Disclaimer: I reject all legal affiliations with the Teen Titans or DC comics.

Grass Stain

TT

She stumbled. She wobbled across the lawn from the school. She carried too many books around with her. Her footsteps stuttered. She fell. Her knee hit first and her books flew out from her grasp, like clipped birds attempting flight. It was a nice day with a cloudless sky and happy sun. But in the middle of the field sat a girl hunched over, ignoring the luggage she had dropped. She examined her right knee and sighed when she found the cut on her skin and the inevitable grass stains her jeans and suffered. All she thought about was how new the jeans were, and how well they had fit her. It wasn't so much that she cared about fashion, it was more of the fact that she rarely got new clothes. Much less ones that fit that well. It was that reason that made her sigh the sigh that caught the boy's attention.

He seemingly popped out of nowhere. But she was used to it. He picked up her books for her, and arranged them in a neat pile before he caught her violet eyes with his own. She gave him a look that gave the same impression as a pout, but she never moved her mouth nor gave him over exaggerated eyes. The look itself just gave an air of a child like helplessness when she then glanced pathetically at her knee. The boy just smiled. He rarely ever saw her this vulnerable. Especially to him. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a band-aid. He unwrapped it and maneuvered it through the hole in her jeans that fit her rather nicely but he never lost eye contact.

Her expression changed to a mildly sarcastic one. "Do you carry bandages with you everywhere, boy scout?"

He just laughed and claimed he was always prepared. "Are you okay, Rae? You don't normally trip." She sighed. "Or sigh dramatically."

"Its just that, these are new jeans and sure I can stitch up a hole but the grass stains, they'll never come out. Just aggravate me for the rest of time." He tried viciously hard to hold back a snicker, but he was failing miserably. " Oh, quit laughing, Gar. It sounds odd but, I've only had them for a day and now their forever stained."

He calmed himself down for her sake and sat down next to her. Silence fell upon the pair as Gar examined the offending stains.

"They aren't that bad," he told her after coming to a consensus. He gave him a look warning him not to mock her, so he followed up.

"I mean, grass stains may never go away, but that's not such a bad thing." He got another glare. "Look, see?" he gestured to his own pants which were riddled with holes, rips and stains, pen marks and doodles.

" Every mark has a story." He pointed out one exceptionally sized tear. "That's from when Dick tackled me into a thorn bush when we played rugby in the rain. I still have the scars. And this stain," it was orange and the size of a wallet, "is from when Vic spilled his Sports drink on me after I broke his locker."

Gar pointed out a black scribble next. " And this is when I got William Shatner to sign my pants at that one convention. Each mark happened when I was doing something fun or memorable. Grass stains may be annoying and they may never go away, but their with you to remind of all the fun stuff you do. These are my favorite pants." he whispered the last part. It was enough that people thought he didn't wash his pants, but he didn't want Raven to look down on him too.

She just raised a wry eyebrow at him. "I'm not sure falling down and scraping my knee counts as fun." At least she was back to her deadpan Raven-ness. That meant she was feeling better.

He stretched his arms and used her shoulder to help himself up to his feet. "It is obviously your first grass stain. That should count for something." He couldn't see her eyes as she gathered her books and stood up, but he knew she was rolling them. Grinning, Gar decided to lighten up the mood more. "Or, it could be that you let yourself be rescued by the hunky manliness that is Garfield Logan."

She was about to reply with a sarcastic remark when she paused and just looked at him. She seemed to be doing that a lot. But she couldn't help it if he was always there. It was true that he could be one of the most annoying people on the planet, but even so, he always did try to make her feel better. Suddenly , the girl felt an obligation to return the favor. He did , after all, help her out.

She leaned closer to him with the intent of kissing him on the cheek, but she missed and hit the corner of his mouth instead. She melted a few seconds before quickly pulling back.

"See you later, grass stain." And she walked off down in the direction she started in, leaving the boy touching his lip staring after her.

He grinned a cocky smile and set off to his house fully intent on dying his blonde hair a grass green.

TT