entrancelogs | (no subject)

Entry tags:

(no subject)

Who: Beast Boy and Terra
Where: Uh, all over the place?
When: Just after Terra's arrival and BB's awakening from his coma
Rating: G, PG, that general area
Summary: BB gives Terra a tour of the mansion.
the Story:

He still couldn't believe it. Even after all that's happened to Beast Boy, the last thing he ever expected (but had always wanted, always hoped) was Terra's arrival. It all felt like some sort of dream... which was ironic, considering the past week. But this wasn't an illusion. No Slade, no scathing words, no goodbyes.

Okay, so this would probably make things awkward all over, especially with Linda and Kite. He'd deal with that later, though. Right now, all he could focus on was the fact that Terra was here. After living through a horrible nightmare, it looked like his biggest dream had finally come true.

And despite the fact that he felt like he could float away with pure joy... he was still frozen at her door, hand hovering just in front of it.

This continued for a full minute before he was just about ready to punch himself in the face for being so scared. He'd done this before, he could do it again! And maybe this time he wouldn't mess everything up.

After what felt like a trillion and one days, he finally managed to knock hesitantly. "Um, Terra? I-It's me!"

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Pulling her hand away was like some sort of switch in Beast Boy's mind. His tirade of thoughts came to a screeching halt while he did his best to keep his cool. Shrugging lightly, he took the cone from her hand as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

"Sure! Uh, if you don't mind I mean."

Hesitantly, he took a small lick from one side of the ice cream cone, keeping his eyes on Terra just to make sure she wouldn't be weirded out by the possibility of cooties or something.

"You know," he said, almost shoving the ice cream back in Terra's hand. Cursing his own awkwardness, he cleared his throat and tried to relax. "I'm not too hungry anymore. Uh, so. On with tour? Which spot you wanna s--"

The words died on his tongue as he remembered something important. Something that he had been saving since she left the first time, something that carried on even to Wonderland.

"And uh, we'll have to stop by my room. I've still got your... er, I mean. I've still got that present I made for you."

“Of course I don’t mind.” Terra smiled and nodded encouragingly. She seemed a bit surprised when the ice cream was pushed back towards her, shrugging it off and chalking it up as nothing. Probably just didn’t like strawberry.

“Huh?” She had a chunk of strawberry held carefully between her teeth, gazing at him with a bewildered look on her face. Terra bit down on it and swallowed, seeming to choke briefly on the piece of fruit. If anything, that was his fault for bringing something like that up. Why would he have a present for her?

“Oh, wow…” When had he even had time to make her something? “Um, I don’t really have anything for you,” Terra mumbled this sheepishly, wishing that she did have something to give him in return. She was sure she could think of something, but coming up with an idea between now and then time it would take to get to his room seemed unlikely. “Sorry.”

Beast Boy had to laugh at her response. Just being able to finally give that sparkling box to her again, this time without the burden of pressing for memories or a date, was more than enough for him. Having her here was more than he could ever ask for. Of course he couldn't tell Terra that her company alone was a dream come true; BB didn't want to come off as too much of a stalker. "Nah, it's fine! Hanging out with you is a pretty good present if ya ask me."

Now all he could really focus on was how she'd react this time around. Would it be like last time? Would she be frustrated at him for trying to give back something he'd already given her long ago, even if she didn't remember? (Or didn't want to remember; the very thought of such a thing was enough to make his heart ache).

But now was not the time for reminiscing. Beast Boy could still feel the knot of anticipation in his stomach as he tried to steer the conversation back to where it had been. "So um, since we're already outdoors and stuff... how about the beach? I mean, we can go to the forest if ya want, but I'm not really in the mood for getting lost in a maze of trees today."

“If you say so,” She wasn’t quite convinced of this herself. After all, he was being so nice to her, even after she had snapped at him in her journal, she felt like she should give him something in return. Oh well, there was time to think about that. It didn’t necessarily have to be today. Just…eventually. She would have to come up with something good.

“Alright, to the beach.” Outdoors was definitely her top choice of where to be, she felt more relaxed out here. In the mansion, despite its impressive size, she felt cooped up, trapped. Out here the feeling was gone, and it was contributing to her steadily rising mood. A little bit of her good mood could be attributed to Beast Boy as well, but she wasn’t quite so willing to confirm that.

"Lead the way."

This time, he double triple quadruple checked to make sure he didn't reach out to take her hand like a total loser again. He simply walked beside her in the general direction of the beach.

"Okay, I think we're gonna be near the rocky part, so just watch your step and stuff. Don't wanna twist your ankle. The really sandy part's a little further down, so if ya ever wanna throw a totally rockin' beach party, that's where you wanna be!"

At this point, Beast Boy was pretty much rambling just to stave off the twisting feeling. He seriously needed to stop worrying about what she'll think of the heart shaped box. Still...

Still, he could worry about it later. Right now all that mattered was that Terra was here with him and she seemed to actually enjoying herself. Much improvement from their last meeting. And this time, he wouldn't throw dirt at her to prove a point. Maybe with some extra coaching she'd remember (or maybe not, but that was a possibility he wasn't willing to accept), but that could only happen if she trusted him.

He barely even noticed where they were until he tripped, landing face first in a tide pool. Spitting out some salt water, he looked up at her and tried his damnedest to not look like a complete idiot. "Uh. I meant to do that."

“I think I’ll hold off on a beach party for now,” She laughed to herself as she said this. Terra finished off her ice cream cone, having managed to not drop it the entire time. It was pretty good, but she wasn’t sure if she wanted to be around those creepy vendors by herself.

She was licking the last bit of ice cream from the tips of her fingers when he fell. Terra seemed to choke on her own laughter, clutching at her stomach as she did so. It felt good to laugh like this. The girl apologized between bouts of laughter, wiping at her eyes and struggling to catch her breath. Once she had finally calmed down she seemed quite embarrassed about how she had reacted.

“S-sorry.” Terra stuttered out sheepishly. She offered out a hand to him to help him up, giving as reassuring a smile as she could muster up. “You okay?”

Beast Boy tried to frown at Terra but... hearing her laugh like that only made him laugh too. How long had it been since they laughed together like this? Too long, that's for sure. He took her hand, grateful for the offer (and doing his best not to remember the last time he'd taken her hand out of blind trust).

"Y-yeah, just a little bruised, that's all!"

He stretched out his arm experimentally. Ow. That was gonna leave a mark. Grunting in mild irritation, he impulsively picked up a stone with his other hand. Beast Boy turned to her, smiling confidently and tossing the stone.

"Betcha I can skip this with my left hand!" Before she could say anything, he tossed it out into the waves. Just as anyone would have figured, it landed with a pitiful plop. That sound? Is the sound of failure.

Beast Boy laughed in embarrassment. "Errr."

Well, at least he was alright. People could drown in shallow puddles, right? Not like she really thought that he would have drowned, but still. She watched him pick up the rock, wondering just what he was planning on doing with it.

“Good job.” The sarcasm was dripping from her voice, Terra crouching down to search for a stone of her own. She smiled with satisfaction when she found a flat, smooth stone. She said nothing, only holding it up in front of her face and squinting.

“Here goes!” She sent the rock flying, it gave a few weak skips over the surface, looking as though it would sink next. Terra watched it intently, eyes widening as the rock seemed to shoot forward across the water. It didn’t even seem to be skipping, just gliding across the water. She watched it until it disappeared out of sight.

“Guess I don’t know my own strength, heh.”

Beast Boy blinked. Rubbed his eyes. Blinked again. Waved his hand in front of his face to make sure he didn't have a concussion from falling in that puddle.

"Terra..." He couldn't even turn to her. He just kept staring wide-eyed at the spot on the horizon where the rock had disappeared.

When he'd first suggested to take Terra out for the tour, he'd made sure to not bring up anything about memories or powers. Beast Boy swore to himself that he wouldn't mess things up again, and if she was for real, that he'd just be friends with this Terra too. But this. There was no way that was a mistake. No way did she just have a strong arm. His heart was probably beating so heart it was about to jump out of his ribcage. This meant that there was hope. He'd always known she was Terra, his Terra, he just didn't want to be disappointed if she never regained her memories. With this, it was safe to hold on to false hope again.

Beast Boy turned to her, trying to keep the excitement and hope off his face. He actually had to bite his tongue so hard it bled to keep from saying exactly what was on her mind. Instead, he nodded, doing his best to stand calmly and pretend to believe what she was saying. She probably already knew what he was thinking anyway. No point in saying something that would only drive her off again.

Terra wasn’t stupid. Even she hadn’t believed her own words. There was no way she was that strong, and she had seen the way it glided, not skipped, over the water. As much as she wanted to believe that it had just been an accident, there was no way, no way. The girl said nothing, biting her lip and taking a few wandering steps away from Beast Boy in search of another rock.

A rounder, heavier rock was her choice this time. Terra was careful to keep her back to Beast Boy, she didn’t want him to see. The rock was tossed up a few times, no more than a few inches, caught each time with a soft smack of the stone against her palm. On the fifth toss the rock froze an inch or so above her palm. She stared at it for a moment in complete shock, before letting out a strangled squeak and jerking her hand back. The rock fell to the sand below.

While she wasn’t aware of it, tears were welling up in her eyes. She could only stare at her hand . Terra breathed in sharply, crying freely now. She didn’t understand at all, and she hated it—hated herself. Her knees shook, and finding herself unable to stand any longer, Terra crouched down over the rock that she had just dropped.

“St-stay over there,” She managed to get out, talking to Beast Boy. “I g-got sand in my eye… it—it really hurts.”

It was a little rediculous that he had to put his heart over his chest just to make sure his heart didn't stop. Nope. Still beating. For that moment the rock froze in the air, though, he was dead sure it had.

However, he was damn sure he heard it break when Terra started crying. The last thing he ever wanted to see was her cry again. And just because she told him to stay away didn't mean he would. Not again. He wouldn't lose her again.

"Terra..." He sat down next to her, and before she could object, wrapped an arm around her shoulders in a loose, awkward hug. "It's okay, Terra. I'm here. Everything's gonna be okay, trust me."

All the while, he was just hoping against all hope that she wouldn't run away from herself--run away from him again. Maybe he shouldn't have wished for her to remember. No, this time he wasn't going to mess up. He was going to help her like he should have the first time around. At least here there was no Slade to promise feed her pretty lies that would only hurt her in the end. This was his second chance to do the right thing, and this time around, they were both going to make it out okay. They had to.

No, no, she told him to stay away. Why did he insist on…why did he have to… Unsure of what to do now, Terra remained frozen to the spot. When he put an arm around her she flinched, wishing that she could stop crying. No, she didn’t think it was going to be okay. What she had done wasn’t normal, not at all. It was weird, it was unnatural, and she wanted it to go away. She pushed a hand over her face, wishing he had never seen.

“I—” Her voice cracked as she spoke, standing quickly. The sudden change put her slightly off balance, but she didn’t care. “I should g-get this out of my eye.” She was still crying even as she started to run. Terra had no idea what direction she was even moving in, only that she needed to go. Unfortunately for her, she was headed straight toward the water. The sound of her sneakers splashing in the water seemed to startle her, and she tumbled backward into the water.

Maybe he wouldn’t follow her again. At this point, she was so upset that she didn’t care anymore. Terra stayed exactly where she was in the water, pulling her knees up to her chest. At least if her face was wet it was harder to tell that she was crying.

Of course she'd run away again. He didn't blame her, but he really wished she'd stop doing that. Now his eyes were starting to sting and it felt like his throat was swelling up and his heart was starting to hurt really bad now and why was his vision blurry all of a sudden?

Despite the sudden hindrance in sight, he managed to find his way to Terra. Why was his hand shaking so much as he held it out? Oh well. Maybe she wouldn't comment on the fact that one of the waves must have splashed extra hard, because now his face was wet. That was the only logical conclusion after all. Of course he felt bad for Terra, and he avoided even mentioning the word 'rock', but that didn't mean he was being a totally sissy and crying. Nope. Not crying over the fact that the girl he held so dearly to his heart, the same girl that he'd die for and would wish only the best for her was crying. No, he wasn't scared that history was going to repeat itself and he would lose the one thing he'd missed more than anything. Not at all. He was just getting a cold or something.

"C'mon, Terra." Wow his voice was shaky too. He must be getting sick. He tried to swallow the lump in his throat, but some strange noise came out that definitely wasn't a choked sob. Not at all. He was totally keeping his cool, because that's what friends do when the other is having a break down. "L-let's get ya inside, kay? I'll walk ya back to your room. I-I can show ya the rest of the mansion another time."

Alright, come on, she had to pull herself together. It was just a rock, a stupid rock, it probably meant nothing. Sometimes people did weird things for no apparent reason. This was probably just one of those cases. He wanted to help her, she should just relax and try to…try to not act like this. Like a complete idiot. She took a few, shaky breaths in an attempt to calm her self down. It wasn’t working.

For a moment it seemed as though she was going to ignore them completely. The crying had at least quieted down, and she lifted her head to stare out across the water. Terra glanced up at him, seeing his own tears made hers seem to stop. She hiccupped, wiping furiously at the mixture of tears and ocean spray on her face. She slowly stood, not wanting to fall back into the water. Her clothes were completely soaked, and the way they stuck to her body made her look like she had just been drowned. Without looking at him again, Terra turned and walked passed him, pausing once she was back on dry sand.

“Look…” Her voice sounded hoarse, and she spoke in a hushed tone. “You’re…you could be right. About me. I don’t know.” She shook her head, the salt already beginning to dry the hairs, making them stick together in clumps. “B-but… you really need to—to…” Terra trailed off, picking up again after another moment. “You said you had family here,” That was more than she could say. She didn’t even have family back home. “So…I think you—you should focus on them, not me. I’m— ” I’m worthless, I’m nothing. “I’m not even sure who I am right now.”

"Terra..."

Beast Boy fought desperately to find the right words. Each second that ticked away only made his heart sink more and more. Didn't she realize how much she meant to him? How much he'd do for her, how much he's done for her? He knew he should have let her go a long time ago. It was for the best after all. Terra had a happy life and he had his own. Leaving her alone, though, didn't equate to forgetting about her. Stop loving her. That was simply something he couldn't do, no matter how hard he tried.

He took a few careful steps in her direction, but didn't reach out again. "Terra, listen. Don't ever think you're alone, okay? I'll always be here for you, no matter who you are, who you were, or who you decide to be. I love my family and friends, but..."

He swallowed hard. "Please, just don't run. If you want some time to figure things out, that's fine. I just want you to know that I'm not gonna give up on you. I'll always be your friend, Terra. That'll never change."

Please don’t run? She wasn’t sure she could manage that. Right now, all she wanted was to be alone. She wanted to go home, where she could pretend things were normal again. Where she didn’t have to feel confused and scared and upset like this. Where she could go back to falling asleep in class and eating lunch with her friends. The only person she ‘had’ here was the one standing right beside her and it seemed as though if he wasn’t making her laugh, then he was making her cry.

Why would he say that? Why would what was supposed to be a complete stranger seem to care so much about her? It didn’t make sense unless…unless she were to assume that he was telling the truth. No. Nonono she was not going to remember, not now not ever, because there was nothing to remember, he was lying, he had to be lying.

So she didn’t run away—she walked. Terra walked until her shaking knees betrayed her again. Her fall seemed graceful, until she landed in the sand. While she didn’t have sand in her eye before, it was pretty likely that she did now. If she did, it was hard to tell—all she did was roll onto her side, curling in towards herself slightly. Maybe she could fall asleep right here, and the waves would wash up and take her back home, or take her somewhere where she could just sleep and not have to worry about what she remembered and what she didn’t, or how far she could throw a rock. Where there were no green boys that made her feel happy and angry and floaty and sad.

This place was terrible.

Well. The walking was definitely an improvement. Beast Boy wished he could say the same for the whole 'collapsing in the sand' deal. As it was, his heart felt like it had shattered into a million pieces. But, there were two options ahead of him: keep falling down this spiral of depression or find his footing and help them both back up.

Of course the place to start would be to literally help her back up. After a few gentled nudges to no avail, he settled for just picking her up bridal-style. Funny how not-crying could hide a blush rather well. "Just don't hit me 'till you're safe and dry inside, okay?"

Beast Boy wasn't exactly the strongest person in the world in any sense of the word, but he could manage carrying her at least to the mansion's front door. And man did he hope no one would comment.

Carefully, he started his walk back towards the mansion. This day turned in to a spectacular disaster, but he wouldn't give up hope. Not on Terra. Never on Terra, never again. He'd just have to get back to work making her ~~remember~~ happy again once she'd calmed down. ...And maybe taken a bath. This salt water was really starting to itch.

Terra had ignored his nudging, hoping that he would just go away and leaver her there. If he had left, it was uncertain whether she ever would have come back to the mansion again. She would have been just fine laying out here until she disappeared. However, Beast Boy wasn’t giving her much of a choice. Under normal circumstances she would have protested and flailed about, as this would have been much too embarrassing for her too handle. When she was picked up she was more like a rag doll, not bothering to exercise any control over her arms. She muttered something that could have been a thank you or an apology, it was hard to tell.

After a few moments Terra moved her arms, the movements somewhat slow and jerky. She looped both arms around his neck in an attempt to support herself better. Her head was beginning to clear up, eyes and thoughts focusing. The embarrassment that was beginning to settle in was ignored, the girl sighing as she hid her face against his chest.

“You don’t have to take me all the way to my room,” She muttered, words muffled. “It’s too far.” She could probably walk all the way back on her own. If not, she would just stop as far as she could get. It wasn’t like she had never slept in a hallway before.

Distance wasn't an issue at all for him. He easily could have just shifted into a horse and carried her from there. But... Beast Boy knew what she meant. As soon as they got to the front doors, he let her down as gently as he could. By now he'd managed to get a hold of himself, but his face was still far from any emotion resembling happiness.

"Okay, Terra. I-if you need any help though..." He dug around in his pocket, looking for something he'd picked up the second he realized Terra had arrived. He grabbed her wrist and... shoved a Titan communicator in her hand. Her communicator. Before she could protest, he rushed to explain himself. "I-I'm not. I mean, this doesn't mean anything, I'm just. Er. I give this to all my friends! Sort of. Um, I just mean... if you ever need me, you can always reach me on that."

Beast Boy rubbed his arm awkwardly. At this point, there wasn't much he could really do. Not right this second, anyway. He'd wait until she'd calmed down to speak to her again. Now, the best he could do for her was to give her some space.

Once she was set down, Terra brushed herself off, straightening her clothes and hair as best she could in spite of the salt water. She wanted to look composed, but it was difficult to pull off in this situation. Terra pushed her hardened hair back behind her shoulders, leaning in curiously towards the communicator he was offering. When it was shoved into her hand Terra gripped it tightly, lifting it to her face to inspect it.

“Thank you…” She said in a low voice, nodding her head. She wasn’t sure what she was going to do with it. For now, it was handled with careful fingers, as though he had just handed her a fragile piece of glass. Finally, she clipped it carefully to the waistband of her shorts, one handing resting protectively overtop of it. It was weird, the feeling that she got from it, but she liked it.

“I’m sorry for ruining the tour,” It was a shame that they hadn’t gotten to see any more, but this was about all she could handle in one sitting. Looking around once and seeming altogether uncertain, Terra leaned forward and kissed his cheek lightly— her own gift, a mixture of an apology and a thank you. “I guess I’ll see you later,” It wasn’t likely that she’d have much of a choice on that matter.

"Nah, it's fine, I'm sorry it didn't go better." I'm sorry I messed everything up again. "Next time we--"

The last thing Beast Boy was expecting was a kiss on the cheek. He just stood frozen, his whole body feeling like some sort of mix between giddiness, shock, regret... hell everything. He stared ahead with wide eyes, a blush slowly creeping to his cheeks as he touched the spot where Terra kissed him. He... could sort everything out later. Right now he was just gonna keep focusing on the happy feelings.

"Y-yeah," he managed to stammer out. "See ya later."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only