His head spun at the sight of all those teens. The water fountain behind him had been flooded because someone stuffed gum down the drain. A band of teens were bouncing off the tables and walls, dancing and laughing as if they were in some kind of movie. The worst of all was the trio of girls, singing alternative music on the top of their lungs.

Garfield was eager to flee the chaos. His poor ears unfortunately must've been damaged because when he finally arrived at the designated table, he couldn't hear the words Richard was mouthing to him.

"What?" He could hear his voice just fine but Richard was pin drop silent. "What did you say? My eardrums are blasted because of the chicks downstairs."

"Hush Garfield, we are playing a game." Kori placed a gentle hand over his mouth and beckoned him to sit beside her.

The pair stared down at Richard who kept making weird shapes with his lips. First was a straight line, then an O, another line and a tiny rectangle made from the opening of his mouth. He seemed rather irritated, clenching the sides of the table as if he was about to fall over. The furrow of his brow grew increasingly as Kori guessed phrase after phrase.

"Your name is Dick?" She squinted her eyes humorously at his mouth, leaning closer and closer until she was halfway over the table. "He knows my side?"

Garfield groaned in boredom, pushing Kori back to sit down as her force nearly broke the table off its screws on the ground. "This is so dumb."

"Richard, your pronunciation lacks the clarity. I can't understand what you're saying." She shook her head in defeat.

Richard, looking as if he was about to shrivel into the ground, said loudly and clearly, "Victor is sick!"

"You could've just said so. I already knew that." Garfield rolled his eyes, waving his phone screen in Richard's face. There sat a text message from Victor from half an hour ago.

"But Kori didn't!"

"You're always over complicating shit." He patted Richard on the head and grabbed Kori by the shoulder. "Your boyfriend is going crazy." He muttered.

"I feel it was not necessary to tell me this through lip reading."

"But you wanted to play a game!"

"This wasn't a game. I didn't have any fun." She humphed, crossing her arms and sticking her nose into the air. "Your taste is horrid."

Garfield could see that Richard was left speechless, having no smart comeback or retort to shoot at his girlfriend.

"I give up!"

"Good." Garfield had his left hand on the table, fidgeting as the pair ate in silence. He could tell they were distancing; readable like books, they acted indifferent. Kori seemed awfully relaxed, sipping her water quietly, and Richard just continued to scribble messy notes while he munched on a salad. Was this the beginning of their downfall?

He couldn't imagine it. Perhaps he was overreacting but he'd rather have that over the two of them separated.

It was apparent that they had nothing to talk about, so he decided to change the subject. "Did you know that if you have water spilt over your crotch, the teacher will let you skip?" He asked spontaneously, grabbing his friend's pen so he had no choice but to respond.

"You skipped class?" Richard snapped, forgetting about his pen automatically.

Kori questioned him in great interest, "So if I spill water, I am able to skip class? I do think my history quiz is going to trouble my grades next period."

Richard knocked him on the shoulder for putting that idea in her head and scolded, "Kori, don't do it. It's immoral and it doesn't even work."

Garfield placed land mines where Richard was heading. Treading carefully, he casually added, "Oh, I know it does."

"You're joking around."

"Nope," he said with a click of his tongue, "I can even prove it."

"Do it."

Grabbing Kori's bottle, he chucked some water at Richard, wetting the bottom of his shirt and pants. He slammed the bottle back down, launching into a full sprint as Richard stared in horror.

"Fuck you!" Kori gasped at the sound of Richard swearing.

Garfield imagined how pissed off Richard must've felt, being fooled that easily. It was too satisfying ticking him off. Swiftly jumping down the stairs three at a time, he let out a breathy laugh which ended quickly as Richard came running towards him.

"Shit." He muttered, swinging himself around the railing of the stairs and off towards another table.

The air and the sound bounced off him as Garfield darted around, avoiding the fatal hands of his friend. An idea suddenly sparked his mind. Ignoring the possibility that people could've been watching him, he dashed to a lunch table where three neighbourly faces sat.

Head diving behind the table, he thumped the center of his chest. The exhilaration was apparent in the beating of his heart and small, fast breaths he kept taking. Tucking his form into a tight ball, he relaxed behind the table.

"Want me to cover for you?" Someone whispered into his ear.

He nodded, tucked inside his body. The scent of Karen eventually subsided, making him sigh in relief.

Garfield heard her in the distance, frantically dragging Richard's attention away to Garth, who he presumed was Aqualad because who else would be dorky enough to be called 'Garth'. He made a mental note to tease his fishy friend about his unfortunate pant split in music. As quoted from Karen, "He had the audacity to sit on a music stand! A damn music stand!"

Much to his delight when he poked his head up, Garfield was greeted with the sight of an annoyed Jo and confused Wally staring back at him.

"Well, well, what do we have here?" Letting out a mischievous grin, Garfield knelt against the table. He took this time to study their appearances. It had been a while since he had seen Wally up close and it seemed that Jo had no hesitation when it came to shaking things up.

Wally, donning a burgundy cardigan and black undershirt on his top half, was ecstatic as soon as he recognized Garfield. "It's great to see you again, Gar. I honestly didn't recognize you until I saw that fang of yours."

"Really? It's still there?"

"Duh." Wally slid a thin piece of paper towards him, flashing a gentleman smile. "So what do you want to order?"

"Order? This isn't a restaurant." Picking up the 'menu', Garfield could recognize the print out from online on the school website.

Jo shook her head and groaned. "I'm not getting you food again, Wally."

"Why not? You did it yesterday."

"That was because you told me you sprained your ankle, which was obviously a lie."

"Can't you do it again?"

"Screw you!" She turned a blind eye away and threw her feet onto the table. The chair tipped over at the imbalance as she pushed her pointed boots into Wally's face. He howled in laughter as she tipped over gracefully and landed on her side. "I'm going to break your legs if you keep this up."

"Don't forget who runs you to school, m'lady." Wally said as he held out a helping hand. Jo reluctantly took it, but not before flicking him in the head.

"You guys are too cute." Garfield gagged at the sight of the Wally affectionately holding his pink haired girlfriend. She blew a raspberry back at him.

Wally raised an eyebrow. "You're only saying that because Dick and Kori are acting up."

"They were fighting over lip reading! It's so stupid." The pair hummed in agreement.

Garfield close his eyes and placed his head on the table. Spilling that water was all for Kori surprisingly. He couldn't stand the thought of the two getting upset, especially after what happened up on the roof.

'How was Kori doing?' He thought about that cheerleading captain who sought after Richard's shoulders. It made him relieved that he didn't have to worry about a girlfriend unlike his friends. Though, having someone to talk to all the time would've been nice.

Reminding himself of Rachel, Garfield listened in on his surroundings, weaving through all sorts of voices and sounds. A heavy cough and clicking of keys came from the right. To his left, there must've been a group of band members because he could hear one of them tuning their violin. But right in front of him was a maze of shouts, clacks and conversations. It had a weakening effect on his mind as he stumbled to find words to describe the areas around him.

Why was he listening in again? To find Rachel of course, but how could he find someone who likes peace and quiet by listening?

He had prided in remembering how serene she looked back at the quiet bakery. Her posture relaxed as soon as they walked in and were greeted by the sight of quiet customers. Some reading, some drinking and some typing, they all lounged around, soaking up the afternoon sun streaming through the windows.

She must've liked it like that. He didn't of course but her constant small talk with him kept him from going berserk.

Thus, he couldn't be able to find Rachel by listening. He doubted she was talking or hanging around a crowded area in the first place.

Wait! A lightbulb lit up in his mind. If she seemingly strayed away from noise, perhaps he could listen for the muted areas of the cafeteria!

He had never tried it before. In missions, his exceptional hearing was called for when the team needed to locate or recognize a sound. Garfield's ability to isolate specific sounds grew phenomenal, especially after their villains began to don disguises. But with crafty thinking, if he separated all the areas from each other, he would be able to come up with a general idea of where she would be.

He knew that she wouldn't be to his left because of the field instruments dotted around the tables. The front was ruled out because of the haphazard energy bubbling in the most populated area of the cafeteria. To his right were a cluster of conversations, he concluded from the messy and random sounds he kept hearing about.

The only option was up. He pointed his eyes above his head where a ceiling hung, carrying lonely Kori and her water bottle. The four sat in the middle of the second level, leaning towards the left. There were footsteps to the right from a dance crew practicing a noisy routine. But as his eyes trailed forward, he wondered who hung around the other side. After all, the floors of the second level bordered around the entire lower room which meant there had to be people furthest from the stairs.

His ears twitched under his disguise; nothing could be heard.

"So what did you do after that?" Victor sniffed back a sneeze, wiping his runny nose into his sleeve. "Did ya' serenade her?"

"I found her in the corner at a table alone. I think she was reading something inappropriate because she wouldn't let me see the book." Garfield pondered into the walls of Victor's rooms. The echoes bounced off the sides, causing Victor to yip up and sneeze.

Garfield slid the necklace off with one hand, transforming back to his old self as he carefully placed the silver onto a metal working bench. Grabbing the peony dressed tissue box, he held out a supportive hand while his friend blew his nose.

Victor thanked him with a small smile before groggily lying back down on the metal table. His parts clattered at the contact of the surface, sending him into another sneezing fit which filled the room.

If Victor wasn't so sick, Garfield would've pulled out his phone to record the phenomenon as Richard's new ringtone!

Joking aside, Garfield worried for his friend. Victor was too self aware and immersed in medicine to fall sick to a simple cold, especially since many of his internal organs were advanced with manmade parts. Perhaps he caught a bug from another peer in school; this seemed like the only logical explanation.

"Dude, how did you get so sick?" Victor gave him a snort at his question.

"What, I'm not allowed to get sick or somethin'?" He knocked against his chest, "This is still human."

"Yeah but you getting sick is like Dick slacking off. Impossible!" Garfield waved his hands in the air wildly, animating his frustrations through a series of gestures. "It's, it's... what do you call something that is the opposite of what you think should happen?"

"Irony?"

"Yes, irony! It's irony."

"You mean ironic." It was a relief that Victor's deadbeat sarcasm hadn't lost its effect through sickness.

"Ironic, smonic, it doesn't matter." Garfield leaped onto the 'bed', flinching was the metal table's wheels jilted around. He knocked a fist, testing the hardness of his friend's choice of slumber. "Don't you have a bed?"

Victor glanced at him through puffy, red eyes. "Yeah, man." He heaved himself off, sniffing into another tissue. With a click of a button on one of the legs, the table hand flipped around, revealing a half cushioned mattress.

"Sweet." Garfield relaxed onto the surface after Victor laid down. "So why are you so sick?"

"If I don't answer, will you keep bugging me?"

Garfield gave him a sly look, easing himself onto his stomach before saying, "Abso-freakin-lutely."

" 'Kay but you gotta change into something. The weird faces you make creep the heck out of me." He nodded in approval as Garfield seemingly sunk into the form of a chickadee. His finger reached out to stroke Garfield's small round head, giving it light taps until his friend let out a small chirp. "That's cute. Now I can call you birdbrain too."

The green bird gave him a peck in the hand and caught the chance to walk up Victor's arm, finally reaching the height of his shoulder.

The view of the room felt like a science fiction novel. His beady eyes flickered under the afternoon sun that flooded the room. As if they were rivers, light slid down the cabinets and monitors, curving and bending at every turn and jut. Some could the time of day quite romantic for it had transformed the steel cold room into a nostalgic office on front of Garfield's eyes. Had it not been for the metal man's loud sniffing beside his body, Garfield could've snuggle up and fell asleep with his feet tucked into his feathers.

The flush on Victor's face bled through his deep skin, appearing shallow and subtle. It swept like a blanket over the bridge of his nose, fading into the high points of his cheek. Seeing his friend from this close up, Garfield noted the droopy eye he donned while staring at the palm of his hand.

He seemed deep in thought, gazing his hand as if he were a prophet. A sudden thought must've spark his head because his cheek grew ruddier by the second.

Garfield let out a meek chirp, waking up the ill from his lost thoughts. Victor hummed in odd agreement, interrupting the reticence with a laugh. Unlike the ones he would give when Garfield screwed up a prank or a plan would backfire on his leader, this held rancorous taste. It began quietly and grew to a high where it soon fell down, tumbling into a slice of silence.

Chilling, indeed. The air brushing against Garfield's beak halted as his friend held back a breath.

"I thought the whole new kid thing was a hoax. Honestly, I'm my head, it was over exaggerated bullshit. Making friends shouldn't be that hard. I'm not that out of the ordinary, am I?"

His face seemed huge as he turned to stare at Garfield for an answer. The shifter shook his head, rocking his entire body while doing so.

"I'm smart. I get good grades and I don't cause trouble. I play sports and I have a decent eye for design. I thought I was pretty rounded out. I couldn't get anyone to talk to me on the first day. All I had was Karen and Jo who aren't even in my grade." His eyelid fell shut when he slid off the wall and into a lying position. "My bio partner refused to talk to me because she thought I had a player streak. It felt horrible having to explain to her that I wasn't trying to hit on her."

There was a time and place for tears. Garfield had only seen Victor cry twice before. The first had been when he finally mastered the 'perfect' chocolate soufflé. The most recent was from an infamous prank; Garfield had shoved black pepper into an aerosol can.

But genuine tears, ones of sadness, were a rare occurrence for the two older boys in the tower. Richard kept his high strung emotions to himself but Victor rarely got upset to the point of shedding tears.

"Well, I've been trying to join a bunch of clubs lately. I've signed up for robotics, basketball, football and even the competitive science team. I'm too used to be one of a kind; on our team, everyone has a different role. But here, there's people who share bits with you that you can't help but feel shitty about. No one relies on me and I can't rely on anyone."

In the form of a chickadee, Garfield's eyes were attentive of the trickling tears welling into the bottom lid of Victor's eye. But once the tears stopped forming, they seeped away. It was as if the tears themselves were too hesitant to fall.

"I got this mean cold because some boys thought it would've been funny if they poured ice down my back after today's practice." With a heavy sniff and a wipe of the nose, Victor spoke up. "Ah, enough about me." He plucked Garfield up with his finger, lifting the elfin bird up to his face. "So tell me about this Rachel."

The animal hopped off his finger, fluttering down to the tiled floor. It shimmied it's body until Beast Boy emerged.

He cupped his chin with his hand, thinking about the girl of subject. He leaned on one foot, swaying side to side as he reminisced "Well she wears a fuck ton of black. And grey. And purple. Maybe even burgundy when she's feeling risky."

"So she's goth?"

"Maybe. But she's also really sophisticated. She looks more just dark rather goth. Like a slinky cat."

"Is she nice?"

"I don't really know. She's nice to me but at the same time, she's sarcastic. I can't tell when she isn't being serious sometimes." He leaned into his arms which were propping up his head while he lost himself in his memories. "I don't mind though."

Victor sniffed, wiping his nose into another tissue. "You've ever seen her with other people?"

"No, just this girl. But they don't get along too well."

"So you're special, huh?" Victor patted a hand on Garfield's back, drowsily laughing into empty space. "That's my boy, being a ladies' man!"

"I've never been a ladies' man, dude. You better go to sleep." Garfield reaches a hand towards his friend's forehead, pressing his fingers into the burning skin. "You always say stupid shit when you aren't fully conscious."

"But you've matured so much! You just don't see how different you are now."

"My vision is perfectly fine."

"Nuh uh. You need your eyes checked because you are blind as can be."

"Whatever." Garfield huffed, hands twitching against the railing of the makeshift bed. Had Victor not been sick, he would've left the annoyance alone.

"You like her." He slurred his Rs as he swayed his head side to side. A dopey smile fell onto Victor's face as he teased Garfield. "You two should go on cutesy dates and watch the romantic sunset because you're in love!"

The shifter rolled his eyes, pushing Victor back into the bed. Tugging a fallen quilt from the ground onto Victor's body, Garfield gently waved a hand over his friend's eyes. "I can feel the heat from here. You should get some rest before you tell me to kiss Richard or something."

"I'm not the one who's crazy, man." Settling deeper into the quilt, Victor let out a final yawn. "You are."

"Goodnight, dude."

I've been rereading my writing recently and notice my lack of dialogue. I've tried to change things up by writing mostly dialogue this entire chapter which has lead to me writing a 3000+ words chapter. I didn't want to hit 100,000 words but I'm terrified I will.

As for the BBRAE action... you'll get it next chapter. As a big fan of slowburn, I like to drag things out a bit.

So what did you think? Was there too much dialogue? Would you like me to stick to more vivid descriptions or character interaction?

I've written romance, angst, tragedy, horror, humor, drama and sci-fi but next chapter is full of action, something I've never written before so buckle up.

Its going to be a long ride!

PS: Yes its f-ing three am when I'm publishing this long chapter. Its prewritten and I just got reminded that my favourite manga updates slow as hell so I felt really bad for not posting...

-Catisa~Orsilla