B'shert

Is Accepting who you are & Reveling in it

Chapter Four

It's a normal note book with worn pages and Ravens dark writing curling across the paper. He doesn't read it all because he doesn't think he has the right to. He doesn't have the right to read even a little but Damian's always pushed till the edge. But he's being truthful when he says he doesn't read a lot. Just the ending and a bit (of a few of the many letters [?]) that are addressed to him. But it's enough to see that Raven is insecure and scared and lonely because the words seem to be fused with emotions and enough to see that there's something about THEM that the stupid,stupid girl isn't telling him. But he doesn't read much, because if he does Raven would know and she'd probably be mad and that was nowhere near what he wanted to come of this. So he finds himself outside the sorceress's door. It opens halfway revealing Ravens blue violet eyes. Her hood is down and her dark hair frames her pale face. "We need to talk," he says, ever blunt. She raises an eyebrow crossing her arms over her chest and leaning against the door frame. Her gaze stays locked to his and at the back of his mind he remembers when he was shorter than her. "What about?" she asks. "Let me in and I'll tell you,"

And Raven feels like those words have a hidden meaning, a message which is a product of not being good with words rather than being good with them. She searches his face but it gives nothing away. "Sure, whatever," And she moves and he steps in the door hissing shut behind him. And then their left in the darkness of Ravens room, illuminated only by the silver moonlight streaming through the open windows. She flicks on the light, more just for something to do than for either of their benefit because they both see pretty well in the dark.

They stare at each other for a little while and it gets kinda awkward. But then He holds up the book and her eyes narrow. "You read it?" "Just a bit," "Insensitive Jerk." She mutters, looking away from him, her cheeks turning a beautiful shade of pink. "But I'm your jerk if you want me," And her head snaps back towards him as she blinks in surprise because honestly she wasn't expecting that. Judging by his stupid smirk he knew she wasn't, "Thought so," he says under his breath. And she feels annoyed and happy and she knows she needs to do something to wipe that smirk off his gorgeous face so she pushes him against her door and crashes her mouth onto his. It'll suffice to say that that shuts him up. (They need to talk but they'll get to that later)

Still, it's a whole two months later that she comes to his room, clutching the notebook close to her chest. "You...said you didn't read all of it," she says holding it out. He looks at it surprised because he understands what that book is what's in it (really he doesn't but he understands that its personal, stretching back to when she was just a child even more confused about her place in the world than she was now. ) She nods, her eyes peering into his soul in that way that she's so good at doing. 'It was meant for you anyway' she says in his mind.

Raven really shouldn't be surprised when he shows up at her room two hours later but she is. Even more so when he pushes her in and wraps his arms around her and just HOLDS her because its honestly not very Damian (not that she's complaining) but It makes sense because while they're both cold and not really easy to get close to their touch and attention starved and have had difficult lives and they just want more of the feeling of 'home'. There's silence for a while and he just rests his chin on her head (it's kinda funny how he's tall enough to do that now) and she keeps her arms around him and gives him time to work through his words.

She feels the buzzing thoughts at the back of her mind (she still keeps the shields up though because while Damian wants their bond he has no idea how to control what she can and can't hear yet). Finally he gets out "I don't know how to tell you what I feel" and she's overcome with the need to protect him, to do everything she can to make him happy because for all his self confidence and arrogance Damian Wayne needs love. She tightens her hold on him for a second before leaning away and standing on her tippy toes to brush her lips against his. "It's ok, we have time."

*****

They are by no standards normal teenagers because Damian was raised by assassins and an eco terrorist and Ravens part demon and has lived in both hell and another dimension, and they're both teenage superheroes who've saved the world more than once. But even so, at one point they decide that they should maybe try going on a normal date. They don't leave the tower together (because the Titans don't know) (And maybe that's a bad thing but she wants it to be just theirs for a little while longer and he thinks it's none of their business- she knows there's more to it than that.) (Plus sneaking around is kinda fun at first) SO anyway, Damien wears a hoodie and sunglasses and Raven wears a headscarf and they go to watch a movie. It's horror and called 'IT' and it's about a creepy version of Dr Zeuses cat in the hat and a lot of people seem scared but they kind of wonder why they paid for tickets in the first place because the seats are uncomfortable and there are selfie obsessed teenagers behind them and people who can't seem to sit still in front of them and tall people blocking their view and people just keep SHRIEKING and the damd cat isn't even that scary) (In their minds they admit they might be a bit too critical but its unavoidable seeing as they've seen far worse horrors) "The classics are better," Raven says afterwards, when they go to some inconspicuous diner to eat. "It gives you that feeling of being the first idea of that kind and the stories were more immersive," "Maybe, Grayson and Todd tried to make me watch some of those classics when I first came to the manner it think...I liked them. But next time I want to try a different genre." She smiles into her glass of water because he said next time. Unfortunately it doesn't really get better after that so much as it gets worse.

Because the food isn't that great and they leave before dessert anyway because Damian thinks he saw a reporter with a camera aimed at them and it starts raining forcing them to go to an abandoned bus stop for cover. They're both soaking and Damian's grumpy which in turn makes Raven snappy. "I don't understand the point of dates like this," "We've been on dates before" she points out, and they have.

They've gone walking Titus together and jointly volunteered to get the groceries and have watched movies in each other's rooms and have just sat on the roof reading together and sometimes they just take walks but they've never really called them 'dates'. Never planned ahead exactly what they'd do and where they'd go. "Not like this," "Didn't realize I was-" And they don't get further than that because their comm. links beep and there's a mission. Armed robbery by hive and they're supposed to get the team and portal there. Damian growls in frustration and Raven raises an eyebrow. "Thought you weren't having fun with me." "It's not you that's the problem," he says as they step through a portal that she makes in an abandoned alley way. 'It's the DATE, I don't see why we need to strive for normalcy when we're fine the way we are,' And she thinks he has a point.

Their next date is reading together in Damians room, they use the mental link and play out different characters and throw playful insults back and forth and this is more them. (And 'them' is wonderful)