Hello faithful readers! I figured that before I took off later this week for my birthday adventures that I would drop in this little gift for you guys. :) I want to thank everyone for all the favs, reviews, and follows. They really mean a lot to me. I also enjoy reading everyone's responses to the story. So be sure to keep those reviews coming!
Chapter Six:
Later Christmas Day:
Before long Robin and Starfire left the common room to prepare for their trip to Gotham.
Cyborg finally wandered away to put away his new toys and to spend some quality time working on his baby, leaving Raven and Beast Boy to their respective musings.
Raven, ever constant, hadn't budged from her spot on the couch. Completely engrossed in the book held between her pale hands.
The green teen paused his game briefly to glance around the now empty common room. He glanced behind him noting that they were the last two in the room. It both excited him and made him a tad bit nervous. Not wanting his emotions to get the best of him he returned his attention to the hand held system now resting on his lap and smiled slightly.
Upon opening the gift he had been absolutely delighted for the device! Over the moon in fact, he'd been wanting to purchase it himself for a while but decided to save for the holidays.
But as always, anytime he showed too much emotion, most excitement Raven had to go and put a damper on his spirits. Informing him that now, maybe the tower would gain a bit of peace and quiet, since he had the luxury of being able to play the new system within the confines of his own bedroom.
He was no stranger to the fact that often times the overly competitive gaming sessions that he and Cy would have, caused a great deal of headache for the violet haired beauty behind him.
And knowing Raven, he was sure that she hadn't meant it in a harsh way and that her heart had truly been in the right place at the thought of the gift. They all knew how badly he'd been wanting it.
Her words had cut deeper than she probably even realized, putting a large damper on his spirits, leaving him feeling slightly disappointed, not to mention discouraged.
The swish of her cloak drew his gaze to her, he watched quietly as she moved into the kitchen to prepare herself a cup of tea, having finally finished with her cocoa. She placed her previous mug in the sink while taking out the one he'd gotten for her, his eyes widened briefly in realization at what would soon be revealed and he shifted himself casually up onto the couch, turning enough to hide his face a bit from her. Afraid of what her reaction would be.
The time it took her water to boil was torture for the changeling. He listened intently from his position as she moved about pouring the water over the teabag before allowing it to steep.
A small gasp echoed into his sensitive hearing, alerting him to her realization that it was no simple mug. He kept his head forward but was killing himself looking out of his peripherals to gauge her reaction to the image that was slowly revealing itself.
Slowly but surely the darkness of the mug faded leaving behind a cartooned image of the two of them holding each other, foreheads pressed together, gazes locked, with a smile on both their faces.
Raven gasped more loudly this time, unintentionally releasing her grip on the mug, having taken in the image gracing it's surface.
Both pairs of eyes were glued to the mug, as gravity pulled it toward the floor.
Raven worried, certain that it would indeed break despite what the changeling had said about it standing up against her powers, but was unable to move a muscle to stop it on it's descent.
Realizing this, Beast Boy instinctively jumped into action in order to save the mug, praying he could keep it from spilling it's contents on the sorceress. However he hadn't been fast enough and the mug clattered to the floor, the scalding liquid soaking his arms.
He hissed in pain trying to shake off the stinging sensation coating his limps. Carefully he leaned down picking up the mug before standing to full height before her.
Her eyes were glued to his green form for several moments before she shifted to meet his gaze.
The changeling put on a fake smile to hide his pain handing the mug off to her. "Didn't believe me when I said it was durable huh?" he teased trying to defuse the situation at hand.
All she could do was stare at him with her dazzling amethyst eyes, she blinked startled when his hand touched hers placing the mug against her palm.
Taking the mug delicately in shock she noticed the patches of red on his dark skin. Without a word she placed the mug on the counter, causing him to start to panic, especially when her hands then reached out for his arm, pulling it toward her.
Beast Boy watched in silence as her hand started to glow with a blue light over the burns on his skin. The cooling effect of her magic felt wonderful, but it also sparked a fire in his blood. Having her touching him so gingerly brought a blush to his cheeks and his heart raced as she continued to heal him.
Once she'd finished she ran a finger over his skin to make sure her job was done.
The sensation sent a shiver down his spine, eyes still glued to her, "Thanks Raven," he whispered softly not wanting to ruin the moment.
Her gaze moved to meet his and a blush quickly spread across her face at their proximity, but she didn't dare move away.
Beast Boy could see the struggle for words in her eyes, she wanted to say something but for once words were failing her. Curious, he stood patiently waiting for her to gather her thoughts. Each of them staring into the others eyes.
Until finally she spoke, "You really put a lot of thought into this gift didn't you?"
BB nodded with a fond smile gracing his lips, "After that night that...uh...your mug exploded I got to thinking about how many of them your powers have destroyed. I heard you mention there only being one left in the cabinet that night, so I got the idea that you needed something to withstand your powers. That way you would always have one for your tea. I know my past gifts haven't always been the best, you're really hard to shop for Rae, but this year, I wanted to do something special. To give you something you'd love and that would be useful."
Her eyes remained focused on his, her brows knit together, "Why?"
The changeling blinked in confusion, "Why what?" he asked softly.
"Why go through so much trouble just to get something so special for me? The others never put so much thought into their gifts," her eyes finally left his as she reached over picking up the mug, holding it in her hands brows still furrowed in confusion, "So why go through the trouble of special ordering something like this? It couldn't have been cheap." she clarified.
"I wanted you to be happy, Rae." he stated simply, "I always want for you to be happy and I will always do whatever it takes to make that happen. Money is no object." He watched as her fingers traced over the fading cartoon drawing of the two of them.
"Why does my happiness matter so much to you Garfield?" she asked looking up at him again.
"You're my best friend Raven, so of coarse I want you to be happy. Everyone deserves to be happy, even you, despite what you might think."
She could tell there was more to that statement, his emotions were finally hitting her, he was nervous but sincere in his words and something else lingered just beyond the surface. An emotion she couldn't place, she had to find out, "What about this?" she asked tapping the surface of the mug where their likenesses resided."
"Do you not like it Rae?" he asked practically holding his breath waiting for her answer, he'd worked so hard on that drawing.
She shook her head, "That's not what I meant Garfield. It's sweet, but what is it suppose to symbolize?"
Leave it to Raven to question something so incredibly obvious, even the others knew how he felt about her, taking a deep breath to prepare himself he reached forward placing his hands over hers, "It's a symbol of how much I care about you Rae. You said it yourself, I put a lot of thought into this one. It consumed my mind for the better part of a few months. The drawing itself took me at least a week to finish and it took nearly a month to find someone to craft it for you. You mean a lot to me Raven," slowly he moved closer to her putting his other hand around her waist praying she didn't throttle him, but by the shocked look in her gaze he didn't think she could even move or speak.
"Since the first day we met, I saw how lonely you were. How much you wanted to be accepted and belong somewhere. I know the feeling all too well, so I was more than happy to make sure that you felt like you belonged each and everyday. My methods weren't exactly always successful, but I was determined to do whatever it took even if I ended up looking like a complete idiot in the end. Overtime my small crush, developed into something more."
He paused staring into her eyes watching the whirlwind of emotions brewing in those gorgeous gems.
"But..Terra?" she spoke her voice deep with emotion.
He shook his head, "She arrived around the time I had considered giving up on my crush for you. I'd been so depressed thinking that a chance with you would never happen. I never truly loved her. She was just sorta there, as bad as that sounds. I thought I could love her because she seemed so interested in me. I was stupid to ever think I could care about anyone as much as I cared for you. After that whole ordeal I licked my wounds and decided to never give up on you again, to never give up on a chance for us. I love you, Raven."
She gasped at the confession, her hands trembling within his due to her struggle to keep her emotions in check. Black energy encased several items in the common area levitating them off the ground, "Garfield, I've been exceedingly cruel to you. I have hurt you on multiple occasions. I am a demon..you deserve..." her words were cut off as his lips pressed against her own to silence her rambling.
The green teen had always hated how she looked down on herself. How she felt she wasn't good enough due simply to her demonic heritage and it drove him absolutely insane! Why couldn't she see just how truly amazing she was? When his lips captured hers he felt her tense in his arms, he was sure not to release all of his emotions in the process not wanting to overwhelm her more than she already was. After a few precious moments, she leaned into him and returned his kiss.
He couldn't help but smile against her lips as he pulled her closer. He'd waited for this for so long that he could hardly believe it was happening.
Her arms snaked around his waist , the mug still grasped firmly in her hands.
Needing air the two separated panting slightly, Garfield rested his forehead against hers, his eyes closed relishing the moment not knowing how much longer it would last. A musical noise caught his attention and as he focused opening his eyes he realized she was chuckling with a smile gracing her flushed lips.
He couldn't keep the grin off his face at the site of happiness bubbling in her eyes, though he was more than curious at the chuckle.
She seemed to pick up on the confusion when she met his eyes, "Sorry, I just thought it was humorous that our current position reflects that of the image on the mug."
He fought not to let his grin falter at her words, he felt on edge now that she knew how he felt and she hadn't said anything regarding his confession. Sure she'd kissed him in return but that didn't exactly mean she felt the same and it made him beyond nervous.
Silence grew between them as they simply stared at each other. 'We seem to be doing that a lot lately,' he noted. "So..um..Rae," he started as he pulled away slightly to get a better look at her, his face heating up with uncertainty, "Do you um...like your gift?" he asked awkwardly.
She blinked, her brows furrowing slightly before shaking her head. He fought back disappointment seeing the reaction, before her voice caught his attention again, "No Gar," his heart fluttered in his chest at the shortened nickname, "I don't like my gift," at this his smile fell and his eyes drew downcast he slowly removed his arms from her waist to put a bit of distance between them.
Feeling like his world was slowly crumbling around him, he had failed again. 'Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid,' he thought to himself. Before he could completely pull away Raven, whose arms were still firmly around the changeling pulled him back to her shocking him in the process, he'd completely forgotten where her arms were and a blush rose to his cheeks again as he hesitantly returned his gaze to hers.
"You idiot," she smiled fondly, not just her usual partial smile either, but her full on smile that had him mesmerized, "I love it!"
Garfield blinked hardly believing his ears, he simply stared at her in stunned silence which made her giggle again. Happiness was bubbling deep inside him first a full on smile and then another giggle! If that wasn't enough to shock him, then the fact that she leaned forward and pressed a quick kiss to his lips, sent his mind into euphoria! He instantly wrapped his arms around her picking her up and swinging her around laughing happily before stopping and looking at her a full grin plastered on his face.
"Sooo...does that mean that..." he broke off unsure how to phrase his question. Luckily for him she was kind enough to provide the answer...
"I love you too." Raven leaned forward again and Beast Boy eagerly closed his eyes in anticipation...
to be continued in chapter seven...
I do believe this has been the longest chapter yet! Thank you all again for all the support you've offered in reading this story. Do not worry, this is not the end for this one, there is still more to come. So stay tuned to find out what happens next for our heroes. :) Hope you have a wonderful week!