Wow, long chapter today. Probably coulda split it up, but eh, whats the fun in that.
Guys, I was listening to the Lavender Town theme for Pokemon while I was writing this on an unofficial dare, so if things are a tad creepy, it's not my fault, blame Lavender Town. Also I had a migraine before all this, so this might be a little bit insane. Woooooo...
Lets see, thank you to Nick the wolf for your contributions to this chapter! I think everything else was my own ideas that spiraled off of things people said and such so thats all for thank you's for this chapter. That should be it, read on!
Beast Boy's Birthday Bash, as the changeling in question cleverly dubbed it, was in the beginning stages of planning. Starfire, though she had been a bit on edge around Beast Boy, had asked the birthday boy for ideas on the party so that she could work them into her ultimate plan. He gave her a quickly scribbled list written in green colored pencil and on a crumpled piece of printer paper. What he described was as follows:
What I want at my birthday party
1. A live band or a DJ would be pretty cool
2. GREEEEN. EVERYWHERE. PLEASE.
3. A photo booth
4. (A petting zoo *crossed out*) A monster truck or something else manly
5. As many Titans as can come!
I'm sure whatever you come up with will be great, don't worry about it Star! This party will be great even if it's not green. :)
~BB
However, Starfire was determined to put together a beautiful combination of all of those things, including green everything. However, she intended to add her own touches as well. She was going to accent everything with purple in memory of Beast Boy's long-time Doom Patrol outfit and for another reason or two that she had been told not to share with the oblivious Titan. She decided that a monster truck would take up too much room and after asking Robin, also decided that the changeling didn't want a petting zoo after all. So that left a live band/DJ, a Photo Booth, and inviting all the Titans to figure out. Simple enough, what could go wrong?
But of course they were Titans, and though everything worked out in the end, a series of unforeseen shenanigans kept the Tamaranian princess on her toes.
The local party stores didn't have nearly enough green, so they all took it upon themselves to travel to the farther corners of the west coast to procure enough green plastic cups, napkins, plates, balloons, and whatever else they needed to fuel the party for the long hours that Beast Boy was insistent upon. In the end, it was Raven who managed to pick up the most with her speedy transportation and no nonsense attitude. All she had to do was appear in a party store and demand in her monotone that they pack up all their green party supplies for her and she was set. When Beast Boy teased her, saying "Aw! You really do care!" and she didn't do anything other than glare at him, Cyborg repressed the urge to tease the two on their budding relationship. It was no fun for his friend to have a girlfriend if he couldn't tease him about it.
Robin had his doubts, seeing as Titans around the world would all be exhausted and in one place if the party went from 6PM to 6AM as the animorph wanted. However, he was able to compromise with Beast Boy by changing the ending time to 2PM, reasoning that no one would want to be awake until 6AM anyway.
The next problem they encountered was the issue of the photo booth. It hadn't seemed like a difficult find, Starfire had found a company that rented them out ordered on immediately so that it would get there significantly early and they would be able to work out any bugs before the party began. However, after being notified that the company wanted them to pay extra for shipping because they lived in such a "remote" location, she marched (or rather flew) herself right down to the facility, ripped the door off it's hinges, and demanded that they give her her shipping fee back so that she could take care of it herself. The glowing green eyes and her height helped the process along very nicely and within the span of twenty minutes, the alien princess was out of there, flying happily towards the tower with her shipping fee money in hand and a photo booth slung over her shoulder. Who said that you couldn't use powers for every day situations?
Next, they reached the issue of the band or DJ. There were plenty of well knowns of both categories practically lining up for a gig like this, but they all agreed that none of them quite fit what a Titans birthday party should be. After asking for help with setting up with everything from their closest Titan neighbors, the Titans East, the problem all but solved itself. Bumblebee sheepishly admitted that she and a few other Titans had actually put together a rock band and Mas y Menos just so happened to be masters of the turntable. Agreeing that a Titans only party with even the music put together by Titans made the birthday that much more personal, Starfire gave the winged girl a bone crushing hug and invited her to both the party planning team and the stage.
The final and most confusing incident was the problem of the party invitations. Sure, inviting the Titans East was easy because they just had to send an invite home with Bee, but for the rest of the heroes the challenge would be similar to when they had been uniting young heroes against the Brotherhood. After the invitations were all initialed with a double B, the process of figuring out how each letter was to be delivered came into question. They could just call over the communicators, but Starfire had insisted that that was out of the question. Things had to be done correctly for the occasion, as she put it. So they separated the invitations into groups, heroes that had set addresses, heroes that wouldn't be hard to deliver invitations personally to, and heroes that would require some difficulty to track down and deliver to. The first two piles were given to Beast Boy and Cyborg so that the two could hang out together, drop the correct envelopes off at the post office, and then cruise around town in the Mustang delivering the rest that they had. Starfire, Raven and Robin would take care of the rest, Robin tracking down everyone in his databases and handing the letters and the coordinates off to the girls. Beast Boy was just happy that he didn't have to deliver anything to Jericho this time around and was more than willing to take Cyborg out for a drive in "the B-car".
All these preparations took the team right up to the Thursday before the party since the occasional crime alert made them reluctantly drop everything. With a loud, contented sigh Starfire dropped herself onto the couch beside Robin. Everything was set up and all that was left was putting up the decorations on the roof for the actual day, since the wind alone would cause havoc overnight without the roof being a constant meeting place for the "secret" couple.
This was going to be the most eventful Titan birthday since Raven's sweet sixteen which no one would ever even think to bring up. So far, there hadn't been a birthday within the organization that warranted anything more than a few Titans East member's showing up with mini confetti poppers and a few poorly wrapped presents, but everyone seemed to get along with the changeling since he had matured into a significantly less annoying, laid-back teen. Since most of the Titans were already passed their own teenage years, he still took on the little brother role, but he didn't mind. He was just excited that his would be the most unprecedented party in Titan history. The soon-to-be 18 year old let out a relaxing sigh of his own and flopped onto the couch perhaps a bit too close to the reading Raven for what was once considered normal, but everyone was too wiped out to care or notice.
"Dudes, we did it!" Beast Boy threw his fist into the air half-heartedly, punctuating the action with a yawn.
"Now I know why I've never been one for big parties, that was exhausting," Robin replied, lazily draping an arm over the almost asleep Starfire's shoulders. He looked at Cyborg strangely as the large robotic man plugged something into a port on his arm. He raised an eyebrow at the traffic light.
"What? Never seen a half robot plug a portable charger into his arm after spending a busy day setting up for his super hero best bro's birthday party?" Cyborg's mocking grin stretched farther across his face when the team leader shook his head lightly and laughed.
"No, its just that I haven't seen you have battery issues since we were still the Teen Titans. Remember that?" Cyborg's incredulous laugh answered the question quickly.
"Remember? Dude, a subterranean mastermind with a ton of robot minions tried to get rid of my humanity that day. Of course I remember! Man, I miss those days though, we felt pretty invincible back then." Cyborg looked off at nothing in particular as he remembered some passed villains fought and some nice memories. Robin nodded.
"Well, invincible wasn't hard to believe when you survived the end of the world, took down massive crime organizations and saved entire cities from ink monsters. In comparison, it doesn't even seem like we're needed here anymore." The cybernetic man looked down at his spiky haired friend with concern. He glanced to the other end of the couch, where Beast Boy and Raven had already fallen asleep leaning on each other's heads.
"So… have you told anyone else about the invitation?" Robin looked up and raised an eyebrow.
"Have I told all my friends and my girlfriend that Superman invited me leave the Titans and join the Justice League in their big floating tower in the sky, where I may never get to see them ever again? Yeah, that'll go over great."
"Well you need to tell them sometime—"
"Or, I could just not and refuse the invitation completely."
"Rob, this is a good opportunity. You should take it."
"This is why I don't want to tell them. Everyone would only tell me how great of an opportunity this is and that I should go for it. I only told you because, well, when you get invited to the Justice League, you have to brag at least a little."
"Dude, we'll be fine here! You have a chance to become one of the greats and you're gonna pass it up?!" Standing up with a heavily sleeping Starfire lifted bridal style in his arms, Robin stared his friend in the eye.
"Yes. That's exactly what I'm going to do, Cyborg. We only get to be kids once, some things are worth sticking around for," The Boy Wonder said quietly, looking down at Starfire to brush a few hairs out of her peaceful face. He looked back at the cybernetic man.
"So yeah, I'm passing up something big. But the Justice League will always be there, and I can think of at least four reasons why I couldn't leave." Cyborg smirked and looked over the other four members of the team with pride. He met Robin's smile.
"Alright, enough sentimental stuff. Take you're little princess to bed now, she deserves a rest. You better not be in her room for more than ten minutes though, you hear me?" Cyborg mockingly shook a finger at his friend, who laughed in response.
"No promises," He said over his shoulder as he walked around the couch and through the sliding doors. Cyborg was left looking down at the sleeping changeling and empath. He rested his metal hands on his hips.
Well I can't pick them up without disturbing them… Wonder what would happen if I just left 'em…
Shrugging, the cybernetic man took a gray blanket from a shelf near the TV and draped it around the two.
"Night, kids. Don't stay up too late," Cyborg said, wondering when he had become everyone's big brother. He shut off the lights and made his way through the door, yawning loudly.
TtTtTtTtTtT
Raven wasn't sure why she woke up. But she kept her eyes closed and buried her face in her pillow. Her pillow that smelled like the oddly nice combination of smells that made up Beast Boy. Oh. That's where she was, still on the couch in the main ops room. She vaguely worried that her teammates might have seen them, but she couldn't bring herself to care at this point. Suddenly, she was reminded of why she had woken up when the wave of fear and rage that hit her from her "pillow" was accompanied by a growl and a sudden tensing of muscles. Her eyes opened to reveal the darkened living room to her violet orbs. From her quick scan of the room, she noted that the lights had been turned off and there was a blanket thrown over the two of them. She turned over the suspicion in her mind that her three teammates knew more than they let on, but the demoness was interrupted by another shudder from her significant other.
Raven removed herself from Beast Boy's shoulder so that she could get a good look at the green teen's face. His brow was furrowed and his lips were pulled back in a snarl. Her face changed to one of worry as she contemplated the best course of action. The two had gone through a series of baby steps for their relationship such as Raven allowing the changeling to hold her hand while she read on the roof, but the empath had no way of knowing whether or not joining someone's dreams was too big a step for their pace so far. It was another one of those things that one couldn't simple find an answer to by looking in Starfire's magazines. But as another shudder wracked his body, Raven became determined that the animorph didn't deserve to fight his dreams alone on his birthday. After all, it had already passed midnight, technically this was another birthday gift for him.
Breathing deeply, Raven felt the physical barriers between humans dissipating and the free flowing currents of the mind opening to her. Her soul self reached out into Beast Boy's and when she opened her eyes, she saw a grassy plain. She turned about, searching for the host of the dream. She blinked again deeply and when her eyes opened she was again in a new place. She could tell it was the same plain, but she watched as if from a movie theater and what she saw before her was a peaceful setting with a Beast Boy sitting under the shade of a tree with a cloaked girl leaned against his shoulder. Upon further inspection, she realized it was her. There was a blissful look on the faces of both and for a moment, the real Raven frowned.
Is this really such a cause for all that rage and fear? Is he afraid of me?
But her question was quickly answered when four Werebeasts materialized out of the shadows. Pseudo-Raven's face showed poorly concealed terror and Beast Boy rose quickly to meet the impeding assailants. As two Beasts attempted to strike, the changeling knocked them aside easily with his normal animal forms, but when all for attempted to rush him, he struggled to keep the mass of claws and flying fur from reaching his beloved who cowered at the trunk of the tree much to Raven's disgust. However, he couldn't keep them back by himself and a shriek rang out clearly in the wooded area when one of the Beast's clipped pseudo-Raven's arm with a razor sharp claw. At the sound, she could feel Beast Boy's rage grow exponentially and soon his own green Beast form was slashing gray fur left and right with enough power to dig through stone. Real Raven bit her lip to keep from crying out at the horribly graphic massacre that was taking place. Finally, with three of the behemoth lying in the grass with blood pooled around them and one clutched in the claws of Beast Boy himself, the teen began morphing back to himself. He closed his eyes and shuddered as the bloodlust left him before sighing deeply.
"It's okay, Raven. You're safe now." The animorph turned his head to look for the girl who he had already bonded to with half the animals in his body. But she was was no where to be found. What he did see, were the bodies of the three bloodied bodies of the gray Beasts that had lain on the ground melting into the bodies of Robin, Starfire, and Cyborg. A choking gasp escaped his lips.
Raven's eyes widened as the dream took a dark turn. She could see the tears forming in the emerald eyes and she could hear as his breathing caught in his throat. He was in pain. She hated to see him in pain. Swiftly, she passed herself through the dream barrier that made everything she saw like looking at a movie screen, but not before she witnessed the finale of the horror.
Beast Boy could hardly contain his horror, guilt and pain from the realization that he was the reason for the death of his friends. He was scared for what was coming next. Shutting his eyes tight, he turned back to the once Beast-like body that he suddenly remembered holding in his claws. A tear dripped down his face.
"I love you, Raven…" and he opened his eyes. Sure enough, the pseudo-empath was impaled by the yet to be retracted claws and her head lolled at an unnatural angle. The pent up emotion he had been holding in finally burst and a primal roar echoed from his lips as the tears flowed freely. Suddenly, he whirled around with a snarl as a small hand touched his shoulder. But soon his gaze softened in relief and sadness. He dropped the lifeless body in his arms and swept the real Raven into his arms.
"I-I'm so sorry… I-I don't…"
"Shhhh, it will all be okay," she said calmly, as she rubbed random patterns on his back. She ignored the stickiness and smell of the blood splattered on his uniform, reminding herself that it wasn't real. She felt wetness seep into her hair were he had buried his face into it, drawing in her scent to calm him. She had discovered that the scent of her meditation candles settled his nerves and she had given him one for his room. She supposed that her hair was the next best substitute for the aroma.
"They're… they're dead, Raven… and its all my—"
"No its not. Shhhh, this is just a bad dream, just calm down."
"But I… my claws… and all the blood—"
"No. Just breathe, everything will be alright."
"I'm a monster, Raven…" She pulled back from the embrace to frown at him.
"Garfield, I'm half demon."
"Well, yeah but—"
"Gar. I'm half demon." She put extra emphasis on her words, staring him in the eyes and hoping that her meaning would come across. He looked at her for a moment before pulling her back into the embrace.
"I guess that if anyone understood, it would be you." He chuckled.
"What's funny?"
"We make a perfect teenage romance novel couple."
"Come again?"
"A demon and a werebeast. Thats close enough to a vampire and a werewolf, right?" She shook her head, amused.
"Yes, Garfield. It is close enough." As she spoke the landscape around them began dissolving into whiteness.
They both blinked awake slowly. It was still dark out. Stretching, Beast Boy disentangled his arms from around Raven's body and looked down at her. Unlike during the daytime, there were quite a few purple strands out of place and she ran both hands through the shoulder length mess to pull the hair away from her eyes. She looked up at him and with one hand she ruffled up his already messy bed head when she caught the meaning of his amused look. His fang hung out over his lip as his smile grew.
"That was the best I've slept since before I developed the Beast form."
"What time is it?" Beast Boy dug around for his communicator and flipped it open.
"Four AM." The empath paused at the answer. Before quickly blushing and pecking him on the cheek.
"Happy birthday…" A dopey smile spread across the changeling's face so that he barely registered his girlfriend's second statement.
"Do you… maybe want some tea?" The animorph blinked.
"I've never tried it." With those word out of his mouth, the cloaked girl was already at her beloved tea kettle. She pulled some ancient looking tea leaves as well at a tea bag from a higher shelf and set them out on the counter as she waited for the water to boil. He slowly got up from the couch, after stretching himself out as a cat, and made his way to the kitchen. The tea leaves were obviously what Raven used on a regular basis, but the scent of the tea packet was new.
"What's this one, Rae?"
"Well, Gar, I know you like things sweet rather than bitter, so I figured you might want something other than what I'm having."
"What flavor?"
"Sweet Apple Chamomile." His mouth practically watered at the name.
"Sounds like pie." Her low chuckle sent tingles up his spine.
"Not quite, but I think you'll like it anyway."
The kettle's whistle sounded and she quickly turned the heat off the burner. She rotated her hand and a familiar green and purple tea cup appeared in her hand. Beast Boy's eyes brightened.
"Hey! I was wondering what you did with that!" She adverted her eyes sheepishly.
"Actually this is the only mug I drink out of now…" The changeling's laugh rang out clearly in the empty room.
"Thats kinda adorable!" He reached up into the cabinet to get another mug when a feather light touch stopped him.
"That… won't be necessary."
"But the other one…" Another rotation of her hand brought the mug she had glazed into her other palm. He stared at it for a moment with awe before taking it from her hands.
"But I thought you destroyed it…"
"Nothing a little magic couldn't fix." He looked at her with his eyebrows scrunched together to the point that she could actually see the gears turning in his head. Raven poured water into the mugs and dropped Beast Boy's tea bag into it. Then she set about preparing her own tea. Finally, he collected his thoughts and spoke again.
"You could have fixed that first mug that you dropped the whole time and you decided to go to the store with me instead. For a whole day." Raven's eyes widened as Beast Boy's smile did as well. She quickly adverted her gaze and a blush spread over her pale face.
"I thought I might hurt you feelings if I didn't—"
"Oh no, Rae. You wanted to go. I think it's 'cause you like me. Come on, admit it, you do care!" He took a triumphant sip of tea. Though it practically scalded him, he went back for another sip.
"Hey, this tea is actually pretty good!" Raven chuckled and looked up at him.
"Of course it's good. And of course I care, stupid, I'm dating you aren't I?" With that, she stood up on her tip toes and silenced any replies with her lips firmly pressed to his. After a moment when they separated, Beast Boy draped his arms around the empath's back to keep her close to him.
"I think I can get used to getting called stupid if it always comes with a kiss," he said, his eyes glazed over. She laughed again and it made the already warm feeling in his chest rise a couple of degrees.
"You taste like apples."
"Hey, if you wanna drink your tea like that all the time, I won't stop ya! I'll drink all the tea you want me to! Heck, we don't even need those mugs any more if this is how you like it!" Raven's laughter came freely. It was good to see her able to show emotion without too much fear of destruction. For the rest of the morning, the two of them sat there, sipping tea, joking around and generally acting like a couple until the other Titans rose from their dreamless sleeps and joined them in the kitchen. They had found themselves a nice morning tradition. And of course neither of them seemed to remember that the tower's surveillance cameras picked up each and every exchange.
Can Mas and Menos DJ my birthday?