To that one person that's been going through all of my works; I appreciate it xD

Also I get the strong feeling that I've done something like this before, but it's been five years so in case I have, see it as an improved version!

"Are you dating that one goth girl on your team?"

Robin paused, coffee mug raised to his lips, blue eyes staring blankly at the person on the other end of the screen, quietly processing what had just been asked.

Finally, he tilted his head. "Odd question."

"Is it?"

"From you?" He paused again, thinking it over, before giving in. "Not really, no."

Wally's grin was sharp, the electricity practically blazing through his eyes in pulses that were just as quick and erratic as the boy himself. He was still in uniform, his mask taken down for the time being as opposed to Robin's infamously ever-present domino mask.

"Then why aren't you answering?"

"Maybe because we were in the middle of discussing your run ins with the H.I.V.E.?"

Wally cringed, his smile faltering for just the littlest of seconds at the not-so-unintentional pun and Robin had to fight to suppress his smirk. "Man," the speedster said. "That was just tasteless."

"No idea what you're talking about."

"Just answer the question, man."

"I really don't see how it's any of your business."

"I've known you for ages!" Wally exclaimed, jumping just a little on his seat but with enough speed to make Robin's chronic headache itch to make itself known once again. Oddly enough, he only got it whenever around the presence of a speedster, and he would swear on everything that he owned it must've been something heretic in the non-biological sense because Bruce's headaches worked largely the same way when dealing with the Flash himself. "I've seen how you act when you like someone- don't even try to deny it."

Robin flushed. "That-! That's just playing dirty."

"Dick, come on, you know I'm not going to drop it."

Robin sighed, the chance thought of persistent little shit entirely warranted in his book. "No, I'm not dating Raven."

"Do you want to?"

"Again," he repeated, the slim hold he had on his temper slipping by the second. See Robin was a patient man, he had to be, running a team as rowdy and disorganized as his, but there was just something about Wally West that could have his blood boiling in mere seconds. The ginger really did bring out the worst in him, but then again, what else were best friends for? "I really don't see how that's any of your business."

"You do!" Wally cackled, throwing his head back with the force of his laugh and positively vibrating as he did so. Coincidentally enough, it was at that moment that Robin felt his cool front cracking. "Oh that is priceless!"

Robin leaned forwards in his chair, his grin one of foreboding danger as he stared flat into the camera. "Well if you want to bypass this formal meeting that much...how's Jinx? She still not answering your calls?"

And just like that, the laughing stopped. "Low blow, man, low blow."

"Not that nice when it's done to you, is it?"

"Noted."

This was an absolutely horrible idea and Robin blamed the fact that he'd actually been stupid enough to agree to this mess fully on his jet-engine of a best friend.

"Speedsters," he muttered to himself, his migraine hitting him tenfold. "God, Batman really was onto something when he said they were nothing but trouble."

This was probably Wally's off-handed way at some half-assed revenge ploy, but as of right now three out of six Titans East members had been rendered out of commission and all due to the fact that none of them could hold their alcohol worth a damn.

Two Titans West members were down as well; namely Starfire and, surprisingly enough, Cyborg, although Robin suspected that had been done artificially because he knew for a fact the absolute unit of a man could hold his liquor better than most.

And yes, it was Beast Boy's birthday, yes he was finally turning eighteen and as such deserved a celebration. They'd all been through hell, had all been robbed of the regular childhood and/or teenage life they should've had so the least Robin could do was condone a little indulgent party for his shape-shifting teammate. They'd throw a little party, celebrate his birthday, get him some PETA approved birthday cake and then go on with their lives as usual.

Just a simple, non-destructive celebration.

But then Wally had caught wind of it and everything went to hell faster than Robin could keep up because he wasn't a fucking speedster.

He'd ought to reconsider his choice in friends, really.

The West tower was an absolute mess. Aqualad lay passed out near the kitchen sink, his head resting underneath the still-running tap, Cyborg had his head coddled in Bumblebee's lap, going off about some vague shit Robin really didn't have the energy for to decipher; Mas y Menos had just straight up disappeared and Robin had just come back from safely depositing Starfire off into her bedroom, a decision that was sure to save some lives later on.

"Beast Boy…!"

He looked up at the call, brows raising once he spotted the rare sight of Beast Boy holding Raven's hand in both of his and walking backwards onto the dancefloor, effectively dragging her with him. He still had his silly little party hat strapped on, the neat purple blazer he'd been wearing at the start of that evening discarded, leaving him just in a black button-up and jeans. Raven on the other hand was still rocking her little black dress, an outfit that had Robin swearing for all the wrong reasons, as embarrassing as that may sound.

What stood out the most, however, was the fact that Raven wasn't fighting the birthday boy. She wasn't threatening him, didn't even look all that annoyed, to be fair. She just went along with him, the barest hints of a smile on her face as she allowed herself to be dragged into the middle of the room and the slight pang Robin felt at witnessing the scene was entirely unwarranted.

"Jealousy isn't that good of a look on you, man." Wally drawled, his arm slipping over Robin's shoulder as he popped up beside him.

"Neither is my fist in your face, I'd bet." Robin shot back, his arms crossing stubbornly over his chest.

His best friend only laughed, not fazed in the slightest by the abrupt threat. "You ought to tell her, you know." He said, having enough tact to lower his voice and pull Robin just a little closer. "You'd be a good match."

"I have nothing to tell," Robin insisted.

"Riiigghhhtttt, so your raging hard-on for-"

Robin actually did punch him then.

It wasn't until much later in the evening that he had a chance to talk to the dark goddess herself.

At that point the masked man had just given up, deciding that the much-needed damage control could wait until morning because things were bound to get worse before then. Instead of preventing the inevitable, he might as well just sit back and leave it until morning.

Which is exactly how he'd ended up standing in the corner of the room, nursing what must've been his sixth shot of straight liquor between his gloved hands and still feeling perfectly fine because unlike most people in this room, his alcohol tolerance wasn't absolute garbage.

The prolonged training he'd been through back at Gotham also helped. His body had racked up a pretty good resistance to poison after inhaling as much Joker venom and Fear Toxin as he had and considering alcohol pretty much counted as poison too, he was likely good to go.

Robin never really gave himself the chance to just observe anymore. Sure, he watched and memorized his opponent's fighting patterns while in battle, but that still required him to be in the middle of action. Just watching like this? Analyzing, gaining new and….interesting information that would likely double as blackmail material somewhere down the line, it was...nice. Calming.

It reminded him that he really had been slacking on his tactical side these past months.

"You never told me you were so close with Kid Flash."

Robin grimaced, not even having to look up to recognize the barely-noticeable footsteps heading his way. "It's not exactly something I'm proud of."

Raven laughed, the sound itself much like her; modest and hidden. "Now why is that?"

"Have you seen the state of the Tower? That's something only he can manage, trust me." He threw back his glass, downing the last of the liquid fire left inside and not even giving so much as a shiver as it burned down his throat. "Done dancing? I saw you with Beast Boy earlier."

She rolled her eyes, her hands coming up to wrap around her arms. Something she had been doing a lot that evening, Robin noted. "I wouldn't really call that dancing," she stated. "More like trying my hardest to keep him from falling flat on his face."

"Seemed like you were having fun to me."

"I was," she smiled. "Don't tell him I said that though."

Robin couldn't help but grin at the sudden sternness in her tone. "Wouldn't dream of it."

She nodded, seemingly content. Raven hugged herself even tighter, and Robin was about to offer her his coat since it was pretty easy to guess she was missing the comfort of her cloak when disaster struck.

A streak of yellow zipped past, followed by an equally as fast bolt of neon green that could only indicate Starfire had woken up from her alcohol-induced coma and was currently chasing a certain ginger that Robin liked to call their resident hell incarnate. The brief flash of color was soon followed by a loud crash, as well as the sound of a startled cat.

Robin groaned, his head tipping back against the wall with a soft thud. "I really am going to kill him after this," he stated.

"You say that, and yet I can feel nothing but fondness coming from you." Raven said. He opened his eyes in mild surprise because yes, right, empathy was one of her abilities.

"We grew up together," he finally said. "Both our mentors are Justice League members, it's hard to hate someone you spent the majority of your time with."

"What about Aqualad?"

"Never really showed up for meetings as much as we did. He's not that bad though."

"I can tell as much, yes."

Right, they had a bond, too. She was probably able to read his emotions better than most, likely able to decipher his thought process just from that too, come to think of i-

He froze.

"Raven…" he started slowly, almost certain his rapidly increasing heartbeat could be heard from across the room. "About that bond of ours...just how much do you know?"

Her smile was pure evil, even as she looked up at him with faux innocence. A look that, mind you, really shouldn't belong on a demon. "Why do you ask, Boy Blunder? Got something to hide from me?"

"No," he really needed another drink, he was much too sober to be having this conversation. "Just curious."

"Liar." Raven stepped into his space. Robin felt as if he could die then and there. He wasn't stupid, he could tell she was onto him. This really had been a bad idea from the start.

"Raven-"

"I can't read your mind or anything like that, if you were worried." She said simply, easily cutting him off as if he hadn't even spoken at all. She pulled at his tie, keeping her attention on the fabric while she toyed with it and Robin had the slightest suspicions that she hadn't been as sober as he'd thought she was.

She'd told him once that she had a hard time getting drunk because of her demonic heritage, but considering just the sheer amount of alcohol that had been consumed that night, Robin didn't think it was that much of a stretch to assume she was more than a little tipsy.

"I can however feel your emotions much stronger than others." Raven looked up at him then, her amethyst eyes about as foreboding as her smile. "Your anxiousness, your conflict, your jealousy….I can also feel Kid's amusement, by the way." She glanced sideways, and Robin managed to snap himself out of his stupor long enough to follow her line of sight and spot the bane of his existence not-so-subtly watching the pair of them from behind the kitchen counter.

Something inside of him snapped. His patience, most likely.

Robin closed his eyes, letting his head fall back against the wall once again and taking a much-needed breath. "You've been in contact with Jinx lately, haven't you?"

"...yes."

"Give me her number later."

Raven let go of his tie, her surprise lasting for all of two seconds before she caught on. "Don't be too hard on him," she chuckled.

"Won't make any promises I can't keep."

"Well, look at it this way," she said and when Robin opened his eyes again, her smile was less dangerous and more amused. A smile he got to see surprisingly often in the years following her father's defeat. "If he hadn't intervened, we wouldn't be talking like this right now."

Robin narrowed his eyes. "What do you mean intervened?"

"We might have had a little talk sometime tonight…" she said, suddenly sheepish as she looked away. "Learned some interesting things about what you've been thinking."

"Definitely gonna kill him," he repeated, trying his hardest to keep the mortification he was feeling to a minimum. It wouldn't really help his case if she could sense that too. "Now you really have to give me Jinx's number."

"Will do," Raven chuckled.

They fell into silence again, the sound deafening and the longer it went on, the more anxious Robin felt. All the cards were on the table now, he might as well just go for it.

"So what do you think?" He asked.

Raven looked up. "Of what?"

"What he told you."

"Well…" she reached up, brushing a stray lock of hair behind her ear. Her eyes were focused on the ground, her teeth worrying her lip as she thought her words through and the longer she stayed silent, the heavier the incoming aura of doom felt. "I'm still waiting on you, to be honest."

Robin blinked, startled. "Me?"

"Yes," she rolled her eyes. "Unless you're waiting for me to make the first move, because I will if I have to." Raven turned to face him, her arms crossing over her chest and her head tilted as she gave a little grin that seemed just a tad too smug. "Giving you all these hints should be enough, I imagine. You know you have been brooding for over a month, right?"

"What? I haven't-"

"You have," her smile turned sharp. "Our rooms aren't that far apart, you know, I can sense it whenever you're up late at night."

It was at that moment that Robin decided he would definitely have to go and talk with Bruce about mental barriers the next time they spoke. He trusted Raven with his life and more but...just to spare him any further embarrassment, there were simply some things she just shouldn't know.

But well….it wasn't like he had anything to lose now, was it?

Robin grabbed her hand, lacing their fingers together as he brought it up to his lips and trying his hardest not to feel smug when he spotted her startled expression. He stared at her, his eyes dark behind his mask as they trailed over her slowly reddening face. "You know far too much," he whispered, voice low.

It took her exactly five seconds longer than usual to reply, and any other person might have missed it; but not him. Never him. "I...know a lot more than you might think."

"I might have to eliminate you now."

"Yeah?" Her lips quirked up. "Do I get a say in this?"

"Debatable," Robin kissed the back of her hand, not missing the slight flush to her cheeks that definitely hadn't been alcohol-induced. "I could change my mind if you went out for dinner with me next Saturday."

"You absolutely rotten playboy."

He grinned. "You love it."

"Fine," Raven snatched her hand back, weaving it around his tie once again to drag him down to her level. "But you better make it worth my while, Boy Blunder."

"I intend to."