Robrae Weekend 2023 Prompt: Rain

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Robin stood on the roof of the building facing The Gotham Museum of Antiquities… Batman had received intel that the rare cats eye diamond necklace, reported owned by Cleopatra was going to be transferred on loan for the Egyptian exhibit. Cat related priceless diamond jewellery was almost guaranteed to lure out Catwoman… Robin scowled, Batman had the worst apprehension rate for Catwoman, it was almost like he… let her get away… a lot!

At any rate, it was the first call for help Batman had made since they had reconciled, so he'd agreed to help. He'd wanted to bring in the Teen Titans, but Batman wanted a low key stake out, no glowing orange Tamaranean princesses, no green shape-shifters, no booyahing cyborgs and definitely no red-eyed demons. So here he was… on a Friday night… on his own… and it had started to rain… great… he hated these stakeouts…

Robin swept the front of the museum, there was no movement except for the rain which was now picking up intensity. It wasn't the warm rain of California either, but the cold hard rain of Gotham. His hair lost his trademark spikes, plastering to his skull, and his body shivered in the chill of the night breeze.

Hesitantly he pressed his comms, "Batman…?"

"Hold your position, Robin" came the concise instruction.

Robin scowled, he was now soaked, cold and wishing he was back at the tower, playing video games with Beast Boy and Cyborg, reading with Raven… hell at this point he'd even take a bite of Star's pudding of sadness. If Catwoman did try to steal the necklace he was going to make sure Catwoman went to Arkham, before she could mysteriously escape Batman… again.

An hour passed and nothing happened. No Catwoman. No Batman. No alarm.

The rain was now falling in sheets, he shivered and sneezed… wet to the bone, Robin's expression was stoic and trained on the museum, but has mind wandered and he as wondered how long it would be until he succumbed to hypothermia… or maybe he would get trench foot… die miserable and alone… on this rooftop…

"You are such a Drama Queen…"

Robin started as the voice came out of the shadows. There was only one person who could sneak up on him… "Raven…?"

The shadows started to take form as he heard her say, "You only had to ask…"

Robin rolled his eyes, "Batman wouldn't…"

Raven emerged from the shadows, dry under her soul-umbrella.

She moved to sit next to Robin, close enough that he could smell the lavender of her shampoo and the jasmine of her perfume, close enough that her soul self could shield them both from the rain.

"Batman wants you to catch pneumonia… be miserable… and alone?" Raven teased.

"Maybe…" Robin muttered, turning his eye back to the museum, "you're not supposed to be here."

"So I've been told," she conceded, "by many people… for most of my life…"

"I didn't mean…" Robin trailed off horrified.

"I know…" she murmured softly.

"I asked, he said no" Robin bit out.

"Batman is not always right… besides I doubt Catwoman will come out in this rain." Raven reasoned.

"Actually…" Robin started, but was interrupted with…

"… I'm Batman" Raven said, in her best Batman voice lifting he cloak in front of her face in his trademark stance.

Robin chuckled at the uncanny imitation and watched Raven's lips twitch back a smile as she let her cloak fall back around her. The shared moment warmed his soul more than he could admit.

Raven's eyes went white, as she uttered her mantra, "Azarath Metrion Zinthos!"

Robin was enclosed in her black magic and he found himself warm and dry again. The rain continued to fall around them, almost glistening and shimmering on her soul self before disappearing into the ether.

Once he was dry, she scooted closer and they sat huddled together, side by side, under her soul-umbrella. "How did you find me?" Robin asked, curiously.

Raven lifted an eyebrow, "I'll always find you, Robin"

Robin covered his faint blush with a smirk… as his hand inched over to hers, "So what now?"

Raven looked up and into his masked eyes, even as her own fingers inched towards his, "Well… we could go somewhere else? You can hardly see anything in this rain"

"I promised him, Rae… and thermal imagining built in" Robin sighed, tapping his mask.

She let the Rae slide… mainly because she'd been distracted by his fingers, which had finally curled around her hand, and in an incredibly brave, or incredibly stupid, move he lifted her hand to his lips. It was the lightest brush of a kiss, but it made her stomach flutter…

While her expression managed to remain carefully neutral, her soul self seem to react by curving around them, protecting them further from the rain still lashing down.

"We could find another way to entertain ourselves," she murmured.

He bit back a groan, pretty sure she wasn't implying what his mind had conjured, "Raven, we can't, the necklace, Catwoman…"

"What if I could guarantee she couldn't steal it?" Raven asked, her breathe ticking his skin.

"How are you going to do tha… Raven what are you doing?" Robin spluttered.

Raven gave a soft smirk of her own as she tugged down her leotard neckline, to reveal… the diamond necklace!

At Robin's slightly dazed look, she chuckled slightly releasing her neckline and covering up the diamonds, "I got to know the curator when he was on assignment in Jump with the Wayne Exhibit. I convinced him it would be safer with me… well… us… that's what I was doing while you were out here… talking to gargoyles and considering succumbing to trench foot…"

Robin went red… and cleared his throat.

"So can we go back to the tower now?" Raven enquired

Robin made a show about considering his response, "I think I prefer the earlier option…"

As Raven looked up at him in confusion, Robin made his second incredibly brave, or incredibly stupid, move… he kissed her. She froze, then softened and kissed him back. The curtain of heavy rain effectively hiding them from the world, while her soul self kept them warm and dry, now wrapped around them as if in an embrace… and Robin thought to himself, 'maybe Gotham stakeouts in the rain weren't the worst way to spend a Friday night after all.'

Small print:

- Teen Titans/Nightwing are owned by DC Comics.

- Raven and Nightwing were created by the dynamic duo of Mark Wolfman and George Perez.

- Dick Grayson was created and introduced as Robin by Bill Finger and Bob Kane.

This story takes characters from the awesome Teen Titans Animated Series and places them in an original work by me.