Robin ran through the dimly lit corridors of the Brotherhood of Evil's secret lair. The corridors twisted and turned, leading up and down like a maze in an abstract painting. He had been running for a long time, but every door he opened only led to an empty room. He was lost, but he pressed on.
Eventually, Robin opened a door and it led to a large square room, where he saw the Brain standing on a raised platform, the design of his body making it look as though he were glaring down at Robin. "Brain! This ends here!"
"On the contrary. Look behind you." Even though his voice was robotic, it still had an edge to it, as though the Brain was mocking him.
Robin turned around, eyes widening in shock. Cyborg, Beastboy, Raven, and Starfire were frozen in ice on a walkway about 50 feet above them. There were other Titans too, all frozen with a look of fear or anger on their faces as they glared at an enemy they couldn't fight back against.
"No…" Robin stepped back, and he cried out as Monsieur Mallah grabbed him from behind, pinning his arms to the side.
"You have failed. Just like all the others, you have been unable to stop me. Now, watch as everything you stand for falls." A large screen appeared beneath the frozen Titans, and Robin saw that cities were being burned and looted, police officers were lying dead in the street, and innocent people were crying out for the Titans to come and save them. "They will not be receiving any help from you, or your friends, any more."
The walkway shifted, and Robin watched as his friends plummeted towards the ground.
"NO!" Robin shot up in bed, his hand outstretched as he awoke from his nightmare. He could still hear the sound of ice shattering against the floor, and his breathing was heavy and uneven. "It was only a dream. It was only a dream…" He muttered to himself. He took several deep breaths, then pushed the covers off of himself and sat on the side of his bed.
He wiped the sweat from his forehead, and sighed. It had been two months since the Teen Titans had faced and defeated the Brotherhood of Evil, and there weren't any signs of their foes having escaped from their frozen prisons. Still, Robin wasn't sure things would stay peaceful for long; it seemed any criminal they had managed to stop would be up and kicking in no time.
He heard a shift, like wind against the trees, and looked over to his left. Raven emerged from a shadow portal on the wall, her hands balled into fists and surrounded by black energy. "Robin, what's going on?" She took in the surroundings, but nothing was amiss.
"Nothing. I just had a bad dream, that's all." He told her.
"Just a bad dream?" Raven asked, and received a nod. She lowered her hands and dismissed her powers. "It must've been awful; I could feel your fear all the way in my room." She walked over and sat down next to him, but he kept his gaze on the floor.
"Sorry. I didn't mean to wake you up." Robin forgot that the bond between them meant that his emotions would often project to her without his consent. He had calmed down, and looked over at her. "I'm fine now." She didn't say anything, just raised an eyebrow at him. "What?" He asked.
"You're still upset Robin, I can feel it. Do you wanna talk about it?" Raven asked. She wasn't sure what she could do to help, but Raven didn't want to just leave him when he was troubled. He took a deep breath, held it, then let it out.
"It was the Brain. He had you and Cyborg and everyone, all frozen in ice and suspended in the air. Then he dropped you." He told her. Robin looked towards the ceiling. "He'd won. There wasn't anything I could do." He closed his eyes.
Raven put a hand on his shoulder, and he turned toward her. She wanted to tell him It's over we've won, but she knew it wouldn't do much. Raven knew that Robin had trouble getting over villains defeats, no matter how absolute their victory was. She leaned forward and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him into a hug. Reassuring him that she and everyone else was alive and not in pieces on the ground would do better than telling him something he already knew.
Raven wasn't really a hugger, but she was comfortable enough with Robin that she didn't mind doing so on occasion. He wrapped his arms around her, and the two stayed in that position for a few minutes.
Raven slowly felt him relax as small, subtle amounts of tension left his body as time went on. As he calmed down, Raven checked his emotions and was satisfied when she couldn't sense any fear or worry, nor any other negative emotion. She unlinked her arms and pulled back.
Robin smiled at her. "Thanks for being here."
She stood and nodded, giving a small smile of her own. "Anytime. Goodnight." She opened the door to the hallway, walking back to her room.
Robin closed the door behind her, then lay back down in his bed. He stared at the ceiling. His nightmare had given him an adrenaline rush, and even though Raven had helped him calm back down he wasn't so keen on going back to sleep.
He turned towards the clock and saw that it was a little bit before 3 a.m. and was glad that no one had made any early morning plans for today. Changing his alarm to 9 instead of 6, Robin decided to sleep in a little later today. Hopefully, no villains would wake him up. They'd regret fighting him when was running on fumes.
Robin shivered, and pulled the covers back up to torso. His mind inadvertently wandered to Raven. It hadn't escaped his notice that she was very warm when she had given him that hug. 'I wish she was still here.'
Robin turned to lay on his side, and fell asleep a few minutes later.
~Warmth~
Robin awoke after his alarm started beeping, standing up and stretching. Fortunately, there hadn't been any more bad dreams, and he awoke well rested. Grabbing clean clothes, he headed to the shower and got ready for the day. After he returned to his room and threw his dirty clothes in the hamper, Robin headed out to the common in the interest of making breakfast.
He walked through the door and saw Raven, who was sitting at the tables across from the kitchen. "Morning!" He called out. She was reading, but looked and nodded at him before returning to her novel. He opened the fridge and pulled out some eggs and bacon, and began cooking. He looked over to Raven and called out, "Do you want me to make some for you?"
She looked up and pursed her lips. After a moment she said yes, and Robin cracked a few extra eggs open and laid some more bacon in the pan beside it. Turning the bacon over, he let it cook and turned the burner beneath the eggs off. He grabbed a glass out of the cabinet and poured himself some milk. Returning to the bacon, he waited for it to get nice and crispy (which didn't take long) and made a plate for himself and Raven.
He carried it over to her and sat down at the table beside hers. She thanked him and ate with one hand while holding the book up with the other. "Where are the others?" He asked her after he finished his plate. She was only about halfway done with hers.
"Still sleeping." He nodded, and walked to the couch to start watching T.V. to pass time before he went down to the training room. He heard some shuffling, and a moment later Raven sat down next to him. He turned to face her, and started to get worried when he saw a smirk on her face.
She leaned forward, and Robin fell backwards when he ran out of room to back away. "Raven?" He asked. "What are you doing?" She crawled on top of him, straddling his hips. She leaned down next to him, her face an inch from his.
"I thought you wouldn't mind. Didn't you say last night that you wanted me with you?" Her voice was low, and Robin shuddered when her breath tickled his lips.
"I thought it. How did you…" He trailed off when he remembered the bond between them. Cursing, he realized his last thought before going to bed had been heard by Raven.
"You should learn to guard your mind better, Boy Blunder. Especially when you're thinking about me." Her gaze flicked between the eyes hidden behind his mask.
Robin sat up, forcing Raven to do so as well. However, she didn't move away from him. She rested her head on his shoulder and wrapped her arms around him. "So you… want to be close to me?" Robin asked her as he moved his arms to hold her after a moment's hesitation.
"I do. I don't mind, as long as it's you." Raven told him. Robin smiled, then turned on the T.V. and started looking for something to watch.
It wouldn't matter what he picked, because his mind would be on Raven anyways.
~Warmth~
A/N
Expect a mundane moment sometime this week! Sorry it hasn't been updated in a while, I've just a had a couple of other fics in my head that I wanted to start on before I forgot about them.