Author note: This story was written as a gift for the incomparable Sophie, a.k.a. Sophiendace on Tumblr. Happy holidays, Sophie! I hope you like this BB/Rae Xmas moment!

And of course, thanks so much to Kdubbz1075 for organizing this amazing Teen Titans Secret Santa for yet another year. And a HUGE thanks for fitting me in at the last minute!

No Promises

1. The Smooth Beastboy

A slow parade of lazy white flakes migrated en mass from the night sky to land on a soft, fresh bed of their moonlit brethren. A faint breeze produced a gentle, calming whoosh for the group inside, making them thankful for their shelter and the warm fire that crackled at the base of their chimney. They chattered pleasantly, their faces reflecting the colors of the decorative lights on the Christmas tree. It was certainly an ideal Christmas Eve.

Robin took one last look at the quaint, artificial moment on the television, reached for the remote control, and turned off the screen as he stood from the couch. The picturesque holiday scene abruptly disappeared from the screen and the Boy Wonder turned his gaze toward the tower's giant windows to assess Jump City's actual weather. He walked over to said window and stood, his own reflection boldly standing up to him and returning his blank expression as he gazed out upon the snowless cityscape.

They'd gotten a particularly bitter brew this Christmas Eve. It had not snowed at all, and instead the temperatures had dropped to the single digits while gusting winds pushed them even lower. The wind howled and Robin briefly had the instinct to shiver even from within the warmth of the tower.

"Some holiday weather we turned out to get," Raven droned in her lotus position hovering over the sofa with her cloak draped around her. Her eyes remained closed while she teetered peacefully on the border between wakefulness and meditation.

Robin continued his brooding, a simple nod the only acknowledgment he offered. He remained expressionless for a few moments in silent agreement—the sorceress's preferred language—before drawing into his lungs the winds of change.

"Well," he replied, turning about face with his trademark Optimistic Robin™ expression, "I'm just happy to be with friends this Christmas."

Raven peeked one eye open and was met with that laid back look of contentment as the team's leader made his way toward the Christmas tree. She watched for a moment, debating whether she should continue the conversation while he focused on adjusting the hanging ornaments. As the team's presiding Beacon of Hope, he did have a knack for focusing on the good in any situation. She rolled her eyes; it was sometimes quite sickening.

Just as she decided to resume meditating, the main doors whooshed open and a festive commotion marched in.

"Friends, we have returned!" Starfire exclaimed merrily, hardly able to contain herself as she hovered in the air while carrying two Tamaranian arms' worth of shopping bags full of wrapped presents. She zipped into the room and immediately started showering the tree with her newly acquired parcels. Following into the doorway behind her were her two less-than-thrilled and almost-frozen compatriots, the final two members of the team.

"Hey Star, hey guys," Robin greeted, walking toward them and side-stepping Starfire as she flew an erratic orbit around the tree. "Did you help her get everything she was looking for?"

"Yeah man, and she had no idea how freezing it is out there…" Cyborg replied while he used a rag to wipe off all the condensation that was now forming on his metal parts. "Those Tamaranians are some people."

He tugged on a rope behind him, dragging into view a five-foot-tall slab of ice with Beastboy's frozen face and hands protruding out, Hans Solo style. "Hmm, now why does this look familiar?" he wondered aloud while he inspected his frozen friend, tapping on him to produce a steel-on-glass sound. Robin came over and scratched his chin as he joined the inspection, followed soon by Starfire while Raven continued her meditation.

"What do you say, Star, you think you can warm Beastboy up for us?" Robin asked, a slight smirk betraying his amusement.

"Oh I do believe I can," the alien princess replied coyly, her green eyes already crackling with power.

She unleashed an intense eye blast directly at the immobilized Beastboy, and the scene was immediately obscured by a dense, loudly hissing cloud of steam. Raven sighed at the disturbance and opened her eyes to find a peculiar scene—Starfire feeding a continuous green energy beam into a steam cloud, while Robin shielded himself with his cape and Cyborg seemed to be warming his hands as if it were a campfire. Of course, it wasn't long before…

"Hot! Hot! Hot!"

And there was Beastboy. The steam dispersed, revealing a smoking, significantly charred but distinctly green… five-foot-tall humanoid… rooster? "Did you want original recipe… or extra crispy…" it sputtered out before collapsing into a burnt heap.

"Ooh! Original recipe!" Cyborg exclaimed.

"Eeep!" Beastboy squeaked out, immediately upright in his human form. "I'm up, I'm up!"

"Can we still eat him?" Raven droned from afar.

"You can eat me anytime, mama," the changeling replied with a suggestive wink, quickly earning a startled and bewildered look from Raven. He suddenly realized that what he'd said hadn't made any sense (at best…) and tried to recover, "I mean…"

"Beastboy, I'm not even sure what that means," Robin remarked as he walked past with a handful of more gift boxes. "But it sounded pretty gross."

"Er…"

Cyborg chuckled as he followed the boy wonder over to the tree while Starfire flew by overhead. He put a metallic hand on the green teen's shoulder and commented jestingly, "Maybe you oughta leave the jokes to the funny people tonight, green bean."

Beastboy huffed as the tin man walked passed him. "I'll let you know if I find any…" he grumbled too low for anyone to hear, his face red and fists balled as he silently fumed while the others were occupied with the tree.

…Except for one Titan, still hovering quietly off to the side in her lotus position. From beneath her hood, this particular Titan allowed herself the smallest of smiles. She had to admit, Beastboy could be somewhat endearing when he thought no one was watching.

2. The Smoother Raven

Hours later, Raven remained the last soul in the common room.

It had been a joyful Christmas Eve in the tower that evening. Starfire had repeatedly caught Cyborg trying to scan the gift boxes with his name on them. Robin had been the butt of countless "Jingle Bells, Batman Smells" jokes, and Beastboy had even prepared some surprisingly exquisite hot chocolate for the group, redeeming himself of his earlier faux pas. He had approached her with her favorite mug filled with the steaming beverage topped with marshmallow islands, completely unaware of how clearly he was broadcasting his nervous emotions as he neared her. As she'd accepted the mug from his tentative hand, she'd again found his butterflies rather endearing.

Overall, there had been much laughter, bonding, and camaraderie.

Raven had meditated during most of it, save for the moment when Beastboy brought her a hot chocolate.

Sure, she'd participated a little bit. These were her friends, after all. But so many smothering emotions could become a burden after a while. It was really no big deal. She was quite accustomed to keeping an emotional 'barrier' up in order to make her empathic sense more manageable. She could have perfectly legitimate friendships simply by keeping a part of herself removed and protected.

The dry, freezing weather from earlier had since given way to a heavy, peaceful snowfall. It was a relaxing scene, and the sorceress had found herself content to stand in front of the gigantic window that towered over her. She leaned her head against the glass, the initial coolness quickly warming to her temperature.

She enjoyed the silence for just a few moments longer, before sighing, "Come on out, Beastboy. I can sense your presence."

There was the sound of soft footsteps first on the sofa and then on the floor behind her—too soft for human steps—and then the surprising feel of fur on her bare leg. Raven let out a quick gasp at the unexpected sensation before looking down to find a green kitten looking up at her innocently.

"Mew," was the kitten's only statement.

She rolled her eyes, although she wasn't exactly sure why, before asking, "So do you plan to stay in that form all night?"

The kitten looked up at her for another moment and then pranced over to her side while its tail brushed her leg, cause Raven's face to color slightly. Not two seconds later, she found herself standing next to a full-size Garfield Logan with a sheepish grin as if he'd been caught taking Santa's cookies.

Raven eyed him through violet strands. "Any reason you were spying on me?"

"Hey, I was just coming out here to steal Cyborg's presents."

"And naturally that involved watching me from the shadows." Her expression was bland while she attempted to avoid sounding too accusatory.

There was no initial response while Beastboy struggled with his words, but Raven held her piercing eye contact to push the question.

Beastboy finally sighed, "I found you out here by yourself. I was just… trying to figure out if you were okay." He endured the girl's gaze for a few moments while she studied him, before her investigation was concluded and turned to look back out the window. Unsure of what to do next, he attempted, "So… what are ya doing, Rae?"

The corners of her mouth tugged upward at the sound of his pet name for her, and she stiffened her facial muscles in an attempt to suppress a smile. Rae. She normally hated anything other than her real name, but guessed that sometimes it could be… 'acceptable'.

She forced her violet eyes to look up and make contact with his green ones, and asked with her monotone, "Why do you call me that?"

Beastboy looked confused for a second before replying, "Ugh… it's shorter than 'Raven'?"

When her she continued to look at him expectantly, the changeling realized that she'd been hoping for more of a reason. "I don't know, Rae… it just feels like you. It kinda comes out when I talk to you." He studied her blank facial expression while she processed his words, but he couldn't figure out what she was thinking. "Do you really hate it that much? I guess that's just how I see you."

Another small smile surfaced before she was ready for it. How I see you. Maybe that was what made it feel so intimate. Her face suddenly felt warm, and she looked away again as she replied almost meekly, "You can say it if you want."

"Really?" His brow furrowed. "But I thought you hated it."

"I… don't," Raven admitted. Damn, why was she so awkward? She took a moment to deliberate on her choice of additional words before coming up with the highly articulate, "I just don't know how to respond to it."

"Respond? What do you mean?"

Raven sighed and turned to look out the window. The snow continued to dance gracefully throughout the sky and it was calming. She could feel Beastboy's eyes on her, and this wasn't something she would usually talk about, but something about this moment actually made her feel comfortable. The cold was out there and they were in here.

"The monks in Azarath saw me as a student, as a pupil." She continued to gaze across the bay at the city so far away. "I was—am—Trigon's daughter. His portal. And their task was to train me so that it would never happen. So that his influence would never take hold in me. And the way they felt was best was to make sure that I never felt the rage that Trigon thrived on.

"But of course, you can't just omit a single emotion. If you feel love and happiness, then you also feel rage and sadness."

Beastboy watched from her side, her facial muscles relaxed in some kind of surrender. From between her locks of purple hair, he could see her eyes close momentarily as she let out a quiet sigh.

"There was only one solution." She opened her eyes again and stared at the glass panel in front of her. "All emotions had to be suppressed. None could be allowed to flourish, lest one of them spiral into rage one day."

Beastboy's voice was quiet to match Raven's. "And that's why you never got close to anybody when you were younger."

The half-demon simply nodded. She'd told this story before, and that was how it ended; with a summational nod.

"But didn't you want to?"

Raven looked perplexed for a moment. Nobody ever asked that. Why would they? Isn't that obvious?

Her tone was slightly irritated when she answered, "Of course I did. At first I truly believed that the monks' ways were best. But as I got older…" She paused for a moment. The story had never gone this far. "As I got older… well what teenage girl wouldn't want relationships? Of course I wanted friends. When I saw the other girls my age, how could I not feel left out? How could I not wish that I could have friends like everyone else did? A real, close friend who would feel my emotions… with me?"

Suddenly, she looked up and turned to him in surprise. She'd felt a surge of emotion from him, but it wasn't the pity or confusion that she'd anticipated. It was… affection? Living in the tower with Robin and Starfire at the peak of their relationship, Raven knew very well when somebody was experiencing affection. Oh, what she wouldn't sometimes do just to shut them up. But why now? Why with her?

"Uh, why're ya looking at me like that?" Beastboy scratched his head.

Raven's felt her face become warm again; was she actually going to have to say it out loud? Still, it felt different than she was used to. Maybe because this was Beastboy's flavor of affection. Or maybe because it was for her.

"Sorry," she found her voice, her fingers curling around her upper arms underneath her cloak. "Your emotions surprised me. I wasn't expecting… what I felt." Great, now he had her actually talking about it.

"And what exactly did you feel?" Beastboy asked, both curious and apprehensive about exactly how much Raven might discover through his emotions.

Raven's breath paused and she found her eyes searching for anything that might be interesting out in the snowfall. "It was… something people don't usually feel around me." Saying the actual word could make it disappear.

She felt a cautious hand land on her shoulder, lightly tugging her to face him again. She complied, and found her gaze captured by his emerald irides.

"Hey," he offered with a tempered smile, "I'm glad you told me all that. You never talk about your life before the Titans." His expression became more serious and he gripped her shoulder slightly, commanding her full attention. "And you know we all care about you, right? You have friends now."

"I know," she replied, averting her gaze once again. "And yet, after all these years, I still can't help but maintain distance. You and the others have formed such close bonds in that time. I can feel it radiating from each of you." She hadn't meant to keep talking, but he'd asked that one extra question and now it was all coming out. "Sometimes… sometimes I feel like I've never been truly close to anyone."

And there it was. The pity and heartbreak that she knew he would feel for her. Right on cue.

She'd said more than she should have; now it was time to go. She would perform her teleportation spell—her most practiced technique—and tomorrow they would pretend this had never happened. He would probably be especially nice to her for a few days, a gesture that she would reflexively push away while she rebuilt the distance. The sorceress stepped back to shake off his hand, while she mentally prepared her technique.

But the changeling's grip tightened, refusing to let her back away.

"Beastboy, what are you—"

"Do you always feel like that, Raven? Like you're not close to anyone?" he asked her, his tone both serious and inquisitive.

She faced him, becoming curious about his fluctuating emotions. To her surprise, the pity was gone as quickly as it had appeared. What had replaced it was a swirling mixture of hope, excitement, apprehension, and… the affection again. Damn, it was quickly becoming a drug for her. And the last time she'd answered his question, that drug had disappeared. She couldn't bring herself to do that again.

His hand slid from her shoulder down to her upper arm, and his other hand came to match it so that she was in his grip on both sides. Raven felt another wave of apprehension from him, which was then suppressed as Beastboy stepped in close to her so that they were just inches apart.

What had she gotten herself into? She'd just explained that she was used to keeping her distance, and now they were so close that she could feel his body heat radiating off him, and she was noticing facial features that she'd never noticed before, and that affection was—Oh.

Oh no.

He locked his gaze on hers, but his expression remained relaxed. She didn't know what to say, and her concentration kept coming back to the feel of his hands on her arms. She had never really appreciated the exact colors and patterns of his eyes, although this seemed now to have become her newest fascination. Shit, what was she supposed to do?

At least she could feel Beastboy's nerves, too.

He grinned, which she wasn't expecting, and said, "Now you put your hands on my shoulders."

Raven furrowed her brow. What could that possibly accomplish? "Beastboy, what are you doing?"

He rolled his eyes in amusement and briefly chuckled, "Just trust me."

"If I look up and see a mistletoe…"

Searching his emotions, the empath could feel his tension peak. He was uncharacteristically grounded and this was important to him. What was he up to?

After a moment of hesitation, her grey hands finally revealed themselves from her cloak, followed by her slender arms in her dark blue sleeves. As she raised her hands up toward Beastboy, his own hands reacted at the same time—his grip loosening and gliding downward. As her ashen hands landed delicately on his shoulders, his forest ones settled firmly on her waist. With a tug on her midsection, he closed the distance between them so their hips were touching.

His arms adjusted so that he hands interlocked snuggly over the small of her back, causing Raven's breath to hitch and her own grip to tighten on Beastboy's shoulders. Her nervous system was overwhelmed with the sensation of his body on hers and the feel of his firm shoulders under her fingers. And that body heat… since when was Beastboy so warm?

"This is what it's like to be close," Beastboy explained. He'd been nervous, given how defensive Raven usually was about her personal space. She was always so quick with a sarcastic rebuttal, but now she was a deer in headlights, her violet eyes looking at him pleading for any sort of instruction. They were of similar height, but he'd never realized how small her form was.

"Is this okay?" he asked cautiously, but with an amused grin nevertheless.

Was it okay? Of course it wasn't. He knew that, so why couldn't she say it? Why did it feel so good?

He tugged her hips into his, and she reflexively gripped his shoulders harder and swallowed nervously, before giving an uncharacteristically meek nod.

They stood for almost a minute like that, listening to the sound of each other's breaths, before Beastboy spoke.

"I know I've hugged you before, and little stuff like that, but…" He tried to find the words for what he wanted to say.

Raven finally found her voice, albeit a quiet one, "This is so different…" Yeah, different. She would never tell him it was both comforting and overwhelming. And she certainly would never mention how safe she felt with his arms supporting her back, but also how on-edge it made her. What was this combination of contentment and yearning? And damn, she needed to stop drinking in his facial features. This was Beastboy!

"Do you… like it?" he asked, while another swell of nervousness radiated from him.

Again the grey girl could only nod silently, her brain far too preoccupied for any sarcastic reply.

"Heh, phew," he smiled. "I was pretty sure you were gonna blast me right out the window."

She was about to reply, when suddenly she felt him pulling her upper body toward him, and his forehead came to rest on hers. Now those emerald eyes were even closer… and so was mouth. Oh, why had she ever wanted personal space?

"Promise you won't?" he whispered tentatively, the heat from his breath igniting the nerve endings on Raven's nose and lips.

She swallowed again and blushed, but managed to reply back, "No promises."

Beastboy grinned for a moment before shrugging, "Good enough, I guess." And with that, he closed his eyes, tilted his chin, and leaned toward her mouth just slightly.

Raven's eyes immediately widened and her breaths quickly became shallow. Oh no. Oh no, no, no. This couldn't happen. She couldn't do this. She didn't know how! What was she supposed to do? She could just back away; his grip was firm, but not so firm that she was trapped in any way. But this place was so safe. Standing in his arms and gripping his shoulders, she really couldn't bring herself to move anywhere. His breathing was calm and relaxed, like he was just patiently waiting for her. And his mouth was right there, somehow pulling her towards it…

Ugh, when had she become the one who yearned for this so badly? She more than just 'wanted' it; each nerve ending on her lips was aching to meet with his. Her hands seemed to be automatically tugging on his shoulders while she involuntarily pushed her forehead into his.

"Well you haven't blasted me yet," he whispered amusedly, his eyes still closed. "So I guess that's a good sign."

The feel of his breath again stripped away Raven's words, and he felt her nod against his forehead while he enjoyed the sound of her fragile breaths.

"I'll give ya a hint," he offered. "First close your eyes."

To her surprise, the half-demon's eyes closed almost automatically.

"Now I'm gonna lean in most of the way," came the next instruction. "And when you're ready, you come in the rest of the way."

Of course, Raven saw this last gesture for what it was: an effort to let her feel like she was in control, even though she was so out of her element. Still, she appreciated it. Or at least she did until she felt his presence settle right in front of her.

God, he was close. Everywhere they had contact—the foreheads, his hands on her back, hers on his shoulders, and of course their hips—was obscuring all rational thought, and every other nerve ending was screaming to touch him. How was he doing this? Their lips were less than an inch apart; she could feel she wasn't going to last long like this. She swallowed, a momentary distraction.

And then it happened. Raven leaned forward and closed the miniscule distance between them. This time it was Beastboy's breath that hitched at the feel of her mouth on his. Her skin was definitely cool, likely due to her demon physiology. But in that moment, the green teen really didn't care in the slightest. Her kiss was so tentative, and the gentleness only further heightened the sensation.

Through his hands, he could feel all of her core muscles relax as she melted into the kiss, and he couldn't help but work her lower back muscles with his fingers. He had never, ever expected Raven to let him feel her like this. Her musculature was very well developed, no doubt due to years of perfect upright posture during her meditation.

Meanwhile, Raven couldn't get enough of the sensation of Beastboy's lips on her own. They were so warm and smooth, and the feeling of his lips gliding along hers was simultaneously both electrifying and sedating. With her lifelong isolation and emotional suppression, not to mention a certain 'inconvenient' destiny, she had never expected to ever do this with anyone. But in this moment, her position up against his body was quickly becoming her new 'happy place'. And when he then started rubbing her low back muscles, the sorceress felt her entire body tingle as she unexpectedly moaned into his mouth.

They both reacted, deepening their lip lock while Beastboy hands continued on her back, and Raven's increasingly-less hesitant fingers started exploring his shoulders and neck.

As they continued, an idea occurred to Raven that she knew Beastboy would never allow her to hear the end of. Of course, that was making the generous assumption that he would ever allow her to live this down. It was something that she'd occasionally seen the tower's resident romantic couple do from time to time. Something else she had never expected to get to experience. There was a brief moment when she tried to suppress the thought, in futility.

Losing herself just a little more, the demoness' right hand slid down Beastboy's arm and awkwardly angled itself to find his hand on her back. She kissed him a bit harder, as if hoping to distract him from what he would surely notice anyway. At the same time, she took hold of the back of his hand and slid it… down.

Now it was Beastboy's turn to gulp in surprise. As his hand was led downward, he distinctly felt where his teammate's leotard ended and her bare skin began. His hand froze, in disbelief that there was even a remote possibility that it had permission to touch her here. But Raven had come this far already, so she kissed him hard again while she pushed Beastboy's hand flat against her bottom.

This time, he didn't hesitate to grab a handful of her soft, smooth, cool skin. He reveled in the feel of her gluteal muscles, while the girl's hand returned to his shoulder. His fingers gripped her more firmly, earning a fleeting whimper of approval from her mouth into his as her fingers explored his clavicle.

Finally, their lips came apart and Raven leaned back into Beastboy's grip. The safeness in his support was still there, along with a strong feeling of… companionship? The changeling was also quite content to hold this surprisingly small girl in his arms. He would never let her know how red her face had gotten this day.

"So…" the changeling remarked, grinning from ear to ear. "Where did all that touchy-feely come from? 'Cuz that was pretty sweet."

"It was lust." The deadpan was back.

"Uh, what?"

She sighed and explained, "Like I said, up until we defeated my father, I had to suppress all the emotions a regular girl would experience. And that includes… lust…" She looked at the floor as her face colored.

"Oh…" was the best he could reply. And then, "Well, feel free to let 'lust' out more often." He gave a wink, which earned him a pair of rolled eyes in response.

There was a moment of silence, and then Raven's voice. "Beastboy…"

"Yeah Rae?

She looked back up at him between her purple locks. "This was the first time I've gotten to feel… like that." Damn it, she needed to stop blushing. Now.

Gar chuckled with a toothy grin and rubbed the back of his head, replying, "Yeah, well… I've kinda been wanting to do that for a while. So, I guess thanks for not blasting me into a dimension without tofu or something."

She smirked with amusement, "You think I won't?" Her expression then became stern. "If you speak one word of this to anybody…" She jabbed one dainty finger surprisingly firmly into his chest, causing him to gulp and take a step backward. "Nobody will ever find you. Understand?"

Beastboy nodded quite enthusiastically.

Raven eyed him once more, before wrapping herself in her cloak and turning to walk out of the room, leaving Beastboy's heart pounding behind her. Several steps away, she stopped and turned her head just slightly, and added with a smirk, "Except maybe me once in a while. If I need to… "let lust out", as you put it."

Beastboy wasn't sure whether to grin or gulp again.

End

Author note: If you're not sure whether this story was filled with romance or completely lacking it… that was intentional. Their interaction could have been love, platonic, or anything combination thereof.

Thanks for reading! If you review (pleeeeease), then please do let me know how their relationship felt to you.

And if you liked this kind of character exploration, then consider checking out Martian Abandon. It's also BB/Rae and was written along a similar vein, but with a lot more diverse scenes.