Sometimes, a small problem that you don't see coming can cause much more trouble than a large problem you were expecting. The Titans had learned that lesson several times over in their personal and professional lives, and were about to learn it again, and this particular problem came to them courtesy of one of the few entirely positive aspects of their superhero work; if you don't count the moral satisfaction, the pride of a job well done, and various other rewards Robin constantly cited that did nothing to pay their bills.
Fan mail.
It understandably hadn't been one of their priorities when setting up a base of operations, but roughly two months after they had established themselves as the de facto crime-fighting superhero team of Jump City, Robin had received a curious call from the Postal Service asking if they could possibly be provided with a forwarding address, due to the several hundred letters they had received addressed simply to 'Teen Titans', 'Teen Titans Tower', 'Teen Titans HQ', 'Tower on Titan Island', 'The Big T-Shaped Building Where The Superheroes Live', and many more variations thereof. And so, Robin made an arrangement for the post to be delivered to Titans Tower once a week, giving them a chance to see what Jump City's citizens had to say to them.
That had been his first mistake.
While almost all of the post was positive, they received such a huge quantity of letters that if even five percent of them were negative, that still amounted to hundreds of hurtful and frequently hateful remarks. Starfire and Raven, not being residents of Earth, were hit with most of the xenophobic abuse, although being bright green, Beast Boy received more than his fair share as well, often being labelled a freak or mutant. Even as a half-robot who protected the city on a daily basis, there were still certain residents who couldn't see past the colour of Cyborg's skin. Robin was absolutely horrified to realise that he, by far, was receiving the least vitriolic abuse, although that wasn't to say that he didn't get a few irate fraudsters claiming that the Titans were financially responsible the damage caused by every supervillain in town, on the grounds that they weren't stopped quickly enough.
But amazingly, worse than the negative remarks were the overly positive ones. Starfire definitely had the most inappropriate admirers, making lewd remarks that she would have to ask Robin to explain, only for his face to turn red and for him to snatch the letter out of her hands, claiming that they were being disrespectful but unwilling to explain exactly how. Raven had honestly found this amusing, right up until a fan with an apparent death wish had sent her a personalized set of lingerie with the message 'thought you might look good in this xXxXx'. It took a great deal of persuasion from Robin for her to decide not to pursue the matter legally, or illegally for that matter. The boys were also not immune from this, and while Beast Boy was happy to joke that the ladies loved his pointy ears, the first time he received a love letter from a particularly dedicated female fan, outlining exactly what she would do to him if they ever met, his face turned beet red, he fled to his room in fear and horror, and refused to come out for the next three days, even when the alarm went off.
If left unchecked, this simple menial task could have completely destroyed their mental wellbeing, as well as their desire to actively continue their superhero activities. And so, Robin made the wise choice to employ a screening service that would filter through the hateful, the inappropriate, and the downright creepy, and only forward the sincere and suitable post onto the team. While they didn't have a defined schedule due to the unpredictability in their line of work, this was why on the third Saturday of every month, more often than not, the Titans could be found in the Common Room, reading through stacks of twenty to thirty letters each, writing quick but appreciative replies and sharing any especially touching messages they had received.
It wasn't a perfect system – they still received some truly bizarre sponsorship deals, and Starfire still had to deal with the more cunning of Jump City's perverts, who would pretend that they needed help shopping for their definitely very real girlfriends, and conveniently enough, Starfire was seemingly always the same proportion that they were, so if she could just try on this top and send a picture back so that they could see how it fit, then it would be most appreciated – but despite these setbacks, Robin proudly asserted that this was an important exercise that kept the team grounded, and connected with the people they were protecting, while reminding them that every crime they prevented had a significant positive impact on the lives of others. And while his overly saccharine sentiments were often met with an eye-roll from Raven, or Beast Boy miming throwing up, none of them could deny that he had a valid point, and several of the messages of support and gratitude that they received genuinely raised their spirits.
It was for this reason that on this particular Saturday afternoon, the Titans once again found themselves gathered in the Common Room, working through the post. As time went on, and the establishment of the team as Jump City's defenders and protectors became less of a novelty, the volume of letters had gradually slowed, but it was still enough to keep them occupied for an hour or two. And so, other than the rustling of paper and the scratching of pens, the Common Room was silent.
Well, mostly silent.
Beast Boy groaned and scratched his head. "Guys? I think I'm repeating myself, could I get a different word for 'happy'?"
"Gleeful!" volunteered Starfire without a second of hesitation.
"Overjoyed!" chimed in Cyborg, somewhat competitively.
"Delighted," added Robin, curtly and professionally, as if he considered it the empirically correct answer.
"Ecstatic," deadpanned Raven in an emotionless monotone that made her sound sarcastic.
Beast Boy mulled them over for a second before announcing "… Delighted. Thanks Rob!" and scribbling his choice down in the response he was writing. Robin gave him a thumbs up without ever looking away from his own post, and though Starfire and Cyborg playfully complained at having not been chosen, they quickly returned to their own. A few minutes later, Cyborg was the one asking a question, sounded strangely subdued and uncertain.
"… Hey, do you think I say 'Boo-yah'? too much?"
That got everyone's attention – except Beast Boy's, for some reason – as it was strange for Cyborg to sound so unsure of himself.
"What? No, why?" Robin replied curiously.
Cyborg held up three letters. "Three sponsorship deals today, one for a garage, one for gym, one for an all-you-can-eat steakhouse, and in all three of them, my only line is "Boo-yah!" Like… I'm known for more than just that, right?"
"Of course!" Robin immediately reassured, sensing that his friend and second-in-command may actually be doubting himself.
"… You have been kind of saying it a lot," Raven reluctantly added. "At least, lately."
"I enjoy it!" Starfire rebutted. "It is like what you refer to as a 'catched phrase'. Like when Robin says "Titans, go!" or when Raven says "I am going to my room!" or when Raven says "Beast Boy, leave me alone!" or when Raven says "Be quiet, Beast Boy!" or similar occurrences."
Raven frowned, mainly because coming from Starfire, it was hard to tell if she was joking or being entirely sincere, with the latter being more likely. But at the mention of Beast Boy, she realised that it was unusual that he hadn't spoken up yet. Arguments about the merits of tofu aside, he could always be counted on to stand up for his friends. Glancing in his direction, she noticed that he was strangely fascinated by the unopened letter that he was holding, staring at it in a mixture of bemusement and possibly fear.
"You're oddly quiet. Anything to add?" Raven asked. It took a second for him to realise that he was being addressed.
"Oh, right… sorry," he quietly acknowledged. "I just, um…" he held up the letter that had demanded his attention without even being opened yet.
"This letter… it's addressed to me." He explained with more than a little apprehension.
The other Titans weren't sure what he meant by that, but Raven was the first to comment on it. "Yes, Beast Boy, that's typically how letters work."
Usually, he would accept her sarcasm in good humour, or maybe stick his tongue out at her if he was in a bad mood, but this time he just silently rotated the envelope in their favour so that they could see why he was so concerned.
Unlike every other letter in his pile, it wasn't addressed to Beast Boy. The name on the envelope read 'Garfield Logan'.
It had been years before he had revealed his real name to his teammates, so for an outsider to know it was unnerving to say the least. With all eyes now on him, Beast Boy hesitantly tore open the envelope and began to read out loud.
"For the attention of, blah blah blah, I represent the firm of – dude, it's a legal thingy. What do they want with me?" He raised an eyebrow in confusion before realising that the rest of his team were still waiting for him to continue. "We are writing on the behalf of our client, Mr-"
Beast Boy's eyes went wide. His knuckles turned white as he clutched the letter in horror, then suddenly released it as if it was boiling to the touch. A strangled whimper emerged from his throat as he began to hyperventilate. Remembering that he had an audience, he turned to his friends, but he could barely hear what they were saying. He was suddenly acutely aware of the sound of his own heartbeat. Cyborg and Robin were asking him something but their words were muffled. Had it always been so hot in here?
The next second, his teammates were no longer looking at Beast Boy, but at a forest green cheetah, for the split-second before it bolted from the Common Room at top speed, disrupting a few piles of remaining letters in a gust as he ran out, faster than their eyes could track.
No-one spoke, but they were all clearly wondering the same thing. 'What the hell was that about?' The letter that had caused Beast Boy's panicked reaction remained on the floor, and Robin turned to his each of his teammates questioningly. They could read his expression; he was non-verbally checking with them if they should read the letter. None of them felt comfortable invading Beast Boy's privacy, but if he was hurting – and he very clearly was – then they couldn't help him without knowing what the issue was. None of his teammates had any objections, so Robin cautiously approached the letter, picked it off the floor and read it to himself.
Raven was a little frustrated that he was keeping the contents to himself, but he muttered the occasional phrase while reading. "Garfield Logan, we represent… on behalf of our client…" He frowned and looked closer at the letter, murmuring two more words. "… Custody hearing?" Then, before he could elaborate, and before Starfire could ask what this phrase meant, he looked back at his team and asked a question that none of them could answer.
"… Who the hell is Nicholas Galtry?"
In response to their blank expressions, Robin strode out of the Common Room towards Beast Boy's room, gambling that this was where his troubled teammate had fled to. He didn't say anything more, but as he passed Cyborg, he handed him the letter for his own viewing before departing. Before Raven could even ask him to share the contents with the rest of them, Cyborg had already finished scanning it, and muttered a confused "What the hell?" before following Robin, passing the letter to Starfire as he left. Starfire followed them both without reading, leaving a mildly annoyed Raven to trail behind, grumbling all the while.
Twenty seconds later, she caught up to the team at Beast Boy's door. Robin was knocking on it, struggling to find the right tone between authority and concern. "Beast Boy? We know you're upset, we just want to understand why so that you we can help you. Please, let us in."
There was a shuffling sound from inside the room. Raven tapped Starfire on the shoulder and indicated towards the letter, and she made an apologetic squeak and handed it over. She had tried to read it twice while walking and found it too hard to keep track of. As Raven finally began to read it, Beast Boy's door flew open, although the boy himself was nowhere in sight.
The team entered; fortunately, Beast Boy's room wasn't quite as messy as it used to be, but Raven would still rather have had this conversation elsewhere. Beast Boy himself was curled up on the bottom bunk of the bunkbed he had asked Robin if his room could have – no one really knew why, it wasn't like they ever had guests over, but they had no reason to refuse – and if Raven hadn't been focussed on reading the letter, she would have seen that he looked as if he was on the verge of tears.
Trying to catch up with the others, Raven tried to read the letter as quickly as possible. "For the attention of Garfield Logan. On behalf of the firm of Dustings & Bell, we are writing to inform you that a suit has been filed in relation to…" she skipped ahead, "-still legally underage, and therefore we are seeking to re-establish the legal custody and guardianship under the care of our client, Nicholas Galtry."
The words slipped out of her mouth before she was able to confirm for herself how Beast Boy was currently handling the news. "Hold on… you're telling me that someone out there wants custody of Beast Boy?"
Once again, on a normal day, Beast Boy would have reacted to this with a laugh at best, or a frown at worst. Instead, he immediately burst into loud, clearly distraught and uncontrollable sobbing.
Raven slapped a hand over her mouth in a mixture of shock and regret before lowering it to quickly apologize. "Sorry! I'm sorry, I… I didn't…" she trailed off. Starfire abruptly strode past her, bumping into her shoulder with a little more force than she would have usually done, and Raven recoiled in shame as Starfire set about repairing the damage she'd done.
"Friend," she began softly and sincerely, "You are clearly in distress. I do not know who this man is, but there is no obstacle that we cannot overcome together, as a team. But… we will not be able to help you if we do not understand. So please, if you can bring yourself to… let us know why this troubles you so." She slowly approached him as she spoke, until she was close enough to lay a gentle hand on his tear-stained cheek. He didn't react for a few seconds, then slowly reached up to grab onto her arm for dear life, as a drowning man would clutch a life-saver.
As he seemed to calm down, Starfire tenderly wiped the tears away from his cheeks, not that they had stopped falling. Beast Boy was still, and then took a deep breath, as if it would be enough to make himself talk. It wasn't, and he took several additional deep breaths in and out before realising that he would never be ready, but he had to tell them anyway.
"Back when… after my parents, uh…" he squeezed Starfire's hand tighter. He had never directly admitted it to any of them, but they had all pieced together by now that his parents were no longer with them.
"It's okay, you don't have to tell us everything," cooed Starfire, returning his squeeze, albeit much softer. Beast Boy nodded in relieved understanding and continued.
"Well… after that, I was… basically a pet, for a couple of crooks who found me. They weren't very nice people, and they made me do things that I didn't want to, but… I haven't thought about them in a while."
"… And one of them was Galtry?" Robin tentatively guessed. Beast Boy quietly shook his head as tears continued to run down his cheeks, their pace slightly quickened at the mention of his name. If Starfire hadn't been so preoccupied with holding Beast Boy's hand and stroking his hair, she would have nudged her not-not-boyfriend in the ribs.
"No… after the crooks got caught, the state found me. They needed to appoint someone as my guardian, so they tracked down my last living relative." Robin was silent, not wanting to make the same incorrect assumption again. "Galtry," Beast Boy continued, sniffing. "My uncle. My mother's brother, but I never heard her talk about him, and he never mentioned her either. They weren't close." His voice took on a brief boldness, as if protecting his mother's legacy by denying any connection to this horrible man.
"He's your uncle?" Cyborg asked in shock. He was another member of the team who would rather discuss the life of Cyborg than of Victor Stone, but from what the others had gleaned, he maintained a close relationship with his remaining family. It was clearly a surprise to him that Beast Boy's last living relative was the one causing him such concern.
Beast Boy nodded. "At first, he… it wasn't so bad. He was never nice, but I had my own room. He told the social care people that he would try to home-school me, but he gave up as soon as he found out I couldn't read. But I had food… and shelter." He took another deep breath and looked into Starfire's eyes, finding the comfort and security he needed to continue. "Then the care people stopped visiting."
He began to shake softly, but couldn't focus on staying still because all of his focus was on keeping his tears under control, now that they had slowed from his earlier desperate cries. "First, he stopped feeding me every day. He said that I was an animal, and animals didn't need to eat as often as people did. Then he took my room away, he said I was taking up too much space. He bought a cage and made me stay in the basement. He only gave me canned dog food to eat. It was cold, and dark, and… he only came down to yell at me, or hit me. Whatever was going wrong in his life, it was always my fault." Beast Boy had finally let go of Starfire's arm, if only to wrap his own arms around themselves, trying to make himself a small as possible, as if he was trying to fit back into that cage.
"… That's terrible, man. I never-" Cyborg started, only for Beast Boy to cut him off.
"… It got worse when he found out about my inheritance."
"Inheritance?" Robin repeated. It had never occurred to any of them that Beast Boy's parents had left him with anything but happy memories a profound sense of loss. Beast Boy nodded again and continued.
"My parents were biologists – great ones-" Beast Boy began, and for the first time, through the tears, a small proud smile reappeared for just a moment. "and they left me with… well, I wouldn't be set for life, but it was enough to take care of me. But they put it in a trust fund, where I couldn't – can't – access it until I'm eighteen. And if anything happened to me in the meantime…"
"… it would go to your legal guardian." Robin finished with a dawning sense of unease. From the sounds of it, it was hard to imagine Galtry's behaviour getting much worse, but it was clear that it was about to. Beast Boy nodded again, sniffed loudly, and curled even tighter into himself, ignoring Starfire's attempt to hold his hand again.
"He was furious when he found out. He – he accused me of killing my parents for the money, he said I belonged in prison, and he…" Beast Boy buried his head in his arms, clearly not wanting to relive all of the details. "He hurt me… he hurt me a lot." Every member of the team was silently furious, but also horrified, looking back at every memory they had ever had when they had laughed off an injury, when Cyborg had jostled him during an intense video game session, when Raven had smacked him on the head for telling one too many jokes. They had no idea that he was carrying around such a traumatic history.
Starfire finally succeeded in recapturing the terrified boy in a hug, and was trying her hardest to whisper soothing promises to him. Whether it was because he thought they knew enough, or he just didn't want to hear any more, Robin attempted to speak up.
"You don't have to tell us any more, Beast Boy. Really, you don't." His voice sounded hollow, as if he had been shaken to the core.
Beast Boy pulled away from the hug, shaking his head and aggressively wiping his eyes, as if he was embarrassed to be upset. "No, no… it's… you should…" He clearly thought that the more they knew, the more they would be able to help. Trying – and failing – to hold back the tears, he continued.
"He stopped feeding me more than once a week. And the food was… it wasn't nice before, but now it was worse; I think he was letting it go off. He couldn't just kill me, but if I got real sick, I guess he thought that would be more believable. I was hungry all of the time, and when he came down, the food he kept giving me was worse and worse, but I had to eat it, I… I had to keep going, no matter how much…" he rubbed his throat. He could have feasibly been about to say 'no matter how much he did to me' or 'no matter how much I wanted to die', and none of them dared ask him to confirm.
As Beast Boy's right arm began to shake, he instinctively rubbed his throat again and confessed the worst of it.
"One… one time. I hadn't eaten in ten days. He brought down a can and just left, and I – I wolfed it down, and…" his hand paused, as if he was searching for scars that he still expected to find. "He put broken glass in the food."
Everyone except for Beast Boy and Raven jumped as the lights in the hallway outside spontaneously exploded. It was easy to discern the cause; as soon as they turned away from Beast Boy, his teammates noticed that Raven's four red eyes had reappeared, and she was seething silently in deadly, apoplectic rage. Gripping her fists so tightly that her arms started to shake, Raven closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and when she opened them again, she had returned to normal.
"… Apologies," she muttered, still too furious to be embarrassed. Her fury only mellowed when she realised that it wasn't helping her friend, and she immediately tried to steer the conversation away from his trauma. "How did you get away from him?"
Beast Boy had finally run out of tears to cry, but he didn't look any more relieved to discuss the next chapter of his life. "When I wouldn't die… Galtry heard about a medical testing centre. He knew they tested things on animals, and since I was just an animal…" he shuddered. "He got a big payout from them. They tested things on me, and I… I…" Beast Boy could feel tears that he didn't know he had left beginning to form in his eyes, so he swiftly moved to the end. "Sometime later, the Doom Patrol came to the facility and shut it down. They found me, and… that's it."
Everyone was surprised – in the worst way – to discover that the cheeriest, most happy-go-lucky member of the team had been through such a hellish upbringing. But there was one important element of the story that Starfire didn't understand, and while she was reluctant to bring back any more bad memories, it was something she had to know.
"… I do not understand, then, why such an awful man would try to intrude again on your life," she confessed quietly. Then, she suddenly grabbed Beast Boy's arm again, and held his hand in a raised fist between them, not in comfort this time, but in vengeance, with eyes glowing a righteously furious emerald. "Especially when you are no longer the defenceless child he knew. Especially when you have friends who would happily…" For a second, her fury intensified, and Beast Boy winced under the pressure on his hand. Starfire immediately recognized this and released him with a hasty and shocked apology, but the message was clear. If Nicholas Galtry wished to return to Beast Boy's life, he would have to go through her to do so.
"He probably just ran out of money," Beast Boy offered as the boring but most plausible explanation. They were used to dealing with supervillains, tacticians, chessmasters who planned out every move ten steps ahead. Galtry was just an average man whose intelligence was as low as his tolerance for cruelty was high. "He was never the 'thinking ahead' kind of guy."
"Well, whatever he is," Cyborg said, not quite as openly angry as Starfire, but still relishing the thought of getting his hands on this man, "He's gonna regret messing with you."
"Right," confirmed Robin staunchly. Glaring down at the letter as if it contained some kind of hateful, derogatory comment towards his friend, he immediately focused on the task at hand. "I'll get in touch with these solicitors and make sure they know who they're dealing with. Both us and their client."
Beast Boy nodded mutely, relieved but not showing it. Before he knew what she was doing – not that she had much idea herself – Raven had stepped forwards and gently placed a hand against his forehead.
"W-what are you…" he could feel his anxiety spiking, and then dipping steadily, along with his energy in general. As his eyes finally dried, his limbs became heavier, and he felt himself sinking deeper into his bed.
"It's been a rough morning," Raven explained sympathetically. "Sleep."
"No… no, I… I need to…" Beast Boy was fighting a losing battle, and just a few seconds later, the weight of his eyelids became too much, and his head fell back against his pillow. He would be out for a few hours; a restful, dreamless sleep. After what he had confessed, Raven didn't want to run the risk of any nightmares.
Ordinarily she would have had to stave off a blush for such an act, but there were more pressing concerns. Raising her hood again – she had lowered it as she approached him – she briefly explained her actions. "I just cleared his head for a few hours. He's asleep, but he won't dream." Turning to Robin, she stated calmly. "I think we all need to talk."
They didn't make it back to the Common Room; they had barely left Beast Boy's room when Cyborg slumped against a wall and slowly collapsed to the floor. Starfire seemed to be holding onto Robin a little more tightly than normal, and was choosing to walk rather than fly; it seemed unlikely she could summon the happiness to do so. Only Raven seemed unaffected, not that anyone could see her expression under the hood. Cyborg held his head in his hands for a few seconds, groaning in disbelief, before looking to his friends, who seemed to have the same reaction.
"I just… wasn't expecting that from him." Cyborg explained bluntly, as if shell-shocked.
"None of us were," Robin replied. "He's always been very… secretive of his past."
"Now we know why," Raven finished. There was no wit or humour in her comment, just the uncomfortable truth.
Robin formed a fist with his right hand and buried it in the palm of his left. "I'm just… I'm remembering every time I said he needed to grow up, encouraged him to take things more seriously. If I had known, I would never…"
"How do you think I feel?" Raven interrupted, her voice more remorseful than annoyed. "Every time I've compared him to an animal, called him stupid… resorted to getting physical…" she glanced down at her hands as if she half-expected them to be covered in blood. She had never been outright abusive to the boy, but she certainly hadn't shied away from the occasional slap when he had gotten on her nerves.
"It kind of makes sense though," Cyborg announced as if talking to himself. "I mean, acting like a kid. Always wanting to be around people. Always trying to make them smile." He couldn't help but glance at Raven as he added that last one. "It's like he's trying to make up for lost time."
"Or trying to make the most of what he has left," Robin explained pessimistically. It made sense that he was trying to fit so much childhood into so little time, given what had been taken from him.
Raven had been leaning back against the wall, but slapped her hands against it impatiently and stood up straight. "Well, sitting here feeling sorry for ourselves isn't going to help him. Robin, what's the plan?" It wasn't the most effective speech, but it reminded them all that they were hardly powerless in this situation, and there were plenty of things they could be doing other than moping.
"Right," replied Robin, nodding a quick thanks to Raven. "I'll focus on the legal side; like I said, I can get in touch with his solicitors, but… it's possible but not likely that they'll just drop this. But I can make sure he has the best defence. Batman knows a few people who handle superhero law, I'm sure this isn't the first time something like this has happened."
Robin turned to his second in command. "Cyborg, I want anything you can find out about Nicholas Galtry. Any criminal charges, any unsavoury connections; I don't care if he forgot to pay a parking ticket twenty years ago, I want to know about it. The more we know, the more we can prepare for this. Leave no stone unturned." Cyborg nodded affirmatively, already thinking of the best methods to gather information.
He always felt uncomfortable issuing what felt like orders to his girlfriend, but next he addressed Starfire. "Star, I want you as his emotional support. Don't smother him, and give him space if he wants it – not that it seems likely – but always be aware of where he is and how he's doing. Whether it's as a friend to spend time with, or a shoulder to cry on, I don't think it would be good for him to be alone right now."
"I would be happy to," Starfire replied quietly. Much like Beast Boy, she was always happy to spend time with her friends, even in less-than-ideal circumstances.
"Raven," Robin began, and then paused awkwardly. It was clear to see why; unlike the others, there was no clear and immediate purpose for her to serve. Nonetheless, he was quick to recover. "You've always been a pillar for him in stressful situations. I think he might trust you more than any of us. You don't have to stay close to him, but… make sure that he knows that you're available, if he needs to talk. Hell, it might finally be a good time for him to learn to meditate."
If Raven was offended by the lack of responsibility assigned to her, she didn't show it. She was only half-listening – although she absorbed the basics and understood them well enough – not out of apathy, but because from the moment she had discovered just who Nicholas Galtry was, every single one of her emotions was united behind a solitary goal.
And Robin wasn't the only one who could make a plan.