Disclaimer for the whole story: Yeah- No…No. Sorry but no.

Got a drabble request awhile back-

"Anonymous asked: RaeX, college!au, fraternity costume/halloween party"

And it ended up being a short story. Fancy that.

Part One

Empty red solo cups and confetti littered the floor as shiny fringe, fluttered and hung down from the ceiling as he bumped and pushed his way through the crowded dorm hallway. The bass of the music pulsated through him as if it was his own heartbeat, making him bob his head as he walked passed the oblivious tongue-locked couple.

He shook his head with a smile before gulping the rest of his drink down. Feeling the burn from the cheap whisky, he grimaced as he looked at the room ahead and then, his hand.

Room 147.

He was at the right place. Pulling a skull mask over his head, he cracked his neck a little before reaching for the knob and walking in.

"Hmm… I wonder what precious jewels could be in here," he said, cheekily, closing the door. He turned around and peered through the dark room to see a lump on the bed, buried beneath blankets.

He grinned as he took off his shirt, shoes, and pants. "Seems like I found one…"

Lifting up the sheets and lying down in the bed, he wrapped his arm around the petite form.

"What the-!" An unfamiliar voice erupted from the form, kicking and wiggling out of the bed. She flicked on the light and turned to look at him.

She was not the tall, tan, smoking-hot, green eyed, red head he had run into downstairs and asked him to meet her up here. No, she was the completely opposite. She was shorter and pale with lavender hair and electric blue eyes that almost matched her hair. And she didn't look as friendly either.

She screamed at him before picking up a bat and swinging it at him. He screamed back and fell out the bed on the other side as he tried to avoid being hit.

"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!" He exclaimed putting his hands up. "Hey! Calm down! I'm not going to hurt you!"

"Who are you and what are you doing in my room?" She spat, swinging the bat threateningly.

"I was invited to this room," he explained, taking his mask off, his hair falling messily atop his head. "A girl named Lori, I think? Tall, red hair, green eyes?"

"Kori?" She asked, confusedly. "Why would she invite you here?"

"I don't know," he shrugged. "She told me to come up here pretend to be a thief. She wrote her room number here."

He showed her his palm, trying to seem less and less like a threat while she held that bat tightly in her hands. She watched him with weary eyes as she took his palm into hers and read it.

"It says, Room 141" she said, letting go of his hand. "She writes her ones weird."

He furrowed his brow as he looked at his hand again. "Is that what it says?"

"Yeah…" She sighed, putting the fat end of her bat down on the ground. "If I know Kori, that's what it says."

"Huh."

"Yup," she tapped her fingers. "Well, you can get going now. Go do that… Weird role playing… Thing."

He nodded at her as he looked down at the floor for his clothes. "Yeah… I should go… Do that, then."

She nodded back as she looked anywhere but at him, waiting for him to leave. But he felt the awkwardness of the situation seep into his bones, pushing him to continue on talking.

"Are those the wireless headphones that just came out?" He asked as he slipped on his pants.

Looking down at the headphones around her neck, she nodded. "Yeah… I guess."

He whistled. "Those must've cost a pretty penny."

"They're worth it though," she shrugged. "They cancel out everything."

"Including what's going on downstairs?"

"Especially what's going on downstairs."

"Nice!" He exclaimed as he zipped up his jeans. "So what, you got an exam or something so you have to turn in early for?"

She shook her head. "No."

His brows creased. "Early shift at work?"

"No."

He blinked in confusion as he picked up his shirt from the ground. "So why are you going to bed when there's a party downstairs?"

"You know for a guy who is trying to get laid, you are surely taking your own sweet time about getting to it," she snapped.

He frowned, taking a few steps towards her. "Well for a sorority girl, you certainly don't look or act like one."

She glared at him, trying to intimidate him with her eyes but he held his ground against her.

"So…?"

She huffed at him. "If you must know (and if it will get you out of here faster), I don't particularly like parties."

"You don't?" He asked, curiosity piqued.

"No, I don't," she sighed, brushing her hair back behind her ear.

"Then, why join a sorority?" He shrugged.

"My mom was one. And my dad was in its brother fraternity." she answered, simply.

He nodded in understanding. "So double legacy."

"Essentially," she sighed. "It doesn't help that all of my friends here are also in fraternities and sororities, including Kori, who I've known since high school. So, it was either join or die."

He considered this for a moment, processing all of the information. "Huh."

"What?"

"You don't strike me as the caving to peer pressure type," he answered.

She looked at him questioningly. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing," he shrugged, looking down at the shirt in his hand.

She took a few steps towards him and put her hand on her hip, menacingly. "You meant something by it. Say it."

He shrugged again and shook his head. "It's nothing. It's just…"

"It's just what?" She pushed.

"You seem like the type who… Walks to the beat of her own drum. You do your own thing and not what everyone tells you to do or expects you to do," he admitted. "Basically… You're not the generic sorority girl type. At least, for this sorority."

Her hardened exterior faltered a little at his words, feeling warmed by them. She bit her bottom lip a little. "I…well… That is… Thank you."

"You're welcome," he said, flashing her a genuine smile.

She nodded back at him, shifting her weight uncomfortably. Catching this, he stepped back away from her, picked up his shoes, and moved to the door.

"I should probably go…" He said, hesitantly.

"Yeah... You have um… Kori to get to," she stuttered, pushing her hair back.

"Yeah, I'm sorry for the misunderstanding."

"No, no… It was an easy mistake."

"Still I apologize for the intrusion."

"It's fine," she waved as he reached the door. "That door never locks anyway so it happens."

"It never locks?" He asked, his eyebrow arching.

She shrugged. "It does. But if you give it so much as a little jiggle, it opens, regardless."

He nodded. "Huh."

"Yeah…" She nodded as she put her bat to the side of her bed. "Anyway, it was nice to meet you."

"Yeah… It was nice to meet you too," he trailed, looking at the golden knob with the tips of his fingers resting on it. He shook his head before turning back and facing her.

"I'm sorry but you're saying you're going to go back to bed with your noise canceling headphones on with a door that doesn't lock?"

She blinked in confusion. "Yes…? Is there a problem?"

"Yeah, I say there is," he dropped his things and crossed his arms over his chest. "There's a full on kegger happening downstairs and anyone can waltz right in here and take full on advantage."

"I'd like to see them try," she smirked.

He didn't waver. "You're tough… I'll give you that. And I'm pretty damn sure, you know how to defend yourself. But that doesn't mean I feel comfortable leaving you alone in here with a party happening just downstairs."

She gave him a confused look. "So…?"

"So I'm not leaving," he said firmly. "I've seen some of the guys down there and… I just wouldn't feel right leaving you and knowing they can crawl into bed with you-

"Like you did?"

He pressed his lips for moment and sighed. "Yeah… Like I did, even though it was a misunderstanding and some guys aren't as nice as me."

"I can defend myself."

"I know you can but that still doesn't make me feel comfortable."

"Don't you have to go fake rob Kori and do the-the… Do?"

He felt his lips twitch at her statement, resisting the urge to laugh. There was such an innocence to her. He wouldn't admit it out loud but now that she wasn't swinging that bat at him, she was actually kinda…cute.

"Eh, there'll probably be other opportunities," He shrugged, coming back over to her bed.

Her brows creased at him. "Uh…what are you doing?"

"What does it look like? I'm staying and you have no other furniture to sit on other than that uncomfortable looking chair there," he pointed to the wooden chair at the desk and grimaced.

"But you have-

"I highly doubt I would be able to give a satisfactory performance tonight, thinking and worrying about you in here alone without a proper lock," he clicked his tongue on the roof of his mouth. "So I'm not going to 'do the do' with Kori tonight. Instead, I'm going to stay here and keep you company. Be your body guard, if you will."

Pressing her lips together and glaring at him, she thought about her current predicament. "Nothing that I say will get you to change your mind?"

Sitting down at the end of her bed and resting back on the foot board there, he shook his head as he folded his hands behind his head.

She rolled her eyes at him as she lifted up her blankets and climbed in. "Fine but no funny business, you got that?"

"Got it," he grinned as he watched her settle in.

Huffing at him, she reached over to her night stand and picked up the thick book that occupied the space there, pulling it over to her lap. Using her thumbs, she opened the book to her marked page and began to read.

He watched her for a moment. Watched as her eyes scan through every word of the page before quickly flipping to the next one. He watched as her fingers reached up and played with the little gold bird trinket around her neck. He watched her lips twitch at the words on the page as if she were about to read them out loud and her eyes go wide with a far off distant look as she emerged herself into the pages.

Deciding that his watching was becoming a little creepy, he flicked his eyes off her and looked around the room.

It was clean and tidy, he noticed. Everything seemed to have its place there - organized, unlike most dorm rooms he had been in. And unlike most female dorm rooms, she didn't have those white Christmas lights around the corners of her ceiling. Just the three simple lamps: the one by her bed, the one at her desk, and the one big floor lamp were her sources of light. She did have a lot of candles though, some used and some unused.

Along with her candles, she had a lot of books. Almost every corner and every surface had at least five books on it, save her nightstand which he supposed was reserved for whatever book she was currently reading.

Without meaning to, his eyes flicked back to her. "You sure do read a lot."

"Books are the keys to knowledge and knowledge is power," she muttered, her eyes never leaving the page.

"Did you just quote Schoolhouse Rock?" He smiled.

"Partially," she shrugged. "I'll admit, for a cartoon, it was quite informative and entertaining."

"It was a pretty good show," he nodded, still smiling at her. The silence passed between them again before he opened his mouth to speak again.

"What are you reading?"

"The Iliad," she answered, simply.

He blinked. "Is that for a class or something?"

"No."

"So you're casually reading The Iliad?" His eyes widened in astonishment.

"Yup."

He let out a small chuckle. "Wow."

"If you say something bad about my reading habits, you can leave," she snapped, looking up from her book.

He put his hands up again. "Calm down, Little Bird. No one is saying anything bad about your reading habits. Jeez… It's not every day you meet someone who just casually reads The Iliad."

She blinked at him. "Right… What did you just call me?"

"Uh…" He trailed, rewinding the conversation in his head. "Little Bird?"

"Why did you call me that?"

"Well…One, I don't know your actual name. And two," he pointed to the little bird shaped trinket around her neck. "Because of that."

She nodded as slender fingers came up and played with her necklace. "Oh."

"What is your name?" He asked, curiously.

"Raven…" She answered, quietly. "And you?"

A grinned crawled across his lips. "Jason… Jason Todd."

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