Blah blah, the Teen Titans belong to blah blah, I don't own them, blah blah blah.

Raven was never late. Never. It wasn't in her blood to be late. "Raven" and "was late" were never in the same sentence, unless the sentence had the word "never" in it as well. Because she was never late.

But Garfield was always late. And Garfield was an idiot.

Because of Garfield, Raven was late.

Well, technically it was Kori's blabbering that kept Raven up and caused her to sleep in and rush to get ready. But Garfield happened to be with her as they walked into the cafeteria at 8:45, and Ms. Mae punished them both. For being late.

"Well, at least you're not having to do this on your own..."

The pale girl sighed in exasperation as she gave her blonde teammate a pleading look. She was tired, angry, and upset, and she really didn't want to add irritated to the list.

Garfield was of course oblivious. He was tired as well, but was happy nonetheless that their punishment was only sorting through and correcting the homework Ms. Mae had brought with her from Jump.

"I wish I was in this class right now, 'cuz all the answers are right here!" he continued as he waved around the answer key. As luck would have it, Garfield had already taken that class (and passed, but with a B-).

Raven glared at him halfheartedly, too tired to properly deal with him. "Just shut up," she mumbled as she crossed out a series of wrong answers on the worksheet in front of her.

Garfield gave her a quizzical look. "You aren't even looking at the key, Rae," he pointed out timidly.

The dark-haired girl rolled her eyes in annoyance. "I, too, have taken that class. And aced it," she deadpanned.

"But you should really look at it anyway to make sure, Rae," Garfield insisted as he scooted his chair closer to hers. "These are people's grades."

She turned her head and narrowed her eyes as he slide the answer key closer to her. "I could kill you right now, and no one would know."

It was true- Ms. Mae had banished them into a small conference room. So far, nobody had bothered them, and they found themselves completely alone, which was a bit peculiar. Their elderly teacher was very strict on the bedroom rule, but had no problem leaving a rumored-to-be-dating couple alone in a large, empty, windowless room.

Garfield's eyes widened slightly at Raven's warning, before he burst into laughter. Surprisingly, she joined in with a shy giggle of her own.

"Oh my god, you totally could!" he grinned, somehow finding the thought of the petite girl murdering him hilarious. Maybe it was their obvious height difference, or the lack of sleep, but the thought just kept getting funnier.

After awhile, Raven's small snickers turned into her trademark smirk as Garfield's laughs faded into a snort of amusement. He rose one eyebrow suspiciously as he gave her a quick once-over. "You're not going to though, right?"

The pale girl lightly smacked him on the shoulder as she turned her sights back to the ungraded papers. "Don't push your luck, Garfield."

He let out a huff of exasperation. "I don't know why you refuse to call me Gar," he whined, propping up his head with his hand as he leaned onto the table. "Everyone calls me Gar."

"I don't know why you insist on calling me Rae," she bit back, mirroring his position. "My name is Raven."

The blonde grinned cheekily in response. "'Cuz it's a term of endearment- I bestow nicknames onto all of my friends!"

Raven rolled her eyes fondly, hoping that he didn't notice her blush. "You started calling me Rae before I agreed to be your friend."

Garfield let out a curt laugh, before sitting up straight. "I need coffee," he announced abruptly.

His teammate agreed with a small nod. "Coffee is a must."

They both directed their eyes to the "breakfast" Ms. Mae had provided them with, which consisted of two bowls of oatmeal and two bottles of water.

"I need food, too," the blonde elaborated.

Raven suddenly sat up straight. "I have an idea," she smirked.

"So, how exactly do you know how to get in here?"

The pale girl shook her head in amusement as she and her teammate sneaked into the hotel's kitchen.

"I lived here before, remember?" she pointed out dryly, though a small smile tugged on her lips.

Garfield rolled his eyes as he let out a quiet chuckle. "Right, I forgot you and Dick use to live on the wild side," he replied sarcastically.

Raven shot him a playful glare as she opened up the kitchen's back entrance. "Dick doesn't seem like much of a term of endearment."

The blonde gave her a cheeky smile. "It's a term," he laughed.

She huffed in amusement, giving up on trying to understand how guys' minds worked, and quickly scoped out the kitchen to make sure it was empty. "Alright, the espresso machine is over there."

Garfield's eyes followed to where she was pointing, and he felt like singing. "Oh, praise the lord!" he laughed as he rushed towards it. "Where have you been all my life?"

Raven trailed after him less enthusiastically, but just as relieved. Tea was of course her beverage of choice, but coffee was a lifesaver.

The blonde quickly filled a cup, before handing it to the pale girl. "Bottom's up," he teased as he began filling another.

She was slightly taken aback by the fact that he had poured her a cup first. Sure, it was a small, seemingly insignificant gesture, but it brought a smile to her face. She quickly hid it from him as she brought the beverage to her lips.

"Thank you," she replied quietly after taking a small sip.

He smiled in reply before taking a swig of his own cup. "No, thank you," he grinned. "I tend to humiliate myself when I'm half-asleep!"

Raven blushed at his confession as she remember what he had said on the elevator. "I've noticed," she blurted.

Garfield immediately knew what she was referring to as he felt himself blush. "Y-yeah," he stuttered, taking another gulp of his coffee. "I should drink up- prevent my sleep-deprivation from embarrassing me... again."

The pale girl gave him a reassuring smile. "At least you're not grumpy like me," she smirked, hoping to stifle the strange tension growing between them.

"Nah, it's cute," he replied, before his eyes widened as he took another big drink.

Raven was at a loss for words as she attempted to control her fiery red blush. "Uh-"

She was interrupted by the sound of the doors swinging open, and her and Garfield quickly shared a look of horror. Faster than she thought was possible, she pulled the blonde with her to the floor and under a small table against the island counter. She held her coffee tightly in one hand as her other gripped the collar of her teammate's shirt.

Garfield gave her a flustered look as he realized how close they were, crammed under the little table. They were sitting side-by-side, their knees pulled to their chests and their backs against the counter.

He could hear footsteps behind them, and prayed that nobody would decide to get a coffee.

"I hate youths," a man's voice suddenly announced, causing both of the teens to suck in a breath of surprise.

Another set of footsteps could be heard walking towards the other side of the kitchen, opposite of them. "They'll be gone next week, and we can go back to serving food to ungrateful billionaires," the other voice (also a man's) spat.

The first voice chuckled slightly. "Yeah, well that Grayson will still be here- he basically owns the damn hotel."

"Oh, he's the worst- a billionaire and a brat," voice number two groaned. "And did you see that Roth girl was back?"

Raven felt her heart stop at the mention of her, and Garfield gave her a sideways glance, knowing he was about to hear something he shouldn't.

"I can't believe they even let her in the hotel- especially after what her father did," voice number one mused.

Raven could feel tears prickling behind her eyes- she didn't want Garfield to find out about this- especially if it wasn't from her own mouth.

The blonde watched worriedly as his teammate closed her eyes and leaned her head back. He slowly lowered his coffee onto the ground beside him, before gently prying her hand off of his shirt.

"He's still in prison, isn't he?"

"Yep."

Raven tried to hold back a sob, expecting her teammate to push her hand away in disgust.

She opened her eyes in surprise as he instead laced his fingers with hers, though he kept his eyes focused on the espresso machine in front of them.

"And his little minion daughter has the nerve to show her face here."

Garfield never hated anybody as much as he hated those two men at that moment. Sure, he had no idea what happened, but he couldn't believe they could talk so badly about someone like Raven. He spared her a quick glance, feeling his heart break as she stared at her knees and bit her lip nervously. He instinctively squeezed her hand, causing her eyes to dart towards him questioningly.

He gave her a small smile as they listened to the doors swing back open and the footsteps and voices of the two men fade.

She returned the smile slowly. Words couldn't express how grateful she was for his kindness. They sat there several minutes longer, waiting to make sure that the coast was clear.

Both ignored the fact that they were holding hands for a second time that day.

I give you all an answer- and leave you with even more questions! Muahahahahaha!

So this got a little touchy-feely, eh? :D

But it was cute there at the end, right? Right? Riiiiiight?!

Leave a review, maybe?