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artzychic27 · 5 months

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What if the DC villain kids weren't the kids of the villains, and just had their origin stories? Or, somewhat similar origin stories. Like, Adrien and Marinette got exposed to chemicals when they were kids, and their brains got messed up

Marinette- Jestress

When the bakery was being fumigated, Marinette, at only five years old, was accidentally exposed to the dangerous chemicals

When she inhaled the fumes, they messed with her brain and induced a psychotic disposition

She would laugh at and take delight in even the most grimmest of things, and it worried Tom and Sabine greatly. Her parents took her to many specialists, but there was nothing anyone could do

Adrien- Adri-Quin

No one knew that the high brand fabric dye had some… Interesting results when inhaled

Gabriel and Emilie didn’t think too much of it when Adrien became exposed to the dyes, and shared a laugh when one side of his hair was colored pink and the other side blue, however, their sweet son slowly began to exhibit some alarming traits

He would point and laugh at anyone in pain and had this permanent smile on his face

Alya- Enigma

Alya Césaire always had a fascination with puzzles and riddles. She hyperfixated on each one she started, and refused to move on to a new one until she finished the one she was currently on

It got to a point where she had grown bored with solving puzzles, and would come up with her own more complex ones and challenge others to solve them

Those who would rebuff her requests soon faces the consequences, and she would force them to solve her puzzles through means of threats and blackmail, earning her quite the reputation at her old school

Nino- Mudslide

Nino had started out as a science experiment by his mothers, Anais and LaBrea

They sought to create life and hopefully create a child of their own by using sculpting clay along with a few other materials. It worked, and Nino became the sweet boy they’ve wanted for so long…

…Until a few years later, when he became destructive, vindictive, and used his shapeshifting abilities to steal and con people out of their money

They still didn’t know what went wrong

Chloé- Diamond Demom

Chloé always wanted to impress her mother, the ruthless Style Queen, Audrey Bourgeois. However, as Audrey rudely put it, Chloé was “unexceptional.” Fueled by a burning desire to finally make her mother proud, Chloé sought some sort of way to gain the same influential power as her mother, but she found something different and much better

Landing on her balcony one night was a small meteor, and when it cracked open, revealed a beautiful blue gem. When she touched it, Chloé became infused with some sort of power, the power of earth manipulation.

However, this new power corrupted her, and one afternoon during her mother’s fashion show, she destroyed the models’ outfits by telekinetically ripping the gems off of their outfits with her powers, tearing them to shreds

Sabrina- Duality

Sabrina started off as a sweet girl, until a horrible accident occurred one day at her old school

During science class, a careless student poured in the wrong chemical, and the solution exploded, with some of it getting on Sabrina and permanently damaging the right side of her face

After being healed and left with a massive scar on that half of her face, Sabrina was subjected to relentless bullying from the other students, causing her descent into madness

Obsessed with revenge, but still maintaining some of her kindness, she flipped a coin. Heads, she gets revenge on the other students, tails, she leaves them alone. The coin landed on heads

Kim- Croc King

Kim was born with a rare condition that gave him reptilian traits with his birth. His fathers, Teo and Élliot couldn’t care less about his appearance, and loved him dearly. It was others who had a problem with him

Growing up, people always looked at Kim as if he were a freak, and school was no better

One day, Kim was walking to his locker when he was jumped by several older students and had a muzzle forced on him

He ran home in tears, and that experience shaped his views on society forever, believing if people treat him like a monster, then that’s what they’ll get. That’s how he became Croc King

Max- Max (Because he’s too prideful to choose a villain name)

Max strived to always be the best, to always be number one when it came to academics. He was top of his class at his old school, won every science fair, and received many cash offers for his inventions

However, it wasn’t enough. Max wanted everyone everywhere to know he was the best, and what better way to do that than by taking over the world?

During one robotics fair at school, he seized control of everyone’s robots and launched an attack until the police soon arrived to put an end to it all

He was promptly arrested and placed in juvenile detention, but only for a few weeks before being transferred to Françoise DuPont’s and being put in the Villain Class, a quick fix thanks to his genius intellect and a careless security guard

Ivan- Venom Bringer

Born inside a dreadful prison in Russia, Ivan was sentenced from birth to serve time for his dead father’s protests against their totalitarian government

Ivan trained both his body and mind inside the prison walls and soon rose to the top of the prison food chain

The prison authorities, seeing this with their own eyes, forced him to become a test-subject for a new drug known as Venom. While it did increase Ivan’s strength ten-fold, it also made him incredibly violent

As such, he attacked every single guard, stole the rest of the Venom, freed his fellow inmates, and escaped all the way to Paris

Myléne- Nightmare Weaver

Myléne was always a shy girl, and the students at her old school would mess with her relentlessly for that. They’d purposefully scare her, ranging from fake insects in her locker to wearing the goriest of costumes and jumping out and scaring her on her way home

One guy even snuck into her room at night and chased her all around the house until she fell down her stairs. Myléne physically recovered, but not mentally

One afternoon, doing research in her school’s library, she discovered a recipe for a fast-acting fear toxin, which would make people hallucinate their greatest fear

Myléne spent a weeks perfecting the toxin, often testing it on her neighbors until she was sure it was perfected. And it worked like a charm as every student and teacher at her old school suffered from the effects. All except for her

Nathaniel- Colossus

Nathaniel, while being smart and an incredible artist, was always bullied relentlessly due to his shyness, height, and lack of muscle and any sort of strength by the students at his old school

He sought to end that once and for all. Staying in the school lab after hours for a couple of nights, he created a serum that increased his strength ten fold, and promptly injected himself with it

The next day at school, Nathaniel was confronted by his main tormentors, and surprised and scared everyone by fending off against them with almost inhuman strength

It didn’t stop there, and Nathaniel suddenly grew to twenty feet, towering over the panicking students and attacking each one who had played a part in bullying him until he was neutralized by the police with about a dozen tranquilizer darts

Alix- Caracal

When she was ten, her father, Alim Kubdel, took her and her brother, Jalil, on an expedition with him deep into the wilds of Africa to study an ancient artifact

You know, like family bonding

Things were going fine until one night, Alix was kidnapped and forced to participate in an ancient ritual that cursed and and transformed her into a human-cheetah hybrid with an insatiable appetite for meat

Alim and Jalil, unbothered by her new appearance, assured her that they would find a cure. However, one night, when they returned home, she took a bite out of her brother’s shoulder

Rose- Thorn

Rose always had a love for botany and perfumes. She always loved to make her own fragrances using plants from her garden

One morning, she found a strange herb growing among the foliage. It had a nice fragrance to it, so she dug it up, potted it, and made plans to study it so she could make a perfume out of it

But then one night, there was an accident in her bedroom/perfume lab, causing an explosion

The herb she had found spread fumes around her room as a result of the explosion, and when she inhaled those fumes, her anatomy changed, making her immune to all toxins and giving her control over all plant life

Juleka- Feline Shadow

Juleka spent most of her days in the shadows, going unnoticed by anyone at her old school and sometimes even at home

So, she used that to her advantage. Whenever walking through the halls, she’d pick everyone’s pockets, working her way up from cash to jewelry with a sleight of hand

She wasn’t stopping there, though, and she took part in a string of robberies all over the city while donning all black and slipping into homes and jewelry stores undetected… Until she was eventually caught and thrown into juvenile hall before being sent to Françoise DuPont and put in the Villains Class

Lila- Cerebral Queen

Lila was once a normal girl from Italy who enjoyed playing mind games on her fellow classmates at her old school all through clever lies, creating discord amongst the student body

However, one day, her lies caught up to her, and caused the students at her school to chase her down and exact their revenge

When she was cornered by the students, she suddenly awakened vast psychic powers that allowed her to control minds, project illusions, and use telepathy

She left her fellow students seeing all sorts of terrifying illusions, and went on to create more chaos until she was eventually captured and sent to Françoise DuPont

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leavetheminshreds · 1 year

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Now there's only one thing I can do // Fight until the end like I promised to // Wishing there was something left to lose // This could be the day I die for you Is that TOM HOLLAND? no, you’re mistaken, that’s actually DOUGLAS MUNTZ { cis male, he/him }. He is a 20 year old BORN WEREWOLF. He is a TRAINED HUNTER’S EX-TRACKER can easily be found in GREENHAVEN. He is known for being SELFISH, POSESSIVE, and JUDGMENTAL but also CURIOUS, NAIVE, and PROTECTIVE. You could probably bribe them with POSITIVE ATTENTION, PRAISE AND AFFECTIONATE TOUCH or piss them off by TALKING BADLY ABOUT HIS HUNTER OR ATHAIR. { zzy, 31, PST, she/her }

birth defect: colorblind - deuteranomaly

a type of colorblindness that makes green look more red.This actually proves to benefit Douglas by helping him see camouflage as colors can actually impede ability to detect patterns and textures, making him better at tracking hard-to-find creatures.

PERSONALTY

Alignment: neutral good chaotic neutral

Positive traits:

curious ◇ daring ◇ energetic ◇ dependent ◇ direct ◇ thoughtful ◇ eager to help ◇ protective ◇ playful ◇ naive

Negative traits:

ignorant ◇ cautious ◇ disarming ◇ spoiled ◇ easily manipulated/influenced ◇ judgmental ◇ possessive ◇ dependent ◇ selfish ◇ prideful

Hobbies: calisthenics, chess, ballet, exploring hard-to-navigate areas, hunting

The hunter taught him how to hunt with the help of his first wolf, Arthur, and quickly he learned through games that he thought were fun that also honed his skills. He grew very attached to Arthur when, without warning, the man left when he was around 7. It crushed the boy, but there was nothing he could do about it at his age, so he was forced to move on.

Training after Arthur left got a little more intense. Charles pushed him outside of his comfort zones, forging him to be fast, strong, agile, and think on his feet. The most challenging part was getting over violence, which was slowly nurtured in his wolf form when his instincts were the strongest, and sparring with his brothers to get better fights. Years of conditioning eventually lead him to quickly start hunting side by side Charles by the age of 15, helping him track and locate hard-to-find creatures and by the time he was 18, he got over his fear of biting when he was forced to use violence to save Charles. After that, it became a lot easier. He wasn’t doing it because he was violent. He was doing it for Charles. As long as Charles could tell him what to do, he could shed himself of the personal responsibility that came with the action. Even if that meant killing something - or someone. He was a wolf, after all. It was in his nature.

At 19, Doug started to become a formidable opponent. He blossomed into his skills, learning how to outmaneuver and outwit targets or attackers. He was small, but he was fast and smart. His success to failure ratio was 6 to 1, and he was just getting better. When his confidence was at it’s peak though, an accident happened when he was hunting with Charles, leaving the teenager alone. There was back up plans to keep him cared for in the event of his death - but he had never prepared for it. He never thought it could happen. He thought Charles would always be there, and here he is now - all alone.

UPDATE PLOT ARC 1:

A new life interrupted by the dead

As Douglas started to grow comfortable being alone and learning how to take care of himself, he began making friends. He met Kalea and Sabine and quickly grew close to them. He started to settle into normal life, reading books that he’d never had access to, watching movies, experiencing activities and having spontaneous fun he’d never gotten to do before in his old life with Charles. Kalea he grew especially attached to; there was something about her smile, her laugh, the way she moved, the way she spoke, how she thought about the world that captivated him. His days quickly became

Then, unexpectedly, Arthur returned, the death of Charles making him seek out his son. Arthur was met with hostility and apprehension, Douglas wanted nothing to do with him at first, but for every day in 13 years that he hated him for leaving him, there were twice as many nights of missing him. Still, he kept him at an arm’s distance. Near, but not close.

PRESENT DAY UPDATE Plot ARC 2 (april 3, 2023)

A father and ancient bloodline gained, but a love sacrificed

When ancient mage Merlin escapes his prison and puts a chosen few under a spell to enact a ritual to bring about his resurrection through sacrifices made, Douglas goes deep into the Archives with Kalea beneath the library. The life or death situation makes them confess their love for one another, sharing their first kiss in the calm before the storm. However, when they were met with a crossroads, Douglas had to make a decision. He had an instinct that, if Kalea were there with him, if he had to protect her or make a hard choice, he might not be able to because of her.

They both agreed to split up, sending her to what looked like a safe path while he trekked deeper still into the Archives until finally he came to find a room forgotten to time. In it rested the ancient remains of his ancestor; Percival, the first knight of King Arthur’s court to find the Holy Grail. He told Douglas the key to resolving

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WANTED CONNECTIONS:

dads 2/2

tags

douglas.thread

douglas.mirror

douglas.isms&aesthetics

douglas.about

douglas.selfpara

douglas.connections

#santos.intro

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thr-333 · 4 years

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Just Another Class Trip :) Part 8

News gets out and everyone handles it calmly and respectfully.

First< Previous >Next

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

“Hi Tom, Sabine, how are you,” Selina gives a fake smile, not waiting for them to answer, “So Marinette's in town,”

“Yes is something wrong?” Tom asks worriedly.

“No nothing is wrong,” If you didn’t count the villain attacking the pool yesterday as wrong, “It’s just um, you know how I never told you who her father was?”

“Yes,”

“Well, apparently Gotham didn’t need the help and figured it out pretty much immediately,”

“So does that mean we finally get to be in the loop?” Tom’s eyes sparkle, he had always bothered her for the identity of his adopted daughter's father.

“Oh no one special, you probably haven’t heard of him,” They most certainly have, “Bruce Wayne?”

“... You dated Bruce Wayne?” The man who had become like a brother to her asks.

“I’m actually engaged to him now,” that already sounded so complicated and it wasn't even the tip of the iceberg. How did her life become so complicated? Well, at least she had managed to keep Marinette from it, well at least for a while.

“Congratulations!” He booms, “Oh what's the theme? We'll make you a cake! Wait no we cant send it by plane… what am I talking about! We’ll come to Gotham to make it! Unless it’s a destination wedding? A beach might be hard but I’m always up for a challenge,”

“Tom, Tom, it’s exciting I know,” Where did Marinette fall on the nature vs nurture scale? Because these two reacted exactly the same way, “But we have bigger problems right now!”

“What's the matter, Selina?” Sabine asks with motherly concern, much better than Selina could ever hope to manage.

“People figured it out… pretty much the second she stepped into Gotham at that,” Selina sighs, “The press is going crazy with theories, paparazzi basically stalking Marinette, Bruce is trying to talk to her about it … and he saw me with her, he knows somethings up,”

“Do you think it’s time we spilled the beans?” Tom asks, calming down from his wedding excitement, “Marinette's always known she was adopted but…”

“Not that I’m her mother? Yeah,” Silence hangs in the air for a while, the screen being the only source of light in her dark safe house, “You know I can try and work through this, no one has to know,”

“Hm…. if you think it’s best,” Sabine nods, before looking to her husband, “But if you want or need to tell people this would be the time,”

“Is… is that alright with you?”

“We love Marinette, and we know she’ll still love us no matter what, if our little family wants to grow then we should let it!” Tom exclaims, she should have known they would be fine with it, always so accepting that's one of the reasons she chose them to take care of her daughter.

“I’ll think about it,” She promises, cutting off the call to be alone with her thoughts.

Apparently her biggest hurdle was actually plucking up the courage to tell everyone. She thought she should at least tell Marinette, but lo and behold here they were in the Wayne manor waiting to hold a meeting about how to handle the rumor and Marinette is still in the dark. Well, she has no other choice but to commit now, try and get Marinette through her trip and out of the city without anyone being the wiser. Hell, she had kept the world's greatest detective from knowing for all these years surely this would be no more trouble.

Despite that, she ran into a little bitty problem while Bruce was explaining to Marinette how to handle the press; her conscience. It had been this annoying thing that started growing more and more as she spent time around Bruce. And now that they were engaged it decided to be a royal pain in her neck trying to convince her to be honest and tell the truth, how was that going to help with their marriage!

Surely this would be the worst possible place to admit it. Not only was Marinette and Bruce here, but the entire damn Batfamily to boot, sans Jason. If she were to tell now there would no doubt be bloodshed. No, the best way, if she was going to tell them, would be later in private, she could get Bruce to drive them back to the hotel and take a detour along the way, then she could tell them and bam! They would both know and her conscience would leave her alone, that was certainly the best plan of action-

And then Marinette smiled at him and Bruce smiled back, she didn’t even know what was said but goddammit-

“Marinette's our daughter!”

Everything in the room stops. Even those happy to mill about their conversation on the other size pause, a glass drops, she doesn't even wait for it to shatter before continuing. Floodgates are open now, no going back.

“Seventeen years ago, took her to Paris, pretended to be her Aunt, let Tom and Sabine raise her!” She stood up, bolting from the room, not stopping until she was far from Wayne manor.

Yep, I think I handled that well.

They all stood frozen, staring at the door Aunt, no Selina, her Mother had just run out. Everything was silent, for about two seconds before incomprehensible screeching. Or at least that's what it sounded like to her as everyone started shouting over each other.

“Did you know!?”

“No! How would I know?!”

“How could you not know! Everyone else did!”

“You didn’t!”

“That's because he said it wasn't true!”

“How the fuck-”

“Bruce why ,”

“By god how reckless can you be!?”

“This is… wow,”

Marinette didn’t stick around to hear the rest, slipping out the door Selina had disappeared through, like mother like daughter she guessed. Speaking of, she needed to call her Maman and Papa first, had the known all along? She was meant to just be an average girl… who’s a superhero… and vigilante…. And famous fashion designer…. And guardian- ok maybe she hadn't done a great job at the whole ‘ordinary girl’ thing, be she had liked to think she was normal at least once in her life… apparently not.

“Marinette sweetie!” Her Papa’s voice boomed over the call, “How are you?”

“Aunt Selina- not- how- I-”

“Oh, she told you?” Her Maman spoke more quietly than her Papa, calm voice calming her down.

“Me, and everyone else,” Marinette sat down at the steps to Wayne Manor, looking out at the front gardens without really seeing anything.

“Yes we thought she might, are you ok sweetie?”

“I’m shocked,”

“Yes well knowing her she didn’t handle it too well,” Papa spoke knowingly.

“She bolted now I’m stuck at Wayne Manor,” Marinette supplies, not that she really had a better place to be.

“Yes, that's like her,” She can hear her Maman laugh a little, “How are you feeling?”

“A little confused,” A lot confused.

“When she was pregnant with you she came to us, she and Bruce apparently didn’t have a very stable relationship back then and didn’t think either of them could take care of you,” Maman explains, “So she came to us, asking for just to raise you, she wasn't going to be a part of your life but I think she loved you more than expected because she kept coming back and eventually became your Auntie Selina,”

“Thats… wow,”

“Need some time?”

“Yeah,”

“Take all the time you need,” Papa encouraged, “We’re always here for you, and we love you,”

“I love you too,” Marinette smiles, letting the call drop staring off into nothingness.

The Kwamis came out of hiding to cuddle close but left her to her thoughts which Marinette appreciated. They sat in silence for a long time, Marinette worked out that she didn’t mind so much. Sure it was a shock, but it didn’t change how much she loved her parents, and it meant her family had just gotten a little bigger, or a lot bigger as Bruce had introduced her to a lot of people. The only thing left to worry about was the others, they didn’t seem very happy at the news.

Before Marinette can let the dread of that fester too long the front door opens, catching her attention as Bruce steps through. He seemed tired, and was that bruise a punch mark!?- no nevermind she wasn't going to ask. He comes to sit down next to her, neither talking for a while as they both stare out at the garden.

“... So Selina left?” He asks eventually.

“Yep, and I don’t think she’s coming back any time soon,”

“Of course not,” She shakes his head, a little amused, “Did she tell you?”

“No, but my parents knew- wait I didn’t mean!-”

“It’s fine,” He assures, settling her panic, “I just found out, I can hardly be considered a parent,”

“Guess not… What about the others?”

“Oh they’re a little shocked,” Bruce puts it lightly, his bruise being a dead give away, “I think they expected me to adopt you long before suspecting we were already related,”

“Just how many siblings do I have,” Marinette half mutters to herself, “wait- are they my siblings?”

“Depends who you ask, Dick? Yes, I think he already left to find decorations for your room,”

“I have a room?”

“If Dick has anything to say about it, also I suspect Alfred already set you up one, although I couldn't tell you when,”

“Of course he did,” That man seemed to know more than all of them combined, “So does that mean I can stay over some time?”

“Certainly, although I might suggest waiting a day or two,” He looks back at the mansion, light-catching his bruise.

“I might give it three, just to be sure,” She smiles, still wondering what happened there.

They start talking, catching up on each other's lives. Marinette skirts around anything that doesn't pertain to her identity as Marinette, Ladybug, MDC, Starling the whole gang. They are only interrupted by Marinette's phone buzzing, she picks it up, Adrien was the one to call but both Chloe and Kagami are there with him.

“Marinette,” Adrien says urgently, “Remember Cuppy?”

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Taglist (sorry put the taglist for another fic before fixed it now)

@smolplantmum @flufflepuffle296 @dawnwave16 @caffeinetheory @g-arya @Maribat-2k20 @ladybug-182 @Actual-disaster-human @fusser90 @messrs-weasley @soap-lady @paintedhope7 @zeneralla @mochegato @random-nerd-3 @clumsy-owl-4178 @throneoffirebreathingbitchqueen @too0bsessedformyowngood @certifiedbidisaster @Purplegeekypanda @awkward0ghostfan @theymakeupfairies @tikki-marinette @insane-fangirl-of-everything @elmokingkong @inarachi02 @slytherinhquinn @moongoddesskiana @dast218 @buginetye @redscarlet95 @biodad-bruce-month @hansa-12 @waiting247 @toodaloo-kangaroo @how-to-fuction-properly @trippingovermyfeet @greekmythgal @whatthefox22 @the-alice-of-hearts @bigpicklebananatree @indecisive-mess-named-me @nalu-ismyjam @deepestobservationwombat @salamonka

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thenovelartist · 3 years

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Burned Beginnings, Chapter 7

<<Previous Next>>

19. You’re Beautiful

Marinette probably should have gone back to her own room for the evening. Then maybe she wouldn’t have found herself in this situation.

But then again, she couldn’t find herself to fully regret her situation, either.

Adrien’s strong arms pulled her closer to his chest as he pressed a kiss on her neck, and she grabbed his shirt tighter as a whine escaped her. “You’re so beautiful,” he whispered against her skin, sending shivers down her spine.

Sure, sure; but she was also in trouble.

The evening had started out innocent enough. They once again had brought dinner back to the hotel so they could talk and be obnoxious without disrupting the other people at the restaurant. But dinner had turned into snuggling, which turned into kissing, which turned into Adrien having Marinette pinned to the bed while he lavished attention on her.

Geez, they were going home in two days, and she was going to be covered with hickies at this rate. She figured she was only okay with that if—

“Ah! Adrien,” she moaned as he kissed her pulse point. “Stop that.”

“Stop what?” he challenged, his voice low, husky, and hot against her skin.

She groaned. How did this man go from “best friend” to “snogging her senseless” in the span of a day?

Better question: how did she become so okay with it?

He tapped one more open-mouth kiss to her neck before pulling away, propping himself up on his elbows to meet her gaze. “Too much?” he asked, voice laced with a hint of concern.

This is my chance.

She contorted herself so as to get just enough leverage to throw Adrien off her, rolling him over to the other side of the bed so now she was laying on top of him.

The shock on his face stoked the already hot fire in her. While this wasn’t much better a situation and she still found herself up to her neck in trouble, she did find this fun.

Actually, she might find herself in more trouble like this. She did always love having the upper hand on him.

“Fair’s fair,” she purred, voice low as she straddled him, giving her the best angle to lean forward to his neck.

Adrien’s chuckle was flirty and deep. It wasn’t fair that he was this sexy, dang it. And it was worse when he grabbed hold of her hips. She gasped at his contact before her lips could hit his neck.

“Oh?” he purred. “You gonna leave marks on me now? Is that how it is?”

She didn’t bother answering—her voice was gone, anyway—and let her kiss on his neck answer that for him.

He growled, his fingers digging deeper into her hips. “Yeah yeah, fair’s fair,” he said, voice strained. “But let me warn you, princess, at this rate, this is only gonna last a little while longer before I kick you out.”

Worried she might have crossed a line, Marinette pulled away a bit, her brows furrowed. What she hadn’t expected was Adrien hissing at the movement and grabbing her thighs to keep her from leaning back any further. She gasped at his sudden grip, face flooding with heat. “W-why?” she stuttered out.

Adrien’s smile almost looked strained. “Last thing I want to do is go way too far too fast, Princess. And you’re really testing me, at the moment.”

“Is that a bad thing?” she asked, beginning to back off.

“No, just something to keep in mind for when I hit the brakes on this thing.”

A wicked smile crossed her lips. “Noted.”

With that, she leaned forward to keep pressing kisses to his face and neck and collarbone, returning all the attention he’d given to her with a new mission in mind.

How fast could she make him kick her out?

20. Passionfruit

Adrien couldn’t help but be nervous. He was dating his bosses’ daughter.

He knew he and Marinette wouldn’t hide the fact they’d gotten together. But as they sipped on a couple of smoothies they’d gotten before they hit the airport, they were debating if they wanted to tell her parents the truth or lie a bit and wait until a week passed by to break it to Tom and Sabine so he and Marinette could play off like they’d spent the trip as just friends and nothing happened between them.

For example, like they hadn’t swapped hickies in his room two nights in a row.

Adrien had had to grab make-up to cover the ones Marinette left on him. She’d looked way too smug about it, too.

“Why you gotta cover them up?” she’d teased, watching as he expertly put on the concealer.

He’d just glared at her. “Because I want to live.”

“Aww, come on, be brave,” she’d joked, shooting him a wink.

“Do you not want to be with me? Because if I die, you’ll be alone, too.”

Marinette had just shrugged. “Meh, I’m cool with that.”

“Wait! Marinette! Marinette!”

She was lucky she was cute and could get away with those things. Problem was she knew she could get away with those things, which only caused a headache for him.

Why was he dating her again?

Eh, give it ten minutes, and he’d be reminded why.

“I think I just want to be honest with them.”

Adrien looked down at Marinette. “Huh?”

“My parents,” she answered. “I don’t want to lie to them about it. I don’t want to give them any reason to make them question their trust in me. So we’ll tell them the truth. Besides, they do like you a lot. I don’t think they’ll be disappointed or anything.”

Adrien nodded. “I agree. I don’t want to lie to them, either. They put a lot of trust in me to take you to New York and keep you safe and all. I don’t want to make them question their trust in me, either.”

Marinette smiled. “So, we have a plan, then?”

“When do we tell them?”

“They’re making us dinner for when we arrive back there. We’ll tell them, then.”

Adrien’s brow furrowed. “We’ll be getting back late, though. Is it okay for them to wait up for us?”

“They insisted,” Marinette said with a shrug. “And you know them: they wouldn’t hear otherwise.”

That was true. They would insist staying tup to check over their daughter when she arrived back at the very least.

“So, we’ll tell them over dinner,” Marinette said. “I’ll lead.”

Adrien nodded. “Okay, then it sounds like we have a plan.”

When Marinette grinned, his heart was put at ease. “Sounds like a plan.”

She was the one who leaned forward, but Adrien was more than happy to meet her more than halfway. She always tasted sweet, but today, she was doubly so. And he wasn’t sure if that was because of the passionfruit on her lips or just pure coincidence.

21. Kittens

Marinette was looking at the numerous cats and kittens that filled her sketchbook, but she just wasn’t liking any of them.

With a sigh, she pushed it aside and snuck up to her balcony to cool her head in the night air. It had been almost two months since she and Adrien had gone on their New York trip where they’d ended up confessing, and they’d been going strong ever since.

She had been so nervous to tell her parents, but much to her surprise, they didn’t seem very surprised at all. Instead, both her and Adrien had watched in shock as her papa slid money over to her maman.

“As owners of this bakery, we are not oblivious to its innerworkings,” her maman had said, beaming grin on her face as she took the money. “With you two as close as you were, it was only a matter of time before you two got together. I guessed it would happen during the trip, but Tom thought it would happen after. So I won.”

“Maman!”

While she had been feeling minorly mortified, Adrien had simply doubled over laughing, finding the whole thing hilarious.

Part of her could not believe her parents did that while the other part of her was relieved that her parents took it in stride and practically accepted Adrien as their own already.

Occasionally, she got to thinking about when Adrien would actually become part of the family. Yes, they’d only been dating for 2 months, but Marinette didn’t feel like it was impulsive to think that they worked together and would for a long time. She’d known him for almost a year now, and they’d somehow clicked quickly and had become very close friends before they’d started dating. She didn’t think it was a stretch to say she could see a future with him.

Actually, it was much harder to imagine a future without him and his teasing and his support and his nerdy love of anime and… and so many other things that now made up her daily life.

He matched her perfectly, being both her equal and perfect counter.

Perfect counter…

Inspiration struck her, filling her with a second wind as a night breeze rolled across Paris. But she barely noticed it as she slipped back down her hatch and headed back to her sketchbook.

#miraculous ladybug #fanfiction #adrienette #AdrinetteApril2021 #fluff #and a little steamy #two dorks in love

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serenescribbles · 3 years

Text

Trust is a Two Way Street Part 6

For Jasonette July Challenge: Continue a fic you wrote for Jasonette July

I'm sorry this is a day late! I'm posting this on my phone so it might look a little weird.

CW: Swearing

AO3 | Masterlist | Part 1 | Part 5 | Part 7

一

“Good evening, Multimouse.”

Marinette tensed, and in an instant, she was in a fighting stance, ready to face whoever was on her balcony with her.

Heart racing and blood roaring through her ears, Marinette could feel the adrenaline in her veins as she got ready to face一 Batman?!?!?

What was he doing here? Had he seen Jason come and leave her balcony and now he was interrogating her? But how did he know about her being Multimouse?

“H-how do you know about that?” Marinette asked hostilely, trying not to cower at Batman’s unwavering stare.

Batman opened his mouth to speak. “I一”

But Marinette quickly turned her attention to something in the corner. “Who’s there? Show yourself!”

Surprisingly, after a few moments, Dick and Tim appeared, with their hands up in a placating manner.

So that’s what this was. A confrontation. They were cornering her so she had no choice but to comply.

“What do you want from me?” she demanded.

Dick opened his mouth. “Mari一 err一 I mean Miss, please calm down, we’re not here to hurt you. We just want to talk.”

“Oh really?” snorted Marinette as she raised an eyebrow.

“Yes really!” Tim said earnestly. “We honestly only want to talk!”

Taking a look back at Batman, he was still staring at her unblinkingly and that really got on her nerves. But he didn’t make a move to contradict anything Dick and Tim said.

Sighing, Marinette plopped down onto a chair nearby and massaged the bridges of her nose.

This was going to be a long night.

She was already drained from earlier and now this? Couldn’t she just get some sleep?

Not wanting to beat around the bush, Marinette bluntly said, “Okay, so, you guys came here to talk, so talk.”

Staring straight at Batman, he grunted, “Hnnn. Marinette Dupain-Cheng. Orphan. Daughter of the late Tom Dupain and Sabine Cheng. Currently attending Gotham University. Originally from Paris, France. Ex-superhero Multimouse.”

Hearing that, Marinette clapped her hands with glee and asked in a faux cheerful voice, “How wonderful! Are you going to continue to waste my time by spewing facts that all of us already know?”

Marinette knew that her tone must’ve sounded condescending and she could almost see Dick’s raised eyebrow although she wasn’t looking at him.

Normally, she would’ve been much more respectful but if she was being frank, right now, she didn’t give a shit.

But hey, if they had a problem with that, well, they were the ones who approached her first, so she was perfectly justified in treating them that way.

Besides, who corners someone all alone on their balcony at night? And from the looks of it, they were the ones that needed her help, not the other way around.

So she supposes that Batman would just have to deal with it. Because she was Done™ with taking flak from others and always playing the accommodating one.

“Umm,” Tim floundered for a moment. “What Batman means to say is that, uh, we recently came into the knowledge about Paris’ former situation一” “War,” “Huh?”

“Battle, fight, siege, reign, whatever you want to call it. But not a goddamn “situation”. Because it wasn’t. Situations don’t leave people scarred for the rest of their lives. Situations don’t make people fear someone who doesn’t even know what they did wrong. Situations don’t make people afraid of experiencing negative emotions.”

Somehow, in the middle of her talk, Marinette had gotten up and out of her chair, and both of her hands were firmly planted on the table.

She let her true emotions come out and she could hear Dick gasp while both he and Tim flinched as they saw the look in her eyes.

It was the look of a warrior, who’d fought in a long and never-ending battle. It was the look of a fighter who’d lost it all yet still forged on. It was the look of someone who’d lost everyone they ever held near and dear to them.

Although Tim probably wasn’t as familiar with this look as Dick and Batman were, he would still be able to feel unsettled by it.

Dick’s face took on an expression of deep sorrow and he looked down, muttering, “No one should ever be forced to go through that…”

Yet again, Batman showed no visible reaction. All he did was stare at her even harder and the whites of his cowl narrowed.

Tim, the little savior he was, could sense the tension and opened his mouth again. “Right, uh, we recently learned about the war in Paris but couldn’t find any information about it. Sooo, we were kindawonderingifyoucouldtellusaboutit?”

Seeing how visibly nervous her little brother was, Marinette sent him a small smile. She hadn’t intended to make him so frightened, she just wanted to show all of them they couldn’t push her around.

Turning back to return Batman’s stare, she asked, “You see? You see how much easier everything is when you Cut. To. The. Point?”

“I一” Batman faltered for a bit while it was now his turn to cower under her stare.

Eventually, Dick cut in. “Well, could you tell us a little bit about your time as Multimouse?”

Marinette sat back down again and asked, “How much do you all know?”

Scratching the back of his head, Dick replied, “Honestly, not that much.”

Oh kwami! What was she going to do? How much information should she divulge? Was this the reason Tim and Dick had gotten close to her in the first place?

Batman interrupted her thoughts with a grunt. “I was wondering if you were still in touch with Ladybug and if you could maybe inform her about our questions.”

Phew! At least they didn’t know about her being Ladybug!

“Unfortunately, no. All you have is plain old me.”

“That is,” Batman paused to formulate his next words. “Slightly less fortunate but you are already a big help.”

“So, can you tell us how一” Tim started off, but she held up a finger to stop him.

Marinette knew what would happen after she answered Tim’s initial question. That would raise more questions from him which would mean she would have to answer them and they would continue that cycle until morning came.

Coming from personal experience, she knew that Tim’s curiosity couldn’t be helped and she didn’t hold that against him. But she didn’t want to throw away the rest of her night by getting interrogated.

For goodness sake! She just wanted a decent night of sleep!

“I’m sorry, Ti-Robin, but can we do this some other time? It’s getting a bit too late.”

It seemed like none of them registered her tiny slip-up and Marinette internally sighed in relief.

He readily agreed. “Of course! I’m sorry for taking up so much of your time!”

“Then,” Batman spoke, “can we expect to meet sometime next week?”

“Actually, I’m afraid that doesn’t fit into my schedule. We can do it the week after that, though.”

She was a lying liar. She did have time, she just didn’t want to make it seem like she was giving in to Batman. Plus, two weeks would be enough time for her to figure out what she should and shouldn’t disclose to them!

Batman, Dick, and Tim all exchanged a glance with each other and it seems like they came to an agreement.

Finally, Dick said, “Alright. That sounds great.”

Waving them off, Marinette blinked not even for a second and when she opened her eyes again, all three of them were gone.

But, how? They were just here a moment ago! Whatever!

Throwing her hands up in the air, Marinette went inside her apartment muttering, “Fucking Bats… appearing out of nowhere… then disappearing suddenly…”

一

@jasonette-july-event

Bruce is sort of a jerk but I didn't mean for him to be that way...

#jasonettejuly2021 #jasonette #maribat #mlb x dc #dc x mlb #sibling jasonette

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vitaliciouscreations · 4 years

Text

Drop of Paradise - Part Seven

First | Previous | Next

Getting home had been… well, let’s just say it had been a challenge for Marinette.

Considering Marinette’s home was just across the street from François-Dupont, it being a challenge to get from one place to the other was pretty unusual. Unusual, though, was the perfect word to describe the sight Marinette had found herself confronted with when she’d tried to leave the school.

Usually, the street separating the Tom & Sabine Boulangerie Patisserie and François-Dupont was, well, a street. Cars drove down it, pedestrians walked on it, you know. But just a few hours ago it had looked far more like… well, saying it had looked like a can of sardines was probably the most accurate. But, like, if the can was a street, and the sardines were reporters.

Okay, so maybe that wasn’t Marinette’s best metaphor, but the point still stood! The street had been packed so full of reporters some had literally been crawling over each other, while others viciously tried to elbow each other out of the way, all to get just a little bit closer to the front entrance of François-Dupont.

Marinette had never been more grateful that her time as Ladybug had familiarized her with all of François-Dupont’s exits. She doubted she would have made it out of there otherwise. Even now, there were reporters clogging the streets, interviewing Marinette’s teachers and classmates and anybody even remotely in the area and willing to talk to them. Marinette had made it out safely only because she had plenty of practice in sneaking off unnoticed by now, and even then it had been difficult.

Tiān revealing itself to the world was a big deal, of course. Marinette knew that. And she’d learned from Alya that pretty much every news media company on the planet was going wild about it. But today had been nothing more than a silly school presentation, given by Marinette, a girl nobody knew was Ladybug. So Marinette hadn’t really expected such a media frenzy about it.

Her mistake, she supposed. If Alya had been there, she wondered, would she have known to expect it?

And there it was. Yup. Marinette was still upset about her friends missing her presentation. And honestly, she was pretty sure she was going to be upset about it for a while? She’d tried to talk herself through it after getting home, but she’d failed to rationalize her hurt feelings away. And it really didn’t help that one of her friends had texted her a picture of the entire group, including Lila, having fun without her.

She had other texts besides that one, though. One that had been sent during her presentation, from Luka, wishing her luck. And one from Kagami that she’d received after she’d gotten home, congratulating her on her presentation and reminding her to eat something filling. Marinette had actually already eaten lunch, incidentally, but she didn’t really feel up to telling Kagami the real reason she’d collapsed during her presentation, so she’d just texted back a promise to take it easy on herself for the rest of the day. Those two texts didn’t soothe the sting of her classmates ditching her presentation, but they did make Marinette feel better regardless.

“Marinette!” her father’s voice called from downstairs, actually startling her a little bit. “One of your friends is here to see you!”

Marinette’s heart jumped into her throat. Luka? He normally texted before coming over, though. And Marinette doubted it would be Kagami, either, so then—!

Marinette jumped up and rushed for the trapdoor on the floor of her room. Then she paused, and nearly tripped over her own feet as she rushed back to her mirror and hastily peered at her reflection. Her eyes weren’t noticeably red, there were no tear tracks on her face, and her clothes were only slightly wrinkled. Marinette nodded at her reflection and tugged at her skirt to straighten it as she pulled up the trapdoor and rushed down the stairs. And there—

There.

Standing in the middle of Marinette’s living room, looking far more innocent than she had any right to, was Lila Rossi.

“I have something else to do, so I’ll leave you two girls alone,” Marinette’s papa said, oblivious to Marinette’s rapid shift in mood. Marinette glared at Lila as he hustled out of the room, and Lila simply smiled at her in return.

“Hey Marinette,” Lila said, her demeanor her usual act of a sweet, friendly girl. “Here, I brought you something.”

Lila stepped forward and held out a paper towards Marinette. Marinette didn’t want to take it, unreasonably suspicious that it had some sort of deadly poison on it, and more reasonably suspicious that something horrible was written on it. Marinette eyed it cautiously for several long seconds, and Lila’s fake sweet smile stayed in place the entire time.

Finally, Marinette sntached the paper and turned it over, scanning the words written there. Instead of some sort of awful message, it was just…

Eden is an isolated city high in the Kunlun Mountains. It’s existence has been kept secret for several millennia now because of the locals' fear of the outside world.

“It’s a study guide,” Lila said, drawing Marinette’s attention up from the page. “Sabrina was kind enough to write one out for you while we were all out getting ice cream. It was certainly a much better time than standing around and listening to your boring presentation about your so-called heritage.” Lila laughed, her sweet act dropping to the ground and shattering into a million pieces. “At least that’s what Adrien said when we were all having fun without you.”

“No he didn’t!” Marinette snapped.

“Didn’t he?” Lila asked. “I guess you’ll never know since you weren’t there. Everyone else was, though. All of your precious friends. I told you before, didn’t I? I’m going to take them from you, and there’s nothing you can do about it.”

Marinette’s hands clenched into fists. The “study guide” Lila had handed her crumpled loudly in her grip. “They’re not so easy to manipulate, Lila. They’ll see through you eventually!”

“Oh, will they?” Lila taunted. “I barely even had to try to get them to come along with me today. You know what I think? I think they didn’t even care about seeing your stupid presentation in the first place, even though all of them knew how much it mattered to you. The second I said anything about leaving they all jumped on board. Max even talked about how failing one test wouldn’t ruin any of their grades, and you know how much he cares about his test scores.”

“You’re lying.”

“I’m not!” Lila insisted. “You just can’t accept the truth; none of your “friends” think of you as anything more than a meal ticket, so to speak. And they’re right! You’re very useful when it comes to free sweets or clothing, but when it comes to actually hanging out with you? Ha! It’s barely worth it.”

“Why would I believe anything you say?” Marinette snarled.

Lila smiled at her way too innocently. “Why wouldn’t you believe me? I mean, if your friends were really your friends, they would have stayed for your presentation today, right?”

“That’s your fault!”

“Oh please.” Lila rolled her eyes. “It’s not like I dragged them out of the cafeteria kicking and screaming. They all agreed to come with me of their own free will. Even Adrien.”

Marinette was shaking. Not trembling, but shaking. Shaking with rage as she did her best to stop herself from doing something she’d regret, though what that something was, she didn’t know yet.

Lila took a step closer to her, an absolutely insufferable smirk on her face. “By the way, Alix wants those pajama shorts you promised her. She said it’s really annoying that you can’t even do the one thing you’re good for in a timely manner. And I agree with her. I mean really, two weeks for a pair of shorts? Honestly, it’s no wonder they’re all reconsidering whether to keep pretending to be your friend.”

“Shut up!” Marinette snapped, lunging forward and getting in Lila’s space.

A crooked grin crossed Lila’s face, making her look downright devilish. She looked at Marinette with expectant eyes, and that, if nothing else, reminded Marinette to rein in her temper.

She wrestled with it; it really wasn’t easy to get her anger under control when there was this much of it, and especially not with Lila still standing there. Marinette could see something in Lila’s face, though. She’d definitely riled up Marinette for a reason; she was expecting to get something out of it. Marinette had no idea what that something was, but she did not want to give Lila what she wanted.

“Goodbye, Lila,” Marinette said, her voice strained. Neither of them moved, except Lila’s face twitched. Her smile looked a little less pleased.

“Goodbye?” she echoed.

“Get out of my house,” Marinette ordered.

Lila smirked. “Or what?”

“Papa!” Marinette shouted. Lila visibly straightened up, looking nervous. Marinette’s father was one of the gentlest men in all of Paris, but Lila didn’t know Marinette or her family well enough to know that her father’s large frame was mostly deceptive.

“Fine,” Lila snarled. She turned on her heel and stomped out the door. Not five seconds later, Marinette’s papa rushed into the room.

“Something I can do for you, sweetheart?” he asked. “Oh, where’d your friend go?”

“She’s not my friend,” Marinette said quickly, not wanting to get into it. “And I just wanted… a hug.”

“Oh sweetheart,” her father said, stepping forward and pulling Marinette into a warm, comfortably tight bear hug. “You can have one of those whenever you like.”

Okay, so it’s been a while. I just left this one alone for a while, but I always intended to keep going with it, and the support I got even during my hiatus only encouraged me more. So I kept going with it.

Tell me if you want to be added or removed from the tag list.

@miraculous-of-salt, @plushbookworm, @captainmac6, @unmaskedagain, @crazylittlemunchkin, @mochinek0, @diamondheart31, @schrodingers25, @northernbluetongue, @heaven428, @starberry-mina, @kennyfuckingdiedagain, @asandygraves, @souleateralicestein , @sleepdeprivedbarelyalived, @saphiraazure2708, @vixen-uchiha, @procrasinatingrightnow, @gaylord1027, @theg0ddesspersephone, @onegaybookworm, @geminikessa, @moonlitarchangels, @sassydepression, @emjrabbitwolf, @clumsy-owl-4178, @missjuliaducky, @un1cornf1ghter, @sealy4321, @ravennightingaleandavatempus, @sofmimis, @ladybug-182, @yin-390, @jessigurl-design, @gentlemanoftimetravel, @cynicalwonders, @destinationdesignation, @sharksharkbb, @akalovelymaybe, @nonasficcollection, @fairiewalker, @chrismarium, @actual-disaster-human, @purplesundaze, @the-one-woman-army, @loveswifi, @elmokingkong, @aestheticnpoetic, @cupcakeandkisses, @thewondersoflebanon, @magic-miraculous, @ladylupa, @shreky-boi, @foxy-pumpkin-princess, @the7thg, @mariae2900, @fandomkitty8, @kanamexzeroyaoifangirl, @kae690, @ljj-tm, @chaosace, @novicevoice, @naomi-from-paleontology, @jeminiikrystal, @sofmimis, @lunaraquaenby, @miraculous-anna, @vanillacoffee-bean, @my-only-friend-is-a-potato, @the-navistar-carol, @bigpicklebananatree, @xxvanilla-thundaxx, @shoushig, @rowanrouge,

#marinette dupain cheng #miraculous ladybug #ml salt #ml salt fic #drop of paradise #lila rossi #lila salt #anti lila

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flufflepuffle296 · 4 years

Text

B99 x MIRACULOUS

Ok this is one of the dumbest ideas I’ve ever had but shut up. Also I’m not American so sorry if I get the geography wrong. Also I’m sorry but I’m on mobile so can’t add the “keep reading” tag and this is a long post so sorry if you don’t like b99 xxx.

So there are a lot of “class goes to Gotham and leaves Marinette behind and she gets adopted by the Wayne’s” Fics. I was thinking about Brooklyn 99 and was thinking if a similar thing could happen?

Soooo......

Bustier’s Class goes to NY and tours around the cities, seeing sights and meeting people (Lila bragging about knowing everyone oh so humbly in the background).

On the day that they’re supposed to leave from Brooklyn, Lila makes Marinette miss their flight, and Bustier just accepts that everyone’s there and leaves without her.

Marinette wakes up and PANICS because SHE’S ALONE IN A FOREIGN COUNTRY WITH NO WAY OF GETTING BACK.

She calms down and after consulting the hotel staff, heads towards the nearby police station to get some help.

CROSSOVER TIME

She meets the squad, and Santiago starts gushing over how sweet she is.

Rosa even smiles...

She explains the situation, and Santiago is quickly on the phone screaming at some poor man about how Flight 749675 to Paris should legally turn around!!!!!

In the meantime....

Marinette starts talking about Lila and the class, which leads to Rosa teaching her how to throw knives (“SHE NEEDS TO LEARN TERRY”) and Holt teaching her how to be an ice queen towards her class as they converse in French.

Boyle and Marinette exchange recipes and critique each other’s paella.

At some point Gina gets called in because there is a young girl who needs to think better of herself and be told she’s a Britney Spears equivalent and should act like one a few times.

Jake gets her to set up pranks with him on Santiago, who’s reciting part B subsection D of Brooklyn aviation protocol angrily to a TSA Agent now.

At the end of the night, she still has no way of getting back home any time soon, or anywhere to stay, so Terry and Sharron take her in for the night. She is really good with the kids, and they are all quiet.

Terry nearly cries with joy at the silence.

About a week later, she’s learnt how to throw knives, axes, use nunchucks, how to shoot a gun, stab someone AND get away with it from Rosa, as well as improved her English, learnt a little Flemish and learnt how to become an Ice Queen from Holt.

She’s made $150 just from keeping Terry’s kids quiet, and from helping Boyle create a new sexy cat costume.

Santiago makes sure she and Jake don’t eat too much sugar, and she officially knows how to walk down a runway for when she reveals herself as MDC thanks to Gina.

She becomes best friends with Hitchcock and Scully because a) she and Scully both speak French and b) she lives in a bakery and promised them free treats if they visit, at one point even challenging them to an eating contest...

...and it ended in a tie....

Ladybug helps them as a vigilante now and again (Jake nearly passed out at the thought of a superhero bug helping them).

They finally manage to take Marinette back home, and escort her back to school.

When they finally reach Bustier’s class, they overhear Lila ranting about how Marinette is clearly skiving off school and should be suspended to the teacher (or rather Holt, Scully and Marinette translate for the group.)

Terry breaks down the door at this, closely followed by Rosa holding SEVERAL DAGGERS (which Holt was not pleased about!)

Bustier’s shocked to say the least, but needs to make a good impression on these people, so starts reprimanding her problem student Marinette for lying and truancy.

Santiago starts smugly ranting in French to the teacher, listing what she’s done wrong and how she could be tríaled under both French and American law (and yes, she did learn as much French as possible specifically for this rant).

Bustier tries to excuse herself by blaming Marinette, but Gina comes swooping in, criticising Bustier’s fashion sense and exposing her with stuff she found out about her from when she was 7 (of course Bustier is terrified).

When they arrive back at the bakery, Jake gets adopted by Tom immediately and Sabine helps Boyle with his cooking blog, as well as discussing Martial arts with Rosa and being given all the tips on how to sue Bustier from Santiago.

Years later Marinette becomes a fashion designer in New York, and is advertised on Gina’s blog. Jake and Amy find out she’s Ladybug (Holt figured it out immediately) and she helps them all with cases, and helps out the kids that come in.

#lila salt #marinette dupain cheng #miraculous #mlb #miraculous ladybug #miraculoustalesofladybugandcatnoir #bustier salt #bustiers class #class salt #b99 x mlb #ladybug #miraculous tales of ladybug and chat noir #miraculous lila #ml lila #brooklyn 99 x miraculous #mlb crossover #miraculous crossover #marinette deserves better #ml prompt

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pl-panda · 4 years

Text

To Marry a Vigilante: Part 5

MASTERLIST || First || Previous || Next

-------

By the time the class landed in Gotham, Marinette and Chloé had enough. Their recorders, which were supposed to serve as damning evidence of blatant bullying, got ‘damaged’ when Lila accidentally splashed the two girls with a drink. Whatever it was, it was sticky, didn’t wash with water, and also ruined their hidden dictaphones.

Of course, the liar made it look like it was Marinette who tripped her. The class almost hounded her, but they kept their distance not wanting to also get their clothes dirtied. Of course, Lila was occupying the bathroom for the next fifteen minutes, so when she finally left the drink already dried, making it even harder to get rid of.

When the girls made their way out of the plane to meet with Sabine and their teacher, Lila pushed past them and came crying about how rude Marinette ruined her outfit, which was supposedly incredibly expensive. None of the intelligent people bothered to try and point out that it was cheap mass-produced junk. Alix was visibly conflicted, but also did not speak up in the end.

“Marinette. I expected better of…” The teacher started, but then she saw both girls were hit worse than Lila, who cleaned most of it in the bathroom.

“Sweetie…” Sabine started to rethink if a simple murder wouldn’t solve their problem.

“Don’t worry Maman. I can probably salvage it once we ret… get to Damian’s” Mari corrected herself. Luckily, it seemed like nobody caught her slip of tongue.

“Ugh! Not that creep.” Alya complained. “He gives me shivers.”

Mari glared at her former friend. She wanted to say something, but her teacher urged them to move. They were put into a small lounge. Marinette, of course, had to run them through a safety course, for reasons. She still did her best, as Gotham earned its reputation as the World’s Capital of Crime.

When they were finally cleared and the class left the airport, there was a bus waiting, ready to take them to the hotel. Marinette and Chloé were about to board when a limousine pulled next to them.

“Angel, Bourgeoise…” He greeted the girls. “Since you’ll be staying with us, my father decided to send a proper escort.”

The class stared in disbelief. The guy with a sword was loaded? It definitely looked like it from the car.

“I bet his gramps just works as a driver and borrowed his work car,” Lila whispered to Alya and suddenly everyone was repeating the lie. “Or maybe even stole it…”

A blade was suddenly pressed into Lila’s neck, a hair width away from drawing blood

“Tt. I will tolerate many things, but if you try to insult Alfred one more time, your end will be painful.” The class backed away in fear. Marinette immediately went to try and drag the boy away from a very pale Lila, but he wouldn’t budge. “Am. I. Clear?”

Lila was too paralyzed to answer, so he pressed the blade further. Now it was in contact with her skin and a moment of inattention could have fatal consequences. “Am. I. Clear?” He seethed.

“Yes…” She managed to whisper.

“Tt. Good.” He sheathed his blade just as two security guards came outside to check the commotion.

“Arrest him! He tried to murder Lila!” Alya immediately screamed.

“No. If I did, she would be dead. I only explained certain values.” Damian deadpanned.

The two guards looked between the class and visibly angry Damian Wayne and scratched their heads. They could report it, but they only had the word of some foreigners against the word of the son of the First Citizen of Gotham who was also the fifth richest man in the world. The cameras here stopped working, hence they came out to check what happened.

“Children. We should be going or we’ll miss lunch at the hotel,” their teacher urged. That was enough for the guards. If the chaperone did not press charges, they wouldn’t bother.

“But… But…”

“Lila. Be a bigger person here and apologize to Damian.” Sabine grinned.

“But he…”

“I don’t want to hear it!” The woman cut her off. “You must show our host some respect.”

“I didn’t…” The glare Sabine sent her and the murderous expression on Damian’s face made the words freeze in her throat. “Fine. I’m sorry Damien.”

“Tt.” Was the boy’s only response.

Marinette and Chloé were about to leave when Rose protested. “Why are they not going with us to the hotel!?”

“Because as one of the host families, I’m allowed to welcome the students I choose to my house for the stay.” Damian did not care enough to elaborate more. Instead, he just jumped into the back seat of the Limousine. The girls followed, with Chloé going as far as sticking her tongue at the class.

Once the doors closed and Alfred started the engine, Damian lowered the windshield and leaned outside. “By the way, it’s Damian. Damian W…” He didn’t get to finish because Marinette covered his mouth with her hand and dragged him inside. The windshield closed.

When the car entered the main road, the girl finally let him go.

“What was that about, Habibti?” He glared at her.

“You were about to reveal that you’re the Damian Wayne.” She accused him.

“Tt. It’s time that liar learns who she’s dealing with.”

“It would only blow up in our faces. She would make it worse for all of us, including your family.” Seeing that both her best friend and her husband (still hard to get used to) were looking at her with no small amount of curiosity, she elaborated. “Damian Wayne is supposedly her ‘ultimate price’ from this exchange. She will want to sink her claws into you with all her skill.”

“Tt. She can try.” He huffed. His hand instinctively went to his sword.

“You do know you are quite murderous for a Robin?” Chloé quipped.

“And you’re bratty for a lady.”

“Bird-brain.”

“That’s Drake. Spoiled princess.”

“Daddy can afford it so why not? Trained monkey.”

“Grayson. Try harder. Talentless heiress.”

“I’m helping Marinette start her own company. Emo McBroodyPants.”

“Where did you even get that one?”

“I read.” She huffed. “And looks like I won.”

“Tt. As if.”

Marinette just sat back and watched her best friend and lover bicker there and back. It was nice that they were warming up to one another…

-----------

When Sabine finally arrived at the Manor, she was dead on her feet. Alfred was, of course, waiting for her at the entrance.

“Eventful day, Madame?”

“Don’t.” She cut him off.

“I assume it went worse than anticipated then?”

“Where is Tom?”

“Master Tom is in the kitchen. He decided to prepare some baked goods for the afternoon.”

Sabine stormed to the kitchen where she found her husband. He was clearly busy preparing the dough. After a quick greeting, she went to help him.

“That bad?”

“Worse.” She sighed. “I really don’t understand that woman. How… She cut me whenever I tried to rein those monsters in.”

“Oh… Hand me the pin.” He interrupted himself. Sabine gave him the item, which she already had in hand when he started speaking.

“I’m not sure if I can survive until school starts again. And even then there will be occasional afternoon trips. If it continues, I might just… I will get a jam. You did bring it?”

“I’ve put it on the counter,” Tom replied while still preparing the dough. “And don’t worry. I’m sure it’ll get better.”

“I hope so…”

---------

In the evening, Marinette, Chloé, and Sabine were introduced to the Batcave. It was indeed impressive, but Sabine was mostly interested in the training ring. She would lie if she didn’t want to test herself against the famous Batman. And she didn’t fancy committing crimes to do so. Well, for now. The class was making it more and more appealing.

“So you’re the girl that tamed Robin?” A redhead in a wheelchair rolled over to Marinette.

“Tt. Shut up, Gordon.” Damian managed to spend a beautiful afternoon without any teasing from his family. Sadly, nothing could last forever.

“Come on baby bird. After the show you gave us on Christmas Eve, you can’t expect us to just drop it.” Dick was there, smiling cockily.

“As much as I too want to tease that couple, I hoped for some sparring matches.” Sabine decided to save the teens. For now.

“Well, Madame, I’m happy to oblige.”

“Who’s with you?” She asked once Nightwing entered the ring.

“Um… I didn’t think you wanted a team match?” He replied, slightly confused.

“No, no. I just thought I would have some challenge.” She smiled brightly. She was dressed in a dark-pink judoka and wooden sandals.

“I… want.” Cass chimed in. She gracefully jumped into the ring before turning to Dick. “Alone.”

“Of course Sweetie. But I won’t go easy on you.”

“Did not… expected.”

The two women watched one another, neither moving from their spots. Both seemed relaxed but ready to react. Cass was first to start circling, with Sabine following. Neither could find any obvious flaws to exploit. Finally, Sabine lunged forward, only to jump to the side before getting in Cassandra’s range. The girl didn’t lose the bit and with a quick spin kicked her aunt, only to be deflected. Sabine tried to capitalize on the opening, but Cass followed her failed kick with another, launching herself in the air. Her target ducked low before trying to deliver an upper-cut punch toward the flying girl. It did connect, serving to push her back. She used the momentum to get some distance before landing on her hands and doing a double backward cartwheel and ending in a ready stance.

“Not bad, Cassandra. I’m impressed. That boy would probably already be crying on the floor.” Sabine smiled genuinely. There was no need for banter between them.

“Weakling.” The girl blew Dick a raspberry.

Two women watched each other for a moment. This time, it was Sabine who initiated the actual fight. She delivered three quick punches that Cass blocked, but it created a small opening. She tried to deliver a side-kick to the girl’s head, but her opponent had the same idea.

Their legs clashed by the shins. Sabine landed her leg firmly on the ground, but Cass once more lunged in the air, trying to use the momentum. She did two more kicks that her aunt blocked before she tried to put the older woman in a grip. Sabine, seeing the attempt, jumped back and tried to grab Cassandra’s hand, but instead, the girl spun around, delivering a powerful kick to Sabine’s side.

The woman felt the kick, but she used the opportunity to timely grab her opponent’s foot and twist it. Cass, to avoid an injury, also had to spin in the air. She managed to attempt a kick before falling on her stomach. Her kick did force Sabine to let go of the foot to avoid having her head hurt. The girl quickly jumped on her feet, just in time to block an open-palm strike, which was followed with a kick. She did not get to respond, because Sabine made a low-sweep. Cass jumped in the air, only to find herself pushed away by another open-palm strike that, this time, connected with her chest, pushing the air out of her lungs.

The woman followed Cass in the air, so she did not get a chance to stand up before getting pinned and rotated on her stomach. The grip that Sabine used effectively made it almost impossible to get out of before her aunt delivered a mock game-ending strike to her head.

When Sabine stood up and helped her niece, both were panting heavily. It did not affect the accuracy with which the older of them made a back-kick, right below Jason’s belt.

“Next time you try to sneak on either of us I will hit harder.” Sabine didn’t even bother to turn around and watch how the man curled on the floor, crying. “Good fight.” She focused her gaze on Cass, who blushed slightly.

“I lost.”

“Well, depends on the criteria. You got the first hit, which is often decisive. And an achievement.” The woman cheered her with a broad smile on her face. Cassandra couldn’t help but also smile. “We could both use some more practice. I definitely would’ve taken you when I caught your foot and if you capitalized on the initial advantage you could’ve ended the fight.”

“It is an honor… training… with you.”

“Thank you, my dear. I also enjoyed it.” Sabine then turned to the gobsmacked group. The fight must have looked more impressive than she thought.

“Did you just… defeat Cass in less than five minutes…?” Tim asked, unable to form a smooth sentence.

“Well, Sandra always said that I was the better one in unarmed combat. She does rock with swords though. And you should’ve seen her in that club in Tokyo. She’s definitely the dancer of the family, or rather was. I enjoy Cass’s ballet more.”

The great moment was interrupted by Batman speaking to everyone over the comms.

“Suit up. We’ve got a hostage situation at Gotham Plaza.”

“For the love of Kwami… Please tell me it’s not my class.” Marinette groaned.

“Tt. Of course it’s them.” Damian pulled his phone, showing her a live feed from the news helicopter. On the rooftop, there was a clearly visible group of teenagers, surrounded by goons with guns aimed at them. Near the edge stood a guy in a two-color suit. Half white and half black, with a red and black tie to complete the mad image. Half of his face was badly damaged and purple.

“If Batman doesn’t show here to save his precious sidekick soon, we shall see if the little birdie can actually fly.”

Everyone who met Lila groaned.

“I assume we can’t just let him deal with her?” Marinette asked hopefully.

“Sadly, Angel, it would be bad for our image.”

“I guess you’re right.”

“The two of you are sitting this out.” Batman walked into the cave, already in his suit. “We can’t risk any of them recognizing you two and it’s too early for Ladybug and Chat to appear. It would be too easy to associate their appearance with you two coming to Gotham.”

Seeing Damian’s irritated face, Marinette decided to intervene before she had a fight on her hands “Let’s do a movie night. I’m sure you have a theatre room somewhere in here.”

Immediately, the boy brightened. “No Bourgeoise?”

“I think Chloé has other plans for the evening.” She nodded toward where the blonde was talking excitedly with Cass, trying to convince her to train her.

“Good.” Damian offered his hand and the two left the cave.

“Damn! I didn’t get the chance to tease him about the proposal.” Jason looked really dejected.

--------

Masterlist // Next

#miraculous #miraculous ladybug #miraculous lb #maribat #maribat au #marinette dupain cheng #maridami #Damian Wayne #Damian al Ghul #damienette #arranged marriage AU #batman #BatFam #miraculous dc #mlb #mlb x dc

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mikauzoran · 3 years

Text

Lila Fake-Dating/Emotional Blackmail Adrienette: Betting Against the House: Chapter Five

Read it on AO3: Betting Against the House: Chapter Five: Parental Support

“I’ll call you when I’m ready to be picked up,” Adrien advised as he climbed out of the car ten minutes later. “Thank you so much for this.”

The Gorilla gave another grunt coupled with a soft smile. He watched to make sure that Adrien made it inside the bakery and then drove off.

Tom was inside, bustling around and cleaning up for the day. He looked up at the sound of the bell above the door ringing and raised a meaty hand in greeting when he spotted his guest.

“Hello there, Son!” he chuckled, smiling with such authentic pleasure at seeing Adrien that it made Adrien want to cry.

His own father was never that happy to see him.

Adrien waved sheepishly. “Good evening, Monsieur Dupain.”

Tom’s eyebrow quirked, and he crossed his arms with an affectionate sigh. The look on his face asked, “How many times have I told you that you don’t have to call me ‘Monsieur’?”

“—er—I mean Tom,” Adrien hastily corrected and had to suppress a laugh as Tom’s face burst back into a pleased grin.

“That’s more like it,” Tom praised, waving Adrien in. “I’m actually shutting down for the night, but take your time and let me know what I can get for you.” He tipped his head towards the tray of unsold baked goods sitting on the counter next to the register. “The selection’s a little slim, but there’re still some worthy pastries left.”

“Oh, thank you, but I’m not here for the pastries,” Adrien assured.

Tom’s smile turned knowing. “Oh? Here for my daughter, then?”

Adrien’s cheeks flooded with vermillion, giving him away. He looked down at his feet, lips pulling into a smitten smile as he rubbed at the back of his neck. “Actually, Nino, Alya, Marinette, and I were supposed to be having game night, but I got held up with something, so I’m running a little late.”

Tom nodded, going back to wiping down the glass cases. “Unfortunately, Marinette came home from school not feeling too good. She wouldn’t see Alya and Nino when they came by earlier, so I think game night is off. Sorry no one let you know.”

“Oh,” Adrien gulped, wilting as his face abruptly lost colour. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize Marinette wasn’t feeling well.”

He wondered if Tom was privy to the cause of Marinette’s sudden malaise.

“She’ll be okay after a good night’s rest. No need to worry,” Tom reassured, waving away his concern.

“That’s good,” Adrien sighed in relief, hoping Tom was right. “…Well… Is there anything I can do to help while I’m here?” he offered nervously, not sure he could truly be of any use but willing to try.

“Sure,” Tom responded jollily, happy of the assistance. “Thank you very much, Adrien. Much appreciated. If you don’t mind, could you put the chairs up and sweep the seating area? Broom’s behind you to the left, propped up against the case.”

Adrien turned and spotted the broom. “Uh…yeah. Yeah, I can do that.”

He’d seen brooms used before. He was pretty sure he had the theory down, so it was all a matter of practical application.

“I just need to finish wiping down the cases,” Tom advised. “After that, if you like, we could head upstairs and play some games together. I’m sure Sabine would join in too. I know we’re not much of a substitute for Marinette, but…”

Adrien paused to stare back at Tom, dumbstruck. “Really? Would that…would that really be okay?”

Tom nodded earnestly, looking like he’d be giving Adrien a clap on the back if he were in range. “Yeah, of course. You’re always welcome here, Adrien. If you don’t mind hanging out with a bunch of old-timers, we’d be happy to have you.”

“That sounds great, actually,” Adrien confessed. “My father’s usually busy, so it can get a little lonely at home.”

“Yeah…I’ll bet,” Tom murmured softly, his heart going out to the young man before him as he remembered the distance between himself and his own father for many years. “I think about you sometimes, all alone in that big mansion…. You should come over more. Maybe come eat with us when your father’s busy with work.”

“I don’t think my father would let me,” Adrien chuckled forlornly. “But thank you so much for the offer. I really appreciate the fact that you even care.”

“Of course I care,” Tom scoffed. “There are a lot of people who care about you, Adrien.”

“Thanks, Tom,” Adrien replied, shooting a grateful smile Tom’s way. “It’s easy to get caught up in what I’m doing and forget sometimes. I appreciate the reminder.”

“Any time,” Tom promised, and then a teasing lilt came into his voice as he added, “But, you know, soon, you’ll officially be my son-in-law, and your father won’t have a say in you coming over for family dinner.”

Adrien burst out laughing at the outlandish thought. “Oh, I wish. Unfortunately, Marinette would have to be a fool to marry me, so I think I’m out of luck there.”

“Nah,” Tom insisted. “You’re a good catch, Son. Don’t be so down on yourself.”

Adrien looked up from the chair he’d just put up and studied Tom intently. “Be straight with me for a second. Do you actually think I have a chance?”

Tom shrugged. “I think it’s fifty-fifty between you and Chat Noir, but don’t quote me on that because I am the father of a seventeen-year-old girl. Seventeen-year-old girls don’t tell their papas anything.”

“So long as I’m in the race,” Adrien replied, trying to keep his effulgent grin under control. He failed pretty miserably and ended up smiling like a loon as he finished putting up the rest of the chairs and won a very close match against the broom.

Maybe, if he could just hold on until university, Lila would lose interest in him, and he could explain everything to Marinette. Perhaps she’d forgive him and let him make amends.

Who knew? Maybe his rotten luck would have mercy on him for once, and she wouldn’t stay mad at him for long. Maybe they could even patch things up by the end of the week.

“Thanks again for your help, Son.” Tom gave Adrien a pat on the shoulder as they made their way upstairs to the apartment after closing down the bakery for the night.

“I don’t know if I was much help,” Adrien laughed at himself.

Tom rolled his eyes and waved off Adrien’s self-deprecating response. “Sure, you were. You eventually figured out the broom, and you picking up the chairs saved my back the trouble. I’m getting old, Adrien, so every bit helps.”

“You’re not that old,” Adrien snorted. “You’re only in your forties.”

“Still,” Tom laughed, a big, round, boisterous sound that reminded Adrien of his childhood, when things weren’t so lonely and cold. “You helped, so I’m grateful, and I’m proud of you for taking on something new. You kicked that broom’s butt.”

“I did, didn’t I?” Adrien joined in on the laughter, following Tom into the apartment.

“Sabine, look who’s here!” Tom called to his wife.

Adrien couldn’t see her from the doorway, but the simmering and popping sounds coming from the kitchen gave away her location.

Sabine poked her head around the corner, and her eyes widened in alarm when she spotted Adrien.

“Good evening, Madame Cheng,” Adrien greeted tentatively, getting the sinking feeling that Sabine thought she knew exactly of what Adrien was guilty.

“Oh. Adrien…Honey…. I’m afraid that Marinette’s not feeling well, so game night’s been cancelled,” Sabine informed him awkwardly, visibly warring with her dual instincts to be a good host and to get him to leave as soon as possible so that Marinette never had to know that he’d been there.

“Yeah, I let him know,” Tom explained. “I said he could come hang out with us, if he didn’t mind the company of old folks.”

He turned back to Adrien. “Have you eaten yet? You should join us for dinner.”

Adrien looked back and forth between Sabine’s pained expression and Tom’s eager one. “Oh. I…uh—”

“—I don’t think that’s such a good idea,” Sabine interrupted urgently. “With Marinette being sick and everything.”

Tom turned to his wife, confusion carving deep trenches into his brow. “Yes, but, Sabine—”

“—I’m sorry, Adrien, but could I please speak with my husband privately for a minute?” Sabine cast Adrien a pleading smile that was a muddled jumble of embarrassment, guilt, and pity.

Reading the atmosphere, Adrien politely bowed out. “Yes, of course. I’ll just step out into the hall.”

He didn’t mean to eavesdrop as Tom and Sabine held their conversation in whispers. His hearing was just uncannily good nowadays since taking up the mantle of Chat Noir.

“What was that about?” Tom demanded, voice dripping hurt and indignance.

“Tom, we can’t have Adrien over right now,” Sabine whispered regretfully, sounding like she really was sorry to turn Adrien away. “Marinette’s mad at him because he started dating Lila Rossi today.”

Tom let out an incredulous snort. “Oh, come on. It’s probably just a publicity stunt that that rotten excuse for a man who calls himself his father is making him do.”

Adrien winced, a ferocious wave of shame crashing down on him at the fact that Tom thought so poorly of Adrien’s father. Adrien knew that Gabriel didn’t always get passing marks in the father of the year competition, but it hurt to know that things were bad enough that even other people could tell that Adrien didn’t have a good home life.

“Adrien doesn’t have feelings for Lila,” Tom continued, oblivious to Adrien’s pain. “He’s over the moon for our Marinette. If she ever asked him out, he’d die of happiness.”

The pallor of Adrien’s face was quickly replaced by a rampant blush. Apparently, Adrien was completely transparent.

Sabine held up her hands, shaking her head. “You know how Marinette feels about Lila. She feels like Adrien’s betrayed her, and she won’t listen to reason, so we can’t have him over until Marinette cools off a little. We need to be on her side in this.”

Adrien’s heart dropped down into his stomach to be corroded away by acid.

He didn’t know what he’d been thinking coming there, and now he was regretting it immensely.

“So, what are we supposed to do?” Tom challenged. “Just send Adrien away? Back to that empty mansion where they keep him prisoner so he can sit around alone until they let him out for school or work?”

“Tom…” Sabine sighed. “I know. I get it. My heart breaks for him too, but…whose parents are we?”

Chastened, Tom’s gaze dropped to the floor.

“I know,” he muttered wearily. “I know you’re right. It’s just…I’m not convinced he has a single person in this world in his corner, Sabine.”

Adrien’s heart cracked.

It felt like his ears were bleeding, and his skin burned.

“Didn’t you just tell me that plenty of people cared about me?” he thought bitterly and then, more sullenly, “It serves me right for listening in.”

Plagg stirred, yanking Adrien out of his dark thoughts.

Without a word, the kwami gave Adrien a look so full of love and support and compassion.

Plagg floated up to nuzzle Adrien’s cheek, and Adrien nuzzled back.

“Thanks,” he whispered, on the edge of tears. “I may not have any people in my corner, but at least I’ve got you, and that’s even better than people, right?”

“You’d better believe it,” Plagg snorted fiercely.

Back in the apartment, Tom kept going: “There’s no one looking out for him, and I just think of when I was young and my mother went away for years at a time and my father stopped talking to me… If I hadn’t had you, Sabine…”

Tom shook his head sadly, and Sabine went over to him, resting supportive hands on his arm and chest.

“I know,” she cooed, patting his arm comfortingly. “I feel for him too. It’s not like we can’t ever be there for him, Tom. Just not right now. We need to focus on Marinette at the moment, and, once things settle down, we can go back to trying to support Adrien. Okay?”

It was quiet for a stretch, and then Tom nodded, heaving a grave sigh. “…Okay. But what are we going to tell him?”

“I will tell him that we’re very sorry, but you didn’t realize how sick Marinette is because you were busy with the bakery when she came home,” Sabine volunteered. “Since she needs her rest, it wouldn’t be a good idea to have people over to play video games right now. I’ll let him know he’s more than welcome to come back some other day once Marinette is feeling better.”

“Okay,” Tom sighed again, raking a hand through his hair. “Tell him I’m really sorry.”

“I will,” Sabine promised.

“And can we at least send him home with some pastries?” Tom pressed, his voice leaking guilt.

“Of course!” Sabine assured, clicking her tongue. “They don’t feed that poor boy enough.”

Adrien quietly slipped away, descending the staircases quickly on cat’s feet. He couldn’t bear to face them. He didn’t think he could get through it without breaking down in tears of shame, so he snuck out of the bakery, locking the side door behind him.

As he executed his escape, he formulated a plan: go to the park next to the bakery and wait there until a suitable amount of time had passed so that he could call Victor to pick him up without having to admit to being kicked out.

The plan didn’t have a very long shelf life.

As he crossed the street to the park, he happened to look back and spotted Marinette up on her balcony, leaning dejectedly on the railing, fiddling with a rose she’d likely clipped from her flowerbox.

He stood there for an eternal moment, just taking in the sight of her, backlit by the nascent moon.

She sighed heavily enough to make her shoulders lift and drop with the force of it, and then her gaze meandered his way.

She gave a little jolt and straightened up in her surprise when she spotted him.

He lifted a hand in tentative greeting, hoping he didn’t spook her.

She huffed and tossed her head, seemingly offended by the gesture.

She dropped the rose, letting it plummet four stories to the dusty Paris street, and turned on her heel, disappearing back down into her room.

He whipped out his phone and hastily typed, “I can explain”, mentally pleading for mercy.

He waited a few seconds, and, when there was no sign of a reply, he added, “By which I mean that I have an explanation, and it’s a good explanation, but I’m not at liberty to share it with you at the moment.”

He pressed send and looked back up at the balcony, bouncing on the balls of his feet in agitated anticipation, holding his breath as he waited for a response.

Still more seconds ticked by without a reply, so he sent, “You’re just going to have to trust me on this one. Please” as he prayed for clemency.

Finally, three ellipsis points appeared on his screen, signaling that she was typing.

He sucked in a sharp breath, his heart fluttering around his ribcage, making him dizzy.

“leave me alone”

“i don’t want to hear your excuses”

“the last thing i need is to get akumatized and let Lila win so just leave me alone”

Adrien was positive that he looked absolutely crushed because he felt like he’d been gutted.

Shuffling his feet like a zombie, he made his way back across the street to scoop up the battered rose Marinette had dropped.

Cradling it carefully to his chest, he sighed, feeling hopeless.

“Don’t throw in the towel yet, Kid,” Plagg encouraged in a whisper from his hiding spot inside of Adrien’s left shoulder.

“What else can I do?” Adrien scoffed ruefully.

“Maybe not much as Adrien,” Plagg conceded, “but your sweetheart isn’t mad at Chat Noir, is she?”

An ember flickered back to life in Adrien’s eyes, and an impish grin rippled across his lips.

“No,” he chuckled. “She’s not, is she?”

#Adrinette #Adrienette #Marichat #Lady Noir #Miraculous Ladybug #Miraculous Ladybug Fanfiction #Adrien Agreste #Tom Dupain #Sabine Cheng #Plagg #Marinette Dupain-Cheng #Lila Rossi #Mikau's Writings #Betting Against the House

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dizzying-faust · 3 years

Text

I don’t mind the “found family” trope, but not if it means demonizing the character’s kindhearted canon parents into abusers to justify it. Especially worse when you give said kind traits to a person who canonically abused their kid.

#c's thoughts #ml fandom salt #because sadly i've seen aus where gabriel treats marinette well #and her parents are made into abusers #bonus if adrien get bashed as well #leave tom and sabine alone challenge

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alyasgf · 3 years

Text

Twin Chefs- Adrinette April Day 9 Baking Lessons

Previous || Next

Summary- Marinette teaching Adrien how to bake.

Excerpt-

Trying to lighten the mood, Adrien reached for the chocolate chips and opened them.

“Hey, do you wanna see a cool trick?” He asked with a mysterious gleam in his eyes.

He then grabbed a chocolate chip and threw it in the air.

Notes- Day 9 of Adrinette April! Exam season is burning me out a bit so this one may not be as good but this is me pushing through

This can be read on it’s own or a part two to my fic “It’s the Thought That Counts?”

AO3

Begin—————

Marinette heard the bell above the door ring and immediately bolted through the door and into the bakery.

Again, it was just a customer.

“Honey if you’re going to run in here every time someone walks in maybe you should help out at the register.” Sabine said with a small laugh. “Of course it’s not like I wouldn’t let you know the minute Adrien walked in.”

“Sorry mom.” Marinette blushed. “He’s just supposed to show up any minute now so I’m a little jumpy.”

Marinette could hardly focus on anything all day. Adrien had texted her the previous night to ask if he could come over for a baking lesson and her parents were leaving for a date around the same time. Meaning it would just be them two. All alone. Together.

“Why don’t you busy yourself by going to see if your father is ready for our date?” She suggested.

Marinette groaned but did as she was told. Her dad followed her back down from the apartment to the bakery, and there she finally saw Adrien.

He sat with Sabine at the table eating a croissant. He laughed as Sabine had made a comment, and Marinette’s heart fluttered.

Then Adrien’s eyes caught hers and she froze.

“Hey Marinette!” He said brightly. “I’m really excited to learn how to make cookies with you today.”

He stood up and walked over to her and her father.

“Hi Mr. Dupain Cheng, its good to see you.”

He put his hand out to Tom and he shook it lightly. He turned to put his hand out to Marinette.

The thought of her hand touching his sent a wave of anxiety through her body.

“Well I guess you guys better get going!” She jumped towards her father and nudged him towards the door as her mother followed. “We’ll make sure everything’s cleaned before you get back, have fun, bye!” She closed the door behind them and leaned back on it with a sigh.

“So you ready Mari?” Adrien asked, leaning slightly to the side trying to get her attention.

“Right right yeah definitely!” She said a little too loudly and walked up the stairs toward the kitchen.

A little confused, Adrien stopped for a moment before shrugging and following behind her.

In the kitchen all the ingredients were laid out on the counter neatly.

“Okay so first you uh...” Marinette’s mind went blank. The easiest thing to bake and in the presence of this boy she completely forgot.

“Mari, are you ok?” Adrien asked, putting a hand on her shoulder.

This made her immediately yelp and jump back.

“Yeah I’m fine, perfectly fine.” She replied walking over to the ingredients. “We need to put all the dry ingredients together first.”

Trying to lighten the mood, Adrien reached for the chocolate chips and opened them.

“Hey, do you wanna see a cool trick?” He asked with a mysterious gleam in his eyes.

He then grabbed a chocolate chip and through it in the air. He tried to catch it in his mouth, but instead he leaned too far back and fell right onto his behind.

The chocolate chip fell right beside him.

There was a beat of silence before it was broken by Marinette’s uncontrollable laughter. Adrien blushed while still on the floor, but he was happy to have broken the ice.

Marinette put her hands on the counter in an attempt to steady herself, tears in her eyes. Once she calmed down she turned to the blonde boy.

“Sorry for laughing.” She said, eyes still light and noticing how red Adrien was. She put her hand out to help him up.

“Let’s see you do it then.” He took her hand and gave a challenging smirk.

Marinette promptly threw a chocolate chip in the air and caught it effortlessly. Looks like Ladybug’s hand eye coordination finally rubbed off on her.

“Y’know Adrien” Marinette began, “We do have an extra bag of chocolate chips. Want a challenge? Whoever loses has to clean up the most mess.”

“Deal.” Adrien responded. He grabbed the bag and walked into the bakery. “I take it we’ll come back to the baking later?”

“Shouldn’t take too long to beat you.” She said smiling and following behind him.

———————————

It took almost 20 minutes, and due to some unfortunate distraction, Marinette lost by one.

On the last round as they were tied up, Marinette couldn’t help but notice how free and happy he looked. Then as he counted down from three, Marinette got distracted by his lips.

“No fair it was only one point!” She groaned.

“Nope rules are rules.” He smirked. “I’ll warn you now, I’m a very messy cook.”

“If the brownies you gave me are anything to go by, I’d say you aren’t any kind of cook.”

“Hey! That’s what I’m here for. Besides you said they were fine.” He protested.

“You were making a puppy face what was I supposed to say?” She said with a poorly hidden blush. “C’mon we’re here to bake!”

She then promptly stood up and rushed into the kitchen. Adrien followed.

“Come open the flour I think I forgot to take out the sugar, I’ll be right back.” She left the room to look in the back for the sugar.

She was just reaching for it when she heard a very familiar ripping noise and a yelp.

“Adrien? What just happened?” She asked, dreading the answer.

“Uh... would you believe me if I said nothing?”

Marinette grabbed the sugar and walked swiftly into the other room. Just as she thought, the worst had occurred.

There was flour everywhere. Adrien had pulled the sides of the bag too hard while opening it, and it had ripped straight down the middle. There in the center of the chaos was a flour covered Adrien Agreste.

“Oops?” Adrien smiled at her sheepishly.

She sighed and returned the smile.

“Just because I lost doesn’t mean you have to make the mess I have to clean even bigger y’know.”

She turned and grabbed a rag for Adrien.

“We didn’t even get an apron on you!” She laughed and handed him the rag. “There’s not much of a point to give you one now is there?”

“No, but maybe you should’ve gotten yourself one.” Adrien said mischievously. Before Marinette could realize what he said, he laid a flour covered hand on her shoulder.

She gasped. “Adrien! You’ve already wasted our ingredients and now your ruining my clothes!”

“We have to be in the same boat! There’s no hard feelings.” He cupped some of the loose powder in his hand and blew it into her unamused face. “There, even.”

——————————-

After they managed to acquire more flour, the rest of the baking went off without a hitch. For the most part.

Adrien managed to drop an egg, Marinette forgot to put the stand mixer on a low setting when Adrien absent mindedly touched her hand with his own, and about a third of the cookie dough was eaten before it made it into the oven.

“I just can’t believe you’ve never had raw cookie dough before!”

“I hardly ever have cookies the moment just never came up.”

Marinette was now cleaning the flour, oil and other ingredienttts off the counters and floors. Adrien sat criss crossed on a stool not too far. She might’ve complained about the lack fo help if he didn’t look so adorable. Sitting like that with a handful of cookie dough in his hand, he looked so carefree and childlike.

Still she couldn’t help but tease. “You too good for cleaning Agreste?”

“Last I checked I didn’t lose a challenge Dupain Cheng.” He laughed with a bit of dough in his mouth.

“Well you can help by collecting the dishes into the sink while I put away the ingredients.” She said finishing cleaning up the last of the counters. Adrien’s clothes were still covered in flour and Marinette still had some in her hair and on her face.

“Wait, I want to do something first.” Adrien hopped off the stool, finishing up the last of the dough. He walked over and pulled out his phone. “Picture?”

Marinette nodded and he put his arm around her shoulders. She shivered.

“Say cheese!”

Marinette snuck a quick glance at the boy before smiling. He had a soft look in his eyes and a genuine smile. Nothing like the magazine spreads, that’s for sure.

—————————

After they finished cleaning, Marinette took the cookies out to cool.

“How long do we have to sit here waiting for them?” Adrien asked impatiently while staring at them intently, as if watching them would allow time to pass by faster.

“Just 5 more minutes I think you’ll live.” Marinette giggled. “Tell you what, once they’re done we can grab some milk, head upstairs, and play Ultimate Mecha Strike.”

His eyes lit up yet again with that childlike excitement.

Just then her parents walked in.

Adrien and Marinette turned to see Tom and Sabine with surprised looks on their faces.

“Marinette did you spill flour on your guest?” Sabine asked concerned.

————————

After explaining everything to her parents, Marinette grabbed the cookies and pulled Adrien along to escape with her. They picked up some milk and the apartment and climbed the ladder to her room.

“What time are you supposed to leave?” Marinette asked, pulling herself into her room and taking the milk and cookies from Adrien so he could do the same.

“In about 30 minutes, so we’d better make good use of our time. Specifically by eating those cookies. If the dough is anything to go by, these are going to taste amazing.”

“Well next time you come we can make some macaroons.” She suggested, hoping there’d be a next time.

“Sounds good. Now lets hurry io and eat these, the anticipation is killing me.”

They both laughed and picked up a cookie. They took large bites before sighing.

“So much better than the brownies.” Marinette said with a mouth full of cookie.

“I’d be offended, but I tried them too so I’ll definitely agree. My baking doesn’t even hold a candle to yours.” Adrien took a gulp of milk to wash down the cookie.

“Hey we made this together.” Marinette nudged his shoulder. “This is our baking Adrien, and I think it tastes amazing.”

For the next half hour Marinette kicked Adrien’s butt at Ultimate Mecha Strike as they stuffed themselves with cookies and milk.

When his driver finally arrived, Marinette walked him down.

“Here.” She said while handing him a tupperware. “Think of it as me returning the favor.”

Adrien opened it and was met with the sweet aroma of the cookies.

“Thank you Marinette! Today was amazing I’m glad you invited me. I can’t wait until we make the Macaroons!” He gave her a tight hug before climbing into his car with a wave.

“I can’t either.” Marinette whispered to herself in a lovesick daze.

@adrinetteapril

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mc-lukanette · 4 years

Text

42 Lukanette Thoughts

Marinette waiting until Luka’s birthday to give him a response to his confession. He’s absolutely “offended” and she’s just grinning at him.

Luka not being able to swim despite living on a boat. Bonus if Marinette invites him and Juleka out to the swimming pool one day and the absolute love-struck dork finds himself unable to say “no” to her. Juleka thinks it’s hilarious that he can’t just admit to Marinette that he can’t swim, so she has a blast constantly making everything worse, like telling Marinette that Luka doesn’t have a swimsuit so Marinette’ll end up making one for him.

Marinette thinking about the whole “LadyNoir” situation while she’s sketching in her notebook. She finds that she doesn’t even like the way her name meshes with Chat’s. One thought leads to another and she - while not even thinking - ends up writing “Lukanette” in her sketchbook. Cut to her hanging out with Luka later and showing him the designs she came up with that day, meaning that Luka ends up seeing “Lukanette” so casually written in her sketchbook.

Luka Knows™️ but also has to hide it because he can’t have Marinette thinking that he’s crushing on Ladybug. This eventually leads to him telling Ladybug that she can come to him at any time, which leads to nights of Ladybug giving him the snake so he can go on patrol with her. He’s not ready for her lowkey flirting and has to keep reminding himself that he’s not supposed to react since she doesn’t know that he Knows™️.

AU where Kitty Section never became a thing, but it turns out that Marinette’s good at writing lyrics. She actually ends up singing along to a song that Luka never had lyrics for and that’s how she becomes his lyricist.

A concept: switching around “Frozer” and “Captain Hardrock,” meaning that, when Luka goes to comfort this “stranger” walking onto deck, he might not even hear about the ice rink. If he does, they’re not close enough for her to ask him to come with her but he offers her some quick ice skating lessons before the “third-wheeling date.” If he doesn’t and thus gives Marinette no lessons, Adrimi ends up happening due to Marinette staying mostly off the ice due to clumsiness and constantly feeling bad over seeing Adrien and Kagami there, which leads into “Captain Hardrock” where she meets Luka again without any sort of Adrien influence (outside of her getting over him).

Marinette always being made fun of and called “funny” due to her clumsiness when she was little. Likewise, Luka was always considered too “soft” so he began to see it as an insult. Once they’re older, they end up calling each other “funny”/“soft” and suddenly find that it hits very different when it’s THEM saying it to each other because they can tell that there’s no maliciousness there.

Post-reveal friendly shenanigans where Luka is somewhere, idling on his phone, when a flash of red and black swoops down and snatches it out of his hand. He looks around, confused, then manages to catch the sight of Ladybug this time as she swoops back the other way and hands his phone back. He sees that she took a picture of herself winking + sticking her tongue out with his phone and now he can’t stop grinning stupidly to himself.

Marinette waking up after a stressful/exhausting day, then seeing the time and frantically calling Luka, worried that she’d missed an event or something. There’s a light chuckle on the other line as Luka reminds her that it’s Sunday and nothing’s going on so she should get back to sleep.

Post-Guardian Marinette things where Luka is her confidant who she told about her guardian status. Marinette occasionally lets the kwami free whenever she knows that Tom and Sabine won’t come up to disturb them, but it leads to a “problem” of sorts. Pollen, of course, calls Marinette her “queen,” but now that Luka is there also, Pollen calls him her “king” and Marinette and Luka are collectively dying.

Silly thing: snakes of all kinds being attached to Marinette. She’ll go to pet stores and they’ll boop their noses against the glass, wanting her attention. Luka feels unnecessarily smug post-dating because he’s her snake and no one else is.

Luka Knows™️ and finds a way for Marinette to vent about her Ladybug duties without her having to tell him her identity, like mentioning things that happened with Ladybug that day and giving her an opening to talk about them, if only from a faux-outsider’s perspective.

Luka having a terrible day, to the point where he’s legitimately worried about being akumatized. He decides to call Marinette as an akuma starts flying past the window, and just hearing Marinette’s voice alone fills Luka with such positive energy that the akuma is immediately repelled like wow ok i’m out. He watches the akuma leave with a smile and whispers, ”You’re amazing, Marinette.” “W-what?? Did you call just to tell me that?” “No, but it’s true.”

Marinette decides that she wants a challenge and asks Luka if she can make a full guitar for him. He knows he’d be stupid not to agree, but then Marinette shyly adds a condition: he has to name the guitar after her. Luka has no idea how to explain to her that he’s already named a guitar after her so she might have to settle for her guitar being “Marinette 2.”

Luka Knowing™️ and it makes him legitimately upset at how much stress and responsibility has been placed on her. He ends up getting akumatized so he can take her earrings, not to bring them to Hawk Moth, but to “save” her.

Viperion in a particularly tough akuma-related battle. Ladybug legitimately doesn’t know if they’re going to make it out okay, so she ends up finding a moment to confess to him. Cut to later when he ends up having to go back with Second Chance, erasing the moment from time, and apparently he’s just supposed to focus and pretend like he’s okay and he is SO getting her back when this fight is over.

Marinette being afraid to confess to Luka directly, so she’s constantly dropping hints that she likes him and Luka is picking up on none of them because he’s convinced that she still likes Adrien. The rest of Kitty Section is constantly getting on his case for not pursuing Marinette and he’s just like, “But she likes Adrien?” while having like 3984723748234 texts from Marinette just from that day alone.

Marinette deciding to use her Instagram to ramble, leading her to post some pictures of Luka and talk about how nice/sweet/handsome he is because surely he doesn’t follow her account so it’ll be fine (spoiler alert: he follows her account very much and Juleka makes a game out of trying to catch his reaction every time Marinette posts about him).

Post-dating, Marinette insisting to Luka that she “doesn’t want to mess up their first kiss,” and therefore they have to practice kissing each other first, apparently missing the point that it won’t be their first kiss if they’ve kissed each other before. Luka tries to explain the fault in logic but she’s not backing down and, really, who is he to refuse if she wants to kiss him a bunch?

Adulthood Lukanette “cruelty” on Marinette’s part where she decides that she wants to propose to Luka and puts the box with the wedding ring inside one of his guitars with the excuse that she was replacing the strings for him, then leaving Luka to realize what she did later.

Juleka asking Marinette who her favorite hero is because she was getting into a debate with Luka about it and they couldn’t agree. Marinette shyly peeks up because Luka is right there, but nonetheless admits that her favorite is Viperion.

Marinette visiting the Liberty and noticing Luka not playing his guitar and just staring off into space, a soft, loving look on his face. She asks Juleka about it, who casually brushes it off as, “Oh, he always does that when he’s thinking of you.” “When he’s thinking of WHO now????”

Post-dating in which Marinette freaks out over even the smallest contact with Luka just because she’s on a happy emotional high. (”You wanna hold hands??? Like--my hand??? Holding yours??? And our fingers will be intertwining and everything?? And we--stop laughing, Luka, these are important questions!!!”) Bonus if what gets her to take a huge step forward and just passionately kiss Luka is someone mocking their relationship and her proving them otherwise thusly.

Marinette gets a pet snake, names it “Viperion,” and happily uses it as an opportunity to gush about Viperion the second Luka questions why she chose a snake as a pet.

Marinette complains sometimes about Luka being “too tall” but really, it’s perfect for hugs, so-- (even if she still pouts about the fact that she can’t kiss him simply by being on her tip-toes).

Lowkey headcanon that Juleka and Rose purposefully set Marinette up with Luka since they’re like, “Luka’s missing!” in “Captain Hardrock” when Luka is in his room that Juleka shares with him and it would’ve been the first place to go look for him.

Luka being so used to messes and just leaving them alone thanks to living on the Liberty for so long and being around his mother. It’s a really hard habit to break when he starts living with Marinette and he’s extremely apologetic about it.

Luka posting a lot about Marinette/him and Marinette on Instagram and Marinette “fighting back” (bonus if she doesn’t do it intentionally) with posts about Luka/her and Luka/Kitty Section.

Why limit oneself to balcony scenes when you can have houseboat scenes too???

Marinette being offended by any polls where Ladybug wins over Viperion except Luka is offended by her opinion and it’s just them going back and forth about why Ladybug/Viperion should be more popular.

Tikki agreeing with Master Fu that Marinette and Adrien are “made for each other” but being a closet Lukanette fan in secret. That tiny Kitty Section shirt that Marinette made on Instagram is hers.

Pre-”Captain Hardrock,” Luka thinking he’s subtle asking for details about “the girl who broke his sister’s photo curse.” He’s not.

Marinette taking a music class and of course she asks Luka to help with things that she doesn’t understand. Bonus if she’s so into trying to learn that she doesn’t notice when she’s making him blush, like her casually sitting on his lap and asking him to physically instruct her on where her hands should be.

Post-dating, Marinette “bribing” Luka to do things using kisses. Bold of her to assume he wouldn’t have done it anyway, though he won’t say “no” to kisses either.

Marinette, being carried/protected by Viperion, knowing that she needs to leave to transform but also he’s very warm and nice so maybe just a little longer, this akuma isn’t that dangerous/disruptive anyway. (Viperion may also be indulging himself too but she’ll never know.)

“It's amazing how you can be so composed all the time, Luka! It feels like it's impossible to know what you're thinking!“ “Really? But I just think about you all the time, Marinette.“ “*DOESN’T KNOW WHETHER TO BE FLUSTERED OR OFFENDED BECAUSE HOW DARE--*”

Whenever Marinette does that thing where she closes her eyes and raises her head proudly... I feel like Luka gets the sudden urge to either kiss her or cup her cheeks.

Marinette and Luka having “silence challenges” in adulthood where they give each other affection and the first one to make a noise loses. The challenge never lasts long.

I just presume that Luka has sixth senses that go off the second Marinette is completely over Adrien.

Post-reveal and post-dating where Luka expresses concern to Marinette about the whole “destiny” nonsense with Adrien being Chat Noir and Marinette lets Luka know how she feels about that by showering Luka with lots of kisses.

Luka not realizing what he said to Marinette in “Silencer” until he goes home and Juleka asks him what they’d been talking about. His face turns progressively redder as he makes the realization.

Post-dating, Marinette not being used to the abundance of affection that Luka’s going to give her due to how many times she failed with Adrien.

#type: thoughts #Flower Arrangement Shipping #type: prompt set #((Not really but I could see people viewing it as one.))#Pro LukaMari #Lukanette

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scribble-blog · 4 years

Text

Changeling Fae AU? Changeling Fae AU.

I feel like I start every post with an apology so I won’t do that but I mean to update!! And then I don’t or I can’t write and it all sucks!! But have 3000 words of something brand new instead!!!!

Her parents had been bakers; blessed with a babe after years of believing themselves barren. Sabine had wept to hold her child at last in her arms, and Tom had brought their whole village to celebrate her birth with his wonderful sweets.

Of course, they had named her Marinette. One who rises. They had no intentions of guiding her towards higher connections, the way some thought they might when they glimpsed the child; surely, between her beauty and kind disposition, Tom and Sabine could marry her to some lesser title, and leave their child in comfort for the rest of her life.

But as the child grew older, whispers surrounded her. People wondered about her seemingly small stature, her odd grace paired with her clumsy movements, the way she could inspire and move you with words and then flail and mumble after.

“Fae child,” people started whispering.

“Changeling.”

Tom and Sabine didn’t let it move them. Their daughter was theirs, oddities and eccentricities and all. For her clumsiness, she could sew and mend with more skill than the tailor two streets over. For her size, she was able to learn the trade of the bakery and helped her parents every morning as a good child should.

And if some mornings, Sabine woke to find the kitchen just cleaner, the bread rising just better, the smells just more aromatic, she had no problem setting out a small bowl of milk, tucked behind counters, for whatever creature was slipping in to check on her daughter and helping them on their way out.

After all, Sabine had been small and awkward and graceful and different once too.

It is on the cusp of Marinette’s twelfth birthday that Tom stumbles down in the morning, ready to start the bread for the day, and finds the being sitting there.

In the dark of the morning, lit only by the fire in their hearth, the woman glows. She has the same short stature as his girl, the same bright blue eyes that she had not gotten from either himself or his wife.

“I owe you a boon, Thomas Dupain,” the Faerie says, sitting on his counter and swinging her legs slightly, oddly child-like. “You and your wife, Sabine Cheng. For raising-“ her voices rises and falls melodically for a moment. It almost sounds like Marinette. It almost sounds like the crackle of the fresh baked bread. It almost sounds like the rustle of cloth as his daughter sews. It almost sounds like she has said ladybug.

Such a small thing, to bring luck and joy.

“You have done so well with her,” the faerie says. “And so compassionate, has she become. The kindness displayed by your wife to my lesser subjects also cannot go unrewarded.”

Tom swallows, then bows his head. “You are here to take her, then?”

The creature regards him. “Call me Tikki, Tom Dupain,” she says. She makes the sound again, this time rushing waters and warm sunshine and Marinette and ladybug, “must join me. I cannot tell you what will happen when she does.”

“My boon,” he says, reckless to the face of this powerful being, in the knowledge that it is his child she is here for. “My boon. You must not let today be the last I see of my girl. The last time I hold her. If only for a day, an hour, a minute- you must return her to me.”

Tikki tilts her head, smile dazzling. “A good man, you certainly are. A good parent, without doubt. I can grant you this boon. And as your reward- nothing will replace your Marinette, of course. But a new pair of hands to help in your bakery. Expect her soon.”

Tom nods; there are more rules then sense about dealing with the Fair Folk and he’s certain he’s already broken some. What else can he say without angering her? What else can he do without causing unintentional offense? “Would you like breakfast?” He says instead of heeding his thoughts.

“No,” she laughs, a tinkling glass bell like the chirping of birds. “I shall return for her at high noon.”

Tom nods, throat tight. He starts the bread and he goes through his morning until daylight starts to peek into the windows, and then he sighs and puts the last loaf in the oven, and he goes to wake his daughter and wife.

Marinette stands in the kitchen, hands clasped tightly, staring into the embers of the fire. She wears her best dress, with the pink trim, and she does not have tears in her eyes as she looks at her parents. Anything to say had been said; anything left over was just going to hurt more. She had a small bag, slung over her shoulder, with paltry things her parents hoped might help.

Tikki sat before her, perched on the counter. The flimsy sheer overlay of her clothing was resting in the flour.

“Marinette,” Tikki says to her, but it’s not just her name. It’s something deeper that echoes in her heart. “I’ve come for you.”

“I thought something might eventually,” she laughs nervously.

Tikki extended a hand. Marinette reached for it, hesitating before the contact.

Tikki smiled gently and took her fingers. “This isn’t a bad thing, Marinette. Just a change.”

Marinette tightened her grip. “I’m ready.” She gave her parents one last look, trying to burn their faces into her mind.

“Then come, Marinette, of the Orders of Creation and Luck. Come and claim your birthright as my heir.”

Marinette did not expect this much walking. “Is it... is it far?”

The town was hours behind them. Marinette’s nicest dress was ragged at the hem, snatched with brambles and in one spot, torn by a branch that had wanted blood. She hefted her small pack higher on her shoulders, waiting for the Fae to break the silence.

“It is less about the distance,” Tikki told her, “and more about the time and your intentions. Anyone could walk this road into these woods and continue happily onto whichever small village next offers a meal- but to walk it in the hours before dusk, with the intent to find home, with myself at your side-“

Tikki stopped. The tree ahead of her was worn and old and stooped, but still vibrant in its flowers and leaves. Tikki traced the whorls along the bark, watching them glow with an internal light.

“We still have hours til dusk,” she said. “Come.”

Marinette rubbed her eyes.

Tikki had been just before her. She knew it, had heard the small footsteps and the cheery whistle and then she had turned a bend and Marinette was alone.

“Tikki?” She called out. “Hello, Tikki?”

The woods were green and ethereal around her, the warm light of evening streaming through the foliage and dying everything alive and almost thrumming with energy. She kept walking forward, waiting for the path to turn against and she’d see the Fae ahead, waiting with a raised brow and a small smile. Marinette broke into a run.

“Tikki??!” She called again. The road ahead of her seemed endless, and it changed as her heart beat faster, until everything had focused into the tunnel of branches and roots she sprinted through. “Tikki!!!”

She came to a rough halt, stumbling over a root as the road diverged. She caught herself on the tree, not quite tumbling.

“So you’re a changeling as well?” The voice was cool, and dismissive, and challenging all at once. Marinette tensed, meeting the eyes of the stranger.

“I know you,” she said instead of any of the instant rebuttals she can think of.

And she does. Leaning up against the tree that marks the split path is the Bourgeois daughter; she’d fixed one of her dresses once, and her parents were often entreated to come and work for them. Marinette had never actually spoken to her though.

“One would hope.” The girl flips her hair, and Marinette takes a second to actually take her in. She isn’t wearing a dress like Marinette, or anything remotely expected. Instead she’s dressed in pants and layered shirts, a cloak over her arms and a pack on her shoulders. “I am Chloé Bourgeois, after all.”

“I’m Marinette,” Marinette offers. “Marinette Dupain-Cheng.”

“Did I ask?”

The girl was getting on Marinette’s nerves. “Did you see anyone else come through this way? I’m looking for-“

“A Fae.” Chloé shrugged. “I know what you’re looking for. It’s part of the whole trial.”

Marinette squared her shoulders. “If you’ve got something to say, say it. I’m trying to find someone.”

Chloé’s expression remained smugly disdainful. “The trial? You have to make your own way into the Other World in order to prove yourself as rightful heir. The Fae that led you here? Their gone. Face it. You’ve been abandoned to die in the woods. At least my Fae told me what was happening before dipping out.”

Her blood felt icy in her veins. “No. They wouldn’t.”

“They’re Fae,” Chloé said coolly. “They lured us out here with promises of being special of whatever and then left us for fun.”

“No.” Marinette closed her eyes, and then turned left. “Tikki said it was about intentions. Well, I don’t intend to die here. Come on.”

She grabbed Chloé’s arm and yanked, pleaded to see the blonde sprawl and lose her composure with a squawk.

“You little peasant, how DARE you! I’ll-“

“You’ll do what, Chloé? Call your Father’s guards?” Marinette laughed. “Come on. I’m not letting either of us die in here.”

Chloé looked around for any other choice and Marinette could see her face fall when none presented themselves. And then she hardened her expression. “I’m certainly not following around a dirty little baker’s daughter. I’m a Bourgois. I’ll find my own way.” She spun and started stomping down the other path.

Marinette eyed the path she’d chosen. It had felt right to turn left. She was sure when she chose it that it was the right way. And Chloé was being rude enough that Marinette would love to consider leaving her.

But she turned to the right. If it was intention, then she would make sure she and Chloé both made it. She had enough intention for anyone and everyone.

“Chloé!” She called, and Chloé actually did stop and wait for her. “I’ll follow you, if you don’t mind.”

“And why would you do that?” Chloé squinted suspiciously even as they started walking. “Well, obviously, because I’m right and everyone should follo-AEEEUgghh,” she squawked as she fell and groaned from the forest floor.

“I figure you’re a decent warning system for problematic roots,” Marinette grinned, holding her hand out.

Chloe grit her teeth and took it.

They walked in silence for a while, Marinette thinking and Chloé seemingly fuming.

“Is that the best dress you could muster for the occasion?” The girl finally spat. “One faerie prances up to your door and you pull out all the stops? I’ve got dresses that would make yours wrinkle with envy.”

“Where did you get those clothes?” Marinette finally voiced what she’d been thinking for a while. “It doesn’t seem like something you’d just have on hand, and they all look pretty ill-fitting-“

Chloé self consciously fixed the collar of her vest. “If you must know,” she sniffed, “my Father thought the Fae was full of shit. So I stole these from the washroom and I figured I’d find out myself.”

“And?” Marinette giggles.

“Yeah, this is pretty shitty still,” Chloé grimaces. “I’m- sorry. Pollen said I had to work on my temper.”

“It’s-“ Marinette stopped. It wasn’t okay, but she didn’t want to alienate the only companion she had. “I can understand, I guess. As long as you’re trying to be better.”

Marinette was getting the feeling now that she should have taken the other path. Not because of Chloé- just- it had felt right. And the longer they walked this one, the wronger it felt.

The trees seemed longer. Sharper.

“So Pollen was the Fae who came to get you?” Marinette asked. “Mine’s name was Tikki.”

“Don’t see how it matters.” Chloé pointed up. “Light’s starting to fade. It’s nearing dusk.”

“Then we need to go,” Marinette said.

Chloé sighed. “I suppose if we must.”

Marinette started walking faster when the light started turning pink. And then when it started losing the vibrant color, she started running, Chloé in her heels. She could almost feel it when the sun set, the last ray burning over the horizon as she stopped.

“That’s it, Dupain-Cheng.” Chloé dusted herself off. “I’ve known it since Pollen took off. We weren’t changelings, we weren’t special- just the next fun human toy to throw out in the woods.”

“You’re wrong,” Marinette spat, whirling around, suddenly furious as she tried desperately to suppress the fear climbing in her throat. “Tikki promised I’d see my father again!”

Chloé gave her a contemptuous look. “More fool you.”

“No!” Marinette stomped up to her. “It’s you, isn’t it! With your bratty attitude and your cynicism. Tikki said it was about intentions and you’ve been doing nothing but try to irritate me since I found you!”

“Oh, since you found me?” Chloé barked out laughter. “You were just as lost as I was! I was better off sitting there than walking even further into the Fae forest!”

“You’d still be sitting there without me!” Marinette shouted. “You’re ready to die just because you’re afraid you aren’t as special as people say you are! Well guess what! You aren’t special!”

“I could be!” Chloé yelled back. “I was going to be a Fae Queen and I was going to rule and then you and Mother and everyone would see it!”

Marinette stopped short of the next ugly thing she was ready to say, watching the tears bead up in Chloé’s eyes. “You don’t need to be special. Pollen didn’t want you because you’re Chloé Bourgeois and your special. Pollen just wanted Chloé Bourgeois.”

Chloé angrily wiped away the moisture. “I’m fucking special, fuck you.”

Marinette looked around again, the dim light starting to cast the shadows grey. And then she saw a tree, weathered like a worn brow upon the forest’s face.

She walked up to it and reached out her hand, watching the way it reacted, lights sparking beneath her fingers, beneath the bark.

“It’s about the intentions,” she murmured. For a moment she looked at Chloé.

“The light isn’t quite gone. You’ve got to try, Chloé.”

Chloé’s lips trembled, as of about to speak, but instead she just nodded, jerking her chin forward. Marinette took the first step, listening to Chloé behind her, concentrating on somewhere she’d never been.

And then there was a corner and she rounded it, and Tikki was there. Marinette rushed forward, throwing herself into the Fae’s arms.

“You made it, Marinette. My Ladybug.” Tikki caressed her cheek. “Welcome home.”

Marinette looked back first. “Where’s Chloé?”

“Subjection’s girl?” Tikki paused. “You’ll have opportunity to see her soon enough, I suppose.”

“Then she made it,” Marinette could feel the tension drain away from her.

“Come,” Tikki said, amused. “And I will show you your world.”

Marinette faced where Tikki gestured and gasped.

They were on some sort of balcony, framed in by the branches of the trees she had just exited. She could see the grounds below rolling out forever, hills and plains and farmlands and forests and small towns. Right below them sprawled a city, and she realized that she was standing on a tower, and looking around her, she saw the scope of the castle.

“This way,” Tikki said, leading her to one side and opening up a vine covered door Marinette hadn’t realized was there until that moment. “The castle is, of course, yours. You must feel free to roam as you wish. Those who work here will serve you as they do me.”

“Huh?” Marinette felt dazed. The hallway progressed into a larger hall, into a larger one, until they stopped at a door.

“Your room, of course,” Tikki said, pushing the doors open. “You should find everything you might need here. In the morning, I shall have you escorted to breakfast, and then you will join me in my study. For now, I will send up food and drink. Rest well, dear one.”

Marinette took a step in and had to resist the urge to faint.

The room was spacious, with small corners carved out for what looked to be a study and a small sitting area. The bed dominated the room, with two doors leading out from either side.

She turned to Tikki, to protest, and found the Fae already gone.

She sat on the bed, finding it plusher than the bed at home, which had lumps, but she knew the lumps and she could sleep around them. She laid down, sinking in and trying not to cry at the sudden overwhelming wave of homesickness and exhaustion. The day had seemed so long, how could she have said goodbye that morning? How could she have been with Chloé, not half an hour ago?

Eventually she wiped away the tears that had sprung up and moved towards the sitting area. She imagined it to be for sharing secrets with the kind of close friends one might invite into your room, but she had never truly had anyone who didn’t whisper about her behind her back other than her parents. The chairs were soft too, in the plush way she was now coming to associate with this life.

The study held more interest. The bookshelf was already full and she let herself browse titles for a moment. The Miraculous and Children of the Miraculous caught her eye, as well as one that seemed untitled, but when she pulled it out she found a hand written journal in a language she didn’t know.

The desk was grand, but the drawers held other treasures. A set of needles, each finer alone than her parents could buy in a year. A small selection of fabrics. She clutched them to her chest and let out a muffled dry sob before composing herself.

The first door led to a bathroom and she gave it a perfunctory look over, sure that it would matter much more to her later. The final was a closet, and -

“Highness?” A small voice asked. Marinette’s eyes opened to see very wide hazel eyes, just in front of her.

She had fainted upon seeing the open closet, filled with clothing she could only ever have dreamed of.

The servant was a small girl, with mousy blonde hair and the widest eyes Marinette had ever seen. She was also carrying a covered platter which Marinette assumes would be her dinner.

“Let me take that,” she offered, hands reaching, but the girl stepped back.

“No, Highness,” the girl said, taken aback. “Simply direct me-“

Marinette blushed. “If you would set it on the desk then?”

The girl did so, and then curtsied. She held her pose, as Marinette watched, long enough that Marinette realized she was waiting for Marinette to dismiss her.

“Oh! Sorry, yes, thank you.”

The girl spun and walked briskly out, and Marinette groaned. That was a bungled first impression if there ever was one. The smell of the food beckoned and she gave the closet one last longing glance before lifting the lid.

Steaming rich stew, with warm bread and butter and honey. A glass of milk. Marinette sat down and ate it without thought, trying to settle her mind.

She went back to the closet when she’d finished. It would make sense to know her own wardrobe.

She proceeded to spend the next two hours attempting to try on dresses. It was rather difficult as several were clearly designed to be put on her by a second pair of hands but she managed.

In the end she found a soft linen shift on the bed and put that on, before crawling into the bed and closing her eyes. Sleep fell upon her immediately.

TAGLIST:

@ash-amg @vixen-uchiha @redscarlet95 @dramatic-squirrel @athena452 @novaloptr @bee-wrecker @constancetruggle @pr-y-sha

#maribat #changeling!marinette au #fanfic #this WILL be maribat im just #...not sure if it will be daminette yet.#might be chlonette tbh mari is giving off big crush energies in my rough drafts #but also im kinda. wanting it to be jasonette.#oh god. oh fuck.chlojasonette.#NO PROMISES #EVERYTHING IS IN THE AIR AND UNDETERMINED!!!!

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adragonhoardingstories · 4 years

Text

Of Blood and Bonds- Chapter 5

@mystery-5-5 @synnesstra @thesunanditsangel

@abrx2002 @clumsy-owl-4178 @daminett4life @zalladane

@heaven428 @unmaskedagain

@dawnwave16 @kris-pines04 @emeraldpuffguide @hypnosharkrebeldreamer

@weird-pale-blonde-person

@ravennightingaleandavatempus

@persephonebutkore

@be-happy-every-day-please @blue-peach14 @annabellabrookes

@jaynintodd @st0rmy-w1th1n @bluerosette23 @ladysblackcat @18-fandoms-unite-08

@vixen-uchiha @novicevoice @jessigurl-design @tinyterror333

@rebecarojas07 @sparkle9510 @magicalfirebird @mewwitch @shamefullove

@ravennightingaleandavatempus

@sassydepression @caffeinetheory

@reyna-avila-ramirez-alreanaldo

@krispydefendorpolice @mermaidofthelost @drarryismylife101 @ladybug-182 @northernbluetongue @i-like-fairytail-and-stuff @iloontjeboontje @mjisntme

Tag list for this is closed!

On that note, this book will contain swearing, mentions of rape and torture. I will try not be explicit but that's really relative. Read at your own risk. There will be warning before if I make a explicit scene so that you can skip it.

Anyways, I hope you enjoy and don't hunt me down for this.

Happy New Year

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

Another day she had needed to spend with the idiots in her class. Once again, she felt like cursing her parents.

Marinette was by all means done with Lycée, she was following University courses but after Tom and Sabine had disowned her in all but name, it's not like they knew that. Most of her old relations had no idea what she was up to and it suited her not seeing them ever again.

But despite everything, the Dupain-Chengs she didn't consider herself one anymore did to her, they still didn't want her to dishonour their family even more so they made an arrangement with her and her Lycée.

She had to at least show up for the exams and any school functions and they would leave her alone to do as she pleased instead of sending her to a boarding school and well with all her responsibilities, she never really had a choice.

Which brought her here - on the Gotham Field Trip. She really didn't know why they had even sent her here, they were only wasting their money and Sabine must have known that the chances of her meeting Bruce were high, especially since their activities were centered around Wayne Enterprises.

Today they were going to be assigned to one person they had to shadow all day - it was supposed to help them get some actual job experience.

Marinette was chosen to shadow the CEO - how surprising - and it just so happened that today was one of the rare days Bruce Wayne was in the company so she would have the pleasure of helping both him and Tim depending on who needed her most - yay her.

She was willing bet her future fashion empire that Bruce had orchestrated this in an attempt to get a chance to talk to her.

However she had to admire that one good thing come out of this - Lila Rossi got served.

Like she had mentioned it before, she didn't have anything to do with her past classmates except the bare minimum but it seemed even now the liar still felt threatened by her every time they met. And honestly, she couldn't care less except that wench was the reason her parents had turned against her and of course how could we forget the worse thing of all? That Lila Rossi was willingly working with Hawkmoth - a known terrorist.

So the jobs had been announced and Lila has started her usual act and name dropping and oh there must have been a mistake, Timothy told me that I would be chosen to work with him since I'm already used to helping him. That had received a sharp look from the one delegating and a simple comment about Miss Rossi you are to report to our legal team, they have something prepared especially for you. Seeing Lie-La pale and shut up so yeah that had been the highlight of her day.

But now, now she was most certainly going to be forced to speak to her father and she kind of wished that Lila had succeeded for once.

Just as the lady she had grown to like was about to show her the way, her father magically appeared not really, she had seen him hiding in the shadows for the last five minutes and offered to guide her himself.

As she predicted, he said nothing else, until they were in his office but once the doors were closed…

"Mari-" He started to speak but then the doors banged open and a haggard looking Tim Drake stumbled in.

"Nette, I heard I got you today. Thank fuck I didn't get one of the brats." He stumbled in on the couch, paying Bruce no mind and grinned at her. "Plus, I get sister bonding time so win-win for me."

Marinette looked from him to Bruce. "You have impeccable timing." She informed him. "So I'm going to make you coffee."

"You are an angel." He declared. "An absolute angel. Now I understand why Damian likes you so much."

Marinette laughed it off. "Damian likes me because I don't call him Demon Spawn Timbers."

"In my defense." He groaned. "He was a brat back then and now, well it's basically a nickname. Call it brother's privilege if you want. And he knows it."

Marinette smiled gently at him as she placed a cup of coffee in front of him and Bruce, and sat down drinking her own cup. "Does he know that?"

Tim blinked at her, a thoughtful expression taking place on his face.

It lasted until he tasted the coffee, then it was replaced by awe.

"This is so good, how is this so good, it's literally the same thing I drink everyday? Can you work for me permanently?"

She was amused and this conversation seemed to shock her father so it was a plus. "But Timmy, if I change my career how are you going to get your special MDC suits?"

That strangely made him go serious.

"About that, I needed to talk to you."

Marinette raised an eyebrow, this should be good.

"What would you think if Wayne Enterprises becomes the main sponsor for MDC?"

She leant back in her seat crossing her feet and took a long sip of her drink.

"Now why would I agree to that?"

Tim looked surprised while she was careful to keep her own face carefully blank but he recovered quick enough and seemed to thrive on the challenge.

Marinette could pinpoint the exact moment when he changed to his game face. "Why wouldn't you? This in the long term will benefit you especially when you decide to release your line or officially start your company."

"Who said anything about releasing a line? Right now I'm on a clientele only basis and the greatest thing about MDC right now is my anonymity. My business is flourishing and I'm on high demand, especially among celebrities so you can imagine the price I get for each of my works. Why would I want to change that?"

"While that is true, the novelty will eventually wash off. Your designs may be good enough for you to get some loyal customers but you won't be as you put it in high demand anymore. And I may have known you for only a while, but I doubt you haven't planned for the future."

Marinette could admit, she was a little impressed. "Also true, but I'm currently a millionaire and have more than enough money to launch a line by myself."

Tim opened his mouth to interrupt but she continues before he could.

"And yes, I do understand how accepting your offer will benefit me more but signing with you also means that will represent my brand and how can I - bearing my own interests in mind - accept knowing is publicly involved with Wayne Enterprises?"

He looked completely lost and Marinette was probably having more fun that she should with this. "I'm not sure I follow?"

"I mean that even if people don't outright state it, everyone knows that the Wayne finances and outfits the Gotham vigilantes."

"And your point is?" The poor boy was going to make her say it.

"Your costumes are a fashion disaster Timmy, an eyesore if not a horror?"

"They're not that bad!"

"Do not get me started on the first Robin's costume. Were you not in your right mind when you allowed it?" For the first time in the day, she spoke to Bruce.

"Wait, you know?" She shot Tim a questioning look. Why hadn't told him, she figured it out? The boy just shrugged and she sighed.

"It's not that difficult to figure out Bats. You and Mom literally met while you training in extreme martial arts and the way she described you doesn't match up with the idea the media has of you so I was already suspicious and then I met them and I saw them in costume, they have the same build and everything and their alibi was frankly terrible. Also the rate at which you take in kids matches with the appearance of each new Robin."

"When was the last time you got your IQ tested?" He demanded.

Marinette elected to ignore that comment in favour of finishing her conversation with Tim. "So?"

"So if I get everyone to agree to a costume redesign by you, you'll sign?"

"I get to re-design and remake all of your costumes as well as become the go to for the family for all your events."

"That's a lot of conditions."

She shrugged, a smile playing on her lips. "Those are my terms but if you'd like, you can consider the part about your costumes a favor to you sister so that she doesn't get a heart attack everytime she sees you suited up."

"I'll agree as long as you admit you're exaggerating."

Marinette gave him a deadpan look. "Have you ever seen the Red Hood helmet. I have nightmares about it."

He considered it. "Yeah okay that's fair. So should I start working on the papers?"

Marinette shook her head. "I'm going to rebrand once and for all once I'm 18 along with my face reveal."

"Rebrand, why?"

"Like you rightly pointed out two nights ago MDC stands for Marinette Dupain-Cheng. Well I don't want to be a Dupain-Cheng for longer than I have to. I'll be changing my name hence the rebranding."

"Would you consider Wayne?" Bruce asked softly. Marinette paused. She had been considering taking Master Fu's name actually. "I don't know B."

"I'll leave you two to talk." Tim said slowly getting up and she would have protested but she could not run from this forever and the Kwami pressing against her leg seemed to agree.

"Yeah just…" She took out her phone and send him a contact. "That's my lawyer, you can send her the papers to review. I'll talk to her about it."

Tim checked his phone and went slack jawed. "Elle Woods. Elle Woods is your lawyer." He threw his hands up in defeat. "I don't know why I'm still surprised at this point but I'm gonna ask, how did you get her to work for you?"

"She's one of my regulars. "

"Of course she is." Tim muttered. Marinette watched silently as he went to refill his cup of coffee but ended up taking the whole coffee machine with him and walked out of the door.

Marinette turned to Bruce. She was not looking forward to this but she sighed and got up. "I'm supposed to be working so give me something to do."

"I thought you agreed we need to talk Marinette."

"I never agreed to anything." She reminded him. "But yes we'll talk." She pointed a finger at him. "While I work. So, give me something to do."

"You need this to be on your terms." He noted.

"I know you've researched what happened. After having been stripped from my senses and having my will taken away from me, yes I do enjoy being in control." She dared him to say something. "So. Give. Me. Something. To. Do."

"You can arrange the paper on the desk. According to the project names, put it in alphabetical order with A being on top."

Marinette set to work without another word. Bruce took that as his cue to start speaking.

"You know about Batman. The year I stopped talking to you was when when I was assumed dead-"

"Then why?" She cut in sharply. "Did Alfred not even deign inform me that my father was dead? Or what about after you came back?"

He stayed silent.

"The truth B is that even before that you were speaking to me less and less. Your phone calls, rare as they were, were always so short I was never able to tell you what i wanted." She gave out a humorless laugh. "You know I used to be scared that you didn't want me. I mean why else would you keep me a secret from your other children? So I didn't complain because I didn't want to stop having the little time you even gave to me. Guess, I was right in the end."

"No." He stood up and came to stand in front of her. "Marinette sweetie, please believe me. I fell in love with you from the moment I saw you. I've never not wanted you but my lifestyle was always very dangerous but I never realised how much it really was until Jason died and then shortly after I returned Damian died. Every child of mine has been traumatized in some way by my enemies. I didn't want the same to happen to you. There are villains out there who know who I am. I got scared Marinette, distancing myself from you was me trying to protect you. I know - I know it doesn't excuse me not being there for you but you need to know I am so so sorry. Please let me make it up to you. "

Marinette felt the kwamis on her person press against her, offering their silent support.

"I'm willing to try." She said at last, finishing arranging the last of the documents. She looked up at him and could basically read the hope in his expression. "But you need to give me space. I'm not coming to live in Gotham nor am I going to defer to you. I've built my own life, you're not going to interfere with in. You can be in it but you don't get to try and change things."

"Okay, okay I can work with that."

"Then you've got yourself a deal." Marinette offered him her hand to shake and he did shake it but right after, he pulled her in a hug.

Bruce realized his mistake when Marinette stiffened up but she relaxed in his arms and she slowly, almost hesitantly clutched his shirt, like a small child holding their dad's shirt, trying to hide in his arms.

And a father's heart broke all over again.

#MLB X DC #maribat #platonic daminette #mentions of rape #torture #lila salt #adrien salt

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salty-fang · 4 years

Text

Loving you is hard

So, this idea spawned from a conversation with @iloveitwhen and I've just wanted to write it. So without further ado...

“I- Would you like to me out go? I mean me out you? I mean go out with me? On Sunday?” They’d been best friends for months after he’d saved her from Chloé and her posse, although not before she had been smeared in mud and had her spectacles smashed, lying askew. They had jeered at her, screaming ‘Piggy’, only relenting once Adrien charged out of the mansion, hurling himself in front of her. Chloé had turned and ran leaving Sabrina, Kim and Max in the forefront of his rage.

After he had delivered his lecture spectacularly, he ushered her inside, getting her a towel to dry the mud off. He’d given her a spare pair of clothes that used to belong to his older sister, Claire, before she had been adopted. Of course, his father had been slightly disappointed once he recognised who she was as he frequented the bakery quite a lot. He tried to belittle her calling her a ‘mere baker’s daughter’ which was personally a compliment. And, he chewed her out for interrupting an important meeting with THE Bruce Wayne- whoever that was. Adrien had been a gentleman and sneered in defiance at Gabriel’s discourtesy but she could see how white his fists were and how hard he had been biting his lip. And she could never have him get in trouble for her mistake so... she did what she knew best.

She cried. You see, she had inherited quite the set of pipes and her cries had made the pointless vases tremble as her wails caused the pictures to shake. She placed Adrien’s hand in her own grubby little ones before pulling him away into the first room she saw. Failing to notice Emilie’s small smirk at the chaos she invoked and failing to hear Adrien’s desperate pleas for her to stop. Tentatively, she opened the door, sighing in relief at the sight of the empty room. It was slightly breath taking but intimidating at the sheer size of the room but the presence she felt behind her and Adrien’s wide eyes plagued her.

“When you said you would be getting ready to spar, did you mean that? Or were you out gallivanting with some girl?” Yup, that was it. His voice commanded respect, leaving no room for argument. His face was stoic and he exuded confidence yet his demeanour was cool. He had the ability to blend into the shadows, which admittedly scared the socks off of her. And he was even colder than Chloe. But so was she. She had never been proud of it but it was there. It was just too hard to reign in once she exposed that side of her.

“Some girl, huh? It’s Marinette Dupain-Cheng to you. Talk to me when you’ve had a shower and you don’t look like you haven’t changed clothes in a year. You think just because your friends with Agreste I’ll be polite whilst you insult me? If you do, well congratulations because you’ve invented a new kind of stupid.” She could see Adrien wince out of the corner of her eyes, the look of appraisal in Damian's eye before he turned a frightful glare towards her with the top of his lips curled in a sneer as he scoffed.

“You think you can waltz in here and interrupt my meeting with Agreste because you think you better than me. Because newsflash, and I know all about them, you may be pretty than most child models but you’re still an arrogant deceitful brat, Marionette. So why don’t you go back and roll in the mud, Piggy.”

“Damian that’s enough,” pleaded Adrien, voice strained.

“Is it though? She hardly looks phased.” It wasn’t true, it had hurt more than she had thought it would and she felt each word pierce her heart, breaking her down.

“He’s right though Adrien.” She saw the shock on both faces as she trained her eyes on the ground before locking her eyes on Damian. “But at least I’m honest about it. And I know the reality is going to slap him so hard in the face once he finds out he isn’t as amazing as he thinks.” She gave Adrien a quick hug before turning to leave, grabbing her pink purse from the couch. She could feel her temper flare up as she walked away, knowing that she could have easily won the battle. She- a Dupain-Cheng- had run away from a challenge. The only reason she had lost was because she’d been in unfamiliar territory and she wanted to make a good impression on Adrien.

Adrien! He probably thought she was annoying. Or weird. Maybe both. Definitely both. He’d probably tell his parents how weird she was and get a restraining order placed on her. She’d never defeat Damian and Adrien would hate her. Her parents would probably disown her too. Oh no. She’d be a lonely cat woman living off scraps in some alleyway. Everyone would forget about her and Adrien would marry Chloe. Chloe! She had been in such a state that she hadn’t seen Emilie walking towards her, engrossed in her new script.

“Hngh. Sorry about that. Oh, you’re the girl who told my husband off. Ni-chickpea why are you crying? Aww, come over here princess.”

“I’m sorry for everything. Sorry about crashing into your home, sorry for being the rudest guest ever, sorry for interrupting your meeting, sorry for being ugly.”

“Did Adrien tell you that? No? Well, you’re beautiful inside and out, chick. Don’t cry because of some stupid boy who has no filter. Now, would you like to grab some ice cream with your auntie Em.

“No thanks. My aunt, Delphine, said no one likes girls who don’t have tiny waists. She told me that I’d be more pretty if I lost weight so I really shouldn’t. Or she might tell my father if I gain any.” And with that, she scrambled off her lap with a surprisingly agile leap and ran out of the mansion. Emilie hadn’t decided whether she’d like to launch Delphine into the sun or sock her across the face but she knew that she’d be having a few choice words with her. When she got in contact with her.

It really wasn’t a surprise when months later, Marinette, who had become a regular guest at their home arrived in a flood of tears, explaining how her aunt had booked her for a flight next week to go and live with Tom and Sabine, neither of which knew she’d existed until today. Obviously, Delphine had done it because of her conversation with Emilie and her selfish ideals. Tom and Sabine both had been reluctant, and that was putting it mildly, to take her in reaffirming the fact that they had wanted no children. Although, their empathy ultimately won as her sister told her she would put Marinette up for adoption or even leave her homeless, alone to fend for herself.

It had come as a surprise to both Damian and Marinette who had actually reconciled after getting off on the wrong foot, but it didn’t stop the occasional glares or the brusque and impatient nature of Damian. However, Marinette had been too blinded by her crush on the cinnamon roll for her to realise that his iciness hadn’t completely thawed. Sure, he could tolerate her but he didn’t necessarily like her. He just put up with her because she was acquainted with Agreste, which led to many many third wheeling situations like now.

“I- Would you like to me out go? I mean me out you? I mean go out with me? On Sunday?” He actually had the audacity to snicker at her being tongue tied but a small part of him wanted her to get rejected. He liked their dynamic as it was, there was no need to complicate it with stupid feelings. The atmosphere felt tense and awkward, both things he had no idea how to deal with so he waited on the doorsteps of the rose garden’s entrance, which was a terribly cliché place to confess. If he knew Agreste, Marinette would come running with tears streaming down her face in

5...4...3...2...

There she came, her steps thundering down the narrow pathway as leaves and thorns entangled themselves in her hair. And if he knew Dupain-Cheng, she’d tell him the reason behind her tears in

3...2...1...

“He rejected me. He called me Piggy. It’s alright if you say it but it hurt when he did, it hurt. Do you think he said no because I’m not pretty or skinny enough?” She whined, pounding her puny fists against his chest.

‘Damn it, why couldn’t it be Grayson? He was always more suited to dealing with emotions than I ever was.’ He awkwardly patted her hair, humming a tune his mother would sing to him before she disappeared. It always seemed to soothe him and even when he hated Drake, he’d begrudgingly admit that he calmed him down when he was being bratty but never catty.

‘That word is reserved exclusively for Selina.’ He shuddered at the thought of being so closely linked to Catwoman.

‘Never again. Never. Again.’

“What’s never again?”

“Huh?”

“You were muttering it pretty hard under your breath.”

‘Yeah and you switched from upset to bubbly but ain’t nobody questioning you.’

“Uh yeah. I meant no boy will make you cry ever again except for me. And if they do, I’ll come right over and make you smile.” What was he saying? Why wouldn’t he just shut up? Now she’d think he was serious and she probably wouldn’t stop pestering him about it.

“Promise?” she cooed; her doe-eyes narrowed owlishly at him.

“Promise.” Man, he hated being caught off guard. It made him do some admittedly stupid things. Stupid, illegal things although in his defence, when was he not doing something illegal. It was literally his defining element and didn’t each boy who made Ma-Dupain-Cheng cry know it. Adrien had been lucky to escape with a tiny bruise on his forearm because of Marinette’s pleas, but he’d spare him no mercy next time.

In the span of six months, he had had more social interactions with Dupain-Cheng-the name was becoming such a mouthful that he considered calling her Marinette- than he had had in his entire life span. However, his presence was made redundant in the last 3 years as he hadn’t gotten any indication that she was still alive. No texts, no impromptu 3am calls, no nothing. She’d disappeared without a trace and whilst he felt relieved to be rid of his persistent acquaintance, he missed the fun and chaos they’d create.

With her unbridled creativity and his cunning and quick wit, none of his family were any match for them. They’d hide in vents, find secret passageways, watch security and not once would their whereabouts be detected. But now, he had no partner, no alibi and no one to build a pillow for with him. It seemed so childish but it was comfortable and alleviated the stress and pressure on him, giving him a chance to regress back to a childlike mentality. One he never experienced even after he broke free from the League’s clutches.

Even when Marinette despised him, she’d still soothe him when the memories became too vivid which was her biggest flaw but one of her redeeming qualities. She had no reason to help him, there was nothing to gain from his former arrogant egotistical ten-year-old self but she still voluntarily to calm him down.

When he would have trouble breathing, she’d stay with him, helping him even out his heart rate. When he would tussle with the sheets at sleepovers, she would lie awake with him, huddling herself closer to him before humming a sweet yet sharp harmony, lulling him to sleep. He would occasionally feel the light kiss on his forehead but was completely oblivious to Marinette slipping from his grasp.

She’d be sprawled on the floor near to him, looking tense and completely uncomfortable and yet she’d have a semblance of a smile etched across her face. He always had found it quite foolish but secretly endearing.

He'd been ignorant to think that she’d always be that close to him Always there to give him a much-needed hug even if he wrestled out of embrace. That she’d always be that close to him, running to him at his beck and call. The bleak reality slapped him across the cheek. The dwindling conversation was evidence enough that she’d be glad to finally be rid of him. He heard from Adrien that she had still been in contact with him regularly enough to know the ins and outs of her situation. He genuinely thought she was dead, although it was becoming more increasingly clear that she was wilfully ignoring him. Which stung. A lot.

Five years ago, Marinette was a bawling mess in Damian's arm. Three years ago, she had last heard from Damian. He seemed as though he was bored of their conversations yet Adrien had been telling her otherwise.

Adrien, Adrien, Adrien. The boy was oblivious as ever, even going as far to budge her in Damian’s direction.

‘Pfft! Damian, he’s blunt as hell but too nice for his own good. He’s cold yet he shows more empathy than everyone else I know. He’s warm and his hair is to die for. I love how soft it is when it’s not gelled back. But even if he is all that, Adrien’s held my heart for all these years and I’m not going to let some fluttering feelings, that Damian probably doesn’t return, ruin all my progress.’

Her progress consisted on growing out of her shell (and growing out her hair), experimenting new outfits and lip gloss. Plus, she learnt how to cook meals and bake pastries with her parents so that was a great thing that came out from those years of isolation. She’d also lost some weight and had been cutting back on the carbs, so when she had landed back in Gotham, she had been shocked to see a pile of high carb, fatty foods awaiting her. Her arms itched to try one and she was quite tempted to delve right in for old times’ sake but the look her aunt gave her stopped her short. A smug smirk, a haughty scoff and the condescending shake of the head was enough to send Marinette out without lunch. Oh well. She could always pinch some off of someone else.

Behind her, she could hear snippets of two distinctly female voices.

“Ugh... fat ass. Skirts too short.”

“Attention seeker.”

‘No, I’m not.’

“Bitch.”

‘Please, not again.’

“Rip it off. She’s practically parading around in her knickers anyways.”

‘Please just, leave me alone.’

She could hear their footsteps and their heavy breathing before blood-curdling squeals ripped through the air.

“IT’S DAMIAN WAYNE!” They shrieked, making her spin around in a daze. Surely it couldn’t be who they thought it was. They were just mistaken. Because, there was no way that this dude towering over her was the same guy who was incredibly shorter than her years ago. It couldn’t be. The guy with a jawline that was sharper than glass couldn’t be the same baby-faced Damian she knew. But the thing that caught her off guard was the mischievous gleam in his glowing green eyes. She’d recognise his beautiful eyes anywhere.

“What do you have to say for yourselves?” So that was new. His rather high-pitched tone replaced by a soothing baritone bass. It had been enough to send her into a trance but she was shocked out of her stupor when she felt a tug on her arm.

“Careful idiot. You nearly walked straight into traffic and you don’t want to turn into roadkill now.” He hissed. She could feel the pout on her face and the light flush of her cheeks at his proximity but willed herself to march on.

“You’re fine,” said one of the girls, trailing her finger down his chest. Marinette could feel her stomach churn in embarrassment plus jealousy and stopped in her tracks to rescue Damian from an awkward situation.

“That’s not what I asked though. Are you not going to apologise?”

“To who?”

“To her. You just insulted her for no reason and you’re tryna walk away.”

“Sorry.” They huffed before flashing strained smiles at Damian. They would have left if it wasn’t for Marinette’s intervention. And it was a sassy one at that.

“Last time I checked you insulted me. But it sounded like you were apologising to Pretty Boy over there. Aren’t you gonna say sorry to me or were you just being insincere?"

“We’re sorry.” They chorused after a few pointed glares from Damian yet that didn’t stop them from muttering the word ‘bitch' under their breath as they walked away.

“Hey Mary, you short stack how you been doing? Haven’t seen you for 5 years and of course you stopped speaking to me for about 3 but, hey, we move.”

“Actually, I thought you didn’t want to chat with me anymore so I stopped. And did your Dad force you to attend every ‘slang lesson' available because you actually talk like you’re genuinely our age. And Damian, learn my name. It’s been 5 years and you’ve said every variation of names that aren’t mine.”

“But how else are we gonna have our inside jokes.”

“By firstly using something funny. And remove your hand from around my shoulder, people are going to assume we’re dating. Especially with how fickle everyone here is.”

“I mean is there really a problem with us dating?” he said, wiggling his eyebrows.

“Yes, you know I love Adrien. We can’t give him the wrong idea about us.”

“I forgot, I promised that I’d help tutor the exchange student, Lila Rossi, I think. I’ll see you later?” And with that he slunk off, which in all honesty was pretty weird. Damian offering to help a random person? It sounded like more of an excuse. But she had to find Adrien first. To show him how much she’d changed. She’d dyed her hair to an inky black with tints of blue, gotten her ears pierced and actually wore skirts and dresses now. She’d savour his shocked pikachu face for ever with how speechless he’d be.

When she was about to wander the yard when she saw his blonde mop of hair glitter in the sunlight. She moved from an idle stroll to a brisk walk before breaking out into a sprint. But the sight in front of her made her blood boil as she heard Adrien scream...

“Hey, Piggy!” He had pulled a person, who was obviously not her, into a hug before gazing admiringly into their eyes. Eyes which were slightly prettier than hers. Well, it was always better to blend into the background or at least that’s what she told herself.

It didn’t explain the churning in her stomach, the tears pricking the corners of her eyes or the fact she’d choked on her spit.

What the hell was going on?!

Note

Lila Rossi and Marinette don't know each other, but it was convenient to use her in this situation.

This is also separate from Twisted Fate.

#daminette #damian x marinette #damienette #maribat #marinette dupain cheng #adrien agreste #lila rossi

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