summary: he needed a way to tell marinette he was sorry. that he was sorry for not telling her about him. that he was sorry for missing their dates. that he was sorry he was the reason they broke up. that he was the reason she was dead.
5.game on | fluff, humour, damian being a simp for marinette
summary: lady noire met red hood – another not-so-welcomed vigilante like her in gotham. you would expect the two of them to hit it off, maybe work together, but it was the complete opposite. it was hate at first sight.
summary: “i dare you to go to that man there,” alya pointed at an, admittedly, handsome man, “and ask him out on a date using puns.” alya finished her dare with a smug smirk.
summary: “oh,” tim quietened down and jason relished the silence. until, well, dick apparently snatched the phone from tim and screeched, “marinette’s a ghost!”
“So, where to?” The thief questions, looping her former apprentice’s arm with her own, on the opposite side of the bluentte’s purse, as they make their way toward the front door where they are met by Alfred.
“Enjoy your day out Mistress and Miss.” The Wayne pseudo grandfather said in place of a goodbye or farewell, holding a set of keys out for Selina to grab.
“No, ‘try not to get into too much trouble.’ this time?” The thief questioned with a raised brow as she took the car keys from the family butler.
Alfred raised a brow at the anti-hero, eyes looking over at the bluenette next to her.
“I am unaware of what trouble you could possibly cause during this outing.” Alfred states, holding eye contact with the bluenette. Marinette gave a nod of her head in thanks.
“We best be going then.” Selina claimed, looking between the Wayne pseudo grandfather and her former apprentice.
“Yes, let’s.” Her apprentice agreed, letting Selina lead her out of the manor.
“You never answered my question, Kitten, where to?” The anti-hero said, reasking her question.
Marinette hums in thought, doing a once over of the thief.
"Depends.” Came the bluenette’s answer.
“On?” The cat asked as she guided Marinette over to the car that Alfred had pulled up to the front entry, a nice and expensive looking red car
“Are you going to be a help or a hindrance?” Marinette asked, making and holding eye contact with her former teacher. Watching how her emotions swirled through her eyes, unnoticeable to anyone but the bluenette.
“Now, my answer depends on you, Kitten.” Selina informs her, not breaking eye contact. The thief knew better than that. She knows that breaking eye contact with her former apprentice was the easiest way to break the Kitten’s, oh so fragile, trust.
Marinette gave her former teacher another once over before nodding. The thief gave a nod in return, offering a warm smile as she gestured to the passenger side of the car. Marinette walked around the front of the car, letting her fingertips trace invisible patterns onto the car’s surface as she did, before stepping into the passenger seat of the car.
“So?” The feline anti-hero questioned, stepping into the driver’s seat with a pleased smile.
“You know, you never answered my question.” The bluenette states, gesturing for the car to be started.
“What question, Kitten?” Selina asked, with a fond roll of her eyes as she started the car.
“How familiar you are with the court.” Marinette asked again, causing her former mentor to pause, hand on the gearshift.
“Ah- that question.” Selina hummed, shifting the car from park to drive, her lips pursed in thought before shrugging.
“That’s not my place to answer.” The thief decided as they drove off of Wayne’s property.
Marinette sat still in her seat, watching the world around them as the view seemed to run from them. She looked back over to her former mentor, who was now mostly focused on the road ahead.
“Just shopping.” The magic user decided, receiving a look through the corner of her former mentor’s eyes.
“Alright. Just shopping, it is.” The thief echoed softly, reaching over, she grabbed Marinette’s hand, giving it a gentle squeeze before releasing it and focusing back on the drive.
The two thieves let silence fall over them, with only the growl of the car’s engine filling the air as the outside world moved around them. For whatever reason, a reason that the magic user already knew of, but her mentor did not, there was no traffic on their way to the shopping district. There was no backed up traffic, no broken lights, or car accidents on their way there. The sidewalks, for a reason currently only known to the magic user, were just as busy as the streets, which was to say, not at all. Hardly any one seemed to be out and about today, and those who were, seemed to mind their own business or already engaged in quiet conversation.
The cat-based anti-hero parked the car along the street, taking in the oddity that was, a quiet and peaceful day in Gotham, New Jersey, the capital of crime.
“Strange.” The feline murmured under her breath, but the little blue bird paid it no mind.
“I’m not as familiar with this city as you are, Aunty. Where to, first?” The little blue asked the black haired feline.
“You. Not familiar with an area?” Selina asked in disbelief and amusement.
Marinette hummed, nodding her head as if to cemont what she had said to her former mentor.
“Alright.” Selina sighed with a roll of her eyes. “Why don’t we start with clothing, shoes, and jewels since those are the closestes. We can branch out from there, depending on where we end up and how busy it is.”
Marinette smiled, giving a nod of her head.
“Sounds good.” The bluenette agrees, adjusting her cross body bag as she opens the car door, stepping out and onto the sidewalk, before closing the door behind her. Selina stepped up to Marinette’s side a moment later, locking the car before safely tucking the car keys away.
The thief smiled as she ushered her kitten into the first store, and began to browse around the shop. Marinette huffed in amusement when she saw a few of her own pieces in the little boutique.
“The embroidery is just lovely, no?” A sales clerk asked, stepping next to the two thief as he eyed their casual but expensive clothing and style.
“Hm, yes, but one of the threads got nicked at some point.” Marinette claimed, pointing to the part where the magic user knew her signature was supposed to be.
“Oh?” The sales clerk questioned, taking out a pair of glasses and putting them on to investigate the piece.
“Ah- what a shame, but if you like the piece we can have the designer prepare it for you.” The sales clerk offers with a polite smile.
The little blue bird hummed, looking over to her former teacher with amusement.
“The designer is currently in house?” Marinette questioned with an innocent tilt of her head.
“She is. I’m confident that she can repair the damage if you wish to purchase this piece.” The sales clerk offered with a pleased nod of his head.
“Perhaps I can speak with this designer?” The magic user offered, eyeing her own design with interest as she looked back over the details.
Selina shook her head in amusement, pulling out a platinum card that she may have taken from her husband without his knowledge, but at this point it was to be expected that she took his card. It seemed almost more suspicious if she didn’t take his card.
The salesman eyed the card with wide eyes full of desire.
“Of course. Right this way.” The sales clerk agreed easily.
There are Bio Dad! Stephen Strange, Bio Dad! Bruce Wayne, Bio! Dad John Constantine, Adopted by the Kents, Bio Dad & Mom! Joker and Harley, and many more.
If one were to question exactly what was going through various gossip columns of Gotham, Marinette would have guessed it was not much, because the new title of the latest issue, again with her face splashed across the covers starring her accidental kiss with Tim was definitely not what she was expecting. She glared at the title in thought.
“Could the latest sweetheart couple actually be hiding something more dark behind closed doors? Seems that this relationship is not all it is cracked up to be”. She already knew that something was going to be going even worse, and so she quickly bought a copy and made her way to work. She wasn’t sure exactly how much digging the press had done as she skimmed over parts because she did not work at the Wayne Enterprise, and was trying to climb the money ladder as suggested.
“So,” Minette says, swinging her legs over the rooftop. “What’s got you so…” she gestures to Robin and his frantic pacing, “…worked up?” she settles on, watching him walk back and forth. He’s so close to the edge she fears he might fall off in the midst of his distress.
“Sit down,” she commands, rolling her eyes in exasperation. To her surprise, he plops down next to her without so much as an argument or snarky retort, which speaks to how preoccupied he is. Fortunately, he stops pacing. Unfortunately, his movement transfers to his leg, which is now bouncing up and down like a hyperactive child who’s had a dozen energy drinks.
His eyes keep flicking over to the obnoxious pink-and-red billboard to their right, with oversized hearts plastered around the kissing couple depicted in the center. It’s wildly out-of-place for somewhere like Gotham—in the few years she’d lived here, she hadn’t seen a billboard before, let alone one that would fit better into her former home of the City of Love. Though, there are bullet holes going through the happy couple’s heads, so she supposes it’s a bit more in character now.
“Oh, my!” she gasps, her hand flying to her open mouth with an exaggerated flourish. “Are you twitterpated, little birdie?”
“What?” He flushes deeper and scoots away, turning to keep her in his sight as she slinks around him, a mischievous grin on her face. “How do you even know that word?”
“How rude,” she tsks, looking up at him with a pout. “Just because English isn’t my main language doesn’t mean you can make such assumptions.”
She throws her head back and laughs, twin braids swinging behind her. The night is quiet, save for the soft clacking of Robin’s fingers against his staff.
“…So, what’s the deal? Do you have a special someone in your life this year?” As much as she loves to tease, she is genuinely curious about her friend’s life. With Catwoman and Batman constantly dancing around each other as some weird form of foreplay, she’s spent a lot of time with Robin. She likes to think them close—she may not know his name, but she’s familiar with his funny habits, the way he fights and the ghosts that haunt him.
He hadn’t mentioned anything about a significant other, mostly because it’s a topic they hadn’t breached before. But Robin is on edge tonight, and it’s from an amalgamation of her own curiosity and concern that she presses further.
He sighs, and mumbles something under his breath, still hunched over and staring at his hands. Marinette leans closer, trying to piece together the incoherent sounds.
“He asked me out on a date.What am I even supposed to wear?”
She’s taken aback for a second, then bursts out into giggles. “You have a date with your crush?”
“Minette,” Robin whines, shooting her a half-hearted glare. She stifles her mirth and acquiesces, raising her hands in a gesture of surrender.
“Sorry, birdie. But luckily, I can help you out with that. I do dabble in fashion myself,” she reminds him. “And I happen to have a few connections,” she wiggles her clawed fingers.
Robin looks a little lighter after her words, and she smiles. “Don’t worry your pretty little head,” she says, ruffling his hair in the way he pretends to hate despite his leaning into her touch, “I’ll make sure to get you all spruced up for your hot date.”
“I’m leaving. I can’t deal with this any longer. I am sick and tired of all the secrets, all the tiptoeing around each other.”
“I’m not the only one with secrets, Marinette.”
“I know. And that’s part of the problem.”
“Can’t we talk about this?”
She raised a brow at that. “Are you going to come clean about what you do that leaves you so exhausted and overworked? And don’t give me that workaholic excuse again. We both know that isn’t the whole truth.”
Tim glanced away, the two sitting there in silence for a minute before Marinette’s soft, broken laugh cut through the silence.
“I thought so.”
“It’s complicated.”
“Everything is Tim. Every gods damned thing is in my life,” she muttered bitterly.
“What about you? What about your secrets?”
“I’d love nothing more than to tell you. Share this burden with someone else….”
“Then why don’t you?”
“Because you won’t share your secrets. And for all I know they could be the dangerous kind. I can’t share because I don’t know what you’ll do with them. As much as I want to fully trust you- I can’t. I can’t because you have a big secret and for all I know you’ll take my secret and run with it and I can’t risk that happening. Not again.”
“Marinette-” he whispered, moving to place a hand on her arm, trying to comfort her or build a bridge, an olive branch, anything. He swallowed, trying to ignore the growing lump in his throat as she pulled out of his reach with a small head shake.
“I’m sorry, Tim. I just- I need a break,” she said softly, shouldering her bags. “You have my number. Call if you change your mind or- No. Just. Nevermind. You know how to reach me if things change. I- Goodbye Tim.”
She didn’t give him time to say anything, quickly opening the door and pulling it lightly as she walked away, leaving the door to swing close. She left, leaving behind silence. Silence that felt too loud. No scritching at the lock. Nothing. He could barely hear her footsteps walk away on the carpeted hallway floor. The lock hadn’t turned. She didn’t lock the door. Why didn’t she lock the door?
He took a deep breath as he glanced around their small apartment. She just forgot in the heat of the moment, right? Of course. She didn’t- She wouldn’t-
Tim stopped, heart pounding as he stepped into the small kitchen. Sitting there, glaring at him, was her key.
She did.
She left her key.
She was gone.
Oh.
He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath, turning away, grabbing his computer and logging in as he sat down on the couch, leaving the door unlocked, a small part of him hoping she would walk in. That this would all undo itself as he pulled up some cold cases, throwing himself into them. Anything to distract from the pain.
————————————
It was two months before Tim saw or heard anything from Marinette and the circumstances were less than ideal. He caught sight of her on patrol being smuggled from one building to a different one, her gag loose around her neck. She had to have worked it off, he guessed by the irritation of the gaggle of goons’ faces as she talked, the picture of pure innocence.
He followed behind, not making his presence known until they’d shoved her into the lone chair in the corner, two of them hovering next to her, while the rest sat at the folding table and chairs, dealing out cards and drinks. He made quick work of two before the rest caught on to what was happening. All of them quickly forgetting about Marinette as they moved to take on Red Robin.
Marinette glanced over, a small smile on her face at the lack of guards as she quickly began working her way out of the zip tie cuffs, using his sudden appearance as a distraction, frowning as she heard the clanging of his staff being knocked away.
“Hey!”
She grabbed his bo staff from where it had fallen, giving it a quick, experimental twirl before smiling slightly, glancing over at him.
“I think you may have chosen the wrong priority,” she called out, pulling the goons attention to her, tilting her head as they laughed.
“Put the stick down, girlie. Hate to see such a pretty little face hurt.”
“Make me.”
Red Robin tensed watching her take a few steps back, looking less confident as two of the goons broke off, heading towards her and she bumped into a stack of crates. Her demeanor changed as soon as she did though, quickly slamming the end of the staff into one of their insteps and snapping it promptly up into his face before swinging it around, landing a few several blows in quick succession. The first goon charged as she knocked his friend unconscious. She laughed as she jumped, pushing off the crates to flip over him, and ramming the staff into his back, pushing him through the crates. She turned back to the rest of the goons holding Red Robin as she planted the staff.
“Still think he’s your biggest threat?”
The grin she got when more goons left him was almost feral as she shifted her weight to the balls of her feet before launching forward, sliding into one goon, taking him out as she dealt a painful blow to his partner, swiftly standing and locking eyes with him giving a small head shake very much telling him to ‘Get on with it’ as she turned back to the fight.
He felt his face heat up as he wrenched his arm out of the goon’s grip, ramming his head back into the other goon’s quickly stepping away before ducking beneath a punch, grabbing the extended arm and using their momentum to throw them into their coworker.
“Took you long enough.”
He paused, surprised to find the other four goons who’d moved after Marinette unconscious, littered across the floor as she leaned on his staff. Since when had she been able to do that? Nothing indicated she knew how to fight. No record of martial arts training or anything. She’d never seemed interested in them either when he offered to pay for some when they’d first started dating, laughing it off saying she was a fashion designer, who’d be interested in her, and even if someone was it’d be handled then. That he didn’t need to worry about her. He didn’t quite believe her then, but could see why she’d dismissed it now. This was a whole other side to her he had no clue existed. A side that his background check didn’t reveal any hints to.
“How strong are you?” she asked, pulling him from his thoughts.
“What?”
“The next shift will be here any moment. I want to get the drop on them. You’re going to give me a boost up. You’ve done some gymnastics training right?”
His eyes widened slightly as he realized what she was thinking. Gymnastics? Yeah. Sure. A small handful of times and only ever with Dick at his insistence.
“Do you mind if I hold onto this for a minute?” she asked, holding onto his staff.
“You really shouldn’t do this, Miss. I can get you out-”
“With eight more goons on our tail making a fuss? No, take them out now. Don’t have to deal with them. Their boss isn’t even in town right now. Easy Peasy.”
“You don’t have any equipment or training,” he protested.
“Now who said that? There’s a reason I’m holding onto this for a minute. Ready?” she barely gave him any time before running at him. He locked his hands together, giving her the boost she wanted, watching as she pressed off the top of a stack of crates to get the extra air she needed, bringing his staff up and over the rafter beam and catching the other end of it so she hung beneath. She swung, catching the beam with her legs and pulling herself to crouch on top of it as the door opened.
“Where’s the girl?”
“Where do ya think? Tha Bird hid her away.”
“Let’s get ‘im.”
Red Robin didn’t move from his spot underneath the beam where Marinette crouched, allowing the eight goons to form a loose circle around him, leering at him while he tensed, preparing for a fight before she made her move.
Marinette dropped down, landing on top of one of the goons’ shoulders for a second before pressing off, the force driving the goon to the ground with a grunt while she flipped, planting the staff on the ground and landing delicately on top of it, balancing in a way he didn’t think was possible.
“I think you fellas are forgetting something,” she greeted them with an innocent smile, while Red Robin tried to restart his brain after witnessing that.
Marinette however had no qualms about leaping straight into the fray, a whirlwind of motion as she leapt off his staff, snapping him out of his stupor and into motion, keeping an eye on her as they fought.
“Marinette! Behind you!”
Her head snapped to him, confusion clear in her eyes for a moment before she shook her head, ramming the staff back into the gut of the goon sneaking up on her, before pulling away and throwing the staff to Red Robin.
“Keep it.”
“You need it more than me,” she shot back, turning away from him.
“Care to share why you need eight guards by the way?”
“What? Did you expect me to make it easy for them?”
He didn’t answer as he got pulled away, comforted by the familiar weight of his staff, the two of them quickly handling the goons, Marinette taking care of the last three as she yelled at him to duck, using one’s momentum to throw him into the other two, grabbing his hand and pulling him along.
She led him through the warehouse, which was all fine with him as he was still trying to process what the hell was happening. And where the hell his girlfriend, ex-girlfriend?,had learned to fight. She led him up to the roof, the cold air hitting them like a wall.
“I assume you have a grapple or something?”
He nodded, pulling her close. “Hang on tight,” he warned before pulling them up, swinging roof to roof for a minute as his brain caught up to the night’s events.
“What did you do to get on Penguin’s bad side anyways?”
“Fooled around with a Wayne. Apparently he didn’t get the memo we were on a break and his goons thought I’d make a nice ‘Welcome Home’ hostage. Put me down here,” she directed, easily taking the shock of the landing as she stepped away from him.
“I’m sorry.”
She frowned for a second looking at him, tilting her head to the side. “Why are you sorry? You had-” she broke off with a laugh, shaking her head as she turned away from him. “Of course. Of fucking course, you’re Red Robin. That makes perfect sense. I’m just an idiot who couldn’t see it sooner.”
“Excuse me, Miss? Are you okay?”
“Drop the act, Tim. Gods. Of course you’re a vigilante.”
“How’d you figure it out?”
“You’re smart. Figure it out yourself.”
His heart leapt into his throat as she jumped, the soft clank of metal the only hint that she’d jumped onto the fire escape. He moved peering over the edge watching as she quickly made her way down and out onto the street, quickly heading in the direction of her apartment, the cheeky call of “No need to make sure I get home safe,” over her shoulder her only goodbye as she left him alone on the roof, desperate for answers.
————————————
Tim threw himself into research, trying to figure out what happened in Marinette’s past that gave her so much experience and confidence fighting like that, and how that allowed her to figure his identity out so easily from a small slip up.
The most obvious place to look was Paris. At the Heroes and Hawkmoth, what went down for those ten years.
The Parisian Heroes were something he knew woefully little of, having been banned from going near it by several members of the Justice League, with special stress put on it from Wonder Woman, all news coming from inside of Paris had been stopped until two years ago when news detailing what happened in and the subsequent end of “Paris’ Emotional Reign of Terror” hit newstands. Bruce had even set up multiple firewalls to help keep the news segmented, as if it didn’t exist at Diana’s pleading. Tim was sure Bruce knew what was happening but kept it from the rest of them.
It was around this time the Parisian Heroes went dark around the same time Marinette moved to Gotham, he knew that much from conversations with her. Many posited they’d gone into retirement with the defeat of Hawkmoth, finally taking time to themselves after years of near nonstop battles with akumas. The already frequent attacks appeared to have picked up from once or twice a week to near daily at the end of his reign.
Looking closer at the timeline, Hawkmoth was defeated two weeks before Marinette moved to Gotham. Enough for her, had she been a hero, to settle her affairs and get out of there for a change of scenery. It would explain her comfort in fights and confidence if she’d been fighting magically powered Akumas everyday for years. Her certainty and calmness slid into place as well.
She was calmer and more self assured in that fight with the goons than he thinks he’s ever seen her, handling herself with ease. She handled his staff as if it was second nature for her, as if it belonged, doing things he doesn’t even think he’d be able to. He was still trying to wrap his head around how she balanced, perched on the tip as if it was a fixed platform. It was almost cat-like.
That rang bells in his head. One of the heroes used a staff.
Each hero had their own weapon, most very unconventional, but a staple, almost a signature for them. Some had instruments such as Viperion’s Lyre and Rena Rouge’s Flute. Many had everyday objects and toys like Multimouse’s Jump Rope, Queen Bee’s Top, and, most notably, Ladybug’s Yo-Yo. Only a couple weapons were found in the cases of Carapace’s Shield and Ryuko’s sword. The weapon of his interest fell into this last category as well. Chat Noir’s Baton.
The problem came when he could only find evidence of there only ever being one Cat. A decidedly male and blonde Cat at that. His weapon, perfect for the fighting and skills that Marinette showed, the baton extending to impossible lengths with him balancing on top of it like it was nothing, yet nothing to prove that there was a female Cat active in Paris for any length of time, outside of a speculated swap though surprisingly lacking images or videos to support it.
That was a dead end.
Great.
————————————
One week later and he was struggling to come up with anything pointing him in any direction that might shed light on Marinette. It had gotten to the point where Dick had “lovingly” shoved him out onto an extra patrol saying the fresh air, did that even exist in Gotham?, would do him some good.
Which led him to now, tailing after glimpses of a cat thief. Last he’d heard Selina was in London, a new exhibit at the British Museum having caught her attention. Although it wasn’t unusual for her to show up out of the blue, eyes on a new prize closer to home.
Red Robin dropped down into the museum shortly after frowning slightly. They didn’t move with the same confident caution Selina did, seemingly not caring if they ran the risk of setting off an alarm or motion sensor.
He stopped.
That wasn’t Selina standing in front of the display case. The biggest give away was the unnaturally long braid that trailed along the figure, almost seeming like it had a life of its own, the tip flicking unpredictably as the braid swung. Upon closer look, he could see that the suit was all wrong, toxic green accents along the suit and low slung belt out of place. Ears perched in her hair that appeared as if they were moving. Scratch that. They were moving, flicking back in his direction.
“You can come out,” she called. “I know you’re there, Little Birdy.”
“You’re not the cat I was expecting to see here.”
“I’m sorry if I disappoint you. I don’t plan to be around long though so no need to worry your pretty little head,” she told him, turning to fix unnaturally green eyes on him, they seemed to glow as she took him in. “Of course you’re the bird that finds me,” she muttered, adding to his confusion.
“I thought there was only one Cat and that he was in Paris.”
“Chat retired.”
“Willingly or did you steal his Miraculous?”
“Are you calling me a thief?”
“Well-” he gave her a pointed look. “If the shoe fits.”
“By necessity not by choice. I’ll just take what I came for and we’ll never have to see each other again.”
“What requires you to steal?”
“And here I thought you were smarter than this. SUrely You can figure it out,” she said, before extending her baton, hitting him and pushing him back before turning her attention back to the case, leaving him to move, catching his breath and close the distance between them.
She laughed, ducking around the batarangs thrown her way, eyes flicking over to him briefly before she began tracing a circle on the glass, batting his staff to the side while throwing a well aimed kick at him, the sound of her claw cutting the glass grating against his eardrums, throwing him slightly off balance as she pulled a book from the display, tossing it up before it seemed to disappear as she swung her baton at it, extending it into a staff, twirling it around as she finally faced him again.
“Now that that’s been taken care of,” she started with a Cheshire grin. “Care for a game of Cat and Mouse?” she asked before promptly taking off, quickly managing to disappear into the shadows, light laughter trailing behind.
He took off after her, trying to follow her through the shadows but the silence of her movements was uncanny. She could give Batman a run for his money with the complete and utter vanishing act, shadows swallowing her up as if she’d never even existed.
He slowed to a stop, looking around as he tried to figure out where she might have disappeared to, not expecting the sudden weight from above, knocking him to the ground.
She dropped down, springing off his shoulders before landing on the tip of her staff, balancing perfectly at ease as she laughed.
Tim smiled as the pieces clicked into place. He didn’t have the full story but he’d only ever seen one other person do what she just did with such ease. The revelation felt almost nostalgic back to the times when Dick was Robin and he made that discovery.
“Well this has been fun, but I have to run. Maybe I’ll see you around, Birdy,” she told him, giving a small salute as she started to leave, pulling him from his thoughts.
“Wait! Marinette!”
She stopped, turning to look back at him with a soft laugh.
“Took you long enough, Tim.”
“This is your secret, isn’t it? You hold the Cat Miraculous.”
“Close.”
“Close?”
“I’m the Guardian for all of the Miraculi.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah….” she trailed off glancing away, the bravado and confidence draining a bit, leaving the Marinette he was more used to dealing with. “There was a reason I was so set on not sharing mine until I knew what you were hiding. The books a grimoire attached to them which-”
“Which you want under your protection,” he finished. She nodded.
“I can’t risk it or the Miraculi falling into the wrong hands. I don’t want to repeat another decade of fighting.”
He laughed. “I don’t blame you. I- I know you weren’t Chat Noir. Which hero were you?”
“I’d make you guess but the magic confuses things so I’ll spare you this time. I was Ladybug. I did moonlight as Multimouse every now and again though as well. You should see the things I can do with a little bit of weight on the end of a rope.”
“Is that an offer?”
The two stood in silence, both thankful for the darkness as their faces turned bright red.
“I-I am so sorry that just slipped out-” he sputtered, as Marinette let out a small laugh, placing a hand on his arm in reassurance.
“I take it you missed me then?”
“You wouldn’t believe the amount of cold cases I’ve solved hoping you’d walk back through the door.”
“I left my key.”
“Did you think I locked the door?”
“Tim-”
“I know. I locked it when I was out or asleep,” he offered.
“Have you slept?”
“Have you?”
“Touche.”
Marinette snatched her hand away with a small blush, realizing it was still resting on his arm, letting out a breath. “I missed you too, you know. You can’t believe how stupid I felt not noticing the signs you were a vigilante. I mean the long nights, the hidden injuries, the caffeine sustaining life. I did all the same things for ten years. I should have figured it out.”
“I’ve been hiding it for ages now.”
“It still should have been obvious,” she replied, shaking her head. “Regardless, no more secrets between us. Promise?”
“Promise. Does this mean you’ll come home now?”
“I don’t know if you’re ready for the chaos the kwamii will bring. They’re going to want to meet you now that you know.”
“I think I can handle it if it brings you home.”
“You’re going to regret those words soon enough.”
He reached out, pulling her in for a hug. “I doubt that.”
“You haven’t met Plagg and Trixx yet,” she warned, resting her head on his shoulder.
“I can handle it.”
“You say that now. Race you home?”
“What?”
“Don’t tell me you’ve never raced over the city skyline before.”
“Oh you’re on, Mari. I have the home field advantage.”
“Let’s see how far that gets you then, hm?” she said, kissing his cheek before using her baton to carry her up through the skylight with a laugh, leaving him to kickstart his brain into motion before chasing after her, grinning.
There was a dull ache behind his temples that just wouldn’t go away. The harsh, bright lights of his computer screen and the fact that he hadn’t slept in almost 36 hours combined to give Tim a headache so powerful he could barely think.
“Sweetheart. Honeybunch. Cupcake. Darling.” Marinette poked him in the shoulder after each pet name. “You need to go to bed now before you pass out on the keyboard.” She gently pulled on his arm, guiding him away from the computer.
“Not yet. Give me… two more hours.”
“No way. You need to sleep.”
“I just need to finish this one program to search and identify every pedestrian walking by all five of Jason’s safehouses, get it up and running, and check it for bugs. Then I can go to sleep.”
Marinette groaned. “Nine hours, that’s all I’m asking.”
“You know how much can be done in nine hours? In nine hours Damian will have checked half of The Bowery, Cass and Steph will have combed through all of Crime Alley, and Dick and Babs will have hacked their way into every street-facing camera in Gotham.”
“First of all, you’re not going to find Jason if you’re too tired to think straight. Second, finding Jason first means nothing if you’re too tired to catch him.” Marinette rolled her eyes. “Third, I think this whole contest is ridiculous. I swear, you Bats play the weirdest games.”
“It isn’t weird. It’s good practice for our tracking abilities,” protested Tim.
“It’s extreme hide-and-seek tag, that’s what it is. Now get to bed. If you get nine hours of sleep tonight, I’ll help you catch Jason tomorrow morning.”
“Fine.” Tim cast one last longing look at the computer before Marinette pulled him out of the Batcave.
———-
The light of morning woke Tim up, reminding him that he had been too tired the night before to set an alarm. “What time is it?”
“It’s nine in the morning. You were right that Cass and Steph searched through Crime Alley. They checked all three of Jason’s safehouses but found nothing. Damian got sidetracked by an armed robbery while searching through The Bowery and was barely able to check a few blocks. Dick and Babs got access to the traffic camera and the video of two different security companies, but they weren’t able to get any of your facial recognition programs to run on any of the feeds.”
“Wait, what?” asked Tim, still not fully awake.
“I was serious about helping you. I don’t do anything halfway,” said Marinette.
Tim sat up, “That’s great! Our odds of winning triple when we team up. What were you saying about Babs and Dick?”
“They can’t get your facial recognition program to run.”
“That’s because I tweaked some of the code right at the end to require a confirmation from my laptop. That way if any of my codes fall into the wrong hands, I’ll know.” Tim grabbed his laptop off of his desk and opened it. A pop-up appeared in the corner of the screen.
[user: Babs requests access for FACIAL RECOGNITION]
There were three options underneath: YES, NO,andIMITATION RUN. Tim clicked the third.
“What does imitation run do?” asked Marinette.
“It will go through to all of the video feeds, but it won’t actually flag anything. It will just run passively. Dick and Babs, however, won’t know that.”
“Clever. That should set Dick and Babs back. Now how are we going to find Jason?”
“Jason knows that we have programs to monitor anywhere where there are security cameras. That means he’ll be staying away from traffic cameras. He’s lying low - probably in a safehouse.”
“Cass and Steph checked all three of the safehouses in Crime Alley,” objected Marinette.
Tim shook his head. “Jason has more than three safehouses in Crime Alley. Those three are just the ones we know about.”
“How are we going to find these safehouses?” asked Marinette. “If there’s one thing Jason’s good at, it’s disappearing.”
“That’s the problem. Jason only has to last three more days before he wins. It’s entirely possible for him to just hole up in his safehouse and never leave.”
“On the other hand, that means that we’ve got him cornered once we figure out the location of his safehouse.”
Tim nodded. “Let’s get searching.”
The problem with finding a safehouse is that there isn’t much to do once a person is successfully hidden inside. It’s impossible to search every single building in all of Crime Alley (though Steph and Cass together were giving a remarkably good effort of scouring for signs of Jason), so Tim and Marinette took a different approach.
“I designed the burner phones that all of the Bats use in our safehouses, which is how I know for certain that there are no trackers in them. However, if I send out a system update, they all update automatically. When the update is installed, it will send back a confirmation to the main servers. I can trace that message back to figure out the location of all of the burner phones.”
“How long will that take?”
“Half an hour to get everything ready to send out a system update. Fifteen minutes after that before all the phones are updated and send their confirmation messages. From there we can start checking safehouses.”
Marinette grinned. “See, I told you that you would think better with a full night of sleep.”
“You were right,” Tim admitted.
“You start the system update, I’m going to make breakfast.”
Marinette left the bedroom and Tim wondered how he got so lucky as to have her with him.
———-
After collecting the locations of all the safehouse burner phones and cross-checking the results with the list of known safehouses, there were five unconfirmed safehouses left.
“Two in Crime Alley, two in The Bowery, and one in East End,” reported Tim.
“Let’s hit East End first, then move onto The Bowery, and end in Crime Alley,” Marinette formulated the plan over a plate of pancakes. “What are the official rules to this game, anyway?”
“Jason got twelve hours to hide. Then we get five days to track him down and tag him. The winner gets to drive the Batmobile anytime Bruce isn’t in town for the next six months.”
Marinette playfully rolled her eyes. “Of course the prize is driving the Batmobile.” Getting up from her finished breakfast, Marinette started putting on her coat and shoes. “Come on, Tim, let’s go win you Batmobile privileges.”
The apartment in East End was empty, save a few rats that scurried across the hallway of the apartment. Marinette wrinkled her nose and she peered out the grimy window. “Who’s safehouse do you think this was?”
Tim fished a half-empty carton of cigarettes out of a drawer in the kitchen. “Jason’s, probably, but given the amount of dust in here, I don’t think he’s been here for a while.”
The brick house in The Bowery was a little cleaner but still abandoned. The little front yard was half dirt and half weeds. Pinned up on a bulletin board in the front hallway was an empty postcard decorated with the logo for Haly’s Circus. Tim concluded that it was Dick’s safehouse and they moved onto the next safehouse. It was in an apartment complex in Crown Point, the seediest district of The Bowery. It was stocked with knives, guns, and a box of neatly labeled poisons.
“Damian’s safehouse?” guessed Marinette. “He’s the only one I could see having poison kept on hand.”
Tim nodded, “Probably.”
The second-to-last safehouse was on the border between The Bowery and Crime Alley. It was small and run-down, but it seemed that at one point it had been well-maintained. The mailbox was hand-painted yellow, with blue letters reading: The Brown’s.
“Stephanie’s old house,” said Tim, realization.
“Sentimental choice for a safehouse,” noted Marinette.
It felt wrong to enter the house that Steph grew up in, so they moved on from it. There was no way Jason was inside, not when Steph and Babs had already search the known safehouses in Crime Alley.
Tim sighed as they drove to the last location. “We’ve only got one safehouse left to check. I’m not sure what we’ll do if Jason isn’t in it.” Tim had forgotten to consider that Jason might have gotten a burner phone from somewhere else, other than the supply cupboard in the Batcave.
“If he isn’t there then we’ll go back to the drawing board, I suppose. But don’t lose hope yet. I have a good feeling about this one,” Marinette reasoned.
The final safe house was a nondescript apartment building: brown brick exterior, cigarette butts on the sidewalk, and grimy windows.
“Do you think this is it?” asked Marinette.
Tim shrugged. “We’ll just have to find out.”
There were eight apartments in the building, four on the first floor and four on the second. Tim and Marinette quickly swept the first floor, but none of the apartments were Jason’s. They then moved to the second floor. Tim quickly picked up on a dusty footprint on the carpet. He recognized the tread-marks from the bottoms of Jason’s shoes. “Second door on the left,” whispered Tim. “You head outside and make sure he doesn’t escape through the windows.”
“I’ll let you tag him,” Marinette whispered in response, slipping down the stairs.
Tim waited a full minute for Marinette to get into position, then crept up to the door. Taking a deep breath, Tim waited for the moment to feel right. Then another breath. Bang!
Tim broke through the door, revealing Jason sitting on the bed, scrolling on his phone.
Jason swore and reached for the gun on the bedside table, but he didn’t get a chance to fully react before Tim tagged him out.
“Goddammit!” Jason threw the gun on the bed in frustration. “How did you find me?”
“Burner phone,” chimed in Marinette as she popped through the window.
“You said they didn’t contain trackers,” Jason accused.
“They don’t. But when I issued a system update, they all sent a confirmation which I was able to track,” Tim said smugly, trying not to gloat too hard.
Jason whipped open a drawer in the cramped kitchen and pulled out the burner phone, tossing it to Tim. “Next time, I’m picking out my own burner phone.”
“If it wasn’t the phone, we’d have found something else. Admit it, we were good,” said Marinette.
Jason rolled his eyes. “Good job, Replacement. You too, Pixie Pop.”
“See you at home,” Marinette chirped. “Now that this silly contest is over, I have Tim to myself for the next two days. No more sharing his with his computer.”
Tim smiled at the thought of finally spending time with Marinette. “Let’s go.”
Every school year started with the same terrible first day, in which Marinette explained to her classmates that she didn’t have a Soulmate. She would then spend the rest of the day convincing them that no she wasn’t lying and no it wasn’t a massive tragedy. Marinette handed out print-outs of articles explaining that those without Soulmates could have just as happy lives as everyone else. It was tiresome, another reminder that Marinette was nothing like her peers. Marinette didn’t have a Soulmate and she was fine.
That first day was harder than most. Chloé, who had known about Marinette’s Soulmate-status for years, had taken it upon herself to let the rest of the class know exactly what she thought of Soulmate-less individuals. “I think that the reason Marinette doesn’t have a Soulmate is because she doesn’t have a soul,” whispered Chloé, just loud enough so that Marinette could overhear.
Marinette gritted her teeth. So what if she didn’t have a Soulmate? It didn’t have to be a big deal. Marinette was perfectly fine without one.
“You can’t talk about Marinette like that,” the girl sitting next to Marinette snapped at Chloé. She was new to the school. Alya was her name if Marinette was remembering correctly.
“Thanks,” said Marinette, offering Alya one of her macaroons.
Alya grinned as she picked up one of the pastries. “No problem, Marinette.”
———-
Though they tried their best, Marinette’s friends never really understood what it was like to be Soulmate-less. Alya and Nino assured her that they would support her no matter what, but they both looked at her like they felt sorry for her. Marinette couldn’t blame them, though. Society had trained them to view Soulmates as the missing piece to the puzzle that was the soul. Marinette, however, felt entirely whole even without a Soulmate.
Her certainty in her wholeness was only reinforced when she was chosen to become Ladybug. Tikki assured Marinette that she wouldn’t have chosen her if there was something inherently broken about Marinette. That was enough of a confirmation for Marinette.
The only person who really understood was Jagged Stone. Jagged Stone - Uncle Jagged, as he made her call him - was the first person Marinette ever met who was proud of their Soulmate-less-ness. He told Marinette that she was just as good as her friends, even if she didn’t have a Soulmate. Uncle Jagged was Marinette’s first introduction to the Soulmate-less world. He showed Marinette that there was a whole group of people who wouldn’t see her as lesser. Knowing that she wasn’t alone in her struggle was a relief. Marinette finally felt like she might be able to make some sense out of her life.
Another thing that Uncle Jagged taught Marinette was that being Soulmate-less was much less taboo in America. Apparently, Americans didn’t put as much blind faith in their Soulmarks. Marinette was shocked to learn that in America, it was common for people to ignore their Soulmarks altogether and find relationships outside of their Soulmate.
So when it came time to chose a university, Marinette applied to a dozen different American universities in the hopes that she might escape the stigma of being Soulmate-less. Marinette received acceptance letters from ten of the twelve, eventually settling on Gotham University. With the help of Kaalki and a phone dedicated only to tracking akuma attacks, Marinette was confident in her ability to live in Gotham while fighting Hawkmoth in Paris.
———-
The first day of class at Gotham University was perfect. Marinette made a few new friends in her Intro to Fashion & Design class and had already set up a study group with them. There was an activity fair going on during the day and Marinette discovered that Gotham University had a club for International Students as well as a club dedicated to Soulmate-less issues. Marinette added her email to the email lists of both clubs, eager to get involved on campus. Her final class of the day was Intro to Marketing, located somewhere in the depths of the Business Department.
“Excuse me,” Marinette approached a man studying in the corner of one of the empty classrooms on the second floor. “My name is Marinette Dupain-Cheng and I am hopelessly lost. Do you have any idea where room… 216-0 is?”
“I can show you,” nodded the man, getting out of his seat. “I’m Tim, by the way. Are you a freshman?”
“Is it that obvious?” asked Marinette.
Tim laughed. “It’s pretty obvious. I was just as lost as you were when I was a freshman. The numbering is weird in the Business Department. 216 refers to the 16th classroom in the 200-wing, which is down the hallway on your left. Zero refers to the floor, which is the basement. Do you want me to walk you there?”
Marinette nodded gratefully. “That would be great.”
As they walked, Tim explained a little more about himself. “I’m a sophomore business major, born and raised in Gotham. How about you?”
“Well, you already know I’m a freshman. I’m planning on double majoring in Fashion and Business. I’m an international student, from Paris, France.”
“France? Have you ever heard of Jagged Stone?”
Marinette lit up. “He’s my favorite artist!”
Tim grinned. “I never get to talk about his music because no one in America seems to have heard of him.”
“I would love to talk about his music with you.”
Tim blushed before asking, “Would you like to get a coffee with me after class? I know the best places on campus.”
Marinette smiled. “I would like that. My class ends at 5.”
“I’ll be at the door once your class is over. I wouldn’t want you to get lost again,” teased Tim.
“Not with your expert explanation, I wouldn’t,” giggled Marinette. She felt slightly disappointed when they reached her classroom. “I guess I should go now.”
“See you after class,” said Tim.
Marinette didn’t have a Soulmate. It wasn’t a big deal. She didn’t need a Soulmate to fall in love.
Disclaimer: All characters are of the legal drinking age of 21
TW: Mentions of getting drugged, losing consciousness, ambulance rides, and hospitals
Tim wiped his tears as he gazed into her eyes, Marinette’s eyes, the eyes that were said to never open again. She glanced around. ‘This isn’t my room,’ she thought, 'It looks like a hospital.’ She looked confused but as she was about to ask, Tim grabbed her face and kissed her hard. “I was scared you’d never wake up,” he said softly.
Marinette still looked confused, “I don’t remember anything. Why am I in here? What happened?”
Loving and fighting Accusing, denying I can’t imagine a world with you gone
“Remember the party at the bar? Apparently someone drugged you there,” Tim said, tears pooling in his eyes, threatening to fall. He pulled her close, head to his chest, “We- I almost lost you.”
The joy and the chaos The demons we’re made of I’d be so lost if you left me alone…
Tim had spent the whole week crying into his hands, praying hard for her to survive. Whenever her heartbeat dropped for a moment, he felt like everything was ending. He was nothing without her.
You locked yourself in the bathroom;
Marinette had felt dizzy after she took her margarita. She went into the bathroom and locked it, thinking it was probably the loud music and chatter making her dizzy.
Five minutes.
Ten minutes.
Fifteen minutes.
It became worse. Her head was pounding and her vision became blurry. When she heard a knock on the door, she whipped her head around. Big mistake. Her eyes saw darkness as she fell onto the floor.
Lying on the floor when I break through
Tim waited for Marinette when she said she was going to the bathroom. Five minutes later, he started to feel suspicious. Ten minutes later, he started to feel worried. Fifteen minutes later, he ditched their drinks, ran to the bathroom, and knocked. When heard a loud thump, he decided to just open the door which was surprisingly not locked.
I pull you in to feel your heartbeat Can you hear me screaming “Please don’t leave me!”
He felt his heart drop. Marinette was lying on the floor, her face was extremely pale. He walked to her slowly and sat down near her. He pulled her onto his lap carefully, like she was glass. He took her hand and looked for a pulse. It was there, but he could just hardly feel it.
Hold on, I still want you
He pulled out his phone.
Come back, I still need you
He dialed the dreaded numbers, 911.
Let me take your hand, I’ll make it right I swear to love you all my life
He cradled her after he hung up.
Hold on, I still need you
He wasn’t about to let her go.
A long endless highway, you’re silent beside me Driving a nightmare I can’t escape from
When the ambulance arrived, a glimmer of hope bubbled into his chest. He followed along in the ambulance, dread filled his heart.
Helplessly praying, the light isn’t fading Hiding the shock and the chill in my bones
He prayed. He prayed all the way to the hospital. He couldn’t bear the thought of losing her. He imagined how cold the world would be without her smile. He didn’t like it.
They took you away on a table I pace back and forth as you lay still
They entered the hospital after what seemed like years. He wasn’t allowed to enter the examination room despite his pleas. He couldn’t sit nor could he stay still. He was afraid. After she was given a room, he wouldn’t leave her side.
They pull you in to feel your heartbeat… Can you hear me screaming, “Please don’t leave me!”
He stared at his girlfriend who was hooked up to several monitors. His girlfriend who was in a coma.
Hold on, I still want you
‘At least she’s alive,’ he thought.
Come back, I still need you
Tears came back into his eyes.
Let me take your hand, I’ll make it right I swear to love you all my life
If only he had been there sooner. If only he watched her closer.
Hold on, I still need you
He will wait until the day she wakes up.
I don’t wanna let go I know I’m not that strong
He isn’t. He knows he isn’t that strong. Marinette was, is, his support. They are a team and they work together. He knows he does not want to let her go.
I just wanna hear you Saying, “Baby, let’s go home.”
He wants to. He really wants to take her home to the house they built together. He couldn’t do that because she won’t survive. He couldn’t hear her sweet voice because she’s in a slumber.
“Let’s go home” Yeah, I just wanna take you home
She’s here now, not home, but she was wide awake. Though she still has a long way to recover, he was very happy she’s awake. He doesn’t care how long it will take nor how much it will cost. He will wait until she’s healthy. He will pay for whatever she needs.
Hold on, I still want you
Tim and Marinette melt into each other’s hold.
Come back, I still need you
They will be there for each other, whenever they need it.
645 words (without lyrics)
This was written for a school assignment honestly. I just changed the names from the original one to Tim and Marinette. Hope you enjoyed it.
I’m working on, like, three different stories at once. But that’s fine!
Send me a one sentence prompt or line of dialogue, and a ship. It can be a romantic or platonic ship, just make sure to tell me which. I wanna do some drabblessssss
Kon trailed behind Lex confused. Mercy hadn’t made the situation any clearer when he had asked earlier and now Lex was exuding the same vibes he did when he was entering business meetings. He really didn’t know what to make of it.
“Dad… in English, can you explain why I’m here again?”
“Because, my son, I would like you to start networking. It is important to know others in the field, both currently in charge as well as their mentee’s who in time will be in control as the time requires it. Having their ear is important for you to succeed if Superman turns or leaves or follow in my own footsteps.”
“And were meeting the bunch of bad guys…?”
“Visionaries sweetheart, contemporary visionaries. We all want to the world to be a better place, we just have… different ideologies and approaches of what that could be than the Justice League. They see the world in such black and white, where it’s full of greys.”
“And I’m here to network.”
“Yes. As its the summer, a lot of those who I’m meeting will be bringing their apprentices with them. You just need to keep on the nicer side of them.”
His dad turned and paused to look at Kon with his sharp eyes. As Lex tilted his head, Kon wish he could get a better read of him and know what he saw, what he really was asking for.
“Just be yourself and don’t ruffle any feathers. If you don’t agree with what they are saying, for today, don’t comment and store it for information to use at a later date sweetheart.”
In response Kon just nodded cautiously like he understood but he was still mystified by it all. Lex smiled softly at him, like he was precious, innocent that needed to be protected from the world and leant in and ruffled his hair.
Kon let out a squark pushing his dad’s hands away growling at the man for mucking up his perfectly styled hair. He could see his dad smirking as he turned back and gesturing to follow him down the corridor. Kon huffed and rolled his eyes. He knew that Lex had done that on purpose to make him relax, and frustratingly as it meant he’d keep doing it, it had worked.
…..
Standing near Mercy in a large dome like room, Kon watched as Slade glared with contempt at his dad. His dad just rolled his eyes at the mercenary’s dramatic behaviour and straightened out his suit brushing imaginary dust from the sleeves.
“Is there a problem Wilson.”
“It’s the school holidays.”
“And?”
“I’ve had to bring Janie’s brat with me. This will give him more dangerous idea’s than he already has. He doesn’t need this kinda influence.”
Kon watched with wide eyes as Lex suppressed a shuddered. His dad never looked uncomfortable, and now it was unsettling as the scarred man seemed to cause that affect. He took a slight step closer to Mercy, who rested her hand on his shoulder, for comfort.
“You’re looking after Janets child?”
“Janie has decided to stop CPS getting involved due to a ‘concerned teacher’ that *I* need to play doting uncle to the menace during the holidays.”
Lex looked tense as Kon observed from the distance. His dad looked around the room before stopping at a pair of two dark haired children chattering animatedly with weapons in hand and blanched.
“Shiva’s brought her niece too Luthor. There’s a reason we all agreed not to have these meetings in holiday’s unless there is an emergency. So,” the mercenary growled, “what’s the emergency.”
“I hadn’t realised that the terror twins would be here…”
“Figured.”
“I have information that presently doesn’t result in an emergency, but unfortunately unless addressed could cause us all issues in the future. Mercy, please take Kon and supervise the youngsters while I discuss matters with my business partners.”
Mercy nodded and started to lead Kon away from his dad towards, who he suspected were the ‘terror twins’. Glancing back at his dad, Lex just nodded to him in what he guessed was meant to be a reassuring gesture but looked more like a wince with how Slade’s rough voice danger as he spoke at the same time.
“This better be worth it Luthor.”
…..
The terror twins were not what Kon expected them to be. They weren’t in fact twins at all despite their similar appearance according to Mercy. The boy appeared to be almost painfully shy, hiding behind the girl who appeared to be rainbow and sunshine as Kon approached. He was whispering in her ear glancing repeatedly at Kon with enormous steel blue eyes compared to the warm bluebell ones of the girl.
In heavily accented English the girl beamed at Kon, putting her hand out to shake his hand.
“Hi, I’m Marinette. This is Tim. Why do you look like Superman??”
Kon blinked at her, his eyes darting between the two and up at Mercy hoping that he’s father’s assistant would be of help as he reached out to receive an enthusiastic handshake. Unfortunately, Mercy just smiled with amusement at him and left him to fend for himself against these ‘friendly wolves’ as she made her way towards where the refreshments were.
“Err…”
“Mars! You can’t just ask him that!”
Tim seemed horrified by his blunt friend, nervously twitching as if he would be getting into trouble.
“Why? You said he did, and it didn’t make sense cos superman doesn’t have a child his age.”
Kon winced, knowing his other biological doner wasn’t completely aware of him and had his own child, much to his dad’s disgust. It hurt that the girl, Marinette was so forward with her reasoning.
“Because Mars, its rude! People don’t like being interrogated.”
“Pfft! You stalk people, interrogations just the next step Timmy.”
“Not really, Uncle Slade says you can use that info to blackmail is the next step… or to eliminate them.”
“Well, Auntie Sandra says the best thing is to just eliminate if they don’t give you the information you need.”
“Err…”
Two sets of almost glowing blue eyes rounded on Kon, their attention now shifted to him. A slow blush started to make is way up his cheeks. He wasn’t used to being so intensely looked at. Especially by two cute fellow tweens. Between the pair of them it felt like they were seeing into his soul, there was something about them together that was slightly unsettling with the intensity of their gaze.
Marinette nudged Tim, who now Kon was there and Marinette taking the attention off him was opening up, shoved her back causing them to burst into cackles.
“Sorry, Mars is a handful.” Tim got between giggles. “You do look a lot like Supes though, you know?”
“Umm… yeah, we share some similar DNA I guess…”
“Ooooo! Like family?” Marinette managed to get out, her laughter slowly becoming manageable.
“I guess you could say that.”
“Timmy? Does Supes have other family members? I can’t see much of Mr Luther in him.”
“Mars!”
“Timmy’s a superhero expert. He knows all about them and everything. His ridiculously smart.”
Tim looked down almost shy at how his ‘twin’ was selling his skillset. Kon grinned at the pair, nodding along as they seemed to bicker and ‘bigging up’. They really weren’t what he was expecting from skilled fighters’ younger family members.
“Why are you guys here with your uncle and aunt?”
The pair looked at each other and seemed to converse with just facial expressions alone. Kon felt out the loop and unsure before Marinette spoke up blandly.
“Parents.”
Kon just blinked at Marinette, her monotonous tone and robotic response was apparently meant to explain everything. He looked to Tim for more information as Kon was just confused by the answer.
“They run businesses. School keeps us out their hair during term time. In the summer… they’re busy people with important roles. Apparently leaving kids unsupervised isn’t allowed so *family time*.”
Tim waved jazz hands at *family time* as Kon looked surprised and tried to seek Mercy or his dad to work out what the pair were implying. He knew his dad was a busy man running multiple things, but he (or Mercy) always made time for him. Why didn’t theirs?
“That doesn’t sound… fun.”
“Tim’s parents’ suck!”
“Hey! Yours aren’t much better.”
“Least I live with them most of the year and they do spend time with me when not working.”
Sensing an impending argument about to break out with the heat in the twins’ eyes and that it was potentially a regular disagreement, Kon tried to distract them. He was here to network and so far, he’d only met these two, who seemed not the future visionaries his dad had warned him against.
“Are we the only ones our age here?”
The dazzling smile that Marinette sent Kon, felt like it warmed his soul. Tim slipped a hesitant hand into his, causing Kon’s stomach to flutter.
“Nah, the rest are in the den. Mars and I were being nosy as to who was coming. We’ll take you there.”
“Tim’s cousins are there too. They look scary but aren’t really.”
“Too you, maybe.”
The pair nattered playfully, telling Kon all the ins and outs, what to look out for, who to avoid, of the next generation of ‘visionaries’ as they lead him to the den. During the journey to the den, they somehow invited him in on a dare/prank they were planning on later. Listening to their plan helped Kon understand why they got their terror twin name causing him to smile as he enthusiastically agreed to help.
……
Kon looked sheepishly up at his dad who’d just re-entered the main cabin of the plane with a towel around his next and in a fresh suit. He hadn’t expected the pranks to cause so much mess and for his dad to be one of the many victims.
“I’m sorry, Dad. I didn’t realise that it would be so… so…”
He couldn’t find the word to describe the carnage that Tim and Marinette had manage to produce with so little.
“It’s ok sweetheart. You met the terror twins. It’s reminded me why we rarely meet in the holidays.”
“Are they always like that?”
“That pair… yes… Wilson and Shiva teamed up once to work around having to babysit their sibling’s demonic offspring. They’ve sworn never to do it again.”
“They look cute working together.”
They really had looked cute. They bounced ideas off each other, giving passionate speeches about the plans, and the back up plans, and the alternatives to that one, and contingency plans. Watching them seemed to give the other young adults headaches but Kon found it amazing how in tune two non-family members could be. They seemed more in sync than some of the best hero teams he’d seen from a distance. The way their eyes shimmered. Their checks flushed with excitement. The way Marinette stuck her tongue out when she concentrated, the way Tim seemed to pace as he thought. Kon loved being part of it.
“They’re menaces! Any time those two get wind of what we are planning, even a minute whisper, all luck turns against us.”
“Really? But, they’re my age. They’re civilians.”
“Those two are not civilians Kon. Mark my words. The universe holds some strange regard for them. They will NEVER just be civilian’s sweetheart.”
“So, is it a good thing that they’ve decided that they want me as a friend?”
His dad stopped and slowly put his drink down and looked at Kon. Really looked at Kon like he was trying to read his soul, but after meeting Marinette and Tim, it kind of fell flat for some reason. His dad sighed and just looked tired as he leant back into his chair as he gazed at Kon.
Kon gulped but sat up straighter, waiting for his dad’s judgement.
“Do you want to be their friend?”
Kon paused and thought about it. He definitely wanted to be in the action with them earlier. Their energy was contagious. Being a friend was something more though, not just joining in. It meant being there for them, like they were for each other. Kon thought of his relationships he had at school, around CADMUS, around Lex Corp. They all felt superficial in comparison to what they had. He wanted that too. To be a part of… something.
“I- yeah, I do dad.”
Lex paled but nodded. A gentle fond smile graced his dad face as he sighed and started to tap away on his phone.
“I’ll talk to their current guardians to see if they are willing to let you meet up with them. Separately. I refuse to embrace the chaos they’ll bring together yet. They may not be the next Deathstroke or Lady Shiva, but I do approve of your building connections, sweetheart. They could nicely be a bridge into a new grey area for the moment.”
Kon relaxed into his seat and slowly closed his eyes embracing the exhaustion that flooded his body that he hadn’t realised he had from the anxiety the day had brought.
He listened to the rumble of the engines as Mercy flew them back to Metropolis. His dad was sorting things out and dealing with work. Kon bathed in the comforting knowledge that he will get to meet the terror twins again as he fell into a sleep.
how (not) to meet the love of your life | TimMari/TimiNette/BillyMari (platonic)
Ladybug and Shazam were an incredibly chaotic duo.
Tim and Damian always sat by the sidelines, watching the senior heroes wreak havoc across their Headquarters. It was entertaining to see two of the main members of the Justice League acting so carefree, like real children would.
“Shazam, you jerk!” Ladybug yelled, jumping on the back of the said hero as he held her thighs to avoid her fall. Ladybug wrapped her arms around the man’s neck and started laughing loudly, getting the attention of the other heroes around.
“Come on! He doesn’t care about this shit!” the male hero retorted, twirling with the girl on his back.
It wasn’t a secret that Ladybug and Shazam were glued at the hip since the woman joined the Justice League a good few years prior. The duo surely gave Bruce new white hair whenever they were working together.
Ever since Shazam got a better hold of his powers and learned that he could say his hero name without detransforming, he and Ladybug were the mightiest creators of mischief in the Watchtower.
“You don’t know! What if he hates me?” she started pouting, putting her chin on Shazam’s shoulder.
“Then he’s an idiot,” the male hero clarified, stopping with all the jokes and putting the girl down, turning around to pull her into a warm hug. “Idiots don’t deserve your love, okay?”
Tim always kept an eye out for whatever possible unusual behavior, and this one was very common.
Ladybug rarely had breakdowns while in the Watchtower, and never on field. She hid in Shazam’s arms and cried until her nose was red and the light in her eyes had dimmed. It was a heartbreaking scene for anyone passing by. In these moments, she seemed so young and vulnerable.
“Ladybug, I was meaning to ask,” Virgil, also known as Static Shock, approached the magical heroes with a sheepish smile. “Are you free this weekend? Maybe we could go all out together? Daisy has been dying to meet you.”
“I need to check with my boyfriend first, but send me when and where and I’ll let you know if something comes up,” she smiled back, wavering a little.
“But Shazam is right here? Ain’t him your boyfriend?” Ladybug and Shazam exchanged a look before faking throwing up.
“Ew! No! Gods, no!” she denied, just as Shazam motioned between them and made a giant ‘X’ with his arms. “I would never date him! He’s practically my brother!”
“But we thought…” Ladybug cut Virgil’s speech with a move of wrist.
“Shazam and I? Never gonna happen. I’ll let you know later if my boyfriend and I can go. What if all of us visit Paris? I’m sure using the Zeta Tubes for fun for once won’t kill anyone,” she offered, kindly. Her light was slowly returning.
“That would be nice. Thanks!” Virgil bid them goodbye before leaving for his own hometown. Ladybug didn’t take long to leave the Watchtower either.
~~~~~~
“Long day?” Tim greeted his girlfriend as soon as he set his foot in his penthouse, getting rid of his gear and walking in the direction of the living room.
The woman with pitch-black hair and ocean blue eyes blinked slowly in his direction, barely awake from a nap.
“Long, long day,” she mumbled, feeling as Tim laid by her side on the couch and brought her body flush against his, both in thin pajamas and feeling too lazy to go to their shared room. “Why do they think I date Billy?” she mumbled against his chest. Tim absentmindedly started caressing her hair.
“Probably because you’re attached to the hip.” he teased, kissing her head. Marinette lifted her head and huffed.
“We are siblings!” she whined, earning a kiss on her forehead and a set of giggles from her boyfriend.
“Yeah, but no one knows that. Not even Bruce noticed yet! You guys deceived the whole Justice League without making any effort,” he pulled a throw blanket from the ottoman by the side of their couch and dropped it over their bodies. “But what really matters is that I know who you sleep with and whine over coffee to. I don’t care if they don’t know about us. Not even the slightest,” Marinette giggled against his chest, closing her eyes while letting Tim shield her mind from all the worries.
To the people that want to dress their characters with pictures in their Maribat fics (preferably girls but I do boys too) @ me I’m bored and don’t wanna study anymore.
Tim rubbed his throbbing head as he made his way to Dick’s apartment. It had been a ridiculously long night. He left the Justice League party at the Watchtower early to patrol pretty much by himself. Jason and Stephanie were on duty too but they were enjoying the night with the random revelers they found instead of actually patrolling. And that wouldn’t have been so bad except they had missed an attack which hit the Wayne Enterprises building. The culprits hadn’t gotten anything too valuable, just a few computers at the front desk, but Tim had to go in early to assess the damage, talk to the police, implement temporary protection, and start planning repairs.
All of which meant Tim hadn’t slept in quite a while, which wasn’t unusual, but this time it wasn’t for something he had fixated on. It was outside influences preventing him from sleep, which was entirely different, and caused significantly worse effects. Still, Tim didn’t regret it. He would rather be patrolling by himself and running on no sleep than in a crowd of people kissing their significant others and giving him sympathetic looks. He didn’t need the looks. He wasn’t dating right now because he didn’t want to be. He certainly wasn’t going to start dating someone just to not be alone. He was already so busy he hardly got any sleep and he hadn’t found anyone worth giving up what little sleep he got.
But right now, he just needed to drop off a few things for Dick and crash in the spare room so he could finally sleep. He made it to the door and started fishing in his pocket for the spare key. After a few seconds of searching, his entire body froze. It was hard to make out the voices but he could hear the words. “What do you think you are doing, young lady? You get back here right now and take your punishment.”
Time was passing by. Every second, every minute, every hour, every month, every year. Nothing was changing, things never seemed to get better, things only got worse. Failure whispered a part of her mind that seemed so aware yet never caring of the time that slipped by. This wasn’t her fault, but it still felt like it, because even though she herself wasn’t terrorizing the people, she could never truly end the reign of the man who was. Things were dark and bleak and she just lost herself. She lost herself to the ever increasing noise, the silence, the void that was ever consuming her whole. What was there to fight for anymore when nothing would ever change, but the need to defend her home was the only thing that pushed her.
Marinette knew she was dying, she had known it for a very long time. There was only so much strain a body can sustain from the heavy load of magic she wore on a daily basis before her body began to shut down on its own. Maybe if her partner was her true balanced soul then she could recover and continue on with her life, but he wasn’t. The imbalance of their partnership continued to grow larger causing the slow intensity to continue.
It was never like anyone truly cared though. No, only her family knew about her condition, or rather they knew that their only daughter was slowly dying of a mysterious never before seen disease that had no cure. Some days the pain was bearable enough that she could walk around the house with little trouble and attend school. On the worst of days, days that were becoming more and more frequent, she couldn’t even move her finger without crying out in pain. But in the end, it never mattered how she felt, because everyday there was a new threat and everyday she would use the mouse to duplicate herself and use the other miraculous to take down the akuma and/or amok. Often she wouldn’t be able to heal herself completely due to the amount of damage that was done, using up all of her healing ability to revive the people.
“Marinette,”
Tikki whispered into her ear softly. Her voice was pained and full of sorrow, her eyes watery as she watched her little bug fall victim to a fate that she did not deserve at the hands of selfish and despicable human beings.
“Yes Tikki?”
Marinette asked in a breathless whimper. Her eyes were shut so tightly, trying to will the pain that plagued her to just go away.
“I-I…I’m sorry that this is happening. I-no, we,”
She said motioning to the other kwamii around her,
“Will find a way to help you, I promise.”
Marinette gave a small chuckle at that, the hope and belief that she would be healed long since faded. The hope was replaced with an endless misery, depression, and pain that no pill or supplement could ever hope to relieve. Before she could respond though a soft knock was heard from her trapdoor, the sound causing all of the kwamii to hide back in the Miracle Box.
“Marinette dear, someone is here to see you.”
Sabine said gently as she slowly lifted the trap door.
“Do you think you are up for that, if not we can wait.”
Marinette did not want to talk to anyone, but there was a pulling in her chest telling her to do so.
“It’s okay mama. You can send them in.”
A young boy slightly older than her walked into the room and cautiously looked around. Slowly Marinette opened her eyes and watched as he slowly walked towards her, his feet never making a single sound.
“Hello, I’m Timothy Drake, but you can call me Tim.”
He said softly, his voice almost a reverent whisper. His eyes were a bright blue, they almost seemed to glow in the dimness of her room as only a single lamp was lit.
“Marinette.”
She muttered, speaking hurt so it was always best for her to be brief.
She didn’t reply, merely watching him. He continued,
“You see, I’m the CEO of Drake Industries, a medical corporation, and we heard about your case. I want to help you find out what’s wrong and help you.”
Marinette huffed a breath in tired annoyance. She was sick and tired of this never ending cycle of people “wanting to help her heal”. No one would ever be successful, it was her own fault she was like this, and if it wouldn’t have caused her excruciating torment then she would have turned on her other side and ignored the man.
Tim gave a small sad smile at her obvious annoyance.
“I bet you hear that phrase a lot, huh?”
A small nod.
“You don’t believe that you’ll survive this, do you?”
A miniscule shake. Tim nodded as if he understood, his ever bright gaze gleaming with an acute awareness that showed he was taking in every bit of information no matter how small it was.
“Well, what if we make a little bargain?”
A raised brow.
“If I can’t heal you, I will do whatever you want and I will pay for everything that your family may need.”
A pause.
“If I can indeed heal you, all I ask is that I get one dessert made by you.”
Marinette was honestly quite surprised. She had expected many things from having to pay money or being some kind of publicity token, she had not expected something so simple. But even if it was something like that, it’s not that she was actually going to live to be able to do it. So with a simple nod, the deal was made. Tim gave her a small smile and returned the nod, he didn’t even reach for her hand knowing that it would cause her pain to even be touched.
“Alright Marinette, I’ll be back tomorrow.”
And with that he stood up and just as quietly as he came, he left. The pain seemed to dull a little, as if his presence eased the pain, but the longer he was gone, the more intense the pain became once again.
Marinette couldn’t even sleep because the pain was so bad. It flared up with every agonizing breath she took.
“Marinette!”
Whispered a frantic almost gravelly voice. The scent of camembert cheese alerted her that the source was Plagg. Marinette hummed questioningly when she felt a small weight on her stomach. Slowly Marinette peeled her eyes open and saw Plagg with a melancholy look, and a silver ring.
“He won’t be able to do anymore damage to you now. I promise that I will find the right person. You’ll get better, we’ll make sure of it.”
A small smile spread across Marinette’s lips, a small weight lifted from her shoulders. A new Cat, a real partner, real balance. Who knows, maybe she would get better, even if it wasn’t actually through Tim.
Tim turned sharply as a dark blurr flew past him. He twisted and turned looking for the source of the obscure flash.
“Hey kid.”
A voice said from behind him which caused Tim to turn quickly and fall into a defensive stance. He just wanted to help this girl heal and find out about this disease so he could know the best way to heal it. Was that really too much to ask for? When he looked up he was shocked to see a small floating black cat with glowing emerald green eyes.
“How much do you really want to help that girl?”
Tim was shocked, but shook his head. He was probably hallucinating, it was his subconscious testing him, so he easily responded,
“I’m going to do whatever it takes to help her.”
The cat flashed him a small smile and dropped a black and green ring into his hand. Only when it landed in his palm did it change into a thin silver single banded ring with a barely noticeable vinyl pattern wrapped around it.
“I’m going to hold you up to that, because she needs you now more than she’s ever needed anyone ever before.”
Business and personal lives should not be mixed. Marinette knew this. That was especially true when helping guide people’s personal lives was your business. That wasn’t an issue for her though. She did what she could to help those who came in, but she herself was not a candidate for a matchmaking service. Usually the people she assisted had valid reasons for not being able to meet people on their own without fear of deception. Often the clients were people who were concerned about the type of person who would be interested in them without knowing them. But here and there, some people had just never gotten good at maintaining a connection with people after they met.
She offered her services all over but she was currently operating out of Gotham. She would travel to meet people when it was necessary, she did do far better with matching after an in person interview. But today, she had a walk-in appointment. That was highly unusual. She would generally talk to someone several times before having an in person meeting.
She had the man wait for a few minutes while she got organized. He looked much younger than the usual clients, especially for a male client. They tended to wait on looking for a match while the women flocked in hoping to be matched with the type of older man who would shower them with gifts. Marinette tried to steer away from those women as serious matches as much as possible. She had a rather intense line of questioning that would filter out a lot of them from the serious matches. The rest was little more than a dating service. She didn’t love it, but it paid the bills.
“What brings you in today?” Marinette asked the man, once he was seated before her.
“Well, I guess I’m looking for love. Isn’t that what a matchmaker does?”
Tim looked down at his phone. He would have ignored it while driving but it was the tone he used for Marinette. He had just left her place so he looked at the message at the next light. It actually almost got him. But he had seen it before. Sent a picture of his phone, very clearly on her table.
‘You forgot your phone’ the message read.
If he hadn’t seen this prank before he probably would have fallen for it and turned around to go get it.
‘Ha!’ he sent back
‘Good thing I can message with magic now’
‘You’re no fun!’
It was a few minutes later when he pulled back up in front of her place. He could hear her call that she was on the way after he knocked at the door. She was definitely shocked to see him. But quickly recovered with a bright smile.
“You didn’t fall for my prank. You know you didn’t forget your phone,“ she said.
“I forgot something else,” he responded.
He pulled her against him and kissed her. She melted into him as he pushed her the rest of the way inside and closed the door. He was going to be late for patrol tonight but he didn’t care.
It had been months of back and forth. Marinette and Tim were rarely on the same continent, let alone in the same location. Usually they were too busy to notice. They had managed sporadic video calls but it was not enough. They craved being together. The video calls did not give them the closeness they needed.
She had been told to stay where she was; they needed her to be there and accessible at all times. Even though she had been using the horse miraculous, they wanted her immediately available if issues came up and not a portal away.
Tim had a similar issue where he was. The mission and research were on going. His time schedule was even more sporadic than Marinette’s. She had a lot more down time in the evenings and they would meet on video calls as they were able. They had been chatting online but the long distance video calls were just not the same. So she improved it.
She missed him so much so she devised a plan. She made sure to check that nothing was going down in either location before implementing it. Tim just about jumped out of his skin when she appeared before him. She made the portal come out just where her face was on his screen. But as per her instructions she didn’t go through. She was right where she was expected to be but she could reach through the portal and touch him.
As soon as he got over his shock, he reached out his hand to hers and intertwined their fingers. He kissed her hand and wrist. He moved for her arm next but she had waited too long. She pulled him to her and kissed him soundly. She had to make sure that neither one moved too far forward. They could touch but they could not move through the portal. She closed her eyes and hummed as he moved his hands through her hair. She pushed her tongue at his lips and he opened to her, deepening the kiss.
She pushed herself into his chest and nearly fell through, causing them to break apart. When he steadied her, he traced her face and neck before leaning to her for another kiss. They pulled apart when someone knocked before entering his room. She didn’t think they saw them bending the rules. It was just a quick tap and a call to let him know they had a mission. He pulled away reluctantly but she pulled him back for one more heated kiss before she pulled back and closed the portal. She took off her glasses and flopped back into the bed. She really hated long distance.
Marinette landed on the roof. She stalked towards the man before her. She could sense his heartbeat getting faster. He stepped back towards the wall even though he wasn’t scared. He found the thought of her approaching him thrilling.
“You aren’t running away. You don’t think I’m a threat?” she asked.
“You could be. But I don’t think you would do anything to cause me harm,” Tim responded.
She pushed against him until he was against the wall and leaned close.
“Maybe the risk is what makes it fun for you,“ she said with a coquettish smirk.
“It isn’t just the risk,” he said. “It is you.”
She extended her fangs and sank them into the base of his neck. He gasped next her ear and his fingers dug into her hip. She held him close, tilting his head to the side with her hand tugging at his hair while she continued biting down. Their moans mixed together. She pulled away and he kissed her neck in the same spot.
When she moved back to her bite, he pushed back against her. Tim shook her slightly. Marinette looked around, confused. His hair was messy and he appeared to have just woken up in their bed.
“What were you dreaming about? You are going to leave a permanent mark soon.” Tim said, smiling.
Marinette looked down at the spot on his neck. It was definitely filling with color already. She kissed the spot and then turned to meet Tim’s kisses. She pulled away to respond.
“I was dreaming that I was a vampire and you were my prey.”
He laughed at her and she pushed her face into his chest. Her hair spilled all over. She moved up to kiss him again, but veered away at the last second to sink her teeth gently into his neck. He moaned just like he had in her dream.
Marinette raced to the hospital. No one would tell her anything over the phone. She wasn’t even sure how she had managed to become Tim’s emergency contact but still not be allowed to be told anything. She went to the emergency desk and they led her to a waiting room but still nothing. Why would they bother to call her if they would only tell family what was happening? She had tried with every person at the desk, but no one would tell her anything.
She called Alfred to find out if anyone had shown up yet to find out that no one else had been called. She suspected there was a buzz of activity on their phones back and forth before she received a call back. Alfred called back eight minutes later letting her know the expected arrival time of everyone and that Bruce was on the phone with the desk personally to find out more about what had happened. She was approached by a nurse, she hung up the phone and followed them to a room.
They weren’t to the room yet when she got confirmation that he was alive and conscious. He was singing, loudly. The nurse checked vitals when they arrived at the room and then went over his condition. Tim had very little interest in hearing about himself anymore.
“You already said all that. Didn’t you?” he looked over at Marinette. “Check out my girlfriend. Isn’t she great.”
“She is very great. She has been worried about you.”
“Tim, I need to know what happened. Your family didn’t even get the call that you were here.” Marinette said.
“Oh yeah. I was mugged. Do not recommend. It sucks.”
“Did they hit you? What was hurt?”
“They wanted all my valuables but that wasn’t going to happen.”
“I would much rather have you safe than worry about things. Things don’t matter, you do.”
He smiled goofily and shifted around.
“See that is why I love you. You just want what is best for me.” He turned to the nurse. “She doesn’t know yet that I’m going to ask her to marry me. That’s why I had to keep the ring. We have a reservation.”
Marinette slapped a hand over her mouth as she gasped. He had opened the box to show the nurse. She suspected he had been excitedly showing all his friends.
“Sorry Dear,” the nurse said, “You have a concussion. You have to stay overnight for observation.”
“You are going to ask me to marry you?” Marinette asked.
“Way to ruin the surprise. This was supposed to be in the dessert.” He paused. “Can I get some jello to put this in?”
The nurse walked off, laughing at him, Marinette wasn’t sure if he would end up with the Jello. She didn’t care though. She leaned over to kiss him, being careful not to put weight anywhere she thought he might be injured. She turned when there was laughing behind her to see his whole family there.
“Marinette and I are getting married!” Tim shouted. “We are having jello.”
They had planned ahead since the last time Bruce’s plans to be out of town had been cancelled at the last minute. This time they had very little notice. They had to gather everyone and the supplies so they could be finished before it was dark and patrol started. Marinette and Tim had come from Wayne Enterprises and stopped for food. Dick had gone to get the supplies. Stephanie had made sure everyone was on the way. The rules were simple. They had 2 hours and a marker. No suits or equipment allowed. They had to kill or be killed by putting an X on the back of the neck. Most kills or last one standing was the winner.
Marinette moved quickly as soon as the game started. She could tell Tim had lunged for her but she was already climbing the fire escape. She had been in sneakers so she had a bit of an advantage over his slick work shoes. She saw him rush off after. There was a lot of noise coming from Dick and Jason. Jason had rushed Dick immediately but Dick flipped away. Steph and Cass tried to back Jason in the corner but he jumped the fence and ran off.
Ok so I’ve had this idea for a while now (maybe longer than a while but meh!) but never been sure what I wanted to do with it and well this prompt is just too ideal not to utilise it, so yay, it’s now out my head and something else will no doubt come and take its place. Plus, it has been my favourite prompt to write for timari January.
…………………………………….
Tim watched as the pair of girls seemed completely focused on the exhibit in front of them. It was the one he wanted to review in his search for Bruce, but they seemed to occupy all the space possible while the darked hair one was making frantic notes. He’d seen them giving the illusion of meandering around the Louve, but it held a determinism like the knew what they were searching for.
The worrying thing was though for him, was that they seemed to be aiming for the majority of exhibit’s he wanted to check out, so in the pretence of wondering aimlessly around the museum as well, Tim followed them.
“Mars, are you sure about this?”
“Alix, look – it’s as clear as day. I just don’t understand why?”
“I get it. It does look more than a coincidence. But couldn’t it be just like, a fluke… a chance?”
“They all match!! You’ve seen the other ciphers! Why?! Who is he? Why ‘her’? That particular ‘pair’? And not the others?”
“Why are you asking me Mars? Surely Alya is better at this sort of stuff. She wants to be the investigative reporter isn’t this her thing?”
“The fact she’s a conspiracy nut and would create a crazy plan and… you have a fair greater understanding of history and ‘heirlooms’ what with your birthday watch… plus the fact you can get me into the exhibits much easier than her.”
An almost unspoken understanding seemed to pass between the pair.
“Ok. Let’s get you a coffee and you explain to me your logic and I can see if I can talk to dad”
“Thank you, thank you, thank you!! You won’t regret this!”
Tim watched as Mars sent Alix a dazzling energetic grin. It was almost unnatural the way the room lightened with her enthusiasm as she bounced on the spot as her friend agreed.
Finally Tim and Marinette had a night off together. It was the first night they had in months. Neither one had work or to rush off for a meeting. They took the morning tomorrow off so they could not have to worry about anything. Dick even helped them out by having Alfie over for a sleepover with Mar’i. They went out to a grown up restaurant that was not full of fancy people trying to impress someone to do business. It was the place they had their first date.
They took their time with their food and even had dessert. By the time they were done, the restaurant was getting very empty as new tables were not being seated to replace those who had left. Rather than going home, Tim pulled her by the hand and took her to the park nearby that had carriage rides for the tourists. He signaled for one and they snuggled together on the seat.
“I have a secret,” he said when they were both settled.
“What is your secret?” Marinette asked.
“Convince me to tell you,” he said with a grin.
Marinette leaned in and kissed him. He tried to pull away, presumably to tell her the secret. But she followed him and kept kissing. FInally she pulled back and hmmed against his chest.
“So what is your secret,” she asked.
“I know how to get you to kiss me.”
“That’s a great secret. Very few others can do that,” she smiled slyly.
“There better not be anyone else convincing you.”
“Now how are you going to get me to tell you my secret,” she asked.
“In public? Marinette, you are scandalous.” Tim exclaimed.
She stopped him with a look and rather than responding he leaned in and kissed her.
“The trick is, I don’t need to have a reason to do that.” He leaned back in to kiss her again.
“Does that mean you don’t want me to tell you?” she asked.
“I do need to know.”
She pulled a small package out of her purse. Tim opened it and squealed when he saw the tiny shoes for their next baby.
(Yes, I’m late. Yes, this isn’t even what the prompt was intending. What of it?)
~~~~~
There was a limited amount of scholarships that the Waynes could give out. Sure, the man was a billionaire, but the Wayne fortune wasn’t unlimited. It was only given to the best of the best, to those with the most potential.
… however, it was guaranteed that you would be noticed if you were valedictorian. Even more so if you had lots of extracurriculars.
Tim had figured it would be a cinch, really. No one at his school really needed the money provided by a Wayne scholarship. Tim was no exception to this, the money wasn’t what he was in it for. Still, he was the only one that was really interested in getting it. He would get the Wayne scholarship. He would get noticed.
Or, so he had thought.
He glared at the back of her head, biting the end of his pen.
Marinette Dupain-Cheng. His nemesis.
She had tested into the school thanks to a sudden opening the year previous (one of the kids got busted for helping out the mob, quite a feat considering his age). There were whispers that she had gotten in because the school was trying to meet a diversity quota, but Tim didn’t care about that. No, the only thing he cared about was the fact that she was also gunning for the Wayne scholarship. And she was pretty good. He could rattle off her ID just as easily as his own at this point, it was always the one listed just above or below his whenever teachers put their test scores on the wall.
But he had to be better.
Marinette glanced back at the clock on the wall to see how long it would be until their first period started and caught him staring. She looked around quickly before flipping him the bird.
Tim bristled.
Before he could come up with some kind of witty retort his pen exploded in his mouth. At least the redness of his cheeks could be attributed to all of the coughing and sputtering instead of the embarrassment it really was.
Thanks to @girl-in-thechair for the giving the broken furnace idea that I used here
Marinette shivered when she walked in the door. It was so cold out. She hoped she would warm up soon. She had some food she could warm up but first she decided to get a warm bath to take the chill out of her bones. She started the water and put her things away while the tub filled. Then she sank into the warmth of the tub. After a while her skin was very wrinkled but she kept just adding more hot water because the air in the bathroom felt too cool for her to want to get out. It was always colder in the bathroom so eventually she just had to grit her teeth and rush away from the cooled water into a warmer part of the apartment.
Her cozy robe and slippers were definitely an improvement over the bathwater turned cold but she still felt too cold. She dug out her thickest fuzziest clothes to put on. Then she put the robe back on over them for the extra warmth. She figured her body just still needed to catch up so she went to heat her food and then checked the thermostat. It was showing that it was on but it was not blowing and it was way cooler than she had set it. No wonder she was cold. She fiddled with the dial but nothing happened.
“No, I can’t do this. Cheesy pick up lines are your specialty,” Tim said.
“They are very effective. Women love me,” Dick said. “Did you see how much that woman at the counter was smiling?”
“She was covering a groan. How often does using a line actually get you a date?” Tim asked.
“Well–”
“Exactly,” Tim exclaimed, cutting Dick off. “Please choose a different dare or a different target? I really want to impress this girl.”
“You have been putting it off asking her out for weeks. There is no time like the present.” Dick said.
Dick gave Tim a little shove and Tim moved towards Marinette. He could already feel his face heating up. He never should have told Dick that he was interested in her. He almost veered off to take a punishment for not doing the dare. Any punishment would be very unpleasant but it couldn’t be worse than using a pick up line older than Bruce. He started to turn off but she looked up just then and smiled at him. Her eyes lit up. If nothing else, the line would be very accurate.
“Hi Tim, I didn’t know you would be around today,” she reached out and pulled him into a hug, kissing each cheek in greeting.
“Hi Marinette, is your dad a thief?” he asked.
She pulled back suddenly. Her eyes narrowed at him. She had only recently found out about him being Red Robin. He hoped she didn’t think that was involved.
“I’ve told you my Papa is a baker. Where is this coming from? Do you have doubts about me?” she asked, sounding hurt.
“I was just certain that he was the one who put constellations in your eyes to make them shine,” Tim finished.
He pushed the words out quickly. Dick must still be very upset about the last dare refusal punishment Tim gave him because he could hear him groaning from here. Dick must have had to work hard to find a pick up line so corny that he couldn’t stand it. Marinette looked over to where Dick was failing to cover his peals of laughter.
“Are you sure you didn’t mean stars?” Marinette asked. “If you are trying to use a bad pick up line, don’t you at least need to say it right.
“Your eyes shine so much brighter, I think it would have to be constellations.” Tim said quickly, to cover his mistake.
“Smooth,” Marinette replied. “The only issue is that now our first kiss is due to a terrible pick up line.”
“Kiss?” Tim asked.
Marinette didn’t respond; she leaned close to Tim and kissed him. Tim pulled her close and slid his hands up in her hair. They could still hear Dick whooping from his hiding spot. Marinette pulled away and glared in the direction the noise was coming from.
“Why don’t you go kick Dick’s ass for putting you up to the corny pick up line and then come back for more.”
Tim gave her a quick peck before he ran off to chase Dick.
“It really isn’t an issue. I could just become some weird, hamster lady,” Marinette said.
“Pretty sure you mean crazy, cat lady,” said Steph.
“No, I prefer hamsters. I could never come up with the right name for one so I’ll just get one every time I have a name I like. Then, even if I’m single forever, I’ll never be alone.”
Marinette let her head fall to the table. Steph patted her on the back, trying to hold in the laughter. Tim arrived at the table with drinks so Steph nudged her to get her to move off the table.
“What did I miss?” Tim asked.
“She tried to ask a guy to dance. He thought it was a great idea and went off to find his girlfriend.”
Steph didn’t hold in the laugh that time. Marinette turned to her drink, pouting. She didn’t notice Tim’s frown. Steph kicked him under the table but when Marinette looked back at them she didn’t notice his look before he had a chance to hide it.
“I really am giving up. I have never been able to figure out when someone is actually interested and every time I try to talk to a guy it is more embarrassing than the last.”
“That isn’t fair,” Steph said. Both Tim and Marinette looked up at her. “Your last time was far more embarrassing.”
“You are the worst. You encouraged me that time.”
Marinette stood up so fast she almost knocked the table over. Tim reached out to steady her while Steph kept the drinks from spilling.
“Don’t go,” Tim said. “It will be okay.”
“I’ll be back. I’m just going to take every shot with ‘kiss’ in the name because it is the only way I will ever be kissed again.”
She turned to walk away but rather than releasing her Tim pulled her back. She spun around quickly and only managed to stay on her feet because he pulled her to his chest. His lips met hers softly. She recovered from her shock quickly and pushed herself against him to return the kiss.
“I’m sure there are plenty of people who want to kiss you, but I hope you keep letting me,” Tim said.
He leaned back down to kiss her again. Marinette met him there. It was a few minutes later that the waitress interrupted them.
“Your friend asked me to tell you she left. But she sent you a stolen kiss and a night of passion.” the waitress set the drinks down. “She also said it should all go on your tab and that you were ready to go.”
They clinked the shot glasses together and took them. Tim signed the receipt and they headed out together.
Marinette had been planning this since she had noticed the other man. She really only noticed him because he had been on a call speaking French. It sounded like a business call. But since everyone else was speaking English, she noticed it a lot more. Then, she was happy that she noticed him and continued to notice a lot more about him. Like the fact that he usually ordered the same drink as her. That was when she came up with the plan.
He was ahead of her in line but still waiting when she had ordered. The timing worked out perfectly and just a moment after she paid, his drink was called. She was closer so it was very easy for her to reach the counter first and take his coffee. He tried to tell her but he was not quite close enough to get there before she walked away drinking the coffee.
“Merci,” she said and then turned and smiled at him.
