Chapter 86

Marinette's P.O.V:

"Today has been such a good day that I almost don't want to do training tonight." I sighed as I started to pack up everything with some help from Damian.

"Why not?" Damian raised an eyebrow at me. "Today is our one on one session."

"Oh, that's right!" My mood brightened a bit at the thought. "I almost forgot. What are you planning on teaching me, boy wonder?"

"Well I know Todd is excited to teach you a bit about guns and gun safety while Drake wants to teach you a bit about his detective work and how he reads body language, so I thought I would teach you a bit about my own personal strengths."

"Are you going to teach me how to roast people like how you roasted Lila?" I giggled.

"No, but I'll get around to that." Damian laughed. "I was thinking more about my work with the sword. You know, disarming and how to avoid attacks. I might even show you my favorite ways to knock people out without killing them."

"How many people do you think will end up attacking me with a sword here in Gotham?"

"If the league is involved then its guaranteed. But otherwise, you still have a pretty good chance. Gotham is full of crazy people and if they can get their hands on a sword then I guarantee they will use it to hurt someone."

"Yeah, you're right. This place would have been absolutely terrifying if Hawkmoth was still around." I looked back over towards the house and spotted Jason and Tim looking at them through a window before briefly ducking out of sight. "I think some of your brothers are spying on us again."

"I was wondering how long it would take you to notice." Damian actually laughed out loud.

"You knew? Why didn't you tell me?"

"They have only been doing it for the last two minutes. I would have told you at the five-minute mark. I just wanted to see if you were paying attention."

I looked back over just in time to see the top of someone's head duck below the window. "Do you think they want something?"

"Only one way to find out."

I watched in confusion as Damian waited for some unknown signal before quickly grabbing me and taking off for the tree line. I was still thoroughly confused when Damian signaled for me to start climbing a tree, but I kept quiet and followed his orders.

Damian was right on my tail as I reached the top and he quietly nestled himself beside me on a branch we would both fit on.

"What are we doing?" I whispered as quietly as possible.

"Just watch." Damian pointed to the window they were at.

I looked over to see the two of them look out the window in confusion at their now vacant picnic blanket. I watched as they talked for a moment before quickly running out of the room they were in.

"What..." I began to speak but Damian quickly put his hand over her mouth and signaled for me to wait.

I waited for maybe another minute before Tim and Jason could be seen sneaking around the side of the house, presumably looking for them. I watched as they silently signaled to take each side of the area and meet back up around the back side of the picnic setup.

I shook my head and smiled brightly over at my boyfriend. As they came closer, I had an idea. I quietly and gracefully jumped from tree limb to tree limb until I was a good eight feet away from Damian.

He watched in confusion before I finally signaled for him to take down Tim on his side while I took down Jason on mine. I could tell Damian almost wanted to laugh in excitement but he kept his cool as he waited for my signal this time.

"Jay." Tim whispered almost directly beneath Damian. "I don't see them. You think they're off doing something they shouldn't out in the woods?"

"Ew, Tim... Don't put that thought in my head." Jason shook his head.

"How could we have lost them? They were here two minutes ago. They couldn't have gotten far."

"You're right." Jason began to look around.

I took this as her opportunity to pounce before Jason could look up to spot them, so I signaled to Damian before jumping down to land on Jason.

We were in perfect synchronization as we leaped off of the tree. I gracefully landed onto Jason's back and he quickly fell to the ground and huffed at the surprise of added weight. Damian was stealthier and almost catlike when he jumped off to land on Tim's shoulders and he too, hit the ground with a huff. Damian and I each quickly rolled off before either of them had the chance to retaliate.

"Hey, you two. Looking for something?" I laughed as I made my way back over to Damian, who was also smiling from ear to ear.

Tim and Jason quickly connected the dots and looked back up into the trees where we were previously hiding.

"You were up there the whole time?" Jason looked back down to us.

"We wouldn't have been up there if you two weren't snooping on us from over there." Damian pointed to the window where they were previously spying on us.

"Yeah." I crossed my arms and looked at the two of them with a stern face. "Why were you watching us anyways?"

"It was his idea." Both Jason and Tim said at the same time as they each pointed to the other in accusation.

I just cocked my hip to the side and raised an eyebrow.

"Well what happened was we were eating lunch, right?" Jason began to explain. "And everyone was talking about how good the food was. So we asked Alfred about it and he said that you where the one who did most of the cooking and that he only helped."

"Yeah." Tim agreed. "So we said that we needed to tell you how good it all was, only we didn't know where you were. That's when Alfred told us you were on a date out here in the rose gardens."

"And that's how we ended up finding you when we looked through the window." Jason finished the story and smiled over at the stern look on my face.

"But you were watching us for a while." I began to tap my foot.

"Were we?" Tim asked. "I had no idea." He looked over at Jason. "Did you?"

"Not a clue." Jason shrugged.

"Okay. But why did you sneak around the house to come find us?" Damian challenged.

"Because we..." Jason though about that for a moment before breaking off into a sprint. "Every man for themselves!"

"Traitor!" Tim quickly ran off into the opposite direction.

Damian and I only briefly nodded to each other before splitting up to catch the two.