Damian and Raven - One Shots

#7 - Can You Hold Me?

Okay, this was lightly inspired by the song "Can You Hold Me" by NF... Just to let you know.

Damian paced around his dark room. Thick shadows seemed to consume him in anger and frustration. What was she thinking? How could she do that? He breathed heavily, practically shaking with anger. Damian wanted to scream and cry out his frustration. He wanted, needed, to break something. He needed something to be as broken as he felt. Raven shouldn't have done that. She shouldn't have jumped in front of him. It wasn't supposed to hit her. It should've been him.

She got hurt because of you. Why didn't you stop her? Damian pressed his hands violently against his head, trying to stop his thoughts. He confronted her after she was bandaged. 'What you did was selfish and stupid'. Raven was taken aback by his sudden outburst. 'Did you even think about it? I could've fucking lost you!'  The empath had never seen him so livid, especially with her. 'I didn't do anything wrong, and you didn't lose me!'  Their argument escalated, neither willing to back down. At the peak of their argument, Damian stormed off to his room, furiously slamming his door in the process.

'I would do it again without a second thought.'

His anger was boiling now. A deep growl escaped his lips as he threw the closest thing in reach to the wall, glass shattering at the impact.

"Dammit!"

Damian walked over to the broken frame and scattered shards. Emerald eyes rested on the picture. Raven. Her eyes stared up at him, a small smile on her lips. His anger quickly dissipated and was replaced with something akin to sadness. His mouth quivered of its own occurrence. Afraid. You're afraid, weak. She survived and instead of being grateful, you fought with her.

"I'm such an idiot". Damian stood up, I gotta see her. The ex-assassin gathered his composure as he approached the door, hesitating. Apologize. A calloused hand gripped the cold handle. Breathing deep, he pulled the door open to see Raven standing there. He immediately froze, she was shaking, teary violet eyes stared into emerald, lips trembling. You did this to her. He knew he should say something, anything, but his mind went completely blank, thinking of everything and nothing as he just stared at her.

"Damian", her voice was quiet and weak, "I-I'm sorry". She looked like she was desperately holding onto what little composure she had left. Damian felt as if he had been punched. Seeing Raven so broken, knowing he caused it, made him hate himself. He strained, "No, Raven. I'm sorry. I just-, you scared me". He shifted and tried to swallow the emotion in his voice. "I can't live without you. If I don't have you, I don't have anything at all. Dammit, Raven, I need you".

Raven shook, tears falling over the edge. She struggled with her own emotions and Damian could only watch her fall apart. For the first time ever, he didn't know what to do.

"Can you hold me?"

Damian felt his heart tear. How did it get to this?  Raven had been through so much, and through it all she held it together. Now here she was, breaking apart. Slowly, he pulled Raven into an embrace, carefully wrapping his arms around her. Raven lost all composure and sobbed into him. At that moment, Damian's walls crumbled to nothing more than rubble. His embrace tightened as bittersweet tears trailed down cinnamon skin. Right now, he didn't need to pretend to be okay.

Raven leaned into him, craving the warmth and comfort his body offered. All she wanted was his arms wrapped around her, holding all her broken pieces together. Through everything, she tried her hardest to hide her pain. But right now, in this moment, she didn't have to. They were allowing each other to be the most kind of vulnerable. No words were said, but more was heard in their silence. In this rare moment, they didn't feel lost and alone.

"Damian, I'm sorry".

He looked into teary violet eyes and pressed a soft kiss to her forehead.

"Me too".