A/N: Happy B-day ChocoholicYaoiFan (December 23)

I… think I let the birthday girl down on this one, but I'm not sure… She likes dark stuff, but she first suggested something with Red/Robin and it's been a while since I wrote them, and I wanted to, kinda… explore them… so this isn't dark and it's mostly just dialogue… but it still let me think about how I see them… Hopefully, by now. Black Sheep has been dark enough, so people won't mind a bit of a talk… ;) So ChocoholicYaoiFan, I'mVERY sorry if this disappoints you… this might very well be like getting socks when wishing for an iPad… and if that is the case, again, I'm sorry, but hopefully it will get a few laughs, and, as I said, it was very important for me to write this…

The X Factor

Curiosity. Embarrassment. Frustration. Guilt. Excitement. Those were quite a mix of feelings to experience every time he saw the thief. Red X, though, mostly seemed to enjoy running into Robin, even if it was in the middle of a job.

"Hey, kid, wanna play tag?" he asked, pocketing the flash drive which had just been hooked up to the big company's mainframe, stealing all its secrets.

"Give me that memory, X," Robin growled.

"Oh, I can give you a memory alright," the young delinquent chuckled and threw himself at the hero. Robin had been prepared to duck a flying X or ten, not a body, and didn't make it away in time. The air was knocked out of him when he hit the floor with the other young man on top of him.

"We never get the opportunity to play," the thief complained and then pulled up the edge of his mask just enough to kiss the stunned hero quickly on the lips. "There. Tag. You're it. Whoops, I hear your friends are getting free, I better go. See you around, hero!"

With a leap and a flicker he was gone.

It took Robin almost two weeks to find him again.

"You kissed me!"

"What, you're gonna sue me for sexual harassment? Because if you are, I might wanna do some more things… you know… help you build a case?"

"Why?"

"I'm a helpful guy."

"No, why did you kiss me?"

They were alone, on a vast stretch of roof belonging to the city bank.

"Kid, some things take time to explain, and I don't have it."

"If you are waiting for a certain diamond to arrive, it won't. I spread that rumor," Robin smirked, a bit proud of himself.

"What? That's low, kid! Do I go around claiming that Slade has food poisoning and is as weak as a lamb? No. Your morals are despicable!"

"My morals?" Robin gaped. "Said the thief?"

They were facing each other, but they hadn't drawn any weapons and their stances were relaxed. Well. As relaxed as they were going to get. Neither of them were stupid.

"What? My morals are adapted to me, you, on the other hand, is a hero who looks out for this whole city. You shouldn't be allowed to trick people."

"Yeah, well, you know what you taught me? That it's not so simple as being a hero or a villain…" the Titan now grinned instead of smirked.

"I taught you something? Great! Wanna learn some more? Like biology? I'm very good at biology."

"You're also very good at making me feel guilty."

"Huh?" Red X looked like Robin had accused him of kicking kittens.

The hero sighed and then threw his arms out in a shrug. He had come here for one reason and one reason only, and it wasn't to arrest the thief. "Can we talk? That's all I want. Look, I can take off my belt if that makes you feel better?" he said and unbuckled it.

"Hmmm… How about you keep the belt and lose everything else?"

"Don't push it."

"Pft, that's not what you're going to say later."

"Red X, this is serious!"

"Yeah, like I told you when I first met you, you just take life too seriously, but fine. Yes, lose the belt. You're too sneaky for a hero."

Robin dropped the belt and then walked over to sit down with his back leaning against the low wall surrounding the roof.

"Wow, you really do just want to talk, don't you?" the thief said, sounding fascinated.

"Yeah."

"And you're not afraid that I'll attack you?"

"I don't think I have anything you'll want to steal."

"Weeeeeeell…." the thief began but Robin interrupted him by raising his hand.

"Besides, you're a damn vicious fighter, but, like you have admitted yourself, you're not a big villain. You don't go out of your way to hurt people."

"You think I'm a good fighter?" the thief preened.

"One of the best," Robin admitted. "Not that I can't kick your ass…"

"What was that? Lick my ass?"

"What are you? Twelve?"

"No, I'm just like math: I'm hard."

"Math isn't that hard," Robin grinned.

"Then I guess I'm easy. Either way, you win," Red X chuckled and plopped down on the ground as well. "So? What's up, kid? What did you want to talk about?"

"You."

"My favorite subject."

"Well, it's not mine."

"Hey, that's insulting!"

"I don't care. Do you know what I think of when I see you?"

"Hot, steaming-"

"No. My biggest mistake ever."

"You're not supposed to say that until the morning after, you know," the thief said, but by his voice and body language Robin could tell that he was listening and the jokes were just an automatic reaction.

"Creating that suit," the hero said and gestured to Red X, "almost made me lose my friends. I know they didn't trust me for a long while, and when you showed up, that trust was almost ruined again."

"Sure, but you're all good now, right?" the other teen, because Robin was pretty sure he was dealing with someone just slightly older, if that, shrugged.

"Yes, but don't you see? Every time you steal something, it's my fault."

"Pft, I've been a professional thief since I was eleven, kid. How else would I've gotten to the suit in the first place?"

"I know, but all the gadgets, the power of the suit… it lets you do worse-"

"-better-"

"Worse things. More things."

"Ah, all the things I can do…" Red sighed airily.

"Red…"

"Yeah, okay so you feel guilty as heck. Here's a tip, Rob: get over it. No one else blames you."

"Maybe not… but still… and you confuse me."

"You misspoke. You meant to say 'turn me on'."

"Yes, well, that too." Even a full facial mask somehow couldn't hide how stunned Red X got, and Robin burst out in a short laugh, which ended in a bit of a wry grimace. "You turned my world upside down. And not in that way. Before you there were villains and heroes, before you it was simple, and then you came along and claimed that you might be a thief but you 'weren't such a bad guy'. And you helped us out both with Chang and with the race..."

"Hey, you saved my life!"

"Still, others would have just kicked me off a cliff as thanks, trust me."

"Yeah, well… I'm important to me…"

"Yes, I know… It's all about you…"

"That sounded mean!"

"Am I wrong?"

"Well… no… but it's always just been me… no one else has really cared to look out for me, so I had to do it myself."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't make me cry, kid, stopped that a long time ago."

"Well… I know a thing or two about being alone…"

"Oh, come on? You can't take a piss without splashing at least one friend!"

"Ew."

"Yeah, sorry, but you know what I mean."

"Yes, but what you see isn't always the truth," Robin shrugged.

"Whoa, hold on a moment This is getting too deep," the thief said and dug around in his belt. Robin stiffened for a moment before the other teen pulled out a couple of candy bars. "This calls for chocolate!" he said and threw one of them over to Robin. After doing that, he scooted closer until their feet nearly touched. "You were saying?"

"You have candy in your belt? That pocket was designed for smoke bombs!"

"Well, they ran out and making new ones is a pain. I prefer making other gadgets. Besides, I just stole it off a kid."

"You actually stole candy from a baby?"

"Well, it was a fat kid."

"Red!"

"It was! I like stealing candy from fat kids and give them to poor ones."

"Yourself?"

"No, actual poor kids."

"Oh. How Robin Hood-like of you…"

"Yup, I'm a great guy. But now we need the chocolate more."

Robin took that as a hint to continue, so, while peeling off the wrapper to his bar, he did.

"Well… we are friends, of course, close friends, but... I'm also their leader. I have to make all the tough decisions, I have to be the one to put my foot down now and then and they have to respect that and listen to me, so… there's always that little, tiny… rift. Maybe not all the time, it can go days between the times I notice it, but then… something happens and… well.. they all look at me."

"Okay, yeah… I guess that can feel a bit strange… but, come on, your dad is Batman, and-"

"Batman's not my dad."

"He's not? I mean… I just assumed…"

"No, he's my… mentor."

"Um… he's not your… you know… you two aren't…?"

"NO! No, god, no… why do people always assume that? I mean it's either that he's my dad, or that I'm his boy toy."

"Sorry, just checking. But… what about your family, then?"

"My parents were murdered when I was little. Died in front of my eyes… I was eight."

"Damn."

"Yeah… I was taken care of, but, since then… since then I've felt alone… even when I'm surrounded by people… It's strange…" Robin said and took a big bite out of the bar.

Red X did the same, having pulled up his mask just enough, and they were quiet for a while.

"So, yeah… no one's life is perfect then… I just kinda assumed yours was. Sorry about that." Red X said after swallowing.

"Not your fault, it's not that I walk around with a sign saying 'orphan' on my back… and I'm guessing you had a worse childhood?"

"Didn't have much of a childhood, really… My parents are still alive, I think, but they are both addicts, so I was more or less left to my own devices. Got taken into foster care once or twice but… yeah… I guess it was too late… I wasn't used to rules so I didn't handle that well…"

"Not gotten any better there…" Robin grinned.

"Nope," Red grinned back, and as his mask was still up, Robin could see it too.

"You have a nice smile."

"You too… wanna see what happens if they meet each other?"

"No, that's why I really needed to talk to you. The kiss-thing? Too far."

"Whyyy?"

"Because I kinda like you. Because sometimes I… Sometimes I wish I could be you… I mean… again… Just for a while. To not have any responsibilities, and just be… free."

"I'm a pretty smart guy, but I'm not following," the thief admitted.

"I can't have all these feeling for you, because you're a criminal. I'm still expected to stop you when you commit a crime, and, really, I just can't have you joking around and mess up my life even more, so… please stop flirting?"

"Who says I'm joking around?"

"Please, you flirt with Starfire and-"

"Only to get your attention."

"Really?" It was Robin's turn to look stunned.

"Yeah, I mean, my gay-dar is pretty good, but I wasn't sure with you, so… but you're bi, right?"

"Curious at least," Robin grinned, his cheeks heating up a little.

"Yes! I knew it! I wonder if this gift makes me meta-human?"

"Strange gift to have. Would you use it for good or evil?"

"I'll just use it to out everyone, and then, when people realize that they all know someone who's gay, then that won't be a problem anymore!"

"Nice thought. Don't think it will be that simple, though."

"Ah, well… can always hope."

"So are you… I mean… gay or bi?"

"Well, I'm not straight," the other snickered. "I'm bi, but I'm partial to certain black-haired heroes. Very partial."

"Sure you are. Didn't we just establish that you are selfish? But it really doesn't matter. I can't date Red X. I just can't."

"So are you saying I have to choose between you and the suit?" the thief said.

Robin felt his mouth fall open for a second, but then laughed while shaking his head.

"No… I don't expect you to do anything like that for me. I just… I just want the flirting to stop. I wasn't going to say anything but when you kissed me… it made things worse."

"Oh, thank you," the thief snorted.

"You know what I mean…" Robin chuckled and finished off his candy bar, holding on to the wrapper until he could get to a trash can. "I just hope that you can understand, and… no hard feelings?"

"This is the weirdest breakup I've ever been through… especially as we've never dated…"

"But that's it too; if my team found out I'm dating -or whatever- Red X… that would be bad. So bad. I think they'd rather see me with Slade."

"But I'm a nice guy! We've talked about that"

"They will just think of the betrayal… and start wondering if I gave you the suit… and then ask what side I'm on…"

"Yeah, yeah, insecure little prats, I get it. Wow, you and Slade? Really?"

"That was an example."

"You've never… you know… thought about it?"

"Not really. The whole 'I want to own you' deal is a bit of a turn off."

"Liar." Red X smirked and Robin couldn't help but smirk back. "But seriously, if you could date a villain and it couldn't be me, because obviously I'm your first choice… who would it be?"

"A guy?"

"Yeah, a guy."

"Hmmm… ah… Billy Numerous."

"You dirty little-"

"What, he seems like a fun guy! And you know.. there are perks…"

"Yeah, if you like bukkake… but sorry, kid, if you think I'm selfish… he's likely to just forget about you right in the middle."

"You know this how?"

"Might have tapped that."

"Sounds like someone had that dirty thought before me, then," Robin smirked.

"Chuckles, I've had all your dirty thoughts before you."

"That's a game I'm not going to play," Robin laughed and got on his feet. Red X followed suit and they were then facing each other. The hero then took a step forward and kissed the slightly taller boy, before giving him a smile. "Tag. You're it. Try to stay good?"

"Try to be a little more bad," Red grinned.

Robin chuckled, picked up his belt and the next moment he was flying through the air.

Later, before entering the Titan's common room, the hero swallowed and took a deep breath, though. Why was he feeling like this? He had just, hopefully, ended a bit of flirting, nothing else… and for some reason he felt more alone than ever.

A few days later he was on a pizza run, and was just about to pay when someone tapped him on the shoulder.

"Hey, Robin, could you loan me some cash?"

The Titans were all very used to people approaching them, asking for, or demanding, money, and, although they did as much charity work as they could, they had a rule about not giving out cash, so Robin turned around with a friendly but resolute expression on his face and the usual speech on his lips. And then his eyes fell on another pair of lips that looked slightly familiar.

"Yeah, hate to bother you, kid, but my new boyfriend kinda made me give up my job…"

"R-Red?" Robin stared at the friendly and very charming face, with dyed dark red hair with a few black stripes, green-blue eyes and cute dimples.

"Or Alex. Alex is fine. Can I help you with those?" the, possibly former, thief asked and grabbed the stack of pizza boxes from the counter.

Robin was still stunned as they left the place and couldn't keep his eyes off the redhead.

"So… does this mean… you're not Red X anymore?"

"Weeeell… I figured I'd give it a rest for a little while… you know… see how things goes."

"So, wait, if this doesn't work out, you're back to stealing? That's a bit like blackmail."

"Aw… yeah… hope it works, then!" Alex grinned. "But, really, I was thinking… I might be able to hack any system and plan a break-in into Fort Knox, but I can't sew worth a fucking damn… but, if it makes you feel better, I can still change the suit… like what if I got some red tape and did a square around the 'X'?"

"No."

"But I could be the Red Check Box!"

"Not happening."

"Ah, well…" Red X grinned and, balancing the pizzas on one hand, snuck the other arm around Robin's waist. "We'll talk about it…"

The End

A/N: A few things: yes I gave Red X red hair. Yes, I called him Alex again. The thing is, I really don't think it matters if I describe him differently in every universe… I mean, I COULD, sure, and there are differences in some, but why make SURE to switch it up for every drabble? Nah, I actually prefer to have a "mold" to work with, so to speak, so I just wanted to say that I'm aware I'm doing this… ;)

I rewatched "X" to write this, and I think the more avid of the TT watchers can tell that in a few places, as I bring many of the sentences/expressions in… he is really amazingly well presented, and the fact that he only has one more "big" episode in the show is puzzling… although they thought it would continue, so yeah… About who he REALLY is… I know there are ideas out there that he's Jason Todd (one of the ideas in BB's presentation) but, even though that name DID appear on the board, I'm not sure if the timeline, with Robin being about… 15-16, matches with when Jason became Robin and then died… Wasn't Dick Nightwing by then? Although, to be fair, timelines in the DC universe, when it comes to matching up the different shows and such is a bit… wibbly-wobbly as the doctor would say. Still, MY belief, until an interview with the creators prove me wrong, is that Red X was simply created for the show, like so many others of the villains, leaving us writers free to do whatever the hell we want with him, really… ;)