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Finding the Titans’ Tower living room empty, Damian headed into the kitchen, letting out a relieved exhale and rubbing at his tense neck. Forty-five minutes in a car didn’t sound like much, but forty-five minutes in a car with Jason and Timothy definitely felt like much. Damian took pride in how resilient he was to pain, but even twenty minutes in a confined space with those two imbeciles had his head throbbing and his sword hand itching. “Dami!” Damian didn't bother to hide his smile at the sound of Richard’s voice, just as he didn’t stop Dick from pulling him into a tight hug or reprimand him for calling him "Dami." However, when his oldest brother tried to noogie him, Damian immediately escaped the hold and landed a hearty punch on Dick’s shoulder. He had to draw the line somewhere. Damian smirked at the pained utterance that escaped Dick. “Missed me, Grayson?” “Of course I missed you, you little piece of Damian,” Grayson responded with a smirk. “It’s been more than a month.” “And to think I’d actually pay for more than a month of not seeing him,” Jason’s voice rang through the room. “You kidding? I’d pay for a single week,” Tim added, stepping in right behind Jason, and Damian rolled his eyes. Tim then threw Damian’s duffel bag on the floor, making sure it landed on his foot. “Next time, carry your own bag, jerk!” “But that’s a peasant’s job, Drake,” Damian said dryly. He considered informing them that he’d gladly kill both of them so that they never had to see him again, period, but he knew Grayson wouldn’t approve. Nor would Father. Tt. “No casualties on the road? I’m impressed.” Dick’s grin widened, and he glanced at each of his brothers with that annoyingly fond expression that drove both Todd and Damian crazy. “No casualties yet . We still have to drive back,” Todd pointed out and walked to the fridge. “I think I look forward to the little shit’s learner’s permit more than he does. Chauffeuring his ass around is way below my pay grade.” “Kindly fuck yourself, Todd,” Damian snapped. “And don’t you all think it’s high time you quit the little shit jokes? I’m not ten anymore.” Tim, who had followed Jason to the fridge and snatched the last Red Bull before Jason could even reach for it, turned to shoot Damian a look, raising a single eyebrow. “Are you still the youngest, D?” “That is irrel—” “Then you’re the little shit, little D,” Jason cut him off, a soda in hand and a shit-eating grin on his face. “Don’t worry, though, Dami. It’s been a hot minute since the last kid Bruce abducted—I mean adopted. I’m sure you’ll have to bid your ‘little shit’ title goodbye sooner rather than later,” Dick added. Damian turned to glare at him. “Et tu, Brute?” “Nice Latin there!” Damian turned to see who the new voice belonged to and found himself staring at a face he hadn’t seen before. “Gratias tibi ago,” Damian mumbled. He mumbled. He mumbled? Since when did he mumble ? Damian sometimes muttered, quite often hissed, snapped and intoned, he occasionally graveled, predominantly stated and deadpanned, but he never — never — mumbled. And was he just now internally rambling ? He never internally rambled. What sorcery was this? “Rae, hey! Just in time to meet my brothers,” Dick said, smiling at the girl. “I hadn’t realized you had more than one,” Raven said, eyes lingering on Damian for a second before turning to Dick. “Of course you hadn’t, because Dickwad over here only ever talks about the little shit,” Jason snorted. “Do you think when B gets a new little shit, Dick will only speak of the new little shit?” Tim pondered, turning to Jason. “Shut up, you two! She is new, don’t scare her away already,” Dick said with a shake of his head then pointed to each of the brothers. “These are Damian, Jason and Tim. Guys this is our latest Titan team-member, Raven.” “Raven?” Damian asked and he suddenly felt acutely aware of the presence of his four limbs, which was peculiar, because he possessed all of his four limbs his entire life and he had never found himself wondering what to do or not do with them, before now. “Yeah, that’s my name,” she replied, her eyes focused on him in all of their violet glory. Violet eyes. Damian had never seen violet eyes before. Violet eyes were pretty. Damian wondered if he had ever uttered the word ‘pretty’ inside or outside his head till this very moment. “Raven,” Damian repeated, as if trying the name in his mouth. “Like the bird?” Todd’s snort from somewhere behind made his right hand twitch and he briefly considered breaking eye contact with Raven to send Jason a murderous glare, possibly cross the distance for a punch, too, but decided not to. “Like the bird, like the color… Take your pick.” “I pick the bird,” Damian informed her, shoving his hands in his hoodie’s pockets. “I have a certain affinity for birds.” A sputtering sound and a coughing fit from Drake, Todd's snicker, Dick’s facepalm. He’d kill them all. Slowly. In a minute. “Cool,” Raven said noncommittally, tugging a stand of hair behind her ear. Black hair. Raven black hair with purple streaks. Pierced ear. Pierced ear with several silver earrings. Damian hadn’t noticed anyone's hair or ears before, not the way he noticed hers now. More muffled chuckles from Todd and Drake. “Don’t you two need to leave? Beat five p.m. traffic?” Grayson asked and Damian decided he’d spare his life after all. “Well, we’re in no hurry, are we Jay?” Tim said with a smirk, that Damian witnessed because this time he did turn to glare at him murderously. “Nope, no hurry at all, Timmy” Jason confirmed. “Father said you need to be back in time for briefing and patrol,” Damian snarled in a dangerous tone, his blazing eyes shifting to Todd, with ominous promise. Jason shrugged at him. “We definitely have time for a break, lil D. Grab a bite, catch up with Dickface…” Raven’s smooth voice drew Damian’s attention again. “As fun as that sounds, I was just about to go for a walk and grab a coffee. I’ve spotted a nice place nearby. Wanna join me Damian?” Damian felt his mouth dry, but still managed a “Coffee sounds nice.” Raven nodded and gestured with her head for him to follow her, as she walked out of the kitchen, with a wave to Jayson’s and Tim’s general direction. Damian waited for her to vanish behind the corner, before turning to his brothers. “You will pay for this,” he informed them, before hurrying behind Raven. Laughter erupted behind him. At least they had the decency to wait for him to leave the room. Joke was on them, though. He had access to them when they were sleeping. His lips twitched menacingly at the retribution possibilities. But he shook the thoughts away. Now, he had more important matters to attend to. Like Raven's violet eyes and her gracefully walking figure that led the way ahead of him. Damian watched her closely as they strolled through the local park. He was trying—and failing—to appear discreet. What had happened to his exceptionally-trained undetected-observation skills? It felt like he couldn’t stop his body from gravitating toward her, his eyes from leaving her figure. She had a magnetizing effect on him that he couldn’t put into words or decipher. All Damian knew was that he wanted to take in everything about her, every little detail, in a way he had never done before: how she cradled the foam cup in her hands, how her fingers interlaced, how her black sweater covered her hands up to her knuckles and left one thin shoulder exposed, how the cold autumn air swayed black and purple strands of hair around her face, the intensity of her gaze, the contours of her cheek, the shape of her lips. How could he have never before noticed how beautiful lips were? And were all lips this beautiful? Was he having a stroke? Was this some peculiar onset of young people's dementia his father had failed to inform him about, running in their bloodline? “—so I couldn’t help but wonder, you know? Hope you don’t mind me asking?” Damian’s eyes widened. “What?” he asked lamely, looking at her profile as he walked beside her. She turned to look at him, her cheeks lightly flushing. How could cheeks flush so perfectly? “I apologize, it seems I spaced out. Could you repeat the question?” Damian managed after clearing his throat, then brought the foam cup of the caffeinated beverage that Raven had persuaded him to order to his lips for a taste. It was sweet, aromatic, and velvety on his tongue. “It’s okay,” she said in her smooth voice. Damn it, was everything about her pleasant and soft and perfect? “I asked about your name. It’s not often you meet a Damian,” she said as she led them to a wooden bench under a large tree with vibrant yellow and orange leaves. Damian wondered if this would be his life now, condemned to see the beauty in every mundane thing around him, like trees and overpriced beverages. Tt. “It’s of Greek origin. It means one with the power to tame and lead.” Damian was intrigued by her question. It gave him a glimpse of the things she noticed and thought about. For some reason he couldn’t make sense of, he was pleased she had noticed his name and was thinking about it. His heart skipped a beat, and he added the possibility of a coronary to the list of things that might be physically wrong with him this evening. Then he sat next to her, his breath catching when her knee touched his. “So you have Greek heritage?” Raven asked, turning her body to better look at him as they spoke, not seeming bothered by their still-touching knees. Damian wasn’t bothered either—just very, very distracted. “No. Uh… Arabic heritage, from my mother’s side,” he clarified. “She simply liked the name and its meaning.” “Sounds like she had big plans for you,” Raven commented, and Damian was once again lost in the violet of her eyes. A smile played on his lips at her words. “That is an accurate statement,” he confirmed, and she smiled at him again with that smile that, for whatever reason, made his own lips twitch upwards each and every time.Shifting his gaze to the dancing leaves around them, he took another draw from his not-coffee. “Do you like it?” His eyes returning to her smile, Damian nodded. “A lot,” he replied, his face heating up. He looked away again and inwardly cursed with a flurry of swears that Todd would envy. “I’m glad. Pumpkin spice latte isn’t everyone’s thing, but I think it should be a punishable offense not to enjoy one on a cloudy autumn day while watching the leaves fall,” she informed him, and Damian blinked a couple of times, only then realizing she was not talking about her smile. “Oh, yeah, it’s… It’s tasty,” he said, inwardly groaning at the inadequacy of his words. Raven regarded him intently for a minute, and Damian couldn’t shake the feeling that she was somehow reading him. “You don’t talk much,” she stated. Damian’s lips twitched into a half-smile, and he shrugged. He considered informing her that it wasn’t his fault she was so distracting with her silky hair, her violet eyes, and her pretty everything, but he decided against it. “You should have met me six years ago.” “That’s when you came to live with your father?” Raven asked, and Damian turned to her, surprised. “Dick talks a lot about you. He told me you only moved to Gotham when you were ten.” Damian nodded. “That’s when I came to Gotham, yes.” He couldn’t find anything witty to say, so he took another sip from his coffee that didn’t smell like coffee and didn’t taste like coffee. Again, the reading face. Damian wondered if she sensed the tension speaking of his past brought him, because she abruptly changed the subject. “So… You have an affinity for birds?” she asked with a teasing glint in her eyes. “I do,” Damian nodded, his face doing the heating thing again. Damn it. “Robin and all,” he added, congratulating himself for finally finding something remotely smart to say. “How about you? Any affinities?” “Trees?” Damian asked and cringed at how his voice croaked as she inched back from him. “Yeah,” Raven nodded and glanced at the branches again. “They’re not given enough credit. They’re insanely smart and complicated organisms. You know, some trees talk through their roots, sharing nutrients and warnings about their environment via underground networks. Then others release chemicals through their leaves to warn other trees of insect attacks… I could go on for hours,” she trailed with an awkward chuckle, and Damian found himself wishing she would. Eyes fixed on her face, on the smoothness of her skin, on the perfect curve of her cheek, he asked. “You know what tree is this?” “Sugar maple,” Raven told him with a wink. “Awesome for climbing.” Damian chuckled, and was thrown by the sound. He couldn’t remember when was the last time he had chuckled. With his brothers it was either snorts, snickers, or tuts. But with Raven this felt effortless. This felt nice. “I can’t picture you climbing a tree.” Raven let out a shocked utterance, feigning insult, and Damian found himself chuckling again. “Well let me fix that for you,” she stated and set her coffee on the bench, before getting to her feet. Damian’s eyes widened, as he realized what she was planning to do and he shot up behind her. “No, no! Wait, I believe you, you don’t have to—” He never had a chance to finish his sentence. He was left watching her as she moved with agility and speed, hopping to grasp the nearest branch and then swing upwards. Her sweater climbed up as she moved, revealing her strong core, abs flexing with her movements. Damian gaped as she pulled herself up onto the first branch and then easily climbed higher and higher until she slowed and perched on one of the branches, her legs swaying leisurely. She turned to look at the tree with an affectionate smile and patted its trunk, before turning to Damian and arching an eyebrow. “You coming or what?” “You… You want me to climb up there, too?” Way to go Damian. The perfect lame and pointless question. What was wrong with his brain? “Unless you’re scared?” She smirked down at him. Damian’s lips pursed together. Pretty or not, he wouldn’t let any challenge go unanswered, not even from her. He was Damian Al Ghul Wayne. He didn’t do fear . Walking to the tree, he easily grasped the same branch she had and pulled himself upward. He found a tree was a lot easier to climb than concrete buildings. More pleasant too. Soon, he pulled himself up next to her, and sat on the branch that creaked under their combined weight, but held them sturdily. “You were saying?” He asked, turning to look at her, and his smug expression melted away as he took in her grin and the glee in her eyes. She inched her face close to his ear again, breathing out the next words. “It’s nice up here isn’t it?” Damian locked eyes with her and nodded. “It’s very nice.” “Ok, now breathe in deep through your nose,” she instructed him next, and Damian did, even as he had no idea why she’d ask such a thing. “Can you smell the autumn?” She sounded excited and Damian breathed in deeper. “It’s my favorite scent. The humid air, the smell of the tree, the dump earth… Can you smell it?” Damian wanted to tell her he could mostly smell her and she smelled a lot better than autumn. She smelled better than anything Damian had ever smelled. A velvety warm scent of vanilla with hints of rose and something he couldn’t put his finger on, something entirely hers. And Damian decided that Raven was his favorite scent. “I can smell it,” was all he said. Raven turned her head upward, and Damian mirrored her movements. They watched the last of the day’s sunrays filtering through the orange and yellow leaves, painting them golden. Their knees were touching, once again and Damian felt his heart swell in his chest in a way it never had before.
It was really nice up here.