Okay sorry. I was just so overwhelmed in a good way that I wanted to at least for the first chapter thank everyone. I understand that this may get tedious for you, so obviously you needn't read them. I just want people to have the option to see that I read their kind words and that I appreciate them. If you trust me and don't mind either way, feel free to scroll past them, but if not, you should be in there if you reviewed before like two hours a go…mmm, yeah.

So, thank yous for chapter one as far as I got them:

DivineRose2392: I really appreciate your review. It means the world to me that someone takes even a couple minutes or so to let me know they read it and sort of or more than sort of liked it. !

Cherry Jade: YOU'RE SO NICE! THANK YOU SO MUCH. Ah your comment made me so glad I posted this. I almost didn't post it at all! I'm reallyyyyyyyy glad you liked it so.

RedRover3173: YOU are awesome. Much the thank you and hope this one's to your liking as well. :smile:

teradanielle: your review helped me decide to continue it. Every affirmation to move forward helps me tons! Thank you.

Dark Shadows: Hope the e-mail sent accurately to you:bows: thank you for reviewing.

raven and robin girl: YAY FOR RAVEN AND ROBIN, whoo. I am glad you like the story as well as, clearly, the pairing. I am super afraid of flames from Robin and Starfire fans…:shudder: I don't mind the couple and I actually adore Starfire and her funny alien habits like downing mustard, but I much prefer Robin and Raven as a couple. thanks and let me know if you like this chapter too!

SilverBlueEmpath: Love your penname or alias or whatever one might call it! Super duper cool. I'm a dork. Sorry. Anyways, thanks for reviewing.

Devyn Thompson: Yep, clichés are a late obsession of mine... well, I mean, it's okay I guess as long as they're moderated...anyway, thank you for your kind review. Hope this one's enjoyable too.

evilsangle: your enthusiasm actually gave ME enthusiasm...and just so you know, I'm a lazy jerk of a video game couch potato girl in that pre-college limbo, so enthusing me to do ANYTHING is a feat. Thank you for your vote of confidence!

beth: that one word is all it takes. I thank you equally as much as the others. I think people underestimate the power of a one word response. :gives cookie: thank you.

Miss A. LaRosa: some fluff and some foreshadowing, if vague in this one. Do inform me if you'd like to see more. I like your penname.

Sugarhighnutcase: no need to sign in! ANY REVIEW (not counting flames since those scare me…eep) is welcome and much appreciated. Yours was especially nice! Thank you very much.

AinoMinako: ah yes, robin being that way at ANY age is a mite or a lot OOC, but I figure even if the comic artists never penned it in right, he's a guy and it's been made evident that he's human so I'm factoring in a combination of honest love and undeniable hormones here... anyways, I am glad you read it and thank you for your review. I hope this chapter elucidates a little on his actions, and if not, if I get to a third chapter kicks herself out of lazy-state I'll try to do better!

KhmerGurl113: again, since someone else also apologized for not signing in, I don't mind in the least! The fact that you took the time to write me some words in encouragement is incredibly helpful to me, signed in or not! thank you.

Raven42431: hehe, your review showed up twice. Tis special. THANK YOU THANK YOU--twice for two reviews…:)

Darkofthenight: all these people with cool pennames giving me reviews :sound of love: phweeeeee! Aw this maketh me happy. Thankies much. Tell me how you think of this chapter if you have time!

Sam: Yours was one of the first gung-ho responses I got to continue. Thank you so much. I truly am grateful and once again, this is a recurring theme in my thank-yous but honestly, it's these encouraging words you and the others are sending me that get me geared up to try to write another chapter.

silentxloudmouth: tis indeed the boy wonder! And now he's in a towel...okay I'm stopping there. Sorry. Bad author. Xx Anyway, thank you as well for the review. It was very kind and thoughtful.

Kayleigh: I did my best to get this chapter out, spurred on by the severely unexpected and appreciated response, though looking at it now, I kinda wanna erase it…er...I'll try and do better for the third if you guys would like to see another chapter I mean. :hits self: Back to my point: THANK YOU. Heh. -

Celestial Chaos: here tis chapter two, much in partly thanks to you----okay I promise, I shall try to not make such painstakingly bad rhymes anymore... seriously though, thank you for the review.

white Wolf Guardian: I'm a sucker for a good penname...aka: I like yours. Anyway, I adore R/R too, duh. And I am glad you do too. Hope this chapter is okay. Much appreciation for your review in chapter one!

HighFlyer09: nine is SO my favorite number. THANK YOU FOR YOUR REVIEWWWWWWWWWWW. Whoo. Encouragement gives me energy...how about that?

Raven: I shall continue as long as people continue to enjoy it. when people stop enjoying it, I shall recede into the darkness and try to turn myself into a better writer…erk…or a decent one at least! Thank you for your review. I hope you like it and I hope others like it and I am therefore not forced to recede into the darkness quite yet. :P

Caribbeanteller: thankies. You review people are so nice. Geez. :blush:

Yorick: mmm clever review. Heh. Thank you. Working on my other one right now, well as soon as I post this one.

Thank you. I did not expect such a kind response, and such a thorough one! That really motivated me. Working on 'For nothing, for everything...for the birds' now, but I'll come back to this one if you're still interested! Thank you.

Just so you know, I shall ask the same question as I did at the end of chapter one, at the end of chapter two. Let me know, I mean if you have time. If not, tis okay. I'll probably get around to another chapter since I'm on a severe RaexRob rampage of obsessive extents.

:runs off to work on her other robinXraven fanfiction and drink a lot of coffee:

And finally, patient friends, chapter two:

Winner Takes All

Chapter Two: On the Offense

Eyes widening as his lips captured her own, Raven reminded herself of several things: 1) this was Robin, Robin who she knew very well their friend Starfire had a thing for; 2) surely he had to be under the influence even though she'd just previously ascertained otherwise; 3) she was RAVEN and that simply called for things to come to a halt, right away.

Sure kiddo, that's what they all say, at least two of her emotions laughed at her.

Instead of listening to that wonderfully logical list, the empath felt her eyes succumb to blindness as she responded instinctively to the bird boy's surprisingly aggressive action. His fingers tangled themselves in her hair and she wondered briefly when his hand had moved. The other, she was vaguely aware, rested warmly on her hip and his lips left her mouth to retrace his earlier steps down her neck. She cursed herself as she felt herself gasp as he traced a bold finger down her side. He was inviting and oddly robust about his kisses and caresses, not at all the gentle first-kiss or touch of a schoolboy that she would have expected and at that moment was half wishing it was.

A schoolboy she could slap and be done with.

But this was Robin.

Robin...

Why oh why do birds have to flock together? She wondered beseechingly as he brought his mouth down on her again, lifting and placing her on the counter as they explored each other.

All the warmth wasn't coming from the kettle screaming its head off on the stove.

They broke apart, reminded woefully of their need for that handy thing called oxygen, and during this catch in time, Raven stared at her leader as though he was crazy while he returned her stare thinking much the same thing, if for different reasons. She began to push him away, her hands on his chest providing a shaky distance between them and it only occurred to her maybe two whole minutes later that the distance was not increasing. She thought about jumping off the counter, feeling distinctly awkward now, but Robin had encircled her wrists with his hands, planted his feet hard on the kitchen tile and now stood before her, refusing to budge with every self-righteous inch of the Boy Wonder stubbornness he could muster.

"Raven," he started and shushed her with such an intense look that she forgot to be shocked that he was even able to shush her at all. Not many could. "I..." his voice seemed to falter as though he just now recognized that the look in her deep night colored eyes was not one of mere passion, but passion with fear mingled in its midst. Silence ensued and they just looked at each other.

Raven's gaze was the first to drop.

"Why'd you have to do it?" she almost laughed, pulling her hands away from the now confused Robin, crossing her arms protectively over herself as if both indignant and estranged.

"What?" such a simple question.

"We can't do this, Robin," Raven's eyes pleaded with him to just let it go. Make it easy.

Robin rarely did things the easy way though.

"Why not?" he challenged. "We've as much right as anyone to...to...feel," he tried to pick the right words, all the while knowing he probably wouldn't.

"It has nothing to do with what our rights are, Robin. It's about the team, and...it's about me," she admitted this last part with painful reluctance and she felt the waves of persistence from Robin subdue slightly.

"You," his pause was thick with nauseous regret, "Don't feel the same."

It wasn't a question.

And so, she didn't answer, knowing that if she did she would contradict herself and risk so much, just for the wants of two lone birds.

"I'm sorry Robin," and really, she was.

Just not the way he thought she meant.

And Raven Roth shook with the strange bitterness that seeped into her as she drew her arms closer to herself, insanely interested in the floor suddenly, if only because it meant she didn't have to look at him. She couldn't bear the eerie sadness that she was certain could not be because she was refusing him. She couldn't bear the...the look of something that would cause her to make her own move as she so desired to. She simply couldn't.

Now, Robin did indeed have that look on his face, all of those looks actually, but he wasn't the leader of the titans for nothing. He was a master analyst and even without the mind-reading skills of Raven, he had a knack for feeling out what was really going on. So he watched.

He watched her as she tugged at the pockets on her jeans and became discouragingly fascinated with the kitchen floor.

Robin watched his long time friend and teammate and he did so carefully.

Her apology had bitten him like a snake, small, sinful...sorrowful, but he hadn't been friends with Raven so long to ignore the fact that half the time one couldn't take her words for face value and that one was a whole lot better off to observe the girl rather than prod her for details she had no intention of sharing. When she started to shake he felt alarm and then confusion and then alarm yet again. She wasn't...no...she didn't...Raven never...

"I'm not crying, boy blunder. I'm cold. My cloak's in the wash," the mind-reader interrupted his thoughts, but not easily deterred from scrutiny, Robin watched more. It wasn't cold at all in the kitchen, actually the steam from the whistling kettle that both had conveniently forgotten was making it rather warm.

"Sometimes even you suck at lying," he said with a practiced ease, a practiced ease that had been known to push the buttons of a certain empath quite effectively in the past. He waited while she gathered her thoughts, resisting the urge to reach out and wipe away whatever hurt he might have inflicted upon her. Raven after all, was still Raven even through all this, and Raven liked her space. She looked at him blankly.

"Where did this come from, Robin? This isn't...this isn't you!" she finally said, hands splayed out as if calling on some all powerful someone to give her more of an answer than she expected out of the person she was asking.

"Rae, you're not stupid. You must've noticed? I mean, I've even caught you catching me uh," Robin restrained an uncharacteristic blush. In the past month or so he'd found himself taking more and more notice of the strangely charming and dark girl before him. More than a few times she had chanced a glance up while he was watching her and, thoroughly embarrassed, he'd looked very quickly away, counting on the fact that, knowing Raven, she would chalk it up to a whole lot of nothing.

"I thought it was nothing," she said in all honesty. Sometimes, Robin mused, it wouldn't hurt him to be wrong.

"It's not 'nothing' though, Rae. This is not 'nothing'," he insisted fiercely and she thought he might kiss her again—wished he might kiss her again, if she was at all truthful with herself—and he did, but it was ever so gentle this time, and on her cheek. This was not the kind of kiss, however, that one might be used to getting on the cheek, not a mother's or a brother's, not even a good friend's kiss. No. His lips lingered on her skin, his breath tantalizing her in such a way that such an innocent gesture she firmly believed should not elicit.

"Robin," it was a whisper. He wondered if he could possibly, with any strange luck, be breaking her down. Her voice shook like she still continued to do, and he drew his arms around her to calm her anxious nerves, not really believing that by holding her so close he might actually be increasing them. The shaking did subside and then after what seemed like a forever and a half, Raven exhaled deeply, as though she'd been holding her breath. What for, he wasn't sure but he sensed the edges of her earlier fear creeping away like a morning fog.

Did he dare hope?

Well, the end of the world hadn't stopped this guy from hoping so it seemed unlikely that a girl, even the unapproachable and also unflappable Raven, would stop him.

Bright lad.

Two minutes later Raven rested her head against his chest, arms going to wrap around his waist and he held her closer if at all possible, and it was.

"I deserve a chance," he murmured into her hair. The words were soft but their softness did nothing to hide the fact that he was completely serious and not in the least ready to back down from his assertion.

"But," she began.

"We deserve a chance," he insisted, holding her by her shoulders and pulling back far enough to stare into her eyes with such intensity, she shied away, her gaze falling to his chest. His hand cupped her chin, tilting it up so that she would look at him again with those eyes he had become so enamored with.

"This is so not you," she made one last feeble attempt to fend him off. "You sure you're not you know…" She was cut off by his laughter.

"I'm not drunk and I'm not high and I'm not anything I'm not usually," he paused and then added, "Except I'm being completely honest with you right now, Rae, without you reading my mind…but," here he ran a hand through his hair as though considering some great decision. "If you...if you want to forget this happened for a while, it's...it's okay," he put his hand up to stop her from interrupting with what appeared to be a very sarcastic remark from the look on her face, "it's okay with me, if you want to forget it happened for a while," he emphasized the temporariness with an even tone.

"How could I forget this?" it was only a whisper.

"The idea was that you hopefully wouldn't," Robin admitted, gracing her with that devil-may-care grin her liked to sport when he was being playful or mischievous. Falling back into her comfort zone with a cushy thud, Raven pushed him forcefully away, rolling her eyes at him in silent laughter.

"You are horrible," she repeated her words from earlier and he shrugged.

"You are beautiful," he replied calmly and Raven felt a very human blush come up on her cheeks. By the self-satisfied smirk on his face, Robin had noticed it too. Unfortunately the blush still didn't recede with the grimace she sent his way.

"No I'm not," she faltered and Robin tapped his chin as if in very deep thought, which he wasn't, but nevertheless, the pretense never hurt anyone.

Well, not that he knew of anyway.

"How about I admit I'm 'horrible'," the very look on his face suggested otherwise, but he continued smoothly, "and you admit you're beautiful."

"No."

Right then. He put his hands on his hips now, doing a fantastic mother-hen imitation and Raven bit back the laughter that threatened to rise out of her, even as her eyes danced at him.

"It's more than fair. I, a dashing superhero of most noble status admit to being horrible and you, most esteemed lady friend admit to being beautiful. It's hardly an equal trade," he frowned, melodramatic flare shooting every which way, and then some. Quirking a brow, Raven suppressed a smile at his theatrics.

"For a 'dashing superhero' you have absolutely no taste," she deadpanned.

"I'm sure I have no idea what you're talking about," Robin was clearly offended as he absently stuck his chin out slightly as people tend to when they feel the need to come off right more often.

"Red? Yellow? Green? Stop, slow, go...ringing a bell here?" she knocked on his head playfully. Robin smiled on the inside while he feigned hurt on the outside; she was getting comfortable again with him.

"You're jealous," he said, a sly expression facing the empath boldly even as she snickered uncontrollably.

"Jealous I wasn't born colorblind, yes, that must be it," her sarcasm was at full force.

"Hah. Hah," his reply was hollow and he crossed his arms this time, well into the role of upset toddler.

Raven marveled, not at any one thing in particular either. She just marveled. Not moments ago she had been on the verge of a nervous breakdown and here she was joking in jolly banter with that self-same young man who had advanced on her earlier, that self-same young man who was her leader and friend, her mind reminded her. And she realized with abruptness that she had been unintentionally mean, bordering on heartless.

Here he was, asking her to give him a chance and...out of fear, she had blown him off, overly ready to fall back into whatever preexisting relationship the two had, even if it was a good one at that. She had been too anxious to get back to square one, if only because square one was so simple, easy. Her thoughts were interrupted though by their main point of focus as she was faintly aware of Robin calling her name and a hand being waved in front of her, up and down in a worried fashion.

"Raven?" he had resorted to her full name when she didn't respond the first five times he'd called. So in a pattern, Robin was startled when her hand gently took a hold of his and slowed its frantic wave.

"I'm sorry," she said for the second time that day and he wondered why this time.

"Me too, for pushing this on you," he jumped in, not about to let her shoulder the blame on herself. It was hardly a matter of blame but he knew she wouldn't see it that way.

"So...friends?" she bit out the word. Even though she wanted what he had been brave enough to offer she felt a dark reservation about it that she couldn't explain and the inexplicable frightened her more so. She couldn't risk it.

"For now," he smiled that patient smile, not the cocky one or the overly rambunctious one, but a patient smile that said 'I'll wait'.

It almost broke her heart. She floated up off the counter and moved cautiously around him, very, very attentive to avoiding further contact with him, and turned to leave the kitchen and when his voice broke into her thoughts again, she kept retreating toward her room, even though she could hear him quite clearly anyway.

"But I'm not sorry for kissing you Rae," he called after her and this was more than the second time she had to fight back the unrelenting blush that crept over her delicate cheekbones as he added, "I suggest a rematch soon." Robin considered the consequences of what he had just started. He considered everything: the board and its pieces, the possibilities and strategies open or closed to him. As it was, he could definitely bide his time and for now, that was his game plan...not to say that a few more moves weren't on the horizon...

Robin turned and shook his head at the forgotten tea kettle. Raven forgetting her tea once was slightly normal, especially since she had been reading. Raven forgetting her tea twice was just unnatural.

He allowed himself a half smile.

The chance he'd taken was a big one; he knew. The empath would be hypersensitive to any of the faintest hints that he was on the offense, as he undeniably was. Emptying the contents of the tea kettle he reasoned to himself that he would simply have to either make it so subtle she couldn't quite pin him for it, or be so persuasive she didn't want to pin him for it.

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Door shutting behind her, Raven slid down against it.

Life, it seemed, had just gotten a lot more interesting...and a lot more complicated. Rubbing her temples, she told herself that she'd done the right thing, that nothing truly good could come of what had almost transpired out in the kitchen, that this was all in all, for the best.

Robin was right. She did suck at lying sometimes.

Cursed bird boy, she glowered at the wall across from her shortly and sighed, pushing herself up off the floor.

A rogue dust bunny giggled its way across her room and she frowned, dusting herself off at the sight of it. Testily, she pulled a section of her hair forward to eye it critically before scowling deeply. She had had every intention of not coming out of her room again that night, but she really, really needed a shower.

After a moment's consideration, she began a meditative mantra, cross-legged and quiet as often she was. She would wait until later, when they were all asleep.

And so she did.

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Sooner than she'd anticipated, evening arrived on the heels of twilight, bringing chariots of stars and purple clouds and, more importantly, sleep for her fellow titans. Judging by the immaculate silence she detected from pressing an ear to her door, Raven grabbed a towel and made her way leisurely to the shower, sparing the clock a glance as she did.

3:47 AM.

Nodding to herself, she continued on her trek to the bathroom. There was of course, another one, but it happened to be in an inconvenient location. One was here obviously and the other was...in Robin's room. Briefly she thanked Starfire's theoretical god of whatever it was since she didn't have a particular affinity for her own gods, for putting the other one well away from her leader's room and she reached out to turn the bathroom door knob.

Click. Raven had the odd suspicion that her heart had just dropped into her stomach.

Steam floated out of the door she was about to enter as it opened and she was staring at a rather clean, rather towel-clad Robin.

No matter that it made no sense he was here since not only did he have the only other bathroom in the tower but it wasn't close to him at all and it was now probably 3:48 or 3:49 AM. Oh no. No matter.

In fact, it wasn't even the towel that had her staring and trying very, very hard to remember how to politely avert her eyes or at the very least bolt in the other direction.

No, no.

It was his eyes that had her rendered both speechless and motionless.

Funny, somehow she'd always imagined he showered with his mask on.

Oh the running end tag line: continue?