For intentions of wanting to have good karma when I receive the test results this week, I wrote a little something for all RaeRob shippers out there.

Dedicated to: Tecna, alena-chan, Jasmisa, Darkofthenight, alatariel meneldur, and baby blue ice cream.

Reminder: This is basically a one-shot only 'coz I don't have any ideas for chapter 2, unless you guys have any suggestions on what other games they're gonna 'play.'

And without any further ado, I present "Tic-Tac-Toe."

The trick is planning your opponent's next moves instead of your own.

Boy that's gotta be a lifesaver.

I'd know, I've used the technique the ol' Bat taught me. So far, my ass still doesn't give a damn – whatever it is…it's proved to be more of a good luck charm to me than a battle plan.

HIVE, Cinderblock, Plasmus, etc.?

With or without the tactic I still manage to win.

Last slice of pizza?

Still me.

Cyborg's "unbeatable super-hard topnotch high score?"

Same old, same old.

Beast Boy's "unbeatable super-hard topnotch high score?"

Puh-leez.

Chess?

…

Isn't it obvious?

Tic-Tac-Toe?

I don't need to say it twice.

Tic-Tac-Toe with Raven?

Duh.

Cheaters never win.

Finally – a reason for me to ban her from using her mind-reading abilities. I should have known the last time she beat me 52 times in a row…and that was four hours ago, right after the three stooges went to visit Titans East.

This is the last straw. She's abusing my kindness for crying out loud!

Being a man I know it's fun for me and embarrassing for her to lose to a member of the species she despises the most.

Two thumbs up for the Alpha Males!

Being a teenager, you can't blame me if my ego gets too big.

It's an initial reaction for me whenever my ranging hormones think Raven's too damn sexy with that ranging temper of hers.

Being a friend, I'd take the fall.

That's how too much of a nice guy I am. Hmm, maybe that's why I have at least more than 20 groupies per state of America… Yup; give, give, give that's all I ever do.

Even if she did read my mind.

She might have!

Did she?

Well she did!

She's…Raven, for Pete's sake!

Erm…and that's what Raven does.

I'd know…

Either that or she doesn't really want to lose to a bet that involves her, a string bikini, an all-day kitchen duty, and being a slave to none other than yours truly.

"I want a rematch!"

I found myself, vis-à-vis with her, our noses almost touching, and I swore my hot breath was on her face. Gosh, kinda makes me wonder if the clubhouse sandwich I ate for breakfast gave me bad breath.

Anyway…

"Don't think I can see right through you Rae, cheating won't let you win…"

"You don't know when to quit, do you, Bird Boy?"

Now, this time, it's her hot breath that's tingling my face, along with a vanilla-cinnamon scent that lingered itself along my nostrils. Funny though, I was thinking she'd smell more in the lines of lavender or something.

Just a little movement…and it's gonna be too good to be true…

Eh, but it's not.

If you listen closely, I think you could almost hear a thousand horny perverts and/or hopeless romantics scream.

Hey…I could be one of them.

Ehem, emphasis on the words 'could' and 'be.'

Dammit Rae.

She stood up from her stool, floated past the breakfast nook and grabbed her mug filled with her usual beverage, which is tea and by the way left unattended since 5 p.m.

I wanted to tell her right there and then tea can't be good for her at this time of the night, especially now that winter's approaching in a matter of months or so. Which reminds me, where's the remaining 3/5 of the team?

Don't know, don't care.

Me and Rae are alone…

Whatever…moving on…

Four hours? Gee, time does fly so fast when you're having fun.

For her, that is.

You think it's fun losing to a cheater?

There I was, my head in my hands, elbows resting on the counter, grunting. The next thing I knew, she was fidgeting against my grip on her arm.

"Robin. Let. Me. Go."

Each word hummed with anticipation and ascended to a higher level of her venom and me losing my cool.

Darn hormones.

Even if my death is one foot away from me, and I happen to have her in my grasp, Raven's got that smoldering look going on.

I would think it's sexy if she wasn't going to kill me…or send me to another dimension.

But my body seemed to have a mind of its own as it forced her to her seat while I sat on mine. With only the breakfast nook separating us, it's hard to tell whether she's intimidated or bored.

Damn hood for hiding her face.

Damn cloak for hiding her curves.

Damn nook for hiding the only area of black spandex visible from her that garb she calls her uniform. And that area happens to be 1) her chest, 2) her torso, and 3) the portion in between her chest and torso.

"One last rematch." Those words came out of my mouth, being spoken by that husky, collected tone I knew only my competitive side could possess.

Strangely, it was a surprise she gave in so easily. So it's downhill from here, I start with X, she counters with O.

X.

O.

X.

O.

X.

O.

Three straight O's.

"Shit!"

A fist pounded on the nook, so hard the pen and papers bounced slightly.

A fist which happens to be in a green glove.

Look, I just can't help it. Losing or anything associated with failure – it's not and never will be in my vocabulary. Winning – it's like second to nature to me.

Kinda like Cyborg and his baby, BB and his corny jokes and attempts to convert the Teen Titans into vegetarians, Star and Silkie…Raven and her sarcasm and tendency to be cynical about everything.

Speaking of Raven, I don't really know which one of us is supposed to be angry in the first place.

I know I'm a jerk once I get too cocky, but I just can't tolerate her cheating any longer.

I felt like my heart is ready to somersault then jump out of my chest as I took a deep breath, getting ready to scream my lungs out all the way to kingdom come.

"The same tactics never work for different 'battles' Blunder Boy – "

Sad to say, she beat me to it. That is, if screaming to me is simply monotone to her.

'You were distracting me!" I retorted, unaware of the double meaning behind what I said, and disrupting another one of her oh-so-famous I'm-right-and you're-wrong-so-live-with-it monologues, "Plus with your powers, geez, I don't know…"

I directly pointed a finger to her, standing from my seat now that the stool fell back in response, "You give cheaters a bad name!"

" – But in my case, sneak attacks work their way through anything," Raven continued, as if my pathetic excuse of an argument didn't even happen.

I wanted to laugh, taunting as I remind her of the time her sneak attack didn't work on Mad Mod. But with my mind refusing to cooperate with me, I can't even think of how to say my comeback, which would have eventually won me an argument with her for the first time.

Damn Raven, she's looking at me with that face, that look. Oh dear God, I can't even say whether or not it's mockery or just pure seduction.

Come to think of it, she always looks like that, I guess what people say it's true when you finally realize things you never did when you've gone insane.

Wait a minute, what happened to the mess on the counter?

I could have sworn there were sheets of paper, some smudged with ink and some torn and/or crumpled, right where Raven is now on all fours…

Purring like a cat?

Her hood down?

Her, right on top of the counter?

Her, as in Raven?

Pinch me, I must be dreaming.

Since when is the Forbidden Fruit not forbidden?

I don't fuckin' care.

Now it's really too good to be true.

"Your battle plan, on the other hand, depends on when you're using it." The deadpan dryness replaced by a breathless sultry tone she knew that makes me go weak in the knees.

The way Raven's saying it, expressing it, feeling it…it's so unexpected, bizarrely strange and weird…

Yet it's turning me on.

"Like now."

Tendrils of black magic wrapped themselves around me…Yeah right, as if I'd want to leave right this very moment…

This moment when Rae's not being Raven, but being the woman I dreamed of fulfilling my most erotic fantasies.

"The trick is planning your opponent's next moves – "

But the action was so sudden, it caused what seemed to be shock and fear written all over my face.

Trust me, on the inside were the very opposites.

"Instead – "

A velvet-smooth hand cupped my chin as I shuddered in excitement, though not showing it…

"Of – "

Her intoxicating scent seemed to put me on high, and I felt all light-headed and flushed…

"Your – "

Beads of sweat surge out of my every pore as each word Raven spoke sent me a step nearer to nirvana, her face closer and closer to mine…

"Own."

My eyes closed to their own accord when I tasted the sweetest sin of her lips touching mine.

So how was it?

Again, this is a one-shot unless you review and give me some ideas. Thanks in advance, and wish me luck in my exam results!

- solitaire parker