Pairings:
RaexSpeedy

Summary:
During a party at which selected Titans have attended undercover, Roy convinces a sleep-deprived Raven that it'd be a good idea to go to a spare room together, just for a rest. Questions, responses and maybe even little sparks of something else ensue...

Rating:
T for sexual references.

Multi-chapter?
Yes.

AN:
I think I need to go to Shippers Anonymous.

"Richard, I'm tired."

The words were said in a tone so unfalteringly smooth that they could only come from one biting down on their complete discomfort. Of course, how could anyone be expected to feel at ease with a smile set so firmly on their face? It was almost as though the gentle, welcoming expression had been sketched on with permanent marker. Unknown to everyone else, however, Raven's eyelids were but concrete slabs she was trying to keep alift with bare hands. Aching hands at that, almost numb after holding a tray with what felt like a million flutes of champagne for what seemed like an equally absurd amount of time.

"You said you'd help," Richard replied, his own cheery face not quite disguising the sharp look in his eyes. "It's just another five hours or so-"

"-on top of the two hours I spent chasing down Cinderblock, then three to fly over and attempt to calm Hotspot out of melting all the ice on the roof of Kole's place because her caveman bodyguard went on a rampage at the sight of fire, and another four flying the ship home when Vic got knocked out and you were busy in Canada or whatever with your girlfriend..." She let her words drift off in a yawn, stifled quickly under a deep breath. "And, now, I'm going to faint if I don't sleep, even for just a couple of hours."

Her leader sighed heavily, small chest rising in the suit. While he seemed so used to dressing up all fancy and special, Raven twitched awkwardly in the dress. The fabric was unfamiliar and not at all unpleasant to touch, but clingy enough to be hell moving-wise. Each time she turned to offer another overly delighted adult (who all seemed to be looking at the undercover Titans in complete adoration as the young adults waded through the masses of grey-haired men and their significantly younger wives) the fear hit that it may be her last move before the whole thing snapped to pool at her heeled feet.

"Take these," Richard finally offered, handing her a packet of energy chews. "There's enough for three hours of intense work, so they should cover till the end of tonight."
With that, he swept away, buried in a sea of small-chat bullshit and bad jokes. The small, plastic-wrapped bag was looked at with distain from Raven – it was bad enough she had to drink caffeine today, but now she was expected to put more crap into her body?

Unlikely.

She couldn't ignore the presence behind her, that of a solid, silent figure.

"I couldn't help but overhear-"

"Beat it, Harper."

Not a tad discouraged, the young man followed her further into the crowd, eyes notably not leaving her butt.

"Look, Raven, I get it – you're tuckered out," he continued, voice reasonable and full of empathy, "I understand. I want to help."

She immediately began to feel a tad of regret for her harsh tone. It wasn't him – Roy wasn't at fault, nor was he to blame. He wasn't the reason the remaining skin left bare by the stupid garment—a lot, for that matter—was dyed a peachy, "normal" hue, and a wig hid the purple locks that threatened to expose her as an out-of-control rebel or (supposedly worse) her true identity. Plus, its fringe kept getting in her eyes. It was really beginning to irritate, to say the least. She happened to know that they only reason she, Richard, Roy, Wally, and a few others were only chosen for this mission because they were the only ones who appeared even remotely human enough (as in, not donning wings, overly-green eyes, a celebrity nametag or flames erupting from their ears at the mention of the word "hotdog") to attend as waiters and waitresses at the Wayne Mansion.

"Okay, well, I'm just going to keep talking. Do you know how many guests Bruce allows to crash at the mansion? Yeah, that's right – none." He paused for a moment to smile charmingly at a lady who was easily once beautiful but had lost her looks to age and cigarettes as she exchanged her empty glass for a full one. "So you know how many guest rooms get used?"

"Richard would never allow it," Raven replied hastily, head doing a slight dip to the side as she held the tray up to a small group in the corner. She had no idea why so many drinks were to be carried – these people were obviously rich enough to afford the expensive alcohol being served, but far too proud to actually get to the point of tipsiness. Most were only drinking to ease the ache of their cheeks against the transparently-false laughter they all insisted on. "Besides, we're supposed to be listening for information – Bruce isn't holding this party for kicks."

Roy backed her very close to a wall as they removed the dry glasses from their trays. Raven immediately assumed he'd purposefully had her chest pressed to his but dismissed it. After all, Dick made it very clear after her last encounter with Mr. Sex-On-The-Brain that she was not to have a tarantula put down his boxers ever again. Raven really didn't see what the big deal was – sure, it bit him (twice) but it's not like the poor thing was venomous. She was actually quite fond of the small creature, who now had his very own glass container the size of a door and twice as high, complete with loads of clueless prey, plants, dirt, tunnels and hidey-holes. Sir Needs-a-Shave never quite got over the taste of Roy's thigh and even seemed to know when the archer was in the Tower. Some days, Raven let the little bugger roam free (and the spider) just to watch chaos unfold. Of course, she was told not to do that also.

But what could she do when the cage was "faulty"?

"Richard will never know – I've set up eight hidden cameras on every wall and clipped a recorder onto each person in this room," he murmured quickly.

Suspicious, Raven automatically checked herself over, taking a step forward to reach her back.

Roy smirked as, once again, the young girl pushed herself onto his body unexpectedly. "Eager, are we?"

She leapt back to the safety of solid wall.

"Don't worry, I have no reason to keep a tag on you." He waggled his brows suggestively. "Unless you're walking away – in that case, I'll be keeping an eye glued to your-ow!" Roy rubbed his arm, trying to soothe the sore spot that he knew was just a bruise waiting to happen. "Stop playing child and be a professional. You want to take a nap or not?"

Wrestling with the idea and fighting the urge to rub her mascara-lashed eyes, Raven's shoulders slumped into submission. "Fine," she replied.

"Then ditch this and follow a few minutes after me," he instructed, swiftly leaving her to the mercy of anyone that tried to stop and chat to "Rachel". Tonight, the Titan was playing a university student, one of the volunteers from the "charity" for which Mr. Wayne was hosting the party. Though he could easily afford his own waiters, the group had been "so grateful" they "couldn't stand to see the kind man spend any more money on the great cause" and had quickly slipped into their uniforms.

Only one bothered to speak, but was soon whisked away by an excited-looking woman who donned a ring identical to his.

"Thank goodness," Raven muttered gratefully. The man had had the most unusual voice, like a child's broken whistle that had been lost in their sandpit for a month and left to rust.

A moment later and she was outside the double-doors, where her "saviour" was waiting patiently. Roy casually slung an arm around the small waist, guiding it around corners and twisting hallways. By the time they actually arrived at a door labelled GUEST—the one at the very end in a corridor of identicals—Raven's heels were hanging from her fingers by the crimson straps. The moment it shut with a lightclick, followed by another from the lock, Raven tugged a bow loose, the only thing keeping the whole dress up.

"Jesus," Roy whistled in shock. "If I had known getting you out of your clothes would be so easy, I wouldn't have bothered acting the gentleman."

Raven rolled her eyes and bent forward to tug the black wig from her scalp. Roy, being the observing man he was, couldn't help but notice the bounce of her cleavage in the strapless bra.

"You can stop staring," she shrugged. "You're not about to get laid. I'm just here to rest."

"Hey, I had no intentions of banging you whatsoever. Although I have to say you picked your attire right." He flashed a cheeky grin as his eyes drifted to the purple lace and black hipster briefs. Sure, they looked snug, but he knew it would really take a mere tug of two hands to bring to the girl's knees.
Raven, on the other hand, couldn't honestly deny that the only thing that found reason to be angry with the way he gazed so hungrily at her petite body was her pride.

She cleared her throat audibly and he went back to unbuttoning the crisply-white shirt Richard had stuck him with.
A minute later, Roy glanced up as the empathic re-entered from the bathroom on the left side, ruffling the hair she'd been forced to tie in a low bun for the past one-hundred and thirty-six minutes.

"Hey," he chirped, "you're all-"

"-grey again, yes," Raven finished as she climbed onto the bed. "Well done, Master Detective."

Roy crushed the urge to reach out and touch her skin – that didn't mean pulling her under the duvet and going places with her that his imagination had already been allowed to wonder, but he just wanted to know what it felt like. He guessed smooth, soft, light, something that would put silk to shame. The lust for that one surged a little more as she collapsed into the softness and released a grateful moan. He watched Raven arch her back, point her foot in the air and curl her fingers in one swift motion. Something about how easily the erotic gracefulness came to her made Roy gulp, because he knew she wasn't trying to seduce him. She wasn't being this way because she wanted to jump his bones; she was just this way because she was...

"...Raven," he whispered, finishing the thought out-loud. The way he said it surprised even him – a little lower than he remembered his voice sounding.

Her small frame dropped back into a slump. "What?" she snapped, sharp and defensive. "That's the first time I've actually stretched since I slipped that stupid thing on."

"Yeah, yeah." Roy managed to drag his eyes from her in an instant. He'd been crushing on Raven for a while and still hadn't thought of a single way to get through to the empathic other than saving her fine ass and then making a remark about it. She, of course, had never gotten even the inkling that this was the case, instead mistaking him for a guy that'd do anything that moved.

Not that the red-head ever did anything to discourage that judgement, admittedly.

A few rustles later and they were both under the covers. Roy opted to leave the shirt on, but kept it loose with the buttons undone.

"You lay a hand on me and your dick is as good as the top of a red-wine bottle," she warned. The menace in her flat tone tickled the hair at the back of Roy's neck.

He decided to test the waters of her severity, prepared for sharks. "What's that supposed to mean? I get screwed?"

"Ever seen a corkscrew, arrow boy? You know – the swirly thing with the sharp end? Sound appealing to you?"

With a grimace and a bit of ghost-pain in his crotchal region, Roy laughed nervously. "No, but I know a couple of guys who pay good money for that kind of thing if you're interested in making a few extra bucks."

Raven turned onto her stomach, eyes narrowed, and leaned her elbows into the cushioned mattress. "You... disgust me," she cringed, "to say the least."

He shrugged and clasped a hand behind his red hair.

A few beeps sounded as she set the alarm for ten o'clock, giving them three hours before they put their monkey-suits back on and started prancing about for the million-dollar-suit owners a couple of floors down. Finally, the two were sent into pitch-black and fantasy got the better of Roy's brain. His thoughts began to meander and hop around, but only on one subject: the ticket into Rae's pants.

She liked books and that was an understatement. Roy happened to know her room was filled to the brim with pages upon pages of words in alien tongue—some actually from planets besides Earth, others things like Pride and Prejudice and whatnot (it didn't really make a difference – either way, he didn't understand them)—so was it smarts? Was knowing every symbol and letter of the Periodic Table the big secret?

Or was it looks? It wasn't unusual for him to catch the girl watch longingly as Garth rose from the waters, and she was always quick to offer him a drink. Roy didn't imagine Raven was the type to go solely for that particular aspect, but he also had to take into consideration that she was eighteen, and even she had to appreciate a physical attraction.

Then again, it could always be emotion. Someone who got her, listened, talked, understood. That's what that guy Mashy Lord or Malchilore or whatever did, from what he'd heard Dick briefly explain when Roy visited the Tower. Raven had looked emptier than usual, but vanished the moment he asked what was up. He was instructed never to mention it again, and he hadn't.

Roy had all of those things. As if Ollie would ever allow him to simply be brawny and brainless? Yeah, right. And, from what his long(ish) line of admirers had told him, his face, let alone his physique, was definitely not an issue. He'd probably have to work on the last one, but it wasn't like Raven was going anywhere. All the time in the world was laid out before him at his mercy and he planned to take advantage of this wonderful fact.

Careful not to yank the duvet, as he was pretty sure from the steadied, almost non-existent breathing sounds that Raven was asleep, Roy turned to face her back. The strap of her bra didn't have nearly as much mercy, a temptation almost too good to resist. What would happen if he did unclasp it, anyway? Roy went with outcome B (not getting blasted straight to Hell) in his little imagination world – he'd only need one hand for the first part, leaving the other free to roam the curve of her side. Raven would be surprised, sure, but quickly give in when he ran his fingers up from the undone band and hold one shoulder while he devoured the other in kisses and nips at her metallic-coloured skin. When she eventually caved, and she would, the tension would vanish and passion would triumph. Roy would have the perfect position to go directly from her hip to her breast, abandon the recently-rendered-useless undergarment to the floor, and then back down, slithering under the elastic waistband, and-

"Would you stop?"

Roy jumped in shock. He hadn't said anything out-loud, right? Oh, pray to the gods of Olympus...

"I can feel your hormones like flies on a carcass," Raven growled.

Despite the slightly-cramped feeling of his own briefs, Roy was too delighted at the prospect of conversation to pass the opportunity. "How?"

"Empathic, remember?" He heard her shudder. "I can feel all of your... impulses."

"Right," he breathed, pursing his lips.

Raven tucked further into the warmth and soon the silence got to a comfortable level.

"What turns you on?" he asked out of the blue.

Suddenly alert as the question bounced around in the luxury of freedom, Raven bolted upright, hitting the switch. Roy immediately regretted the outburst, wishing there was a way to cram the question back into that dark, dusty corner of his mind.

"Pardon?" she quipped.

After deciding there was definitely no going back Roy repeated himself, less impulsively this time. "What turns you on?"

Raven studied him in the silence. Fuelled by the desire to screw around with his young, (though he was older than herself) impressionable head, she answered "Chains." Surrendering his full and undivided attention, Roy listened intently. "I like metal rings clasped around my wrists and locks at my ankles, with a guy's mouth at my chest and, in the end, everywhereelse." She sighed wistfully, glancing down to examine each of her nails. "But when they're not into that, I compromise; he'll cling to the bedframe and thrust into my mouth. Andthat'sjust the beginning."

Roy gulped and eventually found his voice. "Really?" It was, once again, a little huskier. He willed she wouldn't notice.

"No."

Undoubtedly pulsing with incredible stupidity and deserved naivety—a strange feeling for a usually confident and verging-on-cocky male like Roy—he cleared his throat. "Ah, duped," he grinned in an attempt to shake off the obvious embarrassment. "Nice."

Raven shrugged, though held a secret smugness beneath the unsympathetic mask. He'd looked so... hopeful. Pleased, even, at the idea of her being some sexual goddess willing to beg a man for mercy under lock and key.

However, she hadn't put him off asking more questions.

The next quest was to find out, in the subtlest way possible, how easy she was to get out on a date. Or, to narrow down what he reallywanted to know: how good of a chance he genuinely had.

So the quiz continued.

"How many guys have you boned?"

"I really don't see how it's any of your business," she replied without a second thought.

Roy raised a brow. "So it's either loads or just one that you really regret, huh?"

"Neither."

"Come on, Rae, you can tell me," he insisted, reaching out to touch her arm. The intention quickly fizzled under her deathly glare and he retreated to the back of his neck. "I'll tell you my number if you tell me yours."

Raven made a face, and not one of curiosity. "You act as if I would care to know how many blonde, floaty bimbos have screamed the fake name you gave them. What makes you think I do? You'd bang a tree as long as it had lipstick and a hole."

"Okay, we both know that's not true. Do you have any idea how much the bark would-" He waved his hands, cringing. "Anyway, you can't tell me you don't like knowing what—or who—people are doing," he laughed in disbelief.

Her eyes turned cold and sour at the loudness. "Unlike the superficial persons such as yourself, I prefer not to indulge in dirty gossip."

"Liar – you're just one of those eavesdroppers who doesn't trade."

"One:" she held her index finger up like it was a gun that deemed her words honest, "no, I'm not. Two: don't pretend to know me – you don't. Three: I'm not telling – you'd laugh."

With that, she flipped over, away from his cocked brow and bemused smirk. Twenty-eight seconds later she felt him readjust and snuggle down on the other side. Raven could feel his disappointment and couldn't ignore the rejection seeping across the expensive-feeling bed like ice settling on a lake.

Guilt startled to scratch at her eyes – a little at first, but the cracks grew. It's not like Roy was asking anything that unreasonable. Ofcourse he was curious. This was Speedy – he wanted to know everyone's under-the-sheet details simply because that's who he was. Just a boy, a nineteen-year-old with all these new experiences and such waiting on his doorstep. He just wanted to know where others stood and how to stay one leap ahead in the food chain.

"None."

Screw the guilt – she regretted the word the millisecond it escaped.

A silence she didn't appreciate returned to her, until Roy uttered a "Pardon?"

"I'm a virgin, dumbass," Raven hissed, digging her nails into the pillow.

"No way. You can't be serious."

She got comfortable, facing him again. "Can't I?"

"Are you, like, one of those girls who literally suck, then?" he pressed further.

Raven blushed heavily as what he was implying finally clicked and she shook her head. Talking sex and boys with Roy was easy, until she actually stopped trying to stir him up and told the truth, which happened rarely with the subject of the opposite gender, and never with the subject of intimacy. Usually it was sports, why the majority of Titans boys wear tights and excuses to get out of eating any of Kory's concoctions.

Roy had the sheer bravery to edge a little closer while her eyes darted to the far end of the room. "Have you ever actually put your hands down a guy's pants?"

"No."

"So you grind? Play it safe?"

"No."

Roy's slender brows furrowed. "So you just make out a lot." It was more of a statement than anything, and was said with realisation, as if he'd finally cracked the 8-Across in a difficult crossword.

Her last answer repeated again like a broken record.

"So..." He drawled out the word as he thought long and hard about what could come between that and nothing. "What... have you done with a guy?"

"You pinched my butt last week and I threw your iPhone in the pool," she replied. "That's it."

Sitting up fully, as if he hadn't heard her right, as if he expected her to crack her small, darkly-beautiful smile and say she was kidding, Roy's eyes widened and his breath caught like he'd swallowed an apple whole. "You can't be serious," he said firmly.

"Once again you fail to realise that I'm trying to be honest with you," she sighed. "I've never sucked a cock; I've never been felt up..." She laughed softly and Roy felt he must have been mistaken when he detected slight sadness as she traced swirls on the bedsheet. "I've never even kissed a boy."

Roy glanced at the majority of her body that the repetitive shifting had revealed. She was like a rainbow in some ways – so cold and almost automatically feared by anyone who crossed her path, yet suddenly she held this... innocence. A purity of sorts, and one the archer never would have guessed of such a strong, determined girl.

"Surely a boyfriend would have tried to-" He stopped dead as she froze. "Oh, never had that, either?"

Raven snorted quietly. "Pathetic, right?"

"Actually, quite cute," he replied smoothly before he could stop his own betraying mouth. "I-I mean," he stammered, desperately attempting to save himself, "I would kiss you, if you let me."

"Which I would never." In an instant, every emotional shield he'd tried so hard to melt away stacked up in the room. The single bulb that had illuminated each twist of her muscle and features did nothing to enlighten Roy to Raven's thoughts as her face became the usual dull, emotionless mask. "Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to get some sleep."

Roy had no idea why her mood had darkened so quickly. Well, no, that wasn't completely true – one thought begged to differ against his sudden, shock-induced assumptions. Maybe kissing him... vaguely appealed to her. Maybe this was just the first step in actually getting Raven to return—or realise—his feelings.

On the other side, Raven urgently tried to squelch down the massive urge to take up the young man's offer – this was Roy, for Goddess' sake.

Speedy.

The guy with the arrows.

The hot red-head with more phone numbers than a stray dog has fleas.

"Do you ever wonder what it's like?"

"Yes." Now, why did she go and say that? "But the excitement is going to kill me, so don't spoil it with your wild tales of passion and true love." The heavy sarcasm was unsuccessful in its attempt to reclaim control over the situation, not that it had ever been in her hands. Roy had his ways of getting the knowledge he wanted and, whether it was blood or tears that had to be spilled, he always finished a job.

"You know, I'd personally rather have my first kiss with a friend," he replied suggestively. "I mean, I didn't, and I wish I had. It was... gross – sloppy. What I needed was a mentor of sorts, and-"

"Cut it, Harper. Not going to happen."

"Let's say, for sake of argument, you get a boyfriend, it goes great, and then you go to lay one on him and it ends up melted butter." Raven could feel the nervous boy crawl closer and tugged the sheet in tighter. "I just don't want you to think back and say 'Wow, if only I had let someone teach me this stuff before I went and did it with someone who it actually mattered to.'"

She checked over her shoulder to see him on his knees, looking down at her. "I'll take my chances. If there's one thing I'm glad about when it comes to having a super-hyper Tamaranean in the Tower, it's the romance novels I sometimes get stuck reading when the team 'accidentally' forgets my books."

"You can't learn a physical skill from a book, Rae. It's like riding a bike... with your tongue."

"Whatever, Harper. I didn't come here to get a lesson in tonsil-tangling."

For the third—or fourth—time that night, Raven turned over...

...and fell straight to the floor.

Well, she would have, had she not instinctively latched onto Roy's thigh before pushing herself back up. He winced but recovered quickly as he saw how she had sat herself in the rush to clamber onto a solid form. She was so close and mirrored his kneeling pose, still clinging to his leg.

"Your words say no, but your body says yes," he grinned. "Like I said, I can teach you-"

"-and like I said," Raven growled, yanking her hand from his, "no. I know all I need to, for now."

"How can you be so sure, without feedback?" he asked.

Raven curled her lip. "Your confidence is unwarranted and verging on nauseating."

"Which is exactly why it turns you on."

She squeezed her eyes shut, so tightly that glowing white blotches appeared in a swirl and blur behind her lids. "Fine," she snapped. "You want it this so badly?"

Despite her sudden rush, Raven hesitated milliseconds before she actually met his mouth, letting the sensitive skin graze his upper lip. Roy Harper, famous womanizer and player extraordinaire, was actually frozen and didn't dare speak, in case she moved away. In case she suddenly took back the idea as quickly as it rose and snuffed the spark out. Instead, by her own will, Raven bit her lip, running her tongue behind the straight teeth, before slipping her hands along to rest either elbow on his lean shoulders. Roy shakily reached up to hold her forearms, just in time before she actually, finally, leant in.

For the first time ever, Roy got fireworks from a kiss. She was firm at first, but the anger that originally fuelled her impulse melted away, leaving only the douses of heat and passion that she caressed for dear life. He shivered as Raven opened her mouth, taking his lower lip into the warmth. With a heartbeat like that of a mouse, Roy found his upper body swaying back a little, just enough to let Raven press her small figure further onto the stronger, fitter one of the pair. He ran his hands down to hold her waist, for security, but didn't find it to be of much use.

"Fuck it," he though daringly, reaching around to grab her backside instead. It made for reliable balance but it was a risky move that could quite easily have him hanging from the Eiffel Tower by his Mickey Mouse boxers. Raven didn't seem to mind – if anything she enjoyed being held so desperately.

Because the truth was that she liked what was happening.

Roy's other hand trailed to above that one, pressing Raven more into the kiss and, notably, more onto him. She smiled for a split-second, long enough, however, for the movement to be sensed, right before she opened his mouth again to explore with her tongue. Pushing her stomach against his and her boobs below his collar bone, she had the Titan releasing a small moan into Raven's lips.

Then she stopped.

Roy dropped down, his breath ragged and uneven on Raven's mostly-naked chest. His hands also fell, landing at the bare back of her knees.

Now, it was her turn to be frozen.

Had she really just done that?

Had she really just had her first kiss – with Speedy?

It was something to be marvelled as the boy tried to force air into his lungs as subtly as possible. He'd fought criminals, monsters even, and been able to control the oxygen in his body. But Raven?

Raven had sucked that ability to breathe—to control— right out of him.

She had to be the one to speak first before Roy had time to think of a remark. "See? Books."

Then he watched her back out of the half-straddle, lift up the covers, and climb into the safety and warmth.

Yes, Roy Harper always got what he wanted.

And tonight was just step one.