April. A very successful and romantic camping trip p.3

They woke up quickly after that.

"It started from there," said Kori, pointing towards the west.

"But we'll have a better vantage point from up there," said Dick, pointing at the east.

Vic lunged forward. "Let's split up! I'll take these two!" Vic swept up Raven and Gar and ran.

Before Dick could even question the logistics of splitting up –whether it was even necessary, what territory each team was taking, or any parameters on where to meet in how long-, Vic was a good distance up the hill with the two.

When he considered they were far enough, Vic stopped. "Okay, I'm gonna leave you guys now."

"Where are you going?" Raven asked, though she already knew.

Vic gave them an intense look. "Step four of the plan."

"Because the other steps worked?" deadpanned Raven.

"Step four," he repeated, glowering at her. "Have them be scared together."

"Dude, I don't think that's a great idea," said Gar. "I mean, this is a mission again."

"I can't believe I'm agreeing with Gar, but-" Raven started.

Vic didn't pay them any mind. "What do you know, Gar!" And he ran down the hill.

Gar stared after Vic, wishing he hadn't said anything. Vic's words from last night came back all at once and left a bad taste on his mouth. If Vic really didn't see him as a friend, of course he wouldn't care about his input.

"Gar?" called Raven. She had gone on walking up the hill and looked back at him with impatience. "Are we still doing the mission?"

Thus chided, he followed. "Oh! Sure!"

Kori and Dick followed the line of the frozen lake. The temperature got increasingly low as they walked on, to the point where they knew it couldn't be natural. They walked in silence, and when the lake ended, a cave rose in front of them. The eerie orange glow coming from inside it was enough for them to know that whatever was happening owed to whatever was in there.

Dick and Kori looked at each other. He wordlessly put the hood over his head –with his grey jacket, his dark hair and his sunglasses, he was leaning more towards camouflage-, and went to take a closer look as Kori stayed behind. Peeking into the cave, he spotted an artifact stuck to the wall. It could have been a sensor. He returned to Kori.

He gave her a look, and they silently agreed to fold back.

They didn't know when they became aware someone was following them; on the way back, they heard it—the crackle of steps of leaves, walking when they walked, always just a few steps behind. They looked at each other and knew the other was hearing it too.

Halfway to the campsite, Kori saw a sizeable branch on the ground and threw a glance at Dick, who nodded. Kori went into action: she picked up the branch and swung it back, towards the rustling.

It hit a tree and Vic cried, "Wait! Stop! It's me!"

And then Vic proved it by stepping out in full view, wearing a sheepish grin.

"Victor!?" Kori and Dick cried.

"What's wrong?" asked Raven.

Gar gaped at her. "Huh?"

Raven couldn't believe he looked surprised she'd noticed anything, as if his dismay wasn't palpable—as if he wasn't an open book.

"You haven't started a rambling story or told a joke or annoyed me once since we split up," she explained.

"Do you want me to annoy you?" he asked, with a testiness that caught her off-guard.

Something was definitely wrong. And also what kind of question was that? "Well, I've come to expect it," she replied, because she didn't know how else to respond.

That seemed to be the wrong answer, because Gar's sullen expression deepened. "But you'd rather I didn't do it, right?" he insisted, and it seemed to be a genuine question.

But when she stared at him, unsettled, he seemed to think better of it, and got out of her inquisitive gaze by walking ahead of her.

They walked in silence for a while, mainly because she had no idea what to do with this new, brooding, silent Garfield. Had he fought with someone? How hadn't she seen it, if they had been together all this time?

Also distracting her was the fact that she was boiling under the sun at this point. She'd been shedding layers of clothing since she woke up. Now she took of her dark long-sleeved shirt and was left with her final, short-sleeved shirt. It was a washed out light blue and baggy, and she didn't like it; she'd thrown it on because she hadn't expected to be wearing it alone. But everything today had already been so out of control, she thought, Screw it.

They reached a considerable height and stopped. Raven kneeled down and moved the foliage to look down at the lake.

"I can't see anything that could be causing it," she said.

Gar sat down next to her. "Yeah, me neither," he replied.

"Could it be just a weather phenomenon?" she wondered aloud.

There was a space usually filled with a joke or quip from him. Instead he just stared at the lake, thoughtful, dejected.

"It's really weird that you're gloomy," she told him.

"It's weird that you're being chatty," he replied.

She stared at him again. Gar felt bad he kept rebuffing her, even in the fog of his misery and self-doubt—the last thing he needed was to alienate Raven, too. But she didn't look upset; she just looked unsettled. Maybe because he'd just made her realize how they were perfectly switched.

And then she said, "Alright." And, in the same no-nonsense tone she always had, "Then I'll cheer you up."

At that he raised his face, which by itself brightened his previously brow-knitted expression.

"I'll tell you a joke," Raven elaborated.

"Excuse me, what?" he laughed. His woes were momentarily forgotten—this was much more interesting and weird than his identity crisis. "You will tell me a joke?" he repeated.

Raven was smiling lightly at his change in demeanor. "I knew you couldn't stay sad for long."

Gar laughed more, because she was right. He did feel better. "Wait, was that the plan?"

"No, I was really going to tell you a joke," she confirmed, looking away, rendered almost shy. She herself didn't know why she was doing this. Perhaps it was just because she could; she knew he would get a kick out of this. If she was being honest, she was getting a kick out of surprising him, too.

Gar rubbed his eyes and smiled in delight. "This is so great. Please tell me the joke."

Raven channeled the joke from Kori's candy wrapper and struggled to remember how it went. "Knock knock."

"Who's there?" Gar couldn't believe this was happening.

"Nobel."

"Nobel who?" He'd never been so excited in his entire life.

Raven said, "Nobel, that's why I knocked."

Gar smiled, then burst out laughing. He'd heard the joke before—that wasn't the point. The point was Raven's voice thinning out at the end of the punchline, like she couldn't believe she was doing this. The point was that she'd gone out of her way to cheer him up and achieved it. The point was that he loved these moments where Raven acted so out of character, for reasons known only to her.

It didn't so much cheer him up as completely knock everything else right out of Gar's mind. He couldn't believe he'd been so hung up on the Victor thing that he'd forgotten how precious Raven was.

Raven was looking at the lake, fighting a smile; he knew in another moment she would succeed in squishing it, and her blush would go down, and he didn't want that to happen. And he didn't know what to do to prolong this moment. And then he knew exactly what to do.

He kissed her.

When he parted –soon, because the kiss had been like a hiccup, he'd been propelled forward with a force he barely controlled- she was looking at him with an expression on her face he'd never seen before. It was dazed, and… relaxed, and so irresistibly open.

It was all he could do to kiss her again. This time he didn't let go so quickly.

Neither Victor nor Dick said anything as Kori berated Vic for sneaking up on them—none of them had heard Kori be angry at someone before. It didn't last long; Kori caught herself and said she was going away to cool off.

After she left, Dick spoke. "Vic, can I talk to you for a second?" he asked. "What were you really up to?"

Vic wasn't looking at him, but frowning at the grass. "I told you, Gar pulls pranks all the time, I don't see why the world ends when I decide to-"

"Cut the crap. I know you weren't playing a prank." Dick pulled Vic further aside from where Kori had walked off too. He dropped his voice to a hiss, "Are you actually doing what I think you're doing? Jeopardizing the missionto play matchmaker?"

Vic's eyes were hard. "I think you've already decided that's what I'm doing. Why are you asking?"

"To give you a chance to explain!" Dick snapped.

He knew Vic well enough by now to know nothing would be gained from yelling at him—Vic had hardened into an unbreakable shell; nothing would get through to him. It didn't stop Dick from saying his piece.

The sounds of Dick and Victor squabbling could be heard when Raven and Gar arrived back to the campsite.

They approached Kori, who was watching the fight with arms crossed and a troubled expression.

"What's going on?" Gar asked her.

"I am not sure," replied Kori. "Vic tried to play a prank on us by scaring us. I admit I lost my temper on him. And now he and Dick will not stop fighting."

The three couldn't make out the words at this distance, but Raven and Gar were pretty sure they knew what this was about—Vic's matchmaking attempts had finally imploded. They watched as Dick seemingly said his final piece and stalked away from Vic, stomping to the campsite and entering the boys' tent.

Kori took Raven's arm and pulled her to their own tent. Gar tried to catch Raven's eye before she left, but she was already gone with Kori.

Vic was pacing among the trees, so Gar went to him first.

He looked up when he saw Gar. "Hey," he said, darkly.

"Hey," returned Gar. "What happened?"

Vic's frown eased for the first time in a while. He sat on the ground and buried his head in his knees. "I fucked up."

Gar put a hand on Vic's shoulder. "Hey, don't worry about it. It's you and Dick. He's gonna forget in no time. And Kori's already sorry she yelled at you." He didn't feel any awkwardness next to Vic anymore—thanks to Raven, he couldn't even remember what had brought on his previous doubts about his group of friends.

"Do you still think they are just communicating?" Kori asked Raven sadly in their tent.

Raven put her long-sleeved shirt back on. The sun was going down, and she was getting chilly.

"No," she admitted. "But they'll make up. Like always."

Gar entered the tent, where Dick was sitting tying a rope around a flashlight, a kitchen knife and their oil spray, with a purpose that eluded Gar.

Before he could say anything, Dick beat him to it. "Vic tried to set me and Kori up."

Gar did his best to look shocked. "No."

Dick peered at him. "You knew?"

"I found out way too late to do anything about it," Gar declared. That was the version he was planning to stick with. "Soo, and I'm not saying I agree with Vic's methods but, why did it bother you so much what he was trying to do? I mean, this trip could have ended with you hooking up with Kori." Gar laughed. He was still a lot giddy himself. "Don't tell me you don't want to."

Dick looked straight at him. "I don't."

Gar stared back him. Dick sounded serious, and Dick never joked around. There was no reason to doubt him: it was just Gar couldn't believe it was true.

Dick seemed to notice Gar's confusion and explained. "I mean… First off, it's insulting, what Vic did. Like I can't take care of my own relationships. Like I can't make the first move."

Gar furrowed his eyebrows. "Well…"

"But also it's just a bad idea, however you look at it. I mean with what we're doing, if we're really gonna use the Club to do this missions kind of thing, we can't afford relationships within the group."

"Oh," went Gar. "Oh. That's what you're worrying about?"

Dick shrugged. "That's the cliché, isn't it? Friends become a couple, couple breaks up, and the friend group goes poof."

Gar stared at him, then looked down, suddenly feeling hollow. "Yeah. I guess."

Dick held up the rope, inspected it and then tied it around his hips. "Right. I'm all set. Let's go."

Gar watched him absent-mindedly, lost in his own thoughts. "Go where?"

"To check out the weird glowing cave Kori and I found down the stream."

Gar got his train of thought knocked from his head for the second time that day. "What?"

Gar felt vindicated when their other friends were equally shocked when Dick told them his plan.

"We're going to keep investigating this?" Raven questioned. "I'd think this is where we'd tap out."

"We haven't done what we came to do, though," Dick pointed out. "We haven't found out why the lake is freezing over."

"We've confirmed rumors that it is freezing over and that it's unnatural," said Raven.

"And you're content with that?" Dick countered. He was having a hard time speaking mildly and not imposing his will on the group.

"No, but this got really weird," responded Raven. "What if we're in over our heads?"

Dick didn't reply.

"We will be protected by vegetation," Kori said. "We can look at what it happening from safety."

"Yeah. We can take a look and be out," said Dick, emboldened.

"Dude, what if it's a supervillain thing?" posed Gar. "We could get in huge trouble."

Dick considered him. "But how could it be a supervillain thing? The Titans wouldn't have let it go on this long."

Raven almost pitied Dick. He was trying to defer to the group, but he couldn't help that he really wanted to go and check this out.

And they apparently couldn't help being infected by his enthusiasm. Kori was already in. One by one the others agreed; Raven ended up voting to go, Gar did too, and Vic was currently trying to pretend he was part of the foliage, so he went along with the majority.

"The cave's surroundings are really cold," Dick told them. "So you better bundle up. This time, we stick together. No more messing around," he said at Vic, who glowered at him.

They put on all the layers they had brought and went forth.

The five took the same path Dick and Kori had walked earlier. It was probably noon by then, and the sun shining so gloriously likely gave them the dangerous notion that nothing too bad could be happening. In a single file led by Dick, they peered into the mouth of the cave. The single artifact Dick had seen wasn't the half of it. There were people inside—armed guards in uniform patrolling back and forth.

They froze. Dick carefully inched back –it was like common sense had been forced back into his body-, and signaled his friends to return.

They turned around and began a slow trek back to the path. Dick was sure they had never been so in sync for anything ever before.

And then one of them stepped on a branch.

The next thing they knew, they were surrounded with guards pointing intricate-looking weapons at them, ordering them to freeze.

As the five were forcefully pushed inside the cave they had been trying to escape, a huge operation opened up to them—the cave had been made into a laboratory, minions walked around hard at work, and dozens of tanks containing several insect-like creatures the size of dogs rose to the full height of the cave. Everyone was wrapped up like they were in the Artic, and the temperature was freezing. They kids were baffled by how big the operation was—forget the Titans, where was any superhero at all?

The five were presented before what was most likely the main Mad Scientist in charge. He was a short man in a lab coat and googles. "What have we here?" he said, breaking away from his control panel to look at the five kids. "Easy prey for my children? Excellent! Throw them into a holding cell." He turned his attention back to the tanks. "Finally! The planets have aligned, and my plan of weeks comes to fruition on this day! Not tomorrow, not yesterday, but TONIGHT!"

Dick closed his eyes. "For fuck's sake," he whispered, full of feeling.

What's a camping trip between friends if it doesn't delve into drama (and a supervillain sighting)?

You might be thinking, 'how on earth is this gonna be a slow burn if you're having them kiss already?' But you see, you're underestimating the sheer number of hurdles I plan to throw their way! (You'd also be overestimating their emotional maturity)

PenJunior: As you can probably tell now, this month is gonna be four parts, not three, and also the plan was to take you higher before I sank everything :) Can't wait to hear what you think of this one Yess, all the reasons you listed are why I'm soft for both the opposites-attract TT ships… also 'warrior god fathers' lol, I love how you talk. Thank you for trusting my directions! Lol, that warms my heart. And oh you're just starting to watch MLB? Bless your heart. You have all the clownery ahead of you. While we're on MLB, I did post that crossover ficlet on my tumblr (the-lighthouse-lit), I'll probably post it here someday, but the first part is already there if you're interested!