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ive-tumbled-down-a-rabbit-hole · 8 months

Text

Look at my lips and listen closely

Master list

Ok, I've listened to a lot of Dead Pony recently and ended up mis-hearing a line or two in bullet farm which sent off a cascade of tangential thoughts (which is pretty standard really) and voila this is the nonsense that was created. Well sort of, characters then decided to evolve and take over as well in ways I wasn't expecting so it's more of a 'voilà' and 'oh, I was not expecting to write that' and 'ok, that's a new direction to the original loose plan… concept'

Ta for reading 😘

……………

Bruce stared at the trio across the ballroom. They were positioned in such a way he couldn't see their lips. Their conversation was hidden causing him to feel a rising panic as the sound slowly faded while his heart beat sped up. He tried to figure out why they were here. Why now?

Bruce's heart felt like it would burst out his chest if it wasn't for all his years training. It wouldn't surprise him if he received a call from Clark in a moment or two to check to see how he was doing with how loud it felt to him. The years of training seemed to vanish and he felt like he was a newly christened twenty year old vigilante finding his feet in the world, learning how to mask and misdirect.

Taking an actual drink from his glass for once, Bruce took a second to compose himself. The slightly aromatic taste danced on his tongue, grounding him back to the present. To look at him, he'd still look like Brucie, playboy turned father, but from the curious glances his children sent him, he knew that he wasn't hiding his concern particularly well.

Across the room it appeared like his past was finally catching up with him in the most unexpected ways. He really had not foreseen that these three people would ever meet. There were links of course. The potential that they could meet, he just had never considered that they would.

They all lived at some point in the same country, and the blondes ran in potentially similar social circles but their lifestyles and personalities were so different it was hard to see them meeting… and connecting. Particularly… no… he wouldn't… would he?

Frowning Bruce mused about Ra's and how he liked playing mind games and well, after so many years of not seeing any of them, it wasn't a hard stretch of the imagination that this was the lastest mind game the megalomaniac near immortal would play. Pulling his Brucie facade close, Bruce greeted Dick who appeared at his side and leant into his arm while Jason joined them. The younger man's arms folded and wearing a frown that mirrored Bruce's own internal one.

"So, B, what's got you upset."

Laughing jovially causing his sons to wince at the fakeness, Bruce wrapped an arm around his boys and guided them somewhere slightly more secluded.

"Oh nothing Dickie. Are you and Jaylad ok? Your siblings?"

Picking up Bruce's unsaid meaning, Jason quickly sent a text to the others to meet them as Dick scanned the crowds. A surge of protective pride flooded Bruce at his boy's growth, they'd come a long way from the boys he adopted all those years ago.

By the more quiet balcony the rest of the Wayne's and adjacents congregated waiting for Bruce to spill the deets. They'd all clocked the trio that seemed to be the source of Bruce's unusual anxiety and waited in semi baited breath.

"Spill old man. What's the deal?"

"Gnnn"

"So eloquent B. Spit it out."

"I slept with that trio."

"Shocker! Who haven't you dated or slept with? Diana and Clark aren't the first you've had a ménage à trois with, big deal. What's the issue?"

"Not together. One's a model, another an heiress and the other I met training at the LoA."

"Gross Bossman. T.M.I!"

"So we have a Ra's situation?"

"What would grandfather want to do with a model and heiress?"

"I don'ge'it. Ken's an assassin? No offence Blondie."

"Full offence Jay! Why can't blonds be assassins?"

"Nothing against blond's, just, him?! I stuck out when I was there, him! He'd be a walking target. He looks as threatening as a wet kitten."

"Not all that trained with grandfather were brutes Todd. It could be part of his style to disarm his prey, mother's preference was harmless seduction anyway."

"Talia… harmless… *cackles* you're joking right?!"

Bruce pinched his nose as his children bickered around him trying to draw the attention back to himself.

"*Cough* HE isn't the assassin *cough* He is… was the model. She, Marinette, the dark haired one. She was who I met when," Bruce paused as a group of socialite's walked past. "I met her when I was travelling. I was with Adrien shortly after when I got back. I knew Chloe from childhood."

"You mean Tinkerbell is the one we're concerned about?!" Jason raised his eyebrows in surprise then started to reassess the trio.

"It's what Ra's is up to that concerns me. Why she… they would target Adrien and or Chloe?"

"You're about to find out B."

Acknowledging Tim's input, Bruce watched as Chloe had split off from the others, her gold dress sparkling under the chandelier's, her icy ruling aura making guests part like the sea much like she did in childhood. Marinette continued to talk to the group they were with as Adrien started weaving his way through the crowds. Slipping on his Brucie persona yet again, Bruce grabbed two drinks from a passing waiter as he grinned (honestly not even having to fake his fondness) as Adrien sauntered towards him.

The moment Adrien got close enough to the Wayne's, in full Brucie style, Bruce dragged Adrien into a warm, fully embracing, hug as he scouted out the ballroom. His woody cologne filled Bruce's nose as he breathed the man's scent in. He would be ready to protect his ex paramour from an attack.

"Adi baby!! Long time no see sweetheart. How are you, gorgeous? What brings you to this spectacular event… have you tried the wine? Isn't it devine."

Leaning away to greet Bruce with a customary la bise, Adrien returned to melt into Bruce's arms. Succumbing to the legacy of spending so much time touch starved in childhood. Bruce carefully manoeuvred him so he could hold him close while passing him the glass of sparkling wine.

"Brucie! It's good to see you too, mon amour. Meow are you? I'm purrr-fect at the moment. I've taken over the family business. I came here with my chief designer and COO. Mari and Chlo, have you met Marinette or Chloe actually? Hang on, I'll get them over here to meet you, where is she? Anyway they say I need to network more."

Adrien scanned the crowd looking for the blood-red dressed assassin and golden heiress he had come with before turning secretly to Bruce and his family.

"Which I sup-pawse they're correct." Adrien brings his hand up in a staged overly loud whisper, "don't tell them I said that though!"

His captivating emerald eyes sparkle into Bruce's steely blue ones in amusement. Looping his arm through Bruce's Adrien leans against the giant man like a feline seeking warmth, to Bruce's children's amusement.

"I finally escaped modelling. Father took ill, much like maman and Natalie did, it was a slight cat-asrophe with lots of drama. But I'm in charge. Business is far more fun than posing, you know, the proper cats pawjamas. I guess you do given…"

Adrien waved his arm about before smiling up at Bruce in a fond manner, his lips catching the light as a clear gloss coated them along with embroidered playful cats decorating his suit, diverting Bruce's attention momentarily. Bruce had forgotten how affectionate and almost cat-like he was with his tactility. The firm muscles hidden under his fitted figurative cat suit tantalised Bruce with memories of late night rendezvous. It was what had drawn him originally to Selina, the familiarity and reminder to the man beside him.

"Ooo, let's grab Mari and Chlo a glass of this devine purr-seco as you say. They'll be done talking business by now, I hope. I'm sure they'll join us in a meow-ment. The papers say you're a family man now mon amour. By the looks of it, it's true? Finally dark and mysterious men adopt litters of children in Gotham?"

Bruce winced internally, this wasn't going to be easy as Adrien seemed to be fond of the potential threat. That also being said Bruce felt the need to find Chloe too. Despite the chemistry that still simmered between him and Adrien, she was still at risk. The woman he shared his first kiss with. The snarky woman he'd watch with Ollie verbally decimate Lex 'just for funsies'. He glanced around the party goers again while appearing to look at his throng of children that surrounded him.

"Ah, yes, I can't comment on bat but mine fill the house with noise and chaos and my life with colour. I'm so proud of them even though they are the cause of me going grey."

"Not pawsible! You hardly have a wrinkle chéri, are you sure you are not modelling and not doing it for moi?! Or well my company?"

Bruce let out a loud laugh before placing a kiss on Adrien's forehead as he watched Marinette weave closer towards the pair and his children slowly close ranks protectively. He bit back the smile as he watched her slightly stumble but gracefully rescue it to look purposeful. Bruce focused on the problem at hand and to suppressed and parked how he felt for her while at Nanda Parbat.

"Bruce darling. What a surprise to see you, I didn't know you knew Adrien as well."

"Mari, you know Bruce too?"

Marinette slipped gracefully between the Wayne's and came up close to Adrien who slipped out of Bruce's hold to hug her. The quick kiss of her cherry red lips on Adrien cheek which he happily returned sent an unexpected jealousy through Bruce. He wasn't sure if it was because Adrien had left his space, because he was close to Marinette or that they shared a bond that Bruce no longer did.

"Of course Kitty, I met him while I was soul searching, tying up loose ends and looking for inspiration from around the globe. We trained together for a while."

"Ah, that point in time. It's a shame I couldn't come along. You know I'd have come with you, Purr-incess."

"Silly Kitty, you were exactly where you were needed. Been fed pastries and smothered in parental love along with Queenie."

Confused, Bruce could feel his Brucie mask slipping as he watched the pair banter and talk within jokes, pet names and understanding. It was like watching his children interact, like how they all interacted with their respective teams. Adrien knew of her time away, they both knew Chloe, did they know what she did while travelling… what it meant?

"Err…hn?"

Adrien laughed with his sunny smile as Marinette smirked and took a small sip from the glass Adrien had passed her. A ladybug themed ring glittered in the light daintily on her hand.

"Brucie, don't look confused. I've known Mari since we were tweens. We've been fur-ends… best fur-ends since my first day of collége. I've known Chlo even longer. She was my first fur-end. We all went to school together. Lived through Hawkmoth together. Were friends like you are with Ollie and that reporter from Metropolis and the curator at the Louve."

"Oh."

Blinking trying to process it all. Maybe there isn't a huge underhanded threat from Ra's. Bruce found himself getting more and more confused as his initial hypothesis has started to unravel but unwilling to let it go completely. Out of the corner of his eye he can see Cass, Steph and Tim whispering as Jason hovers while broodingnin a way that he'll deny. Dick charming and distracting other guests with Duke. All on hand if required but close enough to eavesdrop as well.

"And back to what you were saying. I'm not sure about the modelling Kitty though. He's missing the je ne sais quoi. The build… shoulders too…" Marinette's hand flipped at the broadness and just Bruce himself, "his looks too much like dracula. Our next look needs to be spectacular and Brucie… he has had too many injuries and spent recovering inside avoiding the sun. Hmm, not enough Côte d'Azur trips."

Marinette leant in close, her calloused hand skimming his cheek startling Bruce by her suddenly closeness and stealing his breath away and he peered into her bluebell eyes. Her lips tantalisingly close, sparks of something skittered around them despite the heat that Adrien was burning him with. Her hand slowly slipped down to brush imaginary lint off his velvet tux jacket and turned to Bruce with knowing eyes.

"Skiing accident in the Alps was the last injury Oui? Cannes, Nice or Toulon are good places to visit too, not quite as dangerous but still enough to do for thrill seekers."

Bruce gulped.

He'd forgotten their games of words. Of hidden meaning and close to the truth while saying everything and nothing. In a way, it's what drew him to Talia, the deadliness in a lithe form. What separated them was that Talia used her body like Selina to get to him. Adrien on the other hand used his playfulness and some to coyness where Marinette used her softness to hide the steel and sharpness of her mind.

The feeling of being the prey and not the predator in control grew as the French duo danced about him with more history than he expected. Their playful flirting and silent conversations left him feeling trapped and surprisingly flustered.

"Oh hush Buginette. Stop teasing Brucie. He's litter-ally a walking sex god and you know it. Your designs would need to be tailored oui, but imagine his body selling your outfits, his face selling the perfumes."

Staring at him like he was a slab of meat, Marinette's critical eye gazed over him. Finally Bruce felt he could breathe even with their sole attention on him. He felt safe knowing that it was clinical rather than heated.

"Potentially. I'll let you tell Jules then."

Adrien paled and shook his head.

"Nope. No thank you. I'd rather live, she has claws."

"*cough* hngh, do you still visit Nanda Parbat?"

Bruce stared at the duo trying carefully to unravel the situation without unsettling the careful balance that was required to keep the conversation from going south. The navigation of it all felt like he was lost at sea, and he didn't like it.

"Only visited there once. When I met you to be precise. The city had something that didn't belong to there and I was seeking it out to return to its original owners."

Cupping Bruce's face and pulling all his attention back to the blonde with emerald eyes. "Brucie, mon chéri, look at my lips and listen closely, Buginette is my chief designer at Agreste. We only travel to these events and fashion weeks. She isn't what you are thinking. No nefarious ties to green goop and wrinkly prunes. Definitely aligned to bats, cats, ladybugs and bees. Especially the birds and the bees."

Bruce let out a sigh, some of the tension he had held seeped out and he fell into a more natural Brucie stance and grin, kissing Adrien on the cheek and laughing as a blush flushed the Parisians cheeks as Marinette's familiar giggle surrounded them.

A fleeting look at his children, Bruce spotted them also relaxing their stants and slowly starting to drift off. Cass's thumbs up and smile said everything. She didn't perceive the pair as a threat, Marinette as a threat specifically and that there were no lies to worry about. Damian's disgusted face at having to witness the flirting was normal but he made no move to reach for his hidden weapons and was willing to be led away by Dick. Tim seemed to be long gone talking to investors and Jason seemed to be with Duke making a break for it no doubt.

"Umm, Bugaboo, I can see your wife approaching and she looks mad! I'm gonna go make out *cough* I mean catch up with Brucie. Play his dark knight and saviour. Cool. Love mee-yow. I'll let you deal with her umm sting!"

Looking up from the man who suddenly curled into him, Bruce's eyes widened in surprise as Chloe in a swarm of gold stormed towards them, her pink lipstick sneering at anyone getting in her way. The recognisable fire burned in her eyes like a vengeful queen only softening as she spotted Marinette whose red lips twisted into a dangerous smile.

"Ridiculous, utterly utterly ridiculous. Minette! You would not…. hmmmmmf!"

Stopping Chloe from approaching the flirty men, Marinette captured Chloe into her arms and distracted her with a searing kiss.

"Quick! Come mon chéri, Mari est saving us!"

Bemused, and thoroughly out of his depth at the power play and relationships of the Parisians, Bruce let Adrien drag him towards the balcony. The searing look in those emerald eyes said everything. The peach lips alluring and pouting at Bruce, as tempting as they were years ago. Bruce shrugged and decided for now he'll go along with it.

Given the hints they had littered, the conversation with Bruce suspected that they knew who they really were, but returned the favour with tips on who they may have been in a past life. They wore their masks in plain sight but hidden from the world unless you knew. Unless the world remembered the past.

Was it a worry? Yes. Would he investigate further? Definitely. But for now he would relax and catch up with Adrien.

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