I'm not yet satisfied with this chapter. It might have a bit of a re-construction era, mais je ne sais pas!!! Everyone grab their tissues, you're in for a bumpy ride.
Just because some of you expressed an interest...
ORIGIN OF CATTTY: She's not me or even based off me, I just love the name because it's close to mine, but different enough that it sounds a whole bunch cooler and those stalkers out there (Yes you, the one with the rutabaga) cannot find me. She is a lot wittier than I am, because I sit down and think out what could and can be funny (Do you think Abbot and Costello came up with 'Who's on First' impromptu?) Anything else you'd like to know, yes I think I've put about half (no looks to be about 9/10ths) of you to sleep, just ask.
A Cat's Tale
By: Catty Engles
Edition Eleventh: Kiss me Kiss you
"Starfire, when were you born?" We're in my apartment. The game was rained out soon after my little chat with Ashley. Charlie got us out of the storm and into my building before anyone could be mobbed again. Thank the Good Lord for Charlie. Now we're sitting comfortably in the living room and I'm holding this month's horoscopes in my hand.
"At the dawn of the 23rd celestial passing of Kleptar." She rattles back.
"Okay, so that makes you a Pisces." A chuckle from Robin. Cyborg and Beastboy are pelting each other with unbuttered popcorn I whisked from the kitchen. I flip to the correct page and scan it. "Oh, this is you Starfire! Listen, "You're sweet, romantic, and helpful. And you'd never let stubborn pride ruin a friendship."
"Yeah, that's Starfire." Robin says from his seat on the recliner. Starfire smiles and flies over to the stormy figure in the corner.
"Raven, at what time was your birth?"
"June." Is the monotone reply. Starfire looks to me and I dutifully hunch over the Astrologer.
"Raven's a Scorpio." I read for a little bit, "Oh, get this, Raven your dream job is in the CIA."
"Quaint."
"Haha, listen, "'You're creative, sensitive, and deep, but you can be shy at times and a little too secretive.' " Raven, secretive? I can't imagine. Or ' You should wear pink, lace, and lots of layers for ultimate peace and prosperity' Hmm, maybe this thing is on the blink." Raven silently returns to her magazine. Cyborg and Beastboy have tuned in just because all the kernels of popcorn are either eaten or strewn around the room.
"What am I Catty?" Beastboy says. "I was born in February."
"Annnn-" I flip through the book, "Aquarius. "'You're imaginative and happy-go-lucky, and you can make friends with almost anyone. Your-' " I stop, grinning.
"My what?" Beastboy leans in expectantly.
"Oka-ay, you asked for it. ' Your dream-date is the brainy guy who's as absorbed in you as he is in his lab notebook.' " Beastboy reddens under the laughter. "Sorry, dude." I say, flapping the issue at him, "It is Teengirl magazine."
The night progresses merrily as raindrops spatter the glass of my windows. We discover that Robin is a Leo and Cyborg a Capricorn. Stories are exchanged. Laughs are abundant. The night is young and so are we and I intend to make the most of it.
Cyborg wanders over to the CD player in the corner of my spacious living room. He whistles low and I grin appreciatively, only half interested in the happy blabber of Starfire's chirping. She sits close to me, occasionally jumping up to illustrate a quintessential point of her endeavors. Cyborg flips through the assorted CDs and pauses on one, coaxing it out of its protective plastic. He waves it in my direction, asking for permission to put it in. I smile when I see the sharpied title and nod my agreement.
Hansons' Mmm Bop blares over the surround sound stereo system. I jump up and grab Starfire by the hands, twirling her around the room. She giggles, flying to hover around the ceiling. Over the noise Cyborg yells at me, "I thought this was called 'The Best Songs on Earth' What, Hanson?"
"It's called irony, get used to it." Eventually most get up and dance with me. Starfire even surprised me by latching onto my wrists and spiraling me around the room. I laugh through Spice Girls' 'Spice Up Your Life' and some other boy bands whose names have escaped me and then...
Squeaky high voices in perfect harmony squeal, "When there's trouble you know who to call-"
"TURN IT OFF!" Four of the Titans make a rush at the CD player, scrabbling for the power button.
"I cannot believe you convinced us to have a theme song." Beastboy shoots at me.
"But I did, and that's what matters."
Later. Beastboy is running purely on caffeine now. He's downed at least five sodas. The resulting energy is all but bouncing him off the walls.
"Starefire? Raven? Would you girls like to help me in the kitchen? It's almost chow time." Starfire is cheering on the latest burping contest. Tensions are high and competitive spirit is in overdose. This is a grudge match between the Metal Eructer and the Green Belch. The championship is on the line and it's come to sudden-death tiebreaker. But nonetheless, she pulls herself away still smiling and spritely.
"Oh, yes, please! I love the cooking!"
"Raven? Are you coming?"
"I-" She begins. Cyborg belches to roars of approval from Beastboy and Robin. "On second thought." She folds the magazine she was reading carefully and sedately leads herself into the kitchen.
I bow to Starfire and she curtsies back. We walk arm in arm into the kitchen, laughing.
Dinner is passed with happy banter and gentle teasing. Beastboy finishes his teriyaki chicken like he's recently faced a seven-year famine and is now eying Raven's plate as she picks at her food in a slow and measured pace. "Are you going to-" He begins.
"Touch my food and you die." She deadpans, not even deeming to look up.
"Aww, c'mon, you're not that bad of a cook." He beams his hundred-watt grin, and Raven passes him some cornbread from her plate, a ghost of a smile hovering around her lips. I can't blame her, that smile of his... empires have been felled by less.
The night sky grows darker and the Heavens seem to take this as a sign. Pour forth the floodgates do. The light storm has turned into torrential rain. Sheets of it slide down the glass panes only to be replaced again and again by the deluge. Hearty rumbles of thunder and bolts of lightning coat the city in its massive turmoil.
"Awww, man, I am not looking forwards to going out it that." Cyborg groans from his seat.
"Remind me again why we live on an island." Beastboy's head falls into his hands as he stares blankly at the pounding rain.
Melancholy settles heavily on each of their shoulders as they start to get up. My mouth is open before I know what I'm saying, "You could always stay here." Cyborg stops mid-stance. My brain scrambles for justification to the borderline insane suggestion, "Well, the couch pulls out. My bed has a trundle. There's two twins in the guest room, and I sleep in a King."
A shocked silence descends over the crowd. And then, "Please, Robin, can we stay?" Beastboy begs.
"I-uh."
"C'mon you know you want to." Cyborg nudges him in the ribs.
"Well, it's just that-"
"Robin, please?" Starfire folds her hands under her chin in the most convincing manner. He looks at Raven, baffled.
"Whatever." She mumbles.
He gives the matter thought, drawing out the moment, "Sure, I don't see why not." An impromptu dancing fit overcomes the team and I, and Starfire even lifts both of us into the air when she hugs me.
"I can take the pullout. Cyborg and Beastboy can have the twins. Raven can sleep on the trundle, and can you and Starfire share the King?" Robin is back in command, as always.
"It's a King. I bet we can fit." I say, pinching Starfire, trying to make her let go of me.
"It's settled then." Robin always has to have the last say. Unhh, boys.
I lend Starfire an old T-shirt I got at a rodeo years past. I offer Raven one I got at camp but she prefers her leotard. How anyone can sleep in spandex I'll never know.
Beastboy zips through our room to Starfire's giggles, pinching me on the cheek and shouting to Raven, "Don't let the bed-bugs bite!" Before being dragged back to his own room by a grumpy Cyborg.
Raven stares at the recently slammed door and grumbles seriously with a face straighter than a ruler, "I'll bite back."
Later.
Starfire and Raven sleep uncommonly still and uncommonly quiet. I stare at my ceiling, my wide green eyes open and very much awake. The rain has leveled off to a dull murmur on the roof, producing a soothing euphony. Perfect for sleep. Somehow it escapes me. Damn the Sandman to the innermost circles of hell.
Throwing off the covers I slip out of my room, pawing at my hair and straightening my pjs, a white tank top and baggy plaid sweats. I don't want to admit it, but why I'm not snoozing right now is that Robin is sleeping in the next room, perfectly oblivious to any of my less the business-like emotions.
I'm usually not this shy when it comes to love. I have enough self-confidence to power a nuclear battery so rejection doesn't bother me. I'm a go-getter.
I pad out of my bedroom door, creeping steathily. I don't know why I bother, Cyborg and Beastboy are most definitely asleep and are currently broadcasting that fact to the rest of the world. Who knew they snored so loud? I pause at the entrance to the open-air kitchen. What do I think I'm going to do? Shake Robin awake and profess my unrealistic infatuation? No, just look at him I guess. Pathetic.
Shfuwach. The slightly sticky sound of the refrigerator door opening and the following hum of it's generator turning on alerts me that I am not the only midnight muncher in the apartment. I peek around the corner and see Robin, minus cape, half-bent at the waist, looking at my supply of edibles.
But, there's no sneaking up on a superhero, especially not Robin. He turns with one hand in the fridge and smiles, extracting a soda and lobbing it at me. I catch it, "Caffeine at this time of night? Sorry, but pass."
Robin pulls up one of the bar chairs, motioning for me to take the other and ignoring my remark. He takes a bite of the apple he swiped from the counter, chewing reflectively. I take the seat offered and cross my legs, wishing I had more appealing clothes on. "Starfire and Raven are asleep?" He queries.
"And Beastboy and Cyborg, though, judging from the sound, there might be a few wild boars in there with them." No laugh but Robin's smile widens an inch. It is enough
He taps the steel toe of his shoe against the chair's leg lethargically.
"Don't you ever take those things off?"
"Wha? Oh." He snaps out of a doze and glances down at his shoes, apparently he's never been asked about his extraordinary footwear. "No."
"Peculiar." Despite my earlier comments, I flip open the soda tab and bring it to my lips.
"There are a lot of peculiar things about me."
I smile viciously over the lid of the soda can, "Newspaper ink runs in my veins. You don't want to raise a reporter's curiosity unless you're ready to satisfy it." The refrigerator's hum and the late night's rain patters on the windows as I lick my lips, waiting for Robin's answer.
The corners of his mouth lift into a tiny smile. Apple juice has made them shine slightly, flickering in the changing light of the storm. He takes my arm and with gentle pressure leads me to the sliding door. He cracks it open a bit and the night air rushes in, nippy and sharp. The first breath hurts, drying my throat with its natural bite.
"I love the rain." He says. "I never feel more alive than when it's raining. That's peculiar." I purse my lips and hug my bare arms.
The heady feeling whenever Robin gets close to me coupled with the vicinity of a mortally threatening drop over the balcony drains my overtaxed brain of any scrap of common sense it had left. I'm running on dopamine that's currently being pumped through my veins like wild fire. My body has gone into overdrive and my libido keeps nudging my ego, reminding it that this particularly sculptured male standing beside me is at the height of virility. A thought that assures I'm not functioning properly. Agents don't fall in love with their clients.
Robin's hand never left my wrist and I let it balance there, my skin tightening into goose bumps, more from his proximity than from the cold. He widens the crack so that the wind whips my hair, and pulls me out into the rain. I clench my teeth well aware that we are towering over the pavement below. Heights scare the bejeebers out of me and even Robin's nearness can't erase that fact.
I hesitate, "It's raining, Robin."
He laughs, one savory little bark of a chuckle, "I know that."
I'm backpedaling fast, searching for a meaning, a justification to go back inside. The rain has plastered my hair to my face and my body shivers with nerves. The balcony seems to list under my feet and I fight for purchase, swaying madly. Robin tightens his hold on my wrist. I laugh feebly, "Little dizzy." I mumble, even more aware that Robin has stepped closer to support my weight and his. He smells good, dark, rich.
He steps a little closer and my breath stops as I turn toward him, my eyes meeting his shoulder, the curve of his neck, "Let's experience that vertigo together." He whispers to me.
I tilt my head to look up at him, maybe to say okay, maybe to smile, maybe to laugh, maybe to do any number of things, but they don't matter because whatever I was about to do is cut of by his lips pressed to mine.
Rainwater rolls down his cheek and onto my nose. His hand still gently guides my wrist. A bolt of lightning briefly illuminates our union in the mass chaos of the city. His kiss is confident but gentle, searching. In me he must have found acceptance because he moves his other hand to the small of my back. I reel. It really is vertigo. I move my body, still shivering excitedly, deepening the kiss, but he pulls back.
I open my eyes. I hadn't realized that they were closed. Rainwater dances over my eyelashes throwing the whole scene into a spectrum of whirling color. Robin had not yet let go of my wrist. I stand jittering in the rain, breathing shallowly and feeling exuberant.
His smile is different than the unresponsive grins I usually coax out of him. It looks more like the smiles I see directed at-
"Starfire, I-"
Robin sucks in a breath as he realizes what he's said. All the euphoria drains out of me surprisingly fast, leaving me empty and cold. "My name is Catty."
"No, Catty, that was a mistake." Robin looks alarmed, but also like he's experiencing a revelation. As if he finally understands his feelings for Starfire that I have seen so plain for so long and have tried so hard not to notice.
"But Robin, you and her are complete opposites! We, us, we're so alike, so similar."
And somehow I've crossed an unknown line. Robin's face darkens, his mouth pulling into a snarl and his brow knotting, "Don't ever tell me who I'm like! I am me! I am Robin! I am just like me, no one else!" He's grabbed my wrist again, tightening his grip, and though it hurts I'm not letting go without a fight. A flare of anger rises up my throat against him where moments before I couldn't have felt less mad.
"Robin! Listen! You and her may have a fling, nothing more, but you and I have potential, I understand you!"
"How can you understand me? You don't even know me! Starfire at least knows who I am!" Thunder and lightning culminate into a tumultuous roar, tears and rain indistinguishable on my face.
I know I've lost. I've lost to a girl who doesn't even know she's winning, "Then why did you kiss me?"
Spazzfire: I understand, when you gotta go, you gotta go! Glad you like it!
All American: I'm the elder sister, you do what I say! cracks whip ("kid's show!", hehehe... yeah sibling thing)
Grumbumble: Oh yes, I have something else in mind... To tell you straight up, I have no idea what Robin was going to say when Ashley walked in on the scene. You have an imagination, use it! Thank you, but sadly I've shot down birdboy/cat pairing, for I know I would be eaten alive by the very authors of the fanfics of which you speak. I do not wish to be eaten alive. Hence, there are less violent options open to me.
D-I-WaRrIa: Um, yeah, no Catty/Robin. Umm, good response (picks brain) Uh, I'm drawing a blank, OH how 'bout I throw in a crime syndicate? Sound fun?
Keystone: Sorry, whatever, Catty can be forty if you want her to be. Thank you, thank you, that review makes me smile, I love to make people laugh! Oh and thanks for the comment on my "rammar" I'll try to keep that up.
Instant Coffee: Yeah, I've picked up another reader! Sorry again about her age (see above), whatever, not to keen on the particulars. I worked hard on her being a normal and tolerable OC, glad that it's working. OC s are a challenge to write, and a challenge to keep readers interested in them.