AN: I do not own Teen Titans. Please refrain from reviewing until the end of the story. Thank you.

Chapter 17

After the concert the two were invited to go out with Fiona to party a bit but both declined. They were still tired and had gone partially deaf due to the crowd and the sound system. Having accomplished what he'd set out to do, Beast Boy felt incredibly relieved and at peace with himself. Now he was ready to accept any punishment Raven was going to give him. But she had nothing in mind for that night or anytime soon. She wanted to really think about a fitting consequence for his actions. So they went back to their hotel and went straight to bed.

The two slept until nearly noon and still felt like they could sleep for another day. But they were excited to finally be going home so they packed what little they had and headed for the airport. But, upon arriving, Beast Boy informed Raven that they didn't need to purchase any tickets.

"What are you talking about?" she asked, instantly suspicious. "What have you done now?"

"Relax, it's nothing bad!" he laughed. "I made arrangements yesterday with Fiona's help."

"Fiona? We're on a first name basis with her now, are we?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Hey she's the one who said we're BFFs," he smirked. "Now come on, we've got a flight to catch."

"Oh no, I'm not going anywhere until you tell me exactly what's happening," she said crossing her arms.

"You're about to have the best flight of your life," he smiled. "And I know I don't deserve your trust right now but you're gonna have an amazing time if you just trust me for the next few minutes."

She stared at him and he could see deep in her eyes that she was mulling it all over and feeling him out. "You don't seem to be lying. And you are nervous but it's more out of excitement than guilt. So I'm going to let you handle the tickets. But just know that I do have my powers now and the moment I sense that something's not right I will kill you and I will make it look like an accident."

The changeling gulped but knew he was safe. There wasn't a chance she would be disagreeable with the surprise he had waiting for her. "Fair enough." He grabbed her bag and led her through the airport.

They got their prepared tickets, got checked out with security, and headed towards their terminal. But they weren't going to where everyone else was. They went to another area of the airport entirely. Raven was quite confused when they came to a door and, after having their tickets checked, were let through it. They were outside and walking down onto the tarmac where a small plane was sitting.

"Is that a private plane?" she asked.

"Maybe," he smirked.

They walked up the steps placed in front of the plane and Beast Boy went inside first, helping Raven in. As soon as she was inside she looked around and saw a woman already sitting inside. She looked kindly and professional and she smiled when she saw the teens. Raven was very perplexed.

"Raven, I'd like you to meet Melita Funar," said Beast Boy.

The empath's eyes went wide and she slowly looked at the woman again. She grabbed her bag back from Beast Boy and reached inside to grab one of her books. She flipped it open to look at the sleeve where the author's small biography and picture was. It was the same woman. Raven's knees buckled and Beast Boy quickly grabbed her to keep her from collapsing. "It is Melita Funar."

The woman nodded and stood up, holding her hand out to her. "Îmi pare bine." Beast Boy couldn't understand her but Raven knew very well that the woman had just said it was nice to meet them.

"E foarte frumos să te cunosc," said Raven, returning the gesture. "Sunt un mare fan al muncii dumneavoastră. Tu ești autorul meu preferat."

"Va multumesc foarte mult," the woman smiled. She then reached into her carry on and presented Raven with four hard cover signed first editions of each volume of the Ashen Splendor series. The teen nearly cried.

While the two began to converse in Romanian Beast Boy settled into his seat and got ready for a nonstop ride back to Jump City. After the concert the night before, he'd taken Fiona Star aside and asked for her help on one last thing. With her assistance they'd contacted Melita Funar's people and managed to talk the author into delaying her trip and making a detour to Empire City and then flying to Jump City. Ms. Funar, who was only visiting the country once due to her fear of being in a new country, had actually been enjoying her stay and was happy to extend her visit so that she could get to see more of the country.

The changeling slept a little bit but was woken up when Raven came to sit next to him. He was surprised by this for though it was a small plane there were enough seats for each person to have their own row. She was in a very good mood, looking almost light with euphoria, and that made him happy.

"How did you set this up?" she asked. "She wouldn't tell me and I've got to know."

"Nope, you're just gonna have to always wonder," he smirked and stretched.

"Fine but at least answer me this so that I can sleep at night," she said. "You didn't bribe anyone or do anything illegal, did you?"

"No!" he laughed. "This was all legit."

She seemed relieved to know this and sat back in her seat. "I still can't believe I just had a two hour conversation with Melita Funar."

"Why'd you stop talking?" he asked.

"I think I was overwhelming her so I decided to give us both a break," she admitted. "She's so kind and smart. She said I understood everything perfectly and that it was as if I was reading her mind."

"Wow, guess you've got a new BFF too," he chuckled.

"Speaking of, are you going to keep in touch with Ms. Star?" she asked.

"No way, she's too dense for even me," he said. "I asked her if she knew which state Jump City was in and she said she couldn't because she failed Geometry in school."

"You can't be serious."

"Oh I'm way serious. Even I know it's Geology."

"Geography."

"Oh…well I was closer than her."

Apart from some turbulence at the end, the flight went smoothly. They landed at the Jump City airport and both felt extremely grateful to be home. Raven thanked her favorite author a dozen times for the conversation and books and was even invited to visit her in Romania whenever she wanted. Beast Boy wasn't sure he'd ever seen her so gleeful. She was practically dancing as they left the plane and went to find Cyborg, who'd driven to the airport to pick them up. When they spotted him both ran to him and practically jumped into his arms.

"Whoa! Happy to be home?" he laughed.

"You have no idea," said Raven.

"I never wanna leave the city again," said Beast Boy.

"I doubt Robin will ever let you two out of his sight after all of this," Cyborg laughed. "It seemed like every time you called something bad happened."

"That's because it did," said Raven. "But it had a happy ending so I'm pretty content."

Cyborg gave her an odd look. "Uh…you okay there, Raven?"

"Oh I'm better than okay," she said cheerfully and walked by him to head outside.

"B, what did you do to her?" Cyborg asked his best friend, actually concerned.

Beast Boy laughed. "Don't question it, just soak in the moment. It probably won't last very long."

They were soon on the road and when the tower came into view the two homesick Titans felt like crying. Upon pulling into the garage Beast Boy jumped out and began to kiss the floor, an action he quickly regretted. They took the elevator up and as the doors began to open a pair of orange arms reached in and grabbed the changeling and empath.

"Friends you are home!" Starfire cried. "Oh I have missed you so very much and shed many tears when I did not know where you were or what horrible event had occurred after the last. Please do not partake in such a journey again."

"Don't worry, we're not going anywhere any time soon," Raven assured her as she and Beast Boy wriggled out of her grasp.

"Welcome back," said Robin. "I didn't think I'd get to see you two again in one piece."

"Neither did we, dude," said Beast Boy.

"So, Beast Boy," said Aqualad, crossing his arms, "you certainly gave quite the performance last night."

"Yeah, what was that about?!" said Cyborg. "Since when are you and Fiona Star buddies?"

"Uh, well, you see…" Beast Boy began, rubbing his arm and preparing to reveal the truth. But, to his surprise, Raven nudged his arm.

"Did you think he didn't have friends outside of the tower?" she said. "Not only are he and Fiona Star friends but she's one of his biggest fans."

Aqualad suddenly found himself confused and wondering if Beast Boy had been telling the truth all along. After all, why would Raven lie for him? And then he realized he had his end of a bet to keep and he grew very depressed. Wearing Starfire's uniform for a month was not going to be fun. Speedy would never let him live this down and Bumblebee…he didn't want to think about how bad she was going to give it to him.

Beast Boy wished he had a camera so that he could immortalize the look on Aqualad's face. It was far sweeter than he ever could imagine. But he knew he couldn't in good conscience let the bet stand. So he took him aside and told him it was off.

"You're serious? But I lost," said Aqualad. "I thought you wanted nothing more than to have me walking around in Starfire's uniform."

"Oh I still think it'd be hilarious," said Beast Boy. "But I'm gonna be the bigger man and call the whole thing off. I'd hope that you'd do the same for me if you won the bet."

"To be honest I never planned on taking your spot on the team," Aqualad admitted. "I just thought it was as high enough risk that would make you tell me the truth. But turns out you and Fiona Star are friends so I was the one making the bad call."

"So…even if lost I wouldn't have had to go to Titans East?" Beast Boy squeaked.

"No way, I like my team," Aqualad smiled. "And I know how much you like yours."

The changeling felt very angry, with both Aqualad and himself, and almost considered making the Atlantian wear Starfire's uniform. But in the end he decided to just walk away before he got himself into trouble again. Instead he went to find Raven to talk and give her something he'd been keeping in his pocket since early that morning.

He found her in her room, sprawled on her bed with the door open. He guessed she was so happy to be home she just didn't care. He knocked on the doorframe. "Raven can I have a sec?"

"You just had a week of my life, what more do you want?" she asked.

"I just wanna know why you covered for me back there," he said. "I thought you wanted me to be honest about everything."

She sighed, got up, and walked over to him. "Well I did. But after thinking about everything I've decided that we should keep your big lie between us. The story of our trip is good enough without adding into it that you were doing all of this to win a stupid bet. So let's just let everyone believe what they believe. Besides, what I said wasn't exactly a lie. You and Fiona are friends, now at least, and she is a huge fan of yours."

"So…we're really not gonna tell anyone the truth?" he asked.

"Not the whole truth, no," she said. "We're going to keep it between us. I think that'll simplify everything and keep Robin from disciplining your butt to high heaven. Though he is going to punish you for sneaking out in the first place. And that's something you definitely can't argue with."

"Speaking of punishment…what are you gonna do to me?" he winced. "I'd kinda like to know now what you've got in mind."

"I don't have anything in mind," she said frankly. "After what you pulled off for me today I think I'm at peace with everything."

He just stared at her. "So…wait, what?"

"Beast Boy, if you hadn't snuck in my bag and ruined my vacation then I would have never gotten to spend a plane ride talking to my favorite author one on one," she explained. "Today was far better than five days of visiting special shops and getting a book signed. For better or worse this was definitely a vacation I will never forget. So I say we cut our losses and move on with our lives."

He couldn't believe what he was hearing. She was letting him off the hook! But he didn't feel as though he was off the hook. He'd certainly learned his lesson, that was for sure, and would never lie to her again or make any crazy bets because of his big mouth. And she was right. In the end it had all worked out.

"Wow, thanks Raven," he said. "If you ever wanna vent and take your frustration out on someone you have every right to use me as your whipping boy."

"Oh I plan to," she assured him.

He smiled and reached into his pocket. "I don't know if you still want this but I grabbed it after you threw it at me." He held out the necklace with the snowflake obsidian gemstone.

She stared at it for a moment then sighed and reached out for it. "Believe it or not, I do still like it." She put it back around her neck and hid it beneath her shirt. "It'll remind me of that great day we had in that small town. The day you put me first."

"Yeah that was a good day, wasn't it?"

"Second only to today. Thank you."

He smiled. "You're welcome, Pollywog."

She growled and grabbed him by the front of his shirt. "Beast Boy." He gulped and prepared for the long awaited thrashing she was sure to give him now. Instead she was quiet for a moment before hissing, "Don't call me that in front of anyone else, got it?" And with that she released him and closed her door.

He stood there for a moment, perplexed, then smiled a wide smile.

"Anything for you, Pollywog."

The End

! IF YOU ENJOYED THEN PLEASE REVIEW !

Special thanks to saphire-queen and bunnimunchies

AN: Well there it is! My first TT fanfic in five years. I know it wasn't my best work, I'm still a little rusty, but I hope you enjoyed it anyway. I'm so glad I finally wrote this story. It's been in my head for years! I think this is my first strictly BBxRae friendship fic. But I think you can see that this may be a prologue to something more between them. Hope you liked it! If you want to keep up to date with me and my writing then follow me on tumblr. There you'll know where I am in the writing process and can ask me any question you want! beautifulpurpleflame . tumblr. com