The moment he stepped foot into that nightclub, Garfield's heart was a wild bird caught indoors. Deep breaths wouldn't center him, and the music was loud enough to clear any coherent thought from his head, so instead, he recited his friend's advice over again in his mind like a mantra.
Balls in your court, Logan. Think she'll change her mind? Don't give her the option.
And even though Cyborg had snickered through Roy's no-nonsense pep talk with his mouth crammed full with garlic knots, he didn't extend a counter-proposal, she took Vic's silence as agreement, even after having expressed his less than encouraging opinion many times before. Bloodshed and all that.
It was easy enough to bullshit with the boys about international motocross or which Ivory Monkey lackey was the better fighter when the hammer fell, but it couldn't keep Gar from pulling his phone out to reread Raven's message with strange compulsion. He felt stuck with the task of crafting the perfect response, just as charming as it was witty, yet he'd draft a reply only to scrap it immediately before shoving the phone back in his pocket. His knack for banter escaped him in this great hour of need, and Garfield knew it had everything to do with his doubt in her meaning. Harper's rallying speech about a repressed alpha ego in need of glorious release did the trick for a while, settling Gar's nerves while sending him from Antonio's with every intention to let Raven sweat it. Because ultimately, the skeptic in his mind warned Garfield that this could be just another game of whiplash, and he didn't want to play that anymore.
But that was all before he saw her across that crowded dance hall, Kori and Karen at her side like guardians and a small but euphoric smile on her dark lips.
Raven in that dress was devastating enough, but then he noticed the delicate black straps that crossed her chest like a harness, the skin beneath it shimmering under the lights. Just ten seconds into talking to her and Gar found himself needing to think his way out of a half chub. And even though her heels took her to a height that reminded him of those early years before his delayed growth spurt, he hadn't minded how they brought her closer to him. The sweet smell of her easier to taste.
"Are you?" Raven had asked him.
In what world, Garfield questioned in that moment, could he ever be fed up with someone as intoxicating or provoking and fucking beautiful as this person in front of him now who managed to make a scowl look so lovely? Like she knew just how exhausting she was and hoped he hadn't noticed yet. Don't give her the option. Then as he bowed his head to her ear, there was electricity in her touch; the way her fingers grazed his arm to then gently grip his shoulder sent chills down his spine that would linger long after she'd let go.
He couldn't keep his eyes off her, even as the distorted trap remix of Van Halen sent Vic right off his rocker. And Gar was just as hyped, to be fair, since that song turned into an anthem of sorts for them. They'd even made up a dumb dance to it, performed only once before in the Titanium when still high on endorphins.
But when the song eventually passed, slowing down with the music, Gar met Raven's gaze across the platform. Like low-hanging lavender moons, her eyes were wild and wanting, and he did not hesitate to answer her call. Almost as if to restrain herself, Raven clutched the railing behind her when he neared, fixed on the hand he held out with much uncertainty. If she had been reluctant to dance with him in the privacy of the Tower when they were hidden from the world, suggesting it now might have been arguably pointless. Yet, he waited, and to his subtle surprise, Raven stepped forward, her hands running up his arms in a swift, deliberate movement to bring her lips to his ear.
"I don't want to dance," she told him, her voice faint but firm before she let go and walked around him, looking back with playful annoyance. Garfield calmly followed her lead, away from the curious glances of the friends who watched them turn the corner.
They weren't two steps down a dark hallway before Raven took the nape of his neck in her hands, crashing her lips against him as if she worried a second later she'd change her mind.
Don't give her the option.
Wrapping her up in his heat, Garfield pressed her melting body back to the wall, and with ease, her mouth parted for him, letting soft moans vibrate against his lips. He could hardly mind the faint taste of booze and gingerbeer on her tongue when she kept dragging her teeth tenderly across his bottom lip, at which Gar stirred against her with dangerous urgency. He was unsure how much time had passed before Raven drew back from him with avidly curious eyes. When she suddenly chuckled, she cleared the air around them of her lustful haze and swept her thumb along his mouth couple times, wiping dark smudges of lipstick from his skin.
"Sorry," Raven whispered, dispatching her forefinger for back-up.
Garfield smiled, brushing faint smears from her lips as well, and then kissed them again, more quietly, bringing her back against his chest. Her hands found his face, soft fingers stroking his cheek, smiling against him.
"Barely here twenty minutes," he murmured between kisses, "and you have me ready to take you home."
Raven shimmered at his meaning, and even though the dimly lit lanterns that lined the wall behind her helped conceal her glowing cheeks beneath their indigo shadows, he could still tell how she fixed her grimace teasingly.
"Maybe if you hadn't taken your sweet time."
"Couldn't make you think it was that easy."
"What's that?"
"Send a text and assume I'd come running."
"So you just...walked instead?"
Garfield hummed with biting amusement. "Fine, but, very slowly."
"In my defense," Raven said, readjusting herself more comfortably between the wall and his body, "I did call first."
"Right, of course, and to say what, exactly?" he smirked, understanding the full weight of his question, and in her nervousness, Raven's eyes withdrew from his entirely.
"To tell you, that um," she started, her fingertips suddenly interested in the tropical patterns of his blazer. After a hallowed pause, she released a sharp sigh of courage.
"My whole life, I'm supposed to keep other people safe from...my darkness, and I can do that when I can control what I'm feeling. And then, you," Garfield felt unsteady when her eyes fell on his again, like being drunk, though he hadn't had more than those couple of beers on his way from dinner. He'd later understand that it was Raven surging through his aura, unintentionally surrendering to her emotions as she unfolded before him. "I just I'm not supposed to feel these things for anyone. And now you've got me thinking, you know, like what if? The thing is though, if I hurt you, hurt any of you because I get too...it's not something I'm into risking. But then you look at me, like," she smiled, her thumb brushing his cheek in such a way made his heart turn in his chest, "like that, and I suddenly feel brave."
He knew her truth so plainly in her unsteady gaze or how her fingers curled gingerly beneath his collar while her irises kindled like brilliant fuchsias, waiting nervously for him like he'd change his mind in the face of her vulnerability.
"You're kinda precious, you know that?" Gar beamed, strangely sure of himself even as Raven's face twisted defensively to such an accusation. He quickly bowed to stop her protest with his lips, and though she still grumbled pleasantly against him, she soon sank into his arms in sated surrender. When it was safe to pull away, Garfield savored in how slowly her eyelids lifted. "Have faith, Rave," he asked. "Let me take care of you."
Quick and dizzy and wonderfully breathless, Raven promised with a kiss to his brow and to his cheek, and finally, on his mouth, pulling Garfield closer than was entirely reasonable.