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It started with an accidental brush. Then again, it seemed like a lot of their little adventures together had.
“You could do well to not have to crawl over me to reach that,” Raven muttered, as he extended his upper body across her waist to grab his communicator from the nightstand. The two birds laid in his bed once more, “just chilling”, as Robin would call it.
“Maybe you picked the wrong side of the bed.”
“Maybe you need to design your room layout better.”
“I didn’t design it with two people in mind,” he retorted. He flipped open his communicator to find that the notification was from Beast Boy. DUDES! It read. TONIGHT’S THE PREMIERE! I GOT ADVANCE TICKETS TO SEE ZOMBIE WARFARE 16 AND YOU BETTER BELIEVE WE’RE ALL GOING!
“No,” Raven said simply. He glanced at her.
“You don’t even know who just texted or what they said.”
“I also got the notification, meaning it’s in the group chat. And the only one who ever spams the chat consistently is that hairball. And the only thing he ever says in it is about new video games and cheaply made action movies for kids half his age,” she listed off, not looking up. “Thus, no.”
“Suit yourself. I don’t mind going just to get a laugh out of how bad those movies are. So I won’t be holding him back.”
“Thanks for your support,” she deadpanned. Robin decided to be annoying and make a scene out of putting his communicator back, slowly extending his body over hers to reach out and put the device on the stand. She glanced up, raising an eyebrow. Suddenly, he extended too far and his hand slipped off the nightstand, sending the rest of his body out of balance. His hand, still open, grazed her side with a few of his fingers applying light pressure, causing her to suddenly drop her book and fold up, with an accompanying sharp gasp. Sheepishly, the Boy Wonder quickly picked himself off her and returned to his semi-sitting up position.
“Sorry,” he apologized. She glared at him with a hint of annoyance. “What was that, by the way? Did I hurt you somewhere?”
“I’m okay,” she told him. “You really do live up to your nickname.” She went back to reading and Robin slowly glanced over her body. Only her head and shoulders were up, resting on the pillow, while the rest of her body lay lazily on the mattress. He stuck three fingers out with his right hand and quickly ran them over her side, in a scratching-like motion. The empath immediately recoiled, dropping her book and turning away from him instinctively.
“Rae.” He smiled at her devilishly. “Are you ticklish?”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” she scoffed. They stared at each other for a few seconds, before he slowly raised his hand again. She reflexively reached out and grabbed his wrist, glaring at him again.
“So you are.”
“I said, don’t be ridiculous.”
“Is that so?” His left hand struck with lightning-quick speed and lightly jabbed her side again. Raven inhaled sharply, letting go of his other hand as she reacted. The Boy Wonder turned more towards her, both his hands now doing dances on her sides. Raven yelped and squirmed, shutting her eyes and momentarily losing track of where she was. Her hands flailed uselessly in the air, trying hopelessly to reach his arms. Robin moved his fingers over to her stomach, and watched with great amusement as her legs began to kick in the air as well. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity for her, he stopped. She opened her eyes, now dotted with tears she was unsure when they had appeared, and turned to look at him again.
Again! Again! Happy exclaimed in her mind, chortling.
“Are you still going to pretend like you aren’t?” he asked smugly.
“Don’t,” she threatened. “Don’t do it again.”
“I’ll stop. Once you admit it.”
“Don’t. Final warning.”
“Well, alright…” his voice trailed off. She looked at him suspiciously, before slowly turning to the other side to retrieve her book…
And that was a poor decision. She felt something brush along her spine and jumped again, letting out a loud groan as she did so. Smirking, Robin quickly brushed her other side again, causing her to flip back towards him. Writhing on the bed, she was helpless as Robin explored her torso region, seeing which parts he could brush or apply light pressure to to set her off. As it turned out, it was basically everywhere. He went on for another minute, chuckling that she still hadn’t gotten used to the sensation yet. Finally, he decided to cap his evil by squishing both her sides at once. The empath let out a demonic-like shriek and he heard a light explode in his room.
“Ay yo! What the hell are y’all doing in there?!” Cyborg’s voice came through his door a bit muffled. “You better not be doing what I think you’re doing, Robin!”
“No worries, Cyborg!” he called back. Getting up, he strode over to the door and opened up. “See? Nothing to worry about.” Cyborg raised an eyebrow and peered over him, trying to get a glance of Raven. She lay motionless on the bed, but he decided they probably were just fooling around, not “fooling around”. “Trust me on this one,” the Boy Wonder reassured him. Cyborg nodded and left, and Robin slid the door shut behind him.
“Still not going to admit it?” he prodded as he turned to face his lover. She stared at him with an expression of rage, finally getting up from the bed. Walking over, she raised a hand and pinched his cheek, holding her fingers there. “Ow, ow, ow!” he exclaimed.
“What…did I tell you?” She seethed, finally letting go after 10 seconds.
“You enjoyed it.”
“Fine, fine, fine. I am ticklish. Are you happy?”
“I’m glad you admitted it. But did you enjoy it?”
“No. I hate you.”
“I love you.”
“I hate you.”
“I love you more.” He had to stifle his laughter, the icy gaze of Raven piercing into him all the while. “No more, I promise.”
“You’d better keep that promise, Richard.”
“If you really hated it, you had every opportunity to stop me,” he pointed out, playing his trump card. “You didn’t have to stop my hands with just your hands.” She fell silent, still raging at him.
“I will send you to another dimension if you lay a finger on me like that again.” With that, she opened a portal back to her room. He was still laughing at her empty threats as she left.