A/N

Hey, friends, welcome to my first Teen Titans story!

Love, love, love the show, but it has been a bit of time since I last watched it. Still, you don't quite forget the characters - buuut, my memory may be foggy. I tried my best to keep everyone in character, but I am extremely open to suggestions, criticisms, what have you.

I hope you guys enjoy it!

Please be a darlin' and drop a review on your way out!

O1. On a Whim

"Van Gogh was impulsive."

Joni Mitchell

Red-X watched Raven from a distance. She had landed haphazardly onto a rooftop, about three buildings away from his own. Her legs gave out after the first step; she stumbled toward the edge of the roof, leaning against cement. It looked like she had been in one hell of a battle, he thought to himself. He could see holes in her cape, which only meant her body was banged up as well. He wondered if — ah, yup — Raven pushed herself off the building, her powers holding her in the air for only a few seconds before giving way. He watched her hand reach out futilely to the ledge before disappearing into shadows. There was a bang and clang of bins and body; he winced at the noise. How far down was that? A three story drop?

Was she dead?

Well, it really wasn't any of his concern.

And in all honesty, it was probably a lot harder to kill a Titan than just a fall. They were like roaches. There were also rumors circulating underground that she was a demon as well, and according to all of the fantasy games he played, they didn't die from drops like that.

Red stood up and stretched out his aching limbs. It had been quite a few weeks since his last heist; his entire body was begging for a little exercise, which was why he had left the iron-grip of Netflix to go rob the blue jewel that everyone had been clamoring about in his apartment complex. It had been an easy steal. Red had broken into bathrooms with more security than what that jewelry store had — a few camera tweaking, some motion sensors, some fancy-looking doohickey that triggered with weight. Fifteen minutes tops, and only because he got a foot cramp and had to massage it out for five minutes.

And then, on the way back, he had seen her fluttering around, a bird with broken wings. He had followed her for a block on the rooftops; she hadn't noticed him.

It had been interesting to watch. From the few times he had fought with her (and the many times he had accidentally stumbled onto a Titan fight on his way home), she had always seemed so powerful and in control. He had thought it was near impossible to reduce her to such a state, but then that only meant that whoever or whatever she had been fighting had been extremely powerful.

Speaking of, where was the rest of her annoying crew?

Red paused and looked around, searching the cloudy night skies for a sign of Boy Blunder and his rag-tag misfit team of heroes. He didn't see anyone on the roofs, nor was there any red-headed alien in the sky. Except for the buzzing of the crickets and the occasional cat yowl, it was silent. He didn't even hear Raven stir from where she had fallen in the alley, probably on some dumpers or trashcans. He cracked his neck. It wasn't any of his concern —

— But he teleported onto her rooftop anyways and peered over the edge.

She was sprawled on the ground, having slammed into two trashcan bins and heavily dented them, but she was still breathing. He jumped off and teleported midair to land above her, his feet on either side of her body.

"Hm."

To leave her or not to leave her.

"That is the question," he murmured.

"What is the question, X?"

He didn't turn around at the voice, having already identified the man from his foul stench.

"Evening, Golem," he said. Red bent over and pulled a banana peel out of her hair, throwing it over his shoulder. He heard it land some feet away, and then a sickening slurp.

"Delicious, hehe!"

"Don't quite have time for you right now."

"I'm hurt, X." Golem feigned crying with too much effort. "Even though I came all the way out here to find you. I've got some new information for you, X, a juicy bit that you'll — who's that?"

Red withheld an annoyed sigh. It was dark and they were feet away from each other, but it was still difficult to hide the fact that there was a body in the middle of the alleyway. Not only that, but Golem had a weird sense of smell, able to sniff out whether or not a woman was menstruating (a fact that Golem had once bragged to Red, though it had definitely been too much information); it wouldn't be hard for him to smell another presence.

He hoped that her Titan identity would stay secret; it'd be difficult if Golem ran around with his big mouth. Red made sure he stood in the other man's sight, blocking any attempt at a curious scrutinizing.

"What are you going to do with her?" Golem's raspy voice sounded too interested in the topic, not in the curiously innocent way, either; it was almost as if he had plans of his own depending on Red's answer.

"What's the new intel?" Red had decided to ignore the question, mainly because he wasn't quite sure himself what he was going to do with the Titan, but automatically, as if his limbs had already decided without consulting his brain, he reached out to scoop her in his arms, careful not to move anything too roughly. She smelled of blood and trash, not the best up-close impression he had wanted of her.

"X," Golem sang, "what are you going to do with her?"

When she was in full in his arms and off the ground, he glanced at Golem, making sure that his back was still to him. The streetlamp casted an eerie glow against Golem's small, hunched over figure. His eyes looked more yellow than usual, and maybe that was because Red had been binge-watching Supernatural for the past three days; whatever the reason, it only added to the sense of unease, and he found himself tensing, ready to bolt or fight. Red had never known Golem to be a fighter, only a rat that smelled out information, but it wouldn't be wrong to assume that everyone had an alter ego.

He wasn't too keen on sticking around to find out Golem's, especially with the way his crooked teeth was spread against his smile.

"Whatever I want, Golem," Red replied, cutting it short. "I'll find you later, for that intel."

Golem waved his fingers good bye as Red steadied himself to teleport; the smile never left his face. Red frowned, not quite liking what his sixth sense was telling him. Golem had always been eccentric, but that right there was downright creepy. It was times like these that Red was thankful to do business miles away from his home.

Teleporting away had been hard, considering the suit wasn't meant to transport more than one person. It fizzed out often, only taking them some feet ahead, forcing Red to play it safe through the streets. Sometimes his luck picked up and the suit teleported them blocks away, and other times it would sting him as if reprimanding him for asking so much. It took thirty minutes to get back to his neighborhood, and an extra ten minutes to even get into his apartment.

Red genuinely felt bad that it was taking so long, feeling as though he was contributing to her injuries if not making more, but in all of the struggles of getting home, she had not once shifted awake.

When he had finally set her down on his bed, the possible consequences of his actions finally began to settle into his mind.

Why had he saved her?

Why had he brought her back to his place?

"Well, I mean, I could always move…" he mumbled to himself in reply. "The fucking neighbors have been getting on my last nerve."

Who could have so much sex so often? And his dick hadn't fallen off yet? Never mind the fact that Red was a little bit jealous, but still, they were questions that needed answers.

Shaking his head free of all of the extra thoughts, Red stared at the girl — no, the half-demon Titan — lying in his bed and tried to pull together plans B, C, D, E, and F, and only being able to figure out portions and pieces that didn't really make any sense.

Honestly, he could move, he didn't care too much for this apartment. Looking around the room, he didn't see anything that would reveal his identity: no incriminating photos, no checkbooks, no ID's sitting around — oh, shit, there was his wallet on the ground right next to the bed. Huh, maybe this wasn't the best idea.

Red rubbed the back of his neck, suddenly feeling very aware of the mask on his face and how he wouldn't be able to take it off today. And was he supposed to patch her up? His mind buzzed with questions and confusions and sudden regrets.

There you go again, Red, he thought to himself, doing things on a whim. When are you gonna learn?

She was bleeding on his bed. His favorite blanket. And by god she reeked.

Goddammit. He didn't like to half-ass things. While still rubbing the back of his neck and still wondering what excitingly stupid choice he was going to make next, Red left the room to go fumble through the bathroom cabinet.

When he managed to locate the three first-aid kits he had, he brought them to his room and set them on the floor. Opening them, he looked around for the disinfectant, and then the thought suddenly struck him that he wouldn't know what to do about her broken bones. Well, first things first.

Sitting up on his knees, he checked the Titan on the bed. Tentatively, Red reached out and gently grabbed her wrist, pausing to stare at her face, waiting for a reaction. Nothing happened. Coma quickly ran through his mind, but that was a worse-case scenario (or was that a best case scenario, because then he wouldn't have to explain anything to anyone and could just drop her off at T-Tower like a stork). He lifted her wrist a little higher, eyes still on her face, and then cautiously checked the budding bruises. So far, nothing looked to be out of place; there was nothing protruding from her skin that shouldn't have been, which seemed to be a good sign. Still, it wasn't as though he was a doctor.

Gently, he raised her arm higher to check the underside, and as he did so, the jewel on her forehead began to emit a white light. It started off small and dull, and then it quickly enveloped her whole body right as he blinked in confusion. Then, with wide eyes, he watched it creep up his arm. Red yelped and jumped backward, letting go of her arm, but it was too late. The light engulfed him in a bright flash; he cringed, closing his eyes against the light, but as soon as it had happened, it disappeared.

The white light was gone. In its place was a dull black glow around Raven's body, which was now floating a few inches above the bed. It was the color of her activated powers; was it protecting her now? This was a good sign, right? Demons probably had some sort of healing abilities — in the games they did, but it wasn't as if he could only rely on gaming lore. How correct could a bunch of nerds really be? Still, it certainly looked to be the case, and he didn't have any other theories at the moment.

Checking his own body, Red saw no adverse effects, much to his relief. He even checked his ears to make sure they didn't turn pointed and his forehead for any horns (though he wouldn't have minded awesome demon powers, but alas).

Red looked to her and then to the disinfectant in his hands, unsure of whether or not to trust his hypothesis. Then again, better safe than sorry, he thought.

Slowly, he reached out and touched her hand. The light didn't extent to him, nor did it reject him; he was still able to touch her, so that was probably a good sign that there wouldn't be any repercussions. Some of the nastier cuts were on her right thigh, he noted. Taking the disinfectant, he poured some on a thick cotton ball and gently dabbed at the wounds on her thigh. It was a little too close to her crotch area. The smarter half of his brain hoped that she didn't wake up; the other half hoped she would to instigate crazy sex, but that was probably because he hadn't gotten laid in a while.

"Maybe I can score some points if she wakes up fine and dandy," he thought aloud. "A couple of get-out-of-jail-free cards and all that jazz."

Red chuckled, glancing at her face. "Well, if you can just offer one card, that'd be fine with me."

For a while, he worked in silence, cleaning up the blood and wondering if it was all futile. Did demon bodies even get infections? Well, rumor had it she was half-demon, so maybe… Gah, it was too confusing to think about, and either way, if he didn't clean it up it would drip all over the bed (as it was currently doing) and damage his favorite blanket even further.

There was a voice in the back of his head that wanted to berate him for impulse actions, but he kicked it in the face and left it lying in the dirt. When would he learn? Never, because life was more interesting this way, right? Right.

Was it weird if he… Meh, no half-assing.

He gently pried her legs apart slowly, waiting to see if it would disturb her comatose state or activate another weird light explosion. When nothing happened, he let go of a breath he realized he had been holding in the pit of his feet, and then proceeded to dab at the inner thighs, trying not to think about how close he was to certain areas and how curious he was.

But he was a gentleman — sort of. At least, sexual assault and rape were out of the picture (unless you counted the times he had pinned Starfire and whispered sexually explicit things in her ear, but that was different crime for a different time).

And then, as he shifted his hand and dabbed at another cut, the worst happened.

"What are you doing?"

Red froze. He stared at Raven's face, deep in her sleep, and then slowly turned his head toward the door where he saw another Raven, wide awake with eyes that spoke of demonic castigations and castrations, at the minimum.

He turned back to the Titan in the bed, and then once again looked back at the Titan in the doorway. He almost wanted to comically scratch his head, if his mask and suit weren't in the way.

"I definitely wasn't expecting this," he said, but the comment only served to anger her further by the indication of her bristling purple locks.

"I'll ask one more time," she seethed through gritted teeth. "What in the seven hells are you fucking doing?"

He looked at her and then at his hand in between her legs, and he suddenly felt less like a good samaritan and more like a criminal caught in the act. His body finally reacted, despite the fact that he was unsure if it was some sort of hallucination; either way, the anger radiating off her felt real enough. Red pushed himself to standing position, his hands in the sign of peace, holding the bloodied cloth.

"Woah, woah. Let's all just take a breather right now, alright, toots?"

He regretted the word before it even left his lips.

Everything seemed to happen in an instant. The black light enveloped both Ravens, and not a split second after, all of the lights exploded throughout his apartment, possibly in the entire complex from the sudden screams from all the neighbors. Then, as if that wasn't enough, a powerful force sent him hurtling into his bookshelf. He fell painfully onto the ground, his back throbbing from crashing into the heavy wood; to add salt to the wound, all of the books and knickknacks toppled over onto him.

The neighbors' screams continued, but the onslaught from the half-demon stopped. Red quickly crawled out of the mountain he was buried under; he held up the palms of his hands and the red glow from the x's provided a dim light. He shined the light toward the door; it took everything to not jump at the sight of her, though an honestly terrified fuck escaped his lips. She looked more like the villain from the Grudge than a hero that swore loyalty to the city.

Holy motherfucking shit.

Her red eyes, all four of them, stared him down in between strands of her dark hair.

Four fucking...

Slowly, she sank into a dark, swirling portal in the floor, never breaking eye contact with him. When she disappeared, he turned to the body in his bed and shifted into a defensive stance, but the air and the body were deathly still. Even as he was ready to paste an X over her mouth at the slightest twitch, she didn't make any movements that hinted at bloodthirsty intentions.

"Raven," he whispered, tense. No reaction.

He tried again. "…Crazy demon bitch?"

If that didn't result with her lunging at him with hands around his neck, then he was safe. As if on cue, the screams from the neighbors finally stopped; he had to wonder what other damage she had dealt to the rest of the building, but at the moment, he was quietly pleased he had survived.

Red let himself slump against the wall in relief.

"Damn!" he sighed. "What a woman."

A/N

And that's the end of the chapter! What'd you guys think? Hopefully I made it an interesting enough first chapter to set up the premise. The second chapter is being worked on, and I'm hoping to get it up in a couple of weeks.

If you liked, please drop a review! They keep me loved and warm during winter time, tee-hee.