Hey! Hope everyone had a great New Year! Here's another lil RedxRae story for you!

This is rated M to be safe, as there's very strong hints of "Big Grown Up's Stuff…"

Disclaimer: still don't own Teen Titans! A girl can dream though, can't she??

The fancy dress ball was well under way, and Raven sighed as she leaned against a marble pillar and watched everyone else dancing. The Mayor had invited the Titans, and Raven had been dreading coming since Starfire hurriedly sent back the RSVPs then declared that she and Raven were going costume shopping that instant.

But as she gazed around the room, her eyes taking in the princesses, wizards, pirates, genies, hula dancers, knights and whatever other crazy ideas people had come dressed as, she realised that she actually liked it, despite the crowdedness.

Her eyes caught hold of Robin and Starfire dancing, dressed as a prince and princess. Figured. She was glad that they were together now; it would get rid of the sexual tension in the Tower.

Raven sighed again and fiddled with the ties at the front of her dress. She herself had come dressed as a medieval maiden, and wore a short violet dress with an extremely low neck line that went halfway down her breasts, and a tight white cotton blouse underneath it with elbow length sleeves and lace ties at the front. Her hair was curled and pinned up in a messy topknot, and she had purple flats on her feet, a black lace choker round her neck. Her dress came to just above her knee, and when she'd entered the common room to meet the other Titans before they left, they were all in shock, as the overall impression of the outfit was sexy, a word that none of them had ever associated with Raven.

She noticed Beast Boy and Cyborg at the buffet, no doubt having a tofu vs. meat argument as they often did at meal times, although as they were in public, they weren't yelling, just talking loudly.

Very loudly.

Raven suddenly sensed someone beside her, and when she turned she came face to face with a tall, lean body. The man beside her was a dark prince, clothed all in black save for the inside of his cloak which was a shocking scarlet colour. A tight black cotton shirt tucked into black breeches and long boots showed off his muscular body, and a black mask with little red diamonds on it framed his mischievous amber eyes, his silvery black hair went down to his chin and his feathery bangs fell over his eyes behind the mask.

"May I have this dance?" he asked, his husky voice making her shiver. Raven looked at his offered hand and bit her lip before she took it.

He lead her out onto the floor as the music changed to a waltz, and Raven felt her cheeks turn pink as he put a hand on her waist and kept hold of the hand she'd given him. Raven herself reached up, placing her hand on his strong shoulder, and he pulled her closer to him, their chests pressing together as he spun them round the floor.

Raven found that she couldn't speak; there was something about him that captivated her, that made her want to hold onto him forever and spend the rest of eternity here, dancing, with him.

She hardly noticed when the song ended until everyone applauded the band and her mysterious partner bowed to her. Raven's eyes locked onto his, and he smiled, keeping hold of her hand.

"Would you like some air? It's a bit crowded in here."

Raven nodded, and allowed him to lead her from the ballroom, down a hallway and out into the garden. The empath gasped as she saw a giant hedge maze, and she looked to her companion.

"We're not going in there, are we?"

He grinned down at her and squeezed her hand. "Course we are, I know the way."

His confidence made her frown, his emotions felt familiar to her… but she ignored it.

A left, a right, straight on, three lefts, through a little wooden door in a hedge, another right… Raven lost all sense of direction in the maze after a while, and relied on her dance partner to not get them lost. Sure enough, a few minutes later, they reached a clearing were a beautiful bandstand stood, ivy and roses twisting around the regal looking archways.

Her partner grinned cockily down at her and pulled her toward it, then settled her down onto the bench inside it. Raven looked out at the maze, relishing in the silence…

"See Sunshine, told you I knew the way."

Raven shot to her feet, a glare making its way onto her face. "Red X!"

"Hi," he replied, giving her a little wave, a smirk on his face. "Wondered when you'd realise it was me, but since you were taking your time, I decided to help you out a bit."

"Why do you insist on following me?!" Raven yelled, her hands glowing with her aura. X's smirk turned into a grin.

"You fascinate me, chickadee," he answered. "And you like me."

Raven huffed, exasperated. For a while now, Red X had taken to turning up when she was in the city by herself, always in his costume though, and harassed her. When the Titans fought him, he would always quickly incapacitate the others, leaving her for last, then he would flirt with her and push her buttons.

But what Raven hadn't told anyone else was that she didn't mind him doing it. Although she shouted at him, although she fought him and pretended she didn't like him, her heart always beat faster when he appeared, when she felt the waves of cockiness and arrogance that emanated from him.

"When will you get this through your abnormally thick skull?" Raven asked darkly, trying to ignore the fact that her heart was pounding and her blood was rushing through her ears. "I. Don't. Like. You!"

X snickered. "Of course you don't, Sunshine."

"Stop calling me that!"

"Why not?"

"Because it's stupid. It's a pet name." X took a step toward her, and she took one back. "Get away from me. I don't want you anywhere near me."

"Really? Let's test that theory out." He started walking towards her, and she walked backwards.

"What are you doing?" she asked, confusion in her voice, confusion that turned to worry when her back hit the metal wall of the bandstand. X kept coming closer, and when he got close, he pressed his body against her and bent his head so his lips were only centimetres from hers, his hands on her waist. Raven closed her eyes and opened her mouth a little and put her arms around his neck. Just as she was leaning up into him, X pulled back. When she opened her eyes, she noted the smug smirk on his face.

"See? That's proof you want me."

Raven's eyes widened and her jaw dropped slightly as she realised that he was right, that she just got found out; that her well kept secret of crushing on the enemy had been dragged to light.

"No it's not!" she said defensively, throwing a glare at him, hoping that he believed her denial.

"You opened your mouth and leaned up towards me, wanting to kiss me, you put your arms around my neck to hold me close to you, and you've opened your legs a little," X listed, looking her up and down and checking her reactions off on his fingers. "I'm pretty sure that's enough evidence in my favour."

Raven removed her arms from his neck and swallowed, embarrassed, holding her legs tightly together.

"What you didn't do though was kiss me first, which would've really landed you in it."

Raven growled. "You're enjoying this aren't you?"

"Of course," he grinned. "I like it when I'm right about something, and I like it even more when a sexy girl lets me press against her and doesn't kick my ass even if she's capable of trying to."

Raven blushed. "But what would be the point in even trying to kick your ass when I know you'd probably beat me?" she asked. "I've seen you fight Robin."

Red X snorted, giving her the impression that he thought Robin an easy target. "Answer a question for me. If I told you to open your legs for me, what would you say?" he asked, raising an eyebrow, his voice dropping back to that delicious husky tone that made her go gooey.

Raven's face went from pink to bright red and she bit her lip, very tempted to strangle him… or jump him… She turned her head to look away from him, but he put his hands on her face and made her look him in the eye.

"How would you have me answer?" she asked, hoping that she was just imagining the shake in her voice.

"How far?"

Raven growled and pulled away from him, her eyes glinting dangerously. "Get off me right now, or so help me I'll send you to a dimension were women don't exist!"

"Aww, don't get angry Sunshine. It was just a question." X stepped closer to her again and placed his hands on her hips. "But what if I didn't ask anymore questions? What if I were to do something else?" he asked, running his hands down her thighs to the hem of her dress before sliding them back up, pushing the skirt of her dress up.

Raven's breath hitched and she froze, her heart pounding harder as she locked eyes with the masked thief. X stroked her smooth skin with his long fingers, and found the hem of her panties. He started playing with the edge of them, and Raven felt hot all over, shivers shooting down her spine as want surged through her body.

"C'mon Chickadee. Give in to me. I know you want to," he whispered into her ear. "I can see it in your eyes."

Raven put her arms back around his neck, hating that he had discovered she liked him… that he'd proven it. She wanted to give in - Azar did she - but Pride didn't want her to submit to him, didn't want her to give in so easily and give him the satisfaction. Knowledge wasn't happy with the idea either, reasoning that giving in to him would be a betrayal to the team. Raven shut her eyes, her mind split as to what to do; kiss him senseless or use her powers to knock him on his ass.

X looked down at the empath, who still had her eyes shut. She was a pretty thing, he mused, and didn't she look hot in that little dress… Raven had always drawn him to her; she was a mystery, an enigma that he wanted to solve. He didn't care that she was a Titan, but maybe that enhanced her appeal; that she was the one thing he couldn't covet… she would have to be stolen willingly…

He bent down and pressed his lips to hers. For a few seconds, she didn't react, holding herself back, but he wanted to see if she would kiss first. Just as he was about to pull away, her lips started to move against his, softly at first, then harder, her fingers curling into his hair. X tightened his grip on her thighs and their kiss quickly became hotter, more passionate. Raven mewled as she felt the thief's fingers clutch at her skin, and she hitched one of her legs onto his hip.

X kissed Raven harder; he was getting more than he bargained for. He'd just wanted to get a kiss out of the little Titan to prove his theory, but as she lifted her other leg to his hip and his hands slid round to her bottom to support her, his mind went blank.

Raven froze up as she felt one of his hands slide up her back and start undoing the buttons at the back of her dress. She pulled away from him, breathless, dropping her head to the crook of his neck.

"X… stop."

"What?" he asked huskily, his lips finding her cheek.

"Stop. I don't want this."

There was silence for a moment, and neither of them moved until X let go of her, dropping her legs to the floor and taking a few steps back. Raven used her powers to redo the button he'd unfastened, and she smoothed the front of her dress down.

"You tell me that you don't want this, yet your body tells me otherwise," X muttered, running a hand through his hair. Raven felt anger radiate from him, and she felt pissed.

"Yes, my body tells you otherwise!" she yelled, "of course it does! You had your hands all over me, doing things to me that no one's ever done to me before! You make my heart race and adrenaline surge; you touch me and make me feel alive, as though I've been dead all my life and you've awakened me…" Raven paused, her face turning pink. "You're confident, arrogant, cocky, dangerous… hot…" she trailed off, and her eyes caught onto his.

"Guess I was right then, huh?" he asked, taking a hesitant step toward her, as though he would spook her if he moved too fast. Raven sighed and sank to the floor.

"You're so up yourself."

X laughed. "Of course I am Sunshine. And you love it."

Raven shook her head absentmindedly and pulled her hair pins out, letting her lavender locks tumble down in a wave of curls. She felt something vibrate and sighed as she pulled her communicator from her pocket, flipping it open and biting her lip as she saw Robin's face fill the small screen.

Raven, where are you? We've looked everywhere for you.

"I'm in the bandstand in the maze," she replied, ignoring Robin's confused look.

We're gonna go… are you coming home with us?

Raven looked up at X, who was gazing down at her, an unknown emotion in his amber eyes.

"I'm coming. I'll meet you at the car in a minute."

She clicked the communicator shut and stood up, putting the comm. and her hair pins in her pocket. She brushed invisible dust from her skirt before looking back at the thief.

"Guess this is goodbye," he muttered, all his confidence and cockiness gone. Raven frowned.

"It's not as if we don't see each other on a regular basis," she retorted.

X snorted. "That's business. It should never be mixed with pleasure…" Raven blushed and fiddled with a strand of her hair. The thief stepped close to her and pulled off his eye mask, pressing it into her hands as he leaned down and kissed her chastely.

"Something to remember me by."

Raven looked up at his face, fully revealed to her for the first time. She gave him a smile and pulled her choker off, placing the jewellery in his hand.

"What's this?" he asked, frowning down at the delicate mix of beads and lace.

"Something to remember me by," Raven replied, leaning up and kissing his cheek. She took a step back from him, muttered, "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!" and disappeared in a swirl of darkness.

Red X looked down at the gift in his hand, the lace still warm from where it had been resting on her throat all evening.

"How would I ever forget you, my Chickadee?"

I came up with this whilst working out a sequel for 'Stuck With Each Other'. Seeing as I was on a RedxRae roll anyway, this kinda happened…

If you couldn't tell, Raven does like Red X; she's just in denial… in the beginning, anyways…

Not really sure here if the pair of them leave it at that, or if this is just the start of a series of secret meetings between the two… you can decide for yourselves…

So, tell me what you think.

Make me happy: read & review!!

LunaAbraxos xxx