Stuff Like That There
(Hugs)
by Em

A/N: Inspired by the song, "Chasing Pavements" by Adele, and specifically the line used in the quote below.

This is the end of this story, since this is the last theme.

15: Kiss

"I've made up my mind / don't need to think it over / … / I know, this is love / …/ should I give up / or should I just keep chasing pavements? / eve if it leads nowhere"
- Chasing Pavements, Adele

For an empath, Raven was notoriously slow on the uptake when it came to her own feelings. If prompted and made to be honest, Raven would admit to the fact that she was willfully ignorant most of the time. Closing herself off to emotions for so many years made her especially wary of opening herself up to them, even after her father's influence was cast out of her and the prophesy was thwarted.

Still, some emotions were impossible to deny, even for Raven.

She loved Robin.

Not the way she loved Starfire, or Cyborg, or even Beast Boy. She loved him the way the poets wrote, she loved him so that her heart hurt in her chest when he smiled at her and her insides melted when she heard him laugh. She loved him so that his pain pierced her the way nobody else's emotions had ever cut through her empathic shields.

None.

She loved him. And she knew it. Couldn't deny it.

Had no clue what to do about it.

She couldn't talk to anyone about it, because really…who would she talk to? Cyborg was too close, and if his reaction that time Starfire had a date was any indication of what he'd react if she told him she had feelings for their leader, he'd lock Robin out of the Tower and threaten to dismember him, then put security cameras on all the entrances and motion sensors with lasers near their doors. Beat Boy had zero experience and Starfire was just figuring out this attraction/romance/love emotion herself.

She couldn't even look to Robin for a clue as to how she should act, because he'd know. He was the Batman's apprentice and an astonishingly adept detective in his own right, recognizably perceptive.

If she acted even the least bit different towards him, he'd know.

If she stared at him too long, he'd know.

If she smiled at him, he'd know.

If she thought of smiling at him, he'd know.

Lord and Lady, if she just looked at him, he'd know.

So she did the only thing she could…she ignored him completely, going so far as to leave the room as soon as he walked into it and appeared to stay.

Of course, it didn't occur to her that he would notice that, too.

Not until he cornered her in the hallway outside her room one day after she had left the common room as soon as she had stepped into it and noted he was there.

"You're avoiding me," he said bluntly.

She stared at him for a moment or two, searching for something to say, but coming up completely empty, then turned on her heel and began walking away.

His arm barring her escape stopped her in her tracks. "Really?" he asked, his tone almost amused.

She turned to escape the other way, but his other arm was there, effectively blocking her against the wall at her back, his chest in front of her and his arms at his sides.

Sure, she could have ported herself out of there, but her usually cool and collected mind short circuited and all she could do was stare up at him, a part of her mind certain that her expression was akin to that a deer caught in headlights would wear.

"This is getting ridiculous," he said to her forehead since she began staring resolutely at the swirls of letters on his t-shirt she was too preoccupied to make out.

Finally, her mind started to work and she thought of porting herself out, but she must have given herself away somehow, because his hands reached out and grabbed her shoulders. "Uh-uh," he said. "You're not going anywhere until you tell me why you've been avoiding me the last few weeks?"

She took a deep breath and looked up at him. "I have not been avoiding you," she denied, because really, what else could she say?

"She speaks!" he exclaimed.

His tone of continued near amusement gave her the ability to achieve some semblance of normalcy to her voice and affect, so she frowned. "Since when has that been a surprise?"

"Since you haven't spoke to me in a few weeks," he countered.

"You're exaggerating."

He raised his brows meaningfully. "So, you literally turning on your heel and walking out of the common room as soon as you saw me was, what…you remembering you had somewhere else to be?"

She blinked, nothing in her outward expression betraying the crazy thoughts going through her mind, the mantra undercutting it all being, 'don't think about how close he is…don't think about how close he is…'

"I just wanted to be alone," she stated, her mouth a little dry.

"And yesterday when you were watching tv with Cyborg and I walked in and you left like you owed me money?" he challenged.

"I remembered something I needed."

"Mid word?" he raised his eyebrows again.

She faltered for a moment. "What is this, anyway?" she decided to go on the offensive. "I can't choose where I go in this Tower, anymore?"

His expression turned serious and he slowly lowered his hands from her shoulders. "Of course you can," he said. "But if I've done something to piss you off, I wish you'd tell me."

She stilled at the hint of pain in his words and looked up at him. "You haven't pissed me off," she answered honestly.

"Really?" he crossed his arms. "So, why the avoidance, then?"

She sighed. "I'm sorry," she said instead of answering his question. "I didn't realize I was actively avoiding you," she tried, then thought of cutting her losses and turned to walk away.

"Raven," he stopped her, without touching her this time. "I wish you'd tell me why you can't be in the same room with me, or barely even look at me."

She winced, barely imperceptibly. She turned to him and looked in his eyes. "I can't," she answered, completely and entirely honestly. After a moment, she turned away fully and took two steps before his voice stopped her again.

"I miss you."

Her body literally refused to continue moving, like they'd been frozen.

And in the second purely spontaneous moment she'd had in her entire life, she turned back to him, took the two steps back toward him, took his face in her hands, pulled herself up and him down toward her, and planted her lips right on his.

She'd only ever kissed Malchior before, so her experience was limited, and he had initiated that one, so kissing a surprised, albeit unresisting boy was rather different, but she let her lips go soft and held still for a moment, then two, then sort of caressed his lips with hers for a third moment before pulling away.

She got four steps down the hall before his hand took hold of her wrist and he spun her around to face him. An apology sprung to her lips, even if she was too mortified to speak it, even before his smile stopped her breath.

"Let's try that again, shall we?" he asked, before dipping down to press his lips against hers, his arms winding around her waist, linking at her back and pressing her close as he taught her that when you surprise someone with a kiss, you have to stick around long enough for them to respond.