Title: Wynja's Birthday!
Author: Jordan Herbert

Rating: M
Genre: Slight Angst/Humor/Threesome
Pairing: SladeRobinRed X (SladinX)
Summary: It's Wynja's Birthday, so of course I had to write her a fic for her gift! Red X doesn't know a lot about Slade, but he does know what the man want's as a Birthday gift; Robin. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, WYNJA! Here's your fic with no death and lots of Red X being...well, Red X like.

The Birthday Excuse

Robin considered himself to be quite the unlucky guy. When things looked bad, they usually turned good and then even worse. He didn't know why but that was just how most things in his life turned out. "Fine, I'll wait by the docks tomorrow and I'll leave my communicator here. But I'm taking my belt and if you break your part of the deal then I won't hesitate to take out my handcuffs and a gag."

"Right, kid, but don't worry; I'll hold out on my part of the deal." With that said, Robin was left alone in his room again for the night.

When he had come home from his latest fight with Cinderblock breaking out of jail—Jump City needed a better jail—he had gone straight to his room to start adding the information to his file on Cinderblock and to add his suspicion that Slade was going to start something soon to his document—practically a novel—on Slade. To his surprise, Robin had found his room with a waiting visitor and his secret briefcase broken open. Thus the opportunity for blackmail showed up like it always did with him.

The first time he had been blackmailed while leading the Titans he had found himself as Slade's apprentice and things had looked bad. But then things had turned good as he had learned that Slade wasn't really the heartless bastard that most considered him to be. Once things with Slade had started to look good, everything had become even worse and he found out that Slade was a heartless bastard that he felt utterly betrayed by.

His friends had rescued him before things got even worse than how even worse they already were. He never spoke to Slade about what happened during his apprenticeship but he wrote done everything on his computer and treasured the secret documents more than he treasured his other secrets. But then he had a full walk to hell alone with Slade and things looked bad. Then things turned good because Slade didn't mention anything or bring up the subject at all. His betrayed feelings on the matter had then turned even worse.

Now he found himself blackmailed again and things looked bad. But it wasn't Slade so things were already turning good. Robin knows that if this blackmail goes in the same direction that it had with Slade, then things will become even worse.

Red X considered himself to be quite the lucky guy. Before he had become Red X and was considered simply a citizen of Jump Citizen, he had watched from afar to see the Titans battle Red X and had luckily seen for himself that Red X had really been Robin, which few of the citizens in Jump City had still yet to figure out. Then he had been lucky enough to break into the Titan's Tower to steal the forgotten and abandoned Red X suit when the Titan's were out. And to mention the amount of robberies he had pulled and how he was still not in jail continued to define his lucky streak.

But in his own personal opinion, Red X was really lucky because he had stumbled across Slade's newest lair and lived to tell the tale. Not only live to tell the tale—he hasn't actually told anyone the story of how he had stumbled upon the place yet because he had no one that would listen to him and he didn't really want people to know that he had tripped and smashed into the doorway, but that's not the point—but Red X had actually visited Slade's lair a few times on a whim and the mercenary had talked to him.

The few words Slade had uttered to Red X had been to state that he was annoying or stupid, but Red X felt extremely blessed that the man tolerated him. He would chat away to the mercenary and Slade would—maybe, Red X wasn't really sure—listen to him while typing something onto a laptop. Red would talk about everything to Slade just because the man was there and didn't tell him to shut up, no matter how annoying he was. One thing Red never told Slade was his real name although the man never asked and would probably understand why Red left himself simply as Red X, the boy with the past better left forgotten.

Still, Red found himself talking to Slade about his home life, how he came to the decision to steal the Red X outfit, and about how he felt a certain connection to Robin. Even though Slade never contributed to the conversation, Red felt like he had gotten to know the villain by reading his body language. He really knew that when he mentioned something about Robin, Slade would falter in typing for a few heartbeats or his shoulders would tense up and Slade would flicker his attention fully to Red X while he continued talking. Getting those reactions out of Slade caused Red's curiosity to kick up and he was lucky enough to know how to hack Robin's computer.

Red X considered himself lucky for being able to visit the mercenary because really, no one else ever got to visit with Slade whenever he wanted to. But Red X felt like Slade was beginning to set up his next big plan and so he had to act quickly if he was going to finally become something more to the assassin then a simple annoying kid with a big mouth. He felt even luckier when he hung out with Slade because Slade still hadn't killed him, not even when he kicked the man's doors open and shouted, "Happy Birthday, Slade!" at the top of his lungs to echo around the large lair.

The loud shout and the banging of the doors continued to echo around the room as Slade stopped typing and looked at the familiar intruder. Red X loved Slade's lair because it was a combination of the old lairs of Slade's—which he had found as well but insisted he wasn't stalking the man even though he knew Slade's past two homes and his current one.

He had a large, stone, throne-like chair and multiple monitors surrounding it that often flickered to life while Red X blabbered on and showed different video feeds of different battles Red was recalling. But he also had windows with an almost tie-dyed pattern of orange stained glass that illuminated the room aside from the few hanging lights above and the ever-glowing monitors. Red X remembered when he had once broken one of Slade's windows and had literally frozen with fear until the man simply had a Sladebot replace it and, once again, called Red X annoying.

"I got you a present!" Red X yelled happily and waved his hands at the door in a showy manner. "That's your cue, kid." Red hissed not-too-quietly at the empty doorway. He growled and allowed his hands to fall back at his side as he stuck his head through the doorway and then went through it completely. Slade felt something uneasy stirring in the pit of his stomach.

A moment later,—before Slade had the chance to bolt the door close and move—Red X returned in the room dragging a disgruntled looking Robin along with him. Red X spared a glance as he released Robin and closed the door to see that Slade's eye had widened which meant that his suspicions about reading the man's body language—and Robin's reports on the man—had been true.

Slade rose from his chair as Red started to push Robin toward him and met them halfway across the room. "I'm only here because Red X stole something of mine and he's blackmailing me." Robin announced as he kept his hands over his chest and glared at the thief, ignoring eye contact with Slade. "Though if I had known where he was taking me, I probably wouldn't have agreed to the terms."

"Robin has a secret briefcase that I figured out how to open." Red announced proudly of himself as he recalled the previous night spent in the boy's bedroom with an angry Robin. "I must admit, I was really surprised when I opened it. Who knew he had a--"

"Hey!" Robin quickly covered Red's mouth with his gloved hands to muffle the blabbering boy. "You said if I came with you then you wouldn't tell anyone. If you tell Slade then I'm hauling you both to jail and locking you up with a gag in your mouth." Robin glared and Red nodded his head in understanding when Robin finally pulled his hands away. "I'm still not going to be Slade's present though, blackmail or not."

"But it's Slade's Birthday." Red X pouted behind his mask and held out his hands dramatically. "You have to be Slade's present or else it will look like I didn't get him anything and what kind of friend would that make me?"

"I don't care if it was the last day before Slade died of cancer; I'm not being his present." Robin decided and crossed his arms over his chest matter-of-factly. He was a person and refused to be treated as any 'thing' when he didn't even want to be at the place. But if Red X had cake then he could stay and be a guest for the party, maybe…

Red X stared at him for a moment and then looked at Slade. He looked back to Robin and then stared at Slade for a while before he spoke again. "You have cancer?" He cried out in shock. Surely that would have been mentioned in the report he had read.

Robin hit his forehead with his green palmed hand and sighed miserably. Why did he always have the habit of being blackmailed for something? Why couldn't he have the habit of finding money in his pocket or always being caught under the mistletoe with someone attractive?

"Wait a minute," Red X stared from Slade to Robin. "Slade can't have cancer because of the--" A black gloved hand was covering Red's mouth this time and Robin looked from the silent Red to Slade.

"You're being annoying again, Red X." Slade removed his hand hesitantly as Red understood the polite words telling him to shut the hell up. Slade glanced at Robin and then acted like neither of the boys were there and went to his chair. He didn't want to deal with any of this.

"Alright, I followed you here like we agreed so our deal is done; I'm leaving." Robin turned around and started to walk away, glad about loopholes that didn't state anything about staying where Red led him to. He stopped when Red interceded him in his path to the door.

"You can't leave, Robin; we haven't even done anything to celebrate Slade's Birthday yet." Red protested and Robin crossed his arms while giving the older teen a look. "Please, Robin, I want Slade to have a good Birthday and there's no one else that I know of that shares a bond with Slade than you."

"First of all, X," Robin started. "That bond between Slade and me that you speak of? That bond is utter hate for each other."

"I disagree with that." Red X interrupted before Robin started his next sentence, surprising the hero into silence for a moment. "I saw how you two looked at each other and I hacked onto your computer."

"Also," Robin ignored Red and the blush that had taken to his face. "Why do you even care if Slade has a good Birthday?"

"Because it's hero worship, you know?" Red X admitted. "I mean, the guy is the badest of the bad yet he has an honor code that could match Superman's and a mind that could match Luthor's. Haven't you ever had a hero—that wasn't yourself—that you wanted to be around and make happy? Didn't you ever want to hear that hero admit that he was proud of you?" Red looked to the floor and Robin frowned.

Robin understood Red's wish to please his hero and make them proud since it was what he had wanted most with Batman. "…I guess I could hang around and help make Slade's Birthday a bit better. I mean, it is kind of sad that the man doesn't have any friends or family to--"

"Yay!" Red shouted childishly as he yanked on Robin's arm and pulled him toward Slade's chair. "Robin's agreed to make this your best Birthday ever, Slade." He announced as he put words into Robin's mouth.

Slade looked up from his laptop and glanced from Red X to Robin. "What do you have planned then?" He would humor the boy and hide the truth behind his mask like he always did.

"Well," Red grinned behind his mask. Everything was going exactly as he planned. "I was thinking you should unwrap your gift."

"…Wait, I thought I was the gift." Robin looked narrowly at Red.

"You are," the boy nodded. "And you're also colored in colorful wrappings that scream for Slade to strip away."

Standing abruptly from his chair, Slade loomed over Red X and pulled his fist back because, really, the annoying boy had gone too far for once and he--"Well, I suppose he is the Birthday boy…" Robin's face was burning as he looked at his feet and ignored the two men, slack-jawed behind their masks, staring at him. "And it's not like he's going to go for the traditional Birthday spankings."

The silence in the room was almost deafening until Slade finally cleared his throat. "I'm all for the tradition of the Birthday spankings, but I'll be the one to deliver them instead of receiving them." Red stared as Robin's face grew as red as his shirt. "I'd like to unwrap my gift in my room so I won't have to move it once it's ready for me."

"I know the way," Robin smiled as he started to walk out of the room and toward a door leading to a hall. "Oh, but don't let your Birthday guest leave yet, after all, he should stick around and make sure your Birthday is the best it's ever been."

"Oh, he will be sticking around. Who did you think I planned to give my Birthday spanks to?" Slade watched as Robin chuckled lightly and called out to him one last time before he started down the hall. "Robin, it's good to have you back, even if it's just for one day." Robin nodded solemnly and walked down the hall, some sway in his hips.

Slade turned to Red X and laid a hand on his shoulder. "How did you find out that Robin and I use to date?"

"Lucky guess," Red shrugged without bothering Slade's hand and without giving out that he had read it all in Robin's diary files.

"You do know that today's not my Birthday, right?" Slade asked as he started to walk toward the bedroom with his hand still on Red's shoulder.

"Yeah, but Robin doesn't know that."

"Are you going to sing to me?" Slade asked as he slowly lifted Robin's shirt over his head.

"If you want your hearing to remain in tact, you don't want Red X to sing." Robin smirked even though he felt rather ridiculous at being 'unwrapped' with both Slade and Red X in the room and still fully clothed.

"How would you know about my singing voice?" Red X crossed his arms over his chest and tilted his head up like he was extremely insulted. "Slade, are you planning on keeping the wrapping paper or something? Why don't you just rip the damn wrappings open like any normal person would?"

"Are you in a particular rush to go somewhere?" Slade inquired and Red X shook his head. "Then just relax, it's not everyday that you can join me for a party."

"Really? Drat, because I was going to start insisting that we should all have a weekly sex party here." Red X removed his mask and grinned. "Happy Birthday to you, happy Birthday to you, happy--" Red X began to sing in an incredibly off pitched voice until Robin leaned over Slade's lap and covered the boy's mouth.

"If I had a cake with candles to blow out, I would wish to never hear you sing again." Slade frowned at Red and ran his hand down Robin's bare back.

"I don't think we'd have enough candles to mark your age." Robin grinned up at the man as he removed his hands from Red's mouth.

Slade feigned a hurt look as he removed his mask. "Cracking age jokes, Robin?" Slade rolled the boy off of his lap and pinned him to the bed. "I guess I'll just have to show you what this old man can still do." He grinned and started to ravish Robin's neck as the boy laughed.

"I hope you don't mind if I finish opening your gift." Red X wiggled his hand in between Slade and Robin and worked on Robin's belt as his hand brushed against the green clad erection. Robin hissed and arched up against Red's hand and Slade's stomach.

Slade rolled off of Robin and quickly rid himself of his own shirt. He laid back down on the bed and enjoyed watching Red shed his shirt and cape. Red caught his eye and beamed.

"Hey, Slade, I hope you won't mind a three layer cake!" Red X jumped on top of Slade's stomach and grinned down on the man even as Robin jumped on top of him. The two boys smiled down on Slade and chuckled to each other as a smile spread on Slade's face.

Slade didn't consider himself to be either lucky or unlucky. He was a man who believed that luck had nothing to do with his life and that things came down to being what they were because of his decisions. It wasn't luck that the certain experiments turned out to be in his favor instead of killing him like they had so many others. Luck hadn't signed him up for those tests, he had. It wasn't unlucky that he used those favors in a way that cost him his family and his eye. It was his decision to go behind his family's back and pursue the life of a mercenary. Now, it might be unlucky to some that he had to learn from those fateful events and decisions and had found himself a new place to start over; Jump City.

But it certainly wasn't luck that made him seek Robin out as an apprentice. And luck had nothing to do with getting Robin into his bed—his charm, intelligence, and skill had got the boy there—or with losing the boy the next day because of a fight. It was his rash decision to claim the boy too early and his stubbornness that had cost him Robin's respect and any chance of love with him. And it was his decision to act like none of that had ever happened and his heart hadn't broken.

Even though it still stung that he was never able to talk about that one night with Robin, Slade accepted it and moved on in his life. When he had found himself with an unexpected visitor with a familiar mask yet a different face behind it, he knew it wasn't luck that had brought him a new boy interest. It was the boy's curiosity and stupidity.

It may not have been his Birthday, he hadn't made up with Robin, and he still had an annoying Red X that would probably be around more so than ever, but Slade still felt like it was the best day he had ever had. Once the 'party' was over and his gift and his lone guest were asleep on both sides of himself, Slade found that he had a smile on his face. And luck had nothing to do with the two boys that he knew would be in his life from now on. The fact that Robin and Red X would remain bothering Slade in the ways that they did—one by talking too much and one by meddling too much—and would continue being in his life, that was the best gift anyone had ever given him.