Demons (Damirae)

Chapter Eleven

That evening, when the batfamily and titans were seated in the living room, they were greeted with the welcome sight of Raven. Still in the large jumper, but looking much better than when Damian last saw her. There was a slight pallor to her complexion, but overall, he was strangely pleased to see her in such an improved state.

Walking in to the room, she was met by an overly concerned Koriand'r.

"Raven, are you quite healed? Are you in need of further rest?", she stood in front of Raven, measuring her temperature with a hand to her forehead.

Removing Kori's hand from her forehead, Raven smiled, "I'm fine Kori."

"Well then, by Hera sit down!", Donna shouted form her seat besides Stephanie, beaming as Raven took a seat besides her, "Hello Raven, I haven't seen you in forever. How are you?"

Rolling her eyes at Donna's antics Raven allowed her eyes to wander around the room. She was surprised to find Mr Wayne sitting with them, scrolling through his phone (an extremely old model from God knows how long ago) sandwiched between Jason and the end of the sofa. Perhaps he wasn't as cold-hearted as she once thought.

Eyes still wandering, Raven couldn't help a light chuckle as she observed Jon. Poor Jonathan, he had it bad. Jaime and Adyn were talking animatedly on either sides of him and clearly he couldn't care less. Smirking, Raven followed his line of sight to, as she predicted, Donna- who had trailed off, having caught sight of Jon. However, before Raven could make a sly comment, Damian beat her to it.

"Jonathan,", the boy of steel responded with a faint 'hmm', "Take a picture, it'll last longer."

Snapping his head up, Jon spluttered hopelessly, drawing the attention of the others in the room.

"Bu-no I wasn't...It isn't...I...nothing...wha-"

Damian cut him off, tutting, "Tt. Your excuses fall upon deaf ears Jonathan, deaf ears."

"Wait, what's going on? I want to know!", Steph demanded, eager to find out all the titans' gossip.

"Well-", Jaime began, before Bruce stood up.

"Sorry, but I have to leave.", he apologised.

Jason nudged Tim, "Oooooh, is this the date you were mentioning earlier."

"A date?", Dick's tone was appraising, "You've been single for a while now, well done Br-"

"Well,", Bruce coughed, stopping Dick, "I'll be off.", giving it a second thought, he looked in Raven's direction, "It's good to see you're feeling better."

Raven didn't know how to take that. She really didn't.

Opting to side with the idea that he was possibly nicer than she had thought, Raven watched him leave the room.

Azar, this is too confusing.

***

The next morning, Raven was present when Damian came downstairs, sipping her earl grey tea, reading a book. The sight brought him a queer sense of joy, though he could do little to explain it.

Pouring himself a mug of tea, Damian asked, "Tolkien?", she nodded, "What part?"

She set the book down, "They've just met Tom Bombadill at the edge of Buckland."

He hummed to himself lightly and acknowledged, "An artfully written series, the Lord of the Rings. It's a shame that many characters were left out of the movies."

"You've read the books?", she couldn't help the sceptical edge her voice took.

He merely nodded his head, bringing a stool around to the other side of the kitchen island. They were on opposite ends, staring coolly at one another.