Standard disclaimers apply. Rated K+. Merry late-Christmas, everybody, and Happy New Year too.
Beast boy tapped on Raven's door and waited impatiently for her to open it. When she finally did, he smiled half-heartedly, handed her the red box with blue ribbons on it, and walked back to his bedroom with his hands in the pockets on his gray sweats. It wasn't the best Christmas ever; that was for sure. They were trapped together in the Tower while Cyborg was in Steele City so he could have Christmas with Bumblebee and Robin and Starfire were spending Christmas with Batman in Gotham. To top it off, Raven was pissed at him for something completely petty he doubted she even remembered. And he had worked so hard to find her the perfect gift too. He collapsed on his full sized bed and sighed heavily. He wondered if she would even bother opening the gift before she threw it away. That woman could hold a grudge. All he did was try to make her breakfast and ended up nearly blowing up the microwave. So a bit of the eggs he had been trying to make had splattered on her. At least she didn't get the worst of it like he did. He looked at the burns on his hands and sighed again. Weren't they punishment enough?
Depressed and lonely, he changed into his swim trunks and went down to the pool in the gym to do some laps. Raven joined him a few minutes later and sat with her feet in the water and a book in her hands. She didn't speak or even look at him. She just sat there. He sighed and pulled himself up next to her on the edge. Her violet eyes stayed on the pages of the ancient book. He sighed heavily again. "Hey."
She nodded. He stared at the water sadly. "I said I was sorry. At least you didn't get hurt."
"Whose fault is it going to be when Robin gets home and finds the broken microwave? I'm already on probation for breaking that lamp in the living room, Beast boy. I don't need to get blamed for your mistakes," she said seriously.
"I already called Robin and told him I broke the microwave so he wouldn't jump to conclusions," he assured her. She glanced at his hands and he quickly hid them behind his back with a nervous chuckle. "Like I said. At least you didn't get hurt."
"You wouldn't have gotten hurt if you hadn't shielded me." Raven turned the book over and he smiled softly at the title. It was the book he had gotten her after lots of careful thought. "This is an extremely rare book. Only four copies still in existence. I've been looking for one to send to the Great Library of Azarath. How'd you find one?"
"I remembered that there was a copy stolen from a bank vault in Gotham. I went looking for it in the evidence lockers. They never found the owner and it was going to be destroyed anyway so they let me have it after some begging." He left out the fact that he had been one of those robbers. He had only been nine so when those terrifying men kidnapped him from Africa and forced him to steal for them, he did what he was told. He had stolen that book easily. The owner never came forward because the rest of their safety deposit box was filled with illegal items.
"Oh. I'm glad it wasn't destroyed. The Great Library has a copy of every books or document in existence, did you know that? I used to spend hours there, reading and organizing. I promise the librarian I'd get the books she had yet to acquire for her. After I'm finished reading this, I'll send it to her. Thank you." She stood up and kissed the top of his head before slipping on her shoes and leaving with the ghost of a smile on her pretty lips and the book clutched to her chest. He grinned and dove into the water again. Best Christmas ever.
Crummy little Christmas story that's a bit late and doesn't have a lot of romance in it but I wrote it in thirty minutes so…yeah. I'm so tired from the chaos of Christmas so that adds to how suckish it is. So, reviews welcome, thanks for reading, all the usual stuff. I'm gonna go to bed after I post this damn thing before it's three in the fucking morning. 'Night.
