Whenever Monarch was defeated, we thought that everything would go back to how it was before. We thought we could express ourselves freely. We could feel what we wanted to feel. And we were able to. Just not for long. Lila Rossi as we know her, but...
I have yet to be able to speak with Angel all week. It was not because we were never in the same room, or because I didn't know where she was, it was because I could not get the words out of my mouth.
I have been with her all week, I have attended all of her training classes that she has had with my family, every single tech lesson she has had with Gordon and Drake, I went with he when Koriand'r took her to see the Titans. I followed her every night she snuck out when she thought she was being stealthy.
The only times I have left her alone were when she was in her room or using the bathroom. I simply could not stay away from her. Today she was going where I most definitely could not follow. Harley Quinn's and Poison Ivy's apartment. Although they were retired from being villains, I still did not trust them.
I despised the fact that Kyle would bring Angel to their house, especially when she had no idea what to expect from them.
Tonight, I had nothing planned except for my patrol, I had no close friends that would offer to hand out on a Friday night. I was standing in the kitchen, waiting for Angel to leave. I wanted her to stay, maybe I could catch her before she goes and tell her what to expect, or maybe I would finally say what I need to.
Before I could get my thoughts together, I find myself in front of Angel's room, my hand ready to knock. Just as I am about to, the door opens and her petite figure crashes into me. She falls to the ground on her rear, a huff of air leaving her.
"Damian? What in the world are you doing outside my door?" She looks up at me from her position on the floor.
"I-uh, sorry, I was going to knock before you opened your door." I stuttered. Why did I stutter? I mentally slap myself across the face, and reach a hand out for her to grab.
She knocks my hand away, before getting herself up on her own. Okay, that backfired a bit. She was clearly still very pissed with me.
"What do you want, Damian?" She sounded irritated as if I was a nuisance that she was forced to deal with. Well, I made her feel like that once, so I definitely deserved it.
"I wanted to speak with you." I tuck my hands behind me.
"Clearly."
"I lied-"
"Yes, repeatedly, I know." She interrupts me with a roll of her eyes. The words were already a struggle to get out and she was making this very much more difficult than it already is.
"No. Let me finish. I never lied to you when I was in Paris. I have lied to you all week. I never needed to use you, I genuinely enjoyed spending time with you. I was never forced to be around you, I liked it. I started to really like you, to the point I considered courting you. The night we defeated Hoaxer, when I saw my family's mangled bodies floating, I also saw yours. It scared me, and it made me realize that I fell for you. I pushed you away because I was scared that you would make me weak." I ran a hand through my perfectly styled hair, it was a habit I had when I was much younger, a habit I though Grandfather and Mother beat out of me.
"What are you trying to say Damian? That I made you weak?"
"Yes! You made me weak! You are my weakness! I pushed you away in order to stop myself from falling for you. It didn't work, I still fell. So, I needed to push you away again, harder. That was why I have been such an asshole! That is why I lied to you! I wanted you out of my life so nobody could use you to get to me."
Why doesn't she understand this? Why can she not read between the lines of what I want to tell her?
"I never asked to be in your life Damian, I never wanted to be a weakness for you." No! This was not going how I wanted it to, this was far. far, worse than I could have imagined.
"I know! I know! But now I want you in my life! I want to be near you! I want to have a normal conversation again! I want us to be... us." I release a breath, "I'm sorry I was such a jerk to you. I'm sorry I pushed you away."
"I forgive you. But that doesn't mean I will forget about it." I never want her to forget what I did to her; I want her to ridicule and remind me about it every day.
"I don't want you to forget about it. I want you to hold it over my head for the rest of our lives. I want you to constantly remind me of what I did that forced us apart for so long. What I did to keep myself away from the woman I love."
I finally said it. I told her I love her. A feeling in the middle of my chest swells, making me feel warm and happy.
"W-what did you just say?" she stutters, blushing a bright pink.
I smile down at her and grab her hands as I pull her closer to me until our faces are mere inches apart, "I love you Marinette Dupain-Cheng. And I hope that after all of my idiotic actions and unforgiving words, you love me too."
"I-"
"Mittens! Time for dinner with the girls!" Kyle interrupts us. Angel jumps away from me, glances at me for a millisecond before pushing past me and running down the hallway.
