He intended to settle it. He really meant to.

It just didn't happen.

The morning after, he was refreshed and woke early to get his coffee. He knew she'd be at the kitchen counter with a book, enjoying the silence of the morning in her own way.

It was almost their normal routine, just a little rearranged.

He drank his coffee, read the paper, finished the crossword and kept sneaking glances in her direction. Waiting for the explosion of… something. But she barely even acknowledged him, which made him think that perhaps she needed to reflect. She still poured his cup of coffee. She just placed it at the countertop. Whereas it was usually in the seat at the island right next to hers. She was laying on the couch, book in hand, leaving him no room to sit with her. So he knew she wasn't avoiding him completely. There was just more space in between them.

Maybe she just needed her space for a few more hours. He could provide that.

So he quieted the thoughts that called him a coward and gave it to her.

After the morning, he went to catch up on all the backlogged work he had to do. Letters from the city, concerns about the budget, several inquiries for appearances, etc. etc. Just those few things kept him remarkably busy until the sunset.

He finished with revising their training schedule and decided to host an early morning workout tomorrow morning. Usually, he just sent the schedule to everyone's communicator but since he was absent for an extended period of time he decided he should check in with everyone individually. Mainly, their resident empath.

He had just braved Gar's room and gave the lecture he prepared about overall cleanliness with an emphasis on the importance of personal hygiene, before he excused himself to head towards Raven's room.

There was a booming laugh and then a giggle, one he knew for it's rarity, coming from her rooms.

He didn't bother to hesitate and instead of probing around for the connection that was innately there with a curiosity he could not stifle, he knocked for appearance's sake.

The door slid open enough for it to gap and see one gorgeous eye and a finely arched eyebrow, attitude stamped on her forehead.

"Yes?" She deadpanned.

He swallowed, not entirely expecting the cold demeanor but still drinking her in. What half he could see at least. Raven was insanely attractive and that was an understatement. He's told her so on more than one occasion, just as a standard observation even. It always caught him off guard that she was so alluring. Most people fawned over Starfire, the personality, the uniform, and the exotic coloring. He understood it, but whereas Starfire was the sun, Raven was the universe and its infinite expansion into the abyss.

He saw supernovas when he looked at her.

"Richard. Why are you standing outside my room?"

"I just wanted to check in with the team, I'm sending tomorrow morning's schedule to the communicators but-"

"Why didn't you just do that?"

"Huh?"

"Next time, just send it."

He clenched his jaw. "As I was saying, I wanted to check on the-"

Another booming laugh cut the rest of what Richard was going to say off.

"Cut the guy some slack, Rae. He is our leader, that deserves some kind of respect," A voice emerged from the depths of her room that Richard now recognized as Victor. She made some kind of discontented noise, looking away from him, turning to glare at where he assumed Cyborg to be.

"Actually, you guys have been actin' downright feral. I'm going to just make some adjustments to the T-car or somethin'. Nice chatting with you, Rae. Don't throw anyone out any windows. It gets real hard to explain in the budget meetings," The last part Cyborg muttered, his heavy steps making their way to the doorway before it slid open all the way to reveal his large frame.

"Glad to have you back Rob," With a squeeze of the shoulder and a whistle, Cyborg mosied down the hall, leaving the love birds to their own devices.

In the now silence of the hall, Richard could hear the thrum of her fingernails against the metal of the door.

Why was she so impatient?

"Am I bothering you?"

"No."

thrumthrumthrumthrumthrum.

"...Do you have somewhere else to be?"

The steady thrum stopped momentarily, she shot him a look he couldn't decipher.

He could remember whatever his name was with his lips well within kissing distance of hers. He knew last night exactly what that loser intended. If he was any later, if his trip had taken the extra four days…

Jealousy snuck its way onto his tongue and before he could swallow it, in a low whisper that could barely press through his clenched teeth, "I swear Raven if you're still mad because I stopped you from playing dress-up with some half rate son of a-"

She slammed her palm to the side of the door, hands glowing, eyes flashing. She took a step closer to him.

Her posture challenging.

His nostrils flared.

"You swear, what? What do you think you can do about it?"

He could feel her breath on his face, see the lighter flecks of magenta, he was swimming in the red wines of her eyes. He never intentionally upset her, teased of course, made her beg certainly. But, fuck, if he didn't want to take her to bed right now and just work out all that tension. He shook his head to clear it. This isn't at all how he wanted this conversation to go. He said as much, "I didn't come here to argue."

Her posture shrunk down, her arms coming to wrap themselves around her again. She huffed before closing her eyes tightly, the residual energy seeming to drain from her before she opened them again. "Of course you didn't. Thank you for the update, I will see you tomorrow morning, Nightwing."

And the door promptly slid shut in his face. Softly and with a hiss of dismay that stung his chest.

Day one sucked reasonably enough and the next four were trying but doable because there were a series of crimes to attend to and the team was busy. So, he took a page out of her book. Silent, stilted mornings, brief acknowledgement in team meetings, he stayed on the ground, she covered the battle from above. Easy adjustments.

Yet, other team events made him grit his teeth. Beach days in particular. That was day five.

One moment he was successfully ignoring her until she came to her sense and the next she was asking him to apply sunscreen to her exposed skin. Which included her neck, shoulders, back and thighs.

He could still feel her body slightly shuddering underneath his palms as he rubbed outward circles at the tops of her thighs while he kneeled between her spread legs. He felt the familiar haze of their combined lust rolling over them when she moaned, he groaned in return- she knew he got off on her getting off- pressing the pads of his thumbs just underneath the seams of the tiny black bottoms that he knew Kory had to have picked out for her.

He was so close to leaning down and slipping his hand between the little slip of material covering her slit to see if she was as wet as he could only imagine. Audience be damned, mouth dry just at the thought of getting to touch her there, straining against the ties of his swim trunks, when Kory called out for her.

Starfire's call seemed to wake Raven up from the seduction, making her pop up on her knees to a kneel, back pressed his chest, slick skin sticking to each other, his hands reaching up to balance her on her hips as the world swam around them for a moment, his hips pressing snugly into the firm globes of her ass. They fit so perfectly together. She turned her head over her shoulders, revealing blown pupils and biting her bottom lip.

He hadn't been this close to her since he got back.

"Rae.."

"Thank you, Richard" and she was up and gone, wading into the water with Starfire.

The day caught up to him, he resumed to play it off and engaged with his other teammates even if they eyed him strangely and gestured to each other behind his and Raven's back.

He catalogued endless moments of brushing bare skin against Raven's, shamelessly seeking her out. Wrangling her into a game of chicken and losing on purpose just to pull her up, out of the water and close. The flimsy ties of her top staying ridiculously stable to cover her to his dismay and relief (there were other people there after all, who knows if her 'date' from the other day was around.)

He thought they made some ground that day. He was wrong. When they got back and he attempted to make amends yet again, she avoided him once more.

He spent that night, fisting his cock, sweating and gasping out her name in the dark of his room.

The morning after his one man romp and day six, he couldn't stop staring at her. She opted for a cinnamon roll that Vic had baked the morning before, pulling it apart with nimble fingers and opening those pouty lips to eat each bite. He could feel himself mouthing each bite with her, his coffee growing cold.

He hissed when she moaned over the flavor. He glared when she caught his gaze and licked icing off of each individual finger.

He left breakfast early that morning to get a fasted cardio in. Who would sit through that torture?

After seven whole days, it had been a week since he had come back. He was deliberately trying to corner her. But it seemed like there was always some kind of barrier to success.

He was so desperate for her to even make eye contact. Richard was constantly tilting his head this way or that, weaving through things just to get one glance, an acknowledgment that she even knew he was there. He was constantly invading her personal space just to feel the barest hum of her against him. His skin felt antsy, raw at the edges and worn thin. She kept maneuvering them just out of reach of each other and his hands ached to close the distances. The woman could phase through anything, so that was a large deterrent.

Richard was at a complete and total loss.

He was practically starved of all the essentials of their relationship. Which was actually the crux of his whole dilemma. What was their relationship? Sure, he called her his girlfriend and damn him if he didn't think it was true.

He scoffed, scratching his pinky across an imaginary line on his desk. He wanted Raven to be his, that was probably always going to be true. He had before, he does now, he could only see that evolving from now.

But-

knockknockknock.

He rolled back from his desk a bit to get up, picking up a shirt off his bed and unraveling it down his midsection, brushing his fingers across his mask just to make sure it was on (you never know).

"Speak of the devil…" he muttered underneath his breath as his doors revealed one Raven 'Rachel' Roth. Clad in her all black, skin tight, kevlar suit of her own. He could never quite figure out why this uniform was so much worse to him than her last. Her last having every inch of her legs exposed and this one covered her from neck to ankle but clung and flexed snuggly against her skin.

When was the last time he'd put his lips on her? Did she miss him at all?

Her arms were crossed underneath her chest, gaze faced away from him. He was instantly irritated. Here he was trying to solve their problems and she was still running away.

"Is there something I can help you with?"

The curtness in which he asked caused her to turn her gaze to him.

Her eyes flashed once and he heard the cup he brought to his room last night explode. He glanced behind to idly take in the damage.

Hm, at least there was nothing in it.

When he looked back towards her, he caught her taking a deep exhale with her eyes closed, her mouthing her mantra. If he was frustrated, she deserved it too.

When her eyes popped open and she had set her mouth into a thin line, the normally full lips pressed together in displeasure.

"I'm leaving tonight."

That caught him off guard, he started to rack his brain for an tangible reason for that kind of extreme.

Her being so in tuned with his emotions, caught his confusion and the rising panic, raised a placating hand in front of him before he could voice his thoughts.

"Remember? The mission with Arsenal," There was something in her tone, underneath the annoyance that somehow he had forgotten that was this week, something like… regret? No. He couldn't place it, couldn't find it, because it was gone so fast.

He felt like an idiot, "Right." He racked his brain for something to say. He didn't want her to go, only agreed because they had been investigating the target for months and verified that they posed a significant threat. Roy's playboy persona and connections put him in a good position to go undercover and Raven was extremely well adapted to covert missions. It made sense and instead of sending two from one team, one from each wasn't handicapping them entirely. Otherwise, he would have offered up to go with her.

Richard had already thought about this logically when he decided to sanction the mission with Bumble Bee. It had been discussed from all angles, they had both teams do meetings over details, Raven and Arsenal had already been debriefed, They had even had team drills without Raven to solidify the chemistry they would need while she was gone. Everything was already set to go, get it over with, he just needed to rip the band-aid off.

He'd miss her, but...

Their duties as heroes came first.

There was always a chance she wouldn't come back. Hell, that he wouldn't be there when she came back. That was the reality of their situation.

Immediately he felt like a child.

The silence was stretching too long for Raven.

She chastised herself for even coming to his door.

Though their relationship was particularly amorous, right up until before he left for Gotham she did not know where they stood now. The way things were left, she figured the whole thing a sham. Humiliated she may be, she still held Richard in high regard. She reasoned (after some time of him being gone) that in the aftermath of such strenuous activities that they often had engaged in, it was common for human males to say things they don't mean.

Hormones and all that.

She was just offended because she didn't think Richard was one of those men. It hurt. She could tell herself that the intimacy they shared even outside the bedroom was a natural inclination for two people who have shared bodies with one another. Such knowledge of another person could only make you closer and with the bond they already shared along with their friendship combined with a mutual respect, Raven dare not mistake what they had for what it could closely resemble.

His thoroughness was one thing she found extremely attractive about him and depended on. So when he wasn't, it sent her whole world off kilter.

He let those words slip when both of their emotions were high.

It was devastating. She had tried to move on but she, of course, forgotten that Richard was spoiled and incredibly selfish when he was in the mood for it. Which was just plain… arousing?

Ugh.

"Do you wanna come in?"

He leaned to the side, giving her enough room to get passed him if she accepted the offer. His demeanor was different than when he first opened the door. He had turned his head down, peeking up at her from underneath his fringe. With the mask on and the tightly reigned control on his emotions that was near constant lately, she couldn't get a read on him.

Going in that room was probably a bad idea. Alone time with handsome Richard Grayson led to disaster.

But, she missed him. Will miss him even more when she spends weeks with Roy on a different coastline? Maybe she was being overdramatic.

Why was this so complicated? She felt a nagging in her head to just go. For once, she followed it. On her way in, she brushed his side, fire exploded in tiny sparks across her skin. She is instantly taken back to the last time they were this close. The beach. With his large calloused hands rubbing her thighs. He was so much bigger than her, that just his hands took ownership of the span of her thigh.

She shivers hard, gasping at the speed that the emotion hit her, making her a little dizzy.

Turning with enough pivot to give most people whiplash, she looked to see that there was barely enough room to point a finger between their chests and the door had already closed behind him, he barred her exit.

She wanted to flee suddenly.

"You wanted to talk, let's talk."

Even though he said it, his words weren't matching the rising tension in the room. He leaned down over her, her eyes fluttered closed when she felt his breath at her cheek. She tilts her head at the angle she knew they fit best. Azar, she wanted him to kiss her so bad.

Instead she felt a thick finger curl the hair behind her ear and he whispered into it in a low voice, "Get comfortable, Rae."

On slightly wobbling legs she managed to take the steps towards his bed, feeling his eyes on her the entire way. She took in his room to calm the beating of her heart. It was still familiar even if she hadn't been in here for weeks. The bright red punching bag, the one rolling chair in front of the computer, the clippings that belonged in the evidence room no doubt, the bird-a-rang marks carved into a few of those clippings, the mirror that substituted one wall and and the large window the made up the last wall. Being in this wing and this side of the tower gave Richard the best view of the city.

She loved this view, it was second only to the roof. She walked to the window, looking over the sparkling ocean and the city line. Absent mindedly she flicked a glowing wrist to the broken cup she shattered earlier. Gathering the pieces and putting them in the waste bin.

He chuckled, she could feel the genuine amusement in his aura, "Thank you."

She allowed herself a soft smile, "Hm."

She crosses her arms behind her back, determined to continue to look outwards and not at him.

She heard him sigh, "Raven… really. Let's talk. You can't leave us like this."

"Why not?"

"Because-"

"Your male ego won't allow you to let me go with Roy until it's satisfied? I can't keep-"

"It has never been about anyone else."

"Well then, what was with you a week ago?"

"Believe me, I'm trying hard to keep up with you. I mean, I come back to whatever the hell that was."

She tensed, "What else do you want me to do?"

"Not that. Not avoid me.

"Every morning I still meet you for coffee, I stay, we have team meetings, team gatherings- I am always there, team workouts, I-"

"You're there, I know. You think I don't know where you are every second of everyday? You know what I meant Raven. Quality time. The thing that people who care about each other spend together. If there's some meditation technique that replaces that then you should teach me, and soon."

She inwardly seethed because he was right, she felt the effects too, was at her wits end trying to ignore them, which led her to his room.

She turned around to face him finally.

"What about-"

"I meant what I said."

"But you-"

"Rae, I meant it."

She can feel her heart pounding in the silence, hear it in her ears.

"Raven, I-"

"Let's talk about something else."

He frowns, "But I thought you wanted to talk."

"When I get back. We'll talk then. Right now I just want to spend time with you."

He looks at her skeptically for a few moments before relaxing his shoulders and sighing, leaning back on his elbows with a resigned air.

"Can you at least come here?"

She obliges and sits on the bed with a good amount of distance between them, crossing her legs at the ankle and looking at the mirror in front of them, looking at them. She can see and feel him looking at her, his curiosity coloring the room, prodding at her.

He sits up, a smirk on his face that alarms her immediately. She quirks a brow at him.

"What?"

"Just wondering why you're way over there. Didn't we just make up, sorta?"

She rolls her eyes at him, smirking back, "Sorta."

"Then get over here." There's something in his lazy baritone tone that catches the attention of the heat in her blood. She looks into his masked eyes, weighing her options. They made up, sorta, but she didn't know if she wanted more than this right now. It had been a long week.

He pats the space next to him as though to entice her. She scoots over until can feel the warmth of his solid thigh against her own, all the while looking in each other's eyes. The smirks have slipped off and so has his empathic guard, she feels hungry and she can't figure out if it's her own appetite or his but probably both. She licks her lips that have suddenly gone dry on her.

Her eyes suddenly feel heavy and her brain goes fuzzy for a second, she's fights it just to see if she can, "We shouldn't-"

"Not even if you beg me, I just want a kiss. Is that acceptable? Maybe even a few?" He's looking at her just as drunkenly as she feels. The bright white of his teeth pressing into his bottom lip. Glances dipping to her body, she can feel his eyes like a physical thing.

She nods because her tongue feels thick in her mouth, aching for the press of his now that it's being offered so nicely. She swallows and his eyes track the movement of her throat before leaning in to press slow, warm, dry kisses along the line of her neck, right about the uniform.

She whimpers like a fucking kitten.

"So responsive," he murmurs between presses of his lips, a puff of his breath hitting her ear. Her head falls back a little and her back arches from the sensations of arousal as he plays with her sensitivity.

He's not even touching her. She can hear the parting of his mouth before she feels his hot tongue on the outer lobe of her ear, at her shudder he exhales loudly, moving fast to lace one hand on the opposite side of her head into her hair and tug. Baring her neck to him, he sucks at her pulse.

He's sure to leave a mark.

She's sure that she won't heal it anytime soon.

One more chapter! Man, this one took forever to finish and I still don't like it entirely. I started this MONTHS ago and just now finished it and only started to think it was okay to post in the last hour of writing. You tell me how it came out. Unedited but I've read the first part of this over and over for MONTHS, like I said before. No school so I'm a little less busy, will have the next chapter of Diabolical Mark up soon since it's been in the same situation as this story.