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

Chapter 108: Mrs. Dunley

"Could you hear me giggling in the shower?" Marinette asked Damian as she exited the bathroom.

"I heard you a few times." He looked at her with a sad face from where he was sitting on her bed.

"Dami..." She sighed before sitting on the bed next to him. "Quit beating yourself up over this."

"You know..." He looked over at her. "We all knew something strange was going on, yet we carried on as usual. I should have been more careful."

"No, Damian. WE should have been more careful. We are a team, Damian. We will always be a team. It's not like Selina or myself was dead weight you had to carry around. Hindsight is always 20/20. I'm sure we could have all done something to change the outcome. What we need to do now is evolve and learn from this. Joker will never have another opportunity like that and now it's up to us to make sure something like this never happens again. So please... cheer up." She grabs ahold of his hand. "In the end we actually won tonight."

Damian looks at her bright smile for a moment before grinning as well. "Your outlook on life is incredible. It makes me wish I could be inside your head all the time."

"You just need to learn to look for the silver lining. I used to always fixate myself on the what if's in life. I would end up hindering myself. 'What if I fail?' 'What if they think I'm weird?' 'What if it doesn't turn out the way that I'd hoped?' If you had met me a few years ago, that is what you would have been hearing inside my head. It takes some work but you can change your own perspective on life."

"You are wise beyond your years, Angel." He grinned at her before adjusting himself to lay his head down in her lap.

"I like to think that I'm so wise because I spend my time hanging around very ancient tiny gods." She says sarcastically as she begins to run her fingers through Damian's still damp hair.

"Really?" Damian chuckles. "Because I'm beginning to think that I'm losing brain cells just being around Plagg."

"I heard that!" Plagg speaks up from the other side of the room.
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"So, what exactly will we be doing today?" Marinette asked Jason shortly after saying goodbye to everyone after breakfast.

"I'm thinking we will ride around town for a bit and then get lunch at my favorite sub shop just south of uptown. You in?" He grinned at the bluenette.

"Absolutely. When do we leave?"

"Right now." He said as he grabbed his new jacket from off of the couch.
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"Why are we pulling over?" Marinette asked when Jason finally slowed down after a half an hour of driving.

"I wanted to show you where I grew up before Bruce took me in." He smiled at her after he shut his bike off.

"We aren't that far from crime alley, right?" She hopped off the bike to look around. They were clearly in the middle of what looked like a bunch of rundown apartments.

"It's about five blocks west of here." He nodded while following her line of sight. "This isn't the prettiest place but it is still home to me. The manor is my home too but this place will always be my first home, you know?"

"You can't forget where you come from, right?" Marinette grinned up at him.

"Absolutely, Sunshine." He offered his arm for her to take. "Let me show you around."

"You got it, Jay." She happily took his arm.

As they walked, Jason would point out buildings and give out information about them. He talked about the neighbors he grew up with and how they all stuck together throughout difficult times. He even showed the old apartment building he grew up in.