Behind The Scenes 11 - Wrap Party

This is it, the last bit. I know I kept this going for far too long so I hope this makes up for it!

Raven smiled down at her hands as she fried a pair of eggs. She smiled as she grabbed a spatula and scooped the eggs on to two plates, already filled with other breakfast foods. She smiled as she picked up the plates and turned to see...

"Cyborg?" she mumbled, blinking up at the face of her friend. She looked around and realised she must have fallen asleep on the couch - to her right, Beast Boy still did just that, though Starfire was prodding him in the shoulder.

"Sorry to wake you, Rae, but you got a good seven hours," Raven looked up at him, taken aback. She never slept for so long.

"Seven hours?" She glanced at the clock and saw it read 2:30pm. Seven hours indeed. "I never sleep that long..." she mumbled.

"Well, we definitely have some special circumstances going on," he joked. Raven sighed.

"I suppose. Why'd you-"

"Mmmmnnnnnnnnnnnwhy you gotta wake me up?" Beast Boy whined, blinking at a penitent Starfire. Raven nodded her head in his direction and returned her gaze to Cyborg.

"What he said," she said. Cyborg glanced between the pair a few times before answering.

"I got a message from Mr Miracle - he's on his way. Should be here any t-"

"Good afternoon, Titans," Scott said, appearing from the doorway. Cyborg grimaced at him.

"Can't you use the door for once in your life?" he groused. Scott smiled back.

"With a security system as good as yours, I couldn't resist the challenge," he replied. Cyborg's animosity vanished in the face of such praise.

"Well come on in!" he said. "You got anything that might help us?" Scott scratched his chin.

"Not exactly. Why don't you tell me what the problem is while the Mother Box scans them?" he said, producing a Mother Box, a different colour than his own. Control Freak's Mother Box. Beast Boy edged away along the couch.

"Hey, I don't wanna get sucked back into any sitcoms, dude," he warned. Scott chuckled.

"No need to worry about that: there's no trace of Control Freak's tech left in this one. I managed to separate and upgrade it so it's more like a true Mother Box, though I'll have to send it to Highfather for it to truly heal. For now, it's our best chance to diagnose you, being the most familiar with your situation," he explained. He set the box down on the table and it started to ping at them as fine violet beams lanced out and roamed over their persons. As this happened, Cyborg and Robin explained about their sleeping troubles in as much detail as they knew. The violet light receded and the Mother Box emitted a final ping. Scott retrieved and took a good, long look at it. Though the Titans could see or hear no communication, somehow the Mother Box did just that, reporting its findings to Scott Free.

"Anything?" Cyborg asked, his impatience defeating him. Scott Free nodded distractedly, like he was still hearing the box somehow. Finally, he faced the Titans.

"It says there's residual programming written into their subconscious. They must have been compelled to so something in the simulation and didn't get to do it before we extracted them," he said. Raven swallowed and Beast Boy blushed: they knew what they had been compelled to do.

"So what do we do?" Beast Boy asked.

"The box says it can't undo it, not now that it's free of Control Freak's simulator, but all you'd have to do would be to act it out, that last thing, and the programming will complete. You'll be yourselves again," he said with a smile, which faltered when Beast Boy stood and marched out of the room. Cyborg took a few steps after him.

"BB? BB!" he called, making to follow him through the door when Raven stood in his path.

"I'll go," she said simply, following the green teen while the others watched in confusion. Raven found him in his room, pacing. She entered and sat on his bed while he watched, though he didn't pause. "You know what we need to do," she said. That got a pause.

"Yeah..." he muttered.

"Listen, it's okay. It's okay. I know it isn't ideal but we do this, we go back to normal and we can put all of this behind us," Raven said. Beast Boy just grumbled under his breath, still pacing. "You have my permission, Beast Boy. Consider your promise kept." He snorted derisively at that.

"Pff! Permission. Permission isn't the problem," he muttered. Raven sighed in mild exasperation.

"Then what is the problem, Beast Boy?! Connect the dots for me," she said, slightly louder than before. He stopped pacing and stared at her.

"Y-you, okay? It being you is the problem!" he cried. Raven folded her arms and glared at him, his words a little barb in her chest. She could have guessed he wasn't particularly enthusiastic about kissing her but he needn't be so blunt, even if she had asked him to speak. The moment in the hallway returned to her, when she thought him beautiful. A tiny spark of something in her heart fizzled out and died. She pushed the pain aside and replaced it with something familiar: sarcasm.

"Well, you certainly know how to boost a girl's self-esteem," she drawled, turning her gaze to the door. Beast Boy looked at her with a perplexed expression, quickly replaced with dawning understanding. He stepped to her and knelt at her side.

"Raven! I didn't mean... that came out all wrong!" he said. Raven 'hmpph'ed at him.

"Too late to backtrack now, Beast Boy. I guess gray isn't your colour" she muttered. He stood up and grabbed at her hands, pulling them into his.

"No! Stop it! You're... You're not ugly or anything, okay? I didn't mean to sound like I thought that," he said, more firmly this time though he still clearly struggled with his wording.

"So if that isn't the problem with me, what is?" Raven asked, frustration beginning to tinge her words, though she deliberately calmed her breathing after she spoke. She couldn't afford to frighten him away.

"I said I wouldn't kiss you against your will. I promised," he wailed. Raven shook her head and tried to smile for him.

"I know. I appreciate that, I really do. But this needs to happen and I'm telling you it's alright. You kept your promise, Beast Boy, I do this of my own free will," she tried. She recalled how fiercely he had resisted in the simulation and felt her heart swell with his concern for her. He stood and started pacing again.

"Oh man oh man oh man..." he babbled.

"Beast Boy... please let's just get this over with. You kept your promise... I give you my permission. Please," she implored. He faced her again, standing still.

"Permission isn't the problem, Rae!" he cried, his voice becoming desperate. She stared back at him, at a loss for what to say. She blinked at him when, for some reason, a tear escaped and rolled down his cheek. "I... I wanted you to want to kiss me," he whimpered. Raven stared and stared, Beast Boy looking more terrified by the second. Raven stood and he flinched away. She took a step and he stepped back. He liked her. That spark in her heart burst back into life as she realised there might be something there, something new between them. She recalled the hallway, where she thought him beautiful, and finally realised he had stood staring at her for the same time. Did he think the same? Did he think her beautiful? Dare she ask him? Dare she do any of it? She took a step. Then another. And another. Beast Boy watched miserably as she turned to his door... and ran.

The others watched as the door opened and Beast Boy walked in. Cyborg almost asked if they'd fixed whatever there was to fix but, judging by the sorrow in Beast Boy's expression, something had gone badly wrong. The shape-shifter plodded to the couch and almost collapsed on it, elbows on knees and head in hands.

"Uh... where's Raven, BB?" Cyborg tried.

"I dunno," Beast Boy replied.

"Did you... are you guys back to normal?" Cyborg asked. Beast Boy shook his head, still in his hands.

"No," he moaned.

"Well... what happened?" Robin asked.

"She ran away," Beast Boy replied, utterly miserable.

"Raven ran away?!" Starfire cried. "When will she return?" Beast Boy leapt to his feet and rounded on his friends.

"I dunno I dunno I dunno! I DON'T KNOW!" he yelled. His words were angry but his face... he was distraught. Scott Free, sensing the shift in atmosphere, quietly made his excuses to Robin and left, leaving the Titans to tend to their friend. The three of them stepped toward Beast Boy but stopped when they saw him shrink away from them. Cyborg turned to the others.

"Rob, Star: you guys see if you can find Raven. Leave BB to me," he said. Robin looked like he might protest but, after a long silence, he nodded and moved away, taking Starfire with him. Beast Boy flopped down on the couch again, joined shortly by Cyborg. He gave him a few minutes to calm down and then simply said: "Tell me." After that, Beast Boy couldn't be stopped: he blabbed and blurted everything that happened in his room and the final moments of their time in the simulation. When he was finished, Cyborg leaned back and blew out a deep breath. "Dude... your timing sucks." Beast Boy finally cracked a smile.

"Heh... yeah," he answered.

"But the immediate problem hasn't changed. Without Raven, you won't be able to sleep. And she won't be able to sleep without you. I hope she didn't run too far..." Cyborg fretted. At that moment, Starfire soared into the room.

"Raven is not in the Tower. I have also checked the whole island. She is gone!" she cried. Robin ran in shortly after, confirming her words. Cyborg cursed under his breath and Beast Boy's head fell back into his hands. They were all startled when Robin's communicator beeped, hoping it wasn't some new problem to deal with on top of their current mess.

"It's a message... from Raven!" he said. "It just says 'need time to think'. Think? Think about what?" he wondered. Beast Boy decided to make himself scarce before he ended up spilling the story to Robin and Starfire as well. He made his way to his room and, shutting the door behind him, curled up on his bed. Unable to sleep, all he could do was lie there as his mind cruelly played Raven's exit on repeat.

Raven didn't come back that night, though she did send another message confirming she was all right. She was making sure to switch the device off between messages so that Cyborg couldn't track her - she really wanted to be alone. Beast Boy cringed upon hearing that, so sure he had driven her away. The others suggested they all sleep in the common room, but Beast Boy declined, not in the mood to simply lie awake as they all slept. So in his room he remained, staring at the bottom of the bunk where Raven had slept above him.

The following morning, Robin found Beast Boy in the common room, playing video games. Biting back the 'you're up early' he had almost said, he perched on the back of the couch.

"When did this start?" he asked, nodding at the controller.

"I pretty much just waited for you all to go to bed. Didn't see much point in staying in mine, y'know?" Beast Boy answered. Robin frowned but couldn't really argue.

"Coffee?" he offered. Beast Boy's nose wrinkled.

"Blecchhh... yes, please," he replied. He had never been one for coffee but maybe the caffeine could take the edge off his fatigue. He felt so strange - he was tired and at the point he'd normally give up and sleep but it just wasn't there. He was tired but not sleepy, even having to reduce the difficulty of the game so he could keep up. He had never been one for coffee... but he sighed in relief when the mug appeared before him.

"Plenty of creamer and sugar," Robin added. "Might make it more to your taste." Beast Boy took a hearty swig and found, to his delight, he rather liked it. He gulped it down, Robin having wisely added a splash of cold water in case this happened. Even though it had tasted good, Beast Boy grimaced when he belched and the coffee smell filled his nose.

"Yeechh... thanks," he said. He returned to his game, even if his heart wasn't really in it. "You hear from Raven?" he asked. Robin sat nearby, his own coffee in hand.

"She left another message. I left one for her last night but she says she just isn't ready. Beast Boy... what happened?!" Robin asked, a hint of desperation in his usually composed voice. Beast Boy paused his game.

"I... I can't say. If she isn't ready I'm not going to talk about it while she isn't here. Sorry..." he mumbled. Robin frowned again.

"I get that something personal is going on here, but I hope you can get it cleared up. This is your business... but when it affects your health, that's my business." he said. Beast Boy nodded and returned to his game, hoping that Raven was okay.

Raven breathed deeply, closing her eyes as the scent of the surrounding trees calmed her. She rarely used this place anymore, a bolt-hole she had built for herself when the Titans first formed. I wasn't much more than a hut, though it was sturdy and comfortable, with a small log fire and a soft bed. There were no supplies here these days so she had only what she could bring with her. She had tea (of course) and a water barrel, easy to fill from a nearby river, especially when you had telekinetic powers. She had gone into the city and bought some food - nothing too substantial, mainly soup and snacks - and some extra clothes. The hut was in the (relatively) nearby woods and she had found a spot that was difficult to get to and thus unlikely to be found by anyone, and it had only taken minutes to make it clean and livable. She sat in front of her hut in her new clothes and stared up at the sky. All of her trials with her friends, with enemies, with Malchior and even Trigon... none of them had driven her here and yet, here she was, just because a boy liked her. She chuckled and shook her head at the thought, yet she still hadn't really come to terms with it. She had deliberately deflected such things since Malchior, unwilling to risk herself again. Cowardly, perhaps, but safe. And somehow, in a few days, trapped together, the insufferable changeling had wheedled his way in.

"I've known him for years," she whispered. "Why now?" The answer came easily - their proximity and situation gave her an intimate view of the person he was. His heart. His life. And she liked what she saw, a depth to him she hadn't previously entertained. And then, that night in the corridor of the Tower... he was beautiful. That, at least, Raven had come to terms with. She rubbed her eyes: even with meditation, she needed sleep. She shook her head, trying to think. What was she so afraid of? Beast Boy? Herself? That he might grow to love her? That she might grow to love him? Or... that this new affection was all a part of the simulation and would vanish if they regained themselves? She knew it was hypocritical, but despite her obvious fear, she wasn't willing to give up the feeling, that spark in her chest, just yet.

Beast Boy was miserable, staring at the TV without seeing. He was so tired. He was desperate for Raven to come back home and simultaneously terrified of the same thing. He wished he had been able to tell her more, that it wasn't some years-old unrequited love thing but something that had started during their imprisonment in the Camper household, at least consciously. He had known for years that Raven was pretty. Hell, she was hot! But she was also Raven and that was that. Then he had seen a new side to her, one he had intuited but never truly experienced, a side of Raven that cared for her friends, that encouraged and supported them. She had been a shoulder to cry on in there - literally. She had seen him at his weakest and merely accepted it, holding him as few people had. That night in the corridor... she wasn't 'pretty' or 'hot'... she was beautiful. There were two possibilities that he saw: either he had fallen for her after their shared experience or the simulation was causing him to feel things for 'Lucy'.

He was terrified of both.

He glanced out the window at the darkened sky - it was late. The others had long retired to bed and, given his inability to focus, he switched off the TV and headed to his room. He arrived and changed into his sleepwear, a pair of shorts and a faded t shirt, and just as he was crawling into bed, he had an idea. Raven had slept in the top bunk, perhaps her scent was still there. Maybe he could fool his brain into thinking she was there. With a grin, he climbed the ladder and got under the sheets, closing his eyes and waiting for slumber to claim him. He breathed deep with his nose in the pillow.

"Raven..." he breathed. "Shit." The curse came about a half-hour after he had closed his eyes. He was still awake. He threw the sheets back and clambered back down to the floor. He sat heavily on his own bed and buried his face in his hands. He was so tired. He looked around his room for his communicator, desperate enough to try and talk to Raven. He saw it on his desk and got to his feet. He scooped it up and flipped it open, finding Raven's communicator in his contacts and hitting 'connect'. It failed. He tried again. It failed again. He sat on his bed again and stared at the device, tears of frustration and fatigue blurring his sight. "Raven, just talk to me," he whimpered.

"What would you like to talk about?" she said. Beast Boy jumped, nearly hitting his head on the top bunk. She was there, she was right there, watching him with amused but bloodshot eyes - she was as exhausted as him. He stared at her in befuddled silence and so she took the initiative. "Get into bed," she commanded. He dropped his communicator and did so, still watching her. He saw she wasn't wearing her uniform but a set of lilac pajamas - she had stopped by her room first. She took a step toward him, blinking with her own fatigue, and to his surprise, bypassed the ladder and lifted his own sheets, forcing him to scoot over.

"R-raven?!" he squeaked. Raven shook her head as she lay her head on his shoulder.

"Go to sleep," she urged.

"But-"

"Shhhhhh..."

"Okay..." he said, giving in. He was asleep in seconds.

Robin woke and immediately checked his communicator. It had a message from Raven: 'Coming home. Don't wake us.' He grinned and sighed in relief before donning his workout gear and heading for the gym.

Hours later, Beast Boy awoke gradually, slowly blinking sleep out of his eyes. There was a flash of purple in his vision and he looked to see Raven blinking up at him. He smiled widely.

"Morning honey," he said. She smiled back.

"Good morning, darling," she answered, leaning up and pecking him on the lips. Just like that, Tom and Lucy Camper were gone. Raven jerked back, wide awake and fully aware of what had just happened. Beast Boy stared back with wide and almost panicked eyes, afraid to say anything. They stared and stared and stared... Raven raised herself from the bed turning away for a moment. Beast Boy propped himself up on his elbows, his eyes wet.

"Rae... I... I'm sorry. I'm so sor-" Her hand pressed to his mouth. She couldn't bear to hear him apologise. She turned her body so she could face him, seeing the anguish in his eyes. Her hand over his mouth moved to his cheek, holding it gently and, hopefully, letting him know she wasn't upset with him. Her thumb brushed across his cheek, back and forth, and he closed his eyes and leaned into the touch. Her thumb stopped and he opened them again, staring up at her. Suddenly she jerked forward, stopping herself as her mouth worked silently. He swallowed as he stared. She jerked forward again, surged forward, and planted her lips on his. It didn't last long but it was theirs, entirely theirs. Raven pulled back again and looked into his eyes. Whatever she was looking for, she seemed to find it and pressed her lips to his again. This time the kiss wasn't brief. Their lips moved across each other and Raven moaned when she dipped her tongue into his mouth and felt him reciprocate. She had somehow moved so that she was under the sheets again but almost on top of him. Her legs tangled with his and she had her hands behind his head, pulling herself into him. His hands roamed across her back, ending up with one on her shoulder and the other on the small of her back, holding her tight.

This lasted several minutes, though neither could be sure how many, until Raven finally pulled away only to pepper Beast Boy's neck with kisses, her hands in his hair. His hand on her back started to slide lower and lower. Raven pulled away again, her elbows either side of Beast Boy's head as she looked down on him. They were both breathing heavily and both had lidded eyes and flushed cheeks. Their closeness was suddenly obvious, the way their legs were intertwined, the way Raven's chest pressed against his. Beast Boy realised his hand was very nearly resting on Raven's butt and, with a groan, lifted it away. Raven smiled as she pushed herself up and disentangled her legs. In a few moments, the pair of them sat on the edge of Beast Boy's bed, still shell-shocked by what had happened. Beast Boy, still grinning, spoke first if not eloquently.

"Holy shit..." he mumbled. Raven nodded.

"Agreed. What now?" she said, her eyes glancing toward him. He turned his shoulders to face her properly, grabbing her hand and holding it.

"Just so there's no doubt, I think you're awesome and gorgeous and I wanna go out with you. Maybe spend some time together under less totally crazy conditions," he laughed. Raven unsuccessfully fought off a smile.

"Thank you, Beast Boy. Garfield. May I call you Garfield?" she asked. Beast Boy grinned at her in a way that apparently now turned her insides to mush.

"Absoloutely," he said, certainly, lifting her hand to his mouth and placing a kiss on the back. Despite what they had just done, Raven found herself blushing at the act, the unabashed romance. That possibility she had feared seemed much more pronounced now, the possibility that they might fall in love. It was still frightening, in its own way, but she found herself strangely excited at the prospect. She shook her head - she was getting too far ahead of herself. As she thought all of this, Beast Boy was growing a little anxious. "Uh... Rae? You haven't actually said if you'll go out with me yet..." he stammered. Raven blinked at him.

"Hmm? Oh! Oh. Yes. Yes, I think I would like that... but we take things slow, understood? Honestly I'm surprised I didn't break anything when we... we... when we..."

"Made out?" Beast Boy helpfully supplied with a cheeky grin and waggling eyebrows. Raven blushed again.

"Ahem... quite," she agreed, quietly. "My fatigue might have tempered my powers a little."

"Wait... there was a real chance of that? You blowing us up?" Beast Boy asked. Raven shrugged... and then nodded.

"Yes. Hence the slowly," she said. Beast Boy nodded

"Right. Okay. Well, I'm willing to wait if I can get kissed like that again," he laughed. Raven cursed under her breath as she blushed once more. She lifted her other hand to his face and let it slide down to hi neck, her fingers stroking a spot on his left side beneath his jaw.

"I'll have to remember that spot. You certainly sounded like you enjoyed it..." she said. This time, Beast Boy blushed, and an interesting new chade of red to boot. With the adrenaline in her blood ebbing, Raven found herself yawning. "You know what? I think I'd actually like to go back to bed. First time for everything, I suppose." Beast Boy laughed and shuffled back into his bed, waiting for Raven to join him. She raised an eyebrow and eyed him critically.

"Seeing as we just agreed to take things slow, I'll be heading back to my own bed, which I haven't slept in for almost a week now," Raven said, concealing her mild amusement when Beast Boy pouted like a grounded child.

"Oh. Okay," he muttered. Raven rolled her eyes and leaned down, under the bunk, and placed a chaste but lingering kiss on Beast Boy's lips.

"Sweet dreams, Garfield," she said, getting a grin and another one of those shades of red from the changeling.

"Yeah, you too, Rae. See you soon," he said, never taking his eyes from her as she left. He closed his eyes and slowly drifted to sleep.

Raven walked down the corridor, almost with a skip in her step. As she did, Cyborg emerged from his room and, upon seeing her, smiled incandescently.

"Rae! You're back! You and BB okay? No more trouble?" he asked, hopefully. Raven stopped and smirked at him.

"Oh, I think I'm in a whole new kind of trouble," she said before resuming her journey to her room, not knowing that Cyborg had put her vague clue together with Beast Boy's confession. Naturally, he knew it would be confidential, a fact he impressed on Robin and Starfire when he told them all about it. But that is all yet to come.

For now, Raven climbed into her own bed and closed her eyes, hoping she dreamed of Beast Boy.

TA-DAAAA! Finally, after somehow keeping this on going for a year, I have finished. This chapter is longer than average but I didn't fell right splitting it up and having yet another cliffhanger! So here you go. I hope you enjoy it and thank you for sticking with me ^_^

-Jack