The steady pace was maintained. And with Garfield's new perspective on the matter, he made sure he didn't push Raven too far. Because despite her suspicions, he was perfectly fine with things as they were.
Taking what she said into consideration, he made sure not to push her, especially when they were in public.
He still got to be close to her. He still got to hold her hand. And he still got to kiss her.
And while he still wished he could take her out to a fancy restaurant, or to the movie theatre, he was fine accepting the fact that he didn't need to show the world he had a beautiful girlfriend.
...
Despite keeping himself at bay in public, when they were alone, in the privacy of the tower, Garfield naturally went back to testing the boundaries.
He leaned himself closer to her on his bed, his lips eagerly colliding with hers. Her hand slowly lifted up, caressing the side of his face, and instinctually he found himself scooting closer to her.
He was fully aware that this was when he started to get ahead of himself, so he tried to be mindful of his advances.
He moved his weight to his propped-up arms, as he leaned himself into her, and he honestly waited for her to move her hands to push him away.
So when she moved her arms, putting them on his shoulders, he was genuinely surprised.
She slowly tightened her arms around him, crossing them at the back of his neck and pulling him on top of her as she leaned back on his bed.
He fought against her hold on him as he slowly pulled away, allowing himself to stare down at her as he gave her a questionable look.
"What?" She asked, narrowing her eyes at him.
"Are you okay?" He asked. "Are you calm?"
"I'm stable. Though it would help if you felt less anxious."
He couldn't help but chuckle. "I'm excited, so sue me."
His humoured grin slowly diminished as he leaned back down, connecting their lips once more.
He loved everything about this. He loved the pink blush that slowly appeared on her cheeks. He loved the sensation of her body below him.
He loved the feeling of her delicate hands caressing the hairs at the base of his neck. He loved the sound of her shallow breathing as she kissed him. But most importantly, he loved the feeling of her soft lips against his.
He gently pulled himself away from her, forcing her to release her hold on him as he sat up. She watched him curiously as he smirked down at her before reaching behind him and grabbing the back of his shirt, pulling it over his head. He quickly tossed it aside before leaning back down over her.
She narrowed her eyes. "And the point of that was?..."
He briefly glanced down at himself before looking back at her. "You said it would be a pleasant surprise." He reminded her, the smirk never leaving his lips.
"Maybe if I haven't seen you without a shirt before." She commented.
"But you haven't touched me before." He said playfully, opening the invitation.
She rolled her eyes. "I guarantee I will not get as much pleasure touching you as you will touching me."
He stared at her intriguingly. "Is that an invitation?"
"No." She told him shortly.
"Okay fine. If you are that bothered by it, then I can put it back on." He began, but before he could move off her, she grabbed his shoulders, stopping him.
"No, it's fine." She said, steering him back towards her. "Just leave your pants on."
His argent smirk reserviced. "Tell you what, when you feel the time is right, you can do the honours."
She rolled her eyes. "I'll keep that in mind." She drawled. But despite her annoyed eye roll she didn't stop him from lowering himself and kissing her once more.
He leaned himself over her, keeping his hands by her sides, propping himself up. With his hands preoccupied, it helped him keep the steady pace. But it also allowed her free range to touch him as she pleased.
She didn't reach out to him as easily as he reached out to her. So any movement she did was a welcome surprise.
He continued to kiss her, letting her hands gently creep up his bare shoulders and wrap around his neck. Her arms grew tighter, and he enjoyed the strong grip she had on him.
His eyes widened as he quickly lifted his hands in surprise.
"Wow, there is a lot of gray area in that."
"Exactly." She said, tightly wrapping her arms around him and kissing him.
When he overstepped the boundaries, he knew what his intentions were. He knew how far he was going to go. And he knew he wasn't going to go farther than what she could handle.
But her overstepping the boundaries was different.
Not only did he have no idea how far she was going to go, he could tell by her impulsive behaviour, that she had no idea either.
So, using all the restraint he could muster in this moment, he pushed her away again.
"Raven..." He protested, turning away from her so she couldn't kiss him again.
"I take it back." She suddenly told him with a heated breath. "It's an invitation. I want you to touch me."
His eyes widened. "Wait, what?..."
She quickly grabbed his hands, placing them on her waist and sliding them up her chest.
"Holy Shit." He breathed, his heart pounding in his chest.
But he couldn't bask in what was happening as his attention was abruptly drawn to his window as the glass shattered, covering his bedroom floor with shards.
And that was the final straw. And while it fiscally pained him to do so, he shook his head, grabbed her arms, and gently pushed her off of him.
Raven stared in disbelief as he moved off of his bed, and distanced himself away from her.
"What are you doing?" She asked, her breath still slightly shallow.
"What am I doing? What are you doing?!" He countered. "What happened to boundaries, and going into this calmly? Everything you said we needed to do. How am I supposed to enjoy this if I know you aren't yourself?"
"I am myself." She argued.
"NO, you are not." He told her sternly. "Your emotions are clearly unstable." He said, gesturing to his shattered window.
Raven turned to the window, the damage her powers caused finally resonating with her. Her quickly expression turned to concern as she ran her hand aggressively through her hair.
"What is wrong with me?"
Realizing Raven was back, Garfield's face softened. "Nothing is wrong with you. You just lost control a bit."
"No, something is wrong with me." She told him. "Because I didn't care. I didn't care if the lights broke, or if the windows shattered. The world couldn't have crumbled around me, and I would have only cared about you and what we were doing." She suddenly groaned, burrowing his face in her hands.
"Oh Azar! What were we doing?"
"Well, to sum it up, we were having fun." He said simply, shrugging his shoulder. "If you want to get technical, we were dry humping."
She immediately scowled at him.
"Don't glare at me, Raven, you started." He shot back.
She let out an annoyed sigh. "The technical term is frottage." She informed him exasperatedly.
"Well, whatever you call it, it was fun."
She looked at him questionably. "If you were having so much fun, then why did you stop me?"
"Because I didn't want you to do something you would regret." He said walking over and sitting back down next to her. "Sure, I would love for you to sex me up."
She rolled her eyes. "Could you use better phrases." She said distastefully.
"Fine. I would love for you to frottage me?" He corrected.
But that wasn't much better.
"The point is," He continued. "I don't want you to regret being with me." He said looking at her directly.
She looked at him, her expression soft but her eyes serious. "I won't."
"And how do you know that?" He asked incredulously.
"Because I think I'm in love with you."