Day 13, Home
@maribat-calendar-events
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Marinette hadn't planned to be at Titans Tower again but her commission meeting with Chloé had run late and Adrien had been firmly against her traveling back to Gotham in the dark. Tim had grumbled a little about her being there without him but ultimately agreed that Marinette would be safer that way.
And so she had walked in as quietly as she could, not wanting to disturb anyone unnecessarily. She crept into the kitchen and was about to start the coffee machine when someone grabbed her and pinned her to the fridge. She shrieked and brought her feet up to kick out at whoever it was but they didn't even budge.
“Shit, sorry, I'm so sorry,” he said, backing up and setting her back on her feet. “Mari, I'm sorry, I didn't realise you were here.”
“Oh, uh, hey Superboy,” she said breathlessly, trying to ignore the way her heart rate picked up at his closeness. She hoped he took it as adrenaline. “Yeah, I was in the neighbourhood and my friend, Adrien, didn't want me catching the train back to Gotham so late at night. Are you okay with me crashing here tonight?”
“Sure thing,” he replied, still standing closer to her than she would consider just friendly. “You can probably crash in Tim's room, or on the couch if that's weird for you. Also, I'm sorry none of the spare rooms are set up for you this time.”
“What, no space in your bed?” She asked cheekily, trying to remain calm. He tensed almost imperceptibly but then he leaned over her with a crooked grin.
“Why, you asking?”
“Why would I be asking if there's no room?” She shot back innocently, looking at him through her lashes. She knew she was being overt, that if he wasn't interested it was going to make for an awkward evening but she didn't want to just not flirt with him. “I just thought you would offer your bed, since I already slept in it last time.”
“Anyone ever tell you you're funny?” He said, leaning back at last. She'd noticed a pattern in that, him seeming to realise he was flirting after it began and cutting it off abruptly. Maybe it really was just reflexive for him. “You were messing with the coffee machine, right? Let me make it for you, as an apology. And I'll text Tim to let him know you got here safe too.”
“Thanks, I'll call Adrien to let him know too,” she said, pulling far enough away that she could no longer feel the heat from his body.
The phone rang for a minute before Adrien picked up, and she used that time to settle her heart again.
“Nette! You made it to safety? Tim just said that Superboy messaged him and let him know you were safe. Just try not to have too much fun while you're there okay,” he said, and she could picture the sly grin on his face.
“Ha ha, very funny Adri,” she said with an eye roll, hoping that Superboy was too busy with making coffee to listen in on her conversation. “Aren't you the one who told me not to take his flirting seriously? I highly doubt he's going to switch things up tonight.”
“Just because he wouldn't date you doesn't mean you're not at risk of…other activities,” Adrien teased, managing to make her blush from an entirely different city. “Why do you think Tim was so worried about you staying over there?”
Marinette was about to say something sassy back when she heard something snap from the direction of the kitchen. Muttering a hasty goodbye, she hurried over to find out what had happened.
Kon had been trying to mind his own business while Marinette had been chatting with her friend but had failed when her heart rate had noticeably increased. He couldn't help tuning in, just in time to hear her friend insinuate that he and Marinette could…her heartbeat had started racing at that point and his thoughts had only been stopped when her friend had mentioned Tim.
Like a bucket of ice water had been thrown over him, his muscles had tensed as he gripped the countertop, breaking a chunk clean off of it. Tim was going to be annoyed, but it helped to ground Kon as he tried to push his thoughts away from the fact that he and Marinette were alone for the night. Her comments about sharing a bed earlier had been almost impossible to ignore as it was.
“Are you okay?” Marinette asked as she came back over to him, her eyes going wide when she saw the chunk of countertop he was juggling.
“Fine,” he said, forcing his jaw to relax. He didn't want to make her suspect that he had been listening in on her conversation. “Just tired, I think.”
“Did I wake you up? I'm so sorry! I wasn't sure who would be here and I tried to be quiet but-” she rambled, looking truly apologetic. It was adorable and made his heart melt a little- no, nope, it did nothing like that. He found it sweet that she was worried about waking people up, that was all.
“It's fine,” he assured her, leaning forward to press his fingers to her lips and silence her. He realised, belatedly, that the gesture was perhaps entirely more intimate than he had intended and jerked his hand back. “Your coffee should be ready in a sec, I'm gonna try and crash. Come get me if you need anything.”
He lay in his bed for a long time after that, his door cracked open a little so he could hear if she had any problems. It was how he always did it when he didn't have personal company over - he didn't want to risk another Red Hood incident. But now it meant that he could hear every movement, every sigh and murmur she made, and it was driving him a little crazy.
Stay calm, she'll probably be asleep soon, he told himself. And then he had to steer his thoughts in a different direction because the thought of her sleeping made him think about her in bed, which led to him wondering what she planned to sleep in, which made him think about how she had looked in his shirt-
Right. Changing what he was thinking.
After another twenty or so minutes, he heard something he hadn't expected and couldn't place straight away. It was a…scratching? And Marinette's muttering had gotten more consistent but made less sense. He let it drive him crazy for another twenty minutes before getting back up and going to find out what she was doing.
Whatever he had expected, it wasn't to find her curled up on their couch with a sketchbook and the closest lamp casting her in a soft circle of light. She was so focused on what she was doing that he was able to just watch as she put the pencil to her lip and scrunched her face as she looked over whatever she had drawn. It felt like he was seeing a private, almost forbidden thing and he averted his gaze before talking.
“I thought you were planning on sleeping here, not drawing?” He asked, glad he had waited until she was no longer sketching because she jumped to her feet comically. He winced when her book went flying, darting forward to catch it before it hit something and tore. “Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you.”
“No, no, it's fine! I thought you were asleep,” she said, biting her lip. “I'm sorry, was I keeping you up? I tried to be quiet.”
“Super hearing,” he said, stepping into the light of the lamp to hand the book back. “But did you want me to get you a blanket and a pillow? The couch is comfy enough to sleep on if you really don't want to borrow Tim's bed.”
“Oh, I wasn't really planning on sleeping,” she shrugged, her fingers brushing against his as she accepted the sketchbook. Her pulse was still hammering from the jumpscare he'd unintentionally given her and he forced himself to step a little further back. “Sleep is for the weak, you know?”
“God, you and Tim must be absolute menaces together. When was the last time you got a full night's sleep?” he asked, aghast. When she seemed to be struggling with the question, he groaned and ran a hand over his face. “How are you even awake right now?”
“That's what the coffee was for?” She said, as though that was obvious. And the response was so familiar, so Tim, that he burst out laughing. She looked startled but pleased, placing the pencil in the centre of the sketchbook pages. “You have a really nice laugh.”
He flushed at the praise, looking away from her and trying to control his heartbeat. It didn't matter if she couldn't hear it, he knew it and was supposed to be keeping things friendly. Platonic friendly.
“Thanks. If you're not sleeping anyway, did you want to come see my favourite place in the Tower?” He asked. Friends shared things like that, right? He'd shared it with Tim before and he hadn't kissed him. Not that he was thinking about kissing her!
“I'd love that!” She exclaimed, jumping up and setting the sketchbook aside almost carelessly. He led her over to a hidden staircase and they began winding their way up. He realised after they were a dozen or so steps up that he had forgotten to turn on the light, his vision good enough that the near darkness didn't bother him.
He took hold of her hand - this was friendly, holding hands didn't mean anything, even if it sent tingles up his arm and all the way to his heart which sped up again - after the third time she nearly missed a step. She stayed close to him and his traitorous mind wondered whether it would be safer for her to walk ahead, his hands on her waist to support her-
They reached the door to the roof and he breathed a sigh of relief and disappointment. The light from the night sky was enough for her to navigate more freely and he forced himself to let go of her hand. Her face as she gazed up at the sky moved something in his chest, a settling of something he hadn't realised was out of place.
“I see why you like it up here,” she whispered, eyes burning with something he couldn't name when she turned back to him. “Is there somewhere to sit down? It's beautiful.”
“Here,” he said, leading her to a hidden chest of cushions and blankets that they spread out on the ground. He sat down first and almost had a heart attack when she sat down next to him, close enough that her head could rest on his shoulder comfortably. “D-do you need a blanket?”
“I'm fine,” she said, looking up at him with a smile. “I have a balcony back home- in Paris I mean, not in Gotham. My Gotham home is kind of tiny and I don't dare go up on the roof at night. And Wayne Manor probably has a nice view but I'm worried I'd never find my way down…huh. I just realised I kind of have a lot of places I call home.”
Marinette felt the need to fidget after such a long ramble, her neck and chest starting to flush. Kon didn't seem to have anything to say at her veritable word vomit and she worried that she'd said too much.
“Well, I don't really have a home, as such,” he confessed at last, leaning back to look at the stars. “Don't get me wrong, I have places to crash, to live, but it's not the same thing. I think it's great that you have so many places that feel like home.”
“Maybe you just need to find a person that feels like home,” she murmured, eyes fixed resolutely on the moon. She felt his eyes flash to her and willed herself not to blush. I could be that person, if you want, she thought but kept to herself. Everyone had promised her that his flirting didn't mean anything and she liked Superboy. However he chose to be in her life, she wanted him there.
“Yeah, maybe,” he said equally quietly, his arm coming around her back. She leaned into it, heart fluttering. She needed to get a handle on her feelings, soon, because if he kept doing things like this she was going to forget that he was a casual flirt that wasn't going to fall in love with her. Hell, she knew it wasn't personal because he flirted with her as Multimouse whenever she was on the WatchTower.
They stayed like that for far longer than she would ever like to admit to her other friends. They chatted, talking about everything; from Tim and the Waynes to Superman to the Justice League to her work as a designer…it was just easy. She only realised so much time had passed when she saw a hint of pink to the eastern skyline.
“Wow,” she whispered, a million ideas bursting into her mind. Dresses with a gradient colour, tops that had asymmetric hemlines to match the New York skyline, suits that twinkled with embedded stars. She reached a hand out as if she could touch it, any embarrassment she might have felt eclipsed by the sheer beauty of everything.
Kon watched as her hand was spread against the sky, wondering why he didn't feel tired. He was horribly aware that it didn't bode well that he was more intrigued by her after spending an entire night talking. But he was finding it hard to care at all when she turned and smiled at him brighter than the sunrise.
Once she was on her way back to Gotham he shut himself in his room, exhaustion settling over him like a blanket. He fell asleep to thoughts of sparkling blue eyes and a home.
