Robin watched as Raven descended down from the sky, her white cloak flapping lightly around her as touched the ground. Starfire and Cyborg stood up before he could, and they walked over to her.

"Raven that was…" Starfire began.

"Unbelievable…" Cyborg finished.

Truly it was. Not one of them had thought they could survive against Trigon, and probably no one had thought that Raven herself would be the one to overpower him.

"No, it wasn't." She said, turning to smile at Robin as he walked over. "Somebody believed!" She exclaimed, smiling and wrapping her arms around Robin's neck as she hugged him.

It took him a second to react, because he wasn't expecting Raven to hug him.

Well, he knew she was about to do something. He could see it in the way her eyes shone as she looked at him, the way her pace picked up as she walked toward him and the way she tensed before she actually hugged him. It was all these little motions that alerted to him what he thought she was going to do.

Robin honestly thought she was going to kiss him, for a second.

The way her arms wrapped his neck set off the first signal. It had perfectly mimicked the way Robin had seen other people kiss when they were all out in public or watching a movie. The way she closed her eyes and leaned in was the second signal. Again, he'd seen people close their eyes when they leaned in to kiss, and the way Raven moved in was similar.

But, she only hugged him.

Robin hugged her back, of course. He was glad she was okay and that they had all survived. "Welcome back." He exhaled as he relaxed into Raven's embrace. He'd been close to her before, carrying her and/or catching her when she was knocked out of the sky while flying, but this was a different kind of closeness that he honestly enjoyed.

That was, until Beastboy started freaking out and Raven pulled away from him. He noticed that her hand trailed down his arm and her fingers just barely grazed his before she responded to Beastboy.

Robin watched as Raven pulled herself away from Beastboy, and he shook his head and chuckled when Starfire and Cyborg pulled her into a hug as well. She reluctantly hugged them back, and Beastboy suggested they all head back to the tower to celebrate.

As they walked, Robin's thoughts were drawn back to Raven hugging since she chose to walk beside him.

'I wonder what I would've done.' Robin thought to himself. 'If she had kissed me.' Robin rubbed the back of his neck. 'I might've been too surprised to kiss her back. Maybe. Maybe I would've been able to kiss her back if I got over my shock.' He smiled and put his hands in his pockets. 'I'm sure it would've been nice, either way. She's very beautiful.'

Robin paused mid-stride.

'Where did that come from? I've never thought of her in that way before. I mean, it's true… but still. That's the first time I ever had that particular thought. I wonder why?'

"Robin? What's wrong?"

Looking, he could see that the others had continued walking, except for Raven. She was turned around, looking back with a warm smile.

"Nothing. Nothing at all." He jogged to catch up to her, and the two continued along behind the other three Titans up ahead.

Maybe it was just the way she smiled as she looked back to him, making sure he was okay that gave Robin his answer to the previous internal monologue. Maybe it was the simple act of stopping to check on him that aligned all the gears in his head and made him realize why, now, of all times, he had found Raven beautiful and couldn't get the idea of kissing her out of his mind.

'It's because I love her.'