A/N: Yes, it has been forever and a day. Or nearly. Know that I am here now and I'm going to try to complete this thing as soon as possible. Granted I have other more important duties like the TotC fic and my blog, but I do plan to eventually finish all that I have started. Anywho, enjoy.

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C is for Compliment

The bay was clear, yet hot. All over the city, one could see the steam coming up from the pavement with the slightest of water, making everything distorted in this miserable weather.

Jump City's protectors were no exception. Though they had air conditioning in the tower, outside they were exposed to the sweltering heat wave. Whenever that blasted alarm rang out, each one of the Titans groaned in turn. Apparently criminals didn't care much for letting the heroes sit in comfort all day.

Seriously though, that alarm was in grave danger of getting a sonic cannon blast, star bolt, bird-a-rang, or animal paw taken to it. Raven herself had given up on getting angry at a simple inanimate object. Besides, she doubted her irritation would stop at just the alarm system, so that meant the whole building would end up being transported to an alternate dimension. It was so not worth the effort of getting everyone and everything back.

Regardless, they sighed in pleasure as they finally gathered again in the living room of the tower, right under the vents that blew out the refreshing air. I think there was an instant halt in breath when the air stopped. Silence reigned.

Slowly, Robin got up and checked the knob. Yes, it was showed to be working. It hadn't fallen off. Yet when he looked at the screen that usually reported the room temperature and the desired temperature, it was blank. No reading. Which meant no air conditioner.

"What in the name of Kitten-?" he asked.

Well, it was better than using the Lord's name if vane. Thankfully Starfire wasn't dating him, but rather Speedy. Otherwise that comment would have gotten him a rotten look and maybe a bruise or two.

All the other Titans, as it were, guessed what the problem was. No other time than that had all of them decided to work so cohesively, so quickly, and so desperately.

"I'll check the control system down in the garage. Maybe something mucked up the converter."

" I shall go all to all the vent openings and make sure there was no tampering of them."

" Dude, I'll take a look inside the vents. Maybe something got stuck in there, blocking the air."

Before they knew it, Robin and Raven were the only two in the room. Robin looked at his girlfriend. " Well, I guess that just leaves the system on top of the Tower…"

The sorceress gave him a piercing look. " And how convenient of your team to take all the other jobs except this one, which actually involves the heat. Of all the times you assert your authority, you couldn't do it to choose your mission?"

Robin sighed and started for the doors to get to the lift. " Come on Raven."

She too sighed, this much more dramatic as she put her cool glass of water with ice down on the table to follow him.

~~~Change Scene~~~

" But my ice, it's going to melt."

Robin set his jaw, looking away from her with irritation written plainly on his face. It was more apparent as of late that Raven was a faithful cynic. And even after pulling her through the whole ordeal with Trigon because they had both believed tomorrow would come, she had fallen back to her old habits. He knew he hadn't been just imagining the hope and optimism in her eyes as the little girl down in the depths of earth. Sometimes the boy wished she would have as much faith in him as she did then.

" Raven," he started. " Look, I can't help but notice that your outlook on life is worse than usual. I mean, when you came her you were sarcastic and grime, but I thought you grew out of that. Why are you so negative all the time?"

The girl wrinkled her nose. " What do you mean? How am I negative exactly?"

Uh oh, she was trying to trap him. Usually Robin was smart enough to just avoid words like exactly because that's how she took it. Exactly. He chose his next words carefully.

" Okay, for example lets look at our relationship and your relationship with the team. You never have anything good to say about me, only degrading comments and insults. You never praise any of us for going out of our way to make you happy anymore, not even a thank you. You know Raven, to have friends and get people to care about you, you have to show that you care as well."

The silence was heavy in the small elevator. Robin could tell that she was at least thinking things over in her head, so he let her be.

When they got to the roof, he opened the shed where they kept simple things like ladders. Setting it up against the small platform the air conditioner monitor rested on, he asked her to hold the ladder. He didn't really know what he was doing, but he was at least mechanically inclined to an extent. After all, this wasn't the T-Car, so there wasn't a lot Raven could do.

He'd just started looking at it when he heard his lover ask, " So, if I start showing a little more appreciation for people and things they do, is that a good enough start?"

Turning to look down at her, he smiled. " Yeah, that's a good start. We can work on the rest later."

She turned her thoughts inward, and tried to recall all the times when Robin had complimented her. What had he showed appreciation for?

Above, Robin had just found the short that had cause the air conditioner to fail when he heard Raven's soft voice drift up. " Nice ass."

…Well, he figured, it was a start…

~~~
End

Well, what do you think? Not as short as I planned on, but I really wanted to turn it out correctly. Besides, no one ever said it had to been a few paragraphs long. Since its just a harmless little one shot, isn't that enough? Anywho, review and pray I come up with the time/inspiration to do more. Toodles.