Red X Returns

Long Time no See

Dustin was quite scared this morning. Never had he seen a mere 5'1 teenage boy eat 15 tofu burgers in a row. In all honesty, it kind of made him sick to his stomach. He watched nimbly as Beast Boy hocked down 2 more burgers and chugged 1/2 a gallon of soy milk. Dustin understood where he was coming from. Turning into animals was an awesome advantage. But once, you've been those animals, you think twice about frying them up with barbeque sauce. He was cool with Beast Boy being a vegetarian and everything, but he wondered idly if he could be meat free and tofu happy just not around him.

"C'mon, Dustin. You sure you don't want to try?" Beast Boy asked, lifting a slimy tofu burger up to his face.

Dustin puked a little in his mouth then gulped it back down in dissatisfaction. He shook his head quickly, "No thanks, BB. I'm fine with my eggs and bacon." He took a bite of his eggs. After a few chews the taste became sour. To be honest, it tasted downright nasty. His face liteally went green. If he had pointy ears and a fang, he could be Beast Boy's twin. He spit it onto his plate and began scraping his tongue with his fork. "What is that?!" He asked in pure disgust.

Robon laughed. He pat his friend on the back and gave it to him straight. "Tofu eggs," he said.

Dustin's eyes widened in surprise. "TOFU EGGS? Robin, how do you eat this stuff!" he asked, glancing at all of them. Then he quietly added, "no offense, BB."

Starfire chimed in, "I truly think it is delicious! Crunchy on the outside yet runny on the inside. It is most delightful!" She doused her food with tangy yellow mustard and chomped on it soundly. Dustin stared at the strange girl, his stomach doing flips and twists.

Raven simply looked up from her book. "Aliens," she muttered to herself.

The gang laughed. Then Cyborg commented lightly, "We don't eat Tofu eggs. That's why there are 2 pans on the table..."

Dustin finally noticed the second pan. His mouth hung open. The first pan had the white icky tofu eggs and the second one had the normal eggs. He laughed, obviously embarrassed,his face turning bright red like a tomato. He slowly pushed his plate to the center of the table. He wasn't so hungry anymore. Rather than that, he never wanted to look at food again.

Robin got up and took the plates to the kitchen sink. Everyone was done with breakfast for the morning, although Cyborg would probably find something to munch on later. The Titans disbanded, each going their seperate way. Raven hovered to her corner to read her book while Beast Boy and Cyborg bounded to the sofa, fighting over who gets to play video games first. Starfire was playing with a little puppet on the other side of the sofa, away from the noise of the game.

Dustin had missed this. It was years since he saw a family happy like this. Rather, since he'd seen his family like his. Before Jake disappeared, his family was happy. They were more than happy, they were elated. Everything was going great. His family owned a well running shop, made good money, and had a nice home. They lived in an apartment above their store. He and Jake shared a room. They were best friends. Jake was Dustin's right hand guy, his wingman, his partner in crime. They meant everything to each other. But all of that changed when he disappeared.

Robin was done with the dishes and watched as Dustin unconsciously wiped his nose with his sleeve, staring at the ground in thought. Robin walked over to him. He touched his arm lightly, breaking him out of his trance. Robin motioned to the table. "Wanna talk about it?"

Dustin nodded and sat down next to him. They were out of the way of everything else. Right now, it was just guy to guy, bro to bro talk. He started, sighing heavily before beginning. "Jake was never really a guy to leave something alone. If there was a problem, he fixed it no matter who told him whatever. It was something I liked about him. He was headstrong, brave to take on anything and anyone who got in the way. But he was stubborn too. Something always had to be fixed, even if it wasn't broken. He tried to make things better for us, even though we told him we were fine. He started selling drugs, stealing, he'd become a regular newbie thug. It was sweet that he was doing this for his family, but it was completely wrong. He did some time in Juvie. It toughened him up even more. He went looking for fights sometimes, trying to get his anger out on something or somebody. He always hurt someone in the end." He paused and took a deep breath. Robin knew it was hard for him to talk about it, but he needed this. He needed his emotions out one way or the other. "The only thing I remember about that night is the noises. It was really late. I had already gone to bed, but Jake was still up. I remember hearing someone yell something from the fire escape outside my window. Then I remember seeing Jake throw his things onto the ground outside. I remember faintly knuckle punching him before he left. I woke up the next morning and he was gone. He left me a note though."