Chapter Two

"BB, you are going down!" Cyborg's scream shook the couch, and popped all close by eardrums. Raven, looking up from her book gave a scowl, her eyebrows furrowed. Their battles on the flat screen, arguments over their controllers, were not uncommon. Robin and Starfire seemed to still be having a pleasant conversation in their own corner of the couch, leaning in to hear one another over the surround sound speakers. They were cozy, and comfortable. Everyone seemed so light in their auras, smiles on their faces. Raven though was slumped, and curled into herself. There was a tight constricting feeling in her chest. It made her look up at every time there was an even louder noise in this battle of being heard. Smaller, and smaller, became the space around her. Suffocating, and trapping her in a small box though the space between Raven and her friends, at the same time, started to feel farther apart. The space around her seeming tighter, darker… There was a sense of togetherness that was dissipating within her.

Never had her motions every seemed so sudden. With a quick jerk to her feet, Raven stood, with her book at hand, staring at her friends. As her self encouragement for time spent with friends retreated, so did she. Raven gravitated down the hall, letting the noise disappear behind her. In her room once more, with its dark hanging air, and empty atmosphere, the violet haired girl reasoned it was okay to escape, just this one time. In here Raven did not feel alone, for there was no one else, no group to label her other to make her feel on the outside. It hadn't been that long time since Raven had retreated to her room like this, it was just the other day where she dodged a group trip to the pizzeria in favor of the then secluded tower. Sighing to herself Raven wished she had as much courage as she did in the face of the criminals and villains than faced when it came to the life she had to lead.

Just when Raven was finally betraying herself, and giving up on the whole prospect of even trying to connect with the rest of the world anymore there was a assured knock on her door. Never one to let anyone in her room willingly, she went to the door and opened it. There she was met by a pair of masked eyes on a tall, slender frame.

"Yes?" Raven said, her voice calm, and keeping the sudden surprise of his appearance in her chest.

"You left really quietly, I didn't realize." The mask covered the emotions he held in his eyes, and Raven was unsure if her leaving was a sad event, or just a matter of fact.

"So?" Raven asked arching her brow

"I wanted to make sure you eat." Robin told her, staring into her face. He did not move away, taking up the space of the doorway. He only tilted his body for a moment to allow her to go first. She watched him carefully as she stepped out, and walked toward the kitchen.
"You didn't have to come get me, you can eat without me."
"I know."

It was a rare occurrence for the team to eat together, so Raven was surprised that Robin had come to get her to join them. However, when they got to the living room the sight that greeted them was a lot more common place. All across the floor were disgusting, spilling plastic wrappers, sauce covered plates abandoned on the table, and barbecue covered teammates cheering, and causing mayhem. Cyborg and Beast Boy had apparently grabbed their wings, and went right back to their game, the bones jerkily sticking out of their mouths. Starfire was calling out the names she had given to each of their characters, one of them dubbed "Charles," and though it wasn't really certain which one that was, she was cheering for their victory anyways.

Raven and Robin looked at one another, her eyes a dark glint in her eyes, sarcastic. The look on his face was not one that was unsimilar. In fact, the look they were sharing was something the two of them often understood with one another; who understood the craziness of their friends, and could look at one another, and say everything they're thinking in that single look. Shrugging Robin just led her over to the kitchen, ignoring the mess around him. Raven stepped over the crumbs, and garbage, following him, only looking up when Robin holds out her plate in front of her. There was no hint of emotion on his face that gave him away from behind his mask, so she took it without a word. Once more he walked away, stopping to look at her. "Come on, Raven."

It wasn't such an odd thing, with Robin being the team leader, to be following him. But Raven was always the one to question him, made him explain himself when she was unsure. It's was what pushed the team forward. The first and second in command, Robin and Raven, were what kept the team running like a well oiled machine. But this wasn't a mission, this wasn't a battle. This was their everyday lives.

When Raven found where they ended up it was not where she would have expected. The walls were covered in articles, and security camera pictures. Notes were thumb tacked on to several places. She had only been here a number of times, Robin's room looked like he did not live here, but worked here. He had set his plate at his overcrowded table before going over to his bed and brushing everything off. Papers fluttered, weapons discarded, and clunking to the floor. "you can sit here, Raven." Robin said, gesturing to the spot he cleared for her before sitting down in a chair not too far away. Raven ate quietly, glancing up at Robin every now and then. Neither of them spoke, the atmosphere much like their mornings.

When he wasn't looking Robin's face was in the shadows of the light, and Raven was almost sure that his spikes were becoming longer than she remembered in her mind. Thinking back to the day they all banded together as a team, Raven could now spot the differences between him from then to now. He was definitely taller than her, where he once only met her height by the match of his hair. Now Raven realized she had begun to look slightly higher to find his hidden eyes. He was leaner, the muscles under his suit more defined than they were when he was, really, just a boy. The differences were not all good, though. She could see the paleness of his face, the restless wake of urgency in his actions. He looked as if he did not sleep much, moved as if he must attend to something at every moment. Robin, when had they all stopped paying attention? Knowing did not make Raven feel better, it made her scared. He was not someone who liked to share about himself. Of them all, it was his story that they did not know- or rather his story she should not know.

When Raven stood with her plate when she was done, ready to leave. "Raven?" She looked at Robin, her eyes meeting the whites of his mask. "You can join me for dinner whenever you want, you know. You don't have to hide away." Surprise was stuck in her throat, and she tried not to show it. With a simple hum, and a rush to escape she dumped her plate into the sink.

"Friend Raven, your face is kind of pink." Starfire said, as she poking Raven's cheek.

"Don't touch." she said bluntly, before retreating to the couch.

"Hey, Rae, why don't you play with us?" Beast Boy hollered as he tossed a controller at her. He gave her a wide, snaggletooth grin, and a nod to the screen. The yelling didn't seem so bad anymore, and the pair of eyes in the doorway were as relaxed as his smile. Robin shared a knowing look of courage, before going back to his room his shoulder slumped like mountains.