{———}
Marinette found herself anxiously awaiting for her ride to the ice-cream shop.She had no clue how Damian would act after the fight.
They hadn't talked at all after that night, not even a nod of acknowledgment had passed between the two of them, though, they tended to pass by each other in the hallway quite frequently because Marinette normally got to school earlier so she wouldn't be late. The two even shared a lot of classes together, but none of this brought them to talk to each other.
And, if any of the past facts were any indication, Marinette could guess that any small talk during the project wouldn't go anywhere. She figured that after the project, things would go back to how they normally did between them.
Marinette glanced at the clock in the front of the room and let out a low sigh, she still had fifteen more minutes of class. This period was her last one as well. Soon after, she would have to meet up with Damian at the ice-cream shop.
A feather-light tap on her shoulder snapped Marinette from her thoughts. She quickly whipped her head around and looked up to find her teacher, looking at her with a smile.
"I love your design, Marinette, is this going to be what you use for your project?" Her teacher asked in her calm voice.
Marinette looked down to the paper she had been absentmindedly sketching on the whole period. Although it was sloppy, and she would definitely have to re-sketch the design before she was satisfied with it, it looked fairly nice. It was high-low romper that had nice designs that got more and more noticeable towards the neckline of the dress. Marinette could imagine it having a nice ombre effect that went from red, or green to blue. It was perfect for the upcoming project in Art class.
"Yes, I think so, but I'll have to make a more neat sketch tomorrow," Marinette replied quickly, her mind not on the subject at hand.
Just then the bell rang, making Marinette rush up and scramble for her backpack. Wishing her teacher a good day, she left the classroom without another word.
She then sped-walked towards the limo, wanting to be the first one at the ice-cream shop. She had went ahead and found some ideas for the project, as well as going ahead and briefly looking at each one. She had wrote a small amount of notes on each subject.
Jagged and Penny were both busy that afternoon, so their driver was picking up Marinette today.
The entire ride, Marinette fiddled nervously with her pencil. A thousands different scenarios of how it could end running through her mind, all of which ending distastefully. Marinette wasn't afraid to admit that she was slightly worried about what would happen during the next few hours. Marinette was focused on talking about nothing but the essay at hand.
Marinette got out the limo, thanked the driver, and walked into the small ice-cream shop. She looked around at the tables before ordering a vanilla ice-cream. She then seated herself at a table and silently awaited her partner.
{———}
Not five minutes later, Damian arrived through the glass double doors of the shop. Silently, he walked up to the table and sat down.
"Do you want to order something before we start?" Marinette asked kindly, slightly doubting he actually wanted something from the shop.
"Getting started would more than adequate," He replied tersely.
Marinette nodded in agreement and brought out her notes. A dense, awkward silence fell between the two of them.
{———}
"What school did you attend before moving?"Damian asked, though he looked like he could careless.
Marinette looked up to meet his calculating, mysterious dark green eyes. Not a hint of curiosity hid in them. Damian turned away from her and looked out the window.
She hadn't told anyone where she had come from, but she knew she had a light french accent, not thick enough to make her mispronounce any words,but it was a nice undertone in her voice. It was enough to make it obvious that she wasn't from here.
"Francis Dupont, I came from Paris," Marinette replied in as quick and as vague way possible.
He nodded in response.
"So I came up with a few ideas that we could use for the essay. . ."
{———}
A few hours had passed and they had made a good bit of progress. Damian hadn't asked another random question. It was very business-like. Marinette was glad that it was going well. It was a bit awkward from time to time. But they mainly just focused on the project. He hadn't mentioned anything about the self-defense class. Marinette had been worried he would constantly ask about that.
Marinette wondered where he had learned how to fight like that. It was unlike anything she had ever seen out of suit. She had never seen someone be so swift without magic helping them. She secretly wondered if he had some sort of magic with him, or if he associated himself with any. Marinette highly doubted this, unless it was a side-effect of using something magical. Even then, it usually left some sort of trace on the person. Marinette could feel something off about him, though, she still wasn't sure what it was. Marinette didn't mark out the possibility in her mind, but she was well aware of the fact that it may be something else.
She heard Damian clear his throat.
"Yes?" She asked as she looked up from her chromebook. She met his eyes, not looking away from him.
"Were you not paying attention?" Damian asked, annoyance ringing in his tone.
"I don't think I heard you talking," She replied, her voice calm.
She hadn't heard him, she was probably too deep in her thoughts to notice. It was something that happened a lot when she was working on something.
"I was speaking at a normal level. Do you have a hearing problem?" Damian hissed, not bothering to hide how annoyed he was by this.
Marinette's eyes narrowed. He was being rude, and, while she hadn't been paying attention, his attitude was ridiculous. He was acting like a five year old. She was focused on the project at hand.
"No, but I do find it hard to pay attention to boring voices for long periods of time," She joked in response.
Damian's eyes narrowed into slits, and his eyes darkened. Obviously, he didn't have a big sense of humor.
"I don't have time for your childish remarks," He said in a deadly voice.
"And I don't have time for your bratty attitude," She spit back in a venomous tone.
She was done. She had hoped he would push aside his attitude and meet her in the middle.
They sat in a tense, uncomfortable silence. It was deadly quiet between them,both of them them looking each other dead in the eye. Abruptly, Marinette grabbed her things.
"What do you intend to do?" Damian asked, he sounded bored.
"I have time to do the project, not to put up with your attitude. I'm leaving," She replied swiftly.
"Your transportation is not ready for your abrupt leave."
"I'll manage, I can take care of myself," She Got up from her seat. "When your actually ready to be patient with me, we can work on the project.We'll schedule a time."
"Are you inane? It is night-time!" He said angrily.
She hummed in response, on purposely annoying him.
Then she walked away, into the streets of Gotham. wondering why on earth he irritated her so much.
{———}
D A M I A N
Damian walked into ice-cream shop determined. Determined to find out something, anything, about Marinette Dupain-Cheng.
And instead, he had annoyed her so much she had left. At night, no less. Did she not understand how dangerous Gotham was? Damian was sure she was mental. Nobody went and walked Gotham at night. Everyone knew the danger of doing so.
Damian pulled out his phone. He was going to follow her, as Robin of course, but he needed to notify his brothers of the situation.
"Dupain-Cheng decided to cut our meeting for the project short," Damian said curtly.
Laughter could be heard on the other end.
"What? Did she hurt your feelings or something, because you should call Richard for that."
Damian let out an exhausted sigh.
"Todd, she has ran off at night, without a car. She is walking." Damian said quickly.
As if she could hurt his feelings. He had feelings, yes. But his feelings weren't going to be hurt by an insufferable girl.
"Geez, Demon-spawn, what'd you to make her do that?" Todd let out a laugh. "Now, what are you going to do?"
"I'm going to follow her as Robin,"Damian said as if it was obvious.
"Just don't lose her."
Damian soon hung up, and, after changing, was silently following her.
She looked to be on alert, if her posture indicated anything. She randomly stopped multiple times and looked around. She must have felt like someone was watching her. She has good instincts, Damian thought.
He watched her go down an alleyway abruptly.
He quickly followed her down it, only to find she wasn't there. It was a dead-end, so where had she gone?
"Who are you?" He turned at the voice.
He turned around and met Dupain-Cheng's narrowed bluebell eyes, the moonlight glinting off them, a frown on her face. She didn't look happy.
"And why on earth do you look like a traffic light threw up on you?"
}———{