Okay I'm sorry it took so long to update this story! It's almost done, though. I think I'm only going to have one more chapter for this story :( Maybe two more if I do an epilogue thing of like 10 years or so into the future...we'll see, maybe I'll have you all vote on it next chapter :) In the meantime, I hope you all enjoy this chapter and that it was well worth the wait!

So without further ado,

...Chapter 7!

Raven groaned when she looked up and saw the numbers 5:30 glaring back at her from her clock. Jinx would be over soon and Raven was sure that she still looked like shit. She sighed and turned on her flat iron. While it was busy heating up, Raven rummaged through her closet for something suitable to wear. Whenever something bad happened to either Jinx or Raven, the other would take them out and treat them to something nice to cheer them up.

Like the one time Jinx got stood up for a date, Raven quickly got ready in something nice and the two of them went out to eat at a nice restaurant instead. Raven assumed that just like every other time they got together, this would also be something that would blow away most of her month's savings. So she found the one dressy black dress that she owned and quickly changed into it. She also found the black peep-toe pumps she always wore with it and set those aside for when she had to leave. Then she went through the painful task of straightening each strand of hair on her head.

When she was finally done with that, she quickly applied some eyeliner to each eye to hide the puffiness and smudged some deep purple eyeshadow over each eye. Considering what hell she'd been through, Raven found it comforting to know that she could hide it away with some well done eye make up and a pretty dress.

Raven rarely wore dresses. She wouldn't even own the dress she was wearing had her mother not bought it and realized too late that it didn't fit her. Despite the fact that Raven never wore dresses, she did find them pretty. Like the one she wore now, it was simple and yet looked so elegant. It only had one strap on the right shoulder and fell to just above her knees. It was remarkable, really, how different she looked in a dress. How different anyone could look when dressed up. Despite feeling the prettier than she had in the last two days, Raven still didn't feel like going out. Not tonight. She sighed and grabbed her shoes and purse and headed down the stairs to the living room. The clock now read 6:01.

"Where are you going?" came the innocent voice of Melvin. Raven turned to see her sister's shining blue eyes staring up at her in question.

"Jinx and I are going to hang out tonight, that's all," answered Raven, "Hey, do you want me to read one of the Dr. Seuss books to you guys before I go?"

"YEA!" came the unanimous cry from all three of them.

"Okay go get the one you want me to read," replied Raven, a small smile on her face. The three of them quickly returned with Green eggs and Ham, Teether's favorite book. Raven shot a knowing smile at Melvin, this she knew, was not Melvin's favorite book but she let Teether choose anyway. "Okay…," began Raven.

She read each page slowly, enunciating each word and showing them the pictures on the page. Despite having heard the story several times before, they all ooh-ed and ahh-ed at all the right places. When she finished reading the book, Raven smiled again, knowing how much this time meant to them. Raven had always tried to spend time with her siblings, despite the large age difference, but lately with all the drama in her life, Raven was sure she hadn't been around as often as usual. Raven made up her mind to spend more time with them in the future, they already had a messed up family life the most she could do was make it easier for them.

"Okay, so tell mom to heat up the spaghetti leftovers, okay?" informed Raven while she checked her phone for any missed texts or calls. Weird, it's already 6:15, Jinx should be here by now.

"I don't think mommy's coming home tonight," explained Melvin.

"What?" choked Raven. Upon seeing the wide eyes and shocked looks on her sibling's faces, Raven amended with, "Um, okay, I guess I'll do that now."

She then quietly thanked Jinx for being late and went about microwaving the spaghetti and red sauce and getting milk for them to drink.


Richard went over his mental checklist. Thanks to Jinx, everything was practically perfect. He had the lilies, which were her favorite apparently. He was also dressed up, as Jinx instructed him to do, though he wasn't really sure why. And he was armed with her address, also courtesy of Jinx, the only person who'd been permitted to visit on a regular basis. Yet, despite having everything in order, Richard still felt extremely nervous.

When he pulled into Raven's driveway, he was immensely relieved to see Jinx already there waiting in her driveway. Jinx was a godsend. He noticed that Raven's house was really far away from the school and also in a bad neighborhood. There were boards nailed to the windows of some houses, others taped black garbage bags over the gaping holes of the windows because the glass had been broken. Even Raven's house showed several signs of disrepair and decay. Richard figured this was why she never told anyone else where she lived.

"Okay, stick to the plan," reminded Jinx.

Richard gulped and nodded, he wasn't prepared for this. He couldn't even speak. He was about to tell Jinx to hold on a second, however, he was a few seconds too late. She had already knocked on the door.


Raven heard the knock at the door. About time, Jinx.

Raven was still busy getting the food set up for her siblings so she said, "Melvin, get the door, would you?"

Melvin nodded and sprinted to the door, opening it to reveal Jinx and someone else she didn't recognize. Nonetheless, Melvin did as she was instructed and waved the duo in. She then returned to the kitchen. "Okay guys, dinner's ready," called Raven. Immediately, her two younger siblings bounded to their seats and began scarfing down their food. Raven sighed, she still had to feed Timmy baby food because he was too young to eat solid food.

"Hey, I still have to feed Timmy, do you mind waiting?" called out Raven.

"Here, let me do it," offered Jinx. Raven turned around to find her friend clad in an oversized T-shirt and sweats. Raven shot her friend a confused look, but before she could ask, Jinx jerked her head to the living room, indicating that Rachel should head over there. Rachel was still confused, but still did as her friend silently told her. And then she saw him standing there, awkwardly, dressed in a black tux and armed with lilies, her favorite flower.

"Um, these are for you," he began, shifting nervously and handing out the lovely boquet of flowers to her.

Raven nodded and took them. Normally she would've just glared except he looked extremely pale an nervous and Raven found herself feeling bad for him.

"Okay, so I know you're mad but all I'm asking is that you hear me out for five minutes. If after then you're still mad and don't want to talk to me then I promise I'll leave, okay?" he asked.

Again, Raven nodded glancing at the time on her phone, "Okay. But only five minutes."

"Okay, so, about a month ago I went to Gotham High. I had lots of friends, everything was fine, whatever. But then this one resentful girl, Courtney, told me that everyone only liked me because of my money. I had never really given this much thought," he paused at the disbelieving look on Raven's face, "I know, it sounds dumb. I mean, I always knew that people tried to befriend me for my money but I had always thought that after hanging around me they actually liked me for me and saw past the money aspect."

Raven nodded, okay that made sense. It was incredibly naïve, but it still made some sense. And Raven was happy because he didn't seem to be lying.

"So then I asked Bruce if I could transfer schools undercover, maybe say I was in Japan or something to cast off suspicion. He agreed, so I went by my middle name, John. At Jump High, the first week was hell. I was ignored and picked on and I began to think that maybe Courtney was right. Then that Friday you helped me and introduced me to all of these nice people and they all liked me as John, not Richard. In fact, most of you condemned anyone who was even remotely popular, and after seeing Kitty, with good reason. I was just scared about what would happen if you all found out that I was like that," finished Richard.

"So then why tell Vic?" asked Raven.

"Well it wasn't on purpose. That day we first met, when Vic took me home, I told him to drop me at this one house that was three houses away from mine. But Vic already knew who lived there and called my bluff so I came clean. Vic then told me I had a month to tell you guys, so yea I probably should have said something before then, but I didn't want to ruin everything. I hoped that if you guys actually got to know me, that when you found out who I was, it wouldn't matter. I was going to tell you all yesterday at the same café I first met you all at. I'm really, really sorry, I know I fucked things up badly, and I'm sorry."

As soon as he finished with his explanation, Richard began to fidget once more and avoid Raven's gaze.

Raven heaved a sigh, "You're an idiot." Richard looked at her, bewildered and unsure about what this comment meant. But then Raven cracked a small smile and added, "But you're forgiven, bird brain."

"Really?" squeaked Richard. Before Raven could answer, she found she was in a death hug from Richard.

"And I thought only Star could hug like that, guess I was wrong," commented Raven dryly after he finally let her go. Richard smiled sheepishly.

"So, um, I have another question for you," began Richard, looking just as nervous as he previously had.

"Okay, ask away," replied Raven.

"Um, I was wondering iff…you'd, uh, like to maybe go out with me?" he asked, speaking quicker as he stumbled over the question.

Raven could feel the heat that rose to her cheeks, he was really asking her out? She gave a small smile and answered with her own sheepish, "okay." The irrepressible grin that spread across Richard's face caused Raven to flush an even deeper crimson.

He then extended his arm out to her.

"Wait, now?" She asked.

"Well, why not. We're both already ready."

Raven then remembered that she was, indeed, dressed in her finest black dress.

"Um, but where exactly would we go?" she asked.

"Well we could go out to eat..." supplied Richard, trailing off. Okay so he hadn't given the idea much thought, he wasn't even sure what kind of food she liked (apart from edible cafeteria food).

"You made reservations already?" asked Raven, surprise evident in her voice. How could he have known?

"Well not exactly. I actually kind of thought I'd be dead by now," he said, interrupted by Raven's light laughter, "But one of the few good things about being me, is well, I don't think I need reservations anywhere."

Raven chuckled, "Fair enough. So where to?"

"Wherever you want," he replied, gesturing for Raven to lead the way out.

"What, no kiss? I feel ripped off!" yelled Jinx after them. Both turned to see Jinx standing in the kitchen doorway.

"How long have you been there?" asked Raven, an edge to her voice. But Jinx didn't seem to notice.

"Since about, 'why tell Vic?' so, basically, most of it," informed Jinx.

"Jinx-" began Raven with a growl, but she was interrupted.

"-I know I'm not getting any problems from you. I just made your life. And I'm babysitting while you two lovebirds go get some real food," stated Jinx.

Raven sighed, her friend had a point.

"Fine, but no commentary then," said Raven.

"All I said was that I wanted to see a kiss from you two. Honestly, it's about time."

This comment caused both Raven and Richard to blush a bright red. Jinx just laughed, "I swear this relationship is going to be moving at such a glacial pace. The world will be drowned by iceburgs before anything interesting happens between you two." Jinx then sauntered back to the kitchen, her laughter still reverberating off the walls of the house.

"Um, sorry about her Richard," mumbled Raven, still bright red. Raven then continued to walk toward the door when she felt Richard's hand lightly grab her arm.

"I'd appreciate it if you called me Robin again. When you call me Richard it makes me think you're angry with me," he said, his face dangerously close to hers.

"Ok-kay, Robin," she choked out, nervous by the proximity between her and Robin.

As soon as she finished saying that, he lightly pressed his lips to hers. After a few seconds to regain herself, Raven wrapped her arms around his neck and deepened the kiss. When they eventually broke apart, both of their faces were tinged pink.

Richard then took her hand and lead her out to his motorcycle. Neither noticed Jinx's reappearance. She had seen the kiss and now had a smug smile plastered on her face. They owe me so big for this.


Outside, Raven dubiously eyed the motorcycle.

"You actually expect me to ride this?" She asked.

"Well, yea," he replied, "You know, you're the first person I've met with such an aversion to motorcycles."

"Really?" she asked with a frown, "No wonder why everyone considers Americans stupid. I refuse to ride that scrap-metal."

He laughed, "Well this is one of those things that you have to do at least once in your life. Like skydiving."

"I don't have to do this," she stated sternly, "And, besides, how do I know you can drive that thing?"

He grinned, "Well you don't, but you'll find out in a few minutes." He then patted the seat behind him. Raven rolled her eyes, but eventually conceded and sat on the space behind him.

"Okay, hold on," he advised.

"To wha-?" scoffed Raven, but he started the motorcycle before she could finish her question. He heard her give a small shriek before grabbing onto his waist. He chuckled slightly.

"Not funny, Robin," she said.

"I think it is," he replied, causing her to scoff again.

After a few minutes of comfortable silence passed between them, it dawned on Richard-

"Hey, you never told me where you wanted to go," Robin stated, "So where to?"

"Surprise me."

Richard smiled, knowing just the place to go. He sped off to his destination feeling much happier than he had in a long time. He owed Jinx. Big.


Okay, so what did you guys think? I know it was a shorter chapter, but it has to be or else it'll mess up my idea for next chapter, so I'm sorry about that. Please, please, please send me a review with your thoughts! That'd be much appreciated!

MINI SPOILER ALERT: Okay, next chapter I thought I'd skip ahead to their graduation at the end of the year and do a chapter on that. Should I add another epilogue onto that or just leave it after they graduate? Just something for you all to start thinking about...

Hope you all enjoyed it!

~RukiaRae