Chapter Five: There is a Lady Sweet and Kind
-o-
October 5, 1956
He licked his cut and swollen lip, slightly tasting the copper flavor of his dried up blood. His cheek stung, cut and bruised the whole world to see. While he was paid to take the beating, he still felt the embarrassment and shame of losing. And he never liked to lose. But there was more money to be had in throwing it, and he was desperate this month.
He rolled his tongue in his mouth and kept his head down as he walked along campus with his hands in the pockets of his leather jacket meant to shield him from the chill of fall. Red and yellow leaves skidded across the pavement as he walked, and he would just pick up his head he would see the beautiful colors that still hung above him in the trees but he wouldn't. His shame and guilt kept his head low, weighing down on his shoulders as if his name was Atlas.
He sighed lowly before he heard a feminine voice call his name, and he made the fatal mistake of looking up to see the electric blue eyes that haunted his dreams. He frowned and turned away, his strides growing longer and faster. He scowled when he heard her call his name again, her little steps growing louder as she neared him.
He didn't want her to see him like this. He didn't want her looks of pity.
"Hey!" She called out, coming up to his side. "I'm talking to you."
"You shouldn't bother yourself with scum like me," he echoed Dick's words from their last encounter. As much as he wanted to ignore it and pretend he hadn't heard it, he did and it hurt more than any physical blow. "Remember?"
"I didn't say that," Raven frowned, practically running to keep up with him. "And I will bother, as you so eloquently put it, with whoever I want."
"Maybe you should give the notice to that wet rag you call a friend," his fingers itched down into his back pocket of his jeans and pulled out his box of Lucky's and opening it, forgetting that he decided to quit earlier in the month.
"I did," she breathed, a little winded from the brisk pace. "Now could you please stop walking so fast?"
"Nope," he answered flatly, pulling a cigarette out with his teeth and reaching for his lighter.
He heard her huff. "I'm trying to apologize for the other day here."
"Well, you can stop trying, dolly," he lit his cigarette and inhaled, letting the nicotine buzz his senses. "I don't need your fucking pity."
Her steps stopped for a moment as he walked on towards his car. Taking the cigarette out of his mouth, he exhaled the smoke in his lungs, both relieved and disappointed that he finally was rid of her. He shook his head, popping the white stick between his teeth again. He didn't fucking need her sorrow-filled eyes and her-
He stopped mid thought when he felt a small hand grab his arm, yanking him to his car and pushing him against it before turning him around. His cigarette was snatched from his mouth and promptly thrown away to some forgotten place, and a hard, pointed finger met his gaze that lead to a very angry Little Bird.
"First off, I am not your 'dolly!' For the last time, my name is Raven! Don't you ever call me 'dolly' again," she seethed, getting in his face with her breathing growing shallow and heavy. "Second off, you don't get to dismiss me. You don't get to talk to me like I'm some dumb floozy who doesn't know when I'm be talked down to. So don't you ever talk to me like that again. Ever!"
He rolled his shoulder, flicking his eyes away from her for a moment as she berated him and scowled at any passersby who looked at them oddly. He deserved this, he knew. In the brief encounters they've shared, he knew that she wasn't some dumb Betty to be bossed around and disregarded. She was smart and she walked with an air that demanded respect, and it was his unfortunate mistake for treating her otherwise.
Guilt gripped his spine, hearing his mother's voice in his head about how he should treat women. She had taught him better than that. Than to dismiss someone, especially a woman, so offhandedly. She would've smacked his mouth and told him to apologize to the girl had she heard him.
He inhaled, managing up the courage to look at her again, and what he saw sent a chill down his spine. Her wide electric eyes sparked with wild and sheer anger and her teeth were gritted while her face grew red. She was definitely the big, scary hawk with the body of a short, little wren, and while it was terrifying, it was still quite adorable.
He felt his lips tug upwards, in spite of the situation, as he looked at her. A strange flutter filled his chest and spread out to his limbs, warming him as it tingled under his skin. And he knew. He hadn't even kissed her yet and he knew.
He licked his lips as he thumbed the simple silver band on his pinky, subconsciously as she continued on, oblivious to his discovery. This wasn't electricity or fire that he felt. This was something else, something much deeper than desire or lust or anything frivolous like that. No… This was something much more serious, and heknew.
He knew that this was it.
"And I didn't come over here out of pity. I don't have time to feel sorry for anyone. What I came here for was to apologize for how rudely we were interrupted the other day, and to tell you that I ripped my friend a new one for his behavior towards you," she breathed, pushing a stray hair back behind her ear.
He watched her pull back into herself, reeling in her temper and gaining her normal composure. Her eyes fluttered closed and she licked her lips as she tried to bite back the fighting words that were still sitting on her tongue. Cute.
She inhaled. "I came over here…" she started again, her voice back to its low and even tone. "Because I'm concerned."
Pause. "Why are you concerned?" He shifted his weight a little, feeling that flutter again.
"You got yourself a bit of a shiner there," She pointed weakly as his face. "And a busted up lip. And I see the bruises and the cuts on your knuckles all the time. So…"
Oh. His cheek stung again as if to reiterate her point, and he had to look away again.
"I am… Worried," she said the word as if it was foreign to her.
His eyes flicked back to her form, the feeling in his chest blossoming wildly as she bit her bottom lip nervously from the confession. His brows raised to his hairline. "About me?"
"Yes," she bit, a pink hue coating her cheeks. "Don't look at me like I'm incapable of such a thing."
He resisted the laugh that built in his throat and grinned. "Never, Uccellino."
"Good," she nodded before another pause ghosted passed them as they looked at each other, locking on the others eyes. The air grew tight and staticky, and his fingers itched to push back the rogue hair that never managed to stay behind her ear when she tilted her head. "You're not going to tell me what happened, are you?"
For a brief moment, he thought of telling her all his secrets. His past, his present, what he had to do just to make it by… But he couldn't. His pride wouldn't let him.
He sighed, sadly and looked down at the ground with a shake of his head. Another pause.
"Not yet."
His eyes lifted back up to hers, determination dancing in her eyes. It wasn't an option. It was an inevitability.
His lips curled on one edge as he picked up his head. He nodded his head. "Not yet."
A smile slowly spread across her face, looking down and nibbling at her lip when it got too wide. His hand twitched to touch her, to flutter underneath her chin and pick her head up so he could watch that smile lit up her gorgeous eyes. But he kept it to himself, reaching for his pack of cigarettes and lighter.
He wouldn't touch her. Not yet.
"I'm sorry," he said, popping a stick in his mouth and lighting it. He exhaled. "For how I spoke to you earlier. I shouldn't have done that."
Raven pressed her lips and edged away from him as if repelled by something disgusting. He furrowed his brows as she nodded her head. "No, you shouldn't have, but you're forgiven. You look like a man with the weight of the world on his shoulders, and I probably didn't make things much better."
"That's still no excuse for my behavior," he countered. "Everything that's going on with me had nothing to do with you and I shouldn't have taken it out on you."
"True, but I already gave you a piece of my mind for doing so," she smirked, tilting her head to the side. "So you're forgiven."
His lips pressed into a smile again before taking another drag of his cigarette. He furrowed his brows again when Raven averted her eyes from and subtly covered her nose.
He exhaled. "You don't like cigarettes, Uccellino?"
"Not particularly, no," she coughed.
"Really?" He arched a brow.
She rolled her eyes and shifted her weight to one leg, her full hips sticking out sassily. "Just because I'm considered a 'beatnik' or whatever they like to call me, doesn't mean I practice in all of its stereotypes. I find cigarettes disgusting and I'm pretty sure one day they will discover that they're bad for you."
His lips twitched into a smile and nodded his head. "Well then…" He took a long drag of his cigarette, enjoying the buzz for one last time before pulling from between his lips and throwing it on the ground. He brought the tip of his toe down on it and crushed it with a few turns of his ankle. "That was my last cigarette, then."
She blinked in surprise. "Really?"
"Really," he smirked.
She looked at him skeptically and clicked her tongue. "And how many times have you said that before?"
"Too many times, I'll admit," he chuckled, scratching at his forehead with his thumb. "But I mean it this time."
"And why is that?"
"Because you don't like it," he answered as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "And I never had a good enough reason to quit until now."
Her eyes lit up at his words, inhaling through her nose and pressing her lips together to hide the flattered smile that threatened to break her face. She folded her lips and held her hand out to him, making a "give me" gesture with her fingers.
He smiled brightly as he reached in his pocket handed his pack of Lucky's to her open palm, static clicking between their palms. She nodded her head at him in approval but her hand remained outstretched.
"I wasn't born last night," she smirked, eyes sparkling with determination.
He laughed and nodded his head, opening the car door. He climbed inside and reached into the glove compartment and side door panels, grabbing all the hidden boxes of cigarettes from inside his car.
"That's all I got," he sighed, standing back up and handing the three boxes to her.
Closing her hands around them, she gave him a challenging look, silently daring him to try to take the boxes back as she walked over to the nearby waste bin. She held his eyes as she dropped them in, watching him with careful eyes to see what he would do.
He simply smiled. He knew he was already looking at his new vice and he knew she would be a better high than any cigarette would ever be.
He licked his lips as his eyes dropped to the full swell of her hips as the swayed back to him. He distantly wondered what it would feel like to palm those hips and squeeze the plump roundness of her backside as he sucked on her bottom lip, swallowing her gasps-
"… To tell Tim to throw away any cigarettes that you probably got tucked away at home," her voice interrupted his thoughts as she stopped in front of him again, placing her hand on her hip.
He coughed the thoughts away, scratching at his forehead again and pushing a thick stray curl of hair back into place. "Every cigarette I own will be tossed by the end of the day."
"Promise?" She arched a delicate brow at him.
A slow grin broke his face, stepping closer to her and smelling that vanilla shampoo that made his mouth water. His fingers reached up to her cheek and caressed it, finally touching the soft skin and letting the electricity flow down through his arm to the rest of him.
"I promise, Uccellino…"
Heat flashed in her eyes and a blush covered her cheek at the gesture but she never backed away or denied the affection. Her lips parted, and his stare dropped to her full lips, wanting to taste the secrets behind them. The air tightened around them and static crackled around them again.
If he believed in things like fate and destiny, he would have believed that they were destined to touch, that their skin was meant to met again and again throughout the span of time and space. If he believed in such things… But damn was he close to.
"Good…" She swallowed, and he could've sworn that she leaned into his hand when he slowly pulled his hand back, flexing it slightly like it burned.
He already missed the feel of her skin.
Clearing his throat to ease some of the tension, he flicked his eyes to her messenger bag on her hip and nodded. "What are we reading today?"
"Oh um…" she stammered, opening her bag to reveal the books inside. "Shakespeare today. I could read his sonnets for hours."
He hummed. "Mine eye hath played the painter and hath steeled/Thy beauty's form in table of my heart. My body is the frame wherein 'tis held, And perspective it is best painter's art. For through the painter must you see his skill/To find where your true image pictured lies, Which in my bosom's shop is hanging still, That hath his windows glazed with thine eyes."
Her surprised and sheer fascinated look roused a chuckle from his chest. The way she looked at him like he was something to marvel and wonder at, it warmed him from the inside out and made his heart jump.
"So you like Shakespeare?" She finally said, still marveling at him.
He gave a one shouldered shrug. "Eh… He's good. Not my favorite though."
She rolled her eyes at him, playfully. "Then, who is?"
He hummed again as if he had to think about it. "Not yet."
"Not yet?" She repeated, confusedly.
"I'll clue you in one day," he reiterated with a private smirk. "Just not yet, Uccellino."
She nibbled on her lower lip again, her slight annoyance showing as she looked over his shoulder. "So that's two things you can't tell me yet… Could you at least tell me what… Uccel…lino?"
"Yes."
"What does that mean?"
He pretended to think about it for a second, rolling his tongue and slicing the space between them again. "It means-"
"Sorry, I'm late!" They picked their heads up to the voice, seeing Tim rushing over to them.
Jason stepped away from Raven, flicking his eyes up to the clocktower. They were going to be late. He growled. "Gesù Cristo, Tim, perché non si può mai essere in tempo?"
"I got caught up," he shrugged, looking over his shoulder to Raven and smirked. "Besides you had company. Nice to see you again, Raven."
Raven gave a meek wave, and Jason rolled his eyes and gestured to the car. "Basta salire in macchina."
Tim chuckled a little before he climbed inside the car and slammed the door. Jason sighed, the feeling of dismay filling his chest as he turned to face Raven again. "I gotta-
"Go," she finished with a nod. Her eyes were downcast and a look of disappointment etched on her features. "Of course, you do…"
His lips twitched up, feeling a little comfort in knowing that she didn't want their interaction to end either. "Unfortunately, yes."
"Guess I'll see you around, then," she sighed, taking a few reluctant steps away from him.
He clicked his tongue as he opened his car door, watching her slow steps with his gaze lingering shamelessly on her backside. He tapped his finger on the door as he thought. "Little Bird."
Stopping, she turned around to face him. "What?"
"Uccellino," he called out, getting inside his car. "It means, Little Bird."
The little smile that spread across her face as he pulled away made his heart skip.