BBAre A Slippery Slope, A Green Horizon

14

The gym was alive with the music of repeated thuds and grunts, Beast Boy sought to release his pent up energy into the punching bag reserved for himself and Robin.

While Starfire and Cyborg could pass as human on the street if they wished, here in the exercise room their true natures made it difficult to accommodate such strength. Their punching bags were kevlar sacks filled with concrete dust, their weights little more than lead blocks on either end of solid steel bars. Such was the construction of their equipment that the one time Beast Boy had attempted to use it he had almost broken his arm.

Thus, the gym was divided into four sections, the Brawler Section (For Robin and Beast Boy) the Super Section (For Cyborg and Starfire) the Sparring Mat, and the Human Section (For Raven). The Human Section had an assortment of treadmills, light punching bags and various weight machines that one of the other Titans would have destroyed in the course of their everyday fitness routine. Something about Raven's partition being called "Human" had brought a half-smile to the sorceresses face, the wording reminding her that here, among aliens and shapeshifters, she was almost… Normal.

Garfield shook his head, trying to free himself of such thoughts.

Here in the training room he was supposed to be focused, fired up, a fitness machine. In the days leading up to the Gala he had let his physical training lapse, a fact Robin would be quick to pick up on if he allowed himself to continue the trend.

Fate, as it so happened, hated him.

Raven, the purple haired, pallid girl herself, walked into the gym in her shorts and tank top. Garfield all but growled at this development, slamming his fists into the bag with renewed vigour. Raven frowned at him before floating to her treadmill and beginning to run.

So they continued, the sounds of Raven's feet falling on the belt of the treadmill beating a tattoo in Beast Boy's head. Thud-THUD Thud-THUD Thud-THUD. Soon enough his fists sunk into the bag at the same pace, matching her rhythm, her gait.

The changeling realised what was happening and stepped back with a deep sigh, closing his eyes only to realise that the tattoo of Raven's feet was gone.

“Are you angry at me?” The Sorceress asked, inches from him.

Garfield gasped and spun, his hand clutching the space above his heart. “RAE! Don't do that!” He whined, breathing deeply from the workout and Raven's unexpected proximity. “No, I'm not angry at you. Not really. It's just… Why did you spring that on me at breakfast?”

“I didn't mean for it to surprise you.” Raven said with a frown. “You wanted the others to know, so I told them. You don't have to keep secrets now.”

Emotion whirled within the green teen, before his eyes lost focus and his lips began moving silently. Again, the taste of his consciousness left Raven, no joy or anger or self doubt. He became blank to her, as though he had ceased to exist.

But she could still see him, hear his laboured breath.

“Stop.” She said tiredly. “Just stop Garfield”

There it was, a chink in that wall. For a moment, she caught the scent of his feelings, and just that small inkling was enough to almost bowl her over.

“Gar, you're scaring me.” She said weakly, reaching out to grasp his wrist. “Tell me what's going on with you, with us?”