Lenore: Thanks for the review :). Who is No Man? He is the owner of Thai Night and an entity similar to Mari. He is neither a bad person nor a good one. He does what benefits him. Thus, he tends to be on the bad side more than good. Is Yasmine human? Yasmine lives a very human-like lifestyle. Is Retra meeting Slade? Yes and No. When will Slade stop stealing toys? Never!

I think Cyborg and Willow are adorable together too. I have fun writing about them. I'm glad you enjoyed the two birds' date, and I had myself hungry with the chili cheese fries. (I made it worst when I googled images of it.)

What happened to them before? Next Chapter. Hint: Raven doesn't know about it either.

Everyone else: As always, enjoy!

AN!:

1. I will, hopefully, post the next chapter either some time today or tomorrow. I'm aiming for tomorrow.

2. Chapter 20, which is the next chapter, will be my last chapter for a while. I have to pack and move out of the country at the end of the week. I have to job hunt as well. I know that I have to be quarantine again once I return to my home country, but I don't know where for sure.

3. Happy RavxRob week! Hopefully, there will be a lot of stories this week. I am still debating if I want to do this year Rav xRob week. If I do, I will post the stories later, after the week is over, and tell you all. The last RavxRob week that I did, which was years ago, I made sure that it was related to this story (which was slightly different from the current, updated version). I'm not sure if I will do the same thing again.

4. HAPPY SUNDAY! :)

Shhh, Don't Tell

"What do you think that I should do?" Dick heard Victor asking over the phone via the Titans app. "I mean, every time I try to bring it up, she changes the subject or leaves."

"Maybe, you shouldn't bring it up if she's not comfortable with it. That's a touchy subject." Gar said. "The best thing to do is leave it alone."

Once every two weeks, the three males of the group got together to do an activity. The activity could be anything such as playing card games, watching a movie, doing an extreme sport, or simply just hanging out. It was a time for them to bond without the females in the group, and to have conversations that they didn't want them to know about. They were currently on a three-way call while playing online poker since Dick was still banned from the Tower. It has been almost two weeks since he had been there.

"I can't just leave it alone." Vic said. "I feel like I'm responsible for the rumors. Maybe I should send out a memo."

"No, don't," Dick said. "You'll only make it worse. I'm with Gar. You should leave it alone. If she brings it up, then talk about it. If you hear someone say something personally, then address that person. But don't add fuel to the fire. If you say something, it'll make the rumors seem true. I mean, they aren't true, are they?"

"What! No, of course not," Vic said defensively.

"But you want it to be true." Gar commented.

"Why would I want that?"

"Because you like her." Both of his friends said.

"No… I mean…it's…" He sighed. "I do like her. I mean, she's-"

"smart," Gar interrupted.

"likes to play video games," Dick added.

"makes a mean pie,"

"can fix a car,"

"has a great smile,"

"and beautiful eyes,"

"and a sweet personality,"

"Did we miss something?" Dick asked.

"I talked about her more than I thought." Vic mumbled through the phone.

"Don't be embarrass. I think, she likes you too." Gar said.

"You think," Vic asked cheerfully.

"She did say that she wanted you to be her knight in shining armor and not her boss. It sounds like she does to me."

"Regardless," Dick said. "Before anything happens between you two, make sure you get her to sign an NDA. It will save you a headache in the future."

"You sound like Amy," Victor said.

"Trust me. You'll regret it if you don't. It's part of being rich and famous."

"That must be an awkward conversation. 'Hey, I like you, but can you sign this before we kiss," Gar said. "Just go with someone who you trust."

"Someone who is a lover today can be an enemy tomorrow."

"Dude, you have serious trust issues when it comes to dating."

"Hey, I grew up with Batman. Most of his exs had tried to kill him at least once."

"Those must be interesting stories."

"Trust me; they're not, especially when you're running for your life."

"Well, I guess, I'm lucky to have Retra then."

"How are you two doing anyway?" Vic asked.

"We're doing-"

"Hey, I got the food." A female voiced interrupted him.

Dick quickly muted his mic and turned to Rae. She had teleported into his kitchen with a carry out bag in her hands. They were planning to eat dinner and watch a movie before they headed to the bar. He had been working there since the day he met Yasmine for lunch and continued when he started back working at the police station.

He put a finger over his mouth and pointed to the phone. She nodded in understanding. She moved toward the kitchen and began putting the food on a plate, quietly.

"Who was that?" He heard Gar asking.

He unmuted his mic and lied. "That was the delivery person. I have to go before my food gets cold."

"Go? We are still playing the game."

"Actually." He showed his hands and the guys groaned. "Have my payment when I returned to the Tower."

"Yeah, yeah." Vic said. "It will be there waiting for you on Monday." Dick paused at the meaning of the words. His suspension was over starting Monday. He was excited to be back. His life was starting to feel normal again.

"I, personally, vote that he stay away from the team for another week," Gar added.

Dick chuckled. "Hey, if you don't want to pay, you can have Retra bake me one of her cakes."

"It would be easier for me to pay. She's kinda mad at me for not helping with the wedding plans. I'm helping but not how she wants me to."

"Tough, man. I would give you some advice, but I didn't make it to my own wedding with Batgirl." He was able to joke about it now. "Look, I have to go. You know, my food." Dick hang up without waiting for a response.

"That definitely was not delivery," Vic said.

"You think that he's seeing someone else? It hadn't been that long since Kory left." Gar said sadly. Somewhere in his heart, he still had hope that Starry Night had a chance to be together. To him, they were the perfect couple.

"Who knows. We will never know. Nights always kept his personal life a secret."

"I wish there wasn't any secrets between us."

"That's life, C. We all have something to hide."

Garth thought about his own problems. "I guess, you are right."

Cyborg was at Lab 52A again after the poker game. He couldn't understand why the system that held the specimen was failing. All of the diagnostic tests that he ran showed that there were no issues with the system. Yet, the system wasn't working.

He turned to the specimen, which he had transferred from the tanking system to the wheel chair, and knelt down in front of it.

"Is this your doing?" He asked the specimen, knowing that it couldn't reply, yet hoping that it did. "Were you tired of being in the tank?"

Cyborg looked at the specimen. He'd never thought, when he met him that day, that this would have been his life. It was never planned that they would have met or that they would have start a Fortune 500 company. They were supposed to run it together and expand it across the globe. They did plan for that to happen once the idea for the company started to become a reality. But that didn't happen. This did, and it was never part of their plan.

Yet, greed had gotten between them, and this was the result. The specimen was living the rest of his life in a tank while Cyborg lived with the guilt. Cyborg stood back up and continue to fix the tanking system. There was no point in living in the past. They all made their choices.

"Now, exhale." The two yoga students did as the instructor asked. "Good job. How do you feel?"

"Great!" Garfield and Willow both answered.

"Perfect," the instructor said. "I'll see you both next week." The instructor got up and left the room to go to the next class. Normally, the instructor would stay and talk with them, but they had started the class late due to Gar's tardiness.

"Sorry, I was late." Gar said as they rolled up their mats.

"No problem." She gave him a warm smile. "I'm the one who's intruding on your class anyway."

The meditation yoga for aggression control was supposed to be a one-on-one class. However, Willow had first joined the class, when the original instructor for her one-on-one quit suddenly. It was supposed to be a temporarily fix until the company found another instructor, but it became a permanent solution, especially after the instructor noticed that the two of them got along.

"Besides," she added, "you were probably out saving the day."

"No, not this time. I was playing cards with the guys and lost track of time." He said sheepishly.

"That actually sounds more fun than yoga."

"Don't let them hear you say that." He nodded his head to the close door. "They might get rid of the only yoga teacher that can accommodate us."

"Oh, you're right. Shhh." They chuckled and walked out of the room. "Any more plans for tonight?" She asked as they waved good bye to the staff, who they passed. "No late-night hiking in the woods?"

"No, not tonight. Tonight's yoga session really cleared my mind. I think I will go home and cuddle with my fiancée."

"That's good. Besides, too many campers have been slaughtered lately, don't you think?"

"Yes," he said softly.

"At least, you don't have to worry about that."

"I guess... how about you?" He asked, wanting to change the subject.

"I'll probably just go home and bake a pie."

"I heard that your pies are delicious."

She giggled. "Did Victor say that?"

Gar nodded. "I think that it's unfair that I have known you longer, yet Vic got a pie from you and I didn't. I think you should bake me one."

"No problem. I'll bring you one when we have class next week. But I don't know how it will compare to Retra's cake."

"Oh! Actually, I think I might give your pie away to Nightwing." He explained what happened during the card game and Nightwing's suggestion.

"It's fine." They stopped at her car. "It's your pie; you can do whatever you want with it."

"Here before I forget." He handed her a device. "You are always there for me when I go on my hikes, and Vic likes you-r pies. If you need something, use this."

"Thanks," She said unsure.

"Hopefully, you won't need it but just encase." She smiled, and they bid each other good night.

Yasmine had driven off when his phone dang. It was a message from Retra. She wouldn't becoming home tonight. She was busy with work.

The phone cracked a little in his hand. It looked like he just lied to Yasmine. He was going hiking tonight.

"Three shots of whisky." A familiar voice said, causing Dick to turn his head from the guy in front of him to his left.

He had heard that voice before. His eyes scanned the bar, which was slighted crowded as people placed their last drink order. His eyes finally landed on a familiar face.

He excused himself from the man who he was talking with and went over to the familiar person.

"Hank, what are you doing here?" He asked while quickly removing the three shots, which Rachael poured, off of the bar on to the small shelf under the bar on his side.

"Dick," Hank said cheerfully until he noticed which side of the bar Dick was on. "What are you doing there?"

"I'm here helping out a friend." He pointed to Rae, who was closed by him serving another customer. "She needed an extra pair of hands. This is her bar."

Hank frowned and said, "She's not much of a friend if she asked you to come work at her bar when you're a recovered alcoholic."

"What!" Rae, who must have heard, said in a low yet shocked voice. She came closer to them. He felt her eyes burning into his skin.

"She didn't know." Dick explained. "I never told anybody."

Remorse filled Hank's eyes. "Sorry, I jumped the gun with my mouth," he said to Dick. And to Rae, he said, "I'm sorry for what I said."

"It's okay; you didn't know. I didn't know either. Besides, you're right. Dick shouldn't be here, especially on this side of the bar."

Their eyes clashed, but Dick left the inside of the bar and sat beside Hank. He knew that they would talk later.

"You still like coke, Hank?" Hank nodded.

Hank chuckled. "I guess, this is God's intervention. I shouldn't be drinking. Yes, I still like Coke."

He asked Rae, "Do you mind bringing Hank and I a Coke?"

"Suuuure." She shared a look with Dick. She was pissed.

"I'm sorry. I truly didn't mean to tell your secret."

"It's okay. She and I had had arguments before." He chuckled, hoping to lightly up the mood. "This will just be another."

Rae returned with their drinks. She slammed his down while gently handing Hank his. Dick gave her a small smile that she didn't return.

"Why are you here, Hank?"

Hank spent the last hour and a half pouring out his issues to Dick. The bar had closed, and they had finished three Coke sodas each and a bowl of peanuts, which Yasmine had left for them. The bar was empty except for the two of them.

"Don't stress about it," Dick said at the entrance of the bar. "and definitely don't drink. I'll ask around tomorrow and see if we can figure this thing out. How about you take my number? If you feel the need to drink, call me first. And I will call you when I find out something." They exchanged numbers, and Dick talked with him until his Lyft arrived.

After Hank left, Dick locked the bar up from the inside and headed to the loft upstairs. He knew that he had some explaining to do.

Rachael was meditating as the same questions and answers recycled in her head.

Question One: Why did Dick become an alcoholic? To cope with what occurred in Blüdhaven.

Question Two: When did he become an alcoholic? Sometime when he returned to Jump City.

Question Three: Why didn't she notice? She broke their bond and was busy licking her own wounds.

Question Four: How could she have helped him? She couldn't. After all, she was the problem to begin with.

She heard the knock at the door and immediately stopped meditating. She knew that he wouldn't have left without talking to her. He wasn't that kind of person.

She opened the door for him and said, "I'm surprised you knocked."

He smiled at the inside joke. "Of course. It's after three a.m. I can't have you mistaken me for a bootie call."

She rolled her eyes as he walked pass her. She closed the door and followed him to her sofa. He sat on one end; she sat on the other.

He exhaled. "Just listen, okay?" She nodded. "I know what you think and what Hank said, but I'm not an alcoholic. I'm a problem drinker." He noticed her mouth began to open and quickly said, "No, I'm not just saying that. The guy who ran the AA meeting and recover courses made me take the test to determine which category I fell under. He was worried that I might be an HFA, high-functioning alcoholic. They had a special program for them since they are hard to help if they ever seek help.

"As a problem drinker, I'm not physically addicted to or dependent on alcohol. I don't crave it after a couple of hours or even days or weeks. I have the capability to stop and start drinking when I feel like it. So, being here, working in your bar, it doesn't tempt me to start binge drinking again."

"What made you start drinking?" She knew the answer; she just wanted confirmation.

He got up and started to pace. "Blüdhaven. I was a mess back then when I rejoined the team. Being Nightwing and back on the team helped. But when I wasn't with you guys, I was trying to do my best to drown out or black out all of my memory of Blüdhaven: the sound, the smell, the screams, the regret and helplessness. The alcohol helped more than being on the team. And if I wasn't with the team or drinking, I was swimming in-"

He stopped. His face turned bright red as he rubbed the back of his neck, standing in one place now.

The full bottle of alcohol in the trash can with Linda's name and kiss appeared in her head. "Females." Rachael finished for him, and he nodded.

"Rae, I…" He didn't look at her. She knew he was ashamed of what he had done. He had no reason to be. It wasn't his shame to bear.

"It wasn't your fault." She said. "What happened in Blüdhaven wasn't your fault. How you chose to deal with your pain wasn't your fault. It wasn't healthy or safe either, but it wasn't your fault."

"I felt like it was. I still do sometimes. I felt and feel like a failure."

"It wasn't your fault." She wanted to scream it but didn't.

"I know that somewhere deep down in my mind, but I can't fully process it."

She scooted back in the sofa, shocked that he knelt down in front of her. His thumb rubbed the tears away. "You always worry about me, don't you? That makes me feel special."

She hadn't notice that she had started to cry. Inside her loft, nothing could be destroyed, could items light up in black magic, yes, but not be destroy by it. Everything here was emotion proof except her and him.

"You know, I quit for you. The most hopeful person in the world."

After she tended to his wound and he left, she cried her heart out. Tears fell uncontrollably from her eyes. Her heart clenched and she couldn't control her breathing. She would have destroyed the whole block if Mari hadn't taken over her.

Because everything was her fault.