Bargains and Balance
You guys are really demanding. So I decided to sumbit this chapter early. Yea, don't get any ideas. It wont work like this every time. I do have school, you peeps.
Btw, this is my first story on this website, so basically if you get a little lost, remember I'm experimenting with many story elements thus far. Thanks for tolerating me!
Chapter 14
Raven was pacing her room and had been for the past hour and a half. She was completely confused. It was a good thing that her powers weren't effected by her emotions.
Maybe because she didn't have any powers. Raven continued pacing. Even after all of this time, after all of this time, the mere presence of him just set her into a flurry of emotion. This shouldn't happen! She was Raven for heaven's sake. She always had her emotions in check!
Not to mention within eight or nine hours of seeing him again, she had almost let him kiss her. Which she had thankfully ducked out of before she had walked into something she couldn't get out of.
Not to mention the possibility of him discovering her. He'd be mad. Furious. Dead.
Raven did not want to go back to the festival tomorrow. It would make things infinitely worse and infinitely more dangerous. Not only did she not want to go to the festival the next day, she did not want to go to sleep and listen to what her father had to say about this. If he knew . . .
The only thing that would make things worse would be if -
The phone rang.
If I could get just one quiet moment to myself!
"Rachel," Raven said into the phone monotonously.
"Tell me you did not enjoy yourself today!" Gabbi immediately squealed from the other end of the line.
"Okay . . . I didn't enjoy myself today. Can I go now?"
"Oh, no. Not this time, hon. Gavin and I totally saw you and Mark! I mean I feel really bad for Dylan, but I don't think he knows and -"
"What are you talking about?" Raven asked her friend.
"The fact that you, like, totally like Mark! Didn't you two -"
"No we didn't. Now can I go now?"
"You are going tomorrow. I'll dress you and drag you there myself if I have to, but you are sooooo going."
Raven sighed and after a couple moments of silence said, "I didn't say I wasn't going."
The phone made a beeping noise signaling another call waiting to come in.
"Sorry, Gabbi. I have another call that's coming in at the moment."
"Sure you do," Gabbi mused. "But whatever. Call me back when you can!" Then she hung up.
"Unlikely," Raven said to herself.
She dialed the number that had tried to reach her earlier. No one answered, and after a few rings the voicemail came on.
"Hey, it's Garfield! Or Mark. Or even Logan. Depending on who you are. If you've reached this message then I'm not here right now. If it's an emergency, dial my other number. Thanks!"
Raven slowly hung up the phone. Great. Now he had her number. How in the world did things like this just happen to her?
She knew he'd call back. And there's no way she could avoid answering her phone forever without him investigating.
Raven put her back against the wall and slid down onto her rear to sit down on the ground with the phone in her hands.
She'd wait and figure this out. She had to.
Garfield had gotten her number from Gabbi (actually he was the only one she would allow to call her by her full name) who had enthusiastically insisted he have it regardless of the fact that both of them were aware of Dylan's complete obsession with Rachel.
When Rachel hadn't answered his call, Garfield had immediately assumed that she was busy. She'd call back.
The truth was, even though no one understood or believed him when he talked about her eerie resemblance to . . . to her he still felt an irresistible pull towards her. Something he hadn't felt since . . . Raven.
He chuckled to himself. A few years back he wouldn't have dared think of Rae like this. Especially when he had first encountered the Beast and basically dissed her and stood up to her at the same time.
His phone rang.
"This is Garfield."
"And this is Starfire!" came the excited reply from the other end of the line.
"Dude, you still go by that name?"
"You still call people 'dude'?"
Over time, Starfire's english had improved immensely, making it easier to talk to her and much easier to tolerate her tirades that sometimes made zero sense at all.
"So, Star. What's up?" Garfield sat down on Gavin's couch (he was staying at his place until he got his own) and put a hand behind his head.
"Richard told me about your new obsession."
"Hey! It's not an obsession. Just . . . a fascination. I guess."
"Well, it's nice to see you pursuing someone with great interest. Ever since we as Titans disbanded you have been pretty . . . detatched."
Garfield winced inwards as he noticed her avoiding mentioning Raven at all
"Well, a guy's gotta do what a guy's gotta do, right? Where's Richard anyway?"
"At the moment, he's visiting an old friend in Gotham City. It was very sudden."
"So you took it upon yourself to get a glimpse into my love life?" he asked playfully.
She laughed from the other end. "I just don't see how you'll go on from here. A friend can check up on another friend."
Garfield sighed and looked at the ceiling. "Yeah. I was thinking of just taking her to different places in Jump tomorrow. Like an extended date, only not really a date. I just . . . wanna get to know her better without everyone else, you know?"
He heard Kori's smile when she replied. "I do. But Richard and I did fine without such things."
"But you guys still dated."
"True. Well, good luck anyway. I have to go. Richard wants me to apply for a job tomorrow."
Garfield smiled. It was about time she made a place for herself in this world. Set some roots. "Thanks. And you too. Good luck I mean."
"Bye Beast Boy."
"Haven't heard that name in ages. See you too." Garfield hung up the phone and stared at it for a second. Then thinking Screw this, he dialed her number.
It rang twice before she picked up. "Rachel here."
"Uh . . . hi. This is Gar- I mean Be . . . uh . . . Mark. Uh, hi."
" . . . hi . . ."
He rubbed the back of his neck. "I was wondering what you . . . thought of the Festival thingy today."
There was a long pause and he realized how awkward that question had sounded.
"I mean . . . a . . . as a whole."
"Ah . . . well, I'm not one for social interaction. Not much."
Garfield did a fist pump inside his head. "I assumed so . . . well I mean, I had something else planned if you just want to not do a lot of social interaction."
"Like . . . a date?" she mused.
He mentally face palmed himself.
"Um, well, no. I mean like a 'get to know each other better because we don't know each other nearly as well as out other friends' type of thing," Garfield said really fast.
She paused again. This girl really knew how to keep him on edge.
"Like what?" she asked him carefully.
He shrugged them remembered she couldn't see him and said, "Stuff. There's the park. We could re-visit the coast. Oh! And there's this new pizza place downtown that I've been dying to go to for forever! Gabbi said you liked books. There's also the library."
He heard her give a soft chuckle. His heart skipped a beat and chills went down his spine. He almost thought he had heard . . . nevermind. That was impossible.
"I could do that. As long as I'm home by eight-ish. And . . . as long as you don't . . . I mean . . ." she trailed off awkwardly and Garfield could practically see her blush from here.
He had turned red as well. "I promise. It's just time wasting fun. So . . . yeah. Uh, do you think Dylan will be okay with this?"
She made a small sound of amusement. "No offense to the guy, but he can be pretty annoying. Plus, he's decent looking. He'll get a girlfriend pretty soon without me."
Garfield laughed. "Fine. So be it! I'll be there tomorrow morning when Gabbi and Gav head towards the festival."
"What do I tell her?" Rachel asked.
Garfield leaned forward and put his elbows on his knees. "Leave that to me."
"Terrific. I gotta run. See you tomorrow . . . I guess."
"Yeah. See you tomorrow."
Raven had finally stopped avoiding her own questions to herself and was looking at them in the face now. She was so dumb! How in the world had she let herself agree to this! This was such a step back in her progress of disappearing from the Titans.
More time with Garfield? That's giving him much more time to figure her out. And if he figured her out . . .
The door to her apartment buzzed and she hesitantly let the door open. A minute later he was at the door, his emerald eyed face close to hers. She hastily took some steps back.
"Sorry." He rubbed the back of his neck in a familiar gesture that made her heart scream. "Ready to go?"
"Ready as I'll ever be."
He stepped aside and swept his arms in a manner that said You first.
Raven stepped outside and watched as he closed the door behind her. "So, what time wasting task do you have planned for today?"
"I . . . well you'll see." He grinned at her as he walked past and she shrugged her shoulders to make her indigo jacket fit better on her shoulders.
As they left the property, they both failed to notice a small little grackle staring at them from where it perched on a nearby mailbox with four small red eyes.
They went to the coast first. Garfield, in reality, was winging this completely. But he didn't want Rachel to know that. There was something about her that really made him just want to get to know her better; a strange fascination that was completely different from Terra and absolutely more mysterious than his gradual relationship development with Raven.
"Well here we are. I distinctly remember that you lived near the coast once." He waggled his eyebrows at her and she gave a small smile.
"Yeah. I did once." Rachel almost sounded wistful.
He poked her with his elbow. "I'll bet you really got a close look at the Teen Titans."
She actually let out a full smile this time. "It was chaotic at times."
He carefully put a hand on her back and pushed her gently towards the water and they began walking along the edge of the water.
He kicked a rock out of their way. "You have any family?"
She seemed hesitant.
"You don't have to answer if you don't want to!" he said hastily.
"No. It . . . it's fine. I just have . . . some family issues. That's all." She hunched her shoulders a bit and Garfield decided to change the subject.
"How about friends? Or friends?" He raised an eyebrow playfully on the last word and watched as she carefully avoided his gaze.
"I had friends. And a friend."
He smiled all out. "So that proves you aren't impossible to charm."
She didn't answer, but just smiled.
They walked in an almost awkward silence but managed to stay comfortable. "Dude!" Garfield stopped and face palmed himself. "We are totally going to miss something awesome!"
Rachel looked up into his eyes with some mild confusion. "Miss something 'awesome'."
"Totally!" Garfield took her hand gently without making eye contact and dragged her behind him and they both ran back in the direction of his car.
Rachel let out a laugh as they ran in the inch deep water and he looked back at her. He found it incredibly captivating when her entire face lit up and he felt himself smile and laugh with her.
Rachel's eyes met his and for a moment he felt warm inside. Then something changed and she seemed to pull back and become more reserved.
He furrowed his brow but they got into his car and he pulled her onto the green grass that happened to be in the park.
"The park," Rachel said.
"Yup. The park. That's not the best part!"
They got out and he strode across the place, Rachel following with quicker smaller steps to keep up with his longer legs.
He stopped and put both hands on her shoulders and held her at arm's length. Rachel looked at him with an eyebrow raised and her body tensed underneath his feather light touch.
"Gar . . ."
He felt chills go down his spine when she said his name.
"Where is everyone if this is something 'awesome'?"
He gave a lopsided grin and saw something flash across her eyes.
"I have some special friends. See that fountain over there?"
Her eyes flickered in the direction he had jerked his head in.
"Yes . . ."
"Keep your eyes on it."
She looked into his eyes again and he found that he couldn't look away from her gaze. Garfield saw something, the same something he had seen earlier flash across her eyes.
"Okay," Rachel said simply.
He turned around and as he did so saw a grackle perched on a park bench. He shrugged and walked towards the fountain and stopped when four more of them perch themselves on the fountain and look directly at him. All of them at once in silence.
He froze.
Rachel came up behind him. "Gar, there are more birds. Behind us. And they're all doing the same. Exact. Thing."
Garfield looked closely at the bird on the park bench, and as he did so, the bird looked to the side so that Garfield could only see one side of the bird's head and blinked. Both eyes.
"Oh, crap," he heard Rachel say from behind him.
All of the birds shrieked at once and flew straight towards Garfield's head and began to circle him.
Rachel stumbled back. "Garfield!"
He saw the bird's four eyes glow a deep, familiar red. "No! Stay back!"
"I -"
"Stay back!"
He heard a voice inside of his head then. A voice that hadn't made an appearance since that night. That night that his whole life had taken a sharp turn that left him lost. Scared. Angry.
Glad to see you are well, green one. I trust you are still in pursuit of my darling daughter. Whom I have in a safe position.
"Garfield!" Rachel was screaming now. There was no one in sight, or within earshot. Most likely planned.
You're new date . . . I wonder what you would do if you showed . . . your true colors . . .
Garfield felt his stomach heave and his mouth opened, causing him to make a deep, hoarse hacking sound. Red tinted spit flew out of his mouth and he heard something shatter.
"Garfield!" He saw from the corner of his eye Rachel's purple coat trying to get closer to the whirlwind of demon grackles.
Gar looked down at his right hand as he hacked up another red loogie. His ring had shattered.
"No," he breathed. "Rachel! Get away!"
"NO! I won't!"
He felt his insides heave again and he clutched his midsection. Garfield looked his hands and saw them changing to a green tint very quickly.
"Rachel! You need to go! Why won't you - URG!" He heaved again.
Because she can't . . .
The birds went away and Rachel ran to a now green Garfield and pat him softly on the back.
"You . . . you weren't supposed to know," he said to the ground.
"I . . . I know. But I promise I won't tell anyone else. I've h . . . seen things like this in books about the Teen Titans. I know this is just . . . hero stuff," she finished lamely.
He put his face in his hands. "I just don't understand."
Raven had completely freaked out when she saw her father's minions doing her father's bidding. When Garfield had been forcibly been transformed back into Beast Boy she had completely lost any regard for her disguise as Rachel. In that moment she had been Raven.
Now . . . she had no idea how to deal with what she had been given by her father.
"I just don't understand," came his muffled voice from behind his hands.
"C'mon. We should get going before you have a mob asking you for autographs," Raven lightly joked.
Garfield gave a feeble smile and Raven felt her facial features soften as she saw his familiar fang poking out of his mouth.
TTT
Thirty minutes later, they were in Raven's apartment, and waiting on a call from Cy, Victor, on Garfield's cell phone.
"So, what do I call you now?" Raven asked as she handed him a glass of soda while she sipped her tea.
"I'd prefer you call me anything other than my old superhero name. I'm not him anymore. I couldn't be. Not without R . . . my friends."
Raven caught his slip but covered her shock and pain with her tea.
His eyes were staring at the floor near him, but they were completely out of focus as if remembering something personal. Something too uncomfortable to talk about.
Raven placed her tea on the table next to the chair she had sat in and she plopped down onto the couch next to him. He looked up and they both searched each other's eyes for the thing they both knew was being kept from them.
"Are you okay?" she asked softly.
He sighed and lowered his head and ran his hands through his hair. "I would say yes, but we both know that'd be a stupid lie."
She didn't answer.
"Have you ever found someone great to talk to, someone perfect to share time with then have something happen that made them go away forever?"
". . . I'd be lying to say no."
He looked up. "We have so much in common, and yet we don't. How is it that two people can be so different, but share so much?"
She gave a meek smile. "You sound like you're writing a poem."
Garfield looked closer at her and searched her face. "I don't want to betray my best friend," he said softly.
Raven felt her heart melt and she felt tears well up in her eyes, but she refused to let them fall. Raven looked away from his steady gaze.
"I don't have that luxury. It doesn't matter what I want. My best friend is gone. He moved on. At least, I'm pretty sure he did."
"What happened?"
She glanced at his face. His worries had subsided and at the moment he was alert, his pointed ears at attention, his fang tip poking his upper lip.
"I loved him. And I never said so. But other's knew. And they took advantage of our position. They made it so that we can't go back. He has a different family now."
Beast Boy . . . Garfield put a hand on her face and made her look him in the eyes once more. She felt him wipe a tear that she hadn't known had escaped away.
"I don't understand," he whispered as he searched her face with fascination and something more. Something she didn't want to see again. Especially not from him. But she had no control over herself. Not now. Not with him looking like he did.
"Neither do I," she said.
He brought his lips to meet hers. Raven closed her eyes and responded equally, and without thought. He kissed her again and again, each kiss more intense than the last. She wrapped her arms around him and felt him tremble underneath her fingers.
Garfield's phone rang.
They ignored it. He hummed into her mouth; she felt a tear run down her face as a chill went down her spine.
The phone rang again.
Garfield leaned forward so that he was perched on top of her; their mouths still connected.
The phone rang once more before it went to voicemail.
They both fell off the couch and raced to grab the phone but it was too late. Richard had called. Victor was missing.
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-Beglaria