[I do not own Teen Titans. Next chapter! Hope you like it!]

Jericho went over his plan in his head again as he walked through the city street and looked down at his feet. He'd packed enough money in the backpack so that he could stay in a hotel of some sort overnight in the city, and he'd also packed his communicator and a pocketknife - just in case. Jericho smiled to himself, happy with his conclusion, knowing that everything was going to be fine, there was nothing to worry about, no need to panic. Jericho looked up and-

-...Jericho realized that he had absolutely no idea where he was.

Jericho groaned to himself as he stopped walking on the sidewalk and glared up at the red sky, the sunset creating a beautiful painting. It was calming. It brought familiarity. No matter where he was, Jericho always knew what the sunset looked like, it helped him get through his frustration.

Suddenly, Jericho was roughly shoved into the outside wall of a generic clothing store by some gruff looking shadow already morphing back into the crowd, too much in a hurry to get home to be caught behind a daydreaming little boy.

Jericho's eyes were blown wide as he was suddenly tossed and shoved and hit in every direction by a steady flow of people trying to get home before dark. He didn't understand. From what he could remember, people were usually at least nice enough to recognize that another human being was in front of them, or apologize for the inconvenience. Jericho was so scared, he didn't know what to do with all these people shoving at him. He tripped as he attempted to move out of people's way, and if he had a voice he knew he'd be yelling in either surprise or anger.

Suddenly, Jericho managed to spot the opening to an alleyway, clumsily tripping himself down it to get away from the claustrophobia and the heavy breaths down his neck.

Jericho felt one or two tears slip down his cheek as he tried to catch his breath, finally leaning against the dirty wall of the hidden alcove and sliding down it.

What had he been thinking? He could hear The Herald's voice now as he attempted to dig out his communicator. 'You should've listened to us,' Mal would say, 'You're not ready yet'. Jericho clenched his teeth angrily, ruffling his hands into his hair in frustration. Why couldn't these people see that he just wanted to help?

Suddenly, the hot anger running through him was dabbed away, along with some blood on the side of his face.

Jericho jumped and looked up at an unfamiliar face with lit, dangerous eyes, ready to fight if the man attacked him. He couldn't even see the man's full face in the darkness, but the man didn't flinch a bit. Instead, he just continued dabbing at a cut Jericho had gotten when he'd hit the ground outside the first time.

"You're not from around here, are you?" The strange voice chuckled. Jericho sighed in response, curling in on himself.

The strange man sat beside Jericho.

"...I get it. It's scary, it's cruel and mean, but most cities are." The shadow man said off-handedly, staring boredly at the river that ran in the basement like alleyway - perhaps it was a sewer, Jericho wouldn't be surprised.

Jericho tugged on the man's arm before writing one word into the flesh with his finger so that the man might understand.

'Why?' he wrote sadly.

The man sighed, shaking his head. Jericho realized then that he could see some of the man, he could only see his eyes. The stranger had electric blue eyes, almost ethereal, and his pupils were a striking crimson.

"That's the big question, isn't it? Why are we like this? Why do we seem so content with ruining each other's lives?" The man said rhetorically.

"Wish I could tell you lil' bit," the man said sadly, "but I don't have a clue. If I did, I'd be trying to help fix the world with all those spandex superheroes." The man said.

'Little bit?' Jericho questioned, not used to nicknames, or names at all.

"Well I mean, how old are you, thirteen? What are you doing in this city alone?" The man asked. Jericho's eyebrow twitched and his mouth went taut, inwardly snapping about the strike toward his height and ego.

Jericho pointed his finger up toward the ceiling.

"...fifteen?" The man asked in a high pitched voice.

Jericho gesture up again.

"...six...teen…?"

Again, his finger went up.

"There is no way you are seventeen years old." The man commented in finality. Jericho shook his head with a smile as he wrote in two digits to the man's arm.

'18'.

"Eighteen and you've never been into the city, huh? Doesn't surprise me, you look like someone ripped you out of a seventies rolling stone magazine." The man said with a laugh.

Jericho couldn't help but laugh with him.

In a city as big as this one, he'd only found comforting arms in the dirty swallows of an alleyway.

"...You wanna hang out? I can show you around. I don't know why, but I feel like we're friends. I don't want you accidentally running into someone dangerous around here." The man said.

Jericho tilted his head in skepticism for a moment, mulling it over.

"Look, I promise not all of the city is as terrible as this part. Besides," the man said before leaning over to whisper playfully in Jericho's ear.

"You can meet some pretty weird people in the alley."

Jericho laughed again, nodding. Before they left, Jericho wrote his name into the man's arm, smiling up at the kind stranger.

"Jericho, huh? That's a pretty killer name. I'm Raymond, or, well, just Ray." The boy said, leading Jericho up above the alleyway.

When the two finally made it back into seeable light, Jericho realized that it was nightfall. It was much less crowded, and now he could see Raymond in the light of a street lamp.

Raymond wasn't a man at all, he was a boy around Jericho's age. He was strange, to say the least. He had an electric green mohawk that grew down long enough to be put into a braid that slung down his back and to his lower torso. He had light brown skin - Jericho guessed that he either Spanish, Native American, or Indian - and he had a bottom lip piercing. He wore baggy, hand me down clothes and he looked short on cash, something Jericho expected from someone hanging out in an alleyway. He wore a black tank top that hung off of his tall, lanky figure and baggy dark green pants, he was also covered in tattoos despite Jericho's sureness that he was only seventeen or eighteen.

Above all this, Jericho noticed his kind smile. He had the same eyes and smile as he did in the alleyway, already yammering on about how excited he was to have someone to hang out with and show around. His entire face lit up with the force of his smile, and Jericho told himself that even if tonight failed immensely, he had accomplished something by making someone feel so happy in the dark city.

"Oh! Oh, I've got an idea - close your eyes!" Ray said excitedly. Jericho was skeptical for a moment, before yet again sighing and complying. Ray walked Jericho around for a while, before finally the two stopped and Jericho was allowed to open his eyes.

Lights, lights everywhere. They weren't blinding though - they were soft and beautiful.

They were in a large room lined with tables and chairs, and there were soft blue and white christmas lights hanging from the edge of the ceiling. There was also a device set in the middle of the room that splayed beautiful designs of lightning on the ceiling. To top this all off, the room was dark and had the faint aroma of scented candles around it. It reminded Jericho of somewhere Raven would hang out.

"I thought you might be hungry, and this is the greatest place in town. It's never too crowded either, so that's always nice." Ray said as they made their way up to the counter.

The boy dug into his wallet for a moment, looking quite a bit panicked before Jericho slid some money toward the impatient woman at the counter, smiling in a 'don't worry, I've got it' kind of way. Ray sheepishly laughed, blushing and scratching the back of his head for a moment as he thanked Jericho profusely.

'Can I ask you something?' Jericho signed once they sat down across from each other at one of the corner booths in the restaurant.

"Hm? Yeah of course!" Ray said through a mouth full of food, grinning sheepishly again once he realized he was talking with his mouth full. Jericho couldn't help but let a flood of relief and appreciation sway through him when he realized that Ray was the very first person besides Raven he'd met since he left his mountain that knew sign language and didn't treat it like a handicap. Jericho held his hands still for a moment, attempting to decide what exactly he wanted to ask. He had so many questions, but he didn't want to waste any of Raymond's time.

'Why are you so much different than everyone else?' Jericho signed finally.

Ray thought on this for a moment, genuinely not knowing the answer.

"I don't really know...maybe it's just the way I think? I grew up the same as everyone else on the streets, so it can't be that...I guess it's just that my morals are different. It's always harder thinking different than everyone else does, but it's usually worth it." Ray said, looking outside the dark blue window nearest to his seat.

"Call me a hippie," he continued, "but I don't see the point in fighting. I get it, superheroes need to save people's lives, they need to fight to protect, yada yada. But, I mean- we're all people. We're all...connected somehow. I don't understand the point of war and money and power...I guess it's affected my outlook on everything in life. I just...I don't get why people would hurt others for no reason, or any reason at all. Okay, so this guy like another guy, or this girl wasn't born a girl, what's the big deal? What does it matter to you enough for you to get so worked up to actually hurt another human being that has feelings and thoughts and beliefs just like your own? ...I guess that's why I'm different." Ray answered finally. Jericho suddenly realized that Ray had no idea he was talking to a Teen Titan. Jericho decided that he wanted to leave it like that. He liked this, Ray talking to him in a real way, no secret identities or lies or facades for popularity. Ray spoke his mind and he didn't deny or try to hide any of it, completely comfortable around Jericho.

"You gotta real distant look on your face, something wrong?" Ray asked.

"Shit!" he said suddenly, panicking, "I didn't mean- I mean I get if you're a conservative or whatever- look I really like you and like talking to you please don't hate me for-" Ray was suddenly cut off by Jericho giving him a concerned look and a comforting touch to his bare arm, calming him down immensely.

'People hurt others for liking the same sex, or not being the same sex?' Jericho signed with a serious expression.

"...Jesus, man. You really have been out of it, huh? ...Yeah, yeah, after so many years of getting hurt, people still do that. All the time, it sucks." Ray said. Ray looked up at Jericho, and Jericho looked caught between furious, flabbergasted, and repulsed. It was a good sign, Ray was scared he'd run away and call Ray a faggot like everyone else did.

"...So, what's your stance on all this? What's your sexuality and gender?" Ray asked, taking a large leap of faith. Jericho thought for a moment. He'd never really thought about it all that much. He hadn't fallen in love in a very long time, and the thought was foreign to him.

'What is the terminology for when you don't care about the sex of your partner, only for who they are?' Jericho asked. Ray lit up like a christmas tree, it was like watching the sun come out of hiding from behind a calm cloud.

"Pansexual! That's pretty cool! I, myself, am gay, I like other guys." Ray explained.

"Y'know…" Ray said, getting Jericho's attention back on his face. Where once was a buoyant, loud smile, there was now a shy, quieter smile.

"I'm glad I got to meet you Jericho. You're really cool. I don't know your status with me, but I think you're a really good friend. I'm glad I got to meet you." Ray said.

'You're actually my first friend in a long time'. Jericho signed with a smile to match Ray's.

"You're shitting me. Well goldilocks, I believe it's time we left if we wanna make it to Hollow Sound Box before it closes on us." Ray said, getting up and offering Jericho a hand.

'You're really intent on a nickname?' Jericho signed as he ignored Ray's hand and got up himself, leaving it to hang limply in the air.

"Most definitely, Bombshell." Ray commented answered smoothly as they walked out into the crisp, vibrant night air of the still mysterious city.

'Joey'. Jericho signed with a smile.

"Joey." Ray repeated. Jericho smiled wide and happy at the name. It'd been so, so long since someone had called him Joey. It felt nice.

"Well, Joey, I hope you're aware that this is not going to stop me from teasing you anyway." Ray promised.

'I wouldn't have it any other way'. Jericho signed with a sarcastic grin and a roll of his eyes.

[I really like? Jericho having a friendship with someone like Ray? He's not a very developed character, but whatever. Read and Review please!]