Baking was a disaster. Within half an hour everyone but Marinette and Cass were banned from the kitchen. In her defense, Selina was only trying to keep the boys in line and thought it was completely unfair that Alfred had walked in at the exact wrong moment, ending with him having a face full of batter and all of them very nearly kicked out of the manor instead of just the kitchen. Cass was spared because she’d stepped out to use the bathroom, and she was pretty sure Mari only got spared because the Kwami offered to help clean up. The only good thing was that Mari had made some amazing treats for their movie night since she didn’t have distractions while she baked.
“I want Jason to pick the movie.” Literally everyone just looked at Mari. Jason seemed more shocked than the rest of them to be honest. The longer the silence stretched the more uncomfortable Mari seemed. Selina cleared her throat when she noticed the way Mari’s eyes kept going to the door.
“Why Jason?” She would have expected Mari to pick one of her friends rather than the boys.
“He always picks books I like, I figured he’d pick a movie I’d like too.” Damian scoffed and Dick and Tim actually started laughing. Jason just glared at them.
“Yeah if you want some high testosterone action flick.” Jason’s glare switched to Steph at her comment before turning into an evil smirk.
“Pride and Prejudice. The version with Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle.” There were groans around the room and Mari just looked confused. Dick was the one to speak up.
“That’s not even a movie, it’s technically a series.” A couple people were side eyeing him and Jason rolled his eyes.
“You made us watch the entire Lord of the Rings Trilogy and two versions of the hobbit in one night. You can suck it up. Mari really liked the book and seeing that version will help the mental image better than the newer ones.” Selina just watched in amusement as the boys and Steph tried to come up with arguments. Mari’s friends just seemed to find the entire thing amusing.
“I don’t want to cause trouble. Maybe we just shouldn’t do this tonight.” And that’s all it took to get everyone tripping over themselves to assure Mari that it was fine and they were just giving Jason a hard time. She looked completely overwhelmed by the attention and Selina decided she needed to step in.
“How about we all sit down and get comfortable while Jason pulls up the movie?” She pulled Marinette into her side and waited for the others to take the hint. They didn’t but Mari’s friends and Cass shuffled everyone else along. It was interesting to see how they distributed themselves. Tim, Adrien, and Kagami were on one couch. Adrien lay across the other two while Kagami played with his hair and Tim let him play with his fingers. None of the boys had caught on to the dynamic between the three, though that probably had more to do with the fact that Adrien was always hanging off someone and they didn’t think this was any different. The flush on Tim’s face said differently.
Dick, Luka, Chloe, and Syd were on the biggest couch. Syd practically hugging the side to keep space between her and everyone else. Chloe didn’t seem to mind the small gap even though it forced her to be shoved against Luka while Dick looked like he was about to fall off the other end. Harley and Ivy had picked a spot where Marinette could see them easily. She seemed to be more relaxed when they were visible but Selina wasn’t entirely sure why. With anyone else she would think they were afraid of an attack but Mari had never seemed frightened of them so much as how she would be perceived by being close to them. Steph sat next to Selina and Bruce with Babs beside the couch in her wheelchair. Gustave was standing at the back of the room despite everyone trying to get him to sit.
Jason sat next to Marinette and she curled into his side just like she did when he read to her. Cass was on her other side, much closer than she would be with anyone else, and Damian once again took residence in front of her, leaning against her legs. Selina wasn’t certain what to make of the fact that Mari had gathered all Bruce’s most violent children so close to her.
The Kwami mainly congregated around Damian since he had prepared a tray with all their favorite foods. The ones with holders seemed to bounce back and forth between them and the tray but the others seemed content to lounge on Damian. After Mari told him he couldn’t actually use a Miraculous he seemed more determined than ever to protect her and keep the Kwami happy. None of them had any idea what was going through his head.
Once the show started Marinette definitely seemed invested. She and Jason would occasionally whisper back and forth, Selina assumed it was a question or comparison of the book to the movie. At one point she’d started fiddling with her fingers and Cass had produced a sketchbook and pencil out of nowhere for Marinette to use. The three of them seemed to be constantly in tune with every little shift in Mari’s thoughts or actions and reacted accordingly. Jason would keep her out of her head, Cass would provide whatever she wanted, - though Selina was starting to wonder where the things kept appearing from - and Damian provided food and drinks.
Mari had a habit of forgetting to eat that all of them had noticed at this point. It was bad enough that Alfred had started putting healthy snacks in just about every room the girl frequented and everyone basically greeted her by asking when she’d last eaten. While they knew she was getting meals because Alfred insisted she eat in the dining room, she was known to pick at the food rather than eat a substantial amount. Damian went so far as to basically shove a granola bar in her mouth anytime he encountered her. It was an oddly sweet gesture coming from him.
Around halfway through the third part of the series, Marinette pulled out her phone to check something, and Selina wasn’t the only one to see the way she tensed up. When she let out a sound suspiciously like a whimper, Bruce was out of his seat and across the room before anyone else had a chance to move. When he took and looked at Mari’s phone to see what caused the reaction his face turned downright murderous. He looked at Tim before tossing the phone at him.
“I want lawsuits drawn up for everyone involved in this now. I don’t care who you have to wake up or how much we pay in overtime.” Tim scowled as he looked down at the screen and Selina moved to read it over his shoulder.
“I’m on it.” Tim’s voice held a tone of rage she couldn’t ever remember hearing from him before but her surprise was replaced by fury as she read the news article that was pulled up. There was a picture of Mari and the headline read; ‘Hawkmoth’s civilian aide causing trouble for those he terrorized even from America’. As she looked further she saw that it had used interviews from most of her old class as well as her parents. Bruce was going to destroy them legally but she was going to take Harley and Ivy to Paris and destroy the rest of them.
“Selina.” She looked up to find Bruce in the doorway with Mari in his arms. She was huddled into him but it was obvious she was crying. Okay, she was going to help him with Mari, then she was going to destroy Paris.
By this point everyone had their phones out and seemed to have found the article. Adrien and Chloe were talking in one corner while all the Kwami were huddled together whispering in the middle of the room. Damian was muttering to himself while repeatedly stabbing the floor with one of his daggers. Everyone else remained mostly calm but they all looked ready to erupt. Bruce walked out of the room and Selina followed. Mari was going to need them both to have any chance of calming down. She’d been doing so much better but this was going to destroy so much of the progress they’d made with her.
Isabela: Romeo and Juliet is NOT a love story. It is a tragedy about how young love is stupid and short-sighted.
Dolores: Romeo and Juliet is indeed a tragedy, but the love between the two stars is not stupid or short-sighted. It is genuine and beautiful. The tragedy comes from the fact that the rivalry between the Capulets and the Montagues destabilizes their community and kills two innocent kids who loved each other.
