May I Stay?

Beast Boy woke up in the hospital unit, hooked up the wires with his pulse beeping on the monitor. His groggy eyes scanned the room to see Raven in the bed next to him, asleep and levitating. His thoughts were interrupted by Robins voice, scolding the rest of the Titans in the hallway outside his door.


"We need to get it together! Cinderblock should not have been a problem today. It was an easy battle, so what happened?" Robin scolded.


"Hey man, as far as I knew, Raven had it under control?" Cyborg chipped in defensively. "...Ole Block for Brains couldn't have overpowered Raven so something must've happened when Beast Boy showed up..." Cyborg mumbled quietly, coming to his own conclusion.


"I see..." Robin trailed off, thinking through everything. "I knew he should've stayed back... I just want to know why he thought he should ignore orders..." Robin grumbled. 


Beast Boy felt a wave of guilt as he looked back over at Raven. 'What happened?' He thought to himself. He laid on his bed, watching her float for a while. He knew she was healing herself from something, but he couldn't remember anything after flying down to bug Raven. After a few minutes of silence, Raven floated down to sit on her bed. She gingerly pressed on her ribs, mentally noting that they were only a little sore but were healed. Beast Boy had closed his eyes and pretended to sleep to avoid conversation. Raven knew he was awake. She could feel his anxious mind hiding something but before she could open her mouth, Robin stepped inside.


"Oh hey! You're awake!" Robin said with a slight grin. "How are your ribs?" Robin eyed Raven's right side as she got out of bed.


"Healed. Just a little sore." Her monotone voice said from under her hood.


"Has he—?" Robin's eyes flickered toward Beast Boy from under his mask. Beast Boy tensed up, waiting for Raven's answer.


"No—he just needs some rest." Raven said flatly, trying to hide that fact that she knew he was eavesdropping. Robin nodded and they both left the room going their separate ways.


Later that evening, the team had ordered pizzas and everyone but Beast Boy was out in the living room. The TV was on but no one was really watching. Raven walked down to the sofa with a mug of tea in hand and sat on the end next to Cyborg. Cyborg had a slice of pepperoni in his metal hand but hesitated to eat. No one had asked Raven what happened but everyone was silently wondering. Raven could feel the questioning glances from outside her hood as she let out a long sigh.


"I had Cinderblock in my forcefield. Beast Boy flew down and landed on my shoulder. He distracted me and Cinderblock smashes through my forcefield and into my side. All I know is when I opened my eyes, Beast Boy was laying next to me." Raven explained with annoyance. The three sat quietly, soaking in her words.


"Something is up, man! BB just hasn't been himself lately." Cyborg spoke out, startling the Titans.


"I hope Beast Boy is the OK!" Starfire added softly. No one answered because no one really knew. The team quietly at the pizza as the TV droned on.


Beast Boy made his way down the hallway and hesitantly entered the living room. He cleared his throat as his four friends turned to see him standing in the doorway. Beast Boy looked down with guilt as he began to speak.


"Guys, I—um—I'm really sorry... it was dumb and I should've stayed back..." Beast Boy spoke with his head low, avoiding their gazes.


"I'm just glad you're okay!" Robin spoke up immediately but then added, "Are you okay?" His concerned eyes bore straight through his mask and into Beast Boy which unnerved him.


"Yeah, yeah! I'm fine! I—uh...I'm going to call it a night though." Beast Boy said which drew concerned and skeptical looks from everyone's faces as he turned to leave. He was relieved when no one stopped him. He made it to his room and locked the door behind him. He shoved some comic books and a soda can off of his lower bunk and crawled under the green covers. Everything felt heavy as he curled up under the covers. He didn't realize how tired a few weeks of poor sleep could make him until now. He forgot about his fear of his dreams and let sleep take him away.


Raven went to sleep shortly after Beast Boy. The healing she had done, really took it out of her so she struggled to stay away for the zombie movie, her friends were watching. After the movie, Robin, Starfire and Cyborg went to their rooms as well.

Robin was sitting at his desk, thinking over the events of the day when he heard a knock on his door. "Come in" He mumbled absent mindedly as Starfire floated in and sat on the edge of his bed.


"You're worried!" Starfire mumbled as she watched Robing read a news paper article about Cinderblock.


"Yeah," he mumbled as he finished the paragraph and turned to see her empathetic green eyes staring back at him. "Everything will be okay, Star!" He started as he got up to sit on the bed next to her. He grabbed her fidgeting hand and rubbed his green gloved thumb over the back of her hand.


She closed her eyes as she took a deep breath, thinking over what Robin had said before speaking. "May I stay?" Her voice sounded tiny, almost like a child. Everything was so new to him, especially since their trip to Tokyo. They hadn't done much since except share a kiss when no one was looking. The thought of what might happen made Robins heart beat fast. He wasn't quite ready for this step in their relationship and he found himself silently panicking. He glanced over as she laid her head on his shoulder with a yawn. Her eyes were tired and starting to shut as it suddenly dawned on him, that he had completely misinterpreted what she meant by "stay".  Robin picked up Starfire and placed her into his bed. He pulled off her boots as she drifted off to sleep and tucked her in. He changed down to a T-shirt and boxers before laying down next to her. He laid down and she nudged herself into his arms. Robin fell asleep with the the biggest grin stuck on his face.

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