Author's Note: This version was made by Lou Buggins! A great friend, a great writer and a great person! So waste no more time and check out her profile, you'll find lots of good stuff there. It's difficult for me to select a favorite among her works, but I must say Raven's Revenge has me at the edge of my seat, drooling for an update!
-=oOo=-
High Stakes
"You should give up right away and save yourselves a lot of pain, dudes!" Beast Boy boasted. "I'm the king!"
His character ran and rolled under a burst of bullets, sprang up and sent a perfectly aimed headshot at Cyborg, then ducked behind a wall before Robin could riddle him. He pulled the pin from a hand grenade and bounced it off the side wall. It exploded a moment later, sending pieces of Robin's character all around.
"YEAH! Two frags ahead, nine more minutes to go!" he chortled while pumping his fist victoriously. "I ain't doin' the dishes today, that's for sure!"
Cyborg and Robin fumed while they waited impatiently for their characters to respawn. This was a high-stakes deathmatch; the loser would have to do the dishes that day. The two older Titans glanced and nodded almost imperceptibly at each other, having reached an unspoken, silent agreement.
The next three minutes they tried outflanking, pincer movements, baiting out and even a plain old frontal assault, but Beast Boy held his own against both of them combined, and even increased his lead to four frags. His opponents scowled in impotent anger and exchanged another quick, meaningful glance.
The stakes were high, indeed. High enough for Robin and Cyborg to recall the old saying that the end justifies the means. And if the rules and mechanics of the game were not supplying the proper means…
"Yo, Greenbean!" Cyborg fired the first shot with an evil smirk on his face. "Didya ever kiss a girl?"
-=( Lou Buggins' Version starts here )=-
"Huh?" The changeling turned his head to face the mechanical man beside him, his brows knotted in confusion. On the screen, Garfield's character came to a sudden stop. In his hesitation, Robin's character jumped out from behind some barrels and shot his FAD assault rifle directly at the younger man's avatar, resulting in his termination.
Garfield growled as he dropped his controller in his lap and fell back against the couch with his arms in the air.
"What the hell?" He shouted at the others in the room.
Cyborg smirked and proclaimed a "Booya!" as he high-fived the boy wonder to his left.
"You dudes cheated!" The green one accused as he sent an angry gaze their way.
"No way, Grass Stain! Rob beat you fair and square." Cyborg reasoned with a gesture to the raven-haired boy in question.
"That's right, Beast Boy. You should have not let yourself get distracted," Robin agreed with a grinning nod.
"I wouldn't have been distracted if bucket head over here didn't try to play dirty!"
Cyborg mocked a gasp. "Dirty? All I did was ask you a simple, innocent little question."
Garfield rolled his emerald eyes and muttered under his breath a "whatever" before grabbing his controller again. "Let's just keep going. One kill isn't enough to put either of you on top."
"Maybe not, but you've just lost all your equipment, so good luck keeping your high score now." Robin accepted the challenge as he gripped his own controller.
"Wait! Hold up!" Cyborg interrupted, his large, cybernetic hands waving them to stop. "You never answered the question, man."
Garfield looked away from his older friend with an embarrassed look on his face and a red blush painting his cheeks. "You know the answer, Cy."
"Yeah, but I wanna hear ya say it!" The dark-skinned man laughed.
Robin frowned at Cyborg's antics, but he didn't put a stop to this for a simple reason. He wanted to know the answer.
With both guys staring him down, Garfield rubbed the back of his neck in a nervous habit and threw his head back with a groan. "Ugh…fine…yes, I've kissed someone. Happy?"
Cyborg laughed hard at this, his metal hands clutching his sides and his large body shaking with each chuckle. The changeling seemed peeved by the reaction, but also appeared to have expected it. Which prompted the question to pop into Robin's mind. "What was he missing?"
"Uh, guys?"
The two young adults turned to their leader. Robin looked back at them with confusion, although it was hard to tell when his eyes were hidden behind his mask.
"What's so funny?"
Garfield and Cyborg shared a look, as if they just realized their little moment was actually an inside joke. Gar paled when he also connected the dots, and realized this would mean they would now have to let Robin in on it. Meaning, one extra person to tease him.
Cyborg just smirked as he prepared to recall the tale.
"Alright Rob, so get this, do ya remember when about six months ago, when Star tried to borrow Rae's hand mirror and instead of accidentally getting sucked in, some of her emotions jumped out?"
Robin grimaced at the memory. "Yeah I remember. Poor Kori was all upset because of that ordeal. Not too mention the tower was left a mess afterwards."
Cyborg nodded as he continued. "Yeah exactly, but you didn't see how Grass stain and I got the purple one."
"Okay Cy, I don't think Rob really needs to hear this." Gar interrupted leaning forward to put himself in between the two.
"Sorry Beast Boy, but now I've got to know this story." Robin said as he pushed the younger man out of his way.
"So as I was sayin'. That purple emoticlone thing was all over BB! She was huggin' him and, playin' with his hair and, complimentin' him. It was crazy weird. But she wouldn't stay still long enough for me to tap her with the magic mirror and send her back to Rae's mind. So BB here… he grabbed her by the shoulders and… she ended up kissin' him…and he just stood there with his eyes wide open… it was so funny I almost forgot to take advantage of her distraction!" When Cyborg finally finished he ended up doubled over, laughing his head off. Almost literally.
Robin thought over the story his amused friend had told him. "So wait. That means that Gar…your first kiss… was with one of Raven's emotions?"
Gar fidgeted in his seat uncomfortably. "Yeah, I guess you could say that," he mumbled sheepishly.
It took Robin a few moments to process the new information, but once it finally did hit him, a wide smile grew on his face and he threw his head back laughing like a little kid. "Your first kiss… was with Raven's emoticlone!" Robin said in between laughter.
Now that both his so called "friends" were practically rolling on the floor laughing at his expense, Gar tossed the controller on the coffee table and wormed his way around them.
"Where ya goin' BB?" Cyborg called after him.
"Yeah, you leave now, you forfeit the game!" Robin reminded him.
The jade-skinned young lad turned to them and shrugged. "Don't care!" he replied and made his way out the door.
Walking alone down the hall, he came to a stop at a very familiar bedroom. Looking over his shoulder to make sure no one had followed him, he proceeded to punch in the code that allowed him access into the room. The door slid open and then closed behind him. He stomped over to the bed that awaited for him and threw himself down onto the silky sheets.
"I hate them!" he stated a matter-of-factly.
Another body repositioned itself so that it was now hovering over him. Short violet hair fell over the figure's rounded face, but from his vantage point, he could still easily make out the features of her expressionless face.
"No you don't," she said in a similar fashion.
He let out a defeated sigh, knowing she was right. "No, I don't. But now Rob knows what happened on that day and now they're both teasing me about it."
"Can I please tell them the truth? I'm tired of them thinking that was my first kiss."
Raven blinked her large amethyst eyes at him, then with a sigh of her own, she leaned down and pressed a gentle, lovely kiss against his lips. When she pulled up, she ran a comforting hand through his fluffy green hair.
"We know the truth. That's all that matters. Our first kiss was right here, in this room, as were the next 203 that followed."
At this, Garfield sat up and gazed at the empath in amazement. "Aww Babe, you keep count?" he asked her in a surprised voice.
Her nose wrinkled in disgust. "What have I told you about that nickname?" She dodged the question.
"Aww Hon, you keep count?" he rephrased with a playful smirk.
"That one isn't much better."
Garfield leaned closer to her, his breath tickling her nose. "That's adorable, Mama."
"Mm." Was the only comeback she could make as he molded their lips together in a much firmer and passionate kiss. Their lips moved in sync, and his tongue brushed against her bottom lip, begging to be allowed entrance. At this she pulled away and tried to catch her breath. "Don't you have dishes to wash?" she deadpanned as she kept her gaze off of him and his delicious mouth.
Knowing she was just waiting until a better time to engage in a full on make-out session, Garfield jumped out of the bed and made his way for the exit.
"Yep, and it was worth every kiss!" He winked at her as he stumbled out the door.
