The large group made their way towards the car park once sunset approached, each one taking their time to enjoy the relaxed atmosphere surrounding them. 

Damian's eyes found their way to the sky, noting the soft manner in which the hues of orange and salmon melded together. The clouds managed to imitate candy floss perfectly, wispy strands trailing off in to nothing. Just as the sugary sweet tended to do when being consumed.

At that thought, Damian noted that besides him, Raven was eating her way through a bucket of candy floss. Another one?! The boy rolled his eyes, smiling- at this rate, Raven was going to need to book a dentist appointment.

The titan in question noticed him observing her.

With an eyebrow raised, she asked, quite simply. "What?"

Damian shook his head, still smiling, "Nothing."

Raven narrowed her eyes at his grin, to which she received a smile of feigned innocence. Shaking her head at the idiot besides her, Raven took to watching those around her (focusing specifically of two would-be lovebirds, if they could JUST ADMIT IT!!!).

Jon was walking besides Donna, hands in his pockets, head bowed slightly. He walked with a slower pace than usual, accommodating her considerably shorter legs. It appeared that the two were in conversation. Though by no means animated, their talk seemed to be one of cordiality and a shy laugh or two would reach Raven's ears every now and then.  The overall positivity peaked her emotional state, but what brought a pleased smile to her lips were the tendrils of innocent love intertwined with the positive energy issuing from the two.

Azar, they were cute.

Raven laughed under her breath, gaze still trained on Jon and Donna. She allowed her thoughts to wander and found herself pondering what those two would be put together. Jonna, in all likelihood. Jonna. It had a nice sound to it.

Bringing another clump of candy floss to her lips, Raven noticed that the boy besides her was once again looking at her.

She turned to him, exclaiming, "What?!"

He smirked, just like before, "Nothing."

Resisting the urge to groan in frustration, Raven decided to solve the issue by shovelling down more of the sugary goodness.

The company had almost reached the car when Dick realised that Jason was missing.

Cue face-palms and aggravated shrieking.

"Why can't he just stay put?!", Dick said, hitting his head in to a nearby lamppost.

"Indeed,", Steph proclaimed dramatically, clapping Dick's shoulder, "Why, the poor soul must have gutted half the nation by now. Let us follow red blood trail!"

"Or the trail of flame and destruction.", Damian said, playing along seamlessly. "There should be a pathway somewhere in the vicinity."

"Can't we just leave him?", Tim grumbled under his breath, evidently suffering from caffeine withdrawals. 

Jon snickered at their antics whilst the others merely shook their heads in shame. 

"He will surely be coming towards us soon. There is no reason to worry.", Kori said.

"Who said anything about worrying?"

"Hear, hear!", was the response to Raven's quip -coming from Damian, Tim and Steph.

Just as Kori and Dick had made the decision to leave without him (having waited seven minutes and twenty-one seconds- Damian was counting) Jason came sauntering towards them, staggering slightly. Upon closer inspection they came to realise that what had appeared to be a pink smudge on his face -from a distance- was, in fact, the imprint of two pouted lips. As he staggered nearer, Damian noted many more stains at the collar of his shirt and peppering his neck.

And- oh for God's sake!- was that?- yes! Just as expected: a bottle of vodka was swinging from his right arm.

Only Jason-dumb-ass-Todd could find a way to get drunk AND laid within the space of under half-an-hour. Only Todd.Damian remarked just as much under his breath, causing Jaime and Raven besides him to choke back laughs.

Jason smiled lazily at his elder brother, "Heeeeeyyyyyy! Whassa' madda lil' Dickyyyyyy?"

***

Having awoken Jason from his deep slumber on Jon's shoulder (the poor boy looked so terrified that it took all the willpower of all around to not burst in to tears of laughter) the group walked in to the Manor, pleased to be back 'home'. 

Naturally, the first thing Jason did was fall straight on his drunken ass. With the help of Dick and Tim -no way in Hell would Damian offer his assistance- Jason was taken upstairs to his room to sleep it off. It was still a marvel how he could get pissed so quickly. Still, all in the house knew that he'd face the repercussions of his actions the next morning, most likely at the hands of Bruce.

He would be positively livid.

Of course, Dick would get in trouble for not preventing his brother from getting thoroughly trolleyed, plus the whole situation with a random woman Jason had met whilst drunk (as they would find out the details of the following day).

Misconduct aside, Jon and Donna were the first to leave to their respective rooms, closely followed by Adyn with Steph returning to her and Tim's shortly after. This left Jaime, Dick, Kory, Damian, Raven and Tim. It didn't take long for Drake to nod of in his chair, curled around a teddy bear that his girlfriend had won him no more than two hours prior.

In due time, Dick and Kory made their departure, both still seeming to be hiding something. Raven narrowed her eyes as they walked off, but said nothing. They could keep their secrets, but nothing would stay hidden for long.

Only Damian, Raven and Jaime were left, each one sipping tea silently. 

Finally, Jaime spoke, gesturing imploringly, "We've gotta do something, muchachos. This is getting outa hand."

In perfect synchronisation, the two raised an eyebrow respectively, indicating that he should expand on his statement.

"I'm talking about our little lovebirds, we've gotta help them out."

Damian hummed thoughtfully, raising the china cup to his lips. It was true, the innocent souls would never even think to approach one another without outside assistance. The idea of aiding in the creation of Jonna (yes, Damian had accepted the name- it was most fitting) seemed a good one. Besides, it would provide a suitable distraction from all the troubles of life.

"Well, what do you propose?", he asked, echoing Raven's thoughts.

***

The next day, Raven and Damian assumed their usual routine of heading to and from the school and animal centre, one might think they were normal teenagers in that sense. On the way back, Damian was describing to Raven one of the puppies at the shelter.

"It was terrible! Her bones were practically visible and she had scratches all over!", the indignant tone didn't go unmissed, "How is anyone able to-"

Damian's voice abruptly halted as he almost keeled over, an arm wrapped around his face. Features contorting, the Robin sucked in a few deep, shuddering breaths, covering his mouth with a shuddering hand. The sensation was so sharp and intense within Damian that he was unable to register Raven calling his name.

It lasted for barely ten seconds, though to Damian it felt like hours. Once his fit had finished, he stood up straight, attempting to brush off the lingering feeling by rubbing a hand over his jaw. Only to be met by the furious glare of Pride herself, Raven Rachel Roth.

Without warning, she shoved his arm. Hard.

"What was tha-"

"Damian, answer me straight,", there was no room for argument in her voice, which had adopted a steely edge that still retained concern, "Have you been eating properly?"

The double-side to the word 'eating' wasn't lost upon Damian, who merely trained his eyes on the ground in front of him.

"Answer me.", Raven demanded, stepping so that she was blocking his path on the pavement-which was luckily empty of pedestrians.

Again, he avoided her question.

"That is non of your concern.",  Damian tried to move past her.

She scoffed, grasping his forearm to stop him, "Like Hell it is."

Allowing a hint of crimson fire to alight within the amethyst flams of her eyes, Raven stared the boy straight in the eye -which she realised had changed hue. 

"Damian, answer me. Have you been feeding yourself properly?"

Finally, face-to-face with stubbornness at its peak, Damian gave in. 

Sighing, he confided, "Perhaps not of late.", at her alarmed look, he reassured, "I will take care of it. Calm yourself."

For several seconds, Raven continued nailing him with her stern gaze, searching within them for further explanation. Finding none, Raven stepped away, only now noticing that she had unknowingly backed Damian in to the wall.

With some struggle, she subdued her emotions, unfolding her arms and relaxing her stance. Raven spared her kind-of-a-friend a look of both irritation and sympathy. Acknowledging that Damian would not be opening up to her now, but might do so with time, Raven began to walk to their usual portal-spot. It was as though nothing had happened (bar the evident tension).

As the they turned the corner, Raven moved her wrists in a circular motion, pulling on a thread of energy within her and expanding it in to a swirling hoop of purple fire.

Before they stepped through, she looked to the boy besides her.

"Just...take care of yourself. You know it'll be my problem too if you don't."

The warning was well heeded.

A.N:

Hello again  my darlings! I hope you enjoyed that chapter- especially the beginning :P

And I know I've left you with many questions, but it'll be staying that way for now hehehe... 

In other news, I have the results of the question I put to you guys last week! Bruce Wayne shall be with...eh, you guys already know, it's fairly obvious. And if you don't know yet, check last update's comments. And if you don't want to do that, then WAIT AND SEE.

Yeah, I'm in a seriously annoying mood. Life is confusing. What's new?

Oh, and I have more stuff to ask you. Yaaaaay!

***

As an additional part to a chapter, I'll be doing a Q and A for the characters and myself -if you actually care, if not, that's okay *sigh*- so please comment some questions you'd like answered by them. I'll try to answer them all, which I doubt would be hard considering that I probably won't get much response. 

Anyway BRING IN THE QUESTIONS!!! please :3

Thanks!

-Bats