She's Sunshine, She's Grace, She'll Punch You in the Face

Chapter 20: The Rooftop

"Please stay together class." Madame Mendeleiev looked up from her clip board. "One last headcount and we can leave for the bus."

"You really have no idea where he's taking you?" Chloe asks as her teacher checks off names on her clip board.

"No. But he did just text me that he's out front next to the bus." Marinette looks away from her phone. "I guess I'll see you all tomorrow at the Gotham recycling plant." She puts her arms out for a group hug.

"Marinette." Madame Mendeleiev looks at the girl. "Has your ride arrived?"

"Yes ma'am." She smiles brightly at the teacher. "The car is waiting for me out front."

"Good." The science teacher nodded. "We can all depart then." She guides the class out the front door.

"So, what kind of slums are you forced to live in now, Maritrash?" Lila slows down to talk to the group.

"That's none of your business, you lying snake." Alix speaks up for the girl.

"Oh, it's that bad, huh?" She cackles at the group of friends. "I'm just glad that we don't have to see your ugly mug as often."

"The feeling's mutual." Marinette deadpanned at the Italian. "But its nice to know that you think of me so much."

"Whatever." She scoffs. "Have fun in whatever rat hole you're staying at."

"You know I will." Marinette gives her the most forced smile she could muster up.

"Woah! Look at that car dudes!" Nino yells from a few feet in front of them.

The class looks over to see Damian casually leaning against his black 1961 Jaguar E-Type. The moment his eyes lock onto Marinette, he pushes off the car to stand and smiles at her.

"That's my ride." The bluenette waves at her friends. "Bye everyone!" She yells to her class as she walks over to Damian. Marinette glances one last time at Lila to see her staring at the car and Damian with her mouth hanging open.

"Hello, Angel." He opens the passenger door for her as she gets closer. "How was your day today?"

Marinette stands up on her toes to give him a quick peck on the cheek before sliding into the car. "A million times better now that you're here."

Damian reaches up to touch his cheek where she just kissed him and blushes before looking down at her in the car. "What was that for?"

"Nothing. Just felt like it." She gives him a soft smile as she pats the driver's seat. "Are you coming?"

"Yes." He shuts the passenger door and walks around the car to get in on the driver's side. "I think your class is staring at us." Damian starts the car.

"Yeah." Marinette breaks into a large smile. "I think you just proved Lila wrong and also, I don't think any of them have seen a car like this." She looks around at the beautiful interior.

"Proved her wrong how?" He asks.

"Pretty sure she's been telling people that I'm living in some shack with a bunch of poor people. I think she thinks that Jason is a homeless man or something." Marinette laughs at the thought of it as Damian backs out of his parking space.

"Did you tell him she said that?" He raised an eyebrow at her.

"No. I do NOT need her to mysteriously go missing." She giggles.

"You are too nice to people, Angel." He fondly looks at the girl. "She doesn't deserve your kindness."

"Maybe I'm just taking the whole 'kill them with kindness' thing too seriously." Marinette says sarcastically. "Where are you taking me anyways?"

"Just out to dinner." Damian looks over at her. "You okay with that?"

"Dinner sounds nice. What's the restaurant called?"

"We aren't going to a restaurant." He looks over to see her confused face. "We are having dinner on a rooftop."

Marinette gives him another one of her signature smiles. "Oh! We actually first met on a roof top. Coming full circle, are we?"

"Sort of. Only this time we won't be on top of a hotel."
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Damian drives into an underground parking garage next to a vary large building. "Up there's where we will be. This building is still under construction so its not too likely anyone will find us up there."

"Are we trespassing?" She looks at him worried.

"No. Technically it's fathers building and he knows we are here." He opens up his door and quickly gets out to open hers.

"Really?" She steps out and he closes the door behind her. "What's this building going to be anyways?" They take each other's hands as they walk towards the building.

"This building is mainly for Wayne Tech's science department among other things." He gives her a knowing look.

"Oh." She nods. "I gotcha."

Once at the front door, Damian pulls out a key and opens the door and after they walk inside, he locks it behind them. Looking around, they see plastic lining the floors with ladders and stray paint cans lying around.

"Come on." He smiles at her as he holds his hand out for her to grab. "The elevator is this way."

She takes his hand again and he leads her to the elevators on the far wall. Stepping inside, Damian presses the button for the top floor. The entire ride up, both teens felt nothing but excited nervousness for their date. When the elevator doors open, Damian leads her around the corner to the rooftop access door that is up a flight of stairs.

"Close your eyes." He turns to face her.

Closing her eyes, she smiles to herself when Damian starts to lead her in the correct direction. She hears a door open and shut and she can feel the rooftop gravel shift under her feet as she walks.

"Okay." Damian says softy. "You can open your eyes now."

Slowly, she opens her eyes to see everything before her. In the middle of the roof is a small circular table with a chair on either side. A covered plate was on the table in front of both chairs and a singular rose was in a vase on the center of the table. Looking off onto the horizon, she could see that to the west was the port where all the boats come into the city and to the east was the perfect view of Gotham's city skyline.

"Wow." She says breathlessly. "I had no idea we were so close to the water. The city looks so beautiful from up here."

"Wait until you see it at night." She looks over to where he moved and sees him holding out the chair for her to sit on.

"Thank you." She sits down as he pushes the chair in for her. "This is probably the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me." Marinette smiles at him as he takes his seat across from her.

"I'm glad you like it. This whole set up was actually Grayson's idea though." Damian looks into her bluebell eyes. "I had no idea what to do. I've never been on a date before."

"Well this is perfect." Marinette looks down at her plate. "I guess I don't have to steal anyone's food today."

"If you want, we can steal something else of Todd's." He gives her a mischievous grin.

"Do you do that often?" She raises an eyebrow at him.

"Not as often as I used to." He admits.

"Mmm." She nods at him. "So, what's on the menu today?"

"Spaghetti." He lifts up the lids to show the delicious looking pasta is still steaming on the plate.

"Oh, I love pasta." She says excitedly.