Behind The Scenes 10 - Big Reveal
Far too long between updates, I know. Apologies.
Robin stood in front of the couch, arms folded across his chest, watching the pair sat on the sofa in front of him and trying to appear upset but not angry, just enough to let them know he was on their side but that he expected them to be remorseful.
No such luck.
Beast Boy was grumpy and still sleepy, obviously tempted to sink back into slumber while Raven was beside him. Speaking of Raven, she sat unperturbed and unruffled by Robin's glare, only returning his stare impassively when his eyes turned toward her. He realised with a start that she only looked back at him when he looked at her, even though his eyes were concealed and he hadn't moved his head. He shook it off, knowing she was making a point of it to rattle him a little. Eventually, Starfire and Cyborg arrived after receiving a call from Robin. Starfire was as alert and chipper as ever, though Cyborg seemed a little put out, grumbling that he would have to finish up his interrupted charge later in the day. They sat on either side of Beast Boy and Raven (Cyborg on Raven's side) and Robin arched an eyebrow at them.
"Well? Let's hear it."
Ten minutes later, the pair had related their sleeping problems of the previous night, handily leaving out the account of their non-verbal staring in the corridor. They seemed annoyed but not worried while Starfire was sympathetic and Cyborg was rather tickled by the whole thing. His imminent joke about a Titan sleepover was interrupted by Robin, who cleared his throat and silenced all other conversation.
"You might be right about this being a trust issue, though you should still have asked for help with that, but it-"
"It only happened last night, dude, what do you want from us?!" Beast Boy grumbled. Robin responded only by narrowing his eyes. Beast Boy lowered his head. "Uh... sorry. Bit cranky, I guess."
"As I was saying... You might be right but you might be wrong. You told us the simulation compelled you to fall asleep together. What if this is related somehow?" Beast Boy and Raven glanced at each other, a little embarrassed they hadn't though of it. Or had it been simply more reasonable for them to believe they merely needed each other?
"So... how can we be sure?" Raven said. Robin's expression softened.
"Cyborg, can you contact Mr Miracle? Maybe he can talk to Control Freak's Mother Box for us," Robin said. Cyborg immediately opened up his control panel and began tapping away.
"I'll leave him a message but there's no knowing when he'll check while he's focused on the Mother Box," Cyborg explained. Robin nodded.
"Well... I do have one other idea..." he said uncertainly. Raven narrowed her eyes at him in suspicion.
"Well? What is it?" Beast Boy insisted. Robin managed to look regretful and entertained at the same time.
"Um... a sleepover."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"Huh?" Beast Boy squeaked.
"A sleepover. We need to know if you need each other to sleep or if you just aren't ready to sleep alone, so we split you up. Beast Boy, Cyborg and I can crash in here tonight. Starfire can spend the night on Raven's floor," he said. Cyborg nodded - that was actually a decent idea.
"Oh! A slumber party!" Starfire sang, floating into the air. "We shall play games and talk about boys and paint our extremities and stay awake watching movies and singing and-"
"Star!" Robin interrupted. "Star, the whole point is to try and let Raven sleep. You can have your slumber party another time," he said without really thinking, though he had the sense to shrink under Raven's furious gaze after he unwittingly promised Starfire a slumber party with her. In her room! He backed away, hands raised just as Cyborg piped up.
"Okay, message is sent. See what happens, I guess," he said. Not a great deal, as it turned out: the say was uneventful. Robin even cancelled training in favour of quizzing Raven and Beast Boy about their time in Control Freak's simulation. Again and again he came back to the invisible force, the pressure, that manipulated their actions, especially the way it caused them to fall asleep together. Unfortunately and quite naturally, the pair could tell little about that time. The day drew to a close and still the team hadn't heard back from Mr Miracle so, accompanied by Raven's grumbling, the Titans began to prepare themselves for bed. Three sleeping bags were brought to the common room for the boys - Cyborg had no need of one but was adamant on joining in. Starfire unrolled her own magnificently pink sleeping bag in Raven's room, unaffected by its jarring clash with its surroundings. All five Titans returned to the common room for a quick supper before splitting up again and retiring to their beds for the night. Beast Boy found his gaze lingering on Raven's back as she left with Starfire, curiously disturbed by her absence. He gulped when Raven looked back at him over her shoulder... she gave him an uncertain smile and disappeared behind the double doors.
The night was relaxed. Cyborg, for once deciding Beast Boy had enough to deal with, instead focused on teasing Robin about his relationship with Starfire. Soon enough, the teasing stopped as both partipiants fell asleep. Their lone spectator, however, remained wide awake as he stared at the ceiling. He wondered if Raven was still awake as well. He wondered if she thought of him. He wondered if she was as scared as he was.
She was awake. She did think of him. She was scared.
The sun rose, spilling light into the common room and stinging the already bloodshot eyes of the changeling, Beast Boy. He rolled over and squeezed his eyes shut and whimpering, almost sobbing. He was so tired and all he wanted to do was sleep...
"Beast Boy," someone whispered. "Are you awake?"
"Yeah," he moaned. He looked up and saw the concerned face of his leader. He wasn't really surprised Robin woke up at dawn.
"Did you sleep at all?" Robin asked. Beast Boy only shook his head. "Damn. You... you want some breakfast?"
"Sure," Beast Boy replied. Not long after, Raven arrived, followed by a barely-conscious Starfire. Robin offered them all breakfast and soon they sat around the table, two sympathetic and and two irate and exhausted while Cyborg snored on his own. Robin and Starfire tried to make small talk but stumbled from awkward silence to awkward silence until, with a start, Cyborg sat up.
"FIRE TRUCK!" he cried, startling the others.
"Uh... what?" Beast Boy asked. Cyborg blinked at him.
"What?" he returned.
"You just shouted 'fire truck' real loud, dude," Beast Boy said. Cyborg blinked twice.
"What?"
"You just... you know what? Never mind. Just come have breakfast," Beast Boy said. Cyborg climbed to his feet and, as he approached, checked his arm display, which stopped him in his tracks.
"Whoa! Got a message from Mr Miracle... I think. He always replies with a new email. He managed to extract the Mother Box and says he'll visit us once he's got a lock on Control Freak's Apokoliptian tech," he reported. Robin sighed in relief, getting up from the table and heading to the couch, followed by the others.
"Good. Hopefully he can help us get some answers. Did he say when he might get here?" he asked. Cyborg shook his head.
"No. Could be some time though - he'll be going over every micron of that place for Apokolips or New Genesis technology... I guess there's no rush though," he said. Robin looked up at him, sharply.
"No rush?" he said. Cyborg smirked at him.
"You wanna be the one to wake 'em up?" he replied. Robin looked across at Beast Boy and Raven: having sat next to each other, the pair had promptly fallen asleep. Raven's head leaned on Beast Boy's head which, in turn, lay on Raven's shoulder. With no other clear idea of what to do, Robin elected to let them sleep.
Finally, a bit more of this story. Not a lot going on in this bit but we're getting closer to the conclusion. I thank you for being patient with me on this one lol
-Jack