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Tumblr prompt #8 "I love you! Is that what you wanted to hear?"

Nightwing and Raven Pairing

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It began as a whisper in the air, almost as if the calm before the storm. Clouds had been decorating the sky the entire day, almost like teasing the ground below not defining when they would let the soil come to life again with the rain only they could provide. When suddenly the clouds started to darken, sky turning in the darkest shade of blue almost black which contrasted with the bright, colourful lightening which started its intricate dance in the sky; the sky its stage and the thunderous roars its music.

Just like that, a storm was brewing.

A little far away, on an island another storm was brewing but this storm was inside a specific 'T' shaped tower, a storm of emotions willing to swallow the inhabitants of the tower whole, mirroring the one brewing outside.

"What do you want from me, Raven?" Richard yelled at the purple haired hero in frustration, his eyes laced with tears and his heart constricting in his chest painfully. A few lamps shattered in the background but he paid no mind to it, his entire focus was on the woman in front of him.

Even after defeating her father and gaining control of her emotions, she still has outbursts like these when she is experiencing very strong emotions; her emotions mixed with the ones she is feeling from the man in front of her caused the dark haired beauty to lose control of her emotions.

She didn't say anything, her face remained stoic but her amethyst eyes spoke volumes, they reflected every emotion she was feeling but hiding from the man, her leader when they were teenagers and now a very close friend.

Richard groaned and ran his hand through his hair tiredly while he took the sight of the enchantress in, for the umpteenth time that evening. Her now long dark raisin hair, framing her face in such a way that he wondered if it was normal to be jealous of hair for they could touch what he dreamt about holding. Her glassy amethyst eyes telling him that she was feeling everything he was too, that she was not as stoic and unemotional as she appeared to be.

"Why Raven...After all this time, why?" He asked in a voice just above a whisper, a contrast from the loud volume his voice had just adapted to, not a couple moments before.

Raven looked at him and almost forgot to breathe with the sight of him in front of her. Every time she looked at him she could feel her heart beating faster, he was so devastatingly handsome with his deep blue eyes, which never wavered from her, a warm smile which illuminated her dark mood every time she saw it and his dark locks which she wanted to run her hand through.

But it was not just his looks which drew her in, it was his personality, the way he gained her trust, made her feel safe, trusted her even in her darkest hour, travelled to the fiery depths of hell with his arch nemesis just to get her become.

How would she not fall for him…

After denying her feeling for a quite a while, she accepted them and resolved to tell him but timing was not on her side. He had just gotten together with Kori, so she tried to move on, tried to disregard the hurt she felt every time she saw the both of them together but it increased with each encounter, it felt like somebody had shoved a dagger through her heart.

S0 she fell back into herself, avoided him as much as she could; tried to hide the hurt and the loneliness and she thought she was doing a good job of that but she couldn't fool two people, Nightwing and Beastboy.

Nightwing, then Robin couldn't understand why his best friend was avoiding him and he couldn't help but feel hurt when he noticed her spending time with the green shape shifter who understood what she was feeling.

The changeling and the empath became unlikely companions, with him getting over the pain of seeing Terra again, who did not recognise him and Raven getting over seeing her best friend with the one she loves. Both were trying to move on.

Nightwing couldn't understand the jealousy and hurt he felt every time he saw Raven hanging out with the changeling, spending time with him and giving him her rare smiles. He didn't understand his feelings till he was caught by Cyborg who saw him giving a murderous look to Beastboy who was convincing Raven to try his tofu, both of them were laughing.

Cyborg explained to him and he realized that he was in love with Raven, he wanted to approach Raven but he knew that he had to talk to Starfire first, it would only be fair.

Fortunately Starfire understood and told him that she loved him but was not in love with him and that they would still remain friends, they both had needed to be together for a while before they could realize the difference of loving someone and being in love with someone; Tamaranians had a deep understanding about emotions, more than humans do.

He was grateful that he had a friend like her and after a lot of urging from her side he told her about his feelings for Raven and was shocked when she was delighted for them.

He wanted to approach the young empath but always held himself back in the fear of rejection; he thought that the empath was romantically involved and it was natural to assume so with the time they spent together also.

So he opted for a way in which he would not have to fear her to reject his feelings and if she didn't have feelings for him then he wouldn't like a complete fool in front of his best friend and his friendship with her would remain intact without any weirdness.

The titans were moving on with their lives; new young heroes were coming in to take their place. Kori was going back to Tamaran for a couple of years; she felt a little homesick but promised to come back as soon as she could, Cyborg was now working with the League and Beastboy was staying back to train the new heroes.

Robin had donned his new alias, Nightwing with his younger brother taking his current one; he was moving to a new city and becoming a solo vigilante or a duo if she would agree.

He wanted to ask Raven to come with him, he knew that she was still pondering over what to do next and he hoped that maybe he could try for her to come with him.

He asked her with so much hope in his eyes that all the half demon wanted to do was say yes, drop everything and leave with him, the man she still loved but she couldn't, she had promised the changeling that she would stay with him, her promise did not let her say yes to the man, her and Changeling had formed a companionship, he had been there for her when she needed someone and he had done his best to lift her spirits whenever she was feeling sad or whenever she saw Robin and Starfire together.

They were not romantically involved but the unlikely friendship that had formed between them did not allow Raven to abandon Beastboy, when he was alone; she knew that he was sad that everyone was moving on and this was time for her to be there for him just like he had been there for her.

So she declined Nightwing's offer, leaving him with a broken heart and the assumption that she was dating Beastboy. He left the very next day, realizing that he was too late and that her heart belonged to someone else.

Over the course of a few years, Raven and Nightwing remained cordial with each other, they tried to move on and date other people but their hearts belonged to each other, only they both were stubborn and did not speak to each other about this, only taking each other's whereabouts through their friends.

Finally Beastboy convinced Raven to reveal her feelings to the boy wonder and now here they were after she told him that she wants to go with him, if the offer he gave her 3 years ago was still available.

Nightwing was surprised by her change of mind, he was happy but the pain which had gathered in his heart in these years had come to his lips and he couldn't stop them to be bare in front of the empath.

"Because I want to be with you." She said taking a step towards him, not answering his first question; when all she wanted to shout was that she only wanted him and his love.

He took a step back, this action of his hurt her but she didn't say anything; she knew how many emotions he had bottled up just like she had and it was important for them get everything out in the open before they move on together.

"Why now, Raven? Why not three years ago? When I asked you to come with me then?" Nightwing asked hurt from her rejection surfacing. A little anger also started blooming in his heart, angry that someone who was not him had her heart, angry that because someone else took his place.

"Richard I-" She started but was interrupted by him.

"Is it because I am your last option?"

She was a little shocked by his angry question, but before she could say anything more, he started speaking again actually not giving her time to reply.

"Why do you want to be with me?"

"Why, Raven?"

"Why?"

"Tell me!"

Before he could speak again, Raven angered by his question said in a loud voice "I love you! Is that what you wanted to hear?" Suddenly everything stopped, the storm of emotions surrounding them fell silent it was almost like they were the eye of the storm.

"Because if you did then yes, I love you Richard John Grayson."

She was angry now and started taking walking towards him, who was standing on the other side of the room, her room actually, shocked by her confession; his brain almost crashed and it was taking time for him to process her information.

"I couldn't come with you because my friend needed me, the one friend who brought me out of my shell, the one who was there for me when I was struggling with my feelings for you needed me…so tell me how could I abandon him."

"F-feelings for m-me?" he asked, the information slowly seeping in him. His heart was bursting with joy and all he desired was to kiss her senseless but it seemed as if the rest of his body was slow to catch up.

"Yes, wonder boy I have liked you since I was 17." She said blushing a little. He smiled at seeing her pink face and completed the distance between them taking her hands in his, losing himself in her amethyst eyes and asked "Why didn't you tell me Rae?"

"You were dating Kori then Richard." She said softly.

"I broke up with her because I realized that while I loved Kori, I was in love with you Raven." He admitted softly while lifted her hands to place kisses on them, making her heart beat faster and her face turn red.

"Was?" She teased and his smile got wider, he left her hands only to wrap his arms around her waist while she squealed a little and placed her hands on his chest feeling his muscles flex, pulling her close to him, inhaling her intoxicating vanilla and lilac scent. He leaned down to look into her eyes and said with all emotion he could muster knowing that she would be able to feel them "I love you Raven…I am in love with you."

"I am in love with you too." She confessed earnestly, her eyes flashing with all the love she has for him. With that his lips came down to hers and white hot lightning surged through both of their veins.

The storm which came as a threat swallow them whole now become a witness to the union of two souls, two birds of one feather, who yearned for each other and now were finally one.