1A/N: This is a bit of a transition chapter, about three days after the last one. Robin may seem a bit odd but hey, anyone whose ever had a serious problem and finally realized they shouldn't worry about it so much, knows you get pretty damn lucid afterwards. Anywho, chapter is a bit long and the next one will probably be shorter though it will have some Raven/Robin interaction for those who enjoy that, which I believe is all my readers so lets hope that one goes as well as I expect it to. On a personal note, I've updated my profile with a few lines of wisdom from my everyday life. Hey, I'm trying to enlighten and entertain. Shameless plug shall end now.
Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans, but hey, I think we all knew that already.
Trying To Do the Right Thing
Chapter 9
By: Finalitylife
Robin P.O.V:
Following that talk with Beast Boy, I finally found that I could enjoy this pseudo-vacation that I never quite realized the Titans were on. There was absolutely no crime to speak of for a very long time and I simply had been far too wrapped up in my problems as well as the going ons of the tower to allow myself the chance to bask in this fact. None of our arch enemies had decided to try out some elaborate and potentially deadly trap. None of the minor villains who plagued Jump City somehow weekly, had emerged from whatever garbage can they most likely hid out in. It was an interesting place to be in for me, not overwhelmed with some criminal or crime nor was I completely occupied by some personal problem or private demon. I was sure I was walking around with the smallest of smiles on my face which was highly uncharacteristic of me but I just could not help myself. Maybe it would be only for a little while, maybe it would be for only one more hour, I didn't know but I found myself for the first time in a very long time simply at peace with the life around me.
At this exact moment, I was simply sitting on the ledge of the roof, staring out at the city I had sworn to protect but in reality, I wasn't really focused on the city, hell I wasn't focused on anything at all. I was just enjoying the warm sun on my body and the feel of the gentle breeze as it brushed past me. I could hear the faintest of sounds a few floors below me, knowing that it was simply Starfire and Raven fixing the hole in Raven's wall, the result of as Starfire would say, "much unpleasantness." I knew Cyborg was helping the two as despite their considerable powers, neither of the young women had any idea how to replace a wall, a concept that Cyborg and I, over the years had become considerable experts on thanks to the friendly neighborhood visits of various villains. I knew that as the two young women repaired the wall, they were in reality at the same time working on repairing their tattered friendship. It was a pleasant thought, knowing that Starfire and Raven were working together. I had only see the two girls interact briefly since the apparent start of their attempts to fix what in reality, Starfire's jealousy had broken though there was always the possibility that if Raven had been more honest with her best friend about her feelings toward me, things could have been handled with a lesser degree of destruction and wrath than the situation culminated in. I really don't know but I guess at this point it doesn't matter.
The interactions between the two was slow and cautious. Starfire who used to simply talk nonstop to her much quieter friend about everything that popped into the bubbly aliens head now chose her words carefully when speaking to Raven, doing her best not to upset her. Raven, who when dealing with Starfire, had a level of patience that was matched only by my own, was slightly more stern with Starfire when she was becoming a bit annoying though to make a true judgement on exactly what the full extent of changes their friendship had gone through was impossible. It of course had been only three days since I had even seen them start talking so I really had no idea where the two were going with their relationship.
Three days since I had that talk with Beast Boy, three days of simply sitting back and relaxing and I knew I had deserved it. The strain I had put on my mind obsessing was incredible and it had taken only a few moments of conversation with Beast Boy to alleviate it. I laughed just a little bit to myself since the fact that Beast Boy had given me the chance to reach such a state of relaxation. Maybe I should buy him a moped as a thank you. It wasn't like it would be hard for me to procure the money for it. Thanks to Bruce over the years I lived with him, I had quite a bit of money stored away, plenty to support the Titans financially when what the city offered was not enough to pay all the bills, like on those weeks where the food bill somehow found a way to surpass NASA's annual budget. I had to be the only one in the tower who didn't cost a fortune to feed. Cyborg was a nonstop eating machine, Beast Boy's speciality Tofu was far too expensive, and the sheer amount, not to mention the strangeness of what Starfire ate was unbelievable for a girl who never gained weight or ended up with food poisoning. Of course, if I understood correctly, she did have a bit more complicated digestive system with I think a few more stomachs to process everything she ate. Raven did not each much, usually preferring her tea to eating every meal, but the specific brands of tea she drank were costly, though I never once said anything about it. Raven needed her tea the same way I needed to train. It wasn't a luxury, it was a necessity so whatever it costs, it was fine with me.
Again I laughed to myself. It was random tangents of thoughts like these that I frequently found myself in though they had almost no purpose to anything. It was simply an offset of not having anything to truly focus my mind on. Beast Boy had been right. No need to worry because things will work out when they are meant to work out. I was pulled from my reverie by shouting that sounded extremely close to the words of, "I'll kill you grass stain." from the mouth of a very angry Cyborg and then a loud crash. I guess it was time to go into leader mode for a little bit though I doubted this was anything serious. Beast Boy and Cyborg fighting was as natural as the sun rising and from the obvious looks of it, the sun had risen today. I found myself whistling some forgotten tune as I headed back into the tower toward the main room.
The instant I walked into the main room, I spotted a green blur being chased down by an irrate Cyborg. Neither of the girls were anywhere to be seen. Cyborg was screaming some nonsensical words at Beast Boy who, upon seeing me standing in the door way, ran over to me.
"Robin! Thank God! You need to save me man, Cyborg is going ballistic."
"Damn right I am you tofu-eating freak." Cyborg marched menacingly over toward Beast Boy who was cowering behind me but I raised my hand to stop Cyborg.
"Beast Boy, what did you do to Cyborg?"
"See Robin, its not my fault. You know how Cyborg has absolutely no sense of humor..."
Whatever explanation was cut off by another shout by Cyborg and I found myself doing my best to hold back a body that outweighed me probably by a ton or so. Yeah this was really going to end well for me. Thankfully, Cyborg was suddenly engulfed in black energy and was gently pushed back away from me and Beast Boy who had turned into a turtle and was tucked tightly in his shell.
"Calm down Cyborg. No need to kill any innocent bystander to get even with Beast Boy, though he most likely deserves it." Beast Boy took the opportunity to form back into his normal form in order to yell out a 'Hey' at Raven's comment about him deserving what he got. I turned around to find Raven and Starfire standing behind me, both holding glassed in their hands that looked like lemonade. Starfire had a small smile on her face as she looked at me and Raven was unreadable as she was her face was covered by her hood.
"Someone want to tell me what happened here?" Beast Boy shifted nervously as Cyborg had a knowing smile on his face that Beast Boy was so going to get it from the leader. Starfire was the one to answer.
"Cyborg, Raven, and I were working on repairing the wall when friend Beast Boy was nice enough to bring us the aid of the lemon to quench our thirst. However, it seems Cyborg's drink was not what it was supposed to." I turned to look at Beast Boy.
"What! It was just a joke. You would have found it amusing too had you seen the look on Cyborg's face when he gulped it all down." Cyborg growled at the much smaller boy.
"What exactly was it Beast Boy?" Beast Boy nervously laughed.
"Can't tell you that...it's a trade secret but lets just say Cyborg won't be getting the taste of that out of his mouth for a long time." Cyborg jumped forward at Beast Boy but again black energy prevented him from reaching his destination.
"Alright, alright, everyone relax. First of all, I would like to commend you Beast Boy on not being stupid enough to pull this prank on Raven or Starfire because I think we all know what would have happened had you done that." Beast Boy slowly looked at the two girls. One he knew had the incredible ability to make him feel guilty as hell if he did anything bad to her. The other, he gulped as he could see Raven's disapproving eyes from under her hood, would, politely saying it, hurt him.
"Secondly, it is far too nice of a day for anyone to be working or anyone to be arguing. How about we forget all this and just head to the city beach, just go hang out with the people of the city and enjoy the weather." Immediately, Cyborg's face brightened at the prospect of more than likely, girls in bikinis. Beast Boy was jumping up and down like an excited kid and Starfire was clapping her hands in front of her giving a trademark 'glorious' as her reply. Slowly, everyone turned toward Raven, who had made no response to the prospect of going to the beach.
"And what possible reason would there for me to go to the beach, around all those people, in the blistering sun?" I gave her a smile.
"Because I know even you can't pass up the opportunity to enjoy a day as beautiful as this with your friends." The room grew silent as I continued to smile at her, knowing that she was caving in. I could just feel it.
"Fine. But if anyone even attempts to get me to go in the water, you will pay," and with that final threat, Raven turned around, her cloak flowing out ever so slightly, and left for her room.
As I waited for everyone to arrive, I thought about what had made me bring up the beach idea. Maybe I just didn't want to deal with the arguing that was going on when I was in such a good mood, maybe I just wanted to have a good time, maybe I was hoping to see if everything had returned to somewhat normalcy by getting everyone to hang out together. I really wasn't sure and as the minutes passed by, I found myself caring less and less about the why, and only focused on the now. Cyborg was the first to come down actually wearing a pair of swim trunks despite not needing it. We were going to the city beach so why not be as normal as possible. It wasn't everyday we got the opportunity. He started hauling stuff off to the T-car as I continued to wait for the rest. Beast soon arrived in his beach clothes, the scrawniness of his body obvious as he was wearing a white wife-beater which in no way was flattering to his lack of muscle. The next Titan to arrive was Starfire who had on her favorite green hat along with a pair of shorts and a tight t-shirt, her bathing suit most likely underneath. It took about another five minutes for Raven to make it down, no one knowing she had been debating the whole time with herself in her room if this was a good idea for her to go. She arrived still shrouded in her cloak though no one commented on the fact. After Raven arrived, Cyborg started pushing everyone toward the T-car, intent on getting to the beach as soon as possible and I was sure that he had broken some type of land speed record in his haste to drive there. During the whole car ride, Starfire was happily talking about everything she wanted to do at the beach as was Beast Boy. Cyborg was simply nodding his head, more to the music he had blasting than to what the two of them were saying. Raven did not say anything during the trip but rather only sat quietly in the passenger seat clutching a large book in her small hands. I was simply happy to have everyone together like this.
When we finally arrived at the beach, Beast Boy, Cyborg, and Starfire scrambled madly out of the car. I had to call them back so that they could actually help carry some of the stuff to the beach. I immediately noticed that the beach was crowded and that many of the people had taken notice of us the second we had arrived. Most of the people were only subtly glancing over at us as most of the city respected our privacy and did their best not to gush over us at every opportunity. A few people were your typical star-struck fans and were openly staring at all of us with wide-eyes and it still made me feel a bit weird seeing that type of admiration in complete strangers. Back in Gotham, I never really saw those I helped or who I saved as it was always disappearing back into the night the second the enemy was stopped. Here, in Jump City, the Titans were public icons and frequently spent time just walking around the city. It was a completely different environment for me.
It took about 15 minutes of noisy, unorganized setup for all of us to finally settle in at a spot. I could have made things go smoother and organized everything but today I wasn't going to be a leader, today I was just going to sit back and relax. Raven had quickly set up an umbrella and a chair, and was nowt sitting quietly in her created shade reading her book, seemingly taking no notice of anything around her. She still remained covered in her cloak though her long, firm legs were peaking out. I silently yelled at myself for the thought and turned my attention toward Beast Boy and Cyborg who were pulling out a Frisbee to toss around and I walked over to join them. We barely got settled in when we suddenly realized that the entire beach had grown completely silent. The three of us looked at each other with confused expressions before scanning the beach in curiosity. We quickly realized that every guy on the beach was currently staring with mouth's agape about twenty feet behind us. I somehow instantly knew what they were looking at. I turned around to find Starfire peeling off her clothes and I too found myself staring. The whole process seemed to go tantalizingly slow as she revealed inch after inch of her bare flesh, somehow easily revealing more than even her normal uniform did. When it was all over, she was wearing a very small pink bikini that clung to her like a second skin so perfectly showing off her amazing body. A gentle breeze caused her long, red hair to flow in the wind and it was moments like these I was reminded just how phenomenally beautiful Starfire was. I glanced behind me at Beast Boy and Cyborg seeing identical looks on their face that probably had graced my own face, which was till gracing the faces of every willing and able guy on the beach. I then looked over at Raven and watched as she did her best to pull her cloak around her legs, trying to make sure her body was completely hidden from anyone's eyes.. I thought back to when she had more or less asked me if she was ugly and I realized that she again was probably feeling self conscious about herself after watching the little scene that just played out. I felt compelled to go over and talk to her but I doubt she wanted to be bothered with something like that in public. Whatever thoughts I was having were soon gone when Starfire came floating over with a warm smile on her face asking if she could join us in playing Frisbee and what else could I say but sure Star.
The day at the beach passed happily as everyone enjoyed themselves more than they had in a long time and I even caught the smallest of smiles from Raven's face despite her being hidden in the shade as she watched all of us. We had played Frisbee for awhile, had helped Starfire build a sand castle, and dunked Beast Boy, oh I'd say about two dozen times in the ocean. It was Cyborg's way of getting some revenge from earlier and I just got caught up in the fun. Every time he was tossed out into the ocean, Starfire would fly and retrieve him only for him to end up right back out there. Eventually we decided he had enough and set up a beach volleyball net, inviting many of the young men and women around us to join us. Of course none of us used our powers as to keep things fair and simply had a good time. I found myself enjoying myself to a degree that was very uncommon to me and I was slowly realizing that I had been taking life far to serious, creating more problems than necessary for me to deal with.
Over the course of the day, an uncountable amount of young men had approached Starfire trying out their best lines, asking her on dates, or simply just trying to talk to the Tamaranian beauty. She would always smile, would occasionally blush at whatever was said to her, and politely decline whatever offer was made. It was already late afternoon, and still another group of guys had approached her. I sat quietly watching the sight, smiling as she giggled about something. She did seem so happy. I suddenly felt another person behind me and the fact that I did not feel any sand shift as the person approached meant it could be only one person.
"Did you enjoy your book Raven?" I turned around as I spoke finding Raven hovering just above the sand, her cloak, even in the breeze, finding a way to not move from its presence around her body though her hood was now down. Raven had spent almost the entire day in her shaded spot and being as observant as I was, I knew that she really hadn't been reading, but rather had been watching her friends good time with a small smile on her face. It was one of those things me and Raven had in common, we both were watchers and found simple enjoyment in our friends happiness.
"Yes Robin. It was a real page turner." I laughed lightly at her sarcastic tone. Again I went back to looking at Starfire and her crowd as me and Raven went into silence. Eventually she spoke.
"She is getting quite a bit of attention Robin. Are you sure your not getting jealous?" Her tone was more curious than it was accusing. I thought about it for a second and realized that no, I had never once been jealous of watching all these guys hitting on Starfire. I was actually a little bit relieved her attention had not been on me all day and as long as she was smiling and laughing, I really didn't care what was going on.
"Not at all Raven. Not at all." Again I turned to look at her and it seemed like she was staring through me, more than likely trying to get a read on the truthfulness of my words. Eventually her gaze ended and went to focus on what was in front of us, her eyes quickly going wide.
"I think we have a problem Robin." I noticed the slight urgency in her voice and quickly looked at Starfire. She had a confused and slightly hurt look on her face as some guy, with a rather angry look on his face, was yelling at her. I had no doubt Starfire was in any physical danger as the girl was damn near indestructible but she was still very naive and was hurt emotionally very easily and apparently whatever had happened was hurting her. I got up with a growl, Raven quickly floating after me.
"Hey Star, is there something going on here?" I tried to sound as gentle as I could but I was holding back quite a bit of emotion as I saw a smug look on the guy who had been yelling at her.
"No problem here man so you can just run along." I glared at the guy for a second before turning back to Star who had her arms wrapped nervously around herself giving her a reassuring smile.
"I do not know what is going on Robin. I declined his asking of me for a date and then he started yelling. I do not understand. Why would he do this? Why would he call me a female dog?" Her voice was slightly shaky and she was definitely upset about being yelled at for doing nothing wrong, simply not understanding exactly what was going on. Again I glared at the guy who had done this to her and he still had that same damn smug look on his face.
"I think it would be best if you apologized to her and then left." He smiled.
"What? She stands here dressed like that, talks with me for ten minutes, asks all interested, and then turns me down like its nothing. Maybe your just upset because you think this one already belongs to you." I went to retort but Raven beat me to it, conviction strong in her voice.
"Starfire does not belong to anyone and you have no right to make assumptions about her or anything she does. She was just being polite, maybe you should try it." Starfire's eyes widened as Raven came so strongly to her defense and even I was a little surprised at her outburst, well as much of an outburst as she would allow herself in public. The guy still only kept his smug smile infuriating me more and more.
"So are you going to give her the apology she deserves?" My voice was low, doing my best not to attack him, doing my best not to break the law. He finally replied, unwarranted arrogance still filling his voice.
"How about this, how about you and that grey-skinned, purple-haired freak over there get the hell out of here and get off my beach?" There was not even a second of hesitation in my mind or my body after hearing his insulting words. It was the first time I think I had ever lashed out like this since my younger days with Bruce and those always ended badly for me. My fist instantly was flying straight at his face, with every intention of inflicting as much bodily harm on him as I could. The smug look on his face was gone in an instant replaced with one of fear. I highly doubt he believed that Robin, defender of all those innocent and upholder of the law, would snap and assault him just like that. One inch before contact, one inch before I more than likely would have gained some twisted satisfaction from hearing his nose break, one inch before I would have gone against everything I believed in by attacking an innocent, even if he deserved it, my hand stopped, though not by my own accord. My hand was encased in black energy, Raven using her telekinetic power to stop me from making a mistake. Everyone was breathless, waiting for something to happen though no one heard the words that Raven was speaking to me, directly into my mind.
"Please Robin, I'm not worth it. I'm not worth it." I felt my body grew colder at hearing the raw emotion from her, feeling just how low she thought of herself at this moment. Her energy quickly dissipated and she flew away from the scene as fast as she could, the hood of her cloak being pulled up to cover what little was visible. Again, there was no hesitation in my reactions, and I ran after her as fast as I could.
The guy who had been yelling at Starfire's look of fear once again returned to being cocky though that ended. He suddenly felt a feminine hand grip his wrist.
"So baby, did you finally see things my way." He looked to see two burning green eyes and a look of pure rage, nearly wetting himself.
"No one speaks about Raven like that." He barely had time for a scream before Starfire picked him up and threw him into the ocean, everyone else around her smiling somewhat, even his friends, knowing this guy had got what he deserved. Starfire's rage subsided and was quickly replaced with one of regret. The pain she had saw on Raven's face at that man's words had reminded her of what she had done to Raven, what she had said to Raven, and how quickly Raven had come to her defense made her realize again just how bad of a friend she had been while Raven had still been good to her. With a small sigh, Starfire floated away from the spectators that remained, heading toward her friends still on the beach.
Reviewer Responses:
You three really help keep me motivated about pretty much all my writing, give me a little to look forward to. Hey, nice comments are a nice reward for finishing a chapter and you three had provided it for every chapter of every story so Thanks. And spiderbob, your pretty damn cool yourself so thanks.
zadeon: Goal always is to enlighten the reader and, if the vibe I get from you is correct, you already are pretty on the ball with things so that is an accomplish. Yeah the irony of it all about that the last chapter and most of my writing is it appears that I actually know something about love yet someone as cynical as me barely believes in such a thing. How frickin weird is that. Anyways, peace.
evilsangle: Yeah, lets not get too used to a eloquent, serious Beast Boy. That just ain't right. He's back to normal in this chapter, well normal probably isn't the right word. You'll get your Rae/Rob interaction in the next chapter so be looking forward to that though that doesn't mean they'll end up together.
Cherry Jade: yeah I actually liked Beast Boy in the last chapter but like I said, I think he is only serious when it involves Terra and there more than likely will be no more Terra in this story so there goes his brain. Yeah, this is the only story where I've debated the coupling and everyone pretty much wants me to go one way, so maybe I'll just be a bastard and do the complete opposite. It would be a jerk move but will see. Oh and great rant in the review. You are dead on in your thoughts about that stuff so feel free to rant away anytime.
spiderbob: Yeah life sucks, I have to work pretty much 35 hours in the next three days. I miss the good old days when I had more time and could churn out a 38 chapter epic in about a month and a half. Of course I was more motivated to write that. Thanks for the review and as appreciative and grateful as the audience may be, people like you who take the time to let me know that you are appreciative and grateful are always the best so thanks man.