Planetary Go: Damian and Iva (And Karma)

Iva lifted her head, looking at him now.

"That is sad. I would not want to stay with him." She said firmly, throwing in a surprise twist in her dance. A twimkle in her eyes said what she couldn't- Stay on your toes.

I am going, yes. My family gets mad when everyone is not there. I get to see my brother though," She said the last part a bit flatly.

"Master Chaos is brilliant!" Damian instantly came to his mentor's defense. Alright, so Damian wasn't exactly high on the man's list of importance, but that didn't matter. Asric was his master and he stuck up for Damian when it mattered.

"It's more interesting here at school, anyway," the boy continued. "Nothing but muggles in my parents' neighborhood. They don't really like me." Which was an understatement. The Grays' neighbors tended to regard Damian as the spawn of the Devil.

"You don't sound very happy about seeing your brother," Damian pointed out.

Iva snorted at the boy's outburt, but remained otherwise silent. It wasn't just the Headmaster she didn't like: it was most teacher in general. They just never realized she couldn't understand school.

"You could always just scare them. Put them in their place, yes?" Her voice lifted in a joke, but her eyes were mat with serious intent.

Iva shook her head at the brothers comment, her shoulders become stiff again.

"My family is so big, I get left out or bullied every year," She ooked away out the window, then spat out, "My brothers are more messed up than I am,"

Damian a rather arrogant smirk. "They're already afraid of me," he pointed. "Why do you think I'm used to fighting so many opponents at once? It 'cause that's the only way they can beat me."

The boy frowned as Iva tensed, again.

"Hey," Damian said sternly. "You're not messed up. You're really brave, yeah? And cool, even. For a girl. If they can't see that, then your family's just stupid."

"That is not fair!" Iva pouted, stomping a foot so hard her thought the heel might break. "You should- You should-!"

Her aggrivation wanted to continue, but the wiser side of her wanted to stop.

"Filthy muggles," She grumbled under her breath.

"дорогой, dear," She gave a weak half smile, as if this statement exguasted her, "I am messed up. I just am. I am not normal..."

She sighed. "But, my family is very stupid anyway."

Damian gave a faint smile, though his blue gaze had hardened. "I'll make them pay, someday, you know," he stated calmly. "Those stupid muggles will be sorry they ever messed with me."

"So, you're afraid of something. Everybody is," Damian pointed out. "Besides, what good is being normal, anyway? Normal is boring, dontcha think?

"Let's talk about something else. Do you have a favorite color? Mine is red."

Karma, watching from the other end of the room, smiled and made her way across the dancefloor. She tapped Iva on the shoulder, careful to only touch fabric. "May I cut in?" She smiled apologetically. "I only want one dance, you can have him back right after that, promise."

She smiled kindly at the girl, then flashed Damian a dazzling smile. "You wouldn't mind, would you Ian?"

Iva was about to answer him, a wide smile on her face, when Karma came over asking for a dance.

"I guess so," She nodded, letting go of Damian automatically and backing away slightly. Her face had a smile, but her eyes were a bit sad.

Karma always had to meddle, didn't she?

The boy was thinking that Iva really did have a cute smile, when Karma's voice broke through his thoughts. Iva had moved away, but not too far, it would take but a slight movement to reach out and hold her hand like he'd done earlier. Damian's own hand twitched, but remained at his side.

Damian shook his head, feeling a bit perplexed. He bit his lip a moment.

"No," he said, casting a look over at Iva. She was smiling, but her eyes seemed... sad. Or was he imagining that? Damian didn't know. "No, I don't mind."

Karma smiled and took Ian's hands, placing one on her waist and one on her shoulder, then putting her arms in the correct places, lead him in a dance that took them into the middle of dancers, hoping that they were out of Iva's view. "How are you, Ian? I haven't seen you since the train..." She adopted a worried look, frowning. "Are you alright?"

Iva walked over to a table, grabbing another "Punch" and staring into its depths.

"My favorite color is yellow." She whispered to the mass of people that blocked her veiw of the two. She didn't want to see anyway.

Downing the sugary drink, Iva found herself walking the snow fall from the vast ceiling.

"Yellow like a sunflower,"

Karma was a lot taller than Iva, Damian noted as he went through the process of dancing with a new partner.

"I'm alright," the boy replied. "I saw you, a few times, but you seemed busy, so I didn't want to bother you." He gave a small shrug. "I'm alright, though." Apart from the fact that he'd been in more trouble with his professors in general and his master in particular the last few months, of course.

"Y-you look very beautiful, tonight," Damian complimented after a long pause, face flushing red.

She smiled, looking him up and down. "You look nice too." She said, sighing wistfully. "Extremely nice. You should dress up more often." She smiled. "Have you been keeping out of trouble?" She met his eyes and searched them. "How have you been... I mean..."

She smirked self-mockingly. "Look at me, still talking of classes when we're at a dance." She spun around, fulling him flush against her body. "Let's talk of something else. What do you want to talk about, Ian?"

Damian blushed some more, laughing when Karma asked if he'd been staying out of trouble. He was about to remark, when she spun about - very elegantly - and pulled him against her.

This time, Damian's brain did short-circuit.

"I..." he squeaked. "That is - I don't know. Wh-what d-do you wanna talk about, K-Karma?"

Karma brought her hand to his face, caressing the blush there before leaning down so her mouth was level with his ear. "Nothing, Ian." She breathed. "I just wanted to dance." She admitted before stepping out of his arms. "There's the end of the song. Have a nice night." She said softly, lowering her lips to his cheek and kissing it sweetly. "See you around Ian." with that, she turned heel, a smirk playing across her lips as she walked across the dancefloor, throwing "Tell Iva I say hi." behind her before disappearing into the throng of dancers.

What...

was...

THAT?!?? Damian thought dazedly, a hand coming up to gently touch his cheek - which he was certain was burning. It felt like it was burning. It had to be burning.

The truth of the matter was that Damian had never been redder in his life - not by natural means, in any case. She had kissed him. Karma had kissed him. And he just stood there, mouth gaping slightly and blue eyes wide, right in the middle of the dance floor.

Through the twirling and talking and utter choas of the dance floor, Iva mangaed to see the simple touch between the two. Her forehead wrinkled with jealousy, but it wasn't until the kiss happened that she really felt-

Well, she wasn't sure how she felt. It was anger, sadness, longing, envy, and basically every other terrible emotion one could feel wrapped into a bundle.

And then she felt alone in the crowd. Alone, used, and a bit unclean.

Damian gave himself a shake, the hand on his cheek going from simply touching his face to scrubbing at it. Sidestepping a particularly hulking sixth year that almost stepped on him, the boy glanced about the hall for Iva, a frown claiming his own features. She looked... unhappy.

Making his way over to her, Damian gave her a smile. "I survived!" he said jokingly, tilting his head slightly as he peered into her face. "Hey, you okay?"

Iva took half of a step back, nodding. Her arms were wrapped around her body in a sort of embrace, but a smile slowly crepy onto her face.

"Yes," She said, her face a bit flat, "Perfectly fine."

She went to grab his hand, then decided not to. She couldn't live up to Karma, why even try?

"Did you have fun?" A slight accusation rose in her voice, but she shook it off, "I just talked to some people. It was nice."

Lies made everthing better/

Damian unconsciously scrubbed at his face again. "It was alright," he said. "Her shoes are really tall. I felt like a midget.

"That's good." The boy fidgeted for a bit. It seemed they had gone back to being awkward again.

"So..." His eyes lit up as inspiration struck him. "Oh, that's right! You were going to tell me your favorite color."

"I think you should go dance with Karma again,"

Iva looked surprised at herself, but didn't go back on what she had said. Her hands on her hips, she forced a smile.

"If you had fun, go find her again," She urged. "You will not have fun with me. I was going to go up soon anyway,"

Those were lies. Iva would have stay down here for days if he wanted her too and she would have done she best to have fun... but she couldn't be Karma.

"Go on,"

Damian stared at her for a moment, and then his brow furrowed until his expression was set in a scowl. "Didn't you just hear me say I felt like a midget?" he demanded, tone suggesting she was stupid. The boy felt a bit stung, though; weren't they having an alright time before? What was with the sudden rejection?

"You know what? Forget it!" Damian declared, giving his cheek another scrub. "I don't wanna stay at this stupid dance, anyway. You girls don't make any sense, at all!" He stepped around her, intent on leaving the hall and making his way to his dorm room to change into some normal clothes.

"W-well! W-well!" Iva's usual snarky comments couldn't find their way out through her clogged throat. A stinging filled her eyes and she willed herself to not cry.

"You s-seemed so happy with her!" She turned after him, her hands clenched, "She kissed you, yes?! I just wanted you to be happy and you yell at me! This is worse than at home,"

Tears smeared her make-up, Iva turned away, mumbling in Russian.

"You s-suck," She hiccupped. She started walking away from him.

She'd cry, but not here. Not in public. She had already caused a scene by shoating.

Damian whirled back on her, expression momentarily gobsmacked. "On the cheek! And you think I asked her to kiss me? Seems to me, you're just looking for an excuse to get rid of me!" He took a couple running steps and caught her by the arm as she started walking away.

"Yeah, yeah - I suck." The boy sneered a bit, "Not the first time I've been told that." He looked at her, blue eyes studying her face.

"Are you seriously mad at me for someone kissing me on the cheek?" Damian gave an incredulous huff. "Fine," he declared. Still holding her arm, the boy rose up on his toes a bit and brushed his lips against hers.

Pulling back almost immediately, Damian let go of her arm, eyes widening in surprise at his own action. Face, ears and neck burning crimson, he lifted his chin defiantly. "Well, sh-she didn't kiss me on the lips, now, did she?"

And spinning on his heel, he promptly made an exit, his mind rapidly going numb as he did so.

What?

What?

Did he just-?

He did.

Iva watched him walk away, her face filled with confusion and sorrow. Her arm slightly ached from where he held her, but she didn't really care. She was the one being silly here, not him. Her lips burned with an odd sensation- a mixture of repulsion for the touching of lips and a strange urge to do it again.

"Damian. Damian..!"

She tottered quickly after him, her heeled feet unused to running. She finally caught up to him, lacing her fingers into his hand. Her voice broke down to a murmur, the tears in her eyes gone.
"Please, I am sorry. I do not want to get rid of you." She stopped walking, hoping he would too. "I was being stupid. I suck, not you,"