(A/N)- Wow, has it really been a month since my last update on this? Dang. Design school really does suck your time away. Ah well, at least the break is only in two weeks.

You get no props for guessing what inspired this.

Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Titans. If I did I probably wouldn't be spending all my spare time sewing.

Frustrations

There were very few things that could honestly, truly, make Herald afraid for his life.

A highly irritated Argent yanking open kitchen drawers and cupboards haphazardly was one of them.

The silver-skinned girl gave a frustrated growl as she forcefully slammed a cabinet door closed. Herald twitched, tensing up on reflex, but Argent paid him no mind, choosing instead to rummage around the insides of another cabinet.

"Uh… looking for somethin'?" he asked hesitantly.

A drawer banged closed as she replied, "I'm trying to see if there's any of my mum's rum left over from Christmas."

Oh great.

"What did Hot Spot do this time?" Herald groaned.

Argent fixed him with a cool, hard-edged stare. "I never said he had anything do with it."

Herald crossed his arms. "Girl, only three things around here ever made you feel driven to drink: Bad hair days, your parents calling, and Hot Spot." He gestured towards her. "Your hair looks perfect and I don't think I heard the Tower's phone going off so…" He trailed off and let the empty space speak for him.

Argent sighed heavily. She rubbed her arms and leaned back against one of the counters. "It's nothing really." she mumbled.

"No it's not. C'mon spill." Herald insisted.

"Quite frankly I'd rather not."

"Argent-"

"All right! All right! I just dropped him the most blatantly obvious hint and it flew straight over his head. Satisfied?" Argent blurted. She reached up and crushed a fistful of hair in her fingers. "An' to top it off I'm in a really bad hormonal mood…"

"Woah." Herald said, backing away immediately, hands raised. "Too much information."

Argent ducked her head. "Sorry!"

Herald coughed. "So uh… any way I can help?" he asked.

The New Zealander shook her head and turned around to look through the cabinets again. "Not unless you know where the rum is." she told him.

"Aren't you still underage?"

She shot back a glare that could have incinerated him and turned his bones to ash in a split second of horrendous agonizing pain. He gulped and managed to squeak, "Heh-heh. Never mind." He pointed towards the door. "I'll just-uh… yeah."

He was gone in a flash.

-TT-

Not more than half a minute later, the trigger of Argent's irritation himself wandered in. The flustered girl was still engrossed in her quest to locate the rum. Or failing that, a gallon of ice cream. Heck, anything greasy or sugary or otherwise highly unhealthy for one's body would suffice at this point. So it was no surprise that she didn't notice Hot Spot until the poor boy awkwardly cleared his throat and said, "Uh-"

"What?" she snapped, her head whipping briefly around in his direction before turning her attention back to one of the cabinets under the counter.

Stunned into silence, the pyro watched (or rather listened, as she was mostly sitting out of his sight on the floor) to her rummaging around for a moment. Every so often she tossed something out onto the kitchen floor. Small noises of frustration escaped from her lips.

Herald was right. She was definitely PMS-ing.

Hot Spot jumped a little as a pan hit the floor with a resounding clang! As its ringing reverberations died down he shifted something in his hands.

"Um… are you… okay Argent?" he asked hesitantly.

Argent sat back on her legs for a brief respite. "No." she said flatly. "I'm positively vexed and in dire need of alcohol."

Hot Spot held up the thing he was holding. "How about chocolate?"

The girl's head poked over the counter at him. Her crimson eyes were lit up with interest. "Chocolate?" she repeated, and her voice carried a slight but unmistakable hint of glee.

"Yeah… I kinda felt bad for blowing you off this morning." he explained, lowering his gaze to the counter. "It was dumb. I'm sorry." He looked up and found that she was standing, so he held out the box of her favorite chocolates to her and offered up an apologetic smile. "So I got you a peace offering."

She stared at the box. Hot Spot wondered if she thought it was going to bite her. "We cool?" he prompted.

Argent's eyes lifted to him.

And abruptly she burst into tears.

"Woah hey!" Hot Spot exclaimed, setting the box on the counter between them and then coming around it and taking hold of her shoulders. "What's the matter?"

"N-nothing." Argent managed to croak out. She could barely speak; her voice was choked up with near hysterical hormonally-induced sobs. "That's-that's just the nicest-" she hiccupped, "-thing you've ever done for me."

Hot Spot looked her up and down as he felt her shaking beneath his hands. Big wet tears dripped down her cheeks. He rolled his eyes. Jeez, girls were so-overemotional. "Well if you're gonna react by bursting into tears like a big baby don't expect me to do it again." he said, releasing her shoulders. Argent took the opportunity to rub her eyes furiously and attempt to blink her wayward tear ducts into submission.

"S'rry." she mumbled. "I just… that time o' the month ya know?"

Hot Spot clamped his eyes closed and grimaced. "I really didn't need to hear that."

A fresh burst of crying shook her small frame. Hot Spot sighed heavily and grabbed a couple tissues from a box by the sink. He crossed over to her, grabbed one of her wrists, and dabbed forcefully at her eyes.

"C'mon, stop it." he scolded. "You're ruining your eyeliner."

Argent inhaled a long breath then let it out slowly to calm herself down as he poked at her with the tissue. After a few more inhales and exhales like it, she felt her throat loosing up. Moisture still glistening in her eyes, she grabbed the tissue from Hot Spot's hand, blew her nose, then finished wiping off her face.

"Thanks love." she said, smiling for the first time that day.

He shifted uncomfortably, reaching around behind for the box of chocolates. "You gonna eat these or what?" he asked, holding it out to her again.

She'd torn off the top and ripped away the tissue paper inside before he could even blink. Taking the box from him and tossing away the paper she plucked one of the chocolates out and popped it into her mouth.

Her eyes closed in an expression of pure bliss. She made a breathy sound of contentment.

"You're welcome." Hot Spot turned to head back out. Before he got very far, Argent captured him around the neck with her arm and pressed her lips to his cheek. He blinked in surprise as she withdrew with a warm smile. She leaned back against the counter and absorbed herself in her chocolates and his hand drifted unconsciously to his face.

"Oh…kay then." he said, deciding it was best to just wander out of the room. He left his friend to her own devices and did just that.