"Are you coming or not?" He yelled from the inside of the car, smirking at her.
"I don't trust him."
She turned expectantly to her friend, raising an eyebrow and glaring at the same time.
"He's too..."
"Creepy," she supplied.
"Exactly! ...Oh..." Garfield's brow wrinkled in conflict as he remembered that that was the same thing he'd said about her a week previous to his meeting with him.
"I'll see you around," she turned and began walking towards his car, withhim knowingly grinning in Garfield's direction.
It's because you couldn't accept her fast enough.
"Is this alcohol?"
"You won't regret it," he smiled - genuinely smiled - at her, "Trust me."
She did.
Now, as he carried her to his apartment, her drunken whispers making him laugh into her hair, he found himself wanting to keep her safe.
"It's just funny that someone so smart listened to someone they just met - especially someone with my reputation," he said to her, placing her onto his bed and settling down to make sure she didn't come to harm while asleep.
"You're dark, but you're not dangerous. Just misunderstood," she murmured sleepily, and closed her eyes.
He stilled. "Goodnight, Sweet Raven."
You don't know what you're missing.
He stared at her incredulously as she silently treated his injuries, not asking what or who or why.
"Some things just need to be done," he'd told her once.
Inwardly, he laughed at her easy acceptance of his teachings. His hand, knuckles still bloody, curved around her skull and brought her face close enough that their lips touched, "Have I told you how amazing you are?"
She smiled confidently, and he knew that she was so glad for this confidence that she'd clean him up a thousand times without wondering what happened. "I think this is the first time."
"I mean it," he drew back and stared her in the eye, trying to convey intensity that she wouldn't have known with her friends. "You're too good."
She smiled kindly, glowing, and kissed him so softly that his split lip couldn't even be felt.
The next day, she didn't confront him about Richard's black eye, though he heard from Jenny that Grayson got an earful.
She can do better than me.
He eyed Logan's chopstick 'tusks' from across the lunchroom.
She can do better than you, too.
"Hey, Raven, d'you wanna see a movie this weekend?"
"Sorry; I'm busy."
"…All weekend?"
"Yeah."
"Really?"
"Yes. Why?"
"It's just…you don't seem like the type of person to have plans…all weekend…" Terra nervously rubbed the back of her neck as she realized that she just shoved her foot in her mouth.
"I have a social life, you know," Violet eyes glinted dangerously, "It's not like I spend all me time locked up in my house." Her hand fisted around the strap of the backpack that was slung over her shoulder.
Garfield came up behind Terra, arms crossed. "Chill, okay? It just slipped out."
He jogged up to them, pecking Raven quickly on the cheek, "You ready to go?"
"Yeah; all packed," she smiled up at him.
"Where are you going?"
"Xavier managed to rent a cabin up North. We're spending the weekend there."
"Alone?" Garfield gaped, "What about your dad?"
"He doesn't care." His arm came around her shoulders, offering silent support.
"You don't know that, he could - "
"We'll see you two around," He interrupted, steering Raven towards the exit, a comforting whisper already on his lips.
You're driving her away.
He whooped, running off the dock and cannonball-ing into the lake, then turned around in the water and caught her when she nervously jumped off after him.
They emerged wrapped around each other, a wet kiss being exchanged, which elicited a sarcastic "Aww," from Jenny.
Not that I'm complaining.
He watched her watch him, aware of how she admired the way he blew the smoke neatly above them.
He offered the pack to her, one cigarette raised above the others, like a hand extending for a shake. "Want one?"
"Sure," she daintily pulled it out, and he lit it with his, somehow making the experience intimate. Her cough was childish, almost virginal, and made him chuckle. Her unsure look made him want to take it back.
"If you don't want to, that's okay." Again, he looked her in the eye, trying to make her feel accepted, wanted. If she asked him to, he'd quit himself, but no-one else need know that.
"No, it's fine," she raised the thing to her mouth and took another drag.
I'm corrupting her. And you're already too late to stop me.
He enjoyed making her pant, and the way her face got all red whenever they did this was too cute.
Open-mouthed kisses brought him down to her cleavage, where he continued downwards without bothering to check with her. He knew she wouldn't mind.
He was surprised when she left a hickey on his neck – even more so when he found another one on his chest.
When he went to bed, reluctantly glancing at her before he went into the guy's room – this sparked a chain reaction that started with Xavier's "Just fuck her, already," – he found out, through a painful fabric-meets-flesh exchange, that there were nail marks trailing down his back.
He wondered why he'd always worn a shirt during their make-out sessions.
But perhaps she was always like this.
Imagine Jenny's surprise when she walked outside and saw Raven pinning him to the deck.
Maybe I just brought it out.
His lips moved from her forehead to her ear, where they whispered an invitation, and he drew back in time to see her nod.
Thank God for the picnic blankets he kept in the back, since now all they needed to do was fold down the seats. 'Spacious back,' indeed.
He was gentle with her, which he hadn't expected of himself, taking time to make sure she was comfortable, that this was okay, that she liked it when he did that…
Afterwards, he cursed when he couldn't find a lighter, and was surprised when she held one out.
One thing's for sure: you're not getting her back.
…
…
A/N: Review, please. You know how much we writers like that.