Shadows drape the hallway, stretching along the wall as the light fades. Raven turns the corner and walks toward her room. After a mission like the one the Titans just returned from, she wants nothing more than a hot shower, change of clothes, and a quiet hour before bed to finish her book.
"Um, Rae?" a voice behind her calls, and she stifles a groan. So much for her plans.
She turns to face Beast Boy. "What?"
Offering her a sheepish smile, Garfield touches his scalp. "I guess a piece of that building hit my head when Cinderblock punched it." His fingertips come away bloody. "Do you think you could-?"
Raven crosses the dark hall to him and presses her palm to his wound. Gar lowers his head to make it easier. When did he become so much taller than her? "Nightwing's right. You're cocky and reckless."
His smile widens. Of course he'd take it as a compliment. "Ah, c'mon. Our job is punching out bad guys! I was just doing my job. And doing it well, I might add." He waggles his eyebrows.
She lifts hers sceptically. "Hold still."
Under Raven's hand, the sides of the gash pull together and knit closed. In a couple minutes there will be nothing to indicate that Garfield had ever been senseless enough to stand next to a crumbling building while Cinderblock took a shot at him.
As she works, Raven feels Gar's gaze on her, studying her look of concentration. She's all too aware that her hand on the back of his head and his bent over position bring their faces very close to each other. Raven is careful to avoid eye contact and remain expressionless until she finishes the healing process.
"There."
Before she has a chance to reprimand him again for his foolish behavior, Garfield does something even crazier. He lifts a hand and twirls a lock of Raven's hair around his fingers.
"I like the layers," he says, referring to her new haircut, the one Bumblebee recommended. "They suit you." His hand brushes her cheek as it withdraws, so lightly it could be an accident.
But Raven knows better. "What are you doing?"
Bold, emerald green eyes catch hers. Gar plants his hand on the wall next to her, leaning in close. "Exactly what it looks like." His gaze flicks to her lips, then away. He pulls back a little and rubs the back of his neck, confidence slipping to show the nervousness underneath.
So this is it. They're going to put it out in the open and resolve the matter once and for all, finally addressing the tension that electrifies the air between them. The only problem? No matter what the outcome, one or both of them risks getting seriously hurt.
It happened so gradually, the way their relationship changed. The way they changed. The purposeful aggravation turned to teasing, the arguing to banter. Raven learned self-control and patience, while Garfield learned respect and boundaries. And they both learned understanding.
It was gradual. But it was also sudden. Because one day, Raven couldn't tear her eyes away when Gar smiled at her. Another morning, she woke up to the sound of him singing in his room and laid in bed just to listen. And during a mission, he swooped in and rescued her from an attack like he had so many times before. But that time, he held her in his arms close to his chest, his heart beating right beneath her ear. And there in the middle of a battlefield, she felt protected in a way she never had before. Because she trusted him.
Yes, a part of Raven is ready to stop ignoring the shift in their dynamic, the change in the way he looks at her. But the rest of her hardly agrees.
Stealing a shy glance at her, Garfield touches his forehead to hers. "Rae…" he breathes, hot breath brushing against her cheeks.
A chill runs down her spine. The way he says her name…
"It's a bad idea," she replies, speaking to herself just as much as him.
You can't be this close. It makes me want something I can't have.
Gar pulls back just enough to make eye contact. Barely more than an inch separates their faces. He searches her expression. "Why?"
Raven answers with a question of her own. "Aren't you afraid?"
The edge in her voice makes the message clear: maybe you should be. Gar has always seen more of the storm inside her than the rest. At first, it was because he tested her patience and brought the turmoil to the surface. Now, it's because she knows he can handle it. But that doesn't mean he should have to.
"Of you?" His face contorts into a genuinely puzzled expression, as if the Garfield of four years ago wouldn't be scared to death at the mere idea of standing next to her in a dark hallway.
"Of getting hurt."
Understanding dawns in his eyes. He smiles. "Aw, Rae, you might think otherwise but you've never hurt me. Nothing but my pride, anyway. And seriously, let's be honest." His eyes glow like a cat's in the dim light, glimmering with humor. Messy bangs fall across long lashes as he quirks an eyebrow. "My pride deserved it."
He's downplaying how unfairly hard she was on him at first. Yet the humility suits him. It's difficult to believe how much he's grown up, right before her eyes. But even from the beginning he's been loyal to a fault, determined (aka stubborn), and even noble, in an odd way. Maybe it shouldn't be such a surprise.
"So," Gar tilts his head, ears pivoting toward Raven as if listening for an answer, "can I?" He speaks more softly than she's ever heard him, and his eyes never leave hers. He doesn't need to say anything more than those three words for her to know what he's asking.
Can I kiss you?
"You're not a very good listener, are you?" One last attempt to hold onto the banter and move away from the intimacy of this moment. But the usual sarcastic bite has left her tone and they both know it.
Garfield grins that impish smile of his, the one that brings out the dimple in his left cheek. "Never have been." His expression turns serious. "But I'm listening now."
Listening for an answer.
"If you know what you're getting into," Raven finds herself saying. "If you're sure it's what you want."
His hand reaches for hers, intertwining their fingers. The thumb on his other hand slips under her chin, gently tilting her face toward his. Her head spins and a wave of doubt sweeps through Raven at the confirmation of what Gar's about to do. What she's about to let him do. But she needs to know just as much as he does. She needs to know whether this could work.
"I'm sure," Gar whispers.
Raven has never thought about what it would be like to kiss someone. But if she had, she wouldn't have come up with anything like this.
He tastes sweet, like the mango he had before the mission. His lips are soft, despite the fangs she knows hide behind them. And he's warm. Their only contact is his hand on her chin and his lips on hers, but the warmth seeping through pushes back the chill of Raven's skin, the ever present cold she'd long forgotten was there.
Most surprising of all, there is no threat of her losing control. As she grew more and more certain of Gar's intentions, her heart rate increasing in response to the potent mixture of fear and anticipation filling her, Raven had gathered the mental fortitude she suspected would be necessary to keep her black powers in check. As Gar dipped his head toward hers, she'd been prepared to break the contact off immediately if need be, or even retreat to another realm. Whatever she had to do to contain the demon magic within her.
Now Gar is kissing her and her mind tangles with potent emotions she still struggles to understand. The perfect recipe for disaster. And yet the dark powers in her chest do not explode out of control. They do not threaten to overwhelm her, or rise to test her limits. Instead, the black falls into a neat spiral. Ordered. Calm. Peaceful.
All this she senses and understands in the very brief time the kiss lasts.
Garfield keeps it short, stepping back when a few seconds pass and Raven doesn't return his pressure. He leaves behind a void, an absence of touch and warmth. And some strange, unfamiliar part of her, a piece long suppressed and starved for contact, misses it. Misses him.
Especially now that she knows she can have him without the world falling apart.
Gar's fingers begin to slip from her hand. Raven catches hold of his wrist and pulls him back to her. His eyes widen, flicking from her face to where her fingers wrap around his wrist. Raven hears her own breath, fast although Garfield had barely brushed her lips. Her hand cups the back of his neck, fingers threading through soft fur and silky hair. Everything but Gar disappears as she presses her mouth to his.
When she finally releases him and steps back, heart pounding but mind focused, Gar is staring like he's never seen her before. Like she's someone he never thought he'd meet, someone rare and wonderful.
He always sees the best in people. Even her.
They stand in silence for a moment, faces red and eyes locked.
"Woah," Gar breathes, blinking rapidly. "I didn't just wreck our friendship, did I? I don't think I did, but-"
"You didn't." The speed and honesty of her own answer surprise Raven.
A slow smile spreads across his face. "Then are we…?"
For a moment, his hope shines too brightly to look at. Raven lowers her gaze to their hands, still clasped. "I have no idea."
The second she looks up to see his crooked, toothy grin and feels her insides twist in response, Raven knows exactly how this will end. Somehow, someway, this complete dork has a grip on her heart.
"So that's a maybe." Gar winks and the world spins around her. "I can work with maybe."
"I wouldn't bet on it. On this working out." She feels obligated to warn him. What she should be doing is telling him "no." But it's the farthest thing from what she wants.
"Then I guess you're right." Gar leans over Raven's shoulder, lips brushing her ear. "I'm kind of reckless," he whispers.