Miaomiao held her chin high, looking less like a little fish and more like a proud kitten.
Damian's hand itched a little, just as it did when he saw Titus. He wanted to reach out and give her head a pat. Fortunately, Damian himself was an even prouder green-eyed cat, and the difference in their heights temporarily kept that strange impulse in check.
"I suppose your taste is passable." The haughty boy rubbed his fingertips over the game cartridge in his hand. His tense mouth unwittingly relaxed a little, and he awkwardly turned his face halfway away, muttering, "The gift... isn't bad."
Getting an "isn't bad" out of Damian was already remarkably high praise. Perfectly satisfied, Miaomiao turned around and took the second gift out of her bag-
A set of out-of-print books in near-perfect condition, meant for Jason.
Despite Red Hood's usual hair-trigger temper and the ferocity he brought to every fight, Jason actually loved reading more than anyone else in the Bat Family.
Perhaps it was because he had grown up in Crime Alley, where his family's circumstances had left him able to do nothing but watch other children go to school. Later, his parents had died, leaving him an orphan struggling every day just to survive. From the very beginning, Jason had longed to learn and read more than most people.
Even before Batman adopted him, he had collected scrap and old tires to trade for secondhand books, making him an oddity among the children of Crime Alley.
At a similar age, Damian would bargain with Batman over his duties as Robin, trying to get out of doing that "childish, useless homework" so he could spend more time on night patrol;
Jason, who seemed far more hotheaded and impatient, had instead been the sort of child who