Author's Note: I realize thatI never mention the "boy's" name in the first chapter. That is because in the movie they don't give their names until this point.
Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans or Before Sunrise.
Chapter 2 - the DEAL
Still at the lounge car, still in the train. Only two people remain, a couple it would seem, seated in a booth by the window. The girl was talking and the boy seemed to be listening intently.
"You know my parents have never really spoken of the possibility of my falling in love, or getting married, or having children. Even as a little girl, it's been like this prophecy laid out for me. My whole life. I'd say to my dad, 'I want to be a writer.' and he'd say journalist. It was this constant conversion of my fanciful ambitions into these practical, money-making ventures." He was leaning on the table, his jaw nestled in his fist. She had both her elbows on the table, leaning in. They both have seemed to have gotten comfortable around each other.
"Hmm. I got the same thing when I was a kid. My parents were these 'renowned scientists' so naturally, their boy would be one too. By the time I was in high school, I was dead set on listening to what everybody thought I should be doing with my life, and doing just the opposite." Raven smiled at his immaturity and stole a glance out the window. Her face fell as she noticed the train slowing down.
"I think it's Vienna." She really wished it wasn't. She knew it was stupid, he was a complete stranger. But something about him felt… felt right. He turned to the window too, just staring off into nothing, "Yeah."
Raven took a deep breath and said, "I guess this is your stop."
He looked up at her and gave her his boyish smile, "Yeah, what a drag. I wish I had met you earlier, you know, I really like talking to you." She had to smile at this.
"Yeah, me too," She stuck her hand out for a hand shake, "well, it was nice meeting you." She didn't understand why this was so hard. She hardly knew the guy and met him just an hour earlier.
He took it and smiled, "Yeah…" She watched as he walked away and off the train. She sighed and tried to shake herself out of whatever it was she was in. Get over it. He's just some guy. Raven had already gotten into her bag to get out her book when she looked up to see him standing over her. To say she was shocked was an understatement. He was panting, he obviously ran back into the train. But, why?
"Alright, I have an admittedly insane idea, but if I don't ask you this, it's just, its gonna haunt me the rest of my life." She gulped and dumbly nodded her head. He crouched down holding onto the table for balance to meet her gaze so she wouldn't have to strain her neck looking up at him.
"I want to keep talking to you. I have no idea what your situation is, but, uh, but I feel like we have some kind of, uh, connection. Right?" She nodded again, not knowing what to say. She simply looked into his emerald eyes, lost, hardly hearing what he was saying. Just amazed he was still there.
"Yeah, right, well, great. So listen, so here's the deal. This is what we should do. You should get off the train with me here in Vienna, and come check out the town. Whad'ya say?" She tore her gaze away from his eyes for a moment and looked out the window.
He was looking at her, eyes full of hope. God, I'm such a moron. She's not gunna waste a train ticket to go gallivanting around Vienna with a guy she just met. Great, now I feel like an idiot. But Jesus… is she beautiful. He let out an audible sigh when Raven turned back to him, still unsure.
"What would we do?"
"Umm, I don't know. All I know is, I have to catch an Austrian Airlines flight tomorrow morning at 9:30, and I don't really have enough money for a hotel, so I was just going to walk around, and it would be a lot more fun if you came with me. And if I turn out to be some kind of psycho, you know, you just get on the next train." He gave her a boyish smile. But still seeing her face, he knew she wasn't convinced.
"Alright, alright. Think of it like this. Um, uh, jump ahead, ten, twenty years, okay, and you're married. Only your marriage doesn't have that same energy that it used to have, y'know. You start to blame your husband. You start to think about all those guys you've met in your life, and what might have happened if you'd picked up with one of them, right?" She starts to laugh. Good, laughter is good, he thought, "Well, I'm one of those guys. That's me. y'know, so think of this as time travel, from then, to now, uh, to find out what you're missing out on. See, what this really could be is a gigantic favour to both you and your future husband, to find out that you're not missing out on anything. I'm just as big a loser as he is, totally unmotivated, totally boring, and, you made the right choice, and you're really happy." He motioned towards the door with a hopeful smile.
"Save ya hundreds on marriage counseling."
She smiled back at him and gave in, "Sure. I'm convinced." He jumped up and shot his fist into the air.
"Yes! Great!" He offered his arm and she took it a smile playing on her lips as they both headed out the train.
"So, what's your name anyways?" He playfully smacked himself on the forehead.
"O crap. I'm so stupid sometimes. I haven't even told you my name. It's Garfield." She laughed at that.
"You mean like--" He glared at her jokingly.
"Yeah, yeah. I know. I'm named after a lasagna eating cat." He rolled his eyes. She just smiled at him and stuck out her hand.
"I'm Raven." He raised and eyebrow at the opportunity, taking her hand in a handshake.
"And you were making fun of my name," she jokingly punched him in the arm. He smiled as he rubbed it saying, "Hey, maybe we should put our stuff in a locker or something?"
A/N: If you happen to know the movie, then you'll notice a lot of parts skipped, well not so much parts as conversation. Such as when Jesse (Gar) talks about seeing his dead grandmother's ghost. I didn't like it and didn't feel it was appropriate to the characters. And this is only based on the movie after all.
