That Shadowed Face

It comes on suddenly.

One minute the sky is crystal clear, the next it's pouring, heavy, hard and fast.

"Damn it," Terra exclaims, with a bit of a smile. "There goes our picnic!"

"I dunno," Beast Boy replies. He's lying back on the checkered blanket, his hands behind his head. "Who says we can't have it in the rain?" He doesn't mind getting wet. He's surprised she does.

"But the food'll get ruined," she muses. She fusses with the lid of the basket they'd only just started to unpack. "It'll go bad if it gets wet."

"You sure care a lot," he says. She shrugs.

"Just wanted today to be… Nice."

"It is," he says. The rain makes loud, short noises as it hits the ground. Sounds a bit like a slap across the face, he thinks.

"We should go," she says, a decision she is making without consulting him. He doesn't mind; it's not a big deal and he wants her to be happy. He doesn't know why he can't ever just tell her that.

They pack up the food and the blanket, and she clutches the basket against her chest with both arms. The wicker scrapes against her skin. The sound of flesh ripping, he has learned through his years of animalistic hearing, is not unlike the sound of tearing lace. He supposes that flesh must be just as delicate.

"Are you all right?" he asks.

"Just a scratch," she says. She's bleeding a little. The red brings color to her too-pale skin. She looks alive, for once.

They start walking the path that leads out of the park. Their footsteps are the second hand of a clock, tick-tock-tick-tock-tick. The monotone is unnatural; too perfect a pattern for footsteps.

"So dark," she says. "It sure got that way fast." It did. He can barely see her face anymore.

"That's all right, we know the way home," he assures her. It hasn't been her home for long, but he assumes it must already be familiar to her. After all, her voice is already familiar to him. That pretty, slightly raspy sound. A flute just a little bit out of tune.

"Yeah, home," she says, and she smiles her brilliant smile. Even in such dim light, she's pretty when she smiles. It's the only time anyone could ever really call her that.

A car rushes by with a violent sound, like slashing someone open. It runs through a puddle and splatters them with rain, little hollow clinks, the blood hitting the floor.

"You're all dirty," she says, with a look of concern.

"I'm fine," he replies, "I needed a shower anyway." He smiles, but wonders if she can even see it.

"We should go to the movies since our picnic got cut short," he says. "On me."

"I'll pay for the popcorn," she says. "Extra butter?"

"You know it!" She giggles at his response, a sweet, lovely trill on the out-of-tune flute.

There's a flash of lightning and for a split second he can see every freckle and scar and blemish on her face.

Then there's thunder, louder than he's ever heard it. He thinks this must be what it sounds like to hear somebody dying.

"That scared me," she says. The lightning strikes again and her hair glistens in the sudden light, more beautiful than gold.

"You're lying," he says. It's not a question nor is it an accusation. It's just a statement of fact.

She's pretty when she lies, he realizes.

It is a thought that comes suddenly, and he doesn't know what to do with it.

My annual Beast BoyxTerra one-shot. I didn't know what to do this year, but it was raining today so my Mom said I should write about "a sudden thunderstorm", and I came up with the line "you're pretty when you lie" a while ago, so I just went from there. This is set sometime between Titan Rising and Betrayal I wanted this to feel a bit eerie, with a lot of focus on sounds and imagery that didn't quite fit together. The idea was that the only time Beast Boy's observations of Terra are positive is when she isn't being completely honest.

Dedicated to hinatalover445. She requested BBxT stuff like a year ago but I never got around to it, and I feel bad about it. Hope this satisfies you BBxT craving, even if it's a year too late!

Thanks to my mom and brother for the help!