It seemed to take a million years before night finally fell. When it did, Raven felt somewhat… better. As a demoness, she loved the dark, simply because the dark brought peace and a chilling tranquillity which she enjoyed very much. Of course, night was also the time when she got dreams, which were quite annoying sometimes.
And ever since that Robin-going-OCD-thing on Slade a few years back, her dreams had become pretty crazy. Even before this incident, of course.
Robin's head was rather funny. It worked in wild, over-the-top ways, so the dreams it managed to conjure up were usually made up of a mess of things the leader liked to preoccupy himself with.
Oh boy, he loved to preoccupy himself with a lot of things.
Robin could dream about fighting ten villains at one go and eating a huge pizza at the same time. And then suddenly Slade would come prancing into the dream with pizzas on both hands, dressed like a delivery boy. And then they would be fighting again, pizzas thrown aside and forgotten.
Sometimes she saw the titans in his dream too. Those entertained her – sometimes – because Robin could actually dream up ridiculous things like Beast Boy eating meat and Cyborg going vegan.
She particularly hated the ones which involved her wearing pink though. Why the hell would he even dream of such a thing? Sick, perverse man.
Raven shook her head and glared at the walls of Robin's room, now – finally – alone. Robin had headed to her room even though she had strongly protested against that. It was her room. She had loads of private things in there. She didn't want him poking his nose through her stuff, especially her books. And her mirror. Raven cringed as she remembered what Cyborg and Beast Boy had gotten themselves into after messing around with that. While she trusted Robin more than the other two idiots, she knew what Robin was capable of if he got hold of her inner secrets. Cyborg was enough proof of that.
However, Robin had just responded to her protests with, "So you want Cyborg to come around thinking that I spend the nights in your room on a daily basis? Or would you like to stick to my original suggestion of rooming together? I mean, it's really up to you."
She had absolutely no answer to that.
Therefore, she gritted her teeth and allowed him permission to use her room for a limited amount of time only, to which he just smirked and walked off without a word.
He could be such a bastard sometimes. No, not sometimes. All the time.
So that was how she found herself sitting on Robin's bed, glaring at the pillow as if it had done something wrong.
Of course it had done something wrong. It was Robin's pillow.
Taking a deep breath, she crossed her legs and prepared to meditate. Who said being in a different body didn't allow you to meditate? Of course you could. She was going to meditate if she damn well felt like it.
Oh, that's right. She's going to have to teach Robin how to meditate. If he ever dared to destroy her room by mistake, she's going to jump off a cliff and let Robin's body plummet to its horrible death. Smiling sadistically at the thought, she closed her eyes and waited for the inner peace to come.
It didn't. She didn't know if it was because she was in this human body, but she just couldn't seem to concentrate. She couldn't seem to focus on achieving the inner peace because there were so many things crowding her mind. Cursing inwardly, she swung her legs over the bed and sighed. Being in Robin's body was bad enough, but this? She couldn't even meditate! Stupid Robin and his stupid body, and just to add on to that his stupid pillow was annoying the crap out of her because it was so ridiculously hard. Who the hell sleeps on a rock all night? Oh right. Robin.
Muttering exasperatedly, she flopped onto the bed and pulled the blankets up to her chin. They smelled like… cologne. Raven raised an eyebrow. This was weird. She expected Robin to be the type who never took care of himself (since he loved to beat himself up in the gym, the crazy man), so she kind of expected his bed to reek of manly sweat. But she was actually smelling cologne right now.
Raven felt slightly uncomfortable. From all her experience with males (i.e. Cyborg, Beast Boy and uh, Trigon), this was actually the first time she found a guy who made the effort to smell nice. Now why hadn't she noticed this before? Why did he, of all people, actually smell good?
There were only two answers to that. Either Robin was a playboy out to impress girls, or he was gay.
Raven was inclined to think the latter. He never did particularly impress her.
With these thoughts in mind, Raven found herself drifting into sleep faster than she ever had in a long time.
That night, Raven dreamt of unicorns and rainbow-coloured mushrooms. Pixies were dancing around the mushrooms and eating lollipops as they danced.
Nah, as if. That was most probably Starfire's dream.
In truth, Raven dreamt of something much, much worse. She was embarrassed to even dream it in the first place. It actually managed to beat all the other nightmares involving Trigon.
In her dream, she saw Robin wearing her bra.
It was mind-numbing-ly horrifying and crazy. She opened her mouth to say something, but nothing came out. She was much too revolted to even speak. And as he turned around, she gasped in astonishment as he slowly peeled off his mask to reveal…
Violet eyes. Her eyes.
Backing up in horror, Raven watched as he gave her his signature smirk and raised a hand towards her. She tried summoning her powers to stop him, but when she did, the black aura appeared around him instead, and now he was gliding towards her, smirking all the while…
With a gasp, Raven shot up, beads of sweat dotting her forehead. She clutched her head quickly and shook it, willing those horrible thoughts out of her head. Her fingers lightly brushed against the mask plastered on her face, and she froze.
What if… she removed the mask to see his eyes? He wouldn't know, right? He was in her room, after all. And if he was going to go around snooping, she might as well do a bit of research of her own.
Holding down her curiosity, Raven got out of bed and walked towards the mirror, her fingers slowly pulling off the mask on her face. Just a little more, and then…
"Don't touch my mask."
Raven jumped, whirling around to see Robin sitting forlornly on a chair in the other corner of the room, his violet eyes glaring at her with a burning intensity that she never knew she was capable of. With a stretch of his arm, Robin flicked the light switch right next to him, flooding the room with light.
Raven blinked, allowing her eyes to get accustomed to the sudden influx of brightness in the room. "Robin?" She immediately pushed down the guilty feeling that was rising up her chest. "What the hell are you doing here?"
"I should be asking you what the hell were you doing."
She paused. "It's not much of your – "
"Business? Damn right it is. It's my body, and my eyes."
"Not for now, it isn't."
Robin sighed exasperatedly and ran a hand through his hair. Raven raised an eyebrow questioningly. The leader seemed to be struggling with himself, which was very unlike him. She attributed it to the difficulty of controlling her powers.
She decided to prod him further. "So what are you doing here? You came to check up on me and make sure I kept your precious eyes a secret?"
"Of course not," Robin snapped immediately. Glaring at her once more, he pointed a finger at her accusingly. "You. Stop dreaming of me."
Raven gave a start. "How…?" And then it came to her. He had attained her powers. Even though there was a body switch, the bond between the both of them was still there. Her body could still read his body's dreams.
And now he was feeling the effects of it.
Raven dealt with the situation in the best way she knew how. "Deal with it," she said monotonously, folding her arms together.
She watched in satisfaction as the leader shot her another glare. But if there was one thing the leader was good at, it was bursting her momentary bubbles. "When you are dreaming of me? In your b – undergarments?"
Raven blushed a little, but fought it down. "You were probably dreaming of it yourself. Stop pinning the blame on me."
Robin's face relaxed and the smirk returned. "Don't give me that bullshit. I can tell when the dreams aren't mine, just like how you could tell the same when you still had your own body."
She blushed even harder, and she felt blood rushing into her cheeks. Damn it, why did humans have so much blood? "Fine. Okay. I admit I saw you in my, um, clothes. Happy? Now can you go back to sleep so that I can – "
"I can't do that. You molest me, then you dream perverted things about me, and now you expect me to sleep?"
"How was anything I dreamt perverted – " Raven stopped herself. "And when are you going to stop the whole molestation thing? For the last time, I didn't – "
"I'm not taking the risk. I sure as hell can't sleep. I bet you can't too."
"What makes you think I can't sleep?"
"Oh, so dreaming of me makes you sleep. Aren't I the sweet lullaby."
"Excuse me while I go somewhere to empty the contents of your stomach."
"You are not puking with my face."
"You sound really childish."
"We're the Teen Titans, not the Adult Titans." Robin paused. "Fancy a drink?"
Raven rolled her eyes at the irony in his statement. "So I'm assuming your 'drink' means orange juice? Sorry, I'm the tea kind of person."
Robin shook his head. "If we are going to force ourselves to sleep again, I think we need to lay off the caffeine."
"Sleeping pills?"
"They don't work. On my body, at the very least. You'll get used to the insomnia soon."
"So what now?"
"We use our last resort." Robin smirked again and walked over to the cupboard, where he retrieved two cans of beer. Holding it up, he affixed Raven with a steady gaze. "The perfect cure to insomnia."
Whatever happened next went past in a blur. Neither Robin nor Raven could remember what actually went on, maybe because what started off as a simple drink became an addictive drinking fest. Raven wasn't a drinker; that was universal knowledge, but the desperation to force herself back to sleep so as to escape from the horrors of reality broke her resolve. She knew Robin himself wasn't a drinker, since he was always so upright and all, so it surprised her when she found he did actually own some alcohol.
But she was going to conveniently forget the fact that those were most probably confiscated from Cyborg.
Whatever the case was, both parties were so new to the whole drinking thing that it was no surprise that they fell entirely drunk nearly immediately after they started.
Since Robin refused to allow any drinking in his own room ("I'm not as liberal as BB"), the two had decided to head to the roof. It was the most peaceful place in the whole Tower, and the chances of anyone else being there was close to zero.
Or so they thought.
An hour after they started, Beast Boy decided that a trip to the roof top was necessary because he wanted to hold a general meeting with his fellow birds.
It wasn't that hard to lead the birds, actually. Being the only green bird in existence in Jump City, the birds naturally thought he was a leader sent from bird heaven, a messenger of salvation for the much under-appreciated species. Beast Boy had granted them loads of things; new nests, more trees, fatter worms, fewer bird-killing humans, revenge of the chickens… But he had never really done anything about it.
But the birds being peanut-brained still believed. Faith kept them together.
And so the self-claimed prophet held monthly meetings at the roof top so that he could bore himself out with the complaining chirps of the birds just so that he could gain their loyalty. You never know when a bird army might come in handy.
The first thing Beast Boy heard was a loud cackle from the roof top. What the… a witch?
The green changeling held his breath, careful not to make any more noise with his footsteps. There was a witch on the top floor. He had to kill her before the others came. This was his time to shine. Then he will be exalted, and Raven or Starfire would kiss him on the cheek.
The thought was simply irresistible. Smiling grimly, he inched up ever so slowly, his arms held tautly at his sides, ready to transform into a fierce dinos –
Until two of the most unexpected people came into sight. With the most unexpected behaviour.
Raven was the source of the creepy cackling, her back against a nearby wall, her legs spread out before her. Her face was flushed, and she was pointing at Robin as if something was wrong with him.
And Robin. The said leader was sitting down too, not laughing, just staring solemnly at the ground.
Okay, this was the weirdest thing Beast Boy had ever seen.
Walking forward, he prodded Robin with one wary foot. "Oi." Prod. Prod. Poke. "Oi."
Robin turned his head upwards and glared at Beast Boy through his mask. It was a while before he said something. "Yes, prick?"
Beast Boy flinched, and instantly felt a little hurt. Robin calling him a prick? He never called him a prick. In fact, only Raven ever did that.
Beast Boy returned Robin's question with as mean an answer as he could muster. "Who're you calling prick, prick?"
Robin stared at him for a moment, then looked away. Beast Boy wanted to protest, but Raven immediately cut in, waving her right arm between the two of them. "Gosh, guys, why the hostility?" She sighed loudly, pushing Beast Boy away from the sullen Robin. "Y'know, this is the precise reason why sometimes we just can't get along. You gotta cooperate, y'know, that's what a team is for. Yeah, that's what a fucking team is for. All you assholes, pissing me off everyday with your stupid fighting over stupid stuff, I swear if I hear one more insult thrown at each other I'll – "
"You look like a mushroom, kinda." Robin slurred quietly, cutting Raven off in the middle of her ridiculous speech that made absolutely no sense to Beast Boy.
But this was getting kinda interesting, he had to admit. The way things were going, Beast Boy could already see some potential scandals making their way into the conversation, as long as he waited long enough. First, Robin and Raven get piss-drunk. Check. Second, Robin and Raven quarrel. Nearly check. Third, Robin and Raven make out. Not yet? And last, Beast Boy takes a photo to blackmail them with for the rest of their lives. SUCCESS.
With a little self satisfied smirk, Beast Boy settled himself down between the two.
Meanwhile, the two titans were still talking.
"Mushroom? How the fuck do I resemble a mushroom?"
Beast Boy winced a little. When did Raven become so vulgar?
"Your head. It's black. With spikes everywhere. Like a sea urchin." Robin muttered. "I hate sea urchins."
Beast Boy arched an eyebrow. Raven didn't have black spiky hair. That was Ro –
"Well, at least I don't look like Sailormoon with a bad dye job."
"I dunno who Whatevermoon is."
"She's some… girl."
"Your girlfriend?"
What the… Raven's a lesbian?
Raven emitted a bitter laugh. "If she existed in real life, I could use her as a fighter."
Oh god, that's just sick. That's so perverted.
"You only think about fighting. Your whole world's about fighting. You should get a life."
Beast Boy decided to cut in then. Both of them were just being incoherent, and he didn't have much time to wait for the make-out-stake-out. "Hey, Rob, that's funny because the one who loves to fight is actually y – "
Raven shot him a glare. "Funny? What's funny? Did I say something funny?"
Robin shook his head. "Nah. No way. Didn't hear anything funny. Did you, BB? I certainly didn't. Nope, didn't. Do I look like I'm laughing?"
"Guys, I haven't even – "
"Gone to pee? Go, pee." Robin said, shooing Beast Boy away with a hand half-heartedly. "Or in someone's words, 'If you would excuse me, would you please urinate?'"
"Gosh, Rob, that's quite gross – "
And Raven cut in again. "Gross? What's gross? Did I say something gross?"
"Nah. No way. Didn't hear anything gross. Did you, BB? I certainly didn't."
"Fuck, guys – "
"Who the fuck said you could say fuck?" Raven snapped. "Told you idiots not to fight, and here we go fighting again – "
"Nah. No way. Didn't fight. Did you, BB? I certainly didn't. Do I look like I'm fighting?"
Beast Boy threw his hands up in frustration and stalked to the other side of the rooftop. He should have seen this coming. Even when drunk, both titans were just plain boring.
And he was getting really late for his meeting. Stretching his arms and yawning, he climbed onto the ledge and closed his eyes, allowing himself to transform into as magnificent a green cockatoo as a green cockatoo could be.
He vaguely heard Raven say half-heartedly, "No, BB, don't die, I'm sorry I used the f-word on you – " Fortunately for him, birds had a pretty bad sense of hearing, so he didn't manage to catch the rest. The last thing he heard was a can exploding before he leapt off the roof and flew into the forest, finding a better location to meet those bird-brained, uh, birds.
