(whatttt? Chapter thirty already?????)

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Damian folded his arms and tutted. "This isn't working."

Pulling his arms apart and grasping his hands, Raven soothed, "You'll get better with practice."

"TT. I'm not making any progress!" He scowled, but didn't withdraw his hands.

"Perhaps this just isn't you're niche." She said, readjusting the way she sat. Cross-legged, Raven continued, "Anubis is the god of death, it's understandable that this wouldn't come as naturally to you."

With her hands covering his, Raven placed them over the dirt again. The plant pot wobbled on the floor, but stayed upright. A small sliver of green poked its head out of the ground. That shoot had failed to grow more than a centimetre out of its seed pot after fifteen minutes of Damian trying.

"Close your eyes." Raven instructed.

Damian complied, bright irises disappearing from view.

"You're dealing with nature here- it's different to creating a shield or summoning portal. You can't just command it. We don't want to start with incantations just yet: that's the easy way out." She lifted her hands. "You have to feel for the plant's energy, test its potential, and encourage it to grow. Nature can't be ordered, but it can be easily persuaded."

"Right. Persuade the non-sentient organism."

He might not have been able to see it, but Damian felt the disdainful look Raven gave him.

"You'll come to find, Damian, that sentience takes on a very different meaning when you know that human scientists simply don't have the means to properly test for it. Everything living feels- to an extent."

Raven looked up at him, with his hands on the soil, his eyes closed, and his face screwed in concentration. He looked adorable.

"Encourage it to grow. Encourage it to grow." Damian whispered. "How am I supposed to do that?"

"Channel magical energy towards it- not too much, you'll overwhelm it." She rolled her lips, trying to figure out how to explain how to do something that came to her as second-nature. "Try thinking what you want it to do."

"In summary: channel some energy but not too much and think 'grow'. That's it?"

"Pretty much." Raven shrugged. "Try it again."

Damian sighed, his entire body slumping with the movement. Sitting straighter, he dug the tips of his fingers a little deeper in to the soil. Damian envisioned the plant growing: one centimetre, two centimetres more; the stem dividing; leaves tentatively peaking out of the divided stems; and finally (as the plant reached a few inches tall) pea-sized flower buds emerging from the green limbs.

He replayed the growing process in his mind again and again. Meanwhile, Damian let his hands ignite with golden light like all the times before, loose hieroglyphs dancing in the air before disappearing. Letting only the tiniest bit of magic reach the seed, Damian bit his lip, thinking 'grow! Hurry up, I haven't got all day! That may not be entirely true- still, grow!'

Perhaps you ought to be a bit nicer-

Yes, thank you Anubis.

"Grow...please...if you wouldn't mind...'

He felt nothing change.

Damian probed the seed with a single wave of magic. Something responded. It seemed to nudge him back. He sent another wave and it sent one back.

His heart leaped.

Grow. Damian didn't so much think the word as feel it. The energy of creation, of growth, of life, it trickled in to the plant.
If Damian reached, he might have held it- the secret to creation. And for a millisecond, it was as though the entire existence of the world was child's play. Building blocks, so simply stacked on top of one another. It all made sense, and it was all so easy.

That was gone in the next moment, replaced by the cold, empty feeling of material existence. Damian yearned for that warmth of absolute knowledge, until he forgot what it felt like with the next beating of his heart.

Damian opened his eyes, once more green. He moved his hands away from the plant pot, dusting them off, marvelling at the yellow blossoms adorning the green stems.

He looked at Raven.

Her eyes travelled from the plant to him and back again. She broke out in a surprised laugh.

"Oh that's wonderful Damian!" She said. There was a brightness in her voice that he wanted to hear again- a brightness that he wanted to hear everyday.

Raven reached out a hand to Damian's check and, in one swift movement, caught his lips in a cherry-flavoured kiss. She smiled in to his lips, suppressing a laugh.

I think I will just sit here for a moment...away from all this..

"Is that a new chapstick?" Damian murmured, smirking.

She pecked his lips, "Maybe."

"I like it."

"Mhmm..." Raven smothered his lips with hers, leaning forwards so that she was more kneeling than cross-legged. Damian pushed the plant pot out of the way, eagerly pressing his lips against hers.

There was a palpable shift in the atmosphere (one that the demoness was particularly attune to) as Raven's arms wrapped around his neck.

Oh okay- uhmm- I see this will take a while....you keep...enjoying yourselves, don't mind me...

The momentum driving the movement was overwhelming, resulting in Damian falling backwards, Raven following suit. Lips breaking apart, the two stared at each other, their individual breaths moving the other. The beatings of Damian's heart resonated against her chest: the organ was placed lower than her's. Looking forward, she found her eyes were too above his, with his hot breath hitting her neck. She steadied herself above him, both hands either side of his head.

Her heart hammering in double-time, Raven stuttered, "S-sorry- I'm squashing you. I'll just get-"

She was stopped short, lips hanging apart, as Damian put a single, short kiss to her neck, just below her jaw. From that shocked, distant place in her mind, Raven faintly realised that she might have let out a small, sighed noise: perhaps a strange, strangled sound, a gasp, his name- she didn't entirely know. But by his positive response, she hadn't ruined the mood. He sat up, pulling Raven with him, lips welded together

Damian's hand knocked in to the plant pot, almost making it fall over. That was the least of his concerns, as Raven hands lay against his chest.

The abrupt slamming of the door broke the two of them apart. Raven wiped her hand across her mouth and pulled her hood over her face. Breathless, Damian stared at the perpetrator, equal parts afraid and frustrated.

"Holy guacamole its true! Oh god. Oh lord. Sweet baby Jesus you're joking. This is so weird- what the shit?" Tim peeked his head over Dick's shoulder.

The man remained silent, eyes shooting between the two. A human tank shoved him out of the way.

"Ooooh damn. Fucking hell that's weird. How does this fucking gremlin have a girlfriend before me?" Jason inclined his eyes heavenwards. "What the fuck man? Give me a break!"

Eyes somewhat glazed, Dick lay a hand on Jason's shoulder, "Nonono don't say it yet. Don't say anything yet." He blinked twice, looked at the Titans sitting on the floor, and promptly scooped them up in to his arms.

"I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!"

Damian winced.

"Oh here he goes." Muttered Jason.

Cassandra Cain dropped from the ceiling. She narrowed her eyes approvingly at the demoness (who was in the midst of a chokehold).

Fighting back the tears, Dick squeezing them tighter, "I always worried Dami was going to die alone... now you can die together!" He could no longer contain the hysterics.

That is one way of looking at it, yes.

A.N:

OOoooOoooh now they've been properly found out!

Just a little cute chapter my darlings! I know not much happened. I just thought it was about time I gave you all something a bit nicer to read.

Hope you enjoyed that my darlings! I promise you're going to get a lot more storyline progression from here on!

-Bats :3