I apologize for not having updated Flight of the Eagle for such a long time. I promise I'll update as soon as possible.
In the meanwhile, here's a short oneshot of Titan's Christmas to tide you over. Enoy!
Reviews are luffed.
I don't own the Teen Titans.
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"Deck the halls with balls of holly! Fa la la la la, la la la la! Tis the season to be jolly ! Fa la la la la, la la la laaaaaaa!"
"It's 'boughs' of holly, Beast Boy. Not 'balls'," Raven corrected the happily singing shapeshifter, an irritable tone in her voice.
All the Titans were beginning to get annoyed, actually. Beast Boy had been singing for almost the whole week. Now it was merely hours until Christmas, and the green shape changer showed no signs of tiring of his songs.
"Give it a rest, would ya?" Cyborg groaned, sprawling on the couch.
Beast Boy paused in his singing and looked over at the half-metal Titan, pouting. "But I like singing," he protested.
"We know. That doesn't mean you have to do it constantly," Raven informed him, taking a seat next to Cyborg, a book in her hands.
"Yes, it does. Fa la la la la, la la la laaaaa!" He paused. "Wait, what are the words?"
No one answered him, and, muttering, he walked out of the room to look them up in the little kids' songbook he'd bought for himself two weeks ago.
Robin passed him as he came in. "Is he done?" he asked in a stage whisper just before the door shut behind the singer.
Raven and Cyborg shook their heads simultaneously.
Robin heaved a sigh and walked over to the Christmas tree set up in the center of the room, and bent down to place a small wrapped gift among the piles of other gifts under it.
Cyborg grinned. "Who's that for?"
Robin turned his head to look at the curious Titan, then stood and walked away, not answering.
"It's for Starfire, isn't it?" Cyborg called to Robin's stiff, retreating back. The door slid shut behind their leader, and Cyborg huffed. "Fine, don't answer me."
Raven merely rolled her eyes and turned back to her book.
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11:30 PM, read the clock, a mere two hours later. Strains of singing still echoed through the halls; Beast Boy had not yet tired.
"Up on the rooftop, click, click, mmph!" The singing abruptly stopped as a band of black appeared around the singer's mouth and feet. The green shapeshifter was swung up into the air, upside down, courtesy of Raven. After holding him like that for a few moments, the blue-cloaked girl released the band of power around his mouth, but kept him dangling in the air.
Beast Boy sputtered indignantly. "Hey! What'd you do that for? Just because you don't know how to have fun…"
With a sigh, the girl replaced the gag. "To make you stop singing," she answered, her expression annoyed. "If you will stop, I'll put you down. But I can keep you like this indefinitely if you're going to start singing again." She again released the gag around his mouth.
The shapechanger was silent a moment, then smiled slightly, an idea coming to him as he glanced around. "I'll stop singing if I can do one other thing."
Raven lowered him to the ground, right-side up. "What?"
"This." Beast Boy grabbed her shoulders and pulled her close before she had a chance to react, then pressed his mouth against her lips.
When he let her go, he dashed away down the halls, expecting to have to avoid a very angry Raven. The girl in question, however, just stood in the hall, one hand pressed to her mouth, for a long moment after he disappeared down the hall. Then she turned and walked, quickly, down the hall, and shut herself in her room to try to sort out her tangled emotions, not noticing the mistletoe that hung in the doorway above her head.
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4:47 AM.
"Time to open presents!" Beast Boy shouted, running through the halls of Titans Tower. He knew from experience that his shouts would wake up all but one Titan, so he headed for the room of the last one and slid inside.
Beast Boy had been in Cyborg's room quite often. Due to all the electronic equipment, it was a fairly common place for the Titans to go at times. Beast Boy often played videogames against Cyborg and perhaps Robin when the TV was in use or (as had once happened, and caused complete chaos) out of commission. The boy sure-footedly picked his way across the room and found the brightly glowing button that read 'wake up'… after several minutes of searching.
He pushed it, and ran over to Cyborg. "Time for presents!" he shouted in the half-robot's ear as soon as his human eye opened and his mechanical one turned on.
Cyborg groaned and glanced at the clock. "It's only 4:52, BB. Can't you wait a little longer?"
He was met by an empathetic negative, and, with another groan and a pull from Beast Boy, pushed himself to his feet.
Beast Boy raced ahead of him down to the main room, passing most of the other Titans as they exited their rooms with yawns. Starfire was the only one that looked even mildly awake.
"Is it the time for the exchanging of the gifts, friend Robin?" she asked eagerly, as Robin fell into step beside her, both of them following Cyborg.
Robin nodded. "Apparently so, according to Beast Boy." He yawned and stretched his arms out. "At least he waited until almost five this year. That has to be a record for him – last year he woke us up at three." Rubbing his head, he muttered, "I've never known anyone before him who could wake up so easily so early for a few wrapped presents."
They entered the main room to find Cyborg bodily holding Beast Boy back from the presents. The green boy looked like he was going to tear the Tower apart to get at his gifts.
"Not until everyone's here!" Cyborg said through gritted teeth, his feet screeching against the floor as the overexcited boy slowly pulled him, inch by inch, towards the presents.
Robin glanced around the room. "Where's Raven? Usually she's the earliest riser."
"Perhaps she wished to do the sleeping in this morning?" Starfire suggested, watching Beast Boy with fascination. "Robin, is there something wrong with friend Beast Boy? He looks like a ravenous orthax."
Robin could only shake his head in resignation, letting out a sigh.
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"RAAAAAAVEN!!!" The call echoed through the entire Tower, and particularly annoyed the violet-haired sorceress, as it jarred her out of her deep meditation. She sighed and rubbed her head as she stood and glanced at the clock. "5:30? Why is it necessary that we open presents this early?" she grumbled, heading for the door.
She paused just before opening it, and pressed a hand to her forehead. She hadn't forgotten what had happened last night. Did she really want to face Beast Boy again so soon? What if he'd meant it? She looked down at the floor, her eyes clouded. What if he hadn't? She swallowed, closed her eyes, and sighed. She had to go down, if only to save her poor eardrums.
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"Where is she??" Beast Boy demanded, staring at the presents with longing. "I wanna open my presents! RA-"
"Yes?" Raven responded, silencing him before he could begin his screech.
"There you are! Can I open my presents now?" he pleaded with the metal arms that were holding him back. Cyborg looked down at him, sighed, and released his hold. With a cry of glee, Beast Boy hurled himself at the tree, digging out all his presents in an amazing three seconds flat. As the other Titans stared, he ripped them open, seeing the contents of each with happy yelps.
The others stared for a moment, then shrugged and took their own presents. Raven sat herself on the couch and used her powers to levitate her wrapped gifts to her, sitting about as far away from Beast Boy as she could and not draw attention to herself. Robin and Starfire sat oddly close to each other, yet each blushed whenever they accidentally touched. Cyborg shook his head at them and reached for his own presents.
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An hour and several miles of wrapping paper and bubble wrap later, the tree was completely devoid of gifts. Beast Boy and Cyborg were duking it out at one of their new video games, a gift from Robin. Raven had immersed herself in a book from Starfire. And Robin and Starfire were nowhere to be seen. Apparently, both of them had skipped out sometime while the others were unwrapping their gifts.
The two of them stood together on the roof, watching the sun rise. Each held an unwrapped gift, having promised each other that they wouldn't unwrap them in front of everyone else.
"Robin?"
"Yeah, Starfire?"
"May I now unwrap this gift of Christmas you have given me?"
Robin glanced over at her, feeling his heart leap into his throat. The morning rays of the sun illuminated her orange hair and made her green eyes sparkle. She was so beautiful. The boy swallowed hard, wondering why she always made him feel so clumsy and…there was no word for it. Whenever he saw her, she made his heart flip over and his stomach twist into a tight knot.
"Robin?" Starfire repeated, frowning slightly.
Robin swallowed again and nodded. "Yeah," he replied quietly.
Starfire smiled brilliantly, causing Robin's heart to flip over for the hundredth time, and turned her attention to the small present she held in her hand. After a moment she glanced up to find Robin watching her.
"Robin? Will you not open the gift that I have given you?"
Robin was startled back into the present by her words, and discovered he'd been staring at her for the past several minutes. Turning a deep shade of red, he averted his eyes and looked at his own present. "Uh, yeah," he stammered, putting a finger under the wrapping paper of his gift and slowly pulling the tape away.
A cry of happiness from Starfire distracted him again, and he looked up to see her holding up his gift to her: a beautiful diamond necklace on a silver chain. He couldn't prevent a smile from lifting his expression at her obvious delight.
"Oh, Robin, it is wonderful!" the Tamaranean girl exclaimed, lifting Robin off the ground in a bone-crushing hug.
"Can't…breathe…" Robin squeezed out, and Starfire let out a startled 'eep' and dropped him.
"I offer you the apologies," she said, looking down at the snow covered top of the Tower.
"It's fine," Robin said quickly, as the last of the wrapping paper fell away from his own gift. It was a picture frame, silver and black, that enclosed a picture of him and Starfire at a carnival last year. It had been Starfire's first experience with cotton candy, Robin recalled. Just after the carnival, they had had quite a bit of trouble with Starfire's sister, Blackfire. But the picture showed none of that. It was of the two of them on the Ferris Wheel, fireworks in the background, while Starfire tried her first bite of cotton candy.
"Cyborg gave me the picture when I asked him what I should get you for this holiday of gift-giving. It is…agreeable?" Starfire asked, looking at Robin with worried eyes.
"It's more than agreeable, Starfire," Robin said, staring at the picture. "It's the best gift I could ever get." He looked up at her, and saw the necklace still dangling from her hands. "Here," he said, taking it from her and undoing the clasp. He fastened it around her neck, aware of how close they were.
She met his eyes as he looked up at her, and he could not move away. "Robin…you are my best friend…" Starfire began.
"You're mine, too," the boy replied, unable to take his gaze from her green eyes. "Nothing could ever change that."
"Then…there is nothing to fear?" she asked.
Robin shook his head slowly, and they moved closer together…
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"Hey, Cyborg. You think Robin wants to try?" Beast Boy asked his opponent as they finished their game.
Cyborg shrugged and turned around to scan the room. "Dunno, grass stain. He's not here, though. I'll go find him and ask." He was standing and walking out of the room before Beast Boy could protest, leaving him and Raven alone in the room.
Beast Boy stared longingly at the door, sighed like a condemned man resigned to his fate, and looked over at Raven. He was startled to make eye contact with her; she had put down her book.
"I, uh, noticed I didn't have a, uh, present from you," he stammered nervously, rubbing the back of his head.
"No," Raven replied simply, staring at him with an emotionless face.
"Yeah." Beast Boy nodded and looked at the floor, wondering how much longer he was going to live. Surely, after last night, Raven was out for his blood. He started when he heard her footsteps approaching him, and looked up apprehensively. She seemed to tower over him, almost menacingly to his mind. When she raised a hand, glowing black, which raised him to his feet, he started to get seriously scared.
"Uh…sorry about last night," he began, babbling in fright. "I…mmph!" He was cut off, suddenly and unexpectedly, not by Raven's powers, but by Raven's mouth.
When she stepped back, Beast Boy collapsed onto the couch, mouth hanging open and eyes wide.
"That was my Christmas gift to you," Raven stated, and turned away. She couldn't look to see his reaction. If his kiss before had been a dare of some kind, or just a joke, she didn't know if she'd be able to bear it.
Beast Boy's voice interrupted her thoughts. "So…you're not going to kill me?"
Raven shook her head, then felt Beast Boy's hand on her shoulder.
"Then…I hope you don't mind if I do…this," he said, turning her around and pressing his lips to hers.
Raven held back a moment, then surrendered into the kiss, wrapping her arms around him. A small, satisfied part in the back of her mind said, Finally. She told it to shut up, and turned her whole attention to Beast Boy.
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Out in the hall, Cyborg groaned. He'd gone up to the roof to seek out Robin, only to find the two of them involved in what seemed like a kiss that would never end. He'd snapped a few photos, did a little victory dance, and left them to it. After all, he'd been trying to get the two of them together for the past several months.
But this was too much. When had Raven decided to not only tolerate Beast Boy, but to fall in love with him? Cyborg had made a bet with himself that Raven would kill the shapeshifter before too much longer. Not only had he lost the bet, but things had turned out the exact opposite of what he'd assumed; a severe blow to his pride.
The half metal Titan gently beat his head against the wall of the corridor outside the main room. And it wasn't only that. Everyone in the Tower was involved in some sort of pair activity...except him. Why was he always the one left by himself at times like these?
Sharp footsteps, interrupting his moment of feeling sorry for himself, caused him to glance down the hall at their owner in surprise.
"Thought I might drop by, since we were in town. You're looking good, Sparky…"
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And that was the end of a very happy Christmas at Titans Tower. At least, until Cyborg started using the photos he'd taken as blackmail, and the rest of the team ganged up on him. But that's another story.