Teen Titans Fanfic: Home part 4

Robin
"Pick up! Pick up!" Where are they?!
Raven's face appeared on the screen, "What happened?" "What happened? What happened?! Starfire and I were jumped by CinderBlock and Plasmus! Get to sector seven now!!!"
The screen went dark as she covered it with her hand, "Will you be okay?" After the screen went black Raven floated out of a portal in the pavement. She trapped CinderBlock and Plasmus in force-field domes. As the air inside the domes ran out, the villains passed out.
Raven grabbed my arms and pulled me out of the goop. She set me back down on the ground. "Where were you? Where are Cyborg and Beast Boy?" I was close enough to see that her face was red and her eyes were puffy. "Have you been crying?"
She blushed and turned towards the bad guys. "Raven, if something's wrong you can tell me." She sighed, "Nothing's wrong with me, I was just talking to someone and I got a little carried away, I guess."
"Where's Starfire?" She turned to watch Plasmus revert back to his human form. Starfire rolled out from the glob. "Starfire!"
Raven flew after me as I sprinted over to her. I ripped off one of my gloves and pressed my fingers against her jugular vein. Raven waved her hand over Starfire. A chunk of goop flew out of her mouth and into the air. Raven flicked her hand, swiping it away. Starfire gasped while her eyes flew open and she sat up. She coughed and smiled, "I am okay. Thank you, friend Raven."
Raven nodded her head slightly, but turned away to greet the approaching police.
I grinned, "You've been getting into a lot of trouble lately." "It has not been that bad…Has it?" I cradled her in my arms. She looked up into my eyes. "What's going on?" "Is it not obvious that my emotions have affected my abilities?"
We blushed. So I guess it's my fault that you almost died twice in the last day alone. Her green eyes glowed, "It will get better, Robin, as I get more accustomed to your returning of my affections."
I took her hands and helped her up. She swayed a little, but I steadied her.

Cyborg
I laid back, my bulky arms stretched behind my head. She smiled at the sky, then bit her lip. "He really does love me…and I love him…but I just don't know how to make him see that I like my space." Her fist pounded back down on the grass. "He needs you to sit him down and tell him what he's doin' wrong. If he loves you than he'll fix himself without changing the important parts." She put her hands behind her head, "So how's it been with you Tin Man?"
I told her everything about Tokyo and she listened intently. "Wow, so it was the good guy that did it for once." "Yeah." We both laughed our heads off for a few minutes.
"So where do you guys crash?" After a minute, she hadn't replied. "I just meant if you had like a headquarters or something." The corners of her mouth dropped, "Yeah, the Allen's got us this secret underground apartment. It's all suped up with control panels and the usual kind o' tech."
Her hand brushed against the human side of my face. "So I'm on the path to a better life…Aren'tchu gonna say something corny like 'I'm so proud of you' or 'there isn't an eight-year-old girl in the world that doesn't look up to you'  or 'Kid Flash needs you, so why are you spending your time trying to bore your stupid hopes and dreams into my thick skull'?"
What's going on in your head? She smiled again and giggled at her own joke, "Any more questions or are ya just gonna sit there and let me feed ya information? If ya ask me, this isn't nearly as fun as it would be if you took an interest in it." That feeling of 'there's-something-you-should-be-doing-right-now-and-it-has-nothing-to-do-with-being-here-right-now' filled the back of my mind. I turned my head to face her, she smiled back at me.
Is she flirting with me? Great. She has a boyfriend who's been choosing bad guy butt over her, I'd be pretty ticked too if Sarah—OH NO…
I bolted upright, "Aw crap." "What?" Jinx could sense that something was wrong. She sat up as fast as I had. I buried my head in my hands, "My girlfriend…"
She petted my arm, "Wally told me about her, she sounds nice." "No, no, I'm a dead man," I protested. I pulled myself up. "Thanks, Jinx…for catchin' up with me, but I gotta get goin'." Her cheeks went darker pink as she smiled, "Go get 'er, tiger."

I knocked on the door of the townhouse, Sarah answered on the third knock.
"Hey, Sarah…so...I'm back." My pleading did nothing for her mood. She struck a pose with her arms folded in front of her chest, her legs planted firmly on the floor, and her upper lip curled. "How many times have I begged you…" I pushed my hand on the door, keeping her from closing it, what else was I supposed to do? "but," "no, pleaded with you to just spend a little more time with me?! Where have you been?"
I stepped up the last step and reached out to her, "I'm so sorry. I just—we just got back from Tokyo today—" She gripped my hand with as much force as a small eighteen-year-old chick could on a hunk o' metal. Her other hand slammed the door behind me. Her face softened and she leapt into my arms.
"I forgive you, Cy. I watched everything that happened in Tokyo. You guys are awesome." I sat her back on the ground, but she never let go of me. I whispered in her ear, "I wish you could've come." She grinned wider and hugged me tighter, "Me too…but I took the kids to the baseball diamond every day after school…I also filled out the application forms. Mr. Cross says that he'll return the copies tomorrow –ya know, if ya wanted to read them—and once I send them in I'll get the official letter by next week." She had her hopes on going to Jump City University to become a school counselor.
I twirled her around. "That's wonderful!" She blushed and dropped to the ground.
A man stepped in from the hall, an older version of Sarah beside him. Sarah waved her hand to them, "Cy, these are my parents. Mom, Dad, this is my boyfriend Cyborg." My jaw dropped and I froze. I'd never met her parents before, and by the looks on their faces they hadn't wanted to meet me. I'm not usually uncomfortable around people, but meeting 'the parents' seemed like an okay time to start. "Hello, um, Mr. and Mrs. Simms. It's good ta finally meet ya'll." Sarah sidestepped out from my arm leaving me alone to battle her parents.
Mrs. Simms stuck out her hand, "Melissa, and it's wonderful to finally see you, too." Her husband put his hand on my shoulder, we were the same height, "Patrick, and Sarah's always talking about you. From what I've been told, you're a very generous young man." I gently shook Melissa's small hand, then patted Patrick's shoulder with my other hand. They both smiled. Tension: gone.
"Thanks, I didn't think she talked about me ta ya'll at all. Glad ta hear its good news." Melissa looked me up and down, while her husband kept speaking, "She told us that you were the kindest person in the world and that she met you in the park when you helped the kids. She loves how you just joined in with them, too. Said you liked helping people." Melissa looked me in the eyes, "We had no idea that that meant you were a Titan… but when Sarah said you didn't have much time to spend with her and that you've been away with your friends for the past two weeks, we started questioning her on what, exactly, you were doing…" "We just wanted to make sure our daughter was in the hands of someone who actually cared about her and not someone who was trying to hide something."
I lifted my arms and pretended to search the machinery, "I don't know, there could be a lot of things stashed in here…" Everyone cracked up, perfect.
"Well, Cyborg. I'd just like to say that our daughter couldn't be in more trustworthy hands," Patrick shook my hand and smiled. Melissa hugged her daughter, then dragged her over so she could hug both of us, "Now you two be good, okay? We're going to bed."
"Listen, Sarah, I gotta get back ta the Tower." Her small hands wrapped around my head and pulled me down 'til I was eyelevel with her. "You be safe and don't hurt yourself, okay?" "There's no promises," I wrapped my arms around her thin body. "Just try; for me, Cy," we kissed for a few minutes before she stopped and just hugged me. We let go and she walked me to the door, "I love you." I put her chin in my hand and brought her back to my lips, "I love you, too."

"Where have you BEEN?!?!" Robin screamed from the main room (Whoa Déjà vu, I thought). I put my hands up in defense, "Chill, dude. I just went for some air."
His face was redder than his costume, invisible steam pored out of his ears, "Your communicator's been turned off for HOURS!!! We had an emergency and no one even knew where you WERE!!!" An emergency?! "I had no idea…I—I'm sorry, man…"
He wiggled his finger at me with his other hand punching his hip, "You didn't even tell anyone that you were leaving!"
Raven swept in from the door behind us, her eyes glowed from under the hood, "Knock it off, I can hear you in my room," Robin glared at her. "Robin, it doesn't matter where he was; the team is safe, calm down." His face softened, "Alright, I guess I did overreact…" She turned and left us alone again. He whipped back to me, "but you need to think about the team."
He stormed out past me. I couldn't turn around, so I just stood there. My communicator is a part of my arm, there are some times that I want it turned off…but you'd never understand.

Raven
I settled back in my room for meditation. Interruptions are something that I hate. But I still couldn't meditate properly because there was too much on my mind.
In times like these I have another way to sort through my thoughts.
With a flick of my wrist the silver mirror shot up from the podium and landed in my hand. My eyes opened and I peered deep into the glass, there was no reflection just the image of what was on the other side, showing me the contents of my mind itself. Two times it had been disturbed, and both had to do with Beast Boy not respecting my privacy, but only once did he actually break it.
I walked down the stone path thinking about why I was there when the scenery suddenly changed from darkness and black to pink and rainbows. Ick. I shuddered and spun around to try and escape before—"Hey Raven! You don't usually come ta visit me!" I sighed and opened my eyes, Happiness grinned (I made a mental note of how disgusting my face looks with that expression on it), "But I knew you'd come!" Usually she intercepts me before I get here, because I never—in my right mind—would walk into such a horrible wasteland.
She took my hands and gently dragged me over to a rock where we sat down together. I didn't talk, just looked away from her. I didn't want to talk to HER, but I guess she's better than Rudeness or Anger. "C'mon, Rae. I know everything you're thinking and I know that I'm the best qualified to talk to you." We locked eyes and I managed to glare at her. "Shesh, Rae, if you're that opposed to me I can just get Affection and be over with it."
I didn't move.
"Alright, alright. Just tryin' ta lighten the mood…" She took my hands and sighed, which is very unusual for someone who's the embodiment of my happiness and is supposed to be unnaturally happy. "I know what you felt, we all did—well, because we're all you—but still you don't have to repress every emotion."
She took my hand and patted it, "Remember that you're both not too different…And today's not even the only day we've felt like that!" the creepy smile disappeared and her voice changed to a monotone and I knew immediately who she was about to bring up. "Malchior's gone, I'll never fall for a stupid trick like that again! You should know that!" "I know!" she hissed, but recovered quickly by brushing away fresh tears from my face, "But that doesn't mean that what you felt for him is going to keep you from ever loving again. Beast Boy felt the same for Terra. He still feels used, too."
I couldn't believe it, but Happiness was actually being serious for once in trying to help me. "You love him too, don't you?" I couldn't help but ask the obvious, and she started laughing. Great, so I spoke too soon. "We're the same person, Raven. I know what you've been through and I feel the same about him as you do. You should know that!"
Of course I did, I was just being stupid.
At that she laughed again.
She soon steadied herself and continued, "Raven, I was going to say about after Malchior. That night we realized that Beast Boy has another side to him: a caring, sweet, perfect side." "Don't forget dark, mysterious, sensitive…" I looked back at her fresh creepy smile, "No…no…But…" "Raven, I know everything that you think…everything. We saw inside his head today: past the façade of jokes and smiles that covers the broken little boy hidden inside! Inside of you there's a broken little girl that just wants a real person to understand her."
I finally decided that since I was talking to myself that I might as well give in and speak to her. "And the day he saved me—us—from that monster…I knew he was defensive, but his animal instincts are…" "Beautiful." "I guess that's a word for it…And the way he risked his life to save us…" "Amazing," she crooned. I felt my cheeks get scorched, but Happiness didn't care, so I didn't either.

Beast Boy
Mom smiled back at me from every page. Dad was there too, of course, and I had been close to him too, but Mom was, well, my mom. Call me a momma's boy if you want, but we had no secrets and I was always closest to her. I probably still would be. Even if bullies teased me about it, but I'm no wus, and I know that even though I'm just a scrawny seventeen-year-old I could take almost anyone, but I'm smart enough to know when to shut up.
She used to tell Dad that if I was supposed to be closer to him I would have come out of him instead. (Then Dad would counter with something like 'He looks exactly like me.' And Mom would be all 'He acts just like me.' She always got the last word, no matter what.)
I set the scrapbook back under my bed and picked up Ninja Fred the Second from behind me. Mom had made my first teddy bear, but it was lost in the flood. Rita had made NF II and gave it to me the day she adopted me. I ripped it a few times, shredded it once, and ripped it more (nightmares will do that to a kid), and , of course, the seams had to be resewn after I took it apart, but otherwise NF II was still only my second teddy bear.
"It's okay to miss them, Garfield. We all miss our families," the Doom Patrol, especially Rita, had accepted me into their family and cared for me, they all had lost everything in their 'former lives' and had banded together to form a team that would stop at nothing to save innocent people: (and because they had nothing to lose) even at the cost of their own lives.
At first, Rita wouldn't let me come on missions, but when I always came anyway she decided to give in. Steve made sure that I knew the risks, and pushed me to my limits as long as Rita would allow it. Cliff and Larry were always there to cheer me on and laugh at me, and protect me from Steve when I did something wrong.
I fell back on the bed. The only reason I left them was because I had broken their (Steve's) most important rule: ("We're different from every other superhero team in the world and do you know why?" "No sir! You have yet to tell me, sir!") "Here on the Doom Patrol we have nothing to lose so we will stop at nothing to save the world from whatever threatens it." But I was thirteen, and had everything to lose: my new family. So when I was the only one left to save everything, I chose to save them. Steve didn't like that. He knew that I could have destroyed the Brain's weapon for good and that saving the team meant delaying both its destruction and the defeat of the Brotherhood of Evil.
He wouldn't understand that I had made the right decision until three years later when the Doom Patrol needed me to save them. When he saw my strategies and leadership skills he finally realized that I wasn't still the shy five-year-old who he'd taken in. I'd grown up. He told me that I'll be a great leader. I asked him if I could have the Doom Patrol. "Maybe after I retire," he'd smirked. With my luck that won't be until he's in his nineties (unless the world decides it can save itself and doesn't need superheroes anymore, which will never happen I'm sure).
I hugged NF II to me.
Everyone you love DIES…
No, it's not like that... Terra isn't really dead. Is she?
Dead to you anyway.
And there's always the Doom Patrol and the Titans.
The Titans don't know the real you and you left the Doom Patrol behind.
Hey, I did not leave them behind! They show up sometimes and visit, and I can always visit them whenever I want to.
My greatest fear is (drum roll please because I don't like thinking about it and you'll probably never hear it again from me): rejection. When Phobia took over my mind and I was forced to live out my worst fear I had to go through being rejected by the Titans, and when I got to Dayton Manor the Doom Patrol (even Rita) kicked me out. I had nightmares about that for weeks, even though I had thought about it a lot before, now I have a mental picture of how it would happen and it's one thing that once you see it you can never un-see it.
But you'll never be close to anyone.
That isn't true! Cyborg's my best friend and he knows everything about me!
There are lots of things you're keeping from him.
Big deal! He hasn't told me everything!
And then it hit me what my conscience was trying to tell me: there was someone who I'd told in a way that I probably never could have again if I'd tried.
Raven.
For some reason I let her under the mask and showed her the real me: the tortured soul that moped over his collection of scrapbooks whenever he couldn't sleep or felt so low that there was no way to get any lower, or found any other excuse to relive a horrible past or think about the perfect family he'd had. Robin's parents died, Bruce Wayne took him in and mentored him on martial arts, he became his sidekick then grew up and went solo, end of story. Star's parents died after her brother went missing, her sister stole the throne from her and sent her to be a prisoner of the Gordanians, then we saved her, big whoop, the end. Cyborg was never too close to his parents, when he was in a car accident they saved his life by putting him back together by filling in the parts they couldn't save with robotic ones, seeing what a monster they'd made him into he ran away, we met him, finished, ended, done. That was all I knew about the others. None of us really liked talking about our pasts, especially me and Raven. About Raven I only knew that it had to do with the prophecy and her not wanting to be how Trigon had created her to be.
I realized that I knew almost nothing about the four people I called 'friends' and had lived with for four years.
Whenever I talked to Cy about it I always left out huge chunks like Galtry and Register and replaced them with small bits like "the Doom Patrol just took me in." The problem wasn't that I didn't trust him to keep it a secret, but that I didn't know how to say it. I'm just ashamed, I guess.
But Raven, it came to me as ironic that she knew the most about me and I knew the least about her. She was like me and kept it as secret as possible. Call me crazy, but I think you should apologize.
For what? It's not like I did anything. Did I?
No, it's more like she's never felt the relief of telling someone about herself, like the way you're feeling now.
Oh, I get it now!