I know, reading the years is boring. You can skip over it but, it gives a bit of a reference point.

I wanted to put the situation in terms of an AU. Don't worry it's not going to suck. You may not like the style, of course, but the story itself doesn't suck.

Disclaimer: Insert Classic Writeoff Here.

And its AU school time.

Ages and Years:

Robin-sixteen/sophomore

Raven-sixteen/sophomore

Victor-seventeen/junior

BB- fifteen/sophomore

Roy-seventeen/junior

Flash-sixteen/sophomore

Terra-fifteen/freshman

Kori-fifteen/freshman

Garth-seventeen/junior

Robin knew from the way that Raven walked out of her house that it was another bad day. There was the way that her head faced downwards as she let the door swing shut after her and the brisk steps that betrayed her mood.

"Hey," he said anyway.

"Hey," she answered back tightly and began moving forward without waiting to make sure that he was following.

Robin had learned years ago how to not be frightened of her moods. "It's your dad?"

She sighed and he could tell that she was debating whether or not she wanted to talk about it. He was the only one that she'd open up to. "We're out of things for him to drink," she finally said.

"Did he hurt you?" Robin asked automatically. Raven's father never had, but Robin couldn't trust him.

"No," she said as her pace picked up a bit. "But we no longer have dishes, or photos on the walls. When I left he was digging through all of the clothing."

Robin reached out and touched her arm and immediately their pace slowed, but she still didn't look at him. "Do you need to stay over for awhile?"

"Who would take care of Arella?" Raven asked, without answering. "She'll never leave."

"Arella is grown woman," Robin said. "She should be taking care of you."

"She's no match for him," Raven stated flatly.

Neither are you, Robin thought.

Raven's pace slowed even more as their high school came into view. She wasn't prepared to see everyone, not when she was feeling like this. She just wanted to turn and run, though she had nowhere to go. Robin glanced sideways at her and then caught her hand in his own, feeling the spark that he always did.

"It gets better, remember?" he said and then pulled her along.

Raven pulled her hand away once they were nearing the steps into school and it took a moment for Robin to see why. Garth was up ahead.

Garth was a year ahead of them in school and was a star athlete though his sport of choice wasn't flashy. He was a swimmer and a national honor student and everyone knew that he was going to get his doctorate in marine biology someday. Basically the guy was perfect.

Garth and Raven had dated the year before for four months. It had made Robin so uncomfortable because suddenly he was the odd one out. He would walk with Raven like usual and then Garth would come out of nowhere and throw an arm around her and steer her away. And her weekend plans always involved Garth, and she would rarely ever show up at Robin's home anymore.

But then they broke up.

He was awake and at his computer despite the ungodly hour when he heard the knock at his window. He automatically knew that it was her and he opened the window and helped her in. It had been weeks since her last late night visit and somehow he knew that something was off.

She collapsed right inside of the window, cross-legged with her back against the wall. "Is it your father? Or Arella?" he asked while kneeling down beside her.

Raven opened her big eyes and looked at him without a trace of tears in her eyes. She never cried, the worse her pain the harder she became. "It's over between Garth and I," she said.

Robin was taken aback and resisted the sudden urge to pull her towards him in an embrace. He was getting his best friend back again. But he didn't say it, she was upset, that's why she came to him. "He broke up with you?" Robin asked needlessly.

"No. I broke up with him."

Robin felt a strange feeling in his chest but ignored it. "You broke up with him? Why? Did the idiot do anything?"

They were both so used to Robin's strong protectiveness that neither found it strange in the least.

"I don't know why I broke up with him," Raven said disjointedly. "Nothing was wrong."

Robin moved so that they sat side-by-side. "Were you happy?" he asked after a moment.

"I was the same as usual," she answered.

Robin felt a sense of vindication. "Maybe it was just too much work."

"Then that means I'm my father. I can't be bothered to love anyone."

It was fairly common knowledge that Raven wouldn't mind having a second go at a relationship with Garth. The only person who didn't seem to pick up on that was Garth himself.

Roy Harper enjoyed his friends. More specifically he really, really enjoyed watching them when they were doing things of a stupid nature. And Robin was really good at doing stupid things. Especially when it came to Raven. As they sat at the lunch table he watched Robin's face with amusement, Raven was across the room still and Robin kept glancing up with that expression in his eyes. It was so freaking obvious to everyone except for the two 'lovebirds' how much Rob loved her. And, just like one should expect, Robin was in the deepest pit of denial that had ever been dug.

"You need to get her now," Roy said, shaking Robin out of his dark stare. "Girls like Rae don't stay single for long."

He had a point there. Raven was considered one of the beauties of the school. She wore her black hair soft and short and messy and it contrasted perfectly with her perfect, pale skin. But the most striking of her features were her eyes. Enormous and an impossible shade of amethyst, with lashes so long and black that they'd never felt the kiss of mascara. She never wore makeup and never needed it. Combined with her skinny frame Raven looked alternative.

"What are you talking about?" Robin asked forcefully.

"Garth wants her back," Roy said bluntly. "Johnny would like to have a try. And if you don't hurry the hell up, I'll take her."

Robin was torn between two fierce desires: One was to deny any such feelings, the other was to find and thoroughly beat Garth, Johnny, and Roy.

"I bet you she likes you too, and just hasn't…realized it yet," broke in the cheerful voice of Flash.

Where the hell had he come from? "Don't you know better than to listen in on others' conversations?" Robin snapped.

"I guess not," he replied undaunted before digging into his pile of food.

"I have no idea how you can eat that much," another voice suddenly broke in and the unexpected Raven sat beside Roy and across from Flash.

"Cross country sprinter," Flash said after swallowing a huge gulp. "I burn twelve-thousand calories a day."

"Yeah, but where do you hold it all? I understand if you do it a bit at a time, but all at once?" Raven said as she reached across the table and picked a few fries to munch on.

Flash just grinned at her.

"Hey everyone," Garth said as flopped into the seat next to Raven and smiled broadly.

Roy glanced at Robin before greeting Garth. Flash choked on his food and had a coughing fit that lasted two full minutes before Robin finally hit his back.

"Are you okay?" Garth asked a bit uncertainly.

"Oh, I'm fine," Flash wheezed. "No big deal."

"Hey Robbie!" a high voice attacked just before Kitten herself landed on the seat next to Robin and leaned in close to him. "I was looking for you!"

"Wow this day just gets worse and worse for you," Flash nudged Robin quietly.

Roy grinned.

"Robbie, you're coming to the party I'm throwing this Saturday, aren't you?" Kitten demanded. "My father promised that he'd stay away and we're going to have lots to drink."

"Hmm," Robin non-replied.

"Raven, listen," Garth began, but he was cut off by the arrival of BB.

"Guess who just got an A++ on his biology exam?" the boy sang.

Raven raised an eyebrow. "A++ is not a real grade, BB."

"Guess who just got an A+ on his biology exam?" BB continued serenely.

"Nicely done," Flash said.

BB sprang into the seat beside Garth. "Hey Garth. What are you doing here? Don't you usually go sit with the super popular people?"

Raven sighed. Garth raised his hands. "Don't worry, I'll just ask my question and leave," he said and then turned to Raven. "I wanted to know if you wanted to go eat at that new restaurant Starkers on Saturday, my treat," he said smoothly.

Roy felt Robin go rigid beside him. Raven bit her lip. "Sorry, but I have plans with Rob-"

"Forget about them," Robin said suddenly. "I can't go."

An uncomfortable silence rested on the table while Raven's eyes locked with Robin's carelessly defiant expression. For once he couldn't read her eyes. Roy sighed aloud.

"Starkers sounds good," Raven said finally, turning back to Garth.

"Should I pick you up at six?" he asked.

"No. I'll meet you there."

To anyone who didn't know her it sounded like she was trying to make it less intimate. But she never let anyone in her home and she had no phone. Meeting was the only option.

"Good enough," he smiled and then turned to BB, "I'll head back to my table then I guess."

Raven didn't even notice his leaving, she was still staring at Robin who was now looking down at his food. "What plans do you have this Saturday?" she asked.

"I," he tried to think quickly, "am going to Kitten's party. It sounds like a good time."

Roy's sigh was even louder this time. BB's expression was of extreme confusion. Flash was looking anywhere but up. Kitten squealed. "I knew you'd want to come, I've had you pegged as a partier," she threw her arms around him. "Obviously the rest of you are invited as well. Rae-Rae if you would bring Garth by after your date that would be wonderful."

With that she stood and flounced off to her gaggle of giggling friends. Raven was still staring at Robin. "You decided to go just now?" she asked in an even tone, her eyes narrowed but slightly confused.

"You don't have a monopoly on my time," Robin bit in. "I should be able to decide to go and do fun things when I want."

There was complete silence for a moment before Raven spoke again. "I'll keep that in mind," she said coolly as she stood and walked away.

"Dude, you think Kitten's stupid drinking parties are fun?" BB asked with disgust before getting up to leave as well.

"God, you're an idiot," Roy said as he looked skyward.

"I can do whatever I want!" Robin said acidly.

"Though you've managed to confuse what you want with being an idiot," Roy continued without missing a beat.

"Is that all she eats?" Flash said watching Raven's retreating figure become engulfed within the crowds.

"Nah, I think she brings stuff too," Roy said.

Robin knew that Raven had no money and no food at home. Usually she would just swipe some things from Robin's own meal.

"Are you really going to Kitten's party?" Flash asked.

Robin shrugged. "I said I would."

"Saying you will doesn't mean anything apparently," Roy said without bite, letting the words hit on their own.

"Shut your fucking mouth," Robin said snapping.

"I can't eat if I do that," Roy said and gathered his things and left.

Flash looked a bit uncomfortable. "I don't think that this is really a good time to talk with you," he said before getting up and fleeing as well.

Her father was thankfully out of the house, he was off on one of his deals which, if successful, would pay for another six months of their miserable lives. Her father was an alcoholic but mainly by the quantitative definitions. Alcohol wasn't ruining his functioning, had the drink been out of his life he still would have been a beastly tyrant in their household. In a way the alcohol was a good thing, it dulled his vicious temper.

Arella refused to acknowledge her husband's 'deals'. She had decided to handle it as though it were simply something that happened as naturally as the seasons. Raven knew better than to say anything, but she was fully aware of the fact that her father peddled in stolen weapons, pulling off massive underground movement that allowed for redistribution with a completely erased history. She wished that he would get caught. It didn't matter to Raven that they would lose the income, she didn't care if the house went, if they had to move into a shelter, she just wanted him gone. And she knew that Arella would never leave him.

As it was Raven and Arella were spending the pleasantness of the open house together. Both were lounging in Arella and Trigon's bedroom. It would have been a lovely room if not for the scars of destruction that dotted every surface in ripped and cracked wood, stains of vomit and booze on the carpet, the obviously bare walls where pictures had once hung. The room had the now almost completely non-existent signs of having been decorated, but there was little prettiness left.

But Arella lay backwards across the mattress one of Raven's textbooks in hands. Arella had a hunger for books, she was especially taken with sciences and astrology of all varieties and she read Raven's schoolbooks shamelessly. Raven herself was working comfortably on homework. One of the important aspects of school to her was to stay out of trouble. They had no phone and she absolutely could not risk have someone visit her home. Every dismal room held sincere evidence of violent rage and she would be taken out of her home and Arella would be left with Trigon. Raven didn't kid herself. She and Robin both knew that there was some strange unknown reason why Trigon hadn't hurt her or her mother, but at some point he would snap and he would terribly hurt one of them.

Raven could tell that Robin knew Trigon was close to the edge, but she did her best to keep him from knowing just how close. Trigon had hurt her on only a few occasions, when the alcohol was gone, his temper was high, and Raven had been defending Arella. But the pain was never terrible and it had always been somewhat unintentional, he would grab her arms too hard and shove her away, sometimes making her fall or hit things. He had never actively hit her and the bruises were always easily covered. But Robin would make her leave if he knew that there had even been one bruise. So she didn't let him near. Trigon and Robin hadn't been in the same room for years now, they would still see each other occasionally as Robin would wait for Raven in the mornings or say goodbye after school.

Trigon actually liked Robin. He was tickled that his daughter was best friends with the son of the city's richest citizen. He clearly wanted Raven to get something from Robin eventually, he didn't care how, but he would have been pleased with some sort of return on the investment. It made Raven angry. Robin already paid for a lot of Raven's needs, it had been going on for so long and so casually that Raven was mostly able to push away her unease at letting him pay.

Most of the time he wouldn't even make it clear that he was doing anything for her at all. Every meal at school he would simply buy a ridiculous quantity and they both ignored the fact that she would eat half of it. Or if he decided that she needed to see a movie he would simply prepay for the tickets under the claim that the tickets were selling fast and that it was the only way. And he would always wait until the previews had started before claiming to be hungry and would buy food 'for himself.' It was gallant of him really, he went to such lengths to try to help her out without making it blatantly obvious that that was what he was doing.

Money was always an issue. Trigon would bring back money from the deals and with it he would pay the mortgage for several months and then send credit to the utilities with the instructions to shut them off once they had reached the limit. And then the rest went to the booze. He would spend as he went along, taking some money out of his account to buy some and then he would just drink himself into oblivion. Occasionally he would get hungry and wouldn't be willing to head off to the bar to eat by himself and he would give Arella a ten and tell her to get him something good. Raven would promptly go off and spend it to get as much as she could from it and then she and her mother would eat carefully.

Years ago Raven had begun stealing from him. It was dangerous and Arella openly refused to do it. He knew how much money he had in the bank and how much he brought home and it would have been suicidal to even touch it so instead Raven would head into his pockets at night to take what was left of the twenties he would head out with. She had to be careful to work only occasionally and to never take it all, but they needed it to get through the months.

Robin hated the way that Raven had to live. There was a secret part of him that just wanted Arella to die so that there would be nothing left to hold Raven to that place. He wanted her to move in with him so that she could finally stop worrying about taking care of…everything.

She was in many different activities at their school, various clubs, groups, and teams. She did whatever she could to take her out of her home as much as possible she always arrived early and stayed late but she had yet to go on a single meet or trip away from the school. She made various excuses to others but she always told him the truth. It was too dangerous for her to leave Arella alone for too long, her father might get into a rage and she needed to be nearby to diffuse him.

God he hated her mother. He didn't want to even call her that. Arella was the one that was supposed to care for Raven, she should have been the one to take them out of that home years ago. He wished so much that Arella had left Trigon when Raven was a baby so that Raven would never have had to deal with that wretch, it made her harsh and cold. Not all of the time and he was thankful for that fact that he was allowed close to her, he had known her for far too long and she didn't try to hide anything from him. Not too much anyway.

He wanted to help out more. He did his best to take her out (just to keep her spirits up of course. And because he enjoyed her company of course, it's what friends did after all) and heaven knows he did his best with the food. She was so damn skinny. Raven had grown up without ever coming up with major eating habits due to the lack of food within her home but Robin noticed that at times she would lose weight. Skinny to the point of ugliness, where the small sizes that she wore were too loose and he would do his best to mask the terrible worry and force more food on her.

She rarely asked for help, it hurt her pride in herself as a person. And it only served to heighten his anger against her increasingly-damaging parents. He was the one that was helping to keep her alive, not them.

Robin still vividly remembered his trip to Italy that he was given for his sixteenth birthday. He had been gone for three weeks and it wasn't until his second day back that he noticed how desperately thin Raven had become. It shocked him that no one else had seen it and it angered him that no one had bothered to step in. He had immediately begun his practice of having extra food but on his third night back there was a knock at the window and it was a very ashamed Raven who stood beyond it.

He had taken in her exhausted, defeated expression and posture for a moment before she collapsed on his floor. He, of course, panicked and carefully carried her to his bed before running and getting some food. He spent the better part of an hour helping feed her before she finally lay back, completely exhausted and fainted into a light, troubled sleep. He had lain next to her all night warming one of her hands between his warmer one while she shivered throughout. At daybreak she woke and tried to leave but he forcibly stopped her and carried her back to bed. He brought her more food and then he stayed with her until she fell asleep. And then she fell deeply and endlessly asleep, sleeping like she hadn't slept in years.

One of the things that he was determined to change was Raven's attitude about her future. She had straight A's, she was a perfect student, and she was wickedly intelligent but she had no plans to go off to college. She had tried to tell him that it was the money issue but they both knew that wasn't true. There were scholarships for everyone and she could get a full-ride to just about anywhere. The truth was that she wasn't willing to leave her mother and she was willing to throw her future away for that.

It made Robin furious.

But the thing that was the very worst for him was the fear that he always felt for her. He was able to at least take comfort in the fact that Trigon had never physically hurt Raven, but he couldn't shake the feeling that at some point he was going to hurt her. And if he did then Robin would kill him.

Review Please. Honestly, if no one is interested then I won't post anymore. No reason to bother you.