A ticking, steady and faint, was keeping Beastboy awake. He never kept a clock in his room, he hated the ticking and being on time wasn't one of his priorities. Lately, however, he had been sleeping in Raven's room, and she was a punctual early-riser and a clock keeper.
Not that he minded. Waking up early only meant that he got to spend more time with her.
Beastboy didn't know how it started, but recently he had got to thinking about how much time he wanted to spend with her. And the only figure that had come to mind was, well, forever.
The clock continued to tick. Each pulse of the second hand reminded him that forever was not certain, just as he could never be certain that the battery wouldn't die before the next tick, or the next tick…
Beastboy reached down into his sock and pulled out a tiny ring. He had slipped the ring onto his middle toe for safekeeping earlier that night. The small amount of light that shone in through the sliver between Raven's dark curtains was just enough to illuminate the white gold band and its two tiny diamonds. It was simple because he knew that was what she liked. She thought of herself as a very plain and simple girl, but Beastboy knew she was complex and beautiful. Still, he didn't want her ring to start a fight over who was least attractive (a fight they frequently had, but never resolved), so he went with something simple.
His gaze drifted toward the girl sleeping next to him. His superhuman eyes could see the bare skin of her back. They could also see the long mark on her forearm that he gave her. Their relationship had healed since then, but her skin was still in stitches. Had it really only been that long since they had that horrible fight?
Beastboy glanced back at the ring in his hand. Was now too soon?
"Raven," he whispered, not intending for her to really hear him, "I know you're sleeping, but I need a sign, a sign that we're ready," He leaned over and kissed her neck, and rather slowly he released his slight suction on her pale skin. She shuddered and rolled on her back, her eyelids blinking away her sleep as she searched for his eyes in the dark.
"Beastboy?!" she said in a hushed, yet frantic voice.
"I'm here." He rested his hand on her shoulder.
She reached up and traced his jaw with the palm of her hand and breathed a sigh of relief, "I'm so glad you're here."
He smiled, even though she couldn't see it, "What were you dreaming about?"
"You." She said, curling up to him so they were chest to chest, "But it was a nightmare, not a dream. Remember our big fight, the one that sort of ended badly?"
"Uh-huh." Beastboy said, trying not to notice her subconsciously rubbing her damaged arm.
"I, well, I was remembering what I did to you." She looked away from him in shame.
Beastboy shook his head. "Raven, please, you didn't do anything wrong. I'm the one who hurt you over some stupid argument!"
Raven rubbed her hand across his chest, "What I did to you was much worse and you know it. I should have never entered your mind and- and-" she began to choke back tears, "I'm sorry!"
"Raven, no, don't be," she tried to turn away from him but he only pulled her closer and held her in a firm embrace.
"I dreamed that you never forgave me, and sometimes I feel like you haven't." She finally broke free of his grip and rolled away from him.
"Raven-" he whispered, scooting closer to her, "Why would you ever think that I could stay mad at you, even after a bad fight?"
Raven stared out the tiny crack between her curtains. The sun was just peeking over the horizon, "I know we agreed that we were both sorry for what happened and that we forgave each other, but yesterday you were so secretive when you went grocery shopping without me and you came home so happy I thought… maybe..." She pulled the covers up to her chin.
"-You thought I was seeing someone else?" Beastboy mentally kicked himself for not being more careful when he left to go ring shopping the day before, "Raven," he pleaded with her "I was just scared of what you would think if I went on acting like I didn't learn anything from our little mishap."
She turned back to him, "Beastboy, I'm sorry. I'm just frightened when something happens between us that doesn't feel right." She allowed herself to fall back into his arms, "I've never been this close to anyone, not even my own mother."
"I know what you mean. I never felt like I belonged with anyone after I lost my parents. I've felt misplaced, even with my closest friends. I guess I've learned that its because I was close with my parents and I lost them, and then when I became close to the Doom Patrol, Mento pushed me away. But I don't feel that way with you."
"I suppose that's why we go together so well," She smiled.
"Yeah," he chuckled, "Wanna know what I've been dreaming about?"
"What?" she propped up her head with her arm, intrigued.
"Our future." He said
"Oh really? What about it?"
"Just you know, like where we might live, if we'll ever have any kids, some couples' hobby that we might take up."
"You seem to be getting ahead of yourself. It's not like we're married." She rolled her eyes and laid back down, cuddling up to Beastboy.
"Yeah, I was thinking about that too." He said
"Thinking about what?" she yawned.
He held the ring up to her, "I was thinking about us getting married."
There was dead silence for two whole moments, "And?" Raven said. Beastboy looked down at her and realized her eyes had been closed. "What, Beastboy? I mean-" she opened her eyes and noticed the ring in front of her, "Beastboy? Is this?" He nodded, "Oh!" she moaned with delight, grabbing the ring and thrusting it onto her finger, "I love it," she said, "I love you," she grabbed his ears and pulled his head towards hers and kissed him.
Beastboy looked satisfied momentarily, and then he looked at her quizzically, "Just to be clear, I proposed and you said 'yes', right?"
She smiled and hugged him, "Of course!"