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Green Bunny for the follow and review

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She has long brown hair and the brightest green eyes he's ever seen. A smattering of freckles wink at him from the bridge of her nose and her gently blushing cheeks, while bangs sweep across her forehead and dip towards arched eyebrows. Her choice in clothes reflects her personality, all airy scarves and floaty sundresses. It's a good look on her, and he remembers his jaw dropping when she dazzled him with a smile across the restaurant's table.

She's beautiful, he thinks.

I can't believe this is happening, he thinks.

She really likes me, he thinks.

Dude, now I gotta sell my soul to Cyborg for making that online dating profile, he thinks.

When her cell phone—pastel yellow, decorated with a flowery cover—rings, he doesn't react other than to smile and nod at her "Excuse me for a second" look. He nearly swallows his tongue watching her glide away to a quiet corner. The wink she gives him sends his heart into overdrive, and he gulps down his glass of water before he has a heart attack.

He has always had good hearing, even before the accident. Now, though, with his animalistic abilities, he can hear conversations all over the restaurant, even out into the street if he concentrates hard enough. So it's not his fault he overhears her friend's breathless voice on the other end of the line.

"What's going on? Are you at the restaurant yet?"

"Yeah, we just got here. Oh my gosh, I nearly fainted when he pulled out my chair for me. He's such a gentleman, not at all like Kurt! But it was kind of embarrassing when he ordered a salad and I ordered a steak."

"He ordered a salad? Really? Such a dweeb."

"And he ordered a water, Kim. A water. In this restaurant."

"No!"

"Uh huh. But I guess it's kind of cute, you know, in a 2003 kind of way."

It becomes difficult to swallow. Licking his lips, he reaches for his glass again, which the waiter has only just refilled, and chugs it without pausing for breath.

What did that even mean, "in a 2003 kind of way"? Honestly, he would never understand girls.

"So have you two made-out yet?"

Everything in his stomachs threatens to do the tango with his tongue. The waiter shoots him a "Don't you dare vomit on that tablecloth, Mister!" look before darting to the kitchen.

"No, not yet, but it won't be long. He's practically salivating over me. Tell Miranda to get that twenty bucks ready 'cause I'm about to land myself a superhero."

And that's when all the oxygen in the room decides to vacation in Disney Land without him.

.

.

As soon as she sees his face, she knows something went wrong. With his abilities, it's always been difficult to pin down his emotions on good days, but now, her empathy is metaphorically cross-eyed from the array of emotions rolling off him.

"Wha—"

"I don't want to talk about it," he snaps, bumping her shoulder as he brushes past her towards his room.

Stunned, she blinks at the empty hallway ahead. Then, without thinking about it further, she spins around and extends a black, crackling hand to grab his shoulder. It tugs him around to face her, and she is exposed to the darkest scowl she's ever seen on his face.

"What's your problem?" she demands coolly.

Lips curled in a snarl, he jerks backwards from her grip. "My problem? What's yours? I said I didn't want to talk about, so just drop it already."

Her eyes scan him swiftly. The fact that he is still in the tuxedo he borrowed from Robin—without asking, of course—means he didn't "morph" during his date, having refused to wear his uniform underneath it. Every carefully gelled piece of hair is still glued in place, which in itself would be an impressive feat if it had been anything less than Robin's hair gel—once again, he hadn't bothered with a silly thing like permission—, and there isn't so much as a scuff on his shiny black shoes.

He doesn't even look as if he's been out on a date with a hot girl. And the fact that I can tell is just sad. I really have to cut down on my "girl time" with Starfire. It's messing with my head.

It's never been in her nature to give up without a fight, and now is no exception.

"Tell me what happened before I have to force it out of you," she says, raising an eyebrow archly. "I just washed this cloak and I'd hate to get blood on it again."

Again? Gee, thanks, Rae. Now I have something else to haunt my nightmares tonight, but hey, anything for a little variety, right?

Despite himself, the corner of his mouth twitches against his scowl. "Nothing happened, Rae. I went on a date and now I'm back. End of story."

She hurt you.

Her eyes narrow and before she can stop herself, she informs him, "I know a nearly infinite amount of places to hide her dead body where it will never be found."

The ghost of a grin plays on his newly relaxed lips as he asks, "Are you volunteering your services or asking if I need your help covering something up?"

It must be the lighting in the hallway, because he could have sworn he just saw her smile.

"I suppose that depends on whether she's still alive."

And it's so strange, but he doesn't even care about Alicia Abernickey anymore. All he can think of is that brief glimpse of the Raven no one ever gets to experience in full, the Raven she hides behind detachment and sarcasm. Thinking about how he was the one to draw her out makes him feel as if he could take on the entire Brotherhood of Evil by himself.

A laugh bubbles out of him as he treats her to his usual crooked grin. "Thanks, Rae. You always know what to say to make me feel better."

Not always.

She shrugs. "Whatever. The offer still stands, by the way. Say the word and the world is down one floozy with none the wiser."

"Dude! Did you really just say 'floozy'? Aw, man, Cybrog's gonna freak! He totally owes me five bucks."

Welcome back, Garfield.


I'm finding these oddly fun to write, maybe even more so than my multi-chap projects! If ya'll have any requests or comments, feel free to tell me :)

Fluorescence - Phenomenon where an atom absorbs energy, then radiates photons of lower energy as it cascades back down to the ground state; in astronomy, often produced as ultraviolet photons from a hot young star are absorbed by a neutral gas, causing some of the gas atoms to be excited and give off an optical (red) glow.