Another chapter, with things spicing up for the newest couple in Gotham. Let's get back to the story of how nothing ever goes right for these two.
o0o
Class had been pointless as usual.
Damian thought, opening his locker with excessive force. But he was glad to be done with it. Now he must text Alfred and inform him of a late pickup.
He'll need to stay for a while to discuss terms and agreements with his... new girlfriend. He shuttered; the thought made him want to gag.
But this was the reality of things now and it was best to accept it, it'll make things easier to deal with in the future.
He slipped his books back into his locker and then pulled out his phone to text Pennyworth.
Perhaps it would be easier to call instead. Texting would take too long, and he wanted to get his point across as quickly as possible without too much explanation.
Damian scrolled through his contacts to find his butler's number, once found, he then pressed the call button.
He held the phone to his ear, filling his locker with the rest of his books before shutting it close and locking it. Damian heard a few rings go through as he walked down the hallway and towards the girls' dorm.
He pulled out a slip of yellow paper from his pocket, remembering that girl writing down her dorm number and a secret password for him to state on arrival.
Although, he still was unsure as to why there was a password in the first place.
"Hello, Master Damian, I am outside-"
"I'll need an hour before I am ready to leave." Damian got straight to the point, not willing to wait for the butler's reply he continued. "I had gotten into some confrontation with one of the instructors and they wish to lecture me."
He lied, but hopefully, the butler wouldn't notice. There was a long pause after his statement than an audible sigh.
"Alright, but we will be having a long chat with your father about this later."
Damian had expected as much, he could already hear it now.
The lectures will be tiring and dull, he suspected.
Damian internally sighed, he will have to prepare himself for it later. Right now he had other issues to attend to that required his full attention, "Fine, I'll call you when I'm finished."
Damian hung up before the butler could get another word in and shoved his phone in his pocket, he then hasten his steps towards the girl's dorm.
This was turning out to be an uneventful day and he had no one else to blame but himself. To think he'd be caught so easily by some schoolgirl.
It was utterly humiliating, if he had been more careful he wouldn't be in this ridiculous situation, instead, he'd be at home with his pets.
Damian breathed through his nose in frustration. Hopefully, this won't take too long and he could end his suffering within the next ten to fifteen minutes.
Less than that he hoped. He'd appreciate it if they could keep things simple and not complicate their situations any further.
He'd also appreciate it if all the female whispers and stares pointed at him would stop too.
What were they twelve? Damian rolled his eyes realizing that was exactly what they were, he sighed.
He wouldn't have lasted a day in this forsaken school if it weren't for his agreement with his father and Grayson.
He would have walked the very second he even entered the classroom. Damian stopped his trek to shoot a glare at a group of ogling girls, the giggling seemed to intensify.
Damian huffed, beginning the trek again. A few minutes later he finally arrived at the correct dorm room.
He was thoroughly surprised that he hadn't been escorted away by the teacher that normally roams the halls for mischievous children.
Whatever, it's not really his problem.
Damian raised his fist and rasped on the door with two swift knocks.
When nobody answered he began to wonder if he got the wrong room, then suddenly remembered there was a stupid password. He resisted the urge to bang his head against the door.
He sighed, long and agonizingly. "Cucumbers aren't pickles." He hadn't needed to wait for a second more before the door was swung open, revealing a bright-eyed girl.
It was Maps, of course it is, who else would it be he thought.
The smaller girl smiled and said, "I'm glad you could make it! I was worried that you wouldn't have come and run for the hills." Maps then stepped aside to let him in with a flourish of her hand.
"Welcome to my humble abode!"
Damian deadpanned, walking into her dorm. "I always keep my word," he replied.
When walking into her dorm, for a grand moment, he thought he'd be walking in on an ungodly amount of perfume scathing his nostrils, excess jewelry, shoes, an excessive amount of those obnoxious boy band posters and other girly things like most women typically have in their rooms.
Only to find himself downright surprised!
Rather than posters of boy bands, he found her walls pinned with maps with the tunnel and sewer system in play. Markers and pins were all coordinate to many areas of Gotham that were circled to one specific area.
He wasn't sure exactly where that address was located but it looked like a project she's been working on for some time.
Next to the enormous map, were blurred-out pictures of a dark figure.
They all appeared to be taken from strange angles and at night. There was one of the bat-symbol but that one was much more prominent than all the rest.
Damian hummed to himself.
And instead of shoes and clothes scattered on the floor, he found multiple drawings of Batman and Robin. It also looked like she was the one portraying Robin from how slim she drew the vigilant. Perhaps the terribly drawn-on flower was also a dead giveaway. He nearly scoffed at the notion, but then realized how detailed each drawing was.
They looked really well drawn out.
"Sorry, I didn't get a chance to clean but that's not really important." Maps said kicking her sketchbook and other drawing underneath her bed. She then walked over to her desk and pulled a chair up next to her bed, before taking a seat on the mattress.
She looked up at Damian expectantly and patted the wooden chair. The older boy took his seat begrudgingly, setting his bag to the side and folding his arms across his broad chest. The two sat in awkward silence before Damian felt a twitch form upon his forehead.
He looked up angrily and snapped. "Well, you must have some demands for me, get on with it. I have other things to attend to today."
"Don't yell at me jerk," Maps snapped back before sticking her tongue at him. "Besides, I didn't actually prepare for this okay." She replied, fiddling with her skirt nervously, she didn't really know what protocols were for this type of situation in the first place.
Maps have never dated before and didn't know what it meant to even date a guy.
Let alone one that was filthy rich and had a fan-base larger the New Mexico's population. It was really weird and she had no idea how to go about this.
She assumed relationships like this were based upon boundaries and trust. Maybe if she told him where the line was between them it might help her dilemma.
Maps breathed out, before looking for a notebook.
She scoured through her blankets and pillow, eventually finding a mini handbook.
She found her glittery pen lying on the floor and bent down to pick it up.
Maps scribbled lines on the page to make sure the pen still had ink in it. When she saw the ink appear, she nodded and tore the scribbled page off, and folded her legs across her bed.
"Alright, let's see." She started off, clicking the pen. "So, I'm pretty sure when two people are together in a romantic relationship they do gross lovey-dovey things, right?"
Damian hesitated but nodded nonetheless with a twisted look.
"Okay, so that's what we have to do." Maps nodded, clicking the end of her pen. "But boundaries need to be put into play, so tell me what are you icks?"
"Icks?" Damian raised a brow at her wording.
Maps nodded. "Yeah, things you don't feel comfortable doing."
"Dating in general." He stated loud and clear, blank-faced.
Maps groaned, "That'll make things difficult since we have to play the part of boyfriend and girlfriend pretty convincingly."
Maps rolled her eyes so hard, she honestly couldn't tell if this guy was being serious half the time or not.
Of course, she had just met him, so, she wasn't sure if this was him joking or not.
Maps hummed, maybe that could be something she can explore a little more in the future. But right now wasn't the time.
"How about you be a little more specific," Maps stated, tapping the pen against her chin. "For example, I don't have a problem with hand-holding, but PDA might be harder for me to do."
"Ugh," Damian rolled his head to the side. "No kissing, hand holding is fine I guess. No hugging, I'll stab you if you so much as get near me."
Maps glared at him. "You're making this more difficult than it needs to be, what happened to convincing Eric? He's going to see right through our lie if you can't even hug me."
Damian glared back. "Not every couple needs to enact physical contact to prove they are a couple," he replied with a shake of his head.
"We can't be that type of couple, Damian. I mean how else are you supposed to prove your love if not through touching?" Maps argued back, as her brows frowned.
"There are many love languages that can express just that."
"Like?" Maps questioned with interest.
"There are acts of service or words of affirmation," Damian counted off his fingers. "There are also gifts and quality time, there is not just one but many we could choose to convince your friend."
Maps thought about it for a minute, she may have an idea how to go about this without too much touching but 'touching' was definitely something they couldn't skip out entirely.
She'll have to revisit this later.
"How about we take a break on my issue for a moment," Maps said placing her notebook to the side. "How about we talk about what you want out of this, there is something you want, right?"
Damian nodded.
"Great! So what will it be?" Maps asked. "I'll pay you back however you want, except for money because I don't have any."
Damian had figured that as much. Although that doesn't really explain how she was able to attend such a prestigious school as this.
A mystery he'll have to revisit later. "You will stand in as my very first friend, I'll introduce you to my family and convince the social workers I can play nice."
"You mean friends with benefits?" Maps made a disgusted face. "Eww, gross."
"No you fool," he sneered. "You'll have to act as if you're my most suitable friend and you'll need to study."
Damian let out a breath, he was really rethinking his life choices here, he wasn't even sure she could play the role well enough to convince everybody.
Maps shrugged her shoulders. "Doesn't seem too hard."
"Don't take this lightly, they will see through your lies, you must practice before I introduce you. In return, I will play as your fake boyfriend and protect you."
"I can take protect myself, thank you very much, but the help is appreciated." Maps smiled, nodding her head. Damian didn't stop the eye roll that came along with that reply.
"Whatever, are we done here or do we need to discuss your-"
Suddenly there were a loud knock at the door startling Maps out of her bed.
Damian looked on, confused as to why she looked so scared. Could it be that Eric guy again?
Maps quickly fixed her clothes and hair before shushing him.
Damian was about to comment on her shushing him but she quickly ran towards the door before he could say anything.
Damian huffed.
Maps then reached for the doorknob and twisted it open and with a loud cheerful tone she said, "Hello, Aunt Harriet!"
The older woman looked down at Maps with a disappointed glare.
The teen gulped as she felt the scathing gaze pierce through her soul.
There weren't many times students saw Aunt Harriet angry, it was such a rare phenomenon.
So, on those rare days that she was angry it was really scary and whoever was at the other end of her wrath will most defiantly perish.
Maps shifted her gaze to the side, noting that Damian was still out of sight.
She then placed an easy-going smile, tapped on her foot cooly, and leaned against her door frame to appear as nonchalant as possible.
"So, what do I owe the pleasure of your visit-"
"Mia Mizgouchi," Aunt Harriet snapped with a booming voice. "I was just informed that you had invited a boy to your dorm room, especially after school hours. You know it is prohibited to have boys in here alone, let alone when there is no supervision."
Maps couldn't help but flinch, "Aunt Harriet, it's not what you think-"
"On top of that, some of the girls had informed me that they heard eccentric noises coming from your room." The redhead woman continued with a face of disgust and anger.
Maps looked up from her guilt-ridden face and gasped. "What! There were no strange noises, we were just talking and-"
Maps didn't get a chance to defend herself as the older woman pushed her way past the girl and into her dorm, to find the boy in question sitting listlessly next to her bed.
She nearly had a heart attack at the sight. "I truly didn't want to believe it Miss Mizgouchi, but their claims are true."
The older woman snapped her seething gaze back to the cowering girl. "You were always such a bright student and to see you reduced to such scandalous activities is saddening."
Maps looked away, red-faced.
Aunt Harriet then resumed her rant but it was now aimed toward Damian who still looked rather bored with the entire conflict.
He just wanted to go home.
"Young man, do you not understand the situation you are in?"
"No, I don't," Damian said with another hard roll of his emerald eyes. "I also don't understand why you have to make such a big deal out of this?"
Aunt Harriet scoffed. "Do you have no shame?"
"I assure you that there is no shame," Damian stood from his seat with an air of dominance. "As the girl was attempting to explain, all we were doing was conversing. Those girls had lied to get a ruse out of you and it sadly worked."
Damian spat out with disgust, to think things would continue to escalate throughout the day was beyond him.
He wondered what the outcome would be if he had minded his business.
"If you claim she is a bright student then something like this wouldn't typically happen. Make sure to get all the facts before accusing someone of treachery."
Damian had voiced his final words with a glare shot at the older woman, before reaching down to grab his bag.
Making his way out of her dorm room without a single glance toward the teacher.
"Let's go, you're walking me to my limo." Damian walked past the gaping teen and out into the hallway.
He had half expected her to stay and continue to defend herself but quick footsteps had confirmed his theory wrong.
Once she caught up to him, the spew of words easily tumbled from her lips like vomit. "Oh My Crap! I've never seen Aunt Harriet so furious before and the way you handled that was insane! She totally now has it out for you now. And I wonder who those girls were and why lie. Oh my gosh, I can't wait to tell Olive about this-"
Damian frowned, stopped, and turned to her. "Will you be quiet, it wasn't that astonishing of a performance. Besides she was accusing us of fornication, of course, I wasn't going to stand by and allow such insolence."
"Yeah, yeah but don't blame Aunt Harriet for this, there were others pulling the strings." Maps tapped her chin wondering who that might be.
She hadn't made any enemies, most of the girls here typically ignore her like everyone else. So she wondered if it was somehow related to Damian.
To think she'd somehow pissed off his fan base before they announced their association was a little impressive.
His fan base must be crazy perceptive if they were able to spot something amidst this quickly.
She'll need to make plans to prevent things like this from happening in the future.
She didn't need to deal with Eric and Damian's fan base at the same time. The exhaustion of dealing with the two will kill her at this point.
"I'll look into this mystery later, but it shouldn't be too hard." Maps said as she continued their walk down the hall.
Damian stared at her for a moment more, then decided to follow after her.
Getting a few odd glances as they passed by a few students.
"Anyways, what were you going to say before we were rudely interrupted?"
"It doesn't matter, we can discuss the rest of our matters tomorrow morning, I've had enough of this school day to last me a lifetime." Damian sighed.
"Besides I need to mentally prepare myself for tomorrow's challenges, dating you might prove to be my greatest opposition when it comes to performance."
Maps rolled her eyes. "You don't have to like me, you just need to pretend you do. Besides, you'll just act as a boyfriend until Eric gets the hint. That shouldn't take months at most a few weeks, I think."
"Very reassuring," Damian replied drearily.
The two finally made it to the school entrance. Once Damian noticed the black stretched limo parked out front, he quickly grab Maps by her elbow, pulling her to the side of the building and out of sight.
"This is as far as you go, I don't want my butler seeing you."
"I thought that was the point?" Maps questioned, with a quirk of her brow.
"Not yet, you are not prepared." Damian hissed, before looking toward the side to find the car still stationed and no butler in sight.
He breathed out a sigh of relief and turned back to the smaller girl with narrow eyes.
"Listen, when it's time to introduce you I'll let you know, until then don't interact with my family under any circumstances."
"What about-"
"Under. Any. Circumstance," Damian emphasized each word by leaning closer. "Do you understand?"
They were practically inches away from each other at that point. Maps stared at him like he was crazy but nodded anyways.
"You got it boss, no talking to the family."
Damian leaned back with a firm nod. "Alright good, I shall see you tomorrow."
"Wait we didn't exchange numbers yet!" Maps shouted at the retreating boy.
Damian stopped in his strut and sighed for the umpteenth time today. He turned around and march back over, snatching the phone from her hands and typing in his number.
Tossing the device back in her hands, he spun on his heels and walked away.
"Don't contact me unless it is truly necessary. Or I will block you," he shouted before jogging toward the waiting car.
"Fine but you better text me tomorrow," Maps called after him before he disappeared around the building. Maps didn't get a reply back but she knew he heard her.
She shook her head at the guy and chuckled, she found this whole thing kind of funny. To think she now has a fake boyfriend was weird but exciting. There were so many possibilities of how this was going to turn out but hopefully, it'll be a good one.
"Maps?"
Maps turned around at the voice that called her and nearly paled.
Maybe she had spoken too soon.
-XoX-
Damian approached the limo, opened the car door, and jumped in before slamming the door closed behind him. He set his backpack on the floor and relaxed some. Finally, he could whine down a bit, but that wasn't the case here.
"Who was that young lady?" The butler was straightforward in his question. Damian would have crumbled under the butler's pressure if he was anyone else, but he's had years of training to keep a cool head.
"No one, let's head home," Damian replied back with an equally straight face.
"I would have believed you if I hadn't watched you pull her to the side to have a heated conversation," Alfred said as he pulled out of the school's parking lot and onto the streets
As he suspected he could get nothing past the butler. "I am not lying, she was just another fan that wouldn't stop pestering me. I've dealt with her appropriately."
"I'm sorry if I am unable to believe your tall-tail, Master Damian." the butler answered, "Am I to assume she is a friend? Perhaps more?" He questioned.
Damian didn't like where this was leading. "I refuse to speak on the issue further until Father is present." That wasn't what he wanted to say but it got the job done of keeping the butler from asking any more questions.
Alfred nodded. "Fair enough, I'm sure your father would love to hear how your first day went."
That wasn't going to end well.
Tbc.