Quick Dedication to everyone who put me on their favorites and the kickass reviewers: Kikiks, SweetNCrazieSugarMuffin, defying gravity178, finalitylife, CherryJade, Cherished18, Teen Titans Terminator, Tecna, Alena-chan, sbu-liz, Valian, and TheScarletRaven! Warning of sexual content and Bat OCness ahead.
…..
"I can't believe I'm going through with this." Raven felt a pout coming on and suppressed it sternly. She was no child. Robin, garbed in a red hoodie and jeans, heaved the second suitcase off his bed.
"We'll have fun."
She mocked giggling hysterically, "Oh yes! Loads of fun with the fun-fun billionaire!" Raven twirled a finger cynically and went back to staring at the patch on his ceiling from her sitting place.
He stopped dragging his suitcase, rolling eyes behind his mask. "Will you knock it off?"
She shrugged dully, "I don't see why I have to go."
"Raven, I'm not going to listen to you complain during the entire trip. You know what, if you really don't want to go... then don't. No one is making you go." Robin threw down his extra Bo-Staff's to prove his point that he was fed up. Frankly, Raven wasn't intimidated by his behavior. But she did want to go. Her reasons were her own.
"I'll go." Raven went for the door. "And I'll stop talking about it so we can enjoy what we can of Gotham." He nodded distantly, crouching down to pick up what he threw.
"That sounds good to me."
She drifted to her bedroom, levitating her only bag out and pressed her locking code to her room. Better safe than sorry. Cyborg and Starfire stood near the elevator doors, too caught up in what they were talking about to care if they were leaving that very second. At last, Starfire looked up perkily. "Friends, you are ready to vacate?"
"Don't look so sad about it, Starfire," Raven scolded gently from behind their leader. Robin hid a smile.
"I left everything in place for you in the control room. A few reminders like remember to sweep the town regularly for escapees, report to the police-"
"Lather, rinse, and repeat. We got it, Robin," Cyborg said, touching Starfire's shoulder. "It's only for a few days, so you two Lovebirds have fun."
Starfire beamed as Raven shot death glares at Tin-man. "Yes, we shall sorely miss you." Raven let herself be hugged. Robin and Cyborg did one of their weird handshakse. The departing Titans climbed up to the rooftop with their bags. Amethyst eyes widened at the sight of an overly-sized luxury helicopter. She gaped, making a confused noise.
"Bruce is a billionaire, remember?"
"I know that, Boy Wonder... but why a helicopter?"
Robin shrugged wordlessly, towing his things behind him. She followed him after a minute. The flight to Gotham wasn't exciting. Raven felt seventeen again, on her way to Robin's eighteenth birthday party, slightly bored and the beginnings signs of a migraine setting in. At last they arrived in a sleek black vehicle, driving through the gates of a tall manor; it was decorated with a taste of Gothic architecture. Raven silently approved. She asked quietly, staring out the tinted window, "What house is that?"
"Wayne Manor. The other one we went to was his seafront manor."
She frowned. "How many houses does one man need?" Robin pretended to ignore that and exited the passenger car door. They walked up a dusty pathway; before Robin could reach for the large door handle, a graying butler showed stiffly in the doorway. His wrinkled face broke into the smallest of smiles.
"Master Richard, you have reached your destination late as usual."
Robin grinned broadly, dropping his things at the doorstep and opening an arm to embrace the butler. "Alfie! How have you been, old man?" To see him suddenly so happy surprised her a little. He motioned to Raven, speaking up, "Rav, this is Alfred. Alfie, this-"
"Mistress Roth. I've already had the pleasure of meeting you at Master Richard's party," Alfred greeted, candidly.
Her jaw dropped for the second time that day.
'How… how did he…?'
The butler went for the bags.
"Your rooms are on the third floor, Master Richard... if you would show your young friend hers." As Alfred walked out, Raven's hands began to shake.
"...How did he know my last name? I never told anyone…"
"Calm down." He took them soothingly into his own. "Bruce probably looked it up and Alfred knows everything Bruce does, so no one is going to give your secret away." Robin rubbed the back of her left hand with his thumb. "I was kind of hoping you'd tell me this stuff one day."
"I was kind of hoping you'd not ask me," she whispered.
Robin smiled. "I didn't have a record on your life before Earth… Raven Roth, huh? It sounds so…. you."
She laughed lightly. "Master Richard?"
"He use to call me Master Grayson, but I wore him down."
Raven glanced up briefly at the dreary paintings, at sober walls, at low lights. He inserted as an afterthought, "It seems it's just you, me, and Alfred. Bruce might be at a meeting at Wayne Enterprises. Did I ever tell you that I planned on taking over the business?"
She answered faintly, "You never told me anything about your past either." There was a invisible hint of hurt in her voice.
"Yeah well." His expression dropped. "Now I have time. When I turned twenty-one, I would have inherited a bit of Wayne Enterprises because I was made the only legal heir to Bruce. I have a bit of stock, mostly that's how I got the money to pay for everything at the Tower."
Ah ha. She figured it had something to do with underage economics.
"Do you think that's why you're here?"
Robin responded confidently, "No. We would have discussed it way earlier than just on the spot." Raven gave him an apathetic look.
"He doesn't know I'm here, does he?"
He scratched the back of his head, awkwardly.
"...I'd be lying if I said he did."
She made a face. "Magnificent."
Robin seized her around the waist when she stepped to the side and dipped her back, raising his eyebrows twice suggestively, "Wellll…he's not here right now….." Raven said, sarcastically.
"You sure know how to charm a girl."
He gave a throaty growl that made her shiver with delight, his lips capturing hers in an earnest kiss. She wound her arms around him, still backwards and careful not to drag him down if he lost his balance. Something like a berry flavor was on his tongue. The hand clutching the small of her back pulled her closer still. Someone in the background cleared their throat loudly.
Very loudly.
Their heads jerked to the right of a giant open hallway. A middle aged, dark haired man in a business suit surveyed them composedly.
Robin helped her straighten up.
"Bruce…. .uh, I thought you'd be coming back later."
"I ended the board meeting early to meet with you. I didn't know you brought a lady friend with you." Clear sharp eyes cut into Raven's normal black attire, indigo cloak, and slightly ruffled violet hair. "I would have liked it if you would have taken your activity somewhere more… private."
'Lady-friend? And what exactly is that suppose to imply... OH that bastard.'
Robin flushed, uneasily. "This is Raven, one of my teammates. She came to my party, with all my friends?" Bruce coolly glanced back at her.
"You that destroyed the tables and windows."
She retaliated, gritting her teeth, "I have a name and I believe Dick just used it."
"Raven Roth. I'm not sure why Dick asked you to come, but I hope you enjoy your stay here at Wayne Manor," Bruce said cordially.
She returned the tone almost painfully, "Thank you…. Mister Wayne."
His dark eyes switched to Robin.
"I'll see you at dinner. I'll be helping Alfred if you need me."
His back disappeared into the kitchen. She turned to Robin solemnly, 'He's going to poison my food." It must have been the way she said to so abruptly because he started cracking up. Raven blinked once. "Why are you laughing? I'm serious."
He let out a chuckle-sigh. "Let's go upstairs."
Up two fleets of a drably furnished staircase, they came to a stop of an ebony banister. Robin pointed to the right side of the floor. "Yours should be the guestroom on the far end, I'll see you there in a minute." She emerged into the space, fancy gold-trimmed curtains, light blue painted walls, white puffy blankets and pillows, and a closet as small as hers back home. Already on the bed was her bag. Raven was about to explore the bedroom a little more when a finger tapped her shoulder blade. She whipped around to the worn-faced butler.
He uttered, "Mistress Roth-"
"Raven. Please call me Raven."
"Mistress Roth, Master Bruce wonders if you will be attending dinner this evening."
"I planned on it." She inquired skeptically, "Why?"
"He wonders if you have an article of clothing to wear that is perhaps less sordid."
Raven clutched her fists, fingertips glowing, asking with a low mutter, "Were those his exact words?"
Alfred rummaged through the closet to extract a gown on a hanger. "My niece is about your age, you might be her same size." Raven held it out in front of her when the dress was handed over. Thin, spaghetti strapped, and ultramarine blue. Good enough. She murmured her thanks, folding the gown on the bed.
He was gone within seconds. Besides being a bit creepy, maybe he wasn't such a bad guy…
Robin knocked on the cherrywood door.
"Everything okay?"
"Other then being called sordid… ask me later."
He knit his brows. "Who called you that?" She eyed him.
"Guess."
Robin prevented her from moving by locking her in his arms. "Come on, I thought this would be a good opportunity for you two to… stop… hating each other for whatever reason you do."
Raven argued, "I don't hate Bruce Wayne. Our auras don't compliment each other."
He didn't seem angry as he told her, "Bullshit."
"I've seen him act like we're inferior to his authority. I've seen it directed to you, and it makes me angry to see you take that from him."
Her beautiful face tightened with frustration. He protested mildly, "Bruce would never do that."
"He still thinks you're a child who needs to be taken care of and bossed around, like you're going through this adolescent stage. I bet that's the reason why he called you here, because you were seriously hurt and he thinks if he offers you to stay, you'd willingly go back to being Robin the sidekick, Robin the little bird under the watchful eye of a bigger icon." Raven shook her head, her hair falling over her pained eyes. "I can't watch you end up like that, even if he cares for you. Where does that place me in your life?"
Robin felt something tense in his chest. He stretched out for her hand. "Raven…" She backed away.
"You'd take it…" she started, frowning. "Wouldn't you?"
"Rav…"
She didn't bother to fly. His ungloved hands held her upper arms before she could make it out of the bedroom.
"Raven, please, listen to me…!"
"Get away from me!"
Her eyes flashed a sinister blue and he asked her softly, "Do you really want to do that?"
She stopped fighting his grasp, squeezing all-over blue to reveal defeated eyes. Robin said honestly, "What kind of person would I be if I threw away everything we have? I might have taken that offer if I was younger but I wouldn't now. Not when I have you." He kissed her face tenderly, taking her fear away with every word spilling from his lips, "I won't leave you. I'm never going to leave you, Raven. I'm never going to leave you."
'…Azar….. let him be right...'
"Master Dick, Mistress Raven, dinner is served." Alfred's voice trickled from under the bottom crack of the door.
The empath stepped away, unenthusiastically. "I have to dress."
"It's the second kitchen door, not the first," he reminded her, taking his sweet time before shutting the bedroom door.
She dressed fast, greatly annoyed to find her chest yet again uncomfortably straining against lank material.
'Everyone else in the world has to have smaller breasts than me.'
She brushed it off. Raven kept her boots and found a brush, running it through her hair with a few clean sweeps. She found a pin lying around and stuck it up in her hair. This was her chance to prove to Master Pompous downstairs that she could be more respectable, if she couldn't do it for Robin... she had to do it for herself. After all, she was trained in the behavior.
'Alright, Raven… .no time to meditate. Just keep your cool. Azarath… Metrion…'
She breathed, landing on the last step on the staircase, "...Zinthos."
Raven pushed the door Robin instructed her to enter. A dining room scene filled her vision: a lace-covered table, Bruce Wayne sat on the right end, Robin two seats to the left, and Alfred served him a crystal salad bowl. All three pairs of eyes fell on her.
She could feel her boyfriend's attention stray exactly on the area where she hoped he'd avoid that night, however not hating the attention.
Bruce said over his plate, "Take a seat, Miss Roth."
Raven headed for the seat across from Robin, observing the butler was he pulled out her chair for her. She tucked a foot behind the other and curtsied gracefully to him, bowing her head before sliding into her chair. She overlooked Robin's confusion and lifted her chin. "Would you please pass the rolls, Mister Wayne?"
They held each other's dead gazes and he minded her.
Robin tried to start up conversation, "So Bruce, how's business?"
"No competition has tried to take us down in two years so that's good news," Bruce asked, calmly. "How is… Teen Titans been going?"
Robin put down his fork, swallowing hard.
"Really good. We took down Brother Blood and his followers a while back."
His mentor countered, crossing his legs, "I heard. I also saw the news, not a very flattering picture."
Robin muttered, bleakly, "Things happen."
"Unfortunately."
Just for a moment or two, Raven saw real suffering in Bruce's eyes, looking over at his ex-partner. It vanished when he looked at Raven. "You've gotten along all right I see."
She spoke up, evenly, "It took some time, but circumstances weren't going to change."
The discussions grew uptight and hushed. The plates of steak, greens, and chopped fruits were quickly finished and stacked up. Bruce set down his napkin, "It's been a long evening. I'm sure you two have something more… productive to do with your time." He snorted… there was something in the way he said it…
"Pardon me?"
Bruce raised an eyebrow at her, subtly.
"Is something the matter?"
Raven got to her feet, pressing her palms into the table with all her weight, "Yeah, it is. It's 6 foot 6 and smells like putrid cologne." She stormed out of the dining room. Robin caught up with her in the hallway, grabbing one of her arms.
"Raven, what the hell was that?"
She growled in rage, "Did you hear him?"
"What? What did he say?"
"You two have something more productive to do….?" Robin didn't seem to understand and she jerked her pin out, furiously. "You really don't know! He was doing it! Again! I can't stand him! I can't be respectful to a person who won't give me a chance!" Raven shook out her hair. "He will always be biased against me, even if I'm your girlfriend. Were you even there three years ago at that party? I've never done anything to him and I continually get treated like garbage! Bruce Wayne can rot in Hell for all I care!"
His mask narrowed, darkness giving way to reason.
"Now you've gone too far, Raven. You have no right to judge that man. A man who I look up to. You don't know half the things he's been through. He sacrifices his life to save other innocent lives from Hell. He's my Father and I won't hear you badmouthing him anymore."
Raven was left with no regard, her body trembling with animosity under the artificial light of the chandeliers.
…..
That wasn't one of the worst fights to happen. Two days passed and before they knew it, they were under the oak tree on the Manor's grounds, smiling in the shade. On the third day, Robin came downstairs in the morning to see Raven sitting alone in the dining room with the newspaper, herbal tea, and looking extremely out of place in huge teddy bear pajamas.
He snickered audibly and she sputtered, "They-"
"Starfire?"
"Starfire," Raven echoed, blushing. She gazed momentarily at his bright red tee and guy shorts.
He plopped down beside her, stealing her cup of tea, "What's in the news today?" She handed him page three.
"Escaped criminal and a circus."
Robin choked when she said the last word, "Ack! -A what?"
"In Gotham tonight is a circus performance. It says they've performed here before years back. They've been in Europe," she paused when he paled considerably, "Dick, what's the matter?"
Robin knocked over his chair upon standing up.
"I need to go."
"Dick!"
Raven chased after him, accidentally taking the long way to the parking garage. When she finally found it, Raven coughed on exhaust fumes as Robin rode out into the distance on a motorcycle. She screamed his name several times before noticing Alfred was staring at her funny. She tugged at her pajamas, groaning.
'Great... Dick just ditched me... the butler saw me in Starfire's clothes. Can this day get-'
Thunder roared. The first rain of spring beat over her head.
She threw out her arms aggravated and shouted to the sky, "I get it! Azar save us all!" Raven dragged her soaking wet pant-tails behind her as she went inside to change. Most of her day she spent alone, curled up near the library's fireplace, reading dark poetry. Alfred poked his head in around five.
"Mistress Raven, I can't seem to locate Master Richard. Do you know where he might be?"
"No. He took an old motorcycle and left this morning. I haven't an inkling of where he could be," she replied flatly.
"Would you like some milk and cookies for your reading activity Mistress Raven?"
Raven glanced up, speaking, "Actually I'd like it if you left me alone, no offense Mister Alfred." His bushy gray eyebrows rose to his hairline at the Mister comment and his head popped back into the foyer. She closed the textbook in her lap and phased outside, flapping the wings of her soul-self through sprinkles of lessened rain.
The part of Gotham she disembarked was less slummish from downtown, particularly around the area with lots of fences surrounding small apartments. Raven kept her hood over her face and kept her cloak close as traffic bustled.
An expensive Sedan sped past her near the curb. The rush of wind flapped her cloak, exposing her black uniform and sallow skin. A catcall ran in her hearing. A crud looking salesman held up two mangoes from his stand only two feet away, juggled them in his palms and winked at her.
Her eyes formed blue slits and she picked up the rolling stand, asking drearily, "You want to run that by me again?"
His own bloodshot eyes bugged out of their sockets. He took off in a fast sprint, checking over her shoulder to make sure she wasn't going to go after him. Raven dropped the stand five feet from the air and walked over the squashed fruit listlessly. Her journey became short.
On the picket-fenced sidewalk she strode on, colorful posters were littered everywhere. On a poorly stapled one, bright stars outlined magicians, clowns, fire-eaters, and other varieties of performers.
In big, bold red letters screamed: Come one! Come all! To the entertainment of a lifetime! See death-defying tricks! Be amazed! Be astounded!
'Be conned,' she added, silently.
Another poster with a yellow and red theme gleamed relatively new.
In the same bold letters: EXCLUSIVE tickets only! Witness the ULTIMATE and FINAL performance of the Last Flying Grayson! Tonight at 7:00!
'…Grayson…?'
Raven ripped the second poster off the fence and soared back to the Manor. She burst in on the formally-clothed Bruce Wayne working on loan papers. Before the billionaire could open his mouth, Raven demanded, "Will someone please tell me what this is about?" She jabbed the torn paper with a finger and Bruce's eyes skimmed over it with a second's hesitation.
He murmured under her breath, "...oh no."
"Grayson…as in Dick Grayson?"
He said testily, "This is none of your concern-" only to be interrupted by the empath. She floated into his personal space, scowling.
"I'll make it my concern. That's Dick, isn't it? Why won't you admit it?"
"He never told you."
"Told me what? I don't understand what's going on. Why is Dick joining the circus?" Raven shouted, angrily. She was just about to rip this stupid man's head off if he didn't start talking.
Bruce spoke gruffly, "You read minds, don't you? You've never had the opportunity to see his?"
"Once. I don't pick through another person's head without absolute urgency. I saw our operations center, Slade's things, your Batcave, and two people falling under moving spotlights."
"His parents," he confirmed, gravely.
Raven frowned.
"His… They died as circus performers?"
"Acrobats, trapeze artists, performers, whatever you call them, yes. He was eight when it happened. Dick and his family traveled with Haley's Circus all throughout his life. They performed in Gotham the night a criminal tampered with the finale. Dick watched them fall from an eighty foot drop into the center ring." Bruce ran his fingers through his hair wearily, a streak of white hidden in black. Raven knew that Robin's parents died a long time ago but not that he had to watch. Was that why he freaked out when she mentioned the word 'circus'?
"Why didn't you stop it from happening?" The question flew out of her mouth before she could stop it. His sharp eyes softened.
"I couldn't. It was too late," he explained. "I had to watch them, too."
A foreign ache formed in her heart for those poor souls.
"But you could have done something. You're Batman... wasn't that your job to stop things like that from happening?"
He dimly smiled, with no humor. "Dick asked me the same question after I told him who I was. He held quite a grudge against me when he became my partner."
Her past migraine roared its fully-formed monstrous head. She rubbed her temples. "So what…do we wait for him to come home?"
"No. Boss Zucco's main colleague escaped from the convict earlier this week. He probably got the news that Dick is still here. The mobster blamed him for bring Batman's wrath on them. He needs to be stopped now." Bruce crumpled up the paper in his fist.
Raven blurted out, "We need those tickets."
"I've already taken care of it." He patted his pockets. "It would be best if you stayed here-"
Raven said firmly, "If Dick's in danger, I refuse to stand by and watch."
"You're stubborn," Bruce cursed as he drove them in his black Jaguar. Her lips twitched.
"I acquired the habit recently."
…..
Night fell relentlessly over Gotham City. Lone lights shining clearest that evening beamed from the grand big top. The crowds of people waiting in line gossiped excitedly about the special guests arriving at tonight's event. Raven ignored the ticket taker's baffled expression as she passed the line up and hovered by the empty first row seats.
She glanced back to see Bruce who was suddenly crowded by reporters and dizzyingly radiant women whom he smiled pretty for. Even though she certain he want to get away from them, Raven nonetheless rolled her eyes at his idiocy.
The overhead illuminations lowered and the ringmaster crowed at full volume, "Ladies and gentlemen! Children of all ages! Our esteemed guests! Welcome to the spectacle of a century!"
Cheers escalated gaily and Raven withdrew backstage.
A fat security guard caught sight of the end of her cloak and she purposely ducked behind a barrel. The ringmaster's voice boomed, "Now, prepare your eyes for the fantastic, the handsome, the amazing Last Flying Greyson!" The guard walked past her, missing her hunching shadow.
Clad in a yellow and red skin-tight jumpsuit and oddly winged mask, she saw him scale up a thick rope not too far from where she hid. Raven's cries were drowned in a sea of zealous screams. She ran straight into someone dressed in a gray suit, a broken nose, long-haired man who shoved her aside with a dirty look, "Circus scum."
As Raven fell to her knees, thousand of scenes went off in her head. She lowered her head to receive two of the sharpest. Black and white striped prison clothes and a yellow, high-wire cord half severed. Raven murmured in her dazed state, "No…"
Meanwhile, the applause had deafened all other noises in Robin's ears. He grinned boldly to the mass from his perch, waving his hand, telling himself to give them a good time. His rotation started out simple enough, a few flips, later in the show combined with mid air jumps accompanied by a young bizarrely-clad actress to catch him. She was rather decent actually. His adrenaline pumped up every time the crowd hollered with approval. He missed that sound. He missed this.
It had almost been thirty minutes since the show began.
"The youngest Flying Grayson-"
Robin clutched the bar on the platform instinctively.
'I wish you guys were here to see this.'
"-will now attempt his final act!"
The clapping stopped when a tortured shriek washed over the audience like an icy wave. Robin ran to the other side of the platform. Chaos everywhere. People moving. A glittering woman screaming. The Mayor's wife. The sounds of guns dropping. The police couldn't shoot when a civilian was in harm's way.
Gray suited man holding the curved knife over her neck. Screaming over the woman, voicing his demands.
"I want him dead!"
Him.
Robin hoisted himself onto his swinging bar and veered across the center ring, about the grab the next bar on that side of the stage.
That's when he felt it happen.
In all the years of training and performing for hundreds, saving his Mother when her faulty cord weakened...earning him the title of 'Little Robin'…..he never missed.
With an alarmed bellow, Robin began his slow tumble.
Screams. Heart in his ears. Running footsteps. Batman hit the mobster. Fear.
Completely breathless. His eyes felt tired. He felt so sleepy, but that drowsiness came to an immediate halt. His Mother's blonde curls smelled like lavender as he buried his face into them. He'd protect her. He could hear the low murmurs of the other circus performers just outside their tent. His Father's hasty tone.
-Fingers closed around his ankle. The world stopped moving.
His female assistant hung upside down, yanking on his other ankle. Robin grunted, his head clearing. He swung himself up to grip her bar. In the same rhythmic plunge, they landed safely on the end platform.
He heaved for air, supporting himself on his back with his elbows. "Thank you…thank you so much. You save my life."
"It wouldn't be the first time."
The young woman removed her grotesque, theatrical face-mask to reveal stunningly usual-colored orbs.
Robin gawked, "Raven?"
She wrapped her arms around his shoulders, stating, "It's too late to say I couldn't risk making a fuss," and obscured them in her energy. Outside, the public was frantic, cops were everywhere, and workers at the big top were being questioned. Batman found them standing in the midst of bedlam, ordering callously, "You two get in the car."
Raven glared at him on their way back to Wayne Manor. Robin was taken to Alfred to be checked over. She hassled Bruce in the foyer, "You took care of the convict?"
"Yes," he snapped, taking off his mask to reveal a giant bruise. "Leave me in peace. You've caused enough trouble for me." Raven wouldn't let down.
"Why do you treat people like this? Why do you hate me?"
Bruce disagreed, "I don't hate you, Miss Roth. I should be thanking you for saving Dick's life tonight."
"You still won't respect me as a hero or a person even if I had perfect timing. I don't get what your problem is, but you know what... it doesn't matter anymore. Because Dick is suffering. He's being torn into two directions: one Robin for the Teen Titans and one Dick Grayson in Gotham City. He can't settle for being two people."
The billionaire said slowly, sitting in a drawing room chair, "You only care about Dick's welfare and not your own?"
Raven lowered her eyes, but not ashamed.
"I came here... I agreed coming to Gotham because I wanted to prove myself to you. Not that I was some kind of incredible superhero, but that I was capable of loving your son. Even if it meant sacrificing my own principles. He is the most cherished person to my heart. He's everything to me. I'd surrender my soul to the most evil of forces for every hour of the day if it meant to bring him happiness. You strip him from me and I'm nonexistent. You bled him and I feel the blood flow. You take his sight and all I can see is darkness."
Her eyes cast out a flickering keenness. "I don't think you'll ever know how much he'd jeopardize to make you happy. But if it means wasting away his precious life, then by Azar, I'll do everything in my power to bring you down."
"Is that a threat?" Bruce inquired, barely able to hold back the shock enveloping into his system.
Raven whispered, "A plea… I just may love him more than you."
That phrase battered into his brain as Bruce found Robin in the Batcave, sulky. He snapped out of it, "Don't tell me you and Raven were going at it again."
"On the contrary…we did have a fascinating discussion. That young woman, your teammate as you call her, has without doubt strong feelings for you."
Robin smiled, hazily, "Does she now?"
"Dick, I never asked you how it felt to be in my shadow. I know that's why you left to make the Teen Titans." He suggested, "What if I could lend a hand in making you a new image? Help you grow out of the Robin stage?"
Robin's masked eyes widened, "S-Seriously?"
Bruce nodded. "I got Alfred to make you something." He lightly snapped a switch on the wall closest to him. The wall swung around, attached to the other side a statue wearing a two-piece spandex suit in black, a dark blue icon printed on the chest. He pointed to the matching utility belts. "I've already thought up of a potential name." Robin dropped his jaw, running his hands over the solid black Bo-Staff's.
"If could work out perfectly, you and I would work together in Gotham when it suits you. You could stay here to work-"
"Whoa, whoa!" Robin held up his hands, "I can't believe it."
Bruce asked, worried, "What is it?"
"Raven was right. You are trying to make me stay!"
"Dick, no."
Robin glowered, sidestepping Alfred on his way out, "Thanks, but no thanks Bruce. I'll get along fine."
"That didn't work out as planned, Sir."
The billionaire called up the many steps of the Batcave, "Dick! Dick, come back!" Robin ignored him as he made it to the fifteenth step, Bruce did the unthinkable. "Richard Grayson, I am talking to you! Get back here now!"
Robin's back to him stiffened and he turned around, ripping the eye-mask off his face, shocking the other man.
"I am not an eight-year-old anymore, you can't use that tone on me! I make my own mistakes without you. I'm blind, not helpless, and I don't need to come crawling back to you when something bad happens. I did what I had to do to save a life. I thought at least you'd be proud of me!"
The logical part of Bruce's brain started kicking in. He went up to his son. "I know it was a good opportunity for you when you left the first time, but it never stopped hurting. When you came to visit, I always thought you'd get sick of being the leader and stay for good. I judged you wrongly and I'm sorry if I offended you by offering."
"You should apologize to Raven, too; you didn't exactly welcome her with open arms."
Alfred said from below, "Bravo, Master Richard."
Bruce looked away a moment, his dark eyes sympathetic. "I can do that," he said.
"Why did you ask me here anyway?"
"When I saw what happened, I wanted to know you were okay," the billionaire admitted. Robin let out a shaky breath, forcing a smile.
"I am okay. I've had closer calls then this…"
A dark knowing silence filled the gap between them. As if knowing what he was talking about, Bruce Wayne almost gave his composure from the lump in his throat when Robin choked, "Dad…" He hugged him comfortingly, stroking his hair reassuringly.
"It's alright, son; it's going to be alright."
There couldn't be a more wonderful sight in her eyes. The giant, dark blue raven faded into the ceiling and traveled swiftly back into the sanctuary of the guest room, merging into her body. It smiled.
Maybe there was a scrap of hope in the shadows of the world.
...
Raven ventured the gardens in the Manor's backyard, the white moon luminous over her head, bathing the flower petals, making them glisten.
It was the perfect place to be in the evening. The walking stones led her to a quarter ensnared by willow trees. There she sat on an ornamental, marble bench, the air pushing her short hair away from her face. She smiled down at the orchids hiding themselves from nighttime and caressed with her fingertips the lonely flower bravely poking its head out to catch the moon's youthful countenance.
"I didn't know you were a nature person."
A tall shadow came from the same path she tread on, shoving his hands into his baggy, jean pockets.
Raven answered bluntly, "Dusk is magical."
Robin patted the bench and seated himself…in her lap. He smiled pleased, "Oops. Didn't see you there, literally."
She said dryly, "Right. Like your intentions are so pure."
Her violet eyes watched as Robin found the opposite end of the bench, "Did you have a nice talk with Bruce Wayne?" He sighed.
"I think he understands now. You were right by the way. He was trying to get me to stay in Gotham."
'Not like I'm proud of being right…'
Easy stillness was disrupted when Raven touched the side of his face, her nails brushing the eye-mask's edges.
"You have nothing to hide from me anymore... why do you wear that mask?" she asked
"Old habits die hard," he whispered, covering his hand over hers, guiding her to untie the knot on the back of his head. His milky eyes stared unperceiving at her face, his eyelids blinking at a normal pace. Raven wasn't afraid, dream or no dream; she wasn't guilty and his eyes didn't cause her heart cry out in agony.
"I remember when you use to look at me with your blue eyes and I would feel exposed. I was naked to the world and I couldn't keep anything from you."
Robin clasped her hand tighter. "Do you still feel that way?"
She peered at him closer, moonlight detailing every feature. Framed eyebrows, smooth lashes, rounded out cheekbones, softly defined lips, the faint scar on his chin she never noticed before. The moonlight reflected in his eyes. Palest, palest traces of blue outlined where his pupils had once been. It might have been the light tricking her, but it gave him an unearthly look she desired.
"In a better way, yes. And you still have the most beautiful eyes I have ever seen," Raven murmured, holding up his chin.
"What do you know... it still works on me…"
Nothing but love came from him as Robin pulled her close, kissing her mouth . This man just lived to make her squirm… perhaps she should give it a try…
Raven settled herself into his lap, never stopping the kisses, and twirled her hands in his hair. She rolled her hips, using the friction against his to create a low groan from his throat. Something hard pressed insistently beneath her. Robin's face flushed. She smirked, draping them in blue, passing into her bedroom. They sat on the floor, Robin's mask forgotten outside.
She grabbed him by the shoulders.
"I want to remember this night forever as nothing else but you and me. Just us together, giving you everything." Her lips brushed his ear burning, "Show me how much you love me."
Robin touched his lips to her forehead in agreement, deliberately grazing her red, chakra gem. His hands unhooked her gold belt and slid them up to her cloak, running his palms over her curves and undoing her new brooch.
Raven slipped his shirt over his head, gazing hungrily at the muscles on his chest. After all the times she saw him shirtless, this moment made her more appreciative. With the remaining clothing tossed aside on the floor, Robin was having a difficult time keeping his attention off her stripped, petite body. Flashes kept coming in like crazy. The only word he could think of was flawless. The woman he was going to be with his first time was everything he expected and so much more.
Raven's self-confidence wavered a moment, "Am I….?" She crossed her arms over herself.
"More than beautiful," he replied, already knowing why she hesitated. Robin lifted her into his arms, off the floor and gently set her down on the bed, throwing the blankets away. There was no need for them. Raven laughed, uneasy. "I'm sorry…I'm just…"
Robin lay beside her, their hands dancing over each other's. "You want to wait?"
"No," came her direct response.
She let him overtake her, completely content with it. They exchanged smothering, wet kisses and tongues. Her lips become bruised and numb quick, her back arched to bring stomach against stomach. Time seemed to hinder off the first time they climaxed and all she could do was breathe in his essence and scent underneath his sweaty torso.
As Robin finished the last, heavy kiss, he lowered himself to trace her bare flesh below her neck. He ran his thumbs over nipples and planted tiny bites on the crease below her breast. Raven moaned, burying her face into his soft, spiky hair, gasping at every sensation of warmth on her sallow skin. Electricity raced through her veins.
Robin cupped her breast and kissed it before continuing the same across her neckline. The night wasn't over.
Raven lay back on pillows, her lungs shuddering and her colorless lips parted to reveal a pink tongue hidden behind her lower, white teeth. He cradled her waist, whispering small, loving words under his trembling breath. She didn't react but after a minute or two, Raven abruptly tugged him down on the mattress, her forehead butting his. She breathed roughly above her leader, "Fuck me or I will fuck you until your brain melts."
Robin never backed down on a challenge, and never failed to come out on top.