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He's not always like this.
Throughout his life, damian has experienced constant scolding for his, at times, rash behaviour, especially during his younger years, but he can feel that his current sense of urgency strays from his typical thirst for action. this is ... different. very different.
He misses someone.
It's been literal days, if not weeks!
He had to leave the city for a mission, as well as go no-contact in order to remain covert. It was times like these that he was grateful for his foresight prompting him to tell her face-to-face about the matter beforehand.
Making his girlfriend worry about his whereabouts and his being unreachable wasn’t something he wanted to worry her with. She didn’t seem to have any problems with him going either.
She knew how these things worked and she’d appeared to be fine. Which means the problem is just... Damian.
He misses her.
But finally, he’d finished and he had returned back to his city.
He has just gotten back this evening, the ache in his muscles from overexerting himself during the fights he’d gotten caught up in, exhaustion seeping bone deep as he ached for nothing more than to relax. And of course, he’d already informed the person he wanted to relax with most of his return.
Rhea.
But what she doesn’t know is that he's coming over to her place. And through her bedroom window.
[22:33]
It's quite a windy night.
Though on this side of Gotham, it doesn't feel so bad.
Rhea is, like always, busy working on her desk. She's already completed the bulk of her work for tonight however, only finishing up on anything she’d half-done and tidying up whatever was less. Only the simple, yet monotonous, tasks left to get done.
She loves being the Curator for the Museum.
She found a sense of passion in taking on such a role, not just to satiate her own curiosity and interests but also as a pledge of honour to the legacy her family had left behind in the hopes to preserve it for the future.
... And it also serves a pretty good distraction. From the things that bothered her often, getting too wrapped up in her thoughts was a lot more difficult when she was dealing with clients and staring at such beautiful pieces.
But it couldn’t distract her from anything. Such a reminder caused her to sigh wistfully, resting her hand on her cheek as she stared blankly at her laptop.
... It would've been a lie for her to say she didn't miss Dam—
*knock knock*
It's... the window. There's a knock on her window.
'Okay there's no way', she thought. As she walked her way to draw back the curtains.
'... It can't be him, right?'
"D—Damian..!? What are you doing here!?" her heart leapt in surprise at the sight of him, but she felt a fluttering in her chest, happy that it really was who she’d hoped it would be.
Damian Al Ghul-Wayne.
He hadn’t been gone all that long but it still felt like a relief to see him in front of her, a welcome distraction from her work and all other thoughts that had been plaguing her mind as of late.
He looked so familiar, just like himself, wearing a long coat with a cardigan underneath. it's proper looking, and cozy. perfect for the night breeze and also perfect for Damian. She couldn’t help the smile that pulled at her lips.
Though, once the novelty of seeing him wore off, she couldn’t dismiss the fact that he'd pulled up to a woman's house at night unannounced, and via the window. In Gotham city. Clearly he was aware of how reckless this decision was himself if the slight pinkening of his cheeks was anything to go by.
"... Hi." he murmured quietly, making an aborted motion to scratch his cheek before he pulled away like he’d been burnt. He didn’t want to give away how he felt that fast. He also didn’t want it to be too obvious that missing her so much had made him nervous. He’d rather that she chalk his behaviour up to fatigue from the mission. Which she did.
Rhea sighed softly, a frozen gracing her lips. She did want to be selfish and entertain Damian for the night, she’d missed him. But she could visibly see he was tired and it’d only be right to assume so. From little detail Damian had provided her prior to his mission, it sounded like it would be a task and a half.
"Okay, what are you doing here now, Mr. Wayne?” she started with her usual banter and complaining, looking anywhere but his face so she wouldn’t feel much regret for sending him off as quickly as he’d arrived. “Seriously—it's late y'know. Didn't I also tell you to go to rest immediately after you came back? You're so stub—... born."
She paused, looking up at him and feeling confused, looking him in the eyes didn’t ease that confusion. He was just… standing there. Silent and staring at her—not even a twitch of the brow or the wrinkle of his nose. Was he that tired?
Usually when she started running her mouth off he’d nag back with something stupid like, “Is that how you greet your boyfriend?”, but right now he wasn’t saying or doing anything. Weird.
"... Damian?" she called out, her voice softer this time—just in case he’d zoned out instead. Not that he did it often but, considering how tired he must be it wasn’t a particularly far fetched idea. But still, she couldn’t help but find it suspicious. Not that she hadn’t personally bore witnessed to Damian’s vulnerability but she just didn’t really expect it.
'What trick is he trying to pull here?', she frowned, dragging her eyes over him and leaning back slightly as he began to approach her, getting closer for some reason but still not reacting to her.
"Hey, um... Hello? Earth to Mr. Wayne??"
She tried to catch his attention once again and failed Damian unrelenting in his stride towards her. She shivered, a grimace on her lips.
'Shit, i forgot how intimidating this guy can be... Screw those genes of his...' she thought to herself, why would anyone be surprised that the son of Batman and the Daughter of the Demon's Head could strike fear into her heart simply by walking?
A gasp she let out as she was knocked backwards by a body slightly bigger than hers, Damian’s of course, colliding right into her and knocking her right off her feet, falling back until her body landed on the soft cushion of her bed. She was entirely smothered by him, not that she was really complaining but—
She let out a muffled squeak of surprise as suddenly Damian lay his entire body weight over her.
'?
What. WHAT.'
This bastard... Clearly had no idea how heavy he was, going totally limp on her. She didn’t care how tired he was at that moment—she was suffocating and this was a surprisingly intimate position for Damian of all people to be initiating. And now she was stuck. She hated him. She was sure of it.
[22:41]
"Dam, get off of me." she said eventually, after deciding she was through with this suffering. But of course, no response. Expected.
"... Tsk, so annoying. At least say something to me, would you?" she grumbled, sounding more irritated that she actually was. If anything the one thing currently consuming her was concern. Could Damian really be that tired? This behaviour was particularly strange from him. He didn’t usually act like this... Ever.
She decided to let him have a few more moments of quiet, groaning as she strained to pull her arm out from under him, lifting her hand up to pat his back, admittedly awkward in her motions, but it was the best she could do with how he was restricting her mobility.
"... Just another minute." he spoke after a few moments, his first words since his initial greeting, and with a longer phrase she could pick out how exhausted he sounded—his voice entirely drained.
"There's no 'just another minute' with you.” she said, her voice lighter, wanting to prompt another reply out of him. “Come on, Dam... You're crushing me..."
... No response again. Who could've guessed, right. She let out another sigh and relaxed into the bed, prepared to be here for a while.
[22:46]
Damian shifted after a while, he didn’t get off her at all, just moved around to be comfortable, his face leaning against her cheek now. "... I've missed you, you know." he muttered so quietly she would have missed it if he hadn’t been so close, his breath tickling her ear and making her cheeks flush at the reminder of just how close he really was.
"Hm. Is that so? Can't say I noticed." she replied, her voice dripping with sarcasm and dismissal, contrary to just how red she was in the face even after she turned away from him so he wouldn’t see her, nor feel the heat radiating off of her skin.
Turning away meant she missed how Damian’s face pulled into a small smile at her response, so full of sarcasm and yet still he found himself enamoured in her presence, aching for it every moment he was away.
She clearly wasn’t getting it.
"No, Rhea. I—really... God, I missed you so bad I could really just—"
(っ˘з(°ロ°˶ )!!
He reiterated before deciding words weren’t enough to get her to understand, cutting himself off to give his sweetheart a firm kiss on her cheek that made her yelp in surprise, making her blush spread to her ears and down her neck. She felt way too hot, even with the cold breeze from her window still drafting in.
"DAMIAN!!" she squealed, but her sounds only spurred him on, eager to hear her more, "Stop it!" he just found her far too cute to want to pull away or hear her stop, "What is with you today!?" being away from her so long and finally being back in her arms meant he simply couldn’t get enough of her, he’d rather stay right here forever.
She protested strongly but went limp beneath him eventually, every move she’d made to get him to stop proving futile in the end. She huffed as he continued with his clinginess but found herself smiling regardless.
She wouldn’t humour him forever but she decided to give up for now. He’d won, only because it was him, not that she would tell him that to his face. And she had to admit...
She’d missed him too.
♡