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soulmate-game · 3 years

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Useful Part 2

fluff with a little hurt and comfort. If you want answers as to the lack of angst, look through my recent posts for an explanation.

—* — * — * —* —*

“Wait, you have a WHAT?” were the first words that the rest of the Gotham-based vigilantes heard when they finally were able to track down where Damian had gone. Dick looked over at Bruce, who was noticeably tense. No surprise there, the man had just found out that he had a second biological child. One who was apparently a superhero already, without his intervention, and also apparently had a tragic background in the League of fucking Assassin Assholes. Not to mention that Damian’s track record with meeting siblings wasn’t great, even if this one wasn’t actually new to him. Nobody had any real fear of Damian relapsing on his no-kill rule, they knew he had matured far too much to be at risk of killing for something as immature as sibling rivalry anymore.

But there was still fear. Because this new Wayne was an Unknown Factor, and as a rule the Bats hated Unknown Factors. And they had no idea what the relationship between the two had been before they had been separated, or what it would become now.

“That wasn’t Damian’s voice,” Dick helpfully pointed out the obvious. Bruce only frowned, doing his best (and failing) to hide his anxiety about what they would find. Silently, the group inched forward to the edge of the abandoned building they were on top of so that they could look over at what was happening. What they saw was a girl, presumably the same one who had been in a ladybug onesie and had fearlessly begun to ask them to leave Paris— until she had laid proper eyes on Robin and fled, that was. That girl was sitting down next to an unmasked Damian, who had his arm around her shoulders and let her lean into his side. He even smirked cheerfully at her question before continuing to speak to her.

“A dragon-bat. I knew you’d love hearing about him, I’ll introduce you when you come visit the Batcave. His name is Goliath,” Damian admitted smugly. Despite the familiar attitude and pride behind his words though, his spying family couldn’t help but notice that he kept periodically rubbing the girl’s (they really needed to find out her name) shoulder in reassurance. None of them missed the tear tracks on both of their faces, or how red the girl’s eyes were. Clearly they had missed something big.

But nobody wanted to try to figure that out yet. This scene was too precious, too breathtaking for them to interrupt just yet. They had never seen Damian this vulnerable around someone outside of their little circle before, someone from the Time Before Bruce, no less. Most of the time, only Nightwing was able to see this side to Damian. And usually the roles were reversed, with Damian being the one consoled. They had never seen him in the position of the comforter before. The pillar of support.

It really cemented just how far he had come.

So they watched silently as the girl flinched, pulling away a bit and hunching in on herself. The laugh she let out was small and overflowing with self-degradation.

“You make it sound as if the rest of your family actually wants me to visit,” she replied sourly. Damian gently cuffed her over the head, frowning.

“Two things,” he held up two fingers from his free hand. “One: They will. They accepted me, and I was— well, you remember how I used to be. Once they actually meet you, and process the fact that there’s another Wayne now, they will bombard you with more welcoming than you will know what to do with. Two: It’s Our family, Marinette. Not mine, ours.”

Well, at least they had a name now. But it seems like they had bigger issues now, like Marinette’s clearly damaged sense of self. Jason and Tim traded knowing glances; it wasn’t hard for them to guess where, or how, she might have been damaged enough to think so lowly of herself.

They watched as Marinette shook her head.

“I don’t know. It’s one thing to try to… to get to know you again. We used to be close before… everything,” she haltingly argued, voice small and frail and uncertain. But she never once looked away from Damian’s eyes, trying to convey as best as she could what she was feeling. “But they’re different. They don’t have any reason to trust or like me, Dami. And I’m bad at, well everything, but especially,” she waved her hands frantically as if indicating the whole situation they were in. “I mean, listen to me! I can barely articulate right now, and I’m talking to someone I’ve known my whole life! I’m a mess. Nobody wants a mess.”

It was Damian’s turn to snort, and he pulled her right back into his side. “Please. If anything, that’s exactly the type of child Father goes looking for. We’re all a mess. Especially Father, trust me.”

“You’re just trying to make me feel better,” she accused suspiciously, but sank into his sideways embrace anyway. Damian chuckled.

“No, I’m being honest. He’s terrible at emotions, not that I really have much room to talk. We all are pretty bad with them. But he’s the most obvious when it comes to that issue,” Damian smirked over at his sister conspiratorially. “For example. He still tries to tell people that he works alone, and pushes people away because he has this intense desire to protect, but doesn’t know how to say “I don’t want you to get hurt, stop worrying me,” so instead he says “Go away, I don’t need you,” only for us to see through that nonsense and remind him that the amount of people in his team is in the double digits already. He doesn’t want to admit he cares about us and is vulnerable—”

“Sounds familiar,” Marinette teased with a watery grin, startling a short laugh from her twin. He nudged her a little roughly (but not to roughly) and playfully glared at her. Marinette just giggled.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” he lied with a grin before waving his free hand in dismissal. “Anyway. Another example. He has no idea how to tell a stranger, “hey, I’m your father and I will not reject you. In fact, I’m completely willing to adopt you right this moment and whisk you away to Gotham and relative safety and hire an entire team of therapists to help you and buy you half the world if you asked for it,” so instead he and the rest of our emotionally constipated family just lurks on the edge of a building in broad daylight eavesdropping on us and expects us not to notice.”

“Wait what,” Marinette’s gaze instantly whipped up towards the sky, taking only half a second to locate the aforementioned eavesdroppers. Everyone except Bruce at least had the courtesy to duck down and pretend not to be there when they noticed she had seen them, leaving Batman standing seemingly alone on the concrete roof. Marinette blinked once. Twice. Then turned to Damian. “I’m gonna blame the fact that I didn’t notice them on emotional turmoil, because there is no way I’ve gotten THAT rusty.”

Damian smiled, but didn’t laugh. He knew that was a deflection to try and distract from Marinette’s quickly resurging self-consciousness. Her hands were already trembling again, and the fear from only minutes ago had resurfaced. The insecurity. He could practically see the words “I’m not good enough,” written in her irises.

“You’ll be fine,” he whispered, standing up and pulling her with him. “If anyone has to worry here, it’s me.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Marinette whisper-hissed right back, eyes wide in disbelief and confusion. “You’re— You! Mister Perfect!”

Damian rolled his eyes, and his self-deprecating smirk matched the laugh Marinette had given just a few minutes earlier. “For the League, maybe,” he shrugged. “Never the Wayne family. Which is why I know you’ll be fine. If they put up with everything I’ve done and still call me one of them, they’ll accept you with barely a second thought.”

Marinette’s next argument was cut off by the sound of a dozen soft footfalls stirring up dirt not far ahead of them. The BatClan had landed from the rooftop.

Marinette gulped.

But if there was one thing— one thing she still remembered from her days as Marie Al-Ghul, it was how to fake pride and confidence. She straightened her shoulders automatically, lifted her chin, and pulled away from Damian’s supporting arm around her shoulder. Damian let her.

A little bit of old resentment flared up in him as he saw Batman walk up close enough to comfortably talk with them. Resentment that he no longer held onto, but that had haunted him nearly every night of the first two years he spent with his dad. The realization that maybe his twin was the one that was meant to be a Wayne. Marie had the blue eyes, the compassion, the more specifically detective-oriented mind. The calm head. Sometimes. Marie was exactly who he imagined when he thought of a naturally born member of the BatClan. Stubborn, clever, morally just. She had risked immediate death just because she refused to fight him, for crying out loud. Because she didn’t want to hurt the boy who used to be her best friend. The only ally she had ever had, growing up.

Meanwhile, he still had issues reigning in his anger sometimes. He had too much blood on his hands, he was more of a battlefield tactician than a long-term strategist. Still stubborn, but also completely unaware of the pain he brought others with his words or actions a lot of the time. He used to be such a rage fueled little demon, and thinking about how his sister fit the classic Wayne outline more thoroughly than he did had made him destroy more than a few practice dummies in frustration.

But now, looking at Marinette trying so hard to appear strong and proud when he knew she was still so shattered inside, relief overpowered the old and dull resentment. This was what she needed, he could sense that easily. She, just like him all those years ago, needed Bruce and the others to start to heal her and reforge what the League had badly molded.

“... Marinette, I suppose?” Damian nearly facepalmed at his father’s awkward attempt at a conversation starter. Marinette herself was clearly too keyed up and overthinking things to even register any amusement at the lame attempt, merely nodding with an overly serious expression on her face.

“Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Monsieur Wayne. Or that’s my name nowadays, that is,” She stumbled a little in her response before clenching her fists and forcing herself to continue as calmly as she could muster up. “My birth name was Marie Al-Ghul.”

Bruce’s eyebrows visibly furrowed underneath his cowl. “Was?”

“I…” Marinette finally looked away, shame creeping back onto her face. “I was explicitly told that I was stripped of the Al-Ghul name and would be killed if I ever dared lay claim to it again. So I not-so-legally changed it. And I was later adopted.”

Several sharp gasps or the hiss of breath through teeth bit through the quiet breeze. Nobody was necessarily surprised, Marinette could see it when she looked through her eyelashes and examined the winces and sympathy on the faces of the vigilantes before her. Batman’s shoulders were stiff, as if someone had paralyzed only his shoulder blades.

“And the people who adopted you?” Batman pursued. Marinette couldn’t read his tone very well, but it sounded vaguely angry so she quickly raised her hands in a placating gesture and her eyes widened significantly.

“They’ve been amazing! They don’t know anything about my past, or who raised me, but they are endlessly patient with me. I mean, honestly! Sabine caught me when I was trying to steal one of her gold bracelets in Hong Kong— and I know I’ve never been as good of a combatant as Dami, but I’ve always been better at sleight of hand and stealth so honestly that’s impressive— and she saw my dirty eight-year-old face and for some reason decided, ‘yeah I want this one as my daughter’ and roped Tom right into it and next thing I know they somehow tailed me to my hideout? I still don’t know how the hell they managed that, but Tom had a huge plate of steaming buns and I was so hungry and suddenly it’s two years later and I’m adopted and we’re on a plane to Paris—” Marinette threw up her hands. “I still don’t fully grasp what happened sometimes.”

She belatedly seemed to realize that she had just gone on an entire breathless rant at the speed of sound, and slapped her hands over her mouth before lunging into a deep bow. “I apologize! I spoke horridly out of turn!”

To her surprise though, she was met with a soft laugh instead of a scolding. She jerked in surprise, whipping her head up only to see Batman holding a hand over his chin to hide his large grin. It only took another second for the boys behind him to laugh a lot LESS softly. Nightwing strolled over casually and swung an arm around both her and Damian’s shoulders, playfully nudging her brother with his knee.

“I think she fits right in, don’t you little D?”

“Of course,” Damian scoffed, though his eyes were playful. “She is a Wayne by blood. She ‘fits in’ more than you strays.”

“Dami!” Marinette whipped back to him and puffed out her cheeks. “That was uncalled for!” she barked. Damian held his hands up in surrender.

“Relax,” he said as soothingly as he could manage. “They know I’m joking,” he dropped his hands and a knowing smirk took over his face. “And besides, now you’re relaxed so my plan worked,” Marinette could only blink at that. She… did feel more relaxed, actually. “Also. I told you you’d be accepted easily. They already consider you one of us.”

“Wha— there’s no way—” she frantically looked at each of the older men around her, but each of them just shot her a smile or grin and a short nod. Her shoulders and jaw both fell, and it broke a little of everyone’s heart.

Marinette looked so utterly shocked, bewildered to be accepted as if it was still something profoundly foreign to her. And there was that disbelief in her eyes, that distrust that screamed that she expected some sort of lie here. That told that she thought this would all crumble away at any second. If anyone had any reservations about bringing her into their inner circles, it vanished right that moment. She needed support, or she’d crumble away and they all knew it.

“How about we start by talking about the situation with Hawkmoth?” Red Robin spoke up, walking forward to stand beside Batman. “I assume that’s a little more in your element?”

Damian silently vowed to thank Tim later for that. In a silent, completely anonymous way of course. Couldn’t have Tim thinking they were friends or something now, could he? Marinette instantly straightened up and nodded, her confidence returning with a little more sincerity this time.

“Yeah. Yeah, let me transform again. It’ll be easier to explain.”

—*—*—*—*—*

It was three weeks later, on Marinette’s third now-weekly visit to the Batcave, when the question finally came up. Jason had asked to spar with Marinette for the first time, having seen her in action as Ladybug and wanting to test the girl when she didn’t have superpowers to rely on. Damian hadn’t been down in the cave to warn him, and the result was Jason’s gut sinking as Marinette scrambled as far away from him as she could, eyes wide and chest heaving in the beginnings of a panic attack.

“Shit,” Jason muttered before he quickly knelt down and did his best to talk her down, to calm her until her breathing slowed and her pupils were back to normal. It wasn’t long afterwards that Marinette started hugging herself, refusing to look at him. But he wasn’t going to just back down, he wanted to solve this issue. If even the mere suggestion of a spar was enough to set her off, he needed to figure out why and fix it.

So he carefully lowered himself so he was sitting only a foot away from her, resting his arms across his knees casually.

“Sorry,” he apologized. “Didn’t think it would be a sore subject. That’s on me.”

Marinette just shrugged, but didn’t answer him. She just buried her face in her arms and took a shaky breath.

Jason let the silence linger for a while before trying again. “Does this have to do with certain Asshole Assassins?”

That startled a slightly hysterical bark of laughter from her, and she had to wipe away a few tears when she raised her head and finally turned it in his direction slightly. Not enough for her to be looking at him, but just a subtle turn to show that she was listening and speaking to him. “Yeah.”

“You know, you never told us why you got disowned,” Jason tried to make his words as casual as possible, but wasn’t surprised when Marinette still stiffened and took a sharp breath. He didn’t push. The stage was set, and he’d wait until either she took the opportunity to open up or told him to leave well enough alone. Her tongue flicked out to wet her lips, and her foot tapped on the ground a bit. Clear signs of her anxiety around the subject, and Jason’s hopes vanished a little. He would probably have to wait longer for her to be ready to share.

But, to his pleasant surprise, he was wrong. She took another few minutes to gather her thoughts, but she did eventually open up to him.

“I refused to fight Damian,” she admitted. “It was… We were seven. It wasn’t supposed to be a fight to the death, but it was a very important spar. We were using live weaponry, and we were told to fight until we couldn’t anymore. Whoever fell first would be relegated as a mere soldier, and have to fight for status like any other assassin in the League. The winner would officially be named as G— as Ra’s Heir. I didn’t want to fight, because I knew Damian would win but I also knew that it wouldn’t be as easy as Ra’s probably expected if I gave it my all like he wanted. I knew both Damian and I would be heavily injured if I did as he asked, and it wouldn’t be worth it. If I misjudged anything, any single hit, I could have accidentally injured Damian permanently and ruined his worth in Ra’s eyes, and that wasn’t an option. I didn’t care that throwing the fight was as good as giving up my life, because at least I could be sure that Damian kept his. I could make sure that he was treated well, or as well as anyone could hope for in the League anyway. I could, with only a few words, make sure he became indispensable. Ra’s and Talia never liked me as much as Damian anyway, I figured… I figured it was nobody’s loss,” She swallowed heavily, clenching her eyes shut. “I was always just the spare. The extra. Damian was their crown prince, the one with actual value. Even to me. I saw him, and I saw everything I wanted to be. I… I tossed down my weapons and let him stab me, because I figured I owed it to him for being such a failure in comparison to him. That I owed it to him to do everything I could to make things easier for him, since I was just an unnecessary obstacle—” strong arms wrapped around her, and she turned to sob into Jason’s chest as he just silently held her.

“Idiot,” Damian whispered, making Marinette jump. Her twin sat only a few feet away, though only Jason would have known when exactly he had gotten there with them. He shook his head at her. “I never would have gotten as far as I did without you,” he whispered, looking up at the cave ceiling. “You were the only real rival I had. When you left, everything was either too easy or nearly impossible, nothing was the same as trying my best against someone who was just as good as me. And when I got here and met the others, I didn’t think any of them were worthy of taking your position, you know,” he scoffed a bit as he got lost in his memories. “That’s why I hated Tim for so long, I think. He reminded me of you so much that I wanted nothing more than to punch him for daring to replace you—”

“Heh, the Replacement twice over, huh?” Jason joked. Damian chuckled with a small eye roll.

“Plus, he just has a really punchable face,” Damian added, trying to distract from the emotion behind everything he had just admitted. “Part of me thought you were dead. The other part refused to believe that. And seeing Tim and how some of his mannerisms were the same as yours,” Damian shrugged a little. “It stung. Especially that second year, when I started to regret that you never had the chance to come here and join them with me. Meet them with me.”

Marinette sniffled. “... Who are you and what have you done with Dami? He’s never this sappy.”

Damian flicked a pebble at her head with a good natured glare, successfully diffusing the serious air a little. Marinette wouldn’t ever be normal, and it would take a while before she was no longer fragile, but she could get there. Especially now that her bridges with her brother had been mended, and and a whole new family had cropped up to help support her.

She was glad Damian had convinced her to try, again.

#maribat #platonic daminette #sibling daminette #bio!dad au #bio!dad bruce wayne #ml x dc #mlb x dc #Useful

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marauderundercover · 2 years

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Making Memories: Ch. 8

Day 8: Crack/Fixed*

AO3

Marinette blinks, trying to comprehend what she was seeing. She hadn’t even moved into a defensive position like her brothers, too shocked at the person standing in front of her.

“Whoa, um, hi.” He says, waving awkwardly. “No need to freak out, I’m just your friendly neighborhood Spiderman.” He says. Marinette lets out a sound that was a mix between a shriek and a groan. Spiderman was standing in her brother’s apartment. Spiderman!

“Spiderman?” Jason says, incredulously. He nods.

“Uh, yeah? Haven’t you heard of me?” Spiderman asks, the eyes of his suit turning down. Oh my god.

“In the fucking movies.” Jason huffs. The eyes of the suit blink slowly, and Marinette finds herself wondering how they work. This…. This wasn’t normal, right?

“Am I dead?” She asks suddenly, flinching back at the immediate yells from her brothers. “Okay, okay, I get it. Not dead. But can you blame me for asking? Freaking Spiderman is standing in the middle of your apartment, Jay. This isn’t normal.” She points out.

“Is he a vigilante?” Damian asks. Marinette blinks.

“Is he- have you never seen a Marvel movie?” She gasps. He shrugs.

“I just finished making my way through the Disney movies on Grayson’s list for me. I have yet to move on to movies with vigilantes.” He says.

“Hero, actually.” Spiderman pipes in, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. Marinette lets out a breath. Okay. Okay, this was happening. She blinks, suddenly, a thought coming to her.

“Hey, have you ever heard of Batman?” She asks, ignoring the shocked gasps and hissed responses from her brothers. She knew what she was doing.

“Oh yeah! He’s one of my favorite comics.” He says. She fucking knew it. Her dad had his own comic book in some other universe.

“What about Ladybird?” She asks. The eyes on the suit squint again.

“Who?” He asks.

“Ladybug?” She tries. He shrugs.

“Sorry, I kinda prefer the Batclan to anything else. Wonder Woman is pretty cool though, kinda reminds me of Captain Marvel. Like, the Avenger, not the comic book dude.” Spiderman says and she huffs. Of course her dad had a comic and she had nothing. She wasn’t even in her dad’s comic! What about-

“The Batclan?” Damian says, quirking an eyebrow. Spiderman nods.

“Oh yeah! The Robins- Dick, Jason, Tim, Damian, Stephanie Brown for that short time. And Barbara Gordon, the OG Batgirl and half of my favorite ship. DickBabs is the best! Don’t get me started on Orphan.” Spiderman rambles, obviously gushing about what he thinks are fictional characters. While part of her was offended that she wasn’t part of the Batclan in Spidey’s world, she was also trying hard not to laugh at the looks on her brother’s faces.

“How the fuck do you know all of that?” Jason asks, and Marinette huffs.

“Because they’re comic books, Jay. Just like Peter Parker over here is part of the comics in our world.” She says.

“What? I- no- I’m not. Listen, I don’t know what you think you know-” Spiderman rambles, backing up as he tries to get to the window. It slams shut suddenly, making him squeal in shock. Thanks, Tikki, she thinks sarcastically.

“Obviously, there’s something going wrong with the multiverse.” Marinette says with a shrug. Why else would comic book characters be appearing with a huge flash of light?

“Multiverse?” Jason says, his eyebrows furrowed.

“Yeah. I was talking to Tim and Bernard about it the other day. Kinda trippy, not gonna lie.” She says. Jason snorts.

“Of course it was those two.” He mutters, before turning to Spiderman. “Seriously, though, how did you get here?”

“I have no clue, man. I went to see Dr. Strange about some things going on in my...personal life and I was messing around with some of his spell stuff and then suddenly there was this big light and now I’m here.” Spiderman says, the eyes of his suit looking sad. Marinette frowns, feeling bad for the boy.

“Have you met Mysterio?” She asks, glancing at the suit and determining it to be from the Tom Holland movies. The hero’s entire body tenses and she takes that as a yes. “You know, Spidey, I don’t think you’re a bad person. I know Mysterio was the real asshole.” She says, rolling her eyes at Jason’s gasp.

“You said a bad word. I’m telling B.” He sing-songs. She just grins.

“Fine, Jaybird. Do it. And I’ll tell dad exactly who taught me the word.” She says. His eyes narrow.

“You’re evil.” He says. She grins cheekily.

“Learned from the best!” She says.

“If you two are quite done, what are we going to do with him?” Damian asks, still tense. Oh yeah.

“This is far beyond my abilities.” Marinette says, glancing over at Tikki who was shaking their head. So they couldn’t help either. Marinette winces. “We might need to take him to the C-” She starts, but Damian cuts her off.

“Are you insane?” He asks, glaring. She huffs.

“Petit oiseau, if we told him your names, he’d put it together anyway. You guys are fiction for him.” She reminds him. He clenches his jaw and looks away from her, obviously frustrated. She couldn’t blame him though, this entire thing was insane.

“Wait, what?” Spiderman says, obviously confused.

“You should probably take the suit off.” Marinette says, wincing at the immediate objections from him. “I know, okay. I know that it’s scary revealing your secret identity, but we already know it. And if you had that reaction to Mysterio’s name and you’ve been going to Dr. Strange, you also have obviously been revealed in your hometown.” He sighs, but presses a button on the suit, letting it fall away to reveal- she squeals in surprise and whirls around. How did she forget that his suit didn’t have clothes underneath it?

“Whoa! Okay, I’ll let you live this time, but don’t drop your pants like that in front of my baby sister again.” Jason grumbles before walking away, presumably to get the man clothes.

“Uh, yeah, sorry about that.” He says softly. Marinette just hums in response, willing her face to stop being so red.

“That was unacceptable.” Damian hisses, and she glances over at him, a scowl on his face and his arms crossed.

“It’s okay, Dames. That one was on me.” She says softly. He huffs, but relaxes slightly.

“Okay, so this’ll definitely all be way too big for you, but it’s better than nothing.” Jason says, walking back into the room. Marinette waits to turn around, until she hears Peter clear his throat.

“Um, you’re good now.” He says softly. She turns and smiles at him.

“Let’s try and get you home.” She says.

---

So turns out, her dad was not in fact a fan of Marvel comics like she’d assumed. And she was most definitely going to be grounded for bringing Spiderman into the Batcave. On the bright side, Dick was a fan and spent a solid five minutes fangirling with Peter. Apparently, Dick was as obsessed with Spiderman as Peter was with the Batclan- more specifically, Nightwing. Of course. Luckily, though, despite the fact that she was most definitely grounded, her dad had agreed to take Spiderman to the Watchtower to try and get one of the magicians to help get him back to his universe.

“Come on Mars! It’s Spiderman, you have to come!” Tim pleads. Oh yeah, he was also insanely excited about this. But mostly because it proved his multiverse theory.

“I can’t wear the suit again, Tim.” She says, shaking her head. Sure, today had been crazy and awesome and she wanted to go with so that she could say bye to Spiderman (Spiderman!) but she didn’t want to wear her suit. Or a Miraculous suit. Cass smiles softly at her, having arrived while she was at Jason’s apartment and being caught up (she hadn’t called, because she’d assumed her dad would and he didn’t either) on everything that had been happening.

‘Have an old suit. You want to borrow?’ Cass signs, raising an eyebrow. Marinette purses her lips as she thinks about it. It doesn’t sound as hard as putting on her own suit. Or using a Miraculous. Nodding slowly, she follows Cass to try on the suit, ignoring the quiet conversation behind her where Dick was apparently filling Peter in on who she was. After all, she was apparently not in the Batman comics. For whatever reason. Cass gives her shoulders a light squeeze, making Marinette smile softly, before she passes her the suit. Letting out a shaky breath, Marinette puts the suit on, tying her hair up into a bun instead of her normal pigtails to set herself as far from her usual persona as possible. Slipping on one of the boys’ spare masks, she lets out a small snort when she looks in the mirror. It was like playing dress up to look like her big sister. And she loved it, because they really did look like-

“Sisters.” Cass says quietly, and Marinette nods, smiling. Walking out of the locker room, she grins at the wide smile Dick gives her. He rushes over and picks her up into a hug, and she taps his arm gently.

“Too tight.” She reminds him.

“Crap.” He mumbles, quickly setting her down and looking at her with a worried expression. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, Dick. Don’t worry so much.” She says. He nods before rushing off, probably so that he could also get dressed to go.

“Should I be wearing my suit, Mr. Batman sir?” Peter asks, raising his hand. Marinette snorts at the awed look on his face when her dad walks over to him to look at him closer.

“That would be for the best.” He says, not bothering to modify his voice.

“This is so cool.” Peter mumbles, a wide smile on his face.

“Jason.” Her dad says, nodding towards the changing rooms. Jason huffs.

“Come on kid.” He says, tugging on Peter’s arm as he drags him off to change back into his suit. Marinette grins. Taking Peter to the Watchtower would be fine, right?

---

Marinette wasn’t sure what she expected when they got to the Watchtower. A man in a red and black suit with katanas doing cartwheels around the meeting table, was definitely not it.

“Oh, hey! I know you- Frenchie. And Petey Parker, how are you?” The man calls, stopping his cartwheels to wave. Marinette just blinks at him. Was that-

“Holy shit, it’s Deadpool!” Red Hood cheers, and she just knows he’s grinning under the mask.

“Holy shit, it’s the Robin that died!” Deadpool says back, before glancing at Damian and gasping. “And the other one!” He cheers. Marinette winces. Wow. Okay, so he had no tact whatsoever nice to know.

“Who the hell is this?” Her dad asks, his voice low. Diana huffs.

“Well I certainly don’t know. He showed up over an hour ago and has been a thorn in my side the entire time.” She says.

“That’s about the same time that Spiderman showed up.” Batman says. “Has anyone found a way to send them back?”

“Back where? He hasn’t exactly been forthcoming with information.” Diana huffs.

“And why would I be? The Avengers never let me hang out with them. Or the X-Men. Can you blame me for trying to get a little bit of special time with the Justice League?” Deadpool asks, tilting his head to the side like he’s trying to look innocent or something. Marinette raises an eyebrow. How had he gotten away with this so far?

“Okay, okay, I got the popcorn! Let’s see how many- oh.” Green Lantern rushes in, then freezes as he makes eye contact with her dad. “I just actually got a phone call from Australia, so I’m gonna leave.” He says before practically sprinting away. Zatanna walks in, a frown on her face.

“I got an SOS from Ladybird. What happened?” She asks, scanning the room. “Who are these people?”

“An SOS from Ladybird?” Red Hood says, turning to look at her. Marinette shrugs. If she had to guess, Tikki had done it. Which was good, because apparently no one else was thinking clearly today. She makes eye contact with Spiderman and grins, waving at him. He waves back, the eyes of his suit squinting slightly. She assumed it was a happy squint.

“These are individuals from a different universe. Is there any way for you to send them back?” Marinette asks. Zatanna sighs, but nods.

“Yes, I can.” She says. She starts doing some spell, and before Marinette can even blink, a bright light flashes through the room. Once the light dies down, Spiderman (and Deadpool) are gone.

“Shit. I should’ve gotten an autograph.” Hood swears, crossing his arms with a huff.

“And done what with it? They were fictional characters, Hood.” Damian says with a huff before walking away, probably back to the Zeta Tubes. Marinette snorts, shaking her head fondly after her little brother. This was the craziest day ever.

*note, this is most definitely a crack chapter. it’s mostly for humor and definitely doesn’t move the plot forward much at all. I know, trust me. Just read it as humor and you’ll be fine.

Taglist: @vixen-uchiha @stainedglassm @liquid-luck-00 @laurcad123 @waiting247 @jayjayspixiepop @mizzy-pop @jjmjjktth @trippingovermyfeet @queenz-z @thepaceperson @iloontjeboontje @toodaloo-kangaroo @ritacrow-blog @deathssilentapproach-blog @kittenmywaythrulife @nerd-nowandforever @tazanna-blythe @jaybird-and-co @lady-bee-fechin @corporeal-terrestrial @unoriginalmess @maribat-platonic-november

#maribat #maribat fanfiction #maribat fanfic #maribat damian wayne #maribat dick grayson #maribat marinette dupain cheng #maribat jason todd #maribat marinette dupain cheng is ladybird #maribat bruce wayne #maribat tim drake #maribat bio dad bruce #maribat bio dad au #maribat bio dad bruce wayne #MariBat Platonic November #MariBat PlatNov #platonic jasonette #platonic dickinette #platonic timari #platonic daminette

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ur-favorite-queer-queen · 3 years

Text

Enemies to Lovers

For Maribat March day 23 theme enemies to lovers

Master List

“Kent’s coming over.” Damian stated at breakfast, none of the other Wayne’s seemed phased by this, none but one.

“Again?” At Damian’s nod she continued, “I’ll be in my room or the Batcave so don’t bring him there.”

"He will also be bringing a friend over from that exchange program his school did with the one in London." Damian added, Marinette tensed a little bit but didn’t say anything else.

"Is Jon bringing a stranger over a good idea?" Tim asked.

"Tt, Kent said that he would make sure the boy wouldn't wander." Damian answered, after 9 years in the manor he still hadn't gotten rid of his tt habit.

"I'll be in my room then, I don't want Jon or his friend bothering me." Marinette announced to no one's surprise.

“Marinette,” She turned to look at Dick, “Why don’t you like Jon? This has been going on for almost a year now. Surely you could give him another chance. Or at the very least his friend?”

“Not interested.” And with that she finished her breakfast and went to go help Alfred with cleaning the dishes, like she did every morning.

Damian watched his younger half blood sister go, frown evident on his face. Marinette Wayne had been living with them for over a year now. While she was now 16, her opinion of one Jonathan Kent still had not changed.

After Bruce had a one night stand with her mother she had been born 9 months later, Sabine having no intention of telling Bruce. What she did not expect was that 15 years later she and her husband would be guilty of negligence and emotional abuse of Marinette and custody would be handed to her bio father. Aka Bruce Wayne.

Marinette changed her last name to Wayne and left her life in Paris behind. There was not much left for her there anyways. But she had never told her new family why she was so insistent on leaving Paris behind. More specifically who she was leaving behind.

The Waynes had gotten used to her bubbly personality in the manor, so they were shocked that when they sent her off to Gotham Academy she was dubbed the ‘Ice Princess’ the next morning.

Turns out after what happened in Paris, she refused to open up to anyone. Most days she was found sketching in her sketchbook, always alone. She still got straight A’s and even participated in a few clubs but never made one friend. It was concerning, how much she resembled Damian in that sense.

One day after patrol, after Marinette headed off to bed they started discussing Marinette's social life. Tim had joked that since she's such a ray of sunshine around them that she should meet Jon.

This idea was met with positive reactions, all of them agreeing that Jon would be a good influence for her. He was also her age so that was a plus. And he was Damian's first friend, perhaps he could be Marinette's.

That weekend they were proven wrong. Very wrong. Marinette refused to be in the same room as Jon, and when trying to gently push the boundaries she had set, she grew hostile. Something they had never seen from her for as long as they had known her.

One of their first thoughts was that she was scared of Jon, since he was half Kryptontian. But that idea was quickly shut down after Jason brought up the time she roasted Superman to his face. And had no regrets.

Then they figured it was because he was still a stranger to her. So they had him over more often. But after 2 months they realized that wasn’t the case either. Yet, none of them had the slightest clue why she was so against Jonathon Kent.

Not even Jon knew. All Jon knew was that whenever he walked into the same room as Marinette she grew annoyed. He knew she disliked him but that wasn’t what he was confused about. What made him confused was that he could sense her fear. She was scared of him, and he had no idea why.

He thought about telling the Batfamily, thought about telling Damian, but how would it go over that the latest addition to the Batclan was scared of him. Especially knowing how paranoid and protective they could be. So he just stuck to avoiding her at all costs, it wasn’t that big of a deal anyways.

Marinette didn’t see Jon as an enemy per se she saw him as an enemy, but he was just someone she strongly disliked, she had her reasons. And while Jon definitely didn’t see Marinette as an enemy, the more she ignored him, and he would need to ignore her, started to grate on his nerves. If she was in a room that he was going to enter he would have to wait for her to leave and vice versa. It was getting tiring and he was starting to dislike her more and more to the point she almost became his enemy.

Today would be no different except for one detail. That detail being a blonde haired, green eyed, sunshine child that reminded Jon of himself. While Adrien was a little too naive for his taste, they had gotten along great and he wanted to introduce him to Damian.

Adrien had seemed intrigued by the idea of meeting a Wayne. Apparently his father used to be a businessman and despite the fact he was from France and only moved to London a year ago, he knew of how famous the Waynes are.

Now here they were, in his dad’s car going to Wayne manor.

“Okay, you remember what I told you right?” Jon questioned Adrien, he was making sure the boy was prepared and didn’t accidentally stumble upon the Batcave or anything relating the Waynes to the Bats.

“Yes I know, no wandering around the manor, it’s too big and I’ll get lost. No staring in awe at the Waynes, they’re not the celebrities the press makes them out to be. And if I see a girl with dark hair, blue eyes, and looks to be a head shorter than me, I am to walk away immediately in the other direction and pretend I didn’t see her.” Adrien listed off.

“Perfect!” Jon, exclaimed he was going to add more but his dad interrupted him.

“Okay boys we’re here, I hope you have a good time Adrien.”

“Thanks Mr. Kent, I will!” Adrien cheerfully replied as he followed Jon out of the car. Sometimes this boy reminded Jon too much of himself.

“Master Jon, lovely to see you again. Is this your friend?” Alfred greeted them at the door.

“Yep! This is Adrien Graham de Vanily, Adrien this is Alfred, the Waynes butler but is more like a surrogate grandfather if anything.” Jon introduced.

“Nice to meet you Mr. Alfred.” Adrien stuck out his hand to shake.

“It is nice to meet you too Master Graham de Vanily, please just call me Alfred.”

“Then you can just call me Adrien, Alfred, my last name is such a mouthful.”

“Of course Master Adrien, now will you two be staying for dinner?”

“I don’t know, is it okay if we do?” Jon answered, secretly asking if she would be okay with it.

“It’ll be okay Master Jon. I will inform the others we will be having two guests stay with us for dinner.” Alfred led them inside, “Master Damian should be in the gaming room.” And with that he left.

“Come on, Damian is probably setting up some games for us to play.” Jon grabbed Adrien’s hand and started dragging him down a hallway.

Marinette could hear when Alfred had opened the door for Jon and his friend, she didn’t have super hearing but she had trained her ears for listening for certain things. Like the front door opening.

After a few minutes Alfred had come to tell her the two would be staying for dinner. It wasn’t ideal but she could live with it, all she had to do was give Jon and his friend the cold shoulder for at most an hour. Nothing new to her.

Now a whole hour had passed and she was getting hungry. She still had another hour till dinner so a small snack would be fine. But leaving her room posed the risk of running into Jon or his friend, and she didn’t want to risk an interaction with either of them.

Both of them are with Damian right now. There are no bathrooms near her room or the kitchen. If she hurries it will only take her 10 minutes to get to the kitchen, grab the cookies she made earlier, and come back to her room. And since Damian was banned from the kitchen this week, and both of his new friends are stuck with him, they shouldn’t be anywhere near the kitchen.

Of course when was the universe ever on her side. She was about to open the kitchen door when someone she thought she would never have to see again uttered her name, “Marinette?”

She knew the voice. It was the same voice that told her to stay quiet all those years ago when a vicious liar ran her mouth. The same one that said he was on her side then abandoned her the second things got too tough for him. The same one that didn’t speak up whenever she tried to defend herself, instead saying not to rock the boat. And now the owner of that voice was in her home.

She steeled her face into something cold and emotionless, despite the fear she felt in her stomach and turned to face him, “Agreste.”

“It’s Graham de Vanily now.” He corrected, both forgetting/not noticing the two other people there.

“Pretty sure it’s Agreste, you know, just like your father.” She bit back, venom laced into every word.

“He’s not my father, not anymore.” He replied, fists clenched at his sides, staring her straight in the eyes, confusing the other two boys.

“You sure, because you’re exactly like him, you know.” She raised an eyebrow and matched his gaze.

“I am nothing like him.” Adrien took a threatening step forward and that’s when Damian immediately stepped in front of Marinette, wanting to protect his little sister from this person who just threatened her. Damian was about to ask something but was cut off when Marinette moved around him to face Adrien.

“Really? Both of you put your own wants and desires above the well being of other people. Your father the people of Paris, and for you it was me.” Jon saw she was visibly shaking, from fear or anger he wasn’t sure. Both emotions were pretty strong for her, and when he focused on Adrien all the boy felt was guilt.

“Look Mari I’m-” He was cut off by Marinette’s angry shout.

“You would think that after all you put me through you would at least have the dignity to not call me by a nickname that friends are only allowed to call me. You know, people who actually care about me!”

“Marinette, I’m sorry okay, that was really dumb of me!” Adrien shouted back.

“Save it! You can pretend to regret your actions all you want, but people like you don’t change! That’s something you taught me!” Snack forgotten, Marinette ran back to her room and slammed the door. Locking it, she slid down the back of it and just cried.

“You’ve got a lot of explaining to do Graham de Vanily. How do you know my little sister? Why did she react to you like that? What did she mean by ‘all you put her though?’...” As Damian kept spitting out question after question Jon followed Marinette. Her cries were the only thing he could hear right then and there.

As he made his way closer to her, the cries stopped, only tiny sniffles coming out. “What do you want Kent?” He could hear the shaking in her voice no matter how much she tried to cover it up.

He sat down, his back resting on the closed door thinking about what he should say. “I wanted to see if you were okay.”

“I find that hard to believe. You wanted answers didn’t you?” She hiccuped in between words.

“A little bit.”

“Well once upon a time there was a teenage girl who wore rose colored glasses all the time. She saw the world in rainbows and sunshine, never knowing of the darkness. Then one day a lying fox came into her life, spreading her tall tales. The girl tried to warn her friends and family but they didn’t listen. The fox ripped off the girl’s glasses and forced her to see the world for what it really was. The girl’s love at the time came to her and told her to keep silent, after all the fox’s lies weren’t hurting anyone. It was then she noticed that the boy wore the same glasses she did, only his were much stronger than hers had ever been. But she loved him, so she believed him, that everything would turn out okay, that if it didn’t he would be by her side.

Slowly those around the girl turned on her, despite her doing nothing wrong. The boy who she once loved left her the second things got tough, never letting her stand up for herself. Soon the lying fox had gotten to her parents, things escalated from there. Now the girl moved to live with her bio family and everything was fine for a time. But then a boy who saw the world in sunshine and rainbows came around, and she was reminded of her past all over again.” Marinette finished her tale, her hiccups had faded away.

“You don’t like me because I remind you of Adrien?” He hesitantly asked.

“You don’t just remind me of him. Every time I see you I see him. But you’re also different from him. I don’t know. When you’re all happy and optimistic you're like him, but you also know how to be serious, which is something he could never do. I don’t know how to explain it but I thought if I kept you away from it would be alright. I really messed up didn’t I?” Marinette tried to keep the tears in her eyes from falling.

“Kind of. But if you want we can start over.” Jon suggested, he wouldn’t mind getting to know the Marinette Damian talked so fondly about, not that Damian would ever admit it.

He heard the lock unlock and he stood up as the door opened. He turned around and there was Marinette, her eyes were a little red and she had tears stains on her cheeks but she looked much better than before.

She stuck her hand out, “Hi, nice to meet you, I’m Marinette Wayne.” She looked up to look in his eyes and wondered if they were always so blue. And oh god please say she didn’t start blushing!

“Nice to meet you Marinette. I’m Jonathan Kent, but you can call me Jon.” Jon took her hand and shook it, his eyes looked into hers and he couldn’t help but think they looked so beautiful when they weren’t glaring at him. Unfortunately, Damian’s scream broke them out of their daze.

“ANSWER ME!!!”

“We better go help him.” Marinette pulled her hand back.

“Yeah we probably should.” Jon replied but Marinette was already racing to where they left the boys. Jon ran to catch up with her, mentally berating himself for thinking his friend’s sister was cute.

Marinette on the other hand was mentally berating herself for thinking that someone she used to dislike so much was now cute. Not to mention he’s her brother’s best friend. Well, Damian doesn’t have to know she thinks that.

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I’m back from the dead! As I said before in What If... (which you can find on my master list day 22) school sucks and has been burying my grave so I had to focus on that for a while. But I have this and What If... done and am planning on doing the other days I have not crossed off on my Master List.

This took so long to write and I’m already planning a part 2. Anyways hope u enjoyed!

@maribatmarch-2k21

#maribatmarch2021 #maribat #maribat march #marijon #enemies to lovers #planning a part 2 #stay tuned #marinette wayne #little sister marinette #big brother damian #adrien graham de vanily

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cdelphiki · 5 years

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I know somebody who has a neglectful parent, and like at first they were like “oh it’s perfectly fine” and then later on like their feelings about it kinda turned to anger and a bit of guilt for feeling that away about their parent, and like their perception of proper parent-child relationships were a bit messed up too, but like, can you see any of the Batfam having a reaction to this to neglect? (Like either from Bruce or someone else)

I think this would describe Tim the most.

Tim grew up with neglectful parents. Even in canon he excused their neglect because they ‘loved him,’ right? And he loved them. He looked back at them through rose-tinted glasses. But even while he thought about them positively, he did also admit, aloud, that he wasn’t used to being cared about. That he wasn’t used to having people concerned about him (in the context of being kidnapped! and missed!). He told his dad that it was pretty much ‘too late’ for him to step up and stop him from being Robin. If he didn’t care when he was 12, why would he care now? At 16ish?

Anyway, so he grew up with neglectful parents, and excused their neglect, even if he kind of realized it wasn’t normal or right. So to go from them to Bruce, any little bit of attention is probably like sunshine in the middle of a hurricane to him. He has no idea what a real parent-child relationship looks like. Bruce just talking to him more than necessary is ground shattering for him.

For him, I think it will take having a child of his own to really, fully, see the neglect/abuse he suffered his entire life, under all three of his parents. That’s what it takes for a lot of people, after all, because there is nothing like holding your own child in your arms and suddenly wondering how on earth someone could just walk away from that. (I tried to show this, actually, in Life Happens. I didn’t want to go too far down the bad-dad-Bruce train in that, but Tim toyed with the idea that letting his kid fight crime was wrong. Anyway…)

I don’t think this would make him stop loving Bruce. If we ignore the actual, blatant, physically abusive Bruce, and just look at a Bruce who is emotionally neglectful, that is. Tim will always love Bruce as a father figure, but I think he’d distant himself emotionally to protect himself, once he realizes the affect that neglect is having and has had on him.

For other batkids, I think Jason and Dick both got a different Bruce from the younger children. Actually, we know this is canonically true. Pre-Jason’s Death Bruce is a very different character. He was more emotionally available and involved in the lives of his sons. He loved his kids, and told them as much. So Dick, I don’t think, would have this reaction at all. He had a loving, perhaps tad controlling, father for as long as he lived with Bruce.

Jason, too, had a loving father, right up until his death. Jason’s issues all stem from after he came back, and I think he has plenty of reasons to despise Bruce. And most of them have to do with physical abuse. Honestly, had Bruce just said “Jason, I love you,” when he first came back, his entire storyline would probably be different. All Jason needed to know was that his dad loved him, and Bruce failed that test. Miserably.

So yeah, Jason definitely feels anger toward Bruce. And a ton of guilt, because he seems to blame himself for everything wrong with their relationship. (Although he goes back and forth on this more than a teeter-totter).

(Black Mask tells it how he sees it.)

Damian already holds resentment toward Bruce, in canon, for his neglect. He’s pissed at Bruce half the time. He runs off to stay with the Titans, and he flat out yells at Bruce over ‘not caring’ unless it’s convenient for him. Take this panel, for example:

He’s mad that Bruce shows up just in time to yell at Damian, but Bruce didn’t even bother to go to his 13th birthday party. So yeah, Damian is already there. And that probably has a ton to do with Dick, and how Dick showed Damian what being loved looked like before Bruce came back to take custody of him.

So he’s already there.

As for other Batkids, I don’t think any of them live with Bruce in the same way the four main boys have? I know he adopted Cass, but did she ever rely on him in the way a child relies on a parent? Or was their relationship more that of an adult child and adult parent relationship? I haven’t read her comics yet. Then Duke was never adopted by him, and he doesn’t live with Batman anymore because he lives with his own family. So I don’t count him as one of the children of Batman. Part of the Batclan? Absolutely. But he’s not Batman’s son. 🤷🏼‍♀️

Interesting question, anon! Thanks for asking. :D

#Okay honestly I just used panels I already had saved on my computer #so I have no idea where exactly they're from #but it's from Robin (1993)#RHATO (2016)#and Teen Titans (2016)#and that is exactly as specific as I can get #sorry #Jason Todd #Tim Drake #Damian Wayne #Dick Grayson #Batman #Batfam #Batfamily #child neglect #child abuse #Bruce is a bad dad :(#sometimes

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