Gotham's Lucky Charm (Daminette)

Ch 14 - Book Burning in the Manor Courtyard

Damian was exhausted. He hadn't realized how tiresome a Wednesday afternoon of classes at Gotham Academy would be without Marinette. And this was only the second day that he had known her! How could he possibly survive the rest of his life without her presence?

But at least the school day was finally over and he was back at Wayne Manor.

As soon as Damian arrived home, he left his backpack on the floor of his room and changed out of his school uniform into a comfortable green pullover hoodie. Then he gathered a stack of Jason Todd's beloved hardcover classic books to use as fuel for a bonfire in the manor's back courtyard.

A glorious book bonfire.

Watching the books burn up in flames one-by-one helped Damian to clear his thoughts. Specifically, thoughts about Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

Habibti.

In Damian's head, he replayed every interaction that he had with her that morning. The way her smile glowed like a ray of sunshine when they greeted each other in front of the school building before class started. How distressed he was during the two hours she was missing; going so far as to call his father, Grayson, and the police in hopes of locating her.

Her waist... so perfect in his arms when he hugged her next to a police vehicle outside Gotham Academy.

Her arms... so perfect around his chest when they rode his motorcycle to her apartment.

Her beautiful blue eyes. The scent of apples and sugar cookies on her skin. How she had tried multiple times to hide her shoulder injury in front of him—

"Todd!" Damian cursed his brother's name as he chucked a pristine edition of A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway into the bonfire.

"Aye!" Jason Todd's voice suddenly sounded through one of Wayne Manor's open kitchen windows. "Who does the new motorcycle in the garage belong to? And there's two sets of helmets and jackets? Did someone get a girlfriend without telling everyone? Rude! How can the rest of us spy on their dates if we didn't know?"

"Welcome home, Master Jason," Alfred Pennyworth's voice echoed through the same windows. "Please remove yourself from the kitchen premises before you cause another accidental kitchen fire."

"Oh! Speaking of fire..." Tim Drake, presumably drinking coffee in the kitchen, gave Jason a brief summary of Damian's afternoon activities.

"DEMON SPAWN DID WHAT?!"

Excellent.

The imbecile ranking at the bottom of Damian's 'trustworthy family members' list had arrived home just in time to witness the final embers of the bonfire.

The peaceful air was filled with the sound of Jason's panicked steps stumbling through the kitchen. Moments later, the door to the manor's back courtyard flung open. Jason barreled outside with a red fire extinguisher in his hands. "WHAT DID YOU DO YOU LITTLE F—"

"Greetings, Todd." Damian tossed the last book into the bonfire, not even bothered to glance at the cover.

"DEMON SPAWN!!!!" Jason's scream jumped an octave.

Damian politely stepped out of his dearest big brother's way as Jason bolted towards the fire. He patiently waited as Jason suffocated the flames with the white monoammonium phosphate chemical powder that sprayed from the fire extinguisher's nozzle. When Jason knelt down to retrieve a single book from the pit, Damian clapped his hands. "Well, aren't you lucky. You saved the last book from incineration."

Jason gripped the scorched edges of a Pride and Prejudice collector's edition as he slowly turned towards Damian. "What the freakin' hell, you pyromaniac?!"