Started: 8/31/2007

Finished: 8/31/2007

Author's Note: Do they know...?

Summary: In which Beast Boy knows his biology... and Rae didn't.

In the Name of Friendship, Duty and... Tampons

He had noticed it. Not much escaped the green of his knowing nose. He smelled it in the air. Someone was about to menstruate. It was good to know these things, survival was a top priority.

He watched his teammates carefully. Well, his female teammates anyway. Unless one of the guys weren't telling the truth, it couldn't be one of them. So he kept surveillance, watching as the cloaked one retreated further into the blue, wince at nothing and generally becoming crabby and then swinging round to apologetic at a moment's notice.

For a day, he was satisfied with just knowing. But the course of the day changed his position quite drastically. For one thing, she didn't go out to buy any feminine products to take care of business (he had so been looking forward to teasing her about it). For another, she kept going into her room, changing and finally coming back out to gaze at her friends forlornly as if she had a death sentence written out for her. As if she was going to be seeing them for the last time.

Garfield 'Beast Boy' Logan was not an idiot. Really. He knew what was going on biologically and he could make a pretty edumacated guess at what was going on in Raven's pretty little head (not that he thinks she was pretty, she is pretty, but that means nothing, mommy and daddy always said it was bad to lie, unless it's like there's a hostage situation or something; then it's acceptable). She thought she was dying. What with the cramps, mood swings and, gods forbid, bleeding who wouldn't think that?

So, with the best of intentions in mind (not to mention an aversion towards an untimely death and demise), he turned to his leader to solve the problem. Good ol' Rob, he'd take care of this posthaste.

The conversation didn't go quite as planned.

-i-

"Dude, Rob man, I need to talk to you."

"Is it about Raven?" he didn't even look up from his paper. Wait, his hand was moving- no, he was just reaching for some toast. God damed, it was hard getting that boy away from his morning paper at the table. He didn't even look up to see the toast before crunching it in his mouth. Shaking away the errant thoughts plaguing his mind, BB returned to the task at hand.

"How'd you know?" the changeling got into the seat adjacent to the boy wonder's at the head of the table. He looked around cautiously on the lookout for anyone that could possibly overhear this conversation.

"You've been eyeing her for a while now. And while we're at it, you know why Raven isn't getting any feminine products to take care of her feminine needs?" there was a slight hesitation each time before he said feminine. It was hard to pick up but with BB's pointy green ears, you don't really miss a lot when it came to the auditing department.

"Er, well," he hesitated. If he continued, he'd be going into no-man's land. There would be no heli to get him the hell out. But this was for Raven, for the girls (possibly). He couldn't in good conscience abandon them to their monthlies, though every instinct inside of him declared otherwise. Taking another steadying breath, he jumped in, "I don't think she's ever had the Talk."

Dead. Silence.

Robin didn't know it, but his brain was tracking the same process that had gone through the poor changeling's head last night. The both of them knew of the limited past that was on Raven's file (Robin didn't know that Beast Boy knew- yet). She was raised by monks. Stoic monks that taught her to repress herself, limit her curiosity and just about everything else in life. She'd left her mother too early to have needed the Talk (and yes, it does necessitate capitalization). And if her reading material was anything to go by, then she wasn't about to encounter that kind of information. She read fantasy and fiction for entertainment. She read spell books and other informational books. But there wasn't a book in the tower about menstruating. The boys wouldn't hear of it and neither Star nor Raven had been curious about it. Which led to another worrying thought- does Starfire know. Robin (poor boy) was on the verge of a heart attack.

A strangled croak escaped the boy wonder's throat. Beast Boy nodded, satisfied that his companion had reached the same conclusion he had. The croak probably signified the fact that the boy detective had come to the same conclusion he had about Starfire. No one else could curry such a response from him. Now to lead him to Gar's logical conclusion.

"Now, as the leader, you have to inform them of the topics discussed in the Talk." Man, it had taken him a while to construct that rehearsed sentence. He was sure it was going to get this thing going his way.

This was where things went down the drain for the green muchkin.

"Nuh-uh, you're not going anywhere Beast Boy." He had taken on the Tone (for the last time!...) grabbing the changeling as he tried to get up, Robin pulled him right back down. "You brought this up, so you're in on this too. I'm not getting both of them mad at me at the same time. I'll be massacred. You're telling Raven, I'll," he choked, "handle Star."

The stunned changeling stared at him. When the words finally set in, he began to panic. "WHAT!? No way man, she'll rip me limb from limb! Probably worse!" he was scrambling to get out of the room then.

Grabbing the changeling, the boy detective dragged him as stealthily as he could to his Spartan quarters. There he, he threw in the terrified green boy and locked the door.

"I can't talk to them both at once." The boy wonder was thinking on his feet. Hopefully, the changeling was too out of it because of the situation to notice the loopholes in the argument. "If I talked to the both of them, they'll rip me to pieces. You wouldn't want that on your conscience now, would you BB?"

The green changeling shook his head morosely. He could see the logic of it and he couldn't just leave his friend to the fishes. With a sigh, he voiced his agreement. "Divide and conquer?"

"Divide and conquer," the masked teen replied, holding in the sigh of relief. He was lucky that Gar was easily distracted, or he'd have the mess of a life time on his hands. He furiously squashed down the noble voices in his head, clamoring at him for leaving a friend in the lurch. He replied, equally firm, that it was either him or us. That didn't shut them up.

"Can I look through your wardrobe, man? I think I'm going to need to cover up for this stage of my plan."

The boy wonder left his internal argument to look quizzically at his friend. "Plan?"

-ii-

So, here he was, in front of the convenience store that was closest to the Tower. In a trench-coat, scarf, boots and shades. In the blistering summer heat. Trying desperately, oh so desperately, to work up the nerve to walk in, find what he was looking for and leave without incident.

It wasn't too bad, considering. He could change his voice with a little bit of morphing. Add a little height to himself without too much strain. Nothing he could do about his skin though, that was staying green but it was covered up as best he could. So, thus nerved, he walked in.

When he finally found the aisle that contained what he needed, he could only gawp in awe-filled and terrified fascination. How could there be so many varieties? Wasn't it like one size fit all? What happened to interchangeable parts? He knew he was wigging out, but dang it, this really calls for wigging in the worst possible way!

He didn't know which type Raven needed and, hell, Raven didn't know what she needed. With a strangled scream in his throat, he turned around, got a shopping cart and methodically took one of each item offered. He was in disguise, he consoled himself. No one would recognize him unless they looked really closely.

The security guard eyed the oddly dressed man with a raised eyebrow. The get up was bound to garner attention. But as he watched, he couldn't help the twitch to his lips as the poor man continued to- shop. Everyone else watched bemusedly as he threw in product after product into the cart. Everyone else in the store had long stopped to stare at him, and when he entered that aisle, their attention had been riveted most determinedly.

It had been either anonymity or going unseen; the boy had chosen to go for anonymity. Stealth was more of Rob's department anyway.

Beast Boy strode as nonchalantly as he could to the register. He thanked whatever had been watching over him that he'd decided to bring every cent he had here. He still barely covered the fee due. When he finally walked out the door, there had been uproarious laughter, but he was winging it home by then, awkwardly carrying his- prizes. He shuddered and nearly dropped altitude but quickly corrected himself. He was not losing those- those things in the bay. He'd suffered too much to just let them go like that.

-iii-

He stared at her door. The Forbidden Door, le Porte Perilous, the Room-that-shall-Not-be-Mentioned. He gulped as his eyes traced the block script. Raven. He could almost hear her groaning behind the thick steel of her door. And the war waged silently within him. On the one hand, he wanted to end her suffering and reassure her that what she was going through was completely normal (for them anyway) but on the other, he so wanted not to have that kind of conversation with her.

Mustering the dregs of his courage up, he reached out and knocked as firmly as he was able.

"Rae?" the call was weak and he admonished himself. How could he even consider not availing a friend in need (did he use that right?)? It was his duty as a friend to help them bring an end to their pain and suffering and offer light fluffy bunnies to make their world brighter.

Well, minus the bunnies.

"Rae." This call had a little more of his usual spunk to it. He knocked again, firmly to get her attention. He was answered with a groan. Frowning, he turned and called over his shoulder. "I'll be back in a minute."

Leaving his hefty 'peace offerings' at her door, he rushed to the kitchen, intent upon preparing tea. He was surprisingly good at it. One time, he'd knocked over her cup when she left to get her book from the niche that she dwelled in. That had led him to experiment with tea preparation, no one got between Raven and her tea without proper justification if they wanted to live. And sometimes (it was rumored among the boys) not even then.

So he had experimented with tea preparation and had prepared what he hoped would pass muster. She seemed oddly calmed by the blend he concocted, pleased even, and was never really able to figure out how she got it (she didn't). And going on her pleased perplexity, he'd memorized the ingredients and servings required to make the 'BB special'.

Returning with a cup of his blend, he turned toward the door to Raven's abode. His offerings were still there and the door was still denying him entrance. He knocked again.

"C'mon Rae, I've got you some tea. I'm sure you'll feel better with a sip." He tried to sound enticing. He did.

The door swished open. Smiling, he grabbed the bag of feminine products and marched in.

Raven was hunched over her bed miserably holding her abdomen. He offered her a sympathetic smile and handed her the tea. She eyed it warily and inhaled the aroma. Recognizing the flavor that haunted her inner tea-connoisseur, she sipped methodically and nearly moaned as the flavored liquid hit her tongue. Beast Boy blushed at the verbalization. This was so wrong.

"I didn't know you could make tea." She narrowed her eyes suspiciously at him. "Where and why did you learn? What's in the bag?"

"Er, that's not important." Her suspicions were confirmed. She had wondered why her tea had changed flavors in the ten minutes of her absence, not to mention her mysteriously depleted tea leaves. "What is important is that we talk about your situation right now."

Raven stiffened. She knew what was happening (well, she thought she did anyhow). She was f-ing dying, that's what. What else could it be with the cramps, mood swings and all around crappy circumstances? That was not mentioning her tender areas and migraine.

What followed out of Beast Boy's mouth was frightening and downright disturbing. How could this be so? What kind of a mad-man would concoct something like this to foist upon female-kind (yes, they're indeed a different species; she refused to be associated with such crass beings as males). It made no sense. Weren't they already pushing out the offspring? What cruelty was this? Unprovoked and unjustified. She zoned for a minute, despairing at her lot.

"But rest assured Rae," she didn't even bother to correct him on that point; if he had hope to offer then he had her full attention. "I've got you feminine hygiene products! They're supposed to help!" the changeling grinned enthusiastically. He grabbed his offerings and displayed the contents within with a hint of pride, anything for a friend. "Here, I didn't know what type you'd need, so I got one of everything. You can experiment!" he said that like it was some sort of a great adventure. Or at least he was trying to advertise it as such.

"Beast Boy, I didn't even know these things existed," she returned with a pout-like glower. "What am I supposed to do with," she took out a box and read the front, "tampons?"

The monks of Azarath had never explained to her the, um, facts of life. She'd only noticed that at some times the women would retreat somewhere and became extremely cranky and mean. She wasn't even sure they'd had 'feminine products' that supposedly eased the suffering where she was from. And to have it all laid out by the immature green changeling was a little off this side of sane.

Beast Boy did not like where this was going. He didn't like the question he could see in her eyes. He didn't like the way she was holding the box of- of unmentionables. He tried desperately to find some way to get out of the situation he knew in the pit of his stomach that he was in for.

A couple of hours later, interspersed with a few mishaps here and there, Beast Boy finally crawled out of her room, battered and weary. Raven was comfortably sleeping, avoiding the headache that plagued her. Beast Boy did not come out as unscathed as she. He was given an impromptu lesson on how to use feminine products through a door. He (and he'd never tell anyone about this) had even made suggestions as to how exactly one was supposed to use them when Rae had been confused. Oh, the indignity. He wasn't even sure he could call himself a man anymore. When she came out of the bathroom, there was just the hint of a wicked smile to her face.

Reaching his safe bastion, he climbed onto his bunk (the lower one, he was too exhausted to make the climb to the top) and dropped into a blissful sleep. Or at least he tried to. Something about his conversation with Robin didn't sit right with him. The conversation with Raven was firmly being suppressed.

Wait a sec., Star wasn't on that- thing. He didn't have to talk to both of them at the same time. Why that little…

"ROBIN!!"