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They snuck away, giving Jason and Rose the privacy they weren’t tactful enough to ask for. Through stifling laughter, Raven took Damian’s hand and pulled him along, looking back at him with vibrant eyes and an inviting expression.
Little was said as he followed her off the roof and down the stairs. His eyes wandered over her blue dress and down the bare white slopes of her legs, fondly remembering what they felt like. Not a day went by that he hadn’t thought about that night they shared, even if it was the last time he’d touched her in the past year. Those same eager hands were grasping at the letter he’d begun drafting that night: a letter that took him a year to write as the fervent thoughts composed themselves.
They reached the hall of closed bedroom doors; the dark corridor quiet as she tugged him along like a lamb to the slaughter. He'd have followed her anywhere. It wasn’t unusual for her to take him aside at any point in their friendship. However, there was something different between them now. It was no longer a one-sided admiration, but a returned attraction Raven now harbored. Still, his boyish nature left him skeptical.
Raven had always been very hard to read; he could never tell if she was flirting or teasing him over a naïve notion that escaped his proper nature. It reminded him of a cat playing with her food. Catching him briefly to toy with him before letting him go only to catch him once more in the strange dance he was unsure how to win. Yet in the bumbling confusion, he loved it—he wanted it. He always came back for more, even when he wasn’t sure what it meant or what to expect. All he knew was that he wanted her: her attention, her affection, her scorn, all of her. He couldn't stand the idea that he was nothing to her. Just a boy she felt short of loving. No. That would never do.
He followed her into her room, foolishly unaware of the way she held his hand, the high misleading his senses, rendering them dull, yet heightened before her. She closed the door behind them, and Damian turned at the sound. Something in his memory recalling the days when they were permitted behind closed doors together. She caught his gaze as he watched her old habits taking hold of them. Only everything between them was different now.
“You can sit on my bed,” Raven snickered and took out her phone, opening a music app. “Your parents aren’t here.”
“Okay,” he said nervously and plopped down as if it were an order.
Her giggle grew, and she shook her head. “You’re cute when you’re clueless,” she laughed and slipped off her mid length jacket. He watched it fall, hitting the floor with foreshadowing ease, and she locked in with a hungry look in her eye. Her smile narrowed and his heart skipped a beat, his eyes beholding her bare shoulders and exposed peaks of her breasts; a pretty lace dress of dark blue hugging them tight.
“You look scared?”
Damian laughed, shaking off whatever trance held him, and thumbed the letter in his hoodie. “I’m just really high.”
“I love this song,” Raven sighed and sat next to him on the bed. “I feel like it takes me to Mars.”
“You sure it’s the music?” Damian asked, feeling the rush.
She exhaled. “Music has always been the one thing I could express myself through. Y’know?”
Damian smiled sheepishly. “No,” he chuckled; music wasn’t exactly something he grew up with and when he did it was more orchestral, which he enjoyed, but still found more pleasure in reading or practicing his martial arts. Oddly, it was something he’d never discussed with Raven.
“I just realized I don’t know your favorite song,” she mused, looking at him sideways.
“Because I don’t really have one.”
She stared at him, stunned. “We’ll have to change that.”
He hesitated. “You have any suggestions?”
“Many,” Raven grinned and pulled open her bedside drawer, taking out a small wooden box. “Promise not to tell?” she asked and held up a single pinky finger.
“Your secrets are always safe with me,” he replied and hooked his own pinky around hers.
“Good.”
“This is legally binding by the way,” Damian teased as he recalled the first time she committed him to a pinky-swear, finding the concept silly and mundane, which was exactly why she’d introduced him to the gesture. His reaction was priceless.
Raven laughed, their fingers still tangled together. “Someday when you get married, you should offer this as a prenup.”
“Why, do you plan on taking me for all I’m worth?”
A coy expression played on her lips. “You still have your cold little heart set on marrying me?” She asked, recalling the day Raven accidentally provoked Damian into accepting the challenge and he never let her forget it.
“I don’t walk away from a challenge, Roth,” he asserted, and watched as Raven sprinkled a thin bit of marijuana into folded paper.
“Then why haven’t you asked me yet?” She dared and ran her tongue over the crease.
He chuckled boyishly. “What’s the rush?”
“No rush,” she giggled and began rolling the cigarette. “I’m just curious how long you’re gonna make me wait, is all?”
“You tell me?”
Raven smirked and placed the joint to her mouth to seal it.
He stilled, thinking of maybe giving her the letter. “I uh… think about what happened by the pool last summer… a lot.”
“What part,” she asked kittenishly.
“You know what part.”
“Do I?” She purred. “Maybe you should remind me?”
His mouth fell ajar; it was time to give her the letter. But before he could even mention that she could read it for herself, his phone rang. “What the fuck?” He scowled and took the device from his pocket instead. “Shit, it’s Dick.” He ran his thumb over the screen and answered the call as Raven lit the joint, the mood between them once again broken.
“What do you want, Grayson?” Damian drawled, clearly annoyed.
“Am I interrupting something?” Dick asked in a straight tone.
“No,” Damian grunted, half guilty. “Now, why are you pestering me?”
“I just realized you’re not here?”
Only he was. He just couldn’t tell him that. “Yeah, I went for a walk. I needed some air.”
“Did Raven go with you?” Damian glanced at her, his eyes wide. “Yeah, she’s right here.”
“Then why didn’t you just say you went for a walk with Raven?”
“Because you’d be doing what you’re doing right now?”
“And what would that be?”
“Shut up.”
Raven shook her head and took the phone as she put Dick on speaker. “Hey Dick, sorry I had to borrow Damian, cause y’know he’s leaving tomorrow and I wanted to talk to him like old times.”
Damian watched, studying how well she could lie as she took another drag and held it just long enough to compose her response.
“Well, enjoy your walk then,” Dick replied, a smile likely on his face.
“Thanks, we will.”
“Oh, and Damian, I’m just gonna tell you what Bruce told me,” Dick added in a more serious tone. “Be safe.”
“Jesus Grayson!” Damian whined.
“Will do,” Raven giggled, half shocked and enjoying Damian’s irritation, and ended the call. “I think he just gave us the go ahead?” She laughed and passed Damian the lit joint.
His face grew red in both shock and embarrassment. “Go ahead for what?”
She smiled like a smokey Cheshire cat as she fell back on the bed, perching herself on her pillows. “Sometimes I can’t tell if you’re playing dumb or you really don’t know.” She gave him a sultry look. “Does Dick know about your little college girl?”
“No.” He sank down beside her, his body closer than would have been appropriate for just friends. “The only other person that knows is Jason.”
“Alfred doesn’t know?”
“If Alfred knew, he’d cry,” Damian said with some mortification.
“He would,” Raven laughed and took the joint from Damian, then passed it back. “Speaking of, you never did get around to showing me what the college girl showed you,” she added as Damian took one last short drag and leaned over Raven to stub out the roach. “So what happened with that college girl?”
“You want the truth?” He asked, still hanging over her, looking down.
She simply nodded and looked into his eyes.
“It didn’t mean anything,” Damian assured.
“What?” Her expression softened
“It didn’t mean anything, and if I could, I’d take it back.”
“Why?”
“Because I should have waited for the girl I’ve always wanted.”
Raven couldn’t help her shit-eating grin. “And who might that be?”
“If you really have to ask, then maybe you’re not her?”
She glared up at him, her glance telling before using her body to maneuver him to his back. She looked down at him, for once faced with a challenge. “What do I have to do to change your mind?”
“That’s up to you…”
“I like you, Damian,” the Empath sighed, getting the omission off her chest like a dress on prom night.
“Show me then?”
With a playful eye roll, Raven leaned down, her soft lips overtaking his. Her kiss was warm and inviting. Better still, it meant something. He steadied his hand and took hold of the back of her neck, drinking in the moment he’d quietly longed for since the last kiss they shared. She sighed against his lips, opening her mouth just enough to invite his tongue to taste the vindication on hers. It was a moment that took all summer to build and finally came to fruition in an earth shattering embrace.
Before he knew it, she’d unzipped his hoodie and pulled off his shirt.
“Raven—” Damian breathed as she pushed him to his back once more. He watched with inflamed eyes, caged beneath her hips. She unzipped the back of her blue dress, slipping it off her pearl white shoulders. It fell to her waist, and she encouraged his hands to run over her black lace bra and soft skin.
Small hands glided down his firm chest as she leaned down and kissed him once more. “You’re leaving tomorrow,” she whispered at the tip of his tongue. “I wanna give you a night to remember.”
Her words left him smiling as he took her face in his hands and kissed her more aggressively.
“Dami—” she moaned as he pulled her down against him, his hand slipping under her bra and cupping the guarded flesh. “Dami…” she whined at his touch, “I wanna…”
Before she could finish her indulgent confession, he threw her to her back as if she were his opponent. His greedy fingers pulled the lace dress down her hips and pressed his lips to her lower stomach. He let his tongue trail up to her breastbone, only stopping to nibble at them as his fingertips explored.
“Dami,” she cried and felt his teeth rake up her neck, taking her breath away.
Her body quivered as his tongue slipped past her lips and took hers into his mouth. fingernails dug deep into his bare back, letting her femininity dance dangerously close to his tightening manhood.
The culmination of reality and fantasy was mere moments away, the Demon birds lost in the deepening fever before them.
She felt his breath beat against her neck and his hand slipped under her lace bra as he heaved against her lips. “Raven, I have a condom.”
His words hit her viscerally, in a way she’d not expected. Yes, she knew she’d be nervous her first time; the idea of sharing herself so intimately was not to be taken lightly. Even if it was Damian and she loved him.
“No wait,” she said, hit with a sudden panic.
“Is everything alright?” Damian asked, seeing her face turn a sickening grey color.
She shot up, barely able to breathe. “I can’t—I’m not ready.”
“Okay,” he replied, alarmed and worried he’d done something wrong, or something she didn’t like.
He looked on at the sheer anxiety on her face and reached down for his hoodie, continuing his effort to comfort her. “Hey Raven, look at me. We don’t have to do anything you don’t want to. Alright?”
He covered her near naked body with the sweater, her arms cradling herself protectively in confusion and discomfort.
“I’m sorry, Dami,” she breathed, sitting up on the head board. “I thought I was ready, but I’m not...”
“And that’s fine,” he smiled, trying to ease her trembling mind, his hoodie wrapped tightly over her chest like a security blanket. Whatever fire burned between them, seemingly smothered by doubt. “I should go?”
She took his hand. “No, don’t.” There was desperation in her voice as she reached out for him. He turned, her face still white with fear, but also something deeper. “I’d rather you stay.”
“Is that what you want?”
Raven nodded and removed his hoodie from her breast, heavy with his scent of teakwood and black pepper, and slipped it over her shoulders.
He leaned into her and she smiled within the safety of his red sweater.
“You alright?” He whispered.
She only gave him one slow nod, and he wrapped his arm around her, the two settling down together side by side in her bed.
“Damian, I’m really sorry.”
“Stop apologizing. You did nothing wrong,” he replied.
“It’s just…”
“Just what?”
“It’s stupid.”
“Nothing you’ve ever told me was stupid, Raven,” Damian insisted with all his sincerity. “Tell me?”
“My whole life, I’ve always been reminded of how corruptible I am. That my very soul is tainted and that my life’s purpose is to bring pure evil upon this world… This part of me—my virginity—is the only thing that isn’t compromised. It’s the purest part of my existence.”
“That’s not true, Raven,” Damian frowned. “You’re so much more than all of that. We all have a choice to do good in life, and you made that choice all on your own.”
“Who told you that?”
“You did... You’re the least compromised person I know.”
“Thank you,” she smiled weakly.
“I’m not trying to pressure you or anything. I just need you to know that you showed me what it means to make that choice. I couldn’t have learned that without you.”
She kissed him gently as he stroked the hair from her face.
“I ruined your night,” she said with tears in her eyes.
“No you didn’t.”
“Yes, I did,” she insisted. “You should be enjoying your last night here with your friends, not consoling me after I cock blocked you.”
Damian laughed at her tone and held her tighter. “The only thing I wanted was to spend my last night with you, and that’s exactly what I’m doing.”
“You’re such a liar,” Raven smiled against him.
“Have I ever lied to you?”
“No…” And at that point, he hadn’t.
“I would never lie to my future wife?”
“Shut up, Damian.”
“I’ll win you in the end.”
“You already have,” she sighed and hooked her arms around him, “I love you, Dami.”
“I always have…”
“What’s this?” She asked, pulling the letter from her pocket.
“It’s nothing,” Damian fumbled, and took the letter; he couldn’t give it to her now.
“You sure about that?”
He took a deep breath and settled back down beside her. “It was something I wanted to give you, but given the circumstances, I’d rather it wait.”
“Until when?”
“Until you tell me you’re ready?”
She closed her eyes and kissed him gently. “Thank you,” she sighed and nestled against his chest.
“Anything for you.”
And with that, they said nothing else. They only laid together in her bed, body to body, listening to the sound of their hearts beating to the music of “Heavenly Blue Flu”, until they fell asleep. And that was it. That was all that happened between them.
Damian left for Gotham the next day, without his Raven in tow. Going back to his life as the son of the most affluent billionaire. Lost in the world he cared little for and had little patience to be a part of. But he told her after stealing one last kiss in her bed:
“I’ll come back for you.”