I'm a broke ass bitch, I don't own shit.

Except a conditional offer for my dream university! WHOOHOO!

This chapter contains material regarding a certain religion that some may find offensive. But then if you were the type of person who might get offended by someone not believing in God, then you wouldn't be reading a fanfiction about a half demon getting it on with a green shapeshifter, now, would you?

Enjoy.

Chapter 7

"Raven." Nightwing greeted the demi-demon with a sharp nod as she walked into the common room, book in hand. Raven nodded in return, quickly sweeping the room with her wide violet eyes. The whole team, excluding Kid Flash and Jinx, who were still in Scotland, was present and watching her carefully.

"I trust you're recovered now?" Raven noted the genuine concern in her leader's words, and couldn't help her small smile. While he could be an asshole at times, it was only his way of showing he cared. He meant well, really.

"Yes, thank you." Raven opened the book to the section on blessed warriors, and passed it to Nightwing. The book had very little information, barely even a page, but it was the only book she had that mentioned them at all.

"Friend Raven, we are concerned. You mentioned that Angel could be the warrior which has been blessed? What does this mean?" Star was worried, but the empath noted she looked far more rested than she had in the medical bay. Raven nodded to the book in their leader's hands, which he had already scanned and passed over to Cyborg.

"I believe that Angel is a blessed warrior. They were essentially angel soldiers, designed to fight demons. You know, the whole eternal battle of good versus evil deal." Changeling snorted at her deadpan tone as he padded over to Cyborg's side, peering over his shoulder at the well-worn book. Raven carefully avoided his gaze, choosing to stare out the window instead.

"You all heard her earlier today, about being a servant of God?" The team nodded in unison, seemingly entirely focused on the matter at hand. Raven took a deep breath before she continued; this was the complicated part.

"Well, there is no such thing. At least, not in the religious sense. As you know, demons and angels come from another dimension. Some of us believe God and Satan to be the original angel and devil, and will worship them. Others think they're just a myth. A few fanatics thought they were real beings, and may have spawned a religion or two while crossing over to this dimension. Whatever the case, the blessed angels have always believed their purpose was to fight demons in order to please God. I believe Angel is a descendant of one, and probably one of the fanatics by the way she was talking." There was a strained silence, and Raven would tell what she was saying was doing nothing to ease the concern of her teammates. She decided it was probably better to leave out the fact that if Angel had been a pure blooded blessed warrior, she could have easily killed Raven.

"Our people have been at war for centuries. As natural enemies, we're evenly matched, but we drain each other quickly. Our opposing auras clash, and feed off of each another." Raven scowled and rubbed at her previously injured side. "Which means we're able to seriously harm one another, if one can catch the other off guard."

"So if she can drain you, you can drain her, correct?" Raven turned to smile at her alien best friend.

"Yes, Star. I just need to get the hit in first next time." The relief Starfire felt washed over Raven in warm waves, and the empath audibly sighed as the tension in the room lifted.

"So, this isn't anything serious we need to worry about?" Nightwing questioned, hope evident in his tone. Raven smiled softly.

"No, it's not serious. Just another God loving fanatic versus half-demon thing." Nightwing nodded at her answer, closing over the leather bound book and handing it back to its owner.

"In that case, I say we celebrate! This is Rae's eighteenth, after all!" Changeling shot the empath a cheeky grin, and started towards her, no doubt to wrap her in some unnecessary hug and make her lose control. Raven released a breath she didn't know she was holding when Cyborg intercepted, wrapping his huge arm around Changeling's shoulders.

"And your return! Double celebration bro!" Raven didn't miss the stab of annoyance from Changeling, but it quickly melted away in favour of affection for Cyborg. She mentally thanked Azar for the metal man's obliviousness.

"I shall order the pizza," Starfire announced, floating towards the kitchen. "Friend Raven shall select the movies, and then Friend Changeling shall regale us with the thrilling tales of his travels while we await the cheesy goodness."

"Yeah, BB. You never told us what you were doing all this time." Said Cyborg. The shapeshifter shrugged and allowed himself to be steered towards the couch. Raven subtly placed herself on the other end of the couch, Cyborg between them.

"Well, uh" The normally talkative Changeling suddenly clammed up, looking slightly uncomfortable. "I kinda just… drifted. Let myself go where the wind took me, shifting as much as possible. I never really had a destination in mind, but…" Changeling trailed off. A strange look came over his face, almost as if he was pained, but before Raven could reach out to his emotions, he sighed, and his expression cleared. "I ended up home."

"At the base of the Doom Patrol?" Starfire inquired, poking her head through the kitchen doorway.

"No, Star." Changeling sighed again. "My home in Senegal."

Starfire's eyes widened and Cyborg blinked several times. Raven fought to compose her features as she noticed Nightwing, from his spot in the corner, hadn't reacted. Of course, she thought, her eyes narrowing. Changeling must have debriefed with the leader earlier.

The unease in the room was palpable, even without Raven's empathic abilities. The team were aware of Changeling's background, and they all knew his time in Africa had been traumatic to say the least. At the age of nine, Garfield Logan had been living in Senegal, where he was bitten by a monkey infected with the Sakutia virus. His parents had been researching the virus at the time, and had given him an experimental cure, which had resulted in his shape-shifting abilities. He survived the virus, but his skin remained green. Shortly after, his parents had been killed in a boating accident. Garfield had been unable to save them, and a piece of him still blamed himself for their deaths.

Senegal was a difficult subject for Changeling, and not one that the team broached often.

"That must have been difficult." Changeling's head jerked up at Raven's voice, and her heart did a strange fluttery thing at his sad smile.

"It was… oddly therapeutic." Changeling's eyes were distant. "As soon as I got there, all the animals inside me just went quiet. Like they were resting. I think… I think it was what I needed to do."

"What about the new bod?" Cyborg nudged his best friend, wiggling his eyebrows. "Last time we saw you, you were a scrawny lil string bean! You been working out on the road?"

Changeling grinned, the distant look in his eye gone as he rubbed at the back of his neck.

"When my animals went quiet, I kinda panicked. Thought I'd lost my powers. So I just started shifting into every animal I knew – turns out I hadn't lost them, they were just calm, for once. When I turned back into my human form, I sorta blacked out. When I woke up," Here he broke off, and gestured to himself. "I had grown up. 'Bout time, huh?"

"I'll say! You look good, green bean!" Changeling grinned at the praise, and Raven quickly pulled her hood over her head to hide her blush. He did, indeed, look good. Far too good.

"The pizza has been ordered, in copious amounts, and will be arriving shortly. Friend Raven, would you care to select the movie?"

"Eh, Star, aren't you forgetting something?" The alien princess frowned at her human boyfriend for a second, before understanding dawned on her face.

"Of course, the gifts!"

Raven rolled her eyes, turning to her teammates.

"I said I didn't want any-"

"We know, Friend Raven, but we decided otherwise." Starfire floated forwards, grabbing Raven by the hand and pulling her from the arm of the sofa onto the middle of it. As if on cue, her teammates all produced wrapped parcels, seemingly from thin air. All except Changeling, who flushed, looking embarrassed.

"Sorry Rae, I kinda didn't have time to pick up anything-"

"Don't worry about it," Raven cut him off. "You coming home is all I need." Changeling's eyes widened as Raven's face turned scarlet. Where had that come from?!

Cyborg's hoots of laugher drowned out Starfire's giggles, as Nightwing only smiled knowingly.

"A-anyway, presents?"

Dutifully, Nightwing stepped forward, a suspiciously book-shaped package in his hands.

Raven wasn't really sure how it had happened.

The pizza had arrived just as the movie had begun, and Raven had been jostled from her seat in the scramble for food. As the chaos died down, Raven found Cyborg had stolen her seat beside Starfire, and the half-demon was forced to sit beside Changeling, who was scarfing down his Vegan Supreme. She sat stiffly, hands folded in her lap, planning a swift exit once the movie finished.

However, the pizza was swiftly polished off, and this meant Changeling was no longer distracted.

It had started out as a gentle tugging on her hand, and Raven had been absorbed enough in the movie to ignore it. The next thing she knew her hand was in Changeling's lap, and he was playing with it like a kitten with yarn. He drew patterns on her palm, dragging the tips of his fingers from the inside of her wrist to the very ends of her fingers. He placed his palm against hers, the size of his hand easily outspanning hers, and she, for some unknown, Azar-forsaken reason, linked their fingers together. It at least put an end to his infernal fidgeting.

Somehow, that handholding had evolved into Raven leaning into his side, his arm draped over her shoulders, one of his hands playing with the ends of her hair, and the other still entwined with Raven's in her lap. Raven didn't have to look at Changeling to know that he was grinning triumphantly.

It had only gotten worse from there.

The movie came to a close, and one by one, Raven's teammates abandoned her.

"My night for patrol, right? I'll see you guys in the morning." A collection of farewells followed Cyborg out the door. Starfire stood as the door closed, stretching her arms.

"Boyfriend Nightwing, it is time we struck the hay. Immediately."

"Actually babe, I was gonna-"

"No you're not." Starfire quickly cut off her boyfriend, and scooping him up into her arms she bid goodnight to Raven and Changeling, before marching smartly from the room.

At first Raven's sleep addled brain didn't recognise the danger. By the time she had realised that Starfire leaving with Nightwing was a Very Bad Thing, it was too late. The door closed behind them, and within an instant Changeling had scooped the half-demon up and deposited her on his lap. Raven flushed at the position as Changeling carefully wrapped his arms around her waist, internally cursing Starfire and her matchmaking obsession. She tried not to notice that his massive arms completely covered her middle and brushed the underside of her breasts.

"Changeling," Raven squeaked uncharacteristically, "What are you doing?"

As if in response, Changeling brought his legs up on the sofa, so he was sitting cross legged, his chest pressed to Ravens back, his arms still wrapped around her waist. She felt his warm breath puff across the back of her neck, and then his nose, nuzzling her.

"Changeling?" Raven tried again.

"Sorry Rae," she could feel his voice vibrating through his chest, his lips moving at the back of her neck. "Needed to know if you were small enough to fit in my lap. And look at that," He shuffled slightly, and Raven tried really hard not to think about where her butt was brushing against, "You are." He breathed.

"Changeling, I-"

"Garfield." Raven blinked.

"Please, call me Garfield. I mean like, when it's just us, if you like- that's if, you know- um, lemme start again, I-," Raven rolled her eyes. Some things never changed.

"Garfield."

The shape-shifter sighed. Raven felt his relief pour off him like it was her own, and suddenly felt more comfortable.

"Raven?" His arms were still tight around her waist, but she found instead of feeling trapped in his embrace, Raven felt… safe. She knew she had feelings for him, knew she had felt that way for a while, but she didn't know if he felt the same way, or if he was just… horny.

"What are we doing?" A silence followed her words, as if he wasn't sure himself.

"We're cuddling." He decided eventually. "It's what people do when they like each other. They cuddle to show affection." Raven could feel her heart in her throat.

"And do we?"

"Do we what?" He nuzzled at her neck again.

"Like each other?"

Changeling froze. Raven sat perfectly still in his lap, his arms still around her, berating herself for speaking in the first place. When the guy you like drags you onto his lap and cuddles you, you don't question him. She felt his arms begin to withdraw, and opened her mouth to apologise. Before she could say a word, however, Changeling's large hands had clamped down on her hips and were lifting her up. Raven blinked as she found herself suddenly facing the shape shifter, her legs either side of his, effectively straddling him. She flushed at the position, at his warm hand on her bare thigh, at the fact that he could now pick her up and move her around with practically no effort on his part; at the fact that it seriously turned her on.

Oh, Azar.

Raven focused her gaze on his collarbone, in an attempt to avoid Changeling's eyes and her own thoughts, which were rapidly straying into dark territories, like how he'd react if she bit down on said collarbone – Azar, look somewhere else! She told herself.

"Rae?"

Raven didn't answer, her mouth pressed shut, her eyes trained on her clasped hands.

"Raven, look at me."

Grudgingly, Raven did so, and found herself locked in his gaze, like a rabbit in the headlights.

"You really think we don't like each other?"

She couldn't speak, couldn't look away from the man that she absolutely most definitely did like.

"Ok." He said. "Fine."

"Garfield I-"

"If you don't like me," he interrupted, "stop me." And then he was leaning forward, his head tilting, his eyes still gazing at her from under half-shut eyelids, and Raven was powerless to stop him, powerless to stop herself leaning in and letting her lips part ever so slightly-

"Heyooo, guess who's back- woah, what?!"

Raven's eyes flew open and she ripped herself from Changeling's grip, flying backwards away from him. A surprised Kid Flash stood with Jinx still on his back, both of them staring open mouthed at the scene they had interrupted. Kid Flash's head blurred as he looked back and forth between Raven and Changeling, before he finally stopped on the green shapeshifter.

"Beast Boy?!"

Without hesitating, Raven produced a portal to her room, and disappeared.

If you're leaving a review, let me give you some advice.

"OMG, PLS UPDATE SOONER!1 UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE!1!1!" and comments of a similar nature do absolutely nothing to motivate me or speed up the writing process. If you like the story, good, I'm glad. But please don't try to tell me what to do. I have a really busy personal life, and this is a hobby. I am not obligated to upload frequently or even at all.

That being said, I do love to hear what you guys think of the story. Just find a way to articulate yourselves other than instructing me to upload quicker. It ain't gonna work.

Love,

Pixie xo