Fall Back On Me
Chapter 1: Slade
Disclaimer: no ownership, no monetary gain, no nothing. BUT if there are any DC people out there scouring the internet looking for employees… I'm very much unemployed and swear this is not my best work. HIRE ME.
Onto the renewed, revised version of my first work of fanfiction ever. Once again, this is a RobxRae story, and flames that erupt from pairings will be used to heat my house since I probably can't pay my electric bill this winter.
If you didn't read my Big Note (chapter 1 of this), you might want to =)
"Hand it over, Beast Boy," a livid Raven yelled as she flew after a green cheetah with a thick book in its teeth. It was August, and it was just plain hot. Business had been slow that week as everyone, villains included, retreated to air conditioning. The AC in Titans Tower was acting up, and emotions were running high in the tower. All of the Titans were hot, bored to death, and looking for something to do to pass the time and distract them from the failing AC coils Cyborg couldn't replace until the next week. Unfortunately for them, Beast Boy's idea of "something to do" was to try to annoy everyone to the point of straightjackets. His favorite target? Raven, naturally. Some changelings never learn.
"Beast Boy, give the book back so I don't have to scrape you off the ceiling, please…" Cyborg groaned. The green Titan kept running away from Raven, who was now throwing everything from pillows to Starfire at him.
"Please friend Beast Boy I do not wish to harm you as a projectile of Raven!" Starfire yelled as she flew past Beast Boy as Raven yet again threw her at him.
Robin chuckled as Starfire landed in the wall of pillows that had amassed behind Beast Boy, now a screeching monkey gleefully evading Raven's projectile attack.
"Beast Boy!" The sorceress resumed her Indy 500 speeds as Beast Boy once again morphed into a cheetah. Cyborg narrowly avoided destruction by leaping up onto the coffee table as the green and purple streaks overturned the couch.
This is getting ridiculous, Robin thought. At this rate, all our furniture will be broken, BB will be dead, and Raven… well, at least she looks cute when she's mad. Robin quickly dodged a flying chicken wing and mentally shook himself. No, Robin, no. You're her leader. She's just your friend. He again chuckled as his 'just-a-friend' launched Cyborg's pack of bacon at the green boy. He nodded with approval as a pork loin hit Beast Boy's head with a satisfying thwack. It didn't slow him down though.
"Dammit Beast Boy give me the book back now before I really hurt you!" Raven landed, out of breath and flushed from yelling and throwing things with not only her powers but her arms, too.
"Yeah, B, you're lucky she hasn't thrown you out of the window yet," Cyborg called from behind the couch where he and Starfire had taken cover.
Beast Boy kept sprinting in circles, book in his teeth. Raven, though still seething, looked very tired, as Beast Boy had annoyed her the most out of all of them. From stealing her books to putting hot sauce in her tea and all other sorts of other pranks, it has been quite a long day for the girl who so desperately loved peace and quiet. Robin studied Raven's face, pink with anger and exertion, and saw that she had the slightest tremble in her lip like she was about to cry. Of course this was Raven, and she doesn't ever cry, but the thought of it made Robin frown.
Of all people to harass, he just had to pick Raven… Robin pushed off the far wall where he had been and deliberately walked over to Beast Boy's monkey form. A screeching monkey, Beast Boy had found, was much more annoying than a big cat. Beast Boy didn't notice his leader standing over him and continued to juggle the book with his hands and feet. Robin watched for a second, arms crossed and scowl firmly in place, before snatching the book out of midair.
"Dude!" Beast Boy exclaimed, morphing back into a human.
"Leave. Her. Alone." Robin all but hissed through his teeth. "You're annoying everyone and it's too damn hot for this."
"Aw, but we were just having a little fun, weren't we, Rae?" Beast Boy laughed. He and Robin looked over to see Raven's death glare on in full force. Beast Boy gulped.
"I will end you," she said flatly, hand flaring with black magic. Starfire appeared at her side and quickly guided the mystic back into the kitchen, chattering about how she wanted to give herbal tea a try.
"Like I said, leave her alone," Robin said, turning to go return the book to Raven.
"Ooohhhh Mr. Masked Leader as a crush on the ice que-" Beast Boy sang until a smack on the head sent him tumbling backwards onto the ground. Robin's cheeks were on fire as he looked up, tucking the weaponized book behind his back in case Raven had A) heard Beast Boy and/or B) seen Robin use her favorite book as a club. He sighed in relief when the purple-haired girl was nowhere to be seen.
"So it's true, you do like her," Cyborg whispered. Robin yelped and spun on his heel, book once again raised in defense. The half-metal man raised his hands in surrender, laughing. "Relax, little man, it's all safe with the big guy!" Cy said.
"I never said I liked her!" Robin replied, only lowering the book a few inches.
"Whatever, Rob, I see the way you watch her. I'm surprised you let BB go this far annoying her today before racing to defend her honor and sanity."
Robin glared. "Cyborg…"
"Robin." Cyborg responded with waggling eyebrows and a wide smile. Robin sighed in defeat as he lowered the book to his side and rubbed his forehead.
"Okay, okay. Just, just don't say anything, Cy."
"Treat her right and don't screw up, easy as that," Cyborg said as he pushed Robin towards the door. "She went to her room. Go give her back that book, Mr. Knight in Shining Armor."
"Smartass."
"Damn straight. Now go," Cyborg said with a grin.
Robin shook his head with a half-smile. Cyborg was such a big brother. The doors opened with a swoosh and Robin walked towards the elevator, wiping cheetah saliva off the bookbinding. He wouldn't be able to do anything about the small teeth marks. At least it was hardcover and they were just indentations. Beast Boy really did need to learn to control himself.
Robin stepped off the elevator and slowly walked towards Raven's room. Taking a deep breath, he raised his fist to knock. Maybe if she's in a good mood, I can ask her to go to dinner or something… He chuckled. Raven in a good mood after Beast Boy's antics today. Right. That was a funny one.
"Um, Robin?" He heard Raven's level voice and looked down to see her door half open. His mouth dropped open.
"Ummm…" Smooth, Grayson, he thought. "I brought your book back?"
"Is that a question or a statement," she deadpanned. Robin could have sworn he saw a flicker of a smile on her face though, if only for a second. He handed it to her and laughed, one hand moving to scratch the back of his head.
"Sorry, Rae. Didn't mean to lurk." He smiled down at her, brightening as she lowered her hood.
"You weren't lurking. It was the laughing that struck me as odd, but whatever. Thanks for returning my book." She turned it over, rubbing her pale fingers across the tooth marks. Robin saw her frown. It was her favorite book, after all. "Is there anything else you wanted to talk about, Robin?" Robin realized he was staring.
"I, uh, sorry about the tooth marks," he stumbled over his words, irrationally nervous as Raven's large violet eyes locked onto his face. She really was so beautiful when she took her hood off and let the world see her face. Raven looked back down to the book and Robin felt his shoulders relax slightly, the spell of her gaze momentarily broken.
"Yeah... as annoying as the monkey was, I would have preferred the screeching to the teeth marks." She sounded sad. "I suppose I should learn to leave my more valuable books in my room and keep to paperbacks in the living room."
"Or we could just get a nice crate for Beast Boy," Robin replied. He noticed the slight shake of Raven's shoulders as she almost laughed.
"Are you sure there's not anything else, Robin?" Raven's tone turned as concerned as a Raven tone could get. Her empathy was picking up on the tension and nervousness radiating off of Robin. He scratched the back of his head again, hoping the heat on his face he felt was just from the failing air conditioning and nothing else. Raven raised an eyebrow as she watched her usually composed leader stumble across his words a bit. There was another emotion under there that she couldn't quite place.
"Are you feeling okay?" Raven asked.
"Well," Robin sighed. Just go for it, idiot. "Do you, I mean, will you, err… let's see, how to say this." He rocked back on his heels for a second. "Well, uh, Raven."
"That would be me." She tried not to laugh. He was cute when nervous. Stop that, she thought to herself, pushing Happy back. Robin laughed nervously.
"Raven, um, wannagoseeamovieorsomethingwithme?" he said very quickly.
"What was that, Robin?"
"Willyougooutonadateorsomethingwithmemaybe?"
"Robin, please slow down." Raven let out a small sigh. Robin took a breath.
"Will you—"
Beep Beep Beep
"Dammit…" Robin muttered under his breath as the hallway flashed red.
"Later. Come on," Raven said as she ran down the hall, cape whipping out behind her with Robin on her heels. When they got to the living room, Beast Boy, Starfire, and Cyborg were staring at the computer.
"Report," Robin said, a sinking feeling in his stomach as he saw the other three's expressions. Cyborg turned around.
"Slade."
Like I said, friends, I will try to fix what I can, but 2005 was a long time ago and there's only so much fixing I can do! I hope those of you who have returned enjoy the edits and will consider rereading and rereviewing as I go along and fix this. Hopefully I can do a chapter per day. Cheers!