Hi guys thanks for the reviews on my first fiction (Demons) and the support you gave. I'm sorry it's taken this long to carry on the story but after a long hiatus I am back. :)

Before I started work on this story however I have gone back and reviewed my last fik and I have found it wanting. So I have decided that along this story I will rewrite the old one adding in bits and pieces to make it flow better as well as fixing some of the grammatical errors. But as I stated I am still very much an amateur so if any other writing aficionados out there would like to give tips and/or constructive criticism I would greatly appreciate it.

I am hoping to turn this story into a series due to the fact that I want to honour the characters and their relationships. I am hoping to put up at least two chapters a week but it may be dependent on how busy I get and whether I get some serious writers block. Well thanks for reading this just wanted to get this out of the way and so as they say on with the show!

Disclaimer I don't own the teen titans or an of its characters (unfortunately :( ) they belong to WB cartoons and DC.

Masks Chapter 1 – As Usual

A sense of deja vu flooded over Garfield as he looked out at the rain hitting the choppy waters of Jump City bay. It's been a full month since he confessed everything to Raven and in response there has been a vast improvement in both himself and in her. They both look more relaxed and more happy, even raven who sometimes throws him a little grin now and then when no one else is looking. He can't help but feel special to be the one receiving those secret grins and he can only hope that she can learn to smile more no matter who is around. He also hopes that she can see what everyone else is missing out on because her smile, though rare it may be, always seems to light up a room. Thinking of that Gar's mind flashed back to that Tuesday night...

… It had been a long day Gar's bones were aching all over, and the sweat on his brow was dripping down his face. Once again Cinderblock managed to escape and reek havoc among the public. Once again the team had to put him back in. Once again only to escape. Round and round it went and it never ceased to annoy him. So after a long day of getting thrown around the town he once again said "Seriously dudes! When are those guards gonna get it into there thick heads to put a bit of extra security around him! Seriously I feel like I'm gonna turn into Barney the dinosaur with all these bruises." In the background a little giggle could be heard. After his little tantrum mister traffic light as usual responded with "How many times Beast Boy do I have to tell you the city can't afford the extra staff so we'll just have to put up with it and I think the mayor has enough to worry about than whether an overgrown pavement slab has escaped. Plus you can count it as a little extra training."

"Yeah Grass stain you could really do with losing a little. I think you've been chowing down on the broccoli to much. Hahahahaha!"

It's not that Gar had anything against his tricoloured friend it's just that he was so focussed, so much of the time that it just scared him. Mainly because he reminded him of himself and what he was doing. It reminded him that he wasn't the only one hiding things from others and putting on acts to makes sure no one got a chance to find out. Plus he really hated the training.

As Raven kept up pace with the others through the hall cursing herself for letting that little giggle through she started to think about why Gar refused to take his mask off in front of the others. She knows he's smart and she knows he knows why they haven't put up extra security, if not by common sense then more by the fact that Robin keeps telling him again and again. Even though she has spent the last few days getting to know him a little better she still has no idea who he really is inside. She knows that even though it is a façade he still makes jokes and generally acts like an idiot but she also knows underneath he is a mature, smart and wise man even for his age. It puzzles her why he's doing this. After all she found out the reason why he never told her but why was he hiding it from them. They all have there own problems to deal with but its not as if they would feel burdened and see him as anything different.

However she guesses that he just isn't ready to yet mainly because it took him two years to confess to her let alone how long it would of taken it to confess it to himself. She guesses she'll just let him tell them when he wants to, plus she was liking the little sessions she and Gar spent together.

Then it hit her she was the only one who knew his real name, she knew robin's after going into his mind and Cyborgs because of their repair time but no one knew much about there little green friend. Realising this made raven feel really special to have this amount of trust from him and now she's thinking about it she has really learnt a lot so far about him. One thing is that he actually can read and not just comic books he has a whole stack of fantasy and Sci-Fi novels in his closet, some even she hasn't read.

Gar started to slow down hoping no one would notice him and finally came to stand by Raven. As soon as he reached her he felt himself instantly relax. He didn't know what it was maybe it was her demeanour or maybe it was the scent of lavender that always seem to radiate off of her but as soon as he got near his muscles just turned to jelly. It was hard work keeping up the charade for his friends because he knew if he didn't keep the act up they would get suspicious. Sometimes they managed to see behind the mask but that was in high stress situations or when it was needed but as soon as they were over he went back to what they thought was normal. He sometimes considered telling his friends but Raven still doesn't know his whole past and right now she was the only one he trusted to talk to about it. He also wanted her to be the first person to know the real him mainly because she knew she would accept him but also because he knew he could count on her and that she could count on him. If all their years of fighting together, getting thrown out the windows and secret conversations has taught him it's that they were there for each other. He knew that he could count on the rest of the team but it was Raven who he turned to even though he never acted upon it up until now.

So as they were about to get to the main room he walked up to her and whispered "Yours." and started to walk to her room.

The last few days her and Gar had switched back and forth between each others rooms for their conversations, he even tidied his room to look like someone could live there, even going as far as masking the smell with several air fresheners. They had become pretty good at telling when was the best time to sneak off and talk. For example now was a very good time because they had just had a long and gruelling fight and they knew that Robin would hang out with Star on the couch and Cyborg would get a call off of Sarah saying she saw the fight on TV and was worried. This way the others would just assume that they had both gone to rest in their rooms.

As she approached her room she saw Gar standing there ready to go in. He always respected her privacy even though he knew the code. When she got to the door she typed in her passkey and entered. As she stepped into the purple den that was her room she straight away threw off her boots and collapsed on her usual spot on her bed lying across with legs dangling over the edge allowing her to kick and swing all she wanted. It's strange to think that she has become so comfortable with him in her room that she doesn't bat an eye when he climbs over her bed and takes his place without even asking. He is as usual in the same kind of position on the other side of the bed. This allowed for their heads to be next to each other which strangely makes Raven feel relaxed for the first time in hours. It was when they both got comfortable that she spoke "Wow I have never felt so tired in my life! Blockhead has never been this hard to beat before."

"Yeh I know I guess Rob's new training isn't working as well as he thought. Were going out to fight more tired than usual which really does not help matters. I swear I ended up doing more flying then I ever did as an actual bird." It was then she let out a little giggle with a little grin on her face she said "It's not flying if you don't stay in the air."

"Haha! I Guess. Oh and before you try to deny it I could hear you giggle before. I thought I was the only one who could see you laugh? I mean I would love it if you could show that side to the others but what gives."

"You are but I just couldn't help it I got the picture of you as a purple dinosaur stuck in my head and I couldn't hold it in." Gar then started to chuckle

"Yeh I guess I can see how that would be hilarious. So why don't you want anyone to see you giggle. It's cute and you have a lovely smile." Gar was always giving her complements now and it made her feel embarrassed but she knew why she shouldn't.

"You know why! My powers could blow up the tower."

"But you just giggled before and nothing happened you have so much more control now that his influence is gone."

"Yeh but if the rest of them saw that you know what would happen and you can say his name you know. I don't have any daddy issues anymore."

Gar couldn't help but laugh at that, to think she used to be so scared of him and now here she was making jokes about him "Yeh I know. Star would bombard you with her happiness and you would explode. I know your powers Rae and I know you can take it. Your stronger than you give yourself credit for!"

Again with the compliments she could feel the heat in her cheeks rising again.

"I guess."

"Come on Rae there must be something else to it?" She then turned to face him with a mischievous grin on her face.

"Oh no you don't you know how this works. My turn to ask."

"Fine but you know I won't drop it." That she did. He could be so stubborn sometimes.

"I know but just not today only one serious question a day that is what we agreed. Ask whatever else you want after but as long as it doesn't delve to deep." They had agreed the terms of their chats after their first couple of little chats. That was because it seemed after it was mainly one person doing all the confessing making it a bit one sided. Also talking about more than one thing left them to emotionally drained "Hmm now for mine." She knew what she wanted to ask but she tried to make it look like she hasn't been thinking about it all day.

"Come on I know you want to ask it don't try to fool me into thinking you haven't already thought about it and I know what it is." she stepped back how did he know her so well so fast. However thinking it through they have lived with and worked with each other for years so its no wonder. Knowing that it was still a bit of a shock to her mainly down to the fact that he's been paying attention.

"Ok why don't you want anyone else to know yet."

Thanks for reading I would really appreciate a review to tell me what you think and whether you like were the characters are going.