- Simple as That -
Things change, Robin knew. He'd just, never expected them to catch him off guard as much as they did. But of course, that's what change does best. Surprise you.
It had started off simple. They were friends. They were all friends. They found each other. They fit together. They fought together. It was simple.
Then he started getting these... feelings, for Starfire. And he was confused, and a little bit afraid. Raven had been there for him, behind the scenes, listening to his problems, his worries... his feelings of confusion and insecurity. She'd always been a good listener.
Beast Boy was his best friend. Good for a laugh. Good for a good time.
Cyborg was his best friend. Good for listening, for a period of time. Better for man-talk; about sports and cars and bikes and such things.
Raven was his best friend. Always at hand with advice, for anything. Always there with an open mind, and a listening ear.
Star was his best friend. She was fun, and bright, and cheerful and he'd been drawn to that. Well, the kiss when they'd first met hadn't hurt.
But suddenly things were changing.
Starfire was fun. She was great for a laugh. Always so innocent and oblivious and curious. But he wanted more than just, hanging around, and teaching and basically babysitting this alien princess. He wanted to have an intelligent conversation with someone. He wanted to kick back and read a book without anyone interrupting, while still enjoying someone else's company. He wanted to hang out with someone, without having to fill every second with chatter and talk. He started wanting Raven.
It wasn't that strange, he told himself. They were friends. Best friends. He didn't hang out with Raven that often, and that needed to change. Raven didn't mind. She just accepted him with the same strong and silent grace that she always did. They were just friends. Simple as that. He still had feelings for Starfire - she was beautiful, funny, powerful, why shouldn't he? He just wanted to relate to his other friends a little bit more. Simple.
And that's how life was, for a little while - with Robin spending his time as equally as possible with his four best friends.
Slade. It was an obsession, for the longest time, and then he was gone. Dead. Thanks to Terra the Betrayer.
Still, Robin felt restless, he was so sure that Slade was up to something. He always was. Always. Even if he was dead.
Robin was embarrassed about the whole 'hallucination' fiasco. His obsession had driven him into madness, it was stupid, and narrow-minded of him. But at least it could never be said that he couldn't keep his focus.
On the plus side, he felt closer to Raven. She had all these walls, built up around herself, but by entering his mind - she'd not only exposed him, she'd also exposed a piece of herself. They shared a bond. Something special.
A connection through which he could feel her. Sense her emotions to a point. Not feel them exactly, but sort of sense what sort of emotions she might be experiencing. Not complete knowledge, but an idea of sorts. It was amazing.
He could feel her smiling inwardly, at Beast Boy's attempts at humour, and his 'fights' with Cyborg.
He could feel her rage when one of the team would get hurt during a fight.
He could feel the battle she had with herself, every time she used her powers, not to lose control.
It was eye-opening to say the least. And he started noticing her more because of it. Looking for outward hints, to her inner feelings.
The minuscule twitch of a lip, when she was feeling happy, or humorous. The vein that pulsed in the side of her head when she was feeling angry, or frustrated. Her eyes seemed to twinkle a little less, and her posture was a little more slumped when she was feeling sad. She was extremely protective of her friends. Though she'd never tell, secretly, Raven loved cats; she thought they were cute, and her eyes would soften, just a little, when she saw them. Her favourite flowers were snowdrops and forget-me-nots, because Robin noticed her gaze linger a little on those whenever they passed a florist. Blue, he could understand a little, since it was her favourite colour, but the white of the snowdrops made him smile. Raven wasn't as dark as she pretended to be.
He started hanging around with her more, talking to her more; discovering more about her. As much as he could. And why shouldn't he? She was his best friend, but also a mystery. Shouldn't he discover as much about her as possible? They were best friends. Simple as that.
Robin was worried. Raven was acting strange. She was avoiding him and the rest of the team. Well, more than usual. And it something to do with 'today'. What was so special about today?
He hadn't really encouraged anything. He'd just let slip to Beast Boy that Raven had some private files under lock and key in a certain area of the computer's memory. It wasn't his fault that Beast Boy was so nosy, because he respected Raven's privacy. He really did. Honestly though, he was a little hurt that she hadn't told him it was her birthday. He could have gotten something. They could have celebrated. They could still celebrate.
All he had to do was mention to Starfire that it was an earthly tradition to celebrate the day of birth with games and cake. She would do the rest.
Why was Raven so angry? He'd just wanted to have a party, for her. Because it was her birthday. Wasn't that supposed to be special? What was going on?
She'd just blown up the whole living room, and Cyborg's special cake with three types of icing, and stormed out.
"Raven! What's wrong?" He called out, running after her.
"I just don't like parties," she muttered, a little anger still in her voice. Anger and... fear? Ridiculous, right?
"It's more than that, I can tell," Robin told her. "We have a bond, remember. You've been inside my mind. Let me inside yours."
"Robin, you know me better than anyone. You should know there are places in my mind where you can't go. Where no one should ever go."
"I'm willing to try if you'll-"
"I can't," she interupted.
"Tell me what's going on," Robin pleaded. He was worried. This wasn't what Raven was like. She was running away from something.
"Just-" Raven stressed. Robin suspected that if she had less control, she would rub her forehead in frustration. "Trust me. If you knew anything about the day of my birth, you'd know there's nothing to celebrate."
Robin watched, helpless, as she walked away.
"NOOO!" Robin sat up in bed. That was Raven's scream. She was on the other side of the wall, but in a different hallway, and he raced around the tower to her bedroom door, banging on it desperately. He was dripping with sweat and half mad with concern by the time she'd opened the door.
"I heard you scream," he began. He was hoping to get some answers, but at that moment, the alarm went off.
"Trouble," Raven said, and she pushed past him. She'd spoken in her regular voice, a soft, melodic sound. And it scared him, because that meant that she wasn't fully in control of herself. Robin could hear it in her voice, as well as feel it through their bond. Something was up.
Robin gasped, and then realised that the cog had stopped rolling towards him. Actually, everything had stopped, and Raven was next to him, urging him to get up.
"Raven?" He rasped, voice horse from screaming at Slade and throat choking a little in fear and confusion.
Raven looked up, and Robin followed her gaze. Slade looked down on them, an amused glint in his eye. Raven swept her cloak up and enveloped him in her shadow-like power. They teleported to somewhere in the middle of a street. Everything there was frozen as well.
Robin turned on her. "What is going on? Why is Slade back? Where did he get those powers? How did you stop time?"
"I- I'm not sure," Raven admitted hesitantly. And Robin knew he was in trouble, because Raven never did anything hesitantly. She always knew what she was doing, or at least how to bluff her way through. Robin felt his gut clench. They were in trouble. "I never wanted this day to come, and when it did, I just wanted it to stop." She held her hand to her chest. "I guess I got my wish," she whispered.
"What is happening?" Robin gaped at her back.
"It's my birthday," Raven murmured. It might have been a joke, to lighten the mood a little. But at the same time, it was a deadly serious truth.
Slade appeared at the top of a nearby building. He spotted them, and jumped down. Robin pushed her behind him. "Raven, RUN!"
For once, she listened to him.
Robin didn't know if that was good or bad.
Robin swooped through the sky to save her, of course. That's the way it worked. But something had changed, in the few minutes he'd been apart from her. Slade had torn away her cape, and ripped her leotard to shreds, leaving her in only scraps of material that covered her hips and chest. Her hair had somehow grown as long as Starfire's, and Robin thought that she looked beautiful like that.
Softer, maybe, without the sharp points that her bob would form. It made her look more vulnerable.
Looking at her like that, Robin vowed to protect her. Nothing would ever hurt her again, he promised himself. Simple as that.
They'd thrown her another party. Patching together everything she'd ripped apart earlier. Of course, when she came out of her room, her hair was cut again - leaving her looking as harsh and cold as ever. But Robin didn't see it. He could still sense the softness, and decided that sometime in the future, he would let her know how beautiful she looked with long hair.
In the end, her condition for having the party was ice cream. Robin knew it wasn't really that, but it was always fun to pick out the moments where Raven was trying to be funny. She was so subtle sometimes it was difficult, or other times she'd be so bluntly sarcastic that he'd have a hard time smothering his chuckles. These were the things he loved about her, and suddenly nothing was simple anymore. All thanks to Raven's 15th birthday.
So this is it so far - please review. I might keep going later if you like it - and add a bit more to it (an AU post 'the End' maybe?)
Let me know what you think with that little button just below this _^