Chapter 36

Marinette's P.O.V:

Bruce had pinned me down for about the dozenth time tonight and I was starting to get a little frustrated. Any time I seemed to have any little wiggle room, Bruce's hold on me would tighten. I had to find some way to get him off of me.

Looking around, I noticed that I had one leg free. 'This is my chance.' I thought. I brought my knee up to connect with his ribs and Bruce quickly used his free leg to pin mine down after a few blows. Now all of my limbs were pinned by his own. I was just about to give up when I thought of something else. I braced myself as I headbutted Bruce right in the face.

This must have dazed him for a moment because I managed to yank my right arm free and use it to pry his hand off of my wrist that was pinned to the floor. I quickly pushed forward into him to get on top and crawled my way to his arm.

Everyone watched in amazement at how quickly I put him in a perfect arm bar. Bruce tapped out quickly and I immediately let go. Getting up off the floor, I held out my hand for Bruce to help him up.

"I can't believe it. I finally did it!" I said excitedly before finally looking at Bruce's face. Blood was starting to pour out of his nose. "Oh my God, I'm so sorry! Are you okay?" I asked frantically.

"Are you kidding, Angel? Drawing first blood means you win for the night." Damian smiled at me proudly.

"I know, but..." I started.

"I'm fine, Marinette. This is what training is all about. You aren't the first one in this room to make me bleed." He wiped his nose with the back of his hand and smiled at me. "I'm very impressed. You found your way out of the situation."

"He's right, Sunshine." Jason rested his arm on my shoulder. "I've never seen someone move so fast. Besides maybe The Flash."

"Really?" I ducked under his arm and grabbed a towel off of one of the weights to hand to Bruce.

"Yeah, Mari. You did good." Tim smiled at me. "Don't feel so bad when something like this happens."

"So, you guys give each other bloody noses often?" I joked.

"Among other minor injuries, yes." Dick playfully answered.

"Your family is wild." I grin at all of them.

"What do you mean, little sis?" Jason picks me up and throws me over his shoulder. "You are a part of this family too. You might even be more wild than the rest of us."

I squeak as I was suddenly being picked up. "Jay, put me down." I can't help but laugh.

Jason sighs. "Fine. You're no fun, Pixie-pop." He finally sets me down.

"Sorry I don't want to be carried around." I said sarcastically.

"What do you mean? Being carried around sounds like fun." Jason smiled at me. "You want to carry me around instead?"

"Uh, no." I looked at him like he was crazy.

"Come on. Not even a piggyback ride to my room?" He tried to give me the puppy dog eyes.

"Nope. That's not going to work on me." I reached up and patted him on the head. "But good try, big bro."

Jason gasped. "I got her to say it!" He looked at his family excitedly. "That makes it true. I'm Sunshine's favorite now."

"I wouldn't go that far." Dick smiled at his brother. "I have photographic proof that Mari likes Damian better."

"You know that's not what I meant." Jason rolled his eyes.

"Okay, enough playing around." Bruce cut through all the talking. "It's time for everyone to shower up and go to bed. We have work and school in the morning."

We all head for the exit. "Jason's not really your favorite of the three of us, is he?" Dick asked as he pointed between himself, Tim and Jason.

"No." I shook my head. "I could never choose a favorite. All three of you are like the big brothers I never had."

"Yeah, but I'm the coolest." Jason shouted over his shoulder.

"You keep telling yourself that." Tim shouted back.----------"I'm kind of nervous for today." I say as both Damian and I leave for Gotham Academy in the morning.

"This plan will work, Angel. She can't lie her way out of this one." He opens the car door for me.

"I know but it's the rest of the class that I'm worried about. What if they hate me?" I slide into the car and he shuts the door behind me.

Damian gets into the driver's seat and starts the engine. "Don't they already hate you?"

"Yes, but we will be shattering this idea of the future they have with Lila and her lies. They might resent me for it." I said.

"Then that's their own problem. You will be doing them all a favor in the long run." He holds my hand while he drives. "They don't deserve you anyways."

"Maybe." I sigh. "I'll just be happy when this whole Lila thing is behind us. I still can't believe that everyone is helping me. They even took the first part of the day off of work to do all this."

"I don't think you quite understand how much my family absolutely adores you, Angel. You have encaptivated each and every one of our hearts." He kisses the back of my hand. "I think we would all do almost anything for you."

My face turns red. "Dami, you can't say things like that to me."

"'Dami', huh?" He smiles brightly at me.

"Yeah." I smile back. "It's time for you to get your own nickname, besides 'demon spawn'. It's better than 'Damiboo' isn't it?" I asked.

"I'd let you call me 'Damiboo' if you really wanted, Angel."

"No. I don't want to think of Lila every time I say your nickname. Besides, I like 'Dami' better." I said truthfully.

"Glad you think that." He softly chuckled at me.

"I'm sure if you give me time I could come up with an even better nickname." I tapped my chin in thought.

"You take all the time you need, Angel." Damian pulled into the schools parking lot and into a student reserved parking space. "But you might have to think about that later. We're here."

"It's now or never I guess." I smiled at my boyfriend when he opened the door for me.

The two of us walked hand in hand towards the school's front steps. I noticed that everyone at the school, students and teachers alike, were staring at us. "Why is everyone looking at us?" I asked nervously.

"I have a bit of a reputation." Damian shrugs. "They call me the 'Ice Prince of Gotham'."

"A prince, huh?" I nod at the name. "I'm guessing none of these people are expecting you to be holding a girls hand?"

"No. I almost broke the last girls hand who tried anything like that."

"You did not." Damian just shrugged. "Damian! That poor girl."

"I'm sorry, Angel, but she was asking for it. You don't just go up to some random person and hold their hand."

"She probably just had a crush on you. I would understand why." I giggled.

"Well she didn't have a crush on me for long." Damian stopped walking when we got to the bottom of the schools' steps.

"Don't you start thinking you can scare me off as easily as her." I looked back up at my boyfriend. "You're stuck with me now." I said with a soft smile.

"Good." He reached down to peck me on the lips.

Audible gasps could be heard all around us and I looked around at a bunch of people staring at us with shocked faces. "Oh my God." I hid my face in Damian's chest, "Everyone is looking at us."

"That's okay." He wrapped his arms around me in a hug. "I see your classes bus pulling up."

"Really?" I turned around to look in the direction he was looking to see the same thing. "It's showtime, Dami." I looked up at him with nervous excitement.