#jasonette fics

[lala-ladybug]

Healing Hands: Ch 14

Jasonette Sword Art Online AU

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Chapter 14: Oh Maribug, what are we going to do with you?

Sleeping by Jason’s side was the best sleep Marinette had gotten all game. No nightmares, no waking up scared for herself or her friends. Well, she did wake up a blushing, nervous mess once she realized where she was, that is until Jason rolled over. She’d had to stifle her giggles at his incredibly adorable bedhead so as to not wake him. Then the morning light streaming in through the skylight made her actually feel... relaxed for once. There was something about that little cabin that helped her forget her persistent urge to beat the game. It pushed down the feeling of guilt for taking time for herself. It was hard to leave in the morning, and not just because the cozy pile of blankets appealed to her bug-like sensibilities.

The next week had her lying awake at night in her own bed, missing his warmth and the stories they shared. And the lack of nightmares. Luka had stopped joining her for late-night tea, but her subconscious hadn’t yet moved on. It didn’t take long for her to message Jason about tackling the next level. She’d need to buy some new gear for it though, there was no way she was going to be caught unprepared like last time.

But first she had to navigate the den of wolves that was her friends.

“Where are you going, Marinette,” Kagami asked sharply. The girl in question paused before the door, her hand raised to open it. She reminded herself that they were very caring wolves. But wolves nonetheless.

“They just beat level 67, I need new gear if I’m going to help clear out the next one in a few days,” she spoke without turning to look her friends in the eye.

Chloe and Adrien exchanged a worried glance. “Then give us a few minutes to get our stuff together, we’ll go with you,” Adrien caught Marinette’s arm gently and gave her a pleading look.

She didn’t quite look at his face as she forced a smile and replied, “No, you should all rest. It’s not a big deal, I’ll be back before you know it!”

Luka furrowed his brow and frowned when he heard the discordant notes in her song. It most certainly was a big deal, and Chloe said as much when Marinette went to open the door again.

Marinette sighed and finally turned to face them. “Seriously Chlo, it’s okay. I haven’t actually been getting that much sleep here, so I might as well do something useful if I’m going to be awake anyway.”

They hadn’t known about that, judging by their even more worried expressions at that statement. Good thing she hadn’t divulged the reasons why. They didn’t know about the nightmares that had been plaguing her even since before the beginning of the game. Adrien opened his mouth to protest again before Marinette cut him off.

“Look, I told Jason I’d meet him at the end of 67, so I won’t be going alone. I know you guys don’t like me spending time with him,” she held up her hands to placate their skeptical and outraged faces, “but we can trust him to have my back. I’m sure of it.”

Luka spoke up, “Mari, he’s killed other players. How can you say you trust him after that?”

Marinette fiddled with the straps of her backpack and looked down at her feet. “I told you that was a misunderstanding. Plus I don’t know how to describe it, but we just... get each other, you know?” She stopped fidgeting and squarely stood her ground, looking each member of her order in the eye. “Now I’m going whether you like it or not. I’ll be back tonight to prep and then I’ll head out in a few days.” She added, decisively, “Alone.”

She left and the door closed with a loud click that had a sense of finality to it. The Order stood in stunned and concerned silence until the door opened again, not a minute later. They all assumed defensive stances until they saw Marinette’s signature awkward grin as she poked her head around the door.

“Forgot my arrows,” she said sheepishly, then grabbed the quiver laying on a table and left once more.

Adrien heaved a heavy sigh. “Oh Maribug, what are we going to do with you?”

* * *

Marinette jauntily swung a basket from the crook of her elbow. It didn’t matter that whatever she purchased from the bustling market would automatically go into her inventory, it was the aesthetic that counted. She was currently parsing through different fabrics, having finally picked up the courage to try getting into the clothing design aspect of Mindscape. There was only so much she could do with Alchemy, which relied on objects that already exist. For a while, it was as close to creation as she dared go, but recently she’d been feeling more like herself and was finally ready to dust off her old hobbies.

Especially if they could help her protect the people she cared about.

She was comparing two fabric swatches and could tell the shopkeeper was getting impatient. Deciding to get both of them seemed to placate him, and she backed out of the shop with a smile.

Until she ran into someone, that is.

“Oh my gosh, I am so sorry--”

“Are you alright? I wasn’t paying attention to--”

The two dark-haired girls apologized simultaneously, then paused to giggle.

“I’m fine, thank you,” the taller girl placed her hand gently on Marinette’s shoulder.

“Me too, I’m so sorry, again,” she paused for a moment. “Wait, don’t I know you...?”

The taller girl blinked in surprise, then lit up with recognition. “Of course, you’re Jason’s girlfriend! I don’t know if you remember me, but I’m Zatanna, we met in that cooking class you do every few weeks.”

Now that they were talking, Marinette did remember her but she’d called her Jason’s.... She thought she might explode from being called that of all things. She immediately started flailing her arms and stammering desperately.

“Oh, we’re not like that you see, he doesn’t-- I mean we don’t, well, it’s not!” she hid her fiercely blushing face in her hands and finished lamely, “I think you have the wrong idea....”

Zatanna laughed. “Sorry, sorry. My mistake, I didn’t mean anything by it.”

Marinette risked a glance in between her fingers and decided the apology was genuine.

“So, what’s our local Cooking Mama doing in the clothing boutique district? Cute basket, by the way.”

The reference was lost on her, but Marinette replied, “Thank you! I’m actually going to try my hand at creating armor. Clothing design was something I enjoyed in the real world, but it’s been, ah, difficult to want to get back into it here.” She gave a bashful smile.

“Oh wow, no kidding? That sounds amazing!” Zatanna enthused as they made their way to a nearby bench. “Any special occasion?”

“Just trying to keep everyone safe,” Marinette shrugged nonchalantly as if it wasn’t her whole life’s purpose.

“Hear hear,” she replied emphatically. “I’m so glad those enchanted potions I gave Jason helped you guys out in that last level.”

Marinette paused, surprised. She’d completely forgotten to ask Jason where those water-breathing potions had come from. “Wait, you made those?” she asked.

“None other!” Zatanna gave a mock bow. “I’ve been outfitting our guild with enchanted goodies pretty much since day one,” she laughed a little to herself.

“Now that is an amazing talent! I can’t believe that you can make such cool potions like that,” she grinned.

Zatanna looked around, then leaned in and whispered conspiratorially, “That’s not all I can do.”

Marinette, who had leaned forward as well, arched a playful eyebrow.

“Have you ever wanted to learn how to enchant armor?”

* * *

It was several hours later that Marinette and Zatanna were found laughing away in the latter’s custom forge. Marinette had never been to the Rocky Road guild house before, so Zatanna gave her a tour. It was a sprawling complex with a courtyard and had rooms, areas, and even entire buildings devoted to everything any of their members could possibly need.

She was introduced to a few of the people who were there. Some she recognized from the cooking class-- she found out their names were Wally and Artemis-- but most she didn’t know. While the tour was lovely, especially with her host, she was most intrigued by the two dark-haired boys that Zatanna gave her meaningful looks over.

Jason’s oh-so-despised brothers, it seems.

Tim was in the study, a veritable library with two-story-tall shelves packed to the brim. He was reading voraciously out of several books at a time and scribbling notes in the worst chicken scratch she’d ever seen. He barely reacted to them being there until Marinette introduced herself by name, then he was all ears. And eyes. Man, that guy had an intense stare. She could practically hear him analyzing her in his head, though she had no idea what conclusion he’d reached until Zatanna led them out into the courtyard and said he’d liked her.

There they met Jason’s older brother Dick, training with a hulk of a boy named Connor and a lean girl named Cassie. They were all really nice, and Marinette felt an instant connection. She even thought she might remember Connor from her cooking classes.

Dick was immensely pleased to know Jason had actually referred to himself and Tim as his brothers. She actually thought he was on the verge of tears, that is until Cassie tried to sneak in an attack on him with a kick to the legs and he had to flip to avoid it.

Marinette’s eyebrows rose to her hairline watching them spar. Dick almost seemed to float through the air, spinning and jumping around his opponent. He was clearly very practiced, and she was impressed.

Zatanna didn’t let her watch for long before steering them to the forge where she finally began teaching Marinette all she knew about enchanting. While it was possible to enchant pre-made armor, she said, it was much easier and more potent to imbue the metal while it was still molten.

With surprising strength, Zatanna showed her how to hammer and shape the pieces. It was much more difficult than she was expecting even with the abbreviated actions common to the game, but her new friend insisted she was a natural.

They were soon joined by a red-haired boy with a seemingly permanent scowl. Zatanna introduced him as Roy, which he acknowledged with a grunt. He was working on a warhammer, melting new steel into the cracks it had sustained from use. He came over to watch once Marinette returned from changing into a sleeveless shirt to hammer away at her own metal.

Zatanna guided Marinette through creating a set of armor entirely from scratch. They’d used some existing molds from a set she’d made before, one for Zatanna’s friend Jaime that they thought might fit Adrien. Roy gave tips here and there on the metalworking side of things, and Zatanna provided her expertise with the enchantments.

Several sweaty hours later, they were proudly brandishing a brand new set of full armor. It had several defensive enchantments detectable only in a faint, pulsating glow emanating from within the inlays of the armor’s decorative designs.

“I wonder if the same technique could be used on fabric while I sew....” Marinette wondered aloud.

“Oh we’re going to be best friends,” Zatanna grinned at her ingenuity.

They were still laughing and chatting later when Jason finally made it back from level grinding. Apparently he stopped by nearly every day before leaving again “once he got sick of them.” Marinette had stopped her work to take a dinner break at some point, having missed lunch while out shopping. And so Jason found the two girls, Dick, and Roy sitting at the breakfast bar without a care in the world, chatting over several plates of Marinette’s home-baked salmon.

“Oh hey Jaybird, you’ve got to try this! Mari’s an amazing cook,” Dick reached over to ruffle her hair, much to her annoyance.

“I know,” Jason grumbled in response, grabbing a plate and dishing himself a portion. “I was hoping to keep her away from you vultures.”

“Aw, is somebody jealous?” Roy pouted teasingly at him.

Jason stood over where Marinette was perched on a stool and placed his plate next to hers, proceeding to eat over her head. “I’ve never been jealous a day in my life.”

Dick snorted at that. “Tell that to Timmy,��� he scoffed.

“‘B, he took my spot, make him stop!’” Roy mocked in falsetto, “‘That replacement could never be me.’”

Marinette peered up at her friend, catching him wince slightly at the dig.

“Whatever, we’re past that.”

Noticing Jason’s reaction, Dick shot Roy a sharp look and agreed in a low voice, “Leave it.”

“So what are you doing here Pixie?” Jason asked before helping himself to another forkful over her head. As fond as she was of their closeness, she really hoped he wouldn’t spill any of the dill sauce on her hair.

“Zatanna showed me how to enchant stuff! I made a set of armor for Adrien, but I’m really excited to try working it into clothing too.” She felt herself start to bounce in her seat but couldn’t bring herself to care. “She even said I’m welcome to come over and work in the forge any time I want!”

Jason groaned and she whipped around to glare at him. “And who let you be friends?” He asked.

“Technically, you did,” Zatanna mused. “You are the one who convinced her to set up those cooking classes, right?”

“My own worst enemy yet again,” he muttered in response.

Marinette giggled. The poor baby.

She stayed and chatted for a while longer, but as the sky began to darken, she excused herself to go back to her own guild so her friends wouldn’t send out search parties en masse.

Jason waved goodbye to her as she used the teleport crystal, and she held in a laugh at the playful punch and thumbs up he got from Roy as she returned the gesture.

When she returned to her own guild house, she was met with her Order standing watch. She gifted Adrien his new armor, which seemed to pacify him momentarily as he animatedly admired it, but she knew she wasn’t out of the woods with the rest of them.

“Will you please talk to us?” Chloe asked earnestly. Marinette winced at that. If Chloe was the one using the magic word, she had to be seriously worrying her friends. Maybe it was finally time to do this. Gods know they wouldn’t leave her alone until they talked. Plus the whole “doing everything on her own” thing wasn’t exactly sustainable. The first time she’d met Jason, when he rescued her in the snow, proved that.

“Okay,” she acquiesced reluctantly. “Can we sit?”

Luka nodded and they all gathered on the couches by the fireplace.

Marinette sighed. This talk was a long time coming, but she wasn’t ready for things to change. She knew it was stupid to just do it all herself, but.... She wasn’t ready to watch her friends get hurt all over again. She kept her gaze stubbornly on a very interesting spot on the floor.

“Look, I can’t shake my instincts from home,” she began, knowing they’d catch her meaning. “I need to get everyone out as fast as possible so things can go back to normal.”

“Marinette,” Kagami began in a tone that indicated she wouldn’t like whatever came next. “We all feel the same way. But the rest of us are not blowing each other off and running headlong into danger.”

“With a stranger, no less,” Luka added.

Adrien chimed in, “You need us as much as we need you. What happened to working together? The Order you made?”

“Okay! I get it,” Marinette raised her hands in surrender. “This doesn’t need to be an intervention. Can we please just have a conversation?”

“Fine. Why haven’t we seen you since level thirteen?” Adrien crossed her arms.

“You see me every day,” Marinette rolled her eyes.

“At breakfast and dinner, if that,” Luka said evenly.

“I’m busy helping at the front lines!”

“With Jason, but not us?” Kagami asked.

“He’s been... he’s different.”

Chloe, who had been quiet for some time, burst out tearfully, “Why can’t you look at me?”

Marinette bit her lip. “I... I can’t see you get hurt like that again.” Her voice cracked. She thought her heart might join it.

Chloe reached for her hands and Marinette tried to control the shaking.

“Dupain-Cheng, do you think you’re the only one who cares? The only one here who wants to save everyone and go home?”

Marinette finally raised her eyes to meet her friend’s and felt her heart clench at the tears he saw in them. “Of course not,” she whispered, not trusting her voice to be any louder than that.

Adrien knelt on the floor in front of her and placed his hands over theirs. “Then let us help you. Please.”

That was all it took for her to break.

She told them of her nightmares and fears. How she had started adventuring with Jason because she didn’t know him and she’d convinced herself that it would make it easier to handle if he got hurt. How she’d realized too late that she’d grown to care for him, but he insisted he was going to keep fighting at the front lines anyway, so she had to stick with him. That earned a facepalm from Adrien, who grumbled that they should have done the same.

Marinette gave a watery chuckle. She really was being silly, wasn’t she? Strength in numbers was everything back in Paris, why wouldn’t it be the same here? Half of the wonderful people surrounding her joined the Order because she couldn’t do it alone. And she’d never been alone, she’d always had Adrien by her side. She squeezed his hand with a small, grateful smile.

She wiped at her damp eyes. “Oh, there was something... else I almost forgot,” she began nervously. Her friends nodded and gestured for her to go on.

“There was one time where Jason almost died. I mean, he had one HP left. I was so terrified I dropped all the healing potions and they broke. But then I reached out my hands and... I accidentally might have healed him?” She finished nervously.

“With Alchemy?” Adrien prompted.

“No,” Marinette bit her lip. “It was more like... like creation magic.”

Her friends stared at her, quiet in thought.

“...Have any of you had that?” she asked them, but she knew the answer from the bemused look in their eyes.

“I looked into in-game healing mechanics, but I couldn’t find anything even close to what happened. What I did,” she heaved a sigh.

“Hey, whatever it was, we’ll figure it out together,” Adrien squeezed her hand back.

Luka tapped his chin thoughtfully. “Maybe it was out of desperation at the situation,” he mused, “like those rare circumstances where mothers get an adrenaline rush and can lift a car to save their child.”

“You do seem to care an awful lot about Jason,” Chloe smirked playfully. Marinette blushed profusely, too tired to deny anything by this point.

“We can set out researching it in the morning,” Kagami reasoned, carefully layering blankets over the others on the couch. “It’s late and we need our rest.”

Marinette was indeed yawning. It would be difficult to swallow back her reservations in the morning, but for now, it was enough to be surrounded by people who loved her. And surround her they did, in a tangle of limbs and floppy hair buried beneath a mound of pillows and blankets on the couches of their living room.

Her eyelids were heavy from crying. She barely stayed conscious enough to lift her head for Luka to place a pillow beneath it. Her friends-- her court,  her Order-- only let her drift off into sleep with the assurance that this conversation was not over until they had fixed things for the future.

She supposed she had bigger problems than her friends caring about her.

* * *

A few days after Marinette visited his guild, Jason was surprised to find a package delivered to the doorstep of his cottage. He narrowed his eyes suspiciously, knowing that nobody knew where he lived--

Well, almost nobody.

He gingerly unfolded the card tucked into the top of the wrapping to reveal a flowing script that read, Something to keep you safe. -M. The back stated, P.S. It’s time for you to meet my friends. They insist.

He smiled as he opened the rest of the package, no longer apprehensive but instead excited, and found a striking set of armor with neatly folded clothes to wear underneath it. The armor was a deep maroon with black accents that seemed to pulse with life. The sturdy black undershirt and pants were light and breathable but thick, with shimmering gold detailing the seams and delicate runes stitched into the fabric.

In other words, it was fucking sick.

And he knew exactly who he had to thank for it.

#healing hands #jasonette #sword art online au #virtual reality #maribat #maribat fics #batfam #batfam fics #jasonette fics

[littleinkling64]

I just need you to understand that peak Jasonette in my "Tailor" universe (or just in general) for me is doing things they hate for literally no one but their partner. like.

Jason: No I'm never going to therapy and that's final. Nettie: Hey I'm going to therapy. If you came too we could be zombie buddies. :) Jason: Jason: Fine. I guess. Nettie: :D

Or

Nettie: I despise reading so much it's a miracle I got through most of high school. Jason: Hey have you read Austen yet? You should read Austen. Nettie: Nettie: ...do you have a copy? Jason: :)

#maribat #dc x mlb #dc x ml #jasonette #the tailor #new fic series update coming soonish #:D

[arty-shadow-morningstar]

Graveyard Siblings (13) (The End)

[Masterlist]

(Part 1) (Part 2) (Part 3) (Part 4) (Part 5) (Part 6) (Part 7) (Part 8) (Part 9) (Part 10) (Part 11) (Part 12)

----- I finally did it! I finished something. After nearly three years, this little plot fic has come to an end that I am satisfied with. Thanking for sticking to the end of this journey.

----

TIKKI. PLAGG. EXPLAIN.

They demanded.

“Marinette does not deserve the sentence.” Tikki stated furiously.

YOU DO NOT HAVE THE RIGHT TO INTERFERE ON WHAT WE DECIDE.

“We know. However, we will try to change it anyway.” Plagg joined Tikki. “The soul of Marinette Dupain-Cheng may be Marked but she has not done anything that makes her deserving of having the fate of one.”

SOMEONE HAS TO PAY THE PRICE. SHE WAS MARKED.

“Ya ya…. I know. The rules. Fuck them. You guys made them to maintain balance or whatever. However, what you are doing right now is not fair. Where is the justice?” Plagg demanded

THIS IS JUSTICE.

“This isn’t justice. This is another sentence. She did what you asked of her. She has given enough of herself for the sake of Balance. The sinners are punished. The kwamis are all released. What more do you want for her?”

SHE IS MARKED SO SHE HAS TO BEAR THE CONSEQUENCES.

“Fucked the Marked bullshit. Marinette doesn’t deserve that fate. She is wonderful and kind and every good thing this world has to offer. She was backstabbed. Pratically sacrifice for someone’s happiness. The one who claimed to love her moved on from her pretty quick. The only reason he is regretting losing her is because of the karma he is facing. Karma that he rightly deserved. I argue that the Mark is invalid. It doesn’t count-” Plagg ranted and yelled at Them.

Meanwhile, Marinette and Tikki hugged each other.

“Tikki, what’s going to happen to me?” Marinette asked in a small voice. One that Tikki had rarely heard ever since Marinette met the Waynes.

“Plagg and I are going to do our best to protect you. Nothing bad will happen to you.”

“I feel so empty.”

“I know. I am sorry. I am going to make sure you don’t feel that way anymore.” Tikki hugged what remained of the piece that made up Marinette Dupain-Cheng a bit tighter.

—

WHY DOES IT MATTER TO YOU TWO THAT THIS MORTAL DOESN’T HAVE TO GIVE HERSELF UP? IT IS IN THE NAME OF BALANCE. A WORTHY CAUSE TO ####### FOR. TIKKI AND PLAGG AS BEINGS ONCE PART OF US. YOU KNOW WHY WE HAVE TO DO THIS. AND IT WILL BE A QUICK AND PAINLESS. SHE WILL NOT FEEL A THING.

THEY were starting to sound fed up with arguing with Plagg.

“THIS ISN’T ABOUT BALANCE ANYMORE, YOU FUCKERS!! THIS IS BECAUSE YOU WERE MAD YOU GOT CHEATED OUT OF A DEAL AND THIS GIRL IS JUST ANOTHER LOOSE END FOR YOU TO TIE UP!” Plagg lost his shit, finally after hours or what passes for hours in a place where time doesn’t function normally.

Tikki chose that moment to finally say her piece.

“My holder went through a lot for the sake of your balance. She fixed Gotham. She punished the one who made the wish so they would pay the price for trying to change someone else’s fate. She made sure we were freed. She doesn’t need to do more. She had given up nearly everything to accomplish what you demanded of her. Don’t take away what is left of her.”

SHE ALSO HAD GOTTEN EVERYTHING SHE WANTED WITH THE SECOND CHANCE WE GAVE HER. SHE GOT HER REVENGE, SHE ACHIEVED HER DREAMS, SHE HAD THE FAMILY SHE WANTED. 

“Is it really fair if she had to give those up too?”

WHY DO YOU OPPOSE THIS DECISION ON HER BEHALF?

The voices sound almost baffled by Tikki and Plagg’s opposition.

“Marinette is more than just my holder and our Guardian. She is our friend. She placed our safety and well-being above her own. She deserves more than being tossed aside once her usefulness is up.” Tikki stated.

Then, she looked down and she continued,

“And we have shamelessly let her continue on her path, knowing how it would end. Because we were too afraid to acknowledge that we were using her like a pawn for our own selfishness. Until the end she was selfless. She forgave us for what we did to her. SO I IMPLORE YOU. Please let Marinette live a long life where she would never ever be used by someone else for their own selfish desires. She will live a path free of thorns and people who wish to cause her harm.” Tikki pleaded with the Universe.

The voices were quiet for a long time.

Tikki and Plagg looked at each other with worry at the silence.

WE HAVE COME TO A CONCLUSION. MARINETTE, GUARDIAN OF THE MIRACULOUS, HOLDER OF THE LADYBUG AND PROTECTOR OF GOTHAM AND PARIS, IS FREE FROM HER FATE OF BEING MARKED. 

“But?”

HOWEVER, DUE TO LAWS OF CASUALTY WE CANNOT SIMPLY REVIVED HER FROM THE DEAD.

“And Marinette had closed down all of the Lazarus Pits.” Plagg added, their only option for a resurrection was gone.

THERE IS STILL ANOTHER OPTION.

=====

Jason opened the door of his apartment and Dick was there mid-knock.

“What do you want?” Jason asked.

Dick tried to give him a smile. “Just wanted to see how you were doing.”

Jason rubbed his face as he groaned. “For the last time. I am fine.”

“It’s fine to miss her, you know. Especially since…”

‘It has been a year since she died’ rests unspoken in the air.

Today was the exact day Maria had given up her own life to make sure that Gabriel Agreste gets punished for his crimes.

“Just leave me alone, Dickhead.” Jason walked away.

“Jason.”

“I just- I am coping. As much as I can without getting violent.”

Jason felt Dick hugging him from behind.

“We miss her too. You know that if there was another way, she would have done everything to stay.”

“It’s unfair, you know.” Jason turned around and mumbled into Dick’s shoulder. He hugged his brother.

“After everything, the asshole is still alive and kicking. His son is facing little consequences for what he has done. They should be the ones dead instead of Marinette. Instead, we are never going to see her graduate college, get a job, kick our asses and drive Ra’s mad with her pranks.”

His voice cracked with grief.

“I know, Jay. I know.” Dick hugged Jason tighter and rubbed his back. “I wish for that too.”

Tears ran down Jason’s face as he sobbed.

Ten minutes later,

They both sat around the kitchen island counter.

“So why did you come here?” Jason asked as he set down two cups of tea.

“Oh. Alfred was thinking about doing a little memorial dinner in her honour. Just close friends and family. It would be great if you came.”

“Sounds great. Tell me the details and I will be there.”

Dick smiled, “I will let Alfred know that you’re coming.”

The brothers talked about patrol and stuff.

Then, Dick left.

A few minutes later, there was a knock on the door again.

Jason sighed.

He opened the door to give Dick an earful about being forgetful when he saw no one there.

He looked around and saw nothing where a noise from below caught his attention.

It was a baby in a basket with a note addressed to him.

“Dear Jason,

Please take care of my dear Guardian

-Tikki”

In disbelief, he carefully picked up the bundle in the basket. Jason couldn’t believe it. It felt like a miracle that he didn’t dare believe.

The baby yawned and opened her eyes. Showing a familiar pair of bluebell eyes.

It was truly Marinette. As a baby but it was still Marinette nonetheless.

“Pixie. I don’t know how but thank you. Thank you for coming back to me.” Jason whispered and kissed her forehead.

That evening, the Waynes welcomed back a new member of the family.

Marinette Todd-Wayne finally came home.

—-

Technically, after this, there could be more adventures but I am not up to writing it. This is where I will end this story.

And to answer some questions you might have.

Does Marinette remember her past life? Not at first. She is still a baby right now but around the age of four or five years old, she would start to remember bits and pieces. She would probably remember everything by age 13.

Does Lila meet her end? Lila never stopped lying. The ghosts tormented her because of that  but no one ever believed her. In the end, the doctors diagnosed her with schizophrenia and moved her to a mental facility where the ghosts would haunt her until the end of her days.

Gabriel died in jail. He thought that he had the last laugh, having killed Ladybug. But upon seeing the news about the welcome of the newest Wayne member on TV, he realised that his enemy had won in the end. She was going to live again, free from him and anything miraculous related.

Adrien and Emilie spent the rest of their lives in London away with Amelie and Felix.

Adrien had tried to approach baby Marinette but the overprotective Batfamily made sure that he never got within 10 feet of her.

When Marinette regained her memories, Adrien was remorseful of how everything turned out. He knew that the spell was just to make him tell the truth and in turn make him show his true colours to everyone so he went to therapy and worked on trying to be less of an asshole.

-

“M’lady.”

Marinette looked up and saw a man in his thirties with blond hair and green eyes that once were her world.

“Agreste.” Marinette nodded in acknowledgement. Under the table, she texted to the family group chat the code for small emergencies.

Adrien frowned with hurt but it wiped away quickly off his face.

“I deserve that.” He replied calmly. Marinette saw that Adrien had grown up and accepted that he had done wrong.

“So.. how can I help you, Agreste ?”

“Cut the shit. I know that you remember, Marinette.”

Marinette looked at him in surprise.

“How?”

“I was once your partner, you know. I can tell.” Adrien answered.

Marinette frowned.

Adrien continued. “Look, I know I messed up really badly. I managed to lift the curse you put on me. I went to your grave and apologised. I know that sorry cannot take back what I did but I still did it because you deserve at least that from me. I have been trying to make up for what I did.”

“Is that why you approached me?” she asked.

“No. It was just a coincidence. I’m not like stalking you or anything.” Adrien clarified. “Your new dad is terrifying.”

Marinette chuckled about Jason, her brother turned dad figure. “He is.”

“I am glad to know that you are happy.” Adrien said. “And for what it’s worth, I want to apologise to you again. I know that I already did it to your grave and all that but you deserve to hear it directly from me. So here it goes… Marinette Dupain-Cheng.”

It had been a while since anyone called her that.

“I’m sorry for everything I did as Chat Noir, harassing you to date me, throwing temper tantrums during akuma fights, greatly hindering  you with my selfishness and finally, betraying you for the sake of my father. I never should have listened to him. Even if it was to get my mother back. I should have told you the truth. And I am sorry for the hurt I had caused you as Adrien Agreste. I should have done something about Lila from the beginning. I should have supported you instead of telling you to suck it up. I should have let her lies get too far that it hurt you. In fact, I should never let it get that far in the first place. I am sorry I never did all of that.”

Marinette clapped. “Thank you, Adrien.”

Adrien nodded. At least she accepted his apologies. It was too much to hope for her forgiveness.

“Marinette, I..” Adrien didn’t know how to bring it up.

“There’s more?”

“Alya sorta brought it up when we had a class reunion. That… you had a crush on me. How much you did for me and I never noticed.” Adrien blushed in embarrassment. “Not that I want to do that with you, I mean, I maybe had a few fantasies about that when I was fifteen but not like now because it’s weird and you are like half my age now and I am seeing someone.”

Adrien rambled.

Marinette laughed.

Adrien had a flashback to that sweet girl from his youth.

“What I am trying to say is that. I am sorry I never knew and if I hurt you because I was tactless.”

“You did a lot but I never held that fact against you. Honestly, I let go of my feelings for you because.. Of Lila.”

“I get it. I was a huge dick.”

“Another thing is that I wasn’t my best when it comes to you. I did a lot of stupid things to get your attention.”

“Alya may have talked about that. I am flattered but it was also worrying. But Chat Noir wasn't any better so I can’t talk.”

They both smiled at each other.

Adrien saw that in a different world, Ladybug and Chat Noir, Marinette Dupain-Cheng and Adrien Agreste, would have ended up together. He shook his head to get rid of that thought, he knew better now. He had made sure that would never happen. Even if his father didn’t kill Maria/Marinette, and she had lived on, Adrien wouldn’t get her love ever again.

“Marinette, can we be friends?” Adrien asked before he could lose his courage. Even if he couldn’t love her, he hoped to stay by her side as her friend.

Marinette lost her smile.

“We can’t, can we?” Adrien ruefully answered his own question.

“Adrien, I know that you have changed for the better. You are a great person now. It’s just… we have a lot of history. History I can’t easily erase with a blank slate. I am still trying to sort through everything and try to move on. It’s been hard.” Marinette confessed. “I have been to therapy but they don’t exactly know how to help someone who experienced and remember all the awful things that happened in their past life.”

Marinette looked up. “I’m sorry.”

Adrien moved to hold her hand for comfort before reconsidering his action.

“Look, Marinette, I am not mad. I am a bit disappointed we can’t be friends but I kinda get it. I hurt you badly so you don’t feel like you can trust me ever again. That’s my fault. I knew it wasn’t a possibility when I asked but I had to try.”

“Oh, Adrien.”

“Marinette, at the very least, are friendly acquaintances okay?” He asked.

“I guess.”

Adrien smiled. “You don’t have to try to be friends with me, Marinette. I swear I will be okay. This won’t break my heart. I have someone who will take care of it.”

Marinette asked, curious. “Who are you dating anyways?”

Adrien blushed. “His name is Jaime. Jaime Reyes. I still can’t believe he likes me even after I told him about what I did.”

Marinette choked.

“Marinette, are you okay?” Adrien rushed forward and rubbed her back. 

At the same time, Jason arrived, having annoyed Roy Harper to break several traffic laws to get to Gotham from all the way from Metropolis.

Upon seeing Adrien, he growled. “Get the fuck away from Marinette. What did you do to her, you fucker?!”

He grabbed Adrien and slammed him towards the nearest wall.

Marinette quickly interfered. “Jason, it’s okay. We were just talking. Then, I got caught off guard by something he said.”

“What did he tell you?”

“Well, I was just surprised to learn that he was dating a guy. Nothing big. Just several things that finally made sense now that I thought about it.”

Adrien gaped at her. “I have been out as bi for a decade now. How do you not know that I like guys?”

Marinette scowled, “It’s not like I keep up with celebrity gossip. I don’t look for news with your name like I used to do.”

“So you are good, kid?”

“Yes, Jason. Please let him go. We were still talking.”

Jason did so.

Adrien rubbed his neck and turned to Marinette. “As much as I want to keep talking, I think I should leave. I have to go and meet up with Jaime anyways. He had to run an errand here for a friend of his.”

Marinette nodded.  “Be safe.”

—

After Adrien left, Jason gave a questioning look to Marinette.

“Why did you lie? We all know that you kept an eye on your old classmates so you already knew that he dated guys.”

“What I didn’t know was that Adrien is dating Blue Beetle.”

“The same Blue Beetle Bruce called to deal with those aliens who are trafficking humans?”

“Yes. Now let’s go to Metropolis so I can avoid doing the responsible thing and tell Adrien the truth.”

—-

What about the rest of the class… Well, they all led relatively normal lives. They all drifted apart and only met again at the class union that Adrien had mentioned.

They all faced different challenges and achieved success like any other normal people. Some turned out great despite what happened. Some moderately successful. Some not so great but still managed fine. A few unhappy with their life.

The ones who were marked by Marinette in her ‘ghost’ rampage had a few bad days more than an average person but other than that they had normal lives.

When they see Maria’s brand Afterlife or Marinette Todd-Wayne in a magazine, their heart aches at the thought of their once dear friend.

Now you will ask what happened to her parents.

Well, they moved away from their old building to a different part of Paris and opened a bakery under a different name.

They moved on as best as they could and filled with regrets for losing their daughter twice.

They knew in their hearts that Marinette had lived on as Maria. It hurt them again knowing that she was gone forever once more.

When they saw the news about Marinette Todd-Wayne. They knew it was their daughter reincarnated.

As much as they wanted to see her again, they knew that they would never be able to.

To try to honour the daughter they had, they fostered many troubled kids. Helping them and giving them the support that they should have given Marinette.

They learned from their mistakes from Marinette and did their best to not repeat them with the other kids.

Life moves on and Everyone continues on.

—-

This is the end. Thank you for reading and being on this amazing journey with me.

-----

Taglist: @local-witch-of-mn, @ladyqnoirr, @lolieg, @istoleyourcookies, @pale-lady-dreamer, @ichigorose, @meow-now, @demonicbusiness, @unoriginalmess, @the-drokainian, @joejosyxd,@questionableboi, @talia-scar123, @boredteen19, @geminis93

#maribat #ml x dc #graveyard siblings #the end of this fic everyone #I did it! #platonic! jasonette

[ggomos-maribat]

Marinette's been enjoying one fanfic as of late

the author makes a compelling story, filled with twists and turns and drama and emotions. She becomes an avid reader and commenter, even conversing with the mysterious writer in the comment threads.

But slowly she realizes some similarities in the characters' banter and fight scenes with her own playful but thrilling interactions with her nemesis, Red Hood. Masquerading as Gotham Rogue Kitty Noir, she begins to investigate these happenings.

#ggomo's prompts #stories ggomo will never write #dc x mlb #dc x miraculous #maribat fic #maribat fanfic #maribat prompt #mlb x dc #jasonette #maribat marinette dupain cheng #maribat jason todd #jasonette prompt

[soulmate-game]

Chapter 6

(Yes, Marinette and Damian disconnected Audio only before they went to her hotel, so no Tikki reveal sorry!)

Prev First Next

—*—*—*—*—*

Back at the Batcave, Robin was the first to change, sit through debrief, and go to sleep. Nobody questioned him, knowing full well his motives. The other vigilantes however, despite being back in their civvies, were not so quick to end the night.

“You all heard that, right?” Jason asked. Oracle, also known as Barbara Gordon, rolled her eyes. She backed up in her wheelchair and turned to face everyone else.

“What, the part where Marinette made you coo when she essentially defended you and said she still thought of you as a good person?”

Jason rolled his eyes. “I mean yeah, that part was pretty nice. But I’m talking about everything she said about Paris,” the man clarified, leaning back in a chair so that the front two legs lifted off the ground. “She was geared and ready to continue listing examples of Akumas. I doubt she even listed half of the ones that were centered around or targeting her. And having to go through all of her classmates becoming villains, even temporarily?” He shook his head. “That kinda shit doesn’t leave anybody unaffected.”

“Especially what she said about the mermaid monster Akuma,” Tim agreed, pulling up a story on the computer. “I’ve pulled up the reports from both the Ladyblog and the AkumaWatch app. They seem to agree on everything, so I think this was back when the Ladyblog was still reliable,” he pulled up a video taken by the girl who ran the Ladyblog, Alya Cesaire. Marinette’s former best friend and current classmate. The commentary was all in French, but Tim had went ahead and added quick English subtitles for everyone. The wonders of having a supercomputer. The video was taken from a high roof, and showed the water flowing so high that it completely covered most buildings. It would have definitely caused enough pressure to break open windows and fill those buildings on the inside too.

“Woah! It looks like they can transform!” The voice of the reporter said in French, pointing to the distance where two blues of red and black hopped onto a building. The girl zoomed in, her phone’s camera just barely able to show an out-of-focus Ladybug and Chat Noir with different patterns to their uniforms and fins. The cat-themed hero managed to pull an entire car, and as they soon sound out, temporary supervillain Syren, out of the water all on his own. “Aqua suits! That’s so cool!”

It was obvious, however, that the girl’s voice shook a bit. She kept the camera purposely pointed as high up as she could while still catching the heroes and the destruction of the possessed item on screen. There were blurred images all across the surface of the water, which the heroes knew to be censored bodies.

“Only a couple thousand out of two million Parisians survived, that’s what Marinette said,” Barbara breathed, eyes wide. “Seeing it like this really makes it all real,” she clenched her jaw. They all continued watching as what was simply dubbed as Ladybug’s Miracle swept through the city in a shockwave o ladybugs, and the water disappeared. They watched as Alya aimed the camera down and caught very alive people popping up in the streets or on top of cars, wherever they had been right before getting carried away by the vicious waves.

Every hero in the Cave saw people of all ages down there, shimmering back to life. From month-old babies to old men and women.

It was both wonderful and horrifying.

After the video ended, the entire cave was silent for a long moment. Jason was the one that spoke up, to no one's surprise.

“What the fuck?” He growled, no longer leaning back in his chair. Both of his fists were clenched. “This has been on the internet for almost three years! How did we not see this before? How did we never know?” He asked, to which nobody had an answer. But the Bat himself had a hand on his chin as he studied the freeze-frame that the video ended on. Chat Noir and Ladybug fist-bumping.

“Maybe,” Bruce said slowly, as if tasting the words. “It’s time one of us visits the Paris branch of Wayne Enterprises. Ladybug and Chat Noir have been protecting the city for almost four years, it’s likely they know something about why the news hasn’t spread,” he mused. “Meanwhile, I will look into the League records. I never heard about a supposed prank call from France, meaning another piece of the puzzle is there.”

“There’s a problem with that though,” Tim pointed out. “Paris is essentially being held emotionally hostage. Anyone we send will have to be extremely capable of pushing down their negative emotions or transforming them into something positive. The last thing Paris’s heroes need is a supervillain with years of combat experience. Besides that, HawkMoth can telepathically communicate with his Akumatized villains. It wouldn’t be a stretch to assume that he can read their minds.”

“So not only would Paris’s heroes have to fight someone much more experienced than them, but our identities would be exposed,” Dick completed the thought, arms crossed. “That rules out Jason or Damian for sure. Which of us would be the most capable of avoiding strong negative emotions?”

When the First Robin looked up, it was to a raised eyebrow from his adoptive father and three fingers pointing straight at him from his brothers and Barbara.

“We can set up a flight for you for the day after tomorrow,” Bruce said with a grin that seemed way too smug for Dick, who was still gaping at everyone in betrayal. “Ask for the time off, okay? I can smooth things over if you need me to.”

“Oh, come on!” Dick threw his hands up. “I can be broody and mean!”

He was thoroughly ignored as everyone left to sleep for the night.

“Guys! You know what, fine, Paris is a gorgeous city. It’ll be like a vacation! Oh my god I just proved them right.”

—*—*—*—*—*

That night in the Mindspace was… well, Marinette’s insomnia reared its head and she entered it around three AM to find a very unamused Robin waiting for her.

“Honestly?” He asked, gesturing to the Tv screen. “You couldn’t have put some of the work off for tomorrow?”

Suddenly Marinette was very glad she didn’t talk to Tikki while working on her dress. The little Kwami had passed right out after the stressful day they both had.

“I have trouble sleeping sometimes,” she admitted shyly, shifting from foot to foot. “Sewing helps me relax. I want to be a fashion designer,” she explained, letting a soft smile overtake her lips. “I’m actually making my own dress for the Wayne charity gala at the end of the month.”

Robin’s eyebrows shot up over his domino mask. Once again, he was in his normal pajamas besides the mask that he donned after entering the mindspace. “Really? That’s pretty ambitious,” he told her, eyes going back to the screen. Then again, the snippets that he saw on the screen looked incredibly well done. Marinette’s face twisted up a bit in apprehension.

“Maybe a little,” she conceded. “But I’ve designed for Jagged Stone and Clara Nightingale. Even Gabriel Agreste and Audrey Bourgeois have asked for me to collaborate with them for a few pieces. Jagged and Clara commission me pretty often nowadays, and Jagged is a lot like an uncle to me now. I also design for local newscasters and other minor celebrities around town, and my best friend’s band Kitty Section,” She rambled, getting more passionate as she went. Robin actually found himself pretty impressed. The elder Agreste and Bourgeois both were notoriously hard to please names in the fashion industry, so to gain not just one but both of their attention and respect was a huge accomplishment.

“Perhaps I was incorrect then,” Robin amended. “With a portfolio like that, designing for the Gala is just the next small step up. I will look forward to seeing what you create,” he said honestly. His soulmate blinked, obviously caught off guard, before blushing furiously.

“Oh, uh, um, th-thank you!” She blinked again, the blush fading as she focused on the second meaning behind his words rather than just the flattery. “Wait, you’ll be at the gala?”

Robin had to hold back a smile. “It is a month away. I suspect by then you will have earned my identity. Soulmates tend to move faster than unbonded couples.”

Marinette gaped again. “Well. Uh. Thank you? I think. Wanna spar?”

It was Robin’s turn to be caught off guard. “Excuse me?”

“Do you want to spar?” She repeated, speaking at a normal pace instead of a tongue-twisting one. “Part of the reason it took so long to fall asleep is the adrenaline. It didn’t, uh, completely fade yet. And I’m still a little angry, but not enough to be dangerous in a spar.”

“I know,” Robin soothed, his calm tone a direct contrast to Marinette’s flustered rambling. “I felt the vibration when you were angry, both at GothCorp and on the roof when you punched the wall. You calmed down considerably fast, but the initial anger you felt at the woman lasted quite a while. It was very odd,” he tilted his head. “It left me very on edge. I cannot say I enjoyed it very much, but it was quite effective in getting the message across.”

Marinette laughed, nodding. Her own buzz of warning from Robin earlier had been very brief and low, barely a blip on her radar but enough to be felt. He had most likely just been upset for a moment. Marinette, on the other hand, had been burning up with her own fury.

“So, spar?” She asked again, smiling widely. “Maman says a good spar is one of the best ways to get to know a person,” she coaxed, leaning forward a bit. “Please?”

Robin snorted, standing up and stretching his arms. “You did not need to plead, I was about to accept either way. I could perhaps benefit from a new sparring partner.”

Marinette whooped, going to her half of the room. To her slight surprise, a new pink punching bag hung off to the side along with a few high bars for gymnastics. Taking a second, she turned to see that Robin’s own half of the mental world also had a few new additions. Weights, probably just for the familiarity of it, a few training dummies, and a punching bag of his own.

Neat! The girl thought excitedly, the last vestiges of anger draining away to be replaced by wonder. Soulbonds are so cool!

Shaking her head, she walked around to her sewing station and thought for a second. Her pajamas weren’t exactly a good outfit for a spar.

“Uh, how do we change clothes in here?” She asked, turning her head to look back at her soulmate. He, unsurprisingly, had already figured it out. The teen was now in exercise shorts and a perfectly fitting black tank top.

Marinette’s brain momentarily fizzled out.

Those arms! No, the legs! No, oh Kwami, I can see his abs. Shirts that tight should be illegal! Ohhh He has broad shoulders. Am I dead? I think I’m dead.

“Marinette? Are you listening?” The girl jumped, her object of torment suddenly standing with his arms crossed a few feet away.

“Huh? Oh yeah, totally. Just, uh, zoned out for a second.”

“Yeah,” he said with a raised eyebrow that just screamed disbelief. “I was saying that you simply imagine yourself in the outfit you wish to wear. This world is molded by our minds, after all.”

“Right. Easy. Got it,” Marinette nodded a little too fast, closing her eyes and imagining her usual exercise clothes. Black basketball shorts trimmed in red and a red tank top shone into existence, replacing her pink-and-white polka-dotted pajamas. Her hair, which was down from her taking out her pigtails before bed, was up in a messy bun on the back of her neck er head. Once down, she opened her eyes and gasped in joy. She turned to look at herself in the full length mirror next to her sewing station.

Behind her, she had unknowingly left her soulmate in a situation he was wholly unaccustomed to.

Perhaps I should have expected this, he thought sluggishly, feeling really caught off guard. His mind flashed to the memory of her punch splintering odd a few shards of solid brick. But her arms didn’t look that toned in her blouse earlier. Then again, she was wearing long sleeves, he had to stubbornly keep his eyes respectfully above the hips. He knew if he didn’t, his gaze would linger far too long on her muscular thighs. Turn away. You are being indecent he scolded himself, deciding to retreat to the sparring mat first.

After a second to recover from having caught Robin staring at her in the mirror— well, we ARE soulmates. It would be awkward if the attraction wasn’t mutual— Marinette joined him. Seeing as their bodies were not actually physical at the moment, they could skip stretching. Any hits they took would hurt momentarily to simulate the real world, but no actual damage would be taken.

“Ready?” She asked first, receiving a predatory grin in response.

“Are you?”

They both stood at the ready, their legs braced shoulder width apart and their arms tended but at the ready. To his shock, Marinette moved first.

The petite girl lunged, a very familiar high kick brushing uncomfortably close to Robin’s nose as he side-stepped the strike and attempted to grab her ankle. Marinette pulled her leg back too quickly, though, easily going right back into a defensive stance. Robin took the moment to get in close, aiming rapid punches at Marinette’s chest and torso. The girl proved to be just as flexible as she was strong, however, twisting around the wider strikes and batting away the ones she couldn’t avoid with her open palm. Each blocked punch sent a sharp sting through her hand, letting her know in no uncertain terms that she could not let even a single of his hits land.

The second Marinette saw an opening, she grabbed Robin’s bicep and heaved him over her hip. Instead of hitting the mat hard though, the seasoned vigilante tucked into a roll and popped right back up, leaping straight back at his soulmate. One of her punches glanced off his shoulder, forcing him to quickly recover his footing before he stumbled.

There’s that strength she showed earlier he noted. If that had been a direct hit, she might have dislocated my shoulder.

Robin leapt over Marinette’s head, slamming one knee up towards her back. The smaller teen was able to avoid a direct kit, but Robin’s knee still managed to clip right under her left rib cage. Instantly, she felt herself gasp for air. Mon dieu, that’s ridiculous! She thought, quickly hand-springing back to gain some distance as she caught her breath. My body gets a little sturdier outside the suit the longer I use the Ladybug Miraculous, but if he had hit me straight on I would have been down!

Both teen heroes were already slightly out of breath, staring at each other from opposite sides of the mat. They didn’t notice right away, but they each had the same breathless smile overtaking their face. They jumped back in towards each other at the same time.

Their spar was a flurry of punches and high-kicks, flips and ankle-swipes. They landed hits and got hit. Marinette got hit less often than Robin, purely due to her acrobatics and flexibility, but Robin’s tolerance for punishment was leagues (ha, bad joke) higher than Marinette’s. Even though he took more hits, he was in better shape than she was. Therefore, even though each of their strikes carried roughly the same force, it was clear Marinette was the one slowly losing ground. Marinette didn’t have her indestructible suit or enhanced abilities to help her out, at least not beyond what prolonged use of the Ladybug enhanced, but she was holding her own very well despite it.

It was almost twenty minutes —the mindspace making normal stamina levels irrelevant— before Marinette finally managed to grapple Robin and send them both tumbling onto the mat. They wrestled for a long moment, finding their physical strengths almost matched, before Robin finally managed to wrap his arm around Marinette’s throat and pin her legs with his own.

They were both gasping for breath by that point and, even though she lost, Marinette found herself laughing in glee. Robin’s grip loosened briefly before he completely let go, unwinding himself from her and standing up. He didn’t laugh like she did, but he was grinning widely and let out a few soft chuckles. He extended his hand down to his still-giggling soulmate, who grabbed on and allowed him to help her up.

“That was great!” She gushed. “I mean, sure, it stinks that I lost. But I’ll get you next time!”

“I fear you might not be wrong,” Robin admitted with another soft chuckle. “Not all of that was martial arts,” he said, clearly questioning her fighting style casually. Marinette rubbed the back of her head sheepishly.

“Ah, yeah. I took gymnastics as a kid. And my friend Kagami has been trying to teach me how to fence, but I just end up using those movements in melee instead. I’m okay with a foil, but I’m nowhere near the best. Kagami says I’m a natural, but I think she’s just sparing my feelings. And, uh, the whole parkour thing I mentioned.”

“Right. Parkour,” Robin agreed with a nod that Marinette knew meant he didn’t believe her but wouldn’t push. For now.

Marinette’s lips slowly widened into a devilish grin. “Hey, do you play Ultimate Mecha Strike Five?” She asked slyly, and Robin narrowed his eyes through his mask.

“Why do I feel like agreeing would be a mistake?”

“That’s a yes!” Marinette cackled and dragged Robin over to his couch. “Come on, let’s play!”

Seeing as both of the were asleep and their other senses inaccessible through the Tv, it allowed them to load the game. Surprisingly enough, Robin actually put up a decent fight.

Unsurprisingly, Marinette still won. Five times in a row.

“Alright,” Robin put his controller down, glancing over at an all too smug Marinette, crossing his arms. “Let's recap; I’ve discovered the situation in Paris is bleaker than I thought, you are surprisingly strong for your frame, you are much better of a fighter than you let on, and you have a vengeful streak.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Marinette cooed, her hand over her chest as she fluttered her eyelashes with false innocence. Robin just deadpanned at her. “I am completely innocent! An angel! I would never stoop to petty revenge over losing a spar!”

“Uh huh,” Robin said blandly. “Let’s revisit this argument when you decide to be more truthful, ‘Angel’.”

“Anytime, birdboy.”

—*—*—*—*—*

Thankfully, the next few days weren’t as hectic as the first twenty-four hours. Robin did have school and vigilante business to see to, so he and Marinette only met in their Mindspace for the rest of the week. Which wasn’t bad, even on nights when one or the other stayed up so late that they only had three or four hours in the mental world. Somehow, despite their brains remaining constantly active, the magic is the soulbond always left them more refreshed when they awoke than they would normally feel after that amount of sleep. And Marinette had her own things to do with her class, which included a brief (and very therapeutic) two-day visit to Metropolis since it wasn’t far away, to broaden the sights they could see. When they got back, they had one full rest day where they and a buddy could visit anywhere they wanted, provided they stayed within three blocks of the hotel and called to check in with Bustier every two hours.

The class, used to recovering from terrifying circumstances, had almost completely recovered (as much as could be expected, anyway) from their GothCorp nightmare by the time they returned from Metropolis. Lila had quietly thanked Marinette the day after the attempted robbery, but followed the thanks with a threat to never make her look weak again.

So, suffice to say, the liar was back to her usual tricks after the brief reprieve of the Metropolis visit as well. Milder than usual, sure, but still back to normal.

Meanwhile, Richard Grayson had seemingly spontaneously asked for vacation time in order to help his adoptive father out with company business in Paris. He landed in the City of Lights the same day that the Parisians got back into Gotham. He quickly realized that this trip would take more than just a few days. In fact it wasn’t until Friday, exactly one week after Damian had met his Soulmate, that Dick found the ability to track down the Parisian heroes.

Akuma alert sirens rang all around the city, confirming for the experienced hero that the natives had gotten accustomed to the constant havoc. Those who had been around since the beginning of the Akuma terror ran towards shelters with practiced speed.

It was the perfect distraction for Dick to change into Nightwing and take to the rooftops. Upon reaching the Eiffel Tower, the blue clad hero saw a bizarre scene. A male dressed in an aqua colored, snake-themed uniform and a petite female in a red, black, and gold uniform with a spiral down one leg were facing off against…

A… Giant… Cat lady...

Not even a giant half-cat person. She was a legitimate fifteen-foot tall old lady in classic Cat Lady attire. Knitted cat-embroidered shawl, cat-eared knitted beanie, a crochet needle that she was using to hypnotize cats and change their size and species. Her skin was bright orange with shiny silver tiger stripes, and her face had giant black glasses in the shape of a domino mask.

It was really, really weird. She had two twenty-foot panthers and a lion that was half the size of the Eiffel Tower growling at the two heroes who, surprisingly, didn’t look very affected at all by the fever dream they were facing. Smaller house cats were all slinking out of the nearby streets to ominously surround the two heroes, their eyes all glowing bright gold.

“You know, Chat would be making so many puns right now,” The red hero, Ryujo if Dick remembered correctly, mused as the two analyzed their options.

“He would also be making a lot of ‘family shouldn’t fight’ jokes,” the surprisingly zen male replied, flipping up and out of the way onto a nearby roof. “This should be easy, but I will provide backup if you need it.”

“Don’t worry Viperion, I got this,” Ryuko brushed off. “Water dragon!”

The hero turned into water before Nightwing’s eyes, swirling around the square. The water scared off the smaller cats, and the lion recoiled slightly, but it and the panthers lunged anyway, trying to catch the stream of water. The floating river easily avoided every strike, winding around the old lady’s crochet needle when they weren’t looking and snapping it in half.

A purple butterfly, exactly like those Dick had seen in the videos he and the others watched as research and exactly how Marinette had described them, fluttered out of the broken object. A quick flash of yellow darted onto the scene, a bee-themed woman carrying an ornate pot with Chinese engravings on it flew over and trapped the butterfly in the pot.

“There!” She said triumphantly, smiling wide. The crazy cat woman faded away, shrinking down into a cute little, completely normal, old lady with her gray hair in a high bun.

“Oh dear,” she brought a hand to her cheek. “Where am I? What happened?”

Nightwing watched as the heroes comforted the victim, watching as Queen Bee and Viperion left in one direction and Ryuko, whose choker had started beeping, left in another.

He followed the two paired up heroes.

—*—*—*—*—*

#maribat #mlb x dc #ml x dc #dc x mlb #dc x miraculous #damimari #platonic jasonette #damian x marinette #marinette x damian #maribat fic #the hero’s game

[jayphoenic]

Maribat Masterlist 2

The Supreme Masterlist by @icerosecrystal

Masterlist by @neakco

Maribat Series Masterlist by @jinx-jade

Batman Rec Fic by @lurkinglurkerwholurks

Masterlist by @arty-shadow-morningstar

#maribat recommendations #maribat fanfic #maribat au #maribat fics #ml x dc #dc x mlb #mlb x dc #mlb x batman #mlb x batfamily #daminette #jasonette #shutterbug #timinette #timari #dickinette #brucinette #dcxml #mlxdc #maribat dick grayson #maribat #maribat damian wayne #maribat damian al ghul #maribat jason todd #maribat bruce wayne #maribat tim drake #maribat batfam #maribat batman #maribat red hood #maribat nightwing #maribat red robin

[ali-annals]

angel, don't fly so close to me (i'll pull you down eventually)

Pairing: Jason Todd x Marinette Dupain-Cheng

Rating: T | CW: recreational drinking, poor flirting (not inappropriate) | WC: 430 | Ao3 | Prompt | for @otome-wandering | A/N: not beta'd & written in like 30 minutes, so feel free to point out any typos <3

Jason's not the best at flirting; luckily the girl he's interested in thinks his attempts are cute anyways

The quiet R&B tune playing over the speakers muffled the noises of the bar just after its rush hour, melding into one not disharmonious layer of noise.

Headlights passing by cast stripes of lights across a young woman’s face as she gazed out, chin propped on her hand as she bobbed a toothpick-stabbed olive in her martini glass absentmindedly. 

The man at the bar counter mirrored her position, only staring at her instead of the bleak rainy night outside. The bartender caught his attention, and he straightened, turning away from the object of his thoughts to close his tab. 

Tucking his wallet back into his inner jacket pocket, he was distracted from his surroundings, blinking in surprise when he looked up again and the woman was perched on the stool one over from his.

She received the replenished glass with a small smile and nod of thanks, sipping at the drink appreciatively.

Deciding he’d better regret the things he does that the things he doesn’t, he swiveled on the stool, leaning a little closer so he wouldn’t have to shout over the buzz of the business. 

Noticing his attempt to get her attention, she leaned in a little as well, turning her stunning baby blues to study his face. 

He cleared his throat. “Did you fall from heaven?”

Her brow furrowed at his strange opener.

Flustered, he tried to remember how the next part of the pickup line went. This was why he never tried to pick up people at bars (or anywhere else).

“‘Cause that would explain what happened to your face.”

The incredulous look on her face deepened. “Excuse me?”

She even had a cute French accent, a small part of his brain noticed, while the rest yelled at him to fix this horrible flub.

“Wait, no, that came out wrong!” Panicking, he waved his hands earnestly at her. “I’m so sorry.” He hung his head. “I should’ve stopped a drink ago…and not tried pickup lines; they’re not my style. Have a good night.”

Her soft voice paused him as he slid off his stool, prepared to leave in ignominy.

He glanced back.

She was smiling earnestly at him. “You happen to be my type, and you’re polite, even if it comes across awkwardly. It’s cute. Will you stay while I finish my drink?”

He nodded, hopping onto the stool next to her that she patted in invitation. “I’m Jason.”

“Marinette,” she grinned over the rim of her glass. She shook his hand calmly. “It’s nice to meet you. So, if pickup lines aren’t your style, what is?”

Taglist (open): @jennifer-rose123 @questioning-blob-of-fog @official-jasonette-server

#jasonette #fic #ali writes #dcxmlb

[abyssal-ali]

Jasonette Crack (feat. Talia al Ghul)

~0.8k, everyone (Talia) is WilDlY OOC, you have been warned. Not beta'd (if anyone wants to beta or even just toss ideas around, let me know!) Please tell me what you think, and I'm open to constructive criticism as well.💜

Marinette groaned into Talia's bed.

Talia merely raised an eyebrow, waiting for the young woman to speak.

"Is something the matter, Marinette?"

Another groan, then Mari raised her head to look at Talia. "I want a boyfriend. Can you find me someone? If *you're* happy with him then he'll be great, and I won't have to worry about my family's disapproval."

Talia couldn't believe this was happening. Marinette was asking her to set her up with her OTP!

"I shall begin the search," she said neutrally.

Jason kicked off his boots and hung his jacket up, then collapsed onto the sofa.

"You need a girlfriend," said Talia from the shadowed chair she was sitting in.

Jason almost screamed. "T, you gave me a heart attack!"

"Be aware of your surroundings," she said unapologetically. "You need a girlfriend," she repeated.

"I have neither the time nor the patience to find someone everyone will like. You find me a girlfriend and I'll be happy."

♡•○•♡

Two weeks later a kidnapped Jason and a kidnapped Marinette were stood in front of Talia, who spoke somewhat quicker than normal. "Marinette Genevieve Dupain-Cheng, do you take this man as your husband?"

"Yes-wait-what-"

Talia ignored her and turned to Jason.

"Jason Peter Todd-Wayne, do you take this woman as your wife?"

"T, what are you-"

"I now pronounce you man and wife!" she said cheerfully.

10 minutes later, once they freed themselves from their ropes, the new couple burst into her room.

"T, what did you do?! I didn't actually mean it!!"

"I just wanted a date! What was that?!" screeched Marinette.

They looked at each other, then back to Talia.

"You're perfect for each other, you know. I've shipped you two for years; this is a blessed day. I can die happy now. I was thrilled when you asked me to find you a partner."

"I didn't mean a husband!" "I didn't mean a wife!"

"You're welcome," she said, calmly sipping her tea. "I saved you the dating-- it's inevitable you get married."

They sputtered at her impeccable logic and left.

"I'm so sorry about Aunt Talia," said Marinette.

"Talia's your aunt?"

"Kinda. I'm 98% sure she mentally adopted me, though. My mom's her best friend and Aunt T's kind of my mentor? How do you know her?"

"She adopted me. And she's my dad's ex."

"Oh," Mari nodded. "You asked her to find you a date too?"

"Kinda, but I was joking and she knew it. I am so sorry about this."

"It's fine; I *literally* asked for it. I'm sorry for *you*."

"Don't worry about it. Obviously she thinks you're perfect if she married us."

"Same for you- wait, is she licensed?" Mari asked.

"Unfortunately."

"We didn't sign anything though."

"T forged our signatures. We're legally married," Jason pointed out.

"Right...well, I guess we'd better get to know each other. Hi, I'm Marinette, from Paris. Nice to meet you."

Jason shook her hand. "Hi, I'm Jason, from Gotham. Enchanté."

The couple talked for hours, finding out more about each other. There was definitely chemistry there.

Marinette decided to move to Gotham so she and Jason could get to know each other better. It wasn't like she had anything tying her to Paris and she *had* wanted to travel.

Talia smiled happily. Her plan worked (of course it did, she was a genius with a knack for matchmaking.)

Then Marinette took a taxi to 1007 Mountain Drive from her cozy little apartment just outside the Diamond District and gasped, prepared to beat up Jason instead of meeting his family. She was only wearing jeans, an "I died and all I got was this T-shirt" shirt, and a red leather jacket--hardly appropriate clothing for a *manor*!

Jason let her in at the gate and laughed at her T-shirt, then led her into the Manor.

"Don't worry, sweats are the norm around here. You look beautiful," he reassured her.

The couple were swarmed by curious Waynes ("who's your date?") until a feral child with a katana appeared and ran at Marinette.

She caught him in a hug and ruffled his hair.

"Hey kiddo, how are you?"

"You know Demon Spawn?" asked Tim, shocked.

"Of course, she is my honorary big sister," sniffed Damian.

Everyone agreed that Marinette was perfect, and perfect for Jason after just 5 minutes of acquaintance. It was the beginning of a lovely relationship.

#Jasonette #Jason Todd #marinette dupain cheng #MLB x DC #DC x mlb #Talia al ghul #Damian al ghul #Assassin Sabine cheng #(Implied) #Loa #Crackfic #ali writes #Crack #Fic

[moonlitceleste]

wanna-bee your honey

bee movie au masterlist ao3

happy third birthday to the bee movie au!! i wrote this quite hastily yesterday but thought i needed to do something to commemorate this anniversary. hope this gets you buzzed! :)

“...and so, we decided his punishment would be to watch the Bee Movie,” Tim finished with a flourish.

“The Bee Movie?” Marinette made a face. “That’s quite a…targeted consequence for losing a bet.” The bet in question was over how much money Bruce would fork to prevent Jason from telling a reporter about him and Batman’s torrid love affair. The answer was nothing—though it was probably because he knew no one would believe it. Wouldn’t stop Vicki Vale, though.

“Why that movie specifically? Does he have a vendetta against it or something?” Marinette questioned further.

“He does, actually.” Steph piped in. “‘Capitalist propaganda,’ he claims, but it’s gotta be more than that. We thought that if we made him watch it, we’d finally find out why.”

She nodded. That made sense.

“Y’know,” the blonde continued, “he always gets weird around bee-themed heroes too, so maybe he just doesn’t like bees in general.”

“He’s not very buzzed about them,” Marinette observed. Tim groaned, but Cass and Dick reached over to give her a high-five.

“We’re watching it tonight, so make sure to bee there,” Dick told her. “You won’t want to miss this one.”

-

True to his words, the Wayne kids were all gathered in a swarm around the projector that night.

“Where’s the queen bee?” Marinette asked.

“Dunno, but he’s gotta be somewhere in the hive.”

“We are not doing this,” Duke spoke to the air.

He was saved from death by puns at the sight of Damian escorting Jason into the room. Escorting was a loose term, considering the katana the shorter brother was currently brandishing across his throat.

“I have apprehended the convict,” he said. He let go of Jason, who fell to the ground with an oof. “Not to worry. I confiscated his bee-bee guns.”

“Damian!” Marinette cooed, and smothered him in a hug. She was so proud. “My honey’s all grown up.” He scowled at her but made no move to push her away.

“Don’t bee such a buzzkill,” Dick said to Jason, resting a hand on his shoulder.

“I hope you all go to hell.”

-

“Bees have good qualities. And it takes my mind off the shop,” Vanessa said to Barry, waxing poetic about her fuzzy more-than-a-friend.

In what seemed like an odd mirror of the situation, Marinette leaned over to whisper to Jason. “Are you okay?”

He had seemed mildly uncomfortable at the beginning of the movie, but she was beginning to get concerned. His posture was uncomfortable stiff, he had uncharacteristically drawn into himself, and his face was awfully red…

“Do you want to leave?” she prompted. 

Jason whispered something under his breath, but it was indistinguishable.

“Don’t be such a mumble bee,” Marinette said, followed by a sheepish ‘sorry.’ The situation was funny at first, but now she was worried that the Bee Movie was emotionally triggering for Jason. Perhaps the failure to overturn capitalist institutions reminded him of his failure to get Bruce to understand his moral stance on killing, or…something.

There was no response aside from the slight grimace that crossed Jason’s face, so she let it be. Bee. Haha.

The Wayne siblings were largely movie talkers, so it was easy to let herself get swept away in their commentary and the lightheartedness of the movie. When Ken attempted to swat Barry away, however, she felt a shift on the couch and heard Tim shout suprisedly. She turned around to see Jason slipping out the door.

“I’ll get him,” she said immediately. The rest of them had already stood up, but she sent them a look. They all knew that crowding Jason wouldn’t help, and he would be the most willing to listen to her.

“Pollen, buzz on!”

She winced at both the suit and the raised brows she received, but it was her only choice! Pollen had been curious about the movie, and she would have to be a real wasp to turn them down. 

“Time to get down to bees-ness.”

-

Plan A of calling Jason on his phone didn’t work, so Marinette was forced to resort to plan Bee. It didn’t take long to track him to the top of a roof, and even less time to get herself there.

When she landed, Jason moved deeper into the shadows, his body carefully angled away from her. She could hardly make out his face in the darkness. “Go away,” he said, but it didn’t sound like he really wanted her to leave.

“Come on, Jason. You can tell me what’s wrong. I won’t make fun of you.” Marinette edged closer towards him with carefully small steps. It felt like she was trying to approach a spooked animal.

“Marinette,” he warned, but the force behind his words was getting weaker.

“Whatever it is, I’ll try my best to help you. It’s okay.”

Jason snapped out of his reverie in a flash. He took a step forward in his panic, then back, but it was too late. Judging by the widening of her eyes after she looked down, there was no doubt that Marinette had seen it. God, he wished he had a fucking ‘bee-bee’ gun to hold to his head right now.

“Jason? Wait, no, come back—”

He ran and pointedly did not heed her words. In fact, he was planning on never coming back. If the universe was on his side at all, his grappling hook would miss the next roof and he would never return to the land of the living.

Of course, the universe hated him, so he was quickly immobilized by the Bee Miraculous’s venom ability.

-

Marinette couldn’t believe it. Jason’s beehavior all made sense now: his refusal to watch the Bee Movie, his unwillingness to be seen—she just never thought it was because it gave him the urge to stick his finger into a honeypot.

“Sorry. Does it sting? No, stop glaring at me, that wasn’t a pun. Okay, maybe it was.”

The situation was a little unconventional, but she couldn’t stand to see Jason so embee-rassed.

“Truth bee told, I’m a little confused. But!” she emphasized, “I’m not opposed, per se.”

Jason looked beewildered.

“What was it that Barry said…right. I can help you, ah, drain the old stinger.”

The confusion was still plastered across his face, so Marinette released him from the effects, trusting he wouldn’t fly away. Then again, according to all known laws of aviation, there was no way a bee should be able to fly, so maybe those weren’t to be trusted.

“Why?” Jason asked. She didn’t need to question what he meant.

“I’ve aways liked the taste of honey. And, conveniently, I have access to a magical bee costume…”

Was it an abuse of power? Perhaps, but she was the Guardian of the Miraculous, so it didn’t matter. “You’re so beeautiful,” Jason whispered, and leaned in.

Safe to say, after the buzz they caused from their pollination, they needed to buy some Plan Bee.

-

BEE MOVIE AU TAGLIST

@lady-literature &lt;333 @zorua-adorable

#maribat #cel's fics #celestewrites #jasonette #bee movie au

[person25]

so i’ve already talked about my feelings for daminette, now i thinks it’s time for the other maribat ship (that i’ve read for) (skip the first two ships if you actually want to read interesting words)

dick x marinette:

honestly, i haven’t read much and have only seen it where they knew each other in the circus. the least popular out of the (male) robins. i think it could be adorable if executed well but yk i haven’t really put my heart into it so i can’t say much.

tim x marinette:

definitely cute, both usually a mess, also addicted to coffee?? i mean whatever helps you through the day. i like the dynamic a lot. i feel like marinette would be most likely to get in a relationship with tim out of the others, based on what? what my brain tells me. they deserve to live happily ever after with each other. also don’t have much to say about them, i enjoy it👍

jason x marinette:

now this is where it gets interesting, jason and marinette would make a very good couple imo. balance each other out and all that. mari is always a badass in these which is definitely a slay. honestly these do everything right that i have a problem with in daminette fics, probably bc most people writing these have a stronger understanding of the characters than daminette writers (respectfully)

almost always talks about jason’s trauma aswell as marinettes which i personally want more of in daminette fics. more explicit fics than any of the other (i’m pretty sure anyways) so if that’s what you’re into, this is probably the one. also quite a bit of soulmate aus (again my fav if done right)

usually older than 20 so more mature and not in high school. high school is fine until you’re tired of it and don’t want to read it ever again, iykyk.

honestly my 2nd fav (as much as i tear daminette down it’ll always be #1 in my heart fr) they just have that special something the others don’t

other things about maribat as a whole i haven’t talked about yet:

i really don’t like when mari can beat any of the boys in a fight out of her suit unless it explicitly states how she’s so strong. these boys have been training their whole lives and i don’t think marinette could beat them with little training out of the suit. like don’t make her strong bc you want her to be strong do it to further the story or have a good explanation as to why

i may have said i don’t like salt but i definitely do, as long as it makes sense at least a little bit. i think any ship other than daminette (depends on the fic ofc) does salt well, honestly like adrien as a bestie more than an enabler but if you don’t like adrien definitely read a maribat salt fic

i have talked abt this but i’m gonna say it again bc it also happens with these ships, marinette does not have more trauma than any of these people and unless you specifically make it that way (which would take a lot of work and a lot of trauma considering what they’ve been through) i don’t like people writing it as if she does when the most they say she’s been through is losing a couple friends and them being slightly mean ( i am NOT talking abt when they physically harass/assault her)

another thing about daminette is that he has green eyes and a tanner complexion so they don’t look too alike but with the rest of the ships they look like siblings and it’s not a deal breaker or anything just a siblings or dating situation

things i’m willing to talk abt if you give me time to read fics:

bruce x marinette:

honestly never thought abt it but if i put enough will power in it i’ll read some, even if it’s a tad bit weird

maribat f/f ships:

i will 100% do this, i just need time to finish a tim x mari fic (i read for this post) bc while i can read multiple fics at a time k cannot read multiple maribats at a time and i’ll read some bc i love the idea just never got around to it

also i’m still new to (posting on) tumblr so bare with me🙏

@fallenkingsvale

#batman #dc comics #miraculous ladybug #maribat #marinette dupain cheng #ao3 fanfic #ao3 #archive of our own #tim drake #jason todd #dick grayson #damian wayne #daminette #timinette #dickinette #jasonette #wow these really are the most basic ship names in the world #also all of my knowledge for these ships is ao3 so #robin #if anyone has any fic recommendations for maribat i’ll 100% read them bc i do not have a life😁

[freedom-shamrock]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Miraculous Ladybug, Batman - All Media Types, Maribat - Fandom Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug/Jason Todd Characters: Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Jason Todd, Chloé Bourgeois, Sabine Cheng, Roy Harper, Tom Dupain Additional Tags: Jasonette, POV Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Marinette Dupain-Cheng Needs a Hug, Hot Mess Marinette Dupain-Cheng, naked Jason Todd, warnings, Language, Toxic Relationship, not Jason tho, Gaslighting, still not Jason, Sexual Themes, that's jason, nudity but not graphically described, That's Jason too Summary:

Marinette stumbles across a naked Jason.

Do you need more Jason Naked Todd in your life?  If you haven’t read this and you ship Jasonette, you definitely need to change that.

#AO3 #Maribat #miraculous ladybug #Batman #Fanfic #deathbymeow #Marinette #Jason Todd #fic rec #Jasonette

[littleinkling64]

From The Tailor Ch15

An illustration that took sooo long that I just...forgot to post it :O anyways, tried to emulate the style of jason’s usual speech bubbles, and I’m pretty pleased with how it turned out :D

#maribat #mlb x dc #dc x mlb #ml x dc #dc x ml #jasonette #the tailor #ao3 fic #ao3 illustration

[anjuschiffer]

#is this fic related? yes #imma reblog this like twice and then that’s it #and yes its gotta do with the jasonette fic I’m writing

[intercoursefluids]

The Pleasure Is Mine

NSFW: Pet Play, Choking, Spit Kink, Unprotected Sex

Marinette had been to this bar several times now, and every time she had been, he was there. Standing in the corner, just watching her. Never making a move.

He was tall, big too. At first, she had thought he was rather scary looking, intimidating.

Now? He didn’t scare her at all, made her feel rather safe actually.

Right now, he was just annoying her. The past few times she’d been there, he had always seemed to be staring at her. Occasionally, she’d catch him glaring at whoever was near her, usually only when they got a little too handsy or if she was uncomfortable.

He always seemed to know when she was uncomfortable. On more than one occasion she’d noticed him ‘accidentally’ create an opening for her to get away from whoever was creeping her out.

She’d been coming to this bar a lot more often than she normally would because he was here. She felt safer going out when she knew he would be there, watching out for her.

And she was right, he was always there. Without fail, he was there, and he was watching her.

She had been so sure that he liked her! That he was at least interested in her, even if it was just a vague inclination.

The entire night she had been trying to drop hints to him. Trying to get him to talk to her, to hopefully, ask her out.

He hadn’t said a word.

Marinette stormed up to him, a shot of liquid courage making her feel bolder than normal.

“What is your deal?” She demanded to know.

“What?” He looked down at her, trying to figure out what she was asking of him.

“What is your deal? Every time I come here; you are here. Every time I look over at you, you are watching me. I thought that you might be interested in me, and I have been trying to drop hints all night, but you just aren’t responding! Do you want to fuck me or not?!” She was frustrated, and if she had been paying more attention, she would have been embarrassed by the few people who turned to look at her.

He flushed, grabbing her shoulders and turning them, blocking her from prying eyes.

“I, yes. Yes, I am… interested in you. I wasn’t sure if you were actually trying to hit on me or if I was just imagining it, so I decided against doing anything about it.” He explained.

Marinette pouted up at him.

“So, you do want to fuck me?” She questioned him, taking note of his rising blush.

He nodded, refusing to speak.

Marinette grinned, grabbing his hand and tugging on it gently.

“Can we go now?” She smiled up at him, mischief in her eyes.

He nodded, following her over to the bar and closing their tabs.

They make it to her home quickly, removing their coats and shoes before she drags him to the bedroom, making him sit down on the bed.

She moves to go change in the bathroom when he stops her.

“What? I don’t get a kiss first?” He says with false bravado. He’s nervous, she thinks it’s cute.

She hums, taking his face in her hands, brushing her thumbs across his cheeks as she leans in, pecking his nose.

“That will have to hold you over for now, I have many things planned for tonight,” She pecks him again. “-but that will have to wait, we still need to set some rules and such.” She lets go, disappearing into the bathroom.

“What… What rules?” He calls out, a little thrown off by the nose kiss. His cheeks are red, he’s blushing and it’s driving him crazy. He’s usually a lot more suave than this!

He can hear her clothes rustling as she changes, the door is wide open, he could take a peek, but he has a feeling she doesn’t want him to. So he doesn’t.

“Well for one, the light system. Pet names too, I have an idea for what I want to call you but I’ll let you have a say in it.” Her voice comes out lightly, her shadow dancing in the doorway as she gets ready.

Shivers run up his spine, she was right there, he could catch glimpses of her through the doorway. He could move, get a clear look at her, but he had a feeling he shouldn’t.

It was as if she had given him a silent order he had unwittingly followed, sit still, don’t move. Only see what I give you permission to see, no more no less.

It was an exquisite form of torture.

There was the mention of pet names too, specifically, the way she had mentioned them.

As if she were being generous in giving him a say in what she would call him.

He would let her call him whatever she wanted.

“You’re being awfully quiet out there, I haven’t scared you off already, have I?” She let out a soft laugh. He couldn’t see her shadow moving anymore, she was making him sweat, not letting him see her until she got what she wanted from him.

He wasn’t sure what it was, but he would do his best to give it.

“I’m still here. What, what name did you have in mind?” He swallowed, nervous for reasons beyond him.

She laughed; it sounded like bells. Sweet, musical, but there was something else there as well, it raised the hairs on the back of his neck, sending chills down his entire body in the best way possible.

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, hm? Do you know what the light system is? We can’t have any fun until that question is answered.” She was teasing him; he knew she was.

He shook his head, “No, what is it?”

Her voice was soft as she replied, earnest in her want of his understanding. He made sure to pay attention.

“The light system operates like a traffic light, in a way. Green means go, yellow means caution, and red means stop. It will help me know what you like and what you don’t like.” He could hear her riffling through drawers now.

“Green should be used when you are enjoying what is happening and you want to keep going. If you understand, repeat what green means back to me.” She ordered him.

He shivered at her tone, dutifully repeating back green’s meaning.

They followed that method, her explaining each colour’s meaning and him repeating it back to her to show his understanding. He shifted on the bed, his imagination had started running away with him, making his pants feel rather tight.

He saw her hand wrap around the door jam, and he jerked to attention, staring at her as she walked out from behind the frame.

She was wearing red, silky dress with black lace on the edges, it was the same shade of red he wore as Red Hood. He decided to take it as a sign of fate rather than the coincidence it most likely was.

His eyes caught sight of leather, his attention snapping down to her hands, trying to identify what it was.

She was holding a… A leash and collar.

He gulped, his eyes flicking up to her face, catching her devious smile. There was no mistaking it, she was going to collar him.

He was panting now, shifting his position again, trying to find some relief from the pressure building in his pants.

She smirked, twisting the leash in her hands, running her fingers around the edges of the collar, enjoying his reactions to it.

“Do you still want to know what I’m going to call you?” She bit her lower lip and he almost whimpered, nodding his head quickly.

She walked closer to him, standing just out of his reach.

“You’re going to be my puppy, my sweet, obedient, little puppy.” There was a lazy grin on her face, she knew she had him. Hook, line, and sinker.

He tried to gain back some control, he wasn’t sure why, he was perfectly fine letting her take the reins, but his pride demanded it of him.

“Puppy?” He let out a laugh that sounded weak to his own ears.

She nodded, one hand going up to caress his cheek.

“Yes, I told you that I had noticed you, watching me, taking care of me. Acting like a big, scary dog trying to protect me,” She grabbed his chin turning his face to the side, planting a kiss to his cheek. “It was cute.”

She leaned a little farther, whispering into his ear.

“What colour, puppy?” She nipped at his ear lobe.

“G-green!” he gasped; he couldn’t get the word out fast enough.

She pulled back, moving her hand to his hair, tugging just a little. Her lazy grin turned into a victorious smirk.

“Kneel.”

He slid off the bed, dropping to his knees before he had fully even registered the command.

He looked up to her, chest heaving from excitement.

The lazy grin was back in place, her eyes roaming over him, taking in the desperation in his face.

“Take off your shirt.”

He couldn’t get rid of it fast enough.

She unbuckled the collar, slowly trailing it up his chest to his neck. She grabbed both ends of the collar in both of her hands, dragging her fingers along his neck as she placed the collar on him, buckling it into place.

She attached the leash to it, tugging on it once it was locked into place, pulling him towards her just barely.

“What colour, Puppy?” She was staring at his lips.

He gasped at the feeling, “Y-yellow.”

She pulled back slightly, loosening her hold on the leash, running her hand through his hair.

“Do you not like the collar, Puppy? We can take it off.” Her eyes were soft as she looked at him.

“No!” He grabbed her hand, stopping her from undoing his collar. “No, no I like the collar. It’s just that my knees are starting to hurt. Can I move?”

She nodded her head in understanding, pulling away from him but not releasing her hold on the leash.

“Of course, Puppy. Sit on the edge of the bed.” She smiled gently at him; his heart jumped in his chest.

He jumped up, sitting on the edge of the bed.

She climbed onto his lap, slowly lowering herself so she was pressed flush against him, her legs straddling him on either side. She shifted her grip on the leash, moving her hand up closer to the collar.

Her free hand trailed up his chest, slowly moving up until she gripped the back of his head, toying with his hair. “What colour now, Puppy?”

“Green…” He was staring at her lips, his hands fisted into the covers at his sides.

She smiled, tugging on the leash just hard enough to pull him to her, pressing a kiss to his lips in the same instant.

He gasped and she took the opportunity to shove her tongue in his mouth, fisting her hand in his hair as she kissed him. He moaned into the kiss, just beginning to kiss her back in earnest when she pulled back.

Her hands went down, unbuckling his belt and unbuttoning his pants before stopping, running her fingers along the skin just above the waist band of his boxers, occasionally dipping just below the fabric.

“Do you want to take these off for me, Puppy?” Her voice was teasing but he didn’t care.

He reached down, hooking his thumbs around the waistband of both his boxers and pants when she stopped him.

“Just the pants for now, Puppy.” He bit his lip at that, frustrated with the painfully slow pace she had set.

She climbed off of him and he immediately missed her warmth, quickly stepping out of his pants and sitting back down, reaching out to her.

She let him pull her to him, returning to her place on his lap. Her dress rode up dangerously high when she straddled him, he had to stop himself from grabbing her bare thighs.

She settled down again, pressing herself into his lap just a little harder, kissing him again as her hands went back to toying with him. The leash hanging limply from his neck as she used both hands.

Her fingers dipped under the fabric of his boxers just barely before retreating back out, trailing up and down his torso, shivers wracking his body as she played with him.

He moaned into the kiss as one of her hands trailed up higher, wrapping around the leash and tugging on it. He was shaking, his hands turning white from how tightly he was squeezing the covers at his sides.

Her hand released the leash, rubbing his throat slightly as she broke the kiss, resting her forehead against his. Her other hand trailed up resting on his shoulder.

He was panting, his vision was fuzzy around the edges.

She smiled at his appearance, his lips were red, glistening and just barely swollen from the kiss. His chest was heaving, brushing against hers when he breathed in, looking at her through lidded eyes.

He looked absolutely sinful.

Her hand trailed up his throat, past his chin to his lips. She traced his bottom lip, tugging it down slightly and biting her own lip.

She gently pushed her fingers inside his mouth, watching how his eyes widened.

She moved her fingers slowly, rubbing his tongue, coating her fingers in his saliva. He whimpered around her fingers, and she reached down with her free hand, grabbing his leash again.

“What colour, Puppy?” She didn’t bother removing her fingers from his mouth.

“P-please, pl-pl-please.” He mumbled around her fingers.

She pulled her hand out of his mouth, ignoring his whimper.

“I need a colour, Puppy. If you be good and give me a colour, I’ll give you a treat.” She coaxed him.

“Green! Green, it’s green. Please don’t stop, please.” He begged her.

She smiled, he looked so pretty like this.

“Good Puppy, do you want your treat now?” She cooed.

He nodded desperately, not knowing what she planned to give him and not caring.

She moved her hand, the one she had in his mouth. Her fingers were covered in his saliva. She put them in her own mouth, making sure he was watching.

He was watching, that much was evident from how he whimpered, begging her to touch him.

She ran her tongue over her fingers, making sure they were thoroughly coated with her spit.

She pulled her fingers out of her mouth, holding them up for him to see.

“Say ‘Ah’, Puppy.”

He opened his mouth, excited for his treat.

She grabbed his chin with her other hand, leaning in close to him before spitting in his open mouth.

She pulled back slightly afterwards, quickly following the movement by shoving her equally spit covered fingers back into his mouth. Rubbing the spit onto his tongue, thoroughly coating it.

He moaned around her fingers, his eyes fluttering closed.

She pumped her fingers a few times, encouraging him.

“Go on, enjoy your treat.” She crooned softly, beginning to grind down on his lap.

He let out a loud groan, beginning to suck on her fingers in earnest as she ground down on top of him.

She wiggled her hips, grabbing his leash and pulling on it, moving her head to his neck, suckling on the skin as she gently pumped her fingers in his mouth.

She pressed open mouthed kisses to his neck, leaving marks in her wake.

She bit down slightly, gently pushing him down onto the bed. He was laying on his back, sucking on her fingers, a look of utter bliss on his face.

God he was beautiful like this.

She climbed off of him, gently pulling her fingers out of his mouth as her eyes caught sight of the mess she had left on his boxers.

She smirked, laying back against her pillows. He sat up quickly, turning to look at her in confusion.

His eyes were unfocused as he blinked quickly, trying to focus on her.

“Why…?” He questioned her, an adorable pout on his face.

She smiled, tugging on the end of his leash, he crawled across the bed to her, on his hands and knees.

She spread her legs for him, her dress riding up to reveal that she wasn’t wearing anything under it.

His breath caught at the realization, pausing just before her, staring at her as she presented herself to him.

She tugged on the leash again, harder this time. Catching him off guard and making him catch himself on his elbows, his head between her knees.

“What colour, Puppy?” She questioned; she was biting her lip.

He panted, reaching a shaky hand up to brush against the inside of her thigh.

“Green. Green, please. Please, please, please. Please let me…” He begged her, eyes flicking from her face to between her thighs.

She spread her legs a little wider.

“Go ahead, Puppy. You’ve been so good for me, go ahead and have your fun.” She encouraged him.

He didn’t waste any time, descending upon her like a man starved.

He gripped her thighs in his hands, pushing the open wider and kissing the insides. Pressing open mouthed kisses up and down her thighs, sucking on the skin and biting her every now and then, ignoring how she jumped in his hold every time he did so.

He used his tongue to trace a line up both of her thighs, starting near her knees and going all the way up, stopping just before he reached her middle. When he reached the end of his path he would bite down, nibbling and sucking on the flesh.

She was moaning above him, her hand in his hair, showing her approval of his ministrations.

He pulled away from her thighs with a loud pop, he grabbed the hem of her dress, holding it up and out of the way, giving himself a perfect view of her face.

He lowered himself slowly, keeping eye contact with her as he licked a stripe up her middle. He ate her out like it would be the last thing he would ever taste.

Suckling on her, licking up her juices, plunging his tongue inside of her. All while watching her face, making sure he could see every reaction she gave.

He quickly lost himself in her, wrapping his arms under her thighs and wrapping them around her waist, sitting up and pulling her lower half with him.

She squealed as she was jerked from her pillows, now looking up at him as he buried his face in her pussy, her legs thrown over his shoulders as he held her to himself.

He moaned against her, swirling his tongue around her clit, sucking on the little nub slightly before pulling back, lapping at her opening, and sticking his tongue inside before pulling back out, doing it all over again.

Her legs clamped down around his head and he slouched forward, squeezing her tighter.

She finished quickly, spasming around his body and moaning loudly, panting as he continued to feast on her.

He ate her through her orgasm, drinking her release like she was the fountain of youth.

He kept going, even after she had slouched against him, panting from her orgasm.

She had to reach up, pushing his head away from her middle, her legs and abdomen twitching as he snuck in another lick.

“Enough, Puppy. Give me a minute, okay?” She pulled her legs off his shoulders, moving to relax back against the pillows.

He followed her, wrapping his hands around her waist, resting his head on her stomach, pressing gentle kisses to it through the fabric of her dress.

She smiled softly, reaching down and pulling the dress of, leaving herself completely bare to him.

He was lying between her legs, she felt him smile against her as he pressed a kiss to the bare skin of her stomach.

“Take off your boxers, Puppy.” Her hand was in his hair, gently scratching his scalp as she caught her breath.

He jumped up, quickly stripping out of his boxers, throwing them to the side. He gripped her hips, looking to her for her permission.

She gave it to him.

He pulled her into his lap, her legs straddling either side of him. He wrapped his arms around her, kissing her shoulder, rubbing his hands up and down her back.

He was hard, she could feel it against her stomach, but he didn’t do anything about it. Just holding her, letting her catch her breath in his arms.

She leaned back, falling back onto the pillows and taking him with her.

She wrapped her arms around his shoulders, leaning up to whisper in his ear.

“Fuck me, Puppy.” She whispered, her nails lightly scratching against his back.

He moaned, slowly sliding into her, burying his head in her shoulders as he did so, giving her time to adjust.

She was so wet she hardly needed to, but she appreciated the gesture. She wiggled against him, trying to get him to move.

He groaned and she could feel him flex. It was addicting.

She moved again, trying to get that same reaction.

He delivered, groaning as his muscles tensed against her. It felt amazing.

He started to move, slowly, gently pushing up into her, pulling out slowly. Trying to be as gentle as possible.

She could see his hand gripping the pillow by her head and reached up, coaxing his hand open and lacing their fingers together.

She started to join him, matching his gentle thrusts with her own.

It was surprisingly nice, it wasn’t what she wanted him to do, she wanted him to be rough with her, to go faster, harder against her. But this was still nice. It was sweet.

She searched out his lips, pressing a gentle kiss to them as she wrapped her legs around his waist, deciding to enjoy his gentle thrusts.

He kissed her back, his hand coming up to cup her cheek as he softly thrust into her.

She squeezed his hand, enjoying their current pace but still wanting more.

She broke the kiss, cupping his face and looking into his eyes.

“I told you to fuck me, Puppy. We can be gentle later, okay? Right now…” She leaned up to his ear. “… I want you to fuck my brains out, Puppy.”

She felt his hips stutter against her before he picked up the pace, thrusting into her hard enough to make her bed rock.

She moaned, her nails carving down his back, she let her legs fall open, giving him more room to piston in and out of her.

He groaned at the feeling of her nails on his back, seeking out her lips and capturing her in a kiss, swallowing her moans.

He wanted to go faster, harder now. He reached down, grabbing her hips with his hands as he went up on his knees. He moved her hips for her, making her meet his every thrust as she moaned, one of her hands going up to cover her mouth.

He pulled out of her, flipping her over and making her prop herself up on her arms, he wrapped his arm around her hips, mounting her from behind.

He bullied his way into her, pulling her hips back against him as he pounded into her.

Every thrust made her ass shake, he dully noted. The skin rippling from the impact of his hips against her.

She moaned, grabbing a pillow and using it to prop herself up, arching her back as he filled her.

He reached forward, grabbing her by the neck and shoving her down, keeping her in place as he fucked her.

His body leaned over her, peppering kisses all over her back, one hand gripping the back of her neck and the other holding her hip in a bruising grip.

The hand on her throat moved, wrapping around the front of her neck and pulling her up, flush against his chest as he fucked up into her.

She was limp in his hold, letting him pound into her as he please, crying out her pleasure.

He tucked his head into the crook of her neck, sucking on the skin as he squeezed her neck slightly.

The hand that had been around her waist moved down, finding her clit and circling it.

She was still sensitive from earlier, jerking in his hold.

He ignored her, or rather, he didn’t even notice.

His blood was rushing in his ears, his hips never ceasing their rough thrusts, she felt amazing, wrapped around him as she was.

His thrusts picked up speed as he neared his finish, his fingers toying with her clit, trying to get her off before he finished.

His teeth found purchase in the skin of her shoulder, he bit down hard, squeezing her neck slightly choking her.

She gasped, spasming around him as she came, her walls clenching down around him as she finished, triggering his release into her.

He spilled into her, his tight hold on her neck moving into something gentler, though it was still entirely possessive. His other hand came up to her stomach, gently rubbing her lower belly, right where he had just finished inside her.

Marinette panted, leaning back against him, letting him support her.

His hips didn’t still, gently thrusting into her as he spilled some more, there was no doubt that her insides were coated in white.

He pulled out of her, gently turning her around in his hold. They were chest to chest now, his arms wrapped around her as he gently eased himself back inside her, not moving, just resting within her.

She reached up, gently removing his collar and tossing it aside, rubbing the skin of his neck where it had rested.

He rubbed her back, leaning back against the pillows with her in his arms, curled up around her. She patted his shoulder, trying to get his attention.

“We should go take a shower.” They were both covered in sweat, it made sense that they should shower, change the sheets too.

He didn’t want to move just yet.

“Yeah, we should.” He squeezed her tighter, not moving.

She leaned up, pressing a quick kiss to his lips.

“Would it help if we showered together?” She offered.

He sighed, nodding his head and pulling out of her, taking note of how his cum leaked out of her and onto his thigh.

“Let’s get you cleaned up.” He picked her up in a princess carry, walking them into the bathroom.

He set her down on the edge of the tub, turning on the water and waiting for it to heat up.

“Where do you keep your clean sheets?” He turned to her, catching her staring.

She looked away quickly, coughing. “They are in the closet, on the self at the top. Why?”

He smiled at her, pressing a kiss to her head as he walked past her.

“Go ahead and get in, I’ll join you in a second. I’m going to change the sheets real quick.” He opened the bathroom door, stepping out before she could protest.

Marinette sighs, grabbing two fresh towels from the cabinet, deciding to wait for him to get back. The water usually takes a while to heat up anyway.

True to word, he returns really quickly. He smiles softly and she notices a dimple on his right cheek. His smile is a little crooked too, the combination makes her heart skip a beat.

He moves past her, to the shower, checking the temperature before turning to her.

“I think it’s warm enough now.” He observes, walking over to her to take her hand, gently pulling her up.

She lets him move her, stepping into the shower with him close behind her.

They take turns caring for each other, scrubbing each other’s backs, washing each other’s hair, things like that.

It’s sweet, Marinette can’t help but enjoy herself.

They leave the bathroom together, wrapped in their towels.

His hands dangerously low on his hips, which just isn’t fair in her opinion. There is no reason for him to still look so attractive.

She shakes her head, grabbing a set of pajamas and looking over to him, trying to guess what size he would be.

She looks over just in time to see him pick up his boxers and notice the mess she had made on them. He looks over to her, quirking an eyebrow.

“Uh, right… sorry, about that.” She coughs tossing him a pair of men’s sleep shorts that she had left from a canceled commission.

She quickly changes, gathering up his clothes prepared to throw them in with her laundry.

“Um, I’ll just, wash these real fast. They should be ready to go by morning.” She pauses, catching her assumption and back tracking. “Unless you want to leave now, of course, I’m sure I can find a bag for your boxers or-”

He walks over to her, cutting off her rant and bending down to her eye level. She had almost forgotten how massive he was.

“I’d be happy to stay the night, so long as you are alright with my staying.” He smiles at her, and she finds herself smiling back.

“Yeah, I’d like it if you stayed.”

He grins, planting a kiss to the top of her head before walking past her.

“Are you hungry? I can order us something real quick, I know this great Greek place that does delivery.” He informs her.

She agrees, moving to start the laundry.

…

The food had gotten there quickly, giving them just enough time to finish eating and switch the wet clothes to the dryer before getting ready for bed.

It wasn’t until they were lying in bed, his arms wrapped around her that she realized she had missed two very important details.

She had no idea what his name was, and he had cum inside of her. She wasn’t on the pill. They hadn’t used a condom either.

Marinette face palms, catching his attention.

“Is something wrong?” He asks, shifting to look at her.

She sighs, pulling back slightly.

“Sorry, I just realized. I never asked your name? And we didn’t use any protection…” She informs him nervously.

He sits up, looking down at her.

“Well, my name is Jason, Jason Todd. And don’t worry, I got a vasectomy, if you are still worried about it, I can pick you up a Plan B tomorrow?” He gently reassured her.

Marinette sighs, relaxing again.

“My name’s Marinette. Thank you, Jason, for everything tonight.” She smiled up at him, waiting for him to lie back down.

He smiled at her, pressing a kiss to her forehead.

“I can assure you, it was my pleasure.”

#romantic jasonette #ml x dc #dc x mlb #mlb x dc #maribat #jasonette #smut fic #smut

[soulmate-game]

Yes, I know AO3 is back up. But I gotta finish what I started.

—*—*—*—*—*

The Heroes’ Game

Prev ….. Next.

Chapter 2:

“There has to be a way to turn this off,” Marinette seemed to be talking mostly to herself. After the bat boys made sure the three traffickers were picked up, they relocated Marinette to the empty rooftop of a building they owned. Not that she knew that, but it was the best way to insure nobody came up to see them. The smaller girl was pacing, despite the disorientation that came with seeing herself pace as she paced. Robin seemed to feel that same disorientation, rubbing his forehead in what could have been pain but was probably annoyance as well.

Batman and Nightwing could only watch as words tumbled out of the girl’s mouth faster than they could comprehend all of them. It was such an odd sight; a silent Robin brooding in place and rubbing his temples while the small Asian girl in pigtails rambled and paced.

They could hardly believe they were soulmates, but if Robin hadn’t denied it yet then it had to be true.

“At least it isn’t a physical mark,” Batman managed to interject into Marinette’s panic. She looked up at him, instantly cutting off her verbal vomit. “But how about you two explain exactly what your mark is so we can understand?”

“Yeah, don’t leave us hanging,” Nightwing agreed with a smile. Sure, it was incredibly inconvenient and not at all ideal for one of them to meet their soulmate in uniform. But, none of them exactly had a say in that. The best they could do was roll with the punches and Nightwing wasn’t gonna let a little right hook from Fate keep him down for long.

“It’s annoying,” Robin surprisingly answered first, lowering his hand to cross his arms over his broad chest again. Marinette turned to him, just then realizing that Robin hadn’t looked away from her for longer than a few seconds since their bond had first formed. “Our vision is cut in half, like a two-player game screen. One side is my usual point of view, the other side is the point of view through her eyes.”

Batman and Nightwing tensed, processing. Marinette didn’t notice, considering she had narrowed her focus back onto the concrete of the roof below her and decided to contribute to the explanation.

“I think that’s exactly what it is,” she agreed, unknowingly making everyone look over at her. “I didn’t notice it before, but— look, Robin. In the bottom left hand corners,” she pointed to something only Robin and herself could see. “It says Player One and Player Two. In red and—oh, those are hearts instead of colons.”

“So much for hoping this was at least platonic,” Batman groaned, running a hand over his face. He was happy that Robin had a match, sure, but that didn’t exactly make things easy. Nothing to do with superheroes and their soulmates was easy.

“I think…” Marinette narrowed her eyes as she focused on the red font. The spot after the colon had a flashing cursor. “I think it’s waiting for us to introduce ourselves,” she looked up to her newly found soulmate with expectation. He avoided meeting her eyes, and said nothing. Puffing out her cheeks, Marinette decided not to be put off by his behavior and straightened her spine. Taking several confident steps forward, she held out her hand to him. “Hello, Robin. My name is Marinette Dupain-Cheng, and I am from Paris, France. My class and I are here on a month-long field trip thanks to one of us winning the Wayne Enterprises scholastic competition last month.”

“Wait a second,” Nightwing interjected, eyes narrowed behind his mask. “Are you being humble? Because the guest speaker at the Wayne Gala at the end of the month is the winner of that competition and her name has already been released as Mari—“

Cue the frantic arm waving and full face blush. “Ah-Ah-Ah yeah, that’s me. But I don’t like to brag, so I didn’t want to say it! You know, I didn’t want to come off as full of myself or a-anything. It’s really embarrassing having to make a speech,” Marinette’s head dropped at the reminder. “Ohhhh, I’m gonna make a total fool out of myself! I should tell Monsieur Wayne I’m not comfortable making a speech. Yeah— oh, but how could I possibly just say; ‘sorry, Mister Wayne, But I am a chronic clutz prone to embarrassing myself and think that making a speech at one of your galas would be a huge mistake,’ oh I sound so lame—”

“Hey,” Robin’s voice cut through the rambling, and Marinette looked up. “Look. It has your name after Player One now. Stop thinking about useless things and focus on how to shut this off. Soulmate or not, we can’t have you finding out who we all are after only a day.”

Nightwing walked over and threw an arm over Robin’s shoulders, even though the older male was still focusing on Marinette out of the corner of his eye. Most people would be offended by the way Robin spoke, blunt and sharp at the same time. But Marinette hadn’t started rambling again, instead the girl stood calmly. Her breaths came slow and regular once more, and her eyes held a scarily familiar focus. Maybe they really do belong together. Huh. Who would have thought his soulmate would be so adorable? And humble. Kind of a mess though, but a cute mess. “Hey, the girl introduced herself and you didn’t even shake her hand. Come on, fill in your name Player

Two!”

Robin scowled. He had already deduced that being Player Two was likely due to the fact that Marinette had been the one to initiate the contact that awakened their soul bond. Didn’t mean he liked being second in any respect. His soulmate was also a wreck. All the rambling and random switches in and out of panic. It was aggravating, but…

But he watched the stern focus in her eyes as she thought about how to temporarily shut down the connection they had. And he had been watching her the whole time. Analyzing her body language. She was easy to rile up, sure, but her panic was never all consuming. Robin could see that her feet always remained firmly planted, her stance fluid and firm. She was always ready to defend herself, whether she knew it or not, regardless of the surface-level panic she might have been experiencing. Even after only twenty or so minutes of interaction, Robin could tell that Marinette Dupain-Cheng was not a 2-D character. She was layered, with secrets and complexities that he was willing to bet few people saw or knew about. Maybe that’s why he walked over to her, and extended a hand that she readily grasped after a brief moment of disbelief.

“... I’m Robin.”

He watched the twitch of her eyebrow in exasperation, hiding his amusement under a perfectly developed poker face. The writing on the bottom of his POV’s side filled in; PLAYER TWO: ROBIN.

“Great,” Marinette deadpanned, looking very unamused. “What if that never changes, huh? I’m not asking you to reveal your identity or anything. Soulmates or not, you don’t owe me something that important. Especially not right away. But you could have at least given me the first letter of your real name or something.”

“You’ll have to earn that,” Robin retorted with a cocky grin. To his pleasant surprise, Marinette responded by cracking her knuckles.

“You know, this layout looks suspiciously similar to a combat video game,” she hinted heavily. Robin adjusted his stance and his smirk widened into a grin.

“Oh? You’re right. Ready to lose?”

“No,” Batman interrupted, one heavy hand suddenly on both of their shoulders as the teenage soulmates snapped out of the challenging connection they had made. “Not today. Miss Dupain-Cheng—“

“Just Marinette, please, Monsieur Batman.”

“... Marinette. You said your class left you behind at the hotel, right? Any idea where they would be now?”

Marinette pulled out her phone to look at the time, frowning. “It’s been about an hour. They’ll probably stay at the museum for another hour, and then they said we would all get dinner at the restaurant across the street.”

Batman nodded, filing that information away. “Good. Then we have about an hour for the two of you to figure out your bond before we need to drop you off in front of the restaurant to rejoin your class.”

“And have a chat with your teacher about taking roll call and properly taking care of her students while in the most dangerous city in the world,” Nightwing agreed, furious at the fact that any student would be left behind to potentially wander such a dangerous city, like Marinette did. Though, considering who her soulmate was, she probably only felt safe to wander due to confidence in her ability to protect herself. Confidence that they all saw was fairly valid.

That being decided, the two soulmates sat down. Batman, knowing it was unnecessary for both him and Nightwing to watch over the teens, left to resume patrol. Nightwing stayed. Someone had to watch the teen’s backs as they focused on figuring out their bond.

And that led to Marinette and Robin both sitting cross-legged and staring at one another without a clue about what to do. After a minute of silent staring, Marinette shifted and her nose scrunched up.

“Uh,” she said as she was struck with her usual timidity at the awkward situation. Here she was, sitting and trying to figure out her soul bond with a guy she just met. One of Gotham’s heroes, no less, which really was more of a relief than anything. At least he would understand her once she eventually revealed herself as Ladybug to him, and she understood him. She shifted her weight again, unable to move her gaze from Robin’s emerald green eyes. “How about we just… start by meditating? That should help, right?” She watched as his green eyes widened slightly in disbelief, and saw herself fidget again from his point of view.

“You meditate?” He asked, clearly not having expected that. Marinette sighed, relaxing into the change in conversation.

“Yeah. I mean, most of Paris meditates now. When your emotions can be used to turn you into a temporary supervillain because of a crazed maniac with a magic artifact, you tend to look for ways to manage your emotions and keep yourself from being vulnerable.”

“I’m sorry, what?” Nightwing asked, and Marinette could tell that he was shocked even despite the mask. “What are you talking about?”

It was Marinette’s turn to be confused, her brows furrowing as she looked between the two males and realized mon dieu, neither of them know what I’m talking about!

“Oh my god,” she said in English. “Paris, we’ve been attacked by a supervillain for the last three years,” she said slowly, but still no recognition. In fact, that only seemed to shock the heroes more. Marinette’s face grew more grim as she decided to completely fill them in. “Three years ago, one of my classmates randomly turned into a huge rock monster. Because of it, Paris’s primary two heroes showed up for the first time to defeat him. When he turned back into a normal boy, the true villain projected himself in front of the Eiffel Tower. His name is HawkMoth. He got hold of a magical artifact called a Miraculous. His Miraculous allows him to corrupt something, in his case butterflies, and use that corrupted object to take advantage of people experiencing negative emotions. His corrupted object takes advantage of those negative emotions to turn the person into a supervillain, giving them powers and essentially brainwashing them into causing havoc. He bargains with them, convincing them that he’ll allow them to get their revenge in exchange for them bringing him what he wants,” Marinette took a breath. “The Miraculous That the two heroes of Paris use. It’s where the get their own powers,” she explained. “Ladybug, the leader, uses the Ladybug Miraculous. It holds the power of creation. Her partner, Chat Noir, uses the cat Miraculous, which holds the power of destruction. If you combine the powers of those two Miraculous, you can make a wish. They will literally manipulate reality in order to grant the wish,” Marinette looked down to her lap, clenching her hands into fists. Through her soul bond with Robin, she could see herself trembling in anger. “But it always comes with a price. The Miraculous uphold the balance of the world. If they grant a wish, they will also balance that wish. If you, for example, wish for the cure to an illness,” Marinette swallowed, “then maybe you will unleash a brand new illness that gets brought to your city by rats and wipes out around forty percent of the population in Europe.”

“The Black Plague,” Nightwing gasped. “That was from a wish made using these— Miraculous?”

Marinette nodded gravely. “Yes. A wish has also caused the sinking of Atlantis, the wipe out of most of the Native American population in North America from illness, it was the final straw to begin the First World War. You cannot make a wish without consequences,” she stressed. “That is why Ladybug and Chat Noir work so hard to keep their Miraculous away from HawkMoth. But they haven’t been able to discover his identity yet. Nobody has,” Marinette’s shoulders slumped. “Which means Paris can only endure as it gets hit every few days by a new supervillain and new powers. Luckily, one of Ladybug’s power is the ability to reverse any damage that happens due to a Miraculous. It will completely reverse environmental damage, magical effects, injuries, even deaths that occurred from misuse of a Miraculous,” Marinette didn’t notice how both men stiffened at that last admission. “But the most we can do is try to police our emotions as much as possible, keep ourselves from being overcome by negative emotions for very long, so that Hawk Moth doesn’t have the chance to use us. Thus, meditation.”

Silence reigned for a long moment before Nightwing punched the concrete under him, making Marinette jump. What—?

“How did we not know?” The older hero growled, making Marinette’s eyes shoot wide open. Huh?

“You really never heard about this?” She asked cautiously, frowning. “Ladybug called the Justice League for help back when this all first started, but she was waved off as if it was all a prank. She tried again later, only to get the same treatment. I thought you would have at least heard about that.”

Nightwing and Robin both shook their heads. “No,” the older of the two refuted. “Nobody from the League told any of us about a prank call, and usually we’d hear about that. Not many people risk prank calling the heroes of the world, after all. And that doesn’t explain how international news never covers that. Even if the effects are reversed, you’d think someone would report about villains in Paris.”

“Someone does,” Marinette said, tilting her head. “The Ladyblog used to be the only one, you can find it online. It started out as a really trustworthy source of information on everything happening in Paris with its heroes and Akumas—Which is what the temporary villains are called. But lately, the Ladyblog has been…” Marinette’s face twisted into a scowl. “...not the most reliable news source. But Ladybug herself started a new news app, AkumaWatch, that most of Paris has downloaded by now,” Marinette pulled out her phone to show them. Pulling the app up, she turned the screen so they could see. “This tab holds footage of past or currently occurring attacks. This tab holds resources for calming techniques, and sources for therapy or other emotional aid for anyone who needs it. This tab has self defense techniques and the location of all the Akuma Shelters in the city so people can evacuate as quickly as possible. And this tab,” she clicked on the second to last one, “is for anyone who sees an Akuma, which looks like a corrupt purple butterfly, to take a picture of it. This allows the Akuma Alert to narrow down the area that the attack begins in, so that people know where to avoid most,” she explained. “The last tab is for any PSAs or other public statements that any of Paris’s heroes or public figures have to say about the attacks.”

“You know a lot about this,” Robin mused slowly, Marinette fully aware of how his gaze remained on her face as she closed the app and put her phone away. Robin was equally aware of how she stubbornly looked anywhere other than his face. Marinette shrugged.

“I helped make the app. Besides, Ladybug occasionally lands on my terrace and we’ll talk when she doesn’t have something better to do. I wouldn’t say we’re friends, exactly, but I think she just likes having someone other than her teammates to talk to about everything with,” Marinette rubbed the back of her neck and smiled sheepishly. “I’m a pretty good listener.”

Robin and Nightwing traded glances, before they both looked back at her.

“Okay…” Robin said slowly. “Let’s try meditation.”

Eager to get away from the previous topic, Marinette easily agreed and both teens adjusted their posture, got comfortable, and closed their eyes.

As usual both of their visions went completely black, but only for a moment. Once they had both sunk into their meditation, their vision came back to show them in what they immediately, intrinsically knew was a shared mindspace.

No longer was their vision cut in half like a game. Instead they saw only from their own point of view, like normal, which was disorienting in and of itself after half an hour of seeing from two points of view at the same time.

The mindspace was mostly white, and it seemed to go on forever. But there were things there. Everything that belonged to Marinette was on pink space, like the floor or sometimes walls and ceiling of the area around that object decided to create a small piece of solidity to emphasize it. Solidity that happened to come in the form of pink. Pink floor in a patch of space, or a cube of pink floor, wall, and patch of ceiling. Likewise, the spots that belonged to Robin were backdropped by green. And the. There were spots that merged both colors, indicating that it was shared.

Like the giant sparring mat in the center of the room, where the floor beneath and around it was an attractive swirl of pink and green as if the two colors chased one another, creating a design that seemed wholly and completely right. Belonging just to Robin, though Marinette was able to walk over and gently run her hands over them, was a rack of weapons—primarily swords. There was also a couch, a computer, a large bookshelf, a wall of batarangs, and a TV that they apparently shared just like the sparring mat.

Amongst the pink items were things like a kitchen— a whole, fully stocked kitchen— a sewing station and matching rack of fabric, a computer of her own, a few potted plants, and a loft bed.

After taking the time to absorb their surroundings, Robin turned to Marinette to find, with relief, that they were both dressed exactly as they were in the physical world. Marinette wasted no time heading over to the shared television, a large flat screen, and sat down on the ground in front of Robin’s green-backdropped couch.

“What are you doing?” The boy asked in exasperation as Marinette turned on the piece of technology. “This isn’t the time to play around. We’re trying to figure out how to control this bond,” he reminded her. Marinette nodded, not looking back at him.

“That’s exactly what I’m doing. Look, our vision mimicked a video game, right? So where better to find clues than the mysterious TV in our mindspace. I mean, it technically doesn’t actually exist, since this isn’t the physical world, so it won’t have any normal channels or shows on it. The TV is connected to our minds. What better place to look for— I knew it!” She shouted in glee. Sure enough, when Robin walked up to her and sat down on the sofa that belonged to him, he saw it. The screen of the TV was split in half, but both sides were dark. In the bottom left of each side of the screen were the very familiar red words and heart-colons;

PLAYER ONE: MARINETTE DUPAIN-CHENG

PLAYER TWO: ROBIN

The TV showed the view from their eyes. It was the link between their mindspace and their vision in the real world.

“Okay…” Robin mused slowly, reaching forward to grab the green controller on the stand that held the TV. Marinette grabbed the matching pink controller. “So this works like a video game, after all.”

“At least partially,” his soulmate agreed. “It’s mostly a mind link, right? We share a mindspace, which isn’t too odd for soulmates,” even if it was on the rarer side of the spectrum, “But it looks like our minds are even connected through our physical vision. Here, let’s see if this game of life has any instructions,” the girl pressed the center button on her controller, which pulled up an Options tab on the screen. “Yes!”

“Here, let’s look at the list of controls,” Robin suggested, clicking the appropriate option on the screen. The “game title” was boasted in bright red at the top of the “controls” list;

Soul Team.

Marinette’s eyes widened at the title. “Oh,” she said, her voice surprisingly quiet. “It’s… like it’s saying that we’re each other’s backup, no matter what,” her soft voice echoed in the room, striking an odd chord in Robin. “We can always see when the other person is in danger, or what they’re facing, and go to help.”

“Look at this,” Robin pointed to one of the “controls” lines near the top. “Switch vision mode between Split Screen, Audio Only, Personal Mode, or Sleep Mode. It looks like we can only switch modes here, in the Mindspace,” he pointed out as he read. “We don’t have to agree on the setting, but aside from Sleep Mode, Which activates automatically when we fall asleep, any mode one of us chooses still affects us both.”

“Audio only just lets us hear what is going on around the other person,” Marinette read, humming in thought. “We can use that as a step two, right? Like, we can start on Personal Mode, where we only have our own Point of Views, but once we get more comfortable we can switch to audio mode every now and then.”

“Maybe,” Robin agreed reluctantly. Audio mode shouldn’t be too bad… possibly. Once again, his green eyes strayed to his soulmate. Completely unaware, for the first time in a half hour, of his stare, Marinette just continued reading about everything their soul bond entailed.

Analyzing her like this, Robin was just… calmed, in a way. Visually, Marinette was pretty. She had gorgeous sapphire eyes, clear like a pristine lake, and midnight black hair that shimmered blue in the right lighting. Sure, it was pulled into childish pigtails at the base of her neck, but it didn’t seem to detract from the surprising maturity in the girl’s posture. She was clearly a childish person at heart, and easy to excite if their interactions thus far were anything to go off of, but there was a hidden maturity there. A hidden knowledge, amongst her many subtle layers and complexities.

Perhaps that was the first similarity that Robin noticed between the two of them. She had what seemed like a very straightforward personality at first glance— the awkward, shy, clumsy, excitable girly girl, just like he was the cold, arrogant, mysterious bad boy on the surface. But she held more than that, secrets and deeper parts of herself that she kept hidden flawlessly. Robin doubted even her closest friends noticed much of what lies beyond the surface of her character.

“It seems like this bond is supposed to ease us into getting to know each other,” Marinette’s voice brought Robin out of his inner musings. “We can’t hear each other’s thoughts, no matter what, which is usually the feature that comes along with shared mindspaces. But we can adjust the level of privacy we allow one another, and we can meet here when we sleep. It’s less like the bond between gamers, and more like the bond is meant to act like an ice breaker. Like… an activity for us to get to know each other, almost.”

“Our soul bond is a team bonding activity,” Robin surmised in a deadpan tone, completely done with the logic of the universe and the way it liked to play with him. The laugh that Marinette let ring out only partially made up for his annoyance.

“Oui, Oui!” Marinette agreed emphatically before standing up frantically in realization. “Oh! I forgot to ask, do you speak French?”

Robin grinned and nodded. “I do, actually. I suppose that is at least convenient. My first language is Arabic, however. I don’t suppose you speak that, do you?”

Marinette’s shoulders slumped. “No. But I do speak Mandarin! And Cantonese, which is actually my first language. I’m still working on Mandarin, though. I’ve only been learning it for about two years, but I can hold a decent conversation.”

Damian nodded, tilting his head. “I am fluent in Mandarin, but my Cantonese can use some work. We can benefit each other in that respect, at least.”

“So we have plenty of languages to choose from!” Marinette said cheerfully, punctuating her words with an excited clap. “That should make it easy to keep people from eavesdropping on us all the time, at least. If we ever spoke to each other in front of my class, for example, Cantonese would be best to use. They all speak French, for obvious reasons, and several are fluent in English, and one of them is fluent in mandarin, but I don’t think any of them know Cantonese. After I help you get fluent, maybe you could teach me Arabic?”

And for the first time in Damian Wayne’s life, the sparkle of excitement in a girl’s eyes completely drained his will to argue. Grimacing, the boy agreed to teach her Arabic after they helped each other become fluent in the type of Chinese that they, respectively, needed help with.

This is a problem, Robin thought in despair. She’s already becoming a weakness.

—*—*—*—*—*

#maribat #mlb x dc #ml x dc #dc x mlb #dc x miraculous #platonic jasonette #platonic dickinette #platonic timari #romantic daminette #daminette #damian x marinette #damimari #marinette x damian #maribat fic

[jayphoenic]

Masterlist of Reccomendations

I've compiled all of my posts here for easy access (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*.✧

A Bunch of Masterlists

Miraculous Ladybug

Maribat

DCU

Marvel

My Hero Academia

Harry Potter

Supernatural

Teen Wolf

Hannibal

Katekyo Hitman Reborn

What If (Original) Series

If I can take some of your time for this, I have some fics that I don't remember the title or where I read, but I would very much like to read them again.

Searching For A Fic. Help?

#maribat recommendations #maribat fanfic #maribat au #maribat fics #ml x dc #dc x mlb #mlb x dc #mlb x batman #mlb x batfamily #daminette #jasonette #shutterbug #timinette #timari #dickinette #brucinette #dcxml #mlxdc #miraculous fanfiction #miraculous fanfic #miraculous ladybug #adrien antagonist #lila rossi salt #ml class salt #alya cesaire #alya salt #dc fanfic #dc fic rec #dc fic #batman fanfiction