DemonFire: Shorts!

Headband

Damian didn't keep count, but he realized that it has been quite some time since he last spoke to Mar'i. It was his fault. It was during one of Mar'i's first patrols, he got a bit jealous when Dick started praising her skills. But it wasn't fully intentional, it was an accident.

It was his fault.

Other than that, Damian was always spiteful of the teenager. Often calling her a nuisance and glaring down her path. He only did those things to get her to leave him alone, but nothing seemed to work, she was always sticking around.

Not until that dreadful day, where he missed her neck by an inch and got her hair instead with his blade. She got so angry, she ignored him around the Manor and during patrols. Whenever they would happen to walk down the same hall, she'd turn around and enter a random room. Not to mention she would say goodbye to everyone before she went home, exept for him.

And that was enough to annoy him.

. . .

After hours of training, Damian decided to call it a day.

He climbed out of the Batcave using the secret entrance to the manor. His mouth went dry and his throat itched, he craved for something to satisfy his thirst. Much to his dismay, Mar'i was there, sitting on the island and busying herself with the daily crossword on the newspaper.

She was too focused to even notice him lingering in the doorway. He really didn't want to be in the same room as her after months of silent treatment. So he started thinking for other ways to get water without being noticed by the girl.

On the verge of brainstorming, Damian's mind started trailing off. First to her pen tapping, then to her now short hair. He didn't know why she made such a big deal about her short hair, it honestly suited her.

It's odd that she takes so much from her mother's features, yet she's more beautiful. Then his eyes traveled up to the black headband upon her head.

That's when he's mood went sour.

He was the one that bought Mar'i that headband, it was to say sorry for accidentally cutting her hair short. But Mar'i thought that Bruce was the one that made the effort to buy her the accessory.

What did he expect? He left the headband in front of her bedroom door. Anonymously.

He didn't want anyone to think that he cared for that alien freak, so he kept quiet about his efforts on the sorry gift. So he never spoke out about it.

But if that was the case, why was he so worked up about her lack of knowledge regarding the gift?

A sudden pang of realization snapped out of his daze. He was supposed to get water, why was he thinking about some girl he admitted hating?

He rolled his eyes. "Fuck it." he whispered before walking across the room as if he was the star of the show. His scowl was painted on his face, as usual.

As if it wasn't obvious enough, Mar'i noticed the lad pass her. Her eyes followed him, but when her head could no longer turn as far as an owl would, she went back to staring at the newspaper.

He opened the fridge, a cool breeze blowing on his face. He clicked his tongue when the water was absent on every shelf.

He slammed the fridge door shut, and turned his body slowly. He glared at her back as if it was her fault he didn't get water. He rolled his eyes and grabbed the glass cup Alfred left to air dry on the rack.

Damian shuffled over to the sink, turned the knob of the faucet and caught the water in his cup. He waited until it was full, and during those seconds, Mar'i tapped her pen on the table aggressively.

Some people can brush off the pen tapping and can even tune out the sound. But Damian is short tempered, and he knew that. The rapid tapping annoyed the demon out of him.

He took a deep breath, controlling his urge to snatch the pen and break it into two. "Stop." he hissed.

Mar'i snapped her head up, seeing the glare Damian was shooting at her. "Sorry..." she said softly, dropping her pen to the table.

She paused for a few seconds, when a thought came flooding in her head.

"Hey Damian, how much did this headband cost? " she started, pointing at the shiny black accessory.

He looked at her in disbelief. "How should I know? Didn't my Father give that to you?" he said, tone aggressive.

Mar'i looked at him, but only for a few seconds before doing a dramatic 'oh!' and added, "So your Dad left a sorry note... because?" she smirked.

Damian had completely forgotten about the note he left with that headband.

"You knew all this time?!" he growled. The skin between his eyebrows pinched together, his nose crinkled, his teeth bared, and his glare sharp as ever.

He was annoyed-- no, enraged. He couldn't believe it! They said Mar'i was a sweet and kind girl like her mom. Well does a sweet girl pull a dumb prank?! He was sorry dammit! She knew Damian hated being ignored.

"Of course I knew." Mar'i giggled pushing him even closer to the edge. But he stayed silent, trying to hold the rage in. "That's what you get for cutting my hair short." Mar'i closed her eyes and pulled a teasing smile. That smile wasn't helping him.

"Are you shitting me?!" he snapped. "I felt bad! I went out of my way to apologize!" he yelled.

Her smile was unmovable. She wore it with confidence when Damian was paper thin close to turning into an actual demon.

"I'll apologize if you do it first." she said calmly.

"Why would I apologize? Didn't I do that already?" he said, glaring at her.

"You left a note. I wanna hear you say it." she instructed.

"No." he said with a straight face.

Mar'i shrugged. "Okay." was all she said before continuing with her crossword.

It was over. He could leave and take a shower and go back to ignoring her. It was all good, just like he wanted.

But there was that unsettling feeling in the pit of his stomach, enough to leave Damian very uncomfortable in his spot. He wanted something, but he doesn't know what. The feeling got stronger to the point where he couldn't handle it anymore.

"FINE!" he yelled. Mar'i turned her head towards him, confused as ever. "I'm sorry. For accidentally cutting your hair." he turned the other way. Her stare was making him squirm.

She smiled. "I'm sorry too. For messing with you."

"Whatever." the feeling was gone. He hoped she did not notice the blush that lightly dusted his cheeks. "You look... exceptional." he mumbled.

"Are you saying I look pretty?" she smirked.

He snapped his head towards her. His blush was getting darker and darker. Of course, she noticed.

He didn't get his water.

• • •

Haaah~ done with the edit! Damn my writing was awful! I was cringing while I was editing. I changed a lot if you noticed (this originally had 500 words but after editing, it increased to 1000 :| ) because it was really awful.