I love Teen Titans and it needs more love, hence the fic. Enjoy!

DSICLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN TEEN TITANS IN ANY SHAPE OR FORM!

Raven's thoughts on Robin have never settled in once place. They were like an evolution, with each thought adding to the next.

First, he was a stranger, but that one didn't last long because within minutes of meeting her, he became a friend. It was rather silly of her, but no one had ever welcomed her so easily, so trustingly, not without a catch. She couldn't help that one, how could she deny the first person that's ever accepted her?

Soon enough he became a leader, her leader. Raven has never been on a team before (she tended to avoid groups), but when Robin formed their little team without even meaning to, he made the prospect of having a team seem so simple. He didn't need time to settle into the role they'd thrust onto him (they took a vote, obviously), he just… did it. Some days he came off as bossy and heartless, but Raven could never fault that part of him; she'd heard of the horrible crimes that occurred in Gotham, it was honestly a wonder Robin still had the heart to have fun and be a normal teenager.

Finally, he became her friend. Raven had tried to keep a professional relationship with him in the beginning, but Robin was surprisingly persistent when it came to getting her to open up. He never stopped inviting her to join the team in whatever ridiculous activity they were doing, but he did so with a respectful distance. When she said "no", he accepted that and didn't push her. When she wanted to just be alone, he left her alone.

He was the only one that understood her, in that sense. The only one that really tried to understand her, really. Cyborg and Beast Boy certainly tried, but they always gave up or kept pushing her, overall becoming a nuisance sometimes. Starfire was naively open with her, but she kept expecting Raven to return the favor. Raven couldn't bring herself to be so open, so trusting.

Robin was the only one that understood that.

Which is what led to… a tradition of sorts. Whenever Raven woke up, Robin was already up. She never asked him why because she knew. She knew it was because he had nightmares frequently, or just his insomnia acting up.

Knowing that, Raven decided she owed it to her leader and friend to help him out a little. Raven has awoken from enough nightmares to start a habit of drinking a mug of calming herbal tea. Raven has never seen Robin drink tea, only coffee, but maybe it could help him.

So, really, it's understandable that he's confused when she wordlessly offered him a mug one day.

He took it anyway, of course, and soon enough he stopped questioning it. The tradition kept going.

One particular morning, Raven woke up to a disturbance in the air. Or maybe it was her mind. Whatever it was, it woke her up.

She closed her eyes and focused on the source, but with her new connection to Robin after last night's fiasco, she easily found what, or who, the source was.

Of course, he couldn't sleep after that, Raven thought as she floated through the halls. Who could sleep after being literally haunted by a ghost of your trauma?

She stopped at the door to the roof. She took a moment to consider if she should comfort Robin or leave him be and decided on the former.

Robin has helped through many similar scenarios, silently sitting next to her and just offering her the comforting presence of a friend. She had to do the same for her friend. She chanted under her breath and pushed open the door.

The first thing she saw was his silhouette, sharply contrasting the bright outline the sun was giving it. He almost looked solemn from where she was standing, even without seeing his expression.

She floated slowly, just to give him time to tell her off if he wanted to. When he remained silent, crouched with his arms pulling his knees to his chest, she sat down.

When a few minutes passed of him just staring ahead blankly, Raven finally spoke up. "You… wanna talk about it?"

She didn't really know what to say in situations like this. Usually, it was the other way around.

Robin's voice was raspy with sleep when he responded, "Not really."

A wind blew through. Raven turned her gaze to Robin, taking in the odd sight of him in his pajamas and un-gelled hair. He almost looked like a stranger, had it not been for the ever-present domino mask.

She was surprised when he suddenly started talking. "Raven, how do you do it?"

"Do what?"

"Stay calm and collected, never lash out… how do you do it?"

She took a moment to format a response. "It's not like I never lash out, I just keep those emotions in. Actions ruled by emotion are dangerous, especially for my powers."

Robin turned to look at her. She felt a conflicted mix of emotions from him, like he couldn't settle on one. She has never been able to read him well before, but now she felt like she was intruding with the way his emotions poured over her.

"Can you teach me?" he asked. "How to control my emotions, I mean."

"You already can," she pointed out. He had an annoyingly good poker-face, and sometimes she wished she could get as good a read on him as she could now.

"Not when it matters," Robin said quietly, oozing a concerning amount of self-hatred and disappointment. Something else too, like... Regret?

Slade, she realized with a beat, He's talking about Slade.

All the Titans noticed the way he lashed out when it came to Slade. He lost his cool, he screamed at them for the littlest things, and he had no control over his actions. Even his combat suffered, and he was probably the most skilled Titan among them, even without powers. He single-handedly took them down both as Red X and as Slade's… unwilling apprentice.

Both of which were also born from Slade. It always came down to Slade.

"You don't have to," Robin said, misinterpreting her silence. "It's not an order as your leader, I'm just asking you as my friend."

Friend. He was her friend. She could even go as far as to call him her soul-sibling. Of course, she'd help him, what was he thinking?

"Of course, I'll help you," she sighed. "Don't think so low of me."

"I didn't mean-"

"I know," she smiled. It was small, but it always came to her lips around Robin. Always Robin.

He smiled back, a genuine one so unlike his usual smirk or mischievous grin.

"Let's get started then," she said, willfully ignoring the strange satisfied warmth inside her. Almost like satisfaction, but fonder. More familiar.

"First, go into a lotus…"

Robin picked up meditating surprisingly well for someone so emotional (ironic, really). As soon as he got a grasp of it, he was in the zone. They spent the better part of the morning meditating, the combined sound of their chanting filling the silent air around them. Raven has meditated with Starfire before, a nice way to spend quality time with the enigmatic alien, but it didn't feel as serene as it did at this moment.

Then again, Robin has always managed to make himself an exception with her.

They stayed like that until their friends came to drag them to breakfast. Raven watched as Beast Boy and Cyborg dragged Robin, both relentlessly teasing him ("I swear it's a sign of the apocalypse. Robin, LATE!"). Instead of snapping at them or cutting them off, Robin followed them silently with a smile on his lips, and something inside Raven settled.

And as she walked beside her friends, Robin sent her a grateful smile and spoke almost as loudly as the gratitude flowing through their bond.

She smiled back, and she knew she didn't need to voice a response to his silent gratitude.

They didn't need words, not anymore.