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Damian doesn’t think as he cups Raven’s cheek, as the pain ripples through him while she cries, tears falling onto his face from where he’s laying on the ground. He doesn’t think as he pushes himself up on an elbow that is shattered bone and pain.
He’s still not thinking when he presses up, up, up until their noses touch, until he can whisper, “I’m not leaving you, Rae, never.”
Damian’s definitely not thinking when he presses in, in, in and kisses her in the middle of the chaos of a battle that’s only just starting to slow down. When he slots their lips together and tastes her tears and the blood from her busted nose mixes with the cut down his cheek to the corner of his mouth. When the pain finally overcomes the adrenaline, and he pulls away to find her looking at him with horror and shock. “Shouldn’t have done that,” slurs from his lips as everything goes black.
Damian doesn’t remember hitting the ground when he wakes to the pale infirmary of the bat cave. He only knows it’s the bat cave because Alfred is humming somewhere close, and he can hear his father, who was in Gotham when the fight started outside of the tower, talking quietly.
But the thing that has the monitor surging as his heart speeds up is the soft hand curled around his.
A hand he knows far too well.
Raven’s hand is curled around his, fingers slack against his hand but there and so warm. He carefully turns his head to find her asleep, head on the bed next to his arm, dressed in a pair of purple sweatpants and what looks to be his black Wayne hoodie that he’d lost three weeks ago at the tower.
“She refused to leave your side, even forced Dick to drive her here when Starfire brought you without her. She was mad, gave them both an earful before Alfred managed to help her relax with some tea,” His father’s voice is gentle and amused in a way that he’s still getting used to, and Damian turns to find him watching them with a softness on his face that makes him feel almost embarrassed.
“She’s probably going to kill me,” mutters Damian as he turns back to Raven, watching her sleep so peacefully. “I screwed up, Father, I- I kissed her. I swore I’d never do that, tell her, or give in to my— I swore, so I should be struck with lightning.”
“I don’t think she agrees with that, and I highly doubt she’ll be happy to find out that you swore not to tell her how you feel, son. She was quite adamant that you were an idiot and she had to be here when you woke up to tell you that and something else. Alfred likes her a lot, by the way,” replies Bruce gently, and Damian’s eyes close because his father has been telling him to take the chance since he’d let it slip at a family dinner.
Damian never thought he’d need to learn to keep his mouth shut, but apparently being around his brothers and father makes him chatty.
“Like I said, she’s gonna kill me,” mutters Damian with a shake of his head.
“I have to let Dick know that you’re awake, but I guarantee she’s not going to kill you son. Trust me,” murmurs Bruce knowingly before his footsteps sound loudly.
“I’ll go get you something light to eat, Master Damian,” says Alfred gently before taking off as well.
Damian just knows Alfred will give him an earful later when he’s alone. The man always does.
“Oh good, they’re finally gone,” Damian jerks at the sound of her voice and he finds her staring at him with those purple eyes of hers that are swirling with too many emotions to untangle. “You are an absolute idiot, you know that? I honestly can’t believe you would be so stupid, Damian Wayne! You took a hit that was meant for me, then you almost died in my fucking arms, then you kissed me, then you reneged on the whole thing! What is wrong with you?!”
“First off, you took a hit meant for me first, Raven, so don’t think you get to harp on me for taking a hit that you wouldn’t have been able to block. You were pre-occupied. It was better for me to take it than for you to,” snaps Damian frustratedly even as she squeezes his hand and scowls at him in that cute way that usually makes him smile. “And I never reneged on the kissing or the feelings that I have for you, I just acknowledged that I shouldn’t have done it. That’s all I did.”
“Yeah, that’s exactly why you reneged on the whole thing! You shouldn’t have done that? You shouldn’t have kissed me? Why? Why is it that you shouldn’t have kissed me when you clearly wanted to so badly?” Raven’s questions are accentuated by the tears that slip down her face, making Damian struggle to wipe them away with his free arm that’s in a brace.
“I swore I wouldn’t do that to you when we all know I’m not the type that people want for more than a night,” Damian’s voice goes quiet with the disappointment as he explains. He’s had three one-night stands that he didn’t enjoy and two dates that turned into one night stands where he ended up ghosted. It made him shut down anything romantic afterwards because he was only doing it to get over Raven in the first place. ”Besides, even Beast Boy said you’d never be interested in me, and he’s the one you’re closest to. So, yeah, I shouldn’t have done any of that.”
“Beast Boy is a fucking idiot too,” snaps Raven as she swipes her tears away and wipes her hands on her pants before cupping his face. “I am interested in you, of course I am. I like you so much it’s insane, are you kidding me? I almost died when you came that close to taking that hit, Damian. I literally couldn’t breathe until I took it instead. Then you did take a hit, and you were gone, you were genuinely gone, and it was like I’d stopped living too. I’ve been interested in you since we met, Damian Wayne, and that hasn’t changed. It’s grown stronger, but it’s never changed.”
Damian almost wants to cry at her words, disbelief swells within him, but he knows she’s being honest.
Raven is shit at lying when you know her tells.
But even he knows that she wouldn’t lie about this.
Damian leans into her hands, eyes closing as happiness finally overwhelms him.
She likes him back.
She wants him too.
“You have no idea how happy that makes me, holy shit,” murmurs Damian as he looks at her again, pain disappearing at the way her eyes are locked on him and filled with love. “The feelings I have for you are kind of intense, but I’m so unbelievably happy that they’re reciprocated.”
“You scared the hell out of me,” huffs Raven as she leans forward and presses their heads together, tears slipping down her cheeks. “Please, please, don’t do that again.”
“Protect you?” asks Damian quietly as he lifts his hands to cup her face and swipe away the tears that are steadily slipping free. “I’ll never stop trying to protect you, Rae.”
“Then I guess I’ll just have to make sure to protect you too,” says Raven with a soft chuckle as she blinks her eyes, bottom lip wobbling with emotion. “I like you so much, Damian Wayne.”
“I like you too, Raven, with everything I have,” whispers Damian as he smiles gently at her.
When she leans in and kisses him, his breath catches at the move before he surges forward to kiss her back. It’s wet with their tears but chaste and quick at the same time.
When Raven pulls back, Damian moves over and tugs her onto the bed with him. She makes him adjust until he’s comfortable before carefully laying how he wants her to while adjusting at every flinch, no matter how invisible they may be. She curls up against his side, head falling to his shoulder, and he holds her against him, fingers locked together over her hip.
“Get some more sleep, Alfred isn’t actually bringing you anything yet unless you press the button. He knew I was awake,” murmurs Raven as she snuggled against him more firmly, tucking her head under his chin after kissing his jaw gently.
“Alright, Rae, we can sleep more,” says Damian amusedly, not even slightly surprised that Alfred knew about Raven faking her sleep.
He falls asleep with his head against hers and her breath ghosting over his throat. It comes easily whereas it’s normally difficult after an injury, and he knows she is the one he has to thank.
Damian thinks his adrenaline filled confession might’ve been the best thing he’s ever done after an injury.