#maribat calendar
Explore tagged Tumblr posts
official-timari-server · 10 months ago
Text
Tumblr media
Welcome to the Timari Servers first Live Event
Shutterbug Station
There are two teams, Angst v. Fluff, and only you all can decide who shall be the true victor.
On each day a prompt will be revealed that corresponds with either Angst or Fluff depending on the day. Your goal is to create something that fulfills the prompt!
Tumblr media
Trauma Train Tuesdays are dedicated to Angst prompts while Fluff Freight Fridays are for Fluff with some bonus prompts sprinkled in!
We’re aware full calendars can be daunting and too much for people so this gives people a chance at a break while also keeping them on their feet when the day arrives for their prompt to be revealed and gives them time to complete their prompts.
Choose which team you wish to support (you are allowed to join both), make content for them, and post! If you post it on the day their prompt is revealed, you’ll get an additional 5 points.
Guidelines:
• You do not have to sign up to join
• To be counted, all works must be submitted with links in the provided form X
• You do not need to be in the server to participate! Just tag correctly, add fics to the ao3 collection, and be sure to submit the link in the form for it to be counted
• While we are a Timari Server and would love more Timari content, we are aware of the constraints of that and absolutely support other pairing submissions
• Any creative works are accepted
• Label your works correctly
• Follow the prompts, but each person is given 10 free cards (10 things can be submitted that do not use the prompts)
• You can join at any time!
Rules, Guidelines, and Scoring can be found here (X)
Ao3 Collection can be found here (X)
Live Tracker can be found here (X)
Submission Form can be found here (X)
Server Link can be found here (X)
Tags:
Ao3 : #Shutterbug Station 2024  #MSS2024
Tumblr :  #MSS2024 #Shutterbug Station 2024
Insta :  #ShutterbugStation2024
(M for Maribat)
@official-timari-server for reblogging!
Contact us with any questions, comments, or concerns!
43 notes · View notes
maribat-menagerie · 3 months ago
Text
Adribat October '24: Day 2 & 3
Here are our submissions for Hex Girling (Day 2) and "Life's no fun without a good scare" (Day 3)
Ao3:
The Farmer's Market Witch - Nory_Gail - Miraculous Ladybug [Archive of Our Own] (Adrien/Dick, Romantic Established, Day 2)
The 4th Member of the Hex Girls - ScarletImpulse - Multifandom [Archive of Our Own] (Bio-Dad John Constantine, Crossover, Day 2)
Scared to Death - Nory_Gail - Miraculous Ladybug [Archive of Our Own] (Tim-Centric, Platonic, Day 3)
Red Light Spells Danger - ScarletImpulse - Miraculous Ladybug [Archive of Our Own] (Bio-Dad Joker to Marinette, Platonic, Day 3)
Friendly Reminders:
Read all the tags given to a piece before reading! Some may be angst whilst others are fluff, and the rating of the piece will also indicate how strong those tags are.
Consider leaving a kudos, comment, reply, and/or reblog! Any of these, especially ones with written responses, show the creators that you appreciate the piece they made. Even the shortest notes can make a creator's day.
Check out the bingo boards and calendar for yourself! All the prompts for Adribat October can be found here. This event is open to everyone. The more the merrier!
Consider sharing the event around! While this is the first year running it, the hope is that Adribat October sparks a new branch on the tree of DC x MLB. In order to do so, we need help from the fandom to spread the word of it.
Upcoming Days: Freaky Friday the 4th (Today) - Miraculous Swap Treat Saturday the 5th (Tomorrow) - Jack O' Lanterns
Happy Creating Everyone!
1 note · View note
cocosparkel · 15 days ago
Text
Daminette December 2024 Day 8: Truth Serum
ROOFTOP CONFESSIONS
When Robin is injected with a peculiar truth serum to reveal his identity, Ladybird comes to the rescue.The serum was quite potent, and he felt compelled to reveal his thoughts, his secrets. Will Robin be able to hold his tongue long enough, or will he reveal his heart's desire ?
Tumblr media
The air was unusually thick and Ladybird was finding it hard to concentrate. She jumped inside the warehouse through the broken window, landing with a soft thud. “Oracle, where is his exact location ?” she asked.Her com crackled to life, “Give me a minute Ladybird , I'm working on it.”
Ladybird crept near the door to her left, which was left ajar. Her heart was beating in her ears, anticipating the worst when she pushed open the door and- Nothing.
The room was empty, except for a few wooden crates in the far corner. “Ladybird , I can't find Robin. I think his tracker has been destroyed. I tried pulling up the security feed, and the only thing I could find was that they have been inhabiting the 4th floor for the past two weeks. Robin might be there.” Oracle said.
“Thanks, Oracle, I'll take it from here.” Ladybird replied.
“Do you need any backup ?” Oracle asked, concerned.
"No, I can handle it, don't worry” Ladybird said, not at all ready to handle it.
The floors creaked above her, alerting her. Darting out of the room, she quickly found the stairs, and climbed up silently.
The door at the end of the corridor was wide open, yellow light spilling out of it, illuminating the dark corridor. She crept to the door, her heartbeat quickening.
Just a few feet away from the door, she strained to hear any movement inside the room. Sensing nothing, she entered the room cautiously, in a defensive stance.
To no one's surprise, Robin was there. He was tied up to a chair, his mouth taped; his right arm was bleeding.
Upon seeing blood, she rushed towards him, and gently cupped the wound. Using her Ladybug magic, she manages to heal his arm.
At that moment, three men enter. One of them pointed his gun at her. “Not so fast.” he snarled.
Unfazed,she kicked the gun out of his hand and quickly disarmed him. She dodges the kick from the man, and punches him in the face. He staggered and collapsed in a corner.
Furious, the second man attacks Ladybird, but he is no match for her. Within seconds, she knocked him out. When she turned back to Robin, she found the third man sitting next to him, a syringe in his hand.
Before she can do anything, he injected Robin. Ladybird quickly pulled the third man away from Robin.
“What was that?”She asked, fear evident in her voice.
The man gives her a crooked smile, “It doesn't matter, it's done” he said, cackling.
“You'll pay for this” she said, pushing the man to the ground, and tying him up. Turning around, she realises that the man she had punched escaped, but the other man was still there.
Ladybird turned back to Robin, who was starting to stir.
“Robin ?” She called softly, untying him. She gently removes the tape from his mouth.
"Ladybird ?” Robin mumbles.“Yes, it's me.” she said, relieved.
He whispers,“They planned to inject me with a truth serum, to find out our identities.”
Ladybird’s eyes widened. “They just injected you with it now.
“Shit - that's - that's bad; it's dangerous, it's the worst possible scenario I-” Robin clamps his hand over his mouth to prevent him from talking.
"Wow,” she said, “That's a very effective serum…”
Robin just nods. He stands up quickly and says,”We should get out now.” before shutting his mouth.
Before she could say anything else, Robin said, “We should avoid talking, I can't control what I say right now.”
Ladybird's heart clenched painfully.
He didn't trust her… Masking her pain, she said, “ You're right. Do you have any injuries I should know about ?”He shakes his head. She closed her eyes.
"Okay then. I'll just call backup, they can take you back to the cave.”
“Why ?” He blurts “Where are you going to go ?
“I- I need to report back to the court.” She lied, “It's for the better. That way, you won't have to worry about telling me something I shouldn't know.”
As she was about to leave, he held her hand, preventing her from leaving.Her heart skipped a beat, and her face was on fire.
"I'm sorry if I hurt you,” Robin says, "I- I trust you a lot.. the thing is…. The thing is..” he takes a deep breath before saying, " I need to tell you something… I wished it was under different circumstances…”
Ladybird just stood staring at him in shock, her heart racing. “What.. What is it ?” she chokes out.“
"Ilikeyou” he says quickly.
Ladybird couldn't believe what she was hearing.
“I like you..” he says again, slowly, “a lot…and I wish you found out about this in a different way.”
Mistaking her shocked silence for rejection, he looked away and said “I understand if you don't feel the same.”
That broke Ladybird out of her stupor. “No, no !”
Robin looked at her, hurt.
"No I meant, Yes ! I- I like you too..” She said, her face red.
Robin’s face broke into one of his rare smiles “That's the answer I wanted," he said, moving close to her.
Before she knew it, he was in front of her, his hand cupping her cheeks.
"Can I kiss you ?” he whispers.
Instead of replying, Ladybird pulled him close and kissed him.
It was the best thing that she had ever experienced.
“I think they are doing just fine.” a familiar robotic voice said, from behind them, causing them to break the kiss and move away from each other.
A blushing Ladybird hid behind an annoyed Robin, as Red Hood laughed at the couple.
"Oh my god - you just had to ruin the moment didn't you.” Spoiler said, exasperated.
"I'm going to kill you Hood.” Robin threatened, not letting go of Ladybird .
"Sure.” Red Hood said, before taking off.
Spoiler smiled at them and said, “Oracle said that you might need some backup, but as everything is fine, my work here is done. I'll leave you two love birds to it.”
Laughing, she too jumped away.
Robin turned to Ladybird and said with a devious smirk, “Do you want to get a little revenge ?”
“I thought you'd never ask,” she said, with a smirk which could rival his own.
______________________________________________________________
@maribat-calendar-events
27 notes · View notes
the-coffee-fandom · 8 months ago
Text
❀。• *₊°。 ❀° 。。° ❀ 。° ₊ * •。❀
Hanahaki Hours
❀。• *₊°。 ❀° 。。° ❀ 。° ₊ * •。❀
Tumblr media
Calendar by @the-coffee-fandom and inspired and encouraged by @boldlyanxious. Day Eight inspired by and dedicated to @tree-reads.
Welcome back to Hanahaki Hours! Hosted in the month known for its showers bringing flowers: May!
A week dedicated to a popular trope, Hanahaki Disease, which came along August 9th, 2008. It's a fictional disease in which a character coughs up flowers which grow inside them from unrequited love (or other creative interpretation).
How you use the prompts is up to your own creative interpretation! You can use the quotes, flowers, word, or all of them! Do one day, do the entire week, do a poem, a piece of art, drabbles and incorrect quotes, or even just a quick doodle. Have fun with it!
Need inspiration? Don't feel like researching flowers? Flower Symbolism has been premade! Slightly different from last years! Click here for the full list or click here for a master list if you only want one specific flower!
Open to any fandom, ship, pairing, or otherwise to use!
Tags for Tumblr:
#Hanahaki Hours 2024 #Hanahaki Hours
Tags for Ao3:
Hanahaki Hours 2024 Hanahaki Hours
the-coffee-fandom's Hanahaki Hours
Ao3 Collection:
https://archiveofourown.org/collections/Flower_Hours
Tag @the-coffee-fandom and reblog for others to see too! I will reblog any I'm tagged in!
Please feel free to reach out to @the-coffee-fandom however you'd like if you have any questions! Especially if you need more information on flowers.
Remember that if the days don't match your schedule, you can do these at any time! Collection stays open and prompts are always available!
Written out prompts below the cut!
May 7th:
Quote: "We don't all have happy endings."
Flower: Poppy
Word: Revival
May 8th:
Quote: "I'd like to stay here. With you."
Flower: Daisy
Word: Pastel
May 9th:
Quote: "Don't you think it's time to stop?"
Flower: Forget Me Not
Word: Fade
May 10th:
Quote: "They're my home."
Flower: Sage
Word: Keep
May 11th:
Quote: "If you leave now... that's it, you know."
Flower: Wolf's Bane
Word: Verse
May 12th:
Quote: "It's morning."
Flower: Avens
Word: Ice
May 13th:
Quote: "Cut it."
Flower: Peony
Word: Catch
Substitutes:
Quote 1: "I've never seen anything as beautiful as your eyes."
Quote 2: "I want to hear pretty lies."
Flower 1: Orchid
Flower 2: Narcissus
Word 1: Venom
Word 2: Arrival
Previous Calendars:
2023
63 notes · View notes
elixs-mythology-corner · 4 months ago
Text
HI BELOVED FOLLOWERSSS
My friend just made an event for Adribat lovers!! This, of course, is a group of prompts for Spooky season. I know that this is a mythos centric blog, but it can't hurt to promote my other fandoms from time to time.
For those of you who don't know Adribat, it is a sub-species of Maribat (or Miraculous Ladybug/DC fandom) that specifically focuses on romantic or platonic ships between Adrien and any DC character and should be getting more love.
This is a full October calendar and two bingo boards!!
I hope everyone has a good time creating!! And if you're not a fan of these fandoms, the prompts are not fandom specific so they could be good inspiration for any creation ever!! And even then, maybe share it to get the word out there.
I love everyone !
3 notes · View notes
itriedwritingandhereiam · 2 years ago
Link
It's not the first time Marinette has a nightmare. Bad dreams are normal, she knows that. But it's scarier when you know it's happened before, when you have to relive that terror. She doesn't live with Maman and Papa anymore, Adrien isn't there to comfort her. Maybe she can find comfort in her boyfriend this time around. After all, nothing beats bad dreams like a 3am movie marathon while cuddling on the couch right?
4 notes · View notes
intotherabithole · 8 months ago
Text
Tumblr media
Roynette week: babysitter
@maribat-calendar-events
93 notes · View notes
starwarsmum · 18 days ago
Text
Global Crisis for day 5 ❤️ buckle up for the long fic folks
@maribat-calendar-events
Chat Noir hadn't meant to find out Ladybug's identity. No, really, he was trying to follow her rules, even if he didn't agree with them but…when he had been trying to retrieve baby August’s pacifier from Ladybug, he had seen the pink glow on Marinette's balcony. He had frozen, not wanting her to see him as he peeked through the railing and he was confronted with the fact that the love of his life was his very good friend, Marinette Dupain-Cheng.
So, yeah, he was a little bit confused, and a lot conflicted about what to do next. He was sure Ladybug and he were soulmates, but he wasn't even sure what Marinette was really like. She behaved so differently around him than she did their friends, and then there was the whole third different behaviour as Ladybug.
But he had sworn that he would love the girl behind the mask, no matter what, so he was going to do his best to woo his good friend soulmate. The first thing he would have to do was talk to Alya and Nino, get them on board with any plans moving forward. Then he would have to start distancing himself from Kagami so that his lady didn't think he was unavailable.
_ _ _ 
Marinette was stressing out. The girls had been haranguing her about Adrien's fifth name’s day for a few weeks and it was now approaching fast. She had stopped writing down every little thing about him, had stopped pre-making presents that would never be given, and she was trying to take training with Master Fu seriously. But every time she thought she'd escaped it, she was pulled back in.
“Lil M!” Marinette jumped when Jagged came into the apartment, trailed by Penny who seemed to be on the phone again. “Hey Rockette, I have a favour to ask from you, but I've gotta say upfront that it's totally rock n roll if you say no.”
“Oh, hey Uncle J,” she said weakly, putting down the rolling pin from her stress baking. “You know I'm usually good for a favour, what do you need? A new album cover, a new jacket…”
“Well, my old friend Bruce is in town and his kids are pretty big fans of mine. A couple of them are obsessed with meeting you, and asked if I could convince you to come to dinner at their hotel?” He had big round eyes trained on her, almost pouting in his bid to get her to say yes.
“Sure thing Jagged,” she said easily, resuming the highly therapeutic mission of rolling out the pie crust. She hummed along agreeably as he told her the details for that evening, as well as piling compliments onto her. She was beginning to get suspicious that the family she was being introduced to was not going to be as delightful as he was making it seem.
When she was done baking - which took even longer because now she had to make macarons for the meal that night - she went upstairs to change into different clothes. She surveyed her wardrobe, pulling and discarding everything until she came across a couple of dresses that she had made when she found out that Jagged was from Gotham, AKA the crime and vigilante capital of the US.
She pulled out a dress inspired by Batgirl, purple with striking yellow details, and one designed after Robin, with muted and complimentary colours as opposed to the train wreck the actual vigilante wore. She debated for several long minutes before deciding that purple was Jagged's colour, so she should wear the red, yellow and green one. 
She checked the time, realised that she was on time for once and grabbed her things. She let Tikki slide into a clutch bag she had made (black with tiny bat symbols embroidered across it), grabbed the cookie boxes and headed out of the door.
_ _ _
Damian was bored. His father had dragged both him and Tim to Paris so that they could do some ‘family bonding’. It was absurd, and he wanted nothing more than to sulk in the room he had been given at the Grand Paris Hotel. Unfortunately, Bruce had already made plans for them that evening with an old schoolmate of his. 
Tim had been pathetically excited that his idol, Jagged Stone, was going to be coming to dinner. The sleep deprived buffoon had immediately started word vomiting about how amazing his music was, and about the designer that Jagged often promoted as the only one allowed to design for him any more.
“Damian, I know that you're not looking forward to this meal,” Bruce sighed, leaning against the door frame just outside of the room. Damian snorted in response, glaring at the suit jacket Tim was insisting he had to wear to impress a world famous designer. “Please, I just want you both to get along this evening. Jagged is an old friend, and his designer is apparently very dear to him. I would like to get to know her and catch up with my friend.”
“Tt, I shall behave myself, father,” Damian grumbled, snatching up the jacket and artfully mussing his hair until it was perfectly nonchalant. “I am going to scout the restaurant and ensure that there are no nasty surprises waiting for us.”
And he was out of the suite before Bruce could protest. He was full of energy, having used the flight to rest adequately, in direct opposition to Tim who had decided that eight hour flights were designed so that he could work uninterrupted by other employees. As he descended the staircase to the main atrium, his eyes snagged on a blonde girl who appeared to be shouting at a smaller Asian girl with black hair.
Knowing that negative emotions could mean an attack from the local villain - see, Drake, he could pay attention - he was about to step in when he eyed what the smaller girl was wearing - and almost stumbled down the stairs. The dress was predominately black, but sheer colored fabric had been used to subtly imbue it with a shimmer of colour. The skirt flared out, catching the light and turning a deep emerald green, the bodice a gorgeous blood red with black embroidered ‘R’s across it. 
To complete the look, she was wearing a hooded jacket that had a yellow lining, not unlike his cape. But the yellow was much subtler than the canary yellow that was traditional for Robin. She was wearing (presumably) thigh high boots that disappeared into the skirt and his heart hammered in his chest painfully. When he finally got a look at her face, which was scrunched into a pretty scowl, he saw that she had done artfully messy, dark makeup, emulating a domino mask whilst still being classy.
He didn't move closer to the girl until the blonde one - Chloé Bourgeois, his mind supplied helpfully - stalked away and the girl with the Robin dress smirked after her. He approached her as she fiddled with the pastry box she was carrying, and tried not to let it show that he was nervous.
“Good evening,” he said smoothly, wondering if he would be fortunate enough to get her name. She hardly glanced at him, pulling out her phone to send a message. He had the feeling that she was using it as an excuse so that she could deter him without having to say anything. “Apologies for the intrusion, but I could not help noticing that you are wearing a dress inspired by Robin, the Gotham vigilante.”
“You recognise it?” She demanded gleefully, abandoning the pretense that she was invested in whatever reply she was awaiting. Her eyes were a startling blue that practically glowed from within the smokey eye makeup, and he had to work extremely hard not to let his breathing stop and give away just how affected he was by this girl.
“Tt, I am from Gotham, Robin is one of the vigilantes there so I would be remiss if I did not recognise his suit,” he replied, praying she didn't think he was insulting her. He didn't know how to do this, he had never wanted to show an interest in another person before. “I did not think that people in Paris were particularly interested in vigilantes, given they have their own heroes.”
“Oh, yeah, I mean generally that's true, I guess? But my uncle is from Gotham so when I found out, I just had to look up more about them. My favourites are Robin, obviously, and Batgirl. But for the colour scheme, I have to say I prefer the original Batgirl’s costume - purple and yellow is so iconic!”
Damian was stunned momentarily, unsure how to take the conversation forward. As it was, he was very close to blushing, which would be extremely odd. But she seemed content to chatter away, gesturing to different parts of the outfit. Sadly, they were interrupted by a man dressed in black and yellow, with purple hair, who launched himself upon the girl.
“Jagged, stop!” The girl whined, a giggle ruining the playful annoyance in her voice. “It was very nice to meet you, monsieur, I'm sorry for talking your ear off about clothes. As my uncle here can attest, I can get a little carried away.”
“Tt, you hardly need apologise, I enjoyed hearing about the stitching technique you used to connect the skirt to the top of your outfit,” Damian said, gaining him an appraising look from the other man. The girl beamed at him, the smile making his insides feel mushy.
“Rock on, Lil M, you already found one of our dinner mates! You are one of Brucie's bunch, right?” The man, apparently Jagged Stone, asked. Damian nodded, realising that the girl he had been speaking to must be the designer that Tim was so obsessed with. “So, which one are you?”
“Damian,” he said, holding his hand out to Jagged to greet him properly. “It is a pleasure to meet you both. My brother, Timothy, is a fan of both of your works.”
“I’m Marinette, it's nice to meet you too,” the girl, Marinette, said when he turned to greet her as well. She ignored his hand in favour of kissing his cheek with une bise, and he felt warmth flood his face. “How lucky that you came over to say hello! I wasn't sure how punctual any friends of Jagged's would be,” she said pointedly, quirking an eyebrow at the man in question.
“Hey, be fair! I'm earlier than Bruce and the rest of his bunch,” Jagged replied, holding a hand to his chest in mock aggravation. “Speaking of which, I'm going to see if I can surprise him in his room, where will I find him, kid?”
Damian recited the room number, amused that Bruce's friend was so exuberant. He turned back to Marinette, fully intending on getting to know her better before the others joined them.
Meanwhile, Marinette was trying to squash the butterflies that were erupting in her stomach. When the boy, Damian, had first approached her she had groaned internally, not wanting to have to politely tell him to leave. But then he had asked about her dress and she couldn't help herself - she had practically bombarded him with everything she was proud of in this particular piece. Which usually has the same outcome as politely telling a guy to get lost, but then Jagged had interrupted and he had said something that sounded like he had been listening.
Pretty boys with green eyes were already a weakness for her, she knew that. But a pretty boy with green eyes and he indulged her rambling about fashion? She had the horrible feeling that she was already a goner. It didn't help that she had been falling out of love with Adrien ever since his dumb high road advice.
“So you design for Jagged Stone,” Damian said, clearly attempting to restart a conversation. She nodded enthusiastically, giving him a brief history of her work with the eccentric musician. He asked intelligent questions and she felt herself losing the battle not to like him.
She had all but forgotten that they were supposed to be getting dinner with other people when Jagged came back over with two other men, dressed impeccably in black suit jackets. The older of the two was wearing a very traditional slim tie and shirt but the younger had coupled his suit jacket with a band tee that she recognised as the one matching the album she had designed.
“Good evening, I'm so sorry we kept you waiting,” the older man, Bruce, said, stepping forward smoothly to offer her his hand. He was a little further away, so she had to step away from Damian to do so, after which the younger man, Timothy, stepped into the space to introduce himself as well. “Damian, I just needed to speak with you about something, could we step aside before dinner?”
Damian grimaced internally, although externally he merely nodded and excused himself quietly. He had the suspicion that his father was offering him an escape from having to deal with a stranger and didn't know how to explain that he was fine without embarrassing himself.
“I'm sorry, Damian, Jagged has always been notoriously late before so I didn't think anything of it until he came up to our room and said he'd left you alone with his designer,” Bruce said apologetically, giving him a quick once over. 
“It was fine, father, Jagged Stone's designer was explaining some of the techniques she had used to complete her outfit,” Damian replied, making sure to school his features into casual boredom. Until he knew what she thought of him, he would keep his interest in the girl to himself. “We are keeping your guests waiting, should we not rejoin them?”
Without waiting for a response, he turned on his heel and strode back over to the other three. To his dismay, Tim was engaging Marinette in an animated conversation about her best works and was much better versed in fashion terminology than Damian. His stomach dropped when she gave a laugh that sounded like bells chiming and touched Tim's arm.
“Rock on, are we ready to get some food? I'm famished,” Jagged said, throwing an arm over Marinette's shoulder. “Besides, I haven't seen any of you in ages, I've gotta tell you all about the crazy stuff that's happened. Especially you, Bruce - if you thought Gotham had crazy villains, you should hear about Hawkmoth.”
“Uncle J, I don't think your guests want to hear about how crazy it is in Paris. Besides, Damian already mentioned Paris’ heroes so they probably already know about Hawkmoth,” Marinette said, glancing at Damian with a small smile.
“You talked about the heroes?” Tim asked, and Damian assumed he was alarmed, thinking that Damian had betrayed their interest in the situation as vigilantes. Scowling, Damian gave a brief nod but said nothing. He found himself unable to sit next to Marinette but instead was placed in the seat opposite her.
“Oh, it was my fault,” Marinette said with good humour. She gestured to her dress before removing her jacket and sitting down. “He recognised the vigilante I styled my outfit after. As soon as I found out where Jagged was from I checked out the city protectors and fell in love!”
“That's very interesting,” Bruce said, amusement lacing his tone as he gave Damian a look. Tim was choking on the water he had sipped, but waved off Marinette's concern. “But yes, we are aware of the Parisian heroes. We didn't want to come to a city without being prepared, an unfortunate side effect from living in Gotham.”
“Ah, that's a shame! Marinette here is part of what we like to call the Akuma class, she's probably got some crazy stories from the front line. Hell, remember when I came to do that show in your bakery, M? Poor Penny completely trashed the place after Alec blasted those pictures of-”
“Okay, yes, thank you, Jagged! I very much doubt anyone here needs to know about my embarrassing collection of magazine covers,” Marinette said, glancing at Damian and flushing slightly. His heart thudded painfully again, although his stomach removed itself from the region of his feet. “Anyway, we were moving on from crazy supervillains as a topic, right?”
“Yeah, alright,” Jagged said, although he sent a sharp look Damian’s way, which said he wasn't as air-headed as he had seemed. “Hey, did you know that there's a soup named after Marinette here? It used to be called celestial soup, but her great uncle renamed it after she helped him with a competition.”
Marinette felt like she was sitting with her Papa, Jagged was bragging about her accomplishments so much. She tried to sneak glances at Damian without being noticed, but every time she looked at him his gaze found hers, and she felt a familiar swoop in her stomach. By the end of the meal, she was so embarrassed she wanted the ground to swallow her whole. 
“Well, as fun as this has been, Lil M here has school tomorrow, so she should probably head on home. Do you want me to call you a cab or anything?” 
“I'll be fine, Jagged,” Marinette said, rolling her eyes and shrugging back into her jacket. The lining felt cool on her skin, which helped the anxious nerves settle. Jagged nodded, giving her a hug before sitting back down and chatting with Bruce about how different Paris was to Gotham.
She was surprised but pleased when Damian stood as well, offering to see her out of the hotel. She didn't miss the concerned looks that Tim and Bruce exchanged but decided to ignore them. They walked slowly through the much quieter lobby, Marinette wanting to extend her time with him as much as possible.
“It has been a pleasant evening in your company, Marinette,” Damian said as they slowed to a stop just shy of the doors. She beamed as she blushed again, nodding enthusiastically. “And…I hope it is not too forward of me, but I would like to see you again whilst I am still in Paris.”
“I would love that,” she squeaked, nearly dropping her phone as she pulled it from the clutch she was carrying. She offered it to him and he reciprocated by handing her his. Joy bubbled in her veins as she went to take a selfie to put as her contact picture, but he stopped her.
“May I take a picture of you in your outfit?” He asked, a light flush across his cheekbones the only sign that he was affected by her. She nodded dumbly, trying not to smile manically as she posed for a photo. Her half smile was on his face as he showed it to her, setting it as the picture for her profile. “I wish you did not have to go, but I understand the need to attend school. Will you inform me when you reach your home safely?”
Marinette promised she would, giggling happily as she walked away from the hotel.
_ _ _
Bruce was nervous about Damian following Marinette out of the room, but couldn't do anything without alerting Jagged to this concern. Tim was almost asleep now that the excitement of meeting Jagged and his designer had faded, so he couldn't subtly suggest that he check on them either. 
The minutes dragged torturously, the acceptable amount of time for a polite farewell coming and going. He glanced at his watch apprehensively, and Jagged laughed aloud, making Tim jerk out of the light doze he had fallen into.
“Something on your mind, Brucie?” The musician asked, propping his head up on his hand. Bruce gave him a tight smile, wondering what to say that wouldn't alarm his old friend. He was saved from having to when Jagged chuckled again. “Look, I know they're kids, but Marinette's got a good head on her shoulders. She's not going to seduce the little guy and corrupt him, promise.”
Tim gave a shocked giggle, stuffing his knuckles into his mouth to stifle them. Jagged looked at him, amused, before turning back to a Bruce who just looked tired. Before Bruce could reply in any capacity Damian finally returned, and Tim gave up the fight against his laughter, curling up and wheezing.
“Is Drake having some sort of episode?” Damian said, brow furrowed. Tim gasped for air and pointed at him, which only made him scowl uncertainly. “Father, when was the last time he slept? And how much caffeine has he consumed since then?”
“N- no, sorry, I'm sorry,” Tim gasped, finally managing to pull himself out of his laughing fit just long enough to choke the words out. But then he looked at Damian again and dissolved once more. “C- corrupt…s-s-seduce…”
“It isn't important, Damian,” Bruce said decisively, which made Jagged bark out a laugh as well. Damian took his seat, looking irritated and unamused. Bruce sighed, not wanting to get into the full conversation with Damian until Jagged was gone, but knowing that his son would be a grouchy mess until it was addressed. “Jagged was just saying that Marinette is a good kid, and that I shouldn't be worried about you spending time with her.”
“Ah hell, M’s so much more than just a good kid! She's practically an angel! I mean, she's designed for me, but she babysits too, she helps her parents with the bakery, she's top of her class…like, the list goes on but I digress. Pretty sure my kid has a thing for her, but I haven't talked to them about it.”
“Tt, whilst I appreciate your concern, father, I am capable of choosing who I will spend time with by myself,” Damian said, unruffled by the conversation topic. “Now, it is late and I would like to rest before we tour the buildings tomorrow, may I be excused?”
As soon as Bruce agreed, Damian bid them all goodnight and headed to his room. He prepared for bed, checking his phone periodically even though he had set it to loud while waiting for Marinette to inform him that she was home safe. It wasn't until he was settled on his bed with a book that the notification of a new message sounded.
Hey Damian, this is Marinette! Just letting you know that I'm home safe :-) let me know when you're free and we'll hang, okay? Xoxo
A rare grin lit his face for a moment, before he messaged her back with the plans for his week in Paris. He would have free time every afternoon, and Marinette said that Wednesdays were a half-day at school, so she would be more than happy to spend time with him then. He bid her goodnight and she sent back a heart emoji, effectively ending their brief exchange.
_ _ _
When Marinette had agreed to make the costumes and help with the set for Kitty Section, she had been determined to help them win first place in the contest. So she had worked tirelessly to ensure the costumes were perfect, fitting and re-fitting the whole band countless times.
On the weekend of filming, Damian was on his last day in Paris and asked if he could see her before he went. She wanted to - their kind of date on Wednesday had been amazing, and they'd only done a walking tour of the city - but she'd made the commitment to her friends. She decided to call him and explain the situation, because she didn't want him to think she was blowing him off.
“Marinette?” He said when he picked up, his voice low and tinged with concern. “Is everything alright?”
“Hey Dami, I'm fine,” she said, hauling the trunk of costumes out of the bakery and taking a break before walking it to the boat on the Seine. “Sorry for calling instead of texting, I just have my hands a little full. I have plans already for today; I'm helping my friends’ band with a music video they're making for a competition.”
“You need not apologise, Marinette, we have not known each other long and I have already been fortunate enough to see you several times this week,” he assured her. Warmth spread through her, partially from the heavy chest, but mostly from how straightforward he was with her. “I will not lie to you, I would have liked to see you again before I go home, but it is hardly like I will not see you again.”
“What time are you flying out?” She asked wistfully, stopping on the shore next to the houseboat. She sighed when he told her that he was leaving for the airport at midday, and said that she would have to try video calling him when time allowed. “But at least we can message each other any time.”
“Indeed. Now, enjoy your time with your friends and I shall speak to you again soon.” Sighing again, she called out to the band, hugging Mylene and Rose when they came out to her. Luka smiled at her, but stayed on the stage strumming.
When they finished recording and editing, Marinette saw that it was 11:30. Shouting quick goodbyes to everyone, she raced over to the hotel. She was breathless when she arrived at 11:45, but it meant that she should have at least ten minutes to say goodbye to Damian.
Rushing over to the front desk, she asked if they could send a message up to the American visitor Damian (why hadn't she asked for his surname?) and sent a text as well, just to be safe. It took a few minutes but then he appeared in the lobby and shot her a crooked smile. 
“I am very glad that you completed your tasks early, Marinette,” he said, brushing some flyaway hairs out of her eyes. Her heart hammered, refusing to slow down even though she had been standing still for several minutes. “May I kiss you?”
“God yes,” she whimpered, grabbing onto his lapels and pulling him down. He kissed back earnestly, cupping her cheek with one hand as she wound her arms around his neck. She tentatively pushed her hands into his hair and was rewarded when he made a soft noise of contentment. 
They stood like that for several minutes before slowing and separating. The same crooked smile he had given her when he had seen her a few minutes ago lit up his face and she smiled goofily up at him. They murmured gently to each other, promising to stay in touch and see each other as often as possible.
“I know it's kind of extremely early to ask this, but will you be my boyfriend?” Marinette asked when he begrudgingly reminded her that he had only a few minutes until his father and brother would be joining him to return home. She was relieved when his crooked smile transformed into a full blown grin.
“I would love to be your boyfriend, Marinette. I would much prefer to remain here with you in Paris, but I must return home and to my responsibilities,” he said regretfully. She sighed and buried her face in his chest, holding him tightly.
“Damian, are you ready to go?” Bruce had arrived and Damian reluctantly released her. She blushed at the man, stammering a greeting and farewell and he smiled at her. “It's been a pleasure to meet you Marinette. If you ever come to Gotham, feel free to come to Wayne Enterprises and we can give you a tour.”
“...Wayne Enterprises as in, Wayne Fashion?” She said eventually, turning to stare at Damian. Bruce watched as his son flushed pink and muttered something unintelligible under his breath. He had to fight back his own astonishment that the girl apparently hadn't known who she was having dinner with a few nights ago.
“Why would I have known?” She squeaked when he voiced the thought. “Jagged just said his friend from school was coming to visit and he wanted to introduce me! I- this is going to take me a minute,” she confessed, darting and apologetic glance at Damian.
To Bruce's surprise, Damian looked worried, his face filled with tight lines. He had never seen his son hesitate before, or worry that his name would change the opinion someone had of him, but that was clearly what was happening. Marinette's crisis was cut short when Tim joined them and the car for the airport pulled up.
Damian pulled Marinette away from his family while they put the luggage in the car, wanting to ensure that things were alright between them. She had already calmed down considerably which was a positive sign.
“Marinette, I am sorry I did not tell you sooner. I assumed you were already aware of our family name. I hope that this does not change-” he was cut off abruptly when Marinette grabbed him in a tight embrace.
“It doesn't change anything,” she swore confidently, pulling back from the hug and gripping his hand. “If you're fine with dating a daughter of two bakers, I think I can find it in me to date the son of a millionaire.”
“Tt, billionaire,” he corrected automatically, flushing when she gave a strangled giggle. Tim gave a warning shout that they needed to leave and he glared in the direction of the car. “May I call you when I am safely home?”
“Damian, as my boyfriend you can call me whenever you want,” she said, before letting him walk over to the car. He felt a little hollow and disappointed that this was goodbye for now, but his duties as Robin had to come first. 
_ _ _
Marinette spent the next few days fuelled by the joy of knowing Damian felt the same way she did. They had messaged back and forth several times, even occasionally calling. They talked about anything and everything, Marinette finding him to be practical but compassionate about her problems.
On the Wednesday after they had submitted the competition video, Marinette was hanging out with Kitty Section on the houseboat when Ivan called for everyone's attention. In numb outrage, they watched XY’s new music video - a direct copy of their submission.
Taking their complaint to the filming studio, Marinette and Luka snuck inside while the rest of Kitty Section caused a distraction. Once inside, Bob Roth proceeded to tear into the pair, threatening their futures and, specifically, Marinette's future as a designer. She didn't notice Luka getting angry until he was enveloped in harsh purple light, transforming into Silencer.
He stole XY's voice and turned to Marinette, promising to help her stay safe and protect her artistic integrity. Then he told her, “You’re an extraordinary girl, Marinette. As clear as a musical note, and as sincere as a melody.” She blushed for a few moments before shaking it off and going to transform. 
The battle against Silencer was difficult, and only made harder by Bob Roth. She did eventually defeat him, but all it meant was that she was back in the same position she had been before the akumatisation. Unless…
Her usual quick thinking and the assistance of Luka resulted in Bob being forced to admit that he had tried to steal their ideas. Transforming back, Marinette rushed back to Luka and cheered happily that they had won. She had decided that she would ignore what Luka had said under the influence of the akuma, given that she didn't want anything more than friendship with him.
But then as they were separating, he said the same thing again, and it left her uncomfortable. She didn't manage to say anything back, but he didn't seem to be expecting an answer. She immediately messaged Damian, wanting to let him know what Luka had said.
She was comforted by his no nonsense view on the matter, seeming more concerned that she had been caught up in an akuma attack. She assured him that she was fine, and that Ladybug had saved the day as usual. He asked a few questions about how she had done it, and Marinette had to carefully dodge any potential pitfalls that would show she knew too much.
Damian ended the call feeling even more determined to help end the threat of Hawkmoth. He had wanted to help as soon as he found out that there was an emotional terrorist causing havoc in Paris, but now that he knew Marinette…it was imperative that the Justice League meet with the heroes and offer whatever help they could.
Striding into his father's office, he waited patiently to be seen. He tried to structure his concerns in a way that wouldn't immediately make his father suspicious. He did not want his family to pry into his relationship with Marinette, especially as they did not think he was capable of one.
“What can I do for you, Damian?” Bruce eventually said, looking up from his work. Damian steeled himself and launched into his speech about helping the Parisian heroes. Bruce listened without interrupting, nodding along until Damian ran out of things to say. Finally, Bruce steepled his fingers and gazed thoughtfully at the young vigilante. “I see, and who would you suggest I send to Paris?”
“Drake has an analytical mind that would likely be the biggest benefit as both Ladybug and Chat Noir seem to be competent enough in battle. Training would not go amiss, however, so someone should go with him.” He stopped himself from volunteering immediately even though he was sure his father would know that was the only reason he would be talking about it.
“Alright, so given what we know about Hawkmoth's abilities anyone too volatile is out of the question. So Jason will have to sit out a long-term placement in Paris. Dick has his family to think about, which would only make him moody to be separated from them. Steph and Tim have a history that makes me hesitant to send her with him to a city besieged by an emotional terrorist.”
“Cain has responsibilities in Hong Kong, she would be too distracted to train them sufficiently,” Damian added, warming to the task of shutting down the possibilities of someone other than him going. “You are essential to the welfare of Gotham, so that is out of the question, as is anyone with powers such as any of the Kents.”
“But Duke’s powers are actually potentially helpful,” Bruce countered, looking thoughtful. Damian tried not to freeze or scowl. He thought desperately for a rebuttal, a reason that Duke would have to sit it out and came up blank. 
“Thomas is…an adequate choice,” Damian admitted at last, trying to avoid glaring but only half succeeding. “It would be beneficial to all involved if we verified that his powers would be useful before he uproots his life in Gotham, however. Perhaps he and Drake could visit as their alternative selves via zeta tube and make contact with the duo?”
“That sounds reasonable,” Bruce replied, nodding to himself. Damian held himself stiff and waited to be dismissed. “Of course, there is this akuma class that Jagged and Marinette mentioned, it could be useful to have someone in the classroom itself to investigate…do you think Duke could pass as a fifteen-year-old?”
“Tt, that hardly seems necessary,” Damian said, working to calm his now racing heart. If he played this correctly, he would be able to go to Paris regardless of whether Duke went as well. “I am in that curricular age bracket and I am more than competent enough to investigate.”
“And what of the emotionally stable requirement?” If this were a less important conversation, Damian would have been offended. As it was, he gave the question as much clinical consideration as was possible. 
“I am capable of managing my emotions, I have grown plenty since Mother allowed me to stay in Gotham,” he said eventually, pleased that his voice was level. “It would also be a good test of my own capacity. In addition, I have already spent a week in Paris and went without Akumatisation the entire time, despite spending ample time with Drake.”
“But not around children your own age,” Bruce countered again, forcing Damian to swallow a growl. “You're not best known for dealing well with people who approach you because of your name, and that could cause an akumatisation of someone else.”
“Then send me under an assumed name, ostensibly so that I am protected whilst away from you,” Damian said immediately, pleased with his own quick thinking. At Bruce's raised eyebrows he soldiered on. “The only person with any knowledge of my identity is Marinette who would likely not give that information away if we requested it in advance.”
Bruce stayed silent for several minutes, clearly mulling all of this over. When he finally nodded, Damian allowed a small smirk to flit across his features, before schooling his expression back into solemnity.
“Very well, a team of three. I like the idea of sending you through the Zeta tubes first, and we may well do that for several nights in a row to give the illusion that you're all still in Gotham as civilians. And then a couple of nights of no activity at that end when you arrive as Damian but Robin back in Gotham would cement it quite nicely. Okay, yes let's tell the team.”
_ _ _
Adrien walked into collége with a spring in his step. So far, he hadn't had time to wow Marinette with his charm and wit - he had researched so many non-cat puns - but he was confident that he would be able to get Alya and Nino on his side. He had vague recollections of Alya forcing him to dance with Marinette at Chloé's disastrous party, so he was pretty confident that she wanted them to double date.
But when he arrived in their classroom, Alya and Nino were talking in hushed tones. Marinette still hadn't appeared, but that wasn't unusual, so Adrien made his way to his desk and turned to talk to the pair.
“I'm telling you, Marinette's been smiling at her phone and she's practically glued to it these days! And Juleka said that he confessed to her during the whole Silencer debacle,” Alya insisted, showing a picture of Marinette gazing lovingly at her phone.
“Who confessed to Marinette?” Adrien asked, suddenly apprehensive. He felt even more worried when Alya and Nino exchanged a look.
“Dude, you remember Juleka’s brother, Luka? Apparently he told Marinette he was into her when he was akumatised into Silencer,” Nino said, shrugging uncomfortably. “And Mari’s been acting kind of strange lately, haven't you noticed? She looks at her phone all the time, and someone's messaging her loads.”
“Yeah, and my girl definitely thought he was cute, I remember when she met him. She was blushy and stammered a bunch,” Alya added, although she shut up as Marinette rushed in. “Hey Marinette!”
“Hey Alya! I can't believe how late I was running today,” Marinette groaned, laying her head down on the desk. “And before you say it, yes I know it's my own fault for staying up late.”
“Hey dudette,” Nino said, but Madame Bustier appeared before Adrien could give his own greeting. He turned to face the front uneasily, wondering if he had already missed his chance to woo Ladybug's civilian identity.
The day dragged on, and when he returned after lunch he spotted Marinette smiling at her phone and decided he had to know. Strolling casually towards her, he leaned down to talk to her.
“Hey Mari,” he said cheerily, trying to get a sneaky glance at her phone but she squeaked and pulled it out of sight too quickly. “You looked happy, were you messaging Luka?”
“Luka? Why would I be messaging Luka?” Marinette looked guilty and Adrien's stomach clenched. He forced a smile onto his face, trying to look like he wasn't panicking.
“Oh, Alya just mentioned that you were maybe dating him…”
“No, I- I'm not dating Luka,” she said slightly hesitantly. She bit her lip and Adrien wondered if she wished she was.
“Okay, well that's…that's great,” he said, smiling a little more naturally. “So I was wondering if maybe-”
He was interrupted by the bell and he frowned at the sudden bustle behind him. Marinette’s phone buzzed again but she didn't open whatever message it was in front of him. Instead, she suggested that they head into class, only pulling her phone out stealthily once they were seated.
Adrien frowned and all but ignored the lesson. If he couldn't find time to bring it up as Adrien, he would just have to work harder to convince her as Ladybug.
_ _ _
Robin stood on the threshold of the Watchtower Zeta tube with anticipation pooling in his stomach. He was determined to impress the Parisian heroes and prove Jason's ominous prediction, that he would be akumatised within the hour and decimate the Parisian team, wrong
“Okay, so remember, this is a pretty simple recon mission and to extend the olive branch and our offer of aid to Ladybug and Chat Noir. If they decline, we're out and no arguing. The last thing they need is for one of us to get akumatised because we can't take no for an answer,” Red Robin reminded them for the third time.
“We get it, Red,” Signal said, shaking his head in exasperation. Robin worked on not adding his own vocal frustration and was rewarded by Red Robin nodding and stepping through to Paris. 
Standing in an alley, they got their bearings and shot off to find the local heroes. It was late evening and Robin managed to glimpse Marinette's balcony as they grappled past. The lights were on and he could see the flicker of movement as she did something. He thought he saw a shift of her curtain before they completely passed but couldn't justify stopping.
They settled on the Eiffel Tower and ended up only waiting for around ten minutes before a red and black blur flipped and landed in front of them. She eyed them suspiciously for a moment but then confusion crossed her face.
“Um, hello,” she said hesitantly, giving Robin a look that made him sure she recognised him. Sometimes it was worth being dressed in…how had Marinette said it?...oh, yes, traffic stoppingly bright colours. “To what do I owe the pleasure of meeting some of Gotham's heroes?”
“We're here to offer our assistance,” Red Robin said, smiling at the girl. “I'm sorry it's taken so long for us to come, we weren't really aware that there was anything amiss to begin with. And then Batman wanted to check things out before we reached out.”
“Wow, seriously? I would love some help! I've been trying to track down Hawkmoth but it's been- God, it's freaking sucked. It's messing with my civilian life and I kind of have a lot on my plate, so any help you can give would be incredible.”
“Of course,” Red Robin said, smiling at the French heroine. “I'm Red Robin, this is Signal and this is-”
“Robin, yes,” she interrupted nodding. “I recognised the, ah, interestingly bright colours. They are not exactly subtle shades.”
“Tt, the colours are a tradition,” Robin said, grumbling slightly. It felt strange to discuss the colours of his suit with someone who also wore a shockingly bright suit. But he kept to his word and avoided sniping back an insult.
“Yeah, my fr- boyfriend is from Gotham and explained it to me,” she said, blushing lightly and smiling softly. Something inside Damian felt like it had received an electric shock. It could be a coincidence that this dark-haired, blue-eyed hero had a boyfriend in Gotham but… “I still think that you could do something slightly different with it though. There are other shades of yellow, red, and green that don't stop traffic.”
The rest of the encounter felt like white noise to Damian. He found himself watching Ladybug intently, noting small tics that he had noticed in Marinette during their brief time together so far. She was expressive with her hands. She twirled her pigtail around a finger when thinking. 
How had he managed to travel across the world, meet someone and they turned out to be a hero? In some ways it was baffling, but in others made complete sense. Of course his girlfriend was a selfless, heroic girl who spent what very little spare time she had battling the forces of evil. He could only be interested in the very best.
Fortunately, nobody seemed to notice his distraction and Ladybug thanked them before zipping away - in the direction of Marinette's home. Hm, it appears he would need to speak with her about obscuring her destination.
_ _ _
The next week passed fairly quickly, but Damian was also exhausted by the end of it. Between traveling back and forth to Paris via Zeta tube, organising all paperwork to transfer to Francois DuPont, and plotting how to tell Marinette her secret was out, he scarcely had time to sleep.
It was a relief to land in Paris on a Saturday evening and head straight to the apartment that Bruce had procured for the three of them. He immediately set down his suitcase and pulled out his phone to let Marinette know that he had arrived. He received a dozen or so heart emojis in return, making him smile.
He sent a follow up text asking if she would join him the following day to collect his French phone, ready for school first thing on Monday, which she also agreed to enthusiastically. He tucked the phone away as he prepared to meet with Ladybug again, wishing he could tell her who he was and that he knew who she was.
The trip to the Eiffel Tower was uneventful and they set up the laptop and paper notes about their investigation so that they could do a further deep dive. Since they had discovered that Signal could only see an energy signature when Ladybug used her lucky charm, they couldn't use him to quickly locate Hawkmoth when he was powered up but not actively evilising a butterfly.
“...a chance, Bugaboo!” The sound of Chat Noir’s voice carried over to them from nearby and three heads turned towards it. “I think we would make a purr-fect couple, M'lady, but it won't happen if you keep pretending you're not even curious.”
“Chat, I told you that there was another boy,” Robin's fist unclenched from his katana’s hilt but he glared in the direction of the voices as Chat made a dismissive noise. “No, Chat, I'm serious, there's this boy-”
“Yes yes, that you like, but you shouldn't be closing off your options like that! I'm just saying that you should consider me as well,” Chat said, fairly condescendingly as far as Robin was concerned. Unsheathing his katana, he jumped across to where they were standing.
“If Ladybug said no, she would have meant it,” he said in clipped tones. He noted Ladybug's - Marinette's - shoulders relaxed when he arrived and had to wrestle back his anger. The last thing they needed was for Robin to get akumatised. “We have been waiting for you to arrive to debrief and discuss next steps.”
“Sorry, Robin, we're coming,” Ladybug said immediately, following him back to the other side of the Tower. She flitted to stand between Red Robin and Signal who both gave Chat Noir disapproving looks. “So, the list of suspects is ready?”
“Yes, we have been cross-referencing the different affluent men in Paris who have the time and resources to spend time as Hawkmoth,” Robin said, staying beside Chat even though he would have rather been beside Ladybug.
It was nearly an hour later that they all agreed they had done as much as they could. Dutifully, Red Robin reminded the duo that the team would be traveling back to Gotham the next day for a few days but then would be back in Paris to really get stuck in.
Ladybug thanked them all before shooting off to get home. Damian noted that she went off in a different direction this time, and wondered if she changed which way she went each time to help confuse anyone watching.
_ _ _
Marinette waited on a bench in the park outside her home, picking at her fingers. She hadn't seen Damian in person since he had left Paris to go home and she was worried he would change his mind once he saw her again. She had agonized over her outfit before deciding to wear the new shirt she had designed and created specifically so she could show it to him.
“Marinette, apologies for my lateness.” Damian appeared beside her silently, and she squealed before her phone went flying. With reflexes she couldn't have guessed he possessed, Damian caught her phone and placed it gently back into her hands. It had fallen to her other side so he was fully in her personal space, looking down into her eyes as she stammered a thank you.
There was a moment where neither of them moved, simply breathing the same air. And then her hands found their way to his collar and his lips crashed into hers. He kissed her hungrily, wrapping his arm around her waist to secure her against him. 
They kissed for several long moments, and Marinette got lost in running her fingers into his hair. It was reluctantly that she pulled away from him, grinning up at him. His eyes were gleaming and she giggled when he tried to straighten his hair. 
“We should go and get your phone,” she said at last, letting her hand trace his jaw. He shivered and Marinette felt a thrill at the simple fact that she affected her boyfriend. He hesitated for a moment before nodding and helping her stand.
Collecting his phone was an easy task and they chatted about him starting school with her the next day. He had already told her that he would be attending under a different surname, so she made sure she knew his cover name. 
As the day slipped into early evening, Marinette dragged him back to the Pont des Arts bridge to watch the sunset. She turned to look at him and paused. His eyes were hooded and his profile when he turned to look at her made her breath catch. She felt like she was unraveling a string, starting with the way he had approached her before dinner to talk about her Robin themed dress, to the verbal tic that he shared with said vigilante.
“Is everything alright?” He asked, his eyes full of concern. She stood on her tiptoes, pushing her hands back into his hair. He gave a crooked smile and leaned down to kiss her again, but she held him back slightly as she restyled his hair.
“Um, so I think I worked out something I wasn't supposed to,” she said in a hushed whisper, shooting him an apologetic wince. He froze but didn't say anything. His hand came up and pressed gently into the base of her spine. His fingers circled firmly, making her shudder and step even closer.
“I suppose that makes us even,” he replied, sounding amused more than angry. Then it was Marinette's turn to freeze, panic racing through her. “Marinette, breathe. I had intended to tell you shortly, but it is imperative that you do not allow yourself to panic.”
She breathed in shallowly but the panic simmered under the surface. Cursing lowly, Damian pulled her into a rough kiss and she felt like her nerve endings were completely fried. Her panic was swiftly replaced with a fluttering and she leaned into the kiss whole-heartedly.
When they broke apart this time, they were both breathing heavily. The panic Marinette had been feeling was muted, and she leaned her head against his shoulder as she tried to rein in her runaway thoughts.
“How long have you known?” She asked, tracing her fingers around one of his jacket buttons. She frowned lightly as he explained but didn't free-fall into panic this time. “This is going to take some time to get my head around.”
“Do you want me to…leave?” Damian asked, clearly reluctant, and she shook her head. The last thing she wanted was to be left alone with her thoughts. His whole body relaxed and the arm wrapped around her pressed her even closer. 
They didn't talk much more, choosing instead to just hold each other. 
_ _ _
The following day at school, Marinette pushed down the nervous excitement that made her stomach bubble. She knew that Damian would be on time, so she had made sure to wake up early and was already standing on the front steps. She hadn't even seen Max yet, and he was usually first through the doors.
She perked up when a car that she didn't recognise rolled up and was rewarded with the early morning sight of Damian in relaxed clothes. One of the conversations they had had the day prior was to say that he would be trying to distance his image from the public one of Damian Wayne so that he was less likely to be recognised.
“Good morning, Marinette,” he said as he approached her, giving her la bise on both cheeks. They had agreed to downplay their relationship for now to avoid awkward questions about how they had met, and she had never been more glad to have the excuse to kiss his cheeks.
“Morning, Damian,” she said back, beaming as he waited for Duke to park and rejoin him so that they could head to see Principal Damocles. When Duke arrived he gave Marinette a confused look but only greeted her cheerfully. “Good morning, Duke, right?”
“Yes, that's right,” he said and his eyes passed over her, focusing momentarily on the small pink bag by her hip. “And you must be Marinette, Tim mentioned you to us. I, uh, hope this isn't rude but are you aware that Damian is-”
“That this is Damian Thomas?” She interrupted, beaming up at him when he relaxed. “Yes, Damian made me aware and I agree that it's a smart move. I'm the class president of the class Damian will be in, so there should be no issue with him just sticking with me for the foreseeable future. Now, are you ready to meet Principal Damocles?”
They followed her into the building, Marinette chattering and pointing out the different classrooms on the next floor as they passed. Several students that had been milling around spotted the trio and an excited buzz kicked up, though Marinette dutifully ignored it.
“Mr Damocles, the new student and his guardian are here,” she said cheerfully when they were given permission to enter the office. 
“Wonderful, thank you, Marinette,” he said, dismissing her with a nod of his head. She backed out of the office, her hand giving Damian's a discreet squeeze on her way past.
When she entered the classroom, she was immediately bombarded with questions about Damian. Lila sat at the back, quiet for a change and Marinette avoided looking in her direction. When Adrien arrived, he seemed excited to hear that there would be a new student, and piped up that it was probably time to change seats again.
Marinette paused and thought it over, nodding along as she decided that it was the easiest way to let her sit next to Damian. There was a flurry of motion as everyone clamored to explain where they wanted to sit.
“You know, I know Lila said her tinnitus cleared up because of the miraculous cure, but I think it's more likely that she became accustomed to the noise,” she said aloud, feigning concern. Lila narrowed her eyes at her but she ignored it. “It would make sense for us to go with the original plan you all came up with, and then I can help the new kid, as class president.”
Everybody agreed enthusiastically, except for Adrien who looked disappointed. But then Madame Bustier had arrived and they were forced to settle into their new seats.
Meanwhile, Damian was being forced to listen to Principal Damocles drone on about how much the school valued teamwork and a cohesive student body. He danced around the subject of Hawkmoth which made Damian decide that he was weak-willed.
“Look, Damian, I know this is going to be difficult,” Duke said as they made their way to the classroom. “If it's easier for you to be your usual self, don't force yourself to be super friendly. It's normal for a kid that changed countries to be slightly closed off anyway.”
“Tt, I know what I am doing, Tho- Duke,” Damian said, grimacing slightly at using the man's given name. But it would be too suspicious if he was overheard given that they were supposed to have the same surname. 
“Another thing, I don't know what Marinette's got in her bag, but it's giving off insane amounts of energy. There might be more to her than meets the eye,” Duke said, checking his watch. He missed Damian's pause and the boy was back to behaving normally by the time he looked back. “Listen, I'll walk you in but then I've gotta jet.”
Standing in front of the class, Damian used his vantage point to remind himself of all who were in his new class. His eyes snagged on Marinette, who was sitting alone in the back of the classroom with the only available seat next to her.
“Welcome to our classroom, Damian!” Madame Bustier said in an almost unnaturally sweet voice. Forcing himself not to wince, he nodded and projected a cool but nervous aura. “Perhaps you could introduce yourself to the class, tell us a little about Damian Thomas?”
“... good morning, I am Damian. I will say now that I do not like nicknames, and as such will not respond to anything other than ‘Damian’. I am from New Jersey and elected to study abroad when my brother, Duke, was assigned here. I have already been acquainted with Marinette as she is the class representative and would ask that the rest of you give me space to adjust to the new class.”
The class all nodded, although the one sitting next to the blond model Agreste - Lila Rossi, Damian thought her name was - looked disappointed. Duke stayed until Damian was told to take his seat but then slipped away.
In the back of the classroom, Damian and Marinette sat quietly together exchanging notes and speaking softly. To anyone that asked, Damian said that Marinette was helping him adjust to the class and generally making the transition into the school as smooth as possible.
In reality, Damian was letting Marinette know that Duke had sensed a powerful being in her bag, presumably Tikki. If this was the case, then they were in a better position than they had originally believed, because Duke could investigate their various suspects and find the Kwami when they weren't suited up.
_ _ _
Adrien was irritated with the new kid. He knew that Marinette had responsibilities as class representative, but it grated on him that this Damian kid was monopolising his lady's time. And even though the boy was practically shunning the rest of the class, he didn't seem to be staying out of her space.
He grit his teeth when Damian leaned over Marinette during morning break and she flushed. He could see that Marinette was clearly uncomfortable, but he wouldn't get out of her space! Adrien decided that it was time for her knight in shining leather to make an appearance.
“Mari! I feel like we haven't spent enough time together in ages,” Adrien said, dropping into the seat on the other side of her. “Hi, I'm Adrien Agreste, one of Marinette's closest friends.”
“...a pleasure to meet you,” Damian responded stiffly, hand resting on the back of Marinette's chair as he leaned back. Marinette's blush receded almost immediately and Adrien patted himself on the back for saving her so quickly. “Marinette has been telling me about the various extra curriculars available at this school. She mentioned that you fence?”
“Aw, talking about me? I'm flattered,” Adrien replied, leaning towards Marinette. She didn't blush, making him feel smug that she wasn't uncomfortable around him. “Marinette did say that she was a fan before, I shouldn't be surprised that she would tell you all about me.”
“I was actually just mentioning it because Damian expressed an interest in swords,” Marinette interjected, flashing a look Adrien couldn't decipher at Damian. 
Just then Lila, Alya and Nino came over to the table as well. Lila automatically latched onto Adrien's arm, gripping him tightly. He had enough control not to grimace and instead plastered one of his model smiles across his face.
“It's so nice that we can all spend time together, isn't it Adrien?” Lila cooed before turning her eyes onto Damian. “I don't think I had the chance to introduce myself yet, I'm Lila Rossi! It's so lucky that I wasn't away with my mother and doing charity work, I would have hated to miss meeting you with everyone else.”
Adrien shot Marinette a look when hers soured, trying to remind her to take the high road, but she didn't look his way. Instead Damian stood abruptly, making Marinette look up at him, startled. 
“Apologies, I am still adjusting to the new school and this is too overwhelming,” he said, although his tone was flat rather than agitated. Marinette shot up as well, grabbing her bag and leading Damian away.
Adrien slumped a little, pouting at the fact that even though Damian had said he was overwhelmed Marinette had gone with the other boy.
_ _ _
“The problem is,” Marinette said, worrying her lip between her teeth, “that if I tell Duke what he saw so that he can find Hawkmoth, I reveal my identity. And you are literally one of two people who knows, which already feels pretty risky.”
“Then it is a case of whether the benefits outweigh the risks,” Damian murmured. It was lunchtime and they had secluded themselves in the library. With no prying eyes, Damian had pulled her close and buried his face in her neck.
In the short time he and Marinette had been spending time together, it had surprised him how much he enjoyed touching her casually. It had started as wanting to hold her hand and spiraled to wrapping his arms around her as much as he could.
“I know, I know,” she muttered back, frowning at her phone. “It's just…I've spent so long keeping my identity to myself, even from my partner. Having my boyfriend know is wildly different to telling other vigilantes.”
“But Th- Duke would be instrumental in taking action against Hawkmoth,” Damian pointed out. “And should we wish to continue this relationship, they will need to know at some point.”
“You’re right,” Marinette sighed, twisting her hands before running her hands along his arms. He pressed even closer to her, humming lightly as he pressed a kiss against her neck. “But if you don't want to blow your cover, we should probably get on with doing work here instead of cuddling.”
“I do not see why it should matter if people know I am enthralled by you,” Damian grumbled halfheartedly, though he did pull away. They spent the remainder of their lunch talking about their plans and how they would approach his brothers.
Their last lesson of the day went quickly and Marinette waited outside with Damian for Duke to collect them. She waved goodbye to everyone that walked past them but didn't move towards anyone else. 
When Duke saw him standing close to Marinette, he seemed to do a double take but he didn't say anything when Marinette climbed into the backseat besides ‘hello’.
“Duke, Marinette is going to come to our apartment and we shall explain things once we have more privacy,” Damian said with no preamble. He then refused to elaborate regardless of any questions that Duke had.
“Yo, Tim, we've got company,” Duke shouted when they stepped over the threshold of their temporary home. Marinette moved to grip Damian's hand as soon as the door shut behind them and he squeezed back reassuringly.
Marinette took a deep breath as they moved to the kitchen to have the following discussion. She knew it was necessary but she was terrified - she'd never told someone her secret identity but she was willing if it ended the threat hanging over her head.
“Oh, hey Marinette, what are you doing here? Not that you're not welcome! But we weren't expecting you,” Tim said as he came to join them. She exchanged a glance with Damian and he nodded ever so slightly. 
“Um, well, I actually came to talk to you about something that couldn't wait. Otherwise I would've held off until I saw you tonight for our regularly scheduled get together,” she said, hands fidgeting. “God, this is weird. Okay, so this morning, I met Duke out of my suit for the first time, and he noticed my Kwami hiding in my bag.”
“... You're Ladybug?” Tim sounded dumbstruck, staring at her in astonishment. She nodded shyly, opening her bag and letting Tikki out. She floated over to Duke first, who blinked at her but didn't make any other sign of surprise.
“Tt, I feel like that is stating the obvious,” Damian said, placing a comforting hand on her back. She gave him a grateful smile, leaning into him. “You have met her both in the suit and out, Drake, you should have deduced it.”
“Be fair, Damian, it's not like I've spent all that much time with Tim,” Marinette said softly. “And really, there's a bunch of magic that's supposed to get in the way.”
“Wait, are you telling me you worked out it was her?” Duke piped up, looking at Marinette and Damian with suspicion. Apparently whatever he saw confirmed what he was thinking because his eyes widened. “Holy hell, are you two dating?”
“Pft, yeah, sure they are,” Tim said, dismissing it out of hand before pausing and looking at how closely Marinette stood to Damian. “No, wait a minute. You said ‘boyfriend’ the other night, didn't you?”
“Tt, Duke is correct, we are in a relationship and have been since we visited Paris for our initial assessment of the situation. It is ridiculous that none of you noticed the change in my habits, but you can be rather obtuse.”
Both Duke and Tim stared at him like he had grown an extra head but he refused to indulge their curiosity any further. Marinette decided that they had gone off topic for long enough, clearing her throat delicately to get their attention back.
“Right, so, back to this morning? Duke could see Tikki, who was in my purse. Which means he could probably find Nooroo, wherever he is, which would tell us who Hawkmoth is.”
“Yeah, the energy signature is pretty unique. But how do we know that the butterfly Kwami will have the same signature? Don't they all have different powers? What if that changes the signature?”
“Oh, I hadn't thought of that,” Marinette said, biting her lip thoughtfully. She glanced at Tikki, having a conversation with no words and the tiny god dipped her head slightly. “Okay, so I can probably get another Kwami to do the check with, but not until tomorrow.”
“You just…have a stash of tiny gods you can borrow?” Duke said, looking at her like she was crazy. She blushed and Damian scowled at Duke. “What? That's a reasonable thing to question, Damian! Also, I can't believe you found the local hero and decided to date her.”
“Do not be preposterous, I did not know she was the local hero until we returned to Paris. We have been dating since our meal with her uncle,” Damian corrected him, and Marinette felt a giddy rush of joy flood through her.
After that, they chatted for thirty minutes, Tim demanding answers to all of his questions before saying that he would be telling the rest of the family. Damian accepted this with his usual grouchy demeanour, ending the Q&A by saying he would get Marinette home.
_ _ _
Adrien was itching to go and visit Marinette. He wanted to do it as Chat Noir but he had been working very hard on wooing her in their suits, so the direction change might tip his hand that he knew more than he should.
But his movements were so restricted as Adrien! Every time he thought he had slipped away from the Gorilla, or Lila, or his father, Marinette had the new Gotham student practically hanging off her arm! He knew it couldn't be true, but people were even speculating that Marinette liked Damian.
Sure, the dark haired, aggressively reclusive boy clearly liked Marinette - who wouldn't, she was Ladybug - but there was no way she liked him back. Marinette had told him well before this that she had feelings for another boy. If she was going to move on from the mystery boy, Chat Noir was the obvious choice, so he was annoyed that Damian was so constantly in her space.
There had been several akumas since the bat family had descended upon Paris and they said they were making progress, but they hadn't shared it yet. Ladybug had asked about it after the akuma Party Crasher and they had claimed they were narrowing the pool of suspects down but didn't want to share their suspicions until after they had checked the last few out.
Ladybug had accepted this without argument, but Adrien had been annoyed, and vocal about it. When they had parted, Ladybug had stayed behind, assumedly to smooth any ruffled feathers, which had annoyed him even more. What was with Marinette's sudden closeness with Gotham boys?
So now, he was heading to the Grévin wax museum to redo a hand cast for his wax statue. He invited Marinette, Alya and Nino and got enthusiastic responses from two of them. Marinette seemed to be babysitting, but he sent a message saying that he was sure whoever she was with would enjoy all of the statues, and she was welcome to bring them along.
He regretted it immensely when Marinette arrived in the company, not only of an excitable preschooler, but of Damian Thomas. They were fairly glued together, Adrien struggling to get in between them, and then he was pulled away to get his hand recast.
He spent the entire time with the sculptor riddled with anxious energy and wanting to return to the others. He spotted Nino and Alya playing hide and seek with Manon and went past without stopping. He almost missed seeing Marinette and Damian because they were wedged into a corner, having what looked to be a serious conversation.
Before he could get any closer there was a loud bang and several akumatised wax statues burst out of the door from the Ladybug and Chat Noir exhibit. Instinctively, Adrien ducked out of sight but not before he saw Lady WiFi shoot a pause button at Damian that froze him in the act of cornering Marinette.
Adrien grinned with satisfaction before calling for his transformation and scampering away to help take down the akuma.
_ _ _
Marinette called for Miraculous Ladybug and sighed in relief. She made sure Manon made it back to Alya and Nino safely before detransforming and rushing to find Damian. Fortunately he was standing in almost exactly the same place she had been forced to leave him.
“Damian! Are you okay?” She asked, gripping the front of his jacket as she skidded to a stop in front of him. He gave her an amused look but allowed her to hang off of his front without complaint. “Come on, we should rejoin the others, we'll have to talk about what Tim was saying later.”
When they rejoined the group, Manon burst into tears and threw herself at Marinette. The older girl consoled her, rubbing her back and saying reassuring nonsense. Once she was calmer, she was set back on the floor and turned to Damian.
“I'm sorry,” she said in a small voice, and Marinette's heart ached. It didn't matter how much she, as Ladybug or Marinette, told people that they weren't to blame for their actions as akumas, she imagined the guilt must be horrific.
Damian dropped to one knee so he could be on her eye level before speaking. “Manon, it is not your fault. I am sorry that you felt ignored, I should not have taken Marinette's attention away from you while she was babysitting. If it is alright with you, perhaps we may look through the statues together, all three of us?”
Manon squealed and gave him a tight hug that made Marinette smile softly. She knew Damian could be soft when he wanted to, but it was still heartwarming to see him interact with kids.
When they finished walking around the exhibits, Marinette said goodbye to her friends and went with Damian to return Manon to her mother. The reporter gave her a knowing smile when she introduced Damian and Marinette flushed with embarrassment.
As they walked back to Damian's apartment Marinette felt at ease, something she had taken for granted before becoming a superheroine. She basked in the calm, optimistic that she would soon be free of Hawkmoth.
_ _ _
Adrien was determined to talk to Marinette and he was at his limit. Every time he tried to talk to her, Damian was lurking. It was like the other boy didn't understand that he was monopolising Marinette's time, not to mention that he had to be making her uncomfortable. 
So when he overheard Damian saying that he had to speak with some family members that still lived in New Jersey and would be busy that afternoon? Adrien jumped at the opportunity to speak with Marinette without him. 
He took care to arrange his day so that he had free time as soon as school was over. Once he got to the car, he informed the Gorilla that he needed to speak with a classmate. He waited eagerly for Marinette to come out of the building but was dismayed when she still left with Damian.
To make matters worse, she didn't go home! Instead, she followed along with the dark haired boy and disappeared around a corner quickly. Cursing inwardly, he found himself trapped when Lila came over to talk to him, so he couldn't follow after the pair.
Delayed but not defeated, he asked Gorilla to drive in the direction he had seen Marinette and Damian going. Using SnapChat he was able to pinpoint the building Marinette was in (it wasn't creepy and weird, it was resourceful). But then it took nearly an hour for her to emerge, and somehow she did so with Damian again.
He felt his fists clench and he exited the car. The pair strolled casually along the street, not quite touching but not giving an awful lot of space. He waited for them to separate, for Marinette to tell Damian that she had to go home or something.
It felt like he had been hit in the stomach when the other boy pulled his lady to a stop in a quiet area. Marinette turned to Damian with a bright smile before pulling him down and kissing him. 
Turning away, Adrien ran blindly until he was back at the car.
_ _ _
Damian had been dreading this day ever since he had decided to pursue Marinette. She had laughed at his reluctance but he knew that this was going to be the most irritating and pointless thing he had ever done. But Marinette had agreed to meet the rest of his family by video chat and so he was stuck with it.
“Dami, it's going to be fine,” Marinette said soothingly. He grumbled and she giggled a little; they were walking down the street, her hand in his now that they were far enough away from the school. “You do realise that I need to meet them if we're going to keep dating, right?”
“I simply do not see why it is necessary that you meet all of them now. Surely meeting my father would suffice,” Damian said, practically growling in frustration. “Richard is going to be unbearable, and Jason insufferable.”
Marinette was quiet for several moments before speaking. “Do you think they won't like me?” She asked in a soft voice, and Damian felt awful for making her think it.
“Marinette, they are going to adore you,” he said firmly. “Father already thought you were delightful when he first met you and Timothy has been telling all of them about your wonderful qualities. This is purely their curiosity, which is why I deem it unnecessary.”
“I would like to meet them,” she said softly, and Damian couldn't think of any further arguments. 
When they arrived at the apartment they could hear Tim already giving a debrief of their current progress.
“...meeting with Agreste in an hour. With any luck, we'll either confirm that he's our culprit or strike him off our list.”
“Excellent work, thank you,” Bruce said, eyes flicking to the pair that had just entered the apartment. “Hello, Damian, I trust school is going well? And Marinette, lovely to see you again.”
“Tt, it is fine,” Damian said grouchily. But before Marinette could say her own greeting, Bruce was being pushed out of the screen in favour of another black haired, blue-eyed man. Given the squeal that came out of him, Marinette assumed that this must be Richard Grayson.
“Oh my gosh, you're so small! And cute! Jay, Jay, isn't she so small?” 
“Jesus, she's not just small, she's adorable,” another, bigger man chimed in. Marinette blinked as she saw yet another blue-eyed, black hair combo. “How're you doing, sweetheart?”
“I'm okay,” she squeaked, stepping closer to Damian as they scrutinised her. Giving her hand a squeeze, Damian turned a glower on his brothers.
“Oh my god, she even sounds adorable! It's so nice to meet you, Marinette, I'm Dick and this is Jason. We're Damian's two oldest brothers,” Dick said excitedly.
“This is trippy, are we sure she's not there under duress?” Jason joked, eyeing the closeness of the pair and the protective way Damian stood in front of her. “But seriously, good job Demon Spawn, she's way out of your league.”
“That's not-”
“Tt, I am well aware of that, thank you Todd,” Damian snapped, making Marinette flush. “You have met her now, I trust you will respect her privacy and leave us alone?”
“Yeah, sure thing,” Jason snorted, giving him a look that Marinette interpreted as ‘I’ll do whatever I want’. “You do realise that if it doesn't work out, she is literally adoption bait?”
“Jay, don't say things like that-” Dick jumped straight in and the two began to bicker, with Bruce sighing in the background as he tried to moderate. Eventually Tim and Duke announced that they had to leave for their meeting and to ‘have fun’.
Once they were gone, Bruce finally managed to end the argument between his two eldest children. He turned back to Damian and Marinette and asked if they had anything new to add in regards to the investigation into Hawkmoth.
“No, but I'm taking Damian to meet my mentor today, hopefully he can add some further insight just in case Gabriel isn't our problem,” Marinette said, channeling her Ladybug persona as she thought about Master Fu. “And I want to see if there are any Miraculous that Damian would work well with.”
They chatted for a while longer, flipping between hero work and school life before Damian said that it was fine he got Marinette home. Jason made kissing noises which made Marinette blush and Damian scowl, but Dick smacked him before saying goodbye to the pair. 
“You should give a call to Cass when you get the chance, Damian,” Bruce added before the call ended. “She has been very interested in finding out more about your girlfriend.”
“Tt, very well. At least Cassandra is better than this pair,” Damian said as they ended the video. Marinette breathed out a sigh of relief when she was certain they were no longer in the meeting. “That was every bit as bad as I feared they would be, are you alright?”
“I'm fine, but if we want to get to Fu’s, we should hurry,” Marinette said, heading for the door. They walked down the streets, not touching but not straying too far from one another. 
Damian felt on edge as soon as they exited the apartment building. He usually felt like he was being watched but it had intensified. But when he looked around, he couldn't see anyone out of place. There was a parked town car and several harried looking individuals hurrying along, so he tried to set it out of his mind. 
It didn't help that he had been on edge about Marinette meeting his other two brothers, and he wondered if that was contributing to his unsettled feeling. They walked at an unhurried pace until the street became more secluded. 
Deciding it would be worth stopping to look around again, Damian put a hand on Marinette's arm. He was about to tell her that he felt watched when she gave him a broad smile before pulling him into a kiss. He pressed into her, hand almost unconsciously burying itself in her hair.
When they broke apart a minute or two later, the feeling of being watched was gone and the thoughts melted away.
_ _ _
Adrien muttered to himself almost the entire way home. He was so full of anger and feelings so betrayed that he was amazed that he hadn't been akumatised. Or at least, he would have been if he could think past the hurt of seeing Marinette kissing someone else.
His father was apparently in a meeting with an American CEO and Nathalie informed him that he would be eating dinner alone again. Still grumbling and generally in a bad temper, Adrien thanked her stiffly before heading to his room.
Once he was in his room, he slumped at his desk, pushing his mouse to activate the screen. He gave a dejected sigh as he stared at his Ladybug background until Plagg made a disgusted noise and loudly demanded to know where his camembert was.
“Plagg, now isn't a great time,” Adrien said, although he pulled a fresh wheel out and tossed a piece to his Kwami. He glared moodily at the desktop, not bothering to start any of his homework or extracurriculars. After he had finished his camembert, Plagg came over to talk to him.
“Plagg, why did she choose him?” Adrien asked, ignoring the distinct whine to his voice. “They barely know each other! And how could she want to date someone who's less than her? She's a superhero, and he's just some American.”
“This is why I always say cheese is better than romance!” Plagg said cheerfully, settling onto Adrien's shoulder. “Forget about her, you still have Kagami!”
“Plagg, it's Ladybug and Chat Noir, not Chat Noir and Kagami,” Adrien half-shouted, annoyed. He heard a knock at the door a moment later and shooed Plagg before calling out to Nathalie.
“Adrien, your father needs to speak with you,” she answered, stepping into the room. She looked both concerned and pitying, uncomfortable like Adrien had never seen before.
“Sure,” he replied, following her down. He saw the Americans being shown out of the building and recognition tickled his brain. What was Damian Thomas's brother doing with a CEO? 
After he was shown into his father's office, what happened next took on a nightmare-like quality. It happened in a blur, starting with his father telling him he needed to show him something, and ending in seeing his dead mother's body in a glass coffin. 
After that, things were on double speed, transforming into Chat Noir, getting smacked across the city until he was fighting his father-as-Hawkmoth near the Eiffel Tower.
_ _ _
Marinette and Damian were chatting seriously with Fu about the different Miraculous available for Damian when both of their phones began to ring. Damian's turned out to be his brothers and Marinette's was an alert that Hawkmoth had been spotted fighting Chat Noir.
They looked at each other before Marinette let her intuition guide her. She grabbed the turtle Miraculous and slid it onto Damian's wrist as he talked on the phone. He nodded at her as he spoke and ended the call quickly.
“We were correct, Gabriel is Hawkmoth. Apparently Chat Noir discovered this as well and confronted the man without us because Duke and Tim saw him being forcefully ejected from the Agreste mansion. They are trying to follow them but it is proving difficult.”
“Then there's no time to lose. This is Wayzz, he is the Kwami for the Miraculous of protection. To activate, say Wayzz, shell on. Your power activates when you say ‘Shelter’ and will form a protective orb around the item of your choosing. It often goes around the shield that comes with your suit.”
Once he was ready, they hurried to leave Fu's store front, finding an alley to transform in before they rushed to the battle. Marinette jumped and swung frantically, not wanting her partner to be injured, or have his Miraculous removed.
“Watch out!” Damian shouted, leaping for her as Hawkmoth was sent flying into the building she landed on. It began to crumble and he leapt expertly to catch her and roll them safely to the next building. He cradled her head and grunted as they landed, but they were both standing within the next moment.
“No!” Chat howled from a nearby rooftop, but he wasn't looking at Hawkmoth. He appeared to be looking in Marinette's direction, and she worried that he was noting the way Damian hovered protectively. But, surely, he couldn't guess that there was a more romantic aspect to her relationship with a brand new hero?
But Hawkmoth seemed to be ready to take advantage of Chat's anger and a purple butterfly landed on his bell. She sucked in a horrified gasp of air as the sickly violet aura overtook him and left behind an almost exact copy of her kitty - but pure white, with blue eyes.
She watched with mounting horror as Chat seemed to fight with himself, building a cataclysm that he pointed at Hawkmoth and her alternately. He looked to be unable to decide and the cataclysm continued to grow until it became clear that he couldn't control it. Damian gasped as a rush of energy began to spread from where the akumatised Chat Noir stood.
Damian gripped her tightly around the waist with one arm as he screamed out ‘Shelter’, his other arm holding the shield high and praying that it was enough. Marinette willed all of her power to flow into the shield he was creating, countering the destruction barreling towards them. 
She gripped the arm around her middle so hard she thought her fingers would break. As the final waves of Chat’s power echoed and faded, the power of Shelter flickered and died. Damian's breathing faltered and he slid to the floor, and Marinette was too shocked to hold him up.
She gave a panicked gasp and dropped to her knees beside him, hands fluttering to his throat to find a pulse. For a heart-stopping moment she couldn't find anything, couldn't see any sign of life and she felt her anxiety morph into a wordless, nameless anguish. But then she saw his chest rise ever so slightly and she thanked every deity she could name that he wasn't dead.
She dragged him to safety, placing him at the very top level of the mangled Eiffel Tower as water started flooding the streets. She kissed him softly on the lips, vowing silently that she would fix things. Steeling herself, she stepped away, looking for her other half, the balance of destruction to her creation.
He was standing on nearby building wreckage, searching frantically for something. She took a hard swallow as she realised that she was what he was searching for. She stared at the destruction he had wreaked, pushing away the mounting horror as she looked up to the now split moon and braced herself.
“Chaton, what's going on?” She called out, her voice only wavering slightly. He turned towards her and she froze as she took in the white suit and bright blue eyes. He landed in front of her and she swallowed again, trying not to show how nervous she was. “Chat Noir?”
“It's Chat Blanc now, m'lady!” There was a slightly manic gleam in his eyes and he was eyeing her earrings almost hungrily. “And if you had been paying more attention to me - as you should - instead of fooling around with that new brat, you would know what was happening, Marinette.”
“You…when did you find out?” She breathed, keeping herself out of his reach as he stalked towards her. He growled slightly when his reaching hands remained empty. “Chaton, this is serious! You've been akumatised and we need to fix this, because you've destroyed everything.”
He hissed and pounced at her then, his eyes narrowed to slits. She rolled out of the way, wondering how she could defeat him so she could fix everything. They fought like that for several minutes, Chat aiming for her earrings and Marinette rolling out of the way and reach for his akumatised object. 
“M'lady, if you give me the earrings I can fix all of this,” he hissed, clearly frustrated. It was so unlike her kitty that it made her fumble momentarily. He caught her wrist and pinned it to her waist.
“Or you give me the akuma and I use Miraculous Ladybug to restore everything,” she countered, slamming her elbow towards his face. He hissed again and dropped her hand so she swung her yo-yo in a wide arc to get herself some space.
“But if you ‘restore’ things, we won't be together, Maribug,” Chat said, straightening up and raising a single hand. A bright ball of something crackled and he aimed towards her. She flipped out of harm's way just in time, watching as the building remnants behind her were reduced to complete rubble. “It's a mistake of cosmic proportions that we aren't together, and only something of cosmic proportions, like a wish, can fix that.”
Marinette flung herself behind a piece of wreckage and called for her lucky charm. A picture frame landed in her hands and her breath caught at the picture of their statue. The statue, to her at least, showed the first piece of art that displayed them as a team.
“Found you,” Chat hissed, pouncing onto her and knocking her feet out from under her. She held the picture up to his face, willing him to see what she did.
“See, even Tikki agrees, it's you and me against the world,” Marinette said desperately, trying not to look at the additional destruction and devastation around them. “Just because it's not romantic doesn't mean that's changed. You're my partner, Kitty, please, don't let it end like this.”
He hesitated and she whipped her hand to the bell at his throat. He yowled angrily, but she had hold of it and squeezed, putting all of her frustration and hurt into it. The bell snapped and the butterfly flapped out, almost lazily. Kicking Chat off of her, she flung out her yo-yo to capture it.
As the akumatisation bubbled away, Marinette was left staring at her partner, who looked around confusedly. He turned his eyes - green again, thankfully - back to her and they lit up momentarily. Then he seemed to take in her expression and faltered.
“Hey M’lady, what happened here?” He obviously didn't remember anything which made what Marinette had to say that much harder. 
“You know who I am,” she said, not bothering to ask the question. When he froze, she saw the quick mental maths that pushed him to realise that he must have been akumatised. She swallowed and hardened her tone to make it clear that she was angry with him. “And you decided you didn't like my boyfriend.”
“I…” he was at a loss for words and hung his head ashamedly. “I didn't mean for this to happen, I was just so…”
“You just decided you were entitled to me romantically,” Marinette said, making him wince. She hated that this was hurting him but, equally, he had killed everyone except them because he couldn't take the answer ‘no’ at face value. “Chaton, you're my partner, my best friend. For better or worse, we have a future together that the universe depends on for balance.
“But that doesn't mean we have to be together romantically. We work together as friends. You ended the world because you thought you were entitled to my time. That's…that's not healthy, Chat. Take it from me, being obsessed with someone to the point that you feel you have to be with them when they clearly don't feel the same ends up hurting you.”
“I'm so sorry,” he whispered, hanging his head in his hands. “It wasn't…it wasn't just you, M'lady. My father…he's Hawkmoth.”
“...Adrien?” He looked up at her with wide, desperate eyes and she felt her heart split in two. “Oh minou, I…look, we have a plan. The bats have a plan, it's a good, solid plan, and it can be done as soon as I fix everything. But if he knows your identity…”
“He has my mother,” Chat- Adrien whispered, voice trembling. Marinette's heart broke for him, her mind racing as she tried to think of how to take Hawkmoth down. She called for her Lucky Charm and received only a teapot, meaning she would need more Miraculous.
“Okay, what we’ll need to do first…” Marinette gave him a detailed rundown of what she expected to happen in the next couple of hours. And then she swallowed as she held her hand out for the ring. “I'm going to ask you to wear a different Miraculous for this fight, chaton.”
“But…okay,” Adrien said, sounding defeated. Once she had the ring in hand, she threw the teapot in the air, calling for Miraculous Ladybug. Everything righted in a swarm of ladybugs and Hawkmoth was lost from sight.
“Ladybug!” 
The pair turned towards the turtle hero who was launching towards them. He crashed into Ladybug and did a quick check over her, hands skimming her limbs one at a time before coming to cup her face.
“I'm alright,” she said gently, even as her timer started to beep. “But we need to move. I need to get Adrien somewhere safe and then get in touch with the Bats so that we can launch our counter-attack.”
_ _ _
They all agreed to meet up on the Eiffel Tower. Marinette and Damian had headed straight back to Master Fu's, and grabbed several Miraculi before meeting up with Tim and Duke. They had put in the request for aid from the Justice League and anticipated help from one or two of the more positive members of the team.
“You will like Superboy, I think,” Damian said as he let them into the apartment. They could hear Tim and Duke bustling around as they got their gear together and the animated sounds of someone zipping at unnatural speeds through the space. “Kid Flash is…unique.”
“Hey kids!” The yellow blur stopped in front of them, making the others look up and greet them before carrying on. “I'm going to be heading out in a second to visit the police station, just to give them a heads up on what we're doing.”
“Thank you, Kid Flash,” Marinette said warmly. She felt slightly exposed, standing in front of other heroes without her mask, but she hadn't wanted to draw attention to the apartment by coming as Ladybug. 
Throwing her a salute, Kid Flash zoomed away. Damian muttered something that sounded like ‘annoying speedster’ but Marinette ignored it. The pressure was beginning to mount and she could feel the buzz of nerves cutting into her stomach.
“It will all be over soon, Marinette,” Damian murmured, his arms wrapping around her comfortingly. She knew that it needed to end, now that she finally had proof that Gabriel was Hawkmoth, but she was also a little scared. 
It felt like no time at all before they were rushing away to the Eiffel Tower. She had transformed and swung by the bakery to collect Adrien, whom she had stashed in her room. She handed him the horse Miraculous and he transformed before they jumped into action.
On top of the Eiffel Tower were Kid Flash, Superboy, Signal, Robin and a new bee hero, also known as Red Robin. The plan was simple, but effective. Signal had written his testimony for the police and Red had compiled the other evidence that had led to the conclusion of Gabriel being Hawkmoth. In addition to this, Signal would be carrying a video camera that would allow him to capture the moment that they removed the Miraculous from the villain.
“So, Equestria here will open a portal into his father's lair as he's been there before. If Gabriel isn't there at the time, I'll need someone to check over Emilie Agreste and see if she can be saved or if he is, in fact, harbouring his wife's body in the hopes that he can reanimate it,” Ladybug said, wincing apologetically at Equestria as she said it.
“If he is there, I'll need both Kid Flash and Superboy to be ready to superspeed and grab his Miraculous if the plan with, um-”
“Hornet,” the bee hero supplied helpfully.
“Right, if the plan with Hornet fails and we can't just freeze him. If Mayura, who we assume is his assistant, is there, you'll be able to use your venom twice as you're an adult and freeze both of them but, again, having speedsters means that we have a contingency in place.
“I'm going to be there more as a final failsafe and recognisable Parisian heroine so that when we broadcast our non-fight people can be assured that it's real. And, if you're willing, Robin, I ask that you use the Miraculous of the black cat so that we can unbalance Gabriel even further.”
Everyone agreed and everything flowed smoothly from that point forward. It went exactly to plan, Ladybug mostly there to stand imperiously as the Justice League members did the brunt of the work. It was almost too easy, Mayura being frozen almost instantaneously before Superboy managed to subdue Hawkmoth.
The video of Gabriel being unmasked could have been choreographed with how much he wriggled, and snarled, demanding to know where his son was. Ladybug coldly informed him that Adrien had bravely stepped forward with the information he held and was being kept in a safe place until the Miraculi had been retrieved.
And just like that, months of fighting ended. Marinette would have said it was anticlimactic if it hadn't come on the heels of a world-ending catastrophic event. She handed Gabriel and Nathalie off to the police before collecting the bee Miraculous from Red Robin.
Then she, Damian and Adrien slipped away to visit Master Fu with the remaining Miraculous. They handed everything back to the older gentleman, who promised that he would be returning the box to Tibet before going in search of Marianne so that they could spend the rest of their lives together.
After a couple of very teary goodbyes, Marinette and Adrien said farewell to the Kwamis of destruction and creation. They left the massage parlour and Marinette felt the burden melt away from her shoulders. She gave a carefree laugh as she hugged Damian tightly, pushing away the thoughts that she still needed to work with Adrien to make sure his aunt could take him in.
Depositing Adrien back at the bakery, Marinette gave a brief and extremely sanitised explanation for why he couldn't go home. She neatly span the truth so that they didn't give away just how involved the pair had been in taking down the supervillains.
Damian had waited outside the bakery for her and didn't say anything when she reappeared, simply taking her hand and walking with her towards his temporary residence. He seemed to grow more contemplative the closer they got, and Marinette assumed he was thinking about how soon he would need to go home.
He pulled her to a stop a street away from their destination and wrapped her in his arms. 
“I wish I could stay,” he murmured, pressing her against his chest. She felt tears welling in her eyes and blinked them away as she gripped the back of his jacket tightly. The day was fading into evening and Marinette realised that her night time meetings with vigilantes on top of the Eiffel Tower were over. “But the most I will be able to convince my father of is a week.”
“I understand,” she said, voice muffled. It was going to be unspeakably hard to be without him, but she knew that Gotham was his home.
“But the Zeta tube will remain, so perhaps I shall be able to…persuade my father that regular visits are necessary,” he added, a small smile obvious in his voice. “We would need to stay out of sight to avoid suspicion, but I imagine we could find ways to occupy the time.”
26 notes · View notes
official-timari-server · 5 months ago
Text
Hello gays, baes, and theys!
Above is a poll because The Timari server will be hosting a prompt calendar!
We’d like to survey what month would work best for the majority of the fandom so this poll will be both on our server and here.
Please take a minute to vote if you can spare it!
Our goal is to make the Timari calendar at a time that works for most, accessible to all, findable in the server and tumblr, hosted in an interesting and new way with prompts geared towards Timari lovers interests!
Hope to see your participation!
X Timari Staff
3 notes · View notes
maribat-menagerie · 3 months ago
Text
Adribat October '24: Day 1
Hello everyone,
This will be rather quick. Here are the first couple submissions we have had thus far for the event!
Ao3:
Laughing Mirrors - Nory_Gail - Miraculous Ladybug [Archive of Our Own] (Alley Cat aka Jaydrien, Romantic Established)
Tumblr:
MLP meets Maribat by Velveteen Shadow (Alley Cat, Platonic)
That's all the pieces thus far but there are plenty to come! Please feel free to check out the prompts below in our calendar and bingo boards!
Adribat October '24 Light Mode
Happy Creating Everyone!
0 notes
maribatserver · 4 months ago
Text
Maribat Mix & Match Monster Mash 2024
Tumblr media
We're back! September hasn't quite begun yet, but we're so excited for this year's spooky season that we decided to give you a little extra time to prepare your frightful fics and dreadful drawings, especially as this year we're mixing things up more than usual.
You may have noticed that this year, the prompts we've given you to start are a bit longer than they have been before. That's because we thought incantations would be more inspiring.
"I am not supposed to be the Final Girl!" "I'll kill you either way." "I'm hunting cryptids." "Has anyone ever told you how creepy you are?" "Not a fan of surprises?" "Oh, bite me." "Turn the lights off."
But as some of you may know, those aren't all we're giving you! From October 25th-31st, each night at the perfect time for necromancy (also known as Midnight EST) a tombstone will reveal a new ingredient for you to mix into your creations. If all goes to plan, your muse will be resurrected in plenty of time for Halloween. Ahahahahaha!
All you have to do is Mix and Match our incantation prompts with the tombstone ingredients to give life to your abominations, then post them so that we can all enjoy the scares! Feel free to use other calendars and prompts while you're at it, as we all know that October has several fangtastic challenges that you don't need us to tell you about.
While we wait for Halloween though, we'll be counting down with gruesome graphics for our incantations, posted each Friday until our event begins. The order of our countdown will be decided by our very own server members, so if you haven't joined the dark side already, send us a message and get an invite. We promise we'll only bite if you ask us too.
When your spooktacular submissions are finished, you can post them on tumblr with the tag #mm&mmm2024 and we’ll reblog them here, or you can submit them to our Ao3 collection, Maribat Mix & Match Monster Mash (Maribat_Mix_Match). Just make sure that you’ve tagged and rated your work accurately, and that any sensitive content is under a cut. Halloween may be the season for scares, but we want to keep our frightful fun safe for everyone!
Special thanks to @newdog14 for designing our calendar and prompts, to @nottesilhouette for helping to brainstorming our prompts and giving Newsie access to Canva Pro, and to @izanae for helping with logistics and for returning to us just in time to enable Newsie during her favorite event!
47 notes · View notes
the-coffee-fandom · 2 years ago
Text
❀。• *₊°。 ❀° 。。° ❀ 。° ₊ * •。❀
𝙷𝚊𝚗𝚊𝚑𝚊𝚔𝚒 𝙷𝚘𝚞𝚛𝚜
❀。• *₊°。 ❀° 。。° ❀ 。° ₊ * •。❀
Tumblr media
Calendar drawn and made by @the-coffee-fandom inspired and encouraged by the wonderful @boldlyanxious
Welcome to the first Hanahaki calendar event! Hosted in the month known for its showers bringing flowers; May!
A week dedicated to a popular troupe, Hanahaki Disease, which came along in 2008, August 9th. It is a fictional disease in which a character coughs flowers which grow inside them from unrequited love.
How you use the prompts is up to your own creative interpretation! You can use the quotes, flowers, word, or all of them! Do one day, the entire week, do a poem, a masterful piece of art, drabbles and incorrect quotes, or even just a quick doodle. Have fun with it!
Need inspiration? Don’t feel like researching flowers? Flower symbolism has been premade! Just click here to view!
While created with the Maribat fandom in mind, any fandom may use it. But I do hope to see some of my Maribat fans!
Tags for Tumblr:
#Hanahaki Hours 2023 #Hanahaki Hours
Tags for Ao3:
Hanahaki Hours 2023 Hanahaki Hours
Ao3 Collection:
https://archiveofourown.org/collections/HH2023
Tag @the-coffee-fandom and reblog for others to see too! I will reblog any I’m tagged in as well.
Please feel free to reach out to @the-coffee-fandom however you’d like if you have any questions! Especially if you need more information on flowers.
Written out prompts below the cut!
May 7:
Quote: “Everything is temporary, this was merely one of those things.”
Flower: Hyacinth
Word: Wither
May 8:
Quote: “I never thought I’d be the one to hurt you.”
Flower: Butterfly Weed
Word: Acceptance
May 9:
Quote: “Why do you hate me?”
Flower: Lily
Word: Dose
May 10:
Quote: “You know I’m always right here for you, right?”
Flower: Cyclamen
Word: Excuse
May 11:
Quote: “They don’t love me, they’re not that stupid.”
Flower: Lily of the Valley
Word: Term
May 12:
Quote: “I don’t care if you don’t want my help, I’ll do it anyway.”
Flower: Rhododendron
Word: Courage
May 13:
Quote: “Lie to me then.”
Flower: Rose
Word: Cover
Substitutes:
Quote 1: “I’m not going to cry, it isn’t worth crying over.”
Quote 2: “How much of that did you hear?”
Flower 1: Petunia
Flower 2: Begonia
Word 1: Smoke
Word 2: Clear
142 notes · View notes
liquid-luck-00 · 10 months ago
Text
Red Binding 1
Maribat March Day 1: Origins
@maribat-calendar-events @maribatserver
Next
Trigger for implied neglect, blood, and violence towards a minor
~~~~~~~~~~
Marinette was, what most would consider a normal, happy, child. But that was far from the truth.
She was ten when she finally noticed something was off.
Her parents as much as she loved them and they said that they loved her. Never made time for her. Never asked more than how was her day, so she would ramble about anything and everything. She never had a curfew and her parents never seemed to worry. That's when the bullying began.
She was eleven when she recognized that the bakery was the top priority and not her.
Her school life was in shambles. Her friendships were strung by a thread, with even a whisper from Chloé, they would abandon her.
So when a small box appeared in her room, at the age of twelve, and from it a small red creature asked her to leave with them she agreed. They talked for hours, extending for days (a bit over a week in total), before she was truly good and ready to leave Paris. They spoke about their lives (existence in Tikki’s case), the powers and responsibilities that would be placed upon Marinette, but most of that time they enjoyed one another’s presence.
The creature listened to her, actually listened to what she had to say, gave her a choice, so she agreed to follow the creature.
In the middle of the night she packed a small bag and stood in the center of her room. "Are you ready, Marinette?" The creature, Tikki they called themselves, chirped. "As much as I can be." She looked the creature in the eyes and everything spun. It felt as if she was floating, or not, as she slammed onto the stone floor.
When she stood up, she dusted herself off and looked around. She was in a well kept garden, the air was thin, but the moon was bright over head.
"ལགས་སོ། ཁྱེད་རང་ཕེབས་བྱུང་།" A voice startled her as she jumped from the sound.
"Who are you?" She questioned. "Where am I?"
The man was still, he didn't seem to hear her, or maybe he didn't understand.
"ང་དང་མཉམ་དུ་ཤོག" The man turned and walked into a building that looked like some sort of temple. She stood there staring where the man used to be before he turned back. His even strides carried him right to her. "ངས་རང་ཉིད་ལ་བསྐྱར་ཟློས་མི་བྱེད།" The man's tone surprised her, she jumped to her feet, following him at a brisk pace.
Lanterns lit the walls of the hall, no doors or even windows could be seen. The two of them walked in silence for what seemed a half hour, but she couldn't tell. She tried to remember the path, but there were too many turns and steps to remember.
They stopped at an ornate circular red door, that was roughly twelve meters in diameter. Golden knots were carved expertly into the wood.
He stepped aside as if she was supposed to do something, but she didn't know what. So Marinette stepped forward and placed a hand on a golden vein.
A flash of golden light erupted from where her hand touched the wood, as it swung open on silent hinges.
She had turned away, in an attempt to shield her eyes.
"Welcome, child." A voice from inside was warm and she stepped forward.
She wanted to say something but thought better. Yes she understood this new voice, but the man before she still has no idea what he said. She just followed him and he led her here.
"Do not fear to speak child." The voice came from everywhere, echoing through the large cavern. What looked like an island garden sat in the middle. A giant oak tree with flowers blooming in complete darkness sat at this center. Chimes rang thought the branches without any wind.
"Who are you?" She finally asked, voice small, as she looked around. "Where am I?"
Chimes rang almost resembling laughter. "I am known as the supreme. As to where you are, you are with the Order of Miraculii, my child of creation."
"Order? Creation? Where is Tikki?" She started rambling questions in the hopes of at least one being answered.
"All will be answered in time." Chimes once again filled the cavern.
"སུའུ་晗་ང་ཚོའི་ན་གཞོན་སྲུང་མཁན་ལ་བཀའ་སློབ་གནང་རོགས།"
"ཁྱོད་ཀྱིས་བཀའ་གསུང་གནང་བ་བཞིན་དུ་ངའི་བླ་ན་མེད���" The man spoke with a bow, before placing a hand on her shoulder and leading her out of the cavern.
He led her to a room that was somewhere deep in the temple, at least she assumes it is. The room was simple, a four poster bed sat against the far wall. A desk was set next to it with a bookshelf that was carved into the wall above it. A dresser was next to the door, and a thick rug was spread underfoot.
"Tikki."
"Yes." The little god appeared in front of her with a poof.
"What’s going to happen now?"
"There is a lot for you to learn, but for now rest. The morning will come soon."
•••
Jason didn’t know why he left that night.
Scratch that he knew exactly why.
Bruce and Dick were arguing again, and no matter where he was at the manor he still heard them. But it wasn’t them it was Cathrine and Willis fighting for the uptenth time. So he did what he always did, he snuck out.
He was running roof tops trying and failing to get the voices out of his head. The weather was starting to change and a sludge of rain and snow fell around him. If only…
He shot out to grapple to the next building but with the semi frozen and slick exteriors the hook slipped. He began to free fall, as the line retracted, and everything was quiet. He heard his heart flutter then a sharp click. The line was back and he shot it again, this time it landed. He was yanked and thrown into a graceful arc before landing on another roof.
He stood in the middle of the high rise roof. Completely soaked but he didn’t care, he just wanted to stay in this quiet for a little while longer. He sneezed, breaking him from his stupor, sure the suit helped keep him relatively dry, but it didn’t do much for the cold, less still for his head that was completely out to the elements.
He kicked a few rocks that were strewn in the roof in an attempt to warm up, but stopped when some sort of metal glinted underfoot.
He reached down and found a ring, and when his fingers wrapped around the metal a flash of green illuminated the rooftop.
"Finally!" A nasally voice echoed around him. "I thought you were never going to notice it."
"Who are you?" He half whispered half yelped. "Show yourself." He reached for a batarang.
"No need kitten." A tiny cat like creature floated up to his eye level. "Names Plagg, and you are?"
He didn’t answer, he’ll he didn’t know if this was real or if he might actually be asleep. He gripped the batarang, feeling as it sliced through his glove straight to his hand.
"Not asleep." He whispered to himself. "So what are you?" He attempted to poke the creature with his finger, but it easily evaded him. It took hold of the ring and dropped it on to his finger.
"I am a kwamii, specifically of chaos and destruction." They puffed their chest, watching as the ring emanated a soft glow before it stopped. "And you are my kitten."
"I’m not your anything." He didn’t want to be involved with magic, it only seemed to cause problems, if the reports Bruce had was anything. "It started with that ring, right?"
"Yes an…" He didn’t let him finish speaking, he tried to pull the ring off, but it was gone.
"What did you do?" His attention snapped to the supposed god, or whatever it was.
It was about to say something when his vision started to blur. Something heavy slammed into his head. He felt himself starting to crumple forward, laughter ringing behind him.
When he woke up, Jason was tied and laying face first in a dingy old storeroom or maybe a warehouse. There wasn’t much light except for three industrial lights towards the center of the room. And under the furthest one was the silhouette of a person.
"Is the birdie awake?" The voice was tinged with laughter, it sent chills down his spine. He knows who that voice belongs to.
I’m sorry.
"Let’s have some fun now!" Joker came into his view and then he noticed the item in his hand, but he couldn’t stop him. The crowbar swung down and it connected with his upper arm. He was thrown into a box to his right. The next hit was to his stomach, as he coughed up blood.
I’m sorry. He heard again, but Joker didn’t react to it. So he knows Plagg is in his mind.
Stop apologizing and talk. He thought, and he did.
Plagg told him a story. He tuned out best he could, but it was difficult whenever he would be thrown around. It even felt like Plagg was holding his breath at times, waiting for his attention to continue.
"Well it’s been fun, Boy Blunder, but you should go to bed. Don’t forget to brush your teeth and say hello to the Big Bad Bat." He left him there in a heap on the floor, a ringing his ears silenced everything except for Plagg.
"Come on, get up! Please!" He saw Plagg flying in frantic circles over a box.
"There is a bomb, and…" Plagg placed two paws on his forehead before flying back, to where the bomb must be. "You will live, Kitten, I swear it."
A flash of green and black rolled over him, yet the blast of air did however destroy the building they were in. But he saw Plagg fly back to him. He felt him curl into his hair, his purring rhythmic, as he began to loose consciousness.
"What a waste." He felt someone turn him over. Changing the path of the blood on his face to stream into his mouth. It tasted like iron, and dirt, and it burned his throat. "I will see you when you awaken."
His world went black, Plagg’s put was a constant rumble. The next time he opened his eyes it was dark, Plagg was on his chest staring at him, his green eyes glowing in the dark.
Steady breaths kitten. Plagg’s voice echoed in his mind, as he tried to explain what was happening. You’re in a coffin.
"How!?" He began to panic, but Plagg began purring which calmed him.
You need to stay calm, you can get out. Focus my power.
I don’t know how. He thought, not risking wasting the little air he had.
The ring on your finger is a focus for power. Do you feel the space my presence takes up within your mind?
He searched concentrating on Plagg’s voice and presence in his mind. Yes.
Good. Now pull that towards the ring. He pulled at it but there was a resistance, like a rubber band being stretched too far.
Slowly. He made the connection and his palm glowed with a faint black and green light. Now touch the area in front of you.
He did and as soon as he did the rubber band snapped back. But a hole big enough for him to pass though was above him, along with a foot of dirt above it. He was tired but he tried again. It was harder this time, but he managed. He touched the top of the dome, but only a few inches disappeared this time. He was about to try again when Plagg stopped him.
Don’t kid! You’re exhausted. Channeling magic requires energy along with training it, like any other muscle. We have to dig the rest of the way.
Fine. He huffed.
The ground was wet and soft from all the rain. But he knew if he didn’t hurry that would be an obstacle. It was starting to freeze. That’s how he knew he was getting close to the surface. Plagg had been moving the dirt into the casket, allowing him to stand. Yet he flew up to him this time with a broken piece of wood, and he knew just what he needed it for. He finally broke through the surface and pulled himself up. He laid back, legs still in the hole, but he stared at the cloudy sky, taking giant gulps of air.
"I knew you could do it, Kitten." Plagg stiffened and his hackles rose before disappearing. Guard yourself.
What do you mean?
"You were quicker than I thought." A feminine voice carried through the cemetery. He stiffened, knowing what Plagg was warning him of. "Now let us be off."
Someone grabbed him and he tried to fight them, but he was exhausted and they weren’t.
Next
~~~~~~~~~~
Permanent Taglist:
@jennifer-rose123 @toodaloo-kangaroo @joydone07 @mizzy-pop @starling218 @crystalqueertea
100 notes · View notes
itriedwritingandhereiam · 2 years ago
Link
Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: DCU, Miraculous Ladybug, Red Robin (Comics), MariBat- Fandom Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Tim Drake & Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug Characters: Tim Drake, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir, Mentioned Kol-El | Conner Kent Additional Tags: Fluff, Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Crossover Pairings, Timari January (DCU & Miraculous Ladybug), Timari - Freeform, timinette, MariBat, Platonic Relationships, Good Friend Adrien Agreste, Good Friend Tim Drake, Protective Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir, Sleep Deprived Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Author Is Sleep Deprived, Just like her main characters Series: Part 1 of Timari January 2023 Summary:
They're coffee shop buddies. One, is a college student their to study fashion and the other is spending some time with their friend in the city and finds the cafe a nice work space. They BOTH have made it their mission to test how long the human body can go before collapsing, traumatizing the staff with their orders along the way. Can their friends deter them from the unhealthy habit? Of course not, Will that stop them from trying? Also, no.
What a great friendship.
5 notes · View notes
mochinek0 · 1 year ago
Text
Daminette December 2023: 31-Charades
The Waynes were in the living room by the fireplace, enjoying some hot chocolate and playing charades. It was Christmas and Superman had given them an early gift. He was watching over Gotham to give them a night off.
Marinette pretended to pick a slip of paper out of the bowl and placed it in the opposite bowl. She smiled at everyone. She held up her hand and put up two fingers.
"Two words." Stephanie called out.
Mari nodded. She then placed her hands on her hips and stood tall.
"Person!" shouted Jason.
"A name?" Tim questioned.
Mari shook her head. Marinette cradled her arms together and rocked them.
"Someone is rocking the boat?" Dick asked.
She shook her head again.
"A baby?" Damian questioned.
Marinette nodded and clapped her hands. She stood tall and motioned a round belly in front of her.
"Pregnant." Dick called out, "Someone is pregnant!"
Marinette nodded.
"Who is pregnant?" Tim whispered, "Do we know anyone who is pregnant?"
"Or were pregnant?" Barbara suggested.
Many of the Waynes looked confused and had gone into detective mode. They were no longer focusing on Marinette and were too busy trying to recall people they knew. Mari pouted, but Damian motioned for her to continue. She smiled, happily.
Marinette pointed to herself.
"I'm pregnant?" Damian questioned, getting everyone's attention.
Marinette smiled, "Yes, Damian. I'm pregant."
Everyone's jaw dropped. Damian stood up quickly.
"Are you pregnant or is this part of the game?" He questioned.
Marinette pulled out a pregnancy test, with a tiny bow attached to it.
"I'm actually pregnant." Marinette spoke, "I found out last week at the doctors, but I figured a test would be good proof."
Damian rushed over to his wife and looked at the tiny stick in her hand. There was a plus sign on it and next to it was labeled as pregnant.
"Really?" he whispered.
"Merry Christmas, Habibi." Marinette spoke, "You're a father."
Damian wrapped her up in his arms and kissed his wife's head. The Wayne started to shout and celebrate.
In Metropolis, Clark smiled at the dinner table.
"Are the Wayne having a good night off?" Lois asked.
"Yep." he answered, "I'm sure they will be calling us soon. It seems like I chose the best gift for today, after all."
TAGLIST: @maribat-calendar-events@animeweebgirl@a-star-with-a-human-name@meme991001@vixen-uchiha@abrx2002@alysrose-starchild@fandom-trapped-03@dood-space@moonlightstar64@saltymiraculer@marveldcedits20@09shell-sea09@icerosecrystal@animegirlweeb@insane-fangirl-of-everything@blueblossombliss@nickristus-dreamer@megawhitleycalderonpaganus@missmadwoman@meira-3919@princessdaisysolosyourfaves@blep-23@fangirlingfanatic@darkhinauniverse@ravenr22@im-a-satanic-ritual@ravennm84@bianca-hooks123@a-slytherinish-gryffindor@starling218
251 notes · View notes
everosfics · 21 days ago
Text
Day 1: Fae
@daminettedecember
@maribat-calendar-events
A/N: Im back it's been 4 years but I'm still alive and ready to start posting again so enjoy my first one shot of the season.
You know, the stories of the things that go bump in the night, or when children are taken to the woods and dance all night until their fear bleed, those stories well those faerie tails were true. At least they were long ago before human and fae began to intermix and breed with one another. The human trying to tame the fae and the fae trying to find a way to survive in this world that was slipping away from nature. 
There are two family lines that hold the old ways pure, one from the court of Seelie who were blessed by the goddess of creation and one from the Unseelie court blessed or cursed by the god of destruction depending on who you asked. Though the family lines  were pure it was not without sacrifice each member held the power their gods had blessed them with and with each blessing came a curse the seelie were cursed with needing a blood sacrifice once every new moon. And the Unseelie were cursed with being vulnerable for the 3 days surrounding the new moon. 
Now you may be asking how this history of fae fits into our story…
Well just take a look as the most recent generation are ones who will not only break their curses but muddy the waters between Seelie and Unseelie. 
•••
Marinette Dupain-Chang the latest “pure” Unseelie. She unlike the rumors surrounding her court was gorgeous a queen in the making, or at least she would have been had the fae stayed separate from the mortals all those millennia ago. But here in Paris she was not a queen no she was an Idol not just Unseelie royalty as a civilian but the prized hero of Paris Ladybug. She though cursed with the blessing of destruction and death had managed to reign in her blood lust and become a hero one with the power of creation if you will. You could say her blood lust helped her it allowed her to discover and kill her enemy in Hawkmoth rapidly only 2 years passing by and even after that she protected her city. She was a protector now not a killer like her kind was rumored to be, and yet her label as a hero never stoped her from reveling in each kill she was allowed to make. Allowed to solely because of her so called “lucky” charm that would fix everything once the battle was over. 
She is where our story begins, with her class, one that is composed of all but 2 other mostly Unseelie children. 
Mme Bustier, a woman whose bloodline was so muddled that her fae court could not be determined leaving her in the perfect position to teach both courts and yet receive no loyalty from any child. Though she may have received no loyalty that the did not mean there were not lines drawn within her class. For Marinette that signified her development of almost a court her best friend Kagami, and their new found companion Juleka, who’s older brother had seemed to be a potential partner until his bonding with Chloe a few months prior.  
With Chloe having bonded with Luca the Unseelie girls welcomed her into their group and allowed her to protect them during new moon time and provided her with willing blood sacrifices. 
This relationship was not just beneficial, but inevitably divulged into friendship with the gap finally closing within Mme Bustiers class. With the gap finally breached and closed the class was granted the opportunity to travel abroad to their sister city of Gotham and meet the the ruling Seelie family. 
•••
In Gotham though the world was structured differently. The Bat family ruled at night, and the Wayne’s ruled during the day, tho many could guess the duality of the family anyone who voiced the idea of the two being the same disappeared on the night of the new moon.  
With the Wayne’s being kings of the Day and Pure Seelie, Gotham bent to their whim as for them the rumors about their historic court. Those rang true with each brother just as mesmerizing as the last and each just as kind in their trickery always making the world see them as benevolent. 
The outlier though being Damien the only true heir to the Seelie court though many would forget that as each Wayne child held themselves in high esteem. 
Each child was different, Richard Grayson the first son, now he was special his father had been a distant relative of bruce making the Seelie blood Dick possessed almost as potent as that of Bruce. Now Jason was interesting as he was most definitely not Seelie, but Unseelie and though the held himself together during the day at night he would allow himself the pleasure of a kill. Timothy on the other hand was the result of gorgeous mortals and a bloodline so mixed that his court was barely decipherable as  Seelie. 
Damian was the blood son the heir, supposed to be the perfect example of Seelie blood yet he had been blessed with the ability to wield the power of destruction, a gift bestowed on him by his mother one of the last true Fae who had managed to capture the tiny god of destruction in a ring. Because of this gift Damian not only needed a blood sacrifice upon the new moon but he needed to hunt and kill his sacrifice never to receive a willing living sacrifice unless they share opposing power to their court as well. 
•••
The Parisian class arrives in Gotham, and though they are quickly escorted to their hotel and told to stay put, that does not stop several children from quickly departing their temporary residence. The class travels through Gotham the Seelie children traveling to memorials and museums highlighting their court and its past.  While the 3 Unseelie children plus Chloe travel into the depths of Gotham searching for an elder fae they read resided in Gotham. Upon their arrival to Ivy’s gardens the walls open up upon Marinette’s touch, a feeling of belonging runs through her. This feeling may shock her must not as much  as she is sure the emergence of a fully Fae woman does. To not only her shock but that of Kagami Julika’s,  and Chloe, the woman bows to Marinette. 
And greeteds her with the words 
“child of destruction our guardian of creation,  welcome to Gotham I hope you will meet the one you search for the child of creation, our guardian of destruction” 
And with that the walls close again and the  girls are granted a path into a garden that seemed to be a perfect representation of what the fae realm had once been.
•••
A few blocks away our child of creation, guardian of destruction has received a message from his mother, warning him that his betrothed has been found. And based on what his mother has heard from Ivy is willing to commence the end of court separation and usher in a new court one made of mixed heritage. She had after all opened and entered a portal to the fae realm with her royal court. 
18 notes · View notes