Her dark eyes were penetrating. She was staring daggers at him and he, as usual, didn't know how to react other than to sheepishly grin back at her.
"Explain. Right now." Raven breathed, tapping her foot against the floor.
"Um..." Garfield stammered, trying to look anywhere but in her direction. He was genuinely quite afraid that she'd be sending him to the netherworld before the night was out.
Her lips twisted further into a frown and her arms fell from being crossed over her chest. With a huff, she shrugged her jacket off of her shoulders and hung it up in the hallway of their apartment.
Raven stomped back into the lounge, acutely aware of music playing from the stereo. She began picking up her books from the floor before clearing the cushion pieces from the sofa.
"Look at the mess, Gar. What were you thinking!?" She grumbled, turning to scowl at him.
"Rae, c'mon... he needed me." Garfield murmured, quietly following her around as she started cleaning the newfound mess.
She couldn't help but roll her eyes, "They all need you."
He offered her a toothy grin, "True, but if I took them all, you really would murder me."
Raven sighed and stood the small trashcan upright,
"Gar, I don't know about this-"
He hurried over to her and used his free hand to take one of hers, a pleading expression etched on his face.
"Please, Rae. I promise it'll all be okay. I'll make sure he behaves." Gar vowed, "please lemme' keep him. Pleaaase."
Raven bit her lip and exhaled through her nose. Her eyes drifted from Garfield's puppy dog expression to the actual puppy tucked up in his other arm. It was fluffy and white and was the tiniest puppy Raven had ever seen.
Even she couldn't deny that he was adorable.
She watched the pup a moment longer, noting how comfy and at home it appeared to be snuggled up to Garfield. She supposed that wasn't to be unexpected considering all animals had this connection with him on account of his abilities and animal nature.
He gave her hand a gentle squeeze. Gar could tell he was winning Raven over because her facial expression was softening, bit by bit.
"Please, let me adopt him, babe." Gar asked, hope shining bright in his forest green eyes.
Raven exaggerated a sigh and her shoulders slumped, "Fine-"
"Wahoo!" Gar hollered, releasing her hand to fist bump the air. The puppy suddenly got excited too and clambered up Garfield's chest, licking at his face and wagging his tail around.
"Yeah, bud! Mama agreed you can stay! Wooo-"
He stopped, seeing her eyes had narrowed again. Gar cleared his throat and stroked the dog behind his ears to get him settled down again.
"Um... you were saying?"
"I was saying... fine, you can adopt him. But, I have some ground rules."
Gar grinned, "Of course."
"You are looking after him. I better not come home to find poop on the floors and the curtains being torn down. I mean it. I don't want this messy chaos every time I get home."
"Deal... today, he just kinda got... excited."
"Hm." She flipped her violet hair over her shoulder and sat on the sofa before continuing, "You'll be in charge of food and walks and baths. I'm serious. You want him? You'll be the sole carer. Do you understand, Gar?"
"Yes, Rae." He replied in a voice much like that of a child being reprimanded.
She gave him the smallest of smiles, "Then, yes... we can keep him."
Garfield beamed again, leaning down to capture her lips in a soft and tender kiss. He briefly cupped her cheek before pulling away from the interaction. He was grinning with stars practically glittering in his eyes .
Raven smirked to herself and shook her head. She never would have denied him of keeping the puppy. She knew how much he loved his animals and after him calling her with the information that they had a new addition, she knew she was doomed either way.
Besides, the puppy did seem like quite the animal companion for the two of them. It would be nice to have something like a dog between them. The awkward conversation of kids had come up recently, what with one of their best friends becoming pregnant not too long ago.
"Thank you, Rae... it means a lot to me for you to say yes." Gar admitted,
Raven shrugged and ran her slender fingers against his cheek, feeling the slight stubble he had.
"Let's face it... you were gonna keep badgering me about it until I agreed anyway. I just cut the time down." Raven replied,
Garfield stepped back, chuckling, "You know me so well, babe."
With that, he gently put the puppy down on the sofa beside Raven. Garfield dug around in the pocket of his jeans for his phone and brought it out with a flourish.
Setting off at a run, he called over his shoulder, "Awesome! I gotta go tell Star! She'll be so jealous!"
Raven snorted before her eyes widened, "Do it subtly! I don't want her going into really early labour from excitement, Garfield!"
"Yeah, yeah!" He shouted before that cheeky laugh of his faintly filtered through the hallway.
Raven shook her head and ran a hand through her long hair. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see the puppy staring at her.
She turned her head and raised an eyebrow, "What?"
The puppy tilted his head at her and made a whining sound.
"I am such a pushover..." She muttered,
The puppy attentively padded over to her rested his little head on her lap. Raven flinched ever so slightly and gazed down at the creature, finding herself growing fond of him already.
He slowly looked up at her, his big brown eyes boring into her sapphire ones.
"You are his pet..." Raven mumbled, her heart not really in it,
The puppy set his paws on her lap and gave her hand a tiny lick, waiting for her reaction.
Raven practically felt her resolve crumbling. She reached a hand up to his head and gave him a little ruffle of his fur.
"Well... I suppose you could be worse... you could be Silkie." Raven hushed, apparently pleasing the dog as his tongue flopped out in joy.
He scrambled up onto Raven's lap and looked at her expectantly.
Taking the hint, Raven gave into a ghost of a smile and scooped the canine up into her arms, much like that of a baby. She got to her feet and found herself walking around the lounge with him.
"You know... you are kind of sweet."
The puppy nuzzled her chest in response,
"But let's not tell Gar I said that, hm?"
Wandering over to the stereo, Raven briskly turned up the music playing; an upbeat version of 'Aint no Mountain High Enough' drifting from the speakers.
It wasn't intentional. It was more like an instinct as she started moving back and forth, swaying happily with the puppy contently resting in her arms.
"You're a pretty chilled out dog, aren't you?" She estimated, looking down at him, "no wonder Gar took so quickly to you."
Then she felt arms around her stomach and she smirked as Garfield brushed his lips over her neck,
"So you do like our new little guy."
Raven shrugged, "He's not so bad."
"Glad you think so."
The empath leaned her head back, against his shoulder,
"So..." She began, "dare I ask; have you thought of a name for him yet?"
"Yup!"
Raven rolled her eyes, "Of course you have. What is it?"
"Check it out!" He squeaked, turning her around to face him whilst keeping his hands against her hips.
She raised an eyebrow, prompting him to get on with it,
"Tofu!"
Raven abruptly stopped moving to the beat of the song, "Please tell me you're joking."
"Nope!"
"Tofu? Like... actual tofu?"
"Well, yeah! He's white and so is tofu."
"But... you can't be serious. You'll have to shout that in a park."
"I know right! It's such a cool name."
Raven shook her head in disbelief before pecking his cheek,
"You're a complete idiot..." She paused and looked down at the puppy, "but... Tofu it is then."
Author's Note: So, this little BBRae oneshot was inspired by my cousins getting a new puppy yesterday. I love him already. He's so tiny and cute! Some of you may remember me saying but our family dog died back in December 2015 and they've been wanting to get another dog so they went ahead and got one. He is 9 weeks and is called Dexter.
Anyway, that inspired this little oneshot because let's be real, this would sooo be a thing with BB and Raven. Just gah.
I do love writing some BBRae every now and then. They are fun to write and it's nice to occasionally explore outside of RobStar.
Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Titans.