In retrospect, I should have finished the park scene on the last chapter. I didn't because there was a part I was still working on for it but I still wanted to give you guys/gals something to read.
Sadly, this chapter still isn't quite Comicon. I had a very stressful couple of weeks following the last chapter and it killed all of my writing motivation for the first week. This chapter is just a stand in for Comicon, which WILL start next chapter, because I needed time to truly decompress and put my heart into it. I couldn't half-ass it, no matter how stressed I was from work. Still, I made this transition chapter work and I like it. I'm pretty sure you lot are going to enjoy the end of it.
Cause this ship is getting ready to set sail :3
Read and review please! Sorry I didn't address reviews this chapter, but my phone is uncooperative right now and a few reviewers jumped my reviews from 192 to 218 in a matter of days. Its really nice of them, especially since my goal is to have my favs, follows, and reviews surpass those of Accidents Can Happen.
AAu reviour~
"Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh it's really you!"
Beast Boy and Raven traded glances. The ninja was way too excited to see them. The young Hispanic man in question had one hand covering his mouth, rapidly flicking the other, and hopping up and down.
Definitely a first for the heroes.
Without warning the ninja darted up close to Beast Boy, grabbed his hand, and started shaking it rapidly.
"Mister Beast Boy sir, I'm your biggest fan! I've been following you ever since you joined the Doom Patrol and even with the Titans! You're my hero! I even designed my costume after yours! I never thought I'd meet you in real life!" He said, his enthusiasm almost overwhelming the poor shapeshifter.
Beast Boy felt like his brain was rattling in his skull under the intensity of the handshake. The changeling had no idea who this dude was, but he had a hellavu grip. "Y-y-yeah. G-good to meet you to, uh…"
"Mi amigos call me Bunker!" The ninja said happily. "But you can call me Miguel!"
"R-right, nice to meet you Miguel." Beast Boy said as he subtly tried to pull away from the disturbingly strong handshake. Thankfully, the Hispanic guy released him and dashed over to Raven. Feeling slightly wobbly, Garfield wondered if this is what Shaken Baby Syndrome was like.
Raven, however, wasn't having any of that. She held up her hand to stop him before he could start (he actually slid to a stop before reaching her).
"Calm yourself, Bunker. We're not going anywhere just yet." She said sternly. Nodding vigorously, Bunker exhaled and inhaled deeply before reaching his hand out.
"Sorry Miss Raven, I got so excited I turned into a cabrón for a moment." He said as she took his hand and shook it.
"It's quiet alright." Raven nodded.
"I'm so happy right now! Mister Beast Boy has been my inspiration for years! And then after I heard about all that stuff you went through, it made me decide to quit being someone who watches the heroes and start being a hero instead." Miguel said with a huge smile.
"I don't know if I'm someone worth looking up to, but thank you." Raven slowly, unsure of how to respond to such praise. Bunker beamed and started to say something, but Beast Boy cut him off.
"Uh, dude, we need to find your friend."
"Ai caramba! SKITTER!" Bunker shouted before taking off towards a small copse of trees a few dozen yards away. Raven waved her hand and platforms of shadow magic formed under each injured police officer and gently lifted them into the air. The conscious cops were quite startled, but had the sense to sit still. Beast Boy took off after Bunker, Raven floating along behind them, the cops floating behind her.
"Skitter! Skitter, where are you?!" Bunker called out frantically as he crashed into the bushes and started moving limbs around to see. Beast Boy halted at the edge and looked up into trees. There was something up there, but it most certainly not human. Raven came to a halt beside him, feeling his uneasiness.
"What is it?" She said softly, watching him tense up.
"I'm not sure, Rae." He shook his head. "But…I can feel it."
Raven's eyebrow rose. "You can feel it? What do you mean?"
Beast Boy shook his head before tapping it with his hand. "Dunno how to explain it. I can feel it here, in my mind."
"That's…disturbing." Raven shook her own head in disbelief. She could feel something in the tree, but not like Garfield was. What she felt was something injured and scared, but wild and agitated at the same time.
Definitely not human.
"She's up in the tree, dude." Beast Boy called out.
Raven's eyebrow rose once more. "She?"
The changeling shook his head once more. "Don't ask, cause I don't know how I knew that."
Frowning slightly, Raven turned to watch Bunker project his weird energy-brick arms up into the tree. There was the sound of snapping tree branches, followed by the creak of weight being lifted from a larger branch.
What came down in Bunker's hands was nothing less than a nightmare.
While it was undoubtedly female it was covered in an dark green insect-like carapace that turned her hair into elongated quills and granted her two extra pairs of rail-thin arms, each ending three claws, that protruded from below her human-esque arms. Said arms were covered in a similar carapace, albeit with rigid edges and overlapping at joints, allowing movement of her limbs. Curiously enough, Skitter appeared to be wearing a spandex suit of some sort as well, which covered her torso and legs. The carapace extended halfway down her chest as if it were protecting her vital organs. Upon further inspection, there was more of the chitinous shell upon her feet. Her face appeared to have the same sort of shell upon it, minus just around the mouth. The opening there reveal a set of dark skinned lips with bared pearly white teeth.
But perhaps the most startling thing was that her eyes were faded to the point of being white, just like when Garfield was the Beast
Skitter chittered angrily at them, not fully understanding what was going on. Raven stared at the girl curiously, wondering how such a being was so difficult to get an empathic feeling on. Bunker, paying her no mind, climbed out of the bushes and carefully set her on the ground. She didn't appearing to be injured, but it was hard to tell at first glance.
"Set her down over here." Raven told their new friend, gesturing to a fresh shadow construct. "I'll inspect her after we wrap up Psimon and whatever that things name is."
"You know those two?" Bunker asked as he did as she ordered. "First time I've seen them in town and I've been here six months."
"Yes, we've fought them before." Raven nodded, glancing at Beast Boy. He and Skitter were staring at each other intently. It made Raven nervous.
"Beast Boy?" She said tentatively. Bunker paused and looked his way too.
"She's not hurt." Beast Boy said a moment later. "Just really scared and pretty agitated. Psimon forced her to be afraid of him when he blasted her."
Raven's stare turned incredulous. "How could you know that?"
"It's like I can feel her mind." Beast Boy frowned. "I don't understand why though."
The empath looked at Skitter, who was genuinely confused now. She was uttering a series of chittering noises, including one that sounded like a cricket chirping.
"Well…she sounds like a bug and kind of looks like one." Raven murmured.
"Eight limbed insects? Let's see, spiders…" Beast Boy started mumbling to himself in thought. Raven took this opportunity to start directing them and the injured towards the outer part of the park, where more police and ambulances were. The changeling stood off to the side mumbling to himself during the whole process of distributing the injured, healing the more serious wounds, handing over Psimon and Whatshisname, and filling out a bit of paperwork. Bunker ran around and helped as much as he could, popping a few dislocated shoulders back into place and moving large rubble off the streets near the decimated bank. Skitter climbed a tree and hid there, obviously wary of people.
When all was said and done, the police chief personally thanked them. They hadn't lost a single officer today and they were all immensely grateful for that.
"Just doing my job." Raven replied.
"And a dang good job she does, eh amigos?" Bunker called out. There were sounds of several cops cheering in agreement. The empath smiled slightly and inclined her head. She cast her gaze to the side, where Beast Boy still stood, lost in thought. Her smile grew a little.
There was a point in time where, had she seen he was standing there like that, she would have assumed he was thinking about video games or something stupid. It was a strange concept considering that she was a tad harsh to him over the years, even though she had feelings for him during an undetermined amount of time. Affection herself couldn't exactly pin when she started feeling things for him. All she knew was that one day she realized she really enjoyed someone paying attention to her.
"He's cute, isn't he seniorita?"
Raven, lost in thought, mumbled a reply. "Mmhmm."
"I've always wondered what he looks like with his shirt off."
"Pretty good." The empath gave a low chuckle. She knew she must look crazy standing there talking herself but she didn't-
"And look at that butt! I just wanna walk over grab it. Think he'd like that, seniorita Raven?"
Raven's train of thought derailed at light speed as she dumbly turned at looked at Bunker, who was standing next to her and checking out Beast Boy.
"Um…what?" She said, not quite comprehending what he had just said.
Bunker looked back at her. "What? Don't tell me he's got a girlfriend. That would suck."
Raven stared at him like he'd gone mad.
He sighed and shook his head. "Let me try that again, eh? My name is Miguel, I'm from Mexico, I'm gay, and I think Beast Boy is hot."
"Uh…huh." Raven said slowly, as her mind struggled to wrap itself around this new concept. She had never met someone who was homosexual (not that she knew of anyways), so meeting someone who was interested in the same gender was a new experience. His interest in Garfield, however, was very much unwanted.
Regaining her composure, Raven shook her head. "Sorry, he has a girlfriend. And he's not into guys."
Bunker sighed, disappointment peeking out in his aura. "That's just my luck. I finally meet a chico guapo in this city and he's taken. Oh well. You're a lucky girl, seniorita."
Raven sighed. It seems like everyone thinks she and Garfield are together.
If only.
The changeling in question was still standing there, oblivious to the conversation that wasn't actually very far from him. Deciding it was time for them to return to Emelia, Raven headed for the green boy
As she approached, however, she discovered something.
"Uh…Beast Boy?" She said, reaching out and nudging his shoulder. "You're standing in ants."
Garfield, roused from his internal debate, looked down to find his uniformed legs covered in fire ants. He clucked his tongue. "Well, that's a first."
Before Raven could say anything else, he disappeared from sight and reappeared moments later five feet to the right. He was shaking his head in disbelief.
"Bugs don't usually attack me, especially ants. They can tell I'm one of them, but it looks like these guys are just downright mean. Typical fire…ants…"
Raven raised an eyebrow as he trailed off, his eyes going wide.
"Ants!" He said excitedly, turning to look at her. "That's it! That's why I can kinda sorta feel her mind!"
"…I don't follow." She admitted after a moment of thought.
Beast Boy chuckled. "Well, ya see, ants, bees, and termites are hive mind creatures. They have a constant communication going on between them from a variety of sources such as movement, scents, and touch. I'm guessing that I can kinda sorta tell what she's thinkin' and feelin' because I'm part ant. Whatever insect she's supposed to be, it's related to ants."
That's an interesting line of thought. Knowledge commented in Raven's mind. Once again his unexpected insight has surprised me.
Raven was inclined to agree with this emotion, so she nodded at the changeling. "Not bad."
Bunker, who was trying to coax Skitter out of the tree, turned his head and called out to them. "Sorry she's so shy, amigos. She's normally a bit friendlier."
Skitter chittered at him angrily, causing Beast Boy and Raven to raise an eyebrow at him. He shrugged and smiled weakly.
"Normally might be an overstatement, eh?" He chuckled to himself.
"As much fun as this has been, Beast Boy and I are required elsewhere." Raven said, thinking of Emelia back at the hotel.
The purple and black clad ninja temporarily forgot about his friend. "Aw, so soon? We'd love to get to know you guys!"
Another angry chitter came from the tree.
"Sorry dude, but we…have something we need to get back to." Beast Boy shook his head.
Bunker raised his eyebrow under his mask but grinned. "I'll see you around then, eh?"
Raven nodded. "We'll be here for the weekend."
"Sweet." Bunker walked over to shake their hands one last time. "Great to meet you two at last!"
"Nice meeting you too man." Beast Boy replied. "I'd offer you a Titan communicator, but we're here on vacation so I didn't bring any spares."
Bunker's eyes lit up. "Me, a Titan?! A dream come true!"
"You show the talent and initiative, it's the logical choice to make you an honorary Titan." Raven said as she shook his hand. "Is there some way we can contact you later on?"
"The police headquarters here in this area is one we work with pretty often so you can call them and they'll pass it to us. I check with them every other day for stuff to do." Bunker said with a happy grin.
"I'll keep that in mind dude." Beast Boy said before he turned into an eagle and took off into the sky. He wasn't trying to be rude or anything, but he wanted to get back to Emelia. Raven was right behind him in the air.
"Senior Beast Boy!"
The changeling turned in mid air, looking at the amateur hero below him. Raven too paused, mostly out of curiosity.
"¡Los dos son una pareja encantadora, pero no se olviden de usar protección!" Bunker called out with a sly grin, Skitter now beside him staring up at them.
Raven had no idea what the Hispanic hero said, but Garfield almost fell out of the sky. She glanced at him as embarrassment filled his aura immediately. He was struggling to find his flight bearings, flapping awkwardly for a moment before catching a draft and correcting himself.
What was that about? Raven asked him telepathically.
Nothing! Came the immediate reply, panic in his mental tone.
Don't lie to me Garfield. What did he say?
Nothing! Promise! He said as he flapped harder, trying to get out of telepathic range. It didn't occur to him that they were going to the same place.
Raven followed, immensely suspicious. She ought to make him answer her, but she was reluctant to get angry at him. It really could have been nothing worth mentioning, after all. Buuuuutttt….
"Daaaaaaave!" Beast Boy called out as he landed on the balcony of their hotel room. Said young man nearly jumped out of skin and actually did fall off the edge of the bed where he sat. Emelia, sitting at the head of the bed between the pillows, scrambled at her father and jumped into his arms as he entered.
"Daddy! I saw you on TV!" She squealed happily.
"You sure did angel." Beast Boy said proudly. "Did you see me kick those bad guys butts?"
"Yush." Emmy giggled. "You and mommy were awesome!"
The changeling smiled. "That we were, Emmy, that we-"
"Ahem."
Beast Boy looked up to find Bob standing in front of the door out of the room. He looked a bit peeved.
"I don't recall inviting you in my room." Beast Boy said with a tight smile. "Maybe I should have left a salt line?"
Bob frowned. "Mr. Logan, I don't pay my employees to babysit the children of guests."
"We weren't gone long." Raven said as she floated in the balcony door. "Forty five minutes tops."
"It doesn't matter how long it was, it matters that I just paid him to sit around." Bob huffed.
"So input it in your system that he took an hour lunch."
"He already had a lunch!"
"He had a second lunch then." Raven said coldly.
Bob huffed again and stomped out. Dave, horror struck, turned to Raven.
"Please don't get me fired." He frowned dejectedly. "It's hard enough to pay my bills as it is."
"I already have a partial solution to that." Raven said as she walked over to the small table in the room. She grabbed a piece of hotel stationary and a complimentary pen and scribbled something down.
"Garfield, come here." She said as she wrote. Beast Boy walked over, curious as to what she was doing. When he saw, he grinned. Raven never did stuff like this. When she was done she handed him the pen.
What Dave received a moment later was something he wasn't quite expecting.
Thank you for your help! We're in your debt! -Raven & Beast Boy is what the note said.
Dave looked at them. "And this helps because…?"
"Dude, you can sell it to a collector!" Beast Boy chuckled. "Those guys pay crazy amounts of money for superhero stuff!"
"Yeah…but how am I supposed to prove its real?"
Raven had no answer for that, but Beast Boy did.
"Take a pic with us and the note!"
Dave hesitated, looking at Raven. He watched the news enough to know she wasn't exactly a people person.
However, she actually nodded. "I don't mind."
One quick pic from Dave's cell phone was all it took to cheer the guy up. He left a happy man.
"That was some pretty smart thinking Rae." Garfield grinned as he closed the door behind the clerk.
"Well, someone in this relationship has to think on their feet." She replied without missing a beat as she sat on the bed and pulled her little blue boots off. Raven smirked to herself, not realizing what she said.
Relationship?! Garfield's mind screamed as he chuckled out loud. "Hardy har."
"Now, are you going to tell me what Bunker said?" Raven said with a stern look, throwing her companion off guard.
Beast Boy didn't hesitate to turn and dart into the bathroom. "Sorry Rae, I need to showe-"
WHAM
Beast Boy smacked face first into the magically sealed bathroom door. Rubbing his poor nose and fighting back tears, the changeling glanced at Raven, who was still staring at him sternly.
"Raaaaeeeee!" He whined.
"Tell me what he said. Now." She demanded.
Is this a relationship or a dictatorship? Garfield mentally grumbled to himself as he sighed. "He said we make a cute couple."
He figured she didn't need to know the entire truth.
He did enjoying living, after all.
"Hmm." Raven said after a moment. He knew that she knew he knew that she knew he knew he was hiding something. Several heartbeats later the magic holding the door shut flickered and disappeared. Garfield, who was confused more than anything with her bland reaction, nodded thankfully as he walked over to his suitcase. A thought occurred to him as he gathered his bathing stuffs.
"What do ya wanna do for dinner?" He asked, setting his pajama bottoms to the side and rummaging for a wash cloth.
"We got to go out like you wanted, so let's just stay here and order pizza." Raven replied, unclasping her cloak and dropping it in a portal along with her elf boots.
"Fair enough." Garfield said, picking his pjs up once more. "I'm gonna shower."
He left Raven and Emelia there, sitting on the bed and watching cartoons. Well, Raven wasn't actually watching, but she pretended to for Emelia. It made Beast Boy chuckle once more. Seeing Raven this social was a treat in and of itself. Seeing her let her guard down so much was pretty nice too.
His shower, while not particularly quick, was nice and hot with decent water pressure. He enjoyed it thoroughly, using the complimentary hotel shampoo and soap so that he didn't have to use up his own Old Spice products. He figured Raven wouldn't mind, she used a pricier brand that was French Vanilla Bean scented and he wasn't sure what brand she used on Emelia, only that the little girl smelled faintly of melons when she was clean.
Towards the end of his shower, it occurred to him that this is what a normal family vacation must feel like.
It made him smile.
Raven, on the other hand, was still pondering what Bunker had said.
Once upon a time being called a 'cute couple' with anyone would have offended her. She did, after all, have to keep everyone at arms length. It was a necessity since she was the Gem, the Portal, the End of Life on Earth, whatever you wanted to call her along those lines was accurate enough for her tastes. Even after defeating her father, she kept people at arms length out of habit. But she had noticed as time passed that she was less and less inclined to do so. She had let Starfire give her hugs and drag her out shopping, she had let Cyborg teach her more about cars, she had learned more martial arts from Robin, and she had had more and more talks with Beast Boy. It made her feel and she enjoyed it.
So being called a 'cute couple' with Garfield left her with a warm and fuzzy feeling on the inside. A feeling she didn't mind one bit.
Especially when he came out of the shower shirtless, steaming, and a ridiculously happy grin plastered on his face. The black and red flannel pajama bottoms he was wearing contrasted nicely with his forest green skin.
There was a choking noise in the back of her mind, followed by a thud.
What was that? She thought, ripping her eyes from the half-naked boy as she flushed.
I think Brave fainted… Knowledge murmured.
Why?
I would imagine from yonder boy.
That's stupid. Raven mentally huffed as she kept her eyes off the boy and on the television screen. When did I even get into muscular guys?
Around the time we first met Aqualad.
Raven had to force herself to not cringe. She had become a silly little schoolgirl around him all because he was tall, dark, and handsome, which was completely her type at the time (despite her fixation on not being emotionally available).
And then we peeked in his mind and found it to be pretty empty. Rude snorted. Fishsticks is about as bright as a can of tuna. Not that Garfield was much better.
Now Rude, we all came to the conclusion that he was faking being stupid the whole time, did we not? Knowledge chided the flippant emotion.
Yeah yeah. Rude huffed.
I like the way his hair is getting longer, it looks good on him. I'd like to run my fingers through it…
Raven stiffened. Who said that?
The only response she got was an amused silence.
You have ten seconds to respond. Raven mentally growled.
There was a tittering laugh. Relax Raven. I'm just as much a part of you as the others are.
I figured that, but WHO are you?
Another laugh. You'll find out one day.
The unknown emotion refused to answer any more questions, but she did comment on how Garfield's arms would look nice wrapped around her.
"What kind of pizza do you want, Rae?" Beast Boy asked as he at on the bed with his phone in one hand and a local directory in the other.
"Depends on what pizza place its coming from."
"Hmm…" Beast Boy read the laminated paper. "Dominos or Hungry Howie's are the only two I recognize."
"Dominos."
"Toppings?"
"Doesn't matter, I'll pick off what I don't like."
"Sweet lick." The changeling grinned as he punched in the number to the store. Raven was really easy to eat with, unlike a certain half robot.
Four hours away, in Titan Tower, Cyborg sneezed and dropped his quadruple meat sandwich on the floor.
He spent two hours mourning it.
As her companion set about ordering a large pizza (olives, banana peppers, and pineapples) and a two liter of Sprite (neither girl cared for caffeinated sodas and he kinda like Sprite so it was okay to get). Raven got up from the bed and opened Emelia's suitcase. She pulled out a little set of yellow and purple jammies and a butterfly pattern hairbrush for the little girl before opening her own bag.
Raven was greeted by the sight of three days worth of clothes, her toiletries bag, her own hairbrush, and Emelia's current favorite coloring book, which had a large yellow bear with a red shirt on the front of it. Raven had no idea who this 'Winnie the Pooh' was, but Emelia was ecstatic about him. It. Whatever it was.
Hold on…where are my pajamas? Raven pondered (A/N: think think think) as she rummaged in the bag.
"Emelia, did you see what I did with my pajamas this morning?" She asked her daughter a moment later, unable to remember such a mundane action at the moment.
"Uuuhhh…" Emmy scrunched her little face up in thought. "You put them in the dirty clothes basket."
So what did I do with the other pair? Raven frowned to herself, trying to remember where she-
Oh.
They're sitting on the bed behind where she packed her suitcase.
The empath let out an exasperated sigh and nearly facepalmed. It wasn't like her to be inattentive, she really needed to get her focus back.
"What's up Rae?" Garfield asked, turning to look at her.
"I forgot my pajamas." Came the irritated response.
He raised an eyebrow. "Can't you go back and get them?"
"I could, yes. But doing two long range teleportation's will wear me out. I'd have to spend tomorrow meditating just to function for Sunday." Raven grumbled.
"Well…" Beast Boy hesitated. "You…wanna borrow mine?"
Raven's eyes got wide as she looked at him, Timid on the verge of a meltdown in her head. The idea of taking the pajamas he was wearing and putting them on to leave him sleeping in his underwear was a bit too much for her.
It must have shown on her face, because Beast Boy shook his head.
"No, Rae, I got a pair of sleeping shorts." He said, a flush coming to his face. To his relief, she relaxed.
"I…suppose I can borrow them just this once." She said slowly. Beast Boy nodded and hopped up. It didn't take long to pull out the clothes out (though he did drop his shampoo on his foot in the process; he really should have packed it neatly to begin with).
Turning back to her, he presented Raven with a white T-shirt and a pair of dark blue sleeping shorts. "Here ya go."
She hesitated, but took them.
"Thank you." She said softly.
"No problem Rae." He replied, retaking his seat on the bed. Raven gathered up her stuff and Emelia (who protested because her cartoons were still on) and went into the bathroom.
Twenty minutes later, the pizza arrived.
Good thing these rooms come with little plastic cups. He smirked to himself as he pour three cups of Sprite for himself and his girls. The pizza was beautiful to look at, which prompted him to snap a pic and send it to Cyborg.
Cyborg's reply was: PINEAPPLE DOESN'T GO ON PIZZA, GRASS STAIN!
Beast Boy chuckled at his best buddies response as he took a bite.
And then choked on it when Raven stepped out of the bathroom.
You see, the thing about Beast Boy's t-shirts is that he likes them snug, like his uniform top. So that means he gets them smaller than his actual size. They look fine on him, almost like a cheap muscle shirt. But on Raven?
It was tight.
As in form fitting tight.
Especially around the chest area.
It did not help that she had to roll up the waistband of his shorts so that they would fit her without slipping down. They almost looked like booty shorts now.
"Your clothes don't quite fit me." Raven commented at the coughing boy before her. Beast Boy beat his chest a couple of times, trying to get his breath back as he rapidly nodded and looked away. She quirked an eyebrow at him as Emelia, a little towel wrapped around her head, toddled by and headed for the food.
"What?" Raven asked as he refused to look at her.
"It's, uh…a little chilly in here, dontcha think?" Beast Boy responded, his eyes planted on the pizza. He didn't trust himself to look at her.
"No? It's sixty eight degrees, feels fine to me." She said after glancing at the air conditioner.
"Uh…" He fidgted where he sat, looking away from her.
Raven frowned at him. "Garfield, what's wrong?"
"I…uh…dunno how to say it without it coming out wrong…" The changeling glanced up at her, flinched, then looked away. "Tell ya what, Rae. Look in the mirror."
Raven turned and looked at herself in the bathroom mirror. She was wearing rolled up shorts, her hair was wet, and she was wearing a very tight T-shirt. She didn't see what the problem was…
Oh wait, there it is.
And it was two problems, not one.
Both scowling and blushing, Raven crossed her arms over her chest and glared at Beast Boy. "You better not have-"
He interrupted her, shaking his head furiously. "Nope."
Raven stared at him for a moment before sighing in annoyance. Even without her empathy she knew he was lying. "Look, don't be immature about this, okay? I can't sleep in a bra."
"Uhhh…can I ask why?"
Raven frowned, then used one hand to wave a thin wire of shadows around Garfield's chest, just below his pectorals, and cinched it tight. He made a disturbed noise and tried pulling it away.
"What the heck Rae?" He complained. "I can't breath with this thing on me."
"That is what it's like trying to sleep with a bra on." Raven said as she waved her hand and let the wire disappear.
"Point taken." Garfield grumbled halfheartedly. It wasn't his fault that he could see parts of her chest through his shirt, but that wire had hurt for the brief time it was there. He really couldn't begrudge her to wear something so aggravating in her sleep.
Raven joined him and Emelia for food shortly after that. The changeling did his best to keep his eyes to himself as they ate, only sneaking a glance when Raven was preoccupied pulling the pineapple slices off her pizza and all the toppings from Emmy's. He wasn't complaining about the food, he got to take all those toppings and add them to his own pieces.
And as long as he kept calm about it, he could enjoy the sight of Raven in his clothes.
The remainder of their evening passed in relative silence. Beast Boy and Emelia watched cartoons while Raven read a book. Though neither teen would have admitted it if asked, they both were very much enjoying the situation. But before either had realized it, it was going on ten o'clock.
"It's past your bedtime, Emelia." Raven said, marking her book with a Harry Potter bookmark. Emelia, who was already dozing off, nodded and climbed under the blankets next to her mother. Garfield gathered up all the trash and crusts and set them on the table. Raven settled into bed after floating her book to her suitcase and clicked one light off. Her companion lay his comforter on the floor and tossed his pillows down.
"Daddy, what about goodnight kisses?" Emmy sleepily mumbled. Raven turned on her side facing away from the changeling, slightly envious of her daughter. Affection was fussing up a storm about getting a goodnight kiss because she (Raven) had never had one before and she wanted to try it. Beast Boy chuckled.
"Yeah okay." He leaned over and kissed his adopted daughter on the head. "Goodnight angel."
"Goodnight daddy." Emmy yawned. "Don't forget mommy, she wants a goodnight kiss too."
Garfield's eyes snapped up to Raven's back, which had visibly tensed. That was a very curious thing for Emelia to say, seeing as she was an empath just like her mother. So that meant that…
"Don't be silly, Emelia. Your father has a girlfriend." Raven said softly yet monotonously.
"And if I didn't?" Beast Boy daringly said. It was a huge gamble for him to take, but it might just be worth it. He stared at her back, wondering what she would say
She was quiet for a moment before speaking. "Goodnight Garfield."
That wasn't a yes, but it wasn't a no either…so…does that mean…
What if…she's starting to feel things…for you?
Cyborg's words rattling around inside his head, Garfield clicked the last light off and lay down for the night. It was going to be a long night.
If only he had known how close he'd come to getting that kiss…
A/N: What's this?! Legitimate plot development?! Say it isn't so!
*chuckles* I made an SPN joke and don't regret it.
Great news though. I've already written a chunck of the next chapter! Maybe if I get enough reviews I'll post it before next weekend! *cough cough nudge nudge*
