A/N Hey! Just realized I doubled up on a chapter… Oops, seriously sorry. Me being blond again (though ya'll will never know if I am blond or not… Though most say I'm not but one said I was and everyone just laughed… ya weird world). I'm still thanking everyone for reading because it's great to have the support even as I was gone for a while. Love everyone for that! Real world stuff sucks! It's great to be able to write and return. I'm going to try to write as much as I can. I'll probably be typing all next week, so pray for an update ^^ anyways, to BBxRae! OH! Gar starts so…
Chapter 3:
A smile broke across my face as I heard Rae softly snore on my chest. It took all my strength not to kiss her softly as I cradled her to my chest. The slightest shade of pink splashed across her face; I knew it was her cold but I wished it wasn't. I wished I had some way to cause a blush to brighten her already glowing face. For a demoness who's convinced that she's evil, she is gorgeous.
The purple haired beauty stirred slightly with a mumble 'Gar…' before sighing and going back to sleep. It made my heart race at the thought of her thinking about me while asleep. I smiles, brushing her hair out of her face, "I'm here my beautiful Raven. I'm right here." Wrapping my arms around her, I held her as close as I could without waking her. Her gentle jasmine/lilac scent filled the air and relaxed me. Oh how I wished this moment would last forever but I knew it wouldn't. No matter how hard I prayed, the little princess on my chest would rise from her slumber. But she won't in my head, I thought, taking in the moment so I could go back to it again whenever possible.
Pulling the blankets closer to us, I thought I heard her wake up. Her heartbeat seemed to pick up for the moment I moved then go back to normal as soon as I paused. Nope, apparently not. Cocooning us in her shadowed purple blankets, her scent enveloped us more.
Sometime during her slumber, I fell asleep, too. I only know this because when my eyes reopened, my chest was lighter and around the shadow by the window, it was darker.
"Good morning, Garfield."
"More like afternoon, Rae," I laughed. "Come here, it's warmer away from the window." I strode over to her, draping a blanket on her shoulders. "You need to stay warm," my voice lowered because of the distance. Her leotard covered back stood an inch from my somewhat muscular chest. She only nodded, but I could hear her heart hammering. Don't, Gar. Give her space. Don't push her or you might lose her. I started to back away when I felt her press closer to me.
"I'm cold. You're warm." She quickly said, as if to explain why her shoulder was pressed to my chest. I only smile my acceptance before wrapping my arms around her.
Lowering my voice, I pressed my cheek to the side of her head, "I'll keep you warm, Rae."
(Raven's POV)
"I'll keep you warm, Rae." 5 words that just made my heart all but stop. Oh my goddess, I think my knees are going to fail. Oh, dear Lord, keep me standing. Lady, please give me strength not to fall into his arms like I wish to. Like I did when I fell asleep. As he was asleep and before I finally rose from my bed about 10 minutes before, I was running my fingers down each prominence of muscle on his broader torso. Working out sure did a measure on his body, course age and experience has, too. He looked so calm and relaxed. I've never seen him in this state before; he's always a ball of energy but he looks so serene and composed. The sight left me baffled and in awe.
Instead of falling, I just lean onto him. His arms were around me but they weren't holding me tight enough. But I had to remember, he wasn't mine. I couldn't wish for these things. Sighing mentally, Brave came through. "Raven, remember girl, its okay to be Timid, but sometimes you got to tackle things and handle them yourself!" A smile almost took over my face, a blush raising to my face; this time not from my cold.
"Rae?" I almost jumped at the young man of my thoughts spoke up.
"Ye-yeah?"
"I asked if you were warm yet?" He smiled at me, his pearly whites a nice contrast to his nice leafy green skin.
"Oh, um…" Think Raven! Do you want him to go? Or get suspicious and possibly not like you. My mind raced. Knowledge refused to come through and help me, she just laughed, enjoying my floundering. Brave only kept yelling to tackle things. "So not helping girls!" I yelled back at them. "Um…"
Garfield only laughed, his emerald eyes sparkling in the evening light. "Come on, you still have to get away from the window, warm or not." He half carried me, half dragged me back to my bed. My feet skimmed the ground, well until he literally picked me up and laid me on my bed. My blankets, pulled back from when I got out before, were still sprawled everywhere. As I tried to sit up in refusal, he gently pushed my shoulder down. I slowly lowered the rest of my body down on the bed and Garfield took that time to reach across my waist to get my blankets and tuck me in. "There, warmer?" He smiled at me, his voice smooth and soft. After I nodded, he smiled. He had such a handsome smile sometimes. Those thoughts made the blush on my face harden and my own grin cracked to the surface.
"Good night, Rae. I'll be back, I promise," He paused and licked his lips. After a hesitant moment or two, he left out my door. It wasn't until I was alone did I realize how hard my heart was pounding. He probably heard it. Oh Goddess, no wonder he was in such a rush to leave. I pressed my face to my pillow with an agitated groan. "Love, you're never simple are you?" The purple caped girl giggled behind her hand.
(Garfield again)
"Stupid. Stupid, stupid, stupid!" I yelled at myself after I turned down the hall from Raven's room. "I should've stayed, held her some more." I sighed, pausing in my step. "Nah, she probably doesn't want to be with an annoying green idiot. She's beautiful and smart, and I'm… me."
"And what's so bad about you?" I screamed slightly, my arms pulled up to protect myself, hair raised. "Chill, green bean. What's eating at you?" Cyborg stood from leaning against the wall. My ears drooped as I sighed deeply. No use in keeping it to myself, I thought, he is my best friend after all.
"I- I think I like Raven. Like, a lot. She's beautiful, and smart, and witty. Yeah, she's sarcastic but she's really funny. She's talented, too!" I sighed, my back hitting the wall as my legs gave out from under me. "But, I'm just… me."
"Yeah, a funny guy who can be smart. You are talented but in a different way. You are caring and compassionate. Protective when it comes to your friends, or did you forget about the whole Beast incident when you went out of your way to protect Raven?" Cyborg said, reaching a hand down to me. "Plus, you are handsome. You've filled out in the last few years little man." He smiled at me. I looked down at my body, seeing only the muscles I've been working on and been seeing for the last 3 years. And that wasn't saying much. "Don't knock yourself out without trying first. Yeah, it might be awkward if you don't and she doesn't feel the same but it'd have to be better than right now."
I nodded and started walking next to him. "Let's go get your girl some food; hopefully it'll help her feel better." The tin man only started laughing at my embarrassment. We walked into the common room and to the kitchen. I watched Cyborg grab chicken noddle soup out of the cabinet.
"Actually Cy," He paused as I spoke, "I think Raven's tired of soup, she's been eating it all day. Why not just make her some real food?" He gave me a questioning look. I smiled and pulled out eggs and bread. And yes, real eggs. Sadly, the girl I like doesn't like tofu. "French toast? Waffles might be too dry for her right now." I tried to justify my idea.
We spent 20 minutes in the kitchen, whipping them up to perfection. While Cyborg was putting the last piece of toast on the plate, I poured Raven's tea into a mug. "Thanks, Cy. For everything," I smiled at him, offering a hand to shake.
"No problem, grass stain. Go take care of her, I'll be here playing videogames if you want advice." I nodded before carefully rushing to Raven's room. My mind swarmed about what I was going to say when I saw her, I almost missed her door. I quickly regained my composure and knocked on the door. Holding my breath, I waited for her sweet voice to carry through.
"Come in," I heard Raven's soft voice from behind the door. The door opened invitingly as I still tried to calm my heart. I walked and sat next to the object of my affections. "Is this my dinner?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.
I scratched the back of my neck, trying to formulate an answer. "Well, chicken noodle soup is a classic for colds but you probably don't want any more, so I thought to make you something else, but I didn't want it to be something too much or too dry…" I started to ramble before I heard a slight giggle. "What?"
"You're rambling, Gar." Raven smiled the softest smile at me, resting a hand on my arm, "Thank you, Gar. Really. No one has ever done this for me before." She started coughing a little.
Before she could continue, I handed her her mug of tea. "Drink up, before it gets cold." She smiled before taking the mug from my hands. I can tell you honestly, that when her fingers lightly brushed mine, my heart sped up too quickly to be safe. And I even caught the tiny bolt of black electricity shoot from where our hands made the briefest contact. A blush rose to both of our face. A nervous laugh left my throat as I tried to calm my quickening heart. Scratching at the back of my neck, I tried to act natural.
"Hey Gar?" She said quickly; my eyes rose to meet hers quickly. "Will you stay here again? Please? I really like… the company." She said, tilting her head down. Her hair has grown out, I noticed, now that she was sick. It fell and covered the edges of her face a little bit more now. I couldn't stand for that.
Acting on instinct I pushed it back, behind her ear, and muttered, "Of course."
(Raven)
His hand's on my skin for a moment, and I thought my heart was going to stop. And my powers! Ugh, I've never been so embarrassed. I'm going to have a long talk with that purple clad copy if it's the last thing I do.
"Hey, Rae?" Garfield looked down at me. He saw my eyes focus in on him. "You okay? You keep spacing," I could see the slight smile on his face. I knew I could only pray at this point that he didn't see the blush rising up on my face. I nodded quickly and watched as he shuffled slightly in his seat.
"You can actually sit next to me, Garfield," I smiled at him. He leaned back, relaxing more towards the center of my bed. I crossed my legs, resting my elbows on my knees, and just sipped my tea. We sat there in comfortable silence as the only sounds to be heard was our breathing, as our inhales filled the others exhales. Happy was seemingly losing her mind as she leaned towards the scene, as if watching her favorite show. "Kiss him, kiss him!" she kept yelling at me. I was able to successfully ignore her, even when she started putting thoughts and ideas into my head.
Instead, with Garfield so close to me, I rest pressed my nose to his shoulder, as a cat would to her owner. He looked at me shocked as I pulled away and I only blushed. I mumbled a thank you into the rim of my mug. After a moment he started to smile at me, relaxing as his muscles loosened. The tea helped warm my fuzzy mind, but not cool the rest of my body. Every inch of me yearned to touch him, to melt into him. But I couldn't. Again, he wasn't mine to touch, as much as I wanted to.
"Rae?" I looked up at him. He was holding the plate of French toast that I neglected to touch so far. I blushed at my forgetfulness, nodded my thanks before digging in. "I wanted to say, thank you. For letting me be the one you spent your company went."
"No, thank you. For letting me see this side of you," I rested a hand on his knees. Garfield was showing me a side that rarely ever comes out. His calm, quiet side. The shy side. It was a true honor to see this instead of the crazed and overly-energetic side. Seeing the slight blush rise to his pointed ear made my own blush rise, a soft giggle of giddiness escaped me.
"Then, you're welcome." He smiled at me, ever so softly. We just stared at each other until his communicator beeped. "I'll… go take that. Stay here." He climbed off my bed and walked out my door, but still, my smile stayed on my face. Nevermore was pandemonium as all my emotions squealed in some sort of celebration. And I didn't have the heart to stop them.