Reunion
By Mezzo-chan
She walks the long way to the tower, the path lined with freshly fallen snow.
Not much has changed since her last visit, but that had been a long time ago.
The clouds have parted and the moon is glowing bright like a lantern lit to guide her lost soul back home.
She shakes her head and reminds herself she isn't going home. Her home is a one-room apartment on a dark street in a generic city.
But she isn't discouraged. She keeps walking.
She reflects that she could just as easily levitate herself, but there something humbling about the moon tonight, and she feels more human with her shoes clicking against the cement.
Starfire's garden needs tending she notices. She feels a pang of regret that she never spent enough time in it.
The moon is reflected on the beach below the tower, and she wishes that all five of them were standing on those white sands again.
She's at the door.
Who will be waiting for her?
Strangers, she thinks, kids who she's never met who are learning to be heroes.
And it's midnight, so she doubts any will be awake to greet her.
But she can feel it. That familiar presence resonating on the observation deck.
She can't wait anymore, and holds her breath against the pressure of teleportation.
She opens her eyes and he's there at the window.
"Hi," she says softly, her voice in on the verge of cracking.
"Long time to see," he turns and smiles. His voice is deeper, his shoulders broader. He's grown.
"You're taller," she says, trying not to show how intimidated it makes her, "and…uh…h-how are you Garfield?"
"Same old same old," he shrugs, then perks up, "I like what you've done with your hair,"
"I haven't done much…" she replies and they chew their lips in a tense silence.
The moon is reaching through the window, shining off his hair like a corona. She thinks to herself that in a weird, disorderly sort of way, he's beautiful. A perfect example of precise chaos on legs.
He breaks first, "Done much hero work?"
"No…low key and all," she looks over to the couch and a shiver runs up her spine.
"Yeah…me neither, these kids, you know…need a lot of attention, can't let them get blown up," he rambles about his charges, but catches her wavelength quickly. He blushes at the way she's looking at the couch.
"Do you remember when we—"
"Yeah," he interrupts his hands clenched.
"Do you ever think about—"
"Every day," he takes a step forward.
Raven's mouth is dry and however much she swallows she can't seem to hydrate herself.
"Why did you leave Rae?" he says, his voice soft, "Was it me?"
"No…and yes…I don't know," she can't look at him, and moonlight is filtering over them both. That damn moon was suffocating her, the weight of that light making her think things she shouldn't. "I miss the team," she says, "I miss us,"
"We all do," their friends have moved on. To new teams, new lives, new purposes. So why are they the two that can't follow? "We're stuck in a rut, you know," he chuckles sadly, taking a few steps closer to her.
"What do you mean?" she realizes how close their bodies are. She can nearly smell him.
"The two of us, we're stuck until we reach a conclusion," he's been thinking about this speech for a long time, planning his words carefully for the day she returned. "So I say we come to a conclusion. Right here. Right now," his hands are reaching around her waist.
She panics. The moon is going to swallow them both and then she won't have anything except her feelings. No rationality, no hindsight, no logic. She can't take this raw emotion anymore, it's too destructive.
"Garfield stop it, we're not…I'm not…" she's afraid she'll stop breathing, stop thinking, but still her fingers are gripping his shirt, "God you're so stupid,"
"Yeah, you always used to say that," he draws her in and they stand like this, her face against his neck, his pressed against her soft hair.
The moon is as big as a house and the two of them stay locked, basking in multiple glows.
"I love you," she sighs, defeated. He inhales deeply and she enjoys the feeling of his expanding chest.
"I missed hearing you say that," he knows he might cry any second and is afraid he'll ruin the moment, "Good to know it's still true,"
"Garfield?" she queries as she tips her head up and lifts onto her toes.
"Yeah?" he gulps, looking down at her.
"I'm home now," she smiles bashfully. It's the kind of smile that barely registers, that leaves blushes on the ears but the cheeks unscathed, that makes him remember who they are and have been, and makes him decide to kiss her in this moment.
And forever.
Author's Note:
Thanks everybody for 100 reviews!
This is my longest chapter yet, but don't worry, you've got one more until the conclusion! I'm very happy with this chapter, which was inspired by the team's break-up in the comics, as well as the tension between our favorite characters throughout the ordeal. I have in fact seen a moon like the one mentioned, and I do think it can make you do crazy things. I also feel, after reviewing this fic, that I have shown the evolution of this relationship, as well as the growing of the characters not only psychologically, but also through the transition from childhood to adulthood. So thank you again and stay tuned for the final chapter.
Up Next, Chapter 20: Valentine
