I am sleeping.

I am always sleeping.

Or… …?

"Nnngh.. …," I turn over in bed.

…I am always waking….

I stir.

I sit up some, my violet eyes blinking.

Blinking into the blackness.

The blackness of the bedroom and the curtained window beyond.

Ah, thank Azar.

It's still plenty of.. …non-daylight left…..'It's still plenty of left'?.?.?

In spite of how drowsy I am, I manage a curve to my lips as I spelunk back under the warm covers like an earthly embrace and…

Drift.. ….

Drift… … ….

Mmmm—Why have I been sleeping so well lately?


Is it because of the good fight I put forth?

Did I meditate too much?—Is that even possible?

Or—Wait.. …Dreams? Did I dream? Do I dream?

About what?

It had to have been good, whatever it was.

Because… …."Mmmm…."

I supremely snooze away.

Breathing in cadence to the breath I hear across the room.

My violet eyes fly wide open.

Breath I hear across the room?

F-Fwoosh! I raise a hand of sharp, billowing telekinesis and aim the black, shadowy talons towards the opposite side of the room.

"Who's there?" I glare as much as my drowsy eyes—now throttled 'awake'—can manage. "Show yourself!"

But….

But the breathing continues.

And it continues lightly.

As if—A sleeping?

".. … …" I bite my lip.

I crawl over to the edge of my bed like some toddler.

I slowly.. …pensively peer over the mattress.

And I blink.

There's a boy—A dark-haired boy lying in the center of my floor. On the carpet. Half tangled in a dark-red sheet.

I blink.. …and my joints freeze.

… …wait a minute--

"R-Robin?" I murmur aloud.

I look at his dormant, near-ragdoll figure.

He's lying in the center of my room, all right.

Robin.. …. …in the center.. … ..of my room….

A night.

While I am sleeping a few yards away….—

Why does this strike me as both peculiar and frightening all the same?

Certainly not something a certain Tamaranian needs to know—Wait.

What is Robin doing on the floor anyhow?

And then I realize--

Robin's clad in a simple t-shirt and boxers. His hair is a sleep-worn mess. His sheet is most certainly from his own bed, because nobody else in the Tower has—

I gasp.

Violet eyes wide.

I didn't.. ..I couldn't have… …

I bite my lip and fold my hands over my mouth.

… .. I?

I glance back at the head of my bed.

I shift about nervously.

I… …I… …

I glance up at the ceiling.

I teleported him THROUGH the Tower—to here!


B-But how?

And then..

Then it hits me.

And as it does, my cheeks turn a violent red.

Yes… ….

I did have a 'dream' tonight.. ….

I most certainly had a very g-… …well.. … …I had a dream tonight, and now--

I gasp.

"Sweet Azar… …"

I leap out of bed, fumbling with the dark numbness.

"Okay… ..Okay….," I pace back and forth within the space of an invisible phone booth perpetually planted aside my bed. Barefoot and shaking my hands nervously-girlishly like they are on fire. "OkayOkayOkay—Think. This is just.. … …N-Nobody needs to handle this but you, R-Raven…."

I take a shuddering breath. I look over to Robin.

"I'll just.. … …I-I'll just l-levitate him back into his room, and it'll be like nothing ever happened and my powers didn't go bizerk overnight and—"

I clench my fists. I breathe in deeply.

Yeah.. …

"Yeah… …th-that's what I'll do.. …," I march over to him and then tip-toe as I murmur to myself: "Now to see about not waking hi—DAH! Nnngh!" I suddenly flinch and cover my face, hobbling away from him.

Shoot—He doesn't sleep with his eyemask on!


How am I going to do this without exploiting him?

I blink.. …blink…

Or better yet, without waking him?

I look left. I look right. I glide over to the bookcase. I pull out an old manuscrypt. I flip through its pages. I scan down a page. I find a selection. I take a deep breath, form a meditative pose with my fingers, and chant: "Peels ni yats d'na peel's ot-og!" On the last word, I gesture towards Robin.

Fl-Flash! A magical aura descends upon his cranium.. ..then dissipates into his nervous system. Robin takes a deep breath, turns over in his sleep, and slumbers away.. …Down for the count.

Fwp! I shut the book with a sigh and utter aloud in confidence: "Thank you, Zatanna…." I levitate the book away and glide back to Robin's slumbering side. "Now.. … ..just to get him back to his room.. …without raising a ruckus—I-I mean, what's to hide, except--?" I pause. I blink and think back to my own slumbering landscape and…

I clear my throat, cheeks red.

Azar above—Mother give me strength to make it through till I'm no longer a teenager….

I rush over to my vanity. I slide a drawer open. I fumble.. …fumble.. .. …fumble through an assortment of odds and ends. Rattling. Shuffling—"H-Here…."

I pull out a pair of large sunglasses I bought months ago without much of a cognitive thought.

"Heh.. .. …and to think I once felt I'd actually see enough sun to use these…."

I pad-pad-pad over across the carpet, kneel, and slide the glasses over the doubly-slumbering Robin.

"Th-There.. … …th-that should hide your eyes," I drift back. Stare. And blink. "… .. … …"

The glasses are ridiculously huge on the Boy Wonder's face. He somewhat resembles a fashionable college girl from the 70s. Or so I know from pictures.

"… .. … ..right.. .. …to your room, you go.. …"

I stand up, chant meditatively, and lift Robin up from the floor. He lies—silently snoring—as if asleep on an invisible cot floating through thin air. His legs dangle and his head lulls—as if the tongue could hang out any second and drool all over those large lenses covering his eyes and framed by his cowlicked hair.

I try not to wince.. … …

I walk towards the door with Robin tethered to my telekinetically flexing hand—then pause—gripe—shuffle swiftly over across the room—slide some slippers onto my feet—and then embark through the door and across the cold, cold hallways of the night shrouded Tower with Robin in tow.

…

…

…

…

It is difficult traversing these corridors and maintaining Robin's floating figure the whole time. For some righteous reason, I cannot bear to so much as touch him. I simply float him a few feet alongside and behind me—so that I can glance down hallway and stairway corridors and check and see if there are any nocturnal Titans out and about.

If anyone sees me.. .. …sees us.. .. ..

I could not bear to exist.

Sorry, mother—but… ..

I just could not bear to exist.

I 'carry' Robin up.. …up.. …up the levels of the Tower. Towards his lofty room. Mentally, I growl about why the Boy Wonder ever had to live so high up from the floor. But.. … …

Boys will be birds.

I sigh and shake my head as I reach closer and closer to his dwelling.

Exhausted with this whole debacle.

Maybe I'm going about this the wrong way.. .. …

Maybe I should have just woken him up…. …

Told him the truth, then helped him to his room.

He would certainly understand, wouldn't he?

I bite my lip.

The problem is. .. ..

I'm not entirely sure if I understand this.. …

Just a few steps—for the love of all that is psuedo-holy—only a few steps.. .. .

I walk up to the door.

I let out a breath of relief.

"F-Finally. That took forever.. .. .." For a moment, I glare my violet eyes confusedly at the wall. ".. .. ..strange.. … .I don't remember the door console being on that side of the frame.. .. .."

I shrug it off.

I press the console.

Schwissh!

The door opens to a pitch-black bedroom.

I walk in reverse, long nightgown swishing.

I slowly 'tow' Robin's floating figure in.

He stirs somewhat and murmurs something unintelligible.

I wince---pause—wait it out—and breathe a little easier as he quiets himself back into slumber.

I carefully pivot him about and approach the bed.

Hmmmm…. …looks like Robin's redecorated.

He took out his computer desk. He probably put it into his work worm downstairs.

But—sheesh—he could stand to at least make his bed for once. There's a whole pile of stuff lying on the far side of it.

Boys.. … .

I gently lower him on the smooth end of the bed. I pull a sheet over him. I slowly. … ..slowly.. .. ..back away…

Robin snores mutely, turning over and surrendering into the recesses of the bed.

I breathe with relief.

Whew.. …

Okay.. …O-Okay.. …

Exit time.. … .

I rush out into the hallway, blur my hands to the console, and shut the door.

Schwisssh!

And I'm free.

My return to the downstairs bedroom of mine is something wrought with lethargy and a copious amount of yaws and eyelid-rubbing.

"Nnngh.. …from now on.. … ..every shower I take before bed is cold.. … .."

I know that I will break that promise.

But that doesn't keep me from expediently reentering my room and making a bee-line for the bed. I kick my slippers off, slide under the covers, and psuedo-awake from the terrible dream I just had.

….

---

…

The next morning… .. …

…

---

…

I'm sitting in the kitchen of the Main Room at the time.

Enjoying tea and a book.

When---

Schwissh!

"Robin! But there is nothing to be ashamed about! I am quite honored in all respects, I only wish—"

"Nnnngh—I don't want to talk about it, Starfire! I just want to eat breakfast, take a shower, slap myself silly for a few seconds and then try and figure out just what the HELL happened!"

"Please, do not berate yourself! You need not be ashamed to admit that you needed companionship—"

"But Starfire, that isn't it!"

"Why, whatever would have possessed you to come into bed with me?"

"PLLLBBBTTTT!" I cough, hack, and drop my teacup onto the counter before covering my mouth with violet eyes exploding wide. I can barely hear them behind me under the sheer thunder of my eardrums throbbing.. ….throbbing.. … ..throbbing…

"I.. …I-I don't know—Starfire, I went to bed last night in my own room! I swear, this is all a crazy-ass misunderstanding! I never meant to—"

"Oh! Now the senses of it are approaching full clarity to me! Hehehe—Has not Cyborg explained that you have a most terrible ordeal with Terran sleepwalking?"

"I—What? No! No-No-No! That's not it!"

"Hehehe.. …I had verily assumed that whatever brought you into my room was purely an act of subconscious. Hence, I hold no grudge against you…"

".. …th-that can't be it…"

"As a matter of fact, after waking up to discover you, it was absolutely heavenly to just watch you in mid-slumber—"

"Wait—You watched me, Starfire? And just let me lie there?"

"Hehehe—"

"Why didn't you wake me up, for crying out loud?"

"Alas, Robin! I tried! But you were far too submerged in slumber for even a loud exclamation to awaken you! It was like you were under a spell of blessed tranquility itself!"

"I can't believe this is happening to me.. …"

"Hehe…Would it not be fair for me to pay your bedroom the same respect upon this eveni—"

"NO! Starfire… ..Please.. .. ..I have to figure this all out. I just—"

"But allow us to figure it out together, dearest Robin!"

"NOT NOW! Unngh..I just—I just need space!"

"Harumph! You are always needing the space! Were you so desirous of the 'space' last night, chlorbag?" FWOOOSH!

"God in holy-heaven… …I just KNOW she did something with my eyemask too… …," Robin grumbles as he walks over and leans against the counter. Frazzled. Pale. Framed with huge lenses bug-eyeing his face. "I've never felt so stupid and humiliated in my life.. .. …Did I start sleep-walking again?"

"Nnngh—Raven, you wouldn't GUESS what happened to me this morning. I---……Raven?"

I am nose-deep in my book. Hunched over at the kitchen counter. Still as stone.

"… .. ….whatever," Robin tosses his arms and marches off. "Lousy start to a lousy day.. .. …"

I remain frozen their for a good hour or two.

Sometime during the process, I realized I had poured tea all over my lower body when I dropped my cup.

In hindsight.. … ..that was probably a good thing….