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goggles-mcgee · 7 months

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Wish Me Away: What Goes Around Comes Around

Notes: I'm so sorry for the wait but things piled up and it overwhelmed me. My mental health declined and physical health fluctuated, lot's of personal things happened and then I just got caught up in my commissions. I try my best to multi-task but it always gets hard for me. Sometimes I'll hit a streak and then I'll hit a block.

Overall, I'm just sorry and I thank all of those who are still sticking with this story and me as an author.

Warnings for this chapter are descriptions of injuries.

Beginning Last Chapter

Summary: The Agreste's face their Karma

Chapter:

Karma was a beautiful, beautiful thing if you asked Tikki. One of the only beautiful things born from her and Plagg’s combined powers. They were young when they created it, back when they hid from all, be it humanity or the wide variety of Gods and Goddesses. Kwami weren’t known to man, and to the Gods…well, some didn’t understand them, or they saw them as competition, but there were some Gods who sought them out to talk and bounce ideas off of. It was nice and it fueled her need to create. One conversation with some lovely Hindu Gods had her mind spinning to the point she demanded Plagg help her with her idea. He was reluctant, of course he was, combining their powers had proved to be a great yet terrifying thing. One that wasn’t exactly forbidden by Them before they had actually become Them , but it wasn’t highly encouraged either.

Luck and Creation were Tikki’s domains, Bad Luck and Destruction were Plagg’s, so it was safe to assume they didn’t collaborate often. When they did though, they created such intriguing yet beautiful things that had the power to do as much good as they did harm. An example being the Lazarus Pit. It was just one pit that ended up somehow multiplying and they were spread around the globe. They were misleadingly called the Fountain of Youth, not many knew there was more than one so whichever one they discovered or heard of that was nearby or far away was deemed the fabled fountain. Human tales were such interesting things, Tikki loved hearing and reading them, even in her smaller form. They were shining examples of Creation and what could be done with the gift of Creativity. It was wonderful! Tikki loved seeing Creation in motion but it was something else to see Plagg and Destruction in work.

It was art.

Maybe it was horrible of her to say but without him there would be no her. Creation needed Destruction and vice versa. They were an endless cycle and there was something just absolutely breathtaking about that. It was no wonder that Tikki wanted to try and merge their powers and see what could be born from it. They saw what happened when they combined their Creation and Destruction powers, but Tikki had been curious about their Luck based powers and Plagg had been a lot easier to convince once she explained that. It had been laughably easy, the power glowed above them for a couple of seconds and it was beautiful, it was more so when it separated into what Tikki could only describe as magic dust and flew in every direction. The dust coated everything and then it was gone. Naked to the eye but Tikki could feel it all around.

At first, they had no idea what this new thing did but it became apparent the more they observed humanity. A human would be kind or helpful in some way and Tikki would get this feeling of tickling warmth around her, this person would get a bit of good luck, nobody else could see it but Tikki, Plagg and the other Kwami (and Tikki would wager also the Gods) would see this human surrounded by some sort of glow. It was beautiful, it never stayed one color, it fluctuated and changed but always remained this soft, gentle glow. Eventually it would fade, but Tikki noticed some humans seemed to be constantly surrounded by the glow and it wasn’t a surprise to note they were some of the kindest, most generous and passionate humans she had observed. They were wonderful and Tikki felt they deserved the boost of luck, the Kwami as a whole were in awe. Then they saw the other side of things.

Tikki knew humans weren’t perfect, that was part of their allure and all, but sometimes some of their actions truly disgusted her. They lied, which isn’t all bad, but some just lied and lied as easily as breathing and did so with no remorse even if a lie caused a problem. Sometimes they even looked proud if it caused some form of problem to happen. There were those who stole just to steal and just because they could, and there were those who killed with no guilt. Tikki and Plagg started to notice that these people started to be surrounded by a dark cloud of energy. The cloud was sometimes small, sometimes big but it always ended in some odd rain of black energy that coated the person till they resembled some sort of shadow being. How covered and how dark they became seemed to be tied to their actions and some time after that person would experience bad luck.

Sometimes it was something as simple as something breaking right as they were used, be it old or new, and sometimes…sometimes it was a broken bone, getting an illness or even death. But the deaths were never swift, never painless, they were drawn out and full of such misery it was nearly tangible. Tikki couldn’t help but feel proud of what they created, it had some…drawbacks but overall, it was a beautiful, curious thing. Plagg had been so interested in her side of things, he chose to ignore what his had done but that was okay because Tikki found it just as, if not more fascinating than the good luck boost. It was like the world itself demanded justice and it got it when no one or nothing else did. Plagg at first had loved his powers but when he saw the hurt and hate, he stopped loving it, to an extent Tikki understood but at the same time she wanted to knock him upside the head. Without him, there would be no need for her.

It took him a couple decades but he got there, and their strange new power grew the more time passed. It got mixed reviews from their peers and the wide array of gods but some Hindu Gods loved it. They even helped them name it as they had a similar idea but Tikki and Plagg seemed to have brought power to it. It was a great collaboration and thus Karma was born. Tikki and Plagg found it utterly fascinating and found themselves watching the humans for long periods of time. That was until They came back in their weakened state and all the Kwami came together to try and help them, it ended up being all for naught but They were not short of their wisdom and critics even in their final days. They saw Karma and though they found it just as fascinating they also scolded Tikki and Plagg for mixing their powers together without notifying them. It was a messy argument but one that ended with Tikki and Plagg getting to let Karma keep on.

Once they were sealed in the Miraculi though, the effects of Karma weakened. It never disappeared but it did fade into a lesser version of itself. There were rare times where Tikki and Plagg were able to see Karma back in its true form and it was almost always after a Wish or after a catastrophic event in their universe. Karma followed and it healed the balance of the world. Many believed it was the Wish that did this, that took and gave in equal parts but that wasn’t true. The Wish brought about whatever change the Hopeful who had managed to obtain both the Ladybug and Black Cat Miraculi together had requested, and yes They took something of equal value to the Hopeful in exchange, but it wasn’t balanced. Karma helped balance out all the negatives that came after such events, but when it was caused by a Wish it tended to be more … unpredictable. It was more powerful, more spread out, more vicious and bountiful.

It would reach everywhere a Kwami, and later, a Miraculous had touched. For those who had any saved up Good Karma, Good Fortune would follow them for a while. How long was never determined as sometimes it went on longer than expected or someone had used up all their collected Good Karma on one big thing. Again, it was unpredictable. The same was true for those who had built up Bad Karma, they could have a lot of low level Bad Fortune or even a lot of high level Bad Fortune. And like Good Fortune, someone could use up all their built up Bad Fortune on something big. When that happened, it was a terrifying sight. The punishments that Karma dictated for those with Bad Fortune could be deadly and some were. Tikki remembered them well. So she knew that no matter what, after Gabriel had made his Wish that Karma would be back in its full power and it was something that would have excited her if she had not been actively losing her latest Bug. She had been so close to losing Marinette and her heart raced whenever she thought about it at Wayne Manor. She wanted her revenge.

That’s why she had asked Them if she could enact Karma, not natural Karma, that would happen regardless. No, Tikki had asked permission for Kwami Karma, a very special type of Karma that allowed Tikki and Plagg and whichever Kwami’s felt wronged or blessed by a former Holder, some of their former power from before they were Sealed and let them bestow Gifts/Blessings. Though some of the Gifts could very well be called curses, that was part of the Kwami Karma and how a Kwami felt towards the person receiving the Karma. It had been something that Tikki and Plagg last collaborated on as a branch of Karma, many people who had worshiped them had called it Divine Honor or Divine Punishment, whichever applied. It was Hippolyta that bestowed the updated name upon them, really she had been joking, “ Ah, so it is to be a Karma of the Kwami? ” The name stuck though as it had made Tikki laugh.

Though the name brought a smile to her face once more, it wasn’t a fond smile nor one born of laughter, no this smile was one that promised vengeance. The wind rushed around her and the others as they flew across the Paris sky. Bruce hadn’t been happy about what they were going to do and yet he had still offered to take them to Paris, Tim had even thought about letting them use something called a Zeta-Tube, they were both very nice offers but this was something that had to be done only by the Kwami. Thankfully they had been given some of their former power that morning, it had been hard to hide it from the new family but Tikki thought they had managed well. Kaalki had opened a portal for them after they had all said goodbye to little Marietta, some goodbyes took longer than normal despite everyone knowing they would be home before the day was up but Tikki couldn’t be mad about it. Marietta deserved every bit of love she got.

“So, are we doing the announcement first or the Gifts first, Lovebug?” Plagg asked, his voice fluctuating between the high-pitched one Tikki had gotten used to hearing and his old one, his original voice, the one she missed more than she could say.

“The announcement will be first, but before that, we need to give out some Gifts .” Her voice fluctuated too now that they were close to accomplishing their Karma.

“Are we starting with…with them, then?” Nooroo asked, his voice soft no matter if it was fluctuating. He had yet to raise his voice above anything other than a soft tone and it hurt Tikki’s heart to see her fellow Kwami like that. It made her furious.

��Yes, Nooroo. We are starting with the worst of them. Gabriel Agreste and-” Tikki started.

“And Adrien Agreste.” Plagg finished in a hard voice. She gave a short nod as she didn’t know what to say to help Plagg. He was betrayed once more and so was one of her Bugs and it never got easier to deal with.

It wasn’t long before they got to the Agreste Mansion and Tikki felt all her anger and fury rise once more. She looked at the others, then toward Nooroo who flew to her side to join her and Plagg. The others gave them nods before they found spots to hide on the property until Tikki called them. Tikki looked at Nooroo who was staring blankly at the large window in the back of the mansion where the lair had been, he was shaking slightly. “Come. They will get what they deserve My Friend, and you will get closure.”

“I would like to come as well, if you don’t mind. I know my Holder is no more, but…” Tikki turned back to see Duusuu floating a little behind them all. Her voice was hopeful yet weak. She was still recovering from the damage that had befallen her Miraculous and now that They had fixed it, her recovery was a sure thing, but it was a slow process. Tikki hadn’t even wanted Duusuu to fly out with them all, but she was a stubborn Kwami. Tikki couldn’t deny her, her own closure in that mansion.

“Of course Duusedda,” It had been many many years since the Kwami as a whole have used their full names, but this was an important moment and Tikki felt like the Kwami before her deserved to hear her own name in full before they all confronted the Agrestes. The smile she got in response made her resolve all the more stronger. So the four Kwami phased into the mansion and followed the voices. Plagg took the lead on the flight as he was the more familiar with the house, Nooroo was confined to two rooms so wasn’t all that familiar with the home if you could even call it that.

Tikki could hear the voices more clearly and did not hesitate to go towards the doors and use a power boost to blow them open. She had not been expecting the sight of Emilie Agreste to strike her like it did but she did not let it hinder her mission. Though, a big part of her wished that the woman was included in her Karma. She may not have been revived with her consent but she almost took her Baby Bug from her and that was not something Tikki tolerated. For the sake of balance and for Them , she would not do anything to the woman, plus nothing Miraculous would affect the woman since she was a product of a Wish, it was something Tikki brooded about a lot before this day. She may not be able to touch the woman, but she could touch Gabriel and Adrien who were present and immediately tried to fight off whatever kept them stuck to their chairs. Tikki, Duusuu, Plagg and Nooroo all made their way to the center of the table, which was a longer flight than Tikki expected. What was the point of such a long table? No reasons seemed to be good enough reasons to Tikki and by the look on Plagg’s face, she knew she wasn’t alone in the thought.

“Hello Gabriel.” Nooroo said, his voice surprisingly and not so surprisingly was cold as steel. Gabriel looked like he was yelling silently at them all but Tikki felt no need to subject them all to his pathetic voice and demands. Unlike Nino’s family who were frozen and aware, the Agreste’s could move their upper body and somewhat legs, they were just stuck to the chairs they sat in and the chairs were firmly stuck to the floor. Tikki did steal their ability to talk or more so muted them as she did not need them to try and justify their actions, she did not want to hear their anger, hers was louder and they would be her first audience.

“Kid.” Plagg said with a smile that was all teeth. His pupils slit so thin they almost looked like they disappeared in the sea of green that was his sclera.

“Emilie, it is nice to see you awake.” Duusuu said softly, Tikki didn’t agree with her statement but well, the Peacock Kwami always was one of the nicer beings. They were nice but they did hold grudges for a long amount of time if someone wronged them. They got attached fast though, though to say that would make Tikki a hypocrite.

“I won’t drag this out. The less time I have to be in the presence of you three would be a blessing.” Tikki growled out. She swiftly looked at Nooroo and Plagg and the three of them shared a grim nod. “Gabriel Agreste, former holder of the Butterfly Miraculous, you have been deemed an enemy of the Miraculi. As such you are forbidden from wielding any Miraculous as long as you shall live.”

The shock in Gabriel’s eyes was delicious as was the panic in Adrien’s. Emilie looked horrified but not shocked and that also gave Tikki some pleasure but not as much as she thought it would. “You, Gabriel Agreste are the catalyst to this Karma, in a way, I suppose I could thank you but that would be giving you too much credit. Besides, you do not deserve my thanks or anyone else’s. You invoked my wrath. You killed my Chosen! You destroyed her! Erased her. I take great pleasure in bestowing unto you, your Karma. I, Tikki, Kwami of Creation curse you with memory.”

Gabriel, who had been doing his best to escape the chair, paused at her words. Was the man really that surprised? Did he truly not think there would be consequences to his actions? The thought made Tikki sneer.

“You will remember the prices others paid for your selfishness. You will remember Nathalie,” Emilie looked genuinely shocked at the name of her friend and equally heartbroken. “Your devoted right hand who did and would do everything for you. You will dream of the woman you erased from the world. You will see every time she sacrificed her happiness for you and your whims. You will feel the love she had for you and the pain she felt every time her love was rejected, you will feel the pain she was in once she started using the Peacock Miraculous. This pain will last for all the years Nathalie Adeline Sancoeur was alive.”

Emilie was sobbing but her tears were silent due to the magic that was placed on all three Agrestes. She was yelling, presumably at Gabriel who was not paying her any attention. His face was pale, his mouth agape. “You will also remember Marinette Meiying Dupain-Cheng, also known as Li-Mei by her family in China. You will be plagued by visions of possible futures had you not taken her from this world. You will see how Paris would have mourned her as the hero Ladybug, as the classmate many admired and also her as the kind baker’s daughter. You will never know rest. My final ‘ gift ’ upon you Gabriel Agreste, is the gift of a long, healthy life. And for my parting curse, as I am Creation and Creation is me, I curse you with the loss of skill. You will retain your creative spirit but you will never be able to bring to life one of your ideas ever again.”

Next up was Nooroo, he looked nervous but determined. “I, Nooroo, Kwami of Transmission bestow upon you the curse of never wielding my Miraculous as long as you live. You corrupted a Miraculous, you imprisoned me and you did it all with no hesitation, no remorse and I will repay that to you. With no hesitation in my heart and no remorse to be felt I bestow the marks of a traitor to me and an enemy of the Miraculi unto you Gabriel Agreste.”

As soon as the last word fell from Nooroo’s lips, Gabriel spasmed and clutched at his chest and back. His silent screams meant nothing to the Kwami but it seemed like they affected both Emilie and Adrien who tried to reach out to Gabriel. Their mouths were asking questions no one could or would answer. Nooroo felt no relief or vindication at what he had done and would do but he also felt no guilt. “I also give you the…’gift’ of memory and pain. You will remember each ‘akuma’ you created and all the pain they caused to the people of Paris. You will feel each death as if it were your own, you will feel the break of each bone and you will feel the sting of each scratch. That is my parting gift to you, I have nothing else to say.”

Plagg put a hand on Nooroo’s shoulder and gave him a rueful grin before he took his place in front of Gabriel. “I, Plagg, Kwami of Destruction curse you Gabriel Agreste, with a curse of destruction. As I am Destruction and Destruction is me, I bestow upon you this curse of destruction, you will destroy every relationship you have, had and are going to have. No one will ever trust you, no one will ever like you and no one will ever love you again. You tore relationships and strained them during your tantrum as Hawkmoth, you will experience that first hand now.”

With Plagg’s final words Tikki knew their curses and gifts were placed and finalized. She watched impassively as Gabriel tore his shirt off and finally saw what his marks were. Emilie had a hand over her mouth as she stared in horror at the red, irritated and raised skin on his chest that took the shape of the Butterfly Brooch, he would carry the reminder of his failures by the burn on his chest. It would never fade, it could never be removed or covered by tattoos. It was his brand as an enemy, it would be the first of many marks given today but his and Adrien’s would be the only ones whose marks caused them pain. Everyone else would possibly feel a slightly uncomfortable itch at first or nothing when given their marks. But these two? These two deserved the pain Tikki felt, they had caused her and many others pain by almost taking away her Baby Bug, so they would feel pain in return. Let the world know that they, the Kwami, were not as benevolent as rumored or to be believed, they were higher beings of morally gray standings and it was time they showed it.

Gabriel turned around to show Nooroo’s parting mark, the mark that he betrayed the Kwami. Two large yet not so deep gashes ran across his back, deep enough to scar, which was Nooroo’s goal. The gashes were parallel and symmetrical, if Gabriel had had wings, Tikki was sure that’s where they would have been placed on his back. Gabriel had lost his wings and now it was time to show the whole of Paris that. “We have punished you, Gabriel Agreste, as we see fit, but the people of Paris haven’t punished you yet. So, as a peace offering you will be locked in one of their jails, La Santé. Should anyone…desire to help you, they will be sorely disappointed to find you can never leave. I am not cruel, you will be provided meals even if those at the prison decide not to give you some. You will be provided a TV so you can watch everything happen around you. So mote it be.”

Just like that, Gabriel was gone from his seat, Emilie was crying while Adrien also looked close to tears but was yelling at them. His hair was a mess, his face red and spittle flying from his mouth. He looked as unhinged as Tikki imagined, she knew the boy was hiding a darker side like all did, she just never thought it reached this far. All Black Cat’s had darker sides but they all knew how to control it or embrace it, Adrien was not one of those that could do so. It was a mark, one of many of a False Cat. Thankfully, they would leave this place soon. “Adrien Agreste, former holder of the Cat Miraculous, you have been deemed an enemy of the Miraculi. As such you are forbidden from wielding any Miraculous as long as you shall live.”

Adrien stopped his silent screaming and looked at her like she had grown another head, honestly, she wasn’t even one of the Kwami that did possess two heads in the original form, so she felt like it was rude. “You can glare at me all you want, little boy, but it will do nothing to help you. You are the one who betrayed the Miraculi, not the other way around. As such, I, Tikki, Kwami of Creation bestow upon you the curse of memory. You will remember Marinette, you will remember every instance she put her happiness aside for your own. You will see all the times your ‘flirting’ made her uncomfortable as Ladybug and Marinette. You will see every time you let her down. You will remember Nathalie and every time she made excuses for you and all the times she got in trouble because of you. They also give you a curse, you can never tell anyone about the Miraculi, about us Kwami, but if asked you will only admit to being the traitor Chat Noir. Finally, I bestow upon you a gift. You never wanted Marinette so I shall make everything she ever gave you, turn to ash. It’s only fair after all. My gift will make it so you won’t be so cruelly reminded of Marinette, well, visually at least.”

After saying her peace, Tikki flew to the flowers in the middle of the table and sat upon a leaf, though she would hear everything, she wanted to give Plagg his space to say his own peace. She knew it was going to be hard on him but he always did prefer to show his emotions in private so he wouldn’t break in front of his peers. He rarely let Tikki in so she felt bad that they were present for this moment, but it was needed. She watched as Plagg flew towards Adrien and landed in front of the boy far enough to not be grabbed. His antennae were flat against his head and back, it hurt Tikki’s heart to see. “Kid… Adrien, I’ve thought long and hard about this. You may not have been my True Chosen, but you had potential and I…I cared for you, I thought you would have grown into a great Cat. You had spirit, but somewhere along the way you lost sight of what was important. My Cats tend to be on the reckless side but they have heart and are more than willing to lend a paw when they are needed. You are not Cat of mine.”

“With all that said, I, Plagg, Kwami of Destruction bestow upon you the curse of Bad Luck. You will forever be plagued with bad luck, some days can be better than others but that will all depend on you. If you genuinely do something to help someone or comfort someone with no ill intent or selfish gain, your bad luck will be minimal. Do something out of selfishness or deceitfulness and your bad luck will become worse. I will also give you a gift, you care so much about what others think of you I give you the gift of Thoughts. You will hear every single negative thought anyone has had about you. You as Adrien and you as Chat Noir. You, like your father, will bear the marks of enemy and traitor.” Plagg said in a monotone voice. At the end of his speech Adrien spasmed much like Gabriel had but this time he clutched at his right hand before his head was forcefully turned to the side by an invisible force.

Emilie tried to go to her baby boy and Tikki, feeling merciful, allowed it. Emilie shot out of her chair and to Adrien at incredible speed she cradled him to her as best she could while she sobbed. She ran a hand through his hair and pressed a hand to the supposed scratch marks on Adrien’s face and even though he couldn’t hear her, she was trying to calm him as best she could. Her words may not have been heard but her actions were. Well, to Tikki at least. As much as she despised the woman in front of her, she knew it truly wasn’t her fault and let herself feel bad for her. She awoke to pain and even if Tikki believed she had a part in Marinette being erased she also acknowledged it was Gabriel who started everything in a way. Tikki sighed before looking at Duusuu. “Duusuu.”

The Peacock Kwami looked at her and with just a look they knew what she was going to say, so the Kwami gave her a soft smile. “Emilie, I know you never wanted this. But you did ignore my warnings so long ago and though I can’t give a gift of any great weight and can still give you a small one. So I, Duusuu, Kwami of Emotion, bestow the gift of Innocence. No matter what comes to light you will never hold any blame or suspicion. Given what has happened and what will happen, you need not be punished more than you already have.”

“I will not fight Duusuu’s decision.” Tikki said after a while of silence. “We leave you here as I have a broadcast to make but one final word, Adrien, there is… hope for you. You can be rid of your curses if you realize and admit your guilt in all that has happened. That and accept it wholeheartedly, only then will you be free, but you will never rid yourself of your marks. This will be the last time you see us in person.”

No other words were said before the four Kwami left the house. There was no time for delays, Tikki and the others had Karma to deliver and there would be plenty to go around.

Next Chapter

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ghl-osty · 9 days

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

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

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

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justrandomfanfictionskh · 1 year

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We Should have Stayed in Gotham pt6

(Almost every Maribat fic I read has the akuma class going to Gotham. But tell me which is more likely, a class touring the city of crime, or a class touring the city of lights? So here it is, the Daminette fic that only I asked for, where Gotham goes to Paris, and the poor students have to grapple with the fact that they have competition for the most dangerous city in the world. I wonder what will happen?)

ao3 Beginning Previous

Ladybug set Damian down on the deck of a rather messy houseboat, and began assigning positions to her team. Damian could see the value of this location. It was an open area that was easy to quickly isolate and defend should the shore be over run, with many hiding spot and easy escape routes should the boat be taken, provided they all could swim of course. There was only one problem. “Should we tell the inhabitants to evacuate?” Damian asked as the heroes cleared the space for fighting.

“The family’s out,” Viperion said as he stashed some instruments. “We often use their boat for traps, because it’s so versatile.”

“Besides,” Ryuko said moving Damian into position on the far side of the open deck. “The Government gave us acquisition rights. If, during an akuma fight, Ladybug or any of the heroes require something from the citizens, then they are all obligated to follow her orders.”

Damian furrowed his brow as Ladybug swung away with Chat Noir to draw Princess Fragrance to them. “Isn’t that rather dangerous? I can see many ways that can be taken advantage of.”

“Maybe in Gotham,” Viperion said with a sly smile. “But Ladybug knows what she’s doing. Besides, once the Lucky Charm is thrown it’s best to just roll with it and don’t ask questions.”

“Speaking of,” Ryuko said pointing. And sure enough there was Ladybug and Chat Noir running over the rooftops. There was no sign of the zombies or the akuma, but Damian knew they weren’t far behind. The plan was for Ladybug to trick them into following her, not to drag them kicking and screaming.

“That didn’t take long,” Damian said as Ladybug landed.

“Didn’t think it would,” Ladybug said with a huff. “She's turned half of the arrondissement at this point. You sure you’re ok with this? You will be in direct danger. And if we fail to protect you—”

“You have not failed Paris yet,” Damian said simply as a matter of fact, “And I have seen the lists. You will not fall to an enemy this weak. I have faith in your abilities.”

“Oh my kwami,” Viperion muttered, “He really is like Ryuko.”

Ryuko elbowed the snake, but Ladybug ignored them studying him curiously, “Even the meagerest foot soldiers can fell the mightiest General, Spikes, for a blade is a blade and cares nothing for whose flesh it mars.”

Damian blinked in surprise, “That’s an Amazonian saying.”

Ladybug’s brow raised under her red mask. “It’s rare to find a male well versed in Amazonian proverbs.”

“I have had a very thorough education,” Damian said with his usual coldness. And before anyone else could comment a shrill voice rang out through the streets.

“Come out! Come out! My sweet Ice Prince! Don’t you want to thaw that frozen heart! Please! Come on out now!”

With a quick nod from Ladybug, Ryuko and Viperion vanished as she and Chat Noir took up positions in front of Damian as if they had just been cornered. Damian could easily see over Ladybug’s head, but in some ways, he wish he couldn’t. The small blonde ball of pink that had yelled at him in the classroom had transformed into something inhumane. Her skin was a monster green while her hair had turned into the color of chewed up bubblegum. Almost her entire body was covered in a black body suit that was puffed in places to give the illusion of a ballgown. Damian wanted to throw up. She looked like some maniac had smashed the Wicked Witch of the West and Cinderella together and tried to make it “modern.” It was so disturbing how wrongly demented she looked, that he had to say,

“Is part of Hawkmoth’s plan to burn the eyes of all of Paris, and thus ruin the fashion industry forever?”

Ladybug actually snorted as she tried to stifle her giggles, “You got an eye for design, Spikes?”

Damian shrugged, “I’m a Wayne, and my mother was very particular that I always knew how to dress appropriately for every occasion.” He left out the part where “dressing for the occasion” meant being able to go undercover in any environment and culture, but he seemed to get the point across, as Ladybug smiled and said,

“I can see how that would be useful. And for the record, when we do find Hawkmoth, I plan to strap into a chair and force him to watch fashion tutorials twenty-four seven.”

“It’s the least he deserves for forcing us to look at that,” Damian sneered.

“Hey!” Chat Noir said, “I can’t believe I’m the one saying this. But shouldn’t we be focusing?”

“Right!” Ladybug said, “Thanks Chaton, sorry. Now, Princess Fragrance!” She cried as she sped up her yoyo until it was a blur or pink and red light forming a solid circle.

The akuma saw them and Damian, and she cried, “My Prince! Get him!” Easily three hundred people filed out from behind cars and building and onto the street. They were all smiling like they were on Joker venom, as the sang in unison, “As you wish, Princess Fragrance!”

The zombies surged, but clearly unlike the zombies of a more undead nature, these had not lost any of their physical abilities. They rushed the boat in a swarm, spurred by their now instinctual desire to serve their Princess.

Viperion pulled the boat out onto the river, even as the first brainwashed victim reached the dock. That didn’t stop the swarm however, as most of the creatures leapt into the river and attempted to swim to the boat. Damian winced as a young man hit his head on the railing, but panicked as he fell backwards into the river. The training of his father, screamed at him to save him. To stop him from drowning, but Ladybug caught his wrist.

Damian looked up and saw the pain in her powerful blue eyes as she shook her head. Even as she stopped him, Damian saw the reality. Trying to save that person was pointless when the greater enemy was still baring down on them. Not to mention the fact that the cure would revive him once the battle was done. It was cold logic, assassin’s logic, that his family had been trying to coax out of him for six years. But this was a war, for the very fabric of reality.

Ladybug had never spared the public on the necessity of keeping the Miraculous away from Hawkmoth. In her very first press conference which Damian had watched three times, she had explained explicitly why no individual, no matter how good a motive, could ever be allowed to make a wish. Her speech during those first interviews had gotten the inter country on her side as no one wanted to see what a mad man willing to brainwash children wanted to alter reality for.

In the grand scheme of the fight, a single individual who would eventually be resurrected, was a price they had to pay. And as Damian withdrew his hand he could see, that it was a choice that Ladybug had had to make too many times in her tenure as a hero. He returned to his place, and waited for the akuma to eventually catch up with them. He didn’t have to wait long.

As they came up on a bridge, a figure of black and pink dropped onto the deck. She rose in the shadow, cackling as she raised a twisted black gun, and pointed it straight at Damian. “Time to feel the love, my Ice Prince!”

Damian was glad that they had chosen such a messy house boat, because he was easily able to flip behind a stack of boxes as Chat Noir nocked off the Princess’s aim. A puff of pink smoke dissipated into the river, and the akuma shrieked as she fought with the Cat. Damian peeked out when Ladybug called on her Luck Charm.

He could only stare in confusion and disbelief as a deflated balloon fell into her hands. “What are we going to do with that m’lady?” Chat Noir called out in a teasing voice, “Throw a party.”

“Keep her distracted Chat, I’ll—”

“Ryuko!” Viperion yelled as he came out of the cabin, “Zombies are incoming. Ladybug that goes on the perfume. Spikes, you’ll need this.”

Damian blinked as he caught the long thing that the Snake hero tossed him. He had no idea why Viperion was suddenly taking charge, there was virtually nothing about him on any of the websites. But the heroes jumped to obey him, as within ten seconds of him speaking they came out from under the bridge and twenty zombies landed on the deck.

“Get my Prince!” the akuma shrieked. And they charged. Damian looked down and saw that he had caught a shinai, a bamboo sword used in kudo. Who was the family that owned this boat, that they just had this lying around?

He didn’t have time to ponder as Ryuko drew her own sword and stood side by side with Damian creating a wall between the zombies and the other heroes. Damian only took the time to be momentarily impressed with Ryuko’s skill as they swung in tandem against the zombies. Knocking them down, and throwing them into the river. Unfortunately it didn’t matter how skilled or in-sync they were, because the zombies were so single minded, that they stood with broken bones and bleeding heads, trying to catch Damian and help their Princess, and all with those demented smiles on their faces.

Damian thought the smiles were the worst part, because they weren’t like Laughing Gas smiles. No, you could see the pain in the eyes of the Joker’s victims, even as their mouths were twisted. But these zombies didn’t show any pain. Even as Damian cracked one’s knee with a sickening snap, it looked at Damian as if he were the happiest creature alive, not even a flicker of pain. They lunged for him with the strength only the unhinged possessed, even as their leg twisted the wrong way underneath them.

The only way to get rid of them was to throw them over board, which Viperion helped with even as he shouted out warnings. Damian didn’t dare look back to see how Ladybug and Chat Noir were doing, but the Cat’s unending chatter was beginning to grate on his nerves even as he tossed the last zombie overboard.

“No resting,” Ryuko called out, as she pointed to the second bridge coming close. Sure enough, another group of zombies were waiting to leap.

“Chat no!” Ladybug cried, and Damian spun to see Chat Noir get a face full of perfume as he pushed Ladybug out of the way. The perfume cloud dissipated, as the hero straightened and sang,

“At your servi—Mmph!” Viperion tackled Chat and wrestled him to the ground as Princess Fragrance swung her gun to Ladybug. Ladybug slid the balloon onto the end of the gun, right as she pulled the trigger. The balloon inflated into a impossible size, lifting the akuma into the sky.

“Ryuko!” Ladybug shouted. The dragon hero lunged with her sword and pierced the bottle shattering it. A black butterfly flew out as the akuma dropped back onto the deck. Ladybug caught it in her yoyo.

Damian sighed as the akuma was purified and the cure was released. He sat down on one of the many boxes as Viperion rolled off of Chat, and Ryuko went to comfort the small girl who was looking around dazed and confused. “Oh no!” she said, “I…I did it again! Oh Ladybug, I’m…I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to…I just…I just…”

“I know Rose,” Ladybug said gently kneeling beside the girl who was now crying into her hands. “I know.”

“I just want everyone to get along! And be nice!” she cried, “Why can’t we all just be friends?!”

“It’s not always that easy,” Ladybug said gently, as she rubbed the small girl’s back. “I wish it were. But it isn’t.”

“But what do I do!” Rose moaned staring up at Ladybug with pleading eyes.

“Find the people who are true,” Ladybug said gently, “And cling to them. They’re the only opinions that matter. Ryuko’s going to take you back to school now. Are you ok with that?”

Rose nodded, and the Dragon hero swept her up into her arms, like she was carrying a child and, with an inhumane leap, began carrying her back. Damian expected the same treatment since all of the other victims had been swept away by the magic ladybugs, when Chat Noir sauntered up and said with a cocky grin and a swishing tail, “Another successful mission m’lady! Pound it!” He held out his first in celebration. Ladybug scowled. Damian suddenly wanted to jump off the boat.

Damian had survived the Batglare. He had survived his mother’s stare, his grandfather’s sneer. He had only barely escaped Alfred’s frown. But nothing could have prepared him for Ladybug’s scowl. The unearthly power behind her eyes was fanned into a wildfire, as her lips curled into a growl. And Damian felt his skin curl as it did when Superman’s eyes turned red. She stared down her partner as she shoved a finger into his face. “How many times have I told you not to sacrifice yourself for me?”

“But m’lady!” Chat whimpered, his ears falling down in dejection, “You told me to take this more seriously.”

“Yes!” Ladybug cried, “As in follow my lead! Anticipate my movements! Not jump in front of every bast and get yourself brainwashed or killed!”

“Wait!” Chat Noir cried, “This was not my fault, Viperion said we wouldn’t need Second Chance if we used the brat’s ‘improvise’ plan, and that was clearly a lie!”

“I said that” Viperion said crossing his arms, “Because during one of the other times, when I told the truth, you refused to do anything he suggested, and it got you killed.”

There was a deep silence as Damian processed exactly what Viperion's role was. And suddenly, Ladybug's perfect record made sense. Every hero had an off day, where they just couldn't make it in time. But Ladybug couldn't have one. She couldn't fail, because of the importance of the war. So she didn't let it happen. She didn't let her self fail by controlling time itself. It was terrifying both in it's necessity and its effectiveness.

“How many times?” Ladybug asked quietly.

“Three,” Viperion said simply, “We tried your plan once, but we just ended up switching to this one in the end. Thought we’d save time and lives by just jumping to the chase.”

“And the other two times?” Ladybug asked her expression as guarded and as cloudy as the Batman’s.

“Zombies over ran the boat. Second time they killed Chat then you. Third time, Chat Noir tried to save you, got spritzed, killed you.” Damian hissed, as Chat Noir shrunk in on himself like a child trying to hide from his parents.

“What changed?” Ladybug asked.

“Spikes found the sword,” Viperion said simply, pointing at Damian. The heroes turned to him as if just realizing he was still there. Damian looked down at the shinai, and sighed. He stood and said, “My name isn’t Spikes, it’s Damian, Damian Wayne. And I was trained in many forms of combat from a young age…I am sorry this happened, I did not mean to cause that akuma. I have been told that, I should be more…guarded with my tongue. I’m just glad I could help fix the damage I did.”

Ladybug nodded at him consideringly, “Thank you, Damian. You were a great help today. I’ll take you back to the shore. But I don’t think I’ll be able to take you back to the school, my time’s almost up.” As if to prove her point her earrings beeped, as one of the dots disappeared.

Damian nodded his understanding, as Chat Noir stepped forward fiddling with his tail. “M’lady,” he said desperately, “Please I am trying! You know I am. And I’ve gotten better, right? Please, Chat Noir is the only thing I have anymore.”

Damian watched neutrally from the side, as Ladybug’s face contorted into pity as she looked at her partner. He was taller than her, and by all appearances stronger to. But from the way he dipped his head and slumped his shoulders you would have thought he was a child being chided by his parents. And like a doting mother Ladybug sighed and said gently,

“Chaton, I’m not taking your miraculous. You’re my partner, and I trust you more than anyone. But you need to trust me! You need to follow my lead. Pay attention to the others, and work with the team, instead of just throwing yourself in the way of danger. Can you do that?”

“Of course, I can!” Chat insisted.

“Ok,” Ladybug said with a nod. “We’ll talk about this more tonight. Now go home, you’re about to transform.”

As the Black Cat bounded away, Ladybug seemed to slump in defeat as she watched him leave. Viperion stepped forward laying a hand on her shoulder. “He is a good hero,” he said, “Always has been.”

“I know,” Ladybug said in a whisper Damian could only barely just hear. “But he’s not a good cat.”

“Perhaps a different miraculous would suit him better?”

“Not until I have a replacement. Have you talked to Fluff?”

Viperion shook his head, “Young and Old are being very cryptic on the matter. But I think Young is just doing it to be annoying.”

“Figures,” Ladybug muttered, but there was a small smile on her lips. She then clapped and turned back to Damian who was pretending that he hadn’t been listening, by putting the bamboo sword away. “Alright Spikes let’s get you back to shore. Viperion, can you take the boat back to the docks? Excellent. Spikes, once I’m gone you should contact your partner, but don’t expect them to answer immediately. It’s the crying hour after all.”

“The what?” Damian asked. But he never got his answer, as Ladybug caught him up by the waist, and used the nearby bridge to swing them back to shore.

@spicemallow @night-ngale @annastasha @ev-cupcake @hammalammadamdam @laydeekrayzee @itsemmylie @when-no-wings-do-broomsticks @doglover82 @raven-ette @atiredartistandacat @theamazingfox @griffinthing @toodaloo-kangaroo @depressed-bitchy-demon @stainedglassm @the-dumber-scaramouche @fangirlingfanatic

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theerurishipper · 8 months

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It’s so hard being an Adrien stan in this fandom. People are constantly nitpicking every little thing he does. He can never do right by them. It’s so frustrating. And that’s not even mentioning how he was treated in canon

I feel you anon. I wasn't actively posting for the fandom during the major salt periods, like right after the airing of Syren and then Chameleon, but I was around to see the ridiculous salt fests that would go on. People love to pick on Adrien for every single little thing that involves him making a decision that doesn't cater perfectly to Marinette's whims and needs, but woe be upon you if you say anything about Marinette that isn't praising her. It's not even like I have a problem with Marinette as a character. Some of her writing in Season 4 and 5? Yes. But in Seasons 1-3, I really loved her. She was such a breath of fresh air for me as a character. She was so full of charm and life and energy. But she got ruined for me by her stans who jumped to salt on every other character for not exactly agreeing with her every decision and for having minds of their own and having desires that weren't about her.

And another annoying part is their insistence that Marinette is treated oh so cruelly by the narrative and poor Marinette is always suffering and everyone is treating her so cruelly and she deserves better than people who aren't willing to be her faithful slaves. Then Seasons 4 and 5 brought this into canon, and then you saw people who were salting on Adrien for being upset about being neglected by his partner, and they were blaming him for "feeling entitled to her" despite never calling her out for her treatment of him. Lemme tell you, the chimney discourse was wild. And all that bullshit ass "discourse" about him harassing Ladybug, while ignoring all the stalking Marinette did and pretending it was nothing. I generally ignore anyone who says either of these things because they are clearly meant to be jokes, and I think calling Adrien a harasser is just as ludicrous as calling Marinette a stalker, but the double standard of taking the joke seriously for Adrien but not for Marinette is annoying, to say the least.

And ultimately they just want Adrien and everyone else to be Marinette's sidekicks/yes-men who will never disagree with her and will always do whatever she wants and will never think for themselves. And you unfortunately can see this attitude seeping into canon too, with how Adrien isn't allowed to have independent thoughts outside of how he can be of service to Marinette. Nothing matters for him, the only thing that matters is her and what he can do for her. She's allowed to yell at him and throw him into trashcans, but fuck him if he disagrees with her on something and isn't happy to just sit by and accept being replaced and ignored. And canon Adrienette is such a good example of this phenomenon.

But the salters will whine and rage about how Marinette is such a victim of the narrative and how she suffers so much that we should all excuse her less than perfect actions, while also raging at Adrien for any small slight and denying that he also suffers. I guess Marinette can be excused for being traumatized and stressed, but being a victim of horrific abuse is too less of a reason for Adrien to be excused, and I guess it means he isn't suffering. To them, only Marinette's feelings and suffering matters. And this has also become true for the show, because Adrien's feelings don't matter, only Marinette's feelings about him matter.

And the worst fucking thing I've seen from this fandom is the occasional post about how Adrien is "spineless" and "cowardly" and "doesn't have a backbone" because he is non-confrontational and doesn't get up in arms about everything. And, aside from the fact that there is absolutely nothing wrong with not flying into a righteous rage about everything, this is some fucking heavy victim blaming bullshit. Like, y'all know that Adrien is like that because he's a victim of abuse, right? That his actions are a trauma response, right? It's called fawning. How awful of Adrien to have been conditioned into being non-confrontational by an abusive father who wants him to be subservient to his every whim! How useless is he for being traumatized because of the abuse he suffers! What a loser!

Honestly, the deranged Marinette stans are the worst. If someone says that shit about Adrien, they can go fuck themselves honestly. The gall to accuse a character who is an abuse victim of being "a spineless worm who can't grow a backbone" (someone legit wrote this word for word). Acting like he's the scum of the earth for not agreeing with Marinette 24/7 and victim blaming him for not rising swords drawn the moment someone does something mean to her.

So yeah, I understand you anon. It's really annoying to see all these "hot takes" going around. But there are still many Marinette fans who are nice and don't say all this goofy shit about Adrien, and there are plenty of Adrien stans who love and defend our boy. My advice is to block the salt tags, follow the right blogs and curate your experience the best you can. Trust me, it took a while for me to learn to stop putting myself through the agony of looking through these salt posts and to start blocking tags and salters' blogs. But I'm better off for it now. It won't stop some of these posts from popping up here and there, but it'll massively improve your fandom experience.

Thank you for your ask!

#MLB #Adrien Agreste #Marinette Dupain Cheng #ML Salt #Marinette Salt #ML Fandom Salt #Meta #My meta #Asks #Also how could I forget the fucking Maribat fics lmaoo #Anyway it was nice to get an opportunity to vent about this #So thank you anon

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bee-a-garbage-shipper · 1 year

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More Than One Secret

By: Tyshian

Ship: Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug/Damian Wayne, Chloé Bourgeois/Tim Drake

Minor Ships: Juleka Couffaine/Rose Lavillant, Ivan Bruel/Mylène Haprèle, Alya Césaire/Nino Lahiffe

Status: Complete

Salt: Chloé Bourgeois Sugar, Adrien Agreste Salt, Alya Césaire Salt, Lila Rossi Salt, Caline Bustier Salt, MiracuClass Salt

Summary:

Marinette Dupain-Cheng has Secrets. Damian Wayne has Secrets. The pair together have Secrets.

In which: Hawkmoth and Mayura are beaten but they don't know it. Adrien is an obsessive limp noodle. Alya is an oblivious attack dog and Lila is screwed one way or the other, she just doesn't know it yet. Chloe finds her soulmate in a caffeinated Wayne. Damian learned about emotions from Marinette so he isn't the emotionally stumped little ball of anger he used to be. Marinette and Damian reveal what could be considered a years long prank of epic nature and break a few brains along the way.

The Wayne family and Bustier's class aren't going to know what hit them by the time Marinette and Damian are done with them.

Opinion: Look, it’s a very Salty fic with a simple premise but it’s fun and well written. Not everything needs overly ploty and this is definitely one of those fun fics.

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editorofeverything · 9 months

Text

FIC SEARCH

I’m looking for a fic I read here on tumblr sometime in 2021 I believe. It was a daminette Lila/maybe class salt fic where Lila was lying about knowing the Waynes and got their names mixed up. The only part I distinctly remember was Lila calling Tim Drake “Tim Todd” and it cracked me up so much that I mentioned it in the notes of my fic and I’m still getting comments asking about it. I’m pretty sure it was a fic where Damian went to Paris and joined the class, but I read so many similar ones one after another at that time that I don’t remember any more concrete details. If anyone knows which fic I’m talking about please let me know!!

#daminette #fic search #lila salt #Lila Rossi salt #class salt #marinette x damian #damian x marinette #mlb x dc #dc x mlb #Lila calls tim #Tim Todd #and I still laugh about it to this day #maribat #batman #damian wayne #batfam #miraculous ladybug

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arty-shadow-morningstar · 2 years

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Hi! I love, your work, by the way! I was wondering if I could get a Tim x Adrien story. With a side of childhood friends to lovers? Like Tim and Adri met at one of the Drakes Parties? But also I want a side a relationship reveal, but with Class Field Trip to Gotham City salt. Also, also Tim and Adrien already know each other superhero identities.

Basically all of Lila's lying, Tim x Adrien's relationship, is revealed at one of the Wayne Gala's.

I have never shipped Adrien with anyone because I have zero grasp of his character and I gave this my best shot. I lost control of the plot somewhere and It turned into this monster. I know you guys might ask me to continue this but my answer is no. And Class Redemption because why not?

[Masterlist]

-------

THE STORY OF THEIR LIVES

Ten-year-old Adrien smiled as the old lady pinched his cheeks. Even in Gotham, he can't escape the obsession old wealthy women has with his ‘chubby’ cheeks.

While she commented on how cute he was (at least that is what Adrien thinks she is talking about, he had slacked in his English lessons a little bit and she was using the English word for cute a lot), he scanned the lavishly decorated ballroom for signs of his mother.

She would be more willing to distract the nice lady than Père while Adrien made his escape. Instead, he locked eyes with another boy around his age.

“Help me!” Adrien mouthed to the other boy in English.

Tim was ecstatic at meeting another child his age at the boring gala his parents made him attend and concerned when they started asking for help.

Once he got a glimpse at who was holding the other boy hostage, he winced in sympathy. Ms. Milson may look like a feeble old lady, albeit dressed in more expensive clothing than your average grandmother, but her hands are like crab pincers which Tim had been the victim of many, many times.

Tim recognised the other boy as Adrien Agreste, French model for his father’s, Gabriel Agreste’s, brand. Said blonde’s cheeks were turning a worryingly red and Ms. Milson took no notice as she continued to coo about how cute he is.

Once Adrien realised that Tim was looking at him, he widened his eyes so comically and mouthed at Tim for help. His pleading green eyes, similar to that of a sad kitten, made Tim cave in to help despite the potential damage Ms. Milson will inflict on his cheeks.

Tim sighed and tried his best to make sure his smile didn't look like a grimace, “Ms. Milson.”

“Timothy, darling, where have you been hiding? I have been looking for you everywhere …” Ms Milson babbled on as she predictably reached for his cheeks after letting go of Adrien’s. Tim tried to stay still and not flinch at her approach.

Holy crab pincers, Batman. It hurts so bad. Why was he doing this again?

Adrien, behind Ms. Milson, rubbed his cheeks and gave Tim a bright smile in gratitude which made Tim’s stomach feel funny.

Are all models this pretty? Honestly, he could see why Gabriel would openly try to break child labour laws and use such a pretty face.

“... and you have grown so big. Timothy dear, have you met this boy yet? He’s your age. His name is…erm….what was it again, dear?”

“Adrien Agreste, Madam,” he replied.

“Well, Adrien, this is Timothy,” she said as she pulled said boy’s cheek and Tim grimaced from the pain, “and his parents are the one hosting this lovely gala.”

“Oui.”

“Ms. Milson, can Adrien and I go play?”

“Of course, dearie,” She finally released Tim’s cheek from her grip and gave it one last pat, “I remember when my boys were your age. Oh look, there’s Richard. I haven’t seen him in a while. He’s growing up into a rather smart young man. You boys go have fun now.”

By then, Tim had already grabbed Adrien’s hand and dragged him across the room, out of Ms. Milson’s sight.

“Sorry, about dragging you, Adrien. But if we don't get out of there, she will come pinch us again.”

“It’s fine. No cheeks being pinched is good.” Adrien said in a slight mix of French and British accent.

“I was afraid that you might not understand me.”

“I have a family in London so I learn it but there are some things about English that I find confusing.”

“Don’t worry, even Americans sometimes find the language confusing.”

They stood there and stared at each other. Tim used that opportunity to study Adrien. His blonde hair was well-combed and all of his clothes were all obviously Gabriel branded. So another reason for Gabriel coming was to promote his new line.

“Do you want to be friends?” Adrien bursted out asking.

“Yeah,” Tim absentmindedly answered, deep in thought about his observations of Adrien before registering the question, “Huh, I mean, sure. We can be friends.”

“Adrien, what are you doing here?” A blond woman who is likely to be Adrien’s mother called out due to their resemblance.

“Mama, this is my new friend, Timothy.”

“Nice to meet you, Madam. My name is Timothy Drake. My parents are the hosts of today’s gala. I hope you are enjoying your evening.”

“Such a polite boy. But you don’t need to be like that with me. Are you boys having fun?”

“Timothy was going to show me around.” Adrien exclaimed, before lowering his head and quietly asked, “Can I go with him, Mama?”

Emilie smiled and bent down to pat his head, “Of course, you can, mon cher. Stay inside the mansion at all times. I will be staying in the Ballroom the entire time. Come find me when you want to go back to the hotel.”

“Okay, Mama!” Adrien smiled brightly, causing the funny feeling in Tim’s stomach to increase and his face felt hotter. Tim held out his hand (why was it sweating so much? ) for Adrien to grab.

Emilie tried to resist the urge to squeal as she watched the two boys walk away, giggling like the children they are supposed to be. She was going to persuade Gabriel to let Adrien keep in touch and be friends with the son of the Drakes.

------

Adrien tuned out Lila’s voice as he stared out the airplane window of his first class seat. Lila was also somehow in first-class and she was making as much use of it as she could. As soon as the seatbelt sign was off, she had spent every second of her time sitting next to him, stating that first-class chairs were big enough for two. All of his requests for her to go away fell on deaf ears. (Does she actually have tinnitus or is it selective hearing?)

Many of the other passengers had put in earplugs or headphones to avoid her but Adrien had not much luck as Lila stopped his every attempt to do the same.

On paper, the class was on their way to Gotham City for their school field trip. As an Agreste, he got a seat in first class and unfortunately along with Lila, who by some miracle managed to get his father to get her in.

The truth was that it was just a cover for the Miraculous Court, who were sitting in business class along with the rest of their classmates, to get into Gotham to escape Shadowmoth’s scrutiny and discuss with the Bats about the Paris situation. For Adrien, it was an excuse to see his boyfriend, Tim Drake-Wayne again. Or also known as Red Robin.

The two boys had kept in contact over the years. Tim began to reach out more after he learned about the akuma situation and patiently endured Adrien’s crush on Ladybug. Luckily, one identity reveal later, Marinette and Adrien decided that they were both better off as friends. Marinette had long moved on from her own crush on ‘Adrien Agreste’ and in the suits, Chat Noir no longer flirted around Ladybug.

Soon after, Tim and Adrien confessed to liking each other and started dating in a long distance relationship.

After a long talk with the rest of the Miraculous Court, they agreed to let Adrien tell Tim about his identity. They thought that as a Wayne, Tim would be able to connect them to Batman and get them the help they needed. It hasn’t been long since the Court was formed and properly established. Between school and the akumas, they don’t have the proper manpower or resources to investigate Shadowmoth.

The second identity reveal was more chaotic than the first.

—--

Adrien, transformed as Chat Noir, was nervously standing in front of his computer screen where a shocked Tim was frozen for the past few minutes.

“Tim?” Adrien asked worriedly, “I know this is a lot to spring it much on you and you might not believe it-”

“No. No. Babe, I believe you. It’s just… wow, my brothers are not going to leave me alone if they find out about this.” Tim looked down thoughtfully and tried to process the fact that his boyfriend wears a leather catsuit on a regular basis to battle.

“Tim, are you okay?”

“I am fine. So you are Chat Noir. I know that but my head can’t seem to get around to that fact.”

“Oh. Wait. Plagg, claws in.” Adrien said and a green light flashed over him. Tim takes a double take as the camembert on Adrien’s desk starts floating.

“On second thought, I think I should get some sleep if I am hallucinating floating cheese.”

“Tim! What have I told you about your sleep schedule.”

“Relax, Adrien,” a nasally voice was heard, “your boyfriend’s fine. He just couldn’t see me because kwamis don’t show up on cameras. Remember Kwami Buster?”

“Oh yeah.”

“Who was that?” Tim asked.

“Plagg, he’s basically a god that allows me to transform into Chat Noir. Cameras can’t seem to work on him and that’s probably why you think that there is a floating cheese besides me.”

“Right. Right.” Tim placed his head in his hands, “So to recap, you are a cat-themed superhero. Specifically one of the main heroes that are fighting that Butterfly Man.”

“Shadowmoth.”

“Okay. And you are powered by an invisible god.”

“He looks like a black chibi cat actually. You can’t see him because of the cameras. I think there’s a picture Marinette drew of him somewhere. Hold on.” Adrien went out of frame for a moment before returning with a sketch of Plagg.

“Wow.”

There were points in Tim’s life when he thought that things can’t get weirder and they did. His boyfriend confesses to being one of the heroes that the JL had been trying to make contact with for the past year but couldn’t, due to a frustrating combination of magic and politics. That is making its way to the top ten weirdest.

“Tim?” Adrien’s hesitant voice brought him back from his thoughts.

“I am fine, Adrien.” Tim reassured, “It was a lot to process but I believe you. You should be glad that I have made this line so secure that even Lex Luthor would have trouble listening in. I don’t think you would like your father knowing about this.”

“Oh thank kwamis. Well, the other reason I am telling you this is because I need your help contacting Batman. As a Wayne, you probably know how to do that. At least I hope you have a way.”

Oh. Tim wanted to laugh.

After many months of failing to get into contact with the Miraculous Court, an opportunity simply landed on Tim’s lap in the form of his boyfriend. Now, he had a decision to make.

“Tim?”

“Adrien, I also have something I have been keeping a secret.”

“It can’t be that you are also a superhero, right?” Adrien joked, “Cause what are the chances that both of us are heroes.”

Adrien’s smile faded, upon seeing Tim’s completely serious face.

“No. No. No. No way. Non. Non.”

“Adrien, I am Red Robin.” Tim interrupted Adrien’s denial session. Cackling was heard through the speakers which Tim assumed was from Adrien’s floating cat god.

Adrien went silent for a moment before asking, “Who’s Red Robin?”

It was Tim’s turn to be shocked into silence. His boyfriend didn’t even know who his hero identity. Granted, he never talked about the Bats of Gotham in detail to Adrien besides mentioning that they ‘save’ him a few times and his family’s alter egos weren’t as public as the Parisian heroes. But still.

Tim slapped his hand to his forehead in despair, “My boyfriend doesn't even know who I am. Granted, I am not that much of a big deal but that hurts.”

“I’m sorry,” Adrien apologised, “I only know about Batman and his sidekick, Robin.”

“I’m fine. Don’t let Damian know that you called Robin a sidekick.”

“Your brother is Robin?”

“My entire family is in on it.”

“Is Alfred Batman then?”

Tim laughed.

“Come on, Tim. I want to know who he is.”

“It’s Bruce.”

Adrien felt his brain trying to process the information. “What?”

“Bruce Wayne is Batman.”

“Are you sure you are not making fun of me for being honest and telling you my superhero identity?”

“Nope. Completely serious. I am the hero, Red Robin. If you search up about the Teen Titans or the Young Justice, you will see my name beside them. I am best friends with the older Superboy and Kid Flash.”

They spent the rest of the call, talking about their alter egos.

—--

After months of planning over video calls to somehow get most of the Miraculous Court out of Paris so they can discuss the Shadowmoth problem. A class trip to Gotham was what they came up with.

Adrien was jealous of Marinette, Kagami and Luka who went ahead of the class a few days prior, using Jagged Stone’s tour as a cover.

Marinette had came clean to her parents about Ladybug and they pulled her out of Dupont to be homeschooled. (The official reason was so she can focus more on her career since Jagged named her his favourite designer and she had more work. The real reason was so she can focus on taking down Shadowmoth.) She was there as Jagged’s costume designer.

Luka had persuaded his father to take a detour in Gotham so it coincided with the class trip and Kagami was a tagalong as Luka’s girlfriend. How they managed to persuade her strict mother Adrien didn’t know.

Chloe and Zoe had stayed behind, partly because the sisters didn’t want to go to Gotham and partly so there would be someone to hold off the akuma until the others portaled back. The final three members of the Miraculous Court, Alix, Alya and Nino, were in business class with the rest of the class.

“Adrien~” The sickly sweet voice which felt like bugs crawling up his skin, called for his attention, “Can you tell this lady who I am so I can get my drink?”

There was an attendant who looked frustrated and tried her best to hide it behind a professional smile. Adrien knew that look all too well, seeing it on many of his co-workers’ faces when Lila was on set for a photoshoot.

“What seems to be the problem?” Adrien asked the attendant, a practised smile on his face.

“The young lady wants wine but we can’t do that because she’s underage.”

“See, Adrien, she’s being unreasonable. I already told her that I am 18 and I can drink.”

“Lila,” Adrien said gently, “I am sure the nice lady is working hard to make sure you are comfortable but unfortunately, it is the law in America that the drinking age is 21. She doesn’t want you to get in trouble.”

“But, Adrien-”

“ You can drink when we get back. It’s only for a few days. You don’t want to get kicked out of this trip for causing trouble. Right, Lila?”

“Fine. Can you get me a soda then?” Lila asked the attendant, who nodded and walked away in relief. (She was gonna tell the others to be watch out of the entitled girl in first class)

“And can you get out of my seat please?” Adrien interrupted, “I want more leg room to myself right now so I can sleep.”

Lila dropped her smile and her lips began to tremble, preparing to cry and cause a scene.

Adrien looked at where Gorilla was sitting. The bodyguard was getting ready to intervene if Adrien wanted him to. He gestured to show Gorilla that he had it handled.

“This flight will take hours and I think both of us having our own space instead of being cramped in one seat for that long will be more comfortable.”

“But Adrien, I want to be together with you.”

“And I don’t.”

“Adrien, how could you?” Lila started crying.

“Lila, we aren’t even dating. I don’t like you getting into my personal space. I only tolerate you because you are my classmate and for some bizarre reason, my dad deemed you good enough to be my friend.”

“I thought we had something,” Lila sobbed.

“Hey, girly,” a dark-haired man from a seat over snapped, “The guy’s reasonable in wanting his own space so quit your whining and get over your delusions before I drag you back to your seat and gag you.”

Lila immediately went silent and looked at Adrien with an expectant look. He simply tilted his head in the direction of her seat. Lila turned to find the man glaring at her.

Knowing she lost, Lila slowly went back to her seat.

Adrien sighed in relief and turned towards the man with a look of gratitude,

“Thanks a lot for the help.”

“No problem. She was getting on my last nerves too.”

“I am sorry that you had to deal with her.”

“It’s fine. Us bros got to stick together on things like this.”

Finally, peace and quiet. Adrien put on his earphones to listen to the playlist Nino had made for him and enjoy the rest of the flight.

------

Tim rocked his heels nervously as he waited for Adrien and his class to show up. Bruce had put him and Dick in charge of the tour of Wayne Enterprises for the Dupont class. Dick was there to do the actual tour guide duties while Tim was there to pass on the meeting details to the Miraculous Court by discreetly blending in with the class.

And also because he was a sap who missed his boyfriend. Jason and Dick would never stop teasing him about how he spent 40 minutes in the bathroom to get ready. Was it wrong to look good in front of his boyfriend who he hadn’t physically seen in 1 year, 3 months and 23 days?

The bus carrying Adrien and his friends finally arrived. Dick elbowed Tim in his ribs to focus because Tim couldn’t stop staring at his love. Adrien immediately brightened when he spotted Tim besides his brother. Tim had to wonder if Gotham was sunnier than usual.

Unfortunately, their moment was interrupted when a brunette girl latched onto Adrien’s arm, blabbering about why ‘Adrien-boo’ didn’t help her when she needed help getting off the bus. She reminded the Waynes of the gold diggers who would throw themselves at Bruce and only viewed him as a trophy and money dispenser.

Adrien had an uncomfortable smile as he tried in vain to make the girl let go of his arm. She instead doubled down and gripped harder on his arm, making him grimace. The rest of the class was oblivious of Adrien’s pain as they huddled around the two and cooing about how cute they look and underhandedly berating Adrien for not helping Lila out. Thankfully, the one Tim recognised as Adrien’s best friend, Nino, stepped in while his girlfriend, Alya, smoothly redirected the class attention to the tour.

Dick gave them a bright smile and introduced himself as the tour guide. He shook hands with the teachers while Tim made his way towards his boyfriend, careful to not be noticed. He found Nino fussing over the marks on Adrien’s arm a little bit away from the group who were distracted by the fact that they were meeting the eldest Wayne child, Richard Grayson. Seeing the marks, Tim saw red.

Tim was aware about the girl, Lila Rossi.

She was a manipulative liar who had been causing a lot of trouble for the Miraculous Team by trying to isolate Adrien from his friends and slandering the rest of them with false lies. She also nearly got Ladybug akumatized which made the over-stressed Marinette finally decide to tell her parents about the Miraculous to ease the burden. However, once her main target and who she perceived as a ‘rival’, Marinette, was gone, Lila was hell bent on making Adrien hers.

Gabriel, the only person who Tim thinks can beat his parents for ‘Worst parent of the year’, had employed that snake as a model because apparently she was a good influence on Adrien and the reason why Adrien’s actual friends are no longer allowed at his house.

Overall, Lila was a person that should be taken care of immediately. Already, Tim had formulated many plans to get rid of her, preferably somewhere as far from Adrien as possible.

While Dick started the tour and Lila left Adrien in favour of trying to gain favour with a Wayne, Tim sidled up next to his boyfriend who was in the back with his friends.

“Hey, love.”

Adrien lit up and hugged him, “Tim!”

Nino and Alya gave the two thumbs up before shielding the two boys with their bodies to give the couple some privacy and prevent Lila from seeing.

Tim hugged him back and gave him a peck on the lips, “Are you okay?”

“Great. I am doing fine.”

Tim did a small frown at the answer. He laced their fingers together and slowly brought Adrien’s hand up to his lips which made Adrien’s cheeks turn pink at the gesture.

“You made me promise to not lie about not sleeping,” Tim said, “So I wish you won’t lie to me about the wounds that girl inflicted on you.”

“Tim, it’s nothing.” Adrien tried to reassure his boyfriend.

“It’s not. I have seen this kind of thing on a lot of people from Gotham. I don’t want what happened to them happen to you too. People who leave these kinds of marks are bad news. Besides as your boyfriend, I have the right to be worried about anyone who hurt you. I want to unleash hell upon her but I am not doing it now since you guys suspect that she has a way to contact Shadowmoth. So what can I do for you?”

Adrien smiled gently, touched by his boyfriend’s sincerity and squeezed his hand, “I want Lila to leave me alone.” His voice, soft and vulnerable. “Everyone else in the class is pushing for me to be with her. Father is not helping. I wish he didn’t send Lila to breathe down my neck and report back my every move to him. I want to be able to relax without her hounding me when I want to be alone. I don’t want my arm to hurt because of her nails. I want to be able to hang out with my friends without having to sneak around. I wish I could say I love you to you in public and tell people I have a boyfriend without the worry that my father would lock me up in the mansion.”

"As you wish.”

Adrien snorted, “Does that make me Buttercup, Westley?”

“You are beautiful enough for the role,” Tim flirted, making Adrien blush.

The blond cleared his throat to recompose himself, “So about tonight?”

“We will meet you on the rooftop of your hotel.”

“Marinette, Luka and Kagami can portal over with the horse.”

Tim looked towards the group in front of them, “Would they notice if you were gone for a moment?”

“Alya and Nino would cover for me. I can tell Gorilla that I am meeting up with you.” Adrien said, wanting to know what Tim had planned.

“I can tell Tam to not let anyone into my office for a while. My office has a rather comfortable sofa. How about we spend some time catching up,” Tim suggested and he kissed Adrien.

Plagg peeked out of Adrien’s jacket pocket and interrupted them, “Hey, kit, if you are going to go lip-lock with your lover boy, I am going to join Trixx and Wyazz in blogger girl’s fanny pack. I heard that they were going to play cards.”

Adrien spluttered but didn’t refute Plagg’s request.

“Don’t cause trouble and I will leave some cheese for you to eat. Please behave, Plagg.”

“Yeah, yeah, just go enjoy your tryst.”

Adrien tapped Nino’s shoulder to grab his attention as Tim grinned. He texted Dick to drag out the tour as long as possible.

Was it mean of him to throw his brother to the wolves while he go and make out with his boyfriend?

Yes.

But Tim never had any guilt throwing his brothers under a bus and wasn’t starting now. He dragged Adrien into his office which he had cleaned every surface beforehand in anticipation of this and dear god, Heaven has never tasted so sweet.

—---

Chat Noir paced back and forth nervously on the rooftop. It was easy to slip out when Adrien and Nino shared a room while Alya and Alix were the same and they had stuff pillows under the blankets in case one of the chaperones does a bed check. They managed to get up to the roof, unseen with the help of the Fox miraculous.

There was a slightly muted thud which he heard thanks to his enhanced hearing and alerted Chat Noir to the arrival of the Bats.

“Ti- I mean Red Robin.” Chat Noir ran and hugged his boyfriend.

Until he heard throat-clearing and realised it came from the Batman.

Chat Noir hoped that his embarrassment wasn’t visible as he slightly moved away from Red Robin.

“Ummm, bonjour, Monsieur Batman, sir. I- um We- errr,” Adrien stuttered under the intense gaze from Batman, “So anyways, LB called me and they were a bit late because Shadowmoth had the worst timing. Am I right?” He gave a nervous chuckle, “It’s one of the recurring akuma which are easier to deal with unless Shadowmoth gave them a power up. Which might take a bit longer. But they will definitely be here. Definitely. So um-” Adrien babbled, nervous because while he had experiences with Jack Drake and the Brucie Wayne persona, Batman was on a different level than the other two and he was losing his cool.

“Relax, Batman’s not going to hurt you.” Red Robin rubbed his shoulders.

Just then, like the miracle she is, a blue portal opened to allow three people Chat Noir was very happy to see pass through.

“LB! I am so glad you showed up.” Chat Noir hugged his best friend.

A cough came from where the two other heroes were standing from the sides.

“Sorry, I am glad to see you too. Viperion and Ryuko.”

“Yeah, sorry for being late,” Ladybug said in a professional tone, bringing her hand out towards Batman for a handshake, “Shadowmoth has been very active these days. Anyways, thank you for meeting us.”

Batman accepted it, “The Justice League has been wanting to make contact with you for a while now. Sorry that we haven’t been unable to find out about the situation in Paris until this year. We have monitored you from afar and I see that you have done a great job keeping the akumas under control by yourselves. What can we help you with?”

“Yes. First-” Ladybug stopped mid-sentence as she stared at Robin.

“Ladybug?” Batman asked, confused.

The heroine ignored him and glared at Robin who also looked confused.

“You!” Ladybug pointed at him menacingly, “Al Ghul, you fucking bitch. Why are you still alive?!”

Robin lets out a curse in recognition to which Batman reprimanded with a “Language”. “The same goes for you, Cheng. I thought you blew yourself in Taiwan,” Robin hissed.

“Whatever. You owe me for saving your life.” Ladybug retorted.

Chat Noir made a time-out gesture, “Hold on, you two know each other? And what is this about blowing yourself up, LB?”

Ladybug sighed, “I will give you the long story later but Al Ghul and I do know each other. That’s because we were once engaged.”

“WHAT?!” Everyone looked back and forth between the bird and the ladybug.

“Those weren’t rumours?” Red Hood said, voice filled with disbelief.

“You knew Baby Bat was married?” Nightwing turned his head towards Red Hood.

“I am not married, you idiots. Only engaged. Grandfather wanted to unite the power of the Chengs with ours so he proposed an engagement between the two of us.” Robin explained.

“The old man got too greedy. The engagement got cancelled and our clans had been feuding until the League’s fall.” Ladybug continued.

“Is this a Romeo and Juliet kinda thing?” Rena Rouge asked.

“Fuck no. I think we are cousins, something-times-removed through our grandmother or something.” Ladybug looked disgusted at the idea and Robin had a similar look of disgust on his face.

“And I am not marrying a child,” She added.

Robin scowled, “Just because you are three years older than me, does not mean you can call me a child. But I will express a similar sentiment about not marrying you.”

“That’s effed up. I thought Ra’s can’t get more crazy.” Red Robin shuttered at the thought.

“Hello,” Bunnyx cut in, “I thought we are discussing the Shadowmoth thing and not about what family problems LB and Robin has with the crazy grandpa.”

“Right,” Ladybug cleared her throat and went into details about Paris and what help they required.

—--

“Monsieur Batman, there is one last thing I need to talk to you about,” Ladybug said, her eyes telling him that it was important. The others had left for patrol, joined by a few of the Miraculous Court so the Bats can assess the Court’s ability. The only ones left on the rooftop were Batman, Ladybug, Chat Noir and Red Robin.

“Robin, you can come out,” Ladybug called out.

“Tch.” Robin appeared from where he was hiding after he had done his rounds, mad that he had been discovered.

“Chat, how about you go with Red Robin? It’s not about Shadowmoth.”

“You okay, LB?” Chat Noir gave her a look of concern.

“I am fine, Chat. Just family secrets.” She gave him a small smile as an apology.

“It’s fine. I get it.” Chat Noir reassured her and turned to Red Robin, “So about this place you said you would show me.”

“Oh you are going to love this.” Red Robin grabbed his boyfriend tightly and grappled away.

Once they were out of sight, Ladybug turned back towards the father and son pair, “Okay, I lied. It was about Shadowmoth’s potential identity. I just didn’t want Chat to know about this.”

“And you used me as an excuse to get rid of them?” Robin asked with a raised eyebrow.

“A very convenient one,” Ladybug replied, causing another round of bickering.

“Back to what you were talking about. This information is somehow related to Chat Noir.” Batman cuts in to which Ladybug nodded.

“I wasn’t lying when I said that it was family secrets. This will break Chaton if he knew,” Ladybug nervously said, “Since I started home-schooling and getting the support of my parents, I have been using my free time and family’s resources to investigate who Shadowmoth might be. We already know that he is in regular contact with Lila Rossi and Felix Fathom, Adrien’s cousin, is aware of who he is. There’s not much evidence but the only one with the connection with the two is…” She trailed off.

“You already have a suspect.”

“Gabriel Agreste might be Shadowmoth.” Ladybug revealed before going into more details about her theory.

Somewhere a little far from the rooftop, sitting together on a perch, hidden by the shadows, Chat Noir covered his mouth with his hands as tears flowed down his masked cheeks while Red Robin hugged him tightly to offer comfort.

—--

The saying ‘Curiosity killed the Cat’ could be said of Adrien.

There were many things he wanted to know. Everyone in his life had their own secrets and Adrien had come to learn that secrets were secrets for a reason.

Pushing Ladybug’s boundaries to reveal hers and her unwillingness to tell him anything had cost them their easy-going partnership and broken to the point of Shadowmoth nearly winning. It was then that they had their identity revealed to each other. Their friendship as Marinette and Adrien also took a hit.

Luckily, thanks to the two kwamis’ stubbornness, they were able to build their relationship to the way it was before although there was a bit of tension here and there.

Marinette learned to be more open with Adrien and other people instead of keeping it all to herself and Adrien learned to not be so pushy about revealing them and wait for them to be told when the time comes.

That said, Marinette’s family history is one of the things that everyone in the Court wanted to know about. They knew there was something off and there were times when something didn’t fit quite right with the image of a very friendly family that runs a bakery business. The Dupain-Chengs told all of them to keep it to themselves for their own safety.

However, the interaction between Ladybug and Robin had aroused his curiosity.

“Tim,” Adrien asked as they admired the Gotham skyline, “can you find out what they are talking about?”

“They still have their comms in so I can. I was going to do it anyway because I want to know what their deal is.”

After a few minutes, Ladybug’s voice can be heard through Red Robin’s ear piece which the two boys huddled around.

“...didn’t want Chat to know about this.”

“And you used me as an excuse to get rid of them?”

“A very convenient one.”

“What did LB want me to not know about?” Chat Noir thought out loud as the pair bickered.

“Back to what you were talking about. This information is somehow related to Chat Noir.”

Batman’s gruff voice cuts in.

“I wasn’t lying when I said that it was family secrets. This would break Chaton if he knew. Since I started home-schooling and getting the support of my parents, I have been using my free time and family’s resources to investigate who Shadowmoth might be. We already know that he is in regular contact with Lila Rossi and Felix Fathom, Adrien’s cousin, is somehow aware of who he is. There’s not much evidence but the only one with the connection between the two…”

Tim connected the dots about what the topic was about. He looked over at his boyfriend to find his cat green eyes watery.

“You already have a suspect.”

“Gabriel Agreste might be Shadowmoth.”

Adrien took in a sharp breath and choked. Tears started to fall. Tim caught him before he accidentally pushed himself off the ledge and held Adrien tight. Tim muted the comms and whispered a mantra of ‘It’s going to okay’ as he rubbed soothing circles into Adrien’s back. (A part of him idly wondered why the ones he dated have supervillain daddy issues.)

------

The next day, Adrien met up with Tim at the Gotham Museum of Antiquities. He had told Mme. Bustier and Gorilla that he was expecting to meet with a friend who lives in the city. It took a lot of work and Nino and Alya’s help to convince Lila and the class to leave him alone. Tim showed up in the middle of it and Adrien didn’t like the way Lila’s eyes lit up when Tim introduced himself.

“Adrien~ you didn’t tell me that your friend was a Wayne,” Lila gripped Adrien’s arm and leaned on it, “Why didn’t you want us to meet him?”

Adrien pushed her away and got closer to Tim instead. He positioned them in a way that used Tim as a human shield against Lila.

Tim grabbed Adrien’s hand behind his back, hidden from the eyes of the class, and squeezed it in reassurance. He gave a glare to Lila who tried to make a grab for his boyfriend.

She took a step back at the sudden show of hostility.

The glare was replaced so quickly, that Lila wondered if she had imagined it, by the polite mask reserved for formal events and interviews.

“That’s on me. I told Adrien not to tell anyone about it. Didn’t want to attract unwanted attention and all that. The price of fame is big as I hope you will understand, Miss.”

“Oh, I am Lila. Lila Rossi. You might have heard of me.”

Tim lets his grin turn sharper, “Oh, I didn’t ask but I am very aware of who you are, Miss Rossi.”

Lila opened her mouth to say something, only to be ignored as Tim turned towards the rest of the class with a charming smile, “And if you guys don’t mind, I would like to join you on the tour.”

As predicted, Lila latched onto Tim while Adrien stuck to Tim’s other side.

Tim dropped his smile and gave her a cold look that can freeze the Sahara, “Miss Rossi, would you mind letting go of me?”

“You don’t mind Adrien touching you.”

“I have known Adrien since I was a kid. You however are a stranger and I don’t like strangers touching me.”

“But you are Adrien’s friend and his friends are also my friends.”

“Unfortunately, I don’t see the same and I feel rather uncomfortable with your advances. My boyfriend might not appreciate you hanging on to me.”

Lila made some excuses about Italians being affectionate and needing support in case she fainted due to her poor health. (No way was Lila letting a golden ticket go that easily. Famous people have paparazzi following them and a break-up might be bound to happen if there are pictures of Wayne with a girl in his arms floating around.)

The class backed her up but Tim wasn’t going to deal with this bullshit.

“Well, if you are that concerned for your classmate, I have no choice but to help her out.” Tim sighed in defeat. Lila tried not to smile too widely and show her glee at the victory but the smirk on his face gave the girl an uneasy feeling.

The next minute, Lila found herself in a wheelchair pushed around by Gorilla while Adrien and Tim were nowhere to be seen and supposedly exploring the VIP section together which Tim had reserved earlier only just for the two of them.

Tim had gone up to the Receptionist desk and returned with a wheelchair that had an annoying squeaky wheel, muttering about getting better disability aids at the Museum. He managed to reason with the whole class that this was a better way in case Lila passed out and they would just have to bring her back with the wheelchair instead of dragging her unconscious body around.

Lila had tried to stop the boys from separating from the group but Adrien already had permission from his father to go hang out with Tim since Gabriel was not going to miss the chance to be on good terms with a Wayne. There was nothing she could do but sulk as she listened to the boring tour and cursed Timothy Drake-Wayne.

Meanwhile, Tim and Adrien were having a nice time, looking at the exhibition of the history of the entertainment film industry. Tim had used his connections as a Wayne to arrange the exhibition for their date.

After looking around for a fair while, Tim felt that it was safe to approach about what happened last night.

“So did you and Marinette talk it out?” Tim asked as he caressed Adrien’s face which had concealer on to hide his eyebags from crying and little sleep.

When Chat Noir and Red Robin returned, Ladybug immediately knew that they knew and took Adrien away for a private talk.

“I sort of get why she didn’t tell me. Like she said, there was little concrete evidence and it was just a theory. One of the many possibilities but just a little more plausible than the others,” Adrien replied, closing his eyes and resting his head on Tim’s shoulder while Tim wrapped his arm around Adrien to pull him closer. Plagg flew up into Adrien’s hair and purred.

“There is something else that is bugging you, isn’t there?”

“It just- It feels like she doesn’t trust me. Marinette had told me that she does but I can’t help and feel that way.”

“Why?”

“There was time during our first years as heroes and Ladybug thought that my father could be Shadowmoth because we found out that he had the Grimoire in his possession. Ladybug wanted to investigate it and I threw a fit because I didn’t want to believe my father could be the ‘bad guy’. Then, he got akumatized and we dropped the subject.”

“So because of what happened back then, you think Marinette doesn’t trust you.”

“From her point of view, I stopped her from pursuing one of the big leads we had since we began and I am the son of our prime suspect. It’s understandable if she wasn’t able to trust me completely.”

Plagg stopped his purring and somehow gave Tim a look that said, ‘don’t fuck this up’.

“I don’t think she thinks that way.” Tim soothed Adrien, “The way I see it, she kept it from you because she knew you would be hurt if you knew that Shadowmoth might possibly be your father and she was trying to have it confirmed to see if it was true or not by collecting more solid evidence. I would have done the same in her shoes.”

“You think so?”

“We love you, Adrien. Although her love is different from mine,” Tim kissed Adrien and touched their foreheads together, “we just don’t want to see you hurt. I already dated people with supervillain for fathers so this won’t change a thing. I will still love you because you are still Adrien, the one for whom I would give my everything to see you smile.”

“Tim, I love you too.” Adrien whispered as he returned the kiss.

“That’s my cue to leave. It’s getting to lovey-dovey here for my taste,” Plagg grumbled. The kwami was disgruntled to be ignored by the two boys and then took off through halls devoid of people for something to entertain himself with instead.

As time went out, the kisses became longer and heavier.

Adrien thanked Tim’s genius idea to reserve the exhibition just for the two of them. Between the vigilante work, akumas and the thousand miles between Gotham and Paris, they never got to do makeout sessions like this often and they were going to make every moment of it count.

—----

When Tim and Adrien showed up from their own private tour, Adrien looked a little flushed. Alya and Alix wolf-whistled while Nino put his fist out which Tim fist-bumped.

After a few quick whispers, Tim broke off and walked towards Mme. Bustier with whom he exchanged a few words.

“Attention, class,” Mme. Bustier called, “Tim has some exciting news for us.”

“Thank you, Madam. So this is a last minute change to your plans and we weren’t able to confirm it yesterday during your tour of WE but you are all invited to our annual Thomas and Martha Wayne Charity gala this Friday, which is two days from now,” Tim announced, causing the class to burst into excited chatter.

“Since I know that you might not have brought along formal wear, we have arranged a shopping trip tomorrow and contacted your parents or guardians to send you money to buy something to wear. We will also arrange for you to rent something if you want. That is all.”

Alix leaned towards Adrien and whispered, “Dude, your boyfriend is awesome.”

“I know, right?” Adrien agreed.

“Thank kwamis that Fluff made me ask Marinette to make a formal suit for me a month ago.”

“I think my father hoped that something like this might happen and that’s why he made Nathalie pack a tuxedo. Just in case.”

“Do you know why he invited the entire class and not just you?”

Adrien put his index finger on his lips, “You will find out in due time. Tim told me to keep it a secret. But here’s a hint. It starts with a L and ends with an A and rhymes with Liar.”

Alix mock-punched his shoulder, “You are making all the single people jealous.”

Adrien just laughed.

—----

On the day of the gala, Adrien found a suit delivered to his hotel room with a note.

It was from Marinette saying, ‘Tim ordered me to make this in a week. So you better wear it instead of what basic white monochrome piece your father made.’

Nino laughed when he read the note as Adrien opened the package to reveal a red tuxedo jacket with a gold floral pattern. Its collar and inner lining were black. There was a similar vest, a white shirt, a black bowtie and black suit pants. As he examined the suit, he saw robins and cats hidden among the floral designs.

[Dear god, help me how to describe clothes better.]

Adrien blushed when he saw the words ‘Property of Tim Drake-Wayne’ and a downward arrow stitched near the bottom of the jacket’s inner lining. Plagg and Nino both cackled at Adrien who buried his face into the jacket.

“Oh, camembert, Pigtails is evil. This is perfection. Why did Tikki get her and not me?”

“Quiet, Plagg, before someone hears you and comes in.” Adrien admonished him.

Plagg quieted down but snickers still escaped him.

“You have to admit that it’s funny.”

Adrien’s phone dinged and he checked to see it was a text from Marinette, ‘I better see you wearing it because I pulled three all nighters to finish it on time.’

“She must have worked a lot for her to be this pushy about it,” Adrien observed.

After changing their clothes, the boys headed down to the lobby after meeting up with Alya and Alix on the way. (Marinette had also sent the others MDC originals.) Only a few of their classmates were done but they all complimented Adrien on his suit.

The only chaperone following with them to the gala was Gorilla and the rest, including Mme. Bustier, had opted out for a spa day since the gala has good security and nothing to be worried about.

Soon, two limousines arrived and Tim came out of one.

The black-haired boy was wearing a suit, similar to the one Adrien was wearing except his colour scheme was black and the same green shade as Chat Noir’s eyes, instead of Adrien’s red, gold and black. However, his bowtie was a golden-yellow like Chat Noir’s bell. Adrien laughed as he realised that they were wearing each other’s colours.

“Tim!” Adrien happily greeted and hugged his boyfriend.

“Hey, Adrien. Your ride is here.” Tim resisted the urge to kiss Adrien’s hand. He couldn’t yet because of the Plan.

“Wait, we get to ride in a limo?” Kim asked excitedly.

“Courtesy of Wayne Enterprises.” Tim explained and then asked, “Where are the rest of you?”

On cue, the elevator door opened to let Lila and the rest of their noisy classmates out. Their chattering stopped upon seeing what Adrien was wearing.

“Adrien?” Lila sounded angry for some reason.

“Didn’t you say that Gabriel made matching outfits for the two of you to wear to the gala?” Rose piped up, confused.

Ah. So that’s explained a lot. The dress design itself was beautiful, made of purple silk and white laces and elaborate patterns. Adrien could say it was one of his father’s finer pieces. However, it still would have looked better on a mannequin than it would on Lila and just screamed expensive and pretentious. Adrien remembered the suit his father wanted him to wear and realised that it indeed would have matched the dress Lila was currently wearing.

Adrien straightened his suit and with the most innocent and clueless face he could muster, told them, “I was told to wear this one.”

“Don’t you have another one? A spare one? One that is white?” Lila insisted..

Adrien tapped his chin for a moment as if in thought before replying with a, “Nope.”

Since he had enough fun out of Lila’s reaction, Tim clapped his hands to get everyone’s attention and announced, “Since everyone is present, it’s time for us to go.”

Lila’s complaints were unheard over the cheers of excitement as everyone walked towards the limos.

It went according to Tim’s plan when Lila threw another tantrum about not being in the same car as Adrien and stating there wasn’t enough room on the larger and more spacious limo the class was given while Adrien, Tim, Nino, Alya and Alix went on the other. Tim calmly explained that Adrien had only been allowed to name three people to go in the same car as him and Lila wasn’t on the list. Lila cried about her ‘Adri-boo’ not choosing her as she held Adrien in a desperate grip. However, Adrien had the courage to do whatever he wanted and face no immediate consequences since his father was thousands miles away in another country.

He pushed her off, “Lila, I never said this before but you make me uncomfortable. You may say that it’s because Italians are affectionate people or whatever but it doesn’t change the fact that I hate the feeling of you touching me everywhere. I also don’t like that you go around telling people that we are dating when we are not and you ignore me when I say not to do that. I also have someone else I like.”

“It’s Marinette, isn’t it?” Lila accused him.

Adrien rolled his eyes.

“Marinette isn’t even here. And no, it’s not her. He is someone very special to me.”

The class gasped in surprise at the reveal.

Adrien continued, “He listens to what I want and does everything to make me happy. He doesn’t care about my looks, or money, or fame. He only sees me as Adrien. Not Adrien Agreste the model. And I am very happy that he likes me back. So fuck off, Lila.”

Adrien hurried and got into the car while Lila stood there in shock. Alix, Alya and Nino quickly followed. (trying to hold in their giggles.) Gorilla got into the front passenger seat.

“We will see you at the gala,” Tim cheerfully waved at the class before closing the door and the limo drove off.

-------

Camera lights flashed as they exited the limo and reporters tried to grab their attention. While the Miraculous Team was used to it as heroes, it was different from the attention they were being currently given.

The class later arrived and were mostly flustered by the reception. Lila tried to ignore what had happened at the hotel and just enjoyed the red carpet moment that she believed was for her. However, there was less enthusiasm from the sidelines than she was pleased with. But you have to take what you can get.

Suddenly, the reporters stopped their barrage of light when they were given a piece of news in their earpieces and they rushed to the other end of the carpet near the entrance where Adrien and Tim were posing side by side, with arms wrapped around each other.

Lila’s heart stopped when she realised what the reporters were shouting at the couple,

“Tim and Adrien, is it true? Are you two dating? How long have you been together? Why come out now?”

Tim raised his hand for silence and the reporters quieted down like obedient dogs eager for treats, “You must be talking about that post Adrien made earlier this evening so to answer your questions,” He and Adrien leaned towards each other for a passionate kiss which had Lila screaming internally in rage and the crowd roaring in delight.

“I hope that will suffice.” Adrien threw out before Tim dragged him inside. Nino, Alya and Alix rushed after them to not be caught by the media burning with questions.

Around Lila, the class was in a similar state and interrogating her if she had known or giving her empty words of comfort.

Lila wanted to scream but she didn’t want to look like a mad woman in front of the cameras and tried to hurriedly get the class inside. “We should get inside. Then, we can ask Adrien what this is all about. It was so mean of him to pull a prank like this without telling us.”

The crowd started up again when Jagged Stone exited from the next limo in all his rock and roll glory. He was accompanied by his son, up and coming musician and heartthrob for teenage fans everywhere, Luka and his girlfriend, one of the youngest Olympic gold medalist fencers, Kagami. They were followed by MDC, Jagged’s favourite and mysterious designer, a young prodigy in a fashion world and whom many notorious and tough fashion critics only have praises and compliments for. Many have tried to speculate who she might be but to no avail.

The reporters erupted a flood of flashing lights at the rockstar’s group, Jagged Stone, drawing most of their attention. Lila seethed that she was outshone and the attention she ‘rightfully’ deserved was stolen by someone else. However, since there were cameras everywhere, she couldn’t act out but just continued to smile and wave despite no one focusing on her.

“It’s Jagged Stone!” Ivan pointed out. Most of the class turned around to look at the rockstar behind them who had a look of impatience.

“Can you kids move? You are holding up the line.” Jagged said impatiently.

“Hey, dad. Luka. Kagami. M.” Juleka waved awkwardly from where she was standing next to Rose and Jagged’s face morphed into a smile.

“Jules, my daughter. Why didn’t you tell me you were in Gotham? I would have come to see you if I knew. Anyways, I am glad to see you….” Jagged chattered on as he hugged Juleka who fist-bumped with Luka as a greeting while in her father’s embrace. The rockstar kept on talking about meeting Brucie again.

“Hello, M. Stone.” Rose greeted.

“Rosie, hope you have taken good care of my daughter.”

“Of course. And these are our classmates.”

Luka cleared his throat to get their attention and said, “ Dad, how about we move along so the people behind us can get in?”

The former Kitty Section members felt a little awkward, considering they broke up because Luka didn’t like how the class treated Marinette and falling so easily to Lila’s lies.

“Sure. Let’s go, kiddos.” Jagged walked past the class with one arm around Juleka’s shoulders and the other around Luka’s. Rose and Kagami followed closely behind. MDC, who wore a mask to conceal her identity, didn’t spare a glance to the class as she sashayed past in her gorgeous blood red evening gown.

Lila felt indignant about being ignored and tried not to show it as she followed the other group, cheeks burning from humiliation. Luckily for her, the class was in awe of meeting one of their favourite celebrities to question why Lila wasn’t mentioned at all during the conversation.

And MDC, there was something about the way the designer stare at her throughout the conversation between Jagged and the class that made Lila feel uneasy.

—------

The class stepped into the large ballroom, looking like they had stepped into a movie. Elegant crystal chandeliers hung from the ceilings, a pyramid made of champagne flute glasses, a buffet table laid out with mouth-watering appetisers to snack on, a fountain with a statue of a nearly naked woman pouring out water from her golden pitcher, classical music softly played by musicians from a balcony while rich and fancy danced, chatted and mingled among themselves.

Lila’s mouth was wide open in shock. The events she had been attending as Adrien’s plus one, thanks to Gabriel, weren’t as lavish as the one before her. While Timothy might be out, Bruce Wayne had adopted several over the years and she just needed to catch the attention of one of them. Then, she can go to galas like these all the time. With her becoming a legal adult that year, she won’t have to go through the tedious process of convincing her mother to move here. She could just apply at one of the local colleges.

Lila had unconsciously rubbed her hands together like a typical scheming villain which Sabrina noticed.

“Lila, are you cold?” Sabrina asked worriedly.

“Huh?”

“I asked if you were cold. You seemed to be rubbing your hands together for warmth.”

“Don’t worry. It's just a little chilly. I am fine.”

“Really?”

“Well, the truth to be told, I still can’t believe what Adrien did earlier. What was he thinking?”

“About him being boyfriends with Tim?”

“Yes! He pushed me away and told me that he didn’t like me. Now he is kissing a boy just to prove a point.” Lila covered her eyes as if to hide her tears, “He didn’t have to go that far to hurt me.”

Sabrina pursed her lips and said nothing as she rubbed Lila’s back to comfort her. She exchanged doubtful glances with Mylene.

Adrien’s declaration of not liking Lila had given the class the realisation that they had never considered his feelings when plotting to bring the two of them together. Right now, seeing Adrien contentedly swaying to the music with Tim made them feel guilty about how they treated him and only encouraged Lila to get closer to him.

—---

While the class might be gullible, they weren’t entirely stupid. The Wayne Gala was attended by many famous faces, many of whom the class admired.

After the initial starstruck awe of the situation faded away, it didn’t take long for the class to realise that Lila was ignored the people she claimed to know and have ‘helped’. Ignored wasn’t quite the right word. There was no hint of recognition when they look at Lila. Only smiling and nodding before walking away.

Then, Lila would tell them that the person was busy these days or they had something on their mind or she would backtrack and say that they weren’t as close as she had said. Lila really loved making excuses. Sometimes, the class had to point out who certain people are when Lila once claimed to have known them to be like ‘family’.

There was a sense of dread among the Akuma Class as the night went on. There was voice in the back of their heads that sounded a lot like Marinette whispering, “She lied. She lied to you. She can’t do what she said she can. She lied. She lied and you believed her.”

The doubts and suspicions built up. The class didn’t want to believe Lila would lie to them. If so, was she ever really the nice sweet girl they thought she was? While Lila went around trying to find a Wayne child to suck up to, the class exchanged quiet words about their suspicions.

“Guys, I don’t think Lila is who she says she is.” Sabrina blurted out.

“Oh thank human’s common sense, I thought I was the only one,” Max exclaimed.

He brought out his phone, “I had Markov run searches for if Lila had done anything she had said to have done in the past year based on Markov’s recordings of her claims. There’s nothing.”

“What? What do you mean, Max?”

“There should be at least some traces of Lila on the internet, like paparazzi pictures, a post mentioning or hinting at her involvement, some credit given to prevent copyright lawsuits or news articles on the events Lila said to have attended. There’s nothing. Not a single thing. I even told him to run facial scans on pictures of parties that many celebrities attended. Other than the ones that Gabriel was invited to, there is not even an accidental shot. Either Lila loves her anonymity so much that she will edit herself out of pictures which is unlikely given how much she loves being in the spotlight or she lied to us.”

“Marinette!” Mylene cried out in realisation, “She was telling us the whole time.”

“We should have listened when she told that Lila was lying to us,” Kim added.

“Oh my god, what have we done?! We made her drop out.”

Someone slow clapped, drawing their attention.

“I suppose I didn’t give you enough credit. You aren’t complete morons if you still have enough brain cells to work out that you were being played like puppets on a string.” Tim Drake stood before them, smirking like some evil mastermind about to reveal his schemes.

The class spotted Adrien hanging out with Luka, Kagami, a blonde girl in a stunning purple gown and an Asian girl in a gorgeous midnight blue dress.

“Tim. What are you doing here?”

Tim made a displeased expression and explained, “I was going to introduce you to some of your idols that I invited for this purpose and subtly shift the topic towards Rossi. One by one. So all of you will figure out that Lila Rossi is nothing but a lying snake. No offence to the snakes.”

“How do we know that you didn’t set the whole thing up?”

Tim rolled his eyes, “Oh please, some of these people have enough wealth of their own that I can’t even bribe them. It would just be a waste of everyone’s time. The most I did was just sent some invites and made sure that they would come. Can you believe how hard to was to get a hold of Tony Stark? And he didn’t even show up. I bet if any of you go ask any one of them if they knew Lila Rossi, they will say no. So either a whole lot of people are lying or your ‘friend’ lied to you. I don’t know why. For the popularity. Fame. Or just some lap dogs she can use to get through school. I don’t know but I know that everything that came out of her mouth is not true.”

“Why are you doing all of this?” Ivan asked.

Tim held up two fingers, “Two reasons. Reason one is of course Adrien. He’s my boyfriend and I don’t want her around him. Reason two is also why I don’t want her around him. But first.”

Red heels clicked across the marble floor as they approached the group.

“Let me introduce you to the lovely Mademoiselle MDC,” Tim gestured behind him towards the masked woman who they saw with Jagged Stone earlier.

She removed her mask, revealing a familiar face that made the class gasp her name.

“Marinette.”

“Hello. It was nice seeing you again,” Marinette said in a way that reminded them of the evil smart assistant to Tim’s evil mastermind.

“We are so sorry,” Mylene apologised, “We drove you away because we didn’t want to believe you about Lila.”

Marinette gave her a small smile that didn’t look forgiving, “Save your apologies until this whole fiasco is over.”

She took out her phone and all of their phone dinged as they all received the link she texted.

“What’s this?” Kim asked as they all opened it. Sabrina dropped her phone in shock at the news articles about Lila’s past victims. Chills went down their spines as they kept scrolling, unable to look away in horror because this was someone they went to school with every day and smiled at them so innocently. They were all playthings to her.

“Lila wouldn’t. She wouldn’t do something like this.”

Marinette’s face remain neutral as she replied, “But she did. She just hadn’t had the chance to go that far yet. I got out before I became one of them.” Marinette pointed to the phones to show what she meant.

Suddenly, Tim and Marinette looked in the same direction and the class followed their gazes to Lila was making her way through a crowd towards them. Marinette put her mask back on and the two blended into the surroundings like they were never there.

Lila grinned, happy that Duke Thomas-Wayne, newest addition to the family, gave her his fake number. He was still a little green and awkward but she can work with it.

Now, today she just got ‘dumped’ by Adrien and got the class’s sympathy. She could play into that and milk it for all it’s worth for the last few months until graduation. Then, she could make an effort of moving on from Adrien and slowly introduce Duke as her new love interest.

The only problem might be Gabriel. He might terminate her modelling contract since she let something like Adrien’s boyfriend slip through. Once she managed to get Duke to be her boyfriend that problem might be easily solved. Bruce Wayne was said to love his kids, going to as far as to built a zoo for one of them as a birthday present. So if one of his kid asked for his girlfriend to get a modelling gig..

Lila sipped the champagne she managed to snatch from a passing waiter and mentally patted herself on her back. She drained the flute and made her way towards the class, a tad wobbly from the alcohol she had. She made sure her face was one of heartbreak and say she drunk out of despair.

However, the atmosphere around her minions were so chilly, that Lila almost immediately sobered up.

“Guys, there you are…” her voice trailed off upon seeing their glares. “What’s going on?” She tried going for meek and confused. The weak ones like Mylene wavered but Kim pointed at her with anger, “We know, Lila. Drop the act.”

“Know? Know what?” Lila tried to think, assessing the risk of keeping the act up or moving to another school and starting all over again.

“Lila, stop. We know that you lied.”

Lila stopped like they asked and grinned so smugly that the class felt like there was someone else instead of Lila in front of them.

Lila opened her mouth and hell broke loose.

------

A year later, Adrien laid in Tim’s arms and sighed in contentment. Finally peaceful days were upon them. With Batman’s vast resources, they were able to confirm Shadowmoth’s identity as Adrien’s father. The final fight was not only physically exhausting but emotionally draining considering who he had to fight. Both Marinette and Tim offered the option for Adrien to sit out since it might be painful for him while Tim fights as Chat Noir on his behalf. To which, Adrien declined.

In the end, he got another closure of what had happened to his mother and buried her. The Waynes helped with the media fallout of him being Shadowmoth’s son. Adrien was seen as Shadowmoth’s naive and sheltered son who had no idea what his father id although there were still some wary eyes when he goes out in public. He had donated most of the wealth Gabriel spent decades accumulating to akuma relief and therapy for the trauma his father caused the whole city. He only kept the amount that was left by his mother for college and savings to use until he found a source of income from a job he likes doing.

The Miraculous Team announced their retirement but agreed to come back if the Justice League calls on them.

Marinette had gone to the Order’s Temple to complete her guardianship training and kept them updated with a reassuring text once a month. Luka and Kagami were engaged while Alya and Nino were each focusing on their careers and college before deciding to get married or not. Alix was the only one of them still using her Miraculous to do Bunnyx stuff. Chloe and Zoe were kicking ass and taking name as the Bourgeois sisters. A pair more terrifying than their mother.

The Akuma class or the part of the class that listened to Lila were steadily getting their lives back on track after the number the she-devil had inflicted on them.

As for the Italian herself. She was nothing but a distant nightmare.

The night of the gala of where she was exposed, it was attacked by Two-Face and Lila got shot while trying to escape. Luckily for her, she was only shot in the leg and just needed a surgery and weeks of physical therapy. Lila was very upset about her perfect body being marred and the bloodstain on the expensive dress. The class gave her the cold shoulder so she had no one to help her with her very real disability as she recovered.

Lila’s mother went to the school to complain about how her daughter got shot when she was reassured that Lila would be safe and all of Lila’s lies came to light. Turns out Signora Rossi was aware of her lying habits but not that she had Lila was capable of forging her parent’s signature on documents and doctor’s notes, and the many months she skipped schools. That day, Signora Rossi came home to a anonymous thick manila envelope that contained evidence of Lila bullying and harassing people from the her past school and until now. The akuma fight was a tough battle but the Miraculous Team managed to defeat her within an hour.

By the end of next week, Lila was gone and Tim investigated into the matter to see she had been sent to some disciplinary school.

Life was peaceful..

Until a portal opened up in front of the couple and spat out a very young black haired kid with green eyes dressed in a cat suit who looked at Tim and Adrien with wide eyes and said, “Papa? Daddy?”

#maribat #maribat fic #ml x dc #mlb x dc #adritim #Timdrien #Tim x Adrien #idk what the ship is called #lila salt #maribat class salt #maribat class redemption

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jayphoenic · 2 years

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MLB Bio!Dad Constantine Recommendations

Con Man’s Daughter by @arty-shadow-morningstar

(Part 2) (Part 3) (Part 4) (Part 5) (Part 6) (Part 7) (Part 7.5)

Batman is surprised to find out that Constantine has a daughter who is also involved in magic like her Father but an apparently more specialised kind called the Miraculous. He is a little miffed that he didn’t know about John having a daughter. He did consider it weird at first that she had a slight french accent unlike her father’s Liverpool accent although she pronounced some words like he does.

He also connected some dots that she is also the Parisian heroine, Lady Rouge who Wonder Woman introduced to the League a while back and had declined to join the Young Justice or Teen Titans until everything in Paris was resolved.

Curiosity Killed the Exorcist by @soulmate-game

“If those timelines are now-deleted, then I obviously don’t remember what’s so bad about telling me why you’re acting like I’m some hated family member you’re avoiding!”

Silence.

Pure. Fucking. Silence. As they all watch with front row seats as Marinette flinches at the word ‘family’.

Pure silence as Constantine’s shoulders drop at the sight of her flinch, realization slapping itself on his face.

“No.”

Locked Emotions by @musicfeedsmysoul12

This doesn’t actually have a title

So Marinette is angry and bitter and full of magic. She also does something super risky. Like John locking up his childhood innocence and such, she locks up her rage and anger and her knowledge of the truth. She doesn’t want to hurt anyone.

Becoming Ladybug is easy. She’s good at what she does and uses her own magic to help. John hears about what’s going on in Paris and goes looking. He sees Ladybug using magic and… that’s his family magic… oh.

Bio!Dad John Constantine by @multifandomscribette

(Part 2) (Part 3) (Part 4) (Part 5) (Part 6)

They never developed a father-daughter relationship - neither particularly wanted one - but the mentor-mentee one worked out very well for them, and it did help both of them improve as people and ‘professionals’.

Marinette gave John a ladybug charm that she made, endowed with a lot of luck, since she know he has a dangerous job, though she never told him about what it can actually do. He doesn’t know about her being Ladybug and she likes it like that.

Remember some chapters are longer than others (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*.✧

Taglist:

@macerunner @maribat-central @batmanzplan @doll246 @leftguard66 @multplelifes @nugget-consumer-9000 @lostinday @ramos123 @seacashew @jeminiikrystal @wolfy-kat @kashlyn @anime-rae @literaryhiraeth @creampuff-mlbfics-finished @luminous-carrot @vixen-uchiha @khneltea @atomicsoph @heckofhell @cao0227 @ellerahs @demonicbusiness @celestial-slytherin-blog @luciferge @just-a-bottle-of-chaos @daddylonglegsfacts @theravenclawfangirl @jintana-critical @secretlawyercolorscissors @g-arya @sandraf0612 @mariloki4 @the-dumber-scaramouche @ranger-jedi-knight @fangirling-101 @iglowinggemma28 @seraphichana @unabashedbookworm

#dc x mlb #mlbxdc #mlb x dc #maribat fanfic #maribat au #maribat #maribat fics #bio!dad John Constantine #maribat marinette dupain cheng #maribat damian wayne #platonic jasonette #lila rossi salt

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aliensunflower-fics · 11 months

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Dating ‘Prince Charming’ Part 2/3

[ Lila is finally starting to learn what its really like to be Adrien Agreste's girlfriend and finding out its not everything she hoped it would be. But while the liar struggles Marinette works toward her goals and meets someone new. ]

[ Prefer AO3? Link HERE! | Part 1 HERE! | Part 3 Coming Soon | Masterlist Link HERE! ]

Chloe made her grand return 3 weeks after Lila and Adrien’s big dating announcement. The bossy blonde had been away in New York with her mother and it was only in retrospect that Marinette briefly wondered if the entire timing of her and Adriens break up and Lila and Adriens announcement had been planned. After all Chloe had not taken well to Marinette dating Adrien and the class president was positive she would not take the news that Lila had swooped in right after their big breakup any better.

As it turns out Marinette had been right at least about Chloe not taking the news well. She’d walked into class early (for her) only to be met with chaos as Chloe and Lila stood opposed and yelling filled the classroom. Despite the fact that Marinette KNEW Chloe would hate whoever dated Adrien the sight was still enough to leave her mildly stunned after all Lila and Chloe had been tag team harassing Marinette since the second she and Adrien had started dating so to see the once allies now locked in a vicious match each using their unique brand of awful against each other… Well it was something.

Luckily Marinette knew she would not have to lift a finger to fix things. Because this? This was Adrien’s problem. And Marinette had no intention of helping or playing mediator. After all Adrien had let Lila and Chloe stomp all over their relationship when they’d still been dating, heck he’d even asked Marinette to simply deal with it so now he could deal with it and Marinette severely doubted that Lila would be even half as accepting or accommodating as she had been.

So while the two wannabe queens duked it out Lila with fake tears and Chloe with vicious mockery Marinette simply glided past the drama and up to her seat where she pulled out her sketchbook and started adding the finishing touches to a sketch of a brand new rock and roll suit for Uncle Jagged. Now that she wasn’t chasing after Adrien 24/7 and making him gifts and worrying about him or Lila or Chloe not to mention trying to keep up with her school work and grades all while also being Ladybug well Marinette had time on her hands and she’d been using it to study, track down Hawkmoth with Alya’s help, spend time with friends but most of all she’d been using that time on her career.

As she wrote in what materials she would need to get a certain sheen effect on the outfit, Marinette noticed the green eyes looking up at her desperately from the front of the class. Marinette glanced up noting how Adrien seemed to be trying to plead with her to help as he tried to reign in his dramatic new girlfriend and attack dog childhood friend; she only cocked her head to the side, smiled and offered him a little wave before continuing with her work. Yeah no way was she willingly throwing herself into THAT.

Sure enough before class could start Adrien managed to drag Lila out of the room and into the hallway no doubt to give her the same speech he had given Marinette when THEY were dating Lila bursting back into the classroom a few minutes later looking like she’d just swallowed a whole lemon only confirmed Marinette’s suspicions.

What Marinette had not expected was Lila openly complaining about ADRIEN at lunch, hours after the incidents of that morning. Marinette ate her steamed bun as she watched with mild surprise as the Italian wailed and threw a veritable tantrum as she told the girls all about how Adrien had put Chloe first and had asked Lila to simply deal with it. It was so painfully ironic that Marinette struggled not to roll her eyes. Honestly after the breakup Marinette had for a brief time contemplated revenge because truthfully. She was hurt and mad but Tikki had talked her out of it claiming that karma would have its way Marinette hadn’t believed the little god at the time too lost in her grief and her ice cream but now? Well now Marinette was starting to understand what Tikki meant. Because Lila wanted to be Adrien Agreste’s girlfriend no matter what it took, and she was only now starting to see what that really meant.

Sure enough in the weeks that followed Lila and Chloe kept each other busy allowing Marinette to for the first time in years relax at school. Of course Lila tried to redirect Chloe’s hatred back at Marinette by telling the blonde about how it had been Marinette who initiated the break up. But Marinette had easily overcome Chloe’s rage with honesty after all she had only broken up with Adrien because she knew they were incompatible and that Adrien would be happier with someone else, something Chloe agreed with though the way in which the blonde agreed made Marinette’s eye twitch just a little.

And then of course there was Adrien who was still trying to get Marinette to step in and help him handle his childhood friend and girlfriend but Marinette had been able to dodge him for weeks until they were having a class meetup at the park. Chloe was not attending due to wanting to avoid the ‘peasants’ as she so called them and Lila claimed she would be late due to an important meeting with some famous person. Honestly Marinette had not even bothered to pay attention. Adrien had noted the lack of ‘problem people’ and had decided to make a bold move calling Marinette out as they all hung out together to ‘talk to her in private’ yeah like THAT was going to happen.

Marinette knew Adrien’s modus operandi very well. He’d call you out, ask to talk to you privately and then lay on the guilt trip. No way was she doing that anymore she’d endured enough of them while they were dating to last a lifetime.

“Actually I would prefer not to talk to you alone, Adrien. You're publicly dating someone and we never know when your fans or the paparazzi might be around. Besides anything you can say to me in private you can say in front of OUR friends.”

Adrien looked like a kicked puppy at her words. But as their classmates quickly took her side and insisted he tell Marinette whatever he needed with them around the blonde was backed into a corner.

“Well the thing is… I was wondering if you could help? With the whole Lila, Chloe situation?”

Marinette wasn’t even given a chance to respond. The second the words left Adrien’s mouth the entire class bristled, many giving Adrien looks of confusion and shock as if he’d just spoken pure nonsense and honestly in a way he had. Nathaniel however was the one who said it best.

“Wait I’m sorry are you seriously asking Marinette to mediate between her long time bully and the girl you started dating not even an hour after your break up with her? Are you serious?!”

“W-Well I just thought-”

“Thought what Agreste? That Marinette should put herself in the worlds worst situation completely ignoring her own feelings just to make your life easier?”

Oof Kim going straight for the throat.

“B-But shes the class president!”

“So?! That doesn’t make her a genie! She can't just clap her hands and fix everything nor should she have to!”

Marinette had never heard Rose sound so upset in her life, which is when the young fashion designer knew it was her turn to say her piece and get things back under control.

“Adrien.” She ignored the hopeful look he shot her. “Not only do I not want to get involved but I don’t think it would help. Chloe doesn’t like me and Lila’s ‘disease’-” she said the word with barely concealed sarcasm “acts up when I’m around. So I’m sorry but no I will not help you with this.”

“But I’m sure if you just-”

The look the class shot him was enough to end the conversation and Marinette let out a relieved sigh as her heart filled with warmth she really loved her friends.

A month after the conversation in the park Lila Rossi got her second harsh wake up call to the ‘true joys’ of being Adrien Agreste’s girlfriend and it was a two for one deal.

Lila had seemingly been under the assumption that once she was dating Adrien her own popularity would rise to meet his but she was starting to learn that wasn’t the case. Adrien still got plenty more photo-shoots then she did and most were still solo and since they were fast approaching the spring fashion season Adrien was plenty busy with more and more shoots while Lila was left waiting for her turn in the spotlight.

Perhaps it was the frustration at not immediately sky rocketing her way up in fame or maybe it was the snide comments from Adrien Fangirls talking about the lack of couples shoots but Lila seemingly came up with the brilliant plan to force the spotlight onto herself by demanding, manipulating and forcing Adrien to take her on big flashy fancy dates where the paparazzi always conveniently found them Marinette had no doubt Lila was the one tipping them off but she kept her mouth shut. It wasn’t her problem.

However while Lila was enjoying her tabloid paparazzi fueled fame the class and more surprisingly Gabriel Agreste himself were beginning to notice the way it was wearing Adrien down. Between his photo-shoots and busy schedule all of Adrien’s precious free time was being filled up by Lila and her many needy antics and it was starting to show in the way Adrien carried himself and how exhausted he seemed.

Nino was the one who led the charge just as he had when Lila manipulated the class into thinking her ‘clingy’ but where Marinette had gotten some hurtful but well meaning lectures about her Adrien obsession which in retrospect DID help her realize her love was unhealthy. Lila was not given such a kind well meaning speech instead Nino got mad, something he rarely let himself become.

As it turns out Lila had worn Adrien down to the point where the blonde was too exhausted to function and he’d nearly passed out while standing and talking to Nino and that mixed with the fact that it had previously been Lila who painted the faux picture of Marinette as the clingy evil girlfriend isolating the boy from his friends was enough for Nino to harshly call her out. The liar did do her best to wriggle out of the situation trying to claim she only wanted ‘some’ private time with her oh so busy boyfriend but Nino was not having it and the class was too happy to back him up.

The more Lila tried to defend and excuse her actions the angrier Nino got and much to the liars annoyance the young musician had proof and plenty of it. Between his text correspondence with Adrien that revealed the model was constantly being forced to cancel relaxing friend days to take Lila out on flashy dates that always ended with paparazzi and fans swarming the location and forcing Adrien into high stress situations, and an extremely detailed schedule planner that Nino had made to keep track of his best buds work life balance (potential evidence to blackmail Gabriel Agreste if he ever threatened to pull Adrien out of school again apparently). The facts didn’t lie and they were showing that Lila was the real ‘clingy’ girlfriend.

Things eventually got so heated between Nino and Lila arguing that an akuma appeared to try and take advantage of the situation. Luckily for everyone Ladybug had been patrolling and stopped the naughty little butterfly from making things worse. In the end Lila was forced to grit her teeth and apologize to her darling boyfriend. Though perhaps what upset her more was the way the class proceeded to apologize to Marinette after the fact for ever accusing her of being clingy and taking up too much of Adrien’s free time.

However Lila still thought she had one last ace up her sleeve, and so after the class luncheon ended the liar proceeded to contact Gabriel hoping to get her new boyfriends dad to reign him in and do her bidding. Unluckily for Lila however Gabriel had been paying attention to the situation and that fact that it had ALMOST led to an akuma made him look even closer into things.

And he was not happy with what he found. The paparazzi pictures and articles that resulted from Lila and Adrien’s flashy dates had started positively enough with headlines and puff pieces about how cute the couple looked together, how it was nice to see the young Agreste in more casual settings with his girlfriend. But as the dates became more and more frequent and Lila’s constant demands and needs grew the articles slowly began to change soon they were discussing the concerning amount of money Adrien must be spending on his girlfriend, how exhausted and stressed the young Agreste heir looked under his strained smiles and was he eating and sleeping enough?

The akuma he’d sent had only further confirmed Gabriel’s negative feelings toward Lila though it did make him re-evaluate the young Lahiffe boy. Gabriel had originally thought the wannabe musician might just be interested in Adrien for money but seeing the lengths he went to defend his friend had the designer impressed and even a little grateful. So when Lila phoned to try and throw the boy under the bus and get Gabriel to side with her, well she had another thing coming.

Marinette heard later from Alya and the rest of the girls that Lila was ‘devastated’ how she’d wailed sobbed and thrown the tantrum of the century as she ranted and raved about Gabriel putting a 1 date a month maximum limit on Adrien and Lila. The two lovebirds could still hang out of course but it would be in the company of the rest of the class or other friends, or if they really wanted some privacy it would be strictly at the Agreste mansion for studying. Lila had told the girls that it was unfair and unjust that Gabriel was trying to get in the way of their love! Alya had relayed to Marinette that while the girls agreed that 1 date a month was a bit rough they all thought Lila’s tantrum was a bit childish especially when they all remembered how Marinette had rarely if ever got to enjoy 1 private date a month with Adrien and never in public.

Of course just because Lila had been told ‘no’ didn’t mean the liar was going to listen. And so she began trying to find ways to manipulate Adrien into ‘accidental’ dates, bugging the blonde to take her out instead of settling for lunch at school or trying to conveniently separate the two of them from the rest of the group during weekend and after school hang outs. But each time Lila tried Nino thwarted her eventually the Italian had gotten so angry at his meddling that she phoned Gabriel again this time to try and get the musician removed or banned or ANYTHING so that he’d back off, so when she instead learned that Nino had been asked by Gabriel to keep an eye out on for his son and that Adrien knew about it well the liar was furious.

Marinette learned later this time from Rose and Juleka that the Italian had tried to go on another tantrum tirade only to be stopped by Alya who would not tolerate anyone badmouthing her lovely boyfriend. Needless to say, Marinette was quick to notice the following Monday how Lila pouted and avoided the Ladyblogger like the plague. Luckily Marinette made sure Alya didn’t dwell on it too much by inviting the girl over to help her brainstorm some new ideas.

Because while Lila was focusing on leeching the fame and fortune off her boyfriend and being met with endless failures and a very hostile guard dog called Chloe. Marinette had been THRIVING. The suit she’d designed for Jagged had gone viral online and soon Jagged was passing on her contact information to a small selection of celebrities Marinette felt comfortable designing for. The fact that her identity was a secret and she had a very exclusive client list had only caused MDC to soar even higher in popularity with the public making it clear that they too wanted access to MDC fashion. And so Marinette had done her research and with the help of Uncle Jagged and Aunt Penny she’d set up an online store where she would sell ready made clothes.

Of course just because Marinette was seeing success didn’t mean she had forgotten about her friends. In fact the entire class minus Lila, Adrien and Chloe knew very well the true identity of the elusive MDC and that was because while Marinette was taking big steps toward her dreams she was helping her friends do just the same.

After all it didn’t take long for the internet to learn that the mysterious MDC designed Kitty Sections outfits causing the band to have a surge of free publicity that led to many people discovering their music and falling in love with the band.

Then there was Nathanial, Marc and Alya who Marinette or should she say MDC collaborated with while designing her ‘hero hoodie’ fashion collection all of them saw a boost in views with Marc and Nathanial’s comic picking up new readers though it was there brand new all original idea that had really flown off the shelves earning them an online cult following. Alya meanwhile got her blog spotted by Lois Lane herself who was impressed with the young future journalist and contacted Alya for a summer internship the scream Alya had made almost gave Marinette a heart attack.

And it didn’t end there. When Nino made a short film with Mylene and Kim of all people as his lead actors and uploaded it for free to YouTube MDC who was well known for supporting smaller creatives and signal boosting them on her social media was more than happy to make a tweet linking to the short film. Nino’s short film had been impactful and powerful despite being a comedy satire on Hawkmoth and it had quickly blown up earning Nino a summer internship at a film studio and Mylene and Kim several job offers. Kim had never been particularly interested in acting but after seeing the outpouring of love and support not to mention with the encouragement he got from his lovely girlfriend Ondine he decided to accept a few offers surprising everyone as he developed a new passion that he and Mylene bonded over.

Max, and Alix were also boosted in a similar way to Nino, Kim and Mylene when MDC retweeted some of their creative endeavors. Alix a video where she had used spray paint to recreate a few classical paintings though that had only acted as a signal boost that allowed the skater to be noticed for her real passion Extreme Sports! When a very exclusive extreme sports training summer camp contacted Alix about her attending she’d squealed almost as loud as Alya had. Max meanwhile had his demo for his work in progress video games retweeted by MDC and saw a huge surge in interest and a few interested investors and publishers even arrived with offers, though before he could agree to anything his popularity ballooned even further when a video of him showing off Markov surfaced. He had later joked to Marinette that while he appreciated the support he wasn’t sure how he felt about suddenly gaining a ‘nerd cult’ as Kim called it.

Of course all of Marinette’s friends knew she was largely responsible for their sudden surge of fame and good fortune and many of them tried to dismiss their own talents and give all the credit to Marinette. But the young designer simply threw it back at them. Yes she had signal boosted them and given them a helping hand but at the end of the day the only reason they had gotten so popular and stayed so popular after the brief burst from her influence passed and the internet moved on to the next big thing was because they were talented and amazing without Marinette.

The only problem with the classes' new found fame. Was that sooner or later Lila was bound to take notice. And take notice she did when Mylene appeared as an extra in one of Lila’s favorite daytime soaps. The liar had been so focused on Adrien and trying to leech her fame off him while beating Chloe back with a stick that she had somehow missed all the major developments. And she was livid.

She was supposed to be the most popular girl in school! She was meant to be the star, the one people admired and aspired to be like! The one they envied but loved too much to truly hate! And when she’d finally gotten Marinette and Adrien to break up she thought for sure that all her dreams would come true. But somehow while she’d been busy trying to reign in the pesky little blonde her classmates had all gone and gotten famous without her. Most of them wouldn’t even BE in Paris in the fast approaching summer since many of them either had internships, specialized camps, acting gigs, or in Kitty Sections case a whole music tour with Jagged Stone that for some reason Marinette was also a part of?!?

None of it made any sense and when Lila had gone looking for how exactly everything had happened she kept finding herself looking at MDC’s social media. The elusive and private designer was apparently a super sucker or something as every week they would highlight some small time random creator. Honestly it disgusted Lila who just handed out fame like that? Fame and popularity was meant to be exclusive! Earned! Something for only the most beautiful and talented of society. Not for chubby little idiots like Mylene or nerdy freaks like Max.

Of course Lila was nothing if not an opportunist. Sure in her opinion none of her talentless, average, classmates actually deserved their new found fame and popularity but the good thing was they were also a bunch of gullible idiots. And if she played her cards right they would surely carry her to the top. She already had the perfect lie, she would simply claim to be best friends with MDC and tell the class that she had been the one to recommend that the designer boost her classmates.

It was perfect. Genius really.

So then why did it fail immediately?

Lila stood in front of the class, her face frozen in shock as she was stared down by 10 pairs of angry glares. She had expected overwhelming thank you’s and the class bowing at her feet but the second the lie slipped out of her mouth the class instead turned on the liar like a close knit pack of wolves smelling a sheep. Honestly Lila could not understand where she’d gone wrong, and even if she had said something that was an obvious lie wouldn’t the class just normally brush it off as her disease? So why is it that they were acting this way?

It was Alya who broke the silence first.

“You want to run that by us again? Lila.”

The Italian girl swallowed the lump in her throat and ignored the obvious warning sign that was Alya’s sharp tone. Forcing a charming smile Lila brought out her sweetest voice determined that she could salvage whatever THIS was.

“I was just saying that I’m so happy for all of you! I didn’t want to say anything at the time BUT me and MDC are such good friends! So when he-”

“He?” Alix snorted and rolled her eyes. “Yeah that about confirms it.”

The entire class seemed to agree with Alix as they all shook their heads and shot Lila disappointed and annoyed looks before returning to their own conversations and or hobbies freezing her out. Ignoring her.

Oh that? That pissed Lila off like nothing else. Her cheeks grew hot as she stomped her foot angrily, regaining their attention.

“You guys think I’m telling lies again! You all promised that you wouldn’t judge me for my disease but you are!” For added effect she started to sniffle and sob expecting the class to do what they always did and feel guilty about their treatment of her and rush to comfort her.

Instead she was met with even harsher glares.

“Uhh yeah no duh we think you're lying because you ARE. We” Alix gestured to the people currently in class. “Have all met MDC and SHE not ‘he’ is a wonderful person who helped boost our careers because she thinks we're all super cool and talented not because you asked her too.”

Lila felt her face screw up like she’d just sucked a lemon but she quickly worked it to her advantage as she began to loudly sob.

“T-That’s not fair! You know I can't help my disease!”

“Uhh yeah no. I’m stopping you there.” Alya stood up looking down from her perch at Lila with her hands on her hips commanding the room, Lois had been training her well. “We can accept that MAYBE your lying disease makes you claim things when your nervous or scared like how you always accuse Marinette of stuff, and we can MAYBE believe that your disease makes you mix up names and words so you end up giving the wrong information out about charities and celebrities and yes MAYBE we can believe that you sometimes make false claims about yourself when your stressed out like that time with Clara Nightingale stealing your dance moves. Whatever! But Lila that right there? You were not having an ‘oops I lied’ moment you were actively trying to deceive us to make the false claim that YOU are the reason MDC noticed us when we know the truth. And when I gave you a chance to correct yourself you tried to double down. That was intentional. That was malicious.”

Lila felt her mouth fall open, her eyes blinking in shock. Too late she tried to recover. Tried to explain away the situation and make herself out to be innocent. But the class was done with her and they made it clear in how they iced her out. Eventually she had no choice but to suck it up and sit down at her seat. Not long later Marinette rushed into class followed by Chloe who was latched onto Adrien with Sabrina in tow.

Soon enough the school year came to an end and Lila watched bitterly through the all seeing eyes of the internet as her classmates left for their internships, job opportunities, highly specialized summer camps, and more. Meanwhile she was stuck at home. Oh sure she got to go on a few out of country photo-shoots with Adrien but her fame was still nothing compared to her boyfriends, and it was quickly becoming less than nothing as her classmates rose in influence and popularity. Come the new school year Lila would need to find some way to force the class back under her heel.

Marinette was having the best summer of her life! Jagged had taken Kitty Section on tour with him and insisted on Marinette coming with them as their designer. Marinette hadn’t been sure at first worried about the Hawkmoth situation and her own career. But in the end Tikki and her parents had convinced her. Her parents loved the idea of Marinette leaving Paris and going to see the world with her friends for a bit, and Tikki had reminded Marinette that she had the Horse Miraculous and could come home anytime, besides Hawkmoth had been getting lazier and lazier with both his akumas and the amount of them. So in the end Marinette agreed and it had been the BEST decision of her life.

They visited England before eventually traveling overseas to America. The sights and sounds and new foods were filling Marinette with inspiration and she’d never been so busy sketching. Then of course there was the great company. Uncle Jagged and Aunt Penny were wonderful and quickly ‘adopted’ all of Kitty Section + Marinette. They'd act like doting parents one second and then the next they’d be ordering way too much pizza for the teens to share.

Of course everyone missed their friends and family but video call existed and it was only for the summer anyway. Ivan was the one who was probably the worst off pouting over his beloved Mylene but the group was able to cheer him up encouraging him to write a song for his girlfriend, the piece he wrote became a new hit single the second they performed it on stage and Mylene had loved it.

The group stopped by Florida first where Jagged took them all to Disney World and then Universal Park, pictures of the rocker wearing mickey mouse ears and a hufflepuff scarf of all things while being followed by a gaggle of teenagers had soon gone viral, after that it was off to New York, and then Metropolis where they spent a bit of time so Alya could see them and hang out. Her internship with Lois Lane was going well but she’d still been relieved to see her friends and get some down time to just chill. After that they went to Gotham, which was Jagged’s home town. Now most parents might veto a place as dangerous as Gotham but seeing as how Paris was under siege by an emotional butterfly themed terrorist and they were from a class particularly used to dealing with deadly akumas on a regular basis well they were able to convince their parents to let it happen. And to Marinette’s surprise Gotham turned out to be her favorite place of the whole trip.

Sure the city was gloomy but the gothic architecture somehow inspired Marinette, and while the people were not outwardly all smiles and sunshine they were kind in their own way. But the thing Marinette ended up loving most about Gotham was its beautiful parks and famous greenhouses. Thanks to the influence of Poison Ivy and Bruce Wayne the city of Gotham had become the greenest city in all of America and it was a never ending source of inspiration for the young designer. Not to mention it was thanks to all the inspiring greenery that Marinette had met HIM.

She’d been walking through one of Gotham’s older parks admiring the beautiful blooming wisterias that had been shaped into a long hallway arch when she got bowled over by a massive terrifying but very friendly dog. Marinette had been terrified at first until she noticed the fast wagging tail and happy smile on the dog's face. Tikki had warned her that one side effect of holding the Ladybug miraculous would be extra friendly animals a rather ‘tame’ side effect compared to the super strength, increased speed, and occasional urge to hibernate when cold but still the designer had never expected to be attacked with friendly happy dog kisses, not like THIS anyway. As she squirmed and laughed she tried to gently push the dog off. That was when the dogs owner had come to her rescue. Yanking his dog off of her while admonishing it Marinette was finally able to sit up and begin wiping the dog drool off her cheek with a laugh.

“Don’t scold the cutie too much I’m okay I swear he didn’t hurt me.”

“Even if he didn’t hurt you he’s been trained better than that. I’m very sorry, please allow me to help you.”

The boy’s voice was cool, firmly polite and matter of fact leaving no room for argument. To an untrained ear he might even sound annoyed or angry but Marinette could tell that wasn’t the case. As Marinette accepted the hand the boy offered and let herself be pulled up she suddenly came face to face with the most beautiful pair of green eyes she’d ever seen.

Where Adrien’s eyes were bright like a blinding peridot green, these eyes were soft and warm like the green of a pine tree and Marinette could feel herself melt into them. It didn’t help that the rest of the boy's face was also incredibly handsome. The designer quickly shook herself out of her thoughts and glanced away not wanting to stare. Instead she directed her attention to her assailant, the dog was sitting now staring up at her with its tail still wagging wildly. Marinette smiled and reached her hand down letting the dog sniff her before she gave him some soft pets.

“Such a softy for a big guy. What's his name?”

“Titus. And I apologize again. He really is trained better than that. I don’t know what came over him.”

Marinette felt a little bad but she couldn’t exactly say that she was the chosen champion of a god and a side effect of that was very friendly animals so instead she shot the boy a smile.

“Don’t worry I just seem to have that effect on animals. Back home the pigeons and crows have started fighting for dominance of my roof and balcony because they both want my attention.”

The boy gave her a stunned look before he made a sound that Marinette believed might be a covered up laugh. She smiled even brighter and offered the boy her hand to shake.

“By the way my name is Marinette. And it's a pleasure to meet you.”

The boy looked at her hand for a moment before he eventually grabbed it and shook it awkwardly.

“Damian… It's nice to meet you too. Though I can tell by that introduction that you're not from here.”

Marinette snorted at that.

“Really the introduction was what gave it away but not my accent?”

The boy seemed to blush a little at that before he coughed awkwardly. Marinette took pity on him and giggled.

“You are correct in your deduction mr.detective. I’m visiting from Paris, France with some friends and my uncle.”

If Marinette hadn’t been too embarrassed to look him in the eyes she may have noticed the spark of curiosity when she mentioned Paris. And had she known who Damian truly was at the time she would have known that his curiosity came from the fact that Batman and the other supers had recently learned about the situation in Paris thanks to Lois Lane taking on a new intern who ran the Ladyblog. Mayor Bourgeois had been doing a good job hiding the situation but he’d overlooked the civilian journalist.

“Hm. We don’t get many tourists. What brought you all the way out here. If I may ask.”

Naturally without much thought the pair began to walk through the park together as their conversation flowed. Marinette avoided using Jagged's name not wanting her new very handsome friend to take an interest in her solely for her connections. Instead she told him that Gotham was her uncles hometown and that this was the last stop on what had already been a pretty busy summer vacation. That turned into her telling him a bit about her family in general which got him talking about his family, he complained about his adopted siblings of which there seemed to be many but Marinette could tell he loved them.

Talking about family made him admit he’d come to the park to get away from them for a little while which got Marinette talking about the park and all the beautiful nature in Gotham which got the two of them talking about the best parks in Gotham and then Marinette brought up her sketches and suddenly they were talking about art and other hobbies. Before they had even realized it they were sitting at a bench together hidden away in the trees and wisterias chatting away. Marinette didn’t know why but something about Damian made her feel comfortable. Maybe it was the way he gave her his full undivided attention, maybe it was the way he made sure not to invade her space without consent or how he didn’t interrupt her when she spoke. Either way she felt safe, felt warm, almost like she was home. And judging by the way he seemed to relax the longer they spoke, his stiff body unwinding and his gaze softening, she thought maybe he felt just as comfortable with her as she was with him.

Honestly Marinette could have sat there chatting with Damian all day in fact it had already been several hours when the pair were finally interrupted. Both of their phones began to ring, Marinette’s with the tell-tale alarm of an akuma attack in Paris and Damian’s with an emergency as the Riddler had broken out of Arkham. The teenagers regretfully had to go both citing emergencies before they departed. It wasn’t until later that they realized they had forgotten to exchange phone numbers.

The akuma back in Paris had turned out to be Lila Rossi, it seems that Adrien’s fangirls had never truly warmed up to the liar and they had been trying to dig up dirt on the girl for months before finally finding there evidence. Alya may have privated the videos of Lila’s lies after finding out about the ‘lying disease’ but apparently someone had copied and saved them beforehand. And those videos had finally made their way out into the public. Luckily no one criticized Alya seeing as how she’d already had the common sense to remove the videos from her blog it helped that Alya also made a post explaining the situation in more detail which led to the general public agreeing that it had not been Alya’s fault when she had a teacher and a principle telling her to believe in a fake ‘lying disease’ clearly it was the adults at fault here not the young girl who had believed in them.

Needless to say the public ripped Lila to shreds for being a serial liar with more of her lies coming to light each day now that she had been exposed. And obviously the Italian had not taken it well and gotten akumatized.

Marinette knew that she should be happy that Lila had been exposed. Her classmates certainly were, but instead Marinette could not help but mope. Damian had been SO kind she really had wanted to get to know him better. The fact she’d completely missed out on getting his number gnawed at her. Little did she know that Damian was across the city thinking the same thing as he sat on a Gargoyle statue.

But fate likes to play funny games. A few days later Jagged got a call from Bruce Wayne, a few of his sons namely Tim, Jason and Dick had heard about Jagged being in town and tjat the rocker had brought MDC the famous designer with him. Apparently they were huge fans and had bugged, pleaded, whined, and eventually threatened a hunger strike until Bruce would ask Jagged to pretty please introduce them. So Jagged got the go ahead from Marinette and the gaggle of teenagers plus Jagged and Penny piled into a big van and drove over to the Wayne mansion.

Seeing it from the outside, Marinette felt only intimidation and dread. It was so huge and they were so rich. What if they were unimpressed when they found out MDC was just some teenage girl? Letting Jagged guide her and her friends push her forward Marinette nervously knocked on the door and let herself be led inside by the kind old man who introduced himself as Alfred.

Walking through the halls in wonder Marinette slowly felt her fingers twitch with the urge to design. But she suppressed it and focused not wanting to be rude. As the group turned a corner into a large sitting room Marinette’s blue eyes somehow found a pair of familiar green. She gasped, he blinked wide eyed.

“Marinette?” - “Damian?”

They blinked again, shocked. Marinette eventually snorted and laughed. Damian found himself smiling as he approached the small girl. And everyone else? Well they were just confused. Except for Damian’s family they were confused and freaked out.

“Is the demon spawn, smiling Dicky bird? Or am I hallucinating?”

“No I see it too Jason. He looks genuinely happy.”

“So it's official.” Tim added “we're all hallucinating.”

After some introductions and explanations things settled down with Marinette happy to take the Wayne’s on as clients. And the Wayne’s in turn being suitably impressed and amazed by the young girls accomplishments though the part they found most amazing was how she interacted with not only them but Damian. She was genuine and kind, no fake smiles or hidden double meanings, nor did she let their money and fame impress or blind her in any way. Jason soon declared her a little sister and Jagged preened and puffed as he gloated about not only Marinette but Kitty Section as well.

The rest of the summer spent in Gotham was tons of fun with Jason teaching Juleka and Marinette how to shoot guns and ride motorcycles, Rose and Marinette learning some of Dick’s gymnastics moves, Ivan meanwhile got along well with the quiet Cass and level headed Duke. Eventually Stephanie and Bab’s returned home as well and they also took to the french teens with ease they organized girl nights where they taught the girls how to break and enter something Marinette had a natural affinity for go figure. The most surprising development however was Luka. The slightly older boy had seemingly set his sights on the awkward coffee addicted Tim and had spent the remainder of the summer wooing him.

But while Luka was wooing Tim there was one other couple slowly forming. Everyone had seen the spark between Damian and Marinette and soon enough everyone was shipping it. The pair were often ‘conveniently’ left alone or were sent on errands that somehow conveniently became accidental dates. Marinette had been guarding her heart after Adrien had shattered it but Damian made her want to take the risk and fall in love. He was charming, polite, kind, sarcastic, and as she’d learned after telling him about the entire Paris situation akuma’s and all he was protective but without going so far as to undermine Marinette’s strength. He trusted her to be fast and smart and strong enough to defend herself (especially after they did a bit of fight training for fun and she laid him flat on the ground) but he did worry and care about her.

But still there was something holding back both teens. Something that shattered near the end of the vacation. Marinette had been caught by a villain. Poison Ivy to be exact. The plant villainess had taken note of the new frequent visitor to her greenhouse but what had really gotten her attention was how the plant life reacted to her. And furthermore how the plant life SPOKE about her. Ivy’s curiosity eventually grew too large and so she snatched up the young designer and brought her home. Luckily Marinette wasn’t particularly scared of Ivy or Harley, sure she didn’t like being knocked out but she felt no real fear, in the end Ivy, Harley and Marinette ended up having an unprompted girls day complete with junk food, ranting, bad American tv and more. Ivy eventually figured that Marinette was some kind of Meta one who had a strong influence over plant and animal life and that was enough for her to adopt the small half Asian girl and inject her with her special blend the same one she’d given to Harley to keep her safe in a town full of crazies.

But while Marinette was perfectly fine hanging out with 2 of the 3 sirens Damian had not taken it so well. He had scoured the city trying to find the sirens newest abode all while he gnawed his lip until it bled. Maybe it was the stress that made him slip up or maybe it was just Marinette being too smart for her own good. But when the young Robin came bursting in through a window yelling Marinette’s name something had immediately clicked and she knew who he was. After she’d calmed the situation down and made sure no one fought anyone else, Marinette thanked Ivy and Harley for the nice day and let Robin carry her away. After talking with Tikki and deciding to be reckless and selfish for once in her life Marinette confronted Damian the next day, revealing her own identity in the process. There was some freaking out and a LOT of talking with Tikki and the rest of the bat clan but in the end it seemed to work out for the best. Ladybug was certainly happy to accept the help anyway even if Chat Noir wasn’t going to be.

A week later Damian finally asked Marinette out. Two days after that they shared their first kiss on the ferris wheel. And come the end of summer Marinette, Kitty Section and surprise guests Damian and Tim Wayne were all boarding a flight back to Paris.

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emma-d-klutz · 2 years

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Back on my “hm Maribat is interesting as an AU idea but even moreso as a specific fandom phenomenon” bullshit, and I just wanted to share a thought. A big portion of Maribat stuff is characterized as this revenge fantasy that proves Marinette is better than everyone who ever wronged her even slightly. Now, I don’t know if you’ll all remember this (I swear I didn’t just imagine it) but there was once a subsection of Tim Drake stans who wrote so many fics featuring Dick unjustly putting Tim in Arkham Asylum and Other Such Betrayals that it got to the point that, for one thing, there was some genuine and understandable confusion over if that ever actually happened in canon anywhere, and furthermore, created the bad name Tim stans fight off even to this day.

I would like to see these two types of fic join forces.

#not to be good. just to... just to see what that would BE. they suit each other don't they?#tim drake #maribat #salt fics #tim drake stans #fandom meta #miraculous ladybug #marinette dupain cheng

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goggles-mcgee · 4 months

Text

A Little Birdy Told Me 20

AO3

Beginning Last Chapter

Summary: Damian continues to try and get more information about the akuma class and Marinette while Dick is having an off day and just wants it to get better.

Only one brother gets what they want.

CH 20:

Damian may have jumped the gun on that one.

He admitted that, willingly, in the privacy of his own mind.

“To Dupain-Cheng? I mean sure but why would you like to know.” Chloe asked with narrowed sharp eyes.

Bourgeois was sharp, as were all his acquaintances so there was no point in lying, though he was confident he could do so flawlessly, his acquaintances had proved to be somewhat trustful. They all kept secrets if asked unless it was something trivial which confused him to no end. Allegra could ask they don’t tell anyone what she shared with them when it came to her having trouble mentally or her parents fighting but the group would tell almost everyone in the group how Claude had a crush on so-and-so from class-whatever. Richard said that is just how teenagers and friends are but it didn’t make sense to Damian and he tried many times to make it make sense. The only thing that made him feel better is the fact his father also didn’t understand. When he was in med school he told him how his study group kept his fear of bats to themselves but when he admitted to not being a fan of some musician that that information was shared and laughed at, but he stated clearly that the laughing wasn’t at him, just at the information as a study group member had explained. Again. It was strange, but Damian felt like this wasn’t one of those moments that they would share his information with others.

“It goes without saying that what I tell you does not leave this table,” he began, “I know I said that if I knew something I wouldn’t tell, but given Bourgeois’s forthcoming, I too can be a little forthcoming. Dupain-Cheng is now a ward of my Father for the rest of the exchange.”

Vogel nodded and glared at everyone at the table as if to ward them off even thinking of telling anyone what Damian was saying. It was…nice and appreciated. Vogul reminded him of Cassandra sometimes and it always left him feeling warm yet wrongfooted. The blonde wasn’t his sister but sometimes she felt like it and that also confused him. Nonetheless he gave Vogel a small nod of appreciation. “After the events at Wayne Tower and what followed, it was decided that my father take care of Dupain-Cheng for the remainder of the trip and actual chaperones are being flown in. The original plan of having the class merge with ours has been effectively thrown out the window and negotiations are being made where to place everyone as they will be separated. Dupain-Cheng and her friends will join our class but it hasn’t been decided where Rossi and her sycophants will go.”

Allaway pursed his lips together and looked deep in thought, it was like he was trying to organize everything that was said and unsaid. He was someone who liked puzzles and mysteries. “You guys are building a case?” It was posed as a question but Damian knew the other boy better. It was a statement. Damian simply leaned back in his chair to give Allaway his attention, it took the boy some time to voice his thoughts so Damian waited before responding. “The question is, who is the case against?”

“I would think that obvious by now Allaway.” Damian scoffed.

Allaway stared at Damian intensely until he let out a deep sigh, “Yeah, I know, I was saying it to be dramatic.”

“You’re always dramatic.” Damian countered.

“No. That’s Claude.” Allaway shot right back.

“Guilty!” Hardy sing-songed. Damian conceded. Hardy was always dramatic. Every announcement he made to the group or even the school was so rich in dramatics that Damian wondered if the boy practiced what he said every day to make sure it was the perfect amount of dramatic or if it was something instinctual. Damian felt like it was the latter. Sometimes Hardy’s dramatics confused him but Vogel was good at explaining what the dramatic boy was saying, she was basically the Hardy Translator.

“We are getting off topic.” Bourgeois sighed. “You really want to know everything that witch did to Dupain-Cheng, Wayne? Then you better buckle in and take notes.

Damian nodded and pressed the hidden button on his watch that Lucius Fox and his son Lucas upgraded at Bruce’s request, that would record the rest of the conversation. Though he did take out a notebook and pen, he never wrote in pencil, writing in pencil showed you were not confident in your writing or knowledge. He was trying to break out of the habit though as it was one Ra’s made sure ‘stuck’ with his heir. His grandfather would never settle for anything less than perfect and the one time Damian took a test in front of his grandfather and used a pencil, he was punished. Damian hid a wince at the memories of that particular lesson and instead stared at his watch, it was a replica of his Grandfather's watch , the one he wore when he was murdered. It was a bit morbid but it was the thought behind it that made it one of Damian’s most prized possessions.

It had been a little after he had been…introduced to his father and a little before his father’s seeming demise at Darkseid’s hand that Bruce had taken Damian aside into his study to talk to him. Damian thought it would be another reprimand of his methods but had been surprised when Bruce handed him a small box with a bow on it. He had been so hesitant, so wary, so suspicious that his father had gently taken the box from him and opened it to show a watch. A rather nice watch though Damian had noted its somewhat dated design. Like someone had purposefully made it look vintage. “ It’s made to look like my father’s watch, your grandfather, though I have no doubt you were…informed of my parents before you came here -”

“ I know everything about you, Father, and my grandparents .” Damian had interrupted, eager to prove his knowledge, his worth.

“ I don’t doubt that, Damian, but you were told about them by people who did not know them. That makes all the difference. There is time for stories so you get to know them like I knew them but this is the first one I will tell you. ” Bruce had looked sincere yet a bit uncomfortable, Damian had chalked it up to his father’s weakness of not getting over his parent’s death. Such a weakness was not allowed in the League, but Damian had said nothing of the fact even if he could. Richard had been teaching him just because you could doesn’t mean you should. It was confusing but his father seemed to agree with the sentiment so Damian was doing his best to learn it.

His father continued. “ When my father was ten, his father bought him his first watch. I never met my grandfather, but when I was young, my father told me grandfather wanted to start a new Wayne tradition. When the heir of the family turned ten, they would be gifted a watch. I’m afraid that the reason is lost in time and forgotten memories but my father wanted to continue this tradition. I got my watch on my birthday and 9 days later my parents died. My father had been wearing his birthday watch that night .”

Damian hadn’t wanted to interrupt but he did want to touch the watch and his father seemed to understand that so he passed back the gift and watched as Damian had caressed the face of the watch with his thumb.

“ I admit that I have bought your brother's watches as well but I know you are struggling to accept them. I won’t lie and say I understand but I want to feel connected to them, to me, to this family. I wasn’t able to give you a watch on your birthday but I am giving it to you now. I had this made for you in the image of your grandfather’s watch because I want to show you how important you are to this family and me. I could have easily given you a new watch as I had your brother’s but you deserve a connection to your roots. I hope you like it. ”

Damian had only nodded but the small smile his father gave in return had filled him with such warmth he hadn’t known what to do other than let his father put the watch on him. Later, Alfred would explain that Bruce had the watch built with many hidden features to keep Damian safe and to make sure his son wouldn’t be without a way out of a situation. The watch was made to resemble the Rolex Submariner that Damian had seen in a case along with a broken pearl necklace and some loose grimy pearls. He knows they were keepsakes of his grandparents that Bruce kept in a protected case in the Cave. He didn’t really believe it would make him feel any more connected to the Wayne name than him already being Bruce Wayne’s biological son but wearing the watch and seeing the original in its case when he was down in the Cave actually did make him feel connected in a way he couldn’t explain. Thus it became one of his most prized possessions much like his first straight double edged sword his mother gave him for the earliest birthdays he could remember.

Damian inhaled slowly then exhaled to bring himself out of his memory before he looked up at Bourgeois and gave her a short nod. “Proceed.”

___________________

Dick was doing all he could to relax and show Marinette the company’s botanical gardens as it was something she had wanted to do. It was good to see her smile and flit from plant to plant like a little honey bee or something, but Dick couldn’t get rid of his tension completely. He was always like that after dealing with Two-Face even if it wasn’t the usual confrontation between the two, i.e mask to two faces but it still left him feeling the same. Angry, restless and most annoyingly, scared. He wasn’t the same little scared Robin but dealing with Two-Face always made him feel like he was. He thought he worked past all that! But seeing Marinette in his arms with a gun pressed to her head brought uncomfortable flashbacks of a different tiny black-haired blue-eyed child. A child who got cocky in his skills as Robin and helper of Batman. He could still feel the long-since healed injuries throb in phantom pain. Dick couldn’t help the flash of another black-haired blue-eyed child, older than the first when he learned that being Robin wasn’t magical or whimsical. Thinking of that never did him any good, if anything it brought about an enormous amount of guilt and anger that Dick didn’t know what to do with.

“Mari-gold?” A very familiar voice pulled Dick out of his thoughts and he cursed himself for being so distracted.

“Ivy!” Marinette shouted out in glee as she ran to hug the woman she had seen fairly recently. It made Dick smile though, this kid loved with her whole heart and it was something he admired.

“Now what are you doing here, Sapling?”

“I came here with Mister Dick and Mister Tim. Though we lost Tim pretty early on.” Oh yeah, they did. Though Dick was willing to bet Tim just went to the coffee shop nearby, he seemed to have a built in radar for knowing where they were no matter what part of town they were in. It was kind of funny though since Tim wasn’t even a big fan of coffee, he more so just needed the caffeine. The guy preferred tea but he was really particular about which places made the best tea, specifically a good ol’ Dirty Chai.

“And what brings you to the Gardens today, Ive?” Dick asked, deciding to partake in the conversation.

“Oh just making sure they are doing okay and to give the workers a restock of my special fertilizer.” That made sense, Ivy was, on-the-down low helping the Wayne Botanical Studies team. While Harley helped them more with their night time business, Ivy was content to help in the more official business. With the occasional helping hand stopping a threat if they “got in over their heads.” Her words.

“You make your own fertilizer?” Marinette asked. Look, Dick was also curious about that but after finding Ivy and Jason talking one night with these big-ass smiles on their faces, all teeth, he was like 80% sure that fertilizer was some of Jason’s…problems. But there was no way in hell that Dick was going to try and confirm that, and he sure as hell would not be telling Bruce that little theory.

“Yes! It takes time but it-”

“My Passion Lily! I got your Matcha Lemonade and look! I found a wild Wayne.” They were interrupted by Harley, which was not a surprise, and she was dragging a resigned looking Tim with her.

Ivy merely huffed out a laugh at her wife before taking the offered drink with a kiss to Harley’s cheek. “Thank you, Peanut, I also found a wild Wayne and a little Sapling.”

“Mari-Doll!” Harley squeaked out before almost knocking the poor girl off her feet in her hurry to smother the girl in a hug. Surprisingly they didn’t fall over.

“Hi Harley!”

“You guys saw each other the other night?” Tim said, confused.

“And?” Marinette and Harley asked in unison. It made Dick giggle and helped relieve him of more of his pent up tension.

“Well since we're all here, why don’t we walk around together?” Dick offered. “Bruce wanted Tim to get some fresh air so try not to let him sneak off again.”

Tim gave an offended squawk which had Marinette laughing once more. “I’m fine!”

“Yeah, okay Timmy-Boy.” Harley said with a scoff as she laced her arms together with Ivy and Marinette. “And I’m the Queen of England.”

“You do need some time outside the Manor Tim. It’s not healthy to stay cooped up.” Ivy said as she happily walked with Harley and Marinette. Though she did grab Tim by the scruff of his shirt and manhandled him toward Dick. He looked very much like a cranky kitten.

“What is this? Pick on Tim day?”

“I believe Damian has that scheduled for next month.” Dick wished he was joking.

Marinette obviously noticed he wasn’t if her raised brow was anything to go off. “Oh?”

“He stepped on Titus’s tail three months ago, on accident.” Dick explained. “But Damian is very good at keeping grudges and he’s very good on cashing in on favors.”

Tim merely whined in response and Dick couldn’t help but pity his brother for a second before he remembered how Tim used him as a human meat shield when Condiment King randomly joined in on a fight against some robbers. Apparently he was also planning on robbing the jewelry store after keeping a low profile from his then-recent prison break. Needless to say it took Dick forever trying to get the mustard smell out of his costume once again and had to beg Alfred for help once again. Even though Alfred refused to help with cleaning anything CK contaminated, it spiked his blood pressure or something like that. Dick thinks it’s because of all the first times he helped clean them up when the rogue had been new on the scene. That had been a long month and Dick had seen how Alfred got more and more annoyed each time they came home covered in mustard, ketchup, you name it. It was awful. Truly. So Dick didn’t feel all that bad. Stephanie was already coming up with a list of things to tease Tim about. She specifically waits for the days Damian declares will be Pick-On Drake Days so she has lists on lists compiled for that very reason. She hoards them and never shares until the scheduled day. Duke surprisingly joined in too and started making his own list.

“He’s very dedicated.” Marinette giggled out.

“That’s one word for it.” Tim grumbled.

From there they had a good time touring the different gardens with Ivy acting as a somewhat tour guide and Dick could see it was really helping Marinette unwind as well. The interview with Jim and Harvey had really gotten her tense which was totally understandable, it would be intimidating for anyone. Tim tried to escape a couple times but after Dick teasingly asked if he should get Tim a child-leash and Ivy offered to make one out of vines he stopped. He even seemed to be relaxing a small bit. It was nice, really and it seemed to be something that Dick needed too without realizing it. Eventually they went out for lunch and after they went their separate ways. The drive back to the Manor had been nice too, normal traffic and a nice playlist helped. Tim and Marinette had even made some good conversation, though Dick got worried at the mention of PowerPoints. He hoped it was nothing serious, but the fact that Tim found someone as obsessed with planning and making PowerPoints was a little frightening. Maybe more than a little, Dick could only take so many Tim PowerPoints. He loved his brother, dearly, with his whole heart, but his PowerPoints were long and…thorough. He even tested people on the more important ones with a freaking Kahoot match. Cass and surprisingly Damian always won those.

As they made their way into the manor Dick was pretty much planning on taking a good, lengthy nap to catch up on the sleep he hadn't gotten last night. His brain felt fried and scrambled, like it couldn’t decide whether to sink into the depressing thoughts from before or just remember the good time at the gardens they all had, even Tim surprisingly had a good time. As he sunk into the couch in the family living room his mind seemed to settle on both. His eyes closed and he saw Marinette laughing and smiling at their afternoon activities, then it would flash to her being held against Two-Face. He could hear the rogue’s laugh deep in his bones, then it changed to the Joker’s unique cackle. Marinette changed from her to him to Jason at blinding speeds. He could hear Marinette’s voice firm and confident in contrast to the fear in her eyes when she told him there was no time and that she would lead Scarecrow away. He could hear her yelling and telling Alfred she and they weren’t safe. He heard his own cries and shouts mixed with Two-Face’s voice. He could hear what he imagined Jason sounded like when the Joker beat him to death. He could hear the accusations of others about his jealousy of Jason being adopted.

That unfortunately brought up memories of the talk he had had with Bruce once upon a time about Jason and adoption. It felt like he had had to fight not only tabloids but even Bruce about nonexistent hatred. Dick never hated Jason, but he had been so caught up in his anger with Bruce that he let it affect his and Jason’s relationship. He had just been so angry and it wasn’t an excuse but sometimes it seemed like he was even trying to justify his actions to himself. Though there was some jealousy and hurt there that he didn’t know what to do with, okay he did know what to do but the fact it would have to involve talking to Bruce and Jason was not something that sounded fun nor easy. He liked a good challenge but that idea sounded impossible. Like yes, he was Bruce’s son now but for so long he was just a ward, like Marinette was now, he called Bruce dad, they lived together, they fought crime together, they took care of each other, and yet it took years for Bruce to adopt him. But Jason? Dick knew Jason was Bruce’s son, his first son, his favorite son. Jason got the Bruce Dick had always wanted and it had hurt. Jason’s death had impacted Bruce more than his parents. That was a fact.

And…And Dick had no idea where this was all coming from. He knew he didn’t know Marinette well as her class’s tour guide but seeing her held against Two-Face, mere centimeters from danger had thrown him. She reminded him too much of himself and too much like Jason before his death. She wasn’t a Robin, she would never be a Robin, but she had been a hero like one. She saved her people as fiercely as a Robin protected Gotham and its people. She took the weight of her world on her shoulders, much like a Robin. She was a child turned soldier due to circumstance just like a Robin. Marinette was a Robin in soul with no Batman to guide her and maybe that was for the best but looking at how lost she looked when she spoke about the ‘akumatizations’ in Paris, Dick wished she had had her version of Batman. A mentor who could aid in the fight, who shared the knowledge and responsibility. Yes, there were other heroes, they were like her version of Teen Titans, but that’s just it she was just barely a teen, a child, when she took up the mantle of hero. And from the pictures Tim showed the family of the other heroes, it wasn’t hard to guess that the other ‘Holders’ were teens themselves. Seeing as Adrien was also a teen and a former hero.

Dick, in a weird, roundabout way, felt responsible for Marinette. As soon as she looked at him with hope, determination and fear in her eyes he was hit by a wave of protectiveness for her. She looked at him like Damian did when he first complimented and criticized his work as Robin, he and Marinette had also pulled off a plan as smooth and seamless as Dick and Damian had been when they were the Dynamic Duo. Or as Dick liked to call them, The More Dynamic Duo. He knew his family was kind of freaked out by how well Marinette and Damian seemed to get along, but not him, sure he teased a bit but he just had a feeling they would be friends. Damian had been trying to get himself out there and make friends and he did have some! He just called them acquaintances right now but Dick knew it wouldn’t be long till they were bumped up to friend status. Though Jon would always be Damian’s best friend even if they weren’t in the same school anymore. They still video or phone called every day and they played games with each other online. Which games? Dick could never remember but the point was, Damian had grown and was very capable of making friends, it just took him some time.

Speaking of time , Dick thought as his gaze lazily glanced at the clock on the wall. If he slept now, he knew he would not go to bed after patrol tonight. So with much reluctance he pushed himself up and off the couch. He figured he could see if Marinette wanted some company and maybe the two of them could get some tea and snacks from Alfred and tour more of the manor when they were done. It would help in the long term of Marinette’s stay so it was productive! When he got to her room he saw that the door was slightly open but it was still he knocked, if he could dodge a Pennyworth Lecture he would even knock his own bedroom door. As he did so though, the door opened more and with it came an overwhelming energy that left him feeling suppressed yet energized. He wasn’t around magic a lot anymore, but it always left him with the same feeling so he ditched being a gentleman and waiting for an answer and just barreled into the room to see what looked like a closing portal.

“Shit!” That would be a dollar in the Swear Jar, but that wasn’t important. What was important however was the fact Marinette was missing, a portal had seemingly opened in her room and closed, and…and there was a note on the bed?

‘Dear Any Wayne That Finds This,

Actually, are you all Waynes? I never asked, I should have asked. Anyways, please don’t freak out if you come to my room and I’m not here. Ladybug needed my help back in Paris and opened a portal to get me there. I shouldn’t be too long and hey! Maybe I’ll be back before anyone reads this but if I’m not then just don’t worry. Ladybug will return me once the akuma is dealt with.

-Marinette who is very sorry if someone does end up reading this and is pleading they don’t worry or get angry.’

“Double shit.” Dick said as he read over the letter.

That was another dollar for the Swear Jar.

_________________

Dick “Flying” Grayson @toflyistofall

Oops.

____

Bruce Wayne @therealbrucewayne

RE: Dick “Flying” Grayson @toflyistofall

Oops.

Richard John Grayson-Wayne. What did you do?

_____

JBIrd @sidesteppeddeath

RE: Bruce Wayne @therealbrucewayne

Richard John Grayson-Wayne. What did you do?

Ha! You got full government named Dickie! @toflyistofall

_____

Dick “Flying” Grayson @toflyistofall

RE: JBIrd @sidesteppeddeath

Ha! You got full government named Dickie! @toflyistofall

Oh come on! I didn’t even add tags! How did he respond so fast?

#hahaimindanger

Next Chapter

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miraculus-dragon · 22 days

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Thoughts on Mlbat

In a couple, or maybe more, of the ml x batman fanfic, there's a common theme of batfam being suspicious of civilian Marinette with too many secrets. Or Adrien being bad simply for having a villain father. Often time following that theme is them thinking the worst, and usually have demands for secrets to be shared.

I just, I get it, paranoid detectives with large amounts of trauma, standing on the side of "good".

In their view, and in many's view, these are heroes yes, but, moral and ethic, good vs bad is too complex and nuance than simply black or white.

Not the point.

Many times fanfic write out their near-invasive ways of getting these answers while maintaining a level of suspicion and assumption of the absolute worst. And I find that dynamic really, really unfair, hypocritical, and potentially toxic. It's making me grow salty toward the bats just a little bit more each time, and I don't think that's fair or healthy either.

I don't know I just want to rant a bit because I'm about to explode into sodium chloride.

#maribat #ml x batman #rant #reading fics with unexpected salt-inducing element back to back probably wasn't a good idea either #I didn't even plan on it #it just sort of happened #and that's why it made me upset ig

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justrandomfanfictionskh · 1 year

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We Should have Stayed in Gotham ch 4

ao3 Beginning Previous

Despite what his brothers might say, Damian did not hate fun. He just hated their idiotic brand of fun that usually found them needing Bruce and the WE PR team to bail them out of jail while Barbara laughed at them from the other side of the bars. (He would never forgive Todd from stopping him from freeing the Zoo Animals. They would have gotten away with it if he had just followed orders.) Still, he planned to have fun on this trip, especially at the Louvre. He had always wanted to see the inside of this place, the art, the history, maybe even correct some of the factual errors. A scavenger hunt would not interfere with that, even if it was tedious and pointless.

But then Alix and Kathryn had skated by waving a half-completed work sheet shouting, “You’re falling behind!” Apparently, they had gotten a head start by going through her father’s office. Mendeleiev just groaned as manic grins spread across multiple students’ faces, including Marinette’s.

And so it was, that before any of the teachers could stop them, the Parisians had grabbed their Gothamite’s hand and took off running through the halls of the most famous museum in the world. Damian didn’t know how to react as Marinette pulled him through wing after wing, her hand holding his in a vice grip, until they stopped in the Egyptian hall. He was surprised to see that she wasn’t panting, even though she had to be running at full speed in order to stay ahead of him.

Instead she just skidded to a stop and began to say in very broken German, “Ok…the first…question…is about…”

Damian cleared his throat, and said in French “You want to win this, right?” Marinette cocked her head but nodded. “Then I think it will be best if we stick to our fluent languages. We can help each other after we finish demolishing your insane classmates.”

Marinette grinned and then said in English, “Very well, but what about your classmates. Won’t they be a problem?”

Damian glanced at his work sheet and raised an eyebrow. “I doubt they will be much help. After all I’m not even sure what this first question means. Is it some sort of riddle?”

Marinette laughed and pulled him deeper into the wing. “Sabrina and your class representative, no you call it president, made this to encourage us to ask questions about each other,” she explained, “‘The scroll that awoke the Pharaoh, and revealed the secret of the Bug,’ is a reference to the akuma Pharaoh. He was a researcher here at the Louver whose theory on resurrection magic was dismissed, so he was akumatized in order to prove it worked. He tried to sacrifice Alya to the god Ra.”

Damian squashed a quip about how that would not have been the worst thing, instead settling on the more pressing question, “And the secret of the Bug?”

Marinette stopped in front of an old papyrus scroll, her smile fond and almost nostalgic as she looked at it. She pointed at the image of a woman with a yoyo in a spotted robe fighting the Pharaoh. “It was during this fight that it was revealed that Ladybug was over five thousand years old.”

Damian nodded as he looked at the scroll with consideration. “I thought the SpotsOn blog said that the title of Ladybug was a mantle passed down.”

“It is,” Marinette said as she scribbled on her work sheet. “But it was this scroll that set the question in motion. Since then scholars have been scouring the artifacts looking for people who could have a Miraculous Holder.”

“So why is it on our work sheet?” Damian asked.

And Marinette once more smiled as if at a fond memory. “I was with Alya when she found this. I got turned into one of the hundred mummies meant to aid in the sacrifice. Believe it or not we were actually good friends back then.”

Damian opened his mouth to say something, but Marinette clapped her hands and spun towards him with a smile. “Alright, the first one was for Paris, the second one should be for Gotham. Alix and Kathryn, have a good head start, but if we run, and take a few short cuts I know, then we should be able to catch up and beat them!”

Damian stifled a grin with a smirk. Her competitive spirit was infectious, and it pulled at his own instincts to push them to victory. And he was so tempted to give into it. He was the Son of the Bat after all, there was no way they could lose. But Grayson was always warning him that he overdid it, so he fought the urge to string trip wire everywhere and looked down at his sheet. His smirk turning devilish. “Are there any bat artifacts in the Chinese Wing?”

Marinette nodded briskly, “Tang Dynasty, this way!” And with that she had grabbed his hand and was once again pulling him through the Louvre at a devastating pace. And as the game went on, Damian stopped denying the genuine and bright smile that was slowly growing on his lips. But even as he gave into his more competitive instincts, he noticed a few interesting details about the Parisians.

For example, the Museum had obviously prepared for them, because they had roped off designated running lanes so the students could go wild without breaking anything or disrupting the other guests. And as they zoomed past, while the tourists stared in shock, the employees and locals laughed and cheered them on. It was strange considering that in Gotham they would have had security called on them ages ago.

Another thing was that all the Parisians were strangely athletic. Even the ones who should have been out of breath at the first sprint, vaulted and laughed as if it was nothing. At the pace he and Marinette were keeping, he expected that she would have to slow down after the first three questions. Instead, she only seemed to gain speed as she pulled him after her in a rush of adrenaline. And she never slowed down. Even when her classmate, the tall Chinese one, barreled toward them with his partner on his back, Marinette never slowed. She just pulled Damian down so that they slid down the slick floor, as the boy vaulted over them with ease.

Leaping to her feet, Marinette continued to pull Damian along even as her peer shouted, “I’m going to get you Mari!”

“In you dreams Kim!” she shouted. She beamed with pure joy, and Damian felt his own adrenaline muddling his senses, because he found himself mirroring her.

“What was that?” He demanded when they reached the Enlightenment Room.

“Hm?” Marinette said even as she searched the artifacts, “Oh, have you ever played the floor is lava?”

Damian grimaced against the memory. Grayson had thought it was a good idea to yell that phrase in the middle of Titan’s Tower, resulting in Jon scooping him up and hovering over the floor. Everyone had laughed as Damian thrashed like a kitten in the bath. It was one of his more embarrassing memories. “Once or twice,” he said through gritted teeth.

“Have you ever played it with real lava?”

Damian cocked his head at the question then nodded his head in understanding, “Lava Boy, he was a level 10 right?”

“You read the list,” Marinette said with a smug smile.

“Tt,” Damian said has he scanned for their opponents. “Of course, I did, I’m not an imbecile. But what does this have to do with the fact that your entire class seems to be experts in parkour?”

“Not the entire class,” Marinette mused as she jotted down the answer. “Just those who know to pay attention in gym. Parkour became a curriculum requirement after Lava Boy. Every Parisian school teaches it as apart of our Physical Education. Or as we like to call it, ‘Running from Akumas 101.’”

Damian nodded his understanding. It was smart. It made him wonder why Gotham schools didn’t teach self-defense. But then again, maybe they did. He never really paid attention in class. But he had no time to ponder, because Marinette was grabbing his hand again and pulling him to the next artifact.

They ran into Alix and Kathryn twice, and saw that they were catching up, as the pair debated if they should be going towards Modern Art, or Ancient Greece. Which was when Damian noticed something else about Marinette, she was smart. When she had competed with him in languages, he had known that she had intelligence. But now she barely had too look at the clues to know the item they were talking about. And they really were some of the strangest clues, for example, “This Queen’s spear is lauded as Luck’s greatest hand.”

“That could be anything!” Damian exclaimed.

“Queen Hippolyta’s spear was donated by Wonder Woman back in 1983, as a gift to her adopted city,” Marinette stated and then dashed off.

“Wait how did you know that?” Damian cried as he chased her.

“Hippolyta was the first named Ladybug, although technically she was the second holder. The first was the Oracle of Khepri, although her name was lost to time. We saw her scroll like ten minutes ago.”

Damian just shook his head and followed her without question. And that was another strange thing that he noticed. He didn’t mind following this girl around. Under normal circumstances, he would have demanded the lead. But Marinette just pulled him along as if her leadership was the most natural thing in the world. And as of yet, Damian could not begrudge her for it. And so it was in less time than he thought possible, they were racing back to the teachers with Alix and Kathryn hot on their heels and gaining. Then Marinette pulled out a bag of marbles and scattered them on the floor.

“Hey!” Alix yelled as the two girls were forced to slow down, “That’s cheating!”

“No rule against it!” Marinette shouted back as Damian laughed.

Mlle. Mendeleiev was pinching her nose as the pair skidded to a stop in front of her and handed her their completed work sheets. “I hope,” she said in her stern voice, “That the two of you got to talk at least once during that…escapade?”

“Yes Mlle. Mendeleiev,” Marinette said with her signature bright smile growing even as Damian sunk back into his signature scowl.

“Oh, and what did you learn about each other,” Bustier said with her signature plastered smile and too sweet voice.

“That Damian knows a lot about bats but not a lot about bugs.”

Damian couldn’t help the amused snort, even as the teachers rolled their eyes and took their sheets. But it was one of the Gotham teachers, Miss. Faustus who said, “You finished three hours early. Why don’t you two go back through the museum slower this time? Or perhaps spend time at the museum’s café?”

The two nodded their assent and then waited for Alix and Kathryn to turn in their sheet. “Well,” Marinette said, beaming so brightly, Damian was sure he was going to go blind. “We won!”

“You cheated!” Alix cried in mock annoyance as she skated up to them.

“Tt,” Damian said, “You were the ones with a head start, not to mention you were on skates. If anything, you were the ones that cheated, and yet we still were victorious. I do not know if that proves the depths of your ineptitude or the height of our excellence, but either way, you cannot argue with the results.”

Kathryn face palmed, as Alix stared at him in shock. Suddenly Damian was very aware that offending the wrong person in this city could result in a villain chasing him down. But he refused to back down as he tilted his chin to the girl, daring her to question him. Instead, Alix just turned to Marinette who seemed completely unfazed by his attitude.

At her friend’s questioning look, Marinette smiled gently. “Imagine if Kagami and Chloe were one person, and male. That’s him,” she said jutting her thumb at Damian. He furrowed his brow at the comparison, but faced Alix undaunted all the same.

She however just said “Oh,” as if that made perfect sense and then studied him more critically. Then her face split into the widest, most mischievous grin, Damian had ever seen (and he lived with Jason). A little nervous he took a step back even as Alix leaned forward and said, “We kill Lila!”

“Alix, no!” Marinette cried.

“Alix, yes!” Alix cried grabbing Damian’s shoulders before he could even begin to process what was happening as she said in a hissing voice, “Come! We have murder to plan!”

“No murder!” Marinette cried, even as Damian threw her hands off of him.

“First,” he said coldly, “Never touch me again. Second, I assume you have a strategy?”

Alix cackled and led him to the café even as Marinette screamed in frustration.

---------------------------------------

“So,” Kathryn said once they were all seated at the Museum’s outdoor café, “Who is this Lila and why are we trying to kill her?”

Damian remained silent as he watched the Parisians. They had only ordered drinks, because apparently the best bakery in Paris was catering their “Getting to Know You Party” later. So he sipped his as he watched Marinette tense, and Alix huff in frustration. It seemed, that now her adrenaline from the game was spent, the roller blading menace was ready to be serious. But it was Marinette who began the story.

“Lila,” she said simply, “Is a compulsive liar in our class. The only way to ensure that she didn’t akumatize anyone from Gotham was to pair her with the worst French speaker in your class, because she doesn’t know a lick of English no matter what she might claim.”

“When she first came here,” Alix said anger dripping from her every word, “She would tell all of these crazy stories about the places she’s been, and the celebrities she’s met. Of course, none of us actually believed her. We actually personally know a lot of the celebrities she likes to name drop so we always knew she was lying. We thought it was just some sort of game she liked to play, so we entertained her. It wasn’t doing any harm.”

“I never liked the game,” Marinette said as she stirred her coffee. “So I asked her to stop, and she threatened me. It was the only time she’s ever been completely honest.”

Alix took a deep calming breath, an action which Damian was quickly learning to associate with deep negative emotions from the Parisians. “That’s when her lies became a little less obvious,” she said, “She started sneaking subtler lies in with her obvious ones, slowly turning the class against Marinette. Started framing her for stealing, cheating, and bullying. Things like that.”

“She almost got me expelled,” Marinette said into her cup. And Damian couldn’t stop the shock from spreading across his face.

“Are you saying that your teachers believed her?” Damian demanded. He had only known this girl for an hour and a half, but already he felt that her being anything other than a model student was just preposterous.

But Marinette didn’t seem to register his outrage as she just shrugged and said, “The principle is more worried about funding and press than justice,” she said, “And I don’t know if you’ve noticed this, but Mlle. Bustier is a bit naive. Mlle. Mendeleiev is great, and she doesn’t let Lila get away with anything. But Mlle. Bustier…”

“That woman needs her license revoked,” Alix said in a huff, “And she probably would have by now if it wasn’t for Hawkmoth.”

“So?” Kathryn said leaning forward, “What happened?”

“Adrien,” Marinette said with a sigh of exhaustion, “Another classmate. Apparently, he talked to her, made a deal with her to back off. He told me about it as if it was this grand gesture on his part. But basically, it boils down to, he lets her do whatever she wants as long as she doesn’t directly target me.” Marinette rolled her eyes, “His heart's in the right place, but his arrows don’t always hit their marks if you know what I mean.” The Gothamites nodded and then gestured for the girls to continue.

“So anyway,” Alix said, “Later, Lila comes forward and admits that she lied. Claims she has a mental disorder that forces her to lie. Only, that night Marinette goes home and does a crap-ton of research on mental illnesses and lying and guess what?”

“There’s no such thing,” Damian said with a sneer.

Marinette just shook her head, “Compulsive lying is a symptom of many different illnesses, mainly OCD and psychopathy. But neither force the individual to lie. The person is always conscious of what they are doing, and can chose differently given that they are actively working towards their mental health.”

“And when Marinette presented her research,” Alix said, “The class basically split in two. The enablers who think the best way to help Lila is to humor her. And the intelligent people, who are just sick and tired of her crap.”

“Me, Chloe, Sabrina, Alix, and Juleka are the most outspoken members of the Intelligent,” Marinette explained. “Alya, Rose, and Mylene are the most outspoken of the Enablers. Everyone else falls on a sliding scale in between. But of course, none of this would even be a problem it is wasn’t for Hawkmoth.”

“Yeah,” Alix said sipping her coffee, “Hawkmoth has everybody thrown out of whack. I mean how do you in good conscious call someone out for being an idiot, when they’re enough of an idiot to let that akumatize them.”

“Next thing you know,” Marinette said, “You're running through the city with a horribly dressed flying fox demon on your tail.”

Both girls groaned and sipped their drinks, as Damian exchanged a look with Kathryn. Finally, Damian asked the question that had been plaguing him since the moment he had heard the name Hawkmoth, “What about the Justice League? Why hasn’t anyone called them in?”

“Screw the League,” a harsh voice called out, and the party turned to see Chloe and Sabrina with Alice and Will following behind.

“Chloe,” Marinette said instantly brighter, “You’re done early. I thought you would be dragging your feet in there.”

“Chloe helped me make the scavenger hunt so she can’t participate,” Sabrina said sliding into the chair beside Marinette. “So, we decided to do a walking tour with our partners instead.”

Everyone then introduced themselves, with Damian being introduced to Chloe last. They stared at each other with narrowed eyes before huffing simultaneously and sipping their drinks. The rest of the group giggled at that before Alice said, “What do you mean, ‘screw the League?’ I know some of them are blowhards, but they do have some powerful magic users. They can help.”

Chloe sniffed derisively, but the rest of the Parisians became somber. They looked to Chloe almost as if asking for her permission before she nodded. Then Marinette cleared her throat and said,

“It was three years ago, at the beginning of this…mess. At first all of the akumas were level 1-4s. Powerful and scary but not dangerous. No casualties, and they always had limited goals. It was very rare for them to effect more than ten people. Then…then we got our first level eight, Dark Cupid.”

“I saw him in my research,” Damian said stiffly, “I couldn’t understand why he was put so high, all of the other level eights had a death count in the high thousands, but his wasn’t even in the high hundreds.”

Sabrina nodded emphatically, her face contorted with pain, “Yes. The akumas are categorized by the damage they do. Which means that the higher akumas are rated by their death count. 5 is 1-1,000. 6 is 1,000-10,000. 7 is 10,000-1 million. 8 is 1 million-10 million. 9 is 10 million to 1 billion. and 10 is anything high than a billion.”

“But there are other kinds of damage that rank just as high as death,” Marinette said as she reached over to grip Chloe’s hand which was starting to shake. “When those akumas happen on a wide scale, they are usually ranked higher.”

“And Dark Cupid was one of those?” Kathryn asked.

“I read about him too,” Alice said leaning forward. “There weren’t any fight videos of him on the blog, but it said that he made people feel the opposite of their true emotions. What does that even mean?”

The girls took a deep breath and looked to Chloe again. She just nodded as she stared numbly into her coffee. It was Alix who spoke, “Dark Cupid was a boy whose Valentine humiliated him. So he made people feel the opposite of their true emotions. Love turned to hate. Hate turned to love.”

“I don’t see the problem,” Damian said, his brow furrowed in confusion.

“Oh!” Will cried, horror etched over his face. “Oh, that…that’s awful!”

“What?” Kathryn demanded.

Marinette sighed and looked them in the eyes. There was something hard and cold in her gaze, and it seeped into her voice as she said, “Imagine the person you love the most. The person you trust the most, parent, sibling, partner, spouse, being struck with a black arrow and then turning against you. They are consumed with a burning obsessive hatred for you and everything else they love. What do you think would happen?”

Damian paled at the thought. He could imagine it. He didn’t want to, but he could see it happening. His family sitting down to dinner, suddenly struck from behind…and then turning on him. It was a horrible image and he wanted to forget he ever saw it, but Marinette was not done.

“Now, imagine the person you hate. You’re worst enemy, and the same thing happens to them. Except now, with love. Or perhaps more accurately…lust. You’re enemy filled with an obsessive drive to ‘love’ you, just as your loved ones are filled with an obsessive drive to hate you. What do you think happens then?”

Damian was suddenly very glad that he had not eaten anything, because he was going to throw up. The images that Marinette was painting for them. They were horrible. They were gruesome, and disgusting on so many levels. And…and they had lived through that. He looked up and saw it. All four of these girls had faced that. Spouses turning on their partners. Parents turning on their children. Friends turning on their friends. All on a day when they were supposed to be celebrating their love and trust. And then to add their enemies into the mix…

“Only 136 dead,” Sabrina said solemnly, “But over three million reports of assault and battery, and over ten thousand reported rapes, and sexual assaults. And those were just the people who came forward.”

“We called the Justice League,” Chloe said as a single tear fell down her quivering jaw. “We broke their website begging for help, once the Miraculous Cure passed through. But they never answered.”

“Three more akumas were created because of that,” Marinette said squeezing Chloe’s hand as Sabrina wrapped her arms around her. “Eventually Ladybug gave a press release saying she got in contact with an International member, but she didn’t say whom. Here,” Marinette pulled up a video on YouTube and showed it to them. “You can watch that later. It basically says that miraculous matters are miraculous matters, and the Justice League will not be coming unless it’s a level 11 akuma.”

“Level 11?” Kathryn squeaked.

“Yeah,” Alix said with an amused huff, “Otherwise known as the ‘How in God’s Name are You Still Alive!’ Protocol.”

“If either Ladybug, or Chat Noir ever lose their Miraculous to Hawkmoth. Then the other is to retreat and go into hiding, while every citizen still alive in Paris spams the Justice Leagues number until someone shows up,” Marinette said with a small smile. “It hasn’t happened yet, but we’ll be prepared if it does.”

“Were you?” Alice looked at the shaking Chloe, her voice hesitant and soft. “I’m sorry but you told me that you used to have a lot of enemies. So…were you…um…”

Chloe sniffed and straightened, she was as rigid as a bored, but her chin was up and her jaw was set. Her eyes had not lost their fire as she scoffed and said, “Kwami no, no one touched me during Dark Cupid. I was the bitch who caused the whole thing.”

The Gothamites blinked. “What?” Damian demanded.

“You heard me,” Chloe said firmly squeezing Marinette’s hand. “Dark Cupid. The most emotionally scaring akuma aside from Sand Boy. I caused him. I was the dumb bitch who humiliated the boy and made Valentines day banned in Paris! It was my fault.”

“Chloe—” Sabrina began, but the heiress silenced her by leaning forward and growling,

“I caused more akumas, and suffering in this city, then Joker has probably done in a year. Everyday I wake up knowing that I am probably the most despicable being on the planet. But you know what? Everyday I wake up and decide to change that. It will never be enough. I will never undo the damage I did to Paris. But damn it, I’m trying! And I’m not alone.

“This is Paris. If you haven’t been an akuma, you’ve caused one, and no one is immune. Not even angels who are too good for this world like, Sabrina and Marinette heaven help them! So everyday we wake up knowing that we are villains! But every day we wake up and we swear we are going to do better. We make amends and we try. We’re all monsters, but we all have one enemy, and that’s the idiot who thinks he can put chains on monsters and not get bit!”

Chloe was seething now. Her teeth bared. Her eye wide. But she was still in control, and she stared them all down with the deadly force of a lioness. It quelled any arguments, pinning the Gothamites to there seats. As she roughly wiped the tears from her eyes, she declared,

“So yeah, screw the Justice League. As far as I’m concerned, they can all go and suck it! This is Paris, and we clean up our own messes. Besides even if they did show up, there’s nothing they can do. Ladybug is right, this is a Miraculous problem to be solved by Miraculous Holders.”

“Besides,” Sabrina said in a far gentler tone, “Do any of you really want to see and akumatized Superman? Or Batman?”

Everyone shivered at the thought, even Damian. He then drew in on himself as he thought about everything they had said. Lila. Hawkmoth. Dark Cupid. Chloe. The Justice League. Not all of his questions were answered, not by a long shot. But then he remembered the scavenger hunt. The pure joy radiating off of the Paris Class as they ran through the Museum. The genuine laughter of the employees at seeing their antics. The bright smiles of the civilians as they walked with their heads held high down the streets. They had been through hell, like Gotham never had. But where Gothamites scurried and scowled they…smiled.

Even now as he looked up to study the four girls before them, they were smiling. Bright, genuine, pure smiles. They laughed as they pulled the Gothamites out of their horror. They cheered as more of their friends joined them from within the museum. It was strange. It was confounding, confusing, and impossible for Damian to comprehend. It was…miraculous.

And so Damian whispered to himself in his heart, "I swear on mantle as Robin, and on my title as the Son of the Bat, and the Demon's Heir, I will do everything in my power to defeat Hawkmoth."

@night-ngale @annastasha @ev-cupcake @hammalammadamdam @laydeekrayzee @itsemmylie @when-no-wings-do-broomsticks @doglover82 @raven-ette @atiredartistandacat

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