#pencildreams

The Gift of the Beast Boy

Christmas morning in Titans Tower was a happy one indeed. The Christmas tree in the common room was up with ornaments of different shapes and colors glowing with the shine of the white tree lights. It was daylight, but it still looked beautiful. Stockings with each of their names hung in a holographic fireplace they made just for the occasion. After having breakfast, the time they were all waiting for came.

“It’s time to open the presents, ya’ll!”, Cyborg announced.

The Titans gathered on the couch with bright faces and willing attitudes. “Well, BB, you always go first. Go ahead.”, the robotic man said to his best friend. “Nah. Not this year, Cy. I wanna be the last this time.”, answered Beast Boy with an exaggeratedly confident tone, which was clearly hiding his true nervousness. “Riiiight. Ok then, I’ll go first.”, said Robin, stepping up to the Christmas tree and picking up four neatly wrapped boxes from under it and gave it one to each of his teammates. Raven received the latest book of dark poetry, a pack of new comic books for Beast Boy, and for Cyborg, a brand new HD touch screen for the T-car controls. When Starfire opened hers, she squealed in glee. It was a red Christmas sweater with a snowman on it. “Now you have one of your own and you can join in with the tradition.”, Robin explained. “Oh, thank you!”, Stafire said as she flew towards the boy wonder and captured him in one of her signature hugs. “I must wear it right now!” and so she did.

It was Cyborg’s turn to play Santa and give gifts: a gamestation game for Beast Boy, a new and updated staff for Robin, a candle burner for Raven and special communicator for Stafire so that she can communicate easier with her home planet, Tamaran. When it was Starfire’s turn, she squealed lightly and gave a gift to each of her friends with a warm smile. She got Raven a friendship necklace, which she made wear at the very moment. For Cyborg, it was a Viking helmet that reminded her of his bravery in battle. For Beast Boy, a small action figure of himself. And last, but definitely not least, for Robin it was a new mp3 player in the color red. Raven didn’t stay behind at giving good gifts: a onetime girls’ night out pass for Stafire (to which she reacted excitedly), the Hunger Games book for Robin (she read it and thought he might like it), blueberry homemade pie for Cyborg (to which Raven promised that she did make herself but it actually taste fine), and a gift card for Beast Boy from the local comic book store.   

At last, it was Beast Boy’s turn to give out his gifts. First, he picked three boxes from under the Christmas tree and gave one each to Starfire, Cyborg and Robin. They were a small, pink guitar for Starfire, a gamestation game for Cyborg (yes, they gave each other a similar gift), and a massage pad suitable for a chair for Robin (for those long nights he pulls trying to solve a case).

Then Beast Boy reached once again for under the Christmas tree and picked up a little wrapped box that fit comfortably in the palm of his hand. He walked towards Raven and extended his arm with a soft smile. Raven could sense his tension. With confusion and suspicion on her face, she took the small box from his hand and unwrapped it. She opened the little box...and there they were. Two dime-sized earrings with a blue-violet gemstone and a small white gemstone on top on each one. Raven’s mouth opened to form a little “o”. After a moment of silent awe, she spoke, “Is this tanzanite?” “Yup. With a diamond on top…Do you like them?” Beast Boy waited for her answer as the rest of the team gathered around the mage to catch of glimpse at her new jewelry.

“Beast Boy, they are very, very beautiful.”, she said without taking her eyes of the shiny, new earrings. “And it looks like you spent a reasonable amount of money on them too, but…” Beast Boy’s stomach sank with that last word as she continued, “I can’t use these.” “What?...Why not?”, whined Beast Boy. Raven held the box in her left hand and with her right hand; she pushed her hair behind her ears to reveal them. “Oooooohh”, Starfire was the first one to react to the problem. “My ears aren’t pierced. Sorry.”, said Raven, drifting her glance to the floor in an apologetic way. Beast Boy’s ears drooped. He was radiating disappointment and Raven’s empathic abilities caught his emotions loud and clear. “It’s ok. I can’t exactly return them but you can sell them and get yourself some really nice stuff. They are…”, Beast Boy scoffed as he glanced the earrings and continued, “really valuable.”

 Raven caught up on his tone. “How much did they cost you?”, her tone grew serious. “Not saying.”, said the changeling as he folded his arms against his chest. Cyborg, Robin and Stafire stood around as spectators and exchanged looks, knowing what was about to happen before them. “How.much.did.they.cost?”, Raven spat lowly with a scowl. “You know the tradition, Rae. You don’t reveal the price of your gifts.”, he said in a mocking tone. Robin interrupted, “If you expect her to sell them, she needs to know their value.” The team leader looked at his green teammate with a calm, yet serious face. “Now…how much did these earrings cost you, Beast Boy?”, asked the boy wonder. The green teen sighed in defeat. “…two thousand dollars.”

“WHAT?!” His teammates exclaimed in unison, one octave higher than their normal tones.

“That’s too much, man”

“Why would you do that for me, Garfield?!”

“How did you acquire this amount of currency?”

“What were you thinking?”

Cyborg, Raven , Starfire and Robin spat at the same time as the changeling transformed into a turtle and hid inside the green shell. As soon as he heard a moment of silence, he became his human self once more. “Dudes, chill! It was no big deal.”, said Beast Boy in a futile attempt at calming down his friends. “What do you mean ‘no big deal’? Two thousand dollars don’t just fall from the sky!”, Cyborg decided to intervene. As his best buddy, maybe Beast Boy would listen to him. The green teen sighed once again. “Sit down, guys…I have to tell you something.”

After exchanging a few glances, the Titans sat down on the couch facing Beast Boy and looked to him in silence, signaling him to start explaining. “Well, this year I turned 18, as you all know, and something special happened. Three months ago, Mento, who is my adoptive father, called me to let me know he received a letter addressed to Garfield Logan, which is me. The letter was from a national bank. It said that my deceased parents left me an inheritance…” His voiced cracked at the touching memory of his parents, “and since I’m a legal adult now, I received it.”

There was a solemn silence amongst the group. These were some important and emotionally-heavy news. Robin decided to break out the silence. “How much is the inheritance?” ”Let’s just say there lots of zeros to the left.” Beast Boy didn’t know what to say. He hid that from his friend because he didn’t think it would affect them at all, and apparently it did. His friends and teammates looked shocked and pensive. It wasn’t every day a close friend received a hefty inheritance…aside from the Boy Wonder. Then it started to sink in. Childish and irresponsible Beast Boy just received a hefty inheritance and spent two thousand dollars on a pair of simple earrings for Raven. “You still can’t go spending it like crazy, man!” Cyborg broke the silence and started the “let’s all yell at Beast Boy” trend again.

“You must keep your inheritance safe.”

“This is important. You can’t be irresponsible with it.”

“You can’t go spending two thousand dollars on earrings for a friend.”

“GUYS! STOP IT! I am not a child! You guys forget that I led a team of Titans when we were fighting the Brotherhood of Evil, while you were getting your butt freezed, Robin!” the leader scowled, but the changeling continued without intimidation. “I can do this! It’s all safe in a savings account. You guys trust me to keep the city safe but you don’t trust me to manage my own life?” His friends’ serious faces turned into frowns. Almost in unison, their eyes drifted to space in a pensive way. “Raven…” the mage broke out of her trance by the sound of her green friend’s voice whispering her name. “Do you wanna know why I got you that?” She just stared without response. “Because for once, just this once, I wanted to impress you. Year after year you looked at my gifts like nothing. Just this once, I wanted you to get something from me you actually liked, no matter what the cost.” Raven furrowed her eyebrows and you could see the trace of sadness in her eyes. The others remained silent. Beast Boy wanted something good, impressive even, to happen on this year’s Christmas in Titans Tower. But things didn’t go his way, once again. Seeing things weren’t going to get better for him, Beast Boy’s ears drooped as he walked towards the common room door and disappeared for the rest of the day.

    The next day

It was almost noon and, naturally, Beast Boy was still in bed. That is, until he heard an unexpected knock on the door. The changeling groaned while he tried to open his eyes. “I told you he was going to be asleep. I’m leaving.” He heard voices coming from the other side of the door. “You are not! Let me assist you with the knocking.” The sound he heard next was like someone attempting to knock down the door with a mallet. “Ugh! I’m coming, I’m coming!”, said the green teen as he put on his usual uniform.  Starfire’s giggles were heard fading out. “You’re seriously leaving me here? Alone?”, he could heard Raven sigh.

Beast Boy opened the door and there she was. Raven. The memory of the fiasco hit him and an automatic frown appeared on his face. “Hi”, she said first in a low, yet friendly tone. “Hi”, he responded. His emotions enveloped her. There was sadness, disappointment and a bit of self-pity. “Um..I did something this morning and Starfire made me show you immediately so…I’m sorry I woke you up.”, she said while avoiding his eyes. “Sure, it’s ok. What is it?” Her eyes met his as she answered, “Well…”. With both hands, she tucked her hair behind both ears to reveal them reddish and slightly swollen, this time dangling from them were the 1carat tanzanite, 14K white gold earrings that Beast Boy gave her the day before.

The changeling froze in shock with his mouth wide open. “How do they look?”, Raven asked shyly.

“You pierced your ears!”

“Well, yeah. How else was I supposed to wear your gift, Garfield?”

“You didn’t have to do that!”

“Just like you didn’t have to give me a pair of two-thousand-dollar earrings.”

“I had my reasons.”

“So did I. I wanted to show you how grateful I was of your gift. And even though they are ridiculously expensive, I know how much it means to you, so… I got my ears pierced to wear them. Just, please no more expensive gifts. It’s your parent’s money, Gar. That is all you physically have left of them. That inheritance is their way of taking care of you, even if they are no longer among us. Use it when necessary, okay?” Raven’s sincerity and openness completely unarmed Beast Boy. He hung his head and answered. “Okay.” After that, Raven did something she never thought she would do, but it felt like the handsome young man in front of her needed it. She stepped closer to him, leaned in and lightly pressed her lips against his cheek. “Thank you, Beast Boy. They are beautiful.”, she said shyly after stepping back. The same shock and confusion he felt the first time she hugged him after that incident with Malchior made a comeback. But after seeing the small smile she wore on her lips, he shook it off and smiled back. “I’ll see you later, Garfield.”, and with that she turned to leave and began walking away. “You know, now I set the bar for when a guy gets you an engagement ring. Don’t take any ring below 2 grand, okay?”, Beast Boy yelled as she was going down the hallway. “Riiiiight. Like I’m even gonna get engaged”, answered Raven as she disappeared around the corner.