"For
everything that's lovely is
but a brief, dreamy, kind of delight."
-William Butler Yeats; Never Give All the Heart
He shouldn't have looked up
His papers still warm from the printer, Robin studied the domestic profiles for Jump's urban and business districts. The magical time between Thanksgiving and New Year' Day wasn't excluded to the mad holiday shopping- 'good will towards men' and 'peace on earth' was hardly a criminal deterrent.
Thus, unlike normal teenager's their age, the Titan's didn't have a Christmas vacation.
It was all old news to Robin; Christmas seemed to loose its spirit after endless training in a dark cave as an orphan. And the Dark Knight was hardly the "Merry Christmas! Here, have some seasonally shaped cookies and milk!" type.
That was what the butler was for.
So when Beast Boy, Cyborg, and Starfire put up tinsel and Christmas lights and set up mistletoe like lethal booby traps, Robin was pouring over city maps and crime reports plotting their holiday patrol route for the month.
Crossing the common room with his eyes tied to his work, Robin had no warning as Cyborg entered- until the collision, that is.
"Whoa there, Rob. You okay man?"
Picking himself up amidst fluttering papers, Robin rubbed his backside. "Yeah, I'm fine Cy. Just bruised my pride is all."
The half-metal Titan set down the armful of bulging sacks he was carrying and helped Robin scoop up all the scattered paperwork. "What's all this?"
"Patrol routes for the month."
Cyborg froze tensely; staring at the papers much like Beast Boy stared at their football when they told him 'pigskin' wasn't just jargon. Robin was conflicted between rolling his eyes or chasing Cyborg around the room with his 'evil work schedules of doom'.
He settled on a chuckle; that second option was overdone anyway. Rearranging the sheets into an organized pile, Robin motioned at Cy's bags with a nod. "What're those?"
"Fan mail. Lotsa Christmas cards this year."
"I could have sworn we had more than just a few sacks worth last year."
"We did. These are all just Star's mail."
A certain alien princess' heartthrob ground his teeth. "I see…"
Expecting some half-clever comment about 'the love-birds' any moment, Robin steadied himself as Cyborg…just stood there.
"Cy?"
"Dude, whatever you do, don't look up."
Why did he have to say that?
Robin arched his head upwards.
Aw crap.
"I told you not to look up."
Insidiously planted over the doorway- using its power to hold the two Titans in place with sheer terror alone- hung a seemingly innocent decoration of mistletoe.
They were at a loss for what to do, the thought of just walking away from the thing never reaching them. It wouldn't matter even if they had, the damage was already done.
Then, Cyborg, with the slow deliberation of someone disarming a bomb (someone besides Cyborg, as Cy had disarmed plenty of bombs. It seemed the mistletoe was more terrifying to him than any bundle of primed C4 could ever be), he lifted his finger towards to little piece of evil hanging over their heads. A small jet of flame jutted from his fingertip, burning the mistletoe to ashes in seconds.
It was quite a while before Robin finally said. "I'm just gonna go and finished these reports."
Cyborg seemed just as eager to leave. "I'm gonna erase this moment from my hard drive and forget it ever happened. "
The little pile of ashes now all alone in the doorway like some forgotten dust, Beast Boy ducked back behind the kitchen counter and grinned at his camera. "And I'm gonna go get this film developed."
Lingering Hurt
She realized the patter of large wings outside her window hadn't been a dream when she saw the giftwrapped box lying on the fire escape. Tears pooled her eyes when she saw the necklace; a glass butterfly swayed on a silver chain, gleaming like a rainbow jewel as the sunlight laced through it.
It was just too much.
She collapsed, back sliding down the wall as she curled into herself. Clutching the butterfly to her chest, mussy blonde hair fell over the girl's eyes as she cried with choked sobs, mourning over memories from a life that could never be again.
Christmas Hoot Kloot
Cyborg releasing his grip on his shoulders, Beast Boy pounced on his pile of presents like something less civilized. After several brutal moments of claws and shredded wrapping paper, Beast Boy emerged from the brightly colored gore with an expression of pure childish bliss on his face. Having opened all his presents at once, the changeling avidly dug through the garbage piled around him and pulled out the gift Cyborg had given him.
Robin and Raven exchanged puzzled glances.
When in doubt, Beast Boy always loved a stuffed animal.
Not this one.
"It is my understanding," Starfire voiced her puzzlement. "that Earth panthers are rarely pink, correct?"
From the glowering look Beast Boy was sending Cyborg's way, he'd have been happier with a greasy cheeseburger than a Pink Panther doll.
Snarling ferociously Beast Boy jumped onto his friend's shoulder and struggled to wrap his hands around the steel of Cyborg's neck.
"You SWORE you'd never mention that again!"
"Heheheheheh….look ya'll!" he laughed despite the little changling trying to strangle him. "The grass-stain's hands're too little to wrap around my neck."
His laughter choked off as thick gorilla mitts replaced Beast Boy's grip.
"The funny…" he gurgled, "It went away…"
Season's Greetings
Dear Losers,
Consider the fact I didn't rob you guys blind my Christmas present to you. Your security system blows more chunks than bad holiday fruitcake. Remind that metal guy to make it a little harder next year. I look forward to another year of unrequited robbery, less-than petty theft, and making complete morons outta you all.
Thanks for the free cookies, suckers!
-X
"Well," Robin said. "At least we know what happened to Star's cookies."
"You think we should tell Star?" Beast Boy asked.
"A most Merry of Chris-masses friend Cyborg! Wonderful news: the Santa Clause has accepted my offering of milk and cookies!"
"Never mind."
"How long do you think it will take for Star's cooking to catch up with X?" Raven wondered.
Robin turned the paper over and presented it to her.
P.S: You're out of Pepto-Bismol
A thoughtful act of suicide
"Two minutes ya'll!" Cyborg announced. "Get ready!"
Beast Boy finished off his fifth can of soda that evening, guaranteeing he wouldn't be going to sleep until bright in morning of New Year's Day. Through the common room windows, Jump was a gaudy display of lights and noise across the bay. Their dominating big-screen TV whittling away at the countdown time, Beast Boy sat on the far arm of the couch- as far away as he could manage- across from Robin and Starfire as they snuggled on the couch waiting for the rest of the year to go by.
Grimacing at the impossible dimensions of Cyborg's sandwiches, Raven took her fresh cup of tea and float wordlessly near Beast Boy, watching the timer count down with mild disinterest.
Overdosed on sugar and caffeine, Beast Boy shifted and stretched on the cushions much like a cat too restless to sleep. "So Rae, got any New Year's resolutions?"
"I resolved years ago to not make anymore resolutions."
He chucked, it figured. With just over a minute until midnight arrived, Beast Boy glanced back down the coach at the cuddling couple. "Cy bet me twenty bucks those two would finally have a New Year's kiss this year." He told her.
The dark girl's attention abruptly off her tea, Raven regarded Beast Boy with something more like bewilderment than her usual soured annoyance. "What?"
BB matched her lost expression and raised it. "Huh?"
"New Year's have kisses too?" Raven asked incredulously.
"You didn't know?"
"Not from this dimension, remember?" she jeered.
"Ten seconds everyone!" Robin called on the couch.
Excluding Raven, the Teen Titans counted down the final ten seconds with the rest of the city, cheering as their TV declared;
"HAPPY NEW YEAR!"
"Huzzah." Raven contributed dully.
Beast Boy ignored Cyborg's brutal devouring of whole foot-long sandwiches and Robin's blushing face as he leaned closer to Star. Raven was tired; her eyes heavy with weariness. She hadn't left her room much since Christmas, living off of herbal tea and her new books. Now that the changeling thought, he didn't think he ever saw Raven all that excited about holidays. Cabin fever at its worst.
"Hey Rae?"
The hooded girl turned slowly to face him. "What?"
"Just…don't blow me up…okay?"
Standing on the couch's arm to reach her, Beast Boy pecked Raven lightly on her cheek…then shrank back for the terror of the inevitable.
But Raven seemed too flabbergasted to do, if even so much as to say, anything. The uncooked bags of popcorn on the coffee table swelled alarmingly in seconds, bursting like balloons and raining warm popcorn on them like edible confetti.
Beast Boy grinned wolfishly at Raven as she blushed. "Happy New Year's."
She smiled back at him lightly. "Happy New Year's. Too bad you won't see how this year ends…"
"Yo, BB!" Cyborg boasted to the green ostrich burying its head between the couch cushions. "Looks like you owe me twenty bucks!"
Yes, yes, I realize this little holiday segment was overdue. But between my move and going back to college, I'm just glad this got out before the end of January. I hope you guys had a great Christmas and a Happy New Year. With luck, a new chapter should be released pretty soon- me and Saiyoko have been plotting with one another . If for some impossible reason you've been reading Five Stories and never set foot in Sai's Whitewater, go read it now.
Till next time,
-Cy