Ladybug groans her face in a pillow as she freaks out a little a lot.
“How’d you figure it out? I’m not that obvious, am I? Do you think he knows? He can’t know, that would be awful- ohhhh NonononononoNOnonononooooo. No. Please, tell me he doesn’t know.” Ladybug is laying face down on the couch in the living room of Titans Tower, Beast Boy smirking down at her reaction to being found out. The boy just brought up her rather obvious crush, and now the Parisian hero is a little panicked. If Beast Boy noticed who else did? Everyone on the team is really smart.
The Parisian joined the Titans over a year ago after asking the Justice League for help. She fits into the team’s dynamic really well, playing video games with Beast Boy and Kid Flash; hanging out with Star and binging rom-coms; Raven was a tough nut to crack but didn’t seem to mind hanging out. They did get along but respected that they just had very different interests.
Robin is a completely different story, at first he was rude but the bluenette was stubborn. She wasn’t going to deal with his bratty attitude, she sticks up for her herself. At some point, the Parisian earns his respect. They became friends over time, working well together though Robin insisted they train so she could improve her technique.
“It’s kinda obvious for me, but he’s pretty dense. Bats are always idiots when it comes to emotions n’ stuff.” The young Parisian hero looks up from her pillow.
“I know that… he’s my best friend. Friend- Merde. What if he sees me just as a friend!?” The bluenette’s hands go to her hair, eyes blown wide. It takes everything in Beast Boy not to laugh at how blind the girl is being. Does she not see how smitten the fourth Robin is for her? That he acts more like a human being when she’s around?
“No, what if all he ever sees in me is a friend? This isn’t good, then we’ll never date and he’s just so datable. Have you seen the way his nose crinkles when he tastes something he doesn’t like, holding it until it goes away? And the way he swoops his hair, I’d bet it’s soft. And he’s so strong-”
“Ew. I have ears, please don’t-” Ladybug doesn’t seem to hear him, continuing her rant.
“And then one day I’ll have to watch him fall for someone, I think I already have. It’s awful- not that I’m not happy he’s happy, because I am- but I think he likes Raven. They spend so much time together, sneaking off sometimes.”
“I bet they like each other, how could I compete with her. She’s amazing, and- and I’m not.” The bluenette’s tone goes from one of acceptance to defeat.
“Oh, okay, we got serious. Uh- don’t cry.” When he and Raven went over the plan, they hadn’t covered the possibility of a) Ladybug thinking Robin and Raven were a thing; or b) that Ladybug would compare herself to Raven. The Parisian is always so self-confident and optimistic, perfect even- she never lets anyone get her down. She huffs at his less than helpful response.
“I’m not gonna cry. It’s just, why would he like me? I’m pretty sure he thinks I’m annoying.” The girl stands pacing, trying to decipher the enigma that is Robin. The girl’s moods changes at the drop of a dime, leaving Beast Boy to try and play catch-up.
“Am I annoying to him? Probably. Raven is so calm and nice, he has no reason not to like her.”
“That’s definitely not true, if he thinks that he would tell you.” She nods, sitting on the couch, leaning on her hands. His words help a little but a girl’s mind is her worst enemy, all the worst ‘what if’s’ popping into her brain like spam mail in an already full mailbox.
This is going to take more intervention than he thought.
“You’re ridiculous, that isn’t true.”
“You’re just blind, and as you would say- 'you’re too close.’” Robin rolls his eyes, Raven is sitting on her bed as Robin looks at her, standing.
“All I’m saying is-”
“I understand what you said, you don’t need to repeat it. All I’m saying is-” He mocks, “- that it’s highly unlikely she’d be interested in me.” This time Raven rolls her eyes, he really is an idiot.
“How can I prove it to you- just ask her out. She’ll say yes.”
“I don’t trust you, you have no proof.”
“Fine. Don’t believe me, but mark my words, if you wait too long she might settle for someone else. You heard her complain about being mobbed on Valentines day last year.”
“Whatever, she didn’t like any of them.”
“Yeah, because she likes you.” Robin glares at Raven as he walks out of her room to go train. Robin first saw her as annoying but she grew on him. He mistook his interest in her as friendship until Raven commented on his liking their latest addition without telling her. It went downhill from there, now it’s like he can’t get her off his mind.
He tried to deny it, reason a way out of the conclusion. Raven did her best to encourage him but she was getting nowhere, the entire team was frustrated because both refused to see what was staring them right in the face.
Beast Boy and Raven meet with Starfire after both Ladybug and Robin go back to their respective home cities.
“What did you the learn?” Beast Boy speaks up first, recounting his confronting Ladybug about it.
“She’s got it bad, thinks he and Raven are into each other."
"Robin is convinced she doesn’t like him. He doesn’t want to get rejected so he refuses to ask her out.”
“How can we tell him she likes him that he actually does the listening?”
“He’d only be convinced if he heard her say it.” Raven reasons, knowing how blind and hard headed Robin is.
“There’s no way she’ll fess-up, she’s too insecure. Even if we convinced her that Robin wasn’t into you.”
“I wish the little D could just hear her say it in passing. He would ask without fear and she’d get to date him without putting herself out there.” Beast Boy can already see it, it’s the perfect plan.
“I’m sure I could get her to talk about it in the hall, you could get him close enough to hear?” Beast Boy offers, it could work but they can’t see each other.
“We’ll use the hallways on the fifth floor, that are separated by a wall and meet towards the elevator?”
“Sounds great, Mama.” Raven rolls her eyes at his nickname for her. Starfire looks between the two before abruptly standing, trying to hide her smile.
“Yes, well, I must attend to some dishes. Farewell.” The two shared a look. Perhaps it isn’t only Robin and Ladybug that need to come clean.
“We gotta say something sooner than lat-”
“I know, but not yet. We could use this to our advantage…”
“Right? So I had to go all the way to the other side of the city to deliver this banner, it was worth it though. The skater friend won.”
“Do they still race? You said this was a normal way to spend your weekend.”
“O-oh well, I don’t see them much anymore.” Ladybug’s shoulders turn inwards, looking to the floor. Robin hates the small frown on her lips, he knows better than to pry but maybe if he got some more information he could help.
“How come?”
“Just, time. Grew apart I guess.”
“You’re an awful liar.”
“I take that as a compliment!” Ladybug defended, smiling slightly. “You see, while Mr.-Tall,-Dark,-Handsome,-and-Mysterious is making up lies he has to keep straight I’m simply seen as an airhead that forgets her phone everywhere she goes!”
“You’re even worse at changing the subject.” Ladybug’s smile falters.
“Hehe, yeah, have you seen Star? She said she had the cutest picture of you asleep in your costume with some dog.” Robin crosses his arms, why is she avoiding the subject?
“I have plenty of pictures of 'the dog’ but please-” He pats the seat next to him on his bed, “-elaborate on this 'growing apart’ situation.” He isn’t going to give in, he has that face he used to do during training when she was too tired to get up. Ladybug sit, plopping onto the bed her arms spread across the comfortable fabric of the duvet.
“I can’t say much, just that they don’t want to be friends with me anymore. None of them do.”
“Who’s none of them?”
“My friends. All of them, only one does but they 'can’t’ be my friend. He just doesn’t have enough of a backbone.”
“Surely you have other friends besides the mindless heathens.”
“School and hero duties add up, I hardly have enough time to keep up with my jobs. I don’t have time for that, and they could get suspicious, notice the patterns where my old friends would see the clumsy forgetful me.” He nods, laying on his back and turning to look her in the eye.
“At least I have you guys.” She smiles, brushing some hair from Robin’s forehead. It feels nice.
“If it were up to me-”
“It isn’t, and it’s best not to dwell. Come on, bird boy, let’s get a snack.”
“Right, but none of that hot chocolate nonsense.” She rolls her eyes, she’ll get him to try it. One day.
“Are we sure this is gonna work?” Beast Boy is unsure, Raven hadn’t seen the way Ladybug reacted, it was like no matter what he said her mind found some way to turn it into a bad thing, like she could only see the worst in a situation. It was completely unlike her.
“Yes.”
“But-”
“No 'but’s’, this will give Robin the push he needs to ask her out. She’ll say yes. End of story.”
“Then why are we planning the the thing with the mo-”
“In case he’s more dense than humanly possible and because it’s time people knew.”
“Right… I’ll wait till ten minutes from now to get her to walk past, you have till then to get him there, we’ll take two laps just in case.” Raven nods before going to look for Robin. She finds him in the living room, reading a book.
“Come.” Raven turns around and makes her way towards the elevator, he catches up and they ride to the fifth floor. They exit and hide behind the designated wall.
“You are not to make a sound, simply wait and listen.”
They wait.
And listen.
It takes ten minutes for something to happen, the elevator bell rings and opens at their floor. Raven motions for him to stay quiet. Robin hears to footsteps as someone sighs.
”-How could I not? He’s just so- dreamy.“
"Ew. Why do you even like him? You’re too nice for him.”
“I am not 'too nice’ and Robin is not mean… He’s just… gruff- yeah, gruff, at first. But you should have seen how cute it was when we were talking about something and I was laying and he laid down next to me and there was hair blocking his eyes a little so I swiped it out of the way and it was so soft.” She says it all in one breath which should be concerning if Robin’s attention wasn’t being taken up by trying to not freak out. His eyes wide, back pressed against the wall so as not to get caught. She keeps talking, he has to hear more.
She sounds so sure of her affection, like it’s the most natural thing in the world. She likes him? Like to date? Raven is right? This is impossible, but it was happening. She’s ranting about things not even he notices about himself like they’re the most amazing things in the world.
“And have you seen him smile? And his laugh, it’s one of my favorite things about him. And did you notice the way he always perks up when there’s a happy animal on the television, like it reminds him of something- I’d bet he has an animal. I wish I could have a pet.” They kept walking, she kept rambling about him, his hair, his smile, the way he walked. He heard the voices fade at she and Beast Boy kept walking.
“I told you.” Robin didn’t even have a response, she feels the same way?
“She likes me?”
“You’ve got to be joking, after all that, you still don’t believe it?”
“Shut up, I’m processing.” Raven crosses her arms, impatiently waiting, they’ll loop back soon.
“She likes me.”
“Just keep listening.” Ladybug and Beast Boy came back into earshot. When they got closer, Beast Boy cut her off when she starts going off topic about his hair.
“So if he asked you out, what would you do?” Robin hears them stop, she makes a high pitched whine he knows means she’s flustered, she used to do it every time he glared her down and got a little too close, at the time, an unknown symptom of his attraction towards the heroine.
“I mean, if I could speak- I’d say yes but I’d probably freak out and fall or trip over my words. It doesn’t matter, he wouldn’t ask. Why in the world would he like me?” Raven has to remind Robin to stay quiet and hidden with a shushing motion and a hand to his shoulder. He stays in place despite the fact that he wanted to list every reason why he would. His stupid monkey brain thought of kissing her to drive his point home but shoos the intrusive thought away.
“Right, and what you’d kiss him?” It was like his teammate is reading his stupid, teenage mind.
“Pretending he liked me back? I mean, I could go on about his li-”
“Please don’t.” The bluenette laughs with him.
“Ah! I have to go meet Robin for training. Bye!”
“Later.” The girl’s footsteps disappear as the elevator door arrives and carries her towards the training room.
“Dude you better not say she doesn’t like you again.” Beast Boy sad, knocking on the wall to get his attention.
“Why don’t you just ask her?”
“Yes, the little D, she will the gladly accept.” Kor'i appears out of nowhere, he hates when she hovers like that. He can never tell where she is. He glares at them all, he’s late to meet with Ladybug. How in the world is he going to face her after that, it was so wrong to have listened. She hadn’t meant for him to hear those things. Robin is filled with guilt as he walks into the waiting elevator and nears the training room. Ladybug is there smiling and slightly pink, likely from their teammate’s questions.
“Are you alright?”
“Yes.” He couldn’t tell her he heard, she’ll get embarrassed. He can’t act on it either, she sounds busy enough as is. He would just be in the way.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.” He snaps at her this time, the rest of their training session is silent. She leaves back to Paris as soon as her shift is over, not staying to speak with Robin like she usually does. No one is amused by his behavior.
“What the hell? You get the confirmation you’ve been needing to finally ask her out and you start acting like you hate her?” Beast Boy finally exclaims, Raven kicks him under the chair.
“It’s none of your business, and none of you should have interfered. I was not meant to hear any of that, she doesn’t have time for me anyways.” Robin gets up from his seat and walks towards the zeta-tube.
After that, things get a little better. Robin isn’t rude or snappy to her but they don’t talk or have their little one on one training sessions. Ladybug does everything in her power to try and rebuild the bridge she didn’t know had been burnt. She doesn’t know what she did wrong, what she said, what happened made Robin want to avoid her like the plague.
Is he going to leave her too?
No. It doesn’t matter that he probably put two and two together and knows she likes him, that he probably likes someone else, he is her friend at the very least, it might not be enough but it’s something.
Ladybug gathers her courage, waiting for him to pass the one place she knows she can get him. Waiting right at a corner, she hears him coming. She wants to laugh when he slows, always knowing when she tries to sneak up on him, but this time she holds it in. Reminding herself of why she’s there.
Just as he comes into range, she turns the corner and faces him.
Her face is angry, no, pissed. Her eyebrows scrunched, a deep frown replacing the usual smile, she shoves a finger onto his chest. He always knew she was there but her expression, it’s hurt and angry and world ending- his world to be specific.
“What is your deal? What the hell did I do to you that you won’t even talk to me anymore? What did I say? Why do you suddenly hate me?”
“I-”
“I mean, one day we’re laughing and talking, and I tell you about what happened with my friends, and then the next you don’t even bother to greet me!” She berates him in French, she gets more passionate about her speech until she’s out of gas. At least, that’s what he thinks.
“It’s disrespectful and hurtful! You don’t just drop someone because they did something to upset you, you try to fix it. You try to work through it!”
“I-”
“What? You what? I told you about my friends, not only did I put a lot of trust in you for that- it could have pointed towards my identity if I slipped up. You’re too easy to talk to. And don’t you dare say that this is just how you are because we both know you’ve been off lately. So just tell me! Tell me you hate me, tell me you want space, tell me somethings wrong or that I did something but just don’t shrug this off. You are too important to me to just let this go!” He can see the unshed tears in her eyes, why is she crying? Why does he have to make her cry? He doesn’t deserve her tears, her affection, he doesn’t deserve her.
“I just- I think you can do better. I’m not a good enough companion.” Robin refused to use the word friend, she isn’t his friend, she’s so much more than that. A rouge tear falls, her face incredulous.
“What?”
“You sound busy enough, you’d be better off spending your time with someone else.” Robin doesn’t look her in the eye, it’s the honest truth but he can’t stand looking at her so upset.
Ladybug is at a loss, that’s why he’s upset? Because he thinks she was wasting her time? That he wasn’t good enough for her to spend her time with?
It’s like a switch flips, her anger melting away. Her jabbing finger falls.
“Who could be better?” She hugs him, Damian does have some experience from Grayson so he awkwardly returns the favor. The far shorter girl sniffles once before pulling back with a smile.
Robin feels a pang in his chest, he made her cry. She wipes away the unshed tears from the corners of her eyes, glad to have the mess over and done with. He vows never to do so ever again.
“I never wanna hear you say that you’re anything less than the best, c'mon time to get your butt handed to you.”
“Spar?”
“You wish.” Robin sighed, she always beats him in video games. As they walk, the alarm blares. There’s an attack somewhere. The duo runs towards the living room, Starfire is already there with Beast Boy, Raven, and Kid Flash.
“We’ve got two. There’s some kind of monster tearing through down town, we need to stop them.”
“And the other?” Robin asks.
“Paris, akuma.” Ladybug groans, like she always does. She runs off towards the zeta tubes with a wave goodbye. Time to deal with the mangy cat’s puns.
Robin and the rest of the team walk back into Titan Tower expecting to see Ladybug waiting for them, she always gets back before them in situations like this. Kid Flash speeds off after grabbing his things saying he’s late to something, as usual. Beast Boy limps, most of his weight supported by Raven as they make their way towards the med bay.
Robin and Starfire sit in the living room, she shows him photos of Dick in ridiculous sleeping positions or mid fall but Robin is on edge. Why isn’t she back yet?
Of course, he gets an immediate answer. Ladybug’s distress signal goes off, he and Star are off without a moment’s hesitation. Jumping into the zeta-tubes, worry for their teammate clear. After over a year of working with her she’s never used the distress button. The machine powers up and blinds them, Damian jams a communicator in his ear and tunes in to the local news station. He hears where Ladybug is and he and Starfire set off in search for the girl. Paris is bright, people stop and stare as the heroes make their way towards the Eiffel tower.
Robin’s mind is hyper focused and clouded at the same time, he knows he has to be at his best to help Ladybug so he shoves all that annoying emotion in a stupid box, shuts it, locks it, and pushes it into a dark little corner. They arrive at the lawn of the Eiffel tower.
Looking exhausted, Ladybug charges the villain. A blond boy in a black cat suit is flung at her with ease. The monster tries to throw a bus full of people at the two as Ladybug tries to get the boy off, he doesn’t seem to care, trying to hug the girl. Robin feels his chest tighten in jealousy.
Robin motions towards the bus, Starfire flies past and catches the bus mid air. The dark haired teenage boy is quick to lift the ill equipped partner he’s heard so verymuch about off Ladybug.
“I believe she is trying to get up.” He drops the boy to the side before offering a hand to Ladybug.
“Hello, again.” Ladybug smiles up at him, taking Robins hand. Pulling her up, the two stand close together. Staring.
“Hi.”
“Shall we get back to the task at hand?!” Starfire asks, mid battle with the monster when Ladybug and Robin snap back to reality. They join the fight, Chat sticks to the sidelines with a pout. The monster is tough, she only pressed the panic button in fear of the hostages being injured or killed. Even if they were physically healed by the miraculous cure it’s traumatizing.
The battle doesn’t last very long, the monster is extremely susceptible to Robin’s ice capsules, and is no match for Kor'i’s strength.
Ladybug is relieved when she sees the purified akuma flap away.
“Miraculous Ladybug!” The bluenette was able to use her lucky charm quickly enough, she’d say thank you before giving Tikki food and returning to the tower to finish her shift.
“Well done.”
“Thank you, you weren’t too bad yourself.” Marinette smiles back to the far taller boy.
“Will you be returning to the tower? Should we wait for you?”
“You are the kidding, yes? We are in Paris! I’d like to go the shopping!” Ladybug laughed.
“With what money? My brother’s card is rather telling. As is your own.”
“I suppose you are correct.”
“Don’t worry, Starfire, we can go on a shopping day soon.” The girl smiled.
“Yes, the little D, would you join us? Raven may join as well, yes, Ladybug? Girls day!”
“I do not qualify as a girl.”
“Little D?” Ladybug asks, smiling softly before bursting into laughter. “I need to go help the victim and recharge. I’ll see you back at the tower.” Ladybug turns to leave but comes face to face with Chat.
“What are you doing here? We don’t need you.” He directs his comments to both of the American heroes but mostly towards Robin. Ladybug pinches the bridge of her nose.
“We are members of the Teen Titans, we were asked to come. Now if you’ll excuse us-”
“What? Who asked you to come here. My lady and I would never-”
“I did, and I am not 'your lady’ you need to stop with the names and trying to distract me mid-battle, Chat.”
“But-” Ladybug gives the mangy cat no time to explain, cutting in with no patience.
“No ‘but’s, you almost got us and all those hostages killed. Go. Home.” The tro of Titan’s walk away, it’s best not to give the boy anymore attention.
"We should do it now.”
“What’d you mean? He’s still acting like he can’t stand her.”
“No, they made up. I heard her yelling at him about it. He caved pretty quickly after that. We do it tonight, no more sneaking around and hopefully they get together.” Beast Boy nods, watching Raven ice his ankle for him.
“Thanks, mama.”
“… You’re welcome.” He smiles flicking some water on his girlfriend, she looks at him with a sad excuse for a glare.
“Alright, the ice should stay. Let’s go see if she’s back.” Raven makes sure to keep Beast Boy off his ankle, quickly shooing him off to the empty living room couch. They don’t wait long for Robin, Starfire, and Ladybug to return.
“Thanks again for coming to help, guys.” Starfire smiles. Robin nods.
“It was our pleasure, what shall we do now?”
“Movie?” Beast Boy asks, getting immediate yeses from the girls.
“I’ll pass-”
“Come on.” Raven complains, the guy can be such a pain.
“tt, no. That doesn’t work on me.”
“Pretty please?” Starfire asks. She pulls out the baby doll eyes and a pout.
“No, the physical appearance of the 'please’ makes no difference-”
“Please?” Ladybug pulls out all the stops, she looks him right in the eyes, those big, blue, innocent eyes were so sad and pretty, she shuffles a foot, her hands behind her back. Her bottom lip juts out ever so slightly as her torso sways back and forth. His response is immediate.
“Yes.” Ladybug grins in victory, Damian doesn’t get the chance to backpedal.
“Yay!” Starfire quickly steals Robin’s usual seat. Raven and Beast Boy take up one side of the couch, Robin and Ladybug take up the other. Everyone bickers and argues over which movie to watch until Robin gets annoyed and plays one of the few movies he can bear. Lion King.
Throughout the duration of the film, Beast Boy slowly pushes Ladybug closer to him laying longways until he takes up the majority of the couch. Ladybug is squished against Robin, their arms pressing uncomfortably against each other. Deciding to test the waters, Robin wraps an arm around the Parisian’s shoulder. The lights were off but the girl’s blush is obvious. She has yet to move, he feels her glance in the opposite direction for a moment before leaning onto him.
Damian wasn’t freaking out… Okay, Damian was only freaking out a little. He didn’t do well last time he saw she likes him. What should he do now? An annoying and sarcastic voice told him not to ignore her but they weren’t much help. The little Grayson in Damian’s mind told him to pull her a little closer, maybe kiss her head to make his intentions more clear. She still isn’t aware of his affection towards her. He does the first, he could all but see the little Grayson smiling. Robin has no clue what to do next so he just does his best to watch the movie.
The lights come on far too soon, Ladybug doesn’t move to get off him until she notices the lights turn on. She blushes that adorable shade of pink. That’s when he sees it, just behind a blushing bluenette is Raven snuggling with Beast Boy as if it’s the most normal thing in the world. His brows furrow, his arm falls of Ladybugs shoulder. It was clear this isn’t a one time thing or anything of the sort. They know exactly what they’re doing, they’ve been seeing each other and she didn’t tell him. After all the times he spoke about Ladybug, she didn’t care to mention her own relationship.
Ladybug follows his line of sight, her posture goes from relaxed to tense.
To Marinette it’s like confirmation to something she knew all along, he likes Raven. Maybe he only wrapped his arm around her because of how squished they were. Which means she completely misread the situation and leaned onto him when he was just trying to be comfortable.
“I knew it!” Starfire exclaims, beaming. Raven just looks away trying or hide her small smile. Ladybug is happy their happy but Robin just walks away, his face neutral. She hates when he makes that face. Soon Starfire has to leave and Beast Boy hobbles to his room, ankle still tender.
Ladybug’s overthinking keeps her in place, staring at her hands. She doesn’t even notice that Raven is still in the room with her.
“You should go talk to him.”
“W-what? Me? No, he doesn’t want to talk to me.” Ladybug tried to say no but she couldn’t help but be worried for Robin. Raven gives her a look, she relents.
“Fine.” Ladybug drags herself to where she knows he’ll be. He was always on the roof when he has to think. She mentally prepares herself for an undeniable, verbal confirmation that he doesn’t like her, she forces herself to go- to be there for him.
“Go away.” Damian is in no mood to deal with Raven, how could she not tell him?
“You can’t get rid of a bug that easily, Rob.” He chastises himself for being rude to Ladybug again, at least she doesn’t sound upset because of it. She doesn’t say anything, sitting next to him as they look over the brightly lit cityscape.
“Wanna talk about it?” He doesn’t respond. The little Grayson, encouraged by the success of last time, tries to get Damian to hold her hand. Their hands were so close, just a few inches apart. That definitely isn’t happening. “Right…” She trails off, not knowing what else to say. The silence grows, unchecked like a cancer.
“I- Just- Why wouldn’t she tell me? After-” Robin was about to say too much but thankfully stopped himself.
“After what?” He’s relieved she’s still ignorant of his affection, putting himself out there like that’s a scary thought.
“Nothing. Nevermind.”
“After you told her you like her.” She speaks with such certainty, like she’s accepted it as fact. Is that what she really thought?
“What? No- I just- confided in her about something similar. I expected she’d do the same. She’s one of my best friends.” He sees Ladybug nod, that same look of on her face.
“I’m sure she didn’t mean to hurt your feelings. They probably just wanted to keep it quiet until they were ready to tell everyone.” Robin had to admit she was probably right. He saw the way her hands fiddled and folded, she was trying to think of something to talk about, likely to distract him. She was always so considerate.
“So… girlfriend.”
“Where’d you hear that?” He was so confused, the very idea is ridiculous.
“Well, you said you confided in Raven about something similar. I just assumed you had a partner.”
“Oh. No.” They sat in silence again, looking over the silent harbor. Damian gathers his courage, now is the perfect time- looking over a clear sky with the stars out. Isn’t this the kind of situation girls daydream about? Now was the most likely time for her to accept. Deciding to just get it out, Damian starts speaking.
“Actually there’s-”
“I know you probably don’t-” Of course, just as Robin starts speaking, she does too. Alarm bells start ringing in his head, the little Grayson is trying to figure out what she was going to say while the rest of him starts freaking out.
They awkwardly laugh, looking away, Damian feels an unfamiliar little burning sensation on his cheeks. He’s loosing more of his nerve by the second.
“ILikeYou,LikeLikeLike.” She just blurts it out, redder than her costume. Damian’s head snaps to her with his lips parted. This is happening.
“I feel the same way. I- I apologize I didn’t say so sooner I just- you said you were so busy already, I didn’t want to become a distraction.” Ladybug gives him a small smile, that was what that was about. She fondly wipes the hair from his forehead back, lacing her fingers through his hair. Her hand rested at the back of his neck, smiling. She looks so content, at peace.
“I see no issue in distractions.”
“I suppose this is the part of the story where we kiss?” Robin puts a hand on the Parisian’s cheek, inching closer. They move to close the gap until they were just a hairsbreadth away. Her eyes are so blue and so beautiful up-close.
“I suppose you’d be correct.” Their lips meet, the beautiful night sky behind them- everything else melting away.
Besides watching the controversies and confusion on dc servers grow (I’m still confused at how this is a thing but ok) why do they follow really similar formats?
Like why has no one wrote about their common love of art?
Damian can draw. Marinette loves fashion. I’m not up to date on either canon ( dc has too much canon and I watch mlb second hand through my brother who refuses to acknowledge he keeps watching it cos he likes it), but I’m more confused at why no one has attempted this besides school trip to gotham trope. Isn’t Paris supposed to be a city of art?
FACTS
This is a really great point, and while Damian probably wouldn’t be one to go on vacation it could at least be used as common ground.
Most writers usually take advantage of her love of fashion for fluff scenes with gifts and romantic ones where Damian draws her (I am guilty of both) but imagine them arguing over which is the best sketching tool, the best kind of paper, sharing tools and trading. Marinette getting frustrated with so many ideas and not enough time to jot them all down and Damian just drawing something for her so she can go back to it after because he gets it. Spontaneously stopping to sketch, dates where they stroll and draw. The possibilities are endless.
Marinette was bouncing in her seat, her mother and father chuckled at her childlike reaction to the plane landing. When it was finally their turn, the Dupain-Chengs grabbed their carry-ons and exited the plane.
“Come on, Maman, Papa! Damian said they were waiting by baggage claim!” The bluenette helped her parents with their things while they made sure they had everything before eagerly leading them through the now familiar airport.
Damian and Marinette had been together for a little over three years, the young designer was now eighteen, her boyfriend a year older. The couple visited each other throughout the year for birthdays, holidays, and whenever they could- of course, Jason was more than happy to chaperone Damian’s visits to Paris, always eager to see his little sister.
The Waynes were quick when it came to accepting Marinette as one of their own, once she’d been fighting one of Hawkmoth’s akumas and apparently someone saw. The entire family ended up spending an hour watching her defeat the villain just to make sure they didn’t need to go help.
Of course, during some of her many visits Marinette got herself in the middle of more than a few prank wars. At first, she participated to get Damian and Jason to work together- wanting two of the most important boys in her life to get along but it quickly became a free for all. It was safe to say Marinette won, getting the entire family with the exception of: Alfred, Mar'i, Kor'i and Selina, stuck doing a live interview about the family dynamic with questions written by Marinette.
Marinette dragged her parents past her favorite TSA officer with an excited hello before thinking back to when she saw the Waynes family interview. Bruce thought it was the funniest way to oust her to the public, and allowed her to go through with it. Everyone saw Marinette smiling cheekily from the sidelines as they answered question after question, clearly written by her.
// Flashback, 2 years ago //
“Alright, next question: who is the best superhero?” Everyone laughed softly, darting to each other picking sides for the debate to come.
“Oh boy, not this again.” Bruce sighed, Selina patting him reassuringly, she decided to attend the interview, wanting to watch the chaos unfold in person.
“Bat girl!” The three girls exclaimed in unison, hopefully Babs was watching as Stephanie elaborated. “The original, of course. She was awesome, always doing these cool gymnastic tricks- way better than Nightwings!” The boys were quick to counter.
“No way! Robin had way better tricks, did you see the video of him doing that cool triple flip thing?!” Tim offered.
“Nope! Because Nightwing has superior acrobatic skills, I heard he was able to beat the Batman in a fight because of them- when he and the Justice league got brainwashed or something!” Bruce sighed tiredly as everyone else continued to argue, eventually it became a shouting match. Bruce whistled loudly, everyone quieting. The reporter continued.
“This next question is for all of you, except Mr. and Mrs. Wayne, who is your favorite sibling?” They all shared a smug look and answered from left to right, Dick went first. Stephanie and Tim were quick to follow, Cass responding immediately after them.
“Marinette.”
“Marinette.”
“Marinette.”
“Marinette.”
“HEY! She was my sister first! Anyways, Marinette.” Jason exclaimed proudly.
“tt, all my siblings are annoying- with the exception of Cass, the most tolerable.”
“What, brat, you don’t like Marinette?” Jason interrupted before the reporter could ask.
“tt, she is not my sister. And she isn’t any of yours, I’m the only reason she visits Gotham.” Damian huffed defensively.
“YEAH RIGHT! I’m her favorite, she visits for me not you!” Damian scoffed.
“Marinette, obviously prefers me.” Damian challenged, standing- dragging Marinette into view as she blushed furiously. She glared at her boyfriend as she was pulled from her hiding spot.
“Damian! No-”
“Yes. You should know better than to include me in their pathetic prank war.” Damian kissed Marinette firmly, she responded out of habit before he pulled away with a smirk, sitting. He sat Marinette on his lap, she blushed but didn’t move wrapping an arm behind Damian.
“I assume you’re Marinette?” The Parisian nodded timidly at the reporter’s question.
“And you’re?” The woman asked, curious as to how exactly she was related to the Waynes.
“My girlfriend.” Damian answered for her, Marinette flicked his ear.
“I used to live in Gotham, me and Jason looked out for each other but I got adopted by a nice couple in France! My parents are amazing, anyways, I was on a class trip and saw Jason, and met Damian and we started dating.”
“Despite my best efforts.” Jason huffed, a sixteen-year-old Marinette rolled her eyes.
“He’s exaggerating.” Damian scoffed at that. The reporter seemed to adapt to Marinette’s presence quickly, her teleprompter now changing questions from those Marinette sent to new ones.
“Okay, so Marinette and Damian- who said I love you first?” Marinette smirked, whispered in Damian’s ear, and answered:
“I did.” Damian blushed softly as he starred at Marinette, she said it well over a year ago to which Damian immediately reciprocated. Just to embarrass him, Marinette said ‘Me, beach, bikini.’ which always embarrassed Damian because it always worked- he’d immediately think back to the first time they went to the beach her in a bikini borrowed from Selina.
Jason snorted, and everyone else seemed amused to see Damian flustered.
“Who is more romantic?” Marinette hadn’t been expecting questions other than the ones she wrote but took the opportunity when she saw it.
“He is.” Damian glared at Marinette as his family howled in laughter.
“How?”
“OH! I KNOW I KNOW!” Stephanie raised one hand while putting a finger on her nose. “Damian always sends her flowers, and covers her in a blanket if she falls asleep, and always tries to cook for her even though she or Alfie have to save the day! But she is too! When he got sick, she always called to make sure he was resting instead of working, and sang him to sleep like a little kid! She’s an awesome singer!” Marinette seemed to get even more embarrassed as the rest of the Waynes added their own compliments. The interview was about to end but Marinette got an idea, an awfully hilarious idea, it was her emergency back up.
“Well since you all seem to agree on everything, who caught my sketch book on fire?” The family went silent, everyone looked guilty.
“It was an accident.” Bruce, shockingly, started.
“We never should have tried to cook.” Cass continued.
“But you were sick, and Alfred was out of town.” Dick tried to amend.
“The book was right next to the burner- Damian was looking at it.” Stephanie added, shifting the blame to Marinette’s boyfriend.
“Trying to see what you would make him for Christmas.” Jason seconded.
“ So he could one-up it.” Tim added, unnecessarily.
“Because of how great your gift from last year was.” Stephanie mentioned before everyone spoke together in unison.
“You really think I’d leave ideas for all of your gifts in there? PLEASE! You are all too nosy, I keep the one with all of your gifts somewhere safe.” Marinette said, smirking down at Damian who was glaring at his tattletail siblings.
// Flashback ends //
Marinette always smiled at the memory, she loved the Waynes- they had such a beautifully chaotic family dynamic.
“Slow down, Marinette! It’s not like they’ll leave without us!” Tom said, chuckling as his daughter dragged the adults towards baggage claim, only a little bit further and then Marinette would see Damian again. Last they’d seen each other was when Damian visited Paris three months ago, it had felt like an eternity to her. Marinette was pulled to a stop by Sabine, who was cold, the mother put one of her sweaters on while an impatient Marinette watched. Finally, Sabine was ready, closing her bag with a quick 'zip’.
Marinette immediately dragged her parents toward the sign she quickly spotted, Mar'i was sitting on her father’s shoulders with a large poster above her head. The sign was neon pink, with white cut out letters spelling out 'Dupain-Cheng’ in two rows. There were little doodles and hearts decorating the borders.
Damian stood next to Jason, impatiently checking his watch grumbling about how long customs takes. Tim and Stephanie were near them with Bruce, Alfred, Selina, and Kor'i. Only Bruce, Damian, and Jason had met Tom and Sabine before hand. Mar'i was excited to meet her twin’s parents, hearing about their magic desserts.
“Auntie Nettie!” the half-Tamiranian exclaimed, climbing down her father awkwardly before charging towards Marinette. The Parisian was quick to hug the girl back.
“Hello, Mini Me!” The five-year-old was quick to climb onto Marinette’s shoulders, offering her hand to Tom who was now at almost eye level. Marinette’s father took the offered hand and gave the small girl a firm handshake. The girl giggled.
“Uncle Dami! I did it, just like you taught me!”
“Good job, Mar'i!” The girl’s father praised, grabbing his daughter off the short girls shoulders and placing her on the floor. Damian was about to hug Marinette when Jason steps in front of him and greets his sister.
“Hey, Marinette! it’s good to see you again!” Marinette hugged her brother close before pulling away and turning to greet a now grumpy Damian.
“DAMI!” Marinette said cheerily, latching onto him with a tight hug. Damian hugged back feeling her in his arms again was almost as relaxing as the smell of her hair. The sharp, sweet smell of jasmine invaded his senses with a pleasant undertone of rose water.
“Hello.” She laughed as she pulled away to greet Stephanie and Cass. Damian greeted Tom and Sabine familiarly, as did Jason. Mar'i was quick to properly introduce herself to both.
“Hi! I’m Mar'i, and you’re Marinette’s parents! Tom and Sabine! Auntie Nettie talks about you guys a lot, is it true you two are soulmates like in the fairy tales?” Marinette’s parents laughed softly before starting up a conversation with the girl. Eventually, Marinette’s parents were acquainted with everyone and they made their way to the manor. Tom called their new employee, George, to make sure everything at the bakery was going well with the holiday rush.
It was December 23rd and the weather in Gotham was harsh, everyone was quick to rush into the warm manor. Tom and Sabine quietly marveled at the extravagance of it all. Marinette quickly led them to their room, promising to help them around until they got the hang of the manors maze-like layout.
“Thank you, dear, where is your room?”
“It’s just down the hall, what do you guys want to do? Diner is always at six so you have time to unpack or take a nap.”
“That sounds like a good idea, thank you, Marinette.”
“Of course, Maman! I’ll come get you at five fifty, okay?” Her parents nodded before shutting the door, Marinette made her way to Damian’s room- which so happened to also be hers.
The Parisian plopped on the bed, tired from the flight. Damian noticed her 'tired to the bone’ sigh from his seat at his desk and went to lay down next to her, hugging her from behind his lips pressed to her neck.
“I missed you.” Marinette mumbled, feeling warm and safe in Damian’s arms she struggled to stay awake. Damian stayed silent, slowly rubbing her shoulders as her worked the knots out. Marinette was now laying on her stomach, sighing as he worked. The Parisian always melted under his touch. Finals had been stressful, thankfully she didn’t have to deal with Hawkmoth anymore. Ladybug was still active, with Selina now wearing the miraculous of the cat, but she only dealt with normal crimes or the odd super villain when she was in Gotham as Ladybird.
“Father thinks we should stay in tonight, with Drake, to avoid suspicion.” Damian mumbled softly, still rubbing Marinette’s back through her warm shirt. Marinette hummed in agreement, her body only felt more tired as time went on, her eyelids drooping.
“Of course, we’ll have to entertain your parents until they go to bed but after that we have all the time in the world.” Marinette could hardly register the words but she caught his tone. He wanted to snuggle, never willing to say the word out-loud.
“Wanna snuggle?” Damian snorted.
“I believe the proper term is cuddle.” Marinette rolled her hardly open eyes, they always argued about this.
“Why can’t it be both?” Marinette softly slurred, her eyes feeling heavy as lead. Damian gave Marinette a kiss on the cheek as he cuddled close to her, keeping her warm.
“Because that would mean I’m partially wrong and that’s impossible.” The world faded to black as Damian’s warm arms pulled Marinette comfortably against him.
Damian looked down at a sleeping Marinette, her shallow even breathing soothing him, her adorable rosy cheeks now matched her pink nose. Marinette hated the cold but she always looked adorable decked out in winter gear, over dressing to the point where Damian had to coax her out of some of her layers.
Damian looked down at the beautiful, strong-willed, stubborn, terrifyingly tiny girl in his arms he only thought of one thing: he was going to marry that girl.
Selina was guiding the Dupain-Chengs and the rest of her family from the dining room to the living room. Damian and Marinette who were tasked with helping Alfred take everything to the kitchen. Suddenly, the feline woman got an adorably funny idea and led everyone on a short detour to the hallway filled with family photos and portraits.
Marinette was pushed up against a wall, Damian had one hand holding her neck and tilting the girls head up while the other snuck under the girls shirt and gripped her waist, pulling her flush against him. Damian was unyielding, ravaging Marinette’s lips as he kissed her senseless. Marinette’s hands were in his hair, softly scratching against his scalp or simply running her hands through his soft locks, her hands having a mind of the own as Damian’s lips stole all of Marinette’s attention.
Damian’s malleable lips worked against Marinette’s, somewhere far in the back of his mind Damian was thanking Alfred for insisting on his doing the dishes, this gave the couple time to escape from their observant family.
Damian let Marinette breathe as he moved from her lips to her cheek, not stopping as he eventually moved south towards her neck. Marinette was trying to focus on her uneven breathing but Damian was not one to be ignored, his hand on her hip keeping her close as he continued to greedily kiss her neck marking it as his. Marinette’s features relaxed slightly her eyes hardly opening, her thoughts foggy but seemed to have a common factor: Damian, it was either Damian’s lips as they worked the sensitive skin of her neck, or Damian’s smell of peppermint and earl gray tea, or Damian’s family staring in shock- WITH HER PARENTS AND JASON!
Marinette tensed as her eyes flew completely open, she squeaked. Damian seemed to notice the change of atmosphere and paled as he saw the murderous look in Jason and Tom Dupain’s eyes. Bruce looked so done, as if he’d seen it a million times before. Selina and Sabine shared an amused smirk, Tim and Stephanie just looked away, Dick had noticed and covered Mar'i’s eyes before leaving the room, Kor'i with them, blushing intensely- embarrassed for the Parisian, she had been in Marinette’s shoes before and did not miss it.
Damian swallowed dryly. Tom and Jason shared a look, Jason was about to grab Damian and Tom, Marinette but Sabine stopped them short.
“Tom! Leave them alone, how else am I supposed to get grandkids?” Marinette was quick to blush, trying to hide in Damian’s arms, only securing his guilt in Tom’s eyes. Jason was snapped out of Big Brother Mode™ by Tim. Sabine and Selina jokingly ushered the boys and girls out, telling them to give the young couple their privacy.
Marinette wanted to die of embarrassment but once everyone was gone Damian just picked up where he left off, taking his love’s mind off the intrusion.
The couple walked into the living room more than a few minutes later. The lights were off and a movie playing so no one payed them any mind when they silently sat in the empty loveseat. No one noticed the hickies that decorated Marinette from her jawline to her right collarbone, a feature Damian practically worshiped, or the love bites on Damian’s neck.
Marinette blushed when she saw what Damian had done as they got ready for bed, Damian shrugged before laying on their bed and opening his arms- begging for cuddles.
Jason asked to be Damian’s spar buddy for training the next morning and kicked the assassins ass- literally, but the actual spar was a tie. Tom was heard grumbling about hormonal boys for days, luckily Sabine kept him in check.
That Christmas was an interesting one, to be sure. Luckily some things stayed the same, no matter how hard Damian tried Marinette still out did him. She, as always, received jewelry Damian had been stockpiling to give her on one of the few days she couldn’t refuse and a very special pendant he’d handmade for her, after taking a jewelry making class.
Mari’ insisted the bluenette try everything on, not giving the girl time to take anything off. By the time Marinette was wearing everything she was literally dripping in jewels.
Marinette gave Damian four sweaters, each in a different size. They were for a picture of Damian with Alfred the Cat, Titus, and a very small one that Marinette said went with her other gift. It was a guinea pig Damian was quick to name Adrien, seeing as how both were small rodents, saying Adrien the hamster was far better. Marinette chastised him and Damian relented eventually naming the small animal after Circe, explaining that just like the sorceress bewitched sailors that visited her island, turning them into pigs, Marinette had enchanted him.
~~~ 6 years later ~~~
Marinette was bouncing in her seat, her mother and father chuckled at her childlike reaction to the plane landing. When it was finally their turn, the Dupain-Chengs grabbed their carry-ons and exited the plane.
Marinette quickly ushered her parents through the crowded airport, past customs and Christmas decorations as she hurried to meet up with Damian, Marinette had spent the last month in Paris helping out with the bakery when her mother had an accident and couldn’t work for a few weeks. Thankfully, Sabine recovered quickly and the Dupain-Chengs decided to visit Gotham for the holidays. Marinette hadn’t seen Damian in weeks and missed him terribly, he always complained about how empty and cold their apartment (penthouse) was without her there.
Damian checked his watch, he still had an hour before Marinette’s plane landed. The man walked to where Jason and his father were standing, looking over the nights patrol routes. He’d already received permission from his father, Kyle, and the Dupain-Chengs, all he needed now was Jason’s approval.
“Father, Todd.” Damian greeted, fidgeting with the box in his pocket. Jason eyed Damian suspiciously.
“What’d you do this time, brat?” Jason asked, a look of annoyance flashed onto Damian’s face before he controlled himself, taking a breath Damian showed him the box. Jason’s eyes widened in understanding.
“Well, brat, looks like you’re gonna beat her when it comes to presents this year. What could be better than your last name?” Damian relaxed at Jason’s reaction to the black velvet box, Damian’s father spoke up.
“You know what you’re going to say?” Damian nodded.
“Where and when you want to ask?” Damian nodded again.
“Well, then all that’s left is that you actually do it.” Damian knew his family would approve but it still felt nice to hear it.
Marinette immediately hugged Damian when she saw him, her parents patiently waiting behind them. Both Marinette and Damian heard the quiet exchange between the married couple.
“When do you think we’ll get the grandchildren?”
“I think they should talk about getting married first, Sabine.” Marinette blushed softly, they’d discussed both at length and seemed to want the same things the only discrepancy being names. Damian was dead set on naming a girl Amora, Marinette liked Emma. Marinette loved the names Hugo and Louis, Damian thought they were meaningless and simple. He favored boys names like Aaron or Alfred. Marinette joked that he was obsessed with the letter A.
It was Christmas morning, the whole family spent the night at the manor. Word of Damian’s gift spread among the ranks like wildfire, a nine-year-old Mar'i could hardly keep it to herself. After the usual Christmas breakfast everyone crowded around the tree, giving each other gifts. Marinette and Damian had yet to give each other their presents, Marinette went first.
“TADA!” Every year, Marinette hand knits sweaters for Damian and all of his pets, so they could take a cute picture. As time went on, Marinette went from cute to ugly Christmas sweaters. Damian smiled as he rolled his eyes, this year’s had intricate reindeer patterns. She always surprised him, and he knew she had a secret place to make his gifts because Damian knew every nook and cranny of their apartment and searched it regularly for hints as to what his gift was.
Marinette’s other gift for him was, as always, amazing and would have easily topped almost anything Damian got her- but this time he’d win.
“Marinette, you are light of my life, the reason I wake up in the morning. You are such a beautiful and determined woman, and the care you put into everything you do is part of what makes you the most terrifyingly amazing person I have ever met. Your heart is filled with such genuine kindness, compassion, and empathy that the world does not deserve you and neither do I, but I’d like to spend the rest of my life working to be worthy of your love. 'If love is a labor, I shall slave away to the end.’ Would you allow me the honor of becoming your husband?” Marinette stared at Damian, his right knee on the ground with his left foot firmly on the ground as he opened the velvety black box.
There were two rings in the box, one was a simple silver band, something that wouldn’t get in the way as she worked, running successful brand like hers was a lot of work. The other was a gorgeous sterling silver ring with a beautifully cut diamond in the center, it was clearly vintage. Marinette felt tears of joy sting her eyes as she tried to get her body to move, finally Marinette was able to speak her voice thick with emotion as she hugged Damian.
“Yes!” Damian couldn’t believe the words that left his girlfriend- no, fiancee’s lips. He was engaged to Marinette, the love of his life. Damian was spurred into action, hugging Marinette back before pushing her away so he could put the rings on her finger, the first was a simple band, the other his grandmothers. At first, Damian had purchased a new ring for Marinette but Selina and Damian’s father gave him is grandmother’s engagement ring and it was perfect. Just like Marinette.
Marinette kissed Damian, the feeling of her left hand on his neck, the cool rings against his neck seemed to ground him. Damian never had to worry again, Marinette would always be with him.
Jason smiled as he saw the pure joy in his little sister’s eyes, he had been wrong. Damian wouldn’t be the reason Marinette’s eyes would look broken, he’d be the reason they swelled with love, with contentment. There was no trace of the broken Marinette from all those years ago, she finally became the person Jason was determined to see her grow-up to be.
Marinette was in the kitchen, preparing herself some hot chocolate. After the drama at Wayne tower, Jason insisted she stay with his family. Her older brother seemed to loathe the class with a passion, refusing to let her near them. Marinette’s parents were hesitant at first, not trusting some random Gotham boy to take care of their daughter but eventually they were persuaded. Where she would be staying was definitely a factor, where could be safer?
“I don’t see how you could stand to drink such sugary poison.” Damian stated making her jump, he was right behind her. He reached past Marinette and to the cupboard she was in front of. He grabbed a teacup before pulling his arm back, his eyes never straying from her own.
“Well then… what do you suggest I drink?” Marinette’s hot chocolate sat on the counter behind her, forgotten, as she turned and faced Damian. The Parisian crossed her arms defiantly, Damian looked down at her like she was a cute puppy.
“Tea has been known to calm frayed nerves, perhaps I could prepare you some?”
“W-why would I need to calm down? I feel perfectly fine!” Marinette declared, refusing to give in. Her stubbornness seemed to amuse Damian, he reached out and just barely brushed her cheek with the back of his hand.
“Well, you’ve been blushing since you noticed I was here, for one. Now, would you like some tea? How do you take it?”
“I don’t usually have tea. I tried making myself some a few times but always thought it tasted like bitter water.”
“You haven’t had my tea yet.” Damian challenged, “You wouldn’t be scared to try something I made, would you?” Marinette was coherent enough to see what he was doing, even if his imposing and, frankly, distracting physique was only a hair’s breadth away.
“Only if you have my hot chocolate. Or are you scared of the ‘sugary poison’?” Marinette offered, Damian leaned his head down just a fraction of an inch closer to Marinette before catching himself pulling away. He retreated back a few feet before turning to the sink.
“Alright then, it’s a deal. I’ll try the wretched holiday drink if you have my tea.” Damian spoke with his back to her as he filled a kettle with water.
“Deal.” Marinette agreed before heading to refrigerator, she’s get him to admit her hot chocolate was good. No one called her favorite drink 'wretched’ and got away with it.
“Deal.” Damian reaffirmed.
By the time the drinks were done Marinette was thirsty, she would have had her own hot chocolate but Damian demanded she leave it, claiming it would cloud her pallet. She rolled her eyes at that but by the time she finally got past Damian’s joking defense the drink was cold.
Marinette sipped from her cup first, Damian watched, both amused and attentive as she took a sip of the tea.
He laughed at her wrinkled nose, just for a moment- one could hardly call it a chuckle, before adding the cream.
“Try it now.” Marinette looked at Damian hesitantly before taking another sip, this time he noticed her relax as a small smile graced her lips. Damian smirked at his little victory.
“Alright, your turn Monsieur.” Damian rolled his eyes as Marinette watched him lift the mug. He felt she looked over excited for something so silly but found it strangely endearing.
The warm, smooth liquid made it’s way past his lips and while it was a little too sweet for his liking, it was still good and he told her so.
“Fine, it was adequate.” Marinette rolled her eyes before taking a taunting step toward him.
“Yeah right! That was some of my best work, you don’t get to get away with calling it 'adequate’” Damian scoffed, taking a more intimidating step towards the short girl, one upping her in their little game of chicken.
“Then what do you suggest I call something I found too sweet but bearable?”
“Good! You call it good, it’s important to be polite, Damian!” Marinette took another step forward forgetting how close they already were, refusing to back down. Damian had to look further down than usual to meet Marinette’s passionately determined eyes.
He took his opportunity, using his right hand to tilt her chin upwards, smiling slightly, only slightly. They were so close, he could feel the warmth of her body from where he stood. Damian was about to speak when they saw someone walk into the kitchen, it was Jason.
The teenagers separated themselves quickly but it was too late, the damage was already done. The taller boy immediately scooped Marinette up and slung her over his shoulder. Jason was glaring daggers at a smug Damian before waking out of the room with Marinette. Damian waved goodbye to a blushing Parisian, she followed her old brothers lead and glared at the annoyingly smug boy.
The rest of Marinette’s stay was an amusing balance between getting to know the Wayne’s, spending time with Jason, and sneaking off with an unrepentant Damian.
Whenever Jason was around they kept their distance but were caught more than enough times.
“And you eat this?” Damian asked, bewildered at how anyone could consume something so unhealthy.
“Yes. It isn’t that bad if you have it every once in a while. Sometimes the calories are worth it! Worth the satisfaction of indulgence.” Damian scoffed from his seat on the counter opposite to Marinette, who was baking chocolate chip cookies.
“Why don’t you help me? That way they’re done sooner.” Marinette offered, not realizing how disastrous the question was.
“I think it would be best if I didn’t. Things tend to go wrong when me or my siblings attempt to do anything in the kitchen.” Marinette giggled, she thought Damian was great. He was a good listener, funny, smart, and on top of that he was drop-dead-gorgeous. Marinette knew he wasn’t just being friendly, no, he’d made his intentions perfectly clear when they first met but she didn’t want to become a problem. Jason seemed to hate the idea, so she did her best to keep it friendly- unfortunately, Damian was persistent.
“It’s just rolling the dough into balls, it’s not even real cooking!” Marinette countered and Damian relented, getting up and watching her roll the dough before following suit.
At first, everything went suspiciously well. Damian did a good job rolling the dough and there was a period of comfortable silence, the problem with that was that it was too comfortable. Marinette began to hum, softly at first before it got a little louder. Damian didn’t comment but eventually Marinette realized what she had done and blushed, her hands going to her head- accidentally getting flour on Damian’s (NOT distracting) tight black turtleneck.
Marinette apologized repeatedly but noticed Damian was trying to smother his laughter.
“What? What is it?” The Parisian demanded, her accent thickening as she got more and more worried about what he was laughing at. As it turned out, the in her state of embarrassment she had not only dirtied Damian but also herself. She had cookie dough smeared across both cheeks. She blushed a deep red, making the cookie dough even more visible.
Eventually, Marinette moved past her embarrassment and spoke to a working Damian as he loaded the cookies in the oven.
“Oh Damian~” The boy turned, his eyes still amused.
“Ye-” Damian was cut off by a cloud of flour, she’d thrown the powdery substance at him as he turned. While blinded by the thick cloud of white Marinette was able to get close enough to get some cookie dough on his forehead.
“Oh it is on, little one, and I don’t loose.” They spent the next ten minutes throwing flour, extra dough, and water at each other, in a world of their own.
Reality didn’t come crashing down on the teens until they saw the flash of a camera.
It was Tim and Stephanie.
Marinette blushed as she tried to dust the flour off herself, embarrassed that she’d made such a mess in someone else’s home. Damian seemed to be torn between being amused at Marinette’s embarrassment and trying to salvage what was left of his reputation.
“Jason’s gonna lose it.”
“Todd doesn’t need to know.”
“What’s in it for us?” Stephanie countered, using her hand to lower Tim’s hand as he tried to call Jason.
“Cookies?” Just as Marinette spoke the timer went off and she went to take the treats out of the oven. The warm chocolate-y smell filled the room as both Steph and Tim began to drool.
“Todd doesn’t need to know?”
“Jason doesn’t need to know.” Tim seconded as Marinette fanned the cookies. When they were cool she handed them all the cookies on a plate. All but one that she negotiated for Damian to try.
Dick, Tim, Steph, Selina, even Bruce found it hilarious, they understood why Jason hated it, but they also saw that she brought out the best in Damian. It pissed Jason off, Marinette was off limits. Damian was frustrated because had Jason not been so annoying he’d have asked her out already, but watching the second robin get so riled up also made the chase that much more fun (not that Damian would even consider perusing her without her explicit encouragement).
Damian was taking Titus out for a walk on the grounds when he heard a familiar hum, he followed the high, sweet tune to the rose gardens where a small Parisian sat, sketching.
Marinette sat on a small bench for two, her hair in loose waves. She wore a black skirt that ended just above her knees and a deep red halter top with matching red flats. She looked stunning, surrounded by the vibrant rose bushes. He studied her for a moment more before making his presence known.
“What are you drawing?” Damian asked as he approached the girl. Marinette wasn’t as jumpy as when they first met, getting used to his sudden appearances.
“A new design, a dress.” Everyone knew she wanted to be a designer but no one knew she was MDC yet. Marinette convinced herself that was because it hadn’t come up yet but in reality she was embarrassed. She’d heard Tim say they were his favorite designer and that if he ever met them he’d either fall in love (Stephanie slapped him across the head at that) or pass out.
Marinette didn’t look up until Damian’s shadow blocked the light. Marinette decided to tease him and ignore the boy in favor of his dog.
“Hello again, Titus! What a good boy, so cute!” She poured all her attention onto the animal who took it in stride. Damian didn’t like being ignored but humored her, petting Titus.
“You like to design.” It wasn’t a question, Damian remembered what Grayson told him about conversation. He tried to find a relevant topic that would allow him to compliment her.
“May I see your sketch?” Damian asked, still paying attention to Titus. Marinette blushed as she quickly shut her sketchbook.
“Uh… hehe- maybe another day.” Her logo was on the corner of each page and Marinette didn’t want to risk it. Damian thought she looked adorable, blushing deeply, but he also thought it was uncalled for- he hadn’t begun his teasing yet. This caught his attention and curiosity, he had to see the book.
“What? Why are you blushing?” Damian teased but he saw she was getting uncomfortable, he had done it in good fun but he saw he’d overstepped.
“Apologies- I’m sorry if I crossed a line I was just teasing, you don’t have to show me- I didn’t mean it.” Damian was at a loss, he didn’t think before he spoke and ended up stringing together apology after apology. Marinette giggled.
“It’s okay, you don’t have to blush!” Damian hadn’t even noticed how hot his face was, this only embarrassed him further.
“Oh~ Do you need some tea? To calm the nerves?” Marinette teased, earning a half-assed glare from Damian, who was still trying to fight his blush. Finally, he got it under control. Despite the sidetrack Damian persisted, trying to start up another conversation just like Grayson told him to. He sat next to Marinette on the bench.
“The gardens are beautiful this time of year, are they not?” Damian offered. Marinette hummed in agreement, studying her surroundings before her eyes met Damian’s.
“Breathtaking.” Damian complimented, making Marinette blush heavily. Damian glanced at her full, pale rose lips, unconsciously licking his own. The Parisian seemed to notice and she tilted her head upward slightly, only slightly, with her eyes half-closed.
Damian summoned his courage and leaned in closer, they both closed their eyes. Just as they were about to close the gap, his hand was about to hold her check. Damian swore he felt her soft lips barely brush his when they heard Jason yell.
“AH! Get off her! NOPE NOPE NOPE!” Jason was a few meters away but both teens obeyed, embarrassed. Jason grabbed Marinette’s hand and quickly, but carefully, pulled his little sister away from Damian. “From now on, you two aren’t allowed in the same room anymore. Except diner. Keep away from Nettie, Demon Brat.”
Damian saw Jason’s face, this wasn’t just because he thought it was weird to see Damian try to date someone he saw as family- no, it was something else entirely. It was because he saw Marinette as too good, too pure for Damian.
Jason didn’t want Marinette to be dragged into the mess that was Damian’s life.
Jason didn’t want Marinette to suffer because Damian didn’t know how to deal with his emotions.
Jason didn’t want Marinette to be hurt by Damian, he didn’t want to see someone he loved hurt. It wasn’t just because it was Damian, it was because he didn’t want to see Marinette’s heart get broken.
Damian, shockingly, backed off- hardly even acknowledging the girl on the few occasions they crossed paths. He wasn’t outwardly rude like he was with his siblings but Marinette seemed to catch on. At first she was a little dejected but was adamant about keeping positive.
Jason spent as much time as possible with his little sister, making sure to watch movies, tour the city, and just hang out all the time. He also made sure that she got to know the rest of the family, except Damian. And the fourth robin let it happen, he kept to himself and let her spend time with everyone else.
And then family night reared it’s ugly head.
Marinette was sitting with Alfred the Cat and Cass on the sofa, Jason on a chair near Marinette, waiting for everyone else to arrive for the movie.
The Parisian beamed when she met Kor'i and Mar'i, quickly bonding with both. Marinette was quickly dubbed Auntie Nettie by an Auntie Steph and Uncle Timmy. Dick was about to play the first movie when Kor'i spoke up.
“Where is the little D?”
“Yeah! Where’s Uncle Dami?” A four year old Mar'i asked from her father’s lap. Jason scoffed, he was about to speak when someone walked in.
“Has anyone seen Alfred the Cat?” Damian asked, before he saw Jason and Marinette. Damian was about to say never mind- noticing Alfred purring in Marinette’s arms, but Mar'i beat him to it.
“Uncle Dami!” The half Tamaranian announced, jumping from the couch and flying into her uncle’s arms. Marinette was quick to catch onto the families nightly activities and let them catch her talking to Tikki. Jason clearly wasn’t happy, neither was Damian, but on the bright side they didn’t have any secrets. Kor'i and Mar'i were briefly discussed but Marinette didn’t pry.
“It’s been forever, like a whole week! You have to come watch the movie with us, it’s family night! You can sit next to Marinette! Isn’t she pretty? And nice?” Mar'i chattered and waited for Damian to respond.
“Yes, she is very nice.” Damian spoke as carried his niece to her father who gave him an encouraging smile before Damian sat between Marinette and Cass. Mar'i spoke up just before Dick could play the movie.
“And pretty! Right Uncle Dami? Isn’t she really pretty? Like momma!” Kor'i gave her daughter a quick kiss on the cheek, distracting the girl from Damian and Marinette’s panic- and Jason’s low growl.
Dick played the movie and gently shushed his daughter, stopping her from asking Damian again. Telling her she did a good job and would get extra popcorn.
The movie was some children’s story that Damian couldn’t seem to pay attention to, all he could seem to think about was the Parisian next to him- cuddling Alfred the Cat with her knees practically tucked to her chest, her back to him.
Damian took notice of Marinette’s drooping shoulders and yawns as the movie progressed, but he hadn’t expected for her to suddenly turn and cuddle onto his side, grabbing his arm as she and Alfred slept. Jason clearly didn’t like it but Marinette was immovable, sleeping peacefully against a tense Damian. The boy did everything in his power to not sink into the warm sofa and nap alongside her, exhausted. He fought his tired eyes as best he could but it was a losing battle.
Eventually the movie faded away, his head rested upon something soft.
Jason wanted to be mad, he wanted to move Marinette so she rested against him- she always used to as a little girl but he saw she was clinging to Damian, whether it was intentional or not. Jason knew Damian hadn’t done anything to give Marinette reason to cuddle him, finally understanding that Jason just didn’t want to see Marinette hurt. Unfortunately, neither could do anything about it.
Jason also knew he couldn’t blame Damian for passing out, knowing as well as anyone that finals and patrol were a bad mix but that didn’t mean he didn’t want to slap him for passing out and unconsciously cuddling with Marinette.
Alfred the cat eventually woke from his nap and moved from his warm spot between the two teenagers and left the room to do only God knows what. The sudden lack of warmth seemed to stir both Marinette and Damian. The Parisian whined softly as she nuzzled closer to Damian, her legs ended up across his lap as they snuggled closer. Jason clenched his fists and jaw before bringing his attention back to the movie, trying to think of what to do.
By the time the movie ended, Jason was at a loss- at some point Cass left the room so Damian and Marinette were literally lying on each other, limbs entangled as they slept, blissfully unaware of their compromising position. Everyone softly laughed and took pictures of Damian sleeping and Marinette lying carefully on top of him, his arms wrapped around her with her head tucked under his chin. Their their legs tangled.
“Jay, I’m sorry but they’re so cute together. And they really seem to like each other, I know it’s weird for you but let them be.” Dick tried, he’d been rooting for them since Damian started to ask about how to start a conversation, lines you don’t cross, how to tell if a subject is off limits. The first robin prayed to whatever god was out there that his brother would finally see that their dating wouldn’t be the end of the world.
“I know.” Jason noticed Damian back off when he realized why Jason didn’t want them to date, it wasn’t just because Damian was an ass, if something ever happened to Damian- Marinette would be a mess and he couldn’t stand to see the broken look in her eyes ever again. Jason knew it was a shitty reason, she’d probably be a mess no matter what, but he couldn’t help it. He just wanted to protect Marinette. Jason finally knew what to do, but until then he’d let them sleep.
Jason walked out of the room, annoyed- the brat won. Damn their stubbornness. Hopefully it would make Damian more bearable…
Damian woke up with the sun, but for once wanted to stay in bed. He was warm, and a calming, steady breathing tried to lull him back to sleep- wait. Why would he feel someone else’s breathing?
Damian’s eyes snapped open and scanned the room, he was lying in the living room with a blanket on him and- 'No. No. No. Of all the times to pass out, of all the people-’
Damian’s mind went into overdrive trying to remember how he’d gone from sitting with Marinette leaning on him to falling asleep with her. He knew he was dead, but suddenly his mind focused on the even sound of her breathing, she was still sleeping- dead to the world. There was no reason to wake her, so Damian closed his eyes, pulled Marinette closer, and allowed himself to go back to sleep. Enjoying his last moments in the land of the living.
Something made a noise, Damian opened his eyes again. This time Marinette awoke with him, propping herself up on his chest and rubbing her eyes with a tired yawn.
“Good morning.” Marinette froze at the sound of Damian’s deep, rough, sleep-filled voice as she took in a messy haired, tired Damian. She blushed, hard, morning Damian was officially her favorite Damian.
“D-Damian- w-what happe- did I- I’m so sorry!” Marinette sat up, not thinking about what she was doing. She continued to apologize while Damian panicked, if Jason walked in right now- he’d die for the second time. Breaking the family record, sure, but that certainly wouldn’t be worth it. Well… No, not worth it- unless someone brought him back again… No, no, Todd would likely make it painful. Definitely not worth it.
“Marinette-”
“No, this is totally my fault! I’m so sorry. I really didn’t mean to fall asleep on you, you were probably really uncomfortable with me leaning on you like that!”
“Marinette really it’s alri-”
“No, Damian! It’s not alright, I- Jay probably got really mad at you, I’ll- I’ll talk to him make sure he knows it wasn’t your fault.”
“Marinette?” The Parisian seemed to be done with her ranting and was staring at Damian again, she for some reason, hadn’t noticed earlier but Damian wasn’t wearing a shirt. In Marinette’s sleepy state she just stared unabashedly. Damian’s voice seemed to get her attention.
“Perhaps you shouldn’t sit like that…” Damian refused to call it what it was. Had he wanted to be more accurate, and he didn’t, he would have asked her to stop straddling him.
Marinette froze, blushed, and then started whining in embarrassment. Her head in her hands. Damian was having a difficult time holding back his own blush but was managing alright.
“Marinette?” Damian asked, she peaked out from between her hands and realized she had yet to get off him, finally he sat up on his own and gently pushed her off him. They sat next to each other, Damian refused to look at Marinette in her beautifully flustered state.
Jason walked in with his arms crossed, he leaned against the door-frame.
“Awake are we?” He asked, not expecting an answer, he didn’t get one.
“Well, Demon Spawn, let’s just say your reputation is effectively ruined. Steph and Selina got more than enough pictures to get even you to blush.” The two teenagers refused to look at Jason, he pinched the bridge of his nose, letting his annoyance surface.
“I can’t even-” Damian waited for the inevitable outburst, for once. “ I can’t believe I’m fucking doing this- You two were cute or whatever but word of the wise, brat- hurt her and I’ll kill you. Got it?” Both teenagers heads snapped up, Marinette blushed. Damian nodded a mischievous sparkle in his eyes.
'FINALLY’ Was the only thing Damian thought in that moment before he began to plan how to ask her out. He needs to speak to Grayson again, unfortunately.
And with that, their banter and teases began again. This time there was no bribery to keep Damian’s siblings quiet and no Jason to stop their kisses. The young couple went on dates, watched movies, laughed at the put off look Damian’s family would have when he said something awkwardly funny. Of course, Jason was still insistent on sibling bonding, stealing Marinette as often as possible- that became their new game: who could get Marinette for the day.
Of course, there were some close calls. Jason had walked in on Damian and Marinette kissing… for an extended period of time… he stood frozen and watched in horror as they made out on a chair in Damian’s room, Marinette’s hands in Damian’s hair with his hands at her hips, keeping her pressed against him as her legs bracketed his hips.
Damian noticed Jason first, immediately pushing away and inwardly cursing. Marinette blushed furiously and had to stop Jason from killing Damian but her messy hair and slightly swollen lips didn’t help.
Of course, everyone else thought it was hilarious.
As they say, all good things must come to an end. After three weeks of freedom from her class, their trip finally came to an end and so did Marinette’s reunion. By the end of her stay Marinette knew why she’d be okay, from now on she had a family four times as big as before. The Parisian couldn’t be happier: she reunited with her brother and has an adoring boyfriend. All she had to do now was survive the last few weeks of the school year before transferring to Mme Mandeleiev’s class.
I’m gonna be okay, Marinette thought that to herself as they made their way to the airport. Damian didn’t want her to leave, no one did, he held Marinette’s hand while she spoke to Jason who promised to visit often.
Everyone hugged her goodbye or said so from a respectful distance before she passed through security and rejoined her class.Both Damian and Jason glared at the class in warning, they still seemed to be reeling from the discovery that the Italian was a liar. People called out to the girl, shouting apologies. Marinette just walked past as if she couldn’t hear a thing.
And then she was gone. Damian and Jason pouted, they already missed her, luckily summer was right around the corner. They’d get her to visit soon, or if they had to they’d go to Paris.
After all, family is supposed to stick together. And despite their attempts at denying it, they were clingy.
Jason was annoyed, he didn’t understand why he had to babysit a bunch of annoying teenagers. Bruce tried to make the excuse of keeping them safe while Joker was on the loose, but that didn’t mean the head of security of an international company should be following some stupid tourists.
On top of that, his little sister’s birthday was coming up. It was hardly a week away but Jason was already feeling the guilt, she would have turned fifteen this year. Jason remembered how a six-year-old Marinette would go on and on about when she became a teenager.
// Flashback, 12 years ago //
“Jay-Jay!” A small half-Asian girl with midnight hair exclaimed, her bright blue eyes shining with excitement as her hands shot up, asking to be held.
“Alright, alright, jeez I just got back, pixie! And you’re getting to old for this!” A fourteen-year-old Jason picked up the far too light girl, balancing her on his hip as he fished the granola bar out of his back pocket. “Are you hungry?” Marinette shook her head ‘no’, pushing the food towards him.
“I ate yesterday, it’s your turn.” Marinette pouted but took the food anyways.
“Wanna share?” She offered, Jason shook his head. He insisted she eat, and eventually she did.
“Now, I have to go back.” Marinette frowned, “I just came to bring your food. I’ll be back soon, see you tomorrow.” Jason gave his little honorary sister a hug before tucking her into bed, using both her blanket and his.
“When I’m big, like you, I’m gonna make you stay!” Jason chuckled softly before tucking her in again, on the inside he was proud. She was so smart, she’d grow-up to become an amazing person, Jason just had to make sure she lived long enough to do it.
// Flashback ends //
Jason never saw Marinette again, that was the night Batman found him and took him in. His life had changed so much since that night, if only he hadn’t been so stupid and told Bruce about Marinette, Jason was convinced he would have taken her in too. But now it was too late, apparently she’d been adopted by some couple in Europe but the case was sealed and without telling Tim or Bruce he’d never get his hands on them.
The second robin was pulled out of his thoughts when Dick approached him, strangely not at work.
“What?” Dick seemed to get more and more excited as he walked with Jason.
“Where are you going, Jay?” Jason glared at his brother, shoving him off.
“I have to go babysit some french class that Bruce invited.”
“Hey, you never know- it could be fun!” Jason just rolled his eyes at his older brother’s golden retriever-like mentality. They turned a corner and boarded the elevator.
“What are you even doing here, aren’t you supposed to be working?”
“I got the afternoon off.”
“Great, wanna take my place?” Dick looked at his watch before responding.
“No, trust me, you’re the better person for the job.” Jason was confused by that, but the elevator doors opened and a quick glance at his own watch told Jason he was late.
“Whatever.” Jason huffed as he walked to the lobby, but Dick just followed him as he messed with his phone. Odd.
Marinette was excited, her class had been selected by Wayne Enterprises for a class trip! She was so happy that she’d get to see Gotham again. No one knew that Marinette had grown up in the states and been adopted by the Dupain’s, not that anyone cared. The class was quick to fall into Lila Rossi’s trap, it hurt Marinette to see her friends leave her but she’d be okay. She had Tiki and her parents.
She might not have Jason, but she’d be okay. She had to be, Ladybug couldn’t be emotional compromised.
Lila suddenly pulled Marinette from her revere when she gasped,
“Oh my goodness, you won’t tell anyone right? Bruce always hates when people find out, our family is really serious about privacy… but you won’t say anything right?” The class was quick to give their assurances before Lila continued to spin her web of lies. She was prattling about some rich boyfriend of hers and how she’s practically family.
Instead of listening to the mindless Italian, Marinette decided to take in the modern lobby. The walls were a sharp white that went well with the dark marble floors. There was a sleek receptionists desk with four busy-looking employee’s. Everyone was dressed in business-wear so the french class stood out like a sore thumb. The room had tall ceilings with an understated, modern chandelier and rounded sofas. The seating was scattered throughout the large lobby.
Their tour guide was a nice blond man named Mark, he that said they were going to begin as soon as a security guard assigned to escort them arrived. Marinette was waiting near Mark and Mme. Bustier, keeping her distance from Lila’s coffee and her class’ harsh glares.
“Later,Dick.” An almost familiar voice called, it was gruffer and deeper than it used to be but Marinette instantly recognized it.
“Jay-Jay?” Marinette called out, softly, disbelievingly, it wasn’t the first time she’d thought she heard the voice but the bluenette couldn’t help but hope. He caught it and their eyes met. Marinette could feel her eyes fill with unshed tears as she took Jason in, he was much taller with dark hair and an odd white tuft on the front. His face had matured since she’d last seen him, he now had sharp features and a strong jawline, his eyes were unmistakable. He was dressed in a suit but on top of his shirt was a bullet proof vest, sure she couldn’t remember much but his voice had always calmed her and the thought of the skinny fourteen year old smirking would always make her smile, it was almost instinctual.
“Pixie pop?” He sounded like he couldn’t believe his eyes, behind the shock was relief- and grief. Marinette slowly walked towards Jason, stopping right in front of him.
Jason couldn’t believe it. After all these years they finally found each other again. Regret and disappointment washed over him in waves. Her eyes looked broken. He never should have left her, he should have found her sooner, he should have told Bruce, he should have done something- anything.
“Marine-?” Jason tried to speak but was cut off, Marinette had slapped him. Hard. The harsh noise of her hand hitting his skin got everyone to stop in their tracks, even the eternally busy receptionists. His cheek stung, she was stronger than she looked. He didn’t stop her.
“Idiot.” Before Jason even knew what was happening Marinette was hugging him, jumping to reach her arms around his neck.
He did his best to shove back his self loathing for another time, right now he had to focus on Marinette.
“I’m so sorry, I’m so so sorry.” Jason just kept apologizing as he hugged her back, a stray tear seared his cheek. Marinette cut him off with a flick to his ear- he used to do that when she was bratty.
“Where did you go? Why did you leave me? I was alone. And you promised!” Marinette spoke, pushing through the tears, through the emotion- all Jason could do was dip his head in shame. He always promised they’d stay together, no matter what.
“A lot of stuff happened, Pixie. Let’s get out of here- yeah?” Marinette nodded before hugging Jason again, this time around the waist.
“I missed you, you big idiot. You’re the worst brother ever, you owe me a lot of candy.” Jason relaxed at the word brother, even if he had years to make up for it was better than losing his little sister for good.
“See! I told you he was looking into it for a reason, pay up!” Dick exclaimed, that got Jason’s attention. Dick and the rest of his siblings saw his glare and quieted. Damian wasn’t even paying attention, he was on his phone. Tim saw the glare but still payed Dick, grumbling as he did so.
“Go be idiots somewhere else.”
“No way! She said brother! That makes us her brothers too!” Marinette jumped at the conclusion, Jason growled. He glared again, but the tiny person clinging to Jason took the edge off.
“Dick Grayson.” The original Robin introduced himself politely, “Nice to meet you.” She greeted the boy politely, wiping her tears away with her left while she shook his hand with her right.
“Tim Drake.” The most exhausted of the group introduced, he was about to do something to the youngest- whose head was still buried in his phone- but was interrupted.
“Of course the slut has an american sugar daddy!” Lila loudly announced laughing, the rest of the class joined in- some more hesitantly than others. Jason noticed Marinette try to make herself smaller, hugging him tighter- this wasn’t anything new to her.
Jason glared, the boys eyed him- worried about the genuinely deadly look in his eye.
“What did you call her?” Jason asked in perfect french, the children flinched. Mme Bustier stood between the students and Jason, looking nervous but determined.
“Please don’t intimidate my students.” The woman tried to sound firm but failed miserably.
“Then maybe you should stop your students from bullying their classmate, or did you not hear the brunette insult another student?!” Caline didn’t know whether or not to answer but decided to stay quiet.
“Any of you brats insult my little sister again and you won’t wanna know what happens.” Jason quietly threatened, meaning every word.
“Little sister?” Alya exclaimed, “Please! Marinette is an only child, if you’re going to lie at least be convincing! You don’t know her at all, the lying bully is just trying to steal the spotlight again!” Jason was pissed and took a threatening step towards the girl, but deep down he knew she was right, he didn’t know Marinette. But the one thing he did know was that he was her brother, and no one messed with his family.
For once, Jason’s brothers were quiet. Dick and Tim were waiting to see how Jason would handle everything, waiting to see if they needed to intervene. Damian was on his laptop, not giving anyone a second glance. It seemed to Jason he had been paying attention because Damian assumed he’d be in the lobby long enough the take out his computer.
The entire exchange from the moment the insult was given to now had taken no longer than a minute but Marinette was still clinging to Jason until he tried to walk towards Alya again, she had whispered something to Lila that made her laugh and when Jason tried to move forward Marinette released him and grabbed his suit coat, trying to pull him back. Sure the pulls were weak but she meant it.
“You’ll just make it worse, Jay.” He huffed, there was no way in hell he was going to let Marinette anywhere near the moronic class ever again.
“Fine, let’s call security and get them out of here.”
“Hey you can’t do that, we were invited by Bruce Wayne himself.” Jason continued as if the bespectacled brunette hadn’t spoken.
“Oh wait! I am security! Get out.”
“Jason-”
“B! Great, you can tell them to leave! I’m outta-here!”
“You’re not going anywhere, Jason, and the class is scheduled for a tour. Tim, call Lucius. Ask him to cover for us and get someone whoisn’t the head of security to escort the tour. Never touch my email again.” Tim sheepishly agreed, dialing Lucius’ number.
Bruce then turned to the French class as they stared in awe, Caline blushed softly.
“You must be Mme Bustier?” She nodded, “I’m Bruce Wayne, my apologies for the delay, the tour will be starting shortly. If it’s alright with you, may Mademoiselle Dupain-Cheng be excused from the tour?” Bruce spoke in pristine French, the teacher could only nod in response to the older man’s rehearsed smile.
“Mr. Wayne! Can I get a quote for an article?” Alya asked without thinking.
“What’s your article about?” Bruce asked, curious.
“Uh-” Alya blushed before trying to disappear into the crowd, he politely ignored her outburst.
“It was a pleasure meeting all of you, but if you’d excuse me I have other things to attend to-”
“Wait! Aren’t you going to greet Lila?” The billionaire looked confused for a moment before he noticed one girl looking particularly distressed.
“I’m sorry to say I don’t know anyone by that name, now if you’ll excuse me-”
“What do you mean? Lila Rossi, your honorary niece! She practically lived with you when her mother worked at the embassy here in Gotham! Your youngest son, Damian’s childhood friend! Her boyfriend!” The boy on his laptop snorted at Rose’s statement.
“I am not in a relationship with anyone, and I have no childhood friends.” Damian shut his laptop as he ran a hand through his hair making a good portion of the class blush, Marinette couldn’t help but think 'He’s too good looking for his own good’. His dark hair and tan skin highlighted his jade eyes, a business suit adding to her professional demeanor. His shorter, swoopy hair was mesmerizing… and his arms were thick and seemed strong, the veins on his hand clearly visible as it moved through his silky locks. Jason seemed to catch onto her train of thought and hastily covered her eyes.
“No.” Marinette giggled, coming back to reality when the boy was shielded from view. He was as protective as ever. She remembered how he’d get when the other kids used to get close to Marinette, being a little girl meant pity cash from adults and was a solid partner on the streets of Gotham. Marinette moved his hand to watch the long awaited fall of Liar Rossi.
“What do you mean?” Nino exclaimed.
“If that wasn’t true, what else did you lie about?” Kim exclaimed, Alix seconded.
“Nothing, I swear.” The brunette pleaded, desperately trying to convince the class.
“Does this mean you don’t know those music producers you promised I’d get to meet?” Nino demanded, the class began to circle around Lila, all asking about promises she’d made
“And the acting internship?” Milene asked.
“Do you even know Ladybug?”
“Or Jagged Stone?”
“Was anything you said true?” The class continued to ask her questions, Lila looked shaken as her not-so-carefully crafted web of lies fell apart.
“Was what you said about Marinette true?”
“Did she even bully you?”
“I knew she wouldn’t say such horrible things!”
“Yeah, Marinette never would have hurt anyone! I can’t believe we fell for your lies!” Everyone began to yell at Lila, blaming her for all the awful things they did to her. Jason could hardly stand it, pulling Marinette into another hug- she had been dealing with morons.
“Class! Now is not the time, we have a tour. Unless you want the trip to end early I suggest you quiet down!” Mme Bustier was ignored. Mike whistled, loudly.
“Alright! It’s time for the tour, so quiet down!” The tour guide quickly took a head count and led the class away, an artificial smile in place. Everyone was either glaring at the Lila girl or looking at Marinette as they walked away.
“Sorry about them, they can get pretty loud.” Marinette tried to play the whole thing off, they let her.
“Bruce Wayne.”
“Marinette Dupain-Cheng, it’s an honor to meet you sir. Thank you for the trip!” Bruce gave his three younger sons a look, Damian was back on his laptop but was quick to defend himself.
“I, for one, had no part in this, father. They bet on why Jason looked into some girl’s adoption file.”
“And you knew?” Damian stopped typing and looked up.
“Maybe… but you can’t prove anything.” Tim smirked before he remembered what he was going to do before any of the drama came up.
“Damian! Introduce yourself!” The boy who looked to be a little older than Marinette rolled his eyes with a sigh but approached the girl nonetheless, glaring at Tim before looking at Marinette for the first time. His scowl morphed into something else as he studied her.
Marinette noticed his examining her and blushed, but looked back at him just as interested.
“… Damian Wayne.”
“Marinette.” They shook hands, neither taking their eyes off each other. Jason looked between the two teenagers, first at Damian then to his little sister before going back to Damian and then back to Marinette before it stopped on Damian’s- Jason.exe stopped working before it went into overdrive.
As if on instinct, Jason put a hand on each of their shoulders pushing them apart. Their longer-then-normal hand shake ended as they eyes snapped to Jason.
“Don’t even think about it. No way in hell, brat, keep your slimy paws off my sister.” Marinette blushed heavily, averting her eyes in embarrassment.
Dick and Tim howled in laughter when they heard Damian’s response, Bruce smirked.
I’m creating a new project entitled “Red” the idea is simple, to draw characters from all across media that relate to this particular color. This is just a fan project and all characters belong to their respective companies.
“It’s a Supers thing.” Happy spooky month, everyone! I nearly missed this cause I was supposed to be finishing a Bat Brothers animatic, but ran out of time, so I drew this just now in godspeed mode once I got home from a family trip! You can even see that its the same format for Damian as one of my old art and that’s sort of embarassing. To make up for it, I experimented on colors a bit more, what do you guys think?
“The most common ailment of all men, the strange and perverse disinclination to believe in a miracle.”- Rod Serling, ‘The Twilight Zone’.
We are one day away from seeing the second #DamiRaeZine! But this couldn’t have been possible without the incredible work of the artist, writers, betas and staff. For today’s spotlight, meet:
@audieoddity, who will be presenting the #ScottPilgrim AU!
@agentminnesota187 will transport us to the sea with the Pirates of the Caribbean AU
Last but not least, @xxnightskysviexx will introduce us to the 1001 Nights AU!
The DamiRae Zine 2022: Ordinary World’s will have a cost of $10 dlls and all the proceeds will be donated to The Human Society and we’ll have a raffle to give away 3 free zines. Check our feed for more information and stay tuned for the last spotlights.
Tbh i would react the same way if someone hurt my pet….like no offense to anyone but if you hurt someone’s pet literally prepare for pain i have no sympathy for you……
We appreciated the patience and the support for this small giveaway! We had 33 participants from Instagram, Twitter and Tumblr, but we could only have 3 winners.
The names were thrown into www . commentpicker . com, and the winners were selected randomly.
Did you have the chance to sneak through the zine yet?
Remember that the sales will be available for 3 months, and If you haven’t had the chance to get your zine, you can still win 1 of the 3 Free zines we’ll be giving away next Thursday!
Here are the links to get your DamiRae Zine: Ordinary Worlds
“You are about to enter another dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind. A journey into a wondrous land of imagination. Next stop, the Twilight Zone!” Rod Serling" Serling, ‘The Twilight Zone’
And finally, last but not least, to close the artists spotlights of the DamiRae Zine: Ordinary Worlds, here there are two amazing writers that never miss to take our breath away.
We introduce you to @vi-la-vi, who will be writing the popular and amazing AU of #Dune!
And@athenadione, who along with Vi, will write a classic Spy AU with #MrandMrsSmith
Tomorrow you’ll get to read all this incredible stories for only 10 dls! DM us if you have any questions!
“A sickness is known as hate. Not a virus, not a microbe, not a germ — but a sickness nonetheless, highly contagious, deadly in its effects. Don’t look for it in the Twilight Zone — look for it in a mirror. Look for it before the light goes out altogether.”-Rod Serling
Getting closer to the release, we bring to you these talented and incredible artists that are the bone of our fandom.
They need no introduction, but here it is, for the DamiRae Zine 2022:
@catyypsss, will delight us with the Red Riding Hood AU
&
@marudavalosarts, who will bring us with her sweet art in the Nutcracker, Cinderella and The Secret World of Arrietty.
The DamiRae Zine 2022: Ordinary World’s will have a cost of $10 dlls and all the proceeds will be donated to The Human Society and we’ll have a raffle to give away 3 free zines. Check our feed for more information and stay tuned for the last spotlights!
“The most common ailment of all men, the strange and perverse disinclination to believe in a miracle.”- Rod Serling, ‘The Twilight Zone’.
We are one day away from seeing the second #DamiRaeZine! But this couldn’t have been possible without the incredible work of the artist, writers, betas and staff. For today’s spotlight, meet:
@audieoddity, who will be presenting the #ScottPilgrim AU!
@agentminnesota187 will transport us to the sea with the Pirates of the Caribbean AU
Last but not least, @xxnightskysviexx will introduce us to the 1001 Nights AU!
The DamiRae Zine 2022: Ordinary World’s will have a cost of $10 dlls and all the proceeds will be donated to The Human Society and we’ll have a raffle to give away 3 free zines. Check our feed for more information and stay tuned for the last spotlights.
“Time, a handy fiction to explain why everything doesn’t happen all at once. Or maybe we’re the fiction, moving minute by minute…through the Twilight Zone.”
Rod Serling, ‘The Twilight Zone’.
For today’s spotlight, meet MaltiuU (Twitter), who will be illustrating
You asked for it and here it is, a small glimpse of the incredible art you will witness in the DamiRae Zine 2022
Make sure to bring the tissues when admiring @andthendk art in her AU
Your Name
How many of us dreamed of seeing this beautiful AU?✋ Share your thoughts with us✨
To see the full and clean art, don’t forget to get your copy of the zine in MAY 5TH (Our cannonversary!), and remember that all proceeds will be donated to Human Society International
“They say a dream takes only a second or so, and yet in that second a man can live a lifetime.”- Rod Serling, ‘The Twilight Zone’.The release date is just around the corner, but we still have some artists to present to you! For today’s spotlight meet this talented and loved triad of our fandom!
@dreamwalker44 will be showing us the world of #Coraline.
@eevee22194 will turn out demonbirds into demoncats in the #PussInBoots AU.
And last, but not least, Celeste Donut Art will present us the #CorpseBride AU.
In the next couple days we’ll be sharing a few snippets, are you ready to see them?
|| Anon said: may I request fluff with Older!Damian x reader? Not too corny though, y’know? Maybe him using ‘beloved’ as a pet name for reader I am a sucker for that Thank you and keep up the good work!! ❤️ ||
|| Thank you Anon! I really liked this one, I tried to keep it sweet but not too cheesy. I really hope you like this anon! Much Love! ||
Love was not something that Damian had experienced in his twenty-two years, sure he loved his father and his step mother Selina, he had a love for his animals, Alfred, even his idiot brothers and sisters. But a romantic love seemed far fetched. He had spent years watching romantic movies trying to find the reason people found so much joy in them. He didn’t understand what love was until he saw her, Y/N Y/L. She was the definition of gorgeous, everything about her was amazing. Damian’s heart raced as he watched her laugh, her nose crinkled, her eyes squinted shut, her chest rose and fell.
It took a few months before Damian would admit to himself that he liked her, it took double that for him to tell her that he liked her. He had never been so happy to find out that she liked him too, he even smiled.
“Beloved?” Damian asked as he walked into the entry way to the manor, seeing Y/N standing there a duffel bag in hand “What’s wrong?” He gently grabbed her hand “Hi Dami, everything’s alright. Your dad called me after you told him that I’d be alone this weekend and invited me to stay. I wanted to surprise you.” Damian smiled softly as he kissed her knuckles “Lovely, I’ll show you to my room.” There wasn’t many times the two could have weekends alone together in the four years they had been dating, with Y/N having college and Damian having college, working with his father and his night career. The weekends they did get together were wonderful ones.
The two sat in the theater room watching whatever sounded good, Y/N was very understanding that Damian was not a touchy-feely person, that if she wanted something she needed to ask to make sure he was okay with it. She didn’t want to invade his space and upset him. “Dami?” She said softly and looked to him where he was. She smiled as she snapped a photo quickly, Damian was sitting with Titus at his feet and Alfred the cat laying across his shoulders “Yes beloved?” He looked to her “Could I lay in your lap?” She asked hopefully “Yes, I’d like that.” He nodded.
She moved her little pillow she was using to lean against the edge of the couch and his thigh. She shifted so she laid her head on the pillow. Damian helped her get comfortable, pulling the blanket up and over her shoulder “Comfortable beloved?” He hummed, Y/N nodded “Yeah I am.” She smiled to herself. “Good.” Damian moved one hand to played with her hair, raking his nails against her scalp to massage her head and get her into a state of absolute bliss. “Hey Dami?” She yawned softly “Yes Y/N?” She shifted a bit “I love you, it’s okay if you don’t feel comfortable saying it back.” She yawned again, they hadn’t said I love you before, while it might just seem like three small words, it meant a lot. Damian felt his heart flutter “I love you too Y/N.”
*This is a story that takes place in a different world but with the same characters. This is kind of a star-crossed lovers story.*
Raven’s POV:
The cold felt like ice hitting my face, and the moon was the only source of light for me. I was never one for cold weather (being raised in the hot desert with my father). Father is a very well-revered assassin and one may argue the best of the best.
I was a mistake and my father had never let me live that down, but as my skills grew, my father has kept me close to his side. He would never admit this, but I am almost as good as him in a fight.
That is why I was sent here. I was sent here on a mission to get into the heart of our rival assassins clan. Father knew that with my skill I would be able to break-in. Once I got there my next mission would come to me.
There was a faint sound from behind me, letting me know that someone was watching me. I smiled but soon composed myself. It was finally time to get to work.
“Hold.” A voice ordered.
I turned around and searched, putting on a scarred face.
“Who… Who is there?” I said, turning frantically to search for the owner of the voice.
“You are trust passing.” A stranger with a black mask came out of the woods, making himself known to me.
“Oh, dear!” I backed up. “I am sorry. I am terrible lost and have no clue where I am.” I fell to the ground and shivered.
“How long have you been in these woods?” He bent down beside me, feeling my forehead.
“I… I don’t know, sir.” I shivered.
“I will bring you back to the city, where the royals will settle your fate.” He then proceeded to pick me up. I shivered for special effect, and as we neared the city I knew my charade was working.
“Who is she.” Another guard stopped us at the gate.
“I found her wandering the woods.” The guard that was carrying me stated. “I am bringing her in and then the Royals can decide their fate.”
“Fair enough.” He said, letting us pass.
He walked is through the streets, guiding our way to the heart of the city. The castle. The “Impenetrable” castle that no one lives to talk about. And here I was, being escorted into it.
“Miss, I have to set you down now.” The guard told me.
“Okay,” I said timidly.
“It will be just a moment while I go to inform the royal guard of you.” He said, and I nodding in understanding. “When someone comes, you must not look them in the eyes.”
“Of course.” I nod rapidly.
Then he leaves me alone. I look around the small entryway where I had been left. The guard was kind enough to set me in front of a fireplace. The room was a calming tan and there was nothing of value in the room. It was smart. It looked intimidating.
There was a bustle of footprints that made me aware of people heading my way. I moved closer to the first place and leaned in, making myself shiver. It needed to look real.
“Miss,” The guard from before said.
I glanced up at him as the door widened for two men to walk into the room. One was in a royal blue robe, and I could only assume by the white in his hair that he was Bruce Wayne, the leader of the assassins and the head of the Royal family. The other wore royal green and was almost as tall as his father.
Though I wasn’t sure which son he was, I knew he was a Wayne because he shared his father’s looks. I remembered to make brief eye contact with the son and then bowed my head, awaiting the next move.
“What is your name, Miss?” The leader addressed me.
“Raven,” I said timidly.
“Raven, what causes do you have to be in my woods,” Bruce said in a stern voice, not letting his emotions showing through.
“I was on a walk. I was in my town of Lumba'r. I had gone into the woods early in the morning to pick flowers, but I heard someone following me. I had gotten frightened and ran. I became lost in the woods.” I looked down at my hands and shook my head, letting tears rolling down my cheeks. “I know I was out there for two days because that is how many moods I saw.”
“You are far from Lumba'r.” The son said.
I nod, not making eye contact.
“Do you know who was following you?” The head of the family asked.
“I didn’t see anyone. I just heard them. I don’t think they followed me into your woods.” I shook my head. “I am sorry.” I let the tears roll down my face in a show of remorse. Father had taught me how to fake cry on demand and it had become useful.
“Fear not, Raven.” I felt a gentle hand on my shoulder. “You are welcomed in my house until you can rest and recover.”
I took the chance and looked up at Bruce Wayne. “Thank you, sir.”
“You may call me Bruce.” He nodded. “Now, let’s get you to your room so you may get some rest.” He offered me his hand and I took it.
“Thank you,” I said again.
“Please do not think anything of it.” He said, giving me his arm so I could lace mine through it for support.
He walked me down halls, and I shivered into his, which gained my sympathy. I looked around, making myself seem enchanted by the decor in the castle. When we reached a door, he opened the door for me.
“Do not be afraid. There will be a guard at your door all night and if you need anything let them know. A maid will come in the morning and get you ready. Tonight your meal will be brought to you, but you will attend our meals with my family while you stay here with us.” He said, letting me walk into the room alone.
“Thank you, Bruce.” I turned to him. “I do not know how to repay you for your kindness.”
“Just get better.” He said. “Goodnight.”
Then he closed my door and I heard it lock from the outside. I was in the castle, locked in a room. Father had said that it would take a few days for the orders to come and that I must remain in my charade until then. And that was my plan.
I slipped into bed, letting sleep take over.
***The Next Morning***
The door swung open and I fluttered my eyes open to look like I was asleep and had just woken up. The truth was I had been up for an hour, taking note of every nook and cranny of my room. I sat up in bed and rubbed my eyes.
“Morning, Miss.” A young maid came through the door. “My name is Donna.”
“Morning.” I nod.
“I am told to get you dressed and inform you of your plans for the day.” She informed me. “I would like to start with getting you dressed.”
“Of course.” I slipped out of bed and stood before her. I looked around the room and then went to the chair where I had left my clothes. “I don’t have anything fancy,” I said picking up the blue dress I was wearing yesterday.
“Well, that will not do.” She said looking my dress over. “I will call for dresses.”
“Okay.” I nod. “I just don’t want to be a bother.”
“It is no bother. You are a guest of the Royal family.” She waved my worry off. “How about I draw you a bath while we wait for the clothes to arrive.”
“Oh, that would be wonderful.” I sigh.
She smiled and went into my bath that was attached to my bedroom. The bathroom had gold accents and white marble countertops all around. The tub was huge and the shower was beside it.
“Here, please call if you need anything else.” She said before closing my door.
I slipped into the warm water and washed my hair and scrubbed my body of the dirt and filth that I had accumulated over the past few days. It felt nice to wash it all off and refreshing to no longer smell of dirt.
Once I had felt like I was all clean, I got out of the tub and wrapped a towel around me. I peeked through the door and saw that Donna was hanging my cloak and dress in a closet.
“Is the clothes here?” I said, seeming innocent.
“Oh, yes. Your dresses have arrived.” She turned to me. “Would you like me to help you get dressed?”
“No, I can handle it,” I said, walking out in my towel. She handed me a lavender-colored dress and left the room so I can change alone.
I put on my slip and corset, careful to cut it enough to leave me movement while not making it look wrong. Then I put on my lavender dress, and put my hair half up and half down to look innocent. I put my blade in my shoe and then opened the door to my room and looked out.
There stood Donna and a guard, and they were talking. They noticed me and stood up straighter.
“Morning, Miss.” The guard nodded.
“Good morning.” I bow.
“There is no need for that, Miss.” The guard said.
“Oh, sorry.” I fumbled a bit and then looked up. “Donna, did you say there was a schedule?”
“Oh yes, Miss.” She said.
“Please call me Raven. Both of you.” I said to the guard too.
“Raven, we have breakfast starting in ten minutes and then you are to sit in with a few ladies of the courts for the morning. Attend a small lunch with the royal family and then there is a musician coming in for entertainment before supper this evening.”
“Oh, wow,” I said, sounding shocked. “I have never had the privilege of going to a musical performance.”
“It is quite wonderful. The staff is even allowed in the back of the room to watch.” She smiled. “It is going to be the event of the season.”
“Wow.” I smiled.
“Now, we must be on our way for breakfast. We can not have you tardy to meet the Royal family.”
I nodded and followed her down the halls. I was making a mental note of each step I took for a backup plan. I had always been taught to have an escape plan ready in case of something going wrong.
“Here you are, Raven,” Donna said as we neared a door. “Now we will seat you and I will stand behind you for the whole meal so you can tell me if you need anything.”
“Won’t you need to eat?” I asked.
“I have already eaten.” She answered. “Now, please.” She said and lead me through the doors. The table was already full of people and I was seated next to the end of the table, where the seat was empty. The chair across from me was also empty.
“Ah, you must be the fair lady who happened upon our doorstep.” One of the men said, slurring his words together. I found it odd that he was already drunk and it was barely even morning.
“I am.” I nod timidly. Just then the doors opened.
Bruce Wayne came in and sat down at the end of the table. “How did you sleep, Raven.” He asked.
“Quite well.” I nod. “Thank you again.”
“Was everything to your liking?” He said motioning for the servers to start.
“Oh yes. It is the most kindness I have been granted in a long time.” I nod. “You have been so generous.”
“So tell us about yourself, Raven.” One of the men at the table asked.
“Oh, I am terribly sorry, I have forgotten to introduce you.” Bruce interrupted. “My sons Dick, Jason, and Tod. Damian, the one you met last night, will be in shortly. Dick’s wife, Kori, and Barbra who is one of my most trusted advisors.” Bruce introduced everyone around the table in order.
“Hello.” I nod to each of them as they are being introduced.
“Everyone, this is Raven. She had the terrible misfortune to be lost in the woods and has ended up across our border. She will be staying here until she has recovered.” Bruce informed them all, giving them a scolding look.
“Nice to meet you,” Kori said to me.
“It will be nice to have another lady in these halls.” Barbra toasted.
“Shall we dig in?” Dick asked his father.
“Yes.” Bruce nodded.
The cover to my plate was lifted to show an arrangement of fruits, eggs, bacon, and sausage. I am actually a vegetarian and could not eat meat, so I decided to eat the eggs. When I had picked up the wrong fork, to through off suspicion, the door opened once again and the other son, named Damian walked in.
He took his seat beside his father and across from me. He briefly nodded in greetings but turned to his father before I could nod back.
“Father, sorry I am late.” He apologies to his father.
“Training again?” His father asked with a scolding tone.
“I had lost track of time.” He apologized again.
“We have a guest, and you were late,” Bruce said. “You will not do this tomorrow, understand?”
“Yes, father.” He bowed his head to his father.
I continued to eat my eggs and fruit and occasionally would be asked a question or two. I caught glances of Damian but when his eyes would meet mine I would look away. His green robe matched the green of his eyes and they were piercing into the soul.
“Raven, do you not like your sausage or bacon?” Bruce asked after I set down my fork when I had finished off the last of the fruit.
“I don’t eat meat.” I looked at him. “But the fruit and eggs were wonderful,” I added.
“Well, you can’t live off of fruit and eggs and especially if you are to recover.” He shook his head. “Alfred.” He beckoned over a servant that was standing behind him.
“Yes, sir.” He held himself with grace and pose.
“Alfred, can you please tell the chef to repair more food without meat for Miss Raven,” Bruce asked.
“Of course, sir.” He nodded and walked into the other room.
“I don’t want to be a bother.” I shook my head.
“You have to eat.” Bruce shook his head. “And it is already done.”
I nod, understanding that there was nothing I could do. In my father’s place, the cooks were kind enough to sneak me meal before breakfast so I didn’t have to eat the meat that my father was always trying to get me to have.
Father believe me to be weak when I didn’t eat meat, but he learned not to push it with me. It came as a shock to me that Bruce would order more food made just for me. He didn’t even yell at me.
The food was in front of me before I knew it. They had made me toast and gave me more fruit and jams. I spread the jam on my toast and talked with Kori and Barbra about a garden on the castle grounds. They insisted on showing me it once we had finished eating. I agreed, playing along.
I had finished my plate, satisfied with the food.
Once everyone had finished the plates were cleared and coffee was brought out to the men and Kori, Barbra and I took our leave.
“Where is it that you are from again?” Barbra asked.
“Lumba'r.” I answered. “It’s a small village.”
“Oh, I have heard it has the most beautiful flowers in bloom in the spring.” Kori smiled. “I have always wanted to go.”
“It is breathtaking,” I said. I had seen the flowers myself two months ago when I was scouting out Lumba'r. I agree that the flowers there were well worth the 6 days it took to get there.
“Oh, maybe sometimes we can visit you. After you return.” Kori smiled. “You could give us a tour.”
“I would love nothing more,” I said, knowing that by the time this is all over they won’t be able to find me again. What harm is a little white lie?
We walked outside and the warm air was amazing. It wasn’t hot but it wasn’t cold, and so we walked to the garden. They were right when they said it was a beautiful place. The fountain was made of marble and the plants were perfectly placed.
“This is beautiful,” I said to them.
“Damian’s mother had it made while she was pregnant. She was given little freeway with her life so she made this and it is the only thing left of her that stands.” Kori explained, receiving a scolding glare from Barbra.
“We don’t talk about Damian’s mother,” Barbra explained.
“Forgive me,” Kori said.
“I won’t mention it,” I said. “It is a wonderful location, and the sun just hits it perfectly.” I try and change the conversation. I was told not to dig too deep into Damian’s mother, because it would be a dead end. I had no reason to doubt my father on this.
“Indeed.” Barbra nods.
We walked around the garden and they explained each plant to me and told me the stories behind getting the invasive species of plants here. It was quite the story for each plant, but I must admit that this is one thing I would like to do when I get back to my father’s palace. It would be so peaceful.
However, my father would never allow this sort of thing in his kingdom.
“So, are your mother and father worried about you?” Kori asked.
“My mother died a few winters ago and I never knew my father.” I lied.
“Oh, I am sorry.” Kori put her hand on mine. “My parents died a long time ago in the war.” She said referring to the war of the assassins that happened over 24 years ago.
“I am sorry,” I said.
“So, who do you live with?” Barbra asked. Of course, it was obvious from the beginning that this whole gardening idea was just so they could get information about me and bring it back to Bruce, so I played along as if I didn’t know.
“I live with my Aunt and Uncle, but they have left for the season and won’t return until spring so I am staying with my cousin,” I answered. “He probably knows that I am gone, but I fear he does not like me so much so he won’t come looking for me.”
“Why doesn’t he like you?” Kori asked.
“He believes that I stole the attention away from him when I moved in with their family.” I shook my head. “I wish that we could mend that, be he has no interest in me.”
“I am sorry about that,” Barbra says.
We spend the rest of the time in the garden talking about the flowers and then we head inside for tea on a patio. It was nice and my maid Donna was with me. When I had the chance, I ask Donna how she had been.
“I am fine, Raven.” She smiled. “I think I am the one who is supposed to ask about you.”
“Well, you have been so kind to me that I want to see how you have been.” I smile.
“I am good.”
“Good.”
We drink tea and Kori fills me in on gossip that she had heard about some farmer’s boy who fell in love with a peddler’s daughter and had run away together. Barbra seemed uninterested in this news but I followed along, though I was bored out of my mind.
“Forgive us Raven, but Kori and I have pressing matters that we must attend to.” Barbra stood up after a while.
“Oh, of course.” I stood up and bowed to them.
“We will see you at lunch,” Kori said to me.
They left the room and I went over to Donna. She said we had about an hour before we had to go for lunch and suggested that I go and rest.
“I don’t want you to get too tired.” She explained.
“Yes, I think that is a good idea.” I agreed.
After she left me in my room I opened up a book that was on my self. I began to read it, laying in bed. A while passed as I became lost in the story of the book. I was brought back to earth when I heard a knock at my door.
I know I wasn’t paying too much attention to the time, but I didn’t think and hour had already passed.
“Come in,” I said continuing to read my book. When I looked up I saw that it was Damian Wayne standing at the foot of my bed. I stood up quickly and hid the book behind my back and bowed.
“I am sorry, I didn’t see you there,” I said, still bowing.
“You can rise.” He said in a cold tone.
I stood back up and he started to walk around my room. He brushed his fingers across the spines of the books on my bookshelf.
“What book is it that you’re reading?” He asked without looking at me.
“Diamonds and Pearls,” I said, bring the book in front of me again. “I am sorry. I had just seen it on the shelf and thought that I would read because sleep did not come to me.” I explained in a very good lie might I say so myself.
“It is fine. I haven’t read the book myself. Is it any good?” He glanced up at me.
“It is. If you like romance and danger.” I nod.
“How are you finding your stay?” He asked.
“It is more than I could have asked for. Your family has been so kind.” I say politely.
“Good. Good.” He nodded.
There was a brief pause where I waited for him to speak. It seemed as if he wasn’t but then he turned to me once again. “Shall I escort you to lunch?”
“That would be most kind.” I nod. “But I should tell my maid so she doesn’t worry.” I pause.
“I will have my guard find her.” Damian gave me his arm and I took it. I slipped my small hand through him and he walked me down the hall. He was taller than me and he smelled of pine needles and fresh air.
I walked beside him and took long graceful steps to keep up with his pace. When we walked into the lunchroom everyone was already seated at the table. Damian pulled out my chair for me and moved it back in when I had sat. Then he took his seat across from me.
“Alright, let us begin,” Bruce said, waving for the food to come out.
I glance up to see those mesmerizing green eyes looking at me.
