"I can't believe that bank robbery was a false alarm! It made me lose on the highest level I have ever played on Galaga this morning!" I exclaim walking first into the living room. I run from the entrance of the door to the sofa, chilling with a croissant and bowl of fruit. The Casanova movie DVD menu was on the flat TV screen. "Watching your favorite movie this morning eh Gar?" I chuckle and take a big bite into my croissant.

I would say that Gar responded but all he says is something incoherent as he drudgingly walks to the TV to withdraw the disc from the DVD player. He then walks over to the semi-circular couch, changes into a forest green cat, and then goes to sleep. I just shrug and finish the croissant and begin with my fruit. I swear that dude was asleep on the elevator ride up to the living room.

Gar aka Garfield aka Changeling is this green fellow in his early twenties who can shape shift into any animal. He got bitten by a green monkey that was ridden with the disease Sakutia which is fatal to humans. His parents tried to cure him and it worked…but it turned his skin green. Long story, short, he lost his parents, like the typical super hero, in a waterfall "accident". His evil uncle tried to take all of his money then he got adopted by Steve and Rita Dayton of the Doom Patrol. Finally, he transferred to the Teen Titans. He has been here ever since and he's also a big brother to me.

Speaking of Garfield, I wonder if Raven is coming in soon. She didn't say why she was going to her room after getting back from that false bank robbery. Gar and her have been getting close lately. Hope everything is okay.

I nudge Garfield's cat form and ask, "Hey Gar, do you know what's wrong with Raven? She hasn't come in yet."

Gar opens his eyes, yawning before turning back into a human, more or less. "Really? I thought I would catch a few minutes of sleep before she came to meet me down here. I'll go and see what's up."

He walks out of the living room to find the empath.

"I don't understand! When I got the call, they said where it was. We got to the bank and there was nothing happening! We checked the radius and even all of the banks in the city! Nothing!" says a frustrated half machine half African American man. I look behind me to see him pulling up a holographic map of the city on his right forearm while popping a few strawberries into my mouth. He is staring intensely at the map.

Victor Stone aka Cyborg is technically the leader of the team since he has been part of the Teen Titans from the golden days and he is in charge of creating all of the technical stuff around here. Also, he's the only one around here that knows what the hell he is doing.

"As long as this does not happen later on today, I'm fine with that! I have to stay with the Justice League for a week! I know it's kind of last minute but can I stay with them, Vic?" asks Cassie wrapping her golden lasso onto a jean buckle and walking to the refrigerator to get some orange juice.

Cassie aka Wonder Girl aka Miss Spangly Pants is the second Wonder Girl to have the name after having to save Wonder Woman's life. Turns out she was pulled into the superhero life rather sporadically…like most of us. After training in the Amazons to be a better warrior, she decided to come here to make a name for herself while filling in Donna's, the previous Wonder Girl, shoes.

Cassie, with a cup of coffee, walks over to where Vic is standing, looking at him with confusion, and asks me, "Did I speak loud enough because he didn't respond."

"Probably not. He's too busy finding criminals", I say.

Handing him some coffee, Cassie suggests, "Uh, Vic…maybe you oughta take a break. You have been tracking crimes a lot for the past few weeks.

"Thanks for the coffee. But I am not taking a break until after I am done checking any traces of any bank robberies or other criminal activity. Then, I'll relax." Vic clarifies, still not taking his eyes off the map. I put my strawberry down and run in less than a millisecond to stand in between Vic and Cassie. His cybernetic eye glows red as he is scanning through holographic databases of police records. Nothing shows up yet but he still stares at the map very intensely.

"Vic, I'm trying to tell you that I will be staying with the Justice League for a week. Since I don't have as much experience with my powers, Wonder Woman wants me to coach me on how to use them better" says Cassie.

"Okay, do you need help packing any more things?" Vic asks while doing the search again.

She snorts, "I haven't even started packing yet." Her eyes widen, saying really fast, "I better get up to my room to start before Wonder Woman gets here", rushing to the kitchen to grab some snacks.

His cybernetic eye ceases to glow and Vic, finally able to focus on the conversation, says, "Ok. I approve. Well, if any of you need me, I will be downstairs" and then walks out of the room. I go to sit back down on the sofa to eat more fruit.

I shake my head after him. Vic has been on so much edge lately ever since Tim Drake, the third Robin, went to work with Batman for a short time.

Cassie is still running around the kitchen, holding as many chips, cookies, and candy packages she can carry.

"Cassie, do you need any help?" I ask.

Rushing to the door, she says, "No thanks, Bart. Besides, I think what I have is go—"

She bumps into Conner while leaving out the door, causing her and her snacks to land on the floor. I look behind me to see this whole scene play out. I would have helped but I wanted to see how they would interact with each other. It's no secret to the rest of the team that they like each other but I don't think they realize it yet.

Conner picks up Cassie's snacks with one hand while using the other to help her up. "Sorry there, Cassie. Wasn't watching where I was going."

Cassie stands up, wiping invisible dirt off herself and says, "Oh, it's no problem. Really. It was my fault."

Giving her a smile, he hands her the snacks she dropped. While he is walking to the sofa, I see Cassie checking out Conner's behind and blushing before he plops down next to me. I smile at an insanely blushing Cassie before she walks really fast out of the living room.

I laugh and ask, "What's with Cassie?"

Looking thoughtful, Conner says, "I don't know."

I ask, "Well, if there is nothing wrong with Cassie, what's up with you?", holding out a strawberry to him.

Conner shakes his head, declining the offer. He sighs, rubbing his neck, and admits, "I'm not sure about saying this but since you are my best friend, I'll tell you. I think Cassie likes me and I like her…so I was thinking…maybe I should ask her out."

I punch the air and yell, "YES! I KNEW IT!"

Conner covers my mouth and whispers, "Will you be quiet?! I don't want her to hear you!"

I chuckle, "Of course! I can't wait to tell Vic and Garfield that they BOTH owe me $50."

He looks confused, "Wait, you knew?"

I grin, "Yeah, we all did except for you two. Vic, Gar, and I made a bet a month to see whether or not you guys would get together. Being the romantic that I am, I bet them both $50 that you guys would get together within a month. If I lost the bet, I would have to do something that is INCREDIBLY embarrassing and not worth repeating…"

That's right, folks. Another story for another day.

Conner says, "Well, I'm glad you're happy that you got some money but…I'm just thinking…why me? I like her because she is smart, very pretty, and fun to be around. But me…I'm just a scientific experiment that was never meant to be here in the first place. Not to mention the fact that Lex Luthor was in charge of the whole thing and I have half his DNA."

I pop the last strawberry into my mouth and say, "Conner, just because you were Lex Luthor's experiment, it does not mean your personality is inherently evil. I mean, you're part of the Teen fricking Titans! You help us kick ass whenever evil is around!"

Conner considers this.

"Judging by the way Cassie was blushing a few minutes ago, your genetical background doesn't bother her", I say with a small smirk.

He seems to ponder my comment.

An idea popped into my head. I look at the clock on the stove. 11:38:05:11 am. "I'll be right back", I quickly say.

My body becomes electrified with the Speed Force, the very power that allows me to run at the speed of light. Suddenly, everything I see is in slow motion, including Conner's mouth beginning to reply. I smile and then run towards the door. My smile grows a bit wider as I see Conner still facing the direction where I was sitting moments before.

I run down the hallways to get to Cassie's room. It's just a couple of floors above the living room. If I could just reach her room before she does. I see a door at the end of the hallway that has stairways. I run up a couple of stairways to get to the floor with Cassie's bedroom. I come out of the stairway door on the third floor and see her five feet away, walking extremely slow to her room. She is looking forward and holding her snacks, not yet registering the fact I am moving at the speed of light next to her. I pass her, sticking my tongue at her. I reach her room and open the door. I see the book on her dresser and I grab it while glancing at the time of the clock on the dresser. 11:38 am. I smile to myself and run out of the room.

I pass her again in the hallway. She was about a foot ahead of where she was when I went into her room. I open the stairway door on the third floor and go down the flight of stairs to the living room. I approach the door which still did not fully close when I went through it the first time. The Speed Force dies in my body as I plop down right next to Conner and hand him Cassie's diary. I look at the clock. 11:38 am. New record.

He blinks and reads the title of the book, "Cassie's diary." It was pink and the letters were written in red cursive handwriting.

Conner says, "I didn't think that super girls still wrote in diaries."

I admit, "Neither did I! I found it when I hid a tarantula in her bed last week."

Then, I think of what she did to me after the tarantula scared the crap out of her. "But you may want to book it out of here right now though. I don't want her to do to you what she did to me last week.", I advise.

Conner nods, "Thanks man! I'm interested to read what she thinks of me." and then runs out of the room. Not as fast as me of course.

A few seconds passed. Silence. Why hasn't she beat me up yet? I snap my fingers, remembering that she is probably still packing. I shrug to myself and grab the nearest phone to order Panda Express. Hey, can't run on an empty stomach when she discovers that her diary is missing.

After eating lunch, I decide to help Cassie with her packing because you know, I'm a nice person. But I also don't want her to beat the crap out of me when she notices her diary is missing. The fact that she hasn't done so yet proves that she is too busy packing to even notice.

The Speed Force once again awakens in my body and everything slows down to me once more. I run up to Cassie's room, getting there in a flash.

Her door is wide open. I stand at her doorway, seeing her frantically running around the room and throwing clothes into her suitcase. The thing about Cassie is she procrastinates VERY badly. She had hours to get her shit together and yet she is still running around, trying to fit everything into one suitcase.

I knock on her door and ask, "Hey, Cassie. Are you sure you don't need any help? You know, I could do this in less than a millisecond."

She turns around for a second to see that it's me before shoving a pile of clothes into a bag. "No thanks, Bart—"

Vic's voice comes onto the PA system, interrupting her. "Hey Cassie, Wonder Woman is waiting in the living room. Want me to send her up to help you with anything?"

Cassie answers, "Actually, Vic, I have Bart here to help me. Tell her I'll be down in a minute."

"Ok", he replies and gets off the PA.

"Since you are short on time, tell me what you need to pack." I say.

She replies, "Just a couple more jeans, shirts, dresses, makeup, socks, shoes, and magazines, "

I think for a moment to see if I got everything and in less than a millisecond, I zoom across the room taking everything she needed and put it all in her suitcase. I close the suitcase once I am doing packing. The faster I can get her out of here, the less likely she'll notice that her diary is missing.

"Okay, I packed everything", handing her suitcase to her, "What day will you return?"

Taking it from me, she says, "Friday. Oh yeah, can you talk to Raven while I'm gone? I tried talking to her earlier but she seemed kind of reluctant to say know how she is when she is seriously thinking about something…or someone", smirking. She then checks her room to see if she left anything before closing her door.

"Ohhh…I get your drift", grinning and nodding slowly, "Ok. I will. See you Friday then."

"Ok and thanks for packing my stuff for me. You are a lifesaver!", lifting up her suitcase and walking

I chuckle, "No problem." Heh, I will need some saving once you discover your diary is missing. "Take care and have fun with the Justice League! Tell Grandpa Barry I said "Hi!".

"You know, he'll kill you for calling him "Grandpa". He looks barely over 25!"

That's due to our suppressed aging, folks. Again, another story for another day.

I roll my eyes and wave my hand downwards before dashing away.

Thinking about what Cassie said about Raven, I decide to run to her room to talk to her. In less than a millisecond, I stop in front of her door. I smell lavender incense from the inside. I hear something on the other side of the door. I press my ear to the door. I hear muffled voices through the door and footsteps going towards it.

"Shit!" I mouth before running to the end of the hallway to hide behind the corner. I hope Gar didn't hear or smell me with his super animal senses. I peer out of the corner to see Gar standing outside Raven's door.

I hear Raven say, "Thank you for understanding, Garfield", before giving him a small smile. He smiles back, giving her a grin with a fang poking out of his bottom lip. She then closes the door.

Gar's smile fades, looking disappointed. Uh oh. I know that look. That is the "friend-zoned" look. He walks back down the hallway before turning down another hallway that leads to the elevator.

I listen for the elevator door going down to the living room to make sure he wouldn't hear me before I zoom back to the entrance of Raven's room.

I knock on the door and the blue-eyed empath opens it saying, "Hello Bartholomew."

I internally cringe at the use of my actual name and say, "Hi Raven. Please call me Bart. No formalities needed. I wanted to talk to you. I noticed that you didn't come down to the living room like you normally do this morning so I was just checking to see if you were okay…Cassie and Gar were concerned."

She looks down at her feet before shyly asking, "Would you mind if we talked on the roof?"

I nod, "Sure."

"So…you have developed feelings for Gar…" I state, feeling the wind blow my hair.

We were both sitting on top of the Tower. This is where we go when we want to have personal talks with each other. Plus, the view up here is amazing.

"I have."Raven says with her blue hood down allowing the wind to blow in her raven-colored hair.

"Well, I can certainly see why this is a big milestone for you and why you are concerned…", I say.

Raven is the team's empath who has been to hell and back, literally. She is a half-human and half-demon woman who can feel the emotions of others through her soul-self, which is often in the form of a raven. The catch was that she "couldn't" feel emotions or her evil demonic father Trigon would gain control of her and use her as a portal to destroy us all. The thing is the Teen Titans, the first team, were able to defeat her father. However, it came at a cost because her original body was destroyed in the process. Months later, she gets a new body through the Church of Blood but they wanted her to be a bride for Brother Blood until we busted in and kicked their asses…Right now, she's just working on being herself and developing her own feelings now that Trigon and Brother Blood are gone.

I look towards the ocean, seeing the sun set with a mixture of orange, yellow, and red streaks in the sky.

We were silent for a few minutes before I ask, "So, why did you friend-zone Gar, then? I saw his reaction to your conversation."

Raven bites her lip before saying, "I became scared…I felt his emotions after our conversation and I did feel romantic feelings along with disappointment. I was just scared that those feelings could even possibly be for me."

For once, I couldn't come up with any advice at the moment.

She looks down saying, "Cassie told me that when you care for someone romantically, you should tell them your feelings. If that is the case, why didn't Garfield tell me of his?"

"Well Raven, telling someone your feelings is no small feat. Everyone is afraid of being friend zoned these days. Which is what you did to Gar."

Raven sighs, "Curse me for a fool. In my past life, men didn't find me attractive in any way…and the ones that did…end up hurting me or sometimes both of us which explains why I said what I said to Garfield."

I remain quiet in order to prompt her to continue.

She hesitates before saying, "Instead of letting him speak, I told him how happy I am that we are friends..but I don't want just that."

I ponder before asking, "Well, what are the things you like about him that make you want to be with him?"

Raven looks at the ocean where the edge of the sun was barely above the water line. The sky had a mixture of blue and pink swirls and some faint yellow streaks where the sun was.

Looking at me, she gives me a light smile saying, "I love that Gar is so accepting of me especially in times when I doubted myself. He not only knows how but what makes me laugh. It's so easy for me to tell him anything I want which is something I could never do, not even amongst my female comrades. The way he hugs me and the way he holds my hand….I feel nothing but positive emotions from him…Sometimes I feel that what I'm experiencing is a dream because no other man has treated me that way before…"

"Okay, so you should definitely keep this all in mind the next time you two are alone. Like I said, he had the friend-zoned look on his face so you may want to talk to him soon before he starts moping around", I say standing up.

Raven stands up saying, "Alright, thank you for your advice Barth-, I mean Bart. This has troubled me for quite some time."

"No problem, I always love to help out my teammates whenever and however I can, especially my favorite empath!", I nudge her.

She snorts, "I'm currently the only empath you know."

I chuckle, "You know, I think that's the first time I've ever heard you snort."

She looks up at the sky which now has scattered stars everywhere saying, "Being able to express myself without fear does certainly feel exhilarating. Thank you Bart."

"No problem", I say before zooming away to get some dinner.

I lay sprawled out on the semi-circular after eating the rest of my Panda Express leftovers watching Star Was Episode IV: A New Hope. It's all about the original trilogy, folks. The recent one is garbage. I think about the advice I gave Conner and Raven, hoping it helped them in any way. I slowly doze off into sleep, tired of all the running around I did today.