It seemed as though he was alone in the vast tower at this hour of night - or perhaps early morning, either way the building was enshrouded by a quiet darkness, and the gentle hum of automatic electronics filled the inside of his new home as he walked down the corridor. For what purpose, what was his aim? Nothing in particular, Damian just needed to distract his mind from the 'bad dream' that had awoken him from his sleep.
As he made his way to the living room, he could hear faint breathing, and the flick of a page in a book being turned alerted him to the presence of someone else. Now, this was an annoyance, for all he wanted was to be alone, to clear his head from the nerve-wracking images he had seen in what he was now willing to admit to himself- his nightmare. Who was this intruder of his moment of relaxation? Well, it turns out that they were a friend, not an annoyance. Since Kori likes her beauty sleep, Grayson only checks crime reports on computers, Jaime uses his laptop and Garfield is on his phone every two seconds, the only person who would actually pick up a book, other than himself, was the towers resident empath.
He was proved right when he had been greeted by the sight of Raven sitting on the couch with a large novel in her hands, one not deemed as a light read in any regard. Knowing how close friends they were, he approached her without hesitation and sat down on the comfortable sofa beside her. Realising that she was not alone in the room, Raven turned her head to look at the one who had disturbed her, only to be greeted by a friendly, although tired smile that adorned Damian's features, truly a rare sight.
"What are you doing up so late Damian?"
"Well, I could ask you the same question." She couldn't help but give a small chuckle.
"Couldn't sleep, so I decided to come here and read. Now it's your turn, why are you up at this hour?" She replied with a playful tone, something she had been doing far more often now, especially with Damian, a product of their friendship no doubt, which simply goes to show how close to one another they were.
"Nothing. Just a bad dream, couldn't sleep, so I came down here."
"Do you want to talk about it?" There it was again, this open caring and concern for others was another one of the changes she had recently seen. However she also noticed that she reserved this mostly for Kori, who she views as a mother figure, and her best friend, Damian. That's not to say she didn't care about the others, they were after all her family, and she did care for them, but just didn't show it on the outside as much.
"Do you want to talk about it?"
"No." Was his swift reply.
"It's okay, I understand." And as he looked into her eyes, Damian new that she truly did, whether it be due to her own fair share of nightmares or because of their newfound friendship. Understanding, that's what it was, they just understood one another so well. Raven had seemed to have so much understanding for him, and for that he was grateful. Grateful, never before would he have thought that he would be grateful to anyone for anything, but here he has being grateful that she understood him, that she helped him find himself, that no matter how many times he had tried to ignore her, she persisted in getting to know him and getting him to relax.
Silence took over once again, with Raven reading and Damian simply sitting, reminiscing on the day beforehand which was filled only with standard missions and patrols, and then began planning on the upcoming day. This soothing silence soon felt lacking, as Damian had nothing left worthwhile to do.
"Sorry to interrupt you Raven, but seeing how interesting that book is, I was wondering if you have a spare copy?"
"Firstly, you need to work on your humour, second, if you were bored, you could have just said so." And with that Damian's expression turned sour, with hint of embarrassment for having been caught out.
Putting the book down, she asked if he had wanted to watch a movie, and he had agreed.
He wasn't paying any real attention to the movie they were watching, he couldn't even remember what the movie was. Instead, he was focusing on battling the sleep that was overcoming him, inviting him to a deep slumber. Why? Because he wanted to savour this moment, snuggled under a blanket with his best friend on the couch, a comfortable silence hanging over them save for the faint sea of sound from the screen, a blur of images form one scene to the next.
Yes, he had grown so close to Raven that these kind of moments had started becoming a common occurrence when the two were alone, yet he still liked to savour them because they felt so precious, timeless and something special. Wasn't it just a few months ago when he had first met her, when he had been so cold to her just as he had been to anyone else? And yet here they were, together as though they've known each other their whole lives. He had been so cold and hostile to everyone then, so distrusting of them for no particular reason, all of them, including Raven. God, I was such a brat. It made him feel angry at himself, this anger that was in his chest and wouldn't go away because it was too great to be ignored. Sure, he had changed, and was slowly making amends with the others, but still, the question of how could I ever have done that, done what he had done, yelled what he had yelled and hurt, yes he must have hurt her back then, how could his actions not have? He continued thinking for some time before Raven had spoken, breaking the silence.
"I can sense a wave of emotions coming off you. What's bothering you?" And this time he talked. He told her how he had realised how poorly he had treated hurt, and how badly it angered him now to think he could ever have done that to her, how guilty he felt now. And he kept repeating "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry" hoping that it would somehow amend for his past mistakes.
Raven simply replied with kind eyes and a knowing smile, before enveloping him in a warm hug.
"It's okay, the past is the past, the main thing is that you've realised your mistakes and you've changed." She pulled away from the hug, giving him one last reassuring smile before letting the silence overcome them again.
How is it, Damian thought, That she always knows how to make me feel so much better? It seemed to be another product of their understanding of each other, seeing that he had also comforted her on some occasions. He looked at Raven, who had fallen asleep on his shoulder. It's ironic, the half-demon is as beautiful as an angel.
The thing is, when he explained his troubles to Raven, Damian had left out something, he had left out the latter half of his thoughts. He didn't tell her about this feeling that was starting to come up, every now and then, when he was around her, that slightly quickening heartbeat beating against his chest and the light blush that forms whenever he stared at her, because he had found her to be very attractive indeed. This was something else, something new, something other than friendship. Something deeper, dearer to his heart. He wasn't blind, nor was he ignorant of his feelings. No he knew what it was and he accepted it.
Maybe one day- one day we could be something more, maybe we will both finally know what it feels like to be loved by someone else. Maybe one day, we could be together.
And with that he finally asleep, not knowing that the girl beside him might just feel the same way.
Nightwing, seemingly having awoken before the rest of the team, wandered into the living room where the morning sunlight had bathed the room in a soft yellow light. However the scene was only made more picturesque when he discovered the two fellow Titans on the couch - Damian had his arm around Raven, who in turn had rested her head on his shoulder, both of them in a deep and comfortable sleep. Now, Nightwing being the leader that he is, knew how much he should respect their privacy by leaving and making sure no one else sees the two. But, Richard Grayson, being the older brother in the 'bat family' had other plans. So he decided to take a few pictures of, for a lack of other words, the adorable scene in front of him. Besides, Batman would probably want to know how is son is going, right? As he left the room to leave the two in silence, one final thought passed his mind.
Lovebirds.
AN: ...
Firstly, sorry for the long delay, I underestimated how busy the life of a high school student is.
Second, I don't know how long until the next update (but I do have two chapters planned already) especially since I have exams coming up (why is it that I only update before exams when I should be studying?)
Thirdly, if you find any mistakes, please let me know so I can correct them.
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