Never Give Up The Fight

Chapter Twenty Seven- People Like Us

Raphael nearly dropped his spoon when Liana came down three hours later. She'd picked out a white blouse and blue jeans, with a silver star necklace. Casual and simple, but he could have sworn his heart stopped in that moment.

"I ship it." Roaar murmured. Raphael went bright red.

"This is an A and B conversation, so you need to C yourself out." Li smiled at that.

"Rude." But Roaar took the cue and flew off...somewhere. Li stepped closer to the table, looking down at the food he'd prepared.

"It smells good."

"You look...stunning," he shook his head in disbelief. "You're just...impossibly stunning."

"Have you looked in the mirror?" she replied quietly.

"Have you looked in the mirror?"

"Get a room!" Roaar shouted from behind the door. Li glared at the door, but addressed Raph calmly.

"Can I sit?"

"Yeah, of course." He sat down beside her, and they began to eat the four course meal he'd prepared. There was silence between them for a while.

"How'd your food tech exam go today?" she questioned him at one point.

"Good." She studied his face thoughtfully, and he felt his heart start to race.

"Don't worry about it. If this meal's anything to go by, you're gonna get an A, no doubt about it." God damn, he thought, how'd she know exactly what he was thinking about? And he couldn't read her...

"What about you?" he asked. "Any ideas for your fashion exam?"

"Actually, yeah," she took out a sketchbook, flipping to a certain page, and handed it over to him. "I decided to go with gold and navy."

The drawing was beautiful: the dress was sleeveless and coloured mainly in navy blue, with floral gold detail on the bodice and down the skirt. Raphael didn't know much about fashion, but he guessed it was a Basque cut.

"Wow," he breathed. "That's gorgeous."

Li shrugged.

"It's alright," but she couldn't quite hide the smile at her lips. "I could do better with orange and purple, but they're not exactly environment colours."

"I think you'll do just fine with the colours you have."

"Thanks," her smile widened a little. "I'm kinda proud of it."

"You should be." 

Li glanced down, playing awkwardly with her fork.

"What is it?" he asked in concern.

"You shouldn't be doing this for me. I don't-" she sighed. "I don't deserve it."

"Li," he took her hand, rubbing his thumb over the back of it. "You deserve the world." She bit her lip, still unsure.

"But..."

"Remember when I told you about my dad?" Raph reminded her gently. "You found me alone in the cloakroom at break time." 

She'd sat down beside him with surprising grace for an eight-year-old, folding her hands in her lap.

"What is it?" The question was gentle. It was the first time she'd ever been gentle with him.

"Why do you wanna know?" he'd turned to look at her, his eyes red from crying.

"Because I'm bor-" she sighed. "You're a classmate, you're upset, why do you think I wanna know?" She'd taken his face in both of her hands, gently brushing the tears away with her thumbs. "Tell me."