Okay, so this is my first fanfic. Usual disclaimer follows: I do not own the Teen Titans. Please Read and Review. Beware flares; I have a firehose and I'm not afraid to use it. But otherwise, let me know what ya think, where I can make improvements, etc.

Izaioi

Chapter 1

Raven sat on the edge of the roof, meditating. She faced away from him, her cape whipped around by the breeze; he wondered how the hood of her cape stayed up.

"Did you want something, Garfield?" Raven's voice called out. She didn't turn around. "Or would you prefer to just stare at me?"

Garfield, aka the Changling, cringed back against the roof door, the idea of turning into a land turtle and hiding in his shell flashing briefly through his mind. But he pushed that thought away; he wasn't a little kid anymore. He was never going to get Raven to take him seriously if he didn't grow up.

Not two weeks ago, he had essentially been handed the keys to the Tower and a new team. Cyborg was off to work for S.T.A.R. labs, doing something technological that Gar couldn't understand the last five times Vic had tried to explain it to him. He wasn't stupid, he just didn't have Vic's background in engineering and computers. Robin, now Nightwing, was taking off for parts unknown on his path to become a solo hero. As Robin, he had been the leader of the Titans for years. Koriand'r was going home to Tamaran for a visit. She expected to be gone for six months to a year, time enough to reconnect with her k'norfka (read nanny) and others she hadn't seen in years.

So Gar had gone from being the youngest Titan in the Tower to being in charge. When Raven had heard that the others were leaving, the first thing she had said was not to put her in charge. She didn't trust herself to keep the others alive or lead them. She had withdrawn from the conversation, hardly even staying around to meet the new Titans: Hot Spot, Solstice, Ardent, Mas y Menos. She had said maybe two words in the common room since the transition, those being "Tea" and "No."

She had spent the last week and a half in her room meditating, on the roof meditating, or at the waterfront meditating. Every time he had tried to get her out of her room, to engage with the new team had been met with, "Get out. I am meditating."

At least she's talking to me now, Gar thought as he stepped out onto the roof to join her.

"Hey. We need to talk," Gar started, hating those four words as soon as they left his mouth. He reached her at the end of the sentence, sitting on the roof next to her. She turned to look at him, her face obscured by the hood of her cape. Gar found himself wondering again how she kept the hood up in this wind. He could feel the wind overcome his hair gel, blowing his new 'do out of wack. Yet her hood stayed up, hardly moving at all.

"Look, we need to learn to work with this new team," Gar began, figuring he might as well dive in.

Raven seemed to have other ideas. "You are the team leader now."

"Yeah, but you're still on this team," Changling pressed on. He hated pressuring her, but he didn't have any more ideas on how to reach her. "Raven, you're closing yourself off again." He reached out a hand to her shoulder. Her gaze flicked down to his hand then back to his face; she otherwise didn't react to his touch, closing down on him.

"Dammit, Raven!" Gar let go of her and turned away. "I miss them too. Part of me wants things to go back to the way they were and stay like that forever." He looked back at her. She had reached out to him, her right hand hanging in mid-air. She's not gone yet, he thought relieved.

"Come down, meet them," Gar turned back, clasping her hand in both of his. "Start small. Observe and watch, just like you did with Robin and the others."

"Nightwing."

"What?"

"Gar, his name is Nightwing now," she glanced away. But he could still see her face since she was now turned towards the roof light.

"Raven, please, I can't do this alone," Changling pleaded. "R-Nightwing only let me be 'in charge' because you were staying. None of them think I'm smart enough for this."

"Gar, I. . ." She looked back at him, apology in her eyes.

"I don't question my intelligence, Raven," Gar deliberately used 'the big words' as Kori sometimes put it. "I'm smart enough, I know that. What I question is whether or not I can lead this team." Gar plowed ahead, afraid of losing momentum. "I've spent years being the goofy kid, Raven. And now I can't even get the whole team in one room at the same time."

"Garfield, this new team is a lot different than the old Titans, more emotional. Nightwing, even back when he was Robin, was very close with his emotions. Cyborg, being half machine, processed his emotions analytically; he was rarely overwhelming. Koriand'r, even though she had strong emotions, they were focused." A small smile ghosted across her face. "You were actually the hardest to deal with, your unbridled emotions, your pranks. But you were the one who tried the hardest to include me." She dropped her hand from his as she stood gracefully. "But you have no idea when to back off."

Gar stood with her, his toothy grin splitting across his face. "It's my charming animal nature." He wiggled his eyebrows as he leaned in coyly. "Chicks dig me."

"Case in point," Raven rolled her eyes and shook her head, not amused. "You always had to push just a little too much."

Gar's ears drooped a bit and he scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. "Heh. Yeah, you've got a point." His cheeks flushed a dark green. He took a deep breath and dropped his hands and he let the breath out. "OK."

Raven blinked in surprise; Gar had gone from pushing her boundaries one moment to acting like and adult the next. How had he changed and she not noticed? And how mature did that make her? Raven stepped forward and placed her hand on Gar's arm. He startled, surprise flowing off him; he really hadn't expected her to reach out to him. He had expected her to shut down and shut him out. Gar broke into another toothy grin as he drew Raven into a hug. A small smile crept up Raven's face as Gar embraced her. They stood together as the wind whipped her cape and his hair around them. Raven's hood caught in the wind, falling back to reveal her gently smiling face and her long black hair which started to move in the wind.

"So I back off, a little," Gar pulled back from the hug and gazed down at her porcelain face. "And we all learn to work together as a team?" Raven turned her face up to look at him. She nodded softly before resting her head back on his chest.

They had tried dating before, but (and perhaps, Gar thought, he should have seen it coming) Raven didn't handle intimacy well. A gentle hug, ok. A kiss, now that was a forward move. Making out, don't even think about it. Gar knew she had issues with being touched at all, let alone in an intimate way. So they had broken it off; she was too scared to go forward and he couldn't stand the idea of hurting her. But, damn, Gar still loved her. And right now, she was in his arms. He smiled and embraced her gently again, thanking his lucky stars for two hugs in a row.

Gar was so happy he almost missed the small sound Raven made. It sounded like a sigh and she leaned into him more. His elation was short-lived however, when she made the same sound again and almost collapsed in his arms.