Yeah, he is everybody's hero. Especially Starfire's. And lately, Raven too. What's there not to like? He was handsome and smart. He even got the whole mysterious guy factor going on with that mask of his. To top it all off, he was also the perfect gentleman. The only thing that I could say that was a bad trait was his obsession with his work. Even then, that could always be substituted for dedication. He wasn't the leader of the Titans for nothing.

Cyborg was too cool to care about stuff like this. If it ain't about crime or car rims or meat, he ain't going to pay attention for long. But it bothers me that Raven was becoming a member of the Robin fan club too. Ever since that whole incident with her dad, she had become noticeably nicer to him. She didn't hesitate to give me an extra smacking for interrupting one of Robin's speeches. 'To keep the idiot in line'. Yeah, that's the reason and it's Raven I'm talking about, of course she gets away with everything. That's part of the perks of being all dark and mysterious. Not creepy. Never creepy.

Thinking back of that time I did call her that never fails to bring down my spirit like that U-2 bomber the Russians shot down during the Cold War. Hah! You can close your mouth there, dude. I make bad jokes. That doesn't classify me as stupid.

But it does make me an idiot. An idiot who tried too hard.

As I got older, I tried to be better. Stronger. Live up to Mento's expectations. Robin's expectations. Raven? Oh, she didn't have any expectations of me. Yeah I know; it hurts more than you know. When we have training I know that I'm better now. I'm faster. More agile. I even enrolled in Jump City Community College to learn more about zoology, in disguise of course. And in secret; both from the school and the Titans.

Because of that, I had to juggle my load. It was an organiser's nightmare but I pulled it off after some difficulty. Raven never hesitated to rip me a new one when I came down training late. It's like she has a book in her room that says '101 ways to insult your teammate'. Nah, I was joking; 101 is way too little.

But I do get some satisfaction when I did something exceptional. Stop with that eyebrow raising. I told you, I'm not stupid. I once beat Robin in a little hand to hand. No powers. Just you and your body. Everyone even Robin congratulated me and at that moment I really thought I was special in a good way. Until she spoke.

"That is some good rabbit's foot you got there, Beast Boy."

Rabbit's foot? Come on! I would have thought an EMPATH of all people would know how to be sensitive to someone like me about stuff like that. Still, it didn't excuse my behaviour one bit. Lashing out at Raven was even worse than turning into the Beast. I don't think she'd ever forgive me.

Well long story short, things just went sort of downhill between the two of us. It's not like we don't try but each time one of us tries to apologise (namely, me), something just happens to interrupt. Be it the alarm, any of the other Titans or just plain cold feet. I always hurt the ones I love. The more I love them the greater the hurt. What about my parents? None of your business. I guess it's safe to say that I care for Raven more than anything. Yeah, even tofu but I'm being serious right now. It's not that hard to be when you realise the girl you love's got the hots for someone else.

Come on, you can't actually be wondering who it is. Who else can it be? So what if Starfire's his girl? She can still look and dream, right?

It was that moment where I knew my heart can't get anymore mangled. That day was pretty much standard; us beating the bad guys up. They had powers, duh. The police won't call us otherwise because supervillains need superheroes to be dealt with right? Well anyway, they can control weather stuff like fire, water, and air. Also the ground. I particularly hate that guy. Well the dude that could control fire managed to get a cheap shot at Raven. I took care of him. Nothing like a good douse of water to cool you down. When I got to Raven, she was barely conscious. It really took me everything not to get all Beast with that bastard that took her down. At that moment I was actually afraid that she wouldn't make it. Maybe that's why I didn't correct her. If she knew who was really holding her. Shielding her. She would have been so disgusted with her herself.

"Thanks Robin, you're always there for me."

And I said, "No problem."