Damien let out a long, exhausted sigh. So much work went into being Robin and it hardly yielded any positive result. Today was like every other. Cold and dreary, filled with evil.
Being Robin came with responsibilities no boy would ask for, but he took them with pride. Carrying the weight reminded him of his humanity, of his humility. Peoples lives were in his hands, and that was a heavy burden.
And yet, despite all of this, he still remembered to make dinner.
"If I ever get caught," Spoke the woman in a white mask, her hair tied up and tucked into her black hood. "I want your food to be my last meal."
"You aren't supposed to be stealing." Damien, or Robin as his outfit and his girlfriend knew him by, spoke lowly. His voice was always calm, cold, and calculating, but she didn't mind. In fact, it was one of her favorite qualities. "That was the deal."
"I'm not. But I'm just saying, if they catch me," Daylight, the woman in white, black and gold, shrugged as she cut her pork into smaller pieces. She gestured to him with a her fork. "You're cooking."
Damien shook his head, lifting his glass to his lips. Water, of course. The boy turning man kept a vigorous training schedule, and he didn't much like alcohol anyway. Daylight, on the other hand, held a glass of cheap rum in her offhand. Well, cheap for Wayne standards. It was a bottle Damien knew his father would never miss, probably wouldn't even notice was gone.
"Besides, Damien.." His eyes snapped up at her slow and playful drawl. She smirked, knowing full and well she wasn't supposed to know his name. Not yet at least. She broke the stare with a roll of her eyes. "You know I'm easy to please, it's not like one last dinner before my death is going to-"
"You aren't supposed to know." He frowned, thin lips pulled into a tight white line. "That's stolen information, you already broke the deal."
"No, I didn't steal it." Daylight raised a hand in mock defense, showing she pleaded innocent. He watched her with scrutinizing eyes. "It just so happened that your father left his laptop open on your file yesterday morning at a nearby cafe."
"So you stalked my father to find out information about me?" Damien scoffed, lips pulled back in disgust. "It keeps getting worse."
"What?" Daylight scrunched her face, confused. "Did it ever occur to you that I have a day job? I mean, I haven't stolen anything in the past six months, per our agreement, I need to pay rent."
"So you work at a cafe?" Damien, accepting her words as the truth, asked with a new curiosity. "And it just so happens it the one my father visits?"
"I can't tell you everything, we agreed to keep some secrets." Daylight gave him a side eye, but they fell to her plate. She pushed her greens around for a moment, thoughts rattling in her brain. "My name is Shannon."
"Shannon." He tried it out, the name feeling foreign on his tongue. His lips twitched upwards, just a little. "I don't get a last name?"
"No, Mr. Wayne. You don't." Daylight, or Shannon as he now knew, made his face scrunch distastefully.
"Please, don't ever say that again."
"What?" She asked, knowing exactly what. "Mr. Wayne?"
"This is a can of worms you really don't want to open." He warned her, voice stone as ever.
"You're right." She pulled a faux frown, nodding solemnly. "It won't happen again... Mr. Wayne."
He didn't even speak, rising from his chair with haste. Shannon quickly downed the rest of her drink as he rounded the table, eager to reach intoxication before whatever punishment he had in mind was laid before her.
Damien grabbed the back of her chair and single-handedly yanked it back, the oak screeching on the hardwood floors. Shannon recognized his silent command, standing up straight.
"Alright-! Alright, geez." She set down her glass and stepped past him, hands up in a meager defense. "I will see myself out, Sir Hardass."
"Stop." He grabbed her by the arm, preventing her escape. He dragged her close, pressing his lips to hers for brief moment. It would have lasted longer, had her rolled up mask not slipped down from her nose and cut the contact short. Damien scowled, displeased.
"That's probably for the best, I can't stay the night." She sighed, rolling it back up. She leaned up on her toes to give him a shorter series of chaste pecks before pulling it back down. "I have work tomorrow."
"Call in sick." Damien emphasized his words with a tug on her waist, firm hands holding her tight. She frowned under her mask.
"I can't, I'm paid hourly." Shannon shook her head.
"You can afford to miss one day."
"I really can't."
"Hmph." The raven haired young man grumbled to himself, thin bottom lip pushed just slightly outward. Shannon let out a chuckle.
"Aw, don't pout." She teased him, coiling her arms around his neck. "I'll start to think you actually enjoy having me around."
"Don't let it go to your head." He snarked, kissing her masked cheek. Shannon laughed, but ultimately pulled her hands to his chest to make some space between them.
"Really." She nodded, fingers griping the collar of his cloak. "Thanks for keeping me around, birdie. It... it means a lot."
"You're making it awfully difficult to let you leave." Damien scoffed, his fingers creeping lower on the light blue turtleneck she wore. Shannon laughed again and shook her head.
"Well, too bad." Her fingers trialed down and pushed him away, putting back the original distance. He let out a sigh, unsatisfied. "Suck it up, beautiful. I'll see you tomorrow."
"Yeah."
Damien watched Shannon slip out the window, an ache in his chest.
She was so fleeting, so quick to leave. He wasn't used to the feeling of desire, to the feeling of wanting someone around. Damien was as cold as he was calculating, stoic and mean to the bitter end. Daylight, who he now knew as Shannon, seemed to look right past all of that. She took his over-literal mindset and tested his patience with quick wit and silly teases.
She got under his skin, to say the least.
Damien looked at their leftovers from dinner and sighed, not bothering to even remove his mask as he flopped down on his bed. A loud groan was released into his pillow, muffled by the downy fluff.
Shannon was never supposed to make him feel this way.
