#wrong conclusions

Jason throws him a look over his shoulder; not smooth enough, then.

“I’m very active in the city nightlife,” Bruce says. “Recently I’ve been spending a lot of time at the Penguin Club and the Iceberg Lounge. Business has been pretty busy.”

“O-oh?” That…doesn’t sound like being a vigilante. 

“I like to do the rounds; check on the regulars, you know. Never know when they come up with something to spice up the game. I’m testing some new outfits, too, checking the durability. It’s hard to find materials that stand up to rigorous exercise and sweat.” 

"This book is dedicated to my parents, Ayn Rand and God."

And my brain just went: why would he dedicate a book to a fictional character???

Writers Month (August) 2021

Day #16

Word: Photo / Setting: College AU

Fandom: Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun (Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun)

Characters: Nozaki, Sakura...

Pairings: Nozaki x Sakura

Warnings: None.

A/N: The other side (technically prequel) of “I’ll definitely tell him… (but not yet)”. It can be read without reading Sakura’s side-- but it’s recommended to read it  (´｡• ᵕ •｡`)

Apparently, he carried her picture around all the time. Lots of pictures, actually. That was one of the first things that had catched his attention, when checking his cell phone for the first time, after losing his memory. But by the time he grabbed the cell phone, all of the important persons of his life (or at least the ones he could remember) had already left the room, and he couldn’t ask them.

Who was that girl? Her image seemed to spark something important in his memory, but, of course, he just quite couldn’t put his finger on it. Was she one of his models? Seemed like the most reasonable explanation; however, if that was the case, he sure must have used her for inspiration a lot, because she was everywhere.

Suddenly he had a flicker of memory, a fortuitous mental association, and he grabbed the manga volume from his backpack beside the hospital bed, and opened it just at the right page.

There she was. His heroine, the lovely, princess-looking Mamiko…

...who shared a tremendous resemblance to the girl from the photos.

Perhaps it wouldn’t be so clear for everyone else, but he had the artistic eye, a well trained eye; also, if he had drawn it in the first place, wouldn’t it be logical for him to quickly recognise where the inspiration had come from?

He nodded to himself, until an idea popped into his mind, and he froze.

Why would he use just one girl in particular as a model? Did he just reuse the same face and body for everything…? Was there, somewhere in his stories, a Mamiko army...? An army made of Mamikos?

The idea seemed too surreal and complex even for him, and he pondered on it, frowning in concentration. He looked once again towards the manga, and his eyes remained focused on the pretty, girly ribbon. Then he opened his cell phone and-- yep, there it was again, except there were two instead of one. It was based on her, no doubt. The question was… why?

He mulled over the question, over and over, until his eyebrows started to hurt a little, with how much he was frowning.

It was when he sighed, and was just trying to relax his muscles when yet another idea crossed his mind, like a missile.

Of course.

His eyes went wide open, with this new-found information.

She was his girlfriend!

Everything made sense now, everything was clearer. The revelation felt as if a heavy weight lifted from his chest, and he could finally relax for real, plopping down against the bed.

He sent a glance at the picture on his cell phone one last time, a tiny smile on his lips, before putting away the manga, tucking it safely inside the backpack.

That solves everything, he thought, starting to feel the sleep luring him back. But, still…

He paused even inside his mind, thought swirling, with just a slight hint of uneasiness. I’ll ask her about it, when I see her. I suppose she’ll come to see me.

His mind drifted away, until the world disappeared. The next thing he knew was the delicate touch of a hand, softly holding his own. When he stirred, the other person let go of his hand immediately, and when he opened his eyes and sat straight, the girl from the photos was just barely one feet away; looking taken aback, flustered, her pretty hair tied in two pretty ribbons.

Staring at her intently, he felt like he knew her; like he truly, truly knew her. But still he couldn’t help but ask…

Wrong Conclusions Chapter two: Bewildered Birds

"Hey...Where are Starfire and Beast Boy?" Robin asked as he stepped into the living room well past noon. Cyborg was sitting on the couch and playing a one-player video game, and Robin had heard Raven meditating in her room on his way there.

"I think BB's still asleep. I haven't heard a word from the little green dude all day; I think he's still tired from fighting himself. Took me a few seconds to whoop his evil self's butt, though- Hey-!" Cyborg continuously pressed down on the 'X' button, barely flipping out of the way and then steering his virtual car in time to continue.

Robin blinked for a moment from behind his mask, more confused. Beast Boy usually would have been long awake and talking about their fight by now. It wasn't like him. Well, he was probably was just very tired, just as Cyborg had suggested. It had been an excruciatingly long fight, even by Teen Titan standards. "What about Starfire? She wasn't in her room."

"I think she's practicing?" Cyborg muttered, only half paying attention to his worried leader, not taking his eyes off the game.

"Practicing?" Robin echoed, bemused.

"You know. Training. She's in the training hall downstairs, working with that new program I installed a while ago. I dunno what's gotten into her, but I guess it's just her way of celebratin' or somethin'," Cyborg shrugged. It wasn't like he'd asked her for any details.

"What? We spent all yesterday fighting, and now she's fighting, again? She's never done that before..." Robin glanced worriedly towards the staircase which led to the training hall, wondering what was wrong with the girl. Did she feel sick? Had something one of the other boys said hurt her feelings? Had Trigon hurt her, and now the she was merely trying to find a way to escape the pain without worrying the others?

Starfire never told anyone when she was feeling badly, and when she felt badly was always the time she trained for no apparent reason. Most of those times, though, all Robin had to do was merely walk in and ask what was wrong, and she had told him everything. It had always been obvious whenever Starfire was upset; she always missed and never clapped or cheered whenever she did something correctly. Not to mention, the fake, weak excuse for a smile she had always tried to adorn in those situations.

"I'm going to go see what's wrong," Robin muttered, beginning to jog towards the staircase.

"Nothing's wrong, man! I know that look she gets, and she doesn't have it. Star's just...training," Cyborg told Robin, not bothering to take his eyes off of his video game. True, he knew that something was different with Starfire, but the Tamaranian seemed happy enough, so Cyborg wasn't about to get involved in her business.

Robin paused for a moment, considering what Cyborg said. And then he shrugged it off without a second thought. "I'm still going to check for myself." And with that, the Boy Wonder vanished from the living room.

Cyborg sighed but said nothing. He wasn't about to worry his circuits over those two. Whatever their deal was, it was between Robin and Starfire. Unless Cyborg ever did anything to specifically upset one of them, he decided to stay uninvolved. As long as it didn't cause problems during missions, he'd let them figure their own stuff out.

The machine-human hybrid was just about to finish off the level when a strangely perky, gothic voice caused him to jump up in surprise. "'Morning, heh."

"GAH-!" Cyborg dropped his game controller as he jumped, causing his virtual vehicle to crash into the dinosaur in front of it. After a moment of light fury, Cyborg sighed, letting it slide. As though that didn't happen millions of times a day anyway. He merely picked the controller up off of the ground and looked up to see Raven's lightly worried face. It was hard to catch, but Cyborg had known her long enough to tell. She was back to her black leotard and blue cape and hood, just like the day before, only the hood was still down on her shoulders and not casting that eerie shadow over her face.

"My, don't you sound happy today," Cyborg taunted with a smirk, causing Raven's breathing to steady a bit in relief that he wasn't angry with her.

"Why wouldn't I be?" She asked in her monotone voice, allowing her purple eyes to scan her surroundings. She could feel Starfire's energy below her, and she had heard Robin merely moments ago, but she felt nothing from Beast Boy. "It's really empty in here." She pointed out, unable to force herself to outright ask if Cyborg had seen the Changeling that day.

"Star's training, and her little boyfriend's gone down to see if she's okay. I haven't seen BB all day, though. I figure he's still sleeping. I never saw him leave his room."

"All day?" Raven repeated, sounding rather uninterested, but her eyes drifted towards the hall in which Starfire's and Beast Boy's rooms were located. No matter how she strained her senses, she couldn't feel any form of pulse or aura from him. "I can't feel him. I know he's lazy and everything, but I don't think even HE is capable of completely stopping his heartbeat for that long."

Cyborg let out a small laugh, starting his game over again. "Maybe he left before we woke up to go tell his story to all the girls that'll listen. He probably used the window and just turned into some bird. You know how he can get after we whoop a butt that big."

Raven found herself feeling the lightest twinge of annoyance but calmed down quickly enough. She didn't need to control her emotions quite as much as she used to, for she had nothing to fear from her father, but her powers were still not under total control, and she didn't want to risk accidentally breaking a piece of Cyborg off. "...Probably," was all she said before pulling her hood over her head and casting a dark shadow over her face. She walked towards the kitchen without another word, ready to prepare herself a nice cup of herbal tea.

Though the volume was up rather high and Cyborg's game was far from silent, Raven heard nothing more than her own, slightly agitated thoughts as she set the teapot on the stove. It's only been one day and Beast Boy's already off trying to show off to girls? He's only going to make himself look like a total fool by telling one of his ridiculous jokes.

Raven used her powers to over-shadow a cup on a high shelf and cause it to float towards her. Her thoughts, though, didn't cease. He nearly kills himself, and he doesn't even bother to stay at the Tower right after all existence was almost wiped out? Augh. He's probably over-exaggerating the story for a bunch of simpletons right this moment. THEY weren't the ones that risked the necks to try and keep him and the others safe...!

Raven heard a faint tinkling sound and looked up to find the cup which had been floating towards her beginning to crack. Raven let out a deep breath and caught the cup, relaxing her powers. She took another deep breath to clear her mind and began thinking more logically than emotionally.

What does it matter? Beast Boy always does this. Why should I care, anyway? I shouldn't. With that, Raven walked over to a pot of now-hot herbal tea and began to pour some of the liquid into her cup. She did everything very calmly and very placidly, as was typical of her. But as she sipped on her tea, she got the sudden urge to go to her room and use a spell to pin-point Beast Boy's location... Just to make sure he was alright, and her father hadn't planned something a little extra as a goodbye present.

Raven set the half-empty cup down and began walking back to her room, leaving Cyborg to his gaming.

Meanwhile, when Robin had reached the bottom of the staircase, and he was met with Starfire's cries of rage, followed by the sounds of object after object being shattered. As much as he begged it not to do so, Robin's heart began pounding. It was pumping blood faster and faster through his system because of the sudden bursts of worry. It was practically an instinct at that point, an instinct which Robin usually didn't notice. Whenever he heard Starfire shout in such a manner, Robin always wanted to make sure Starfire was alright, but usually, he couldn't. He knew she was strong - a lot stronger than he was - and he knew that she could stand up to a lot of damage. But something about Starfire was also strangely delicate, and it had Robin constantly fighting the urge to try and protect her.

Of course, he could never have told her that. Oh, god, no. That... that would involve talking about his feelings, and Robin wasn't good at that. It had been hard enough to tell Starfire he thought it was 'cool she was, like, the strongest girl ever' all those days ago.

Augh. Robin still kicked himself in the head whenever he thought of the reaction he had had. He was usually so cool, so calm, but Starfire managed to make him jumpy at the mere mention of the word 'girlfriend'. And it hadn't even been Starfire who had mentioned it! It had been Cyborg mentioning that word around Starfire which had sent the Boy Wonder off.

In truth, part of the reason Robin had never said anything was because he wasn't quite SURE about how he felt about Starfire. Sure, he wanted to protect her. Yes, he thought she was pretty, and he liked most of the things she did, but, those were like brother-sister feelings, weren't they? He felt angry whenever other boys hit on her, but that was because he didn't want her hurt - that was all. Really!

Robin shook his head violently, freeing his mind of all such thoughts. Starfire was mad, and he needed to find out why. She needed to be happy to fly, and they needed her to fly in case they had a mission. That was it.

With that thought in mind, Robin opened the door to the training hall, giving a timid little "Starfire?" as he did so.

His eyes widened in surprise from behind his mask when he saw what was going on. Starfire was floating up in the air with her eyes blazing a bright, acidic green, shattering thin plate after thin plate as it flew into the air for her. Her aim was amazing; clearly much better than it had been up to this point. After all, Starfire wasn't exactly known for her stellar aim - she always tended to miss about ten star-bolts and only maybe connect by the eleventh. But at this moment, Starfire was hitting plate after plate, only missing five or six times in total as she did so.

She let out a cry every time she hit a plate, obviously not hearing Robin's voice over the sound of the shattering. Robin stood for a moment, watching her in surprise. She looked totally brutal, and yet, she was hovering in the air, which meant she was still relatively happy.

"Training Mode: Off," Robin finally said, causing the machine sending the plates to suddenly shut down.

"Huh?" The rage in Starfire's eyes faded quickly, and she floated gently to the ground with a mildly confused expression on her face. She blinked for a moment, but then turned, smiling as she saw Robin standing there and looking oddly nervous. "Oh, greetings, friend Robin!" She said cheerfully, clapping her hands together.

Robin flinched a bit, but he decided to let it slide. She hadn't called him 'friend' Robin in quite a while. "What're you doing training, Star? We just spent all of yesterday fighting. I mean, we saved the world. Isn't that worth a little break...?"

"Oh, I am well aware of our astounding victory, but the battle with the Trigon also gave me the realization that I must train more vigorously. The whole universe was almost thrown into evil, and I was able to do but a very little to help the side of good. I have decided to focus more on training myself, in the case that another bad, bad man appears to threaten my friends."

Robin smiled a bit as she finished her explanation, fighting down the urge to laugh. Starfire really had a pure heart, even if she did express her ideas in the strangest ways he had ever heard. "Well, if you're sure," he said, walking up closer to her. After all, he understood wanting to get better at combat. "But you should still take a small break, Star. I mean, I know better than anyone what being uptight can get you... We can start the usual Combat Practice again in a few days, but for now, we should just be glad we're all alright."

"Well, if you believe so should be done," Starfire sighed in defeat, allowing the glow on her hands to completely dissipate. "I still have much further to go to improve myself."

Robin smiled at her dedication, but his eyes widened a moment later, when he started to take notice of the room. "How long've you been training, anyway?" he asked, looking at the huge amount of shattered plates. The pile of ones hit with the first shot was much, much larger than the other ones, that had gotten further away.

"Three, perhaps four hours?" Starfire said nonchalantly, not entirely positive herself. She tilted her head as she noticed Robin's eyes widen in shock and felt herself grow a bit red in the face. "I am aware that my progress is rather slow and disconcerting, but I am sure that I shall improve if I merely clear my mind of all disturbances."

"Slow?" Robin found himself a bit taken aback by her suggestion. "Star, you've improved more today than you have in over a year of training with me." He laughed a bit, scratching his head. Robin felt rather ashamed that he had not trained Starfire in such a way before. It suddenly felt as though he had been wasting her talents. "I still don't get it, though. What's brought on this sudden...change?" he looked at her worriedly, hoping his mask caused him to mostly look relaxed instead. It didn't.

Starfire went quiet for a bit, fighting back to urge to tell him of everything she had decided the night before. After a moment, she merely smiled sweetly, and hovered back into the air, using the thought of Robin being happy with Raven. "Oh, I have merely decided to rid myself of a few deliberations which have been plaguing my mind. It has allowed me to access my highest potential, friend Robin, so I will be able to deliver larger cans of the butt whoop, worthy of my position in the Teen Titans."

"I'm impressed," Robin admitted. "This is really going to help us out, Starfire. We need to keep getting better and better, now that Slade's on the loose again. But - why don't we go get lunch, now, while Beast Boy's not in the kitchen finishing off the rest of the fridge, yet?"

Starfire giggled a bit. "That idea is simply glorious," she said, floating towards the door, ahead of Robin.

Robin chuckled lightly as he watched her float gleefully. But something about what she had said earlier still bothered him. 'Deliberations'? Something had been bothering Starfire up to that point, and he hadn't noticed? How could Trigon's defeat have calmed her down like this? None of them had known about Raven's father before Slade had shown them the mark of Skath...

With a small sigh, Robin followed her, deciding not to push his luck. Starfire was happy, Raven was alive and well, and his team was still together and stronger than ever. He wasn't about to ruin everything by prying into Starfire's personal business.

As Raven traced her jewel over a map of the city, and Robin and Starfire began speaking pleasantly about why Starfire found the taste of mustard so strangely pleasing, the Tower's alarm went off. Red lights blared in every room of the Tower, and a loud buzzing sound was heard in all rooms. "There's something Downtown," Cyborg said, seeing the police report and map on the TV screen, which had shut off his game automatically. "It's some new guy, really pale, a cape, nobody caught his name. We need to hurry," Cyborg turned around, seeing Robin already putting his motorcycle helmet on, and Starfire already halfway out the door with Raven right beside her. Something in that picture was missing, but Robin was already on it.

"Beast Boy! Where are you?" Robin shouted into his communicator, seeing Beast Boy's face appear for only a moment. The pointy-eared teen looked very flustered and annoyed by Robin's disturbance as he appeared on the screen.

"Listen, dude, this ISN'T THE TIME!" Beast Boy shouted, but yelped, leaning out of frame the next second. Quite suddenly, the screen went fuzzy and Cyborg lost the signal before he could even pinpoint the location of their missing team member.

"'Isn't the time'? Beast boy! BEAST BOY!" Robin shouted angrily, getting no response. What could have been more important!? Augh, that was just like Beast boy, never having his priorities straight!

"So, what do we do?" Cyborg asked, glancing at Robin. Starfire and Raven both looked to their leader as well.

"We ignore it for now, but Beast Boy's getting it once we find him! We need to focus on this guy Downtown. Titans, go!" Robin jammed his communicator into his belt and led the way out the door, the other three Teen Titans following quickly after. Everything that had been bothering any of the Titans was pushed quickly aside and replaced with a worry for their city's well-being.

Disclaimers:

Starfire, Beast Boy, Raven, Robin, Cyborg, Silkie, and pretty much everything but the plot at hand belongs to © D. C. Comics/Cartoon Network/Kids WB

9/2019 Update:

Wrong Conclusions Chapter four: The Consequence of Seat Switching

Within a few hours, a movie was chosen as were a couple of pizzas. Seeing as that Beast Boy was the 'man of the hour', Starfire and Raven had both agreed that for once, they could splurge on more then one pizza and had gotten a 'meat-lovers' for Robin and Cyborg and a nice 'vegetarian dream' for Beast Boy. Raven usually didn't eat too much pizza to begin with, and Starfire ate anything if she was allowed to add her own personal toppings to it, so their choices weren't an issue. The movie itself was a horror flick, as per usual, but Beast Boy had made sure that it had nothing to do with any vampires. Every time Cyborg had mentioned the word, Beast Boy had come close to hurling.

Beast Boy and Cyborg had been the first to return to the Titans Tower. They had popped the DVD into the player and then went to forcefully drag Robin away from what he had claimed to be a breakthrough in their villain's identity. Starfire and Raven had appeared not ten minutes later with the pizzas and set them onto the table.

Now, the movie was about to begin, and Cyborg stood up in front of Robin (who was moodily tapping his fingers on his arms, which were crossed over his chest) to tell the Titans something about the movie. "This here's a brand-spanking-new horror flick. It's said that someone had a heart attack just watchin' it! It's all about zombies and ghosts -- but no vampires 'cause widdle BB's too scawed," Cyborg flashed a challenging glance at Beast Boy, who was leaning over the couch to watch Cyborg's summary with Raven and Starfire right behind him. To everyone surprise, Beast Boy just gave a weak laugh and scratched the back of his head.

"Er...yeah. Anyway!" Cyborg continued, tossing the DVD case carelessly to the side and sitting down on Robin's left. "C'mon! Sit down everyone, so we can start this thing!"

"Great. Another night of meaningless horror movies. How fun," Raven muttered to herself, watching Starfire float towards the couch. To her surprise, though, Starfire sat on the other side of Cyborg, rather than next to Robin. And what surprised her even further was that Beast Boy, after giving Robin a strange look-over, smiled meekly and sat right beside Starfire, himself, on the corner.

Robin, too, seemed a bit taken-aback by this. Starfire had always sat right beside him during horror movies... She usually used his cloak to shield herself whenever she got scared. Robin looked back at Raven, who merely shrugged and floated forward to take the last available seat, which was next to Robin in the corner opposite Beast Boy.

Cyborg, on the other hand, didn't seem to notice the strange actions and merely continued on with the merriment. "About time. Okay -- let's go!" Cyborg pulled out a remote and pressed a button to turn the lights off, then another one to turn the movie on. Cyborg was into the movie within mere minutes. Robin was lost in the movie quickly as well, as it begin with somewhat of a detective mystery surrounding a strange murder, where as Raven was already beginning to pull out a black book and pretending to ignore the movie best she could. She was thankful for times like this, when she could spend time with her friends and all, but horror movies simply didn't appeal to her, especially after that time she had been frightened into losing her powers.

Beast Boy and Starfire, though, didn't have their attention averted quite so quickly. Both looked from the corner of their eyes at Robin and Raven sitting next to one another, both feeling stabs of jealousy, annoyance at themselves, and disappointment as they did so. Thankfully, it was dark, so none of the Titans noticed that the two were looking -- not even Starfire and Beast Boy. As far as the each knew, the other was lost in the movie, already.

As much as I hate to admit it, they do look good together... Beast Boy growled bitterly at himself, mostly for being so jealous of Robin in the first place. Dude, I gotta get over this! They like each other! Heck, they may even love each other! It's not like I can blame her...Robin's only, like, a million times cooler than me. And I can't blame Robin, either. I mean, if I fell for Raven, why couldn't he? Man, he probably made a move on her a long time ago, too. I should've been quicker! For all I know, it's all it would've taken for her to at least like me...

As Beast Boy mentally wounded himself further, Starfire merely let out and a small sigh and looked up at the movie. Beast Boy was clenching his hand in a fist, almost ready to literally hit himself in the face when he heard her sigh. She was right beside him, after all, and he needed something to snap him out of his mental self-abuse.

So once he heard her sigh, Beast Boy turned his head a bit to look at Starfire's face, which was just barely visible in the dim light emitted from the television screen. It practically ripped his heart in half to look at the poor Tamaranian's expression. She was usually so happy and peppy, but her eyes were so depressed and lonely at that particular moment...The look didn't suit her. At all.

What's up with Star...? Beast Boy asked himself, studying her for a few more moments from the corner of his eye. Within a second, he was mentally smacking himself in the face for not having realized earlier. Of course! Star's totally got the hots for Robin! Man, I forgot she likes him so much with the whole Raven thing going on. She must hate seein' 'em together more than I do! He clenched his teeth, angry at himself for being so self-absorbed recently. But the anger faded, as he looked at her expression again. I wish I could make her feel better... It isn't the same, when she's sad...

"...What is wrong, Beast Boy?" Starfire whispered, turning her head very slightly to look more directly at Beast Boy. He had an uncomfortable look on his face, and she didn't think it was caused by the movie. "Are you positive you are unharmed?"

"Huh?" The Changeling blinked in surprise, before shaking his head vigorously to rid it of any thoughts he had been having a moment before. He managed to lower his voice to an only-slightly-too-loud whisper. "Yeah, fine, fine! Just kinda tired from today. Must've spaced out!" Beast Boy let out his normal, high-pitched laugh while scratching the back of his head.

Cyborg growled darkly around Starfire and hissed, "Shut it, will you?", causing Beast Boy to go completely silent with a guilty expression.

"Well...If you claim so to be true," Starfire said quietly and went back to having her eyes on the movie, though she seemed to be looking almost past the screen instead of directly at it. With a small sigh and one last glance towards Starfire's sad face, Beast Boy finally began to do the same.

Two hours later, the movie finally ended. Raven had managed to ignore the entire thing, where as Robin, Cyborg, and Beast Boy were gaping in horror. Starfire was clinging to Beast Boy's arm and whimpering into it, although apparently, Beast Boy didn't even notice she was there.

"...Ugh, I remember why I hate zombies so much," Robin was a slightly paler color than usual.

"Dude, that was sick...!" Cyborg made a motion to vomit, but seemed to stop himself in time, a closed hand covering his mouth. Raven still scooted away just in case.

"Oh, man, maybe vampires WOULD'VE been better-" But Beast boy's commentary was cut off as his attention was drawn to the arm Starfire was clinging to. She had let out a whimper and dug her nails into his arm.

"Are the walking undead no longer on the screen...?" She managed to squeak out, causing Beast Boy and Cyborg to laugh a bit.

"It's only a movie, Star! And yeah, it's over," the Changeling said with a laugh, as Cyborg joined in. Starfire whimpered again while hesitantly pulling her face away, but refusing to un-dig her nails from Beast Boy's arm.

"But...but I fear they may return!" She cried.

"Yeah, Star, you can deal with vampire-boys flyin' around without so much as yawning, but when it's a guy in a lot of make-up and rubber, you head for the hills," Beast Boy taunted.

"Ooh, don't let the scary make-believe-man get me! Out of my way, sludge beast, I'm hiding from a guy with make-up!" Cyborg imitated Starfire, causing her to smile a bit at her own silliness.

As Beast Boy and Cyborg continued to lightly taunt Starfire's fear of movies but her lack of any fear during battle, Raven and Robin both looked over at the three, having slightly different reactions. They didn't feel like teasing Starfire.

Robin accidentally crushed a piece of crust he was holding in his hand, a sudden wave of anger washing over him. He didn't know why, but every second Starfire continued to hold onto Beast Boy's arm seemed to send a new wave of rage pulsating through his veins. It shouldn't have been a big deal; Starfire hugged people all the time, and that had never bothered him before. But there was some form of territorial voice going off in Robin's head, telling him that Starfire was supposed to be clinging to HIM, to HIS arm right now -- not Beast Boy's. She always sat next to him during horror movies for protection. Why... why was the suddenly avoiding him and going to Beast Boy, of all people, instead?

In Raven's head, a small twinge of annoyance kept going off. She didn't know why, really, and merely assumed it had to do with Beast Boy and Cyborg's taunting. After all, Raven had not had it any better when they had made fun of her fears. They had no right to go after Starfire in such a way, after what happened with Raven. But then again, Starfire was sort of asking for it, sitting right between Beast Boy and Cyborg, rather than Robin...

...Why WAS she sitting next to Beast Boy rather than Robin?

Raven blinked a bit as her eyes focused in on Starfire's hands on Beast Boy's arm. She felt another annoyed twinge in her system. "Nngh," She let out an uncomfortable sound, suddenly slamming her book shut, and causing Beast Boy and Cyborg to go quiet mid-joke.

"I'm going to bed," the half-demon said calmly. "Everyone else probably should, too, with that vampire-guy still running around and everything." With that, she began to float off towards her room.

Robin hopped to his feet instantly, happy to have an opportunity to break Beast Boy, Cyborg, and Starfire up. "Raven's right. We should all go to bed after that fight today. Especially you, Beast Boy," the Boy Wonder gave a smile; half because Beast Boy had done so well that day, and half because Starfire had finally let go of the Changeling's arm. He didn't know why, but the latter caused a cool feeling of relaxation to quickly spread through his body.

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Beast Boy let out a small laugh, hopping to his feet. Cyborg stood up as well, and Starfire simply hovered a few feet above the couch.

"Mm," Robin gave a small nod before turning to walk off. "I think I'll call it a night for now, too. Good night," He waved lightly to his friends, only Starfire waving back. A few moments later there were two recognizable 'Fwoosh' sounds, as Robin's door opened and closed behind him, Raven's door doing the same right after it.

"I should go catch some Z's, too," Cyborg said with a small yawn. "All that chasin' after you was pretty annoying, BB," He snickered lightly, walking off before Beast Boy could think of a retort.

That left Beast Boy feeling pretty frazzled, and he crossed his arms over his chest to pout at the robotic Titan's back. "Stupid Cyborg always having to have the last stupid shot because he's so stu-"

"Are you truly alright, Beast Boy?"

"Huh?" Beast Boy turned a bit to look into Starfire's eyes. She was giving him an uncomfortably worried-filled glance, and he backed up slightly out of instinct. Why's she starin' at me like that...? ...Or does she always, but I never really bothered to notice before...? Aw, man. Beast Boy's thoughts were cut off by the sounds of Cyborg's door opening and closing behind him. "Uh, of course, Star! I mean, why wouldn't I be?"

"Well, after the battle with the Trigon, you have had the Querchok eyes."

"...The what?" By now, Beast Boy was more than accustomed to Starfire's Tamaranian terms, but he could have sworn he'd never heard THAT one before.

"The Querchok is a creature on my planet whose eyes are always filled with sadness and despair, despite its mouth always being up-turned, like a smile. When someone's eyes are filled with the same sadness, though a smile is on the face, that is the term we use on Tammaran," Starfire shrugged innocently, as though she assumed Beast Boy would have known this.

Beast Boy felt his eye twitch, feeling caught. Man, Starfire's a lot sharper than any of us give her credit for... "Really, Star, I'm fine," Beast Boy finally said. "I just...started to think a little more, y'know? And since I'm not used to doing that, it's makin' my head hurt," He laughed a bit, Starfire giggling as well after a brief pause. She was one of the few people who appreciated his jokes...whenever she understood them, anyway.

"Well, if that is what you say," Starfire began to float towards her room, but out of nowhere, Beast Boy's gloved hand gently caught her wrist. Starfire's eyes widened, and she turned back to look at Beast Boy's strangely anxious face. Starfire had no idea, but Beast Boy was dying to know if she was going through the same thing he was. If she was feeling the same pain he felt over Raven's loss, only over Robin's. It may have been a 'misery loves company' thing, but then again, making Starfire feel better could've let Beast Boy forget about Raven, and they could both be their old selves again.

"But...What about you? I mean, I heard Robin talking about you getting totally awesome at your Starbolts all of a sudden, and your eyes are like Kweerchak...Quarche...That thing you said's too!" Beast Boy hadn't meant to be so open about it, but he hadn't thought before blurting everything out.

He flushed darkly and let go of Starfire's wrist as suddenly as he had caught it. Beast Boy spoke up again before Starfire could even reply to his prying question. "Sorry! None of my business. Night, Star!" Beast Boy turned and ran off, feeling horribly embarrassed with what had just come over him, leaving Starfire alone in the living room before she could have even said 'goodnight' back.

Starfire stared blankly after him, but sighed once he was gone, turning towards the window and rubbing her arm lightly. "So, it is obvious that I, too, have the Querchok eyes...?" She asked her reflection, getting no response as she gently pressed her fingertips near the corner of her sad eye.

Disclaimers:

Starfire, Beast Boy, Raven, Robin, Cyborg, Silkie, and pretty much everything but the plot at hand belongs to © D. C. Comics/Cartoon Network/Kids WB

9/2019 Update:

Wrong Conclusions Chapter one: Clandestine Farewells

She had smiled through the whole thing.

She had smiled when Raven had defeated Trigon. She had smiled when she saw her dear friend in a white cloak back, now in her older form. She had smiled when she saw Raven hug her other dear friend, Robin. She had still smiled when she saw Beast Buy hugging Raven next. Even back in the Titan Tower, she had smiled throughout the whole celebration for having their teammate back, and the Earth having been returned back to normal. She had even smiled while noticing that Robin and Raven were having an intimate talk.

She had smiled the whole time.

But as the door to her room slid shut, Starfire finally had a chance to lean her back against the wall and allowed the tears to flow down her cheeks. Oh, she was still smiling, but now it was a bitter-sweet smile of defeat. And it turned into a scowl within moments.

Starfire really was ecstatic that Raven was back, that wasn't the problem! What bothered the poor Tamaranian more than anything was the fact that Raven and Robin were now, once again, close. True, the two had always gotten along better than most of the other Titans - especially after Raven had been within Robin's mind. But when they had hugged, Robin had not pulled away from Raven in the same manner he always had from Starfire. Around the Tamaranian, Robin had always been oddly quiet and had always gotten very angry and tacit after she did anything affectionate. Seeing Raven being allowed to get that close to Robin was simply too much for Starfire to bear.

And what hurt Starfire most as her back pressed into the wall, allowing the tears to roll down her cheeks, was that she was happy for them. She loved Raven and Robin very dearly, and wasn't about to try and stand in their way. If the two had such feelings for each other, Starfire was going to allow everything to run its course, even if it meant giving up on Robin. She wanted both friends to be happy, even if it tore her up on inside.

Starfire tried to wipe the hot tears away from her face but merely caused herself more discomfort. She had wiped her face with her forearm, around which her armor was clasped, and the cold suddenly contacting with her face caused a shiver of discomfort to run down her spine. She gave a choked sob, allowing her mind to wander to her sad thoughts of defeat once more.

Starfire had almost always had feelings for Robin, for as long as she could remember. He had always been very kind to her, even if he didn't baby her in battle. Rightfully so, considering Starfire's immense strength and endurance; she would have felt he was thinking little of her if he had tried to protect her during fights. But it was because Robin had always been so kind to her that Starfire had though she had a chance with him.

That thought had only been reinforced when Robin had acted very ashamed during his forced date with that treacherous 'Kitten' girl. And again, when he had stopped Starfire's sister from taking Starfire's place in the Teen Titans. Then again, when he had helped stop Starfire's arranged marriage on Tamaran to that unfortunate blob her sister had found for her. All of these actions had caused Starfire to have stronger and stronger feelings for him, and she believed that he had felt the same about her. After Robin had mentioned the difficulty he had speaking of feelings, Starfire had decided to take things one step at a time and wait for a day when Robin was ready to bring up the subject of his own accord.

But apparently, Starfire had waited too long. And for this, she simply loathed herself.

Slowly, as Starfire's gasps for breath became less strangled, she realized something that made her feel even more foolish than before.

So what if she hadn't said anything to Robin? If he felt that strongly about Raven, it merely meant he didn't feel such a way about her. Starfire couldn't, for a moment, imagine Robin being the sort who could harbot feeling for two beings at once. So, she had merely saved herself a very embarrassing conversation and weeks of awkward glances.

Starfire gave a small laugh, at last finding the bright side she had so hoped for. "W-Well, it appears as though this particular t-time I am not victorious," she told herself in a half-joking but still extremely bitter manner as she crossed her arms over her chest. She had won so many battles for the Titans just with her strength alone that losses were rare experiences for her.

Starfire thought of how now, she could still talk the way she always had with Robin without any awkward feelings, and of the happiness he would one-day obtain when he and Raven told one another of their emotions. Surprising as it was, it was happy enough of a thought to allow the Tamaranian to hover off of the ground and over to her bed.

So, she couldn't get Robin. Oh, well. She could focus more on her other friends and focus on getting stronger in battle. She was a hero on Earth, and people depended on her! Romance wasn't something she needed; heck, it may have even gotten in her way.

She thought again of the vision of Raven and Robin hugging the way they had. Starfire gave a small giggle, now feeling mildly better about it in her head. Her heart ached as though it had been ripped in two, but the gladness Starfire felt inside of her head was enough to let her push that part of her feelings aside. The two did make for an interesting couple. And now she'd have more time to get to know Cyborg and Beast Boy. She had fought along-side both of them during their battle with Trigon, and knew little to nothing of them! At least, compared to Robin and Raven.

All Starfire knew of Cyborg was that half of him was apparently this thing called a 'machine'. Starfire did not understand the concept too well. The machines she had always dealt with could not think on their own, much less feel. There was much more to Cyborg than merely his mechanics, and she knew that he knew the same pain of discrimination as she did. She regretted never taking the time to share more experiences with him.

Beast Boy was another mystery to her. Before Terra came into their lives, Beast Boy had always been funny and lazy, trying to ignore any responsibility he could. He spoke like most the human 'surfers' of the Earth did, and yet he didn't look human at all. He had always made jokes and bothered Raven, and every one of the Titans had always thought of him as someone who wore his emotions on his sleeves, including Starfire. But after Terra's betrayal, a new side of Beast Boy had been exposed. He had true passion in his heart and risked everything for someone the other Titans no longer trusted, and he managed to bring out the good in her one final time.

Starfire's lids suddenly became heavy as she closed her bright-green eyes, hearing voices not too far away from her door. Unlike Robin's and Raven's rooms, her door was left rather thin, so that she could hear if trouble was beginning to stir.

Starfire smiled, recognizing the voices of her fellow Titans. Raven and Robin had already headed to their separate rooms, so it was only Beast Boy and Cyborg left in the hallway.

"So, up for a game of Stank-Ball, BB? I choked down some of your stupid tofu-bacon, I owe you a good butt-whooping for that," Cyborg's low and playful voice rumbled. Starfire could sense the stench of the 'Stank-Ball' even through her door.

"...No thanks, dude," Beast Boy's voice came, accompanied by a small, forced laugh and a very fake and unconvincing yawn. "I think I'm gonna call it a night. After fightin' myself for almost a whole day, I think it's only right I caught up on some Z's before I make up for all my lost couch-time. 'Sides, shouldn't you recharge, too?"

"Alright, if you're so scared of losing," Cyborg taunted, but the sound of his heavy footsteps was heard afterward. Beast Boy's light footsteps followed a moment later, along with the sounds of his door sliding closed.

Starfire closed her eyes, allowing the welcoming feeling of sleep to over-take her. True, it was very uncomfortable for her to sleep in her uniform, much less her armor, but all of the emotions she had felt that day, along with the exhausting battle with her alter-ego, caused Starfire to be completely drained of energy. With a small sigh of 'Farewell, Robin...' Starfire allowed sleep to take over her exhausted body.

As Starfire accepted everything and allowed sleep to take over, another Titan had his emotions rattled in a similar manner, if not to a more serious extent. He walked over to his bed, sitting down on the bottom rather than top bunk, and merely stared at the ground with a blank expression on his face. Beast Boy was in a state of shock, still unable to comprehend all of the sudden grief he was feeling.

He had been just as happy as the other Titans the whole time, after all, why shouldn't he have been? Raven was back and free of Trigon's control, everyone was alive, he had hugged Raven, she acted the same as always by asking him to flake off - everything was back to normal.

Beast Boy's eyes narrowed as he finally accepted a small truth. Everything ISN'T back to normal...

He balled his hands into fists and stood as a wave of rage suddenly washed over him. Without thinking or realizing what was happening, Beast Boy began picking up things in his room and throwing them at walls. He threw his action figures, his chairs, his empty food containers - everything he could have gotten his hands on. Beast Boy had learned from the chemical reaction he had had when Adonis had pushed him into those toxins that nobody could hear him breaking things in his room; his walls were very sound proof. He had only acted in a similar manner once since that incident, and it had been after Raven had broken all the things he had made for her birthday.

After a few minutes of his items shattering and bursting apart, Beast Boy finally calmed down, breathing very heavily. He clutched the lamp he had been preparing to throw tightly in his fist, wondering if he should throw it afterall or not. After a moment of consideration, the green teenager merely set the lamp back down on his nightstand and fell back into his bottom bunk.

Beast Boy felt dizzy. His heart was pounding in anger and frustration, but his eyes stung as they were quickly welling up with tears. He couldn't believe it! He had gotten his hopes up so high after Terra was no more, only to get them stepped on!

He placed his forearm over his eyes, to shield them from the light of his window. It didn't help him any, though. Beast Boy still saw everything that had happened the day, as though it were a movie being shown on the back of his eyelids.

Raven didn't care about him. She didn't care about him in the least. When Trigon had thrown them all to the ground, she had stood over him for a few moments, looking frantic. Beast Boy's heart had leaped, hoping she was going to help him to his feet. But no. No, she ran right to Robin and kept telling him, and only him, to get up, as though the other Titans were nothing.

And then, after Trigon was defeated, she had hugged Robin without a second thought. And after Beast Boy had made it clear he wanted the old Raven back and tried to hug her as well, she had snapped at him. Once in the Tower, she had stuck to Robin, and only Robin. Again. The two had been speaking as though they were lovers behind everyone else's backs - Beast Boy had seen more than enough movies to recognize that.

Beast Boy tried to let out a steadied breath, but it ended up a rattled choke instead. He remained on his bottom bunk for what felt like must have been hours, taking all the jabs of emotions he was suddenly feeling. Beast Boy felt jealous of Robin for being so close to Raven, he was angry at Raven for not caring about him, he loathed Trigon for causing Raven and Robin to grow that much closer, he felt sick with himself for having such negative feelings towards his friends, but most of all, Beast Boy was just...confused.

Why did he feel like this? Raven was so creepy, and he knew that. Sure, he worried about her, but...but she was just another Titan, right? A creepy, half-demon Teen Titan. Yeah, there had been times when he had felt close to her, as though she had even understood him, but that was just because she wasn't allowed to show emotions. Raven had to suppress her emotions, kind of similar to Beast Boy. Though Beast Boy didn't hide them - he merely masked them with a smile or a bad joke, but it was the same thing. It was bottling up pain and frustration inside until it finally burst. They both understood that.

The more Beast Boy thought about it, the more he realized how he and Raven were alike. Sure, she liked poetry, and he liked video games, but what they felt was similar. Both of them didn't want to bother the others with their problems. Neither one liked to be bothered when they were doing something solitary. And most importantly, both of them knew the feeling of having their hearts ripped out and stepped on. For Raven, it had been Malchior, and for Beast Boy, it had been Terra.

Malchior...The mere memory of the name caused Beast Boy's blood to turn to boiling oil. What he had done to Raven was simply sick and wrong. Sure, Raven was quiet, but using her in such a way caused Beast Boy's skin to crawl. Raven deserved better than that! She may not have been a beauty queen, but there was something alluring about her gothic appearance. And she was very smart, too; all she did was read! She had a taste for poetry, which proved she was cultured - not to mention how she had handled her life, always being told she would turn the world to dust, yet fighting to make it better, instead. She was impossibly strong for that. Raven deserved someone caring, someone fun, someone who saw how wonderful she was, someone who could appreciate her! Someone like Beast Boy!

The Changeling suddenly sat bolt upright in his bed with her eyes wide in horror. He...He hadn't just thought that. Sure, he liked Raven and everything but...but...

Oh, who was he kidding? He loved everything about her! The names she called him, that strand of hair that hung on one side of her face, that jewel in her forehead, the way she used her powers, the way she smelled, the way it took him months to get her to even crack a smile...Everything!

"Aw, man, I totally blew it..." Beast Boy groaned to himself, allowing himself to once again, fall onto the bottom bunk. "It's too late now...She digs Robin. If I weren't such a stupid-AUGH!" He punched his bedpost with the side of his fist, thankfully doing nothing more than causing his fist to throb in pain and Silkie to fall off from the top bunk.

Beast Boy let out a slow breath, rationalizing everything quickly in his head. Raven liked Robin, and Robin was one of his best buds - there would be no standing in their way. No running after Raven, no matter what. She was out of his league; Beast Boy had a better chance with CYBORG.

He turned around, smiling despite the sad look in his eyes. "Oh, well," He told himself. "Now I can focus on being less of a loser, and maybe find me a REAL babe. ...Goodbye, Raven," he whispered to himself before shutting his eyes and, a few moments later, beginning to emit a soft snore.

Disclaimers:

Starfire, Beast Boy, Raven, Robin, Cyborg, Silkie, and pretty much everything but the plot at hand belongs to © D. C. Comics/Cartoon Network/Kids WB

9/2019 Edit:

I had a fanfic I wrote back in 2005, when I was 15, after the Raven Trigon arch first aired. I forgot all about it until someone finally emailed me recently asking what was up with it, and I realized I hadn’t updated since 2012. I’m going to be going through one at a time to try and update them to remember the story so that I can finally finish it. I’ll post them here, as well, for fun, since I put some of my fan stuff here, too.

Enjoy, anyone who likes the original Teen Titans cartoon!