Whenever Monarch was defeated, we thought that everything would go back to how it was before. We thought we could express ourselves freely. We could feel what we wanted to feel. And we were able to. Just not for long. Lila Rossi as we know her, but...
Patrol was a waste of time. Nothing fatal happened, only a few casualties, but nothing that I could have prevented. I was done with my section within an hour, but I didn't return to the manor. I refused to go back until she left.
Just to be cautious I came back around 2:00 am. In the time I was out I had double checked everyone else's patrol area, stopped a couple of robberies, cut off a couple of hands. Overall, it was a quiet night.
Once I had arrived at the manor, I took a shower. Once I was out, I realized I had yet to eat dinner. So, I went to the kitchen, still in my towel, to grab a quick snack, a sandwich or something. That's when I saw her.
"What are you doing here?" I hiss at her.
"Getting some water?" She seemed unbothered by my obvious irritation with her.
"No. I mean, what are you doing in my house? In Gotham?" I walk past her to grab the ingredients for my sandwich from the fridge.
"I was invited by Selina, she said I needed to get everyone's measurements, including yours, even though I already know yours, for your outfits for the event you have coming up." She walks to the other side of the counter, placing her glass in front of her.
"But why are you still here, in my house? You got your measurements hours ago." I skim my gaze through the kitchen for the bread.
"Steph wanted me to sleep over." She starts tapping her fingers on the counter. She's either bored or nervous.
"Of course she did." I mutter under my breath, "How did Selina even find you? She was never in Paris." I stare her down.
"She was last week. She paid me a visit on my roof after you guys won the ballot." She stares right back, challenging me.
"What ballot?" I go back to making my sandwich.
"The ballot for a free design made by MDC. You, Steph, Cass, Selina, Babs, and Jason won."
"I didn't enter my name into a stupid ballot, let alone one I didn't even know existed." I needed her to think I hated her, I needed to feed her anger towards me. If being a dick would make her leave then so be it.
"Why are you being such a jerk now? You were never like this in Paris! You seemed like a decent guy! Now you just look like an ass." Shit. She was beyond pissed, she cursed. My Angel cursed; she never did that. She barely said the word stupid, let alone ass.
"The only reason I was nice to you in Paris was because I needed you to give me information." It was a partial lie; I had needed her to give me information about Ladybug, Chat Noir, and Hoaxer. I didn't have to be nice to her, but I had wanted to.
"So, now that she's defeated you don't need me anymore?" She sounded hurt.
"Precisely."
"So, you do lie after all." I stilled. Did she know what I was trying to do? That I was trying to push her away? "You said that you liked me, whenever you heard Tikki and I talking about the reason why the worlds collided you said you had feelings for me. I guess that was all a joke, huh? A lie?" She had tears in her eyes, but her face was anything but sad. She looked enraged, hurt. A feeling in my chest started tugging at me, it felt like...guilt.
No. I will not allow myself to give into her pain. I will not allow myself to have a weakness. I refuse to love anyone.
"Yes." I clip out. The lie rested on my shoulders, the air around me became less, it didn't feel right.
I grab my sandwich and head back to my room, only to find the door wide open. Shit.
