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dessarious · 4 months

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This was not the Plan

New Years one shot (please let it stay a one shot)

Marinette could not for the life of her figure out how she'd ended up here. She was supposed to be at home, in her pajamas, asleep before the ball dropped. She had a plan, damn it.

That plan did not include Alya showing up at her apartment in London. Especially since she was supposed to be covering the ball drop in New York. It didn't involve said friend dragging her to an upscale party where Adrien and Felix just happened to be in attendance. And it damn sure didn't involve listening to Alya try to give her a pep talk (read lecture) about asking Adrien to kiss at midnight. No, this was definitely not the plan.

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Cass and Steph were supposed to be on a plane to Gotham. Unfortunately, some asshole (read Scarecrow) gassed the airport, and it was in lockdown until a HazMat team gave the all clear. Instead, they were stuck in an upscale London hotel. Which wouldn't be bad except there was a fancy New Year's party going on and the host had cornered them as they were checking in to invite them. Cass hated having to keep up a public image. But at least she had Steph to make things bearable.

They were standing along one of the walls, Steph making highly inappropriate comments at other people's expense, when Cass noticed two women. One obviously excited to be there and the other... not so much. As they wandered closer, Cass could hear their conversation.

"I feel I've been very clear on this." The one who looked like she'd rather be anywhere else sounded frustrated and annoyed.

"I know you think he's out of your league, but you'll regret it if you don't shoot your shot, girl!" Her tone was exasperated, if fond. Given the reaction from the other woman, this was a recurring debate. Cass didn't think she'd ever seen anyone roll their eyes so hard.

"I don't think he's out of my league. I'm just not interested in him. I really wish you would stop acting like we're still teenagers. It was an adolescent crush, and it wasn't healthy on top of that." Her friend didn't seem to hear her.

"Look! There he is. Now's your chance."

"Alya, you're not listening to me. Besides, that's Felix, not Adrien."

"Oh? You can tell that just by looking, huh?" Her tone seemed to imply that meant something but her friend just gave her a dry look.

"Anyone who's met them should be able to tell that." She gestured to the man Alya had pointed out. "Grumpy cat." Then she scanned the crowd before pointing to another man identical to the first. "Excited puppy."

Cass observed the two and had to admit the other woman was right. It kind of reminded her of the difference in Damian and Jon's personalities. The first man was comfortable in the setting, but was extremely standoffish and full of himself. The other was happy and friendly, talking to anyone who got close to him.

"Quit stalling. It's almost midnight."

"Alya, I'm not-"

"You can't bail on me this time. Do you have any idea what it took for me to get tickets to this party? Give me one good reason why you can't go ask him to kiss you for New Years."

Given how red the other woman's face had gotten during her friend's rant, Cass expected an explosion. What she wasn't expecting was for the woman to turn and pull her down into an angry, almost desperate kiss. She didn't know how to react, so she just let it happen. Honestly, she felt bad for her... it was also kind of nice if she was being honest with herself. When the woman pulled back, Cass was a bit dazed. She turned on her friend.

"That's why!" And promptly stormed out to the balcony. Cass was startled out of watching her when Steph let out a laugh.

"I'd say that's a pretty good reason." Steph's amused tone caused Alya to flush red before storming off in the opposite direction from her friend. "You should go check on her." Cass raised an eyebrow at her and Steph gestured to the balcony with a knowing smirk.

"Do you really think she wants to see me? That had to have been embarrassing." Cass signed at her in confusion, but Steph just turned her and gave her a push towards the balcony. Cass still wasn't certain it was a good idea, but Steph had a better understanding of such emotions, so she went. She found the other woman leaning over the balcony, muttering into her crossed arms. "Are you okay?" She spoke in English even though they'd been talking in French before hoping she understood since they were in London. She could understand French well enough, but speaking it was trickier.

"I'm fine." She said it in English, barely audible. When she looked up Cass watched her go through a variety of emotions. First was exhaustion, then confusion, recognition, embarrassment, and ending with horror. "Oh dear Kwami, I can't believe I sexually assaulted a complete stranger. I am so sorry!"

"It's okay." Cass hadn't thought of it that way, but she supposed it was technically true.

"It's not okay! It's the complete opposite of okay. I can't believe I did that. I'm such a terrible person. I understand if you want to call the authorities. Or I can do something to make it up to you. I'm a fashion designer, not that you need new or better clothes, you look amazing in that dress, but if you wanted something, or I can tailor some things if you need it. Nothing will make up for-" The woman wasn't stopping to breathe and Cass had been trying to get her attention, but ended up latching onto her forearms to get her to stop. The guilt in the woman's eyes was painful to watch.

"I'm Cass." It wasn't what she really wanted to say, but it did stop her, well for a second anyway. Then she looked embarrassed.

"Oh, I'm Marinette. Marinette Dupain-Cheng." She started going through her handbag and pulled out a business card. She wrote on the back before handing it over. "That's my work phone on the front. I put my real name on the back and my personal phone number so you can get a hold of me for whatever you decide. I really am sorry." Cass frowned at the card for a moment. "Is something wrong?"

"You're the designer for Foundational Fashions?" She couldn't help her surprise. It was an innovative brand that Jason had actually introduced her to.

"Oh, um, yes, but I'd appreciate it if you would keep that to yourself. I try to stay below the radar."

"I know." That got a confused blink. "My brother and I have been trying to find a way to commission you for a couple of years."

"Then I can make you something, both of you, to apologize." She sounded almost excited at the idea, and Cass had to force herself not to frown. No way was this worth whatever her prices were.

"I wouldn't feel right not paying you. Just getting a slot for a commission is more than enough." The woman's expression fell and Cass would blame that for what happened next. She really didn't like seeing her unhappy. "There is something else."

"Of course. Anything."

"Let me kiss you at midnight."

"Sure, no problem... wait what?" Cass looked for any sign she'd made Marinette uncomfortable, but all she saw was confusion. "After what I did, why..." She didn't seem to be able to finish the thought. "I mean, I'm sure there are plenty of people who would love to... why would you pick me?"

She seemed genuinely confused, and Cass didn't really know how to respond. The longer she stayed silent, the more Marinette drew in on herself and she had no idea why. She didn't seem to object to the actual kissing part though, so Cass felt a bit less creepy about asking.

"I don't want to kiss anyone else." Marinette's cheeks turned bright red and Cass was worried she'd said the wrong thing. "Earlier I felt... I would like to try it again." It was times like this she wished she was better with words. When she looked back at Marinette, the woman was studying her. She seems less embarrassed and more thoughtful.

"There's still half an hour until midnight. Why don't we sit and talk? Maybe start on you commissions."

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Cass looked relieved at the suggestion, and Mari realized she wasn't the only one floundering. She still couldn't believe she'd done something so stupid and could only be glad that Cass didn't want her arrested. Once they were settled at the table that happened to be on the balcony, Mari wasn't certain where to start.

"So, what are your hobbies?" That was a good starting place, right?

"Ballet, and I do martial arts."

"Well, that certainly explains the physique." Yes Mari, let's be even more creepy. She absolutely should not be flirting.

"What explains yours?" She could practically feel Cass' eyes running down her figure. Okay, maybe she should be flirting.

"I grew up in a bakery. When it comes in bulk, everything is heavy. And once I got into design, bolts of fabric aren't light either. Then, Hawkmoth showed up, and I ended up in self-defence and parkour classes with a lot of my friends. Nothing anywhere near as structured as what you've done, though." And the whole superhero thing, but that was definitely not a conversation for a first... whatever this was.

"What happened to him?" Marinette fought not to wince. That was the million dollar question that only she knew the answer to. It was an extremely messy take down, and she'd had to wipe the memories of everyone involved. Including Adrien because of how badly he'd reacted to finding out Gabriel was Hawkmoth.

"All we know is that Ladybug said he'd been taken care of and she and Chat were retiring. Most people were just grateful it was over, to be honest." Granted, that attitude was helped along by the fact that no one could find her to question the official story. "Where are you from? Your accent sounds American."

"I live in Gotham." Cass' tone was odd but Mari couldn't place why.

"Oh, then you're used to worse. At least most of the damage Hawkmoth did could be reversed. The emotional toll was bad enough, but I can't even imagine constantly being afraid that anyone around you could end up dead in the next attack." Cass gave a hum, and Mari was worried she'd offended her.

"It is... difficult." Mari noticed Cass moving her hands as she spoke and realized she'd been doing it since they started talking. "I think most people have developed a sense of apathy, or maybe just put on blinders to the danger until it actually happens, since there's not much they can do if one of the major rogues decides to attack. At the same time, more and more people and organizations are coming together to try and help each other. It is still hopeful, and Gothamites are stubborn."

"Yes, people seem to be able to get used to just about anything if they have to." Humans were extremely adaptable, and that wasn't always a good thing. "Oh! You're signing, aren't you?" Mari hadn't meant to say that out loud and given the embarrassed look on Cass' face, she shouldn't have. "Sorry, I just noticed the movements."

"It's how I first learned to communicate. My childhood was... unorthodox." Given her tone, Mari had a feeling that was an understatement. "I can stop if you-"

"No! I mean it's fine. I wasn't trying to make you uncomfortable." Mari really, really wished she could stop making an idiot of herself in front of the woman. She'd like to blame the sleep deprivation from her per Christmas dash to get everything done, but this was just how she was. She always turned into a disaster around pretty people. It's why she was so nervous around Adrien originally, because he had always been extremely pretty. Other people had called him handsome, but his features had always been too delicate for that. It took Mari three years to understand why she thought she liked him. And wasn't that a fun week long mental breakdown?

"It's fine. Some people just seem to think I'm trash talking them instead of going through the motions to help find the right words." Mari could only blink at her for a moment.

"I feel like those are the same people who are constantly trash talking people in their head and projecting that on to you." Cass let out an amused snort.

"Probably." They settled into a comfortable silence. It was nice, if Mari was being honest. Too many people she knew felt like they had to fill the silence, even when they had nothing to say. As the minutes ticked by though, she started to get nervous. Cass obviously noticed.

"We don't have to, if you don't want to." Mari started at her voice. God, she needed to not be so high strung.

"It's not that... honestly, this whole thing is just a bit bizarre. It would have made more sense for you to have slapped me. I'm just... trying to make sense of things." Mainly because, in her personal life, she wasn't this lucky. Then again, Cass was from America, so this probably wouldn't lead anywhere. And that thought made her realize that so far, she did want this to go somewhere. Great.

"I don't think there's a lot of people here that would slap a beautiful woman for kissing them." Mari felt like her face was on fire. This woman, her seriously could be a model, thought she was beautiful? Yep, crush officially formed. Shit.

"That still doesn't excuse my bad behavior. I shouldn't have taken out my frustration with Alya on other people. My being pissed off that she never actually listens to me is no reason to do what I did."

"I don't know. She seemed to get the message." Mari just sighed.

"Maybe. That or I'll be getting an extremely long lecture about embarrassing her tomorrow." Probably the second. Might be a good idea to find somewhere else to crash after the party. And figure out when Alya was set to leave London so she could avoid her until then. She loved her, but she was beyond sick of the whole Adrien thing.

"She should stop talking and start listening." Mari let out a giggle.

"Can't say I disagree, but I don't see it happening. Alya's extremely stubborn about certain things."

"If you're not willing to make excuses for your bad behavior, you shouldn't make them for hers, either." Mari blinked at her before letting out a huff.

"In theory that's true. But I can't control her actions, only mine." Cass let out another hum. Before she could say anything, people inside started counting down.

Oh dear Kwami, this was really happening, wasn't it?

Maybe it was a trick. Cass' way of getting back at her for what she did.

No. The way she was looking at Mari... she was actually going to do this.

Come on, Mari. It's just a kiss.

A kiss from someone with the softest lips she'd ever felt, but just a kiss.

Okay. Her heart felt like it was about to explode. She might actually pass out.

No. She is not going to create another scene tonight. She just needed to breath.

When did Cass get so close?

What if she was disappointed in the kiss? Mari was pretty confident in her abilities, but she had no idea what kind of experience Cass had.

What if she wasn't disappointed? What were they going to do then?

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Cass closed the distance, and Mari just closed her eyes. Yep, definitely the softest lips ever. She was going to have to ask how she managed that. When Cass deepened the kiss, Mari's brain completely short-circuited. This. This is what home was supposed to feel like. She was so screwed.

When Cass pulled back, it took her a minute to remember to breathe. When she finally opened her eyes, she was on the receiving end of the softest look she'd ever seen. Suddenly, Gotham was looking like a better idea. Surely she could do some good there. She forgot how to breathe again when Cass cupped her cheek and ran her thumb over Mari's bottom lip.

"Happy New Year." The words were as soft as her look and Mari, for once, thought that for once, it actually was a good start to what was looking to be the best year she'd had in a long time. Even if it hadn't been her plan.

#maribat #cassandra cain #marinette dupen chang #alya cesaire #adrien agreste #Marinette snaps

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ghostdoodlen · 1 year

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Y'all go check out @ggomos-maribat 's Fox DCW Series

It's amazing. Super funny and will make you cry a little. I know I did.

Here's a spoiler from Chapter 38

This is probably one of my favorite chapters

I'm a sucker for twins especially since I am one

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lily-drake · 9 months

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Master List Part 2

Master List Part 1

Dickinette

Biosibling!Dickinette: Birds of a Feather Flock Together: Part 1 Part 2

BioDad!Dickinette:

Of Broken Hearts and Shattered Minds

Ric Rolled: Part 1 Part 2

Casinette: Sibling!Cassientte: Stop in the Name of Your Sister: Part 1 Part 2

Bruce:

BioDad!Bruce:

Where is She?!

You've Got to be Kitten Me: Part 1 Part 2

He Stole My Heart So I Stole His (Felinette) Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9

BioDad!Month (2021): Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Everything after Part 11 was posted exclusively on my Ao3.

Found Family:

Watch What You Say: Part 1 Part 2

Adopted Into a Better Life

Drabbles/Story Ideas

Batman Specific:

Why are you here Batman?

In a Different League: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

6 Times Tim Suffered Alon + One Time He Doesn't

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ghl-osty · 7 days

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Do you have any Lila + batfamily fic recs?? Ty!

Perfect Sense, by PurpleBooks58 on AO3!!! one of my favorites.

#lila salt #lila rossi #miraculous ladybug #miraculous fic rec #bio dad bruce wayne #maribat #mlb x dc #marinette dupain cheng #marinette wayne #bruce wayne #jason todd #dick grayson #tim drake #cassandra cain #damian wayne #stephanie brown #barbara gordon

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hellishere7980 · 6 days

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Chole?

Cassandra?

Jason Peter Todd?

Robin?

Is Taylor Swift a Maribat fan??

#maribat #miraculous lb #jason todd #robin #cassandra cain #chole #taylor swift #Is Taylor Swift a Maribat fan??

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the-coffee-fandom · 10 months

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An Angel With Demon Wings

For @tylindel

“They call you a demon but all I’ve ever seen in you was an angel.”

“Even in my worst moments?”

“An angel with anger issues.”

#damianette #maribat marinette dupain cheng #maribat damian wayne #mlb x dc #dc x mlb #fanfiction #maribat #my writing #maribat jason todd #maribat dick grayson #maribat tim drake wayne #maribat stephanie brown #maribat cassandra cain #writing #maribat fanfic #hmb server #Holy Miraculous Batman Discord Server #my art #maribat art

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goggles-mcgee · 1 year

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Wish Me Away: Hold Me Close & Hold Me Near

Beginning Last Chapter

Summary:

*waves* Hi

Bruce muses on his new life despite it only being a couple days since the family welcomed Marietta into it.

Nothing could have prepared Bruce for life with a baby, two days had passed and it felt like his life had been completely flipped on its head. She required a lot of attention and physical affection. The attention he had no problem with, it was the physical affection he was terrified of. Marietta was such a tiny little thing, she was so fragile that Bruce was so scared that the slightest wrong move from him could hurt her. Yet, sometimes the physical affection came so easily to him, so easily he felt like he was robbed of this time he could have had with Damian and found himself wishing Talia had told him about his son sooner. When she smiled up at him when he tried to feed her, it was almost instinctual to give her a kiss on the head, or when she babbled and held out a hand to him, he was compelled to coo and let her grab at his fingers. Hugging her is what scared him most, she was so small, so warm, and he had never understood what all those people said about the smell of a baby but he got it, and hugging her brought him such a feeling of joy and love that he couldn’t even put it into words. Bruce just felt scared of hugging her too tight because of all the new feelings of love that filled him.

Once she had fallen asleep her first night in the Manor, at her new home, he had been entirely too frightened to sleep in his large bed with her, but he and the boys made a pretty sturdy wall of pillows all around her as he stayed up to study. He bought parenting books, so many parenting books, from baby meal cookbooks, to psychology. He wanted to know anything and everything he had to about taking care of a one year old. And from the many boxes that arrived at the house he deduced he wasn’t the only one. The manor now looked like a bomb went off in it, one that filled the place with bassinets, diapers, baby food and snacks and so many freaking toys. Most of which came surprisingly from Alfred, Bruce had wanted to laugh but Alfred had basically said he had no room to talk. He was right. Bruce had kind of gone overboard when buying her clothes, it’s not fair that tiny versions of clothes were so cute and apparently brought him more joy than his own.

Cassandra had helped him choose a lot of the clothing as well, it warmed his heart the way she immediately took to being an older sister. The way she held Marietta and the way she hugged her was something that Bruce loved to see, because he could tell just how precious the baby was to Cass. He had many pictures on his phone of the two twirling in the dance room he had built for Cass. It was wonderful and Cass looked at Marietta with so much love, the excitement in her eyes was plain to see as well, though so was the fear, Bruce expected it was much like his own but something stronger. Cass feared hurting her new sister much the same way that Damian was, but whereas Cass spent as much time with Marietta as she could, it seemed like Damian was avoiding the baby. It didn’t take the ‘world’s greatest detective’ to figure out that Damian was frustrated at no longer being the youngest. Bruce wasn’t worried though, when Damian did interact with Marietta, he saw how gentle the boy was with her, even if he scolded her for drooling on him or not paying attention to what he was saying. He tended to hold her and tell her about their siblings and why they annoyed him that day, or classmates, or even just random people that he had a rough interaction with. It was an odd thing to bond over but Bruce was just happy Damian was trying.

Tim adored her as well, he read all the books Bruce bought and all the ones he himself bought. Within a night, the Manor had been baby-proofed and monitors had been added everywhere. It was like he was waiting to be a doting older brother, Bruce of course knew he and Damian got off the wrong foot and were better but he also knew they would never be as close as Tim and Dick, Tim and Jason or Dick and Damian. It was like a worse Jason and Dick situation when they were younger, both bitter for different reasons and both took it out on one another. There was no doubt in Bruce’s mind that both Tim and Damian loved each other, it was just a strained kind of love. Tim took her everywhere with him if he could, as did Jason, both bought baby carriers to strap to themselves and it was hard not to laugh when Bruce realized they had bought a Red Robin carrier and a Red Hood carrier respectively. Tim liked to take her down to the cave and work on whatever case he was trying to solve or tinker with whatever tech he and Lucius Fox were working on. He said he liked asking her questions and hearing her babble like she was giving feedback. Of course Alfred and Bruce made sure the boy baby-proofed the cave as well and made sure she had her own activities to do besides giving her older brother feedback on his projects. To the surprise of no one, Tim even set her up a little play-pen in the Cave, which maybe wasn’t the best thing but it still tugged at Bruce’s heartstrings to see.

Jason loved Marietta. It was honestly amazing to see just how fast the man adjusted to being a doting big brother. Of course Bruce already knew Jason was great with kids and with his younger siblings but it was another thing to witness it, especially with someone as young as Marietta. Jason loved to feed her which was always an interesting thing to witness, but boy was he good at it, she never complained when he fed her. He also read to her everyday even if he couldn’t be there physically, he would video-call, though his reading choices varied from the Well Loved Tales books he scored at a garage sale to classics he had in his room or brought from his apartment. It was entertaining to watch him read things like Cinderella to her and then go from that to reading her Pride and Prejudice. He made sure to get books with pictures for her and if they didn’t have pictures he would show her pictures he found on the internet to show her who he thought a character looked like, or an object in one of his classic books that he couldn’t describe. It was awfully endearing and Bruce and Alfred made sure to take as many pictures of the two as they could. Nap times they would often find the two together with Jason sprawled out on a couch, the floor, a chaise or bed with Marietta snuggled on his chest. It was those times that Bruce envied Jason.

Dick was also one that adjusted to having another younger sibling surprisingly fast, even if said younger sibling was younger than any of them have dealt with before. He never complained about changing her diaper, he just laughed and said they would have to get on top of potty training but only when she felt like it. He was incredibly gentle with her and patient and tried his best to help Damian get more comfortable with her. He was also the one who could get her to stop crying the fastest out of all of them, well second to Alfred. It was impressive, and yet it was another thing that Bruce found himself jealous of. He was the parent and he felt like he should be able to soothe her cries easily, but the truth was, he had no idea what he was doing. Sure, he had a lot of children, but he had not had any of them when they were babies, this was a whole different playing field and it hurt him that he wasn’t excelling at it. Of course, Bruce wanted to be the best father he could be, and he would admit that he, like his children, wanted to be Marietta’s favorite person. Both Dick and Jason would put her in the middle of them and coo at her and see who she would waddle or crawl too, they said it was a competition to see who her favorite was but most of the time she just laughed at them and would end up falling back on her bottom if she was standing. Damian found this highly amusing every time it happened and Bruce suspected so did Alfred.

Duke was a little like Babs in the sense that he adored Marietta, but she made him nervous. He never held her long unless he was sitting down because he feared dropping her, if she was asleep that fear tripled because he said she was just dead-weight and would fall no problem. Though, he liked working on his homework with her and telling her about school. Sometimes he brought out her crayons and coloring books but that was rare since Marietta hadn’t yet grasped the concept that the canyons were only for her coloring books. Alfred lectured all of them about watching her during ‘coloring time’ after she found out that crayons work just as good on walls as they did on paper. Though Duke was nervous around her, Marietta always managed to get him to relax around her after enough time passed and the boy would play games with her, though the games mainly consisted of peek-a-boo and making silly faces at her. She loved it though and it seemed like no one could make her laugh more than Duke and his silly faces. Every time he made her laugh or giggle, Duke looked like he had just won an award or something and would give her the brightest smile in response. Of course he and Alfred had many videos and pictures of the two already.

Babs hadn’t met little Marietta face to face yet but she had seen the little one over the Batcave’s computer and she had looked smitten. She also promised to visit them soon, probably within the week which was great. Alfred had been wanting the young woman to visit the Manor more often, so her visit was more than welcome. Especially since it seemed like Marietta took a shine to her, even if it was just over video. Babs took to face-calling whoever she knew was in the Manor so she could see Marietta and hear her babble at her nonsensically with some actual words thrown in here and there. Though she hadn’t met the little one properly, Babs did send gifts that she ordered online and she sent everyone books on childcare. Bruce didn’t have the heart to tell her he had already bought the book she had got for him, he had just thanked her and used the new copy to take notes in. She seemed excited to hold Marietta and Bruce could honestly say he understood that feeling now, before he hadn’t, not really, but now it was like all he wanted to do was hold his daughter and show her to everyone. Thank goodness he had such good self-restraint. They, as a family, decided they wouldn’t go public with Marietta until Selina came back from Central City; she was setting up another animal shelter/rescue center after the success of the one in Gotham, then the one in Metropolis. This was her baby, her project, she was very hands on with everything that came with the business. Bruce felt so proud of her and he was also extremely happy his influence was good for something like this. When it got out that Bruce Wayne was investing in the Kyle Animal Rescue & Shelter Centers, many of Gotham’s elite followed. Though she wouldn’t admit it, he knew that Selina was grateful.

Stephanie had the habit of carrying Marietta everywhere she went when she was at the Manor, which considering the baby had only been there for about two days, meant Steph had been there everyday now. When she walked into a room and saw Marietta she would scoop her up and give the little one a shower of kisses which resulted in the most delightful giggles. Though Steph also had the habit of just…sniffing Marietta, when they asked her about it she just shrugged and said she loved the smell of babies. Which, fair, but she did it so obviously and made such a spectacle of sniffing the newest Wayne that you couldn’t help but laugh. It always made Marietta laugh as well so it was a welcome habit. Steph was also someone who liked feeding Marietta which Bruce could not understand as it was a time that he saw his baby daughter be truly stubborn, worthy of the Wayne name, which was something his mother would tease him with whenever he was stubborn. But like Jason, Steph could get the baby to eat whatever Alfred served for their meals. She said she liked to see the faces Marietta made when eating and she just liked to see just how messy the baby could get. Which was, astoundingly, a lot. She had many baths that she thankfully enjoyed.

Damian was complicated. There were moments he seemed to crave Marietta’s attention and other’s where he would avoid her altogether if he could. From what Tim, Alfred and the books told him, Damian felt ‘threatened’ as he was no longer the ‘baby’ of the family. The wording was ridiculous but maybe fitting for the situation. Damian was a child who adored having Bruce’s attention and Dick’s attention the most, though he would sooner play nice with all the kids at Brentwood Academy than admit it. When he held her, he no longer held her like a bomb about to go off, but he cradled her like one wrong touch and he’d break her. There were times that Bruce had walked past a room to see Damian hugging the little one to him with his eyes closed and hands shaking, it always felt wrong to intrude so Bruce would just continue to walk past. The boy also introduced his younger sister to all his animals, even Goliath who lived in the Wayne Farm. Damian built his own underground Cave beneath the farm to hide Goliath if the need arose, he called it the Underground BatFarm after Dick called it that once. So they all just referred to it as the BatFarm. Damian had simultaneously been overjoyed and annoyed that all his animal friends seemed to take a shine to the newest addition to the family.

Alfred was in love. Plain and simple. He doted on the baby so much that Bruce often wondered if the Butler/Grandpa/Adopted Dad ever did that to him when his parents introduced the two when he was born. He always served her food first at meals, he gave her treats when he thought no one was looking and if the boys weren’t around he took to carrying Marietta in his own carrier. It was always quite the sight when Alfred would walk into a room with a baby strapped to his chest. Though in a weird way, Bruce was getting used to it. What he couldn’t get used to just yet were the tiny creatures that called themselves Kwami. They stuck around Marietta like glue. They never left her alone, not even when she slept. It was very disconcerting to wake up and see two creatures sleeping on the pillow next to you first thing in the morning. Even if a family member was just going to change her diaper real quick, they followed. Their import on cheese increased an unhealthy amount and really Bruce had no way how they would explain those finances away if anyone bothered to look. At least Alfred usually baked biscuits. So there was no shortage of Tikki. Plagg was insatiable.

Even now, Bruce watched as the little black cat Kwami absolutely inhaled a wheel of brie. “You keep eating like that and we’ll run out of cheese before you know it.”

“Eh, you’re rich.”

Jason’s cackle was welcome but also Bruce felt like this was a serious matter so he did not appreciate being laughed at. “It’s true, Bruce. You are a very~ rich man.”

“That doesn’t mean that Plagg should demolish our entire cheese supply and have us order more in less than a week. It could be considered suspicious and we are trying to lay low.” He reasoned.

“I mean, it could be suspicious, or people think you’re on some weird new cheese diet and you accidentally start a trend again.” Tim piped up from his position on the floor where he kept pressing buttons on one of Mari’s toys which made her coo from her spot on her mat.

“Oh man, please not another ‘Bruce Wayne Original Trend.’ The amount of people I saw wearing their shirts backwards in Blüdhaven after his last ‘trend,’ is more than enough for me.” Dick complained from where he was laying on the floor tossing one of Marietta’s toy balls up and down.

“Father was very tired that day.” Damian defended, he was sketching something from his favorite spot in the windowsill. They were all relaxing in his office despite the fact he told them he had paperwork to do. “Though he should have had more decorum and noticed his mistake.”

So much for defending him.

“You humans are so weird with your clothes.” Plagg sighed loudly.

“You act like we never wore clothing once upon a time, Plagg.” Tikki teased.

That had Tim’s attention. He loved learning more about the beings that came as an added…bonus with their newest Wayne. “You guys wore clothes?”

“Well, duh! We weren’t always this adorable you know?” Plagg replied.

“Wait. You guys really weren’t always this itty-bitty?” Jason asked.

“We did mention we were basically revered as Gods in the past. Can you see these forms being worshipped?” Tikki fired back. When she got no reply, she looked unbelievably smug. “Before we were bound to the Miraculi, we tended to use a more human-like form. Hence the clothing. Though even that form was not our true form.”

“It’s been ages since we got to be in our true forms.” Plagg said wistfully.

“What are your true forms?” Tim asked with a twinkle in his eye.

Tikki chuckled softly. “They are…well, they are hard to explain. But it is because the ‘First Guardian-”

“The ‘Betrayer’!” Plagg interrupted with a shout.

“He saw our true forms, and I guess that’s what pushed him to create the ritual that bound us. He called us monsters. Creatures living amongst man. Honestly he just raved at us how he couldn’t believe that we tried to take advantage of the folk who worshipped us and that he was doing them a favor by binding us.” Tikki explained.

“Crazy loon.” Plagg scoffed.

Bruce shared eye contact with all his sons who looked just as disturbed at the information as him. Their true forms scared a man so deeply that he went to such lengths. He felt bad for the Kwami but he also could understand the man’s need for protection even if it was unwarranted. Bruce was always prepared, no matter the circumstances, but now it felt like he would never truly be prepared with the Kwami living with his family. They were truly neutral beings, and it was interesting to have them in the Manor, but when he and Jason got into another argument about the no-killing rule, Plagg and Tikki had looked at him like he was the wrong one. Or more accurately, like they couldn’t understand why he was arguing about it with his son. It was an issue, but not more so than the two beings announcing their plans about Paris.

“So today’s the day.” Jason brought up as casually as he could, which wasn’t as casual as the young man would have liked.

Plagg nodded. “It is.”

Bruce sighed.

“Oh Bruce, I know how you feel about it, but really it isn’t your place to tell us we can’t spread Karma across Paris. It has already been enacted and They have given their permission to all of us Kwami of the Miracle Box of Fortune & Fate.” Tikki explained once more, she wasn’t being condescending and yet Bruce still felt like she was.

“And I told you, I don’t understand that.”

“You don’t have to understand it. Just let it be.” She replied.

“Or better yet ignore it.” Plagg gave his two-cents.

“I can’t just ignore it. You told us you will be going to Paris to punish them!” He argued as softly as he could, not wanting to disturb Marietta who was still distracted by her noisy shiny toy.

“Not all, only those who deserve it and though Paris will no longer be protected by us, it doesn’t mean forever but they need to know. Which is why the announcement is also needed.” She argued back, though she didn’t even look affected by his words and that made his hackles rise more.

“Look. I know your whole ‘job’ is ‘justice,’ and that’s great.” Plagg interjected. “But justice is up to the interpreter and this, Karma, that’s our justice. That’s how we deal with offenses and crimes against us. You don’t have to understand it, but for your sake and Marietta’s sake, don’t try to stop us or talk us out of it anymore.”

“Are you threatening me?” Bruce growled which made Marietta whine.

“Bruce.” Alfred warned. “Calm yourself. You’re scaring the baby.”

Bruce cleared his throat and looked over at his daughter who was looking at him with her big doe-eyes filled with tears. “I’m sorry Baby, nothing’s wrong. We’re just talking Sweetheart.”

“Master Bruce, I understand your feelings on the matter but at the end of the day this is their business and if you ever feel the need, I’m sure Paris would appreciate vigilante help if they ever need it.” Alfred said as he set down some tea for Bruce on his desk. And like every time Alfred was the voice of reason, Bruce felt the fight leave him.

“I apologize.” He said after a while.

“Sooooo, how are you going to make the announcement if you guys can’t be caught on camera?” Dick asked to break the tension.

“They have kindly lent me some of their power and my old power so I can retain my old human form.” Tikki explained. “If the announcement goes on longer than I can hold the form then Trixx can cast an illusion of my human form. Before the announcement though we will be going and giving out Karma to a select few.”

“I thought you were…uh, doing the Karma thing after the whole announcement.” Jason said.

“Oh, we are, but there are a couple of people who will get their Karma before the announcement.” Plagg said with a smile that shouldn’t look so frightening on such a tiny face and yet it was.

Quiet covered the family yet again until Damian spoke up from his spot, “Well, happy hunting.”

The two smiles shared between the Kwami somehow dwarfed the one Plagg had made just before and Bruce felt a shiver run down his spine. He sent a silent prayer out for Paris.

_____________________________________

Gabriel sat at his place at the head of the table and watched as his wife talked with Adrien and for the first time in a long time he felt completely at ease. His heart still raced when he acknowledged the fact he had no idea where Nathalie was and he didn’t know what to say when Emilie asked him where she was. Right now she believed that Nathalie was visiting her sister but the truth was he had no idea and it scared him. After The Wish, she and Dupain-Cheng disappeared without a trace. He didn’t understand where they were and his son’s complaints and worry over the girl were getting on his nerves. Neither had their Miraculous so Adrien complained about not being to check on her the ‘Chat Noir’ way, they figured that was their price for The Wish. Though it saddened him, Gabriel was willing to leave the Miraculous behind in exchange for his wife who was a bit different now that she was back but he just chalked it up to her being confused at being awake once more.

He impulsively reached out and took her hand in his. Emilie gave him a small smile back in return and he tried his best not to frown. She should be happier, she was finally reunited with her husband, he would think she would be overjoyed. “Adrien. I…called your school and told them you won’t be there today. We will be spending the day as a family.”

“Okay Father.” Adrien responded promptly.

Emilie looked as though she was going to respond but before she did the doors to the dining room blew open, they nearly came off the hinges. All three family members turned to look in shock and just to see what or who came through in such a fashion. Gabriel opened his mouth to shout at the insolence of it all but his voice caught in his throat when he saw four very familiar Kwami fly in. He tried to get out of his seat but found he couldn’t and from the looks of it, neither could Adrien or Emilie. It made Gabriel struggle against whatever bound him to his seat more. He tried to yell, to shout, but found he had no voice at the moment. Emilie looked so scared and there was nothing he could do about it. The Kwami flew until they were all floating above the middle of the table so all three Agrestes could see them. The red one, Tikki glared at Gabriel so fiercely that if looks could kill, he was sure he would be six-feet deep at the moment.

“Hello Gabriel. Let’s talk.”

Next Chapter

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olivia-anderson-fanfic · 9 months

Text

Mercy

Summary: Cass sees a pair of mers struggling in a trap, and so she helps them out. The mers see Cass struggling with her dad, and so they return the favor.

Mer au for AU August by @maribat-calendar-events

If nothing else, Cass would like to go on the record saying that she wasn’t stupid.

Normally, you might not have to state things like this but, unfortunately, many of her decisions as of late might suggest otherwise. She wasn’t stupid. She just… yeah…

Anyways.

It was early in the morning, too early for even the sun to think about rising, too early for it to really be considered ‘early’. But it wasn’t late, either, not anymore, really. It was just past three in the morning. That perfect in-between where no one should be up, and they certainly shouldn’t be out.

Cassandra Cain was out.

She knew she shouldn’t be – in the same way that people spot a tiger out in the wild and, even if they have never seen it before, even if they have no clue what it is, they still always, always run. It was dangerous, she could feel it in her bones. Three o’clock was the devil’s hour, and leaving the safety of her bedroom was tempting fate.

She would take her chances, though. Better this than being home, alone, for the next month and a half. The saying goes “the devil you know”, but sometimes people get bored of dealing with the same thing over and over again.

Her feet skipped as they jumped from rock to rock. The waves lapped at the shore. The seashells reflected the light of her flashlight. The beach. It was quite possibly her favorite place to be. Not that she was allowed to go many places, really, so that wasn’t all that impressive, but it still had to count for something, right?

And, besides, the rule was that she wasn’t allowed to talk to people. At night, there were no people, so she technically wasn’t breaking any rules.

It was peaceful.

Until it wasn’t.

She wasn’t quite sure what had piqued her attention first. The sound, maybe? The quiet clicking and hissing and metal scraping against metal and splashing. It was hard to miss.

Or maybe she just knew. Maybe it was the distinct wrongness settling over her the moment she got too close. Some instinctual knowledge that there was something nearby.

Whatever it was, this is where she made her first stupid decision: getting closer.

Which was how she found them.

They had clearly made some kind of effort to hide themselves. Hiding among the rocks and seaweed. The waves pulled at them, trying to tug them in. But they didn’t go, because they couldn’t. One of the two, the one with shaggy blond hair, was caught in what looked to be an old anchor chain, wound around his chest, trapping his legs and one arm to his stomach. The other, with black hair pulled into a delicate bun dotted with seashells, was clearly trying to help, tugging frantically at the bindings, but it only seemed to make things worse.

And Cass would have helped. You don’t have to speak to help someone, it could have been fine.

If the constantly churning waves didn’t draw her gaze. If she didn’t see one mer’s long tail, glimmering in the light. If her flashlight didn’t make them follow the thin beam of brightness back to her. If their pupils didn’t dilate, showing off their lack of irises and yellow sclera.

She made a squeaking noise in the back of her throat. The hand holding her flashlight couldn’t seem to stop shaking.

The one with the tail made a clicking sound in the back of her throat, before smacking her maybe-friend upside the head.

The one with legs gave a surprisingly human expression, pouting and moving his free hand in a way that looked somewhat like sign language, if stilted. Maybe he was used to signing with both hands, maybe the language wasn’t natural to him.

Not that Cass cared at the moment.

Both of them were clearly arguing, their hands waving wildly, clicking occasionally in a sharp way that could only ever be read as angry… which meant that Cass should run.

She took a half-step back. Not daring to look away from the two creatures that she had come across, for fear of them sneaking closer.

This was never a good thing to do when you’re standing on a rock, at the beach, surrounded by seaweed.

She shrieked, going up in a flurry of arms and nightclothes and the damned seaweed that she had slipped on. Her elbows and back screamed their protest as she was scraped over the rocks, and even all of her dad’s stealth training didn’t keep her from nearly smashing her head open. She gave a small hiss of pain, trying not to think about how much blood she could feel running down her back.

It was easy to ignore. Mainly because those strange eyes turned back onto her.

There was a few moments of awkward silence.

“Heeeeeeeyyyy,” the boy tried, going for his best winning smile, waving a webbed hand as if they were just random strangers that had happened to meet on the beach.

Maybe it would have worked if Cass wasn’t reeling from the fact that they could speak human language. But she didn’t get much time to process that at all.

“If you get any closer, I’m going to rip you,” the lady mer said, baring too-sharp teeth. The effect was dampened by the fact that knife-like claws were still scrabbling frantically at the chains, but only slightly.

Cass started to scramble backward on her hands and feet.

This did not please the mer either, as her eyes narrowed. “And if you try to run and get your human friends, I’m going to hit you with a rock.”

Cass was going to stay firmly in place, actually. That seemed like the best plan.

The mer breathed a quiet sigh of relief, and Cass was surprised to find that she didn’t seem all that affected by the fact that she was out of water.

Neither of them seemed all that affected, really. The girl seemed to be more affected, the line of gills on the side of her neck flapping helplessly, but she didn’t show any signs of discomfort, and her lips certainly weren’t turning blue or eliciting desperate gasps for water. The boy didn’t even seem to care, lounging as best one can when sitting on uncomfortable rocks and bound in chains.

Their frustration seemed to only stem from their inability to break the chains. The boy kept saying something, over and over, but he was ignored every time. Instead, the girl tried everything she could think of. Splashing him with water to try and get him wet enough to wriggle out, trying to rip the chains with a mix of sharp claws and even sharper teeth, bashing the chains with a rock…

It was… pitiful, really.

Cass wanted to help.

But Cass also knew she wasn’t supposed to talk to people.

And, just like that, a tiny loophole formed in her mind. She knew the reason for The Rule, knew that it was less about her talking to others, and more about her father’s fear of the unknown, his fear that she would get stolen away by the creatures of the night in the same way her mother had. She knew that he was only fearful of the fact that she would be tricked by someone who only seemed human, at first glance… but, hey. He had only ever told her not to talk to people.

Mers weren’t people.

“There’s…” Cass began, and her voice broke. The sound scraped against the walls of her throat, aching in a way she hated. It was always at its worst when her father was out on his hunts, because then she couldn’t talk to anyone at all, her vocal cords atrophied from disuse, and at that exact moment she wished she hadn’t tried at all. But the two mers’ heads snapped to her, waiting, and she wasn’t going to get out of this based on the cold glare in the female mer’s eyes. “I might have bolt cutters at my house.”

This was a bit of a lie. She had said that she might have bolt cutters, but it really wasn’t a might kind of situation. The trap that the mer had fallen into was her father’s, and he always had a way to get out of those things stored away in his shed.

The mers exchanged somewhat wary glances.

The female mer narrowed her eyes, making a quiet sound that Cass couldn’t even dream of replicating.

The male made a clicking sound, a warning of his own.

She bared her teeth.

He smiled. It showed off a set of wicked fangs, though his were simply long, sharp canines, surrounded by a row of otherwise perfectly normal teeth. One of them was missing.

She made a grunting sound that could only ever be interpreted as frustration, but finally threw her hands up, letting the chains fall from her fingers and clink together again, and motioned for Cass to go.

She made to move.

And then a high-pitched singing started.

Instantly, Cass knew what was happening. She had heard many a time of the mer. Her father had said that they were some of the least dangerous creatures, but only because they usually preferred to stay away from humans. When bothered, they were some of the most deadly. Every single type of mer – because the term was, really, just a broad term made to refer to the creatures of the sea – was deadly in its own way. The sea was unforgiving, and so were its creatures. Sea monsters would capsize vessels that were too noisy with a lazy swipe of their hand before returning to their slumber. The gods of the sea were known to be mercurial at best, changing the waters from perfectly calm to whirlpools if they were particularly bored that day. Sea serpents would crush even boats made of the sturdiest wood, or even just swallow them whole if they didn’t feel like fighting for their meal.

Sirens would sing, and humans would find themselves getting dragged into the water by their own two feet, only able to watch on in horror as they were puppeted around, unable to stop themselves from drowning.

But she didn’t go towards the water at all.

She felt herself tread the familiar path up to her home. Every thought she might have had slipped through her fingers like water. Her gaze flitted past the traps littering the lawn, the familiar harpoons, the array of iron and silver weapons, the wards and runes and –.

Her foot stepped over a specific rune.

Air filled her lungs again. Her stomach churned more than the waves. Her legs collapsed beneath her weight, and wrinkled hands were all that kept her from breaking her nose on the wood floors. It felt as if she keeled over to puke, as she so wanted to do, she would only find salty seawater.

But this wasn’t what made horror wash over her.

No, it was that the spell over her had been broken.

And the mer probably knew.

She wasn’t sure how much time she would have before the mer were gone.

They had tricked her, yes. Forced her to do something against her will.

But they had looked so… scared. And it wasn’t like she didn’t get it. They were right, after all. Her eyes caught on the harpoon hanging above the doorframe. It was a staple in any house near a beach. The pair of mer had been lucky to be found by her, rather than anyone else.

She scrambled along the rocks, hugging the tool to her chest. Later, she would regret this, as she would find herself covered in a myriad of scrapes and bruises and a deep cut on her left leg that oozed yellow, but now she didn’t care.

They were leaving. The girl was wrapped around her friend, her tail looped over him multiple times, dragging them both further into the water with trembling arms. Her gaze was on the horizon, eyes narrowed, quietly mulling over what they could do once they were in the water and she would need her tail. The boy was chittering nervously.

“I HAVE IT,” she yelled, and the sound was both terrible and amazing as it tore itself out of her throat.

The mers’ heads snapped to her. The girl swung herself around her friend, blocking him from sight, baring her teeth and claws.

Cass held up the bolt cutters.

It was… a slow process. Both of them were wary, looking around for anyone she might have brought with her. Neither seemed pleased about the bolt cutters being so close to them, either, shying away every time she approached.

She didn’t mind.

Up close, she got to see much more.

The girl was a traditional siren, unearthly in her beauty. Her tail started relatively high on her body, scales dotting even up to her cheeks, getting more frequent the lower down they went. By the time they got to her chest, there wasn’t anything human about her at all. Instead, there was a gorgeous tail, a mix of red, white, and orange, with the occasional speck of black. A couple of long, spiny fins decorated her body, with the one at the tip of her tail being the largest. With her lips pressed into a thin line and her nails curled into fists, nervous but trying to hide it, only succeeding in hiding her most dangerous traits, the mer didn’t look quite as scary.

The boy… well, Cass wasn’t quite sure what he was. If she hadn’t known better, she would think he was human. If her gaze didn’t keep catching on the webbed hands and toes, on the gills at his neck, on the lack of color in his eyes, on the sharp teeth that bit at his lips every time the bolt cutters neared… she would have been fooled. It wasn’t like those couldn’t be hidden, either. It was strange. She had never encountered anything like him before.

But… she would guess that he was a god. The nearly human appearance, the ethereal beauty hanging around his head in a way that almost haloed his slightly-too-pink face, the pleasant smile, the jewelry hanging from every part of him that he could manage to place it. The way that none of it completely masked the strange coolness of his eyes when he looked at her, just a little too smart, just a little too calculated.

There was no way, though, right? A god would simply break the things binding him. Even a young one would not be trapped by something like this for long.

Which sent her back to the drawing board – but she had forgotten how to hold her pen. How do you categorize something you had never seen?

She didn’t know.

She didn’t even know if they knew their classification. The girl’s English had been stilted, and the boy had only spoken a single word. And, even if they did know a word for themselves, she had her doubts that the term would be anything kind.

So, she kept her mouth shut, and finally managed to release the mer from his bindings.

Both of them seemed… surprised, to say the least. Strange, iris-less eyes stared at her, both of them soundless. Motionless, even as the waves tugged at them insistently, as if trying to drag them back in before the sun could tint the horizon pink.

Slowly, but surely, they both inched away from her, into the sea. She stayed as still as she could, nerves clawing up her throat. As long as real claws didn’t find their way to it, though, she thought that this would be fine.

Slowly, they crept back into the water, until only their heads could be seen.

She glanced back the way she came.

“Thank you,” the boy said, a hand coming out of the water to wave.

Cass waved back, if weakly.

She didn’t need to do more, though, the mer seemed pleased regardless. He shot her a toothy grin before ducking beneath the waves, disappearing off towards… wherever they were from.

The lady mer squinted at Cass for just a moment more, lips drawn into that thin line once again. Not quite as scared this time, just thinking.

After a few moments, she nodded her head in vague acknowledgment of the human back on the shore, and dove under.

Cass stayed there, watching the water, the sun rising on the horizon, casting the world in a pleasant shade of red, for another hour.

Her second mistake was this: she kept going back.

Day after day, night after night, she found herself walking along the rocks, eyes scanning the water, in search of the two strange creatures that she had come across. She might claim that it was habit, that she went out this way all the time. It might even be true. But it wasn’t the main reason.

No, she was simply… curious.

Her dad had always been interested in the creatures of the night, and she supposed that it was inevitable that she would pick it up. At least she wasn’t intent on taking one of those harpoons and driving it through their chests like he would if he found out that a pair of mer had come so close to their house.

No, she just… wanted to know more.

She really wanted to see them again.

It took eight days.

On the ninth, a head finally poked out. It was the girl, her head bobbing, the bottom half of her face hidden beneath the waves, her eyebrows drawn together in what was either frustration or concern. Cass was hoping for concern. Even if the mer interested her, she was still very much wary of the long, clawed fingers and sharp teeth.

“Why do you keep looking?”

Cass blushed. She wanted to say that she didn’t even know herself. But that would be a lie. And a lie would be… bad, considering her reasoning was this:

“Lonely.”

The mers weren’t good company. Especially not this one, who had been so openly hostile. But they were company. Cass’s father wouldn’t be coming back for another month or so, and she wanted oh-so-desperately to have some human contact.

Or inhuman contact. She couldn’t afford to be picky.

The mer seemed to consider this for a long moment.

And then she sighed and, with a couple of languid curls of her tail, came to rest her arms on a rock by Cass’s feet. “No friends?”

Cass shook her head, carefully taking a seat, her legs drawn up to her chest, her chin resting on her knees. “Not allowed to talk to people.”

She got a confused look in return. A clawed finger pointed at herself.

“Well, I don’t think you’d tell on me if you saw him.”

Because you’d have bigger problems.

“Might,” the mer said, something like a smirk on her face, her tail curling to splash water over Cass’s feet.

And, despite the fact that some part of her was worried sick about all of this, she couldn’t help but laugh a little.

The girl’s name was Marinette – or, at least, she explained that it was the name she used when talking with humans. Her real name was a low humming sound, but it was kind of hard for a siren to hum its name in front of a human, as their eyes would instantly begin to glaze over, so she had gone with a pretty name a French sailor had once given her. A cute marine animal, a marinette.

Her English was decent enough, hardly surprising considering sirens did tend to live near the shorelines.

But not because they liked to eat humans, as Marinette quickly explained once she registered that, while Cass was just generally nervous about this whole ordeal, she was also a little bit scared of her.

“The water is calmer here, easier for our children to learn to swim. Don’t worry. Humans don’t taste good.”

While Cass had to admit it was soothing to know she wouldn’t be eaten for the fun of it…

“Why do you know what humans taste like?!”

Marinette gave her a flat look. “Humans don’t like sirens. Can’t just let them hurt us because they want to. Sometimes you have to bite them. Or worse.”

Quietly, Cass wondered whether sirens’ ability to control humans had been there all along, or whether it was an adaptive trait that had developed for their own safety. Or whether that even mattered. If Marinette wasn’t just an exception, and the sirens only used their powers in self-defense (because Cass had been put under the spell and had come out of it without dying, it clearly wasn’t made only for the sake of drowning people like the stories liked to say), then what did that say about everyone else? Did they know?

Did her dad know?

She knew he wasn’t great, but… to be fair, Cass’s mom had been stolen away by the faerie. It was fair to be cautious about anything that wasn’t human since he had already lost one person he cared about to them.

But mer weren’t faerie. They weren’t known for stealing people away for nefarious purposes. So, was having all of those harpoons back home really necessary?

Well, this was all just an awkward line of thought, and even more awkward as a line of conversation, considering just who Cass’s father was and what the person in front of her happened to be. New topic.

Cass cast her eyes around determinedly for something to talk about, and ended up pointing at the bracelet on Marinette’s wrist. “Is that from your friend? He likes jewelry, right? Did he give you this one?”

Marinette looked down. She tipped her head from side to side, neither a yes nor a no, before taking it off.

Cass lifted a hand to take it and examine it more closely, but she was quickly batted away from it.

“No. Only mine,” Marinette said, not quite baring her teeth but certainly coming close. “You may look, though.”

Cass nodded, however hesitantly, and kept her hands firmly behind her back as she leaned forward once again to inspect the golden bracelet.

There were three charms tied onto the gold but, upon closer inspection, they weren’t ‘charms’ at all.

“They’re from my family,” Marinette explained. She pointed to a red scale. “Mom.” A pink one. “Dad.” Something white. “Baby.”

Cass leaned even closer, trying to figure out what the white thing was. It wasn’t a scale. It glimmered in the light, but it shimmered differently than the scales did. It was kind of oddly shaped, too, like –.

“Is that a tooth?!”

“He lost it anyways!” Marinette defended herself as best she could.

And, despite the mild horror at seeing a tooth being proudly displayed on someone’s wrist, she couldn’t help but laugh at Marinette’s expression.

Eventually, upon seeing the boy mer again, once Marinette had decided that she trusted Cass enough to let them within twenty feet of each other, she realized that he was the ‘Baby’. Because he shot her a toothy grin, and she realized once again that there was a gap in it.

She wasn’t, exactly, sure why he was considered a ‘Baby’ when he was about the same age as Cass, and not that much younger than Marinette, but these were mers. Cass couldn’t say she was super knowledgeable about mer family dynamics.

So, she brushed past it in favor of proper introductions.

The boy had made a series of clicking and high screeching sounds when asked for his name. Cass’s vocal cords were not made for that, so she listened to him say his name over and over again until her ears got tricked into hearing a name within the incomprehensible sounds: Adrien.

The boy didn’t speak at all, really, English or otherwise. Apparently, in the same way that Cass’s vocal cords weren’t made for clicking or screeching in a way that helped with echolocation, his vocal cords were almost nonexistent. He was a sea monster, though a young one, and it was common for sea monsters to leave their children to fend for themselves, so there was no reason for their species to be able to ‘speak’ at all. The only reason Adrien had as much of a ‘voice’ as he did was that Marinette had found him one day and decided to adopt him. Sirens were very vocal creatures, and Adrien had been young enough to learn to mimic some of the sounds.

Or, at least, that was what Cass thinks they were trying to say. Again, there were three separate language barriers going on.

“Baby,” she said, curling her tail around Adrien’s waist.

Adrien huffed.

He made a series of sounds, stretching his hands out wide so Cass could get the general idea of what he was saying: he would be big one day.

Marinette looked a little bummed at the reminder, so it was probably true. She squeezed tighter.

“I will keep you small,” she said. “Squeeze you so you can’t grow.”

Adrien tipped his head back and groaned.

“Are you his mom?” Cass teased.

Marinette huffed, amused, making a so-so motion with her hand. Adrien, however, nodded fervently, grinning cheekily in a way that suggested that he, too, was teasing Marinette more than sincerely answering the question.

Marinette retaliated by squeezing him harder, making the boy squeak and start trying to escape her evil, parental clutches.

It turned out that Marinette’s ‘motherlyness’ was not limited to Adrien, either, because a few days later Marinette tossed a fish onto the rocks and told her to “eat”.

Cass stared at her for a long time, unsure what to do about the slimy thing that now lay at her feet.

“What?”

“Tiny,” said Marinette, narrowing her eyes at her. “Need fish.”

Cass sighed. Whatever. Fine. She might as well go with it. “I need to cook it, or else I’ll get sick.”

The two mer looked very confused by this, and Cass realized belatedly that they probably wouldn’t have a concept for cooking. Unless they had happened across some heat vents underwater, which were neither common nor something that cold-blooded creatures were likely to stick around for long, the chances were that they ate all of their food completely raw.

She sighed. “Hold on.”

And this was how Cass found herself sitting cross-legged on a rock, carefully maintaining a fire. Which should have been decently easy, if she wasn’t also tasked with making sure the mers didn’t touch the flames (something that was surprisingly difficult despite the mers’ constant complaints that it was too hot) or accidentally drip water onto it and put it out.

She narrowed her eyes at Adrien, who was the main culprit, still turning her fish around and around over the fire to make sure it heated correctly.

“You must let him learn,” Marinette said. She was, perhaps, a little salty about the tiny burn she had received on the tip of her nose, which was what had started Cass’s new job camping out over the fire to make sure they didn’t hurt themselves further.

“That seems mean,” Cass chided lightly. “Aren’t you kind of his mom? Just tell him not to.”

“It is better for him. His species does not… do families, often. They are supposed to learn.”

There was a moment of hesitation.

“How did you guys even meet? Aren’t sea monsters supposed to… be way out in the water? And I thought sirens stay close to the shore.”

“Know a lot,” said Adrien, not quite suspicious, but perhaps confused.

Cass shrugged to hide some of the way her ears started creeping up to her shoulders. “Everyone near the shore knows a lot about the mer,” she said, which wasn’t exactly a lie, but it certainly wasn’t the truth, either.

Marinette eyed her posture for a moment, her lips pursing, but seemingly dismissed the thought with a tiny shake of her head. She reached over to Adrien and gave a tiny tug at one of the bangles around his wrist. “He likes – uh – shinies – jewelry.”

Adrien huffed a little. Cass thought that, if mer could blush, the boy certainly would have. Instead, he crossed his arms over his chest and glowered at his friend.

She only smiled back at him. “He went into a ship that had…” She made a crashing motion with her hands, and Cass winced a little. “Wanted more. But the ship broke. He got stuck.”

“She helped,” Adrien said.

“Now he’s baby,” she said firmly.

Adrien looked away in clear embarrassment, making a quiet grunting sound of disapproval. But, when Marinette grinned and reached up to his ear, where a single orange scale hung from his earlobe much like an earring, he made no moves to brush her off.

Instead, he made a quick movement to touch the fire. Which he quickly regretted. He sent Cass a look of pure and utter betrayal.

“I told you not to touch it,” she sighed.

Adrien didn’t seem to care, as he pouted for the rest of the night.

Until she offered up some of the cooked fish, and he immediately took a liking to the idea of cooked food.

Well, perhaps not immediately, his expression upon first contact with the warm piece of meat was something akin to disgust. But, at her prodding, he reluctantly put the food in his mouth.

He lit up.

The next day, she found several fish laid across the rocks and a pleading expression.

She groaned a little and turned back around to go get more kindling and a set of flint and steel.

It was as they were all eating later, that they once again expressed interest in the fact that she was human.

Not in the cooking way. Adrien was happily chowing down on his fish, and Marinette had refused the idea of cooked food in favor of tearing open a crustacean with her teeth and claws. They were satisfied with what they knew about human cuisine, at least for now.

No, Cass jumped when she felt a clawed finger prod at her leg, and found Adrien smiling sheepishly.

“Swim?” Adrien croaked. “How?”

“A lot of people can’t,” Cass admitted, shrugging her shoulders. “But I can show you how I do it.”

Adrien nodded eagerly, grinning.

Cass glanced down at her outfit, an old set that had once belonged to her father, and decided that she didn’t care enough to go and find a swimsuit. She had a fire going, anyways, and the stuff to rekindle it it happened to go out while she was in the water. She would dry off quickly, and if the clothes got ruined by the salt then it really wasn’t something she cared about anyways.

So, she toed off her sandals and stepped out into the water.

“Oh, it’s so weird,” Marinette warned him. “Humans have boats because they can’t swim right.”

Cass shot her a glare.

But, she had to admit, she did feel slightly graceless in comparison to the pair of mer. Slow enough that Adrien, too excited to wait, was already bobbing amongst the waves, and Marinette was able to swim in front of her, picking out the best places for her to step. Getting nearly bowled over by the, admittedly small, waves where the mer didn’t even seem to register the push and pull of the water. Constantly bogged down by her clothes and wet hair.

Of course, she understood that, at the very least, Marinette wasn’t exactly graceful on land, either, lugging her tail along with her and occasionally having to duck back under the waves to get some ‘air’.

But, still, sometimes she forgot that she wasn’t really one of them. It was strange, considering just how different the three of them were thanks to their completely different cultures and languages, but she had started to forget that she wasn’t just messing around with anyone she might see in town.

And, so, it was kind of jarring to see the pair in their natural element, where she did not belong.

Especially because Adrien looked genuinely horrified by just how much movement was involved in swimming.

“Gross. Don’t get why you humans don’t just float,” Marinette joked.

Cass couldn’t help but laugh a little. But, hey, if they wanted to see her ‘float’, there was a human version of that. She spread her body out starfish-style and allowed herself to bob in the water. Luckily, the water wasn’t too bad that day, the waves barely buffeted at her and she was at very little risk of it splashing over her face.

“No,” said Adrien, hands coming up to cover his mouth.

A tail came to wind around her waist, and she yelped as she was ‘righted’ in the water, the strange appendage curling itself under her thighs to give her a way to ‘sit’.

It would be remarkably easy to drown her like this.

But they’d had many opportunities over the past few weeks, and the grip the mer had on her was still remarkably gentle, and it reminded her so much of the way Marinette would sometimes squeeze Adrien.

“Being replaced,” Adrien joked, shaking his head with a false pout.

And, despite all of the whispers of warning that echoed in her mind, in a voice that she knew but didn’t really belong to her, she couldn’t help but rest her elbows on the tail and her head in her hands and grin at the pair of them.

“Can’t help that I’m the favorite child, Adrien,” she said, sticking her tongue out.

Adrien huffed and turned his head away.

Marinette giggled and reached up, tugging gently on Adrien’s earring. “Hush.” She squeezed Cass just slightly tighter, but it felt more like a hug than a genuine reprimand. “Both of you.”

She smiled.

Maybe she was one of them after all.

Because why would a pair made up of two completely different species that called each other family care that she had happened to be born on land?

But, of course, all good things must come to an end.

Cass’ father came home.

Without her mother, as always. He always left, and he always came back without her. Her father claimed that he would get her back eventually, that humans would always prevail in the end due to their characteristic persistence, but Cass had always wondered why the man would expect a species known for having eternal life to not also have endless patience.

The man didn’t know as much about the creatures of the night as he claimed.

But he did know some things.

And he noticed that the gravel that usually lined her voice wasn’t there. And he checked the traps and found that one of them had been triggered and subsequently broken.

These two facts could, of course, be completely unrelated. In most people’s minds, they would be.

But not in David Cain’s.

And the man had always been good at reading her body language. He could tell that, when she was confronted about this, she was guilty.

“You’re just like your mother,” he hissed, like it was a curse. “But you won’t be running.”

‘Running’. Not ‘getting stolen’.

A hand came to rest on her shoulder, grip just slightly too tight to be seen as caring. No, this was possessive. “If you won’t stay away, then I guess I’ll have to make sure you have nothing to run away to.”

She sat in her room, metal chains digging into her leg. He had repurposed one of the mer traps, fittingly enough, tying her leg to the end of her bed. The chain was long, she could walk around her room, could even get to the bathroom, and she took full advantage of this. She had never been one to stay cooped up.

Her father had insisted it was temporary.

And it would be. Cass would make sure of that.

She grabbed the bolt cutters out from under her bed.

She’d never bothered to take it back to the shed after that first day meeting the mer, instead opting to keep it close in case they happened to get trapped again.

She didn’t use them yet, wouldn’t dare to do so when her dad was still home, frantically rushing about downstairs, gathering supplies to try and kill the people that had been more family than he had ever been. She could hear him talking to a neighbor – because he had always insisted that, despite the fact that she wasn’t allowed to talk to strangers, he would be safe – asking for permission to use their boat for the next few days or so. Pages turned and pencils scratched on parchment as he wrote down every rune he might need.

The walls were thin. He would hear the click of the bolt cutters.

But he didn’t pay any mind to the sound of her gathering everything she might need. Clothes, some flint and steel (she only needed one, it would last for quite a while and there was likely a myriad of untouched rocks and minerals on the sea floor that she could ask Marinette and Adrien to get), a small knife to prepare any food that Adrien or Marinette might bring, a swimsuit, a way to filter seawater…

She wasn’t quiet, didn’t bother muffling the sound of drawers opening and closing or her chain clinking with every step. But her dad hardly cared.

Why would he care? The lawn was littered with traps, and they would be left there to suffocate or starve. The house was warded to keep the mer out. If they managed to get past that, then they’d be walking right up to her father, presenting themselves to be slaughtered.

The house was warded to keep things out.

Despite her father’s paranoia, it was not made to keep someone in.

And if her father had wanted her to not run away, perhaps he should have given her a reason to stay.

So, two days later when her father left briefly to greet their neighbor and assure the boat was large enough to hold everything he would need to take on the mer that ‘infested’ their waters, she unclipped herself and snuck out, a blanket filled with her things over her shoulder.

Thanks for the boat, ‘dad’, she thought as she pushed off.

It didn’t take long for them to find her.

Adrien was first, his head poking above the water for just a moment, his eyes wide as he looked at her. He looked her up and down once, and then ducked underwater and started screaming.

Marinette was there within minutes.

Cass was relieved to see they were both perfectly fine.

She could tell they were relieved, too, because they dragged themselves onto the boat to check her over, lamenting her disappearance and how Marinette was pretty sure that she had gotten thinner and Adrien’s mumbling about how she was ‘okayokayokay’.

Once they had confirmed that she wasn’t hurt, and once she had been told several times that they literally couldn’t hide injuries from her seeing as neither of them really wore clothes, the inevitable question was asked:

“What happened?”

Cass leaned back against Marinette. The mer had wrapped around her and Adrien about an hour ago and very clearly would not be letting go until she needed water – maybe, she seemed like she just might drag them both under for the minute she would need to recuperate. Adrien had taken to this position immediately, and she couldn’t find it in herself to complain too much about him resting his head over her heart so he could listen to her heartbeat.

It was comfortable.

She didn’t want to ruin it.

But Adrien drew back just slightly to tilt his head at her and Marinette gave her an expectant look.

She explained everything. Things she had known for ages but had kept from them for fear of their reactions, like her father’s ‘job’ hunting down anything that was more than human. Things she had put together recently, like how her mother had seemingly been ‘taken’ by the fae of her own volition. The things that were hard to even think about, like what had driven her to disappear to sea in the first place.

They listened, perfectly understanding despite it all, but that just made it worse.

Because, if they understood, if they sympathized, that made her dare to hope that this might work.

She didn’t want to be wrong.

But she had to ask.

“Please, take care of me!” Cass said, tears building in her eyes. Her whole plan hinged on this. If they said no, then there was nothing she could do. She would have to go home, have to face a punishment (whatever that may be). Or maybe she would just stay adrift until she inevitably died of malnutrition. She might be able to get some other human family to take care of her, but if these two mer she had seemingly endeared herself to said no then was there any hope of anyone saying yes?

But her fears were unfounded, as they often were with the mer:

“Of course,” Marinette said, squeezing them tighter.

Adrien buried his face in the crook of her neck. “You’re family.”

~~~~~~~~~

End note:

Listen that felt like a good place to end the story. However. I have more ideas so feel free to read if you’re interested

They take Cass to a deserted island with a hidden cenote that they visit her in, and she makes herself a house and place to stay. Mer don’t usually stay in one place for long, they’d really only lingered in an underwater cave by Cass’s house as long as they had because they were curious about her (which turned into a heck of an attachment), so they tend to go off exploring during the day. But they always come home by sunset to curl up in the little cenote to sleep with Cass snoring away just a few feet away.

Adrien goes to land while he’s still tiny and more-or-less human looking and tooooootally doesn’t murder David Cain while he was out getting lunch. Also, Marinette definitely doesn’t drown an entire ship’s worth of sailors to gift the ship to Cass so she can go on adventures with them.

Cass lowkey also becomes a pirate because she gets tired of the taste of fish and, well, she has two very scary family members so why not get some extra supplies from any ships she comes across?

The very scary apple doesn’t fall far from the even scarier tree <3

Speaking of their slightly messed up little family. When Adrien and Cass do sibling fights, Adrien will push her boat around like a kid playing with a toy car. Cass does not appreciate this and has tried to hit him with the anchor several times in retaliation. Marinette is so very tired.

Cass loses her last baby tooth and Mari and Adrien fight for their lives over it. Until she gives up and just asks one of them to knock one of her front teeth out. The knocked-out tooth matches Adrien’s.

Also, obviously, Cass gets a necklace with one of Mari’s scales and one of Adrien’s nails because Adrien didn’t want to stop matching her and this was the only other option.

They all learn to sign to communicate because they all have hands. Good for them.

Oh. Right. For those wondering, Marinette is a squirrelfish and Adrien is an axolotl. Marinette is very old (well over 300) and Adrien is very young (canonically like 3), but reality is whatever I want so Mari is like 30 as a human and Adrien is like 13 like Cass, hence all of the ‘baby’ and ‘mother’ jokes that weren’t really jokes. Marinette’s parents were highkey killed by humans super recently and that was why she mentioned having bitten humans before and was so wary about Cass at first. It’s also why she had originally taken in Adrien, taking care of someone was basically a coping mechanism for her. Taking care of Adrien because she couldn’t save her parents, you know? It works out for Adrien too. Adrien’s obsession with jewelry was really just an obsession with the idea of having a family, because mer use jewelry to tie themselves to their family and he didn’t really have one and he just wanted to belong and –.

Yeah, okay, I’m done.

#maribat #platonic cassinette #platonic cass and adrien #platonic adrienette #mermaid #merfolk #mer #marinette dupain cheng #cassandra cain #adrien agreste #mercy #get it like mer-sea #hehehehe #god im so funny #au august #maribat au #maribat au august

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lazy-alex · 2 years

Text

@maribat-calendar-events

"The glass that keeps us apart"

| Jasonette July 2022 | pride | Day 5 | warning! It's Major character death folks! And also not edited

[masterpost]

(help i don't know how to add the keep reading on Tumblr mobile)

Jason is proud of his daughter.

Well, she's not his. But he took her in for a while.

She's grown since the last time he's seen her, he noticed. Her hair is shorter than usual. He touched the glass that separated them.

Jason doesn't see her much. Ever since the social services took her away. His princess grew up so much after that.

Jason found her hiding behind a dumpster one night. Three years old, alone and shivering. He cursed Bruce for what he did next.

He couldn't help himself and gave her a warm meal and shelter.

The moment her tiny hands grabbed him and her eyes stared with such hope. He knew. He couldn't let go.

This child was his.

And you know what happened next. He kept her, and she stayed.

For 7 years.

Those were the best years of his life.

That's why he was terrified, the moment she was taken. The social services deemed him "unfit" to be a parent.

Jason took care of her for 7 years for god's sake. And NOW they deemed him 'unfit'?!

In the end, Jason refused to give her to them. He had papers. Well, fake papers since she technically doesn't exist. He fought for her custody. He didn't want to let her go. But then, her real relatives came. And they were stubborn like him.

At that time, Jason felt conflicted.

This was a chance. A chance to give her a normal life. The life he was trying so hard to give her. The life he's sure he couldn't give. Gotham wasn't a place for children as pure as her.

He didn't want her to get hurt. Gotham isn't getting any better.

So Jason decided, with a heavy heart. He sent her away.

His little princess was kicking and screaming while her grandmother pulled her away. Jason stared at the window, with his tears kept inside. He couldn't help but look, as his princess got free of her grandmother's grip and ran towards him. She hugged his knees and sobbed.

"Papa, I want you.." she softly said. Traces of snot and tears covered her face. Others would've called it disgusting, but it made Jason's heartbreak.

His princess shouldn't cry like this.

He crouched down and held her one last time. This time, he didn't stop the tears from flowing.

"I know baby, but this is for you. So be brave for papa and stay strong alright?" He brushed the tears away from her face. It didn't do much, since another round of tears kept flowing.

A wet chuckle escaped from his lips. He wiped his tears and gave her a soft smile. "I'll visit don't worry, probably sooner than you expect," he whispered, inaudible to others but them.

"You promise?"

"Promise," Jason crossed his heart.

She stared at him with hopeful eyes, like the day he met her. Her wide blue eyes stared at him with so much hope, that his heart breaks again.

"Marinette, darling," her grandmother called.

He lets her go.

And now he regrets it.

She shouldn't have let her go. He shouldn't have sent her to Paris. He shouldn't have given her back.

He should've kept her.

His fists clenched as he prevented himself from punching the glass. Drops of water started falling into the glass, making him realize that he was crying.

Jason couldn't help but feel pride when he saw a new hero soar through the skies of Paris. But he also couldn't help but fear for her.

He knew he couldn't stop her. Just like he did at her age. And he knows she can be reckless. Like him.

The only thing he can provide was training. But it still couldn't ease the worry. He had trained too, and yet, he died.

He couldn't visit Paris now. His daughter had implemented a 'foreign hero ban' on Paris to prevent greater Akuma threats. And he knew, with his uncontrollable temper, he was the worst person to come.

His daughter, at 14 years old, already bore the weight of the world on her shoulders. And Jason's heart breaks yet again. He wishes to help with the weight, to carry the other half on his.

This isn't the life he wanted her to have. Paris was supposed to be safe for her.

Jason broke down to Cass the night he realized he couldn't come. He drank too much and got drunk his worries came flooding out of his mouth.

Cass understood. She always did. So she asked Bruce to let her stay in Paris to train his princess.

Jason is so grateful he almost broke down again. Cass just smiled at him, "Anything for family little brother," she said with a little tease on the last part.

He laughed and hugged her tightly, "Thank you," he softly said.

His princess received a badass aunt the other day and Jason can't help but feel grateful for the existence of the internet.

Jason sobbed. He feels angry, at that damn butterfly, himself, and the glass that keeps them apart.

He wants to hug her damnit. He wants to hold her one last time. But he couldn't. Because of this stupid glass.

He knows he can break it, he can shatter it into pieces and take her away.

But he couldn't do that. He shouldn't.

He shouldn't let grief take over him.

This must've been what Bruce felt when Jason died.

Overwhelming pain and hatred for yourself. Grief. Greif. Greif.

Loss.

She's only 16 goddamit! He was supposed to visit her! She was supposed to be visiting Gotham!

Jason rested his head on the glass of her coffin. The tears won't stop escaping from his eyes. The peaceful look on her face betrayed what happened.

Parents were supposed to die before their children. He never knew it hurts this much to lose a child.

Jason is so proud of his princess.

She managed to stop a threat to the world. And yet, it costs them a life. Her life.

And Jason is so damn angry at the glass that keeps him from embracing her one last time.

Didn't expect this to be so long LOL-

I made Jason a crybaby-

WITH REASON THO

#maribat #o.o #batfam #jasonette #Jasonette July #platonic jasonette #this is an attempt to uncover a side of Jasonette that i noticed is rarely used..?#not sure but i need papa hood jason fics #jasonette july 2022 #major character death #jason todd #tiny appearance of:#cassandra cain #this is longer than usual lol

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itsnothappening · 2 years

Text

twinkling lights | jasonette

word count: +1.5k

summary: "will you relax?" dick asked, nudging jason lightly with his shoulder. "we already know she's going to say yes."

a/n: i'm on a roll of fluff, i'm not even kidding.

@maribat-calendar-events

ao3 | wattpad | series masterlist | masterlist | prompts

Jason had been freaking out all day. Currently, Marinette was at the fashion store, buying some fabric while he and the rest of the Waynes set up blankets in the most private corner of the Manor's garden.

"Will you relax?" Dick asked, nudging Jason lightly with his shoulder. "We already know she's going to say yes."

"Obviously," Damian scoffed loudly, "Otherwise, I wouldn't be wasting my time here."

That, much to Jason's surprise and eternal chagrin, did more to calm him than anything else anyone had said today. The knot of tension in Jason's chest loosened. You could always count on Damian's brutal honesty, so if he thought that Marinette would say yes, then he was most likely—as much as Jason hated to admit it—right.

They had just finished hanging the twinkling fairy lights before they heard the tell-tale sound of the Manor gates opening.

Immediately, the rest of his family took off, running through the bushes and into the Manor, no doubt waiting for him and Marinette to return, the latter of which hopefully with a ring on her finger.

Marinette appeared a few moments later—they timed it perfectly—giving Jason what he called her 'sunshine grin.'

"Hey, handsome," she said, catching sight of him just ahead of the place he planned to propose. Pulling him in for a kiss, Marinette gave Jason a suspicious look, probably sensing the nervous energy he was practically radiating. "What's wrong?"

Jason huffed out a shaky laugh. She knew him too well. "Nothing," he said, sounding as normal as possible—or so he hoped. "Can I show you something?"

Marinette gave him a worried look but nodded nonetheless. "Sure, ma cherie."

Jason took her smaller palm in his larger one, guiding her slowly to where he had everything set up.

"What are we doing?" Marinette asked, a slightly impatient look on her face.

Jason laughed, feeling some of the nerves melting out of him. "Impatient as ever, aren't we, Mari?"

She shot him her usual faux glare—that looked adorable on her, he might add—just as they reached Jason's little setup of pillows and blankets and twinkling lights.

Marinette gasped and turned to Jason, a mixture of confusion and pleasure on her face. "What's this?" she asked in her perfectly accented English.

Jason shrugged sheepishly, feeling colour leaking onto his cheeks. "Just something I wanted to do for you," he mumbled. Smiling slightly as his gaze caught onto the various tangles of fairy lights, Jason pointed at them. "Look, I even put up those tiny little lights you love."

Marinette laughed delightedly, her eyes lighting up at his comment. "They're called fairy lights, mon amour."

Jason's hand slid into his pocket when Marinette turned to the little scene he had created, a dreamy smile on her face. "Wow," she said, her voice a little breathy. "It's so pretty."

Heart pounding, Jason knew that this was the moment as soon as his hand came in contact with the tiny velvet box in his pocket. Calmness washed onto him as he dropped onto one knee behind his hopefully soon-to-be fiancee.

"Hey, Pixie," he said softly as his knees touched the grass.

Marinette turned to look at him, eyes bright—that immediately widened when she saw him—and a disbelieving smile curled on her lips. "What are you doing?" she asked, looking like she wanted to drop onto her knees beside him. Her eyes looked suspiciously glassy.

Jason took a deep breath and jumped off the metaphorical cliff.

"Marinette, since the day I met you, you made changed my life. I knew you were going to have an impact on my life but I underestimated just how much," Jason's voice cracked on the last few words and he had to clear his throat before he continued. "You stuck by me despite the shitty parts of me—even when I threatened to kill you. I never thought that I could love you the way I do and always will, and I never knew someone would love me the way you do. All of the sacrifices you've made for me, for us even when you had to deal with 'shitty American pastries' and bitchy cab drivers, I still can't believe you made them for me."

Marinette choked out a sob-laugh at the last sentence, eyes glassier than ever.

Jason swallowed thickly before he continued, "I know you miss home, but I love you for staying here and making one with me."

Finally, finally, Jason got to the awaited question. "Will you marry me?"

Marinette didn't even wait for him to finish his sentence before she was gasping out yes, dropping down beside him to pull him into a frantic kiss.

Jason tugged Marinette closer, nearly dropping the ring box in his hasty actions. They kissed for a few moments before Marinette pulled away, resting her forehead against his. Small droplets of water were dripping from her cheeks as she beamed at him, practically a ray of sunshine.

"Are you okay?" Jason murmured, slowly wiping them away.

"Are you kidding?" Marinette asked vehemently, her voice watery. "I'm more than okay. I'm—"

Her voice faltered and panic festered in Jason before she continued hastily. "I'm ecstatic."

She shot Jason a watery grin as she clutched his forearms. "Sorry, I forgot the word for it."

Jason let out a wet laugh of his own, nearly dropping the ring box still in his hands. "Oh," he said, suddenly aware that he had forgotten to do something, "I probably should—"

This time it was Marinette's turn to laugh, holding her hand out. "Right. That's probably the most important step."

Sliding the ring on Marinette's finger felt like sealing the deal, and Jason could honestly say he had never ever felt so happy in his entire life. Marinette let out a shaky sigh once the shiny but simple ring was settled on her finger, immediately burying her head into the crook of his neck.

"Did you like my speech?" Jason asked quietly, tracing patterns on her waist.

Letting out an embarrassed laugh, Marinette said, "About that. I kinda might have not listened to the entire speech because I was waiting for when I got to say yes?"

Jason snickered. "You're ridiculous."

"But you love me," Marinette said, a teasing grin making its way across her face. "And you're stuck with me for the rest of your life."

Jason groaned exaggeratedly, a fond grin making its way across his face. "I love you too."

Pulling her into a kiss, Jason dipped Marinette as they did in those cheesy romance movies, so far that they fell directly onto the mattresses and cushions below them.

While the two of them giggled like teenagers, Jason pulled out a vintage wine and offered it to Marinette, pressing his lips to her palm.

Taking a sip from the bottle, Marinette asked, "How did you even have time to set this up? I was with you for the whole day."

Jason shrugged modestly. "I had help. Demon-spawn and Dick strung up the fairy lights, Cass and Alfred brought in the food and Bruce and Tim helped set up the pillows and blankets."

"Does this mean—" Marinette paused questioningly.

Nodding sheepishly, Jason said, "They all knew."

Grinning slowly, Marinette slipped Jason's phone out of his pocket. "They must be so nervous," she said with her evil little smile.

Jason let out a laugh—more like a cackle—already knowing where Marinette's thoughts were going. "If you want to do that, you're going to have to take the ring off."

Marinette snatched her hands away from him as if he was going to slip the ring off her fingers. "Never mind," she said, covering her arms protectively. "Not worth it."

Jason laughed loudly, a ball of warmth growing in his chest. He pulled Marinette to his chest, snuggling into her.

They lay down in comfortable silence before Marinette broke it. "Shouldn't we be going back in now? Before they come looking for us?"

Jason groaned a little, rolling off his fiancee.

As they rounded the corner to the Manor, Marinette snickered when the first thing she saw was Dick's face pressed against the window.

Letting out a very unmanly squeal, Dick launched himself out of the door before anyone else knew what was happening and pulled Jason into a bear hug.

"I knew it," he said excitedly, bouncing on the balls of his feet. Holding Marinette's hand up, Dick beamed at it as if he hadn't seen it hours before.

Tim was next, also pulling Jason into a hug and giving him a grin filled with relief, pride and love. The two of them grin at each other like morons until Cass comes bowling in, with Damian and Bruce jogging behind.

The next few hours are a blur of congratulations, handshakes and bottles of champagnes and fine wine, but as Jason lies in bed that night, he lets the dopiest grin in the history of dopey take over his face.

"I love you," Marinette mumbled, tired out by the ahem previous activities.

Jason pressed a feather-light kiss to her forehead as he wrapped himself around her. "I love you too."

And nothing was going to change that.

#jasonette july 2022 #jason x marinette #marinette x jason #marinette dupain cheng #jason todd #bruce wayne #damian wayne #tim drake #dick grayson #cassandra cain #maribat #mlb x dc #dc x mlb #fluff #tooth rotting fluff #marriage proposals

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folk-ever-lore · 2 years

Text

PROMPT: “IS THAT A DRAWING OF ME?”

Cassandra: Is that a drawing of me?

Marinette: I wanted to see what you’d look like in your dress at the venue.

Cassandra: [Teasing] What happened to not seeing the bride before the wedding?

Marinette: As the other bride I think I have the power to overrule that rule.

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dessarious · 4 months

Text

The Angel of Death Pt52

So this is going to be the last chapter of this, at least for now. I may add onto it later, or do a sequel. But this feels like a decent stopping point for the moment.

Prologue Beginning Previous

As the Angel of Death worked her way across the rooftops, her rage was getting worse. Just thinking of the audacity of that stupid clown was enough to make her blood boil. Cass appeared beside her as Black Bat and they continued in silence. She'd dumped all the Miraculous into her pocket before she left to make sure Chloe didn't follow herself, or even go get the others. Gina would likely follow eventually, but that was a problem for when it happened. They stopped when they had a visual of Damian dangling from a rope.

"Are you ready to let me do what needs to be done?" She waited for Cass to nod. She didn't think it would be an issue, but she was one of Batman's people, and she didn't know exactly what she'd end up doing to the freak-show on the next roof. Logic said to just kill him and be done with it, but... something was making her pause, so there was no telling what would happen when she confronted him. "Don't free the others until I've dealt with him." That got a much more hesitant nod. Whether it was worry that she couldn't handle the idiot herself, or worry over Batman's reaction was a toss up.

As she watched him strutting around the roof, calling for Batman, Marinette felt a pull to the Miraculous in her pocket. As she palmed each one in turn, the Peafowl almost felt like it was burning her. Duusu appeared in front of her with a determined look. Well, she could take a hint. The transformation didn't seem to change her outer appearance the way she'd seen with other holders. It was a question for later though. Duusu's energy was radiating through her and it seemed like the Kwami was even more pissed off at the Joker than she was. This should be interesting.

Black Bat had disappeared and Marinette assumed she was putting herself into position to protect her team. So, as she snuck up behind the Joker, she knew she could focus solely on him.

"If you wanted Batman, you should have stayed in Gotham." Watching the man jump and almost fall over as he turned to face her should have been amusing.

"Isn't it past your bedtime?" She could help but roll her eyes.

"No wonder you turned to crime. You'd never make it as a real clown with shitty jokes like that." The flash of anger in his eyes gave her more satisfaction than it should.

"You should be careful. A mouth like that is going to get you in trouble one day." Bit late with that advice.

"I guess it's a good thing the rest of me is capable of getting out of trouble then. Shame I can't say the same for you." The clown was just frowning at her now. He didn't seem to know how to react to the fact that he didn't scare her. "Batman isn't showing up. I'm going to give you one chance to pack up and go back to Gotham to aggravate him there. If you stay, the consequences will be on you."

"Are you threatening me?" He sounded somewhere between amused and insulted. Bruce was behind him trying his best to glare at her. She ignored it.

"I assure you, if I threaten you, you'll know it. Make your choice." He walked towards her with a hand outstretched to grab her.

"Listen here you little- Ahh!" The second he made contact she grabbed his hand a bent all the fingers backwards. At least three were broken.

"Didn't anyone ever tell you it's rude to touch people without their permission?" The clown was just cursing up a storm and she waited. When he finally focused on her again the rage in his eyes was actually rather impressive.

"Girly, you just made the biggest mistake of your life." She just let out a snort.

"Please, if that was a mistake, and it wasn't, it wouldn't even make the top hundred." He reached for the flower on his chest and she let him. Poor guy went from gloating to confused in a few seconds when he realized his little acid bath had no effect on her. "Are you ready to leave now, or do I need to take drastic measures? I can even help you on your way if you wish." Granted she'd just use Kaalki to put him in a cell in Arkham but he didn't need to know that. Mari could feel Duusu's anger that he might be left unpunished, and had to wonder what exactly the Kwami planned to do.

While the Joker seemed to be trying to figure out what she was, Mari took a moment to look at his strings. All but one of them were black leading to him, but gray coming from his body. So, everyone in his life hated him with a passion, but he had no care for them at all. Not overly surprising. The other string was the weird one. It led to Bruce and was black coming from the billionaire, but from Joker... it was purple. But a warped version of the familial bond. There were odd patterns in the same kind of sickly green that pulsed between her and Damian. That was... interesting.

"I guess I'll just have to start offing hostages until Batman shows up then." She couldn't help the eye roll.

"I'm not going to let you do that."

"I'd like to see you try to stop me." He turned away from her and she had to wonder at his arrogance. Before he made it two steps, she tackled and pinned him to the roof. Bruce was yelling at her, but all she could concentrate on was the insistent thrumming in her head from Duusu. The string between her and the Joker, now gray from end to end, began vibrating, and she pushed. What exactly, she wasn't sure, but it seemed the right thing to do. The clown stopped struggling for a moment and everything was deathly quiet. Then he started screaming.

Mari got up and watched as he writhed in apparent pain, as Duusu filled her in on what had happened. The Kwami seemed to get great pleasure as the man went from screams to whimpers and sobs as he curled into the fetal position. Black Bat was watching her from the shadows, and she gave the other girl a nod. The man wasn't a threat anymore.

"What did you do?" Bruce's tone caused her to let out an aggravated breath.

"I didn't kill him. Isn't that what you wanted.?" As Black Bat untied them, it seemed that only Bruce was concerned with the man's suffering. He thought it was a good idea to loom over her.

"Torture is no better."

"No, but it's exactly what you do to the citizens of Gotham by refusing to remove threats like him." She hadn't meant those words to come out, but honestly, seeing the stunned look on his face was worth it.

"That is ridiculous. I do not torture people."

"Oh? So what do you call forcing them to live in constant fear? Knowing that the next moment could bring another villain attack from people you know are dangerous but can't properly contain? Praying that the next phone call isn't to tell them a loved one died because Batman cares more about keeping murders alive than them." The man stormed off, but the rest of them were trading looks before one of them, Red hood she was pretty sure, walked up to her.

"So, what did you do exactly?" It wasn't an accusation, and he seemed to be studying the clown with interest more than anything else.

"He's being forced to go through all the emotional pain and torment he caused others. Given the sheer amount of victims he had, I doubt it will ever stop. If he's lucky, his brain will eventually shut down and he'll go into a vegetative coma. But that won't happen for at least ten years."

"Good." That was it. He just walked back over to the others. Damian was the next to approach her, but didn't seem to know what to say. He kept rubbing his chest where his string to Talia had been.

"No after effects from being stabbed?" He blinked at her for a moment.

"No. Either the blade wasn't poisoned or whatever healed me got rid of it as well. I'd bet on the second." She nodded. "Do you truly believe killing is necessary?" Not the question she expected.

"You don't?" He hesitated.

"In the League, it was expected. With Batman it is strictly forbidden. While I believe my father's way of living is better overall, I am uncertain about the nuances." She still didn't know how to react to him when he admitted things like that. It was so strange compared to how he'd always acted when she was trapped in the League.

"I suppose it depends on the outcome you want. For my purpose it is necessary. For Gotham to regain balance and heal, I would say it is necessary. I do not know what your father's intentions are, so I can not say if they are necessary to achieve them."

"But you didn't kill him." His confusion was clear as he glanced at the Joker, still whimpering on the roof.

"I'm learning that death is an easy way out. Far too easy for some. Talia's death was necessary to rid everyone connected to her of the corruption she caused. Had she remained alive, even if she was neutralized, that corruption would have remained and possibly taken on a life of its own. The Joker, while insidious in his own way, does not have that effect on others. He will remain in the hell he created until he does die. It seems fitting, does it not?"

"The corruption you speak of, is that why I feel..." He didn't seem to know what he wanted to say. "Free?"

"Most likely, yes." He continued to rub his chest for a few minutes before he spoke again.

"I regret that you suffered because of me." The words were soft, almost like he didn't mean to say them out loud.

"You are not the one that decided my fate. If I have learned nothing else from this experience, I've learned that I was always destined to suffer. For all I know, it is actually my fault you were born into the league in the first place. But placing blame is a rather useless endeavor."

"Will you remain in Paris?" She frowned at him, but he was looking away from her. Was he trying to get information for his father?

"It is unlikely. I need to travel to serve my purpose." He hummed and fiddled with something in his jacket.

"I have something I wish to return to you." Mari's face scrunched up in confusion. When she caught sight of what he pulled out of his jacket, she stopped breathing. Her hands were trembling as she reached for the little photo album he held out to her.

"Maman carried this everywhere. She hated showing people pictures on a phone for some reason. I can't believe you have this." She couldn't bring herself to open it. The thought of looking at those pictures made her chest ache, knowing she'd never experience anything like it again.

"It fell out of her purse when... It never seemed right to get rid of it." He sounded embarrassed and wouldn't look at her. Before she realized what she was doing, her arms were around his neck.

"Thank you." She let go and stepped back quickly. Both because of her aversion to touch and because she was fairly certain he had the same issue. "I should leave before your father comes back." He nodded, still refusing to look at her. Before she left the roof, she noticed that the string between them had stopped pulsing and was starting to turn from gray, to a pale green. She supposed she could be okay with that.

Prologue Beginning Previous

Tag List

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#maribat #assassin mari #marinette dupain cheng #cassandra cain #damian wayne #bruce wayne #Joker

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azurezfiction · 2 years

Text

Yes, yes all my plans on showing all the MariBat fans that love that is Terry McGinnis and Carrie Kelley, and joining the BatPhantom ship.

It’s all going according to plan~

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lily-drake · 1 year

Note

Part 4 of timinette siblings with Kon and Bart coming over and bonding?

Maybe they were on an off-world mission of something and they video-called him

A second Anonymous person asked: If you make a part 4 (you do not have to) for the sibling Tim and Marinette, I think its time we see some protective big brother Tim moments don't you think? Stepping in when he spots a guy crowding his sister to suing Lila and Alya when he discovers the bullying, and the blog. Helping Mama Sabine bring evidence to the school board over the mistreatment of Mari, maybe his reaction to hearing Damien calling Mari a 'harlot' or 'tramp' (Tim totally goes to Luka for 'how to be best big bro' advice)

So I’ve decided to put them together. Enjoy!

Siblings Don’t Stand Back and Watch, They Always Get Involved

First <> Previous

Tim absolutely ADORED his sister. She had done so much for him and he could never thank her and her their parents enough. Tim had gone from hating who he was and feeling like a tool to be used and tossed away to knowing that he was loved and needed not for his intellect and what he could give, he was needed because he existed and they enjoyed spending time with him. They were all so supportive of him and his choices, and he almost cried when they said it was okay if he didn’t want to talk some days and just silently stayed with him. No interrogation, no forceful tactics, not even a hint of manipulation, they just loved and cared for him.

He had explained all of this to Cass during a lunch they had together while Marinette was at school. She had smiled brightly at him and said,

“Happy for you Little Brother. They good for you.”

Her tone was gentle and he could hear and feel the joy and love that she felt for him. Once he was finished retelling everything that had happened since they had seen each other in person he asked her about her time in Hong Kong and about all of the different things she had done and learned there. He loved the way her eyes lit up as she signed out all of her experiences. The way she moved her hands with such excitement and the swiftness showed just how much she loved the new city she called home.

After they finished their lunch Cass asked if they could surprise Marinette at school. Now that Tim thought about it, he’s never actually been to Marinette’s school before, and it had been months. He quickly nodded and they headed to Collège Françoise Dupont to surprise their little sister at her school. Once they got close enough to the school they could hear a loud commotion which worried Tim.

“Look at Maritrash!”

“Where are your bodyguards now, huh?”

“Not so invincible now, are you?”

“I can’t believe she would do that to Lila!”

“What happened to the sweet girl we once knew?”

Tim and Cass made eye contact for a moment before both rushed through the crowd and through the school in search of the small bluenette. He had heard things here and there about how cruel some of the people here could be, heard about the girl that could twist anything, but it seems that it was extremely downplayed if this was what was happening during their lunch hour.

They shoved their way toward the center of the gathered mass of students to see Marinette in the center, food completely covering her, and every time she took a step toward the crowd in hopes of an opening to escape, she was pushed back and something else was thrown at her. And near the center watching what was going on with a face full of sorrow, but eyes full of gleeful malice and Tim snapped.

“Marinette!”

He yelled while rushing towards her which caused her gaze to snap towards him. He quickly pulled her to his chest which caused her to start shaking, her breath spiking slightly, his shirt becoming damp. He needed to get them out of Paris and quickly before Hawkmoth got the opportunity to use her rightful emotions against her.

“Cass, I need you to call Kon.”

He yelled over the cacophony of people yelling and shouting profanities toward him. He couldn’t focus on that right now though, he had to stay vigilant and protect his sister. She was priority number one at the moment. He wondered where the others were, but then recalled that Chloe, Adrien, and Kagami were on a business meeting with their parents out of the country. It didn’t help that Kagami and Luka were out in different schools, but that didn’t explain where Juleka was, and he couldn’t find her in the crowd at all. He could feel things begin to hit him, but that didn’t matter because they weren’t hitting Mari.

Bang

The entirety of the school froze and turned toward where the noise had come from. Teachers began to pile out of the room with looks of fury and outrage even before they noticed the crowd of students, but once they did their looks made even Tim shiver in fear.

“So you think it’s funny to trap the entire faculty in the boardroom just so you could cause havoc? Well you’ve all got another thing coming to you.”

The girl with sinister tear filled eyes spoke, clinging to another student.

“M-Marinette did it! We tried to get her to-to stop, bu-”

“I’ve heard enough from you Rossi! After a similar stunt was pulled we were able to get the camera footage sent directly to our phones, we know exactly what happened, and so will your parents.”

At that the girl paled, and Tim felt a vindictive satisfaction. There was a small yank on his sleeve and he looked to the side to see Cass pulling him towards the doors. Kon must have arrived.

“Hey, I have a few friends that want to meet you. Follow me.”

He whispered softly into her ear. She nodded wordlessly and let herself be pulled along as they traveled past all of the students who were still being yelled at by the teachers and staff. Once they made it to the stairs Kon ran up to them and looked all three of them over, slightly panicked.

“What happened Tim?”

“Can you take us to the tower? We need to get out of here quickly.”

Tim urgently replied.

“Lila might become Akumatized.”

Marinette murmured against his chest. Tim ran his fingers through her hair and whispered,

“It’ll be you if we don’t leave now.”

Tim gently pushed her towards Kon and looked him directly in the eye,

“This is Marinette, take her first and make sure she’s safe.”

Kon nodded and waited till Marinette came towards him before he picked her up and left. Tim slowly clenched his fists and took in long slow breaths before relaxing them again. He needed to be level headed right now, he needed to tell their parents about what happened. Sabine had told him all about how she, Tom, and many other parents protested against the school to the school board and how, because of that, the school had gotten new administration and a stricter zero-tolerance policy. They needed to know about this.

Cass placed a gentle hand on his shoulder, grounding him, keeping him present. He carefully placed his hand atop hers, taking one last calming breath before giving her a small nod.

“I need to go tell Tom and Sabine about what’s happening.”

Cass gave a serious nod and once Tim released her hand they made the quick walk to the bakery.

To say Sabine was upset would be the understatement of the century, she was enraged.

“I knew it! I knew that it wouldn’t be enough. We are either transferring to homeschool or to a new school completely. Kagami said that the school she attends gives out scholarships, I just know Marientte would be able to get one with her designs. She is never going back to that Hell Hole ever again!”

Sabine yelled as she paced anxiously around the apartment flat. She made a quick turn and looked Tim directly in the eyes, her face softening as she did so when Tim flinched back.

“Sorry dear. Thank you for saving Marinette. Please make sure that she’ll be okay for us.”

Tim nodded.

“Of course. You’ve all helped me so much, and I’d do anything for her.”

Sabine pulled him into a tight hug that he quickly returned.

“I’m so proud of you Tim. You truly are one of the greatest souls to be on this Earth.”

Tim could feel his eyes water, but he quickly pushed them back feeling Cass’s gaze on the two of them. He could feel the soft smile she was sending the both of them. Sabine pulled away a few moments later only to leave a gentle kiss to his temple.

“Tell Marinette that she can stay with your friends as long as she would like. It will take some time for me to complete the transfer process, but it will happen.”

Tim nodded, his eyes showing a determined fierceness.

“Of course.”

Tim felt his phone buzz. Kon was back.

“Be safe. I love you Tim, and please tell Marinette that I love her too.”

Tim nodded shyly, still unused to the open shows of affection.

“I will.”

A pause.

“I love you too.”

It wasn’t the first time he had told them that, but the words still felt foreign on his tongue. Sabine softened a little more, placing one last kiss on his temple before she stood up and left. And with that, Cass and Tim left the small apartment to meet Kon who was waiting for them right outside.

“How is she?”

Tim immediately asked. Kon stared at Tim in shock, his heartbeat was through the roof.

“She was very distraught, but Cassie is taking care of her right now.”

Tim let out a sigh of relief.

“That’s good, Cassie should be able to help her. Alright, I need you to take us.”

Kon raised a brow, he had so many questions, but from the panicked look on his friend’s (practically brother’s) face, he knew that he wasn’t going to get them until this was resolved. He bent down slightly, letting Tim climb onto his back before he scooped Cass up and they flew to Titans Tower.

________

Marinette paced around the room like a caged animal. There was so much that could go wrong, and she was stuck here unable to do anything. Cassie and Bart watched her with concerned eyes. Kon had only given them the briefest rundown of everything, saying that this was “a friend of Tim” and that he had asked for him to bring her here.

“She doesn't seem very crash.”

Bart stage whispered as he snacked on a bag of potato chips. Cassie rolled her eyes at her friend,

“No, she doesn’t.”

Marinette wasn’t paying attention to their words though, she wasn’t even aware that they were talking. All she could do was listen to the thoughts in her mind telling her that something bad would happen and it would be all her fault. That because she was gone she would not be able to help or save her people if there was an attack which would make her the worst and most useless hero in the world! Then she would lose her Miraculous, Chat would demand that she pass on the guardianship because of how irresponsible she was, Tim would abandon her when he realized how useless of a sister she was and-

Warm arms wrapped around her causing her racing mind to pause.

“I need you to breathe Mars, I know you’re scared, but everything is going to be okay.”

Marinette sucked in a deep breath, she wasn’t even aware of how shallow they had been, but now that she thought about it she had been seeing small black dots in the corner of her vision.

“That’s it, you’re doing so good now. I’d never leave you Marinette, you and the others, you’re the last bit of family I have left. Even if you weren't, you're still my sister, and that means everything to me.”

Tears welled up in her eyes, but she needed to fight them back, she couldn’t have strong emotions, those emotions would attract,

“It’s okay to cry now. You’re not in Paris, if you need to cry I’m right here.”

She heard a door slide closed behind her, they were moving. When had they even started moving? Her body was gently moved down and she could feel herself sitting on her brother’s lap, her head resting against his chest letting her hear the steady beating of his heart.

Thump thump,

Thump thump.

It was a steady rhythm, soothing in more ways than one. Gentle fingers brushed through her hair and the dam broke as tears fell down her cheeks and sobs wracked her body. It wasn’t fair. She had done everything right, she was kind, patient, tried her best not to cause a scene, she forgave others, she helped them even when they didn’t like her, she had done everything right! So why did they all hate her then? What had she done, what was so bad about her, what did she do to make others hate her so much?!

“You didn’t do anything. It’s all on them, you are so good Marinette, far too good. They don’t deserve you, I don’t deserve you. But we’re going to get through this, we’re going to do it together. I’m not going to leave you to suffer on your own, I’ll stand by you, I’ll be your shoulder as long as you need me.”

Marinette clutched onto her brother, letting her hands fist around shirt. Marinette didn’t know how long they were there, how long she spent ruining his shirt with her tears and snot, it could have been a few hours, minutes, even a day. Despite that fact, Tim never once left her, always either rubbing her back, running fingers through her hair, humming, whispering comforting words, and just being the comforting presence that she needed. It made her heart warm and helped to silence the sobs and slow the tears. Tim loved her, he was here for. She had Adrien, Chloe, Kagami, Luka, and her parents too. She wasn’t alone. Marinette slowly lifted her gaze to stare at her brother where he gave her the softest most loving smile she’d ever seen on him.

“You feelinging any better?”

He asked. Marinette nodded, wiping the tears away with the back of her hand. Tim leaned backwards and grabbed a box of tissues from some corner of the room they were in.

“Thank you.”

She whispered hoarsely, using the tissues to wipe her eyes and a few more to wipe her nose. Now that she was thinking a little clearer she began to look around the room. A mess would be an understatement, but a pigsty would be an overstatement as well. She could tell it was a form of organized chaos, papers scattered across the floor, boards covering each of the walls with red strings wrapped around them, pens were scattered everywhere on the desk as well as stacks of manila folders filled to bursting with different papers, and when she looked up there was another board up there, this one was empty though, which was strange. It kind of looked like her room, except it was mostly paper rather than bolts and scraps of fabric.

“Is this your room?”

She asked, sniffling slightly. Tim blushed a little in embarrassment as he too looked around his room.

“Yea. It probably looked a lot worse before. I have no doubt that one of them was nice enough to clear out all of the trash and coffee mugs. I’ll be doing the dishes for a month.”

He replied, grumbling the last sentence. Marinette let out a small hum, leaning into the warmth that was her brother. So who are your friends? Tim smiled at that before he let out a long sigh.

“The one that took us here was Kon, he’s the one that we saved from that lab I told you about. The blonde is Cassandra Sandsmark , though we call her Cassie. She’s an Amazionian fighter, Wonder Woman’s sidekick, I think you too would get along really well. Probably too well.”

He mumbled. Clearing his throat he continued,

“The last one, the one who’s going to absolutely talk your ear off, is Bart. He’s a speedster from an apocalyptic future that is living here. So if he says something you don’t know or understand, there’s a high chance we don’t know either.”

Marinette giggled at that, causing time to smile as well.

“Your-er, Mom,”

She snickered again causing him to roll his eyes.

“Mom told me to let you know that she is going to try to transfer you to Kagami’s school. She’s probably already called her by now to ask her about scholarships and admissions. I’ll help of course, you deserve the best.”

Marinette sniffled again at that. She would be leaving her old school then. It wasn’t technically a bad thing, but it was still a foreign concept in her mind. That she would be able to leave and escape the cruelty there. She still had two years of school left and she had a feeling that they would be well spent at Kagami’s school, even if she did have to wear a uniform. She had once asked Tim why he wasn’t in school, she had learned that he had actually skipped three grades and instead of graduating, like he should have, got an online GED. He said that it didn’t matter to him since he “was running Bruce’s company before he even graduated”. Sabine and Marinette had not been thrilled to hear that.

“Can I meet your friends?”

Tim smiled at that, he knew she was just trying to change the subject but he would let it go. She deserved a break anyways.

“Yea, I can also get you some water since they’ll probably be in or near the kitchen anyways.”

With that marinette slowly stood up, Tim followed after her though he stretched his legs first before he opened his door and began his tour of his home-away-from-home.

__________

Tim watched from the sidelines with a smile as he watched his friends/family talk with Marinette. He had no doubt that they would all get along, but it was still a relief and a weight off his shoulders to truly see it happening. He watched Kon whisper something in her ear, Marinette glanced at him for a second and Tim felt nervous. The next thing he knew Marinette burst out laughing and Tim was blushing despite the fact that he had no idea what was said. He glanced over at Kon to see if he could get a hint of whatever story he was telling but only got a sly smirk and sideways glances from a chuckling Cassie. He didn’t know if he wanted to know what story they told her. They had so many stories, most of which he didn’t even remember due to his sleep deprived state that it was frankly concerning. For him at least, they seem to enjoy holding these stories over his head whenever they need something.

Slowly, Tim approached the group, his family, and hesitantly asked,

“What exactly did I miss?”

Kon shook his head and placed a finger to his lips, smug smirk still firmly in place. Marinette’s eyes glittered with mirth as she followed suit and shook her head.

“Sorry Tim-Tam, can’t say.”

“And why not?”

He asked, crossing his arms and lifting a brow to look at all of his team members. Bart zipped right next to him, causing a small breeze in the room before rushing out,

“It’s a secret story. Maybe one day you’ll be able to find a way to unlock it in one of your side quests.”

Cassie snickered as Tim pouted. He honestly hadn’t played one of his open world adventure games in a while. He mostly played any version of UMS with Marinette and her their family. Tim sighed, dropping his hands to his side casually enough as Bart placed an arm around his shoulders. He could tell that there was some sort of trap here, they were holding out on something but he couldn’t tell what yet. The kitchen was clean (that was a first); Kon, Cass, and Cassie were all gathered near Mari; and there was nothing that could be considered suspicious on the counters. There was just a bag of flour, one on his side of the counter and one in hers.

…….

Oh no. Tim could tell that Marinette knew that he figured out what she planned to do. So with almost inhuman speed she lord the bag and threw a handful of it at Tim. He quickly closed his eyes as the dusted wheat hit him square in the face. Quickly reaching for his own bag he began to throw flour at her, only missing and hitting Cassie instead. The fight went on for a while, everyone getting involved until they were all white as ghosts. Marinette and everyone else was laughing, he knew that this was her idea. Probably revenge for the last time he initiated this same kind of fight. It was worth it though. She was happy, she wasn’t worried about a thing, and hopefully she can accept his friends. Let them be a part of their small found family. Tim never liked standing on the sidelines before. But just watching her, seeing her happy like this even if it wasn’t fully him that made her smile like that. Maybe he could make an exception for his dislike, but only if he could see her like this more often.

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