mind over mask

fifty

"Not really, they wouldn't... they wouldn't understand. You know? And I have friends here, they're just old friends." She says a bit wistfully. Love sickly.

I guess, "So, one could say, you have history?"

Chloe pauses, and then responds, "We are finishing this conversation later tonight. Someone's at my door, and I think—"

"Is it him?" I ask with a conniving smile.

"What?! Marinette, it's—I mean—"

"It's fine, Chloe. I'm just teasing you." I joked with her, and suddenly wished she wasn't so far away.

"Marinette—" She opens her door, and stops for a moment. "I gotta go, bye, love you!" Chloe hangs up and I laugh.

It was him.

I needed to calm down and go to sleep. Tomorrow, since our fashion course has been postponed indefinitely, I would go explore Gotham. Maybe I'd find a park, and sketch. Yes, that sounded nice.

I was so lucky that patrol wasn't tonight, because I wasn't ready to face Red Robin and Spoiler after what happened today.

|||

Damian's POV

Jon had come to the Manor for a visit, Father had probably said something to Clark or Lois, and therefore, my self proclaimed best friend was annoying me while I was completing my homework. Or at least, while I pretended to be busy.

"Damian!" Grayson yells at me from another room.

He barges in, and while I have people crossing my boundaries, I needed a distraction. Jon has been nonstop talking for the past hour, and I just hummed along in agreement to everything.

Grayson pulls out his phone, to the local news, abuzz with the latest attack of Gotham City. My eyes widen as I recognize the girl they're talking about, the one who stood up to the Riddler.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

My Marinette.

What was she doing here?

How did she—why did she stand up to the Riddler?

I could understand her doing that in Paris, because if she died or was hurt or was trapped because of an akuma, Ladybug would be there to save the day.

But this was Gotham City, for Ra's sake, and people weren't saved by magic. Jason and I were an exception to that rule. But if you were a civilian, it was a one way ticket to the afterlife.

I want to curse her, to lecture her so that she doesn't put herself in danger ever again. But that wasn't Marinette. Once she put her mind to something, you couldn't stop her. She was willing to sacrifice herself always in the face of helping others.

Jon floats down from the ceiling and asks, "What's this about?"

Grayson's face holds a wicked smile, and I don't fight back when he drags me to the living room, and turns on the tv, where I see the livestream video featuring her face the Riddler. Grayson smiles, "You wanna tell me why your girlfriend's in Gotham?"

Jon flies in from the other room, his hands holding himself around the corner of the room. "GIRLFRIEND?!?"

I didn't bother to try to explain it to Jon. He would figure it out either way, whether I wanted him to or not. I stated, after watching the news reporter for a few more seconds, "By the looks of it, she was only there for a fashion seminar. She'll be gone by tonight after what has happened."