A-Typical Romance

Into the Dark

Damien's back ached from the solid concrete floor under him. Raven refused his company in her bed, but he opted to sleep beside her anyway. He felt light fingers brush across his face as he turned meeting Raven's eyes.

"Morning Damien" she whispered. Her smile was sweet, the left side of her face pressed into the mattress below her.

"Good morning Clara" Damien whispered back, the cut on his lower lip made a crack in his perfect smile. They had their own secret now, their names, known only to each other. He reached up for her to brush a hand across her soft face, but she stopped him.

"No" she whispered "Just... give me time okay?".

"Okay" he agreed.

"You didn't have to sleep on the ground you know" she inspected his uncomfortable position.

"You kicked me out of the bed" Damien pulled himself upright on her nightstand.

"You have your own bed" she moved to sit upright as well. She was still wearing the torn and bloody clothes she had on the night before. She didn't look at him the same way either, she looked more submissive averting his eyes.

"Maybe you should get changed" Damien offered "We can burn the clothes".

"I guess, I'll meet you outside" she rolled off her bed and stepped around him to the dresser. Damien stepped out of the room without another word letting her have her privacy. Bloodbath was waiting for him as he sat down on the couch in front of the large TV, the news talking about the aftermath of the events of last night.

"How is she holding up" he asked. He was the last person he expected to become a friend to him after they first met, Bloodbath seemed much more sane then his look would say.

"She's getting there" was all the detail he was willing to offer.

"Didn't take the police too long to get there after we cleaned up" he explained looking too the news station "I'm... sorry we didn't get there sooner. It was really hard to keep my cool when I saw what he was doing, I knew you'd want him to suffer for as long as possible" Bloodbath touched his pale hand to Damien's shoulder.

"What did you spray in his face?" Damien remembered seeing it before Alexander went mental.

"It's a mixture of drugs, LSD for hallucinations, Cocaine for its fast acting properties and speeding up of general reactions plus it can be breathed in, and powdered meth for mental breakdown. I don't really blow it at them Gearshift made me a mechanism to disperse it, I just blow for affect" he answered, "Makes a potent fear toxin mixed in with, well me".

"Clever" Damien's attention was on the TV.

"Well" he held his hands out "We're professionals, you'll get there".

"Yeah I just wish I could've done more, if it wasn't for you guys who knows how bad it would've gotten" Damien stood up suddenly motivated to work out.

"Don't think about it like that man" Bloodbath's voice trailed off as Damien left him. Damien strode over to the weight rack and placed two plates on before sliding under. The first set was easy, but he kept adding more, even as his muscles screamed he kept adding more weight.

"You trying to kill yourself?" Joe grabbed the center of the bar with one hand and hauled it up. "You're not that strong kid".

"I know, that's why I'm working out" Damien snapped back.

"Well you're not going to get results like that I don't care how angry you are" he leaned on the rack and tossed a towel onto Damien's chest. He didn't even notice how much he was sweating, his mind was on other things. "Looks like you've done enough bench for now, let's get you on the squat rack" he hauled Damien to his feet and placed him under the bar. "Let's see if you're as strong as you look boy" he put two plates on each end of the bar. Damien, not shying away from the challenge, dropped and lifted the bar up five times before nearly falling. "Good, you ever box kid? You should get yourself a bag".