A/N: MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAH! IT IS DONE!
Well, OK, only the first chappie but still...it's a start.
So basically the time frame is about a year and a half after the incidents in 'Renovation'...and I recommend that you read that one first before you read this once since I will probably take elements from there and continue them here.
Warning: This chappie is kinda jumpy in terms of where its going, but I hope its forgivable enough for you guys to still want to read this. Oh, also, my grammar can suck at times e.g. my diction, syntax, pronouns (espesh when it comes to the gender specific ones...for some reason I always get them mixed up) and tenses. No, seriously, you have been warned. Oh, and also its like detail overload...not as overloaded as the last chappies of 'Renovation' but still kinda overloaded. Also OOCs...people have complained about them in the past...
Wow that is a long warning...maybe if I didn't warn so much, people wouldnt be as put off by my stories as they seem to be...hmmmm...
Oh wells.
Readers enjoy! And I hope that the wait was worth it for you guys!
Chapter 1
The dog stalked the streets slowly, hunting for its prey, taking in the scents that accompanied the dark night and filtering out those scents that the dog found useless. Its tongue lolled out lazily as its pace grew quicker at a hopeful trail and it woofed enthusiastically as it realised that it was on the right trail. Scampers of rushed footsteps were heard by the dog but it ignored it, the footsteps were not its main priority right now, the scent was.
The odour suddenly became venomous and foreign to its nose and it growled fiercely at nothing and continued to growl until it felt a hand stroke its head softly, murmuring words that seemed familiar but at the moment were unrecognisable.
It wagged its furry olive green tail enthusiastically and continued to follow the scent.
The night was dark and shades of black overcame the usual shades of grey and white that appeared in daylight but its eyes could see clear enough.
It sniffed.
It was close…the prey was close.
It felt the urgency in the air, the urgency of the people scuttling behind him and the urgency in itself, and it rushed as quickly as his paws could take him; air rushing past him, gravel numbing his paws and the smell of prey filling its nostrils like a long awaited smell.
As it approached its prey, the dog realised that something was wrong and it approached its prey cautiously, as if nearing a rabid kill and took a sniff; something was wrong…it smelled too…empty…and yet the trail lead it here to this prey, not the prey he was looking for but it was still prey.
It nudged at it with its nose and found that the kill did not—or could not move—and that it did not emit any breath.
The dog growled.
Bad kill.
Bad kill.
It barked angrily and the footsteps were heard once more, this time they were more hurried and sudden and it was hard to filter one pair from another; they all sounded the same to its ears. As they approached, the dog observed the people carefully and found that they smelt angry and frustrated, especially the male with the black hair and this was further supported by the way that certain male kicked a close-by rock towards the dog, causing it to flinch and cower behind the rubbish that surrounded the place.
A voice was heard and it was so familiar and loving that the dog came out of its hiding spot and towards the voice. The owner smelt like she was worried for the rest of her pack and for it and she started to stroke its fur slowly and carefully while speaking words that it did not understand and yet…and yet it knew what they meant.
Almost subconsciously, the dog stretched out its front paws and suddenly it heard strange cracking sounds, accompanied by cold, cold pain. It wanted to howl in agony but the hand stopped it as it continued to stroke the pet softly and whisper those alien words over and over again. The dog continued to stretch until its limbs transformed into something entirely different; its fur shortened, it grew taller, it stood on its hind legs and the words that seemed so unfamiliar before suddenly became clearer to him but still, he was green…that had not changed.
"…how the hell did he get away? He was right in front of us…right in fucking front of us." Beast Boy shook the urge to scratch behind his ears with his foot as he realised Nightwing was having a major hissy fit, "He's escaped…again!"
He stretched out his arms behind him, feeling that familiar sensation of the aftermath of transformation; it was sort of numbing, like the pain was still there in every bone and muscle of his body but he had just shoved those feeling to the back of his head.
"Don't know how he did it…but dude, he did it all in a couple of seconds…I mean he couldn't have had more than a couple of seconds…we were right behind him and all but…" Beast Boy's words faltered as he realised that Nightwing was glaring at him, "What!? It isn't my fault! I was just following the trail!"
"It wasn't your fault!?" The raven haired man seethed and his hand moved in dangerous motions, "Not your fault!? We followed you here!"
"Hey!" He backed away bit by bit slowly, "A trail is a trail, alright? You gave me one scent to follow and I did it…not my fault that he had time to take his suit off and leave it here…wait a minute! Why the hell did he leave his suit here…isn't it got all that xenothium in it and crap?"
"BB's got a point, Nightwing…Red X wouldn't leave his suit here for just anyone to pick it up…I mean, man, you should know, right? You were the one who made this shit." Cyborg interjected the glare fest while he scanned the suit lying behind the dumpster and Beast Boy thought that he was probably checking if there were any clues that they had missed, "I mean why the hell would he leave it lyin' 'round for anyone to pick it up? This is dangerous shit, man…dangerous and frickin' expensive shit." He glanced quickly at Nightwing and found him to be grimacing darkly at the suit.
Nightwing crouched down on and felt at the suit, his hands sliding up and down to make sure that he hadn't missed anything. Beast Boy watched and he was fascinated at how concentrated their leader was and how he didn't miss anything—unless it was completely microscopic—and he noticed that the others were silent too; making sure that he didn't break his concentration or all hell would most probably break loose.
He finally stood up, a scowl written clearly on his face, and he was gripping something tightly between his fists, so tightly that Beast Boy imagined that his knuckles were now quite white.
"What did you find?" Raven asked; her voice was stern and cold and the way that she looked at him made Beast Boy think that there might be something else going on behind those words.
Their leader shook his head, "Nothing." He crouched down again to pick up the suit before standing up once more, "He left nothing of relevance to you guys." His gaze turned to the night sky, "We should get going."
"But…Nightwing…are you feeling well?" Starfire touched him on the shoulder and Beast Boy had to laugh inwardly at the fact that she had grown taller than him in the past year and a half.
"Truthfully, Star? Probably not in the best of moods right now but tomorrows a new day and we've got more criminals to arrest."
"But—"
Beast Boy watched as Raven contorted her brows, "Starfire…leave him be…he's right, anyway…it's been a long day and we're all tired."
"Oh…very well. May I take you up into flight towards our humble abode?" The alien princess asked, batting her eyelashes flirtatiously, her green eyes glowing prettily.
"Sure." He replied gruffly to the displeasure of his girlfriend and with that Starfire carried him by the shoulders and towards the Titan's Tower.
Beast Boy squinted as Starfire rushed past them, a gust of wind with so much force that it almost knocked him over followed by a trail of what seemed to be flames; now that is seriously awesome hair.
He looked over his shoulder to see Raven close her eyes and raise her arms before a black disc formed in mid air. Cyborg hopped onto the black disc wordlessly waited for Raven to seat herself atop their vehicle.
"Hey, baby doll, don't I get a ride too?" Beast Boy grinned and winked at her, ignoring the gagging noises created by his best friend.
"Beast Boy…" Her brows rose and his grin grew wider, knowing instantly what the answer was going to be, "You can fly…and unless I've found out that the only bird that you can turn into is a kiwi then I suggest you get a move on."
"Awww…no ride then?"
She snorted, "No ride."
He pouted, "Fine." He stuck his tongue out at both his best friend and his girlfriend, causing her to roll her eyes at him, "I'll race ya!"
"No, don't you even think about it man! You know I get air-sick!" Cyborg warned to no one in particular person and crossed his arms gruffly.
He beamed and ran as fast as he could—as if accelerating—before he took one final leap into the air, it all happened in a matter of seconds and he could barely feel the pain anymore, especially with the rush of adrenaline that coursed through him whenever he flew…he loved flying. It was just the rush that you got with the fact that there was nothing between you and the ground and the feeling of the wind blowing violently through his feathers, threatening to topple him over and the fact that you could see everything from above…everything.
The bird spun.
Bright lights shone in his face like streaks of no particular patterns and the buildings were nothing but a blur. It flapped its wings faster and dove, cutting through the air, and it gazed at the deep waters below it, sparkling darkly in the blanket of the night. The air was cool but not cold and the skies were clear; it was a good night, a good night for flying and boy did he love flying.
There, in the middle of the ocean, it could see the T-shaped building, standing upright boldly in the middle of the night and the lights were on, signifying that both Nightwing and Starfire had arrived before them. It dived once more and felt the power of gravity pull it towards the ground faster than before, pulling him so hard that it thought that it would hit the ground if it wasn't careful. Suddenly it seemed to somersault and with a quick shake of the head he landed on the rooftop of their home in the form of your normal, everyday, green, spandex-wearing guy.
Slowly he worked his way downstairs towards the Common Room humming the newest Dj Tiesto song that was in his head; Raven hated trance music…he wasn't sure why…something about it being unconstructive and disruptive and nonsensical…but then again, he really liked it so it didn't really matter…not that he ever said anything about her classical music and such. He liked jazz though—he grinned—he really did.
The doors opened and he found the Common Room filled with everyone there despite the fact that it was already late into the night; Vic was sitting on the couch while flicking through the channels with his beloved TV-remote, Dick was sitting on the couch—rigid and unmoving—while Kori was sitting down next to him—a worried look etched on her face blatantly for anyone to see—and Raven was sitting with a book in hand though she didn't really look like she was reading, she was just staring harshly at one spot in the book. There was something wrong with the atmosphere though, it was just brimming with unresolved tension, so thick with it that he could probably cut it with a knife. It was to be expected—since Red X had once again disappeared without a trace, leaving one very pissed off Dick—but that didn't mean that Garfield had to like it…in fact, he hated it.
He scrambled in front of the TV with his arms raised, "MOVIE NIGHT!" He exclaimed suddenly in which he was simultaneously replied with blank stares.
"Garfield, it's midnight." Dick glared at him and he met his gaze unflinchingly, "It's a bit late for a movie night."
"But…" Garfield whined, "It's a Friday night! MOVIE NIGHT!" He screeched once again.
He crouched down and looked through the DVD cabinet, scrambling around to try to find the movie that he wanted. While he was doing so Garfield suspected that they all went back to what they were doing before he announced his eagerness to have a movie night. Finally he found the movie he was looking for and showed it off proudly towards his team mates.
"Aw, man, if you wanna have a movie night at least pick a good movie!" Vic groaned and looked at his left arm, "Dude one of those movies…you know no one except you likes them." He pressed a couple of buttons then shook his head, "Gotta go recharge. See you guys later."
Garfield watched sadly—his pointed ears sagging—as his best friend left the room and he turned his gaze at the three remaining team mates expectantly.
"Movie night?"
Dick stood up silently, almost pushing Kori away harshly, his grimace still on his unmasked face, his fingers clenched into a tight fist with the whitest knuckles he had ever seen. He watched as Kori looked up at him in a confused manner and Raven remained silent, her eyes still on the same spot on the book as before; she probably wasn't reading at all, she got like this when Dick was in one of his moods and Garfield didn't like it, it couldn't be too good for her.
"Movie night?" He asked once more, echoing his previous words.
"I've got better things to do; work that needs to be finished." He darted a cold glance at the movie Garfield was holding, "Good night." His voice was sharp and Garfield noticed that he stunk of frustration and ice cold anger.
He twitched his nose and saw Kori stand up as if to follow her boyfriend, "The lack of colour in those movies distress me so, friend Garfield and tonight is not a night of joy." Her eyes traced the Common Room doors in which Dick had just gone through, "I shall go and tend to Dick."
He noticed that Kori actually had her feet planted on the ground and she walked solemnly pass the doors and out of the Common Room. Now there were only two of them left in the Common Room; him and Raven, and he wasn't entirely sure if she was in the mood to watch a film noir at this time of the night…sure she enjoyed it sometimes but at other times when he caught her at a bad time, she, well, uh…let's just say that she was pretty scary.
"Uh…movie night, baby doll?"
She looked up from her book to meet his gaze and he was once more reminded how beautiful and fierce those hawk-eyes were; they were ever so slightly slanted and a curtain of vaguely curled black lashes just dared you to look into the beauty that was indigo and it wasn't just the colour but…but he couldn't really explain what it was that made them so breath-taking…the colour was pretty alright but it was something else that just made them so…ethereal.
Her forehead relaxed a little but her expression was still stern, "What did you want to watch?"
"'The Big Sleep'." He grinned and handed her the DVD case.
Raven took it gently from him with her delicate fingers and took a good look at it, "Is this the one with Humphrey Bogart as a private detective who's trying to solve a case about illegal pornographic books?"
It didn't sound like such a good movie when she explained it that way.
"Uh…yea…kinda…but..."
"Will you wait just long enough for me to get changed?" She asked and he noted that she smelt sincere, "You can prepare the DVD and the popcorn…and you can make us a couple of mugs of hot chocolate." A small smile graced her lips, "I like the mint ones."
His grin grew larger as she said those words and he watched—entranced—as she phased out and to what he thought was her room. The room chilled for a couple of seconds and black energy engulfed her petite body but in a second she was gone and so was the cold.
He scrambled out of the Common Room and towards the kitchen where he found the popcorn and the sachet of hot chocolate. With nothing in particular in his mind he searched the kitchen for their mugs—his one, unfortunately, had that fat cat on it and hers had the words 'Member of the National Sarcasm Society' painted on it in white—and set off to make their hot chocolates. Once he was done, he went off—with some difficulty, seeing that he was holding two mugs of steaming hot chocolate and a bowl of popcorn with extra butter—and was surprised to find Raven already sitting on the couch in a pair of shorts and a huge dark blue t-shirt.
"Well, that was quick…are you, like, secretly The Flash in disguise?" He asked, referring to Wally who had moved up in this world and was now in the 'big leagues'.
"Ha ha…funny." She motioned for him to sit next to her, "If you haven't noticed, I can phase through places Gar…and it doesn't take too long to change…" She paused and started muttering under her breath, "Unless I'm you and can't find any clean clothes under all the trash you have in your room."
"Hey! I heard that!"
He flopped on the couch next to her and nudged her playfully after his retort. All she did was smile softly while sipping her mint hot chocolate quietly. Garfield beamed and put an arm around her small shoulders—in which he was replied by a scent that told him that Raven was really comfortable—before pushing the play button.
Raven didn't say anything for a while and just laid her head gently on his shoulder, her legs curled up under her. Inside he was giggling madly like a school girl at how warm her head felt on his shoulder and how she smelt—God, she always smelt so nice—and the fact that she was still willing to lean on him when he was still gross and sweaty from a fight still impressed him after all this time that they'd been dating.
"So…" she took a handful of popcorn and started to eat it, quite prettily, he should add, "I've just realised something."
"What?"
She covered her mouth with her fingers thoughtfully before continuing, "Do you like Humphrey Bogart because he's short?" She looked up at him and flashed him a smirk.
He pouted in reply and poked her shoulder, "Must everything you say be a teensy weensy bit offensive?"
"Yes." She rolled her eyes at his mock-horror face and poked him back, "I'm kidding…but no…seriously…is his height one of the factors that makes you like him?"
"Maybe…" He smiled and motioned for her to lean on his shoulder once more, "You're not that tall either, y'know."
"And here I thought that was one of the reasons that you liked me…so you don't feel entirely emasculated." Her scent was spiked with mischievousness and he held her closer, "Isn't that what you told me when you tried to coerce me into a relationship with you?"
"Tried and succeeded…baby doll you know you can't live without your green, mean, lovin' machine." He tried to give her a kiss but she shoo-ed him away.
Her brows rose, "I think I'd be fine, thank you very much."
He pouted.
Her brows remained.
He decided to change tactics and turned into a kitten while making 'The Face' as Kori liked to call it; its powers were superior to any other power in the world and no one could resist it, if he ever met Superman, he knew that Superman wouldn't be able to resist such a face and, man, that dude was powerful.
"You do realise that 'The Face' as Kori has kindly dubbed it, does not work on me?" Her silky voice flowed out of her lips like honey.
Garfield reverted back to his human form and went back to good old fashioned pouting…something was bound to work on her.
"It so does work for you…you just won't admit it." He chuckled, "Plus I know for a fact that all you wanna do is hug me and love me and kiss me and make out with me and—"
"OK…I think I get the picture." Her scent was still that of amusement, "How many times have you watched this movie, Gar?" She changed the subject.
"Mmmm…" He frowned and he wasn't sure if it was from the fact that he wasn't too sure how many times he had watched this movie or the fact that Raven had abruptly changed the subject, "Once or twice…" The look she was giving him told him that she knew he was lying, "or five times. Why?"
The movie was already in the part where private detective Philip Marlowe had met Mrs. Vivian Rutlidge and he was still—and had always been—amazed at the intensity of their first meeting; they had only met for a couple of minutes before the chemistry was fully seen, and that in itself was amazing.
Raven shrugged and he felt her weight shift on him, "Just asking…I mean I've watched this so many times now that even I remember what happens…don't you get bored?"
"Me? Nah…it's a Bogie movie...the epitome of cool…"
"I think spending time with me has affected you." She stated shortly.
"Yea? How?"
She smiled slyly, "Your vocabulary's grown…I like the use of the word 'epitome'."
"Hey! I resent that!"
Raven sat up from his embrace and wordlessly gave him a peck on the cheek before settling back into her previous position. The warmth of the short kiss spread through his green cheeks and he felt his hands move to touch the spot where the kiss had been placed; that was…unexpected.
He grinned, "Dude…baby doll…what was that for?"
"What? You don't like it?" He could practically hear her brows rise in question.
"What? No! Loved it, baby doll…just goes to show how much you want me." He laughed and once again felt her weight shift.
"You can be a bit of a cocky bastard when it comes to it, can't you?" There was something light hearted in the way that she said it.
Garfield smirked and took a sip from his hot chocolate, "You know you love cocky bastards." It was lukewarm already and so he downed it, "Especially sexy, green ones."
"Hmmm…if you say so."
Silence crept in between them as they watched one of his most favourite movies of all times. The black and white movie crackled occasionally and sometimes the pictures didn't show up so well but it was still a really good story anyway; it had the perfect combination of crime, mystery, action and a little bit of romance…he wouldn't admit it to anyone but he was a sucker for romantic movies.
Suddenly he heard a loud thumping from above—the roof—and he stiffened; was someone trying to break into the tower? If that was true, the best way to handle it was to alert the rest of the Titans but that might take too much time and if the intruder was already this close, it was probably too late anyway…what to do, what to do?
Raven seemed to notice the way he had tensed at the sound and there was also a furtive glance on her face, her forehead contorted to form worry lines and her lips pursed together as if in concentration. After a while though, her expression stopped and she just looked at him as if there was nothing wrong.
"It's just Dick."
He backtracked, "Dick? What the hell is Dick doing on the roof in the middle of the night?"
"He's just relieving some stress." She replied shortly before moving her attention back to the movie.
"By doing what!? Trying to break the roof?"
"Rooftop run." At the blank stare that he gave her, she continued, "Something he used to do with Batgirl a lot. Whenever he feels like venting he usually does it on our roof or he sneaks out into the city to prowl the roofs there." Another blank stare, "He likes it…he was an acrobat before he became Robin, remember?" He nodded vaguely, "He says that whenever he does the rooftop run, for a second he feels like he's flying and—this is what he told me anyway—it's different to the way the you, me or Starfire flies…the way he flies…there's always the possibility of death."
"That's a bit creepy for someone who used to dress up as a traffic light."
"Says the guy who's in a relationship with the resident Goth." She smiled, almost wistfully, before continuing, "He doesn't know this but…I've watched him before…watched him do his rooftop run…and it's quite…beautiful." Raven shook her head and bit her lip as they both listened for the continuous thumping, "Especially when he perches on a corner of a building…he crouches without moving a muscle and if you're not close enough, he looks like a gargoyle…it's eerily gothic, really."
"That guy's got some issues."
She shrugged, "Yea, he does but he wouldn't be Nightwing if it weren't for those issues, would he?"
He didn't reply to her rhetorical question as he knew that she didn't really expect an answer anyway; Raven shared a bond with Dick that he would most probably never understand and for some niggling feeling, he was glad that he would never fully understand it, there was just something about it that felt a bit…unnatural.
She sat stock still for a moment and he could feel how she tensed through the contact of skin to skin; her muscles froze and her eyes darted around for a while, mostly landing on the ceiling above them but after a while she relaxed once more; her hands curling around his fingers, her head buried in his chest and her breathing was slow and calming. No…he didn't understand the bond and he didn't feel that it was doing Raven any good but he didn't really have a right to say anything about it as it was such a private matter that it was only on rare occasions that Raven confided in him about the bond.
Garfield sat there, feeling her warmth distracting him as he tried hard to concentrate on the movie; man, everything about her just made him…he didn't really know the word for it, really. The words 'turn him on' didn't sound too right because it just sounded gross and vulgar and too…physical…but it was partially that but it was partially something else too. Really, Raven would know what he was talking about, wouldn't she? Well, maybe not…she might feel a bit offended actually—knowing her—though God knows it wasn't an insult…it was just that whenever he was around her, she planted his feet firmly on the ground and made him quite glad that he was green.
Hours went by, their bowl of popcorn finished—mostly by Garfield—and their mugs empty. The credits were now rolling slowly, accompanied by a slight crackling sound that came with these DVD copies of a film noir that he bought at that old movie store down the street. He moved to take the DVD out of the DVD player but then felt the weight on his shoulder shift and he looked at Raven curiously; she was fast asleep. He sat back down again, careful not to wake her up and watched as her chest rose and fell slowly, deep heavy breaths that told him that she was exhausted. He grinned inwardly; she only stayed there to watch the movie for him…that was a nice thought.
"Rae? Baby doll?" He poked her shoulder gently and shrugged as he didn't get any reaction from her, "Rae…" She still didn't move.
He used the 'Stop' button on the remote and threw it clumsily on the table, barely missing the floor. He let his fingers rake through the mass of violet-black hair lightly and revelled in the softness of each and every strand; it was longer now—barely reaching her shoulder blades—and he liked it that way because it softened her sharp features in the way that when it was shorter those features more but she had confessed that she was thinking of chopping it all off again, she just didn't think that she could bother with all the hassle that came with the long hair. He hoped she didn't though, he really liked it this length and he liked the fact that on rare occasions, she let him bury his face into her hair and take in her scent completely—hey!—it wasn't his fault that she smelt so goddamn gorgeous…he so did not have a fetish.
OK…maybe he had a little one.
"Rae…wake-y wake-y…" he whispered softly, "Rae…if you don't wake up now I think I'm gonna have to kiss you awake." He grinned stupidly at the thought but she still didn't wait; she was a bit more exhausted than usual apparently, "Baby doll…"
She didn't seem to be budging from his shoulder and so he sat there for a while, planning on what he could possibly do. Finally he decided what to do; he was going to carry her to her room. He steadily scooped her in his arms—stumbling ever so slightly when he finally moved her into his arms…she was heavier than she looked—and walked steadily towards the door so that he could take her to her room as quickly as possible.
His footsteps were clumsy as he wasn't too used to carrying Raven around—on second thought, she would probably kill him when she found out that he had to carry her to her room—but he made it pass the Common Room doors and to the corridors. The lights were on in the corridors—they always were—but they had a sort of dim glow to them and they were warm, not cold like they usually were earlier on in the night. He gritted his teeth as he found her slipping from her arms and took a minute or two before he could find a position that was both comfortable and would ensure that she didn't slip out so easily. Garfield was quite glad that her room was on the same floor as the Common Room or else he didn't know how he would be able to survive the long journey.
He grunted as he finally reached her room but then was stumped; he had forgotten that each room had their own lock which needed their own personal passwords in them, and Raven changed hers every week. He did find out what last week's were and he hoped that she had forgotten to change it this week, or else he was quite literally doomed.
Garfield paused before struggling to punch—since he now had to hold Raven with only one hand and, boy, was that hard— a few letters in; 'D503' and he waited for the little light thing to tell him if he had gotten it right or not…
Beep.
It flashed red and he cursed; she had already changed the password.
Garfield replied to this annoying sound by grumbling and so he tried another password; 'ThisEarthOfMankind', one of her favourite books.
He waited.
Beep.
"For the love of all that is good, why the hell won't you open up!?" He whispered harshly, glaring accusingly at the lock.
After that he tried loads of other things; characters from her favourite book, the name of her mother, the name of the little café she liked to go to when she had some alone time, that weird bookstore that opened early in the morning and he even went as far as—though this was more from desperation and entertainment more than anything else—typing in words like 'SexyGreenBeast', 'IHeartGarfield' and 'MakingOutWithBBIsTheBestThingInTheWorld'.
He sighed and felt like kicking the door to see if it would open, but he knew that it wouldn't. He stood there doing nothing for a moment, his arms aching as he started to feel her weight even more as every second went by and finally decided that though she probably wouldn't like it—he wasn't going to let her sleep on the couch ever again…especially since her three month ordeal—he was going to go to his room and put her in his bed.
Garfield trudged his way over to the elevator and waited impatiently as the lift made its way up to the top floor' he yawned, he was more tired than he thought he was. She looked like she was enjoying her sleep though, he thought rather scathingly, though he had to admit that she looked extremely…peaceful…this way. Suddenly the elevator door opened and he stepped inside, trying to push the button for his floor with quite a bit of effort. As it went down, he felt a strange lurching in his stomach but he ignored it and kept his concentration set on his way through to his room.
After the elevator door opened, it only took him a couple of seconds before he got to his room—to his relief—and he punched his password in quickly, almost crying out in happiness as he heard the door swoosh open. His gaze quickly set themselves on his bed and he scurried quickly towards it, his arms throbbing from how long he had been holding her for. One hand opened up the duvet to accommodate the length of her body and the other hand gradually lowered her onto his mattress, making sure that there were no sudden movements that would wake her up from the deep slumber that she was currently in. Once she was on the bed, he took the top of his blanket and covered it up to the top of her neck—a habit she had acquired from when she was still a kid—and for a few minutes he just stood over her to watch her in this weird, tranquil state of hers; recently, she told him that she had been having trouble sleeping lately, and he was glad that she was fast asleep now, she needed the rest.
Raven rolled over to face him subconsciously, her lips moving silently as they uttered voiceless words. He frowned and tried to read the words on her lips but he failed miserably as she gripped a pillow, her fingers curling tightly around the soft fabric. He sat down next to her on his mattress and traced a finger on the length of her arm, not expecting her to react by shuddering; he hoped that she wasn't having a bad dream. It killed him sometimes that he felt useless around her, like his morphing powers did nothing to prevent her from reliving her past…but she seemed content to have him by her side, green and idiotic as he was.
Her steady breathing continued and his gaze never left her, making sure that the pale-skinned girl next to him was safe, however ridiculous his protection over her seemed to be. Maybe he should curl up next to her? Lay his head next to hers and hold her tightly so that her shoulders wouldn't seem so strained? He grimaced at that thought and figured out that it wouldn't work out; no matter how close he and Raven had become, he knew that she would still feel uncomfortable with him sleeping in the same bed as she was. He still had a lot of walls to break down, even throughout the whole of the year and a half that they had been dating, there were still some barriers that kept him firmly out…but he would wait, if it wasn't time, it wasn't time. It didn't really matter that she still kept him at arm's length sometimes; she was his and his only.
He grinned.
Since he decided that sleeping in the same bed as her wasn't too good an idea, his gaze subsequently fell on the huge bean bag that was situated quite nicely near the window; maybe he could sleep there tonight. He yawned involuntarily and found that his body probably didn't give a damn where he slept as long as he did sleep. He stood up—whilst stretching his arms out above his head in an attempt to loosen his muscles—and took a last look at Raven before he would go to sleep; her brows were furrowed and the corners of her mouth looked a little sad. Slowly he kissed her forehead, pressing his lips on her warm skin for as long as possible before standing up again and he was pleased to find that the wrinkles in her forehead had relaxed and her lips held a ghost of a smile, it was nice to know that he affected her even in her sleep.
With slow, trudging footsteps, he made his way towards the bean bag and when he reached it, he promptly flopped onto it. He supported his chin on his fist and looked at the dark sky out of his window and the flashing lights of his beloved city; what time was it? He shook his head and realised that he didn't really want to know…or that he didn't really care and what he cared about was…
He yawned and felt his eyelids flutter close.
…he shook his head. He crossed his arms and let his head flop to the side, struggling to find a comfortable position when he knew that all he wanted to do was walk over to his bed and sleep next to her. He groaned and found that his train of thoughts about her and her warmth, her scent and her touch, disorientated his need to sleep as his subconscious tried to tap into his most primitive form, not the Beast but it's most basic instincts.
He tried to shrug the feeling off and gripped onto one side of the bean bag as he felt the disorientation shoot sharply through his mind and he was glad when his primal instincts had finally been overcome by his sleepiness, his mind commanding all his muscles to relax and his breathing to slow down. He had done a lot tonight and he had no doubt that tomorrow would bring even more things to do, both the positives and the negatives.
Raven's irresistible scent fluttered towards him.
His nose twitched.
He inhaled harshly.
He closed his eyes forcefully, ignoring it all.
He exhaled.
And all was dark.
A/N: Well, what did you guys think? Great? Idiotic? Bland? OK for a first chappie but not good enough to make you sing and dance for joy?
I'm sorry...I have a bit of a hyperactive imagination...I'm pretty sure none of you guys sing and dance when it comes to joy.
So anyways...a lot of foreshadowing...some internal struggles...probs some symbolism here and there...a lot of staring at Raven's face...you get the gist...but the question is...did you like it?
Anyways a bit off-topic but does anyone love the song "The one" by Vanessa Carlton and Stevie Nicks as much as I do? Its such a pretty song!
So...reviews please?
See you all (I hope) next time!