Chapter 11 – a hesitant kiss

Days had passed. Days during which the Titans – along with Cheshire who wished to help them – were chasing after Slade in a way not seen before. Never before did they have such determination to destroy everything that was his and bring him to justice. They found hideouts, both secret and not so secret, they discovered connections to influential people, they came to know various identities he had used over time. Then they found the factories. The places where all his mechanical minions were build. They also found out about the fate of Slade's other victims, the other Titans, the other friends they lost to him.

But the worst of it all was still to come. It had yet to hit them, most of them. Despite achieving so much, despite doing everything they could, Slade still remained free and had seemingly vanished from the face of the earth. The Teen Titans could not capture him, the man who had killed their friends. They had failed their fallen comrades.

Days had passed. Days during which their anger – which was so overwhelming at first – was replaced by sadness. Slade was gone, whether they would hurry or not would not make a big difference. So it was a time for mourning and for remembering all the moments they shared with the deceased. It was also time to, slowly, but still, move on with their own lives.
For some this was easier than it was for others. It seemed to hurt the Titans East noticeably more than the other five, with Bumblebee standing out even among that team. After all, she was the leader. She should've known what he was up to to begin with. It was her fault. No. Yes, it was her fault, but not like that. It was her fault that he left the team. She wanted Raven to enter his mind, he reacted the same way most of them would and she should have expected that. The blame rests solely on her shoulders. If he wouldn't have left the team, he still would have had his communicator. If he still would have had his communicator, he would have been able to call for support. Instead he had to fight on his own, without any help. He lost. He died. It was her fault.

And she knew it.

It was dark and Bumblebee was sitting all alone outside the tower of the Titans East. All alone, that is, until another girl approached her. Cheshire.

"What do you want?" Bumblebee asked, turning her head in Cheshire's direction, looking at her both serious and seemingly annoyed or at least not all that pleased. She needed some time for herself, needed to be on her own, like she was so often in these past days.
"Talk." was Cheshire's very short answer to that question. "Before I leave. I've stayed here too long already." she added after a brief pause.

Bumblebee hesitated. Out of all the people at the Tower, right now, Cheshire was the only one she actually wished to talk to. As much as she wanted to be alone, she could not leave her without speaking to her. "About what?" Stupid question. "Speedy?"

"Roy."

"What?"

"His name was Roy." the young villainess explained.

For a moment Bumblebee just stared at the other girl. "He told you his real name?"Of course he did. Cheshire had yelled it when they had found the body. Back then she wasn't really paying attention to that though. Not that anyone else did.

Cheshire nodded. The hero sighed in response. "I guess you really were close..."
Once more Cheshire made a gesture of agreement. "I loved him."

Love. This was serious. It almost amused Bumblebee, as she never even thought that something like this could be the problem. In hindsight it made a whole lot of sense. Him being in love with a villain? Talk about a conflict in the making. The Titan could almost picture just how she would react, how much she would overreact. She could not fault Speedy...Roy for this. He did what he considered the smartest thing to do. Chances are he was right about that. Despite the fact that she could understand him and many of his choices, one thing definitely remained that she had to ask about. "How long had this been going on?"

"For quite a while." Cheshire did not remember exactly how long. It also depended on what Bumblebee meant. How long since their relationship started? How long did they see each other? How long since both of them stopped being serious about their fights? How long have they been flirting? There has been a certain chemistry almost since the beginning, but given that she was a villain and he was a hero they did not exactly see each other on a regular basis. It took some time and several confrontations to reach that point. At first they truly were enemies, flirting perhaps, but enemies. That changed over time. Their fights became a game for both, a game they quite enjoyed. Cheshire remained within Steel City, hoping to run into him. At first this was rare, but not for long. At some point it was almost every night and the two teens who should be enemies became lovers. She did not know how long it had been, even less so since she didn't know what Bumblebee was talking about and she told the other girl as much. "I can not say how long. It was not recent though. We've seen each other a lot. More often lately, but even before that."

"It's okay. I think I get it." That was enough of an answer. All she needed at least. "So, you wanted to talk. I'm listening."

"Very well." Cheshire nodded. "We are technically enemies. As you may expect, I don't care much about you and the others. At all. But you were his friends, so there are things you need to know. Most of all it's the fact that he didn't mean to betray you. Obviously, things were difficult, for him more so than for me. He couldn't just tell you about us, especially not with the intent of still seeing me. We loved each other, but we respected what we did. He was a good guy, I was and am not and neither of us tried to change the other. We had to live with this and we could. But you wouldn't have been able to. It would've been unacceptable for you and you would have forced him to choose. In fact, you did and he chose me. He didn't betray your friendship, but simply saw our love as something more important. Which leads me to another thing that should be pointed out. It's not your fault. You didn't drive him away, he left on his own because he picked me, the only thing you did was make him decide sooner than he otherwise would have. But either way it would've been inevitable. At least I think so." Jade waited for a moment, waiting for her reaction.

The Titans seemed relieved. "Thanks. It may not mean much to you, but you're right. I really needed to hear that."

"There is one more thing."

"There is?"

"Yes. And this too, I think, you have to hear. I am a villain. Still it seems you'll let me go, this once, thanks for that by the way. But you know what I will do. You know who I will be after."

"Slade." Of course Bumblebee knew.

"Exactly. And I will find him. It may take some time, but I will. He may be good at what he does, but so am I. I will find him and once I do, I will make him pay." The Teen Titan continued listening to each and every of Cheshire's words. By now it had become pretty obvious where she was going with all of this. "I will do terrible things to him. I will make him suffer and I will make him regret the things he has done. And once I have reduced him to the weak, fearful soul he actually is, once all he does is beg for mercy..I may just provide him with that."

And although she did not ask the question, it was there, hanging in the air, waiting to be answered. The question Bumblebee had expected but still was not sure how to deal with.

'What will you do now?'

Just now, Jade had made a confession, had told her about the crimes she intends to commit. And although Bumblebee was disgusted by the thought, she already knew the answer. The only answer worth mentioning. She stood up and walked away. And only as she passed Cheshire, did she utter two words and nothing more.

"Have fun."

XXX

It was dark and Raven was sitting all alone inside her room in the tower of the Titans East. All alone, that is, until another someone knocked on her door. She started at it for a moment. She would expect most of the others to be asleep at this point. Or at least trying to sleep. So who could it be? Possibly Starfire, still having trouble to handle the circumstances It wouldn't have surprised Raven, given just how emotional the alien girl was. But her guess was wrong. "Yes?"

"It's me." the voice of Beast Boy said. HE was at her door. Why him, why now? Raven asked herself these questions, while saying what might have caught the changeling by surprise. "Come in."

Beast Boy slowly opened the door and closed it again once he was inside the room. "Raven, there's something I kinda wanted to say to you, about something you said, but I'm not really sure you said what I think you said, so I think that if I'm wrong I'll end up making myself look a bit like an idiot, so...let's just assume for a moment that you said what I think y-"

"Beast Boy." Raven interrupted him. "Just say what you have to say."

The boy nodded. "Okay...and I know this isn't the best of times, with all that's happened, and I wanted to ask you earlier, but then, well, things happened." He avoided even mentioning Speedy's name. "Anyway, just wanted to say – you don't have to be sorry."

"What?" Raven starred at him.

He walked over to her and actually sat down next to her. "Well, you apologized the other day, didn't you?" The girl was obviously surprised by that he had in fact heard her. "At first I wasn't even sure if it really happened, but I thought to myself, hey, just in case I better tell her it's okay. And it is. I mean, you insult me, I annoy you, isn't that our thing?"

"You haven't annoyed me in a long time." the girl explained while looking down at feet.

He raised an eyebrow at that. "You sound disappointed." His surprised look quickly vanished and was replaced by an wide grin. "AHA! You like me and you want to spend more time with, right? RIGHT?" The girl nodded. Not the expected reaction, but still a welcome one. "Wow. I mean...nice. Now admit I'm funny."

Raven quickly shook her head. "Not even close." she said while turning towards him, now looking him in the eyes. "Though I...actually missed your bad jokes."

The green boy smiled at that. No grin, no smirk, it was a much more gentle smile now. He just held the eye contact for a moment, before replying,almost hesitantly now, gone was his usual overzealous behavior and tone. "I missed telling them to you."

Now it was Raven's face that showed a smile, one of those rare smiles she shared with with only a small number of people, only a small number of times. And in what followed, they both did their parts. Beast Boy leaned forward, slowly, unsure, maybe even afraid of her reaction, of what his actions would cause. But there was nothing to fear, for she didn't avoid him, didn't move back. Neither did she approach him, but that wasn't necessary. She stayed still and accepted it as his lips, for as short a moment as it could have been, touched hers.

There was a certain attraction between the two of them. It wasn't love, but it was obviously there and it was, more than anything else, a beginning. It was barely even a real kiss what they shared, barely more so than their accident not too long ago and certainly nothing more than you might expect from the closest of friends, but nonetheless, it was a hesitant kiss, that within the blink of an eye had changed their world forever.

And as Beast Boy smiled at her, Raven knew...it was for the better.