Adyn watched the boy dash back out of the door with his eyes the size of saucers and his heart beating a frantic rhythm. A hand on the demon's chest, Aleil could feel its pace matching his own and muttered in to Adyn's ear, "That was close."

The demon took a few breaths, "It certainly was."

Taking a step back, Aleil's pale eyebrows drew closer together and he asked, "Do you know him? He seemed to recognise you."

Adyn frowned, trying to sort his way through a mind foggy with alarm. The person (a boy, looked in his teens, dark hair and light complexion) had stayed only a few seconds, staring dumbfound, and Adyn hadn't been able to study him; he had sensed something, something ancient under the surface, Adyn didn't exactly know what. That was a little familiar, but Adyn couldn't place it.

He shook his head, "Not at all.", and didn't mention the boy's aura- it was best not to get paranoid, they were already treading carefully enough.

If word were to get out to Aleil's colleagues or superiors that he was sneaking around with a demon, he could be ostracised and fired (even attacked). The shaky peace between Lights and Darks would not permit such blatant ignorance of the unspoken rules.

Adyn was Dark- a demon.
Aleil's was Light- a half-fae, half-angel.

It wasn't love between them. Not slightly. But even that purely carnal lust they shared would be a disgrace.

Adyn pushed that to the back of his mind, pushed thoughts of the intruder to the back of his mind, and pulled Aleil's lips to his own, hard and wanting. They could worry about that all later, for now, all Adyn needed to think about, and all Aleil needed to care about, was the fire that left hair tousled, necks bruised and lips swollen.

***

Raven handed Damian a plate, a slab of chocolate cake sitting in the middle and a fork on the side. He accepted it and began to shovel chunks in to his mouth, ferociously hungry after going through the entire gala with no more than a few appetisers to keep him going. The demoness stood besides him, holding her own plate- the both of them leaning against the wall- and Damian looked at her from her corner of his eye. He stopped chewing and set the fork down. She did the same.

"What is it?", Raven asked, frowning mildly concerned at Damian's change in attitude.

His eyes travelled around the room, landing on Clark Kent. Superman had super hearing. Great. Knowing that Raven was adverse in many of Earth's languages, Damian replied, "هو تستطيع ان يسمعنا.(he can hear us)".

Aware of what Damian was inferring,  but a little taken off guard, Raven replied in the same formal Arabic (unlike the spoken, dialectical Arabic she reckoned Damian would be mor comfortable speaking in)
اعرف ، يلله ما المشكلة؟" (I know, come on, what's the problem?)

Damian was pleasantly surprised at her response- he'd taken a gamble, not knowing whether she could speak and understand Arabic or not- and her accent: then again, English wasn't even her first language either.
"اعتقد ان يجب ان نخبار ابي عننا، ما رايك؟"
(I think we must tell my father about us, what do you think?)

That threw Raven off.
Sure, they knew that eventually they would have to tell the others they were together...but now? Raven wasn't even in the clear on where she stood with Mr Wayne, and telling him would mean that everyone found out: he would speak to Dick and Alfred about it; Dick would speak to everyone about it; and everyone would swamp them with questions.

Raven took a forkful of cake for thought, looking over at Damian's father, standing with Clark, Lois and Selina conversing. With worried eyes she looked at Damian, her irises tinting periwinkle blue. He noticed the change in hue and had to regulate his breathing because of how beautiful they'd become- as if they could have become any more celestial.

Raven readjusted her dress and the fabric fell back, revealing a long stretch of her leg. Damian's mouth went dry and he tried to tear his eyes of her. Clearing his throat, Damian made eye contact with the demoness once more, noticing that her eyes had been trailing away too and had abandoned periwinkle for magenta.

A voice sounded in front of them, refocusing their attentions, "Am I interrupting something?"

Damian stopped leaning against the wall, "Not at all father."

Waves of panic churned in their heads as Bruce stood before them. Clark, Lois and Dick joined them, followed shortly by Koriand'r and the others so that a large lopsided circle was formed.

"So,", Clark grinned at the boy, "what did you wish for?"

'Come again?", Damian didn't understand the question.

An arm around his fiancé's shoulder, Dick said, "You know, when you blew out the candle, you're supposed to make a wish."

"What was your wish, Damian?", Kori reiterated, her voice soft.

That was a thing? Birthday wishes? Damian thought it a strange tradition and said so to the group, only causing the rest to laugh and roll their eyes at such a 'typical Damian thing to say'. The boy searched for an ally in the group the share in his lack of understanding of modern customs. Raven patted his shoulder in sympathy, choking back laughter.

"Well,", Jaime began to strangely take pity on him, "what would you have wished for?"

They stared at him expectantly. Eyes blinking every few seconds or so. The pressure mounted on Damian's shoulders and he felt his mind go blank. Wisheswisheswishes...what were those again?- ah yes, of course, A Wish: (noun) a desire or hope for something to happen. Nothing came to mind.

Swooping in and saving the day, Raven offered, "How about Dick loosing the ability to sing?"

That brought a round of chuckles at Nightwing's expense.

Almost breaking a sweat, Damian rolled his eyes, "Did he have any ability in the first place?"

Affronted Dick prepared himself to launch in to a lecture on self-appreciation and believe in one's own talents (followed by an ear-splitting cover of Don't Stop Believing) but was stopped by Bruce's sobering voice, "In truth though, Damian, what would you wish for?"

The ex-assassin looked around the room. Selina.Father.Kori.Dick.Alfred.Tim.Jason.Donna.Stephanie.Barbara.Cassandra.Jonathan.Clark.Lois.Jaime.Bart.Belladonna. Raven
It was crystal clear- what he would wish for, more than anything else.

In the most earnest, pure statement most in the room had ever heard him say, Damian confessed, "I think...to always have people around who...care. For the good and through the bad."

Damn it if Dick didn't almost shed a tear at his little baby bro getting all cute and heartfelt. Even Jason felt a little something in that cavern in his chest...for once... and then he had to stop himself from getting disgustingly mushy by changing the subject.

He punched Damian's arm, "The bug one-six eh, little-", he paused at half the family madly gesturing at the innocent Belladonna, "bleep. I'm gonna introduce you to something strange known as 'females'."

Bruce was ready to fight him. Dick was halfway through a 'don't you dare taint my muffin's innocence' speech. Stephanie was cackling like the village crazy woman.

Welcome the batfamily much?

Damian made eye contact with Raven as the rest of the group launched in to laughter and attacking the Red Hood (still in his waiter's uniform) and silently asked that penultimate question: "Now?"

The demoness' heart missed a beat, catching Clark's attention. She bit her painted lip and Damian tried not to take notice of the teasing way her teeth sunk in to the soft flesh, willing himself to stay focused. She met his eyes with renewed definitiveness and discreetly nodded, adrenaline bubbling in both of them.

Damian thought he might as well take the lead with this one, and now was the prime time to get it out, considering everyone was gathered together. He cleared his throat, "There's something that I have intended on telling you all, ", he had their heavy, undivided attention, and it almost made his throat clog, "well, something we,", he looked at Raven, "have been meaning to tell you for a while now."

Selina watched raptly, as possible the only person in the room who knew what they were potentially speaking of, she wondered if the teens were truly going to confess. It would be quite the statement and more so the biggest shock of the hero community in a century.

"It's a little difficult to piece together the words,", Raven said, tucking her hair behind her ear and doing all in her power to avoid eye contact with Mr Wayne, "but..."

Deepbreathdeepbreathdeeeeeeeepbreath

"We're together."

...

"Wat."

"I beg your pardon."

"Whadya mean?"

"Shutthefuckupnofuckungwaywhatisgoungon?!"

Damian and Raven winced. He tried to explain again, with a little more confidence, "Together. As in, Raven is..well, she is my girlfriend."

Dick fainted.

***

The sleeping princess was revived with a glass of champagne poured over her face courtesy of her knight in shining armour; Jason woke Dick up.

A spluttering mess, Nightwing jolted upright, "LITTLE D HAS A GIRLFRIEEEEEEEND!", he jumped up and squeezed Jason by the shoulders, "I can't believe it!!!!", he gasped, "Ooh, and it's Raven too! They're  like a little demonic power couple ohmigooosh!"

Jason refrained from yeeting Dick across the room and instead, pried his hands off his shoulders. Jason made sure to get to Damian and Raven before Bruce (or anyone else) shoving in front of the super-mob. Even Babs was no match for his skill in shoving people out of the way.

He landed between his little brother and the demoness, throwing an arm around both. "She's a great catch little shit, you best not mess this up."

"Shut up Todd!"

"I mean seriously,", he looked at Raven, "if he's acting up, call me and I'll gladly beat the crap out of him, capiche?"

Raven chuckled but before either could respond, they were swept in to Kori's arms and lifted a few feet off of the ground (pregnancy hadn't depleted her strength whatsoever). "I am so happy that you too have found company within each other and are able to share in the physical pleasures of-"

They shoved themselves out of Kori's arms, not wishing to enter that kind of conversation. Again, the two of them were captured, this time by Clark and Lois, who spoke fondly of the two teens finally being able to find someone to relate too and relax with...for all of five seconds, until AGAIN they were carried off. This time, by Stephanie, who was bringing them on the orders of Casandra, Babs and Tim: all of whom wished to formally welcome Raven in to the family and offered their personal contacts in case Damian's behaviour needed patterning.

Jon, Jaime, Donna and Bart wrestled their way through and offered their share of 'I had no idea!'s and 'why didn't you tell us?!'s. Damian and Raven at least hoped they'd be an example to Jon and Donna, then again, those two didn't even have the courage enough to confess this their feelings to one another leave alone their friends and family.

Out of nowhere, a dark cloud seems to have come upon the group and the other four teenagers subconsciously backed away. Damian and Raven turned around to find a pair of steely blue eyes regarding them expressionlessly. A mask of emotional resolve was pulled over Damian's face as he waited for his father to say something, when he did, Damian's dread only mounted.

"I would like to speak to Raven, for a moment." privately

The demoness gave her boyfriend a stare that said 'don't say anything' and Damian obliged with a clenched jaw, preparing himself for the worst when they returned.

"Where's daddy?", Belladonna called to Damian, held in Selina's arms.

As he responded, "Speaking with father.", Bruce's partner flinched, knowing just how harsh he could really be.

Batman wasn't one to be trifled with, but he wasn't in-empathetic. They simply hoped he was in a better mood.

***

The wind whipped Raven's shoulders, casting her entire body in to a state of pure numb. She warily eyed the man standing a metre in front of her on the grass. The Manor loomed behind them, a mass of daunting shadows creeping out of the corner of her eye. Raven embraced the darkness and let it envelope her in its safe arms. The shadows brought a strange warmth and comfort as the wind left her thin, lacy dress flying around and exposing her bare legs.

Mr Wayne's back was unnaturally straight and his eyes far too analytical for someone trying to appear at ease. Raven didn't meet his gaze, knowing that hers would either shrink to blue or blaze a fiery red: that would just remind him how much of a demon she truly was.

"You're in a relationship with Damian."

She knew not to waffle.

"Yes."

"Since when?"

"Late December."

"Why?"

Raven opened her mouth but no words came out. Why? What a question. Why? How was she supposed to answer that? Why? She racked her brains for an answer that made feasible sense.

Whywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhy

She lifted her eyes and the stare he gave her was so fierce she couldn't summon the strength to tear them away. All the power and courage of Pride had abandoned her in that instance and her feeble human side was exposed.

"Why?"

She repeated the question out loud and her face contorted in confusion.

"Why? Because...", Raven pinned her thoughts on the first thing that came to mind, "he gets it."

With the first whole sentence out, Pride slowly crept back in control.

"All the pain and the bad memories and everything is love to leave behind by somehow can't...he gets that. There's no judgement, no frustration, just this strange...understanding- I guess- that comes only from experience.", Pride had taken the reins. "Even after all of that terror and misery, his soul -drenched in the blood of thousands and corrupted beyond measure- is still somehow one off, if not the, most beautiful things I've ever seen."

A small lot up her face, "Mr Wayne I've seen the celestial fields of Aboride, the gold lakes of Taion, and the realm of Asgard itself, none of them compare.", she noted the harsh lines depleting in Mr Wayne's face. "So much kindness and generosity beneath that hard exterior, and still so much mystery around him- so much that he may never tell anyone." Raven took a breath, surprise dat how it shuddered, "Once you've seen that much beauty hidden behind his anguish, how could you not love him?"

Her rant over, Raven stood face to face with her boyfriend's father, almost panting. Purple locks blew in to her eyes and she didn't bother brushing them away.

"You truly care for him.", Bruce's lips brought themselves to a small bittersweet smile. "Damian needs that as much as anyone,, no matter what he may say."

Bruce took a step forwards and Raven froze as he placed a hand on her shoulder and truly smiled, "Welcome to the family, Raven."

A.N:

I'm not even saying anything, just...EARLY UPDATE BITACHES!