The Reluctant Babysitter (Or: The Titan Drool Machine)

Raven stood in front of him, looking rather unimpressed with his story. She raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms over her chest, staring at Red-X as he moved around her. "So, that's the whole story then?"

"More or less." Red-X shrugged, feeling himself fight off a laugh. Teasing her was eternally fun. "There were a few extra details here and there I might have left out. I didn't know you were so partial to pigtails, Princess. They're kinda cute on you."

Raven rolled her eyes. "I do not wear pigtails. Stop making things up."

"I didn't." He moved closer to her. "I like the little pink ribbons the best."

She pushed at his shoulder, trying to keep space between them. "You're annoying."

"Maybe." He offered her a nonchalant shrug. "But I might be kind of a good guy, admit it."

"Uh-huh." Raven continued to look at him, still unimpressed with anything he said. "You just happened to be a good enough guy to take care of a child for two hours?"

"Awe, come on now, Princess." He grinned at her underneath the mask, watching as her eye twitched in annoyance at the nickname. He really did love to tease her - she was just so damn responsive all the time. "I told you Robin offered me a reward for babysitting you. All I had to do was get you back to the tower in one piece. And I did." He motioned to her. "Look at you, not a child and everything."

Raven continued to stare at him, her face unreadable. "You did… but Robin didn't say anything about a reward."

Underneath the mask, Red-X felt his face pale. Well, she figured it out did she. Oh well, he couldn't hold onto the secret forever. He laughed and pushed her arm out of the way, crowding her space with his body. He caught the faint scent of tea and smiled. "Awe, come on now, Princess. You didn't think I'd do all of that out of the goodness of my heart?"

Before Raven could ponder that thought, he rolled up the edge of his mask and kissed her cheek. As quickly as he invaded her space, he moved out of it, admiring the stain of red on her cheeks. Grinning, he pulled his mask down into place and stepped towards the edge of the building they were standing on.

"Thanks again for the fun, Princess... and give Mister Bun Bun my regards!"

"Damnit, X!"

)O(

Once again, thanks, Kohng, for the inspiration. And thanks to everyone else for being awesome and going on this adventure with me. I hope I didn't disappoint?