Chapter Four: Girl Talk

Raven woke up earlier than Robin again the next morning. As she sat up in bed, she looked down at Robin as he slept soundly in his sleeping bag. She smiled as she remembered what he had done last night and then decided to let him be for a while. She tiptoed out of his room silently and made her way to her room. She did some morning meditation for a while before someone knocked at her door.

"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos. Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos. Azarat – "

Knock, knock!

Raven groaned in aggravation, but slowly walked towards the door. She opened it just enough to see the person's face, and saw her Tameranean companion.

"Good morning, Raven," she said. "I have come wishing to share the 'girl talk' with you."

Raven sighed and let her in. "What about?"

Starfire fiddled with her fingers. "It is something about. . . Robin."

Raven blinked in surprise. "Robin? Is there something wrong?"

Starfire nodded. "Our relationship, it is what you call, 'not all that it is cracked up to be.'"

Raven indicated for her to sit on her bed and she sat next to her. "Why is that?" she asked, a bit more interested now.

"Well. . . Raven, he. . . Robin seems to talk about you a great deal."

Raven was stunned. "Me? Why me?"

Starfire looked at her, her eyes now shining with oncoming tears. "Is it not obvious? He would rather do the dating with you than I."

And with that, the teen alien broke down crying. Raven hugged her, trying to comfort her the best she could.

"Starfire, I'm sure he doesn't think that. He loves you very much."

After a few minutes, Starfire got herself together and dried her eyes. She looked at Raven again.

"I wish to do the breaking up with him, Raven," she said, trying hard not to cry for a second time.

"Star, you don't have to if you don't want to," Raven said, feeling guilty that she was being hurt because of her.

"But I do want to," Starfire replied. "I have a feeling that we were better off as . . . friends."

She choked on the last word, but looked at Raven with eyes of honest certainty. Raven didn't want her to do this. She shouldn't have to break up with Robin all because of her. Guilt tugged on her hair as she looked into her friends emerald eyes, but she eventually nodded and agreed to tell Starfire what she should say. She also agreed to be there when she talked to Robin so she wouldn't mess up.

With everything settled, they went into the main room for breakfast, Raven getting the usual herbal tea. She watched out of the corner of her eye as Starfire floated over to Robin.

"Robin, I wish to talk to you," she said, a bit gloomier than usual. This attracted Boy Wonder's attention.

"Sure," he said. "What is it?"

Starfire took a deep breath. Raven tried to tune out Beast Boy and Cyborg arguing over a tofu issue in the kitchen.

"Robin, I feel that it is necessary that we . . . break up."

"WHAT!"

Three loud "what"s echoed throughout the main room, all of them coming from the boys, including Cyborg and Beast Boy who had stopped their arguing to listen. Raven did her best to try to act shocked and play along.

Starfire ignored it and looked at Robin in the . . . mask at least.

"I think it would be better for the both of us if we were just friends," she said solemnly.

Robin stuttered for a bit, wondering what to say.

"Star, a-are you sure?" he asked.

She nodded. "I do hope this does not affect our friendship."

Robin regained his composure and managed a small smile. "Of course not, Star. If that's what you want, it's fine with me."

Starfire smiled brightly once more and rewarded him with a bone-crushing hug. Then she flew up to Raven.

"Was that okay?" she asked.

"It was fine," Raven replied, and she sipped her tea.

Robin sat down on his bed with his head planted in his hands. Well, he did say that he only loved her as a sister. He had to admit that maybe things would be better this way. Besides, why had he kissed Raven the night before? It had been nagging him all morning, demanding an explanation. But he wouldn't accept it, not yet.

There was a gentle rapping at his door. He sat up immediately and answered the door for Raven.

"Robin, you've been in your room for the past three hours. Are you okay?"

It was a rather obvious question, but he shrugged it off.

"I'm fine. Just thinking over things."

"Alright, then," she said, getting ready to go. "Don't hurt yourself."

But as she began to walk off, his eyes followed her, not wanting her to go so quickly.

"Raven, wait!"

She turned around on the spot with a raised eyebrow. She looked at him. "What?"

He kicked the ground, not knowing what to say. "Umm. . . You want to, uh. . . Come in?"

"Not to sound rude, but why?"

"To, um, keep me company."

He felt like punishing himself for saying something so stupid.

"Keep you company?"

He was out of words by this point. After a while, he finally came up with an excuse.

"This morning has been full of surprises for me. I guess I just need someone to talk to."

How could she say no to that? She sighed at what she might be getting herself into, but followed him into his room. She sat in a chair next to his bed where he sat while wondering what he was going to do next.

There was an awkward moment of silence before he cleared his throat and spoke.

"Did you sleep well last night?"

She shrugged. "I guess so."

"I was hoping the bed wasn't too lumpy."

"Actually, I was concerned if you were content with sleeping on the floor."

"I was fine."

"So, you doing okay?"

He looked up at her. "What do you mean?"

"Well, you didn't exactly seem thrilled that Starfire wanted to break up with you."

"I'll be alright. I'm more concerned about you though."

Raven blushed a bit under her hood. "Thanks, but I'm going to look through my books today to find a way to get rid of Trigon."

"I'll help you out if you'd like."

"Since when are you so interested in my problems?"

He looked down at his shoes. "I just. . . I just want you to be okay."

It was silent again as Robin scooted towards Raven a little more.

"Robin, thanks," Raven said after a while.

"For what?"

"For always being there for me. Even when it was the end of the world, you didn't let me down. And now that Trigon has been getting to me through my dreams, you're still here for me."

His gloved fingers curled around hers. "And I always will be," he said softly.

She looked up at him, not knowing what to say. Eons seemed to pass, but they just looked at each other. Without a thought in his mind, Robin suddenly leaned in and kissed her fully on the lips. Raven was shocked. She didn't know what to do. And Robin showed no sign of stopping. A glass on the bedside table shattered as Raven wrapped her arms around his neck, seeing no other option. They enjoyed their moment for a couple minutes before breaking for air. They looked at each other with surprise. Raven got up quickly and levitated to her room as quickly as possible. Robin wanted to stop her again, but let her go for the best. He sat at his bed and thought about what he had just done. But a voice in the back of his head said, "You know you enjoyed that." He sighed and let himself fall back on his bed.