Author's Note: BB may seem a tad out of character, but I was trying to delve into his thoughtful side and think how he would react to Rav's rejection. This is NOT the last chapter—I'm thinking of a follow up to the Raven/Robin story, as plenty of you seem to want. I think it will be bittersweet, and hopefully you will be satisfied. But that chapter, and a follow up by none other than Cyborg will pronounce the end.

Something in the Tea: Beast Boy and Starfire

"But I've hidden a note, it's pressed between pages that you've marked to find your way back. It says, 'Does he ever get the girl?' But what if the pages stay pressed, the chapters unfinished, the story's too dull to unfold? Does he ever get the girl?"—Dashboard Confessional, "This Ruined Puzzle," The Places You've Come to Fear the Most

She was too much of a wreck to ignore. I heard her sobbing outside the door to my room, obviously making her way to her own bed for the evening. The tears could only be blamed on one thing: Robin.

Wearily, I climbed out of my bed and opened my door to see Starfire stumbling down the hallway.

"Star…" I said, and I startled her.

"Beast Boy!" she said, as if I were the last person she'd expected to see. Or the last one she'd wanted to.

"I heard you crying," I said. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"No," she said stubbornly. This was swiftly followed by a hiccup and she blushed. I smiled reassuringly at her.

"Look at you, you're soaking wet," I said. I reached out my hand to her. "Here, let me help…"

"I do not need anyone's assistance," she snapped coldly with a sniff.

"What you need," I said patiently, "is a towel, a warm cup of tea, and a friend to listen to you. That's all I'm offering. Take it or leave it."

Starfire contemplated the offer and then nodded.

"Good," I said. "Then get out of those wet clothes and meet me in the kitchen in ten minutes."

She grinned at me. "Thank you, Beast Boy."

When I met her in the kitchen, she was clad in warm pajamas, and yet she was still quivering and her eyes were bloodshot. I draped the warm towel around her quaking shoulders and shoved the tea into her hands.

"Courtesy of Raven's secret stash," I said, sounding bitterer than I'd have liked. "I'm sure she won't mind."

At hearing this, Starfire pushed the mug away from her. "Oh no, I do not wish to partake in any illegal drinking of Raven's tea."

"Relax," I said. "If she ever starts to notice that her teabags randomly disappear every now and then, believe me, I will take full blame and your name will never be mentioned. But she hasn't noticed so far."

"You drink Raven's special tea?" Starfire asked, looking mildly impressed. I laughed.

"Sure, when I'm feeling stressed. It really does calm you down. It's her special blend of all-natural herbs that makes you feel mellow and like you're on clouds. I only hope there's nothing illegal in it. I found it when I went nosing around her room once with Cyborg and since have found convenient ways to sneak a few out at a time."

Starfire smiled up at me and I was glad to make her happy.

"So tell me, what happened?" I asked, taking a seat across from her. She sighed and her smile disappeared.

"I am distraught," she said.

"Well, I can see that," I replied with a grin. She giggled, nervously.

"Yes, I mean that I shall probably feel this way for a long time. I have been told that this is not an easy emotion to conquer."

"What emotion would that be?" I asked the simple questions I knew the answers to first before I even touched unknown territory.

"Love," Starfire sighed. "Or some perverse teenage hormonal form of it."

"Robin, eh?" I asked and she merely nodded glumly. "Listen, Star, it's his own fault he doesn't notice you. It's his loss, not yours. You could do so much better than a guy who doesn't love you. You don't deserve that. There are guys out there willing to go nuts for you, who would do anything just to make you laugh."

"Would they steal tea from Raven's private source?" Starfire said with a sly grin.

I blushed. "If you wanted them to, I'm sure they would."

Starfire sighed and stared into the swirling brown tea. "Do you find me incompetent and naïve?"

I was silent a moment as I turned over my answer in my mind. "You have all the energy, emotion and wide-eyed curious nature of a toddler, Starfire," I said at last. "But that's because all of this is still very new to you. Your passion and ideals, your bright eyes and eagerness to do right are very childlike, but that doesn't mean it's bad. It's refreshing to find someone so enthusiastic and innocent as you. You're unafraid to laugh at a stupid joke just for the sake of laughing. These things often give some people the stereotypical impression that you also have the intellect and maturity of a two-year-old, and in this they are very wrong."

Starfire was taken aback by my words and was about to speak, but I was not finished.

"In fact," I continued, "you're a bright, intelligent individual who knows who she is and what she wants and that makes you incredibly unique. You are probably one of the only people I know that is practically pure good. Everyone always has their own battles between sin and conscience, and yet you seem to maintain the beautiful innocent purity of a child. And that, Starfire, I think is the very best part of you. So in answer to your question, yeah, you might be naïve. But you're never incompetent."

Starfire was obviously absolutely stunned and warmed by this speech. "Such wise words for you," she said. "I have never seen this side of you before, Beast Boy. Where has it been and where has your blunt comical side gone?"

"It's still there under the effects of Raven's tea," I said with a chuckle. "That stuff makes me pensive. But I meant every last word of what I just said."

Starfire tilted her head and looked at my battle-scarred eyes.

"What has happened to you in the last hours of yesterday, my friend?" she asked. "Something in you has changed."

"Raven," I said simply. "I've put her behind me."

"That is unfortunate," said Starfire. "I thought you would have been a glorious couple."

"Apparently she didn't think so," I said.

"She did not approve of your confession of love either?" Starfire asked.

"She didn't even give me the chance to say it," I replied. "But I know she knew what I was trying to say. She just didn't want to hear it so she wouldn't have to turn me down. Because, God knows, that would take too much emotion and heaven forbid she show a little sympathy around here."

Starfire reached across the table to take my hand in hers. "Raven does care for you very much. This I promise you."

"I know she likes me fine enough," I said. "Or, I guess I know. She told me she did once, but that was a while ago, and I hate the fact that she refuses to show people how much she cares about them. Maybe I'm just insecure, but you can't just tell someone you love them. That's so empty. You don't even have to say it as long as you can show it. It's all in your behavior, you know? But that's her loss."

Starfire nodded, understanding. "Robin is the same," she said. "I am sure he cares for me, and yet he refuses to admit it to himself for he is afraid of it."

"You still think Robin loves you, even after all that?" I said with a sad smile. "See, that's what I mean. That innocent denial, that clinging hope that maybe… You're quite the optimist, I could never do that."

"Sometimes it is essential to be optimistic and naïve," Starfire said, "for it is the only thing that can keep you alive until you are ready to understand."

"I hear yeh," I said with a sigh. "You want more tea? I have a couple bags left. Raven's going to get some magic stuff tomorrow and I'm swiping some more tea then, so it doesn't matter…"

I rose and walked to Starfire's side to clean up her empty mug. She was staring up at me with grateful eyes and I looked down at her, trying to look sympathetic. I flashed her my best smile.

"You can be very amiable when you wish to be," she said. "I do not understand why I have not seen this in you before." I felt myself blush and fumbled with the porcelain. I nearly dropped the mug on Starfire's lap, but she caught it and smiled up at me. We were nearly nose-to-nose as I leaned to retrieve the mug, and I looked at her, embarrassed. Suddenly, she looked up at me and smiled.

At that moment, I did the strangest, stupidest, most desperate thing imaginable.

Instinctively our lips met in a warm kiss. The rest of me was very still. One of my hands was on the table while the other held the mug. I also felt Starfire's finger's still holding the mug, the other one gracefully in her lap. We merely stood there, with that simple, comforting kiss for a moment, and broke away. We looked at each other, unsure of what to make of the moment, and both flushed.

"I… I am sorry…" she stuttered. I was swooning. Never in a million years, not even in my dreams, had I ever thought I would ever share such a gentle kiss with a Tamaranian, least of all, Starfire. And now I was reeling from the drug-like effect the alien kiss seemed to have on me.

"No, no," I said quickly. "It was me too…"

"I had never even contemplated…" Starfire began, but I hushed her.

"I know," I said. "Me neither."

"Could this mean something?" Starfire ask. "Should we question it, or let it be?"

Her beautiful naiveté prevented her from seeing what must be done, and so I took my seat across from her again.

"Star, honestly, I don't really think there is anything to question. We were both feeling down and under the influence of mystery tea and we were both seeking comfort. The fact that we'd never before really thought of each other as…"

"You are right," Starfire said, nodding her head in understanding. She rose and nodded kindly at me. "You are a wonderful friend, Beast Boy."

I rose to meet her. "You don't have to tell me that, I know," I said. She giggled and it made me smile. "I'm just glad I could make you laugh again."

"And I am glad that you were the one to make me laugh," Starfire said. "Good night, and thank you."

"My pleasure, as always," I replied with a formal bow. "Who would have thought I would have been in the kitchen at two in the morning drinking dodgy tea and end up kissing a beautiful girl like you? Come on, let me walk you to your room."

Starfire sighed. "And all is right with the world again."