A Slippery Slope, A Green Horizon.

Not Much Chance

He wasn't in the tower.

As Robin checked the usual places that the Green Teen would frequent, he began to wonder what had finally made his friend break.

All the jokes, the pranks, and the laughter that Beast Boy brought into the world was genuine, it wasn't some elaborate ruse to trick people into thinking he was happy, it wasn't an act. The changeling was truly a happy soul, but that natural joy did well to hide his pain, did well to convince people there was no pain at all.

Robin knew though.

As he passed through the common area for the fifth time that day, Raven called from the couch. "Robin. If you're running laps of the Tower I'd appreciate you not doing it next to where I'm reading."

"Sorry Raven, I'm not running laps, just looking for Beast Boy, I think he may have gone out though, I haven't found him anywhere." The Boy Wonder admitted sheepishly.

"Did you check the rock?"

"The rock?"

"The rock."

"What rock?"

"Down by the shore, there's a big rock overlooking the water that he sits on when he needs to be alone and think. Granted that doesn't happen often, but it happens. He's probably there now." Raven explained, her eyes not leaving the novel in her hands.

Robin blinked a few times as he processed the new information, and tried to understand how Raven knew it, yet he did not. "Oh. Thanks Raven, I'll... Let you get back to reading then."

"Finally." She said, turning her page.

It was disconcerting for Robin to see Beast Boy so still, so subdued.

Certainly there were times he had withdrawn from the team, but it was always so expressive, when he was sad he would cry, when he was angry he would shout. This... This emptiness was so unnatural to look upon that Robin was unnerved to see it.

Sitting down next to the shell of his youngest team mate, Robin chose not to break the silence, waiting as Garfield gathered himself and the blankness of his eyes settled on the mask of his leader. "What's up Rob? Do you need me for something?"

Robin smiled sardonically, "No, I just want to talk."

Beast Boy sighed and nodded. "I thought you might want that."

"Aren't you always telling Raven not to bottle things up?" Robin said with a grin.
Beast Boy picked up a stone, inspecting it briefly before skipping it across the water. "I never thought you'd turn my words on me man, that's not fair."

Robin tilted his head. "I don't fight fair, you know that. So... Do you want to talk about it?"

"I don't know dude, part of me wants to just lick my wounds alone in peace, another part wants to scream and cry and curl up in a ball until I feel better, but that's not how it works." Beast Boy trailed off, watching a seagull ride the wind and hover in place. "I should be over it right? They died when I was 10, I shouldn't have any tears left."

Robin leant back, bracing his hands against the rock beneath them. "It doesn't go away, not really. My family died when I was barely 8 and I still can't get to sleep some nights thinking about how things would be different if they'd lived, or if I'd died too. That's not fair though, not to them or to us. We can't let the pain of their death get in the way of our life, that's not the kind of legacy they would want to leave us."

Stunned, Beast Boy watched Robin for a moment. It was rare that the Boy Wonder revealed so much about himself in a single conversation, it had taken them years just to learn his name was "Dick" (a fact that Beast Boy and Cyborg did not let go uncommented upon) and even then it was through Starfire slipping up around them, not Robin himself, that had led to this revelation.

Garfield turned slowly back to the waves. "I guess you're right. It doesn't stop me from feeling so crappy though."

"There isn't much that will." Robin acknowledged, sharing a sad smile with his younger friend. "So are you going to tell me about Raven?"

"Well, she's a girl that lives in the tower, wears purple cloaks a lot, sometimes she even sits on the couch with us." Beast Boy quipped.

Robin snorted. "You know what I mean, are two a thing?"

"You sound like a kid from one of those bad high school dramas that Cy and Starfire watch. We're friends dude, just friends. Besides, I'm obnoxious, messy and green, even if I did like her that way, I doubt there's much of a chance she's into this walking disaster." Beast Boy said, gesturing to himself.

"Fair point, but here's something you haven't considered, Raven doesn't care when boys wink at her."

Garfield frowned, looking at the leader he often thought of as a genius, now questioning that regard. "So what, dude?"

Robin smirked. "She cared when you winked at her, right?"

And so saying, Robin stood, brushed himself off and left the shapeshifter puzzling over this new information, but in his puzzlement, the sadness had fled his mind once more.

Through the window above, a purple shape moved a second too late as Robin glanced up.

"Not much chance indeed." He chuckled.