Voice
"Raven?" The boy rolled over, groaning. Cold light struck his face from the left, stinging his eyes. Squinting, he rolled further, searching for something, anything that would give him a reference as to where he was. However, the surface that he was lying on was finite, as he soon found out- to his extreme displeasure. He rolled off of the edge, landing with a thump and a whoosh of blankets. "Dang it…." He moaned again, rubbing his foggy head.
"Good morning, Robin," a female voice said from the far side of the room. Even in his confused state, he could hear her voice sharper and clearer than anything around. However, there was another sound he could hear- click, click, click, tap, click, click.
He ran a bare hand through his untidy mess of black hair, searching around for his mask with one eye. It happened to be lodged between the cushions of the couch, and after slipping it over his face, he stretched his legs out. It had been a long night of researching and recalibrating, so he'd abandoned his tights and red shirt for pajama pants and a white shirt with a familiar black bat emblazoned on it. Bruce hadn't liked it when Robin stole his shirts, but they were just so comfortable.
"What time is it?" He murmured, licking his dry lips. He glanced at Raven. Her normally pristine hair was slightly frazzled as she typed quickly on the clacking keyboard. Raven, too, had switched from her normal dress to a pair of black lounge pants and a lighter blue shirt. When Robin told her she looked like a puddle, she'd only chosen to give him a look that both chilled him and made him smile. At least she was comfortable, and she still looked good, despite being stressed. Robin stood and walked toward her, still trying to fix his black mop. It was hanging all around his head at this point instead of being stiff like it usually was.
"A little past five." The girl turned to face him, her pale lids drooping over her dark blue eyes. "You fell asleep at midnight. Four hours of sleep isn't bad."
"I feel bad for letting you do all that." He indicated the massive amount of encoding displayed on the computer monitor. However confusing and intricate, it needed to be done exactly right; this was the system that protected the tower from invaders.
She nodded and flicked her hair back. The red gem between her eyes glittered. "It's alright. You did most of the hard work; I just expanded on it." She stood and stretched, her long pale arms extending above her head. Can she actually tan? "Do you want something to eat?" She offered abruptly.
"I'll make something. After we eat, you should try to sleep." He grinned and walked over to their little kitchen. Even after Cyborg had cleaned it yesterday afternoon there was still mustard smeared across the counter (courtesy of Starfire) and the microwave smelled like tofu (courtesy of Beastboy). The refrigerator light flickered on as he opened the door, illuminating the bare shelving. Dang it, Beastboy. That means I'll have to either go shopping or send Raven with Starfire. He shuddered as he remembered the last time Star had gone shopping by herself. Even Beastboy couldn't tell what half of the things she brought back were.
"How does oatmeal and tea sound?" He called softly for fear of waking the other Titans. Raven gave him a slight smile- he was right. These days, he figured that he knew exactly what Raven liked to eat, which was hard to predict. Pulling the oats and tea from the pantry and two pots from the cupboard, he set to work. He prided himself on his cooking skills, especially since he was the only one of the Titans who could cook normal food.
"Thanks, Robin." Raven glanced up at him over a bowl of steaming oatmeal before lifting a spoon. He met her gaze, tilted his head, and smiled.
"You're welcome." Somehow, those two words seemed to create a telekinetic link between them, and they both began to eat, knowing the other's thoughts. Raven probably can actually read my thoughts, though. Robin lifted his huge mug and took a swallow of white tea, his favorite. The heat stung his tongue, but it felt deliciously warm in his belly.
"Robin?" Raven dropped her spoon into her bowl, wiping her mouth with a spare napkin from dinner. He brought his head up, focusing in on her dark eyes. He could tell that there was something bothering her. "What do you think when you hear my voice?"
He thought. That's a weird question. Pretty out of the blue, too. "Your voice?" He pondered. "Well, I think that it's the voice of my best friend, and a voice of reason among a bunch of crazy teenagers." She seemed to be waiting, so he said a little more of what he truly thought. "I think that it's a beautiful voice- a voice that has gone through a lot of hell and withstood, leaving me with a great friend."
She raised her eyebrows. "Very poetic." She traced the edge of her cup with her forefinger, seeming uneasy. This wasn't her normal, content silence; it had become a wishful, pondering silence.
"What's up, Raven?" Robin put his cup down and reached out to touch her arm. She raised her eyes to his once more, seeming to draw support form his mask-covered eyes. What does she think of me? I feel like I hide from her, even though she's my best friend. "You can talk."
Raven took a deep breath through her nose, and then spoke slowly. "I feel too… dark. Like the black is coming out of me through my eyes and through my voice."
She's thinking of this afternoon. The previous afternoon, Raven had snapped at Beastboy. It wasn't outside the normal, but in this case, she'd made him cry. Robin recalled the situation. Beastboy had been gallivanting, as usual, and had stepped on the edge of Raven's cloak as she meditated on the roof. She'd fallen from where she was floating in the air and whacked her head on the ground, making a sickening crack on the roof. Robin, of course, had rushed over in worry to see if anything was wrong, and Starfire had flitted after him. Raven was fine- she had padded her head with a shield of black magic, but Beastboy was directly in the line of fire.
"You rat!" She'd been livid, her normally pale face lit with red blush. Her eyes, shrouded in black beneath her hood, had been glowing whiter than they did in battle. "You shouldn't even be one of us- you don't deserve it! All you ever do is crush one of us under your weight, and we have to support you!" Barrels and crates had been floating, swirling around Beastboy, waiting to strike. By this time, the green boy had been huddled on the ground, watching Raven with frightened eyes.
"Raven!" Robin had seized her shoulders then, ripping off her hood, and the barrels and crates had dropped. Giving him an irate look, Raven had yanked her hood back up and stormed back in to the tower. Silence ensued, and Beastboy began to sob.
Now she was sorry. Not typical Raven.
"It's alright, Raven. Everyone gets mad." Robin smiled at her, trying to be reassuring. "Beastboy was fine by dinner- he ate more than the rest of us."
Raven didn't reply. He could tell she was brooding, and he wished he had a better response. "I hope I didn't ruin our friendship," she said quietly. Robin's jaw dropped- Raven usually hated Beastboy's guts.
Robin closed his fingers around her arm and gave her a reassuring smile. "When did you ever know Beastboy to hold a grudge?"
"When has Beastboy ever cried?" Raven's eyes were large and remorseful. What's wrong…?
"Did something specific happen, Raven? Why are you so sensitive to your and Beastboy's relationship all of a sudden?" Robin's masked eyes were caring and gentle.
Raven didn't answer. He could tell that she was fighting with herself, the way that she chewed on her upper lip. Ever since their venture to Tokyo, Raven had been doing that whenever he asked her to reveal something personal. It bothered him- she never used to. "You can talk to me, Raven. I know that Beastboy is obnoxious."
Raven looked away, back toward the computer screen. "I just don't want him to remember me as a jerk," she said quietly.
"You're scaring me, Raven." Robin stood, his food forgotten, and rounded the table to kneel by her chair, the only way to really get into her boundaries without insulting her. "The last time you did this 'maintaining relationships' thing, you died and I had to chase you into a volcano."
She smiled wryly, and then looked him in the eye. Her eyes were full of tears. "I'm dying, Robin."