Well, school has started again... This means more updates, 'cause I'd rather write fanfiction than do schoolwork. Smart, huh? Anyways, writing is my escape, and with our new physics teacher (crazy ass psycho bitch! and I'm putting it nicely...) I'll need all the escape I can get... Oh, I know I promised fluff and trauma, but it'll be in the next chapter. This ended up being... different than I planned. I wrote it all out, and then- for some reason god only knows- it dissappeared from my computer and I had to redo it. So... the ending sucks. But there's nothing I can do, since I can't remember how it was before. And I added quite a few things... Just so you're prepared for the idiocy of this chapter.

(I have no IDEA why the hell ff . net's page breaks don't work, but they don't. I can't change that. Consider this page broken. Any future breaks will be 'Moocow')

In Medias Res

Chapter Two:

A Brief Intermission

by:

angelus abyssi

"Son of a freakin'-" Robin cut his sentence short as someone entered the room; but upon seeing that the 'someone' was Raven, he decided to continue anyway. "-bitch."

"Oh dear, I do hope you're not talking about me, Boy Blunder," she threatened with a menacing glare, her tone indicating the opposite- if only so she would have a reason to pummel him until he was just a multicolored section of the carpet.

He actually considered telling her that, yes, he was talking about her, but he decided in the end that it would probably be a bad idea. At least the truth wouldn't piss her off; but then, pissing her had been half the fun in the thought… "Why would I talk about you?" he shot back with a scowl of his own. "It's just bills, though. I'd forgotten about them, I guess, because I thought they were getting sent next week… Having to waste valuable time on crap like this sucks all the fun out of being a teenager- and a hero, now that I think about it…" He continued to grouse in this manner until she just shook her head, a small, almost hidden smile playing across her face, and slipped further into the kitchen to make her tea.

As she stood next to the counter and waited for her kettle to boil, she realized something; this was almost exactly how their mornings had been when they had dated. No unnecessary, uncomfortable, and completely unwanted tension; Robin's complaining, due to his being a very UN-morning person (a night owl if she ever saw one); her taking it in stride as she made her tea; even the light bickering when she had entered the room.

Suddenly it was all too much. She wasn't sure how, but all at once it felt as if everything that had happened lately was pressing down on her so hard that she couldn't help but sink to the floor. Her mind was racing around in circles, happy thoughts of Robin chasing thoughts of her short time with Speedy chasing thoughts of the incident in the elevator chasing thoughts of Robin hand-in-hand with Star chasing thoughts of… god only knew what anymore. Nothing was coherent; nothing was staying put. She let out a strangled sob as Robin's image clouded her mind's eye, and she didn't notice that the real Robin was now bending over her in worry and speaking to her in a low, calming voice. She immediately recognized the view in her head; it was of him only moments after telling her that they couldn't be together anymore. She sucked her breath in quickly as another picture flashed unbidden into her mind, this one of Robin after she had announced that she and Speedy were together, and she could still clearly see the look on his face, though she was no closer to identifying it now than she had been then. It had looked like hurt… and jealousy? She just couldn't be sure.

It was then that a sudden crash rocked the Tower, and Beast Boy sped into the living room looking more than a little guilty. He released a huge sigh and began making his way towards the kitchen when he laid eyes on Raven. That was when said eyes went wide with horror. "I'msososososososorryraeididntmeantoiswearpleasedontkillme!" His high pitched squeal made Robin wince slightly, but Raven's look was one of pure fury.

"What. Did. You. DO?" she screamed at him, startling even herself with the loud outburst. He whimpered and attempted to dive under the couch, but she caught him with her powers and brought his face within inches of her own. "What did you do?" This time her voice was low and dangerous, a combination that meant his survival was very much at risk. Then she blinked, and her eyes were masked of emotion once again, and she dropped him to the floor. She began to prepare her tea, which had luckily just started boiling, shaking her head all the while; it was obvious what had happened now. "Beast Boy, if you touch that damned mirror ever again, I will remove certain parts of you body that make it possible for you to reproduce; and I can promise that it won't be pleasant," she informed him in her flat monotone, one eyebrow cocked and the opposite hand resting on her hip.

The green boy let out a frightened 'eep!' and ran off to his room, eliciting a chuckle from Robin. "Well, that was certainly interesting," he stated casually. Inside he was almost frantic; did she remember what he'd said while she was freaking out? He certainly hoped not. Well, it wasn't so much what he said as it was the little pet names, that he didn't want her to have heard. Actually, they weren't so much pet names as they were… Ah, what the hell did he care, as long as she hadn't heard. And judging by the look on her face she hadn't.

"I hope he knows I'm still going to kill him. I'm just not going 'fix' him like the dog he really is." Her voice still held that dangerous tone, and it concerned him. What if that had really screwed up her emotional controlling-ness, or whatever the hell she always ranted on about? Wow, he was really having problems putting together rational thoughts this morning. And unfortunately he knew what had caused it…

"If you kill him, then we'll have to find a replacement- and you know that'll be hell- so let's just let him cower in fear for the time being," Robin told her with a small smile.

Once again cocking a brow, Raven responded, "Robin… we've been to hell. I think I'll be able to stand the consequences if I murder Beast Boy."

"You'd go to prison…"

"You think prison would hold me?"

"You might even get the death penalty…"

"You think I'll stick around long enough to let a mere mortal murder me?"

"… Mortal?" His tone was bordering on amusement.

Hers… wasn't. "I'm the daughter of one of the highest ranking demons in any level of hell. I think it would be safe to assume that I'm not exactly human."

"Yeah, but 'mortal'?"

"My lifespan is considerably longer than yours. Let's leave it at that."

"… You're not an Immortal, are you?"

"Not immortal, just… indefinite."

"And when, exactly, were you planning on telling us this?" He narrowed his eyes at her in an attempt to bully her into telling him. Yeah, like he could actually bully Raven. Who, it turns out, is immortal. Or close enough to it. Great…

"Well, lately I'd been considering not telling you at all." Now it was her eyes that narrowed. "But I would have mentioned it eventually. It's just not something you can just say. 'Hey, grab me a box of corn flakes while you're out. Oh, and just so you know, I'm immortal. Thanks!' Yeah, that would definitely work, don't you think?" He noticed that her voice had gotten steadily more venomous… And that didn't really sit well with him, especially since he was fairly certain that she wanted to knock his lights out, judging from her raw knuckles and the dent still in the wall. Maybe he should back off…

"Alright, sorry I said anything. It's just… I didn't know, you know?" He knew it sounded stupid. But honestly… What else was he supposed to say? Aside from the majority of the thoughts floating around in his head at the moment. Because those would just piss her off even more. 'Oh, Rae, guess what? I'm having second thoughts about my relationship with Star. Would you mind too terribly much if I pushed you up against the cabinets and sucked on your neck for a while? Thanks so much.' Hm… somehow, he just didn't think she would respond to that the way he wanted her to. And that had been one of the more tame scenarios… Then he realized she was speaking to him.

"I know, I just… It's… weird for me. I'm not good at that whole 'express your emotions' thing. I can't do it in full, and I'm never sure where the cut off line is, you know? How much will push me over the edge, and how much will it take for all of you to realize that I have emotions but can't show them? I can't find a balance, and now… It's leaked into other areas of my personality; conversations are hard when you can't really get into it… And then you have the idiots that like to meddle with my personal belongings. They are so lucky they haven't ended up in some barbaric, alternate dimension as the next snack. Hm, that's an idea… Hey Rob, where's Beast Boy?" Now her tone was sickly sweet- not to mention rather frightening.

"Raven…" Robin warned her. She just rolled her eyes and went to sit on the couch, while he went to sit on the opposite end. As he sat, he thought about what she had just said. That had been more of an insight into her mind than he had ever gotten before, and he had a feeling it had only been because Beast Boy's mirror trip(s) messed her up more than she cared to admit. And not only that, but she had shared one of her (many, he thought) insecurities with him. Did Raven really think they thought she didn't have any emotions? What had it cost her pride, he wondered, to admit that to the person that had hurt her the most? And she admitted a fault, too, in saying that she wasn't sure how much she could handle, and he knew that was not something she was used to. Of course, she had relapsed back into her normal self with a death threat aimed at Beast Boy… which, as per usual, was amusing in the extreme. Sometimes she could get rather creative…

It was then that he noticed an actual letter mixed in with the piles of bills. Funny, he hadn't seen it there before. Oh, and it was addressed to him! From… Bruce? Odd, he never got mail from him; anything they needed to say to each other was done either in person or through the video set on the televisions. It was strange to him, for some reason, to see Batman appear on the same screen that he so often saw Slade…

Shoving the mental comparison aside, he stood up from the couch, sat the bills back on the table, grabbed a knife from the drawer in the kitchen, and slit open the top of the envelope. Maybe it was good news…

Suddenly Star burst into the room in all her radiant, cheerful glory. He put his letter aside for the time being and returned her wishes for a wonderful morning, mostly because all she got from Raven was a glare. It was odd, he suddenly realized, but Raven had been a bit more hostile towards the alien girl for the last three or four days. Was there a particular reason, or was Raven just being bitchy? She usually had a reason for what she did, but what could Star have done? Then he realized something else: that hadn't been the first time recently that thoughts of his current girlfriend had led to thoughts of his previous. Maybe he really did need to rethink his relationship. After all, if thinking of pretty, but naïve Star caused him to think of the darkly beautiful demoness, then maybe he needed a reality check. Or medication. Because those two were almost nothing alike.

Oh look, Star was talking to him. He dearly hoped that she hadn't asked any questions, because he certainly hadn't answered. "… and I was hoping that we might return to the malls of shopping today. Do you not think that it would be a most fun outing?" she questioned jovially.

"Uh, sure, why don't you just ask the others when they come in?" he responded somewhat distractedly.

"The… others? But I thought- I mean, certainly, I'm sure that they will be delighted," she said in a tone that implied that she certainly wasn't delighted. He decided to ignore it.

"Oh look, Raven's already here. Hey Rae, do you want to go to the mall later?" Looking up, Raven saw the quite nearly naked panic in his eyes; she knew how much he hated going to the mall with alien princess.

"I'll think about it, Wonder Boy," she replied noncommittally. There was no way in hell or anywhere else she would be going if it was just her and those two. Cyborg definitely had to come if she was even to consider it.

Speaking of which… "Mornin', y'all. What's for breakfast?"

"Anything you can make yourself," was Raven's somewhat sarcastic answer. He grinned at her.

"Aw, Rae, you know I can make a meal out of anything with meat." She knew he didn't really mean anything, but…

"What about Beast Boy? He's made of meat, right?" So maybe the cannibalism idea would work for this dimension after all!

"And why do we want to kill him this time?" he asked with a sigh. Raven just turned away.

"Uh… I don't think she wants to talk about it…" Robin muttered when the metallic man didn't turn away. "And I would advise not asking Beast Boy about it…"

"But you know about it?" It was less of a question and more a statement of fact, but Robin nevertheless felt the need to answer in something other than the affirmative. After all, it might make Raven a little less pissed if he didn't share anything about the incident, never mind the fact that the details would have been forced out of him.

"Actually, I just saw him scramble away." He shrugged and sat back down on the couch, knowing that a pair of narrowed eyes followed him. Well, one narrowed eye and one glowing red eye. But still. "Oh yeah, are you up for a trip to the mall later?"

Turning to go to the kitchen, Cyborg whooped. "I'm game, man. Last I heard, that new arcade they got was killer! Can you believe they actually…" The voice faded out of his conscious as the bigger teen began making his food, mostly because he was focused on Raven. Her face was turned from him slightly, so he saw only her profile. She was concentrating on something, it appeared, and she was coming to a decision. Her nose scrunched up in a look of semi-distaste; apparently she didn't like the outcome.

"I'll go," she said quietly, still not looking at him. When he didn't respond, she turned. And then smirked at his look of obvious confusion. "To the mall. I'll go with you to the mall. They did open a bookstore when they expanded, right?"

"Oh, uh, yeah, a couple doors down from the arcade he-" Robin gestured over his shoulder at the kitchen, where Cyborg was still rambling on about some game or another. "- was talking about. And I think there's a coffee shop next door to it. Listen, I'll buy you something later. You know, as, like, a thank you present for saving me today. You know how much I hate stuff like this… So, deal?"

"It had better be a Starbucks." He chuckled at her response and drifted back to the counter on which he had laid the letter. Just as he was about to begin reading, Beast Boy burst into the room.

"Dude! Cy, did you hear? It's out! They've finally released it! Can you believe it? We have got to go to the mall. Everywhere else will be totally sold out by now," the green teen screamed to his video gaming companion.

"NO WAY! It's finally out? Man, we were already goin' to the mall; you wanna come with?" the hybrid responded enthusiastically.

"Um, I'm probably going to regret this in a minute, but… What exactly are you talking about?" Raven asked heavily.

"Are you kidding? It's only THE best game to be released ALL YEAR!" Beast Boy said in a rather fast, high-pitched voice.

Looking at each other, the pair continued in unison. And an equal amount of enthusiasm, unfortunately. "The Ultimate Attack of the Llama Ninjas IV: Defending the Arabian Jackalopes!" A great deal of shrill squealing ensued, causing Raven, Robin, and Starfire to exit with haste.

"You have got to be kidding me! Who would play something called 'Attack of the Llama Ninjas', let alone four versions of it? Who would even make a game like that?" Raven's ranting continued in a similar fashion, causing Robin to snicker loudly at her. "What are you laughing at, Wonder Bread?"

"You," he answered simply.

Raven cocked one eyebrow, placed her hands on her hips, and leaned toward the object of her annoyance. "You better wipe that smirk off your face before I do it for you," she threatened.

Robin stepped closer to her and leaned his face close to her, though neither seemed to really notice the proximity. Starfire was a different story. "What are you gonna do about it, huh, Ravie? Send Llama Ninjas after me?" Robin hadn't thought about the consequences of this comment. Which might be why he was unprepared for what happened next.

Raven leapt at him and wrapped her fingers around his neck. Robin, while he managed to free his neck, tumbled to the floor with Raven on top of him, where they proceeded to wrestle violently for the next few minutes. Starfire simply hovered over their heads with the intention of halting the fight in the case of someone's near death. Finally Raven managed to pin Robin beneath her, holding his hands down under her thighs. So one could safely assume that, yes, Raven was straddling Robin. Under normal circumstances, this would have brought out a very… inappropriate portion of the Boy Wonder's personality; but, as it was, the only person who noticed the awkward position was Starfire. This made for a rather annoyed alien; fortunately for the birds, she didn't do anything to stop it. Yet.

"You didn't really think you'd end up on top, did you, Robbie-poo? But it's okay; I know how you like a woman that takes control…" she whispered in a silky voice. Okay, so maybe Star wasn't the only one who noticed.

Somehow Robin managed to flip Raven over, so that he was now on top and looking down on her. "Actually, I like a bitch that knows her place," he breathed in her ear.

Trying to repress a shiver, she responded, "And what place is that?"

"Beneath me," he continued, "moaning out my name and-"

"Friends, I believe that it is safe to return to the room of living now!" Starfire interrupted in an unnaturally sharp voice. They both looked at her, then each other, before Robin's eyes widened underneath his mask and he rushed off of her. He would have to work extremely hard today not to think of how good it felt to hold her under him; to know that he- not Speedy!- was the one to make her shiver in pleasure; god, even to be pinned beneath her, feeling her smooth legs against his hands, his arms, his chest… and the way she whispered to him! God, didn't that woman know what she was doing to him? She was an empath for god's sake; she had to know how arousing it was for her to straddle him like that…

"Um, sure, I'll be right behind you, Star," Robin muttered distractedly. But as soon as the door shut behind his girlfriend, he turned around and began to hurry in the other direction.

"Hey, where do you think you're going?" Raven objected as she turned to follow him.

"Training room," he said gruffly, not bothering to look and see if she was still trailing him. He already knew she was.

"Why? Aren't we going somewhere in a few minutes?" she continued to protest.

"Look, why don't you go follow someone else around, 'kay, Rave?" he ordered in a relatively annoyed voice.

"Robin… Beating out your frustrations on something that can't fight back is stupid. It doesn't solve your problems for you, and it never will!"

"And what do you suggest?"

"Tell me why you're upset."

"Well, aren't you helpful."

"What? Does poor, wittle Robby-kins not want to deal with reality?"

"No, 'poor, wittle Robby-kins' doesn't want to piss off a demon! But it seems that that just flew out the window, so you know what? I'll take your advice; I'll just tell you what's wrong. Raven, I'm going to go train so I don't have to think about what just happened."

They had now arrived at the training room, and Robin was in the process of removing his shirt. Raven, after glaring at him for a moment, slid off her cloak and shoes.

"Raven, what are you doing?"

"I'm going to train, dumb ass. What does it look like?"

"It looks like you're trying to- You know what? Never mind. Get a mat out; we're going to spar. You've been neglecting your physical defenses lately." Raven mumbled something unintelligible under her breath. "What was that? I didn't quite catch it," he asked her with a note of scorn in his voice.

"I said, it's because you're always in here. And anyway, didn't you get enough of that in the hallway, Boy Wonder? After all, you came in here trying to beat me out of your mind…" she bit back.

"You would like to think that, wouldn't you? It would just make your whole freaking day to think that my every waking thought revolved around you, that your every move or breath or word would occupy the entirety of my mind. Well, guess what? I actually think about things other than you, shockingly enough. I've got a new girlfriend now, in case you haven't noticed, and god knows she's nicer to me than you ever were. So why don't you just get over yourself? Or better yet, get over me. We're done. It's time you realized that." His words were harsh, harsher than he had intended them to be, and he knew he had gone too far; but there was nothing he could do about that now. He winced at her shocked, hurt expression- partially because it showed emotion clearly and partially because he knew he was the reason it was there.

"I hate you." And then she turned and walked calmly from the room.

Moocow

With only a slight buzz of conversation in her ears- the only other people here were the ones working behind the counter- Raven sat and brooded over her rather depressing day. Even after they had left the Tower, she had been miserable. Not a single book had looked good to her after Robin had said those things to her, and she was relatively certain that it was because of his words. Now she sat at the Starbucks table, alone, cheerless, and way too warm to be comfortable. It seemed that the workers were cold-natured…

Suddenly a cup of steaming liquid was set in front of her. Looking up, Raven was greeted with the sight of Robin's tentative- but still unbelievably sexy- smile as he slid into the chair across from her. "I'm sorry." His voice was somewhat uncertain, as Raven's might have been if she had chosen to do anything other than turn her face away from him. "Come on, Rae, I really am sorry. Please forgive me?" Still no response. "Grande White Chocolate Mocha with toffee nut syrup?" Damn, now he had her. Hot coffee, hot new bookstore, hot Robin… As much as she hated to admit it, she still knew he was one of the sexiest guys in the city. Not that she would ever, ever, ever let him know that. His ego was big enough as it was; it could probably stroke itself.

"The coffee better not be cold," she muttered, taking it into her hands. She let out a satisfied sigh as she felt the heat radiating from the cup and put it to her lips. "Mmm…" she breathed as she set it down once more. "Thanks."

"So I'm forgiven?" Robin asked uncertainly.

"I suppose," she responded.

After a brief silence Robin spoke. "So did you look in the new bookstore across the hall? It looks like they have a pretty good collection. If you haven't been in, I wouldn't mind going with you…" Meaningless conversation; was that all he had? With Robin, there was usually a method to the madness, but it didn't appear that there was just now.

Then it hit her. "Why are you nervous?" her voice was quiet, but penetrating. "It's just me…"

He gave her an odd look. "Just you? Raven… Oh never mind. Anyway, you're not the only thing that's got me… uneasy. Could I… If I told you something, would you swear to keep it a secret?" She nodded his answer. "I've been thinking lately… And I-" He was suddenly cut off."

"Oh, dear Robin, I have been searching for you in every room of the mall! Why have you not stayed with me? … And why are you with Friend Raven?" It appeared that Starfire had found them. And she wasn't particularly happy about who 'them' was. "Was this why you left me? I came out of the room of dressing and found you to be missing. I did not suspect you to be with Raven…" There was a strange way she put emphasis on the word 'with' that left a sour taste in Raven's mouth. A taste that urged her to make the alien girl very uncomfortable with her insinuations…

"Oh don't worry, Star, we were just having some coffee together. He bought it for me so I wouldn't kill him. Now if you don't mind, we were just heading off to the bookstore. Unless you weren't done?" She gestured at the cup of coffee. Robin understood that the last line was directed at him, and it only bothered him a little that Raven was being rude to his girlfriend.

"No, you can have the rest," he played along, thought uncertain as to why.

After picking up the paper cup and dropping it into the trash can, Raven swept from the room. Robin, after throwing Starfire an innocent smile, traipsed after her. Once clear of the view of the small coffee shop, Raven leaned against one of the shelves and absentmindedly eyed the one opposite her. Knowing she would explain in due time, Robin remained silent. "If she wasn't such a bitch about it, I wouldn't be so mean to her…" she whined half-heartedly.

"She wasn't the one being a bitch…" he responded.

Raven threw him a strange look. "I know I was pretty rude to her, but… you can't honestly tell me that you think she wasn't being just as bad in her own way, can you? Didn't you hear her?"

"She's just being protective. I mean, she is Star…"

"Possessive is more like it. And I know it's just Star; that's why I even feel a little guilty. Anyway, new subject… Want to help me find a book?" That was his clue that the issue was closed to further discussion, at least until Raven decided otherwise. So he gave in and browsed the novels with her, thinking that he'd just have make it up to his girlfriend later.

Moocow

Yeah, I know... My chapter are freaking long, but I'm trying to make the fic short... as in four or five chapters. That way I might finish it. Wouldn't that be a good thing? Anyway, in case you didn't look in my profile or read my new fic, Tecna is taking a break. So if you read her stuff, don't expect a quick update. Yes, she will be back, just not right now. She's actually got a life, unlike me... Anyhoo, review, 'cause they make me all warm and fuzzy inside...