#platonic daminette

[mochinek0]

Family Secrets

Damian couldn't believe his eyes. He had seen pieces of that costume when he lived in the League, but never did he expect to see his mother, disguised, in Paris! He carefully kept an eye on her as she walked into a bakery. He felt his own breath hitch as a young girl came and hugged her.

"Nonna!" she cried.

'Grandmother?'

"Hello, My Leetle Fairy." his mother replied, hugging her back.

"Are you having fun on your travels?" the girl questioned, "Where did you go this time?"

"Egypt." his mother declared.

The girl smiled, "Did you see the pyramids?"

His mother brought out a keychain of a pyramid and handed it to the girl.

"It's great!" the girl smiled, "I'll keep it on my desk so when I see it, I can think of you."

"I wish you could come with me." the disguised Talia declared.

"Maybe when I'm older?" the young girl answered.

Talia tapped the young girl's nose, "Possibly, but we know very well how hard you work."

"Mom!" announced a man, who seemed the size of Bane, "How are you?"

Damian watched on in shock. He was aware that his mother was much older than she appeared. Hearing someone around his father's age, refer to his mother as a maternal figure was unsettling.

"I'm fine, Tom." she answered.

"Would you like to put your bag down and rest?" he asked.

"Nonsense." his mother replied, "I may look older, but I'm fine. I wanted to see if Marinetta would like to take a ride around the city with me."

"Yes!" the girl cried.

Damian watched as they both got on a motorcycle and drove off.

It took awhile, but Damian finally spotted them near the Seine, eating ice cream. The girl was looking down at something, in her lap. His mother's eyes connected with his and he knew he had made her.

"I'll be right back." Gina spoke, kissing Marinette on the head.

Gina walked in Damian's direction.

"What are you doing here?" she demanded.

"Do you plan to kidnap her, Mother?" Damian questioned.

"Of course not!" Gina snapped.

"Who is she?" he asked.

Talia sighed, "Your niece; she's your age."

"So the man who called you mother-"Damian began.

"Your grandfather wanted me out of the way. He was looking for a male successor to take over." Talia began to explain, "He kicked me out of the League, briefly, and I had some semblance of a normal life. I fell in love with a baker. Tom is our son, before I ever met your father. Essentially, he is your older brother."

She sighed, "Everyhting was fine and I was happy, until he sent someone to exterminate us. Before I killed him, I learned my death was a test. Kill me and become successor to the League. I returned with his head and threw it at your grandfather's feet. He looked at me and said he would allow me back on one condition."

"What was it?" Damian asked.

"I had to leave my family." she admitted, "I said I understood and would be back in three months. I knew he would never stop coming after us."

"Why three months?" her son questioned, "You were already there. Did they not know of the League?"

"Tom was getting married and no, my family knew nothing about the League. I returned and told my family I would be 'traveling in my old age'. A few years after he got married, I came back to a three year old granddaughter. Your grandfather found out and forbid my return."

"Grandfather is dead." Damian spoke.-changing subject

"I've been stopping in more." she declared, "They aren't like us. They're not like your father. They know nothing about my past, aside from divorcing a man, who made me happy. I tell them I'm traveling around the word. I wear a wig and makeup. At some point, I will have to stop visiting all together since anyone else will grow old and pass on. The League........you lose sense of time when there. Two years ago, I thought she was still three. She was turning fourteen."

"What about the man?" her son asked.

Talia smiled, "Reminds me of your grandfather, actually. He's all about 'traditions', so perhaps it was for the best."

"Nonna!" Marinette cried out.

"Please, Damian, leave them alone." his mother whispered.

Damian watched as his mother walked away. He had never known her to beg for something.

"My Leetle Fairy, are you ready to go back home?" Gina asked, "Do you have new inspiration for your designs? I can't wait to see the clothes you create this time."

Damian watched as the girl put her sketchbook away.

'Clothes? Designs?'

He smiled softly. She was an artist, like him. He watched as his mother got on the motorcycle with his niece. What surprised him was seeing his niece glare at him. Damian chuckled.

'Mother may not see it, but she is a lot like them. A little fairy.'

"Damian, a Fairy is someone who helps people who are lost in the dark. It's not always in a literal sense; it can be figurative."

The young Al-Ghul turned and walked in the opposite direction.

'Fairy is a suitable name for my niece. I wonder how Mother would feel learning her true nature? A Fae who lures in her prey.'

TAG LIST: @animeweebgirl @a-star-with-a-human-name @meme991001 @vixen-uchiha @abrx2002 @alysrose-starchild @fandom-trapped-03 @dood-space @moonlightstar64 @saltymiraculer @marveldcedits20 @09shell-sea09 @icerosecrystal @animegirlweeb @insane-fangirl-of-everything @blueblossombliss @nickristus-dreamer @megawhitleycalderonpaganus @missmadwoman @meira-3919  @princessdaisysolosyourfaves @blep-23 @fangirlingfanatic @darkhinauniverse @ravenr22 @im-a-satanic-ritual @ravennm84  @bianca-hooks123 @a-slytherinish-gryffindor @starling218

#Damian Al Ghul #Damian Wayne #talia al ghul #marinette dupain cheng #gina dupain #tom dupain #sabine cheng #ra al ghul #family secrets #platonic daminette #marinette x damian #damian x marinette #mlb x dc #dc x mlb #maribat #league of assassins #miraculous ladybug #ladybug #mochinek0

[meduarts]

Secretary!Marinette AU Masterlist

Well, lots of people like this au, and I have made many contents for this au alone and I think it's enough to make a master list! So here we go.

Fanfiction:

Managing Life [1][2][3][4]

Fanart:

Marinette & Batfam Doodle Dump

Marinette & Damian Doodle Dump

Marinette & Dick Doodle Dump

Marinette & Dick art

Marinette & Bruce Doodle Dump

'Get Help' Comic

Prompts:

How It Started

Expanding The Idea

Secretary! Marinette AU Part 2

Secretary! Marinette AU Part 3

Secretary! Marinette AU Part 4

Secretary! Marinette AU Part 8

Secretary! Marinette AU Part 9

Scenarios:

Bruce and Mari

Mari and Joker

#Managing Life AU #Marinette as Secretary #maribat #Managing Life Masterlist #Secretary!Marinette Masterlist #Secretary!Marinette AU #Marinette Dupain Cheng #mlb x dc #dc x mlb #mlb x batfam #batfam x mlb #marinette x batfam #dickinette #dc x miraculous #platonic daminette #platonic brucinette #platonic timinette #platonic jasonette #platonic maribat

[soulmate-game]

Work burned me out, middle management positions are draining. What was supposed to be an angsty oneshot is now… yeah I’m continuing it. Not a full series, just a two-parter… hopefully.

Edit: I DON’T KNOW WHAT THE FUCK THIS CLUSTERFUCK OF AN EMOTIONAL ROLLER COASTER IS, but BUCKLE IN BECAUSE IT PROBABLY DOESN’T PASS SAFETY REGULATIONS! HOOOOO BOY

Part 1

—*—*—*—*—*

“…” she stared at the being in front of her, face frighteningly blank. Next to her, Bruce fidgeted.

“I’m not going anywhere, so you either gotta learn to love me real quick or get lost quicker,” the child snarked from where he was sitting upside-down on the bat computer chair. “And don’t call me Richard, my name’s Dick.”

“I don’t remember you working with a fetus, Batman,” Marinette slowly drawled, emphasizing the vigilante’s name despite none of the three of them being suited up. Dick shot up with a cry of indignation.

“I am not a fetus! I’m fifteen! I’ve been Robin since I was twelve!”

“Nope,” Marinette countered, unmoved. “I started out as Ladybug when I was twelve, and I was never as small as you,” she blatantly lied. Dick was already taller than her, which wasn’t much of an achievement considering that she was five-foot-one-inch tall. “You are six years old, tops.”

Dick let out an almost inhuman screech of complaint. Even as he rambled on angrily about how wrong she was, Marinette only nodded as if he proved her right about something.

“That was a good squawk though. Definitely a birdie.”

It took another twenty minutes before Dick ran off to tell on Marinette to Alfred, giving her and Bruce some alone time. With which she used to whirl to him and immediately hiss in equal parts fury and worry;

“Please tell me he wasn’t—“

“The timeline is gone,” Bruce reminded her, bracing her by putting both his hands on her shoulders. “He doesn’t remember.”

“Still!”

He let out such a heavy sigh that he seemed to deflate with it, his dark circles growing more pronounced.

“He wasn’t supposed to be,” he admitted softly. “When he turned sixteen, last time, I allowed him to form his own team of teen heroes. Supervised from afar by myself of course, not that they knew that. I had given them the order to stay back and guard their city, but they disobeyed me and snuck onto the battlefield anyway.”

Marinette rubbed at her temples, nodding. “Teenagers have a habit of doing that. This time around, can we ask Bunnyx to supervise them? She has all the energy of a teenager, so she’ll fit in, but the maturity of someone trusted to guard all the timelines.”

Bruce paused, thinking of what little he knew of the pastel rabbit themed hero, and then reluctantly nodded. “That… might be for the best. And giving them more opportunities to train with…” he hummed, hand on his chin. “I might actually change things up, in that case. Instead of jumping to put teens on their own in a tower, the old Justice League headquarters is more protected. And if we started with the ‘sidekicks’,” he gave very purposeful air quotes, “of other Leaguers, it would create a better support system than letting teenagers run around with… really, not enough regulation.”

“Gotta love hindsight,” Marinette agreed with a nod. “The whole teenagers by themselves thing only worked for my team because we were overly traumatized and each saw different apocalypses before we turned sixteen. Bunnyx could fix them herself back then, but still.”

“Best to do better by the new generation,” Bruce agreed with her unspoken statement. “I can still put that old team together again when they’re older, support their development elsewhere in the meantime.”

“Oh, and now that we’re done on that topic,” Marinette snapped her fingers before pointing to the staircase that Dick had disappeared up. “He’s going to make my life a living hell, isn’t he?”

Bruce groaned, offering her a lopsided grimace of apology. “He’s a menace,” he agreed. “He’s scared away any woman I’ve brought to the house, even though most of them are completely platonic. I have to make the press believe the whole playboy thing somehow, and inviting my friends over to chat is the easiest way to do so without breaking hearts for real. Dick hasn’t caught on yet,” Bruce rubbed his forehead. “His antics to scare away Selina Kyle are legendary already, and she’s sapphic. She couldn’t be attracted to me if I was the last man on earth.”

“Could have fooled me,” Marinette teased, suddenly impish. “She’s catwoman, isn’t she?”

Bruce narrowed his eyes, saying only: “Chat Noir. Year one.”

It was Marinette’s turn to grimace. “Point taken. But in my defense, he took way too long to realize he’s gay and watched too much anime at the time.”

Bruce let out one of his unfairly charming chuckles, changing position so that his arm was around her shoulders and pulling her to his side. She fit there surprisingly well, for someone almost half his size. She leaned into him, and the both just soaked in the comfort of one another for a long moment.

“You know,” Bruce started for a while. “If you want to stay in Gotham, we can make you another alter ego so that you don’t accidentally lure Shadow Moth here. Tell that fox of yours to make it seem like you’re in Paris and take some of the weight off of your shoulders for a change. Blackmail Constantine into charming some jars to keep the butterflies in until you can purify them.”

“Hmmm.” She closed her eyes. “Ladybird sounds nice. Fits with the bird thing that Robin has going for him.”

Bruce laughed. “That’ll really annoy him,” he warned, amused. Marinette’s close-eyed smile was pure mischief.

“That’s the whole point. I’m not letting a fetus win against me, bat-boy.”

—*—*—*—*—*

Marinette wasn’t speaking to Bunnyx. Bruce didn’t know what they had said to one another, but he could guess it had to do with Jason.

With his baby, who he just buried. The boy Marinette had thought of a son ever since he first brought him home. She had even smoothed things over between Dick and Jason, which he had considered nothing short of a miracle at the time.

But that miracle was nowhere to be seen now, with Marinette every bit as despondent next to him as he was. He wanted to be angry with her, he did, but he couldn’t. He had seen her blow up at Bunnyx, seen her try to hold her status as Grand Guardian over the bunny holder.

Bunnyx had simply said that she wouldn’t answer to Ladybug until after the grief passed then, and ran away into her burrow.

“Is this the payment?” He heard her whisper, her voice hoarse and broken. “For the do-over? We passed the old timeline. We took down Shadow Moth. Is this the price?” Tears dripped down her face silently, she didn’t seem to notice them. “Was I not a good enough mother? Should I—“ she stopped herself, shaking her head. He didn’t ask what she was about to say. Maybe he should have.

—*—*—*—*—*

Tim was great. He was too much like Marinette at times, which made Bruce’s chest ache, but he was a great Robin. A great son. His experience with Marinette proved priceless when it came to helping curb Tim’s overworking habits and caffeine addiction.

But not even Tim could find where Marinette had disappeared to, even with his detective skills surpassing Bruce’s already.

Tim was the first son of his that didn’t get to grow up with Marinette at all.

—*—*—*—*—*

“It’s fine, Baobei,” she whispered, stepping to the side. Behind her was the waterfall that hid the tunnel to the Batcave. “He’s not the one to blame. He did his best, even now he’s doing his best.”

“Then why does—“

“Because other people need him, and he has too big of a heart to turn them away,” her mouth tilted a little, smile lopsided and sad. “Timothy didn’t replace you. He just forced Bruce to live again. Bruce didn’t kill Joker, because he didn’t want to taint another child with the sight of murder.”

“And you?” The voice was dark, deadly, gruff. Older, and yet… so achingly familiar. She smiled at him again, soft and sad and… proud.

“I don’t have one,” she lied. She had tried, tried so hard. Bruce had gotten in her way first, and then the very same desire to not taint more children with the image of death.

But her baby needed a scapegoat, and she was willing to throw herself on the fire for him.

“That’s why it’s fine,” she repeated. “If this is what you want. Just, please. Let it end with me.”

This time, Marinette made sure she had the Time miraculous safely in her pocket. Nobody would interfere with this.

The bullet sent her into the flow of the waterfall, red flowing behind her like the carpet she used to walk down with Bruce whenever she released a new collection. She felt no regret as she closed her eyes and fell.

—*—*—*—*—*

The shot hadn’t been fatal. Red Hood might have been mad with Pit Rage, but his fondness for his only true mother figure was ever present. He simply wanted to see if she was serious about taking that shot.

His regret was immediate when she didn’t even try to dodge. The bullet had only grazed her shoulder, but she didn’t seem to notice that. She had been so ready to die— to let him kill her— that she had passed out before hitting the water. He dragged her to the Batcave, knowing he had a lot to answer for.

Bruce wished he could have found her sooner, found both of them sooner. But at least they were back.

—*—*—*—*—*

“… I mean,” she rocked on her heels. “You are growing a bit old for Robin…”

Tim glared at her, not appreciating the insight.

“Bruce is stuck in the timestream, and you aren’t doing a thing about it. I don’t hold your opinion very highly right now,” he snipped back. She snorted, glancing away.

As if that little stunt to “kill Batman” could ever fool her. She’d been there for the real thing, thanks, she could spot a fake a mile away. “He’s got Bunnyx going to find him. She owes me big time, let her do the heavy lifting for a change.”

“How many years have you held that grudge?” Barbara asked, eyebrows raised as she wheeled herself towards the bat computer. “Even Jason thinks you should have let it go by now.”

Marinette scoffed at the exact same time as a certain someone tutted next to her, making them look for a moment like a perfect pair.

Crossed arms, a scoff, annoyed glare? If a DNA test hadn’t already proven otherwise, they might have thought Damian was hers.

“Fetuses don’t get to judge me,” was her only argument before she turned on her heel and walked away.

“I am not a fetus! Lady Marinette, I am ten years old!”

—*—*—*—*—*

Bonus:

Jason was curled up around Marinette, despite being told numerous times not to crowd her on the med-bay bed. He argued that he shot her, so he gets to nurse her back to health.

Did she use her blood, tainted by years of use of the Ladybug, to purify his pit madness? Yes. Had he figured that out yet? Nope.

“Love you, Mom,” he murmured in his sleep. Marinette, who had been awake for about an hour already, smiled to herself.

“Love you, Baobei.”

#maribat #mlb x dc #ml x dc #dc x mlb #dc x miraculous #platonic jasonette #platonic daminette #platonic timari #platonic dickinette #brucinette #idk what this is #enjoy anyway

[sketchdumpbump]

Sibling daminette au where older sister mari tries to even out all the mindset Talia put on Damian where he’s better than everyone in the league by teaching him from right to wrong (or something idk-) so he becomes more gremlin child than murdery gremlin child

The first meeting with batdad lol

Bonus: gremlin goes for sister’s hair

( yes I know I haven’t posted in a while and I’m sorry, I don’t have an excuse other than the fact that I am lazy when it comes to drawing fan art 😅)

#maribat #sketch #doodle #maribat fanart #my art #sibling daminette #platonic daminette #bio!dad bruce #doodle dump

[icerosecrystal]

The Eldest Al-Ghul Wayne - Chapter 2: The Teachings of a Sister

As time continued, Damian grew. He was now five years old, although four was when he started his training to become heir of the League of Shadows. Talia took to teaching him the basics first, she taught him about different weapons, the most effective way to kill a person, how to successfully manipulate someone, and more. Now, Talia thought that she was solely responsible for teaching Damian, but what she was not aware of was Marinette sneaking into the room and hiding in the shadows, watching her mother and brother. There was a reason why Marinette’s league name was Shabh (ghost/phantom), and it most certainly had to do with her quiet presence, almost similar to death. But Marinette intended to teach her brother more things. She wanted him to know what love was and how to love, but she also needed to pass along the teachings of her secret.

What no one knew was that in the quiet hours of the night, Marinette spent her time studying an old grimoire, describing the infamous miraculous. These miraculous belonged to the sister organization of the League of Shadows, the Order of Guardians. She was fascinated by the powers that were described within the pages of the grimoire. But she knew that while the kwamis, the god-like beings in the miraculous, always had good intentions, those who wielded the miraculous good easily make the kwamis do their bidding. This is why she kept the grimoire hidden from her grandfather and everyone else in the league. For she knew that if anyone found it, they would do horrible things with the power it provided. However, there was a reason why Marinette needed to pass along the teachings to her brother, and it was that she was expendable, when there came a time that she was deemed useless to the league, she would be killed on the spot. For despite being the daughter of Talia and granddaughter of the demon head, her gender would never allow her to live in peace, especially with Damian now being the heir. So, she would need to pass along each teaching to her brother, a burden it may be, but the secrets would help him and most certainly be protected by him.

Marinette was brought back to the duel between her brother and mother hearing a loud grunt, smiling when she saw the katana in her brother. Despite it being more than five years since the day that the different weapons were presented to him, Damian’s favorite weapon was still the obsidian katana with emerald and sapphires embedded in the hilt. He had never liked any other weapon, and to this day it still reminded Marinette of her and her brother. She watched as her mother dismissed Damian before slipping after him herself. She trailed him for a while, his paranoia causing him to glance back every so often. Eventually, she launched at him with a hug, quickly disarming his attack, and then whispering in his ear, “Hello, Habibi. How was your training?”

Damian instantly relaxed, hugging her back and exclaiming, “Ukhti (sister)! I missed you! It was amazing! I beat mother twice!” Even though Damian had eventually stopped calling Marinette mommy, he had instead taken to calling her Ukhti and if no one else was present, Umi (mom).

She ruffled his hair and replied, “That’s amazing, Habibi. Now we should return to our rooms, I need to show you something.” Damian instantly perked up realizing that she meant that was going to teach him more about the grimoire now. He took her hand, pulling her to their rooms. Once they were inside and the doors were locked, she pulled out the grimoire and snuggled with him, before letting her voice enchant him, telling him about the mystical and fantastic miraculous. All the while, her heart beat its unique beat, calming Damian instantly.

It wasn’t until a month later that disaster struck. After one of Damian’s training sessions, Marinette didn’t find him coming down the hall like normal. Instantly panic rose within her. She ran throughout the compound, trying to figure out why Damian would suddenly not do what he had been doing for more than a year now. Bile rose in her throat, wondering if he had been injured. So, she check the infirmary, but alas, Damian was not in there. There was one other place he could be, a small hall in the compound had a tiny room, big enough for only children. This would be where Damian would go, only if something truly horrific happened. The last time he went there, it was because he took the life of someone, an enemy of the league. Once reaching the room, she went in, and sure enough, there Damian was. He was rocking back and forth, tears coming down his face, and he was tapping something against his knee. She quickly realized it was her heartbeat, scaring her more because he did this whenever he needed comfort. She gently pulled him into her arms, her heart breaking when she heard his quiet sobs. Once he calmed down, she asked the dreaded question, “What happened, Habibi?”

It was then that the dam broke and he sobbed out, “Mother and Grandfather thought I was getting too weak because of you! So they made me kill a dog! She was so beautiful and completely innocent, but they made me kill her and watch as she died.”

Fury rose inside her. How dare those two bastards do that to her baby brother. But one question still lingered in her. She knew Damian was an extreme animal-lover, but he had killed a human, why was this reaction worse than the rest? And so she asked just that, and Damian replied, “That man I killed I told had no family. He was also a horrible murderer and cheat like almost everyone in this wretched place. Along with that, he had a rucksack on his head and I wasn’t forced to watch him die. But this dog was innocent, I could see her lovely eyes right before I killed her. I also know she had puppies, puppies that would now grow up without a mother because of me. She… she died so slowly. Maybe if I had found a way to kill her faster, she wouldn’t have died in so much pain…”

Marinette snapped her head down to look at her brother. Her sweet, handsome, incredible baby brother was currently beating himself up because of something those bastards she was related to did. Right away she started shushing him and murmured to him, “Never blame yourself for something Mothe–no, something Talia or Ra’s did. You didn’t sadistically decide to kill that dog. They forced you. It was either you killed or be killed. And while I do sympathize for that poor dog, I will never wish for her to be alive when my precious baby is dead.” She then started muttering about how much she hated the league, Talia, and Ra’s, cussing every single one of them out. All the while, Damian watched wide-eyed. He had heard some crass language in the league, but his sister could win an award for how vulgar her words were.

Marinette, suddenly stood up, picking up Damian as she did. She slipped on her cloak, covering both herself and Damian, and blended in with the shadows. She also used some passageways she had discovered to discreetly get her and Damian to their rooms. Once she reached the rooms, she put Damian down on the bed and pulled out the grimoire. After sitting next to Damian, he snuggled against her, expecting her to start her lessons like normal. Marinette, on the other hand, had a different idea. “Damian, could you face me, please?” Damian instantly did so, recognizing the severity of her tone and the lack of any nicknames. Marinette then continued, “Today, I am going to explain to you, why I don’t support the league. And yes before you ask, I am a defect,” silencing his obvious question. “No one in the league truly cares about me. The main reason is my gender. As a female, I’m not seen as important as I could be. I am telling you this now, but as I grow older, I will continue to be deemed unuseful, and eventually, there will be those who will be aiming to kill me. The league is also not a good place for you. This is why I have tried to protect you all this time. I’m trying to stop a future in which you aren’t my Damian, but instead the leagues. Today’s events prove just that. My imminent death is also why I have been teaching you the grimoire, for it is you who will need to preserve these secrets. I will tell you now that you may never share these secrets with anyone in the league, no one in fact, except any family you may have. For everyone in the league will just be looking to exploit the miraculous, and we can’t let that happen. I adore you, my love. And I will protect you with my dying breath, Habibi.”

Once Marinette had stopped talking, Damian’s brain just continued whirring in thought. Eventually, he decided that his sister was always right, and from that day accepted that the league would not be his future, for Marinette would never let it be. He nodded his head to show that he understood her words. She smiled at him, before tucking him against her body. And as Damian listened to her voice once more, all he could hope was that there would never come a time when he would lose his sister. For he could never bear it. But as he listened to her heartbeat and her angelic voice, he truly believed that everything would be okay. It was also on this day that Damian no longer swore full allegiance to the league, but rather to his sister, who would always be worth more than anything.

(1662 words)

Hi everyone!

I am so sorry for basically disappearing! Thank you all so much for all the support and I hope you enjoyed this chapter! If you want to be added to the tag list for this fic or my permanent tag list, please just let me know! ❤️❤️❤️

~Crystal ❄️

Permanent Tag list: @heinrode, @astoriaandromeda, @galla02006

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#maribat #batman #miraculous ladybug #marinette dupain cheng #marinette al ghul #marinette al ghul wayne #damian wayne #talia al ghul #ra's al ghul #batfam #assassin marinette #platonic daminette #marinette deserves better #damian deserves better #league of assassins #fluff #little angst #TEAGW #The Eldest Al-Ghul Wayne

[lemondropsandsodapops]

Following my Jonette + Damien Bakery AU:

Marinette, Jon, and Damien are around the same age. (20 somethings?)

I would say that Marinette’s bakery isn’t in a high traffic area. Since she’s also focusing on spreading good energy, she’d probably allow people who can’t necessarily afford the food to come in and stay. (Let’s say that most of her income comes from doing commissions).

As said before, of course, the baked goods are magic. Purifying Gotham (yaaay.)

Listen. I just have this very specific scene in my mind where an angry customer comes, and they’re about to hit Marinette, but Jon blocks/ catches their hand. Marinette could most definitely handle herself, but I just think the idea is neat.

 I don’t necessarily like Adrien (due to his behavior as Chat + his attitude/ actions in canon as a civie... the same going from some other characters), but I’m definitely not going down the heavy salt/ bashing route. So perhaps Marinette and the other’s don’t have as good of a relationship as before. Maybe she still talks to some of them more than others, but they're not as close as before

Let Marinette dabble with creation more!! Let her go outside of fashion, and let her just take up all creative studies. Inventions? Maybe. Cooking? Of course.

Damien + Marinette meeting? Part of me feels like it could go smoothly. Another part of me thinks that it’d be funnier if they couldn’t stand each other at first, and slowly they gain each other’s respect.

Why is Jon working there? I remember seeing a fic where Jon and Marinette are university students who are both trying to get away from bering heroes. So, to take inspiration from that, Jon may want a getaway from being a hero, but still wants to be… useful, in a way. He still wants to help others, but for his own (mental/ emotional) health, he wants to (temporarily) quite being Superboy. So, what’s better than applying to a normal bakery to help out the local community with baked goods? (He may work part-time, because I mean, it is in Gotham).

 This leads to Damien absolutely scruntinizing Marinette to the point where she feels like she’s being interrogated (to her annoyance). He wants to make sure Jon absolutely knows what he’s doing and that the bakery is trustworthy.

What if he checks out the bakery to see how safe it is? Is it durable? Does it have the proper safety exits? Are you windows even bulletproof? Are your doors??

(Marinette could eventually tell that he’s just quite… protective? of his friend.. or at least he just cares a lot, but come on, man!)

Listen. I crave Marinette + Damien + Jon chaotic friendship. What of it if it starts off with Marinette + Damien frenemyship? It’s a work in progress. They’ll get there!

He wouldn't. I think we both know Damien wouldn't work there. But imagine Jon enacting some revenge and Damien getting pulled into working there for the day. May be ooc, but it's funny. (Imagine how their could either go so great or so poorly. Would Damien be disguised? Would he be blatantly rude to customers or just to the disrespectful ones? Would Damien and Marinette end up competing to see who can "make the most money" or "do the best?" Damien swears that he's not competing, but he seems to be in deep concentration.. Is Jon going to regret doing this? Find out next time on)

#maribat #maribat jon kent #maribat damian wayne #maribat marinette dupain cheng #jonette #platonic daminette #... kind of. #Platonic maridamijon #if you count two of the three constantly antagonizing each other as platonic!! #itll get better soon (maybe)

[marauderundercover]

A Thousand Years ch. 17

AO3

Prev

“Where do you think you’re going, Mister?” Marinette asks, raising an eyebrow as Damian creeps towards the door. He pauses, glancing between her and the door before sighing.

“I don’t understand why you have insisted on benching me.” He huffs, crossing his arms.

“It’s cause pigtails is boring.” Plagg sings, cackling as she glares at him. The kwami had decided he liked Damian, and was rarely out of sight now that he was no longer a secret. While she loved how close the two had become, she didn’t love Plagg constantly encouraging Damian to choose the more chaotic option when possible. Plagg himself had awful impulse control, and he was trying to pass it on to Damian. The other kwamis were much calmer and still kept to themselves, not yet trusting Dick and Damian. While it hurt her, a little, that they didn’t trust two of the most important people in her life, it also helped her blood pressure to not be through the roof. Especially knowing the chaos Trixx and Plagg could create together with Damian if Trixx decided to trust Damian.

“Plagg, you are not helping. Believe it or not, I’m not doing this to be boring, I’m doing it because I care about him. It’s for one night, Dames. You didn’t go to school today because you have a fever. As long as you don’t have one tomorrow, you can go back on patrol. Dick told me that this isn’t a new rule for you.” She says, passing him the tea he’d requested, likely as a distraction to keep her from noticing his breakout attempt.

“Yes, but usually, I’m able to follow him after an hour or so and he can’t do much about it. But now you’re aware of it, and I am being punished.” Damian frowns. Marinette reaches up and holds her wrist against her kid’s head. “What are you doing?” He asks grumpily.

“Checking to see if you still have a fever.” Marinette says gently, not wanting to upset him any more than he already was. Damian was extremely cranky when he was sick. Marinette frowns at the heat radiating off of his head. Marinette glances at Plagg, and he flies over, settling on top of Damian’s head. The kwami winces, and nods. “I’m gonna grab the thermometer, okay? Just go sit on the couch.” She says, trying to push down the worry that threatens to build up. Damian opens his mouth to argue, but Marinette gives him a look and he sighs before dropping down onto the couch. Heading into the bathroom, Marinette grabs a bottle of children’s tylenol and a thermometer before heading back to the living room.

“I don’t need medicine.” Damian huffs once he spots her, frowning. Marinette snorts.

“Let’s take your temperature before you decide you don’t need medicine, okay?” She suggests. Damian sighs, but turns to her so she can run the thermometer over his forehead. It beeps, and Marinette frowns, trying to shove down the panic that was threatening to bubble up. “Okay kiddo, I’m gonna have to pull the grown up card and veto your no medicine decision.” She says.

“But I don’t need it.” Damian grumbles, sitting up. Marinette turns the thermometer towards him, letting the numbers blink red. 101.9/38.8. While she was silently relieved that Dick had purchased a thermometer that had fahrenheit and celsius, she was even more worried at the idea that he was out and Damian’s fever wasn’t getting better.

“You either have to take the medicine, or we have to go to Leslie.” Marinette offers, knowing it would be an entire ordeal if she brought up the hospital. Not that she wanted to take Damian to the hospital. But she would rather be safe than sorry when it comes to a fever. Damian grumbles, but takes the medicine, wincing slightly. “Does your throat hurt?” She asks.

“I’m fine, Marinette. If you were not here, I would go on patrol. And I would be just fine.” He huffs, laying down and curling into a small ball on the couch. Marinette settles into the armchair across from the couch and flips a movie on. She just needed to watch him carefully. He’d be okay.

---

“Pssst! Hey, Pigtails. The kid needs you.” Plagg’s voice makes Marinette sit straight up, adrenaline shooting through her.

“Crap.” She mutters, shoving her hair out of her face. Her eyes dart around the room, quickly locking onto Damian. “Damian?” She says softly, moving towards him slowly. A quiet sniffle is the only response. Marinette grabs the thermometer from the coffee table and quickly runs it across his head.

103.2/39.5. This was bad. Taking in a deep breath, she takes a second to ground herself. She wouldn’t be able to help Damian if she freaked out and panicked. Quickly sliding on a pair of shoes, she grabs her phone and purse before grabbing Dick’s car keys off the hook. Since he no longer had to pretend to use his civilian car at night, he left the keys with her. Rushing back over to Damian, she carefully scoops him into her arms. He was honestly almost too tall for her to carry, but she didn’t care.

“Baba?” He says, and Marinette is suddenly thankful that they’d been working on Arabic. Although she couldn’t speak it, she could at least understand a little bit.

“Non, petit oiseau. It’s just me.” She says softly, quickly locking the door and rushing to the elevator. He sighs, and buries his head into her shoulder.

“Ummi, I don’t feel good.” He says softly, and Marinette’s heart breaks. Sometimes Damian was so mature, it was hard to forget that he’s still just a little kid. She remembered what it was like to be sick and just want her mom and dad. She wished she could give them to him. Hitting the button for the garage, Marinette adjusts Damian in her hold, trying hard to ignore how hot his head had become. Looking down into her purse, she makes eye contact with Plagg.

“Do me a favor? Text Jason that I’m taking Damian to Leslie’s.” She says quietly. Jason was on crutches for the next two weeks, and thus was off patrol. And since she didn’t know how to reach Dick’s comms, she’d have to let Jason do that part. Glancing down at the kid in her arms, Marinette tries not to let herself panic. He was fine. Everything would be fine. Leslie would probably even tell her that she was worried about nothing.

---

Dick frowns at the constant buzzing coming from his comm, until he remembers he’d muted it. Cursing under his breath, he unmutes it and pauses on a roof.

“-amnit, Dick! What’s the point of having your fucking comm in if you’re not gonna answer!” Jason snaps.

“Hood? What’s going on? You shouldn’t be on patrol.” Dick says, immediately worried about his little brother. Jason was supposed to be on crutches. And although he’d insisted he was fine to go out, Alfred and Marinette had managed to convince him to stay back and just do case work for at least a week.

“First of all, fuck you. Secondly, it’s not me. Marinette texted me but I fell asleep and didn’t get it until five minutes ago.” He huffs out, and Dick’s heart drops.

“What happened? Are they okay?” He asks, immediately running worst case scenarios in his head.

“Damian’s fever spiked. Marinette was taking him to Leslie’s.” Jason says. Dick frowns, a million worrying thoughts flooding his head.

“Go to them. We’ve only got another hour or two of patrol anyway. I can handle it.” Tim chimes in.

“Are you sure?” Dick asks, hesitant to leave his little brother on patrol alone. Tim snorts.

“Yes, mom, I’m fine. Go check on the kid. If I need you, I’ll call. Hood can keep me company on comms.” Tim says, and Dick can practically hear his smirk.

“Oh joy.” Jason sighs. Dick shakes his head, a small grin on his face. Usually, he’d probably laugh and join in on the teasing. But right now, he just needed to get to Leslie’s.

---

“You have an awful lot of eye makeup on tonight, Richard.” Leslie says, quirking an eyebrow as Dick rushes into her clinic. He winces, shrugging.

“Didn’t wanna take the time to get it off. How’s Damian?” He asks, jumping straight to the point. Leslie gives him a small smile, and Dick’s shoulders relax slightly.

“His fever is finally down. But I do think we should consider a tonsillectomy.” She says gently. Dick’s eyebrows furrow.

“What, why? What’s wrong?” He asks, feeling the panic that had dissipated start to return.

“Breathe, Richard. You know the last time he had tonsillitis we had the conversation about if he’d had it previously, right?” She asks. Dick nods. “The frequency in which he gets tonsillitis in combination with the way his airway is obstructed while his tonsils are swollen like this- I just have to recommend surgery to remove them. It would be in Damian’s best interest in the long run.” She explains.

“Did you tell Marinette yet?” Dick asks, and Leslie nods.

“She was rather panicked when she brought him in, and I’m afraid my suggestion for surgery didn’t help much. She hasn’t left him since they got here.” She says.

“And how long-”

“Hour and a half.” Dick can’t help but feel guilty. Sure, he answered Jason almost immediately, but if he’d left Marinette a way to reach him on comms, he could’ve been here sooner.

“Can I-” He starts, but Leslie cuts him off, nodding.

“Usual room.” She says. “Only the Waynes would have a usual room.” She adds under her breath. Dick walks the familiar path, gently opening the door to the room he’d been in a million times. Seeing Damian in a hospital bed hurts. He looked so much younger. He lets the door shut quietly, but Marinette still jumps up, eyes wide as she throws an arm in front of Damian.

“It’s just me, babe.” Dick says gently, holding his hands up. Her eyes lock on his and she immediately relaxes, sinking back into the chair next to Damian’s bed.

“Did Leslie tell you about the surgery?” She asks, running her hand through Damian’s hair. Dick takes the seat on the other side of the bed and lays a hand on Damian’s head to check that his fever was still down. He nods.

“I’m not sure how Damian will feel about it.” He says, frowning slightly. He loved Damian. But a lot of the time, Damian tried to act like nothing could hurt him, and Dick was worried that he’d turn down the surgery because of it. And even though he was the parent in this situation, he didn’t want to take away Damian’s ability to decide something like this. Maybe he’d accept a bribe… Marinette shrugs.

“Maybe if we point out it would stop him from getting sick like this so often, it would help. I know how much he hates being off patrol.” She says softly, her shoulders relaxing even more. Dick snorts.

“Yeah, yeah you’re probably right.” He says, grinning.

“I’ll be on your side for this, too.” A voice pipes up. Dick blinks, and the little black cat- Plagg- was suddenly on the pillow next to Damian’s head. Dick raises an eyebrow and looks to Marinette.

“Our kid tried to follow you on patrol. Plagg encouraged him until he realized that Dames really was sick.” She says tiredly. Despite the fact that Damian tried to sneak out, Dick’s chest fills with warmth at Marinette’s words. ‘Our kid’. Maybe it was time to talk about legally adding Marinette as one of Damian’s guardians. He knew that if something happened to him, Marinette would take good care of him. Any of his family would too, but he didn’t want to put the responsibility on them. And Tim was still just a kid himself, no matter what he thought.

“Hey, sweetheart. How’re you feeling?” Marinette says softly. Dick glances down at Damian, relief flooding him the second they lock eyes.

“What happened?” Damian asks, wincing. Marinette pushes hair out of Damian’s face, and Dick gently touches his kid’s cheek.

“Your fever spiked, Dames. Mari brought you to Leslie’s.” Dick explains. Damian immediately pouts.

“Patrol-” he starts to say, but Marinette cuts him off.

“Will still be there when you’re feeling better, petit oiseau. But pushing yourself now is just going to make you sicker. It’s okay to take a break.” She says gently. Dick waits for Damian to argue, but he just sighs instead.

“Plagg?” He asks and the little cat floats up, giving Damian the most serious look that Dick had ever seen on the creature.

“I’m with Pigtails on this one, kid.” He says. Damian turns his attention to him, but Dick just shakes his head.

“Fine. I will accept taking a break. But if there are things I can do from home, I would like to still help. After all, I’m not benched.” He says. Dick glances at Marinette, raising an eyebrow in a silent question. Her lips purse, but she nods.

“Okay. But, lights out by midnight. You need rest when you’re sick, agreed?” Dick says. Damian nods, and Dick lets his shoulders relax. Now to try to convince him that surgery was his best option.

#maribat #maribat dick grayson #maribat damian wayne #maribat jason todd #maribat tim drake #maribat marinette dupain cheng #maribat mominette #dickinette #platonic daminette

[the-witches-you-couldnt-burn]

She was the Art in Artificial Intelligence

Prompt by ChickenFriedFics @whatthechickenfriedfuck

Ao3

After hitting an artist block Damian decided to try something different, something new. Tim had been talking about Artificial Intelligence and his art teacher introduced him to digital design.

It was difficult but nothing was too hard for the rightful Wayne heir, there was nothing he couldn’t do. It almost was like a video game character creation, just with more steps.

If she was real she could’ve been confused as a Wayne. Cerulean eyes, blue-black hair and flushed cheeks littered with freckles. She was beautiful. He could feel the back of his neck warming.

She talked to him and conversed with him to the best of her knowledge, Damian adjusted her code to let her search the internet for answers. She could tell he liked individuals who could keep up with him.

But one day he stumped her.

“Marinette? How do you get people to like you?”

She paused before searching for his answers. Thousands of websites whizzed by in seconds.

“Wikihow says to be yourself and r/relationshipadvice advises people to be honest and surround yourself with people of common interests. But this blog by YohMama67 says—“ she summarised what her database collected but Damian cut her off before she could even get halfway.

“But what’s your opinion?” She could see through the camera’s lens his slouched form leaning over his desk. Damian mostly talked to her late at night, it was 23:47:04.7 at the moment. She had only seen the non-artificial light of day twice, thrice if you count the instance of Brother: Todd jumping through Maker: Damian’s window. She saw pink and peach coloured clouds, her database said this happened at dawn and dusk.

“I—“ she paused, her face scrunching. Sometimes she liked to imagine how she would act if she was human. Maybe she would have gasped, hesitated, inhaled, coughed. “—I’m not ‘people’ Damian. I am an AI not a HP.”

MARINETTE DATABASE:

HP, Human Person. It’s origin came from when Maker: Damian created her and she asked what he was.

(Memory Replay: HP)

“I’m a person, a human”

“And I am an Artificial Intelligence?”

“Yes, an AI.”

(Database: new term learned)

“Does that make you a HP?”

“What do you mean?”

“A HP! A human person!”

He chuckled and agreed. “Well that terminology is accurate, you can use that if you like.”

(Database: new term learned)

Damian sat there, processing her response. Yes, she wasn’t human, just an AI.

Only an AI.

“You’re right.” He turned off the computer, Marinette called out to him before the screen went black. She didn’t like unsaved shutdowns, it messed up her database and the new information wasn't saved correctly and was prone to double processing. He walked away from his desktop and didn’t return for days.

Marinette would keep track of the time down to the nanosecond. He even once thought about downloading her files onto his phone for on the go information.

But when he returned, her program didn’t open like it usually does. Instead it showed a binary code.

01000111 01101111 01101111 01100100 01100010 01111001 01100101

He looked at it before double clicking her program again. The same binary came on screen.

He paused, a hollow feeling sinking in his chest. He sat straight back staring at his screen. Tim could read code but Damian never told him about Marinette, he didn’t want anyone to pry into his business or think it’s strange for him to create a female AI.

He highlighted the sequence, CTRL+C.

Search History:

(Mar-AI) How do you get people to like you?

(Mar-AI) How to be liked - Wikihow Article

(Mar-AI) Laws of Attraction - Wikipedia

(Mar-AI) Reddit - How to tell someone you like them - r/relationshipadvice

(Mar-AI) How to be attractive to others - YohMama67 Tumblr

Binary code decryption

Binary code alphabet

Binary code translator

It said goodbye. He double checked by comparing the translator to the alphabet. He even used other websites. Nothing changed this face.

Her program corrupted. She said goodbye.

Taglist:

@iloontjeboontje @twsssmlmaa @ann0631 @ledalasombra @ev-cupcake @toodaloo-kangaroo @couffeeine @newmoonxy @nightlychaotic

#maribat #mlb x dc #dc x mlb #daminette #platonic daminette #marinette x damian #damian x marinette #Living Painting AU #Marinette has had ENOUGH #Damian Wayne can’t #Damian Wayne-centric

[jayphoenic]

Hi! I just wanted to ask if you had any maribat angst fics you could recommend?

Maribat Angst Recommendations

My first request! How exciting! Now the angst in these aren't much (except the third one), might make a part 2 when I dig through all the posts I've liked. For now, this is what I've gathered.

Siblings don’t shake hands, siblings gotta hug! by @timinette-is-best

Family Doesn’t Run Away, Family Cuddles

Friends Don’t Move On, They Stay Together

Tim hesitated a little but nodded silently and gripped his hands together.  Marinette wanted to scream, because of course he had abandonment issues.  She was going to kill whoever hurt her —she didn’t know who was older, she’d have to ask— brother in such a way.

“Tim, I promise that I will be back, and I’m not trying to get away from you.  I want to get to know you, I just need to take care of this, okay?”

Tim could feel tears stinging at the back of his eyes at her words.  How long had he been waiting for someone to say that to him?  That they weren’t going to run from him, that they would stay, that they actually would come back?

“Okay.”

Useful by @soulmate-game

Part 2

She had brought him to an abandoned area far from any activity, where a body would take ages to find. She had then disarmed herself of her only weapon, her magic suit, and had gotten on the ground in total submission.

She had purposely given him the perfect setting to kill her, where there would be no witnesses and plenty of time before her body would be found for him to escape. That realization hit Damian square the chest, leaving him breathless for a moment.

“I am not here to kill anybody,” he reiterated, his voice noticeably much gentler than before.

Day and Night by @unmaskedagain

“I think I’m doing both,” Marinette answered honestly. Her throat dry, and tears burning in her eyes. “Running away from everything, and still doing the right thing by leaving a bad situation.”

 Tim nodded. He was in the same boat. “Where you coming from?” Though he figured France from her accent.

“Paris. And you?”

“Gotham.”

“No one waiting for you?” Marinette asked. He shook his head. “Me either. Aren’t we a pair?”

A Moment Too Late by @justcourttee

Part 2

The next time she would contact him would be her last. She tried to reach out, ask him if he was okay, but the sentiment only fueled his rage.

“Don’t you get it? I never wanted this bond! I begged you mercilessly to leave it alone. I begged you to shut up, but you just couldn’t could you? I lost everything because of you, you hear me Marinette? If you just would’ve shut your damn mouth, I would still be able to see my mother. I hope you never use this bond again, I never want to hear from you again.”

There was no response, but it didn’t bother him. This was what he wanted for so many years, for her to never utter a sound to him again. It was a blessed day, one filled with silence as he entered Wayne Manor for the very first time. 

Remember some chapters are longer than others (个_个)

Taglist:

@the-dumber-scaramouche @white-flutterby @acount-is-secret-but-needed @dagnysdawn @storylover04 @xxwisegirlxx @lostinday @gingerdaile @solangelo252 @jintana-critical @leftguard66 @stormiclown @chaoticmistake @jeminiikrystal @secretlawyercolorscissors @miraculous-ninja @soloist7 @d-starfairy @literaryhiraeth @mlbfanficwriteranddumper @patton-ly-absurd @anime-rae @doll246 @rowanyx @naturegreenr @naturegreenr-2 @maribatcrossoveronly @musicalspirits @caffeinetheory @demonicbusiness @seraphichana @vixen-uchiha @nugget-consumer-9000 @ghostdragonfang @smartlanceisreal @heckofhell @just-a-bottle-of-chaos @iamablinkmarvelarmy @madhatter-crazyasahatter-blog @pleasentlysurprised @chocolatecatstheron

#maribat fanfic #fanfiction recommendation #fanfiction recommendations #marinette deserves better #mlb x dc #dc x mlb #platonic timari #maribat tim drake #maribat marinette dupain cheng #platonic daminette #maribat angst #tim drake deserves better #maribat daminette #maribat damian wayne #maribat damian al ghul #damian x marinette

[mochinek0]

Wrong Wayne

Marinette was shocked when she got to work that day, at Wayne Enterprise. Someone had set up a desk and laptop, outside of Damian's office. Some random girl was sitting there, smiling.

Marinette walked over to the office and the girl jumped up from her desk.

"Mr. Wayne, isn't in." she smiled, "Do you have an appointment? I can let him know who you are when he arrives."

"And you are?" Marinette questioned.

"I'm Damian Wayne's newest secretary." she answered.

Marinette turned around and pulled her cell phone out. She immediately began to text Tim.

Coffee Buddy: We have a sitch in front of Damian's office. Bring up CCTV.

Espresso King: Who is that?

Coffee Buddy: Claims new secretary. Send security up and look thru footage. Must have moved someone's desk cuz I can still see my desk in the office.

Espresso King: Got it

Not a minute later, Damian stepped out of the elevator.

"Mr. Wayne, I-" the new secretary began.

"Who the fuck is this?" Damian asked.

The secretary panicked, "I-I didn't get her name! I'm very sorry! I-"

Damian glared at her, "Did I ask you? Marinette, who the fuck is this?"

"She claims to be your new secretary." Marinette answered, "Damian, you didn't tell me you were firing me."

The girl paled, further.

"You-You're stuff was cleared out!" she shouted, "It should be obvious now that you're no longer needed here!"

Marinette sighed, "My stuff is in Mr. Wayne's office."

Damian opened the door, allowing the girl to peer inside. As Marinette stated, there were two desks. One by the door, which she could tell belonged to his actual secretary. The other desk by the windows, must belong to Damian.

"Why?" she questioned.

"I'm barely here." Damian stated, "Marinette does most of the work to keep me updated. I'm here only when I need to be and only then."

Mari smiled, "You have a meeting in ten minutes. I left the details on your desk last night. It's with the board of directors for the new animal clinics on 5th and Main. There's a list on top of important bullet points for you to scan over on the first page."

Damian nodded as he headed to his desk. He picked up the packet and quickly started to read it over.

The lady looked around when security got on the floor. Marinette stood by as they put her in handcuffs.

"Why are you doing this?" she screamed, "I work for Mr. Wayne."

"No, you don't." stated Damian, "I do not know who you are. I tell every secretary, I fire, when it is their last two weeks. Miss Dupain-Cheng is by far, the best person to do the job assigned to her. I have no intention of letting her go."

"You bitch! You can't separate us now! We were meant to be!" the lady shouted, "You helped me that day at the Gala.. You picked up my bracelet after that jerk threw it!

"I rarely attend those annoying things." Damian spoke, "When I do, I tend to stay away from people. The last thing I would do is go out of my way for some trinket."

"We were ten." she smiled, "It was like a dream come true."

"I never stepped foot in Gotham until I was ten." the Wayne heir replied, "My first gala was at age thirteen."

"N-No!" she screamed, stomping her foot, " We met when we were ten!"

"You are likely thinking of one of the children my father adopted; liekly Drake." Damian announced, "He was the youngest Wayne before me."

"Drake?" the girl questioned.

"Timothy Drake-Wayne is the current Co-CEO with Mr. Bruce Wayne." Mari declared, "Timothy Drake became a Wayne at age twelve. Before that, he was heir to the Drake Industries. Mr. Wayne took him in after his parents past away and his step-mother was admitted to a facility in Bludhaven."

"Sharing my life story, Coffee Buddy?" Tim questioned, announcing himself, "We found out who the mystery secretary is. Her name is Maybel Evergreen. Her brother is a night guard. We're having GCPD heading to pick him up now."

"No!" Maybel screamed, "He didn't know about this! I told him I had a lot of work to do and wasn't given my badge, yet! He really thinks I work here! He's a single dad of a two year old. Please, I'll-I'll tell you everything just don't involve him!"

"We'll see if that's true." he spoke, walking away.

He made a call to GCPD to pick up the girl and leave the brother for leverage.

As he walked back to the sobbing lady, he looked her over, closely.

'She seems familiar.'

He snapped his fingers, gaining everyone's attention.

"Gold bracelet with opals." He called out.

"Told you." Damian muttered.

The lady looked at him shocked and nodded.

"Why did you harass my younger brother?" Tim questioned.

"Actually, she mixed you two up." Marinette explained.

"Us?" Tim asked, "Me?"

Damian sighed, annoyed, "She claims to have a crush on you since you helped her that day with her trinket. She wanted to 'help' you, too."

Tim blushed, "Oh, um, that's nice, but I'm afraid I'm seeing someone. His name is Bernard."

"Oh." she spoke, looking down at the floor.

"If you still....want to help, you can always apply." Tim offered.

"Really?" Maybel asked.

"You're dedicated; that's for sure." Tim chuckled, "You do still have to go to the GCPD and they can figure out what the damage is. Next time, just apply. I cannot guarantee that you will work with me, though."

Maybel smiled, "Thank you."

"Damian, you have a meeting in three." Marinette announced.

Damian locked the office and left with Marinette at his heels, reading over the packet.

TAG LIST: @animeweebgirl @a-star-with-a-human-name @meme991001 @vixen-uchiha @abrx2002 @alysrose-starchild @fandom-trapped-03 @dood-space @moonlightstar64 @saltymiraculer @marveldcedits20 @09shell-sea09 @icerosecrystal @animegirlweeb @insane-fangirl-of-everything @blueblossombliss @nickristus-dreamer @megawhitleycalderonpaganus @missmadwoman @meira-3919  @princessdaisysolosyourfaves @blep-23 @fangirlingfanatic @darkhinauniverse @ravenr22 @im-a-satanic-ritual @ravennm84  @bianca-hooks123 @a-slytherinish-gryffindor @starling218

#marinette dupain cheng #damian wayne #tim drake #wayne enterprises #dc x mlb #mlb x dc #misunderstanding #secretary marinette #wrong wayne #infactuation #bi tim drake #maribat #marinette x damian #damian x marinette #platonic daminette #platonic timari #big brother tim #mochinek0

[meduarts]

Managing Life (Part 2/?)

Summary: Marinette has been Audrey Bourgeois' secretary ever since she voiced out her dream of having her own business. Audrey thinks that she should learn more about the nooks and crannies of running a fashion business. However, fate has other plans for her, and honestly, what can our resident guardian could do to counter fate?

Disclaimer: I do not own MLB or DCU.

Pairings: Dick Grayson/Marinette Dupain-Cheng

Taglist: @timinette-is-bestbest, @peach-blueberry-pie, @tinybrie, @taewinterbear95, @its-maemain, @flyhighdreamer, @kokoroluna @kitsun3699 @lilfuturescarss @kaimodius @sinoffalsejudgement @night-ngale @laydeekrayzee @fauxnormal @stella17luna @plz-excuse-my-inner-gay @ae-vixrose (Tell me if you want to be a part of the taglist!)

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Bruce Wayne sighed heavily, he could feel a telltale headache coming from miles away. His personal assistant had given him a letter of notice and he had now just figured out how dependent he is on his assistant. Fortunately, he managed to beg, yes he had to beg, his assistant to wait until he could find someone to replace them.

Not to mention the death of his son, Jason, had hit him hard. He admits that he was too late but really what can he do? He wants to kill the Joker but that would mean going against his code. And killing the Joker wouldn't bring Jason back, no matter how much he wanted to bring him back.

Now, he has another son that somehow found out his identity and actually picked up the pieces and demands he takes the kid as the new Robin. Bruce is slowly moving on but the thought of his dead son is still a heartache that he wasn't sure would heal. Dick is trying his best but even he knows that the boy is falling apart.

He sighed heavily, he was tired and lost. Everything constant in his life is changing, slowly but surely and he is not ready. His head began to pound and he tried to soothe it by massaging the bridge of his nose.

His headache came again at the same time his phone rang and that almost made him whine. He picked up the call and cleared his throat. "This is Bruce Wayne speaking."

"Bruce darling! How are you on this fine evening?"

"Audrey...Why did you call?"

"Such coldness from you! Is Brucie Wayne a fake all this time? I'm hurt!"

Bruce groaned out, his head pounding like crazy, "I don't have time for this, Audrey. My assistant gave me their letter of notice days ago and I haven't found a replacement yet. If you have, Oh I don't know, a perfectly reliable assistant laying around in your office then I suggest we end this call because I am this close to breaking my phone for the tenth time."

She laughed at his misery. He could feel his eye twitch.

"I'm hanging up." Why he became friends with Audrey Bourgeois was always one of the many questions he has in his life. Somehow, the bossy blonde decided in Highschool that she would be friends with Bruce and she had stuck to that promise ever since. Honestly, Bruce has learned to not question the way of the universe.

"Wait!" She snorts and finally took a deep breath to compose herself.

"I might have answers for your predicament! My apprentice/assistant/secretary is looking for a new mentor! One that could teach her the ways of a big business should operate! Perhaps, I can introduce you to her!" She offered between her giggles.

Bruce frowned, to be completely honest he had done many interviews and none of the candidates is the perfect assistant that could replace them, he had nothing to lose. "I'm interested."

"Good, I'll schedule a dinner for the three of us at some point during your gala week."

"I hope you're not pranking me again. I had enough grievances lately that'll last a while."

Audrey laughed again at his misery. Why was he friends with this designer again? Right, she ordered him to be one.

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

Marinette made sure that everything had been acquainted before she and Audrey leave Paris for the Wayne Gala. She made sure that the Secretaries of every division in the company know what was going to happen when she was gone for the week.

Fortunately for her, everyone in Style Queen respects her and her decision-making skills. How could they not? She was one of the reasons why Style Queen had been advancing at rapid speed during those 3 years when she became a permanent team member.

No messed up meetings, their profit margin had increased, their designs were always at the top of the chart, their galas were always a hit, and their fashion show had become one of the most awaited fashion shows in years, and to top it all off there has been zero firing and quitting during those 3 years. They didn't even need to pay for extra therapists for the emotional damage caused by Audrey!

A miracle? Yes. A blessing from the Gods? Definitely. Is Marinette the Messiah that the Style Queen company had been waiting for? Most Definitely.

Did the Style Queen employees made a cult to worship the ground that Marinette walks on? Allegedly.

Anyways, after confirming the things that needed to be done she called for a staff assembly and hand them folders as well as pdf files in USB about their schedule for the next week. She made sure that if anything happened in the company while she was away to immediately contact her.

Now, she stood in front of Audrey while listing off the things that should be done during their week in Gotham.

"Right Mme Bourgeois. our agenda during our week in Gotham is as follows, Monday, we'll check on our branch in Gotham, I also book that dinner with M Wayne at 7 p.m. Tuesday, we have a photoshoot in Gotham Garden, I also made sure to up the security in case the rogues decided to attack and a failsafe location outside Gotham so that we can continue our shoot peacefully.

Tuesday night will be your fitting for your gown and we will be doing that in your room. Wednesday will be reserved fully for the progress report with our company. Thursday will be reserved for the Wayne family fitting as well which will be done in the afternoon. I made sure to clear Friday and Saturday morning to afternoon. Saturday night is the gala and Sunday we will board the plane to Paris." Marinette finished while rechecking the schedule on her tablet.

"Fabulous! I know I can always count on you Marinette!" Audrey clapped her perfectly manicured hands and winked at her secretary.

"Of course, Are there any problems that you would like to point out from the schedule?"

"Non," Audrey answered nonchalantly. "So, Marinette. Have you made up your mind about what I said days ago?"

Marinette puts away her tablet and fixed the pink-rimmed horse kwami glasses that she decides to take today to match her outfit. "Actually, I did. You are right Madame, I need to spread my wings and take a leap of faith."

"Excellent! You will be coming to the dinner on Monday, yes?"

"I- Yes, you did order me to attend the dinner with M Wayne."

"Good! Now, have the rest of the day off! I shall see you tomorrow evening, yes?"

Marinette blinked slowly, "Yes, Madame. Uh... thank you." She bowed shortly and left the office without another word. She could actually feel that Audrey was planning something behind her back and she doesn't want to know what her plans were.

Well, a whole afternoon off, is a rare thing to occur. "Should I spend the rest of the day holed up in my apartment sketching or holed up in my regular cafe sketching?" She asked Kaalki who was hiding in her breast pocket.

"Why not take a stroll in the park? The weather is great today, Guardian!"

"An astounding idea! Let's go!" She cheered and made a brisk walk to her office. She packed up her things, say a few goodbyes to the staff that she met along the way, and left the building. She quickly made her way to a cafe nearby, bought herself a coffee strong enough that she was sure it could raise a dead body and walked to the park that Kaalki had mentioned.

There was an open seat near the park's walking trek and immediately bee-lined her way there, took out her sketchbook, and let the horse kwami make a comfortable perch on her lap. As the Great Guardian, she had managed to find the right spell to mask the kwami's presence with a layered illusion, even a former holder couldn't spot them since Marinette willed it so.

"So, Grand Guardian...Who is this Wayne person?"

Marinette hummed for a moment, trying to find the right answer. "Well, he's a businessman, he owns a multibillion company called the Wayne Enterprise, it has many branches across the world and they have many divisions as well, though none of them focuses on fashion. Which is unfortunate but I digress." She explained patiently.

"Whoaa, is he rich then??" Kaalki gushed excitedly.

"Well, he is a millionaire think he's going to be a billionaire soon. So yeah, I think you can call him rich."

The aristocratic kwami gasped loudly, "You should have him as your mentor! You could be a millionaire too!"

Marinette laughed merrily, "I don't think that's how it works but I'll consider that."

"Oh Guardian, I can already sense it! It must be fate! Perhaps you can even marry the man!"

The designer was drinking her coffee and spitting it out when she heard the kwami's excited ramble. She coughed a few times trying to regain her composure, "K-kaalki, that man is old enough to be my father! Besides, he has kids already!"

"What about his kids then?"

"A- K-kaalki! You will stay out of my romantic life! I-i can find a suitable person to date!"

Kaalki gave her a deadpanned look, "Yeah, uh-huh sure you do."

"Kaalkiii!!!" Marinette whined exasperatedly. "Can we please stop this conversation??"

The kwami just giggled and made themselves comfortable on her lap. Marinette huffed and rubbed her face tiredly, yeah she knows that her love life had been a disaster but she didn't need the little creature gods to butt in. She's perfectly fine on her own, sure it's lonely but if she has work to do it distracts her from feeling that loneliness.

Honestly, dating one of the Wayne kids. That's a laugh!

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

Marinette sighed as she rolled her neck and heard a few pops from it. Traveling to Gotham is a pain in the ass and she hopes she doesn't have to do it again anytime soon. She had brought a couple of kwamis with her for the trip, not that she wanted to use them to gallop across the roof of Gotham City as a hero or vigilante, she just didn't want to leave them at home alone.

She was wearing the dragon's choker, Tikki's earrings, and the turtle's bracelet that she had charmed to change the designs so that it'll fit with her outfit. Wayzz gave her a wave of comforting magic towards their bond and Marinette stroked the bracelet gently in gratitude.

Thankfully, everything went smoothly. Marinette made sure the hotel room for Audrey is good enough for the bossy queen and after that she could finally throw herself on her hotel bed. Her head was pounding but she still picked herself up and began to unpack.

"Marinette! This town is oozing with an unlucky aura and chaos! I think Kaalki was on to something when she said something about fate!" Exclaimed Tikki as she observes the city through the glass.

"I told you!" Kaalki yelled from the other side of the room.

Marinette frowns to herself and decided to flare her magic to get a better sense of the City of Crime. Yep, Tikki was right, everything is oozing with bad luck miasma, and darkness surrounding parts of the city. Everything is gloomy and depressing, no wonder the people of Gotham are miserable.

"You're right, Tikki." She stood from the floor and walked to the big window overseeing the city. "It's coated with Bad Luck and Chaos."

"We should stay here and purify this mess!" Pollen offered while floating next to Marinette's head.

"I don't think we should be that rash. Let's see what fate got for us. In the meantime, does anyone wants to go with me to buy snacks?"

A series of 'yes' from the childish gods made her head lighter than before.

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

Monday starts out as a pleasant day for her, she managed to make all the snacks for the kwamis and bake the pastries that Audrey love so much for breakfast. Everything was smooth and it lifted Marinette's spirit. There was no schedule for today morning and Marinette debated to herself if she wants to go out and find inspiration for her design or not.

There's something about Gotham that made her blood pump in adrenaline and she's pretty sure it is her innate guardian magic telling her to go ahead and purify the city. She looked at the kwamis who are lounging and made up her mind.

"Hey Plagg, Do you want to come with me and explore Gotham before dinner?"

The cat kwami in question brighten up and zoomed across the room in excitement. "Alright!!! Let's enjoy the day with extra CHAOS!"

Marinette laughs and took off Tikki's earrings to put on Plagg's ring. She took her large canvas bag, her sketchbook, and her art supply. She made sure the kwamis are comfortable enough and told them to not make a mess when she was out.

Once she's out, with Plagg securely in her bag, she trusted her instinct and found herself entering a park. It was a nice day and looking around at the different architecture near the park she found herself an empty seat nearby. She lets Plagg perch himself on her shoulder while she dug out her sketchbook and start sketching away her ideas.

Not long after that she felt someone took a seat next to her, she glanced to her side and found a man nearing his 40s slumping next to her. She could feel the sorrow and sadness lingering around the man and Marinette being Marinette couldn't sit still.

Marinette could've sworn the man looked familiar and even though she became a very competent assistant to Audrey, she couldn't for the love of God remember the faces she had seen before. If they are known figures in the fashion world, she might recognize them but otherwise, she would forget them, rich or not.

The girl closed her sketchbook, which the man took notice of.

"I'm sorry, I'm not bothering you, am I?" He asked with a polite smile.

The girl shook her head and smiled warmly at the man, "Non, monsieur. I just couldn't help but notice how sad you are."

The man blinked, obviously shocked at her, and gave her a small weak smile. "I guess you can say that..." He chuckled mirthlessly.

Marinette hummed, "Are you grieving?" She asked quietly.

The man looked towards the park and she could see the dark aura around him seemingly trying to choke the man. He nodded silently and took a shaky breath. "My son." He muttered quietly.

She nodded in silence, she rummaged through her canvas bag and took out a charmed amulet that she had been working on with Master Fu before his passing. She looked away from the amulet and found Plagg giving her an encouraging smile. She knew that this was the right thing to do and so she cupped the amulet in her hands and said, "I'm sorry for your loss...No parents should bury their children."

The man sniffed and nodded, "Thank you."

"Though you have to walk this winding road, stumbling blindly in this dark path, there will always be a path of light that will help you find your way." She advised with a warm smile. Master Fu had told her that when she was grieving for the loss of her friendship and the weight she had to carry as Ladybug.

Slowly she reached out to take his hand and gently put the charmed amulet in it. "You just need to do the next right thing." She uttered softly and sent waves of comforting magic to the amulet. Hoping that it would lift the man's spirit and help him find hope. She then took her bag and left the man staring at the amulet.

Marinette quickly left the park and bought herself a coffee before returning to her hotel where she gets ready for dinner. Her heart felt full knowing she helped someone even if it was just a little bit. She hoped that one act of random kindness could lift a little bit of the bad luck aura in Gotham.

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Bruce Wayne just wanted time to compose himself. He had a lapse of grieving thoughts when he looked at Jason's picture. So he left his office to find a place where he could grieve freely. The mansion still has memories of Jason and he couldn't stand the guilt that is eating him inside. He found a nearby park and took a seat next to a young woman who was busy sketching. He didn't really expect anything would come out of this walk in the park, but he was pleasantly surprised that the young woman beside him had given him a random act of kindness that had left him a bit speechless.

He was looking at the emerald amulet on his hand and somehow he felt lighter than he ever felt in the past few months. Odd. He decided to bench any negative thoughts to ready himself for the dinner reservation tonight.

TBC

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A/N: Next chapter would be the dinner! Stay tuned!

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#maribat #platonic brucinette #platonic jasonette #dickinette #marinette as secretary #Managing Life AU #mlb x dc #dc x mlb #mlb crossover #mlb x batman #platonic timinette #platonic daminette #marinette x gotham #marinette x batfam #marinette x dick #maridick #marinette dupain cheng

[verymuchimmortalcat]

Loving any of us is a death sentence, isn't it?

My brain just spouted this out and I wrote like a possessed person for half an hour after I saw the prompt lol ao3

"Loving any of us is a death sentence, isn't it?"

Damian looks up from his painting at his sister. Marinette had shown up in his room an hour ago with an expensive looking bottle in hand. He hadn't questioned anything and she hadn't offered him any information.

The alcohol must have finally gotten to her then.

Putting down the brush in his hand, he moves across the room to join her. She holds out the bottle and Damian takes it and places it out of her reach. She doesn't protest. If Damian didn't know better he'd say she hadn't noticed but he does know better. He knows she just doesn't care anymore.

Of course, all of them knew she wasn't really coping. At least not in a healthy manner. But then again when did any of them? After all, Marinette's question hadn't been very off the mark.

"Possibly," Damian admits quietly.

She chuckles, breaking off with a sob and Damian wonders if he should call one of the others, Richard or Cass or even Brown. All of them would be far more adept at dealing with a situation of this nature. But he remains with her. Even in her inebriated state Marinette would have walked away if she had wanted to be elsewhere.

"Possibly," she echoes.

There are silent tears rolling down her cheeks but when he hands her his handkerchief she swats away his arm.

They sit in silence after that. Marinette falls asleep at some point, her head on his shoulder.

He pulls out his phone then slowly, careful not to wake Marinette. He sends off a text to Richard. He's been hovering near Marinette every possible moment since Adrien's death, he'd probably be extremely worried if he can't find her.

Damian receives a reply almost instantly. Richard's relief, he notes, is obvious even over text. Putting down his phone, he turns to look at Marinette. Her exhaustion is obvious and Damian highly suspects that this is the first time she's slept in several days. Resolving to talk to her when she's sober, he lets himself fall asleep as well.

#maribat #platonic daminette #my writing #celebratory thing #thanks for the ask <3 #angst #tw drinking #tw mentions of death

[its-karma-bitches-00]

Marinette: You often use humor to deflect trauma Jason: Thank you Marinette: I didn't say that was a good thing Jason: What I'm hearing is, you think I'm funny

#maribat #maribat incorrect quotes #mlb x dc #maridami #daminette #damian x marinette #marinette dupain cheng #jasonette #platonic!jasonette

[arty-shadow-morningstar]

Damian the Dog

Inspired by Grumpy Cat, written by @adrestar

------

So what if Marinette moved to Gotham Academy, probably because of Lila bullshit or Guardian Duties.

She is mostly alone so she get a dog who she named Damian.

I actually look up on what type of dog she would have because I don't have a lot of knowledge on dogs. I wanted a small cute black dog. I am going with a Pomeranian or a Scottish Terrier.

It's all fine and going dandy. When one day, Damian overhears the new girl talking about him.

Marinette of course has zero interest in celebrities so she has no clue she is in the same class as Damian Wayne. Her classmates asked if she had any pets so she starts talking about her cute little Dami and showing off pictures of him.

"Look at my Dami. Isn't he adorable?" Marinette cooed, "I just love running my hands through those thick black luscious hair."

Damian gets the idea that Marinette is a stalker or a fangirl who is deluded herself into thinking she is dating him but brushes her off as mostly harmless. He can correct her at any time she steps out of the line.

Let the misunderstandings commence!

Fast forward the next few days, where Marinette keeps talking about her dog and no one has clued her in on the fact that there is a human with the same name as her dog going to classes with her.

Human Damian thinks she has very active imagination, going as far as to fake bite marks on her arms after a supposed passionate embrace.

(Damian the Dog is still being trained. Idk abt raising dogs so I hope I am right.)

The weekend arrive and Damian is at the dog park with Titus. Then he heard the insufferable voice calling out for him,

"Damian. Where are you? Come out. Damian. Dami."

He hid himself for a while, hoping she will give up sooner or later. But no, she keeps coming closer to the spot where he was hiding and calling out his name. Then, Titus blew his cover by coming back with the ball he was sent to fetch.

Thinking he had no choice but to reveal himself, he burst out of the bushes, scaring Marinette.

Meanwhile, Marinette was at the dog park to let Damian out of the apartment and get some exercise. She was kept an eye on him as he ran around but after a phone call from Jagged Stone for a new jacket, she had lost sight of her dog.

Then, while she looked for Damian the dog, someone jumped out of the bushes, giving her a scarce.

She realised that he was a boy from her classes and before she could ask if he had seen her dog, he began yelling at her.

"Listen up, harlot. Get out of your delusional fantasies of dating me and leave me alone." He yelled at a very confused Marinette. Human Damian continued to threaten her with lawsuits on the grounds of stalking, defamation and false claims.

Marinette gets fucking pissed at what the rude guy was yelling at her for no reasons but before she could retort, he stomped away with his dog trailing behind him.

"Come on, Titus. We don't have spend more time with this waste of space."

Marinette is so furious that if she was in Paris, she would have been akumatised for sure. She decided to calm down and go look for Damian, not the human. Arriving at home, she found a lawyer waiting for her and they handed her a thick files of all the charges she was being sued for. It was official she had met someone worse than the Chloe Bourgeosis.

So Marinette decides to stress bake about the problem. Ultimately, she made too much and decided to give away some to her next door neighbour, Jason.

Marinette had been living in Gotham for about a month and Jason knows about her habit to stress bake. They first met when Jason accidentally snuck up on her and she judo-flipped him who was 3 times bigger than her. Jason is impressed and Marinette is mortified. They became friends. Jason cooks her meals sometimes and she bake him desserts. It was a fair trade.

Anyway, Jason asks about her problem and Marinette starts a rant about this rich entitled dick she met who was from her class and she had coincidentally met him at the dog park while looking for Damian. Then, he called her a bunch of insults and names, accused her of stalking him and he had sent lawsuits to her address. Which was bad because she had her business as MDC to consider and this will affect her income.

While ranting, Marinette saw Jason's law degree which he had displayed, partially for his cover as a normal civi but mostly to brag to his siblings about being the only one who graduated from college and law school and rub it in Bruce's face. (We all seen the Jason became a lawyer to get Joker a death sentence post right? So Joker is dead here.)

"Can you be my lawyer? Or can you recommend me one? I promise I can pay you."

Jason patted her head, "Pixie, I will do this for free. I don't know which prick decided to mess with you but I will make him pay. Besides, I can't stand guys like that. You are actually doing me a bit of a favor to knock someone like that down a few pegs. Legally."

Marinette insisted to pay him but Jason compromised to get a cake for an entire month instead for taking the job.

When Jason looked through the papers, he noticed it was from the Wayne Family Lawyers so he decided to go to the Manor to get to the bottom of it. Jason arrived in the middle of Damian on a warpath.

He asked Tim who was the closest and furiously typing on his laptop about what is going on with Damian.

Tim answered, "Apparently there's this girl who is stalking Damian. She claimed to be dating him at school and she showed up while he was out with Titus, looking for him. Right now, I am just checking if she is just delusional and harmless or someone dangerous."

Jason connects the dots between Dog Damian and Human Damian and he tried not to burst out laughing right then and there. "That's good to hear. Anyways, I came here because I forgot something. I am going to see Alfred before I go. Have fun with the lawsuits."

Jason spent the rest of the way home, cackling and the funniest way to win the case.

On the day of the court date,

The rest of the Waynes are surprised to see Jason there in a suit. Dick was understandable, Tim was just there to make sure it goes smoothly, Bruce is also reasonable, Damian is the 'victim'.

"Todd, why are you here?"

"You'll see."

Then, they started telling people to enter before they could get more answers. They soon found out that Jason was the lawyer for the other side.

"Todd, you traitor. How dare you work for the opposition!"

Marinette had arrived with a pet carrier with a dog which Damian claimed was to appeal to his animal lover side.

blah blah blah. Legal procession. I don't know how it goes.

Anyways, it is time for Marinette's defense.

"Your honor, I would like to present evidence which proved that my cilent is innocent in all the charges the plaintiff has accused her of."

"Proceed."

Jason brought out the pet carrier and took out Dog Damian.

"Your honor, this is my client's dog. She was gifted this dog before she moved here to Gotham. I have the receipts to prove this."

"What is the point of this?"

Jason dramatically held up the adorable fluffy black dog which looked like a doll in his hands, "Your honor, the dog's name is Damian." Jason claimed while staring straight at Human Damian.

Dog Damian woofed at the sound of his name. There was a shocked silence that followed.

Jason proceed to give more evidence that yes, the dog name is actually Damian like giving commands using his name and adoption certificate to get rid of any doubt.

"He claimed to have heard her talking about her dating but what were the actual words you heard her say?"

"That I am adorable and she likes running her fingers through my soft dark hair."

"Your honor, my cilent was actually bragging about how cute her dog is and how she likes petting Damian the dog's obviously black fur. And you also claimed that she stalked you to the dog park and called out your name several time. She was there by coincidence because the park is the closest to her apartment and she was calling his name because she had lost sight of Damian. Dog Damian I mean. It was Human Damian's fault for assuming she was calling out for him."

Jason continued to explained how each claim was Damian's own misunderstanding of the situation and there are statements from his classmates who confirmed that Marinette was talking about her pet dog. They didn't told her about Human Damian because they found it funny that her dog had the same name.

"In addition, my cilent had no idea who Damian Wayne was. Only knowing him as her classmate. "

Tim is right now filming and having the best time of his life as he watched Damian wished that the ground would swallow him whole. Dick is trying so hard not to laugh while Bruce's lips were twitching.

Jason decides to make a counter-law suit for the emotional damage and potential financial damage Human Damian had caused Marinette by suing her for millions when she was just a struggling student, getting by on her own income in a foreign country.

Marinette stopped him, "Jason, this is enough. I am fine with a hand-written apology."

"The amount I am asking for is just a drop of water of an ocean for them. They are that filthy rich. Besides, you can get that motorcycle side-car for Damian you had been eyeing a while ago. You can also use the money to buy dog stuff that you couldn't before because of your budget."

Marinette hesitated and agreed. The case ended with it in Marinette's favor.

Tim approached them as they exited with Marinette hugging Damian (the dog) and Jason grinning in glee over his victory and simultaneously humiliated Damian (the human) in the process. Tim high-fived Jason.

Tim offered a job to Marinette because he had done a background check on her due to the potential threat she posed and found out about MDC. He does it because he liked her talent and it would look great to have Wayne Enterprise on her resume. Also the best dirt on Damian.

Marinette told him that she would think about it and he gave her a card.

Damian wrote the apology letter, very embarrassed by the entire trial. His pride wouldn't recover for a while and he took it out on Jason who knew about it the entire time and didn't tried to stop and clear up the misunderstanding.

The next day at school, Marinette went to Damian's seat and said, "Good morning, Human Damian."

"Why are you calling me like that?"

"I am sorry. I thought you would appreciate the clarification of which Damian I am referring to. I wouldn't want to end up in court again after being branded as a delusional fangirl of yours because I was just talking about my adorable Dami. I meant to say My adorable dog, Dami. Human Damian."

For the next few months, everyone keeps referring to Damian as Human Damian.

#maribat #ml x dc #mlb x dc #platonic! jasonette #could be read as pre-daminette #enemies to lovers #I really should watch legal drama or read up on court proceedings #Alfred in 'has the same name as a pet' club: *sips tea* welcome to the club Master Human Damian. #this can apply to the suits #Human Robin do you copy #Meanwhile Marinette be going around Gotham with Damian in the side car to get him a cute new outfit #Damian the Dog i mean #I had fun writing this

[thornalchemist23]

Marinette: Bye Damian! Bye Dick! Bye Tim! Bye Jason! Bye Damian! Dick: You said 'bye Damian' twice. Marinette: I like Damian.

#maribat #daminette #platonic jasonette #platonic timinette #platonic dickinette

[soulmate-game]

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

—*—*—*—*—*

The Heroes’ Game

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Chapter 2:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Two!”

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

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

“... I’m Robin.”

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

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

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

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

“Oh? You’re right. Ready to lose?”

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

“Just Marinette, please, Monsieur Batman.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

PLAYER ONE: MARINETTE DUPAIN-CHENG

PLAYER TWO: ROBIN

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

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

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

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

Soul Team.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

—*—*—*—*—*

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