Real (bat boys)

Popping The Question

Damian's pov:

Grayson knew exactly what I wanted when I looked at him. We had decided that I should be the one to ask Cora to come with us. An outing to a typically deserted place such as a graveyard would be perfect.

I do want to learn about her hobbies as well. She's interesting. I can't help but wonder what we could possibly do in a graveyard of all places.

Cora finishes the last of her pancakes and quickly goes to wash her dishes. My gaze follows her to the kitchen. There isn't a wall separating the dining room and the kitchen, it's simply an open space.

I watch as she dries her plate and such, before moving onto what I assume are her parents plates. It seems unfair of them to just leave their daughter to clean up after them.

Todd and Grayson follow my gaze and they come to the same conclusion. We all have scowls on our faces now. Drake is slightly more lucid now that half his coffee mug is gone.

When Cora finishes her task she wanders over to us and sits back in her seat.

"So is there anything else you guys wanted to do today?" She asks. I just want to spend time with her, so I simply shrug.

"Oh! Maybe we could play a game or something later! Get to know each other more." Grayson says cheerily. I can't say I hate the idea. It would be nice to learn more about Cora.

"That sounds great! We haven't really hung out as a group since I showed you the Cafe." Cora says enthusiastically. Jason and Tim both just shrug.

"Now that's settled, Cora why don't you go get ready while I wash my dishes?" I say, finishing my food.

"Yeah okay, see you in a bit then." She says, she has a very bright attitude as usual.

After a couple minutes of menial tasks and small chatter between my brothers, Cora walks down the stairs. Now changed from her nightwear into a comfortable outfit, she doesn't have any other items with her other than a plain black notebook.

It seems well loved, the pages slightly crinkled and some are obviously torn. The bookmark is fringed at the end and the pencil she holds against it is very short. She holds it close to her, so it's most likely important to her.

"Ready to go?" I ask.

"Yep!"

"Great, lead the way then." I say, giving her a motion to move. She nods confidently and walks briskly out the front door.

I follow her after glancing behind me at my brothers. Grayson gives me a thumbs up. I roll my eyes and follow behind Cora.

We walk in comfortable silence for a little while, until the graveyard is in our sights.

"So you're not aloud to judge me for this one. You just can't, okay?" Cora speaks quickly. I raise an eyebrow at her sudden nervousness.

"Okay. I'm sure it can't be as bad as you seem to think." I say, trying my best to reassure her. She just nods, taking in a deep breath.

"Well then, here we are. Follow me." She says quietly. I nod silently and trail behind her. She scans around for something, perhaps someone? She finds a very very old tomb stone, the words are close to being faded.

She sits down in front of it. I raise my eyebrow once again, but sit beside her nonetheless. She opens her book and I see it's full of her bubbly handwriting. She peeks at me from the corner of her eye.

"This is my hobby, I find a tombstone and I try to think of their story. Like this guy, 'Rigney Walzack'. He had a story. He lived a lifetime, and now he sits forgotten in a small graveyard. So I'll write what I think his story is." She explains quietly.

I watch her with interest, she stares at as many details of the stone in front of us as she can.

"How do tell what kind of story they have?" I ask cautiously. Her eyes snap to mine. She was focused.

"Oh, well look at the date. 1870-1935. He lived to age 65. And I can guess the quality of life and such from that time period. And from the type of tombstone you can guess his wealth as well as how well liked he was." She says, pointing out the date and the shape of the grave.

I watched her closely, she seems content. Her legs are crossed and she's focused, she'll occasionally glance over at me, but I don't look away.

"Can I ask you a serious question?" I say, turning a little more towards her. Her head perks up and she turns to look at me. She closes her book with the pencil in between the pages she was writing on.

"Yeah, go for it." She says casually. Now it's my turn to be nervous. What if she says no, and doesn't want to be around me anymore? What if I offend her and she kicks us all out? I have to take a deep breath to calm my nerves.

"Would you like to leave this place? Like go somewhere else for awhile." I say, hoping to ease into my next question. She looks thoughtful for a bit.

"Well, where would I go? I wouldn't want to go somewhere bad." She asks me. Okay, I can work with this. I look back at the tombstone, unable to keep eye contact with Cora.

"You could always come back with us, if Drake can figure out how to get us home I'm sure he can get you back here when you need to be back here." I say, hoping she'll at least consider it.

She doesn't say anything and I'm scared to look at her reaction. I swallow down my nerves and look at her quickly. She has tears in her eyes.

I quickly turn my whole body towards her and I can't help the concern that crowds my face.

"Are you alright? I didn't mean to upset you. You can decline if you dislike it that much." I say quickly. She shakes her head swiftly.

"No, no. It's not that. It's not that at all. I just, you really want me to come with you?" She says, hope in her voice, as well as skepticism. I lightly grab her shoulders.

"Yes. Of course I want you to come with us. You've been so generous towards me and my brothers. You're welcome to come with us any time." I say, doing my best to be reassuring.

I wipe at a tear that fell, my hand resting against her cheek. Cora leans her head onto my hand slightly. She looks at me, with tears still brimming in her eyes.

"Then I want to go. I want to come with you." She says, softly, sweetly. My heart swells, I think it might burst. I draw her in with my other hand, holding her against my chest.

She wraps her arms around my torso again. I stroke my thumb along her cheek, wiping away the tears that aren't soaked into my shirt.

In the calm and quiet of the graveyard, I hear her sigh. She moves away slightly, in order to look my in the eyes. I dislike her moving away in general.

"What am I gonna do about school? and Charlotte? and what if my parents check in?" She says sadly, beginning to get tense.

"It's okay, we'll figure it out. You do online schooling, correct?" I say, she nods. "Good, then we simply bring your phone and your computer with us. I'm sure Drake can figure out how to connect them to this world while in ours." I say, hoping to quell some of her worries.

She nods slowly. I can practically see the gears turning in her head. She rests her head against my chest again. I move my hand from her face to her hair.

"We should talk about this with the other boys. We're putting a lot of faith in Timmy for our plan to work." She says quietly, but she doesn't make any efforts to move from her place in my arms.

She has a point, but that means I need to let her go. I don't want to. I want to just stay here with her in my arms. She let's out a huff.

"Okayyy. We should go now." She says, almost whining. I feel compelled to do the same. Reluctantly, I let her go. She slowly pulls away as well.

We walk back silently. It's a nice silence though. Calming and comfortable.

Now we must face my brothers.