(A/N) This is the end, beautiful friend. This is the end my only friend, the end.
The Doors are one of my all time favorite bands. Ray Manzarek is an absolute fiend at the organ and I love every bit of it.
Disclaimer – To quote a famous military man, "Nuts!"
A Year In The Life – February – It's so funny whenever things come full circle. (Swoosie Kurtz)
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It was a dark and stormy night outside Raven's room. No, really, it was. The rains had started in late January and had stuck around through the beginning of February.
Raven was standing just outside her room, frozen in place. Starfire was smiling brightly at her with her arms outstretched, an envelope in one hand and a small package in the other.
Shaking off her stupor, Raven took the presents from Starfire's hands. "Didn't we do this last year?"
"You do not like traditions?" Starfire's smile doubled.
"I'm not sure yet, but why not somebody else this year?"
"Everything has already been established. I will have to give the gifts to another some other year."
"You didn't buy me any clothes, did you?" Apprehension was written all over her face.
"Raven," Starfire said exasperatedly, "you have made it abundantly clear that you prefer no one buy you clothing. I have not broken your desire."
She eyed her warily. "That's what you said before you got me that sweater."
"And you have enjoyed it. You still wear it when it is cool and you wish to forgo your cloak, yes?"
Raven gave a stubborn little grump. "I still don't want any clothes."
Starfire rolled her eyes. "I promise that I shall not buy you nor give you any clothing with what is planned this week."
"Good. Thank you."
"You are not welcome. I am of the mind that I should take back what I have presented."
Feeling a little guilty, just a little though – Starfire's usual clothing gifts were far from acceptable – Raven offered a bit of an olive branch. "I'm sorry, Star. I'm just very picky about my clothes. Everything you got me last year was perfect and that globe you got for my birthday is beautiful."
Starfire has never learned how to accept a real compliment any other way than with smiles and proved her weakness now. "Do the opening of your present, I will be back tomorrow with another."
"You really don't have to." Raven called out, just quiet enough that the alien didn't hear it as she flew away. Who doesn't like getting presents?
Taking a seat on her bed she decided to open the card first. In Starfire's boxy script it read:
Raven,
You mean more to me now than ever before. I am very grateful to know you and hope to learn many things about you in years to come.
Your Secret Admirer
Raven smiled to herself. Starfire could be so quaint when she was dead set on following through with what she wanted to do. Her smile grew as she turned her attention to the small package.
It was simple brown paper with string knotting it all in place. The wrapping fell off when she gave the knot a gentle tug. The box underneath was a plain wooden case, like you might get from a craft store, with the word 'Beauty' stenciled onto it. Inside she found a small hand mirror with another note, which read:
So that you may see what I see.
Starfire could be so weird. It made perfect sense, but it was still weird. They'd been talking just the other day about how their respective beaus had been fairly complimentary towards their looks lately. She had been a bit disbelieving at Beast Boy's insistence of how pretty she was and Starfire had almost shouted at her for doubting him.
Her beau. That was such a beautiful lie. Beast Boy hadn't done anything beyond cashing in most of his coupons from Christmas. Sure, because of those and his offers to go to places she liked in return, they were going out quite a lot, but it hadn't gone anywhere beyond his occasional flirting and her increased smiling.
Part of her desperately wanted him to find some stupid excuse to kiss her again, but Saint Patrick's Day was still a ways off. Maybe she could trick Cyborg into daring him to do it; he was always willing to pull those kinds of things.
The rest of her was arguing about whether or not it was better to have fake dates rather than real ones. The side for said that fake dates were better than no dates at all; the side against thought fake dates blocked the possibility of real ones.
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The bad weather continued into the next day. Raven enjoyed listening to the sounds of a good thunderstorm and had stayed tucked in bed, warm and cozy for longer than was her norm. Feeling that she'd indulged herself enough, she got up so she could get ready for the day and grab whatever Starfire had left her in the hall.
She was a little disappointed that the hall was bare and wondered if she'd been a bit too callous towards Starfire by telling her what kinds of presents she wasn't allowed to give. She resolved to apologize again and thank her for the little mirror.
After wandering into the kitchen to get some toast and a glass of juice, she was surprised to find Beast Boy playing video games in the common room. Beast Boy up before ten was fairly unusual. He was the only true night owl on the team (Robin didn't count, as he was only an insomniac), so he usually got the late night shift on patrol duty.
She took a seat a little ways from him, setting her juice onto a coaster on the coffee table. He looked up at the thump of noise and Raven was jolted by how bloodshot his eyes looked.
"Didn't you get any sleep?"
He laughed wearily. "Not really. Storm's been keeping me up." As if to demonstrate, he gave a small jolt as a clap of thunder rolled over the tower.
"Why not just change into something that isn't bothered by it?"
"I keep changing back into me as soon as I'm asleep." He gave a deep yawn and drifted away for a moment. "It wouldn't be so bad if it were something stupid like it scaring me or hurting my ears or something. Instead it's like I get this little jolt of 'Hey! What's that?' excitement. Then, my brain kicks back in and I'm having to fight it off to get to sleep again."
"Want me to go into town and get you ear plugs or something?"
He smiled at the offer. "Nah, but thanks, Rae. I just gotta teach myself to ignore it; like when I first discovered laser pointers."
Raven could distinctly remember how much fun Cyborg had had watching Beast Boy chase the little red dots for a step or two before intellect won out over instinct. It had been funny until Dr. Light burned a small hole in his thigh that had taken Raven multiple days of healing to ensure there wouldn't be a scar.
"Wanna play?" He gestured at the screen with his controller.
"Not really."
"Can I use my last arcade coupon to get you to play?"
Raven gave a small, resigned smile. "Yes."
"Cool." He dug the slip of paper out of his pocket and tore it in half as had become their custom. She kept one half and he kept the other.
"At least it's the last video game one." She accepted the offered game controller and slid over next to him for a better view. "What're we playing?"
"Minecraft."
She felt a little confused "A German game?"
"What? No. It's actually Swedish, but it's mine, like mining for gold and craft like arts and crafts. You go around and collect stuff and use it to make cooler stuff and build things like castles and biodomes or whatever else you can think of and there's some bad guys, but they only come out at night."
"And you won't be trying to attack me the whole game like that other one we played?"
"Nah, that was a fighting game. You're supposed to attack the whole time. This is more about exploring, collecting, and building and then trying to survive when the bad guys show up. We work together."
Beast Boy had been playing through most of the night, so Raven was caught up to speed on how to play relatively quickly and safely as they hid in his hut.
The plan, he explained, was to get enough materials so that he could start building something that looked like the Tower with some other 'just for fun' buildings like a giant cube of tofu he'd already started making. To Raven it just looked like a white rectangle.
The game was easy enough to get into and Raven found the task-oriented style suited her limited video game skill set. Dig up a bunch of dirt, mine for the blocks that looked different than the rest, use what she'd gotten to make whatever they needed at the time, run inside at night.
She was digging for more iron ore so that they could make the iron blocks that Beast Boy wanted to do the main framework of the Tower in when Starfire called her name.
"Hm? What, Star?"
"I have asked if you are going to be done playing soon. You did not answer when I asked you an hour ago."
"I haven't been playing for over an hour. I just barely got here."
"Actually, Rae, we've been playing for about three hours." Beast Boy interjected. Seeing her shocked look at the TV he added, "Yeah, this game does that to people."
"But…we've barely finished anything."
"That's why it's so fun! You can make the game as long or as short as you want. If you want to make it about fighting, or about making crazy machines, or whatever, you just do it."
Half wanting to see the projects they'd started get completed, and half wanting to stop before she got sucked further in, Raven took a break by turning her full attention to Starfire.
"What's up, Star?"
She was smiling in a way that told Raven just how happy she was seeing her and Beast Boy together. "I would like to present your next gift." Beast Boy turned to look at the pair of them.
"Gifts?"
"She's giving me secret admirer gifts like she did last year."
"Oh, cool."
Starfire walked back to the kitchen counter to grab a card and wrapped package that looked identical to the one she'd gotten the day before. "It is fine if Beast Boy sees."
And just like yesterday, she left before Raven could do anything more than thank her as she flew off. Didn't she want to watch?
"So, what's inside?"
Raven undid the string, deciding to open the package first this time, and found another wooden box with a new word stenciled across the lid. This one read, 'Intelligence'. Inside she found an obviously expensive pen set with a couple packages of refills. The note with them said:
So that your knowledge and wisdom may be recorded and I may learn from it.
"Huh. You write?" Beast Boy sounded like his brain was awake, but that his mouth was falling asleep.
"Not really, but…it's a nice thing for her to say. It wouldn't hurt to try at least."
"That's cool. What's the card say?"
Raven,
I know that I do the annoying of you sometimes, but that is only because I wish to spend my time with you. I hope that you will continue to permit me.
Your Secret Admirer
Raven read out to him.
"That sounds nice." He gave a huge yawn. "I like that one."
Raven was smiling as she watched him fall asleep mid-conversation. She thought about getting up to turn off the game when he slid sideways with his head landing on her shoulder.
Now fighting a furious blush she pulled his controller into her hands and logged him out, deciding that since he hadn't slept she wouldn't risk waking him up by moving from where she was. At least, that's what she kept telling herself as she started looking for more coal so they could smelt all the glass they'd need for the Tower.
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Raven woke up feeling very comfortable and warm. It was one of the feelings she always cherished when it hit. Reveling in the serenity the common room provided early in the morning it took her a minute or two to recognize that she wasn't in her bed.
When she finally realized it, she found she was feeling too good to care. Instead she snuggled a little closer to Beast Boy and pulled the blanket over them tight against her neck.
It was a little more jarring to have her mind tap her on the shoulder and point out that she and Beast Boy didn't do things like this and that the others might have seen and that it was highly embarrassing. These concerns caused her eyes to shoot open.
She was starting to get a little panicked when she thought about where the blanket might have come from, but all through her growing anxiety was the constant thought, 'But he's so wonderfully warm.' And she found she still couldn't wrest herself from the situation.
Not being able to leave, but too awake to fall back asleep, she started making observations. Their positions had switched sometime during the night and now she was cradled against his chest. He was propped up against the back of the couch, a separation in the cushions keeping him from sliding off one way or the other. He had an arm around her, but she wasn't sure if he'd put it there or if she'd pulled it there for the additional heat.
She looked out the window to try and gage what time it might be, but it was still dark out. She gave herself a mental slap on the back of the head and looked at the clock on the DVD player instead. It was just past four.
She couldn't remember when she'd fallen asleep, but knew that Beast Boy had slumbered on against her shoulder while she'd continued to play the game. She was sure Cyborg had brought her food sometime and been sympathetic about her wish to not disturb their friend's rest. He'd joined her for a while in the game, but left some time in there. She'd need to tell Beast Boy that they'd finally found a video game she didn't mind playing.
Thinking through the day's events had relaxed her and allowed the wakefulness from her initial shock to slip away so that she was back to being just warm and comfortable.
She chose to let Beast Boy be the one to freak out about them falling asleep together and closed her eyes to let how nice she was feeling lull her back into a deep slumber. She vaguely noticed the sound of the common room doors swishing open.
"They're still asleep? It's good that Beast Boy finally passed out, but Raven's going to have a heart attack when she wakes up."
"She will be fine. I believe Beast Boy will find it more alarming. Has he truly not slept in three days?"
"Yeah, it's all this rain. The thunder really winds him up, but he says he's getting better at ignoring it. Supposed to start up again tonight though. Hope he's rested enough to take back the late night patrol. Nobody handles it as well as he does."
"Shall we meet for the breaking of fasts when I return?"
"Sure, Star. Thanks for covering my shift so I could cover his. You want me to make you anything special?"
"Actually, I would like to try making the French toast. I have practiced and believe I can prepare it without the fire extinguisher."
A soft laughter floated through the conversation. "I'm sure it'll be perfect, Star. See you in a few hours."
"First I must leave the gift for Raven."
Raven was caught half in dream and half paying attention. The pictures her mind kept conjuring as she hovered in the in between would start out as her normal dreams and then change into images of Robin and Starfire talking and kissing as Robin worked in the kitchen with a white apron on while Starfire straightened her tie, grabbed her briefcase, and gave her suit one last inspection before she went off to work. She faded more fully as the sounds in the kitchen went quiet.
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Raven woke up in earnest to find herself sprawled out on the couch still under the blanket she and Beast Boy had been sharing. She had a vague memory of Starfire talking about her next gift that she only remembered because said gift was staring at her from the coffee table.
She reached an arm out from under the covers and took the card that was leaning against the brown package. It was silly, but she wanted to hold onto the memory of the warmth from the night as long as possible, so she tucked her arm back under the covers leaving just hands sticking out to open the card.
Raven,
You are very special person, and I hope that you feel the same as I do.
Your Secret Admirer
She really needed to start teaching Starfire how to word things better. Her grasp of meanings was fine, but she could absolutely mangle her phrasing.
She didn't want to pull her arm back out from the covers and just used her powers to take the paper off and float the box over to her waiting hands; 'Unique' was stenciled on it.
The box felt empty, but inside was a ring that looked like it was woven together. When she lifted the dainty thing out of the box that was much too large for it, it fell apart. The ring seemed to be made from several very thin rings that had fit together to make the full ring; at least all the thin parts were linked so that she didn't drop any when it came undone.
She set the jumble of small hoops back into the box and retrieved the note from inside.
This is a puzzle ring. It can be reformed in a number of ways, but only one is as lovely as you.
Raven stared at the note. It didn't feel like Starfire's usual sentiment, simply because there was a little too much sentiment in it. Wondering what she'd meant about the ring, she pulled it back out and started to play with it.
The closer she looked, the more she realized just how clever the little thing was. The individual bits were very wavy in their design which allowed for them to fit snuggly together when she got it just right. There were a few features that made it easier to figure out which part of each loop should be at the top, and when she'd worked her way through a couple of solutions she saw that there were markings on the outer part of the loops.
She continued to rearrange the bits over and over again, trying to get the markings to line up with each other. When she finally got it solved, Starfire's message suddenly made a great deal more sense and fit perfectly with the way Starfire thought. The etchings spelled out her name along with the words from the boxes she'd gotten so far.
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That night at dinner, she was showing off her new jewelry to Cyborg.
"Silver? Nice. But won't all those thin bits break if you play with it too much?"
"I thought about that too, but when I looked it up online it said puzzle rings had been around for a long time and are even made of gold."
"That's pretty impressive to get something that frail looking strong enough. Maybe I should get back into studying metallurgy."
"It's just a ring."
"Come on, Rob, even you got to admit it's cool."
"Sure it is, but Raven's one of the few of us who can actually wear normal jewelry. It gets in the way of my stuff, you have to design yours yourself and it's all got magnets, and Beast Boy and Star both destroy anything they wear."
"I was most sad that the ring you got for me melted."
"It was my fault, Star. I wasn't thinking about your starbolts when I bought it. A necklace might work though."
"Hey, remember that necklace I got in that box of Cracker Jacks? We got a call and when I changed into a rhino it exploded and hit See-more right in the eye."
"Best Cracker Jack prize you ever got. We were done in less than ten minutes because he just gave up in trade for an eyewash."
"Yeah, and because Gizmo couldn't stop laughing. Only Mammoth gave us any trouble."
"Hey, Star? How'd you afford a ring like this, anyway?"
"It was no cost I minded."
"Wasn't it expensive? When I was reading about them I saw some of the prices places charge for something like this."
"I promise you, Raven, it cost me very little to give you that ring. In fact, it has cost me so little I feel that I must give you your next present most promptly."
"You really don't have to, Star. I'm already feeling like I need to pay you back, and I don't have the shopping connections you do."
"That is most silly. You need to pay me nothing. I have done very little and wish you to only enjoy what I give. Please accept this, but open it within your room."
"Really, Star, maybe you should…"
"Take this and go open it. I will not accept any other answer than 'yes, Starfire, I shall go right now.'"
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Did she really have to threaten her until she'd said it? Raven found it half intimidating and half endearing that Starfire could be so forceful about all of this. At least she had told her there was only one more present after this one. It'd be nice when this was all over so that she could figure out how to repay her friend's generosity.
The letter was more of the same, a couple of sentences in Starfire's odd cadence.
Raven,
This present is meant to do the preparing of you for the final present. Please do not be alarmed, as all shall be explained.
Your Secret Admirer
'Love' read the top of the box and Raven was glad she'd read the card first. Her mind drifted back to a lazy day conversation they'd had where Starfire had talked about her love for her friends.
So that you may know you are loved.
The paper inside covered whatever the present was. When she moved it out of the way her breath caught for a moment. Underneath were photos, each showing some candid shot of her with a single word caption. 'Beautiful' said one with her just coming out of meditation. 'Intelligent' said another showing her turning a page in a book. 'Caring' another read that was from the party she'd helped throw for Melvin last year. 'Amazing' read one showing her eyes glowing bright as a car levitated in the foreground.
On and on they went like that. The only thing she couldn't figure out about them was when they'd been taken. She never allowed anyone to take her picture unless it was a group shot and yet all of these looked not only like they were all close-ups, but they were fairly recent as well. Starfire must have been planning this year's gifts since last year.
The flood of emotions that hit her caused her to quickly leave her room in search of the redhead. She found her in her own room and as soon as Starfire had answered the door she grabbed her in a fierce hug.
"Thank you."
Starfire laughed delightedly at Raven's show of emotion. "You are most welcome. You are enjoying the gifts then? I am allowed to finish giving them?"
"It's not fair, Starfire. I haven't done anything this nice to you. I don't know if I ever could."
Starfire smiled kindly. "You do not need to, Raven. You are my friend and I believe that to be a truly wonderful gift. When I was the secret admirer last year I gave you the gift of knowing that you liked friend Beast Boy. I would give him to you if he were mine to give. I enjoy your happiness."
Raven gave her another hug. "You're one of my best friends, Star. Don't let me do anything stupid to break that."
"Raven, not even the end of the world could end our friendship."
Raven laughed weakly at the joke.
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Raven woke early the next morning to a short set of taps on her door. When she looked out to see who had come so early the only thing she found was an envelope on the floor. She smiled at it as she bent down to pick it up and walked back to her bed. A swell of emotion hit as she thought about Starfire's wonderful gifts and about the talking they'd done late into the night. With a sigh that tried to speak a thousand thoughts racing through her mind she started to read the letter.
Raven,
Don't get mad, but Starfire isn't your secret admirer. I asked her to help me because I knew it was the best way to keep you from figuring out what I was doing. You've met my dad, how about we go see my mom today? It's a really special day to her. Meet me at my dad's old office at noon. You won't be able to find me before then.
Your Secret Admirer, Garfield
If it hadn't already been a dark and stormy night Raven might have fallen into catatonic shock. The thunder that rattled her windows caught her attention and she saw her clock blissfully unaware of her inner turmoil as it glowed softly in the dark; its only thought: six a.m.
Raven bolted out of her room straight to Beast Boy's door where she pounded on it twice before opening it. The room was empty. Not bothering to follow the hallways, Raven phased straight through the walls into the common room.
Other than a worn looking Robin, the room was empty. "Where's Beast Boy? I want to know right now or I just might get violent."
Robin looked up from the coffee mug he'd been vacantly staring into. "What? Why's everybody after Beast Boy today? First Star comes in with his communicator saying something about him going off the grid for a bit and then Cyborg came storming in saying Beast Boy had disabled the security cameras for an hour or two."
Raven didn't care that Robin was calling after her as she phased through the walls again to pull up in front of Starfire's door. She knocked rather loudly. "Starfire if you don't answer I'm going to be very upset."
"I am not inside of my room."
Raven spun around to see the alien floating with a playfully smug smile on her face. "Where is he?"
"Making the preparations I believe. He was most secretive about this part of his plan."
"You lied to me."
"I have done no lying, I have only refused to correct you. I was most glad to give all of those gifts from Beast Boy to you. And they truly cost me very little." Seeing Raven's scowl growing deeper she decided not to tease her any more. "As I told you last night, were he mine to give he would be yours. I cannot give him to you, but I have happily helped him give of himself."
"I will get you back for this."
Starfire smiled. "I will look forward to it."
Remembering clearly the frustration of trying to find Beast Boy last year, and knowing just how much more careful he'd been in covering his trail this year, Raven decided to just wait and meet him when and where he'd suggested.
She was feeling so frazzled. First there was the draining emotional experience that thinking Starfire had made that photo collection for her had caused, then they'd spent way too much time talking late into the night, and then she'd been woken up early on top of it all. She needed more sleep, but the only thing she could get herself to do that didn't leave her trying to wrap her mind around what was happening and what her presents had really meant – and those letters! – was that stupid block game she'd started to get addicted to.
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"Maybe there's something in her room that'll bring her out of it. I'll go check."
Raven snapped back to reality. "Stay out of my room."
Cyborg smiled serenely in response. "Thought that might work…so, you gonna tell us what happened now?"
"Yes, Raven, what has had you doing the space staring?" Starfire asked as she swooped close to Raven's face; I don't think she ever understood the concept of personal space.
Hiding her confusion Raven gave off an aloof air and said, "What?" as she leaned away from the engaging alien.
"Well," Robin said, sounding cautious, "the pizza just showed up and when I came to get you, you were just standing there, looking dazed, and I couldn't get you to come out of it."
"The rest of us just came to see what was taking so long." Cyborg added giving her a look that implied it was her turn to explain.
"I was meditating, it's a new technique," she quickly invented as she edged back into her room, "I'll be down after I finish."
Robin's "but…" was answered by the soft click of the door closing.
Raven pulled the statue of a woman on a horse leading a charge into battle and the note she had hidden under her cloak with a strong sense of déjà vu. And knowing just how volatile her powers could get in moments of stress Raven tried to figure out if what she'd seen was a premonition or if she'd just dreamed it all out of shock.
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(A/N) Growing up, I was a huge fan of the short story "The Lady or the Tiger". I loved the idea of a story that gave you this wonderful set up with all of this insight into what the characters were like and then cut you off to let you try and imagine which of the two possibilities would be the actual outcome. It's such a delicious bit of psychological drama because no matter which way you choose the protagonist to end up on you didn't get a happy ending.
The important thing to remember when reading stories of that type is that they are short. This one isn't, so you might notice there's another separator bar below this and additional text. Enjoy the conclusion of the chapter.
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Raven woke with a jolt feeling highly disoriented and confused. Seeing as she'd awoken in the common room it was hard for her to figure out what was going on. The ring on her hand reminded her what was real and she silently cursed her subconscious for giving her such a terrible dream.
Then another jolt of anxiety hit as she looked at the clock, feeling like she'd overslept and missed her meeting with Beast Boy. She was horrified to see that it was already four in the afternoon.
"Oh, hey, you're awake."
She turned her bleary eyes to Beast Boy who was sitting next to her. Her mind was still shaking off sleep and it took her a moment to finish processing everything. "I'm so sorry, Beast Boy. Did I ruin what you had planned? I was really looking forward to it."
He gave a gentle laugh and handed her a game controller. "You didn't ruin anything. To be honest, I was here when you passed out." When Raven eyed him stonily he went on. "You could say I had you bugged."
Taking the joystick and joining him inside the virtual world next to the ground floor of their Tower project, Raven let the ebb and flow of playing with virtual Lego blocks distract her while she finished waking up.
"Having Starfire write all the letters and give me all the presents was a dirty trick."
"Yeah, but it was a dirty trick that worked."
"True."
"It surprised me that you didn't figure it out earlier."
"Why?"
"Brown paper packages, tied up with string? I thought it was a big hint."
"Of course you'd put a reference to 'The Sound of Music' in wrapping paper."
"I was tricking you about my mom, too."
"That's…maybe you shouldn't have with something like that."
Beast Boy shrugged as he shot arrows into a zombie that was chasing him. "Needed a way to get you to go out with me on Valentine's Day."
Raven flipped a lever to open up a trench around the house they were hiding in. "It's Valentine's Day?"
"Yup."
"I didn't notice." Beast Boy gave a disbelieving chuckle. "I didn't. There were…distractions."
"Good distractions?"
"The best." She slid over to be a little more firmly next to him. "What happens now?"
"Well, I was thinking dinner and a movie. Something at the drive-in; watching the screen would be optional."
Raven's cheeks turned scarlet but she managed to keep herself from smiling. "What's playing?" She could see him grinning out of the corner of her eye.
"Glorious! Now do the kissing!"
Beast Boy and Raven both jumped off the couch at the sudden burst of noise. He'd ducked behind the coffee table and she had a black glow around her hands ready for a fight. "Don't DO that, Star! You nearly gave me a heart attack."
Starfire clapped her hands in front of her smiling face. "It is most wonderful that you are both happy with one another, but you must do the sealing with a kiss!"
"Come on, Star, we should leave them alone now."
"But, Robin," she started pouting, "they have not done the kissing yet."
"Rob's right, Star. Leave 'em alone for now. It's not like they'll be able to keep their hands off each other for very long."
"Did you guys really just hide here to see us kiss?"
"Uh…I didn't, B., but Star wanted to and I was just tagging along."
"But, Cyborg! You found us that most advantageous hiding spot saying that we would see everything."
Cyborg backed away with a guilty grin. Beast Boy's angry look was starting to move from chiding to serious.
"Don't worry, guys, we're leaving. Come on, Star, just follow Cyborg to his new hiding spot in the garage and we can go to that restaurant I told you about."
"No kissing?" Robin shook his head. "We shall have to provide our own example then."
Robin gave a cough. "Once we're alone."
She smiled deviously as he took her hand to lead her out of the room.
"Bye, guys. Thanks for not spying on us the whole even-mPH!"
Raven couldn't take it anymore. One little kiss. One half-second long peck was all she'd gotten in a year of pining after Beast Boy. She'd been patient enough and was through with waiting. It didn't matter if it was being nationally televised; she was getting that kiss now.
Her arms were wrapped tight around Beast Boy's neck as she finally let her lips taste as much of his as she'd imagined herself doing more than she cared to admit. The Tower around them faded out of existence as Beast Boy started to return the passion she was showing. His arms snaked around her waist, pulling her tight to him.
"Whoa."
Starfire gave a little 'teehee' at Cyborg's reaction. "Now we may go. Cyborg, you are welcome to join us at the restaurant, though we must excuse ourselves afterwards. Robin has promised me a surprise."
"Yeah, sure." Cyborg started walking mechanically to the door, glancing over his shoulder on his way through. "Dang."
"I believe you should have said the 'booyah'."
The room had been quiet for a number of minutes before they broke apart. Raven didn't let go of her hold of Beast Boy's neck, but found it hard to look at his face without blushing and smiling. "Sorry. I've wanted to do that for a while."
"Sorry? You don't ever have to be sorry about that. That…was amazing."
"You know, we don't have to go out to watch a movie we won't see."
Beast Boy gave a laugh as they moved over to the couch. "Hey, where'd everybody go?"
.. / -.. - -. .-. - / - .- -. / - ... . / - . . -. / - .. - .- -. ... .-.-.- / .. / - .- -. / .- / .-. .- .. .-. / - ..-. / ... ... - . ... .-.-.-
(A/N) And that's the big finish. You know, I wrote out more than one ending. I didn't like the feel of the first one, started to rewrite it a little, and then decided it just wasn't right and deleted it to write this one.
And I honestly did consider ending the story at that fake story ending. I thought it would be such a delightfully sneaky thing to do – having the entire story loop back on itself and end where it started. I really have enjoyed "The Lady or the Tiger" since I was a kid.
The solution to the code in chapter 3 as well as a few other bits are going in an addendum that should be showing up the same time as this chapter.