Disclaimer: I don't own TT, but I do own your soul.

Chapter fifty-one! I did one illustration for this chapter http /www .deviantart. com/deviation/20191220/ Copy and paste, don't forget to take out the spaces!

Note to They-Call-Me-Orange: I want you to be my minion! I'm taking your offer with pride.

Note to DarkSideOfBlue: Yep, everything pivotal does seem to happen on the roof, doesn't it?

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

6:40

'Did I come out too early? Twenty minutes…he's never exactly punctual. I just didn't want to miss him. He's not going to be out here for another half hour. Or what if he doesn't show at all? What if he decided he hates me after all? Or what if he was just trying to shut me up by saying yes? What if he's in his room laughing at me right now?'

She glanced again at the clock on the far wall of the living room. 6:42. The thin black hand seemed to taunt her with its slow-motion. She gritted her teeth, crossing her arms and leaning against the back of the sofa for support.

'What if he did mean it when he said yes but he changed his mind at the last second? Or what if he remembered the Cinderblock incident and he's afraid of me? Oh shit what if he's scared of me?' she tucked a strand of hair nervously behind her ear and then pulled it back out again.

"Nervous?" came Cyborg's voice from the kitchen, where he was chopping vegetables for some homemade beef stew.

"What makes you say that?" Raven asked, putting on her normal monotone and pulling her hood up over her head.

"Well, for one, you keep rubbing your palms on your cloak to dry them off, and you keep looking at the clock, and you're pretty damn shaky from what I can see," Cyborg said. "And you just put your hood up when I asked about it."

"How do you know I'm not just shaky from low blood pressure?" Raven shot at him sarcastically, crossing her arms once more.

Cyborg chuckled. "Oh, don't worry about it, Rae. It's natural to be a little nervous. I remember my first date…" he said, giving a carrot a particularly vicious chop with his chef's knife.

"Who says it's my first date?" she challenged.

"Come on, you're not fooling old Cyborg," Cy said with a wink. He put on a proud fatherly smile. "Your first date. My little baby is growing up," he said.

"Shut up," Raven said with a hint of a smile, rolling her eyes. "And I won't have to hurt you."

XXX

6:49

'Oh God.'

6:50

'What if something goes wrong?'

6:51

'What if she hates me by the end of this date?'

6:52

'Why is time moving so fast?'

The fierce glowing red numbers of the bedside clock had pushed Beast Boy into an oblivion of anxious waiting for 7:00 about an hour ago, and he had been sitting here on the edge of his bed since, a captive to the ruby markings that shone almost blindingly from that taunting, mocking clock. At first, he had been yelling at the clock to go faster, and now it seemed as though it was racing out of control. He couldn't seem to get a second to think when he kept thinking about the breakneck speeds the numbers on the clock were moving. A device that had once been a friend had become a foe, pushing him forward far too quickly into a situation that he needed a moment or so to prepare for.

He looked down at himself. His uniform was his outfit of choice. Why bother dressing up, anyway? It wasn't like Raven really cared about that sort of thing.

6:55

"Five minutes," he muttered aloud. "I suppose she didn't literally mean 7:00. Guess I'd better go out there." he gave a nervous laugh to himself and headed for the door and into the hallway. He grew more and more nervous the farther he progressed down the hall, the same way one gets hotter when traveling closer to a fire. And now, Beast Boy could feel the heat of the 'flames' scorching his very flesh as he walked through the sliding doors and into the Titans Tower living room.

Raven was standing near the sofa, arms crossed, expression a mystery because her hood was up. Beast Boy made his way slowly over to her.

"Hi," he said shakily as he reached her.

"Hello," Raven said, giving him a small smile, relief taking over her at the fact that he had actually come. At the sight of that smile, Beast Boy could feel his anxiety drain away almost instantly and it was replaced with a warm, floating feeling. Raven pushed her hood down to reveal a surprisingly happy face. "Ready to get going?"

Beast Boy gave a slight nod and the two of them headed for the front door. Beast Boy could see Cyborg shooting him a thumbs-up from the kitchen. He gave him a smile before they left the Tower and walked out onto the island. The summer air was still warm, and the sun had not yet set. The island was still lit with the warm evening sunshine.

"So, pizza?" Beast Boy asked as they emerged into the warm air.

"If that's what you want to do," Raven offered.

"Um…sure," he said. "Uh…let's go then." The two of them set off, Beast Boy in eagle form and Raven flying along beside him. He regretted that they couldn't talk when he was an animal, because there were so many things he wanted to say to her. There were so many possibilities now. Anything was possible. He watched the waters of the bay sparkling beneath them, a huge patchwork of glitter made up of millions of tiny gems of light and color. Diamonds and sapphires and emeralds, and even the occasional ruby set off by the angle of the glowing sun.

It didn't take long before they were flying over rooftops and concrete in Jump City, and the large 'Pizza' sign came into view, as well as the balcony of the building that was shaped oddly like a slice of pepperoni pizza, with a pale orange triangular floor, a thin brown curve of roof along the wider end, and red umbrellas over the small round tables. Beast Boy followed Raven as she landed on the balcony, wondering how strange it must have looked to the other customers to see a girl and an eagle landing straight out of the sky. Back in his normal form, they selected a table near the railing and sat down.

"Ummmm," Beast Boy muttered. He grabbed a menu to conceal his awkwardness and pulled it up over his face. He peeked over the edge of the menu and saw Raven smiling at him, and he calmed down and dropped the menu.

"Thanks for agreeing to come," Raven said softly, eyes trained on her menu. Beast Boy thought this was a pretty strange thing to thank him for, but he kept it to himself.

"No problem. Why wouldn't I?" he asked.

Raven rubbed her thumb nervously along the side of her menu. "Well…for a while there…there was a time when I actually thought you…hated me," the last two words fell quietly and timidly, hovering in the air between the two like poison gas.

"Come on Raven, you know I never hated you," Beast Boy assured her. And then he realized that he couldn't think of anything else to say. In order to kill the awkward feeling in the air, he looked to his menu for support. "So…uh…what kind of pizza do you want?"

"I don't care," Raven said.

"Um…how about just cheese, then? Medium cheese pizza. That's kinda neutral, right?"

"Sure…sounds fine," Raven said.

"Dude, are you always this agreeable, or is this a new thing?" Beast Boy asked, raising an eyebrow.

Raven looked a bit hurt. "I just wanted this to go well…" she said, looking at the floor.

"Hey, I didn't mean…" he reached across the table and placed a hand on her shoulder. "I just meant that normally you don't agree with me and…oh God, I'm sorry."

Raven nodded. "I…don't worry about it."

"Did I hurt your feelings?"

"No." her tone was closed. Beast Boy strangled himself mentally.

"Raven, I'm really, really sorry," Beast Boy muttered, leaning across the table as best he could and hugging her tightly. She stiffened for a moment and then he could feel her melt into his embrace.

"Really, it's fine," she said, this time her voice a bit surer. "You didn't hurt my feelings. But thanks for the PDA anyway." her voice held a hint of its usual sarcasm on the last part, and he released her quickly. When he saw a slight smile tugging at her lips, he realized that it had been a joke.

"Oh my God, did Raven just crack a joke?" he asked, feigning shock, his eyes bulging.

"I'll crack more than just a joke if you don't watch it," Raven snapped, but she was smiling again. Beast Boy giggled.

"That was funny!" he said between giggles.

A meek-looking waitress in her mid twenties approached the table while Beast Boy was still laughing. She looked more than a little nervous to be serving a purple-haired girl in a leotard and a green boy with fangs. Her shoulder-length sandy hair was pulled back into a ponytail and she kept tucking loose strands of it behind her ears uneasily. Her smile was forced.

"What would you like to order?" she asked through her tightly clenched smile.

"Ch-cheese!" Beast Boy said through his giggles. "M-medium!"

The waitress quickly scribbled their order down on her notepad, took their orders for drinks, and made a mad dash for the kitchen.

XXX

"No way! Are you serious?" Beast Boy asked. Raven nodded. "Whoa!" he took another bite of pizza, chewed, swallowed, and mouthed 'whoa' again.

"Pretty crazy, huh?" Raven asked, taking the final drink of her soda and swirling the straw around in the ice at the bottom.

Beast Boy nodded. He paused. "You know, we've never really just had a conversation like this before," he pointed out.

"You're right. It's kind of…nice."

"Yeah, it is." Beast Boy's eyes fell on the pizza plate. "One slice left," he commented.

"Mhm," Raven said monotonously.

"Oh come on Raven, you know you want it," Beast Boy said, waggling his eyebrows at her.

"Oh yes, getting the last slice of pizza is my number one priority," Raven said sarcastically, rolling her eyes at him.

"You know you want it!" Beast Boy said enticingly, grabbing the slice of pizza and wagging it in front of her face.

"Seriously Beast Boy, you can have it," Raven assured him.

"I want you to have it," Beast Boy told her.

"You don't need to be all noble and selfless. Just eat the slice," Raven said.

"You just want to share it?" Beast Boy asked.

"If that's what you want to do," Raven said. Beast Boy grabbed a plastic butter knife that was lying on the table and proceeded to saw the slice into two equal parts.

The sun had gone down by now, and the balcony was lit only by the lights from inside the actual pizza place. Almost everyone else had gone home by now and they were more or less alone. The air was cooling off as they finished their pizza. Beast Boy stared at Raven as he tried to break strings of stretchy cheese from his pizza as he took a bite.

'God, she's beautiful,' he thought, longing to be nearer to her. Longing to hold her in his arms and never let her go again. There was a long pause as they finished. They split the check, a compromise because Raven had been threatening to strangle him if he didn't let her pay.

"Maybe we should get back home," Raven said, standing up.

"Um…yeah," Beast Boy agreed.

The moon was shimmering on the dark water on the way back to the Tower this time, larger, whiter gems than the ones left by the sun. It was an immeasurably beautiful night, which Beast Boy was glad for, because things wouldn't have been exactly as enjoyable if they were flying through the rain.

Both of them headed for the rooftop simultaneously, something neither of them could exactly explain. On the flat surface, both of them sat down near the edge.

"It's so beautiful," Beast Boy commented. Raven nodded. They sat there together like that for a moment. Silent, at peace. Beast Boy watched the way the moonlight made Raven's skin glow, and she secretly watched him as well. There was a pleasant pause, and then Raven stood up.

"Well…goodnight," she said. Beast Boy stood up also, looking a bit dumbfounded.

"That's…that's it?" he asked. Raven turned to face him.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"I mean…we have this amazing date, we get along great, and all you say is 'goodnight'?"

Raven just stared at him. "Well, what do you want me to say?" she asked. Beast Boy walked over to her so they were only a few feet apart, and looked her straight in the eye, very solemnly.

"It's simple," he said. "I want you to look me in the eye, and tell me how you feel."

Raven looked at him. "How…how I feel?" she asked.

"About me."

"Beast Boy-"

"It's not that hard. I just want to know how you feel about me."

"I don't know if I can…put it into words," she said. "I could say I love you, but that doesn't really seem strong enough for how I feel. I guess the only way to say it is…I…" she took a step forward and placed her hands on his shoulders, looking deep into his emerald green eyes, binding the two of them by their very souls for a moment. "You are everything."

The deep green eyes widened slightly. "E-everything?" he stammered.

"Yes," Raven said quietly. He was surprised when she pulled him against her and rested her head on his shoulder. "You are my life, my love, and the only thing that makes me sure that there's still some point in being alive. You are the one I've always loved and always will love. To me…you truly are everything."

Beast Boy drew back so that he could look her in the eye.

"Raven-" he managed to stammer, staring at her. "I…I…" he stopped. "You're my everything, too." he reached out and embraced her, and she hugged him back fiercely, nuzzling his neck with her forehead. One hand made desperate circles on his back as the other rubbed the back of his neck. Beast Boy lifted one hand and began to stroke her hair, the other staying wrapped around her waist. Raven was shaking with emotion, squeezing him tightly as she gave release to the pain that missing him for so long had burned deep into her soul. She slowly allowed the ache to drain away, and felt contentment flow into the empty spaces it had left inside. She felt him complete her, and she felt tears come, sweet in their release instead of bitter.

"Oh, Garfield," she whispered, and he could feel the wetness of her tears against his neck. "I love you so much."

"I love you too," he said gently into her hair, ignoring his surprise at her using his real name. "And I always will."

Raven drew back, her teary eyes gazing deep into his own loving ones. He gave her a smile, and then she swept him up in a kiss. Beast Boy smiled against her lips as he kissed her back, overwhelming joy taking over his body as he squeezed her even tighter. He was struck with a strong feeling that this was just how it was supposed to be. This was the way he wanted to rest of forever to be. This moment was happiness, this moment was all the things be had been missing.

This moment was everything.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

More soon. Damn, I'm a sucker for sappy scenes like that. (;