"So, after I'm gone, do I have to worry about you and Blondie feeling a bit too "frisky"?" Rose asked with a smirk while packing the remainder of her loose belongings into a bag.
"Aw, you worried the big bad wolf will eat up baby sis after you leave?" Beast Boy taunted back, having gotten somewhat used to Rose's teasing over the last few weeks. He stood there watching her, fiddling with the communicator in his hands.
"Yeah right. I'm more worried about her eating you alive. She and Pinkie have been keeping too close a watch over me, and I had to pay back their kindness by teaching them a few tricks of the trade. She pretended to be all shy, but she was very attentive whenever she wasn't pretending to cover her eyes. And of course Pinkie was all ears."
He tried to act as if that news, but the slightly red hue at the top of his ears and his increased grip on the communicator showed how much her comments affected him. Finally he broke the facade. "You're way too good at this."
"And don't you forget it," she snarked at him. "Still it's good that you seem to be getting that temper of yours under control. Last week you'd really had to hold yourself back for a quip like that."
"Yeah, well you know how much Robin and Raven have been getting after me about meditation. Especially with them leaving and whatever tech support the League is sending out to take care of the stuff Cyborg did for the Tower," he replied slightly preening at the praise.
She walked over and ruffled his hair. "Aw, is puppy happy I praised him?"
Suddenly the air in the room dropped a few degrees as he grabbed her arm, his eyes slitted as his smile dropped. Her smile, meanwhile, got a lot larger, excited by the look. They stood there for what felt like hours even though it was only a few minutes. He took a deep breath, and let it out through his nose, while his eyes returned to normal and he released her arm. "Why do you keep on provoking me like that?"
"Cuz Greenie, I know none of the others are going to push your buttons hard enough to make sure the training is working. That and," she pulls him closer, her mouth next to his ear, "you know how I'd like it." Suddenly she was on the other side of the room, sitting on the bed, her hands running over the communicator that he had been fussing with. "And what's this? Don't tell me you're up at the ass crack of the morning to get some sleeping pictures of me?"
"No, that's for you. Terra told me that you'd try to sneak away without saying anything and that this would be the only time to give it to you without you being able to forget it."
"Hah. I swear if she wasn't my sister I'd have to kill her for knowing me that well. Or give her a nasty concussion at the very least."
"So you'll take it?"
She spun the deceive on her finger before tossing it in the air and catching it. "Beast Boy, only going away presents I've ever gotten have been a knife in the back and a kick to the head. So yeah, I guess I'll keep this one." She slid it into her bag. "And now, how to show gratitude for the best going away present ever?" She put the bag onto her shoulder and started to walk towards him
"Well it's not really a present, more of a way for all of us to keep in touch so you don't have to worry about giving anything back," he stammers back as she approaches him. She continues towards him and he starts to back away until he hits the wall, yet she still advances until she's right on top of him. She smiles as she leans over…to give him a kiss on the cheek! "Make sure you take care of Baby Sis and the rest of the girls for me. And be sure to keep the looking out for my little Bro too. Hopefully, the next time I see you, you'll be ready." And with that she's gone, the door barely making a sound as it shuts behind her.
The breath he didn't realize he was holding is slowly let out, as he observes the medic room the white haired woman had called home for the last couple weeks. The room feels baron even with all the medical equipment still being there. He sniffs, confused as it smells like the only trace her being there is the small bit of saliva her kiss left on his cheek. He turns to the door and as he turns off the light he can't help but think 'God, this is getting complicated'
9 A.M. Jinx/Terra's Room
"What do you mean it's not that complicated? Her sister wants to date our boyfriend," Raven points out. She looks over to Terra and Starfire, looking for support only to find Terra looking as though she wishes she could shrink and Starfire, not looking necessarily against the idea as she ran her fingers through Blackfire's long hair. Over the last week these morning meetings between the girls had become a daily occurrence with the exception of Blackfire, who seemed to come and go as the mood took her. For the most part, they had been used to keeping all involved on how Beast Boy had been doing with learning to keep his impulses under control, but this morning Jinx had used it to officially talk to Raven and Starfire about Rose's feelings for the green Titan.
"Why would it be any more complicated than the rest of us doing it? And have you seen those two together? They've got a heck of a vibe going on with each other. Like everytime me and Terra have seen them interact, they've just got this weird aggressive fuck-me energy around them."
"Ah, yes, that's exactly what he needs right now. A girl that he has "aggressive fuck-me energy" with." Raven approaches her fellow magic user, her face inches from Jinx's.. "Next we should take him out for ice cream with Gizmo and Adonis."
"That's the point. We all care about Beast Boy but our villain roster consists of jerks and assholes of the highest order. They're not going to hold back in talking shit and, as well as his impulse control lessons have gone, it's not like we've gone that hard in testing where the limits of that restraint lie. At least, not anywhere to the level she has."
Raven turned away from Jinx, knowing the pinkette had a point. While she had been probing his limits, as a person who hated her limits being pushed when she had first arrived at the Tower, she couldn't help but restrain herself. As she turned away, her eyes keyed in on terra doing her best to be invisible. "What about you? Don't you have any misgivings about your sister wanting to seduce your boyfriend?"
"Not realllly. I mean it's not too different from you and Starfire sharing him, right?"
"Me and Starfire aren't sisters."
"I mean neither are me and Rose by blood. And I don't think we care about each other more than you care about Star. Plus, Rose has had…problems with guys before. And whatever she's got with Beast Boy, it seems like she's doing better than before."
Raven turned to the last member of their yoorgin, hoping for some help from these self admitted well resonated arguments. "Don't you have any problems with this Starfire? I mean, isn't five members a lot?"
"Well, having a yorgin would be odd for a Tameranean, let alone one this size. It would truly prove what an excellent mate we have that he would acquire more mates and friend Rose would be exceptional. But the most important choice is the voice made by mate Beast Boy. I would not mind if friend Rose or Nyte would join us in our happiness."
Blackfire's head jerked at that last sentence, causing Starfire to tug at her hair, while the others looked like she had grown a horn. "Sister, you must be careful. It would be most tragic if I had ripped some of your beautiful hair."
"Wh-what do you mean by that, Lyte?! It wouldn't be right for us to be in a relationship with the same male."
"I only mean to say that, if being around mate Beast Boy makes you happy, then I would be happy to have you with us, rather than you being unhappy away from us."
Blackfire relaxed back into her sister's arms. "You have nothing to worry about. Now that I'm back with you, this is the happiest place in the world for me." Starfire giggled, clearly pleased with how affectionate Blackfire had become.
Raven stood defeated, nobody was actually against the mercenary joining their group, not even her at this point. "Fine. We can talk to Rose about it after Robin and Cyborg leave and we're introduced to whoever is replacing them as the "official League liaison and tech support".
"Heh, well about that. Rose wanted to keep up the nonchalant merc routine, so she kind of left this morning. As she said "I don't want to have to deal with whatever sticks up their ass, asshole that Batman sends to replace Boy Blunder and Tin Man"."
"Of course she would say that before leaving without a word."
Jinx playfully hopped onto Raven's back, gently hugging her from behind. "C'mon, Raven we've all got our thing. Rose's is the lone mercenary thing, yours pretending to be no fun, and Kitten's is being a bitch."
Rooftop of Titan's Tower-Noon
"Hurry up Robby -poo! I wanna see our new place so I can start redecorating!" Robin had the nerve to look bashful as he followed his girlfriend.
"See, total bitch," Jinx whispered conspiratorially to Raven as she hugged Cyborg goodbye. The two smirked as Cyborg's eyes darted over to the blonde brat to ensure that Jinx hadn't been overheard. Satisfied she hadn't, he pulled the pinkette into a light noogie. "Hey, what's all this for."
"For trying to ruin my trip. Last thing I need is a two hour flight listening to her bitch to Robin about you talking shit about her."
"All right, all right, I get it. Let go!." He let her down. And she lightly punched his chest. "Good luck out there, Tin Man."
"Thanks. And for what it's worth, I'm glad you became one of us."
Pink burst onto Jinx's cheeks. "Oh my god!. You're so cheesy! How long have you had that one in the holster?"
"Hah, long enough! Anyway," he leaned over and brought the two goths close, "make sure to look after the Bean sprout for me. I trust you all to look after one another, but I trust you two to be able to keep his head on straight."
"Of course we will," they promised.
"With that out of the way," he said as he walked over to the last in the away party line, Beast Boy pretending he couldn't hear everything they had said. Cybord reached him and put his fist out. " You know Green Bean, we've been here for a long time. You've had your ups and downs, and for a while I thought I'd never be doing this, but I'm so glad that I am." Beast Boy makes a fist, getting ready to dap him up when Cyborg shakes his head and puts his hand over Beast Boy's. He opens his hand and Cyborg releases his grip, keys falling into the younger man's hands. His eyes widened as he realized what those keys were for. "Now be sure to keep her filled and happy. Raven's got her maintenance down to a tee, so if you need any help, just ask her. Maybe make it a date night type of thing for the two of you."
"Cy, you can't be serious. The T-Car is your baby! You-I -I can't do this! I'll mess it up!"
Cyborg puts his hand on top of Beast Boy's head, trying to calm him. "Naw, relax BB. You're ready for this. I know you handle it," he says as he looks over to the girl in a row, watching the interaction between the two. "Yeah, you can handle it just fine. You've got a heck of a team to back you up. And when that's not enough, well you know who to call."
Cyborg ruffles his hair one last time and gets into the driver's seat of the jet ready to take off into the next step of his life.
"Well they're gone," Raven says quietly, watching as the jet quickly becomes a distant dot in the sky.
"Yeah, they really are," Beast Boy replies, the keys Cyborg left him jingling in his hands.
Terra reaches out to grab his hand, stilling the keys for the first time he'd been given them. "Hey, we can handle this." She looks over to the other. "Right guys?"
"Sure you can! I'm just here because the old man can be a pain!" replied a female voice behind them.
A/N: I both loathe and love this chapter. Like I love that I was able to come back after so long, to a story I had loved writing and finally be able to continue it, but I hate that I just couldn't get the tone right for follow up to how I had been writing. I had tried to write this chapter so many times over the years but everytime it just felt hollow. But I hope you all enjoy it!