I AM BAAAAAACK! Guys, I finished. I can't believe it I'm sooo excited! Ahem, anyway, I'll still have to edit as I post so I'll try to update twice a week (probably on Wednesdays and Sundays) but sometimes it might take a little longer, depending on...you know, life! But we're back. Let's wrap this up hehe xD
Part 3 has 18 chapters and as usual we'll start off slow and have a few breathers before we get to the heavy stuff lol. So...sit back and relax? For now we're just setting the tone, enjoying some fluff and as usual a whole lot of foreshadowing. Anyway I hope this makes someone's day better.
Also thank you to everyone who favorited/followed since I last updated. I'm so grateful.
Spider-Menace76: I hope you had an amazing Christmas too! And lol don't worry I totally get it. Reading is fun, not an obligation, never apologize for that xD Stay hydrated as well, friend xD
April, I'm SO grateful for you you don't even know, hehe. Your feedback is so motivating and that one long review you left had me squealing haha. And regarding your last review yesss, I think most people don't know about that which is why I had Raven explain it but that was in chapter one so I think I'll have to have her explain it again LOL (I didn't know this would turn out THIS long). Thankou so much for that, I'm so excited as well to share the final chapters with you xD
darkbloodfang: ugh that's so insightful, thankou. Also, I'm so glad you enjoyed it! I'm always so happy when someone says they binged it, it makes me all giggly lol. Thanks! xD Hope you had an amazing Christmas!
Sarah, lol I'll take adorable, thankou. xD
TheForceIsStrongWithThisOne: chatted via PM already xD But just to mention this here cause I think it's a good point, when she says bend people's free will she means by manipulating emotions and stuff, like when she made Wally fall for her in the comics, not completely taking over someone hehe. Also, I always thought that was how Terra came back as well and I didn't realize how many people thought the same until I started interacting with fandom! It's so cool, haha. Thanks for reading! Those will she/won't she reviews had me rolling lol xD Have a great day! xD
krumelmonster: Thankou so much you have no idea how happy those sweet reviews of yours make me haha
TheAlienHeart: Again, I appreciate you so, so much. Your reviews always put a smile on my face even when you're mad at me LOL. I actually found that last review really flattering, so thankou xD I'll do my best, I promise haha.
LivingstoneBramble: Will I sound stupidly dramatic if I say that nearly brought me to tears? I mean it though, you have no idea how much it meant to read those words right now, it actually fueled me in such a way I finished a chapter I had been stuck on for days. That review DID mean the world to me. So truly, deeply, from the bottom of my heart, THANKOU so much. First of all omg that doesn't matter are you kidding I'm just glad to have another reader xD I'm not reading any fics until I finish this one so I'm not influenced and my brain doesn't feel tempted to steal plotlines hehe but once I'm done I'm DEFINITELY reading yours! xD Also, thank you so much for your insight! I LOVE imperfect, flawed characters, because there's so much room to grow! Since this story follows them for about 5 years the goal is to have them slowly grow into their best selves. Anyway I've never written anything this long or complex, especially in English and I've never shared my writing (except for short poems and songs), so I have no intention to be perfect, but I had to write it and once I did I had to share it. But it IS a little intimidating, so you have no idea how much I appreciate your words xD
LivingstoneBramble: MY FRIEEEND! Thankou SO much you got me blushing and everything lol! I mean that last review, I WANNA FRAME THAT AND HANG IT ON MY WALL xD And all the other super insightful ones that led to so much PM chatting, I'm soo grateful for it, you're the BEST!
Anyway...HAPPY READING!
Walking On Sunshine
Raven was trying to read. But it was difficult to focus when Garfield was strumming the ukulele and light-heartedly singing I'm Yours (Jason Mraz). Not because it was bad, but because it actually sounded good and she knew he was glancing at her all the time, especially since they were alone in the ops room. She could sense his feelings and she could almost feel his eyes on her.
The Changeling felt amazing. They were practically dating now, even if they didn't officially call it that. They didn't kiss in public or even in front of their friends because that would be confusing for everyone, but they often spent time together and he could pull her hood down without suffering consequences again.
Right now she was reading on the other end of the couch and she'd pulled her hair – which was longer again – into a ponytail, revealing her graceful neck. Garfield had decided to charm her as soon as he saw her. They hadn't shared a bed since Richard and Kory got engaged a few days ago. He thought about playing I Won't Give Up first, but I'm Yours just sounded better on the ukulele.
She caved and looked up from her book, only to blush at the sight of Garfield breezily singing the cheerful romantic song to her through a smile. Her face remained mostly stoic, but there was a hint of a smile as she gave him her undivided attention until he finished the song for what was probably the tenth time that day. "You're kind of good at that."
The shapeshifter gave her an extremely happy, toothy grin and carefully put his instrument aside. "Thanks, Rae! Did it work? I was trying to woo you."
Raven rolled her eyes. "Isn't that a bit old-fashioned?"
"Well sure but did it work!?" He leaned forward as his eyes got bigger.
Her face remained stoic for a moment, then she relaxed and sighed. "A little."
Heck, yeah. "Then…do you want to maybe get together later? I mean, if you're up for it."
Raven smirked. She had been meaning to suggest it herself since it had been a few days. "I'm up for it. Your room or mine?"
His stomach fluttered and a wide, mischievous smile spread across his face. Just the thought of having sex with her later and thinking of what he wanted to do to her and what she might want to do to him was enough to get him all hot and bothered. She had definitely picked up on his excitement too, because she seemed amused. Should I ask her to come to my room? She did offer. But she's just being nice; she's more comfortable in her own room. Don't ask for too much. Don't get greedy. "I'll go to yours."
Raven smiled affectionately at that and then went back to reading her book. That's nice of him, right? "Okay. I'll be waiting."
Garfield reached for her bare feet on the couch and she frowned and instinctively pulled them closer to her body. He chuckled. "Relax, I'm not tickling you. I'm giving you a foot massage."
Her expression softened, though it was still a little suspicious. "Well that's a nice offer."
He chuckled again and tapped on his lap. "Yep. But you gotta trust me."
Raven's face relaxed and she stretched her legs to rest her feet over his thighs. "I'm safe with you, right?"
Garfield beamed at her and began rubbing her feet. "You're completely safe with me. Always."
She didn't expect it to feel so good. Her lips parted and she exhaled then closed her eyes, repressing a moan. "Gar…that's amazing."
His toothy grin would have widened further if that was possible. He paid attention to her. He knew she was under some level of stress most of the time. It was a side effect of struggling against Trigon and her own powers, not to mention she still thought it was her job to save everyone. He noticed how tense she was every time he rubbed her shoulders and how much she appreciated him doing it, but she never asked. But now she didn't have to. He could tell how much she liked anything that could help her relax and he would do it every chance he got. "Good. You look really cute, by the way."
Raven opened her eyes and frowned. "I'm in sweatpants and a plain tee, Garfield."
"I can see that." The Changeling nodded. "Like I said, very cute. And I love it when you wear your hair like that."
She blushed and smiled slightly, rolling her eyes. "Oh, that's right. I remember."
He smiled charmingly and continued rubbing her feet. "It's that silky neck of yours. I love it."
Raven's blush deepened and she playfully kicked a little with her feet on his lap. "Stop that. We're in the ops room." When he just chuckled happily, she added in a more sultry voice. "Save it for later."
It was his turn to blush. "I can't wait."
"You'll manage. So, any special requests? For later, I mean."
The Changeling smiled in childish excitement. "Really?"
"Sure. You're coming to my room; I'd like to do something for you."
He bit his lip and looked away, pondering whether or not to ask for something. "That…that's really sweet, but you don't need to. Just being with you is more than enough."
She rolled her eyes fondly. "Yes, I know that, Gar. But I want to. Just give me something."
There was one thing he had been meaning to ask her. "Umm…well…could you maybe…"
"Spill it out, Beast Boy."
He swallowed and shot her a coy smile. "Could you maybe wear your Siren outfit tonight?"
Raven smirked. Well it took him long enough to ask for that. "Sure. I'll even do a little charm on my eyes and make the irises scarlet red for the night."
Garfield felt butterflies in his stomach and his heart skipped a beat. Their flirty banter when they were enemies was extremely sexy to him, though frustrating since back then they never got more than a few stolen moments in dark corners. He had been wishing to relive it now that they could actually spend the night together. So he grinned idiotically. "Awesome."
Raven smirked and went back to her book for a few minutes and Garfield turned the TV to an action movie and watched it while massaging her feet.
"Hey, Gar?" Raven asked after a while.
"Yeah, Rae?"
"Feel absolutely free to say no to this, but…I was thinking, if you're okay with it, could you show me the Red some time?"
His eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Oh."
"I mean, I was just thinking, if you meditate to access it, I could link my mind to yours and meditate with you. I think it could work. But like I said, feel free to say no."
He frowned. "Why would I say no?"
She shrugged. "I don't know, maybe you don't want to share that part of you, which I would understand. The Red is yours, I don't want to impose. I'm just curious."
Garfield smiled fondly at her. "You are?"
For some reason that made him feel great. Probably because she was usually the one blowing his mind with her powers, knowledge or spirituality and now he finally had something to show her in return. Something she was curious about.
"Of course." Raven said blankly. "I like learning about things. I looked it up and read a little about it after you told me and it sounds really interesting. But again, it's absolutely okay if you don't want to-"
"I want to!" Garfield said quickly. Raven seemed amused at his eagerness, so he chuckled coyly. "I'd love to take you. I'd love to share it with you. I mean, there are a few things that you should…but, whatever. We'll talk about them. Yes. My answer is yes."
Raven smiled at him. "Thank you. And don't worry, I'll listen to you. I know it's your territory."
The Changeling rolled his eyes playfully. "Yeah, right."
"What? I will. You can't be scared to give instructions. I'll need them."
Garfield fought back a cheeky smile. Why does that turn me on? "Oh…cool. I'll work on it. I mean, finally I have something to teach you for a change."
"You have stuff to teach." She said plainly, going back to her book.
The shapeshifter scoffed skeptically. "Oh, yeah? Like what?"
"Like how to make tofu taste decent." Raven said, floating another piece of the vegan snack he'd made for them to her hands and swallowing it. "And you grew up in Africa. Aren't you fluent in another language?"
Garfield nodded, a little flabbergasted. "Yeah…Swahili. And French."
"I'd actually love to learn those." She said, casually turning the page. "Will you teach me?"
"Yeahofourse I tea-tou."
Raven looked up and raised an eyebrow. He was feeling all flustered and she thought it was adorable, though she wasn't quite sure why he was feeling that way. "Excuse me?"
Garfield cleared his throat and collected himself, smiling softly at her. "Sorry. I meant yeah, of course I'll teach you."
She studied him and his emotions for a few seconds and smirked. "Oh, I see."
"What?"
"You like that, huh?" Raven smiled teasingly.
The Changeling swallowed. "Ah…what do you mean?"
"The idea of teaching me something. It turns you on a little."
Busted. He smiled apologetically. "Are you mad? I'm sorry. It's just, you're so smart. I never get to-"
"Gar, it's okay. It's cute." She said with a soft expression on her face. "I kind of like the idea too, actually."
"You do!? So you don't mind?"
"Why would I mind learning from you? Don't be ridiculous." Raven said nonchalantly before going back to reading her book and silently appreciating the foot massage.
Garfield just grinned a stupidly gigantic grin and continued watching his movie. A few minutes later, Nightwing, Cyborg, Superboy, Robin and Ravager all came into the ops room chatting casually after their training session. Raven and Garfield didn't move or stop what they were doing. In fact, she didn't even look away from her pages to acknowledge them, which was normal. Garfield just turned his head slightly and greeted them breezily while they scattered across the room. But they all stopped and exchanged amused and curious stares at the sight of the shapeshifter tenderly massaging Raven's feet on his lap.
Conner of course was the first to address it, staring amused and indiscreetly with folded arms until the Changeling looked at him. "You're just fully domesticated, aren't you?"
Rose and Damian chuckled while Richard and Victor glared at Superboy. Raven looked up to check Garfield's face and analyze the need to defend him. She didn't sense a whole lot of embarrassment or anger emanating from him and he seemed perfectly fine.
"I prefer trained, thank you very much." The shapeshifter said humorously, shooting Raven a flirty smile, which much to his delight she immediately returned.
Now the others were just rolling their eyes at their cuteness – except for Rose, who took the chance to whisper to Damian that maybe he should pay attention and take notes, making him blush deeply. Rose and Damian hadn't really discussed what they were, but they didn't need to. They were dating and aware of it.
They both knew it wasn't okay to kiss someone else and they sat down next to each other on the couch when everyone was watching a movie, lazily caressing each other in the way boyfriends and girlfriends do, though they were mostly discreet in front of their friends. Cyborg, Superboy and Changeling would eventually friendly tease them about the whole thing but then someone shot them a warning glare and they stopped. The truth was everyone wanted Rose and Damian to stay together, because they were significantly less rude and bad-tempered.
"Oh marvelous! They have agreed!" Starfire flew in excitedly, with a happy Bumblebee beside her and her communicator in hand.
"That's awesome, babe." Richard smiled at her.
"Wait, what?" Cyborg asked, shooting his girlfriend a questioning look. Karen opened her mouth to answer, but Kory beat her to it.
"Bumblebee and Terra shall be my bridesmaids!" The Tamaranean grinned brightly and showed her communicator to everyone, where a smiling Terra was waving at them.
"Oh, that is awesome!" Cyborg said happily, going up to Bumblebee and kissing her.
Raven gave both girls a contained, but genuine smile. "Welcome."
"Yeah that's amazing! Congrats!" Garfield shouted at them.
"I was actually hoping to talk to you two about something too." Nightwing said, gesturing between Cyborg and Beast Boy and seating down across from Garfield. He waited for Cyborg and Bumblebee to approach. Starfire came up behind him too. "Well, I wanted to know if you'd be my groomsmen."
Raven's smile grew a little. Garfield's grew a lot.
Victor had happy tears in his human eye already. "Wow, man. I mean, damn. I mean, I would love to."
Richard and Kory smiled at him and turned to the Changeling expectantly. Dick was really hoping he didn't hold a grudge against him for all that went down between them. "What about you, man?"
Garfield's attention span had failed him. He was so happy his mind went elsewhere. And then he felt Raven gently kicking her feet to bring him back to Earth and he realized he hadn't responded yet. "Oh, are you kidding!? Hellz yeah!"
Nightwing exhaled in relief and Starfire squealed joyfully.
"Awesome." Richard said sincerely. "We really need to start planning now too because we want to get married in September."
"Oh, yes! I will need you all to help Dick with some of the planning while I visit Tamaran for a few weeks and bring Galfore back so he can perform the tradition of giving me away."
"We got you." Raven stated plainly, still reading her book.
"So, I know you're all in relationships and stuff but…there will be a bachelor party, right?" Conner asked.
"Oh, yes there will. And I shall also have the bachelorette party!" Kory smiled widely.
Superboy frowned slightly. "So wait a minute. Damian and Raven are going to plan these parties? I mean, no offense to either of you but…not really your area of expertise."
Raven turned another page, never removing her eyes from her book. "It's a party, Conner, not rocket science."
"Yeah besides Gar and I can help this little guy if he needs it." Cyborg pulled Damian closer and ruffled his hair.
Robin grunted in annoyance, trying to fix his looks while Rose chuckled behind him. "Don't ever call me that again."
"Yeah and Terra and I can help out, Rae." Karen said friendly. "I mean, if you want."
"No need." The empath answered blankly.
"See what I mean?" Conner said pointedly. "I'm just saying, grumpiest best man and maid of honor ever."
Damian huffed and rolled his eyes.
Raven sensed a bit of concern from everyone so she looked up at them. "I only meant that I already took care of it."
"Oh, um…that's great." Bumblebee said unsurely. "So what are we doing?"
"It's a surprise."
That increased the levels of concern and anxiety. Even Kory was slightly worried. Raven sighed. "Trust me?"
"It's not a witch party where everyone gets naked under moonlight at midnight, right?" Victor narrowed his eyes.
Superboy chuckled. "That sounds kinda hot. I'm more worried there will be blood sacrifice or exorcisms."
"Very funny." The empath said sarcastically.
"I mean, I'm fine with all of those." Ravager grinned teasingly. "As long as it's not some boring book club meeting or poetry reading."
Terra spoke from Kory's communicator. "Rae, we're only saying that if you need some help-"
"We're going to Vegas, okay? Azar, I know what a party is."
Starfire flew into the air in excitement and squeaked. Bumblebee smiled in relief. Terra did a little happy sound and Rose just smirked.
"Oh we are!? That is amazing! I hear it is most wonderful!"
"Well, yes. I meant to surprise you, but since no one trusts me in this tower…" Raven rolled her eyes again, finally closing her book and retrieving her feet to put on her shoes.
"I trust you." Garfield said quickly, earning a soft smile from her in return.
Superboy rolled his eyes and muttered. "Kiss-ass."
"Woah, woah, wait! Are we going to Vegas too?" Cyborg asked Damian.
Robin shrugged. "Sure. Why not?"
Now the guys matched the girls' excitement. Nightwing gave his brother a fist-bump.
"Rae, that's awesome." Terra spoke again. "Are we spending the night? Are we staying somewhere nice?"
"Yes, of course."
"Don't we need much of the money for that?" Kory frowned slightly.
"You don't need to worry about that. I got it." Raven said plainly. Well, Gar's got it. She'd only accepted the offer because it was for Kory, of course. When the empath noticed everyone staring at her quizzically, she shrugged. "What? There's money. Honest money, before anyone even thinks about asking."
"Have you been charging for spells or something?" Victor asked.
The empath rolled her eyes. "No."
"Then how do you-"
"Jeez, leave her alone, guys." Garfield said. "It's me. I have some money, okay? I told her to go for it."
It was his turn to receive the quizzical stares. Raven just smiled slightly.
"So, um…my parents may have left me something…" The shapeshifter smiled sheepishly.
"That…wait, what!?" Nightwing asked.
"Wait, are you rich, dude?" Cyborg narrowed his eyes at his best friend.
The Changeling chuckled. "I mean, I…I'm comfortable."
There were loud, indiscreet gasps across the ops room.
Rose pointed at him. "That's what rich people say!"
"How are we just learning about this?" Dick folded his arms, utterly amused.
"I…I only just recently found it in me to touch my inheritance."
Raven instinctively stepped closer to him. She nearly grabbed his hand.
"Oh." Nightwing smiled at him. "That great, man."
"Wait. If you're paying for Starfire's stuff, then…what about Dick's bachelor party!?" Speedy suddenly appeared behind Terra on Kory's communicator. "I mean, where's the loyalty? Where's the Bro Code?"
Garfield and Richard both rolled their eyes.
"Relax, I'll just talk to my dad." Damian smirked, making everyone laugh.
"Well, I'm going to finish my book in peace now, if you all don't mind. Goodnight." Raven said blankly before floating away.
Bumblebee frowned worriedly after her. "Shit, was she offended?"
"No." Garfield and Kory said surely and in unison before sharing a laugh.
Later that night, Damian playfully elbowed Rose on the bench of the training room after they finished their workout. Ever since they kissed, they waited until they were alone to spar with each other, because it always ended up turning into heavy petting. "So…are you gonna cheat on me at Kory's party?"
Ravager smirked. "Are you gonna cheat on me at Dick's party?"
"I asked you first." He said teasingly.
Rose rolled her eyes. "I wasn't planning to, no. But if you give me a reason to…"
"No, I wasn't planning to either." Damian smiled, feeling utterly relieved. He could never be sure with her. She was a bit of a puzzle. But he liked that.
"Good. What about other stuff?"
"What other stuff?"
"Watching strippers, getting lap dances, doing body shots, all that other stuff. We should talk about those." Rose said calmly, picking Salem up to pet him.
"Oh, right." Damian chuckled. "Well I guess if…" He trailed off to glance at a message on his phone. "Weird. Conner's going out with Krypto. What time is it?"
"Eleven. Must be someone having sex."
Robin smirked, addressing the kitten in her arms. "I bet it's your owner."
Ravager smiled wickedly. "We could find out."
"I mean, that would be wrong, right?"
"I guess."
They stared at each other in mutual understanding, pretending they wouldn't eavesdrop at first, but slowly acknowledging the fact they obviously would as their smiles grew wider. They were both understandably curious, because neither of them had ever had sex. So they tiptoed outside of Raven's door hoping they were right and she would be powerless already and Garfield would be too focused on her to sniff them. They exchanged mischievous, childish, giddy grins as they heard panting inside. But then there was a sudden, loud slamming sound and their eyes widened a little.
"You can't stop me, hero. Not for good." Raven's voice said from inside her room. Only it was all breathy and sultry.
"Who said I want to, Siren?" Garfield sounded sensual too.
Rose and Damian frowned in confusion and stared at each other quizzically.
"So this nagging persistence in ruining my plans is just an excuse to see me?"
"Well, that may be part of it." They could practically hear the smirk in his voice.
There was another loud noise and this time Raven moaned. "I bet you wish you had those bracelets now so you could capture me. I bet you've dreamed about it."
Rose blushed deeply, suddenly feeling extremely uncomfortable – but also strangely excited – and when she glanced at Damian, he seemed to have frozen in place with a regretful look on his face. What are we doing here!? I need to get out of here.
"Well you could let me catch you. Just chant your words. I'll be nice, I promise." Garfield's words came out all slurred and muffled, as if he was speaking against something – probably Raven's skin. "You know you want to."
"Mmm...I'm not convinced. You might need to persuade me here, hero."
Then they heard a lustful chuckle, followed by something that definitely sounded like kissing, and several louder moans. They weren't sure what they had expected from this endeavor, but it certainly wasn't feeling this in the wrong and awkward. They had been mostly curious. Now they were just mortified.
"Nope." Damian whispered, finally remembering how to move and straightening up to walk away, feeling his face flush. "I can't listen to this."
"Yep, this was a mistake." An equally red-faced Rose agreed, quickly following him.
Once they were in front of Damian's room, he turned to her slightly while staring at the floor and cleared his throat. "So, um, goodnight Rose."
"Yeah, 'night." She said, equally embarrassed, before practically running out to her own room.
A few days later, Richard was concerned. Starfire had flown off to Tamaran already and she'd chosen the venue – which was huge – and helped him with the guest list – which was also huge, as in event of the year huge – but other than that nothing was done. He used his strategic mind to brilliantly plan out a seating chart, but now he needed to pick decorations and flowers and invitations, and he had no idea what to do about those.
"So, the problem is, apparently weddings have color schemes. And I need to pick a color scheme before we can do anything else." Dick explained to the others after calling them for an emergency meeting. It was a desperate measure, but he was desperate.
Raven raised an eyebrow. "You didn't discuss the colors before she left?"
"Well, we…no." Nightwing dropped his shoulders.
The empath rubbed her temples.
"Okay…do you have samples?" The Changeling asked.
Dick pulled out several pieces of colorful fabric. "Yeah. Is that what these are?"
Garfield nodded and helped him scatter them across the floor.
"So do you want it to mean something or just look good?" Bumblebee asked.
"I don't know." Nightwing frowned worriedly.
"Why don't you just use your colors? Easy!" Cyborg suggested.
"Yeah, man. No worries." Garfield nodded breezily.
"Red for you and green for her, right?" Damian said, picking up a bright red and a vivid green.
Dick smiled a little. "Oh, that makes sen-"
"No." Raven said pointedly.
Richard frowned again. "Why not?"
The empath pointed at the samples in Damian's hands. "Your wedding will look like traffic lights or a Christmas tree. It's assaulting my eyes already."
"Actually, I'm with her." Bumblebee nodded, wrinkling her nose at the combination.
The others stared at the samples and quickly realized they were right.
"Yeah maybe not these." Robin dropped them again. "So…what? Red and orange is no good."
"Just pick something softer." Raven suggested, earning quizzical looks in return.
"Huh. I thought you'd pick some dark combination of black and blue or something." Conner chuckled.
"Well, it's not my wedding." Raven stated the obvious. "Kor's favorite color is pink. Here." She tossed a pastel-pink fabric to Dick.
"Oh, nice." Richard smiled gratefully.
"So will your wedding be a haunted combination of black and blue?" Ravager asked the half-demon.
Raven sensed Garfield's uneasiness and rolled her eyes. If they did get married one day, dark purple and pastel green would definitely be the way to go. Not that she spent time thinking about it or had entertained the idea at all. "I'm not getting married, Rose."
"Like, ever!?" Cyborg quickly glanced at Garfield, who just stared at him warningly, silently begging him to drop it.
"How about you? Aren't you getting married, Victor? You're the one with a girlfriend." Raven smiled mischievously. "Maybe we should discuss your future wedding color scheme."
Bumblebee folded her arms and stared at Cyborg.
"Well, I…I mean, I- it's just that- you knooow." Victor stammered, shooting Bumblebee a pleading look.
"Don't look at me for help." Karen said pointedly, making everyone chuckle even more at the flustered half-robot.
"So how about you, bro?" Damian asked Dick. "Nightwing's blue?"
Richard pondered. "I mean, I was Robin when we got together. I kinda wanna honor that."
"But red and pink don't really go together…right?" Damian glanced at Rose for confirmation for some reason. She wrinkled her nose in agreement and he chuckled. "Right. So…yellow?"
"I like yellow." Dick smiled, picking up several shades of yellow to place them near the pink one. "I don't know…"
"What if you went with gold instead of yellow?" Garfield suggested, not failing to notice the way Raven turned her head to smile slightly at him.
Robin quickly found a nice golden sample and placed it next to the pink.
"Now that looks expensive." Rose nodded approvingly.
Nightwing smiled in relief. "I think she'll like it."
Bumblebee gently elbowed Raven. "But this means we might be wearing pink…are you, like, okay with that?"
Raven realized she was right and wrinkled her nose. Everyone grimaced in sympathy while she thought about it. That was very out of her comfort zone. She looked down at the samples. It did look good. Like the fairytale wedding Kory wanted. The empath sighed. "It's fine. My dress is different so I can probably just wear magenta."
Nightwing smiled at her. "Of course you can."
Richard was grateful for Raven. He was even more grateful when they had to pick flowers. Invitations weren't that hard; he had good taste. But flowers were a completely different subject. So he'd asked the whole wedding party to help him out, but he quickly regretted that. There were dozens of arrangements, the florist kept suggesting new combinations and everyone had a different opinion and started making their own arrangement and he was feeling dizzy already. Nightwing glanced between his many, many options, being absolutely confused. And then he turned to the one person who hadn't suggested anything yet. She was frowning. She did not look impressed.
"Rae? What do you think?"
"Well that's not fair, she'll pick BB's!" Cyborg practically whined.
"Don't be ridiculous." Raven said before calmly analyzing every flower arrangement in the room again while each of her friends grinned widely, presenting their pitch. "No."
They frowned and exchanged confused looks.
"No, what?" Bumblebee asked.
"I don't love them." Raven explained blankly.
Now they all looked outraged instead. Except for Nightwing. He just looked tired.
"You don't like any of them?" Terra asked incredulously.
"They're fine, I guess. But these are all too…basic. I mean, for Kory."
Beast Boy gasped. "Preposterous!"
Raven rolled her eyes.
Cyborg turned his head to shoot his best friend an incredulous look. "We get it, dude. Your vocabulary has improved."
Garfield chuckled sheepishly.
Nightwing sighed. "Rae, they're just flowers…"
"No." The empath repeated adamantly.
"Rae if you just hate flowers in general, why don't you just tell Dick that you hate my pitch the least?" Terra said cutely, shooting the empath a lovely smile.
"Sorry. None of these are good enough." Raven said blankly. The way she saw it, after Kory being such a good friend to her all this time, this maid of honor situation was her chance to do the same. It was simply her turn to be the amazing friend.
Cyborg huffed. "Why don't you try it then?"
"Yeah, Doomsday. You've been pretty comfortable standing there stoically and criticizing." Damian smirked. "Why don't you give it a go?"
"Ugh, fine." Raven rolled her eyes again and pushed past her friends. She could sense their shock as she did. They clearly weren't expecting her to actually try. But she picked up pale pink roses and hellebore, ammobium, pink larkspur, and branches of cherry blossom, spirea and eucalyptus, arranging them together and tying them up with golden strings. "There. It's not that difficult."
The Titans gasped at the arrangement when she turned around. It was asymmetrical and quirky, but also extremely soft and romantic. It was like it came right out of a beautifully weird dream or an eccentric fairytale. And it screamed Starfire.
Nightwing was beaming. "Raven that's perfect!"
"How…how did you do that?" Bumblebee was the first to compose herself enough to pick up her jaw and ask.
Raven shrugged, passing the arrangement to a once again relieved Nightwing.
"No, but…seriously, how!?" Richard frowned. "Don't get me wrong, but…this isn't what I'd expect you to choose."
"Yeah, Doomsday. That arrangement has nothing to do with you."
"Again, it's not about me. I just chose what Kory would like." Raven said matter-of-factly, as if it was the most obvious statement in the world – because to her, it sort of was.
Now she sensed a bit of shame emanating from them, though she also didn't fail to notice the very nice wave of admiration and affection pouring out of Garfield.
Richard's smile widened. "You're a genius, Rae."
Raven waved a hand to dismiss it. "You're the genius, Boy Wonder. I'm just doing my job."
"No, seriously." Terra's eyes sparkled, admiring the flowers. "It is sobeautiful."
Bumblebee joined the blonde, beaming with her.
Raven shrugged, already floating away. She was getting too much attention and she wasn't quite comfortable with it. "Whatever, are we done here?"
Nightwing laughed whole-heartedly and stayed behind with the others to admire the arrangements a bit more. Garfield, however, ran after Raven the second she left.
"Hey, wait up."
The sorcerer turned around slightly. "Yes?"
"Do you wanna do something?" The shapeshifter asked her.
Raven raised an eyebrow. "Like what?"
"I dunno." He shrugged breezily. "Something. Anything. With me."
"Like, right now?"
"Sure." Garfield smiled. "Whatever you want. I just really wanna spend time with you. Unless you need alone time. Then I'll wait."
Raven failed to fight back a smile. "Oh. Okay. What do you want to do?"
His smile got huge and his heart soared. "Your choice."
"Museum?"
"Let's go!" He clapped once and beamed.
Raven chuckled softly. "What got you in this mood?"
"You. You're amazing." Garfield said truthfully.
She frowned. "Because I picked some flowers?"
He chuckled. "Because you're observant and selfless and witty and an amazing friend."
That made her blush. Raven bit her lip. "Oh…thanks. You did the same for me all the time, though. Whenever you got me flowers when we were dating, you always picked the ones that I would like."
His stomach fluttered at the memory. "Well, yeah but I was in love with you. If you're in love with Starfire then you've done a great job at hiding it." Garfield laughed at his own joke, but then he noticed her face fell a little and his eyes widened and his voice got squeaky and desperate. "Wait, are you in love with Starfire!?"
Raven rolled her eyes. "Yes, we've been secretly together for years now."
The Changeling chuckled awkwardly. Was that sarcasm? That was sarcasm, right!?
"I'm joking, Garfield."
He exhaled and then laughed openly. "Sorry. It's just; I thought you looked kinda sad for a second there."
"Oh. Don't worry about that."
Wait, she sounds sad again. Garfield frowned and stepped closer to her, watching her with serious, kind eyes. "Tell me."
Raven bit her lip. "I just, you said you were in love with me. As in, past tense. I've been kind of under the impression that you still…you know."
The shapeshifter mentally slapped himself. You fucking idiot. "Nooo, wait, I do! I am!" He said in a high-pitched voice. Then he cleared his throat slightly so he could go back to a more adequate tone. "Didn't you hear me singing to you a few days ago when we were all under that wicked Broadway spell? I only meant that I was in love with you when I got you flowers, not that I'm no longer in love with you! I'm so in love with you. I told you, I'm completely, helplessly, deeply in love with you."
Raven blushed and smiled again. He's right. He poured his heart out about it only a few days ago. What was I thinking? "Right. I guess that was silly of me. Sorry."
The Changeling smiled tenderly at her. "I can say it more often, you know? I just thought you wouldn't want me to."
"Say it as much as you want." She touched his elbow and teleported them to the museum. "But I know. I just forgot it for a second. Thanks for reminding me."
Garfield's smile grew huge again. "Anytime!"
Once they were admiring the art, Raven discreetly and casually held his hand. Garfield felt his chest aching, but didn't make a big deal about it. Instead, he asked her about the paintings and listened intently while she talked about art history.
"Your turn." Raven whispered. "Teach me Swahili."
The Changeling grinned. "Right now?"
"Mmhm. How do I say hello?"
"Habari."
"Habari." She repeated after him.
"You got it." Garfield said happily. Something about her speaking this language made him feel all warm and fuzzy inside.
"What about my name is Raven?"
"Jina langu ni Raven."
"Slower, please." She chuckled quietly.
Garfield smiled apologetically at her as they sat down on a bench. "Sorry. Jina langu ni…" He repeated slowly, staring into her violet eyes.
Raven smiled slightly. "Jina langu ni Raven."
He beamed at her. "Perfect."
"Do you miss it? Africa?"
The Changeling bit his lip. "Kinda. I love where I am now, don't get me wrong. But I had a great childhood there before it all went to shit. I miss being around nature."
She nodded. "Don't you think about going back? Not for good, just…to visit. I mean, if Azarath still existed, I'd…" Raven trailed off and then cleared her throat when she realized he was getting sad because she was getting sad. Let's get back on track. "Anyway, do you ever think about it?"
"Yeah, I'd love that. But Nightwing would have to let me get a vacation." He chuckled quietly. "And…I don't know. It's a little scary. Some of those memories are…bad."
Raven reached out and gently squeezed his hand. "When you're ready, I'll go with you."
The Changeling turned to stare at her incredulously. Did she just say she'll go with me!?
"I mean, if you want." Raven quickly added. "I'm not trying to impose. I'm just saying, if that would make it less scary, then…I could, you know?"
Garfield felt his heart burning for her and realized that was where the warm and fuzzy feeling came from. He instinctively leaned in to kiss her, but stopped himself midway. Raven certainly noticed. Her eyes widened slightly as she swallowed dryly.
"Sorry." He whispered, pulling away. "So…is that why you want to learn Swahili?"
"I mean, it's part of it. I also just really like learning new languages."
The shapeshifter grinned. "Well I definitely want you there with me."
Raven smiled softly and learned a few more sentences before they continued casually walking around the rooms of the Museum. She stopped in front of the painting of Hell that had caught Radiant's attention that night.
"Oh." Garfield whispered.
Raven could sense his guilt increasing and held his hand again, for both him and her, because Lucifer's cruel smile was making her cold. "It's okay. I probably won't go there."
"I know you won't." He said surely, fighting back the urge to protectively wrap his arms around her. "If you did I would pull you out myself."
He hadn't given up on saving her. In fact, after learning how to contact Radiant from Damian, he had been reaching out to her to plead for Raven's soul on a weekly basis. She had been patient and would always listen to him and offer kind words, but the answer was always the same: she wishes she could help, but there are things not even she can fix.
Raven rolled her eyes, but smiled fondly and pulled him away from that painting. Too many painful feelings and memories were involved. "How heroic."
"I'm serious."
"I don't doubt you." She said softly. "But there will be no need for that. I'm staying good. Now let's go home, I still need to feed Salem."
"Can I come find you later? I could show you the Red."
Her eyes glistened. "I mean, it probably won't work on our first try. But yes, we could start trying. Then you can spend the night if you want to."
"I always want to." Garfield chuckled light-heartedly.
A few days later, Starfire came back with Galfore and was beyond pleased with every decision Richard, Damian and Raven had made in her absence. She was particularly impressed with the seating chart and in absolute ecstasy about the flowers. Richard was as happy to see her as he was relieved that she was back to make the rest of the calls.
"So what's next?" Starfire asked excitedly.
Damian and Raven smirked and answered at the same time.
"Your bachelorette party."
"Dick's bachelor party."
Walking On Sunshine (Katrina & The Waves)