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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.

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Day 1 of Maribat March! Sleepless Nights

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“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

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Day 2 of Maribat March is Mistaken Identity

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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

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Day 3 of Maribat March sees Castaway!

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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

[maribatserver]

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.

[maribatserver]

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.

[maribatserver]

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.

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Day 7 is back to A Black Cat in America

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“I still can't believe you hooked up with Robin,” Alya said, staring at Marinette. Adrien tried to hide his laughter but apparently didn't managed because Marinette shot him a sour look. “And you weren't going to tell me! I thought we were best friends.”

“Of course we're best friends! Better friends than I am with Adrien at any rate,” she added under her breath, still glaring at him. “But it's not like it can go anywhere so…I just thought it was better to keep it to myself.”

“Really shouldn't have been making out with him outside the window then,” Adrien said with a shrug. He then had to duck as she threw something at his head. “Listen, you can't be mad at me for this. You really shouldn't have brought him back to our hotel room if you didn't want to get caught.”

“I didn't bring him back to the hotel room! He was dropping me off on the balcony and you interrupted me saying goodbye.”

“Oh yeah, giving him a really thorough goodbye too,” he snarked, cackling when she blushed. She flipped him off and he gasped overdramatically as the elevator finally got to their floor. Marinette had managed to swing a tour of the Daily Planet for Alya - she'd even managed to secure a slot to speak to Lois Lane, her non-super hero. 

“Can you knock it off, please? I don't need to be targeted by villains because they think I matter to the latest boy wonder, okay?”

“I'll drop it…if you admit you totally want to go back to Gotham to make out with him,” Adrien said with a waggle of his eyebrows. She looked ready to scream with frustration and he felt the chaotic need to tease her bubble in him. But just then they were approached by a tall man, roughly their age, who looked very interested in Marinette. 

“Hi there, I take it you’re here to see my mom, Lois Lane?” He said, blue eyes twinkling behind his glasses lenses. Alya gave a muffled shriek of excitement and pounced forward to shake his hand. He smiled cheerfully at her before turning back to Marinette with a keen look in his eye. Adrien wondered if it was just something in the water in America that made her irresistible. “Aren't you the woman who got mistaken as a new Wayne kid?”

“That's me,” Marinette said, her shoulders slumping. Then they perked up and she looked at him excitedly. “Wait, you said mistaken, does that mean people finally know I'm not a Wayne?” 

“Afraid not, the internet is still speculating wildly about how you'll fit in with the rest,” he said, grin widening on his face. “No, I'm friends with the youngest Wayne, Damian. He mentioned you when I talked to him recently.” 

For some reason, this made Marinette flush and Adrien hoped she wasn't planning to seduce someone in every city they went to. Not that she couldn't, she was a free woman, but it definitely undermined the whole touring America as a four thing they had planned. 

Fortunately, before either of them could begin flirting in earnest, Lois came over to greet them and Alya became so over excited that nobody else could get a word in. Lois's son, who she introduced as Jonathan, continued to watch Marinette as though fascinated by her and Adrien wasn't overly surprised when he said casually that he might see them around. 

Alya managed to rope Marinette into the conversation with Lois and Adrien still had a vague aversion to reporters from when his father had been outed as Hawkmoth so he held back with Nino. After taking a couple of photos of the historic moment, Nino turned to him.

“We haven't had a chance to catch up properly, how are you doing dude? Like, actually doing,” he said when Adrien went to wave away the question with an ‘I’m fine’. “It must've sucked to have to call Luka just to ask him to rein in his dad.” 

“Yeah, well, if I hadn't screwed up and gotten Mari kidnapped after she went through so much trouble to prep for this trip I wouldn't have had to,” Adrien replied. “I'm okay. Really, it still kind of hurts but it's not like he was rude on the phone or anything. He was just…Luka.”

“That sucks, bro, I'm sorry. Talk to us next time, Mari could have called him instead or-”

“Like I said, my mess up. But enough of that, let's talk about how we should be making bets on how many people are going to fall for Marinette's charms before we have to go home.” 

Nino laughed loudly before joining in whole-heartedly.

_ _ _

On their second day in Metropolis, there was a supervillain attack. It shouldn't have been surprising, they'd made it through Gotham relatively unscathed and they had Plagg with them. It did give Alya the opportunity to photograph the boys in blue and nobody got hurt, so maybe this was Tikki balancing out the stress of Red Hood.

He couldn't swear to it, but he thought the youngest Superboy turned to scrutinise them once the fight was over. Marinette must have thought so too because she gave a small, blushing wave before hiding behind Alya. And it didn't matter how much he asked her about it, she wouldn't explain why she turned red periodically.

He was glad he had long outgrown his feelings for Ladybug, he wasn't sure how he would handle seeing her get flustered around other people. It had been hard enough seeing fans swamp Luka when he was performing, and he hadn't been as infatuated. No, his feelings for Luka had felt more real, more grounded. Which only made it that much harder when they'd both decided to call it a day.

Focusing back on the present, he realised the others were deep in a discussion on where to get food, Marinette arguing to just get something speedy so they could keep wandering around and Alya countering that she wanted to sit down and make a vlog post about the heroes they'd seen - super or otherwise.

“But you can make the vlog when we go back to the hotel!” Marinette said, brow scrunched and hands on hips. Adrien liked to joke that it was her ‘power pose’. “Als, I-”

“Excuse me, you are Marinette Dupain-Cheng, correct?”

The voice took Adrien completely off guard and he leaped as though he'd been electrocuted. Standing behind him was another man who looked to be roughly their age. He was dark skinned and had ruffled black hair that looked like it had been artfully messed. And he had his eyes fixed on Marinette. 

“Y-yes,” the lady in question squeaked out, flushing under his attention.

“My name is Damian, I believe you spoke with an associate of mine yesterday. Jonathan Kent?” He prompted when it became apparent she wasn't going to say anything. The guy smirked when she nodded dumbly, her face ablaze.

“Whoa, wait, you mean you're Damian Wayne?” Alya said, eyes lighting up when he nodded curtly without taking his eyes off of Marinette. “Holy hell, I can't believe you're here in Metropolis. Do you have time for some questions? Because I read that you've been kidnapped by rogues before and I would love-”

“Tt, I have no desire to discuss those things with you,” he said sternly, flicking his eyes to Alya until Marinette let out a nervous giggle. At that point his eyes snapped back to her and she bit her lip to stop herself.

“I mean, you approached us, sorry for trying to make conversation,” Alya shot back, eyes narrowed. Damian didn't seem to be paying her any attention and that concerned Adrien. Why were so many people interested in Marinette? The answer became clear a moment later.

“Tt, we should probably speak in private regarding your sudden fame in Gotham,” Damian said, looking at Marinette like he could bore a hole in her. Adrien felt guilt swamp him again when Marinette blushed and meekly agreed because it was him that had caused the problem, not her. But when he tried to explain that it was his fault and Damian just looked at him coolly. 

Adrien watched them walk away after Marinette had finally relented and told them to go wherever Alya wanted for lunch and she would catch up. His eyebrows raised when the dark haired man took hold of his best friend's hand to lead her away but she didn't seem to mind it so he kept it to himself.

He was definitely going to be asking questions later though.

Part 3

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Day 8! How are we a week in already? Today we're back in Birds Make the Best Friends

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“Hey Dami, have you seen my sweater? I could've sworn I had it last night,” Marinette asked, frowning as she looked under the cushions and sofas. The kid snorted and Marinette glanced up at him from where she was crouching. “Is that a yes?”

“Tt, Drake has it, I believe,” Damian said gleefully, twirling the sword he had been practicing with expertly. Marinette frowned harder and squinted suspiciously at the door she had just come through. It was true that she hadn't seen Tim in a couple of hours but she had been pretty clear about how that sweater was hers and she would punish him severely if he took it.

“Right…thanks,” she muttered, making her way to Tim's room. When she didn't find him there, she mentally ran through the rooms she had already been in and headed to the closest drawing room that Tim enjoyed spending his downtime in.

She slipped into the room and stopped dead because- yep! There the little rat was, snuggled up in her Multimouse sweater. He had commented on liking it several times but she had made him one with his own superhero persona on it so she had assumed it was safe.

“Tim, why are you wearing my sweater?” Marinette shrieked, tackling him onto the floor. He gave a muffled yelp and tried to scoot away from her, hands scrambling as she yanked on his legs. “I made you your own Red Robin one! Why do you need to steal mine?”

“Mine got coffee on it, I didn't think you'd mind,” he whined, still trying to get away. Marinette sat on his feet and glowered at him.

“You absolutely knew I'd mind,” she said, smacking him in the stomach. “You can't just take my stuff! Especially the stuff I make for me! God, Tim, you have other clothes-”

“But nothing as comfy as what you make,” he said petulantly, trying to shove her off of him. “You weren't using it!”

“And now I can't because you're wearing it,” she snarked, reaching up to try pull at his hair. He yelped again and tried to swat her away but had to settle on grabbing her wrists instead. 

They continued to wrestle for dominance, Marinette with a clear advantage as she was spitting mad, until someone lifted her up and away. She gave a mouse-like squeak and twisted in the grip to try and free herself. She gave a growl when Tim cackled victoriously but she still wasn't dropped so she was stuck.

“What is going on in here?” Bruce demanded, immediately making Marinette feel guilty. She opened her mouth to blame Tim but he was quicker at the draw.

“Marinette went crazy and jumped on me! I was just trying to stop her pulling my hair,” he said, bottom lip jutting out. Marinette screeched and tried harder to get loose and start hitting him again but Bruce sighed and moved her behind him.

“You're both practically adults, I shouldn't be breaking up fistfights in my home,” he said, disappointment thick in his voice. “Alright, so that's Tim's side of things. Mari?”

“He stole my clothes!” She blurted, trying to think of a way to get Bruce on her side. He gave her a look of disbelief, like he couldn't see how a stolen sweater would lead to the scene he'd walked in on. “I made it for me, not to mention he has his own!”

“Marinette, it really isn't quite the same thing-”

“Of course you would take his side,” she said in an injured voice, pouting. Bruce sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, putting her down in the process. A rookie mistake as she took the opportunity to throw herself at Tim again, fists flying.

_ _ _

Several hours later, Marinette had her sweater back and Tim felt nettled. It had taken longer than he would ever admit to get her off of him when she had managed to attack again, even with Bruce's help. 

They still hadn't said anything else to each other and Marinette was scribbling in one of her sketchbooks. He refused to be the first one to speak because then she would win. So they continued to sit in annoyed silence, her with her pencil and sketchbook and him with his tablet.

“Have you two sorted out your differences yet?” Bruce said from the doorway, frowning at them. Tim glanced at Marinette and they came to a silent agreement that this was between the two of them, so they nodded. He was visibly relieved and nodded back at them. “Good, don't let me catch you fighting like that again, please.”

He left and they returned to their silent working, although Tim did glance up at her to gauge her mood. She was snuggled down in her sweater, moving the sketchbook around occasionally and adding seemingly random lines every now and then. 

“I see you retrieved your clothes. And without drawing blood, I am highly disappointed,” Damian said, coming into the room and sitting next to Marinette. 

“You didn't give me the sword when you sent me after him,” she replied absently, grinning at Tim when he made an affronted noise. “You can't tell me you're surprised that Damian ratted you out.”

“No, but I can be upset that you would have brought a weapon into it!” He exclaimed, glaring at his little brother when he smirked. “See if I help you any time soon, gremlin. You're my brother, not hers.”

“Tt, that is probably why I prefer her to you,” Damian sniffed, peering over Marinette's shoulder. “You are designing something new? Does that mean my new jacket is complete already?”

“Mostly, I'm just waiting for the kevlar infused fabric to arrive,” she agreed, grabbing her phone and showing Damian something on it. He nodded in approval at whatever he saw and Tim scowled at having to share his best friend. 

“Are you making yourself a new sweater then? I agree, once the pretender has worn something of yours it is best to burn and replace it as soon as possible.” 

“Hey-”

“No, I'm making him a matching one since he's such a crybaby about it,” she said, laughing when Tim jumped up and grabbed the book from her hands. And if he knocked Damian slightly as he did so, well that was just a bonus. “It'll be slightly different, mind you, so I can tell them apart. Yours will have a robin on the sleeve so you have no excuse for stealing mine again.”

Damian shouted in outrage as Tim hugged Marinette in excitement, the only warning he got before the little beast pulled a knife and pricked him with it. He yelped and jumped away, scowling at Marinette as she laughed at the pair of them.

Part 3

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Day 10 of Maribat March is Son of Batman! Second chapter of When a Comet Becomes a Meteor

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“Jesus Dames, you need to lay off the protein because you're getting impossible to carry around like this,” Jon groaned, trying to adjust his grip. 

Out of nowhere, one of the adversaries that had escaped them before collided with them and his tenuous grip was lost. Panic filled him as he tried to throw his adversary aside to catch Damian quickly, but he kept getting blocked. By the time he was free, Damian was much further away and he put on a burst of speed to try and catch up.

He had only flown a couple dozen feet down when he was stopped by an invisible force. He strained against it, his panic becoming overwhelming as he watched helplessly. Damian looked to be unconscious, his body limp as he hurtled down. Everything felt muffled and far away, but he thought he might be screaming. 

If he hadn't been leaning against something he would have fallen out of the sky when he saw something bright red streak towards his falling friend. He held his breath as he watched whoever it was slam sideways into Damian and save him from becoming a grease spot on a pavement. 

Now that he wasn't afraid that Damian was going to become a pancake, he was able to start working out why he hadn't been able to dive past the barrier. Glancing around dread started to pool as he spotted several famous landmarks and realised that he was being kept out of Paris, home to Ladybug and Chat Noir’s team of heroes.

He watched as who he had to assume was Ladybug looked around in confusion, checking Damian over carefully before hefting him onto her shoulders and yoyoing away. He followed her progress over to a tall building with a balcony that looked like it housed a storefront underneath and assumed she must be taking him to get help.

Biting his lip, he decided the next thing he needed to do was speak with Batman

_ _ _

“Hey Jon, mission go okay?” Dick asked when Jon flew into Wayne Manor. He noticed when Jon hesitated and immediately frowned, moving over to the half Kryptonian. “What’s wrong, something not go to plan? Where's Dami?”

“Uh, I-” he stuttered, his panic increasing when Bruce strolled in and eyed him curiously. “The mission was fine, we just- there was a hiccup on the way home.”

“Well, if you need to debrief we should really have Damian's side of things too. Is he in the cave?” Bruce asked, glancing over his shoulder. 

“Not…exactly. I, uh, I kind of couldn't bring him home, and I don't think I can go get him either.”

“What do you mean you can't get him?” Bruce frowned, very much channeling Batman at that moment. Jon swallowed hard and looked at his feet, mumbling something incomprehensible. “Jon, it was meant to be a quick trip - Damian’s supposed to be at school tomorrow and I don't know how you expect me to explain his absence-”

“I dropped him over Paris,” Jon said at last, mouth pressing into a line when Dick jumped to his feet. “He…he fell straight down but then something held me back and I couldn't- I had to watch him fall.”

“Jonathan, is Damian…” Bruce seemed choked up and Jon realised he hadn't told them that Damian was alive and in the care of the Parisian heroes, which he rectified quickly. Bruce and Dick took several moments to compose themselves. “Alright, so Damian can get through the barrier somehow, why don't we just wait for him to come back out? It isn't ideal but he should be able to get in touch with us as soon as he's outside of the area.”

After that Jon was allowed to head home, though Dick made him promise to do frequent flights over France so that they would be quick to help Damian when he needed it.

_ _ _

The next few weeks were torture. Whenever he had a spare minute, Jon was flying around the perimeter of Paris, trying to catch sight of his best friend. Every time he did, he felt a growing sense of dread because he couldn't find him and the magic barrier deadened all sounds so he couldn't even search for Damian's voice or heartbeat. 

When it had been an entire month, Bruce called for a meeting on the WatchTower and Jon had the feeling Wonder Woman was going to be getting a lot more questions surrounding the Paris situation. She had been very tight-lipped about the whole thing and very stern about keeping people out. 

The meeting started as tensely as Jon assumed it would and it only got worse from there. Wonder Woman remained completely steadfast in refusing to discuss all of what was happening in Paris and Bruce was getting increasingly angry at being shut out. Finally he snapped.

“My son fell through the barrier, we have no idea if he is even still alive! You will tell me how to get through it or I will find another way,” he shouted, glaring at her. Wonder Woman seemed perturbed but shook it away and returned a cool stare.

“I'm sorry you cannot reach Robin right now, but there is no way to get through that barrier. It is there to keep the villain in as much as it is to keep the rest of the Justice League out. You must be mistaken.”

“He's not,” Jon said quietly, before explaining what had happened the day Damian had been stranded in Paris. Wonder Woman's face grew thoughtful before grimacing in regret. “Please, I saw Ladybug catch him and carry him to safety but other than that…”

“I'm sorry,” she said again, although it was much softer this time. “If he did get through the barrier, it was a freak occurrence. I don't know how it could have happened and I have no way to ask until the barrier is lifted. But if he is in Ladybug's care he will be kept safe, I assure you.” 

And that was as much as Wonder Woman would discuss it, much to both Jon and Bruce's frustration.

_ _ _

Jon was at school when he received a call from Bruce over a month later telling him to get up to the WatchTower as soon as possible. It seemed to take an agonisingly long time to be excused, after which he wasted no time flying to the nearest Zeta Tube. 

He was a bundle of nerves as he approached his dad and the other two founders of the League, Wonder Woman looking much more spirited than she had previously. And when she informed them that they had been invited to a private audience with Ladybug after the defeat of the second Hawkmoth, Jon practically jumped straight into the Zeta Tube again to teleport to Paris, Bruce not far behind.

Ladybug greeted them at Notre Dame, the Eiffel Tower currently housing the biggest party Paris had seen in a long time. It was strange how it spread through the street but hardly anyone paid attention to the four foreign heroes as they made their way across the city. 

“Bonjour! Thank you for coming at such short notice,” she said with a bright grin. “I'm sure you're happy for us but I imagine you have been worried about Robin. He's fine,” she hurried to assure them. “A grumpy young man from what I hear from his housemate but absolutely invaluable in helping end the threat of the second Hawkmoth. I can take you to him now, if you would like.”

“Please!” Jon blurted out, receiving another smile from the heroine. She motioned for them to follow along and before long they were at the balcony Jon had last seen Damian and Ladybug disappearing to. “Is this where you live?”

“Hm? Oh, no, this is the home of an associate that graciously accepted the task of keeping him housed while he was stuck here,” Ladybug explained before lifting the skylight and calling in. “Monsieur Robin, your team has come to collect you.”

“Tt, about time,” came Damian's voice. It soothed the part of Jon that had been on edge since that awful moment he had seen his friend falling and been unable to save him. “Superboy, I'm glad to see that you are alright.”

“Yeah, same here buddy,” he choked out, leaping forward to pull Robin into his arms. He pulled back after a second and inspected his outfit with a frown. “Something's different about the suit.”

“The original was…unsalvageable. The girl I have been staying with insisted on creating a new one before I left and refused to listen to my protests,” Damian said with a scowl. But beyond that, Jon could see that Damian was pleased with the new suit and was moving in a way he could only describe as preening. 

“Well, I'm sure you've been desperate to return home,” Ladybug said abruptly, lips pursing slightly. Jon got the feeling that the girl Damian had been imposing on was a close friend of Ladybug's and she disliked the tone Damian spoke about her with. “Thank you for your assistance, Robin. Have a safe trip home and feel free to call upon our team should you ever need help.”

“Is Marinette not coming to ensure I leave?” Damian said with a frown, and Jon swore he could hear disappointment in his voice. His eyebrows shot up but nobody paid him any mind; Wonder Woman was looking at Ladybug with what could only be described as awe, Bruce was scrutinising his son, and his own dad was watching Damian happily. 

“She's celebrating with her friends, something everyone sorely needs,” Ladybug explained, tilting her head curiously. “But I’ll let her know that she has her home back to herself, don't worry.” 

“Please thank this family for caring for Robin,” Bruce said before Damian could say anything else. Jon was pretty sure he was the only one that could tell Damian was upset with this turn of events but he didn't dare say anything about that. Instead he tried to find another way to get Damian the audience he clearly wanted. 

“Well I kind of want to meet the girl that put up with Robin for two whole months! And say thanks since it was my mess up that landed him here,” Jon said. Ladybug looked at him thoughtfully but ultimately shook her head.

“I'm sorry, Marinette deserves time to be a normal teenager again. She's given a lot to the fight against both Hawkmoths and, really, she was targeted by each of them for different reasons. So I will pass along your gratitude but must ask that she and her family are given privacy.”

Jon knew he was being dismissed and he couldn't think of a way to argue that they should get the chance to thank her in person. Damian tutted but said nothing else, arms folding across his chest as Wonder Woman thanked Ladybug once more and told her that she could contact her whenever she wanted to join the Justice League.

Once they were back on the WatchTower Damian was swarmed by countless heroes and grumpily accepted their heartfelt welcomes. But Jon could see he was genuinely happy to see his family and accepted Dick's hugs with no grumbles or tuts. At last, Jon managed to get him alone to interrogate him about Marinette.

“There is nothing to tell you,” was the response he got, but Jon just raised an eyebrow. Damian sighed and ran a hand through his hair, eyes going slightly distant. “She was…annoying. And loud. Not to mention extremely stubborn. But she is- was a civilian aide and gave me shelter and company when I had nowhere else to go, simply because her local hero asked her to.

“And in spite of her character flaws…I grew accustomed to spending time with her. I assumed, erroneously, that she would like to see me off. It is unsurprising in hindsight as we spent a great deal of our time together arguing.”

“Maybe you can go back as a civilian some time?” Jon offered, only to get a sorrowful head shake. 

“She saw me without my mask but knew that I was Robin. I could not introduce myself properly without compromising my family's identities. It's nothing, Jonathan. I'm sure she is glad to be rid of me.”

Jon didn't want to leave it at that but he didn't know how to help. He hadn't met Marinette and if she was an ordinary person she likely hadn't liked Damian's attitude and demeanour. So he let Damian change the subject to a new rock and roll artist he had grown fond of in Paris.

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Day 11 and it's The Adventures of Lady Grey again! Prompt: Batarang

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https://archiveofourown.org/works/62720593/chapters/163483561

After weeks of nothing from Marinette, Dick had to admit to himself that she wasn't going to call. Part of him expected it - she'd only called in the first place because she'd been in trouble, not because she wanted to speak to him - but mostly he was disappointed. She was intriguing, and pretty, and seemed like she could use a friend, and he had wanted to at least explore the option of being her friend. 

It made the already tense atmosphere between him and Bruce worse, and Dick longed to spread his own wings. So he started going out on his own at night, not bothering to wait for Batman to decide when he was allowed to patrol. And as long as he steered clear of where Bruce usually patrolled, they didn't really run into each other.

He made sure to grab a few batarangs when he went out alone. They all had trackers so, if something did happen, Bruce would be able to pinpoint his location. Dick was sure Alfred would let Bruce know he had them on him should it come to it. 

After several weeks of going out solo he paused on an apartment building to catch his breath and froze when one of the shadows moved. His eyes widened when he saw that it wasn't Bruce, but the girl that had been haunting most of his thoughts since she had run out of Wayne Manor.

“What's a stray bird doing all the way out here?” She mused, head tilted to the side as she studied him. Dick felt his heart in his throat as he swept his gaze down and back up again. She was dressed comfortably, her hands tucked into the sleeves of an enormous sweater and pull on boots that looked like they might be fur lined. 

“My damsel in distress radar went off around here so I guess I'm here to help you with whatever you need,” he said, shooting her a smile with as much charm as he could muster. She huffed out a laugh and rolled her eyes, like she'd heard all possible lines and thought he was ridiculous. “So, how can I help you, miss?” 

“I don't need anything, thanks,” she said, hopping up to sit on the ledge of the building. It was daring given how tall this particular building was but he managed not to jump towards her. Instead he walked forward as casually as he could and leaned next to her. 

“Maybe I can keep you company instead,” he said quietly. He didn't ask anything else and when she yawned and stretched he merely said goodnight and waited for her to get back inside safely before flipping away.

After that, he made his way to her rooftop whenever he wasn't patrolling with Bruce. More often than not she was there too and she slowly started opening up to him. Nothing huge, they mostly talked about their pastimes and books they'd both read, but occasionally she would share a story that sounded different. She sounded wistful or melancholy and Dick didn't dare press for information in case she shut him out.

And then he'd started listening out on the streets too, for stories about the girl who didn't come from Gotham but had a home there. It began innocently enough, an errant comment to a street kid about a new hat that led to a conversation about the girl who handed them out to anyone she saw without. And that they always came with a snack; usually cookies or bread.

The picture that grew intrigued him more and more, and he desperately wished he could ask her about everything. But he knew people and something told him that if he asked for more than she was willing to give it would all end. So he didn't. But he grew far more attached to her as time went on.

_ _ _

Marinette hadn't intended to spend enough time on the roof of her building to catch the eye of the younger vigilante, but it happened anyway. The first time they spoke, he seemed every bit as flirty as he had been when she met him as Lady Grey. It honestly made her feel better for escaping him so often if he was like that with everyone.

So after nearly a month of visits, she was surprised when he seemed to be in a bad mood. He landed heavily on the roof and immediately picked up a loose piece of gravel to throw as far as he could. She wasn't sure if he had seen her, since she was sitting quietly in a corner with a sketchbook and some of her latest baked goods.

“You okay?” She asked when he started looking for something else to throw. He startled, badly, and she felt a twinge of guilt for making him jump when he dropped into a defensive stance. He relaxed when he finally took in her harmless sitting position and came to sit down next to her.

“Fine,” he said moodily, draping himself along the ledge behind her. His arm covered his masked eyes and she tilted her head back to study him. “I'm fighting with my dad. He treats me like an idiot, which isn't fair, and expects me to do everything he says just because he's older. I'm nearly an adult, dammit, I have my own ideas and thoughts, you know?”

“Not really, but I haven't seen my parents since I was fifteen so…” Marinette said, smiling sadly. He tilted his head towards her, arm falling away from his eyes, and she felt silly. He was trying to talk about his problem, not hear hers. “Sorry. What were you fighting about?”

“It's complicated. Why haven't you seen your parents?” He sounded genuinely curious, his voice ready to fall into full sympathy if she needed it.

“They don't really live near here,” she said with a shrug. He waited and she felt her worst trait coming out to bite her. “Things were complicated and I had to leave.”

“Did they hurt you?” He asked softly, sitting up and sliding to the floor of the roof to be next to her. She shook her head, biting her lip to keep from oversharing with this weirdly empathetic vigilante. “You know, if you need help with a difficult situation, there are lots of programs-”

“My situation is uniquely difficult,” she cut in, jaw clenching as she felt his eyes on her. “I can't go into details with someone who will probably try to ‘fix’ the situation and make it a million times worse.”

“And if I promise not to do anything without your permission?” He asked quietly, hesitating before reaching out and taking hold of her hand. She resisted for a moment before she felt how warm his hand was, even through the gloves of his suit. She couldn't remember the last time someone had tried to really connect with her. Maybe when she'd met Dick. “You're hardly the first runaway in the history of ever, and I'll bet you have a good reason for it.” 

“Based on what?” she said with a snort. She didn't pull her hand away, though she couldn't say why. He seemed to be thoughtful for a moment and she was pretty sure they were moving past the angry start to their conversation.

“Because you seem like a good person. We've been talking for a while now and you're just…you're kind hearted, you know? Plus, you take time to hand out extra baked stuff to street kids, not to mention some hats you made.”

“I…how did you know that?” She asked, chest tight. He paused and seemed to realise he had said too much. 

“Kids have mentioned you when I talk to them,” he said after a brief silence. “I mean I figured it was you, nobody ever gave me a name. But with the amount of times you've given me food while I'm patrolling…let's just say it didn't take a genius to work it out. And I happen to be trained by the world's greatest detective.” 

She stayed quiet, trying to process the fact that, even though she had been doing her best to stay under the radar, she was still being talked about. Still, it was nice that her efforts to help kids hadn't gone unnoticed. So rather than run away, like she wanted to, she clung onto his hand and leaned over to rest her head on his shoulder. 

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Day 12 of Maribat March is Girl Time!

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Marinette jumped off of the building, swinging across the divide between it and the next one with her yoyo. It never stopped being freeing and she was relieved that she had already cleared it with Batman. Lord knew how he would react to her doing this without seeking his permission first. 

Her next jump was halted when she heard a scream and she dove off the building to find the source. As she fell, she spotted a woman being yanked backwards by her hair and started to plan her attack. It was over quickly and she was securing the assailant when something moved in her peripherals.

“Whoa, sorry!” The person said when Marinette dropped back into a defensive stance, holding their hands up. “I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you. I'm Batgirl.”

“Nice to meet you Batgirl,” Marinette said shyly, waving towards her. The other girl grinned brightly, her red hair gleaming in the darkness. They both relaxed and Marinette took in the purple suit with some appreciation. 

“Pleasure’s all mine Ladybug,” Batgirl replied, spinning her tonfa in one hand. Marinette blushed as she watched the forearm muscles flex as the tonfa spun. “Bats warned us you might venture out here, but he didn't tell us much about what you can do.”

“Just your standard stuff really. Like taking down muggers,” she added, gesturing at the man tied up behind her. “I don't plan on using the other parts of my suit while I'm here, but I can also call for a special item to aid me in fights.”

“Sounds interesting,” Batgirl grinned, tonfa stilling for a moment before resuming their rotation. She glanced behind herself and gave a wave to a bright blur that immediately came over to say hello. “Robin, meet Ladybug. LB, this is Robin.”

“Wow, love the suit!” Robin said grinning brightly.

“I wish I could return the sentiment,” Marinette replied with a slight grimace. “You do know that you are dressed as a traffic light, no? It is mildly horrifying. Also, aren't you cold?” 

Robin spluttered and Batgirl laughed - a win in Marinette's book because Batgirl looked really pretty when she smiled. She tried to push away the warm feeling in her gut. It wouldn't work, she was only there for a couple of months as part of an exchange program, but oh, she could dream. 

“Wanna join us for our patrol?” Batgirl asked when she caught her breath, and Marinette couldn't agree quickly enough.

_ _ _

It had been three weeks of meeting Ladybug for patrols before Dick had to duck out for the night. He had a test at school the following day that Bruce had caught wind of so he was forced to stay home and study. Barbara, however, didn't live at the manor so couldn't be stopped.

“Hey LB, sorry I'm late,” she said as she landed next to the superheroine. She grinned when the other girl's eyes lit up; there was something about Ladybug that made her feel all fizzy inside. “Ro can't make it so it's just you and me tonight.”

“Oh, well that's a shame,” Ladybug replied, though Barbara didn't feel like she meant it all that much. “I brought croissants and macarons too, so sad that he can't have any.” 

Barbara laughed and prepared to start their patrol route. They finished in record time and settled on top of Wayne Enterprises for an impromptu picnic. She had her comms open in case Bruce called for help but for now…

“So you jumped into a T-Rex’s mouth?” Barbara said at the end of a particularly entertaining tale. Ladybug's eyes were sparkling with mirth and she giggled as she nodded. “Christ, you are a special kind of wild LB.” 

“Thanks,” Ladybug shot back, still grinning. Barbara was ridiculously comfortable with the spotted heroine, enjoying spending some time one on one with her. She liked Dick well enough but there was something about having a moonlit picnic with a pretty girl- 

Barbara tried to rein in her wayward thoughts, thinking about all the reasons kissing Ladybug would be a bad idea. Not least of which was that she didn't know her civilian identity which, while not impossible to work, could cause friction down the line. But the reasons seemed silly when Ladybug giggled again, her whole body turned towards Barbara.

She managed to hold out for another ten minutes but as Ladybug leaned in to show her something on her yo-yo Barbara found herself only inches away from her face. Almost without thinking she brushed a gloved hand against the other girl's face. Her eyes were just so blue, and she leaned in slowly.

It was a sweet kiss, short and hesitant, but it was perfect. When she pulled back Ladybug was smiling and it was like they were in a bubble. When she leaned in again Ladybug met her halfway and their second kiss lasted far longer, the Parisian’s hands tangling in her hair.

But suddenly things were less perfect because Ladybug pulled fully away, breathing hard. She had a conflicted look on her face, bottom lip caught between her teeth.

“I really like you, Batgirl,” she said softly a moment later. Barbara froze as she senses a ‘but’ coming. “Like, really like you. The thing is…I'm going back to Paris soon.”

“What?” Barbara felt like something had settled on her chest and she didn't bother to hide the stunned disbelief in her voice.

“I have to go home. I'm only here for an exchange program, it ends tomorrow,” Ladybug explained, regret plain in her voice. “And as much as I like you…my secret identity is more important than anything. I have so much responsibility and I can't…I won't risk making the wrong choice right now.”

“I see,” Barbara murmured, trying to squash the feeling of loss. “I guess…this is goodbye then.”

“Only for now,” Ladybug said fiercely, taking Barbara's hand and squeezing it tightly. “Who knows, maybe the time will be right when we're older.”

They sat there in silence together, Ladybug's head resting on Barbara's shoulder. Barbara thought wistfully about what could have been if they had longer. 

_ _ _

Marinette packed her room up with a heavy sigh. When she had chosen to study abroad for two months, it had been because she wanted time away from Paris following the defeat of Gabriel Agreste. She hadn't expected to get along so well with the vigilantes of Gotham and she certainly hadn't expected to get a crush on Batgirl. 

She checked her phone and sighed again, heading downstairs to get a lift to the airport. She hoped that, some day, she would return to Gotham and meet up with Batgirl again. Maybe when she was better trained as the guardian of the Miraculous she would be more confident sharing her identity with the other girl.

But until that day, she had a lot of work to do.

Part 2

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Day 13 of Maribat March is Eyes Wide Open and a continuation of Valentines day 1, Meet Hurt

@maribatserver

https://archiveofourown.org/works/62690302/chapters/163677532

Damian had endured an entire four days of teasing thus far from his brothers. Tim had told Jason about his supposed ‘special treatment’ of Marinette Dupain-Cheng, the designer that had met with Lucius Fox. From there, Jason and Tim had taken to asking him if he had met any more damsels in distress, their tones mocking and full of glee.

In addition, Tim had found the footage of his - in his opinion - very ordinary rescue of said damsel. He played it regularly, asking both Steph and Jason to weigh in with their opinion on whether he had been pleasant enough with the girl or if he had ‘blown his chances’. It was maddening and he resolutely ignored them all whenever it was discussed. 

The cut on his arm had healed remarkably quickly, and he wondered after a couple of days whether it had been as severe as he had initially presumed. So, on his next volunteering session at the hospital, he asked if one of the nurses would mind taking a look at it, just to ‘ease his mind’. Their findings made him curious as to whether Marinette knew she had started healing his injury or if it was something unconscious she had done.

Regardless, he wanted to speak to her again. She was attractive, and he had been intrigued by the casual way she had sacrificed her own outfit to dress his wound. As she was a young fashion designer on her way to an important meeting he was impressed by her priorities. So he was frustrated that he couldn't ask Tim for information about the next time she was due to be at Wayne Enterprises without giving the annoying man more ammunition to tease him with. 

Fortunately, six days after their encounter, he bumped into her in the building. She was dressed impeccably, her outfit sharp and not a hair out of place. She was waiting for the elevator and he approached her quietly, his only intention to learn more about her.

“Hello, Marinette,” he said in a low voice, biting back a smile that threatened to emerge when she jumped at the sound of his voice. She turned to him with wide blue eyes and he tried not to stare into them for too long. “I'm glad to see you are still in one piece.”

“Oh, yes, um, well that's pretty much entirely thanks to you,” she said with a squeak. Then she grew more serious, eyes flickering to his arm where he knew his wound was mostly healed. “How's your arm doing, monsieur Wayne? I hope there was no deep, lasting damage.”

“It is healing perfectly, thank you for asking,” he said in as warm a voice as he could manage. He thought he saw a glimmer of satisfaction in her eyes which he found interesting too. Perhaps she was aware of her abilities. “I had meant to check whether you had replaced your phone as well. It can be highly frustrating when your easiest form of communication is removed.” 

“Ain't that the truth,” she muttered, face taking on an intriguing shade of red as she glanced up at him. “Um, yeah, I managed to buy a new phone pretty quickly and everything from my old one has been transferred. Which is good, because I did not want to explain to my family and friends how it got damaged.” 

He huffed a laugh and they lapsed into silence as they waited for the elevator. It was pleasant and Damian found he didn't mind her company at all, something he had noticed when he first met her and hadn't expected to upon meeting her again. He was debating venturing into another topic when the elevator arrived and revealed Tim. 

“Oh, good morning Damian,” he said, glee written all over his face. “Miss Dupain-Cheng, lovely to see you again. Off to see Lucius or here for…someone else?” 

“I'm here to sign the papers with Monsieur Fox,” Marinette said brightly, apparently oblivious to the way Tim was glancing at Damian. “But surely you were on your way somewhere, Monsieur Drake? And I must excuse myself, I couldn't bear to be late a second time.”

“Oh, I'm sure Damian doesn't mind walking you there,” Tim said with a smirk. Damian scowled at him but didn't deny it as he followed Marinette into the elevator. He had really only come to Wayne Enterprises to speak with his father but if Marinette was available to speak to…he would hardly turn down the opportunity. 

“I must apologise for my brother, he is insufferable on a good day,” he said after a few moments. She looked at him with clear, blue eyes and he forgot what they were talking about momentarily. She said something in response but he was struggling to focus, something that was mildly alarming. 

“Well, this is my stop,” she said with another smile and his brain successfully deciphered it. He watched her walk away until the doors to the elevator closed on him, leaving him alone with his thoughts. 

_ _ _

Marinette was having an excellent meeting with Lucius Fox. It started with signing papers that would officially begin her contract with Wayne Technologies. Then he had taken her to review their current projects and she was delighted to get a look at state of the art gadgets. 

It was while they were perusing some still in progress defensive pieces that the building alarm sounded and Marinette tensed up. She still flinched whenever anything remotely sounding like an akuma alert went up and it had been well over a year since that had ended. Lucius glanced around and beckoned for her to follow him.

As they neared the exit to the Research & Development area, a blast of cold air made her pause and step back, smoothly tucking the head of her new department out of sight. She was fairly confident that she could play dumb for long enough that she could figure something out and get her new boss out of the way. 

But she wasn't given the chance, a henchman decked out in winter wear - in the middle of August - grabbed her and pulled her against him. She grimaced at the contact but decided against making a move before she knew what she was up against. She was eighty percent certain it was Mr Freeze but it could always be a villain that was just visiting Gotham. 

Eventually she was dragged over to the door leading to the more experimental tech and she immediately started babbling in French, trying to convince them that she was useless. Unfortunately they didn't seem to care until they got to the door and she couldn't open it. 

The man holding her shook her harshly, demanding that she open the door if she didn't want to end up as an ice sculpture. She desperately wanted to correct him and let him know that because she would merely be being frozen she wouldn't technically be a sculpture but didn't want to give away that she knew English. 

It was at that moment that hell broke loose. Someone came crashing through the door and threw something that filled the area with smoke. The grip on her tightened as the henchman started to swing back and forth wildly and she tried to see what she could through the smoke. 

It became clear very quickly that she wasn't going to see through it, at which point she decided to act. Picking up her heel, she jammed it down onto her captor’s foot and jabbed an arm back simultaneously. From the coarse language spewing from his mouth, and the way she was let go, it was highly effective. 

She kept a hold of the henchman's arm and used that to get an idea of where she could do some damage on the man. She wasn't sure if someone would be there to help her shortly but it would be easier for her if she just dealt with it. And after several swift hits to soft parts of the man, she had him writhing on the floor in pain. 

Dropping towards the floor, the air was clearer and she could see several pairs of legs that were twisting nervously back and forth as they searched for the source of the smoke. The noise was chaotic and she slunk over to the closest person to take them down too. 

Working through the room, she quickly found that she wasn't the only one dropping goons. She managed to stay out of the way of whoever it was and the smoke was clearing. By the time she could see clearly again the threat had been neutralised and she could finally see who she had been working with.

“Oh, hello Monsieur Robin,” she said brightly, taking another piece of scrap fabric from her pocket and binding a man's hands. The vigilante looked down at her in surprise and she grimaced before standing up. “I'm sorry if I got in the way, I just wanted to get them squared away as quickly as possible. It's my first day and I have a lot to learn.” 

“Tt, do not be absurd, I appreciate how quickly you moved to aid in handling the situation,” Robin said in a firm tone. She shot him another smile before realising that she hadn't checked on Lucius yet. 

“Monsieur Fox, are you alright?” She asked, rushing over to the older gentleman. 

“Marinette, I think we can drop the formalities,” Lucius said with a bemused smile. “I'm absolutely fine - largely thanks to yourself. That man didn't hurt you when he took you hostage, did he?”

“No, I'm perfectly alright,” she began to say, only to find herself being turned around and checked by Robin. He was quick and clinical and absolutely ignored her protests. Eventually she sighed and relented, allowing him to give her a thorough assessment. 

“It seems you are in excellent health,” Robin said eventually, releasing her. She smiled up at him and was rewarded by a small quirk of a smile from the notoriously stoic vigilante. “I shall leave you to your work.”

As he was about to leave the door opened again and Red Robin stepped in. He was clearly agitated but stopped when he looked towards Marinette and Robin. She gave an awkward wave to the second vigilante and expected them both to leave to deal with whatever they needed to. So she was very surprised when Red Robin turned to Robin with a mischievous grin on his face.

“I see you stopped to check on the civilians,” he observed. Marinette glanced at Robin who looked much more like the menacing man she had researched before coming to Gotham. His lips were pressed in a tight line and his hand was now resting on his katana. 

“Yes, one of them was held hostage and I did an assessment of any potential injuries,” Robin snapped, though there looked to be a reddish tinge to his cheeks. “Don't you have other things to be doing? Things that don't involve you hovering over me?” 

“Ooh, touchy,” Red snarked, still smirking. Marinette frowned and stepped back towards Lucius with a questioning look. Lucius just shrugged, a smile pulling at the corners of his mouth as Red Robin continued. “The building’s clear of Freeze so we just need to round up.”

“Well, thank you for your work on getting us free, Robin. I still have work to do if you don't mind…” Lucius said, looking amused. Both vigilantes nodded and set about collecting the thugs and dragging them away. It didn't take long and Lucius made a point to take Marinette back to the more experimental tech to discuss their plans further.

_ _ _

Damian resolutely stayed away from the R&D department for the rest of the day. He knew he would never hear the end of it from Tim if he didn't and he had had quite enough of his brother's meddling. So it was pure coincidence when he came across her as he was leaving for his volunteer shift at the hospital.

“Oh,” she said as she spotted him, her face brightening in a smile. “I hope you stayed safe during the lockdown earlier, Monsieur Wayne.” 

“Likewise,” he murmured, glancing down at her as she entered the elevator. “And you needn't be formal with me; I don't work for the company.” 

“Oh, but-”

“I'm afraid I will not be answering if you address me as Monsieur Wayne again, Marinette,” he said with mock severity. She flushed and he over exaggerated a scowl. “Unless you are calling me that because you have forgotten my name?”

“N-no! I haven't forgotten your name, Damian- Monsieur W-” she seemed to stumble over her words in her mild panic and he took pity on her.

“I have done nothing to deserve the use of a title and I am in no way your superior here at your work. I would much prefer you call me by my given name,” he said softly. The elevator was approaching the ground floor and he dropped his voice even further. “Please, Marinette?” 

“I'll…I'll try, Damian,” she replied with a small smile, and he tried not to smirk too smugly. 

“I've heard that practice makes perfect; perhaps we should spend some time together to help you grow accustomed to it?” He suggested as they stepped into the foyer of the building. “Perhaps we could get coffee? Or dinner, if you think you might need longer to practice?”

She blushed and stammered a yes before exchanging numbers with him. And if he was in a better mood that evening, only he was privy as to why.

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Day 14! I've got you and we're back to A Black Cat in America

Part 1 Part 2

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Their streak with bad luck of coming across villains continued. It gave plenty of opportunities for Alya to video the local heroes though, so Adrien didn't complain when she could hear him. But since she spent most of her free time cuddling with Nino, that left him plenty of time to bemoan his woes to Marinette.

“I don't know what to tell you, Chaton,” Marinette said one evening while they were in New York. She was messaging people as she spoke, thumbs flying across the screen and it made him pout. He knew she was still in charge of their itinerary while they were in the states, and that the frequent attacks were probably making changes to said itinerary, but still. “At least we don't have to suit up and help out.”

“Bug, did you say we have a day at Style Queen headquarters tomorrow?” He asked in an attempt to get her talking about that. When she only hummed in agreement he let out a huge sigh and threw his head back dramatically. “I really thought this trip was supposed to be about forgetting my breakup, but everyone just keeps leaving me to my thoughts.”

“Oh my god, you're right and I'm so sorry,” Marinette said looking contrite. “Yes, Chloé heard we were coming to New York and asked me to add the building in so she could see you.”

“And you agreed because…?”

“Because she apologised for being mean her entire life and begged me to help her see you,” she said simply, lifting a shoulder in a shrug. She motioned him to come and sit next to her and brought up the messages. “See, she-”

A new notification popped up and she swiped it away far too quickly to be casual. He squinted at her and noticed that a blush was spreading up her neck. Not an unusual occurrence but getting a text was hardly a reason to be embarrassed.

“Bugaboo, what was-”

“Nothing important,” she squeaked before clearing her throat. “Like I was saying, here are the messages she sent about it. I never thought I'd see the day she would apologise to me, but she did. She still insults me a little, but she's trying and I-”

“Why isn't it important?” Adrien demanded, growing ever more suspicious when she blushed harder. Before she could get more than a spluttered denial out he yanked her phone out of her fingers. Flying to her messaging app, he crowed in triumph before stopping to stare. “Mari, why is who I can only assume to be Damian Wayne messaging you?” 

“No reason!” She shrieked, launching herself at him to claw the phone from his grasp. Fortunately, with his catlike reflexes, he flipped backwards off the sofa and used his height advantage to keep it out of her reach. “Adrien, please, those are private!”

After a few more minutes of tussling, the room to Alya and Nino's part of the hotel suite opened. Alya looked annoyed and Adrien felt a little bad that they might have woken her. Not bad enough to give Marinette her phone back but he did give the reporter an apologetic look.

“Why are you two making so much noise? You're gonna get us kicked out.”

“Adrien stole-”

“Marinette’s been flirting with Damian Wayne!” Adrien interjected, making her shriek again and give up on her half hearted attempts at fighting. She leapt onto his shoulders, scrambling until she was seated on them and locking her phone. 

“It's not- I haven't- Adrien that's an invasion of privacy-”

“Wait, seriously? I thought you were just messaging about the publicity thingy,” Alya said, eyes flashing with excitement. 

“We were!” Marinette shouted, throwing herself off of Adrien. She fell in a heap on the sofa, face still a bright red as the rest of them teased her.

_ _ _

“Adri-kins!”

That was the only warning Adrien got before someone just about bowled him over. Only his training as Chat Noir kept him from dropping the person, who pulled back seconds later.

“Oh, God, I'm so sorry,” Chloé said immediately, taking an enormous step back and glancing at Marinette. “I didn't make you uncomfortable, did I?”

“Uh, I guess not,” Adrien said, blinking at her. One of the reasons he'd always dreaded seeing Chloé again was because she would never read his ‘don’t touch me’ cues. Having her back off willingly and apologise…well, it was strange. “Hey Chlo.”

“Are Césaire and Lahiffe off being tourists?” Chloé asked, though without the scowl that he was accustomed to seeing on her. Marinette nodded but was perusing an art portfolio of someone called Kyle Rayner. “Hmph, I suppose they were not overly interested in running into me after all then.”

“They wanted to sightsee long before I told them we were seeing you,” Marinette corrected her, tapping her fingers against a page with swirls of colour. “Hey, do you know if this Rayner guy is available to chat with? I like his art and it's giving me ideas.”

“If anyone knows, Lisa at the front desk will,” Chloé said immediately. “I can go and ask if you want, Dupain-Cheng.”

“No no, I can do it,” she replied, waving the blonde woman off. “Adrien's here to catch up with you, I can network without you both for a bit. Call me when you want to get lunch, yeah?”

And then she was off, a whirlwind of paper and pink, disappearing to the front desk. Adrien smiled fondly after her for several seconds. She was always like that, disappearing when she had a fit of inspiration and blocking out the whole world. 

“Ugh, please don't tell me you're still in love with her,” Chloé said, though she sounded more concerned than disgusted. Adrien rolled his eyes at her, apprehensive now that she was only on her best behaviour around Marinette because she knew she didn't have a choice. “Adri-kins, you deserve someone-”

“Chloé, if that sentence ends with ‘better’ I'm going to have to end this-”

“-who looks at you the way you look at them,” Chloé said loudly, pouting. She looked hurt and Adrien felt a little bit of guilt pool in his stomach. “Adrien, I know I was horrible as a teenager but I've grown up a lot since then. Do you really think Dupain-Cheng would have arranged for this if she didn't believe I had?”

“You're right,” Adrien said, smiling apologetically. “Besides, I'm not in love with Marinette anymore, I'm getting over a break up with Luka. Marinette has her eye on a different person anyway.”

“As fascinating as I'm sure that is, I'm here to catch up with you, Adri-kins. So, tell me everything.”

_ _ _

When Adrien left the Style Queen office that afternoon, he had Chloé's new number and a promise to video chat at least once a month. He'd had a really good morning getting reacquainted with her and was looking forward to getting to know his oldest friend better again.

“I'm glad you had fun with Chlo,” Marinette said with a grin. “She's really changed since collége and when she messaged me to see if she could apologise I was kind of blown away.”

“Weren't you worried she was only doing it so you would get her in touch with me?” Adrien asked, amazed all over again by how forgiving Marinette could be.

“If she'd even once mentioned you during her apology I'd have considered that,” Marinette agreed, fingers flying over her screen again as she presumably messaged Damian. “But she didn't. All she did was say she was sorry for everything she put me through and she understood if I never replied. But her therapist said she needed to reach out to help with her healing so she did.

“It's strange, we're actually kind of friends ourselves now,” she added thoughtfully, putting her phone down to smile at Adrien again. “She was telling me all about her new girlfriend and said she wants us to meet her while we're in New York.”

“What're you two gossiping about?” Alya asked as she slid into the booth they were in. Marinette gave a quick summary while Adrien looked over the menu properly. “Huh, when you told me she messaged you last year I guess I thought that was the end of it.”

“It would have been if she hadn't asked me how things were going,” Marinette shrugged, smiling at the waitress who came to take their orders. “But it's been nice. Her mother has been just as present as she always has so she had to grow up a lot.” 

Adrien nodded along, impressed with both Chloé and Marinette. The former had worked hard to overcome her childhood and the latter had chosen to forgive. If Marinette, who had been the primary target of Chloé's insecure rage, could forgive her old bully and forge a new friendship, he was optimistic about his own renewing friendship too.

“No matter what happens, I've got your back, Chaton,” Marinette said with a sunny smile. He grinned back, comfortably reminded of how well she knew him and his thoughts.

Part 4

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Day 15 of Maribat March is Baby Names! Taking me back to Not a Fan of Surprises

@maribatserver

https://archiveofourown.org/works/60011551/chapters/163781575

Marinette lay with her feet kicked up on Damian's lap, her hand resting on her swollen belly. Damian rubbed one of her feet gently, relishing the little sighs he elicited from her. After a couple more minutes she continued her train of thought. 

“What about…Thomas? After my papa and your grandfather?” She mused, head lolling back. She was seven months pregnant now and seemed to be constantly tired so Damian tried to help her relax whenever he could. 

“It's a wonderful name, my love,” he said, running his hands further up her calves to relieve more tension. “I know you have always been partial to the name Emma, for a girl as well.”

“Hmm, I'm not sure anymore,” she said, lifting her head to look at him. “I always had someone else in mind when I toyed with the idea of Emma, Louis and Hugo.”

“Then perhaps…Amara? I think it is quite a pretty name.”

“Amara…” Marinette murmured, lips curling upwards in a soft smile. “I love it! Okay, so Amara for a girl and Thomas for a boy. And for the surname-”

“Dupain-Cheng,” Damian said without hesitation. She looked over at him, smiling, and he quirked an eyebrow. “Do you have an issue with that?”

“Not at all, mon cœur,” she said, sighing as he moved to her other leg and massaged that too. “I'm just a little surprised that you don't want to continue your father's name, all things considered.”

“Well, I was raised as an Al Ghul before I became a Wayne and it took me a long time to come to terms with what being a Wayne meant. I would like it if our child had the opportunity to live outside of the shadow of my surname for as long as possible. Besides, I have been considering changing my last name to match anyway.” 

“Seriously?” Marinette looked at him again, her eyes wide and full of astonishment. It made him chuckle as he nodded. “Wow, that's a pretty big change, Dami.” 

“As I said, it would hardly be the first time I have changed my surname. And this would be a far happier reason to do so.”

They sat in silence for a while, Damian wanting to give her time to process the news. Honestly, he had considered changing his name as soon as they married but hadn't wanted the media circus that followed their wedding to start blasting his new name everywhere. 

The communicator went off and Marinette groaned, starting to slide her feet to the floor, only to be tugged back gently.

“Marinette, you're not going out there,” Damian chastised gently, slipping out from under her. When she protested he gave her a flat look that he softened with a kiss. “I will return soon, feel free to order yourself something, or message me and I will bring something back when I am done. But please, rest, my love.” 

“Ugh, fine, but only because my back is actually killing me,” she said, pouting slightly. He pressed another kiss to her lips before slipping away to join his family on whatever the latest issue was. 

_ _ _

Marinette woke the next morning to find a message from Damian apologising and saying that he would be staying at the manor overnight. She squinted at it suspiciously and sighed before heaving herself out of bed. She shoved down the anxiety that tried to claw its way out of her belly as she threw on some comfortable clothes and grabbed her car keys. 

Even if she couldn't tell the difference between Damian's usual texts and this one, he had been fastidious in returning home every night ever since she had hit the third trimester. The fact that he hadn't returned was alarming and it was a struggle to keep to the speed limit as she made her way to the manor. The only thing that had prevented her from transforming and making her way there over the rooftops was the fact that Damian's brothers would have called her if it was anything life threatening, regardless of the time. And if Damian learned she had done it when he was okay, he would have fretted over her incessantly.

Still, it was a relief to pull up in front of the large building and she abandoned her car there, not bothering to check if she had successfully locked it before she all but sprinted up the steps. Alfred, as always, seemed to be expecting her and merely pointed up towards Damian's old room. She squeaked a thanks as she blew past him. 

As she approached it, Dick tried to intercept her by asking how she was doing. He stopped trying when she leveled a glare at him that usually stopped Damian in his tracks. She stormed into his old room, not pausing as Jason leapt away from the bed with his hands in the air.

“In my defence, I told them they should've just called you,” he said immediately. “It was Dick's idea to send the text.” 

“Little Wing!”

“What? I told you she would know. She always knows. And I ain't going down with this burning wreckage if I can help it.” 

“What. Happened.” Marinette's voice was taut and Dick visibly recoiled at the anger she was sure he could hear in it. 

“It's not as bad as whatever you're thinking,” he said hurriedly, hands held out in a placating gesture. He swallowed when she growled, and continued. “Really, he just, uh, got a little knife wound but it was deep enough to need stitches. But he kept trying to leave once he was sewn up so we had to- we sedated him to keep him in place. We only sent the text so you wouldn't worry, really.” 

“And how is that marvelous plan working out for you?” She demanded icily. “Never mind, get me a decent chair to sit in so I can be here when he wakes up. Idiots.”

_ _ _

When Damian woke, he felt foggy. There was a dull, stinging sensation in his side and he could hear someone muttering nearby. The last thing he really remembered was arguing with Tim about how he would be getting home- 

Flinching awake fully, he winced as he sat up and realised he was in his bedroom at the manor. Whoever was muttering was out of sight, most likely just outside the room as the door was ajar. Now that he was paying attention he noticed the much more prevalent noise of his wife snoring in the armchair next to the bed.

He frowned and started to stand, planning to move her to the bed instead but she woke then, her eyes moving straight to him. She gave him a disapproving look and leaned forward to make sure he stayed put. But the sound of movement brought the person lurking outside into the room before they could talk. 

“Lil D, you're awake!” Dick looked cheerful but sounded guilty. Damian didn't need the nettled look his wife was giving the older man to hazard a guess as to why he was waking up at the manor rather than home. “How's that stab wound?” 

“Tt, it's fine, Richard,” he said with a scowl. “Am I allowed to return home now?” 

“Dames, we just wanted to make sure-” 

“And in doing so my heavily pregnant wife has been sleeping in an armchair,” Damian cut in, frowning in disappointment. “I'm sure you had your reasons, Richard, but now I would like to return home so that Marinette can rest properly.” 

“I mean, you're both already here-”

“I was not asking for permission,” he said firmly, moving to haul himself out of bed.

“Mon cœur, wait for a moment, please,” Marinette said at last, laying a hand on his arm. “Will you let Alfred check your injury before we leave? I'm not sure how well I would be able to get you care if something went wrong at home.” 

He grumbled but acquiesced quickly. Marinette was a force of nature when she wanted something and he was not ready to argue with her. And it was worth it for the smile she aimed his way.

[maribatserver]

Day 17 is Ghosting! Going back to an oldie with my BioDad Bruce Wayne fic

@maribatserver

https://archiveofourown.org/works/63940042

Jason woke up in Marinette's room, her head on his shoulder and arms wrapped around his waist. He took a deep breath, enjoying the way she snuggled closer when he breathed out. He let his hand trace her leg and hip, fingers trailing as they traveled up to linger on her cheek.

She stirred but didn't wake, grumbling under her breath as she rolled away from him. He grinned, kissing her neck gently before pulling himself out of her bed. Looking at the time, he saw that it was only 5:30 in the morning. Given how she had looked the day before, he was pretty sure he had a couple of hours before she would be awake, and that wasn't accounting for her habit of oversleeping from way back when they both lived at Wayne Manor.

Her kitchen was basically empty of food. He checked the fridge and found some expired milk and a couple of yogurts. He used his phone to check for local bakeries and a twenty-four hour convenience store before grabbing a spare piece of paper and scrawling a quick message to let her know he would be coming back soon; just on the off chance she woke before he returned.

Checking by the front door of the apartment he found a keyring with a single key that fit her front door lock. Slipping out of the apartment, he made a beeline for the closest bakery.

_ _ _

Marinette woke up, wondering when she'd finally passed out. Her head was heavy and aching and she wondered when she had last had a glass of water. She stretched and reached for her phone, noting that the time was around 8:30 in the morning.

It was fairly common lately for her to reach a point of sleep deprivation so bad that she couldn't really remember the last twelve to eighteen hours of consciousness. Her heart thumped heavily as she looked at the box of Jason's things, spilled across the end of the bed and the floor. It also wasn't unusual for her to rummage through that box to keep him close.

She stroked a hand down the soft t-shirt she was wearing - one of Jason's that he had left behind when looking for Sheila - and felt slightly better. It was weird, she had been in such a depressive state for the past eleven days, but today felt…different. Maybe it was the amount of sleep she had gotten. 

Using the sudden rush of energy, she brushed her teeth and hopped in the shower. Towelling her hair dry, she opened the missed calls and messages on her phone, wincing at the number of them. They were almost all from Dick and Tim, with one or two from Conner and a single message from Bruce reminding her that there was a gala at the end of the month.

Throwing on an oversized hoodie and leggings, she frowned at her phone as she made her way to the kitchen. And paused, because even if she had mostly been surviving on coffee lately, it shouldn't smell that strong when she'd been asleep for however long.

“Morning Mari,” Jason said from her kitchen counter, making her freeze and drop her phone. She stared at him, trying to make sense of him being in her apartment. He looked at her, confusion written across his face as he finished heating up whatever was in the oven.

“What're you doing here?” She asked as he slid two hot croissants off a tray and onto a plate. He paused and looked at her more closely.

“I mean, you asked me to stay? Plus, I fell asleep.”

“Right, sure, but when did you get here?” She finally managed to move closer to him, wondering if she could casually touch him and make sure this wasn't a hallucination. The look he gave her was more hesitant that time, like he was unsure whether he had overstepped.

“Yesterday. Are you doing okay? You look like you're doing better,” he said, coming towards her and cradling her face. She flushed, sure that she wasn't hallucinating but thinking that maybe this was just a dream. 

“I have no idea what's going on, but if this is a dream I'm going to be so disappointed when I wake up,” she whispered, leaning into his touch.

“Not a dream,” he murmured, kissing her forehead. “But it's very encouraging that you didn't say nightmare. So do you just not remember anything from yesterday?”

“Not even a little bit,” she admitted, closing her eyes. “But I don't need to know anything if you're here.”

“I'd still kind of like you to remember it,” Jason said, and the low timbre of his voice made her shiver. “But it can't be helped I guess. When was the last time you slept, before last night?”

“I don't know,” she said simply, daring to reach for his hands and smiling when he didn't move away. “But I do feel way better rested than I have in a while.”

“Great, I'll consider it enough if you eat something as well. Your cupboards were kind of bare, so I went and got breakfast for us.”

Moving slowly, she followed him to her barstools, mechanically eating whatever he placed in front of her. He smiled at her and she melted a little. She also took a large gulp of the coffee he'd made her, sighing in contentment as the warmth spread through her.

“Since you don't remember yesterday,” Jason said at last. “We should probably talk about…the last couple of weeks.”

“Hmmm, yeah, talking about things would be good.”

_ _ _

Once Jason had caught her up on the events of the previous night, he felt hesitant. She looked miles better physically than she had the night before but he was very concerned that she didn't remember anything from the night before. He pushed a second prepackaged selection of fruit in front of her, frowning when she shook her head.

“If I eat anything else I'll be sick,” she said softly. She was still looking at him like he was a mirage, or a ghost, and it made him feel panicky. “So…you're sticking around this time? Not that you have to-”

“Yeah, I'm staying,” he said softly, scooting his chair closer to her. He rested his arm on the back of her chair and leaned down until his head rested on her shoulder. “I'm really sorry, for everything. I was so worried about messing up that I thought it would be better for you if I just…wasn't around. But I missed you and I'm just not selfless enough to stay away anymore.”

“You're so dumb,” she giggled, resting her cheek on him. “Do-over? It's not much but we could go to a movie or something this weekend and then get takeout and bring it back here.”

“That sounds perfect,” he murmured, relaxing fully at last. They stayed like that until Marinette's phone sounded again and she sighed before picking it up. “I should probably go home, I didn't mean to crash here last night.” 

“Okay, but we're definitely on for Saturday?” She sounded so insecure and Jason hated it. He tilted her chin up and kissed her fiercely, hands tangling in her still damp hair. He pulled back sooner than he wanted to and looked straight into her eyes. 

“Definitely.”

[maribatserver]

Day 18, Chronic Pain! Back to When a Bat Falls in Love With a Bug

@maribatserver

Barbara woke up once again to a deep burning sensation in her leg. The first time it had happened she'd had a flare of hope that almost made the pain worth it. But after half a year of waking up to it with no movement in either legs, she had resigned herself to the fact that it didn't mean anything.

She had several messages from Dick and Tim, all mentioning something about a new hero moving to the area and that they were planning on greeting them that night. She hummed thoughtfully as she ignored the burning sensations and wheeled herself to her kitchen for a cup of coffee. It was nearing lunchtime so she also threw one of her ready meals in the microwave.

The day passed pretty easily, some of the cases she had been reviewing closed and sent back to GCPD. It wasn't much but it kept her busy during the day and the bats kept her pretty occupied at night. She and Dick had tried dating for a while but it hadn't worked out. It was something of a relief when he started dating Kor’i, and Barbara had stopped being the one he called when he was lonely. 

When darkness fell once more, she donned her headset and greeted the team. There was an undercurrent of excitement, even to Bruce's voice as they chattered and the appointed meeting time approached. She felt a pang that she wouldn't be part of the group to greet the new hero but pushed it away as ruthlessly as she could. 

“Oh my gosh, there she is!” Came Tim's excited voice and Barbara wished she was in the cave so she could pull up the suit camera feeds. She could do it from her apartment but the screen was tiny and hardly worth the effort. “Hi! It's so cool to meet you.”

“Hello,” came a light, vaguely familiar voice. It was accented and Barbara frowned as she tried to place it. “It's been a while, thank you for allowing me back into your city Monsieur Batman.” 

“It’s great to see you again Ladybug,” Dick said, and Barbara started. She muted herself and muttered an oath as she cleaned up the coffee she had spilled over her notes. The conversation continued over her comms but she didn't tune back in until she heard herself mentioned.

“Is Batgirl no longer part of the team?” Ladybug asked curiously. Barbara wanted to believe it was more than just curiosity in the other woman's voice but she bit her tongue.

“Oh, she is, she's just not out in the field anymore,” Dick said. There was a note of sadness in his voice and Barbara felt a twinge of longing to be back out. It had been a while since she had wanted to be on the rooftops but suddenly being confronted with the girl who had caught her attention as a young vigilante she wished she was out there to greet her too.

“Will I be able to see her? I had been hoping to catch up with her,” Ladybug replied, and Barbara could imagine the pout on her face as if she was standing in front of her. 

“Maybe,” Dick hedged, and the conversation moved on to the logistics of having Ladybug as a more permanent fixture in Gotham.

When the meeting ended, Ladybug said she would see them again soon before, presumably, yo-yoing away. And Barbara pushed away the thoughts of the heroine for later, when she wasn't needed as Oracle. 

_ _ _

Marinette had been back in Gotham for a month before she had to admit that a large part of the reason she had wanted to come back was seeing Batgirl again. She had tried to convince herself it was to balance the chaos energy she knew lurked in the city but when it became clear that Batgirl wouldn't be reconnecting with her she felt a keen loss and tried to bury it. For better or worse she had committed to helping Gotham and needed to come to terms with the missed opportunity from her youth. 

She grabbed the sketchbook she had bought just for the purpose of designing for her new clients and headed to her motorbike. It was exciting, knowing she was going to be designing for people as high profile as the Waynes and she wanted to have a fresh book to fill with ideas. They'd mentioned that a family friend would be joining and that the woman was in a wheelchair. 

It was something that would challenge her, which she was nervous about. But she didn't want to turn down such a wonderful opportunity just because she hadn't practiced making accessible clothing. She shouted goodbye to Adrien as she left their shared apartment and then she was off.

Wayne Manor was ridiculously impressive. The gothic architecture and large grounds made her heart stop in her throat and her mind whir with inspiration. Dramatic ball gowns and grunge aesthetic ripped denim, that's what it made her think of. Maybe a charcoal grey suit with-

“You must be Miss Dupain-Cheng,” an elderly voice interrupted her train of thought. She turned to see an honest to goodness butler, dressed in a starched suit and standing just as stiffly. “Please, allow me to take your helmet and jacket.” 

“Oh, um, sure,” she stammered nervously, allowing him to take her helmet as they stepped over the threshold of the building. “I'll keep the jacket on though, thank you, I get cold easily.”

“Perhaps a cup of coffee, to keep you warm? Or perhaps tea?” 

“Either would be lovely, thank you Monsieur.” 

“Of course, I shall get that started as soon as you're settled with Masters Bruce and Tim.”

He was courteous and she tried to relax as they strolled through the halls. The walls were adorned with prim photos of people she presumed were long past. They looked every bit the uncomfortable, rigid poses she had grown used to seeing in homes like this. It didn't usually reflect the people inside the homes fully, so she only paid them a little mind. 

“Master Bruce, your guest has arrived,” the butler said as they entered a drawing room and Marinette smiled timidly at the, frankly, imposing man who looked up at the words. He wasn't too much older than she was, really, maybe fifteen to twenty years at most. He had a sharpness in his eyes that made her study him a little more closely but the rest of his face was in a relaxed smile.

“Thanks so much, Alfred,” Bruce said, nodding to the butler without taking his eyes off of Marinette. “Lovely to meet you in the flesh, Miss Dupain-Cheng. Jagged has given us raving reviews of your work and Tim here insisted we get in touch.” 

“I'll try not to disappoint, Monsieur Wayne,” she said, giving him her best attempt at a charming smile. 

“Oh, please, call me Bruce,” he laughed, though there looked to be something painful on his mind if the flash in his eyes meant anything. She agreed, but only by getting him to agree to call her Marinette. “We really just wanted to talk about getting new suits for the next gala we're hosting, which is in two months.”

“Of course, though I believe the email said something about two others that are to be included? Richard and Barbara?” 

“Hah, they'll be here eventually,” the younger boy said, glancing at his phone. “Dick said he was running late but would pick Babs up on his way.”

“D'accord, we'll start with you two now, and perhaps by the time they're here I'll be ready for them,” Marinette said, smiling sunnily. She settled into her seat and the next half an hour passed quickly, discussions about what they wanted going smoothly. 

“Sorry we're late!” Trilled a voice from the doorway. Marinette glanced up from where she was sketching and immediately forgot what she was doing. She wasn't sure she'd ever seen such a beautiful woman in her life - and she knew plenty of gorgeous people. The man who was pushing her wheelchair continued chattering - something about traffic and hair gel - but Marinette was struck dumb by the redhead. 

“This is Marinette, the designer Jagged recommended when I spoke to him about needing new formal wear,” Bruce was saying when she finally snapped out of her stupor. She flushed as the woman - Barbara, she assumed - glanced at her with a friendly smile. “She said she'll need to get an idea of what you want to wear and find comfortable before she takes measurements.” 

“Great, I can go last though,” Barbara said, wheeling herself forward towards Marinette. Marinette resisted the urge to fling her sketchbook away in a panic but it was a close thing. She couldn't remember the last time she had felt this flustered - maybe when Adrien had asked for her autograph? She didn't know. “Wow, you're crazy talented, is that a design for Timmy?”

“Mhm,” she squeaked as Dick came to look over her shoulder. She tried to focus on him rather than Barbara, turning and addressing him directly as she ignored her hammering heart. “If you have an idea of what you want for your outfit I can make notes.” 

When she wasn't looking at Barbara, it felt possible to keep her professional air about her. Her face felt like it was constantly on fire, but she didn't stutter and she didn't drop anything. The real challenge came when she started taking measurements.

“You don't have to take my measurements if it's too difficult,” Barbara said kindly once they were alone. “Things usually don't fit perfectly in the chair anyway, so no-one will notice.”

“No!” Marinette exclaimed, flushing when Barbara looked at her, startled by her outburst. She took a deep breath and tried to force a calm through her veins. “No, I want to make something that fits you. It's not the chair it's…I'm just a little nervous around people sometimes.”

“You did just fine with Dick and Bruce,” Barbara observed and Marinette bit her lip. The other woman seemed to take pity on her after a moment. “Okay, just tell me what you need me to do to make this as easy as possible on you.”

Between the pair of them, they managed to get accurate measurements. Marinette was the colour of her Ladybug suit by the end of it, but they were good measurements. Marinette thanked her for her time before looking at the time and apologising and explaining that she had other work that evening.

When she got back to her apartment, Adrien was waiting to hear all about it. They'd come a long way since their teen crushes and their friendship now meant the world to Marinette. So she of course blurted out what was most on her mind as soon as he asked how it went.

“Awfully,” she wailed, throwing herself onto their sofa. Adrien, used to her dramatics, only raised his eyebrows and waited. “I was a mess, just because somebody was too pretty.” 

“Why didn't you do research on the Waynes before you went?” Adrien asked, sounding exasperated.

“I did! It wasn't even a Wayne that was too pretty, she's a family friend and she's gorgeous. Like, stop your heart beautiful. And I had to take her measurements, and she was really sweet and nice and-”

“Okay, I think I get it, Buginette,” he said, pulling her into a hug. She always focused better when she had something to tether her and she was so glad he knew that about her. “Why don't you just ask her out?” 

“Because they're hiring me, she's technically a client and-”

“Okay, so wait until she's not anymore and use this time in between to get to know her,” he said firmly, flicking her ear to reprimand her. She gave a squawk of indignation but he only laughed at her. The rumble of his laugh helped to settle her further, its familiarity soothing.

“Fine, you're right,” she said with a sigh. “Now get off me, I have research to do on accessible clothing.”

Part 3