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The day before Gar's birthday, Mallory let Peter come to the cave to spend the night. The boys stayed up late watching movies and eating junk food, until around two in the morning when they both passed out from exhaustion. Mallory and Megan carried them to their rooms and then the team got started. Robin went up in the rafters and put streamers up, and Megan had all of the cakes, cookies, and brownies premixed and ready to go in the oven. While the Martian was busy in the kitchen, the rest of the team decorated the cave, and Wally and Artemis went out to get candles, ice cream, and a blindfold for their big surprise present.
Mallory and Garth were putting together the party favors while Conner moved the furniture to make a bigger space in the living room. The room got small as the entire team moved around the living room and kitchen trying to get everything done before either of the boys woke up. Wally and Artemis came back almost an hour later, several large tubs of ice cream between them.
"Don't you think that's a lot?" Megan asked.
"The whole Leagues gonna be here," Wally pointed out, and Artemis added, "that includes Wally and Flash."
Mallory grinned. "Don't worry, Miss M. It'll get eaten," she said, taking a break from stuffing candy in bags and standing up to stretch.
"Hey, are you leaving me with all this?" Garth asked, looking up at her.
Mallory looked around the room and spotted Tula helping Kaldur hang up a banner. "Tula, want to switch?" she asked.
The Atlantian happily abandoned her task and took a seat beside her boyfriend. Mallory went to the leader's side and grabbed her half of the banner, hanging it above the zeta tubes. Sphere rolled into the room and went to each pair to see what was going on, and Wolf was sound asleep, leaning his back on the back of the sofa. Rocket looked at the back of the green fabric and frowned, pulling a chunk of long, white fur off.
"Looks like we're gonna have to clean the sofa when he wakes up," she announced.
"Is he shedding already?" Conner asked, walking over, his task of moving the furniture completed.
"Looks like," Raquell replied, handing him the chunk of fur and moving around the clone to the kitchen to grab a drink. Mallory and Kaldur finished with the banner and Robin dropped down from the rafters, their tasks completed as well.
"He'll like it, right?" Megan asked, looking around the room.
Zatanna put an arm around her. "Yeah, he'll love it, don't worry. He'll be so busy, he won't even get a chance to think about anything except the party."
Megan smiled. "I hope so," she said. Tula and Garth stood up and walked over.
"Well, he'd better like it, after all the work we did," Wally said jokingly, trying to break through the cloud that seemed to settle over the team.
Mallory smiled at him, appreciating it, and she tossed him a box of poptarts. "You must be starving, after all that work," she said, matching his joking tone.
"Hey, you're not kidding. It took a lot of restraint not to eat the ice cream on the way back," he replied. The rest of the team smiled at his answer and shook the grayness off.
"So, what else is there?" Artemis asked.
Megan looked around. "I think we're just waiting for the cakes to decorate them," she said, pouring some pretzels in a bowl and sliding it over to the middle of the counter. The group sat around the kitchen, resting from spending the last few hours decorating.
"What time is everyone coming?" Raquel asked after a moment.
"I told them to come for about 5:30, he wakes up early," Megan replied. The zeta tube whirred to life, announcing Flash and Green Lantern. Barry and Hal appeared in the opening.
"Hey, where you want this?" Barry asked, nodding to the present he was holding.
"On the table, I guess," Megan replied. He set the box on the coffee table and the Leaguers walked over to the team.
"The place looks good," Hal mentioned, dragging the bowl of pretzels closer to him.
"Thanks. We appreciated the help," Mallory said, pulling the bowl away from him.
Hal grinned at her. "Hey, don't blame me, the fastest man alive took forever picking out a present," he replied.
Artemis looked around. "At least he brought one," she said.
He smiled and didn't say anything, and Barry nodded. "Thanks for pointing that out. I told him to get something while he was waiting for me." Hal rolled his eyes and adjusted the collar of his flight jacket.
Mallory smiled. She loved when Barry and Hal got together. They were immature and fun, and they almost fit right in with the team. Black Canary and Green Arrow were the next two to come, and Iris came not far behind. Megan had invited her since she had been babysitting Gar and Peter for so long, and she'd been glad to come.
The team split up to start doing some last minute prepping. The cakes came out of the oven and Zatanna decorated them with a spell. Megan cut up the brownies and arranged them and the cookies on plates. Mallory filled bowls with pretzels, candy, and chips and brought the drinks out.
"And we're sure it's a good idea to do it first thing in the morning?" Artemis asked.
"No," Megan admitted, "but I don't want him to have time to think about anything."
"Besides, we already did all this work," Tula added. Artemis nodded.
Mallory went to her room to wake Peter up so he could be part of the surprise, and by the time she got back, half of the League was there, including Superman. Everyone was wearing their suits except Barry and Hal, and when Peter came out Hal put his suit on. Mallory sighed, a little jealous that he could put his suit on so fast. If she wanted to change quickly, she had to sacrifice whatever outfit she was wearing over it.
Peter ran over to say hi to Iris and Barry, and Hal ruffled his hair affectionately. Mallory turned around, content that he was in good hands, and walked over to where Clark was talking with Wonder Woman.
"Hey, Torch," he said when she reached them.
"Hey, thanks for coming," she replied, looking at both of them.
"Of course," Wonder Woman said, looking towards Megan sympathetically.
"When is he gonna wake up?" Superman asked.
Mallory shrugged. "Megan's gonna go check on him in a few minutes, make sure he's ok."
"You know, I meant to talk to you about your big surprise for him. Are you sure it's a good idea?" Clark asked.
Mallory tilted her head. "You all agreed to it, too, it's not just us," she reminded him.
"I know, I was just thinking about how young he is. And your brother," he said.
Mallory sighed. "I know, but we talked everything out. He's been training hard since- well, you know. And as for Peter, I'll cross that bridge when we come to it."
Clark nodded thoughtfully. "Well, I hope he likes the party."
They watched Megan fly to her room, and Mallory smiled and looked back at the two Leaguers. "Well, we'll find out in a minute," she said, and she went over to where the rest of the team had gathered around the coffee table full of presents.
"Ready for this?" Wally asked quietly.
"Well, it's either gonna be really good, or really bad, so we'll see," Artemis commented.
Mallory put a hand on Peter's shoulder and he looked up at her. "What do you think of everything?" she asked.
He looked around and smiled. "I think it looks great. Gar's gonna be so excited when he sees it," he replied.
Mallory smiled. "Good," she said. She wanted to ask her brother how his friend had seemed the night before, but she didn't want to do anything to put a shadow on the day. A moment later, Megan walked in with Gar curled up on her shoulder as a cat, still half asleep. The second his eyes opened, everyone yelled surprise and the boy jumped back, falling off Megan's shoulder and landing on the ground in his human form.
"Happy birthday, Gar," Megan said, helping him to his feet and giving him a hug.
A huge smile spread on Gar's face and he ran over the the table where all of the presents were. "Cool!" he said, looking around the room, which was decorated in a jungle theme.
He and Peter went to get some cookies and ended up rough housing with Wolf in the training room, not really sparring, but not too far off. Mallory watched them from the living room, happy that Gar was smiling and having fun already.
"He's fine," Wally said beside her. She looked at him briefly before turning her attention back to the boys. "Yeah, I think so too," she said.
"You ready to give him his presents?" he asked.
Mallory understood what he was really asking and sighed. "As ready as I ever will be, I guess. I just hope that Peter'll still be talking to me by the end of the day."
Wally chuckled and gave her a one-armed hug. "Don't stress about it. He'll get over it." "Thanks," Mallory said.
"Yeah, he'll just disown you and find a hero to train him harder than he's ever been trained so that he can one day prove a point to you. That's all," the speedster continued.
Mallory gave him a sideways glare and moved out from under his arm. "Thanks," she repeated, sarcasm dripping from the word.
Wally grinned. "No problem," he replied happily.
Mallory laughed, and they went back into the kitchen to get some food.
A few hours later, after everyone had participated in some games and had eaten, they all gathered in the living room for Garfield to open his presents. Peter was sitting right next to him, practically bouncing in anticipation of each present. Everyone from the team had gotten him something, and he opened theirs first, then he moved on to the Leaguers' presents. When all of the presents were opened, the boy started picking out some, recognizing a pattern.
Megan had gotten him a training suit, Robin gave him a new holographic wristwatch, and one of the Leaguers gave him a comm. The rest of the presents were disconnected, though, so he didn't say anything. He was about to move on when Megan smiled and pulled out the blindfold.
"We have one more present for you," she said.
"What? An execution?" Gar asked, looking at the piece of cloth with playful suspicion.
The team laughed, and Megan shook her head and tossed it to him. "Just put it on," she told him. He did, and Megan led him to the zeta tubes and positioned him in front of it. The team looked at each other, barely containing their own excitement, and Robin set the zeta tube to the cave.
The computer scanned Gar, and announced, "Beast Boy, B16." Gar's mouth fell open and he pushed the blindfold to his head, looking around to see if it meant what he thought it did.
"Welcome to the team, Beast Boy," Kaldur said.
"What!? I'm on the team? That's so cool!" he said.
Mallory could feel Peter looking at her, and she intentionally kept her eyes on Gar. After a moment, Peter was right next to Gar, grinning from ear to ear, happy for his friend.
"Dude, congrats! You made it!" he said, and they two ran back to Gar's room so he could put on his new suit.
"You sure he still wants to be Beast Boy?" Artemis asked when the boys were out of sight.
"That's what he said he would be if he and Peter ever became heroes," Robin replied.
"Oh, yeah? What was Peter's?" Wally asked curiously.
Robin smiled a little and looked at Mallory. "It escapes me for the moment," he said. Mallory rolled her eyes and went to the kitchen to get a drink. She didn't need any reminders of how hard it was going to be to keep Peter off the team when she'd agreed to let his best friend join. The team dropped the subject and they settled around the room to talk.
"That's so cool!" Peter said, staring at his friend's suit.
Gar grinned and looked at himself in the mirror, standing as straight as he could. "Right?" he said, looking at Peter through the mirror.
"Where's your mask?" Peter asked, looking around.
"They didn't give me one. I guess it's kind of pointless with my skin," Gar replied, deflating just a little bit.
Peter tilted his head. "You still need one," the younger boy insisted, then he grinned and said, "You should make yourself a monkey when you go on missions."
Gar laughed. "Why?" he asked.
"So you can keep your real identity safe," Peter explained. Gar shrugged and turned into a monkey. "Ok, now make your face back into a person," Peter instructed. Gar gave him a look, and Peter said, "Just try it." Gar shrugged and turned his face back to normal. The result made it look like he had sideburns and scruffy hair, and he had a tail. Peter laughed, and Gar turned back to himself. "No, no, it looked good! You should stay like that," Peter told him.
Gar turned back into the half monkey body and stared at the mirror, inspecting the new look. Then he grinned and turned to his friend. "It's perfect! Come on, I want the team to see the new and improved Beast Boy!"
The boys scampered back to the living room, Gar's tail twitching as they ran.
Do y'all like Peter and Gar's friendship? Review to let me know!