7snogs Themed Fics

by LusciniaeCantus

Robin/Raven pairing

Standard Disclaimer: Move along people, it isn't mine.


Theme #2 Jealousy:
Envy is a Green-Cloaked Incarnation

Raven had always known that Starfire and Robin were close friends. She had even known that they had been mutually attracted to one another for a while, but Robin had assured her that that was in the past. And Raven believed him. Which was why she was so stunned to witness the two of them kissing as she looked on from the shadows of the hallway.

Let's rewind for a minute.

Raven had been meditating all morning after BeastBoy's horrible attempts at Christmas carols the night before. She knew the shapeshifter meant well, and certainly no harm, but her massive headache had begged to differ. After a morning locked in her room and stubbornly refusing her friends' attempts to take her Boxing Day shopping with them, the dark bird was feeling much better. She even hummed tunelessly to herself as she made her way down to the kitchen for a cup of relaxing herbal tea.

The halls were still decked with Christmas cheer because none of the Titans had gotten around to taking the festive decorations down yet. It was only the day after Christmas, besides, and Raven knew that it'd be at least a week before the bright red and green streamers were pulled down, the bows and shiny trinkets tucked away and the large plastic tree packed back into storage for another year.

Raven approached the entryway to the living room, her cloak trailing silently behind her. As soon as the interior of the massive room was visible though, the girl stopped short, her eyes widening in shock.

Robin and Starfire were standing at the kitchen counter, their winter jackets still on and there were colourful bags of merchandise sitting on the counter. The two of them had obviously just gotten home and were relieving their stuff in the living room. The scene that made Raven stop in her tracks, however, was the fact that Starfire had her head leaning towards Robin, her lips slightly puckered, and clearly asking for a kiss. Robin tilted slightly to the side, gave a soft chuckle and obliged her. He leaned forward to place an affectionate peck on the alien girl's lips, drew back and grinned. His lips moved in a murmur that Raven's numb mind was unable to pick up, and Starfire giggled.

The whole scene was so intimate, and so obviously not meant for her eyes, that Raven forgot all about her tea and retreated back into her room.

Reason and Compassion warred with Pride and Independence in her mind over the situation they had just viewed and Raven was still too much in shock to quell their fight.

Reason held that there must've been an explanation for Robin's irrational behaviour and Compassion agreed, saying that the Boy Wonder wasn't the type to be unfaithful in a serious relationship.

Well, what if the relationship wasn't all that serious to him, Independence shot back. All men were the same anyways, and Raven didn't need that stupid, clumsy, no-good, cheating sonofa—

Besides Pride interrupted, if he couldn't appreciate Raven for who she was, then Raven was better off without him.

And, amongst all of this, there was another Emotion whose presence Raven adamantly refused to admit. Green-cloaked Envy stood off to the side of the raging argument, a smug smile on her lips. She had remained silent so far, happy to let Pride and Independence contend her side, but her very attendance there fuelled the Emotions' bitter debate.

"This is a mess," Knowledge commented from the sidelines, next to Envy.

"Isn't it?" Envy smiled. By this time, the other Emotions had also gotten dragged in.

"We could do better than him," Ambition scoffed in disdain.

"Perhaps we could, but we don't want to," Truth countered. "We love Robin." Raven winced inwardly at the calm way that was stated by the most honest and straightforward of her inner selves.

"But he does not love us," Sadness said softly.

"Of course he does!" Happiness chirped, though she sounded unusually distressed. "He told us so!"

"Yeah, and a fat lot of good that was," Pride muttered. "You saw what he did!"

"Kill him!" Anger enthused. She was promptly ignored.

Courage waded into the argument, tired of talk. "Let's do something! Nobody gets away with cheating on us!"

"Knowledge, do something!" Timidity pleaded with the yellow-cloaked Emotion. She looked ready to cry, her large purple eyes wide with panic. "You're the one Raven listens to the most!"

Knowledge sighed and adjusted her glasses. "It's true that we did see Robin kissing Starfire." This was met by a round of angry shouts. "But," she continued, "we don't know the context under which he did it."

"So you're saying… he might've done it out of some reason other than that he liked her?" Pride's sarcasm was scathing.

Knowledge shrugged, unfazed. "Who knows? There is not enough information to say for sure."

"But he did kiss her," Envy spoke up, looking pointedly at the group. "And he did it on the lips."

Her supporters nodded, a chorus of "Yeah!" sounding.

"Enough!"

Everyone looked to Raven who had materialized in their midst, crackling with dark energy.

"Just be quiet," she commanded. "This is none of your business."

None of her Emotions pointed out that since they were technically a part of her, this was indeed their business. Instead, Compassion began to shoo everyone away. The others complied, some more reluctantly than others, until only Envy and Knowledge remained.

Envy shot Raven a look, her purple eyes glittering with something akin to triumph, before gliding off.

"There is not enough information," Knowledge murmured softly before disappearing as well.

Raven wrenched herself out of the now empty Nevermore plain, and back into her own body.

"I'm not jealous," she muttered to herself. "I'm not."

Taking a deep breath, she settled into her lotus position and began to meditate again. She didn't emerge from her room until the next afternoon.

--

"Hey Raven. I haven't seen you since Christmas Day."

She had finally ventured from her room for a cup of tea and some food. The turmoil in her mind had died down a bit thanks to her meditating, but a dull headache had persisted. Needless to say, Raven wasn't exactly in a cheery mood and the one person she did not want to see at the moment had just entered the kitchen.

And he was insistent on making conversation.

Raven ignored him, concentrating on the way the steam rose from her cup to curl into patterns in the air before dissipating completely. That, and the three words that had been her close companions ever since the… incident.

Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos, Azarath, Metrion Zinthos…

"It's too bad you didn't come with us yesterday," the Boy Wonder continued, oblivious to his companion's lack of response. "It was fun, even if BeastBoy almost managed to bankrupt us." He chuckled at the memory.

"I'll bet it was," Raven muttered darkly, before she realized what she said and clamped her mouth shut quickly.

Robin hadn't spent most of his life under the Dark Knight's tutelage for nothing however, and he caught her tone, if not her exact words. "Raven?"

Receiving no response, he frowned. "What's the matter?" he asked, concern lacing his voice as he noticed the tension radiating from the girl in front of him. Stepping closer, he placed a hand on her shoulder, his frown deepening at the way her back stiffened at his touch. "You seem kinda on edge. Did BeastBoy do something?"

"No. BeastBoy didn't do anything." The words were out before Raven could stop them.

Robin's eyes widened under the mask, clearly taken back by the vehemence in the girl's voice. "Ookay. Well, what's wrong then?"

"Nothing is wrong," Raven said monotonously. She shrugged Robin's hand off her shoulder, picked up her cup and walked over to the sink.

A single eyebrow lifted so that it was visible under the mask, signalling Robin's doubt. "Oh yeah?" he asked, following her with his eyes. "I don't believe you." He moved closer, but was careful not to touch her again. Raven was unpredictable in anger and, despite her protests to the contrary, the dark bird was angry. "Come on, Raven. You can fool with me with your automated responses. You should know that."

That incited a reaction as the resident Dark Witch shifted her head ever so slightly to glare at him with one purple eye. "I thought I knew a lot of things, Robin. But you've proven me wrong."

"So it was something I did?"

The water turned on full-blast with a vicious flick of her wrist. "I didn't say that."

"But you implied it." A note of exasperation crept into Robin's tone. "Raven, can you just say something straight for a change?"

"I'm sure Starfire always makes it clear what she wants."

The Boy Wonder's eyebrows drew together in perplexity at this new twist. "Where did that come from?" he asked. "Raven, you know that Starfire and I are only good friends."

She placed the teacup down on the sink counter and snapped the tap off. In the silence that followed, Raven's low scoff of, "Friends with benefits," was audible to Robin's sharp ear.

"What are you talking about?" In his bewilderment, he took a step closer and halted immediately when Raven tensed. Backtracking quickly, he tried again. "Raven, you know that I lo—"

He was cut off as Raven spun around to face him, her eyes furious. "Don't play with me, Boy Wonder," she bit out savagely. "I do not appreciate being toyed with. And don't even try to tell me you're not after what happened yesterday because I'm not interested." The lights flickered dangerously.

"Yesterday?" he echoed, his confusion skyrocketing. "But I didn't even see you yesterday…" His words died away as revelation slowly dawned on his face. "Oh." This was not good. "Oh, you mean…"

"You know what I mean." Raven had gotten her emotions in check again, and her back faced him once more as she wiped off her hands on a towel.

"Raven." Robin's voice was soft, but firm. "Raven, look up over the kitchen counter."

Reluctantly, Raven's gaze flicked to the spot he named and then her purple eyes widened in comprehension.

There, hanging innocently over the counter, was a small green and red sprig of … "Mistletoe," she breathed, everything suddenly making sense.

Robin smiled in relief as he heard the anger go out of her voice. "That's right. Mistletoe. You know how Starfire is with following traditions."

Raven turned slowly to look at him, the guilt apparent in her eyes. "Robin, I'm— That is, I didn't—" The words caught in her throat.

"Don't worry about it," he told her, smiling in relief and assurance. "I understand." Then he closed the distance between them and laid a gentle kiss on her lips. "But I don't need to have mistletoe to kiss you."

--

"I told you Robin was a good person!" Happy chirruped gleefully, bouncing up to Envy.

"Oh, shut up."


A/N: Late, again. headdesk>

Thanks for the reviews for the last chapters. And again, please do let me know what you think!