Valentine's day . . . what's so special about it? People wear pink and red and exchange romantic gifts. Couples walk hand in hand professing their undying love. All the love . . . pure emotion thick enough in the air to cut with a knife. The whole thing made Raven personally want to puke. For her, it was the one time out of the year when the whole world banned togehter to focus all their thoughts and energy into one overwheling emtion; love. Being an empath sometimes truly sucked. It also did not help that the man she . . . had strong feelings for was in love with somebody else. Robin and Starfire would probably be ogling eachother the whole day. Robin would whisper something in her ear and Star would giggle uncontroably. Raven rocked silently in agony on her bed at the mere thought. Today, there was no safe zone for her because the feeling was everywhere. Therefore, Raven decided to camp out in her room miserably and wait out this horrible storm.
Raven as wearing her most comfortable clothes; black sweats, a black holloween teeshirt that said "Bite Me"
in bright red letters on the front. To keep warm she donned on a large thick dark blue hoodie. The hoodie was her favoirte because like her cloak it could cover her face, however, the hoodie was far more comfortable then the thin fabric of her cloak. If she was going to be unhappy then she might as well be comfortable. Besides it was not like she was going to see anyone today. The others knew her better then to knock on her door when she haddn't even bothered to come out for breakfast, but then maybe they didn't.
Raven gasped in pain as another wave of love hit her. She cruled up in a ball on her bed. After a few minutes the pain subsided and she could breath normally once again. It was not the feeling that hurt so much. It was mostly the fact that Raven was fighting against the feeling. She could not allow herslef to lose control . . . well it was possible since the defeat of Trigon to have emotin and show a little bit of them. However, Raven had no desire to fully surrender to any emotion, and in particular not love. That was probably what frightened her the most. In the past Raven had hatted Valentine's day because every year she had to struggle for control . . . now she was just terrified of what would happen if she did give in to the feeling. Raven had love, true she ignored it and kept it burried deep in the darkest depths of Nevermore, but it was there. If she lost control she might just do something regretable . . . like telling Robin her true feelings for him. She could not let that happen, therefore, Raven sat on her bed struggling for control.
The day was passing slowly. Each hour ticked by slower then the last. It was close to three and Raven was exhaunsted and weary from her struggles. She was now experiencing a lull in feelings, which was a blessing. The early morning hours had been brutal. However, it certantly was far from over. The worst of it had yet to come. That would occur when the sun was setting and night took over. That's when the emotion would intensify into a maddening force powerful enough to send her into hysterics. On the bright side, at least she was not going to have to endure Robin and Star. Raven reminded herself to be thankful for the small things like that as she walked over to her dresser for a drink of water. She was actually surprised that the others had not even tried to get her out of her room. They were probable just bussy with their Valentine's day plans. Cyborg was probably taking Bumble Bee to some fancy restuarant, Beast Boy and Tera would do . . . what ever it is they did, and the other two were obvious. Having warmed up considerably, Raven stripped off her hoodie and began stretching her tired muscles. A sudden knock on the door made her nearly jump out of her skin.
Who would dare bother her today? Someone incredibly stupid at leat. Raven had no idea who it was since all her powers were currently acting as a shield. Whoever it was they had better go away if they knew what was good for them. Raven was atonished to hear a second round of rapping on her door. Someone had a death wish . . . one that she was happily about to grant.
"Raven, open the door its me," Robin said quietly through the door. She should have known, no one was cocky enough or had enough guts to do what he just did. Sighing, Raven moved to open the door. Robin was also the only living soul who would also get away with it. Robin's face was all smiles when she yanked her door open in an irritated manner. Why did he have to look so sexy? Raven asked herself. Love was hard enough to handle without awakening the lust in her.
"Robin, what do you want?" she mumbled. Raven was horrified to hear emotion bubbling in her voice. It was nearly impossible to maintain her control and her typical deadpan voice under these curcumstances. Raven noted a quick quirk of his eyebrow that notified her that the change in her voice had not gone unnoticed.
"I wanted to spend some time with you," he said simply. Raven jaw slacked open in surprise, but she quickly recovered.
"Don't you and Star have plans today?" she asked in a soft voice. Confusion fluttered across Robin's face.
"Why would I have plans wih Star? In case you haddn't noticed she and I are sort of over, not that we ever really started. Anyways, she's going on her first date with Speedy today." Raven actually had had no idea that Star and he had broken up. She was probably too focused on not seeing them together that she completely missed them splitting up. That would certainly explain a lot . . .
"Oh, I'm sorry," was all she could mange in reply. Robin smiled at her and Raven had to blink a few times to remember to breath.
"So . . . can I come in?" he asked casually.
Robin strolled in and sat down on her bed as if he had done it a million times. Raven was still standing near her door and for the frist time in her life she was nervious to be in her room. He could not stay long if she had any hope of keeping her composure. Robin was growing up fast and at the ripe age of eighteen he could probably make some models jealous, however, Robin looked more ruggedly handsome then a pretty boy. He was grinning at her with that face that had Raven on high alert. Robin was planning something and that was never a good thing.
"So, are you going to sit down, or am I going to have to come and get you?" he demanded. Raven launched herself from the door after closing it and came to sit a safe distance on the bed from him. She would get through this just fine provided he did not touch her. Raven clentched her teeth tightly. The emotions were starting up again a little earlier then she had thought. Why had the feelings of love just drastically increased in a split second. It should have built up slowly. Raven realized after a second she was shaking slightly form the effort it took to keep it all inside.
"Raven are you alright?" Robin asked and began to move towards her. Raven's hand jerked up voilently to prevent Robin from doing to noble thing of helping her. His act of kindness would shatter her weak shield and with it distroy the friendship they had built. Raven knew Robin had no feelings for her and her blatant confessions would forever alter how he percieved her.
"I'm fine," Raven whispered. For a brief moment the bombardment seased and Raven could think peacefully again.
Robin was gazing at her with conecern.
"Really? From where I'm sitting you don't look fine." Robin shot back. Raven pondered her options. Robin was not going anywhere until her had some answers.
"We'll I'm an empath," she mumbled having no desire to let him in on her Valentine's day secret. Robin sighed in irritation when she did not continue. Raven knew he hated pulling teeth and that it was only because he knew her so well that he tolerated the diffculty she gave him. He would have been content with that answer if it had been anyone else. "Think about it Richard," she said hotly. Raven realized it a second too late that she had used his ture name. If he had noticed nothing on his face gave him away and his expression remained neutral.
"I am thinking, but I see no reason why your powers . . ." Robin declaired and left his sentence unfinished. Raven could tell his mind was suddenly comming up with nemerous reasons as to why Valentine's day could be horrific for an empath.
Glancing to the outside window Raven decided to tell him everything. "I can feel what they feel. All of thier love trying to force its way inside of me." Raven turned back to Robin in order to read his expression. She found nothing to interpret on his face.
"Why is that a bad thing? Isn't love a good?" he asked innocently.
How could he not get it? Raven thought he of all people knew her well enough to understand why it was wrong. Raven hated being forced to feel other people's feelings. Normally she could fend them off and place a barrier preventing her own feelings from becoming jumbled in the mix. To loose yourself to another's emotions and no longer have any idea what you yourself felt was a attack on your very being. And Valentine's day . . . there was no holding it off. No matter how hard she tried some of it always got through.
"How would you enjoy having someone else's feelings forced upon you?" she snapped at him. Silence filled the room as Robin contemplated her words and Raven regretted her harsh tone.
"If you can feel other people's love then does that mean you are in love yourself?" Robin inquired. Raven sat in horror at Robin's prying question. Then she cursed herself for having once told him that she could not empath any emotion she did not have. Standing, Raven took two long strides to the door.
"I need to be alone," she told him and pulled the door open. However, her statment was ignored because a moment later Raven felt strong arms wrap around her waist. Raven gasped out and her barrier cracked a little. Robin's lips hovered close to her ear and she could feel his warm breath on her neck. The smell of him infiltrated her very being and filled her mind with thoughts of him.
"Raven you arn't fooling anyone . . . especially not me. We have a bond remember? I'm tired of waiting for you to tell me what I already know; you love me. I can't wait any longer for you to realize that I love you too," Robin wispered in her ears. Then he gently pressed his lips to her neck and Raven let out a cry of pleasure. Her shield did not crumble and instead the love she had pushed back again the emotions of the outside world. Now Raven had a massive shiled encompassing her whole room with her and Robin trapped inside. Raven turned to Robin and crushed her body to his.
"Yes! I love you!" she pratically yelled before surrendering to the love she felt. Robin's breathing became ragged as she kissed his shoulder and worked her way up to his lips. Robin lifted Raven so that she was straddling his hips and his tongue wrestled with hers. Her hands tangled into his rich dark hair as they tumbled into her bed.
Raven lay next to Robin naked and panting slightly. They were both covered in sweat and satisfied grins were evident on both their faces. Raven tried to move off Robin, but he would not allow it and wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her neck.
"Happy Valentine's Day, and I love you," he declared while gazing into her eyes. Raven smiled still getting used to the idea that didn't merely see her as a friend.
"Happy Valentine's day to you too," she said and leaned up to kiss him on the lips. "and I love you too,"
This is a one shot so I hope you like it. I decided to do a V-day fic even though I personally hate the holiday. I'm happy it worked out for Raven though. I had to endure a bio test for my valentine's day. Well please review and feel free to ask questions if anything is unclear. Happy Vday.