Pumpkins and haunted houses

Ravens half-lidded eyes stared impassively at the large, orange vegetable set before her. Slowly she shifted her gaze to her grinning green boyfriend who excitedly awaited her response. She was just wanting a little time to herself before spending an evening off at home. With Starfire, Robin and Cyborg out for the night it was just she and Beast Boy, who without warning placed this huge pumpkin in front of her.

Without any inflection or emotion, she closed her eyes and muttered a single word before returning to her tea.

"No."

"Awe come on! It's a Halloween tradition!" he immediately complained in an intentionally whiny voice, as if he was expecting that reaction.

"Correction. It's YOUR Halloween tradition. I've told you plenty of times, I'm not a fan of a holiday that celebrates the demonic and the dark. If I wanted to do that, I would just celebrate my birthday."

He couldn't help but snicker. "Okay, that was pretty funny," he put on his serious face, "but no time for laughing. Look, there's more to Halloween then the spooky stuff. Sure that's a lot of it, but there's more."

She opened her eyes, violet pools staring from beneath her furrowed brows. "Name one."

He grinned, sliding the pumpkin closer to her. "Pumpkin carving. It's easy, all you have to do is carve the scariest thing you can think of."

Her brow quirked, and with white glowing eyes, her power began slicing into the flesh of the pumpkin. "There, I did it."

Confused he turned the pumpkin towards him, examined it, then glared at his smirking girlfriend, not at all amused by the carving of his own face.

"A. Not funny and B, using your magic is cheating."

She closed her eyes and returned to her tea. "Well darn. You only had the one—" THUMP. Her eyes snapped open when he placed another pumpkin in front of her, this one without any imperfections.

"I figured you'd ruin the first one, so I came prepared." He said smugly.

She sighed, placed her tea on the table and set her hands in her lap. "What do I have to do?"

She yelped when he had grabbed her hand and yanked her around the counter towards the pumpkin and set a large knife in her hand. Her empathic abilities alerted her to his excitement, which wasn't out of the ordinary for him. What was out of the ordinary was his close proximity. She still wasn't the most comfortable with someone being so close and intimate with her, and yet with him holding her smaller hand in his and helping to guide her in this activity both excited and scared her.

She wasn't even aware that he was speaking as she was too entranced in the feel of his cheek on hers, the sweet woodland smell of his breath, and the gentleness of his movements. To be honest she was glad they were both out of uniform as the stink of spandex and leather may have overwhelmed her.

"... and now the top of the pumpkin is off." Coming back to earth, she hadn't even realized that they had cut the top off of the pumpkin and set it aside. "Now the fun part."

She looked into the pumpkin and her features twisted with disgust. "And what, dare I ask, is that?"

He removed his gloves one by one. "We take out the guts." She recoiled when he threw his hand inside and proceeded to remove the seeds and other orange colored bits. "Come on Rae, grab a handful."

"Uh, I think I'm good."

Before she realized what was going on, he had already grabbed her wrist and threw it into the pumpkin guts. "Come on it's not that bad." She whimpered and grimaced when her hand touched the sticky insides, making him laugh out loud. "Come on. You've healed our broken bones and open wounds and your grossed out by pumpkin guts?"

She removed her gooey hand and went to the sink. "I do that for the sake of my team, not recreationally." She began flicking her wrist when the stringy goop wouldn't detach, only for it to fly off her hand and hit Beast Boy in the back of the head.

"Oh god! Beast Boy I'm sorry, I'm so—". Suddenly her empathic senses alerted her to a shift in his mood to playful mischievousness. "Oh No. No, no, no, no, that was an accident! You can't—"

Too late.

She moved in time for a handful of pumpkin goop to miss her face by inches and hit her square on the shoulder. "Beast Boy!" He was too busy laughing to be put off by her scolding. Not thinking clearly she scooped up the stringy guts off of her shoulder and smeared it all over his face.

Now he emotional feedback was full on competitiveness. "Oh your gonna get it now." With both hands he scooped up more of the pumpkins insides and flung them mercilessly at his girlfriend.

Forgetting the "no magic rule" she took to the air, dodging and weaving away from the projectiles before encasing them in her magic and throwing them back.

What was she doing? This wasn't like her. She wasn't the kind of person to do such silly, stupid things, but once again here she was. Outside of her comfort zone and she couldn't help but find that she was actually enjoying herself.

What had he done to her?

He shifted into a squirrel and scampered across the counter tops to avoid her attacks. She had maneuvered herself so that she was now hovering by the common room doors, but in her defense the events that came were not her fault.

He shifted back into himself, grabbed a handful of pumpkin guts and tossed them at his girlfriend. It missed her when she vanished into a black vortex beneath her, but it hit Drake Daniels right in the face.

Drake and his girlfriend Kole had been the only other ones in the tower and at the time, Beast Boy didn't think they'd bother them at all. Boy was he wrong.

Beast Boy gulped, watching in horror as the pumpkins insides began sizzling on Drakes hot skin. His hazel eyes narrowed dangerously at the changeling while smoke began to billow from his nose.

"Um," Beast Boy said shakily, "tag you're it?"

Before Drake could turn Beast Boy into a pile of green ash, Kole began giggling uncontrollably from beside him.

"Calm down, it's just pumpkin seeds!" Adding insult to injury she began to smear more of the guts across his face.

"You know me. Always looking for a reason to beat him within an inch of his life." Drake made his way to the sink, not once taking his eyes off of Beast Boy.

"On behalf of my boyfriend," Raven floated beside him, "I apologize for you being a casualty in our immature antics."

"No need to apologize Raven," said Kole, "Drake can afford to lighten up anyways."

Drake let out a mocking laugh. "What are you guys doing anyways?"

Raven motioned to the counter. "Beast Boy wanted to do some pumpkin carving for some reason."

Everyone jumped slightly when Kole let out an excited squeal. "OO! Can we join you guys?"

Drake, with his face free of pumpkin insides, stared oddly at his girlfriend. "I'm sorry what?"

As if he hadn't said a word Beast Boy practically shouted, "You bet! I have another pumpkin."

Raven arched a brow. "Wait, you bought three pumpkins?"

"Actually I bought six. The first one and then the rest were backups."

While the two discussed the pumpkin quantity, Drake pulled Kole aside. "What's up? I don't want to interrupt their night."

She shrugged. "I just thought it'd be fun. Remember? Fun? That thing we don't do a whole lot?"

"What are you talking about, we do have fun!" Kole glanced up at him with a "Really?" smirk on her face. "Don't we?"

"You were just planning on sitting in your room watching TV this evening." Kole's smile slowly expanded into a sinister grin. "If you don't wanna join them, that's fine, I'll just be forced to tell them."

His eyes went wide with horror and his complexion went pale. "You wouldn't."

She approached him, getting to her tip toes so that her warm strawberry breath tickled when she whispered into his ear. "Try me."

—:0:—

An hour later and with the kitchen covered in pumpkins bits, Raven took a step back to examine her and her boyfriend's work.

"So what's this supposed to be?"

His jaw fell open in mock hurt. "Are you serious? You, the mistress of darkness, don't know who Jack Skeleton is?"

She looked at the poorly carved face etched into the side of the pumpkin. "It looks like a bug."

He huffed sticking his tongue out at her. "I think it's fantastic." He turned his back to her and looked at the other couple who had just finished carving theirs. "How'd you guys do?"

Raven couldn't help but smile when she could feel Kole's bright enthusiasm when she excitedly turned their pumpkin to face them. A simple triangle nose and eyes and teeth face.

"Awe," Beast Boy swooned, "it's cute. Now it's time for the best part." He grabbed a few candles and stuffed them into the pumpkins. "Hit the lights."

With a flick the lights in the common room clicked off, wrapping them in complete darkness except for the orange glow of their carved jack-o-lanterns.

Kole "oo'd" at the sight of such wonder, Drake found it absolutely adorable. "Not used to seeing Jack-o-lanterns?" He asked.

She shook her head. "Halloween wasn't something my family did. I missed out on a lot of the fun stuff like Trick or treating, pumpkins, haunted mazes, stuff like that."

Raven, finding the flickering of the orange lights just as mesmerizing, hummed in agreement. "Azarath didn't have any holidays so this was all new to me when I came here to earth."

Beast Boy looked at the girls, surprised that they hadn't had what he considered an authentic Halloween experience. Composing himself he turned to Drake. "What about you?"

Drake scoffed. "For starters every day is Halloween for me. When you're friends with the king of hell, things tend to get a bit intense."

"But we're not monster hunting, silly head," Kole slapped him on his shoulder, "we're just having fun being scared."

"Dude!" Everyone jumped at his sudden shouting. "We should go to a haunted maze."

Raven scoffed. "Why? So us poor lady folk can cling to our men for protection, while kids in costumes try to frighten us?"

"Wait. You want us to put ourselves into dangerous situations for fun?"

Beast Boy rolled his eyes. "That's the idea Drake. Twists and turns of horror and spookiness, not knowing if or when something's going to jump out and get you." He threw his arms around Ravens waist. "And the fact that you cling to your big strong man is a plus."

Drake opened his mouth, most likely to protest, but Kole cut him off when she excitedly began grabbing his arm. "Oh we should go!" She wrapped her arms around his own with batting eyelashes. "I just love my big strong man protecting me from actors intent on sucking my blood."

Beast Boy slapped the counter. "Boom! I'll look for the closest one."

"They have haunted mazes in Jump City?" Raven asked.

He was already on his phone typing away. "Heck yeah, but it's never any fun going by yourself and no one ever wants to go with me. Found it! Let's go!" He leapt for the door with Raven right behind him trying to settle him down.

While they made their plans Drake leaned closer to Kole's ear. "Are you sure about this? A haunted maze where people jump out and scare you?"

She waved off his concerns. "It's not a big deal. Just props and actors. Although we should probably make sure you don't take any weapons with you."

Drake looked at her in silence for a moment before howling with laughter. "Oh man…." he gasped, "That's a good one." After he rubbed the tears of laughter from his eyes he looked down at his girlfriend who's folded arms and blank expression said she wasn't joking. "Oh dear God, you're serious."

"Can't risk you accidentally stabbing some innocent bystander." She held out her hand. "Belt please."

He didn't move, instead he continued to look as her as if she had lost her mind. "I'm not going anywhere naked."

"Drake, just do it. She has a point." Raven and Beast Boy had settled themselves down and were now waiting by the doors. "One wrong move and you'll lash out."

Drake looked back to Kole, folding his arms stubbornly. "Fine." She moved so that she was inches away from him, but kept her blue eyes locked on his as her fingers moved to remove his belt that had been loaded with weapons.

He smirked, "Wow. In public?"

The corner of her lip moved into a small smirk. "All you have to do is name the time and place and I'll do this ag—agh."

She grossly underestimated the weight of his belt when it pulled her to the ground.

Laughing, he caught her before she collapsed. "Alright, alright you have my belt." He tossed it onto the counter. "Let's get going."

"Oh, no, you won't!" Kole smirked and grabbed his hand, pulling it towards her.

"Hey!" Drake exclaimed in surprise before he realized what she was doing. His sleeve was quickly rolled up, revealing a leather sheath strapped to his arm and a dagger with a long, lethal blade resting inside. It was quickly removed and thrown on the counter to join the belt. "Hey!"

Kole ignored his protests and proceeded to remove the dagger's twin from the other arm. Drake's face darkened and his voice growled. "Happy now?"

"Not yet," his girlfriend giggled. Her small delicate hands moved up his chest until they snakes around his neck and pulled him into a deep and warm kiss. His irritation vanished instantly and he kissed her back, relishing in the feeling of her lips on his, the muscles of her arm taunt as she kept him close and her fingers on his neck…

The Dragon Knight's dazed mind finally began functioning again and he pulled back in alarm, only to witness a large, insufferable grin on Kole's face. She was playing with the thin, deadly blade he kept hidden under the collar in the back of his coat. He scowled. "Oh come on…"

"Hush!" she dismissed him, then crouched to remove another pair of daggers that were sheathed into his boots. But as just a precaution she began to move her hands up and down his thighs, eliciting an uncomfortable groan.

"Kole!" he whined, by now not even able to get angry at her. She straightened, looped her fingers through the loops on his belt and pulled him closer.

"Are you going to do it or should I?" she whispered in his ear and giggled again. He swallowed, cleared his throat, rolled his eyes, and reached behind him to remove yet another wicked blade that was stuck to the small of his back.

"That's the last one," he grumbled. Kole's smirk widened into a suggestive grin. Her hands moved and Drake gasped.

"I don't think so," she purred and pressed herself closer. "I can feel there's still one more one more concealed weapon your carrying."

A small wisp of smoke escaped from Drake's nostrils as his eyes narrowed, a feral glow igniting in their depths. "Keep this up and you'll see just how big"

"Ahem!" the sound startled the having forgotten that they were not alone. They pulled away from each other both blushing horribly.

"Um… We're, uh, ready!" Drake recovered first.

"Yup," Kole grinned, "he has been thoroughly disarmed."

"After that examination I would hope so." Raven said in her typical monotone.

Just as they were to leave, Beast Boy turned to Raven with his arms out wide. "Raven wanna search—"

"No."