{———}
Marinette narrowly avoided Penny and Jagged for the rest of the morning, even going as far to not get any coffee that morning.
Marinette was exhausted. Not just mentally, but emotionally as well. A dozen bad scenarios flooded through her. Her anxiety put her on edge, as well as making her stomach cramp.
She was sitting at the bar in the kitchen when Penny walked in.
"Penny? Do you mind if I drive myself to school?" Marinette asked with her head down, not wanting to meet her eyes.
Penny thought for a moment before quietly nodding, telling her she could, then walking away without another word.
Marinette hoped this wasn't something that would last long. She loved her Uncle and Aunt, and she honestly didn't know what she would do if they got mad at her.
Marinette furrowed her eyebrows in thought, before quickly scooping up her backpack and heading out the door, deciding not to focus on her ever-worrying thoughts.
{———}
D A M I A N
[ T H R E E H O U R S a f t e r t h e
f i g h t]
He had underestimated her
And so, because of that, it was a tie.
The word sounded repulsive even in his thoughts, even when they were not vocalized.
He was angry—more frustrated then anything.
His whole life—in the league and out of it—there had never been a such thing as a tie. You either won or lost—no in between. And you certainly did not both win, no matter where or who it was.
"A tie,"He whispered with a sneer, the frown on his face deepening.
There were multiple things that had given her an advantage, of course. But he still should have been able to win.
Not have a tie.
He was Robin.
And now, if it was not before, it was clear that she was hiding something. Most likely a whole web of secrets.
You don't just learn that kind of fighting easily. It takes practice, and determination.
Not something you just casually learn on the side with your mother.
He knew this, deep into the very being of himself that it simply was not true.
The way she carried herself in the match made her look almost light as a feather. She was graceful. She looked prepared to use her surroundings to her advantage. She looked comfortable in the situation, like she knew what to do, almost like she was used to it.
And that was slightly alarming.
And the fact that he was being made fun of made it harder for him to concentrate.
"A petite girl, out of all people there, kept up with Damian," Todd laughed again.
"She did not keep up with me, she was simply able to stand her ground," He said simply.
"Right," Todd teased, though it was anything but funny.
"Todd—." Damian hissed, clearly not in the mood for his antics.
"Okay! We can ask Replacement to look her up."
Damian was more than capable to do it himself, however, he knew that it would simply easier to slide it off to Drake.
Damian then nodded before falling silent, trying his best to ignore his brother taunting remarks.
Deep down, he was embarrassed, ashamed—not that he was going to admit it. His emotions were his own problems, except for maybe when Grayson used his confusing ways to get it out of him. Besides that, he wasn't going to share them with anyone.
{———}
Dinner was the same annoying chaos, the urge to find or use any pointed objects only coming to him a grand total of four times. Until the conversation was directed towards how the lessons went.
He was still processing what had happened, and was still very much so mad about how it had turned out.
He really didn't want to talk about it.
"How did the self-defense lessons go?" His father asked.
It was silent for a moment before Todd laughed once again.
"Shut it, Todd, or I'll find my katanas," he said threateningly, truth be told, he had already hid them in the very room they were sitting in , and would still be there—that is, if Alfred had not found them.
His father shot him a pointed look before nodding his head toward Todd, telling him to continue.
"Demon-spawn over here had a pretty intense fight, it was a tie because the timer went off," Todd said in amazement, as if he still couldn't wrap his mind around it, "Honestly she really knew how to fight, looked like she was used to the situation too, didn't hesitate to throw a punch at Demon-spawn, but I wouldn't have either if I was in her position."
Damian scowled in response, otherwise remaining silent.
She hadn't hit his face at all, all of his bruises could be covered with clothes.
His father hid any surprise from them, having perfected the art of masking emotions years ago.
"Who managed to do this?"
"She was only able to hold her ground, she never had the upper hand," He said in a very cold bitter tone.
"Who managed to do this?" His Father repeated, ignoring him.
Damian was silent, silently annoyed at the fact that his father was asking Todd and not him. He was right there next to him.
"This petite girl, around Demon-Spawns age really," Todd answered around a bite of food, "She had black hair and ... blue eyes. Probably Chinese, though I could be wrong—."
"Was it Marinette Dupain-Cheng?" His father asked, looking directly at him.
"Yes," Damian replied in annoyance. This conversation was important, he understood that, but his distaste for the girl rung out deep in his voice.
"Wait, this is the Marinette I keep hearing about?" Todd asked loudly.
"No, he's lying to you for no reason," Drake said sarcastically, obviously half-sleep deprived if the way his eyelids drooped occasionally was any indication, entering the room with slow, careful steps.
Todd decided to ignore this and continue. "She's also on Twitter, not trending yet, probably because it's so late, but might be in the morning."
"Tim, can you look up this girl?" Todd asked quickly.
"Computer's is frozen, can't."
"What?"
"Something glitched the computer, I'm currently trying to fix it," Drake said, not focused at all.
"When did this happen?"
"A few days ago? A week? I can't really remember," Drake replied through a yawn, "I'm just using a spare computer to work everything, it's not as good, but it still does the job."
"Things just can't be normal here," Todd said as he threw his hands up in exasperation.
"I have to work on a project with her tomorrow," Damian said carefully, watching for everyone's reaction.
"Where?"
"An ice-cream place," Damian's patience wearing thin.
He ignored Todd's snickers at the announcement of the destination of which they would be starting the project.
"Try and figure out the basic details of her, if you can," His Father said, his voice full of authority.
"Yes, Father," Damian said, fully prepared to do just that.
}———{