Dudes and dudettes, I must warn you: this chapter contains some major Superman/ Clark Kent, Lois Lane and minor Terra bashing. I just don't like them, can't help it, so deal with it. At some point blond people may feel offended, but it's necessary for the flow of the story. Personally I think blond people are as awesome as everyone else, I'm almost blond myself, so no hard feelings, okay?
Chapter 2: Undercover Party
Inside Wayne Manor they meddled in the crowd, nothing Raven liked to do much. But to her relieve she was with Garfield, a natural with Smalltalk and charming people, she hadn't to add much.
And to her utter surprise he succeeded in fooling the people displaying a loving husband not letting them even see that he never truly looked at his 'wife' even once. Either he glanced at a spot beside or above her head or he simply closed his eyes while smiling directly at her or kissing her chastely on her head or cheek. It made her heart race and her knees tremble every time he did. All the time he held her around her waist.
But his true acting talent showed as he talked to the CEO of Wayne Enterprises called Fox; one of the only allowed single man on the party.
"How are you acquainted to Bruce, Mr. Marc?"
"We're business partners," she heard him say.
"What kind of business?" Her heart dropped. They hadn't spoken of this. What had he gotten himself into?
"Security science researches, mostly in the bionics sector," Gar stated without hesitation.
Lucius Fox lifted an eyebrow. "So you're part of the Logan Company?" Somehow this name rang a bell inside her head.
"Actually my family owns it almost since the disappearance of the Logan family years ago; I took over from my father."
Now it clicked in her mind. His family had had a company? He never had told her about…
"What about the Logan's son? What was his name again…? Garfield? Didn't he show up several years ago?"
Raven had taken a sip from her glass but choked on it at the name of her companion.
"You alright, Love?" he asked worried, giving her his handkerchief. She nodded coughing. Then he answered Mr. Fox evenly: "Yeah, Garfield, poor kid. Completely insane, not even able to take care of himself, left alone a company. At first his uncle had tried to take over the business, but he was a corrupted criminal who soon got into jail, right where he belonged."
"I heard rumors about Garfield being a superhero," Fox said calmly, taking a sip of his own drink while Raven started sweating bullets – but Gar just laughed it of.
"Unbelievable the trash people are talking these days! No, the poor bloke is in a mental asylum for the well situated population at Kenai where he grew up and feels most at home. If he'd ever save anything in his life it most likely be a fish from the frying pan, but not the world…"
Mr. Fox laughed along with Gar, so Raven felt at ease again – until the older man leaned closer and whispered inaudible for anyone but the two: "Well done, you almost fooled me, Mr. Logan. In your current attire you may be the spitting image of your father, Marc Logan, but like your mother Mary you can talk yourself out of every situation. I've often talked to them before we lost them and always wondered why Bruce always took the matters with the Logan Company into his own hands. If it wouldn't have been for the treacherous coughing fit of the young lady beside you, even I would have believed you being Mr. Gary Marc. Don't worry, I won't expose you to anyone, I'm a big admirer of all of your work. I'm just glad you've taken the matters of your family business into your own hands again, Mr. Logan."
As Lucius Fox leaned back again she could see the sad smile on Garfield's face at the mention of his family and his real name.
Mr. Fox spoke up again: "Have a nice evening, Mr. Marc; Mrs. Marc." He slightly bowed to her, then left with a warm smile and a fatherly pat on Gar's shoulder.
"You're okay Gar?" she asked worried.
"Yeah, I'm fine," he simply stated empting his glass, leading her along the buffet. As he didn't pursue the matter she stated while trying to hide her curiosity: "I never knew your family was running a business."
"Yeah, well, since I took over from Steve it wasn't always that easy to keep the world-saving-stuff from the company and vice versa, but it's totally worth it," he smiled genuinely. As she processed the information he had given her she felt her jaw drop slightly before she could compose herself.
"You…really are running you're family business BESIDE being a superhero? You are kidding me!"
He nervously chuckled: "Well, only since I turned of age. I just make the bigger decisions, mostly like Bruce in Wayne Enterprises. For the real work I got staff like him. But when I'll get to old to save the world I'll probably take more over."
Her head started spinning. Not only was he head of a company significant enough to be related to Wayne Enterprises but he also thought about the future after being a hero?
"Who are you and what have you done to the reckless, childish Beast Boy I once knew?" she mocked.
"I've grown up in a harsh world, Rae. I'm sorry I didn't tell you anything but it wasn't that important in my opinion."
"Do the others know about this?" she asked anxious; maybe she was the only one ignoring the fact that her best male friend ran a business in his free time.
"Richard knows of course, he's the heir of Wayne Enterprises after all, we'll be business associates we'll retire from the Titans and we're attaining the same distance learning academy. Sometimes we do some homework together or even discuss some business stuff. But besides of him? Well, Vic, because he'll work at S.T.A.R. Lab, another business associate, so I guess we'll work together in the future as well."
"But none of the others? Even not Kori or Karen?"
"Not about my business…" he grinned sheepishly. Somehow she really was relieved not being the only one of the team who was left in the dark about this matter.
Before she could ask anything else they heard a woman ask right beside them: "Who's that, Clark?" They both turned to the speaker. They were met by a couple composing of a big, bulk, black haired man who wore glasses and a tall curvy woman with chocolate brown hair approaching them.
The man who had been referred to as Clark leaned closer and whispered: "Good evening, Changeling, Raven. I'm glad you're having Bruce's back too tonight although I think I could have handled it myself." Even without making any sound beside the whisper, his voice was dripping of self-confidence.
"I think he just wanted to make it perfectly safe, Superman," Gar replied with an evenly amount of self-confidence causing Raven to smile until the woman at Superman's side interfered.
"Safe? With the spawn of a demon in the house? I heard you tell silly jokes, but…"
She shut up at the sound of breaking glass and Gar's glance.
"Oops," he said darkly, "got a firm grip." He let the shards of his glass drop to the floor, not even having a scratch on his hand. Then he turned back to Superman: "I suggest you'd tie up you're woman's tongue before it's getting so loose I'll get my grip on it," he threatened. Raven wasn't sure if Gar was that brave or that stupid to challenge a veteran like Superman.
"Easy, kid. It was just a comment…" the older hero said not without a warning tone.
"Then she should keep her comments to herself if she can't behave nice," Gar spat with venom. This was getting out of hand.
Luckily they got rescued by Alfred; Bruce's personal butler seemed to sense trouble from miles away, probably due to his masters nightly activities.
"Mr. Kent, Miss Lane, Master Wayne requires your presence," and without a further word of greeting they were gone.
Raven hadn't realised how her emotions had boiled up until then; but apparently Gar had noticed it too.
"You need to calm down, Rae," he said softly while he released the grip around her waist a bit. She hadn't noticed how firmly he had held on to her.
"How would you know without looking at me?" she asked still riled up.
He sighed in desperation. "Rae, does 'enhanced senses' ring a bell in your head? Your pulse and blood pressure are skyrocketing, your breath is flat and the air around your whole body crackles from your still invisible powers building up. But they won't stay invisible at all that long if you don't. Calm. Down. Now. Alright?"
She never had known he knew her body reaction to her rising emotions that well. She had to focus on something else or she would blow up the whole buffet.
"It would be too suspicious to meditate in front of all these people."
"Wanna dance?" His question startled her.
"How can you think of something like this in such circumstances?"
He sighed again and turned to her, staring at a spot closely beside her right ear. It angered her even more.
"Look, I know you recently learned to meditate in crowded places even when you're moving around, as long as you can close your eyes and somebody leads you. While I'll lead you over the dance floor, you can close your eyes without anyone suspecting anything and meditate for a while. They mostly play slow dances tonight, so it would be perfect. You're in?" he asked, holding out his hand.
She had to give him credit that he was right. Now it was her turn to sigh; she rolled her eyes, took his hand and said annoyed: "Whatever. Let's get it over."
He safely maneuvered her through the crowd so she could meditate in peace. He could feel her calm down in his arms, her head resting against his shoulder. He liked her this close although these days they only got like this when they fought with each other. Unless he would finally tell her what kept him so frustrated he wouldn't be able to stop fighting with her. But if he would tell her he would probably risk their friendship and scare her away, though he felt like they were drifting apart anyways. He hated the thought of losing her more than anything. What should he do?
After what seemed to be less then fifteen minutes she raised her head and smiled at him calmly. She really looked refreshed. But in the brief moment he actually had really looked straight at her, not being able to resist the temptation her peaceful genuine smile presented to him, he already felt a twitching urge to tear the holo-rings off her fingers. He wanted to see her beautiful real self smiling like this at him really badly, still he had to resist. He quickly turned his head away asking: "You feel better?"
"You tell me, you're the expert," she smirked.
He smiled at her remark and lowered his lips to her ear, gently brushing against it in the process, then he whispered into it: "Your heart still beats too fast to call you calm but you mostly got your emotions in check." As he retreated he could see her cheeks blushing lightly; the sight sent his own heartbeat upwards.
A familiar couple passed them dancing and they could hear the woman say: "Can you imagine it, Clark, green skin! How hideous!"
Gar was used to such puns but still it sometimes stung slightly. As if Raven could feel his discomfort (like she probably did, he mused) she tightened her grip on his shoulder and hand comforting him. Soon after they could hear Lois Lane shriek as she fell to the floor due to the broken heel of her stilettos. Alfred took her with him to repair the damage and Gar stole another glance at the young woman in his arms with a lifted eyebrow. She caught the short interaction he had finally given her, causing her to grin widely and smirk: "Ooops… Did I do that?"
"I thought this was Jess' signature sentence?" he chuckled merrily.
"Let's have another drink," she said still grinning, not acknowledging his question instead dragging him along with a tight grip on his arm.
But soon she regretted her proposition. At the buffet next to the drinks she headed stood no one else than the level-headed Clark Kent alias Superman. It was too late to turn away, he already had spotted them and went in their direction.
"Just don't do anything you'll regret later, Gar," she whispered at her tensing friend, bracing herself for the worst while she held his arm more firmly. Alfred wouldn't come to their rescue this time, he was occupied with Miss Lane and her heels.
"You!" Clark pointed rudely at her. "This was your doing, right?"
Raven didn't back down on this impolite behavior. Someone surely should teach him some manners.
"She had it coming, running her nasty mouth around at this rate her shoes had to wear off sooner or later," she shrugged indifferent although Superman was more than two heads taller than her. Compared to her father he was still a dwarf.
"You are a public danger, missy!" Superman hissed. Raven wondered why his insult wasn't hurting at all unlike it would have years ago.
Gar growled: "Rae has saved the world and the people more times than you can count! What's your girlfriend doing beside spreading evil comments?" Now she knew why she felt so indifferent, because he was by her side, backing her up and standing up for her even when she was at fault.
"Nothing to seriously endanger people! How can the world be safe with a half-demon walking around freely? She should be locked up never to see the sun again. Or even better be extinct, so she can't do any more harm…" but the hateful rant of the so called superhero got interrupted by the fist of an enraged Garfield. Clark's eyes turned upwards as the punch on to his chin sent his head backwards and he dropped unconscious to the floor.
Raven gasped, but even before Superman's knocked out could touch the ground she was spun around by a still fuming Gar. He dragged her away from the scenery and a crowd started to form around the unconscious man.
In no time they attained an empty corridor, nothing uncommon in the vast manor. He still breathed heavily, desperately trying to calm down, punching holes into the corridor's walls. He knew he had messed up, but there was no way he'd let ANYONE insult his Raven this way, not even if it would be the Creator himself.
"Gar, what the hell where you thinking?" she hissed behind him with crossed arms.
"Nothing, that's why I did it," he growled still angrily.
"You can't just walk around and punch random people!" she reasoned.
He responded: "He wasn't random, he insulted you!"
"Oh, Azar! Gar, he wasn't the first to insult me this way and he certainly won't be the last! You can't knock them all out!"
"I can try," he said more calmly but determinate. She knew he would try this for her. He was her knight in shining armor, he always had been. Not that she would admit it.
Softly she said: "No, Gar. You know, they have a point at some extent." But instead of calming him down with her argument, his anger rose again, his whole body trembling at the attempt of keeping control.
"DON'T! YOU EVER! BELIEVE THIS!" he growled shaking through gritted teeth, trying hard not to yell and before he could stop himself he pursued, "After all you've been through, you deserve to life a life full of light and happiness! You only deserve the best and I swear, I would give it to you if I only could!"
Her heart beat so fast she thought it might burst. His words touched her to the core of her very being and she started to hope that, maybe, just maybe he felt the same way she did. But there was something missing.
"Gar, how can I believe your words if you don't even look at me if they do when they insult me?" she questioned quiet. She knew it was now or never he would finally turn to her and fully acknowledge her, look at her, into her eyes, for more than a few seconds. But when he turned at her words in a blur she didn't await herself to see his face so angry and genuinely hurt.
He could barely hold back anymore and bellowed at her: "You deserve to live, you deserve luck, light, freedom, happiness, love, and you deserve everything you wish for! Don't you DARE to believe anything else! EVER!"
For a moment they just stood there and looked into each other's eyes, breathing heavily, processing what just had happened.
Out of the blue Garfield broke their gaze and punched another hole into the wall next to him yelling: "Damn it!" As he turned back to her, meeting her gaze once more, his eyes and fingers twitched. He knew he couldn't hold back his urge much longer.
"Gar, are you…" but she never came to finish her sentence.
Suddenly he grabbed her right wrist with his left hand, slammed her into the wall right behind her and causing her to gasp. He fixated her on the wall and in a fluid movement took off her holo-rings. He tossed them on the floor with disgust, stomped on them with his right foot several times, damaging them beyond repair. Then he cupped her cheek with his right hand, buried his face in her now again purple hair and breathed deeply.
For a few seconds she just stood there incredibly close to him and in shock, her heart beating widly not only because of the sudden outburst of her friend.
"Vic will kill you for breaking those," she tried her usual monotone, but her words came out rather shaky. How long could she deny her feelings for him if it would go on like this?
He replied with a slight muffled voice: "I don't care. Told ya I'd rip them off if I'd look at you like this. I just can't stand you in that color…"
"W-why? Just because of the resemblance?" she stuttered out with more hurt in her voice than she wanted to show.
"It's not you," Gar replied simply.
He confused her more by the second. "Why?" she repeated.
He sighed, seemingly more calm then a few moments ago. He knew it was all in for him and hoped he read the signs right. He whispered in her hair: "Blond is light-headed. Blond is childish. Blond is careless. Blond is shallow-brained, mindless, ordinary and helpless. You're nothing like that. You're definitely purple. Purple is mysterious, beautiful, alluring, tough, loyal; it's special and kind and caring and damn sexy… You should never be anything than purple, Rae."
She gulped heavy at his words; as he said 'sexy' the light bulbs in the whole corridor exploded and as he finished his rant she couldn't help a smile gracing her lips. She decided that she had denied him long enough; it was time to admit the truth.
Raven laid her free left hand on the back of his head, gently pulling him even closer in the passionate embrace he had put her.
"Then blond isn't a color for you either, she said softly. She encircled his holo-rings with a black aura and vaporized them.
He slightly leaned back to look into her eyes with surprise, curiosity and hope, still not releasing his firm grasp on her at all.
"You always should stay green in that case. Green is openhearted, selfless, confident, determined, devoted, protective and joyful. Green may be annoying and loud and pretty dumb at times but it's so full of hope and life. It's so you." She had stroked his hair gently with her left hand while speaking, cupping his cheek at her last sentence.
Raven never had been so outgoing with what she felt about him before. He grinned so hard it almost split his face in two, displaying his signature goofy grin he had showed less and less since he officially had come of age two years ago. She had to admit she had missed it. A lot. It caused her to genuinely smile too.
And then Garfield passionately smashed his lips on hers like there was no tomorrow, making her join in gladly.
After a few minutes they needed to part, breathing heavily, trying to grasp some air. He softened his grip on her, leaning his front on hers, they both looked each other in the eyes.
"Maybe I should have told you earlier: I'm head over heels for you, Rae," he panted.
"Maybe you should have… So I could finally have told you the same," she stated blushing, making him grin again.
"So, what now?"
"Well, Gar, I think the question should be: Your room or mine?" she corrected him.
He lifted an eyebrow at her comment. "You sure?"
"Don't imagine things. I know you're craving for it as much as I do. We're both adults, I'm half-demon, you're partly animal, but because of my powers we'll have to take it slowly. I'm just rather tired of this party and I don't want to let go of you tonight," she said softly.
He heatedly kissed her again, then he stated: "You're really incredible. That's why I love you."
"Same here… So, yours or mine?"
"You'd really let me in your room?" he joked lightly.
"If you'll stay green…" she smirked.
"Everything for you, Rae." As they kissed once more, Raven summoned her black energy teleporting the two of them back home to Jump City and straight into her room.
Right around the corner, Vic showed off his victory-dance.
"Booyah! Who's the man? I'm the man! Who's the man? Cy's the man! Go Cy, go Cy…"
An annoyed Nightwing stated: "It's not like you made them the fake-married-couple…"
"But I totally told ya it'll be the rings making them confess and that's what they did! In your face, man!"
"Friend Victor is right, boyfriend Richard. You should admit your defeat," Kori urged.
Nightwing just glared and grumbled: "But Gar still will be in trouble tomorrow morning," before he grabbed his girlfriends' wrist and dragged her back to the party.
"So, are you done, Sparky? I'm getting pretty tired of this, too, over here," Karen complained grinning.
"Sorry, Bee, I just had to rub this under Dicks' nose! Let's go rock the dance floor, hon'!" he smiled and they returned to the party as well.