Chapter fourteen: Gingerbread.
The spicy sweetness of gingerbread was indeed an acquired taste, but a taste that each of the Titans possessed. Every year they would buy a packet of pre-baked, undecorated ginger bread men and a collection of food colourings, icing, and decorating utensils in order to create their very own appearance for their very own gingerbread man. They had an unofficial contest of sorts, all of them trying to outdo one another without any form of wagers or voting involved.
Raven very impassively scrawled a haphazard, and in her opinion entirely too large, smile upon the tiny face, before she selected two large chocolate buttons to represent the eyes. She had never been as enthralled with the activity as the rest of the team, she simply went along with it because it was a tradition of theirs, and it was a time of year in which the team liked to be more close-knit.
Beast Boy sat directly opposite Raven at the large counter in the tower kitchen, he was working over his treat with incredible precision, his eyes hard and his eyebrows pulled together, his tongue poking out of the corner of his, for once, unsmiling mouth. He held a tray up so that the others could not see his masterpiece before it was complete, and every so often he would cover the cookie with the tray and proceed to rapidly and thoroughly mix together another colour of icing, or grab a new tool.
The rest of the Titans were too busy with their own work to notice the intensity with which Beast Boy laboured over the trivial pass-time, and Raven couldn't recall him ever trying this hard in previous years. She raised a brow in incredulity, but he did not notice, too captivated was he with whatever it was he was doing to the small little ginger figure. With a noncommittal shrug Raven returned to her own man, who stared up at her, all wonky, wide smile and large, mocking button eyes. With a sigh she reached for the nearest squeezable icing, and proceeded to give him some hair. She gave the tube a good squirt and the little ginger man quickly had quite the mop of green hair - Green. Raven sighed.
One by one each of the Titans declared they'd finished, presenting their fully decorated treats to the rest of the team, giving a completely unsurprised slight frown at Raven's apparent lack of effort. The only member remaining who hadn't shown their work was Beast Boy, who still slaved over his treat. The rest of the Titans looked at each other and then glanced back at him, and a full minute of silence passed in which the Titans watched wide-eyed as Beast Boy finished his decorating.
Even though they were awaiting it, the all still started when Beast Boy stood up, a wide and proud smile plastered on his face. He held his cookie in the faces of his teammates who each gave a surprised gasp at the result of his work, each of them speechless. And Raven was wide-eyed and stunned, both impressed and confused at his obvious attempt at replicated her image on the treat, and she marvelled at the fact that he'd almost succeeded.
Using a purple icing pen Beast Boy had drawn in a hood that veiled a white icing face, a tiny icing scowl was in place, and a combination of blue and purple had created her eyes. The bodice of the figure had been layered in more icing of purple, with ruffles and creases drawn in with blue, and a single yellow smartie had been placed where the clasp and broach should be. Beast Boy gazed hesitantly into Raven's eyes, watching her assessment, awaiting her reaction. Her cheeks flamed.