"Look! Look! I've been meaning to show this to you for months!"
"Buzz off."
"Come onnnn, Raven! Lookie! Lookie!" Beast Boy pulls at my wrist and drags me over to the computer where a website is flashed open.
"Nnngh…," I groan and plop myself unwittingly in a chair. "Okay, Beast Boy….what is this?"
"Look!" he points eagerly at the screen and grins a crescent. "Fan fiction!"
"…………..what?"
"Ya know…fanfics! Stories written by fans about their favorite characters and heroes!"
"………………uh huh….."
"This is a Titan's site! Dude…check it out!" Beast Boy drags the mouse along the scroll bar and displays more and more of a list of links to text files. "People actually sit down at home and write stories about us! Cuz they love us so much!"
"You don't say….."
"Here's a fanfic someone wrote about me kicking Slade's ass! And get this….we're all high school students!"
My brow furrows. "Beast Boy…what is the point of this?"
"Doesn't this just titillate you? People actually think about us so much that—"
"—they obsessively produce voluminous text fictionalizing our existence?" I utter. "Beast Boy, that isn't a hobby. That's an obsession. It isn't healthy."
"Pfft! Then what's it doing on the Internet, Miss Bah-Humbug?"
"My case in point."
"……..huh?"
"Beast Boy….," I scoot the chair out and make to stand up. "…..I bet this is interesting, but I was doing more important things when you dragged me here."
He keeps me pinned down. "Like…..?"
"………….getting a hysterectomy."
"Pfft! What do you know? You haven't even given one of these stories a chance!"
"I don't want to. I only read quality things, Beast Boy. These crackjob language golems are hardly…..quality."
"Hypocrite! Don't judge a book by it's cover!"
"This isn't a book. It's a website. The administrator's sign name is….'Miss MoonCloak' for goodness' sake…."
"You're behind the times, Raven!" Beast Boy winks. "This is the new wave! The next generation of literary finesse! Digital fanfiction….is……the FUTURE!"
"…………………..good thing I'm having a hysterectomy."
"Come on! At least give this story a shot!" He points with a mouse.
"…….," my violet eyes narrow. "'The Salvation of a Star'?"
"Yeah! It's by some author in Gotham City! The story's about Starfire and Robin going on an exodus to Tamaran and teaming up with the Sailor Senshi to defeat the forces of Lord Vader and Darkseid!"
"………..and this is legal……why?"
"Public domain, baby!"
"Yeah, okay. What's so great about this story besides its gargantuan accumulation of online fecal matter?"
"It's rated NC-17."
I jolt. "What?"
"Uhm….the author thinks that Starfire…..a-and Robin are…..—"
"Yeah……and you've read this?"
"Er….," he scratches his neck and simpers. "I think it's what they call a melon."
"Lemon." Cyborg corrects as he walks up, sipping a Pepsi.
"What's that, Cy?"
"A lemon. A yarn. What's this, some sort of fanfic site?"
"Yeah, I was showing Raven and—"
"Beast Boy will die of a telekinetically induced aneurysm in t-minus ten seconds…," I mutter. Temple throbbing.
"Is that so?"
"She's just kidding—"
"Anything good at this site, dawg?"
"Yeah! They got one with you teaming up with Steel and Black Lightning to beat Metallo's brains in!"
"Hey! Way cool---," Cyborg blinks. "Wait a second." He raises a human eyebrow and frowns. "Steel and Black…..Lightning?"
"D-Did I say Steel and Black Lightning? I-I meant Huntress and Black Canary…"
"Well alright!"
I groan, running a hand over my face. "Cyanide pill. Please, Allah. I entreat the now…."
"Oh don't be such a fussy-bottom!"
"This place regularly updated?"
"God, I hope so. I'm only on chapter eight of Salvation of a Star and it's not even to the honeymoon chambers yet—"
"Say!" Cyborg smirks and raises his Pepsi bottle. "I know of this great Golden Sun fanfiction site where you can—"
"Nobody's interested in your handheld gaming life, Cyborg."
"………well I'm interested."
"Monopolist!"
"You're going down little man!"
"Shhhh!" I suddenly hiss.
The two boys glance at me.
"Erp?"
"Wuzzah?"
I scroll down, gently staring at the screen. "I'm reading…."
"Ooooh!" Beast Boy grins. "You found a fic?"
"Mmmmhmmmm."
"Does it have you in it?"
"Mmmmhmmmm."
Cyborg smirks: "What's it about, Rae?"
"It's a romance."
"You don't say?"
"Lemme guess…..you and some adorable hunk from the Justice League?"
"Nope," I shake my head. Staring calmly at the screen. "Jinx."
"……….."
"Could you get me some tea?" I murmur.
"Uhhh…..h-huh?"
"Some tea—"
"OH! Uhm…s-sure, Raven…," Beast Boy blinks, turns wobbily around, and saunters towards the kitchen area.
"Thank you…."
Cyborg clears his throat, drinks some Pepsi down a rosy throat, and walks off. "H-Happy reading."
"Well noted," I nod and scroll down the page. I rub my chin. Reading. Reading. "………hmm….." I blink. I look over my shoulder. "And a Hersey's Bar?"