It behooves you to read the foreword for this series first, which you can find as the first chapter of "Showcase" on my profile.

This one may or may not be updated with other similar pieces, but for now I'll mark it as complete.

Chapter summary: The Titans get ready for Christmas.


Raven smells the pine before she hears the vacuum. It smells like an air freshener, one of the little toy like things Cyborg hangs over the rearview mirror in his car. It's airy and fresh and not at all what she expects to smell walking down the empty hallway to the Titans' living room. Nor does she expect to see the tiny green pine needles littering the floor, painting a direct path. A pine tree, she realizes. A pine tree has made its way through this hallway. She continues on, now in pursuit of answers as much as she's in pursuit of a cup of tea on this blustery winter morning.

As she nears the doors to the living room, she hears the telltale sound of the vacuum. It's loud and abrasive, especially at this hour, and definitely not what she wants to deal with once she steps through those doors. Or levitates, as the case may be. But she's come too far now. She can sense all four of her teammates on the other side of those doors, which means she's the only one out of the loop. They all do a lot of things she doesn't care for, but if nothing else, Raven does care to know what's going on. Answers first, then tea. Then leaving. Immediately.

Robin is very close to the doors when they open. He's wrestling with the extended cord of a vacuum cleaner while also trying to push it across the floor, a remarkably ungraceful feat for such a skilled acrobat. He looks up to greet her. "Hey, Raven," he says, and then continues to push the vacuum towards a concentrated scattering of pine needles. He's rather unbothered; merry, even.

When she realizes she senses the same feelings from her teammates, she sidesteps Robin and directs her attention to the other end of the room. Starfire is a colorful, tinkling blur as she darts up and around a large pine tree propped by the window next to their television like a hummingbird. She's stringing dim lights and delicately arranging ornaments retrieved from a large cardboard box on the floor. Occasionally, Raven catches glimpses of Beast Boy as a squirrel dashing in and out of branches, arranging ornaments of his own. Together, Raven can tell they've added quite a bit of adornment to an otherwise unremarkable pine tree.

Off to the side, Cyborg is fiddling with more cords. One clearly goes to the vacuum cleaner, but the rest disappear somewhere around the vicinity of the tree; Raven guesses they might power the lights.

When they notice her, Starfire waves. "Good morning, Raven!" Beast Boy chatters and flicks his bushy tail in greeting before retrieving another ornament.

"Hey, Rae," Cyborg says. He doesn't look up from the outlet where he's arranging the cords, doing his best not to tangle anything.

"Good morning," Raven says and heads for the kitchen area.

Robin must hear the uncertainty in her voice because he turns off the infernal vacuum, though the floor is still covered in a generous dispersion of pine needles. "Sorry about all this," he says, a little sheepish with a hand rubbing the back of his neck. Even through his mask his brow is furrowed, apologetic. "It's probably not what you wanted to deal with first thing in the morning."

Raven retrieves a small kettle and fills it with water before responding. "What is all this, anyway?"

"It is the Christmas, Raven!" Starfire says, speeding over to show her an ornament. It's a pale red orb with silvery, elegant cursive lettering spelling out "Merry Christmas".

"Not quite yet, Star. We're just getting ready for it," Robin says.

"Oh. It is almost the Christmas, then," Starfire says and retreats to hang the ornament from an as of yet unencumbered branch.

"Christmas?" Raven asks, retrieving a mug from a cupboard. She's a little surprised that this is something Starfire knows and she doesn't, but she tries to stay casual about it.

However, it seems Beast Boy can't really help himself. Next to the half full box of decorations, he shifts back to human and says, "Rae! Don't tell me you don't know what Christmas is."

Raven looks at him impassively.

"Seriously, Rae?" Cyborg says.

Frowning now, Raven says, "I wasn't exactly born here, you know."

"You didn't celebrate Christmas on Azarath?" Robin asks. He's leaning against the vacuum, most certainly intrigued.

"No."

"We do not recognize the Christmas on Tamaran either," Starfire says. "I have just learned about it this morning."

"Huh. Guess I never thought about it really being an Earth thing," Beast Boy says.

"Well, yeah," Cyborg says, standing up. "It's such a big deal, you'd think everybody celebrated it."

"Your life here on Earth isn't the standard for all life," Raven says.

"Who knew?" Beast Boy says, but he's grinning cheekily with his ears perked up.

"The way we live here isn't even the standard for Earth," Cyborg says, "but it is pretty common."

"Humans on Earth do not all celebrate this Christmas?" Starfire asks. She's floating by the top of the tree with a handful of ornaments. Raven is momentarily glad that Starfire doesn't know everything and that she isn't the only clueless one.

"No, just most," Robin says.

There is obviously another pressing issue on the tip of Starfire's tongue, but Raven saves the boys from tackling that difficult question, of which she only has an inkling. "Well, what is it, anyway?" she asks.

"It's Christmas! You know..." Beast Boy says.

"No," Raven says, "I don't." Her kettle begins to whistle, so she turns her back to them to finish preparing her tea. She's still hoping to get a quick, succinct answer and leave with her tea, her patience and sanity still intact. It's starting to look less and less likely with the circuitous way she's getting answers.

When everyone seems to be at a loss for words, Raven turns around, steaming mug in hand with her tea steeping. "Well? Didn't you have to explain this to Starfire this morning? When you dragged a whole pine tree into our living room?" For a moment, she focuses on Robin, who seems to be lost in thought, and then Beast Boy and Cyborg, who are looking at each other. Starfire is just as confused as she is.

"When you put it that way, it does sound kinda weird," Beast Boy says, mostly to himself.

"Well, yeah," Cyborg says. He steps down closer to the tree, where Beast Boy is still sitting, bemused. "It's just that…"

"Just what?" Raven asks when he trails off. A hard edge to her voice warns them that they're walking a fine line.

"We didn't really expect you to not know what Christmas was," Robin said. He preoccupies himself with straightening out the cord to the vacuum cleaner, which has become no more or less tangled in the time he's been standing there, idling.

"Why would I?"

"You're… I mean…" Beast Boy says. He thinks for a moment. "Starfire's, like, an alien, dude. Of course she didn't know what Christmas was. But you…"

He clearly senses the need for delicacy but doesn't know how to employ any tact. Raven would be happy to let him flounder, but she's irritated at their nearsightedness. "I'm from another dimension," Raven says, matter-of-factly. She shouldn't need to remind them.

"Yeah, but you're human," Cyborg says.

"Half. And didn't you just tell me that not all humans celebrate Christmas?"

"You're right, Raven," Robin says. Beast Boy and Cyborg seem relieved that he's taken over, since they'd been digging themselves a grave the more they stuttered. They're more than happy to pass the shovel to Robin. "We just hadn't thought about it is all. It took us by surprise."

"So, what? You won't explain it to me because you expected me to already know?"

Robin has a less eloquent response to that. "We're sorry, Raven," he says. "There's no reason we can't explain it to you too."

Earlier, when Starfire had come upon them hauling the recently chopped pine tree through the tower's hallways, they'd given her a watered down explanation. Skipping the religious connotations, they gave her the more immediately relevant secular version. Robin had a feeling that this wouldn't work as well with Raven, at least not for long, but the simplest thing was to try anyway. "Every year, people put pine trees in their living rooms and decorate them. Parents will put presents under the tree during the night for their kids to find Christmas morning, December 25th."

"That doesn't make much sense."

"It is about the spirit of giving, Raven!" Starfire says. When Raven raises an eyebrow at her, she deflates a little. "It is true, I do not much understand either, but…" She brings her hands together in a sedate show of glee. "It is colorful and musical and fun, and it is about spending time with family." Here, Starfire seems to cut herself off. She gives Raven a sad, meaningful look, and Raven understands why a holiday about giving presents to loved ones appeals to Starfire, who is so far from home. In considering this, Raven thinks Starfire is imploring her to understand, too. This is a common thread between them and Starfire is considerably more desperate to be and feel included.

It doesn't take empathic senses to realize that the mood has taken a somber turn. Of course—she and Starfire are the only ones so far from their homes, but Beast Boy and Robin had both lost their parents and Cyborg had lost his mother and all but disowned his father. Naturally, on a day for the express purpose of fostering familial love and generosity, they'd all be feeling a little dour. Raven had never experienced loss quite like they had, but as she looks around the room, the sunlight catching the ornaments on the tree and twinkling, she thinks that, as she's been getting to know her teammates, she could imagine how heavy the loss would feel.

Raven settles her gaze back on Starfire. "And we're family now," she states and truthfully, it sounds a little like an epiphanic "Oh."

The dazzling smile Starfire gives her could've blinded. "Oh, you do understand!" she says, flying over to Raven in a flash and gathering her up in her arms. Only Raven's quick reflexes and handy telekinesis save her tea from spilling. Over Starfire's shoulder, Raven sees Beast Boy and Cyborg sporting twin looks and, from what her empathy is telling her, she's sure that if she could turn her head she'd see a matching expression on Robin's face. It's a somewhat rankling mixture of fondness and amusement that Raven would prefer not to sense from them.

Wishing to put some space between herself and Starfire without being rude, Raven, almost instantly sorry for doing so, asks, "You said it was musical?"

As she'd hoped, Starfire pulls away. "Apparently humans have many songs for the Christmas festivities."

"You bet," Cyborg says from across the room where he'd taken the liberty of turning on the stereo. "You girls are going to be treated to some classics today."

While Cyborg and Beast Boy debate over which song to start with, Robin, trepidation in his voice, asks, "So this is okay? You'll celebrate with us?"

Starfire had returned to decorating the tree with renewed vigor. At the rate she's going and with the amount of ornaments still left in the box, Raven is sure that she and Beast Boy would have every branch of that tree adorned with some trinket before the day was over. Where had all those ornaments come from, anyway?

"You really want me to?" Raven says. Though she hasn't been on Earth long by this point, she'd spent enough time to be incredibly aware that, according to Earth customs, she was much more stoic and dark than people liked. Not really a demeanor conducive to celebrating anything, let alone as bright a holiday as Christmas seemed to be.

"Of course. You said it, we're family," Robin says, grinning even as the bickering over the stereo continues, an appropriate complement to his proclamation. She and Starfire may have quite a bit in common being as foreign as they are, but one thing Raven does not share with anyone else is that she's never really known a family. Before coming to Earth, she'd never given the matter any thought.

Now that she knows, though, there's no going back.

"Then yes. I'd like to," Raven says with some hesitation, but also with conviction. There is still a great deal she doesn't understand about what they're doing or why, and she has many questions she wants to ask, but she supposes she could ask later or do some research herself. She'd made her teammates happy enough for the moment and she doesn't want a repeat of their consternation with her dearth of understanding.

Robin, even without her empathic powers, is still very astute, and must infer what's going on in her head because he says, "I know it must seem really weird, and I can explain it more to you later, if you want. Starfire just got a more detailed explanation of the same thing since she's been here all morning."

Raven glances down at the pine needles covering the floor around them and says, "Wake me up next time. I can teleport the tree in for you."

Robin chuckles. "You can still teleport it out for us once Christmas is over."

"No more Mariah Carey!" Cyborg says, loudly enough that it's apparent this debate has been going on for a while and has reached a tipping point. "You played it on repeat all morning and it's about time we listen to something else."

"But Rae hasn't even heard it! And it's a classic!" Beast Boy says, exaggeratedly pouting in a way that suggests he's losing the argument and knows it.

"No, BB." Then he seems to find something on the screen on his arm because he forms a wide, mischievous grin. "Oh, but I think you'll like this."

Beast Boy leans over to read the song title and snickers. It doesn't take any more approval than that for Cyborg to select it, letting it blast throughout their living room.

There's a brief, jovial opening, before a woman's voice—a woman's? It sounds perhaps a little childish, or high or nasally. At any rate, the singer launches into her verse without further ado: I want a hippopotamus for Christmas…

Raven is bewildered. Robin groans, Starfire laughs, and Beast Boy transforms into a hippopotamus in the middle of their living room with his mouth open in something approximating a cheeky smirk.

Only a hippopotamus will do…

Cyborg claps, egging him on, as Beast Boy stomps around in a clumsy dance routine appropriate for something as bulky and uncoordinated as a hippo. Starfire takes another break from decorating to watch in delight as Beast Boy makes a joyous fool of himself. Raven wonders how her morning has devolved this far.

Don't want a doll, no dinky tinker toy…

Even Robin, who'd known this little performance was coming the moment the song opened, is beginning to enjoy it. There are no neighbors to bother and the tower is as strong and sturdy as anything, so having a hippopotamus dancing around their living room isn't of much concern. Nor is it all that odd for a mostly group of meta human teenagers. Beast Boy's stomping around might've scattered the pine needles again and shook the tree, sprinkling more pine needles onto the floor for Robin to vacuum, but he doesn't have the heart to put a stop to it.

I want a hippopotamus to play with and enjoy…

Beast Boy gives a deep bellow, prompting Starfire to float over and hug him around his thick neck. The gleam in his eye tells Raven that he is relishing giving the performance just as much as his teammates are enjoying watching it. It's goofy and ungainly, but Raven is glad she came for tea this morning.

I want a hippopotamus for Christmas… I don't think Santa Claus will mind, do you?

Before Raven could ask who Santa Claus is, Beast Boy, perhaps forgetting himself for a moment, turns to face her, looking as determined as a hippo can. She has the presence of mind to set her mug down (which she hasn't even gotten to try yet) before Beast Boy barrels over, making a grand ruckus the whole way. He snorts as he reaches her and nudges her with his sizable snout, especially compared to someone as small as her.

She groans.

He won't have to use a dirty chimney flue… Bring him through the front door, that's the easy thing to do.

She doesn't have a chance to threaten him. To her teammates' great mirth and her chagrin, Beast Boy pushes his snout into her hard enough to sweep her off her feet and then with a surprisingly gentle, controlled toss, flips her over to land sideways on his back, face up and covered by her hair and cape. She feels their anxiety but hears them laughing anyway and if asked, she would insist that she was only smiling because she was absorbing too much of their merriment.

I can see me now on Christmas morning creeping down the stairs…

"All I wanted was tea," Raven complains once she manages to properly rearrange her hair and cloak. Beast Boy flicks his tiny ears in what Raven interprets to be a rather sarcastic manner and thunders back over to the center of the living room as though to show off the prize on his back, who thankfully has not sent him to another dimension. Yet.

"Aw, don't tell me you're not having fun, Rae," Cyborg says, relaxed but standing protectively by the stereo. Beast Boy might be in hippopotamus form now, but his reflexes are too quick to be trusted and Cyborg suspects he might break something if they listen to one more rendition of All I Want For Christmas Is You before Christmas actually arrives.

Oh, what joy and what surprise when I open up my eyes and see a hippo hero standing there!

Before Raven could attempt to refute, Beast Boy gives an even louder bellow as though to say, Hey, that's me! He gives Starfire a wide, toothy, hippo-grin. Raven can't see very clearly, but it's actually kind of cute, if bizarre.

That is, until he bucks in his little hippo-dance, sending her into the air. Not to be caught unaware again, this time she catches herself and levitates away from Beast Boy, who doesn't seem to mind that he's lost a passenger. He's enjoying himself far too much.

The chorus repeats and Raven, feeling a little out of place amongst her more chipper teammates, floats back over to Robin and her abandoned tea. She's relieved to see steam still coming off her cup when she picks it up.

"This will all end after December 25th, right?" Raven asks Robin quietly. She finally takes a sip of her tea and while it tastes the same as it always has, somehow it's a little less satisfying than she'd like. It might have something to do with getting thrown over a hippopotamus's back, she thinks.

"Until next year." He leans back to kick the vacuum into gear again, its noise rivaling Beast Boy's shuddering steps and leaps. "Enjoy it while it lasts."

"Wait, Robin," Raven says, but her voice is drowned out by the combination of the vacuum, Beast Boy's stomping, and the music. It's a discordant cacophony, one that assaults more than soothes, but, she supposes, this is Christmas, and this is family. Maybe it's worth it to sacrifice her sanity every now and then, if this is what she earns in return.

Maybe.

Her musing is stalled when Cyborg, with a grin that promises nothing good, changes the song, shouting over the din that they'd all had enough of a hippo galumphing around their living room. Beast Boy snorts mightily but shifts back to human anyway. A few expectant beats later:

I saw mommy kissing Santa Claus…

Beast Boy howls with laughter and Cyborg looks far too pleased with himself. Raven's and Starfire are equally nonplussed. And Robin?

Robin casts a telling, worried glance up to the ceiling. He thoroughly scans the entirety of it before his shoulders relax and he continues vacuuming. Starfire catches this too and, realizing that Raven will be no help, she raises her voice over all the noise to ask: "Please, who is Santa Claus? And why is the mommy kissing them?"

Raven is glad Starfire is the one to ask because Cyborg snorts and Beast Boy's practically rolling. Starfire's a little embarrassed, but not too insecure, not like she would've been. Perhaps it's a good thing that Robin hadn't heard her call for him a minute ago.

Robin stops vacuuming long enough for Beast Boy to catch his breath and Cyborg to lower the volume so that they can speak without raising their voices again. Beast Boy, heaving and wiping tears from his face, waves a hand at Cyborg, leaving the explanation to him.

"Santa Claus is like the Christmas guy," Cyborg says, a little lamely. Picking up steam, he continues, "He's like a character for kids. He's big and jolly with a huge white beard and a red suit."

Cyborg is genuinely patient and Raven feels a rush of affection for him. She could escape now with her tea and what answers she'd gleaned so far, but she finds herself rooted to the spot, needing some sort of closure. Despite herself, she doesn't want to miss anything else.

"He lives in the North Pole and rides around the world in a sleigh pulled by reindeer, putting Christmas presents under the tree during the night for kids to find on Christmas morning." He frowns. "Now that I say that out loud, it does sound kinda weird…"

"Dude," Beast Boy says, "the more we try to explain Christmas, the weirder it gets."

"But it is just a story, yes?" Starfire asks.

"Yeah, Star," Robin says. "Like I said earlier, the truth is that parents put their kids' presents under the tree. They just tell their kids that it's Santa Claus."

"Believing in Santa Claus was the best," Beast Boy says. He roots through the box of ornaments and produces a flat glass one in the shape of a cartoon character that more or less fits the description Cyborg gave. He holds it up so that the sunlight glints off it, making this Santa character appear warm and vibrant.

"Bet you were the kid who tried to stay up to catch him," Cyborg says. Raven privately agrees that it does sound like something Beast Boy would do. But it also sounds like something Robin might do. And something even she might do.

But she doesn't think she and Robin would've done it as children.

"Oh, yeah," Beast Boy says. He smiles fondly at the ornament in his hand and then loops the string around an empty branch just above his head. Santa spins slowly in place, catching the light and then letting it go again, looking as silly as he did when Beast Boy pulled him from the box. "I always fell asleep, though."

"You were probably a busy kid," Cyborg says softly, briefly abandoning his post despite the music still playing, albeit at a rather low volume, to put a hand on his shoulder.

Raven wonders, but doesn't ask, when they all stopped believing. Part of her wishes she had had the chance to believe in something whimsical and magical like a jolly man bringing her presents to wake up to. Her magic was far more occult. Not so good for excited children, from what she understands of children.

Not to mention that she'd never received a present.

"Best present I ever got was a football," Cyborg says. It seems mundane, but he adds, "That was when I learned how to play and started getting interested in sports. It was the only time in my life my parents really supported it."

"Mine was a toy boat," Beast Boy says. How young he must've been to be entertained by something so simple, Raven thinks. It's hard to picture a young Beast Boy, content with a handheld boat.

Robin's eyes are cast downward, but he adds, "Mine was a cape." He tugs uncomfortably at his collar. That might explain why he includes a cape in his superhero getup.

"We did not have holidays for giving gifts on Tamaran," Starfire says slowly, "but I did receive many presents from my parents. I always loved the dresses." Her smile is a little sad and very wistful. It's been a long time since anyone gave her a new dress, something fanciful and fun instead of her more "practical" warrior garb, the clothes she wears on a regular basis. Raven has seen her in a dress before and it's a sight to behold.

A football. A toy boat. A cape. A dress.

Raven is dreading the impending question.

It comes from Robin. "What about you, Raven?"

"Yeah, what's the best gift you ever got?" Beast Boy asks.

They're all looking at her expectantly. Raven catches her reflection in her murky tea, observing her dispassionate expression looking back at her. She can't tell if it's forced. "I've never received one," she says. This never bothered her before, but she knows it'll bother them, and that bothers her. Part of her fleetingly wishes she'd never learned about Christmas.

What she hadn't known couldn't have hurt her. Until now.

"What? Seriously?" Cyborg says. Raven's silence is answer enough.

"That is unacceptable!" Starfire declares, hands on her hips. "I do not know what things were like where you grew up, but here, you are among family, and family give gifts."

"Now you're getting the spirit of Christmas!" Beast Boy says, rejuvenated. He jumps and transforms into a reindeer with impressive, elegant antlers. He stomps a hoof, raises his head, and pushes his chest out. Starfire doesn't know what it is she's looking at, but she's enraptured by the majesty of it.

"A reindeer, Star," Robin says. "Like Santa has."

"Oh, I see."

Lest Raven think she's off the hook, Cyborg walks over to her and asks, his voice warm and a little sorry, "You've really never gotten a present before, Rae?"

She shakes her head. Brings her tea to her lips. Doesn't look up until she does and his emotion combined with her own is enough to make her look away again.

Willing it to stop and feeling the need to offer an explanation, she weakly says, "It… wasn't the thing to do."

The truth is, gifts were not uncommon on Azarath, but they never came her way. The monks were too concerned about any attachments she might form or considerable surprise or happiness she might experience. Even positive emotions could be dangerous. Now she could keep things under wraps, but Azarath was long behind her. Anyone who might've ever cared to give her a gift had long since been dissuaded by the fear of what she was and what she could do; she didn't think her well-honed control would be enough to convince anyone that she was worthy of anything.

Except, of course, for the Titans.

"Guess we'll have to change that," Robin says and Beast Boy stomps his hoof again and snorts in support.

Raven gazes around at them, feeling the rush of affection she'd felt towards Cyborg earlier repeat itself as she regards each of them in turn. They look back unflinchingly, resolved and sentimental. Maybe the pacifist monks of Azarath were fundamentally put off by everything Raven ever was or could be, perhaps the denizens had even hated her, but her teammates really cherished her for who she was—or who they currently knew her to be.

That would have to be enough.

For now.

Raven would indeed enjoy it while it lasted.

"I think I already got a hippopotamus for Christmas," she says, gesturing towards Beast Boy. He whinnies in delight and changes back to a hippo, stretching his mouth open wide. Her teammates laugh, allowing her to deflect, but she can tell that she has more than one reason to look forward to December 25th. It feels a little weird but not unwelcome to be anticipating something good.

"By the way," she says, casting a suspicious look to Robin. "What were you looking for on the ceiling earlier?"

A moment of silence follows her question. "Ooh," Cyborg crows, "that's a great idea, Rob!" Beast Boy, understanding, turns into a hyena and rolls onto his back to give a wild, hysterical laugh. "I'll go get the mistletoe!" Cyborg says, jogging out of the living room.

"Mistletoe?" Starfire asks.

Robin flushes.

Though Raven's managed to nearly finish her tea, she decides to stick around. She wants to know what exactly "mistletoe" is, what it has to do with ceilings, and why Robin is looking so flustered while Beast Boy couldn't be getting more of a kick out of this.

There really is something to be said for having a pine tree in your living room and getting a hippopotamus for Christmas after all.