I hope everyone had a good holiday season! Bring on 2019 :)

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As usual, Raven was the first Titan awake the next morning and after a few minutes of trying to unsuccessfully pull herself out of bed, she was finally able to get up and leave her room, destined to get a cup of tea from the kitchen. When she reached the living room, the sight of Cyborg asleep with his head tilted back, mouth wide open and feet up on the coffee table with a small green cat curled up beside him made her smile. The TV was playing the menu screen for a Star Wars movie, clearly they had fallen asleep watching it. Raven, as quietly as she could tip toed to the couch and took the remote from the cushion, turning off the machine before continuing her venture to get tea.

It was chilly in the tower, a sure sign that winter was indeed coming. Or perhaps a sign that Raven needed to invest in longer pants and shirt. Nonetheless she quickly turned on the kettle to boil water and went straight for the thermostat, cranking it up. She knew Robin would have a thing or two to say about this, but she didn't care at this point, she needed to warm up a bit until her tea was ready. It didn't take long, and by the time she was sitting at the table sipping away at her peppermint flavoured drink, she felt nice and toasty. Mornings like this were peaceful, and probably her favorite part of the day. It was a routine that calmed her emotions and allowed her time for herself, though usually it would be interrupted by Silkie begging for food or another Titan, usually Robin, waking up. She needed to savour it while she could.

Sure enough, after only about five minutes of peace, Robin entered the room, his face uncommonly bare and his hair flat from the lack of gel. He yawned and rubbed at his brown eyes before instinctively turning the knob of the thermostat back down.

"Morning Rave." He said heading over to the kettle and giving it a shake to see how much water was left. Raven watched as he reached up for a mug of his own and a packet of instant coffee.

Disgusting.

"Good morning."

He went about making his coffee in silence, stirring the contents into the water for much longer than necessary. His shoulders were slumped and his head began to fall to the side slowly. Raven raised an eyebrow.

"Is everything...okay?" she asked while he continued to stir. He jumped slightly at her words and turned his head over his shoulder to look at her.

"Huh? Yeah, just super tired. I didn't get much sleep last night."

Raven made a face and looked down at her tea, causing Robin's pale cheeks to flush. "No, no, no! Nothing like that. I got an email last night from Speedy about the Christmas bash. He wants me to be the co-planner this year."

Every year the Titans East and West had a giant Christmas party, usually held in a fancy location lent to them by Batman; in fact the Justice League would usually make an appearance, to be kind and get free drinks Raven was sure. There would be excessive decorations, the fanciest foods you could imagine, dancing, presents, the whole shebang. It was more or less a giant pat on the back for keeping the world safe for another year, and as Blue Beetle often put it, a great way to forget the bad things that had happened to make way for the good in the coming year. Raven understood why they did it, but it didn't mean she liked it. She had never been a party person, and Beast Boy's birthday had only been two weeks prior, she felt as though she were perishing at the thought of having to be social again so soon.

She rolled her eyes. "Already?"

Robin nodded. "Unfortunately, Bruce want's to know what we have planned ASAP so he can give us the appropriate venue. So I was up basically all night because Speedy had a hair appointment this morning that he couldn't miss and wanted to know if I could do all of the planning even though he is the head planner this year and it's his responsibility."

Raven internally chuckled as Robin got more and more aggressive with his tone the longer he spoke. His ongoing hatred for Speedy was something she would never tire of.

"Well, if there's anyone who can do it, it's you." She finished off her drink and was about to stand but Robin continued to speak, stopping her from getting up.

"I know I can do it, I just don't really want to. I've got a lot on my plate right now."

"Where are you taking Starfire for your date? She's pretty excited."

"Yeah I know, she won't stop talking about it." Robin smiled to himself, clearly thinking about the pinkette. "I'm taking her to Porter's."

"You mean that restaurant off of Windsor? Fancy."

"Yeah..."Robin cleared his throat, his and shoved his hand into his sweat pants pocket, pulling out a small case. Raven's heart dropped and so did her jaw.

What the hell was going on?

"I um..." Robin started but Raven cut him off.

"Please don't tell me..."

She liked Robin, and she respected him more than any other person she knew. But if he was going to propose to Starfire...she really didn't know what she thought. Not that it was like they hadn't been together for long enough, but they were both so young, they had so much time in their lives to get married.

Robin shoved the case back into his pocket and his hand flew to his mouth, index finger pressing to his lips to hush her. "Shh, not so loud in case she hears you." He relaxed. "It's not an engagement ring. It's a promise ring."

Raven stared blankly at him, blinking a few times. Her heart began slowing down but she was utterly confused. "You know," he continued. "To make a promise to her that I will always be there for her."

"Well that's dumb. She already knows you'll always be there for her."

"I know but," he shook his head, his limp hair moving from side to side. "Star's really into that kind of stuff, I think she'll like it a lot."

"Whatever you say." Raven stood up and brought her mug to the sink, tipping it upside down to allow the teabag to fall. She turned around to see Cyborg trudging into the kitchen like a zombie, Beast Boy in cat form lounging on his right shoulder. Robin shook his head.

"How many times do I need to tell you guys not to stay up all night binging movie series? What if the crime alert were to go off? I need you two alert and ready at all times." He scolded as the robot fell into a kitchen chair so roughly that Beast Boy slid off of his shoulder, landing on the table. Cyborg held up a finger.

"Correction...you told us not to stay up all night binging ridiculously long movies series."

Beast Boy's furry head nodded, his eyes remaining closed. "And that was when we watched the extended Lord of the Rings trilogy, which took us like...eleven and a half hours, and we didn't start it until ten PM."

"A horrible decision really..." Cyborg shook his head, his lifeless eyes staring at the table in front of him.

"Yeah well, I was up late last night too, so this better not be an excuse to laze around all day. We need to clean this place up, it's a pigsty." Robin threw back his coffee and walked over to Raven who was leaning against the cupboard. He put his mug into the sink and they exchanged a look. They both knew oh too well that they were probably going to take the excuse.

Both teens groaned at the same time and Cyborg rested his head on the table, flicking Beast Boy's tail away from him with his hand.

Surprisingly however, when the time came to clean, the two managed to peel themselves off of the table and help out in their own sluggish way. Robin tasked them with cleaning the living room, which was appropriate due to the mess of chips and popcorn that was scattered everywhere from their movie night. When Starfire awoke she joined their leader with helping clean the kitchen, and Raven was given the bathroom which she didn't mind. Her magic made it quite simple to work on.

Hoisting herself up onto the bathroom counter, she watched as a large black cloud flew around the room, leaving everything it touched spotless. Kicking her feet against the door of the cabinet beneath her, her eyes started to drift. She wasn't necessarily tired but she felt drained of energy, probably due to her visit to the Nevermore, it always took a lot out of her to engage more than one of her emotions at one time, which was why she felt blessed that she was able to separate them at all. As her cloud flitted around, the bathroom door pushed open slightly, causing Rave to open one eye and look down. A small chimpanzee stood there, staring at her with bright green eyes. Her eyes closed again.

"Aren't you supposed to be helping Cyborg?" she wondered aloud. The chimpanzee took a step inside, closing the door behind him and quickly shifting into a human.

"I wanted to see if you needed anything." He said walking over to her, step by step. Both of her eyes opened when she realized how close he was getting. He placed his hands on her knees and nudged them to the side, stepping in between her legs and looking down at her. She scooted back a bit until her back hit the mirror behind her.

"Well, as you can probably see, I'm fine. But thanks for the concern."

A smile played on her lips, why did she feel so foolish? Beast Boy took notice of the arch of her lips and smiled himself.

"So, how did your talk go last night?" he asked. Raven shrugged.

"It was fine. Not particularly conducive for my quandary, but...it was fine."

Beast Boy looked at her, his flirtatious expression suddenly replaced with confusion, one of his thick eyebrows raised.

"Um..."he began after a moment of silence, his head tilting to the side. "I don't...know what you just said."

Raven's smirk grew and she leaned forward slightly, hoping to coax him. She was she feeling so flirty all of a sudden? If Lust had done something...

"Exactly."

Beast Boy hummed a response and leaned forward, his lips capturing hers. It started off almost as roughly as how they had finished the night before, mouths moving together, tongues fighting for dominance. Beast Boy pressed himself even closer to Raven, causing her back to push against the mirror. She instinctively wrapped her arms around his neck, grabbing fistfuls of his hair and tugging slightly. A growl ripped through his throat, making her stomach twist in on itself. The shadowy hand that was hard at work behind them turned into dust and disappeared. Raven's mind was far too preoccupied to assist her in cleaning, but she hardly felt bad for it.

"Raven!"

The door to the bathroom opened a crack and Beast Boy shifted into a fruit fly, faster than Raven had ever seen him morph. Her breathing caught in her throat and she gripped at the sides of the bathroom counter for support. With wide eyes she watched as Cyborg poked his head around the door. Her cheeks burned.

"Hey, you okay?" he asked, raising an eyebrow as he looked at her. Without taking any deep breaths, Raven tried her best to regulate her breathing as she stared at the tin man. She had no idea where Beast Boy had gone; she didn't even know if he was still in the room anymore. Cyborg's face filled with concern and he pushed the door fully open, stepping inside. "Raven, what's wrong?" his voice was serious, he was legitimately concerned for her well-being.

Shit, shit shit.

Raven shook her head and looked down at her lap, swallowing hard. "Nothing's wrong, you just startled me. Would it kill you to knock once in a while?" she hissed defensively. Cyborg's expression calmed.

"Sorry? I'm looking for B.B, he disappeared on me and I wanted to know if you saw him?"

"No. I didn't see him, now can you let me finish up in here. I was almost done."

Cyborg looked around the room. "I can see that, it's looking good." He chuckled but got no reaction from the half demon. "You uh...sure everything is okay?"

Now she was getting annoyed. "Yes Cyborg...everything is fine."

"It's just that you seemed kind of-"

"OUT!" Raven barked, her hair standing up as if there were phantom wind circling around her.

"Yup!" Cyborg stopped talking and quickly hurried back out of the room, closing the door behind him. Raven took a very deep breath and let it out slowly. Sometimes she hated living with roommates, especially roommates who didn't know the concept of personal boundaries, and especially, especially since she and Beast Boy had begun to become physically attached.

She waited for a moment to see if the changeling would resurface from his fly form, but he did not.

"Beast Boy?" she questioned quietly, in the off chance that someone was outside of the door.

No response.

Raven groaned to herself and slumped against the mirror, waving her hand and creating another shadow hand that picked up right from where the last had left off. This had been the first time she had confidently wanted to make out with the boy, Lust and Happy must have done something to help her along, which as long as it helped her realize her true intentions, she appreciated because up until this point she had been very hesitant. She hoped that the next time they had alone time together she would be equally as willing to put herself out there. But she wouldn't get her hopes up.