Title: Deserted Island
Author: LusciniaeCantus
Pairing: RobRae
Warnings: None
Word Count: 1,457
Disclaimer: Y'know, no matter how many times I check or ask Santa for it, it's still not mine. What's up with that? (XD)
Deserted Island
It started out as one of those email chain letters that Speedy sometimes sent him. He wasn't quite sure why he actually opened the letter, seeing as he usually got rid of the things as soon as he got them without bothering to check out contents. It might've had something to do with the fact that the Titans had had a fairly quiet week, and he was currently bored out of his mind with nothing to do. Whatever it was, he found himself at the kitchen table with his laptop, clicking on the open mail button and watched the window open to the actual letter. Masked eyes skimmed through the contents absently. It was a questionnaire that was supposed to allow your friends to get to know you better by making you answer random, meaningless questions. There were the typical ones asking about his favourite colour, food, physical attribute, TV show and the like.
Some questions were easy.
What do you see yourself doing 5 years from now?
A wry smile dawned on Robin's lips, though it contained a faint trace of sorrow. Exactly what I'm doing right now, with or without the Titans.
Some proved to be amusing.
What happened in your favourite dream?
His mouth quirked into a smirk. My favourite dream, huh? Chucking lightly to himself, he remembered the one he had just the night before with Beast Boy dressed up as a giant cow saying, "Moomoo Power!"
Or the one with Raven and Starfire dressed up in that two piece swimsuit Cameron Diaz was modelling on TV the other night; the dark red one with the little flowers… Whoa, Boy Wonder! Stop right there!
Some questions were personal, touching a little too close to home.
Who is your worst enemy?
Gloved hands clenched involuntarily as his mind supplied the answer all too soon. Slade.
And some were just plain weird.
If you were yogourt, would you be stirred or fruit at the bottom?
If I were yogourt? What the hell? Robin's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. Doesn't Speedy have anything better to do with his time? Shaking his head inwardly, his eyes moved on to the next question.
If you were stuck on a deserted island for a year, and you could only have one person and one item with you, who and what would they be?
The question caught his interest immediately, though again, he could not say why exactly. His thoughts instantly flashed to his mentor, the Batman. If anyone could survive on a deserted island for any extended period of time, it'd be the Bat. And Robin was amused by the visual image of the almighty billionaire Bruce Wayne stuck on a deserted island with no way out. It'd probably drive him mad to be stuck helpless on some remote island, the Boy Wonder mused to himself. However, just as quickly, he discarded the idea. A stressed, on edge Bat was a temperamental and dangerous one. Besides, with just the two of them, tempers would soon flare and no doubt they'd get into another one of their petty arguments in no time.
Robin turned back to the question, and pondered seriously as to his answer. Cyborg? He thought on his best friend for a while. The cybernetic teen would certainly be good company and he would definitely be useful, but without any way of recharging, he'd run out of power all too soon. Besides, I doubt he'd be able to survive very long without the T-Car and his daily fix of video games, Robin thought, smiling.
So, who to bring? Beast Boy? At that thought, the Titans' teen leader could not stop a snicker from escaping his lips. Yeah right. If Cyborg gets cranky without video games, Beast Boy would be ten times worse, and ten times more annoying. The young shapeshifter was amusing at times, but Robin doubted he could stand Beast Boy's sole company for too long.
Starfire? It was no secret that he was attracted to the beautiful alien princess, but Robin had to admit that her naivety and sugar sweet innocence was too much sometimes. He felt lighter around her; that was true. Her light shone bright enough to push back his personal demons, but the sheer brilliance of her light often made his inner shadows seem all the darker. There were times when Robin just felt that they were worlds apart, with no bridge between the sharp contrasts of their core natures. Star was a strong person, with a genuinely kind and caring heart, but even though she tried her best, Robin knew that she did not, could not, understand his darker nature. And while spending time with her was not by any means unpleasant, but he was reluctant to spend an entire year with the sweet alien, constantly being reminded of that seemingly unbridgeable distance between their worlds.
Finally, his thoughts landed on the final member of his troupe, the half-demonic Dark Witch, Raven. Raven was… different. That was no surprise, as the dark bird was the daughter of Trigon the Terrible with the potential to unleash her demonic father upon the mortal world. However, that wasn't the kind of different Robin was thinking of. Raven was an unsolvable puzzle, an enigma and quite enchanting in her own dark, mysterious way. Especially to Robin's honed detective mind that fought to understand everything and anything around him.
On the less personal side, Raven would be a great asset to have if he was to survive on a deserted island. Her telepathy had saved the lives of the Titans more than once, not to mention her sharp mind and even sharper tongue would definitely make the time a lot more interesting. And Raven was certainly not free from the internal wounds that Robin nursed. Her origins and childhood had ensured that. She would be able to understand when he needed silence and privacy, and Raven would never violate those needs when she herself held them so close to her heart. Come to think of it, the dark bird was probably the best choice among the Titans, Robin mused. He had only just concluded this when he heard silent footsteps enter the kitchen.
Speak of the devil.
"Have you seen Beastboy?" The question was delivered in a quiet drawl that belied the anger lurking beneath her calm tone.
Raven stalked into the room, her face drawn up into as much of a scowl as she'd allow. Her lips were slightly turned down and compressed into a thin line, and her eyes blazed with clear annoyance. After his mind had processed all this, it reached a barrier that it could not seem to process with its usual agility.
Raven was not wearing her cloak.
Shock. Somewhere in his numbed mind, Robin realized that she was expecting him to articulate an answer to her question, her eyes narrowing dangerously at him as she considered whether or not he was shielding the little green troublemaker. "Uh, no. I haven't seen him all day," he managed to stammer out as he struggled to keep his eyes strictly on her face. "What did he do this time?" Robin had a very good idea of Beastboy must've done and silently congratulated the shapeshifter, but he asked anyways.
As though she saw right through his ruse, the dark bird lifted an unbelieving eyebrow in his direction. "He stole my cloak," she replied dryly, gesturing to her rather conspicuous lack of said article of clothing.
"Ah." Feeling rather awkward with such a lame reply, Robin added, "I see." As soon as the two words left his mouth, the Boy Wonder mentally smacked himself. Not the best choice of words, all things considered. Should've just kept my mouth shut.
"Hmm." Raven's noncommittal response made Robin nervous. He had no doubt she knew exactly what he was thinking; Raven was one of the most perceptive people he knew, on top of being an empathy. He hoped she would deem his comment too insignificant to dwell on, or he could find himself in a lot of pain. Finally the dark bird uttered a wry, "Indeed," and turned around. "Well, if you do see him, let him know that I'm going to gauge out his brains and feed it to him raw," she told him over her shoulder, before walking out of the room.
Robin smirked as he watched her, amusement now replacing the shock. Oh yes, if he had to spend an entire year with someone on a deserted island, the dark bird would definitely top the list. His eyes flicked back to the computer screen briefly, before going back to Raven's form that was now disappearing down a corner. And maybe that Cameron Diaz swimsuit too.
Notes:
Hm, Robin seems to be a bit OOC in this one. It seems to have come out somewhat disjointed. squints
Well, let me know if you like it or not. And critiques are always welcome. (Though please note that this is not an open invitation to flame me on my choice of pairings.)