Work Text:
3:57pm
Pencils scribble furiously against the desks in front of her. Hella's hat just out of her peripheral vision. The Syndicate girl's brow furrow with more and more anger. More likely from the fact that Chief will force her to study more. Raven pulls out her phone during class time.
3:58pm
Crache pulls her head up and slumps in her chair more. A quick glance at her paper reveals it has been filled in and mostly correct at that too. A tapping sound joins the sound of pencils. Any student looking up can see their teacher's finger is the cause. A blue light from a phone illuminates Raven's face.
3:59pm
Hecate's eye calmly scans over her test as she makes a last minute check. Always the studious one, Hecate has done her best and she has been consistently at the top of the rankings. Raven's finger taps quicker. Her finger scrolls up and down, hovering over the screen.
4:00pm
The bell rings and Hella throws a pencil across the room. Crache slumps more in her chair, the pencil flying overhead and embedding itself in the shelf. Sounds of chairs scraping the floor and footsteps as they approach Raven's desk. While Raven loves her students, her gaze hasn't lifted once from the phone in one of her hands.
The tapping becomes more erratic and frantic. Sheets of paper slide on top of her desk.
Hella lets out a grumble, "Dummy Chief is not going to let me eat dessert when she finds out."
Hecate only sighs, "You should have studied more."
"Only if she finds out," Crache adds tiredly.
As the door shuts Raven scrolls through her texts. Today is a normal day, she sent her morning haiku to Clementine (she gave a heart reaction), her lunch ode (another heart), and she is certain she sent a raven to check up on her (she never heard back from it). Actually with those things, it is not a normal day.
Clementine always responded to her poems and ravens. She was going to ask her at lunch or in between classes but her partner was nowhere to be found. It was like…she was avoiding her. Once Raven had figured that out, any time not spent teaching was time spent scrolling through her calendar and text messages.
Her fingers tap away at the search bar, eyes wide as she looks in her history. No events, no clues from Clementine that something went wrong. Today is Friday even, she saves her best poems for Friday!
The ink from the paper in front of her starts to lift off and a small bird begins to form. As she hastily makes her way towards the window to open it, the soft chime of her phone goes off.
She practically throws herself onto the chair grabbing the phone from the desk as the chair hits the wall. The now blank papers go flying. Clementine's icon appears on the lock screen. Her fingers swipe across the screen and she reads the message before her.
My little bird, dinner at my place at 7:00pm. Dress up for the occasion and don't worry about the dessert ;).
Raven's shoulders slump. Her grip loosens around her phone. She should know better by now to worry so much in the first place. Clementine loves her mysteries after all, being an author and all. Both of Raven's hands type on the keyboard.
Wouldn't miss it for the world <3.
While she greatly values her girlfriends advice, she never shows up empty handed. She starts to open the drawers and feel around for her keys. Stumbling over herself she bolts out the room.
Raven flips the sun visor down in her car. She slides the little part that covers the mirror. Her eyes flicker back and forth, checking for any mistakes in her makeup. She looks down at her outfit, a white flowing dress that gradually turns into midnight blue. Green accents cover the dress and a sliver raven crest rests in the middle, bringing the entire piece together.
She smooths out what she thinks is a wrinkle. Her hand reaches for the middle and grabs the small box of chocolates and the bouquet of roses. She straightens up and takes one last look at her in the car mirror and pops the car door open.
Swift steps can be heard as she makes her way to the lobby. The doorman greets her and lets her pass, having become increasingly familiar with Raven. She presses the button that leads to Clementine's penthouse.
Once again, the sound of tapping fills the empty lobby. She looks one last time at the gifts in her hands, making sure everything is in order. The clock near the elevator indicates 6:59pm, just on time. The elevator door clicks open and Raven steps through and presses the button for Clementine's place.
As the last ding, the doors felt agonizingly slow to open. The tall ceilings and open concept lead to the sharp sound echoing through the whole place. Walking into the main dining and kitchen area, the only source of light being of candles the cover the counters. The only uncovered space is the round dining table itself.
Raven squints around the room for any sign of life. Compared to how noisy the classroom is, it is eerily silent. The grandfather clock in the corner ticking away is the only thing that fills the silent room.
Her gaze looks at the bottle of wine and spread of food lie atop of a dark table cloth. Clementine must have gone through a lot of trouble preparing all the food. Two chairs sit at the table, both right next to each other. The penthouse's owner is no where to be found.
The clock in the corner lets out a loud noise, the big hand ticking to the 12. With that, another set of heels is heard on the second story. Her eyes follow the clicking noise to the staircase, in which Clementine makes her appearance in an outfit Raven has never seen her wear before.
A low hanging, black long sleeved dress that tapers off to red and ends by pooling at the base of the author's feet. The mid-section is completely transparent, leaving Clementine's midriff exposed. A complex necklace covers her neck and only emphasizes how low the dress rests on her.
Raven looks up to meet her girlfriend's eyes. Eventually they shoot down to her shoulders and then to the transparent part. Her eyes go comically wide as she lingers on a new piercing and her mouth slightly opens as she tries to say a greeting. Clementine lets out a chuckle.
"How was your day, my little bird?"
This seems to awaken Raven from her stupor.
"I've had a rather interesting day, full of adventure, and teaching the next generation like always."
She takes a few more steps into the room towards the table.
"Teaching my students all day does leave me rather hungry, especially since you couldn't make it for lunch."
Clementine strides over and takes the roses and chocolates out of Raven's hands. She meets slightly confused eyes.
"I do apologize for that, I didn't want to ruin the surprise. Come, sit down and let us eat now."
She pulls the chair out for Raven to sit as she goes to place the gifts on an open counter space.
Sitting down next to her, both begin to eat with Raven recanting the day's events. Clementine listens, her eyes more focused on her than the food in front of her.
"I think I saw Hella launch a pencil today, I wasn't able to stop it though."
"Did you at least reprimand her for it?"
"…I might have been a little distracted, besides it is Friday."
Raven takes the wine bottle and pours herself and Clementine a glass. The author nods in appreciation.
As Raven helps herself she almost let out a small choke as Clementine takes a sip from her glass. The smirk returns onto the author's face.
"Exactly why I couldn't enjoy lunch with you today, I didn't want others to see you blush like that."
A quickly spreading red starts to cover Raven's cheeks. Then, red has spreads to her ears and neck, the low neckline of her dress doing an absolutely good job of showing how far.
"Oh, how silly of me, I got some food on my face."
Clementine uses her tongue to lick the food that is stuck to the corners of her lips, making sure the tongue piercing is visible.
"I-I see you got more than one piercing," Raven stutters out, her earlier bravado fading quickly.
Clementine leans over, her smile widening like a cat catching its favorite prey.
"Why yes darling, I got a few of them."
Raven's gaze shoots to the hidden one in her mouth, the to the visible one on her belly, and a bit lower to where the table is covering. Her gaze never meets Clementine's eyes.
"A few of them? How many is a few?"
"Oh, wouldn't you like to know?"
Raven picks up her fork, hands slightly shaky. She takes another bite of food to hopefully calm her nerves. Rather than returning to her meal, Clementine pushes the remaining food around her plate, watching Raven over the rim of her wineglass.
"Perhaps that is a mystery you can personally solve later tonight."
Raven nearly drops the glass. A coughing fit ensues as Raven attempts to breathe. Clementine lets out a deep throaty laugh. She takes the sputtering Raven's hand and draws circles on the back.
"I think I have given you more than enough clues for now. Besides, I believe you brought me something."
Raven's eyes light up at the mention. She quickly stands up to grab the gifts Clementine put to the side. Handing them over to her girlfriend she watches as she takes in the smell of the roses. Her deft fingers unravel the ribbon to unveil the chocolates and a note.
Plucking the folded paper from the box she takes out and reads the poem. A much less teasing but softer grin appears on her face.
"Beautiful and lovely as always, just like you,"
The tension leaves Raven's shoulders. A gentle smile spreads across her face.
"I'm glad you like it."
She closes the distance between her and Clementine. Clementine sets aside the poem and leans in for a kiss.
"Love it. And I love you too."
Their lips meet once more, lingering to savor each other. Raven can feel Clementine smile and her own nervousness wash away. Eventually, the author pulls away.
"Now finish your dinner, my little bird. We have the whole night ahead of us."