Chapter 4: Hands

(Came across this cute little prompts while wandering on Pinterest. Might as well give it a try :3)

Raven sat on the massive black couch of the Titan Tower's Common Room, one leg on top of another while a gigantic leather-back book clutched in her slender fingers. This was the brand new edition of her most favorite novel of all ages, and she had been super excited all weeks long (in her own calm-and-collected, discreet, and obviously not squealed-into-her-pillow-when-she-was-in-her-room-all-by-herself way, of course) after hearing that it would come to the market soon. And now, she had finally got it!

As long as anything involved "Raven" and "books" took place, many people would assume that the former would stick her nose into the latter until the last page was flipped and not even the end of the world could separate them. And this wasn't just a mere statement, but a fact nonetheless.

But that little fact was about to change today, as the dark girl didn't seem to concentrate on the white paper and black-inked letters that she couldn't go a day without. Her gaze kept dropping from the book in her slender pale palms to something on the couch's cushions, something that caught her interest and wouldn't let it go no matter how she tried to pull it back.

Next to her, Robin casually leaned back against the high and soft headboard, appearing to be lost in thought while his eyes pinned on what seemed to be a stack of case file placed neatly on his knees. His lips were set in a straight line and his brows slightly furrowed when he tapped his forefinger against a certain part of the paper, something he hadn't truly figured out yet. Raven knew him, this kind of expression would only come when he was left in the dark and couldn't connect what he had to what he just found out.

Typical of the Boy Blunder, spare time was never in his dictionary. Did he even have anything related to spare and free and relax there?

Secretly rolling her eyes, the sorceress diverted them back to her book once more. But in less than a minute, they had already gone back to the couch's cushions, dragging her attention alongside.

Did she mention that the hottest season of the year had already tiptoed into the city? And that everything was practically being boiled under the unbearable weather? And that even in the Tower, the heat didn't get much better?

That's why some of them had opted to remove some pieces of garments when they are not on the battle zone. Beast Boy – his gloves, Starfire – her long boots, and her beloved leader, as fearless and brave and tough as he could be, was just a regular person, and regular person couldn't stand scorching weather.

So, naturally, he had decided to cast away his cape and those thick green gloves whenever they were by themselves in the Tower.

Currently, one of his bare hand, the one that wasn't busying scratching off unusable info off the file, lied innocently right next to her, less than an inch away. And Raven found herself unable to take her gaze off it. This was foolish! She kept telling her that. Foolish! Ridiculous! It wasn't like she hadn't seen his bare hand before, why must bother acting like a naïve damsel in those silly girl flicks – the type of girl that squealed and blushed like a tomato just because a man looked her way?

But despite that, she just couldn't look away. Her violet eyes trailed his large hand, was it a bit smaller without the glove? She didn't truly pay attention to this detail before. Still, that hand undoubtedly doubled the size of hers, masculine and strong – just like his own personality. Here and there, on his long yet brawny fingers scattered little scars of many shapes as well as some calluses – proves of a life of crime fighting.

Raven wondered what they would feel like. She hadn't truly got the opportunity to observe them elaborately before.

Before she even realized, her slender fingers had already reached toward his.

Right then, Robin suddenly lunged forward and sneezed while lifting his hand up to cover his mouth. Raven almost jumped in her seat, startled was just a part of the reason, the other part was because she didn't believe that she had actually tried and hold his hand, in the Common Room, right in the middle of the day!

Raven wasn't really that reserved, but she wasn't the type that like making moves on someone either. Besides, she had made a pretty good point that she wouldn't be into any… cheesy stuff like this. If he knew that she was just about to… grasp his hand like a silly teenage girl, he wouldn't let she hear the end of it!

Wait… Did he see that?

From the corner of her eyes, Raven quietly shot the spiky-haired boy a look, and inwardly sighed in relief as he seemed to be too absorbed in his case file to notice her.

But then, Robin set his hand back to its previous spot, and Raven couldn't refrain herself from staring, again.

Oh well, just once, maybe he wouldn't mind…

It seemed that luck had something against her today because the moment their fingertips were about to touch, the door leading to the Common Room suddenly swung opened, and the sound of arguing started blasting everywhere. Robin swiped his head backward to figure out what was going on, and Raven retracted her fingers while trying to hold back a gasp. Her eyes narrowed as she picked on certain sounds in the background.

"I told you I didn't cheat! It wasn't my fault that your dumb character fell on his ass and got it kicked by mine!"

"Because you pulled a dirty move! Dude, that was not cool!"

"I didn't, that move was on the game's list all along, and just so you remember, you used it just yesterday, twice!"

Soon, Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum left, obviously to return to the arcade and proved themselves who the best were. The deafening sound followed them, and only stopped once the door slid shut again.

Raven rested her back against the couch, she could hear her heart thumbing loudly in her chest.

They sure knew how to pick the moment! Almost scared the living daylight out of her!

Robin had again returned to his former position on the couch, with his file on his knee, one hand quietly tapping against the paper, the other lazily resting on the couch's cushion. Raven bit her lips and curled her slender fingers, her gaze against fell on the slightly opened palm of her leader – a gesture that somehow seemed inviting in a way.

She weighed her options, but eventually decided to draw her fingers back and returned to her book. This was just ridiculous! Why must she bother about all this hand-holding thing? Maybe Starfire's endless franchise of dumb teen romance movies had finally gotten to her. She must really find a way to talk her way out of joining the alien on her movie night.

Besides, looked at him! He was trying to focus on his work. How could she just go and ruin his effort just because she wanted…

Something touched her hand slightly, and Raven inhaled in surprise as her pale, petite fingers were suddenly intertwined with something strong, yet warm and somewhat soft. She could feel the small scarves running across the tough skin…

Her eyes locked on her slender hand, only to find out that it had been squeezed between a strong, muscular, masculine palm. And a pair of masked eyes was looking at her in pure amusement.

"If you want my hand that much, you could just ask." Said the Boy Wonder casually as he again brought his concentration back to his file. "You know I could never say no to a pretty little bird."

Raven had her widened violet eyes for what seemed like an eternity, than they fell down to the couch where the two birds' hands innocently lacing with each other. Without a single word, she turned back to the book in her unoccupied fingers, trying her best to plunge her mind into its world.

That was the only way for her to distract herself and not blow up the entire Tower with her power spiraling out of control.