Beast Boy was apprehensive. He was not just apprehensive; he was nervous beyond belief. His morning alarm had just beeped for the second time, meaning his snooze was over, and he would have to face whatever was making the hair on his body stand at attention.

Last night, things were fine when he crawled into bed. The team had had their dinner and played a few card games. They, of course, had caught his poor attempts to try and hide away the good cards for later rounds and laughed at him, but that was last night's affairs. They weren't what lingered and danced along his nerves today. Especially not after he had paid for his flaws by losing every game thereafter until Starfire had taken pity and snuck him good cards under the table and undetected, of course.

No, something else was going on. Something else was brewing in the Tower that he was just not privy to, but his innate survival instincts understood.

He stood from his bed, and his blanket fell to the floor and pooled at his ankles. He would pick it up later. He had hit snooze, which meant he would have to skip a few things to get ready and be on the roof without being late.

He grabbed one of his many uniforms from his closet and slipped into it as he went to his bathroom. He looked at himself in the mirror and brushed his green hair aside to look somewhat presentable as he spat out the lingering taste of mint toothpaste.

"It will have to do," he mumbled to himself before leaving his room. He

The door to the roof closed with a soft clink, and Beast Boy turned to his companion. He couldn't stop the tingle on his lips, that subtle, undeniable urge, as a smile crossed his lips.

"Morning, Kori."

"And to you, Gar." The alien responded, lounging on her stomach with her head propped up on her arms as her feet kicked idly through the air. "Did you have the dreams of sweet?"

Beast Boy nodded as he crossed to his own chair and fell into it. Starfire's eyes lingered on him the whole way to his seat before flickering back to the door.

"They were fine. Dreamt I was a turtle."

"A turtle?"

"Yeah, the water and land critter with the shell."

"I know of the turtle, Gar," she laughed, turning on her side to face him. "They are similar to the flegonuf back home."

Beast Boy's eyes fell before he reminded himself to maintain eye contact, "A flegonuf?"

"A water and land creature with big horns and an armored back. A large beast compared to the ones here on Earth."

Beast Boy nodded distractedly, too busy watching her hair flutter in a gust of wind. His own green hair fell victim as well as it covered his eyes.

"If you ever get a picture of it, I could probably transform into it." He laced his fingers through his hair and tried to comb it back to where it was.

"I shall try."

Another gust of wind blew his hair askew, undoing his efforts. He only sighed as Starfire hid her soft giggles behind her hand.

"I think I might need to go steal some of Robin's gel if this wind keeps up."

"Come closer." She raised a hand out to him.

Obediently, Beast Boy leaned into her care. Her hand was like a heated blanket as it gently brushed through this hair and combed it back. He couldn't stop himself as he pushed his head into her hand like a dog when you rubbed behind its ears. His heart banged upon its prison bars as it tried to escape his ribs.

"There. That looks better," she whispered.

"T-thanks." he hid his blushing face.

"Next time, wake at the first alarm, so you have time, silly goose."

"Where is the fun in that when I have you around to do it for me?"

"Is that an offer?" she raised an eyebrow.

His cheeks became even darker, "Maybe."

The sun's rays, while having already climbed just above the horizon line, still provided unwavering warmth as Beast Boy darkened his green skin to match his blushing. Slowly, the heat of his cheeks was replaced by the warmth of the universe, and his heart slowed as he came to a rest.

The two heroes fell into a comfortable silence. Beast Boy, despite his usual talkative nature, felt no need to fill the air. For in these mornings, he didn't need to make someone laugh or bring a smile to their face. He could relax.

He peaked at his teammate to see if she was just as relaxed as he was….

Starfire's luminescent eyes were closed as she still lay on her side facing him. Her arms were cradled under her head, almost as if she had planned on going back to sleep. Her voluminous hair was that of a red wine spilling about and around her.

He couldn't look away as he watched her hair begin to ember. It was like watching a fire die but in reverse. Where the embers and glow of the heat began to spiderweb out, reaching from one strand of hair to the next until slowly but surely, her hair became like that of a fire.

"I thought she would have shown." Starfire broke him from his staring.

He looked away from her hair and into her eyes that flickered once more to the door.

"What?"

"Raven. I thought she would have shown," Starfire began. "I had given her one last chance. She must not truly want."

"Want what?"

Starfire smiled at him, "Nothing for you to worry over. It just concerns Tamaranean customs, but I only have to remember that I am on Earth now. I forget how different some things are. The practices taught to me for years as I grew are now unneeded."

"Oh, like what?"

"We fight for everything."

"Everything? Even over who gets to shower first?"

"A broad word, but not like that. If two people desired the same thing, whether it be over property, food, or anything of the note. The fight can be over words or contact, but in the end, one must submit to the other in some fashion."

"So, what does this have to do with Raven not being here?"

Starfire shrugged, "Nothing important. She is not here, so let us focus on us."

"Right." He nodded and turned away. However, while his eyes followed the low-hanging ceiling clouds, his mind was elsewhere.

She had told him to address the wound between him and Raven, but that wasn't something someone would fight about. What good would arguing do to heal a wound? And why would Starfire fight on his half? No, that wasn't what Starfire's commentary was about….

Who would even win if they did fight? He could not recall a time in which the two had even come to honest blows, perhaps beyond the first time the alien princess had crashed on Earth, but even then, it was short-lived in the face of a greater threat.

"What are you thinking about?" Kori asked.

"First time I saw you. When the team met for the first time."

"Feels like forever ago." She sat up in her chair. "How my life has changed since then."

"Imagine if you never came to Earth. Would Cyborg and I have ever even met and become best pals? Would there even be the Titans? Would I have met any of the Lanterns?"

"I think I prefer not to think of that life."

"Yeah… I don't think I want to either. However, I don't think I have ever seen Robin as flustered as when you were snogging him."

"Snogging?"

"Yeah, y'know?" the changeling tried to hide his blush. "Kissing, and stuff…."

Confused, Kori tilted her head to the side, "I was not kissing him. I was learning the tongue of your people."

"You were learning it all right."

"I do not follow," she frowned. "I feel as if we are on two different meanings."

"You know, tongue kissing? Like where you touch tongues? It's like a passion thing for couples."

"But I do not use my tongue."

"You don't?" the boy carefully asked. "I thought, y'know, based on Robin's response that day, it was a more for sure. Maybe it was just his first? But I mean, he's Robin, so probably not that."

"Does it matter if I did or did not?"

"Not really." He turned away. Because why would it matter what Kori did? She is her own person. "Just a thing couples do or people who like each other."

"Do you want to kiss?"

Beast Boy froze. His mind came to a complete stop at her question. After a few moments, his brain properly rebooted, and he spun on her.

"What?" He shouted, blushing.

Kori shrugged while her eyes locked in on his own. He felt like prey but like the good type of prey…. It didn't make sense to him.

"Do you know languages beyond your English?" she prompted, leaning forward towards his stiff form.

"Y-Yeah," he stuttered. "My Godfather, he made me learn quite a few. A-Along with some my mom and dad taught me."

She nodded and continued to lean forward, slowly consuming his gaze, "What are they?"

"French. Spanish. German. Swhalli." He shrugged, ensnared in her gaze.

"I have never heard you speak these languages before."

"We aren't in Europe or Africa."

She cocked her head to the side like a cat, "Why do you hide this talent?"

"I-I don't know. It isn't relevant?"

"Would you like to speak these languages more?"

"Sure." He shrugged, not knowing where she was going with her question. "It would help if I did, so I don't get rusty, but not many people in America know Swhalli."

"' Rusty'?"

"Fall out of use or practice, in this case. Not the metal bit."

Kori nodded, "And what if I could speak them with you?"

Gar blinked, "Well, I mean, that would be cool. I could teach you, but I have fallen out of practice with it. Might take a few months for us to get anywhere close to conversing beyond the basics."

"Or a mere moment," the alien princess gave him a wide smile, closing the gap between them. Her breath danced across his lips.

Gar had frozen once more as his eyes jumped between her enticing lips and her captivating eyes, "What?"

"May I kiss you?"

His brain short-circuited. She wanted to kiss him? His mind replayed over and over again.

"Huh?"

"May our lips interact so I can learn your languages?"

"Oh, um. Yeah, sure," he stuttered, trying to save face over the idea he thought she wanted something more. "Just no tongue. That's for couples, and I am saving that for my girlfriend whenever I get one."

"Oh?" she purred. "Tongue is only for your girlfriend?"

"Yeah." he nodded slightly. "So just lips."

"Just lips?" She repeated back with a smile.

Beast Boy nodded once more, and his eyes fell to her lips. Her tongue danced around her lips, wetting them, and he mirrored the action, only adding a nervous swallow.

"Relax, Gar," she whispered, bringing his eyes to hers. She began to close the final inches between them. Her emerald eyes closed as her ruby lips led the way.

He could only watch as she came closer and closer. When had the distance between the two gone from a foot to inches?

He was paralyzed. He didn't know what to do. He had never kissed a girl before!

This is for education, he told himself. For educational purposes only, right?

He glanced one last time at her. She was going to kiss him….

He closed his eyes, the world going dark as the sun's light faded from his perception. Yet, in the dark, he found unimaginable warmth. A burning far greater than any forest fire. A warmth greater than any heated blanket. A heat greater than any sun.

He felt it on his lips.

He felt it in his heart.

He felt her warmth, the very warmth he had he felt every morning, every time she carried him, every time she touched him.

She may have been Starfire to the world, but at this moment, she was his fire. His own star.

Then he was cold again. All the heat drained from him as if consumed by a black hole. It was all gone in a moment, and his eyes flashed open.

She had pulled away, her head tilted downwards as her eyes met his between the falling of her fiery bangs as she processed the infodump of new vocabularies.

"Hallo," she spoke in German, tilting her head up.

"I think it worked." He smiled.

"Oui."

"I don't even know how it makes sense that you can do this."

"I did not work in full," she sighed. "I do not think I can speak the Italian or the Swahili."

"What does that mean? Do we have to do it again?" Beast Boy frowned, concerned she hadn't learned everything.

A winning smirk dashed across her face.

"If you desire," she tempted.

"Yes!" he quickly answered. " I mean, I don't mind. Maybe we can do it two more times? Y'know, so you can get both."

"I find that a wonderful idea," she said, smiling far larger than he had ever seen her do before. Greater than even when she had returned from the future. Greater than when she had taken in Silkie.

Gar loved it. He loved her smile.

When she leaned forward this time, he closed in on her.

He melted into her. Drawn towards her warmth like a reptile and a heat lamp. Their lips locked, and he refused to be cold even when her tongue slithered across his lips. He couldn't break away.

Wait, her tongue? He pulled away, eyes wide.

"Kori?" he panted.

The princess did not pull away as he did and instead was still halfway across the gap. Her eyes searched his own, and he felt exposed.

"Kori?" he asked again, softer. "Your tongue…?"

Her brows furrowed as one of her hands came to rest on his cheek, "Do you not find me attractive?"

"Easily the most attractive in the universe."

"But, you pulled away from me…?"

"You used your tongue. I thought we agreed to no tongue?" He questioned her, resisting the warmth her hand provided. "Unless that was…"

Unless that was you asking me out?

"Do you see it that I do not beseech a relationship with you?"

"I don't know what 'beseech' means, Kori."

"To find or to seek."

"You want a relationship with me?"

"Yes."

"Why?" he whispered.

"On my planet, when you choose whom you bond yourself to, you do so in search of matching souls, you might say. You find someone who matches your inner energy so the two of you can fuse together and grow together. I did not think I would ever find that here on your planet. I had closed my mind to such things, but you always lingered there with your humor, your overwhelming delight, and your loudness.

"I stayed my hand, nonetheless, for your actions and choices favored to Raven, and I would not see myself in between my friends' love." She paused, trailing off in thought as her eyes averted his momentarily before they found each other again. "Then things changed."

"She threw me out of the tower…." He filled in the gap.

"And I found you alone in the sand." She nodded. "I knew all this time what she did, but I still tried to stay myself. I tried to give her the happiness I knew you would provide to whoever you wanted, but she did not come today."

"You would've dammed your love life for me and her?"

Kori shrugged, glancing to the side, "She had a claim on your relationship before I did. It would have been hers by right as I would not have fought her."

Gar glanced at the door that led back to the Tower, "But she didn't show."

"No. She did not."

"So, now nothing is stopping you?"

"Nothing is stopping us," Kori corrected.

Beast Boy didn't know what to say. It felt too perfect. It felt to right. Like everything had just aligned for him…. That never happened to him.

"You never needed that second kiss, did you?" he focused back on her.

"Hapana," she declined in Swahili as she leaned forward.

He pushed forward into her. An inferno exploded in his soul as their lips met. He brought his hands to her face, and she pushed him back into his chair. Their tongues danced together as time faded away.

Minutes may have passed for all they knew, for at this moment, only the other mattered. Even the sun's light became a dull bulb in the warmth of their emotions. The clattering of an umbrella falling to the ground and into a black portal went unheard.

The world did not matter until Beast Boy pulled back, breathless.

"Heh, nice."

The alien giggled as the two found themselves reclined in Beast Boy's beach chair. Their shoulders touching, unable to separate themselves from the other's warmth.

"I think I can get used to this." The changeling turned to meet the warrior's eye. "If we wanted to make this a thing each morning, that is?"

"Most assuredly." She stroked his cheek, leaning forward and giving it a kiss.

With a blissful sigh, she rested her head on his shoulder as both found themselves looking towards the rising sun. It felt perfect. It was all Beast Boy ever wanted, this feeling of belonging and warmth, and it was his now to keep and cherish.

"I think you've made me the happiest man in the world," he whispered breathlessly.

"And you made me the happiest woman in the universe."

"I know." A grin cracked its way across his face. "I'm awesome like that."

She gave him a soft "hmm" before she snuggled into his side. They sat there for a while, saying nothing as they basked in the warmth of everything.

However, after some time, Kori began to move. Slowly, she pulled her head up, planted a soft kiss on his cheek, and whispered, "Thank you."

He melted in her touch, "For what?"

"For being you, Gar. For being you."

He smirked, "Anytime."

"I was afraid I would never find someone compatible here on Earth. That I would have to leave to find love."

"But, now you have me."

"Now I have you."

They kissed again. This time slower, softer, and shorter. Passion was replaced by sincerity as the two took their time to hold each other's gaze.

As she pulled away, a giggle escaped from her lips, "I need to do something."

She floated into the air, and he watched as she streaked into the sky—a jade comet trail burning in her wake as she looped through the sky, squealing in joy. Then, while in flight, she stopped and met his gaze. Her hair was a firestorm as a miasma of green pooled around her skin like a second outfit.

She is beautiful, Beast Boy thought as he watched her descend closer to him. Her hand stretched out to his, pulling him from his chair and into her arms. Her heat and power encased his body like a blanket.

"A joyous morning to you, boyfriend Garfield."

AN: Merry Christmas. It has been a while, huh?

If you read the updated summary, you would know I fell out of interest with this story. Initially, that was due to this story receiving less engagement compared to my other stories. However, that isn't fair to you, the reader. It has been in the back of my mind for months whether I finally finished this story. So, after some debating and going back and forth, I realized I needed to bury the hatchet. This story needs to be labeled complete.

I was going to double-upload this chapter with the next chapter, presumably the last of the story. However, when I went to read it over and edit it, I wasn't content with saying that it would be the closer to the story. So, I will sit on it a little longer. Not as long as months, mind you. I really want to wrap up Raven's arc in this story well. Admittedly, I, in hindsight, am not happy with how I wrote this story, so I'm trying to make the best out of the situation.

That said, there is a pending rewrite titled "A New Dawn, A New Day." So, once this story is labeled complete, look out for the rewrite. This was the first story I ever wrote, and It shows. I've learned a lot when I dabbled with other stories and writing styles. I had a few people even show me better grammar and syntax, which are just tiny things that make things better. I hope to apply all of that in the rewrite so I can comfortably say that I made something I am proud of.

TL;DR: Finishing this story, officially. Rewriting it to make it better soon.

I hope all of you who have found this story and gotten this far into it enjoyed what it is for what it is worth. I wanted to subvert the BBRae trope even though it is one of my favorite across all media.

All in all, hope you enjoyed it. Happy Holidays.

That's about it.

-Manke