Normal AU, college students. Un-beta'ed and kinda rough, but I like it. There's also a note on my profile if anyone is interested in any other stories from me

Christmas break, well, what should have been break. Winter was in full swing and making almost everyone miserable between the subzero wind and the ice that piled up. But right now, there was a reprieve. Raven sat with her friends, Starfire and Blackfire, and Jinx-all nicknames from a party that had somehow stuck.

The only other ones in the dorm commons, and dorms period, were Richard, Victor, and Garfield. Vic and Gar, as they liked to be called, were standing around the pool table passing the only cue back and forth as they made shots. Gar was nearly addicted to the game and Vic was not far behind.

Richard said "Gar, catch!" and tossed a golf club at the other man.

Gar caught it, his deeply tanned skin nearly glimmering in the overhead lights. For a second Gar looked confused but then excitement flowed through him and his bright blue eyes sparkled and flashed before he grinned, his overly large fangs, both tops and bottoms, showed. The rare genetic condition made a lot of people scared of him, after all, his fangs did look more like lion's than a person's. "Thanks!" he nearly yelled.

Before he turned around and used the handle for a cue. Disappointment flowed off him like rain on a fresh waxed car hood "Aw man, it kinda sucks…"

Richard rolled his eye before asking sarcastically "Did you think of maybe…using it to play golf?"

Gar snorted "Why play golf when I could play pool?"

Everyone in the room but Gar, who was serious, and Richard, who was suffering, laughed until it hurt. It was getting late and the only residents of Titan's Hall were beginning to feel the time. The first to leave was Gar, who gave a massive stretch and called out a promise to help out with breakfast-a treat since he was one of only two who knew how to cook.

Vic went soon after, along with a promise to do lunch. The others rejoiced as two of the three meals were going to be taken care of.

Richard went along with him, warning the others that it looked like it might snow heavily. Everyone seemed to be okay with that, after all, preparations for heavy winter weather had already been made. The girls gathered around the TV with steaming hot drinks before turning on the device to soft Christmas music.

They waited for seven minutes, the exact time it took for the boys to make it to the top floor, 5, and settle into their rooms, though suites might have been a better word, then burst. Jinx was first "Oh my god, I caught a glimpse of that freaking six-pack he's got!" her crush on her boyfriend was a thing of legends.

Starfire was next, her and Richard had just started dating "I cannot believe that Richard wore that tight of a shirt. It was, as they say, dreamy…" she let out a happy sigh.

The tried and true bachelorette rolled her eyes. Blackfire couldn't help it that she never found a man that could keep up with her "You two are so tied to those boys it actually hard to swallow."

Pulling her book up a bit higher to hide her smile Raven idly listened while caught in the story. It didn't take long for the other girls to puller her in "So what did you think of him?" Jinx asked. For once the sly smirk that seemed permanently etched on the girl's face was gone.

Instead of an immediate answer Raven actually took the time to think it over. That was the first sign to the other girls that she was being serious. After a few moments Raven admitted "I do think he's nice, but I don't know enough about him to make any real decisions. How's that?"

She was met by approving looks but it was Starfire who said "I think that admitting you do not know is the first step to fixing that."

Her sister stared at Starfire before quipping "Geez, what self-help book did you rip that out of?"

The redhead smiled broadly "Surely I do not know what you mean."

Jinx rolled her eyes "Yeah right."

A fit of laughter took over all of them before Jinx stole the remote and turning it to one of the few movies they all liked-The Nightmare Before Christmas. They continued to chat lightly through the movie, at least until Raven was, unknowingly, singing under her breath to 'Kidnap the Sandy Claws'. When the movie was paused Raven turned to the others, realizing that they were staring at her she asked defensively "What?"

Jinx said what was on all their minds "I didn't know you knew the words to that."

Shrugging Raven responded with "It's not a hard song."

Blackfire cut in "No, but your version was…different."

"That's because I didn't learn it from the movie." At the plethora of blank looks she put her book aside with a sigh and explained "There was a CD with all sorts of covers of the songs. Korn did this song and that's the version I play a lot." When they continued to look at her blankly, she grabbed her phone and scrolled through her music library until she found it and let the nearly psychotic version fill the air.

Star looked almost horror stricken "He sounds insane…" she whispered to herself.

Jinx and Blackfire were surprised, but that was it. Eventually Blackfire said "I never figured you for that type of music."

"Oh, what did you think I listened to?" Raven asked curiously.

The eldest of them shrugged her shoulders "I figured something like operas or classical."

The woman in question nodded "Well, you're not wrong. I do listen to those but I have a very wide musical taste."

Suddenly Jinx smirked and Raven didn't like it. "Ohhhhh." she said drawing out the word "So that's how you got interested in him." There was a major change in her demeanor, suddenly she was aggressive and uncompromising "You have to tell us the story."

Raven flushed but acquiesced.

Raven hated not having her headphones but hers were broken. Very quietly 'I Need a Hero' barely whispered out past the speakers of her phone. She was, also, almost alone…kinda. She was sitting outside of the cafeteria's big bay windows and since it was during lunch dozens of people had her in view though nobody else was outside with her.

Of course, there were those she wished didn't have her in view. Two guys, one short and skinny to the point that she nearly mistook him for one of the grade schoolers that were touring the campus that day. He leered openly at her bare legs. Raven swung her bag into her lap to dissuade him and cursed the warm weather.

He opened his mouth and Raven was contemplating ramming her hard-back dictionary down his throat "You wanna hero, babe?" he flexed "I can be your hero all night!" the other guy just watched, a slack expression on his face.

Raven could feel her irritation rise and her veins pulse like one of those animes her mom watched. Before she could retort, an action that might have gotten her into a fist fight, another voice intruded. "Yeah, but I'll bet your hero is about six-foot-tall and'll bend you over while you're wearing a skirt for him."

Unfortunately for the short guy, the bay windows were open, something she hadn't known. The crowd in the cafeteria burst out in laughter and the short guy turned purple with rage and humiliation, but that only made everyone laugh harder. He let out a growl and stormed off with the taller guy in tow.

Raven wiped a tear of mirth from her eye and turned to face the man who saved her some grief. She was glad he was talking to someone inside when she caught her first glance because he was her type, not just her type, but her type. Hair that was died every natural color (and several unnatural) so it was impossible to figure out what color was his, cheerful blue eyes and a small smattering of freckles below and outside both his eyes.

He turned around and those crystal blues nearly made her melt. Then he spoke first. He apologized. Scratching the back of his head he looked bashful as he gave a shy grin "Sorry about that, but Adonis is the one person who just straight pisses me off. And he ditched on Bonnie Tyler!"

Raven let out a giggle and then felt her mirth drop like a stone when she caught Jinx's eye across the vast expanse of the cafeteria. The inquisitive girl would do lots of digging in the future but come up with nothing until now. Clearing her throat Raven responded "Thank you, I think you saved me from expulsion."

His eyebrows shot into his hairline and Raven was thankful that she had already come out of the public interest "Expulsion? How? Why?"

The smirk on Raven's face gave away her confidence "Because if he couldn't take a hint, something I suspect, then I may have gotten into a fist fight with him."

The man laughed before hitting the side of his head with his knuckle "Sorry, I never introduced myself. Gar, at your service." He finished with a theatrical bow that nearly had the normally stoic girl laughing out loud.

She went with a more relaxed handshake "Raven." Instead of the handshake he gently grabbed her hand and kiss the air above her knuckles.

Immediately after the giant clock in the middle of campus chimed out 1 and he started before rushing off, tossing over his shoulder "Sorry, I got a class I can't miss!"

And he was gone.

The girls were listening intently and for the first time in a long while Raven wasn't comfortable with how they were looking at her. It wasn't mischievous but so intent that she felt like they were trying to see through her.

Jinx rubbed her chin and allowed the movie to run. Another two played but with none of them mentioning the story and instead of comforting Raven it made her nervous, but that died off as they continued to watch 'How the Grinch stole Christmas'.

The next morning, she was already up when a still groggy Gar staggered down the steps and started gathering things to make breakfast. Sipping on her second cup of tea and reading, she answered his grunt of greeting with a 'hello'. Raven saw him procrastinating by pouring himself a cup of coffee and nearly screamed at him. She was starving and the only one of the dorms forbidden to touch the stove.

Instead her stomach let out a fierce rumble and she blushed as Gar stared at it through the table. His rough voice brought a shiver to her spine "I guess we getter get that fed."

Raven was mortified as Gar stood up and stretched, a strip of skin showing between his basketball shorts and white tee. Slowly, then with increasing speed food was being cooked and by ten minutes after he started, he was a blur in the kitchen.

The others came down and watched as the best cook among them laid out platter after platter. Waffles, pancakes, hash browns, biscuits, slices of fresh fruit, veggie omelets, bacon and sausage. The others stopped at the last two platters.

It was like somebody had hit pause on the world.

"What?" he asked as they all stared at him.

It was Vic who got his voice first "We thought you didn't eat meat."

Sitting down Gar laughed then explained "Naw, I do, my family just never ate a lot of it growing up. Then I got fed by guys who did a steak so good that it almost ruined meat for me."

That was the most they had ever heard of Gar talking about his personal life. The others had shared their stories pretty quickly. Rich's parents died in a house fire and his rich uncle took him in. Vic's mom died in a car accident and his dad was emotionally absent. Star and Blackfire were the daughters of the prime minster of a small European country. Raven was raised by her mother who was an author after her abusive father was killed by her mother in self-defense. Jinx was the only daughter of two major painters.

Gar broke them out of their reverie "Would you guys mind if I let some people stay here while you guys are gone? Their water pipes burst and it'll take a few days for the repairs to be done and the hotels are completely booked."

They all agreed. If Gar trusted them then they were good. That and everyone but Raven would be gone. They were all going to see their families. Raven's mom was coming but he reassured her that his guests would only be there for a day or two while her mother was there.

After breakfast they went about packing and one of Vic's friends who owned a van was coming to pick them all up and take them to the airport. Raven volunteered to load the dish washer and was listening to the others, there were several cries of 'anyone know where my_ is' and 'alright, who took my_?'

Interestingly enough, none of it applied to her.

Soon, person by person, everyone's bags were down and Vic started lunch. Unlike Gar, almost everything Vic cooked was meat or meant to go with. But this time Vic seemed to take Gar's words as a challenge and fired up his best steaks, made some hot links and mashed potatoes.

As Vic cooked Rich pulled Raven aside, to the small emergency stairwell "Look, I know Gar is a good person and that he doesn't have bad friends, but if they make you uncomfortable tell Gar or call the cops."

For once he was subject to her legendary blank look. He didn't like it. Raven sighed "Rich, if you weren't sure of his people then why did you agree to let them stay?" he had no answer and she knew it "I'm not worried, our doors have locks, Gar trusts them, and they're only here for a few days." He could tell she was a bit angry for pulling her aside for this, for her it was almost like he was too scared to confront Gar about his friends.

Raven didn't pay much attention to lunch except when Vic nearly force-fed Gar a steak and demanding to know if it was as good as that steak. The smaller man tasted carefully and said honestly "It's good…it's just not as good."

Instead of crushing Vic the man vowed to study meat until he unlocked its secrets. His girlfriend made the snide comment that she didn't want to share him with a guy and the table burst out laughing. Unfortunate phrasing aside, the meal continued on with the usual banter.

Soon after that the van came and left Raven and Gar alone. With his friends coming the next day Gar spent the rest of the day cleaning while Raven read in the living room with the tv on quietly for background noise.

Eventually Raven called out loudly to Gar "What are we doing for dinner?" ignoring that if he was on a different floor he wouldn't hear her at all.

The multicolored haired man answered from behind her, making her jump, "I was thinking of teaching you to make something."

Raven's face flushed "Um, you know I'm not allowed to touch the stove."

Gar waved her concern away "The others won't know and I'm here…and here to prep you for tomorrow's lessons." She made a concerned noise and he informed her "The guys that are coming are the guys who made that steak. They believe everyone should know how to feed themselves, to an extent. They're determined to teach you."

Raven didn't ask how they knew and figured he must have told them in the past.

Settling herself with a sigh, Raven asked "So what are we making?"

"A simple rustic bread, stew, and for dessert I was thinking cobbler."

Raven blinked "That sounds…" she trailed off not knowing how to tell Gar that it seemed too much.

He gave a reassuring smile "Don't worry, I'm here with you every step of the way." When she hesitated, he prodded her in the ribs gently "Come on, comeon, comeon." The words ran together as he continued to prod her.

Between the giggles Raven stood up and made her way to the unknown land of the kitchen. She immediately noticed Gar washing his hands up to his elbows "Really?" she asked "So far?"

Nodding he replied "We're going to be working possibly up to our forearms."

Suddenly a lot less sure Raven followed his lead. It seemed to take forever because she knew nothing, not how to hold a knife, not how to use the electric pressure cooker, not how to knead dough, nothing.

But dinner was put out and Raven had to admit it wasn't too bad. Having just taken a bite Raven covered her mouth with her spoon "So that wasn't too bad."

Gar was using the crusty bread to clean his bowl "Not at all." Tossing the chunk into his mouth he continued "But you're going to learn so much more from these guys tomorrow."

Raven smiled at the awe in his voice before standing to get the cobbler, surprised at how much cooking took out of her. "After this I'm going to go to bed." she told him.

Gar nodded as he took a gulp of his water "I'll head to my room, I've got a few things I need to do before they get here anyways."

When she got to her room Raven locked the door and looked around like someone could have hid a camera somewhere. Like she was about to do something shameful. Grabbing her laptop and browsing in incognito she scrolled recipe after recipe and saved a few to a new folder. Maybe she could cook them.

She held her fingers off the keyboard for a few seconds. Nah, maybe she could get Gar to do it…yeah, that sounded better. With a smile on her face her fingers continued to fly over the keys.

The next morning, she was groggier than she wanted to be, but that was simply because she stayed up too late looking at what she might get Gar to cook for her. Staggering downstairs she was met by a pot of coffee, Gar and her mother. Blinking rapidly, she let out a "Huh? Mom?"

Arella Roth smiled serenely as she stood up and hugged her daughter "Hello Raven." Her daughter hugged back, although it was somewhat lacking as she was stunned "My original flight got cancelled so they booked me on an early one. I got here and this nice young man let me in."

Gar laughed "Miss Roth, 'young man' is pushing it, I'm still just a kid."

That got a laugh out of the mother who sat back down with her cup of coffee and let her daughter try to reorganize her thoughts. Gar seemed to realize something was going on in Raven's head and quickly dismissed himself. Arella smiled at her daughter and said evenly "Why don't you get some coffee and then we'll head out."

Raven felt dread pool in her stomach. And quickly found out she was right. As soon as Raven had gotten some coffee in her system her mother dragged her out for breakfast, passible but not as good as Gar's, before they went on a whirlwind tour of the mall.

Raven hated the mall, but with her mother it became bearable.

Her mother filled the quite between them with news of the normal, like how their cat was doing, the neighbor's daughter got married. For Raven, there was nothing more like home than that idle chatter her mother made.

It was nearly five when they went into a small store a few blocks from the mall where Raven picked up her specialty teas. It was like a mirror, both went in and took deep breaths of the spice laden air. Raven and her mother ordered cups and sat at one of the small tables the tea shop had. That's when Arella asked her daughter about college. Raven spoke freely about her dorm-mates, classes and the general goings on. She went on for some time about how free the university was with Titan's Hall and how they would allow outsiders with pretty much no checks.

Arella countered that it was lucky for them before she let Raven continue on. Shortly after that they returned to the dorm to find Gar pacing the living room "Oh, hi." He said in greeting.

Raven arched a brow "Okay, what's going on?"

He smiled "Waiting."

The women put away their bags and returned only to find him still pacing. Arella watched Raven watching Gar for some time before the doorbell went off and Gar rushed to the door. While waiting in the living room Raven and Arella were bombarded by several different languages before seeing the group that was making such a racket.

There was a tall, thin man, with his bright blond hair in an outrageously long spike, another man who was tall and broad with a dark durag over his head, then finally an older gentleman who had silver hair. Gar smiled as he affectionally jostled the two younger men "Miss Roths, this is Lightning, Thunder, and Slade. They're my guests for the next two days."

Lightning smiled "Hello." He then let loose in a flurry of words that neither women understood.

Thunder bowed his head slightly "Thank you for allowing us to be here." he spoke slowly, but it felt like that was just how he did things.

Slade smiled and inclined his head as well "Yes, thank you for having us."

As Gar helped the trio get set up Raven and Arella made their way to the kitchen and sat at the bar with the knowledge that at least one member of the group was a master chef. They overheard at least four languages, there were smatterings of Spanish, French, some sort of Asian language and German. It seemed the four of them almost didn't know they were switching languages.

As they came down Gar and Slade took seats next to the ladies while Thunder and Lightning began examining the kitchen. One piece of small talk caught Raven's attention, Slade said "Gar, you should call your parents, they got back into phone range."

The younger man nodded "Thanks, I'll do that."

Raven's words slipped before she could stop them "I thought your parents were dead."

Gar turned to her with confusion written across his face "Why?"

"You said that they were in Africa and that you couldn't contact them and…well, it just kind of felt like they were 'gone' gone."

It took a moment but Gar let out an "Ohhhh" of comprehension before explaining "My parents work for the CDC and the WHO as part of this weird branch that gets called the Rare and Extreme. My dad is the head of that and mom his right hand, they spend a lot of time in remote regions where phone coverage is spotty."

Raven didn't feel stupid about it since it was one of those scenarios that seemed designed to be misunderstood. Whatever was about to be said was interrupted by an irate Lightning "Garfield M. Logan. Why do you not have_?" the word he said was something she couldn't understand.

Thunder turned to Gar "You told us you would always have some."

The student shrugged "I can't get it."

"What do you mean?" the blond snapped.

"I mean the stores around here don't sell it. We don't have an oriental market and we only have one 'ethnic market' that's poorly stocked, and I use the term 'ethnic' loosely."

The two seemed to twitch sporadically before Lightning grabbed Gar and started dragging him away "We're going shopping, you're taking us to every market this little town has!"

Before Gar could even mount a protest, he was dragged out of the building by Thunder and Lightning. The two women watched with amazement while Slade watched as if this was common. Eventually the conversation returned with Arella asking "So Mister Slade, what do you do for a living?"

The old man smiled "I'm a sommelier at 'Storm's Breath'." Both women let out sounds of surprise. Storm's Breath was a restaurant that was making world news and from a neighboring small town. "I run the drink and service sides of things while Thunder and Lightning do the food.

A question occurred to Raven "If you three are with a restaurant like that why do you share a house?"

Slade took no offence "Because when they were looking for a home, they didn't have money and I was by myself so I didn't mind and we're very close, even on our days off we're experimenting and trying new drinks and foods."

Arella smiled "You seem very close to Gar."

A smile made its way onto Slade's face, the smile of an indulgent uncle "Yes, we've known him for a long time."

Raven' couldn't help but ask "How did you meet?"

"It's a bit of a tale." he replied as he leaned back a bit. He looked over to the two ladies to confirm that it was okay and when he got the nods, he closed his eyes "I joined the army when I was 18 with 12 friends. Over time they all died and I took that as a sign for me to leave the army but I didn't know what to do with my life and someone suggested wine steward. I realized I needed to go to school for it and a job to pay for school, so I managed to find Thunder and Lightning in the papers, they needed a waiter."

Letting out a chuckle Slade continued "The twins were kicked out of culinary school for arguing with a professor. The three of us were in this little building about as big as this kitchen. The main room had caught fire and the restaurant that had been there before took off. The owner was renting the place at a huge discount and let us use the equipment."

Raven was waiting for when Gar came in but realized that this was Slade letting them know something bigger. The next words out of his mouth confirmed it "Gar saved our lives to be brutally honest. If he hadn't come in then we would have been forced to give up on our own restaurant and that would have meant the end of our creativity. We were weeks behind when Gar, his parents and his godparents were walking around trying to find a place to eat. Gar pointed us out and, quite literally, whined until they gave up and came in. Since they were the only ones in the restaurant, we all sat down and talked with them for a long time, the food and drink pairings were good but we still didn't have business. Gar's parents are moderately wealthy and his godparents are very, very wealthy. We made a deal-we would move into one of the buildings Steve, his godfather, had on hand and use some equipment he also had, in return we'd rent to own the building over a long period of time at 1.5 times the value and Mark, Gar's dad, gave us advertising as long as we provided free food to them."

Arella, a business major, asked "And how did that work out?"

Slade let out a barking laugh "Brilliantly. The free advertising got us so many people that we paid off the building and equipment in a year and became the talk of the state. We went to Paris for food and wine competitions and got 8th, 4th, and 3rd. That put us on the world stage in two years. Because of Gar we were allowed to be who we are and were welcomed into their family."

Raven was stunned into silence while her mother spoke "That's amazing!"

Slade nodded "Yes. which reminds me…" he stood up and left with a quick "Be right back." thrown over his shoulder. He returned a few minutes later with several bottles of wine, which he put in the fridge, and a book that he handed to Arella "Would you be the woman who wrote this?"

Blinking the mother nodded "Yes, although I'm surprised to see you with a copy of my book. No offences but a semi-journal detailing abusive partners and recovery doesn't seem like something you'd read."

Fighting back laugher, Slade only said "I'm going to leave this here. Tell Gar you wrote it." the rest of their time alone was spent with idle chatter and stories from the past.

When Thunder and Lightning came back with Gar they looked horrified and kept making comments about 'no this' or 'why don't they have that' in a bleak whisper. Gar, however, just moved in the groceries.

Arella waited until he was putting ingredients in the fridge before asking "So why do you have a copy of my book?"

Gar let out a "hmm?" before turning around and seeing the book in question in her hands. The squeal that came out of his mouth deafened them "Holy shit! You're that Arella Roth. Oh my god, you're my favorite author!"

Raven snickered "Wow, your favorite book-"

She was cut off "Not actually my favorite book, third favorite, the first two were written by the same guy…who's kinda an ass."

Whatever was going to be said next was drowned out by Thunder and Lighting barreling into the kitchen and shooing everyone out before they got started. There was a whirlwind of activity before they were all sitting down eating a four-course meal with paired drinks. The impromptu party was the most fun any of them could remember having in years. The downside it was almost midnight by the time they were finished and everyone quickly went to their rooms.

The morning started with Thunder and Lightning making Dim Sum with coffee from Slade's own personal stock. It was the best breakfast Raven or Arella every had. Slade had news "Apparently they only had to fix a section of pipe so the job is actually done. We weren't expecting it, but we're going to be leaving today." A smirk crept onto his face "Although, Gar is a pretty good cook himself."

Lightning let out a fast, high-pitched laugh "He better be! We taught him ourselves!"

Thunder nodded "Yes, and he was a very good student."

And like that the whirlwind of knowledge, food, drinks, and personal history that was the 'Storm's Breath' restaurateurs was gone.

It was also the 24rd meaning that going out meant you were nearly assaulted by people trying to finish prepping for Christmas. For lunch they ate the leftovers from the two chefs and Gar asked Arella "So are you the one Raven got her cooking skills from?"

The mother nodded with a chuckle "Yeah, neither of us can cook without burning it."

Raven said almost smugly "Gar's been teaching me to cook."

Arella turned to Gar, her face a blank mask. "Marry my daughter."

The two young adults both blushed heavily with Raven screaming "MOTHER!" and Gar trying to make a tactful escape. Gar ended up just leaving while Raven scolded her mother, she ended with "And now I've got to go talk to Gar and make sure you didn't embarrass him to death!"

Raven checked his room first but he wasn't there, she didn't check the roof since the weather was making another turn for the worse. After nearly twenty minutes of frantic searching she found him on the third-floor commons where he stood staring out the window. With a sigh she started "Sorry about that, I have no idea what came over her."

Gar turned and smiled before looking back outside "Sorry I ran out, I just didn't know how to react to that one."

Raven seemed to growl "Well, you are a damn good cook."

Gar let out a laugh before moving to a nearby chair "I guess so." Now that Raven was looking out the window the only way she knew he was smirking was the sound in his voice "So I guess that means that I have your mom's approval."

She rolled her eyes and turned to see him smiling as he pulled his feet up into the plush couch. Raven decided to play hardball and reply like his sarcasm was in earnest "Yes, I guess you do."

There was a flash of something that she would call interest before it faded and left her feeling a bit clueless. Gar continued to watch her before patting the chair beside him. The silence had become strained and she found herself feeling off. She made her way over before asking "Were you thinking about asking me out?" it was less of a leap than marriage-a leap she didn't know if her heart could take.

Gar looked down at the solid brown carpet "Yeah, then I got to know you." for a moment her heart dropped but he continued "I'm…here," he said placing a level hand at the bottom of his sternum "and you're…" he reached up as far as he could while keeping his hand level "You're here." she blinked without comprehension and he continued "You're smart, elegant, graceful, mysterious and beautiful. I'm a dork who hides behind multi-colored hair."

Raven rolled her eyes "I'm angry, anti-social, brooding, and creepy while you're bright, cheerful, and friendly." Seeing that he opened his mouth to continue she cut him off "Look, we can do this all day. We see each other as different. At one point you decided that you would like to date me." he blushed "Would you like to?"

His head snapped to her so fast she was afraid he was going to break something, his jaw dropped and stared at her like she had just suggested that they steal the president's car.

A moment later he closed his eyes and took several deep breaths "Yes." he opened his eyes and she fought off a shiver at the determined gaze.

She smiled before lightly slapping him on the back of the head, not a hit as much as a tap "Now come on, my mom won't let you really date me without a major interrogation."

She stood up and made her way to the elevator with Gar close behind her. As they stood side by side Gar offered his hand and Raven took it. They said nothing as the car drifted down until Gar pondered out loud "Huh, I guess that mean's we'll be spending Christmas together."

Raven rolled her eyes fondly "Yes, a very good present if I do say so myself."