They Shouldn't Split up in Horror Movies
"Aw yeah! Are you guys ready to be absolutely terrified?"
Beast Boy jumps on the coffee table in the middle of the living room.. Starfire sits on the edge of her seat, popcorn bowl in her lap, "Friend Beast Boy, why are we watching Ghost Apocalypse 3? You think by the third one the humans would be much better prepared." Cyborg laughed loudly beside her "Yeah Star you would think that! But String Bean says this one is much gorier and scarier than the prequels."
"Well that would be easy since the other two movies were not that enterta-
"ANYWAYS," Beast Boy jumped down from the table, and plopped down on the couch on the other side of Cyborg, "it's going to be fun, and this movie is so scary it'll scare your pants off! I swear" Starfire and Cyborg looked unimpressed. Cyborg scanned the room over to where Robin sat on the other end of the couch, noting the absence of one other bird member.
"Hey Rob, where's Raven?" Cyborg asked.
Robin had been silent up until this point in the conversation, but concern was mounting in his brain. The Ghost Apocalypse movies, while classified in the horror genre, weren't that scary because of the bad 80s-esque effects. However, with the possibility of the movie actually being scary he couldn't help but worry for Raven. After defeating her father, Raven's powers were no longer so closely linked to her emotions, which allowed her to be more open, and was in fact the reason that he and Raven were able to start dating. However, in times of strong and unexpected emotion, her powers could still go haywire. The group didn't watch horror movies often because of this, and when they did, they were tame.
"She went to grab a sweater from her room while we picked out the movie." Robin replied. He met Cyborg's eyes, "Has anyone seen this movie except BB?"
Cyborg seemed to think for a moment and shook his head, "I mean I haven't seen it, I think he went with someone else."
"He went with Mas and Menos when they were visiting from Titans East." Starfire piped.
"Really? I didn't take them to be horror fans. Was that the time Speedy and Aqualad got locked in the garage for…."
Robin phased out the conversation, his thoughts drew back to his girlfriend. He knew better to underestimate Raven, after all Hell and nightmares from heroing probably beat out about any horror movie, but he couldn't help but worry.
The door to the living room opened with a swish. In stepped Raven, her usual leotard and cloak ensembled accompanied by a dark gray Jump City Musicfest sweatshirt.
"Friend Raven you have returned!" Starfire shrieked while flying off the couch and over to her. "We have chosen another spectral doomsday movie! Friend Beast Boy says this one is much scarier than the last ones!" She landed in front of Raven and her face grew into something more serious. Starfire grasped her friend's hands and whispered something Robin couldn't quite hear. Raven smiled and nodded. Starfire was appeased back to flying and smiling brightly. Raven turned her head to find Robin still looking at her. She gave him a small smile, their bond humming with her contentment. She found her seat next to him, and his arm instinctually wraps around her shoulder.
"You look a tense." She murmured gently, "Is everything alright? Robin looked at her and then into the kitchen where Beast Boy and Cyborg battled over snacks. "Everything is fine, just thinking about the movie I guess." Robin glanced back over as Cyborg had moved to help Starfire with the DVD player. "What did Starfire tell you when you came in?"
Raven smiled again, "She was just checking that I would be okay, this being a horror movie and all." She turned her head up towards him, "Which I am by the way, it's not like these are scary anyways." Robin felt a thrum through the bond again, reminding him how silly it was to beat around the bush with her. "Yeah well nothing scares no-nonsense Raven," he laughs out and pecks her on the nose, "especially when you can jump into arms of your superhero boyfriend huh?"
She let out a full belly laugh at that, and finally everyone got seated as the movie started to roll.
Turns out, the movie was a least a tiny bit scarier than the prequels. Someone in the special effects department definitely got a raise for the updated gore. The story though was still repetitive and the teenagers completely braindead when it came to survival, so the overall effect wasn't that bad.
However, when Robin went around for the last sweep of the Tower before bed and found Raven in the kitchen making tea, his concern levels spiked.
"What are you doing Rae?" he said going up beside her and putting his hand around her waist. "Going to be up for a while?"
"This isn't the caffeinated type, I just wanted another mug before I went to bed." Raven turned around in place and pushed herself up to where she was sitting on the counter. From this new elevation she was eye level with Robin. Taking her hand, she cupped his face and whispered, "You know this one was a little bit scarier than normal."
Robin moved in front of her, situating himself between her legs as she sat on the counter. "Do you feel, I don't know, off or anything like that? Do you feel like it will affect your powers?" His voice stayed low too, despite the other titans already being in their rooms for the night.
"I feel,,, alright." She paused a moment, "Ish. I feel alrightish."
Robin set his hands on the top of her thighs and leaned in a little closer, "What do you mean by 'ish'?"
Raven sighed, "It's complicated. The movie didn't bother me, and even when the jumpscares happened nothing blew up like it would have before; which I'm actually very pleased with seeing I can feel unexpected fear and adrenaline without my powers getting out of control But at the same time the change makes me feel-"
"Uneasy?"
Raven nodded. She took one of his hands in her own, "It's not the movie that's making me uneasy, I always get a little unsettled with the change no matter if I'm happy about it or not."
Robin nodded this time. In their relationship he had seen her apprehension, and they had taken it slow. He couldn't imagine being able to fully express and feel human emotions untainted by demonic power for the first time. Like while she was perfectly comfortable being cuddly or displaying low levels of affection even with the public or other titans around, that's not how it had been in the beginning. Not by a long shot.
"You know," Robin said without thinking "if you really feel uneasy you could just sleep with me tonight."
Raven blinked a couple of times and glared at him, her cheeks flushing bright against her pale skin. Robin then actually realizing what he said, quickly backpedaled.
"What I meant was that if you were nervous or uneasy during the night at least you wouldn't be alone. And c'mon Rae it's not like it hasn't happened before." It had happened before. Not quite the way overzealous fans on twitter speculated it had, but they had sleep together before. Quick naps on couches or in the med bay when one or the other got injured, it wasn't anything more than solace in the other person's presence. Raven didn't seem much fazed by what he said, but she had stopped glaring at him.
"Besides, I don't know about you, but I sleep best when you're right beside me." Robin didn't meet her eyes when he said it, thinking maybe he had gotten ahead of himself. But it was completely true. Even when she was asleep it was like Raven had that calming effect on him, he felt less tense and far safer.
Raven was silent for a few seconds, and Robin racked his brain for something to say that would somehow relieve how embarrassing this situation felt. He felt Raven move his hand off her leg and slide off the counter. He looked down at her, a soft smiled played on her features.
"Okay," she said nonchalantly, "but I have to go get some stuff out of my room first."
Robin's mind was half elated half what the fuck but in the end it didn't matter. He took Raven's hand and pulled her towards the door. "You know if this does help, my bed is always open." He swallowed, "If it helps of course."
Raven just smiled, "Yeah well, if you gather anything from horror movies it's that people shouldn't go places at night alone."
Robin laughed, and together they went into the elevator.