This is a story for a Winter Writer Prompt on the Ships Haven Discord server for LolMouse. I had this idea for a while but didn't have any motivation to write it until now lol. So here you go!
Something Raven liked to do often was crochet. It was something she could do to calm down and relax, an outlet. She had made many things in her life but blankets were her favorite to make. It was something that the others took advantage of greatly. Every few months or so she would finish a blanket that would seemingly be taken as soon as she finished hiding the stray strands of yarn. They just couldn't help themselves, they loved her blankets. There was almost a protective feeling to them woven throughout the yarn, a kind of feeling they only got from Raven.
"This is soooo cozy." Robin sighed, snuggled under her current blanket. It was a striped pattern with shades of purple and blue.
"I'm still working on it, you know." Raven gave the blanket a tug towards her to give her some more room to work with. She was very close to finishing, just needed to finish up one more side of the white border and then it was complete.
"But it's so nice." Robin smiled, snuggled in the small bit she allowed him, covered in a sea of blue and purple. "It kinda smells like you too."
"What does it smell like?"
"You mean what do you smell like?"
"Not exactly my question."
"Well," Robin took a deep breath from the blanket. "You smell a lot like coziness."
"Coziness?" Raven questioned, putting her hook down to look at him as she finished that side of the blanket, getting ready to turn it to work on the other side.
"Yeah." Robin looked back at her, slowly pulling more of the blanket his way hoping she wouldn't notice as he tried to distract her. He didn't mean to say that out loud, but it just kinda came out. He wanted to use it to his advantage though, might as well right? Maybe he could get the blanket and she would forget she was working on it. A stupid idea, he knew, but he loved her blankets.
"And what does coziness smell like exactly?" Raven asked, feeling him pull on the blanket but let him. She was going to turn it in a second anyway. She would love to see his reaction of her pulling the blanket off him and leaving him with nothing. She smirked at the thought
"It just smells like you." Robin replied unhelpfully, pulling the blanket back over him. "It smells like warmth, and, vanilla. Dryer sheets, I don't know," he shrugged, "you. You just smell like coziness. Wait," He eyed her skeptically, not liking the feeling of her smirk, "why are you smiling like that?"
"I'm at the end of the row."
It took him a second to process what she was trying to hint at before he caught on, clutching the blanket like how a child would when they have something they're not supposed to have. He was so cozy. It had been a cold day and he was very happy under her blanket. She wouldn't strip him of that warmth, right? "You wouldn't."
"Oh I most certainly would." She smirked at his desperation.
"But then I'll be cold."
"That sounds like a you problem." Raven said with an even face and tugged at the blanket, pulling it off of Robin and pooling on her left side on top of the couch cushions, ready to finish the last row.
He tried to not be as childish when the blanket was ripped clean off of him, but he couldn't resist the small dramatic shivers he played as the cold winter air hit him. Even though the heater worked in the tower, it was still fairly cool inside. And his one source of warmth had just been mercilessly ripped off of him. "How do you sleep at night?"
"Pretty well considering you're the one who's just going to take this from me when I finish it anyway." Raven spoke as she continued her way down the side of the blanket. Looking over she saw his pitiful looking form slumped on the couch looking up at her with what she would guess was puppy eyes since he wore his mask and rolled her eyes. "Lord, this will take like five minutes to finish. It's not that cold."
"Easy for you to say." Robin forced a shiver to help further his point. "You're the one still with the blanket, all nice and warm."
"And it's going to stay that way if you don't stop complaining." Raven moved the finished side closer to him on her right but tucked it under her leg so he wouldn't take it.
"You're so mean." He lightly teased, honestly a bit upset that she didn't give him the finished side of the blanket.
"Yep." Raven replied sarcastically. "I am so mean because I didn't give you part of the blanket. How dare I. It's not like you have two of my other blankets in your room or anything. And the really soft ones too."
"Huh, I wonder how those got in there?" Robin mused innocently, knowing perfectly well that he took them from her. Well, took was a strong word. It was more like he used them for the night and forgot to give them back.
"I wonder as well." Raven said, knowing fully well that he took them from her for the night but didn't give them back because he claimed they "had magical sleepy powers."
"Well then it's a good thing that you didn't have to wait too long because it's finished." Raven declared as she reached for the scissors on the coffee table and snipped off the loose strand of yarn, weaving it into the blanket with her hook.
Robin waited patiently for her as she spent the next minute hiding the strand before he made a grab for the blanket.
"Uh uh." Raven said as she pulled the blanket away once more, causing Robin to grab at the air. "I've been working on this since August. I want to lay with it before it's snatched from me this time."
Robin pulled his hand back, a bit disappointed that he couldn't have the blanket but otherwise respencing her request. He'd have to admit, they did all like to take her blankets. They couldn't help themselves. Plus he did have a few in his room that he accidentally stole during one of their nightmare comfort sessions that he just didn't want to give back. It gave him comfort when she wasn't there.
Leaning back against the couch, he gave her some room to get situated with the blanket. She made this one fairly large per Cyborg's request so he could comfortably snuggle up with it too. He didn't know exactly what pattern she was using but it reminded him for some reason of zentangles. She had used a super soft brand of yarn that was a tad thicker then what she usually used, perfect for the upcoming cold weather. He actually went to the store and helped her pick out the colors. She had been drawn to the grayish purple yarn but had a bit of a challenge figuring out what other colors she wanted to use. It took a lot of matching colors together to the sample pattern she brought, but they decided on a grayish blue and a very light purple that looked white to go with it.
"You know what?" Raven started, moving the blanket off of her.
Robin perked up a bit. Maybe she was going to share with him. It was definitely big enough. Or maybe let him have it.
"I'm going to put it in the wash so it doesn't smell like the craft store."
Robin frowned slightly as she collected the blanket and stood up. "I don't think it smells that bad."
"Yeah, well you're not the one working with the yarn. It kinda smells like cardboard."
"I only smell you though. It smells really nice."
Raven took a moment and froze for a few seconds, a bit caught off guard at his comment, not too sure what to think. Sure, he said that earlier, but she thought he was just trying to distract her. She didn't know that he was serious about that.
Robin saw her flush slightly before the realization of what he actually said hit him. He started to find the words to apologize or explain or something, but Raven beat him to it by saying a quiet thank you and leaving the room.
Robin watched her leave then slumped down on the couch, embarrassed at himself for what he said. He was afraid that things were going to be awkward between them now. They had gotten so close those past few months and he was nervous that he just flushed it all down the drain with that one comment.
"Hey Rob! Whatcha doing?"
Robin turned back to the door to see Cyborg had walked in.
"Not much." He replied, perking up a bit seeing his friend as Cyborg moved to the kitchen. "I was with Raven but she left a minute ago."
"Did she finish that blanket? Last time I saw her working on it she was doing the border."
"Yeah, she actually just finished it. She's putting it in the wash though."
"Damn. She took it before you could huh?" Cyborg chuckled as he pulled out a pan from under the stove.
Robin smiled at Cyborg knowing his plan. He probably had the same one too. "Yeah. I had it for a bit but she took it from me."
"Yep, that's our girl alright." Cyborg smiled with a shake of his head. "If you're not doing anything can you come help make dinner?"
The rest of the night went on without a hitch. Robin had helped Cyborg make dinner, said dinner was a success with the team, and after, everyone had gone off to do their own thing.
Robin was currently back on the couch, sock covered feet resting on the coffee table as he worked on some very overdue reports with the tv on in the background, making enough noise to have some noise but still quiet enough to not pay attention.
"I never took you for a Ladybug fan." Raven commented as she sat down next to him, her newly washed blanket and a book in tow.
Robin looked up from his papers and sure enough on the screen was Ladybug. "It was Phineas and Ferb when I turned it on, it must have changed."
"Whatever makes you feel better."
Robin rolled his eyes under the mask playfully and went back to his work, not noticing that Raven had laid the blanket on him until it covered his papers. He looked up and saw that she had actually placed it on top of them both, finding a comfortable position to resume reading her book, looking a bit nervous.
Feeling his gaze on her, she looked up with a questioning look.
"I just, I thought you wanted to snuggle with it." Robin answered, pulling his papers out from under the blanket and laying them on his now cozy lap, a bit confused as to why she was sharing it with him.
"I did, but you helped me with this one and really wanted it too, so I just thought, you know, since it's big enough for two people, that maybe," She rambled, a bit embarrassed with explaining her reasoning and unsure of how he felt about it. She was also worried about whether she had crossed a line or not in their carefully built relationship. It had taken a lot for them to get to this point together and she didn't want to be the reason it fizzled out.
Seeing her clearly uncomfortable and knowing what she was trying to say, Robin smiled and started putting his fingers in and out of the small holes in the blanket, trying to show her that he didn't mind at all and was quite happy with the idea.
"Yeah, it's a good idea! That way we both can have the blanket and I won't be taking it from you, much."
Raven gave a small sigh of relief and shook her head while turning her attention back to her book. "If you manage to take the whole thing I'm going to push you off the couch."
"Then I'll just take it with me on my way down." He smirked, liking when they tease and banter with each other.
"Just go back to watching your magical girl kids cartoon."
Robin gave a light chuckle as he resituated himself under the blanket and resumed his work, now feeling warmer and happier, her presence and blanket adding to his newfound tranquility.
"Thank you for being with me." Raven said quietly after a few minutes.
"Thank you for wanting to be with me too." Robin said with a kind smile. "You make some cozy blankets."
"Well I'm glad I can provide you with some sort of comfort."
'You do that more than you know.' Robin thought as he and Raven sat snuggled with her new blanket reading peacefully, slowly starting to come to the realization that this was all he wanted all along, that he wanted more moments with her like this.
The blanket that Raven is making is one that I have in fact been working on since August lol. It's a big one and don't have hach time to do it sadly. For those wondering what the pattern looks like, here it is! Just remove the spaces since links don't work on here
h t t p s : / / p i n . i t / A e Q R y D W
I hope you liked this story :)