pieces fall right into place
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“Mama! Monster!” Marinette immediately leaps off of the couch and rushes to her daughter’s room, heart pounding in her chest. Bursting into the dark room, Marinette immediately flips the overhead light on, scanning the room for any intruders.
“Where’d the monster go, baby?” Marinette asks softly, scooping her daughter into her arms. Eléonore sniffles before pointing towards the closet. Now most people, when asking a two-year old about the monster they saw, would reassure the toddler that there was no monster. And that the closet was empty. But Marinette wasn’t stupid. She’d been friends with John Constantine for years, after all. Instead of going towards the closet, Marinette slowly backs out of the room. There was the chance, obviously, that there wasn’t actually a monster. That her daughter had merely had a bad dream because of all of the boxes that were stacked in her room. But Marinette wasn’t stupid. And she wasn’t going to take any chances. The second she’s out of the room, she rushes to the closet that John had warded for her when she first moved in almost five years ago. Ella cuddles closer as Marinette steps into the closet, crouching to avoid hitting her head on the shelves. Sitting with her back pressed against the back of the closet, Marinette takes a second to take in a shaky breath before pulling out her phone.
“‘Ello.” The familiar voice says, and Marinette’s relieved that he actually sounds calm for once. There’d been several times in the past where she’d called and literally heard the wails of the damned in the background.
“Eléonore saw a monster in her room.” Marinette says, skipping straight to the point.
“What did it look like?” John asks, and Marinette scoffs.
“I didn’t stick around to look, John. I was a little busy making sure our daughter was safe.” She points out.
“Right. Can you ask Ella what color it was? She’s pretty good at colors.” John says. Marinette gently pushes the baby hairs out of her daughter’s face.
“Hey bébé, dad has a question about the monster.” Marinette says softly. Ella immediately sits up, a huge grin spread across her face. Marinette smiles, despite the situation, and presses the speaker button.
“Hi daddy!” Ella says.
“Hello love, mama says you saw a monster.” John says, his voice immediately far softer than it had been when he was talking to Marinette. Ella nods.
“Scary monster.” She affirms.
“I know, sweetheart. Can you tell me what color it was? I’m on my way to help.” He says, and Marinette feels her shoulders slump in relief. When it came to magic or supernatural problems that came about, she was glad that she’d always been able to call John. Their friendship (and yes, despite their daughter it would only ever be platonic between them) had been one of her first outside of the original Miraculous team. Ever since stepping out of Paris and into the world as a whole, she’d had John to rely on. Even if he could be a complete ass at times. Marinette vaguely listens to Ella and John, only really focusing when John calls her name. Glancing down at their daughter, she realizes that she’d fallen asleep.
“Sorry, what?” Marinette asks. John huffs.
“I’ve gotta get off the line, but I’m almost at your apartment. Call your fiance, would ya? No need to have him panic if Oracle spots me in the area. And tell him to stay clear til I’ve checked out the area.” He says. Marinette agrees and hangs up before quickly dialing Bruce.
“Hello darling. Everything alright? I thought you said you were going to bed early tonight.” Bruce says, the worry obvious in his voice.
“Ella saw a monster in her room. John’s on his way to check it out for us.” Marinette says with a sigh.
“What? Are you both okay? Do I need to come over? I can be there in less than five minutes.” He rambles.
“We’re fine. We’re in a safe place, mon amour, I promise. John said not to come over until he’s checked it out.” She says. Bruce grumbles lowly, and Marinette suppresses a snort. Bruce and John were definitely…reluctant to interact as much as they did. John was more okay with it, simply because of the fact that he knew it annoyed Bruce. But for Marinette, it was important to her that the three of them worked together and got along, for Eléonore. Even though they’d been working at it for two years, it was still hard at times. But they made it work.
“Perhaps you should come stay here tonight.” Bruce offered, and Marinette couldn’t help but smile.
“Trying to get us to move in quicker?” She teases.
“I just- I worry about you. Both of you.” He says, his voice serious.
“I know, love. I just- the wards on the closet-” She starts, but Bruce cuts her off.
“About that-” He starts. “I actually asked Constantine to add some wards to the Manor.” He says. Marinette blinks in shock. Bruce, who was notorious for not accepting help, had reached out to someone he wasn’t a huge fan of.
“What?” Marinette asks, her voice barely above a whisper.
“He told me once that he has more enemies than I do. Enemies that aren’t deterred by the security I already have on the Manor. I thought…I needed to make sure that you and Ella would be safe. Constantine agreed, obviously.” He explains. Marinette feels warmth flood her chest.
“I love you.” She says, grinning softly, and she’s almost able to tune out the sounds of the fight outside of the small closet. Obviously life wasn’t going to be easy. She’d known that from the moment she saw the two lines on the test. But she knew it would all work out in the end.
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