Sorry for the two year delay. I hope this continuation of the Christmas arc is enjoyable.
-(-)-
Sam's parents, were just as stunned as Jenny's folks. His parents froze, as they too thought that their kids were joking about their hosts being the former Teen Titans. But his father saw Raven levitating and floating around around the huge dining table as she made last second adjustments to the settings.
"Please, have a seat. Just look for your name on the placement cards."
Raven had carefully chosen where to seat their guests. Jenny's parents were seated between Karen and Nightwing and faced Raven and Garfield, while Sam's parents were seated between the twins, Arella and Marie and were facing Wally, who was now The Flash, and his wife, Jinx. Or they would have, except that the West's were AWOL. Raven furrowed her brow.
"Has anyone heard from Flash or Jinx?" She droned in her monotone.
As soon as she said that, the front door burst open and a blur entered the house. The door appeared to close by itself. Sam's mother stared slack jawed at the new arrivals: a man in a red body suit and cowl and a shapely gray skinned woman with shoulder length pink hair and cat like pupils in her eyes.
"You doofus! They're waiting for us! How can you be the fastest man in the world and still find a way to make us late?" Jinx growled at her husband.
Raven placed a calming hand on the hexcaster's shoulder and led her away from the table, so they could speak in private. "It's OK, you both arrived just in time."
"Just barely … Wally insisted on taking a detour to Metropolis, since there is a pizzeria there that's open on Christmas Day."
"I see … so how many?"
"Six pizzas. Oh and he had to stop twice to use a restroom … I don't know how he finds them … I mean … everything is closed today."
Raven patted her shoulder. "It's OK. It all turned out fine."
Jinx saw Wally being introduced to the guests, who were oohing an aahing as they were introduced. She turned back to look at Raven.
"I don't know how I put up with him." She grumbled.
"You love him and he loves you, more than anything in the world, from what Gar tells me."
Jinx face palmed. "How did I fall in love with such a goofball?"
"Hey, my goofball is goofier than yours … Jinx … we've been married to our guys for over 20 years. And lest we forget, we aren't exactly the easiest women in the world to live with."
"So?"
"Do you really think you'd be happier with someone else?"
Jinx glanced back at Wally, who was still chatting with the guests. She didn't reply to Raven.
"Well?"
Jinx heaved an exasperated sigh. "It's not the same. You and BB are the perfect match."
Raven snorted. "You think he doesn't drive me crazy?"
"He does? But you guys look like the perfect couple."
Raven crossed her arms. "He has worked on not embarrassing me in public, and it has paid off … but believe me, Jinx, he can still drive me crazy at times. But he also puts up with my shortcomings."
Jinx smiled. "What, the amazing Raven has shortcomings? I thought you were practically perfect in every way."
"You know that I have shortcomings, and so do you. And Wally puts up with yours because he adores you."
Jinx closed her eyes and sighed. "I know."
"And you couldn't live without him."
Jinx gave her a cross look. "You know what one of your shortcomings is Raven?"
"That I'm an insufferable know it all?"
Jink snickered. "Yeah, and you're always right, dammit."
"Go be with your husband." Raven told her.
Jinx nodded. "Thanks for listening to me rant."
"Any time, Jinx."
Raven watched as Jinx joined the group chatting with Wally, and she wrapped her arm around his waist. They exchanged a tender kiss and the guests ahhed at their PDA. Raven smiled. She then felt an arm wrap around her shoulder. She turned and saw it was Gar.
"Have I ever told you that you're amazing?" He whispered in her ear.
"More than once." She replied in her signature monotone.
-(-)-
The dinner was a pleasant affair. The Titans shared some of their war stories with their guests, and Gar, as he was prone to do, exaggerated. Before anyone knew it, time had passed and it was time for their guests to leave. As he was putting on his coat, Sam's father cleared his throat.
"Could I ask for a favor?" He asked, in a somewhat sheepish voice. "When I was a teen I was a huge fan of yours … anyway … I have some of your posters in the car. Would you autograph them for me?"
The five original Titans all quickly agreed. Stan, which was Sam's father's name, beamed happily and ran outside. He quickly returned with a cardboard tube, from which he extracted the posters, which he placed on a stack on the table.
"I bought these shortly after you disbanded the Titans … I guess I was hoping you would get back together. Too bad that never happened."
"We're all here, so I guess your wish came true!" Cyborg bellowed as he autographed his poster, which was on top of the stack, with a sharpie.
Starfire's poster was next. She wrote a long dedication to Stan, with little hearts dotting the i's. Nightwing was next, followed by Gar.
Raven stepped up as Gar removed his copy from the stack and handed her the sharpie, Raven saw her poster and did her best to hide the frown forming on her face. In the poster she was wearing her leotard and cape, but this one was … different from the ones she usually wore. She was wearing knee length boots, but that wasn't the cause of her displeasure. She had no idea that this picture was ever taken, and had she known, she would have destroyed the camera that took it.
Starfire back then had commissioned the new leotard for Raven, because Raven had confided to her that she had feelings for Beast Boy and wanted to get his attention. So Starfire, of course, had a seamstress make a leotard with "the high coefficient of sexiness" for Raven to wear.
Truth be told, that leotard wasn't all that revealing, except for the high cut above hips. The VERY high cut above her hips, which Raven felt went far above her waist and exposed far too much of her anatomy. She only ever wore that leotard once, on a day when the city was quiet and she hoped there would be no missions. Unfortunately there was a mission that day, and to make matters worse, Gar never said anything about her attire. In fact none of the boys said anything, which meant only one thing, that the leotard was too revealing. She stared stoically at the poster, the sharpie still in her hand.
"Miss Raven, are you alright?" Stan asked in a nervous tone.
Raven snapped out of her funk and autographed the poster. "I just haven't seen myself in my old costume for a very long time. It brought back memories." She said as she rolled the posters back up and put them into the tube, which she handed back to Stan. "It's nice to still have fans after all these years."
-(-)-
Much latter that evening ...
Gar was already in bed, waiting for his wife, who was brushing her teeth in the bathroom. She finished and after tidying up the bathroom, she joined her husband in the bed. She was sitting up and opened a book to read,
"Hey Rave."
She looked up from her book. "Yes?"
"I remember the day you wore that leotard."
"You do?"
"Hard to forget. It was Star's idea, right?"
Raven frowned. "It was. I don't know what I was thinking, letting her talk me into wearing that, the back was a thong, thank Azar that photographer didn't get a chance to snap a picture of my exposed butt. I felt like a harlot. I should have have worn fishnet stockings with it, to complete the package."
He smiled. "Actually, I wish you had worn that more than once."
She did a double take. "What?"
He leaned over and kissed her.
"You know how a lot of people said you were creepy and unfeminine? Well, that outfit showed them that they couldn't be more wrong."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
He smiled again and rubbed the back of his neck. "I guess I was afraid I would offend you."
She face palmed. "I wore that stupid thing to get your attention. And all I did was scare you off."
"Believe me, Rave, it worked."
"But you never told me."
"Well, I am telling you now. Just seeing that poster aroused me."
"You're joking. Gar … you've seen me in my birthday suit more times than I can count. We're married and are lovers. You're intimately familiar with every square inch of my body. How can seeing me in that outfit arouse you?"
He pulled her towards him and gave her a deep and passionate kiss.
"It's not what is shown, it's what's not shown that's sexy." He said in a sultry voice.
To his surprise, she jumped out of the bed.
"Hold that thought. I'll be right back." She said as she raised as she raised her arms and disappeared into one of her portals.
Gar stared dumbfounded at were she had been standing just a moment before.
"What did I say?"
About a minute later, the portal reappeared and Raven stepped out of it.
She was wearing her "harlot" costume. A huge grin appeared on his face.
"OK, I'm wearing it again, as you requested." She said as she playfully modeled the out outfit for him. His grin got even bigger.
"You look beautiful." He said breathlessly. "And it still fits you perfectly. I didn't know you still had it."
Raven didn't tell him that she used some magic to quickly alter the leotard, which had been a little snug when she tried it on again.
Raven approached her husband, and kissed him. He continued smiling like an idiot. She then bent over and whispered in his ear. "Your present wants to be unwrapped."
