Originally it had taken him a little too long to notice where the marks were coming from, let alone that they were happening at all. Not that he was complaining, at all really, it was just getting harder for him to come up with excuses as to why he stopped showing off his neck and shoulders like he used to. He'd noticed of course that Raven was a little bitey when they had started getting intimate, but hadn't thought that much of it. He didn't mind it, it was kinda hot especially in the moment, he just wasn't sure what to do about all the marks.
"Friend Robin?" Starfire's voice cuts through his half awake morning focus and he blinks up at the tamaranian.
"Hey, Star, what's up?" He greets her with a smile.
She smiles at him brightly. "I apologize for interrupting your thoughts, but I was curious if you were feeling alright?"
He frowns arching a brow slightly behind his mask. "Yeah?"
"Are you positive?" She insists, her expression falling slightly. "I have noticed the peculiarly odd markings appearing on your neck. They look and fade similarly to the normal human bruises I am accustomed to, but they continue to reoccur in odd patterns."
Robin's jaw clenched as he felt the heat rise in his face. He'd never been more thankful for the mask covering his eyes, as he couldn't help the involuntary movement his eyes made searching out Raven across the room. Her eyes met his, wide with surprise and she turned quickly away from his gaze, blushing herself.
"I have tried doing some research on them as I am worried for your health, but there are so many human ailments the internet beholds!" Starfire continues, sliding into the booth next to him. "A lot of the websites said you could be straining your neck muscles due to stress, causing the veins under your skin to burst. Is there something troubling you greatly?"
Robin coughs slightly, rubbing a hand over his mouth trying to keep his composure. "Ah…no….no, I promise I'm not that stressed."
"Another possibility is what I believe another website called eczema?" Starfire continues.
Words swim around Robin's brain in a fog as he tries to figure out an explanation out of this, but his embarrassment heavily clouds his ability to think.
"No, Star. I promise I'm not sick, it's just…" He shakes his head, biting his lip. "Bruises like you said. They must be from something I'm doing during training, that's why they keep coming back."
"You used that excuse already." Beastboy called from the couch.
"Huh?" Robin's heart sinks and he falters slightly.
"Last time someone said something you said it was a training accident." Beastboy said, arching a brow as he leaned over the couch to get a better view of his leader.
"I train a lot, it probably keeps happening." Robin shrugs, trying to keep his eyes off the demon in the room.
"You're too much of a perfectionist to keep having accidents like that though." Cyborg cuts in.
"You know the saying, practice makes perfect." Raven pipes in trying to save him, though the underlying innuendos behind her words only makes the heat in his cheeks increase.
"Exactly," Robin coughs. "Sometimes with practice comes trial and error, and sometimes you get the bruises to show for it."
"You'll have to show us this move of yours that makes your neck look like Beastboy's after a night with the vacuum." Cyborg snickers as the green titan cries out in surprised agony.
"You said we would never mention that again!" Beastboy wails angrily, trying to shove at the metal man's body.
"Perhaps we should have Raven or Cyborg take a look at your neck? Perhaps friend Raven could heal you?" Starfire suggests, bringing the focus back to Robin.
"Really, Star, I don't think it's that serious." Robin insists, his hands coming up defensively.
Cyborg ignores him, standing from the couch and making his way towards the booths where they sat and grabbing ahold of Robin's chin, angling it to get a better look at the titans throat.
"Don't," Robin squirmed slightly in the man's grasp, trying to pull away.
"Hmm, definitely looks like BB after the vacuum." Cyborg chuckles, dropping his chin. "He's fine, Star. They're just hickies. Just be a little more careful with your mouth when you're messing around."
Starfire blinks at Cyborg in confusion. "Hickies? My mouth? I'm sorry, I do not think I am understanding."
"Hickies," Cyborg grabs Robin's chin again so he can point at one of the bruises trailing down his neck. "Are usually a result of biting or sucking on someone's skin. Usually happens during make out sessions." He informs her grinning smugly, waggling his eyebrows at them jokingly.
"Robin and I have not done the making out." Starfire's confusion grew. "And why would I bite or suck on his skin, is that not weird?"
"Not if you're trying to keep quiet." Beastboy joins in snickering.
"Oh my god." Robin groans, burying his face into his arms on the table.
"There's no need to be embarrassed." Cyborg's tone remains laced with amusement as pats his leader's shoulder. "Unless you really were using the vacuum."
"No." Robin groans into his arms.
The gears finally connect for Starfire. "Oh you mean during sex! Robin and I have not been intimate in this way though, the markings could not have come from me I do not believe."
Robin's not sure his face could get any hotter. Cyborg and Beastboy both turn to cast their glance at Raven who grimaces in response.
"Demon, not vampire." She says pointing to herself, dismissing them casually.
"So Robin's got a secret girlfriend." Cyborg dotes out, his grin splitting widely across his face.
"I do not." Robin bites back, trying to tone down the heat in his face.
"Where else would these love bites come from?" The robotic man teases, poking at an offending bruise.
"Why do you guys care so much?" Robin asks, swatting at Cy's hands.
"Cause it's funny." Beastboy pipes up.
"I am just glad there is not a concern to your health!" Starfire beams at him brightly.
"You gonna give us the deets?" Cy asks, dramatically clasping his hands together under his chin, giving Robin his full attention.
"There's no deets to give." Robin insists, feeling suddenly trapped in the booth he was sitting in. "You guys are fishing for nothing."
"Your face is getting redder than your uniform, I think we're on a pretty solid trail." Cyborg grins.
"You must see your secret girlfriend often?" Starfire suggests. "The bruising is there more often than not."
"Good point, Star!" Beastboy calls. "He's also been trying to hide it more!"
"So it's been going on for a while." Cyborg concludes.
"Where are these skills of deduction when we're trying to track down criminals?" Raven muses from her comer.
"Come on, Raven! You're not even a little interested in Robin's secret?" Beastboy gloats.
"No." She denies flatly. "It doesn't affect our job or our team, who cares who he fucks."
"It could affect our team though." Beastboy counters. "What if he gets her pregnant!"
Robin groans again, his head dropping back into his arms. The question obviously stunned Raven, her silence indicative that she hadn't fully considered that being a possibility.
"We haven't even had sex yet." Robin huffs forcefully.
"SO THERE IS SOMEONE!" Beastboy nearly falls over the back of the couch, animated with amusement.
"Oh, do tell us about her!" Starfire claps, though there's a visible tightness behind her eyes. "Do we know her?"
"No." Robin grumbles.
"When do you even see her? You never leave the building without us?" Cyborg questions inquisitively.
"Maybe she's a secret for a reason." Raven offers.
"Maybe Robin's ashamed of her." Cyborg counters.
"MAYBE IT'S A GUY!" Beastboy calls loudly.
Cyborg lets out a loud hum of consideration. "You might be onto something there, BB."
"He goes out on late night motorcycle rides sometimes, gay guys love bikes!" Beastboy continues adamantly.
"Aren't you the one who wants that stupid little moped bike?" Raven shoots sharply.
"Aw, BB, is this how you and Robin come out together?" Cyborg coos to him.
"You wish I was gay, Tinman!" Beastboy shoots back.
"I'm not gay!" Robin feels like his body is shaking from the tension in the room.
"Alright, bisexual, but that's my final offer." Cyborg says mock-serious.
Robin rolls his eyes.
"Maybe it is us Robin is ashamed of?" Starfire offers, her tone barely hiding the sadness in her face. "Does your secret companion not know of your crime fighting lifestyle perhaps?"
"No, she does." Robin sighs exasperated.
"SHE." Beastboy and Cyborg sneer gleefully in unison.
"Get a notepad! We're gonna start missing key information in a minute!" Beastboy says scrambling around the room.
"I've gotta get out of here." Robin groans, struggling to wiggle his way out of the booth.
"Don't go now, we're just getting started!" Cyborg whines, grabbing at their leader trying to pin him down.
"No this is good he's gonna go call his girlfriend! We can spy on him!" Beastboy points at their leader grinning.
"No, I'm going to enjoy my morning in peace." Robin says forcefully, pushing himself out of Cyborg's grip.
"I apologize for upsetting you." Starfire offers softly.
Robin sighs, his frustration easing slightly. "Don't worry about it, Star. I know you were just concerned about me." He offers her a gentle smile though he's not sure how convincing it is.
"Maybe you will be comfortable telling us more about your secret friend soon, yes?" Starfire asked hopefully.
"Uh, maybe." Robin shrugs awkwardly, holding his gaze steady and controlled. "It's not entirely up to me."
"So she wants to be a secret." Beastboy infers.
"She wants to not be harassed like this." Robin snaps.
"Ease up, Boy Wonder. We're all friends here." Cyborg grins smugly. "We're just taking an active interest in your personal life, like friends do."
"Consider the interest noted and appreciated, we can move far past the subject now." Robin insists.
"Alright, alright. Don't get your tights in a twist now." Cyborg chuckles, moving to sit back next to Beastboy on the couch.
Starfire disbands from her position in the booth next to him, offering him a gentle smile as she makes her way over towards the couch as well. Robin watches the backs of his friends' heads for a moment, listening as they continue to snicker and theorize quietly from their position on the couch without him. Carefully, he lets his eyes roam towards the back corner of the room where Raven remains, her eyes heavily downcast as well, her face just as flush as his.
Later that night, a light rapping against his door disrupts the relaxation he'd only started to ease into. He lets out a slow breath, sighing to soothe some tension out of his body. He knows who it very likely is, but the fact that the being behind the door is knocking sends a wave of nerves through his body. He rises slowly from his bed, craning his neck to either side, trying to ease the stiffness in his shoulders. Robin staggers to his bedroom door, sliding it open a crack to see the hooded gray face looking back at him through the darkness of the hallway.
"Hey," Raven greets him softly, glancing in both directions down the hallway making sure they were undetected. "I waited until I thought everyone was asleep, or at least in their rooms. Can I…?" She asks, her eyes flicking behind him towards his room slightly before landing back on him.
"Yeah," He answers automatically, moving back so she can slide into his room.
He repeats her previous act of taking a glance down either side of the hallway ensuring their isolation before pulling back into his room and allowing the door to slide shut behind him. He turns to face her, watching as she stands irregularly uncomfortable in the middle of his room, staring longingly towards his bed.
"No ones stopping you." He whispers next to her ear as he passes by her to flop back onto the mattress.
She slowly crosses the distance between them and she pauses just in front of him, her knees just barely grazing his hanging from the side of the bed.
"You sure it's okay that I'm here?" She asks, her fingers lazily trailing across the skin on his thigh.
"Of course," He leans up slightly, reaching up to place a hand on her waist. "Why wouldn't it be?"
"I wouldn't want to make your secret girlfriend upset." She smirks down at him.
He groans, pulling away from her to lay back against his bed, allowing his head to loll dramatically to the side. She giggles, unclasping her cloak allowing it to fall to the floor as she leans down placing a hand on his chest to brace herself as she carefully straddles his legs. She lazily traces her fingers up and down his chest as she admires him, smirking down at him playfully.
"Don't start that now." He grumbles, throwing an arm over his eyes.
She snickers, trailing her nails up his chest to trace the dark splotches around his neck. "I'm sorry about these."
"Don't be." He sighs wistfully, grabbing at the hand toying with his neck and gently allows the pads of his fingers to graze over the soft skin of her wrist.. "I don't mind the marks so much as the attention I get from them."
"I don't mean to…do that." She flushes, biting her lip.
"You sure about that?" He arches a brow, his own smile turning slightly smug. "Sometimes it seems pretty intentional."
She licks her lips and drops her gaze from his, toying with the skin at his stomach awkwardly. "Okay I don't always mean to do that."
He chuckles at her honesty. "What's the big idea? Trying to ward off any potential threats?"
"Threats?" She arches a brow, her eyes falling back to his again. "I was under the impression I had no threats."
"You don't," Robin agrees easily. "I'm just curious about this habit of you going around marking your territory."
Her cheeks flush vibrantly at his words and Robin's mouth drops open slightly.
"No way, is that actually what you're doing?" Robin asks, staring up at her incredulously.
Raven groans, rolling off him to curl into a ball on her side, her back facing him.
"Oh no, I didn't rat you out while I was under the hot seat, that means you gotta answer my questions now." Robin pushes, crawling over her body to get a look at her red tinted face.
"Okay, fine." Raven caves, her eyes shutting tightly as she brings a hand up to pinch at the bridge of her nose. "I'm…kinda marking you…"
"Kinda?" He repeats slowly, arching a brow.
"Like…as mine." She admits, avoiding his eyes.
"I feel like there's more to that that I'm not understanding." Robin blinks down at her.
"This is so weird to talk about." She sighs exasperated, rubbing her face with both her hands before sitting up and turning to face him, placing her hands in her lap.
"You know how you complain about me stealing your shirts so often?" She asks, composing herself.
He nods slowly, frowning, unsure where she's going with this.
"It's because I…like the way you smell." She continued, her cheeks flushing brightly but she wasn't allowing her mask to falter.
Robin can't help leaning down to smell the skin of his arm, not smelling anything pungent about the area.
"Yeah, you mention a lot you think I smell good." He notes.
"Stealing your shirts is a way I like to keep your scent on me, like a way for you to claim me. The hickies are kinda the same idea…" She purses her lips looking down at her lap.
"What happened to 'demon not vampire'?" He asked, repeating her words from earlier.
"I don't break the skin." She says, a smug glint in her eyes.
He regards her for a moment, his hand automatically rising to idly rub at his neck. "Does that work?"
"What?"
"The hickies. Do they really make me smell like you?" He asks, still rubbing slightly at the area.
She shrugs, glancing down at his neck as well. "Enough to pacify me."
"I don't notice any difference." He says looking down at his own body as if it would change underneath his gaze.
"Yeah," She agrees, smiling awkwardly. "Your human nose probably wouldn't."
She leans over to grab his arm and pull him down, shifting their bodies so she can lay on her back with him resting over her. She trails her nose along the length of his neck, inhaling slowly and deeply, letting out a contented sigh.
"You're still half human." He argues, allowing the weight of his body to rest on her.
"Genetics don't generally split 50/50." She argues in return. "I think it's safe to say demon DNA is probably a little more dominant than the human alternative."
"Alright, so what do I smell like then?" He asks, pulling back slightly to look at her face.
Her eyes look up at him, taking in his face for a moment before narrowing slightly as she considers her answer. "It's hard to explain."
"Is it a dumb question to ask why?" He hesitated.
Raven snorted out a laugh. "You don't always smell exactly the same. A lot of factors can change the way you smell, specifically your emotions."
"Is that how you know what people are feeling?" He asks, blinking in surprise.
"Yes and no." She answers. "It's a helpful indicator. but I need to be a lot closer in order to smell the emotion. And since scents vary between people in general, it's not accurate to rely on. But I can still physically feel the emotions too, which is more precise and easier from a distance."
"So different emotions have a different smell?" He presses, his interest vastly peaked.
"Mhm." She hums in affirmation.
"What do I smell like right now?" He asks, curling his body over her further and burying his face in the crook of her shoulder to hopefully drown her in his scent.
She giggles under him, reveling in the weight of his body as she copies his actions and buries her nose into his messy hair. "You smell overwhelmingly happy," She starts, pressing a smile into the side of his head. "I can smell love, I can feel your excitement and curiosity more than I can smell it."
"Curiosity and excitement don't have a smell?" He inquires.
She shakes her head. "I think I also have the advantage of our bond to kind of cheat with, so you're not the greatest example."
"Okay, so say you're just talking about an average person you've never met, how would you smell what they're feeling?" He asks.
"If your excitement wasn't so endearing I wouldn't be entertaining this." She mutters. "It'd be easier if you give me an emotion and I can try and describe it."
"Well you said I smell happy, what does that smell like?" He tries.
She leans back, her eyes scanning the ceiling as she thinks best on how to describe the scent. "It's so silly, I think Starfire is the only one who would fully understand. It smells like flying?" She offers.
"Flying?" He asks, his head tilting slightly max
"Yeah, like a light airy breeze. I guess it's a little citrusy too." She leans in close to him, inhaling deeply. "A bitter citrus. Like bergamot."
"Is bitter bad?"
"Not necessarily." She shakes her head. "It's like a fresh bitter, like a lemon fresh off the tree."
The explanation thrilled him inexplicably. "That's so cool."
She snickers underneath him. "I can smell your happiness growing."
"What's sadness like?" He asks, grinning down at her.
Her eyes flash upwards again, thinking. "The opposite of happy. It's a heavy musky smell, kind of humid like a rainstorm or morning breath. It's a little suffocating if it's heavy enough."
"Have you had to deal with it being suffocating?" He asks, his eyes softening.
"Of course," She replies simply. "There's five of us living here and we fight crime for a living, it's not always the most enlightening and rewarding job."
Robin scans his brain, trying to come up with another emotion. "What about anger?"
"Spicy," She has her answer ready. "It's heavy like sadness but not humid. It's kind of a sharp smell, like really hot metal shavings and burning sage."
"This is so fascinating." He admits and she chuckles, reaching up to run her fingers through his hair. "I almost forgot, what does love smell like?"
She hummed lazily against his neck, he could feel the traces of her smile still pressed into his skin.
Her voice is slurred slightly. "Very sweet but not overbearing, it mixes with the airness of happiness. Think eucalyptus and vanilla."
"Sounds like a nice combination." Robin notes, and she nods against his throat in agreement.
"Does it bother you that I can smell it even though we don't say it?" She asked softly.
He considers it for a moment, he hadn't even fully considered the prospect. It wasn't like he was stupid in thinking he didn't love Raven to some extent, but surely he loved all of his friends in one way or another. Though it was a whole other story: the idea of expressing those emotions to any sort of degree. What did it even mean to love someone outside of being just a friend?
"How do you know what kind of love you're smelling?" He counter asks.
"Should I misconstrue this as platonic?" She arches a brow, peeking up at him from her position against his naked chest.
"No…" He responds hesitantly.
"It's mostly just a matter of how strong the smell is. Platonic love doesn't have nearly any of the spice that romantic love does, but I think the spice is a tinge of lust." She answers nonetheless.
"Does it ever bother you that I don't say it?" Robin asks, returning to her original question.
She shakes her head. "I can feel it just as much as I can smell it. Even if I wasn't an empath, you do more than enough to make me feel loved."
He feels an awkward wave of embarrassment at her words but a weird sense of euphoria as well.
"I don't think it bothers me that you can smell it." He admits.
She nods, accepting his response.
"Can you smell your own emotions?" He asks after a moment of silence.
"Not usually." She replies. "Think of it kind of like body odor, it's only noticeable if it's really strong."
"Is normal body odor easier for you to smell too?" He frowns.
"Everything is. I can pinpoint your scent from across the room. I can pinpoint Beastboy's from a floor away." Her nose wrinkles in slight disgust causing Robin to chuckle.
"What's BB normally smell like to you?" He asks, laughing lightly.
Her nose remained curled slightly. "Wet dog, sweat, and sour tofu. Horrid combination." She shudders.
Robin laughs. "What about Cy and Star?"
"Cy is funny. He smells like both car grease and deep fried grease. Along with the heat of electricity." Her face relaxes. "Starfire smells a lot of her home planet, also very earthy like moist dirt and perpetually airy like happiness, not at all unpleasant."
"Do I get to know what I smell like now?" He pushes, nudging her slightly.
"You smell like sweat, you smell like me." She purrs. "By yourself though you smell like grass in the morning, covered in dew. Kind of humid but in a fresh way. You're a little peppery."
"If I wanted to smell more like you, what could I do?" He asked, his fingers toying with her purple strands idly.
She pulls away from his chest slightly to look up at his face. "What do you mean?"
"Well you're trying to mark me to make me smell like you, is there anything I can do by myself to help me smell like you?" He asks.
Raven stared up at him, an odd emotion behind her eyes he couldn't quite place as her cheeks began to flood with color. Her lashes fluttered a few times as she blinked up at him, her mouth dropping open slightly.
"Uh, jasmine, clove, and sage are what I think I smell like." She responds, slightly breathless.
He nods, making a mental note and smiling down at her. "Okay."
Her eyes continue to stare up into his face softly, seemingly searching for something hidden deep within in his expression.
"What?" He squirmed slightly, chuckling with amusement under her gaze.
An odd disconnected wave of fear passed over him ever so briefly, followed by a stronger wave of confusion. It took him a moment to realize the fear he'd felt was from her, a small tremor trickling through their bond, only to be replaced by the stronger, more prominent feeling of his own confusion at her emotion. The realization threw him off even more, trying to decide if she had intended on allowing him to pick up on her fear or if it was accidentally something he had picked up himself. This only further confused him as he tried to determine where her fear was coming from, as far as he was concerned this was just a fun but informative conversation.
He started to ask her once again what was wrong as he looked down into her deep purple eyes but she cut him off, surging forward quickly to press her lips into his fiercely. He let out a hum of surprise, but responds eagerly to her advance, pulling her warm body close. Her arms draw up to wind around his neck, pulling him closer and her body shudders against his. He braces a hand against her waist, rubbing at the smooth fabric of her leotard, tracing the curve of her ribs. They pulled away slightly, their foreheads resting against each other, and she resumed taking in the features of his face through soft lidded eyes.
"So…" Robin suddenly considers something, fighting back the awkwardness at his question. "Could you smell when like…I uh…"
She arches a brow at him not fully understanding what he's trying to convey. He bites his lip and leans down, mimicking her move from earlier of trailing his nose along her neck before placing kisses along her shoulder and collarbone. She smiles, humming in pleasure, and extending her neck to allow him easier access before her body stiffens suddenly as she registers his question.
"Oh." Her fingers are still against his skin. "Can I smell when you get turned on?" She finishes his question for him and he nods against her neck.
"Well yeah." She answers simply. "It's like a cocktail of a few things, the light airiness of happiness, the spice from anger, but overall it's sickly sweet."
"So it smells bad?" He notes, his expression dropping slightly.
"Actually," She shakes her head, moving a hand to rest on his cheek as she looks up at him through heavily lidded eyes. "It's one of my favorites, especially on you." Her other hand lazily trails her nails up the back of his neck to twist in his fluffy dark hair. "That's why these tend to happen." The hand on his cheek slides down to press single fingers lightly along each of the bruises on his neck. "It's very intoxicating, and sometimes you just smell too good to resist."
She was being enticing on purpose now, and he wondered if the sickly sweet aroma she mentioned was perforating the room now. He briefly had the question float through his head regarding how strong someone else's emotions had to be in order for it to have an effect on her. His questions fizzled quickly out of his head as her soft lips pressed delicately against his jaw, trailing kisses down his neck and over his shoulder before he felt the familiar pinch of pain as her teeth lightly dig into his skin. Robin lets out a shaky sigh as she pulls back just enough for her to run her tongue teasingly along the "U" shape pattern her teeth had left behind, before sucking the flesh into her mouth sharply.
He pulls away from her, her mouth falling off his skin with a wet pop. He barely gives her a second to look up at him before his lips crash down onto hers. She whimpers desperately into his mouth as she struggles underneath him slightly, trying to wriggle closer into his body, her hand in his hair pulling him more firmly on top of her. They kiss eagerly, only breaking away for short moments at a time to gasp for breath. Raven shifts her body underneath his, adjusting her legs to be on either side of him. She rolls her hips up into his as he settles between her legs, causing them both to moan behind each other's lips. His hands trace down her body, ghosting over her chest and waist, his gloveless fingers grazing the soft skin peeking out from the bottom of her leotard. Her body shuddered against his, rolling her hips up into his touch once more searching for more. He doesn't need an enhanced sense of smell to be intoxicated by her too.