#I could probably get away with anything short of punching the school’s CEO directly in the face in broad daylight

[futureghost97]

not to sound like a goddamn millennial but I just. remembered that jeggings exist? bitch I lived in them during college. it’s a fucking sin that I can’t wear them at work. I think I’m gonna test my newfound job security and invest in a pair and start wearing them after the winter break.

[alexiessan]

Never alone - Chapter Seven - Soulmate AU

AO3

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Master List

Hi guys! Here is chapter 7. I hope this time it will show up in the tag search because chapter 6 didn’t and a lot of you probably missed it. I’ve noticed that several chapters from authors I follow didn’t show up in the tags either so it wasn’t just me... I don’t know what’s wrong with tumblr but I hope they fix it because we’re probably missing some updates...

Anyway, here is chapter 7 for you guys :)

When Damian came back to the manor, he changed and took a shower as quickly as possible in the hope to catch Tim when he would come back from patrol. He also fed Titus and Alfred the cat on his way to the Batcave, giving both of them a light scratch.

“You’re back earlier than usual.” mused a voice that he recognized as Tim’s.

Damian looked up at his brother, standing up from where he was crouching petting his pets.

He didn’t expect his brother’s shocked look.

“Oh. Your eye. Is that your soulbond?”

The youngest Wayne raised an eyebrow.

“Yes, you didn’t know?”

Tim shook his head.

“No, you didn’t tell us and I assume you’ve been wearing contacts ever since the change.”

Damian nodded, silent.

“It suits you.”

The green-eyed teen just looked at his brother, silent.

Timothy rolled his eyes.

“Can’t you just take a compliment? I can be nice to my brother too, you know.”

Damian chose to ignore that.

“And why didn’t you tell me that Marinette would be shadowing you during her internship? She thinks it’s very strange that the co-CEO would go out of his way for a high school student to shadow him.”

Tim smirked, picking up Alfred the cat.

“Does it bother you?”

“I don’t want you to embarrass  myself.”

Tim laughed.

“No chance for now. She only knows you as Robin for now. She won’t associate me with you.”

Damian frowned.

“I won’t just be Robin forever.”

“I know. Stop worrying like a teen in his rebellious phase ashamed of his parents. I’m just going to show her the roots of business management.”

“It’s still weird for the co-CEO to do that. That kind of job goes to regular employees. Did you volunteer because she’s Ladybug?” he asked as he crossed his arms.

“I did. Ever since Bruce knew that Ladybug would be on the trip, he wanted to keep an eye on her. To be sure that she wasn’t overwhelmed by all her responsibilities, because according to her files, she had a lot of them. Ladybug and Chat Noir are just teens. Granted, we were too when we started being vigilantes too, but Bruce was with us, we weren’t left unsupervised. He’s worried that it’s too much for them.”

He smirked at his little brother.

“And the fact that she’s your soulmate is a bonus too.”

Damian ignored the jab, intent on having all his questions answered.

“What about the Agreste boy, then? Is he shadowing you too?”

“No, he’s with the PR team along with Miss. Césaire.”

“I would have thought that he would be shadowing someone in business management, what with his father’s company…”

“I would have thought that too, but the boy is also the image of the brand and constantly in the press. His father probably wants him to learn how to deal with the press and how to dispel rumors.”

It made sense, the model would probably learn business management later on, directly from his father.

Tim chuckled.

“Is that all? Or did you want to corner me for something else too?” he asked as he put the half-asleep cat down.

“Tch. Just don’t ruin things for me with Marinette.”

The older boy laughed, tapping the younger boy’s back.

“I’ll only have nice words for you. Well, as nice as it can be, you are quite a difficult one.”

He barely avoided Damian’s punch.

Marinette was nervous. So nervous that she had to take deep breaths to not panic.

Today was their first day of internship. For a whole week, they would work at Wayne Enterprises alongside an employee in their chose field.

Alya and Adrien would work with the Public Relationship branch. The reporter has been so excited about it. As a reporter, she would have to deal with PR teams in the future, and the knowledge would be good for her.

As for Adrien, well… It was no secret that it was his father’s wish that he shadowed them. The young Agreste has confided to his three friends that he had no idea what he wanted to do in the future. What he was sure, however, was that he didn’t want to continue being a model and he didn’t want to have anything to do with his father’s company.

With his lack of aspiration for the future, he was, just this once, happy to let his father choose which branch to intern in for him.

Nino, along with, surprisingly, Lila, would be shadowing the legal team of the company. While he still couldn’t choose between being a DJ or a movie maker, he wanted to be able to handle any legal issues if someone tried to claim his work as their own for example.

Copyrights were no joke after all.

As for why Lila wanted to do her internship in this branch, well… She didn’t know and she honestly wouldn’t go out of her way to know. The farthest away she was from Lila, the better.

Marinette was happy to have this opportunity to learn about business management. She wanted to start her own line of clothes later in life, but if she wanted to keep working for Jagged and doing graphic design for him, there were some things she had to do. Like, making all the paperwork to create her own business and thus, be an étudiante auto-entrepreneur. A student independent worker.

She hoped that her internship would help her do that, even if it was different in the USA than in France.

She was happy for this opportunity, but what made her nervous was that her internship was with the co-CEO, Timothy Drake-Wayne.

She didn’t understand how something like this could happen. An average French student like her didn’t what it took to work with a co-CEO. Especially not the CEO of an important company like Bruce Wayne’s.

She didn’t know, nor when, but Marinette was sure that she would ridicule herself one way or another.

Then, they would fire her, and she would be banned from the USA forever.

The whole class would mock her and she would become a pariah in Paris too and she would lose all her friends and her family!

“Aaaaaaaah!”

The scream that came out of her mouth was unintentional but it did its job in surprising everyone on the bus.

“Wow, girl. What was that for?”

Alya looked at her with an amused smile, used to the designer’s antics by now. She knew that the French-Chinese girl would panic eventually, the weight of “I will be shadowing the fucking CEO” too much for her.

Honestly, the reporter was surprised that she didn’t panic earlier. Sometimes, she wondered how Marinette was able to stay on her feet with all her responsibilities, and yet, would panic for the smallest of things.

That girl was a walking paradox.

“This is going to be a disaster, Alya! One way or another I’m going to ruin this internship, and then-”

“Okay, let me stop you right now. You’ve worked for Jagged Stone, and he still goes to you for graphic design. Have a little more confidence! You’re not going to ruin anything. Plus, you’re not here to work but to learn. You can’t fail anything in learning.”

The Ladyblogger put a hand on her friend’s shoulder.

“Everything is going to be alright. But if you don’t move right now, we’re going to be late.”

Marinette didn’t even notice that they were already there and that the others were currently getting off the bus.

She took a deep breath, trying her best in believing in her best friend’s words.

Everything would be alright.

Upon entering the Wayne Tower, they were welcomed by Bruce Wayne and his secretaries. They took an hour or so in touring the building, Mr. Wayne giving pieces of information about the history behind his business.

After that, they led them into a conference room where several employees were already sitting.

As they all took a seat, Mr. Wayne made his way on the small stage, giving everyone in the room a professional smile.

“I would like to thank the Collège Françoise Dupont for applying to our career program. It’s a pleasure for us, Wayne Enterprises, to help young minds like yours to find their goals and aspirations for the future. I hope you will enjoy your time with us.”

He paused as the class applauded.

“Thank you. Now, I would like us all to applaud Miss Dupain-Cheng and Miss Césaire for their incredible essay that won their class this trip.”

Once again everyone applauded. The two girls were slightly embarrassed at all this attention.

“Now, let’s not wait any further. All the employees that you will be shadowing are already here. When I call your name, please come up to the stage to be introduced to your mentor. Then, you will be free to go and start the day. Adrien Agreste!”

All too soon it was Marinette’s turn to be called. She was introduced to Timothy Drake-Wayne who didn’t seem that much older than them. He was obviously in his early twenties and probably should be a university student if he were anyone else.

As they left the room, Tim smiled at the short girl.

“It’s very nice to meet you, Miss Dupain-Cheng. I hope you will enjoy this week with us.”

The Eurasian girl felt a little uneasy. Tim smiled at her like he already knew her and it unnerved her a little.

“It’s very nice to meet you too, sir! Please, call me Marinette.”

The man smiled at her.

“Alright, as long as you don’t call me sir anymore, please. I’m only twenty-one.”

“Alright then… May I ask you a question?”

“Of course, ask away.”

“I was really surprised when I was told that I would be shadowing you. I was wondering why.”

Tim smiled softly, trying to appease the nervous girl.

“When you asked to shadow someone in the business management branch, you said that one day you wanted to have your own line of clothes and that in the meantime, you already had clients for graphic design and had to open a business as an independent worker for your work to be legal. While your office is your home, it’s still considered a business. Since you will be managing a business at such a young age, we thought it would be better to have someone as young as me to show you the ropes, you know?”

Marinette nodded. It made sense. She didn’t want someone to tell her that she was too young to own a business. Even if being an independent worker didn’t really feel like owning a business, there was still a lot of paperwork to do and she had to deal with all the taxes.

The small girl gave him a bright smile.

“Alright, then! I’m ready!”

Marinette, Tim observed, was a very bright child with a thirst to learn. She took notes of everything he said and asked questions every time she could think of one.

He told her how his grandparents built this business and what changes his adoptive father made.

Then they talked about her plans for the future in details and the co-CEO of Wayne Enterprises was surprised how thorough she was.

He couldn’t help but think that she would be a good match for his little brother.

He spent the whole morning talking business with her and teasing his little brother in texts. He knew that Damian and Bruce planned to have lunch together today. He thought how funny it would be if the demon spawn were to cross path with his soulmate without his Robin costume. The boy would do his best to avoid her.

Speaking of lunch…

“Oh, shit. Is it the time? I’m sorry Marinette, I didn’t notice.”

“Oh, it’s okay! I didn’t see the time pass either.”

Tim smiled.

“Do you want to keep talking and eat lunch here? I was thinking about ordering Chinese food, what do you think?”

The French girl beamed.

“I would love to!”

“Do you want something in particular?”

“Anything is fine, thank you!”

Dialing a number on his phone, he quickly ordered for the both of them.

He saw Marinette taking her wallet out.

“Now, put that away, it’s on me.” he smiled.

That would be the first time he paid lunch for his future sister in law and he was very happy to do so.

“But-”

“I insist.”

“Thank you very much!”

She was such a polite girl, he mused.

The food arrived quickly and they started a business plan together for a fictive company as a way to learn.

He noticed that the door opened and saw his father and little brother with lunch bags in hand.

He smirked as Damian froze and left as quickly as he came, his father mouthing an apology and following his son.

He forgot that he was supposed to have lunch with his father too.

He couldn’t help his laugh at his brother’s reaction though. His face screamed Nope.

“Is something the matter?” asked Marinette.

He stopped laughing, getting back to business.

“No, sorry. You were saying?”

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