Beast Boy Christmas Special

The snow is falling, and the houses nearby are all decorated with various colored lights. It's finally Christmas once again I say to myself, with a smile. A day where I don't have to worry about villains trying to frame or kill me. A day that's all about being with the ones you care about. Since this is Tara's first Christmas, I went all out on the decorations. I wanted to make this as special as I could for her, since she never got to experience Christmas in Markovia. My alarm clock reads 6:00am, which means it's time to get up. Putting a t-shirt and jeans on, with an ugly Christmas sweater over top of my t shirt, I walk out of my room, wiping the sleepies out of my eyes. I make my way down the hall, until I reach Tara's room. The door's already open, which is strange, she doesn't usually sleep with the door open. Anyways, I enter the room, and tip toe to her bedside.

 

"Wakey wakey! It's Christmas! Time to go unwrap our gifts!" I cheer, crouching down. The response is rather defiant. The ground beneath me starts to shake, which almost causes me to lose my footing. Her arm reaches over, punching me square in the jaw.

 

"Owh, that hurt Tara! And can you stop the shaking please?" I say with a groan.

 

"Serves you right for trying to wake me up at-- " She pauses, noticing the time. "Six in the morning. You should know by now I'm not a morning person." She grumbles, still not fully being awake. The rumbling stops moments later, as she puts her hand back under the pillow.

 

"Yeah I know.. But it's Christmas. Kind of a tradition to wake up early and open presents."

 

"Alright alright, I'll get up. But can I at least have a few more minutes?" She sighs, not having the energy to keep putting up a fight.

 

"Huh? Yeah sure, of course! I'll be in the living room." I grin, doing a little dance as I walk out of her room.

 

I make my way to the kitchen, to do a bit of baking, while I wait for her to get up. I'm not as good of a chef as Larry, but I still give it my all! I asked for his cinnamon roll recipe a few weeks back, in preparation for today. Let's hope this works out. As I'm mixing the various ingredients, I can't help but tear up. The realization that this is the first Christmas, since Rita's death.. I mean I guess technically it's the second, but this is the first without Cliff, Larry, and Steve. Nonetheless, it still hurts. It's hard not to hear Tara coming about 20 minutes later, as the sound travels quickly in this apartment.

 

Turning around after putting the first batch of cinnamon rolls in the oven, there she is, dressed in sweatpants and a t-shirt.

 

"Gar, what's wrong?" She asks, noticing tears dripping down my face.

 

"Sorry... I honestly shouldn't be crying so much. It's uh just that it's only now sinking in that this is the first Christmas without the Doom Patrol. I mean, last years was hard, having just lost Rita weeks earlier. But we were at least together. But now? Now we're not.. I can barely remember Larry singing different Christmas carols. " I say with a slight chuckle.

 

"I mean, if you really want, I could sing.. Can't guarantee it'll be as good as his, but I'll definitely try! Though, just warning you, the only Christmas song I somewhat know is that Frosty the Snowman one. And that's only because you've played it constantly the past few weeks."

 

"I appreciate the thought, Tara, but it's fine. Things change, and that's okay." I reply, pausing for a few seconds before continuing. "Now let's go open our gifts! I say, changing my slight frown to a grin, trying to change the subject, to keep things light.

 

"If you say so. But just know, that I'm not going anywhere. And if you need someone to talk to about it, I'm always here."

 

First up are the stockings. Grabbing my red and green one that's hanging in front of the fireplace, I start ripping through the wrapping paper, while sitting on the sofa. There are some people that neatly unwrap presents, using a boxcutter, or something, but that's definitely not me. For the most part, it has pretty much all the typical stocking stuffer items. Socks, oranges at the very bottom, and other day-to-day items. However, there was many sweets that I didn't recognize. Markovian sweets that Tara had her brother send over in a small, rectangular tin. She gave me a rough translation of their names too, but some don't have a word for it in English. Giving her a big hug, I say thank you. She opens hers, and smiles. I spent far more than I should've on some of those chocolate bars, but she deserves nothing but the best!

 

"Thanks Gar!" She says, before opening one of the chocolate bars, eating it soon after.

 

"Don't each too much though! Gotta save some room for the cinnamon rolls."

 

"Oh don't worry, I'll have room." She says with a smirk, before looking over at the tree in the corner of the room. "So I'm guessing that one's mine?" She jokes, pointing to a smaller box near the back of the tree, wrapped in black and gold wrapping paper, in comparison to the behemoth present sitting at the front. There are only the two gifts, one for each of us, because we agreed not to go too overboard.

 

There's another box, after Tara unwraps the initial layer of wrapping paper. Her eyes light up, as she pulls the present out. A pair of black aviator goggles, with yellow lenses.

 

"I know it's not much, but I saw you eying those up at the store, so I knew I had to get them for you. You aren't the biggest fan of jewelry, so I thought this was a good alternative. That, and I'm sure it'll look really badass with your costume! Helps protect your identity too, which is yet another plus!"

 

"I love it. Thanks, yet again Gar."

 

"You're welcome! Oh, and that's not all! Check the bottom of the box." I reveal in my most dramatic voice.

 

She looks at me a little confused, before looking back at the box, and grabbing it. It takes her a few seconds before she finds it, and pulls out a pair of tickets.

 

"You didn't..." She replies, shaking her head in disbelief. Her eyes, lighting up with joy once again, as she gives off this beaming smile

 

"I totally did! Two VIP passes for Songbirds' first show, in Star City. Front row seats, and a meet and greet with the band afterwards." I smirk, giving her a thumbs up.

 

"This is so sick! Wait, how'd you even get these?"

 

"Really Tara? Well, let's just say I know a guy who knows a guy. Not to toot my own horn or anything, but I was a former actor after all. With that, comes perks."

 

"Well however you got them, thank you, thank you thank you! We're gonna have so much fun!" She shrieks, giving me a big hug, before regaining her composure. "Phew, sorry about that, just a little excited. Now I feel bad, my gift's not as great as this." She says with a slight frown.

 

"I'm sure it's fantastic!" I respond, doing my best to reassure her.

 

Now it's my turn to unwrap this behemoth. It's actually quite a bit heavier than I was expecting, so I end up unwrapping it pretty close to where it stood in front of the tree. Tara sits directly behind me and my jaw literally drops, as I unwrap my present.

 

"A computer with an AMD Athlon 64 3500+ processor?! No freaking way!"

 

"Is that good?" She jokes.

 

"Good? It's literally the best gaming specs you can get right now. And you were saying your gift wasn't good.. Way to make me feel bad.. This probably costed you a fortune. Really should've gotten you more." I say pausing, before noticing one other gift hidden behind it. This one's quite a bit smaller, and it's wrapped in green wrapping paper.

 

"Oh yeah, that one's for you too."

 

"Stop.. You got me something else, on top of this?"

 

"I did, yeah. Kind of figured you needed something to keep your mind off things, especially everything that's happened this past year. Besides, what good is a gaming computer, without a game to play?"

 

Unwrapping the gift wrap in record time, my jaw drops once again. World of Warcraft it reads, with a dwarf in the lower left corner, and a night elf in the center. Yeah, I've done my research.

 

"I've wanted to play this for weeks, but my current rig couldn't run it! Where'd you even get these anyway? I would've thought it would sell out like hotcakes."

 

"Oh I know you did... Well, after a long search, I found a store over in Jump City carrying both. Coincidentally, it was being robbed as I got there. I had every intention of paying full price for both, but after taking down the robbers, the store owner gave a sizable discount." She replies with a smirk.

 

"Just when I thought I couldn't feel any worse about how little I got you, you find a way to prove me wrong."

 

"Awh, don't be like that. Remember what you told me? That this gift exchange wasn't meant to be a competition... Besides, I think what you got me is just perfect. And really, that's the only thing that should matter, right? I couldn't have asked for a better first Christmas."

 

"When you're right, you're right. Well, thank you once again, princess Tara Markov. You're the best!" I cheer, nodding my head. "Now we just have to get you a computer, and a copy of the game, so we can play together!"

 

"Me playing that game? Good luck with that.. I'd probably be dead weight anyways." She replies with a frown.

 

"Turn that frown upside down! Don't make me bring out the puppy dog eyes!" I say, before shifting into a dog, widening my eyes, trying to be as adorable as possible. "You know you can't resist!"

 

"Nope! You do this every time! I'm not gonna fall for it!" She says, trying to convince herself as she closes her eyes. It's during this time I shift back into human form.

 

"If you say so. I'll leave it be for now. But one day, I will convince you to join my soon to be Tauren Druid in the world of Azeroth! Of that I-" I'm unable to finish my sentence, as Tara leans forward and kisses me.. Most likely to shut me up. A surprise, to be sure, but a welcome one. I can't deny that I've crushed on Tara pretty hard since we met. So this is pretty much like a dream come true. I was half tempted to slap myself to make sure that this was actually happening. I can feel myself getting flustered, as she pulls away moments later.

 

"Merry Christmas, Beast Boy." She says with a coy smile.

 

"And a Merry Christmas to you too Tara." Is all I manage to say in response, somehow not fumbling words as I'm definitely feeling quite flustered right now, my face beet red. "Oh would you look at the time. I should probably go check on the cinnamon rolls." I say, trying to not make any eye contact with her.

 

"Saved by the bell." Tara chuckles.

 

"Awh man, I forgot to make the soy sausages.. I knew I was forgetting something..."

 

"As long as it's not your tofu. That stuffs disgusting." Tara replies, pretending to gag afterwards.

 

"That's not funny Tara!! You take that back right now!" I yell back in a playful tone, but she continues to laugh, which causes me to smile.

 

It's been over a year since Rita was taken away from this world, so while this Christmas has been rather rough, not spending it with the rest of the Doom Patrol, I feel surprisingly happy. Happy to spend this time with the especially badass princess of Markovia herself Tara Markov, and hopeful for the future that lies ahead. I can safely say this is a Christmas I'll never forget.

Done