Hiya everyone! :o) Sorry it took so long for the update!
Anyhow, Hope you like this chapter. And fairly long authors note :oP
To the Raven fans: My apologies for having so little Raven in this story and I'm sure you're all dying to know the deal with the hood (Okay maybe not but still :oP) Anyhow, Next chapter is Raven centered! Huzzah! And after that she'll be saying more. The main reason there was so little of Raven talking is cause I figured that, like how Robin became a total Dick because of his past and lack of Batman, that Raven would be the more reclusive loner with no real desire to talk to these strangers. Alas, that is about to change.
Well sorry for boring the pants off you with all that boring analysis stuff. On with the chapter!
Disclaimer: anodelgnaisdghsbloeniasgibeslneeoven. Ha! Decipher that losers who wish to sue me! That's right, I disclaimed it in a secret un- cipherable code. So get out your Little Orphan Annie decoder ring from your Ovaltine box and get started on that.
Real Disclaimer: Honestly people… I don't own it, and my brain is starting to hurt from trying to find out clever, witty and funny ways to tell this to the general audience every chapter of my story, which has characters I don't own by the way. Shocking I know…
Important notice!!!
To all you reviewer's out there who enjoy the story so far, I just want to thank you for all your encouragement, motivation, constructive comments and just plain niceness. (I think that's a word…:oP) I appreciate your feedback so much and am truly honored that you take the time to post your opinion. Okay that's enough of that, I'm getting all sappy. :o/ but seriously, thank you so much! Especially for sticking out my fairly long update speed. Some more patiently than others ;oP
And now to our regular broadcast program.
Just Desserts.
Dick's eyes softened. With that he fell into her arms and collapsed into sobs.
A surprised look crossed Kori's features as she softly patted his back.
Victor, Garfield and Raven watched the interaction awkwardly. Looking as though they would rather be anywhere but there.
And as he stood there, in her arms, he felt the strangest warm feeling. Everything that had been tormenting him was eased and a large, dark, looming weight seemed to be lifted from his shoulders.
It was the oddest feeling for Dick. The pain was still there. Still smarting deeply in his heart, but it no longer felt so heavy. It was no longer gnawing away at him as it did before.
Richard was coming out. Robin was coming out from the deep chasm where he was sure he would be lost for good.
And Richard stood, in Kori's arms. The shackles of hate no longer on him. He felt free from the bonds of pride, revenge and reputation. He could honestly care less if anyone saw him crying for the first time since he was three when he fell off his bicycle. He hadn't even cried when his parents died… his sadness and anger was beyond crying. It was a caged ball of torment that Dick had made sure was never let out.
But now… She had unlocked it… feelings he never thought he could share came pouring out. Cages broke. Walls crumbled.
And for the first time since he was little …
Richard felt…
Free.
OooGarfield sighed loudly, rolling the upper half of himself on the desk and lightly banging his head out of sheer boredom.
It had been a while since Richard's outburst. Far too much awkward silence. Kori had taken to sitting next to Richard and had been consoling him.
The odd thing was. It actually seemed to work. Richard had calmed down, and as the two whispered behind him he swore he heard giggles. He was glad Kori had taken care of that, otherwise, he didn't know what he would do if he was stuck in a room with Dick after his spazz out.
The silence seemed less awkward now at any rate. He could feel it alleviate from the room oddly enough as Kori and Dick talked. Raven had taken out her stupid book again and Victor had taken to bouncing a pencil eraser as high as he could after several glances at Dick.
Now it was just the calm after the storm…. Or was it the calm before the storm? But that wouldn't make sense because Dick's yelling would be the storm and then this silence would be the calm? If awkward silence could be considered calm… maybe like fog… the fog after the storm? Garfield groaned.
All this thinking was making his already bored brain hurt…
After hearing Dick say something and then Kori giggle. Garfield decided that this had gone on long enough. Dick seemed fine now and all he had to do was make sure he didn't bring up the carnival and everything should turn out just fine…
"I'm sooo booorrrreeeeddddd," Garfield groaned loudly.
Everyone's head snapped up to look at him. Victor bit his lip and sent a careful glance toward Dick to see how he would react.
After all… spilling your soul out about your parents death and traumatic childhood to a room full of strangers was a pretty intense experience. And having an idiot say how bored he was after something like that…
In any case… had Victor been Dick, he probably would have punched Garfield's lights out then and there.
Dick looked up at Garfield and Victor nearly ducked expecting a firey volcanic eruption. But no such thing happened.
"Seriously… we need to get out of this room," Richard responded, a slight smirk on his face.
Victor looked cautiously at Dick.
Why was he not exploding? Victor quirked a brow. He highly doubted he would ever understand Richard Grayson.
"But, we are not allowed to leave the room remember," Kori reminded, biting on her lip, looking toward the door Mr. Mod had continuously been entering and exiting as though he would burst in and catch them in the act of planning to escape.
"We should all go to the cafeteria and raid their desserts," Garfield suggested, eyes lit up mischievously as he sat in his chair backwards suddenly feeling a lot less bored.
"Or we could go down to the field and play some foo—" Victor started zealously, before fading into nothing and gulping as he chanced a glance at Garfield. The last thing he needed to do was bring up the whole "Green/Football incident,"
Apparently Raven thought so as well and quickly diverted Garfield's attention.
"Or we could just stay in here and read," Raven intervened, grabbing Garfield's attention as she looked at Victor.
"Read?! Are you insane?!" Garfield exclaimed, completely forgetting about Victor's statement.
Victor quickly sent the hooded girl a grateful look. She ignored it. Or pretended to at any rate.
"It's a worthwhile hobby. Don't shun it just because you don't know how to do it," Raven snipped while turning the page.
Victor chuckled and Garfield just glared unable to think of a witty retort.
"All in favor for going to the kitchens?" Richard questioned, suddenly playing leader.
"Dude!" Garfield exclaimed pumping his fist in the air.
"I'm in," Victor added, still not making eye contact with Richard.
Garfield looked over to Raven who was ignoring everything taking place, or pretending to ignore at any rate, as the lanky boy noticed her eyes were not whizzing across the page but stuck staring at the middle of the book.
"Come on Raven! You know you want to," Garfield coaxed.
Raven resolutely ignored him, but he noticed her eyes dart over for an instant. That was all the encouragement he needed.
"It'll be a chance for us to all do something together you know," Garfield responded, idiotic as it may sound, he found that he had somehow formed a bond with everybody in the room. He couldn't quite finger it, but it felt… it felt kinda…
Right.
"As friends?!" Kori exclaimed, her eyes lighting up. Garfield looked over at her with a smile. It was almost as though she had read his mind.
"Yeah, as friends…" Garfield said with a smile, "or like spy's or something," He added putting a hand on his chin.
"Spy's?" Victor repeated, giving Garfield a look that clearly said, "What the hell?"
"Yeah, you know, I mean we are sneaking out. Spy's sneak out, therefore like spy's," Garfield clarified.
"Teenagers sneak out too," Victor pointed, "So what does that make us, the Teen Spy's?" Victor said sarcastically rolling his eyes.
"Of course not, the 'Teen Spy's' is a stupid spy name," Garfield snapped back. "But the idea of having a name isn't so bad…"
Everyone except Kori groaned.
"Why would you give him ideas…" Raven hissed in Victor's ear.
"Hey I didn't mean to do it," Victor responded, raising his hands up in defense.
"Hmm… what's a good name…" Garfield muttered tapping his chin.
"Well, are we going to the cafeteria or not?" Raven interrupted.
Garfield abandoned all name -thinking -upage
"Whoa! You're really gonna go!"
"Are you hard of hearing?"
Garfield grinned sheepishly.
"What about you Kori?" Dick questioned looking toward the red-head who looked absolutely horrified at the idea.
"I do not like disobeying the rules…" She stated, fears of turning into her sister running through her mind. An image of herself waking up in the morning and looking in the mirror and see her sister cackling evilly back at her played through her brain.
She shook her head at the scary thought. She was not her sister. She was not a trouble-maker. She was innocent, goody-two-shoes Kori Anders and she planned to keep it that way.
But sneaking out did seem awful tempting…
"Come on Kori, Please! Raven's going," Garfield exclaimed as though that solved the matter.
"Yes but—"
"We'll just be gone a few minutes, promise," Richard smiled, holding up two fingers in scout's honor.
"Yes but—"
"Besides, all he said was "sit and be quiot,"" Richard quoted in a very believing British accent which made Kori giggle, "He never said anything about leaving the room."
"Yes but that was implied," Kori argued, weakly, finding that despite her respect for the rules she would really rather go with her friends and get ice cream.
After all… Everything seemed okay with them now. Richard was cured for the most part… they were no longer fighting… Raven was actually speaking.
"Come on Kori, all that counts here is what that creepy British guy said," Victor announced.
"If it makes you feel any better, you can sit in a chair and I can push you there," Richard responded with a grin putting his hand on her shoulder earning another giggle from Kori. "That way, you wouldn't be breaking the rules,"
"Yes, I suppose that is—"
"It's settled then," Raven announced.
"Awesome, let's go!" Garfield concurred..
"But…What will happen if Mr. Mod finds us all vacant from our seats?" Kori questioned, still slightly nervous.
Richard's face split in a grin.
"Detention,"
Ooo"Coast is clear, Green Ranger over and out," Garfield then let out a hiss to imitate the sound of static as he pretended to talk in a walkie-talkie as he motioned the group to the hall.
"Must you do that?" Raven groaned.
"Rodger that Green Leader, Tin Man out, over" Victor then let out a hiss.
Raven rolled her eyes.
"I'm surrounded by idiots…"
"Come now, you must have a favorite," Kori grinned.
"I'm serious, I don't really have a favorite," Richard shrugged.
Kori nudged him. Richard looked into her green eyes and sighed in defeat.
"Well… I did like sundaes…" He cleared his throat, "My Mom used to make them… before, you know…" He looked up and met her eyes briefly, his blue eyes clouded over.
Kori gave him a small smile.
"You see, it is good to let it out," She smiled patting him on the back. "Your Mother sounds to be a lovely woman," She added quietly
"Heh… She was… she was…" Richard agreed, somberly nodding with a soft melancholy grin. "Hang on,"
Richard grabbed her softly by the shoulder and the two stopped as the other three continued down the hall still talking into their 'walkie-talkies'.
Kori looked at Richard curiously.
"I wanna thank you," Richard began without preamble, rubbing the back of his neck looking as though if he didn't say it now, he never would, "For everything,"
Kori's face split into a shy smile.
"I welcome you," She brushed a strand of hair behind her ear. "But it was—truly—I mean to say—" She blushed as she stumbled on her words.
He put a finger to her lips but quickly pulled it away, half shocked at what he had just done, and half shocked at the electric charge his finger got by doing it..
"I uh, I also want to… I want to apologize… for being such a jerk…" Richard added swallowing, mumbling the last part about being a jerk. He couldn't help but notice her shining green eyes and how they were piercing into his own reading his every thought.
Feeling suffocated from all this… open emotion. Richard heaved a deep breath.
"Um yeah, that's it," He summed up quickly, "We'd better catch up," With that he began walking down the hall a slightly overwhelmed Kori behind him, after all, it was not everyday you made such an impact on someone's life.
Richard heaved another deep breath as he felt Kori brush up beside him. His heartstrings tugged, and he felt sick at the same time.
He felt he was opening up at an alarming rate, shouting, crying, thanking, apologizing and talking about memories of his Mother with a girl he was starting to have feelings for was just enough to put the once cold hearted Dick on an emotion overload.
Ooo.
"Dude… Look at all this ice cream… awweeesommeee…." Garfield drooled as he opened up the freezer.
"Aren't you a vegan?" Raven questioned, adjusting her hood and quirking a brow.
Garfield turned.
"Whoa, you were listening to me when I said that?" Garfield questioned with a grin, "I thought you were just ignore—"
"Don't flatter yourself. It's kind of hard to not retain information when it's being shoved down your throat," Raven snipped.
Garfield frowned, narrowing his eyes.
"If you put it that way…Well, anyway, they keep a dairy free stock. Why they don't have soymilk is anyone's guess…" Garfield muttered grabbing a carton that was shoved in the back and had mild freezer burn.
"Mmm-mnn," Victor smiled, "Nothin' like a carton of chocolate ice cream," he grabbed two, keeping one for himself and passing one to Kori.
"Thank you Victor," Kori grinned.
"No prob," Victor reached in the fridge again, "Vanilla or Chocolate Raven?" Cyborg questioned.
"I don't do ice cream…" Raven responded. With a shrug, Victor put them back.
"One over here," Richard signaled. "Vanilla,"
Victor froze and turned, still feeling traces of awkwardness. He looked around at the group. Was he the only one who still felt it?
"Gotcha…" With that he handed Richard a carton and shut the freezer.
"May we go back now please," Kori questioned nervously. "I am hoping that Mr. Mod will not notice we were gone…"
"Yeah, let's go," Garfield agreed. "My Mom would kill me if I got another detention."
"What a favor to us all…" Raven commented dryly.
"Ha ha… real funny, you should do stand up," Garfield muttered sarcastically.
Ooo
One by one, the group sneaked in the door quietly, their hands numb from carrying the frozen treats. Mod was no where in sight.
Kori let out a sigh of relief and took a seat, Richard plopping down next to her.
"What a lousy teacher, what kind of detention are they running at this place," Garfield rolled his eyes and popped open his ice cream carton. "Shame they don't have nuts or cherries…" Garfield sighed.
"Uh, guys…" Victor started, staring down at his ice cream carton, "Did anyone grab any spoons?"
Everyone except Raven looked down at their ice cream and groaned.
OOO
Whew, done with that chapter had to get the filler out of the way but guaranteed the next chapter will better. And hopefully up a lot sooner than this one, I shall try! :oP
So yeah, review!