You would be foolish to only play the cards you're dealt; it is best, instead, to play the people who oppose you.

You can get a lot from a simple game of cards but, more valuable, you can glean a lot about people from watching them play. You learn patterns, habits, weaknesses, strengths, tells, and temperaments if you can train yourself to look for them.

You can learn a lot about reading people by playing cards and Robin was exceptional at reading people. He felt that it was a skill that the rest of the Titans could benefit from, something that could help them to anticipate someone's motives both in investigation and in battle.

And so the Titans were playing poker.

It was very much as Robin had expected. Starfire was so giddy and excited that it made her easy to read and clouded her judgment in studying the others. Cyborg wasn't bad, but Robin supposed it was easier to have a poker face if half your face was machine. He played a good game but, ultimately, Cyborg was overly enthusiastic when he thought he had a winning hand and it was easy to know when to fold. Beast Boy had a terrible poker face and was trying make up for it by distracting everyone by cracking jokes. Robin had to admit, whether Beast Boy knew it or not, it wasn't a bad strategy. Everyone underestimated him and he was distracting them from controlling their tells.

But they were just the worst jokes.

Cyborg found himself laughing a few times at jokes that, he claimed, were so bad that they were kind of funny.

Raven had surprised Robin. She had been sarcastic and apathetic as usual and as expected, although it made for an impeccable poker face. But what had caught him off guard was how keen her observations seemed to be. She had picked up on when to fold against Cyborg early on, and she hadn't given in to being distracted by Beast Boy into giving anything away either.

Robin had adopted some tells to see if any of the others would notice and he was impressed when Raven seemed to pick up on at least one within the first ten hands. More astonishing was that she had discovered this and never hinted that she knew. But the way she altered her playing toward him had left no doubt in his mind. She was cool and collected, much like Robin himself and he hadn't expected it. He had been impressed.

It wasn't a new thing. She had been impressing him for years. From her fight to have control over her emotions in order to save those around her to her resolve to do good to every little nuance he learned about her, especially after the defeat of her father when she found the draw to the dark lessening and her ability to feel gradually getting easier.

He wasn't sure when the infatuation started. The bond that they had between them from his mental haunting incident with Slade had certainly helped, he felt. It allowed a closeness and understanding that made getting to know her more deeply easy where it was a herculean task for others. And the more he learned the more he wanted to know. And the more he knew the more she found ways to amaze him. And the more he was amazed, the more infatuated he became.

Robin started playing more aggressively, testing her skills and adaptability. Her eyes narrowed as she tried to adjust to his changes in playing style. A couple of hands later she looked at him and found him staring at her. One of her eyebrows raised as the thought crossed her mind that he was changing tactics to test her and a small smile quirked one corner of her mouth as her attention returned to her cards and she shook her head.

She played him well the next few hands and he smiled behind his cards having discovered that not only had she seen the changes in his playing and compensated, but she had also seen what he was doing in testing her.

Always impressing him.

As the intensity of the game grew and the competition became more palpable Starfire and Beast Boy became less attentive, having grown weary of their lack of success. Cyborg's attention was starting to wane as well as the competitive streak grew between Robin and Raven.

Several hands later Raven felt something at the edge of her mind as she shifted her cards and she quickly lay them on the table and snapped her eyes at Robin.

"I can feel that!" she exclaimed, snapping her fingers to get his attention. "The bond, I can feel it. Are you using it to feel out my emotions?"

"Not that I was aware of," he replied.

Raven gasped, partially in real surprise but mostly in mock horror. "You're cheating! You're using the bond to sense how I feel about my hand!"

"Excuse me?! You're accusing me of cheating when you're an empath that gleans emotions as easily as someone else reads faces? I am offended." But a smile tugged at his lips and Raven hit him in the shoulder with the back of her hand. As they fought/joked with each other the rest of the Titans took it a cue to take a break and replenish the table snacks.

Robin threw a handful of chips at Raven after she hit his shoulder again and she paused gaping at him as if it was the last thing she had expected him to do.

"Really? We're throwing food now?" she exclaimed in mock disgust. "That's a mature response when someone accuses you, accurately I might add, of cheating."

"I'm cheating no more than you are, Rae. If I used the bond at all it was accidental and not a conscious thing. Either way, I don't need the bond to beat you and you know that."

"Is that so?" she said, offended. "You want to up the stakes then? We can put real money down. See who comes out on top then."

"If we're upping the stakes we could always switch to strip poker," he offered casually, sweeping up the chips he had thrown from the table. "See who comes out on top then." He looked up into her utterly shocked face and laughed. She let out a breath she hadn't known she was holding as she realized that he was joking. But as she gathered the cards up to shuffle them she could see him run his eyes up and down her body and she felt a shiver run down her spine at the attention. The look on his face and the vibe from his emotions told her that he appreciated what he saw and she turned away so he would not see her blush.

He reached out to help her gather the cards so she could shuffle for her turn as dealer and his hands, ungloved for the game, came into contact with hers when he handed her the cards. His fingers brushed against hers even after he had handed the cards over and her eyes met his, the look in his eyes unfamiliar and yet far from unwelcome. His appraising look over her body suddenly became more significant.

They picked up their game when the others returned, the earlier tension from the competition between Robin and Raven transferred to a new tension between them. But the lack of competitive hostility made the game fun for everyone involved again and they were all soon back to cracking jokes and to the lighthearted banter that made them good friends.

After a time Starfire laid down her cards after winning a round and looked at Raven, who was smiling at her friend and congratulating her.

"It is good, friend Raven, to see you so happy. I have long waited for you to be so free to smile and it makes me the most joyous! I can not remember the last time you were so relaxed while doing the group activity."

Raven looked at her fiery friend and saw the sincerity on her face and could not help but feel moved. Truly all Starfire had ever wanted was to be closer to the only other girl in the tower and Raven felt good being able to give her at least a little of what she craved that Raven had been unable to provide before.

"I admit, after defeating my father emotions seem . . . easier to deal with and crowds are less daunting and overwhelming than they once were. It's like I've been able to shrug a little more of his influence off every day. It's taken a lot of getting used to, but . . . I think I might actually be happy."

Starfire absolutely beamed at the news and clasped her friend's hand on the table. Raven squeezed back and smiled at her. She could feel Robin's stare from her other side and she turned to find him looking at her seriously.

"I'm glad, Raven," he started. "I – I used to worry about you alone in your room all the time, I just never knew how to address it. I thought about it a lot, though, about ways to see you out of your room more often."

The table grew quiet as Raven looked at him, feeling the sadness and the concern that he had felt for her like she was living it through their bond.

"I mean, I feel like all of us did," he stated, not breaking eye contact. But this small statement broke the tension of the table as everyone chimed in that they, too, were glad to see her so open and happy. The spell of Robin's moment of honesty was broken for the others and they went on to continue their lighthearted conversation.

But Raven's eyes were still locked with Robin's and she felt something intense surge through their bond as his knee brushed up against hers in a slow, and deliberate way. She felt his fingers brush her elbow under the table and they shared something beyond words as they spent long moments unable to break eye contact with one another.

She laid a hand in her lap, holding her cards with the other hand, and it wasn't long before his fingers sought out hers. She laced her fingers with his and felt a peace that she had never known at the simple contact of holding his hand. She felt like a dam had broken within her and she smiled at him, feeling more in that moment than she thought she had ever been able to feel before without making something explode. He smiled back at her and squeezed her hand with his.

"Uh, guys?" Beast Boy said timidly, breaking into their sudden emotionally intimate moment. "It's your turn Robin."

Raven and Robin shook themselves out of their locked gaze and returned their attention to the game, though their hands remained tightly entwined under the table. Something in Raven had shifted and Robin was trying to figure out what it was when Beast Boy came out with another joke.

"Alright, why don't they play poker in the jungle?" he asked, looking around the table for only a moment before transforming into a cheetah, his paws crossed daintily on his cards on the table. He puffed out his chest and held his furry head high in what should have been an impossibly aristocratic manner for a jungle cat. "Too many cheetahs!"

Raven's powers erupted from her in a dark wave across table as she released Robin's hand, pulled up her knees to her chest and curled up into a ball on her chair, her head resting on her knees. Robin leaned over her, concerned, and realized that she was shaking as he laid a hand on her back.

"Raven!" he cried, a chill creeping into him. "Are you okay? Are you hurt? What happened?!"

He could hear her making a strange, rhythmic wheezing noise and he began to really worry, rubbing her back and trying to get a response. He remembered the shift he had felt in her and now worried that something terrible had been unleashed.

It wasn't for several more moments, until the wheezing noises shifted a lower toned noise, that Robin realized that the sound was laughter. Uncontrolled laughter.

They were all gathered around her gaping as she cracked up and continued her fit of laughter.

"Raven?" Robin said tentatively.

She took several deep breaths before finding herself able to choke out the word, "Cheetahs!"

They all stood in disbelief that it was joke that got her, but Beast Boy was the most shocked of them all, frozen on the spot and still in the guise of a cheetah. He seemed genuinely stunned and Raven began to laugh even harder she saw him as a cheetah with such a human expression of bewilderment on his face.

But the others found themselves starting to laugh as well as her laughter, the stupid jokes, and Beast Boy's hilarious frightened cheetah face caught up with them all. Eventually Beast Boy broke out of his stupor and began to laugh too, transforming into a hyena and breaking into barking laughter as he fell from his chair and curled up on the floor. They finally managed to catch their breath and looked around at each other smiling in amazement at this strange and wonderful moment that found themselves caught up in. They managed to collect themselves and return to their seats as Raven wiped tears from her eyes.

Robin's hand slipped to her knee and she lowered her hand to twine her fingers with his once more, the touch connecting them physically and making their mental connection more clear. Something in her had indeed broken and it allowed that joyful emotional outburst. He smiled a disbelieving smile at her which she returned.

I think it was you, she said, but the sound was only echoed in his mind, her lips had never moved. I think all that was because of you.

Not just me, he thought back, testing this new expression of their bond. I think it was us.

He squeezed her hand and she instantly smiled at him, and bit her bottom lip in what was possibly the most charming look anyone had ever given him.

"Who knew that all it was going to take to make Raven laugh at one of my jokes was to tell dad jokes?" Beast Boy asked, settling back into his chair and wiping tears from his own eyes as everyone gathered their cards once more. "I have a MILLION of those!"

Raven looked over her cards at Beast Boy with a wicked smile. "Go for it."

Robin looked at her in disbelief and shook his head, smiling at her. He cupped her face with his hand and she laid her hand over his, leaning into his hand and closing her eyes.

"Laughing at one of Beast Boy's jokes," he said in disbelief, "You know, sometimes still, I worry about you."