Chapter 3 I'm Not Above Trying to Take Your Hand

"I'll say it now, cuz I want it now." Interpol 'Not Even Jail'

Disclaimer: still don't own the Titans, sorry.

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A somber mood hung as they made their way down the streets and he didn't really know how to lift it or even if he could lift it. In the past he would have done his best to make her smile, but it had never worked. Over time he had come to find that she preferred to face her problems, rather than forget about them, a characteristic he'd come to admire.

"I'm going away," she said without warning. The suddenness left him without breath. He searched her face as they walked, looking for a sign of weakening in her resolve, but he saw none. She didn't look back at him either as she had promised herself she wouldn't until he answered her question.

"How long," he asked, trying to hide the anxiety in his voice, but failing miserably. The wind teased her hair around her face, tempting her to look over at him, but she remained strong.

"Its only for two days. I-I have something I have to do." She looked at the ground, not wanting to see his eyes, not wanting to know his answer.

"Oh," he said as he shoved his hands in his pockets and then drew them out again. "Well, I can umm I can go with you. If you want."

She let out a breath she didn't even know she'd been holding. She gaved over at him and said, "You don't even know what I'm going to do or where I'm going. I mean I want you to go, just don't-um yeah you can come." She blushed and looked away.

"Well, good then, I'll go." He said, feeling the mood slowly lift off them, replaced with something giddy. He fought it down because he knew where it would lead if he let it loose.

"OK, well we're leaving tomorrow," she said awkwardly, not really sure what else to say.

"OK."

"Yeah."

They walked on in silence, not totally uncomfortable with it, but unsure of how they had gotten there.

As they walked they came to a crowd on the sidewalk watching a parade. Neither of them were interested so they made their way slowly, but surely through the crowd till they emerged with one small difference.

At some point when they had walked through the crowd, whether it had been from the slight jostling, or simply a need to stay together, her right hand and his left hand had clasped. The two of them had never noticed the action and some part of them refused them this knowledge for the rest of their outing. They never saw the knowing smiles of others or the way people now went around them, rather than between them. They simply walked the streets hand in hand unheeded by worry or embarrassment till they reached the tower again where their hands finally opened to let their owners part, knowing full well they would be united again that night.