Upon waking, the first thing Robin did was tense up physically.
The second thing he did was realize getting tense was a terrible idea if he wanted to remain blameless, so he relaxed. It took a moment to relax, but he did.
Cracking one eye open, he asked himself, "Alright, am I holding... Raven. Yep, thought so."
With one arm extended up along the couch cushion and the other around Raven's waist, keeping her close, her hand was over his, pressing against her stomach. He was only able to see the messy bed head of purple hair in front of him without tilting his neck to look down. When he saw a few strands shift when he exhaled, he had to remind himself to take slow steady breaths. He wasn't caught - not yet. And the general lack of silence meant that the other Titans hadn't found him out yet. Assuming he'd shifted into spooning Raven sometime after they'd woken up, that is, otherwise there would almost certainly be photo evidence and a lot of teasing. After Raven killed him, that was.
Trying to figure out how he'd ended up in this mess, he thought back to the night prior: how and why did he and Raven end up in this position?
"Movie night!" Cyborg called out as Starfire walked into the living room, the last of the five residents to do so. Beast Boy had already taken the best spot in the center of the couch, and Cyborg was finishing preparing the last bowls of popcorn and gathering soda from the fridge. Robin was sitting to Beast Boy's left, and to his left sat Raven on the edge of the couch. Starfire sat next to the youngest member, and when Cyborg saw that he was going to have to sit on the right edge, 'accidently' dumped half a bowl of popcorn in Beast Boy's lap. "Oops." Cyborg said without sounding apologetic. "I didn't see you there. Normally no one sits in my spot."
"So you just planned on dumping popcorn in your seat?" Raven asked before Beast Boy could start a shouting contest.
"I- He- Aw, nevermind. What are we watching tonight?"
"Okay dudes - I proudly present to you the movie to dethrone Wicked Scary: Those Things From Other Universes!" Beast Boy lifted the remote and pressed play, and the opening credits began.
"Beast Boy is the thing from another universe." Raven muttered under her breath as she leaned close to Robin, and looked satisfied when she got a chuckle out of him.
The movie, it turned out, was not a contender for Wicked Scary in the slightest. With terrible CGI, unbearable acting, and a confusing plot, it had led to more questions and laughter during the movie than any of their previous movie nights.
"That was awful. Who told you it was as good as Wicked Scary?" Raven asked.
"Uh, it was, um... I don't remember. Maybe it was a commercial." Beast Boy scratched his head. After a moment of silence, the disappointment in the air was palpable, and Starfire cleared her throat and stood up to grab the remote.
"Our movie night cannot end like this! I propose a watching a comedy to lift our spirits and ending our night of eye glazing on the highest note." For a moment, she struggled to use the remote to maneuver the menus and get to the comedy section, but once there selected a film at Cyborg's suggestion.
During the film, Raven started yawning. The puns and slapstick got a laugh out of Cyborg and Beast Boy, but the other three did little more than smile.
"That was a waste." Raven stretched her arms over her head.
"You did not enjoy the film?" Starfire asked hesitantly. "In truth, I did not understand much of the humor..." She gave an apologetic smile to Cyborg and Beast Boy, who were both frowning at her.
"How about an action film?" Robin suggested. He caught the remote with one hand when Starfire tossed it at him. "I heard there's a new martial arts movie out: A retired cop who has to save his ex-partner by fighting his way through the city's underground crime ring."
"Oh joy - a vigilante fighting criminals. What a wild idea that none of us have ever heard of." Raven quipped, causing Robin to turn his head and sticking his tongue out at her.
Robin started the film, and everyone turned their attention to the television. This was probably when things started to go wrong: Robin had his arms over the back of the couch; it was around Raven, it wasn't even close to touching her really, but the position did allow Raven (after another yawn) to shift on the couch and lean against him with her head against his chest. He gave her a cursory glance, but when she didn't look up and he saw how tired she looked, he decided not to draw any unnecessary attention to her and focused back on the movie.
"Boo yah! How about that, Raven?" Cyborg asked as the film ended on an explosive climactic note. "Everything you could ask for in a - is she asleep?"
"I was." She lifted her head and rubbed her eyes. "And as for that-" She pointed one hand at the television and took the remote with her other, "That was crap. We've done better, and our fights aren't choreographed. So many actors missed their marks in that second scene that I stopped paying attention." With several clicks, she picked out a new movie.
"The Treasure of the Sierra Madre?" Beast Boy read aloud.
"Is this black and white?" Cyborg asked. "How old is this?"
"This is a classic film from the golden age of Hollywood. It's about how greed changes people and can bring out the worst in them. Some people appreciate movies for the artistry and the lessons they can teach, instead of letting them put us to sleep with mindless action."
"She is a snob, yes?" Starfire whispered to Cyborg, who gave her a nod.
Raven returned to leaning against Robin, curling her legs beneath her and letting one arm cross over Robin's waist. Okay, some red flags should have definitely been tripped at this point, but he was honestly starting to feel pretty tired himself. Three movies and nearly six hours later, it was early in the morning and Raven was warm and soft against him. Everyone was yawning at this point, and the old timey movie Raven put on wasn't helping them at all.
Once it ended, everyone turned to look at Raven. They all must have been too tired to comment on how she was cuddling Robin.
"That was boring." Beast Boy muttered.
"Yes; even though Raven seeks out more sophisticated entertainment, I wish we had changed the film once she had fallen asleep." Starfire said in a low voice to avoid disturbing the sleeping Titan.
There was a moment of silence between the friends before Cyborg grabbed the remote. "Well, we can't end movie night on that. Maybe we should throw on something we've seen before?"
"No way!" Beast Boy threw his hands up. "We always find a new movie on movie night! We can't call it quits until we all find a film we agree on."
And so it had gone on. Robin had managed to stay awake for the entirety of the next film, but it was almost dawn when they started the next film, and he barely made it past the opening credits before he wrapped one arm around Raven without really thinking about it and drifting off to sandman land.
"Why didn't the others wake one of us up?" He asked himself. "Surely they would've done so after they got their blackmail photos." He rolled his eyes behind the mask. He looked down and saw that Raven's cloak was shifted over the top of both of them as a makeshift blanket. "There's no way Raven slept through that- that would've taken a deliberate movement, and we're both fairly light sleepers." He frowned as he realized something else. "And we're both further up on the couch - if we had just fallen on our sides, our legs should be off the edge. And she shouldn't have ended up in front of me like this, she should be-"
His thoughts were cut off when Raven exhaled and shifted back so she was flush with him. She stretched the one leg that was tangled with his, and Robin flushed right to his ears when her hips pushed back. "She's soft... NO! Think about that later- NO! Don't think about it all. God, why did she have to move-"
"Robin. Rooooooooobin. Testing testing. Do. You. Hear. Me."
He blinked, and focused on the back of Raven's head.
"Oh good, it worked. I'm speaking to you using telepathy."
His brow furrowed. "Uh... Good morning?" He thought, focusing on her.
"I think it's past noon."
There was a moment of silence and he glanced to the side. After a moment he swallowed and asked, "Do you... want to get up?"
Raven shook her head in front of him. "I was happy sleeping. You know, when you focus all your thoughts on an empath you're holding, she'll wake up."
"Stupid!" He shouted at himself, making Raven wince. "Sorry. I just- you know."
"Know what?"
He realized how stiff he felt - no, use a different phrase! How tense he was, and had to tell himself to relax again. "I didn't mean to... You know... Cuddle you."
"Mm-hmm." She hummed, but didn't move.
He cleared his throat and forced the blush on his face down. "I just didn't want to make you uncomfortable." He clarified, hoping she would get the hint.
"I'm very comfortable." She laced her fingers through his hand on her stomach. "You know, you'd make a pretty good pillow."
"Thanks?" He wasn't sure how to respond that, especially not when it came from Raven of all people. "You know-"
"Are you uncomfortable, Robin?" She cut him off.
He blinked in surprise. "I don't want-"
"Wasn't what I asked. I don't care if our friends mess with us if they see us, and I'm not uncomfortable laying here with you. Are you?"
Raven tilted her head so she could look back at him with one eye, and after a moment, Robin squeezed her hand and relaxed. "No. I'm fine like this."
"Thought so." She turned forward and closed her eyes. "Perks of being an empath: I can tell when you're lying."
Robin closed his eyes, and smiled in spite of himself - a smile that was contagious enough to make Raven smile, too.
Raven spoke in his mind once more. "So let's just lay here for a while - until the others get back. Maybe sometime soon, we can lay like this again."