"These shoes are uncomfortable." A hushed girl's voice whispered in his ear.

"Focus, Raven." He brushed her off in the same hushed voice as the two of them were walking around the room filled with very important people.

"You focus when your feet are killing you with every step you take." She rolled her eyes and tried to hold her balance as best as she could. Thankfully she had Damian's arm to clutch onto for extra support. Of course, this whole fancy thing was only for the show. They needed to look like a real couple as much as possible in order to attract the villain they were after. It was nothing more than an undercover mission. Raven just wished she could've gotten more comfortable shoes for this.

"No need to be so dramatic." Damian barely gave her a glance, his eyes more focused on scanning their surroundings, trying to find anyone suspicious. "Are you picking up on anything suspicious?"

"There's a lot of people in this room who got their wealth in one dirty way or another. Each and everyone of them is here for their own gain, mostly. A lot of greed and jealousy is in the air. So it's hard to nitpick." Raven explained, throwing a glance across the room as well. "But nothing that stands out just yet."

"We'll keep looking then. All we really need to do is make ourselves present." Not that they needed to cause a scene. No. That was the last thing they wanted. The killer was on the lookout for wealthy young couples who were completely in love. For money purposes or for their own sick satisfaction, that they didn't know yet. But they were going to find out. Right, now they just needed to let the killer know who they were. And with Damian Wayne that was no issue. Any news reporter would kill just to get an exclusive on the personal life of Bruce Wayne's son. Which was both disturbing and very useful at the same time.

"Let's dance."

"What?" His gaze turned towards the dance floor. "But there's no one dancing."

"Exactly." She grinned, although internally she was already regretting this suggestion. Yet, something made her pull him by the arm to the dance floor anyway, praying she didn't stumble and fall right in front of everyone.

"Raven, I don't think this is a good idea-"

"We need the attention, right? So this is a great idea and you know it." It was too late anyway, they were in the middle of the entire room already. "We're just one super happy couple in love who want to dance no matter if anyone is looking or not." There was a teasing tone in her voice, but Damian knew she was right. The plan wasn't bad. And he wasn't a bad dancer either. Now, Raven he wasn't too sure about, however.

"Are you sure you'll be able to keep up?" He returned a grin and put a hand on her waist, pulling the girl closer to him.

"Don't underestimate me, Wayne." Her hand resting elegantly on his shoulder, they both started dancing to the slow music that the band was playing on the stage.

And, as they suspected, it didn't take long for others to take notice of the only couple dancing. It was obvious they were both a bit nervous, though.

"I'm getting a lot of mixed reactions from the guests." Raven commented, running her gaze around the people.

"Maybe we're not making the impression we want." Damian mused in thought. "Maybe you should smile more."

"Says the guy who never smiles." She scoffed at him, almost offended by what he said.

"Hey, I can smile. Look." And he tried to put on the best smile that he could, but in the moment, it looked so tense and weird, she couldn't help but laugh.

"Please, don't do that."

"Well, at the very least it made you smile." He grinned.

Her cheeks turned red and she mumbled, "Oh, shut up." Though she did have to admit that it eased the tension between them and the people started buying the act more. There were even some couples who joined them on the dance floor. Which wasn't exactly something either of them had anticipated, but it was nice either way. At least they weren't the only ones dancing by the end of it.

And Damian was indeed good. She felt really comfortable with him leading her and she didn't stumble on her feet once, nor did she step on his, thank god. It was a surprise for her both because of the shoes and her lack of proper dance skills, which might have been more obvious if it wasn't a slow dance.

When the song was finishing, Damian swirled the girl around holding her arm above her head and then bent her backwards holding her tight in his arms. It was clearly visible in her face that she hadn't expected this. And a part of her hoped he wouldn't drop her on the floor right then and there.

"Was that really necessary?" She whispered to him.

"You wanted the attention." He shrugged and stood her back on her feet, the crowd around them clapping for their courage to be the first couple on the dance floor tonight.

It wasn't unusual for Damian to be in the center of attention, so he merely put on a smile and gave a small wave. But Raven was tense and it was obvious. "Attention is the least thing I want. We only need it for the mission."

Noticing her tensed figure, he gently nudged her as he offered his arm for her to hold onto again. "Just smile and do a little nod." He instructed her and she complied, doing her best to look as natural as possible while the two of them slowly left the center scene.

Glancing sideways, Damian couldn't help but note that, once she got into her role, it quite suited her. The confidence, the charm, the grace. She had it all. Something he'd never noticed before because she always chose to hide in the background.

"I need to sit down." Raven huffed once they were out of the spotlight.

"Very well." He nodded and made way to the nearest unoccupied table, first having Raven sit down before he took a seat opposite of her. Though, thinking for a moment, he then grabbed his chair and moved to the other side of the table right next to her. It didn't bother her much until his arm extended behind her, resting on the backrest of her chair as he casually crossed his leg over the other, his gaze somewhere in the crowd. Blushing, the empath look over at him in mild confusion, which he noticed with the corner of his eyes.

"Don't look at me like that. It's only natural for couples to be close to each other at all times, especially in newly established relationships. Physical attraction is what initially pulls two people together. It wouldn't feel genuine if you and I were to sit at such a distance from each other." The black-haired male explained nonchalantly, still keeping his focus on something else than Raven.

"Right." Well, he wasn't exactly wrong. "You have quite the knowledge for someone who doesn't date."

"Tt. Dating is a waste of time and energy. It makes you vulnerable, especially in our line of work."

"Maybe." She leaned her head to the side in thought. "But if you truly love someone, it can also be a great strength."

Damian merely hummed at her response, thinking of all the broken relationships in his family alone. His father and mother, his adoptive siblings - none of them had any happy endings. It just never lasted. So what was the point?

A few more moments of silence passed, both of them just staring out into the masses of people. This was interrupted, however, when Raven suddenly felt his hand over her own, taking it in a gentle grasp and slowly lifting it up. Blinking in surprise, she followed the movement and her heart skipped the moment she realized he was bringing the back of her palm to his lips ever so nonchalantly. Her pale face now red as a tomato, the first instinct she had was to instantly pull her hand back.

"What are you doing?" She gasped.

"What are you doing?" He snapped back, frowning. "You're blowing our cover."

Oh. Crap. She hadn't thought of that. In fact, she hadn't thought at all. She just saw him about to kiss her hand out of the blue and reacted. My god, she felt stupid now. Sighing, Damian leaned really close to her and talked in her ear.

"Listen- Don't look now, but there is a photographer for the Gotham Gazette sitting just a couple tables from us. If we get his attention, it's damn sure it will be on the front page of tomorrow's newspaper."

Raven was listening to him, but all she could really focus on was the fact that he was so close to her. For some reason her heart was beating so fast no matter her best efforts to keep it calm. He smelled nice. Had she noticed that before?

"Now pretend I told you something funny." Damian requested and that alone made her chuckle, but she did her best to drag it out into a full blown laugh.

"Oh, Damian~!" She laughed out, throwing her head back before leaning forward again to face him and lowered her voice, though keeping the sweetest smile on her face. "You really should warn me before you touch me like that if you don't want our cover blown."

"Oh, you mean like - I'm going to touch your face?"

"What-?" But Raven didn't even have time to react properly before she felt his warm touch against her cheek, sending a shiver down her spine. "D-damian…"

"Physical affection. I told you. It's what gets the attention of others." He merely gave her half a smile.

"How can you be so.. so casual about it?"

"How can you not?" It was like he was almost surprised that Raven reacted the way that she did. And she knew it'd be pointless to try to explain it to him.

"Alright then." With determination sparkling in her eyes, the girl reached her hand and made a gentle stroke down the side of his face. "Now don't tell me it doesn't feel nice." She spoke in a soft tone of voice, looking right into his eyes, seeing exactly how taken aback he was even if the rest of his features remained as calm as ever. "That it doesn't send a shiver down your spine and a tingle in the pit of your stomach?"

Her voice was almost teasing. Damian didn't even dare to deny that she was right, as much as he didn't want to admit it. Out loud anyway. Her delicate fingers brushing against his jawline, reaching behind his ear and sliding into his hair at the back of his neck while his own rested on the side of her face, his thumb softly drawing circles on her cheek, sliding down to her jaw and effortlessly grazing against her bottom lip… Green eyes darting down to her lips and then back up to her eyes agan... In a moment of impulse - which he never acted upon - he closed the gap between them with a soft, yet confident kiss.

Rendered breathless, it took Raven a moment to regain her senses. Her heart was racing a mile per hour, million and at the same time zero thoughts were running through her mind, her body not responding to any kind of reaction appropriate for a situation like this. But then again… She caught herself by the thought that she really just wanted to give in to this moment. Finally breathing in, her eyes closed and she returned the kiss, her hand gently tugging on his hair.

The world around them disappeared, even if for just a little while. The hundreds of stares disappeared, the room got quiet and it was just the two of them. And it was good like that. Just them. But reality kicked back soon enough. Pulling away, both of them took a deep breath, looking at each other almost in surprise and disbelief that what just happened was actually real. Then, Damian looked to the side and cursed under his breath.

"Shit. The photographer's gone." Right, back to the mission, as always. And Raven couldn't help but to smile at that. Though, her hand reached to his face, gently turning it back to face her.

"Screw the photographer."

BONUS

Surely enough, the photo of the two of them kissing was all over the newspapers the following day.

"Starfire, what on Earth are you doing?" The distraught teen watched her cut the article out of the newspaper.

"I'm saving it."

"What for?"

"Don't you think it will be delightful to look back at your first kiss when you get married?" Kory spoke in a playfully teasing tone and chuckled at Damian deadpanning at her.

"Aren't you thinking too far ahead with this?"

"Whoa-! Dude, are you trying to suck eat her face or something? Wow, that is some-" The sentence was not finished purely because of the sharp blade pointed right at Beast Boy's face. "R-right. Got it."

"I think they look cute together." Jaime walked behind Kory to take a look at the picture and commented with a small shrug.

"I second that statement." Donna chuckled only for the boy in question roll his eyes and grumble under his breath.

"Come on, Raven. We need to prepare for our next fake date if we want to catch this killer." And with that, he grabbed the girl by the hand, pulling her from the spot she'd been standing completely frozen and red like a tomato throughout all this back-and-forth with the rest of the teammates. Little did they know that all the eyes were still on them and the entire team burst out in laughter as soon as they left the room. Together. Holding hands. To prepare for their "fake" date. Totally not in love with each other. No couple material there. Nope.