(See SideStory #1 for full Notes and explanation)
Based on Kysra's sketch to be found here: http / www . deviantart . com / deviation / 33685488 / -- Kysra's Puppies, Penguins, and Bunnies
It Only Takes A Moment – Sidestory 8 (From Part VIII)
Purple Plaid
by Em
"...and the purple plaid ones..."
She hadn't cut her hair. That was the very first thing he noticed about her when she opened her door that night.
It was a strange thing to notice, especially after they had just managed to save the world from certain doom...
...again.
Still, the lustrous strands of purple wisping about her face and hanging down her back and brushing against her bare shoulder was the first thing that drew his attention as she stood at her door, waiting for him to explain why he had sought her out. Maybe it was partly because her hair was almost the same exact color of the plaid on her pajamas and that was what made him take notice of it, but he didn't particularly think so.
He was honest enough with himself to know that it was the fact that he had always loved the look of Raven when her hair was long. It wasn't that he didn't think she looked feminine with her short hair, but rather than she looked approachable. Better yet, more easily approachable, for she had never really been unapproachable...at least, not to him.
He could still remember the feel of her hair against the backs of his hands from the last time it had grown out. Of course, at the time, he had been preoccupied with other things, such as Slade's sudden reappearance and Raven's own near brush with death. Her birthday had been quite a busy time. But afterwards, he had thought about it and he could admit, at least to himself, that the brief brush of her hair against his skin had haunted him.
He had told himself that there were a dozen other reasons for those feelings, and to some extent, he had convinced himself of those reasons, convinced himself that it was only shock or surprise.
The truth of the matter was, however, something much more simple and base:
He wanted to touch it. He wanted to know if it was as soft as he remembered or if he had made of his brief touch, an altered memory.
So, when months later, after an exhausting defeat of her father and the would be conquerer of their world, he was faced with her long strands of purple, he nearly groaned before he could stop himself.
He hadn't realized he had left his room still wearing his robe until he noticed her eyes scan his appearance as if trying to figure out from it (since he was being so vocally evasive) what his purpose at her door might be, and he suddenly remembered his mission.
"Cyborg's making breakfast," he blurted, "They asked me to call you."
And if his words came out direct and point blank, it was only the result of a mix of humiliation at his appearance, shock at hers, and strain from the effort of not reaching out to let his fingers curl in her hair.
Raven, however, obviously mistook the reasons for when he turned around and started to walk away (again, in an effort to keep her from seeing the blush and chagrin on his features), Raven stepped out of her room and halted him with two words:
"I'm sorry."
Confused more than shocked and shocked beyond comprehension, Robin turned on his heel, "For what?" he asked, certain only in retrospect that the question had come out way sharper than he had intended it.
She lowered her head and her hair rushed forward to hide her face from him, but he could see from the way she held her hands in front of her that she was dealing with some embarrassment issues of her own, "For everything," she said softly. She looked up at him and quickly away, over his shoulder, down the empty hall. "But especially for knocking you out when I left with Slade," she nearly whispered. "And for spurning your efforts at protecting me," she continued, "I just couldn't bear to sit safe in a room knowing you all were fighting a loosing battle for something that I thought was inevitable..."
He stopped her from continuing by placing a hand on her shoulder, but when all he found was the warm flesh bared by the dropping neckline of her pajama top, he drew it away quickly, and looked away to hide his flush, "I..." he looked back at her, "...we all understand why you did what you did, Raven," he assured her. "There's nothing for you to apologize for."
They stared at each other for awhile in silence, each trying to read the other's face for sincerity and understanding. He knew she didn't exactly accept all he had just told her, but she would, with time. So, she let him read his face and hoped she could see how much he trusted her and how glad he was to have her back. When she looked away from him, he took that as his cue to escape to his room where he could take off the undignified robe and hope to forget he had ever walked out of his room with it on. He took three steps down the hall before her hand touched his elbow and the soft, brief touch stilled him more surely than if someone had nailed his feet to the floor.
He turned to his left and found her staring out into the empty hallway again, as if she couldn't look at him as she spoke, despite the fact she had stepped up next to him to say what she had to say.
"And I'm sorry..." she cleared her throat and when she spoke again, her voice was clearer, but not any more certain, "...for..." she took a deep breath, "...suddenly hugging you like that," she finished, exhaling.
He looked at her for a moment and finally, after what seemed like forever, she turned to meet his eyes, "You're sorry for hugging me?" he asked, as if he wanted to be sure he had heard her correctly.
"I shouldn't have imposed on you like that," she said by way of answer. "I don't like it when..."
She stopped when his hand gently pushed a few strands away from her face. "You're sorry that you hugged me?" he asked, his tone softer, the beginnings of a smile around the edges of his lips.
She met his gaze as one would facing a gallows, "Yes."
He did smile then, full-out, because he had seen the look in her eyes when she answered and had read there how she wasn't sorry that she had hugged him at all, only sorry that she had done something out of character and possibly offended him. "Well..." he reached out and lifted the soft fabric of her pjs so that it covered her shoulder and let his fingers linger for just a moment inside the silk of the hair at her nape. Her eyes looked at his hand as if she weren't quite certain what he was about to do, and when his hand pulled away and she met his eyes again, he smiled even wider, "...I'm not," he said simply. He shrugged and walked away.
"If you don't show up for Cy's breakfast, he'll never forgive you," he reminded her over his shoulder.
He didn't turn back, but he heard it when a few moments later, her door opened and closed again just as he turned the corner toward his own room.
He just barely resisted the urge to whistle as he walked.
Her hair was as soft as he remembered.
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Notes: Obviously, the two specific instances I make reference to here are from the episodes Birthmark and The End (I, II, & III) respectively.
A/N: I need to take a moment to do some promoting, bear with me, folks, kay?
1. Absentia has done something wonderful. She's taken some vignettes she's written and said she was inspired to doing them by my It Only Takes A Moment and she has written them and she has posted them on and she has titled them http / www . fanfiction . net / s / 2986069 / 1 / Between Moments: It Only Takes A Moment Tribute. I am most honored by her having done this, and I need to pimp the hell out of it so that people will go and tell her how wonderful she is for doing this and paying me this GREAT compliment. People, trust me: it behooves you to click on the little link here and read her stuff. And I don't just mean her Tribute to Moments. I mean anything she's written. Really. I mean it. And I don't just say that because she's my "Brainclone" (in my better moments...) She's really very good, and if enough people prod and ask her for updates to her stories, she might just write more! (Since her muse is a fae just like my Puck, I know that he'll probably get to inspiring the more people ask him for more!)
2. I put up a poll where you can vote for your favorite Moment. I know I put up one before, but I think that one expired or something, because I can't access it anymore. So, I signed up for the ad supported lj so that I could make a poll through lj directly. So, go on, go and vote: http / emsscraps . livejournal . com / 17975 . html Last time I did it, "Looking at You" was winning, but now it seems most people "cannot chose". ((shrug)) Go figure.
Okay, I guess that's it. The next one of these will be up relatively quickly, because it's already written. I just need to self-beta it.
