Teen Titans | Seasonal
title: Seasonal
fandom; pairing: Teen Titans; Robin/Raven
rating: PG
summary: Conversations are had, decorating is done, and Speedy's observations are surprisingly observant, even if he's jumped the gun a little. But what else is new?
notes: Christmas ficlet for rae00. A little late, a little rusty, and very much unbeta'd, so do forgive any discrepancies.
disclaimer: I am the proud owner of several shiny new things since Boxing Day; sadly, none of which include the legal rights to Teen Titans. Maybe next year.
They've been putting up decorations all morning in preparation for the first annual Titans Christmas party hosted in Titans Tower West on account of their status as the 'original' and thus the 'home' base for Titans worldwide. Raven had been delegated to tinsel and balloon duty in the living room while Cyborg, Starfire, and Beast Boy happily attacked the front entrance and the hallways; Robin supervised and tested everyone’s holiday patience with his borderline-OCD (“Slightly to the right-no, that’s too much! Left, left…. Okay, now just a little to the right…” and so on and so forth).
“Don’t you think that-”
“Stop right there, Boy Wonder. The streamers are fine the way they are; they do not need to hang in perfect arches with the exact spacing between each loop. More to the point, I am not going to redecorate 80 percent of the room on account of your obsessive compulsive perfectionism.”
He was quiet for half a minute. “Yeah, but that one balloon is-”
“Fine, Robin,” she repeated emphatically. “It’s fine.” Taping up the tail of the tinsel she was working on, Raven turned to look quizzically at her team leader. “You seem particularly on edge this year.”
Her casual observation made him pause in the middle of his critical inspection of the aforementioned streamer, looking vaguely surprised before realization dawned and the surprise faded into sheepishness. “Maybe a little,” he admitted.
“Why.”
“Not sure,” he shrugged. “It’s the first time we’ve done something like this.” An infinitesimal pause. “Are you going to okay?”
Raven was taken aback by the question. “You’re worried about me?”
“I worry about everyone,” he replied easily with a smile that invited her sardonic, “and everything” in return. He accepted the amendment with another smile and a half-shrug. “That too. But yes, in this case, I’m worried about you. I know you don’t like large gatherings.”
“Well, I’m not overly fond of the concept of parties, no,” Raven replied, still vaguely uncertain how they got onto the topic. “But it’s Christmas, and I understand it’s traditional. Besides,” she added, a small smirk playing at the corner of her mouth, “there’ll be ice cream.”
Robin laughed. “Lots of it. The condition was that if I didn’t allow champagne, since we never know when a call might come in, I should at least allow sugar highs.”
“I’m still at a loss as to which might be worse,” Raven mused as she accepted the new roll of shiny green tinsel he handed her. “Beast Boy drunk or Beast Boy hyper.”
“I was actually more worried about Speedy myself,” Robin said, watching as she levitated the tinsel up to the ceiling and continued where she left off earlier.
“Drunk,” she affirmed without pause. “Definitely drunk.”
“That was the conclusion I came to too.”
“Mmn,” she hummed in reply. “So don’t worry. You’ll give yourself an aneurysm.”
“I’ll have you know I’ve been worrying my whole life without once having had an aneurysm yet.”
“Don’t tempt fate, Boy Wonder.”
He laughed again. “Okay, okay, I’ll try not to.” Pause. “Though I do still think that that section is crooked.”
Raven’s reply was to chuck the last, and extra, roll of gold tinsel at his head. “Shut up and get me the balloons.”
Laughing still, Robin saluted and beat a quick retreat to the garage where the balloons were stored. “Yes, ma’am. Be right back.”
Grumbling under her breath, Raven turned back to her work, peering critically at the section Robin had pointed out. Alright, maybe it was a little bit off… making a mental note to throttle Robin later for passing his OCDness off onto her (because, apparently, it was contagious), Raven fixed the slight discrepancy with a slight flick of her finger.
Engrossed in the task at hand, she didn’t sense someone coming up from behind until they were almost directly behind her. “That was fast,” she remarked, turning as she spoke, “and before you say anything, I didn’t fix it because of y-” Her words died abruptly when she saw Speedy’s amused grin.
“Hey, Rae. Sorry, were you expecting someone else?”
“Speedy,” she greeted with a nod, ignoring his question. “When did you guys get here?” While the international Titans weren’t expected until Christmas Day proper, which happened to be tomorrow, Titans East were going to spend Christmas Eve over as well. Raven just didn’t know they were going to be here so early.
“Few minutes ago,” the archer replied. “Why? Not happy to see me?”
“Just a little surprised, actually. I thought you guys were coming in the evening.”
“Yeah, well, Bossbee decided we should come a bit earlier to help with whatever, so here we are!”
Before she could reply, the doors opened again to admit Robin with a herd of balloons floating after him. “Hey, Speedy,” he grinned as he approached.
“Robin, hey man!”
“I’ve got the balloons,” Robin reported after the obligatory fistbump with Speedy.
“I can see that, Robin,” she said with a sardonic glance at the green and red mass hovering behind him. “Thanks.” Taking command of the entire flock with her powers, Raven divided them into several groups and relegated each to a corner of the room.
“There.”
At her shoulder, Robin was looking up at the section of the tinsel she’d fixed earlier with a small, satisfied smile.
“Don’t say a word, Boy Wonder.”
“I didn’t,” he said, satisfied smile still in place.
Only the spirit of the holidays prevented Raven from rolling her eyes at him.
“So, Speedy, how’ve you been?”
“Hm? Oh, fine,” the redhead replied, a beat slow. He was looking at both of them with a combination of curiosity and mischief in his eyes that made Raven’s eyebrow-lifting senses tingle. “Protecting the innocent, defeating evil, spiking Aqualad’s pool… y’know, superhero-ly stuff.”
“I’m not sure, but I don’t think spiking a teammate’s pool is in the superhero handbook,” Raven replied, her deadpan honed to perfection. “Robin?”
“It’s not,” he agreed, trying to look mock-stern but failing miserably at keeping the amusement from his voice.
“Yes well, only boring heroes read those anyway,” Speedy said with a shrug, still looking vaguely thoughtful. “So…” he continued after a brief pause, a daredevil grin spreading across his face, “are the two of you together now or something?”
“…..” For a minute, neither member of Titans West spoke as they tried to register what Speedy had just asked. Meanwhile, the archer’s grin only grew bigger.
“…. Together?” Raven echoed at last, sceptical as to whether Speedy was really quite that insane.
“Yeah, together,” Speedy confirmed cheerfully (too cheerfully by anyone’s standards). “Synonymous with dating, going out, referring to each other as hunnybear and snugglypoo, etc.”
Raven’s eyebrow climbed higher with each successive alleged synonym, and when she looked to Robin, her glance clearly said, ‘I am not going to dignify this question with an answer, so you do it.’
She was slightly dismayed when he didn’t answer immediately, instead appearing thoughtful until she sharpened her gaze to include the threat of a glare. Then Robin smiled, half-ruefully, and shook his head at Speedy. “No, we’re not going out or dating or anything else.” Then, completely aware of Raven’s look (and increasing frown) still directed at him, Robin couldn’t help asking, “Why do you ask?”
Speedy didn’t look entirely convinced by Robin’s denial, but he seemed content to let it pass for now. At the question, however, his eyes positively shone with amusement. “Just wondering really. You two seem … closer than before. Not that you radiate hey-look-we’re-dating! vibes, but… there’s something different.”
“There’s nothing different,” Raven interjected coolly, speaking at last. “Now that we’re finished with this line of conversation, and the living room decorations, I’m going to try to convince Starfire and Beast Boy that decorating the entire island is unnecessary. I’ll see you later, Robin. Speedy.” With a nod to each, she leaves the room in brisk strides.
“Nah, definitely something different,” Speedy affirmed, watching her exit.
“Because she obviously took that suggestion well,” Robin noted drily.
“You didn’t think it was going to be easy, did you?”
Robin opted to let his eyebrow do the talking for him.
“Man, you two aren’t even official yet and you’ve already synchronized your expressions.”
“We aren’t unofficial yet either,” Robin reminded his friend.
“Yet being the operative word here, Birdy Boy,” Speedy grinned knowingly. “Yet.” Before Robin could reply, the archer turned, threw a wave over his shoulder, and walked toward the door. “I’ll go see if Cy and Bossbee need any help hooking up the lights. Just remember, mistletoe’s in season right now!”
Robin watched him leave with a small shake of his head. Then, with another thoughtful look around the decorated living room, he left as well to check up on the arrival schedules for the next day. Mistletoe and Courtship 101 could wait for a little longer; Robin wasn’t patient by nature, but he’d always been a quick study. Some things - worthwhile things - took longer than others.
(end)
fandom; pairing: Teen Titans; Robin/Raven
rating: PG
summary: Conversations are had, decorating is done, and Speedy's observations are surprisingly observant, even if he's jumped the gun a little. But what else is new?
notes: Christmas ficlet for rae00. A little late, a little rusty, and very much unbeta'd, so do forgive any discrepancies.
disclaimer: I am the proud owner of several shiny new things since Boxing Day; sadly, none of which include the legal rights to Teen Titans. Maybe next year.
They've been putting up decorations all morning in preparation for the first annual Titans Christmas party hosted in Titans Tower West on account of their status as the 'original' and thus the 'home' base for Titans worldwide. Raven had been delegated to tinsel and balloon duty in the living room while Cyborg, Starfire, and Beast Boy happily attacked the front entrance and the hallways; Robin supervised and tested everyone’s holiday patience with his borderline-OCD (“Slightly to the right-no, that’s too much! Left, left…. Okay, now just a little to the right…” and so on and so forth).
“Don’t you think that-”
“Stop right there, Boy Wonder. The streamers are fine the way they are; they do not need to hang in perfect arches with the exact spacing between each loop. More to the point, I am not going to redecorate 80 percent of the room on account of your obsessive compulsive perfectionism.”
He was quiet for half a minute. “Yeah, but that one balloon is-”
“Fine, Robin,” she repeated emphatically. “It’s fine.” Taping up the tail of the tinsel she was working on, Raven turned to look quizzically at her team leader. “You seem particularly on edge this year.”
Her casual observation made him pause in the middle of his critical inspection of the aforementioned streamer, looking vaguely surprised before realization dawned and the surprise faded into sheepishness. “Maybe a little,” he admitted.
“Why.”
“Not sure,” he shrugged. “It’s the first time we’ve done something like this.” An infinitesimal pause. “Are you going to okay?”
Raven was taken aback by the question. “You’re worried about me?”
“I worry about everyone,” he replied easily with a smile that invited her sardonic, “and everything” in return. He accepted the amendment with another smile and a half-shrug. “That too. But yes, in this case, I’m worried about you. I know you don’t like large gatherings.”
“Well, I’m not overly fond of the concept of parties, no,” Raven replied, still vaguely uncertain how they got onto the topic. “But it’s Christmas, and I understand it’s traditional. Besides,” she added, a small smirk playing at the corner of her mouth, “there’ll be ice cream.”
Robin laughed. “Lots of it. The condition was that if I didn’t allow champagne, since we never know when a call might come in, I should at least allow sugar highs.”
“I’m still at a loss as to which might be worse,” Raven mused as she accepted the new roll of shiny green tinsel he handed her. “Beast Boy drunk or Beast Boy hyper.”
“I was actually more worried about Speedy myself,” Robin said, watching as she levitated the tinsel up to the ceiling and continued where she left off earlier.
“Drunk,” she affirmed without pause. “Definitely drunk.”
“That was the conclusion I came to too.”
“Mmn,” she hummed in reply. “So don’t worry. You’ll give yourself an aneurysm.”
“I’ll have you know I’ve been worrying my whole life without once having had an aneurysm yet.”
“Don’t tempt fate, Boy Wonder.”
He laughed again. “Okay, okay, I’ll try not to.” Pause. “Though I do still think that that section is crooked.”
Raven’s reply was to chuck the last, and extra, roll of gold tinsel at his head. “Shut up and get me the balloons.”
Laughing still, Robin saluted and beat a quick retreat to the garage where the balloons were stored. “Yes, ma’am. Be right back.”
Grumbling under her breath, Raven turned back to her work, peering critically at the section Robin had pointed out. Alright, maybe it was a little bit off… making a mental note to throttle Robin later for passing his OCDness off onto her (because, apparently, it was contagious), Raven fixed the slight discrepancy with a slight flick of her finger.
Engrossed in the task at hand, she didn’t sense someone coming up from behind until they were almost directly behind her. “That was fast,” she remarked, turning as she spoke, “and before you say anything, I didn’t fix it because of y-” Her words died abruptly when she saw Speedy’s amused grin.
“Hey, Rae. Sorry, were you expecting someone else?”
“Speedy,” she greeted with a nod, ignoring his question. “When did you guys get here?” While the international Titans weren’t expected until Christmas Day proper, which happened to be tomorrow, Titans East were going to spend Christmas Eve over as well. Raven just didn’t know they were going to be here so early.
“Few minutes ago,” the archer replied. “Why? Not happy to see me?”
“Just a little surprised, actually. I thought you guys were coming in the evening.”
“Yeah, well, Bossbee decided we should come a bit earlier to help with whatever, so here we are!”
Before she could reply, the doors opened again to admit Robin with a herd of balloons floating after him. “Hey, Speedy,” he grinned as he approached.
“Robin, hey man!”
“I’ve got the balloons,” Robin reported after the obligatory fistbump with Speedy.
“I can see that, Robin,” she said with a sardonic glance at the green and red mass hovering behind him. “Thanks.” Taking command of the entire flock with her powers, Raven divided them into several groups and relegated each to a corner of the room.
“There.”
At her shoulder, Robin was looking up at the section of the tinsel she’d fixed earlier with a small, satisfied smile.
“Don’t say a word, Boy Wonder.”
“I didn’t,” he said, satisfied smile still in place.
Only the spirit of the holidays prevented Raven from rolling her eyes at him.
“So, Speedy, how’ve you been?”
“Hm? Oh, fine,” the redhead replied, a beat slow. He was looking at both of them with a combination of curiosity and mischief in his eyes that made Raven’s eyebrow-lifting senses tingle. “Protecting the innocent, defeating evil, spiking Aqualad’s pool… y’know, superhero-ly stuff.”
“I’m not sure, but I don’t think spiking a teammate’s pool is in the superhero handbook,” Raven replied, her deadpan honed to perfection. “Robin?”
“It’s not,” he agreed, trying to look mock-stern but failing miserably at keeping the amusement from his voice.
“Yes well, only boring heroes read those anyway,” Speedy said with a shrug, still looking vaguely thoughtful. “So…” he continued after a brief pause, a daredevil grin spreading across his face, “are the two of you together now or something?”
“…..” For a minute, neither member of Titans West spoke as they tried to register what Speedy had just asked. Meanwhile, the archer’s grin only grew bigger.
“…. Together?” Raven echoed at last, sceptical as to whether Speedy was really quite that insane.
“Yeah, together,” Speedy confirmed cheerfully (too cheerfully by anyone’s standards). “Synonymous with dating, going out, referring to each other as hunnybear and snugglypoo, etc.”
Raven’s eyebrow climbed higher with each successive alleged synonym, and when she looked to Robin, her glance clearly said, ‘I am not going to dignify this question with an answer, so you do it.’
She was slightly dismayed when he didn’t answer immediately, instead appearing thoughtful until she sharpened her gaze to include the threat of a glare. Then Robin smiled, half-ruefully, and shook his head at Speedy. “No, we’re not going out or dating or anything else.” Then, completely aware of Raven’s look (and increasing frown) still directed at him, Robin couldn’t help asking, “Why do you ask?”
Speedy didn’t look entirely convinced by Robin’s denial, but he seemed content to let it pass for now. At the question, however, his eyes positively shone with amusement. “Just wondering really. You two seem … closer than before. Not that you radiate hey-look-we’re-dating! vibes, but… there’s something different.”
“There’s nothing different,” Raven interjected coolly, speaking at last. “Now that we’re finished with this line of conversation, and the living room decorations, I’m going to try to convince Starfire and Beast Boy that decorating the entire island is unnecessary. I’ll see you later, Robin. Speedy.” With a nod to each, she leaves the room in brisk strides.
“Nah, definitely something different,” Speedy affirmed, watching her exit.
“Because she obviously took that suggestion well,” Robin noted drily.
“You didn’t think it was going to be easy, did you?”
Robin opted to let his eyebrow do the talking for him.
“Man, you two aren’t even official yet and you’ve already synchronized your expressions.”
“We aren’t unofficial yet either,” Robin reminded his friend.
“Yet being the operative word here, Birdy Boy,” Speedy grinned knowingly. “Yet.” Before Robin could reply, the archer turned, threw a wave over his shoulder, and walked toward the door. “I’ll go see if Cy and Bossbee need any help hooking up the lights. Just remember, mistletoe’s in season right now!”
Robin watched him leave with a small shake of his head. Then, with another thoughtful look around the decorated living room, he left as well to check up on the arrival schedules for the next day. Mistletoe and Courtship 101 could wait for a little longer; Robin wasn’t patient by nature, but he’d always been a quick study. Some things - worthwhile things - took longer than others.
(end)