look on the girl's features, and he felt a tender protectiveness fall over him at the sight. He drummed his fingers, before he worked past the ball in his throat. "Hey, E-Esper...do you want a sandwich?"
Esper jumped at the noise, and glanced at him like a deer caught in the glare of a pair of headlights. He almost laughed, but as she shook her head, he gave a gentle nod and continued to create his sandwich, giving a disgusted snort when he grabbed at a carton of ham in the fridge. He didn't notice the short smile that cascaded across dry lips.
Once again, Esper jumped as she felt a presence beside her, and turned to her left, finding Beastboy sat beside her, the closest anyone has been to her, beside Starfire. The girl still hasn't come near her, despite how she tries to but Robin has to pull her back. Meanwhile, Beastboy spears his eyes across the city, and she briefly wishes he had seen it only a few moments ago, when the clouds didn't blot out the bloated moon. But she's leaning back, staring at him as if he is a strange specimen, but to her, he is.
As Beastboy slots the sandwich back into his mouth, he turns towards her, half bitten into the bread and cheese, a lone tomato hanging from his mouth. He places the sandwich back onto his plate, nimble fingers brushing away any stray crumbs from his body. "S-Sorry, if you wanna be left alone, I totally get that. I just wanted to..." he turns his gaze back to the skyline of Jump City, a gentle smile falling on his mouth as he looks at his city; their city. "To see what captured you so much." Once again, he's lost in the haze of the city he lives in, and Esper's measuring gaze falls across him. Her brow furrows as she tries to decode the boy in front of her – why he wants to be beside her, why he wants to know what she is interested in. No-one has been before.
With a sigh, Esper's fingers, shaking, land against Beastboy's shoulder in a drumming beat. It's the first time she ever touched anyone so gently. Ripped from his thoughts, he turns to find brown eyes, brighter than he's seen before, look to him before darting towards the sandwich. It takes him a few beats, before his lips form an 'O' shape, and he nods, holding the plate up for her to take the sandwich. She slips her hands beneath it, delicately, as if to weigh it in her palms, and holds it with both hands. Tentatively, she brings it to her lips and takes a miniscule bite of the snack.
Beastboy chuckles when her nose wrinkles up and she sits the sandwich back on the plate in his lap, wiping stray crumbs from her mouth. She sends him a confused glance, as if to ask what the concoction on the plate is. Beastboy briefly turns, and pulls the top layer of bread off, revealing a simple layer of cheese and tomato. "What, you don't like tofu cheese and tomato? I can make you something else, if you'd like?"
Shaking her head, Esper reaches forwards once more and plucks the sandwich from his fingers, pulling the bread off again and removing the tomato. She sits the vegetable on the plate in Beastboy's hands and takes a bite of the cheese, making the elder of the two laugh.
"Oh, you don't like tomatoes," he concluded, watching as she stole miniscule bites from the food, and Beastboy didn't mind sharing his food. But he noticed how her fingers clutched the sandwich, as if desperate to hang on to it. As if she had had to fight for food against others, leaving him to wonder what life she'd came from. What sort of experiment she could be.
He was ripped from his thoughts when the sandwich was placed back on the plate in his lap, hardly a bite stolen from it. Seemingly done with him now, her gaze turned back to the city across the water, her eyes wide with an innocent curiosity. Beastboy realized – she's never truly seen the outside world before.
Smiling, he lets them both lapse into silence, with only the sound of his noisy munching to break the tangible quiet between them. When he finishes, he sighs in satisfaction and pats his stomach, but her eyes never stray from the star-dotted landscape.
Only when he stands, does she jump in shock, as if she had forgotten of his presence by her side, before her eyes turn back. Her hands spread wide across the glass, trying to reach out to the world that is lost to her fingertips.
He coughs when he's dropped his plate into the sink and stretched like a cat, alerting her attention to him, where he now stands at the couch, beside the bundle of blankets that she usually hides beneath. Beastboy jerks a thumb backwards to one of the doors, a trademark smile coasting across his cheeks. "I'm gonna grab some Z's, but just so you know, Cyborg wants to talk to you tomorrow. He isn't gonna hurt you," he adds the last sentence quickly, noticing the rising panic that builds in her chocolate eyes. He doesn't blame her – a guy that size would terrify anyone. So he left her to her city-gazing and he retired to his bed, sinking into the pillows tiredly.