I know this is slightly early for a Christmas offering but I'd rather do it now than wait and forget about it. Happy holidays…and I'm really hoping for the Teen Titans as a Christmas present…please?
Christmas slipped quietly on the world that year. The tree was put up happily but with great exhaustion a few days prior, they had been run into the ground with all the criminal activity. The day itself started with silence and the scent of tea gently wafting through the air.
Raven turned over only to be met with empty sheets in place of her lover. She blinked tightly and leaned up before smelling the tea and smiling, he was the only one that could stand to be up earlier than her. She slipped on her violet silk robe and slipped out into the kitchen. She knew that he was aware of her moving towards him- she knew that he was aware of every living thing at all times, he stood there in only the loose black shorts he wore to bed, scarred back shone dimly in the muted light of the waking city that sat on the far side of the bay. As she wrapped her arms about his neck he turned her palm towards him and pecked it lightly she whispered sleepily into his back "Morning my monster"
He turned and kissed her lightly on her dark lips "Did I wake you?" she shook her head and the soft purple locks brushed up against his tattooed chest, she looked up into the cold green eyes and leaned her chin against his chest with an odd look on her face "What?"
"You got cut…" she stood on the tip of her toes and ran her tongue across the thin trail of blood that traced his lip.
He chucked and she smiled at the rare sound "Out of all the women I got the bloodthirsty one"
She smirked "No, you made me the bloodthirsty one" again he laughed quietly and she buried her face in his chest happily. One of his own green arms wraps tightly against her thin waist while the other taps lightly on the tea cup, drawing her attention to the prepared cup of her favorite warm drink.
The next member up found the duo sitting on the large couch, Raven reading while snuggled up to Chimera who appeared to be meditating until he spoke "Merry Christmas Jinx."
The pink sorceress hobbled over and wrapped her arms around both of them before shuffling away with a quiet "You too" as her thin fingers ran through her hair that was down rather than in it's normal style. Robin entered next eyes not bothering to open as he staggered to the coffee maker and pouring the brewed drink.
Starfire welcomed the morning of Christmas with prancing and much loud talking. Only to be silenced when Raven said quietly "Star, relax, Christmas won't end for a good long while and the rest of us didn't get a chance to sleep after the Mod call" Star apologized and sat next to Robin with a bright smile as they waited for Cyborg.
After half an hour the pink haired sorceress stood up "Fer Christ sake I'm gonna get him up!" and she stormed off …there was a smack, a yelp and then both of them walked into the room.
Cyborg staggered over to the stove "Aight, aight, I'm up, I'm up" with a bone cracking yawn he continued "Merry Christmas guys" they all responded in kind before the group sat around the tree. Cyborg asked "Hey, Chi, I know you grew up in Africa but did you guys celebrate Christmas?"
The morphling rocked a little and Raven moved into his lap "A bit, but not in the traditional sense. We overlapped it with a village feast day and we got everyone little things. It was on the first new moon of December, that's how they marked it." Raven cupped his cheeks as he looked down. She was the only person who knew how much he missed his parents.
Robin stood up and stretched "Alright, lets get out the presents!" followed by a cheer from three of the titans. Presents for Robin were always hand made, what else could you do? Buy one of the richest men on earth something? A new uniform courtesy of Cyborg and Jinx, one that rather than Robin was that of Nightwing. From the girls he got a scrapbook of every mission they had ever been on. But to be honest the green wrapped box scared him, he knew Chimera only tolerated most people and that he wasn't one of his favorites. But he was a friend at one point so he did open it. He was amazed, thousands of thin strips of light wood were almost sewn together and he unrolled it like a scroll, delicate lines of ink worked down each one as he gasped "impossible".
Cyborg nosed over "What is it?" he looked over Robin's shoulder "aw, man you got me all worked up over a bunch of scribbles!"
The receiver of the gift smacked his friend upside the head "It's the Art of War, hand written in the same style it would have been when it was first created. By hand…" he looked up in awe.
Raven pouted "You have no idea how annoying it was to wait for him to finish that, he wouldn't come to bed until he did something like thirty of those perfectly, I mean one smudge and it had to be redone!"
Robin, Star, Jinx and Cyborg stared at her before they picked their jaws off the floor and Jinx got a mischievous look in her eyes "'Wouldn't come to bed' you say, hmmm…" to the shock of them again Raven smirked deviously and lifted her brows suggestively.
They moved on to Starfire, who took joy in things she hadn't seen before, things that Earth had that she didn't understand made her smile and laugh. She always was an odd one. For each thing she got the Titans would spend time explaining the piece. From Cyborg and Jinx she got a very old hourglass, the wood base carved from a dark wood that stood out brilliantly against the near white sand. From Raven she got a cocktail set and a note that said Be brave and go for it, she blushed beet red while Robin looked over and didn't get it. Sometimes it's the little things that get used for blackmail. Said clueless leader gave the alien the complete set of Star Wars and a promise to watch the entire thing with her, needless to say she was going to that to use…possibly along with Raven's gift. With no fear she tore open the green box- she had spoken with the bleak morphling on many occasions since he had killed those using his name, no matter what he always wished her well. Inside was something she had never seen before, a hoop of wood with netting inside and feathers around it "Friend Chimera, what is this?"
"It's called a dream catcher Star, the first people on this land made them to keep nightmares at bay, they believe that dream catchers would allow Asibikaashi to watch over them"
Jinx stared "And when did you learn all this?"
"…Dave's wife is full native, she lived on a reservation until she got a job in Jump, she and I spend a lot of time at the shop" the little shop was his little haven, a place where he could just be an artist, and a damn good one. Starfire leaned over and hugged her friend.
Next was Jinx, the little joker already had almost every gag device known to men by the time Robin and Starfire were done. The pink sorceress looked over at her darker counter part who simply handed her a box, which when opened had a copy of the book of Azarath, Jinx stared open mouthed for a long moment "Y-your giving this t-to me?" Raven nodded as tears flooded the hex-mages eyes and hugged Raven tightly. Her lover quietly handed her a small package, roughly the size of a car battery, she looked at it suspiciously for a long moment before undoing the pink glittery paper (after a long moment of puzzling over that mystery) and pulled out a silk stuffed light brown rabbit with button eyes.
As she ran her fingers over the soft fur she ran across the name of the creature, sewn into the bottom of a foot was the name "Ichabod" she looked up at him, tears in her eyes as she pulled it tightly into her chest. He looked sheepishly as he scratched the back of his head "You told me about your pet once…" she smiled softly before cradling the rabbit and sitting in her beloved's lap.
Her green box was small, only the size of a wallet, she slowly undid it enough to see four pieces of paper, three were addresses, she looked up confused before he motioned her to turn them over. Each of the paper had one word written on the back Gizmo, Mammoth, Mom & Dad. She picked up the last piece with trembling hands. A plane ticket, the little girl, stolen from her parents when she was little, stared at him for a long while before whispering "Thank you" he nodded with his own small smile and Jinx realized she would be able to see her family again.
Cyborg didn't look surprised when he was elected to go next, and was only mildly when Robin handed him tickets to the third annual Jump Car show, his surprise might have been slight but his happiness was not. Starfire looked at Raven and nodded, the duo grabbed their present before shoving it into his hands, inside were the directions to a new laser cutter, he looked at them agog then back to the paper in his hands "T-this hasn't even come out yet!"
Raven just smirked knowingly "Indeed" she took a sip of tea "It was a bit heavy so we just put it in the garage"
His own green package was ripped open to find a small leather notebook, he flipped the pages before looking at Chimera "Poems and lullabies…okay…why?" with a smirk he looked at Jinx.
The pink haired woman took a deep breath "Because of my present" she took his large hand and put it across her lower stomach, in silence he stared uncomprehendingly for a long moment "Can you feel it? That's our child" his blank face turned into a huge grin as he pulled her into his embrace. The Titans took a short break to 'ooh' and 'awe' over the good news.
Raven found Gar in a corner away from the others "She told you?"
He shook his head "Rather, it's impossible to hide life from me" she nodded as the group started to reassemble back around the table.
Raven was selected to go next and she sat in her chair with her cup of tea before she even reached for the presents leaving those that were hopping with excitement (Starfire, Jinx and Cyborg) jumping in their chair helplessly. From Jinx she got a grimore that was ancient, the binding had been repaired countless times yet it needed to be mended again. From Starfire she got a small book of Tameranian spells and from Robin she got a incense that the dark one had been after for a long time. From her 'big brother' she got an egg, one that was her namesake, kept warm in a portable incubator he smiled at her shock "It should hatch in the next day or so and with your little lover boy there" he pointed to the green man "you should have no problems with it" Raven hugged Cyborg before scuttling back to her spot to find the green package resting on the table. She slowly undid the wrapping to find a slim black box, inside nestled in velvet was a silver chain with five charms, on one side was a trio of comets flying in a circle, tails nearly touching, next was a padlock, on the other side was a cat's eye and a howling wolfs head, in the center was a small wire mesh basket with two amethyst studs in it.
She looked at him with curiosity "I understand the charms, Emotion, Restraint, Instinct and Fenris but what are the earrings for?"
He kissed her forehead as he walked past to put his own tea bowl in the sink "They were my mother's favorite earrings".
Several weeks before the holiday season Robin sat on the couch staring out over the bay towards the city the other Titans, save Chimera were with him watching the masses "The question is what do we get Chimera?"
Raven smiled as they seemed stuck, she heard many…interesting…ideas, a moped (which he had outgrown), alcohol (which was intensely bitter to his hyper sensitive tongue), horror movies (way too close to home for him) and porn…that left her slightly offended. But in the end she said "Memories" and she walked away leaving the others to ponder that.
Chimera knew he was anything but liked by many-respected, tolerated, feared. But not liked. He wasn't nervous but he really didn't know what to expect as he looked quite uncomfortable with the pile of gifts in front of him. Starfire giggled "Well come on let us see what you have been gifted!"
From Robin he gently held out a worn chess set made of marble "Out of all the boards I have that is the one I first beat Bruce on…" Chimera slowly, reverently ran his hand over the smooth surface and gave the leader a thankful nod.
Cyborg handed him a small box, inside was a single picture and a peach seed "Remember that picture? We were at the park and eating fruit and we talked for a long time?" Gar nodded, it had been one of the first weeks as Titans, at the time both of them had major issued "That was the first time I felt human since the accident. You helped me feel human" Gar smiled lightly before pulling the bright pink present towards him.
Inside the Barbie colored parcel were several photos, Jinx in different Titan uniforms "That was when we first got in the tower. Keep going" the shuffling from one scene to the next stopped. He stared at this one for a long moment "…that was when you came back from dealing with Kitten, the first time you slept in front of us. Dead to the world" and she laughed. Slightly mortified Chimera stared at the picture, he was in cat form while Jinx, Starfire and Raven took turns getting their photo with the green feline who looked slightly dead.
Next was orange, inside was an odd stone, it looked roughly like his thumb and he rolled it in his hands, the cool weight of the blue rock was pleasant against the heat in the room "That is what you would call the 'key' for my ship, I have no more use for it and I know that you always wanted a vehicle" she smiled brightly.
Gar matched it with a sinister smirk "Oh, I'd love to see their expression when I park this in the drive through for that fast food place up the street"
The other titans shuttered before Star muttered quietly to herself "What have I done?"
Raven blushed as she handed him the large present. He pulled the top off and blinked several times before laughing. Laughing so hard that he was rolling on the ground holding his sides. The others peaked in to see the chicken the first gift the dark girl had received from the then-boy. But he reached deeper into the gift and pulled out a small arcane ring, a iron adornment with a human skull and runes carved all around the band "That was the ring that helped my mother summon Trigon…" he slipped the ring onto his right pinky and glanced questioningly at Raven who nodded "It's safer with you than anywhere else I could think to put it."
Slowly he leaned back in the chair and the wood creaked under his weight. The rest of the group slumped in their own chairs and the zoned against the quiet morning air.
"I think Christmas was always I time for memories, each of us has traveled a long road, yet here we are. United"