Damian Wayne was thirteen when he had met Raven who was a year older than him. He was sent to the Teen Titans headquarters to be a part of a bigger team. His father's exact words were "You need to learn how to be a team player," as Batman helped Nightwing up from the ground, "not only a partner".

Damian was a grouchy young man and did not get along with anyone in the Tower at first. Raven and Damian did not have a very good impression of one another. But who would have known that after two weeks they would become close friends?

Four months after Damian arrived, he was appointed as the new leader of the Teen Titans. And two months after Damian's appointment, his best friend Jonathan Lane Kent joined the team. Raven and Jonathan or Jon as he is mostly called, got along instantly. Raven and Jon got along better than Damian and Raven did in their first meeting, a fact Damian was not fond of.

Damian and Jon had known each other prior to being a Teen Titan member and they have had their fair share of adventures. But working as a pair and in a team were two different things. Damian trusted Jon and Jon trusted Damian and are a perfect pair together. But once you put Damian with someone he did not know, he reverts back to his distrustful nature and can become rather critical. He would take the lead thinking he knows better. And that is why Batman decided he needed a new environment to grow. Damian needed help with his social skills and so why not let him join the Titans.

In Damian's first four months, he had finally gotten along with his team and was closest to Raven. But once Jon came into the picture, his relationship with everyone became a bit strained. The most notable strain in Damian's relationship between the Titans was with Raven. Jon was the type of person that got along with anyone, and Damian felt insecure with how quickly he integrated into the team. And very unsettled with his closeness to Raven. This was resolved in time and Damian got along with everyone once again. However, their adventures then are for another story.

Eventually the three would become the bests of friends. And who would have known that Damian would fall in love with Raven and finally ask her out five years later. Even though the two were dating, they were still best friends with Jon and on occasions jealousy would bloom between the three.

Raven was at the living room of the apartment Damian had gotten for her. She was looking out at Gotham, in the dark, save the moonlight seeping through the glass walls. She held a mug filled with tea that had gotten cold.

Damian had got up from bed when he realized his beloved was not with him. He walked out to see her just staring out at Gotham's nightscape.

He couldn't help but admire the side profile of the beauty who was absent-mindedly looking out at the city, in one of his white t-shirts. At first, he had thought she looked sad, but when he blinked and got a second look, he thought that he must have been seeing things as he had just awoken.

It had been three years since they dated. She had recently twenty-two and he would be twenty-one soon. And it has almost been a year and a half since Trigon's defeat and Raven leaving the Titans. And even though she has not been a member of the Titans for almost two years, Raven had only started living at Gotham for six months.

"Why are you awake, my love?" Damian's husky voice startled Raven who was about to drink from her cold tea. She turns to look at Damian who was by their bedroom door. She smiles at him.

"I was just thinking." She replied as she turned to look at him. She leans against the glass wall and took a sip from her tea. She scrunches her face at the realization that her hot tea was no longer hot. She also ponders how long she had stood on that spot as she realized the state of her tea. Damian had already reached her whilst she contemplated about her tea. He wraps his arms around her waist bringing her back to the present.

The apartment was not that big because Raven had opted for a smaller place. A one bed-room apartment with an open floor plan for the kitchen, dining area and living room. It also came with a small balcony. And since their unit was at a higher floor, if a vigilante in Gotham so happens to swing by, they could perch up on the balcony, a fact Damian was very proud of. The bedroom came with a fairly big enough walk in closet for two and its own bathroom. It was for the better that Raven had insisted for a smaller place because between Damian's busy schedule and him living at Wayne Manor and Titan Tower, she was normally left alone. In fact, she felt that the apartment was bigger than actuality.

Damian had insisted on getting a bigger space but he conceded with Raven's wishes. He had also asked her to move in at the Wayne Manor, however she did not want to intrude. And she did not want to be in the limelight, which would be a given once she lives there. Their civilian relationship was on the down-low because neither like the limelight, especially about their romantic interests.

"And what are you thinking about?" He asks her as he buries his head on her shoulder. He breathes in her scent, it smelled of vanilla. He hears her chuckle and he pulled away.

"You almost knocked down my mug!" She says as she moved away from him to put her mug down on the counter table. She then sits on the bar stool and spins her chair to face Damian.

"Well, I have been thinking of going to Gotham University." She notices that as he approached her; he made a face. "I knew you would not approve of it!" And he scrunches his face again at the thought, he then places his hands on either side of her waist.

"You know I never even wanted you to move into Gotham-of all places." Damian does not hide his disgusted face.

"Well, it's either Gotham University or Metropolis. Pick your poison, Damian Wayne!" Raven points at his chest and in response he gives her a hug.

"You're really making me pick?" Damian couldn't help but complain. "What do you even plan to take if you go to Gotham University?" She smiles at his response as she gently pushes him off of her and she looks at his green eyes.

"Well, I was thinking about majoring in history." She knew he couldn't stand the idea of her being with Jon for a long period of time, and yet trusted Jon the most to take care of her if it comes to.

She knew of his insecurity with Jon and they have talked about it and cleared it up, but Damian Wayne was a man of contradictions. Despite his insecurity there was no other man, that wasn't family, he could trust to take care of the woman he loves. And so, the choice truly boiled down to Damian preferring Raven near his entire family or Jon alone. Jon was half alien and for sure can handle things, but numbers speak louder in this case. So, you couldn't blame him for choosing Gotham despite its criminal record. Raven could obviously take care of herself; it was just an added bonus that if it came to it, Damian has his family looking out for her.

"Alright, I can ask Pennyworth to arrange it." Damian sighs.

"No, you don't have to—" She had begun; however, Damian shot a gaze that was similar to the time he insisted to pay for the apartment. Initially since it was her who was moving to Gotham, she had wanted to pay for her apartment, but Damian would not have it. She knew that she couldn't say no to his offer this time too.

"Alright." She smiles as she got up and hugged him.

"Then let's go back to bed. Let's talk about this tomorrow morning." He whispers as he squeezes her in his arms and then kisses her ear. But he was not able to see the empty gaze Raven had at that moment. She pulls away and then looks at him with a loving smile.

"Yes." And he guides her back to their bedroom.

The next morning Damian had woken up without Raven by his side again. He couldn't help but freak out when his hand couldn't find her small body. He gets up and put on his pants as he went out to look for her with his phone in hand.

There she was by the counter table transferring a fried egg from the pan she was holding to the plate on the counter table.

"Good morning, love." She smiles at him and accidentally touching her free hand against the hot pan. She curses and he ran towards her with his eyes wide.

"Are you alright?" He asks frantically as he grabs the hand that got burned and places it under running water from the faucet. The hot pan placed back on the stove by Raven as Damian did his thing.

"Damian, it barely touched the pan!" She laughs.

"Honestly, how can you be this careless!" He says, his eyebrows almost meeting. "Damian, I can heal myself." And he froze, he had forgotten for a moment that she could. The two had lived an almost normal life within these walls that both forget that they were not normal people at times. And this was one of those times that Damian had forgotten. Damian shakes his head and mutters.

"Even so! How can you be careless!" She just smiles at him lovingly. She knew that he was just worried for her own good. Damian sighs realizing how childish he might have come off as. He turns the faucet off and looks at her.

"I'm glad you can heal yourself, I'm sorry I overreacted." And he observes her loving gaze and the soft smile on her pinkish lips, her neck filled with red spots, he couldn't help but smile. She had equally done the same damage on him. And he felt that the Raven that stood before him was radiating happiness that was incomparable to the past. He had noted that a couple months after Raven left the Titans; she was happier and more alive; she was more outspoken too. He figured that it was because Trigon was finally defeated.

"No, you were not." She comforts him and places a hand on his bare chest. And her cold fingers touching his chest startled him, he bit his lip to concentrate.

"You... you wanted to go to Gotham University." Damian pulls away with a soft blush on his face and Raven couldn't help but softly laugh at his reaction. He began busying himself by helping her set up for breakfast and he places his phone on the dining table beside the utensils.

"Yep!" Raven replies as she turns her back towards him and her loving smile became a frown. She looks at the hand that had touched the pan and it was just a really small burn. She uses her magic to heal it and proceeded to cook one more egg.

"So, what about your part-time job?" He inquires as he pours hot water inside two mugs. She froze at the inquiry, smiled to herself and flipped the egg on the pan.

"Well, of course I would like to continue working." She hears him sigh as she turned off the heat on the stove.

"Can you at least take my father's offer and work for Wayne Enterprises?" He glances at Raven who places the egg on the plate without an egg yet.

"No, Damian, we've talked about this." She takes the plates to the dining table for six people. And with Damian bringing his coffee and Raven's chamomile tea. And the two sat beside each other with Damian being on the head of the table and Raven on his right. Damian couldn't help but sigh and takes a bite of the breakfast Raven had cooked.

"Mmm, your getting good at cooking. Being the mother hen for the Titans after you quit really helped." Damian teases and she laughs. When Raven had quit being a Titan she did not immediately leave the team per se. She still stated at the tower but no longer actively participated in missions. She cooked food for the members and stayed in the tower as back up and handled comms. The months spent cooking for the members helped start her home cooking career.

"What are you talking about! Staying here for six months- that's what really helped my cooking. And you're clearly overexaggerating, that is just toasted bread with and egg on top and bacon on the sides!" When she had moved to Gotham she started learning to cook for herself and Damian, but mostly herself.

"But today, I was not able to make anything fancy because I feel rather exhausted." She playfully glares at Damian who chokes at his coffee with the accusation.

"I don't know what your talking about." He avoids her gaze and tries to move the conversation along. "You know, I really did not like the thought of you being here, Gotham is not safe. And now your telling me you want to study here? You make me want to cry in frustration." And Raven laughs at the thought of Damian crying.

"The great Damian, son of batman—grandson of the Demon's head and current boy wonder. Cry due to frustration?" Raven glances at Damian, her eyes twinkling. "You must really love this woman that makes you want to cry in frustration." Damian had opened his mouth to respond, but his phone rings. He bites his lip as he glances at her, who nods her head in approval for him to check his phone.

Damian reads it and sigh. "Yes, I love her so much." He looks down at his phone again.

"And I know she understands, when I say that, I am really sorry, but Batman needs me." She sighs and touches his hand and she nod with a faint smile.

"Go my love, he needs you." And Damian looks at her not wanting to part, but begrudgingly stood up. He gazed down at the meal he couldn't finish. "I am really sorry, babe." And she smiled at the word babe. Damian had a tendency of using that when he felt really bad for leaving her or when his guilty or had done something wrong—well the list could go on. She wondered if he had finally noticed his little habit. But of course, he did not as his mind was wondering over other things.

"I will try and see you later." He says as he kisses the top of her head. And he runs off to their bedroom to change and grab his things, not even hearing Raven's absent reply of alright.

"I promise, I will try my best to see you later!" Damian shouted again as he ran off out the apartment.

And now the room felt awfully too big. She had gotten used to the silence—of being alone. She got very well acquainted with that after her father was defeated. But the painful thing about this situation for her was that, in these months, they had so many moments in which the couple were like playing house. But that was the thing, it felt like they were playing house, eventually both would wake up and realize that the game had ended for the day. And Raven felt it even more because after all the first two months in Gotham she did not do much but sit in silence most of the time.

She sat in silence as she looked at Damian's barely eaten breakfast. She slowly became aware of the ticking of the clock, and she thought. Perhaps it wasn't a good idea to go to Gotham. Perhaps it wasn't the best choice to stay in this apartment, maybe she should have gone and lived at the Wayne Manor. After all, the reason she chose to move to Gotham was for Damian, she also wanted more reasons for him to visit his family. And what was the best reason to visit Gotham—his girlfriend and family in the same place.

"Maybe…I shouldn't have left the team…" She couldn't help but mutter as she picked up her fork to continue eating.

"Where have you been?" They had asked Raven.

"I…Trigon is defeated." She replies, she looked defeated and exhausted.

Raven who recalled herself pass through a portal almost two years ago to announce that Trigon was defeated, paused from eating at the memory.

"Damian…" She recalls the moment she had decided to tell Damian her plans of leaving the team.

"What is it, love?" He asks her. She looked uncomfortable. It had been five days since she announced that Trigon was defeated and she had not been acting herself. He had been worried but knew not to push her, he knew that she would come to her when she was ready. And today was the day.

"Damian," She closes the distance between them, and stood a foot away from him. She grabs his hand and squeezes it. "I want to leave the team."

She recalled that Damian had not really delved into the matter, and she was thankful for that. On that day, she had also decided and confided to Damian, that she would ward herself up in order to prevent feeling anyone else's feeling. She whole-heartedly just wanted to feel for herself. And so, she did, for the last year and a half, she felt just for herself. And she tried to understand her feelings step-by-step. And it was rather overwhelming and yet underwhelming at the same time. She resumed eating and chewed on the food.

The crunch of the toast sounded so loud to her. She had also realized that she had lost her appetite, but acknowledges that she had to eat more. Thus, she forces to eat as much as she could. As she was almost nearing the end of her meal, Raven had finally decided she could not force herself to eat anymore.

She stood up and grabbed her and Damian's barely eaten plate and was disheartened by the untouched meal going to waste. She realized that it did not have to go to waste, she placed it in a container for later. And after she washes the dirty dishes. When she was done washing, she noticed the cold tea in the mug from last night.

She reaches out to grab it, in order to dump its content down the drain and wash the mug. But when her fingers touched the mug, the chilliness of the porcelain enchanted her. She pulls its close to her chest as she holds the mug with both her hands and she looked down at the tea. She watches her reflection as she stood so very still. She couldn't help but correlate herself and her relationships with the cold tea inside.