Hello hello my friends! It is I, Foamy, here with another chapter for this lovely story that I'm having way too much fun writing. Truthfully, this chapter was supposed to roughly double this size, but I decided to split it into two chapters so that it wouldn't overwhelm my readers. I should be able to post the next chapter next weekend, providing work doesn't get in my way.

Now for my beloved reviewers!

Allen Blaster- If you liked that gift, wait til you find out the full extent of what she got him!

Toto01- Yes, go get ready for the party! You're all invited anyways lol. And as to what happened to Eugene...well...you'll find out next chapter! xD

RPGPersona- Who knows if Raven is going with him or not? Oh wait, I do! xD As for the mug incident, it didn't happen in the story, it was one of those behind the scenes kinda things. And yes, Jack's store will probably make more appearances in stories I write. It's actually designed after a real store that I find amazing. And yes, Raven is in need of a serious meditation session, though I am thinking that the next time her Pride kicks in she'll realize she's long overdue for one.

Azarath Cat- I'm sorry you didn't like their disagreements, but every story needs conflict! Their bickering most certainly won't stop here lol. And just wait until I bring in a few more characters to stir things up!

- I'm happy you liked it! I hope you like this one too!

Latisha McPeanuts- I'm happy to see you like this story of mine too! I hope you like this chapter ^_^


"Aaaannnddd they are gone!" Cyborg called out. Immediately, Robin whipped around and shouted.

"Titans, go!"

Raven turned to find her target. When she did, she held out her hand and spoke her mantra. "Azarath Metrion Zinthos!"

Her dark magic enveloped the object and it leapt into the air, stretched taunt. She carefully maneuvered it to its appropriate spot and hung it. As she released the banner, she smiled a little. It read "Happy 17th Birthday Beast Boy!" and had everyone's faces painted on it by Martin and Emelia. She looked around the room. Cyborg had left to retrieve the cakes and ice cream from the basement where he had hid it. Fixit was corralling the kids into the living room. Starfire was setting up a few more banners about the room. Robin was pulling out various rolls of wrapping paper.

Raven raised an eyebrow at him. "You haven't wrapped his presents yet?"

Robin grinned evilly. "Sure have. But I had a thought…"

She followed his grin to a pile of empty boxes, all different sizes. She couldn't help but smiling a little more.

"That's messed up, Robin."

Her friend just laughed. "He deserves it after duct taping my gift together this year."

The empath just shook her head as she headed to the living room. She wouldn't say it loud, but she was a bit excited about today. A part of her was really, really hoping Beast Boy liked her gift even though she thought it paled in comparison to the gifts the others got him.

Still, she was going to look at this optimistically.

"Mommy, are we going to wrap daddy's presents now?"

Raven nodded. "Yes."

A brief chant and a dark portal to her room opened up. She reached in and drug out the box from the other day. Without opening it, she began to use her magic to wrap the gift.

Emelia hopped in front of her. "Mommy! No magic!"

Startled, Raven released her hold on her magic and the box dropped to the floor with a thump. She looked at the box then to her daughter. "Why not?"

"Cause if we do it by hand, daddy will know and like it more." Emelia said knowingly.

"He will?" The empath asked, confused.

"Yup." Emelia grabbed the wrapping paper and held it up. "Daddy will know you did it by hand because of your scent on the paper."

Raven blinked. "My scent?"

"Yup!"

Raven stared at her smiling daughter for a moment before speaking slowly. "And just what do I smell like that you father can identify so easily?"

The little girl giggled. "Sugar cookies!"

Raven stared at her daughter for a few more minutes before lifting her wrist to her nose and sniffing, then sniffing her cloak, followed by sniffing her arm. Nonplussed, she looked back to the little girl. "Okay, I don't understand. Nothing I wear smells like sugar cookies."

Emelia immediately shook her head. "Noooo. YOU smell like sugar cookies! Like, your natural scent smells like freshly made sugar cookies."

"And how, exactly, do you know this?"

"Because I can smell them too!" Emelia giggled.

"Hmm…." Raven murmured thoughtfully to herself as she set about wrapping the box. She and Emelia were sitting in front of the couch, while the others were scattered about the room. When they had finally finished wrapping the infernal box (she had learned to HATE tape rather quickly), she turned to the little girl beside her.

"Emelia, can you tell me what Uncle Cyborg is doing without looking or using your mind?"

The little blonde girl scrunched her face up and inhaled deeply. Her face turned thoughtful for a moment, then she looked at her mother. "Uncle Cy is in the kitchen eating the ice cream!"

"Oh he is?" Raven's eyes began to glow. Behind her, she heard a 'huh?' followed by a yelp and whack.

"Raven! What was that for?!" Cyborg called out from the floor as he rubbed his head and glared up at the floating spoon.

"Stay out of the ice cream until the party." She ordered. Her empathic abilities let her know that her friend was resentful, but that he also complied. Satisfied, she looked back at the box and contemplated where she could hide it.

"Mommy, what's a 'grumpyass empath'?" Emelia asked.

Raven froze for a moment before turning slowly to her daughter. "Emelia…where did you hear such language?"

Confused, the child pointed over the couch. "Uncle Cy just said it."

Raven hadn't heard a thing said, but two things were now apparent. One, Emelia had Beast Boy's enhanced sense of smell. Two, she had Beast Boy's enhanced sense of hearing.

Despite this interesting turn of events, Raven had to turn her attention to something more pressing.

"Cyborg." She called out.

"I didn't even look at the cake!" He yelled out defensively.

"Emelia heard what you said."

The temperature in the room seemed to drop as Raven's icy cold voice echoed throughout the room with those words. Cyborg stopped what he was doing and very, very slowly turned his head to look in her direction. Robin, Starfire, and Fixit stopped what they were doing to watch. Martin, lost in his own little world talking to one of Fixit's little dog-like robots, paid them no attention.

"You know what's fixing to happen, don't you?" Raven glared at her brother-figure.

"Oh crap." Cyborg whimpered as shadows billowed out from the irate empath. Before he could utter an apology, she flung him out the window.

"Sooooooorrrrrrrryyyyyyyyy!" He cried out as he fell into the bay like a twelve ton brick.

Raven turned to Emelia, who was very confused at this moment. "Emelia, you mustn't use speak like that again. It's very rude and I won't allow it. Understand?"

The little girl obviously thought she was in trouble and teared up. "I'm sorry Mommy, I won't do it again!"

Raven wrapped her arms around her little girl. "It's alright, you aren't in trouble. You didn't know those are bad words adults use when they're upset."

Emelia sniffled and shook her head. Raven pet her head until her sniffles stopped. Afterwards, she kissed her daughter on her head and told her to go wash up while she cleaned up. Emelia nodded and darted towards the bathroom.


From the other side of the room, Robin watched. After about ten minutes, he nudged Starfire's arm and the alien princess looked up from her green and blue polka dotted wrapping paper.

"What is it, Robin?" She asked.

He gestured at Raven. "Did you see that?"

Starfire followed his gaze. "I saw friend Raven through Cyborg out the window, yes."

"No, I mean after that."

"I am afraid not. What did she do?"

Robin spoke quietly to as to make sure Raven couldn't hear him. "When she turned back to Beast Boy's present…she smiled. Like, smiled smiled."

"Is that so?" Starfire asked as she turned away to hide her grin. "Why would that be unusual?"

"Well for one thing-"

The common room door opened, revealing a thoroughly soaked Cyborg. He looked a tad irritated.

"Raven…Did you really have to throw me into the water?" He complained. "I'm lucky I didn't get any water into my servos."

"Sounds to me like you deserved it." A deep voice said from behind him. Cyborg yelped, jumped forward, and whipped around to find Batman standing behind him.

"What the hell man?! What is with you and sneaking up on me?! How did you even get past my security?!" He yelled.

Batman stared at him. "You're too relaxed. And your password is CyborgIsABaws, the same as it was the last time I was here."

Before Cyborg could verbally retaliate, there was a tugging sensation on his hand. He glanced down to find Emelia pulling his finger.

"Uncle Cy, what's hell?" She asked, wide-eyed.

"It's where your mother's from." He snapped before slapping a hand over his mouth. Robin and Starfire gasped and Batman took two steps back as shadows wrapped around the cybernetic man once more. Cyborg only had time for two words before he went back out the window.

"Aw crap."

As he listened to Cyborg's flight depart, Robin turned to his mentor. "Batman. What brings you here?"

The dark knight gestured. "I'm here for the party."

Robin raised an eyebrow.

Batman gave a barely perceivable shrug. "Remember what you and the others each received on your 17th birthdays?"

Robin thought about it for a moment. "Yeah…you mean Beast Boy gets one too?"

"Of course." Batman nodded. "He has talent and potential."

The boy wonder smiled. "He's going to flip out, you know that right?"

Batman nodded only once before taking a stepping away to speak to Raven. Robin could only shake his head. His friend was gonna get one heck of a birthday. It was good, though. He deserved it.

The tower intercom system buzzed, drawing his attention. He walked over to the computer and checked the front door camera. Making faces up into the device was Bumblebee, Jinx, and Kid Flash. Robin raised an eyebrow. He hadn't remembered inviting him, but they were welcome to join. He pressed the button to let them in. Before he could release the button, Kid Flash popped up with both girls in his arms. Bumblebee looked rather frazzled while Jinx merely took a moment to fix her hair. Both girls greeted Robin and then immediately took off towards Raven. Jinx skittered around the dark knight, whose lips barely upturned in a smirk at the sight. Ex-villains always acted that way around him.

"Hey Dick, what's up?"

Robin turned towards Kid Flash and shook his hand. "How have you been, Wally? I wasn't expecting you here, to be honest."

Wally shrugged. "Pretty good, I guess. And I wasn't either until last night when Raven invited all of us to come over."

Robin raised an eyebrow. "She did? I wonder why?"

Kid Flash shrugged. "I dunno man. Girl stuff, I'm guessing from the way Jinx and B are bombarding her with questions."

Robin followed his gaze and found Starfire floating over to the other girls. He smirked to himself. Star would tell him later, he was sure of it.


"Friends Jinx and Bumblebee, how glorious it is to see you! Tell me, did you come to spend the day of birth with our friend Beast Boy?" Starfire gave each girl her signature Tamaran Hug of Doom, leaving both of them gasping for air.

"W-we sure did." Jinx sputtered, trying to draw oxygen back into her lungs. "Raven invited us."

"Yeah, what she said." Bumblebee nodded.

"Oh? Is that so?" Starfire asked, staring intently at the empath.

Raven shuffled her feet anxiously. Making the decision to tell the other girls and ask them for help had not come easily to her. Part of her had argued vehemently against telling them, saying that it wasn't their business. Another part of her would admit that she needed help, or at least a little guidance.

Take a guess at which thought won.

After a moment of enduring their stares, Raven sighed. "Yes, I did invite them. I need their advice and yours too, Star. Now, stand still."

Jinx's eyes popped open. "Oh god, Raven no-"

"What's she gonna d-"Bumblebee started to ask.

Starfire merely stood smiling there as the four girls dropped into a portal beneath their feet. They reappeared in Raven's room seconds later. Jinx and Bumblebee immediately staggered. The witch dropped to one knee with a shudder and the shrinking girl leaned against a bookcase while she shivered.

"God, I will never get used to that." Jinx moaned.

"Oh my god Raven, that was…really weird." Bumblebee shook her head. "How about you warn a sister before you do that again?"

Raven ignored them and sat on the bed. She took a deep breath and released it slowly before speaking. "I brought the three of you here to tell you something. I like Beast Boy."

Bumblebee looked up at her. "Just so you know, you surprised the hell outta me with that yesterday.

"I dunno about that, it seemed kinda obvious to me from the first time we met that there'd be something going on between you two." Jinx shrugged. "I'm a little surprised that it happened so soon, but eh, whatever."

Raven crossed her arms and stared at Bumblebee. "Why would it surprise you that I like a guy?"

The insectile heroine smiled weakly. "Well…you uh, don't exactly give anyone the idea that you're the type for relationships."

"That's a rather polite way of saying that everyone thinks I'm a harpy." The empath huffed.

Bumblebee winced. "I'm sorry Raven…but you're kind of standoffish. It intimidates people."

Raven pondered this only for a moment before sighing deeply. "I know. I spent most of my life pushing people away because it was safer for them. Now look at me, I've got a surrogate clone daughter and a silly little crush on my best friend."

She chuckled mirthlessly before turning to the witch in the room. "And what did you mean by that?"

Jinx shrugged once more. "Come on, Rae, you really gotta ask me that? You two have been like peas in a pod for years. Just because you two never noticed doesn't mean everyone else didn't."

The empath raised an eyebrow. "Care to elaborate?"

Jinx shook her head. "If you haven't figured it out, then I'm not telling you."

Raven huffed in irritation before turning to Starfire. "Why haven't you said anything about this? Shouldn't you be bouncing off the walls congratulating me or something?"

Starfire shook her head. "I will refrain from such actions until you and friend Beast Boy are the couple."

The empath stared at her for a long moment. "You weren't surprised at all when I told you."

Star shook her head once more. "I was not. Long have I suspected that you would one day do the crushing on our friend. Years, actually."

"You've thought that for years? Why?!"

The alien princess gave her friend a little shrug. "Because it was obvious. Friend Beast Boy pays attention to you more often than not and goes out of his way to include you in activities. In these past months, you have done the mellowing out and opened your eyes and heart more than ever before. I knew it would only be a matter of time before you began to look at him in the same way I look at Robin."

"The fact that you've been anticipating this for years frightens me, Star." Raven shook her head.

At this time, Bumblebee interjected her thoughts. "Okay Raven, all that aside, what are you gonna do about it?"

The empath immediately shook her head again. "Nothing. He's with Rose."

Jinx and Bumblebee stared at her hard while Starfire gave a little gasp.

"Girl, you better be jokin'."

"Don't make me cast a truth spell on you, Raven."

"Friend Raven! You cannot let your feelings go to waste!"

Raven shook her head yet again and held up her hands to placate them. "Look, as much as I'd like for him to return my feelings… I think it would be wrong of me to try to drive a wedge between him and his girlfriend. I don't want to be that type of girl."

Bumblebee frowned. "You're going to fight against anything we suggest, aren't you?"

The empath gave her a little shrug. "I want his attention, but I don't want to mess up what he has. He has a right to be happy and Rose makes him happy. I don't know if I could do that, but…"

"How much do you feel for him?"

Raven's eyebrow rose. "I'm not sure how to gauge that kind of thing. This is new to me, remember?"

Bumblebee pinched the ridge of her nose in annoyance. Jinx, on the other hand, got up and stood in front of Raven with her hands on her hips and a stern expression on her face.

"Tell me, Raven, how do you feel when you're around him?"

"Hm…well…I'd have to say comfortable. Like…he makes me feel good about myself."

The witch's eyebrow rose. "That's a long way from where you two were a couple of years ago. At each other's throats more often than not, if I remember correctly."

Raven shrugged (a terrible habit she had unconsciously picked up from Beast Boy). "People grow up."

Jinx rolled her eyes. "Okay then…how does it feel when he smiles at you?"

"What kind of question is that?" Raven scoffed. "Beast Boy has a different kind of smile for every occasion."

"Alright then, smartalec, what do you feel when he smiles at you?"

"At me?" Raven repeated this, letting her mind wander to the last time he had done so. The things that came to mind was that warm smile, those big green eyes, that friendly and affectionate feeling she always got from him, and more recently, those little green freckles.

If the other girls hadn't seen it for themselves, they wouldn't have believed it.

Raven was blushing.

And we're not talking a little bit of red in the face. We're talking red with a little shy smile and soft eyes looking off into the distance. That kind of look a person makes when their heart beats faster and their skin is set on fire. That kind of look a person makes when they're so lost in their feelings that a busy room is an empty cosmos to them. That kind of look that says only one thing…

"Damn girl." Bumblebee leaned back against the bookshelf once more. "You got it bad."

Startled from her euphoric reverie, Raven looked up at her. "Got what bad?"

Jinx gave her friend a soft little laugh. "You're in love with him, Rae."

"What?!" Raven gaped. "Love him? I know I like him, but love is a bit strong, don't you think? For that matter, I don't even know what it feels like to love."

"Fooled around and fell in love!" Jinx said in a sing-songy voice. Raven's eyebrow rose and Bumblebee shook her head.

"Don't mind her." She said. "Look, I know you don't know, but that's what it looks like to us. Only you can really determine that."

"Raven?" Jinx smirked when the empath glanced at her. "Does he like your peaches? Do you want him to shake your tree?"

The empath frowned at her friend a little. "I'm not sure if I understand your euphemism. Peaches? Shake my tree?"

Bumblebee leapt forward and wrapped her hand around the witch's mouth before she could speak.

"Don't you even begin to listen to that answer, cause if you gotta ask then you ain't ready to know yet." The dark skinned girl shook her head. "I swear, Jinx, what kind of trouble are you trying to start?"

Jinx bit her friend's hand, causing the other girl to yelp and release her. As the two girls began to bicker, Starfire sat down next to her friend and put her hand on the empaths shoulder.

"Friend Raven, I do not believe you should give up so easily. Might I suggest something?" She said. Raven nodded, so the alien girl continued. "Perhaps you should do the subtlety and the dropping of hints to friend Beast Boy to let him know you are interested in pursuing a relationship with him?"

"But Star, he's got Rose…" The empath's shoulders sagged. It seemed like none of them understood that she didn't want to risk ruining her crush's current relationship. Thankfully, Starfire proved her wrong.

"I did not say to do so in a way that would suggest to our friend that being with you would be better than being with Rose, nor did I say to do it in a way with legitimately harmful effects. I merely meant for you to continue doing things you are comfortable doing when around him and do a little bit of the flirting as well. Beast Boy is not 'as dumb as a box of rocks', as the Earthlings say."

Raven gave her friend a little smile. "Your English has gotten better, Star."

"Thank you." Starfire beamed.

Raven nodded and chewed her lip in thought. After some time of thinking, she nodded. "Alright. I'll go with what Starfire suggested. I can handle small and subtle things and if he's not interested he can just pass them off as coincidences or misunderstandings."

"Good!" Bumblebee grinned. "Now, tell us how you ended up liking the walking broccoli."

Raven gave her an amused snort. "Well, Starfire was right about one thing. Beast Boy does pay a lot of attention to me, but it was only a little while back that I realized I liked it. And when Emelia came along I started seeing a side to him I never knew existed. It really started when…"


Sometime later, the girls returned to the common room. As embarrassed as Raven was about her confession, she couldn't help but feel excitement resurfacing inside her. Beast Boy would be returning soon.

"Mommy?"

Raven was drawn from her musings by the small voice at her side. She looked over and found Emelia sitting next to her. "Yes?"

"I think when daddy comes home, you should smile for him."

The empaths' head tilted and from the corner of her eye she could see the other three girls pause to listen in. "Why?"

"Isn't he always trying to make you smile?" The little girl said carefully. When Raven nodded, she continued. "Then wouldn't that make a good extra birthday present?"

"That is a most excellent idea!" Starfire proclaimed. Raven glanced at the beaming alien princess then towards the other two girls. They nodded. The empath nodded once in acquiescence.

"Good!" Emelia clapped her hands together. "You better get ready then, they're walking in the door soon!"

Upon hearing this, everyone dropped what they were doing and made their way to the door. They took up positions side by side and waited with bated breath. Soon enough, the changeling could be heard in the distant hallway, bragging about something he had done once. A feminine laugh was heard and Raven rolled her eyes. She had deliberately forgotten the other girl was coming. Fortunately, she felt good enough to be civil today.

"Uh…." Cyborg said suddenly, looking around. "Where'd Batman go?"

Collectively, everyone looked around. The dark knight had disappeared and Robin swore silently to himself. He hated when his mentor did that.

The door opened.

"Surprise!" Everyone shouted.

Beast Boy froze, his eyes wide. He had been expecting this party, and he had been expecting the greeting too. Heck, he had been expecting Batman to be standing ten feet behind him.

But he had not been expecting Raven to be standing there with Emelia in her arms and smiling at him.

"Welcome home." The empath said quietly.

"I what…who…wow…why…" The changeling started forward, his brain unable to comprehend what was standing before him. She's smiling at me! ME! In the name of all that is holy, she's so unbelievably beau-

He tripped over his own feet and faceplanted hard into the floor.

The room was quiet just long enough for him to utter "Ow" from the floor before everyone burst out laughing. He sat up, rubbing his nose. He could feel the cracked cartilage and it was nice and tender. He nearly jumped out of his skin when a pale hand, softly glowing blue, descended and gently touched his nose. He followed the slender appendage up to its owner and found the older purple eyed girl staring at him with an amused grin.

"You know, Beast Boy, I always thought winter was your favorite season, not fall." She teased. This elicited even more laughter from the gathered teens.

Confused beyond belief, the changeling climbed to his feet after Raven finished healing his nose. Rubbing it, he gazed at the girl before him. "Winter is my favorite season, Rae. You just startled me by smiling like that."

Raven's eyebrow rose. "Really now? Is my smile that ugly?"

He shook his head vehemently. "No way! It's totally the opposite! I only meant that, well, the last time you smiled at anyone like that…the world kinda came to an end that day."

"Thank you for ruining the moment." The empath deadpanned as she turned away. Truthfully, that had hurt her to hear that. A hand on her arm stopped her, making her turn and look into those big green eyes. She flinched, just a little bit.

"Come on, Rae, you know I didn't mean it like that." He shook his head. "It's just that you only smile when it's something important and I seriously don't think my birthday would ever register as important to anyone."

"You'd be surprised about what's important to me." Raven said softly. Beast Boy gave her a rather curious look just as Cyborg stepped up.

"Alright y'all, time for food and presents!" He said cheerfully, trying to dispel the strange atmosphere that permeated the room now.

Raven looked at him, then back to Beast Boy. "Actually, I was going to ask you to do presents first, then food. We have more guests coming, they're just running a little late."

Beast Boy's eyebrow rose. "Who else is coming?"

"The Doom Patrol."

Beast Boy's jaw dropped. "Seriously dude?! How the heck did you pull that off?"

"I have my ways." Raven said mysteriously as she finally pulled away from him and headed towards the couch.

The changeling stared at her retreating figure for a moment. Either he was going insane or Raven was messing with him. He couldn't decide, so he just shook his head and followed her.

He took two steps and paused before calling out. "Hey there, Mr. Batman sir, you can come out now. You're not gonna scare me anyways. I smelt you when I walked in the tower."

Cyborg turned to Robin, who shrugged. He turned back to the changeling only for his face to meet a darkly scowling face in a black half face mask.

The half machine man yelped once more and staggered back two steps. "Dude, seriously, stop that!"

As Cyborg stomped away, he failed to see a smirking Batman hold his hand out and he absolutely failed to see a grinning Robin place a crisp twenty dollar bill into said hand.


Minutes later, everyone was seated in the living room with an assortment of presents on the table before the changeling. He was eyeballing the pile greedily, a look of pure excitement on his face. On his right side was Raven, holding Emelia, with Starfire, Robin, and Martin on the other side of her. On his left side was Rose with Cyborg on the other side of her. Batman stood behind Robin and Fixit stood behind Cyborg. Jinx, Kid Flash, and Bumblebee were seated on another couch to the side.

Sensing how antsy Beast Boy was, Raven shook her head. "At this rate you'll explode with anticipation before the Doom Patrol gets here. Go ahead and open a few."

A huge grin on his face, Beast Boy pounced on the pile, shifting to a green Labrador as he did so. He rooted around in the pile for a moment, identifying the gift givers via scent. There was something odd about the box Raven had wrapped, something faintly familiar, and he really wanted to open it first. But that might annoy Rose, so he snatched up her gift first.

Plopping onto the couch, he became a flurry of movement as he tore about the wrapping paper around a small box. Opening it, he found fifteen comics that he had been wanting for quite some time.

"DUUUUUUDE! Grognak the Barbarian issues two through five! Xmen issues fourteen through twenty! The Watchmen issues six through nine! Freaking AWESOME!" He shouted gleefully before wrapping Rose in a hug.

Even though the white haired girl was slightly startled by his enthusiasm, she beamed and hugged him back. "I'm glad you like them, Beast Boy."

"Heck yeah!"

Grinning like the happy fool he was, Beast Boy reached out and picked up a small silver box that had Cyborg's scent on it. He shook it twice but heard nothing. His curiosity peaked, he tore it open and found a single key enclosed in foam (thus no sound from shaking). Beast Boy stared at it for a long moment before tearing his eyes away to meet the grinning face of his best friend.

"Dude?" Beast Boy asked, his eyes in awe.

His grin widening, Cyborg held up his arm, flipped his command panel open, and then punched something in. The main room computer monitor flickered on and changed to the garage. A wall that was suspiciously devoid of tools or car parts suddenly rose up into the ceiling to reveal a silver and black car that, despite it being custom made, resembled a 2012 Mitsubishi Eclipse.

Beast Boy's eyes grew to the size of dinner plates. "Duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuude!"

"I figured you'd like it." Cyborg chuckled. "Meet the B-car. It's just as heavily armored as the T-car, its' got a top line security system built by me, its' got a banging stereo system, room for five, large trunk space, gets thirty five miles to the gallon, a warranty on all four tires, and even comes with a car seat for the little lady with blonde hair."

"How fast does it go?!"

Cyborg's only eyebrow rose. "Considering who will be riding with you most of the time, I took the liberty of making sure it won't get over ninety."

Beast Boy's ears drooped. "But Cyyyyyyyyyyy!"

The cybernetic man shook his head. "Nuh-uh, don't even start that with me, man. Do you have any idea what any of these people would do to me if you got the stupid idea to push the car to its limit and then got yourself killed?"

The changeling's frown only persisted for a moment longer before raising up into a grin. "I know dude. Thanks a lot."

"No problem bro." Cyborg grinned as he reclined backwards with his hands behind his head. "Besides, this gives me something else to tinker with. Heh."

"Remind me whose birthday it is again?" Raven muttered under her breath. Emelia and Beast Boy both heard her and snickered.

Up next was Jinx and Kid Flash's present, a fair sized box wrapped in bright green paper. There was a delicious scent emanating from the box and Beast Boy wasted no time in ripping the wrapper paper to shreds. He opened the box itself and was instantly bombarded with dozens of scent. His eyes widened when he looked closer.

"Pocky from Japan?! There must be two dozen flavors in here! How did you get all these past Customs?" He asked in awe.

"Get them past what?" Kid Flash asked innocently.

The changeling failed miserably to hide his smile as he pulled out a box of chocolate pocky. Opening it, he pulled out several sticks and began passing them out. Everyone took one and started eating it (minus Fixit, for he did not eat, and Batman who declined). After several moments of chewing, Emelia looked at her father.

"Daddy, this tastes funny."

"Funny is good." He beamed.

Emelia shook her head. "No, I mean funny like your sense of humor. It doesn't make sense to everyone else."

Raven and Rose both snorted in amusement while Cyborg burst out laughing. Beast Boy stuck his tongue out at his daughter and closed the boxes back up. He thanked his friends and moved on to Bumblebee's gift.

"I didn't really know what to get ya, green bean, so this was kind of a shot in the dark." She said meekly.

Beast Boy tore off the wrapping paper and looked at the bizarre box closely. "RZ-041 Liger Zero Panzer? What the heck…wait…I know what this is! This is a Zoid!"

What's a Zoid? Rose mouthed to Raven as the changeling bent over to read the box better. The empath shrugged and motioned to Cyborg, who also shrugged.

Sighing to herself, Raven gave her friend a little nudge. "Okay, I'll bite. What's a Zoid?"

He looked up. "Know what a Gundam is?"

She shook her head and he chuckled. "It's fine Rae. This is pretty cool, though I have to put it together. I was always good with Legos, so this can't be much harder."

What are legos? Raven mouthed to Rose, who replied Little blocks you put together to make stuff. Kids toys.

Raven snorted again in amusement. Typical Beast Boy.

After thanking Bumblebee for her gift, Beast Boy grabbed a large box and drug it over to the couch. He heard Robin snicker, but didn't think about why his friend had snickered until after he opened the box to find another box.

There was another box inside of that box. And another one inside of that one.

Beast Boy cast his friend a half-hearted glare. "Seriously dude?"

Robin just smirked at him.

Twelve boxes and a MOUNTAIN of Styrofoam peanuts later, Beast Boy finally reached the last box, which he opened with as much enthusiasm as he did the last fifteen boxes (read: not much). Only this time, he found his presents. On top was a large DVD set labeled 'New World Creatures 2016', a little sticker on it labeling it as his gift from Martin and Starfire.

"This is so freaking cool!" Beast Boy exclaimed as he tore the plastic sheeting off and pulled out the little pamphlet inside the box. "Seventy two hours of new animals, plus a hundred hours of bonus footage!"

He turned to Rose, excited. "You wanna watch it with me?"

There was a horrified look on her face. "Please don't tell me you mean in one sitting."

He made a face and waved his hand. "Pft, of course not. Gotta stop for bathroom breaks and snack runs."

Rose sat forward and looked around the changeling. "Raven, please tell me he's joking."

"If he was, it still wouldn't be funny." Raven deadpanned.

A frown on her face, Rose looked back to Beast Boy. "Look…I haven't even been able to finish watching Avatar. I get halfway through it and lose interest. So…"

He surprised her by waving her answer off and smiling. "It's okay. I know not many people can handle it."

After thanking Starfire and Martin, Beast Boy reached into the bottom of the box the DVDs had been in and pulled out an envelope. More curious than excited, he used a claw and slit the top open before pouring the contents out into his hand. Two little pieces of colored paper fluttered out.

He stared at them long and hard. "Robin…are these what I think they are?"

"Yep."

"Dude." Beast Boy said in awe. "Two tickets to the Comicon in LA?! Seriously?!"

Robin smiled smugly. "Yep."

Instantly, Beast Boy turned to Rose again. "You wanna go with me?"

Rose hesitated for a moment and then nodded. "If I'm not working, sure, why not?"

"Sweet!" The changeling fist pumped twice before thanking his team leader. Then he turned his attention to Raven's gift.

It was actually a fair sized box and he could tell from her scent on the paper that Raven had wrapped it by hand. It was a heck of a nice gesture by her, especially since she smelled so good. He reached out and pulled it closer before tearing off the top part of the paper and opening the box.

"No way…" He whispered in shock.

Cyborg, Kid Flash, and Robin all quirked an eyebrow before getting up and looking in the box. As one, they turned and started berating Raven.

"Are you freaking kidding me, Raven?! I made him a freaking car and you still had to one up me?!"

"Seriously! Do you have any idea how hard those tickets were to get ahold of this close to the event?! Why, Raven, why did you have to get him that!"

"I WENT TO FREAKING JAPAN TO GET THAT CANDY AND YOU STILL GOT HIM SOMETHING BETTER?!"

The empath immediately shrank away from the boys, startled beyond belief. "What are you mad about? It's just a video game!"

On the other side of the irate teens, Beast Boy shook his head. "No Rae, its way more than just a game. This is a Super Nintendo, a true classic in gaming history. Most of the games made for it were hard and there were little to no cheatcodes. There are hundreds of amazing games for it, ones that easily outshine half of what's out today because they were way ahead of their time. And you just gave me one with four controllers and a stack of games!"

"What games?" The other three boys asked, turning back to the changeling.

He rummaged through the box. "Let's see…Donkey Kong Country one, two, and three, Super Mario World, Mario Paint, Ultraman, Kirby's Super Star, several Contra's, Mortal Kombat one, two, and three, Mario Kart, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, Super Bomberman, Battletoads, SUPER FREAKING MARIO RPG LEGEND OF THE SEVEN STARS, Super Metroid, Chrono Trigger, SECRET OF FREAKING MANA, Final Fantasy IV and V, and…GREAT GOOGLY MOOGLY, IS THAT EARTHBOUND?!"

Behind the couch, Batman shook his head. "Wow."

Beast Boy, however, had a completely new reaction. He leapt up and pushed past the other boys. Raven had no form of warning whatsoever before he scooped her up in his arms and started swinging her around.

"OH MY FREAKING GOD THIS IS LIKE THE MOST EPIC BIRTHDAY PRESENT EVER DUDE I SWEAR THIS IS SO FREAKING AMAZING I LOVE YOU SO MUCH THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU I'M TOTALLY NOT PLAYING ANY PRANKS ON YOU FOR AT LEAST SIX MONTHS THIS IS SO FREAKING AWESOME THANK YOU!"

He then deposited the shellshocked empath back on the couch, grabbed the box, and leapt over the table towards the television. The other boys were right on his heels.

Raven, however, slid off the edge of the couch where she had been placed and hit the floor with a thud. In her dazed state, she didn't notice her bottom now hurt nor did she realize she was fairly incoherent.

"I just…it was…but….it's just…" She babbled. Bumblebee came and sat next to her, not minding the strange look Rose was giving the empath.

"Raven? Are you okay?" The Titans East leader asked as she pat her friend on the shoulder.

"He said…he said…he said…" Raven repeated over and over, unable to comprehend his words.

"Auntie Bee, did daddy break mommy?" Emelia asked, concerned. When her father had jumped and went towards her mother, she had scrambled to the side. She knew he wasn't going to hurt her mommy, but this was unexpected.

"Not quite." Bumblebee grinned as she turned back to Raven. "Don't worry, Raven. I heard him. But I don't think that's quite what he was talking about."

This seemed to snap Raven back into reality. "O-oh…r-right."

On the other side of the empath, a certain white haired girl had just realized why the blushing empath was so protective of her 'friend'.

Ding!

"Doom Patrol seeking permission to land at Titans Tower, over."

Emelia looked around, her eyes growing wide. "They're heeeerrrrreeee."


Sometimes I think I have too much fun writing.