Thank you for so many incredible reviews! I can't believe the amazing response it's gotten.

Sorry it's taken so long… I've had to rewrite this soooo many times. It would never turn out quite right. But I am pretty happy with how the final version turned out. A little deeper, a little more serious… tell me what you guys think of it.

More than Shoes

Chapter Two

It would be a long day. Raven and Robin were sitting cross-legged on the floor of Raven's room, flipping through her countless spell books. They had tried to come up with some sort of solution or way to deal with their awkward situation, however they could think of nothing. They were stuck for days in each other's bodies… how could they possibly think of a way to deal?

Robin sighed heavily, shutting another gigantic spell book closed. "We're getting nowhere, Rae."

Raven glanced up from the old book in her lap to look at him. "Come on. There must be some way of handling this in a professional and diplomatic manner…" The tone in her voice, however, completely contradicted the hopeful words she spoke.

"Face it. There's absolutely no way we can retain even the slightest amount of dignity or privacy in this situation," Robin replied.

"How about we go search the city, find Control Freak right now, and beat him until he changes us back?"

"We have no idea where Control Freak is, and even if we did, we wouldn't be able to take even him in this state, let alone leave the Tower," Robin sighed. "Since when were you one for blind optimism?"

"Since when where you one to give up so quickly?"

"Must be your negative influence," he smirked. "And my patience is wearing thin - honestly, how much herbal tea did you drink this morning?"

Raven's glare was lost behind the mask, so she opted for teasing. "A few mugs. Can't handle it?"

Robin just gave a slight smirk. He had a thousand sarcastic or flippant or even suggestive answers already formulated in his mind, but he knew he should restrain himself. It was quite often that he found he had to make a conscious effort to stop himself from pestering her.

"Alright, Raven. We're just going to have to do this and get through it in the most professional manner possible," he said, his tone suddenly professional and lacking any tone that might imply she was anyone but a stranger.

"Yes," she finally agreed. She swallowed hard, trying to stop from blushing.

Robin stood up, and gave her a slight smile, before going to face a most formidable opponent – the toilet.

Raven watched the blue cloak swish as he left the room. She ran a gloved hand through her hair, teeth clenched as the blush on her face refused to fade. All she could do was thank the stars that it wasn't that time of the month.

He could usually keep his cool in the tensest of situations, however Robin's nerves were absolutely shot by the time he had entered the bathroom. He stared in the mirror, making sure that this was indeed real. "Come on," he whispered to himself under his breath. "Control… Control your emotions…"

This would be so much easier if Raven wasn't so pretty.

Carefully, he undid Raven's blue cloak and hung it up. He couldn't help but stare at Raven's body without the cloak. The shiny black leotard hugged her body, contrasting greatly against her pale skin. He kind of wished she would forgo the cloak every now and then. He then mentally slapped himself to stop thinking like the hormonal teenager he just might be.

"Now where is the zipper…?" he wondered, searching for the small discreet zipper hidden in the seams. "Aha." He hesitated a bit, delicate fingertips placed on the small metal zipper, then closed his eyes and pulled.

He could feel the objects floating dangerously by dark magic in the air around him. Control, he reminded himself, desperately trying to focus on the task at hand… or perhaps on anything but the task at hand. He took a few slow, deep breaths, then slowly opened his eyes again.

Unfortunately, his eyes had decided to open looking straight at the mirror.

Crash.

Glasses shattered and toothbrushes flew through the air, while bottles of hair products crashed noisily to the ground.

"Holy…"

Robin blushed furiously, averting his eyes immediately from the mirror. He hadn't meant to open his eyes directly at the mirror… but still, he felt full-fledged guilt creeping up on him. The guilt was only partially due to the fact he had seen her underwear… it was mostly, however, due to the fact that he had liked what he'd seen.

Even though he had averted his eyes and was staring intently at the black-and-white checkered flooring, the image of Raven's underwear-clad body was burned in his mind. Get a grip, he sighed, aware again of the hormonal teenaged side of him that was there, despite how hard he tried to suppress it.

"Who woulda thought Raven was one for lace?" he thought, despite himself.

Underneath that no-nonsense leotard was a black bra that matched her panties, strewn with lace and bows. Pink lace and bows. Perhaps Raven was 'girly' deep down, after all.

"Control, control, control…" Robin whispered rapidly, willing the towels and bath mat to stay put. After a few moments, the black crackle of magic seemed to subside, and his heart rate returned to normal. "Okay… okay… I can do this," he whispered to himself, determinedly averted his eyes, and pulled down Raven's lacy panties.

He had been in there for at least ten minutes, Raven noted. She'd heard the unmistakable noise of glass shattering, along with other sounds of destruction. Likely the toothbrushes and hair products.

She didn't blame him for the destruction. Most people would have been upset, and uncomfortable, as he must be. After all, there couldn't have been any other explanation other than distress, Raven figured.

"Are… you okay in there?" she asked, knocking on the door. She'd heard the running water of the tap. He was done… What was taking him?

"Y-yeah… yeah," he said through the door.

"I don't have to come in there and help you?" she taunted.

"No… no… got it all under control…"

"How many objects are about to explode," she asked, though her tone of voice was monotonous and implied more of a statement.

"Ten," he sighed.

"Okay… close your eyes and repeat the mantra several times. Azarath Metrion Zinthos," she guided.

"Yeah… yeah, okay," he said, voice still sounding a bit panicky.

She smirked slightly, having never heard Robin so anxious in his life. She could hear through the door the familiar words, being chanted. It was strange to hear her own voice repeating the mantra.

She listened on for a bit, then sighed and went to fetch a broom and dustpan to collect all the pieces of various objects that now surely lay on the tiled floor.

Upon returning with the broom and dustpan, she noticed Robin had finally come out of the bathroom, and to her relief, nothing was floating in mid-air. She couldn't help but notice the blush still apparent upon his face, although she then thought that perhaps he had been waiting for it to fade.

She walked into the bathroom and started sweeping. "So… don't worry, it's alright. We're both in the same position," she said. "We're both losing any sense of privacy to one another."

He nodded blankly, still seeming a bit dazed. She rolled her eyes.

"You better get used to it… I require an awful lot of herbal tea to function in the morning," she smirked. "Let's go make some lunch, hmm?"

"Sounds good," he answered, hoping to take his mind off things. "Hey… I'm gonna have to teach you how to cook," he remembered.

Oh yeah. That's right. Robin has to cook… "You're saying I'm not good enough?" she asked, folding her arms over her chest in mock-defence.

"Uh… okay, I would say 'yeah, pretty much,' but I don't think that's a good idea. So I'll just go ahead and say 'maybe'."

Raven rolled her eyes. Oh, right. It doesn't work behind the mask. She would have to find some new way of expressing her annoyance.

"Let's put it this way. If Robin started making those special pancakes that only Raven could ever make… they might assume something is up."

"Robin. I don't do cooking," she sighed. "Trust me. It's pointless to even try. I couldn't make a decent meal if my life depended on it."

Robin stared at her. "But what about if the lives of your friends depended on it?"

Raven bit her lip. "Fine. I'll try. But don't expect anything," she sighed.

"Whatever," he said, mimicking her. He grinned. "How was that? Did I hold the 'r' long enough?"

Raven sighed. "Make it more fluid. More like one word. More emphasis on the 'what', less on the 'ever'."

"Whatever?"

"Better."

The two walked into the kitchen. It was kind of strange, seeing the operations room so empty. No GameStation or thumping music or squabbling over the remote. The realization that the two of them were all alone in the Tower really hit Robin right then, and he could see that recognition in Raven's face, too.

"Alright… so let's start with something simple. Um… pasta?" Robin offered.

"That's expecting a lot."

"I have high expectations," he said lightly. "Come on. Cooking a basic meal is simple. There's no art to it… you just follow a set of instructions."

"Except that I never see you following a set of instructions. You, Cyborg, Beast Boy… Starfire… you never follow recipes. You go by instinct. It is an art."

"Perhaps it is an art," he conceded. "But perhaps I've just memorized the recipes. I've just done it enough so that I don't even have to think about it… second nature, I guess."

"We don't have the time to practice making a dish over and over and over again until it's engrained in my mind," Raven sighed. "This is useless."

"You said you'd try. You're making way too big a deal over this."

Raven scoffed. "You're the one who keeps mentioning how badly my pancakes turned out. You know I can't cook at all."

"Believe me. It's easy."

"It's not easy," she said, a sudden defensive edge to her voice.

"Come on. Just try cooking, for once, and you'll see. It's nothing, really."

A sudden look on her face made him wish he'd swallowed his words. "Don't you think I was trying?" she asked, voice eerily calm. Robin's eyes widened slightly. Uh-oh. The tone of voice was exactly like his when he tried to conceal anger.

"Don't you think I tried to make those goddamn pancakes?" she continued. Her voice was rising, and continued to do so. "I tried as hard as I could. I wanted more than anything to make you a decent breakfast."

"Raven-", he tried to interrupt, but his efforts were futile.

"I am not exaggerating, Robin, when I tell you that I put my soul into mixing and stirring and flipping the awful things, so that you would have the best last day on Earth possible."

She paused for a moment. Her voice went quiet, again, but her tone was ice cold. "I don't care that you couldn't stomach the pancakes, nor do I mind the incessant teasing about the incident. But, Robin, don't you dare say I didn't try."

Robin was silent. This wasn't just about cooking anymore. His silence was not arrogant… he merely could not figure out what to say. The look in his eyes showed slight confusion, as well as a twinge of dejection. "I… I'm sorry, Raven," he said, earnestly though a bit confusedly. He hadn't meant anything of the sort. "I honestly did not mean…"

"Save it," she interrupted. He stopped.

She looked into his eyes. And she could see everything – his confusion, his honesty, his concern.

Her face softened; her voice warmed. "I… I'm sorry… I don't know what's gotten into me. Lately I've just been so… I don't know…"

"Frustrated?" he offered, softly. He, too, could read the sincerity in her face.

"Maybe."

"With me," he noted.

"…Yeah," she agreed. It wasn't like her to discuss her feelings, but she felt she owed him an explanation at least, or as much of one as she could give. "Sorry," she offered, lamely. He shrugged.

"I don't know why. It's like the slightest action, word, gesture, will set me off. I'm normally not this careless with my emotions."

"Hm." He nodded once. He expected that to be it, and was ready for an awkward silence. But to his surprise, she continued.

"I usually… hide them…" she said, wanting more than anything to hide under a hood. "Keep them in check. But I'm having difficulty… and only around you," she said, cocking her head slightly to one side.

"And this was before we switched bodies," Robin asked in that stating kind of way. First her pancake rant, now speaking about her own emotions…

"Yes," she confirmed. "Your behaviour… has changed around me," she said, cautiously.

"I… I guess so," he shrugged. "We've become closer friends, Rae. All of the Titans. I guess it would be only natural that we act a bit differently around one another."

She wanted to say that, while that may be true, it was only with him that she felt frustrated, and that out of all the Titans, it was his behaviour that had changed much more drastically and still very subtly towards her. But she didn't want to press it. She didn't want it to lead to further questions, and didn't want him to think she read too far into things. She was thinking too much about him, was all she knew. "Yes," she agreed, dismissively.

"Robin?"

"Yeah?"

"…Will you still teach me to cook?" she asked, apologetically.

"Of course," he smiled. "I would love to. So what we're gonna do is grab a giant pot and a saucepan... yeah, under there. Now let's fill that bad boy up with some water…"

The aroma of spaghetti sauce filled the air, as the two Titans sat to eat their meal. "So what do you think?" Robin asked.

"It's… actually not that bad!" Raven exclaimed, genuine surprise and delight in her voice.

Robin smiled. 'Not bad', coming from Raven, meant 'delicious'.

"Told you it wouldn't be so hard," he said, though his voice was not condescending or arrogant in the slightest; it was purposely soft and gentle.

"With the right mentor," she replied.

His smile grew a little, as he twirled more spaghetti around his fork. She gave a shy grin back, and Robin desperately wished that it had been her own face smiling back at him, rather than his. Genuine grins almost never happened, and when they did, it usually wasn't him that had made her smile. Not in this way. No, it was more often Cyborg, maybe even Beast Boy.

"Give me some recipes," Raven said. "Ones you usually use. I'll need to memorize them."

"Yeah… you bet. Want a glass of water?"

She shrugged with a "sure", then watched as he demonstrated his mastery of her skills. He opened the cupboard doors, retrieved two glasses, then held them floating under the tap while turning the tap on, then off, filling them with water. He carefully floated the glasses over to the table and set them down, one in front of each of them, all without spilling a drop.

"Impressive," she said dully.

"I thought so."

They ate in silence for a few minutes, devouring the spaghetti. It was comfortable; unlike the other Titans, Robin and Raven could both respect and enjoy silence. Starfire did meditate with Raven on occasion, but she never preferred silence to speech.

"More?" Raven asked, interrupting the silence as she reached for more spaghetti.

"No thanks. You did a great job, but I'm full," he said, smiling slightly at her.

"We did a great job. And… I'm still starved," she said, eyes narrowing in confusion. "Oh, right. Teenaged boys require ridiculously large portions of food. And frequently. And you, probably, even more, considering how active you are. This better not become a habit…"

Robin shrugged and smiled. "So… after eating, do you want to learn how to play video games?"

"Do I want to learn how to play video games," she repeated, snorting slightly with laughter.

"O-kay… let me put it this way. Will you learn how to play video games?"

"I suppose I must," she sighed. "We couldn't possibly avoid playing that awful racing game that you boys always seem to be playing?"

"Not a chance," he smiled. She scowled. "Unless…"

"Unless?"

"We went and bought a new videogame. A more story-driven one, I suppose… more logic, less mindless gory action. How does that sound?"

"Sounds… better," she shrugged.

"But I still have to teach you that 'awful racing game'."

Raven sighed in defeat. "Fine."

He waited patiently for her to finish eating, doing his dishes with his powers without moving an inch.

"You know I don't do that," Raven stated.

"What? …Ah, right. Dishes."

"With my powers," she said, rolling her eyes. "I've done them by hand… a couple times before…"

"Sure." He paused, a sudden thoughtful look upon his face.

"What?"

"Just… hmm. Raven… let's forgo the videogames for this evening, at least. I think we should just, you know, talk. There's a lot of stuff we'll need to cover, before the others get back."

She nodded. "This… will be uncomfortable," she said. "We're both very private people."

"I know. But it has to be done. As ridiculous as it may be, this is a mission. And the lives of our friends are at risk. It's up to us to ensure that nothing goes wrong. We can't afford to make any mistakes."

"Agreed. Sooo… how, exactly, are we gonna start talking?" she asked, finishing off the last of her dinner. Robin took her plate and started to wash it, partly out of courtesy but perhaps mostly out of habit.

"Like… truth or dare, without the dare component? Truth or truth?" he offered. She raised an eyebrow.

He continued. "We'll alternate, going back and forth, asking anything and everything about each other. No holds barred – we're going all the way here. I'll tell you everything."

Her face showed an obvious discomfort at the notion of revealing all her secrets, even to Robin. Maybe especially to Robin. She knew it would be fine with questions about her past; it was all the other trivial matters that she never disclosed. She didn't know why she kept secrets, even when they didn't matter. She just had never been an open person.

"Here… we'll start off with something easy," Robin said, finishing washing Raven's dishes and floating over to the couch. "What's your favourite colour?"

"Blue. But you already knew that, didn't you?"

"Of course; I just thought it might be easier to start by asking something that wouldn't be new information for you to have to disclose."

"Okay… So why did you figure it better to ease me into the game, than forcing me straight away with deeper questions?"

"Because," he replied, "I know you. I knew it would be better."

She looked at him curiously, before giving an affirmative nod.

He spoke again, with another question. "What colour do you think my eyes are?" he asked.

"I… never thought about it," she said, dismissively. She could detect a hint of, what was it, dejection in his eyes? She had, of course, often wondered. Probably more, even, than any of the other Titans had.

"You… honestly haven't?" he asked, not expecting, or at least not hoping for, that answer.

"That's another question," she pointed out.

"You didn't answer my first question."

"I did. I said I hadn't thought about it."

"And I asked what colour you think they are, not whether or not you had thought about it."

She was quiet. "Why?"

"Answer my question first."

She sighed. "Logically," she said, slowly, "I would assume them to be brown, since you have black hair, and the chances are much higher. But…" She paused, pondering.

He surveyed her carefully, but couldn't detect anything from her face or body language as she spoke. He waited patiently.

"I can imagine them as… I don't know, green… or hazel… or grey…"

He continued to watch her. Her brow was furrowed slightly. She was genuinely thinking hard about it. Her face slowly relaxed again into an emotionless state, seemingly coming to a conclusion.

"Whatever. I'll guess brown."

"Okay," he shrugged.

"Now… Why?"

"I've always wanted to know what you thought they'd look like," he shrugged.

"Well the others… Cyborg thought they'd be brown… Beast Boy thought they'd be grey… and, uh, Starfire thought they'd be pink."

"Hm," he smirked, amused.

"I thought Starfire would have seen your eyes before," she said emotionlessly.

"Trust me… they're not pink," he smiled slightly. "I haven't showed anyone, Starfire included. Why would you think Starfire would have seen them?"

Raven fought back the slightest of blushes. "I kind of… thought… there had been something, you know? Between you two."

"…I see," he said. "There isn't. She is a wonderful girl, and I love her as a friend or a sister, even, and there's no denying she's physically attractive," he said, laughing a bit. "But there's never been anything romantic between us."

"My turn." His voice went gentle and quiet. "Have you ever been in love?"

She stared at him straight in the eyes. He was almost glad that he couldn't see the expression in her eyes beneath the whites of the mask. Almost.

"I was once in love… with love itself," she said, slowly. "I had wanted someone to like me and hold me and not think I was… creepy… But you can't love someone if they never loved you back…"

"…Are you sure?" Robin asked, unsure of the answer himself.

"I'm not sure of anything regarding the matter," she replied. "But I was never in love with Malchior. I was in love with the idea of someone loving me. I have not ever been in love."

Robin felt an overwhelming urge to somehow protect her, put his hand on her shoulder, say something. Anything. But he found himself frozen, tongue-tied. He wasn't good at this sort of thing. In fact, he was quite awful. He hated the silence. It seemed to last an eternity.

She wasn't looking at him. Her gaze was elsewhere, and she didn't catch him watching her anxiously. She was staring out the window, expression on her face undeterminable.

Finally, she spoke. "You?"

He paused. "I don't know."

"Hmm." She looked away from the window. "Well… your turn," she shrugged. "Ask me something."

The contemplative look on his face disappeared, and was replaced by that sure, cocky smirk. "Which of the Titans," he said, speaking slowly and deliberately, "do you find most attractive?"

She raised an eyebrow. "Aqualad, if you must know," she said, with a slight smirk.

"Uh… second best?"

"Speedy," she replied nonchalantly, but smiling knowing it would bother him. Boys and their egos.

"Third?"

"Give it a rest, Robin. Besides, you skipped my turn. And now that you've officially invaded my private affairs…"

"Hey… you know… I think that's enough for today, hmm?" he said, hopefully. "Resume tomorrow, perhaps? Don't want to, you know, overdo it…"

Raven smirked. "Alright, Boy Wonder. Tomorrow. Give me a night to think about it…"

Robin sighed. "So. Video games?"

"If we must."

The evening went by quickly. And so did the night. They'd gone through countless different video games by now, trying to get Raven up to Robin's level of mastery over each. They'd been at it for hours upon hours. And she had barely complained. No, Raven wouldn't admit it, but she was actually…enjoying herself.

"Hey, no fair! Cheap shot!" Robin exclaimed, as his character was wounded and let out a dramatic cry.

"Tough," Raven shrugged, with a smirk.

"You know, it's getting kinda late," he noted.

"Yeah, after I started winning," she scoffed.

He just smiled, amused. "Never thought you'd be one for video games," he remarked.

"I never said I was," she said defensively.

"You didn't have to admit to anything – I can tell. You're having fun," he said, smirking a little.

"As if." She stood up and turned the Gamestation off.

He smirked. "Alright, so you won't admit to liking video games. But you must have at least enjoyed-"

"Spending time with you?" she interrupted, her voice mocking in tone. She laughed harshly. He winced mentally.

"I don't do fun, Robin," she said. "And I don't 'enjoy', either." Her voice was colder, more distant.

"…So I've been told," he said, his voice a little quieter.

"What," she demanded at the change in tone, looking at him and narrowing her eyes a little.

He didn't look up. "I thought we were past this," he said, voice quieter still.

"Past what," she asked.

"Past the whole 'I don't do fun' thing," he replied. "Past the part where you close yourself off and refuse to admit to feeling or caring."

She shook her head. "I don't know what you're talking about, or where you're going with this. It's been a long day, so let's just get some sleep," she said. "Goodnight, Robin."

He nodded once as she walked out of the room. "Goodnight, Raven."

Robin noticed once again just how big and just how empty the operations room was. He could swear he could hear the echoing of his breaths.

And he just stood there, for a few moments, overlooking the glittering water that reflected the stars in the sky. His gaze eventually shifted from out the window to the reflection in it, seeing Raven's cold violet eyes staring back at him. He blinked a couple times, before heading to Raven's room.

He unfastened the cloak and hung it up, but didn't bother changing to pyjamas or something more comfortable than the leotard. He lay down on top of the bed, not bothering to get under the covers, and switched off the already dim lights.

She had been having fun, hadn't she? Because he had. He'd enjoyed spending time with her.

She'd closed herself off, and her icy walls had been put up once again. Maybe he'd gone too far, too personal with the questions. But he had wanted to know – even needed to know – and he'd thought they'd made progress. He thought it had been a good thing, and that their friendship had become even closer just over this one day. But then, maybe she'd realized it, and it had all been for nothing, and they were back to the start.

Robin wasn't sure what was worse – if she really was telling the truth and actually hadn't enjoyed his company, or if she was hiding the truth because she wasn't comfortable enough with him or close enough to him to be honest about something so small, so simple.

He shivered slightly, without the blankets, but still did not get under the covers. He lay on his side and brought his knees to his chest. He glanced at the window, gazing at the stars, and sighed.

END OF CHAPTER

That's all for now, folks… Let me know what you think!

I'll try to update soon, and not leave poor Robin hanging here, but the keyword there is 'try', and 'soon', well… it's all relative!

-Penguin Pop