So, I said to myself, 'If I get at least one review for chapter 3 within today, I'll totally write chapter 4 tonight." And TAH-DAH!
Changeling woke up with surprise ease. There were no nightmares of the Beast getting free, there was no pain from a last night battle, and his mind seemed more relax in comparison to the other night. In other words, he slept amazingly.
After a trip to the bathroom for a bit of release and grooming he made his way to the common room. As soon as he entered, he noted that the girls were nowhere in sight. Cyborg was sitting in front of the couch almost in the exact same position as last night except for having a pizza hanging out of his mouth and Nightwing was in the kitchen. Changeling made his way to the kitchen where his leader stood washing the dishes. He hated the thought of throwing in dishes while Nightwing was in the middle of washing them, and he could probably fix that by actually waking up in the morning. Then again, Nightwing knew he never woke up until the afternoon unless there was an emergency.
He figured he would just do his own dishes to save himself from the guilt and the "going to bed/waking up earlier" lecture he was sure to get if he threw just tossed his dishes into the sink. Giving his leader quick greeting, he snagged a readymade tofu burger from the fridge and made his way to the empty spot beside the cyborg to watch as he played on the story mode of one of their favorite games. "Hey Cyborg."
"Hey buddy."
Suddenly, the game was switched to pause and Changeling had a whole lot of Cyborg in his face.
"Uh, what dude?"
And there was Cyborg's cheeky grin. "You ready for your maybe date with our dear Raven?" Changeling wanted to slam his face into his palm. And the best part: Nightwing, who was real busy with the dishes a few minutes ago, had magically appeared on the other side of Changeling, scaring the green off him as he inserted himself in the conversation.
"Changeling and Raven are doing what now?"
"Dude, seriously, wear a bell or something whenever you decide to sneak around the tower."
'I heard him coming.'
'Shut up you.'
Nightwing just waved the changeling off, murmuring something about the bell defeating the purpose of sneaking, and turning back to his conversation with Cyborg. "You heard me, Nightwing. Changeling asked Raven out on a maybe date."
"Ah, the classic maybe date," Nightwing brought one of his hands to his chin, as if deep in thought, and smirked. "Where you're not sure whether or not you guys are going on a date. And then there's the wraparound of questions playing in your mind and you're likely to past out from the stress and confusion." Then Nightwing proceeded to chuckle as if he was remembering and Changeling seriously wanted to disappear.
"It's not a 'maybe' date. I'm just…making up for upsetting her again."
That seemed to whip Nightwing from his trip down memory lane. "What did he do this time?" And Nightwing literally asked that question around him to the cyborg, as if the changeling wasn't in the room, and Cyborg, being Cyborg, immediately answered him. "He decided to show up late, again and never anticipated that she might get angry."
He felt a nudge from his leader and he could literally hear the lecture itching to escape.
"Changeling-"
"Look, I know I'm in the wrong but I already have a plan to fix it. I really don't need to hear the warnings and the lectures about what I did. I get it, yes, I know. Let's move on to something else…I'll let you know how everything goes when we get back."
He could feel how heavy he was breathing and he was actually pretty happy he had got that off his chest. He did feel a little guilty for yelling at Nightwing when he had meant to yell at both of his teammates, but it really felt good. "Sorry about that Nightwing. I'm just…stressed, ya know." But Nightwing didn't take offense to it. He just knocked their shoulders together.
"I get it. No need to apologize. Just make sure you give us the juicy details when you returned."
He couldn't help it. The thought of Cyborg and Nightwing waiting up for his gossip in frilly nightwear, fluffy house shoes, and rollers in his hair made him laugh. Changeling gasped as the cyborg slammed his hand on his back. "That's the spirit."
The common room door slid open and in zoomed a bundle of red, orange, purple, and happiness.
"Hello friends and boyfriend Nightwing."
A collection of hellos rang through the living room and Changeling watched as Nightwing leaped over the couch and scooped his girlfriend into his arms. He turned away from the sweet but excessive PDA from his teammates, but he could still hear their conversation. "What have you been up to? I haven't seen you all morning."
"Oh Nightwing, I have been spending the most glorious morning with friend Raven. She has allowed for me to do the dressing her up. She looks most delightful." She began to giggle as Nightwing began kissing her neck. "Yo, Star." She giggled one last time as she gave Nightwing another kiss before turning her attention to Cyborg. "Yes, friend Cyborg?"
"Where is Rae? I haven't seen her all morning either."
Starfire's body floated out of Nightwing's arms and to Cyborg's side. "She has left for at least two of the hours ago. I believe she said she wanted to do the private reading before meeting up with friend Changeling." That got the changeling's attention. He zoned out from their conversation and looked to the time. The wall clock flashed 3:45 and he figured now was a good time for him to leave. With his recent luck, if he left out any later, it would be way after their meeting time.
"Alright guys, I'm heading out. I'll be back to give you guys those "juicy" details later."
"Goodbye friend Changeling. Please make sure you are on the time so that friend Raven isn't mad with you."
Rubbing his hand along the back of his neck, he sighed, got up, and headed to the roof. Just as the other day, he leapt from the roof and followed the same path except taking a more lax and easy going approach. As he entered the city, he reverted back to his normal form and began his stroll through town. He could get use to this, taking his time to walk with the crowd instead of pushing through them. He even had time to wave to his fans.
Why did he always wait to the last minute again?
"Beast Boy? Is that you?" He felt his whole body still. He recognized that voice. "Well I suppose you go by Changeling now. That does make sense. Now that you're older, you got a different name to match your…growth."
'Don't turn around. Don't acknowledge her. Just continue walking to the bookstore and wait for Raven.'
But he couldn't just walk away because the person talking to him was someone he didn't think he would ever see again. He turned around and he felt his breath shorten as his eyes filled with blonde hair and blue eyes. "Tara?"
"In the flesh." She giggled as he struggled over his words and pushed her hair behind her ear. "So, Changeling, what have you been up to? I haven't seen you since you stalked me in high school." He felt his cheeks get hotter and a nervous chuckle slipped out. "Yeah, I'm sorry about that. I was sure you were an old friend."
She waved off his apology. "If I felt about you as I did then, I wouldn't have even considered getting your attention. So, are you busy?"
'Yes. Tell her yes and walk away.'
"Yeah, I have a meeting to go to, but that's not for another hour. I'm free at the moment."
Tara's smile only grew and her eyes twinkled. "We should hang out for a bit. I'm on my way to the arcade at this exact moment. I heard there was a new game being installed today and I wanted to check it out before too many people got the high score. You want to join?"
He really did want to join her. Just the thought of checking out a new game had him bouncing on his toes.
'No, no, no. Do not mess this up. You cannot be late today.' He could feel the Beast getting irritated, but really, he couldn't care. 'No sweat, Beast. I'll pop in to the arcade, check out the new game, hang out for thirty minutes and I'll be out with enough time to make it to the bookstore. It's only ten minutes from the arcade. I can make it.' Anything else the Beast growled at him was ignored as he held his arm out for Tara to take.
"Milady."
She giggled as she took his arm while he focused on keeping the Beast at bay.
It was only thirty minutes.
He had nothing to worry about.
...Tah-Dah... So here is my Chapter 4, and here is the person that causes a little tension, and guest, you were right. I might not be so quick with the next chapter, so I hope you enjoyed my triple action for the weekend. I hope the dialogue between Changeling and the other teammates is good and I really hope I kept everybody in character. If something doesn't read well, just let me know and I'll be sure to try and fix it.
Thank you for reading, and please review.