A/N: My last hint made it kind of obvious who the villain was, if you saw the episode that introduced Lobo. One reviewer mentioned that he knew who it was, but didn't know the name. One last hint, his name matches his hobby. That's all for now.

Mind Trap

Chapter 5

Beastboy pulled another slice of cheese pizza out of the box and took a bite, trailing long streamers of congealing cheese. He looked over at Raven, her half eaten slice lying on her paper plate, staring off into space. He leaned over and whispered to her, "You okay?"

Her eyes snapped down to him, "Yeah, I'm just worrying and thinking."

"Thinking?"

"Wondering what's going to happen now."

"Well, don't worry about it now, and you shouldn't be wondering anything."

"Why not?"

"Because there is no wonder left to the world, we've all become bitter jaded adults by now."

"Except for you, right?"

Gar grinned wide, "Of course. Everybody's got something special about them."

"And you're special because you've never grown up, right?"

"That about sums it up."

"That's not something to be proud of, you know."

"Says you, more people oughta stay kids forever. It would make the world a better place."

"If you say so." Raven picked up her piece of, by now cool, pizza and took a small bite, "It's too late for me, though. You can't rewind time."

"Maybe not, but time tends to fix things on its own."

Gar and Raven both became aware at the same time that they were the center of attention. They realized that they'd just spent the last few minutes ignoring their friends in order to whisper to each other.

"You guys have anything you wanna share with the group?" Vic asked.

"Yeah!" Dick grinned, "Told her yet?"

Raven turned to Gar, "Told me what?"

"Nothing, they're just babbling insanely." He looked pointedly at Dick, "Talked to Kori about it yet?"

Kori looked down at Dick, "Talked to me about what?"

"Nothing." Dick said, glaring at Gar, "He doesn't know what he's talking about. He glanced at his watch, "It's getting late, and I have class tomorrow morning."

Vic nodded, "I don't know 'bout y'all, but I'm hittin' the sack."

Kori stood with a nod, "Then it's back to my living hell named Kitten. Night everybody."

When she had gone, Dick grabbed a pillow and smashed Gar over the head with it. "Thanks."

"You started it man."

"You two were whispering like a couple of..."

Raven cut in, "I am right here you know."

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Gar rolled onto his back on the thin, almost industrial, carpet that he was trying to sleep on. He put his hands behind his head, used to two pillows, but now using one. He had assured Raven that he could sleep anywhere, but he had not considered how thin their carpet really was. A head peered over the edge of his bed, "Are you still awake?" Raven asked with concern in her voice.

"Don't worry about me, just got a lot on my mind."

"Alright then, night." Raven rolled back into the bed, but a few minutes later looked down again, "I hat taking your bed like this."

"You didn't take it, I gave it to you."

"But..."

"Don't worry about it."

Raven disappeared for another few minutes, but came back yet again, "Just get up here."

"What?" Gar almost yelled it.

"You will be on top of the blankets, I'll be beneath them, if you do anything, and I mean anything, you'll find my knee in a place you won't appreciate."

"Are you sure?"

"The bed's wide enough."

Gar climbed carefully over Raven, careful not to jar her still sore ribs. "Are you completely sure?" He asked after he had settled in."

"Just be good, and you don't have to become a eunuch."

"Yes ma'am."

Six and a half hours later, Gar regretted his decision to join Raven on the bed. Somehow, despite the fact that Raven was below the blankets and he was on top, she had managed to get one arm around him, and one leg over his. When he woke up his arms were draped loosely around her waist. "This is a problem." He thought to himself.

A flash drew his attention to the other side of the room where Dick stood with a camera and a grin, "Such the perfect couple."

"Dick, I am going to kill you." Gar whispered, trying not to wake Raven.

Dick grinned as he dropped his camera into his book bag and hoisted that onto one shoulder, "I'll see you after class, Romeo."

Gar dropped his head back to the pillow with a groan. He lay for the next ten minutes or so until he heard Vic's alarm clock go off. "Great, just what I need."

Gar heard the sound of a heavy hand hitting the alarm clock. After a few moments, there was a shuffling of sheets from Vic's bed, then he appeared from under them and stood. Gar saw him glance in their direction, but turn and walked for the door. Just when Gar thought he didn't notice, he froze in his tracks. After another brief pause, he turned back.

Vic stared, his mouth half open at the sight of Raven and Gar before he burst into laughed. The laughter woke Raven he pushed herself up to see what was going on. When she realized that it was her that he was laughing at she looked down and saw that her hand rested square in the middle of Gar's chest. She immediately snatched it away with an apology and stood. She crossed the room silently and planted her fist into Vic stomach, though it didn't seem to deter him at all as he left the room, continuing to laugh.

Raven walked back to the bed and flopped down, "Great."

"Yeah, they're never gonna let us live this down."

"I wonder if Dick saw us."

"He got the pictures."

Raven lay there for a moment silently, then she spoke again, "I guess he'll have to pay then."

Gar sat up and sat cross-legged. After what had transpired, and after spending most of the night apparently with Raven wrapped around him, he thought he might actually be able to work up the courage to finally ask. "Raven, um, do you want to... to go out... um..." He trailed off as she stared up at him.

"Come on, you can say it."

"Wouldyougooutwithme?" He managed to blurt out in a single breath.

Raven smirked at him, "Do you mean... ?"

"Yeah, a, um, a d... d..."

"You can do it, starts with a 'd'"

"A date." He finally managed dropping his head into his hands, "Man I screwed that up."

"Sure, I'll go."

Gar's head snapped up, "You will?"

"Yeah, I'll have to get something to wear first, though."

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One of the engineers studied the readouts carefully. He jumped when he heard the voice of his master, "How are things looking?"

"Fine, milord. His readings have leveled out, he seems almost back to normal."

"Good. It seems you will live another day."