Last Summer - Bbrae

21) Boardwalk

Jesus I LOVE THIS SONG ^^^

Beastboy and Raven sat at the bar of the nightclub, spinning on their stools in boredom. The others were on the dance floor, jumping and shouting with the crowd. Beastboy sipped from his cup of water and rested his feet up on Raven's lap. She patted his shoes and sighed.

"This isn't what I expected."
She said, but Beastboy had to lean in so he could hear her.

"This isn't what I expected!"
She shouted, and Beastboy nodded. He put his legs down and stood up, sticking out his hand for Raven to take. She placed her hand in his and their fingers interlocked.

"Do you wanna go?"
Beastboy asked, his lips brushing Ravens ear as he spoke. She nodded and took out her phone to text the others.

She tapped into their group chat and told them they were gonna go home. Robin sent back a thumbs up.

Once they were outside, Raven took in mouthfuls of air and swallowed it, her skin hot and clammy with the summer heat and the amount of people that were crammed inside.

They walked towards the boardwalk, admiring the lights that were glowing from various different stalls and shop fronts along the way.

"I can't believe we took so long to get ready when we were just gonna leave."
Raven said, smiling a little. Beastboy nodded and squeezed her hand.

"How about we make this a little date?"
He said, his smile brighter than any of the lights around them. Raven nodded.

They were walking for a while hand in hand, peacefully, when somebody disturbed them.

"Freaks!"
Somebody called, but Raven and Beastboy knew better than to argue. They tried to keep walking, but they soon realised they were being followed.

"Oh look! The changeling and his demon girlfriend!"

They sound around and glared at the two guys who were following them. They were no taller than them, but something seemed off about them. One of them had slick blonde hair while the other had hair that shimmered red.

"Leave us alone, Jesus."
Beastboy said to them. They looked at each other and laughed into the night. There was barely anybody on the boardwalk now, but those who were still out watched warily.

"Too bad you guys were so shit that you had to quit being heroes altogether."
The blonde guy spat. Raven rolled her eyes and turned around, grabbing Beastboy's arm. The two boys ran in front of them and shook their heads.

Raven felt herself getting extremely angry. She hadn't used her powers on anybody in so long, but a part of her was itching to do it once more. Beastboy swallowed nervously.

"Look, we're not looking for trouble. Just get out of our way."
Beastboy said, and attempted to push through them. They shoved him and he flew backwards into the ground. Raven felt her blood boil as she helped him up, and she balled her hands into fists.

Beastboy wiped his bleeding palms into his shirt and winced as small splinters were pushed deeper into his skin.

The guy with red hair laughed and came closer to him so that their noses were only inches apart.

"I thought you were tougher than that! Why don't you morph or something?"
He jeered. Raven pushed him away and the blonde guy hooted, pretending to be scared.

Beastboy wanted to transform. He wanted to punch them in the face. He wanted to knock them to their knees. He wanted to push them into the water. He was containing his anger, as was Raven, when one of them made a comment so cruel it made them snap.

"Hey, guys... how's Mom and Dad?"

The few bystanders that were watching gasped and Raven felt herself lose grip of what was happening. Beastboy got so angry that he swung his fist at one of the boys, but he missed. Instead he was punched in the mouth. Raven saw this and swing her own fist, knocking the guy with red hair over completely. Some people were trying to stop the feud, but it was no use.

Beastboy felt himself changing. His fingers grew claws so sharp they could slice through bone, and his teeth began to spike. But something stopped him.

He stopped morphing and turned back to his normal self, while Raven used her magic to knock the blonde guy over on his back. All that Beastboy could see was his parents, being washed away from him forever. He could only hear their screams, their desperate pleading for help...

"Garfield, come on!"
Raven grabbed his hand and pulled him swiftly through a portal. Beastboy blinked, not even aware of the fact that he was moving, and that he wasn't on the boardwalk anymore, but on their balcony back home.

"What just happened?"
He gasped, grabbing hold of the balcony ledge before him. He felt blood drip from his lip and his jaw was already starting to bruise. Raven wiped her own bloody nose on the back of her hand, and massaged the area of her face surrounding her left eye.

She couldn't feel the pain, considering she had been attacked in far worse ways before, but what broke her heart was the small sobbing sound coming from somebody to her left.

"Gar?"
She gasped, and wrapped her hands around his neck.

Beastboy held her close and let his tears flow, hating the coppery and salty taste in his mouth but allowing it to stay. He shook his head and stepped away from Raven, looking at her bruised temple and bloody nose.

"Look what they did to you. I could have fought them off!"
He said, wiping his tears away. More came to take their place.

Raven shook her head and sat down on the small bench beside them, motioning for him to sit next to her.

When he sat down Raven took gently wiped the blood from his lip with her thumb. He couldn't stop crying.

"That comment. The thing about our parents. That's the one thing that broke me."
Beastboy said, his voice cracking. Raven nodded and encouraged him to say more.

"Rae... I'm not sure if you've noticed, but I've been clean for almost three weeks now. I knew all the smoking and all the drugs was gonna catch up on me, so I stopped."

Raven frowned, knowing how difficult this must have been for him.

"Ever since we left the tower, drugs was all I could turn to to escape. They stopped the dreams, all the pain was just washed away. But ever since so stopped... I just see them. They die over and over again in my head every time I blink. I see all the times we've been hurt by someone we were fighting, all the times I could have saved people when I didn't."

Raven grabbed his hand and squeezed it comfortingly. Beastboy rested his head on her shoulder, and continued to spill out his thoughts. The more he spoke, the more his tears slowed.

He inhaled Raven's signature lavender perfume and instantly felt calmer.

"I thought it would be easy to leave all the fighting behind. To forget the past. But we're not normal, are we? We never were. So how are we meant to fit in somewhere we don't even belong?"

Raven stroke his arm gently with her thumb, not caring that her nose was now bleeding down her chin. Beastboy's lip was dripping down into his shirt that Raven was wearing, but nobody cared.

"It's fucked up what we've been through. Especially you, Gar. But the fact that you gave up your escape just shows what kind of person you are. Determined, willing. And as for fitting in,"

Beastboy sat up and Raven kissed his lips as softly as was possible.

"Who said we had to?"

Beastboy wiped his tears and took in a deep breath, enveloping Raven into a warm hug.

"I love you."
He whispered. Raven smiled and felt tears build up for him.

"I love you, too."

;-;