"Is Raven alright?", Kori said when Damian walked back inside the kitchen.
Turning to face Koriand'r, who was sitting around the breakfast table with Jon, Adyn and Donna, Damian shook his head.
"Raven isn't well. Right now she's asleep, however, she'll be needing to eat soon."
Maternal concern flittered though Kori's eyes, echoed by Donna and Jon -who were eating their way through an entire box of Cornflakes on their own. Adyn, on the other hand, appeared to be deep in thought.
Finally he said, "Raven has always been able to heal herself quickly, she should be fine in a few hours, shouldn't she?", he looked to Damian as though seeking conformation.
Meeting Adyn's gaze placidly, he replied, "I should think so. Her healing abilities have always been exemplary. This must merely be a result of the colder temperatures and events of the past few days."
The pastel-haired demon accepted this response with a small smile, biting in to a slice of toast...and audibly groaning shortly after.
"It's soooo tasty! Where has this been all my life?!"
The others laughed at his antics, more at ease with him being in their company than before. Adyn was...an interesting person, Kori had found him quite likeable: he had a few moments where his character was quite sombre and serious, but mostly, he was like Garfield. A lot like Garfield. The others were of fairly similar opinions, bar Damian, of course. He was much more cynical, and had years of prejudice to hold against the demon, although he was trying to reverse old mentalities.
Biting his lip in thought, Damian pulled out the phone that Kori had forced him to take a few months ago. Tapping on the music app, he put in his earphones, smirking at the song that began playing.
You can't argue with a fever you can't sweat out.
***
"What is that?"
"It smells so goooooood!"
"What is it and where is mine?"
Damian cast a curious look towards the group that had trailed in to the kitchen.
It had been a few hours since breakfast and he had decided that, since Raven hadn't come downstairs, he should bring her some food. Seeing as there was nothing marginally healthy in the fridge, Damian thought it would be best to cook something himself. Apparently, that had attracted a small crowd of miscreants to disrupt him.
"Wait, is short stack cooking?", Jason asked, peering around Damian's head, only to receive a slap upside the head.
"It's not for you Todd.", the slap-giver said, shooting him a look out of the corner of his eye.
"But it smells amazing!", Jon complained, coming up to the stove from Damian's other side.
He reached out for the wooden spoon in the pot, only to recoil at Damian's withering glare. Looking a little hurt, Superboy attempted to coax his teammate in to co-operating through the use of...puppy dog eyes.
'Uqsim billah' اقسم بالله...
Damian was on the verge of slamming his head on the counter as Donna and Jason joined Jon in his pathetic efforts to try the food. It was just...sad. Especially for Jason. Damian was surprised that he would stoop so low, then again, he wouldn't put anything past that jacket slut. (A.N: Sorry, I just had to. Please don't G-note me...)
Raising an eyebrow at the trio, Damian tutted, "Tt, you look painfully hysterical. Stop embarrassing yourselves. This isn't for you so take your leave."
Shooing them away with a wave of the hand, he resumed stirring, turning off the heat on the hob. Raising the spoon to his lips, Damian decided that it needed more mint. Ordering Jon to pass the jar of mint, he didn't realise that Donna and Jason had snuck up behind him and were peering in to the pot with befuddled expressions.
"Uh...Damian, what's in this?", Donna asked, "Cuz I can see rice and mint in some kind of white soupy thing and...and not much else. So..."
Jason finished, "What the actual fuck is this?"
Shaking his head at the sadly culturally unaware fools, Damian explained, "It's a Middle-Eastern soup, primarily Syrian/Lebanese, made of yoghurt, mint, salt, rice, lemon and (of course) water -chickpeas and/or kibbeh can be added, but that's optional."
Donna crinkled her nose, "You put yoghurt in soup?!"
"Yeah, that's just nasty as f-"
"But it does smell really nice!", Jon interrupted Jason, not wanting to get on Damian's bad side: he had been there once and was still scarred...
Adding a pinch of naenae (as it is called in Arabic) to the soup, Damian fought the urge to smile, "It's almost finished,", he turned to them with fake sympathy, "my apologies, but there isn't enough for everyone."
Highly offended, Jason put a hand to his heart, sassing, "So this is how you play us? Making fucking nice-ass Arabic food and eating without us. You little shit."
Jon and Donna shared equally affronted looks.
Barely surprised at the outburst, Damian answered, "Tt. Don't be so presumptuous, Todd. It's for Raven seeing as she's unwell and clearly in need of appropriate nutrition as opposed to the rubbish in the fridge."
Striking them dumb, Damian poured the soup in to a bowl and placed in on a tray. With it in hand, he left the kitchen, making his way upstairs to Raven's room. Knocking on the door, Damian was satisfied to hear that she sounded much better when asking who was at the door.
"It's Robin."
He could feel her eyebrow raise in question.
Sighing, Damian added, "Seeing as you haven't eaten, I thought it best if-"
"Alright, it's fine.", she cut him off, letting annoyance seep in to her tone.
Pushing the door open, Damian was met by a vastly different scene than when he was last in the room: Raven was curled up on a large, plush armchair -much like a cat, or a small child- swathed in a black jumper (from the trusty duffel bag), holding a copy of Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus.
In response to Damian's pointed look, Raven answered, "I found it in a cupboard. Even if it is Shakespeare's most bloody play, I wont deny myself a good book.", her lips quirked upwards by a fragment.
Ignoring the skip made by his heart, Damian lifted the tray in his hands, "I brought food."
Almost wincing at the echo of his feet meeting the wooden floorboards, Damian walked over to where Raven was seated. Her face was set in a mould of indifference, yet he could almost sense her confusion.
The tension was palpable in the atmosphere. It was had simply grown...awkward. Too awkward. And only in the space of a few seconds.
Unable to understand the reasoning behind Damian's actions, yet unable to refuse good food when she was hungry, Raven accepted the tray, mumbling a half-hearted 'thank you'.
Realising that he was now standing purposelessly in Raven's room, Damian decided to make an exit. He opened his mouth to say something but, upon deeming it worthless, he closed his mouth. Effectively imitating a fish, which, when Raven pictured it, caused her to release an uncharacteristic giggle.
Immediately, a hand flew to her mouth, regret flooding every inch of herself. To Damian's perplexed look, she attempted one of utter innocence...failing horrendously when the image of a Damian-fish came swimming back. Unable to contain it, Raven let out another peal of laughter, causing Damian's confusion to turn to indignation.
"Is something funny?", he asked, arms folded.
Biting her lip to restrain her amusement, Raven shook her head, only to be met with a raised eyebrow. She couldn't help wondering if Damian's eyebrow ever stayed put or if it were to stay air-born for the rest of his life. Instantly, Raven berated herself for such stupid thoughts. Honestly, how delirious did she get when sick?
Her mental cursing was drowned out by a deep voice, penetrating her mind.
"Foolish girl. You can't trap me! I am-"
Nothing! You are nothing!
Having shut her father up, Raven massaged her temples. Any hint of laughter having left her, she could do no more than try and act like nothing had happened.
Of course, that didn't work on Damian.
It was rather puzzling to him what had conspired, yet he knew something had happened to change Raven's mood so drastically. Damian couldn't understand what had caused her to laugh so atypically: was it something he said?- or something he did? Perhaps it was just a result of her being ill (that wouldn't come as too much of a surprise). Regardless of the reason for her laughter, Damian couldn't ignore that something had stopped it.
And, observing the gemstone on Raven's forehead, he had a notion of what that 'something' was.
Hesitantly, he tapped her on the shoulder, drawing her attention from where she had been staring inattentively at the soup.
"Raven, what is the matter?"
The half-demon in question shook her head, "Nothing. I am perfectly fine.", she stared him straight in the eye. "Now could you leave and stop acting like you care."
Her voice was in the same quiet tone as usual, but there was passion driving it. It never failed to amaze Damian how she didn't know that people cared about her. Raven was part of the titans. They would protect each other no matter what- the titans were so much more than just a team: they were family.
Letting her comment slide, Damian levelled her with an equally violent gaze, "It was your father, wasn't it."
Safe to say, her eyes, so alive and aware, were wide in shock. Shock which was quickly covered by her seemingly eternal mask of indifference.
"That is none of your business."
Not allowing the ice in her tone to cut him, Damian replied in a manner quite unlike what would be expected of him.
Barely above his breath, Damian said, "It s my business. A potential threat to anyone on my team is my business. Raven...if there are any issues with Trigon, I need to know."
Subconsciously, he cursed himself for the use of 'I' instead of 'we', however, he couldn't undo what had already been said.
"Really, I'm fine.", she swirled the spoon around aimlessly, "When I'm not in the best shape, my father is able to break through a few mental barriers."
At his alarmed look, she assured, "He still isn't able to do much, only shout.", she grimaced, "It always the same thing- get's kind of old. Really, I'm fine."
Damian raised an eyebrow at her, (A.N: Again with the bloody eyebrow!) however, after seeing that she wouldn't yield, the youngest Wayne finally admitted defeat.
Nodding his head at her, Damian merely said, "Alright."
And left the room.
A.N
Yeah, that was a pretty short chapter. Sorry about that, there has just been a lot going on and I didn't have as much time as usual so this was just a filler chapter. At least we got some more DAMIAN AND RAVEN INTERACTION! Even if it wasn't that deep.
Also thank you guys again for all your reads, comments and votes XD!!! We've already reached 1.5k reads and I can't even begin talking about comments. Like I said last chapter, I would appreciate it if you could comment what you want to see happen with Damian and Raven because WE ALL NEED FLUFF IN OUR LIVES!!! (you guys know I'm on a caffeine high :P).
Thank You :b
-Bats