Chapter 17 – When a Door Closes...
February 27th 2009, 7:54 pm
One week had passed since Beast Boy and Terra broke up. A slight tension took place whenever the two of them were in the same room. And soon they started a senseless fight extremely embarrassing for the others. But their friends were trying to be patient; after all, it was a difficult time.
In that particular moment, Robin had to take a deep breath in order not to explode, listening to the yelling around him. This time, they had gone too far.
The team was fighting Cinderblock when a big piece of earth hit Beast Boy on the head. Accidents happened on the battlefield, everyone knew that. But the changeling took it personal. When the leader realized, they were both arguing while the rest of the team was taking the criminal down.
"So you're saying you were right, that's it?" asked Beast Boy aggressively to the ex girlfriend "It's a little hard to see how's that, Terra!"
"Star said she agrees with me!" she exclaimed, pointing at the Tamarean.
"Really, Star?" Beast Boy turned to her. The poor alien had a confusion expression, like she had no ideia how she had been involved.
"No, no, friend Terra, I think you misunderstood me" she explained with her hands together "What I said was that I understood your feeling of being laid aside."
"If you're looking for a second opinion, Cyborg told me he could never forgive you if he was in my place, and that you're a…" the changeling completed the sentence with a very disrespect word.
"Really, Cyborg?" questioned Terra with her eyebrows lifted.
"What?" Cyborg blinked, like he hadn't heard.
"Just stop trying to make people applaud your mistakes, Terra" ordered Beast Boy with contempt.
"They're just facts; even Raven knew and she practically supported me!" she argued, crossing her arms.
"That's not what happened" said the empath annoyed. For how long would that be thrown on her face?!
"Raven already explained her reasons to me!" retorted the changeling "Why can't you accept what is obvious to everybody?"
"Sure, put all the blame on me!" she agreed with irony "After all, I'm really a… How would you say, Cyborg?"
"… What?" he asked again, pretending he was unclogging his ear.
That made a general discussion explode, with everybody saying something and no one understanding anything. Robin clenched his teeth and counted to ten while he watched Cinderblock being properly arrested in a trunk, and the police officer give him the thumbs up with a smile. He waved and turned back to his team.
"Enough… Enough… ENOUGH!" he yelled, and the talking stopped, all of them looking at him "Raven. Take us to the Tower. Now"
The empath didn't wait for second order, anxious to get out of the city's view in that embarrassing situation. Some seconds later, they were at the Tower's common room.
"Okay" said the leader in a determined tone "Terra, Beast Boy. Look at what you are doing to our team!"
Starfire had tears in her eyes, Raven was rubbing her temples with an annoyed expression and Cyborg seemed purposely out of air, looking at the ceiling like it was the most interesting thing in the world.
"Listen… we know you're going through a tough time" he informed, in a lighter tone "But I need you guys to act more mature! First rule: personal life out of the battlefield!"
"You don't have to… like each other right now, but you must find a way of being in the same place without fighting!"
"Yes. And please, without putting us in the middle!" begged Starfire, indicating the other four.
"Or the town" complemented Raven.
"If you guys… need a break…" started Robin, a little insecure "I can get one of you… or even both… a job out of town"
All the titans turned to him, surprised. Nobody had thought about it so radically.
"Maybe something with the East Titans, or some other place that needs help…" he continued "Temporary, of course. Just so… these wounds can heal. I'm just offering an option."
A silence fell to those words.
"We're going to eat a pizza. Think about it… And try to find a way"
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March 9th 2009, 2:53 pm
Cyborg was taking care of his baby car at his workshop, appreciating a moment of calm and silence. He breathed deeply, smelling the grease scent, and started to analyze the options for new devices he could add to the official Teen Titans transportation. That was when the door opened suddenly and an annoying voice followed.
"What's up, Cyborg!" said Beast Boy, coming in without ceremony. The natural reaction of the robot man was to get really annoyed, demand that the young man remained behind the yellow band (he really painted a yellow band on the floor) and kept his hands to himself and his mouth shut. This time, however, he looked at the friend with an expression of pleasant surprise.
"BB!" he greeted him, his eyebrows lifted "What are you doing here? I thought his was your time of the day to… Let's see... Sit and whine about how the life sucks?"
"Right. But I'm out of that vibe, man!" he informed, still not on the enthusiasm worthy of the Beast Boy he used to know, but way better than the one he had showed the last weeks "Water under the bridge, right? The sad and tragic Beast Boy from last week is gone!"
"Good, that guy sucked!" commented Cyborg without any inhibitions "A couple more days I would have to offer you the T Car to cheer you up!"
"What? Oh, man…" he mumbled, his ears lowering again.
"Just kidding, green head… You know I would never do that" he said with a big smile. It was good to tease the friend without looking like he was going to kill himself or something.
"Well, whatever!" he shrugged like he didn't really care "Anyway, I was thinking, maybe this was for the best!"
"What was for the best?"
"Breaking up with Terra. Things weren't like before" he divagated, sitting on the stool behing the yellow band where he used to stay "Of course I would prefer if it had happened without the factor of her making out with a guy behind my back, but…"
"Are you really serious? You used to be crazy about that girl!" asked Cyborg, a wrench in his hands.
"Yeah, but I'm not anymore. We just weren't doing any good one for another, you see?" he started to swing in the stool "Right now, I'm feeling a little relieve for being single"
Suddenly Cyborg's head lifted from where he was working, bumping into the open car hood.
"Dude! You're right!" he yelled, seeming excited "I hadn't realize until now… You're single!"
"Yeah, I am…" Beast Boy agreed, confused.
"Now we can go out to meet chicks! I'll finally have a wing man!" he said with a shining eye "Afterall, you and Robin decided to get girlfriends when you were what - twelve?"
"Dude, I don't know if I'm ready to meet someone so soon…" Beast Boy raised his hands, not wanting to compromise.
"That doesn't matter! What matters is that you will help me to meet hot girls!" he determined, proud "And soon enough, you will be ready"
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Things were going so much better at the Tower. There were no more arguments, Terra and Beast Boy had made a silence agreement to ignore each other at home and interact only the necessary and with some extra formality on the battlefield. This way, nobody had to resort to the option suggested by Robin of a separation, even a temporary one.
Raven was at a new emotional balance. The negative emotions that tormented her the last few weeks had left her, and without fights all the time, she didn't need to deal with any extern emotional conflict. However, she was now aware of the fact that she had for Beast Boy esteem deeper than friendship. With the recent single condition of the changeling and the absent of any terrible fate awaiting her, she felt Affection trying to overcome barriers and make herself express more frequently.
It was hard to keep her under control, not for reasons like lack of meditation, but because she was running out of arguments of why not allow it. Beast Boy was now single; she had no remaining feeling for Terra to have some consideration of what she would think, she no longer waited a destiny that leaded to her death and the end of the world, and her changeling friend was certainly not helping by showing up at her door every afternoon and showing care for her, filling Affection with – she believed fake – hope.
The only thing left was the fact that her powers were too dangerous to allow a loving relationship with anybody, and she grabbed to that, telling herself that it was for best of everyone around her. Plus, she was certain Beast Boy would never like her that way, her mind saying that over and over again, trying to ignore the little voice in the back that raised adverse hypothesis.
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April 10th 2009, 3:47 pm
Robin came inside the common room, noting a big mess all around the TV area, as well as a green stain running to all directions.
"Beast Boy… What are you doing?" he asked with a frown. Raven was reading and drinking tea at the kitchen's counter and Starfire was trying to make Silkie go inside a colorful clothe.
"I'm looking for my DVD of the Assassin Avenger Ninjas III!" he answered, searching under the cushions on the couch and not putting them back.
"Calm down… When did you last saw it?"
"I don't know, about a month and a half ago…" he scratched his head, thinking. In that moment Cyborg and Terra came through the doors.
"What the hell happened here?!" he questioned surprised, looking around.
"Beast Boy is looking for some movie he lost…" answered Robin emotionless.
"Not any movie, Cyborg, is Assassin Avenger Ninjas!" explained the changeling.
"III?" questioned his metallic friend, suddenly serious.
"Yeah… I can't remember when or where I…"
"It's in my room" informed Terra automatically. They looks met and everyone else got paralyzed, expecting an explosion "You left it there when we watched it a month ago"
"Oh, ok. Do you mind if I go get it?" he asked, getting up. The blonde shook her head and he left to catch his DVD. The other four titans sighed, relieved. This was the civilizer dialogue their two friends had in a month.
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May 24th 2009, 8:16 am
Another breakfast in the Titan Tower, another tofu versus meat discussion. Already used to that conflict, Robin read the headlines without worries, Starfire fed Silkie with mustard covered waffles with a smile on her face, Terra drank her orange juice peacefully and Raven waited her kettle whistle without any expression.
"Cyborg, do you have any idea of the brutality these animals are murdered so you can eat bacon and ham?" asked Beast Boy serious "While you can eat something basically the same taste that doesn't harm anyone?"
"No way is the same taste, Beast Boy, tofu tastes like tofu, and it's nothing like meat!" argued the robot man, putting some ketchup on his ham "And I even understand that you don't eat meat, but eggs and milk as well? Isn't that too exaggerated?"
"No way man, did you know the cow's baby is taken away from her when it's born so she can produce more milk?" Beast Boy told them, putting his fork really close to his friend's nose "Can you picture something as cruel as that?"
"I already told you not to tell me these things; I'm perfectly fine without ever knowing it!" exclaimed Cyborg, temporarily moved to imagine the baby's cow taken away from its mother "Milk is milk, and I don't need to know anything else"
"Is that true?' asked Starfire, a horrified expression on her face.
"I watched this documentary…"
"Beast Boy, this kind of documentary shows things that aren't necessarily rule" said Robin, coming from behind his newspaper, concerned about his girlfriend's impressible nature.
"But…"
"Enough!" ordered Cyborg, getting up "I'll go get some barbecue sauce and when I come back, I want this subject dropped!"
Beast Boy sighed, eating his tofu and drinking his soy milk. Raven, remaining silent through all the discussion and looking like she was lost somewhere in her mind, put her mug with the tea leaves next to Cyborg's plate and poured hot water in it.
"Hey Rae, you're kind of distracted today" he pointed, but she didn't show any sign of hearing him "Raaaae! Raven!"
She lifted her gaze and, seeing Beast Boy looking at her, she quickly straightened herself up, the kettle bumped into the mug and dropped it right on Cyborg's plate, spilling hot water on it. She took the mug right away, but Cyborg was back already. The empath bite her bottom lip and faced the other way while the robot man ate and made a weird expression.
Beast Boy's look found Terra's, who also had accompanied the scene, and they both started laughing.
"Hm? What?" asked Cyborg, confused.
Terra smiled and gave the changeling a fast look. Maybe they were going back to their usual friendship. What she didn't notice was that Beast Boy's gaze, on the other hand, seemed not divert from a certain girl in a blue cape.
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June 12th 2009, 4:37 pm
Robin, Raven, Starfire and Terra were in the common room, watching a movie. Not any movie, but one chosen by Starfire. That meant they weren't properly watching it as much as Raven was reading, Terra staring at a dot on the horizon with her mouth open and Robin trying not to sleep.
'How exactly did Beast Boy and Cyborg got away from this?' thought Robin after waking up suddenly for the third time. Fortunately, his girlfriend was so aborted she didn't even notice it.
The couple in the TV kissed under the sunrise's light and the movie was over, with Starfire drying her tears.
"How wonderful!" she exclaimed, turning the lights on as the credits appeared. In that moment, the doors opened and the missing teammates got in.
"Where were you guys?" asked the leader, more annoyed than worried.
"Nowhere special…" said Cyborg "But BB here helped me get a date with a super hot girl!"
"A super hot girl?" questioned Starfire, excited "Does that mean she have fire powers?"
"What…?" the robot man grimaced then shook his head "No Star, a girl… A really beautiful girl!"
"You guys went to a party?" asked Terra, a little resentful.
Nobody seemed to notice the eyes of a certain empath now were shining with a red light.
"No, nothing like that…" answered Beast Boy, and Raven turned, curious.
"We met her at the park" explained the metallic titan "Then BB played the fallen and hurt little bird, and I was the sensible guy worried about the poor thing"
"You guys are the worst…" mumbled Raven, although the grip in her chest got a little loose.
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