Chapter Text
Marinette doesn't feel right about where she's sleeping.
The fabric of the bedsheets is silky and pretty.
The light is far too much to be from her skylight.
The accent of the boys talking near the door is far too American for the language to be French.
Her eyes snap open.
They're speaking English, she realizes, and somehow she understands every word of it!
She notices the ceiling, which is somehow still pink.
Then the bedside table, which shouldn't be there!
Then her hands fly up to her ears. She panics at the lack of the Ladybug Miraculous.
“Tikki!” She whispers. “Are you there?”
There's no answer. She panics even more.
Then, she looks around. This isn't her room. She decides to venture out of the bed. The room is big, and there's even a pink vanity, which she believes is exactly what she's going to have at her future house.
There's also a box of sewing materials, she absentmindedly notices., and wonders if her miraculous box is inside.
She sits on the vanity chair and takes out the comb. And nearly screams.
Because she doesn't look like herself!
She looks like… Maria!
…She doesn't know how she knows that name, nor how she recognises herself.
And then it clicks into her head. She's been reborn into this different universe. As Maria Grace.
“Maria Grace.” She whispers, the name sounding foreign but pretty on her tongue.
“J’mappelle Maria Grace.” She repeats. “J’mappelle Maria Grace!”
She finds that she still has her accent, and she still knows French.
She observes her appearance.
Just like in her old life, she had bluebell eyes and pale skin.
However, there were no freckles and her hair was black and straight and cut short to shoulder length instead of wavy and long. She no longer wore them in pigtails.
She seemed to have worn a pink hoodie and black pajamas to bed.
She looks kinda pretty in them.
Her face looks young. Not matured and burdened. She looks carefree and enthusiastic.
It's wonderful, seeing herself like this.
…
“And you really think Damian isn't gonna be upset as fuck the moment B offers it up to her on a silver plate? You of all people would know how cruel it was of Dick to do that.” Jason huffed.
Tim looked away. “It's inevitable. She knows and she's gonna make a fuss sometime soon.”
Jason raised an eyebrow. “This is Maria we're talking about. She's not gonna make a fuss and you know it.”
Sighing, he runs a hand through his hair. “I see your point. We could use the extra help. I just… don't want Robin to be taken away from another person.”
“Well… what are we going to do? We can't keep ignoring it! I know she won't out us or anything but–”
He looks at her, and gasps. “You're gonna wake her up!”
Tim cuts himself off.
There's a pause.
He looks away. “We can't ignore it anymore, Jason. She knows and she's known since before she–since before Damian's death.”
Jason winced at the mention of it, but recovered quickly. “Well, that's new. Does B know that?”
Tim sighed. “He does. Blame Alfred or Barbara.”
Jason blinks, then groans. “Dang. And he hasn't taken her to the watchtower yet?”
The other teen shrugs. “Doesn't look like it.”
They see Damian walking past them, holding two cups of coffee. “Thankful for the sentiment, Todd, but Drake is right. We need to get it over with.”
He's noticeably gruff and curt and… down about it.
Jason and Tim are startled, with Jason being the first to recover. “...How long have you been eavesdropping?” He yells.
The question is ignored as Damian schools his features and carries the coffee mugs into Maria's room.
…
Marinette, now Maria, finishes brushing her hair and taking a shower.
It's still 7 AM, and her memories that came from who-knows-where tell her that breakfast would be served at half-past seven.
She turns on the phone kept on the nightstand. It's different from the one she owned in her past life.
The first thing she notices is the wallpaper.
On her right, there's Dick, Barbara, Tim and Stephanie, the girl who is taking the group selfie. She knows these names due to her memories of this life.
On her left, there's only one person. Damian.
He's notably taller than her though being only one year older, according to the memories.
He's tan, and is… very good-looking. He also has deep emerald eyes.
They're holding hands, and only he seems to be aware of that, blushing as red as possible, looking at their joined hands while she's smiling at the camera.
The picture is from when they were eleven and she had first moved in here, according to her memories.
Wait, moved in here?
Oh, right, her father, Kyle Kenneth had divorced her mother, and her mother, Pearl Grace, had died in a car accident when she was eleven. She took her mother's last name.
She was the only other friend of Damian back then, besides Jon of course. Damian had insisted that she move in with them, though the whole family had agreed on her not being an official adoptee. She has no idea why.
A year passed before she found out they moonlighted as the Bats. She didn't tell them that she knew, and she was going to when Jason left the manor to clear his head a bit. That turned into a long, long time because he was sent away on a mission soon after.
During all this, her and Damian were growing closer than ever, and she was going to ask him out, before suddenly…
Damian died.
She hadn't bothered to learn how. All she knew was Talia, his mother, created a clone of himself to have him killed due to whatever reason.
But he'd died.
She'd been in a deep depression soon after, not eating or sleeping well for months. Things weren't looking up for a long, long time.
And then he'd returned.
Alive. Breathing. Real.
The same.
But she wasn't the same anymore, was she?
Then, with the help of Damian and the whole family, she had begun to rebuild the fractured pieces of herself into something better.
And now, at 13, Maria was finally okay.
Though Marinette hasn't felt the things Maria has, Marinette feels the pain through the memories left with her. It must've been a hard time.
So, all in all, Maria hasn't told them that she knows. That's for Marinette to do.
Suddenly, she's jolted back to reality by someone's soothing and deep voice.
“Maria, you're doing that thing again.”
She turns around. There's Damian, two cups of coffee in his hand, sunlight shining across his face.
“Oh… What thing?” She asks, taking the cup he holds out for her to take.
He sits beside her, sipping his own coffee. “You're thinking too loud.”
She snorts. “You can hear my thoughts?”
He sips again. “Tt. If you continue to think this loudly, anyone could.”
She chuckles, drinking her own coffee.
“You always get my coffee just the way I like it, Dami, even after all these years. Thanks.”
“You're welcome.” He offers a small smile.
They stay there, finishing their coffee in quiet company, the sunlight falling onto them through the large windows.
…
“Time for breakfast, Master Timothy, Master Jason.” Alfred said, clearing his throat. “Please head down to the dining hall. Master Bruce will be waiting. He wishes to discuss something with you all.”
“Okay, Alfred.” Tim said. Jason nodded a yes, too, and they both hurried downstairs.
Alfred the butler now heads over to the door of Maria's room.
He is about to call out to her when he sees her and Damian sitting peacefully at the edge of the bed, drinking coffee.
He tuts, because really? Coffee on an empty stomach?
Then he smiles. The bliss they feel in each other's company is evident.
They are really made for each other.
…
Bonus:
*Whispering* “I think Alfred is secretly spying on us!”
“Tt. He just wants to see us together.”
“Well I wouldn't mind it if we were really together…”
“Tt. We are together.”
“...Why are all my crushes so oblivious!”