Just because this idea caught my attention, I wanted to write smut and it doesn't fit into the Diabolical Mark at all. This little ficlet is in no way hindering me from working on Diabolical Mark, it's actually helping me de-clutter my brain a bit. I've been really sick for three days, so this has been easier to write than that. Be patient with me. Got some good stuff coming for that. I should think of a cute shorthand for my larger work.

So there. This is a two or three shot.

Language, sexual situations and what not.

Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Titans, nor do I profit from this work of fiction.

Bruce needed him in Gotham, so he went. There were typical reactions from all his teams and typical 'see you laters' and he didn't give much thought to leaving and he figured it would all be waiting for him when he got back. One person in particular.

It always was. It wasn't like this was his first time leaving the tower for an extended amount of time nor was he the only one to leave every few months. They all had something outside the Titans for the most part. His 'outside' was Gotham with Alfred, Bruce, Tim, Damian and even Jason if he was particularly lucky. It was always for work. Though, he always made plans to see Barbara outside of uniform, because well- he liked to test his luck and she was a very close friend of his in the same line of business.

He was only gone for three weeks and then factor in the three days it took for him to drive from Gotham all the way back to Jump, three weeks and three days. Those three days were impressive for any humane person. Added all up, that's 24 days, 576 hours, 34,560 minutes and 2,073,600 seconds.

Although he missed the familiar territory of Gotham and all the people dear to him there when he went away, he had a special sort of affection for the team that is so much more thrilling. Probably because here he didn't have to wear a suit and tie at least once a week for some dinner party that Bruce was hosting just to investigate people. Here he wasn't Bruce Wayne's ward or the Boy Wonder even though he donned a new name and outfit. Here, he became a man. Nightwing.

Here it is warm bone-crushing hugs or back slaps, good natured ribbing and despicable pudding. It was a circus, he always had mostly fond memories of those before and it was just his luck that he found another. Nothing would ever replace the original but he was glad that he could always have places to call home. It was what drove him to push a normally seven to ten day trip past being comfortable into a three day trip.

On top of the fact that he was never sure what state the tower would be in when he got back. It could be on fire because Cyborg stepped out for parts and Raven just didn't care enough to stop it from happening. They could all be parading around in his costume as they were wont to do. He considered just making them their own one day but he cringed at how that conversation with Bruce would go.

To sum up this whole internal monologue, he was tired but he was eager to see his friends. So eager, in fact that he called when he started his trip to say he was on the way back, and even more so when he GPS'd that he was only five hours away and he called again.

He was a mathlete, he did the calculations. So, he was a little thrown off when he got back midday, exhausted but happy to see his team, really, what had become his family.

When he had parked the car (he didn't take his cycle) and slung his pack over his shoulders he thought it would be the last time he left the T Tower until a bad guy showed up, so hopefully until tomorrow night. He fully intended to enjoy being back contrary to his younger years where he would make a stop to the evidence room and demand to be briefed. It would be there tomorrow and if it was anything immediate he trusted his team to tell him upon seeing him or calling ahead.

So, he entered the tower, smile prepared and bracing himself for the appropriate chorus of noise that would signal a typical return of a Titan back home and-

He wasn't disappointed.

After having his body pressed uncomfortably by Kory's hug, ending with her flying away to get a pudding of 'safe returns' or something equally as gross, Vic clapping his back one solid time, and Gar clapping just his shoulder with considerably less strength, he smiled in contentment as they herded him to a seat at the counter, everyone talking at once.

"So, how was the Bats?"

"Friend, you have pet bats?"

"No Star, Batman."

"I have been wondering. Why does he call himself so? Is it the symbol of a warrior on Earth? It seems a high praise to be deemed one of a bat clan..."

The noise of the room phased out for him. There was a Titan missing, his grin slipped off his face becoming confused.

"Where's Raven?" He ignored all previous inquiries, putting down a forkful of Starfire's pudding. The fact that it can be fork'd made the name 'pudding' ultra questionable. Should pudding be eaten with a fork?

No matter. Everyone had ceased to talk at his question, looking between the three of them with eyes full of things he needed to know but no one was saying.

His breath got stuck in his throat at the implications and his heart rate started beating so hard he felt his hands shake. He cleared the growing tightness in his throat and put on his infamous glare of authority.

"Is everything ok-"

"She is fine, we are fine. She is not in any danger. Our friend has her communicator on her person. She has just not made it home yet." Starfire was quick to placate him, waving her hands, guessing the direction of his thoughts.

His shoulder's relaxed and he let out the rest of the breath he was holding, relieved. Still, he furrowed his brow, "Then where is she? It's-" He checked the watch on his wrist "-nine o'clock at night on a Tuesday." He ticked off in his head things she could be doing but he knew the place she went to listen to spoken word was on Monday's and she usually did tea time earlier or later than this and was back by now, bookstores were closed, at least the ones she liked, Raven doesn't do clubbing… Where could she be?

He said the last thought out loud, zoning back in on his oddly silent teammates, catching the shifty glances they were giving each other once again communicating between each other but not to him. In retrospect, he may have let it go and just waited for her if they weren't so suspicious.

He narrowed his eyes behind his sunglasses,"So?"

"Well-"

"Friend Raven-"

"She went on a date, bro."

He was sure his eyes were saucers by now.

"She's where?"

Victor thought he'd be the responsible party and break it fully to the shocked bird, "They met at that coffee shop she likes a little over two weeks ago, been spending time together on our slower days. I haven't met the guy, otherwise I would let him know that no one dates baby sis without going through me first." He tilted his head back and puffed his chest at the end.

Richard could barely reign in his irritation. He felt his brow ticking. This is not the reunion he wanted.

He was tired.

He just wanted to enjoy the company of his friends tonight.

And Raven was on a date?

If he wasn't running off of coffee and a scant few hours of sleep, he'd probably re-think what he was thinking of doing. But he was running off coffee and a scant few hours of sleep so, fuck it.

Richard couldn't help but think how many minutes and hours and seconds are in fourteen days and how many of those seconds did she spend with this guy? Some hipster schmuck that saw her sitting alone at a coffee shop and thought he had a chance. Why'd she even say yes?

He got up from his seat abruptly, the three still looking at him like he was a pacing lion. He ran a hand through his hair, and turned to where he dropped his bag on the seat next to him, fishing out the keys to his motorcycle.

"Now wait, you can't just-"

"I'll be back with Raven."

Starfire was already wrapping up the pudding with a pout by the time he was out the door.

He tracked her location using their communicators, something that is probably considered an invasion of privacy when not used during emergencies. He didn't care. The speed he was going and the way he was weaving through traffic, he should be there in five minutes, tops. So, he sped up some more.

Raven wasn't bored. Which was a plus. He was attractive, reasonably intelligent and well mannered. He just paled in comparison to living in a world of superheroes. Very unfortunate.

Still, he was good company. She could not say the same for herself because even with her control over her emotions she was sighing involuntarily every time the conversation died down. So, maybe that constitutes as bored. She checked the time on her cell phone.

9:30

She would've sighed again but the breath was caught in her throat because the caller ID for 'Boy Blunder' popped up and her phone was vibrating on the table they were seated at. She hesitated, looking around for her date to see if he was coming back from the bathroom soon and figured she'd be off the phone before then.

They came to a bar, it wasn't crowded, there was a band playing music she liked and the lighting was subdued and painted the shadows in reds and purples. She appreciated the atmosphere but still got up from the table to get to a quieter spot which happened to be the lobby of the bar, near the entrance. She leaned against the wall, closing the door behind her, feeling the thrumming of the music on her back.

"Richard? Is everything alright?"

There was silence but she could hear him blow a long breath into the receiver

"Hey, I'm gonna need you to come outside."

She frowned, "Why?" Sometimes Dick was so exasperating.

"Just, trust me." She could hear the eyeroll in his voice.

"I will if you tell me what's going on."

His voice turned hard and she felt a sharp stab of electricity at the commanding tone he used, "Rae. So help me, if you don't come outside right now…" He was so spoiled, so used to getting what he wanted.

"Richard, so help me. You called me on my cell phone so it must not be an emergency and I'm not fond of your games. I'm half-tempted to hang-up right now."

The door she came from opened to her date, the music streaming in and shutting out at his entrance into the scene.

"Oh man, I thought you left! I'm glad you stuck around," and then his eyes caught the phone pressed to her ear, "everything okay?"

"Yeah, just Titan stuff," she tried to lighten her tone, shrugged, and give him a smile that she wasn't sure was all that convincing but he seemed to buy it. He nodded in acknowledgment laughing a little.

"You want me to wait inside?" How considerate.

"No actually, I'll follow you in. I'm hanging up now." She heard a growled 'dammit' right before she disconnected the call and turned her full attention to the other guy.

"Actually, now that I have you alone and we can hear each other, I kinda wanted to ask you something, but first..." He looked down at his expensive designer shoes sheepishly, she could make out the flush along the bridge of his nose and throat, splotching his whole face in a hodge podge of red and pale alabaster. Huh, so he wasn't an endearing blusher. Her stomach dropped at his implication.

As if he heard her last thought, he was shuffling to close the space between them until she had to lean back her head to see his face and he was arching over her. All her panic lights in her brain were on but she couldn't move, she could feel him bumbling over his own nervousness, it made his sweat smell sour and his scent was now surrounding her. She needed him away from her like, two whole minutes ago.

She could feel his breath on her cheek when she heard a throat being cleared. She turned her head to see, "Nightwing." She rolled her eyes even if her heart fluttered from seeing him after three whole weeks and three days. He didn't deserve her flattery so she crossed her arms and raised a brow at him.

He stood there, arms crossed just as tightly across his chest. "Raven, you're needed back at the tower."

She frowned at him, "I doubt it's an emergency."

His brow pivoted downwards, disrupting the lines of his forehead. Before he could respond though, the intruder spoke.

"Uhm, Nightwing?" Her date said uncertainly, looking between the two Titans, "I don't want to interrupt anything but if it's no big deal - Raven and I are on a date that I'd like to get back to." Seeing the heavy glower in his direction shot to him from Nightwing, he gulped, looking to Raven who still looked defiant.

Great, now it became a pissing contest. She saw Richard clench his fist and could see the tick in his jaw. She was briefly distracted by his mouth, pinning one of her own lips between her teeth.

He was staring at that lip, she could feel the weight of his gaze, spied the loosening of his jaw as it pulled into a smirk. He relaxed his shoulders and chuckled, scrubbing a fist on the underside of his jaw.

"Well, you're talking to her boyfriend, so I'm gonna have a problem with that."

She was pretty sure her face was ablaze, and her companion looked like a fish blowing bubbles.

"We're not-"

"She never said she had-"

Richard gave an even wider grin to the other male, walking over to grip his shoulder hard, under the guise of nonchalance.

"No sweat man, though you are sweating a bit" he peered around the man's face, he was a little shorter than him and blonde? Who knew Raven liked blondes? "We had a little disagreement and I left right after so it might be a little confusing but I'm gonna clear that up soon."

The guy had the nerve to try to stutter something out, being overwhelmed by Richard's person.

"You can understand that, right Bud?" Richard turned his eyes towards Raven, catching her eyes and lowering his tone a few octaves, still talking to the random but mostly her, "Why would any guy wanna mess it up with a woman like her?" He raked his eyes from head to toe and she could feel with an unnatural awareness the heat he had left behind with his gaze. "I don't intend to."

Whoever he was took a few uneven steps backwards, with his hands raised in front of him, muttering apologies and high pitched laughs until his back hit the entrance to the bar.

His face cleared in relief as he saw his opportunity to exit and he fumbled with the handle before shooting Raven a quick look and turning tail back into the sanctity of the bar.

The door closing behind him was the only sound as Raven shifted in front of Richard uneasily, her arms still crossed tightly in front of her chest and looking away from his blue and black clad figure in pure stubbornness. She could still feel his gaze like a physical thing on her.

He sighed, "A date, Rae? Really?"

She snorted and rolled her eyes.

"If you roll your eyes any harder they'll roll out of your head,"

She really wanted to throttle him sometimes.

"Come on, Rae,"

She could hear his pout, refused to give him the attention he was seeking, he didn't deserve it, hadn't earned it and-

"Let's just go," she hissed, finally turning her narrowed gaze to him. She could see his jaw clench and unclench, could feel his agitation towards her behavior and she chose not to care. Instead, she took the initiative to walk ahead.

Richard didn't fail to notice the swaying hips and almost choked on his own spit,

"Backless? Christ! What were you thinking?"

All that smooth ivory skin on display, the teeny waist that cinched in and exaggerated the curve of hips, even the two identical divots on her low back, big enough to fit his thumbs in just right there. He bit back a groan. She was killing him tonight.

Raven paused to throw another withering glare over her shoulder, her mostly bare shoulder, "I was thinking, I would enjoy the evening with a compatible male. Discuss our interests and maybe develop a relationship," her gaze grew coy, "an intimate one, perhaps."

Richard knew she was baiting him but the anger roiled through his body so fast it ate up any other coherent thoughts. In two strides he was tugging her back towards him, her back pressed to his front. The planes and angles of their bodies molded together and he felt the same shiver that struck like lightening in his own body, respond in hers.

He was practically growling, "Do you expect me to believe you thought he could fuck you right?" She gasped, his gloved hand slipped from her waist to grip a thigh, rolling his hips into the soft flesh of her ass. His other hand tangling in her hair to pull it lightly, pressing soft kisses to her throat.

"Does he know what I know? That you like that pretty little ass of yours spanked." He bit the crook of her neck, she mewled and arched her back, bumping back into his thrusts. "How about that only a day before I left, I left marks all over you. Your neck, your chest, right underneath your left breast, the inside of both those thighs," his hand flexed on her thigh in response to the memory.

She leaned her head back on his shoulder, her pulse hammering underneath her skin, pupils blooming, "I'll be damned if he knows how sweet you are, how hot you really run. But I know you better than that. You had no intention of letting him get anywhere close. You were bored."

He feels her surprise flicker at his acknowledgement, her guard so down when she's like this with him that the bond swells and he can pick up her half easier. Good, he wanted her nice and malleable. The surprise seems to knock her back into her awareness, her eyes flickering before re-narrowing on his face. Her lips press into a thin line before she's flinging his hands off her and moving away, continuing her path out the doorway, the fresh night air filtering into the enclosed space.

He follows after her, letting out a long breath.

The ride back is silent. The roar of his bike underneath him, Raven's hands wrapped around his waist and the presence of their bond imposing on them both. He's glad he didn't have to convince her to get on. It means she missed him, he hopes. Most likely it's because she missed the bike rides.

He can feel her closing him out and the undercurrent of exhilaration that came with riding on his bike. He smirked despite the tension and couldn't stop himself from speeding up a little and making a particularly dramatic turn. The exhilaration spiked a bit and his ego grew.

He knew they'd need to talk. But tonight he needed her around him, in the same bed, tangled in the sheets, her hair pooling on his pillow case. Better yet, her on top, so he could just watch her take herself to her end. He loved that.

He gripped the handle bars, pulling into the underpass that would take him to the tower.

Opening the garage after identifying them both, Richard parked the bike and swung off, removing the helmet and looking towards Raven only for her to walk past him, brushing shoulders. His back hunched in resignation, so this is how she wanted to play it. He followed her, hot on her heels to the elevator.

"Rae…" The numbers blinked steadily as they went upwards.

She cut a glance at him like glass, "Don't 'Rae' me,"

He huffed.

She sniffed.

The door opened up to the living room area.

He steeled his spine, "I'm sorry. I was an ass tonight and before I left. Mostly about before I left. Tonight I just, well. You get it." Raven was impressed that he had the decency to look sincere, if a little irritated. She mulled over his half baked apology.

"No, I don't 'get it'. Elaborate Richard."

It was quiet for awhile while they sized each other up. The living room was evacuated. All the residents of the tower knew that an argument was brewing between the two birds upon their arrival, so they made themselves scarce. They didn't argue often, but when they did, no one wanted to be around.

"What can you possibly not understand Raven? You're smart. You know what I'm saying. I said sorry."

She cocked a hip out and crossed her arms across her chest.

"Are we not going to talk about before you left?"

He sighed for maybe the millionth time that night, exhaustion catching up with him, "What's to talk about?"

Her brow dove down, eyes squinting, the amethyst catching fire as it caught a stray beam of light. It was all at once before it was gone without a trace, her usually impassive expression returning to her face. She shook her head a few times. He could have sworn that he heard the cabinets rattling before they stopped abruptly.

"Right. You're right. There's nothing to talk about. Goodnight." Her arm unraveled from around her chest and she sauntered with clenched fists passed him, heels clicking all the way.

Richard was once again met with the sight of her bare back, dimples winding with the movement of her hips.

Away from him.

Most likely not in the direction of his bedroom.

He most definitely was not invited into hers.

Pick your battles, Richard.

His body sagged.

Welcome Home.

He spun his finger in a twirling motion twice as the door closed behind Raven and he made his way towards the same doors, only a different turn.

Once he got to his room and face planted into his bed, he groaned. His body sinking into the mattress and his eyes falling shut into a comforting darkness.

Tomorrow. He'd have a proper reunion with Raven tomorrow.

Yeah, so this may have one or two more parts, depending on the final word count and how it all reads. A short little project to add to the RobRae fics. As always, I love feedback and I try to respond to everyone, it really helps with my writing to be able to discuss the literature and the subject matter to really flesh out ideas.

I love jealous Richard. I love sassy Raven. Love love love.