#Maribat rare pairs are my life

[velveteenshadow]

What are your opinions on a potential Edward Nygma/Adrien Agreste

I ask, because I know both characters are very dear to you and I wonder if you've ever thought about it (if you have, what are your headcanons, and if you haven't, what are your thoughts that this gives you? - Percy

Ooo great question!

Okay, so Edward and Adrien are so absolutely near and dear to my heart. Gotham’s version of the Riddler captured me. That’s the version that I write based off of whenever I write the character.

As for the two characters being shipped, I’d be willing to try writing it. It’d take a bit to wrap my brain around but I think there’s potential.

The relationship I like to do between Adrien and Edward is actually Adoptive Parent Ed. It’s my version of ‘Marinette gets it in the care of Harley, Ivy and/Selina’. I feel like Edward would be so fascinated with the miraculous and would want to help Adrien out (cause Oswald would make him).

I also really like the idea of Adrien/Edward being the ultimate duo to rival Batman/Catwoman. There’s just something about it. (Perfect set up for a Cat fight)

[velveteenshadow]

I feel it's only fair to reblog since I accidently took over the comment section so Maribatters (is that the official name for Maribat fans? Is there a better one? Shoot I'm distracted...). Anyway, lovers of Maribat, go answer this request!

Quick!

I need your best/favorite Maribat tropes!

[ms-starflower]

Spook-tober Maribat — Day 10 — Masks/Capes

@maribat-october-rarepairs

Alright! Here we go! The premise of the story is inspired by Teleporting into your life by @izanae Great story!! You should totally read it if you haven’t already!

I will totally write more about it! There is technically no pairing, but there is going to be one in the future (when I’ve decided which one)!

Also, I will post the Day 10 of Maribat Rare Pairs tomorrow. I totally have the idea, I just didn’t have time to write it yet. Oops.

Edit: Here is part 2.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

When she started her day, Marinette had been prepared for it to be bad. Hawkmoth had been silent for too long now, and she was seventy-five percent sure he was going to strike today. How bad it was going to be was a coin’s toss, of course, but Marinette was ready.

Or so she thought.

The Akuma, who had decided that striking in the middle of her Math class was the best idea ever, wasn’t objectively that bad. There weren't any minions! That was good, minions were a pain to deal with. But neither her, nor Chat Noir knew who it was, or what their powers were. The only thing they could say, at first, was that the person getting hit by the laser were teleported elsewhere.

Then, a little girl that had been separated from her father, in the park, was hit despite Ladybug's best effort to save her. The good thing was that she got out without any injuries, and that they now knew what the Akuma's power was.

The bad news was that it was bad.

The little girl had reappeared beside her father, a leather-like rope bounding her wrist with her father’s. Ladybug could feel her eyes widen in realisation, looking back toward Chat to see the same horror she was feeling on his face.

“Hahahaha,” the Akuma cackled, pointing their gloved hand toward the reunited father-daughter duo. “Now you can’t leave her behind! You’re forced to stay with her and be a dad!”

“Oh, no, no, no,” Ladybug muttered under her breath, panic overwhelming her. Her parents couldn’t know she was Ladybug, they couldn’t.

She saw movement from the corner of her eyes and had just enough time to grab Chat and hide, before the Akuma’s laser touched where they had been.

“That’s no good, my Lady,” he told her, panic in his voice. “My father can’t know I’m Chat Noir, it would be really, really, very bad!”

“Don’t worry, Chaton,” she told him with a confidence she didn’t feel. “We just have to not get hit.”

It wasn’t that easy, of course it wasn’t. Because this Akuma had to be a slippery one, of course it was.

They almost had them when it happened. Chat was distracted helping a kid run and was almost hit by the laser, and Ladybug didn’t really think. She had seen the panic in his eyes when he had talked about his dad. Letting her parents know about her being Ladybug was the less of the two evils, in this situation. She jumped in, pushing Chat out of the way.

Her last thought, before getting hit in the chest, was that she really hoped her parents were hiding in the bakery and not in an akuma shelter. Then, she was surrounded by a blinding light.

Next thing she knew, she stumbled on her feet, smashing face first in a hard chest. Taking quickly a couple of steps back, she looked around her, her panic fueled mind not really registering the anomalies.

She… wasn’t in the bakery. Not in an akuma shelter, either, they weren’t this… big. And the people around her were all wearing masks.

“You,” she started dumbly, blinking at the tall man in black in front of her. “You aren’t my father.”

“Ah,” he told her blandly, looking down, between her and the rope binding them. “Not as far as I know, no.”

She looked down at the rope, blinking confusedly at it. She could already feel her heart start to beat faster.

“It’s not what was supposed to happen,” she started, only to be interrupted by the sensation of a blade on her neck.

“Who are you? How did you get in here?” A boy, maybe her age, maybe a bit younger, it was hard to tell with the mask, asked her with a harsh tone.

“No, no, no, you don’t understand,” she said desperately, shaking her head and her eyes tearing up. “It’s not what was supposed to happen! The Akuma wasn’t supposed to do that!”

“Oh my god,” a redhead in a wheelchair, and the only one not wearing a mask, exclaimed suddenly, making everyone turn toward her. “You’re Ladybug!”

“Um, yes?” She said, her mental breakdown momentarily forgotten. She only now realised that they were talking in English. “Are we… Are we not in France anymore?!”

She ignored the crack in her voice, looking around her again. She used her gloved hand to push away the katana at her throat, knowing the blade couldn’t get through, making the boy holding it hiss furiously.

“No, you’re not,” the man that shouldn’t be bound to her, told her slowly, and she really looked at his face for the first time since she got here. Only to jerk back in panic, stretching the rope that shouldn’t be there at its limit.

“Holy�� Holy Duck!” She exclaimed, pointing rudely at him and ignoring the person that muttered ‘holy duck?’ behind her. “You’re— You’re Batman!”

“I am,” freaking Batman told her, with a softer voice than what she had been expecting.

“You shouldn’t!”

“Hey, kid,” a guy in a dumpster fire of a red helmet told her softly, taking a step toward her. “Why don’t you tell us what is happening, exactly?”

“”This is not what the Akuma is supposed to do! Non!” She screamed, waving her hands hysterically. She barely noticed how it was making Batman's arm move uncontrollably. “It was supposed to bind me to my father! You’re not my father, you can’t be! Because that would mean that papa isn’t my father, and it can’t be. It’s not, because my life can’t be a lie! And— And— Who finds out they are adopted because of a supervillain! I can’t be that unlucky! It’s a misunderstanding! The Akuma probably glitched! Because freaking Batman can’t be my father!”

She ended her tirade on a high pitched tone, everyone in the… laboratory? was staring at her like she was on the verge of insanity, even the stabby kid! To be fair, she was feeling on the edge of insanity.

“Holy shit, B,” the red helmet person said with awe in his tone. “You got another one.”

Batman only stared at her with his creepy white mask-eyes, and she felt like she was going to cry. But she couldn’t, because Chat was back in Paris, and she needed to stop the Akuma before he was sent to his father. Taking a deep breath, she buried down all of her feelings, schooling her features.

“I need to go back to Paris,” she said, looking down at her wrist. “And it looks like you’ll need to come with me.”

“You don’t think you will simply let—” Stabby Boy started, only to be cut by Batman’s hand.

“How urgent is the situation?” He asked her, still staring at her.

“Very,” she told him with great emphasis.

“Alright, but we both come back here after,” he waited for her to agree before nodding, ignoring the protest it caused. “If we use a Zeta Tube we could—”

“We won’t need it,” she interrupted, opening her yoyo to take out the horse Miraculous, under the incredulous stare of everyone. “I have an instantaneous way of travel.”

She looked down at the box, frowning in thought.

“Batman can’t be seen in Paris,” she said slowly, still in an internal debate.

“If you think that he is going to unmask—” Stabby Boy said, but Ladybug only waved him off. She heard a choked off laughter, but ignored it.

“Take that, put it on,” she told Batman, giving him the Miraculous.

“I don’t use magic,” he told her, looking down at it.

“I’m sorry to hurt your… sensibilities, Monsieur Batman,” she said with a faux-cheerful smile. “But today, you do. I can’t let Hawkmoth learn that Batman is my— And, if you don’t have a suit that you could change in in the next thirty seconds, you’re putting on this Miraculous.”

He stared at her some more, trying to intimidate her, probably, but she didn’t have time for that, so she just grabbed his hand and put the Miraculous in it.

“It’s official,” Red Helmet Guy muttered to another man wearing blue and black. “She is my favorite sibling.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~

It took thirty minute to defeat the Akuma, after they got back to Paris. Fighting while being bound to Batman had been surprisingly easy. Awkward, at first, but he was good enough to adapt to her, and they quickly got the hang of it.

They made a detour quickly for her to recharge, hidden from him, before they got back to the Batcave. The freaking Batcave. And Ladybug was now surrounded by a bunch of Gotham vigilantes, wondering if now was a good time to break down.

“So, you’re B kid,” Red Helmet Guy started, raising his hands to take off his helmet.

“Non!” she screamed, taking an involuntary step toward him. “Don’t take off your mask!”

He paused, tilting his head slightly.

“Why? All you have to do is ask your mom who your dad is, and you will know who Batman is.”

“I— I won’t do that,” she said slowly, looking between the people in the cave. “I’m not taking my mask off, either.”

“What,” Batman said, and it probably should have been a question, but it really wasn’t.

“I can’t do that,” she told him, looking down at the Horse Miraculous in her hands. “I can’t risk my identity with Hawkmoth out there.”

“We are not even in Paris!” A young man sitting at the computer chair told her incredulously.

“There is no way for Hawkmoth to reach us, here,” Batman told her softly, and she was surprised by the softness once again.

“But,” she started, taking a deep breath before looking straight at the creepy white eyes. “Can you promise, with absolute certainty, that you will never set foot in Paris while Hawkmoth is actif. Not as Batman, not as your civilian self.”

He didn’t respond, and she huffed with a wry smile.

“That’s why,” she told him, putting on Kaalki’s glasses and unifying them with Tikki. “I know it’s hard to accept, but I can’t take off the mask until Hawkmoth is defeated. And that’s why I don’t want to know your identities, I can’t risk them either.”

“So what? We just let you go?” Stabby Boy told her with disdain. “We may share blood, but that doesn’t mean we should trust you.”

“See, the fact that you share blood with Batman is the exact type of infos I don’t want to know,” she said, rolling her eyes at him. “I’m not asking you to trust me. That’s like, the total opposite of what I’m asking you to do. I’m sorry, but you really don’t have any choice in the matter.”

Batman opened his mouth to say something, probably a protest, but she activated Voyage under her feet, not letting anyone react before she closed it back.

It was the best thing to do.

[ur-favorite-queer-queen]

Protect

For Maribat March day 18 theme protect 

Master List 

“DEAREST BIG BROTHER! I’M HOME!” A female shout came from the foyer of the manor. 

Dick, Jason, Tim, Babs, Steph, and Cass were hanging out in one of the many rooms the manor held. Alfred had just walked in with a tray of drinks but froze at the sound of the voice.

“THE HECK!” Was shouted by the same voice followed by Damian’s voice shouting, 

“WHO ARE YOU!?!?! HOW DID YOU GET IN!?!?!” 

Alfred was out of the room in an instant. He was not sprinting but he might as well be with how fast he was walking. The batkids immediately followed after him. 

They walked in on a sight none of them will ever forget. Literally, Jason had taken a picture. A strange woman who looked like a female, miniature version of Bruce had Damian’s precious katana and seemed to be taunting him with it. 

“Miss Marinette!” Alfred called and got both the woman’s and Damian’s attention. 

“Alfred!” The woman replied, running over and giving him a hug, katana still in her hand. 

“Wait, Aunt Nettie?” Dick spoke up, walking over to the pair. 

“Little Wing! Wow, you got so much bigger since the last time I saw you.” She responded, giving him a hug. 

“Wait, wait, your Aunt Nettie?” Jason asked, crossing his arms. 

“Aww, Little Blue Jay, you don’t remember me?” She shot back, crossing her arms as well. 

“Blue Jay, why is that familiar?” Jason muttered to himself, not quietly enough since everyone heard him. 

“Aunt Nettie, you only visited once when he was here.” Dick reminded her. 

“Oh, well that will explain that. Also how many more kids did Bruce adopt? I thought it was only the 2 of you, the Drake kid, and his bio kid.” She questioned, motioning to each child she remembered. 

“The only other kid he adopted is Cass, Steph and Babs are family friends.” Dick clarified. 

“Babs, the first Batgirl correct?” She asked, turning to the girl in question. Everyone froze at that, this girl who was apparently Bruce’s sister knew who they were.

“It’s fine guys, she’s known since the beginning of his time as Batman.” Dick assured. 

“Yep, speaking of my big brother, where is he?” 

“Master Bruce is currently at a WE meeting, but he will be back in time for dinner.” Alfred answered for her. 

“How come father never told us about you?” Damian voiced, glaring at her and looking like he wanted to attack her again. Probably because she still had his katana. 

“I rarely visit nowadays and he’s probably still upset after last time.” Marinette smirked, like she had won some sort of battle. Noticing she still had his katana, she handed the blade back to Damian. 

“Last time?” Tim hesitantly echoed. 

“How about Miss Marinette shares the story in the living room? I can bring snacks.” Alfred offered, Marinette looked like she was about to say something but Alfred beat her to it, “You bond with your nieces and nephews, I will be fine.” 

“Come on Marinette! You can tell them about how you helped train Bruce! Oh did you bring any kwamis with you?” Dick rambled, pulling Marinette with him into the room they were hanging out in before her appearance. 

Once they were all seated Tim started the conversation, “So I’m not hallucinating, you are actually Bruce’s sister.” 

“Yes, Bruce is 3 years older than me. I know that he is Batman and you guys are the bats and the birds.” She calmly responded. 

“What did Dick mean by you helped train Bruce? And what is a Kwami?” Babs continued. 

“Kwami are basically magical beings, kinda like gods, that are bound to jewels called miraculous. Since I’m the guardian I protect these jewels. I trained Bruce by helping my old mentor from Tibet train him.” Marinette explained. 

“What happened last time? And why don’t you visit often?” Damian asked, carefully hidden curiosity in his eyes. 

“Back in my first year of highschool, Bruce was very protective of me. Like very protective. No boy he didn’t approve of, which meant I could never talk to a single boy, could get within 10 feet of me without him present. Asking me out, out of the question. Pretty sure this one guy, Adam, wanted to ask me out but Bruce interrupted before he could. I never talked to him again after that. I got pretty tired of it so I signed up for the foreign exchange program and went to school in Paris.” 

“Wait,” Steph interrupted, “Bruce was an overprotective brother?” 

“One of the worst kinds. I’m sure if our parents were still alive he might’ve been worse than my dad.”

“What importance does this have to the questions?” Damian sneered, annoyed that he wasn’t getting any answers. 

“Hold on I’m getting there. So anyways it was in my sophomore year of highschool at Paris that a supervillain attacked. He called himself Hawkmoth, he used the butterfly miraculous to transform people into his puppets by using their emotions against them. I didn’t think much of it since it didn’t concern me, my host family agreed thinking it wouldn’t last long. But when I got to my room there was a little box sitting on my desk and that’s where I found the ladybug miraculous. The most powerful miraculous besides the cat miraculous. I told Bruce, he wasn’t too happy about it, but there wasn’t much he could do. So much happened in that amount of time that I don’t think I could summarize it all before Bruce gets back but just know that in that span of time I met the current guardian. Hawkmoth gained an ally who used the peacock miraculous, Mayura. Also a miraculous that could manipulate emotions. 

After I and my partner had defeated Hawkmoth and Mayura, sometime during my senior year, we revealed our identities, dated for a few months before I ended things. Then I went back home and Bruce was getting ready to go on his soul-searching journey to be trained by masters or whatever and I suggested he be trained by my mentor who was in Tibet. I went with him, we trained for a couple of months before he left. I decided to stay in Tibet to train to become the next guardian. Eventually my mentor died and gave me guardianship. 

Then I returned to Gotham and Bruce had adopted Little Wing over there. So I stayed here for a while before I decided to go around the world doing guardian things. Bruce didn’t like the idea but there wasn’t much he could do. I ended up catching up with an old friend of mine on one of my travels and we started dating before I came back here. That’s when I met Little Blue Jay for the first and last time.

Before you guys had gone on patrol I tried to ask Bruce to give my boyfriend a chance but he didn’t agree. I’ve always been his little sister in his eyes, I think he couldn’t handle the fact I had grown up. Nasty words were exchanged between us and I haven’t returned since. In the end me and him didn’t work out but I couldn’t bring myself to return, until now at least.” 

“Why now?” Damian immediately pressed once she finished her explanation. 

“Dusuu was missing Alfred. It has been like a decade or something.” She remarked, pulling out a peacock shaped brooch. 

“Didn’t you say that the peacock miraculous was evil?” Cass signed, raising an eyebrow at the brooch. 

“No, I said it was used for evil. The miraculous are technically neutral, can be used for good or evil. Depends on who is wielding them.” Marinette bit back, as a flash of light emitted from the brooch. Suddenly a small floating peacock creature stood in front of Marinette. 

“Is that a kwami?” Steph asked. 

“Yes, this is Dusuu, the peacock kwami of emotions.”

“Hello! It’s so nice to meet you!” Dusuu chirped, “Where’s Alfred?” 

“I am right here Dusuu. It is lovely to see you again.” Alfred spoke from the doorway, holding a tray of snacks and drinks. 

“Alfred!” Dusuu cheered before flying over and hugging the older man. 

“In all honesty Bruce doesn’t sound like the best brother.” Jason pointed out. 

“I know it may seem like he’s a shitty brother, and at the time I totally thought he was and still is, but I know where he’s coming from. Bruce was always the more reserved and protective out of the 2 of us even before what happened to our parents. I think our parents' death solidified his need to protect me from anything and anyone. And we all know how horrible Bruce is at showing his emotions so I know his heart was in the right place. Plus, we’ve had years to cool off, I’m sure we can have a mature conversation now.” Marinette explained, a fond smile gracing her lips. 

Faintly in the distance they heard Alfred say, “Welcome home, Master Bruce.” 

“That’s my cue!” Marinette said before bolting off in the direction of the foyer. 

“Alfred something’s off, what are you not telling me?” The second those words left his mouth a weight connected with his back, arms wrapped around his neck and a familiar, 

“HEY BIG BRO!” Was registered by his ears. 

The weight slipped off his back and as he turned around he was met with the familiar sight of his little sister. “Marinette.” 

“Bruce.”

“You’re here.” 

“I am.” 

“I thought-”

“That I was mad at you.”

“You didn’t visit for 10 years.” 

“Life got busy.” 

They stood in silence for a minute. 

“I missed you.” Marinette whispered, so much different from the girl that was telling them a brief summary of her life. She seemed so much more vulnerable uttering those words than when she had revealed why she hadn’t come back in the first place. 

Turns out that was the straw that broke the camel’s back as Bruce wrapped Marinette in a hug as tears slipped from his eyes. They could hear him whispering over and over again, “I’m sorry. I’m sorry for what I did all those years ago.” 

It was weird for them all to see, including Dick who knew how much Marinette meant to Bruce. Bruce kept his emotions so closed up, master of the stoic face, but here he was breaking down in front of the all. Here he was crying and apologizing. 

“I believe we should leave them alone for now.” Alfred spoke up heading for the dining room. They followed. Later Bruce and Marinette would join them, a little red-eyed with their cheeks tear-stained, but small smiles on their faces. 

It was then that all the batkids knew that they would be seeing this ‘Aunt Nettie’ much more often. 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Look at that, I’m super late again! Nothing new, I think day 14 was a one time thing unfortunately. 

I’ve seen a ton of fics where Marinette was Bruce’s older sister but what about where she’s his younger sister? Bruce would so be an overprotective older brother. 

I hoped you enjoyed this! I’m planning on making a part 2 of this for ‘contest’. So stay tuned!

@maribatmarch-2k21 

[fridayfirefly]

A Guardian in Gotham

Read A Guardian in Gotham on AO3

Masterlist

Written for Maribat March Day 19 - Guardian

Note: In this AU Master Fu gave out the Ladybug Miraculous to Marinette and the Black Cat Miraculous to Adrien before consulting the Kwami. Marinette turned out to be a true holder, but for the Black Cat Miraculous, not the Ladybug Miraculous. However, she and Adrien made it work and were able to defeat Hawkmoth anyway. After Hawkmoth's defeat she becomes Lady Noire full-time.

----------

Being the Guardian of the Miraculous was hard work. There were no family vacations, no sleeping in or going to bed early, no breaks. Marinette could not relax until Hawkmoth was defeated. Which explained why it was such a jarring change once the Miraculous Team defeated Hawkmoth.

Gabriel Agreste was behind bars. The citizens of Paris were free from the threat of akumatization. Tikki, Plagg, and the rest of the Kwamis went dormant in order to restore the damage done to Duusu's Miraculous. Marinette didn't exactly know what to do with herself. Suddenly it hit her that she was no longer the middle schooler who accepted the burden of Guardianship. She was in her final year of high school, nearly an adult. All around her, her friends were making future plans. Adrien was taking a gap year to help Emilie recover from her coma. Alya was accepted to a prestigious journalism program. Nino was DJing at one of the best clubs in Paris. Luka was releasing his EP. Kagami was training for the Olympics. Chloé took up an internship with her mother.

Marinette couldn't move on, the way all of her friends were able to. Marinette couldn't be a normal girl anymore. She couldn't go to university, start a family, live a normal life. She needed the rush of adrenaline that came from two little words - Spots on! or more recently, Claws out!

It was around this time that the Temple of Guardian got in touch with Marinette, offering her an opportunity to continue her work as a Guardian of the Miraculous. They send Marinette a box of old journals, dating back to the 18th century. The journals detailed the discovery of twin "wells of evil" located in the American cities of Gotham and Metropolis, then named Mortham City. The Masters of the Miraculous who made this discovery studied the evil and expressed the desire to find a way to remove it, but didn't have the chance to complete the task before the Temple of Guardians fell. When the Temple reappeared they believed that the Masters had managed to destroy the evil in Mortham, due to the reports of the city's recovery and renaming to Metropolis soon after, but were unable to destroy the evil in Gotham. The city festered, growing more and more troubled while Metropolis flourished. Marinette's task was to do her best to study and remove the evil in Gotham.

Marinette applied to Gotham University, feeling relieved that she might finally find her purpose.

----------

Marinette's dorm room at Gotham University was rather lackluster; it was the typical tiny, cramped American university dorm, complete with a stained carpet and a bathroom shared between six girls. Her roommate was a computer science major named Barbara Gordon. Barbara was older than Marinette, a senior while Marinette was only a freshman. It was a fluke accident that the freshman dorms had filled up before she was admitted. Secretly Marinette wished that she had been able to room with another freshman. Barbara was rarely in the dorm room, too busy with her coursework and her real friends to make small talk with her nervous roommate.

Marinette barely spent any time in her dorm room, either. She spent most of her time in class or at the library studying. Marinette had the ambitious plan of double majoring in both fashion and business, in order to start her own fashion company someday. Her classes overwhelmed her, and Marinette began to regret overloading her first-semester schedule. It gave her barely any time to work on her Guardian work, let alone join an extracurricular.

Marinette wanted to decorate the dorm and make it more of a home, but because of a plane delay, she ended up arriving at the university the day before classes started, giving her no time at all to go to the store and buy anything. Another unfortunate casualty of Marinette's late arrival was that she still hadn't figured out how Gotham's bus schedule worked, so she walked everywhere, even in the pouring rain.

Overall, Marinette's first week of classes was miserable. That was why Marinette was crying in her dorm room, alone, at six in the evening on a Friday night. It all started when Marinette saw a picture of her old class on social media. Alya and Nino were making faces at the camera; Marinette and Adrien were both grinning, Marinette's blue scarf wrapped around his neck; Ivan and Mylène were holding hands, staring into each other's eyes; Rose was posing, kissing Juleka's cheek; Alix was perched on Kim's shoulders; Nathaniel had his arm wrapped around Marc's shoulders; Max was holding up Markov so he could wave to the camera, Sabrina and Chloé were smiling, holding hands.

The photo had been taken years ago, on their first day of lycée. Marinette remembered it well. They had all been nervous about starting at a new school. There was no guarantee that they would all be in the same class. Max had calculated the odds for even half of their class staying together and it wasn't good. But that morning, when Marinette walked into her homeroom and saw all of her friends sitting there, she knew that it would be okay. Chloé revealed that she had gotten her father to provide a generous donation to the school to keep them all in the same class for the rest of their education. Marinette had been so happy to get to stay with her friends. Now she was on a different continent from them.

The tears started to fall, slowly at first, then more and more until Marinette was sobbing, face pressed into a pillow. How could she have made such a stupid decision? All of her friends were in France and she left them, all because she couldn't move on.

Two knocks on the door halted Marinette's sobs. "Babs? Are you in here?"

Marinette got up and opened the door, revealing a young man. He looked to be her age, tall, with black hair and blue eyes. "Barbara isn't here right now," she told the man.

The man blinked, looking at Marinette like she wasn't what he expected at all. "I guess I should have called her before I showed up. I'm Tim, by the way. I was just here to drop this off." Tim held up a container filled with chocolate chip cookies.

"I'm Marinette. If you want, you can drop the cookies off on her desk. I'll tell Barbara that they're from you, once she comes back to the dorm." Marinette wiped her eyes with her shirt sleeve, trying to get rid of the evidence of her crying.

"Are you okay?" asked Tim.

"Oh, I'm fine. Just a little homesick. Nothing to worry about."

"You should come with me to get dinner," offered Tim. "I was just about to stop in at the dining hall."

Marinette shook her head. "I wouldn't want to impose."

"It wouldn't be an imposition at all. I hate eating alone."

Marinette gave him a wary look. "I don't know you. Why would you invite me to eat with you?"

Tim shrugged. "You look like you could use some company, to take your mind off of your homesickness. Unless you want to spend the rest of your night crying in your dorm."

Marinette bit her lip as she thought it over. It would be nice to get out of the dorm and get something to eat. On the other hand, Tim was a complete stranger whose intentions Marinette still didn't trust. Then Marinette remembered the photo of her friends and made up her mind. If she couldn't have her old friends here in Gotham she would have to make new ones. "Alright. Just give me a few minutes to get ready."

Marinette threw on a pair of jeans, a Gotham University hoodie, and her sturdiest pair of sneakers.

"So what's on the menu tonight?" asked Marinette as they walked out of the dorm building to Tim's car.

"Uncertain. I can't remember the last time the dining hall actually updating its online menu. I was planning on crossing my fingers and hoping that they would be serving something edible tonight."

Marinette wrinkled her nose. "Is the food usually edible?"

"It's hit or miss. If you want, we could go to a diner instead?"

Marinette nodded. "I don't want to spend my weekend with food poisoning."

"Good choice." Tim turned the car around and started driving into the center of Gotham.

"Are you a senior like Barbara?" asked Marinette.

Tim shook his head. "I'm a sophomore. How about you?"

"Freshman. This is actually my first Friday in Gotham."

"Where are you from?" asked Tim.

"Paris, 21st arrondissement."

"That must be a pretty big change. What made you choose Gotham?"

Marinette shrugged, not wanting to give away her real reason. "I figured all the supervillains and Rogues might remind me of home."

Tim looked confused for a second before a realization passed over him. "I forgot about Hawkmoth. It was a big deal here in Gotham when he first emerged because the Mayor of Paris refused to allow the Justice League to intervene. All because he was worried about 'damaging the historic buildings of Paris'."

Marinette let out a bitter laugh. "That wasn't the real reason, you know. I was friends with Andre Bourgeois's daughter, Chloé. She says that he didn't want the Justice League to get involved in the fight against Hawkmoth because he couldn't merchandise any of the Justice League members. Ladybug, Chat Noir, and the rest of the Miraculous Team, on the other hand, never copyrighted their images. Paris used the Miraculous Team to bring in billions in tourism and Bourgeois never paid them a cent."

Tim looked surprised. "You sound like you know a lot about the Miraculous Team."

"I got to know them all pretty well. My classmates were known throughout Paris as the 'Children of Hawkmoth' - as if it was our fault that Hawkmoth targeted my school at a rate astronomically higher than the rest of the city. Of course, when it turned out that Gabriel Agreste's son was one of my classmates the nickname got a bit more personal."

Tim let out a break. "I suppose moving to Gotham makes sense when you've spent that much time in proximity to superheroes and supervillains."

"Gotham is an improvement to Paris under Hawkmoth. At least none one your Rogues can mind control." Marinette shuddered at the memory of her friends and loved ones turning against her due to Hawkmoth's influence.

Tim pulled into the diner parking lot. The pair got a booth in the back and put in their orders. Tim and Marinette spent the night trading stories of the most interesting Parisian akumas and Gotham Rogues.

Tim was enraptured. He told Marinette that for years it had been difficult for outsiders to get any reliable information about the Miraculous Team, outside of what Andre Bourgeois used for his tourism campaign. So Marinette did her best to share all the little details that every Parisian knew like the back of their hand: That Valentines Day was the worst holiday because all of the akumas were love-based. That they were trained in school to either lock their emotions down or let them all out, if they saw an akuma, to try and diminish the akuma's power. That Ladybug and Chat Noir, once they realized that their fanbase was primarily children, made it a point to never swear during their battles.

By the end of the night, Tim and Marinette made plans to meet up the following day. Tim promised to take Marinette out into the city for the shopping trip that her delayed flight caused her to miss. Marinette went to bed that night hopeful for her future in Gotham, a feeling she never thought she would have again.

----------

Over the next few weeks, things got better at Gotham University. Marinette started spending more time out of her dorm room with Tim, and eventually, with her roommate Babs and Tim's brother (and Bab's boyfriend) Dick. Tim became Marinette's lifesaver after he taught Marinette how Gotham's bus system worked. Marinette finally got around to decorating her side of the room. Her new style and color scheme (navy blue and sunflower yellow, Gotham University school colors) suited her much better than the pinks and whites of her high school days. Her productivity increased as she settled into the school, and Marinette found that she actually enjoyed her classes. It wasn't perfect, but Gotham University began to feel a bit more like home.

Most importantly, Marinette had begun to make progress on her work as a guardian. It had taken a whole weekend, but she eventually located the epicenter of Gotham's evil, a rundown tenement building in the heart of Crime Alley. The basement of the building housed storage units, one of which Marinette promptly rented. She set up her workshop there, bringing out the Miraculous Box so that she could consult the Kwami. Tikki and Plagg both woke up from their hibernation and Marinette got to work.

"I can sense the evil," spoke Tikki. "It's overpowering."

"It's like going from the Sahara Desert straight to the middle of the ocean," added Plagg.

"It does feel similar to drowning," Tikki agreed.

"Do either of you have any idea how to get rid of it?" asked Marinette.

Tikki shrugged. "I wish I could tell you how to defeat it, but it's unlike any enemy the Kwami of your Miracle Box have ever gone up against before. But look on the bright side, we know that it can be eliminating. I can only assume that the Kwami were involved when the evil was eliminated in Metropolis."

"The solution is easy. We cataclysm the evil," said Plagg.

"We don't know what would happen if we use cataclysm against something that isn't fully corporeal."

"Then we use Sass's second chance until we get it right."

Tikki brightened up. "Oh, that is a good idea - using second chance, not using cataclysm irresponsibly."

"See! I do have good ideas sometimes. We could also use Pollen's venom to freeze the evil in place and stop it from fighting back."

Marinette could listen to her two favorite Kwami argue forever. She had missed them terribly. But she had a job to do, so she interrupted their banter. "Do you think I should use Mullo to wield multiple Miraculous?"

Tikki shook her head. "You'll need at least one other person with you. If you get hurt, someone else will have to use second chance."

Marinette pondered that fact. "Luka's going on tour next month. He's stopping in Gotham for a weekend. Chloé is only an hour drive from Gotham, up in New York City, so she could be here any time. If we plan everything right, we could have the evil destroyed before the semester is over."

Once again, Tikki shot down Marinette's plan. "This is too strong for Luka's second chance or Chloé's venom. If you want to do this right you'll need to use true holders."

Marinette winced. Finding the true holder of a Miraculous was a near-impossible task. Of her entire Miraculous Team, only Marinette and Adrien were true holders. While the Kwami could sense a person's aptitude, they needed to be within fifty feet to get an accurate read. There was no way Marinette would be able to find the true holder of both Sass and Pollen. "Okay, new plan. What if I get Mullo to multiply myself and then have each copy of me take a different Miraculous?"

Marinette brainstormed with the two Kwami for hours, desperate to find a solution to the problem that had plagued Gotham for centuries. However, they still couldn't come up with a plan in which Marinette would be able to rid Gotham of the evil without enlisting the help of at least one other true holder. In the end, Marinette decided to take Tikki, Plagg, Sass, and Pollen back to the dorm with her, hoping that they might stumble upon another true holder.

"I wish we had a better plan," sighed Marinette.

"Keep your head up, Marinette. The only thing we can do now is stay positive and hope for the best," advised Tikki.

It wasn't a good plan, passively waiting for someone to solve her problem for her, but it was the only plan they had. Marinette had no other choice. If she tried to take on the evil alone, it would overpower her. It was disheartening. Marinette rode the bus back to her dorm. The streets of Gotham felt colder on the return trip.

Getting dinner with Tim was the only thing that could cheer Marinette up, so she pulled out her phone and sent him an invitation to meet up.

Marinette: Do you want to go get dinner? I heard the dining hall has vegetarian lasagne

Tim: Sure! Be there in twenty

Marinette put her phone away as she got off the bus and started walking towards the dining hall, dodging the sidewalk puddles that never seemed to dry. Even when it wasn't raining, Gotham was a dreary city.

Tim and Marinette chatted about their classes as they ate their food. By the end of dinner, Marinette felt a little better about her disappointing day. Tim could always lift her out of a bad mood. Marinette considered it his superpower.

"I'll see you tomorrow," said Marinette as she got out of Tim's car in front of her dorm hall. She expected to get to her room without incident, but as soon as she got into the relative privacy of the stairwell, all four of her Kwami were circling around her head, speaking in rapid succession, too quick for Marinette to keep up.

"I can't believe it!"

"You've got some luck, Pigtails!"

"This is great news!"

"I can't wait to meet him!"

Marinette blinked as she tried to make sense of the Kwamis' words. "What's going on?"

Pollen's eyes were bright. "Tim is my true holder!" the Kwami squeaked excitedly.

Marinette gasped. "Really?"

"He'll make a perfect Bee. He seems so smart and funny and considerate. I bet he'll feed me loads of honey and get fresh flowers for all of his rooms and be my best friend." Pollen sighed dreamily, pure joy in her voice.

"Pollen, have you ever had a true holder before?" asked Marinette.

"Of course. It's been a long time, though - at least a thousand years since my last true holder died. I missed it a lot. But now I have Tim!"

Marinette smiled, overjoyed that she finally had the means to complete her mission, that Pollen finally got to meet one of her true holders again, that Gotham might be freed from the evil that had loomed over it for centuries. Mostly, she was overjoyed that she met Tim all those weeks ago, that he took the time to get to know her, that he was there for her when no one else was.

----------

"So the Kwami are little gods?" Tim stared at Pollen with an almost scary intensity, as if he thought looking away might make the Kwami disappear.

Pollen flew up closer to Tim to explain. "The Kwami are linked to certain aspects of humanity: creation, destruction, intuition, protection, et cetera. We have a certain amount of control over these qualities. I am the Kwami of Subjection, of control and mastery. I can give you the power to incapacitate your enemies."

"Incapacitate them how?"

"Using the power of venom, you will be able to freeze your enemies in place."

Tim wrinkled his nose. "That sounds a little morality dubious. How do you know I wouldn't use it for evil. This is Gotham."

Pollen rolled her eyes. "You're my true holder, Tim Drake. I trust you with my entire being."

"What does that mean, for me to be your true holder?"

Pollen's cheerful expression turned sad. "Of all the Kwami, my powers are the most often exploited. The power of subjection, of complete and total control over your enemies, is corrupting. However, you, Tim, are my true holder. Your self-control is strong, I can sense it. You will not be corrupted by the power I give you. You will wield it fairly."

Tim glanced over at Marinette, and she gave him her most encouraging smile. "I need you, Tim. I've needed you for a while. First, as a friend, when I was at my lowest, and now as my partner. There's an evil that resides in this city, that I have been tasked with destroying. I can't get rid of it alone. I need you to help me."

Tim's eyes widened. "You mean there's a supernatural reason for Gotham's condition?"

Marinette nodded. "There's a well of evil underneath the city. Using the Miraculous, I can remove it. But it's too powerful for me to do it alone. I know this is a lot to ask, but-"

Tim interrupted Marinette before she could finish her sentence. "You know, Gotham is well known for its distaste for magic-users and meta-humans." Marinette opened her mouth to protest but was interrupted once more by Tim. "However, I trust that you want to do what's best for this city. I'll help you."

Marinette's face brightened. "Thank you! I have a plan but I still need to fine-tune the details. I'll get back to you as soon as possible. For now, you should take the Bee Comb with you. You'll need to form an emotional bond with Pollen before you can achieve peak performance."

"You seem to know a lot about the Miraculous and the Kwami."

"It's my job to be knowledgable. I'm a Guardian of the Miraculous."

----------

"So how does a girl like you become a Guardian of the Miraculous?" asked Tim as they ate their lunch in the storage unit after a long morning of pouring over plans.

"I was chosen by the previous master. It's a long-standing tradition that the Guardian can only be a true holder, because true holders notoriously incorruptible except in the most extreme situations. I was the only true holder that Master Fu knew of, other than himself, so despite my age and despite the fact that I wielded the Ladybug Miraculous rather than the Black Cat Miraculous, the Miraculous I was the true holder for, he passed the responsibility onto me."

"How old were you when you became the Guardian full-time?"

Marinette tensed her shoulders. "I was fourteen. Master Fu wanted to wait longer, but there was a situation. I lost my only mentor, with only a fraction of my training completed."

"That sounds rough," Tim's tone was sympathetic. He placed his hand on her shoulder to comfort her.

"It was difficult," Marinette admitted. "For the longest time, I was mad at Master Fu for waiting so long to start training me. It wasn't until I got older that I realized why he was so reluctant to start my training. He felt guilty for stealing my childhood away from me. The situation in Paris was bad and tough choices had to be made. I don't blame him, but there are a lot of things I wish had been done differently."

"I'm sorry that you had to go through that. I don't know what I would have done if I had lost my mentor-" Tim's thoughtful tone turned frantic. "Not that my experience with mentorship would compare to yours, because I wouldn't know anything about being a teenage superhero."

Tim's words were suspicious, but Marinette didn't have time to figure out what he was hiding. They had a job to do. "Well, it's time to get back to work. You need to practice using venom on non-corporeal objects. I want to see if you're able to freeze the wind."

"Sounds good, Bugs."

"Bugs?"

Tim nodded. "I figured you could use a nickname. Do you not like it?"

"No, it's fine." Marinette paused. "Actually, it's better than fine. I really appreciate it. Thank you, Tim."

"No problem, Buggsy," Tim teased.

"Okay, now you're pushing your luck," Marinette teased right back.

----------

Lady Noire and her partner Yellowjacket stood in the basement of a rundown tenement building in the heart of Crime Alley.

Lady Noire spoke the plan aloud, the rhythm of her words revealing that she had spoken them many times before in preparation for the event. "I'll start by drawing out the evil. As soon as it senses the power of destruction that I hold it will try and consume me. I need you to be ready to use your venom the moment it emerges. Once it is frozen, I will use cataclysm. Are you ready?"

Yellowjacket responded. "I'm ready."

Lady Noire closed her eyes and let out her breath in a drawn-out hiss. The shadows around her darkened and she let out a pained gasp as she fell to her knees.

Yellowjacket sprung into action. "Venom!" he shouted, thrusting his palms out to let his power fill the room. The whole room lit up with yellow light, bright enough to rid the room of all but the supernatural shadows.

The shadows, which had been growing exponentially, suddenly stopped dead in their tracks. Lady Noire got back up onto her feet, a vicious snarl on her face. "You have been terrorizing this city for centuries. No longer will I will allow this evil to haunt Gotham. Cataclysm!"

The shadows crumbled, leaving behind only natural darkness. The transformation disappeared from Lady Noire, leaving behind a girl, who gasped for breath. "Tim, we did it!"

"Pollen, buzz off," commanded Yellowjacket. He was so impatient to hug the girl that he had his arms wrapped around her before his transformation was finished. "It's over, Marinette."

The girl shook her head gently. "It's not completely over. The effects will surely linger - Metropolis still sees its fair share of villains - but it will be nothing like what it was before. I imagine the vigilantes that roam Gotham will have a much easier job, though."

The boy tensed up. "Speaking of the vigilantes that roam Gotham, I suppose there's something that I should probably tell you. I'm Red Robin."

The girl blinked once, a dumbstruck expression on her face then burst out into peals of laughter. "Just my silly luck that I ask a vigilante to be my superhero partner."

The boy grinned. "I am rather fond of your silly luck. It's what brought us together."

@maribatmarch-2k21

[the-coffee-fandom]

This is a sign!

@velveteenshadow rare pairs must rise again like a green Phoenix from ashes of pink

I’ve seen Garmari for the most part I believe ship name-wise.

(Beastbug is obviously the best ship name tho)

Anyhow here’s all the ones on ao3 and most(?) of tumblr:

Beast Bug by LeoLeonte

Rated T

The Titans Tower gains an new inhabitant. Her room is bigger, which does not go over well with everyone.

Marinette the Titan by emmy_phee

Not Rated I’d rate it G

Marinette joins the Teen Titans

Retirement by FridayFirefly

Rated T

For superheroes, retirement is just a fact of life. One day, if you make it long enough, you'll put down the suit and you'll never pick it up again. Maybe someone will take your place. Hopefully, no one will need to. But no matter how strong you are, not even if you're Superman in his prime, the simple fact was that someday you will retire.

For Gar and Marinette, retirement always felt like something on the horizon. It takes a while, but eventually they make it there

The Story of Mantis and Beast Boy by MrsDiablousRiddle

Rated G

This is a prequel to last year's fic Mantis and Gentlebug. I hope everyone enjoys reading about how Marinette and Garfield got together.

Mantis and Gentlebug by MrsDiablousRiddle

Rated G

Marinette/Garfield/Damian

For Maribat March prompts

Sequel to the above ^

Meeting the Titans…And getting a date? By Jinx-Jade (Trial_and_Error)

Rated T

Why did you call us to the tower on a Sunday at nine in the morning! for a meeting that wasn’t about a mission, or an emergency.

Fairest of the Fair By FridayFirefly

Rated T

The Teen Titans visit the Jump City fair. It's Marinette's first American fair, so her boyfriend Gar shows her all of his favorite attractions.

Blessed Flower [Brought Us Together] By AnjuSchiffer

Rated G

How about #48 and #45 with your ship of choice

-

45. I can’t imagine this world without you

48. Why are you crying?

-

You know what I haven’t written yet? GARMARI! Also, Witch!Marinette :D

Team Night Out By Mochegato

Rated G

Gar planned an entire night out in order to confess to Marinette. But Marinette has other plans.

That’s my baby By maribats

Not rated Contains Major Character Death; I’d rate it G

No summary listed

Was It Worth It? By AnjuSchiffer

Rated G

After the defeat of Hawkmoth, life for Marinette should've been flourishing and yet it wasn't. Slowly and steadily she grew lifeless and distant, avoiding to talk about what had been weighing on her mind. Seeing Marinette hole herself up in her room, Garfield knew it was him to address the elephant in the room.

Paper Rings By FridayFirefly

Rated T

Some love requires diamonds and extravagant vows. For Marinette and Garfield, all true love needs is two paper rings and the promise of forever.

Worlds Most Important By SilverWhiteRaven

Rated G

A MariBat GarMari Soulmate AU with First Meeting prompt.

A recon mission goes a little wonky, Soulmates are discussed at length, and a boy finally meets a certain girl.

Ones that aren’t exactly what you asked for:

Spells, Beasts, and… Mice by Intotherabithole

Rated G

Raven/Marinette/Garfield

Decided to right for a trio I've never seen anyone do.

“So who is your… friend?”

“Best Boy leave us alone.” Raven slammed the door in my face.

ketchupqueen's Maribat March By ketUPqUeEn_boitti

Rated G Contains Major Character Death

A series of unconnected Maribat one shots written for Maribat March. Chapter 3 seems to be the most Gar/Mari but only hints of it. One sided Raven/Mari and Raven/Gar.

Celeste’s Maribat Ideas By moonlitceleste

Rated G

You’ll want chapter 11

Marinette meets Beast Boy without realizing he’s Beast Boy.

Kan's Maribat March 2020 By littlekittykanny

Rated T Contains Major Character Death

You’ll want chapter 15

TW su*c*de attempt

Tumblr fics:

https://www.tumblr.com/lady-literature/641951608827166720/happy-holidays-how-about-a-cat-and-mouse-game

https://www.tumblr.com/the-navistar-carol/611087167225233408/intervention

https://www.tumblr.com/lesbiansforprompto/621563304329035776/uoooohh-okay-first-congratulations-second

https://www.tumblr.com/ficsforthestars/616148111435415552/do-i-look-like-her-garmari-oneshot

https://www.tumblr.com/lesbiansforprompto/612038920637661184/if-youre-still-doing-the-jealousadrien

https://www.tumblr.com/lesbiansforprompto/190617048112/for-garmari-what-if-they-had-a-secret-relationship

https://www.tumblr.com/anjuschiffer/612626656473088000/to-kill-a-ladybug

Maribat rare pairs day 12

A better home chapter 1

Dabble:

https://www.tumblr.com/bunathebunny/640747987566493696/wild-and-garmari-please

https://www.tumblr.com/lady-literature/634163537657380865/gamari-please-preferably-something-non-angsty

https://www.tumblr.com/bunathebunny/638225193438937088/garfield-beast-boy-x-marinette-drowning

Ideas:

https://www.tumblr.com/moonlitceleste/630056044316557312/garmari-idea-marinette-meets-beast-boy-without

https://www.tumblr.com/anjuschiffer/627808335046082560/a-lady-and-her-frog

https://www.tumblr.com/moonlitceleste/628418590066016256/a-marinette-meets-the-titans-plot-with-possible

Fanart:

https://www.tumblr.com/liquid-luck-00/637454542143913984/ladyaeleuz-the-idea-of-lion-gar-and-mari-would

Oh my goooooddnessss. Okay so here’s the thing.

I was looking through tumbler for the first time but I was looking through maribats ANNDDD I’ve come across Garfield X Marinette, and holy crackers.

I love Garfield x Marinette, like i love their vibe with each other, they match sm together. That it’s literally insane.

And I tried to find some fanfics of them but I can’t find any. I’m so so so close to making a fanfic of them, but anywayyysss.

The point is that, do you guys have any recommendations? Or any stories that is Marinette X Garfield Logan stories? (Beast boy)

If so pleaseee pleaseee tell meeee. And what is their ship name?

Maribeast? Garinette?😭

(And I apologize for putting maribat on tag. Because mostly maribat fans would know this)

[ultimatetornshipper]

Maribat oct rare pairs- day 1

@maribat-october-rarepairs

Day 1- october 1- decorating

“Babe, what do you think of handing our wedding photo here? Timmy did such a good job with this candid photo of us and we both look so fabulous and I wanna show off how beautiful my wife looks,” Chloe kept rambling as Cass stared lovingly at her partner.

Her blonde hair was in a messy bun and she looked gorgeous in her yellow tank top as she again started ranting about the sheer obliviousness that Tim and Marinette managed to display.

“- I mean really Cass they’ve been going at this since before you and I have known eachother how long can people keep being this clueless?”

Cass stood and crossed her arms, her eyebrow raised and an amused grin resting on her face, “Five months,”

Chloe stopped ranting and turned around, beet red, “Oh come on that was different how was I supposed to know you were flirting?”

“I called you the light of my life and gave you a necklace,”

“That totally could’ve been platonic!”

“We sang “little miss perfect” at the top of our lungs together,”

Chloe huffed, trying to hide her embarrassment, she turned around and held up the photo of them again, “So the picture,”

Cass walked towards her and snaked her arms around her waist, resting her chin on her shoulder, “Perfect,”

[icerosecrystal]

Maribat One-Shot Requests

Hey Everyone!!!

I just realized that I have never asked for maribat requests from my Tumblr readers!!! So for 24 hours, I will be accepting any request that you guys send me! It can be fluff or angst, daminette or a rare pair, romantic or purely platonic, it doesn’t matter to me! I am open to writing everything... well, actually I will not write any sexual content. The most sexual content I will write is a heavy makeout session, so if I get any smut requests I will delete them. But otherwise I am open to anything! Please do let me know how long you would prefer the one-shot to be or if you don’t care and just want it to be written! After 24 hours I will no longer be accepting any asks and even if I do it will only be a few of them. 

One thing that I would quickly like to say as a disclaimer: Once you send me the request, do not expect it to be written right away. I do have a life outside of social media/fanfictions and I am a student who still has other obligations in my life. It will take me some time to write the request depending on how fast you sent the request once the 24 hours started. I do also have requests on Wattpad that I still need to complete and I will be alternating between writing those requests and the requests that y’all might send. So it might take some time for me to write any requests I might get and I want each and every one of you to be aware of that. So once you send me a request, please do not nag me about doing it. I will get all the asks done as soon as possible!

Thank you all so much for supporting me and reading my works! I can’t wait to see what y’all ask me to write!!! I hope y’all have a good day/night! 

~Crystal

[black-streak]

MM - Day 22 - Nature

I'm not comfortable writing for the rare pairs I actually like, so I went with this instead. This actually picks up directly where Day 2, training, left off, but it can definitely be read as a stand alone. It feels more like I'm describing a concept through these characters instead of actually having any story going on here, but idc. Honestly, I'm just surprised I'm only running one day behind and have made it to day 22 at all.

MM Taglist:

@maribat-march2020 @emo-elaine13

Permanent list

@naoryllis @throneoffirebreathingbitchqueen @my-name-is-michell @maribat-is-lifeblood @dast218 @novicevoice @shizukiryuu @princess-of-fangirls @bigpicklebananatree @pirats-pizzacanninibles @abrx2002 @breemeister @darkthunder1589 @thestressmademedoit @severelyenchantedwonderland @isabellemasen @multi-fandom-freak0221 @fantasyloversblog @bzz75 @cloudiedraws @jardimazul @orbitsvt @gingerdaile @sotheresthatthought @kadmeread @novaloptr @unabashedlyswimmingtimemachine @crazylittlemunchkin @18-fandoms-unite-08

~---~

On the roof above her, she heard whisper soft steps, only heard due to years of enhanced hearing. A steady smile grew across her features as she called up, "Oh hello Red, what can I do for you tonight?"

The swish of air and boots kissing ground gave away his position as he moved up behind her, though he didn't seem keen on trying to hide it, "Nettle."

"Mm?" Mari hummed at Red as the roots in the ground below her shifted forward, ready to burst forth and protect should the need arise.

"It's not often I find you sitting peacefully," he answered.

"Ivy's got me training," she answered the unspoken question.

She felt him shift about behind her as though trying to assess what type of training this could possibly be when she hadn't moved an inch in over an hour. As his feet shifted forward, roots sprung out and wrapped tight around his ankles, keeping him in place.

"What the-"

"It's important to stay intune to nature when you command all of it," she admonished, imploring the roots to soften their hold, turning more into a caress than grip.

"I thought Stinging Nettles were less dangerous than Poison Ivy," he accused, finally touching her shoulder to get her to turn towards him.

"Oh, they are," she grinned as she twisted to look at the disgruntled bird, "but what type of apprentice would I be if I gave myself the more powerful name?"

"And what exactly makes you more than her?" Red fished for more information on her, as he was prone to do when in uniform.

She felt accommodating tonight.

"Ivy has toxins in her blood that give her these abilities, yes?"

"Deadly touch, immunity to poisons, manipulation of plants, yes," he agreed, seemingly waiting for any corrections.

"So she has an affinity to plant life and the general abilities of one. I don't have an affinity so much as control over nature in general."

The roots climbed up the backs of his legs, pushing him against the back of the bench where she held herself steady as she kneeled to look up at him. He stayed relaxed, willing to be held still for the sake of the Intel she readily offered.

"I'll let you in on a secret, but you have to turn off your comms for it. And your wrist computer thing. Anything that could possibly record me. And this WILL stay between you and I, Tim," she emphasized, maintaining eye contact as he slowly clicked buttons and latches about his suit. When he stopped, she narrowed her eyes until he reached down to his belt and hit the last recording device off. Only then did the serious look drop off her face to be replaced by a happy sunbeam of a smile.

"The real difference is the source of our powers. Ivy's come from toxins. Mine from magic. You see, I've fused with the Goddess of Creation to the point of no return. And while she'll live on long after I've passed, I've become this century's version of her."

His jaw dropped, clearly speechless.

"The reason I study under Ivy is because she's been doing this whole controlling life thing way longer than I have and honestly understands it better than I do. Hence her being my mentor despite my power being more dangerous," she nodded along to her own words, happily prattling off in her info dump.

At least she was, until he cut her off, hands gripping in his own hair.

"So you're telling me I've been messing around with Mother Nature herself for the past three months? Oh god, am I going to hell for that?"

She blushed bright red, spluttering and blinking wide eyed up at him before finally managing to spit out, "That's what you got from all of that?!"

[ethelphantom]

The Greatest Miracle

This fandom does not have enough BartAdrien content like, seriously. They're the cutest thing to ever exist. Two sunshine children. Please love them. Please love my greatest creation. Anyway, have some cuteness and fluff and (possible? I have no idea if it is funny) humour for a change! Maribat March day 22, rare pair

Ao3

This is Maribat -- Don’t like; Don’t read

____________________________

“Please don’t.”

“Oh, Adrien. I totally will.”

❋❋❋

“Hey, Bart, give my tablet back! I need it for my speech!”

“Nooopppe! I may not be able to open it but I know what kind of things there are! Kon, catch!”

“Thanks, Bart. Have fun. You forgot I’m also doing the speech. You literally asked me to.”

“Dang it.”

❋❋❋

Marinette snorted as Adrien took one look at her before burying his face in his hands as she stood up, Tim and Conner following suit. She grabbed the microphone from the stand nearby and blew a kiss at Adrien, winking.

“Good afternoon everyone! It’s a beautiful day, even more beautiful than Adrien’s hair, and we all know how beautiful his hair is, soooo… Anyway, before I actually get to any important part, I need to say that I asked Adrien if there was anything that I shouldn’t say in any case, and well. He didn’t say anything in particular, I swear. To everyone else, I’m sorry if this makes your idea of Adrien’s supposed put-togetherness just vanish in front of your eyes. I can promise you, it never existed in the first place.

“I can’t believe this day actually came, seeing Adrien get married to someone,” Marinette said, smiling when she heard the quiet “rude much?” coming from Adrien’s direction. “Oh yeah. In case some of you didn’t know, I’m Marinette, Adrien’s best friend, though I’m pretty sure the only ones who don’t know that are from Bart’s side as Adrien has somehow managed to introduce me to his entire family, all of his few friends — and Adrien, before you say anything, you met most of your friends through me, don’t try — and we went to the same school so there’s that as well. Honestly, I think he’s even dragged me to a few family reunions during the years.”

There was laughter in the crowd but it quieted down as soon as Marinette began talking again.

“Adrien and I have gone through thick and thin. There have been liars, bullies, gold-diggers, over-eager wannabe journalists… Well, we’ve probably seen anything you can imagine. We’re siblings in all but blood, rather literally. My parents even adopted him after Gabitch — I mean, Gabriel, all parents of little children, you did not hear that, and neither did you, Bart, Wally and Dick, but like seriously, if there's anyone that deserves to be called out for being a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad father in a wedding, it's that man —, was arrested. It was easier since that meant he wouldn’t need to transfer schools.”

Marinette tilted her head and bit the inside of her cheek. “Wait a second. Tim, dear, did you have the tablet connected to the projector already? I want the photos, like, five minutes ago.”

Tim laughed at her. “Cuppie, you started the speech less than three minutes ago. But yeah, it’s connected.”

“Shush, you. Thanks! I’ll say when I want the pictures. Anyway. I met Adrien when we were like, 13, and it really didn’t start great. I hated him at first. Like, honest to God hated him. You can imagine how the rest of the day went. Somehow, he cleared the idea I had of him within a few hours though, so we became friends. He’s the best friend I’ve ever had, always been there for me through everything.

“I don’t think I’ve got too much time to speak even though I’d absolutely love to do that for the rest of the day because Adrien’s gonna murder me if I try, so I’ll just tell you one of my favourite things with him. Who everyone knew him on some level when he was 17?”

Maybe a quarter of the room raised their hands.

“Great. How many of you noticed he had a crush then?”

Less than half of those people raised their hands, though rather hesitant.

“Fine, Adrien, you win, but that just means they didn’t spend enough time with you. Anyway. He had a crush on our dear Bart over here though he kept denying it for ages. Tim, the pictures, please? Because I’ve got a compilation of how he looked like when I felt like pointing the fact out to him and after I had actually informed him of his crush. I have no idea how he didn’t realise it right away.”

There were pictures of clearly lovesick Adrien, looking at something (a lot of the time it seemed to be his phone) the same way he had looked at Bart only some time earlier.

Someone in the crowd yelled “he was so whipped oh my god, did he really not realise?” when they got to the fifth photo.

Adrien had hidden his face in Bart’s hair.

He was lucky Bart’s hair was like it was.

Bart, though, he was laughing.

“Yeah, yeah he was, and me neither. He literally had a gay panic after he met Bart for the first time — trust me when I say that he was royally screwed already from day one. And yet. Yet. Considering Adrien had known me for only a day or two when he decided he was in love with me when we were like 13 and actually declared this in front of a whole bunch of people, it’s so funny how it took him actual months to admit he was actually in love with Bart. Fun fact, the three of us—” Marinette pointed at herself and then at Tim and Kon on her left, “still have a group chat full of plans to get those two together because they were so oblivious, especially Adrien, and also idiots. God, do I love them, but I swear they caused me more grey hair than the wild kid I babysat as a teenager ever did.”

Tim snatched the microphone from Marinette’s hands, pecking her cheek quickly. Marinette stuck her tongue out at him but didn’t complain about the interruption. It wasn’t like she had anything important left to say anyway. For now.

“Yes, listen to my beautiful and wonderful wife over here. They were so frustrating, always talking about the other like they had hung the moon and the stars on the night sky but neither realised they liked the other until it was pointed out to them. Well. According to Mari, it took until Kon and I got Bart to realise he liked Adrien, which eventually led to him confessing, that Adrien recognised his own feelings. It’s ridiculous, but oh so amusing to tell now.

“So, hello everyone, I’m Tim, one of Bart’s best friends — the other is over there being a loser. I met Bart through Dick and Wally maybe half a year after Bruce started watching over me because my parents were never there, so we must have been seven or eight. I had troubles with befriending other people back then—”

“You still do, Tim.”

“Mari, this is my speech, yours ended already.”

“Yeah, because you stole the mic.”

“Technicalities, technicalities. Anyhow, I had trouble with getting friends around that time, but it was somehow easy to befriend Bart. He was so open, friendly, positive, full of light and determined to befriend you that it was actually impossible to avoid it. After I befriended him, though, I noticed I started getting other friends as well because he made it easier. That’s actually also how I met Mari, the love of my life and my wife, which has me forever thankful to Bart, but that’s a story for another time. Right now, I’m here to tell you how great Bart is and also make fun of him, because isn’t that what best friends are for.

“So, like Mari already said, we had a group chat just because of those two. Favourite ship ever. Not gonna lie, we all shipped them together since the moment we realised how well they would fit together and the only reason today didn’t happen sooner is because this guy here—” Tim pointed at Adrien, “—refused to admit he liked Bart and scoffed every time we tried to suggest it. Yet, every time he made a terrible pun, and we all know he makes a lot of those, it was Bart he looked at first to see if it made him laugh. Always. Not his best friend, Mari. It was Bart.”

That was when Tim lost the microphone — Kon had walked up to them, now behind Tim, and just took it out of his hands. Tim tilted his head backwards and frowned at Kon.

“And Bart. Bart laughed every. Single. Time. Like, regardless of how horrible the pun was that time, and how it should have not made anyone laugh, Bart laughed because he knew it made Adrien smile, and happy Adrien equalled happy Bart equalled happy Adrien. This is why it was so strange they didn’t realise, and this is why them dancing around one another drove me up the wall. Tim and Mari too, I suppose. By the way. Here’s a list of pictures and videos where the aforementioned situation is shown multiple times so that you’ll understand what I mean.”

The (seemingly endless, if Adrien’s mortification was anything to go by) videos and pictures were projected onto a big screen and it seemed that no matter what Adrien thought, everyone else thought them adorable and heart-warming. Everyone. Especially Bart, who had not been aware of said pictures or videos’ existence and was now beaming and nearly jumping up and down in his seat. Marinette could almost swear he was vibrating.

Once they were done showing them, and the roomful of people had stopped cooing at Adrien like he was still that starry-eyed, adorable, baby-faced fool so very in love with Bart (he was), Kon brought the microphone to his lips again. “So yeah. We all had to suffer. And because of that, now you two had to suffer a little too,” he said, snorting.

Shaking his head fondly at the newlywed couple, he smiled. “You know, I have known Bart for nearly my entire life, and I never thought there would come a day I would meet anyone that was as much of a sunshine child as he was. Then we met Adrien.”

Tim nodded in the background, clearly agreeing. Marinette hummed. Kon handed her the microphone as she tapped her foot against the floor with her heel. “Yeah, same here, though the other way around — I thought there couldn’t be anyone I’d call sunshine incarnate other than Adrien, and then there I was, face to face with Bart who I swear glowed when I met him for the first time.”

Marinette sighed, smiled, and walked to Adrien and Bart. “So, Adrien, Bart, I am so immensely proud of you two. I can’t help but be happy whenever I think about you both overcoming so much and deciding to dedicate yourselves to one another and believe me when I say, I am so glad I got to witness you exchanging vows today. I wish all the best for you, as do those two dorks, and remember that we’re all going to be there for you both. You have two souls but a single thought, and two hearts that beat as one. This is the day that now belongs to one of the most beautiful things I have seen in my life and I could not be happier to have gotten to see it happen.” She raised her glass. “A toast to these two fools and to their union! May you always be satisfied!”

Marinette returned to her seat next to Tim and rested her head against his shoulder as he ran his fingers through her hair.

“I’m happy for them,” Marinette whispered, watching as Adrien danced with Bart, leading him, before Bart grabbed Adrien and picked him up before running around the room, presenting him like the greatest miracle ever granted for the humankind to everyone. Marinette squeezed Tim’s hand, smiling at their best friends.

“Same, Cuppie. Same here.”

_____________________________________

@kris-pines04​ @thethirdwheelfriend​ @maribat-is-lifeblood​ @abrx2002​ @persephonebutkore​ @rebecarojas07​ @corabeth11​ @kadmeread @silverwhiteraven​ @freshbark @maribat-march2020 @catsandfanfic @fertileleaf @eat0crow @cutechip

[zambie-trashart]

Pixelator: Rewritten Series

guys... UGHHHHHH I know I say this every time but UGHHHHH! Why does season one have to be so hard!!!! I only have three more episodes from season one but I hate season one guys!

Read the whole series

Summary: Jon is sick with a Kryptonian virus and Marinette and Alya get stuck with crappy jobs. So when Pixelator, a maniac with a love for Jagged Stone starts terrorizing Paris, what will a partially pixelated Ladybug, sick Superboy, photographed Chat, and reluctant Robin do?

.......................................

Jon rolled around in his bed and Marinette was on the phone with Clark.

“He’s going through something, I’ll be over later but for now, I would just leave him alone. Even if it is a Kryptonian disease, it can affect Earthlings too and if it’s the one I’m thinking of, you don’t want it,” Clark said to his niece.

“Well what am I supposed to do, today us career day and Chloe’s going to make my life a living hell,” Marinette complained.

“Sorry, but he can’t leave the house for any reason, you stay safe now alright Mari?” Clark said before hanging up. 

Marinette ran to the hotel and stood next to Alya.

“Where’s Jon, Marinette?” Miss. Bustier asked looking for her normal shadow.

“He’s really sick, my mom should have called the school this morning,” Marinette said before Miss. Bustier went off into telling each student what their jobs would be. 

Alya and Marinette were left and Alya was assigned trash duty. Before Marinette could get her assignment, pop star Jagged Stone walked into the hotel with his crocodile. 

Marinette was assigned to be a gopher, which meant that she had to go get whatever any of the guests wanted. For Jagged Stone that was a pair of sunglasses in the shape of the Eiffel Tower that were red, white, and blue.

.......................................

Jon was giggling in the Fortress of Solitude as his dad scanned him. “Jonathan, hold still!” his father yelled turning around but when he did, his son wasn’t there anymore. “Shit.”

Superboy was floating in front to the hotel that Marinette would be spending the day at. He saw a random man who was dressed weirdly walk in and fire something at Chloe. He flew in and tried to save her but ended up getting pixelated with her.

His head started to clear and he looked around. “Where am I?” Superboy asked getting off the ground.

“Oh. My. God. Superboy!” Chloe yelled jumping on Jon’s back making him fall over.

“Help me,” Jon said looking up to whatever God there was.

.......................................

Marinette walked back to the hotel with a pair of shades that she thought would do the trick. Jagged was getting attacked so she transformed but Chat was nowhere in sight. She brought Jagged to her school thinking it was safe there. 

“Are you sure this is safe Ladybug, this is a school?” Damocles asked looking at the heroine and pop idol.

“Yeah, this is somewhere where no one would ever look for him, I mean who wants to go to school?” Ladybug asked before looking at Damocles’ face. “I mean isn’t school awesome?”

She exited the office and bumped into Robin.

“Is your arm gone?” Robin asked looking at her pixelated arm.

“Don’t remind me.” Ladybug rolled her eyes and the two were off. “I haven’t heard from Chat yet which means it’s just the two of us,” Ladybug said.

“I haven’t heard from Superboy but his father said he has some sort of rare kryptonian 24 hour hay fever. Makes him go loopy and stuff. It’s hard to watch,” Robin said thinking about the last time Jon had it. He had two defaults during that time, hugs and vomit.

“That sucks, I know where to look for this guy though. His name is Vincent and he lives in the downtown area of Paris,” Ladybug said and they were off.

.......................................

“It just goes on forever, no windows, no doors, nothing,” Adrien said to himself. He looked up and saw Ladybug and Robin standing there. They’re going to get us out of this.

“Superboy? What are you doing here, you are supposed to be in the Fortress!” Robin yelled at a picture. “I guess it’s been 24 hours but you should still be there not here, when we get you out of this you are going back there immediately, got it.” Robin seemed actually concerned for Superboy.

“Yes sir,” Superboy saluted making Ladybug laugh. They left and Adrien was left alone again.

“I’m going to try and make a deal with him and you can sneak up behind him and destroy his headset,” Ladybug said as they ran to the Acr De Triomphe where Pixelator was.

Ladybug let herself be cornered and Robin snuck up behind him just like planned.

“Go Robin!” a random citizen yelled. Good thing Robin had such good reflexes. They dodged beams and Robin hit them with his sword.

“How are you doing that?” Ladybug asked watching as his sword didn’t disappear.

“Nth metal, can withstand anything,” Robin said dodging another blast.

“I could use one of those,” Ladybug said in awe.

“Maybe I can train you sometime,” Robin said before realizing what he just said.

“Let’s focus on this first birdbrain. Lucky charm!” Ladybug called out getting a case of compact.

“Hey Pixelator! I heard you were looking for me!” Jagged yelled getting on top of a car.

“Look into the lens,” he said and as Jagged started to open his eyes, Ladybug threw the compact at Robin who hit it with the handle of his sword and Pixelator was sent into a picture of his own.

“Miraculous Ladybug!” she called and her arm was back. Superboy was lying on the ground in front of Robin and smiled up at him nervously.

“Two more hours, let’s get you back to your dad,” Robin said putting one of Superboy’s arms over his shoulder helping him up.

“Robin, wait!” Ladybug called out making Robin turn around. 

“Yeah.”

“I’d actually like that lesson sometime, seems useful,” Ladybug said and Robin smirked.

“Of course, see you next time,” Robin said grappling off with his friend.

“Robin’s got a girlfriend, Robin’s got a girlfriend!” Jon teased.

“Yeah, and she’s your cousin,” Damian said as they walked through the zeta tubes.

.......................................

“Jagged Stone is having a concert today and is giving tickets to the four students who demonstrated the highest work ethic today,” Penny said giving tickets to Alya, Nino, Adrien, and Marinette. 

Later that night at the concert Damian and Jon walked up next to them smiling as they tapped on either side of Marinette making her jump.

“Hey, feeling better Jon,” Adrien asked.

“I’m feline great,” Jon said before laughing at Damian’s face after the pun.

“Let’s just go in,” Damian said. 

“This song goes out to the couple that saved my life Ladybug and Robin!” Jagged said before starting to play the piano. Damian and Marinette blushed and Jon laughed. Couple comment aside, it was a great concert.

.......................................

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT

yeah that one took a lot out of me. so clearly some will be more focused on one ship rather than the other, this one was obviously more maribat rather than Adrijon but whatever. Some of them make more sense that way.

@loveswifi @ash-amg @wannajointhecrabcult @mochegato

[velveteenshadow]

Writing Patterns Game!

I saw the lovely @abyssal-ali throw out the at to anyone who wants to so I figured why not!

These are all Maribat fics!

10: Lackluster Apologies (Gen)

"How was I supposed to know, Adrien?"

9: We Didn't Start The Dumpster Fire (Timari)

Marinette points her head up as she sniffs the air, instantly regretting it.

8: The Phoenix Five (Gen {at least thus far})

To say the waters were calm, would be the farthest lie one could conjure.

7: Secrets of the Shutterbug (Timari)

Tim slowly backtracks when he sees Bart and Jason laughing with a laptop open.

6: Prodigious Denial Defying Diary (Bio-Mom)

Dear Diary,    Today marks my first writing in hopes that these words reach her.

5: Speedy Rebound From Uncertainty (Found Family)

What would his siblings say if he told them the truth?

4: A Bittersweet Prelude (Gen {Ship in Pt 2})

‘Nothing can beat the strike of a sword.

3: Split Second Chance of a Freeze Frame (Rare Pair, Lukabara aka Luka Couffaine x Barbara Gordon)

Life has the worst ways of showing you what you never thought would happen in any of the multitude of universes out there.

2: You Can Ring My Bell (Timari)

“Gettin' deep…” (I swear this one is Family Friendly)

1: Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic (Platonic Timari with OC character focus)

Now, there were plenty of things that Scarlet Morningstar has experienced.

Hmm... it's interesting to see how all my starting lines have a nice punch to them in some way, shape or form.

Bonus Below!

Here are the 6 starting lines of my poems thus far for the Shutterbug Station Event!

(They are in order of posting)

1: Red Robin's Rapture (Rare Pair, Tim/Adrien)

"Stay with me a little longer" Tim cried out as the lights dim in his eyes.

2: Anything For My Lady (Gen, Adrien & Mari)

Solitary Confinement can the worst. Too much time with nothing to do.

3: Windy Wonders (Rare Pair, Jay/Adrien aka Alley Cat)

Strawberry Blonde Tall, Handsome, Mysterious

4: Time Passes On (Rare Pair, Bart/Adrien)

Silence Ticking of a clock

5: Marinette's Hidden Talent (Jasonette)

In the depths,

Can one really find one missing out?

6: Lonesome Moonlight Waiting For The Clouds To Clear (Rare Pairs, Tim/Adrien and Bart/Adrien)

Stay with me a little longer Tim I cannot help myself Loving you is all I need

All of the above include the prompt, "Stay With Me A Little Longer" while 5 and 6 include the prompt, "I Can't Say I'm Sorry" as well!

If you are curious about where the prompts came from, check out the Shutterbug Station event and consider joining us on the Timari Discord where we have been hyping it up! It's a great place for Timari lovers and those who are following the Angst V Fluff event!

https://discord.gg/mDmTHPNKyj

[caffeinetheory]

Celebration

A Maribat Monday prompt and a kinda late New Years fic!! [it’s still the 1st where I am so it counts ;>]

I plan on doing 2 prompts this week and this is one of them

rare pair hell for me!! 

///

The team had decided to throw a New Year’s party in the mountain. So here was a group of teens all in civvies hanging out. Almost everyone made it which was rare for a non mission. Robin and Wally had decorated with Connor’s help and M’gann with Ladybug’s she said you could call her Mari help had made the food. The French-Asian had always loved to bake so teaching M'gann was a joy and now almost nothing was burnt. 

Music played throughout the night, Atrimis mostly stayed to herself, acting like a wallflower. Her blonde hair was in a loose ponytail held together with something Mari had given her during training. She also wore the cropped jacket the girl had made her, something about the girl always helped her feel like she belonged. Mari was out in the crowd looking to be having the time of her life, she was dancing to the music like she could feel it in her bones. Mari had a single ponytail not unlike Artimis’s own and wore a crop top of her own. It was odd to see her in something so different to her normal outfit but to say she didn’t pull it off amazingly wouldn’t be fair to Mari. 

Mari had sent her a few looks throughout the night, maybe it was just because she was standing by the drinks? Yeah that had to be it, definitely not looking at me? Yup, just the drinks… what is she doing coming my way?? The potential panic in Artemis's mind disappeared when a soft smile was sent her way from the girl she had not so secretly been watching all night, “Come one Artie, join me,” not leaving any room for question Mari had grabbed her hand from where it was across her chest pulling her to the dance floor. 

Awkward at first Artemis wasn’t quite sure what she should be doing but the encouragement for the girl across from her was all she needed. After a song or two she was enjoying herself, it didn’t even cross her mind how the shorter girl looked at her happy with her work. They spent the next hour dancing like no one else was there, and to be fair in their minds it was just the two of them. Gentle touches to the arm didn’t register in the archers head until she started to return them. Sure it was small but it was a change.

The music turned down slightly and a countdown could be heard.

10...

Both girls slowed and looked each other in the eyes.

8...

Atrimis took a chance and looked at the other girl’s lips, if only…

6…

Mari took the blonde in her arms, she was close, so close now

3…

Mari took a beat, before leaning in

2…

Atrimis didn’t hesitate to lean in to, this was finally happening…

1…

Their lips met as cheers filled the room and confetti fell from the ceiling. It was soft and held a yearning for more. They finally parted, looking each other in the eyes, “How about a round two Atrie?” they didn’t see the camera one Robin held or hear the cheers as their friends saw the two finally get together, all that mattered to them was the girl in their arms. 

///

@maribat-mondays

alos thanks to @theatreandcomicfreak for beta reading <3

[ms-starflower]

Maribat Rare Pairs — Day 2 — Don’t leave

@maribat-october-rarepairs

Alright guys, I literally just thought that one up but I like it. It was harder to write tho, because my brain kept going back to the angst route but I really didn’t want to write angst (mainly because I'm’ not sure I will be good at it).

I don’t know why I keep writing meet-cute for the Rare Pairs, but here I am. With another meet-cute. I wanted to write with someone else than Marinette this time, but she wasn’t having it so we have two rare pairs for this one.

I kind of don’t want to spoil the pairs so uh, if you really wanna know, look at the tags?

~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Don’t leave,” Adrien said desperately, looking at her pleadingly. “Don’t leave me alone, please.”

“I need to go, Adrien,” she told him softly, trying to get him to understand. “You know why.”

“But I need you, I can’t do it alone!”

“It’s better like that,” she said firmly, trying to get his hand off of her arm. “For the both of us.”

“No, you don’t understand, Marinette. You need to stay with me, you can’t leave me.”

“Adrien,” she sighed, only to be interrupted by a voice from behind them.

“Hey, man, I think the lady made it clear that she doesn't want to stay. So, why don’t you let her go,” a man around their age said, making both of them turn toward him with surprise.

Adrien blinked, looking between his hand around Marinette’s arm and the man that just interrupted them. He blinked again, once, before his eyes widened and he let go of her like she burned.

“Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god! See!” He whispered loudly to Marinette. “This! This is why I need you there! I’m going to do something stupid and ridiculise myself! Oh my god! This is horrible, Marinette! How can I do that without you? I can’t, that’s how!”

“Alright, chaton, why don’t you calm down for a minute? Panicked spiraling is my thing, don’t you go steal it,” she told Adrien, patting his shoulder comfortingly, before turning toward the man. “I’m sorry, Monsieur, thank you for the assistance but there had been a little misunderstanding.”

“Little,” Adrien hissed. “I sounded like an abusive boyfriend just now, Marinette!”

“Uh,” the stranger started, looking between them with confusion. “You guys aren’t breaking up?”

“Oh my god, non! This guy is like my dumbass little brother,” she said with a smile that Adrien recognized as Marinette’s ‘this person is very attractive, how do I think again?’ smile.

“I’m older than you,” he told her, but was swiftly ignored by Marinette and the stranger. “And I’m not a dumbass.”

“He doesn't want me to leave him because he is a coward who can’t bring himself to talk to his crush,” Marinette said, elbowing Adrien pointedly.

“Ahem, hello pot, meet kettle,” Adrien sniped at her. “Remind me how long it took you to tell me about your crush on me?”

“Don’t you bring that up,” Marinette said, pointing a finger in his face. “It was in middle school. And you were a really, really oblivious sunshine child, Adrien.”

“Anyway,” Adrien said, rolling his eyes, before turning back toward the stranger and extending his hand. “I’m Adrien, by the way, and this is Marinette.”

“I’m Duke,” he said, grabbing his hand and shaking it. “Sorry for the… You know?” He added with a vague movement of the hand.

“Nah, that’s cool man. It’s great to know there are people that would have helped, if I was an abusive boyfriend.”

“Yeah,” Duke said with a chuckle, looking back toward Marinette and rubbing the back of his neck. “So… I, uh, I have a table with my brother over there, if you wanna join until you get the courage to approach your crush?”

“Oh my god,” Adrien whimpered when he looked where Duke was pointing with his thumb. It made Marinette, who was still kinda lost in Duke’s eyes, look over.

“Oh my god!” She squealed, putting both hands on her mouth. “That’s fucking fate, Adrien! You have to talk to him today!”

“Wait, hold on,” Duke said, a disbelieving look on his face, looking between them and his brother’s table. The table where Adrien's three months long coffee shop’s crush was sitting. “Your crush, it’s my brother?”

“Yes,” Marinette exclaimed excitedly, silently clapping her hands together, her usual nervousness with people she found attractive forgotten just to make Adrien’s life more difficult. “He spent the last three months coming here every day, just for a chance to stare at him and try to talk to him. Without success, obviously, that’s why I came with him today.”

“Marinette,” Adrien whispered to her pointedly. “Let’s not say that to his brother.”

“Hey, that’s cool,” Duke laughed, putting his hands in his jean’s pockets. “Well, since I was so rude and interrupted Marinette’s pep talk session, why don’t I make up for it by introducing you?”

“Yes, please,” Marinette said quickly, grabbing Adrien’s arm before he could evade her.

“No, no, no,” Adrien muttered under his breath with panic, but was ignored by the both of them and dragged against his will toward the table.

“Hey, Tim! Let me introduce you to a couple of friends,” Duke said with a smile when they got to the table, making his crush, Tim, look up at them.

“Hey, hi,” he said, with a cute little confused smile. “I’m Tim.”

Oh boy, Adrien was fucked.

[ms-starflower]

Maribat Rare Pairs — Day 3 — Bats

@maribat-october-rarepairs

Did I write the entirety of this thing because the last scene was stuck in my head? Yes, yes I did.

This is a Stephinette and technically takes place two weeks after what happened in what I wrote for Spook-tober Day 1 but can totally be read alone.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

She had just finished cleaning up after her lunch when someone knocked excitedly on her door. There were only two people in her life that would manage to make a knocking sound excited, and Marinette only rolled her eyes before walking to her front door with a fond smile.

Stephanie, a bright grin on her face, was bouncing there.

“Mari! Just the person I wanted to see!” She exclaimed, clasping her hands together.

“I would hope so,” Marinette said with an amused smile, leaning on the doorframe. “Seeing as this is my appartement.”

“Yeah,” she chuckled, rubbing the back of her neck. “I need your help, it is of the utmost importance.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Jason lost a bet,” she told her solemnly.

“Tell me more,” Marinette said, instantly interested, mentioning for her to come inside with a nod.

“Yeah! So, the loser had to let the winner decorate their apartment, and keep the things until two weeks after Halloween!” Steph said excitedly, jumping to sit on Marinette’s couch. “I have the best idea for him, and I thought that we could do it, like… together?”

“Ah?” Marinette said with a smile, feeling her cheeks heat. But the sight of Steph’s own blush gave her a boost in confidence. “And what do I win out of it?”

“Beside the pleasure of my company and annoying the hell out of Jason?” She asked cheekily, before rolling her eyes at Marinette’s raised eyebrow. “What about waffles after we finish decorating? My treat."

“Are you asking me out, Stephanie Brown?” Marinette asked with a smirk, trying to sound flirty but probably falling.

“What,” Steph exclaimed, losing her equilibrium and almost falling off the couch, making Marinette take a step toward her with a worried expression. She got up quickly, pushing back her hair and looking at her with wide eyes. “I— Um, I mean, yeah? If you want me to?”

Marinette coughed in her hand, trying to ignore her flaming cheeks. “Yeah, I would like that.”

“Great. Great! So, uh, it’s a date!”

“Yeah,” Marinette smiled slightly, looking down. “Um, let me grab my room in my purse— I mean my bed— my purse! Let me grab my purse in my room!

She ran toward her room as quickly as she could, ignoring Steph’s laughter in her wake.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

“So,” she started when they were in the car en route to Jason’s place, looking at the decorations' boxes on the backseat. “Why are there so many bat themed things in here?”

“Because Jason is gonna hate it!” Steph told her with an evil-looking smile.

“Oh? Did he have something against bats?” She asked innocently, looking at Steph from the corner of her eyes. The panic that crossed her face told her that she didn’t know that Marinette knew.

“Um, no? He just doesn't, uhm. He is not a Batman fan?” Stephanie spluttered, eyes stubbornly fixed on the road.

“Really? I thought the only one not fans of Batman here were the criminals,” she continued, hiding her smile from Steph.

“Criminal? Jason?” Steph laughed awkwardly, still evading her gaze. “No way!”

Marinette only hummed, probably enjoying a little too much making fun of Steph.

“Is that,” Marinette started with surprise, reaching for the box that was on the floor of the back, before bursting into laughter. “Steph, why do you have a box full of Batgirl themed bats?!”

“Uh, she is my favorite?” She said, her awkwardness climbing through the roof.

“I get why,” Marinette said with a smirk, grabbing one of the bats before sitting back correctly in her seat. It was cute little black things, with a yellow belly and purple striped wings. “She kicks ass, takes names, and looks stunning doing it.”

“Oh?” Steph muttered, her cheeks deep red.

“Yeah, totally my favorite too,” Marinette said with a smile, pointing at Steph with the bat. “But I don’t think that’s why you have that box.”

“What?” Steph whimpered, glancing quickly toward her.

“No, I think they are here because they are your signature.”

“What?” She said in a high pitched tone, looking at her for a second before looking back at the road. “Why would I use Batgirl themed bats to—”

“So, Jason didn’t tell you that I knew about the Waynes’ extracurricular activities?”

“What?!” She screeched, looking at her with wide eyes.

“Eyes on the road, Batgirl,” Marinette said with an amused tone, turning Steph’s head with a hand on her chin.

“Oh my god! Did— Did Jason tell you?!”

“Nah, that dumbass forgot his guns and helmet on his kitchen table,” she replied, waving her hand slightly.

“He didn’t,” Steph whispered disbelievingly.

“Oh yes, he did! And do you know what he said when I asked him about it?” Marinette asked with a shit-eating grin.

“What?” She asked with the tone of someone that was afraid of the answer.

“He looked at me right in the eyes, expression all serious, and said,” she paused, schooling her features and making a bad imitation of Jason’s voice. “I’m Batman.”

“Oh my god, are you shitting me?!” She burst into laughter, only barely managing to keep herself focused on the road.

“I’m not! And when he realised how shitty his excuse was he just looked at me like a lost puppy and mumbled ‘I cosplay?’”

“No.”

“Yes.”

“Holy shit! But— Oh my god, do Bruce know that you know?” Stephanie asked, when her laughter subdued enough for her to.

“Of course he does, he confirmed it.”

“He what?!” She screeched again, and Marinette was really loving this ‘surprising Steph’ thing.

“Yeah, Jason took me to see him at WE headquarters. I asked him if he was Batman and he said,” she changed her voice to badly imitate Brucie’s tone. “‘Yes, of course. Do you want a ride in the Batmobile?’ I don’t think he was expecting me to believe him and accept.”

“Fuck, he need to stop doing that,” Steph muttered under her breath. “Did you get the ride?”

"Non! And I’m still miffed about that,” she said with a pout. “I’m kinda surprised he didn’t tell you about it, I think he dug up my entire life story when he realised that I knew.”

“Holy shit, I can’t believe we spent the last two weeks walking on eggs around you when you knew,” Steph said, disbelief in her voice, as she parked the car in front of Jason’s building.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

After they literally drowned Jason’s apartment under bats, they sat in front of each other at a table in a waffle house, like promised.

“Oh mon dieu,” Marinette said with a laugh when she saw that the waffles were bat-shaped. “Are the bats never going to leave me alone?”

“Do you want them to?” Steph asked, with a flirty smile.

“No,” Marinette sighed, staring at her with a dreamy smile. “I really don’t.”

[fridayfirefly]

Cowboy Like Me

Read Cowboy Like Me on AO3

Masterlist

Written for Maribat March Day 5 - Last Time

Now I know, I'm never gonna love again

Marinette was a terrible sentimentalist. After such a bad breakup it might have been cathartic to tear up the pictures of them, but Marinette just couldn't do it. No, she could bring herself to destroy the evidence of her six-year relationship. Marinette kept all the pictures, all the movie tickets, all the handwritten notes and put them in a shoebox at the top of her closet, somewhere that she couldn't reach without the help of a stepstool. Maybe the pads of her fingers could brush against the smooth cardboard if she stood on her tiptoes. But Marinette could never open it again. Inside that shoebox were the memories of being in love, kept safe, locked away, just out of reach.

As Marinette boarded the plane, she looked back on everything that had gone wrong. Though the cause of all the destruction in her life was uncertain, Marinette could pinpoint the effects exactly. There were a few things Marinette knew for certain: Marinette would never fall in love again, the city Marinette once loved now only held bad memories, and once the plane took off, Marinette would say goodbye to Paris for the last time.

Never wanted love, just a fancy car

The socialite scene of Gotham was dreadfully boring in the winter, Marinette learned. The weather was so brutal that anyone who could afford a second house in Key West or Malibu left as soon as the first snow-fall hit. Marinette stayed inside her penthouse apartment for weeks, designing her wardrobe for the next few months. It had been so long since she had been able to design for herself, without input from anyone else. It was freeing, to work with the colors, the patterns, the styles that she wanted. Marinette had forgotten what freedom felt like. For so long, she had worked for the whims of others, crafting to someone else's design.

Marinette made her first friend two weeks after the move. Silver St. Cloud was Marinette's neighbor in the apartment to the left. Silver was a model and influencer, and a self-proclaimed expert on all of the rich single men in Gotham. Upon their first meeting, Silver offered to show Marinette around Gotham and introduce her to the socialite scene. Marinette, hesitant but hopeful, accepted.

"Bruce Wayne is the best that Gotham has to offer," said Silver as they leave Starbucks, lattes in hand. "But there are plenty of men who are worth your attention - women too, if that's what you prefer."

"Bruce Wayne is the best?"

Silver nodded. "The Waynes have owned this city for as long as Gotham has been on a map. I wouldn't set your sights on him completely, though. Bruce Wayne doesn't date anyone, not even a former member of Kitty Section."

Kitty Section was known around the world, the biggest band to come out of France in the last decade. Their songs topped charts. Their albums won awards. Their well-crafted image of reclusive, mysterious artists led to a media sensation over the members of Kitty Section. Everyone wanted to know them - Luka Couffaine and Marinette Dupain-Cheng, the lead vocalists whose relationship enchanted their fans. Rose Lavillant, the backing vocalist and keyboardist, and Juleka Couffaine, the bass guitarist, who were unashamed of their love for each other. Ivan Bruel, the mysterious drummer who had the name Mylène carved into his drumsticks. They were famous. They were at the top of their game. They were unstoppable.

Marinette ruined it all when she left the band. Her split had been big news, exposing a dark side of Kitty Section that their fans were never supposed to see. But after their breakup, Marinette quickly realized that she never loved music. She loved Luka, and once that love faded away, she loved nothing.

"I guess I'll find someone else," said Marinette, but it was a lie. There was Luka Couffaine, and after that, there was no one else. She might be able to love fancy dresses and expensive cars, but Marinette would never love a person again, not the way she loved Luka. When it came to love (deep, true love, not just the infatuations of childhood) Luka was her first time, Luka was her only time, and Luka would be her last time.

Perched in the dark, telling all the rich folks anything they wanna hear

Marinette quickly learned the art of charming everyone she met, either through her impressive resume (founding member of Kitty Section) or through her newfound ability to flirt. It turns out, once you turn off your feelings it becomes very easy to pretend that you can still love.

Marinette and Silver became thick as thieves. The girls became a popular pair, charming every birthday brunch and charity dinner. For Silver, it was all about networking. As she explained to Marinette, "I'm trying to create a brand. I'm trying to turn my own name into something that can be sold, and for that, I need connections.

For Marinette, it was something to do. As long as she used her money wisely, Marinette had enough saved to comfortably live out the rest of her days. The real problem came in finding something to pass the time. Marinette rarely felt joy in living her life, the way she used to back when she was a child, the bright-eyed girl who aspired to be a designer. Now, everything from charming a billionaire to designing a new dress felt like a chore.

"Come meet Bruce Wayne," urged Silver as she grabbed Marinette's hand. "He just got back from Nepal. It's his first time in Gotham in six months. He skipped his own New Year's Gala to go soul-searching in the Himalayas. It's my job tonight to convince him to stay in town for longer than a week."

There was a determination to Silver's voice. From everything she had heard about Bruce Wayne, Marinette doubted that Silver could make him change his ways. However, that wouldn't stop Marinette from helping her new-found friend.

Silver's whole body-language changed, shifting from a determined march to a delicate float as she made her way over to a dark-haired man in a well-fitted tux. "Hello, Bruce. It's so nice to see you again."

"Silver." Bruce acknowledged her, sounding bored. "Who's your friend?"

"This is Marinette Dupain-Cheng. She was the lead singer of Kitty Section before the band split up a few months ago."

"Kitty Section... I might have heard of them before. The band was... French?"

Marinette nodded. "Yes. All the members were born and raised in Paris. Have you heard of any of our music?

"I'm certain now that I have. It was very... commercial."

Marinette ought to have slapped him across the face right then and there. Not only was commercial not a compliment, but it also wasn't even true. It was the biggest criticism of Kitty Section, their reticence to work with popular music trends. Despite her overwhelming desire to assault the most wealthy and influential man in the ballroom, Marinette instead steeled her face and gave Bruce a pleasant smile. "Thank you. So what do you do for a living, Mister Wayne."

"I travel."

Marinette resisted the urge to roll her eyes. He spoke two words to her. The conversation was anything but interesting. "How interesting. Have you ever been to Paris?"

"I'm not a tourist, Miss Dupain-Cheng. I travel to much more interesting places."

Marinette officially gave up on the conversation. She would let Silver (who looked to be itching to have her turn to talk to Bruce) try and fix the train-wreck of a conversation that Bruce created. "You sound like a man with a lot of stories to tell. I hope you can tell me them over lunch someday."

"Perhaps."

Marinette gave Bruce her politest smile. "I have to excuse myself. Silver, why don't you tell Bruce about your new sponsorship from Lululemon."

Silver lit up. "Oh, you have to hear about this email I got last week. It was amazing, it's so good for my brand..."

Marinette walked away, letting her distaste towards Bruce leave her. Secretly, a little part of her hoped that Bruce would leave Gotham, as he was well-known for doing. Though Silver was her friend, Marinette didn't think she could pretend to like Bruce.

"He's intolerable, isn't he?" joked a voice from beside Marinette.

Marinette turned to face the stranger, a beautiful woman, taller than Marinette by quite a few inches, with dark hair, dark eyes, and tanned skin. She wore a dress of royal blue silk, so elegant it reminded Marinette of the sort of thing she always dreamed of making. "Who?"

"Bruce Wayne. Who else would it be?"

Marinette let out a quiet laugh. "He is quite unpleasant. I take it you know him."

"I accompanied him on some of his travels. Bruce is a good friend of mine, but these parties tend to bring out the worst in him. He hates this city and he especially hates the wealthy of this city." The woman grabbed a glass of wine off of a server's tray and handed it to Marinette, who gratefully took it.

"Then I doubt Silver will have any luck convincing him to stay." Marinette tried to keep the satisfaction out of her tone, but the woman laughed anyways, an indication that it didn't work.

"You're quite funny..." The woman paused for an introduction.

"Marinette Dupain-Cheng. And you are?"

"Diana-"

The sound of shattering glass interrupted Diana's introduction. The crowd started to get frantic, and Marinette was pushed one way while Diana was pushed the other. The glass of wine was knocked out of Marinette's hand, staining the fabric of her dress. Marinette struggled to stay on her feet, desperate to not twist an ankle in her four-inch heels.

"Listen up!" shouted an oddly-dressed man. "You're all going to listen to me, and no one will get hurt."

Marinette had a very odd feeling that this would be a moment she remembered for the rest of her life.

Never thought I'd meet you here. It could be love

"They're calling him a supervillain. Apparently, his name is The Riddler," reported Marinette, looking up from her phone, where she was reading about the events of the night before.

Silver glanced up from her seat on the sofa across the room where she was painting her nails a delicate shade of pink. "It's about time Gotham got its own supervillain. Metropolis has had Superman and all the villains that follow him around for years."

Marinette snorted out a laugh. "You think that a supervillain is a good thing?"

"Sure. It means that Gotham will be getting a superhero of its own soon." Silver brightened up. "Plus, the hostage situation from last night meant that I got to spend a whole two hours with Bruce."

Marinette groaned. "I can't believe that you two are going on a date. Bruce Wayne is one of the most insufferable men I've ever met."

"It's not a date. Bruce specified it as just dinner between friends. You should come too, Marinette. I'm sure that once you spend some time with Bruce you'll warm up to him."

Marinette gave Silver a skeptical look. "You want me to come with you on your date with Bruce?"

"Again, it's not a date. Bruce said that he would be bringing one of his friends along as well."

Marinette finally understood Silver's intentions. "You want me to come with you so that I can partner up with Bruce's friend, and you can get some alone time with Bruce."

"Well it doesn't sound very nice when you put it that way," huffed Silver.

Marinette giggled. "I love devious plans. We'll just have to make it look natural."

It took a little time to get all the details, but Marinette and Silver got their plan in order. Silver would arrive first and meet Bruce and his friend. Marinette would arrive later, strike up a one-on-one conversation with Bruce's friend, and spend the night engaging Bruce's friend in conversation so that Silver could flirt with Bruce. Marinette's only concern about the evening was that Bruce's friend would be just as unbearable to talk to as Bruce himself.

The restaurant that Bruce picked out was very fancy, but Marinette didn't mind. It allowed her to wear her new dress, a pale blue and silver creation meant to mimic the shimmering quality of ice. Marinette thought it might be a little too experimental for the old-fashioned Gotham society, but Silver approved of it, and Marinette trusted her friend.

As soon as Marinette walked through the doors her eyes caught sight of Silver's white-blonde hair. Then she noticed Bruce sitting beside her friend, his eyes trained on Silver with an odd intensity. Finally, Marinette noticed Bruce's friend. She was shocked to see that it was Diana, the very woman that Marinette had met at yesterday's gala, the very woman whose introduction was interrupted by the untimely arrival of the Riddler. For a second, Marinette was shocked into stillness. The chaos of the night before had overshadowed her meeting with Diana to the extent that Marinette had forgotten how very charmed she had been by Diana. Now, it seemed Marinette had the perfect opportunity to get to know the charismatic woman from the night before.

"Marinette," the surprise in Diana's tone told Marinette that she was just as blind-sighted by their meeting.

"Hello, Diana. Fancy meeting you here," said Marinette with a smile.

Bruce raised one eyebrow. "I didn't know you two knew each other."

"We met last night," explained Diana. "I wanted to let her knew that you aren't usually so insufferable."

Bruce looked affronted. "I wasn't insufferable."

"You lied about having listened to Kitty Section," piped up Marinette. "There are a lot of valid criticisms of Kitty Section. However, our music being too commercial is not one of them."

Bruce had the decency to look guilty. "I apologize, then. I'll make sure to take the time to give your music a real listen."

For Silver's sake, Marinette was willing to forgive him. "Maybe next time you can give me some real criticism."

Bruce nodded graciously. "I'll do that."

Diana took that moment to bring back up their introduction the night before. "So Marinette, I don't believe we got the chance to finish our introductions last night. I'm Diana Prince, newly a curator at Gotham's Art and History Museum."

"I'm Marinette Dupain-Cheng, former member of Kitty Section, currently taking a soul-searching sabbatical."

"Soul-searching for what?" asked Diana.

"I suppose I'm trying to figure out what I'm going to do with the rest of my life. When I was younger I was so passionate about fashion. I made my own clothes, entered my creations into design contests, spent years creating a portfolio. I'm trying to rediscover that passion."

"Maybe you could show me your designs some time," offered Diana.

"I would like that," agreed Marinette.

"Actually," chimed in Silver, "Marinette made the dress she's wearing right now."

"Really? I would have assumed that it was professionally made. It's a gorgeous dress," praised Diana.

Marinette blushed, a warm fluttery feeling stirring deep within her. The rest of the night passed in a blur, with Marinette hanging on Diana's every word. It was easy to talk to Diana. She was so naturally charming that Marinette couldn't help but enjoy herself. As the evening winded down, Marinette felt only regret that they would have to part so soon.

As Marinette stood outside the restaurant, waiting for a taxi, she felt Diana's hand settle on her shoulder. It had been a while since Marinette had felt such an intimate touch. "I had a nice time talking to you tonight." The feel of Diana's fingers gently trailing down Marinette's arms was almost more than Marinette, touch-starved and hungry for more, could bear.

Marinette smiled. "I did too. I hope to see more of you."

"I'm sure you will." Marinette took comfort in the certainty in Diana's voice.

And in the back of her mind, Marinette began to rethink her policy of never falling in love again. Something about Diana made Marinette think that Luka wouldn't be her last time after all.

And the skeletons in both our closets plotted hard to fuck this up

Marinette could not believe he did this. After everything they had been through together, Marinette's one final request to Luka was that he not release a song about their breakup. But there it was, top of the charts, the lead single of Luka's new solo album, Different Cities. And if it wasn't bad enough that Luka broke the only promise she asked him to keep, included in the song was a snippet of the last voicemail she sent to him. She left it for him weeks after they broke up, as an explanation to him, to let him know she was leaving Gotham.

In the last few seconds of the song, Marinette's voice is hesitant as she speaks. "I know that you wanted me to stay so that we could work things out, but I don't think that our relationship is fixable. So I guess I'm calling to tell you that I give up. I'm leaving Paris next Friday. I've already bought the plane ticket. You can't change my mind. Goodbye, Luka."

It was the rawest emotion Marinette had shown since the breakup, and Luka exploited it for his own gain.

Marinette spent the day joylessly deleting emails from various news outlets begging her to tell her side of the story. As if she would give Luka the satisfaction of giving free publicity. Everyone loved drama, so Marinette was going to make her reaction - or lack of reaction, in this case - as boring as possible.

Every time her phone rang, Marinette ignored it. The voicemails started to stack up, and eventually, Marinette found herself going through them one-by-one. One from Alya, letting Marinette know that she was there for her when she wanted to talk. One from Adrien, more joking in tone, trying to cheer Marinette up. One from Ivan, directly threatening to punch Luka in the face if Marinette wanted it (and that was the only voicemail that actually brought her spirits up). One from Juleka, an apology.

In the voicemail, Juleka's voice was rough, like she had been crying. "I'm so sorry, Marinette. I begged Luka not to release it, but he wouldn't listen to me. He said- he- he said-" Juleka broke off into a sob, and Marinette couldn't help but sniffle along with her. "I can hardly recognize him anymore. Rose and I aren't on speaking terms with him now. He's no longer my brother."

Marinette wished that she could pick up the phone and tell Juleka that it was okay to forgive Luka, but Marinette couldn't. The wound was still fresh, still bleeding out.

One step forward, one steps back. Two days after Marinette considered the idea of loving again, and she was right back where she started - in too much pain to even consider friendship, let alone love.

Speak of the devil, Marinette's phone rang, Diana's name lighting up on the screen. Part of her wanted to throw her phone across the room and curl up under her blankets. The other parts of her answered the call. "Hello?" spoke Marinette, wiping away the moisture at the corner of her eyes.

"Marinette, are you okay?" Diana's voice was soft. It was the most comforting thing Marinette had ever heard.

"Not really. I can't decide if I want to punch Luka in the face or if it would hurt too much to ever see him again."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Marinette sighed. "I met Luka when I was fourteen. He was my classmate Juleka's older brother. Luka had his own band, so all the girls in our class thought that Luka was so cool, but he mostly ignored us. Then one day his backing vocalist got bronchitis and he needed someone to fill in. I was a soloist for the school chorus, so I volunteered. Luka was hesitant to let me join his band until he heard me sing. He told me I had the voice of an angel. Two days later he kissed me, and I fell in love with him so hard and so fast I didn't have a chance to consider if he was really the one."

Marinette took a deep breath, then continued, "It was a whirlwind after that. We started dating. We started a new band and named it Kitty Section. We started writing songs together. The weird part was, he never asked how I felt about any of it. He never asked me if I wanted to date him, he never asked if I wanted to join the band, he always assumed that I wanted what he wanted."

"And what did you want?" asked Diana.

"Back then, I thought I wanted a future with Luka. Now, I guess I just want to feel passion again. I've felt so empty since I left him."

"You might feel better with some company. Do you want me to come over to your place?"

Marinette looked around at her empty apartment, at the way the shadows filled the room, at the way seemed to lurk in every corner. "Sure."

"You could show me some of those designs you were telling me about the other day," suggested Diana.

Marinette glanced over at her sketchbook, which had laid empty for months. "That sounds good."

As she hung up the phone, Marinette realized that talking to Diana had made her feel a bit better. The knife wound that Luka had left in her heart had begun to close up at the edges. Marinette took a deep breath and picked up her sketchbook. If she wanted to rediscover her passion, she needed to work for it.

Now you hang from my lips, like the Gardens of Babylon

Marinette let out an appreciative noise as Diana re-entered the room, modeling one of Marinette's creations. "Give me a little spin."

Diana turned herself around, letting the red fabric swirl around her legs. Something about the way that the dress looked on Diana made it so much prettier in Marinette's eyes. Suddenly the fabric wasn't just red, it was carmine. The dress wasn't just being worn, it was being modeled. It didn't just move, it flowed. "It's a gorgeous dress," complimented Diana as she looked over her shoulder at the mirror behind her to admire it.

"It is nice, isn't it." Marinette had been so caught up in her head she had forgotten to truly admire her creation. Suddenly an idea occurred to her. "You should keep it. One of Bruce's charity galas is coming up in a few weeks. You could wear it there."

"I couldn't," protested Diana.

Marinette shook her head. "It looks best on you. I could never pull off such a vibrant shade of red." There was a second part to the sentence that was left unspoken. If Marinette made the dress knowing that it wouldn't look good on her, she must have made it for another reason. She must have made it with Diana in mind.

Diana smiled, seeming to have caught those unspoken words. "Well if I'm going to wear the dress, you'll have to put up with me gushing about how talented you are all night long."

Marinette flushed. "It's no big deal. It's just a dress."

"It's not just a dress. It's your passion." There was truth in Diana's words that Marinette couldn't deny. It was so much more than a dress. It was the passion for design that Diana had helped her rediscover. It was the newfound friendship with Diana that chased away the loneliness and despair that had taken over her life. It was the glimmer of hope for a future with Diana.

Takes one to know one, you're a cowboy like me

Diana looked beyond gorgeous in that carmine dress. Marinette could keep her eyes off of her as they mingled around the ballroom. Marinette's dress was nice, made with the same passion that Marinette had in her younger years, but it paled in comparison to Diana. However, Diana made up for this disparity by gleefully explaining that Marinette was the creator of the dress every time it was complimented. By the end of the night, Marinette had spent so much time blushing over compliments that she worried her face would become permanently flushed.

The gala was a complete success for everyone involved. The charity, which happened to benefit Gotham Child Protective Services, raised twice their goal amount. Marinette got to spend time with Diana. Even Silver had spent the night looking very pleased with herself, her hand resting on Bruce's forearm as they walked through the ballroom together.

As the night winded down, Marinette and Diana found themselves walking out of Wayne Manor towards Diana's car. Diana had offered to drive Marinette there and back, and Marinette had eagerly accepted. Marinette hated driving in Gotham, as Gotham was known for its aggressive drivers and high rates of automobile accidents.

Marinette sat down in the passenger seat with a sigh, kicking off her heels. "Tonight was nice."

"It was nice," Diana agreed. "We'll have to attend galas together more often."

"You just want an excuse to get your hands on another one of my dresses," teased Marinette.

Diana laughed. "I wouldn't say no to another dress. But really, Bruce's rich friends are much more bearable when I have someone to make fun of them afterward with."

Marinette shuddered. "And to think I thought that Bruce was bad. His friends are intolerable. I never want to talk about golf again in my life."

The two women chatted as they drove through the dark streets of Gotham, back to Marinette's apartment.

"Thanks for driving me home," said Marinette as the car pulled up in front of her apartment building.

"It was no problem." Diana hesitated, before continuing. "I was wondering if you would like to go out to dinner with me tomorrow night."

"Dinner sounds good," Marinette replied, strapping her shoes back on.

"I'm asking for this to be a date." Diana finished.

Marinette looked up at her, surprised. Her friendship with Diana had been so easy that Marinette had forgotten that it could be anything else. She had half a mind to decline, to stay in the familiar, but that little bit of hope in her heart urged Marinette to take a leap of faith and accept. "I would like that. What time will you pick me up?"

Diana smiled, her whole face lighting up. "How does six sound?"

Marinette smiled back, her heart feeling lighter than it had in years. "Sounds great. I'll see you tomorrow."

And as Marinette got ready for bed, she realized that all of the sadness that lingered in her heart since the breakup had gone away. All that was left for her to feel was hope for the future.

@maribatmarch-2k21