t h i r t y t w o ;

They stood there for a moment, the knowledge of their mutual feelings lingering in the air, until Raven cleared his throat and got up from his bed. He was blushing with a dark color to his face, but there was a small smile playing on his lips. He had always been full of doubts about how she felt about him. Now that he was sure, he knew they could let their relationship grow and develop during their time on Europa VII. He went to look through his clothes for the formal uniform and she waited for him so that they could go to the lounge together. She looked away as he started undressing, going back into the bathroom to take a look at her hair. She could see him from the corner of her eye, putting on his pants, and when he got to his button up shirt, he started to struggle. She hurried out of the bathroom and walked over to stand in front of him. Her trembling hands reached up to help him do his shirt and he let her, biting his lip nervously as though he were debating something. His hands were down by his sides and his heart beating madly against his chest as he let her help him.

Roseanne only tried to keep her breathing steady as her face continued to feel hot with a blush while little thoughts popped into her head. She gulped as she saw the way his chest and stomach disappeared beneatth his shirt as she buttoned it. As she got to the top, her pink irirses locked with his deep black ones and he caught her off guard when his hands reached up gently, yet full of determination. He cupped her face in his hands and leaned down to connect his lips with her in a soft kiss that was foreign to both of them. They had never kissed each other, much less anyone else for that matter. They had only seen romantic gestures like that in movies together. Yet, it all felt so right despite being a foreign feeling. Roseanne closed her eyes and sighed into his soft lips. The kiss sent a million butterflies fluttering in her stomach and she never wanted it to end.

But they were soon interrupted by a knock on their door. Roseanne sighed and jumped back from the kiss, with Raven looking towards the door with annoyance. She went to the door and pulled it open to reveal Honey standing out in the hallway. She looked from Roseanne to Raven who was further back in the room. He was finishing up adjusting his formal uniform as Roseanne dealt with their seventeen year old crew mate. "Oh my colors." The bright yellow haired girl gasped, bringing her hands up to her face. The mahogany colors of her skin were a stark contrast to her bright yellow hair, but it suited her so well. Roseanne thought she was so pretty. She was looking from one to the other—blushing faces, swollen lips, breathless—it was the way she and Seville were whenever they were having a make out session. She was quick to apologize. "Am I interrupting something? Instructor Violet was going to send Scarlet to find you two, but I told her I could come instead."

Scarlet, Ivroy, and Cedar were still not aware that Raven and Roseanne were sharing a room. In a few more hours, they would be moving out of their dorms and into a spaceship for the next eight years, so it really didn't matter anymore. But Honey still wanted to spare them the burden of getting in trouble. As she had spoke, Roseanne shook her head reassuringly, but Raven still wore an annoyed expression on his face. He was annoyed because he didn't want to attend the sending away party, and now his annoyance had microscopically increased because of Honey's interruption. But he didn't entirely blame her. The other team members also always pointed out that Raven had an angry face all the time. But he wasn't always angry. That was just the way he looked. Just like how Indy always jokingly told Roseanne that she always sounded angry because she spoke a bit loudly. But it wasn't that she was always mad either. Speaking loudly was just her way that she talked.

Raven finished up adjusting his uniform and the two followed Honey out to the lounge. When they arrived, there was a banner at the front of the room. It read: Congratulations Team 12191, Ready for Take Off! and it eerily reminded her the previous team with the same group number as theirs. They went into space on the same mission, on a ship with a similar name, but perished when their ship fell apart just after a minute after taking off. All cadets on the spaceship died instantly, burnt to a crisp.

There were multi colored balloons all over, and everyone else was already in the room waiting. They all looked good in their freshly pressed formal uniforms. The girls with their matching skirts, blazers, and berets. The boys with matching pants, blazers, and ties. Each with their respctive colors and emblems to represent toe province that they were from. The general admin was there, flanked by her three main department admins. They were the four who ran the facility and usually were only seen at special events. For the most part at launch parties or awards ceremonies. It was said that they would be present upon their arrival in eight years too, to welcome them back to earth. The four older women grinned when they saw Raven and Roseanne, their top two students in the group. It had been so difficult for them to decide on one of them. But they finally went with Raven for the sole reason that he was male and though they were all females running the facility, they liked having a male captain of an expedition because they thought it conveyed power. Bother Black and Pink were equally capable. They just picked him to give off a sense of power to the media.

The general admin rushed over to the two as Honey left them to go find Seville. She was going to stand close to him, but not too close, as romantic relationships were not allowed in the garden. It was the same with Raven and Roseanne. They didn't want to stand too close to each other. General Admin dropped a hand on each of their shoulders and gave them a light squeeze. "My two favorites. I always tell people you two were like the children I never had."

As adminitration at the garden, they were allowed to marry, as long as it was to someone from the province they emerged from. General Admin was married to a man who was the governer of her province back home. She had been General Admin of the Garden for five years, going into her sixth. Normally, a General Admin was appointed for only five years before another one was brought in. This was so that they could go back to theeir family, as they could not return home during their time overseeing the facility. But it had been said that she was doing such a good job that she was going to be granted a second term. Her real name was Sapphire Cyan, and she was from Province of Power like Ciel was. That was the province that provided the entire country with electricity. It was said that as much as they had tried, they couldn't have any children, and she watched the top two students at the facility closely, taking a special liking to them.

Raven and Roseanne smiled awkwardly at her. They hardly ever interacted with her at all in the almost six years she had been there, yet she seemed to know everything about them.

"Thank you." Raven gave a nod of his head and she made conversation with them about how they were doing. Roseanne did most of the talking, as she was more easily able to get along with people and pretend like she was having a good time. Raven mostly stayed quiet and only replied when he was spoken directly to.

When she left them, the two went to find their group of friends. Over the last couple of weeks, they had grown closest to Mauve, Indy, and Ciel. Roseanne got along really well with Honey, but the younger of the two girls didn't like Ciel anymore because she saw the way he seemed to be trying to get close to Sage. She normally would not have minded it as much, except that there were rumors floating around the Garden that Ciel liked to enamour girls and sleep with them before leaving them. She wasn't certain that the rumors were true. But if they were, she wanted to take care of her friend Sagei. They had joined the garden together and trained together for years before Honey was moved to the elite team. They had been best friends and room mates. She didn't want a boy to take advantage of her.

The small ceremony got started with the General Admin Cyan giving a short speech about the mission and how proud she was to send off her brightest team of cadets. The three other department admins then went on to say a few words about how it had been a pleasure to watch them grow up and train together. They hoped that the team would make the facility proud. Just like most things they did, there was a team of cameras in the room, filming all speeches and reactions. The majority of the things they did were filmed and televised. When they trained, when they were in the classroom, when they ran through mission simulations. Now the ceremony was being broadcast for the whole country to watch and Roseanne couldn't help but wonder if her family was watching. Did they still even think about her? She was certain Raven's family still thought about him. Next their instructors said a few words one by one. Instructor Violet, Instructor Hemlock, as well as the others they had trained with. After the teachers spoke, the general admin invited Raven to the front of the room to say a few words.

He was visibly nervous. But Roseanne whispered a reassurance to him before he walked to the front of the room. "Its going to be okay. If you get nervous, just pretend its only me here. You can talk to me, right?"

He nodded and went up to the front of the room. It seemed like an eternity went by as he thought of the words to say. He was the captain of the team, they were looking to him to give them some words of encouragement. And yet as he stood there, he couldn't help but think about the fact that they had trained their entire lives for something they probably didn't even want to go through with. They were only doing it because they had to. They were government property. "I know we've all worked so hard for this, guys." He said stiffly at first, but he soon looked to Roseanne and it was like he knew exactly what to say. "I know some of us have been on the team longer than others." He said, referring to his own self. He had been sixth to be placed on the team, after Mauve. "I've been training with you guys for over three years now and though we've not always gotten along, I think I can say that this team is my family. After today, we're going to be seeing each other a whole lot for the next eight years. Let's try to get along and get this mission done."

It wasn't much, but he got his point across and the others nodded with him in agreement. Even Ivory and Scarlet did. The team and the admins clapped at his words and he quickly went back to stand next to Roseanne. With speeches over with, they let the team mingle for the rest of the night. There was food, alcohol, and music playing for them. The admins slowly left the lounge to give them time to celebrate amongst themselves. None of them had eve been allowed to ingest even a single drop of alcohol, but tonight they were allowed. They just knew they had to be responsible about it so that they could be alert enough for lift off the next morning. All they really had to do was get the space ship through the earth's atmosphere without a problem, then Mauve was going to set everything up so that they could use cruise control to get there. All they would need to do after was make sure the ship didn't lose its course.

Raven had a few drinks with the other boys to pass the time, but Roseanne felt like she over did it to the point where it all became a blut to her. That was when Raven took it as their cue to head back to the room. The others decided to stay, and with a few drinks in him, Ciel gathered the courage to go talk to seventeen year old Sage.

The boy with black hair practically carried Roseanne in his arms because she was stumbling all over the place. It was difficult with his mechanical arm, but he was able to manage. As he entered the room with her, he placed her down on his bed and removed her shoes before climbing in next to her. He couldn't change into somethine more comfortable, much less could he help her change out of her clothes either, so that would have to do.

With the end of their final night in the garden the two quickly drifted out to sleep.

-

so this was a pretty good week. raven was super talkative on monday at work. there was a point where myy boss had me decorate out lobby bulletin board for black history month and he was on his meal break. so he walks over and stands next to me while i work. so then when i was having trouble putting up something because im pretty short, he did it for me. it was nice that he kept me company while he was on his break. that day too, i had just come out from having the stomach flu all weekend. so i was moody and tired. and he was literally doing EVERYTHING for me.  i barely had to lift a finger. and then he says teasingly. "im only doing this bc you were sick all weekend." so i said. "wow raven how thoughtful." and he just grinned and he was like "yeah, and im humble af too." he's so cute.

on tuesday i had the day off and he had a really bad day at work. then he was telling me it wasn't the same whem im not there. he said all the customers were being annoying. and i kept him company while he ranted. on wednesday we got into an argument. but then we talked about it and were okay.

yesterday we went to work together and we were supposed to get out at the same time. but my boss let me out first and gave him a meal break when she said she was going to let us out together initially. we were sooo mad. but i went out with mauve and his girl instead. but then in the afternoon i went out with raven and it was so much fun. we talked for hours, and then went to eat and talked some more. it was almost midnight when we realized it was late and we headed home. its been a good week.

-clary