A/N: Man, I just realised how hard it must be to undress a superhero.
:grin:
Don't worry, no sex scene here.
Also, apologies for the absence, uni apps are a bitch and I've been trying to fit this into all the mayhem that the last year of high school brings.
Also, apologies since this isn't my best work, though I do like the plot twist I put into here.
So, my lovely readers...enjoy and review!
Chapter 13
"No way!" Garfield exclaimed in awe, "You wrote this?"
Raven raised a questioning brow at him, "Why? Does it seem like I wouldn't be able to write like this?" She sounded hurt at the prospect that he might not like it.
He shook his head fervently in protest, "No, no…it's just that…Raven, this is amazingly genius." He grinned, "I mean I knew that you could write and that you liked reading but…shit, Raven…seriously if people wrote like this I think I'd read more."
He caught her blush before she took it away, "You exaggerate."
Garfield chose not to reply and instead flipped through the papers that he was holding quite tightly in his hands; they were Raven's drafts of a story about a bunch of bounty hunters in a world similar to their own…except there were no superheroes, which Garfield found to be quite weird. It was good, like, really, really good and it was actually pretty funny. So, OK, he knew that she could do funny but still he thought that she would write something dark and, to be honest, it was dark but it was written in such a way that it was witty. Seriously, having a girlfriend that was this talented was pretty cool.
He shook his head slowly to get into a more comfortable position as he lay on her lap. They had spent the whole day—except for that one instance of a bank robbery—in her room—shocker! He still didn't believe his luck!—and they had wasted the day away by talking about anything and everything, having a bit of a nap—well, he did anyway. He was so exhausted after the damn bank robbery—playing chess, teaching each other languages—she taught him a bit of German while he tried to teach a reluctant Raven how to speak Swahili. He figured that she was reluctant not because she didn't want to, but because she didn't want to sound stupid in front of him—and he had stolen a kiss or two from her, but it never went beyond that. All in all, the day was better than how it started—with Raven getting all pissed and emotional after speaking to Vic about something—and it was fun, useless, un-educational—apart from the whole language thing, anyway—fun. With the vague sound of music playing in the background—mostly Raven's stuff—apparently having his trance music in her room would burn a hole in the wall or something—the atmosphere had almost seemed…relaxing…which was weird because with their conflicting personalities, they generated a variety of atmospheres, but none ever really came close to relaxing; flirtatious—yes—spiteful—yes—annoyed—definitely—and infinitely happy…but the relaxed mood was rare, and even rarer now that there seemed to be some conflict between the members of the Titans.
He frowned for a moment before disposing that in favour of a grin directed at Raven; his Raven.
"Nah, I wouldn't exaggerate, baby doll. You know me better than that." He stuck his tongue out at her cheekily.
She rolled her eyes at him like he knew she would and in return he blew air into her face, "You not exaggerating is like…well…Kori not exaggerating. Though I must admit that you two do it a lot less than you did before."
"I'll take that as a compliment." He beamed.
"Fool."
He smiled at that familiar word and found that she smelled quite happy too; happy at the familiarity and the way it rolled easily out of her tongue. Garfield closed his eyes for a few moments and was instantly alert as he felt her cold fingers trace the messy green locks on top of his head, making random patterns with those delicately small fingers. There were so many different pressures that she was using to stroke his hair and for another countless time, he wondered what he had done to deserve someone like Raven; she was gorgeous for one thing, super smart and she was just everything that he wasn't.
He inhaled deeply to take in the lovely aroma of ripe and fleshy cranberries.
Slowly he opened his eyes again and found Raven retrieving her hand back as if to conceal the fact that she had just been dragging her hand up and down his hair. He winked roguishly at her and placed her draft gently on the floor in a neat pile and just spent the next few minutes looking up at her in thought while twiddling his thumbs. She didn't scowl or look away and instead looked at him as if she were studying mice in a science lab.
"What?" They both asked at the same time.
He chuckled, "I'm just thinkin' 'bout stuff."
"Hmmm…" she nodded slowly, still looking down at him, "Me too."
"What about?" He asked sincerely; seriously, he was curious.
She smirked, "About how comfortable you look laying down on my lap as I sit in this awkward position on my bed."
"You know what, though?" He asked, "If you really didn't like it then you would've pushed me off the bed or somethin'."
She scoffed, "Really now, I know that I make a few threats now and then but I'm not really that violent, as you should know by now."
He poked her left cheek and laughed, "I know…well…actually…"
"You did not just say 'actually'."
A Cheshire grin spread on his lips, "Oho! I think I just did!" Another roll of the eyes, seriously, she was getting predictable, "I bet you were actually thinkin' bout how great our kids will look. Seriously, with my good looks and your smarts, we'll have, like, a superkid or somethin'!"
There was a small flicker in her look as he mentioned kids but then it disappeared again to be replaced by a wry smile that, well, looked marginally sincere. He wondered what that was about but then dismissed it for his imagination; looking up at her for a long time—well this position was seriously comfortable—probably did that to you. It was nice though, the view was great—he grinned to himself—she was pretty and if she kept looking at him through those sooty dark eyelashes with her gorgeous violet eyes, he thought that it was worth the uncomfortable neck.
"Kids." She drawled, "You think too far sometimes, all these plans and preparations." Raven sighed and he felt her cool breath on her face, "I think that I'm happy as I am right now." That wistful smile came back again as she whispered those words, "Yes, I think so."
"But…the future will be frickin' awesome! You'll be some genius author and I'll be an actor!" He grinned, "And then we can collaborate and make a cool movie that'll win an Oscar or somethin'. Or at least it'll win an MTV Movie Award and we'll make a gazillion bucks! Seriously, what's not to love?"
She pursed her lips and from this view he found that though her lips weren't as fleshy as Kori's, they were definitely as shapely, if not shapelier, "I don't plan on being an author, Gar, a journalist, maybe…an author, probably not." She cocked her head to one side, "The MTV Award isn't really in my favour either; pop culture just doesn't do it for me. Maybe if I won a Nobel Prize then it would be ever so slightly cool but…chances like that don't come along too often."
"If you really wanted to win the Nobel Prize, you'd get it." He chuckled, "Even if you didn't get one I'd still love you."
She lowered her face closer to his and loose strands of violet-black hair tickled his skin lightly and he sneezed. An airy giggle slipped out of her lips, a sound that he usually heard only in the company of each other, though he had heard her giggle with Kori once. Well, no, he was wrong…it wasn't really a giggle but he had a hard time classifying it into a category be it laughing, chortling, sniggering or any other of those sounds but it just didn't have that… oomph that Raven's voice had when she…giggled. He liked the sound though; he liked the scratchy quality it had to it…it sounded more real than the other giggles he heard from other girls…it sounded more like she meant it when she giggled, and he appreciated that.
He really, really did.
She scowled for a moment, "My hair's getting too long. I should cut it soon." A pale hand brushed most of her strays away but there were still some hanging about, touching his skin.
"It tickles," he laughed giddily, "but I like it. It looks good on you." He added as an afterthought.
"It's a hassle to keep. I don't even know why I grew it out." There was a hint of pink on her cheeks but he chose to ignore it.
He reached out and let his own green fingers mingle with her purple strands, "Are you gonna cut it then? I mean, I don't really mind how you do it but…" he shrugged slowly, making sure that he didn't make her uncomfortable as he moved on her lap, "I dunno…it really looks good on you. Plus isn't it way easier to hide your chakra when we're undercover with long hair?"
She sniffed stubbornly, "You don't exactly have a say in how I should do my hair," he pouted, "however, you do have a point; it is easier to keep my chakra concealed with this much hair going around." There was a pause before she spoke again, "Maybe a trim." She mused and he wasn't sure whether or not she was musing to herself or to him.
"Maybe when we're done…you can cut in bangs or somethin'. I dunno, I just think it'll be a bit difficult to keep doing your hair around just to hide your chakra."
She frowned at his sentence and he found himself replaying the words in his head just so that he could figure out what he did wrong, if he said anything wrong. With Raven there were a lot of things he could say that would make her quiet, that would make her think and sometimes he didn't know what he actually did say because sometimes she would just find layers upon layers of meanings in one single word, even if he didn't intend it to be so.
Garfield gripped a bunch of her hair in his fist gently before loosening his fingers and dragging them out.
It was then that he realised that he had said something along the lines of 'being done'; she hated that. He knew that the future wasn't something that she was looking forward to; she wasn't looking forward to their separation, to a new experience, a new life and—heck!—he thought that she probably thought that she'd be alone or something…friendless…but he knew better, he knew that she wouldn't be…that they—the Titans—would always be there for her, that he'd always be there for her. Now that he was with her—hell! Even when they were barely friends he had thought this!—he didn't know if he could bear live without her; the concept just seemed too alien…too weird.
"Maybe." She nodded slowly.
He tugged at her cloak; it was a Monday today and Mondays always seemed to have the most crime out of every other day, so it was tradition to keep their uniforms on for the whole day, "As long as you don't shave it off, I'll be good." He grinned, joking.
Garfield caught Raven raking her hands through her hair quickly, as if to check that she wasn't actually going bald. He laughed once more and was greeted with a disapproving look from her, though he realised that now he wasn't so uncomfortable with that look anymore.
"Ha ha. Hilarious Logan, really." She rolled her eyes at him.
Another laugh, "Hah! Seriously, I haven't heard you call me by my surname in ages!"
She quirked a brow, "Do you want me to call you by your surname?"
He shook his head, laughing again for God knows what reason. Raven probably thought he was crazy now, for a good reason, he didn't really know why he found her calling him by his surname funny. He guessed it was because it reminded him of the days when they—all of them—had just started being comfortable enough with each other to reveal their true names—though that didn't really apply to Raven, of course. It was nice to find out what her last name was though—and she had refused to call him anything but his surname even though she called everyone by their firsts. It took a long time to convince her that calling him 'Garfield' would not kill her.
"Um…I dunno…calling me Logan makes me sound like that Wolverine dude from that X-Men comic. I mean, as much as I think he's cool, I don't think I want people thinkin' that I have metal claws in my knuckles."
She huffed, "Really, I swear you are going on a comic book-fast."
"Whatever." He dismissed this idea, waving his hand to create more emphasis, "It's not like you don't read comics. I mean…seriously? League of Extraordinary Gentlemen?" He laughed, "Boring much."
"For your information, 'LXG' is an incredibly politically driven story and it begs many questions that are quite fascinating."
"LXG?" He exclaimed incredulously, "God, Rae, you're such a geek."
"Says the guy who almost wet himself when he met Stan Lee."
Garfield pouted, "What!? No way, I did not almost pee my pants!" He protested.
"Uh-huh. I believe you heart and soul." Sarcasm dripped from her lips like acid.
Her words were poisonous but they didn't sound sincere and for another few moments he just lay there on her lap, nuzzling her stomach affectionately while letting the soft sounds of a grunge version of some classical song travel gently through the air, enticing his ears to move as the tempo changed. He watched silently as she went back to marking her own drafts with a face like stone and the only things moving were her hands as they annotated sections that needed editing and her eyes that flicked from side to side and they were alive with amusement at her own writing and her own mistakes.
He was bored though and the nap he had taken before had given him a lot of energy, energy that wasn't being used up because Raven didn't feel like doing anything except for lounging around her room. Garfield could go out and hang with Kori again but he really didn't feel like doing any weird stuff today, though that was slightly impossible because he himself was classified as weird. On the other hand he wanted to chill with Vic but they had called up Jinx when the attempted bank robbery was happening as it was against a few of her former H.I.V.E Academy friends to gain an advantage over them since, it was obvious that the better you knew your enemies, the easier it was to beat them. So, naturally, Jinx had bullied Vic into going on a surprise date with her and they were now probably making out in one of those shady places that pick-pockets went to hang out to show off their goods. For someone who claimed to be a reformed criminal, she sure knew where to pick her hang out spots.
Talking about making out, he hadn't made out with Raven for a long time. Blame the testosterone or whatever but seriously, a make out session had to happen soon! He was gonna die if it never happened ever again!
He grumbled sullenly to himself.
She looked really pretty today, he realised, but he didn't know why he thought so. Except for special occasions—read: when Kori had forced her—she did do something about her appearance but on ordinary days like today, it was unlikely that she had done anything other than shower and—possibly—brush her hair. Maybe it had something to do with the expression that she had on her face; she bit at her lower lip subconsciously—nibbling it occasionally—in what Garfield thought was concentration, her thick dark brows were furrowed together causing her forehead to scrunch like crumpled paper and her indigo eyes pierced through the paper with only her jet-black lashes to frame and soften the expression. It didn't sound so pretty when it was described the way he described it but he thought that it had something to do with the fact that she had an expression on her face instead of the flat stare—or glare at times—that she insisted on wearing in public. With him…it wasn't that much different actually but there were moments when he caught her off guard. She had berated him, of course, saying that he had tricked her into laughing or getting angry but still…he found that she was a little looser when it was only him around. Not that much looser, mind you, but a little looser.
Garfield's eyes settled on her lips as they muttered words under her breath. Her lips weren't as pouty as Kori's but they were sensual all the same, with curves and corners that were made for exploration and he revelled in those expeditions. She was a mean kisser—he never really asked her how she got so good at it—and her kisses left you dry in the mouth. He had kissed her a few times today but they in his opinion, they weren't even worthy enough to be called kisses; pecks, mother's kisses to their kids, whatever, but none of them were real kisses, not the ones he craved anyway.
Not for the first time, Garfield wondered if it would be OK to kiss her now.
He didn't think much of it for more than that and, grinning to himself quite maniacally; he started poking at her drafts.
"Gar," she asked seriously as he continued to poke the papers, "what in the world are you doing?"
He tugged at the edges, disrupting her marking process, "I wanna read it again." He whined relentlessly.
"Later." She grumbled, "Let me do this for a minute." Her pen continued to flick at sections as he kept pulling at it.
He kept tugging at it, pulling the papers towards him while she tried to pull it back just as forcefully but at the same time he tried to make sure that he didn't harm her papers. After all, his goal wasn't really to get her pissed.
Raven frowned at him, "Gar, I have no idea what you are doing but I suggest you stop it because—!"
He grinned as she had leaned down so closely that—as he had already planned in his head—he slipped his hands through her mass of dark hair and pulled her towards him even more so that he could kiss her. It was underhanded, he realised, but kissing her was worth the disapproving looks and scolding he would inevitably get from her afterwards; being this close to her for this long was unbearable without being able to taste her or touch her even once.
He grinned against her lips.
He suddenly became conscious of the sheer softness of her lips and her scent hit him full force as his nose pressed against her skin. Raven had resisted at first, struggling and grumbling against his kisses that this was not the time and that she would blast him off somewhere if he didn't stop but slowly, ever so slowly, her reluctance faded and she had responded tenderly. She pressed forward as much as he did and so they created so much friction that his lips felt like they were burning but it was a pleasant burn, a passionate one.
At that moment, it seemed like there was nothing else around him except her, there was nothing in the world except them two; not the other Titans, not space nor time. Kissing her was nothing like kissing Terra or Jill; he had enjoyed kissing the other two—he had even slept with Jill—and their making out was always passionate but…they didn't produce the feelings that Raven's kisses produced. With the other two he had never felt assured that his love was being returned, not the way Raven assured him, and they didn't leave him with memories so vivid that he was willing to wait a long, long time before there would be another moment again, another moment to touch and feel and explore.
It was like…right now everything that ran through his mind was her and her only and the effects were so dizzying that it felt like he had drunk a whole bottle of vodka. She smelled like cranberries rolled in with the smell of clean sweat and the scents were further mingled with his own scent to create a strange concoction that was intoxicating. Her breathing was low and haggard as he nipped at the hollow of her neck. He felt her hands grab around his neck and her fingers grip his hairs, pulling him into her almost as aggressively as he was pulling her into him. Garfield's own arms curled around her tiny waist, exploring that small curve that people would dismiss when they took a first glance at her. She tasted like her personality; sweet, sour and bitter all at the same time. He was taking her in at a speed that he couldn't comprehend; all he could see, hear, touch, taste and smell was her.
Thoughts came zooming into his head, too many thoughts but, at the same time, too little and there was danger in that. His mind had turned blank with their actions; he was already expecting it and he shouldn't be surprised but he was, every single time it came around. His own thoughts and feelings were twisted up in a knotted ball in the back of his head to let more…basic…qualities to come out physically, qualities that were usually easy to keep under control but…but with Raven, he realised that his actions were harder to keep in rein. It was hard, but he had to keep trying; he didn't want to hurt her, didn't want to scare her, didn't want to lose her trust…
Suddenly, her scent changed into…he didn't know what…and his eyes flew open at the same time that her eyes did. It was all so sudden that he barely had time to register that he had been on top of her with his hands successfully sliding Raven's arms out of her spandex costume, his fingers almost succeeding in pulling off her bra. She wasn't any better either; one of her legs was wrapped surreptitiously around his waist, pulling him downwards so that there was no empty space left between them and her cloak had been completely abandoned on the floor.
Quicker than the frickin' Flash, they jumped apart from each other to the ends of the bed, almost causing him to fall off the edge.
"I…we…" Raven started, her cheeks heating up the longer they stayed silent, "We…"
Her bedside lamp exploded, sending sparks everywhere while he heard other booms from behind him but he was too stricken to look.
He shook his head slowly, "No…I don't think…" suddenly he vaguely remembered his hand making its way slowly up her bare thighs, "Oh, God, I'm sorry, Rae…I wasn't thinkin'."
She frowned momentarily, the heat never leaving her face, "It was both our faults." She shook her head, "But I can't believe that we were so irresponsible to…" she stopped as if she couldn't say the word that they were both thinking of.
"Sex." He rolled the word around in his mouth, "We almost had sex."
Raven nodded slowly, "We almost had sex." The words were bland but they sounded as if she was tasting it for the first time, "By Azar, we're adults who were about to do it and we weren't even going to do it safely!" She fumed, and he had the impression that she was equally made at him and at herself, "Admit it, we weren't. "
"No, you're right. We weren't." He flushed briefly, "I don't have any condoms with me now…"
"I do." She replied shortly, her arms crossed stubbornly, "But I don't think we would've stopped just to get them. Embarrassingly enough, I don't think I would have stopped."
He should've been flattered that she would have enjoyed it enough to actually go through with having sex without any interruption, but surprisingly, he wasn't. She was taking it all in his stride, as if it was normal for them to make out with half their clothes off, and they were—making out with half their clothes off, he meant—he remembered the frustration on her face and her scent when she couldn't get his damned spandex suit off him. He also remembered ripping the top part of his suit just for her so that now he was bare-chested and he was feeling a little chilly, though he was pretty sure that it wasn't from the cold.
"We were rolling around like…like…animals and we…we…" Frustration was growing in her scent now and embarrassment as he noticed that she had realised for the first time that though her bottom half was fully covered, she only had her bra on top, "Garfield this can never happen again. This should never happen again." It was a pretty bra at that, not the sports bra that he imagined she wore in combat; it was the bra, the lace-y grey bra that he had found weeks ago.
"What can never happen again? Me in your room? Makin' out?"
She glared at him, "This! Sex! Almost sex! This cannot, should not, happen again. Ever." She added almost as an afterthought.
Right there and then, it felt like she had ripped his heart out, eaten it, vomited it back out and then gave it back to him. It wasn't that he was a sex fiend and wanted to have sex with her really, really badly—though there were times when it felt like that—or that he felt that he had waited long enough and needed to have sex, it was just that…
Garfield looked at her properly this time and was amazed at how many scents a person could have, how many expressions that could portray. Raven was sitting cross-legged with all the dignity that a person with most of their flesh exposed could have and she was covered in a thin layer of gleaming sweat. Her lips were twisted in a contemplative position and her eyes were analysing him as much as he was analysing her. The scents that she produced were colourful though; she was frustrated, annoyed, excited, angry, curious, relieved, and a little scared. He could almost make out her heartbeat and though it was going nowhere as fast as his one was, it was going pretty fast for someone who was as in control as Raven was.
…it was just that he loved her, he sincerely, wholeheartedly, loved her with every single fibre and fabric of his being and his life. Sex was not a priority but it had entered his mind that if they were going to be together forever, then they would one day—inevitably—make love. He wanted her to feel loved, to feel the warmth of another's touch and he wanted her to one day feel the oneness that came with making love, and he wanted—more than anything, really—for her to experience that oneness with him. Garfield would make sure that it was special and had meaning and not some meaningless sex that was seen a lot on TV, not some trashy fling that was used to get over other people and he would make sure that she didn't feel used, that it wasn't one sided. He wanted a lot of things that involved sex but he knew that it wasn't a priority, that it had never been a priority in his books anyway.
The way she said it though…the way she said it made him feel unwanted, made him feel dirty, as if sex was a bad thing, as if sex with him was a bad thing. He thought that he knew that that was not what she had meant but it still hurt.
It hurt a lot.
Most of all though, he wanted to know that he was good enough for her. Good enough to be her first, good enough to make love with, good enough to at least be considered as first material. Hey, blame the sudden drop in self esteem but he was suddenly feeling selfish, selfish and very, very self conscious.
Her empathic powers must've been beeping wildly because she moved to touch his hand in understanding, but thought better of it as if she thought that he was a dangerous beast that was not to be unleashed, like he was to blame for them rolling around like animals.
"Gar. You know that I love you." The hesitation was gone in that one second and she lunged at his hand, squeezing it tightly in her own, "But there are things…"
"What things?" He demanded angrily, "You keep saying that! Things this and things that! But you never explain anythin' to me, Rae. How am I supposed to know that you love me if you won't even talk to me about these…things?"
"There is a thing called trust, Gar, and I was hoping that you had some of that."
He glowered silently, acknowledging her point.
"Trust me, like you have told me to trust you countless of times." She squeezed his hand tighter, "I want this but there are complications. There are always complications…you know that." Raven shook her head to herself, "I want this but there are things that I am going through and things that you should know that should be cleared away before we even have another attempt at…this." She said finally.
He let his fingers interlock with hers and sighed heavily, not really knowing what to say back to her, how to voice his appreciation and his concerns. There was a moment for silence and there was a moment for words and right now, Garfield didn't know which moment this was, whether it was both or whether it was none at all.
"Rae, baby doll, I don't want to go through this if you don't want to. I don't want you to sleep with me without your consent." He squeezed her fingers with equal strength, "I know that I want to do it," he chuckled nervously, unsure on whether Raven would take that seriously or not, "but if you're going to go through with this just because I want to, well…I don't think I'd want it as much."
"Trust me, as much as it shames me to admit it," she flushed bright red and only her violet eyes retained its original coolness, "I want it as much as you do." The words were rushed, and he chuckled at her embarrassment in her confession, "But I don't want to be irresponsible and…"
"And what?"
"And I wasn't sure whether us having sex would be…biologically…safe so I got Vic to have some medical run downs on me because I was worried that my…demonic side would have some sort of effect on my biology if we…when we do it." She shrugged, almost nonchalant but not exactly, "Apparently, apart from a few fertility complications—we'll talk about that later," she added as he blanched at whatever problem she might be having, "I'm OK. Vic, though, being Vic, checked up on your medical history too and…and I think that you should talk to him."
"Is it that bad?" He asked curiously.
Raven paused, "Maybe, maybe not."
"I'm gonna have to talk to him then." He said finally, seriously, "Are you gonna be OK today? Alone?" She cocked her head to the side, shrugging, "I want this to work and to make it work we have got to talk and before we even do that, well, I've got to find out what's wrong with me, don't I?"
Raven nodded slowly.
"I'm gonna go talk to Vic now…" His fingers unwrapped themselves out of her fingers.
"I guess so."
He nodded in return but then realised the error of his statement, "Isn't Vic still out with Jinx, though?"
Raven shook her head, "No, I just felt him go past this corridor… Are you going to be OK talking to Vic? If you want, I can be there with you when you talk to him."
"No. I know that you don't like talkin' about it, or not you would have told me." Garfield squeezed her cheeks teasingly, causing her to raise her brows in question, "It can't be that bad though, or else you wouldn't have told me that it was bad, and trust me, you did tell me that it was bad." He grinned at her weakly, "When I'm done with Vic, will you then tell me what's been botherin' you? Not the stuff about me, the stuff that you're keepin' from me. The stuff that I'm guessin' has somethin' to do with you. I know that sometimes you wanna act tough and independent and shit, but sometimes its OK to tell me stuff, y'know?"
"I know." He was glad that there was no hesitation.
"I hope so." He grinned, "Coz I plan to be with you for a long time and we can't have us keeping secrets from each other if we're goin' to be together for a long time, can we?"
For the first time in what seemed to be hours, she laughed airily, "You hopeless romantic." She shook her head, "You fool." The words sounded like a caress that enveloped his cheeks.
"We're all fools when it comes to love." He grinned, "I'm goin' now." Garfield took her hand and kissed her knuckles gently.
Raven didn't say a word back to him as he jumped off the bed quickly, walking towards the door. His steps seemed light—and they were light—but he knew that she was watching him warily like a cat watching the ripples on water. There was no way she was going to stop tensing until he left, and he wasn't sure that she would even relax after that; everyone was on their toes now and it was worse with Raven and her empathic powers.
Way worse.
The light streamed in floods as he opened the door, causing every nook and cranny to be revealed, and he was half out of the door before he looked back, "Don't have too much fun without me." He stuck his tongue out at her, "Love ya!"
He shut the door giddily, like a little schoolboy, before she could reply to him with another one of her scathing, sarcastic comments about him being an idiot or whatever she called him when she thought that she had started being too mushy for her own good. He liked her mushy though, it was kinda cool to see someone so rigid let loose for a while, even if it meant calling him a fool.
Grin.
Garfield continued to stalk the corridors, humming a new song that Vic had insisted on playing in the T-Car for what seemed to be a million years—Let it rock by some guy called Kevin Rudolph or something. Seriously, why would anyone want to be named after a deer with a frickin' light bulb for a nose?—until he reached the front of Vic's room. He paused at the door with one hand lifted up in midair, wondering how he was going to go about things; was he going to blurt it out straight away or was he going to try to wheedle it into the conversation? He had never been good at the whole subtle business but he thought that just demanding an answer from him wouldn't really help Garfield get the information that he needed.
Sighing, he knocked at the door.
"Shit!" Garfield heard Vic mutter before hearing a series of scrambling and metallic clunks, "Who is it?" He shouted louder this time.
"It's Gar. We gotta talk man."
Another grumble was heard, "Shit Gar, can't you just come later?" Another series of rustles.
"No, I can't. Vic, we really gotta talk. It's 'bout Raven…or about me…but I dunno…you told Raven and I wanna know what you guys talked about."
It took Vic a minute or two to open the door—a scowl seemingly etched onto his face—and Gar was surprised to find Jinx standing next to him, her small frame leaning against him playfully. She licked her lips flirtatiously and had both her hands resting on her hips boldly, her pink hair was giving him a headache and her cat-like pink eyes were boring into him with a weird combination of mischievousness and frustration.
"Hey, Beast Boy." She said his name playfully, making sure that every single letter in his name was emphasised, "You interrupted an important…" a devilish glint passed through her eyes in that one second, "session between me and Stone."
Garfield sniggered, "Hey Jinx." Another snigger popped out of his mouth, "I don't know if you'd call making out with this tin man important but, hey, whatever rocks your boat." He grinned at her and she replied with a Cheshire grin of her own.
"Oh, Beast Boy, if only you knew how…" she widened her pink eyes innocently and it only emphasised the slanted cat-shape even more, "wrong you are. Making out is vigorous exercise and you could do with a little beefing up." She giggled in her whispery voice and waggled her brows suggestively, "Care to try…boy?"
"Ah, I don't think so. I think Raven'll probably tear me to pieces if she found out I was sharing my lips with you." The flirtatious banter was never going to go anywhere, of course, but he couldn't resist.
"Not like I was offering, boy, I just thought that you would test it out with Stone here." She patted Vic's chest affectionately, "Still up for it?"
He shook his head, "Don't think so, Jinx, Cy's not really my type."
"Well, pity." She sighed dramatically, "Well, I'll be goin' to see Starfire if you don't mind, Stone? Looks like you two boys have something important to talk about." Jinx suddenly laughed, "I just hope you guys won't try comparing girlfriends again, you know how petty fights always end and we all know that I would turn out winner anyway."
"You're goin' to see Star? I thought that you couldn't stand all her perkiness and shit?" Vic suddenly piped up, his arm firmly around her tiny waist, "Why not just go to Raven's?"
Jinx shook her head, rolling her eyes, "I don't think so, Stone. Beast Boy here looks like someone ate out all his underpants and I'm guessing that it has something to do with Raven seeing as he's half naked and he smells of…magic."
Garfield looked down on himself and turned a bright shade of purple; he had completely forgotten the whole 'ripping-shirt' incident and had just gone out Raven's room as confident as if he was plain human again. It wasn't that he had never walked around without a shirt—he had, obviously, usually in the mornings when he couldn't think straight and had gone straight to the kitchen only in his boxers to find a warm glass of milk—it was just that usually no one ever commented and he found it awfully embarrassing that Jinx had pointed it out.
"She won't be in the best of moods and an angry witch isn't really what I'm looking for right now. Plus, now that Starfire's found out, I can ask her how to get a guy out of his pants faster than you can say 'strip', she looks like she would know."
Vic turned even redder than Garfield had, and he avoided Garfield's grin for a couple of minutes.
"Really, now, Stone, you're cute but you're sometimes not the brightest bulb around, are you?" She tiptoed and kissed a surprised Vic on the lips quickly before walking off, "Now you boys be nice to each other, I'll be back soon and I want Stone in one piece."
With that, Garfield let himself into Vic's room and was awestruck—still, after all these years—at the inside of his room; it was full of circuits and machinery that looked way cooler than the GameStation, and the GameStation was already pretty cool in itself. Everything glowed and beeped in a comfortable rhythm and as Vic walked through his own rooms to sit on his 'bed'—Garfield wasn't sure if bed was the right word…it looked more like a metal table or something—he blended in quite easily and it was eerily hard to find Vic if you weren't paying that much attention to his movements.
"Shit, Vic, can you pick anyone creepier?" He asked, referring to Jinx.
Vic grinned wryly at him, "God, like you're any better, ya little green stain."
"Point taken." There was a pause, "So, Kori knows, huh? Well, about time, I guess. But she kept calling me Beast Boy so I'm guessin' that she doesn't know any of our real names?"
Vic shook his head, "Nah, she doesn't want to hear it, she says. Keeps sayin' somethin' bout goin' in too deep without a rescue team or somethin'…like that makes sense." He rolled his single human eye.
Something felt a bit off in Vic's room, and it had always been the same whenever he was in this particular room and he realised almost automatically why it felt that way. The room was cold and emotionless and there was nothing rural or basic that Garfield's animal instincts could pick out to smell; really, there was only a hint of anything alive in this room and that involved only the human side of Vic, and even that was really hard to pick up on.
"So, I'm guessin' Raven didn't tell you, huh?"
"Nah, that's why I'm here…she got so upset when wewere making out that I think half her room's destroyed."
Vic laughed, though it sounded forced to Garfield's ears, "Couldn't it just be that you're a really crap kisser? I mean, dude, seriously, I can't imagine why Raven's stuck with you all this time, you would've thought she'd gone off to find someone cooler than you by now."
"Ha ha, very funny, tin man." He punched Vic's shoulder playfully, "I'm so not a crap kisser, really dude, we can take up Jinx's offer and prove it once and for all." He grinned, chuckling at how pale Vic had gone.
"Man, don't even joke." He shook his head again, "So where'd you wanna start?"
Garfield shrugged, "I dunno, at the beginning I guess…like…tell me bout Raven and then tell me about…well…me. I mean, can we do it?"
Before Garfield's very eyes, Vic transformed into someone completely different; this was Vic's professional side that Garfield was facing now, it was the side that Vic didn't really like showing, a reflection of his scientist father, someone whom—Garfield guessed—Vic blamed for his mechanical counterparts. It was from his father that Vic had inherited all the medical interest from, all the genius that Vic liked to keep hidden; Vic liked being the jock, dreamed of it constantly, but he had told Garfield that after his accident, his dreams had all but disappeared and there were only fragments and newspaper clippings of his high school days where he really was a jock left, in fact he was in both the football team and the track team.
It was sad really, but Garfield was partially grateful, he wouldn't have met Vic. It was selfish and cruel but he was still grateful.
Vic stood up and went to his computer, before turning it on to click away at some files or whatever, "There are no technical problems with you guys sleepin' with each," he opened up some files for a second before closing them, nodding to himself, "not that I can tell, no." Slowly, he shook his head and sighed, "But there might be a few individual problems that do have some vague association with sexual relations or…" Garfield saw him hesitate for a moment, "sexual intercourse."
"Are they bad?"
"No, not necessarily bad but…" Vic clicked open Raven's medical files, "you might encounter a few problems as a consequence of your actions."
"Problems? Like what?"
His best friend moved the mouse to click on something else, "Raven is—as you already know—a hybrid; a mixture of human genetics and demonic genetics. Obviously I mean demonic as in the species and not the…um…evilness." The clickety-clack of his fingers upon the keyboard got louder and less rhythmical, "Though, we have to take in account that the demonic genetics also seem to influence her powers and her emotional prowess."
Never had Garfield heard Vic speak in such big words before, it wasn't that Vic was stupid or anything—not that, he was actually really, really smart—but Vic liked to speak 'normally' to try to make himself sound and feel a bit more 'normal', Garfield guessed. Gar didn't really know why he bothered actually; it wasn't like anyone in the Titans was normal.
"There are two problems actually. Not problems, I guess," Vic shrugged heavily, "complications." Another click of the mouse, "Firstly, Raven's immune system doesn't work the same way that ours does. Well," Vic grunted, "yours does, anyway." He cleared his throat, and Garfield smelled the slight, rotting scent of resentment, "So, anyway, her immune system doesn't work like ours because, as we all already know, she has healing powers which derive from her demonic side."
Garfield frowned, "Yea, so?"
"So…if we put it down to your level." Vic allowed himself a brief snigger, "Joke, joke. Well, seriously though, you know how Raven heals herself and other people right?"
Garfield nodded vigorously.
"I've found out that she heals slower than any of us and the weird thing is that it's not because she gets hurt more than the rest of us, but because of an excess of wounds and cuts that she has that she couldn't have gained." He paused, "Meaning that—I'm not sure if I'm right on this or not—she takes away other people's injuries instead of healing them and she keeps them."
Garfield fell silent; so he was right, Raven did keep the injuries.
He would keep note of that.
"Not that I'm completely right since it's a theory and all but the people at STAR Labs also agree with me given all the evidence and stuff." Another grunt and another sigh, "So, the surplus—like, the excess and shit—weakens the body's ability to heal itself." Vic waited for a reaction.
Garfield still didn't get it; OK, Raven could get sick or hurt easily but what did that mean in terms of sex? Really?
"Um…I think I get it." Garfield scratched an ear furtively, "But what does that have to do with anything?"
Vic shook his head dismissively, "I'll explain later." His human eye looked straight at him, "The next complication has something to do with her fertility."
"What? Like her chances of getting' pregnant and shit?"
"Exactly." He nodded and paused for a long time before finally looking up at Garfield, "You want kids right?" Garfield flushed bright red and grinned sheepishly, "Don't lie to me Gar, I know how you look at kids, you get all weird and soppy and you start to make weird face." He laughed nervously.
"So, OK, yea I want kids." Garfield shrugged in reply "So, shoot me."
Another pause filled the huge, metallic room like a huge elephant that wanted to get out. Garfield watched tentatively as Vic played around with the big computer for a little while, his head cocking from side to side occasionally and his teeth biting down at his lower lips nervously and in confusion, as if he didn't know what to say.
"Gar, she can't have kids, Gar." Vic said finally.
Garfield's heart dropped down into his stomach suddenly as the worlds slipped out of Vic's mouth slowly and with precaution.
"That's a lie actually. She can have kids but she only has like one in ten chances of actually conceivin' since she's a hybrid and all." His best friend avoided his gaze, "Even if you did have a kid, there might be a big change of hybrid inviability and the kid wouldn't be able to live for very long. She or he would be very, very weak."
Garfield remained quiet, his mouth dry and in need of some moisture. He didn't know what to say, or what to think really; he had always wanted kids, always, and since getting serious with Raven he had always wanted kids with her.
He shook his head fervently.
But now that Vic had revealed this predicament, he didn't know what to do. It felt like his dreams had been crushed and crumpled in Vic's hands and blown away so that there was no way that Garfield could ever retrieve it. He had always wanted kids, ever since he had lost his parents, ever since he had been adopted by the Daytons, ever since he realised that he could help in more ways than just transforming into different animals. Children were innocent, kind, funny and so energetic and he wanted one, he had always wanted one but now…
"The…the other one?" His throat was really dry and it was starting to annoy him.
Vic paused first and looked him straight in the eye, both with his human eye and his metallic one, as if to make sure that Garfield was truly OK. It was obvious that he wasn't but Garfield felt that he needed Vic to say something as not to give Garfield the opportunity to stare into blank space for what would be a long, long time. He didn't know how to take the information but he figured that he needed to be distracted by something, anything was better than being constantly haunted by the sick feeling he was feeling now.
"There's no other one 'bout Raven but we have a couple 'bout you." Vic spoke slowly, as if to ease the information in, "Well first things first…why didn't you tell me that you had Sakutia?"
Garfield frowned, pursing his lips together so tightly that they turned purple, looking down as to avoid his gaze. He honestly didn't know why he didn't tell Vic that he had Sakutia when he was younger…he just figured that vic always knew since he was in charge of the medical files and stuff.
"I dunno…I just…it was never the right time." His voice was too low for it to sound normal but he ignored it, "I wanted to tell you, I was gonna tell you but…"
Vic shook his head, "You'd think that I'd stop bein' your friend after all this shit you don't tell me…" another shake of the head, "but whatever, we can deal with that later." Garfield heaved a relieved sigh, "So, when did you first get it?"
"I dunno…when I was eight-ish I guess? I was in Africa. Why?" He asked as an afterthought.
"Well…" his best friend clicked onto his file to reveal a picture of him grinning toothily like an idiot, "…how did they cure it? From the green monkey, I'm guessin'?"
"Um…yea. That was ages ago though, made me green, yea."
"Yea, I can see that." Another frown, "OK…I'll go into the easy thing first."
Garfield nodded obligingly.
"Well, OK…here goes." Vic inhaled deeply, "Since you have unstable genetics, your behaviour can swing from human to animalistic in a matter of seconds. Like Raven, this usually happens when you're really emotional…like you're really pissed or depressed or whatever. This isn't a bad thing or whatever," Vic stopped to type before continuing, "but, we gotta remember the Beast incident. There, you were just all beast with primal instincts, to reproduce and to survive. I mean, OK, that was provoked by the chemicals that seeped into your blood or whatever but I've found that it can be provoked naturally. So…when you sleep with Raven…you might not be conscious that Raven is, well, Raven and you might hurt her because in your brain right at that minute, your only thought would be to reproduce and to enjoy the sensations that go along with sex."
Garfield gritted his teeth, baring his sharp fangs in an automatic act of defence before he could check himself, "I would never do that." A snarl escaped his curling lips, "Never."
"There's a small chance that—"
Garfield cut him off again, "Never. I would never." He shook his head vigorously, trying to convince Vic and himself, "I mean, what about Jill, man? I never did nothin' to her!"
He paused for a moment, reminiscing about Jill, wondering how she was. She had been one of his best friends, as most of his girlfriends started off as, and she was quirky and spunky and gorgeous. All his girlfriends had been gorgeous and—
Garfield immediately shook his head, berating himself mentally for getting distracted so easily.
He had to concentrate.
Vic grunted in return, "OK, man, chill. I didn't say that it would definitely happen but I said that in theory, it would happen." Another grunt, "Passion is not studied in the natural sciences, Gar, but the chemicals produced from this emotion are. I'm just tellin' you that even if you think that you can control your primal side, you still gotta be careful just in case." He shook his head in distress and Garfield still couldn't smell anything, "Scientists aren't scientists just because they all have crazy hair y'know."
Garfield inhaled deeply, trying to slow down his racing heart; partially from anger and partially from anxiety. He had to cope with all the information that he was being given by Vic, had to or not he would never help Raven, had to or he would never be able to continue his 'happily ever after' plans with her. It was hard though, it wasn't like he was Vic and he had all those files in his head that he could willingly delete if he wanted to…
Another pregnant pause held between them and Vic seemed to be considering what he was going to say next. Garfield tried to get his scent but was unable to and for once he didn't like it, he wanted to know why Vic looked like he was holding back a whole lot of information.
"Gar." Vic started.
Gar just looked up, acknowledging his name.
"Jill did come to me once."
"She what?"
Vic took a deep breath, "Jill came to me once. Do you remember that week that she stayed over for Thanksgiving or somethin'?"
Garfield nodded; he remembered it vaguely.
"She had bruises. None that were too bad but…Gar, she did have bruises Gar. Dude, I still remember it like it was yesterday. They were light purple, some yellow…some almost normal coloured but Gar, they were there." He closed his one eyes for a moment as if to relive that memory, "All over her; her wrists, her waist, her arms, her legs. She asked me to get her some painkillers or somethin' since she knew that I handled the meds but Gar…they were there."
"Shit, Vic. Tell me you're lyin'."
"Lyin'?" Vic snorted, "I wish. You know I wouldn't make shit up like this."
Garfield gritted his teeth in frustration, frantically trying to scramble around for a memory of Julia, of sleeping with Julia, of the aftermath, the morning after. Nothing came. He scratched and scraped at his inner thoughts, at an image of Jill with her newly dyed pink hair giggling as he kissed her on Thanksgiving eve and then…
At that second, he realised that Vic might've been right because that night it was…it was vague to him now. Fuzzy, inconsistent with random smells and scents and images coming into his brain as he tried to recollect whatever scrap he could find. It wasn't like he was going to remember everything, but he figured that he wanted to remember some detail, some minuscule description of how it was possible that he had given Jill the bruises that Vic had claimed he had seen. Garfield could try to convince himself that he didn't cause those marks but then he would be lying; he knew as well as anyone that he would never sleep with Jill if he saw those marks beforehand, that he would stop and ask her about them, worry over her frantically, condemning whoever did that to her.
"Jill…no…I…shit." Garfield shook his head, "Did you tell Raven? Did you!?"
"No. I ain't stupid, Gar."
"Dude, it's just not…I can't believe I would do anythin' like that…shit, Vic." He shook his head slowly, taking it all in, "Shit."
"There's still more…if you still want to talk about it. I haven't finished tellin' you 'bout the rest of the stuff I told Raven." Vic grimaced, "We can do this later if you want."
"No, no." He waved a hand, "Go on, let's keep hearing 'bout how much of a dangerous freak I am."
"Shut up, Gar, that's not funny. We know you ain't dangerous, and if you still think that you're dangerous then we must all be dangerous." Vic clickety-clacked again, "You're not the only one with a problem of lack of control. Hell, I think it's better than having too much control."
"Whatever Vic. You're only sayin' that coz whatever you're gonna say next is way worse than what you just told me." Vic avoided his eyes, "So it's true then?" Garfield asked quietly.
"Yea." There was a lack of spirit in that voice that made Vic sound flat; he was never flat.
"How the hell can anythin' be way worse than finding out that you beat up your girlfriend while sleepin' with her?"
"Sakutia."
Vic had said it so simply and so quietly that it sounded way more profound than it would've been in any other circumstances. There was an undercurrent of shame and irritation that itched at Gar's ears and they pricked to pick up any other undertone that might be lurking under his deep voice.
"I don't have Sakutia anymore, Vic."
He stayed silent again.
"Vic, I don't have Sakutia anymore…right?"
Vic heaved another sigh and still he did not look at Garfield. Suddenly, he had an urge to scratch at his skin, as if to peel away the layers that barred him from his organs to search for whatever was wrong with him. He had told Raven that he didn't need her, that whatever Vic had told her couldn't be too bad because, well, because she hadn't said it was too bad; she had kept her mouth completely shut.
"Your parents cured you…in a way." Vic's words were rough at the edges and inconsistent, "The Sakutia you have isn't active so right now you won't have any troubles with it but…"
"But what?" Garfield gulped nervously.
His best friend printed out his file slowly and handed it to him, "It's dormant, so it's not gone. It's still there inside you and the insertion of the serum have only slowed down its progress. So, maybe in the future the symptoms will come out again."
"But Mum and Dad said—!"
Vic cut him off, "They probably didn't know. Dormancy is rare when it comes to Sakutia since with diseases like that usually it's either cured or not and so they probably thought they cured it. They were also probably feeling guilty coz you turned green and all…"
"So…what? Does that mean I'll get sick again? After everythin' that I've been through? After turnin' into some green freak and then finding out that I could turn into animals and have even more people stare at me! And having Mum and Dad die and landing me with fuckin' Galtry for God knows how long with his stupid, greedy fingers trying to take my parents' money and…and Terra and all this shit and…still?" He accused, standing up aggressively and pointing his finger at Vic's chest, "Still I don't get a break? Still I'm going to die!? Still!?"
Suddenly Vic stood up, his calm face never changing but the tone of his voice did, and as he towered over Garfield in all his 6"6' stature, he suddenly felt a little bit intimidated. He had never felt intimidated by Vic before, never in his whole life since becoming a Titan, never even when he had first met him. Now though, there was just something that Garfield couldn't pick up that made him feel a little bit scared of his best friend.
"Gar, this isn't all about you."
Though he still felt the dear seeping into his veins, he gritted his teeth determinedly and looked up to him as he imagined Raven would look up to Garfield, "How is this not all about me? I'm the only one here who had Sakutia! I'm the only one who's gonna die here because of some goddamned disease!"
"Shut up for a moment, Gar!" Vic exclaimed and all Garfield could do to reply was grunt, "If you haven't noticed, this affects Raven too!" Vic growled as Garfield paused at his statement, "The people at S.T.A.R Labs have been developing a cure and it'll be done any day now but Raven! Gar…Sakutia is a virus that is transmitted through bodily fluids."
"What does that have to do with anything?" He seethed.
Another shake of the head; Garfield was getting tired of that movement, "Raven has a slow, if not weak, immune system right now due to all the healings she has done for other people and we don't know if she can handle Sakutia."
"Why the hell would she get—" Garifeld cut himself off as he repeated Vic's sentence in his head, "Oh…oh no. You aren't saying that…" He couldn't bring himself to say it, if he did say it, it would become a reality to him that he couldn't handle, one that he did not want to handle.
"If you guys have sex and not do it safely…or if you guys do it safely and then somethin' goes wrong—like the condom breaks or whatever—then it would be highly likely that she would be infected. There is, of course, a chance that she won't be gettin' it but those chances are way, way less." He paused for a moment, "There's also a chance that if you guys have a kid that it would have it too."
"Shit." Garfield grumbled, "Shit. Shit, shit shit. I cannot fuckin' believe this. You're tellin' me that I if anythin' goes wrong when me and Raven do it that she might get infected and you're tellin' me that I can't have kids? Fuck it, I hate—"
He stopped his rant for a moment and took a good look at Vic. He really didn't know what or who he hated right now, or if he even had a right to hate anyone. For a moment there he was about to tell Vic that he hated him, despised him, with all his might…but he realised that was wrong and it technically wasn't his fault that the stupid Sakutia was fucking up his life…now, twelve years after he thought that he had been cured by his parents.
Stupid Sakutia.
Stupid Africa.
Stupid Mu—
Another pause, and this time he didn't think out what he was about to say; it scared him that he was about to condemn them so, and really easily as well. There was no need for that, they had not known, couldn't have known and so he let it lie for a bit before his thoughts settled on Raven.
Raven—shit!—she had known and still she was willing to sleep with him, still she had claimed that she wanted to make love with him. Still she loved him, still after all the stuff that Vic had told her, the stuff that Vic was now telling him. Really, she should now hate him, despise him, be disgusted by him, move away from him, keep her distance from him but still she did not and she had not.
Really, it had made his heart swell up a bit more with more love for her than he could possibly handle.
Really, he should try to stop loving her for her own good.
"Gar."
"Hm?" He nodded, only slightly conscious of where he was.
"What're you gonna do now?"
Gar shook his head slowly, "I don't know." The words tasted foreign in his mouth; bitter and with a tangy aftertaste, "She can't be with me, Vic. Too dangerous. She'll get sick and die." Bitter; very, very bitter.
"I'm sayin' that there's a chance, Gar, not that it's definite. And if she gets it then there's the cure that S.T.A.R Labs is developin'."
"I'm not riskin' it." Garfield stated stubbornly, his heart trying to pull back those words back into his chest, "I can't. I don't want her to go through the same things that I did and…if we had kids…I wouldn't want it for my kids either."
"It's not gonna stop her Gar. She loves you and I think that if you told her that you were breaking up with her because of that then she'd be real pissed, Gar, and she'd probably beat you up 'til you couldn't move." He cracked a small smile before reverting back to the frown, "I'm bein' serious. Everyone can see that you guys are so frickin' in love with each other; every Titan, every Honorary Titan, hell, I bet you every villain knows it too." He closed the window on the computer screen and sat back down, "She would hate you and the Titans are already messed up as it is right now, man. Messed up." He said as an afterthought, as if considering the implications of that word, "We really don't need any more drama."
"Piss off. This isn't about drama, this is about keepin' her safe." He grunted, "If she dies, it would kill me, Vic. Kill me, I wouldn't be able to live with myself."
"So," Vic said finally, "you're really gonna do it then."
Silence, there was no real answer to that statement.
"Break up with her and you'll crush her."
Gar nibbled at his lower lip, feeling the soft cracks and scales, "If I don't she might die."
"It's a risk you'll have to take."
"No I don't…but…"
Vic whistled lowly, as if to agree with him, "Just don't hurt her man, make sure she understands why you're doin' this, make sure that she isn't offended by what you're sayin'." Vic patted him on the shoulder, a masculine way of saying that he understood and that he would back him up, but he would be very pissed if he hurt her.
He would not hurt her; Garfield didn't dare to entertain such thoughts.
It seemed to be his cue to speak again but he didn't take it, and let the silence lie until Vic spoke up again, "Tomorrow?"
"Tomorrow." Garfield nodded staunchly, "Tomorrow…yes…" he closed his eyes for a moment, imagining her scent, "Maybe."
There was no need for words after that, and both men knew about it. There would be no need for words until tomorrow, Garfield had decided, when he had gathered all his thoughts and planned out his actions for what was to come. It would hurt, both him and her, and he wouldn't be able to sleep for days afterwards, probably imagining and reminiscing about her scent, her touch, her taste…but…it would have to do. He would have to move on and he would have to urge her to move on even if it hurt.
Especially if it hurt.
Tomorrow would be a day for words but today…today he would be comforted by the tinkering noises of machines and the bleeping of lights. There would be cold steel and sleek silver wrapped around the walls and ceilings and there would be that unscented man that he called his best friend. His best friend with his observing black eye and his analysing red eye, could watch over him and somehow, Garfield knew, that his presence would somehow calm him, if not completely make him better.
Today that would be enough.
Tomorrow was a day for more.
A/N: All the "problems" that both Raven and Beast Boy have are completely made up just for this fanficcie, I wouldn't dare claim them as facts.
DC would probably hunt me down and kill me!
Anyways, what did you guys think? Sorry for the bit of OOCness, per usual.
See you next time!