I don’t understand why people write so much about Maribat, not Abribat, for 7 years? There are more Maribat fanfics than a few Abribat fanfics, but seriously?!
You guys know Marinette has loving parents, close friends, a great talent, and a wonderful life, right??? I understand she’s the main character in the show.
But what about Adrien?! I mean, hello! He's the one who is suffering. He was neglected, his mother passed away, locked up in a house like a jail cell (Episode: Sandboy and Confrontation), abused by his father (Episode: Cat Blanc), hasn’t been fed much, was forced into being a “perfect” doll for a model, and didn’t learn anything from outside in Paris.
Can he get adopted by Catwoman or Batwoman? Or Batman, if you want to?
It was like she was being held deep underwater with only a pinhole of light remaining.
She tried to reach it, but it was like walking through mud.
By Kwami, did she try.
But it was impossible.
"Mari!"
She felt a light touch on her skin, and suddenly, all that held her back was gone.
But the momentum remained.
Marinette jolted upwards, flailing and gasping as if she had just ran for her life. Her eyes were wide open, her pupils dilated.
Marinette was panicked. Nothing was registering.
Tikki!
Marinette reached out to her bond with Tikki, but felt nothing there.
Marinette swallowed thickly.
No. She couldn't lose herself. She had to be strong. She was the Guardian.
It seemed like a lifetime, but only a couple seconds had passed.
She touched her ear, and they were there.
She calmed down.
"Are you okay, girl?" Alya asked.
But was this Alya? She looked different. No scar on her brow from chasing her superhero stories in Metropolis. No exasperation in her eyes. Only concern.
"...Alya?"
"Did you have a nightmare, girl?"
"Yeah, dudette, you woke up like a riot."
"Nino?"
"Are you okay, Mari?"
She turned her head towards the voice only to see a vastly different Adrien, one with the same haircut from lycée.
Lycée?
It clicked.
Marinette looked around, and her friends were all looking young, and they were all together, the same as they were before university.
"Mari?"
Adrien touched her shoulder, but she jerked back.
"I--"
"Attention, all passengers. The train will be arriving at London St. Pancras International station shortly. Please be mindful of your belongings."
London?
"Mari?" Adrien looked at her with unconcealed worry. "What happened?"
"What's happening?"
Alix popped up behind Adrien. "We're headed to Felix's class for the sponsored graduation trip. You should buddy with me for today, Mari."
Marinette looked the ex-rabbit miraculous holder in the eye and saw something there.
"...Sure."
Marinette and her old classmates stepped off the train and onto the busy platform.
They shuffled through the crowd with Alix leading Marinette along, as she was still dazed over the circumstances.
"Fe!" Adrien shouted, bringing Marinette back to the present.
Marinette turned her head only to see Felix smirking at her, but she blinked and it was gone. Felix was looking at Adrien, deep in conversation. She must have imagined it, still as confused as she was.
Marinette turned to Alix only to see mirth in her eyes.
Marinette furrowed her brows.
"Spill it. What happened?"
"I don't know as much as you think I do," Alix admitted. "Older me only told me to tell you not to worry about Tikki and Fluff; they'll be alright."
"And this is our graduation year?"
"Yup, we're now on the London trip."
"The one sponsored by the Waynes?" Marinette sneered.
Alix raised a brow at her tone but thankfully chose not to question her.
Alix didn't answer her question, but Marinette didn't need an answer anyway. She remembered this trip all too well.
After all, this was where they began.
Marinette was quiet as they traveled to the hotel. Her friends kept throwing her looks of concern, but she didn't have the mind to respond. Her head was swirling with questions only the kwami could answer.
By the time they arrived, Marinette was already bouncing one foot in impatience. As soon as Mme. Bustier dismissed the class, she sped to the room she was assigned to.
She dug through her luggage, throwing clothes around without a care in her hunt for the miracle box.
The door lock clicked into place, and Alya entered with her key, accompanied by Alix, Adrien, and Nino.
"What in the world..?"
"Bugaboo, what happened?"
"Mari..."
"I'll explain later," Marinette said without stopping. "There's something I have to ask Plagg."
"Aha!" Marinette finally excavated the disguised miracle box from the bottom of her bag. She opened it and put on the cat miraculous.
Plagg appeared with a whoosh. "Bug! Are you okay?" The little god looked at her, worry clear in his green eyes.
Marinette let out a bone-deep sigh, crashing out onto the carpeted floor without a care. "What exactly happened, Plagg?"
"Sugar cube was being stubborn, and Fluff was encouraging it," Plagg grumbled. "I told them to talk to you about it! But Tikki wouldn't listen to me. Well, that's because Fluff said you wouldn't have listened to us anyway."
"Listened to you about what?"
"Just, you know..." Plagg flew into Adrien's hair, his eyes darting back and forth. "Things..."
"Things?" Marinette's eyes narrowed.
"Look, bug," Plagg redirected, "the bottom line is that Tikki and Fluff turned back time for you. So now, you're filled with enough energy to ping sensors an ocean away if you can't mask it."
Marinette's breath hitched. No. No time for panicking.
"Then, they already know?"
"No, no, no," Plagg reassured hurriedly. "Don't worry, the others and I took turns masking it the entire time. But you'll have to wear my ring for a more permanent solution."
Marinette let out a crazy laugh. "You should have started with that, Plagg."
"You have to put your earrings away too. Tikki needs to rest in the box, and you already know what happened last time..."
"Right, right," Marinette said quietly. "Last time..."
"So..." Adrien interjected. "What happened last time?"
"Yeah, dudette, we're worried."
"You've been acting off since you woke up. And then, Alix got involved. And now, turning back time," Alya rattled off before looking her squarely in the eye. "And who're "they" and why were you so panicked?"
"They're... Well..." Marinette trailed off, her eyes avoiding Alya's.
"Oh, I'll say it," Plagg grumbled but you could hear the worry underneath. "It's just her ex-husband and his family."
"Ex-husband?!" Alya shrieked.
"Just?" Adrien gestured with air quotes.
Nino's brows creased together, "To be clear, we're not talking about you know who, are we?"
"Who?"
"No."
Marinette and Alix responded simultaneously.
"That's good."
Marinette could see Nino visibly relax at Alix's words.
"Nino," Marinette looked him straight in the eye. "Who?"
Adrien cut into the conversation, "Just someone who we thought you'd end up with, my lady."
"Adrien..."
"Girl, what's more important is what's going on now. Spill. What happened in the past future."
"It's a long story."
"We have all day."
Marinette took in a shaky breath, "I met him on this trip."
Adrien looked at her encouragingly.
"He's..." Marinette hesitated. "Well..."
"Someone from Felix's class? From the school?" Alya immediately questioned.
"No..." Marinette sighed.
But before she could say more, Alya immediately followed up.
"Wayne's side?"
Marinette grimaced at the mention of that name.
"Yeah, Damian."
"No, no, Mari," Adrien was looking at her that way again. "Don't tell me your ex-husband is Damian Wayne?"
"Yeah," Marinette let out a strangled laugh. "Him."
"I've met him. He's not a good match for you."
At those familiar words, Marinette's brave face cracked, and her eyes welled up with unshed tears.
"That's what you said last time too. But I was acting like a fool. No, I was a fool, a love-struck fool. I should have listened to you, chaton."
"Bugaboo, you couldn't have known..."
Marinette shook her head at that.
"You know," Marinette let out a sarcastic half-smile. "Alya and you all held interventions. Again and again. You all knew he didn't love me. But I just couldn't see it. Or rather, I didn't want to believe it. After all, Tikki told me he was my soulmate. We were a perfect pheromone match, and my inner omega really liked him. And he was nice, you know? Sometimes."
your honor, my clients deserve a long and cozy nap
(See below the cut for timelapse, more jibber-jabber)
I don’t usually include timelapses, but I found the amount of times I redid work because I was on the wrong layer amusing, so here ya go. Drawn in Infinite Painter on mobile.
a try at writing a prologue for a wip of mine i'm still undecided about, would love to hear thoughts on this
for context: omegaverse setting, trying to do the neglected wife trope
None of her friends liked her husband. That should have been the first red flag.
"Isn't he," Adrien grimaced. "Too... abrasive?
"I know he seems rough, but he can be soft. Sometimes."
"Mari—"
"I like him," she cut him off. "And he likes me. Aren't I lucky?"
She couldn't forget the way Adrien looked at her. Like she was insane. And pitiful. Insanely pitiful. Pitifully insane.
She didn't understand it then.
"He's the lucky one, bugaboo. You're too good for this world, never forget that."
But it seemed everyone else did.
"We're holding an intervention!"
"Alyaaaa! Again?" Marinette whined, not wanting to listen to another three-hour lecture on why they think her husband didn't like her (rude) or on divorce procedures (informative but unnecessary) or on why whirlwind romances never last (depressing).
"Yes, girl, again," Alya put her hands on her hips. "Again and again until you get it!"
She didn't care for the topic then, letting in the hundred reasons why she should leave in one ear and out the other.
"He looks at you wrong, girl. Love doesn't look like whatever this," Alya waved her hand, "is crudely imitating."
"Alya..."
But it seemed it was she who was blind while everyone else was awake.
"Perfect matches are ridiculous! Utterly ridiculous!" Chloé scoffed. "You've been dimming, Dupain-Cheng, and you aren't seeing it."
Marinette couldn't get a word in before her bully-turned-acquaintance hung up the phone
It was ironic, looking back, that Chloé cared more about her friends' concerns than her so-called husband.
Being with him always felt like taking one step forward but four steps back. That should have been the second.
It was one of the rare times her husband and she cuddled in bed. Marinette was very happy then.
"So... Adrien stopped by today."
Her husband didn't respond more than nuzzling further into her neck.
"I, just— Do you think—" Marinette took a deep breath.
Her husband raised a perfectly arched brow at her.
"When do you think," Marinette swallowed thickly, "we can mark each other?"
"Tt. We talked about this already."
"I know, but—"
"I would like for us to get to know each other more deeply."
"There won't ever be a perfect time, you know? We're married already, and I know it was fast but—"
Her husband silenced her with a deep kiss.
"We will. Just wait."
And with that, the two of them got carried away. Or rather, her husband was pulling all the strings, and she was letting herself go with the flow. Perhaps, deep down, Marinette knew she couldn't push further anymore. Or she was too scared to push further, worried about him pushing her away again if she tiptoed too close to him.
After all, the last time she pushed, he asked her if she didn't trust him, if she couldn't respect his choice, if she couldn't understand.
But she did! My kwami, did she understand him, respect him, trust him. She loved him. So she let it be, waiting for him to be ready on his own terms.
But, deep down, she knew. There was a wall between them, and she couldn't keep up with the pace her husband was building it higher.
She could only try her best. She could only show up. She could only be there whenever he looks back.
But when she heard him say, "I only married her to control a variable." That was it.
Chapter 14 (this is extremely late but I have been very busy (sorry))
Enjoy this chapter, which is 2k words of Thana having a breakdown and Jason being Jason.
After the intense reunion and the following conversation, unforunately Jason's sister and her freinds had to say good bye and make their way back to their hotel. Jason and his siblings would've preferred to keep all six of them in the house with them but, they knew that technically the six were tourists and even though Thana was as Alley as the rest of them she was only person.
It was like losing a limb, watching his baby sister walk away from him, but he knew she was possibly one of the most protected people in this god forsaken city. Between the Birds, they really needed to come up with a new name for themselves, and her various Aunts and Uncles scattered around the city, she would be fine. Hopefully.
Jason got Damian tucked into bed, with Tim and Steph staying in that night since they had had to interact with the Parisians, before they went down into their new cave. He was lost in thought, not really thinking much about where he was going or where he was, so the noise of what could only be extra people in their cave made him stop.
Standing in the middle of the cave was six figures, dressed in what looked like street clothes, although had to be reinforced in some way. They ranged in colour, going from yellow to brown to teal to red to blue-green to purple, but looked like they fit together.
Jason was immediately on edge, not knowing who they were or how they got into the cave. He had to protect his siblings and his son, so he pulled out a gun which had been hidden in a secret compartment in the wall closest to him.
"Who are you and how did you gain access to this place?" Jason deepened his voice as he spoke, trying to make it seem like Red Hood was a different person.
"Oh Robin," the figure in purple, who seemed to be one of the shortest members of the group, seemed to not be taking this seriously, "you didn't think you could keep us out. Did you?"
That, that made him pause. The only people who knew he was Robin was his family. The only one who actually got away with referring to him as Robin was his baby sister. "Pix?" Jason was hoping and praying that it wasn't actually his baby sister. He was praying to every single deity in the multiverse, he didn't want this life for her.
"Hey Jay," she offered a cheeky grin, the same grin that got them into but also out of trouble so many times. "This is my team, I'll see if you can figure out who's who."
Jason looked over the gathered heros, seeing bits and pieces that reminded him of someone he'd met just earlier that day. "Desgracia? That's the name you chose?"
"Figured if it was the name she picked I might as well make it my own." Jason's baby sister seemed embarrassed, rubbing the back of her neck with claw-tipped fingers. Claw-tipped fingers?!
"Excuse you, why do you have claws?" Jason snatched her hand away from her neck, carefully so there was no possible way that she could nick herself even through the suit. "Don't you remember how sharp they can be even on accident? Aunt Lina would be so upset if you gave yourself scars to match mine."
The heroes in yellow, teal and blue-green snickered at that, as if they shared the sentiment. Looking at them closer, Jason could only assume the rest of the heroes were his sister's friends. "Okay, before the rest of my team gets down here, why don't you tell me everyone's names?"
The hero dressed in red, but oddly with pops of yellow, stepped up next to Desgracia. Showing a united front to the foreign, to him, hero. He smiled, a bright cheery smile the likes of which were popularized by Dick as Robin, as if to disarm him. "You can call me Monsieur Punaise."
Jason nodded, offering a hand to the other hero. "Red Hood." He offered his sister a smirk. "You just seem to surround yourself with red heroes."
Duke chose that moment to appear behind Jason with a smile. "Or yellow. Yellow is clearly her favourite colour. Seeing as how I am clearly her favourite brother."
"Hi Glowstick." Desgracia reached a hand out to cup Duke's cheek, a smile on her face. "Don't you know that it's not nice to sneak up on old people like that? You couldn't given him a heart attack."
Jason gasped, a hand dramatically pressed to his chest. "Are you insinuating that I am old?"
The yellow hero, fox themed with brown hair, stepped up to Desgracia's left side. "I am Renarde véloce, as our fearless leaders have failed to mention."
The teal hero, reptilian themed possibly, stepped up behind Desgraca, a step behind her and Monsieur Punaise. "Our people know me as Althaeban." The blue-green hero, possibly bovine in inspiration, stepped up beside Althaeban, behind Desgracia and Renarde véloce. "This is Con bò."
The brown hero, also possibly reptilian themed, stepped up to the right of Monsieur Punaise. "Sup. I'm Salihafa." She leaned against Monsieur Punaise's side, showing that even though they were heroes, this group were friends first.
Several pairs of feet sounded on the stairs, voices drifting down to them. The rest of the birds had finally figured out who was going on patrol that night it seemed.
"Here comes the calvary." Duke gave a laugh before going over to the locker room to get ready to go on patrol.
Tim, Steph, Cass and Wally came down the stairs, clearly being the members of the family going out that night.
"Is there anything going on to- hello people who are not my brother." Steph stopped at the bottom of the stairs. Her eyes flicked across the group, noting the closeness between two of her more prickly siblings and one of the unknowns.
"As far as I know," Desgracia looked at Steoh, a Cheshire Cat grin on her face, "the only thing going on in the known criminal underworld is poker night at Aunt Harley's and spa night at Uncle Ozzy's."
Tim nodded, that had been what he'd heard as well. "And how do you know this?"
"We were invited, to both events, but we chose to be here instead." Renarde véloce tossed her hair over her shoulder before glancing down at her claws. "Because Orchid decided this was the better place to be."
-*-*-*
Thana threw Chloé a dirty look, knowing why she'd chosen that name. She looked back at her brothers before looking at the other members of their team behind them. "Hi, I'm Desgracia."
"Okay, you have us at a severe disadvantage." Wally shuffled awkwardly next to Cass, as if he didn't know why he wasn't really all that upset about them knowing their identities. "You know who we all are but we don't know who you are."
"That's because our identites are hidden behind strong ancient magic which can only be bypassed by a few situations." Monsieur Punaise looked at the gathered heroes. "Granted, this isn't just our secret to tell."
"We have agents active in Paris in our absense and we can't put them in jeopardy." Con bò crossed his arms over his chest, his tail whipping quickly behind him. "If you can figure out our identities, then we can confirm them. But our fight doesn't end with just the six of us."
Thana leaned back against her boys, feeling Kim drop his left arm to better support her. Nino took a step closer to Kim, pressing his left hand to her side and tapping a slow rhythm. Chloé stepped closer to them, causing Adrien and Alix to close ranks around them. The six Parisian heroes were basically one unit at this point, offering reassurance and comfort to each other.
Jason and Duke glanced at the rest of the birds, and a Flash, before turning back to look at the Parisians. Twin grins were on their faces, mischievous grins that reminded Thana so much of her time on the streets that she just knew they were up to no good. "I don't know. It might be too difficult for them to figure you guys out."
"They are kind of bad at discovering people's identities." Jason agreed with his brother. They needed to give them a challenge, otherwise they wouldn't take it seriously.
"Oh, you're on." Tim snapped, turning to the group across from them.
Thana stood up straight, refusing the make it easy of the other group. The impromptu cuddle broke up just as quickly as it started. She knew without having to look that the other four had broken off from her and Adrien to mill about the cave.
She flashed her brothers a grin before getting a good look at the group across from them. She watched as the other group seemed so used to working together that they just seemed to meld together into extensions of one person. She hoped her team would get there one day.
Cass seemed to be observing the lot of them, seeing more than they did. Thana watched as she signed rapidly, only picking up one sign. She held her hands in loosely closed fists with her pointer fingers extended. She started the sign with her right hand pressed to the side of her face before bringing it down onto her other hand.
Adrien moved just enough in the corner of Thana's eye to draw her attention. Adrien had taken a half step in front of her before Wally could get too close.
"Sorry, sorry. It's just, crazy. I feel like I know her." Wally held up his hands in submission.
Thana shrugged, catching Cass do the same signs again and again. It didn't seem like anyone was listening to her. So, Thana walked closer to her and smiled. She wracked her brain trying to remember any of the ASL she learned. She hesitantly finger spelled out hello, before looking at Cass with an open expression.
Cass smiled warmly at her, before repeating the same signs again. She seemed to be looking at Thana expectantly before realization dawned on her face. She started over, with the one sign Thana had caught earlier before looking at Thana. At Thana's frown, Cass seemed to take a moment to think it over before point at herself, making the sign again and then pointing at Jason.
"Does that sign mean, sister?" Thana kept her voice quiet, to keep it from traveling. Cass shot her a grin before making the sign again then pointing between Thana and Jason. Thana smiled at Cass before looking around at the rest of her team. "Who do you think the rest of my team is?"
Cass seemd to study the other members of Thana's team for a moment, taking in all of their mannerisms. No matter how much they worked on it, some of their personal mannerisms came through in their hero personas.
Thana looked at each member of her team, seeing the way that Chloé stood with her hip cocked and Kim was rocking on his heels and Nino was drumming his fingers on his thighs. Adrien wasn't exempt from the bleedover, he kept running his fingers through his hair and Alix could not help but to use her throwing disks like fidget spinners.
Cass turned to look back at Thana, a gentle smile on her face. Cass started by mimicking Adrien's mannerisms before finger-spelling his name. Thana nodded, a smile on her face. Cass then mimicked Chloé before finger-spelling her name. Thana's smile grew as she nodded.
It went on like that, Cass mimicking a member of the team and then spelling their name. Thana's smile only grew, having found a way to communicate with one of her brother's sisters.
"I'm surprised," Thana leaned towards Cass, bumping Cass' shoulder with her own, "you've barely known us an afternoon and you correctly identified the members of my team."
Cass shrugged, leaning into Thana's space. As if it wasn't that big of a deal.
"Our parents barely even notice when we disappear to go to the fights." Thana nodded towards Chloé, "her parents are famous where we live. His too." Thana nodded towards Adrien.
Cass looked like she couldn't believe that, as if the idea of a parent not knowing that their child was out on the streets helping and taking down criminals was something she could not comprehend.
Thana had a realization, the knowledge overcoming her. "He's Batman? He let my sperm donor free and he let Steph's dad free. Does he even do anything in this city or is it left up to the GCPD?"
Cass watched as most of Thana's team seemed to gravitate towards her, it seemed almost coreographed with how easliy and quickly it happened. The other two members of the team were a step behind the first three, but all six of them were soon so close the lines between them blurred.
Jason took that moment to realize what had happened. He seemed to appear out of thin air in front of them. "What's going on?"
"Someone needs to take care of the damn furry before I do it." Thana growled, a deep noise that rumbled through her chest.
"We have to be strategic about it. He has friends in high places, namely the other members of the Justice League."
"The Justice League?" Adrien tilted his head as if he should know that name.
"With Wonder Woman and Aquaman?" Nino offered, a glint in his eye.
"They're allied with us." Kim seemed to surprise Jason. "Hippolyta was a Ladybug, her daughter is allied with us by default. Atlantis only stands because the Miraculous saved the people from the sinking."
