Archive of Our Own

At first, Marinette was unsure about how safe it would be but Jagged reassured her (again and again, she might add) that it was totally safe and that he was actually really nice because apparently his friend helped the homeless in Gotham. Even Penny agreed with Jagged.

That was the thing to cinch it. Jagged was extremely trustworthy but, he was kind of a like a huge kid himself – it made him a little more reckless.

Plus, it would be a good break from the hellhole she called a class. Lie-la had turned all of her friends (if they ever WERE her friends) against her with a few well-placed lies, the first being Alya and Nino (her best friends – that was what hurt the most). Adrien still insisted that Lie-la was ‘doing no harm’ so as a result, her crush on him (the extremely unhealthy one, she might add) had shriveled up and disappeared.

Seeing as none of them were going to believe her, Marinette washed her hands of them and started hanging out with Luka, Kagami and others. Tikki approved of her decision, stating, “They were never your friends Marinette, if they left you so quickly for someone they hardly even know. It’s best you drop them before it hurts you even more.”

AND she was getting an opportunity to design for Jagged too! He was thinking of doing a few concerts over here, and, of course, he would need his personal designer with him wouldn’t he?

“So, what do you think Mari?” boomed Jagged. “Isn’t Gotham rock ‘n’ roll?”

Marinette smiled at his enthusiasm and nodded. “Yeah, it’s definitely different from Paris, Jagged. Definitely cool.”

Most would say Gotham was dark and dreary and whatnot, but they weren’t artists like Jagged and Marinette (though of different kinds…). They didn’t see how she could draw so much inspiration from Gotham’s darkness and rainy weather.

By the time the three of them left (for the whole summer break!!), Marinette would have an entire closet drawn in her sketchbook and hopefully, some dresses made too!

“Sir, Ma’ams, your hotel is here.” Said the driver.

Penny – ever the organized one – hustled Jagged up and got ready to leave. “Come on Mari,” she said laughingly when she saw Marinette was still jotting ideas in her sketchbook. “You can draw afterwards. Let’s get checked in first.”

Marinette giggled and put her sketchbook into her backpack, with the miracle box. Hawkmoth was still at large so she and Tikki thought it would be best if they took the miracle box with them away from him. It would certainly be safer in Gotham (of all places) than Paris. And she could use the horse miraculous to go to Paris every time there was an akuma attack as soon as possible. Chat Noir – her so-called partner – was becoming more and more unreliable because Marinette refused to go out on a date with him. The audacity of him!

Tikki was ready to take his miraculous away but Marinette was afraid that she 1) he would get akumatized and 2) she wouldn’t be able to find another holder. If she found one, however…that was another story.

Marinette sighed happily as she woke up from her nap. She was so tired as soon as they checked in, Penny insisted that she should have a nap because she was suffering from jetlag. Marinette definitely wasn’t in a state to argue being so tired.

The nap was certainly helpful, mused Marinette as she studied her room. It was a spacious room – one of the biggest, according to Penny – that was cream in color. Most of the furniture was standard – a coffee table, a writing (or drawing in Marinette’s case) table, a few couches, a bed, etc.

The best part, though, was the view. As her room was at the top of the building, Marinette had a complete view of Gotham. In the evening – specifically sunset – it would look beautiful.

Marinette snapped out of her thoughts when Tikki and Wayzz floated up to her. “Did you sleep well, Marinette?” asked Tikki kindly.

She nodded and stretched her muscles. “What time is it?”

Her question was answered when Penny’s voice called out, “Marinette! It’s dinner time, are you coming?”

Marinette quickly responded. “Yeah, just a minute Penny!”

Changing out of her dirty clothes, Marinette wore something casual she had designed herself. In her purse, she brought Tikki and Sass with her to give each of the kwami a chance to get out of the miracle box.

When she opened her door, she saw both Penny and Jagged were outside waiting for her. “Hi guys!” she smiled at them brightly.

“Mari!” yelled Jagged, slinging an arm around her shoulder. “Let’s go now Penny!” he called out to his wife.

Once they were in the lift, Penny asked, “How did you sleep Mari? Was the bed okay?”

Marinette beamed at her. “The bed was amazing, Penny. I slept better than I have in sometime.” That…was not completely a lie. Lila contributed to a lot of her stress when she was in Paris. Knowing she was in Gotham, away from Lila made her feel miles better.

“That’s good to know.” Said Penny.

A waiter came by as they were picking what to eat. He bowed slightly and asked, “Mr & Mrs Stone, Ms. Dupain-Cheng, what would you like to eat? Mr Wayne said you were to have anything to like.”

That…was news to Marinette. She didn’t know they were at Jagged’s friend’s hotel.

“I’d like to have…” Marinette tuned out what Jagged and Penny ordered, in favor of looking at the menu. When she realized they were waiting for her order, Marinette said, “I’d like to have the same please.”

The waiter nodded and walked away.

As soon as he was out of earshot, Marinette turned to Jagged. “I didn’t know we were staying at your friend’s hotel?”

Jagged and Penny exchanged glances. “I didn’t tell you?” asked Penny. When Marinette shook her head, she answered, “Bruce – that’s Jagged’s friend – insisted on paying for everything.” At Marinette’s curious look, she elaborated. “Bruce is a billionaire and owns quite a few things. Companies, hotels, stuff like that.”

Jagged interrupted. “Speaking of Brucie, we’re going to meet him and his family tomorrow Mari. That okay?”

Marinette nodded.

As she went to sleep that night, she wondered what this Bruce Wayne’s family would be like. Jagged said he had a lot of children – all adopted – and only one of them was her age. He said that the boy was standoffish and cold, so be careful.

DAMIAN huffed in annoyance when Father said he had an announcement at breakfast today and everyone was required to be there. He was in the middle of drawing Alfred the cat.

As he walked down the stairs (in a dignified manner – unlike his idiot brothers *cough* Grayson, Todd *cough*) he wondered what could be so important that ALL of them were required to be there. Usually, family announcements were about their…nightly activities, but those were also done immediately. Because usually, time was a priority. Announcements in their civilian life, on the other hand, only included Grayson, Todd and Drake and sometimes, Cass.

Damian walked into the dining room and took his place at the table. As usual, it was absolute chaos. Drake and Todd were having a heated argument – one that was about to resort to violence, Grayson was having a seemingly one-sided conversation with Cass while Father rubbed his temples probably wondering why he adopted so many kids.

He was snapped out of his thoughts when Father tapped his spoon lightly onto his glass like he did at his Galas.

Todd, as expected, snorted when he did that. “Y’know B, you don’t have to do that right? We’re not at one of your stuffy galas.”

Damian glared at him and was about to speak when Father cleared his throat as a warning. “Damian, no. Now, today we are going to have some guests – an old friend of mine, Jared Stone and his wife and niece. And I want everyone there for it. That includes you too Tim, I’m sure the company will live if you’re not there for a few hours.”

Drake rolled his eyes at Father – or at least, that’s what Damian assumed because drinking his coffee – and said, “If you have to warn anyone Bruce, it’s Damian. Remember that time he broke that girl’s fingers because she-"

Damian glared at him. “You’re hardly one to talk Drake, you made the other one cry because she was being annoying.”

Father glared at both of them. “Damian, Tim.”

“No, let them continue,” said Todd with glee. “I want to see who’s going to start throwing knives first.”

Gordon rolled her eyes. “Damian of course. He’s the assassin.”

“No, Timmy might too you know. He’s a sensitive person. Once I insulted his coffee and he threatened to murder me.” Said Grayson thoughtfully.

Brown scoffed at that. “Yeah, sure Dick. Bullshi-”

“Language, Madam Stephanie.” Interrupted Alfred from the back.

Damian quietly raised a knife to throw at Drake. But before he could even aim, Father sternly said, “Drop the knife, Damian. You know the rules. No stabbing at the dining table.”

Damian grumbled. Father ignored him and continued, “And also all of you, try to be on your best behavior. That means no breaking Jared’s niece’s fingers.”

Traitor, Damian thought mutinously. That was obviously meant for him.

Whatever. If the girl kept her hands to herself, Damian wouldn’t do anything. Though, that was extremely rare.

MARINETTE breathed out nervously as she dressed into the outfit she had prepared. It was a white dress, belted at the waist. Casual, but not too casual.

Tikki smiled her holder from Marinette’s signature purse. “You look lovely Marinette.” She complimented.

“Thanks, Tikki,” replied Marinette. “Though, I am a bit nervous.”

Before Tikki could respond though, a knock on the door was heard.“Oy, Mari!” called Jagged. “Are you ready yet?”

“Yeah, just a second!” answered Marinette. “Coming!”

When she opened the door, Jagged praised her dress almost immediately. “You look rock ‘n’ roll Mari. That dress you made looks lovely!”

Marinette’s cheeks warmed at the praise. “Thanks, Jagged.” She said honestly.

“Come on, both of you,” said Penny, walking in wearing a beige blouse with white pants. “Let’s go, the driver’s ready.”

When Marinette saw the house – sorry, mansion - they were going to, her mind completely blanked out. It was huge, to say the least. More than 40,000ft according to Jagged, Marinette couldn’t believe how big it was.

They were greeted by a butler (a butler!) when they rang the doorbell, who said, “Master Jared it’s nice to see you again.

Jagged greeted him enthusiastically saying, “Alfie! Long time no see! You look as young as you did that last time I came here.”

The butler – Alfie – chuckled when he heard that. “I don’t know, sir. The young Masters have certainly added to my age, I must say.”

Jagged grinned at that. “Ah yes, the kids! Where’s Brucie now? He must introduce me to them.”

“Right in here.” Alfie opened the door wider and let them in. Then he introduced himself. “Madams, my name is Alfred Pennyworth.”

Penny smiled at him and introduced herself and Marinette. “My name is Penny Stone and this is our honorary niece, Marinette Dupain-Cheng.”

Alfred raised an eyebrow at that. “Honorary? I was under the impression that-“

“-Jagged was her real uncle?” Penny finished. She chuckled. “No, no he just likes to tell everyone that because she’s his personal designer.”

“JAGGED STONE! AND HIS PERSONAL DESIGNER!” yelled an older boy from in front of the hall. “Ohmygod!!”

He ran up to Jagged first and shook his hand excitedly. “My name is Timothy Drake sir – but you can just call me Tim – and I’m a HUGE fan of your music!”

Jagged grinned at his enthusiasm. “You must be one of Brucie’s adopted!”

“Brucie?” said an unfamiliar deep voice. “I’ve never heard that name before. I should start calling him that.” Said a man.

Jagged shot finger guns at him and said, “You really should. It annoys him endlessly. Who are you again?”

The man grinned mischievously and answered, “Jason Todd at your service.”

Anything else he said was drowned out when Tim came and shook her hand vigorously. “Ohmygod! You’re Jagged Stone’s personal designer! I’m so psyched! I’m-“

“Tim Drake, I heard.” Marinette finally managed to giggle out. “I’m Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Jagged’s honorary niece.” She introduced.

“Tim, maybe you should stop shaking the poor girl so much,” came the voice of a tall man with graying hair. This must be Bruce Wayne, thought Marinette.

Her suspicion was proven correct when Jagged went to embrace him while exclaiming, “Brucie!”

Mr Wayne chuckled, “Jared, it’s been quite some time hasn’t it?”

Jagged laughed, “Too long,” he agreed. Then he moved to introduce Penny and Marinette. Gesturing to them, he said, “This is my wife, Penny and my-“

“Honorary,” put in Penny.

“-niece and personal designer, Marinette Dupain-Cheng,” finished Jagged, mock-glaring at Penny for her interruption.

Mr Wayne smiled at Marinette and Penny. “It’s nice to finally meet you two – Jagged has been raving about you.”

Marinette inclined her head slightly – because he still was a mobster that made her nervous no matter how nice he was – while Penny answered. “It’s good to finally meet you too Mr Wayne.”

Mr Wayne shook his head at her when she called him that. “Call me Bruce please. You too Marinette,” he said. “Now, let me introduce you to my children. I see you’ve already met two of my sons – Tim & Jason.”

Bruce continued nodding at the (large) number of people behind him. “These all are Richard –“

“But you can call me Dick.” Said Richa-Dick charmingly.

Slightly chuckling, Bruce introduced the rest. “Barbara, Stephanie, Cassandra and Damian – my only biological child.”

Marinette studied each of them curiously as Bruce pointed to each on of them. Her gaze snagged onto the last one – Damian, she thinks – because he must be the one of her age (the others look much older than her). Damian was handsome to say the least. He had dark – almost black – hair that was slicked back paired with the most striking green eyes. Not emerald like Adrien, but a dark green – kind of like the color that seems to have a lot of secrets.

She was snapped out of her thoughts when Jagged said, “Let’s catch up, yeah?”

DAMIAN didn’t know what to think of the…rockstar’s niece. She seemed to be different from the other girls he had met but that could all be an act. Though…she WAS cute, his subconscious added. Though, Damian would never admit it, he agreed just a little bit that she was rather cute. She had dark hair (almost blue) that was pulled into a pair of pigtails and a cute button nose that Damian just wanted to ki-…never mind, where did that come from?

“So Marinette, Jared tells me you’ve been designing for him for a few years now. Since when did you start designing?” asked Father, out of the blue in his opinion – or maybe it was because he wasn’t paying attention…Ignoring his annoying subconscious, Damian waited eagerly for an answer (not that he’d ever show it). “I started actually designing when I was 12.” Marinette said. Even her voice was cute… “After that, well, it became clear I had a natural affinity for it.” Then she rushed to add. “Not that I’m boasting or anything.”

“Nonsense.” Said Jagged shaking his head. “That’s hardly true. Mari, you have talent!” he finished dramatically. “Isn’t that right, Penny?”

Penny laughed and agreed with him. “Definitely. Marinette has also designed for several other celebrities including Clara Nightingale.”

“REALLY?” squealed Drake. Damian did not know he could be so…loud and fangirly.

Marinette’s cheeks warmed at the praise. Damian wanted to make her do that more often – she looked beautifu- wait what?

He was snapped out of his thoughts when Father called out his name. “Damian,” he said. “Please give Ms Dupain-Cheng a tour around the Manor safely. If you have any issues you can come back here.” The unspoken message was clear – Show Marinette around, and if you have any problems do NOT break her fingers. Come back here AWAY from her.

MARINETTE looked around in wonder as Damian showed her around. This manor was huge. In fact, ‘huge’ couldn’t even describe how big it was.

“This is my room.” Damian suddenly said. Marinette nearly jumped out of her skin. Nearly. That would have been embarrassing.

Racking her brain for something to say, a dog suddenly came running out of Damian’s room and jumped right on top of her!

Marinette tumbled down giggling at the heavy dog licking her face. Running her hands through the dog’s fur, she suddenly heard Damian calling out “Titus! Come back here at once!”

The dog obediently walked off her, tail wagging as he went to his master. A hand made its way into Marinette’s vision. “I apologize, miss. Titus sometimes jumps on people like that.”

Marinette took the hand (her much smaller ones fit snugly into it…) and giggled, “That’s fine, I think he’s adorable. Aren’t you a good boy?” she asked rubbing her hand through Titus’s fur.

“It seems he likes you very much, Ms Dupain-Cheng. He doesn’t usually warm up to strangers.”

Marinette turned to him, smiling. “You can call me Marinette. And I’m honored that he likes me. Do you have any more pets Mr Wayne?”

She could see him smiling faintly from the corner of her eye. An animal-lover, she mused. “Call me Damian. And yes, I have a…”

JASON couldn’t believe what he was seeing right now. There was absolutely no way this was happening. Was hell freezing over?

He rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn’t seeing things. The demon-spawn was actually being POLITE with a girl? Was he…was he SMILING?Just to make sure, he video-called Cass (because she was the quietest. The others couldn’t be quiet in something like this to save their life) on his phone. “Hey Cass,” he muttered. “Can you come to the greenhouse, like now? As fast as you can please.”

When she signed, she’d be there in 1 minute he hung up and continued watching (NOT SPYING) the Marinette and Damian. The two of them seemed to be playing with his zoo and Jason couldn’t help but notice that Damian stopped playing very frequently to stare at Marinette.

Jason snickered. Looks like Demon-spawn has the beginnings of a crush.

The others were going to love this.

2 weeks later…

DAMIAN breathed a sigh of relief. He had just escaped the clutches of the daughter of one of his father's associates. She was very handsy and it took everything in Damian to prevent himself from breaking every finger in her hand for even daring to do such a thing. Alas, for appearances, he had to. (And Father said he couldn’t do that again or his nightly activities were revoked. Apparently, he should just leave ASAP according to him.)

"Finally escaped?" came the snarky voice of Todd.

Damian shot the door behind him a dirty look and nodded. "Yes. That leech-" he said leech with disdain. "-would not leave me alone."

Todd smirked at that - he always took pleasure in his misery. "Perks to being B's only biological son I guess."

"Would you like to die again Todd?" he asked dangerously. Damian knew he had said that on purpose to rile him up. The media always made a big deal of his love life. They had the audacity to call Raven his girlfriend! And it wasn't like telling them otherwise would change anything either.

"No fighting." said Pennyworth, their patient and kindly grandfather/butler.

"Yes Alfred." chanted the two of them.

When Todd turned to him - likely to tease him some more about it, Damian glared at him. "I'm going out."

"With Ma-ri-ne-ee-tte." Todd sing-songed at he left. According to Todd and the others (specifically Drake) he and Marinette were ‘always joint at the hip’. What made it even more irritating was that Grayson called it cute and Gordon and Brown kept on saying he had a ‘crush’ on her – whatever that was. At any rate, Damian threw a shoe at Todd for saying that.

As he walked out with Titus, he pulled out his phone to text her.

DemonoftheAges: Angel, are you free right now?

AngelofHeaven: hey dami! yeah!

DemonoftheAges: Do you want to meet me at the park? I'm going there with Titus right now.

AngelofHeaven: sure! but didn't u have that meeting? omg did u break someone's bones again???!!

DemonoftheAges: I am offended that you think I would do such a thing. No, father let me leave.

AngelofHeaven: i have every right to and u know it! but ok, i believe you.

DemonoftheAges: ...Fine. Perhaps you have a point.

AngelofHeaven: :)))

AngelofHeaven: see u!

DemonoftheAges: See you.

As he waited for Marinette, he contemplated his feelings for her. He didn't really understand them. Every time he saw her, his heart started beating faster, his palms started to sweat and he never wanted to leave her side.

This feeling was new to Damian. He often thought of asking Marinette what exactly it meant, but some instinct in him said that it would make things between them awkward. So, he refrained from doing so.

He was snapped out of his thoughts when Damian heard Marinette calling out to him, running towards him. "Dami!"

He was about to respond, but she tripped. Marinette yelped as Damian put his arms underneath her to catch her. She smiled breathlessly at him. "Thanks Dami!"

There it was again! That fluttery feeling. Perhaps he should ask Kent or Grayson maybe.

Damian smiled at his friend. "No problem Angel."

He held out his arm as they walked.

“So how was the meeting?” asked Marinette brightly.

Damian scoffed. “Terrible. That leech wouldn’t leave me alone.”

Marinette narrowed her eyes at him, “Are you suuure you didn’t break her fingers?”

“Why would you think that?” Damian sniffed haughtily. “Like I said before, Father said I could leave Angel.”

“Okay!” As quickly as it had come, Marinette’s suspiciousness disappeared. She bounced lightly on her toes. “So, about meeting Jon?”

Marinette had been bugging him endlessly about meeting Jon since she had heard so much about him and, according to her, they could ‘trade stories about you!’

That, was something Damian did not need. He did not need the two happy-go-lucky people in his life to meet each other. Grayson and Marinette were bad enough. Kent and Marinette, would be awful. Plus, Kent yet had to hear about Marinette.

Seeing as she was waiting for an answer, Damian said, “I was actually going to call Kent today.” Blatant lie, but now that he had said it, he had to do it. For whatever reason, he couldn’t bear the thought of lying to Marinette about anything more than their nightly activities.

Marinette beamed at him. “Good. I’ll even message you to make sure you don’t forget.”

Yep, Damian’s life was going to become hell after the two of them met.

DAMIAN cringed as Kent yelled “YOU WHAT?” from the phone.

He sighed impatiently and repeated himself. “Kent, I’ve met a friend – her name’s Marinette Dupain-Cheng – and I’ve told her about you and she wishes to meet you.”

Jon rolled his eyes. “I heard you the first time Damian, what I want to know is why I didn’t know about this as soon as it happened?” he punctuated certain words.

“Because I was busy.” Damian said firmly.

Jon smirked. “Yeah, with Marinette, right?” Not giving Damian a chance to answer, he continued, “And of course, I’d like to meet her. Is that even a question?”

Damian sighed. He knew this was going to happen. “Very well. Can you come tomorrow?”

“Yeah, just lemme ask Mom.” Jon’s face went out of the screen. “HEY MOM! CAN I GO TO DAMIAN’S TOMORROW?”

Damian covered his ears. “Would you mind not blasting my eardrums, Jonathan? I’d like to keep my ears intact, thanks.”

Jon gaped at him from the screen. “What?” Damian asked irritated.

“You-you- “Jon stuttered. “You used a contraction, ohmygod, Kon is going to freak.”

Damian’s cheekbones pinked. It was something he had picked up from Marinette. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He spoke.

“Uh-huh, because it’s totally not like your embarrassment is invisible or something. Plus, you just used another one, did you realize?”

Goddamnit.

MARINETTE flopped down onto her bed. “Why Tikki, why? Why did I have to get another crush on my best friend?”

Tikki giggled as she floated above Marinette. “For what it’s worth, it does seem like he has one on you too, you know.”

Her holder dragged a pillow onto her head. “As if.” Said her voice, muffled. “My life is ruined. He’ll find out I have one and then have his father blacklist me from every. Single. Company. And then I’ll die working in the mines because a rock fell on meeee.”

Wayzz and the other Kwami, watched this with great amusement. “Guardian, why would you say that?” asked Wayzz curiously.

Marinette groaned as she answered him. “Damian hates the girls that fancy him because he thinks they only want him for his money. Which is true – most of the time.”

The Kwami nodded wisely. “I see what you mean. He may think you were only friends with him for his money.”

“Exactly.” Mumbled Marinette.

“Cheer up, Guardian.” Wayzz said comfortingly. “Things will look up.”

He was proven correct a few seconds later when Marinette’s phone lit up with a message from Damian. She opened it curiously.

DemonOfTheAges: Angel, I spoke to Kent and he said he could some tomorrow.

DemonOfTheAges: What time shall we meet?

AngelOfHeaven: yayyyyy!!!

AngelOfHeaven: hmmmm…maybe at 2 if that’s okay with you?

DemonOfTheAges: That’s perfectly fine. See you at the Manor.

AngelOfHeaven: see u!!!

**

The next day as she was leaving, she called out to Penny, “I’m leaving for Dami’s now! I’ll see you later!”

Penny smiled knowingly at her. “Have fun, Marinette!”

Marinette sighed happily as she rang the doorbell to Wayne Manor. She had gotten used to its size over her frequent visits over the last two weeks but it still surprised her.

She beamed at Alfred when he opened the door. “Alfred!” she said giving him a hug. “It’s lovely to see you!”

Alfred smiled at her warmly. “It’s nice to see you too Madam Marinette. Do come in, the young Master Damian has been waiting patiently for your arrival in his room.”

As Marinette walked in, she was swept into a hug by none other than Jason Todd. “Pixie!” he yelled. “Are you here to see me?” he asked, wiggling his eyebrows.

Marinette giggled as he put her down. “No actually. I’m here to meet Jon. Damian said he’d introduce me to him today!”

Jason threw a hand over his heart in mock-hurt. “Ouch Pixie, you wound me with your callousness.”

Marinette patted him consolingly on the shoulder. “Don’t worry,” she teased. “I’m sure you’ll feel better soon.”

And with that, she skipped up the stairs to Damian’s room.

DAMIAN walked down the stairs hearing Todd greeting his ‘Pixie’ enthusiastically. Had he been paying attention to his surroundings; he probably wouldn’t have crashed into Marinette nearly sending them both down the stair.

Damian apologized profusely to her, “I apologize for my spaciness Angel.”

“It’s alright Dami!” said Marinette, cheeks pink at their close proximity. Looking around, she asked, “Where’s Jon?”

The doorbell rang.

“I believe that’s him now.” Said Damian with a smile.

JON could not believe how adorable Damian’s new friend was. She was just like him! He listened in as she told him something about her conversation with Damian.“-And then he told me to never tell you this but…get this! Damian says you’re one of his best friends!”

Jon’s jaw dropped open in shock. “Damian actually said that?” At her nod, he proceeded to fangirl enthusiastically. “Ohmygod, ohmyogod, ohmy- “

“Angel, why is Jonathan fangirling?” said Damian as he entered the room with some snacks.

Jon cackled internally. Angel. That, was definitely some blackmail material right there. He turned to him and tackled him into a hug.

“Jonathan, what are you doing?” sputtered Damian.

“I told him you said he was one of your best friends!” beamed Marinette.

Suddenly, Damian refused to meet his eyes. “Angel!” he exclaimed gruffly. “Why would you do that?”

Marinette smirked at him (it made her look much more devious). “Because…he deserves to know! Like me!”

Jon couldn’t help but notice that Damian was much more compliant and sweeter around Marinette. And wasn’t oblivious to the adoring eyes he gave her, unlike Damian himself. He felt himself grow more and more excited as it became exceedingly clear that:

Damian Wayne, former-assassin, current mobster, current Robin has a HUGE crush on Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

He was going to have SO MUCH fun.

CLARK smiled to himself as he saw Damian attempt to save himself from Jon’s teasing. He had clearly figured out that Damian had a crush on his friend. His gaze was suddenly averted when he saw something move from Marinette’s bag. He used his x-ray vision to see what was inside and saw something that made him choke on his food.

There were two creatures in her bag…Bruce was going to want to know this.

BRUCE stared at Clark worriedly as he described what he saw in Marinette’s bag. Apparently, it was two, small creature-like beings that were munching on some cookies.

“What should we do?” asked Clark.

Bruce sighed and rubbed his temples. “Maybe we should just call Marinette and ask her to explain what they were.”

“Are you sure that will work?” he asked.Bruce gave his friend a tight smile. “If she lies, we’ll know because we have you to be our lie detector.”

Clark nodded and opened the door to call Marinette. “Marinette! Could you come here?”

10 second later, Marinette entered the room, with her signature purse, her mood immediately becoming somber. “You called me?” she asked politely.

Bruce sighed heavily. “Yes. Marinette, Clark saw some interesting things in your bag. Two creatures eating something.”

Marinette clearly recognized what he was talking about because she paled heavily. “I-I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She stuttered.

Clark focused on her body and reported, “She’s lying.”

Marinette’s jaw dropped open, not expecting that.

Bruce tried to smile kindly at her. “Marinette, this is going to be much easier on you if you tell us.”

“Marinette, he’s figured it out. That man, he has X-ray powers. He saw through your bag.” Came an extremely tinny voice.

Bruce and Clark blinked in surprise. What the hell?

Marinette ignored their surprise, turned her back to them and whispered back to the voice. “There’s no other way?”

This time another voice replied. “No Guardian…unlessss you wish to wipe their memoriessss.”

Wipe their memories?

“NO!” yelled the first voice. “Marinette we are not wiping their memories. Sass was just telling us about the option, wasn’t he?”

The voice, meeker this time, spoke, “Yesss.”

Marinette gave a sigh of relief. “So, I can just explain it to them?”

“I believe you have no choice,” said Sass (what kind of name was that?).

Marinette flipped back to her original position, this time smiling slightly. “Alright,” she said. “I’ll explain.”

10 minutes later, Bruce was resisting the urge to don his suit and go straight to Paris to murder Hawkmoth and ChatBrat for putting so much responsibility on one goddamn girl. Clark wasn’t faring much better because the room was getting uncomfortably hot.

“Also,” Marinette said casually, as if she hadn’t dumped a ridiculous amount of information on them, “I figured out you guys are heroes.”

Bruce choked.

DAMIAN was wondering what was taking so long. Father and Clark had called Marinette into his study for something and they still hadn’t come out. He was currently resisting the urge to barge in there.

“So Damian. I didn’t know you had a crush on your new friend?” said Jon slyly.

Damian blinked. “Why does everyone keep on saying I have a ‘crush’ on Marinette. I don’t want to crush her.” He said annoyedly.

Jon’s jaw dropped open. “Wait a second,” he frowned, “You don’t know what ‘crush’ means?”

Damian rolled his eyes. “Crush means to compress or squeeze something forcefully so as to break or damage it,” he quoted.

“Bu-that’s not what I’m talking about!” Jon sputtered. “I’m talking about the one where you admire and adore someone Damian. Why do you not know that?”

Damian stopped him. “Jonathan,” he said firmly. “Explain, what the hell you’re talking about.”

TIM cackled as he heard Jon explain what a ‘crush’ was to Damian. See, this was usually why he was the all-knowing one in the family. It was a great tool to troll everyone and an amazing source of entertainment.

He was snapped out of his thoughts when Bruce came out of his study (which was unnecessarily big) with Clark and Marinette behind him. When he saw Tim, he said, “Tim! Good. Could you tell everyone in the Manor that Marinette figured it out?”

“What?”

Bruce took no notice of his surprise and continued, “And also that Marinette is Ladybug, superhero of Paris?”

“WHAT!?”

1 week later…

Damian dialed frantically into his phone. He sighed in relief when Jon picked up. “Jonathan, I need your help right now. I think I have a crush on Marinette.”

“You think- you know what? I’ll be there in 5.” And he hung up.

Damian stared at his phone screen. “Huh?”

He jumped when he heard banging on his door. “Open up!” Jon hollered.

Damian scowled at him. “Tt. Why did you come? You could have just told me on the phone.”

Jon snorted. “Yeah right. Anyway, you just realized you had a crush on Marinette?”

When Damian nodded, he sighed in exasperation. “Damian, you know that literally everyone else except for you knew this almost a month ago. You’re smitten with her.”

Damian shot him a glare. “I couldn’t care less about what those buffoons thought. How do I ask her out on a date?”

Before Jon could even answer, there came a knock on the door and Marinette entered. “Hi Damian! Hi Jon!” she beamed.

Jon beamed back at her. “Marinette!” he ran over to give her a hug. When he pulled away, he shot a wink at Damian and said, “I’m just going to leave…to get something to eat…bye!”

Jon was a terrible actor.

But that was not the priority here. He was alone with Marinette. And he also wanted to ask her out on a date.

Exhaling nervously, Damian said, “Angel, I wish to tell you something-“ He paused when Marinette held her hand up.

“Wait. I want to tell you first.” When he opened his mouth to speak – Dammit, he wasn’t going to lose his nerve over this! – she covered his mouth. “Damian,” she breathed. “Will you go out on a date with me?”

Damian blinked. That…was not what he was expecting.

Marinette, mistaking his silence for something else, rushed on. “I mean like its totally fine if you don’t want to but like I really, really like you and-“

This time, it was his turn to cover her mouth. He smiled gently at her, “I’d love to Angel.”

She beamed at him.

JON cackled as he raced through the house to the hall, where everyone would be. He had heard everything.

When he burst into the room, everyone looked up from what they were doing.

“What’s up, Jon?” asked Dick lazily, laying down on Barb’s lap.

Jon panted as he said, “Marinette asked Damian on a date!”

Almost immediately everyone was paying attention clamoring for more details.

“Really-“ “DETAILS JON!” “How do you know?”

That stunned everyone into silence. Jon held his hand up at Tim. “I know,” he said. “Because Damian asked lil’ old me to help him ask Mari on a date.”

Jason choked on the water he was drinking. “What?” he sputtered.

“Yeah.” Jon said with a wide grin. “But before we could even do anything she came and then asked him out!”

“And did Damian say yes?” asked Bruce eagerly. Bruce.

Jon rolled his eyes. “Duh.”

“YES!” whooped Steph. “I knew it!” she cackled. “You owe me 50 Cass.”

Cass sighed, signing I am disappointed in Damian. I thought he would ask her out.

Jon snorted at that. “How would he? He didn’t even know what a ‘crush’ was.”

1 week later…

MARINETTE sighed happily as she wore a dress, she had designed for this date specifically. “He’s just so amazing, Tikki.” She said dreamily.

Tikki giggled. “I can see that,” she teased.

Marinette’s cheeks warmed as she tucked Tikki and Wayzz into her purse. “All right, I’m going now.”

At the end of their date (which was amazing! They had dinner on top of WE where the view was beautiful), Damian cleared his throat and said, “I want to ask you something Angel.”

Marinette looked at him curiously. “What is it Dami?”

“Will you be my girlfriend?”

That night, they shared their first kiss under the stars.

DAMIAN scoffed when Raven said, “I thought you and I were dating!”

“No we were never dating.” He replied.

“But-The media!” she burst out. “The media said we were dating!”

“And?” Damian asked. When she didn’t respond to that, he continued. “The media says a lot of things. Doesn’t mean they have to be true.” And he got up to leave.

“But you haven’t made your relationship public.” Raven said ‘relationship’ with disgust.

Damian stiffened. “We haven’t made it public because Angel doesn’t deserve to be harassed by the media.”

Raven had nothing to say.

MARINETTE giggled as she tried to teach Damian how to make macarons. He was terrible at it and his brothers and everyone else being there didn’t help. Especially when Jason was recording.

Said man cackled. “Demon-spawn, you are rubbish at this.”

Damian glared at him. “Would you like to die again Todd?”

“Nah,” said Jason. “This is gold.”

Suddenly, a crash distracted their bickering. Tim & Dick.

“-GIVE IT BACK TIM!” Dick was yelling.

Tim cackled holding Dick’s phone up in the air. “NO!”

Suddenly, Dick tripped, crashing into Tim, dropping all of the flour on the floor.

“You got everything, right Jason?” asked Babs, clearly enjoying it.

Jason grinned holding up his phone. “I am so going to post this on Twitter.”

Neither of them saw Marinette moving towards Dick and Tim with purpose.

ALYA couldn’t understand what was happening to the Ladyblog. Her viewers had decreased drastically in the last three months and she couldn’t understand why. When she asked Lila for her help, Lila just offered to give her another interview about Ladybug which Alya obviously used. But nothing was working, she thought frustratedly.

“Alya!” called her mom. “Come here a second.”

Alya walked out curiously, wondering why her mother had called her. “Yeah, Mom?”

Her mother pointed to the TV screen. “Isn’t that Marinette?”

Alya dropped her phone.

The rest of the class was going to want to know this.

The entire class (except for Lila – apparently she was on a trip to Achu to help the poor kids!) assembled in the park wondering why Alya had called them here. Said girl arrived and managed to pant out, “Check…check Twitter.”

On Twitter, there was a video going viral, all over the world from @JTWayne

A video with the caption: Marinette, the demon’s girlfriend, teaching Damian how to make macarons and kicking Dick & Tim out!

“No…that can’t be our Marinette,” muttered Nino faintly.

Alya scoffed. “Our Marinette wouldn’t be a bully.” She paused. “But it is the Marinette in our class. Here, watch the video.

**

Marinette *giggles*

Jason: Demon-spawn, you are rubbish at this.

Damian: Would you like to die again Todd?

Jason: Nah, this is gold.

Cue a crash coming in the background. The camera moves to show said crash.

Dick: -GIVE IT BACK TIM!

Tim *cackles holding Dick’s phone up in the air*: “NO!”

Cue Dick tripping, crashing into Tim, dropping all of the flour on the floor.

Barbara: You got everything, right Jason?

Jason *holding out his phone*: I am so going to post this on Twitter

“Yeah, just on the wrong account.” Scoffed Chloe – but even she looked envious of Marinette. After all, it wasn’t everyday one of your classmates dated a freaking Wayne. Not even Lila had gone so far yet. “Unpause it, Cesaire,” the Mayor’s daughter snapped.

*Cue Dick screaming*

The camera swings around, only to see Marinette lifting Dick and dumping him out of the room.

Jason:….

Stephanie:….

Barbara:…

Damian *looks like he’s trying not to laugh*

Cass clapping slowly

*Cue Tim trying to run away from Marinette*

Tim: Spare me, spare me!

Marinette *smirks and lifts Tim up*: Nope, you deserve it.

Marinette *dumps Tim outside*: Tell Dick you guys can only come in after we’re done

Jason: What the actual fu-

Stephanie *squeals*: Oh my god that was SO badass. You have to show me where you get it from!

Barbara *stuffs a fist into her mouth*: Don’t laugh, don’t laugh, don’tlaugh, don’tlaugh

Cass beams and hugs Marinette

Damian *bursts out laughing*: Oh my gods Habibti. I’ve never seen anything like that before.

The rest of the video is just Marinette teaching Damian how to make macarons with comments in between. And maybe some PDA from the happy couple.

After the video ended, the class stood in silence. It was broken by Rose’s sniffle. “I can’t believe she’s managed to trick Damian Wayne and his family.”

Juleka nodded firmly and rubbed her girlfriend’s back soothingly. “Isn’t there something we can do?” she asked quietly.

The class racked their collective brain cell. “I know what we can do!” Alya suddenly yelled.

Mylene looked at her. “What?”

“We can call her up!” she said excitedly.

“Yeah!” “Call her up Alya!” “Come on!”

Alya grinned at her friends and dialed Marinette’s number. The class crowded around her eagerly. But they were sorely disappointed when the phone said, “We’re sorry, but you have reached a number that has been disconnected.”

She felt her face fall. Great, because Marinette was being petty, she couldn’t ask her for an interview.

ADRIEN felt sick. He couldn’t understand why. All he saw was the video of Marinette and her boyfriend, the Wayne. He couldn’t understand why Marinette didn’t tell him! He was her friend – one of his best friends.

“I can’t understand why she didn’t tell me.” Sighed Adrien as he flopped onto his bed.

Plagg scoffed at his holder. Lately, Plagg just seemed to ignore him. “I don’t know…maybe it’s because you let that liar just lie all about her.”

Adrien sat up, annoyed. They had, had this conversation a million times. “Plagg, Lila could get akumatized!”

“What about Marinette? Can’t she?” asked Plagg.

Adrien huffed. “Marinette’s strong, she’ll manage.”

Plagg rolled his eyes. “Sure. Because it’s totally not like she needs friends too. And that she has emotions.” And he flew off.

Adrien was left to stew in silence until dinner because Hawkmoth hadn’t attacked in almost two months.

**

When he went down for dinner, he was surprised to see Natalie and his father (albeit on the device because he had been out of town for the last past 2 months) waiting for him. “Adrien,” said Natalie, cold as ever, “Have you seen the video of your friend, Marinette?”

Adrien nodded politely. “Yes Natalie.”

“Play it again Natalie.” Said his father’s voice from the ipad.

The video played. As he watched it, Adrien couldn’t help but notice the pit forming in his stomach every time Wayne kissed Marinette or touched her. How was she okay with this? Wasn’t it impolite?

He was snapped out of his thoughts when his father said, “Adrien, do not slump like that.”

He didn’t even notice. “Yes Father,” mumbled Adrien.

“Are you still in touch with your friend?” Father asked.

Adrien nodded hesitantly. “Yes…but we haven’t spoken in sometime.”

His father nodded sternly. “Good. You will message her and ask her for a business partnership between WE & Gabriel.”

“Yes Father.”

**

That night, as Adrien went to bed, he messaged Marinette’s number.

Adrien Agreste: Hey Marinette. How’s it going?

Adrien Agreste: My Father was thinking we could do a business partnership?

But the message he got was:

MARINETTE breathed out nervously as she sat down on the sofa with Clark and Lois. When Jason had accidentally posted the video on his public account, it had gone viral. It was being displayed everywhere, news stations, radios, everywhere.

That’s why they were doing a live interview with their trusted friends to clear up any misconceptions.

Jagged and Penny waved at her from behind. Marinette waved back nervously. “You’ll be fine, Habibti,” said Damian gently into her ear. “Just be you.”

She smiled at him. “Thanks, Dami.”

“Shall we start?” asked Lois from behind the camera.

Marinette nodded when Damian looked for her confirmation. “Yes.”

**

After the preliminaries which included names, details, how they met, etc. Clark smiled encouragingly at them while saying, “Alright, now let’s answer some questions of the public from Twitter.

The first one – I thought Damian Wayne was dating Raven. Damian, would you like to answer this one?”

Damian nodded firmly. “Tt. I would like to make it clear that I am not dating Raven. Never have, never was. The media was incorrect.” He kissed Marinette’s forehead sweetly.

After ‘awwing’ at their ‘cuteness’ Lois continued with the next question. “The next one: how do you know this girl is not some gold-digging- you know what? I’m not even going to repeat what they said. I can’t believe just because they think they’re anonymous means they can say anything.’”

The entire Wayne family protested in outrage. “How dare they-“ “Can we sure them-“ “Who are they-“

Their clamoring stopped when Jagged yelled in anger, “Who dared to call my niece that? I’m going to sue their butt off and-“

“Jagged – no.” soothed Penny, though even she looked a little pissed. “Marinette is one of the most honest people I’ve ever met. Whoever you are, stop making such assumptions without any proof.”

“Right,” said Lois, calming down. “Next question: Oh, interesting.” She paused.

“What’s interesting?” asked Clark, reading over her shoulder. “Oh.”

“What, ‘oh’?” Marinette asked curiously.

“Well,” Clark hesitated. “There’s someone calling you a ‘bully’ and a ‘liar’ for ‘bullying’ someone in their class?”

Much to their surprise, Marinette snorted, “Okay, let me guess who it is. The Ladyblogger?”

When they nodded mutely, she continued, “Well, she and my classmates – actually ex-classmates – believe every word this liar says – I’m not going to say her name – and well, she didn’t like me because I called her out. So then, she started making up lies about me along with the ones she made about various celebrities and so-called ‘ailments’.” She paused. Everyone was listening raptly – even the commentors had stopped commenting. “Like, she said, she saved ‘Jagged Stone’s cat’ and got ‘tinnitus’ and to say thank you, Jagged ‘wrote a song about her’ ” she quoted. “Like what the hell? A simple Google search could literally disprove that.”

Jagged finally got a chance to erupt as he thundered, “Who the heck does this girl think she is slandering my name like that? She’s accusing me of courting a minor! And I’m allergic to fur – sorry ‘bout that Damian – but it’s true! Do your classmates share one braincell or something?”

Marinette shrugged unconcernedly. “Maybe – though there was one person who knew she was lying but he didn’t do anything because ‘she wasn’t hurting anyone’. But I guess so.”

Now Damian was pissed. Lois and Clark, noticing this, hurried to end the interview. “Well, I guess that’s all with the questions today. Thank you, Damian and Marinette, for answering them so readily.”

Marinette giggled. “Yeah, sorry about ‘salty Marinette’. She came out by accident.”

Laughing along with her, they ended the interview.

THE CLASS stood in silence. They had just looked up every single thing Lila told them and guess what? Marinette was right. Lila was a liar. And they had ditched their most faithful friend for what? A bunch of shiny stories.

ADRIEN felt sick to his stomach. Marinette had just exposed Lila to the entire world and the fallout was going to be huge. What’s worse was what she said in the end, ‘she wasn’t hurting anyone’.

LILA ROSSI sighed happily as she lounged in her bed, thinking of the new lies she could create for the next year. Her broken phone lay on the table beside her. She couldn't understand why Mama couldn't go the shop to fix it.

Whoo boy, she was NOT going to know what hit her.