Ships Adrift in a Strong Tide

In which Damian gets slapped

She stood in front of him, the tips of her hair literally burning, eyes glowing slightly.

"Grayson," Damian began, his hands curled into nervous fists at his sides, "I understand that you are angry, but—"

He didn't get to finish. The crack of skin on skin rang through the hallway and both Dick and Alfred stared at them, wide eyed and unmoving.

Damian Wayne had been slapped before. It was unpleasant, but generally what bothered him was the humiliation of the act and not the pain, which was minimal.

Damian Wayne had never been slapped by an enraged half-Tamaranean, gifted with super-strength and a certain amount of emotional sway over him.

Unsure of what to do, he gritted his teeth, caught halfway between indignant protesting and undignified begging for forgiveness. Pain of a surprising degree radiated from his cheek, and he fought an instinctive urge to cover the tender area with his palm.

"You stupid, arrogant bastard," she snarled, and tears pooled in her eyes. "I thought you were dead!" Her voice cracked twice in the short sentence, her voice thick with emotion.

Aside from an overwhelming sense of self-loathing, Damian wasn't sure what to feel. She was obviously angry but she was also on the verge of tears, and he didn't know whether to placate her or comfort her.

"I—" he began unsurely, but before he got any further Mar'i wound her fingers in his shirt and pulled him, closing the half-step of space between them.

A searing kiss silenced him before he could even attempt to explain himself. That was searing in the literal sense; Mar'i had a hard time regulating her body temperature when her emotions spiked. She stepped back from him, and in the space of a few moments he saw countless emotions display themselves in her shining eyes.

She spun away from him suddenly and ran up the stairs, presumably to her room.

Now that she was gone, he cupped his palm over his sore cheek and turned to Dick and Alfred. Neither of whom, he noted for use in the future, had offered any sort of help.

"I don't..." he stuttered, feeling helpless. "Should I find her?"

"No," Dick rushed to say. "No, don't do that. I'll... try to talk to her. If she's anything like her mother, I suggest staying out of starbolt range. Far out of range."