#( ic ask ; vivian drake )

[heartsechoed]

“ it’s been a long day. why don’t you stay here tonight? i can take the sofa. " robin to viv

@apaise

even with their relationship steadily progressing over the past few weeks ( robin isn’t out to arrest her at every turn, and actually laughs at her jokes now ), vivian wouldn’t dare call them friends. she’s not delusional enough to let herself believe robin actually sees her as anything more than a criminal.

if she hadn’t heard the news of tony stark’s passing, vivian would’ve been able to figure it out from the very first time she broke into stark mansion. there were reminders of him everywhere – as well as signs of robin’s grief. closed doors and blinds, old pictures and clothes scattered at every corner. there was so much in this place that vivian could never grasp in her hold.

robin never speaks of him, and vivian knows better than to ask. it’s much easier to bicker, to continue this game of cat and mouse in the parts they play so well. that’s why it shocks vivian, when robin so readily offers her a place to sleep. they had never spent the night together, despite being in each other’s company until late hours. it feels intimate in a way the thief is not used to, nothing like her casual dalliances with strangers she’ll never see again. robin is trusting her to stay in her home, a place that is clearly closed to many.

“ – how do you know i won’t just steal some of your paintings or fancy gadgets? ” she hangs onto humor like a crutch, the smile on her lips not nearly as effortless as usual. she wonders if robin can see the hesitation in her demeanor – that, for all that vivian teases and flirts, she’s wary of stepping into robin’s personal space this way.

“ if you’re sure, ” she adds with raised hands, fingers wiggling for theatrics. “ i promise to keep my hands to myself – unless you’d like them elsewhere. ”

[fatescattered]

@apaise sent: ❛ i was worried something happened to you. ❜

well, this was certainly not the reception vivian was expecting. robin had never outright thrown her out whenever she appeared in her home ( already unusual, in hindsight ), but she didn't exactly welcome vivian with open arms either. she seemed different this time, though. her words weren't laced with annoyance or judgment - if vivian was reading her expression right ( and she liked to think she could ), robin was actually concerned.

the thief remains uncharacteristically quiet for a moment, eyeing the other for a moment longer. vivian wouldn't dare assume their relationship to be close... but didn't she keep coming back to slip through robin's window every other night? didn't robin let her?

" worried? about me? " she can't help the slight smile tugging at her lips. robin might think it playful or teasing; but it's far more genuine than vivian's lighthearted tone lets on. " because i didn't come visit for a few days? i didn't think you'd care. " for once, her remark rings honest, though perhaps only to her ears. the last thing vivian expected was for robin to miss her in her absence.

vivian would be lying if she said she didn't miss her too, just a little.

" got busy with a big target. and then i was laying low after a run-in with the cops. " why was she telling her that? it wasn't as thought robin didn't know about vivian's day job, but vivian shouldn't be announcing her plans so plainly either. maybe that's why she stayed away, too. to keep robin in the dark. the cops in this city were painfully incompetent, but what if they followed her to robin's home? what if they tied vivian's crimes to her? she couldn't risk that.

" i'm fine. " vivian takes a silent step towards robin, gaze never breaking away. " why were you worried? "

[warsraging]

“ will you kiss me on the porch in front of all your stupid friends? ” Rae @ Viv

folklore meme  |  @ghaisgeach  |  accepting

His question had her smiling     not the usual playful, almost knowing smile that often rests on Vivian’s lips, but a genuine, almost endeared on instead. For all that she and Rae were open with each other, they weren’t always the best at voicing their feelings; certainly not in such a blunt way, one that left no room for doubt about their intentions. “That’s the most romantic thing anyone has ever said to me,” she couldn’t help but joke, but the look in her eyes made it clear she was but jesting, that at the end of the day, she wanted the same thing as him.

Her hand settled on the back of his neck, gently tugging him forward to close the distance between them. The way their lips meat wasn’t impulsive, but deliberate. There was no hesitation in her kiss, in the gentle curve of her lips as they formed a smile against his. “I think we got a nice audience for that one.” Her voice was quiet, her tone audibly playful. “But if you’d like to give it another go...”

[lady-literature]

for us to collide (part 4)

anyway who actually expected me to end this thing in 4 chapters lol

rip me ig

Read on Ao3 | part 1 | part 2 | part 3 | part 4 | part 5 (final) | deleted scene

After the not-so-impromptu interrogation courtesy of her friends (because there was no way they hadn’t planned that, it was too coordinated) Robin doesn’t stop by for two weeks.

Which is… fine. Marinette is plenty busy anyways. The extra time she has free now that she isn’t entertaining a bratty vigilante, goes to more productive uses of her time. Like watching bad horror movies with her friends and jeering at the horrible acting and special effects.

(Red Hood stops by in the middle of watching Grizzly Rage and proceeds to rant for twenty minutes about ‘shitty, unrealistic blood splatters’. Marinette has long since passed the point of being worried about it.)

So, yeah. She doesn’t see Robin.

But Damian, oddly enough, seeks her out.

It’s early, and there isn’t anyone else in the studio right now which means Marinette has her music blasting and she’s humming along as she hand paints silk for Clara’s dress. It’s loud and she’s in her zone, so it’s only by Tikki warning her that she realizes someone entered her sanctuary.

Her eyebrows raise when she sees who it is.

“Uh, bonjour Damian," she greets confusedly, reaching over to lower the volume on her speakers. "I hadn’t expected to see you here. Is there something you need?”

He stops before her workstation, only slightly bigger than the ones the rest of her staff use due to the sheer amount of open commissions she normally has. She has an actual office on this floor, but Chloé uses it more than she does. Marinette likes the open space and being around her designers more than she likes the privacy.

His eyes catch on the two bouquets of flowers she’s yet to take home, neither of which have even begun to wilt—and likely won’t. (She’ll have to take them home soon before people start asking questions.)

“I was called here by Father, but he’s currently indisposed. I’ve been told to wait.”

She waits a moment for him to continue, and when he doesn’t, she asks, “So you came to visit me?”

“Yours is the only tolerable presence to be found.” His lips purse, and he crosses his arms. “And that includes that imbecile Drake who is no doubt still in his office like the pitiful insomniac he is.”

Her tongue is already halfway around a joke about excuses—she didn’t befriend Felix for nothing, okay? She knows how people like Damian work—when she realizes what he just said.

“Wait. Tim’s been here all night?”

Damian snorts. “He certainly didn’t return to the manor.”

She’s out of her seat in an instant, frowning and muttering up a storm as she rummages through the storage cubes pushed up against the far wall. She has a blanket, pillow and plain cotton shirt in her hands before Damian registers that she even moved.

“I’m going to kill your brother,” she says simply. “Would you like to come with?”

She’s gotten closer to Tim since working in Wayne Tower. He’s a notorious recluse and rarely leaves his office when he’s in the building, but Marinette makes it a point to visit him during lunch and before she leaves for the night.

He isn’t one of her Waynes, but he is a Wayne and her Waynes love and care for him so there’s not much of a difference really. She does like to think they might be something close to friends at this point though. And if the way Tim comes down to visit whenever he ventures out of his office means something, she might even be right.

Another thing that should be noted, is that Marinette is very much a ‘ride or die’ kind of person when it comes to the people she cares about. She will ruthlessly bully her loved ones into taking better care of themselves on threat of death because she is the semi-hypocritical mom friend and damn proud of it.

Damian looks her up and down, eyes lingering on the items in her hands and the determined set to her jaw and says, “Of course.” Then he’s plucking her things from her hands, offering her his arm and saying, “Shall we?”

Marinette laughs as she loops her arm with his. “We shall.”

***

She spends ten minutes scolding Tim before wrangling him onto the couch in his office and wrapping him up in the blanket so tightly he’d need to be an escape artist to get out of it. He tries to struggle anyway, but Marinette has too much practice at this and he doesn’t stand a chance in hell.

Damian stands at her shoulder and smirks the entire time, eyes dancing with amusement as she forces the CEO of Wayne Enterprises to take a fucking nap. Then, she’s treated to the sound of his surprised laughter as she begins switching out all of Tim’s regular coffee for magic-decaf—not that Damian knows it’s magic.

(By the devilish smirk playing at his lips, she’s starting to think that maybe Damian really is just as sadistic as Duke and Jason say he is.)

***

Damian starts dropping by more often after that (read: starts dropping by at all). Not that Marinette minds. She quite likes his company, actually.

He normally stops by first thing in the morning when Marinette is the only one in the workshop, walking in like he owns the place. For the first couple days, he asks about Ladybug and the rest of Paris’ Court, claiming that he’s curious about them.

She answers them, but only as far as she’d answer them for any reporter and is careful not to give away any sensitive information not known to the public. He gets a bit frustrated at one point, complaining that she must know more, but she stays stubbornly silent about it and, sometimes, steers the conversation deftly to the Great Bat and his Flock instead.

He eventually stops asking about the Parisian superheroes and instead their morning conversations turn to a thousand random things. Complaints and anecdotes and a silly back and forth between the two.

Marinette’s never been much of a morning person but having Damian there to keep her company is… nice.

She almost finds herself looking forward to mornings now.

***

When her Waynes learn that she’s started a food kitchen and makes a habit of spending her weekend there, they immediately insist on joining her, despite her protests.

“You guys really don’t have to do this,” she says even though the three of them are already in their aprons and Cass is eyeing the boucher, Vivian, and her collection of knives with glittering interest.

Duke grins at her, “We know, M. But we want to.”

Jason finally turns back to her from where he’s been staring at the kitchen with something just shy of awe on his face. “You’re downright incredible, you know that?” he waves a hand out at the seating area, and then at the people in the kitchen assembling the healthiest and cost-efficient meals she and Felix could find after days spent researching. “I would’ve killed for something like this when I was on the streets.”

“It’s not just me who’s got this up and running-” she tries protesting but then Fiona, the woman Marinette actually put in charge of this place, is at her side and all but shoving the four of them into stations.

Marinette ends up by the pastries, like always, and she can see Jason making sandwiches. Duke's been roped into making eggs and bean casseroles and Cass, by some grace, actually ended up by Vivian and is having a blast cutting up all the meats as fast as she can.

They don’t stop until lunch, all four of them helping prepare meals for the upcoming week in bulk. After, they all go out for ice cream by the pier and Jason smears chocolate on her nose and Duke carries her around on his back when she complains about being tired.

Cass takes pictures of it all and later, Marinette gets them all printed out.

It ends up being a really good day.

***

The buzz from the charity gala and all the press regarding her and Damian’s non-existent relationship had calmed down weeks ago. There was still the odd article about Marinette being seen with her odd assortment of Waynes and the newspapers still called her ridiculous names when they got a picture, but it was about as close to normal as she gets.

The quiet lulled her into a false sense of security.

Ice Prince and Sweetheart Finally Seen on Date: Fairy Tale Romance or Publicity Stunt?

The ‘date’ in question was a coffee and lunch run for her designers and also Tim (because kwami knew he'd work through lunch if allowed).

Damian normally didn’t stay past Lilliane arriving in the morning (the poor dear was chronically late and always the last to arrive) but he hadn’t shown up until after she came that day and overcompensated by hours—which she hadn't minded. He kept to the fringes of her workspace and didn't distract her, instead focusing on his own thing. She wasn’t quite sure what he was up to, but she knew he was switching between his computer and sketchpad every so often.

(She's pretty sure he was hiding from Dick for some reason. He’s the only Wayne brother who doesn’t visit her at work, seeing as they have their bi-weekly gymnastic sessions; recently, with the addition of Mar’i, who still calls her ‘twin’ and whom Marinette still adores.)

And then lunch had rolled around, and it was Marinette’s turn to go out so she brought Damian with since he was still there.

They were out together for forty-five minutes. Tops.

“Why me?” she whines into the surface of her desk.

Damian, the asshole, just laughs at her and she can’t even be mad about it because he’s only just started laughing around her and not hiding behind so many of his walls. He laughs and Marinette knows it's precious so instead of shooting him the glower he deserves, she finds herself having to hide the smile slowly creeping on her face.

***

They’re splashed across the papers again less than a week later, only this time she has her Waynes there too.

Marinette's wearing her bright red sundress and she's somehow convinced Damian to wear a jacket with elaborate crowns and snowflakes embroidered up the sides. Because, as Chloé says: if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.

They see the camera this time and the photo splashed across the page the next day is of Marinette laughing with Jason’s arm slung across her shoulders as both he and Damian flip off the camera. Meanwhile, Duke and Cass stand just far enough in frame to capture their expressions of pain and amusement respectively.

(Marinette makes a mental note to order apology gift baskets for the PR department.)

There are a lot of headlines the next day about Marinette’s ‘harem of Waynes’ and how she’s a ‘horrible influence on such bright children’. She spends about ten minutes trying to decide whether she should be horrified or laugh at the sheer ridiculousness of it and eventually decides on both.

Adrien, the little shit, sees the headline and immediately prints it out to hang in her kitchen.

It reappears every time she tries to take it down.

***

Gotham does not smile upon daytime heroes.

Not to say that Gotham really smiles on anyone, but it’s especially vicious to those that think they’re owed anything. She’s heard the way Gothamites talk about Superman and The Flash—it’s not exactly what one would call adoring.

But Ladybug's been a daytime hero her entire career and it is not difficult to see that there's something distinctly different about the way daytime heroes and Gotham’s vigilantes operate.

Something more vicious, maybe; something more restrained.

Without the light of day and without the people’s eyes watching them at every moment, the Gotham Bats have become something else entirely.

Signal, their Daytime Protector, is especially strange.

A bat who's meta, straddling the line between day and night. The Day Patrol, trained by the night.

Sometimes, when she and Signal talk about heroing, there is such an odd type of disconnect that it throws her. Nothing horrible or major, but little things she’s sure she wouldn’t notice if she wasn’t so intimately familiar with it all herself.

They don’t always talk about heroing though. After two months, Ladybug is proud to say she seems to be worming her way past his outer shell nicely. He tried so hard to keep his distance from her, but Ladybug’s always liked a challenge, and it isn’t long before she has him relaxing around her. 

Well, for a definition of relax anyway. He's still a bat after all.

But then, it’s pretty easy to get past Signal’s barriers when she’s already had practice breaking through the more stubborn bats like Robin and, to an extent, Hood. Not that Signal, or any of the bats, know that.

Which, speaking of the bats, isn’t it a bit weird she’s only met three spread across two of her alter egos? As Ladybug, she’d expect to be hounded by a few of them but the only one she’s met is Signal. She can’t decide if it’s because he’s the only one that operates in the daylight, or if they just don’t want to spook her into running or something.

Either way, they’re going to start giving her a complex. She’s heard so much about the rest of the Batfamily, and not one of them even wants to meet her? Either her?

(Maybe Marinette should ask Robin and Hood what’s up with that? The way they talk about how nosy Red Robin is, she’s surprised he didn’t drop by months ago and- is it weird that she’s offended by vigilantes not prying into her private life?

…Probably.)

***

Marinette blinks, stopping dead in her tracks.

Damian's on her fainting couch, sketchpad in his lap as he waits for her.

“Why are you wearing a beanie?” she blurts out instead of greeting him like a normal person. "You never wear beanies."

Luckily, Damian scowls at her question rather than at her. It’s a subtle but very important difference.

“Sorry,” she apologizes anyway, putting her bag down. “I haven't had coffee yet.”

He hums, then nods to her desk where she finds a steaming to-go mug. Her face lights up and she quickly snatches it, breathing deeply the lovely aroma. “You’re a godsend.”

That brings a quirk to his lips, closer to a smirk than a smile, but progress nonetheless.

After a moment, where she sips at her overly sugary monstrosity—just the way she likes it, when had Damian even noticed that?—and he continues sketching she asks again. “Okay but, I actually am kinda curious. What’s up with the hat?”

He sighs heavily, closing his pad. “It’s… better than the alternative.”

Marinette snorts. “Alternative to what? A top hat?” But instead of snapping back like she expects, he just continues to frown. Immediately, her lips turn down into a concerned frown. “Is there something wrong?”

“Yes,” he grounds out and Marinette puts her coffee down. She’s just about to open her mouth and say something else when he reaches up and rips the beanie off his head.

For the second time in less than five minutes, she stops dead.

Marinette opens her mouth. Closes it. Blinks, but the scene doesn't change.

His hair is still blue.

Damian Wayne's hair is blue.

Damian Wayne’s hair is vibrantly electric blue.

Her hand shoots up to cover her mouth as she tries to stifle her giggles.

Damian’s scowl deepens. He moves to shove his ridiculous beanie back on his head but her hand snaps out before he can.

“No! No, I’m sorry I just-” she giggles again. “You looked so upset by it and you took me by surprise. I like it!”

He glares up at her, still sat on the fainting couch so it’s her who has the height advantage for once.

“Don’t patronize me.”

She rolls her eyes, the hand that wasn’t settled on his arm reaching up to touch the bright strands. It's slow enough that he can stop her, but he, surprisingly, makes no move to.

His hair is a lot softer than she expects it to be. But she supposes he didn’t use that gel stuff today, planning on keeping his hair under a hat the whole time.

“It looks good on you,” she says softly.

He snorts disbelievingly and she smacks his shoulder lightly. “It’s true! I swear you could look good in any color.” She clicks her tongue longingly. “I wish I had your skin tone. I’m too pale to wear pastels like I want.”

He wrinkles his nose at her. “Pastels?”

“Oh you hush,” she quips, finally pulling her hand from his hair. “Anyway, if you don’t like it, why’d you dye it blue in the first place?”

“I… lost a wager with Todd.”

She laughs, starting to move around and get ready for the day. She doesn’t have any meetings scheduled, which means she gets the whole day to create. She’s pretty excited about it.

“I should’ve guessed it was Jason’s doing.”

Damian shrugs, settling back into the cushions. He drapes himself across them in a way that’s effortlessly elegant and like he’s ready to be photographed for a magazine cover or something. Must all her friends be so pretty? It’s playing hell on her self-esteem.

“But blue is your favorite color, right? So there’s that at least.”

Damian hums. “Todd had threatened to dye it pink or some other equally garish color.”

“Hey!” she exclaims in mock outrage. “What’s wrong with pink? I’ve been wanting to dye my hair pink for ages.”

“Nothing. It’s just simply not a color I appreciate.” He makes a face. “Like orange.”

Marinette huffs, but there’s a smile on her lips. It's quiet for a moment, for long enough that she thinks the conversation's been dropped. But then-

“Why don’t you?”

“Huh?”

“Why haven’t you dyed your hair?” he repeats. “Your friends—Couffaine and… Kubdel? They both have colored hair.”

Marinette shrugs. “I dunno. Never got around to it I guess. I suppose I could do it now. Dye mine in solidarity,” she jokes. “Oh! We could match even! Wouldn’t that be fun?”

“I thought you wanted pink?”

“Well, yeah. But blue is nice too. Besides,” she smiles wryly over her shoulder, “you just said pink was ‘garish’.”

Damian frowns slightly, shaking his head, “On me, perhaps. But I think you’d look very fetching in pink.”

“Oh,” Marinette pauses, feeling her face grow warm at the sudden compliment. “Well- Uh, pink it is, then.”

***

(Damian watches the blush rise on her cheeks as she turns away to try and hide it. Yes, he can’t help but think, fetching in pink, indeed.)

***

Luka insists on being the one to dye her hair, citing that he’s the one who had dibs all these years, but Alix and Jason both all but demand to be there too.

Her bathroom is not big enough for all four of them to sit in.

Not a single one of them cares.

Cass and Duke ask for progress pics along with Uncle Jay, and all her Parisian friends cycle through standing at the bathroom door to see how it's going.

The constant stream of people looking at her makes her feel not unlike an animal at a zoo. (When she wryly tells this to Alix, all she gets is her friend cackling on the ground.)

But, after all the bleaching and conditioning and waiting, she stares into the mirror with soft pink hair the color of bubblegum and thinks, yeah, it was worth it.

She thinks it again when Damian walks in the next day and almost trips over his own feet.

(She’s also wearing her Robin themed sundress, complete with hood, matching boots and personal touches not found on the mass-produced version—but Marinette doesn’t know why that would be relevant.)

Her favorite reaction to her new hair color though is, by far, Mar’i’s.

Marinette doesn’t see the young Grayson until a week later when she’s invited to the monthly family dinner Alfred insists all the Waynes attend—which includes her now, apparently (she tries not to show how pleased she is by that).

She arrived with Damian, who was kind enough to pick Tim and her up from work, and Mar’i takes one look at Damian and her standing next to one another before she starts babbling excitedly about Lilo and Stitch and Angel. A character who is—apparently—Stitch’s girlfriend and the complimentary pink to his blue.

Marinette is momentarily surprised, but Mar’i’s enthusiasm is contagious and it isn’t long before the rest of the Waynes are teasingly calling them Angel and Stitch. Marinette thinks it’s all very funny and adorable.

Damian, on the other hand, most certainly does not and threatens everyone who calls him that ‘ridiculous nickname’ with graphic depictions of bodily harm.

‘Angel’, oddly enough, sticks for Marinette. She finds she kind of likes it.

***

Later, Damian asks her about nicknames.

Well, he calls them ‘asinine titles’ and doesn’t so much ask as demand she explain why she allows anyone to call her by them seeing as she has a ‘perfectly serviceable name,’ in his opinion.

Ignoring the fact that she’s heard Dick call him multiple nicknames he hadn’t protested to, she says, “Well, I guess it’s that everyone uses Marinette. A nickname is something… special. A little more personal, I guess. And, I dunno. My parents named me Marinette, but it’s nice to share something between other people. And it shows they care.”

Damian looks confused after she’s done, but also thoughtful. He doesn’t say anything to that and Marinette doesn’t really expect anything to come of it.

She's proven wrong when, a week later, Damian calls her Starling instead of Marinette.

(And the transition from Dupain-Cheng to Marinette had been enough to make her beam—this is just ridiculous.)

***

When Robin disappears a second time, Marinette doesn’t get the chance to notice his absence on her own. He’s only stopped showing up four days ago—which is longer than normal, but not unheard of—when she hears unfamiliar voices on her balcony.

Looking out, she finds three semi-familiar individuals clustered around the plate of treats she leaves out for Robin and Hood.

Nightwing and Red Robin are both stuffing their faces full of the fruit tarts she had made while Spoiler glares at them and seems to be cursing the fact that her mask covers her mouth the same way Hood always does when she makes those raspberry scones he likes.

The scene is… odd. For many reasons but most pressingly that their arrival has come out of nowhere.

“Well,” Nightwing explains when she asks, “We wanted to visit ages ago, but baby bird threatened to stab us all if we tried.”

“He’s very… particular about you,” Red Robin tacks on while Spoiler nods sagely like she hasn’t crafted some strange straw monstrosity just so she can drink tea while still wearing her mask. Red Robin has one too, but his for the aesthetic rather than out of necessity.

Marinette stares at the three of them. “That… does not explain why you are here now.”

“Robin can’t stop us now, obviously,” Red Robin says casually, like he hasn't just kicked her heart into high gear with a few words.

“What? Why?” she demands, trying very hard not to sound panicked. “Is he okay? Was he hurt?”

Red Robin blinks, going quiet in that way Hood and Robin do when they’re judging her just a bit. She hates this family.

“No, he’s… fine.”

“B’s just benched him for the time being,” Nightwing helpfully supplies, amusement flickering at the edges of his lips. “He’s a little too… conspicuous at the moment.”

Marinette’s shoulders relax even as her brows furrow. Conspicuous? What in the world is that supposed to mean?

“Does that mean he won’t be coming around for a while?” she asks before she can think better of it.

The three vigilantes in front of her share a look before Spoiler says, “Probably. But the gremlin’s never been one to sit still so who knows?” she smiles, eyes crinkling at the corners as she leans toward Marinette conspiratorially. “But don’t worry. We can keep you company in the meantime!”

“We’re much better company than the demon anyway. Certainly less insulting.”

“Oh, he’s not that bad. He’s an ass, for sure, but you can tell when he means it and when he’s just stumbling over himself.” Marinette smiles fondly, “For someone so dignified, he trips over his tongue quite often.”

Now the vigilantes are really staring at her. She’s starting to feel pretty uncomfortable about it all when Nightwing beams at her, jumping up from his seat to sweep her into a hug. It startles her, but she doesn’t push him away, instead laughing at the sudden affection.

“Oh you really are perfect!” he exclaims, setting her down and still grinning like an absolute lunatic.

She’s smiling, because Nightwing’s joy is infectious, but she's even more confused than before. And then, before she can ask what he means, Red Robin’s wrist computer lights up—and damn, isn’t that cool? Marinette wonders if Tikki could do something like that for the Ladybug suit—and the three are moving to swing back out into the night.

She waves them off and they all promise to visit again.

Marinette shakes her head before going back inside with the empty pastry plate and four empty mugs.

***

Damian knows of Marinette’s friends of course. It'd take more effort not to when she talks about them every chance she gets and tells him all the wild stories about their escapades and misadventures.

(They also all came up in the background check he ran on her when they first met.)

Most of her friends are exceedingly normal oddly enough. Well, they’re all mildly famous and the leaders of their various fields, but they’re just civilians.

The only exceptions being, Bourgeois, Agreste, and Graham de Vanily.

Bourgeois is a former hero like Marinette, only she doesn't seem to still be in contact with the Parisian Court. All the articles he could find spoke about how Queen Bee was deemed unfit for her mantle and later replaced by the new bee hero, Ambrosia. Agreste was caught up in the scandal of his father being Hawkmoth, but he was found innocent and ignorant of his father's crimes (something Damian made sure to confirm). He now works at and is being groomed to own the bakery Marinette's parents run, seeing as their daughter has little interest to do it herself.

And finally, Graham de Vanily, Agreste's cousin, has a history of causing trouble wherever he goes. Nothing villainous, and rarely even malicious, but there's something about him that makes the hair on the back of his neck stand up. Not everything is as it seems with the Graham de Vanily heir.

Besides those three outliers, Marinette's friends seem to be untouched by the vigilante life. Which means he thinks they must be utterly boring.

Only, when her friends start coming around to visit and drag her out for lunch or some other random outing, Damian keeps finding himself baffled by each of them.

They act strangely and with a dangerous air none of them should possess, except for Tsurugi. The questions they ask him are strange and the jokes they make have no sense. He's been warned about how he better treat Marinette so many times, he's started to lose count. (Which is ridiculous. He treats her just fine and would never intentionally harm her. What are they trying to insinuate?)

But, by far, his most memorable encounter is with Lahiffe. A veritable wolf in sheep's clothing.

Marinette is excitedly babbling about her newest idea for her summer collection, pressed up against him on the chaise and practically shoving her sketches in his face as she demands his critique and thoughts.

Her hands are waving every which way and, on more than one occasion, he has to quickly lean back so she doesn't hit him in the face.

He’s focusing on what she’s saying so much—because she has a habit of forgetting things if she doesn’t write them down and needs someone to remind her of the ideas she had at a later time—that he doesn’t even realize Lahiffe is there until he clears his throat.

Marinette jumps, almost elbowing him in the stomach. “Nino!” she shouts, springing up and flinging herself at the other man who catches her like this is something she does often.

“Heya, Nettie.”

“Wait- what are you doing here? You’re not-” she jolts back to look at Lahiffe’s amused expression. “Oh kwami, is it time already? Shit. I wasn’t paying attention. I’m so sorry! I have to give this one thing to Publishing but then I promise we can go, okay? Like, just five minutes!”

She's already moving before she finishes speaking, sweeping up papers and rearranging files and putting things away with all the swiftness and agility of a speedster. Damian watches her go about her routine, occasionally handing her something she’s dropped or pointing out a thing she’s missed, weaving around her chaos with practiced ease.

Then she’s sweeping out of the office with a distracted “be right back!” and he’s alone with Lahiffe.

The second Marinette leaves, the man’s attention swings onto him with a strange weight. For a long moment, he doesn’t say anything and Damian’s hackles raise with every passing second.

He doesn’t snap at him though, because he’s one of Marinette’s friends. Insulting him would only serve to make her upset and that’s something Damian's been trying to avoid causing as of late.

“Man,” Lahiffe says at last. “Alix wasn’t kidding about the whole besotted thing, huh?”

Damian rears back, straightening up to his full height. “I beg your pardon?”

Lahiffe laughs and waves his hand about like that’s supposed to mean something. “Ah, no need to be embarrassed about it, dude. You’re far from the first of us to fall for her charms.”

“What.”

“Yeah, we've all been there. I think over half of the Paris crew crushed on her at some point, including myself. None of us are into her like that anymore, so as long as you treat her right, you got nothing to worry about."

“I’m not- I'm not interested in Marinette,” Damian tries to protest but Lahiffe just calmly steamrolls over him.

“Nah. Everyone loves Nettie. It’s universal law or something. First, there was me and Adrien, then Luka—who she actually liked back for a while there but are now practically siblings. Chloé liked her in collége, but she hadn’t really come to terms with that at the time. Alix might’ve, but she’s pretty grey-ace and fluctuates on the romance points, so who knows.

“Oh! And Nath. He also snagged a date with her, but he was an Akuma at the time so I’m not technically sure that it counts. And he’s with Marc now anyway. Thinking of adopting a kid, last I heard. Anyway- my point was: everyone loves Nettie. And don’t bother trying to fight it, because it only makes her pull of gravity worse.”

Lahiffe then claps him on the shoulder like their talk amiable and not the most confusing speech Damian’s ever heard.

And then he doesn’t even get to say anything to that because Marinette is sprinting back through the door, grabbing her jacket and bag, telling him goodbye, and dragging Lahiffe out to who knows where.

Damian stands there longer than he cares to admit trying to make the world make sense again.

***

A week and a half after she learned Robin was benched, Damian catches her staring off into space as she doodles tiny robins in the margins of her sketchbook.

He gives her an odd look when she scrambles to hide them, blushing hotly and babbling about how she’s “Just fine! Nothing to worry about! I’m just, maybe, perhaps, a little worried for a friend even though I shouldn’t be, because his family says he’s just fine and-”

He looks contemplative when he leaves that day, but he didn’t ask about her outburst, so she extends the same courtesy to him.

***

That night, Robin returns.

“What,” she says around the laughter threatening to bubble out of her throat, “are you wearing?”

Robin scowls from behind the full cowl he has on that she’s pretty sure belongs to Red Robin. It makes him look a whole ten years older and she can’t get over how ridiculous he looks. If he keeps doing stupid things with his face while wearing that monstrosity, she is definitely going to laugh at him.

“What are you wearing?” he shoots back petulantly.

She blinks in confusion, then realizes she’s still wearing her Red Hood inspired jacket right now. Tan colored fake leather with fuzzy, red inner lining, done with all the same pockets, buttons, and zippers Red Hood has on his own jacket. It looks almost exactly like the jacket she fixed for him all that time ago, except she's also added a soft, crimson hood and his own personal bat symbol stitched across her shoulder blades.

As far as things she's designed goes, this is one of her simpler ones. It's nothing like the elaborate creations she makes for the Ambrosia or Ryuko themed items.

But Red Hood was a simple kind of person, and she likes that it’s reflected in her work.

Robin doesn't seem to agree if the poorly concealed disdain on his face means anything.

“What?” she asks teasingly, “You jealous?”

He scoffs and looks off to the side. “Of course not. I simply do not understand why you’d want anything to do with that simpleton. Especially not when I know you have clothing articles referencing far superior individuals.”

She snorts good-naturedly, "What 'individuals'? You mean you?"

The way he raises his nose self importantly is answer enough, and she can't stop herself from rolling his eyes. "Well, it's certainly a start. But I'm not the only one."

"Oh, yeah? And who else is marvelous enough to stand on the same level as you?"

"Multimouse."

Her mouth goes dry, and she can tell Robin is pointedly not looking at her.

“Come inside,” she blurts in lieu of all the things she really wants to say—which are mostly just embarrassing variations of I missed you. “I can, uh, make us tea. If you want.”

It's the first time she’s ever invited him inside and she can see the small bit of shock on his face—well, what she can see of it anyway—before he schools it.

“Yes,” he says in a tone of voice that implies it was his idea in the first place. “That sounds… good.”

She steps aside, allowing him to pass her by into the flat. Only instead of just walking past her, he stops halfway through the doorway and stares at her. She’s about to ask what’s wrong when he reaches out with his hand to gently grab a lock of her hair.

“Pink suits you, by the way.”

She quirks her lips, “Yeah? You don’t think it’s… too much?”

The corners of his mouth turn down, “Absolutely not. You look…” he trails off, mouth flattening into a line and dropping his hand.

She blinks at the odd behavior. “Nice?” she offers tentatively.

He nods, but it’s a little jerky and strange. But before she can ask about it, he’s already turning to enter her flat like he owns the place, remarking about her choices of tea and if she’s finally acquired an ‘adequate teapot’.

She shakes off the moment and goes in to follow him before he wrecks her kitchen in his careless search for tea supplies.

***

MinnieMouse: COME GET YALL JUICE

and by juice i mean me

I still do not have an american license

JaneAustenStanAccount: what do we get out of it?

MinnieMouse: ???

the pleasure of my company??

also youre literally the one that invited me to watch megamind

JaneAustenStanAccount: and??

daisyduke: shut up jay

we all know youre soft for M stop tryin to play tough

MinnieMouse: this is why duke is my favorite

he’s a living callout post

swanlake: :(

MinnieMouse: second favorite

im so sorry cass ily

swanlake: :)

daisyduke: i aint even mad

JaneAustenStanAccount: I AM

guys wtf

MinnieMouse: you brought this on yourself

maybe you should be nicer to me

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

daisyduke: ‘get fucked jason’ -marinette 2k20

btw im omw for you now

MinnieMouse: thnx ur the best

also im bringing scones as movie snack

daisyduke: noice

swanlake: !!!

JaneAustenStanAccount: FUCK YEAH!!!

MinnieMouse: you dont get any Jay

JaneAustenStanAccount: >:(

i hate it here

***

Marinette doesn’t know a lot about Robin’s past, which she assumes is by design. Secret identities don’t lead well to handing out details and concrete information about one’s personal life.

But, she thinks, one would have to be blind, deaf, and dumb to not see that whatever facsimile of a childhood Robin had was about eight different levels of fucked up.

It’s in the vague allusions to ‘training’ and the scorn filled way he says the word ‘mother’. It’s in the not-quite-confusion—because whatever family he has is better now, at least—of Marinette telling him about her own parents. About the happy memories she’s shared with them, of learning to bake bread and croissants and macaroons under the loving guidance of her father and practicing delicate designs and frosting techniques with her mother.

So, yeah. She knows he’s kind of messed up and definitely checks off the childhood trauma box that’s apparently one of the requirements for being her friend.

So when Robin suddenly decides to go against everything she’s learned about him up until this point and actually share something about himself—and when that thing he shares just so happens to be a story from his childhood—well… Marinette wouldn’t say she’s prepared, but she’s not- prepared.

He’s in her kitchen, because Marinette has learned her lesson about bleeding vigilantes on her couch, and she’s pretty sure he could’ve gone back to the Cave for this, but he came here for whatever reason. (Was closer, he said. Marinette doesn’t know if she believes him.)

She’s cleaning the knife wound on his arm, and she has his cape laid out across her island. There’s a hole in it she plans on sewing back up after she finishes sewing the hole in her reckless vigilante back up.

“You need to be more careful,” she scolds. “You’re lucky this didn’t nick something important.”

“It's hardly the worst wound I’ve ever acquired,” he tells her in a tone of voice that he probably thinks is reasonable. “At seven years old I had to dig a bullet out of my side in the middle of a Himilayan snowstorm while still making it back to base with time to spare after having successfully assassinated a Russian ambassador.”

Marinette pauses where she’s smoothing the gauze onto his bicep. Her eyes flick up to his, and she sees the exact moment he seems to realize what he just told her. He’s gone utterly still beneath her hands, with terror or worry or the effort it takes not to bolt out the window immediately, she doesn’t know.

“That’s horrifying,” she tells him as she finishes securing the obnoxiously bright bandage, “Never tell me that story again.”

She then drops a kiss onto his bicep, subtly imbuing it with enough luck that it will keep off any infection—the wound was filthy when he came in, seriously, was he in a sewer?—and pats his cheek warmly before moving to clean up all her supplies.

She feels his eyes on her the rest of the night, but every time she turns to him, she can’t tell what he’s thinking. All she knows is that he seems… softer, in a way.

***

Three days after Marinette’s unexpected look into Robin’s past, she finds a box on her desk. It’s a jewelry box, and the only reason she doesn’t immediately freak out is the fact that it lacks any of the miracle box markings.

Still, she opens it hesitantly, and inside, she finds a necklace. A completely normal, non-magical necklace that’s simple and pretty and very much shaped like a tiny toy mouse.

There is no note.

***

(Lahiffe was right.

The Earth spins around the sun. The sky is blue.

Everyone loves Marinette.)

***

The necklace is obviously supposed to be a reference to her Multimouse days, but that doesn’t exactly narrow down who could have left it for her.

Or well, it does, but all the people it narrows down to don’t make any sense.

Multimouse is a badly kept secret, but it’s still a secret. Most people outside Paris don’t know about her and the people in Paris didn’t exactly recognize her off the street either.

Her Court knows, obviously, and so do the Waynes and the bats. But her Court wouldn’t leave her mouse themed gifts, they tend toward ladybugs or their own animal motif as a gift (the amount of cat and bee themed items she owns is ludicrous).

Which leaves the Waynes and the bats.

But her Waynes wouldn’t leave the gift on her desk, and they certainly wouldn’t forget to put a note, so Duke, Jason, and Cass are out.

She must stand there thinking about it too long, because then Jeremy's walking in, just as bright and early as ever.

He sees her holding the box and his face turns a strange mix of curious and outraged. “Is it your birthday? I swear, Boss if you didn't tell us it was your birthday-”

“No, Jeremy,” she says, amused despite her confusion. “That’s not for a while yet. I found this when I walked in,” she shakes the box slightly for emphasis, “but there wasn’t a note.”

“Oh.” A smile slowly spreads across Jeremy’s face. “Oh?” he purrs, waggling his eyebrows at her. “Does the boss have a secret admirer?”

Marinette blinks and- what?

“What? No. I can’t- That doesn’t-” she splutters but Jeremy just laughs and walks over to his station to start setting up for the day, leaving Marinette to her breakdown.

Because this can’t have been left by a secret admirer. That’s just crazy.

There are exactly two people who could’ve left this for her and neither of them would be an admirer of any kind. And she wouldn’t want them to be anyway because that would be stupid and ridiculous and weird.

She doesn’t like Robin or Damian like that…

Right?

***

(It’s impossible not to love her, he realizes, mostly by accident.

She loves, wholeheartedly and unafraid and so much more than Damian had ever thought one person could. She loves with a ferocity and passion no person deserves or can match.

And Damian, foolishly, loves and wishes to be loved by her anyway.)

***

There are roses on her desk the next day, potted and still healthy.

The day after that, there’s a box of expensive chocolates. Like, the kind only Adrien, Felix, and Chloé buy without a second thought. The gossip has spread far enough that all of her designers know about the gifts and probably-admirer.

On the fourth day, there is a box full of high-quality pencils and a new sketchbook, one with nice thick drafting paper, but small enough to fit in her favored bag. Her name is embossed across the front, along with her personal motif of delicate apple blossoms.

On the fifth day, she shows up to find there is only a drawing, which should point to it being Damian, but drawing-her is holding a robin in her cupped palms which cannot be a coincidence. Drawing-her also looks serene and beautiful with her mouth curved slightly and her eyes gentle and soft and Marinette is as touched by the image as she is frustrated by it.

There are hair sticks on the sixth, and delicate pins shaped like flowers on the seventh. Another stunning drawing of her on the eighth, a bottle of wine older than Master Fu on the ninth, the softest cashmere blanket on the tenth, a basket of sweet floral lotions, a glass statue of a bird in flight—she gets so many gifts, Marinette has to stop keeping count.

It’s somewhere around day six that her designers must’ve ratted on her to either Felix or Chloé because it’s not long after that, that all of her friends learn about the gifts and start being terrifically unhelpful about the whole situation.

They each try to give her advice, which would be sweet if it wasn’t all equally terrible and conflicting.

They’re also placing bets on who they think her admirer is, Damian or Robin. They’re trying to be discreet about it—which means they’re failing miserably.

Marinette, admittedly, never expected any different from them.

***

Marinette begins watching Damian in the mornings with a newfound interest.

The gifts are always there before she arrives, which means they're also there before Damian arrives, so she’s in a prime position to catch his reaction.

Or, she would be, if he ever reacted. He barely glances at them and never says anything unless the gift is particularly obnoxious, like the giant stuffed mouse she found sitting in her chair last week. (It was almost as big as she was. Adrien, Nino, and Alix had ended up on the floor from laughing so hard when they’d seen it.)

Damian almost never comments on the gift she received that day, but whenever she uses or wears something that her mysterious admirer had gotten for her, he makes sure to compliment her. Which would be  very suspicious except that Robin does the same thing.

It’s just- they’re both so frustratingly silent about it all! Marinette is this close to just grabbing one or both of them by the shoulders and just shaking until they tell the truth.

It’s driving her insane! Before the necklace appeared on her desk, she didn’t even know that she liked Robin and Damian.

And now she’s overanalyzing their nonreactions. She hates it.

It feels too much like she’s back in collège, trying to sort out her feelings for Adrien and Chat. (Who ended up being the same person—which was just very inconsiderate of him, really. The least he could do is let her angst have meaning dammit!)

And- ugh. What if she doesn't even like either of them? What if her mind is just making her think she does because the idea of them liking her was presented? What then? Or what about the fact that the two boys are also ridiculously similar when she thinks about it. What if she only likes one and is just projecting her feelings onto the other because her mind associates the two?

Oh, she doesn’t like that thought. That thought makes her feel upset and like she wants to cry into a tub of ice cream.

Nino happily indulges her and doesn't even complain when she eats her way through his stash of mint chip as she dramatically complains about stupidly confusing boys.

Honestly, she may as well be back in lycée.

***

(What Marinette does not realize in the midst of all her careful analysis of his reactions, is that it’s not the gifts he’s focused on.

When she wears the necklace and hair sticks, she misses the way his eyes linger on the slope of her neck. As she cares for her roses, she doesn’t notice the way he follows the easy nimbleness of her fingers. She uses her sketchbook and eats the expensive chocolates and doesn’t pay attention to the way he steals glances at her lips. She doesn't see the way his hands twitch when she ventures just near enough to touch.

(She exists next to him, in any form or light, and he is captivated by her very presence.)

Marinette looks, but it is in all the wrong places.)

***

Strangely enough, it’s Signal who helps her with her internal crisis—completely unintentionally and in a very roundabout way—but he helps all the same.

He’s taken an… interest, she supposes, in her magic. One that is entirely his own and has very little to do with that Bat from what she can tell.

His abilities and hers stem from different origins, but she would be lying if she said his weren’t oddly complementary to her own. His precognition abilities stemming from his photokinesis has been useful on more than one occasion regarding the experimental spell matrices she, Tikki, and Nooroo have been testing out.

The magic is normally invisible to people without a Miraculous, but Signal seems to have little trouble seeing what she’s doing, even if he can’t interact with it the way she can.

(There is also the fact that she seems… more when he is around. Days that he spends watching her do her work go by faster and smoother than when he is away. Her magic is easier, and her mind spins with ideas and creations faster.

It’s an odd phenomenon and Ladybug is looking into it.)

There has been more than one occasion where Signal had warned her of the matrix’s imminent collapse with enough time for her to prepare herself for its blowback.

The version she’s working on today is their fifth iteration. It’s supposed to pull the miasma out of the building, filter it through her and Tikki’s own magical energy, before flowing back into the brickwork. Marinette had thought of the idea while talking with Nooroo.

If she can get it to work, it will shift the misfortune into good luck and order and release it back into the environment. Then she’ll only need to cleanse strategic portions of the city in a lattice network, and the creative and destructive energies will mix from there, balancing themselves without much input from her at all.

Of course, that’s only if she can actually get it to work. It’s been almost a month and this is the fifth version and it’s already collapsed on her three times in the last hour. Signal must see the frustration on her face and has taken to trying to distract her with small talk.

She’s very thankful for it, actually. If he wasn’t doing that, she would probably start screaming right here and now, on this random rooftop in the residential district. Which would just be very startling and embarrassing for everyone involved, so. You know. Glad she doesn’t have to do that.

Eventually, she asks him, apropos of nothing, “You’re a detective right?”

He pauses, and blinks at her, likely trying to follow the train of thought that led her to that question. She assumes he did not find it because when he speaks, he still sounds confused.

“Yes? I guess that’s technically what I am.”

“So you’re good at figuring out who’s behind a crime?”

Signal only looks more confused. “Yeah? But Ladybug, what-”

“Great, so. Hypothetically, if you had two suspects for a—well it’s not a crime. A… thing? Situation. How would you figure out which one of them is actually behind the… situation?”

Signal’s lips quirk, just a bit despite his confusion. “I think I’m gonna need a little more to go on than just ‘a situation,’ LB.”

Ladybug purses her lips and stares down at the light weaving intricate patterns in the space between her palms. Slowly, carefully, she tells him, “There are items being left where a person can find them. But the identity of the person leaving them and their intentions are unknown.”

“Are the items dangerous?” he asks worriedly.

Ladybug shakes her head. “No. They're more like gifts.”

“Are the gifts unwanted or creepy? Unsettling? Threatening?”

Another head shake. “Just confusing and… thoughtful.”

“Someone is leaving you thoughtful gifts and you're worried about that… why?” Signal asks, slowly and disbelievingly. 

“It’s because I- wait! I’m not the person!” she panics, causing the magic to spark dangerously in her hands but she barely notices. “The person doesn’t even exist. It was a hypothetical question!”

Signal stares at her. She can’t see his eyes or the top half of his face, but she just knows he’s raising his eyebrow judgingly at her.

“Stop that!” she snaps. “Stop being perceptive! I have enough perceptive people in my life so knock it off!”

Signal laughs like the horrible person he is. “But don’t you need me to be perceptive? That’s like, a requirement to be a detective.”

“Stop it,” she says again, mulishly and very childish.

And isn’t that an odd thought to have? Ladybug being childish.

How novel. Ladybug has never once been childish. She can’t afford to be, because when she is behind the mask, she is all the most important parts of herself. She is the Grand Guardian, is the one who must be in control at all times because she has an entire team to keep safe and alive.

Behind the mask, she’s all of her greatest responsibilities.

But here, in Gotham and with Signal, she is none of those things to him. She is simply another hero, that is his age and very much like him in ways so few are. Ladybug, in the moments she spends with Signal, is probably the closest she has ever been to carefree while in the mask.

It’s as comforting a thought as it is terrifying.

Signal raises his hands in surrender, but his lips are still quirked in amusement. 

Ladybug regrets starting this conversation.

She regrets it even more when, five minutes later, Signal manages to pull the rest of the story from her… along with a name.

She realizes her mistake a second too late to stop herself, and then all she can do is watch.

She watches, with ever-growing horror, as Signal slowly puts the pieces together. She watches, as her whole secret identity starts unraveling around her for the first time ever. She watches, stricken, as Signal opens his mouth to speak.

And then she grabs both sides of his head and Orders him to sleep.

***

The second Marinette bespells him, she regrets it.

She was panicking, okay? And Marinette panicking is very different from Ladybug panicking and truly, she creates messes just by existing.

Nooroo flies out of his hiding place to make distressed noises at the now unconscious Signal with her, which is… actually kinda soothing, if not exactly helpful.

At least she knows she’s not the only one upset right now.

“Oh no, oh no, oh no!” Nooroo frets, flitting around her head with agitated wings. Hers aren’t much better, if she’s being honest. “What are we going to do, Guardian? He knows who you are! This is bad.”

Marinette worries her thumb between her teeth, shifting her weight from foot to foot. With a thought, she's back in her civvies and Tikki is perched on her shoulder, blinking at the scene she’s suddenly a part of.

“Well,” Tikki says, sounding far too calm for the situation. “This isn’t ideal.”

The laugh that escapes Marinette is on the edge of hysterical. “You think?”

“It’s not ideal,” Tikki repeats firmly, “But neither is it a disaster.”

Nooroo lands on her other shoulder as she kneels down beside Signal to rearrange his limbs to not be so uncomfortable. “But he's unpredictable!” he argues, curling into the side of her neck like she will hide him from the world. “We don’t know what he’ll do with this information!”

Tikki hums thoughtfully. “Then we will have to ask. There are far worse people we could have been revealed to. We're lucky it was a friend rather than foe.”

“You think so?” Marinette asks softly, voice barely louder than a whisper.

She knows the Bat’s flock are good people. Many of them are her friends, or people she hopes to call friends soon.

But she doesn't know if these people Marinette calls friends could be Ladybug’s allies.

The bats hoard secrets like black holes, and perhaps they would keep hers just as well, but they could just as easily use it against her. Batman barely tolerates her presence, she can tell by the way Signal talks sometimes, and it is no small stretch of the imagination that he would use this to try and kick her out of Gotham.

Marinette cannot, as a Guardian, leave Gotham.

But more importantly, she doesn’t want to leave Gotham. It’s… her home now. Her friends are here. Her family is here. Robin and Hood and the other bats are here. Damian and all her Waynes are here.

Leaving Gotham would not only make her sick and jittery at the imbalance, but it would break her heart.

If, when Signal tells Batman, he reacts poorly, there is so much that Marinette is set up to lose. And that terrifies her.

Some of that thought process must show on her face—or perhaps Nooroo has just picked up on the turmoil in her chest—because the two Kwami are pressed on either side of her face, nuzzling and hugging as much of her as they can reach.

“We’ll make it through this, Marinette,” Tikki says firmly, no room for argument. “Don’t worry so much. Both of you. Everything will turn out just fine, you’ll see.”

***

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20200125 School In London

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[stopforamoment]

Part Six: Her Tiger (Series Eleven, Part 6 of 16)

Series Eleven: It’s uh Movin’ Thing, but Still and All (Sixteen Parts) Part Six: Her Tiger (Series Eleven, Part 6 of 16)

Masterlist

Book: The Royal Romance (After Book Three)

Pairing: Bastien Lykel x OFC Rinda Parks Word Count: 1,115 Rating: R for Strong Language, References to Children Working through Grief with Bullying, Hints of Child Abuse or Neglect, Child Protective Services Author’s Note: Obligatory disclaimer that Pixelberry Studios owns the TRR characters and my pocketbook with those darn diamond scenes. OFC with all of her quirks is all mine. My apologies if Tumblr or I do something stupid when I try to post this. The keep reading link shows up on my laptop but not my phone. Ugh.

TRIGGERS: Reference to possible abuse/neglect of a child and Child Protective Services

Thank you @asherella-is-a-dork-3​ for always being my sounding board! Thank you @liam-rhys​ and @silviasutton1989 for still being a part of the journey!

Triggers: There are going to be some dark themes in this series that deal with the consequences of what happens when parents don’t put their children first. I promise I won’t get graphic, and I’ll tag each section accordingly. This will tie in with future events and another aspect of Bastien and Rinda’s personalities—as individuals and as a couple.

Series Summary: It’s the week of October 14th, the sixth week of the school year. Henry and Rinda are staying in Cordonia, which means that Rinda can now begin to move forward, and backwards, with professional and personal aspects of her life.

One inspiration while I wrote this was a quotation from Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God: “Love is lak de sea. It’s uh movin’ thing, but still and all, it takes its shape from de shore it meets, and it’s different with every shore.”

The other was these lyrics from the song “I Dreamed a Dream” from Les Misérables: “But the tigers come at night / With their voices soft as thunder / As they tear your hope apart / As they turn your dream to shame.”

Chapter Summary: Bastien and Rinda recap their day—and establish some ground rules for sharing ice cream.

Her Tiger

“Tria, the things Henry was showing me that Stephan is doing . . .” “I know, Bastien. It’s bad. We’re all working with Child Protective Services, but it’s a nightmare. Meanwhile we’re documenting everything and praying they’re safe until we see them the next morning. How’s Drake holding up, though? It’s only his second week and he’s great, but it’s still hard for anyone to see it—especially the first time. I feel like he’s been thrown into the deep end, only seeing the ugly before he gets to enjoy any of the fun. I think helping coach football and being part of this week’s dance jam will help, but . . .” “Don’t worry about Drake. I promise, he’s fine. I saw that you—the security team—have a meeting with Liam and Riley next week. Drake told me that you asked him to set that up, and he was happy to do that. It’s going to be fine Tria, but those kids can’t wait until this weekend. Let me talk to Liam and fix things with CPS now.” He saw Rinda was about to protest. “Tria, don’t fight me on this. I promise I have time to mention this to Liam, and it won’t interfere with any preparations for Friday. Tria? I’m going to tickle you to make you look at me.” Rinda laughed and obediently showed Bastien her eyes, and he stared into them, waiting until he saw that they weren’t aquamarine anymore. “Thank you, Tria.” He gently kissed her nose. “You know it’s not fair that my eyes are such a strong tell?” Bastien chuckled. “It’s very fair. If you aren’t going to tell me what you’re thinking, it’s an easy way for me to at least see how you’re feeling.” He grinned. “Besides. You’ve been a very naughty Tria who withheld information from her Tiger, so he had no way of knowing how to help her.” Rinda laughed. He was such a goof when he referred to himself as “her Tiger” or “your Tiger,” but she also loved it. She loved that Bastien was her Tiger, and she was his Tria. And although Bastien couldn’t stay late, they still had time to share spumoni ice cream and talk about their day. Yes, her Tiger would eat right out of the carton with her, but they each had to have their own spoon. Rinda laughed. Of course, silly Tiger! You don’t share spoons, you muppet gobshite. You each take your own spoon and fight each other for the good parts. Just then Bastien scooped out some of the pink section of the spumoni, revealing a large chunk of cherry. “Aha!” Rinda actually muscled Bastien’s hand out of the way as her spoon dove in for the cherry bit. “Tria! You did not just push your Tiger’s hand out of the way so you could grab the good part, did you?” Rinda unabashedly ate the cherry bit. “Yup. All is far in love and war when it comes to ice cream, Tiger.” Bastien suddenly stood up, still holding the carton. “Bastien? Tiger? Wait. Please. I’m sorry. I’ll be a better food sharer. Your Tria is very contrite right now. I promise. Just don’t ask to look at my eyes to prove it.” Bastien went to the kitchen, but he came back with a bowl and put a very small spoonful each of chocolate, pistachio, and cherry ice cream in the bowl. He saw Rinda move in closer, and he slapped her hands away. Then he carefully examined the ice cream and made a production out of picking a pistachio nut out of the bowl and returning it to the container. He finally handed the bowl to Tria. “Here, sweetheart.” Then Bastien twisted away from Rinda and continued eating ice cream out of the container. Rinda was laughing too hard to even finish the ice cream in her bowl, although she did tell Bastien that he was the süßester und düsterster Tiger--sweetest and silliest Tiger. And she loved how he could always make her laugh. . . . . .

When they were done fighting over ice cream, Bastien asked Rinda about the tour of the university and what she thought about everything. And how did their discussion go with implementing some of the safety training in university classes? Bastien smiled when he saw how animated Rinda got. The University was absolutely amazing. So many opportunities and the collaboration that was already taking place. And it was so exciting to be in a college classroom again, and she thought that the initial discussions went well, but she, Collin, and Deirdre knew they really had to work to ensure instructors maintained control for this to work. And most importantly, she felt so horrible that she had to ignore her Tiger throughout the day, but was it okay? Bastien kissed her forehead and cheeks again and again, telling her how much it meant to him when she mentioned Rossini. How he was able to watch her teach, and it was so impressive. How he was busy with security at the duchy now, but everything was going well—although he was still furious that Riley insisted on keeping Gladys on at the duchy. Even though she lost her head position, it was still a security nightmare, especially considering how well Gladys knew the duchy. Ugh. Don’t even get him started. But most importantly, he wanted to tell his Tria again and again how glad he was that she and Henry were staying in Cordonia. But there was one other thing. And it was a big deal, so he didn’t want to mention earlier because he didn’t want to ruin their night. Vivian Trakas invited herself to the teacher appreciation dinner Friday night. Bastien drew back, afraid of how Rinda would react. But Rinda just gave a half-hearted laugh. “I already knew Tiger, but thank you. I purposely made other plans that night so I’d have an excuse not to attend. I know that’s disrespectful to King Liam and Queen Riley, but when the day is over and everyone has exited the school safely, no threats or attacks, I really just want to get away from all of it. And in all honesty, I probably would throat punch Vivian if I saw her in a social setting. Henry was right. She really is a right wagon.”

Wagon? Bastien made a mental note to Urban Dictionary, although he knew it was going to be challenging now that Rinda was starting to throw in some Irish insults. He’d check English and Irish meanings, just in case. There was no way he was going to interrupt to ask her.

[heartsechoed]

[ WOUND ] yerin to viv in grishaverse !

@conseille [ WOUND ]: upon noticing a recent injury on the receiver’s person, the sender carefully moves closer, running a thumb (or hand) across the wound in a gentle, troubled manner

even with their campsite filled with shiny, new things, vivian doesn’t let any of them distract her. she gives a smile to the inferni eyeing her from the training grounds, but her gaze quickly returns to the path ahead, one single destination in mind. vivian makes a beeline for the mapmakers’ tent, knowing only yerin would be there; everyone else must be out drinking or trying to catch a grisha’s eye.

“ knock knock. ” vivian greets her with a wide grin. “ thought i’d find you here. ” the announcement that the first army would cross the fold tomorrow had surely left yerin anxious, despite her unit being dismissed from the trip. vivian’s not so sure of her fate... but she’d rather not spend the next few hours worrying about it, when she can spend them with yerin instead.

she drops onto yerin’s bed, knees brushing as vivian settles in. there’s a surprise in store for yerin, something vivian hoped would put a smile back on her face – but before she can reach it, yerin’s hand is on her arm, tracing the place where vivian had gotten hurt the day before. she almost winces, but yerin’s gentle touch has her relaxing immediately.

“ it’s not as bad as it looks, ” she’s quick to reassure yerin, knowing the other will jump to the worst possible conclusions. “ bohdan gave me some extra training yesterday – something about me skipping the mandatory morning laps. ” her lips curl up playfully as she bumps yerin’s shoulder with her own. “ i don’t know what he’s on about. i would never! ” going to see yerin first thing in the morning and distracting helping her with her maps sounded far better than running around in circles.

“ i just had a bad fall. ” the rocky terrain claimed its victim as soon as she dropped to the ground, cutting her skin along her left arm. thank the saints it’s mostly healed by now, or yerin would surely fuss over her even more.

vivian doesn’t wait a beat before resuming her plans, a hand already reaching into her pocket. “ that aside – i got you something. ” i stole something for you didn’t sound nearly as kind... though vivian reckons yerin will see right through her regardless. she swiftly pulls out a small coral tin, turning it over as if it’s some rare possession.

“ candy from the grisha tents – which the squaller who was staying there was more than happy to part with, ” vivian promptly adds. she figures there’s no point in telling yerin how the woman had outright flirted with her, and that letting her leave with the candy was likely a sign for vivian to return to the tent later. she won’t. she’s right where she wants to be.

“ come on, try it. i haven’t opened it yet, i was waiting for you. ”

[heartsechoed]

🎶 for vivrin!

@conseille

she hates the anger bubbling up, burning her skin. this isn’t like her. even after years of knowing yerin, there was never a single time vivian was angry at her – and even now, she’s isn’t. she’s angry at whichever saints placed this gift burden on yerin, trapping her in a life where she could never be free. she's angry at ravka for wanting to use her, another weapon in their arsenal.

– angry at the perfect boy king for offering her a place at his side. and mostly, vivian’s angry at herself. she knows she could never offer that same sense of safety. with her, yerin would always be on the run. they were no longer escaping a cross ana kuya or the older boys after vivian pocketed their snacks. the entire nation was after yerin now. and there was nothing she could do to help.

“ i don't feel myself from you anymore. ” as the words come out, vivian realizes there’s no anger laced with them. she sounded scared, hurt. “ and i understand – you’re the sun summoner now. things can’t be the same. ” nails dig into her palm, the slight jolt of pain the only thing grounding her to reality. from their first day as fugitives, vivian had clung to their old life, fooling herself into thinking she could keep yerin safe. but even before sainthood claimed her, vivian had always been very small at her side – all tricks and bravado, unable to shed her armor in the face of her first love.

her gaze drops to her feet, unable to look yerin in the eye. “ maybe there's no space for me to get in. ” a selfish, shameful thing to say to the girl fighting for her life. “ i think you should stick with nikolai. he can give you a fighting chance. ” and so, so much more.

[heartsechoed]

"what did you say your name is?" earth 1610 yerin to earth 616 viv

@conseille

she shouldn’t be staring. this isn’t her yerin. the woman before has shorter hair ( and it doesn’t curl just a touch at the ends ) and her smile hangs slightly different. she doesn’t smile as brightly – but then, neither did yerin near the end.

the instinct to reach out and take her hand almost takes over for a moment... but vivian stops herself at the last second. yerin’s gentle gaze on her manages to ground her even now, and bring forth that soft smile only she can put on vivian’s lips. she wonders if yerin would recognize it if she saw it under the mask.

“ ah, you can just call me spider-woman, miss. ” ma’am? how should she address her? vivian gestures vaguely for the generic spider-woman mask she’s wearing, hoping it’ll charm yerin at least a little. the last thing vivian needs is for yerin to figure out who she is – after losing her vivian, seeing that same face again might just be the thing to break her.

it certainly is for vivian.

“ is there anything i can get you? ” vivian continues, motioning for the slew of hors d'oeuvres on the cart. “ what do you need? ” anything at all, just say the word.

[heartsechoed]

❛ just relax and let me take care of you. ❜ yerin to viv

@conseille

some hero she was. spider-woman may have successfully saved a corner store from being robbed by three thieves – but not before one of them managed to get a few punches in, even going as far as trying to stab her. vivian’s spider-senses kicked in a moment too late, more preoccupied with the safety of the innocent bystanders trapped in the store. though she escaped at the last second, the blade still reached her and tore her suit. she desperately needed an upgrade on that, too.

she swings back home after the police arrests the criminals, hoping to lick her wounds in shame on her own... but yerin finds her in the dimly lit kitchen all the same. “ hey. i didn’t know you were still up. ” vivian does her best to sound as casual as ever, turning in her chair to hide the bleeding wound from yerin. pointless, of course. she’d never been able to lie to yerin, not even as children. somehow, she could always tell when vivian was hurt.

there’s another joke ready on her lips, but yerin cuts her off. her tone is so earnest, vivian doesn’t dare counter it with her usual humor. she lets her hands fall to her sides instead, granting yerin full access to her injury.

“ it’s not that bad. ” she offers it like a promise, not wanting to worry the other. “ it just barely grazed me. ” not that it would do anything to lessen yerin’s resolve. even the tiniest of cuts earned yerin’s entire attention, her gentle hands tending to the wound with the utmost care.

it brings a small smile to vivian’s lips, rendered soft in a way only yerin could accomplish. vivian catches her hand for a moment, thumb ghosting over her skin. “ you’re always saving me. ” yerin didn’t need enhanced abilities or a fancy suit. she looked after vivian and sungtae every single day, with small gestures that went by unnoticed to most. not to them.

[heartsechoed]

❝ holy crap — that was amazing?! ❞ max to viv

@apaise

“ actually, that was pretty standard spidey stuff. that's how we get around the city. ” despite the nonchalance in vivian’s tone, she’s not entirely immune to the excitement in max’s. after being spider-woman for so long – and suffering all the consequences that came with it –, it was hard not to become jaded in her line of work. no longer did she feel the thrill of rising up into the sky, the adrenaline that came with the wind in her hair.

but this was all new to max. she’d only just gotten her powers, and vivian remembers how she had been over the moon the first time she leaped over a building. she had to figure out everything on her own... but maybe it wouldn’t hurt to give max a hand. might as well do something with her time on this earth.

“ it’s not as hard as it looks. ” placing herself behind max, vivian lifts her arm to guide her through her explanation. “ you just gotta use momentum in your favor – pull yourself up by your webs, and then let go. ” she releases max suddenly, the playful smile on her lips undermining her attempt at a dramatic twist. “ you gotta trust you won’t fall. and if you do... you just get back up again. ”

[heartsechoed]

❝stay. stay here. stay with me.❞ yerin to vivian!

@conseille

more than anything, vivian wishes she could. for as long as she can remember, her place had been at yerin’s side. they protected each other, against the orphanage, against a world that refused to let them win. even when yerin’s summoning came to light, vivian knew she could never leave her. she was still the same person her heart sang for – but perhaps there was no more room for vivian at the end of the day.

what did she possibly have to offer a sun summoner? nothing the prince of ravka couldn’t get in the blink of an eye. as much as it pained vivian to admit it, yerin was going someplace she could not follow. this was the end of the line for them.

“ i can’t. ” her smile is broken, her hold on yerin’s hand tentative. had they always felt so heavy in hers? she can’t remember anymore. “ you don’t need me. you should go out there and... save ravka. make it a better place. ” rule it alongside its golden boy. “ i have no doubt you can do it. ” she’d effortlessly capture the hearts of every citizen, just as she had done vivian’s.

she bows her head and realizes worship never belonged to saints. vivian had placed her entire faith on yerin long before she turned out to be grisha, spoken her name like a prayer every time. regrettably, that doesn’t mean vivian is any more prepared to leave her behind – she's grateful yerin cannot see the tremble of her lip. “ my sankta. ”

[heartsechoed]

“i don’t have time for girls right now.” ( nari @ viv )

spider-man 2 meme  |  @apaise  |  accepting

" hmm... ” vivian prolongs the sound as she watches nari from across the table, hands busying themselves with organizing tonight’s orders. she wasn’t necessarily trying to stick her nose into nari’s love life     but the girl who once looked so excited for a particular nightly delivery now seemed far more beaten down, tugging at vivian’s heartstrings. even if they weren’t close friends, she would consider the other a little more than just a co-worker, at least.

“ big change from... last week? when you were so excited to deliver to this person. ” she quirks an inquisitive brow, hoping nari won’t take her prodding the wrong way. vivian may not be very good at this relationship support thing... but nari seemed like she needed someone to at least try. “ look, i don’t mind covering for you tonight. but you can’t just avoid her forever. ” vivian has no idea what kind of relationship nari has with this girl, if any     but it didn’t seem like something she should be so quick to give up. “ plus, ghosting’s not a good look on seiren, ” she teases in an attempt to lighten the mood. “ might lose us a valuable customer. ”

[heartsechoed]

rule of wolves meme  |  accepting @apaise​ sent: ❛ you have more charm than sense. ❜ robin to viv 👀

robin’s intent is obvious with her words    a scolding typical of her, always with a semblance of poise and seriousness. rather than be irritated by it, vivian found it amusing. how the two of them were so different, came from entirely opposite worlds, and yet here they stood now, in the same circumstances. robin wasn’t as wild as the rest of the group, but vivian knew she wasn’t wound as tight as one might think, either.

“ ah     so you do think i have charm. ” vivian grins, seamlessly bypassing robin’s jibe. admittedly, she did take some enjoyment in annoying robin     with their completely different temperaments, it wasn’t hard to do. “ thankfully, i need more of that than sense to do this job. ” not a lie per se, but vivian knows having some of both would be the ideal. she’s far too reckless at times, and robin not enough.

“ besides. ” she lightly bumps her shoulder against robin’s, “ you’re the sensible one here    that’s why we need you ” vivian flashes her her usual playful smile, making light of a statement that’s much more meaningful deep down. “ i’m not here to step on your toes when you do it so well. ”

[heartsechoed]

❂ kit @ vivian

symbol meme  |  @apaise  |  accepting ❂ = wiping blood off their face

" it’s not as bad as it looks, ” vivian claims for what feels like the hundreth time. kit’s unusually quiet, which only makes the thief grow more anxious. she’d rather the other yell at her, tell her how reckless she’d been, anything... vivian couldn’t handle the silence.

    but she knows it’s deserved. she was careless during a job yet again, favoring their target over her own safety. and while it’s true that she got off relatively unscathed, the tides could’ve easily turned into something far more gruesome. vivian’s working on her self-preservation, but it’s an uphill battle still; adrenaline would usually win over safety.

“ you should see the other guy, ” she chimes in again for another attempt at lightening the mood. vivian puts on her best smile, but even she knows it’s a fruitless effort. there’s no cheering kit up when she’s worried like this. the light tapping of the cold cloth against her face stings, but vivian only shows her discomfort in the form of a slight hiss. as much as she wants to back away, she forces herself to stay in place.

" hey. ” her voice is quieter now, her touch gentle as she curls her fingers around kit’s wrist. vivian tugs her hand down to settle on her lap and slowly inches closer. “ i’m sorry. i didn’t mean to scare you. ” again, she adds silently. “ i promise it’s just a superficial cut. ” her statement was true, but vivian wondered whether kit would believe her regardless.

“      thank you. for patching me up. ” even if she didn’t deserve such tender hands caring for her, time and time again.

[heartsechoed]

Do you think there’s any other person I would do this type of thing with ? ( yerin @ viv )

normal people meme  |  @conseille  |  accepting

yes, she replies too quickly in her head. her ugly thoughts are promptly followed by her own scolding. vivian knows she shouldn’t let her jealousy take over so easily, but the more yerin spoke of her new life back home, the more left behind she felt. logic has little weight here, despite a small voice in the back of the thief’s head telling her there’s nothing to blame yerin for.

would gideon be the type to rope her into being a distraction for a harmless scheme? would soomi take her hand as they ran away laughing? vivian hates that she doesn’t have an answer. she hates that she doesn’t know her place in yerin’s life anymore.

“ i would hope not     you’re a terrible actress. ” vivian’s nothing if not evasive in her answer, opting for a playful smile to hide the sorrow in her eyes. “ that merchant probably thought you’ve never been to a market before, ” she teases with a laugh. yerin had fared well enough to allow for vivian to nab some supplies from him, at least. a part of vivian disliked making yerin do something so dishonest ( they no longer dealt in something as meaningless as jelly tarts ), but she had to admit it was also... enjoyable, to a degree. it reminded her of the old days, of how it felt when yerin was her entire world.

deep down, vivian knows she still is.

" so don’t go trying these tricks back at the palace. ” don’t do these things we did together with someone else.