Author's Note: This is all Bearhow's fault. I didn't have any plans for a Christmas story, but he convinced me to write it. Blame him!

Disclaimer: Teen Titans is not owned by me.

-=oOo=-

Like What You See?

"All right, all right!" Raven shouted in exasperation, defeated by the irresistible doe-eyed gaze Starfire was using on her. She squeezed her eyes shut and massaged her temples. "You win! I'll wear that ludicrous outfit while we decorate the tree!"

Starfire clasped her hands together in delight. "Oh, friend Raven, I give you so much of the thankfulness!" she beamed at the sorceress. "It shall be the most wondrous experience! And later we shall take the picture of our costumed selves, when the tree is in the decorated state!"

Raven's teeth ground against each other. "Please don't make this harder than it already is, Star!" she growled and picked up the shopping bag with a Santa's Elf costume in it. "Let's get this done and over with," she grumbled and floated to her room to change.

-=oOo=-

"It is most appealing, friend Raven!" Starfire giggled, looking over Raven's shoulder at the image of the Azarathian reflected in the full-length mirror. Raven was dressed in soft green boots with curly pointed toes, a very short green bell skirt and a tight, long-sleeved green top. A wide red belt and a pointed red cap completed the ensemble. Red faux fur trimmed the skirt and the cuffs, while the edge of the cap and the top of the boots were bordered in white fluff.

The alien's happy smile widened with a touch of mischief. "The color green goes well with you!"

Raven managed not to blush, but only just barely. "Star…"

Starfire's dainty eyebrow rose. "Have I said something of the inappropriateness? You have been doing the going out with friend Beast Boy for several months now."

"Yes, but I… I don't like to speak about such things," Raven stammered, trying to hide her fluster.

"I know that it is so," Starfire gave her a dazzling smile. "I also know that you are the best of my friends, and closer to me than my own sister. We should have none of the secrets between us."

Raven's gaze dropped. "I know, Kory."

The Tamaranean's smile faded and she frowned slightly. "Is everything well between you and friend Beast Boy?"

Raven swallowed, then lifted her head and looked at Starfire with what she hoped was a confident expression. "Yes. Yes, it is. We're both fine." She turned from the mirror somewhat abruptly and floated to the door.

"Let's go," she called out to the tall alien. Starfire's frown deepened for a moment, then her face cleared and her usual joyful smile reappeared. "Indeed!" she answered happily and joined her friend.

-=oOo=-

Garfield always considered himself to be a breast man. Happily enough, his girlfriend filled in that tight leotard of hers extremely well, both with size and with shape. But even so, it never ceased to surprise him when his gaze would just skim over her admittedly tantalizing mounds to slide down and find a comfortable, joyful resting place on the ivory elegance of her legs.

He could spend literally hours pretending to read a comic while watching in fascination those long, shapely limbs as Raven sat oblivious, reading a book. Even better, every so often he was treated to a real delight, when she would shift and recross her legs to get more comfortable. It was almost like a festival for his eyes.

Now, it should be said that apart from thoroughly enjoying the sights, Gar was very respectful of his girlfriend. He knew she usually avoided physical intimacy, and in the several months that they were together he managed successfully to keep his hands to himself and never to cross the line. Oh, Raven could definitely get passionate when she relaxed in the private, familiar environment of her room, but as heated as their make-out sessions would invariably get he still kept an iron grip on himself and made damn sure his hands never strayed over to an… inappropriate place.

Garfield quickly pushed all those thoughts out of his head as soon as he saw Raven and Starfire enter the Ops room. He did allow his eyes to take her in, again paying special attention to her exquisite legs as they moved gracefully beneath that short, short skirt. He wrenched his eyes away and welcomed her with a wide, loving grin. She gifted him back one of those tiny, almost imperceptible Raven smiles, the ones that carried so much love and affection in such a small expression. His heart began beating furiously.

"Friends!" Starfire exclaimed, her eyes glowing with excitement. "Now that we are all dressed in the costumes, we may proceed with the adornment of the Tree of the Christmas!"

She quickly began to assign responsibilities to everyone. Cyborg was in charge of the lights, Robin of the tinsel, Raven of the hanging decorations, Beast Boy…

Beast Boy was scratching the back of his neck, deep in thought. How is it that Raven looked so… alluring? Not like she kept those wonderful legs of hers hidden all the time. How in all blue blazes, then, did she manage to make him shiver, overcome with the urge to caress those slender alabaster columns, to kiss them and nip them and rub his face in them up and up until he reached –

He cleared his throat and pinched his own arm viciously to pull himself out of it. It must be that skirt, he thought. Trust Raven to somehow succeed in turning what already was the object of his fascination into something even more bewitching.

He shook himself off and focused on the task at hand. Soon enough they completed their mission and the tree was finished in all respects but one.

"Please, friend Raven!" Starfire offered a large silver star with a curving tail to the sorceress. "I wish that you should do the honoring of the completion of our most fruitful labors!"

Raven's cheeks flushed a delicate pink. She was quite flattered, even if she knew that she was the person best suited for the task, together with Koriand'r, since they were the ones that could easily levitate to the top and place the final piece there. She smiled, took the star and floated up.

Garfield's eyes followed her while a grin spread over his face. He chuckled silently at the curly-toed boots and sighed soundlessly as his eyes swept up, over her curvy calves, her comely knees, over her smooth, creamy-skinned thighs, all the way to –

His mind went blank.

The simple red cotton panties Raven wore were part of the outfit, and their purpose was to modestly cover the critical areas, not to be teasing or sexy. It didn't matter.

It was a part of his girlfriend that was as unseen and mysterious to him as the bottom of the Marianas Trench. He knew it was there, always hidden under her cloak, but he never really got to see it. At most, he managed to sneak a few short glimpses, but never from so close and never in such detail.

Raven's ass was… fantastic. Awesome. Fabulous. Breathtaking. But all the epithets that whirled through his dazed mind fell woefully short of the sheer artistry used by whichever angel, demon, God or Devil it was that sculpted such a masterpiece. Phidias or Michelangelo would kill themselves if they were not already dead; nothing they ever carved out of polished marble could even hold a candle to such perfection.

He stopped thinking, stopped feeling, stopped breathing, but he could not stop staring.

-=oOo=-

Raven had just secured the star on top of the tree when she became aware of the first guffaws and giggles. She turned her head to look at her friends, noticing the lopsided grin on Robin's face, the hand covering Starfire's giggling mouth and Cyborg slapping his thigh in merriment as his laughter burst out in an uproarious, unbridled wave. But they weren't laughing at her, they were looking at…

She glanced down over her shoulder and blushed deeply. Garfield didn't even notice the smirks and the laughter, his eyes were riveted on her… on that place, barely blinking, his jaw hanging slackly open and a small drop of drool just starting to trickle from the corner of his mouth.

She lowered herself to the floor, turned to face her boyfriend and folded her arms across her chest, ready to give him such a tongue-lashing that he wouldn't forget it for five reincarnations. As his eyes lost sight of her posterior he blinked, pulling out of his fascination. His gaze went up until it met Raven's cold glare.

Garfield didn't flinch, or wince, or cringe. But the color of his face deepened alarmingly and his eyes filled with shame. Raven sensed the guilt and remorse burst from his soul and sweep over her just as she was about to open her mouth and start reaming him out. It burned away any wish she had to scold him. He was punishing himself much worse than she could ever do.

Suddenly she became aware of the crazed, almost hysterical laughter coming from their teammates. They were bent double, holding their bellies, slapping their knees, laughing their heads off.

At her boyfriend.

Now, even if she never showed it in public, Raven was absolutely head over heels in love with the green changeling and she positively adored everything about him. Plus, anyone that ever had even a basic acquaintance with demonology knows how possessive demons are, and how protective of what they consider their property.

And they were laughing at him.

Laughing at her Garfield.

For looking at her and finding her beautiful and attractive.

She slowly turned to the trio that still gasped with laughter. Her eyes split into four narrow slits through which infernal hellfire blazed forth. Her lips curled back from teeth that became triangular, serrated and sharp like a shark's. The entire Tower rocked, cutting their teammates' mirth short as if with a knife.

Raven's voice seemed to claw at their brains as it reverberated out in several intonations, all just a split second out of sync with each other, as much rumbling in a heart-stopping bass as scraping the ears in an impossibly piercing screech.

Are you finding this funny?

All three stumbled backwards, now fearful of the terrifying change that came over their usually calm friend. Cyborg swallowed, Robin ran a finger around the collar of his uniform and Starfire gave a guilty giggle. They all looked at the floor, cowed and apprehensive.

Raven felt the touch of Garfield's hand on her arm. It calmed her instantly and she seemed to shrink back. Her eyes returned to their usual number, shape and color and her lips retreated to cover now normal teeth. The Tower shivered and quieted.

"Uhh… we're sorry, Rae!" their leader apologized. Raven snorted a haughty "Humph!" and turned to her boyfriend with a scowl on her face.

"You!" she growled in an imperious tone. "Follow me!"

She floated over to the side door. It hissed open. Garfield cast a terrified glance at his friends, then turned and followed Raven at the speed of a man going to his impending execution.

"I haven't got all day, Garfield!" her voice made him cringe and try to hasten his steps. He followed meekly until they reached her room. She opened the door and indicated with a small nod of her head that he was to enter. He obeyed with the fatalistic certainty that he would be soon murdered in several painful ways and his remains would be given to a pack of demons to feast on his bones.

She closed the door and waved her hand over it, making it glow with a black light for an instant. He realized they were as good as sealed in, and he gulped.

She turned and floated over until she was right in front of him. Her hands rested on her hips and her severe eyebrows were knotted, but he couldn't read the expression in her eyes.

"Did you like what you saw?"

Garfield's mouth was dry, his tongue parched and his throat shriveled. He tried unsuccessfully to swallow. Raven harrumphed impatiently.

"It's not a rhetorical question, Garfield. Did you like what you saw?"

He blinked. "A rheto-what question?"

Raven groaned and rolled her eyes. "Just answer it, Gar. A simple 'yes' or 'no'. Did. You. Like. What. You. Saw?"

"I… uh…" There was no point in denying it. Her empathy would tell her immediately if he was lying. He sighed and admitted it. "Yeah. Yeah, I did. But I didn't –"

"Hush. That's all I wanted to know," she cut him off and raised herself on tiptoe to give him a small, warm kiss. She placed a hand on his chest. He could feel her nails scraping gently but disturbingly though the uniform. Her other hand went up and buried itself in his hair.

"I'm glad to hear that," she whispered hoarsely. "I was beginning to worry something was wrong with me." She pulled him into another kiss, this time a lot longer and steamier. They finally broke apart, gasping.

"Now that we cleared that up…" she murmured softly and seductively, "I have a few more things I can show you, and I'm sure you'll like them, too."

Soon enough, Garfield found himself agreeing completely with that statement.