While having the key to his friend's apartment did make him feel better when it came to his worrying about her safety, he did not like the fact that the chances of running into her crummy boyfriend increased by that much when he had the key in his hand.

Garfield glared at the shoes that joined Raven's on the floor right next to the coat closet. They were gray and black, with neon purple laces, the kind that he wouldn't be able to afford. Garfield's shoes weren't all skateboard-y and expensive. He was sensible and spent his money on things other than shoes. 'Mundane, unnecessary things that shouldn't be required in this climate,' as Raven put it. For someone who complained about sweaty toes, though, she sure didn't wear anything that made it easier for her feet to keep cool. The combat boots that lie neatly next to her boyfriend's proved this.

He scowled at the shoes her guy had left there. Stupid, pretty shoes. Stupid, pretty boy.

Down the hall, the shower turned on.

Garfield knew very well that Malchior didn't have his own apartment. Raven knew this, too, but despite knowing how bad he was for her, she didn't ever kick him out.

'Well,' a voice in his head said, 'It's not like he's broke, or lacking in anything in the job department.'

Fine, he would give him that. The guy was employed and made enough to probably afford his own apartment. He didn't pitch in for rent, but he bought Raven things like books and rented movies that the two of them watched together. Garfield knew, because she kept cancelling on them to hang out with him.

Which Garfield didn't get. He knew his friend was dark. As Kori had once put it, when it came to Raven, there was a lot that he was never meant to understand. Like why she didn't break up with the guy, even though he hurt her. Garfield's glare intensified.

He sighed and walked into the kitchen, preparing his usual morning smoothie. Despite the fact that he didn't spend any extra money on clothes, he still didn't have the cash to go to a café or booth that could provide him with his preferred start-to-the-day beverage. And blenders cost too much.

Raven, however, bought an excellent, Grade-A blender that she, herself never used. She also bought fruit, yogurt, chocolate and other things that he'd never seen her eat. He used them in his smoothies, and liked to do small favors for her like alphabetize her DVDs or wash the dishes and wipe down the counter – putting his busboy skills to good use – to show his appreciation. He couldn't afford to pay her back for the food he used every day – he was barely keeping up with the bills for his apartment! – but she didn't seem to mind.

Behind the kitchen wall was the living room, and close to that, a hallway began at the end of which was the bathroom. To the right side of the hallway where two bedrooms, which ended up being one bedroom and a study once Raven moved in. When Malchior began living with her, nothing had changed. They shared a room.

'It's not like you haven't done it,' the voice reminded him, 'Stop acting like a ten-year-old who just found out where babies come from.'

'It's sick and horrible because he hits her,' Garfield replied angrily, 'Not because of what they do in her bed.'

'Because your crush doesn't have anything to do with it?' The voice questioned.

"No, it doesn't." Garfield spoke in the direction of the blender; apparently that was the inanimate object that was lecturing him this fine morning. He sliced several strawberries and slid them off of the cutting board and into the machine.

"What doesn't?"

He jumped and whirled around, staring in surprise at Raven…who was wearing nothing but a towel.

"What?" She looked at him pointedly.

But he didn't reply. Because he was too busy looking at the bite marks on her throat.

"Oh. These? We just got a little carried away." She covered them nervously with her hand and Garfield's attention instantly shifted to her bruised wrist. "…Gar? What were you talking about?"

After several more seconds of silence, he finally looked her in the face. "Nothing. …The shower's still on."

"Yeah. Malchior's taking a shower."

"Oh."

She continued to watch him cautiously before stating, "Well, I'm gonna go get dressed. Be back in a bit."

"Uh huh." He turned back to his food, arranging fruit and cutting it, then sliding it into the machine. "Good-for-nothing asshole… Doesn't even chip in… He's probably cheating on her, too, with some skank from the Red Light district – "

"I hope you're not talking about me."

Garfield pivoted and visibly shrank back, mentally berating himself. What was it about this guy that made him so intimidating?

Malchior stood, six-foot-five, in gray boxers. While Garfield's thinness was due to his diet, and perhaps his place on a community Track-and-Field team, Malchior's was, quite obviously, because of the fights he got into. If one hadn't come to that conclusion, they'd probably assume that he did something very dangerous for a living, because Malchior had quite a large collection of scars. The biggest and most noticeable one ran from his shoulder to his chest, probably what was meant to be a stab, gone wrong.

Raven's boyfriend filled the electric kettle without giving him another glance, then filled the coffee grinder and started it, much to Garfield's annoyance. "Did you have to get one so loud?" He asked, comically plugging his ears and scrunching up his face to show his distaste.

Malchior smirked and gave him a long look, "If it annoys you, then it was worth every penny."

"I don't like you."

"I don't like you either." Malchior poured steaming water into a mug and began stirring, mixing coffee grounds in with the liquid, "But Raven does. Why is that?"

Garfield raised his eyebrows, "I'm her friend."

"No – how did you get to be friends? You're too different."

"She's friends with Kori."

"Well, Kori's a special case. If you say that you don't like something about her, she changes it. After a while, you start to feel bad that you said anything at all, and a bond is made. At least, that's how it was for Raven and me." Malchior sipped his beverage. "With you it might've been different. Perhaps a friendship formed over some abnormally ugly animal that was abandoned? She does have a tendency to call the strangest things 'cute.'"

Garfield thought back to the silkworms that Kori kept in a spacious tank next to her TV. Yup. Animals. That's how they were friends, although she grossed even him out with the attention that she gave to her pets. "And what about Robin?"

The man smirked, "Raven told me that one. Spontaneous lip-locking. Wonder Boy was hooked from the start."

"And Cyborg?"

"I'm assuming that she impressed him with her knowledge of technology, although what culture promotes kissing someone before they know their first name and at the same time teaches complicated algorithms to people who don't even use computers in their job I can't say." Malchior opened the fridge and took out a container of leftover Chinese food, "But back to you. How did you and Raven become friends?"

Garfield crossed his arms, "We met through Kori. She thought we'd be good together."

Malchior barked out a laugh, "And how'd that go?"

"Turned me down flat."

"You mean you tried?"

"You think I couldn't go up to her or something?"

"I think she'd kill you before you opened your mouth."

Garfield muttered something he, himself, couldn't understand and turned to his blender. Malchior, apparently aware that the mutter hadn't been a real insult, fished some chopsticks out of the silverware drawer and began eating potstickers. And again, the black-haired man had hit a nerve – without even saying anything. Raven was always telling him not to use chopsticks if all he was going to do with them was stab food, and this guy went ahead and used them as if he was born with a pair of the things in his hand. Was this a joke of some sort?

Raven's boyfriend raised an eyebrow, "What? I'm not gonna share, if that's what you're thinking."

Garfield shook his head, "I'm a vegetarian."

A "Tch," came from Malchior and the blonde boy's gaze snapped to his face angrily, an argument about how if his vegetarianism wasn't manly enough for the jerk, he'd be happy to give him a suggestion for where he could shove it already on his tongue when he caught the 'I'm-trying-not-to-laugh' twitch-of-the-lips on the man's displeased expression. He deflated, confused, and silence stretched out from him to the other male who was determinedly looking at any place but him. They caught the sound of Raven humming two rooms away and Malchior gave out a loud guffaw.

"What the hell?" whispered Garfield to himself and turned to start slicing a few nectarines. Malchior's laughing died down to chuckles and he picked up the mug he'd tended to earlier and began blowing on it gently, trying to avoid burning his tongue. Garfield's hand tightened around the knife he was using to cut the fruit and he sighed. This he could deal with. If Raven's boyfriend was just annoying and merely kept her a bit more busy than usual, that was fine. But hitting her… "Why do you do it?"

"Pardon?"

"She's crazy about you; why would you hurt her?" The words were too girly, and Raven would kill him for saying something like that, but he couldn't very well take them back and start over. He wasn't sure he wanted to.

"Erm. I wasn't aware I was doing anything to - "

"Cut the crap!" Well…so much for being calm and collected. "She has bruises and scratches all over her everytime she comes back from seeing you – "

"– Well, actually,"

" – She's always sore, and Kori said she must've had bruised ribs, because she couldn't even stand a gentle hug – "

" – Have you ever been hugged by Kori - ?"

" – And once, she had a black eye. It's not like she did that to herself." Garfield glared hard, knife still in his fist and pointed threateningly at Malchior. The man was looking at it instead of him (probably used to having knives pulled on him) and had put the mug down on the counter again, standing in a very prepared-to-fight stance. Garfield sighed and put the cooking instrument back on the counter, crossing his arms and looking at the floor to try and get rid of the awful vibes that had settled over the area.

"What's going on? Why all the yelling?" Raven had returned, clad in jeans, a comfortable shirt (not that he would know) and a sweatshirt.

"A slight misunderstanding," Malchior said, turning to her.

"O-kay. I'm going to work. Call me if you're free for lunch," She stood on her tiptoes and kissed his cheek, moving past the two of them with a "Bye, Gar," putting on her boots, and leaving.

The silence stretched out, Garfield staring at the walls and counters, considering picking up the knife again and stabbing himself. He was sure his face was a very embarrassing shade of red right now, and honestly thought he'd be hit soon. Who knew? This guy had already proven himself to be violent.

"I'll admit that the black eye was my fault," Malchior offered, picking up his coffee and staring at the wall in frustration. "And idiot from one of the gangs ran into us while we were out for a walk and thought he'd get some easy pocket money. I didn't get her far enough away, and when he started throwing punches, she was right there," Malchior turned to him, "But I wouldn't injure her like that on purpose."

"Then why all the…?" Garfield looked at him.

Then man smirked at him over his cup of black coffee, "It's not abuse if she likes it."

There was a word for this. "Gag me." Well, there were two.

Malchior smirked, looking thrilled at the prospect of torturing him, "She's not sedate, either; I have a hickey somewhere on my back that hurts like a bi – "

"Stop it!" Garfield whined, "She's my friend; I don't want to know what you two do in bed!"

Malchior laughed and put his mug back down, "I need to get ready for work. Finish your smoothie soon, will you? And don't forget to lock the door this time,"

"Yeah, yeah." Garfield said, turning back to the blender and tossing a few chocolate chips in, his face now redder, for the same reason as before.

He really ought to keep his nose out of Raven's business.

…

…

A/N: Meh. The ending could've been better; I might re-do it someday. This was originally called 'Black Coffee', but I decided not to.

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