Chapter Text
Waiting, waiting was always a bore but waiting was worse when the thing that you were waiting for wasn’t worth it.
Like how it wasn’t worth standing around for over fifteen minutes for Damian Wayne, the boy not even acknowledging everyone’s presence and blowing all of you off. You were sure what made it worse was that Kory and Nightwing were flirting every chance they got or more so Nightwing trying to but getting interrupted at every turn.
You bent down, grabbing another arrow, sparing a glance at Raven who was sitting on the floor in mild meditation. “I can see sadness but I know pissed off when I see it, he was fucking seething,” you said, taking aim at the target in front of you, releasing the arrow, and watching it barely miss the middle.
You looked back at Raven, the girl giving you a pointed look. “If I remember correctly, you were mad when you got here,” she said, calling you out.
You shrugged, she was right but you weren’t trying to kill everyone and almost get killed in the process mad. You looked from the arrows to her and then to the target before grabbing one and settling it in the bow. “Well, I had just gotten evicted from my home, my family–everybody and told to never come back. Then I got shipped off to here, yeah I was a little pissed off but I wasn’t arrogant like that little fuck,” you told her, groaning when the arrow missed that target completely, clattering to the floor in a disappointing beat before the room turned silent once more.
You refrained from taking one of the arrows and stabbing yourself with them, the nightmares had been coming back recently and your aim always got worse when the nightmares interrupted your sleep.
Raven hummed, you could never tell the difference between her dismissive hums and her thinking hums but you hoped that it was the latter. “Maybe that’s how he had grown up,” she pointed out and you nodded along with her words, she was probably right.
“That or he’s just an asshole,” you said offhandedly, smiling to yourself when she let out a small chuckle.
“Have you heard anything from your sister?” She asked and a sigh fell almost instantly through your lips at her words.
Nodding, you roughly grabbed another arrow, instantly slowing your aggressive movements, remembering that Raven was still in the room, not wanting to be too aggressive in front of others. “Yeah, she and the kids are doing good, and so are mom and dad, my fucking dog is even doing great,” you spat out, taking aim and almost throwing the bow when you missed again.
“Still mad about that?” She asked and you looked over at her, trying to make sure that you didn’t explicitly show your anger but your arms flailing around with the bow in your hand might have been enough to show her how much annoyance was coursing through you.
“My parents keeping my dog hostage or the fact that I can’t hit the fucking target?” You asked sarcastically.
“The dog.”
“You tell me.” You turned back around, grabbing the last arrow in the bunch and taking aim. “How have you been lately, been a second since we’ve had these little sessions?” You asked her, looking over your shoulder to look at the purple-haired girl.
Raven shrugged. “You haven’t been coming down here late at night recently,” she deflected and you let down your arms, letting the bow and arrow rest carefully on your side.
“That’s because I’ve been able to sleep,” you pointed out before taking that arrow out of the bow, before sighing, and trying to give your friend the best supportive look possible. “Rave, I told you that you can come to me if you need. I know you don't like to but talking shit out is good for everyone,” you told her, moving around your hands as you talked, forgetting the two things that you had in your hands.
She raised an eyebrow. “Should you be waving those around?” She asked.
You looked at the two things in your hand before looking back up at her, shrugging. “Probably not,” you said, a small laugh coming from you a moment later, your smile getting bigger when one appeared on hers.
Raven started standing up, brushing off whatever dirt might be on her just in case. “I should be going,” she stated.
You furrowed your eyebrows, wondering what might have made her want to leave then you remembered. “Yeah, that ritual thing, right?” You asked, pointing the arrow at her.
She nodded and you said your goodbyes to her before turning around and pointing the arrow at the target, barely catching the edge of it but the sound of the arrow hitting the ground with a dull thud made you almost scream out in frustration.
Normally, you liked nights like these, with just you and Raven talking about everything and nothing or mostly you talking and her listening but it worked well for both of you. Raven didn’t socialize a lot and preferred to stay in the shadows despite being the center of many things while you wanted to be in the spotlight but with your powers and your emotions, it was difficult doing so. With the late night talks where neither of you or Raven could sleep, it provided a space where both of you felt like there was nothing behind either of you pushing to either go forward or go back, for the first time that day, that week or that month, everything about both of you was centered.
But these nights alone, it left you with your thoughts and memories, the taunting that both had over you multiplied by ten whenever you found yourself truly alone. Memories about the first time that you disappeared while you were sleeping, ending up on the roof of a random building, or that time that you got so angry that you turned see-through, freaking out your mom who didn’t know what was going on. The thoughts about not being good enough pressured on you, in reality in a fight you had nothing but your bow and arrows, the ability to disappear came in handy but the only time that you seemed to end up on random roofs was in your sleep.
Running a hand over your face in exasperation, you gathered all of the arrows and put them back in the basket. Grabbing one, you positioned yourself to shoot, trying to clear your head and wave away anything that might make you miss your mark.
“Your stance is wrong,” a voice behind you said and you jumped a bit before righting yourself. Looking behind you, you met the green eyes of Damian, uninterested and almost bored at your very presence.
With annoyance, you reluctantly shifted your feet and straightened your back, pulling back your shoulders, a better position to shoot an arrow. “Thanks,” you muttered under your breath, casting a glance over at him, his face still void of emotion.
“And your distracted, it's sloppy,” he pointed out again.
Gritting your teeth together, you kept looking at the target, ready to snap at the green-eyed asshole behind you. “Thanks for pointing that out, anything else to add?” You rhetorically ask.
It’s quiet for a few minutes but you don’t do anything, ready for his next words of disaprovement and annoyingly helpful criticism, no matter how rude he had put it. Another minute goes by and you ready your bow, breathing and clearing your head before letting go of the arrow, it going dead straight in the center.
Smiling to yourself, you ignore the most likely smug look that Damian is giving you for being right and correcting it so that you hit the middle. You grabbed another arrow, settling it on the bow, and were about to shoot until he started talking again. “You have no place on this team,” he stated firmly.
You snorted, rolling your shoulders and pulling back the arrow. “Someone went through my files, if that's all you found then I’m disappointed,” you said, letting go of the arrow, suppressing a groan when it hit the side of the target but you supposed it was better than it hitting the floor.
You went to grab another one and slightly jumped when you saw Damian standing there, his arms crossed and a firm expression on his face. You gave him a deadpan expression, shoving the hand that wasn’t holding the bow into your back pocket. “How did you know that I went through your files?” He asked, accusing you of something that you weren’t entirely sure of.
Shrugging, you walked around him, going to grab another arrow but he grabbed the basket, putting it out of your reach. Sighing, you put the bow on the ground gently before crossing your arms, done with whatever game he was insistent on playing. “Ever heard the expression ‘the walls have ears,’” you said. Taking his confused and distracted expression as an opportunity, you lunged forward to grab the basket but he pulled it away from your grasp, making you stumble a bit before regaining your balance. You looked up at him, glaring daggers at the tall green-eyed man, hoping that he would feel it horribly.
He put the basket behind him, giving you an unimpressed look before it morphed into an accusation. “You’re the ears,” he accuses, moving the basket right beside him in thought, moving it once more behind him when you try to grab an arrow.
Sighing, you looked at him with bored eyes and shrugged, “Kinda.” You set a glare on him once more when he starts walking away, taking the basket of arrows with him. “Whose to say you have a place on this team?” You call after him, smirking to yourself when he freezes in his tracks.
His shoulders tense up and he turns around, looking at you with blank eyes and an even more emotionless face. “I don’t, I belong back in Gotham and with my father,” he says with absolute positivity in his statement.
You cock your head a bit and give him the accusing stare that he had held you down with before. “Not with Batman?” He doesn’t respond to your pushing question, only goes to leave once more but you are not done with him yet. “Have you thanked Raven yet?” He doesn’t say anything but you can see the small amount of guilt in his eyes. “Really?” Your shocked words don’t do anything, he still stood there in his black turtleneck, not saying anything and you start wishing that the fabric would tighten around his neck and make him choke. “Or at least–I don’t know, said sorry to Jamie?” You ask angrily, almost yelling the words at him.
You feel your hand starting to shake and you look at your hand, the appendage starting to turn see-through the more that your anger started to build up. You feel a small spike of fear run through you and you start to try and even your breathing, seeing as your hand started to become visible once more.
Looking back at Damian, he shrugs at your question as if it were nothing. “There is no use,” he says plainly.
You scoff at him, chuckling a bit in disbelief before looking at him like he was crazy. “Jamie almost killed you, doesn’t matter if it was the bug or not and Raven used all of her energy healing you so that you didn’t die.”
“You weren’t here when that happened, is that another the walls have ears’ situation,” he sneered, steering the conversation onto a new path before tossing the basket full of arrows at your feet and walking away.
You huff in annoyance before bending down and picking up the basket. Looking up, you saw him at the door of the training room. “You're an asshole I hope you know that!” You shout at him before the door closes, probably muffling your words.
You raised your hand, flipping off the door before returning to your spot in front of the target. Setting down the basket, you grabbed one of the arrows, settled it in the bow, and pulled it back before realizing it and missing the target. “Fuck,” you whispered to yourself, silently cursing the green eyes asshole who had taken all of your focus and attention with him out of the door.
Grabbing another arrow, you shuffled a bit, getting into a different position that felt better than your previous one before adjusting your arms as well, hoping that the adjustments would at least have you hitting the target and not around it.
After many adjustments and moving around, you went to grab another arrow to only find that all of them were laying on the floor, expert for the one that was still perfectly in the middle of the target.
You were about to go and grab it but arms coming around you stopped your movements. You went rigid but the person behind you didn’t care just grabbed your bow and placed an arrow in it before grabbing your hands and positioning your arms the way that they wanted them positioned.
They kicked your legs but the arms around you stopped you from falling, just kept kicking and nudging your legs until they were to their liking. They grabbed your arms and started positioning you again. “Shoulders back.” You stood in shock at the familiar voice and restrained from yelling at Damian, pulling back your shoulders and letting him position your upper body like a piece of clay that needed to be molded. “Like that,” he whispered, nudging your arms up a bit with his pinky before grabbing your waist, pulling you so that you were standing slightly turned, ignoring your gasp when he did so. “You would think someone doing this as long as you probably have would know how to do this.”
Then everything around you two fell down, and the small bubble that he had made and you leaned into popped. “You know I was enjoying this until you opened your mouth.” You looked at him over your shoulder, both of your noses almost touching with his face leaned down. “Maybe being a mood killer is something else you're good at,” you said, smiling too sugary sweet at him to be real.
He tilts his head in consideration before shrugging and moving your head back to face the target with a few fingers on your cheek before returning his hand to your waist. “Perhaps, now pay attention,” Damian said, getting you to try and focus on the thing at hand.
Hand, his hands on your waist, that was all you could focus on at the moment. “Then get your hands off of my waist,” you hiss at him, expecting him to move them off but if anything they became tighter around your waist to just purely annoy you.
You hear him huff behind you, his own annoyance brewing under the surface. “If you are a Titan then I would have expected you to know how to tune out distractions,” he says, his voice strained and agitated.
You scoff. “Oh like you don’t get distracted,” you accuse, turning your head to look at him once more but he stops you with his hand again before taking it off of your face and stepping back, both hands off of you completely. “Thanks.” He nods at the whispered words but then goes back to the newly acquired topic.
“We are not talking about me, now pay attention,” he said snappily.
Moving your head a bit, you mocked his words silently but a sharp glare from him have you stopping and pulling back the arrow a bit more. Taking a breath, you close your eyes, clearing your head of everything around you, even the strange sensation of your waist being strangely cold from where Damian had placed his hands before opening your eyes and letting go of the arrow. A bright smile coming over your lips as it hits the dead center of the target, splitting the one already in the dead center down the middle.
You looked over at Damian, he looked at you with a small quirk on his lips that you considered a smile and ignored the proud look in his eyes, most likely for himself if anything. You nod at him in a form of a thank you and walk over to the arrows, gathering all of them before throwing away the now split one in the trash can.
Putting them all in the basket, you grabbed it when Damian came to stand in front of you, not risking him grabbing it again. “Do you need me to help you once more or do you think you can do it yourself?” He asked, smoothly going to grab the basket with precision, only missing it by a fingertips length.
Putting the basket behind your back, you shook your head at his question. “I think I’m good, thanks Damian, really.” He nodded, starting to leave, you considered asking him for a moment–asking him if he wanted to talk at night with you and Raven. It did you two favors and if anything, he would benefit two friends and maybe some slight comfort and company for his loneliness. Turning around, you looked at his back but he stopped, somehow hearing you do so. “Me and Raven, we do this thing at night when either of us can’t sleep, we mostly just talk about…nothing really,” you said, realizing that you two really didn’t talk about anything, sure you brought up your past a few times but truly, you two talked about nothing.
Damian turned around, eyebrow raised and a confused expression set on his face at your words. “Then what is the point?” He asked and now it was you who looked at him confused. “There is no use in talking if nothing comes from it, pointless.”
You continued to look at him confused before your eyes widened in understanding, oh.
You scrambled in your brain, trying to find something to provide evidence that talking about nothing wasn’t pointless, no matter how much he was told by whoever made him think that. “It gets our mind off of things,” you explained and he nodded, though he still didn’t look convinced that it wasn’t pointless. “If you want you can join us. We’re basically down here every night.”
He stood there, face blank but he seemed to actually mull the offer over, thinking about it for a few moments. “I’ll think about it,” he said.
“You should also thank Raven, she’ll appreciate it. Even if it doesn’t look like it she will,” you admittedly told him, going back to what you angrily told him last time, anger wouldn’t work and it wasn’t right if it somehow made him feel guilty but perhaps telling him more calmly would at least tempt him more.
He nodded once more, stuffing his hands into the back pockets of his jeans. For a moment both of you were just staring at each other, a silence falling over both of you. It didn’t feel awkward, no matter how much his intense stare or your tapping fingers would suggest otherwise, it seemed strangely peaceful. “I’ll consider it,” he finally said, his words once again popping the bubble that both of you had created but you didn’t mind it that much this time. “Goodnight.” You nodded at him and as soon as you were about to say it back, the doors closed and he was no longer in the room with you.
You scoffed lightly, this time out of disbelief instead of annoyance, a small smile on your face instead of a frown like the last time. “Asshole,” you whispered to yourself, shaking your head and turning around, and placing down the basket.
Picking one up from the bunch, you didn’t notice the missing one that Damian had swiped behind your back.
The arrow that was now laying on your bed, waiting for you to find it.