Disclaimer: Forgot this last time, apologies. Teen Titans isn't mine, in case there was any question on the matter. This is rated for implied adult/child sexual situations (non-graphic, but definitely there).

Bruise

"This was a bad, bad idea."

"Will you just humor me? We can totally figure this out!" He wouldn't have been so optimistic if he had tried all the things she had tried. It wasn't going to work. Nothing ever worked.

"Beast Boy, I really appreciate this and all, but I almost squished you. Then, I almost made you fall into a rocky chasm of doom. Then, I almost put a boulder-sized hole through your stomach."

"Almost, but not quite!" he grinned. Terra wished he'd stop that. "I'm telling you: get your emotions under control and you'll get the rock-slinging under control."

"I am in control!" A tremor shook the ground beneath her feet and she stomped on it angrily. "Look, I think I need somebody more experienced at this. I need…"

Slade. No, not Slade, never Slade. Shut up, brain, shut up!

He stepped closer to her and took her hand, rubbing the back of her wrist with his thumb. "What you need is to chill out. Stop thinking about being perfect. Focus on me."

Easy enough. That felt good. Terra closed her eyes. The ground rumbling beneath her seemed out of touch and far away.

"Terra…hey, Ter…"

Blue eyes opened slowly. The earth was where it was supposed to be, motionless and dormant. "Woah…I did it…err, you did it." Her words were punctuated and daring, like jumping over stones across a river.

"That's great, really great," Beast Boy murmured, but he wasn't looking at her face. "But I just wanted to ask you…what's that?"

He pointed. A little circular stain the color of ink, right under the boney bump where arm met hand.

"Umm…"

The boot came down hard, why did she leave her hand there, why had she been so slow and stupid, it hurt so much, but it was all her fault, she had been bad, bad, bad, he had to fix her, all her fault, but oh it hurt and it was going to leave the ugliest mark, disgusting really, why wasn't she better at this…

"I banged my hand in the doorway," she said.

He stared at her. She stared back. This is the last lie, the absolutely last one, I swear.

Disapproving silence. Hesitation. And then, "Ouch. That's gotta hurt. The doors are kind of weird here but you'll get used to them. Okay, this time, let's try…"

Popcorn

(slightly-AU)

The movie had started out alright, but horror was more Beast Boy's thing. She didn't have a problem with ghosts, vampires, werewolves or any of that jazz, but after the tenth gallon of blood had sprayed across the television screen, Terra was starting to have second thoughts. A fleece blanket had somehow ended up wrapped around her head –she definitely had not put it there- making her look like a five year old dressed as a ghost for Halloween.

The killer, or the bad guy, or the monster, or whatever had found another victim. Whoops, there goes the eleventh gallon of blood. A nails-on-the-chalkboard scream reverberated from the television and Terra jumped. Little white clumps of something spilled over her forehead like snow…the heck? She pulled the blanket away slowly. More snow. A lot more snow.

Oh wait: popcorn. So it was tasty snow. Wait a minute…

Turning around, she made a face at the only other occupant of the couch. "Beast Boy…"

He grinned cheekily. "Why, Terra, whatever could be wrong?"

She pointed. "Exactly how long were you putting popcorn on my head?"

"Umm…long enough for it to be really, really funny?"

Terra's scowl turned into a wicked smirk as she picked up a nearby piece and threw it at him. "Ow! That got in my eye!" he squeaked.

Sniffling extravagantly, she mimed a tear running down her face. "Oh, poor baby, I'm so sorry…not!"

"Popcorn fight!"

Terra had never had a popcorn fight in her life, but she was reasonably sure that she wanted to do it every day for the rest of eternity. They were quickly emptying the bowl, all over the couch and the floor and each other; she only thought for a minute about how Robin was going to kill them both for making a mess.

She had a big handful, and Beast Boy was intent on wrestling it away from her, when she lost her balance and fell on top of him, head thumping against his chest. They were close, really close. It felt horrifyingly wonderful. The room was silent (when had they stopped laughing?) except for the stalker-killer-person and his whirring chainsaw, or whatever. The way he held her was familiar and foreign all at once: she had been in similar positions before, doing things that she could never tell him about, not ever, but it felt so much more wholesome, somehow, to have him touch her.

Blood roaring in her ears, she held her breath. Terra knew that something had to happen, and it was going to happen soon, either they had better get up right now or they had better…not get up, and whatever choice they made, they couldn't take it back. It was maddening, those little moments where you knew that the next five seconds of your life were going to change everything.

They didn't get up.

He pulled her closer and started picking the popcorn out of her hair. His hands were shaking. That made her so happy, for some reason. So much better to be nervous. That's how things were supposed to be. "Terra…you and me…"

She shouldn't say it. She really, really shouldn't. It would just mean one more lie, because he could never know the whole truth, or he'd hate her, he'd hate her forever. Beast Boy had only seen the fake Terra. He wouldn't like the real one. Nobody would, except for…no, don't think about him, not now.

"Yeah." Well, crud. She'd said it.

Terra knew that he was smiling even though she couldn't see his face.

It had taken awhile to register that the television was no longer running, because the television was from another universe where people didn't have popcorn fights and fall on top of one another and say silly, awkward half-sentences that made no sense. In any case, it definitely wasn't on anymore. Terra thought that was weird until she realized that there was somebody else in the living room. Somebody with a mask, and a cape, and a very unhappy scowl.

"…are going to clean up every last kernel, do you know that, and I'm going to watch you, especially you, Beast Boy, because I know you'll just hide it all between the cushions, and…umm guys?"

"Yes, Robin?"

"Are you…"

"Yes, Robin."

"Oh. OHHH. Well, I guess you can handle the cleaning thing by yourselves. But if I find one piece of this disgusting stuff in the morning…" He shook his finger at the couch, in full on idle-threat mode.

"Okay, Robin."

"Well. Okay then. I'll be…seeing you…tomorrow then. And guys?"

"Yes, Robin?"

"It's about time."

Nothing

"Terra."

She knelt on the floor, shins cold and uncomfortable as she looked up, up, way up at Slade. He didn't wear the full mask when they were alone together, but he always covered up his bad eye. It somehow made him even creepier. Being in one position for so long was kind of giving her cramps, but she wasn't allowed to move yet so she didn't complain. His boots were almost touching her legs: he was too close, way too close, she didn't want him anywhere near her. "Yes, Sir?'

"What are you thinking about?" His voice reminded her of first grade, the way that the teacher would ask you if you stole the last crayon out of the box even when she knew you did it, because she wanted to hear you admit it yourself.

She swallowed, her mouth dry. Already, at his mere suggestion, she was thinking things that she knew she wasn't allowed to think about anymore. "Nothin'..."

"Nothing, Sir. And I'm afraid that I don't believe you."

Beast Boy didn't believe me either. But he was so nice to me, that one day, and we had so much fun. He couldn't have really meant all those awful things he said. Maybe, maybe, maybe…

"Terr-ruh…" He said it so calmly, voice rising with slightly patronizing undertones. It was a warning. Her first and last warning.

"I was just sort of, not really, thinking about…them." Terra avoided his eyes, wringing her hands nervously behind her back.

He lowered himself to her eye level, balancing effortlessly in a half-squat, taking her chin between two fingers so she would look into his single eye. There was nothing explicitly severe about his grip, but she knew how strong Slade was, knew what would happen the first time she made it look like she wasn't cooperating. He wasn't forcing her- yet. "Now, Terra, certainly you aren't having second thoughts?"

"No," she caught herself, "…Sir. I want to make them regret what they did to me."

"Good girl." He stroked the side of her face and she shivered.

"I guess I just sometimes –not very often- wish that they didn't do it to me in the first place, if that makes any sense. I kind of liked having friends."

He took a few seconds to respond to that, seeming to enjoy her fearful attempts to gage his reaction. Finally, he smiled. It was kind of like a kiss and it made her feel dirty and disgusting all over again. "You poor child. I am so, so sorry. I didn't know that you sincerely believed they were your friends."

"But…"

"Terra, my dear, what have the Titans ever done for you?" His eye was drilling itself into her brain and she could only pray that it couldn't really see her.

Beast Boy, he was so sweet when he tried to make me laugh, and it almost always worked, he made me feel like it was okay to be myself, maybe it was even good, that I didn't have to run anymore, and oh god he was so cute and I miss him, really I do, even now, especially now, because it's dark and cold and scary in Slade's headquarters and I want to go home but I don't know where home is anymore, I just wish it could be with Beast Boy. Her hands were trembling and she pressed down hard into her palms with her fingernails to get them to stop.

"Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Sir." she said, staring into Slade's blue eye and telling herself that it was as good as she deserved, anyway.

"Excellent answer. Now you can get up."

She pushed herself off the ground with her knuckles, wobbling a little with that disgusting pins and needles sensation that comes with being in one place for too long.

"I love you, Slade." The words were pulled out of her as if they were attached to the back of her throat on a string, and Slade had just given them a strong yank. She had never said those words to anyone before, and it felt right and wrong all at the same time to say them to Slade.

"Of course you do."