Teen Titans © DC Comics

31. Colors

"Yay! Painting!" Melvin cheered, throwing her hands up in delight as Raven set up the gray, foldable table in the center of the Titans' common room.

"Want red paint!" Timmy ordered crossly as Teether crawled by Raven, light blue pacifier in mouth.

"I'll get you the paints once I set this up," Raven calmly explained, setting up the paper.

Bobby leaned down by Raven, poking her in the shoulder and pointed to Teether.

"Teether, no! Stay away from those!" Rave ordered when the baby Titan was about to devour a few paintbrushes. Taking them from him, she sighed and dropped them onto the table. Setting the children up as Bobby sat down by Melvin, Raven picked out the bottles of an array of lush colors. "Okay, go have fun."

"Red paint! I want the red paint!" Timmy shouted until Raven thrust the coveted bottle to him. "Thank you, Raven."

She nodded, sighing and looked to Melvin. "So, what're you making?"

Melvin gave her a stern look before brightening. "It's a secret, so don't look."

Raven quirked an eyebrow at her sly tone, hand propped against her ashen-colored cheek. Glancing over to her other "kids", she noticed Teeth gnawing on the toothbrush, which she specifically told him not to eat. However, sparkles popped up in his vibrant, sky blue eyes that Raven secretly adored. Kneeling next to her youngest, Raven grasped the smallest brush and dipped it into the yellow paint.

"Okay, what do you want to paint?" she asked.

Teether hummed, blankly staring at her, but he suddenly chirped, "Duck!"

"A duck?" Raven paused, remembering the time when Cyborg and Beast Boy won her a giant duck plush. "Okay, but my drawing sills are mediocre at best, so, deal with it."

Teether nodded, smiling and spurted the white paint in a crude circle when he snatched it. Perplexed, Raven groaned and attempted to make the basic outline of the bird. Teether giggled, leaning over his high chair to watch Raven paint.

"Raven!" Timmy cried, tearing up.

Wincing, she ushered Bobby over and requested for him to help Teether. If she left him along with the paint, he would probably eat it and spit toxic projectiles at some unknowing victim or worse. Bobby picked Teether up in one hand, helping him slowly maneuver the brush across the paper.

"What's wrong, Timmy?" she questioned in a mixture of urgency and exasperation.

Timmy sniffled, nearly unable to speak as he shakily presented his scarlet blanket. At first, Raven did not understand until she noticed a massive splotch of violet dousing the bottom. Timmy burst into tears, falling and screamed for his "blankie" to be washed. Groaning, Raven snatched the blanket and hurried over to the sink. Timmy's wails rose violently into the air, shattering the calm like a glass vase plummeting to the floor. Veins surged through her forehead as the sorceress valiantly attempted to scrub the stain out using every cleaning product at her disposal, including Starfire's strange conglomeration of food as a last resort. Sighing, Raven lurched back to Timmy and picked him up by his waist.

"Stop crying, and I'll fix this," she ordered, gritting her teeth and brought him close to her face.

Timmy whimpered, nodding as Raven's face softened. "O-okay, Raven. Oh, Raven! Raven, Raven, Raven!"

"What?"

"Look at the colors I made!" Timmy leaped out of her arms and scrambled back to his seat, voice getting more hyperactive and eager as he shouted for her to follow. "Look, look, look! I made a rainbow, and a sun, and some people, and…"

As Timmy rambled on, Raven sat down, observing the picture with fascination in her violet gems. Timmy was rather astounding for a three-year-old pipsqueak in creating a diverse array of colors. The golden sun shone down on the diminutive, chocolate homes below with light emerald grass waving sideways in what Raven assumed was the wind. Multiple hues to blue crossed the sky from the lightest being closest to the sun, and the blue would become darker as it leaned to the ground. Stick figures made of crude blobs of gray stood outside their homes, arms raised like waiting for a hug.

"It's for you," Timmy jeered, popping up at her side. "Put it up in your room. Do it, do it, do it!"

Raven smiled, nodding. "I will, after it dries. Thanks, Timmy."

Timmy beamed, teeth glimmering as he proudly grinned.

"Melvin, you sure you don't want help?" Raven asked, turning to the blonde, pig-tailed, seven-year-old.

She paused, paintbrush poised, hesitantly retreating from the paper. "Uh-huh. Don't worry about me."

"Really?"

Melvin nodded again, hovering over whatever she was creating. A vigorous rush of excitement flowed through her as she scrambled with the blue paint, taking quick jabs of white along with it. The imaginative girl continuously peered over to Raven who started back to washing Timmy's blanket. A taut smirk propped upon her circular face, returning back to her work.

Bobby lumbered over to her with Teether in his arms. Teether's raw, blissful cut through the air like a love arrow, and Raven instantly turned to find Teether's…painting?

…What…what was that thing?

It was not a duck. Not even close.

Note to self: Never let Bobby draw again with paint, Raven thought, managing a twitching grimace of a smile. "It's, um, nice. Good work of…white."

It looked like a deformed snowflake with yellow blots on what she assumed was the supposed duck's beak. The splotch seemed to be mashed up or run over. Raven nodded approvingly, only doing so to bring a wide grim from both of them. Their happiness brought Raven an inside joy only felt by mothers, and it bloomed in chest fervently. Stating she would hang it up like Timmy's, Raven smirked at Teether's large, twinkling eyes.

"Yay! Up, up!" the baby cried as Bobby obeyed.

Melvin sat up in a sudden rush, chair clattering over and shook the room. Raven sensed haughty anger erupting from her, instantly going over and asked what was wrong. Melvin stiffed out her upper lip, turning away to Raven's confusion. She sniffled, wiping her eyes. Her painting fell like a feather to the ground, but before Raven could see it, Melvin snatched it and bolted.

"Melvin, wait!" Raven called, but the child dashed off. "Bobby, watch the boys. Don't let them do anything stupid."

The startling, but caring teddy bear nodded and tended to the concerned toddlers. He glanced over to Raven who whisked herself out of the door in a fit of violet.

Raven shouted for Melvin, a fit of desperation coming to her face. She stomped through the halls, eyes searching each room. An immediate worry came to her, stopping on her heels. Closing her eyes, she sighed and began to feel for Melvin's emotion compared to the other rampant feelings of the Titans who promised to leave her and "her" kids alone for the day. Compared to the mellow moods of her friends, Raven gasped at Melvin's saddened exterior from a nearby room.

"Melvin," she sternly muttered, opening the door to her room and found the girl huddled by her pillow. Shutting it, she sat at the edge of her bed, asking, "What's up?"

Melvin frowned rather cutely in Raven's mind. "I try to make a good painting, but I can't. No matter how hard I try, it turns out like poop."

Raven gaped slightly, stupefied. "I'm sure your picture is fine."

"No, it isn't. It stinks."

"Let me be the judge of that."

Hesitation was vivid in her face like she was battling her evil half. From her pocket came the crumpled painting. Reluctantly, Melvin forked the painting over, but as Raven tried to pull it away, she kept an iron grip on it.

"Melvin," Raven warned tersely.

"I really don't like it!"

"It can't be that bad. I've seen Beast Boy draw his Japanese cartoons, and they look like super-deformed stick figures."

Melvin sighed, letting go. "Okay, but promise you won't laugh."

"I won't laugh."

"Really?"

Raven nodded and smoothed out the creases, resulting in the crackling being the harsh, grating sound in the room. She gazed apathetically down before the innocent charm and beauty of the painting captivated the half-demon. It was all five of them in a simple, light green hill with a vibrant, light cobalt sky. All of them wore cherry smiles, holding hands with Raven in the center. Her smile was the largest of them all, literally reaching ear from ear.

"It's…it's so wonderful," Raven admitted softly. A gentle grin spread across her face, almost matching the one in Melvin's painting. "Between you and me, I like your painting the best."

"Really?" Melvin gushed, lurching forward on her knees. "You mean it?"

She nodded, smiling.

Melvin sparkled like a star, hands clasping together with a quick laugh. Before Raven realized it, the oldest of the Tyke Titans enveloped her neck in an embrace, snuggling into her short, dark lavender hair. Raven gasped, surprised at the affection before slowly wrapping her arms around her waist and pink cape. Melvin continued giggling, music to Raven's soul as she pulled away and held up her painting.

"Let's put mine up right now!" she cried in delight as Raven took out the other two paintings. Melvin surveyed the room, finger to her chin in deep thought. It had to be the perfect spot, to show the world that Raven liked her drawing best. "Here!"

"Above my bed," Raven stated and nodded. Foraging for her tape in her desk drawer, she located it and ripped a delicate piece. Turning around, she wished she hadn't.

"Raven! How come Melvin's gets to go above your bed?" Timmy whined.

Teether scoffed. "Raven likes mine! Raven likes mine!"

Raven groaned as the children argued and found Bobby blocking the doorway. A large smirk appeared on his face, and he giggled silently. Raven's hand found its way to her forehead, flopping onto her bed as her children bickered over who Raven loved more.

Motherhood was difficult at times, but it was worth it.