Chapter Three – Linked

Robin found her on the roof, sitting on the edge of the building. She liked to come and think there. It was quiet. Tranquil. She was cold though, even more so than usual - a chill in the late November air.

"Hey." His voice was a little rough.

She nodded, not looking at him. Her eyes were fixated on the purple and pink tinted clouds over the horizon.

He sat down on the edge next to her, he didn't look to her, just kept his eyes forward.

"We gonna pick up where we left off?" Raven wondered aloud.

"I suppose so."

"Granted that we don't get interrupted this time."

Robin grinned, "I wouldn't worry about that. Cyborg is currently locked in his room."

Raven chuckled at the image that created in her head, "I'm pretty sure he has access to all the unlock codes."

"Yeah," Robin admitted "But he'll get the message."

The silence that followed couldn't even be defined as awkward. They both knew what had to be said, but neither could figure out how to say it.

"Well?" Raven nudged.

"I'm sorry." He apologized "My actions were inappropriate and caused you discomfort. I won't continue."

Raven groaned and shook her head, why was he so infuriating? "How many times must I say it before you get it through that hard head of yours?" She grumbled though she wasn't truly angry "I don't want you to stop. I just want to know why? Is that so difficult?"

"You... Don't want me to stop?"

"Don't inflate your ego... but no. I don't."

Robin grinned for a moment, but it quickly disappeared "So now you want why." He concluded.

Raven nodded with a sigh. He had finally begun to catch on. He was usually quick thinker, but she just did something to him.

"Well... I just... this is really hard to just come out and say."

Raven had enough of these games, she was about to get up and leave when she heard it.

'I want to be with you, but I know you'll hate me for it.'

Raven looked to him with wide eyes in disbelief, "Wha... What did you just say?"

He rose a brow at her, "Huh?" He questioned "I didn't say anything."

"You... You just..."

"Are you okay?" He touched her forearm.

Raven meant to pull out of his grip, maybe even hiss at him, but she didn't. She ended up leaning against him, even this little showing of affection made her warmer. This was getting out of hand, but maybe that's how it supposed to happen. Maybe it's what they both needed.

"You just said you wanted to be with me."

'Is she reading my thoughts?' He asked without moving his lips 'Are you reading my thoughts'

Raven went pale, even more than usual "I apologize, I don't mean to... I can you usually block it out, but..."

"Our bond."

She gave a small smile, "Always is." She affirmed.

Robin moved his hand away from her arm, she felt a chill run through her spine. "Well I guess that isn't your fault." His eyes lit up "I've got an idea."

She could hear his thoughts, but they weren't in English. A strong accent with a firm tone. Russian, no doubt. "I didn't know you knew Russian."

His lips twitched upward into a smirk, "There's a lot you don't know about me."

She frowned, he was right.

"And there's a lot I don't know about you."

"On the contrary, Boy Wonder, you know me the best."

Robin nodded, "Yeah, but I don't know everything. I like knowing, helps me sleep at night."

Raven grinned slightly in response.

"Maybe we go out, get to know each other. That way I can sleep, and you can know more about me." He offered.

"Go out? Like a date?" A terrifying and thrilling aspect.

He shrugged, "If we have a good time, then yeah it'll be a date. If not, then we were just out for a night on the town, purely platonic."

She thought for a long moment, furrowing her brow.

"My treat, of course."

She bit her bottom lip, "Okay... sure."

She could feel his wave of excitement and relief wash over her through their bond, "Great it's a date." He grinned "Maybe." He added.

"Maybe." She echoed with a small smile.

"This Friday at nine?"

"Fine with me."

"Good."

"Good."

Both of their gazes left each other, turning to the horizon once more. Beautiful. The colors seemed to dance off the sparkling water of the bay.

"How long you think we've got before we're interrupted."

Raven snickered to herself, "Not long."

"It seems to be common theme." He pointed out.

She remained mute. He was right, something always seemed to interrupt them whenever they tried to be by themselves.

"Well," he began, breaking the silence, "Maybe this whole telepathy thing could come in handy."

"How so?"

"You can hear my thoughts, right?"

"Yes," she nodded, "But I try to keep out, give people their privacy." She added "However, it's becoming increasingly difficult to ignore your thoughts, due to our bond."

"Could you project your thoughts to me?"

"If I wanted to, yes." They were close, but she wasn't sure she wanted to go that far yet. Her thoughts were one of the only things that she could claim as distinctively her own.

"Well, what if we kept… like an open channel?"

Raven rose a brow at him.

"It would be like a way for us to talk, privately. That way, even if someone interrupted us, I could talk to you. Make snide remarks, give you directions when needed, maybe a little flirting." His smile was prominent.

"Hmm." She considered "I think I like the sound of that." She suspected that there would be more than just a little flirting.

"So, is that a yes?"

"It's just," she paused for a moment "Thoughts are very private. If we had an 'open channel', I could hear most of your thoughts, especially at the beginning."

"I've done it before." He said nonchalantly "I know how to project my thoughts to you and how to keep my private ones private." He explained "Though I might slip up sometimes." He shrugged.

"Really? You've done this before?" she deadpanned.

Robin nodded, "Yep. I'm an official honorary member of the Justice League." He explained "I'm linked with Martian Manhunter. Well, I used to be – not sure if that link is still active."

It clicked in her head. That was how he was able to seemingly block her out. He was one of the only people that ever had the ability to block her out. It wasn't just because of his stone cold demeanor or high intelligence - it's because he was trained to keep people out.

"Oh." She forgot how much more experienced he was than the rest of them. His mentor used to be Batman, of course he was, "Well, if you're comfortable with opening your mind to me, then I would be glad to."

"As long as you don't go searching for my secret identity, I'm fine with it."

Raven gaped, "Robin, I would never-"

"I know." He cut her off "I trust you, Rae. Completely."

"Okay." Her voice was uncharacteristically shaky, "I'm pretty sure my powers are a bit different than Martian Manhunter's." she observed.

"I'll do whatever is needed."

She flushed, he was so trusting of her, "First, relax." He did as she said, his shoulders slumping down, "And touch my chakra." She finished.

Robin smiled as she bowed her head, so he would touch her forehead. He reached his hand out and brushed her violet locks out of her face, behind her ear. He grinned as he bent his head down and pressed his lips gently against her chakra.

Raven whimpered and took a step back, the wave of emotions that washed over her were not her own. Had he kissed her? It provided a much stronger reaction than normal. She got another glimpse inside his head – she tried to block it, keep her from seeing anything private, but the flood of emotions was too strong.

She wasn't inside the Circus this time, now it was a cave. A giant computer screen projected a light blue haze over the dark cave walls. She saw a display case – A tall gray skintight suit with a black bat emblem in the center, a faded yellow utility belt at the waist, black plating on the gloves and boots, and a cape that draped down the back, longer than even her own cape, it was like the night itself, 'black' didn't do it justice.

Next was a familiar brightly colored red, green, and yellow costume.

Then was a costume much like the first, except it was shaped much curvier. Like to outline the well-shaped body of a young woman.

Then there was a fourth case, empty besides the stand.

"Come now, young master, I believe we should get you ready for tonight's activities." The voice was smooth with a pleasant English accent.

She turned to look at the man, he was a short man, but he stood tall. Dressed in a black suit with a black tie. His hair black hair, with hints of gray, was slickly combed over. He had a pair of kind blue eyes that could strike a room as soon as he entered.

It was Alfred, she didn't need confirmation from Robin. People like him were few in a world such as theirs, she wouldn't mistake him. Robin never talked much about his life in Gotham, but the little bit that he had – had been about Alfred. She'd never heard him speak so fondly about anyone.

Her vision faded, and she was brought back to her present reality. Robin had his hand on her shoulder, "Are you okay?" he questioned, concern thick in his voice.

"I'm sorry." She shook her head. He had just asked her to not go snooping in his head. She betrayed his trust.

"What'd you see?" he suspected she'd had a vision of him or his life. He didn't seem angry.

"Alfred." She bit her lip

Robin smiled, "He's awesome, right?"

The guilt running through her prevented her from answering his question "I'm sorry." She said again.

"What for?" he frowned.

She hung her head, her hair falling over her eyes – it was getting long, "I invaded your privacy."

Robin's smile returned, "Raven – I was joking when I said that." He admitted, "I'm going to tell you who I am, anyway. The only reason I said that is because I wanted to tell you myself, but I would never get mad at you for it." He pointed out.

"Oh." Is all she could manage.

"Is the link set up."

Raven had all but forgotten. "I think it is."

Robin smiled, "Good." He nodded "God you look beautiful."

Raven flushed, "Great, now I'm gonna have you flirting in my head now." She said sarcastically. In truth, it didn't sound that bad to her.

"Yep." He agreed, "Trust me, there's plenty more where that came from."

Raven's communicator, she pulled it out and flipped it open, "Speak." Her voice losing the emotion it had just show to their leader.

"Yo Rae, get your boyfriend and bring y'all butts down here. It's dinner time." Cyborg spoke over the speaker.

Raven flushed with a mix of anger and embarrassment, "You- We-"

Cyborg ended the call and Raven fumed furiously.

Robin sighed, "Calm down, Beautiful." His hand rested on the small of her back "Let him have his fun, we'll get him back later."

She sighed and nodded, he was just about the only one that could calm her down right now.

He didn't remove his hand from her back as they walked back into the T shaped building. She didn't mind it, as long as he didn't go any further down, she actually enjoyed it.

Maybe things were going too far, but she didn't care.

She didn't know what would happen on their "date", but she did know how he made her feel... and she didn't want it to stop.

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