A/N: School is almost over, so expect quicker updates.

Disclaimer: I own neither BFS or Teen Titans.

TT

Raven, three hours later, could be found laying awake on her bed. She had been sleeping, but jerked awake and failed to get back to sleep. It was now abouteight at night, and it was dark. Raven sat against her head board and gathered one of her precious books into her arms and turned open to the page she had previously been on. She needed nothing but calmness right now, and reading a good book was exactly how to achieve that calmness.

She took a deep breath and flipped the page. Loud music came from across the hallway, but since it was across the supposedly sound-proof hallway, she only heard a soft hum. It was some type of emo music that Robin listened to.

Sissy.

Raven breathed deep and her eyes scanned over the words as she continued to read. Suddenly, her book became uninteresting and she bookmarked it, before shutting it with a resounding snap and setting it on her bedside table. She sighed and ran her hands through her violet locks before falling back onto her mass of pillows. She turned over and closed her eyes, preparing to sleep.

Except a noisy 'pop' disrupted the silence and she slowly opened her eyes to see Gabe standing right in front of her. So, she did what anyone would do when faced with such an unexpected vision.

She screamed.

He came forward and clapped his hand over her mouth, immediately stopping her screams. He removed it once she gathered her bearings and glared sternly at him. "If you weren't so fast any of the Titans would be down here in a second and they would have found you!" she hissed. "What are you doing here, anyways?"

"Trying to get the girl all the bad guys want," he admitted blatantly, a small smirk across his lips. "How about we go out tonight?" he asked, a pink tint now rising to his cheeks and his smirk dropping slightly. She had to admit, it was endearing. "Please? I promise I'll show you a good time." He held out his hand towards her now sitting form.

"What if you came all this way just to hear me say no?" she asked him.

"It was still worth it, just to see you."

"Why do you like me so much?" came the shy question she had been burning to ask him. "Why me? I'm your greatest enemy." She stood and walked to her window, pushing back the silken black curtains. "You hate the Titans. You hate me. And even if you aren't playing some sort of facade, why start showing interest now. You think I'm vulnerable because of-" she gulped "-Gar?"

"Never. I wouldn't take advantage of you. I just-" he walked after her and had his hand poised over her shoulder, but retracted it. "I guess you could say I have my own reasons. But, I truly do want to be with you. Just trust me, I can't tell you yet. Someday. Now what do you say?"

"Give me some time to throw some clothes on and I'll give you a chance," she told him, turning to smile slightly. "But no promises. Just a friendly outing."

"If that's the best I can get, I'll take it. I'm not picky."

Raven told him to wait just a second and she ventured to her walk-in closet to throw on jeans and a baggy-tee. She pulled her ponytail out and let her hair slide over her shoulders and down to her waist. Raven exited her closet with her hands in her back pockets and smiled shyly towards Gabe. "You ready?" she asked.

"Ready as ever," he replied with a toothy grin. "C'mere." He walked towards the window and threw it open. He stood on the ledge, ducked slightly to accommodate his tall form, and took her hand to bring her with him. She stepped on the ledge and felt the cool December air against her face, and smiled.

"Now the real question; are YOU ready?" he asked.

She raised a single eyebrow in his direction. He smirked and took her waist, before jumping. She swore as they started free-falling towards the water below. She then screamed. He only laughed as if he enjoyed torturing her. Her screams grew louder as the approached the water faster and faster. She turned to him and wrapped her arms around his waist, screaming in his ear.

Then, two feet before the cold, uninviting water, there was a quick pop and they disappeared together.

They reappeared inside a small room, with a single desk, a rutty office chair, and a ripped leather couch with a small wooden coffee table. The only relatively new thing in the room was a shining light and dark blue electric guitar in a stand in the corner. Gabe smirked, as Raven continued screaming, but no one could hear her because of loud music coming from outside the office. "Nice."

"Where are we? What just happened?" Raven asked, as he tentatively let go of her waist. He walked towards the guitar stand, picked it up, and threw the strap about his shoulder. It hung in a 'I'm-a-cool-rockstar-and-you-know-you-want-to-be-this-sexy-man's-groupie' kind of way. And it looked pretty cool with his tight pants and polo with the collar popped.

"When you wear the suit as long and as often as I have, the Xynothium seeps through your skin and travels through your bloodstream. It's not dangerous, but it gives you the powers of the suit. I can appear and disappear with or without the suit," he told her. "No side affects yet, but I have a feeling my hair may start to turn red soon."

"Whoa," Raven breathed.

"Yea. Don't get used to that, though, because I have to take my motorcycle home. I left it in the parking lot here a few nights back after a gig I did. That's where we are now, one of my concerts," he told her.

"Your concert?"

"I'm in a band called Your Perfect Future. We do mostly pop punk, emo, Fall-Out-Boy-type music. Anyways, we're in the backroom of a community center in downtown Jump. I brought you here to see us perform, and to have some fun. You ready for it?" He asked, smiling her direction, switching his guitar so it was resting on his back.

"Ready," she replied softly. He took her wrist and led her out into the large main room, where a hundred or so kids were already gathered. They walked up towards the front of a large stage and he let go of her wrist to jump onto the stage and take the center microphone. He looked to the people on either side of him, one with a bass guitar and one with an electric guitar. He then looked back at the drummer and winked.

"Is that her?" he mouthed, for Gabe would surely not be able to hear him over the din of the crowd. He jerked his head towards the front.

"Yea, that's her," Gabe replied. "Amazing, isn't she?"

"I'll say."

Gabe turned back around, strumming his guitar a bit to make sure it was tuned before plugging it into the amplifier. He smirked down towards Raven and winked, and the ghost of a blush spread across her cheeks. "Ok, so if we rowdy teens wanna settled down a bit...there that's good. Hey, I'm Gabe." He strung his "a" out a bit as if he was going to say something else. "And we are Your Perfect Future. Do we have any requests tonight?"

"Rewind!" someone shouted from way behind Raven in the back and there were shouts of approval. She smiled up at him as he cocked his head to one side, his mouth pressed against the microphone. His eyes darted down to her for only a second.

"Sounds like a good opener, right boys?" Gabe started, looking to either side of him. "Ok then. Rewind it is."

Gabe strummed his guitar a few times as the drummer clapped his drumsticks together, shouting out, "One, two. One, two, three, four!". He then brought his hand down swiftly, like Raven had seen many rockstars on TV do, and his guitar began pulsing a loud, upbeat intro to a song that sounded slightly familiar.

"Rewind," he sang into the microphone, his eyes closed, hand going a mile a minute. He looked really in his element. "Step back. Take a look at all you have done."

He pulled his head away from the microphone and looked down at his fingers diligently strumming, before coming back to the microphone. "Rewind. Step back. Where has it gone, all the fun? You thought it was just a bit of innocent play, I can't believe I let you think that way. Now I'm forwarding my life and leaving you behind."

Raven was entranced in the music, smiling dazedly up at him, as he took the occasional look down to smirk or wink. Raven didn't even listen to the lyrics anymore, she was just looking up at him. Why did he look so familiar to her? And why did this song sound so familiar? Why was everything about him so familiar?

He finished up the song after a few more minutes and there was a loud round of clapping, catcalls, whistles, and cheers. He smirked against the microphone. "For those diehard fans out there you might've noticed I missed a few notes, well, that's because I'm pretty nervous." He looked as if he anticipated the response of the crowd, which was an "aww" in complete unison.

"WHATCHA NERVOUS ABOUT?" someone cried from the back, presumably the same person that cried out 'Rewind'.

"Hey, B-Rad!" Gabe returned into the microphone. "Anyways, folks, I'm nervous because there's a pretty girl here tonight that I'm trying to impress." Gabe looked down at Raven and she blushed, though you probably couldn't tell in the dark room. "And I'm not so sure if she likes me the way I like her."

"SHE'D HAVE TO BE CRAZY!" the guy named 'B-Rad' shouted back. "You're one sexy boy!"

Gabe laughed into the microphone, a sweet sound. Raven adored it. It was childish but manly enough for someone his age. "B-Rad, act your age not your shoe size. Moving on...anymore requests from the crowd tonight?"

Someone in the back, a woman, screamed 'Lost Without You', and he frowned immediately. "Now, for those folks out there that don't know this, but this is my favorite song. I wrote it during a low point in my life, and it helped me vent feelings, and I realized that keeping things bottled up isn't good. You need to face things head on, and confront your problems. Well, here it is for our loyal fans."

The drummer counted up again and the started a slow ballad, Gabe barely strumming his guitar as he looked down, his hair covering his darkened eyes. "I'm lost. Lost without you, girl. Left with a kiss, thought I coulda missed, the look on your face, something I couldn't place." He looked down towards Raven and smiled sadly. "Without you here, without you near, don't think I could live, without all you give. Keep me on my feet, well you've got me beat. I'm lea-eaving."

There was about a thirty second drum solo and the whole band began playing once more. There were a few more lyrics, and the song sadly came to a close. Gabe didn't say anything, and Raven could swear she saw his eyes glistening. He looked towards the guy at the microphone next to him, and he pressed his mouth to the microphone.

"Any more requests?"

There was another yell from the back and they played another song, more upbeat this time. Once it was over, Gabe unplugged his guitar, announced a ten minute break, and hopped off the stage to talk to Raven. He swung his guitar around to his back and smiled goofily at her.

"Did you like it?" he asked, slightly nervous about her response.

"I loved it. That song was so...moving. I could really feel the emotion in it. It was amazing," she told him. "You're a great musician."

"Thanks. I've always wanted a future with music, but I wasn't so sure with my...current career," he replied, looking away and fidgeting with his hands. She laid her hands over his to make him stop fidgeting.

"You mean because you're a criminal?"

"Y-Yeah," he stumbled over his words as he brought his eyes down to their hands and then up to her eyes.

"I'm sure you can still be amazing...not as Red X," she whispered, letting her hands fall. The warmth that had spread through his body on contact had swiftly evaporated. "You can be a normal human and still do great things."

But he had no time to answer because one of his band members announced that he needed his band back upstage. Gabe glanced briefly at Raven and smiled reassuringly, before climbing back onstage. He momentarily whispered back-and-forth with the bassist, who smiled and punched him in the arm. Gabe smiled back and mouthed an inaudible phrase before turning back to his microphone, to go on to sing four more songs before they were done for the night.

"That was great," Raven told him, as they walked outside into the brisk air, to get away from the noise. She took a short breath and smiled slightly when she saw her breath in the air. Did she mention she loved winter? "I didn't realize you had a whole other life...besides Red X."

"I do. It was kind of hard to come into my own as a person, no mask, no costume, just me," he told her, stuffing his hands in his pockets, his cheeks already turning red. "Everything about being Red X is hard. From learning about the tricks the suit can manage, to covering up your tracks. But at least I can do some good."

Good? Raven thought to herself. He's a criminal. "Speaking of...good..." she stressed the word, making him look up at her with a questioning countenance. "What did you mean when you said I couldn't defend myself against Slade?" Raven had been looking at her scuffling feet, but after the question slipped from her lips she looked up at him to catch him staring thoughtfully at her. Her cheeks turned pink, but not from the cold.

"I am turning over a new leaf, I assure you. I may still steal, cheat, and lie, but deep down I'm a good person," he responded with a haughty smirk. "I've heard of a plan Slade has. He knows I know, and he threatened me to stay out of his business and to back off, but that doesn't mean I can't help you."

Raven furrowed her brow. "But what-?"

He held up a hand to silence her. "He's planning to turn the Titans against each other so what's left will slowly deteriorate and break apart, so then the city will be his. I was unlucky enough to come across this secret a few months back, and once he found out I knew, it was hell. He stalked me, making sure I didn't tell. He tried to get me to come to his side, but I remained adamant. So, instead, he ruined my life."

"How?" Raven asked.

"I-" but he was cut off as someone came towards them, waving a hand. He stopped in front of Gabe and Raven got a good look at him. He was very tall, about six feet, with black hair combed in front of one eye, bits of ice blue peeking out. Whoever he was, he was very lanky and was dressed in what seemed to be women's jeans.

"Gabe, they need you back inside," he started in a deep, gravelly voice. "Something about Derrick?"

"What did they do to my baby?" he demanded.

"No idea, but you might want to get back in there before it gets worse," this mysterious man replied.

"They are going to pay," he menaced. He turned back to Raven. "Derrick's the love of my life, my guitar. If they did anything to him, I will have to castrate someone. Stay here and make friends with Jared."

He then began on a sprint inside, yelling "WHO DID WHAT TO MY DERRICK?" as he entered the doorway.

"Um...hi," Raven started awkwardly, shuffling her feet.

"You're that Raven girl from the Teen Titans, right?" Jared asked.

"Yea," she began shakily, completely forgetting that she didn't have her ring on.

"You're hot in person," he replied cooly, as if he called a superhero hot every day. Raven hid a small, embarrassed smile and blushed slightly, though you probably couldn't see it in the darkness.

"Um...thanks?"

Soon enough, after an awkward silence, Gabe came running back out, barely out of breath, with his guitar strapped to his back. "Sorry about that," he told Raven, then looked at Jared. "Made friends, I suppose?" he asked.

"Eh," they both replied ambivalently.

"Ok, so-" And, being interrupted for the umpteenth time that night, Jared began talking again.

"Hey, aren't those a few of your teammates over there?" he asked, pointing over their heads. Raven whipped around to see Robin and Starfire hanging off each other, smiling and laughing, entering the building. But Robin had spotted Raven and dashed out of the building, closely followed by Starfire to get a better look. Raven hid in front of Gabe, pressed close to him with her hands on his shoulders, her eyes peeking over to make sure they went back inside before she let go.

But they didn't go back inside. Instead, they headed over, making a beeline for Gabe.

TT2