Three days left! And if I sounded excited about this story being complete, I am. But not because "Phew, I'm done with it, gah, I hate it."

Edit: Actually, I kind of did.

–

Raven heard the sound of sniffling coming from inside one of the caves in the old training grounds on the outskirts of town. It was where they had trained Terra for a short while. The dark-haired girl passed old scars in the rocks where the blond had torn them apart, and others where a SonicBlast had cut into the rock. Starbolt scars and small cuts where Robin's boomerangs had scarred the brownish earth littered the place. She found the opening of a cave where the muffled cries came from. With a soft pat, her feet touched the earth. She walked into the cave to find her teammate.

"Starfire?"

"Go away, please!" Raven followed the sound of the alien's voice. She found the Tamaranian sitting on a rock, head between her knees. One gray hand pulled back her hood. There was a small puddle of tears between the purple boots, which looked lackluster in the dank shadows of the cave.

"Starfire," Raven started, suddenly at a lack of words. 'It's not the end of the world'? No. 'Everything happens for a reason?' No. The Azarath girl settled for no words, and instead put her hand on a warm, orange shoulder. She felt goosebumps under her fingertips. "You must have seen this coming," Starfire squeezed out, miserably.

Raven bit her tongue. She kind of did, but not until it was a little bit too late. "I didn't foresee you tearing the Tower a new one," was all she could think to say. She felt the redhead slump a little deeper, as impossible as it seemed. "But," Raven started again, or tried to, "Is it really that bad? You and Robin make great friends. Great teammates."

Starfire lifted her head, and looked at Raven with big, sullen eyes. It looked off on her. Raven used a thumb to wipe away some tears. "Besides," Raven continued, "We're a team. We stick together. You'll always have him, you know, because there are some bonds that can't be broken."

Starfire seemed to accept that idea. "I guess," she said, and took a deep breath. "I guess it's not so bad. It felt worse when he wouldn't come out about it." Raven patted her on the back. "But," she continued, "It was nice to have someone to make me feel special, and to hold my hand, and to kiss, and just be... Be like a normal person, I guess."

Raven wrapped an arm around her teammate. "Those things are nice," she agreed, although inwardly she noted it was only nice in some situations and to certain extents, "But if that's all it was for, then it wasn't that important. It was just like another teddy bear, except life-sized and warm."

"And it sometimes talked back and made funny noises," Starfire added. "Listen," Raven began, a little awkwardly, "Normally, I wouldn't be so nice, but.. But if you get lonely at night, or want to meditate with me, or anything, just come see me, okay?"

Starfire stared at her roommate. It was more than a small deal to have access to Raven at night, let alone anytime. At that moment, she decided she needed her friend more than any boy or plaything for kisses and normalcy. Her tears had mostly dried. She gave Raven a soft peck on the corner of her gray mouth, more a thank-you for everything that had happened in the last week, and especially in the last ten minutes.

A rock exploded outside of the cave.

–

Having finished mopping up the orange tofu juice mess, BeastBoy sat down to a real breakfast; rice soup with sweet potatoes and some pickled radishes with a glass of soy milk. Robin picked at a bowl of cornflakes and bananas. Above them, Cyborg busied himself with the hole in the ceiling. Robin still felt bad about what had happened, but it was beginning to fade away, now.

"So," BeastBoy drawled, slurping down the last bit of his rice, "What to do today? I think there's been a serious lack of TV in the last week, who's game for a That 70s Show marathon, hmm?" Robin, hand mashing his cheek into his eye, stared at his new.. Em, boyfriend? Significant other? What did they call them these days? Eh. Didn't matter. He stared at Garfield Logan; HIS Garfield Logan.

"Maybe," Cyborg commented around the wrench in his mouth, "I gotta go get some more drywall and plaster." The changeling rolled his eyes. "Well, I'll be playing a vidya game, then…" He got up and cleared his dishes, but didn't wash them. As he passed his leader, he gave him a pat on the shoulder. Starfire would be fine.

Inwardly, he felt a rush of fiery orange and yellows and pinks swirling in a wild, kaleidoscopic sunrise of excitement. He felt a tinge of badness, guilt at Starfire's loss. He wasn't thinking too much about it, but let himself bask in the good feelings as he flopped onto the couch and stretched for his DS. Which, unfortunately, was three feet away, much further than his maximum stretching length. He sighed, and rolled over to get up.

To his surprise, an orangey-colored hand picked it up before he could even get off the couch. Starfire turned the game on, and handed it to him with the trace of a smile playing on her face. He felt bad now, as she gave him that little, melancholy smile, and he felt his world crash down around him.

He was about to apologize, but she beat him to it. "I'm sorry," she said, and instinctively, her hand rose to the back of her head, where a sudden itch had formed, "For being so rude and jealous to you lately."

BeastBoy flopped for a moment, "Uh, no," he stammered, "It's okay." He paused after that. He couldn't exactly just blurt, 'Sorry for stealing your boyfriend' or anything like that. "Sorry for, being distant. But it's okay, really, you didn't mean anything by it, right?" Starfire nodded. What came out of her mouth next surprised him to the extent that he fell over sideways onto the couch, wondering what was wrong with the world. And she had bent to say it to him, almost menacingly.

"I'm also sorry for stealing your lifelong crush, BeastBoy, and for taking so long to do it. I'm afraid Raven is mine."

"E...Eh?"

Then Starfire started to laugh."I'm joking, friend BeastBoy!" The Tamaranian engulfed him in a hug. "Do you want to watch the show of prior decades? I like Eric." BeastBoy felt more at peace, and he grabbed the remote. Things... Looked brighter.

–

Edit: Hopefully it reads better.