This Morning
Spring had come to Jump City and with it the rich, intoxicating scents of new life. Spring every year was a challenge for Beast Boy - the instincts of all of the animals buried deep within his DNA clamored for release. Just sitting in the common room, minding his own business, he kept finding himself staring at Starfire if she happened to walk by. She had always smelled nice, but now it was . . . compelling. But Starfire was nothing compared to Raven. If Raven walked into a room, her scent grabbed his attention in a headlock, and simply would not let go. He couldn't concentrate on video games if she was in the room. His games with Cyborg went from regularly getting beat to persistent and total abject humiliation. Like today. He'd spent all week mastering Super Spider Monkey 17 and had Cyborg pinned down on the 34 level with his 16th Dan Space Samurai Ninja when Raven walked into the room. He had recognized her footsteps from across the room, past the kitchen and down the hall. He heard the doors open and could immediately tell her scent. He tried to focus on the game, keeping Cyborg at a disadvantage. Raven got up and went to brew tea. Her scent wafted over him again. It was all he could do to not turn his head and watch. He focused in on Super Spider Monkey: Cyborg had made a mistake. All he had to do was line him up and . . .
Raven crossed behind the couch again. Without thinking he whipped his head around to watch her pace across the room.
"Ha!" laughed Cyborg as he whipped his spider monkey adroitly around Beast Boy's Ninja and on to victory. "Taste the agony of defeat, Grass Stain!"
"Raven!" shouted Beast Boy, "Look what you made me do!"
"Me?" said Raven, flatly. "I wasn't anywhere near you."
"But . . ." Beast Boy said, and gave up. Nobody else on the team even had a nose. Not really. They'd never understand. But it was all her fault. He stomped out of the room in disgust.
What happened a few days later was worse. The team had been involved with the H.I.V.E. Five in a full-contact, knock-down, drag-out winner take all fight. Beast Boy, in his T-Rex form had been supporting Cyborg in an engagement with Mammoth when he had noticed Raven being menaced by two of Billy Numerous.
He transformed into his human shape and shouted "Raven!" at the top of his lungs. Then he transformed into a mongoose to race across the street to fight with Billy and his clones. In the process, he dropped Cyborg about fifteen feet onto his butt in the middle of the street. Mammoth had taken advantage of the distraction to snatch up a light pole and baseball bat Cyborg several blocks away. Cyborg had been hurt, and the HIVE gang had gotten away with the loot, vanishing into the city night. Robin had not been pleased.
"What were you thinking? Were you thinking at all?" Robin's eyes narrowed behind his mask.
"I don't know," Beast Boy shouted his hands on his head. "I don't know," he repeated more softly. "I just saw those two of Billy Numerous closing in on her -"
"Don't give me that," Robin interrupted, "Numerous is a D-list bad guy. Raven could handleeight of him on a bad day. If she was on her game, twenty or thirty of him, and you know it. What's going on with you? Your goofing around is putting the team at risk."
"I'm not goofing around!"
"I don't care what you call it. I just need your head in the game before you get someone seriously hurt. Or worse. Whatever's going on with you, fix it."
Dejected and angry, Beast Boy made his way to Cyborg's bed in the medical ward. The tall half-human lay on a specially-designed hospital bed that more accurately resembled a forklift. He was sitting up, idly surfing the web when Beast Boy quietly stood at the door. The fading sunlight cast sharp shadows across the floor.
