Sorry, this one is a little short. Oh well. R . I do not own the Teen Titans.

For their trip into the city, Cyborg had let them borrow the T-car, though how Gar managed it Raven would never know. She was glad that she did not have to walk or teleport to the bookstore. It saved her energy that she was still a little low on if she was going to be honest with herself.

The ride was quiet, save for Raven's occasional direction to Gar. The silence was tense and heavy. It made Raven squirm in her seat the whole trip. Raven stared out of her car window for most of the trip, avoiding looking at Gar as much as possible. She did take note however that he was in street clothes as well.

Apparently, he had either changed far faster than she had or he had been planning to go into the city already. Her suspicions were confirmed when he suddenly broke the silence.

"I have a few errands to run myself while we're here, so I'm going to just drop you off at the bookstore and I'll pick you up when you're done."

His manner in addressing her was stiff, his voice emotionless and his face expressionless. For the second time that day, Raven wanted nothing more than a portal to another dimension to swallow her whole. The new wave of guilt was far greater than the first as her stomach turned in apprehension. Her emoticons did not make the situation much better, each voicing their opinion loudly. All of them, except for Anger, of course, took Gar's side.

"Gar, I-"

"Where did you say this place was?"

Raven huffed at him cutting her off. It was not often that she apologized to anyone, let alone him, and he was not making it any easier.

"It's on Fifth, right after Main. Gar-"

"The corner of Fifth and Main?"

"No, you turn onto Fifth from Main, and a few doors down it'll be there. Garfield-"

"Which side of the street?"

"Huh?"

"Left side or right side? Which side of the street is it on?"

"Left! Gar-"

"I'll have to go around. I can't park on the left side of the street from this direction."

"Fine. I-"

"Unless…."

"GARFIELD MARK LOGAN! Will you shut up for two minutes and listen to me please!?" Raven shouted.

Gar's green ears twitched, and he winced at such a loud noise so close.

"Geez Rae, not so loud."

Raven took a deep breath to calm down. At least he was calling her "Rae". That meant that he was not as angry with her as she thought.

"Well, if you would let me talk then I wouldn't have to shout to get you to listen to me."

Gar raised an eyebrow at her.

"And what is so important that you need to shout to get my attention?"

Raven sat back in her chair, ready to humble herself.

"I want to apologize."

Gar sat back in his own chair but gave her a questioning look that meant he was listening.

"I wanted to apologize for my comment earlier. I should not have been so cruel. It was inappropriate and childish of me and I'm sorry."

Raven played with the hem of her shirt, waiting for his response in silence.

"I already forgave you, Rae." He said gently.

Raven looked at him confused.

"Then why are you still upset?"

"Just because I forgave you doesn't mean it was okay. I'm still upset because it hurt. You sucker punched me Rae, and though you tease me a lot that was too far."

Another wave of guilt hit Raven with renewed force. Raven continued to play with the hem of her shirt and studied it as though it were the most interesting thing in the world. Her face was heated with a blush of shame, and she could feel the guilt written all over her face. She did not want him to see that.

"It was too far." She finally said quietly as Gar parked the car.

"Then why did you say it?"

Raven froze.

Now that the car was parked, she had his full attention, which meant one wrong move and he would see right through her. Time was still, her heart pounding in her chest far louder than seemed possible.

"Rae?"

His deep and soothing voice combined with his gentle and coaxing tone made her insides squirm and melt at the same time. Suddenly the air in the car was stuffy and too thick to breathe. Her face was on fire, and she could not swallow if her life depended on it.

"Rae, is everything okay?"

A green hand reached over to grasp her own and suddenly time was in fast forward. Heart racing Raven jerked her head up looking for an out. Seeing the bookstore, she jerked her hands away from his and threw off her seatbelt.

"Oh look! The bookstore! I should get going. Don't want to keep you from running your errands. Bye!" Raven somehow managed to stutter out the words in a hurried fashion as she threw open the car door and practically lept out.

"Rae! Hey, wait a-ack!"

Gar tried to reach for her as she got out, but his seatbelt locked up choking him in the process. Raven took advantage of the opportunity to escape and slammed the door closed, making a hurried beeline for the store.

She did not breathe easily again until she was inside the store at least ten stacks deep and three rooms in.

Raven loved the way the owner had set up the store. The bookshelves and multiple rooms made a complete maze out of the store. Every room was different in shape size and color making the hunt for books creative and adventurous. In random places throughout the shop, there were armchairs and couches tucked into corners where readers could curl up with their latest finds making it cozy.

What Raven really loved about the store was that it was easy to hide. Especially from a certain green titan who did not spend much time in bookstores. He could not even use his nose to track her due to the overwhelming scent of old books, sage, and pine sol.

Raven paused to listen for a few moments. Once she was sure that the green changeling was no longer chasing her, she proceeded to her destination.

At the very back of the store there was a hidden room filled with ancient tomes, spell books, scrolls, etc., things that private collectors paid small fortunes for. Raven had found it during her third trip here. The owner herself had given Raven full access and promised discounted prices for anything needed on the Titans' behalf.

Raven made her way, slowly of course, to the back room. She loved browsing the shelves, seeing if there was anything new or if something different caught her attention. For her, it was an absorbing experience. She would become lost in the books and the shelves for hours just looking through them all.

In fact, she became so engrossed in her browsing that she failed to notice the male presence behind her.

"Hey, Raven."

Raven jumped so high she nearly reached the top shelf. A black pulse of energy shook the bookshelf as Raven let out a sharp yelp of surprise.

Wide brown eyes meet violet ones when she turned around.

"Oh, Everett, it's just you." Raven exhaled.

"Sorry Raven, I didn't mean to startle you," Everett said sympathetically.

Everett was the owner's son. Usually, he helped run the store but lately, he had been gone traveling.

Everett himself was an average man. He was about average height and build with nut brown hair and eyes. His freckles were mostly hidden behind a pair of wire-rimmed glasses. His smile was small but genuine and his eyes sparkled whenever he talked about books. All in all, he was a stark contrast to a tall, muscled, and vibrantly green teammate of Raven's.

Raven never knew why until recently, but she had always compared Everett to Gar and always found Everett lacking. It was not that Everett was not a nice man or a decent one, he just lacked certain attributes that made Raven want more. No matter how much Everett made clear that he wanted more with Raven.

"It's alright Everett. It's my fault, I should have been paying more attention to my surroundings."

Everett opened his mouth to respond when a much deeper and far more attractive voice interrupted.

"Yes, you should have."

Startled, again, Raven looked up to see Gar leaning against the bookshelf at the end of the aisle. He was watching them with a frown etched into his face and clear disapproval in his eyes.

"W-what happened to your errands?" Raven asked.

Gar pushed off of the bookshelf and leisurely made his way over to them.

"I finished an hour ago." His frown was directed at her now.

"So, you've been spying on me for an hour?" Raven glared up at him.

"Nah, more like 45 minutes. It took me a while to find you in this place."

"Why didn't you say anything?"

Gar shrugged.

"I was letting you do your thing. I figured the fewer distractions you had the sooner we could leave. At least," he directed a glare at Everett, "that was the plan till Shorty here scared you nearly to death."

Everett's face began to turn red at being called "shorty". Raven knew he was sensitive about his height, so she decided to change the subject.

"How did you even find me in here?" Raven moved to stand in between the two men so that Gar's focus was on her and not the potential challenger.

"Seriously Rae? I followed your scent. There may be an overwhelmingly strong stink in here, but I could still pick up your scent as if you were standing right next to me."

Gar's eyes softened and he seemed to be conveying some sort of message to her through them. However, Raven had no idea what this message was.

Seeming to realize this himself, Gar sighed and stepped closer to her, invading her personal space.

"I could never forget your scent, it's intoxicating. I'll always find you no matter what." He whispered this to where only she could hear.

Raven's breath caught at his heartfelt statement.

'Could he mean…...? No, he can't possibly. He just doesn't know what he's saying.'

Gar reached up and tucked a strand of Raven's purple hair behind her ear. She closed her eyes briefly to indulge in the feeling of his hand caressing her face gently, as though he always had such privileges.

"Ehem."

The moment shattered; Raven whirled around to face Everett who was looking very uncomfortable.

"Everett! I'm sorry. Um, I was about to come to look for your mother. I need some help in the back room."

Everett perked up at the thought of being needed. He shot the changeling a glare over Raven's shoulder before giving her a beaming smile.

"Mother's out right now, but I can help you with anything you need!"

"Oh, I'm sure," Gar muttered behind her.

Without looking in his direction Raven used her powers to slap a band of black energy over his mouth.

"Lead the way." She responded to Everett.

They made their way to the back room, Everett talking all about his recent travels with Raven nodding politely and Gar huffing and puffing in protest the whole way.

An hour of looking through the back room later Raven and Gar left the store with several ancient-looking books, scrolls, and tomes. Despite having left the store, Raven did not remove the black band of energy from Gar until they were in the car driving away.

"What was that for!?" Gar wasted no time in protesting his silent gag order.

"It was for being mean to Everett."

"What, like you were mean to me earlier?"

And just like that, the subject was changed back to their earlier conversation.

"That was different!" Raven protested.

"Oh yeah? How so?"

"Because I-" Raven's eyes grew wide when she realized what she had been about to say. She closed her mouth so fast and hard that she bit her tongue.

"Because you what Rae? Just say it!" Gar said.

"It doesn't matter." Raven crossed her arms and looked out the window.

"It does to matter! Whatever your reasoning is it was important enough to intentionally hurt my feelings. So, spill! What is it, Rae?"

"If you're going to be such a jerk then I'll just teleport myself back to the tower."

Raven grabbed the door, but Gar hit the door locks.

"Oh no you don't, you're not getting out of this that easily. We're going to talk about this."

He sped the car up so that there was no chance of Raven jumping out to teleport home.

"Stop the car, Garfield!"

"No! You are going to tell me what was so important that you were willing to hurt one of your best friends and teammates."

"Gar!"

"God-danmit Rae, I don't know why you won't just spit it out!"

"Because I'm jealous okay!?"

Tires screeched on asphalt as the T-car came to a literal screeching halt.

"You're….what?"

Gar looked Raven dead in the eye as the realization of what she had just said washed over them.

"I-I mean…." Raven scrambled for some sort of reasonable excuse for what she had just said but her mind betrayed her by going blank.

"No, no I heard what you said." Pause. "So….you're jealous. Of all the girls I bring home."

Gar looked out of the windshield as he processed her statement. Raven waited with bated breath, frozen to her spot, as she watched him put everything together.

"But why would you be jealous unless…"

For a moment he looked confused. Then it clicked.

Stunned green eyes turned to face her.

"Rae…." He said breathlessly.

A split second later she was gone.