The Problem With Orange

Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans. And thank goodness, because they'd all be in therapy 24/7 for what I'm putting them through.

Chapter Seven: Dance of the Dying Feathers

It is simply a matter of control. It is very much akin to Raven's mediation. Peace, calm, tranquility. That does not include thoughts of Robin. Peace, calm, tranquility. Beast Boy is also not an acceptable source of these things, nor is the pondering of exactly how much of Cyborg's body is still human. Peace, calm, tranquility. No, Robin kissing the sides of my neck, while enjoyable in theory, is definitely not peace, calm, or tranquility.

This is not working.

With a petulant sigh, Starfire's lotus position wilted and she collapsed face up onto her bed. She brought her arm up to her face for examination and winced as the orange patterns crept up to the surface of her skin again. It was amazing to her that after an entire day of concentration and devotion to making the Problem go away, a few stolen minutes in the hallway with Robin defeated all of her hard won control.

It didn't seem very fair.

And it wasn't only thoughts of Robin, although he played a key part. Beast Boy and Cyborg were playing out their own roles in her mind. The fantasies came unbidden, and all had the same theme-- no plot and even less clothing. Where had she gotten some of these ideas, anyway? It didn't seem like using scarves to tie someone to the bed was a normal way to make love.

The phrase brought fresh images to her mind, all of them involving Robin. After all, she loved him, and he seemed to feel the same way. She tried to push the scenes out of her mind, but they were quite persistent.

"How am I supposed accompany Robin on a date in four days if I cannot control you?" she asked her skin. Not surprisingly, it didn't answer. The tension inside was killing her; there were some moments when she felt she could bear the desire, and others where even the smallest movement of the clothing against her skin made her shudder and want to seek out male attention immediately. She didn't think it was going to get any easier. "What am I going to do?"

- - -

"Beast Boy." Said Titan whirled around, ready for anything at the sound of Robin's voice.

"Sorry. We cool?" Robin asked, extending his hand. Beast Boy merely stared at it. This was unexpected, to say the least.

"Uh, sure, buddy," he said, managing a smile. He took the hand cautiously, as if expecting a trap any second. Robin winced inside. I guess I was a lot harsher than I thought these last couple of days.

"Well, now that that's taken care of...I'm gonna go see what Cy's doing, okay?" Beast Boy said. For the second time that night, Robin was left to stand in a daze while one of his friends scampered away. He sniffed his armpit surreptitiously. Nope, he didn't smell. Maybe it was just one of those nights.

- - -

Oh, man, this is not good. Not good at all, beast Boy thought frantically. He had not, in fact, gone to see Cyborg; instead, he made his way up to the roof of the tower. As soon as the fresh air hit his lungs, he began to pace the length of the roof.

The trouble had started on patrol. He and Terra had talked quietly while they looked for signs of criminal activity. The only odd thing they'd seen was the frost on the ground. In August. Beast Boy had raised an eyebrow, but Terra had laughed and explained it away with some nonsense about a cold front or something. He knew there was something wrong with the frost; it didn't smell right. Literally.

Terra had pulled him along anyway. They had gone through the entire city long before, breaking up one minor fight and stopping two thieves before they could even get into the stores they were trying to rob. All in all, it had been a quiet night.

"Is this natural?" Terra asked him suddenly. He shook his head.

"It's been like this for a few weeks now. Nothing worse than a mugging. Maybe all the super villains have finally given up on Jump City," Beast Boy said with more enthusiasm than he felt. He knew that the others were beginning to feel restless about the lack of activity; it was part of the reason everyone was on edge. Of course, Starfire's little "condition" wasn't helping matters, either. Beast Boy frowned at the thought. He had seen her demonstrating the control she had developed over the orange patterns on her skin and heard the words she had spoken to Raven--those big ears weren't just for decoration--but he had to wonder if she was really in control. After all, he'd felt the passion in their kiss on the couch, and he had been pretty sure it wasn't just one-sided.

One-sided? Didn't that imply that maybe he felt something more for her?

Nononono, just friends, he thought frantically. It didn't matter that she was incredibly beautiful, or that she not only laughed at most of his jokes, but had made him laugh just as much at hers. It didn't matter that she was in his top four people in the world to protect at all costs (Robin was also on the list, but at the moment he was near the bottom), or that maybe the kiss had been more than just a kiss. Because they were just friends. Right?

Right?

"Beast Boy, are you okay? You look like you've seen a ghost or something," Terra asked, sounding very concerned. He stopped on the path and forced himself to look at her, look at the girl that he'd spent so many years in head-over-heels in love with. Had it gone away?

The answer was no, it was still there; Terra was a beautiful, wonderful free spirit that filled him with exhilaration whenever he was near her. Except...

"Beast Boy?" Terra questioned again, now looking very confused at his sudden intensity. Without really thinking about it, Beast Boy leaned forward and kissed her lightly, looking intently into her eyes the entire time. He watched as Terra's widened and then drooped. She leaned into him, seeming to melt right into his arms. Beast Boy closed his eyes, pulling her closer, and soaked up the kiss, trying to drown the memory of Starfire with it.

- - -

Kissing Terra for the first time had been just what he'd expected--passionate, intoxicating, and had left him shaken. But he still couldn't get a certain red-haired Tamaranian out of his head. And to make things even worse, Robin had apologized to him. How was he supposed to pretend like everything was okay when he was developing a thing for Starfire? How was he supposed to behave around Terra? And Starfire, for that matter?

"Arrrgh!" he shouted at the midnight sky.

"Problem?" a cool voice asked form behind. Beast Boy spun around.

"R-Raven! What are you doing out here?" he asked skittishly. Raven arched her brow at him.

"It's a free rooftop. I came out here to meditate. But if you need some time alone..."

"No, no, no, it's okay. Meditate away. Why would I need to be alone anyway?" he babbled. His brain seemed to be working on overdrive. Man, he needed to de-stress.

"Beast Boy, does this have anything to do with Starfire's...Problem?" Raven asked, casually examining her nails. She glanced up thought the shadow of her hood and saw that Beast Boy's face looked pale and stricken, and she didn't think it was a trick of the moonlight.

"P-Problem? What problem? I didn't know Star had a problem!" He was babbling again. Shut your mouth already, Beast Boy! he told himself harshly. Raven sighed, giving up on being diplomatic about the situation.

"Beast Boy, she kissed you. There's nothing to be ashamed of. Even if it was a really good kiss, it was still just a kiss. But it doesn't make you any less of a good guy if you enjoyed it," she said bluntly, looking straight into his eyes.

"Yeah, but Terra..." he said, all of the frantic energy leaking out of him.

"Did you tell her?" Beast Boy shook his head frantically. "Then don't and move on. Star and Robin sure have." That last comment was muttered, as though she hadn't really meant to say it out loud.

"What do you mean?" Beast Boy asked, his gut tensing like he was expecting a blow, only this one wouldn't be physical. Raven opened her mouth a few times to clarify and finally settled on the simplest explanation.

"They've moved into the dating stage. I also suspect their kissing in corners when we aren't around, but that's just speculation. Beast Boy? Beast Boy?"

Said Titan had whirled around and stalked to the edge of the tower, his hands gripping the railing so hard it was painful. So, he didn't have to make a choice, Star had already solved it for him. Before he'd even gotten the chance to sort it all out.

"Damn it," he growled, punching the concrete.

- - -

"Hey, watcha doin'?" Terra's voice came from behind Robin. He was sitting on the floor of the living room with his back against the couch, a significant stack of papers in front of him.

"Oh, just going through the mail. You wouldn't believe some of the crap we get. Look at this: Support Our Lemons. S. O. L. Doesn't that kind of spell out their chances?"

Terra giggled and leaned around him to get a better look at the stack. "Oh, there's another one. 'This is your last chance to get a Titan-grade credit card from World Class Credit!' Do they realize we're Titans and we still don't use their cards?"

"Nope, we get them every couple of weeks," Robin answered. Terra, without knowing it, was infecting him with her good cheer. Not that he'd been particularly lacking it; ever since he and Starfire had finally decided where they stood, he couldn't help but feel a little goofy. If I'd known it was going to be like this, I'd have either tried a lot sooner or run away as fast as I could, he thought to himself.

"Robin, hel-lo! I said, look at this one!" Terra demanded his attention, holding up a flier that had been buried in the stack.

Come See the Coolest Cats in Town!

On Saturday,

Miss Penny Sapheir and company will be performing at

the Biannual Big Band Bash.

Be there, or be square, pally.

"Dude, this would be so much fun. It says it's being held at one of the clubs downtown, Paint Me the Blues. I've been there a couple of times, and their totally into the lounge scene." Robin stared at her blankly. "Y'know, gangsters, tuxedos, fedoras, hot girls in slinky dresses, saxophones, and lots of jazz?"

"Terra, I listen rap. And heavy stuff. Jazz isn't exactly my thing," he pointed out. Terra winked at him.

"Trust me. You wanna show Star the time of her life? Get her all dressed up and we'll all go to this thing. I'll bet we could even convince Raven--didn't beatniks spawn from this sort of crowd?"

"I dunno. I mean, there'll be dancing...and more dancing..."

"I know you can dance, white boy. I've seen you grooving to some of that stuff that pours out of Cyborg's room, which is a good thing, considering he has way better taste in music than you."

"Hey, you take that back!" Robin said in an injured tone, grabbing a pillow from behind to whack Terra in the face with. For a moment, she looked too shocked at his audacity to move. Then she grabbed another pillow, and retaliated. Soon, they were having a full out, jumping, climbing, hitting-and-throwing pillow fight. It ended abruptly when both pillows erupted in an explosion of feathers. They floated down to the surface of the floor gracefully, as if they could erase the violent murder of the unsuspecting pillows with their dance.

"Star's going to kill us," Robin said with conviction. After all, they were her edition to the room to make it more homey.

"You get the sewing machine, I'll start gathering up the feathers," Terra said, never taking her eyes off the peacefully floating feathers.

"Who's gonna do the sewing?"

"Both of us, you nimwit."

"Right."

- - -

"You're really worked up about this whole thing, aren't you?" Raven asked after a moment, putting a hand on Beast Boy's arm. "Why is this so important?"

He sighed, burying his face in his resting arms. "It's just...Terra's what I want in a woman. She really is. She's smart, spunky, pretty, and hilarious. So's Star. But...Star's more like the woman I wish I could have. The kind that walks into a room and can have any guy she wants. And when she kissed me, for the first time I thought maybe it was me she chose, not Robin. I kinda started to secretly hope that maybe they wouldn't work out. But I guess I knew deep down that she's all about him. I'm just so sick of being a freak."

Raven listened to his words, and felt an answering pain. A freak, like you. You control the dark, and it makes you unfeeling, cold. No man wants you, a piece of her whispered. Even as she tried to block it, she could feel the hurt at not being considered on Beast Boy's list of ladies. Granted, she didn't want to touch the love triangle with a nineteen and a half foot pole, but it would have been nice if he, one of her best friends, had considered her a true woman. She closed her eyes tightly, frantically trying to block out the ache.

"Rae? Rae?" Beast Boy asked, shaking her shoulder gently. "You all right? C'mon, snap out of it."

She looked at him then. To his great astonishment, he saw that her eyes were shiny with unshed tears. But then she blinked them away, the sadness mingling with seriousness.

"I know what it's like to be looked at and not really considered for what's inside. It sucks. But I also know that Star and Robin have been mooning over each other for years now. To be honest, no one else has ever stood a chance."

Beast Boy smiled. "Not even her other boyfriends?"

"Uh-uh."

He thought for a moment. "Not even Aqua Lad?"

This time Raven smiled back. "Nope, not even him."

"Thanks," he said, feeling marginally better. Then he shifted uncomfortably. "Uh, you know that it's cool to cry and stuff around me, right?"

Raven lifted a brow at him. "Beast Boy, I don't do crying."

He laughed suddenly, and it was abrupt and rich. "Right, just like you don't do fear."

She growled, actually growled, at him for that one.

"Or anger," he added with a nudge.

"Oh, no, I do anger. And it's a lot more welcome than crying," she replied with a sardonic smile.

End Chapter

It's been a while, huh?

I'll bet you thought I'd put Robin and Terra in the same situation as Starfire and Beast Boy. Hah! Fooled you! This chapter is dedicated to HPangel589, my 100th reviewer. (And thank you for the compliment--I was a little concerned about the scene.) Over 100 reviews! I was shocked when I saw that number. Frickin' A'. It made my night, seriously. I'm so glad everyone's enjoying the story so far.

On a side note (like that's never happened before), Penny's last name is pronounced Saf-ear, although it flows a little better. Think French.

To FairDrea: Dude, you're awesome for giving me such a lengthy review. And please, if you find something you need to tear into me for, do it!

To RyokoJesseandFriend: Thank you so much for being a faithful reviewer so far! I understand your reservations on the physical aspects on a relationship before it's developed. Trust me, it's going to become a central issue, although maybe not the way you think. And as for the question: the Beast Boy/Starfire kiss happened once; the "second" time was Robin's flashback.

To Phoenix'sSoul: If you mean, did Robin and Starfire really do it, the answer is no, it was Starfire's dream. And I've actually been waiting for someone to comment on the night owl stuff! I figure that at some point, the Titans would have had to switch from going to bed at the same time as the rest of the world to doing most of their crime fighting at night, since that's when most of the criminal activity happens.

To GalaxyStar: I'm glad I could make your day!

To Tsugath: Twisty enough for you? ;)

To Brogramn: Does that mean you get to go to the UK and soak up some culture from someone else's country? That would be so cool! Oh, and I, uh, guess I could actually comment on your comment... I know Star's a little OOC, but I think given the stress of thinking brand new thoughts about people that are like family, it's believable. I also wanted to give her more depth than just "happy." Of course, you're free to disagree. Oh, and the review I left on chapter two of your story was kind of a joke relating to yours, but I guess you had no idea what I was doing. Sorry 'bout that; I'll make it up to you.

To everyone concerned about Terra being a lawn ornament: You probably didn't see my earlier note on Terra; I have another story called Unpetrify that deals with her stone...ness. Yeah. Read it if it still bothers you.

To everyone that commented about the tea: I know that regular ol' tea has plenty of caffeine, but wasn't sure about the herbal. I got several yes's and one no, and if we average that out it's a maybe. Good enough for me. ;)

To everyone with more questions: I know that some of these notes are addressed to certain people, but read them anyway! Sometimes it saves me from having to answer the same question over and over.

Wow, these ending notes are getting longer and longer.

Cool. ;)

Fairyhome2000