Rewrite.
"Good Morning, Jump City. Or shall I say, sad morning," the reporter gave a sad chuckle before coughing uncomfortably, "Today is a tragic day in our wonderful city; we have lost a great hero," the anchorman said, shuffling several papers on his desk into one pile. He clenched his jaw moved his hand into a death grip on his water glass. "Last night, a man, under the influence, crashed his 4x4 Chevrolet truck into Teen Titan Beast Boy's moped.
"Beast Boy had taken his 'T-ped' to a wrestling match, when his beloved moped was rammed into a building, crushing our green hero. The Titans have not yet given word to whether they will give Beast Boy a funeral, since his body was so destroyed in the crash." He paused, struggling to choke out the words, "The leader, Teen Titan Robin, has confirmed that Beast Boy's death will not keep the Titans from patrolling our city and keeping it safe. The driver is now behind bars and is serving ten to fifteen years in prison, if not more, for the death of Beast Boy…"
---
Robin sighed and ran a hand through his unruly hair, turning off the television. He nearly regretted doing so; now the tower was back to the way it had been for the past day: silent, and tense.
He got up, not caring that he knocked the remote over as he stood, and made his way downstairs to the gym. Immediately he headed for the punching bag, whose poor fate had been sealed the moment angst started driving Robin's mind. He left the punching gloves where he had used them last; he wanted to feel the fury leave his hands and not through the material.
Robin readied his stance for a moment and drove his fist into the punching bag. He tried to think of something other than the look on Starfire's face when they had been informed of Beast Boy's accident, or the disbelieving chuckle Cyborg had given, or even Raven's roll of the eyes and casual, "Beast Boy is an accident" before she asked, absentmindedly, what had happened this time.
As their fearless leader had predicted, each titan had taken Beast Boy's death their own way. Starfire, being probably the most emotional of them all, had shut herself in her room and the last time he dared bring his ear to the door, her cries were still attempting to be smothered by her pillow. Cyborg was suddenly more like Raven and cold and reclusive, diving himself into some of Beast Boy's hobbies. The last he saw him he was in the kitchen, looking for Beast Boy's tofu.
Raven, in Robin's most honest opinion, had taken it the worst. She refused to show any emotion for the green titan, and went on pretending nothing had happened to him at all. She continued with her daily rituals, becoming more and more obsessed with her denial of the death. And it, for one, scared Robin.
Robin swung again at the punching bag, not even batting an eye at the way it creaked and swung dangerously far. Another hit, another swing, another bead of sweat. Try as he might, Robin couldn't hold back tear that gathered behind his mask. Despite the fact that it wasn't "manly" or "masculine", he decided to let it fall. It pushed past the brim of the mask, and what was left of it, trickled down his cheek. He punched again.
More than anything, he wanted to be punching himself. Robin being Robin, he had shifted all blame to him. It wasn't Beast Boy's fault, it wasn't even the drunk driver's; it was his.
He growled lowly in his throat subconsciously, punching harder and faster. The swings were becoming much more rapid now, especially as Beast Boy's final words to him started to resurface.
Ugh! He should've been there! He should've done something! What kind of leader was he? No… What kind of friend was he?
Sure, Beast Boy was an annoying attempt at the comic relief, and he did get on everyone's nerves, Robin included, but he was also dedicated and a good fighter, when he wanted to be. He grunted again as he punched, wishing the regret for taking him for granted was gone.
But try as he might, his mind seemed hell-bent on sending him on a one-way trip to Guilt City. Swing, punch, hit; he slowly began to block out all his surroundings, until it was just him and the punching bag, and finally, him and Beast Boy…
"Dude!" Beast Boy shouted, "Check this out, I got us front row seats to the wrestling match tonight!" he screamed as he crawled over Robin's table. He shoved two tickets in his face, "I was gonna ask Cyborg, but I know you like it way more so—"
"Beast Boy, look what you did! I was on a lead!" Robin fumed, pointing at the ripped papers and now crushed evidence. Beast Boy paled and blinked, slowly daring to lower his head at the pile he was sitting on. Barely audible, Beast Boy murmured,
"Oops…"
"I think," Robin began, gritting his teeth, "that you should…go…now."
Beast Boy gave a very nervous chuckle and pulled the tickets out of Robin's face slowly. "I'm just gonna…yeah!" He darted out of the door, not daring to utter a goodbye.
As Robin descended onto his knees, having an angry mental conversation with himself, he didn't even notice the punching bag that lay in three different spots around the room.
---
Cyborg took a deep breath, pinched his nostrils shut, closed his eyes, and bit in. Immediately, he had a gag reflex that made him want to hurl it up. But Cyborg had made himself a promise, and one he intended to keep. Making a face, he forced the food down his throat.
"Yum," he croaked half-heartedly. He exhaled and placed his fork next to the plate. "Okay Cyborg," he told himself, "just…eat it. Pick up the fork"—he picked up the utensil—"stab the…the…it with it"—he brought the fork into the food—"look it straight in the eye…and pop it in!" He said it with less in enthusiasm than he meant, but by now the food was already in his mouth.
God, how he hated tofu.
But he wanted—no, screw that, he had to eat it anyway; despite the fact it made him almost vomit. Even after his best friend's death, he still didn't understand how the grass stain ever liked it. He shivered as the tofu slipped down his throat and tried to crack a smile, but he only gagged further.
Now, all he had to do was pick an argument with himself over meat and tofu and all would be—he involuntarily sighed, rubbing his temples. Okay, maybe he was trying to play Beast Boy's role and his own, so what?
Oh, who was he kidding?
He missed the little grass stain and he knew it. Cyborg immediately regretted calling Beast Boy by his hated nickname; that wasn't a way to be respecting the…the…deceased.
Understandably, his computer brain told him that Beast Boy had been his best friend. His computer brain told him that it was logical to mourn and try to fill his place by acting in his daily rituals. His computer brain told him that he should accept Beast Boy's death. But his heart was telling him otherwise.
He cringed and buried his head into his hands. Why was death so complicated? Why couldn't it be as easy as the movies made it look; you wear black, you go to the funeral, someone hooks up over it, etc. Then again, life was far from easy, especially when you were a half-man, half-robot living with a group of crime-fighting misfits.
Despite their looks, their likes and dislikes, and their personalities, he and Beast Boy were alike. Cyborg knew for a fact Beast Boy had blamed himself from the start about being an orphan, whereas Cyborg felt the cause of his mother's death was entirely his own. Neither was fully human anymore, and neither would they be it ever again. And, even more important, neither would have the option of being normal.
They were best friends, and best friends fight. They fought when the Hive first attacked (no one will ever forget how irritable Cyborg had been), they fought over the game station, hell, they even fought over girls (a little known fact; never put only Beast Boy and Cyborg in a club)
No one could forget their daily breakfast fights. They both, of course, loved it, but neither of them would admit it.
And, out of all the things they'd been through together, Beast Boy had left this world with his best friend mad as hell at him. He took another bite, albeit chewing apprehensively, and swallowed hard.
"For Beast Boy," he murmured…
"Dude, you are gonna love me!"
Cyborg shrieked, jumping five feet in the air.
"Relax, Cy. It's only me," Beast Boy coaxed, laughing. He scratched the back of his head, raising an eyebrow as he smirked.
"Jeeze, BB. Scared the living daylights out of me," Cyborg replied from behind his car, wiping off his face with a greased up towel.
Beast Boy sniffed the air. "Wait, you weren't using the—…ahh…ahh…" His voice trailed off. His face scrunched up as he raised a finger in the air. Moments later his mouth opened and his cheek began to twitch. "Ah…ah…"
"Uh oh," Cyborg's eyes widened and he darted behind his car, having a very, very, bad inkling.
"Ahh…ahh…ahh…Choo!" Upon reaching the actual sneeze, Beast Boy subconsciously morphed himself into an elephant, blowing himself backwards. Luckily for Beast Boy, something softened his fall. Unluckily for Cyborg, it was the T-Car. He gave an incredulous noise and jumped from place to place on the crushed car. After a thorough search, confirming that the T-Car was indeed far from easily repaired, he looked up at Beast Boy with angry eyes.
"Beast Boy," he began somewhat calmly, "get. Out. Now."
"But…wrestling…front row…seats…" The green titan stuttered, waving the tickets.
"Now!"
Beast Boy hung his head and exited the garage quietly, leaving Cyborg to his car.
Cyborg soon dashed to the bathroom. As he vomited the substance he so hated, he, somewhere in the back of his mind, began to realize that there would be no replacing his best friend…
---
"Silkie, please do not go!" Starfire wailed to her pet moth larva. Silkie had grown tired of the hard strokes hours ago, and seized the opportunity for freedom. Her head dived into the pillow, immediately catching something in her eye. She leaned over her bed and grasped it. It was a diamond-green glass shard, one of which held more painful memories in its tiny frame than years of torture.
She gave it a squeeze, not even wincing when the glass pierced her skin. Another set of tears formed in her eyes as she stared at it, and couldn't help but let her lip quiver.
"Please…no more," she whispered as the tears rolled down her cheeks. Her breaths grew more rapid in attempts to stifle the sobs.
Unfortunately for the emotional titan, someone was not on her side at the moment. Salt mixed with water filled her eyes and she had to blink so they would fall.
Please, please…Stop…I do not wish to cry anymore…She moaned in her mind, moving her head so it was buried in the pillow.
But they were here now and she could do nothing but let them pour from her body. Each tear that splattered onto her already soaked sheets felt like a memory being washed out. It had been sixteen hours, twenty-three minutes, and fifty-six seconds…
Whenever Starfire lost anyone dear to her, she would mourn for twenty-four hours exactly, and then pay her respects by eating the pudding of sadness for an entire month. Whilst she hated the ritual, it was Tamaranean tradition and she would be dishonoring her culture if she didn't.
Why had X'hal been so cruel to her and Beast Boy? He had been so full of life—happy, carefree; he always knew how to brighten anyone's day. That is, when he wasn't feeling lonely and craved attention with pathetic jokes…
Starfire chuckled softly at the memory of one of his more funny jokes. She immediately regretted it, pushing her head farther into the pillow. She kicked her feet in the air, giving an angry moan. Oh, she should not be laughing! She might as well have kicked her la'nstl at the rate this was going!
Galfore would be so disappointed in her, for laughing. He would know what to do. He would not have been so rude to her friend on his last day of living. He would have stopped Beast Boy from leaving the house alone. He would… Starfire sighed. He would've done something…
"Ohhh, Starfire!" Beast Boy sang as Starfire's doors opened with a hiss. She spared him a quick glance before returning to her jewelry polishing.
"Not now, Beast Boy. I am currently busy with—"
"C'mon, I know you'll love this! It's wrestling! AKA, a bunch of buff men fighting each other and spewing arrogant insults! It's just like that weird sport on Tamaran; Clannel boating…or something…"
"Clan'tal Boa'kin," Starfire corrected subconsciously, "but no thank you, although I appreciate the offer, I am quite—"
"Hey! I know that! It's the shiny necklace from those moons with the creepy robo-people who tried to arrest us!"
"…Yes. But really, I am busy, so I would appreciate it if you did not touch—"
"Didn't Robin throw it away?"
Starfire gulped and tugged back on the necklace softly. If she used all her all Tamaranean strength, she could break both Beast Boy's arms and the necklace. And she didn't want to hurt her friend nor beloved jewelry.
But Beast Boy didn't look done, and gave a sharp pull that caught Starfire off guard. The necklace flew into the air, flipped once or twice before falling back onto Starfire's carpeted floors. Normally, such soft floors wouldn't have broken the stone, but it fell so laden and at a certain angle, it shattered.
Starfire gasped at the shards, her breath slowly starting to hyperventilate as she leaned down to examine the necklace.
"Beast Boy…" She warned. She looked up at him, and he soon realized she wasn't going to give him time to apologize. Her eyes were glowing a bright lime green.
"Heh…heh…I'm just gonna go now…!" He dashed out the door, fearing for his life.
Starfire blinked at another glass shard that lay next to the chain, and couldn't help but stop the tears that splattered onto the one she was holding.
---
It was quiet… It was too quiet.
Usually, Raven savored silence and basked in it. For, in the past, it was a rare gift. With Beast Boy always around, the Tower had been so loud and her meditation was always interrupted. Now Raven could be seen peeking one eye open every minute or so at the door, as if waiting for it to burst open with a green prankster hoping to entertain her.
And much to Raven's surprise and disappointment, it never opened.
Raven blinked, wondering why. Beast Boy was always around, always trying to make her laugh. A pathetic cause, but noble all the same…
Something registered in Raven's mind, at once causing her to bite her lip and open both eyes. He couldn't really be gone, could he?
Of course not! She quickly disregarded the idea. It was just another one of his silly pranks—yes, that was it. He was pranking them again; probably trying to get back at Cyborg and Robin for that time they had pretended that he wasn't green.
"Just a prank," She muttered under her breath. Her heartbeat began to resume normal pace as she let out a long breath. "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos," she chanted, doing her best to remain calm.
He would be back; of course he would. …This was Beast Boy she was talking—thinking about. He was strong, whether he liked to admit it or not. Whether he even decided to act it or not, Beast Boy was tough.
But…What if, by some chance of fate…he wasn't coming back? She shuddered at the thought (Although she didn't know why). What would life be like if he weren't going to strut into the Tower, laughing at what idiots they had been for believing it. He…would never be there again. He wouldn't interrupt her during mediation, he wouldn't prank her with foolish, immature high jinks, and he wouldn't comfort her secretly when she needed it…
Ugh, she thought, I am turning into Starfire. Too much of this—emotional stuff.
Why was it that everyone was acting so broody and depressed? Wasn't that her job? Beast Boy…wouldn't have wanted that. She mentally slapped herself (which, in Raven's case, could probably be performed) the moment she thought about it, and hated herself for it.
Beast Boy—he was so pure and innocent; why did it have to happen to him?
Sure, he wasn't the brightest bulb in the pack, but he could be deep and insightful when he wasn't trying to cover it up. When Raven had first arrived with the titans, she was still exploring the limits of her powers. In a rather silly attempt to get to know her fellow teammates, she had tapped into every one of their minds. Of course, they were super heroes, and super heroes always had angst and drama in their background, so she wasn't too surprised when she learned why Robin was such a tight-ass, Cyborg hated to talk about his family… But what really surprised her were Starfire and Beast Boy's—she was amazed at how they maintained such an optimistic outlook on the world. She sure as hell couldn't.
Maybe Beast Boy wasn't strong like Cyborg. Maybe he wasn't witty, bold, or deductive like Robin. Maybe he wasn't like the boys she had met at her poetry clubs—dark, brooding, monotonous…like her. And maybe he wasn't like her, but there was definitely something about him. …Something that he hadn't discovered yet.
Unaware of her actions, she growled aloud. Beast Boy goes out for what—a day or two and suddenly she is pointing out his good qualities? This was Beast Boy she was talking about. He didn't have any good qualities. Besides, she was totally overreacting. He wasn't…gone, permanently. He couldn't be.
…There she went again, past tense… What was with her? It was like someone was trying to tell her that he should be used with past tense… She snorted.
Although, despite her dislike for the green prankster, she was still curious to where he had gone. A camping trip, maybe? No, no… Beast Boy would never go anywhere that didn't have video games or television. Maybe he went to visit Terra and decided to sleep there…?
She was running out of ideas. Where the hell was he?
It wasn't like she cared, but her curiosity was killing her. Sure, Raven had continued doing what she usually did—mediate, eat, mediate, read, sleep—but she knew, when he hadn't bothered her in an entire 6 hours, something was up.
What was it Robin had told her the other day? She had hardly been paying attention, losing focus the moment Robin started talking about Beast Boy 'having an accident', whatever that meant. She'd decided that he'd morphed into a dog and lost control of his human mind for a moment and relieved himself on some harmless citizen, who'd probably filed a complaint…
Unless…having an accident… She shook away the thought before it even registered completely. Beast Boy was stupid, but he wasn't stupid enough to get himself in some form of…fatal accident, was he?
She'd expected Cyborg to laugh more heartedly; Beast Boy had probably gotten himself in some form of trouble only a true idiot could. Instead, he'd given this strange 'yeah, funny, now really, what's up?' type chuckle and she could've sworn she heard Starfire sobbing as she left the room…
Raven's eyes snapped open and she quickly descended back onto the ground, not waiting for the door to open. She phased through it and swiftly sprinted down the hall. She, not wanting to waste her breath by whispering her incantation, darted down the stairs and headed towards the gym. Raven found herself running faster than she'd expected and had to skid to a stop in order to not run past the room. The doors hissed open, and Raven found herself watching a very angry-looking Robin.
He was muttering, "Stupid, stupid, stupid…" Raven wasn't too sure if she wanted to interrupt him when he looked so pissed, but she pressed forward nonetheless.
"Robin…?" She asked hesitantly. His head snapped up, immediately blinking a few times to recognize her presence. He stood up quickly.
"Err…Raven. Hey."
Raven wasted no time. "Robin, where's Beast Boy?"
---
At the same moment, four teenage crime-fighter's eyes flew open and sat up with a jolt. Each was surprised to find their sheets soaked with their sweat, their foreheads and bodies no better. Even one whose body could barely sweat was sticky with the salty liquid.
By instinct, each rushed to the main room for a glass of water to calm them. Some moved faster than others, while others met in the halls.
Cyborg nodded to Raven, "You okay girl? You look horrible."
"You don't look so charming either," she snapped back, glaring daggers. Cyborg grimaced, acknowledging her retort as true.
"Heading towards the kitchen?" He asked, hoping for a change in subject. Raven nodded, but her eyes were clouded and she was looking off to the side. "Couldn't sleep?"
"You could say that," she deadpanned.
"Me neither," Cyborg said with a long sigh. Both locked eyes for a quick moment, their expressions solemn, and returned to their own thoughts. They arrived at the main door within seconds, and the timing couldn't have been better. The silence was so tense that even Raven found herself disliking it. Cyborg picked up speed as he passed through the doors, and was surprised when he found two other titans sitting by the sink with drinking glasses in their hands.
"Robin? Star?" Cyborg asked, surprised. "What're y'all doing out here so late?"
"Wait, let me guess," Raven interrupted, monotonously. "Couldn't sleep, were thirsty, and we just interrupted a very awkward silence."
Robin blinked and exchanged glances with Starfire. "…Actually yeah, pretty much. How did you know?"
Raven glanced at Cyborg. "Lucky guess."
"How strange," Starfire mused softly. All eyes turned to her and her cheeks heated in a blush. "I am meaning that it is strangely coincidental that we all had had the dreams of scary female horses."
"Nightmares?" Robin confirmed. Starfire nodded. "You know, Star's right"—Starfire smiled meekly—"it is pretty weird how that all happened."
"Hey, uh, I don't mean to interrupt this whole brain storm," Cyborg interrupted rather bashfully, "but anyone seen the grass—I mean, BB?"
Robin looked around the room. "I wouldn't have thought to look—it's probably dead of the night. Wouldn't he be sleeping? He probably got in hours ago, while we were in bed."
"Yeah well," Cyborg scratched his head uncomfortably, "y'all know how I pass his room whenever I go to the main room and how he snores like a sixty-year old man with a cold? I didn't hear him when I passed his room."
As soon as Cyborg said that, Raven began to choke on her water. "Wrestling matches don't go on that long, do they?"
"Sometimes they do, I guess," Robin said with a shrug.
"Still…" Raven said slowly, feeling her cheeks bloom as everyone turned to her, "…maybe we should check up on him. You know—call his communicator?"
Robin raised an eyebrow at Raven's concern but nodded and pulled out the yellow device. "Robin to Beast Boy, Robin to Beast Boy," he said into the voice box. There was a long silence on the other end, as well as some static, which caused each Titan's hairs to prickle.
After a good minute or so (long enough for everyone to start to panic) there was a crackled reply, "Beast Boy in." (Everyone let out a relieved breath.) His voice sounded less chipper than it usually did and the others, having forgotten their arguments with him of earlier, brushed it off as bad reception.
"Where are you? It's like three in the mornin'!" Cyborg exclaimed, leaning over Robin's shoulder to talk into the walkie-talkie.
"Uh, the wrestling match? You know, the ones you were 'too busy' to go with me with?"
"It's still goin' on?"
"…Well, there was an after-party for the winners and I was a VIP. It ran a little longer than"—a shushing sounded—"expected." There was a giggling in the background, which earned a few raised eyebrows and angry glares (more so on Raven's part).
"Okay… Well, just get back, now. You never know when we might be called in—" Robin was cut off.
Beast Boy's sighs could be heard on the other line. "Look, I appreciate the whole 'I'm a big bad leader so everyone should listen to me' attitude, but I need concentration while I'm driving and I'm getting on the road just now, so…bye." He abruptly ended the connection.
Robin snapped the communicator closed and eyed each of his teammates. "That was…interesting."
Cyborg was scratching his chin. "Ya know, I had the strangest dream…" Everyone's heads shot up. He laughed, rather nervously, but continued, "it was like this: BB got into this accident on the way back from that show and we became all, sorry Raven, broody and angst-driven, like Rae. And he didn't—"
"Pull through. He didn't live, did he?" Raven interrupted. Rarely on the resident dark bird, her eyes were empathetic.
Cyborg nodded stupidly.
After some seconds, Starfire spoke up, "I had the same dream too."
"Me too," Robin added.
Each looked to Raven, who had been nominated best 'for working out mysterious happenings' of the group. She could only shrug. "Such situations have happened in history before. But, and especially in group dreams, they were often discovered to have been…premonitions."
"What?" Robin asked. "Are you trying to tell me that we're prophetic?"
Raven shook her head, "Not necessarily. When people share deep bonds, ones that often come with saving others' lives, etcetera, they sometimes have been able to see other's futures."
"Then… Beast Boy will die?" Starfire brought up.
Robin stood up and grounded his fist into his palm. "No. Not like that."
---
Beast Boy waved goodbye to the cute brunette who'd been hanging around his arm all night, but never gave her the kiss she had anticipated all night. He hoped onto his moped, leaving his helmet in the compartment he kept it in. For some reason, he just didn't feel like wearing one. He started up the engines and drove off.
He slowed as he neared the red light, giving a long, exaggerated sigh.
The street was completely empty, as it should be in the dead of the night, but when Beast Boy had bought the tickets, he had pictured at least someone else coming and going with him. No Cyborg in the T-Car in the lane over, daring him to race back to the tower, no Robin on his R-Cycle giving him a lecture about why he should always wear his helmet, no Starfire flying above him and no Raven sitting behind him on his moped, arms wrapped around him.
Well, maybe he'd overstated on the last one.
Still, the road was a lonely one.
Hell, his road was a lonely one. Who had he been trying to fool when he asked the others to go with him? It didn't matter that Robin loved wrestling or that Cyborg loved watching it to pick up new moves. It didn't even matter it would've given Starfire a reminder of her planet's favorite sport. No one on his team actually liked him; so why would they waste their free time with him?
Bing! They wouldn't.
And they had made it very clear.
Raven was right: he was an idiot. A stupid, immature, idiot who always messed up whatever he was doing. He didn't understand it; why did everything have to blow up in his face?
For a moment, his thoughts lingered on what it would be like for his teammates (he couldn't choke out the word 'friends') if he were gone, permanently.
Would they even care? Would they notice? Would smaller things about him, things he liked to keep unnoticed, become clear to them? He answered his own thoughts with a frown; probably not.
Before another thought could even come to mind, his thoughts were interrupted by a loud honking. He turned, confused, to find himself staring into bright white headlights. The red truck honked again. Drunkenly, the driver stuck his head out the window and moaned, "Kid…kid, better move. There's a truck comin' at ya!"
Beast Boy's animal instinct was urging him to move, but something inside of him snapped and he couldn't feel his legs anymore. His mind was screaming at him, but all he could do was stare at the truck as it came closer.
He blinked and kept his eyes shut, bracing for the impact.
Instead, he felt a sideways force collide with his side, knocking him off his moped. He was sent rolling onto the gravel with whoever had pushed him off. He didn't even have time to see who his savior was before a loud crash pierced the night air. He blinked, and the red truck slammed into his rider-less moped.
From above his head, he heard the same drunken voice mutter, "You're pretty, lady…" Beast Boy looked up to see Starfire holding the drunk driver by the armpits and glancing at the smashed truck, he saw a large hole in the roof where Starfire must've pulled him to safety. He glanced over to see his rescuer, expecting Robin or Cyborg. Instead, he found it to be Raven. Cyborg was currently working on removing the red truck from the mess, whereas Robin was helping Starfire with the intoxicated man.
She was breathing heavily, as well as blushing lightly in the position they had ended in. She was rolled halfway on top of him, one arm thrown over his stomach and her hair falling in his face. Instead of shuffling away like he expected her to, Raven did something extremely uncharacteristic of her. She threw her arms around his neck and buried her face in it.
"Beast Boy…don't ever, ever do that again."
He blinked, bringing up his arm to pat her back. He looked at the others (Cyborg was smirking) and asked, confused, "Does anyone else see Raven hugging me?"
It was then that Beast Boy received the slap across the back of his head that told him it really was Raven. Instead of recoiling at the strike, he smiled and pulled her back into a hug.
As the others moved into to give their green friend some much needed smiles and Raven and Beast Boy parted, anyone who happened be looking might see a rather smug looking man who had looked drunk not moments ago get up and walk away, unnoticed.
Weird ending. Dunno.
Anyway, rewritten version.