"Ughh. Look at him, he looks so happy. It's his smug smile. The one that says 'I-aced-that-test', he looks like he did well. Fuck, if he did better than me. Hopefully not." Marinette told Alya when she saw Timothy Drake-Wayne talking to his friends. He was smiling way too much.
"Girl, you're panicking a little too much. Let loose, you did good too." Alya patted Marinette's back.
"Yeah, but good isn't enough!" Marinette whined. "Tim is so smart! I wanna do great, no, I wanna do excellent!" Marinette said, flailing her arms.
Alya laughed at her best friend's antics. "Chill girl, let's go for some ice cream, and then you can forget about your childish games." Marinette glared at Alya, but started laughing when Alya started making weird faces towards her.
—
Tim looked at Marinette Dupain-Cheng laughing and enjoying herself with friend. He felt angry and insecure. He did well in the test, amazing even. But what if Marinette did better than him? If he lost to her, she would make fun of him and then he won't be able to show his face to anyone.
Tim shook his head. No he couldn't lose to her. There's no way he was losing to her. He had to win this. In front of him Ives laughed.
"Tim, this game you guys are playing is stressing you both. You really need to relax."
"It's not a game! I hate her, and the fact that she's intelligent. And her beautiful blue eyes. And the way she laughs, and when her eyes glow when she outsmarts me. I hate all of it!"
Ives raised an eyebrow. "Sounds like you've got a crush."
Tim's eyes widened. "No I don't!" He was dating Ladybug. He loved Ladybug. He didn't like Marinette, he couldn't like Marinette. That would be basically cheating on his girlfriend.
Ives sighed and patted his shoulder. "You are in denial. Anyways, I gotta go. Relax, have some ice cream maybe."
Tim waved goodbye as he left. He considered what he had said before leaving. Maybe he should have some ice cream.
—
Okay, maybe having ice cream wasn't his best idea. He should've just gone for some coffee. But now he was there and he was not going to the opposite side. But why did Marinette have to be at the same ice cream parlour as him!? There were so many ice cream parlours in Gotham, why this one!?
Because it's the closest to the Gotham Academy. Duh. A part of his brain said. He shut that part up.
"Timothy," Marinette greeted him when she saw him. She was even colder than the ice cream she was holding.
"Marinette," Tim greeted back. He could be cold as well.
Marinette scoffed at him and went to a table with her friend. Her friend, Alya, if he remembered right, sighed but followed her.
—
Marinette officially decided that she hated this ice cream shop and she hated Alya. She did not have a crush on Timothy, okay?
"I am just saying. The way you describe him and his eyes and his smile and his 'black silky hair' sounds like a crush to me."
She would never. "Alya, I already told you. I am dating Red Robin. I can't have a crush on Timothy. I don't have a crush on Timothy."
"Then why did you say, and I quote "I wanna punch his 'pretty soft lips.' I've never described any of my enemies like that. Anyways, don't you think that Timothy looks a little too much like lover boy? Maybe Timothy is Red Robin."
"What are you even saying Alya!? Timothy and Red are nothing alike! Red is well, Red. He's kind, he's caring, he cuddles me on top of the buildings and he has a big heart and the same hair as Timothy, and the same lips. And the same face structure." Marinette got lost in thoughts after that. Timothy and Red, it made no sense. There was no way they were the same.
Before they could continue their conversation though, a villain attacked. Scarecrow. That bitch.
"Citizens of Gotham, please do not panic. I just want to test my new fear toxin on you. Remain seated and everything will go smoothly," Scarecrow announced. Marinette internally scoffed, like that's gonna work.
As expected, people did panic. It was all chaos. Marinette had to do something.
"Alya, hide now."
Alya looked at her like she had grown another head. "Girl, have you gone crazy!? You're not Ladybug right now! You're just a lady! You have to hide with me!"
"Alya. Now!" She couldn't risk her friend getting hurt. She was the only one that Marinette had left.
"Fine. But please take care." Marinette nodded at her and started coming up with a plan. She started moving towards the bitch that had interrupted her ice cream. Unfortunately before she could go too far a hand gripped her wrist.
—
If Tim had any doubts that Marinette was crazy, they were all cleared now. She had to be crazy to go towards danger. He didn't know why, but Tim felt a bit protective towards her. It's strange, he hates her. He shouldn't feel that way.
Tim decided that it was his hero instinct. He had to help every civilian in need even if he hated them. He couldn't help it, that's what heroes did.
He ran behind her and grabbed her wrist. Pulling her into his chest.
"Marinette, have you gone crazy!? He's a villain, he could hurt you!" Tim looked at Scarecrow who had his attention on another crowd of people. Surprisingly, Tim didn't feel the urge to protect them. He kinda felt relieved that it wasn't Marinette.
It's so weird. Tim hated her.
Do you? Um yes, he just said that. Why was he even questioning that? Marinette had always been a competitor.
"Timothy, you've smushed me to your chest and I can't breathe." Marinette's muffled voice snapped him out of his thoughts. He quickly pushed her away. Marinette took a huge gasp of air. She glared at him.
"What the hell Timothy!?"
"He could've hurt you!"
"Why do you care!? You hate me!" Tim mentally cursed when he saw that all the screaming had attracted Scarecrow and he was heading towards them.
"Shit, there's no time." Tim once again grabbed Marinette's wrist and yanked her towards a supply closet in the back room. "Stay here." Tim ordered her, closing the door.
"Timothy! What are you doing!? You can't go out there! If it's scary for me, it's scary for you too! So stay." Marinette pulled him in there. It's not like she felt like she had to keep him safe. She just didn't want him to be in trouble so she wouldn't have to save more people's asses. And it would be more fun to defeat Timothy if he's there when he loses. She wants to look at the look on his face.
Yep, that's all! That's the only reason she cared. Other than that? She has no reason to care for him. Also, humans are supposed to help each other in times of trouble. She was just being a human.
Unfortunately, when she pulled Timothy in with her, the gate of the closet closed. It's cool, she could just open it and go out now. Aaand it was stuck. Cool. Perfect. Exactly what she wanted.
"There's a villain out there and I am stuck here, with you! Why did you even stop me!? I thought you didn't care about me!" After a few minutes of unsuccessfully trying to open the closet, they had given up.
"I am not a heartless monster!" Tim replied to her, scoffing. Marinette glared at him one last time and turned her head away from him. She was contemplating if she should reveal her identity. Maybe not. There was a loud scream of a little girl and Marinette made up her mind. She was going to help these people even if it killed her!
Tim sighed. "Listen Marinette, I am really sorry. I am usually not like this. I am a better person than this. I am really sorry. This… thing between us distracted me. And I don't know why I stopped you today, I just didn't want you to get hurt I guess. A part of me does care for you. Actually, every part of me cares for you."
She turned towards him, shocked. "I- I am sorry too. I really should have been a little sensible. Let's start over? Hi, I am Marinette Dupain-Cheng. You can call me Marinette, I hope we can be friends."
Timothy smiled at her. "Hi Marinette! I am Timothy Drake-Wayne, call me Tim. It's a pleasure to meet you."
Marinette giggled at him. Tim really wasn't a bad person.
There was another scream. Shit, right, the civilians and Scarecrow.
"Tim, this is gonna sound really weird, but I have to do it." Tim looked at her confused. "Tikki, you can come out." Marinette opened her purse, and a red thing with black spots came out.
"What is that?" Tim asked, way too calm for a person who has never seen a kwami.
"It's a kwami, this is gonna help us get out! I am the new heroine, Ladybug."
—
What?
What?
What?
Tim.exe has stopped working. The girl he had been fighting for so long, was his girlfriend!?
WHAT?
Marinette and her kwami (Tikki he supposed?) were doing stuff to get them out. That thing can phase out of solid materials! How cool is that!?
The gate finally opened and they got out. Marinette turned towards him.
"Tim, stay here, okay? I have to save some people." Tim nodded, still a little dazed. Marinette transformed into Ladybug and ran out.
He stood there for a few seconds, processing everything. He didn't have much time though, if he needed to help Ladybug, he had to act fast.
—
Marinette groaned as Scarecrow aimed another kick at her abdomen. People had finally managed to get out of there. Scarecrow was throwing a fit about it now.
"I have no one else now! I will test my toxin on you now!"
"I doubt that."
Marinette whipped her head towards the new sound. It was Red Robin! What a dramatic entry.
"Ooh, the little birdy joined us too. Now I have two test subjects!"
Ladybug glared at him and summoned her lucky charm.
It took them a while, but they defeated him. Ladybug tossed her lucky charm in the sky and Red Robin watched in awe as the ladybugs flew around fixing everything. No matter how many times he watched it, it never got old.
"Okay, I gotta go before I detransform! Bye Red! See you later!" Ladybug pecked Red Robin on the lips, but before she could leave though he stopped her.
"Marinette!" Ladybug stood there in shock for a second. How did he know? She grabbed Red Robin's wrist and dragged him to the back room where she and Tim were before.
And Tim wasn't there. It's okay, maybe he had just left. That doesn't mean anything.
"How do you know!?" Ladybug glared at him. Red Robin rubbed his neck.
"Uh well, you see..." He removed his mask just as Marinette detransformed from Ladybug. And yep, in Red Robin's place was Tim.
They stared at each other for a second before Marinette groaned and banged her head on his chest. Tim chuckled, Marinette pouted.
"This isn't funny," she sighed, wrapping her arms around his chest.
"I think it is." Tim wrapped his arms around her waist. "Also, this doesn't mean our ‘game’ is over." He smiled at her.
"I wouldn't want it to be." Marinette kissed him. Everything would be okay.
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All I hope to come out of Big Brother tonight is that Jade does not win. All she's done this season is tell Ed that he's adorable and people think she deserves to win.
