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artxyra · 2 years

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Desperate Shipping Calls for Desperate Measures

Pretending to like Adrien may have been the worst decision of her life.

—–

It started when their mothers, Sabine Cheng and Emilie Graham de Vanily, met when they attended university. They were roommates and best friends. They did everything together, from studying to going out to parties. It was all that mattered between the two. That was until they fell in love.

Sabine began dating the baker’s son, while Emilie found interest in a business mogul whose focus is fashion. The two couples slowly began doing everything together. Double dates were a common thing.

After graduation, the two couple went their separate ways. Gabriel went on to start his own fashion company while Emilie focused on her acting career. Tom and Sabine took their in-home bakery and turned it into a storefront. Yet, they still managed to make time for group events.

Everything was perfect for their little group until their businesses grew on international levels.

Sabine and Tom jumped to stardom after participating in a baking contest in England and joined other celebrities in the food industries, specifically the pastries.

The people loved when Emilie was on the big screen or stage, as Gabriel expanded on his fashion company, Gabriel Designs, despite its rocky startup.

Soon the family of twos welcomes their new members: Adrien and Marinette. Adrien was born several months before Marinette. Both heirs were smiling and babbling babies, filling the households with laughter and joy.

Growing up, the two would spend the day at each other’s homes when their parents were on business trips. They grew to see each other as brother and sister. Marinette had asked her parents about going to her big brother’s house, and when asked who was she talking about, with the brightest of smiles, she said Adrien. Sabine and Emilie cried together when they realized that their children had taken to calling each other siblings.

When Adrien and Marinette were five, their parents received an invitation to a Wayne Gala event in Gotham, New Jersey. It was their first time going to the United States.

Despite being strictly business, Sabine and Tom quickly became friends with a Mr. Bruce Wayne. Though to Marinette, it was an opportunity to gain new siblings. Dickie and Tim Tam slowly became frequently used names in her vocabulary. Sadly, Adrien felt jealous of the two and entered a competition regarding Marinette’s favorite brother.

All was fine until Mari met the latest addition to the Wayne family when she was close to ten. Damian Wayne.

He wasn’t like the others, and she had met plenty of the adopted and non-adopted Waynes over the years. He was rude, always looking like he was out to get the world. His posture was always tense, almost like nobility. However, what Damian never expected was her determination.

She had the utmost pleasure in breaking through to the older boy. Her challenge every time she visited was to get him to laugh. She didn’t exceed.

When Adrien met the young Wayne, he screamed and hid behind Marinette, who (at the time) was taller than the two boys. Adrien hugged Mr. Kitten, his stuffed black cat, like a lifeline until Alfred had called the three kids for lunch. He swears that Damian could see through into his soul. Marinette believes that Adrien’s reaction was from Damian unknowingly placing his dominance.

Reaching their pre-teen and early teen years, Damian took a liking to Marinette and had developed a crush on her. His older siblings found it hilarious when they caught the apathetic teen lightly blushing at any mention of the Parisian girl. So, of course, they had a ball in making it their job to embarrass their young brother.

Unfortunately, a family loss disrupted the Agreste household. Emilie had fallen ill and suddenly disappeared from the face of the earth. Gabriel didn’t know how to deal with the loss.

So to prevent endangering his son’s lifestyle, he ended up giving the Dupain-Cheng household temporary custody of Adrien until he figured out his next move. However, the custody move didn’t sit well with members of Emilie’s family, despite being the best move for Adrien.

After the custody transition, that was the last time anyone had seen Gabriel Agreste in public. Thankfully, Adrien had plenty of surrogate siblings and family to help him through the loss of his mother, but he also ended up losing his father in the process.

Months before Adrien and Marinette entered 8th grade, Damian has worked up the courage to ask Marinette out on a date. His actions surprised everyone, as they thought he would have waited until they were in high school (lycée).

Once the shock wears off, Marinette smiles, wrapping her arms around the taller boy’s neck. Her boys had grown to be taller, even if it was by a couple of centimeters. Everyone around them suspects that they’ll be at least 5’8” to 6’2” while Marinette would grow to be Sabine’s height at best. Not that they would mention that in front of Marinette. The little lady has a unique way of turning her sweet words into threats.

Despite their ages, the media went wild, sending the couple celebratory announcements online the second a reporter reportedly leaked an intimated image to the press. No, it wasn’t something sexual; it was a photo taken out of context. Which, surprisingly, was photographed a week before Damian and Marinette made it official. The couple’s parents promise their kids a normal relationship thinking nothing of the media interference.

It was all fine and dandy until the first day of school. Marinette and Adrien received their Miraculous within the hour of each other. But before that, Marinette knew that this would be Adrien’s first time in a public school, so she thought of a harmless prank.

Adrien was to play the oblivious friend, using Chloé as his alibi. Marinette took on the role of the clumsy, babbling, do-gooder friend. It was supposed to be for laughs and last at best until the spring holiday.

However, not even a day after they started college, Marinette had become friends with the new girl, an aspiring journalist. She’ll quickly soon regret that as what she didn’t count for was Alya’s determination.

———

“I’m fine, Dami,” Marinette says to Damian over video chat. Her attention was nowhere on her computer screen but a mannequin with a work-in-progress outfit. Adrien, in the same room with her, was being no help.

Damian raises an eyebrow. Marinette scowls and states, “I’m serious. They cannot bring me down, especially after this week.”

“She’s lying.” Adrien sings from his position on the chaise. In his hand is a wrapped-up croissant. Marinette turns to the blonde model (he’s taking a bite out of his pastry) and glares at him. Adrien stops eating and stares back at her with a what expression. Marinette rolls her eyes and returns to her project.

“If you ever feel like your sanity is lost, I will gladly put a sword through her if she doesn’t stop.” Marinette turns to Damian with an eyebrow raised. Her lips purse together, she’s thinking.

“I didn’t know you like crazy. At this rate, my sanity will be gone before graduation. And, if you haven’t placed a sword through her, I’m sure Luka would.” Marinette pauses. “Though, not with a sword. Maybe a guitar string.”

“Lulu would rather give up his ability to speak, than lose a guitar string.” Adrien interrupts. Marinette ignores him and begins to stitch together pieces of fabric.

Damian quickly chuckles. The three return to what they were doing, each talking when bored or necessary.

“Well, your lunch is ending soon, same time tonight, your time?” Marinette states, pulling her focus away from the outfit and onto the clock. On her face is a sad smile hidden by a soft smile on her face.

“Father will understand if I ditch the other half a day.” Adrien obnoxiously coughs in the background. Damian tsk.

“Dames…” Marinette turns to her computer.

Damian smiles fondly at her. The two share a chuckle. “I’ll go, Angel.” Damian folded. “Are we still on for tomorrow’s date night?”

“I would be crazy if I said it wasn’t.” Marinette waves goodbye to the small screen. The screen goes black, signaling the end of the call.

“So, Maribug, what are we going to do about Alya?” Adrien asks; before Marinette could reply, both of their phones dings. Adrien looks down and sees the call-id, “It’s Nino; he’s asking if I want to hang out with him and Alya tomorrow.”

Marinette sighs and sends a quick reply. She doesn’t look up from her phone when she responds. “Alya texted me about wanting to hang out with her rather than Nino.”

A beat passed, and realization set in their minds.

Together they state, “She’s setting us up again.” Groans follow through.

—–

Two weeks of planning all come down to this.

It had to work; there was no way that it wouldn’t. Alya Cesaire, the Ladyblogger, was determined to make her favorite ship, Adrienette, a reality before the end of the school year, which was coming up fast. Ever since they met in college, Marinette, not once, managed to work up the confidence to ask out the blonde model.

And what kind of friend is she for not helping her best friend get the guy? A bad one. Considering this is why she is staging her latest plan for Operation Adrienette at the Place des Vosges.

Almost everyone –that was once a part of the akuma class– sits on the green pasture, waiting for information. Alya, however, stands on a makeshift podium front and center with Lila by her side. She points to the easel with a large poster board.

“Here’s the plan. We all know that graduation is coming up soon, and I tend to make it my legacy to ensure that Adrienette becomes a reality. I have done too much for it not to happen. They have ditched us for the last time, and I planned to end that this week.” Alya states, pretending to be heartbroken. She places her hand over her heart and shakes her head. Lila awkwardly pats on Alya’s back. She stops when Alya continues to talk.

Lila couldn’t help but notice that Chloé and Juleka were missing from the meeting, and she was 90% sure that it wasn’t by design.

When she came into their class, she didn’t want Adrienette to happen. Adrien was her best bet to gain attraction due to his connection to Gabriel Designs. She, of course, tried everything within her power to make Marinette look bad, but when she tried to get Marinette expelled from college, she found out there was more to the story than a simple crush.

Adrien came up to her during their photoshoot and practically threatened her. The message was clear: stop messing with his sister or else. She got the picture well after that encounter. Since that encounter, she made a deal with the duo, learning that there was no romantic attraction between them– just mischief.

The reason for Lila being at the park is mainly for Alya’s sake. She could care less about the plan and would have preferred a spa day with her mother. That and the rest of them are still her puppets, so she must continue playing the supportive friend.

Alya mutters something under her breath before stating, “I’m still salty about the last plan.” That statement piques the interest of her audience.

“They were supposed to have a romantic time at the ice rink, and nothing came of it. All they did was skate around the rink for a couple of hours. The most they did as a couple was drinking hot chocolate. Drinking hot, mother-freaking, chocolate. The closest intimacy I saw was a kiss on the cheek.” Alya pauses, trying to recollect herself.

“This time– I’m planning a romantic dinner where Nino and I would ditch the two for another booth. That way they are forced to interact with each other.”

“What are we, we meaning you, going to do if that backfires?” Rose raised her hand, inputting her concerns.

“I– uh– we don’t expect it to.” Alya confidently states, slapping her presentation stick in her hand.

It was a Friday night– aka the very next day– when the plan commenced.

Adrien had agreed to meet up with Nino and Alya for whatever they had planned. He ended up dressing up at the request of Alya, as she was blowing up his phone under Nino’s contact name. Not that he minds, but after the third text, it was annoying.

When he appeared at the restaurant, Adrien had a look of disinterest. To which Alya ignores downgrading it to nerves.

Alya hangs off of Nino’s arms, smiling at the model. It was creeping him out, but Adrien didn’t want to seem rude, so he smiled back.

“Why are we so dressy? If this was meant to be a simple outing with friends?” He asks even though he knew the answer already.

“We’re waiting for Marinette. She’d promised me that she’ll be here in a moment.” Alya deflects the question, “Might I say, Adrikins, you look nice in that suit of yours.” She looks elsewhere, no doubt to find Marinette. “Ah, there she is. Marinette!” She waves down Marinette, who looks irritated more than anything.

Marinette walks over to the group.

Adrien gasps, causing Alya to smile smugly at Nino. Her plan is working. Nino continues to watch the two in wonder.

Adrien’s gasps were at what Marinette was wearing. She’s wearing a v-necked checkered red and black patterned T-shirt dress with Gotham’s vigilante Robin’s icon in the upper right corner and thick heel ankle boots.

“Hey gurl, glad you can join us.” Alya pulls away from Nino, giving the poor teen his arm back. Nino then formally greets Adrien with a side-bro hug and an awkward smile.

“It’s not like I had a choice, Alya,” Marinette murmurs, but Alya heard it anyway. The blogger pulls her best friend closer.

“Of course, you did. Look you’re already here, and let’s go get to our seats.” Alya pushes Marinette towards the door and gestures for Adrien and Nino to follow.

However, before the two reach the door, Alya whispers, “Now’s your chance. Go get your man, gurl.” To which Marinette stutters out of embarrassment.

Before they were seated, Marinette noticed the two-seat table. Like that didn’t raise any red flags about this evening. In all honesty, she thought it was a double date–one table and the four of them hanging out. Then again, she should have known better.

There were only two chairs. Alya pushes for Marinette and Adrien that take that table. All this despite their outcries. She and Nino grab another table on the opposite side of the restaurant.

From where Alya sat, Marinette and Adrien both looked very comfortable. That’s a great sign. When the waiter came over, that’s where everything slowly began to fall apart.

The waiter asked the brother-sister duo if they needed anything. Marinette asks for water, and Adrien states that he’s just a stand-in. The waiter didn’t question it and walked away to get Marinette’s drink.

Alya and Nino had ordered their meals, but Adrienette had not. Marinette’s calmly sipping her water all while making conversation with Adrien. Alya was slowly getting fed up with the lack of couple-ly actions between the two. She would have stalked over there had Nino not been holding her back.

At the peak of Alya’s frustration, it all came crashing down. A tall, tan, sleek dark-haired gentleman suddenly walks over to the table. He coughs into his fist. Adrien immediately gives up his seat, but instead, Marinette gets out of her seat to hug the man. Adrien smiles at the two.

Alya sits at her table flabbergasted. Marinette had the audacity to kiss the unknown male on the lips before wishing Adrien out.

Adrien had the nerve to turn to Alya, smirking. He winks at her before walking towards the entrance and out of the restaurant.

Marinette and the male happily held hands across the table and chatted. When the waiter returned a couple of minutes later, Marinette placed her order. The waiter wasn’t surprised to see the new face.

Alya watches as the couple happily eats, seething. Anger could not describe what she was feeling. Who was this guy, and how dare he hijack a date she’d been planning for weeks? Weeks! When Nino finally gave his okay, it was after Marinette and her mystery date had left the restaurant. He will never admit that his reasoning was because the guy screams dangerous. Alya wanted to scream and shout. Scream to the heavens to let out all the anguish she was suffering from Adrienette and scream at Marinette for daring to bring another guy in while she has a crush on Adrien.

She must break them up. Consequences be damned.

—–

Alya didn’t see Marinette or Adrien for the rest of the weekend. It was not because she was busy, no. But because when she tried to reach them, they ignored her. The Ladyblogger visited the patisserie only to discover that Marinette was not home. Where was she? It’s not like Marinette to go off the grid.

Alya was a crazy mess when she returned to the classroom that following Monday morning. She was surrounded by her very curious classmates wondering how the date went. Is Adrienette finally a couple? How did the date go? The pressuring amount of questions nearly caused Alya to have another breakdown.

Keeping her cool, to which Alya did a fantastic job. Or that was until she was just about to answer the questions when Marinette and Adrien walked through the doors. All coolness goes out the window.

“You, how could you? Do you have any idea what I had to go through to get you that date?” Alya shouts at the designer as if it;’s her fault for all her problems. She would have gotten into her face if it wasn’t for Lila holding her back.

Marinette raises an eyebrow; she quickly turns to Adrien, who shrugs and sits beside Nino.

“Well?” Marinette turns to Alya, who couldn’t get a read on the designer.

Marinette squares up to her former friend; sighing, Marinette shakes her head.

“I didn’t ask to be set up with Adrien, Alya. Nor did I have ever had a crush on him. At first, it was hilarious, but now… it’s impacting both our love life.” Marinette explains before taking her seat in the back.

“Love life? Marinette, you are destined to be with Adrien. Have been since the two of you first met in this classroom several years ago.” Alya screeches, but her cries go unheard by the two siblings.

“Maybe you should cool it, Alya. Class is about to start.” Lila states, tugging on her friend’s arm. Alya looks at the clock on the wall and scowls, cursing the bell.

The teacher walks in and demands the class to sit down. Alya turns to Marinette and mouths, “This is not over,” to which Marinette shrugs and absently sketches in her notebook.

Alya couldn’t get a one-on-one conversation with Marinette at the school. She, of course, is infuriated. So, she planned for another meeting in the Place des Vosges that following weekend. However, this time on her way to the park, she saw something she didn’t want to see.

Andre’s ice cream cart was in the area, and Marinette just so happens to be walking hand in hand with the same male from the failed date attempt. They were looking all lovey-dovey and stuff. What was worse was the ice cream flavors (colors). It practically matched Adrien’s from when they last had Andre’s ice cream as a group. Alya growls, her face turning red from the heat of her anger. That’s it; the gloves are on now.

“I have called you all here because it has come to my attention that all my hard work is going unnoticed. Marinette has had the audacity to be around another man knowing that Adrien is her forever. That ends today.” Alya states, standing in front of the remaining members of team Adrienette, practically the majority of her classmates. They whisper amongst themselves, unsure how to answer the reporter.

Alya nods, knowing her plan is working, “Our job for the next couple of days is to take incriminated photos of Marinette. I need to gather as much evidence to break up our gurl and this supposed boyfriend of hers.”

There is a pause. The silent question for suggestions lingers amongst them.

“Oh, I’ve seen Marinette with these two men lately outside of school. I think there’s something going on between them. You don’t think she’s going something scandalous, do you?” Lila lies through her teeth, but who was she to turn down a good opportunity for drama. Sure, she already knows the truth, but Alya didn’t know that.

“Someone that isn’t this suppose boyfriend of hers?” Alya pushes with a mischief glint in her eyes.

Lila nods, still feigning innocents. It’s not like she’s hurting anyone. Though, she might be hurting herself in the long run once Marinette finds out what she did.

“Good. That is excellent news.” Alya clasps her hands.

———

It wasn’t excellent news. It wasn’t at all.

——–

The first attempt was a disaster in the making. Alya didn’t think it through for several reasons. A couple of days after the meeting, she and Nino had noticed that Marinette was spending more time with Marc. They hadn’t seen the boyfriend in a while, which to them was perfect.

Every day, Marinette met up with Marc during lunch. The two consistently talked, though Marinette was sketching something in her sketchbook. And whenever Alya gets near them, Marinette closes her sketchbook and dismisses her.

Since Nathaniel was the closest to Marc, she sent him to take the photos and investigate. Let’s just say the results were not in his favor.

It turns out that Marc was commissioning a scarf with a matching tablet cover for Nathaniel. Their anniversary was coming up. Marc wasn’t happy; he was furious when Nathaniel told him. Marinette was his friend; how dare he try and use him for something so pitiful.

It finally dawned on Alya that everyone in the school knew that Marc and Nathaniel were in an item. And since Marinette is a designer, she works with lots of people regardless of gender, so of course, she would hang around other males.

Realizing that she’ll have to be picky with her choices on ways to make Marinette look like a cheater, she had to dig deep. Luka? She’ll have to save him for the last resort. Alya still remembers the last conversation she and Marinette had over Luka. The latter was head over heels for the musician.

Alya couldn’t have been more frustrated than she we tried to go through with her second attempt. For a week, Marinette was with her boyfriend and close friends. Weren’t they close friends?

Anyone around Alya could see the invisible tick marks across the reporter’s head.

“Alya? Are you okay?” Her teeth grind together at the question Marinette had asked her during class. It was no secret that her pencil broke into two. She smiles back at Marinette and asks: what her plans are for the weekend. To add salt to her aching mind, Marinette says, she was spending time with Adrien and Luka. Uh– what?

It was a lie.

With her phone in hand and her supporters behind her, Alya followed Marinette throughout Paris. Only to find out that Marinette was not spending any time with Adrien and Luka but with Chloé and Kagami instead. Sure, Marinette was also into girls, and it could have played well into her plan. But Alya feared Kagami putting a blade through her more.

Back to the planning board.

Alya lost count of how many attempts she had gone through before resorting to one of her last options–Luka Couffaine. He was perfect. Well, not perfect, but he and Marinette had chemistry. That has to count for something. Right?

Holding her head high, she approaches the one person she hasn’t seen during their group meetings. When was the last time the two of them spoke? It couldn’t have been that long ago. Could it?

“Hey, Juleka…” Her voice lingers, feigning innocence.

“No.” Juleka didn’t even face her. Rude.

“C’mon, he’ll agree to do it if you’re the one asking. Please, Jules.”

Juleka huffs, rolling her eyes and placing a strand of her hair behind her ear. “I’ll see what I can do, but don’t blame me for the outcome. Also, don’t call me Jules.”

Alya smiles cheekily, not realizing the fault in her plan.

The next day, Juleka struts up to her and states, “Yeah…, I forgot to mention that Luka is in a committed relationship. Sorry.”

“What!” The reporter’s voice echoes in the school’s hallways. Her voice alone created an opening in the halls as she ran after Juleka once the shock wore off.

There had to be something better. Bigger. Yeah, something bigger that would break up the couple. It couldn’t be normal– it had to be perfect.

After everything she went through to stage Marinette as a cheater to her so-called boyfriend, Alya finally struck gold.

It was a victory that no one would have expected. That’s because it had happened randomly. On a whim, in fact. Nino had suggested that they go on a stress relief night stroll.

They had caught Marinette in the streets, leaving a building with two unknown men. The two men appeared older and more dangerous (well, one of them at least). The one with a white-streaked in his hair offered Marinette his jacket. She takes it.

Alya had to double-check with Nino to confirm that neither of them had ever seen the two males before in Paris. With a firm nod, the reporter knew she had the perfect story.

Grabbing her phone and opening the camera, she began to work her magic.

Instead of posting the images immediately, Alya followed the three, gathering as much incriminating evidence for her plan to come together.

Too bad her peers didn’t think the same. Anyone familiar with Marinette knew had seen the two males and Marinette from time to time. The two males were regulars at Marinette’s family bakery and have been for years. To them, the gossip from the akuma class meant very little.

Despite having several incriminating footage and photos, Alya favors the video where the three subjects are in the park throwing a frisbee. One of the males came up behind Marinette and spun her around before placing a kiss on her cheek. Marinette giggles, then return the gesture with a kiss on the cheek before grabbing the frisbee out of his hand and tossing it to the other.

Downloading the edited video, Alya knew this would be her masterpiece. She was ready to take on the world. All she needed was the perfect opportunity.

She didn’t have to wait long.

Alya had caught Marinette and the alleged boyfriend sitting underneath a tree at Place des Vosges. Marinette was sitting between his legs, sketching something down in her sketchbook. The perfect couple’s picture.

Alya ignores Nino’s disagreeing outcries to races across the street.

Approaching the couple confidently, Alya states the following, “Your girlfriend here is a cheating bitch.”

Marinette stops sketching and turns to her boyfriend, then back to Alya. She doesn’t say a word, probably cussing out Alya in her head.

Alya freezes. She’s unsure what to think about the lack of emotions showing between the couple.

“What makes you think that of my beloved.” The male asks, raising an eyebrow.

Marinette made no moves to leave her spot, though she does start to pack up her things.

Refinding her confidence, Alya pulls a power move, “I got evidence.”

He didn’t seem convinced.“Pray tell.”

Alya digs into her purse, pulls out her phone, and touches the screen furiously.

Finding what she was looking for, she held the phone to the boyfriend’s face.

“Do you mind if I–“

“Yes, everything in this fold proves my point.”

He takes his time examining the evidence. Leaving little to no facial expressions.

A minute passed. Then another. Maybe she can win this, and her Adrienette ship will be sailing by the end of the day.

A sigh exits his lips as he pushes the phone into Marinette’s hand. Her eyes widen.

Oh!

Marinette coughs, trying to hide her awkward snickering.

Another pregnant silence. The scrolling continues.

“So that’s why they were here. I really need to place boundaries on those idiots.” He says thoughtfully.

“Don’t you dare.” Marinette counters, playfully hitting the male’s chest. “I actually enjoy spending time with them.”

Ah, what? Hundreds of questions began to arise within the blogger’s mind.

“Your poor skills in journalism, seemed to caught my Habibti with my idoitic older brothers. Those photos that you have of them are without consent. That video of them has poorly used VFX. I could press charges against you on their behalf.”

“I give credit where it’s due, Alya, this might be your best attempt yet.” Marinette states, standing up to pat the blogger on her back. “Did Lila put you up to this?”

“Wha–?” A squeak exits Alya’s lips.

“If Rossi did, she wouldn’t be stupid enough to cross a Wayne and Agreste.” The dark-haired male mutters.

“Damian…” Marinette sighs, rolling her eyes. “Don’t be too hard on her. Rossi’s just as much as a player in this little game of ours than most.”

“Lila? Game? Player?” Alya was losing every ounce of confidence she had.

“Hey Mars, look who I found.” Adrien hollers from afar.

“Dude…” Nino? How she could have forgotten her boyfriend. Alya scurries over to Nino to be in his arms. Maybe having his presence will save everything.

“Hey Nino, long time no see.” Marinette greets the DJ as Damian grunts sending Adrien a look of acknowledgment.

“What am I, chopped liver?” That voice was too familiar.

Not wanting to add fuel to this trainwreck, Alya refused to look up.

Her stubbornness got the best of her. She looked over and saw Adrien standing hand-in-hand with Luka. Since when were they that closed?

Adrien rests his head against Luka’s chest, giving Marinette a warm smile. There’s hope for her ship.

That ended with a single kiss. The blogger screams. How could all this go so wrong? Just yesterday, everything was like it was at the start of their 8th-grade year. And now, it was a loaded mess.

“Dude when did this happened?” Thank kwami for Nino.

Adrien rubs the back of his neck, sending Nino a sheepish smile.

“For a while now, but not as long as Marinette has been with Damian. Those two have been dating since Mars’s thirteenth birthday and been going strong ever since.” Marinette hums as Damian kisses her cheek. She’s practically glowing.

“But…but,” Alya stutters. Her brain could not comprehend the situation.

Marinette steps in front of Alya and looks her dead in the eyes.

“Alya, dating Adrien would be like dating my brother. Which practically it is, considering we’ve been friends since we were in diapers.” Marinette then adds more fuel to the fire, “You and the class would have noticed had you not been set on this Adrienette ship.”

Adrien also decided to add in his two cents. “Yeah, a simple search online and you would see photos of Mari and me at galas, movie premieres, fashion shows. She and Damian have been in news coverage from the first time they announce their relationship to their recent engagement announcement.” Marinette blushed at the thought of the now visible giant ring on her ring finger.

“Alya, in a different universe I would proudly be Adrien’s girlfriend,” There’s a pause, a false moment of hope, “But it’s not this universe.”

Her knees gave in. If it wasn’t for Nino, Alya would have hit the ground. She watches the nearly engaged couple walk out of the park and in the direction of the bakery. A string of unidentifiable words leaves her lips in mumbles.

“Better luck next time, Alya,” Adrien smiles before he and Luka follow the two, but not without waving goodbye to Nino.

Alya remained lost for words.

Her ship will never become canon. All her hard work was for nothing–a false dream. Breaking free of Nino’s grasp, she falls onto the green pastures.

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

Rewrite of Request #19.

#maribat #ml x dc #daminette #lukadrien #ml crossover #dc crossover #mlb x dc #artxyra one-shots

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mischiefandspirits · 3 years

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Bernard Figures It Out

Was reading through all the comments on @frostbittenbucky's post and all I could think of was that it was Bernard talking to Tim. Then I got to thinking...

"I've connected the two dots."

"You didn't connect shit."

"I've connected them."

Bernard figures out Tim's a superhero... sort of.

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

Tim fidgetted nervously as he waited on the front porch of his boyfriend’s house. Bernard had sounded so serious when he’d called during Tim’s lunch to ask him to come over after work so they could talk about something.

Which Tim had done, after spending an entire board meeting just going over the past week trying to figure out what he’d done.

The only thing he could think of was that he’d ducked out halfway through their lunch date on Wednesday to give Duke some backup, but Bernard had seemed understanding when Tim explained there was an emergency at GRC Labs. It couldn’t have been a tipping point, either, since Tim had managed to only flake on three other dates over the past few months they’d been dating. Kate had been happy to cover for him as often as she could “out of queer solidarity” when she found out Tim was dating a boy for the first time and Tim had managed to trick Bruce into covering a few actual Wayne Enterprises emergencies for him when they came up.

There had to be a reason Bernard was breaking up with him, though. Had he missed something? He definitely wasn’t forgetting an important day. He was good with days and Tam was even better, so she would have reminded him on the off chance that he had forgotten.

What was he missing?

Bernard was smiling when he opened the door, but there was a nervous energy to it that had Tim’s stomach sinking. “Hey, Tim.”

“Hey.” Tim gave his own nervous smile then slipped inside.

They went into the living room and sat down on the couch.

Tim frowned when Bernard grabbed a manila folder off the coffee table. Crud, had he screwed up enough that Bernard had had to make a list? He knew he was new to dating a guy, but he hadn’t thought he’d done that bad. He’d really been trying, especially with how his and Stephanie’s relationship had fallen apart at the end. “What -”

“Just let me speak, Tim,” Bernard said, waiting for Tim’s nod. “Okay, so you know Clark Kent, right?”

Tim blinked as Bernard opened the folder to show a picture of Clark. It looked like one of the employee pictures from the Planet’s website, with his dorky “I’m just a humble country boy” smile and the golden globe from their roof photoshopped in as the background. “Uh, yeah? I think so. He works for the Daily Planet, right? I think he’s worked at a few of Bruce’s events. Not a lot of outside reporters are willing to come to Gotham.”

“Exactly!” Bernard said, snapping his fingers and pointing at Tim.

“What?”

He pulled out the picture to show the next page was an article titled, “DAILY PLANET REPORTER… BATMAN!?”

A wave of relief washed over Tim and he placed his face in his hands. “Were you up all night on the hero conspiracy boards again?”

“No. I mean, I found this on a board and was up all night thinking about it, but I found it reasonably early.”

“One in the morning isn’t reasonable, Bernard.”

“Says the guy who’s always wide awake when I call to infodump.”

“Touché.” Tim leaned against Bernard and gave him a smile. “So tell me, why is some reporter from Metropolis from all places Batman.”

“First of all, living in Metropolis is the perfect cover. Everyone assumes Batman would live in Gotham, no one would consider he could be from anywhere else. Metropolis is outside the GMA, but close enough that the commute is still possible.”

“But it’s Metropolis.”

“And who would think Gotham’s Dark Knight lives in the sunshine capital? Plus, I hear he disappears a lot on the job. There’s gotta be a reason for it!”

Tim made a note to let Clark know he needs to cut back on the disappearing act some since people are catching on.

“And have you seen the guy? He is swol AF, babe.”

“Please don’t call me babe while you’re talking about how hot another guy is.” Especially Tim’s honorary uncle.

“You know I prefer twinks.”

“BERNARD!”

“I’m just saying,” he continued, ignoring Tim’s shout. “The guy is definitely hiding something! Besides, Kent is an investigative reporter. He’s gotta know a lot about cases and the underground and detective work.”

Not as much as he likes people to think, but more than he likes people to know Superman does, Tim mused. “But what about the other vigilantes?”

“Well, Kent has a cousin…” Bernard flipped through a folder and pulled out a picture of Kara. It looked like a screenshot of her interviewing Lena for CatCo. “She’s obviously the latest Batgirl. Look at her hair. And the first Batgirl and the current Batwoman were obviously Lois Lane, the red hair is just a wig. Did you see how she kicked butt at that last event she went to? She’s not as subtle as Kent. That means their son is the latest Robin. He’s exactly the right size.”

Oh, Damian better not hear about this, Tim cackled internally. His youngest brother hated being reminded that Jon was the same height as him despite their two years age difference. Damian definitely took after Talia when it came to body type, no matter what he said.

“And Kent also has a brother.” This time he pulled out a picture of Kon. The clone must have been caught by a reporter out shopping with Ma since he was carrying some paper bags and glaring at whoever was behind the camera. “At least, he’s supposedly Kent’s brother, but he was a teenager when he first showed up with the Kents. A lot of people think he’s actually Kent’s son, that Kent got a girl pregnant when they were teenagers and something happened to the mom so Kent had to take him in. Now the Kents are trying to hide it by saying the two are brothers.”

That was… scarily accurate actually. Especially given Luthor and Clark were close friends at the time that Kon would have theoretically been born.

“And that beef would explain why the younger Kent brother went all crime lord on Gotham for a while before reconnecting with the family.”

“Wait, what?”

“Yeah, Kent Jr.’s got the perfect build for Red Hood.”

Tim bit back a comment on how Kon was shorter than Jason by a good foot. Timothy Drake-Wayne should not know that. Add Jason to the list of people who can’t hear this theory.

“And then there’s this girl,” Bernard picked up a picture of Lois, Jon, and Natasha Irons walking down the street together. “No one’s sure exactly who she is, but she’s been spotted with the Kents a few times. I think the cover story is that she’s Jon’s babysitter.”

“And the actual story?”

“She’s Black Bat, obviously. That’s why she wears a mask that fully covers her face. She doesn’t want to stand out as the only African American Bat.”

“Isn’t Signal also Black?”

“Yeah, but he works in the daytime so he’s already a standout.”

“And who is Signal in this? And what about Nightwing and Red Robin?”

“Well, Nightwing’s just a Blüd who came to Gotham. He doesn’t count.”

Ouch. Sorry, Dick.

“And Red Robin is obviously an older Robin, the one who was Robin when we were kids. Kent wanted to keep him on, and I don’t blame him. As for Signal, he’s got the same backstory as all the other Robins Kent picked up, he just went the Signal route because he didn’t fit the usual Robin mold.”

“Because the female Robin fit the mold,” Tim snorted. Robin Mold, as if he and his brothers were even the same ethnicity. Or even had the same hair color. Jason dyes his hair, Dick’s is brown-black, Tim’s is pure black, and Damian’s is more a dark brown and it’s only getting lighter as he gets older.

“She didn’t, that’s the point. Kent tried to give breaking the Robin mold a chance by letting his cousin have a go at it, but he realized it just didn’t work so she went back to being Spoiler and he got a new Robin.”

Not touching that with a ten-foot pole. “Right, and where does he get the usual Robins? Please tell me you’re not back on the secret government orphanages theory.”

“No, no, no. Kent travels sometimes for his job, right? And a lot of the time he’s going to places that have been hit by disasters or major crimes. So he’ll take in some of the displaced children to train as his robins.”

Tim pressed his face back into his hands.

“You see it, right?”

Honestly, Tim was just wondering how his boyfriend could be so close, and yet so far off. “How would Kent even afford taking care of a bunch of secret -- possibly illegally acquired -- children without anyone noticing?”

“Simple. Bruce Wayne is funding him.”

“Bernard, I love you, but what the heck?” Tim blushed and looked up as he realized what he’d said, but Bernard didn’t seem to notice as he steamrolled ahead.

“It’d also explain how he can afford all the gear and how he’d be able to travel to Gotham or anywhere else Batman goes without anyone noticing. He probably has a secret Batplane or something.”

“Why would Bruce do that?”

“Because Wayne cares about Gotham, everyone knows that, and this way he can make sure someone’s taking care of the city without anyone putting two and two together.”

“And two plus two is?”

Bernard gave him a hard look. “I’m not stupid, Tim. Bruce Wayne is obviously Superman. His face is right there.”

Oh, the others are going to love this! Too bad I can’t tell Damian or Jason. Jason especially would have loved this. “Right. Bruce is Superman.”

“He is. Superman is known for being nice and Bruce Wayne’s basically all that’s keeping the city running at this point. That’s nice as hell.”

Oh my god.

“And Wayne does charity for the victims of cataclysms, doesn't he? I bet he first saves people from them as Superman and then builds them new homes for free.”

Oh my god! Why am I not recording this!?

“And the Wayne’s were rich enough to hide the fact they adopted an alien baby.”

Tim raised an eyebrow. “If you’re about to tell me this is why Bruce’s parents got killed, you might want to stop while you’re ahead.”

“It’d make sense. There’re all sorts of unanswered questions about their deaths,” Bernard muttered under his breath, flipping through the folder. He pulled out another picture of Kara. This time she was in full Supergirl attire with a bus held overhead. “So if Wayne is Superman, then that’d mean your ex-girlfriend could be Supergirl. They look a lot alike and it’d explain how she got involved with you all.”

“Bernard, she has a human dad. You know, Cluemaster. The supervillain.”

“Yeah, her dad. But we don’t know anything about her mom!”

“Let me guess…”

Bernard pulled out a picture of Karen. She and Helena were suited up and talking to a group of cops, two goons held over each of Karen’s shoulders. “Her mom could be Power Girl! Some makeup and a wig and she could look just like Crystal Brown! And Damian Wayne is obviously the new Superboy! That’s why his background is such a mystery, right? He had to stay a secret until he could control his alien superpowers. That’s why he’s always so mean. It’s a cover since everyone knows Superboy is super sweet!”

Sure, when he’s not helping Damian pull pranks or using his adorable powers to put the blame on Kon and I. “No, Bernard. Damian and Steph are just very human hellspawn. And Bruce and Crystal are human too. I can’t believe you called me over here just to tell me you think Superman is both Batman’s sugar daddy and my adoptive dad.”

“Well, that’s not exactly why I called you over,” Bernard admitted, the nervous energy coming back. He grabbed Tim’s hands. “Tim -”

Tim’s stomach sank. “You are breaking up with me!”

“What? No! I don’t want to break up!”

“Why are you acting all nervous and serious then!?” Tim asked, pulling his hands away to throw them up in the air.

Bernard shook the folder. “Because I’m trying to tell you I figured out you’re Superboy!”

Tim’s brain blue-screened and his hands slowly dropped. “I’m sorry, what?”

“I know you’re Superboy. The older one, obviously. By the way, you and Damian really need to figure out separate names.”

Forget Jason and Damian, Kon can never find out about this. He’d never let me live it down. “Bernard, you called me a twink five minutes ago. Su-” Shoot, I can not risk getting Kon’s attention! “The older one might not be as big as Superman, but he’s not a twink.”

“Well, yeah, that’s the shapeshifting at work.”

“The what?”

“Obviously you Kryptonians can shapeshift. Why else would you look so much like humans?”

… Why do Kryptonians look so much like humans? Was there some - Wait, no! Break into the Fortress of Solitude for research later! Reassure your boyfriend that you’re not an alien now! “Bernard -”

“And that explains why your step-mom was so hot.”

“Gross.”

“She and your dad were actors hired by Luthor so you could have a normal life! But now Bruce has custody so he adopted you.”

“No.”

“That’s why you and your dad were so weird with each other when I met him.”

“We were weird because he’d just gotten out of a coma not long before to find that his wife was dead so he decided to actually be a dad for once in his life, but overcompensated and became a helicopter parent to a kid who was mostly on his own for his entire life!” Tim blurted out. “I am not an alien, Bernard!”

“Well, not technically since you were cloned from Superman on Earth.”

“Oh my god! You were just talking about Steph being Supergirl! Why would I date my dad’s cousin?”

Bernard blinked. “Supergirl and Superman are cousins?”

Right, Timothy Drake-Wayne wasn’t supposed to know that. “I thought they’d said something like that before, yeah. Are people seriously saying I’m Superboy on the internet?”

“NO! No, I swear I would have led with that if I thought your identity was compromised. A few people have mentioned Wayne and Damian, but not you or Steph or Jason.”

“Wh-Jason!? You think Jason was an alien too!”

“No, not exactly, but a few times when I’ve visited I swear I’ve seen a guy in the manor who looks like Jason. It’s just been out of the corner of my eye and he’s gone whenever I look so I’ve always thought it was just Dick or Bruce or some picture of Jason that my mind was playing tricks with, but it makes sense now that I know Wayne is Superman. He must have been able to heal Jason with alien tech, but couldn’t say anything because that would give away that he’s Superman.”

Damn it Jason! And damn it Bernard! I’m dating the smartest moron in the world! “Bruce did not bring Jason back with alien technology and none of us are aliens!”

“It’s okay, Tim. I won’t tell anyone.”

Tim grabbed Bernard by the jacket and pulled him into a kiss. When he started to feel lightheaded, he pulled back, “Could someone whose skin is as solid as stone kiss like that?”

Bernard blinked dazedly at him for a moment. “How do you know what Superboy’s skin feels like?”

Tim screamed internally. “He’s saved me from a kidnapping before.”

“Really?”

“Yes. I can get you the police report if you want.”

“Huh… And the others?”

“Not Supers. I can stab Damian the next time we’re at the manor if that’ll prove none of us are aliens.” He’d rather stab Jason, but that would probably only confirm to Bernard that Bruce used alien technology to bring him back.

“You probably shouldn’t stab your brother if he isn’t an alien.”

Tim rolled his eyes. “I won’t stab him anywhere deadly.”

“That’s not the point,” Bernard said slowly.

“He’ll be fine.”

“If you say so.”

“So do you believe I’m not an alien now?” Tim huffed, letting go of Bernard’s jacket.

The blond’s eyes dipped down to Tim’s lips. “If I say no, will you kiss me like that again?”

“You’re ridiculous,” Tim said, but he kissed him anyway.

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

“Okay, but I still say Clark Kent is definitely Batman.”

“Sure, Bernard.”

#Tim Drake #robin #red robin #bernard dowd #timber #fanfiction

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marauderundercover · 3 years

Text

Taking Chances Ch. 1: Adopted

AO3 @maribat-bdbwm

Adopted. Adopted. Adopted. Adopted. The word runs on a loop through Marinette’s head as her world crumbles around her. She was adopted.

“What? Maman, I don’t, I don’t understand.” Marinette says, her voice cracking as she tries to act like this isn’t bothering her. Like she doesn’t feel as though her entire world is changing.

“Marinette, sweetheart, just take a breath. That’s it, breathe in...and out. Very good.” Her maman says, holding her hands as she breathes with her slowly. Marinette swallows thickly, trying hard to ignore the way her hands shake in her maman’s.

“Maman, why didn’t you tell me?” She asks, confusion and self doubt swirling in her mind. Why was she adopted? Did her birth parents not want her? Could they not take care of her? Was she a mistake? Did they hate her? Did her maman hate her now? Is that why she’s telling her? Is she going to be kicked out? Is she going to have to leave Paris? What if-

“Marinette?” Her maman’s soft voice pulls her out of her thoughts. Marinette frowns when she realizes that she has tears running down her face.

“I-I’m sorry.” She says, pulling her hands away to furiously wipe at her tears, trying hard to ignore the sympathetic look her papa keeps giving her.

“You have nothing to apologize for, Marinette. Are you feeling up to an explanation? Or would you rather not talk about this?” She asks, her face covered in worry.

“I wanna talk about it.” Marinette says quickly, before slapping her hands over her mouth. She didn’t mean to say that. What if that’s not right? What if what her maman has to say is just going to hurt more? What if-

“Okay. It’s okay, sweetheart. I’m sorry we waited so long to tell you.” Her maman apologizes, scooting closer to wrap an arm around Marinette’s shoulders. Her papa wraps an arm around both of them, his presence calming Marinette enough so that she can think a little more clearly.

“Why did you wait? Why now?” She asks, still confused why she decided to break the news today of all days.

“We were going to wait until you were sixteen. Let you be at an age where you would understand it a little more, understand that being adopted isn’t wrong. And that you didn’t do anything wrong.” She explains, rubbing her shoulder gently.

“But then, why now?” Marinette asks, frustration starting to build. Why say they were going to wait and then not actually wait? Why would they-

“Mme. Mendeleiev called. You’re starting a unit on genetics and biology, and she knew that you were adopted. She just-” She sighs, frowning. “She didn’t want you to be blind sided or caught off guard in class if things didn’t add up.”

“But why does she know?” Marinette asks with a frown.

“Because we were both friends with your birth mother.”

--- Walking into class, Marinette tries hard to avoid the worried glance from Mme. Mendeleiev. All of the information from yesterday swirling through her head; her maman was friends with Mme. Mendeleiev. They were both friends with her birth mother, Bridgette Le. Her birth mother didn’t just give her up, she did want her, her maman had reassured her repeatedly. But she had died. And Marinette had almost died as well. And her parents? Didn’t hate her now. They didn’t love her any less, they reassured her of that several times before Marinette asked to be excused to go to bed. Tikki had had to watch for akumas most of the night. Breathing shakily, Marinette sits and immediately starts doodling on her notebook, hoping that no one else will put two and two together once their genetics unit starts. Hoping that no one will know or ask her. About adoption. --- It was two weeks after Marinette found out that she was adopted that she decided to talk to her maman about it again. After ranting to Tikki for several nights and spending time thinking about it, she had slowly started to accept it. It didn’t mean her parents loved her any less. It didn’t mean that she was any different or anything. It just meant that she had two more parents. A birth mother who had apparently wanted what was best for her, naming Sabine Cheng as her godmother even before Marinette was born. And a birth father. A man that Marinette was determined to talk to her maman about. Surely the woman would know something about him, given her close friendship with her birth mother.

“Hey Maman.” Marinette says, walking into the kitchen and sitting at the counter. Her maman smiles brightly at her as she continues to fill the dumplings.

“Hello sweetheart. How’s your commission for Jagged going?” She asks, her face filled with pride. Marinette grins and nods.

“It’s amazing. The shape of the suit is much different than anything else I’ve made before, but I think it’s going to look really cool!” Marinette says, a wide smile on her face before she remembers the whole reason she came into the kitchen. She clears her throat. “Maman, could I ask you something?”

“Of course Marinette.” She says, closing and filling dumplings before placing them in the steamer.

“When we talked about my...adoption. You didn’t say anything about my birth father. Did you know him too?” Marinette asks, staring down the counter to avoid looking at her maman.

“I didn’t know him very well, I’ll be honest. Bridgette met him when she went to the US for a year. I’m not sure what happened, but she did write a letter for him. I have it in the lock box though, she didn’t put an address on it and I wasn’t sure where to send it.” She explains and Marinette frowns at the lack of information.

“Does he- did he even know about me?” She asks.

“I’m not sure. Bridgette didn’t talk about him much. All she really said was that the town wasn’t fond of her and she didn’t want you to grow up in that environment, said it was terribly dreary. And that he was obsessed with his work. He worked for some big company, but I’m not sure if he still does. ” Her maman adds and Marinette nods.

“Is that all?” She asks, trying not to show her disappointment.

“Let me grab the letter. I can’t remember his name, but it should be in there.” She says, turning and washing her hands before walking away to get the letter. Marinette lets out a long breath, hoping that she isn’t making a mistake by looking for this information. --- Bruce Wayne. That was apparently the name of her birth father who lived somewhere in the US. Her maman was right about that. The letter didn’t have an address and Bridgette hadn’t put anything specific about the location. Besides her birth father’s name, the letter was a dead end. How generic could a name be? Bruce Wayne. It was like finding out her father’s name was Thomas Williams or John Smith or something. There must be thousands of Bruce Waynes in the US. Walking into Mme. Bustier’s class, Marinette trudges to her desk in the very back and drops down into her seat. Dropping her head onto her desk, she barely notices Adrien walk in.

“You okay, Mari?” He asks, frowning as he takes the seat next to her.

“I got a name.” She mumbles into the desk, knowing the boy would understand. She turns her head so that she can glance at him, frowning at the wide smile that takes over his face.

“Really? That’s great!” He says and she huffs.

“Not really. It was the most generic name ever, and the letter that Bridgette wrote didn’t have a location or anything.”

“Why do you want to talk to him so badly?” Adrien asks and Marinette sits up, frowning.

“I don’t know, I just-” She sighs. “I guess I just want the chance to meet him. Maman’s told me so many stories of Bridgette since I found out, and I’ve loved getting to know little things that we have in common. I just want to know if I have anything in common with him.”

“If you really want to meet him, I’ll do everything I can to help you find him.” Adrien says. Marinette looks at him, relief and gratitude coating her face.

“Really? You’d do that for me?” She asks, hope and faith that this could actually work rushing over her. Adrien nods, gifting her a small smile.

“Of course, Mari.” He says. Marinette opens her mouth to thank him again, when Mme. Bustier barges into the classroom.

“Students! Listen up, I have an amazing announcement!” She cheers, clapping her hands together. Marinette looks at the woman wearily, unsure of what the woman could be so excited about. She’d had a meeting with the woman earlier to talk about the end of year trip. They hadn’t talked about much, just the budget and trips that they could feasibly do. Marinette had also shot down some of the woman’s….less than ideal options. Seriously, who thought a trip to Gotham was a good idea? Even Marinette, with her lack of knowledge about the world’s big names and celebrities, knew that Gotham wasn’t a great place. It was quite literally crawling with villains, and unlike Paris, there was no Miraculous Cure to fix everything. Marinette blinked as the class suddenly erupted with cheers.

“What happened?” She asks Adrien, zoning back into the situation around her.

“We’re apparently going to Gotham for our end of year trip.” Adrien mutters, clearly not thrilled with the turn of events. Marinette nods, then freezes as the words register. Well shit. --- Marinette huffs as she rushes into the empty hotel lobby. Key word: empty. Well, okay it wasn’t completely empty, but it definitely didn’t have the entire class (and teacher!) that it was supposed to have. Instead it just had a tired looking concierge and a bowl of bruised apples. Fantastic. Grumbling under her breath, Marinette pulls out the itinerary that she had been forced to create for this trip she was forced to be on. She wasn’t trying to be dramatic, but between Hawkmoth and all of her responsibilities as Ladybug, going to a city like Gotham was the last thing that she wanted to do. Its villains, or Rogues as they preferred to be called, seemed to have no fear. At least Hawkmoth was smart enough to hide behind his goons. Gotham’s rogues had no such qualm, and instead ran around to personally cause mayhem. Glancing down at the itinerary, Marinette suppresses a groan. The entire class left early. Of course they did. Whatever, she still had plenty of time to get to their scheduled tour time at the Gotham City Museum of Modern Art. It had been Alix’ suggestion, as the girl’s father was friends with someone who had helped in its most recent street art exhibit.

“Marinette!” A small voice yells. Marinette glances down at her purse and raises an eyebrow at the concerned look on her kwami’s face.

“What?” She whispers back.

“You’re not really going to walk by yourself in Gotham, are you?” Tikki asks, her eyes wide with concern.

“I’ll be fine, Tikki. And I plan on getting a cab.” Marinette says, giving her purse a reassuring pat before walking out into the dreary mist outside. Hailing a cab with surprising ease, Marinette tells the driver her destination and sits back, watching the gargoyles and architecture stream past. She’d have to sketch something later, because a million ideas for a Gotham inspired line was floating through her head. When the cab stops, Marinette smiles and thanks the man, handing him the fare and a tip.

“No problem, Miss Wayne.” The driver says, tipping his cap before zipping away from the museum. Miss Wayne? As in her father? Marinette shakes that thought away almost as quickly as it appears. What are the odds that she’d be in the same city as her birth father? Must’ve mistaken me with someone else, Marinette thought to herself, almost as if she was reassuring herself that there was no chance of seeing her birth father. No chance of someone seeing her and saying, “oh, are you Bruce’s girl? You sure do have his nose”. No chance of the man himself running into her and seeing a perfect blend of himself and Bridgette and- No. No need to panic about this right now. Pushing the thoughts away, Marinette rushes into the museum and nearly runs over Adrien.

“Mari! Are you okay? Where were you? I didn’t see you in the lobby so I got on the bus to look for you and you weren’t there and then I tried to get off to find you and-” Marinette cuts Adrien’s rambling off with a tight hug to reassure him that she’s there. She’s there and she’s safe.

“I’m okay, I promise. I got a cab surprisingly easily.” Marinette reassures him, mumbling into his chest. He freezes momentarily before returning the tight hug.

“Marinette! Now that you’re here we can start the tour. The tour guide suggested we start in the Comedians Hall of Fame and then loop around and end at the new graffiti display.” Mme. Bustier announces, clapping her hands excitedly. Marinette pulls away from Adrien, blushing slightly as he squeezes her once more before fully letting her go. Wandering through the Comedians Hall of Fame, Marinette’s eyes dance over the exhibits. She wasn’t necessarily passionate or inspired by this section of the museum, but it was still interesting. A big bang made Marinette spin around and frantically look for the exits. The uncontrollable laughter started seconds later. Shit.

“Welcome, welcome to MY hall! Except someone apparently forgot my picture. No worries though, I’m sure we can add one with all of your smiling faces in it as well.” A voice echoes in the hall. Marinette’s blood instantly freezes. The Joker. In a room. With her class. Oh my God, someone is going to die.

“What’re you doing?” Adrien hisses out. Marinette blinks and realizes she had unconciously taken a fighting pose. She was so used to protecting the class as Ladybug against Akumas, she just immediately fell back into the role. She straightens immediately, but it’s too late.

“Ah, a brave little girl. Who do we have here?” Joker asks, and the sickening realization that he’s holding a gun washes over her. There would be no Miraculous Cure. No Lucky Charm. Marinette grits her teeth and stares at the man’s yellow teeth stretched into an unnatural smile.

“Marinette.” She says, leaving out her last name. No need for her parents to panic because her name is trending at the site of a villain attack. Assuming nothing goes wrong and the heroes show up and she doesn’t die by the hands of the Joker. Not that that would be traumatic, or anything.

“What, no last name? Or did you think I wouldn’t recognize you?” Joker asks, pushing her hair out of her face with his gun. Marinette sees Adrien’s fists clench out of the corner of her eye, a wave of determination running through her. She needed to keep Joker distracted so that he wouldn’t notice Adrien and try to hurt Adrien. Since obviously, as an Agreste, he was a much better hostage than the daughter of bakers. Well, and the biological daughter of some random American man who doesn’t even know she exists.

“It’s Cheng.” She retorts, dropping her father’s last name off in a desperate attempt for her full name to stay off the internet.

“Is it? Are you sure? Because if I didn’t know any better, I’d think you’re a new Wayne. Much smaller than the others, and a girl is different, but maybe Brucie’s just changing his type.” Joker taunts and Marinette’s head spins. Wayne? It can’t possibly be her birth father...Wayne must be a much more common name in the US than she originally thought and maybe even though she hadn’t even thought about contacting him yet or trying to find him, maybe it would be much harder than she could’ve ever thought because it’s such a common name and he probably has no idea that she wants to even try and find him and there’s probably no chance that he even wants to meet her and-

“Are you even listening to me?” Joker’s annoyed voice cuts off her internal spiral. Marinette quirks up an eyebrow and shakes her head.

“No, not really.” She says, eyes widening and face instantly turning red as she realizes that this was not the kind of villain she could smartmouth like she did Akumas as Ladybug. She’s not even Ladybug right now.

“You’re odd. Maybe you’ll be even more useful than I thought.” Joker says after a moment of tense silence. Marinette glances around the room, noticing how the goons that came in with Joker were more focused on Joker’s weird reaction to Marinette than the other hostages. Making eye contact with Adrien, Marinette has a silent conversation, hoping that he’s suddenly become a mind reader and will start getting people out of the room while the bad guys are distracted.

“I doubt that. I’m failing science.” Marinette says matter-of-factly. It was true, though she wasn’t usually this bad at science. But it was really hard for her to focus on genetics and biology with everything else going on. So her parents didn’t really blame her either, though it did dissapoint Mme. Mendeleiev.

“You’re kind of a smart ass, aren’t you?” Joker taunts, haphazardly waving the gun around.

“It’s um, one of my better qualities.” Marinette stumbles over her words as the gun stops waving to once again point at her face. Joker smirks, his face suddenly darkening as a crash echoes throughout the room. Marinette pales as she watches Joker turn and shoot through the wall next to the door that Lila was currently walking through. Lila yelps and drops to the ground, and for the first time ever, Marinette is certain her tears are real.

“I see what you were trying to do, Frenchie. You were trying to get my hostages out of here. But why? Why would you play hero like that? What would YOU get out of that?” Joker taunts, moving the gun so that it’s pointed right at Marinette’s face again. This time, Marinette could feel the heat radiating from the end of the gun. From the gun being shot at the wall. Near a classmate. Granted it was Lila, but it was still someone she knew. Someone she couldn’t save with the Miraculous Cure because this would be it. The smoke filling the room pulls Marinette’s attention from the gun in front of her, and instead to the hulking figures that suddenly entered the room. Four people, three of them tall but one of those three towering over everyone else in the room. Marinette blinks as her eyes attempt to adjust and she sucks in a breath in shock. Batman. Batman and Nightwing and Red Hood and Red Robin. Of course she knew the vigilantes here, she had done extensive research on anything to do with the hero scene in Gotham. Mostly to keep herself and the class safe in case of an attack, which now that she thinks about it is actually impossible to plan for. Marinette’s feet seem frozen to the ground as she glances around at the bodies hitting the floor. She couldn’t see clearly, but she was almost certain that they were the goons that had arrived with Joker.

“Oh come on, I was just trying to greet this lovely young lady. Say Batsy, don’t ya think she looks like she could fit with the other Wayne brats?” Joker taunts as Batman closes in on them. Joker had shifted her so that she was pressed up against his chest, the gun now situatated at her temple. Batman stops several feet in front of them, a clear grimace on his face.

“Let the girl go, Joker.” He demands in a gruff voice. Marinette inhales sharply as Joker tightens his hold on her.

“I don’t think so, Bats. See, I need this one to guarantee that I get outta here without taking a trip back to my cell. So how about instead, I’ll take her on a little trip and leave her somewhere you can find her later.” Joker offers.

“I don’t think you’re in any place to attempt negotiations.” Batman replies, his face an unwavering mask.

“And why is that?” Joker asks, and Marinette can hear the wide smile in his voice, though she can’t currently see his face.

“‘Cause you’re the asshole who didn’t bother to focus on the rest of us.” A gruff voice from behind taunts. Joker sputters in shock, but seconds later his arms loosen and Marinette dashes towards Batman, glancing back in time to see the man collapse to the ground.

“Is he?” Marinette asks, unsure how to feel about watching a potential death. Even if the man was horrible, he hadn’t killed her or any of her friends so she couldn’t wish him dead. No matter how much it would help her sleep tonight.

“No.” Batman says. Marinette nods before turning her attention to the head of the Batfamily. A wide smile spreads across her face and she extends her hand for him to shake.

“Well then, thank you for saving me, Monsieur. I’m Marinette Dupain-Cheng.”

#maribat #maribat bruce wayne #maribat bio dad bruce #mbdbwm2021 #maribat bio dad! bruce wayne month 2021 #maribat marinette dupain cheng #maribat batfam #maribat adrien agreste #day one meeting

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invisibleanonymousmonsters · 3 years

Text

In Times Past

Character: Bruce Wayne x Fem!Reader

Summary: Bruce Wayne’s life doesn’t exist beyond the fake storylines he performs for the media and citizens of Gotham. Maybe the only person that can change that is someone who knew him before Batman ever even existed.

Word Count: 8,200+ [One Shot]

Warnings: Violence, mentions of sexual harrassment

A/N: As I teased before, this was inspired by this scene from Batman Begins.

Bruce could sense Alfred’s tension when he walked into the kitchen that morning. The man was not one to hold back his thoughts and feelings. It was both a blessing and a curse. But Bruce sensed it was the latter today.

Before Bruce could even get a sip of coffee in, Alfred tossed the Sunday newspaper in front of him.

On the front page was a photo of Batman, far too high of a resolution for Bruce’s liking. ‘BATMAN: SAVIOR OR MENACE?’ the headline read.

“A little too close for comfort, don’t you think?” Alfred asked with a hint of sass.

However, Bruce controlled his reaction.

“Not the first time I’ve been photographed, Alfred.”

“You’re dancing with the devil, Master Wayne.”

“So, what? You want me to lay down the cape because everyone in America has the ability to take a photo on their cellphone?”

“Of course not,” Alfred retorted. Though Alfred secretly wished every day that Bruce would say goodbye to the Batman. “I just thought perhaps you should be putting a bit more effort into Bruce Wayne’s life if you really want to throw Gotham off your trail.”

Then he tossed another newspaper. This one of Bruce Wayne, the other mask he wore.

‘Bruce Wayne Lights Up the Room at Charity Ball.’

Alfred points to the date…it was 9 months ago. And it was unfortunately the last time Bruce Wayne was in the press.

“You better start creating alibis, Master Wayne, or the dark web will start to putting two and two together…”

Bruce sighed. He knew Alfred was right. But he hated all that went with what he had to do. He’d rather face off with Gotham’s deadliest criminals than go galavanting around the city as the self-absorbed and reckless playboy persona that he’d created.

“There is a birthday party for Eaton Elliot next weekend. Naturally, being old family friends, you received an invitation,” Alfred explained. “Plenty of press will be there to note your attendance. Seems rather convenient."

Bruce recognized the name. It was the older brother of Thomas Elliot, a childhood friend that he slightly lost touch with. He’d see him or his parents at various events, and things were always cordial.

But it didn’t really matter how absent or quiet Bruce was when it came to maintaining such relationships. Everyone forgave such behavior when it came to saving face with the only living member of the Wayne family. Bruce could spit in the faces of Gotham’s elite and they’d probably thank him for it.

“Black tie affair, as always,” Alfred added as he slipped the invitation to Bruce. “Perhaps you could bring a date…”

Bruce glared up at the butler. “Dates make it harder to make a quick and quiet exit, Alfred.”

“Well, maybe that’s the point, Master Wayne.”

————

Just like he was on patrol or working on an op, Bruce had prepared for every single scenario. He made a plan that would be the most effective in the shortest amount of time. He didn’t want to torture himself any longer than absolutely necessary.

When Alfred asked him again if he was planning on bringing a date, Bruce had only replied with a mischievous smirk.

Because he walked in with a girl on each arm.

It wasn’t the classy or gentlemanly thing to do. And that was exactly the point.

Conversations paused, attention was turned, and flashes went off.

Bruce Wayne made his entrance.

He carefully fell into the groove of being the spoiled brat everyone had painted him out to be. It had been awhile since he played the part, but Bruce always found it easy when he was surrounded by these kinds of people.

Bruce made sure to slightly slur his words. He would get too handsy with his dates. He would rudely interrupt people to share his own useless opinion on whatever topic was leading the conversation. He never looked waitstaff in the eye.

But now it was time for the finale.

Bruce whispered a certain suggestion into the ears of his dates.

They shared a look that proved they were both game.

The three of them stumbled into a bathroom – one out in the open that most of the guests would be steered toward.

The kissing began and clothes were quickly shifted.

There was a split moment when Bruce wondered what this would feel like for a man who actually wanted to be in this situation.

The two woman managed unbuckle his belt, the clanking metal echoing in the all-tile bathroom.

But just as they unbuttoned and then unzipped his pants, Bruce’s cellphone rang loudly.

Right on cue.

“Ladies, ladies, ladies,” Bruce whined. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” his words stumbled out. “But I just have to take this call.”

“Aww. Brucie. You’re no fun,” one of the women fussed.

But Bruce gave off enough dominate energy that they didn’t try to fight him on it.

Hair disheveled, mouth swollen and pink, lipstick stains on his skin and his pants and belt barely put back together, Bruce stumbled out of the bathroom first.

The two women didn’t bother to stay back and spread out their exits, making it very clear what had just happened – or what it looked like just happened.

It didn’t matter that Bruce didn’t actually have sex with them, every woman in Gotham wanted to say they’d shared a bed with Bruce Wayne. His two dates would lie to save face and get street cred. Bruce hated that he knew that, that it was guaranteed.

Dozens of people, who were socializing near the bathroom, stopped what they were doing and watched with judgmental looks. Some men looked jealous. Some women looked disgusted and eyed the two women up and down.

Then there was the flash of a camera.

Bingo.

Bruce wouldn’t have to linger much longer now.

He played up being somewhat embarrassed.

But just as he put his phone to his ear to take the fake call that Alfred dialed, he saw the last person he expected.

It caused him to do a double take and freeze.

His focus fell for a moment as they made eye contact.

Why did she have to be here?

Why did she have to be one of his witnesses?

Why did it hurt so much to see how she looked at him as if he were a stranger?

And why did she have to look so god damn beautiful?

Y/F/N Y/L/N.

The Y/L/N family were another one of Gotham’s elite – well, they used to be.

Y/N’s father was once worth billions. But being born into wealth didn’t guarantee intelligence or the skills to properly run the family business. When Bruce and Y/N were in high school, Y/N’s father filed for bankruptcy and confessed that the family was about to lose everything. With the announcement, the press also exposed Mr. Y/L/N’s many lustful affairs.

What came next was a messy and brutal divorce that the media ate up.

Out of spite, Y/N’s mother remarried her ex-husband’s biggest competitor, maintaining her status and wealth, and making sure she still came out on top. It was the greatest revenge and even Y/N had to give her mother credit for the ingenuity of it all.

Bruce remembered how terrible it all was for Y/N, who was used as a pawn in her parents war against each other.

Having had enough of it, Y/N fled Gotham and chose to live with her eccentric great aunt in London and finished her last year of high school there.

But Y/N didn’t run away from Bruce. They emailed, texted, video chatted, called.

They had always been good friends.

The elites of Gotham always suspected the two would get married. But both Bruce and Y/N pretended to ignore such whisperings.

But when Bruce shifted his life, when he changed his life’s purpose, when he started becoming a vigilante…he stopped taking Y/N’s calls and he stopped returning them.

He told himself it was better that way. He couldn’t handle any distractions. Batman didn’t have time for personal relationships, so neither did Bruce Wayne. But more importantly, Y/N deserved someone who would prioritize her – even just as a friend.

Now Bruce needed to get actually drunk.

Putting the phone back to his ear, he broke eye contact and made a beeline for one of the bars.

“Did you forget to tell me about the guest list, Alfred?” Bruce muttered evenly to the phone, knowing that Alfred would easily be able to hear his anger and irritation.

“How was I to know who RSVPed yes or no…” Alfred bit back. But he knew exactly who Bruce was looking at.

Bruce frowned as he ended the call abruptly and asked for a whiskey.

“I don’t know, man. She’s not my type,” a man said to his friend.

The two of them were just a foot or two away from Bruce.

“What do you mean ‘not your type’? She’s fucking hot.”

“Don’t get me wrong, she’s beautiful. But she’s so stiff and uptight. Look, she’s had a resting bitch face all night.”

Bruce’s grip on his face tightened as he easily put together who they were talking about. It was moments like these that Bruce hated being lumped together with men like this.

“You’re an idiot,” the friend said with a laugh.

“Oh, yeah? Alright. If you’re so obsessed with her, why don’t you go over and talk to her?”

Bruce saw his window.

With a sloppy haste, Bruce turned right into the two men and just happened to spill his drink over the man who was about to make a move on Y/N.

Bruce laughed and spilled another drink on the bar as he tried to grab some nearby cocktail napkins. “Gentleman, gentleman…I so dearly apologize.”

Both of them were clearly annoyed, but then realized who he was.

Bruce gripped them by the shoulders and made sure his eyes were struggling to stay open. “I could be wrong…but it’s possible…that I have been over served.”

He broke out into a chuckle and both men forced their own laughter.

Bruce subtle glanced over to where Y/N had been standing. She’d disappeared.

He’d spared her…for now.

“I think it’s time I go home,” Bruce told them too loudly. “Do me a favor? Wish her congratulations for me?”

The two men looked at one another. “Congratulations? To who?”

Bruce frowned in confusion and looked around. “Isn’t this an engagement party?”

They tried to hide their laughter. “Wayne, this is a birthday party. For Eaton Elliot.”

Bruce’s brows shot up. “A birthday party? Look at that!”

Then he turned around, zigzagged his walk, and threw a wave over his shoulder.

But Bruce wasn’t that lucky.

Because when he made his way to the valet, he found Y/N waiting patiently with her back to him.

Her fancy dress and gloves seemed to do nothing to help protect her from the cold night.

Bruce could’ve left. He could’ve left her alone, gone back into the party, and made more of a fool of himself.

But next thing he knew, he was walking forward.

“Waiting for your car?”

Y/N didn’t turn to him, but it was clear that she heard his question and recognized who it had come from. “I didn’t drive. They’re getting me a cab.”

Bruce nodded slowly even though she wasn’t looking at him.

All charm had left his body now that he had quit the act. It wasn’t going to do any favors for him. He needed to do this on his own, as his real self.

Y/N finally turned with a slight attitude and Bruce was taken aback at how she was even more beautiful up close.

“What are you doing here, Bruce?”

He smirked. “I’m here for the party, of course.” He didn’t want to play the part anymore – not with her. But it was second nature at this point.

Her lips pursed at his response.

“Leaving so soon?” He asked.

Y/N sighed. “Between you and me, I’m only here as a favor to my mother. She wouldn’t get off my back about coming. I tried to leave sooner, but…”

One of the valets hopped up the steps. “I’m sorry, Dr. Y/L/N. It can take awhile to get cabs in the area at this time of night.”

Y/N gave him a sympathetic smile and opened her mouth to say she’d walk home.

“I’ll drive her home,” Bruce spoke before she could. Then he handed the valet his ticket.

Y/N looked at him with confusion and a bit of annoyance. “You really don’t have to do that.”

Bruce just gave her a look that said he absolutely did.

Then Y/N gestured back to the party. “You’re just gonna abandon your dates?”

The way she asked made it clear that Y/N had seen Bruce stumble out of the bathroom with the two of them. He also didn’t miss how she emphasized the plural.

“They’ll be fine,” Bruce told her.

He took a step toward her. “Let me give you a ride, Y/N.”

She took in a deep breath.

She knew she needed the ride. Only an idiot would walk home at this time of night, even if the walk to her apartment was a relatively safe one for Gotham standards.

Y/N just nodded.

A minute later, an Aston Martin drove up.

Bruce offered his arm to Y/N and helped her down the stairs before opening the passenger door for her.

He handed the valet a few bills, not even noticing they were all hundreds.

“Where to?” Bruce asked her.

“Oh, umm…” Y/N quickly gave him her address.

“I know you’ve been gone awhile, but you definitely shouldn’t be walking around the streets of Gotham at night.”

Y/N scoffed. “I’m aware. I moved back awhile ago.”

“Oh. I didn’t know…”

“Yeah. Well, why would you? It’s not like you kept in touch.”

The car filled with silence.

Y/N stared out the passenger window, looking at the skyscraper lights of Gotham

It seemed Y/N had no issue with staying silent for the whole car ride.There was nothing awkward about it for her.

But Bruce knew there were things he needed to say. “I’m sorry.”

This was the last thing Y/N expected and her head whipped to him.

But Bruce kept his eyes on the road. “For disappearing like I did.”

Y/N slowly turned back to the passenger window and said nothing.

Bruce didn’t expect to win her forgiveness. He would have to deal with that. But at least he could apologize.

“Y/N.” Bruce said it ever so quietly, like he was forbidden from speaking it. “This isn’t…I’m not…” Dammit. What was he even trying to accomplish right now? “Back there–”

“Back there?” Y/N interrupted his fumbling. “Oh, you mean the threesome you had in a bathroom at a party?”

Bruce’s jaw tightened.

Everyone bought his performance. Unfortunately, even Y/N.

Bruce pulled over and Y/N realized they were at her building already.

“You can say whatever makes you feel good, Bruce. Have at it.” Then she threw open the car door.

She put her hand on the handle to help herself out.

But she hesitated.

No. She wasn’t going down without a fight.

Y/N spun around to face Bruce, his blue eyes already waiting for her.

“You used to be kind. Strong and brave. You were better than all of them.”

And for the first time, Bruce really saw the damage he had done.

“Is that boy really gone?” She searched his eyes for the answer. “What is the act and what is the truth?” She whispered. “Huh, Bruce?”

He wanted to tell her.

Bruce had never felt the urge to expose his secret ever before.

But right now? Right now, he wanted to take Y/N back to the manor, drag her down to the cave, and show her all of his secrets – every single one.

But he couldn’t. And he knew that.

Bruce kept his face reserved.

His brow furrowed for just a second as he took Y/N in. All of her. Her eyelashes. Her lips. The styling of her hair. The dip of her neck.

“You became quite the woman, Y/N.” He told her. “And a beautiful one at that.”

Y/N blinked at the statement. Her mind desperately tried to decipher the hidden message in his words, in his actions from the night. But she came up with nothing.

She wanted to say that she knew he was using flattery to divert her attention from what she wanted to know. But it was also clear that he genuinely meant what he said as well. His eyes seeming to be taking in every moment of being in her presence.

If Y/N weren’t so irritated, she probably would’ve been more taken aback by his compliment, feeling vulnerable and almost embarrassed.

There wasn’t any point in pushing.

So Y/N took in a breath. “Thank you for the ride, Bruce.”

He just nodded. Then he watched her walk to the door of her apartment building. He probably lingered a few moments too long, but he couldn’t bring himself to once again put distance between them.

————

Alfred brought down food and an espresso to the cave.

When he looked up, Y/F/N Y/L/N’s face was on the giant screen.

“Working on a case, Master Wayne?” He asked with his usual sarcasm.

Bruce ignored the question. “She attended undergrad in Metropolis and then went to grad school in New York City.”

“Yes, I can see that…considering you have her student records exploited all over the screen,” Alfred responded with a smirk. “She’s been living in Gotham again for a few years, working as a psychiatrist. Even volunteers her services at Arkham – pro bono.”

That caught Bruce’s attention. He turned away from the screen to look at Alfred.

“I found no record of that,” he argued.

“Yes. Well, her mother is rather embarrassed by it. Thinks it gives the family a bad image. She insisted Y/N’s philanthropy was kept secret, even approved the NDAs herself.”

Bruce gave him a look, utterly confused how Alfred had access to such information.

Alfred raised an eyebrow. “Never underestimate the power of gossip, Master Wayne. Most family secrets cannot be found on the dark corners of the internet.” Then he smirked. “You would gain quite the knowledge if you didn’t turn your nose up at it.”

Bruce smiled at that and turned back to the computer.

“So, I take it that it was good seeing her?” Alfred pressed.

Bruce tensed at the question. “Not entirely. I’m certain that she hates me.”

“Hates you or hates the character you’ve so carefully created?”

“It doesn’t matter. I’m just Bruce Wayne to her.”

Alfred opened his mouth to say more.

“Leave it, Alfred.” Bruce cut off before he could.

“Well, it appears I’m not the one struggling with leaving it alone, Master Wayne.”

Like many of Gotham’s elites, Alfred had humored the idea that Bruce and Y/N would make a marvelous couple. Like Bruce, Y/N didn’t let money and power sway her morals or damage her good and kind heart.

Alfred had always enjoyed having her over and listening to her and Bruce’s laughter as they caused trouble around the manor and entertained themselves.

But he also saw how her departure effected Bruce, no matter how much the teenager had tried to hide it at the time.

Maybe Alfred was an optimist or a romantic, but he still believed there was a chance for the two of them. But Bruce, quite frankly, would have to get over himself and his stubbornness.

————

Bruce was looking down at the city from yet another rooftop. It had been a quiet night. And he hated nights like that. It was always ended up being the calm before a storm.

“Batman?” Alfred spoke into his comms.

“Yes.”

“It appears there’s been a breakout at Arkham. The media hasn’t caught wind of it yet. But law enforcement has already been dispatched.”

“I’m on my way,” Bruce announced as he slid down a fire escape and made his way to the batmobile that he’d hidden in the shadows of an alley.

“Master Wayne…” Alfred knew to only use codenames on comms.

Bruce tense. “What is it?”

There was hesitation from the butler. “Y/N was scheduled to work a shift there tonight…”

Bruce said nothing. But his foot pressed the gas pedal down further than necessary.

—

Y/N was sitting with a patient when the alarm went off.

The people that worked there called them inmates, and corrected her every time she chose not to use that title.

Harleen Quinzel had been sitting across from Y/N for almost 30 minutes when they were interrupted.

“Oh, fun!” Harley clapped and giggled as the sirens filled their ears.

Harley and Y/N had formed an interesting relationship. The criminal seemed to like her and looked forward to her visits. She never threatened Y/N or tried to manipulate her.

Y/N believes she won her over by addressing her as Dr. Quinzel and often asking her professional opinions on trends and news in their industry.

Most people there only referred to Harley as if she was property of the Joker, no matter how many times Harley clarified that she wasn’t his anything anymore.

“Does this happen a lot?” Y/N asked her, trying to remain calm.

“Not enough, if ya ask me!” She laughed.

Y/N made the mistake of opening the door and seeing that the majority of the cells had been opened and prisoners were slowly making their way into the hallway.

“Not good,” Y/N muttered.

“Don’t worry, doc. I’ll protect ya! Us gals gotta stick together.” Harley said from behind her shoulder.

Y/N whipped around and looked at her and then at the table she’d been sitting at. “Dr. Quinzel! How did you get out of your restraints?”

“Oh, I’ve always been able to. I just leave ‘em on to be polite.”

Y/N sighed. No one had explained any sort of protocol for such a situation.

“Where the fuck are all the guards?” Y/N asked.

Suddenly the lights shut off.

“Yippy!” Harley cheered.

Y/N turned to her and softly grabbed her shoulder, but gave her an insistent look. “Harley, we need to get somewhere safe.”

Her face did dip to serious for a moment. “You don’t need to worry about me. But you’re right. Not everyone in here appreciates a shrink…”

To her surprise, Harley starts pulling her through the darkness with a purpose.

Y/N had no idea where she was planning on taking her. It seemed all the doors were in lock-down mode, leaving her stranded. If she survived tonight, she’d definitely be bringing that up to the board.

Bang. Bang. Bang.

Y/N yelped at the sound.

Someone had either gotten a hold of a gun or security guards were opening fire.

Either way, it caused chaos to erupt.

Suddenly the dark hallways were being filled with a stampede of prisoners. Either they wanted to take down the guard who was shooting or they were getting an adrenaline rush at the concept of their peers attacking their wardens.

The crowd ripped the two women apart. Y/N was shoved up against the wall and her head slammed against the cement.

Y/N swore under her breath from the pain.

“Is that…No, it can’t be…”

A voice called out over the madness.

A chill went up Y/N’s spine. She’d know that voice anywhere.

The Joker.

He wasn’t one of her patients. All researchers and doctors were forbidden to speak with him – especially after what happened with Harley.

But that didn’t stop the Joker from knowing who Y/N was. He whined and whined about feeling left out. “All my pals get to chat with her and all I get to do is look!”

Now, Joker was free from him isolation.

Y/N suspected he was behind the breakout.

And he was going to make a slight detour. A detour that was doing whatever the hell he wanted to with Dr. Y/L/N.

Y/N didn’t even bother hiding her fear. With a new found strength and endurance, she started shoving her way through the mob.

“I hear you and my pumpkin’ pie have gotten close.” Then his smile dropped. “Too close, if ya ask me.”

Y/N ignored him as another prisoner shoved into her shoulder.

“I don’t appreciate you putting ideas in her head!”

Y/N stopped, realizing she had miscalculated her escape and had come to a dead end.

So she slowly turned around to face him, putting her back to the wall. “And what ideas are those?”

“Independence. Self respect. A life beyond crime and incarceration,” he spat.

Y/N realized he had his goonies flanking him, only making her odds that much worse.

“Those aren’t ideas. They’re a reality, a possible future,” she defended.

Joker didn’t like that answer one bit. He threw himself against her, once again slamming Y/N into the wall.

He gripped her chin roughly and smiled with his yellow teeth. “You know…she’s not the only doctor I’d like to break in. And in more ways than one, if you catch my drift,” he giggled.

Then his eyes raked over her body, up and down. His hands slid down her hips and the side of her legs until they got to the hem of her pencil skirt.

Y/N shoved him away with all of her strength.

But that earned her a slap across the face from him.

Joker gripped her waist tightly pressing her between the wall and his body. “I’m in charge now, doc. And I’ve got a few lessons to teach you.”

His hands grabbed at the buttons of her blouse and with one jerk, he ripped open her her blouse.

But before he could go any further, a few of his lackeys cried out in pain.

Y/N swore she heard the sound of objects whipping through the darkness.

She didn’t want to let herself feel any relief. But she hoped Harley had made her way back to her. She’d probably pack an even heavier punch once she realized Y/N needed protecting from her asshole ex.

But when Joker turned around and Y/N followed his gaze, Harley was nowhere to be found.

Yet three men were on the ground, unconscious.

“Well, well, well,” Joker muttered in amusement. “Has Batsy come out to play?”

Next thing Y/N saw was a shadow dropping down out of nowhere and taking out even more of Joker’s men.

Joker seemed to be prepared for such an interruption. Because he grabbed a knife from somewhere hidden on his body and ripped Y/N off the wall. He pressed Y/N’s back to his chest and put the tip of his knife to her throat.

“Come out, come out wherever you are,” Joker sang.

To Y/N’s shock, Batman stepped into what little light was in the hallway.

“Long time, no see!” Joker screamed so loudly that Y/N flinched. “Did you miss me, Batsy? And you came all this way to see little old me?! How very sweet!”

“Your attempted escape was a failure,” Batman stated. “There’s nowhere for you to go. All the exits are blocked. Arkham has been contained.”

“What a shame! I really felt this one was gonna work!” Joker laughed.

Batman took a step toward him. “It’s over, Joker.”

“You’re probably right,” Joker shrugged. “But I really wanted to have some fun with doc here. So, if you could give us some privacy.”

Batman’s eyes flickered to Y/N’s for a brief moment. “Let her go,” he warned.

“How about…no?” Joker laughed.

Just as Batman was about to make his move, Y/N grabbed the wrist of Joker’s arm that held the knife. She twisted it and dived in such a succinct motion that it was obvious Y/N had been trained.

Whipping herself out of Joker’s grip, she twisted Joker’s arm so roughly and quickly behind his back that he had no choice but to drop his knife from the pain.

Then Y/N was now facing him, and with one swift swing of her leg, she kicked him right in the groan.

Batman saw his opening and rushed forward, cuffing Joker in place.

While Batman neutralized him, Y/N stumbled for the knife that Joker had dropped, still not feeling safe and out of danger.

She looked around, realizing that the police had filtered in and apprehended all the escaped prisoners. Some were already locked back into their cells. Other’s were in handcuffs with guns being pointed at them in warning.

“Dr. Y/L/N,” his voice made her whip back around.

How the hell did Batman know her name?

She squinted wearily at him.

“You can drop the knife,” Batman told her quietly.

Y/N blinked and looked down at her hand, having forgotten that she even grabbed the knife. And she now had a vice-like grip on it.

Her hands were shaking when she dropped the knife and the clatter echoed in the hallway.

She eyed the Joker, not trusting any sort of weapon to be in his vicinity, despite being handcuffed now.

“He’s not going anywhere,” Batman noted, as if he could read her mind and hear the concerns she was thinking.

Police officers surrounded them now.

“Until next time, doc!” Joker sang loudly.

Batman stepped between him and Y/N, shielding her from even being seen by the lunatic.

Y/N eyed him, wondering if he did that on purpose.

“This way,” he directed lowly as he led her out of the hallway.

Y/N was surprised when he escorted her all the way out of the building.

Wasn’t this supposed to be Gotham’s Dark Knight? A disappearing act? An urban legend that some people still didn’t believe in?

When they got outside, there were even more officers. The night was flickering blue and red from all the patrol car’s lights still being on.

Commissioner Gordon was having a field day with Arkham’s warden, yelling at him about lack of protocol and no protection for the volunteers and workers that had gotten caught in the crossfire.

But finally, the reality of what just happened was starting to set in for Y/N. And she realized that her entire body was shaking.

All of a sudden, a blanket was wrapped around her shoulders.

She looked up to see that Batman had draped it over her. When and where he’d grabbed it, she had no clue. But the warmth was helping, so she didn’t question it.

“Thank you…for saving me back there.”

Was that a smirk on his lips? Was Batman amused by her?

Why was it so comforting when he was a mere stranger?

And his eyes, even when they were surrounded by a cowl and dark paint, they still felt familiar. Y/N had a similar feeling to deja vu.

“Looked like you had it handled,” he replied.

“Oh, I definitely didn’t. But thank god for those self-defense classes.”

They looked into each other’s eyes for a second.

“Make sure you get checked out by the paramedics,” he told her gently, but insistent.

It was far too gentle for his Batman alter ego. But she caught how it sounded like it personally mattered to him.

Y/N looked behind her, where the ambulance was.

But when she turned back around, Batman was gone.

Next thing Y/N knew, she was being surrounded by two paramedics and Commissioner Gordon who was careful not to push her by asking too many questions at once.

“Does he always do that?” She asked him in a daze.

“Do what?” Gordon asked.

“Disappear like that?”

Gordon smiled and nodded. “Annoying, isn’t it?”

———

“What’s the gossip of the privileged this week?” Bruce asked Alfred at breakfast a few days after the outbreak.

“Something specific you’re looking for, Master Wayne?” Alfred asked as he poured Bruce a big mug of coffee.

Bruce glared at him, knowing he was playing coy with him.

But he put his pride aside. “How is she doing?”

Alfred took pity on him. “She took some time off work. But seems to be handling it better than expected. Makes quite a bit of sense, doesn’t it? Her being psychiatrist and all.”

Bruce just nodded with a dazed look.

“You could always see for yourself…” Alfred added.

Bruce snapped out of his daze and looked up him questioningly.

“You could go see her,” Alfred confirmed.

“Alfred, don’t you start.”

“Start what, Master Wayne? Pushing you to form any sort of relationship?”

Bruce sighed and got up from the breakfast nook. He didn’t want to fight with him, so he’d made his exit before that happened.

“Batman has plenty of friends,” Alfred stopped him. “But what about Bruce Wayne, hmm? Who are his friends?”

“You saying we’re not friends, Alfred?”

“I’m all you’ve got, Master Wayne. And that’s my point.”

Before the discussion could go on any further, the doorbell rang.

The two men shared a look.

No one stopped by the manor.

Alfred made his way over.

Bruce figured he’d wait where he was. But the front entrance was too far away from him to overhear any conversation.

A few minutes later, Alfred walked in with an unreadable expression.

“Dr. Y/L/N is here, Master Wayne. She is waiting for you in the drawing room.”

Bruce opened his mouth to tell him to make an excuse and get her to leave. But Alfred was already disappearing, making it clear that he would do no such thing for him.

When Bruce walked into the drawing room, he found Y/N’s back to him as she looked at the family heirlooms and trinkets that were displayed on the shelved.

She was dressed casually, which caught Bruce off guard since he’d only see her in formal wear and professional outfits since their reunion. Her hair was in a messy bun and she didn’t appear to be wearing much makeup, if any at all.

“Hi,” he greeted softly, making her quickly turn around.

“Hi,” she replied.

Bruce stepped further into the room. But neither of them moved to sit in any of the many seats that surrounded them.

“I heard what happened. How are you doing?” He asked.

She nodded and shrugged. “Alright.”

“I’m surprised to see you here,” Bruce admitted.

Y/N ignored his comment and her eyes went around the room. “I missed this place,” she thought aloud. Then her eyes fell back to his, softening. “I missed you.”

Bruce was taken aback from her confession. Seeing as the last time they were together, she was rather blunt about how disgusted and disappointed in him she was.

The energy between them felt so different than last time.

To his surprise, Y/N stepped toward him. And she didn’t stop until she was at a proximity that most would call rather intimate.

There was a voice in the back of Bruce’s mind, urging him to close the last bit of distance and place his lips on hers. But he managed to ignore it. That didn’t stop his heart from beating faster, though.

Y/N stared into his eyes for a few seconds, almost like she was searching for something.

“I have something that belongs to you…”

Bruce waited, not sure what she could possibly have to give him.

But then she pulled out one of his batarangs from her coat pocket, offering it to him.

She had found it embedded in the wall when she had gone back down to grab her personal belongings that night.

Bruce kept his face composed. “I’m not sure I understand.”

But he grabbed it from her anyways.

“He’s you,” she whispered. “Or I guess…you’re him.”

Bruce let out a breath, “Y/N…”

She took step away from him. “Don’t lie to me, Bruce.”

So he shut his mouth and said nothing instead.

“I’ve been doing some research. Things started lining up,” Y/N explained. “The first Batman sightings were right around when we stopped talking. The more Batman was in the press, the less Bruce Wayne was. And when he was, it was never positive – like it was meant to be a distraction.”

Her eyes went sad. “I never understood how the boy I used to love could grow into the man I’m so disappointed in. It never made sense.” She paused. “But when you wonder if the man himself is the mask, it all fits.”

“I’m sorry.” Bruce hung his head slightly. “I couldn’t tell anyone. Not even you.”

“I’d never share your secret.”

“I know,” he answered instantly.

Y/N couldn’t hold back her emotions any longer. Her eyes welled with tears. “Bruce…living like this has its consequences.”

Bruce said nothing.

She stepped forward and grabbed his hand. “You can’t change the world on your own. You don’t have to do this alone.”

Y/N wasn’t giving him advice. She was offering him something.

Her trust.

Her secrecy.

Her love.

He shook his head, but gripped her hand tightly. “You would just end up in the shadows with me. And I…I can’t do that to you.”

“I’m stronger than you think,” Y/N defended.

“I’ve always known how strong you are, Y/N.” His jaw tightened at even the thought of being selfish. “You deserve more than what I can give. Gotham will always come first. That’s the sacrifice I made. That’s what is required. I can’t be what you need.”

Y/N studied his face, knowing that there would be no winning with him.

She nodded once, not even slightly hiding her heartbreak and disappointment.

Then she stepped closer and gave him a slow kiss on the cheek.

“It’s not a one time offer, Bruce.”

Bruce couldn’t move a muscle. He was rooted in place.

He heard Y/N have a short conversation with Alfred, then the door closed, and she was gone again.

———

Bruce Wayne was a fool.

Alfred could probably make a list, in seconds, with a hundred reasons why.

But, no, Bruce Wayne was a fool for believing Y/N would give up so easily.

Two weeks later, Y/N was at Wayne Manor again.

Bruce knew something was going on when Alfred didn’t seem surprised in the slightest.

In one of her arms was popcorn seeds, twizzlers, sour patch kids, and chocolate covered pretzels. In the other arm was a case of beer.

Y/N barely said hi to Bruce as Alfred helped her out of her coat and took the things out of her grasp so she was no longer struggling to hold it all.

“I’m here to use your theater,” she announced.

And with that, she walked right past Bruce like she owned the place.

Bruce looked at Alfred and silently asked, ‘What the hell is going on?’

“I believe you have a guest to entertain, Master Wayne.” Then he looked at the items in his hand. “And I believe I have some popcorn to make.”

Bruce still didn’t move.

“You successfully closed yet another case last night, it’s Friday night, and you have a beautiful woman who decided she wants to spend her time with you. Best you don’t keep her waiting, Master Wayne.”

Bruce narrowed his gaze as if telling Alfred they’d discuss this matter at another time.

“I presume you shouldn’t go empty handed,” Alfred added quickly and handed Bruce two beers from the case in his arms.

Bruce chuckled, but started walking away. “I’m surprised you even let this stuff in the house, Alfred.”

When Bruce reached the theater, Y/N had already started a movie.

He watched her a for a moment before she could realize he'd joined her.

Y/N looked like she belonged there. Even after all this time apart, she just burrowed herself a cozy nook in Bruce’s life.

It was something she had been able to do even when they were kids. When Bruce had his mood swings or his depressive episodes, Y/N didn’t scare. She just found her way to stay at his side without upsetting him further.

Bruce grabbed the seat to the left of hers.

They weren’t really seats, more like small beds. A dozen were placed in the theater.

A couple could easily share one, but Bruce wasn’t planning on even approaching that fine line.

When Bruce sat down, he didn’t look at Y/N. But she gave a shy smile at his joining.

It was a long movie – almost a 3 hour run time.

And Y/N almost made it.

Without only 30 minutes left, Y/N had fallen asleep. Meaning Bruce’s attention was now taken from the movie.

He got up and grabbed one of the many blankets in the trunk hidden in the corner and placed it carefully over her, before silently leaving.

This was not a one time thing.

These type of visits continued.

Bruce knew Y/N and Alfred had to be in cahoots together.

Y/N seemed to always come to the manor when Bruce needed her most.

Alfred would force Bruce out of the cave and moments later, the doorbell would be ringing.

On the bad nights, she wouldn’t make him talk. She wouldn’t ask questions or try to make him magically feel better. Sometimes she would talk – mostly about mundane things. She’d tell Bruce about her day or how her neighbor always left baked goods at her door or about the new show she started watching. Sometimes she wouldn’t say anything at all, just sit there silently and make sure he wasn’t alone.

Sometimes she would bring coffee and pastries.

Sometimes Bruce would just walk into the library and find her reading.

Sometimes she would sit and chat with Alfred as if he was the reason she was visiting, and not Bruce.

Bruce couldn’t sleep one night. Nothing specific was causing his insomnia. Just the overall weight of being so many people.

It was 3AM when Y/N texted him to open the door for her because she didn’t want to wake Alfred.

When Bruce did so, Y/N was standing on the other door in sandals and a slightly transparent coverup that barely showed the outline of the bathing suit underneath.

He said nothing, but his face clearly showed that he wanted to know why the hell she was there in the middle of the night.

“Couldn’t sleep,” Y/N told him quietly. Then she shrugged a bit,“I decided I wanted to go for a swim."

Whether she was lying for his benefit, Bruce wasn’t sure. But he followed her to the indoor swimming pool like a sailor would follow a siren.

Without hesitation, Y/N kicked her sandals off and tossed her coverup on the nearest chair. And the next second, she was diving into the pool.

Bruce smirked at her nonchalance, but made sure to hide it when she breached the surface once again.

“Doesn’t your apartment building have its won pool?” He asked.

Y/N smiled and tilted her head back to get her hair wet again and out of her face. “They put too much chlorine in it.”

Bruce crossed his arms, “I see.”

“Coming in?” She asked teasingly.

He shook his head.

“At least keep me company,” she requested.

Bruce glared playfully at her, knowing the game she was playing.

But he finally sighed and nodded.

He was in cotton shorts and a t-shirt. But he decided to sit on the edge of the pool and dip his feet in.

He watched as she swam around, looking as natural in the water as a mermaid. She had always loved swimming as a kid and it appeared not much had changed.

“Why couldn’t you sleep?” He finally decided to break the silence.

Y/N swam to him and crossed her arms on the edge of the pool to rest and tilted her head to look at him.

She shrugged, “The usual: stress, nightmares, insomnia, too much caffeine.”

Bruce’s concern spiked instantly. “Nightmares about what?”

She watched him for a moment, seeing how quickly her subtle comment triggered him.

“You’re not the only person who’s seen fucked up things, Bruce.”

An hour later, Y/N asked for a towel.

When she climbed out, she was taken aback by Bruce wrapping it around her shoulders and rubbing her down gently. It was innocent, but subtly intimate.

As their eyes locked for a prolonged time, and he seemed to realize what he’d done accidentally.

Y/N cleared her throat. “I should head home and let you try to get some sleep.”

“You could stay,” he offered. “I mean, we have plenty of bedrooms here,” he quickly added and saved himself a bit.

“Is that…what you want?” Y/N asked slowly.

Bruce knew what she was trying to ask. He didn’t trust himself to answer the way he should, so he didn’t answer.

“Let me drive you home,” he asked as they left the indoor pool and started toward the front entrance.

Y/N ignored the request until they were at the door. She turned to face him with a smug look, “I’m perfectly capable of driving myself. Thank you.”

She hesitated before kissing him on the cheek. “Get some sleep, Bruce.”

————

Months after Y/N’s visits started, Bruce was doing some research for a case on his tablet as he ate dinner.

“Margaret Caulfield’s engagement party is tonight,” Alfred broke the silence of the manor as he took Bruce’s finished plate.

Bruce looked confused on why he was supposed to care.

“Y/N will be there,” Alfred added.

But Bruce still didn’t understand what he was trying to say.

“Master Wayne, when you attend all those sufferable parties, what is the first question people ask you?”

Bruce thought for a moment. “When I plan on settling down, I guess.”

“Now imagine that, but magnified by about 100…and that is what Y/N’s experience is at those same parties. That young woman is one of the brightest people in Gotham and all those people care about is who will put a silly ring on her finger.”

Bruce leaned back in his chair, now understanding what Alfred was getting at. “I’m not her boyfriend, Alfred.”

“And you’ve made damn sure of that,” Alfred said a little too harshly.

Bruce watched him carefully.

“Y/N has fought off every one of your attempts to be a miserable recluse.”

Bruce opened his mouth.

“And don’t you dare try and tell me her efforts are wasted,” Alfred cut him off. “I’ve seen a change in you. And she has asked for absolutely nothing in return. She’d never ask you to pick her over Batman. Though she bloody well should!”

He wasn’t done.

“You’re not living, Master Wayne. And I won’t apologize for wanting more for you.”

Bruce just sat there and took it.

Alfred took in a breath, calming himself down. “There’s a suit waiting for you in your bedroom. I’ve decided I’m going for a evening walk.”

——————

Y/N didn’t know how many more champagnes she’d have to shrug to start feeling the buzz she so desperately needed.

Not even an hour of being at the party and she’s already been asked 15 times if she was seeing anyone. And when she answered no, half of those ended in them trying to set her up with someone.

As Y/N was trying to think of an excuse to escape, an old family friend approached her – a friend of her grandma’s unfortunately.

“Y/N, dear, let me see those hands!”

Y/N wanted to roll her eyes and snap, but she did as requested.

“No ring yet,” the woman teased, but she was also genuinely disappointed.

“That would be my fault, actually.” A voice said behind Y/N before she felt a hand on her lower back.

“Oh, Mr. Wayne, how nice of you to come!” The woman beamed. “Now, Y/N, why wouldn’t you tell anyone that you and Bruce are an item?”

“My fault again,” Bruce chuckled, “I’ve always enjoyed a good secret.”

Before she could ask more, Bruce smiled politely. “If you could excuse us for a moment.”

He steered Y/N to a private area of the party.

“What are you doing?” Y/N hissed at him. “The press are gonna have a field day. You and I will be every headline tomorrow.”

He smiled at her frantic concern.

“Why are you looking at me like that? I’m serious!”

Bruce captured her lips, silencing any further panic from her.

Y/N was completely caught off guard, but he wasn’t letting her go so easily. And soon, her hand went to the back of his head and she kissed him back.

Damn all the people who were probably watching them.

When Bruce finally let her pull away, he smirked at her dazed look and cupped her cheek.

She matched his smirk.

But then reality set in like a splash of cold water and she frowned.

“Am I – Is this your new cover?” She asked shakily, so scared that the answer was ‘yes.’

She could tolerate being Bruce’s friend for the rest of her life. But she wouldn’t survive being used in such a way. She couldn’t live in a fake relationship with a man she actually loved. She’d rather watch his sloppy persona with girls hanging off of him.

“No cover-up,” he muttered to her. “Just me and you – the real me.”

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

I worked so hard on this 😩 Please let me know your thoughts.

#bruce wayne x reader #batman x reader #batman reader insert #alfred pennyworth #alfred pennyworth & reader #batman fic #batman universe #dc #bruce wayne fic #bruce wayne reader insert #batfam #batboys #batman x you #bruce wayne x you #bruce wayne angst #batman angst

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deathwishy · 3 years

Text

x MARVEL CROSSOVER x

Marinette knew that Tom Dupain wasn't her biological father. Nonetheless, she loved him and he loved her. He married her mother when she was two and have been inseparable ever since.

On the other side, her biological father was a prick.

He first came to visit her after she developed a ... rather interesting set of abilities. She was five when that happened. Her mother had somehow contacted him and, even though he doubted it, he came.

It is safe to say that he was beyond shocked when he saw that Marinette was his spitting image, not counting the blue eyes. She had a mischievous smile and sharp eyes, carrying herself like royalty, worthy of the title of the daughter of the god of mischief.

That day, Loki found out he had a demigoddess daughter.

While he was reluctant at first, the little girl grew on him. He visited at least twice a month, mainly to help her control her powers but also to let her know that he actually cared about her, to ensure that he wasn't with her like his father was with him. No other Asgardian knew about Marinette and he would like to keep it that way. There was no need for his brother of father to swoop in and ruin everything.

As the years passed their bond became unbreakable. Marinette still thought that Loki was a prick and an idiot at times but she wouldn't have it any other way. Life was boring anyway, why not sprinkle it with a little bit of mischief?

When she became Ladybug, he knew. He called out Tikki as soon as he stepped in her room and her parents were out of hearing range.

"Tikki, you can come out. You should know better by now."

Marinette was dumbfounded when the goddess came out from behind some books, with a pout and with her arms crossed.

"I knew it. Trixx did say that you came to Midgard and Marinette looks like a miniature female version of yourself."

"I'm actually surprised the guardian gave her the Ladybug miraculous. I would've guessed she would have been a better fox."

"She is a very good match for me too. Her soul is a creative one, but yes, she would be a perfect fox."

"Um... Can I get in the loop too?"

The two gods turned to her. Marinette had her arms crossed, tapping her foot on the floor. Loki gave her a sheepish smile.

"I am a God, Marigold, I do know the other gods too."

The day passed talking with the two deities about all sorts of things, Tikki especially scolding him for the New York disaster, Marinette joining her. It happened before she was born so even if he changed it was still a horrible thing

"Look, daddy issues are a pain to deal with. I was very angry."

"Dad, it's no excuse to be an asshole."

"I know." Loki rolled his eyes then grinned. "But what's this I'm hearing about from Tikki about a boy?"

Marinette flushed, glaring at the offender, now munching on a cookie, her eyes sparkling with laughter. She was shaking her head and vigorously gesturing with her hands.

"Nope. I'm not talking with you about this and, Odin forbid, if I see you around him I'll cut your macaron supply."

Loki only raised his hands in surrender, laughing heartedly. He wouldn't dare cross his daughter, so he swore, between tears of laughter, that he would keep his distance.

"But if he breaks your heart I'll throw him in Jotunheim."

...

A few years later, when Lila came around he knew. There was no mistaking the dimming of the fire in her soul. He could see that she didn't want to talk about it by the way she was dodging the subject so he had to take the matter in his own hands.

He shapeshifted into a horsefly and flew after her when she went to school. It took a lot of his power to hide from Marinette's sight but if was worth it. Now he knew why she started closing in on herself.

Loki could admire a good lie. After all he was the god of trickery, lies and deceit. But this girl spouting off the worst lies he ever heard. Not only were they ridiculous, they were also completely devoid of any drop of truth. That was the base of any good lie, and she was lacking it entirely. What confused him more what that some of her classmates believed her. Only a handful others didn't seem to believe her, one of which was a blond boy that looked at the leech, glued to his hand, with disgust. By his aura Loki assumed he was the holder of the Black Cat.

He confronted Marinette when she came back from school. Some of the lies were concerning, they were hurting his daughter and he couldn't let it fly. He assumed the harpy was set on Marinette because she wouldn't buy her lies. That was not surprising, she could see even though his best lies.

"I know, Marigold."

Marinette knew what he meant. She inhaled deeply and looked around.

"Can we go somewhere else, outside of Paris?"

The furrowed his brows, getting more concerned by the second. He couldn't read her in that moment. He could read most people like an open book, but that was his daughter. She knew how to hide things from him.

"Yes. Tell your parents, we don't want to concern them."

After she told her parents that she would go with Loki on a short trip, he opened a portal to a high rooftop over a city. She could feel the darkness of it, potent and corrupting. She figured that was why her father would bring her there, no one would notice them. As soon as the portal closed, she broke down. She hugged him, crying into his chest.

"I'm so tired, dad. The responsibility of Ladybug, Lila and her lies, half of my class turned against me, Hawkmoth just sending out akuma after akuma, it's just so much."

He let her cry, hugging her closely and patting her head. Even after all these years he didn't know how to properly comfort his daughter but it was something he actively was working for.

"But I assume you still don't want me to help?"

"The Avengers or The Justice League would notice if you do something. I managed to keep them away, for the time being, but I doubt they would hesitate coming if they heard that you came into a highschool, knives flying after a teenage girl or if you burnt down half of Paris searching for Hawkmoth."

She sighed, sitting on the edge of roof.

"I can handle it, I think. It's hard but I can manage it. I have Chat Noir and the others, we will succeed."

"You know that I will always be by your side if you need me, right?"

"Of course, dad." She hugged him once more, not letting go for some time.

When she calmed down, she asked him to get them to Paris.

"Dad, where was that? I've never felt a more malicious feeling to a place in my entire life."

"Gotham City. That place holds a centuries long curse."

Marinette nodded then hugged her father one more time before he left. She then went on her balcony, sketchbook and laptop in her hands. The afternoon sun was providing perfect lighting for sketching. She set aside the sketchbook for the moment, opening the laptop. She heard about Gotham from Alya when she was gushing about the vigilantes. She wasn't especially interested about them so she listened politely but forgot everything the next day.

Gotham was dubbed the Crime Capital, which was not surprising. The maliciousness surrounding the city was overwhelming, even if she was there for only a few minutes short of an hour. She could only imagine what that could do to the locals. A meeting with Fu after her patrol that night was mandatory.

Apparently he knew about the situation in Gotham. An old friend kept him updated. He confessed that he wanted to talk with her about it but decided to tell her when she was prepared. Fighting that kind of corruption would be hard and it would take years. They decided to put a pin in it and deal with it after they defeated Hawkmoth. Marinette did NOT need this on her plate now.

...

Things got a little complicated when Wonder Woman decided to drop by. It was night, just a few hours after an akuma attack. Ladybug had to patrol on her own, Chat Noir was held back in his civilian life. She caught Ladybug on the Eiffel Tower, just when she was finishing her round.

"Ladybug."

"Wonder Woman. I wasn't aware that you would be coming by."

"I apologize, but this is important. Your presence is required at a summit between The Avengers and The Justice League. Some discussions will be about the situation in Paris and as the city is in your jurisdiction, you are invited to attend."

Marinette felt like she didn't tell the whole truth but agreed, under the condition to bring Chat Noir too. They were a team.

Loki wanted to come along but Marinette shot the idea down quickly. The was a chance that Thor would notice and everything would go south very quickly. She didn't need an international incident on her hands. The others didn't trust Loki but they were civil with each other after the brothers made amends and he helped them a couple of times. Still, she didn't think they would appreciate Marinette bringing an unauthorized guest.

...

A few weeks later they were in a secret base in the Alps. After she got the coordinates of the location she used the horse miraculous to get there. They were fairly early, only a few members of both teams being present. Batman with his team, Thor, Wonder Woman, Black Widow, Winter Soldier and Green Arrow.

Batman was the first one to greet her, soon after she closed the portal.

"Tikki, Kaalki, divide."

The horse kwami landed in her hand, where a sugar cube was waiting for her. She then nestled on top of her head. She slid the glasses there too, for easy access, just in case.

"Ladybug, glad you could come." Batman greeted her cordially. She shook his outstretched hand.

"Of course. After all, I was said this was concerning us."

Before Batman could say anything, a man dressed in black, with a blue bird symbol on his chest jumped in front of her, grinning like a child.

"I can't believe it, you are a real magical girl!"

Ladybug took a step back, blinking, a little shocked by the grown man's reaction.

"Tt. Nightwing, be professional."

"Yeah Wingman, you're going to scare the little Pixie."

"Ignore them, they are idiots." Said one of them, coming beside her. She identified him as Red Robin, one of Batman's... Associates? It felt wrong to call him a sidekick. That would be Robin.

"Red Robin. The idiots there are Nightwing, Red Hood and Robin."

"Pleasure meeting you." She smiled to them warmly. Robin narrowed his eyes, looking at her head.

"What is that?" He asked, taking a step closer to take a better look. Kaalki flew in his face, indignated.

"I'm a goddess, you oaf." Robin took a step back, hands on his katana, shocked by the little goddesses reaction. She narrowed her eyes, suddenly tamer. "Are you famous?" Robin was sputtering, clearly not prepared for the change in her demeanor.

Red Hood burst out laughing.

"Fucking hell, his face. I've never been more grateful for the camera in my helmet."

"Kwami don't show up on camera, but his face definitely will." Chat Noir pointed out. He went beside Ladybug, up until then scanning the compound. "I'm Chat Noir, the fabulous purr-tner of Ladybug, at your service." He made a mock bow, grinning like the Cheshire Cat. Ladybug, Red Robin, Red Hood and Robin groaned.

"Not ANOTHER ONE!"

"Tt. I can't handle two of them. I'll inevitably going to break the no killing rule."

"Um, what's going on?" Ladybug turned to Red Robin, who was grimacing.

"Nightwing." He said, giving her a pitying look.

"Oh, come on, it can't be that claw-ful." Retorted Nightwing. Chat Noir lit up like a Christmas tree.

"My lady, see. I was sure I was feline a fellow paw-nner nearby."

"Kill me." Ladybug and Red Robin said at the same time. They looked at each other and laughed.

As more heroes were arriving, Ladybug introduced herself to each of them. She tensed a bit when Thor came beaming at her.

"Ah! I haven't seen the miraculous for centuries! I am not really that familiar with the Chinese Miracle Box but I did encounter a wielder of Trixx."

She smiled tightly listening to his encounter with Fylja. She knows from her father about her, a trickster just like him, who managed to seduce Thor and steal Mjolnir and hide it. Thor decided to omit that detail. He liked the young hero but something seemed oddly familiar about her.

When Aquaman came, he looked very uncomfortable with his proximity to Chat Noir. He was cordial but kept his distance after finishing introductions. Chat Noir did tell her once that Plagg said that he was the one who sank Atlantis. It was a real story, apparently.

Ladybug preferred the company of Red Robin. They had a lot of things in common, from mutual interests to similar experiences as heroes. He asked a lot of questions without being invasive or trying to find out things about her civilian life and actually seemed interested about her answers. She actually blushed when Nightwing called them cute. She could see with the corner of her eyes how Chat Noir was wiggling his eyebrows but swooped up the other boys when they started teasing them.

"Everyone is here. Only the official members of the Justice League and the Avengers are allowed, as well as Ladybug and Chat Noir. The rest will stay here." Wonder Woman announced, leaving the rest of the young heroes pouting and protesting.

Ladybug turned to Red Robin and gave him a wave.

"See you after."

"Definitely." He grinned, making her blush.

Chat Noir came beside her, smiling knowingly.

"At least you're not a stuttering mess this time."

"Shut up you alley cat, that was four years ago."

"So you do like him." He smiled even wider. Ladybug blushed furiously, punching him in the ribs. He only giggled.

"Nightwing and Red Hood owe me 50 dollars."

"You're unbelievable."

All the heroes were seated at a circular table, everyone having an assigned seat. Even Ladybug and Chat Noir, their symbols gleaming brand new on the backs of the black chairs.

"The summit begins. We are now gathered here to discuss the Paris situation." Superman began, opening a slide on the projector.

Ladybug narrowed her eyes. It became obvious that they called the summit just for this. They were trying to take control. She clenched her fists, but didn't say anything. She hoped this wasn't what it looked like. She put her hand on Chat Noir's shoulder when he looked like he wanted to say something. She squeezed twice. ' I got this.'

"Ladybug, Chat Noir, it's been four and a half years since Hawkmoth has been active and so far we haven't seen much progress. The akumas seem to become more powerful and aggressive and the damage to Paris greater each time. We think you might be over your heads."

"What we are trying to say," Batman stood up, glaring at Superman for his lack of tact, "is that the situation is becoming increasingly difficult and we feel the need to intervene. We know that you are young, let us help you."

"You are kids, we can tell. We thought that because of the nature of the miraculous you will be able to neutralize the threat in due time, seeing as it's the same type of magic." Added Captain America.

"We trusted that you could handle it, as you said, but some of us already have doubts." Iron Man said, crossing his arms.

"Your miraculous might not be enough this time. But that's ok. We want this to end as much as you do." Professor Banner added, looking at them like he was explaining to children why they couldn't cross the street when the traffic light was red.

Most of the heroes didn't notice the way the two young heroes narrowed their eyes, faces darkening, but some, mostly those who knew the power of the miraculous, did. Aquaman was uneasy, a sense of foreboding dawning over him, Wonder Woman looked like she didn't know what her peers were going to say. She stood still, but tense, like preparing for an attack. She knew they were somewhat right, but that wasn't the way to help them. Green Lantern was leaning in his seat like he wanted it to eat him. Thor looked around the table, damning every one of them present. They were going to get them killed. Black Widow was glaring at Banner, knowing what his words did to the Parisians by their increasing straining to say nothing and stay in place. Batman was following them carefully. Something about the two of them screamed danger.

Then Superman dropped the bomb.

"So, effective immediately, we take jurisdiction of the city of..."

He was cut off by a sudden boom reverberating through the room. All heroes jumped in a battle stance. When there was no threat in sight, they looked at Ladybug, who had made a dent in the table with her fist. Her eyes were entirely blue. But it was not her usual color, it was an icy blue, that could freeze the fires of hell. Thor held his breath. They looked exactly like frost giant eyes. And familiar ones.

"How. Dare. You."

She didn't yell but the heroes could feel the ice in their veins.

"For four years we've been tirelessly fighting an emotional prying bastard, while controlling our own to the point where it seems that we have none, handling our civilian lives at the same time, trying to minimize the destruction of Paris even though we new the cure with bring everything back to normal, tending to our citizens after they've been akumatized, ensuring they would get therapy and support, even stopping minor crimes around the city and you have the balls to say that we are in over our heads?! We may be but we are handling it way better than any of you do! You are not one to speak, Superman. Metropolis gets trashed every other week with you're messy fights, and there is no cure. You obviously have no regard of the destruction or the victims most of the time. The rest of you are mostly the same. But there is no one getting in your way saying that you're doing a horrible job and trying to replace you. And if there is, gods forbid, you just send them to prison or in a mental asylum. You have NO right to criticize our ways when yours are statistically worse!"

Both the Justice League and the Avengers were silent and wide eyed. Thor was the first to recover. Her eyes went back to normal after she finished but there was no mistake. The girl wasn't human.

"Who are you?" He pointed his hammer at Ladybug. She rolled her eyes.

"Put that down, you're not intimidating anyone."

"Those were frost giant eyes. Answer me or perish."

"Dad would not appreciate the perish part, you know."

The Avengers and the Leaguers were now exchanging confused looks. What were they supposed to do? What was that about? After exchanging glances, they remained silent, watching the exchange curiously.

"What are you talking about?" Thor retorted, now gripping Mjolnir tighter.

"I guess this is as a bad time as any but... Hello uncle."

It wasn't ideal but she couldn't have both the Justice League and the Avengers trying to arrest her. She took the yo-yo from her hip and slid it open. She scrolled through her contacts and tapped the one named 'The God of Bullshit'. After a few beeps, during which the heroes were recovering from their stupor, Loki's face appeared on the screen.

"Daughter dearest. What's the matter, are the others bothering you?" He said in a sarcastic sweet voice. She rolled her eyes then pointed the screen towards Thor.

"L'Oréal blond knows."

After a few seconds Loki starts laughing like a maniac.

"This is the best way they could've found out. This is PERFECT."

Thor walks in wide strides to an unimpressed Ladybug and takes the yo-yo from her hand.

"I have a niece and you didn't TELL ME!"

"Of course not. You pieces of shit are not worthy of the presence of my daughter. I don't know why she even agreed to come to the meeting. She is doing a wonderful job in Paris and does not need any interference. Beware, brother, if you upset her I'll come for your heads. I have to go now, see you soon, daughter."

Ladybug closed her yo-yo and looked around the room.

"I don't care what you decided. Paris is my city. You don't come barging just because you think you can do a better job. And yes, I'm the daughter of Loki but that doesn't mean that I have bad intentions. I'm a hero as much as you are. Now, have I made myself clear?"

"Yes, Ladybug." Wonder Woman was the first to respond. Even if she was a daughter of Loki, the young hero earned her respect. She stood her ground against them and made her point crystal clear.

The rest of the heroes agree, though some reluctantly.

"Now, I agreed to come here mainly because I wanted to say that I have a strong lead. Hawkmoth may soon fall."

After some other arguments with some of the reluctant heroes and a few protests that were quickly shot down by Ladybug and her supporters, the heroes dispersed. She and Chat Noir were between the last ones to leave, having a shushed conversation while the others left.

"We will discuss it back in Paris. But yes, it's true."

"So you're a half goddess?"

"Demigoddess, but yes."

"That is awesome."

When they entered the hall, they saw it was almost empty. She was disappointed that maybe Red Robin left until he was in front of her. He gripped her shoulders and looked in her eyes.

"I think I'm in love with you. That was the greatest hero smack down in history."

She was a blushing mess by the time the other boys and Batman came around. They were all snickering, even Batman and Robin.

"How did you..."

"Father turned his com on when he saw that you looked like you were ready to kill someone."

"B, you are not allowed to adopt her under any circumstances, do you understand me? We do not need another sister."

"Yeah Bats, don't ruin your only chance at grandkids."

Now Red Robin was blushing too.

"So... You don't care about the Loki thing?"

"We noticed that he toned down a few years ago. We didn't know why. Now it makes sense."

"Yeah, trust me, you're not the only one with a villainous parent 'round here." Red Rood pointed, putting his elbow on Robin's shoulder. The latter looked like he wanted to rip it off.

"And you are clearly taking your job seriously. Even father respects your efforts."

"I didn't intend to make you feel like you are not good enough. We wanted to help you, but it got out of hand. I apologize."

"Apology accepted. I understand where you're coming from, but trust me. This is coming to an end. Soon."

When the Bats were going to the zeta tubes and Ladybug was merging the horse miraculous with her own, Red Robin stayed behind. He handed her a phone.

"It's a non traceable phone. Of you ever want to talk, my number is programmed in there. I really enjoyed our conversation"

She took the phone, smiling brightly.

"I did too. Thank you."

She pulled him into a hug. He hugged her back, kissing her on the cheek then running to the zeta tubes. Her cheeks were as red as her suit. She touched the place where he kissed her, smiling like an idiot.

"Aww, I'm going to die of fluff. I ship it."

"Shut up." She grumbled but still smiling.

...

A few months later Hawkmoth’s reign of terror came to an end. It was messy and heartbreaking but they were finally free. Adrien was exonerated by both the Justice League and the Avengers when accusations started to appear in the media. Not wanting to live with the Graham de Vanily’s, Adrien was taken in by Selina Kyle a.k.a Catwoman. It was quite fitting.

They have revealed their identities during the battle when they had to recharge and barely found one place to detransform. When they had the Butterfly and Peacock miraculous secured and Gabriel and Nathalie in police custody, they swung to the Eiffel Tower and collapsed there on each other, crying their hearts out for the first time in five years. Loki got there at some point but he kept his distance, understanding that it was their time. That was how they were found by the Justice League and the Avengers. Huddled together on the railing, not talking, with Loki next to them, smiling serenely. Thor almost had a heart attack. When she noticed that Red Robin came too, she ran to him and kissed him like the world almost ended, which almost actually did.

Fu passed guardianship to Marinette not long after, deeming her ready.

After everything was solved in Paris and the trials of Gabriel, Nathalie and Lila, for her aiding Hawkmoth, were done, Marinette began her first mission as Guardian. Cleanse Gotham.

Soon, a new vigilante, with a black fox theme, swung through Gotham with the Bats and Tim Drake appeared in public with his new girlfriend, Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

When I first saw what the prompt for today was I had no idea what to write. I didn’t want to do the class trip to New York so I took my favorite character, Loki obviously, and brainstormed. This came out. I don’t know if this has been done before but I love biodad!Loki.

So this is approximately 4326 words (I added and edited things on here so I don't know for sure) which is a new record. I did enjoy writing this. Maybe I will do something biodad!Loki again in the future, it's fun to write.

And as a sidenote, Marinette can lift Mjolnir.

@timari-month-event

#maribat #timari #timari january #mlb x dc #biodad!loki

475 notes · View notes

anjuschiffer · 3 years

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Happy Valentine’s Day @m3owww! Hope you enjoy it Phi!

Thanks to @eat0crow for organizing this exchange and Panda for helping me with the title!

Yes, I know I went overboard...

AO3

Marinette remembered the first time she got something from her soulmate.

It was a battery, or so she found out when she showed it to her parents.

“Maman, what’s this?” She asked her mother as she showed her the black box-like battery.

“Where did you get this?” Sabine asked, taking it and examining, wondering where her 10 year old daughter got it. After all, she didn’t recall them buying it.

“I didn’t get it from anywhere. It just...appeared on my desk.” Marinette explained, watching as Sabine showed the box to her father.

“This looks like a camera battery.” Tom gave the battery back to Marinette, then looked at Sabine, watching as she connected the dots. “Seems like your soulmate might be into photography.”

“Soulmate?” Marinette asked, staring at the battery.

Soulmates. Only five percent of the world’s population had one or rather, the ability to find theirs. They came in various forms and at different ages, so it was always hard to know if you had a soulmate link, bond or mark.

As for the Dupain-Chengs, it seems like Tom and Sabine belonged to that five percent. Sabine and Tom found out they had soulmates when they met at a flea market in Paris. The two had noticed that the timer ticking on their wrist was edging closer to 0, causing them to panic. For the two believed that it was a timer that marked the death of their soulmate.

As the two dashed to find a place to possibly cry at, the two crashed into each other, Tom catching Sabine by her wrist to prevent her from falling. As the two apologized, it was then that they found out that they were soulmates and that the timer was counting down to when they were going to meet. Upon realizing this, they both began to laugh.

Marinette asked them why her soulmate link wasn’t like theirs, Sabine explaining that each soulmate pair had a different bond. As for Marinette, it seemed to be a lost and found link.

If either of them lost anything, say a pencil, then the other will find it.

Sabine noticed that Marinette seemed skeptical of it.

“Try throwing out the battery out the window.”

“What? No!”

“Trust me.” And so Marinette did, after preparing herself for 10 minutes. When she went outside to look for it, it was gone.

Seeing as it was true, Marinette began to purposely lose items frequently, hoping that her soulmate would get the message that she knew about him. That she was eager to meet him. But despite her hard efforts, her items never went over to her soulmate, the items landing or staying in the spot Marinette had thrown at.

Because of this, whenever Marinette would try and show her friends her bond, they half-believed her. Only one straight up thought she made up the story to get attention: Chloe.

But then again, Chloe didn’t like anyone, so Marinette kept telling her friends of her various attempts, eagerly telling them how she couldn’t wait to meet them.

Soulmates…as much as Tim wanted to ask his parents about it, he chose not to.

Tim looked at the tiny medallion in his hand, his fingers running over the three letters engraved on it, quickly putting it away when he heard his mother’s footsteps, quickly burying himself into his homework, pretending to flip between pages when he heard the doorknob of his room turn.

Janet walked in, Tim pretending to figure out a calculation out, quickly scribbling some nonsense onto his paper.

“I see that you’re working hard.”

“Mr.Sommers said that the next exam will cover factorization, so I thought I would do a few for practice.” Tim easily lied, adding a final number before looking up to acknowledge his mother.

She had that look again. “How long would you be out for this trip?” Janet jumped a bit. “You talked about it with Mrs.Romanov just yesterday, when you found her at the bookstore to buy some books for the flight. When we were at the storefront, remember?”

Another lie. Yes, his mother had gone to the bookstore with Tim, but the thing was that Janet had sent Tim off while she told Mrs.Romanov about her next exertion. How she told Mrs.Romanov if she knew of any nannies to take care of Tim while she was going to be out for the next two months.

Despite knowing Tim was capable of maintaining himself, she didn’t want the school to bother her again for not leaving him behind with adult supervision. It was starting to get on her nerves.

“Oh that’s right. How did I forget?” His mother recalled, not once doubting his retelling. “We’re excavating in Riqqeh, Egypt for a month.” Tim watched as his mother let out a sigh. “Probably more cemeteries, but then again, you never know until you dig.”

“I see.” Tim said, burying himself back into his homework. “Hope you find something more interesting than skeletons then.”

“I promise to bring back a souvenir, okay?” His mother walked to him, placing a cold kiss on his forehead, Tim noticing his father’s name etched on her collar bone. “Make sure to go straight to sleep after you finish that page, understood?” A nod. “Good night, Timothy.”

“Good night.” He simply said back, watching as she closed the door.

Taking out the medallion, Tim stared at it.

He had a soulmate somewhere out there...a soulmate he dreaded to meet...and yet hoped that perhaps they wouldn’t end up like his parents…

Tim opened a secret compartment in his pencil case and placed the medallion there, thinking about it until he went to sleep.

—

Soulmates. Everyone is always eager to meet them, but no one ever tells you how to keep that same enthusiasm after you meet them…

Tim’s parents met when Janet had tagged along with one of her friend’s excavation trips, meeting Jack in Berlin.

The minute the two saw each other, their world turned more colorful, the two becoming infatuated with one other when they found out they were soulmates. After showing each other’s names etched onto their collarbones, the two quickly planned their marriage.

Marrying in Gotham was a dream come true for Janet...but that dream lasted a mere months before the world went back to being its bland self. With each having their own dreams, careers and goals, Janet and Jack started to stray from each other. Meetings and trips took time away from one another. And the time they would see each other, they would simply talk about work, work and nothing else. Not even a single ‘want to take a break?’ or ‘how about we go out for dinner tonight?’

It was like being at another board meeting, being professional with each other.

They only drew close to one another when Janet found out she was pregnant with Timothy, Jack taking some time off work to make sure Janet had various maids checking on her before returning back to work.

On the day Timothy was to be born, Jack was there, holding Janet’s handing during the delivery. He held his son once before handing him over to Janet and leaving, mentioning about having to go back to work.

Jack would then go on to see Timothy at home, being lulled to sleep by the handmaid, telling Jack of Janet’s meeting with the board about an upcoming visit to Mexico.

There were few times Tim actually remembered going out as a family and while from the outside it looked like any other family outing, Tim knew why they were out in the first place: rumors.

“Have you heard? Drake’s little boy was seen walking home by himself! What parent lets their child go home by themselves? ”

“Timothy? But he’s only six!”

“Heard they plan on sending him to a boarding school. Poor thing.”

While the family outings were influenced by rumors, Tim found joy in them because it was the few times he was able to go to places he had desired to go before. Like the circus....even if that one ended in a tragedy.

But even good things had to come to an end. Years went by and Timothy grew to be very independent. That was when all the maids and servants were shooed off, leaving Tim all alone.

It didn’t help that they did indeed end up sending him to boarding school.

But Tim managed to get used to being alone, and has been for the past two years.

Years passed and Marinette no longer kept trying to lose her items. Despite her various attempts, she couldn’t manage to send them over to her soulmate, finding it disheartening it.

But as of these days, Marinette didn’t have the time to try it again. Or rather, she could no longer afford to lose her belongings or let them out of her sight.

While she had gotten used to getting her things taken away from her thanks to her friends borrowing them or Chloe playing a “prank” on her, getting bullied by two people at the same time was starting to take a toll on her and the brand she was trying to set for herself at the age of 15.

If she dared to let her eyes wander, then they would either fall into the hands of Chloe or of Lila’s. When Lila transferred to Dupont, Marinette didn’t honestly care about her lying, after all, they were nothing but white lies. So she never bothered to actually make friends with the girl. But even with the lack of communication, Marinette apparently did something to Lila because one day she was cornered in the bathroom and was threatened.

Marinette was kind but she knew when enough was enough.

“I would like to see you try.” She practically spat into Lila’s face before leaving the bathroom those weeks ago.

So here she was, being bullied by both her bully since l'école primaire and her new found one in lycee.

But between the two, Marinette preferred her personal things end up in Chloe’s hands than Lila’s. Chloe at least gave them back, but Lila? They never returned in one piece or even worse, they didn’t come back at all.

“Marinette? Where is your-”

“Mme Bustier...I promise you I did do it. I had it.” Marinette stabilized her voice from erupting into panic as she failed to find her assignment that she swore she had in her bag. “You can even ask Alya. She saw it.”

“That’s true Mme Bustier!” Alya quickly defended, although she wondered what happened to the paper as she saw Marinette safely tuck it away. Yes, Marinette could be clumsy, but unorganized and scattered brain? That she was not. She was meticulous, precise and always punctual. So how did that paper leave its place?

“Regardless, it’s not in my hands.” Mme Bustier sighed. “You’ll have to stay after class.” That caused Marinette to panic. She couldn’t afford to stay after school. She had a meeting with a client as soon as school ended.

“But Mme Bustier!”

“I’m sorry Marinette, but-”

“I can’t afford to stay after class! I have a very important-”

“Marinette.” Mme Bustier sternly stated. “Rules are rules. You’ll have to come after school, whether you have a very important appointment or not.”

Marinette managed to not scream as the bell rang, watching as everyone filed out, Alya lingering behind.

“Marinette, I could-” she shook her head.

“Alya, I’ll be alright.” She gave her friend a sheepish smile. “And go on without me. Perhaps my client will understand when I explain it to them via text.” Despite Marinette’s reassurance, Alya nodded and left the classroom hesitantly.

Bracing herself for her punishment, Mme Bustier got a phone call from the main office, looking at Marinette and turning her attention back to the phone. With a few ‘oui’ and ‘be right there,’ Bustier turned to Marinette.

“They need me for a few minutes downstairs, but that doesn’t mean you are free to go. Stay here while I check what they need from me.” Mme Bustier ordered, Marinette burying her face into her hands as she slammed herself into her desk.

She lifted her head once again, sending a quick text to her client about running late. Once that was over, Marinette took out her sketchbook to look over her designs, taking out a red pen to add some additional revisions.

She didn’t know how long she had been like that, but the moment she heard the door open, her head snapped upwards, a frown on her face when she saw Lila and not Mme Bustier.

“What do you want?”

“Nothing much.” Lila said, dragging her fingers on the desk Marinette sat at. “Just this!” She exclaimed, snatching the sketchbook from under Marinette’s hand.

“Give it back!” Marinette screamed, quickly chasing after Lila around the class.

“Oh come one Marinette! I just want to-”

“They’re very important commision designs for a client-” Marinette attempted to reason, almost grabbing it back from Lila.

“Is that so?” Lila hummed, quickly opening the sketchbook and looking at the designs. “Wow. You weren’t kidding!” A grin made its way to her face. “It’d be too bad if something bad happened to it.”

Marinette’s eyes widened and the next thing she knew, she had managed to grab the sketchbook from Lila.

“There’s no way in hell I would let you.” Marinette said in a low voice.

“Oh? Then let’s see you try!” Lila yelled, attempting to grab the sketchbook from Marinette.

The two waltzed away from one another as Marinette kept her sketchbook away from Lila’s grasp. The two were on each other’s toes until Marinette had to run around the classroom, having to knock over Mme Bustier’s chair to keep Lila away from her when she got too close to comfort.

“Come on Marinette! I just want to see-”

“No way in hell Lila!” Marinette screamed, feeling as Lila dug her nails into her shoulder when she ended up cornering her by the windows, Marinette trying her best to not wince at the pain.

The two girls kept clawing at one another until Marinette couldn’t keep Lila at bay anymore, trying to find a way to keep her sketchbook safe from Lila. As Lila kept pushing her, Marinette’s hand hit the window, almost knocking down the metal rod that was used to pull down the shades. That’s when it hit her.

Taking in a deep breath, Marinette kicked Lila away from her, ingraining Lila’s expression of surprise into her memory. As Lila goy up and charged to grab the designer’s sketchbook, Marinette flung it behind her head, silently praying for its safety.

After all, everytime she had tried to lose an item, it never worked. But this time, just this one time, she hoped it would work.

Meanwhile, Lila watched as the sketchbook flew out the window, watching as it fell down to the ground, only to disappear before it hit the grass outside.

Lila stepped back, her eyes darting from the missing book to the panting Marinette who glared at her with daggers for eyes.

“Not this time Lila. Not this time.” The classroom door opened, causing both girls to look at the doorway.

“What is going on here?” Mme Mendeleiev practically shouted, causing Lila to lose all color in her face.

Crap.

—

Tim watched as his English teacher started to walk down the desk aisle, watching as he started to collect their writing assignment assigned yesterday. Seeing as he was drawing near, Tim reached into his bag, when he felt an unfamiliar texture brush against his knuckles. Peering into his bag, he noticed a leather book with a red strap securing it.

Deciding to check it out later, Tim took out his assignment and handed it in, watching as Mr.Hughes simply nodded as he took it, walking down the other row of desks to take the assignment.

As class progressed, his mind drifted to one thing: the book. Tim pondered at how the leather book had gotten into his bag and who it belonged to.

Was it from someone in his class? Was it part of a prank?

He was snapped from his thoughts once the bell rang, signaling everyone that it was lunch.

Tim scurried to the school’s library, heading up to the second floor and turning a right to where his favorite spot welcomed him. A lone desk at the corner, next to a radiator that warmed him in the winter and a wonderful view of the campus as well.

Ever since the death of his mother around a year ago, Tim was able to convince his father to pull him out of boarding school and to transfer him to Gotham Academy. He told him how it was less costly and better yet, closer to home. He agreed.

Making sure that he was comfortable, Tim took out the leather book, his fingers analyzing the bumpy leather texture. Perhaps he would find the owner’s name inside. If not, he will take it to the lost-n-found in the main office. Carefully, Tim took the red strap off the edge of the book, taken aback at the sketches on the paper.

Light feather markings under layers of darker, bolder strokes of graphite looked back at him in the shape of a dress. Side notes in French in a vibrant shade of black ink were meticulously jotted down, red ink being additional notes to the already long list of critiques.

As he turned the pages, Tim saw one dress design after another, designs for hats, caps, shirts and even leather jackets were in there too. Names of fabrics he had never heard of before racked in his mind as Tim kept admiring each sketch. He also couldn’t help but notice the signature on each page. MDC.

MDC.

As he reveled in the initials, trying to make sense of them, he let out a hiss as he retracted his hand from the book, noticing a small bead of blood emerged from his finger...blood?

Tim looked back at the book, noticing that there was a single needle poking out from the sketchbook’s satin bookmark, a silver medallion-

Medallion?

There was no way.

Tim closed in on the medallion and there it was, the initials, MDC. Just like the one he found written on the rose-gold medallion he found years ago.

But why now? Why now after five years of not losing a single thing?

Time had gone by so quickly that Tim literally jumped when the bell rang for the next class, Tim quickly scrambling to gently put back his soulmate’s things into his bag and head for geometry class.

Thanks to the fiasco with Lila, Marientte was held back even more, leading to Marinette having to reschedule her appointment with her client.

Thankfully, the client understood the situation Marinette was just in, even going as far as waiting for Marinette to set the new meeting date. Something about having been there before.

Wrapped in a lavender scented blanket, Marinette stared at her phone screen in front of her that blinked several times before turning black. Then it would turn on again.

On. On. On. On. Off. On…. Off. On... Off...On. On...

Marinette didn’t bother to flip it over either, knowing that the vibration of the incoming calls and unread text messages were going to remind her of the incident with Lila...and how she didn’t have access to her sketchbook anymore.

Her stomach grumbled in annoyance, Marinette only then remembering not having eaten in hours and its been a long time judging form the darken sky outside.

Deciding to actually eat something before she started to feel nauseous from not eating, Marinette was surprised to see a crumpled piece of paper next to the tray of food her mom had brought her. Where did the paper come from?

Opening it up, Marinette felt her heart stop.

I don’t know why, but I have your book…

Thank god she studied a bit of English! Marinette read the next lines.

The designs...are very nice. But guessing from the notes on the last page, you need it back. How exactly do I do that?

That stumped Marinette because to be honest, she didn’t know how. Every time she had tried to before, it never worked. Only this one time where she really needed for the link to work, it worked. But...they managed to easily lose their things…

Grabbing a piece of paper, Marinette wrote back, crumbling it and headed towards her skylight. Opening the hatch a bit, she threw it, going back to her food, hoping it got through.

Tim was minding his own business, listening to NIghtwing give the squad a run down of their latest problem when he eyed a crumpled up paper by his foot. Hoping no one would notice it, he quickly placed it under his foot and waited for the debriefing to finish.

Crouching to get it, it seems like he wasn’t as subtle as he had wished to be as Jaime got to it first.

“What you hiding from us, compa’?” Jaime asked Tim as he uncrumpled the paper. “¿Qué diablos es esto? What is this? Can you even read this?” Jaime pointed at the French written on the paper.

“Yes, I can.” Tim said, huffing when Bart leaned onto his shoulder, peering into the note in Tim’s hands.

“Why am I not surprised?” Jaime said. “Not only are you super smart, but now you’re bilingual too? Let me guess, you're actually multilingual?”

“Actually, he is.” Bart chimed in.

“No manches güey. Seriously?”

“If I remember correctly: Spanish, Cantonese, Russian-”

“And German.” Tim finished, quickly picking up his pace. “Now if you excuse me, I have a few things to do.”

“Hey! At least tell us what it says! Andale, no seas malo.” Jaime pleaded but simply got a wave goodbye for an answer. “Fine! But don’t forget about tomorrow’s mission, eh?”

As Tim left Jaime and Bart behind, he headed to the zeta tubes to head back home, thanking Alfred for the lift home, acknowledging his father as he made his way to his room.

He made a beeline for his bag, taking out the sketchbook, scared to even hold it now that he knew who it belonged to and how much it could potentially be worth.

He laid down the wrinkled paper on his desk, rereading the note.

Just lose it. Try to toss it out the window or something. That’s what I did. It’s how our link works after all.

Tim took a deep breath, both relieved that there was a possible way to return the book and nervous it wouldn’t work.

Taking the sketchbook, he opened up his bedroom window, looked down below and took a deep breath. He took a step back and with one swift move, he tossed the sketchbook out the window, wondering if it made its way safely back to its owner.

After what seemed like an hour, Tim found a crumpled piece of paper on his desk, quickly jogging towards it and opening, feeling a wash of relief flow out of him, Tim let himself smile as he looked at the paper.

It worked! Thank you so much! My name is Marinette...what’s yours?

Months flew by, Marinette now being in her senior year and grinning from ear to ear as she read Tim’s latest text to her, ignoring Alya’s nagging on packing for their trip.

Ever since the sketchbook incident, Marinette found out the reason as to why she was never able to “lose” anything to give to Tim. Or rather the two reasons why the link wasn’t working.

First off, Marinette had been intentionally losing items and always had her eyes on where it would land, which actually cancelled the link. Second, Tim’s fussing over the soulmate link caused it to weaken over time, which further didn't allow Marinette to send him anything over.

Through various days of aggressively sending each other notes, Tim decided to embrace the link while Marinette assured him that she would try to keep her enthusiasm to a low. Keyword: try.

Getting tired from the constant note throwing, Marinette suggested exchanging contact info. It’s how Marinette learned that Tim was very meticulous, and that was coming from his share of contact info. He had an email, phone number, fax number all carefully labeled with even hours in which Marinette was allowed to contact him.

At first Marinette thought he was a stick in the mud, but then Tim had to explain to her about time zones and how he was still in school and afterschool programs most of the week...oops. How did she forget about time zones and school of all things?

Using Marinette’s phone number and email, Tim was easily able to know where exactly Marinette lived, but that’s all he was able to figure out. It wasn’t exactly easy to figure out more about your soulmate when an enthusiastic Dick hovered around you upon knowing about Tim’s soulmate. It got worse when Tim officially moved into Wayne Manor after his father’s death.

But even with Dick hovering like a hummingbird, Tim found texting with Marinette soothing. To have a friend outside of school, out of the Justice League, to have a friend where he could just be Tim...it was...relaxing. Especially when he heard of Lila’s moving due to her mother’s job.

After all, it’s not like he had something to do with it. Absolutely not.

Of course, there were a few times he almost spilled the details, but he was easily able to catch himself, oftentimes redirecting it towards Marinette’s day or her latest commission.

Sometimes they would even video chat, although rarely thanks to time zones. But the few times they did, they would each ingrain each second they spent with each other, as they never knew when they were actually going to meet one day… even if it came closer than what either of them thought.

Tim reread his text for the umpteenth time, his mind still trying to process the message before realizing he hadn’t answered back.

Metropolis? As in, the city where the Man of Steel resides?

She...she was heading to Metropolis? In two days?

Thank Kon for dragging him here!

Marinette: Yup! To think we were able to win Luthor’s scholarship trip! Can you believe it? I can’t wait to see what his program could offer! When I found out that Luthor was holding a scholarship trip for those who would win his Foundation for the Arts’ essay competition, there was no way I was going to let that chance go! Especially when I heard that the trip was extended to the winner’s entire class, regardless of nationality. It would basically be our second senior trip before the first one ^^

Must be very excited then.

You bet I am!

To think...to think he would be able to see her in person… He watched as his happiness wrote for him.

Tim: Wanna hear something that would make the trip more exciting?

What would make this trip even more exciting?

Marinette hummed into the palm of her hand as she watched Tim type.

Tim: I’ll get to see you. Face to face. I’ll be in Metropolis for the next week...what are the odds?

Alya never saw Marinette turn red so quickly, watching as Marinette almost fell off her bed.

“Marinette! Oh my god, Nino! Help! She’s on cloud nine!”

Marinette fanned herself as she bit her lip, fiddling with the green ribbon she had wrapped around her wrist in case she wanted to tie her hair up.

Today was her second day in Metropolis, Marinette now nervous compared to when she first arrived the day before.

After having a tour of Metropolis University, Bustier’s class was able to have the day to themselves and as if on cue, Tim texted her if she was free even though she had already shared her itinerary with him the moment she recovered from her shock those days ago.

So now here she was, standing in Heroes’ Park, wondering if she looked foolish standing in front of Superman’s statue.

Or perhaps because she looked so out of place. Who wears a sunhat nowadays? Oh wait, she did...why exactly? Because freckles.

Marinette looked at her phone, wondering if she got the time wrong. No. She was literally a whole ten minutes early.

So why-

“You scream tourist you know.” A voice said, snapping Marinette from her thoughts. As she turned to see who it was, she felt her heart skip a beat.

He always seemed short, but...now being faced to face…

“Well, sorry for having freckles. The sun-” Marinette pouted, caught by surprised when Tim cupped her face.

“Freckles? I never knew you had them. Then again, you can’t really see them when they’re so small and through a screen at that.”

Marinette listened as her heart threatened to jump from her chest, more so when Tim realized what he was doing. Pink dusted his face. “Sorry, I-”

“I-It’s alright.” Marinette managed to find herself saying, pulling her hat closer to her face. “I...I also wasn’t expecting you to be taller than me.”

That caused Tim to sputter.

“You thought I was-”

“Hey! In my defense, I only had furniture to get some type of knowledge of how tall you were. Seems like I was wrong.” Marinette confessed.

The two stared at each other before laughing, Marinette attempting to reel in her heart with each laugh Tim let out. She didn’t think they would sound so different to what she was used to listening to through the phone.

When the two managed to compose themselves, Tim and Marinette looked at each other again. Marinette dusted off nonexistent dust off her yellow-canary shorts, readjusting her black purse that crossed her red blouse. Tim cleared his throat.

“Well, let’s start this again.” Marinette nodded, a smile on her face.

“Hey. My name is Marinette Dupain-Cheng.” She comfortably answered back, clasping her hand with the hand Tim offered. “I’m happy to finally meet you, Timothy.” Tim squeezed her hands, noticing how her hand fit perfectly in his.

Perhaps this was where his parents went wrong. Perhaps this is why their relationship didn’t work...lack of communication...lack of appreciation and affection…

But he won’t let them end but like them, not when he knows how much she means to him.

Giving her hand a squeeze, Tim smiled at him.

“As am I, Marinette.”

#maribat #timari #anju writes #MaribatDrabbleExchange

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dccomicsimagines · 3 years

Text

What’s Lost is Found - Batfamily Imagine - Part Eleven

Part One Part Two Part Three Part Four Part Five Part Six Part Six.Five Part Seven Part Eight Part Nine Part Ten

***

“Now look at how beautiful it is today,” Dick said as he pushed your wheelchair out of the manor and into the gardens.

You covered your eyes, giving them a moment to adjust. “I guess.” You rubbed the AV fistula in your arm.

“Are you feeling okay? The dialysis didn’t make you sick again?” Dick rubbed your shoulder with one hand. You swallowed hard. How could your life have changed so much?

“I’m fine.” You smiled when Dick pushed you around a corner to find Kori and Alfred. “Hi.”

“(Y/N), my love.” Kori waddled toward you, kissing your cheek. Her belly was huge. The baby was supposed to arrive any day now. “Come, we decided to have a picnic outside.”

Alfred was setting the picnic table. “Master Dick, will you go get us more ice please?” Dick parked you near the picnic table before running back to the manor. Trees shaded the area, keeping it cool from the summer sun’s blazing gaze. You got to your feet and slowly walked to the table. Alfred watched you worriedly.

“I’m okay. I just have to get used to walking again.” You waved him off. Two months in a coma weakened you. Not to mention your failing kidneys and your bad arm. You eyed your thin, ghostly arm. The cast had come off the day after you woke up. They told you it took two surgeries to correct it.

Alfred hummed, pouring you a cup of lemonade. Kori sat across from you. She rubbed her belly. “The baby is kicking again.”

You perked up. “Can I feel?” She leaned over to take your hand and pressed it against her belly. The baby kicked hard. “Wow.”

Kori smiled. “They must know you’re here.”

“How are you such an imbecile that you didn’t know where the ice was located, Grayson?!” Damian’s voice came from around the corner. You pulled away from Kori’s belly.

“Damian’s here? I thought he’d be at the penthouse.” You took a sip of lemonade. Dick and Damian came around the corner with the ice.

“Master Damian said he’d stop by.” Alfred finished laying out the sandwiches and salads. “Master Tim, Miss Stephanie, and everyone else will be here for dinner.”

Dick put the ice in the cooler. Damian sat down next to you, glancing you over before he relaxed. You were touched by his concern. “Is Jon back from space yet?” You bumped Damian’s arm.

“TT, no, he is not.” Damian growled. “Don’t worry about him. He’s an idiot.” He piled food onto his plate.

You frowned. Alfred started to fill your plate for you, passive aggressively hinting that you should eat. Dick sat down next to Kori. “He’ll be back soon, sweetheart. Superman wouldn’t have sent him to space if he knew you would wake up three days after he left,” Kori said.

“Yeah, sure.” You picked at your food. Alfred sat down at the end of the table in a folding chair.

“Young Mr. Kent was here all the time. His parents sent him away to give him some distance.” Alfred patted your hand. “It hurt him to leave you.”

“Couldn’t get him out of the house,” Dick mumbled. “I can’t tell you the number of times we found him sleeping on the floor of your room.”

Damian huffed, rolling his eyes. You smiled. Your heart ached to see Jon. He was the one person you hadn’t seen yet. Part of you was afraid something happened to him and no one was telling you. “When are you moving back to your swampland?” Damian asked with a smirk.

Dick rolled his eyes. Kori answered for him. “We are going to wait for the baby to be born and for (Y/N) to receive their new kidney.” Your eyes widened.

“New kidney?!” You gasped. Alfred, Dick, and Damian winced. Kori looked at them, confused.

“What? (Y/N) needs to know they’re going to get a new kidney.” Kori shook her head at the men. She reached over to rub your arm.

“We were going to tell them at dinner.” Dick bit his lip, studying you. You sighed. A headache blossomed in your temple.

You felt sick to your stomach. “Who is it from?”

Damian swore under his breath. “Like it matters.”

“Master Damian.” Alfred glared at him. Damian blushed and looked away. You shook your head. Everything had changed so much.

“I need some space.” You slowly got to your feet and walked off.

Dick got up to follow you. “(Y/N), don’t walk off on your own.”

“I’m just going over here! You can see me!” You walked over to a bench a few yards away. “Let me breathe, will you?!” Dick stopped in his tracks. You made it to the bench, panting. Frustration formed a lump in your throat. You were so out of shape.

Dick hovered from where he stopped. You glared at him. His mouth twitched. “Don’t give me that look,” he snapped, marching over to you. “You don’t walk off. Do you understand me?” He grabbed your bad arm.

“Shut up.” You jerked away from him, but he gripped your arm tighter. You gasped in pain.

Dick let go, but he pointed his finger in your face. “Do you know how much you scared us all?! You walked off and literally handed yourself over to the enemy! We all thought you were dead until we received word about the auction!” Dick’s hand trembled. The guilt crashed down on you, soaking you with that terrible sinking feeling. “You don’t get to act this way! Not now! Not after everything!”

Kori came to Dick’s side. “Dick, sweetheart. Stop.” She pulled his hand out of your face. You looked away, hiding the quiver of your lips. Your eyes burned with tears.

Dick took a shaky breath. “I’m sorry.” He walked off further into the garden. “Give me a minute.” Kori watched him go, tears in her eyes as well. She followed him after a moment. You watched them go.

“And you were saying I have no decorum, Pennyworth,” Damian retorted from the table. Alfred hushed him. You buried your face into your hands, leaning down over your knees.

Alfred approached with his short, slow steps. He settled on the bench beside you, rubbing your back. “Mx. (Y/N), try to not get too upset. Master Dick shouldn’t have exploded like he did. He was just expressing the worry we all had for you.”

“TT.” Damian wandered over. He stood in front of you. You sat up to meet his eye.

“Master Damian, you are not one to talk, so don’t even start.” Alfred shot Damian a look so cold, it almost made you think the warm summer day suddenly turned to winter. “You both were reckless and irresponsible. Too much like your father.”

You smiled sadly. “I know,” you said. Damian raised an eyebrow.

“I would like to point out if Jon and I did not do what we did, (Y/N)’s condition probably would be worse.” Damian nudged your foot with his.

“Once again reckless.” Alfred shook his head. “You both pushed Master Dick to the brink. With Miss Kori recovering from her injuries, to finding Mx. (Y/N) gone, then Master Damian.” He kept rubbing your back soothingly. “Try to not push him, Mx. (Y/N). He is coming to terms with everything.”

“I know, but he’s hovering again.” You blinked back tears, refusing to cry in front of Damian.

Alfred nodded. “I will speak to him. Just understand he does it all out of love and concern.” Alfred got back to his feet. “Now come back to the table. You both need to eat.”

Damian took your hand and helped you to your feet. “Do you notice he scolds me more than he scolds you?”

“It’s probably because you’re Batman.” You poked his side teasingly. Damian let you walk on your own, but stayed nearby in case you needed him. You made it to the table, exhausted. Damian, Alfred, and you went back to eating. Dick and Kori joined you minutes later and the meal continued peacefully.

***

“So it turns out, we’re a match,” Tim said from his seat across the dining room table. Steph sat down next to him, holding his hand.

“Tim, you can’t give me a kidney.” You shook your head in disbelief.

Damian huffed, leaning back in his chair. “TT, like (Y/N) would want your inferior kidney?” He glared over at Tim. “And why are you a match when I am (Y/N)’s blood brother?”

Tim pursed his lips, clearly holding back a snarky retort. Steph spoke up before Tim could. “(Y/N) and you may be biological siblings, but you have too much diversity in your DNA to be a match. Besides, turns out you, (Y/N), and Tim are sixth cousins.” Steph giggled, smirking at the shock on Damian’s face.

“I guess that makes sense.” You smiled at Damian’s dropped jaw. “I mean the Drakes are part of Gotham’s high society and they married each other all the time. That’s how we’re related to the Kanes too.” You reached over to close Damian’s jaw. “Besides, sixth cousins means we’re barely related anyway.”

“However, I’m still a match and I want to give you a kidney.” Tim smiled, leaning his elbows onto the table.

“Did I miss it?” Jason ran into the room, looking at Damian. “Damn it, I missed it. I told you to wait until I got here before you told him you’re sixth cousins.”

Steph rolled her eyes. “We can’t help it if you’re slow.”

Jason flicked her forehead before sitting down next to you. “So you’re taking Tim’s kidney? Guess that means you’d be blood siblings.”

You shook your head. “That’s not how it works.”

Horror dawned on Damian’s face. “No, I refuse to allow this to happen.” He pointed at Tim. “I will not let you pollute the Wayne bloodline with your fucking incompetence.”

Tim opened his mouth, but Steph stopped him. “Let me.” She smiled before laying into Damian. They argued loudly and within minutes, Damian was flying over the table to tackle Steph. Jason egged them on. Tim moved out of the way, coming over to your side.

“I think Steph is enjoying this too much.” Tim bit his lip.

“To be fair, Damian had it coming.” You blinked back tears. “Tim, you don’t have to give me a kidney.”

“I know I don’t have to.” Tim smiled, taking your hand. “But I want to.” He tapped your nose like he used to do when you were really young. “We’re siblings. Besides, I don’t think I could live with myself knowing you were on dialysis for the rest of your life when I could have just given you one of mine.”

You squeezed his hand. “But what about Red Robin? You’ll have to be careful with only one kidney.”

Tim chuckled. “I was actually thinking about retiring.” Your jaw dropped, making Tim laugh harder. “I’ll still investigate and help Damian out, but I won’t go into the field. With Wayne Enterprises, it’s just too much.” He ran a hand through his hair. A move you all inherited from Dick. “Yesterday, I fell asleep during a board meeting. Lucius had to kick me under the table to wake me up.”

You laughed. Steph and Damian broke a vase on the table by the wall. Dick ran into the room. “What the hell are you two doing?!” He pulled them apart, scolding them like they were two small children.

“I can’t believe Batman is wrestling with Spoiler.” Duke laughed, coming in with Cass and Alfred. They were carrying plates to set the table.

“Luckily, preparing dinner took shorter than expected. I would hate to have more casualties,” Alfred said, eyeing the broken vase. Cass clicked her tongue, smiling. She patted your shoulder as she passed. Tim got up to help them. You stayed where you were, startled by the warm feeling in your chest. It felt like you were home at last.

***

Two weeks later, you strolled the gardens by yourself. You were getting stronger. The doctors said in a week, you should be ready for the kidney transplant.

You sat down on a stone bench under the Northern Red Oak Alfred always told you had been planted when the first Waynes moved into the manor over two hundred years ago.

Closing your eyes, you breathed in the fresh air. It surprised you that you found you missed the humidity of Florida. Maybe it was a home to you after all?

A sonic boom cracked the air. You flinched. Birds went flying, squawking loudly. “What?” You stood up only to suddenly find yourself off your feet and in someone’s arms. Lips pressed against yours. Jon’s scent hit your nose. You kissed him, closing your eyes.

“I can’t believe you’re awake.” Jon was spinning you around. You laughed, squeezing your eyes shut to avoid getting dizzy.

“Jon, stop.” You wrapped your arms around his neck. He stopped to kiss you again. You melted into him. “I missed you.” You pulled away to get a good look at him.

His hair was longer. A glance at the ground told you he grew another inch as well. Did his shoulders fill out? Your face burned. You definitely didn’t grow any. Probably looked worse. Lost a lot of weight and so weak. Jon studied you. “You look so beautiful.” He kissed you again, sitting down on the bench with you in his lap.

“Now I know you’re lying.” You leaned against him, soaking in his warmth. “I look like I got hit by a truck.”

Jon blinked. “No, you’re beautiful.” He grinned, tilting his head like a puppy dog. You ran your hands through his longer hair. “I flew here as soon as they told me.”

“When did you get back?” You kissed his cheek, laughing when he turned to catch your lips with his.

“Five minutes ago.” He smirked. “We just arrived at the Watchtower and Dad met me in the hanger bay. I zoomed out of there so fast, I’m sure I gave the Flash whiplash.”

You smiled as you kept running your fingers through his hair. Jon smiled back at you before frowning. “Something is happened in the house.”

“What?” You glanced back at the manor curiously. “Oh, I bet Kori went into labor. She was complaining of back pain this morning.”

Jon paled slightly. “Dick is losing his mind.”

You rolled your eyes. “Yeah? He loses his mind at everything.” You nodded to the manor. “I suppose we should go see.”

“Do we have to? I mean what if the baby is coming fast or they want privacy...” Jon tightened his arms around you.

You got out of his lap and took his hand. “Don’t tell me Superboy is scared of childbirth? It’s really not that bad.” You rolled your eyes when Jon didn’t get up. “Come on, it’s early labor. Let’s just say goodbye before they head to the Watchtower for the delivery.”

“How are you not nervous?” Jon followed you, squeezing your hand gently.

“During the Joker infection a few years ago, I had to help a woman give birth. She was crying in one of the old apartments in the Bowery. I found her and had to keep her calm with thousands of laughing jokerized people outside.” You shivered. “Honesty, this is nothing compared to that.”

Jon stopped. You turned to look at him only to find him studying you in awe. “You’re pretty amazing, you know that?”

You bit back a smile. “Maybe. The woman named her kid after me. Robin Maria de León. She should be about two now.” You pulled Jon to keep walking. “They moved out of Gotham after the attack.”

Jon shook his head, kissing your temple as he wrapped his arm around your shoulders. The two of you entered the manor and followed the noise to one of the dens. Kori was sitting on the couch, quite relaxed. “Oh Jon, you have returned. (Y/N) was missing you,” Kori said, flipping through a magazine.

“How is she so calm?” Jon remarked. You moved to sit next to her.

“Is it time?” you asked, leaving Jon to keep his distance. He was acting like Kori had an infectious disease instead of going into labor.

“It is.” Kori sighed when a loud bang came from upstairs. “Dick is not handling it well.” She set down the magazine. “(Y/N), will you go help him get my bag? Jon, stay here and tell me about your adventure to space.”

Jon swallowed hard. You patted his arm as you passed. “You’ll be fine. It’s just Kori.”

It took you a full minute to get up the stairs. You panted at the top, slowly making your way to Dick and Kori’s room. At least you weren’t as wiped out as you were a few days ago. Progress.

“Where is the damn thing?” Dick slammed a drawer shut before ripping open another. Clothes were scattered about the room.

“Kori is going to be pissed if she comes back to find the room like this.” You leaned against the door frame to rest. Dick looked up at you worriedly.

“I’ll clean it up. I just have to find it before we go.” Dick turned away once he was satisfied you were alright.

“Yeah.” You moved into the bedroom once you caught your breath, picking up and folding the clothes. “What are you looking for?”

Dick swore under his breath. “I’m looking for Sitka.”

You blinked, stacking the clothes on the bed. “Sitka?”

“My stuffed elephant that I had when I was a kid. I wanted the baby to have it right away.” Dick ran a hand through his hair, glancing around. “I thought I left it here, but maybe I did take it down to Florida.” He shook his head and grabbed Kori’s bag. “I guess I’ll have to go without it.”

“I’m sure it will turn up.” You smiled when Dick hugged you tightly, kissing your forehead.

Dick hummed. “I’ll keep you updated. Be good. Unless you want to come with us? It’s going to be a few hours at the least.” He pulled away to look you in the eye.

“I’ll wait. Jon’s here.” You bit your lip when Dick’s eyes flashed at your words.

“Tell him that if he sonic booms over the manor again, I’ll break out Bruce’s kryptonite ring.” Dick ran a hand through your hair.

You smirked. “Sure, you will.”

Dick chuckled before a shout from below made you both freeze. “Gotta go.” Dick rushed out of the room and back downstairs. You followed slowly, shaking your head at the chaos below.

***

“If you were a sentimental fool, where would you leave it?” You mumbled, glancing around Dick and Kori’s bedroom at their house in Florida.

“I would have probably left it on my bed or something,” Jon said, checking under the bed. He pulled out a box, opening it before quickly shutting it again. His face burned redder than you ever seen it before.

You frowned, crossing your arms. “What was that?”

“Nothing you would want to know about.” Jon gagged. “I can’t unsee it.” He covered his eyes with his hands.

Shaking your head, you opened the closet door and checked in there again. “It wasn’t at the manor, so it has to be here.”

“I know you want to do this for him, but shouldn’t we be going to the watchtower? Dick called you an hour ago.” Jon pushed the box back under the bed with disgust.

“No, not until we find it.” You hummed. “We still haven’t checked the attic.” You headed out to the hallway and pulled down the staircase. Jon followed, frowning. “Come on.” Taking out your phone, you turned on the flashlight and climbed up. You ran out of breath at the top.

“Rest.” Jon pushed you to sit on the top of the stairs. “I’ll take a look.” He took your phone and wandered into the dark attic.

“I know Dick put the Christmas stuff up here and some of my boxes.” You leaned back on your hands, closing your eyes. “It should be up here. He had stuff up here already when I brought up mine.”

Jon hummed, opening a box. “Decorations.” He closed it and went to another one. “Why couldn’t you label anything?”

You smiled, getting up to point to the side of the box. It was neatly labeled in your handwriting. “We did.”

“Damian’s right. I am blind even with supersight.” He shook his head and moving deeper into the attic. The attic ceiling was low. You both had to duck down uncomfortably just to move around.

After searching for a while, you found a box in the far back. It was covered in dust. No one had touched it in years. You wrinkled your nose, blowing off dust to read the label written in Dick’s messy handwriting. “Stuff. No wonder he can’t find anything if he just labels it ‘stuff’.”

Jon came over with your phone to give you more light. You opened the box, sending dust everywhere. Jon sneezed. “So much dust.”

You shook your head, peering inside. Right on top was Sitka. “Found it.” You took out the worn, old elephant.

Jon raised an eyebrow. “We probably should wash it before we give it to the baby.”

“Probably.” You handed it to him, frowning at the painting under Sitka. It looked familiar. “Oh my, he kept it.” You pulled it out. It was the painting you made years ago, back when Dick was Batman and you were his kid. “My ‘Jackson Pollock’.”

“Who’s Jackson Pollock?” Jon settled down next to you, wrapping an arm around you. You leaned into him, tired from moving around. The painting was just how you remembered it.

“A painter. I read about him and copied his work when I was little. I gave this one to Dick.” You shook your head. “I thought he would have gotten rid of it.”

Jon hummed. “Judging by what we dug through, Dick doesn’t throw things away.”

A frown pulled at your lips. Dick never threw anything or anyone away, even when they hurt him. You swallowed hard. “Yeah.” You dug through the box, finding more treasures from the year Dick was your parent. It hurt and pleased at the same time. ”I’m always mean to him. I don’t know why he cares.”

“Because he loves you.” Jon kissed your temple. “And you’re not always mean to him. I think you’re one of the kindest people I’ve met.”

“That’s a lie.” You closed the box. Your stomach twisted uncomfortably.

“No, it’s not.” Jon kissed your cheek. “A mean person wouldn’t have spent all this time trying to find a stuffed elephant.”

You snorted. Dust got into your nose. You sneezed hard. “Okay, we got to get out of here.” Your eyes watered.

Jon nodded, helping you up. The two of you left the dark, dusty attic behind.

***

Hours later, you were alone on the watchtower. It was quiet and dark, being nighttime for most of the league members. Jon had went home after he dropped you off here.

A dull ache came back to your bad arm as it seemed to do every night. You wondered if it would ever go away. Space was so deathly silent. You felt like you had to hold your breath. Sitka was under your arm, dust free and clean for the baby.

It took you a good few minutes to find Kori’s room in the medbay. She was fast asleep with a bassinet next to her. You tiptoed inside and peeked inside the bassinet. “Wow,” you gasped quietly, smiling at the tiny little baby inside. Tufts of dark hair, same color as Dick’s, stuck out from under the blanket they was swaddled in. Their little hand twitched in their sleep was the same golden orange as Kori’s.

You stared at the baby for a long time. Of course, you had seen babies before. Even helped someone deliver one, but you had to admit, you never saw a more beautiful baby.

Carefully, you set Sitka in the far corner of the bassinet where the baby could see it when they woke up. You blinked, realizing at this moment you didn’t know if the baby was a boy or girl. Dick only said the baby was born and for you to come, nothing else. You glanced at Kori, who was still asleep.

After a few minutes of gazing at the baby some more, you pulled yourself away and slipped out of the room. You turned the corner to head back to the teleporter only to come face to face with Dick.

“Now you show up.” Dick took a step back, sipping a cup of coffee. Dark circles were under his eyes making him look older than his years. His hair was a mess. You resisted the urge to fix it. “I called you hours ago.”

“I was busy.” You bit your lip. His mouth twitched. Eyebrows furrowed. He was angry. Why was he angry?

Dick took a moment to swallow before walking around you and back down the hall. You followed, concerned. “I was waiting for you.” He spun around to face you. His lips pulled into a frown.

“I know, but I was busy.” You raised an eyebrow. “What’s wrong? You should be happy. The baby is beautiful.”

Dick’s face softened. He glanced inside the window of the medbay at Kori and the bassinet. “We wanted you to be here, you know? To meet your niece for the first time.”

“She’s a girl.” You smiled, peeking around the corner. “I should have known. She has so much hair already.” You looked back at Dick, catching loss of focus in his eyes, the slight droop of his lower eyelid. “Oh, so you’re not mad? You’re sad I didn’t get here right away.” You smiled when Dick’s eyes widened. “I learned from the best, you know.”

Dick took a sip of coffee, sensing you were mocking him with the ‘you know’. Of course, you were. “I guess I’m worried what you would think of adding a baby to our little family. A baby changes things.”

You shrugged. “Not that many things.” Your eyes stayed on the bassinet.

“I suppose not.” Dick studied you. “Do you want to hold her? We’ll have to be careful if she’s asleep.”

Fear stuck you like lightning. It was one thing to look at the baby, but another thing to hold one. “I don’t...I mean...” You bit your lip.

Dick chuckled. “You won’t drop her.” He went into the room, setting his coffee down on a table before looking into the bassinet. You held your breath when you saw him pause, knowing he saw Sitka. He looked back at you, raising an eyebrow and holding up the elephant. Your face heated up. You looked away.

“Come on, Mar’i. You need to meet (Y/N).” Dick came out with the bundle in his arms. You froze, terror chilled you to the core. “Don’t be scared, (Y/N).” Dick nodded to your arms. You swallowed hard, copying his. He slipped Mar’i right into yours. You gasped. She was awake, staring up at you with brilliant green eyes.

“Hi.” You smiled bigger than you had in a long time. Out of the corner of your eye, you saw Dick taking a picture on his phone. You ignored him. Mar’i just blinked. “So her name is Mar’i?”

“Mar’i (Y/N) Grayson.” Dick smirked when you looked at him in surprise. “I mean it fits, don’t you think?”

You bit your lip, looking down at Mar’i. “I guess it does.” You rocked her. She dozed off in your arms.

“Thank you for getting Sitka for me.” Dick leaned against the wall. He closed his eyes. “I suppose that’s why you didn’t come right away, huh? That’s why I can never stay mad at you. Always sneaking up and doing something sweet.”

You sighed, leaning down to kiss Mar’i’s head. She smelled of baby powder and sunshine. “I’m sorry.”

“For what?” Dick raised an eyebrow, opening his eyes to look at you.

“Everything.” Alfred’s words echoed through your head. Guilt soured your stomach once again. “I shouldn’t have handed myself over to Bane’s son. I threw my life away and I know that hurt you.”

Dick blinked. “I forgive you, sweetheart.” He stepped over to you and wrapped an arm around your shoulders. You leaned into him, using him to help support Mar’i‘s weight. It started to strain your arms. “Just don’t ever do it again.”

You snorted. “I don’t plan on it.” Dick kissed your temple, chuckling as you looked down at Mar’i’s perfect little face.

***

“Now don’t panic.” Jason poked at your arm as you laid in the hospital bed. Nurses moved around you, prepping you for surgery. “You’re going to have Tim’s kidney inside of you, but that doesn’t mean you’ll be a stick-in-the-mud like him.”

“Geez, thanks,” Tim said from across the room, where he was also being prepped for surgery.

You laughed. “Stop it.” You batted Jason’s hand away. “Dick and Kori will be here when I wake up, won’t they?”

Jason gasped, pressing his hand against his chest like you shot him. “What about me? I’m here, giving my support.”

“More like a headache,” Tim grumbled.

“Yes, they will be here. They just have to handle the baby first.” Jason kissed your cheek. “Little Mar’ionster.”

You smirked. “Don’t call her that. You don’t want Kori firing star bolts at you again, do you?”

“Like she could hit me.” Jason matched your smirk and leaned back in his chair.

“We’ll take them in now,” the nurse said, gesturing for Jason to leave. “You may wait in the waiting room.”

“Sure, sure.” Jason kissed the top of your head. “Be good.” He went over to Tim. Tim glared at him, daring him to do something. “Ah, don’t be like that, Timbo.” He ruffled Tim’s hair, much to Tim’s despair.

Tim knocked his hand away. “Get out of here already.” Jason left, laughing his head off. The nurses rolled your bed into the operating room across the hall. You frowned at the bright lights.

Tim was parked a little ways from you. “You okay?” He asked, smiling when he met your eye.

“Fine. You?” You swallowed hard, suddenly scared.

“Good.” He winked at you. “We’ll be fine. Once we’re out, we can laze around and watch cartoons like we used to.”

“Ninja Turtles?” You smiled. The tension drained out of you.

Tim nodded, turning away when the anesthesiologist spoke to him. You gripped at the blanket covering you.

“Relax, (Y/N). You’ll be fine.” A nurse rubbed your arm. You gave her a shaky smile.

The anesthesiologist left Tim and came over to you. “I want you to count down from one hundred for me,” he said soothingly as he injected something into your IV. You closed your eyes, counting only to pass out at ninety seven.

***

“I can’t believe I haven’t watch this before,” Jon remarked, sitting by your feet and leaning back against the couch. You lifted your legs to rest on his shoulders. He kissed the side of your knee, hugging your lower legs.

“You never watched Ninja Turtles?” Your fingers played with his hair. “That’s it. Can’t be together anymore.”

Tim snorted from his spot on the couch next to you. “If that was the case, I would have broken up with Steph a long time ago.”

“Did I hear my name?” Steph walked in with a tray of healthy snacks Alfred prepared. “Speak of the devil and she should appear.”

She set the tray down on the coffee table, handing a small bowl of popcorn to Tim and you. You munched happily. Jon tilted his head back with his mouth open. You fed him a piece. “Thanks,” he said, tilting his head back to the tv.

Your recovery was going good. You had only a little pain and your body was accepting Tim’s kidney the best it could. The medications weren’t fun and came with their own restrictions, but you were happy to not have dialysis three times a week.

Tim was recovering as well if not better than you were. He was still on the same healthy diet as you, but at least he didn’t have the same medications you did.

The four of you watched cartoons and snacked away. Eventually, Tim and Steph left to go back to their apartment. You and Jon kept watching until Jon fell asleep and your legs went numb from laying over his shoulders.

“Ouch.” You folded your legs back, wincing at the pins and needles. The remote laid next to you. You put on the news out of habit.

“Today, the court decided the fate of Tourne Wu-San, otherwise known as Bane. Two weeks ago, the court confirmed Wu-San guilty on charges of terrorism.” You froze, shocked that you didn’t hear about this before. Why didn’t anyone tell you? “Wu-San’s sentencing was held off after much conflict from Santa Prisca’s embassy. However, after confirmation of Wu-San’s dual citizenship, the court sentenced Tourne Wu-San to death by lethal injection.”

“What?!” You jumped to your feet only to fall back onto the couch. Your legs were still asleep. The blood drained out of your face. Jon jerked awake, looking around.

“What’s wrong?” He focused on you, frowning deeply. “Woah, hey. You look like you seen a ghost.”

Your hands shook. “They’re going to kill him.” Jon took your hand. His hand radiated warmth. You pulled away, unable to accept the comfort. “It’s all my fault. He’s going to die because of what I did.”

“Sweetheart, what are you talking about?” Jon kissed your arm, moving to sit on the couch beside you.

You shook your head, pointing at the screen. The TV was playing a My Pillow commercial. “Bane’s son. They sentenced him to die.”

Jon swallowed hard. His face paled. “That’s rough.”

“Rough? He’s going to die and it’s all my fault.” You jumped to your feet and paced the room. “I have to help him.”

“It’s not your fault, (Y/N). He made his own choices.” Jon stood in front of you, forcing you to stop pacing. “He has to pay for what he did. If the courts decided that, we can’t change it.”

Tears ran down your cheeks. The surge of emotions raged through you, but you knew you couldn’t live if Bane’s son was killed. “Yes, we can. We can break him out and free him.”

“Are you crazy?!” Jon threw his hands up in the air. “He almost killed you.” He leaned close to your face. “You had to get a kidney transplant because of him! People lost their lives and homes because of him!”

You screamed. Jon jerked away from you. “He’s like us, Jon!” You pushed Jon away from you. “He’s like Damian and me! All three of us lost parents that day! We can’t let it continue!”

“What the hell is going on in here?!” Dick burst through the door. “I’m trying to get Mar’i to sleep and all I can hear is yelling!” Jon blushed. You panted before storming past Dick. Dick caught your arm. “Hey, what’s wrong?” His voice dropped to a soothing whisper. You were confused until you realized you were still crying.

“Nothing.” You yanked your arm away from Dick. “Just leave me alone.” You ran upstairs and slammed your bedroom door shut behind you. Only then did you allow yourself to break down completely.

***

“Have you lost your mind? He’s a criminal.” Damian folded his hands in front of him as he sat in his batcomputer chair like it was a throne. You glanced around the batcave he had made for himself under Wayne Tower and admitted the chair was a throne in a way. This was Damian’s kingdom he built on his own.

“Damian, we can’t let him die.” You rocked on your feet. Jon hovered behind you. Despite the fact he hadn’t said a word, his disapproval burned into you. “We can’t let the cycle of death continue.”

Damian raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

“Bane killed Dad, then I killed Bane.” You swallowed hard. Those words would always carry a heavy weight for you. “Bane’s son almost killed me and if we allow him to be executed, what’s to stop someone from Santa Prisca to come after us and Gotham again?” You crossed your arms, shivering. “We have to stop the cycle. No more death.”

“Interesting notion.” Damian rubbed his chin. He spun in his chair and typed on his computer.

You waited, watching his screens. A smile pulled at your lips when Damian brought up the schematics of Blackgate Prison where Bane’s son was being held. “Damian, you can’t be serious,” Jon said, going to Damian’s side. “He almost killed (Y/N).”

“Yes, but he didn’t, did he?” Damian kept working. “He could have killed (Y/N) right after they handed themselves over, but he didn’t.” Damian glanced back at you. “He could have killed them during the three weeks they held them, but he didn’t. When he caused (Y/N) to overdose, he knew we would get to them in time to prevent cardiac failure.” You smiled. “I say he didn’t want to kill (Y/N) just as much as (Y/N) doesn’t want to see him executed.”

Jon glanced between the two of you. “Nope. This is not happening.” He crossed his arms. “I love you, (Y/N) and Damian, you’re my best friend, but I’m not letting you do this. I’ll tell my dad and Dick if I have to.”

Damian snorted. “I guess we’ll have to do this quickly then.” In a move so fast, you almost missed it, Damian landed a punch to Jon’s jaw. Jon fell like a rock. You gasped, running to him. “TT, he’s fine. Just repaying him for the time he did that to me.”

“He’s unconscious.” You felt the lump on his jaw. “Damn it, Damian. A bit more pressure and you would have broken his jaw.” Damian huffed, taking off the kryptonite ring and putting back into his belt.

“I know what I am doing.” Damian cracked his knuckles and walked over to his changing area. “Come along. We have to be done before he wakes up.”

You were torn between Jon and Damian, but you knew you had to save Bane’s son. Kissing Jon’s head, you got him a pillow and a blanket before following Damian.

***

Pursing your lips, you gripped the stirring wheel of Damian’s flying batmobile. It was in camouflage mode, hovering only a few meters above the prison. You held your breath, counting to ten, then releasing it. Damian entered the prison twenty minutes ago. Where was he?

You glanced at the clock. It was three in the morning now. At your best estimate, Jon would wake up in another half an hour. You had to be back before then.

A flash of red light came from the roof of Blackgate. You sighed in relief, lowering the batmobile until it was a few feet above the roof. It rocked as two forms climbed to the cockpit.

“I don’t understand why you would do this,” Bane’s son said, confused. Damian pushed him to sit in the backseat before climbing up to join you at the front.

“Shut up.” Damian growled in his Batman voice. You shook your head, feeling Bane’s son’s eyes on you. You hit the gas, flying the batmobile away from the prison. “I think we need to provide some more funding. Blackgate’s security has too many holes.”

“Says someone on the outside.” Bane’s son looked out the window. “Where are you taking me? Are you planning to kill me?”

You glanced back at him. He didn’t have his mask on. Your heart jumped into your throat. “We’re ending this.”

Damian huffed. “TT, now it sounds like we’re going to kill him.”

Bane’s son chuckled. “It does.”

“I didn’t mean that.” You smiled. It was odd to have the man who was your captor for three long weeks and forced you to overdose, sitting behind you, making a joke. “I meant that we’re going to end the cycle of death. All three of us have suffered enough. We couldn’t allow you to lose your life when you should get a chance to move on.”

“And how am I supposed to do that? They will search for me.” Bane’s son shook his head. “Not to mention they will know it was you who set me free.”

Damian glared at him. “What do you take us for? Idiots?” He smirked dangerously. “They may suspect we have something to do with it, but no one will know as long as they never find you.”

“That is not reassuring me that you aren’t going to kill me.” Bane’s son sighed. “I never wanted this.”

“None of us did.” You bit your lip. “But we can let it go now. No more killing, no more pain, no more death.”

You landed the batmobile on the shoreline in the outskirts of Gotham. All three of you got out. Damian helped you. He squeezed your arm, reminding you to take it easy. Bane’s son studied you as if he could already see the damage he had done to you.

“What now?” he asked, pulling his gaze away from you.

“TT.” Damian went to the shoreline. He pressed a button on his gauntlet to reveal a camouflaged boat. “Your escape.” He narrowed his eyes at Bane’s son. “It’s autopilot will take you to Canada. Inside is money and documents for your new identity.”

Bane’s son blinked in surprise. “You are really letting me go? After everything I did to your city and to you?” He pointed to you. “They told me I put you in a coma for two months.”

“Like I said. I’m letting it go and I hope you can too.” You held out a hand. “Go live the life you wanted to live before I forced you to fight your father’s battles.”

Bane’s son eyed your hand. He paused before taking it. “Let bygones be bygones.” He smiled. “Thank you.”

Relief washed over you. The tension you didn’t realized you had for so long drained out of you. “You’re welcome.” Bane’s son pulled his hand away. He nodded to Damian before running to the boat.

You and Damian watched as the boat disappeared into the distance. “We have to go. Kent will be awake soon.” Damian helped you back into the batmobile, taking the pilot’s seat this time.

“We did good.” You closed your eyes, exhausted.

“TT. Only time will tell, I suppose, but you are right.” Damian flew the batmobile back to the city. “It feels like we did the right thing.”

***

You sat on Damian’s couch with Jon’s head on your lap. Your hand lazily ran through his hair. He hadn’t woken up yet, much to your relief. You kissed his forehead. Tears filled your eyes. You knew he probably won’t forgive you for this.

“TT.” Damian walked by. “Stop being emotional.”

“Shut up.” You glared at him only to turn back to Jon when you felt him stir in your lap.

Jon groaned, opening his eyes. His hand came up to rub his jaw. “What happened?”

“Payback.” Damian retorted, tossing an icepack onto Jon’s lap.

You shook your head. “Damian punched you.” You took the ice pack and pressed it gently against Jon’s jaw. Jon looked at you, drinking in the tears in your eyes. He probably could feel the guilt dripping off you.

“You did it, didn’t you?” His voice was a whisper as he looked into your eyes. Biting your lip, you nodded. Jon sighed and closed his eyes. “You look like there is a weight off your shoulders.”

“What?” You twisted a strand of his hair around your finger. He opened his eyes.

“When I first saw you at Christmas, you looked like you had this backpack of rocks hanging off you at all times. Even when I made you laugh, you still had it.” Jon smiled sadly. “But now it looks like it’s gone. You seem...happier.”

Damian huffed, taking a seat nearby. “That was put as eloquently as you could manage, Kent.”

“Shut up, Damian.” Jon glared at Damian before looking back at you. “I’m sorry I tried to stand in your way.”

You grinned, leaning down to kiss his lips. “You’re amazing, you know that?”

Jon moaned into the kiss. “You’re the amazing one.”

“Stop it! I’m sitting right here!” Damian threw a pillow at you. You caught it easily with one hand. Jon kept kissing you. You never felt so relieved in your life.

***

Time passed. You recovered from your transplant, thriving the best you could even with the side effects from all the medications. The rest of the family seemed to know you and Damian had something to do with Bane’s son’s escape, but didn’t act on their suspicions.

After three long months, you, Dick, Kori, and baby Mar’i were moving back down to Florida. Luckily, you were able to make up enough work to graduate from high school like you planned. You were going to a small college nearby for at least the first year. After everything, you did want to be near family for now.

The car was packed for the drive home. However, you insisted on one last stop. “Are you sure you want to go alone?” Dick asked, getting out of the car. You nodded your head.

“I’m good.” You walked into the cemetery. Dick’s gaze weighed on you. It brought you some comfort as you remembered how messed up you were when you came here the first time.

Mar’i started to cry in the distance. Kori soothed her. You walked past graves. Their noise faded until you got to the one you were looking for.

“Hi Dad.” You knelt down in front of the simple tombstone. The silence was deafening. “I’m doing like I promised. I’m living my life.” You smiled sadly. “And I repaired my mistakes. Damian, Bane’s son, and I are free from the events of that one night.” Your face burned. “Well, I will always carry the burden, but it won’t dominate my life anymore.”

“I’m sorry I haven’t come earlier. It’s still hard to think that you’re here.” Tears filled your eyes. “I’ve got to stop crying so much. I feel like that’s all I do.” You rested your forehead on the tombstone. “I’m being nice to Dick and Kori.” You sighed deeply. “Mar’i is beautiful too. You’d like her. She’s got your grumpy look.”

A laugh escaped you. “I love you so much, Dad.” You pressed a kiss to the tombstone before pulling away. “I hope I do you proud.” Slowly, you got to your feet. “Goodbye, Dad.” You let your hand rest on the tombstone for a moment. “Thank you for everything.” Almost painfully, you let your hand drop away and started back toward the car.

Dick and Kori were outside, waiting for you. Mar’i was in Kori’s arms, looking at you with those beautiful green eyes. You went to them, allowing yourself to be pulled into Dick’s arms. Kori wrapped one arm around the two of you. You sighed, enjoying the hug. “We can go home now,” you said firmly. You knew truly what was lost had been found.

#batfamily #batfamily imagine #batfamily x reader #dick grayson #dick grayson iamgine #nightwing #nightwing imagine #kori anders #kori anders imagine #starfire #starfire imagine #dc comics imagines #dc reader insert #jon kent #jon kent x reader #jon kent imagine #superboy #superboy x reader #superboy imagine

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pricetagofficial · 3 years

Text

State Fair -CK

Warnings: Language, fluff, Clark is a dork, Bruce is a good brother

Masterlist

Word Count: 3.2K

Check out my pinned post if you want to be on my taglist!

A/N: Just like Sweet Tarts, whether Reader is adopted or biological is up for interpretation seeing as I never specified. Also, big thanks to Fish and Elle for reading this and helping me out!

“This has to be your worst idea yet.”

“I agree because you are clearly going to back out.”

“I will not!”

“Sure, Clark.”

With a huff, Clark crossed his arms. “You’re insufferable.”

Bruce chuckled and waved his friend off. “Just go sit down, this will work I swear.”

Clark gave Bruce a look before taking his paddle and sat in his chair. This really was a stupid idea, what would happen when it didn’t work? He hated the idea of paying for a date, letting alone having Bruce pay for it so he could ensure he got one. But all the funds went to various charities, so that was a plus.

You peeked out of the curtain, and saw the crowd gathering in the auction room. Bruce had set up an auction where various socialites would be auctioned off for a single date to the highest bidder. Being a Wayne, let alone Bruce’s sister, you were a shoo-in for some really high bids.

Each person represented various charities, and you were assigned to various orphanages across Gotham. You thought it would be good to support other kids who were victims of losing their parents considering you lost yours along with Bruce that night.

Taking another peek into the crowd, you saw Alfred sitting there with Dick, who looked too excited for a thirteen-year-old kid to be at an auction. Dick caught your eye and waved happily at you, his eyes sparkling with amusement. You waved your fingers at him, earning a smile from Alfred who totally caught you peeking.

Next to Alfred was Clark, Bruce’s best friend, and fellow Justice League member. Feeling the heat rise in your cheeks, you quickly hid behind the curtain and closed your eyes. What the hell was Clark doing here?

“Y/N, you doing alright?”

Turning to look behind you, you saw Bruce standing there with his signature charismatic smile. He was being auctioned off for a date a well tonight,

“Why didn’t you tell me Clark was here?” you hissed.

“I didn’t know he was coming,” he shrugged. “Dick was excited to see him.”

“That’s because the kid looks up to him, figuratively and literally,” you argued.

Bruce watched you with a sly smile. “Besides, why is it such a big deal that Clark is here or not?”

“I-- oooh,” you growled. “You know exactly why, asshole.”

Letting out a chuckle, Bruce patted your shoulder. “Go get ready, we’re about to start.”

Giving him a glare, you went and found your seat and crossed your arms. Stupid Bruce and his stupid plans. You weren’t sure what he was hiding up his sleeve, but when you’re older brother was The Batman you learned to watch out for the tiny giveaways.

Bruce was planning something, and you were going to figure out what it was.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, Welcome to our annual Charity Auction! This year we are auctioning off a single date with some of Gotham’s most notable residents! The funds for this year will go to several charities predetermined by our wonderful participants! Now without further ado, let’s get on with the show!”

The announcer walked to the podium as the curtain rose to reveal a grand stage and all the participants off to the side hidden out of sight. Across the stage sat Bruce, leaning back in his seat as he talked with several friends of his.

“So, what did Bruce do to convince you to join this year?”

Looking to your right, you saw Kate was hovering over your shoulder.

“Last year, Dick was sick and Alfred was called away for a family matter.” You explained, Kate should remember why you weren’t at the auction last year. She helped come up with the cover story.

Batman and Robin had a rough time that night on patrol, thanks in no part to Scarecrow. Dick had gotten a large dose of his fear toxin, and Bruce was too injured to console him. Alfred had to make sure Bruce was alright before the next day, and left you with a hysterical Dick until the antidote kicked in.

You had decided to stay that night because Dick was plastered to your side, and Bruce understood completely. Surprisingly enough, during the auction, Clark had shown up and helped you take care of the little boy wonder, even going as far as falling asleep with Dick curled into his side.

Thinking back on the memory, you couldn’t help but smile. That was one of the first times you and Clark had any time alone together.

“And now for bachelorette number three, Y/N Wayne.”

Jerking your head up, you smiled and rose to your feet, and walked onto the stage. You must have spaced out the first two people during your trip down memory lane. Waving politely, you caught the eye of Clark who only smiled brightly at you.

Seeing his smile made you feel lighter than air.

“Miss Wayne represents the orphanage charities all across Gotham, hoping to restore the buildings and ensure a bright future for the children.”

Looking at the auctioneer, you gave him an impressed look. He was playing it up really well, not like he needed it to. You were a Wayne, and was guaranteed to rake in some serious money. You just hoped it would be enough.

“We’ll start the bidding at $500,000. Do I see $500,000?”

All at once, several paddles went up, including Clark’s. You couldn’t fight the confused look on your face, what the hell was he doing? That had to be almost five times the amount he made in a year working for the Daily Planet! So what the hell was he doing spending it all on a date with you?

You stood on the stage as the prices ranked higher and higher, Clark’s paddle not once lowering. The price was almost $2,000,000 and Clark was fighting off with another guy, all for a date with you. You would be feeling proud if you weren’t so concerned for Clark’s livelihood.

“$2.5 million? Do I see $2.5 million?”

Watching the crowd, you watched as the second guy gleaned at Clark and loosened his tie almost as if he was afraid of what would happen to him if he kept trying to outbid him. He lowered his paddle, and Clark just beamed.

“Sold for $2.5 million!”

Clark let out a sigh of relief, Dick looking at him with astonishment. “How’d you get all that money?”

Shrugging, he sent Dick a smile. “You’ll have to wait and see.”

Maybe, this wasn’t such a bad plan after all.

It took a few hours, but eventually, the auction ended and Clark was escorted out of the room with Alfred and Dick beside him.

“You know, this could be a dream come true for you.” Dick grinned. “How long did you have to bully B into giving you the money?”

Looking down at the kid, Clark chuckled. Of course Dick figured it out, he was living with Batman after all. “Not long, he wanted to make sure his sister didn’t end up with some creep.”

Dick chuckled, adjusting his jacket. “Yeah, that sounds like him.”

The three of them waited for you and Bruce to show, ready to take you home for a well-deserved rest. The auction went off without a hitch, and it was all thanks to Bruce and the effort he put in.

Turning the corner, you and Bruce smiled seeing them. Nudging his shoulder, you looked up at him. “Are you going to tell me how Clark got $2.5 million?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Crossing your arms, you gave Bruce an unimpressed look. “Sure, but why do I feel like it has something to do with you?”

“You think everything has to do with me.”

“Do I need to bring up your nightly activities?”

Bruce didn’t get another word out before Dick came running up to you with his arms wide, diving in for a hug.

“Y/N! You did great up there! Sure beats last year right?” he chuckled.

Smiling at him, you ruffled his hair. “I don’t know kiddo, I actually enjoyed my time with you.”

“I agree, it was nice to relax for a night.”

Looking up, you saw Clark smiling down at you with his signature boy scout smile. You always loved the way his eyes crinkled when he smiled, and the little scrunch of his nose.

“You want to talk about relaxing? Where the hell did you get $2.5 mil?”

“Yeah, you were practically shooting lasers, Clark.” Dick chimed in.

Looking between you and Dick, Clark shrugged with a smile. “You’ll have to wait and see.”

***

You stood in the Batcave, by the zeta transport waiting quietly for Clark to show and pick you up. Bruce and Dick stood by your side to keep you company while you waited. Bruce was half-dressed in his Batman suit while Dick was nursing a cup of Earl Grey tea.

“What time did he say he would be here?” you asked, checking your watch again.

“Relax, Y/N.” Dick chuckled, “You know, if I didn’t know any better I would think that you have a thing for Superman.”

“Well, you do know better.” you huffed. It wasn’t the standing that bothered you, in all honestly it was the wait. What if Clark decided to cancel on you? Yeah, he already paid over $2 million for it but that didn’t mean he had to show up.

You shook the thoughts out of your head. Clark wasn’t that kind of guy, you knew he wasn’t. Clark Kent was one of the sweetest guys in the universe, there was no one else you would rather spend your night with than him.

Which brought up other thoughts. Bruce was instructed to not let you dress fancy at all, leaning you closer to casual jeans and a shirt as your attire. Whatever Clark was planning, you weren’t going to find out until he told you.

There was a bright flash and Clark stepped out of the zeta tube, wearing his normal apparel with his glasses propped up on his nose.

“Hey, you ready to go?”

You gave him a nod, grabbing your purse. “Born ready.”

Clark smiled and looked at you. He thought you looked perfect tonight and hoped you would enjoy the date he was taking you on.

“Be sure to have her home on time,” Dick scolded, grinning into his cup of tea. “And no funny business.”

Bruce looked down at him and nudged his shoulder ruffling his hair. “Isn’t that my job, chum?”

“Let’s be real here B, no one takes Batman seriously without Robin there to kick their face in.”

You couldn’t fight the giggles, covering your mouth to muffle them. Walking over, you squished Dick’s face and kissed his forehead. “Make sure you listen to Bruce and Alfred okay?”

Dick gave you a nod, hugging you tightly. “Have fun.”

Running your fingers through his hair, you kissed the top of his head before letting him go. Turning to Bruce, he pulled you tightly into a hug and kissed your cheek. “Be careful, we’re just one call away if you need us.”

“Bruce, I’m with Superman. I’ll be okay.”

Looking at Alfred you pointed at the two boys next to you. “Give me a call if none of them are listening, okay?”

Alfred smiled, “Of course Miss Y/N, now go have fun.”

Turning back to Clark, he offered you his arm before leading you back towards the zeta tube. “Don’t worry, she’ll be safe with me, and we’ll be back before midnight.”

Bruce nodded, waving you two goodbye as you disappeared into the blinding light. Coming out on the other side, you were greeted with the fresh air one wouldn’t normally get in Gotham. The scent of fresh crops, dirt, and manure filled the air as you opened your eyes to the setting sun of the Kansas skyline. It was a beautiful shade of orange with pinks and blues dusted across the sky, you never got sunsets like this back home either.

“Clark, it’s beautiful out here.” you smiled.

He watched you fondly, his eyes not leaving you for a second. “It really is.”

Turning to look at him, you felt the heat rise in your cheeks. Keeping a hold of your arm, Clark led you down the streets of Smallville towards a truck that was parked against the curb. Opening the door, Clark reached in and pulled out two plaid shirts, and handed one of them to you.

“Clark, what are we doing?” you laughed, sliding your arms into the flannel sleeves as he pulled on his own.

“You’ll have to wait and see,” he grinned. “Hop in.”

Giving Clark a look, you walked to the passenger seat and climbed into the truck. Starting it up, the air was filled with an old Randy Travis song effectively setting the mood for the drive. Leaning back in the seat, you looked out the window as Clark drove off, heading out of town limits.

With the window open, you felt the wind blow in your face and embraced the fresh air. Cornfields flew by as Clark drove down the highway, towards a large empty field. Off in the distance, you could see tall structures you made out to be a ferris wheel and various tents.

Keeping your concerns to yourself, you watched as he turned into the field and parked the truck. Turning it off, Clark quickly hopped out of it before you could even open the door. Walking around to your side, Clark quickly opened your door and held his hand out to you.

With a smile, you took it as he helped you out of the truck. “Shall we?”

“A state fair?” You laughed, hopping out of the vehicle.

Once on the ground, you noticed you were practically pressed against Clark’s chest and were forced to look up at him. You were so close, you could smell his body wash and felt his breath fan over your face.

Clark smiled down at you, holding your hand tightly in his. Brushing his thumb over the back of your hand, he pulled it up and pressed a soft kiss to it. “I thought this would be a great place to take a city girl such as yourself.”

Trying to hide your embarrassment, you pushed the bridge of his glasses up too high and huffed. “Stop doing that,” you muttered and walked towards the entrance to the fair. Clark’s laughter could be heard from behind you as he jogged to catch up with your fast pace. Slipping his hand back into yours, he paid for tickets and led you into the fairgrounds.

Walking around, you couldn’t help but admire the things around you. Banners were hung everywhere, with signs pointing to all the attractions. There were rides, games, and food stands all over the place.

Gripping his hand, you pointed at a booth selling cotton candy and grinned excitedly. “Come on Clark!” You laughed and pulled him towards the stand and watched him order a large cotton candy for you to share.

Finding a spot on a nearby bench, you sat and pulled off pieces and stuck them into your mouth humming happily as they dissolved. You couldn’t remember the last time you went to a fair like this, and the feeling excited you.

Clark watched as you ate the sugary snack, his blue eyes shining in adoration. He loved the way your eyes lit up with every bite and the cute little hum you made when you tasted it.

“Now are you going to tell me where you got the money to buy our little date?”

“You’ll just make fun of me,”

“I make fun of you anyway,” you giggled.

Clark gave you a look before taking the piece of cotton candy out of your hand and ate it with a grin. “Now you’re just being mean,”

Nudging his shoulder, you looked up at him. “Did you forget who I have for an older brother?”

Stifling a laugh, Clark nodded and leaned closer smoothly wrapping his arm around your shoulder. “You’re right, being mean is a Wanye trait. I’d hate to see how mean an offspring of Bruce could be.”

Laughing along with him, you couldn’t help but agree. A biological offspring of Bruce would be a nightmare, you only hoped that the kid’s mother would be a calm and relaxed person.

“If you don’t tell me, I’ll just assume you got the money from Lex.”

Clark gave you an unimpressed look, “Now that’s not funny.”

“I find that I am quite funny,” you grinned.

Dropping his head in defeat, Clark huffed. “Bruce gave me the money,” he admitted. “He wanted to make sure his sister didn’t end up on a date with a creep.”

Taking another bite, you looked at him. “I’m going to assume there is more to this, you don’t go on a lot of dates Clark.”

If you had a dime for every time you saw Superman blush, you would only have five cents which isn’t a lot but it was worth it to see the man of steel blush.

“Clark?”

Turning away, Clark bit his lip. How was he supposed to tell you he set this up with Bruce, so he could get a date with you? But he didn’t need to say anything, you watched his expression and the sudden uptick in his nervousness. You grew up with the world’s greatest detective, of course, you would notice when he was crushing hard on his best friend’s sister.

“You and Bruce set this up, didn’t you?” you asked.

Clark’s silence only confirmed it.

“Clark, you know all you had to do was ask,” you smiled, putting a hand on his shoulder. Clark turned to look at you. “I would have said yes.”

Adjusting his body, Clark turned to face you fully. Cupping your face in his hands, Clark pressed his lips to yours in a soft kiss.

Letting out a gasp, you wrapped your arms around his shoulders and pulled him closer. After a few moments, Clark pulled away and rubbed his nose against yours with a smile. “Maybe next time, I’ll just start with that.”

“Maybe you should, watch Bruce have an aneurysm.” you giggled.

Pecking your lips once more, Clark looked around and saw it was getting dark. “Come on, I have a special place to watch the fireworks.”

Rising from your bench, Clark threw your empty cotton candy stick in the trash and pulled you down the path towards a secluded area. “Hang on tight,” he grinned.

“Hang on to wha-- ah!”

Before you knew it, Clark had his arms wrapped around you before he flew into the air. Gripping onto him for dear life, you buried your face in his shirt afraid to look at the things around you.

“Y/N, open your eyes.” he chuckled.

Carefully peeking an eye open, you saw that both of you were hovering a good height above the ground and watched as the fireworks exploded in the distance with loud pops. Once you got comfortable, you leaned your head against his chest and held on tightly watching the fireworks timing them to the beat of his heart.

“It’s beautiful up here, Clark.” you smiled.

“Not as beautiful as you,”

Leaning up, you pressed your lips to his with the fireworks going off behind you.

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