Important: Rated for language, use of alcohol, and sexual content. In no way is this the intended perception or expectation of university/college students. Don't follow certain characters' example and be smart with yourself if you find yourself in or choose to enter settings like this.

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Ugh.

You know how people say that when you fall in love, the world suddenly becomes clearer because it's all thanks to the person you're with? That everything just falls into place and nothing could be as simple as the feelings you have for them? Or that, everything in life becomes worth it because you've finally realised who matters the most to you and you'd give yourself up in a heartbeat for that love to remain as true as it is?

Well, I think that's utter bull.

Love doesn't make things clearer. If anything, the strings get even more fucking tangled and it's harder to see what's real. And love is definitely not simple. I have never been frustrated by something so complex. So, I apologize to all you happy couples who think they're living on a ridiculous Cloud Nine because I think you're the biggest liars on the face of the earth.

Then again, maybe it's just me.

Maybe I'm so cynical and empty that the idea of love bounces off of me like that rubber-over-glue crap. Maybe you guys should be the ones apologizing to me because you really did solve something so easy and I'm just so screwed up that I can't see it straight.

But hey, don't blame me. Blame my best friend.

Richard Grayson. Well, now he's more like the pinnacle of my hopes and dreams and my sexual desire.

And I can't fucking stand it.

See I didn't mean to, honest. Richard was supposed to be the idiot that I would run to for a good laugh or a knock in the head because he thought the guy I dated in sophomore year was a loser. But now, oy. I don't even know when it all happened. Maybe it was when he won me that ugly stuffed elephant during that year of our frosh week. Maybe it was even farther back when that son-of-a-bitch Roy Harper ditched me at the junior prom for Kitty and Richard beat him up in the parking lot two days after. Maybe it was after thinking about how he always bakes me cookies after we have a fight and I cave in as easy as a sinkhole.

I really don't know. But yeah, I do. Raven Roth loves her best friend Richard Grayson.

The problem is that while everyone else can see it as easy as I can, the big idiot himself doesn't.

Unfortunately he's too busy chasing other girls to realise that his best friend is in love with him. And she punishes herself by letting him do it because she's too chicken shit to tell him.

So that's how I ended up in this situation.

Letting him drag me to another frat party because, minus the beer pong or friends he's agreed to arm wrestle, there's that hot girl from his political science class that wants to grind him on the dancefloor. Obviously he didn't tell me that last part because, according to him, he believes in protecting my 'pretty, little innocence'. But I'm not an idiot, I know his reputation. God forbid, my parents do and they wonder why I'm even still his best friend.

Let's get one thing straight, Rachel Roth hates frat parties. She hates parties in general. Rachel Roth is, by choice, a good girl who stays in most of the time. And sure, sometimes she pisses off a couple people on an hourly basis but she remains studious and sticks to her moral compass. But that's the thing with Richard. Where I am orderly, he's disorderly and he brings out the rebel in me when he thinks it's called for. And in a way, I guess our friendship balances out for both of us, seeing as how he is still currently running a 7.0 GPA and hasn't gotten a girl pregnant.

I wouldn't tell anyone but I think they'd know that the latter part would devastate me.

Regardless, Richard is my best friend and sometimes when he works his magic, I melt like the chocolate chip cookies he bakes and I end up shrugging on a jacket and following him to a party, thinking some kind of good will come out it.

I should really learn better.

Not even two minutes in, after one of Richard's friends Connor opens the door, Richard is gone, making a beeline for the booze, his bros, and that bitch he spots from poli-sci. Meanwhile, I end up squished on a couch between a couple getting really close to throwing their clothes off, and a guy who looks like he wants to go outside and smoke pot on the porch but it's too cold outside so he's stuck in the house like me.

For about an hour and a half, no one talks to me as I pretend to drink the beer in the cup I'm holding. Maybe because they don't know me, or maybe because my reputation of being an 'all-work-no-fun' kind of girl makes me unappealing company. Or maybe it's the way I look at the party. Dark, upset, and a bit homicidal.

But it's the party, honest.

I actually like the music Connor's set up for the night, and the noise doesn't bother me. It's probably because directly in front of me I can see Richard already dirty dancing with poli-sci girl on the floor and they're getting way too ...handsy.

She's all tight-shirt and primped hair with a sexy smirk I could never pull off without looking like the Joker, and he's all calm coolness with his button-down-jean sex appeal. Richard presses his mouth behind the shell of her left ear as he moves in closer and she arches her back a little more so their bodies create more friction in the lower area. Then he whispers something in her ear and goes to put his large hands on her thighs and... I get up from the couch.

It's getting too hot in this house.

I half remember to take my jacket from the couch, but that's only after I pass through the haze of drunken people and when I'm already standing on the outside porch in the cold. I take a quick look around to make sure no one notices that my eyes are painfully wet as I try to blink them down. But I'm lucky that this December, no one, not even the stoners are willing to brave the temperature outside.

With a shaky (but angry) sigh, I sit on the stone steps and squeeze my knees together for warmth. Why do I do this to myself? I'm twenty-two, this is my last year as an undergrad. I should be living it up and not giving a shit about my body or life the way he does, the way everyone seems to have done in this house. And whether or not I actually decide to take that opportunity and go do graduate studies, I should at least have some fond memories from this chapter of my life. But honestly, I haven't up until this point.

And it's all because of... who I'm pretty sure just opened the door behind me and closed it again. At first I didn't think it was him and hoped the person would ignore me and keep on walking, but I recognize the sound of his sniffle.

Yeah, I'm way in too deep.

"Raven?"

I don't say anything but I know it's all for moot. He knows it's me. Seconds later, I felt him drape my coat around my shoulders and I squeeze into it because it's still warm from being in the house.

"Why'd you come out 'ere?"

Great, he's wasted. Richard is pretty articulate for a party boy and he only ever slurs when he's got too much alcohol down his throat. I roll my eyes and stare out onto the deserted street.

"Just go back inside."

"Why? And leave my best friend out 'ere? Come on..."

I feel him more than hear him sit down next to me on the step and I turn instinctively to look at him. I don't know if God has it out for me but at the moment I do, the moonlight comes through the clouds and illuminates his face. Richard is like one of those marble statues of David or Adonis you see in a museum or in a catalogue. Ask anyone, honest. People have been coming up to us for several years asking him if he models or if he'd like to model. But he's never said yes to any offers. A part of me thinks he just wants to torture me for his own pleasure because I'm currently flushed and dry-mouthed.

His skin isn't pale and is a healthy, flawless glow of creamy white. His cheekbones sit high on his face and slope down giving him an handsome, angular jaw. And his hair, it's jet black , slightly messy, and curls at the ends. He doesn't do anything to it but it just works. And his eyes are a blue so dark and stormy that I'm pretty sure anyone with blue eyes (not me, I have brown) would be jealous for not having.

"Rae, talk to me." And could his lips be anymore full in front a set of white teeth? That's when I remember he's talking to me.

"Sorry, what?"

When I really focus on him this time, I find him giving me that smirk he gives all the girls. It should really piss me off, but it doesn't.

"What's wrong?" The smirk gets paired with a raised eyebrow. It makes me swoon inside and I groan inwardly because I'm picturing how pathetic I am up against all the other girls who've fallen to his charm. I'm his best friend for fuck's sake! I should be immune to all of it and laugh in his face, not be like the chick he almost practically hooked up with on the floor five minutes ago.

Instantly the thought of her and him together sets me off and rather than come up with a dainty little lie to make him feel sorry for me, I'm spiteful as I always am about things.

"Shouldn't you be already having that girl's legs wrapped around your neck?"

"If you know anything about a man, Rae, it's that a man must bear patience in his endeavours. I want to tease her a bit."

I shoot him a look of disgust and he automatically raises his hands defensively. I notice for the first time, he still has his beer bottle in one hand. He grins.

"Sorry. I forgot how innocent you are."

"Yeah well, unlike you, I'd like to keep my virginity for someone worth it, not throw it to the street like morning ham."

"I prefer breakfast in bed."

I snap my whole upper-body around to face him, without really meaning to turn this up another level.

"See, what the fuck, Dick? Why did you even bring me here? To teach me more damn sexual innuendos that I have absolutely no use for? Because I've already learned enough from you over the past few years!"

Richard for a second a bit put off by my outburst, probably because I was so quiet and awkward just moments before. I almost feel sorry for putting that scrunch in his eyebrows because Richard should always looks happy and worry-free. I'm in love with the derp remember?

But then again, he never really did learn to speak Raven. And he licks his lips awkwardly to prove it.

"Right. Uh listen, do you want me to drive you back?"

As I look at him, I notice how focused his eyes are on me and the stern set of his jaw. Maybe he isn't drunk as I initially thought. I open my mouth to give the answer I really want but I shut it just as quickly and look away. I can't let him drive me back to my apartment, he did bring me here to have fun and I'm ruining it. Plus, what if he really is drunk and we both die because I was stupid for once during that one moment in our friendship? So I refrain from leaving and lean against the banister beside me to let my head rest. I don't realise how much my heart has been pounding the whole time until I do.

Richard sighs and I see him lean against the other banister too out of the peripheral of my eye. A moment of silence passes between us as we listen to the music thump heartily in the closed house behind us. These are the moments I like with him. Whether we get too wound up in our busy schedules or in each other, when the silence hits it's comfortable and beautiful. It reminds me of the younger years when Richard and I would be in his bedroom doing homework after school when he didn't have rugby practice and I wasn't stuck at band rehearsals.

Let me just say, I hope to never pick up another flute for the rest of my life.

When a breeze picks up and my insides shiver, I flick a gaze over to my mom's car nearby wondering if she'll actually start to realise that no library in its right mind would be open past midnight. I haven't told either of them that I'm at a frat party with Richard. For one thing, they think I'm a good girl so I'd like to keep it that way. For another, my dad has started to really hate Richard over the past few years because of all the things that he's heard about him while teaching in the psychology department here. And since Richard's double-major is Philosophy and Criminology, the students he teaches, and all their loud ass gossip, circulate through that one faculty. So basically I'm screwed if they ever found out who got me to agree to lie to them.

I sigh when the silence starts to get tense.

"What do you want me to do, Dick? Go back in there and smile like I'm one of them? Because I'm not. You should already know that by now and... look, I get what you're trying to do for me. It's nice of you but this is coming at a bad time 'kay? I've got that freaking paper due in two days and I should've really been at the li-... Ugh, why am I even telling you this? You don't give shit about my homework while there's a party going on in there. So why don't you just go inside and have tonsil hockey with that sk-" When I finally turn to look at him, I can't believe it.

The idiot has fallen asleep against the railing.

His head is slouched against the banister and his bottle is hanging precariously in his hand. Can you fucking believe him?

I growl and pluck the bottle from him before it creates more trash on poor Connor's frontyard. This guy really needs to get more sleep. He can't keep working, going to the gym, and partying like he's the freakin' Energizer Bunny. I would glare at him, but his peaceful features make it near impossible. It's like looking at Adonis meditating in a perfect posture of relaxation. What I wouldn't give to wake up to that every morning.

Ugh, see how sick I am?

It's disgusting, but I reach forward anyway to brush his messy bangs away from his dark eyelashes with a tired look.

"Richard, I should be so mad at you right now for blacking out on me at a party that I hate ...too bad I'm falling in love with you so that idea's pointless."

~o~

TBC.

A/N: I'm back my darlings! Haha I know I know it's been ages but hey! ...No I don't really have an excuse to offer so sure, go ahead and throw something at me. I won't hate, honest. Lol but I hope the year's been kind to you in my absence! Mine's been pretty awesome as of late, minus that one time I blacked out like Richard at a party but otherwise yup, can't complain! ;D Haha so what do I have here? It's a comeback fic, and I hope you'll stick around to read it! :)

This is my first AU multi-chapter drama fic for RavenRobin! Lol and I'm so excited because it's sorta laid out and ready to go! I just hope I can commit to it and finish it before the year ends. The idea came from personal experiences and a multitude of fics/stories I've read over the years and so i've pressed them together into a dramatic unfolding. If anything sounds like something you've read/heard of before, let me know where to give credit to. If it was where I read it I'll acknowledge. Copyrights are disclaimed because this story isn't for profit it's just to retell a story from a RavenRobin perspective mkay? :)

Also, as I've said before, any sexy fics will bump up their ages to young adults so don't think this is some awkward highschool fic. Raven and Robin are finishing university in this time frame because I think it's acceptable for what's going to come. Next chapter will be up soon (hopefully!). Haha as always, one-word reviews are enough and nice, just so I know if this story is worth continuing – I'll continue anyway lol but it's always nice to have feedback. Until then my dears, enjoy this Pilot chapter. Byee. :)

And can I quickly say, I love y'all! :D Haha seriously, thank you guys so much for your sweet and hilarious reviews, and to everyone else who favorited/alerted or just simply read my fics! It means so much to me and I'm glad we all love these sexy boys and girls. :D