The gears in Damian's head were grinding as he replayed the scene at the Butterfly house.
Blackfire was looking for Adrien under someone's orders. Well, considering how she's a mercenary, looking is an understatement. That first laser beam that left her hand was meant to kill.
The older boy crossed his arms in his Italian cut suit before telling Hiro to straighten the bowtie or lose it.
"I risk embarrassment every time I go out with you," Damian breathed.
"It's classy," he scoffed. "Besides, I'm officially off-duty, so it's time to play."
Damian rolled his eyes as he walked behind him in the hallway. The younger boy seemed too peppy for a dinner date. It wouldn't be too crazy to believe that the girls in Metropolis saw how much of an annoyance he was.
"Don't get too excited over this one," Damian mocked as the pair entered the hotel's dining hall.
"She's little bossy, from what I've seen. Nothing I can't handle with my boyish charms. A host is a host."
"No, it's because she invited -"
"Dami-bear!" Chloé's voice rang out as she waved him over.
Hiro kissed his teeth and shuffled his feet towards the table.
"Miss Bourgeois," Damian bowed and placed a peck on the back of her hand. "I'm honored to see you this evening."
"You know how to flatter a girl, I'm impressed," the blonde hummed as the boys took a seat.
"But I thought you would be happy to see me," Hiro pouted.
"I'm flattered too," she exhaled, making the boy light up in his seat, "in another universe."
As the Japanese boy deflated onto the table, Damian looked at the empty chair beside Chloé and cocked his eyebrow.
"Are we expecting one more?"
"Yes." She squeaked. "I've managed to invite my best friend to join us tonight."
"Lila seems like a joy," Damian crossed his arms.
"Lila? Don't be ridiculous! That poser-,"she bit her tongue and shook her head. "That girl won't be a bother to anyone anymore. She's going to Panama to play Mother Theresa or whatever."
Chloé placed her hands on the table and leaned forward.
"Now I know you said you're so into gossip Wayne," the blonde whispered, "So I'll let you into a little rumor I heard from...my source."
Damian feigned surprise and leaned in closer.
"She's a total nobody! No medical records and no ID. I went to a mani-pedi with her, and her fingertips were burnt off."
Damian narrowed his eyes.
"Every time I've invited her over for a hangout, she was snooping around my bedroom. I even had Daddy change the locks and put most of the family jewelry in the bank. Of course, I confronted her about it and got this. She thought that I was Ladybug," she harshly whispered.
"Ladybug?" He choked.
"Yeah, a total nut job," she hugged herself as she shivered. "I mean, who would think that I would be that fashion-blind mess. Spots are like freckles, totally lame."
Chloé straightened up in her seat and laughed it off.
"She even tried to convince me that it was for the greater good or whatever. If I joined her, she would blah, blah, blah," she stuck her tongue out. "She was going to try Marinette's house next, something about her promising me a sleepover without my permission, so I blacklisted her and her little friends around Paris."
Chloé tilted her head with a cunning smile.
"Woah, you are one crazy lady," Hiro rubbed his shoulder with a grin.
"Well, let's not talk about it," she relaxed into her seat. "It's giving me wrinkles. Jean-Pierre!"
As Chloé snapped her friends for the poor butler to come around, Marinette showed up to the table, eyes exclusively on the blonde.
"Sorry about that. Got a little lost as to which dining hall I was supposed to go to," she said out of breath.
"Well, we are glad you made it."
Marinette jumped upon recognizing Damian's voice.
"Oh, hi," she quickly waved with a small grin, to which he responded with a small nod.
She had partially forgotten about Damian being a guest and entirely forgotten what the dinner was even for. The only thing on her mind was that damn hair comb.
The reason why the bluenette didn't accompany the blonde was to hang back and get to her clutch bag. The moment she got her hands on the kwami, she shook him. He stirred for a moment only to fall back into slumber.
"Plagg, this is not the time to nap, I actually need you," she harshly whispered, but it was useless.
Frankly, it was making her even more concerned that he hadn't woken up after this early morning's events. Tikki wouldn't even sleep. She just ate a bunch of cookies and was recharged instantly, but maybe this is how Plagg dealt with recharging. This was her second kwami, nevertheless a weird one too. She didn't use her cataclysm, nor did she roam around, so why was he practically playing corpse?
Marinette shuffled about in her seat as she hunched over. She never had any experience in attending dinner under nerves.
"Hopefully, I didn't miss anything important about the competition?" She asked, prompting Hiro to revive himself.
"Actually," he smirked. "These two lovebirds were just singing on and on about the gossip around a certain someone."
"Lovebirds," Marinette's eyes went wide.
Before Hiro's mouth could utter another word, a thud followed by the table slightly lifting off the ground and rattling all the cutlery gets to him first.
"Gossip?" Chloé enquired with a glare.
"Don't mind him, Marinette," Damian groaned, "he just doesn't understand the ramblings of the upper class. He was raised by an unruly older brother who spends too much time on the farm."
"Oh."
Marinette can't really tell why, but she couldn't feel her nerves calm down.
'Are these two dating? Well, Chloé is certainly a shinier gem than I am,' she thought to herself.
"Jonathan is a city boy like me, and he barely knows how to hold a fork and knife!" The younger boy retorted.
"Well, it's time to prove that you are different from him," Damian held onto his salad fork. "The ladies are watching you."
As the 3-course meal went on with foods Marinette could barely recognize and a decent tasting blood pudding, her eyes couldn't leave the blonde, and Damian seemed to pick up on that too. Over the talk about when the competition was ending and whose designs were being taken into account, there was just too much worry about for Marinette to be engaged.
She was certain the miraculous was real, but could she risk asking her.
"I must say, this was a wonderful evening, ladies." Damian gave the pair a small smile. "But, I'm sure tomorrow's a school night, and we don't want to keep you up for long."
"Nonsense!" The blonde rang out. "I'm sure Marinette would still want to hang around you a bit more, right?"
The bluenette pointed to herself, and Chloé pulled her in and whispered in her ear.
"Get a hint, Dupain-Cheng."
"Umm, oh yeah. I wouldn't mind a few minutes with him," she rubbed her thumbs. "B-but what about you and our sleepover."
"Don't worry," she sang as she snatched Hiro's arm and locked it within her own.
"As Mr.Okimaru's-"
"Okamaru," he interrupted.
"Yes, as Mr. whatever's host. I'll show him to his bedroom."
"Huh? Wait, what?! But it's not 9.30 yet." The younger teen protested as he's dragged out of the hall.
"Oh, but you've got some explaining to do about the recent power surges in your room. Perhaps you shouldn't be charging all your little toy soldiers at the same time."
As the pair are dragged out of sight, Marinette can't help but feel her cheeks flush. It's not the first time she's been alone with the boy, but every time feels different than the last. At least she's not in her pajamas like last time.
"I'm glad we are finally alone," the statement made her heartbeat. "I can finally get this off my chest."
"What?!"
Marinette was ready to jump off her seat in anxiety.
"You," he paused as he watched Marinette's eyebrows rise," need distract Chloé long enough to for me to grab and gag her."
Marinette exhaled. There's not a single normal body in this boy's body.