That evening, when the batfamily and titans were seated in the living room, they were greeted with the welcome sight of Raven. Still in the large jumper, but looking much better than when Damian last saw her. There was a slight pallor to her complexion, but overall, he was strangely pleased to see her in such an improved state.

Walking in to the room, she was met by an overly concerned Koriand'r.

"Raven, are you quite healed? Are you in need of further rest?", she stood in front of Raven, measuring her temperature with a hand to her forehead.

Removing Kori's hand from her forehead, Raven smiled, "I'm fine Kori."

"Well then, by Hera sit down!", Donna shouted form her seat besides Stephanie, beaming as Raven took a seat besides her, "Hello Raven, I haven't seen you in forever. How are you?"

Rolling her eyes at Donna's antics Raven allowed her eyes to wander around the room. She was surprised to find Mr Wayne sitting with them, scrolling through his phone (an extremely old model from God knows how long ago) sandwiched between Jason and the end of the sofa. Perhaps he wasn't as cold-hearted as she once thought.

Eyes still wandering, Raven couldn't help a light chuckle as she observed Jon. Poor Jonathan, he had it bad. Jaime and Adyn were talking animatedly on either sides of him and clearly he couldn't care less. Smirking, Raven followed his line of sight to, as she predicted, Donna- who had trailed off, having caught sight of Jon. However, before Raven could make a sly comment, Damian beat her to it.

"Jonathan,", the boy of steel responded with a faint 'hmm', "Take a picture, it'll last longer."

Snapping his head up, Jon spluttered hopelessly, drawing the attention of the others in the room.

"Bu-no I wasn't...It isn't...I...nothing...wha-"

Damian cut him off, tutting, "Tt. Your excuses fall upon deaf ears Jonathan, deaf ears."

"Wait, what's going on? I want to know!", Steph demanded, eager to find out all the titans' gossip.

"Well-", Jaime began, before Bruce stood up.

"Sorry, but I have to leave.", he apologised.

Jason nudged Tim, "Oooooh, is this the date you were mentioning earlier."

"A date?", Dick's tone was appraising, "You've been single for a while now, well done Br-"

"Well,", Bruce coughed, stopping Dick, "I'll be off.", giving it a second thought, he looked in Raven's direction, "It's good to see you're feeling better."

Raven didn't know how to take that. She really didn't.

Opting to side with the idea that he was possibly nicer than she had thought, Raven watched him leave the room.

Azar, this is too confusing.

***

The next morning, Raven was present when Damian came downstairs, sipping her earl grey tea, reading a book. The sight brought him a queer sense of joy, though he could do little to explain it.

Pouring himself a mug of tea, Damian asked, "Tolkien?", she nodded, "What part?"

She set the book down, "They've just met Tom Bombadill at the edge of Buckland."

He hummed to himself lightly and acknowledged, "An artfully written series, the Lord of the Rings. It's a shame that many characters were left out of the movies."

"You've read the books?", she couldn't help the sceptical edge her voice took.

He merely nodded his head, bringing a stool around to the other side of the kitchen island. They were on opposite ends, staring coolly at one another.

Finally, Damian explained, "I had a lot of time on my hands.", his lips lifted at the corners as he nursed his mug of tea, "Reading happened to become a rather enjoyable pass-time. Mostly classical literature, though."

Raven nodded her head in thought, surprised at Damian's revelation. He wouldn't usually talk about himself so freely. Heart considerably warmer than before, Raven shot him a small smile.

"Admittedly, I prefer classical literature over other styles. My favourites have to be Jane Austen's works.", she confided.

"Austen's works are rather interesting, though Dickens' are just as good. I particularly like the commentary style of authors between the 17th and 20th century. "

Wholeheartedly agreeing with this statement, Raven found herself contributing animatedly to a conversation about the writing styles of authors throughout history- focusing particularly on the differences between female and male authors. It felt good to be sharing opinions which she would usually have kept quiet about. Damian was a surprisingly nice person to discuss matters with: he would listen to her side of the matter before answering with an equally educated thought.

Fifteen minutes in to their conversation, Bruce was about to walk in to the kitchen until he heard voices. Curious, the dark night leant on the door, eager to know what was going on: the only person in the house who wilfully woke up this early was Damian- so who was he talking to? 

"I don't believe I have ever read a play that has been less than exemplary.", he heard Damian say.

Now Bruce was truly intrigued.

"Exactly.", he was shocked at the undeniably feminine voice that responded, "The poetic way Shakespeare depicts emotion is just...incredible."

Shakespeare?

Interest piqued, Bruce leant further on the door. Naturally, it fell open, alerting the two. Recovering himself enough to not fall down, Bruce entered the kitchen, deftly avoiding the strange looks from both Damian and Raven. It came as quite a surprise that his son would be speaking to her so freely: from what he had gathered for two nights ago, they shouldn't exactly be on the best of terms. Not to mention that Bruce had never even seen his son talking with someone like this. Still, it brought a smile to his lips, knowing that Damian was making friends.

Clearly he had changed since living with the titans. That eased Bruce's guilt.

Coffee cup in hand, the billionaire left the room, not wanting to spoil the precious moment of Damian actually interacting nicely with another person.

Following his father's exit with his eyes, Damian sighed softly. Mind wandering, he drained his mug of the last drops of tea. Setting his cup down, Damian regarded Raven for a second.

"Are you hungry?", he said.

She shook her head, "No. Not particularly."

He didn't know what drove him to do it, but Damian found it in himself to ask her, "Would you like to join me for training? It has been a while since I had a decent sparring partner."

What surprised Raven more than his question, was that she agreed almost immediately.

Both mentally kicking themselves, Damian and Raven washed their mugs in the sink before leaving the room with him one pace ahead, leading the way down the corridors. The silence between them was too much to handle, could they not go back to the mood of a few minutes ago?

Turning another corner, Damian decided to speak, having grown fed up of the awkwardness.

"Usually, I will run a few laps of the room before staring. Is that an issue?", his tone was challenging, and, of course, she met the challenge.

"Not at all.", she added, "I'll join you."

Abruptly, Damian stopped in front of a door. It looked exactly the same as the other doors in the manor, however, when he opened it, Raven's  eyes widened considerably. Brimming with high-tech equipment and gymnastics apparatus -for Dick obviously-, it made the titans' old training room look like nothing more than a nursery. Raven estimated the length of the room to be seventy by ninety feet and she could see a door at one end that probably led to a simulation room.

Damian watched her reaction with a smirk on his face. He had expected it.

A few seconds after they had walked in to the room, Damian began jogging at a light pace on a track marked out with white lines on the floor. Realising that he had started without her, Raven went after him, increasing her pace so that they were in line. 

The pair continued jogging at the same pace for five laps before Damian increased his pace. Raven increased hers to match, hardly breaking a sweat. Damian did the same after another five, and again after that. Before they knew it, the two were sprinting around the training room, sweating insanely.

Panting heavily, Raven asked, "One...last...round?"

Damian nodded his head, wiping at his brow.

When they reached the place where they started running, both put on a burst of speed, sprinting full-out. Ignoring the sweat trailing down her forehead, Raven threw her all in to the last half of the lap. One would inch forward a centimetre above the other for a moment before the other moved slightly ahead. Still running like lightening, Damian and Raven made last meters of the track, breathing heavily.

Taking slow steps to decrease her heart rate, the empath couldn't keep a smile off her face. And neither could Damian. It had been so long since either of them had actually let loose and had...fun. That is what it was. Fun. They couldn't deny it, no matter how strange it might be. 

Raven had always released her pent up stress and power through meditation, she had forgotten that activities that brought her joy could do the same.

"Raven,", Damian said, calling her attention, "I have... to commend your... endurance.", he was clearly out of breath, as anyone would be after such exercise.

What had surprised Raven, was the expression on his face. Damian wasn't smirking, he was smiling. And not just a lifting-of-the-corners-of-the-mouth smile, but an actual smile of content. Rather than unnerve Raven, it gave her a warm feeling, deep within her chest. Kind of fuzzy. Different from the sensation of adrenaline coursing within her, but not unpleasant.

Running a hand through his damp hair, Damian turned to Raven

Quirking an eyebrow, he asked, "Sparring first or further cardio?"

Before she could answer, a knock came from the other side of the door, followed by the formidable butler himself.

"Ms Raven, Master Damian.", he addressed them, prim and proper as per usual, "Your presence has been requested in the family living room by Miss Koriand'r."

Quenching the deep disappointment that had, for some strange reason, arose within him, Damian nodded, remembering to add, "Thank you Pennyworth.", at the end.

The butler was pleased to see that moving in with the titans seemed to have taught the troubled boy some well-needed manners. He still recalled the chaotic mess that Damian was when he first came to Wayne Manor. Eyeing the young lady besides him with open curiosity, Alfred bowed, holding the door open.

"Thank you Mr Pennyworth.", he heard Raven say as she walked through the door.

Hmm, perhaps that's where the young master learnt it?

Alfred covered a small chuckle with a seamless cough.

***

When all the titans were assembled in the living room, some sitting down, others standing, Jon finally decided to asks the question they had all been wanting to know.

"Uhm, Miss Kori, you...wanted to speak to us?"

Koriand'r stood at the front of the room, by the window with her hands relaxed on her hips- the usual team-speech pose.

"Indeed, I had an idea and it would be good to hear your thoughts about it.", she looked to Damian, silently communicating as though to say 'Did I use the correct grammar?'.

He nodded at her encouragingly...well...as encouraging as Damian could be. Kori had come to him a while ago, asking if he could help her with speaking English better, of course, he had accepted.

"What is it Kori?", Donna asked.

Airy voice wavering a little with uncertainty, she expanded, "I got the idea from Jaime: he does volunteer work at a soup kitchen so I thought it would be good for us all to start helping the society through community work!"

After mulling it over for a moment, the others came to the conclusion that it was a reasonably good idea -even the Damian and Raven, the eternal pessimists, had no issue with it. Koriand'r was pleased to see such positive responses from them.

"That is most wonderful!",she enthused. "I will trust you all to find suitable places for community work, like at a day-care or animal centre."

Raven bit back a chuckle at the way Damian's eyes lit up at the term 'animal centre'.She could have sworn that he would be better suited to living the rest of his life with only animals.

Damian was just that kind of person.

A.N

GAH! Fluuuuuuuuuf!!! I was literally smiling madly whilst writing this...and it wasn't even that deep. *sigh* This difficult life we shippers live.

Well, I hope you enjoyed that chapter! Please keep commenting, voting and reading because I can't even begin to tell you how amazing you guys are- we've gone past 150 comments and 1.8k reads!!! :D

Thanks again and bye!

-Bats :3