Rating: M, because some of this stuff will probably get up there.
Pairings: Multiple, but mainly Raven/Robin, Raven/Red X, and possibly some Raven/Speedy. Ambiguous pairings here.
Genre: We'll be running the gamut, but there will be romance (or the seeds of) in most. Others will include Drama, Tragedy, Humor, etc. This is just plain Drama.
Author's Note: This seventh piece is a little odd, an idea birthed in the not-as-wee-as-they-should've-been hours. Please forgive the "wtf" value on those grounds. ;
Summary: Slightly AU. The Titans play surprise host to another alternate-dimension dweller--in the form of an older Robin, who now carries the mantle of Nightwing. This extradimensional visitor plays strange dramas and tensions with each Titan, but none more so than Raven, and of course, Robin himself...
Disclaimer: I don't own any of it (except the writing!).
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Raven breathed a soft sigh of relief as the roof door closed quietly behind her and the warm night breeze stroked her brow, easing the lines of frustration and puzzlement there.
While things were never normal or calm in Jump City, much less Titan Tower, life had become rather a lot stranger in the past few days in the T shaped building, and the strain was working Raven's last well-conditioned nerve.
Tilting her face into the wind, Raven closed her eyes and let the low heat of the night seep into her, a wistful, sad thing sighing through her as the warmth failed to penetrate to that cold, tight spot in her chest.
She hated arguing with Robin. Not the amiable, almost playful bickering they exchanged sometimes; no, those she could almost admit to enjoying. But it was these terse, quietly angry arguments they had on sparse occasions that she loathed.
Robin knew her better than anyone else, and she knew him better almost than he did himself, sometimes. She disliked being at odds with him, and even less when she couldn't be entirely certain which of them was truly in the right.
Unhooking the broach at the hollow of her throat, Raven removed her heavy cloak as it became stifling in the summer weather and lay it down, folded, beside the door.
When she had straightened again and turned around, she startled back a step, a rushed mantra leaping unbidden from her lips and instinctually raised hands glowing black. And when Nightwing only continued to smirk affably down at her, she lowered her knee-jerk defenses and glowered darkly at Robin's older doppelganger.
Huffing a little, Raven lifted her chin stubbornly and stalked by the disconcertingly familiar figure, grousing as she passed him, "I had thought I was alone."
Nightwing only chuckled and followed her with an easy, silent gait to the roof's edge. "You're only upset because I managed to sneak up on you."
Raven's eyes widened briefly before narrowing in suspicion, and she turned the wary gaze on Nightwing. It rankled enough that he could get so near as he had without her ever even detecting his presence.
"And no, I can't read minds, either." He didn't look at her, but his smile widened, teeth flashing as he gave a short laugh. "I'm just very good at reading you."
"I find you disturbing," Raven deadpanned bluntly. "You're Robin, but you aren't. I can see him in you. Or rather, you in him. But you are not him."
His smile shrank slightly, and he seemed to sigh without altering his even, quiet breathing. "I was, though. And he will be me. Someday. In a way. I'm not sure that he'll turn out exactly as I am, but he'll be Nightwing someday, of that I'm certain. The problem of infinite alternate dimensions is as complex as the time paradox." His brow furrowed a moment, and Raven forgot to keep glaring at him and studied how familiar that thoughtful frown was. "Particularly considering they seem to be tied up in one another, yet somehow separate as well. As I said, very confusing."
Raven exhaled through her nose and forced herself to turn away from that achingly handsome, weirdly alien profile. "Obviously, considering that you're from some neighboring dimension, yet are obviously older than our Robin. It's very strange… but I suppose, if one considers Larry, it makes a sort of sense."
Nightwing turned to her, a line drawn over the bridge of his nose and one brow arching over his mask. "Larry?"
Raven glanced at him, almost smiling, then snorted. "I guess that's one thing you and our Robin don't have in common. Larry was our first alternate dimension visitor. Actually, he was also an alternate Robin, strangely enough. Odd, now that I think of it, that we've only been visited by alternate Robins."
"Yes… odd," Nightwing replied, but distantly, as if he were no longer really paying attention to the conversation.
Raven turned to look at him again, her expression quizzical, and flushed when she found him staring at her intensely, a slight frown tugging at his mouth. She knew that look, as if he were contemplating some deep and complicated puzzle. She never liked that look, because when Robin wore it, it meant the team would be losing him to another obsession until the mystery of the week had been solved. It was unnerving to be the subject of that gaze, particularly when it was and was not Robin subjecting her to it.
"…Why are you looking at me that way?" She turned her body towards him, feet spread shoulder width apart, ready for something, though she knew not what, and could never anticipate what was to happen.
"Because I never thought I would get the chance to again." His voice, deeper than Robin's but with those same rich tones, was hushed and low, as if he thought speaking too loudly would break some spell falling over them.
He took a step nearer, and Raven found herself tilting her head back to keep eye contact, something she had never had to do with Robin, who had only recently grown more than an inch taller than her.
"You know, we were Titans where I came from, too. We were… once. You and me, and Kori and Vic and Garfield…" He wet his lips and tilted his head on one side, something in his face growing sad as he gazed at her. "But a lot of things happened, and I haven't stood with you on the roof of a T shaped tower in a long time…"
"You… you've never stood with me on this roof before, Nightwing." Raven was a little surprised and slightly intrigued to discover that there was an alternate Raven somewhere as well, but it seemed distant, unimportant as Nightwing took a step closer.
His presence, which she had been irritatingly unaware of before, enveloped her now like a warm, familiar blanket, hazing her perceptions. It seemed very difficult to think beyond his face, his hand reaching towards her, those long fingertips brushing down her ribcage and trailing over the curve of her waist.
He hooked his fingers in her belt, and she snapped out of the strange lull a little when he tugged her sharply towards him and she stumbled into his space. She tilted her head back to look up at him, her mouth opening to voice a question her thoughts hadn't yet formed, but she stopped, frozen, when his lips pressed, soft but firm, over the focus stone on her forehead.
"Ro—Nightwing, what…!"
His hands, large and unfamiliar, circled her waist and his breath ghosted over her ear as he rested his cheek against her temple. "You have no idea how long I've waited to do that."
Raven's face flushed hot and her brow knit in confusion, her hands coming up to rest against the blue insignia over Nightwing's compact chest, though whether she meant to push him away or press closer she did not know, and that uncertainty only confused her further. "I…I don't understand."
He pulled back a little and looked down into her face, that frown returning, troubled lines creasing between his brows. "Raven…"
There was a loud creaking and scraping, and Nightwing and Raven turned towards the sound immediately.
Robin stood framed in the light spilling from the open doorway, his expression lost in shadow. "Raven—Oh…"
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AN: Kinda weird, huh? Hope you liked anyways. :) Maybe this time I'll actually hear from some of you silent readers out there? ;p
