Garfield tugs at the hem of his shirt and stares up into the tree. Two golden eyes stare back down at him.
"Meow!" the grey tabby cat says to him. It's been at least a whole ten minutes and he hasn't been able to coax the cat down, but it'll be dark soon and the fireworks will be starting. The cat could panic and get hurt.
He looks over each of his shoulders. No one is coming, they're all still at the barbeque. Mrs. Huntington will kill him if she finds out, but this is an emergency. Sort of... He takes a deep breath and closes his eyes, concentrating on the new shape he wants his body to take. When he opens them again, he's a lot closer to the ground. He flaps his wings and flies up to the tree. He gets to the branch the cat is sitting on and lands, but before he can transform into a monkey or something more useful, the cat swats at him. A bird was not the brightest choice. Garfield hops off the tree and the cat hops off after him, thankfully landing on its feet. Garfield flies close to the ground before shifting into a dog, giving a good warning bark at the cat before changing back into himself. The cat scampers off without so much as a thank-you. The green boy quickly gathers his clothes and hurries to put his pants on.
"I saw what you did." A voice says from behind, as he closes the top button of his jeans. Garfield's hands freeze and he turns around. Richard Grayson is standing next to the building with his arms crossed over his chest and his face holding a sour expression. Crap. He's going to be in so much trouble. Mrs. Huntington told him on his first day that if he used his powers and got caught, she'd have him shipped off somewhere within two hours... This is already his third placement and he does not want to have to go to a fourth.
"Please," he starts.
"I won't tell anyone," Richard says taking a few steps forward. Garfield tilts his head to the side for a minute, not quite believing what his ears had just heard.
"What?"
"I won't tell," Richard repeats. He walks closer until he's only two steps away from Garfield. "If, you do me a favor." Of course, there's a price. There's always a price. Garfield looks at his shoes, not sure what he's going to do. If he gives Richard one favor, what's to stop him from asking for another one? Or using it against him later anytime he wants something? Still, he remembers the first two placements at the smaller group homes. The first one where all the other boys had nicknamed him lima bean. He shudders as he recalls all the times they locked him the small bedroom closet, sometimes for entire days.
"What do you want?" Garfield asks, knowing he doesn't have a choice.
"Meet me under the stairs a two AM," Richard says.
"What?" Garfield can't do that. Lights out is way before then and if he gets caught...
"Do it, or I'll tell everyone what I saw. You know they'll believe me." Richard says without hesitation and Garfield does know they'll believe him. That was one of the first questions the other kids had asked him, after asking why he was green. They didn't believe him when he said he didn't have powers. He'd tried lying and saying he had super strength, but that hadn't gone over very well.
"How many times will you let someone punch you before you cave and show everyone?" His face is so cold and emotionless is gives Garfield shivers. He talks like someone who knows what it will cost Garfield if anyone finds out. Like all the adults who had told him about other kids like him who'd ended up in bad places. The stories he didn't need to hear, because he'd lived his own nightmare. The first two group homes had been bad and this one isn't much better, but before then... before then was worse.
Richard doesn't wait for an answer. He just walks away back towards the building and leaves Garfield to wallow in his misery. He doesn't know Richard well enough to know if he'll tell or not, but he hasn't met one kid there who had a conscience or a soul. Everyone is in it for themselves. Richard is probably no different. He finishes putting on his clothes and then spends the rest of the afternoon trying to figure out how to get it out of.
At two A.M. Garfield is under the stairs, but Richard isn't. He tugs on the lobes of his ears and berates himself for being so dumb. This is obviously just a ploy to get him into even more trouble. Maybe he has something against green people or just people with powers. There were lots of people like that. People that only like normal. Soon Mrs. Greer who's on duty tonight, will come down the stairs and tell him he's toast, he just knows it.
"This way," Garfield would have screamed, but a hand covers his mouth. They press so hard his lips get smooshed on teeth and it hurts. "And be quiet." Richard is suddenly right in front of him. He moves his hand and Garfield lets out the breath that would have been a scream.
"Dude!" he starts, but is immediately shushed.
"I said be quiet." Richard grabs his arm and starts walking slowly to the front hall. He stops every few steps and pauses to listen before continuing. Eventually they end up in front of Mrs. Huntington's office. By now Garfield is sure he's made a mistake.
"What are we doing here?" He doesn't really want to know, but he has to ask.
"You're going to turn into a cockroach and squeeze under the door. Then unlock it for me." Richard instructs him. Garfield pauses for a second to think of an argument. "Now."
"We can't sneak in here, we'll get caught and,"
"I said, now." Richard says. "Unless you want everyone to know what you can do. Maybe they can use you as a petting zoo for the small kids." The words shred him to pieces. He wants to turn into the biggest carnivore he can think of and just swallow Richard whole, but instead he turns into a cockroach and squeezes under the door. He transforms into a human just long enough to open it and then into a tiger, maybe just to show Richard what he's dealing with. He growls, but Richard isn't scared. He just shushes him again.
"Cool, but it's not going to help right now." Richard says. "There's a hole behind the filing cabinet. Turn into a gorilla and move it and then turn into something small and go inside." Garfield already hates being here, but he hates it even more with Richard bossing him around. No one tells him what to transform into. Instead of a gorilla he turns into a grizzly bear and moves the cabinet away from the wall.
"Be quiet!" Richard says when he sets it down too loud. He makes an annoyed grunt, because at this point, he almost hopes they do get caught, and then turns into a mouse. Sure enough, there is a hole the size of a golf ball at the back of the cabinet. He wonders how it got there, because there's no way a mouse did it. How does Richard know it's there? When did he see the back of the cabinet? Inside are stacks of paper. He turns into a bug and slowly works his way to the front. It's like hiking through the mountains a little bit. He hears Richard urging him to hurry at one point and is tempted to go slower, but it's a miracle they weren't caught yet, so he doesn't.
"There's a metal bar on the side, press on it." He feels around, because it's too dark and cramped to really look at anything closely. He finds it and presses, hoping Richard isn't expecting him to tell him when it's done. He hears him doing something outside the cabinet and then suddenly the door is sliding open. Once it opens Garfield turns into a bee and flies out. He hovers for a minute before turning into a bear again while Richard digs around. He finds a folder and Garfield steps a little closer, reading the cover. It's his own file. Why would Richard break into the file room for his own file? He digs around, shuffling through papers and then pauses. His hands reach inside the manilla folder and he pulls out a small plastic bag. He pauses, but only for a minute before shoving the folder back into the cabinet and then closing the drawer.
"Put it back." He tells Garfield. Garfield does what he says, still curious, but also eager to get this over with. He moves the cabinet. When he turns around his clothes are on the floor and Richard is shutting the door. He transforms back into his human form and puts his PJs back on.
He expects Richard to be long gone when he opens the door again, but he's not. He's waiting in the hall, quiet and alert.
"Thanks," Richard says. "I won't tell anyone."
"...So, you're not going to tell me what we just stole?" Garfield whispers.
"I didn't steal anything, I took back something that was already mine," Richard says. He lifts up the bag and Garfield can barely make out the small figure of a bird in shiny metal. "This was my mother's necklace. They took it at my last home when some jerk broke the chain. They said it's too valuable for a kid to have and that they'd keep it safe for me."
"..." Garfield isn't sure what to say. He doesn't have anything from his parents, but he wishes he did. "You could have just asked for my help." Richard looks at him for a minute and then nods.
"Sorry," he says.
"Just promise you won't tell anyone," Garfield says.
"I promise," Richard says. "Let's get upstairs before we get in trouble."