LOVE + FEAR

EVASION

— T I T A N S    T O W E R —

Azarath metrion zinthos.

She focused on the lapping of the waves. The burn of the newborn sun as it slowly rose from the horizon. Every inhale was salty.

Azarath metrion zinthos.

Raven sought to preserve some increment of tranquility with those three simple words. The mantra silenced all other intruding thoughts. She hoped to hold onto this moment of peace for the rest of the day.

Azarath metrion—

She felt a presence behind her.

Raven's eyes snapped open, returning to reality as someone appeared on the rocky shore.

"May I join you?" Damian said. His forehead glistened with sweat in the morning sun. He must've finished his early run with Dick recently.

Raven nodded, floating back down to the rocks as he took a seat next to her.

"Not running this time?" Damian mused.

She winced. "I'm sorry about that. And for what I said before. I shouldn't have gone after you like that."

"Raven, I have three brothers." He said.

"That's no excuse," Raven sighed. She fumbled with her fingers, glowing gold from the last vibrant rays of the sunrise. "Why didn't you want to tell me your thoughts on meeting with Ivy?"

"I didn't want to hurt your feelings." Damian frowned. "Which happened regardless. I apologize for that. But your intellect is sharp enough to know my response wouldn't be pleasant. Why inform me of Ivy's offer in the first place?"

She shook her head. "I didn't want to keep secrets from you."

The air around them seemed to right itself, losing it's tension and filling with the usual warmth Raven felt from Damian's presence. It was nice. The waves, and the sobering sunrise, and Damian. She hadn't realized it until now, but the past few days without him felt...longer. Overwhelmingly tedious.

"I saw your brother yesterday," Raven said.

"Which one?"

"Tim."

"Then I feel very sorry for your eyes."

She bit down on her lip as a smile emerged. "Clark got fired because of him. He's now unemployed."

"Knowing Kent? He probably did it to himself." Damian muttered. The last exotic colors of the sunrise had died, absorbed into the light blue sky. It reminded her of Clark's eyes...and the pair that mismatched his.

"I hope you don't share the same resentment towards Conner. He seems nice," said Raven.

"He's decent, I suppose," Damian shrugged and stretched his arms over his head, "he detests Clark, too."

"What? How did you find that out?" Her head snapped away from the waves, meeting his emerald gaze.

"He told me. And he also described a very intriguing story about you, where you climbed the counter for Kory's nutella." A smirk was tugging at the corners of Damian's lips.

Raven muttered a curse. "Traitor."

"I thought it was accurate—and adorable."

"Oh, really? Remember when that used to be you? I thought that was super cute. Especially when you were wearing the boarding school uniform," A veil of scarlet cascaded over her cheeks from his last comment. She hoped that her words would be distracting enough to mask it. But thinking about Damian's old boarding school uniform was not helping.