Here's chapter two! :)
The sun was setting by the time she awoke from meditating. It was very cold out, but being able to find her center also helped keep her body temperature in check. She shivered as the freezing air rushed back into her body once she landed on the ground. It wasn't too cold out when she first began meditating, but now it was freezing and instead of snow, rain began sprinkling down. She drew her hood up and headed inside, knowing the others were probably wondering where she was.
When she entered the common room a delicious scent drifted into her nose and she inhaled, stomach growling slightly from not eating in hours. Her friends were setting up the table and chatting, all except Beast Boy who chose to listen and smile every now and then.
"Hey, Raven! Come and get it!" Cyborg greeted cheerfully with an apron wrapped around his torso. She took in the sight with amusement, knowing that Cyborg was the main cook around here and tended to act like a housewife every now and then.
She took her place next to Starfire and Beast Boy sat on the other side of her, but she noticed that he was acting uncomfortable in his seat. Oh. Right. He was the reason why she even started meditating. No surprise there.
It was then she noticed that Beast Boy was talking. She listened to him talk about what they should do for Christmas and to have a Christmas Eve party tomorrow. He sounded very animated and this left Raven feeling at ease hearing him sound like himself already. They enjoyed the rest of dinner before cleaning up and deciding to watch a movie to celebrate not having a lot of crime.
Raven sat down at the far end of the couch and waited for the others to join. Cyborg took a seat next to her followed by Starfire.
"So, Robin, Christmas Eve party, right?" Beast Boy asked as he jumped over the back of the couch.
Robin hummed before sitting down in between Starfire and Beast Boy. He rubbed his chin. "I don't know. Are you talking about a party amongst ourselves or inviting people?"
"Dude, like a giant Teen Titans party! We should invite all of the Teen Titans!" Beast Boy grinned and crossed his arms behind his head.
"Uh, B? Maybe we should do that for New Years seeing as thaaaat, oh, I don't know, CHRISTMAS EVE IS TOMORROW!" Cyborg shouted at Beast Boy with his arms waving around so as to emphasize his point. His temple bulged.
"Cyborg's right, Beast Boy, it's too late to plan a party that big. I think having a party just for us will be fine," Robin decided.
Beast Boy pouted. "Fine. But we're totally having a huge party for New Years."
"We'll see," Robin said with a smile and put in the movie.
Raven managed to watch the movie all the way through even though it wasn't all that great, too much romance. She was glad that Robin and Starfire didn't use any of those scenes to their advantage, though she did hear Starfire giggle a few times during the movie. Cyborg had fallen asleep and Beast Boy was struggling to keep his eyes open. As soon as the movie ended, Cyborg awakened. He yawned loudly and turned off the movie.
"Alright, yall, goodnight," he said sleepily as he made his way out. Robin picked up Starfire, who was fast asleep beside him, and carried her out muttering a goodnight.
Raven glanced over and saw Beast Boy staring off into space, which wasn't like him. She frowned. Now was the time to get answers before he chickened out and ran away.
"Beast Boy?"
Said boy snapped out of it and looked over at Raven with a start.
"Huh?"
"Something's wrong. What is it?" Raven got to the point, knowing that he couldn't deny it.
He smiled guiltily at her. "What do you mean? I'm fine. I've just had a lot on my mind is all."
She stared at him unconvincingly. "You haven't been acting like yourself. What's been on your mind?" She asked cautiously. She didn't want to come off as intrusive.
He scratched the back of his neck nervously.
"I… I've been having trouble shopping for Christmas presents. That's it though!" He defended himself thinking she would get mad if he brought up other things that was troubling him.
"Oh?" she said, a brow raised. "For who?"
"N-No one!" He tensely laughed out with a blush.
Raven rolled her eyes. "Beast Boy, don't you think you're overthinking this a bit? We're your friends. You're not gunna get a bad review from us over a gift."
"Yeah, I know, I just…" Beast Boy trailed off and averted his gaze from her. "I just want to make sure it'll be the right gift to give y—this person." He coughed at his near slip up.
Raven paused. She wasn't a moron. She knew he was talking about her, which she reluctantly admitted caught her off guard for a moment at why he was stressing so much over this.
"Well," she began, "if it's for me, I don't need anything special. I'll be fine with whatever you give me." She hoped the conversation was ending soon. It was starting to get a bit awkward for her.
Beast Boy's emerald eyes sought hers and he suddenly grinned, surprising her.
"Everyone deserves a special gift, Rae. Even you."
Hard as she tried, Raven could do nothing to prevent the flush spreading to her cheeks at the soft kindness behind his words. Deciding to stop the "lovely" chat they were having, Raven stood up with a clear of her throat.
"Goodnight, Beast Boy," she said and without another word levitated out of the room to once again control her emotions.
Beast Boy's grin dropped at her sudden leave and he leant back on the couch with a sigh.
"Goodnight, Raven."
Christmas Eve was anything but hectic for everyone in the tower. Raven still needed to get a gift for Beast Boy and for some reason she couldn't shake off Beast Boy's words about her the other night. It was haunting her in her dreams as well, which prompted her to constantly think about what he was going to get her. She grit her teeth at this and forced her to let it go and just let him do whatever he wanted. It wasn't her problem to deal with. Still, it began to change her views on her gift for him.
She found herself at the mall, looking around for anything the changeling would like. Everything she spotted was what Beast Boy would enjoy. Clothes, videogames, childish toys, comics, movies, mopeds— she halted when she caught sight of a moped sparkling underneath a limelight in front of an automobile store. It wasn't the fact that it was a moped that caught her attention, but rather the design and color that fixated her. It was sleek and long enough to fit two people on it. It was lime green with purple edges along the front and back. Black wheels, handles, and seat looked almost too perfect to touch. It practically screamed Beast Boy.
In fact, all she had to do was spray paint the letters BB on the side and he'd be—she stopped herself from completing that thought. No. That thing had to cost a fortune, and why should she buy him something that she would regret later after seeing him ride it around the tower 24/7 or worse, destroy it in some kind of unrelated mission incident?
She traveled throughout the mall once more and still was left feeling unsatisfied. Why couldn't she just buy him a stupid movie for crying out loud?
Everyone deserves a special gift, Rae. Even you.
Growling, she willed the words to leave but it kept coming back to the forefront of her mind stronger than before. She must have stood for five minutes in the center of the mall scowling and pushing back against her emotions. After another minute she gave up and instead went with her gut feeling… and that was telling her to go back to the automobile shop.
Which is exactly where her feet took her. She stood in front of the moped and checked the price casually. Her eye twitched uncontrollably at what she saw. No way. Far too pricey.
She began to walk away and found herself looking back at the all too convenient automobile. Well, it wasn't as though she didn't have a lot of money. Far from it, they were paid quite a lot and their last paycheck had recently come in not too long ago…
"Don't do it. Don't do it. Don't do it…" She chanted as she walked up to the glistening moped.
The next thing she knew, she was handing over the money and purchasing the moped. She moaned in regret as soon as the keys were pressed into the palm of her hand. Though she felt completely sure she had spent every last cent of her last paycheck, she suddenly felt lighter as though a weight was lifted off of her shoulders. At least Beast Boy's damned words had stopped repeating in her head.
"I'm going to need therapy for this," Raven muttered as she wrapped the moped under her cape and sunk into the ground with her dark energy to take the gift back to the tower.
Several hours later and Raven had at last finished spray painting the double B's on the side of the moped in dark green. She took a look at her handy work. She frowned. Dear Azar, what was she doing? Was she really doing all of this for Beast Boy? She sighed. The other gifts hardly compared to this gift and its size.
She froze. How the heck was she going to wrap this thing? Beast Boy may not be the brightest, but he would definitely tell what was hiding since it would be the shape of a freaking moped. Okay, forget wrapping it. She would have to hide it somewhere like… the garage. Perfect. She'll have Cyborg help her with it and make sure Beast Boy doesn't find it until Christmas morning. Satisfied with her plan, she shrouded the moped until it was well hidden in her large closet and went out to find Cyborg.
"YOU GOT HIM A WHAT?"
Raven rubbed the inner part of her ear as Cyborg's voice nearly blasted off her eardrums. She sighed in frustration.
"You heard me," she said, crossing her arms and looking up at him.
Cyborg was flabbergasted as his mouth hung open in amazement. He waved his arms about.
"I cannot believe you got him a—!" His mouth was abruptly covered with a grey hand.
"Could you get any louder? He can probably hear you." Raven's brow twitched.
He pushed her hand away and smiled nervously. "Aha. Right. Sorry. I'm just finding it hard to believe you got him something like that. I mean, he's been asking for one for how long?"
"Too long," she grumbled as she waved her hand and the moped appeared from her energy. Cyborg whistled low at the sight.
"Wow. B's gunna freak out when he sees that. Looks pretty expensive."
"Don't mention it. I could hardly afford it." Raven glared at the moped as if it was her fault.
"So why'd you buy him such an expensive gift? I mean, you usually get him videogames or toenail clippers. Why the sudden change of heart?" Cyborg inspected the moped before moving it near the back of the garage so as to conceal it.
"Let's just say I owe him a favor," Raven flatly remarked, knowing that that wasn't the reason at all.
Cyborg's brow rose in questioning. "Riiiight," he said doubtfully. He carefully covered the bike with a clean sheet and brushed the dust off his hands.
"Well, that'll do it. Oh, and don't worry. I won't tell a soul." He grinned back at her, eyebrows moving up and down.
She smiled back and thanked him before going to grab a cup of tea.
The empty space beneath the tree went from empty to full by the time the party started that evening. Music started to play and drinks were handed out to everyone. Starfire was in a red and white Santa outfit that revealed no more than her usual attire. Cyborg, Beast Boy, and Robin all wore classic Santa hats. Raven wore her winter cape, which was her usual cape but with a white trimming. She also decided to wear a white leotard for once as she knew that Christmas was a pure holiday. She, too, adorned a red Santa hat.
Everyone laughed at one another and were having a great time. Even Raven was enjoying herself immensely. For reasons unknown to her, she was very excited for tomorrow morning when Beast Boy opened—
"Hey, Rae," a voice greeted next to her.
"It's Raven," she corrected, glancing at him as she sipped her drink.
"Aw, c'mon, what's wrong with Rae?" Beast Boy whined.
"It's too informal. It sounds like a pet name." She swirled her drink around.
Beast Boy pouted, the tip of his hat falling over his face. "So? I think it sounds cute." Raven flushed as did Beast Boy at what he just said and they quickly looked anywhere but at each other.
"I don't do cute," Raven huffed before going to refill her punch. Beast Boy watched her go and smacked his palm over his forehead. "Idiot," he muttered to himself.
Beast Boy felt a light punch to his shoulder. Cyborg grinned down at his downtrodden friend.
"C'mon, man! No need to get down on yourself! I'm sure she just needs to blow off some steam." Cyborg observed Raven filling her glass and talking to Starfire.
"I just feel like that whatever I do or say to her, I always end up screwing things up," said Beast Boy gloomily. The hand on his shoulder left to pat his back hard. Beast Boy nearly choked on his drink at the force of the pat.
"Trust me, man. She cares about you more than you think she does. Now how about we whip up something to eat."
Beast Boy smirked and said, "You thinking what I'm thinking?"
"Aw yeah!" Cyborg shouted.
"DINNER EXPLOSION EXTRAVAGANZA!" They yelled in unison before tearing off to start cooking.
Raven smirked at the two best friends arguing over what food to prepare. She, Robin, and Starfire casually chatted as the argument went on behind them.
"Dude, Cy! For the billionth time! I don't eat meat!"
"I'm not telling you to eat meat! I'm just saying that I ain't cooking any tofu!"
"Well we're having tofu ham tonight, tin man!"
"I'm the cook so what I say goes, you got that, grass stain? Hey! Don't you touch any of that!"
Robin finally decided to help them figure out a compromise between the two and an hour later, dinner was served.
As soon as everyone had had their last bite and the dishes were all put away, Cyborg giddily told his friends that he had a surprise to show them. Everyone gathered around him and he told them to close their eyes. There was groaning heard, but they did as they were told.
A few seconds later there was the sound of grunting and movement heard followed by scraping on the ground. Robin winced, he hoped nothing was becoming damaged. Then the noises stopped, which spiked everyone's curiosity.
"Alright, yall! Open 'em up!"
Raven's eyes widened, as did everyone else's. In front of them stood a grand piano. It looked magnificent as it sparkled under the lights overhead. Cyborg stood leaning against it, his smile widening. Robin was the first to speak.
"Uh, Cyborg? Did you really go out and buy a piano?" He was growing cross when realizing how much it must have been. They shouldn't go out and spend their money like this when there was more important things to worry about when it came to finance!
Cyborg flicked his hand in his direction. "Nah, man! That's the best part! I got it for free!"
"How?" Beast Boy piped up.
"I know a guy," was all Cyborg said, casually inspecting his robotic fingers and grinning.
"But, Cyborg, none of us even play the piano." Robin's frustration was seeping out of his words.
Cyborg went and sat down on the piano bench, its legs creaking from the sudden weight of the robotic human.
"Which is why I'm taking the liberty to start taking lessons. And didn't you learn how to play back at Gotham?" Cyborg teased.
Robin crossed his arms angrily. "That's none of your business. And I wasn't exactly the best," he muttered, a storm cloud appearing over his head.
"Weeell do ya know any Christmas songs, Boy Wonder?" Cyborg asked, brows shooting up and down.
"I'm out," Raven said, going over to sit on the couch.
Starfire grabbed her boyfriend's hand. "Oh, yes! Please, Robin, don't you know any of the songs of Christmas on this instrument of music?" She beamed at him and Robin deflated.
"Um, it's been years since I've played and I'm not sure if I can pick it up again." He rubbed the back of his neck shamefully.
"No better way than to start now!" Cyborg quickly grabbed onto Robin, who yelped, and dragged him over, plopping him down. Beast Boy snickered at Robin's flustered face.
"I only know one Christmas song. I was kind of forced to play it over and over again when it came to Christmas at Wayne Manor," he grumbled, placing his hands on the keys.
A few chords were hit clumsily at first before the melody soon kicked in. The song We Wish You a Merry Christmas filled the tower. Robin concentrated, trying his best to remember the notes. Cyborg cheered and grabbed Beast Boy and Starfire to join in on the singing. Raven merely watched.
Beast Boy and Cyborg happily crowed the song and even Starfire seemed to know the words a little. Their singing wasn't the best, but Raven didn't mind it at all. Her emotions hummed soothingly at their happiness. Beast Boy looked back at her and caught her eye. He grinned and nodded his head over as if asking her to join them. Though she was highly against it, his sparkling green eyes drew her in and she found herself standing up and walking over to only be a bit nearer to her friends. She didn't sing.
Robin began to smile and played the song over once more, loving the feel of Starfire's hands on his shoulders and hearing her laugh. Once the songs and the singing was over, they gathered on the couch the rest of the evening and talked. Cyborg installed a fireplace and started a fire going. Raven sat with them, sipping her tea and occasionally looking outside to see the gentle fall of rain. The Christmas Eve party had been a success and she was secretly happy that Beast Boy suggested such an idea.
Night fell and sleep was starting to make its way into each of them. Cyborg yawned like a mighty bear and said goodnight to everyone. Raven, feeling very tired as well from the events that happened hours prior, bid them a goodnight and not soon after that did everyone else also retreat back to their rooms with happy thoughts. They dreamed peacefully that night.
I love writing the characterization for these guys. Each one is so well distinguished from one another in the show so I really don't have a lot of trouble keeping them in character. Chapter three coming soon!
Robin: Yeah... I'm glad you found a way to make some extra money, Beast Boy, but don't you think this place seems a little weird?
Beast Boy: Dude, they have fries made out of meat. Yes, this place is weird! And I hate it!