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

Chapter 31: Walking Around Town

Damian had been laying in bed for much longer than he was used to. Alfred had already announced that breakfast was ready almost an hour and a half ago and instead of waking Marinette up, he just sent down the kwami's to tell his family that he would have breakfast later. He wanted his Angel to sleep in today. Damian really didn't mind staying in bed though, because he found himself happy that Marinette was resting her head on his chest. He busied himself by running his fingers through her hair and trying his hardest to memorize every little detail about her face. Damian abruptly stopped what he was doing when Marinette began to stir.

"Good morning, Damian." She still sounded half asleep. "How long have you been awake?"

"About two hours." He smiled down at her and began to run his fingers through her hair again.

"Why didn't you wake me?" She looked up at him.

"I wanted to let you sleep in." Damian paused for a moment before adding "Plus, you looked so happy while you were sleeping."

"What time is it?" She looked over at the window to see more light pouring into the room than usual.

"It's getting closer to 10 o'clock."

Marinette immediately shot out of bed. "We missed breakfast?!"

"Relax, Angel." He got up to follow her. "I'm sure they left some food for us. I sent your kwami's to let them know we would be late."

"Okay." The bluenette relaxed a little. "I guess we should go get breakfast then."

"Sure." He nodded. "But I think we should go get dressed first. We are still heading into town, right?"

"Yes." She hopped around excitedly. "I almost forgot." She opens the door to go to her room across the hall. "I'll see you in a minute."
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"Anywhere specific you want to go today?" Damian asked as they finished their late breakfast.

"Not really. I just want to walk around Gotham with you today." Marinette stands up to go put her dishes in the sink. "Maybe you can show me some of your favorite parts of the city. We can make it a date."

"I can think of a few places you might want to see." He takes her hand and they walk to the garage to get into his car.
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"What is this place?" Marinette takes Damian's hand as she gets out of the car and looks around. The part of the city they were in was quite busy and all kinds of shops lined the streets. She could see all kinds of antiques stores and boutiques among other things.

"This is one of Gotham's more better off shopping districts." They begin to walk down the sidewalk hand in hand. "Most of Gotham's oldest families own these shops."

"Wow, this place is amazing." She stops to look inside a shop window filled with a bunch of clocks. "Do you come here often?"

"Only when I run out of paints or canvases." He shrugs.

"Oh right." She looks back up at him. "You still haven't shown me any of your paintings. Where are you hiding them?"

"Father let me have a whole room dedicated for all of my paintings. I usually keep it locked."

"Why?"

"Have you met my family?" Damian raised an eyebrow at her. "I don't need their judgement or praise. I like keeping them to myself."

"But art in any form is supposed to be shared and enjoyed." Marinette looked up at him.

"I'll share it with you." He lightly squeezed her hand.

"Thanks, Damian." She smiled down at her shoes before a fabric shop caught her attention. "Oh, wow!" Marinette ran up to the stores' window and peeked inside. "Look at this place."

"Do you want to go inside?" Damian smiled fondly at her excitement.

"Are you sure?" The bluenette looked back up at him. "I don't want to drag you around a fabric store."

"How about I drag you around the paint shop after this and we can call it even?"

"Deal." Marinette dragged him to the door and inside the shop.

Damian followed her around a few rows of fabrics before the girl stopped in her place to turn and grab at a roll that stood out to her. "What is it?" He asked.

"Wouldn't this make a lovely gown?" She showed him a beautiful red sequin fabric with a silk underside.

"Why don't you make one out of it then. Alfred did offer up our old sewing machine." Damian watched as the light bounced off of the fabric. "Maybe you could wear it to the charity gala."

"Oh, that's right! And I wanted to make everybody something too." She turned to look back at the fabric. "We should come back to this. I need to find some other fabrics first."

It took almost a half an hour and maybe five minutes of the two fighting over who should pay but eventually they made it out of the shop each with a bag in hand.

"Angel, you can buy lunch if it will make you happy." He grinned at her defeated face.

"I know how much all this fabric costs." Marinette held up her bag and lightly shook it. "I know I owe you more than lunch."

"You don't owe me anything. Besides, most if this stuff is for my family, right? It's not like you are using it all for yourself."

"I know but I still feel bad. I don't want you to spend your money on me." She looks up at him with her big bluebell eyes.

"Angel." He stopped to look her in the eye. "I appreciate the sentiment but know that I am doing this for you because I want to. You aren't pressuring me into spending money on you."

"I know." She finally smiles at him. "Just let me pay for things every once in a while, okay?"

"Okay." Damian smiled back before they started walking again. "Where to next?"

"That paint store you go to, remember?"

"Right." He nods. "Follow me, Angel."
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"Welcome back, Mr. Wayne." An older gentleman at the front desk greets the young billionaire. "How are you doing today?"

"I'm well, Mr. Dowell." Damian nods to the man. "And you?"

"Still kicking." The man turns his attention to Marinette. "And who is this lovely young lady?"

"I'm Marinette." She smiled brightly at him.

"What a beautiful ray of sunshine you are." Mr. Dowell slowly steps out from behind the counter. "It's nice to meet you Marinette." He shakes her hand. "What brings you two in today?"

"We are just looking." Damian responds.

"Looking?" The old man laughs. "You usually know exactly what you come in here for."

"I wanted Damian to show me around today." The bluenette grabs her boyfriend's hand.

"I see." The man nods at the young couple. "Well I'll leave you to it. If you need anything I'll be right over here." He walks back behind the counter.

"He seems to know you pretty well." Marinette looked at Damian.

"I'm probably one of his best paying customers. Plus, almost everybody recognizes me in this city."

"People don't seem to bother you about it though. We just walked through a heavily crowded street and no one seemed to care."

"Gotham is a bit of a different city. I think they would all be more worked up over seeing Robin than Damian Wayne." The two walked down an isle of oil paints and Damian stopped to grab a deep midnight blue color. "And also, people usually learn their lesson about crossing my family and I. Something Lila will soon learn herself, hopefully."

"I guess that's true." Marinette giggled. "Are you planning on painting something?" She pointed the paint he just grabbed.

"Yes, I am. I plan to show it to you when I finish it." He smiled fondly down at her.

"I can't wait."