Here my first Teen Titans story. I'm thinking about making this a series of BBRae (and maybe some StarRob) one-shots, but we'll just have to see how it goes.

NOTE: ItalicizedThoughts/dreamsBold = Raven's emotions (e.g. Happy, Timid, Brave, etc.)

The Anniversary

For most of Jump City's Teen Titans, it was a typical day at Titans Tower. Robin was training in the gym. Cyborg was working on the T-car. Starfire was in the kitchen cooking yet another concoction from Tamaran while happily sipping a bottle of mustard. And Raven was quietly reading a book in the common room.

However, for a certain green changeling it was not a normal day. It was the one day of the year where all of the turmoil and pain that he hides behind a mask of jokes and pranks. It was the one day where Beast Boy's demons would come back to haunt him. It was the day where Beast Boy couldn't bring himself to face his teammates, let alone leave his room. It was the day that Garfield Logan lost his parents.

Raven's POV:

Raven, despite her stoic and calm manner, was feeling content. She was reading a good book, there were no video game sounds or yelling piercing the silence of the tower, and Beast Boy hasn't bothered her today.

Wait, Raven stopped herself at that last thought. Beast Boy hasn't bothered me yet today.

She thought a little harder. Come to think of it, I haven't seen him at all today.

Raven decided to look for him and got up. She was a little worried about him. Even though she'd never admit it, the scrawny shape shifter had held a special place in her heart for a long time, even if she hasn't noticed yet. And behind all of her insults and sarcasm was a deep caring and love for Beast Boy.

"Starfire, have you seen Beast Boy today?" Raven asked the orange-skinned alien as she walked to the kitchen.

Starfire looked up from the gelatinous goo she had been working on and smiled at her dark friend. "I'm sorry, friend Raven. I have not seen friend Beast Boy today. Perhaps he is training, or maybe he has ventured to the mall of shopping to buy games of the videos and unhealthy junk foods."

Raven sighed. Sometimes the way Starfire spoke gave Raven headaches. This was one of those times.

"Okay. See you later, Star," Raven said quietly as she made her way down to the garage. Maybe he's helping Cyborg with the T-car, she thought as she walked through the tower's long halls. As she neared the garage the sound of a buffer got louder, and so did Cyborg's annoyingly loud singing.

"When there's trouble you know what to do! CALL CYBORG!

He can shoot a rocket from his shoe! 'CUZ HE'S CYBORG!"

Raven opened the door and stepped into the garage, but the singing half-robot took no notice of her and kept singing as he buffed his car.

"Cyborg," Raven said quietly, but he couldn't hear her. "Cyborg!" she tried a little louder. "CYBORG!" she shouted at the metal man in frustration. A toolbox behind her exploded, showering wrenches and shrapnel flying everywhere.

Cyborg yelled and jumped in the air. "Oh, hey, Raven," he said with a relieved smile, "Sorry about that."

"Have you seen Beast Boy?" she asked, her tone slightly annoyed. Why am I putting myself through these annoyances just to find out where Beast Boy is? She thought to herself as she asked Cyborg.

Because you love him! said a chipper voice from in her head.

Shut up, Raven said sternly to Happy. I do not.

Do to! the emotion retaliated cheerfully.

She's right, aid Knowledge's calm voice. You can't hide from it, Raven.

So what if I do? I can't love him, Raven said. Every time he touches me or says something, you guys will trigger my power and destroy something, maybe even him.

Besides, even if you could love him, he probably doesn't even like us, said the quiet and depressing voice of Timid.

Raven's emotions began all talking at once and Raven's head began to throb.

"Shut up!" she shouted out loud, as a work bench flew up and hit the ceiling.

All her emotions stopped talking and Raven was left with a confused Cyborg staring at her.

"But…I didn't say anything yet," he said, still looking very confused.

Raven blushed and pulled up her hood. "Sorry," she said, wanting her search to get back on track. "So…have you seen Beast Boy?"

Cyborg regained his usual loud and happy self and smiled at her. "Nope. I haven't seen the grass stain since diner last night. When you find him tell him to get his green ass in the common room so I can kick it on the Game Station." He finished off his last part with a devilish grin.

Raven rolled her eyes. "It's on the top of my to-do list," she said sarcastically as she walked out the door.

Well, onto Robin, she said to herself as she reluctantly made her way around the corner to the gym. She hoped Robin didn't get paranoid when she asked him where Beast Boy was and go on a Slade hunt to get him back.

Raven walked into the gym to find their teams leader practicing on the heavy bag. He looked pretty focused on what he was doing so she just took a seat on the side of the room and opened her book while she waited for him to finish.

When the Boy Wonder was done beating the crap out of the bag, he grabbed a towel and headed for the drinking fountain. On his way, he noticed Raven sitting on the floor reading.

"Hey, Raven," he greeting her with a small smile. He was smiling a lot more and starting to become a little looser ever since their trip to Tokyo. If she was into gambling, Raven would put all her money on it being because he and Starfire were going out.

"Good morning, Robin," Raven replied quietly.

Robin took a swig from the drinking fountain and looked up. "Do you need help with something?" he asked.

"Yes. Have you seen Beast Boy?" she replied as she closed her book and stood up.

"The last time I saw him it was last night. He was going to his room," Robin said with an indifferent tone.

Thank Azar he didn't go on a paranoid tirade, she thought, inwardly sighing in relief.

"Okay. Thanks," she said as she left the room and Robin made his way over to the bench press.

"Well, I guess he's in his room," she said to herself as she made her way back up to the common room.

When she walked into the common room, the half-demon was met with a horrible smell. Apparently whatever Starfire was trying to cook was beginning to burn, and the Tamaranian was trying to salvage the brown pile of goo that was dripping out of the oven.

Raven covered he nose with her cloak and teleported herself from the room and to the hallway just outside Beast Boy's door.

She could hear someone moving around inside and something that sounded an awful lot like crying. Raven's eyes widened when she heard the changeling's sobs and she suddenly became very worried about her friend. She walked closer to his door and knocked.

"What?" came the high-pitched, cracking voice that could only belong to Beast Boy.

"It's Raven," she replied, "Let me in."

"No!" came the shape shifter's reply.

Raven was getting worried and decided that she was going to find out what was wrong with her Beast Boy even if he didn't want her to.

"Fine, but I'm coming in anyway," she said evenly as she phased herself through his bedroom door.

"No!" Beast Boy shouted as he tried to get away from her. She saw his face and nearly began to cry herself.

His face wasn't the grinning, funny, cheerful face that she had fallen in love with, it was the face of someone who is in excruciating pain and suffering; someone who has more emotional scars than physical ones. It was the tear-streaked face of someone who had held in their inner turmoil for far too long, and couldn't bear to hold it in any longer.

Raven reached out to the crying boy, but he just tried to get away from her, and unknowingly dropping something onto the floor.

"Leave me alone!" he yelled at her, trying to cover up the fact that he had been crying as he continued to walk away from her.

"Beast Boy…" Raven said, already on the verge of tears herself at the sight of her beloved Beast Boy in such pain. "I just want to help you."

"I don't need help!" he cried, still trying to act as though he wasn't crying by slowing down his breathing.

Raven bent down and picked up the thing that Beast Boy had dropped. It was a picture. By the looks of it it was pretty old. It was wrinkled and torn a little on the edges. It had finger marks on it and what looked like old tear stains, along with a few wet new ones.

There were three people in the picture. There was a tall man with sandy blond hair in khaki shorts grinning widely at the camera and waving. He had one arm wrapped around a woman with brown hair and a similar outfit who was smiling up at the man. Finally, Raven saw a little boy in khakis with blond hair that could have been no more than five sitting on the man's shoulders.

Why would a picture of these people make Beast Boy so sad? She asked herself, but before she could think about it more, Beast Boy snatched it out of her hands and glared at her. But the glare was lost as a new bout of sobs and tears began coming from the skinny green changeling. He plopped down to the floor and sat against the wall with his head in his hands; his shoulders shaking violently with each sob.

Raven rushed to his side as she wrapped her cloak and her arms around him in a tight hug. To her surprise, Beast Boy didn't push her away. Instead he though his arms around her and began weeping into her shoulder as he held on to her as if his life depended on it.

Raven wasn't very good at consoling others, but she would try for Beast Boy. She began stroking his hair and whispering soothing sounds into his ear. She didn't care that He shoulder was soaked and she didn't care that Beast Boy was making a lot of noise, all she wanted was for him to be himself again.

Raven stopped whispering when Beast Boy's sobs slowed and became just sniffles and hiccups. She pulled herself away to look at his pained face, but still kept her arms wrapped tightly around him.

"I-I'm s-sorry," whispered Beast Boy as he slowly wiped his face off.

"Sh. Don't be," she replied as she wiped a stray tear from his face.

"Do you want to talk about it?" she asked with concern in her voice.

"I don't know," Beast Boy replied quietly.

"Sometimes you have to talk about things if you want to feel better," she said. "Remember what happened last time someone didn't talk about what was wrong?"

Beast Boy shivered when he remembered how the monsters from "Wicked Scary" came to life and attacked the tower. He sighed and tightened his grip on Raven and looked up.

"O-okay," he said with a shaky voice as he tried to keep the tears from falling again. "The people in the picture are me and my parents."

Raven was surprised to find out that Beast Boy wasn't born green or with the ability to shape shift, but she kept a straight face. Now wasn't the time to ask him about how he got his powers, which probably wasn't a pleasant experience.

"A-and today," Beast Boy continued with a shaky voice. "Today is the day they died."

Raven's eyes widened and she hugged him tighter. "Tell me what happened," she said.

Beast Boy began to cry again. "B-boating a-accident!"

Raven hugged him even tighter as his body was racked with sobs. She could feel herself begin to cry.

She was sad because Beast Boy was in so much pain. She was ashamed because she had always thought that apart from being green, Beast Boy had had the perfect childhood. All of her emotions seemed to be battling right now and she couldn't take it. She didn't care if something blew up, she didn't care if the tower blew up. Raven wanted Beast Boy to be happy again more than anything in the whole world, she wanted him to know that there was still someone who loved him in this world. She wanted to share this moment of weakness with Beast Boy, and share the burden with him. So she did.

Raven slowly rocked him back and forth and whispered to him. "Sh. I love you, Beast Boy. I'll always be here for you," she whispered over and over again as he let out all of his pain and sadness.

After a long time, Beast Boy stopped crying and sniffled quietly. "Do you- do you really love me?" he asked, a still sad but hopeful expression on his face.

Oh shit! We're going down! Shouted Panic from Raven's head.

No you aren't. Said a soft voice. Suddenly, in her mind's eye, Raven saw a white raven swoop low through Nevermore and wrap all of Raven's emotions under her wings. Finally, after all the emotions were swept up, the raven hovered in mid air and spread her wings out as wide as they could go, releasing all of the emotions, then sucking them back in with a bright flash of light.

As the light died down, Raven saw that the raven had been replaced with one emotion that donned a white cloak and a silver leotard.

I am Balance. The emotion said in a soft voice. You are free.

Balance turned and walked away, leaving Raven back in Beast Boy's arms, his sad and hopeful green eyes staring into her violet ones. Go for it, she told herself.

"Yes. I love you, Beast Boy," she said. Not breaking eye contact once, Raven cupped Beast Boy's face in her hands and slowly pulled him in for a short, soft kiss. "And you'll never be alone again.

Beast Boy smiled at her and kissed her softly. "I love you too," he replied, "Now I don't have to remember them alone."

The two heroes stared at each other for a minute until Beast Boy yawned.

"Tired?" Raven asked him as she kissed his forehead.

"Yeah," he replied, "But I'm enjoying your company."

"Sleep, Beast Boy," she said quietly, hugging him tighter and resting her head on his shoulder.

"Will you be here when I wake up?" he asked as he rested his head on hers.

"I'll always be here," she whispered.

And with that, the two Titans fell asleep on the floor in each others' arms, knowing that they would be forever free and never alone.

THE END

Well, what did you think? Was it good? Was it bad? Constructive criticism, please!