"So how do we start?" Raven mumbled, sitting in bed with a cup of tea in her hands. Beast Boy was sitting in front of her, eying her face from under her cloak. Her walls were up and stronger than ever, but there was at least a small effort to peak through.
"That's up to you, Rae." Beast Boy whispered with a small crack in his voice.
Robin woke up to Starfire stroking his inky hair from his forehead. His forehead was no longer sticky from fever or physical stress. For the first time, Robin didn't notice his pain immediately. His body was down to a dull roar with the pain medications and he recognized he could think clearly. With a wince and great effort, Robin raised his right arm to Starfire's arm and gave her a weak squeeze. She giggled with a happy smile as she floated above him, arm in grasp. Robin chuckled softly but it came out silently. His throat still burned from previous events and something as simple as speaking took too much effort. Robin just smiled as he watched this incredible alien float above him, celebrating his small victory.
Raven was sitting against the headboard of her bed with the sleeping green kitten in her lap. Beast boy was still exhausted from his previous condition, but he was gaining energy quickly. They had talked a little bit, mostly Raven argued while Beast Boy listened. She didn't know why she couldn't just let herself be happy, because she wanted to, but she felt the need to push him away. Somehow through all of her reasons and justifications of why they couldn't be together, her he was, still there. How did she deserve this?
Cyborg came in to check on Robin. Everything appeared to be on the mend, which is great, but Cyborg warned him that he had a long road to recovery ahead of him. Some of the seemingly simplest tasks like walking would take much longer than he realized, so fighting wasn't anywhere in the near future. Cyborg didn't say it outlaid but he internally knew that this might be Robin's retirement from crime fighting.
Cyborg adjusted the hospital bed so Robin was sitting up. He got Robin a lap table with a pen and paper since his voice wasn't back yet. Robin began to scribble as if he'd been holding back words for years:
"Thank you both!!! I feel trapped in my body. Thank you for helping me and saving me. I appreciate you both for everything you've done and I'm sorry for the burden I've become." Robin scribbled with a lot of effort and placed the pen down with a shaky hand. Both Cyborg and Starfire were hovering over the table while reading the note.
"Hey man! You're not a burden! And you'd do the same for any of us." Cyborg scolded with a metal hand on Robin's shoulder.
"Yes Friend! You are not the Burden!" Shouted Starfire! Robin's down face replied with a sight smirk to Starfire's response. He picked up the pen and scrawled:
"Thanks guys. I just can't wait to be useful again."
"Actually, there is something you can do!" Cyborg smiled as he paced off to grab something important.
The green kitten woke up with a stretch. Raven watched as he turned back into Beast Boy.
"Hey Mama!" Beastboy whispered with a smirk. Raven replied with a silent smirk. "When are you going to let me love you?" He whispered with a cocked eyebrow. Raven whispered something inaudible. "What?" Beastboy questioned with surprise, to which her cheeks turned a soft pink.
"I said today..." She whispered with her head down.
"What? I don't think I quite heard you there Rae?" Beast Boy said purposefully antagonizing her. Her embarrassment was raging out of control.
"I SAID TODAY!!" She shouted as a bottle on the shelf exploded in the background and the lights flickered.
"That was fun!" Beast Boy smirked as Raven sunk further into her cloak. "What if I do this?" He teased as she ducked into her cloak for a kiss and the light bulb exploded, leaving the two in the dark.
Cyborg returned with a stack of photos from Robin's explosion and a magnifying glass. He set the thick stack down on the lap table with the magnifying glass on top. A large smile flashed across Robin's face as Cyborg smirked next to Starfire with impending success. He began to pour through the photos and jot down any observations in a notebook. Robin organized the photos in numerical order and sorted them by the contents of each photo. Starfire and Cyborg left to go shower and eat since they hadn't in a while. It felt so good to be doing something. Robin forced himself to lean forward but was forced back by an intense stabbing pain in his rib cage. "Damnit" Robin whispered silently, remembering that he still had a lot of injuries. Shaking away the pain out of his mind, he returned his attention to the work ahead of him. In one of the photos of his mutilated R-Cycle, he saw a small spec of gold. Upon further inspection, he saw it was a small Slade Tracker on the underside of his R-Cycle. Slade had been tracking him for a while.
Raven shook the shock from her face. In the low light she saw the outline of Beast Boy's face smirking as he waited for her to respond. She could hear her pulse in her ears and she knew it was only time before something else broke. He gently pushed the hood from her head and left his right hand behind her head. They stared into each other's eyes, completely still and silent. Raven's heart was pounding and she was breathing quickly. Beast Boy was in the same boat, but he barely kept his cool. Raven took a leap of faith, which terrified her, but she reached up, gripped his collar and pulled him into her for another kiss. This time they didn't recoil and nothing exploded. It all happened so fast that she couldn't keep up, not that she wanted to. He gently pushed her onto her back without their lips breaking stride. Something about his body weight on her, calmed her nerves. They found rhythm in kissing as they breathlessly continued. Beast Boy sat up to catch his breath as they stared at each other with wide-eyed bewilderment.