Work Text:
Marinette wiggled her toes in her skates, making sure she hadn’t cut off her circulation with that last tight knot, and stepped onto the ice. It was still pretty early, so only a couple similarly dedicated skaters were on the ice, leaving plenty of room for Marinette to start out with some basic moves as she continued warming up.
Her coach, Dick, should be here in about twenty minutes to go over her newly revised programme and inform her about her decision to try pair skating, so she focused on becoming completely loose and prepared for trying any new skills.
She got lost in the music in her ears, flying over the ice in contentment.
Coming out of a spin, Marinette saw Dick across the ice, talking to Mar’i, who was also on her team. Ever since Marinette had joined this skating group, she had gotten along great with Dick and viewed him as an older brother, playing pranks and joking with him when he wasn’t in coach mode.
Their formal instruction would start in fifteen minutes, so she still had time to play with him and Mar’i. Snickering evilly, she dug her picks into the ice and took off, gaining velocity as she sped across the cleared ice toward her unsuspecting victim.
“Dick!” she yelled happily, just before she made contact with him and sent him slamming into the boards.
Mar’i looked at her in horror.
“Hey, Mar’i! Don’t worry, your dad’s fine, we do this all the time.”
Mar’i shook her head and pointed at Dick, who was on the bleachers tying his skates, but had looked up at the commotion and was laughing. “That’s my dad, ‘Nette.”
Marinette turned to see who she’d just bodychecked and gasped in horror at seeing the star male figure skater of the group, Damian Wayne.
“I am so sorry, I thought you were Dick, we greet each other like that all the time. Are you hurt? I am so, so sorry for that!”
Forest green eyes met her own as Damian pointedly brushed a speck of snow off his sleeve, which was the same black as his older brother's.
“Fortunately for you, I am accustomed to my brother’s exuberant greetings as well. I will not hold this against you, as it would not bode well for our partnership to hold such things against one another.” Damian held his hand out in greeting.
“Damian Wayne, your new partner.”
“What?!”
Dick glided over to the small group in the corner. “I see you’ve already met, good. Marinette, you and Damian will be partners for the foreseeable future. Damian has decided to relax for a while after the Grand Prix, so he will be paired with you and can guide you through this learning curve. Any questions or concerns from either of you?”
Marinette shook her head, still a little in shock that the Damian Wayne was relaxing–apparently by skating with her? “Maybe later, but none right now.”
“Just one,” said Damian. “I want to see Marinette in action before anything else.”
Dick nodded at her. “The routine before this new one will be fine. Good luck!” He followed Mar’i off the ice, the traitors, to give her all the space she needed to complete her routine.
Damian hopped over the boards, not bothering with the gate, and that was completely unfair how good he looked doing that. (She’d tried once and almost cut herself. After that, she used the gate like a normal person. Dang being short!)
Dick queued up the music for her routine and Marinette took her opening spot on the ice as the opening notes played over the sound system.
Three and a half minutes later she took a bow, breathing deeply to calm her racing heart.
Damian had looked impressed and even smiled a bit at one of her flirty moves!
Thankfully, he seemed to have actually put the bodyslamming into the boards behind them, although Marinette still felt bad.
Maybe she could bring him some baking from when she inevitably stress-baked and overthought tonight? That sounded like a good idea.
“You skate well,” complimented Damian, as Dick and Mar’i skated over.
“Thank you.”
“That was great, ‘Nette! This new routine I have for you should be perfect for you, it builds off the skills you learned for this one. But first, just practice skating with Damian and hang out off-ice to build trust and friendship. It’s important to have that on- and off-ice. Of course, you don’t have to be blood-bound besties or anything, but be friendly; it’ll come in handy quite often when you’re skating together. Get to know each other well.”
Dick turned to Damian and placed his hands heavily on his shoulders, looking into his eyes. “I hate that you’re taller than me even when I’m in skates,” he grumbled. “Do not scare Marinette off with your intensity, and actually get to know her, please. I know you’re used to pairing with Rachel, but I’m sure you’ll get along just fine with Marinette if you try to get to know her.”
“Tt. I never said I would be anything less than courteous.” Damian turned to Marinette. “May I have your phone number so we can contact each other outside of the rink?”
“Uh…yeah, sure.” Marinette dug her phone out of her bag and handed it to Damian.
Dick and Mar’i exchanged glances behind Damian’s back, and Marinette wondered just how true the rumours of his standoffishness and cold-heartedness were.
“There, we have each other’s numbers. Text me when you’re free for dinner.” Damian handed her phone back and stepped back onto the ice, smoothly gliding across the surface.
Marinette looked questioningly at Dick.
“Uh…let’s head back to my office and we can discuss what to do next.”
Once they were safely in the hallway and Damian couldn’t overhear, Dick whispered to Marinette, “I’m surprised at how well he’s taken to you. Just keep doing whatever you’re doing, and if he gives you a hard time, come to me. His old partner quit and wanted to focus on a different path in life, so he’s still a little sore about that, but I think he needed something new, anyways. You’ll be good for him.”
Marinette smiled, a little less nervous. “I can’t deny being curious about him. I hope our friendship-slash-partnership goes well.”
“It will!” Dick beamed at her optimistically, and Marinette remembered the little smile on his face when he saw her routine.
Yeah, this would be fun.