Chapter Two - Beautiful

Robin stumbled into the kitchen. She grinned with amusement at him, it was refreshing to see him unprepared like this. Raven took a long sip from her tea "Good morning." The tea wasn't anything like Alfred's recipe, but at least it kept her awake.

"G'morning." He grumbled, leaning on the counter next to where she sat.

"Sleep well?"

"Of course not." He smirked. He eyed her steaming mug. "Can I have some?"

Raven rose a brow.

Robin smiled, "Oh beautiful and mysterious mistress, may I please have a sip of that simply delicious tea?"

Raven's grin returned, Beautiful and Mysterious? She liked the sound of that, "Its not like the one you made the other day," she noted "Also I didn't fix another cup." She didn't figure anyone else would want tea.

Robin shrugged, "C'mon Rae, I don't have cooties." He held his hand out.

Raven sighed and handed him the mug.

Robin smiled and took a sip, "Perfect."

Raven rolled her eyes, "I think you might've hit your head Boy Wonder. Since when do you like my tea?"

"I've always like tea, but since that was sort of like your thing - I didn't want to seem like a copycat." He offered her back the mug.

Raven's lips twitched upward, "There's no reason it can't be our thing." She suggested, taking a sip.

Robin grinned, "Our thing - I like that."

Cyborg walked in, he gave the two of a sideways glance but used his better judgment and didn't comment. It seemed they could never get a minute to talk alone.

Robin slipped his hand over and gently pulled the mug out of her grip. She glared at him as put it to his grinning lips and took a sip.

"Okay, seriously - what is going on with y'all?" Cyborg spoke up. The two had completely forgotten about his presence. "First y'all are snuggling on the couch during movie night then you're sharing tea." He turned specifically to Raven "If me or BB had done that, you would've thrown us out the window."

Raven narrowed her eyes as her face flushed. Robin opened his mouth to give some half-baked excuse, but Raven interrupted him "I don't really see how it's any of your business."

Robin smiled at her, 'That's my girl.'

Cyborg met her glare head-on. Aside from Robin, Cyborg seemed to be the only one that wasn't affected by her stares. "Whatever, just keep it out of my backseat." He grumbled as he shuffled down to the garage.

Raven sighed in frustration, Robin smiled at her "I late for my run." He noted.

"Sorry. Didn't mean to distract you." She said in her signature monotone voice.

Robin snickered, "Being distracted by you is my favorite part-time, Beautiful."

She flushed once more, "Oh." Is all she could muster. It was the second time he'd called her beautiful.

"Be back in a bit." He promised "Don't let Beast Boy eat my waffles." He remarked.

Raven nodded but she didn't quite hear exactly what he said, her mind was running a thousand miles an hour. He called her beautiful, he needlessly touched her, he drank tea. There was something going on.

He'd even been acting unlike himself in different ways. He smiled in her presence, his laugh seemed less rare when it was just the two of them, and then there was that smile - that smile that he never gave to anyone else, that smile was his but belonged to her.

Her head was spinning, her eyes fluttered to the clock. An hour? Had she really spent an entire hour thinking about him?

She rose from her seat and drifted over toward the training room. She needed to sort this out before it consumed her. This time no one with interrupt them, no one besides Robin went to the training room - at least not willingly.

"Of course I was serious... I'll be civil, you should be worrying about him." Robin's voice bounced off the walls of the training room.

She crept in and made herself known. He held his cell phone up to his ear, his cell phone - Not communicator. Someone else from his personal life? Why did it seem that she always walked in at the worst moment."

He smiled widely when he first saw her, "Hey Rae," he greeted "Gimme a sec, we're almost done."

She nodded as she watched him. He was shirtless, a faint sweat running down his back. She flushed and she wasn't sure what the big deal was - she'd seen him shirtless before. But it was different than before.

He had changed so much from that scrawny kid that she'd met two years ago. He went from around five and half feet to shooting up to hovering around at six feet, his shoulders had broadened, his defined muscles had gotten larger, and he was a bit bulkier. Yeah, it definitely wasn't the same as before.

"Yeah I'm here." He continued, "Yeah I'll be there... I know, I know... I'm bringing a guest... friend from the Titans... Yeah... okay..." Robin grinned for a half second then fading away "Sure... you too... take care of him, Diana." Robin ended the call and slipped the phone into his belt.

"Diana?" Raven rose a brow.

"Wonder Woman."

"Oh." Wow, Robin had Wonder Woman's phone number.

"Her and Bats are... close. She was calling about next month."

Next month? December. Oh, Christmas. "How long will you be gone?" She questioned.

He frowned, "Two weeks." He told "You don't want to come anymore?" He asked a bit disappointed.

"Oh well..." She didn't want to assume "You realize this might... compromise your identity."

He nodded, "I know. I trust you."

She widened her eyes, "Really?" She asked in disbelief "So-?"

He shook his head, cutting her off "Nope, sorry." He pointed his to his mask "Can't open until Christmas." He chuckled. It was probably just a bargaining chip, so she would come with him.

"You're going to tell the team?"

"Nope. Just you, Beautiful." He smiled warmly "For now, at least." He added.

There it was - her reasoning behind coming to speak with him had returned to her, "We need to talk."

"About what?" His smile faded, he sensed her serious tone.

She motioned between the two of them, "This." She sighed "Whatever this is."

He didn't feign ignorance, "It's whatever you want it to be."

Anger flared in her violet eyes, "Bullshit. Don't give me that. You're the one that started with all this. Touching, cuddling, calling me beautiful." She listed as she flushed deeper with each word, "Tell me what's going on."

Robin shrugged, "Just tell me to stop and I'll stop."

She bit her lip, "I don't... I don't want you to stop." She admitted with a blush "I just want to know why."

His face was as stoic as ever, "The touching is because... I dunno, it feels right. You know?"

She knew, but she didn't tell him that.

"Well... the cuddling sort of just happened - I wanted to see if you'd kill me or not if I tried to put my arm around you." He briefly chuckled "For a second there I thought you were gonna send me to a different dimension."

She flushed for some unknown reason.

"But then you... actually seemed to like it and you're really comfortable... I just kinda fell asleep."

She couldn't help but smile at that, "For the record - you're comfortable too."

"Glad to know." He chuckled, his stoic demeanor slowly melting away.

She hesitated, biting her lip once more "And the beautiful thing?"

"Just speaking what I see." He grinned "I am Pinocchio, for I cannot tell a lie." He added.

She didn't hear the latter half of his remark, just the first bit. He thought she was beautiful? Surely, he was delusional. She was demon, she couldn't be beautiful, wasn't allowed. "Why? Why did this all start? We've been friends for two years, why did this all start recently?"

Robin seemed hesitant, his fingers tapping against each other "I thought about kissing you. Haven't been able to stop." He admitted in a low voice.

"Wha-?" She choked out. That was not the answer she was expecting.

Cyborg walked into the room, "Hey Rob- Oh." His eyes looked between the two of them "Why am I not surprised?"

Robin narrowed his eyes beneath his mask, "Do you have a tracker on us or something?" He spat angrily.

Cyborg smirked at him, "Nah. I think it's just an instinct." He chuckled "Breakfast is ready."

He groaned, "Can you just leave us alone for a minute?" He said with desperation in his voice.

"Nuh-uh. We gotta use this equipment too, can't have you two rubbing up on it."

Robin sighed, his shoulders slumping in defeat. He turned to Raven "We'll finish this later. I swear." He sighed again "I'm gonna clean up. Save me some breakfast, Beautiful."

She nodded. She and Cyborg left the training room, heading for the common room. They both heard a powerful grunt and the satisfying crunch of wall.

Later, they would find a hole around the same size as Robin's fist.

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