Author's Note: Sorry this has been long coming. And further sorries about my other stories and not updating them. Its funny cuz i don't really have writers block, I'm just having a difficult time finding just that, time. Well enough, on with the show.

O wait, my play moved on and won 3 awards! Score!

Disclaimer: I don't own the Teen Titans or any of the aforementioned movies.

Chapter 5

It's getting really hard to ignore those damned sparks

I awoke to the sounds of heavy breathing. Now I know what you're thinking and it's not that, Gar wasn't standing over me drooling and breathing heavily in that creepy way. Though, at first that's what I thought and just thinking about it made me afraid to open my eyes. On the contrary, he was sitting on the armchair by the window, facing out with his eyes closed and doing his breathing exercises.

Now, I don't know how long he'd been doing that, but he must have obviously been nearly done when I woke up because he greeted me.

"Morning Raven," he said, his voice somewhat muffled by the large armchair.

I cleared my throat, trying to get the morning out of my voice, "Morning." I got up and made my way to the washroom passing the dresser on the way and seeing the necklace I got from last night. It really was very sweet of him and I wanted to thank him for getting it. But the problem was I wasn't sure who exactly to thank. Was it Mark, or Gar? I looked back at him and saw him still breathing with his eyes closed. He can be pretty cute when he does that. God Raven, shut up!

I mentally slapped myself and began my morning washroom ceremonies, washing face, brushing teeth, shaving legs and underarms, brushing hair and standing there staring at my reflection for about an hour. I usually took this time to go over what I was going to do, or say I was going to do, and give myself that daily pep-talk to not jump off a bridge and just end it already. Although today it went more than a tad different, instead of all that, I stood in front of the mirror and peered long and hard at my face picking out flaws and blemishes. Then my shirt came off and the criticism continued, as did my shorts and before long I was standing there naked and looking over my body. The bags under my eyes were huge, my thighs were massive, there was an enormous amount of baby fat on my stomach which was less than flat, my feet were ugly, my legs were stumpy, my butt was saggy and ultimately, my boobs were too small. These are all of the things that a woman sees in her body that other people don't, a man may say you're perfect but you know better than to believe him. Men only saw what they wanted, tits and ass.

I sighed and lathered lotion all over myself, if anything I wouldn't let my skin turn to sandpaper. Ready to leave, I put on my robe, grabbed my dirty clothes and went back into the room to find that Gar was already gone. Not that I was disappointed or anything but I had expected him to still be in the room. I quickly got dressed and made my way to the living room.

Immediately the smell of bacon and eggs hit me, making my mouth water. Upon heading to the kitchen I saw every, mostly everybody, gathered around the table happily eating and chatting.

"Raven! You did not tell us that Mark is an excellent cook," said Kori behind a cup of orange juice.

"Yeah, didn't know the boy could cook so well," Victor buzzed in. Mark smiled at me from behind the counter and wiped his hands on a towel.

"They didn't even mind that it's all tofu," he laughed. Everyone at the table laughed and Victor pretended to choke.

"Don't worry about Marky-boy, he normally doesn't eat anything healthy, but this is an unusual exception," said Bee, patting Vic on the back.

"I'll take that as a huge compliment," said Mark still smiling but now walking towards me with two cups in his hand. He handed me one cup and I suspiciously smelled it, it was tea. I looked up at him surprised.

"Hope you like it," he half whispered, seemingly intimate but loud enough that it could be heard, "I'm not sure how you take it so I kept it plain. If it's too bitter, there's some sugar in the kitchen." He smiled softly at me as I took a sip. He took a sip of his own what smelled like coffee. I had to admit, I was a nice surprise and the tea itself wasn't bad. He must have seen the pleased expression on my face because he began to beam and wrapped his free arm around my waist planting a kiss on my cheek. I don't what it was, maybe it was last night, but we both look and acted much, much more comfortable and natural around each other. Any other day I would have blushed and tried to brush him off, but today that somehow seemed rude. And besides, it's not like I minded or anything.

Then he leaned in to my ear and actually whispered, "I remember you drank tea when we first met, just in case you were wondering." He winked and led me to my seat on the table where there was already a plate waiting. He sat beside me and sat half facing the other half facing me, his hand resting on the back of my chair. To say that I was flattered was an understatement. He actually remembered what I was drinking the day we met, it was kind of sweet.

And the food was actually all that the others said, amazing. So it was my turn to whisper, I leaned in close to his ear and said, "I didn't know you could cook. You never told me."

He smiled and whispered back, "You didn't ask. I'm glad you like it."

"Maybe you could cook more often," I joked, nudging him on the side. That's when I realized what this must have looked like. The blissfully happy couple whispering sweet nothings in each other's ear, laughing and giggling in their own happy little world. It was so perfect. I looked up to see Vic and Bee nudging each other at our direction and Wally and Jinx making gagging faces at our 'cuteness'. I stuck my tongue out at them and went back to my delicious breakfast and even more delicious 'boyfriend'.

"Hmmm, what smells so good?" Tara came in yawning and stretching, wearing a robe loosely over her very skimpy red silk night gown.

"Mark made food," said Vic behind a mouthful of bacon.

"Bacon and eggs! My fav," she shrieked while bouncily grabbing a plate and piling on bacon and eggs on it, "How did you know I love bacon and eggs." I glared at her as she sat beside Mark, rubbing his arm as she said 'love'. She sat, giving me a wink, her robe so coincidentally falling open, flashing Mark a bit of leg.

He just smiled politely at her and turned back to me, "Its tofu though. You may not like it."

"Oh nonsense Mark," she touched his arm again; "I'm sure it's great. I mean just look at Vic." Of course Vic was already up again, helping himself to another serving; Bee was sitting down shaking her head and rolling her eyes. Mark looked down at where her hand rested and looked at it as if it was going to bite him. He was good, boy was he good.

I cleared my throat, "So Tara, where's Wilson?" She quickly let go of Mark, kissed her teeth and turned to her food, aggressively stabbing at the eggs with her fork.

"He's sick, he said he doesn't feel like coming on the hike today," I held back a smirk as much as I could. I couldn't help it. Here I was with the perfect and guy and Tara's date was being an absolute ass.

"O yes, speaking of the hike," piped in Dick, "let's leave about eleven-ish. Just us guys right? Kori wants to do gal stuff with all the ladies."

"Oh," pouted Tara, "Dick, I was hoping I could come with you guys. You know how I am with all the girly stuff, besides I love hiking and nature. You know that." She said that whole this staring at Mark, seemingly asking for his approval instead of Dick's. How she was with 'all the girly stuff'? What the hell was that? She loves girly stuff; she is the epitome of girly stuff. And what the hell was all that cutsie, "I love hiking and nature"? Bull, that's what it was, absolute bull.

"Uh, sure friend Tara, you can join the boys in the hiking. I'm sure you would enjoy that more than what I had planned anyways," said a disappointed Kori. I could tell that because of Tara's blatant disregard for her hostess's feelings, Kori was now depressed. Upset because she thinks that Tara doesn't want to spend time with her. I know it's immature but that's the way the girl thinks.

"Great," said Tara, "So I'm coming with the boys hiking. Isn't that great Mark?" She stroked his arm again and he smiled politely at her. I gave her the dirtiest look I could and grabbed his arm from the back of my chair and started playing with his hand, smiling up at him. Tara decided she wanted to try and steal Mark from me, now it's on bitch.

"Alright," said Dick standing up and giving Kori a peck on the cheek, "I'm going to take a shower and get ready for the hike."

"We should be getting ready and showering too," said Jinx, rising and punching Wally on the arm, who was busy stuffing his face along with Vic. He scowled at her and he scowled playfully back, sticking out her tongue. They both exchanged a series of angry, silly faces as Wally swallowed his food, then he rose and grabbed her, nearly bending her backwards with his attack of kisses to her face. Jinx nearly fell over in giggles and I saw Kori mouth an 'awwww' at me. I stuck a finger in my mouth as a gag motion in return. All of the girls at the table, save for Jinx, burst out in laughter and the boys looked up confused. They never pick it up.

After Jinx and Wally finally left, Vic and Bee followed. Kori saw that everyone was done and started picking up dishes. Now stupid me and my conscience, I felt I was obligated to help her. I had just finished the food and I was sitting there watching her clean up after me as if I were a child. So as she picked up my plate, that stupid friendly smile still on her face, I stopped her, smiling back, and stood up grabbing more plates around the table and followed her into the kitchen area. Leaving Mark alone with Tara. The mere thought made my blood inexplicably boil.

Thankfully the kitchen wasn't a separate room, it and the dining area was divided by an island counter which had a double sink were we did our dishes. We were in the midst of drying the dishes and whispering about nonsensical crap when we heard the most annoying, high-pitched, fake laugh come from the dining area. It was Tara, and she was all over Mark. She was practically on top of him and he was laughing back. Why hadn't he gotten up when I left? He should have left with me, or at least gone back to the room. I wasn't paying him to socialize with my friends; he's here to fawn over me.

"Raven, I believe that plate is dry. And also, a half inch thinner," Kori pointed out worriedly. I was grinding the plate a little hard. I hadn't noticed but not only did my actions get harsher but my eyes were stabbing daggers at Tara Markov. I kept on at the plate despite hearing Kori perfectly well. I was too busy picturing Tara getting mauled by mountain lions on the hike. Were there even mountain lions here? Could I somehow find some?

"Raven!" Kori harshly whispered and snapped me out of my trance. I meekly put the plate down, shaking the thoughts from my head and grabbing a new plate. Why the hell was I so upset? He and I weren't actually dating. Besides, this gave me the perfect excuse to break up with him. It would seem I had a blessing in disguise in my hands, but all I could think of were her hands running over Mark's arm, her words quietly complimenting how strong they felt. Suddenly pain hit my jaw as I realized I had been grinding my teeth together.

"Sorry Kori, I was just…"

"Distracted?" she said, grabbing the plate from my hands and setting it down. She had a sly look on her face which was a nice changed from the usual look naïveté she wore. "I see how you are upset by Tara's behavior towards your beau." The word 'beau' seriously struck me. I don't know what it was about that word that made me smile, maybe it was the image of me and Garfield walking down the street, holding hands and schmoozing that suddenly came to my head.

"Yeah, I supposed I'm upset." I looked back at them. She was pulling all the stops flirting with him. His head was turned away from me so I couldn't tell whether he was buying into it or not.

"Then I am sorry I allowed for her to join the men in the hiking this afternoon."

I wiped my hand and lay one on her shoulder, "No, it's okay. You were just being a graceful hostess. Now if you'll excuse me." I smiled at her and made my way determinedly towards the dining area where Mark and Tara were still sitting. Coming up behind him I wrapped my arms around his neck giving a hug and kissing him on the cheek.

"Hey, I think we should go shower now too," I casually slipped in. I saw Tara's eyebrows go up when I suggested we both take a shower. Together. This was a perfect example of how intelligent Tara actually was, she had seriously over looked the fact that I was already fully dressed. Thank God for Gar's amazing acting skills because Mark didn't even flinch he just smiled at me and kissed back, mouthing an okay and getting up. He smiled politely at Tara and gave her a wave goodbye as he wrapped and arm around my waist and we headed back to the room. As we walked away, I swore I heard Tara swear under her breath.

"You're hot for Tara," I casually said, fixing the bed. There really wasn't much to do with it, but I made myself look busy.

"Nope," he quickly bit back. A bit too quickly maybe? I turned to see him walking around the room without a shirt on wearing cargo pants and hiking boots, a wet towel thrown over his shoulder. He had his back turned to me and he was rummaging through his clothes. Then I caught myself staring. I allowed it because of the fact that he was turned around and couldn't possibly catch me unless he was to quickly turn around. Which, thank the Lord, he didn't. He was built well, quite well. His back was ripped with muscle much like a swimmer's, strong lats, big-but-not-too-big shoulders and his neck, so perfectly aligned with his back, his spine sending your eyes down to his… well.

"Oh, come on. I won't be upset. I saw you two in the dining room."

"No really, I don't really like her as person much less a lover," I turned back around and heard his voice get muffled by a shirt slipping over his head. I really didn't realize it but I was fluffing the same pillow for about 20 minutes and the next thing I knew he was standing on the opposite side of the bed from and offering to help straighten the sheets. I nodded and we lifted the sheets up and created a parachute, reminding me somewhat of what children would do, then let it back down gently, tucking the sides underneath the mattress.

"I mean, she can be a little funny but she just comes on too strong you know?"

I scoffed, "Well to you."

"What?"

"I said she comes on strong to you. She's clearly trying to impress you."

"Clearly. You'd have to be a complete idiot not to see it. She flirts like a horny teenager." I had to laugh, and apparently so did he.

"And?"

"And what? She's not my type," he said, shrugging and lotioning his hands. Wow, I thought, what kind of man lotions his hands? The answer came immediately, an actor.

I raised my eyebrow at him, "So what is your type?" Did I just ask that? Lord please tell me I didn't just ask that. Now who's the teenager? Great, I feel like an idiot for asking.

He chuckled a bit which really didn't help my situation, "Well, I don't know. I can't really set a type of person because if you sort of create a mold of the perfect partner, then you'll spend all your time trying to find someone who fits the bill instead of noticing what's actually in front of you. But I can say I have qualities I like in a person."

"Fine, what are the qualities you like in a person?"

"Uh, they'd have to be funny, or at least think I was funny. They'd have to be compassionate and passionate. Generally a good person," he said. Huh. Well. I don't know what I wanted to get out of that little bonding moment, but now that it's over I feel I could breathe a little easier. "What about you? What are you looking for in a guy," he suddenly asked. I spoke too soon.

"What kind of question is that? You should know already? You're playing him."

"Ok, ok, so you're looking for an orphaned botanist who traveled to Bosnia in order to find a cure for…"

"I get it," I sighed, his sarcasm was to die for, "I guess I want a real guy. I know how ironic that sounds but I want a guy who's not uber-romantic that it's sickening, but I do want to be pampered once in a while. I want a guy who's in a relationship for the sake of being in a healthy relationship and not because he wants to get laid on a regular basis and as an added bonus has a pretty young thing as arm candy. He'd have to make me laugh, but not be a complete goofball. He'd have to be hard-working but not a workaholic. Wow, listening to me I must sound like a lunatic who can't make up her mind, huh?" Great, I gave myself a mental slap on the head.

"No," he chuckled, "it's cute. I think that's what every girl wants. Balance, stability." I nodded in response, that made sense and summed up what the hell I was trying to say.

"Balance and stability." And love. I smiled as he offered up his arm to me and rolling my eyes we made our way to the living room.

I really don't want to bore you with details about the rest of the day, because quite frankly, that's all that it was, boring. Now I didn't voice this opinion of mine, I didn't want to crush Kori, but I had about 5 cups of tea just to keep myself awake through the movies. Oh the movies! The worst romantic chick-flicks you could possibly think of: Maid in Manhattan, when did maids look like that? I've been to many a hotel and I swear they're all old Irish ladies. How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, more like how to lose 2 hours of your life you won't ever get back. Kate and Leopold, when does that happen? These movies have no credibility whatsoever. And the crème de la crème of the romantic movie crop, You've Got Mail. Now I'll admit that last one was okay, it was cute. Either it actually was a good movie or the previous ones had all softened me up.

All in all, not a very productive afternoon. In between movies we'd snack and pig out of chocolate and popcorn then, all hyper and silly, we'd tell one thing about our current relationship to each other that we already didn't know. That may have been the most difficult situation of the entire day. After each movie ended, I dreaded what "secret" I'd have to reveal about Mark and myself. Of course, the ultimate secret would have to remain just that, lest I wished to die a horrible death. Now I'd have to tell Gar that Mark's first gift to me was a roll of toilet paper which he gave to me on our third date to commemorate our meeting. Also that Mark's biggest food fetish was whipped cream and chocolate syrup, and that he had, I made him remove them, a few daring piercings on his person. He was an adventurer after all. If you've been keeping count you'd notice that I'm missing one secret that I told them. This was the biggest fabrication of them all and is completely not suited for telling outside of drunken girl talk, I was forced to tell them that we… have yet to have marital relations. I know, I know. It's stupid, but I told them that he wants to save that and that his theory is there are other things you can do besides have sex in a relationship. I whole heartedly agreed.

The men came home just before dark. That was a degrading sentence if I've ever said one. But it was completely degrading and entirely sexist, the men just spent a day in the woods hiking while the women-folk stayed indoors and ate comfort food while watching romantic comedies; this whole weekend was completely stereotypical. Sadly there wasn't anything I could do about it.

Mark came in and gave me a peck on the cheek, "Hey."

"Hey back," I said smiling and slightly blushing after the peck then immediately whispered in his ear, "We really need to talk."

He wrapped his arm around my shoulder and whispered back, smirking like a jackass, "Uh-oh that doesn't sound good."

"I'm not joking, we really need to talk," I whispered urgently.

"Ok, ok," he said in a normal voice and kissed me again. I could never really get used to the feeling of that so I blushed a little again.

"Guys, can you stop flirting for one sec? Jesus, Mark man, we were just gone for a couple of hours," hollered Victor from the kitchen, "She ain't goin' nowhere. Now get in here and help me out."

"Sure thing bud," he smiled down at me and hurried away, rolling his eyes playfully. It was absolutely amazing how well he got along with the rest of the guys. They were now calling each other buddy and Mark and Vic seemed like they'd known each other since they were little kids. A real shame that I stood in between of these two buddies, a part of me realized that the girls aren't the only ones who'll be crushed when I 'fessed up. If ever.

After Mark helped out in the kitchen making the meal of the night, taco's, veggie of course for him, I pulled him back to our room.

"Okay, there are a couple of new things to take into consideration." I quickly said.

"Yeah, about that… I got some things too," he said, scratching the back of his head, "But you first."

"Okay, you're first ever gift to me was a roll of toilet paper."

"Because of our first meeting."

"Yep, secondly, your favorite fetish foods are whipped cream and chocolate syrup," he raised and eyebrow as if to ask 'when did this topic come up', I shook my head as if to say 'later' and he just kept nodding, "thirdly, you had a couple of piercings in unmentionable places, and…" I stopped to laugh. He was making the most pained face when I said 'piercings' and I went over to him and punched him playfully on the stomach.

"Relax will ya?"

"Do I, uh, still have them? 'Cause I don't know how to walk with, umm." I smiled again, he was so cute. Mental slap.

"No, you took them off cuz I said so," he gave an adorable sigh of relief, "And lastly, we haven't had sex."

The last one he took surprisingly well, "You're not surprised?"

He shook his head, "No."

"Why?"

"Because Mark is a gentleman and he would wait. We wouldn't want to rush you," he said sweetly enough to make me want to 'aww'. But gladly I didn't.

"Ok, now it's your turn."

He scratched the back of his head, "I kind of told them that I was planning on asking you to move in…"

"That's fine," I interrupted. It was fine, I was just taken a back a bit. Regardless whether he was fictional or not, a guy had never asked me to move in with him. This was a huge leap in made-up our relationship. So far, this has been the best relationship with anyone I've been in since I met Kori. I began to think, if he had really asked me, what would I say? "That's cool, you could 'ask' me tomorrow in front of everyone and I could say no and say this was moving too fast. That constitutes our 'break up' nicely."

"Yeah, but that's not all," I stared up at him, "I kinda told them that I…"

What ever it was, it was hard for him to say and I could tell this was awkward for him. So I stepped a little closer to him and held onto his shoulders, "What? Come on, it can't be that bad? Told them what?"

"That I… I love you."

"O MY GOD!" A shriek came from the door and I jumped about 5 feet in the air, finding myself in Mark's arms.

"Friends! If I overheard what I believe I just overheard, then I am gloriously happy for you!" Kori was standing at the door, hands over her mouth in shock. I didn't what surprised me more, what Mark said or that Kori was there to hear it. Suddenly, Jinx and Bee came rushing in. Way to ruin a romantic moment you guys.

"What happened Kori?" asked Bee.

"We heard you scream," said Jinx.

"I am thankful for your worry friends but there is nothing wrong with me, but there is everything right with our friend. For I just overheard them confess their undying love for one another." She squealed again. The girls stared at me, still his arms, in shock.

"Wow, Rae, that was-" started Bee

"Fast," interjected Jinx. I hung my head in shame. How did Mark's telling me about his day turn into confessing our undying love for one another. All she heard him say was 'I love you,' that's it. Boy, could Kori twist a story or what.

"Uh guys, its, uh…" I stammered. How could I get rid of them nicely?

But Bee put her hand up to shush me, she shook her head and smiled, "Say no more girl. We don't care how long you guys have been together, love hits when it does. You can't pick and choose when. I completely understand, you guys need a moment alone, we'll just be in the kitchen." With that she shoved Kori and Jinx out of the door way.

I pushed myself off of Marks arms and rubbed my temples. In my peripheral vision I saw him coming towards me with a very, very sorry look on his face.

"It's ok," I reassured him, "This can be fixed. Now we just go back in there and look like we're in love. Not too hard right?"

How I get myself into these situations I suppose I'll never know. And now, I dragged some poor soul, Mark, down with me, and he wasn't even a real person. Even though it was Mark that everyone was going ga-ga for, it was Gar who had to put up with it all. Gar, God bless him, was an absolute godsend. He was smart, kind and compassionate; though I never know when he's Mark and when he's Gar.

Making out way into the kitchen, Mark and I emerged with his arm protectively around my waist and both of us wearing goofy I'm-in-love smiles.

"Mark, you dog!" Greeted us and we both looked up to see it was coming from Vic, who else. "You asked her didn't ya? Didn't ya? What's the answer Rae, huh?" Vic came right up to us and started fake punching Mark in the stomach while berating him with questions. Thankfully Bee came in and pulled him away.

"Vic, down boy. Give them some room. And besides, she said yes of course," she gave me a wink. I loved how everybody knew everybody else's business in this trip.

We all padded back to the dining area where the table was beautifully set and all of the couples and Tara were standing around behind their chairs. All of there, save Tara, were wearing huge grins on their faces and looked as if they all had secrets about our relationship that only they knew off. Tara just looked pissed off that all of the attention, including Mark's, wasn't on her.

"Friends! It is glorious that you may joins us this evening and we are all quite happy for your good news," Kori said, blinking like she had something in here eye, "We also understand that this is quite a leap for you two and it is our last night gathered here as friends. Although despite Dick and I's recent engagement, your situation is far more miraculous and calls for far greater attention."

Wait, did I hear right? Despite the fact that they were the ones engaged and that it's our last night together as a group of friends they wanted to celebrate my 'moving in' with my boyfriend? And wait, why is it 'miraculous' that some one would say that they loved me. I loved Kori and I knew that she was being sincere but that was a little insulting.

Bee stepped in, "What she's trynna say is that this may be a big deal for Kori, but Rae, it's bigger for you. You don't even talk to men let alone date and fall in love with them." Thanks guys, thanks a lot.

"So, best friend Raven, Richard and I have graciously given up our romantic dinner on the deck for you two." What?

"But," interjected Bee, "you'll have to settle for the oh-so romantic menu: tofu tacos." This got a few laughs around the table and managed to lighten up everybody's mood. They were all now surrounding me and Mark and telling us how happy they were that we decided to take such a huge leap together. Now I couldn't tell them we were breaking up because I rejected his offer, damn. We'd have to come up with another plan. But it'll have to wait until after dinner.

Kori yanked me into a huge, bone-crushing hug and whispered into my ear, "Rae, I am so happy for you. I wish upon your relationship what the gods have given ours; I hope that Mark makes you as happy as Richard makes me." I think those words crushed me more than the hug, but I would have to crush my best friend back.

A/N: CLUE: Being the bearer of bad news is more than most of us can bear.