Without a word
Disclaimer: Don't own the Teen Titians. Don't even own the pants I'm wearing right now.
So much can be said with words…
I felt the words I'd just read fall away from my grasp as he walked in. I couldn't see him, he couldn't see me, yet from the moment he entered the room we knew. However he didn't even stumble at the recognition, at least not in a way any of the others would have noticed. I knew without seeing that the smile on his face wouldn't falter, the words he'd been about to announce would still come forth. The others believed that my lack of expression was a denial of my emotions, it's true, however, he was as skilled at hiding what he felt as me. The only difference was that his mask was a smile and a good cheer that I knew he didn't feel. I tune out his voice as he begins to talk to Cyborg and begin at the top of the page again struggling to remember the plot I'd previously been so engrossed in.
Cyborg's gone now, wandered off to the garage to continue his endless modifications to the T-car. Starfire has managed to "talk" Robin into taking her to the carnival down at the beach. She has such a fascination with the fireworks she drags him there as often as she can. He doesn't mind, he isn't bored with them because he rarely watches them for more then a few seconds. He spends the Farris Wheel ride watching her. She knows this but she doesn't mind the attention. But back to the point everyone has gone, except him.
He's sitting on the couch watching the TV, not paying any attention to it but using it instead as an excuse to stay here. Why? Stupid question, I know why. He's waiting, like he always does, for me to take my leave. I'm not sure when this strange relationship the two of us have began but I'll never ask. It's an unspoken agreement that neither of us will mention it. He's sort of become my protector. Not that I need one, it's not as simple as that. During the heat of battle he'll surrender his own defence to come to mine. I can't count the number of times he's come from out of nowhere and pushed me out of harm's way. The bruises he's received for taking a hit that was destined for me. The tongue lashings from Robin for not being where he was supposed to and doing what he was told. That's all it was in the beginning I think, though I'm not sure where the he stopped watching my back in a battle and just began watching my back.
After the Malichor incident he was the only one who offered comfort, he didn't know my wounds but he offered everything I needed to heal them. When the black magic I'd unknowingly used got out of control it wasn't to the little girl in my grip that he turned but rather to me. Concern for me was the first thing that came to his mind. It is sweet really. Comforting even, to know that all I have to do was ask without asking and he'd be there to be whatever I need him to be. Yet in the back of my mind it worries me. The sure knowledge that for me there are no lines to be crossed. To understand that in his mind his life is a willingly offered substitute for mine.
Subtly I glance over the edge of my book to study him unwatched. His aura burns brightly to my eyes, brighter then any other that I have seen before. It was dark at times, speaking of pain past and present yet it burns with such life. The illumination given off by his life force, his life energies is one that always boggles my mind. I belatedly see the emerald glint of his eye and realise that he's been watching me out of the corner of his eye the whole time. Behind my book my lips twitch in self amusement, what did I expect, with his animal instincts and senses her could probably hear my heartbeat and though I knew he couldn't read aura's he senses and instinct gave him almost an equal level of insight.
What do you see? I wonder as our gazes hold. Why do you do this for me, to me? Just what are your motives? What are the secrets that gather in your eyes whenever you think no one is watching. His emerald eyes say nothing yet everything. The silence around us hums with words and answers yet… he gives a small smile and looks back at the TV. He doesn't know, not consciously at least. His answer seems to say. As for what he sees… I stand up and teleport to my bedroom. In the silence of the tower I can hear the murmur of the TV die and a few moments later the whisper of his own door as it slides open and closed behind him.
As I change for the night I spare a glance at my reflection in the vanity mirror. Looking out at me I see a girl clad in darkness, her violet eyes are full of questions without answers and I know. As I curl up under the blankets the thought, the answer to my question, slips unbidden into my half dreaming mind. I see you…
… but so much more understood without.
A.N. – Wahoo! Finally a new chapter! I finally slipped this one past my writer's block. Yeah! Read and Review folks let me know that there's still life out there!