Robin slid into the seat across from her, nearly tipping it over as he did so. He was donning the standard playboy clothes he considered to be his civvies but also secretly had a love/hate relationship with- something he had admitted to her late at night during patrol, when it was just the two of them. "Okay so I'm kind of in trouble."

"Considering our line of work," Raven drawled, not even bothering to look up from her book, "when are you not?"

He fidgeted in his seat, and when she finally did look up it was to find him awkwardly tugging at the collar of the black, long-sleeved jacket he was wearing. Robin had said one of the reasons he hated the clothes were because they weren't very movement forgiving, and for a kid who grew up in a circus and ended up merging his acrobatics into his hero work, constricting clothes weren't necessarily ideal.

But then he also said he liked the clothes because they made him feel cool and he knew for a fact he looked good in them. Raven hadn't expected any less; he'd been raised by a multimillionaire and grew up in a freaking mansion of all things. Him being a brat was nothing short of inevitable.

His eyes were covered by a pair of dark-tinted sunglasses, yet she could still feel the discomfort radiating off him and she sighed. "What is it?"

"I give you full permission to punch me for what I'm about to do next."

She slammed her book shut, feeling the migraine already starting to hit and certainly not because of the jarring music booming around them. "Which is?"

He hesitated a second longer, the discomfort hitting her full force this time around and before she could go and ask what in the actual fuck he had done, Robin reached over and kissed her.

Square on the mouth.

His hand, gloved despite the fact neither of them were in uniform, slid up to her cheek, gently caressing her face and tugging her closer, deepening the kiss, while Raven herself froze up completely.

Because here she was, being kissed by the one guy that had both her mind and body confused ever since the whole thing with their bond had started, being kissed by her team leader in a public place, with tons of people, during a covert mission and, just- what!?

She stayed calm though, choosing the most neutral option and not pulling away, but not leaning into him either. Raven didn't hate the kiss, contrary to it, in fact - because of course this brat would be a good kisser too - but that didn't mean she would just jump straight in without any explanation. Robin had said he was in trouble, and Raven knew for a fact the man had more tact and respect for her boundaries to just go around and kiss her out of nowhere. He hardly did anything without a reason, so she would wait, sit this through, and then debate his overall chances of survival after hearing his explanation.

And sit it through she did, because Robin was persistent and didn't pull away until after a blonde woman in a fancy green dress spotted them and hastily looked the other way, clearly uncomfortable.

His rough, out of breath pants matched her own, perfectly in sync with one another as if it were one coherent line of noise rather than two separate ones. Her lips tingled despite the fact she hadn't actually reciprocated his advances and someplace, somewhere, she was sure a lamp post had just exploded in a cast of black energy.

Robin reached for her hands across the table, taking them into his own covered ones and smoothing a thumb over the back of her palm. He wasn't meeting her gaze, instead looking behind him and likely searching for the blonde woman from before, satisfied when he couldn't find her.

"Explanation," she demanded once he finally turned back to her. "Now."

The bright pink flush on Robin's cheeks didn't match his words. "Was that your first kiss?"

"No," Raven replied without even an ounce of hesitation nor embarrassment and he cringed for all of two reasons; dread because clearly she had slipped back into what Beast Boy would call her 'creepy doll mode' and a mild sense of disappointment that almost, almost made her smile.

"Right," he swallowed, pulling one of his hands back solely to push his sunglasses up into his hair before returning to hers almost immediately. Blue eyes were clear, if not a bit awkward, as he stared at her. Him being drunk was off the table, then. "My cover was nearly compromised," he explained, the sheepishness in his tone increasing the longer he went on. "I had to act fast."

Raven raised an eyebrow. "And kissing me out of nowhere would solve that how exactly?"

Robin ducked his head, the pink flush on his cheeks in full blaze now and he tugged her hands closer, planting a light, almost apologetic kiss on the back of her hand that made her heart flutter for all the wrong reasons. God, be it intentional or not, he was such a flirt.

"People usually get uncomfortable around PDA so I figured it'd be the best way to shake her off," he mumbled against her hand. "Sorry. You're still welcome to punch me if you want."

"Maybe later," Raven pulled her hand out of his hold, silently praising herself for keeping her cool this well despite the erratic feeling of her heart crashing against her ribcage. She leaned forward, chin resting against her palm. "I think you should tell me who you were running away from so tactfully first before we move on."

"Right," and just like that, he slipped back into business mode, the only hint of the previous awkwardness being the slight coloring of his ears, but other than that, he was all cool professionalism. Robin talked her through what he'd learned during the short time they'd been separated at this event, who he suspected the woman to be and how she played a part into the overall scheme they were investigating, and how he wanted Raven to keep a close eye on her from the place she felt most comfortable at; the shadows.

Raven didn't need to be told twice, sliding back into those very same shadows just as he'd requested and allowing her soul self to fully blend in from that point onwards. Stealth missions were something the both of them were fairly good at, and considering one half of the birds had already been seen, it was up to the other to finish what he'd started.

Abrupt kisses or not, she wasn't about to let that throw her off.


"Was that really not your first kiss?"

Raven gratefully accepted the steaming mug of tea he offered her, not looking up from the case files scattered across the living room table as he came to settle in beside her with his own mug of freshly-made coffee.

"You sound upset, Boy Blunder," she said, frowning to herself as one of the pages caught her eye. She lifted it from the table with her powers, bringing it closer for further inspection. "Any particular reason why?"

"I- I'm not upset," he stuttered and both of her brows shot up at that one. The fearless Titan's leader a blushing, stuttering mess? Now that's something she hadn't ever expected to hear. "It's just- it uh, it was mine and you didn't seem all that thrilled…."

Raven dropped the hovering page. No way. "Forgive me but I'm having a hard time believing that."

"It's the truth!" Oh, he was definitely blushing now. Refusing to look at her, actually. "I...despite what you may think, I didn't spend my days back in Gotham messing around like Bruce did, you know."

"That's not why I doubted you," she said, forcing the smile threatening to creep up to stay away. Raven never thought she'd ever think this about the Boy Wonder, but wasn't he just adorable.

He was going to be the death of her at this rate.

"Then why?"

It was Raven's turn to look away now, silently cursing herself for slipping up. 'Because you're a naturally good kisser' wasn't something he was going to hear anytime soon and she refused to be the one to say it. It was embarrassing and would probably just go straight to his ego- Lord knows he doesn't need any more of that.

"Just a hunch," she bit out, trying to keep her tone as neutral as possible.

But unfortunately for her, this was the kid that had grown up under the wing of this era's equivalent of Sherlock Holmes; hardly anything went past him and by the looks of it, her little lies didn't either. Raven could practically see those intelligent blue eyes of his lighting up in recognition, could see it even if they were currently hidden behind his signature mask.

He let out a little laugh, lips curling into a smirk that was only full of mischief and just like that, she was reminded that behind his stoic and competent facade lay the image of a dangerous, troublesome little child.

An absolute brat in every sense of the word.

Robin leaned in closer, carefully gripping the page she'd been reading between two fingers and plucking it out of the air, black energy fading with it. Raven didn't protest, merely kept looking the other way while trying her best to keep up her calm front even while knowing damn well he'd seen past that already.

"A hunch?" He repeated, sounding all too smug.

"Yes," she sipped her tea, not giving anything away. Raven refused to back down and oh, there it was, the reason her father had branded her as Pride of all sins. "Clearly my logic was a little off this time around, but it's not like you can really blame me for assuming."

"No, I guess I couldn't." Robin replied, that smile of his all kinds of dangerous. Raven was glad he was still wearing his mask, she didn't think she could take the combination of that grin and imposing blue eyes staring down at her. Of course it didn't do anything for the smug waves of confidence coming from him, but it was a small victory nonetheless. "Especially considering you refuse to admit I'm a good kisser."

-or not.

Raven flushed. "I never said that!"

"That's true," he reached over, brushing a stray strand of hair out of her face and damn it, she just knew the reddening of her cheeks was even worse now. "But you still liked it."

"That doesn't automatically make you a good kisser!"

Robin's grin turned sharp, the hand that had casually been playing with her hair pausing. "Is that a confession I hear?"

Fuck.

"I'd watch your deduction skills, Boy Blunder," she jabbed, still refusing to give in despite the fact that she had slipped up twice now. "Because I personally couldn't hear a single word hinting at a confession in there."

Robin hummed; Raven knew without seeing it that there was a glint in his eyes. "You didn't deny when I said you liked me kissing you," he clarified, eyes focused on the strands of purple hair rolling between his fingers. He didn't seem all that interested, just explaining for the sake of doing so rather than anything else because he knew for a fact the both of them were on equal grounds here. Raven was just being difficult. "And I know you; you don't like lying, which means you actually did like it. That counts as a confession, doesn't it?"

She said it before, will say it again; he was going to be the death of her. "That's not-"

Robin stared up at her, and oh Hell, when had he removed his mask? "Can I do it again?"

Raven reeled back; off guard. "What?"

That deceptive, dangerous smile of his turned softer, his eyes giving off a soft glow to match. His next few words were spoken with full sincerity, a slight nervousness hidden in there as well. "Can I kiss you again?"

The. Death. Of. Her.

And honestly? That was fine, because she really didn't have any reason to deny.

"Yes."