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maribatserver · 1 month ago

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Pride June is upon us! With a whole new month of prompts ❤️ and today is Coming Out

@maribatserver

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When Marinette had insisted on moving halfway around the world to open a bar Adrien had been nonplussed and Chloé had sighed and started planning. It had seemed like a crazy idea, impossible to realise in the short time Marinette had been considering it, but between Chloé's know-how and Marinette's unwavering ability to plan her way through anything a suitable bar was found and purchased before the end of the month.

Looking around the dreary place, Adrien grimaced. He had broken up with Luka roughly a week before the idea was hatched and it hadn't been enough time for him to get over it. He wanted to chase after the teal haired man and beg him to take him back but he knew it wouldn't work. Luka hadn't seemed surprised when Adrien had suggested they no longer be a couple and had thanked Adrien for a wonderful relationship. It was the perfect break up and it had spawned many a drunken, tear-filled night where Marinette would hand him passionfruit macarons and stroke his hair.

“Americans like pool tables, right? We should put a couple over here in this corner,” Marinette was saying, eyeing the grimy tables that had been left by the previous owner. “And I want to buy all new tables and seats, maybe refresh the actual bar while we're at it too. We can use some of the ACM funds for this, right?”

“It's literally our company, we'll just say we're branching out into hospitality,” Chloé shrugged. Taking over Gabriel's brand after he was outed as Hawkmoth had been a wild ride, but between Chloé and Marinette's money and Adrien's claim to the business they had no opposition in taking control. “Besides, we can turn one of the offices out back into an international branch of the company. And we can look at buying another building when we've been here long enough.”

“You're perfect, Chlo! When's Kagami coming to visit, or stay, you never told me what her plans were,” Marinette asked as she pulled out her sketchbook and started designing a new floorplan.

“Why, planning to steal her away?” Chloé snarked, making Adrien pause and turn to look at them both. Marinette was giggling, a smirk playing at the corners of her mouth while she drew.

“I mean, she was my friend first,” the tiny woman said mischievously. “And honestly I think I should get to kiss her once, just so I can live the dream. Not everyone gets a shot with their bi-awakening.”

“Wait, hold on, what?” Adrien asked, jaw dropping open. Marinette turned to him, brow furrowed as she gave him a confused look.

“Adri, you knew that Chloé and Kagami are dating, right?” She asked, apparently drawing the wrong conclusion as to what he was surprised about.

“Obviously I knew that, but since when are you bi? And why didn't you tell me?” He said, fighting not to pout at her. Because it wasn't about him, obviously, but the fact that she apparently hadn't felt comfortable telling him was a major blow. Did he come across as the kind of guy who would think less of her because she liked both men and women?

“...you didn't know that Marinette ‘oh my god did you see Kor'i Anders' biceps in last month's issue’ Dupain-Cheng was just a smidge hella gay?” Chloé asked, voice coloured with amusement. When Adrien spluttered, she gave a sigh and shook her head fondly. “Adrikins, I adore you, but what the hell.”

“Wait, what about Claire?” Marinette interrupted, looking at Adrien with utter confusion. When he just looked back at her with dawning realisation, she started giggling uncontrollably. “Adri, I lived with her for a whole year.”

“I just thought you were roommates!”

If there was ever a sentence he regretted, it was that one. He would go back and relive the hundreds of hours over performing his apparent love for Ladybug if he could just undo that one, horrendous mistake. Unfortunately, Bunnyx didn't appear to offer such a luxury.

“J-just gals, being p-pals,” Marinette gasped when her laughter finally subsided enough that she could speak. Adrien flushed bright red as Chloé wheezed against the bar, her hands braced as though for impact.

While it was a relief that she hadn't kept it from him because she was afraid he would think less of her, he was thoroughly embarrassed that he really was as oblivious as Nino always said.

_ _ _

It had taken far too long for the two women to calm down, their laughter echoed by the group chat they'd all shared since collége. Because even more mortifying than his assumption that Claire and Marinette had been a very close, platonic relationship was Nino's admittance that Adrien hadn't noticed his raging crush on Chat Noir.

It had been the final straw for his dignity and he was going to be screaming into a pillow that evening when they got back to their four bed town house. Until then he endured the teasing comments and Chloé and Marinette's inability to look him in the face. Which…okay, he could see why they were laughing so hard. It was like if they'd thought Luka was just a super close friend even though it was obviously more.

He'd live it down…eventually. But maybe not for a while, and he had no way out of it. Chloé and Marinette would tease him relentlessly, then Marinette would do something silly and they'd move on to her. Maybe whoever she chose to pursue next would be funny, Adrien really should put a bet on who she might grab the attention of.

He felt less like screaming when they finally made it home, the manual labour they'd all done by way of tearing out old booths and rotten wood leaving him tired and happy. Marinette and Chloé were also too exhausted to keep teasing him relentlessly which made things even easier.

They'd set up their home the week before and he collapsed onto the exceedingly comfortable couch in their living room with a groan. Chloé was ordering food and Marinette was preparing snacks for their Kwami before she shut down for the night.

Over Chinese food, they chatted about the changes to the bar and argued over a name for it, in good spirits. After all, it was hardly as though it really mattered in the grand scheme of things and Adrien was just excited that they were trying something new.

When they were full of takeout and the exhaustion had crept past his usual threshold for needing to be in bed he let his eyes drift closed and smiled when Marinette slumped against him, snoring loudly. He was excited for this new adventure and thrilled that two of his closest friends would be there with him.

#maribat #mlb x dc #maribat pride #pride #dc x mlb #maribat event #member fic

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maribatserver · 1 month ago

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PRIDE Month is upon us! Hope you all get some fun ideas from this Prompt Playlist!

PRIDE Month Prompt List

It's almost time for PRIDE Month, and this year we're celebrating with month long Playlist Prompt List, just for you! With many thanks to @newdog14, who was was half-jokingly asked to make an event playlist and created a month long list of prompts before anyone could tell her it was intended as just a companion piece for a week of prompts. Fortunately, those prompts hadn't been written yet, so no work was wasted.

Each of our prompts is a song lyric, though you can totally ignore the rest of the song if your idea doesn't match up to it. Or, if there's another lyric from the song you'd like to use, feel free to substitute another line for that day. No matter what, we hope you enjoy creating something new to celebrate PRIDE!

Prompts and Track list are under the cut.

You can also enjoy this Playlist on YouTube!

Prompt List:

I'm coming Out - I'm Coming Out by Diana Ross

You live in the dark - MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name) by Lil Nas X

The universe must have divined this - Boyfriend by Dove Cameron

I wanna boy who isn't anything like me - I Wanna Boi by PWR BTTM

You're so mean when you talk about yourself - F**kin' Perfect by P!nk

I was certain I would never find this - asexual love lullaby by Izzie Burton

Strawberry lipgloss - She Likes a Boy by Nxdia

Do you want his number? - In the Middle by dodie

Looking up at the stars - Good Guys by MIKA

If you give a damn - Take Me or Leave Me from RENT, performed by Idina Menzel & Tracie Thoms

I don't know if I should go through with this - Papi by Todrick Hall, Nicole Scherzinger

Between a rock and "why bother?" - They / Them / Theirs by Worriers

You're gonna get the punishment we deserve - Off with His Shirt from Galavant, performed by Kylie Minogue & Cast of Galavant

Right in front of me - I Found by Amber Run

Don't you know I'm human too? - RUDE covered by Walk off the Earth

Put on false confidence just to feel alive - Little Game by Benny

Why can't I just make a move? - Why Didn't I Kiss Her (The Useless Lesbian Song) by Ratwyfe

I'm not missing someone that I've never met - Never Been In Love by Will Jay

In New York, you can try things - Naked In Manhattan by Chappell Roan

Where all the boys at with emotional stability? - GUY.exe by Superfruit

I'ma take your girl out - Girls Like Girls by Hayley Kiyoko

Don't hide yourself in regret - Born This Way by Lady Gaga

But how could I hate her? - Heather by Conan Gray

Too hard to resist - girls by girl in red

It just suits me - Gender Binary (Fuck You) by Ryan Cassata

I'm so tired of being exhausted - Strawberry Blonde by chloe moriondo

I won't say goodnight - All-American Boy by Steve Grand

Making yourself up as you go along - True Trans Soul Rebel by Against Me!

Lover boy - Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy by Queen

If I had a dime for every crush - Boy Bi by Mad Tsai

#maribat pride #pride #maribat #mlb x dc #maribat event #music prompts #pride prompts #pride month #dc x mlb

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maribatserver · 1 month ago

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Tag Team Tournament 2025

It's everyone's favorite time of year: Tag Team Tournament Hype Season! This year the Tag Team Tournament will take place from Sunday, July 27th - Saturday, August 2nd, so make sure to save the date and get started on your projects early!

Now as always, check out our Event Guide for the full rules and guidelines for submissions. We're not changing anything this year, but a refresher is always a good idea. Well, we're not changing the rules this year. We are making a BIG change to our line up.

After a tragic case of being in dead last place, our Mod Team made the decision to take Spandex Flex out of the running. In their place, we welcome back Pretty Punk, since our sever members declared Konette to be the best Super Fam ship during our super April Fool's Day fun.

This year, our 8 teams are:

Seamless Spin - Cassandra Cain x Marinette Dupain-Cheng

3's Company - Any Poly Ship

Rare Flair - Any Ship Without A Team

Lucky Shot - Roy Harper x Marinette Dupain-Cheng

Art Couple - Damian Wayne x Marinette Dupain-Cheng

Java Junkies - Tim Drake x Marinette Dupain-Cheng

Book Design - Jason Todd x Marinette Dupain-Cheng

Pretty Punk - Conner 'Kon-El' Kent x Marinette Dupain-Cheng

We are super excited for this year's Tag Team Tournament, and we hope that you're excited too! To help you get in the creative spirit, and to hopefully inspire you with ideas, @newdog14 assembled playlists for different genres of stories to help inspire you. There are also ship playlists which were made last year, and a Pretty Punk playlist coming next week. The genre playlists will be going up real soon too, as chosen by our server members. If you'd like to join in on that vote, send us an ask for an invite!

Speaking of things our server members voted on, we'll be releasing our prompt list early again this year, so make sure you check the blog each week to see if those have gone up with a playlist.

Many thanks to @newdog14, @nottesilhouette, and @izanae for their hard work in preparing this event. From brainstorming prompts to designing team logos to coding spreadsheets to suffering through the weirdest music videos ever, there's a lot of work that goes into an event this big! And thank you to everyone who has participated in this event, and to those who plan to participate this year. We could never pull this off without you!

#maribat #mlb x dc #maribat server #maribat event #ttt2025 #dc x mlb #maribat discord server

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maribatserver · 3 months ago

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PRIDE Month Prompt List

Prompts and Track list are under the cut.

You can also enjoy this Playlist on YouTube!

Prompt List:

I'm coming Out - I'm Coming Out by Diana Ross

You live in the dark - MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name) by Lil Nas X

The universe must have divined this - Boyfriend by Dove Cameron

I wanna boy who isn't anything like me - I Wanna Boi by PWR BTTM

You're so mean when you talk about yourself - F**kin' Perfect by P!nk

I was certain I would never find this - asexual love lullaby by Izzie Burton

Strawberry lipgloss - She Likes a Boy by Nxdia

Do you want his number? - In the Middle by dodie

Looking up at the stars - Good Guys by MIKA

If you give a damn - Take Me or Leave Me from RENT, performed by Idina Menzel & Tracie Thoms

I don't know if I should go through with this - Papi by Todrick Hall, Nicole Scherzinger

Between a rock and "why bother?" - They / Them / Theirs by Worriers

You're gonna get the punishment we deserve - Off with His Shirt from Galavant, performed by Kylie Minogue & Cast of Galavant

Right in front of me - I Found by Amber Run

Don't you know I'm human too? - RUDE covered by Walk off the Earth

Put on false confidence just to feel alive - Little Game by Benny

Why can't I just make a move? - Why Didn't I Kiss Her (The Useless Lesbian Song) by Ratwyfe

I'm not missing someone that I've never met - Never Been In Love by Will Jay

In New York, you can try things - Naked In Manhattan by Chappell Roan

Where all the boys at with emotional stability? - GUY.exe by Superfruit

I'ma take your girl out - Girls Like Girls by Hayley Kiyoko

Don't hide yourself in regret - Born This Way by Lady Gaga

But how could I hate her? - Heather by Conan Gray

Too hard to resist - girls by girl in red

It just suits me - Gender Binary (Fuck You) by Ryan Cassata

I'm so tired of being exhausted - Strawberry Blonde by chloe moriondo

I won't say goodnight - All-American Boy by Steve Grand

Making yourself up as you go along - True Trans Soul Rebel by Against Me!

Lover boy - Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy by Queen

If I had a dime for every crush - Boy Bi by Mad Tsai

#maribat pride #pride #maribat #mlb x dc #maribat event #music prompts #pride prompts #pride month #dc x mlb

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maribatserver · 3 months ago

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The Super-Rebranding!

After careful consideration, the Mods have decided: Fuck Batman. We will no longer be supporting content about emotionally constipated goths or emo crime lords or angsty acrobats. Instead, we'll be focusing on a SUPER new set of characters!

Goodbye Gotham, hello Metropolis!

We're so excited for sunshine, beacons of hope, hard hitting journalism, and punching a billionaire in the face. The Super-Fam has everything you could ever need, from radical 90's punk to gay sunshine child to badass women who are SO good at their jobs. Not to mention good old fashioned home made apple pie.

So join us as we join Clark, Lois, Jimmy, Kon, Jon, Kara, Paige, and naturally Krypto for a new chapter of DC x MLB Crossovers!

Oh, and don't forget to start planning for SuperMari May, which is our new favorite event.

#mlb x dc #dc x mlb #supermari #maribat #maribat server #maribat discord server #april fools

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maribatserver · 4 months ago

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Day 1 of Maribat March! Sleepless Nights

@maribatserver

“No no no no no! Oh come on, that can't be a legal move!”

“Bite me, I don't cheat,” Marinette said indignantly, whooping when she landed another combo that decimated Tim's remaining health. “Boo-yah, that's what you get.”

Tim groaned and threw the controller down as he pouted. Marinette smirked smugly and did a little dance, getting up to grab a drink from the kitchen. She grabbed a second energy drink for Tim, knowing he would be happy to have it even if he didn't need it. But, to be honest, he probably needed it.

“I have no idea why I never win. It doesn't seem to matter how much I practice, you're just unbeatable.”

“I mean, Cyborg's never beaten me either,” Marinette shrugged, handing him the drink. He accepted and popped the top, draining it in one go. Then he seemed to register what she said and squinted at her.

“What do you mean? He literally has a supercomputer enhancing his brain, as well as a robot arm with lightning reflexes. He must have put up a better fight than that.”

“I didn't say he wasn't a challenge, I just said he can't beat me,” Marinette retorted, as if that wasn't still insane. Which she did know, but she'd been playing the game for years and refused to allow anyone to beat her. “But if you're bored of getting your ass kicked, we should probably work on that case.”

“Ugh, I hate that case,” Tim muttered, looking at the time and groaning. “It's already 2am and it's been three days since we got this case - when am I supposed to be getting rest?”

“Maybe we shouldn't have played…” Marinette said guiltily, chewing her lip. It had just been such a difficult case that she'd needed a break and the game system had been neglected for a few days.

“If it's a choice between giving myself a break by gaming or sleeping, I definitely choose getting my ass handed to me in combat,” Tim said resolutely, grinning at her. She smiled back at him, relieved that he felt the same. Not that it was surprising, they had become fast friends when he had appeared in Paris looking for answers about his mentor who had gotten lost in the time stream.

“Yeah, and now that we've given our brains a break, we can make some headway on this freaking thing,” she said, downing the last of her own drink.

Sadly, several hours later they were still no closer to finding answers and Marinette glared at the rising sun. Tim's alarm started going off and he slumped in his seat before getting up to get ready for work. Marinette checked her phone and cursed as she realised she had a meeting with Jagged for his next commission piece.

She was beyond grateful when she arrived in the kitchen to find that Alfred had already started the coffee for them both. She greeted the feral child that Tim lived with, asking him if he'd managed to refrain from stabbing anyone last night. He had sarcastically replied that just because he wasn't suited up, didn't mean she wouldn't be next.

Tim came in at the tail end of the threat but Marinette laughed it off, saying that Damian could try if he wanted. It was a running joke between the pair of them and Marinette was sure he would never stab her in a way that would impact her permanently. A light stabbing, if you will, instead of a maiming.

It was an average morning, really, for whenever she stayed at Wayne Manor and she was pretty sure she was going to end up napping after her meeting. She just hoped that they got a break in the case soon, because Tim probably needed the rest more than he was letting on.

_ _ _

When Marinette arrived at Wayne Enterprises in the late afternoon, she ran into Bruce (literally) and almost spilled coffee all over him. She shouted an apology as she zipped off, determined to get said coffee to Tim before he completely crashed.

They'd been messaging between appointments all day and his most recent ones had merely been a string of emojis that let her know he was flagging. She hardly slowed down to shout hello to Tam as she flew into Tim's office and presented him with the mug.

“You're a godsend,” Tim said when he registered what was happening, immediately drinking half of the cup’s scalding contents. She laughed and dropped onto his office sofa, sipping her own beverage at a more sedate pace. “Wow, you went all in on this one, huh. How many shots of espresso are in this?”

“I actually bought three different drinks and put them together because they wouldn't let me put more than four per,” Marinette replied, sipping her own unholy abomination. “But mine has six shots of vanilla syrup too. I didn't think you'd care all that much about taste right now.”

He laughed but didn't disagree, downing the last of the drink.

_ _ _

Tim and Marinette were beyond exhausted when they went back to the manor. Luckily Alfred was driving them because Marinette was drifting to sleep on Tim's shoulder while he had his head buried in more case files. He tried not to move too much and Alfred kept the car steady so it didn't take much.

When they arrived at the manor Marinette woke with a start and groaned. Her hand flew up to her neck and Tim empathised - falling asleep in cars always gave him a crick in the neck too. She dragged herself out of the car and glared at the steps leading to the manor proper.

“I think we should take a break from the case tonight,” she said begrudgingly once they were seated at the dining table. They'd both agreed it would be too much effort to get settled somewhere else just to come back for dinner so he had set up his laptop ready to go, just for her to say that.

“I mean, we definitely shouldn't stay up all night on it again,” he said as he fought back a yawn. “Maybe we can work on it until dinner? And then call it a day.”

Marinette grumbled but moved closer to make notes with him. They were both mildly embarrassed when Bruce had to wake them for dinner.

Part 2

#maribat #mlb x dc #maribat march 2025 #maribat march #member fic

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maribatserver · 4 months ago

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Day 2 of Maribat March is Mistaken Identity

@maribatserver

It had started as a silly joke tweet. Or, rather, it had started as an in-joke between the four of them that snowballed onto the internet.

Marinette had paid for the four of them to go on a sightseeing trip, planning to hit different cities for each of their interests. New York for Marinette's love of fashion, Central City for STAR labs for Adrien, Los Angeles for Nino and his love of cinema and for Alya…well, that was where the problem started. Alya's most fervent wish was to see the cities that housed the most famous heroes of all: Superman and Batman.

By some miracle, Marinette had agreed, even though they would be traveling with Plagg, the embodiment of chaos and bad luck. She had, of course, started researching immediately and had a sit down briefing on what they were to expect while they were in Gotham. She covered all of the basic rogues and dangerous parts of the city before moving on to fun things they could do.

And then she'd shown pictures of the Wayne family and Adrien had done a double take. The first two were nearly identical in features, black hair, blue eyes, cocky grin. The second one had a white streak in his hair but otherwise…When she got to Tim Drake, Adrien couldn't help himself.

“Maribug, have you noticed any similarities between yourself and the Waynes?” He asked, trying not to giggle. She had frowned at him for interrupting her presentation but then Nino had laughed as well and Alya had started joking that they needed to watch out or Marinette was going to end up adopted by the billionaire. Marinette had glared at them all and flatly told them they would be visiting Gotham first.

And from there, they had kept joking all the way up until they left for the trip. And Adrien hadn't been able to resist tweeting something silly about how they were going to America to meet Marinette's new family. He'd made sure to post it from his personal account, not his public one, and it had blown up in their friend group.

The problem? Jagged had decided it was hilarious too and screenshot it to share himself. And suddenly it wasn't just an in-joke. No, suddenly they were being whispered about and people were staring at Marinette wherever they went in Gotham.

It was still kind of funny, and Adrien kept ribbing her over it - until Red Hood appeared and kidnapped her. Then it was kind of terrifying. She'd been a little ways away from the group and he had just plucked her up and driven her away in a van.

The trio left behind panicked for several minutes before haring after the van and using their kwamis to track it. And when they traced it all to an abandoned warehouse in the sketchier part of town, they debated suiting up for the rescue. They finally decided against it and crawled through a high up window to get an idea of how to help Marinette.

She was tied to a chair, hands strapped to her sides, though Adrien thought he could see her working the knots. He gripped the long broom handle he had found and tried to think of a new plan for how they could get her away. Nino and Alya were having a quiet argument beside him that he finally tuned into.

“I'm just saying maybe we should have come in here with more of a plan than just ‘hit them til they give her back’,” Alya hissed, holding onto a short piece of pipe. Adrien huffed indignantly but didn't argue. Seeing Marinette being held by the infamous Red Hood was definitely scarier than anything he thought would happen to them all during their trip.

“Well we didn't, so we might as well work with what we have,” Nino said in a low, reasonable tone. He had the lid to a dustbin in hand and the determination in his eyes that said he would use it. “He doesn't seem to be interested in hurting her, probably just wants money from the Waynes. Can we all just agree that we're going to stop teasing her online about being an honorary Wayne?”

“Agreed,” Adrien said fervently. He had never meant for it to go this far and now all he wanted was to take his best friend/sister home. He was about to jump in and grab Marinette - truly, a bulletproof plan, how could it go wrong? - when someone else swung in through a window up high and made them all duck.

“Hood, have you lost what little is left of your mind?” Robin sneered, landing between Marinette and the crime lord. Adrien tensed further when Marinette twitched her hand towards a pocket he knew had her mace in.

“Sup brat, just welcoming her to the family,” Red Hood said easily, removing his helmet in spite of the hissed protests of the vigilante. Adrien had the sinking feeling things were going to go badly when Marinette paused and stared at the man behind the helmet.

“Monsieur, I would appreciate it if you would put your helmet back on,” Marinette said after a moment, her voice hardly wavering. “Because I am fairly certain I recognise you and I do not wish to.”

Adrien watched as Red Hood froze and looked at Robin questioningly. Apparently whatever he communicated made the larger man nervous because he swore and hastily jammed his helmet back on over his head. Robin gave a deep sigh and turned to free Marinette, only to stop and look at her in surprise when he saw that her bindings had already been dealt with.

When he would analyse this moment later, Adrien would say that the reason he fell from the rafters was because he had gone weak with relief that Marinette was safe. He would vehemently deny that he had been trying to elbow Nino to check out the way Robin had been openly eyeing their friend. No siree.

Red Hood turned towards him so fast he didn't see when he pulled out the gun. Marinette squealed and threw herself in front of Adrien, blocking his view. Adrien winced and got himself into a more respectable position as Marinette glared at Red Hood.

“Put that down, or we will be having a very different conversation,” she snapped, and Adrien could just imagine the anger on her face. Very few things pissed her off as quickly as people threatening her friends.

“You sure you're not joining the family?” Hood asked after lowering the gun. Robin barked out a laugh and stepped towards the pair on the floor.

“Tt, Hood you should leave now. I shall ensure there are no further problems from your actions today,” the vigilante said, not bothering to look at the man as he observed Marinette. He waited until Red Hood was gone before continuing. “Perhaps your friends above us would like to join the conversation.”

_ _ _

On their last night in Gotham, Marinette vanished again. She did leave a note that said she was out with a friend but it still left the other three anxious. Adrien had tried to quell the rumours about Marinette being a Wayne but it was far too late and he'd just had to settle for feeling horribly guilty. He'd even messaged Luka to ask him to add pressure to Jagged to explain that the original tweet had been a joke, but he hadn't had a response yet.

She had taken her phone and replied to the first few texts, leaving her location on so they could keep track of where she was. Plus, she'd taken Tikki so there was very little out there she couldn't handle if push came to shove. It still didn't make him feel less anxious.

Alya and Nino went to bed early but Adrien stayed up waiting for Marinette to get back, biting his fingernails and annoying Plagg. He refreshed the tracker constantly and was slightly alarmed and very confused when she showed to be at Wayne Enterprises. He wondered on and off if she was meeting with them to prevent PR issues.

He was drifting off in the armchair when he heard a thump outside the window, followed by a murmured voice and a shush. The low voice said something back to the shusher that made them laugh but then the laugh cut off abruptly and was replaced by…another sound.

Adrien swung open the curtains to the balcony and was met by the sight of Marinette and the youngest Gotham vigilante. Making out. The sudden light made them pull apart, Marinette flushing and Robin scowling. He also had a hand on the katana he was famous for although Marinette tiptoed to whisper something in his ear and he released it.

Adrien watched with raised eyebrows as Robin pulled his best friend into one last kiss before grappling away. Marinette watched him out of sight before visibly sighing and coming inside.

“So…” Adrien said with a smirk. Marinette shot him a look that was severely undercut by windswept hair and bruised lips. He laughed and prepared to interrogate her.

Part 2

#maribat #adribat #mlb x dc #maribat march 2025 #maribat march #member fic

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maribatserver · 4 months ago

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Day 3 of Maribat March sees Castaway!

@maribatserver

Marinette's life was hard. She knew that, Alya knew that, her parents had a vague idea of it…it was just hard. But she was doing it, getting through the day to day, and winning, so she didn't complain too much.

But that didn't mean she didn't curse colourfully when the magical barrier that had been put into effect to keep people out of Paris parted and something came hurtling down like a meteor. She stopped cursing just long enough to transform and throw herself after it.

She put on an extra burst of speed as she got closer, swearing even more as she realised it was a person. She didn't know if she was going to make it. The person was brightly dressed so it wasn't like he was difficult to see in the night sky, but she just didn't know if she had enough speed to get there.

She cried out with relief as she intercepted the boy, arms wrapping tight around him as she swung them away. She landed heavily on a flat rooftop, dropping the boy accidentally as she did. She recovered quickly and went to roll him onto his back, hoping he was still breathing at least.

She hesitated once she could see his clothes - a mixture of colours, red, green and yellow - because she recognised them. But what was Robin, protector of Gotham, apprentice to Batman, doing in Paris? And how did he get through the barrier?

She had a million questions but as he was still unconscious decided to set them aside. For now, she needed to work out what to do with him…

_ _ _

The last thing Damian remembered was Jon cursing that he was getting too bulky to be carried like this before something careened towards them. Then he was plummeting through the air, catching glimpses of his best friend grappling with something.

There was a slight pressure as he fell further and it forced the air from his lungs until he knew no more.

When he finally returned to consciousness he was no longer plummeting. In fact, he was covered in a thick blanket that smelled like…fresh bread? He forced grainy eyes open and squinted against the sudden light. There was a thrumming noise and he turned his head towards it, wincing at the motion.

He was in a pink attic and there was a girl sitting at a sewing machine, creating the background noise. She was humming lightly and he blinked at the relaxedness. It was…not what he was used to. And it made him very suspicious.

“Awake at last I see,” she said, stilling her foot and adjusting what she was working on.

“Yes,” he said, a touch uncertainly. He sat up slowly but didn't say anything else.

“You talk in your sleep, by the way,” she said offhandedly. She had her back to him as she stitched her piece so she didn't see the way he stiffened. “Who's Jonathan? And why are you so mad at him?”

“Tt, do not be ridiculous, I've never spoken in my sleep before,” he said sharply, trying to ignore the fact that she wouldn't know the name otherwise. She stopped what she was doing to turn and give him a look.

“You've probably never fallen through a magical barrier before either, but here you are,” she said drily, rolling her eyes when he huffed. “Listen, I know you just woke up in a strange room and with a probably strange girl watching over you, but lying isn't going to help you get home.”

“I don't know where I am, how am I supposed to get home?” He demanded, shoving the blankets off of himself and standing. She raised her eyebrows at him but stayed seated as he glared down at her. “And nothing I said was a lie, I do not talk in my sleep.”

“Sure, whatever,” she said, turning away from him to resume her sewing. It was infuriating but there was very little he could do until he had some way to contact the League and this girl was currently his best chance. “You're in Paris, France. And unless you secretly have magic that didn't manifest to save you, I'm going to say you're stuck here.”

“Paris. The city that has been off limits for the past three months to the rest of the world because of a supervillain. I thought there was no way to circumvent the measures your heroes have taken to secure the city against outside interference.”

“So you see why you being here is really confusing,” she said, shrugging. “Regardless, you're already here and there's nothing I can do to change that. We're going to have to go through some rules now that you're awake though.”

“You wish to impose rules upon me,” he said flatly, already planning to steal her phone as soon as he got the chance so he could contact his father.

“Look, Robin,” she hissed, spinning around again. Her eyes were narrowed and mouth twisted into a scowl which made him bristle. The fact that she knew his identity and had seen his face was something he had known in the back of his mind but it was jarring to have her throw it in his face. “You're not supposed to be here. Ladybug and Chat Noir have made it clear as day that the Justice League will only cause problems if they interfere. I, for one, don't want you being here to make them lose.”

“I would never interfere with another hero's jurisdiction,” he said stiffly, pulling on the irritation he was feeling to level a glare worthy of his father. She didn't flinch.

“Do you have any idea of what we're all facing here in Paris? It doesn't matter if you ‘would never’,” she spat, fingers coming up to give air quotes. He snarled in response almost automatically. He didn't play well with other heroes a lot of the time but a sarcastic civilian? “Mind your manners, I didn't have to give you shelter.”

“Then why did you?” He demanded, refusing to back down.

“Because Ladybug requested it,” she said quietly, eyes burning as she stared at him. “And she's in charge of these things. Besides, I wasn't here when she asked my parents to take you in.”

“Why would she choose you?”

“I'm something of a civilian aide,” she shrugged, turning back around to continue stitching. “My name's Marinette, by the way. I figure you don't care but at least you can't say I didn't tell you.”

After that she resolutely ignored him, only stopping working when her parents called them down for dinner.

_ _ _

Over the next couple of weeks, Marinette slowly got used to having Robin around. He never gave her his name, allowing her to call him by his hero one whenever she bothered to speak with him. Her parents mostly left her in charge of making sure he had everything he needed, so she worked hard to be civil.

She also didn't want to pass up the chance to have one of the world's greatest detectives work on the problem. She bluffed her way through everything by saying Ladybug left her notes and things at Marinette's so that if her civilian side was ever investigated she wouldn't have anything incriminating.

But apparently Robin was struggling with only her notes to go off because when she came home one day he was swearing at the notes. She asked him if it was going well, but realised her dry humour wasn't a good fit for his mood.

“It’s rather difficult to do detective work when you're not allowed to go outside,” he snapped, throwing her notebook at the chaise. She waited, arms crossed, for him to finish his tantrum. “How long am I to be trapped indoors, prohibited from doing anything meaningful? Anything useful? I want to return home.”

“You think I want you here? Please, by all means, leave the city. Find your way out because that would be fantastic, I just hope the barrier doesn't try to fry you for daring. Hell, you fell through it once, maybe I should just hurl you back at it and hope it lets you out. Of course then you'd be out of my purview to save you but never mind, at least I would be rid of you!”

They were harsh words but she was just as frustrated by this arrangement as he was. But neither of them had a choice, he couldn't stay anywhere else and she was duty bound to keep him safe until she could send him back to Gotham.

She let her anger simmer for another few seconds before deliberately taking deep breaths and clearing her mind. The last thing they needed to happen was for her to get akumatised. She watched as he worked out what she was doing and followed suit, eyes closing. She was sure it grated on him that she was the first one to attempt to master herself and that smug feeling helped push back the last of her rage.

“Look, I get that you're sick of being trapped inside. I would be too,” she said softly crossing her arms and looking anywhere but at him. “But right now it's too likely that someone will put the dots together and realise you were the thing that fell out of the sky. You will get time to go out, but you can't right now.”

He stayed silent, though his scowl lessened to a frown. She hoped he was at least considering her point because if tensions stayed at the rate they were one of them was getting akumatised. She almost sighed aloud with relief when he nodded sharply.

“The sooner the moth person is captured, the sooner I may return home. I will redouble my efforts with Ladybug's notes but I will ask you questions regarding your own experiences with Hawkmoth, if that is acceptable to you.”

Marinette gave him a tentative smile.

_ _ _

After two weeks of sifting through Marinette's notes, Damian was no closer to finding the new Hawkmoth. He knew who the previous Hawkmoth had been - Ladybug had been quite clear that, although she had originally told everyone that Gabriel Agreste was a hero, she had come clean with her team who had been responsible. But he wasn't sure if there was a link to be found in these notes.

“Marinette,” he said cautiously, turning to face her. They'd become much more cordial to each other since their argument about detective work and he found he didn't hate her quite as intensely. He still didn't like her - he found her rambling and inability to maintain focus tedious - but he managed to get through most days by reminding himself that it was only a matter of time before he was able to return home.

“What's up, Rob?” She asked, not even looking up. That was another thing she did, shortening his title as if they were friends. He told her he disliked it as soon as she had done it the first time and the sharp smile told him he had handed her a prize.

“I have read your notes several times and found nothing that would link anyone to the previous Hawkmoth. I find it unlikely that there would be no links whatsoever and would like to pick your brain if I may.”

She paused in whatever she was writing (probably homework) and turned to look him over. He remained passive but raised an eyebrow at her and waited until she nodded.

“There is mention of two people who were known to actively work with the previous Hawkmoth. I would like to know more about both Chloé Bourgeois and Lila Rossi.”

The conversation that followed both impressed him and made him think less of Marinette. Finding out that she had allowed herself to be targeted by Rossi and Bourgeois made him wonder why there was no record of her akuma. When he voiced the concern that the information was incomplete at the end of her explanation she flushed and turned back to her homework. He was beginning to realise that she struggled to maintain eye contact when she felt overwhelmed which was a severe flaw.

“Well that's because I've never been successfully akumatised,” she said softly. He scoffed quietly, which apparently raised her hackles because she turned and looked at him sharply. “I haven't. There have been some close calls but…I've never been an actual akuma. If I had been, things would be very different.”

“If you insist,” he said, trying to keep the scepticism in his voice minimal. Arguing with her was a waste of his time and he had no intention of losing valuable time right then. “So…Rossi was confirmed as being a willing pawn of Hawkmoth but you have no idea where she vanished to?”

“Yeah, that's about it.”

“And you haven't attempted to track her down? That seems…short sighted of you.”

“Who said I didn't try?” She said, arching a brow and just staring at him. “I'm sure this comes as a surprise but I'm just a normal kid, trying to live as normal a life as possible while being under threat from a terrorist. That doesn't really give me the skills or tools I need to chase down wayward bullies.”

“If only there had been a team of detectives that wished to assist,” Damian said, deadpan. He took absurd pleasure in seeing her get angry and had to fight to keep the smirk off his face.

“Alright, you know what-”

“Marinette! Alya is here to see you,” called Sabine, and Damian saw the panic that flashed across Marinette's face. In spite of wanting to see her flounder, he didn't really want to give Hawkmoth 2.0 the edge of akumatising Marinette.

He was headed for the room that had been given to him for the time being when he ran into the redheaded girl. She blinked in surprise when she saw him but he merely nodded sharply and pushed past her quickly. So far he had been successful in dodging guests but he supposed that wasn't really possible the longer he stayed.

Marinette jumped when Alya came in far earlier than she had anticipated, wondering if her best friend had run into Robin on her way. She didn't have to wonder for long.

“Girl, who the heck was that? Did you get a hot boyfriend and forget to tell me?” The tone was joking but her eyes were sharp.

“Uh, no,” Marinette said with an eye roll. “Rob's staying with us because he can't stay with his family right now. I can't tell you much though, because his family don't know where he is and it's just safer like this.”

She refused to elaborate further, much to Alya's obvious disappointment.

_ _ _

The week after Alya had run into Damian, Marinette offered an olive branch in the form of a gaming afternoon. He wasn't sure why he accepted but decided it must have been because he had been stuck inside for long enough that he had lost his sense.

She had seemed so excited when he accepted that he had even briefly thought that it was endearing. That disturbed him more than anything else and he hoped that this break would give him renewed enthusiasm for the case. But for now he helped her arrange a fort to game in.

When she headed downstairs for ‘gaming fuel’ he settled onto one of the cushions she had laid out, fiddling with a controller. He was engrossed with choosing a character when someone dropped onto Marinette's bed. Instantly he was on his feet, planning to face the intruder but pulled up short.

“Hey, Mari, if you've got a quick sec I need to talk to you about Luka,” the hero clad in black, Chat Noir, shouted down into the room. He bounced down the ladder and paused, frowning, when he spotted Damian. “You're not Marinette.”

“Obviously not,” he retorted, glancing at the open skylight. He knew Marinette was acquainted with the heroes but to have them visiting in broad daylight seemed unnecessarily risky. “I assumed Ladybug had made you aware of my presence in the Dupain-Cheng residence…?”

“What does Ladybug have to do with any of this?” Chat asked, though it was more nervous than confused. Damian bit back a sigh at how bad these heroes were at lying and obfuscating information. He was about to say something back when the trapdoor opened and Marinette came up again.

“Okay, I have the snacks ready and Maman says we won't be needed in the baker- Chat? What're you doing here?” She glanced at Damian as if it was his fault rather than her open window.

“I came to check in with my favourite Princess,” Chat replied slowly, ruffling his hair. “But then I found someone else in your room and-”

“Oh, this is just Rob,” Marinette said hastily, pasting a smile on her face that even Damian could tell was forced. “He's, um, a family friend. Just staying here for a little while because of…family issues.”

“Oh, right, sure,” Chat said flatly, eyes narrowing. “So why did he assume Ladybug had told me he was here?”

Marinette groaned and glared at Damian again, her lips puckered in a pout. He frowned back at her, not understanding what he had supposedly done wrong. He said as much which only caused her to glare more.

“Because his being here was a secret,” she grumbled eventually, sighing and dropping onto one of the floor cushions. She turned and directed her next sentence at Damian. “Anyone knowing you're here could lead to people asking questions and that's not really something we want, is it?”

“But Chat Noir is part of Ladybug's team, is he not?” Damian wasn't sure he believed that Ladybug would tell Marinette everything about him but not her team. Chat Noir looked inclined to agree but also looked at Marinette like he'd been wounded. “Regardless, now that he knows about my presence perhaps he can offer me assistance with Ladybug's notes as well.”

That sparked a whole new conversation as Chat Noir looked incredulously at Marinette while Damian launched into a brief overview of his understanding of the notes. When he had finished, Chat sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose through his mask.

“This is a conversation for Ladybug and me, I think,” he said after he was unable to add any additional information. “She should have told the whole team as soon as she asked you to investigate this. I get that it was kind of bizarre circumstances but you've been here for weeks now. Ladybug and I are meeting tomorrow anyway so we can hash this out then.”

Chat didn't stay, using his staff to propel him back through the skylight. Marinette sighed deeply before turning and smiling weakly at Damian.

“Right, so…which game do you want to get started on?”

_ _ _

It started with little things. Marinette would come back to her room after helping in the bakery to find Robin reading her notes quietly and it would make her pulse flutter. Or when she was cleaning up after dinner he would help, drying and stacking dishes before putting them away. Or the way he would turn on the coffee maker as soon as he heard her stumble around in her attic space.

She didn't want to admit to herself that she was catching feelings for someone so rude, someone who hated her. It was easy to pretend it was nothing when he sneered at her or rolled his eyes. But she woke up in her bed after falling asleep at her sewing machine far more often than she used to and she could only think of one thing that had changed.

Telling the rest of the team about her new houseguest took a lot of detail fudging. Chat had seen him without a mask, so she couldn't exactly tell them it was Robin. Thankfully the team understood that she was sharing what she could and trusted her judgement, so when she said she simply couldn't tell them they relented quite easily.

Chat seemed concerned that she didn't have much privacy given the guy was living in the apartment, but she assured him that ‘Rob’ gave her plenty of space. Unfortunately he was convinced that Marinette should have time away from the apartment to cut loose and enough of the other heroes agreed that soon they had set up a schedule of sleepovers to keep her out of the house.

Which was how she found herself at Alya's, having a long overdue chat about the boy Alya had run into at the Dupain-Cheng’s.

“I just can't believe some random guy got through the barrier,” Alya said in an undertone, trying not to be heard by her family. Ella and Etta were older now and much more likely to start mischief by eavesdropping. “Isn't that something we should be looking into? What if someone else gets through?”

“I'm pretty sure it's just him,” Marinette said soothingly, though she had wondered the same.

“It's probably because he's covered in Plagg and my energy signatures,” Tikki said offhandedly as she dove into a plate of cookies. When neither Marinette nor Alya said anything she resurfaced to look at the pair. “Did I not tell you that, Marinette?”

“Um, no? Though that could be because we never really get any time to chat because Rob is always around,” Marinette said, eyebrows high up on her forehead. “But it's good to know that it has a possible reason. It's been driving me a little mad to try and work out what happened to the barrier to let him through.”

“It must be strange, living with a stranger just to keep him safe,” Alya said thoughtfully. “And did you say he's been investigating where Lila disappeared to?”

“Yep! I'm hoping he has more luck than we have, though he's only able to work off the notes I give him.”

“It's been weeks since he fell through - surely he can start venturing out of your place now? Who knows, maybe he'll find something we missed.”

Marinette hummed thoughtfully and started thinking about how she could let Robin go out and about to hunt down clues for where the new Hawkmoth could be caught. She knew he needed to get some freedom - so did she - but she was still apprehensive about letting him out into Paris unsupervised.

Finally, she decided that she would wait for him to ask again and then they could set some rules in place to try and mitigate any issues that might arise.

_ _ _

Damian hadn't realised just how accustomed he'd become to Marinette’s noise. Now that Ladybug's whole team was aware of his presence in her home she was spending more time out of the house. The first time she had been gone, he reveled in the silence, knowing she wouldn't be back until the following morning.

But after several weeks of her being gone for more than half of the nights, he had begun to feel lonely. Outcast. It was borderline torture because he still couldn't leave the apartment and had declined Marinette's contact information when she had first offered it. To obtain it now would be to admit to her parents that he wanted it and then she would know. She would know that, against all logic, he missed her company.

He had taken to spending his solo evenings in her room, surrounded by her notes and things. He even played the rock albums she had around, like she would when she was working on something. It was pathetic, but it helped him feel connected to someone and that pushed back the growing feeling of hopelessness at his predicament.

When she returned the next day, he finally bit the bullet and asked her for permission to leave the building again. Instead of flat denial, which he had been expecting, she seemed to be thinking it over. And when she started laying down ground rules, he agreed quickly. Probably too quickly, but he was fairly desperate to leave the enclosed space he had been stuck in for the past couple of months.

It was refreshing to walk the busy streets of Paris and he found himself enjoying the bustle of many people. It reminded him of Gotham, especially with how rude some of them could be. The main difference being that he needed only to fear people's negative emotions turning them into super powered monsters rather than the medley of villains Gotham homed.

The thing that alarmed him was that the feeling of missing Marinette didn't dissipate with the presence of other people. If anything, being around everyone else made it clear that she wasn't with him. He wasn't ready to start unpacking what that meant so he decided the safest thing to do was start hunting for the new Hawkmoth.

When he returned after that first excursion, he found Marinette dancing around her room far more freely than she had whilst he had been there. He was dumbfounded for a moment, heart beating hard in his chest as he watched her. Thankfully she spotted him and let out a shriek, falling over suddenly, and he managed to calm himself.

If this went on much longer, he feared he would succumb to something akin to Stockholm Syndrome. He would redouble his efforts the next time he left the apartment.

_ _ _

After several days of roaming the city, Robin came back with good news: he had located the lair of the new Butterfly Miraculous Holder. It gave Marinette an overwhelming sense of relief to finally have answers - and she felt grudging respect for Robin for having been able to find the second Hawkmoth.

She bustled about her room after messaging the team to come directly there as soon as patrol ended that day. She needed to get this finished, before Lila disappeared again and left them scrambling.

“Why are you cleaning?” Robin asked, squinting at her as she grabbed more notes to give the irrefutable evidence of Lila's guilt.

“We have a meeting with everyone tonight, here,” she explained, stopping only when he forced himself in between her and her notes.

“Why would you rush into this? She is unaware that you have found her, surely that means you have adequate time to plan,” Robin said arrogantly, looking down his nose at her. It made her heart squeeze uncomfortably and she had to swallow back a lump in her throat. She could not let him see whatever budding feelings were emerging within her. Not with how plainly he made his disdain for her known.

“What does it matter to you? You found her, we're going to get the Miraculous back and then you can go home! We never have to see each other again,” she said, ignoring the slight waver in her voice as she said it. She tried to ignore the sharp look he sent her way that showed he had noticed it. “Why are you being like this?”

“Because I want to know what goes on in that infuriating mind of yours,” he said, voice dropping to a tight murmur. He looked angrier than ever and she wished she could just tell him to get lost. He was still invading her space and if she wasn't so determined to show that he wasn't affecting her she would be creating space between them. Giving herself distance to shove these random new feelings down and out of sight.

“You've already invaded my every living space,” she snapped, trying to make him step away and back down. It didn't work. “And you've made it very clear what you think of me, Robin. So let's just get through this and you can go home and forget I exist.”

“Marinette, I-”

They both jerked away from each other when Chat knocked on the window above them. Marinette felt flushed and overwhelmed as she opened the skylight for him. Behind Chat we're the other heroes and Marinette steeled herself for what they were about to do.

It was time to take down Hawkmoth, again.

Part 2

#maribat #mlb x dc #maribat march #maribat march 2025 #daminette #member fic

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maribatserver · 4 months ago

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Day 4 is Despair ✨❤️✨ a follow on from my Adventures of Lady Grey

Part 1 Part 2

@maribatserver

Marinette had been dreaming. Or, rather, Marinette had been having a nightmare.

When she woke, she tried to push away the memories that had brought the nightmare on, but they threatened to swamp her. And unlike in Paris she didn't have a good reason for trying to suppress the feelings. So she sat, glaring out of the window as she grappled with her anger and sorrow.

Almost being akumatised into Princess Justice had been bad enough. But when she had been forced to stay at the bakery, instead of attending school, it had worn on her. Lila had gotten away with getting her expelled, and no amount of pleading, arguing or sobbing had swayed anyone. The risk of akumatisation got so bad she had to meditate several hours a day, and even then she was dodging black butterflies at all hours.

Her hands fisted in the thin bedsheet as she felt tears prick her eyes. She hated remembering how, after a month solid of avoiding akumas, Tikki had explained that she had to find a new holder. That it wasn't personal but she couldn't risk the jewels being in Marinette's possession when she inevitably succumbed to Hawkmoth.

But against all odds she had held out. When the akuma appeared the next time, she was possessed but rejected the power he offered her. The new holder of the Ladybug Miraculous had looked at her with awe tinged with fear. Chat Noir had looked at her like she was a warrior queen that could, maybe, be used to help fight Hawkmoth.

But still, Marinette had kept hope that she would be able to live her life freely once Hawkmoth was brought down. For the first few weeks she held onto the texts that Adrien sent her, few and far between though they were. And, later, she applied to the lycée of her dreams, hoping that she would be able to attend in spite of not finishing collége.

Everything ended the day she got her rejection letter from the lycée. Apparently someone had reached out to inform them of her expulsion and the reason behind it and it made them disregard her from consideration. That day became the closest to an actual akumatisation, but she fought it back and ended up just exhausted from the exertion.

And still, she sought a way out. If she couldn't get a diploma, she could chase her dreams by getting her work out there. So she sequestered herself on her balcony and hid from everyone for hours, sketching and planning. Which is where Chat found her late that evening, still designing manically.

“Hey Purrincess,” he said, faux cheer in his voice. She could see that his tail was droopy so had no illusions that this was a happy visit. “I heard through the grapevine that you didn't make it into that arts lycée. I'm sorry.”

“Yeah, well, it's not like I can change their mind while Lila's still running free,” she said with a sardonic laugh. Chat went even stiller and she glanced up at him fully at last. He looked troubled, and that made her feel bad because the last thing she wanted was to be the reason Chat was akumatised. “But it's no big deal, really. Who needs school, or friends? Not me, because I'm going to make it big in the fashion world if I have to drag myself into it.”

“But…you do have friends, right? Wasn't there a guy you wanted to date? I'm sure I heard from somewhere that you had a crush on someone…”

“Hah, I did,” she said softly, hands stopping their sketching as they started to shake. “But it turns out he wasn't the one for me. And what with not seeing anyone for school and being stuck here…any friends I did have are long gone.”

“Is that why you don't message anyone back anymore?” He asked quietly, and she hummed thoughtfully.

“I guess. It's not like many people do anyway, really…only…” she trailed off and looked up at him sharply. “I didn't tell you I wasn't messaging my old friends back.”

“It- it's obvious, isn't it?” He asked nervously, twirling his baton as he avoided looking at her. Marinette swallowed her panic down as she realised precisely one person knew she wasn't responding to her texts and for Chat to know it…

“Yeah, super obvious,” she said, laughing semi-hysterically. “But, uh, anyway, I've been out here for far too long. Night Chat.”

Hiding in her room, she buried the panic of working out Chat's identity. Ever the planner, Marinette turned her mind to thoughts of escaping Paris before she did succumb to Hawkmoth.

_ _ _

Growling in frustration, Marinette tugged uselessly at the scrap of fabric that had gotten caught in Batman's trap. It had been a stupid move on her part but now she was stuck waiting to be freed - and likely turned over to the police. She gave a final yank before deciding she was going to have to cut herself free.

Pulling her scissors from the bodice of her corset, she made short work of the captured fabric. She would need to try and fix the outfit for the future, but that was a problem for when she was safely away. She had already scoped the room out before coming to try and liberate a couple of items so she knew the window to her right would be useless. The vents however…

It didn't take long for her to slither into one and then it was just a matter of pointing herself in a direction. The thought of getting caught and shipped back to Paris kept her motivated and she was relieved when she emerged into the cool night air. She skirted the building, keeping an eye out for the duo she knew would be on the way after she tripped their alarm.

Sure enough, she caught sight of the big bad Bat jumping from a neighbouring building to the one she had just escaped from. No sign of his sidekick, but she'd heard he didn't always come out when Batman did so she wasn't worried. She waited until he was out of sight and sprinted away, hoping to lose herself in the streets.

“I didn't think a lady left in the middle of the night,” Robin said, landing in her path. She groaned and reached for her pistol again, making him raise his hands. “Whoa, was it something I said? I've heard I'm usually pretty charming, but if I've offended you…”

“Listen, bird brain,” she said, tone firm and unamused. He made an affronted noise and she felt her lips twitch involuntarily. “I'm not looking to get on your radar. I've never hurt anyone, I only take stuff that should be returned to its rightful owner and I'm only doing this so I can afford things like food. Don't you have more serious problems to deal with?”

“Maybe my interest in you is more personal,” Robin said easily, smiling crookedly at her. “If you just need money to get food, why not get a job? Even teens can work places. You don't have to break the law.”

“Says the boy dressed like he jumped off a tightrope, also breaking the law by taking it into his own hands,” she shot back, victory at surprising him flaring through her. “I'm not a threat to you. Would it make you feel better if I said I was hiding from a maniac and if I was discovered it could end the world?”

It was the closest she had come to telling the truth since she had arrived in Gotham, and it was perhaps a little too honest. She could see it made him hesitate, his face troubled. She slid her hand slowly to her pistol again and cursed internally when his eyes tracked the movement.

“Only if it was the truth,” he said, scepticism clear in his voice. “But if you want to discuss it…”

“Thanks for the offer, but no,” she said flatly. Then she gave up all pretense that she was going to cooperate, throwing herself towards him. Most people bigger than her tended to blanch when she did that, unsure of how to handle someone smaller than them trying to get under their guard. So when he stepped to the side and snagged an arm around her waist, she was impressed in spite of herself.

“I know you called me cute before but I didn't realise that meant you couldn't resist me,” he murmured in her ear as he tried to pin her hand. She flushed and decided she had wasted far too much time chatting with him if he felt comfortable enough to flirt seriously.

“Yeah, you're making it real hard to resist shooting you,” she said, dropping her weight between his legs. One complicated twist later and he was gasping for air where she had driven his back into the floor. “Nothing personal, Birdie, I just really can't let you take me in.”

And with that she was gone.

#maribat #mlb x dc #maribat march #maribat march 2025 #dickinette #member fic

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maribatserver · 4 months ago

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Day 5 of Maribat March and I'm pulling back into Club Caper for Unsweet Revenge

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

@maribatserver

https://archiveofourown.org/works/62746561/chapters/163026103

Marinette glared at the table in front of her like it had personally offended her. Jason squeezed her hand sympathetically but didn't say anything as Wally and Dick argued with each other over whose fault this was. After all, so many identities had been revealed in a short space of time and there was no way they were going to be able to keep a lid on it with Oliver being aware.

“Enough!” Marinette said abruptly, shooting up to glare at the pair. Dick looked at her with a little fear as she stalked over to them and pointed her finger at them. “Sit down and shut up, please. This has been one colossal mess since Wally gave me a babysitter I neither wanted nor needed. Nobody is to blame at this point, we just need to figure out our next steps, okay?”

“But- yeah, alright,” Wally relented, sinking into a seat. “Look, I'm sorry for sneaking around to have another hero watching over you. But I'm not sorry for asking Dick to do it - you're a trouble magnet at the best of times! And I'd do it again.”

“And that's the problem!” Marinette sniped back, eyes flashing. “You're supposed to trust me. Isn't that why you're introducing me to the Justice League soon?”

“Yeah, but this is different-”

“It's really not,” Marinette said in a flat tone, gaze unwavering. “I have every intention of moving to Gotham when I finish my degree, and you knew I was thinking about it before I met any of your friends there.”

“Well good luck getting past Batman's anti-meta rules,” Wally said just as flatly, as though that ended the matter. The look in Marinette's eyes promised retribution but she didn't say anything else. Instead, she grabbed Jason by the jacket and dragged him out of the room.

_ _ _

After a couple of weeks, Marinette was due to be formally introduced to the Justice League and Wally knew she was nervous because she had been shut up in his kitchen for the better part of twelve hours baking. As soon as he realised what she was doing he steered clear of the space.

He breathed a sigh of relief when Marinette emerged, a tower of pastry and cake boxes stacked high on the kitchen counter. She was pulling off her apron and smiling in that satisfied way she always did when things went according to plan. He had already been warned not to touch any of the goods until she had set up for the meeting and he was still trying to smooth over their issues after their argument about her moving to Gotham so he just reminded her they needed to leave soon.

When they arrived on the Watchtower, Marinette bounded over to a table at the side of the meeting room that was being used to induct her. She had packed the boxes into her yoyo and used the liminal space within to transport them. As she unpacked them, she opened them up and rearranged them to make them look somehow more enticing.

“Hey,” Jason said, sliding up behind Marinette and ignoring Wally. The speedster narrowed his eyes at the back of Jason's head and moved closer to listen in. “Ooh, can I have one? These look incredible.”

“Not yet,” she scolded, letting his arms slide around her waist and leaning her head back. Wally was annoyed that they were being so openly affectionate, he wanted Marinette to make a good impression as a hero before the relationship tainted people's views.

Fortunately Marinette waved him off, promising that he could go for the baking as soon as the meeting started up. Wally saw how Jason looked at one of the macarons - it was slightly bigger, lemon yellow with a dark chocolate coloured filling - and resolved to grab it first.

His plan went swimmingly. Jason was slower than Wally anyway, but with Marinette to distract him Wally was the first one to grab a baked treat. He smirked at the disappointment he could see plainly written on Jason's face and moved at a much more sedate pace towards him before trying it.

Many other heroes in the room were exclaiming their delight at Marinette's creations so Wally made a commotion to show off how big the chocolate one he had snagged was before shoving the whole thing in his mouth.

Regret. It was immediate and violent, and Wally started spluttering and looking around for water. Marinette, who had seemed engrossed in a conversation with Wonder Woman eyed him evilly, that same satisfied look on her face from earlier.

“Why is it salty?” He wailed when he had finally managed to chug enough water that he only had a vague taste of whatever he had eaten. Everyone was looking at him, alarmed, and seemed wary of taking any more of the treats.

“Because you are predictable,” Marinette said sweetly, not moving any closer to him. “That is for refusing to trust my judgement. Don't worry, it was something edible.”

“Pix, what did you do to it?” Jason asked, barely suppressed laughter in his voice. The people who had come to meet Ladybug were crowding around, clearly interested in hearing this story.

“I only put a savoury filling instead of a sweet one,” Marinette said nonchalantly. Jason, who had forgone the helmet today, looked like he was going to go into hysterics. In the crowd Wally spotted Oliver and Bruce and knew that this was going to go badly for him. “Don't worry, all of the others are made correctly.”

“And you knew he would take that one?” Bruce asked in his low, rumbling voice.

“Yes, because as I said, he is predictable. I made it slightly bigger than the others and put it near the top so he would see it before everyone else.”

“You're an evil mastermind,” Jason said, sounding very much in awe. “Also, I thought these were store bought but are you saying you made all of these?” Marinette gave a nod and a bright smile and Jason sighed happily. “How on earth are you that perfect?”

“She just admitted she plotted revenge by way of dessert, how is that perfect?” Wally demanded, feeling aggrieved.

“It was excellent execution,” Bruce said thoughtfully. Marinette looked even more delighted, practically bouncing on the spot.

“Thank you! I wanted to speak with you in particular, Monsieur Batman. I have been considering relocating to Gotham for a number of reasons and was hoping to get your agreement as I know you don't appreciate metas living in the city.”

“...we can certainly carve out time to discuss it,” Batman said in surprise, glancing at both Jason and Wally curiously. “How do you know Red Hood?”

“Oh, I was actually in Gotham recently for a short visit before I made any decisions regarding a more permanent residence,” she replied offhandedly. “Nightwing was asked to keep an eye on me, although I wasn't aware at the time. It was explained to me that they were just civilian friends but a recent encounter with Green Arrow accidentally revealed the truth.”

“Green Arrow revealed our identities?” Jason looked like he was on the verge of laughing again, turning away with a hand clamped over his mouth. Wally started looking around for an exit strategy: he knew where this was going to end up.

“Whoa, hey, that's not really-” Oliver started up immediately, but Marinette interrupted.

“Not on purpose, and certainly by no real fault of his own. Honestly, it likely would have come out eventually anyway, since Red Hood and I are dating as civilians-”

The entire room exploded into conversation and Wally winced, knowing that he'd be answering questions at some point.

_ _ _

“I have no idea how you convinced B to let you move to Gotham,” Jason said later that evening, arms wrapped around Marinette as they snuggled on his sofa.

“I can be persuasive when I want to,” she shrugged, giggling when he kissed her neck. “It probably helped that I know his identity; if I'm part of the team here in Gotham then it doesn't matter as much.”

“Huh, I guess I didn't think of it that way,” he murmured, tracing circles onto her thigh. She shivered against him as he kissed up to just behind her ear, his hand lazily moving higher. “Do you want help apartment hunting?”

“I…have ideas,” she said breathlessly. “But any advice you have is appreciated.”

“Mmm, well if you need somewhere to stay while you fig-”

Jason let out a groan when his communicator chirped and glared balefully in its direction. Marinette sighed and pulled herself up, laughing when he held on for an extra second or two.

“Come on Jay, the sooner we help out, the sooner we can come back and pick this back up,” she said in a flirty voice. She laughed again when he practically sprinted for his suit.

#maribat #maribat march #maribat march 2025 #jasonette #mlb x dc #member fic

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maribatserver · 4 months ago

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Day 6 of Maribat March and I'm back to Lady Grey: Losing Control

@maribatserver

A week after running into Robin a second time, Marinette was getting frustrated. Everyone she had approached about her stolen wares had told her in no uncertain terms that they weren't going to risk dealing with her when Batman had his ear to the ground searching for her.

Which led her to deciding she needed to approach someone in the day and risk them seeing more of her features. It wasn't an awful plan, but it was definitely more of a chance than she wanted to take. And it meant she was also more at risk of being thought a truant, which was proved as she headed home from a fence that had finally taken her gear.

Marinette scowled up at the woman who had hold of her arm, cursing herself for getting caught. She couldn't exactly call up a rogue to get her out of this considering she was just plain old Marinette right now. And the truant officer looked like the kind of person who had seen a lot of kids trying to get out of going to school.

“So, what'll it be? Call your parents or take a trip down to the station with me?”

“My parents are dead, I'm staying with a family friend,” she said automatically, controlling the wince that wanted to follow. She knew it was hopeless to want it, but she really hoped that would make the woman more lenient. Or at least ashamed for being so blunt with a kid.

“Great, give me the number for where you're staying.”

“I only know one phone number, and it's for the family friend's son,” she said, letting instinct guide her through this mess. Back when she'd been a hero, she had gotten used to listening to signs from the universe and something was nudging her this way.

“Then I guess we call him,” the woman said flatly, holding out her phone for Marinette to type the number in. Swallowing, she let her fingers move on instinct, typing in the number she hadn't meant to memorise. As soon as she'd hit the call button, the phone was whipped away.

_ _ _

Dick was having an okay day at school when his phone buzzed in his pocket. Fortunately he was in study hall and the teacher was pretty lax, so he didn't feel bad about taking it out and answering.

“Hello?”

“Good afternoon, I'm calling to get the adult responsible for a girl playing truant,” came a haughty voice and Dick instantly didn't like whoever was on the other end. He didn't have a clue why she was calling him but he knew he was going to help whoever was in her clutches.

“I told you, I'm not a truant,” someone snapped in the background, the voice tickling the edges of Dick's memory. “Give me the phone, please.”

There was some scuffling and a sharp reprimand from the woman. Then the voice of the girl filled his ear and he focused.

“I'm sorry to bother you with this, I know you're at school. But you said to call if I needed help and I don't remember Bruce’s number. This lady doesn't believe that I was just going to the dentist for an appointment and I just…I need her to stop being a hindrance.”

“Oh,” he said, several things clicking into place. He thought hard and checked the time. Technically his lunch break would start soon… “Listen, I'm going to call Alfred to come pick you up, where are you?”

She rattled off the address and he was relieved to hear it wasn't far from the top end of town. Alfred wouldn't take long to get to her and he would ask him to come collect Dick straight after.

“Stay put, okay? And put the lady back on, I'll let her know someone's coming to get you,” he promised. He heard another slight scuffle as the phone changed hands and then the woman was demanding to know who was coming to get the girl. “Listen, I'm calling my grandfather, Alfred, who will be there soon.”

The call with Alfred was short and full of groveling. The older man sounded faintly exasperated but ultimately agreed to Dick's requests. And so Dick spent the next half an hour of his study hall watching the clock and fidgeting in his seat. As soon as the bell rang, he raced for the front of the school and waited impatiently for Alfred's town car to appear.

It had been several weeks since he'd met the girl in the library and even though she'd waved goodbye to him he was under no illusions that she would bother to call him. The way he figured it, she'd washed his number off her hand and laughed with her friends about the loser in the library. So to get a phone call when she needed help? Of course he was going to.

The moment the car pulled to a stop, the back door burst open and Dick - who had approached the curb to be able to climb in without fuss - was almost flattened. He was just able to dodge it and then was toppled by the girl from the library who barrelled straight into him.

“Oof,” he said, hands catching her up to stop her from hitting the ground. Because of her momentum they both fell, Dick cushioning her fall. She stopped wriggling after a moment and he got another look at her beautiful eyes. “I guess it would be too cheesy to say I'm falling for you, huh?”

The look that crossed her face was priceless, her nose scrunching even as the corners of her mouth tilted up.

“Must you?” She sighed, head thumping forward onto his chest. He laughed and sat up, a protective arm around her waist to stop her from flying off of him. She flushed and he grinned, red spreading across his own face at how close their faces now were.

“Come on, let's get out of here and we can talk about why you're dodging truancy officers.”

She followed him back into the car grudgingly, glancing around at the other students that were milling around the school. He had gotten used to the stares of his classmates but he guessed he didn't blame the girl for blushing harder.

“Thanks for rescuing me,” she said after they had driven for a few minutes, and he grinned reflexively.

“All in a day's work. But I'd be lying if I said I didn't want something in return.”

“Oh?” She said, managing to convey just how much she disliked the situation she had found herself in. “I guess I do owe you…”

“So glad you agree,” he said, nodding sagely. “I think a fair price would be your name.”

“Marinette,” she said after a brief pause, a smile tilting the corners of her mouth again. He felt a small thrill at having her name at last and his grin widened.

“I'm Dick.”

_ _ _

The rest of the drive to the manor was fairly quiet, Marinette eyeing the old driver with suspicion. She was trying very hard to pay attention to the direction they were going without staring out of the window, but Alfred was very good at driving so the ride was smooth.

When they crossed the bridge, however, she realised Dick didn't live in Gotham. Not really. And the only manor she knew about…

“Wait, are you telling me that you're Richard Grayson, Bruce Wayne's ward?” Marinette asked incredulously, turning to stare at him again. He flushed and she felt her mouth drop open as he shrugged and nodded. “What? Why on earth would you pick up a call from a stranger about someone playing truant if-”

“So you were playing truant?” He asked, offering her his hand to pull her out of the car. She followed along mechanically, even as Alfred stayed in it. She thought she heard him say something about getting groceries but she was too busy gaping at Dick.

“That's not- you have to be enrolled in a school to play truant,” she shot back defensively, mouth twisting when he raised an eyebrow. He led her to an enormous kitchen and gestured for her to sit down.

“Why aren't you enrolled?” He asked, sounding genuinely curious. Like he cared what she would say next. “You don't seem like a drop out. You actually seem kind of smart and if you're in trouble with your folks or something-”

“My parents don't have anything to do with this,” she said immediately, eyes flickering away from him.

Dick didn't know how to approach this. He was used to people opening up to him, both as Dick and as Robin. He might not know why, but other people had told him he was just naturally magnetic and people wanted to talk to him. But with Marinette…he got the feeling he needed to tread carefully.

“So your parents…”

“Aren't available,” she said, staring at her hands sadly. He reached up tentatively, hand resting for a moment on her back. “They're not dead, or anything, I don't think. It's complicated.”

“You can talk to me, if you want to,” he said in a low voice, leaning forward to catch her eyes. She gave him a small smile and he returned it reflexively. “I can't promise to understand, but I won't judge you.”

She looked like she might be willing to open up and he had to restrain the triumphant smile that wanted to appear. She bit her lip and stared intently at her hands for a moment, and he thought he saw some internal debate happening. But it wasn't to be because that was when Bruce strolled in and made them both jump by clearing his throat.

“I would have thought school hadn't finished yet,” he said, glancing between the pair of teenagers. Dick cursed himself for not moving from the kitchen; it was a rookie mistake to stay in a communal area if he wanted any kind of privacy.

“I'm sorry, I asked Dick to help me,” Marinette said, standing up and brushing imaginary crumbs from her lap. All of the vulnerability and openness vanished, her eyes going blank as she looked up at Bruce. “I'll go now. I'm really sorry for bothering you, Dick, it won't happen again.”

With nothing between her and the door, she was gone only moments later. Dick had barely made it out of his seat when she vanished out of the room and out of the manor. He sighed and turned to Bruce, feeling frustrated and a little petulant.

“Dick, you can't just bring girls you think are cute back to the manor,” Bruce said disapprovingly before Dick could complain. “There are things here that we don't want random people to get wind of. You've been at this long enough to know better.”

“She needed help! I thought the whole point of everything we do is to help those in need,” Dick said stubbornly. He couldn't believe Bruce was giving him a lecture about helping someone. So what if he thought she was cute, that wasn't the only reason he was helping.

“You brought her back to the manor without having a clue who she was!” Bruce argued. “Except, of course, for the fact that she's probably a runaway.”

“How long were you eavesdropping?” Dick demanded, feeling a flush creep up his neck. When Bruce gave him a flat look he felt outrage sweep through him. “B, I get that you don't always like how I do things but I'm trying to help people!”

“I don't care what you do outside of my home, Dick, but as long as you live here you'll abide by my rules. No more bringing people back here without clearing it with me.”

Bruce didn't wait for his agreement before stalking out of the room.

#maribat #mlb x dc #maribat march #maribat march 2025 #dickinette #member fic

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