Hello everyone! I apologize in advance if they are a bit out of character, and if you have any suggestions on how to fix their OOC-ness please let me know! ~Orin
Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans…I do however own a stuffed tiger. Her name is Shimmers.
Special Thanks to LizzyLizzer for Beta-ing for me!
Summary: Cyborg and Raven bond over cooking. Friendship/Sibling Fiction!
"Speech" 'Thoughts' (Sounds)
Flour and Grease
Raven was in the kitchen when Cyborg walked in at 1:41 am.
For a moment his half-asleep mind could only process that unusual occurrence, and then he realized what he was really witnessing: a teenage girl's attempt at teaching herself how to cook.
She had smears of flour on her cloak, a bit of batter in her hair, and what looked like a piece of eggshell sitting on her shoulder.
Cyborg had to keep himself from laughing.
"Raven?" he asked, after he had calmed down enough to hide most of his amusement. "Whatcha up to at this time of night?"
Her shoulders went stiff. She turned around slowly until she faced him.
She was scowling, but the flour smeared on her nose probably took away from the desired effect.
"What does it look like I'm doing?" she said fidgeting with the corner of her cloak. Her voice was laced with irritation, but her eyes never quite met his, and, as Cyborg knew, if she were really angry, you would be the one avoiding her eyes.
"It looks like you got into a fight with the ingredients to a cake," Cyborg shot back smiling. "I was hoping that you would fill me in on the details."
She turned back around to her bowl and picked up the mixing spoon again before answering.
"I'm trying to make pancakes," She replied in her usual monotone–though it somehow came out sullen.
Cyborg looked at her back wide-eyed in apprehension, but quickly schooled his expression.
"What's the occasion?" He asked, walking up beside her, next to the cabinet.
"I just wanted some pancakes," Raven replied, in the same tone. "No one else was awake."
Cyborg nodded and watched as she examined the batter.
After stirring it a few times, she grabbed the box and stared at the directions.
He wondered how many times she'd done that so far.
"Would you like some help?" Cyborg offered tentatively. "I was coming in here for a snack anyway, and pancakes sound pretty good."
She looked up at him a moment, searching his face, before giving a quick nod.
"I am trying to figure out what I did wrong last time," She admitted. "They didn't come out anything like you or Beast Boy make them."
"Yeah," Cyborg agreed with a small smile. "They didn't turn out last time, but then I don't think anyone's ever made pancakes right their first time on their own."
"Really?" She turned to look at him again, flour still smeared across her nose, making her appear much younger than her sixteen years, even though her eyes belied her appearance.
"Yeah," Cyborg smiled. "The first time I made pancakes I ended up putting way too much butter in the pan, made 'em all soggy and burnt the outsides. My mom was teaching me how, but she had to go get the phone, and left me alone in the kitchen for about five minutes. When she came back she laughed when she saw me trying to scrape out the evidence of my first try and feed it to the dog."
Cyborg looked back down at her with a small happy smile, "At least if yours' don't turn out again we can feed them to Star. My dog just turned up his nose and walked away."
Though her face remained passive, her eyes smiled with him.
"Why don't you go get cleaned up, and we can see about getting us a midnight snack?" Cyborg suggested. He pointed to the side of his nose. "You have a bit of pancake mix right there."
She blushed and pulled her hood up.
"I'll be right back," she said, and then sank into the floor.
Cyborg inspected her work.
Strangely, the only thing in the kitchen that had been messy was her.
There was a bit of pancake mix around the bowl and the pancake box, but the rest of the space was spotless.
Cyborg shook his head.
How had she managed that?
He picked up her bowl and gave it a stir to check its consistency. It was just right, which made him wonder how long she had been worrying over it before he had walked in.
He got down a skillet (something she had neglected last time) and a couple of spatulas, and went over to the fridge and got out the margarine. As he was doing so, Raven walked out of a portal, with no further evidence of any pancake mix, batter, and eggshells visible on her person.
He gave her a once over with a critical eye that bespoke his experience in the kitchen.
"You might want to take off your cloak," Cyborg said, handing her a spatula. "This time you get to use a spatula instead of your powers. Your cloak might get in the way."
She silently followed his instructions, folding the cloak and placing it on the table, far away from where they were going to be cooking. Walking back over to her team mate, she watched as he scrubbed his hands in the sink.
"You should wash your hands too," He said, grabbing a clean towel out of the drawer beside the sink. "My mom always told me to wash my hands before handling food, even if I was cooking only for myself."
"That makes sense," Raven said, rolling back her sleeves.
After she finished washing her hands, she picked her spatula back up and went over to Cyborg's side. She watched him carefully as he took his own spatula, scooped out a bit of margarine, and plopped it down into the skillet before turning the heat on medium. Raven mentally took down notes on every movement he made.
"Now we have to wait until the butter melts completely before we can put any batter in," He said, swirling the margarine around with his spatula. "If your pan isn't hot enough or is too hot the batter won't cook evenly. Last time you cooked pancakes, your cooking surface was too hot."
Raven nodded, her eyes locked on the skillet.
Cyborg glances back over to her with a smile. "Can you get the plates down?"
She nodded again and used her powers to open the cabinet door, pulling out two plates and setting them next to the stove.
"Thanks," he said, watching the butter begin to sizzle. "Okay now we can add the batter. Here. Hold the skillet for a second while I pour."
She grasped the pan and watched him as he poured some batter into the skillet, just enough to make a small pancake.
"You start out with a small one to check the temperature of the pan," Cyborg continued, answering her unspoken question. "This way, if the skillet is still too cool you are able to cook it without burning it, or it becoming a gooey mess."
Raven nodded, giving him back the pan, and watched the pancake until she noticed it starting to bubble in the center.
"Should we flip it now?" She asked, looking up at him.
"Not yet," He replied, his eyes on the pancake. "You have to wait until it bubbles cover the entire pancake."
As they watched, the bubbles slowly increased in number until they covered the entire surface.
Then Cyborg moved.
"Now we flip it," He said, doing so with practiced ease.
He pressed his spatula down onto the golden-brown pancake.
They waited for a minute or two in silence, observing the pancake, before Cyborg moved again, flipping it to inspect the other side.
Deeming it done, he picked it up and placed it on the plate, before adding another bit of butter to the pan.
"Now it's your turn," He smiled, stepping away from the stove.
She watched the butter melt–much quicker this time since the pan was already hot–and then she held the pan with her powers while she poured in a normal amount of batter. She looked over her shoulder and Cyborg gave her a thumbs-up.
Turning back to the pan, she saw the pancake begin to bubble on the edges. When the entire surface was bubbling, she slid her spatula under the pancake, as she had watched Cyborg do, and flipped it.
It splattered.
She watched it sizzle all over the pan for a moment, in shock, before Cyborg was there, standing over her, his arms working around her small frame.
It was strange, instead of making her feel small and fragile compared to his oversized frame, it made her feel protected, even if she didn't need protection.
He packed all of the splattered batter back into the main circular shape, with quick efficient movements, and then he pressed down on the pancake so that it sizzled.
"There," he said stepping back, and relinquishing control back to the empath. "Don't worry when that happens. Just scoop it back together. It'll taste just the same."
She didn't turn around. Instead, she continued to observe the pancake, and waited for a while before flipping it and checking the other side's color. Satisfied, she scooped it up and placed it on the plate on top of Cyborg's pancake.
Cyborg nodded with a smile. "You've got it now."
She felt her face heat up and turned quickly so he wouldn't see. Scooping up a bit of butter as she had watched Cyborg do, she plopped it into the pan and watched it sizzle and melt before once again adding the batter.
Cyborg waited as she repeated the process, until finally the last of the batter was gone.
She placed the pan and spatula in the sink. Cyborg retrieved the syrup from the cabinet before adding his own spatula to the pile. They divided the pancakes between them, Cyborg having the substantially larger pile, and settled down at the table to eat in a comfortable silence.
After they finished their meal, they washed the dishes together, still silent, but as they started to walk away from the commons, Raven paused.
"Thank you." Her voice was its usual monotone, but Cyborg detected a hint of warmth in her tone.
"Anytime," He said, watching her walk away.
The time was 3:13 am when Cyborg stretched out on his charging station and initiated sleep mode. His stomach was quiet (for the moment), and his heart a little warmer having seen a side of his team mate that he was sure no one else had had the chance to.
Two weeks of life and crime fighting later, everything was the same.
Neither Cyborg nor Raven mentioned their night of bonding over pancakes.
Life went on like normal.
He and Beast Boy played video games, Robin and Starfire spent more and more time with each other, Raven and Beast Boy argued over personal space, and Cyborg and Raven still worked on the T-car when they needed a moment of peace. Raven was just as endearing with smudges of grease on her face as she had been with pancake mix smeared on her nose, though Cyborg wasn't going to be the one to tell her that even if he was pretty certain that she viewed him like a big brother and wouldn't kill him for the comment. Not on purpose, anyway.
Everything was the same–until one night, Cyborg heard a knock at his door.
His internal computer informed him that it was 1:23 am.
He groaned as he rolled off of his sleeping platform and plodded over to the door.
'If that's Beast Boy,' Cyborg groused mentally. 'He is gunna wish he had never crawled out of his bed.'
He was surprised when his door slid open to reveal Raven holding a cartoon of eggs.
She was looking down at her feet, but eventually turned her gaze up to meet his. Though most of her face remained shadowed by her hood, Cyborg could still see her nervousness in the stiffness of her shoulders.
"Would you teach me how to make an omelet?" She asked.
Cyborg grinned. His grumpiness vanished at seeing his darkest teammate's endearing nature reappear.
"How'd ya know I was getting hungry?"
A/N: How did ya'll like it? I apologize again if they were a bit out of character, but I love the idea of Cyborg teaching Raven to cook. In my mind Raven is adorable for her lack of knowledge in all things domestic. My dad taught me how to cook pancakes when I was about four-years-old and I thought about my feeling when I was learning and the feelings I had when I have taught others and tried to portray both here. Let me know if you can think of a way to improve my writing. Thanks for reading! ~Orin