I have a lot of explaining to do.
First off: I am going to temporarily(?) take down Hypnotic Hysteria Part 1. I started the second part of the story arc a while ago, but I can't seem to find the rest of the story. I will definitely keep it stored and I promise to return to it and try to continue it eventually, but for now I'm removing it from the series, as more writing and editing needs to be done. Sorry! I also wanted to apologize for taking so long to update.
Thank you so much for the favs, follows, and reviews! I would still love to hear suggestions, as they really motivate me to write and to update, because I love seeing your reactions!
So here is the Christmas update. I hope you like it! It was a bit rushed, but I don't care enough to fix it. (And no worries, the ending will be explained a bit better in chapters to come).
I do not own Teen Titans.
"I still can't believe I got you to decorate the tree," Beast Boy remarked, dipping his hand into the large storage box to grab another chain of popcorn. He grimaced as he pulled it out, the caramel sticking to his fingers as it had slightly melted in the heat of the attic. This year's December had been warm, so no one had expected a white Christmas. The gooey caramel was just icing on the cake. "This is your first year doing it, right?"
"It'll be my last if you don't quit talking about it."
The changeling chuckled in response as he leaned around the tree. Raven was on her tiptoes, placing a toy ornament of the Tower near the top. He wasn't sure why she didn't just float to reach the higher spots, but he was amused as she struggled to decorate the smaller branches. He laughed as she resorted to jumping, then froze as she spun to face him. The empath flashed him an icy glare, and he leaned back to resume his task of untying the popcorn chain.
The rest of the team had left for the mall. Unsurprising to all, Raven had already purchased her gifts well in advance and had no need to leave. Her alien teammate had begged her to join the group anyway, claiming that they could partake in the "skating on ice" while enjoying the "chocolate beverage served hot," but she had refused. The half-demon was terrified of what could happen, especially after her last adventure with Starfire.
The unusual discovery of the morning was when the team leaned that Beast Boy's gifts were also prepared. Normally the green teen would be scrambling to get his presents ready before Christmas morning (sometimes failing), but he had been determined to be ready ahead of time this year, and he had succeeded. The others shrugged it off as a fluke before they pulled on their winter gear and headed out to the mall.
The two Titans left in the Tower had spent the majority of the day in silence. Beast Boy had played a video game or two on the main television, keeping the volume low so as not to disturb Raven. She had kept to the windowsill, her nose buried in a book. Both were surprised at the lack of arguing, but neither had mentioned it to the other, choosing instead to enjoy the rare bliss. Beast Boy had been equally startled when she had agreed to help trim the tree without any sort of begging on his part.
Soothing Christmas music filled the room as the two worked, and the lights had been kept low. The few gifts already wrapped had been placed on the other side of the living room to avoid being stepped on, but the tree was almost done. The huge bins surrounding the pair were empty other than a handful of other decorations and gingerbread crumbs that had gathered in the corners. Beast Boy hadn't said anything when Raven had started humming with the music, but he was oddly disappointed when it stopped.
"Why do we have an ornament of a pickle? Is this yours?" she asked, drawing him out of his thoughts. He leaned around the tree again to see her holding the tiny glass ornament in her palm while she gave him a quizzical look. Smirking, he pulled it out of her tiny hands and held it up to the light to see it better.
"I forgot we had this. I don't think we did it last year."
She put her hands on her hips as she sighed, obviously not receiving the answer she had wanted. "Did what?"
Beast Boy grinned at her question. It wasn't often that he knew something that she didn't. Unless he counted videogames. Then he knew a lot more. "Oh ho ho! I know something that the great all-knowing Raven doesn't! Looks like you aren't as smart as you think you are!" He smiled wider at her frown. "Maybe I won't even tell you."
Raven rolled her eyes. "I can just use the computer to look it up if you won't tell me."
He faltered, knowing that she was right. Still, he had enjoyed being the smarter one for about a minute. That was enough for him. "Fine. It's the pickle, you know. The old German tradition."
Her face was blank as she gazed back at him.
"Actually, it might have been Polish."
"Last I checked, none of us are German or Polish," she replied, reaching back into the box for another ornament. She pulled out a tiny puppet and they both cringed, remembering a certain bad experience with puppets. After glancing up at him to exchange a sullen look, Raven slowly put it back.
He scratched his head, trying to recall where they had acquired the pickle. "I think Robin learned it from Tim. He told me the story once- something about a girl named Wagner?- but I don't remember. Basically, you put the pickle ornament on the tree last. Then whoever finds the pickle gets an extra gift. Fun, right?"
The pale Titan shook her head. "It's creepy enough that you celebrate some old man watching you all year long and sneaking into your home. Trying to find a pickle is just weird. Why have an extra gift? That doesn't seem fair."
"I don't know," he said. "It's just… tradition."
They paused in their conversation to finish the tree. Raven added the star to the top- floating this time- and Beast Boy finished wrapping the popcorn around the branches. While he stepped back and licked his fingers, the empath used her powers to cut off the room lights and turn on the lights decorating the tree. They admired their work for a moment before the changeling rushed back to grab the presents and place them at the bottom.
"Now it's perfect."
The two Titans sat on the couch, still looking over at the tree to marvel at its beauty. The ornaments were an odd mix of classical spheres that Cyborg and Robin had picked out and random toys and knick-knacks that Starfire had begged for. Beast Boy had been in charge of the lights and garland, hence why it had been made with popcorn years ago. Raven normally didn't participate in trimming the tree, so the only part that had been contributed by her were half of the gifts surrounding the base.
"Do you have any holiday traditions?"
Beast Boy watched as Raven gave him an odd glance. The Titans knew that she wasn't raised to celebrate Christmas, but unlike Starfire, she hadn't jumped at the opportunity to join a new holiday. The half-demon preferred to stay quiet and out of the way while the others made the Tower festive. She had decided to start joining in the gift-giving part of the holiday a few years ago, but the green Titan didn't think about how she might have had her own traditions before now.
"Not exactly. The only thing that might be considered tradition on Azarath would be…" She hesitated, looking down at her lap. Beast Boy saw her fingers start curling around themselves as she fidgeted nervously, so he placed his hand over hers and gave her an encouraging smile. "Sometimes the people of Azarath would stay inside on my birthday. Out of fear.
"The skies there are normally an emerald color, but when I was born, they turned black. The entire world shook, and the air smelled like Brimstone. Everyone was terrified. Even though that only happened that once, a lot of Azarathians still hid on my birthday in case something terrible happened." She frowned. "It makes sense, though. I mean, I did become the portal, and I did let Trigon-"
"Hey," Beast Boy said, interrupting her. She looked over at him with wide eyes. "You didn't let Trigon do anything. You beat him." A weak smile appeared on her face and his heart jumped with happiness. "So let's talk about something else. I heard you humming earlier, I didn't realize that you knew all the songs."
He knew she was fine when she lightly punched him in the shoulder. "I don't know most of them, but when you keep playing that Hawaiian one over and over it's kind of impossible not to learn the tune."
Before he could respond, the lights on the tree flickered out and the two were plunged into darkness. Beast Boy turned to look over the back of the couch, trying to see what had happened. He sighed when he saw that the cord was hanging out of the socket, slightly unplugged. "We need to get new lights. These are too old and keep unplugging themselves."
"I have some."
"You do?" When he looked back, she was gone. He sighed again. "You should really give a warning before you just disappear and-"
"I'm right here," she snapped, and he yelped as she appeared right in front of him. "Take these." She shoved the lights into his hands and then slowly made her way back to her seat, feeling her way there. He stifled a laugh, forgetting that she couldn't see as well in the dark as he could. After a moment of debating whether or not to scare her, he decided that he enjoyed living and chose not to.
The lights were wrapped around the tree within a few minutes, and he plugged the cord in with pride. A warm red glow filled the room as the lights clicked on. While the old ones were all yellow, these alternated between red and pale yellow, casting shadows across the floor. Raven's unhappy face was illuminated in the dim lighting.
"I wish they weren't so creepy," she muttered, tilting her head to give the tree a better look. "I liked the other ones better."
Beast Boy jumped back onto the couch, earning him another quick glare as he knocked into his teammate. "Nah, I like these. Red is a Christmassy color. Plus it's cool to have something from you on the tree, too. Now it's really a Titan tree."
Raven gave him a strange look before nodded, her visage lightening. "Yeah, I guess so."
A loud slam gave them a slight warning before a streak of purple shot into the room. Starfire landed on the carpet in front of them, four bags in each hand. Her hair was ruffled from the fast flight, but her happy demeanor made it clear that she didn't care. "Friends! I cannot wait to tell you what I have bought you from the mall! Raven, I got you a-"
"Whoah, girl! You can't tell them what you bought." Cyborg and Robin strolled into the room and set their bags down on the kitchen counters. The team mechanic gave Starfire an exasperated look, clearly worn out from their trip. "You gotta wrap them and give them the gifts tomorrow."
She nodded in excitement and flew through the doors at the side of the room on the hunt for wrapping paper. Robin walked up to the couch and leaned against the back of it, reaching back with one hand to ruffle Beast Boy's hair. The changeling pulled away and scowled at him. "The tree looks a lot better than usual. Did you finally realize that you had to decorate the front and the back of the tree?"
"No," Beast Boy retorted, annoyed with the leader's lack of confidence in him. Then his face froze. "I mean, yes." An elbow to his side made him cough. "I mean, I actually had help this year. Raven did a lot of it."
All three heard a crash from the kitchen area, followed by a quiet curse. They turned to see their friend dropping to his knees to pick up the fallen bags. "Raven helped put up ornaments?" Cyborg asked.
"Yes, I did," she replied, slightly irritated at Cyborg's surprise. "And obviously I should do it more often, as no one else knows how to decorate a tree."
Robin laughed. "Probably. I'm surprised the popcorn is still there, I figured Beast Boy would have eaten it by now." There was another laugh from Cyborg's direction, and the green teen muttered something angrily to himself. "Well, I'm gonna hit the shower before bed. See you all in the morning."
Beast Boy noticed a smudge of green left in one of the boxes and squinted to see what it was from his seat. He thought that they had gotten all of the ornaments. "By the way, I like the lights, Rae," Robin added as he stepped out of the room. The shape-shifter turned to see his friend slightly blush before pulling her knees up to her chest to hug them.
"Wait, how did Robin know about those lights?" Before she could answer, he realized something else. "And how come you don't care when he calls you Rae?"
"Well, I'm bushed, and this sounds like the start of another argument. 'Night, y'all." Both teens waved goodnight to Cyborg as he yawned and left.
"Robin is a good friend who acts mature, so he's allowed in my room occasionally." Beast Boy gasped loudly, dramatically acting as though he was going to cry. Raven rolled her eyes as she placed her head sideways against the tops of her knees. "And he can call me Rae because he doesn't annoy me. Most of the time."
Another squint gave Beast Boy the answer he needed about the green mystery in the box, and he grinned deviously before resuming his charade of being hurt. "I thought that we were friends, Rae-ven. I guess you don't care about me as much as I thought you did. Excuse me while I go cry myself to sleep."
He stood up to go, but paused as he heard an exaggerated sigh from behind him. "Fine. You can come hang out in my room tomorrow afternoon-" He spun, a smile stretching from ear to ear. "-IF you promise to be quiet and not disturb me while I meditate."
"Deal," the changeling answered, holding out a hand. She grabbed it, but before she could shake, he surprised her by yanking her to her feet. She stumbled, and he reached forward to catch her before she could fall. A blush rose on her cheeks as she looked up at him, both frozen for a few seconds before she pulled away. He didn't let go of her hands.
"What are you doing?"
"I need you to prove that you do care about me. Otherwise I'll be jealous of Mr. Traffic Light, our relationship will be ruined, and eventually the whole team will fall into chaos." She gave him a deadpan look, but he just gave her puppy eyes and whimpered.
Raven tried to pull her hands away, but he tightened his grip so that she couldn't leave. "Just tell me what you want me to do before I blast you out the window." He laughed.
"I haven't heard that threat in a while." Releasing one of her small hands, the green teen reached into the box to pull out what he had been staring at for the past few minutes. He immediately felt the empath try to pull away again. "Now, now. It's only fair."
"How is mistletoe the same as seeing some dumb lights in my room, Garfield?"
He shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe I just really want a kiss from you and I'm using this as an excuse." The blush on her face deepened, and he watched as she tried to use her free hand to pull up her hood, only to realize that she was wearing a sweater instead of her cloak. "Come on, it can't be that bad. I've heard that I'm an excellent kisser."
Raven fidgeted more as he raised his arm to hold the mistletoe above both of them. After she accepted the fact that she wasn't escaping without using her powers, she gave up and stopped. Expecting a different answer, Beast Boy's heart stopped when she hesitantly opened her mouth to speak.
"Just one kiss?"
He couldn't see his ears turning red, but he could feel the heat they started giving off as they stood up straighter against the side of his head. He had just meant to mess with her and then put the plant back as she teleported into her room, not to watch her accept the challenge. Nervous now, he lost some of the confidence that he had been riding on. "Uh, yeah. I guess. I mean, you don't-"
Raven quickly lifted her feet and leaned forward to peck him on the cheek, reaching upward to grab the mistletoe as she did. She threw it back in the box as she settled back on the ground, giving him a look somewhere between anger and amusement, and then promptly sank into the floor.
It took Beast Boy a moment to realize what had happened. She had left in such a hurry that he almost didn't feel the kiss. No- that was a lie. He had definitely felt the kiss. His entire body had stopped in place, heating up due to some emotion that he couldn't quite name.
He remained in the room much longer than she did, standing right where he had been when she had kissed him. One of his hands was lightly resting on his cheek as the warmth from the small kiss seemed to remain, rooting him to the spot. The moment kept replaying over and over in his mind, and he still couldn't comprehend what had happened.
Raven had… kissed him? Him? … Kissed?!
It hadn't been an actual kiss, but a small peck on the cheek was the most significant display of affection he had ever seen her show anyone. While he hadn't been spying on Raven and Malchior throughout their entire relationship, he had seen most of it, and they had never kissed. He had only seen Raven hug others, and even that was rare. Besides, most of those were shared with Robin, and he knew that there was nothing romantic occurring between the two of them.
Beast Boy kept thinking about it all night, and when the Titans gathered in the morning to exchange gifts, he was still baffled. Cyborg and Starfire both pointed out how oddly reserved he seemed, but he just shrugged and gave them both smiles before returning to his thoughts. Robin didn't say anything, but Beast Boy could feel his friend's calculating stare burning a hole into his back. Apparently he wasn't as good at hiding his emotions as he thought he was.
Raven was the same as always. It was as if nothing had occurred between the two of them. He kept trying to lock eyes with her, but she kept her gaze away. She was quiet, but no more silent than usual. When she opened her gifts, she thanked everyone politely, and even offered to make hot cocoa for the team afterwards. He eventually managed to corner her in the kitchen, but when she finally looked up at him, she remained calm and collected. Beast Boy wasn't sure how to bring the subject up. So he didn't.
She just handed him a mug of hot chocolate and walked away.