Birds of a Feather

9

When I woke up, I could feel a heavy weight on my midsection. I looked down and saw Richard's arm wrapped around my waist. I smiled at the thought and slowly rolled over to see him still peacefully asleep. It was strange seeing his unmasked face in the daylight; I knew he was handsome, but I could tell now why Richard Grayson was Gotham's heartthrob. I walked to the common room to start my daily routine which started with a cup of herbal tea.

It startled me to see someone else in my kitchen, especially the metal man with his old 'kiss the chef' apron on. He smirked at me and turned so I could see that he was making waffles. "So. Did the birds have a nice little sleep over?" he asked putting the first finished waffle on a plate. I almost dropped the teacup in my hand out of shock. "What?" I asked. He laughed and handed me the plate which I took cautiously. "Rae his room is next to mine and I went to bed before him. I never heard his door open once, but yours opened twice." He gave me a knowing look.

I looked down at the tea kettle in embarrassment hoping to hide my blush. "It was just one night. I was still scared." I said. "Wow. I never thought I'd hear the mighty Raven admit to fear." He laughed nudging my arm and earning a glare from me. He turned to me after putting more batter into the waffle iron. I could feel his mood shift from playful to serious.

"Seriously though Raven. You gotta know I'm gonna play older brother. His reputation with girls isn't a great one and I'd rather tear him a new one than watch him hurt you." He said pointing a fork at me. I moved the fork aside with my finger and then turned my focus back on the tea which was now ready. "What reputation is that exactly?" I asked. I hadn't heard anything about his so-called reputation with women. Not that I really believed that all of my teenage fantasies would come true after one sleepover.

Cyborg shook his head. "Well to put it lightly he's an asshole when it comes to women." He said. I choked a little on the bite of waffle I was eating. I looked at him expecting him to be joking but found his face to be serious again. "I'm not kidding. You know how things ended with Star. When we all left, and he ended up in Gotham he found a new assortment of girls. Batgirl being his main fling. But there were plenty of random girls from bars who just couldn't wait to get ahold of Richard Grayson." I looked up at him with wide eyes. I thought I was the only one who had figured out Nightwing's identity but apparently, I wasn't the first. "How do you know this?" I asked. I tried to sound like the idea of Richard being a player wasn't bothering me and I didn't want it to bother me, but for some reason it struck a bad nerve. "Batman vents all the time." He smiled and continued to pile waffles onto the plate.

"Besides. It was a one-time thing. You don't need to worry." I said. He smiled and I could tell he knew that the idea bothered me, so he decided to drop it. "If that's what you say Rae."

"What's she saying?" I heard a deep voice say from the doorway. I turned to see Nightwing in full costume looking at us with the cocky smile he was so famous for. I looked to Cyborg for help.
"Just saying how wonderful my cooking was and how much she misses me." He smirked and threw a waffle at Nightwing who caught it with ease and took a bite.

"Well she's not wrong Cy. It's been too long since I've had your cooking." he said walking over and taking a seat next to me. I didn't want to, but I tapped into the bond and looked for any emotions or thoughts about last night but all I could pick up on was happiness which was strange as that had never been one of Nightwing's primary emotions.

When Beast Boy and Starfire had come into the room and finished their breakfast, I could feel the anxiety creep up on not only my mind but Nightwing's. "So, what do we do about the Joker?" I asked so that Nightwing wouldn't have to. Everyone looked my way and seemed to enter a deep state of thought. "Well, we know you don't really want to relieve it. But do you want to tell us what happened?" Cyborg asked. I looked down and fiddled with the strings of my pajama shorts. I didn't want to reveal Nightwing's biggest fear to everyone as it wasn't my place to tell, but I had to tell my team why he was here.