The Roles we play
Regrets
This story has been remarkably popular and I have all you to thank for it!
***Sadly I don't own anything related to the Teen Titans, which in certain cases may be for the best. ***
"It's better to look ahead and prepare, than to look back and regret." –Jackie Joyner-Kersee
***TRwP***
For the first week or so Raven enjoyed the peace and quiet that came with a Titan minus one Beast Boy, she hadn't had any time to enjoy it before with her depression and all. In fact as strange as it seemed all of the Titans were enjoying a bit of the peace and quiet, knowing that their friend as still alive and well.
Eating out became far easier as there needn't be any considerations regarding vegetarian options, in fact they had even tried hibachi* one night, which Starfire giggled with excitement over the entire time.
Movie nights became a regular occurrence without any major conflicts popping up, which would usually occur due to an argument over comedy versus any other genre.
Even Robin's scheduled training each morning had begun showing improved results.
All in all it almost felt like Beast Boy's absence was making everything easier around the tower, for the first week or two.
Then things started spiraling downwards.
No one had ever realized how much tension the young boy could relieve until one of Cyborg and Robin's arguments escalated into a full out shouting match, which forced the girls to physically separate them, leading to a tense atmosphere for almost two days.
Without the green changeling Raven had been allowed as much quiet meditation as she wanted, unfortunately it was also the boy who forced her to come to social events, such as eating out and game nights. Without him nagging and insisting, and the other's respect of her privacy, Raven was left alone for entire days save for training and meals.
Beast Boy had always been the one to insist on going out to eat almost several times a week, and without him the Titans began staying home more often, which lead to more confrontations among the team.
Cyborg's happiness and excitement dropped like a rock. He had always been aware of how much time he had spent with his best friend and younger brother figure but he thought that with Jinx around he would be fine for a while, he had been wrong.
He and his girlfriend began arguing more and more for no real reason, often leading to one or the other storming out of the room in frustration, and without any healthy outlets the problems simply built up. Until one day everything came to the forefront.
***TRwP***
It was just a typical Monday morning, which even superheroes will agree is the worst day of the week, when the Titans began culminating in the kitchen for their usual morning breakfast.
"Don't forget training this morning, we will be doing spars like usual."
"How could we forget oh fearless leader?"
"Excuse me Cyborg?"
"Maybe we should switch up the teams a bit?" Starfire chimed in, hoping to change topics enough that a fight wouldn't break out.
"I think it would be beneficial, after all we don't get any better doing the same exercise each time or facing the same person." Raven agreed quickly, seeing the young alien's plan.
"Yeah that would be nice. After all I'm not a huge fan of having my girlfriend covered in bruises just because Robin is too afraid to fight me."
"Afraid, of what? I can take you any time Cyborg, this way is just to avoid you being humiliated."
"That confident are you huh bird boy? How about we go a couple of rounds, no fancy gadgets no toys just one on one. Unless of course your scared to be finally shown up. "
"Oh I'm more than ready for you tin man, just don't come crying to me when I kick your metal ass all over the gym."
"Guys, come on this is supposed to be light sparring remember? We aren't trying to kill each other here." Jinx intervened desperate for anything to relieve the mounting tension.
"She is right, it does not matter whose butt Robin is kicking, we are all friends here." Unfortunately Starfire had inadvertently brought forth a different argument that had been brewing as well.
"What do you mean 'whose butt Robin is kicking'? Cyborg could beat him three ways with one arm." Jinx defended, her eyes narrowing at the orange skinned girl.
"Need your girlfriend to finish your fights eh Cyborg?"
"No chance in hell do I need help Robin, and furthermore I am getting a bit sick of you picking on her rather than anyone else, just because she has the worst hand to hand comba…."
"What the hell do you mean by that Vic?"
"You know what I mean, you are a ranged support fighter Jinx, there's nothing to be ashamed of in that you just can't handle the upfront fighting like…"
"Like the men can? Need I remind you that this isn't the fifties anymore, women are just as capable as men."
"Nice going Cyborg, look Raven we know that women are strong heck, Starfire is more than strong enough physically but emotionally you can…"
"Emotionally what Robin? Do not forget that I come from a warrior culture, we do not need to be treated with the gloves of kids like your women from Earth need to be."
"Oh screw you too, I sure as hell don't need any kind of sympathy. If you remember right the HIVE kicked your asses the first time we fought, and I was the unofficial leader of that team."
"Yeah and then we beat you every other time after that, face it you guys only caught us off guard the first time, after that it was like shooting fish in a barrel." Cyborg replied, crossing his arms as if to look as confident as possible.
"Just because we were never one of your psychotic villains doesn't mean we were beneath you Vic."
"That's not how I remember it a few days ago…"
The pink haired sorceress gaped for a second, before her eyes shone with energy and rage. Too late did the mechanical teen realize what he had said, and began slowly backing up from his angered girlfriend.
"Trouble in the bedroom eh Cyborg? That's why I always keep them both satisfied in more ways than one…"
This time it was Robin's turn to snap his mouth shut, not intending to let out his secret relationship with both girls.
Cyborg slowly turned toward his leader, his face confused for a second, until he noticed the faint blushes on both of the girls.
"I'm going to give you a three second head start before I rip your head from your scrawny shoulders." The mechanical man called out, in a deathly calm and serious voice, his eyes blazing with fury towards the boy who was apparently having two relationships at once, and with girls he considered his younger sisters.
"Cyborg wait, Robin isn't cheating on us we are both… active participants…." Raven stated, trying to calm the bloodthirst in her teammate's eyes.
"YOU'RE WHAT!?"
"Duh Vic, you didn't know? Wow I didn't think anyone was that dense…" Jinx muttered.
"Do not insult our teammate that way, just because you are doing the dance of horizontals with him does not mean that you are allowed to say such things."
"I can talk to my boyfriend anyway I want, at least I can satisfy him by myself without needing another girl." The pinkette smirked seeing the rage in the Tamaranean's eyes.
"I do not need Raven's help! She is just lonely and we are helping her with this."
"Robin asked me to get involved Starfire not the other way around, I do not need your charity, and if you forget he seems to enjoy spending just as much time with me as with you, maybe even more."
"Raven I do not think you understand what you are saying, perhaps this little experiment has gone on long enough. It is time for you to find a different boy that you can use for pleasure, perhaps even one that will be in a relationship with you."
Raven's eyes crackled with energy and rage at what the orange skinned girl was implying, as her counterpart's eyes glowed with an ominous green fury.
"ENOUGH!"
Suddenly, just as quickly as it started, the fighting stopped. The Titans turned toward the pink haired sorceress, who had apparently become the voice of reason amidst the turmoil.
"What the hell is wrong with us? Vic and I are on the verge of breaking up, he and Robin are moments away from killing each other, and you two look ready to bring the tower down without a second thought."
The various teenagers stared down at the floor, fully realizing what had almost come to pass as they started taking deep breaths to try and calm down.
***TRwP***
A few moments later Robin took a deep breath and turned toward his empathic teammate, "Raven could you please do a sweep of the tower and us to see if there is any magic or hypnosis that might be affecting our emotions?"
"Why would!…" Cyborg began with a harsh tone, but followed his leader's example and took a calming breath before continuing. "Do you really think someone might be influencing us like that?"
"Doubtful but we have had situations similar to this before. Enough villains would like to see us split up that this might be the easiest way they can see of doing it, since brute force has failed. Besides between Slade and Brother Blood there are certainly enough people who would go to such extents."
The cybernetic teen nodded, before giving the situation some thought and moving to a nearby control panel.
"I'll start running a sweep of the tower for anything out of the ordinary, I have heard of using ambient sound to influence emotions so it can't hurt to check."
Robin nodded before turning to the other two girls.
"Jinx, you probably have as much skill in infiltration as I do, could you and Starfire do a perimeter sweep of the Tower and island to see if anything is out of place, maybe where someone could have gained access without us knowing it?"
"Will do Robin, and sorry everyone for how I acted…"
"It's okay Jinx we are all a bit on edge, if this doesn't turn up anything we will reconvene here in three hours. I am going to go through the crime files and see if anything has been stolen that could relate to this, or if there have been any breakouts from the prisons lately."
With that said the Titan's dispersed, hoping to find an external cause for their turmoil.
***TRwP***
Hours later the young heroes found themselves sitting back in the same room, with nothing to show for their efforts.
"Well I guess that rules out any external causes…" Cyborg muttered, unwilling to look up and meet anyone's gaze, unaware that the other Titans were doing the same.
"If it's not a villain then what is going on with us?" Robin inquired, loud enough that anyone who wanted to hear would be able to do so.
"Actually I think it's pretty obvious, Beast Boy isn't here."
The various individuals looked up towards Raven as she continued her thought.
"That's the only thing that is different than every other time isn't it? Beast Boy isn't here to liven things up, or in my case, take the frustration and anger onto himself."
"The little guy was like a sponge for us wasn't he? He soaked up all the anger, frustrations, and negativity into himself. He made himself the target, exactly what the team needed just like Mento said."
"We certainly did not do the giving back of thanks. With everything that he did for us we still know very little about him." The Tamaranean princess spoke out in agreement.
"I just realized that we never celebrated one of Beast Boy's birthdays. I mean he went through a lot of trouble just to find out ours and make sure we each had a celebration, but none of us seemed to even make an effort when it came to him." Robin sullenly interjected, before sitting down on the couch, his posture one of defeat and regret.
"You know I hate to put any more on him, but I think he wanted it that way. I mean think about it, he could have easily updated his file with basic information, could have put in his emergency records about his regeneration or left instructions on what to do, but he didn't. I am starting to feel as though letting him go back with The Doom Patrol wasn't the best idea, if they are what created that inherent mistrust and secrecy in him to begin with then what is to stop them from doing it again? With everything that has been going on what reason does he really have not to just stay with them?" The pink haired sorceress reminded the other Titans.
"Hey wait a second, when did you three… start…. Well you know…."
"Really Vic, is it that hard to say? When did the three of you start having knocking knees, doing the deed, dancing the horizontal Tango, etc."
"Oh you mean the coursing of inter?"
"Uh Star?"
"She means sex Robin, and I at least joined in a few months ago."
Cyborg had an inquisitive look on his face, like he was trying to figure out a puzzle, before his eye widened in shock.
"Shit! No wonder the poor kid was always exhausted and wanted to get out of the Tower."
"Wait who?"
"Really Robin… you're the detective of the group and you never figured this out?" Jinx replied sarcastically before turning back to her boyfriend.
"Beast Boy… his sense of smell and hearing are dozens if not hundreds of times sharper than ours. Heck he was the one who knew about Jinx and my… nightly activities before I even mentioned anything."
"Wait he knew that we were screwing?"
"Yes Jinx he did, I thought I told you that."
"Uh no, jeesh if that were the case I would have been a lot nicer to him when he took…"
"All of my nightly patrols, yeah exactly. It wasn't just for us though since you weren't always around. It was the only time he could get away from it."
"Cyborg what are you getting at?"
"Jeesh bird boy how are you not seeing this? Beast Boy could hear and smell your… bonding. The tower isn't designed to be sound proof you know. Poor guy was basically living in a porno at night and we never figured out that it was the reason he was never able to get enough sleep."
"Oh I feel so bad for Beast Boy! If I had known that he was doing the suffering then I would have asked him to participate with us and have him get the good night's rest as well."
Robin immediately started coughing before noticing a slow grin appearing on Cyborg's face.
"Don't even go there Cyborg."
"Hey I didn't say anything, but it's like you always say Robin, 'anything for the good of the team'."
"I don't say that!"
"Actually Robin I think I have heard you use that phrase before." Jinx said, agreeing with her boyfriend.
"Then why didn't you two let him into your…. affairs?"
"Because you already have two girls, and no matter what they say I will never believe that you can keep them both occupied."
"Oh yeah Cyborg is that a challenge?"
"What if it is… what the hell are we doing?"
"It sounds like you two are challenging each other to a sexual competition." Raven replied, a slight smirk forming on her face
"Oh most wonderful! I shall prepare the large mud pit and the clothing of the skanks for your battle!"
The two boys paled while Jinx burst out in laughter.
***TRwP***
"I'm just saying that maybe having some 'bonding' time with Robin and Beast Boy wouldn't be such a bad idea…"
"For the last time Happy, I am not having a threesome with them!"
"Why not? You've had a threesome with Robin and Starfire before…"
"That's not the point!"
"Actually Raven Happy makes a good point, the only difference in the change in scenario would be that we would be the focal point, based on the heterosexuality that they both display, rather than it being on Robin."
"Not you too Knowledge" Raven groaned out.
"I bet we could give the two of them a run for their money. We already know Robin isn't the most enduring of lovers, at least compared to what you looked up on the internet that one time…."
"BRAVE I TOLD YOU NOT TO SPEAK OF THAT!"
"It was all over her hair!" Timid wailed in despair.
"Regardless we have no way of knowing how well Beast Boy would perform."
"I told you we are not having this conversation! I am not sleeping with Beast Boy!"
"Actually we already do know how he would be in bed." Affection replied, having stayed remarkably silent so far. Her statement immediately drew the attention of the others though.
"Oh and how would we know that?" Raven sarcastically replied, albeit a few rather pleasant images found their way into her mind despite her trying to deny them.
"It's like his former commander said, he adapts to whatever best fits the situation. Basically Beast Boy would be the best lover possible."
"We also know that he knows these things almost instantly, before even we do. Imagine it Raven… A long day of fighting crime, we are miserable, frustrated, and angry. We walk into our room, intending on taking a warm shower, but he reaches us first. Without saying anything he grabs us and pushes us against the wall, tearing off our pants. There is no foreplay, no lovey dovey crap. He just takes us in one fell swoop, hard and fast like we need it. He squeezes our thighs, reminding us he's there before tearing into our shirt with his fangs quickly finding…."
Before rage could continue her fantasy Timid passed out, blood leaking from her nose at the imagery she had portrayed. The other emoticlones were either blushing like crazy, or drooling slightly.
The real Raven was doing a bit of both.
***TRwP***
"We need to discuss what I read in the book." Raven spoke with finality after her various emoticlones had reawakened from their lust induced states.
Knowledge merely nodded in agreement before opening up the book once more, each page showing a different example of Beast Boy and her interacting.
"After going through all of this information I have realized that I have been… exceptionally cruel towards Beast Boy, to the point of earning the title 'demon' in some circumstances," Raven continued on.
"I would like to know something though Rae-Rae, what were you going to say to Beast Boy if he hadn't left?" Happiness questioned.
"Well I was going to apologize obviously, and try to make amends for everything that I had done."
"How exactly do you apologize for years of physical and emotional abuse?" Brave added in with a huff.
"We could always offer him our body… I know I certainly wouldn't mind." Affection responded in a husky tone.
"We are not…. I don't know how we are going to apologize exactly, besides begging him for forgiveness. The problem we are faced with now is that if Cyborg is right…. He might not be coming back."
"IT'S ALL OUR FAULT! IF WE WEREN'T SO MEAN TO HIM THEN HE WOULDN'T HAVE LEFT! THEN WE COULD HAVE APOLOGIZED!" Timid wailed.
"Although there were certainly times in which Beast Boy did deserve some of the retaliation we took. I have no doubt that most of it was misplaced. Robin and Cyborg have just as many issues with us early on and yet I have not one file with us damaging Robin in any way, and only a handful with Cyborg as the victim." The yellow cloaked clone confirmed.
Raven glanced over towards her aggressive self for any input. The girl merely shrugged in response. "I got nothin, you were a total bitch."
Raven sighed, though her rage was part of her it didn't mean she was any easier to deal with.
"So we are back to square one, we need to apologize but can't talk to him, and even if we could we have no idea what to say in order to even begin to make up for all the crap we put him through. Some friend we are."
"You are, for all the times you acted like we were separate entities I will agree with you this time. Don't put us in the same position that you are."
"Thanks a lot…. traitor."
Happiness merely giggled in response.
"Regardless, perhaps the best way to apologize would be to do something nice for Beast Boy for when he returns home, if he even does." Knowledge tried whispering the last part out, but Timid heard it regardless and burst into sobs once more.
"That's a good idea, okay so what do we know that Beast Boy likes?"
"Ohhhhh pick me pick me!" the pink image of the empath began jumping up and down, waving her hands in excitement.
Sighing once more the real persona pointed at her jubilant self. "Yes Happy?"
"He likes video games, and jokes, and pranks, and tofu, and…."
"Does he? I mean does he really like any of those things? What do we know about the actual Beast Boy? Hell you heard his old team, they know way more about him than we seem to and even their freaking telepath isn't sure what his real personality is anymore." Oddly enough it was Rage who made this well thought out argument.
"Well then maybe that is the key? Maybe instead of assuming that we can guess what he enjoys we should apologize by trying to learn more about him, by expressing interest? Sure Cyborg probably has before and I bet Robin at least asked about group stuff since he's about as exciting as dry paint but has anyone ever just taken the time to sit down and talk to him about these things?" Knowledge mused to herself, before writing down her ideas in a notebook that she carried.
"A good idea, especially since any other information on him seems to be nonexistent." Raven agreed.
"Before any of that though, we need to decide what we want from Beast Boy. Is it being trusted as a teammate again? Do we want his friendship, like what he has with Starfire? Or are we interested in looking for something more than just friendship and a brother sister relationship? Are we looking for something more… intimate?"
"I can't picture Beast Boy and I having… that kind of relationship, even if Rage paints a nice fantasy…"
"I believe you are wanted 'outside' Raven." Knowledge interrupted, turning towards her true self with a nod.
The real Titan merely nodded in return, before leaving her meditation realm for the Tower once more.
***TRwP***
"Hello Starfire, what can I help you with?"
"Raven I believe we should do… the talking about some things."
"Of course, please come in."
As Raven sat down on her bed Starfire stood nervously for a moment before taking an offered chair across from her teammate.
"Raven it is difficult for me to say this but I have been doing some of the thinking, and I believe that we should no longer have the inside courses together with Robin."
"You mean intercourse Starfire?"
"Yes, I did not realize until lately that these activities were so frowned upon even by our friends."
"Sex isn't frowned upon Starfire, but I will admit that Cyborg did seem a bit upset when he found out what was going on, add in that it was undoubtedly one of the reasons for Beast Boy's current… prolonged absence and maybe you are right."
"I am glad that we can agree Raven, until we can be sure that no one's feelings will be injured perhaps neither of us should participate in the sexual times with Robin."
"I think that's a good idea Starfire that way there is no jealousy and no one feels left out, besides I think Robin needs some time to clear his head as well before the three of us can move on with just a two person relationship."
Somewhere in the tower Robin had the strangest feeling that he was losing something fantastic, but couldn't figure out what it was, he gave a shrug before going back to work on cold case files.
"I do have one question for you though Starfire, do you regret inviting me to join you two?"
"No Raven of course not! You are closer than a sister to me and I was joyful to have you engage in the pleasuring with Robin and I."
"I never wanted to hurt your relationship with Robin Starfire, If I had known that this was going to be the outcome then I would have stayed out of it, you two are meant for each other even if I am jealous of that fact."
"You did not hurt our relationship Raven, if anything you made it stronger but now there seems to be something between us. The events concerning Beast Boy have shown me a side of Robin that has me considering if I do wish to spend my life with him, but I can only wait to see what will become of it."
"If you ever need to talk Starfire, my door is always open."
"Thank you Raven, you know that mine is for you as well. Also if you are ever feeling lonely we can even, how do you say, keep it between us girls?"
With that the giggling alien princess left her teammate behind, a bright red blush covering the empath's face.
***TRwP***
It had been almost a year since Beast Boy left, and the Titans were still suffering through it. Sure the fights and died down and all of the hostile feelings had mostly been laid bare and dealt with but there was still a tense atmosphere that perforated the Tower.
More than once the Titans had attempted to contact their former teammate, only to find themselves at a dead end, there did not seem to be any means of communicating with him or his team.
The teenage heroes still fought crime and participated in the same group bonding exercises as before, but now it felt stale, like the excitement had been taken away from everything.
The trio of lovers had never completely made amends after their 'breakup', and though they still were amicable towards each other they spent most of their free time with different activities.
Robin had pushed himself more into training and crime work than ever before, but had eventually relented when the other Titans noticed he was starting to burn himself out and insisted he take a personal vacation.
Starfire had been in far more contact with her home world, often calling them several times a week just to communicate and relax.
Raven had grown closer to Jinx in the past few months and had found another best friend in the girl, who she found shared many common interests.
Cyborg and Jinx had agreed to spend some time apart, and had broken up on good terms, but left open the possibility of renewing their relationship at a later date.
The mechanical man had recently begun seeing Bumblebee, at the other Titan's insistence, and had found that spending the weekends over at their tower to be beneficial to everyone in the long run with the tension and stress it allowed to dissipate.
Titans East had sent over a different member to help compensate for the loss of one of their own and to increase inter-group tactics.
Jinx had tried a relationship with Kid Flash and Aqualad but both of those had ended after only a few dates.
Despite all of the positive changes that had been made the group of heroes still felt themselves growing further and further apart with each passing day.
***TRwP***
Eleven and a half months after his departure a signal rang through the tower's security system at ten o' clock one evening. Rushing to the monitor Cyborg gave a puzzled stare before his eye widened in shock.
"Cyborg what is it?"
"There's nothing on the scanners…. The only other time this happened was…. BEAST BOY!" The largest Titan shouted before charging through the automatic doors, not wanting to wait for them to open, and sprinting towards the stairs that lead to the roof, followed closely behind by the other Titans.
As they made it to the top, and Cyborg charged through yet another door to Robin's annoyance, they looked on in wonder as a large ship lifted off from the helipad before taking off into the night sky, leaving behind a single tall man cloaked in darkness.
"B-Beast Boy?" the cybernetic teen called out in curiosity, the boy had never been this… tall before.
"Hey Cy, how's it hangin?"
***A/N***
*For those of you who have never had tried hibachi and enjoy Japanese style food it is really fun, they cook the food in front of you and the chefs are incredibly talented. I highly recommend it if you can afford to spend a bit more on dinner.
On a side note, it is surprisingly easy to make an escalating argument, all you need is a few comments that aren't thought about before spoken and it just grows from there.
I know this chapter seemed to rush through the year pretty rapidly but I didn't want Beast Boy undergoing any major changes in only like a month or two, plus I wanted to have the other Titans go through a few changes as well, nothing major though.
I am unsure as to what Cyborg's fate will end up being, either with Bumblebee or Jinx. I really do like Cy/Jinx as a couple but I can also see him and Bee working too, so let me know what you guys think!
As always I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter, I had a heck of a lot of fun planning and writing it!