Two Birds With One Stone

Disclaimer: No, I do not own the Teen Titans. No matter how well I write them. Or whatever. The term "Sister-in-God" was borrowed from Tad Williams. I did not create it.

I was dreaming when I wrote this/ So sue me if I go too fast

Chapter Seven: Surprisingly

For the next few days, Robin made more of an attempt to talk to Raven. If Bruce noticed, he didn't say anything. Raven rarely spoke to him, at any rate, so it wasn't much of an improvement. However, when she did, Robin listened. And he was sure she noticed that.

"I'm going into Jump City to patrol with my friend Cyborg. Do you want to come?"

Raven looked up from her book, a thick paperback volume. She favored him with a look that clearly said he was wasting his time.

"I might need you if there's any criminal activity," he pushed.

The book closed and she rose from her seat with a sigh of defeat, taking his hand and allowing her darkness to flow over them.

When she had first taken his hand, some weeks ago, he'd been surprised. But he figured it was necessary so that she could teleport them both. So he thought nothing of it. That is, until he overhead her telling Bruce that she didn't need to touch someone to teleport them.

Jump City was red and green all over, as it was nearing Christmas. Raven pulled her hood over her eyes as far as possible, obviously not cheered by the décor.

"Robin!"

They turned around to see a young man, at least a foot and a half taller than either of them. Most of him was metal, as though it were Halloween and his costume was that of some futuristic warrior. But Victor Stone had been half robot for some time now, and now went by the name of Cyborg.

"This must be Raven." He extended his hand before Robin could warn him that Raven wasn't exactly the friendliest person. To his surprise, however, she took it and offered him something close to a smile.

"I'm glad you're both here. Just got word there's a robbery going on," Cyborg continued. He gestured to a car parked behind him. It seemed to be made of the same technology as his armor. "Hop in."

The culprit turned out to be a madman who called himself Mumbo Jumbo. He was pretty good at card tricks, but Raven showed him some real magic and then Robin and Cyborg leaped in with their special 'Sonic Boom' attack. The magician was taken away to jail within twenty minutes.

"While we're here," said Robin, gesturing to the shops filled with people doing their early Christmas shopping, "I need to buy Beastboy a present. Tomorrow is his birthday." He entered a video game store, closely followed by Raven, who was muttering something under her breath about "Annoying, green-skinned shape-shifters". He found the video game Beastboy had been talking about for the past three weeks and bought it.

"There's a really nice book store here with a café. They even sell boxes of tea. Would you like to go?" Robin asked.

"I'd like that," she answered. He thought there was a slight drop in her monotone, but didn't give it any thought.

They left Cyborg in the front of the store, looking at some car and computer magazines.

Raven picked up another thick paperback tome – the last installment of the series she was reading – and followed Robin to the little café in the back of the store. The woman behind the counter let her sample a few of the teas they had for sale, and Raven went over to the shelf to decide which one she wanted.

While she examined a package of chamomile, Robin thought about how she held his hand even though she didn't need to. It didn't bother him, certainly. In fact, he rather liked it.

"Excuse me - " He was called out of his thoughts by a young woman.

"Yes?"

She pointed upward. Mistletoe. Raven had noticed it, too. They were standing directly underneath it. The whole café seemed to be staring at them. Robin mentally braced himself. He had so far witnessed a few of Raven's emotional displays, and they usually involved things breaking or exploding in fits of dark energy.

Raven was staring at the offending little branch with great dislike. But she hadn't run away. Did he dare hope?

"Oh, fine then," Raven muttered, closing the distance between them. Robin was temporarily overwhelmed by the closeness, not to mention her scent. For some reason he thought it would be something like lavender. But it was vanilla. Then, quite suddenly, her free hand was entwined in his hair, and she pulled him toward her and kissed him – on the cheek.

Then it was over and she was walking away, toward the counter to pay for the package of tea. Cyborg was standing some distance away, a car magazine dangling from his fingers. He wore an expression on his face that was equal to what Robin was feeling.

Utter shock.

Hours later, when they were back at Wayne mansion and he was in bed, he couldn't get her scent out of his mind. And the feeling of her lips brushing against his cheek was still there. Nothing Starfire had done had ever made him feel so… elated. He pulled the covers around himself and made a mental note to tell Alfred to put some mistletoe up around the house.

Writer's note: As always, thanks to all those who read, reviewed, and are now waiting most anxiously for the next chapter.

This was a somewhat shorter chapter, but I hope you enjoyed it. Especially after all of that Robin being a jerk stuff. We've gotten past all the intro, so now we'll have a few fun chapters and then the climax will build up. In the next chapter, more mistletoe. And some other stuff, too, I'm sure.

Go review already.

Signed,

The writer, you fools