Disclaimer: I don't own anything…
Summary: I miss one big thing about him… he is dancing with her… he is in love with her. Raven finds it very difficult to handle her feelings for her long-time friend Richard. Who would help her? Raven x Flash, some RobStar and eventually RobRaeFlash .
Chapter 4: Richard Knows in Richard's P.O.V.
Flashback
"Raven, c'mon… Why aren't you talking to me?" a seventeen year-old Richard asked, pleading the girl persistently
Raven crossed her arms and looked at Richard, "I want some coffee… I think I'll go get some coffee somewhere," she said to no one in particular and pretended to stand up, a blonde boy beside her stopped her from doing so.
"Raven, we're in Jump City Café… What do you think they serve here? Socks?" Gar told her, looking at her with pursed lips.
'Oh yeah…' Raven blushed.
Another friend of them, Victor, signaled the waiter to come over, "That's right, Raven… Just confront him and make him realize what he did wrong…"
With that, the two boys beside Raven grabbed each of her arm and pulled her down to her seat. Raven crossed her arms and looked at Richard, "It doesn't matter… It's no big deal anyway."
Richard smiled and was about to say something but Victor beat him to it.
"WHAT! Well it matters to us!" Victor slammed his fist on the table and Gar nodded, agreeing, "Raven, he can't keep doing this to you, he- "
"What can I get you, sir?"
Victor scowled and clenched his fist obviously annoyed with the interruption. He glared at the waiter, "Uh… just some coffee!" he waved his hand to dismiss the waiter then opened his mouth to speak to his friends once again.
"What kind of coffee, sir?" he was, again, interrupted. Victor glared harder, Gar snickered, Raven sighed and Richard awkwardly scratched his nose.
"JUST GIVE US SOME DAMN COFFEE!" Victor yelled and the waiter walked away, mumbling something along the lines of 'stupid customers…' continuously.
Tense silence.
"Ahem," Victor cleared his throat, "So yeah… You need to stop doing this to Raven…" he said, pointing at Richard.
"Doing what? I have no idea!" Richard said exasperatedly, glaring at Victor and Gar. His glare then went to the tensed girl beside them.
"Doing what, Raven?" In contrast to his stare, he asked her gently.
"When you forgot my birthday last week, you promised to treat me to a movie the next weekend… That was yesterday," Raven sighed, still not looking at him, "You didn't show up…"
"The same thing happened last week, last last week, last month, the time you didn't bring the painting to the art exhibit Raven asked you to bring AND MANY TIMES BEFORE THAT!" Victor counted the situations with his fingers angrily.
Richard's eyes snapped open, "Oh my God…" he slumped on his seat and breathed heavily, "Oh my God, Raven… I'm sorry…"
"DAMN RIGHT YOU SHOULD BE!" Victor answered for the girl who just kept quiet on her seat. Gar scoffed, agreeing with his friend.
"Raven, I'm sorry… I have a good explanation, really…" Richard ignored the two boys.
"It's alright," Raven sighed after quite some time, "It's not like I'm your girlfriend or anything…" she blushed at her answer.
'If only I were…'
"WHAT!" both Victor and Gar expressed angrily, "WHAT!"
Raven gave them a look, "You two are, and will always be the best. Now let it go."
Gar, with his naiveté, was satisfied with her reply and finally nodded and smiled. Victor didn't buy it though, "I can't believe this!" he said and crossed his arms in frustration.
Richard watched the darker boy face away from the group, "I'm sorry, really… but something special happened last night that made me forget…"
"What? You got laid?" Victor interrupted, feeling quite ill… 'Here he goes again, changing the subject to himself and his obsessions…'
Richard smirked, already loving the moment, "Kori's my first…"
Gar gasped. Victor's head snapped. Raven's heart squeezed and constricted painfully. Her heart bled… bled… bled…
"YOU GOT LAID! YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO GET LAID! NOT BEFORE ME!" Gar whined loudly, forgetting their location.
"Keep your voice down, Gar…" Richard forced a look of embarrassment. In all honesty, he was actually quite proud of it.
"Wow… Nice birthday gift from you two…" Raven smirked, trying to hide her pain, "Thanks…"
Richard smirked back, already forgetting the main purpose why they wanted to talk to him.
"Kori really wants to be a part of the gang… I mean, she does consider Raven as her best friend, but she still wants to connect with Gar and Victor!" he talked excitedly, not really paying attention if someone was listening.
…Only Gar was listening.
'Back to Kori,' Raven looked at Victor, who was painfully silent the whole time. She decided to talk to him.
She didn't want to listen to Richard, afraid that the pain might kill her. That she'd suddenly vomit all the blood that her heart had bled… cry it out as her tears. She was afraid to feel it… She was better ignoring it.
Leaning in, she whispered to Victor, "Something on your mind?"
Victor didn't reply.
Considering it, Raven whispered again, "You two know, don't you?"
"Gar just really cares about you… he doesn't know," Victor finally whispered something back, "I do, though…" he gave her a sympathetic look.
Tears started to rim around the corners of her eyes, "Hey! Don't feel sorry for me… I'm fine!" her voice cracked as she said so.
Victor gave no answer.
End Flashback
I've always cared about Raven…
Sometimes, I care for her so much that it scares me. That's why I run away from her most of the time. Because I'm scared that she might get wrong ideas, that I might confuse her… I don't want to confuse someone I care for. I want to set things straight… That I love Kori and also her… but only just as a friend. That way… Raven will not fall for me and she will not get hurt.
Look at me… I'm not making sense.
I don't make sense when all I say are lies…
The truth is… I'm afraid.
So afraid… so frightened.
Of Raven.
I'm afraid of being close to her, ever since I started to date Kori… because the main presence of her makes me feel complete… makes me feel happy. She makes me smile just by sitting there… and I love touching her. I treasure it, every contact my skin makes with her is electrifying. It replays on my mind every time I lie down on my bed… every waking morning…
And it scares me!
Why the hell did I start to have these strange powerful feelings for her just when Kori and I became official? It's not like me… I'm not fickle. Surely it's just some misunderstood caring as a friend or some kind of mental sickness even.
Because I love Kori, not Raven.
That is why… That's why I don't hesitate to neglect and disregard Raven just to be with Kori. That's why I risk our friendship most of the time to go with Kori. That's why I don't hesitate to ruin Raven's happiness, dignity and pride just to spend the night with Kori.
It proves that I don't love Raven… It proves that I love Kori, right?
Right?
I don't want to hurt Kori…
Because I can see that Kori, the wonderful Kori, loves me with all of her heart. While Raven… Raven is a nobody… Raven… Raven…
'And what about you? A far as I know, Raven has feelings for Richard…'
'…Rumors true anyway?'
'Yeah… confirmed… two months ago…'
Raven loves me too. Even with all of my treatment, she still manages to love… to smile at me
Shit.
I am an asshole… a BIG one. I just hurt one of my closest friends… I deserve to die… every time she asked me a favor, every time she was close to me, I shoved the fact that I love Kori right in her face. God, I'm such a jerk… I deserve to die…
NO!
It's not my fault… Why do you think I acted in such a way? To prevent her from falling for me! But she does, anyway… All of my efforts wasted for nothing. I never wanted this… never asked for this… I guess.
It's not my fault… It's not my fault… It's not my fault…
Now that Raven loves me… My worst fear has finally come… What am I supposed to do?
…
I should ignore it. Of course these emotions I'm feeling are just nervousness… If I love Kori, then I shouldn't care whether Raven loves me or not, right?
Right?
But then… Raven will become closer to West. Those two are often seen together now. I don't like the idea of Raven being with West… and I just find it to be my responsibility to take her away from him. I just don't like West. West is plain annoying… He is just too cocky, egoistic and immature. I just can't stand him, and I only get acquainted with him in P.E. and soccer practice… I can't imagine how I could survive being with him for one whole day. How can Raven manage that? I know Raven is a rather quiet person, how can she manage to spend time with him? West just can't shut up, his voice is one of the loudest ones in the campus. I didn't even need to press my ears against the locker room door to hear his conversation with his friends… It's his fault why this whole thing is bothering me. If he only knew how to whisper and actually did whisper sensitive topics to his friends… then I wouldn't know about Raven's feelings for me…
Raven can use anyone to get over me… just not West… or any of his annoying friends.
Why not Victor? Or even Gar? Those two have girlfriends… They'll never take interest on Raven…. While West is completely single. If he takes interest in her (which I think he already does), he can actually take my place in her heart.
Shit.
I love Kori, I love Kori, I love Kori…
Just a week before the finals… The past week was a little too hard for me to keep up with. Studying for the finals, attending soccer practice, organizing the student committee's activities… and running away from Raven are very stressful things for me to do.
Running away from Raven… I really feel bad for doing it but I just can't look at her right now.
"Hey Gar," I say as I pass by him and his girlfriend, "Have you seen Raven?"
I may not be able to look at her but I'm still curious of her well-being, what she's doing, who she's with…
"Huh?" Gar turns his head from his blonde girlfriend, "Terra and I just saw her a while ago,"
"Oh…" I mumble, curiosity filling me, "Was she with Wally West by any chance?"
Gar shrugged, "Don't think so…" he says as he turns his attention back to his girlfriend.
I immediately smile, feeling relieved for no reason.
"Well guys, I have to go…" I wave at the non-caring couple and walk away in an unusual good mood.
"YO GRAYSON!"
There goes my good mood.
Wally West.
I turn around and incline my head to his direction, "West?"
"Have you seen Raven?" He asks as formally as he can… He fails, he can never appear formal.
"No," I say as a sudden discomfort attacks my stomach, "Why?"
"Huh?" he says as he scratches his head, "Nothing… just asking…"
"Do you have any plans with her?"
God, unpleasant curiosity… Please leave me alone.
He looks uncomfortable now, "Yeah… I'm gonna treat her to Jump City Café…"
My stomach does a summersault, "Oh…" my arms stay limp at my sides.
"Yeah."
Silence.
…
"Don't you dare do anything that I don't like to Raven…" I say out of the blue… I have no idea why I say it… and what I mean by it.
It doesn't matter, he ignores it anyway, "So if you see Raven, tell her I'm waiting in the lobby…" he gives me a mocking pleasant smile. I hate it.
He is about to walk away when I say the words I have longed to say to him, "I don't like you West…"
Silence.
Still smiling, he turns to me and presses his knuckles to my forehead. I don't flinch.
"The feeling's mutual…" he says in an uncharacteristic grim voice and pushes my head back a little. He then gives me the most pleasant smile he has ever given me, "Oh yeah! I will never do anything that you don't like to Raven!"
"See ya Grayson!" he says in a cheerful voice and runs away.
You're already doing something that I don't like to Raven… You're taking her.
…
Shit.
I love Kori… I love Kori… I love Kori…
Author's notes: SOMEONE STOLE MY WALLET AND MY "HONEY I KNOW" NOTEBOOK! THE HELL! WHY! Anyway, I wanted to make Richard appear baffled and confused… I didn't want his thoughts to make sense, I hope I did okay with those thoughts. Thank you "EvilWhiteRaven" for beta-ing!
To the reviewers:
DITZY: Oh my God! You like my Wally/Raven pairing! I'm so happy! Thanks you so much for reviewing!
autumn in bloom: Thank you! It's really fun writing Wally… Since he's not on the show yet, I can still write him as how I picture him… I don't have to worry about him being OOC or something… I also like writing Richard and Wally's interactions with each other.
mysti-eyed: Awww… Thank you! I'm starting to like the RaeFlash pairing too… I guess it helps me prepare for the awaited (by RobStar fans) RobStar-ness of the fifth season, lol! And oh yeah… Richard know everything… tsk, tsk, tsk…
inuspartan: Thank you for reviewing! Don't worry, there's still a big chance that this will end up as a RaeRob… errr… no…I don't really know myself.
Mad MauserThank you for reviewing! You're starting to like RaeFlash too? YAY! I'm really not alone! I like your idea… Thank you for suggesting it!
Umbra Puella: Hi! Thank you so much for reviewing! Hmmm… Give Wally someone else… Errr, like Linda Park? Errr…. (dies) Anyway, I really want to kill Robin here too… and it's my story… man… I should develop him more as a nice person here…
inner-glow: RaeFlash too? Wow! Alright, I'll think about it! Thank you so much for reviewing!
HermioneGranger22491Everybody knows Robin… But not Everybody likes Robin. He doesn't have much friends… Thank you so much for liking this story!
Moon Alchemist: Thank you! I know… I don't think I can break Wally's heart… and even if I manage to do so, I guess I won't be able to write it well.
Chica De Los Ojos Café: YAY! I GOT ANOTHER REVIEW FROM YOU! I'm so happy! Awww… You're starting to like RaeFlash too? YAY! I know… Poor Wally… Oh well… And Richard… I don't think you're gonna like him in the next chapters… but I'll do his character justice soon!
shiroi-hana: Thank you so much! You know, at first I thought not a lot would like my version of Wally, it just flatters me to know that a lot do or are starting to like him… Errr… are you gonna update "Bora Bora"? lol…
Raven of Dark Dreams: Little people… lol… Thank you so much for reviewing! And please do suggest more ideas! I like them!
Thank you so much for reviewing!
Please watch out for chapter 5:
Hurtful
"Raven, I don't have to keep my promise," he says in an exasperated desperation, "and neither do you… Can we just leave each other alone?"