Lullabies
Starfire jolted upright in her bed, her warrior instincts kicking in at a noise of the night.
It was seemingly quiet, so she disregarded it and planned to go back to sleep.
She was just dozing back off when she heard a faint sobbing from down the hall.
She instantly got out of bed and went to investigate. She hated few things, but one of her friends being sad was definitely on the short list.
She wandered down the hall, following the growing sound of the crying, until she came to the resident jokester's room
She rapped gently on the door, not wanting to invade his privacy if he was not willing to talk.
"C-come in," admitted the shaky voice.
She slid open the door and stepped inside, momentarily ignoring the vast amount of garbage and dirty clothes that littered the room.
"What brings you to my humble abode in the middle of the night?" Beastboy asked.
He was forcing a smile, but his red eyes betrayed him.
"I heard someone crying and I traced the sound to your room," she explained.
"Oh, sorry for waking you," he said quietly.
"There is no need to apologize," she replied, "Is there something that is on your mind?"
"I just had a nightmare. That's all," he said staring at his feet.
"Do you wish to discuss it?" she offered.
"It's nothing, really," he insisted.
"If it was nothing, you would not have been crying," she replied, "It may make you feel better to talk about it."
He gave a slight smile to his stubborn friend. He cleared a spot on his bed and motioned for her to sit down.
He took a deep breath and began speaking. "It started off as a memory. I relived my parents' death over and over. Then my parents morphed into the Doom Patrol and I watched them die I don't know how many times. Then they morphed into the Titans and every time I couldn't do anything to help and it was all my fault and-" he left the sentence hanging as he started crying again.
He collapsed into Starfire's open arms and buried his face into her shoulder as she gently stroked his hair.
They stayed like this for a few minutes until he managed to calm down.
"Thanks Star. I needed to get that off of my mind."
She smiled slightly and gave him a gentle hug. "You are welcome my friend," she said sweetly.
"Star, could you…"he began.
"Yes?" she urged him to continue.
"Nothing. It's stupid," he said.
"What is it?" she asked.
"Rita used to sing me to sleep when I woke up from nightmares. I was just thinking since you and her are so much alike…" he trailed off.
"I would be glad to sing to you," she insisted, "I still remember many lullabies Galfore sang to me as a child."
Beastboy remembered the Tameranian folk songs Starfire had "sang" before and was about to protest when he was hypnotized by a gentle melody.
Within a few minutes, the changeling had fallen asleep to Starfire's calming lullabies.
She smiled and tucked him into bed, making a mental note to come in here and clean tomorrow.