CH1

He was thinking about her again. It had been quite a while since they had talked, he missed their chats, they were...nice. He sighed, of all the people in all the world...why did it have to be her? She was magic, dangerous magic, she was mean, especially to people like him, guys, jokesters, happy go lucky types...and she had sworn off of relationships. Her pale skin made her oddly colored hair and eyes stand out more, but that didn't bother him, not anymore than she was bothered by his green skin and claws. He kept his claws hidden most of the time but after spending so much time with someone it was kinda hard to keep hiding them, or to get them to not notice that they've never seen your hands. She didn't mind his fangs or his ears either, even though he heard many comments under her breath that made their friendship...rocky, he also heard enough to guess what was wrong and help. She liked that, and she thought his ears were cute, even if she didn't admit it. Just like she wouldn't admit she liked his fang. Chicks dig the pointy ears, and apparently his fang too. Oh yeah, sitting here on the side of the roof, pining over a girl who would never have him, he was a stud.

His ears twitched and a few seconds later the door to the roof opened. It was Raven, he could tell by her scent, no one else had a scent even remotely like it. He liked her scent, it was...calming. He thought it might be because of all of the calming drinks and incense she always used. He liked it. He heard her footsteps freeze for half of a second as she spotted him before she continued walking and stood behind him, silent as usual.

"Hi Raven."

"Beastboy, why are you up so early?"

"Got up to meet a friend," he yawned for so long and a loud time that it sounded like a bear "at seven." Raven looked at her communicator's clock and raised an eyebrow. She leaned down and held it in front of him

"Beastboy, it's six fifty two." his eyes widened and he shot up like a rocket knocking Raven off balance, she reached out to grab his arm and keep herself from falling on her but, but only managed to pull him on top of her sprawling them both out. They landed with an 'oof' and he scrambled back up leaving her there.

"Oh sorry Raven, geeze, I'm late, dude I can't be late, she'll leave!" he looked around and went to the door to the roof as raven got up.

"Thanks for that Beastboy." she said sarcasm dripping from her words. She sat up and looked at him " 'She'? Going on a date?" he whipped around blush on his face

"Sh-shut up Raven!" he morphed into a cheetah and ran full speed off the roof morphing into a peregrine falcon mid-fall.

"Goodbye to you too." Raven shrugged and began to chant, finding her center.

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Beastboy was looking around, he had to get there on time, now if only he remembered how to get there...where was he? He had a terrible sense of direction and only knew how to get somewhere from direct relation to some place like the candy shop or the pizza place or - the ice-cream shop! Okay, just follow it down, make a left turn, two rights, another left, fifth intersection make another left across from the kids playing soccer aaaaaand there!

He was nearly there. He did a dive bomb in his falcon form, going faster than any other animal could hope to, getting a pure adrenalin rush out of it. At the last secon he pulled out and rushed streaked forward, down the street, slowing to a mere seventy miles an hour. He spotted her and transformed into a cheetah slowing himself more and hoping to slow down enough in time. Thirty miles an hour. A deer now, heavier, slower, 'Still too fast.' he thought 'Have to slow down.' Only ten miles an hour, twenty feet left 'Okay, human now.' he was running full pelt down the street, trying to slow down in the five feet he had left after turning human.

"Watch ouuuuuuuut!" he cried, desperately hoping not to-"Ooof!"-crash into her. "Owww." he sat up, rubbing his head, when he opened his eyes she was gone. "Hey, where'd she go?" he looked around for a bit and gave up, leaning back on his hand, and coming across something soft, like the ground he was sitting on...except that the ground would be concrete...soft concrete?

"Beastboy," came a very annoyed and high pitched voice from below him, "you mind taking your hand off my ass and getting the hell off of me?" He looked down to see a very ticked off bad luck sorceress.

"Oh, hey Jinx, ummm." he quickly removed said hand and then scratched his head, grinning.

"Grrrrrrrr."

"Oh yeah." he got off of her and helped her up "So I kinda figured yo...Jinx, what are you wearing?" Jinx blushed and turned turned her head away from him because what she was wearing, was a dress. The dress was a sleeveless baby blue number made of a filmy material that went down to just under her knees. It had a wide darker blue ribbon tied at the back around her waist and it had a tiny white frill at the bottom of it. Her embarrassment at being caught in such a non-threatening outfit was not helped by Beastboy laughing at her.

"It's a dress, I am a girl after all, and will you shut up!" she shout-whispered at him.

"I'm sorry it's just that it's...it's all, light and blue and...and frilly." he said pointing at the bottom part "What's that, a ribbon? Dude, that is so, totally not your style." He let out yet another small laugh.

"Shut up, they wouldn't let me have my old clothes back and this was the best they had!" His face became curious for a moment and he asked her

"They wouldn't? Why not?" She blushed harder

"They didn't believe I really dressed that way, they thought it was my 'costume'. Morons." He fell into uncontrolled laughter at this. It annoyed her so she snapped a bit of bad luck at him and moments later a soccer ball hit him in the face before bouncing high into the air. The hit knocked him onto his back and as the ball came back down he caught it and put it on his stomach. A small child, about five, ran across the street and up to the pair of supers. She seemed hesitant but manages to speak.

"Sorry about that mister Beastboy. Can we have our ball back?" Beastboy grabbed the ball and sat up plastering a friendly smile to his throbbing face.

"Sure, no problem kid." He handed her the ball, got her to smile and told her to look both ways before crossing the street, which she did this time. He had always been good with kids, for some reason, or at least that's what he had told her when they talked. From what she saw he really didn't seem any better than most people, but then again he said that his ears were a huge 'chick magnet', no his perspective might have been a little skewed. Then again, the girl did check before crossing the streets, which really didn't indicate anything other than that Jinx was really thinking about him a lot, and she felt she better stop.

"Hey! I can see your legs! And they're not all purple and black and stripey! And no platforms! Duuuude, you look so weird!" she waited until he stood up, then there was a resounding crack left in the air as she slapped his face and started walking away. He was stunned for second but soon snapped out of it, chasing after her "Jii-II-iinx! What was that for?" she refused to look at him but answered

"Saying I look weird, which you really have no right saying Mr. Black and Purple Spandex." she was power walking now, as only an experienced shopper could, trying to exhaust him. He kept up and tried to explain himself and apologize at the same time.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean anything by it, just than you look different, which isn't a bad thing really, not that there's anything wrong with the way you used to look," he wasn't helping himself and her face showed it "it's just that it's the first time I've seen you in a different outfit, besides that prison stuff y'know? In fact, you look kinda pretty this way," her face softened a bit and she slowed, just a bit "not that I'm saying you weren't pretty before," back to her evil face, she went even faster than before now. "but now you're a different pretty and-" she was twitching now, would he ever just shut up? Or at least think before he spoke? She stopped and he came around her front, still yammering. She cracked and

"BEASTBOY." He froze and looked at her face, as if realizing just now what he was doing, which he was.

"I'm rambling again?" he asked, a little hesitant

"Yeah!"

"Sorry, I've just never seen this much of you and it's sorta nice to see you a little different once in a while. It really does make you look pretty." She blushed again when he said it. What the hell was up with her face today? How did he make her do that?

"Shut up Beastboy, why the hell are you even here? I haven't even done anything wrong! I turned eighteen today, my juvie record has been sealed, and I am a one hundred percent a legal, law abiding citizen."

"Dude! I saw that movie, the dude said the same thing and he was totally a psycho serial killer!" Jinx rolled her eyes. "Uh, anyway, I thought you might need a place to stay and all since your stuff was in the other tower and-"

"WAS! What do you mean 'was'?" she demanded, face inches away, eyes blazing.

"Welllll-"

"Beeeeaaaaastboooooooy!" he backed off, holding his hands up in front of him

"Okay! Chill!" Why couldn't people be as laid back as he was? 'Guess they're just not that awesome' he thought "After you broke up with-" she glared at him, evil in her eyes, daring him, begging him, to even try to mention him "-ummm, after you left, for reasons that shall never be mentioned within a five mile radius of your ears, you went on your little 'Crime Binge' remember?" she blushed, the breakup had been embarrassing, but her emotional rampage afterwards...she was never going to live it down. So she pouted, deciding to be angry at Beastboy since he was there, he could take it.

"Yeah, so!"

"Nothing! Geeze, chill Jynx! Seriously, you need a massage or something."

"Beastboy, if you came to cheer me up or something you're failing. Miserably. Now talk."

"Fine, no more 'cheering you up'. They kicked you out after you went on your binge and they put all of your stuff with your old H.I.V.E. buddies." Her eyes went wide, mouth tight, damn...she was pissed. "They kind destroyed a lot of it by the time I got there." now there was shock on her face, now Beastboy remembered why he hated delivering bad news "I managed to get Raven there and she 'ported most of your stuff back, I went through it all an-"

"You WHAT! Those are my PERSONAL, PRIVATE possessions!" her eyes were tearing now, her vision getting blurry.

"I just wanted to make sure there were no stupid Gizmo-gadgets or anything...I didn't do anything, promise. I...look, we checked your accounts and they stole all that too, I'm here to offer you a place to stay, you know, 'til whenever. I could help set you up with a job if you want, nothing like a recommendation from a Titan right?" He smiled, trying to get her to smile too. It didn't work. She had lost her boyfriend, spent six months on jail, lost her place as a Titan, been rejected by the H.I.V.E. an had all of her things destroyed, oh and now she was broke too. Her tears were coming fast now, even as she refused to make a sound. Her face reflected how she felt, it looked like she was broken. He hated when people were sad, it's just so...SAD! He liked people to be happy, whatever they need, and right now she needed a teddy bear to hug. "You need a hug." He reached out for her hand but she jerked from his grip.

"What? No I don't, j...just shut up and go away, why do you even care Beastboy?"

"Because you're my friend, and friends care." she just stared at him, not believing, after so many trials, and all the crap she had been through, that Beastboy would just want to comfort her. Her life was never that simple.

She thought it was once until she caught him with - 'NO. Not going to think about that stupid...cheating...little' She tried to stop them but her eyes would just not stop crying. Stupid eyes. Stupid male gender. Stupid boyfriend stealing slut. Stupid Kid Flash. 'AUUUUUGH!' was her cry of mental anguish. She couldn't even think his name without it feeling like daggers were piercing her soul.

Her face had been showing all of the things crossing her mind and how she was just making it worse, she was beginning to drift away, physically and mentally. Not good. Beastboy walked toward her, morphing into a Black Bear and lumbered towards her with a 'small' bear call to snap her out of it. She jerked when she heard his bellow, nothing actually 'small' about it, and looked up to see a giant dark green bear lumbering toward her. Her first instinct, when she saw him get up on two legs and raise his paws, was, of course, to run. Somewhere in the back of her mind was a niggling thought that this was Beastboy and he wouldn't hurt her, and that made her a second too late as his paws moved with frightening speed and connected with her. Softly. He drew her in to a hug, a giant hug, a bear-hug. At first she tried to get out, then just to breathe, and then, she gave in and let him hug her. For a nine hundred pound behemoth, he was very gentle, and soft and...comforting.

He didn't say anything, not that he could, but he wouldn't, even if he could. He just held her, waiting for it, and it came. She began to cry, her eyes scrunched up, her breath come quicker, harsher, more irregularly. She tried to speak, to tell him she was going to be fine, but her voice warbled, it broke, and it failed her. She cried. She sobbed. She wailed. Her soul released all of her pain into her body, and she released all of that, all of her worries, her fears, her hurts, her concerns, her stresses...her everything. She cried into him, shouting all of her pain into him, all of her hurt, all of her broken soul, and he let her. He knew what she needed, he had needed the same things many time and his foster mother, Rita, had given it to him. Now it was his turn to give comfort, because that's all he could do for now, he had plans for later, but for now...he let her cry. She cried. And cried. And cried. And cried some more, just for good measure. She clutched at him like he was the last thing in this world keeping her from breaking apart, shattering into a million pieces, and maybe he was. He just held her tighter. Some time later, neither was sure how much later, she ran out of tears, but she stayed there, still not ready to go back to the real world, not when she could barely survive in this bear hug world. Her body was still heaving like she was sobbing, and her breathing coming back under control. Eventually she calmed, and in a ragged, recently much abused voice, she told him to she was 'ok'. They both knew she wasn't, but she was a lot better than she had been.

Jinx was tired. She wanted nothing more to sleep, to sleep for a million years and then hit the snooze button. She let go of his fur, relaxing her body, letting herself fall against him because, with what he had just done for her, there was no way he wouldn't catch her. He caught her unconscious form in his arms and he morphed back into himself. He settled her down, head on his lap, and slowly, so as not to disturb her, took out his communicator. 8:42 AM. It had been a while. He called Cyborg, telling him in hushed tones to be quiet, saying he needed a ride home, that he was bringing someone with him. Cyborg was loud and curious at first but Beastboy got him to quiet down with a promise to explain it later. Cyborg told him he was twenty minutes away and signed off. Beastboy waited.

There was a crowd that had gathered to watch and moved on when they met his stare. He wasn't threatening, but the embarrassment of having spied upon such a private moment and having been caught quickly sped them along. He looked back to Jinx. This wasn't the part of her he was used to, blue dress, disheveled hair, puffy eyes, and...vulnerable...but it was still her. He put his hand on her head and stroked her hair, something Rita always did to him when he had bad dreams as a child. It calmed both parties down, reassuring them, and sure enough, she seemed to relax a little more in her sleep. A while later Cyborg pulled up, eyes wide, about to say something but Beastboy just shushed him. He lifted Jinx, her eyes fluttering a bit, waking slightly as he set her into the back seat, letting go of her. He pulled away and she grabbed his shirt, clutching it desperately for a second before she remembered what was going on.

"What's are you doing?" he set her down and got her to let go of his shirt.

"Taking you to the tower for a bit, go back to sleep Jen." She bit her lip, looking away, then

"Sit with me?"

"Sure." Beastboy got into the back seat, letting her lay on his lap again as she settled back asleep.

They drove back to the tower, silently for once, and parked in the garage. Beastboy lifter her up and carried her to the elevator, the ride barely jostling her. He went to the fifteenth floor, where 'house' section of the tower was. He carried her to a guest room and set her down on the bed, then he wrestled her shoes off after a small battle, surprisingly not waking her. He had her tucked in, shut off the lights, closed the curtains and was ready to leave when he heard something.

"Don't go." It was the smallest most desperate whisper he had ever heard from her. He turned around to see her sitting up, panic on her face, looking desperately at him.

"I won't." he went back to her and sat down beside the bed, back up against it.

"Sit with me? Please?" he looked at her and she still looked desperate. He nodded, kicking off his shoes, and got up onto the bed, and lay down next to her. She put her arms around him hugging him tight and whispered "Don't leave me." He hesitated, then put his arms around her too, holding her with a hand on her back and on her head.

"I won't leave you." he promised, stroking her hair, soothing her "I won't leave you."