red vs blue: the beginning

Drinks

      Raphael stood there, conflicted about what to do, but as soon as their eyes met he was at her side.
"Are you okay?" His voice was low.
She choked back sobs. "Yeah... I just.... I hate him so much."
He kneeled down in front of her, watching her cry and he did the only thing he could think of. He pulled her into his arms. Her whole body tensed up and then relaxed. Wow. I'm hugging someone. I've never hugged anyone before. It felt so... nice. And he was hugging HER, which made it even better. She didn't pull away; she but hugged him back. She smelled so good. And she felt so soft. Raph felt himself harden, so he pulled away and held her at arms reach, looking into her eyes.
"He's an asshole," Raph stated. Her eyes were red and glassy. "You're perfect."
They looked into each other's eyes for what felt like forever until she cleared her throat, "you left your number for me?"
"Shit, yeah, I'm sorry. If I knew it'd cause so much trouble-"
She cut him off, "I wish I found it sooner. I would have texted you." Oh my god. She would have texted me!!!!!!
They stared more at each other. "Thank you," she said finally.
"For what?"
"For being here when I needed you. You always seem to be..."
Stop staring, Raph.
"I'm going to have a drink, do you want one?"
Raphael paused and thought for a minute... how long could he stay out? When would the others notice him missing? He ran some scenarios through his mind, the go-to vague answers, the straight up lies... Fuck. Maybe just one drink.
"I can stay for one," he answered. A smile broke out on her face and she seemed to bounce her way into the kitchen, Raph following. He was petrified of saying something wrong... doing something wrong. There were about a billion differences between their lives. She lived in a nice apartment in a high rise. He lived in the sewers. Her things were clean and smelled nice. He was always dirty, no matter how much he scrubbed away at the grime. She probably has real food, not scraps pulled from dumpsters. She had more than one outfit, like he had. He was just a 21 year old mutant that lived where clean, intelligent, important people's shit went. He forced himself to push all the insecurities from his mind. He wanted to enjoy himself. This would never happen again.
He followed her into the kitchen, trying with all his strength not to stare at her little frame, her hair, flowing down her back. The scent of soap wafting in her wake.  His eyes glanced down at her ass.  It looked amazing, even in sweatpants. Fucking stop!  You look like a creep!
      "Any requests?"  She asked.
      He sat down on a kitchen stool at the island. It finally occurred to her, thank god I had those because what else could he possibly sit in with that huge shell?    He watched her. "Whatever you're having."
      Suddenly, she was so nervous.  She grabbed two glasses and mixed raspberry stoli with some soda water and ice and set one down in front of Raph.  She raised her glass to toast him, but got self conscious about what to say. So she just clinked her glass on his before they each took a sip.
      "So," she said simply.
      He looked a combination of amused and nervous. "So."
      He was striking even though so odd looking. He had lips like a man. Kind of.  And he wore a red sort of bandana on his head. He had three fingers on massive hands.  His glass looked tiny in them.
      "So that guy.... he's your boyfriend?" He asked looking down.
       Alexis shook her head mid sip, "oh no. He's my ex."  Raphael tried his best not to look relieved.   "He's a long story that doesn't even matter".
      They stared at each other, tension mounting.  Sexual tension?  Alexis changed the subject quickly. "You said you had brothers?"
      It took him a second to shift focus. "Uh, yeah, three of 'em."
     "And you guys... fight crime?"
     He shrugged a little, "you could say that, I guess."
     "How did you know I was in trouble the other night?"
     "We were told there were gonna be some gang members there tryin' to crash the party.  We were just looking out for everyone." 
     "Oh," was all she said.  Her mind raced wondering if they knew anything about her... how did they know the foot would be there?
     "How come those guys were after you?"
    Oh boy. He was going to find out who she really was, if he didn't know already. Shit.  I guess it's only fair though, right? I know his secret.  Here goes.
"They want information on my father."
"Who's your father," he asked carefully.
"Steve Robbins."
Raph's eyes got big.
        He felt like his jaw hit the floor so hard it fell off. 
       "STEVE ROBBINS?  Like.... THE Steve Robbins??"
        Her shoulders slumped and she nodded slightly.
       "Oh..Kay... I had no idea."
      "Nobody does. We keep it a secret from the media....from everyone..."
Her father basically owned Manhattan. She was part of a very powerful New York family.
"Why's it some big secret?"
"It's just not something we share... we're very private." Raph could tell she's leaving something out, but he couldn't imagine what it could be. He took a large gulp of his drink and only ice was left. This glass is so little. She giggled and grabbed a much larger tumbler from her cabinet, pouring him another drink.
       "I don't think that first one counted," she smiled at him.  His heart stopped beating. "Anyway, dad told me some guys might try to get to me... ask questions about him. Or...."  she didn't have to finish her sentence.  He got it.  The foot was trying to get to her dad through her and maybe even use her for ransom.
        "Do they know where you live?"  he felt a mix of anxiety and rage fill his veins. What if something happened to her?
         "I have no idea. But security is great in this building and you have to have a special code to get onto my floor."   Raph knew that meant nothing.  Hacking the system was probably easy enough for Donnie to do in minutes. 
        "I'll make sure you're safe."
       She finished her drink.  "I can't-"
        He cut her off, "no, I'll make sure they don't get to you." His resolve burned through his eyes as unwanted images of the other night, of her being choked, overtook him.
Their eyes locked and it happened. The sexual tension was back.
         Raph wanted to kiss her.... He ached, in a way he's never felt before. 
         His breath hitched as he imagined it.  Just kissing her. Pulling her into his arms.  She was first to look away. She walked by him towards the fridge to get another drink and to pull herself away from his gaze and the dirty thoughts she was having, and she felt his large hand grab her arm.  He stopped her in her tracks and he pulled her to him.  He stayed sitting on the stool, Alexis between his legs and he leaned forward and....

       Something stopped him. Something deep inside of him said 'no.' I'm taking advantage of her. She's been drinking... I've been drinking... He quickly let go of her and stood up, knocking the stool over.
"I-I'm sorry," he stuttered as he fled the room, was overflowing with embarrassment and shame. What was I doing? In one swift move he was out of her apartment and jumping to the next building.