Chapter 8

It was the afternoon of Christmas Eve. Raven was sitting in the kitchen of Titans Tower, waiting for Beast Boy. Starfire was sat on the counter, nibbling a cookie in contemplative silence. Cyborg hadn't come back from town yet and Robin was nowhere to be seen.

Raven glanced over at Starfire. She was concentrating on her cookie. Raven swallowed and said hesitantly,

"Starfire?"

"Yes Raven?"

"…Never mind." She had been about to try and talk to Starfire about Beast Boy. But maybe it was better that she didn't. Starfire resumed her cookie-nibbling. She looked at Raven. The gothic girl was staring at the ceiling.

"Raven? Are you quite alright?"

"Huh? Yeah. Fine."

Starfire eyed her friend as she ate her cookie. Raven sipped a cup of herbal tea silently. Starfire longed to break the awkward silence. As if in answer to her prayers Robin entered. Starfire jumped up, flushing.

"Robin!"

"Hey Starfire. Raven." He nodded to her and then turned his attentions to Starfire. Nervously he said,

"So… How are you?"

"Very much the same as when you asked her at breakfast, I imagine." Raven said dryly. Robin gave her a look that could kill while Starfire smiled at Robin's thoughtfulness.

"I am well, thank you Robin. Would you care for a cookie?" Robin took the offered treat and, grinning inanely, bit into it as Starfire ate her own.

Raven felt almost nauseous at cuteness factor.

Luckily the door opened at that moment and Beast Boy came in. It looked as though he had already been to his room. Raven got to her feet as he entered the kitchen and took a bottle of soymilk from the fridge. Robin and Starfire had already moved on to the sofa.

"Beast Boy."

"Hey Rae! Good to see you out of your room." The changeling said cheerfully as he glugged the milk-substitute.

"I was in town this morning."

"Good for you." He said, pouring more liquid and taking a cookie. Raven leant against the surface, arms folded.

"I saw you there."

"Probably because I was also in town."

"What were you doing?"

Beast Boy looked up in amusement.

"Well, isn't that ironic? The most private member of the team demanding to know what my private business is about!"

"Who was that man?" She asked.

"What man?"

"The man at the docks."

"What docks?"

"Beast Boy!"

"He's an acquaintance. Rae, it's got little and/or nothing to do with you."

"Beast Boy, from where I'm standing it looks like you're mixed up in something you shouldn't be."

"Trying standing by the stove. Might be different from over there." He said lightly.

Raven ground her teeth.

"Beast Boy, I swear, if you don't tell me what's going on right now-"

"You'll do what? C'mon Rae… you're allowed to have secrets but the rest of us aren't? Seems a bit one-sided." He said, looking rather irritated. Raven opened her mouth to speak again but found she had nothing to say, so closed it again.

"Look, Rae. It's Christmas. And I know you're all anti-Christmas, but try not to spoil it for everyone else, OK?"

He turned and walked away, slurping his milk. Raven glared after him.

"Don't call me Rae…" she said weakly, instantly appalled at her pathetic comeback. Starfire called to her,

"Raven? Where might Cyborg be?"

"Still in town, I guess. I'm going to my room."

Starfire turned back to Robin.

"It might be my imagination, but I believe that our fellow Titans are acting in an extremely odd manner."

"It's not just your imagination, Star. Something's up. I'm not sure what though." Robin said thoughtfully. Starfire put a finger to cheek, thinking hard.

"Perhaps our friends have been possessed by the Garflots of Reasylio?"

"Maybe… or maybe they just got food poisoning from Beast Boy's cooking." Robin said, shrugging and grinning.

Cyborg wandered back to the tower that afternoon with a huge smile across his face and a dazed look in his eye. Robin looked at him across the kitchen counter.

"You met a girl." He said simply.

"Yeah…"

"So, what's she like?" Robin asked, pouring himself some juice.

"Dude, indescribable."

"You've got it bad."

Starfire came in, in it to hear the last sentence.

"Who has got bad? There is evil in our presence?" she said, holding up two green starbolts.

"No! I didn't mean that kind of bad. You see, Cyborg met a girl and-"

"Wondrous! Cyborg, you must proceed to tell us every detail!" Starfire flew across and perched herself, cross-legged in midair, in front of him.

"Well… her name is Alli and-"

"Alli? That is a common name on earth?"

"I'm… not sure, Starfire. Anyway, she lives with her grandparents and her brother. Her mom and dad died a few years ago. She works at a café in town-"

"What does she look like?" Starfire interrupted again. Cyborg smiled dopily.

"She's got this hair… and these eyes… and she's kinda…"

Starfire looked bewildered. Cyborg grinned and tapped the computer fixed into his arm. A row of pictures came up, with Cyborg and Alli grinning, pulling faces, putting two fingers up behind each others head. Starfire giggled in delight.

"She is quite beautiful!"

Cyborg was surprised. He thought Alli was pretty, really cute. But the word beautiful hadn't crossed his mind. But now, as he examined the pictures, it occurred to him that she really was beautiful. To him at last. And also, apparently, to Starfire. Robin leaned over to look.

"She's cute." He said. Starfire nodded in agreement. Cyborg looked surprised. Starfire caught his eye as Robin ducked under the counter to get something.

"It is alright. Robin knows that you like this… Alli. So by saying he thinks she is cute is his approval. Correct?"

"Um. Yeah. Sure. Well, I'm gonna go and wrap Christmas presents. I always leave these things to the last minute. Oh, by the way, I invited Alli over tomorrow evening. Bye."

He pelted from the room. Starfire stared after him.

"You are sure that our team mates are not possessed?"

"I'm not as sure as I was earlier." Robin said, also staring in the direction that Cyborg had run off in.