Day 5 of Tag Team Tournament!
@maribatserver
Link to AO3
“Lil M, please, I would be the luckiest uncle in the world if you would come to Gotham with me and let me show you around,” Jagged said, eyes wide and pleading. “It’s where I was born, I grew up there and I think it will give you so many ideas for the next tour!”
“Jagged, I can’t just leave,” Marinette sighed, thinking about the fact that she no longer had hold of the horse Miraculous and couldn’t just take it off Max without an excuse. And it was hardly as though Hawkmoth 2.0 was going to give her a break for a couple of weeks.
“Why not? It’s just a little break, I swear we can go for three days and I’ll have you back home before you can miss too much school.”
“I’ll think about it, okay? You said you want to go next week, right?” Marinette smiled as Jagged nodded and made a note to herself to check it all out with Tikki. After all, if she could go to Gotham, maybe she could get the attention of the Bats to help with her current predicament.
She hummed thoughtfully as she picked up her sketchbook, jotting down ideas and sketching a couple of loose drawings based on the Batfamily. She’d researched them a long time ago, when Alya had first convinced her to get in touch with the Justice League, not wanting to reveal the Miraculous to anyone who could do her more harm than good.
“What do you think, Tiks?” Marinette asked when she was finally home with a bag of fabric and a sketchbook full of half-formed ideas. “I really do want to get an outside perspective on this, to see if they could find wherever Hawky Junior is hiding, who they are.”
“It isn’t an awful idea, Marinette. You can always use powerups to get back to Paris if necessary, or ask Alya to get Pegasus to pick you up. We need more help in trying to find the butterfly Miraculous or it will just keep dragging on. It’s already been a whole year and a half,” Tikki said with a sympathetic wince.
“Okay, so…it’s settled. I’ll talk to Alya and get things squared away ready for the trip,” she said decisively. Not wasting a moment, she called Alya and the girls started a discussion on the best way to get her where she needed to be.
_ _ _
On the plane ride to Gotham, Marinette tried to sleep and failed abysmally. It was February, only a couple of days after valentines day, and it was chilly enough that she was layered up several times, with a blanket topping it off. Jagged had made fun of her but she didn’t care because the stewards were kind enough to keep bringing her hot tea and snacks to stay warm. Maybe that was because they were in first class, but she appreciated it nonetheless.
If possible, landing in Gotham was worse than the flight, if only because it was raining. She’d tried to prepare herself for what the local climate would be like but she hadn’t expected midday to look like a dark and stormy evening in Paris. She had packed a poncho and umbrella, but she had the horrible feeling it wouldn’t do enough to save her from a dreadful cold.
“How’re you feeling, Nette?” Penny asked, placing an arm around her shoulders and cuddling close. She laughed a little when Marinette gave a huff and glared at the sky. “I know, it takes getting used to.”
“Yeah, I don’t think I’ll be trying to get used to it any time soon,” she grumbled, tapping her fingers against her leg. “What’s the plan for the next couple of days?”
“Well, lil rocker,” Jagged said as he popped open his own umbrella to walk them to the car. “I’m planning to take you to all my favourite sights today, even in the rain. I’m busy tonight - family thing, nothing to worry about - but then the morning before we leave, we can see about getting some souvenirs to take home for you!”
“Awesome,” she said, trying not to grimace at the idea of walking through rainy streets. “And tomorrow will be recovery, from your family thing, huh? Maybe we can have a whole design day!”
“Sounds a plan, Nette. Okay, I have our driver ready to pick us up over there,” he said, pointing towards a man holding a white sign with the name ‘Jagged Stone’ on it in sparkling purple. She had no idea how he had convinced him to do that but it certainly made it easier to spot in the crowd of signs. “Hey Jake, lead on! We’ve already got our bags.”
The driver nodded and attempted to take Marinette’s bag, but she shook her head in refusal. She didn’t want to relinquish her belongings to anyone in this cesspit of a city, and it didn’t seem to offend Jake. If anything, he seemed to give her a look of approval and walked ahead of the trio all the way to a non-descript car.
She climbed into the back seat between Peggy and Jagged so that she wasn’t alone in the car at any time. But she didn’t relax even slightly until she was in the hotel suite, putting her bag in her room and collapsing onto the bed for a moment. She would need to get up and move soon but maybe she could rest her eyes for just a minute…
“Marinette! Let’s get going!” Jagged called through the door. She groaned again and lumbered off the bed to join the pair again.
_ _ _
The afternoon was fun, plenty of the sights were well worth seeing, and inspired many designs. She had brought a brand new sketchbook and it was already more than half-filled with sketches and notes, about fabrics, techniques she wanted to try based on the boutiques Jagged showed her to, and the different heroes and villains she could use for inspiration.
But by the time evening rolled around she was exhausted and just wanted to sleep. Unfortunately, that wasn’t an option because she needed to go and find Batman and his flock of birds. She cursed quietly and stepped cautiously onto the fire escape outside of her window. Luckily (ha) she had been given the one that led to the roof and she was definitely going to use that fact to meet with the local heroes.
She waited until she was up on the roof to call on the transformation, sending a quick note to Alya that she was currently transformed and would text when she was back in her hotel room to make sure she didn’t miss any akuma alerts. Taking the first step towards the edge of the roof, she felt a rush of exhilaration at the idea of leaping between new buildings.
Swinging from one building to the next, she breathed in and felt herself centre a little more. Being Ladybug always made her more confident and she needed every boost she could get if she was going to talk to the Batman.
Only half an hour later, Marinette found the first of the brood. An average sized man, at least in height, wearing black and blue, was chatting to a woman dressed entirely in purple on the edge of a tall building. The woman gave a jump when Marinette landed beside them but the man just tilted his head at her in a friendly way.
“Sorry for dropping in on you,” she said as politely as she could while still trying to convey professional and confident. “I was hoping to speak with Batman, if he’s available. I have tried to reach out to the Justice League in the past and been unable to discuss Paris’s issues with anyone.”
“Something’s up with Paris?” he asked, a frown marring the attractive shape of the lower part of his face. “Also, Batman is busy tonight, he won’t be able to meet with you. He’s free next week though.”
“I’m only here for tonight,” she said with a wince, despair rippling through her as she realised leaving Paris was likely going to be for nothing. She couldn’t have Batman, who everyone knew had trauma for days, turn up in Paris where he could be taken advantage of by the new Hawkmoth. “Perhaps I can explain my problem to you? Are you a part of the Justice League?”
“Nightwing, we got your alert,” a man in a cowl with two utility belts strapped across his chest landed behind her, effectively closing her into a circle of heroes. She tried not to flinch as they weren’t behaving threateningly, just making sure she couldn’t escape easily. “Who are you?”
“I’m sorry, I forgot to introduce myself,” Marinette said, trying to be charming with a sunny smile. “I’m Ladybug, a heroine of Paris.”
“Since when does Paris have heroes?” he asked, frowning as well now. Marinette went to answer when someone landed far closer to her on her left. All plans to be nice and non-threatening went out the window as she jumped a mile and almost socked him in the face. Fortunately, he dodged and took hold of her wrists, assumedly so she didn’t try again.
“Sorry!” she breathed, looking up into the whited out lenses of Robin. He was one of the two heroes she’d researched fully, so she recognised the R on his chest and the red, yellow, and green suit he wore. They were inches apart as he held her wrists firmly and kept her from moving at all. “I- um- you startled me.”
She was on edge now so when she heard a thud from what was now behind her she tried to twist to see what was happening. Robin allowed her to twist but used the motion to restrain her hands behind her back. She could probably break free but she had every intention of allowing them to control the situation now in the hopes that they would decide to help her.
“We have no record of you arriving in Gotham, Ladybug,” Robin said as she spied a man with a Red Helmet that she had thought was a villain called Red Hood. “Are you using magic of some sort? Because we do not approve magic users without-”
“Chill out Demon brat,” Red Hood said, and she could visualise him rolling his eyes behind the helmet. He seemed to be at least a little sympathetic to her and she shot him a grateful smile. “How’d you get here, little miss?”
“I am here on holiday, with family,” she said with a strained smile. “I just thought I should hit two geese with one brick, you know?”
“Tt, two birds with one stone, you mean to say,” Robin said in a haughty voice, and Marinette decided she didn’t want him restraining her anymore. She twisted her wrists until one slipped free in a moment of luck, his glove not quite managing to keep hold of her as the magic of her suit made his grip loosen for a moment.
“Sorry, I do not wish to seem ungrateful for you taking the time to come and see me,” she said, smiling at him apologetically. “But please do not try to restrain me again. You will not enjoy the results.”
“Damn, maybe she is a heroine. Losing your touch there, huh Robin?” Red Hood said in a dry tone. His head was tilted towards her and she really wished she wasn’t sure that he was a crime lord when she had looked him up. Why did she let Alya convince her that it was a good idea to research Gotham so much all that time ago? “Look, Ladybird or whatever-”
“Ladybug,” she corrected, keeping the smile fixed on her face. “And really, I just want to speak with Batman to get his help in apprehending the villain that has been plaguing my city for a year and a half.”
“Well that’s-”
“Say that again, O?” the one in the cowl said, glancing at Marinette and Robin, who were still in a stand off. He was silent for a minute before signalling to the group. “Okay, yeah, we’re on our way to it now. Listen up, folks, we’ve got a situation with Killer Croc and I need all hands on deck. Miss, you can either come with us or wait here but we have to move because he has a civilian in his lair.”
“I’ll come with you,” she said immediately, stepping around Robin and offering her hand. “Lead the way.”
_ _ _
They crept into the sewers as quietly as they could, Marinette sandwiched between Robin and Nightwing. They’d all introduced themselves on their way and she got the feeling that Robin was with her because he didn’t trust her. She was most of the way into the tunnel when she heard familiar laughter bouncing off the walls.
“Wait,” she hissed, trying to see around the corner to where she was sure Jagged was. Why was he laughing? What happened to his family event? She felt Robin’s hand land on her shoulder and she shrugged it off as she kept moving forward.
The sight that greeted her in the tunnel completely baffled her: Jagged hanging out with a man who had a serious skin condition. Killer Croc had come up in her research but more as a cryptid than anything else, so that meant no photos of him that she could find. She swallowed a shriek, trying to remind herself that she was protected by magical armour and several of Batman’s flock.
Killer Croc caught sight of them and everything started going to hell. Several of the Birds started to move closer, shouting warnings and asking him to release the hostage. Marinette stared at Jagged hard, willing him to get out of the way so the local heroes could deal with this, but it was like he was actively trying to get in the middle of them.
“Wait, isn’t that Jagged Stone?” Marinette heard one of the boys whisper, she thought Red Robin. When he got several noises of confusion, he continued, “The rockstar with the crocodile?”
“Hold up, mates!” he was shouting, standing in front of Killer Croc. “I’m not a hostage! Christ, can’t a man visit his son on his birthday?”
“Did he just say ‘son’?” Spoiler stage whispered, getting nudged by Nightwing to shut up. “Did he…you said he has a pet crocodile right?”
“Spoiler, are you insinuating that you believe this man had improper relations with his pet?” Robin said with a hint of disgust. Marinette whirled on them, appalled, but before she could say anything Killer Croc spoke up in a resigned voice.
“It's not unusual, Dad. The Bats always jump to the worst conclusions where I'm concerned,” he said, placing a hand on Jagged’s shoulder.
“That's it, I'm punching Batman,” Jagged snarled, throwing his hands in the air. “That bloody wanker! I know you haven't been perfect, Waylon, but to attack you just because your old man comes to visit you?”
“Monsieur Stone,” Marinette said at last, stepping forward to draw his attention. “And Monsieur Waylon? Are you alright?”
“Ladybug! Thank God, someone with some sense,” Jagged harrumphed, making Marinette blush under everyone's attention. “Can you believe the discrimination?”
“We're sorry to have interrupted your birthday celebrations. Clearly this could have been handled in a more diplomatic way. We'll be going now, and if you need someone to walk you back to your home I'm sure that will be no trouble.”
Marinette grabbed onto the nearest vigilante and moved him. Robin gave an undignified squawk but she didn’t dare let go of him until they were out of sight of Jagged and…Waylon. Wow, she thought she'd been surprised when she found out that Luka and Juleka were his kids.
As soon as they were a good distance away they all paused for breath and to update Oracle, their woman in the chair, with what had happened. She had no doubt that she at least had a gist of it, but the story deserved a proper rehash, if only because it was funnier the longer she was away from the situation.
“I can’t believe Croc’s dad is a rockstar,” Red Hood said, sounding faintly awed. “What the hell?”
“Not just a rockstar, Jagged Stone, possibly the most rock and roll star since Ozzy,” Red Robin said, shaking his head. “Well that was fun, but now we can get back to the matter at hand. What’re you doing here, Ladybug? And why do you seem to think there’s a villain operating in Paris that the Justice League doesn’t know about.”
“Well, they ignored my phone calls for starters,” she said drily, making Spoiler cackle. “But I’m not here to bring up the past and find out why they didn’t want to help. I’m here because this is the second time this artefact has been abused within the past two years and I wish to free the kwami that’s being used. I cannot find anything out about Hawkmoth Junior, as I like to call them, and as I mentioned before it’s been a year. Is the Justice League at least willing to hear me out or not?”
“Ladybug, we’re just struggling to understand how what you’re saying can be true when we can’t find anything out online,” a voice called out from Nightwing’s chest plate.
“Mademoiselle Oracle, I presume,” Marinette said with a frown. “You should be able to find it online, we’re not hiding anything. But if you’re looking for aftermath of an attack, you won’t because one of my powers is to restore things to the way they were prior to the attack. But if you’re just looking for evidence, there’s a website called the Ladyblog…”
There was a few moments silence before Oracle spoke again. Robin had stayed close to Marinette and she was starting to feel a little crowded by him, though she didn’t say anything. She didn’t want to appear weak or irritable just because she thought he was being overbearing, even if he was.
“This isn’t a fan page for the Miraculous movie?” Oracle said quietly, the voice only just coming across from the speakers. “Jesus, that is some messed up-”
“Getting sidetracked, O,” Nightwing chided, cutting off the rant that was clearly coming. Marinette winced slightly at the frown on his face and shrugged apologetically. She didn’t know what she was apologising for but she felt bad that she’d shown up and given them a new problem to face.
“Oui, it’s all true- well, as long as you’re not viewing the old footage of Lila Rossi. That was all lies. But the hero work of Ladybug and Chat Noir is all real footage of fights and the like. But that doesn’t answer my question as to whether you will help us in the hunt for the new Hawkmoth. So?”
“We’ll help,” Nightwing says, ignoring the glare that Robin shoots his way, and the muttered ‘Father will be displeased’. Marinette raises her eyebrows slightly and realises that perhaps the whole ‘Batfamily’ thing has more credit than she had believed when she first read about them. She’d thought it more akin to the way she saw her temporary heroes as a kind of family, but maybe the reason there was a new Robin as often as there had been. “I’ll come find you in Paris in a couple of days, and we’ll see what we can do.”
Marinette practically melted in relief and thanked everyone for their time before bounding away and taking a long, roundabout route to the hotel to make sure she wasn’t watched.
_ _ _
Designing with Jagged the following day was difficult, considering they had both been out much later than either of them would admit to. She could tell he was still mad about what had happened the night before but she couldn’t bring it up because Marinette didn’t know anything about it. She would just have to wait and see if he would open up to her.
“Marinette, we’re all going out for dinner soon,” Penny said, jolting her from her thoughts as she doodled on the blank page in front of her. She didn’t manage to close the book quickly enough to prevent Penny from seeing the vigilante she had been drawing and she just knew she was in for some teasing. “Oh, I didn’t realise you liked American heroes too. Chat Noir would be scandalised to know you were doodling someone else.”
“Why would he be upset with that?” Marinette squeaked, two bright red spots on her cheeks practically lighting up her face as ‘guilty’. “Besides, Jagged said he wants things from Gotham incorporated to his next suit, so drawing Robin sounds-”
“I thought you didn’t know the American heroes by name?” Penny asked, eyebrows raised and humour written clearly across her face.
“I don’t- I didn’t but…Never mind, you said something about dinner? Please tell me where we’re going out together for dinner, because I haven’t eaten since breakfast,” she said, her words punctuated by the gurgle from her stomach as she thought about food. “Oh, um, wait, when are we leaving?”
“As soon as you’re dressed and have everything you need. Come on, we can grab Jagged when we’re fully ready.
_ _ _
Damian scowled at the table in front of him, detesting that Dick had made him accompany him to review what they knew about Jagged and Killer croc. They’d managed to hack the personal assistant’s - AKA, Penny - phone and locate the restaurant he had booked for the final evening of his very short visit.
He noted, with interest, that the reservation was for three and he wondered whether the attempts at a birthday celebration was going to be more public. It would be amusing if that were so, but he could see that the reservation had been at least a week ago so there must be an unknown, third party involved.
Arriving at the restaurant early for their new reservation, the pair got to choose their seats and strategically placed themselves where they would get the best view of the rest of the room. Which is how they were well placed to see the trio walk into the restaurant. The first was Jagged, loud as he had been the night before followed by his manager/partner, Penny Rolling. The third was a young woman with black hair that seemed to shine blue when she turned her head certain ways.
“Come on, let’s see if we can introduce ourselves to Jagged and his entourage,” Dick murmured after Jagged and the others had been seated for ten minutes or so. His lips were barely moving in case the three could lip read for some reason. Damian approved of his caution, even if he thought the girl that had turned out to be the third party member was too delicate and ethereal to be a threat of any sort.
“Can I help you two with something?” Jagged asked when they approached the table, his eyes wary and voice tired. Dick looked like he felt bad for interrupting, which was probably how he truly felt given what they all went through as celebrities of a sort.
“Sorry for intruding,” Dick said smoothly, smiling apologetically. The same smile that made older women coo and try to pinch a grown man’s cheeks, whether that be facial or otherwise. It didn’t have much of an effect on Jagged but Penny looked amused. “It’s just…my brother and I are such huge fans and we’ve never seen you in Gotham before. We wanted to say hello, but-”
“Rock on, mates! This is Penny, and my niece slash designer, Marinette. Lil M, these guys are a couple of fans! Isn't that cute?”
Damian's jaw clenched so hard he thought it might break. He was not cute, he was a vicious killer that had been raised to be the most lethal person in the room at any given time. Just because he chose to follow a lifestyle that didn’t involve assassinations didn’t mean he wasn’t capable of it and therefore not cute.
“Adorable,” Marinette nodded, her blue eyes sparkling with mirth. It was very distracting and Damian resented her for being attractive enough that he was paying attention to it. “But I think you’re embarrassing him, Uncle J, so perhaps you should stop.”
“Spoilsport,” Jagged said under his breath, smirking when Penny gave him a nudge. “Anyway, it’s always nice to meet a fan, so thanks for stopping by.”
Without a reason to stay at their table, Dick and Damian returned to their seats and settled for speaking in code about how they were going to confirm that there was, in fact, a villain operating in Paris and that Killer Croc really had meant him no harm. The second one would be tricky, considering that there was no way to ask it without tipping them off to who they were.
Damian’s eyes flicked back over to Jagged’s table and met with the curious gaze of the designer, who was watching him with furrowed eyebrows. She flushed when their eyes met and looked away quickly but seemed incapable of completely disregarding him because her eyes unfailingly moved back to him- no, to him and Dick.
The girl's eyes widened after another minute of studying them, and Damian wondered if she had worked out that they were the Waynes. It was strange, actually, that she hadn’t seemed to recognise them straight away because usually people bowed and scraped towards them in hopes that they would win their favour. It seldom worked, but he was surprised at the lack of it from Jagged and his group.
Their meals passed relatively peacefully for a time, although Marinette now pointedly kept her eyes fixed on the plates in front of her. Penny kept glancing over at Damian and back to Marinette with an annoying look on her face, but Damian wasn’t sure what it was supposed to mean. When the older woman leaned in to whisper something to the teen, she squawked and tried to flap the woman away.
Unfortunately, a glass of red wine was just in the way of her arm and went flying over the table. The resulting chaos made Jagged roar with laughter and Marinette turn a shade of red that intrigued Damian. He watched, fascinated, as she slumped into her chair after she had cleaned as much of the wreckage as possible.
Marinette, meanwhile, was ready to die of embarrassment. She didn’t want to have this knowledge and she didn’t want to make a mess of the restaurant, but here she was. She wasn't sure what to do with the information. On the one hand, she now knew how to get in touch with Batman! And if he tried to take the Miraculous from her, at least she would have a trump card up her sleeve.
On the other hand, she now had very dangerous information about what amounted to a myth in a lot of the world. She couldn’t unsee the strong shoulders of Robin on the young man with the piercing green eyes, or the slope of Nightwing’s jaw on the slightly older but handsome man with the charming grin. And now she had to deal with the fact that if she spoke to them again she was going to be awkward. At least she didn’t know their names, so that was a small mercy.
_ _ _
Marinette had gotten extraordinarily lucky with the fact that no akumas had struck while she was in Gotham. She didn’t want to think how difficult it would have been if an akuma had torn up the city while she’d been reveling in the freedom being out of Paris allowed. She’d taken a full hour before designing to cry and rage about most of her problems in Paris and Penny and Jagged had been indulgent and bought her ice cream and whatever snacks she’d wanted.
But now she would have to get back to bottling up her feelings and hoping the lid didn’t blow off at an inopportune moment. After all, Hawkmoth Junior wasn’t above akumatising anyone, much like the original. And Marinette had never cracked, never been fully akumatised, which both Hawkmoths seemed to think of as a challenge. She was just glad Lila had been thwarted so she didn’t have to deal with the stress of her friends believing a liar over her at every turn.
It took maybe three days for the Bats and Birds to show up in Gotham and send her anxiety spiralling again. She didn’t want to deal with the stress of knowing their identities when she had to talk to them. It was easier to forget it all when they were half a world away, and she had been grateful for the reprieve it had given her poor anxious soul.
But she no longer had the luxury of ignoring her problems so she pulled herself up, told herself to get over it and called Chat to come and talk to her and the Gotham vigilantes. She tried to ignore that they’d definitely already seen her, and probably knew that she’d seen them, and sat with her feet dangling off the edge of the building like she always did with Chat.
Apparently all of her luck had been used up on not having to deal with an akuma from Gotham because when she next casually glanced around, Robin was perched behind her. She only just managed to stop herself falling off of the roof when she jumped, face flushing as her mind filled in the blanks his mask left for her. She might not be able to see the shade of green that were staring at her, but she’d fairly committed it to memory and had a fantastic imagination.
“It’s little wonder you have not defeated your villain considering I was able to sneak up on you,” he said after a moment, head tilting like a particularly curious cat. “Especially since you already knew we were here and for some reason did not come over to greet us. Do you no longer wish for our help?”
“It- I was just waiting for my partner,” she stuttered, cursing herself for being a mess around hot boys. “He should be here any moment, really, and I wanted to have him here for any important discussions.”
“Tt, we would have been willing to wait, it is rude not to welcome guests when you have specifically invited us,” he said, a lofty tone entering his voice. “You should have come over to greet us.”
“Well I didn’t, so there’s very little point in arguing about it, is there,” she said flatly, rolling her eyes and almost reaching out to shove him before realising that she didn’t know him. Then his eyes moved behind her and she turned to see Chat leaping towards them. “Oh thank god, Chaton!”
“M’Lady! I got your message and- whoa, is that Robin?! Dude, I am such a huge fan,” Chat cried, throwing his arms out and trying to basically jump on the boy. Marinette watched on both horrified and amused as Robin hissed and leapt out of the way of the Cat hero. Chat pouted and leaned instead on his baton, looking like an abandoned kitten. “Me-ouch man, I just wanted to say hello.”
“That was not a hello, that was assault,” Robin almost screeched, and Marinette had to turn away lest he catch her giggling. It was futile, he was clearly aware that she was laughing at him because he turned on her next. “Make your mangy stray behave before I take him to be neutered-”
“Jeez, take a breath, birdie,” Marinette said, propping an elbow on Chat’s shoulder since he was leaning so far down. It was a familiar motion and she felt stronger when they were united. “I forget you Americans are so prudish. We are expressive, here in France, Chat was most definitely not assaulting you.”
“Everything okay over here?” Nightwing and Spoiler had leaped over at some point during the altercation, and Marinette wondered if they were going to take Robin’s side or not. With the way Spoiler was grinning and looking at Chat with glee, she doubted it, but Nightwing was frowning a little.
“Oui, everything is fine, Monsieur Nightwing. But please remind your br- colleague that we are under siege of an emotional terrorist and his temper is going to get him akumatised,” Marinette said, probably enjoying Robin’s outrage a little too much. “Please, birdie, calm yourself. It was a cultural misunderstanding, nothing more.”
“Why don’t we start afresh? Hi, I’m Nightwing, this is Spoiler,” he said, indicating the woman in purple for Chat’s benefit, “and this is Robin. Ladybug called us in to help find your villain?”
“I’m Chat Noir, dashing, irresistible, black cat with a heart of gold,” Chat replied, doffing an imaginary hat. “It’s a pleasure. But, M’Lady, I didn’t know you finally managed to get someone from the Justice League to listen to us! That’s great news.”
“Can we not get down to business?” Robin said moodily, glaring off into the distance. “How can we help?”
_ _ _
Marinette tumbled into bed several hours later with a low groan and wished she didn’t have to get up for school the next day. The Birds had seemed to be quite put out by the fact that she didn’t have a direction to point them in but they hadn’t seemed overly surprised either. Nightwing had looked shocked and appalled that neither she nor Chat had any longstanding hero mentor to rely on for training or support and promptly told them that he was adopting them both.
Spoiler had seemed to revel in the fact that Robin was irked by Marinette and Chat, constantly slyly suggesting he train them so that they had what Nightwing called ‘the chance not to end up dead’. And all the while, Marinette was trying desperately not to give away that she knew what he looked like underneath the mask. Not knowing who Spoiler was definitely helped because she could just focus on her instead.
After a much too short sleep which felt more of a detriment than a help, Marinette was running from her home to the school and trying desperately not to trip on her own feet again. The last thing she needed was to show up to school with a rip in her clothes, or mud streaking down her from landing in a bush.
The lycee being further away than college made getting to school even more challenging than it had been before, and whilst teachers were still extremely understanding of tardiness as a result of akumas, there hadn’t been one in the past few days. So if she was late today she was going to get written up again and then Alya was going to be exasperated with her. Or worse, she’d get a detention which she would have to skip if an akuma appeared, so it would spiral until it was written in her permanent record.
She was so frazzled from her own internal spiral that she didn’t stop herself in time not to smack into someone standing outside the office near the entrance to the school. She gave a soft ‘oof’ and sprawled onto the floor. The person she’d hit was sturdier than her and remained standing, though they offered a hand to help her up. Which was how she was facing none other than Robin’s civilian identity just before her first class was due to start.
“Oh, um, hello!” she squeaked, blushing as he seemed to forget to let go of her hand. She tried to think of a way to greet him without finding out his name because that seemed like a disaster waiting to happen. “You- have we met before?”
“Yes, I believe you were dining with Jagged Stone in Gotham recently, were you not?” he said, his voice just a little louder than was perhaps necessary. Certainly loud enough to get the attention of civilian Nightwing who looked around and beamed at her.
“Oh hey! What a small world, huh,” he said, motioning for her to come over properly and say hi. His eyes also flashed to their joined hands, looking surprised and vaguely impish. The look on his older brother’s face seemed to be more familiar to him because civilian Robin jerked his hand back suddenly and seemed to find the wall next to the office door extraordinarily interesting.
“Yeah, small world. What, um, what are you doing here?” she asked as casually as she could manage while freaking out.
“Oh, Damian here is looking to transfer across to this high school while I’m working with our dad’s company for the rest of the academic year,” civilian Nightwing said, and Marinette almost cried with the fact that she now had information she didn’t want. One, Robin and Nightwing weren’t traveling through the fancy Justice League system Marinette had heard rumours of, which raised the risk of one of them being akumatised and causing her Problems™. Two, she now had Robin’s name and she liked it more than she should. Darned green eyes and striking good looks.
“Mhm, okay, well I assume we’re in different years, so I’ll just-”
“Oh, Marinette, how lucky!” the receptionist for the front office said, making Marinette’s eye twitch involuntarily. It’s a common turn of phrase, she reassured herself. No need to think they’ll work things out just because she said that. “This is Damian Wayne, he’s going to be in your class for the rest of the year! Marinette here is our class representative for your class, so she’s the best person to take him to his classes and whatnot.”
“You have time to complete all class representative work, even with-” civilian Nightwing began, but Marinette was quick to cut him off.
“With all of my homework and stuff? It’s definitely a juggling act sometimes but doable,” she said, smiling at the receptionist widely. “I’ll, uh, I’ll take R- Damian with me now, if he’s all done with paperwork? That way we won’t be too late to our first class.”
“Such an angel, thank you, Marinette! Don’t worry, Monsieur Grayson, Damian is in the very best hands. Marinette has always been one of our top students and is always happy to lend a hand to anyone who needs it. Why, one of her classmates nicknamed her our ‘Everyday Ladybug’,” she laughed, making Marinette’s eye twitch again, though she was looking down in embarrassment at this point so she doubted either of the vigilantes caught it.
“We’ll get going then. Nice to see you again, monsieur!”
Automatically grabbing onto Damian’s arm, she steered him through the halls and towards their homeroom. He didn’t kick up a fuss at being manhandled and she didn’t realise that was what she was doing until they were outside the classroom and she stopped to take a deep breath. Then she ripped her hand away and blushed again, stammering apologies.
“Oh my god, I’m so sorry! I didn’t- I shouldn’t have- is your arm okay? Mon dieu, that was- I’m so used to moving my friends around but- but I should have asked before I touched you,” she babbled, wringing her hands.
“Tt, it is quite alright. Had I wanted you to release me, you would not have been holding me,” he said with a faintly prideful look in his eye. She managed to turn the scoff that tried to escape her into an awkward giggle but she was sure it made her look fairly manic.
“Okay, good. Um, I’ll try to remember not to do that, though. You seem like someone that appreciates their personal space,” she said without thinking, her mind bringing up images of when Chat had tried to hug him the night before.
“As I said, don’t feel you must. I will let you know if your usual behaviour becomes a bother,” he shrugged - and wasn’t that interesting? He didn’t mind her grabbing him? Before she could question that further, however, the door opened and her teacher was looking down at her with an almost amused look on his face.
“Late, Mademoiselle Dupain-Cheng?”
“Only because she was assisting me in finding the correct classroom,” Damian said smoothly, bringing attention to himself and tipping his head in deference to Monsieur Allard. “I apologise, I am your new student, Damian Wayne.”
Marinette couldn’t see Alya, but she heard her gasp and drop whatever she was holding. Probably her phone, if she was browsing as usual, and Marinette had the feeling she was going to know more about Damian than she wanted to by the end of the day. Why couldn’t this ridiculously attractive boy just stay in Gotham and visit mysteriously at night like she had assumed they would?
The air felt like change and Marinette, for one, was wholly unprepared for it.
_ _ _
“Girl, what do you mean you don't know who that is?” Alya demanded as soon as they were alone in the girls bathroom. Marinette shrugged, washing her hands and hoping Alya didn't ask too many questions. “No, don't shrug at me! Adrien heard from Madame Patel that the rumour is that you met him in Gotham. So, care to try again?”
“I mean, he came and said hello to Jagged, but that's it. His brother's a fan, apparently, but they didn't introduce themselves. And I was in Gotham, I wasn’t asking for any more information than strictly necessary, you know?”
“Okay, fair point,” Alya conceded, frowning down at her phone. “But that doesn’t explain why you looked so cosy in every lesson today.”
“I didn’t have much of a choice except to pair with him for everything,” Marinette argued, though she could feel her face heating up. “It’s not like there are a ton of spare seats just floating around in our classes. And as the class rep, they expect me to be on it.”
Marinette had had an open seat next to her for most classes from the start of their first year, ever since their scholastic quad had become a trio. Nino was still in the city but he was going to a very specialised school for film and media. It took very few students every year and he had been one of the lucky few chosen with a full ride. Alya missed him, as did Adrien, but they commiserated by sitting together with Marinette sitting slightly to the side.
“You’re right, maybe I’m just seeing things that aren’t really there,” Alya muttered, glancing longingly at her phone again. “Do you think Nino will be on lunch at the same time as us today? I feel like I haven’t seen him in forever.”
“Maybe,” Marinette said aloud, though internally she was certain he had a meeting with one of his teachers to discuss a problem he was having with a piece of coursework. They finally stepped out of the bathroom and Adrien draped himself over Marinette’s shoulders. She sighed and patted his head, much more comfortable touching him casually now that they’d finally broken up. “Hey Adri, how’re you?”
“Miserable! I miss my best friend but I just got a text saying he can’t come over tonight because he has an assignment due on Monday! I’m not used to him being so serious about things,” he admitted, burying his face in her shoulder.
“I know, but hey! I think Alya’s free tonight, right Als? Nora has the twins since she’s home for the week and you were saying it’s been a while since we played any games,” Marinette said, forming the plan as she spoke. “Maybe we can ask Emilie if we can stay the night-”
“Which way do we go for lunch?” Damian said as he appeared practically out of thin air. Marinette had to control her instant reaction of punch the jumpscare thing first, end the akuma immediately, and she was pretty sure he knew that she’d been startled. Apparently Robin could read her very easily.
“This way. Do you want to join us?” Alya asked, eyes lighting up fully again. “Because I have some questions about-”
“I am just a student here, Cesaire, I do not wish to discuss my father’s-”
“Totally, I wouldn’t want to hear about Wayne Enterprises any more than you would enjoy talking about it. I want to hear everything you know about Batman.”
Marinette had to force back the hysterical giggles that tried to burst free, but she wasn’t sure how successful she was. For one thing, Adrien - still draped over her shoulders - was shaking with laughter, making it look like she was also laughing anyway.
“Very well, perhaps we can exchange information? I have some questions about Ladybug, Chat Noir, and Hawkmoth,” Damian stated, voice leaving no room for refusal. But Alya probably wouldn’t mind talking for hours on her views of Ladybug. Marinette just hoped she had enough presence of mind not to spill all of Marinette’s secrets.
_ _ _
At the end of the day, Damian had a bunch of information that he wasn’t sure how to use. A lot of the information about Chat Noir and ladybug was publicly found online,and the information on Hawkmoth was even crappier. The one highlight of his lunch was when Marinette had found something he had said funny, her whole body shaking with laughter as she tried to stop.
He paused in his internal review of the day, fingers tapping the top of the bar while he thought. There was nothing extraordinary about the way they had interacted, not when most people had assumed that he was a grumpy young man with enough money that problems didn’t really exist. Nobody had come out and said he was unfairly affluent, but he knew what people usually thought of him, and his family.
Every time he thought he was past thoughts of a dark haired, blue eyed girl from school, he found them straying back to her. He was insanely grateful that Dick and Steph had gone to check out any potential leads they had already gathered, because nobody was there to question why he kept blushing. He didn’t need the teasing and likely overanalysing that was sure to occur.
His hand strayed to his phone which now housed the numbers of the three students he had spent the day with. Alya had insisted they exchange details and when she had suggested that Marinette would give him hers as well…
He wasn’t stupid, he knew the likely reason he had been so easy to persuade to trade numbers when ordinarily he would shut down any attempt to get closer to him. The fact that Marinette had been on his thoughts since he had met her in Gotham didn’t help matters, though it was easier to shut down those when she wasn’t there.
Sighing, he pushed the phone away rather than pick it up and send a message he would probably regret. He couldn’t afford to form an attachment to a civilian that didn’t even live in the same country as him, let alone the same city. It was nearly March and he was only supposed to be here until the end of the academic year in July. And that was only if they took that long to find Hawkmoth; if they moved as quickly as they usually did then his father could recall them as soon as the paperwork to relocate them was complete.
Across the city, Marinette was listening to Alya rant about the vigilantes of Gotham, and how unfair it was that Damian hadn’t been able to give her more than a bare minimum of information. It was taking a lot of Marinette’s self control not to blurt out Damian’s secrets given he didn’t even know that she knew. And it was also kind of hilarious that Damian’s oblivious act had worked so well on the now seasoned blogger.
“I mean, he’s a Wayne! They’ve been supposedly saved by Batman more times than I can count and he still couldn’t tell me much about them,” Alya complained, throwing herself down on the chaise longue across Marinette, who merely gave an unenthusiastic hum. “You could be a little more invested, considering you have to work with them.”
“I mean, I can work with them without knowing everything about them,” she shrugged, distracting herself by picking up her phone. “I mean, I still don’t know much about Chat, all things considered. And if they can help us take down Hawkmoth Junior…”
“Yeah, I know. I just don’t like that they ignored our request for help so long ago and now are swooping in like they can fix it all by themselves.”
Humming again noncommittally, Marinette opened her messaging app and found the new thread where Damian had sent her a very formal message to let her know it was him. If she was honest with herself, she would admit that she was attracted to him and that him being Robin just made him an incredibly appealing potential boyfriend.
“Hey, is there something else going on with the new kid?” Alya asked, looking thoughtfully between Marinette’s face and the phone in her hand. When Marinette didn’t say anything, she waved a hand in front of her face. “Earth to Mars, want to tell me what’s going on?”
“Hm? Nothing,” she replied, slapping at Alya’s hands.
“That blush says differently! Come on, girl, spill.”
“He’s just cute, okay? And he has green eyes, so I was never going to get away from him without at least thinking that, so don’t even think about trying to match-make.”
Her phone chimed immediately after and she almost dropped it on Alya’s face. Mostly because the notification was from the open messaging app and she was so surprised to see a message populate in her chat with Damian that she couldn’t keep hold of it. It was like he could tell she was thinking about him.
Damian: Marinette, I would like to impose upon your time this evening if possible, to discuss things Cesaire said about akumatisation and your lack thereof
“Is that from him? Are you two flirting now?” Alya pounced, turning to try and take the phone from her grasp. Trying, because Marinette had quickly come back to her senses and pushed her off of her lap, jumping up to race to her loft bed. “Marinette!”
“Shhh, I’m trying to work out how to respond to his weird proper text speech,” she said without thinking.
“So it is him! Oh my god, what is it with you and rich kids? First Luka, then Adrien, Felix was a curveball at least in that he was interested for a hot minute, and now Damian Wayne? The notoriously cold and unfeeling Ice Prince of Gotham!”
“Als, please, I’m trying to focus,” she muttered, tapping the screen while she stared at it without really seeing. “He wants to meet up with me tonight and-”
“Oh my god, you got him to ask you out in less than twelve hours. How? And why are you not saying yes immediately? You obviously have a thing for him already.”
“I do not have a thing for him! He’s just…he’s cute,” Marinette pouted, unable to just explain that as Robin he was definitely capable of appreciating the difficulties she faced as Ladybug.
“Girl, you are so screwed.”
_ _ _
“Where are you going, lil D?” Dick asked, bouncing on the spot as Damian got ready to go out to meet Marinette. He hadn’t really expected her to say yes; he knew his messaging skills were rather lacking, and her acceptance had been more than he expected. But he wasn’t about to tell Dick that.
“I have a meeting with that girl, to discuss akumatisation and how she has avoided it for so long,” he replied, frowning as he glanced in the mirror and saw that his hair wasn’t sitting quite right. After a little fussing, he decided it was adequate and turned back towards the door. “I shall fill you in with anything you need to be aware of.”
“Oh, just for information, huh?” Dick said far too casually. Damian saw as the first Robin exchanged an unreadable look with Steph but resolutely refused to address it. “Well, make sure to keep your phone handy so we can get in touch if we need to.”
It didn’t take long to arrive at the restaurant that Marinette had suggested and he spotted her standing just inside. He felt a flutter start somewhere in his lower abdomen and had to force himself to go to greet her. She spotted him as he came in and he almost forgot how to breathe when she smiled brightly at him.
“I hope I did not keep you waiting long,” he said when he finally reached her side. She shook her head, a delightful pink flush stealing over her face. “Are we able to get a table?”
“Oh, I called in ahead and made sure they had enough space for us,” she said, still smiling at him, though no longer looking him in the face. “I was just waiting for you, but the server, Elise, said she would be ready for us whenever you got here. And now you’re here! So, um, yes, shall we go and sit?”
Elise appeared before he could answer and showed them to a smaller table towards the back of the room. Damian wondered if he could survive such close quarters when she looked like she was wearing a very distracting pink lipgloss. And the table was small enough that he would barely have to reach out and he would be touching her.
He was supposed to be gathering intel but the moment she looked at him again he forgot everything he had been planning to ask. Her eyes were wide and expressive, something he wasn’t used to anywhere in Gotham.
So instead, he let her lead the conversation and when he made it back to the apartment he and the others were sharing he wouldn’t be able to repeat any of it. Not because he didn’t learn anything, no, but because everything he learned was about Marinette. She talked about how she wanted to get her name out there properly, not just working with Jagged and Clara Nightingale (a woman known for her fun songs and constant rhyming).
And he talked about his own interests, the things he didn’t find time to talk about to anyone else that mattered. Whenever he spoke to his siblings, they talked about vigilantism almost exclusively, and the people at school were all ignoramuses. But Marinette was easy to talk to, enthusiastic about whatever he shared, and offered an equal or greater amount in return.
It was only when they paid for their meals - Marinette would not allow him to pay for both, which seemed absurd considering she knew he was the son of a billionaire but her glare had showed him that she was willing to fight it - that he realised that he had no further information about Hawkmoth and akumatisation than he had at the beginning of the night.
“May we take a stroll?” he asked, hoping to change that. She smiled up at him and he almost forgot again what he was supposed to be doing. They walked over towards the Seine, idly chatting until he could see the Pont des Arts bridge, the one that used to hold the locks. Then he tried to broach the topic of Hawkmoth again. “Cesaire made it seem like akuma attacks were much more frequent than I have seen since arriving in Paris.”
“Have you been here for long?” she asked, though she was very studiously not looking at him. Like she agreed but didn’t want it to seem like she did. He shrugged, hyper aware that he had, in fact, only been in Paris for one night. “It’s hard to say, it’s not like Hawkmoth Junior has a schedule. But maybe they’re recovering from Valentine’s day, that one was quite a nasty akuma. Then again, holiday ones always are. Especially the ones to do with love.”
“Have…have you ever been akumatised?” he asked carefully as they stopped on the bridge. She leaned on the railing, staring out at the dark water and shaking her head. He stood right next to her, facing the same way and trying to ignore the way the arm closest to her tingled slightly. “That must take an enormous amount of control.”
“Or luck,” she whispered, apparently oblivious to the way he glanced down at her. But he could see the way the lights reflected in her eyes and had the bewildering urge to try and erase the tiredness he could see etched in her face. “There have been some close calls. I’ve had to rely on friends, on pure determination to find another way, because it isn’t easy to shake off a butterfly once it’s actually in your head.”
“That does not change my statement,” he said softly, turning to face her fully now. The movement caught her attention and she looked up at him properly as well, hand falling from the railing as she did so. His hand moved almost the whole way to her face before he realised what he was doing and dropped it. He cleared his throat and glanced back out over the river. “And based on my conversation with Cesaire earlier, luck has its own power here in Paris.”
She gave a surprised laugh but it was subdued, and he wondered how much she suppressed all of her feelings. This time his hand brushed her cheek and she jumped as she looked back at him, her eyes no longer reflecting the lights as they stared at each other. He didn’t know why he was touching her, nor why she wasn’t pushing him away. They hardly knew each other. But like a magnet pulling him forwards, he couldn’t quite bring himself to stop.
“You are impressive, Marinette. You deserve to celebrate your accomplishments,” he murmured, cupping her cheek and marveling at how well it fit into his palm. At the way her hair tickled the tips of his fingers. The way she leaned into the touch and her eyes closed at the simple contact. He leaned closer and could feel her breath on his face, slightly uneven and smelling faintly of the dessert she had eaten.
He closed his own eyes, hyper aware of everything concerning her and getting overwhelmed by it. He thought he was swaying slightly, moving ever closer to her but not quite willing to breach that final distance. But it felt inevitable, the same way getting into a fight with Tim did when he was trying to be the overbearing knowitall. The same way Jon would burst into his room when a new crush made him talk nonstop about whatever new boy caught his attention. The same way the river below them moved inexorably towards its final destination.
His phone rang harshly and they jumped apart, Marinette blushing deeply enough that he could see it even in the low light they had. It made him want to pull her back, to ignore the call and find out exactly why Jon was always so excited about this part. But duty won out, and he cursed when he saw that Dick was calling.
“I have to go,” he said, tearing himself further from her. He tried not to jump back when she shivered, instead shedding his jacket and offering it to her. “Will you be alright seeing yourself home? If Richard is calling…”
“I’m fine,” she whispered, throwing his jacket on and hunching down into it. It made her look even smaller than before and he felt something shift in his chest as he watched her, fascinated. And now Tim’s insistence on keeping Kon’s clothes for himself made sense too. It felt like he had marked her as his, even if that wasn’t his intention. “Go, I’ll text you when I’m home, okay?”
Unable to leave without expressing something of what he was feeling, he grabbed her hand up and pressed his lips to her inner wrist. When he looked back at her, still clutching her hand, her eyes were wider than he’d ever seen them and it almost killed him to walk away. But Dick wouldn’t wait forever for a response and he did not want his oldest brother to catch him making eyes at Marinette.
_ _ _
The search for Hawkmoth Junior took less time than Marinette thought it would, once they had more money and technology at their disposal. As a full time student and part time designer, she’d never had the time to sit down and search, but the woman that she had learned was called Steph was there purely to focus on finding the second Hawkmoth.
Damian never talked to her about their near miss with a kiss that first night. He was still polite to her, still talked to her about his art and the animals he had at home that he missed, but he never invited her for a meal and he never spent time with her outside of school (that he knew of). As Ladybug, she saw him a fair bit as well, especially when they thought they might know where the villain was hiding.
On the night they planned to raid the person’s hideout, she arrived after the Birds. They were in a deep discussion and she was earlier than they’d specified, so Marinette hesitated to interrupt them. Her own teammates were going to be there slightly late, to give her time to remind the others who all was coming. But she completely stilled when she heard what they were discussing.
“Why does it matter what I think of her? Once this is over, father will be calling us home and there will be no communication between us,” Robin said, a muscle twitching in his clenched jaw and his fists clenched. Involuntarily, she remembered how gentle his hand was when he had held her face and wanted to go over and soothe him. Which was ridiculous because he had no idea who she was.
“Because we don’t have to go home straight away, Robin,” Nightwing sighed. “I just want you to think about it, because she’s clearly important to you and that doesn’t happen often.”
“Tt, you just wish to insert yourself to my business,” Robin growled, glancing over to where Marinette was standing and clamming up. “And we are awaiting the team to begin our raid, so I will thank you to keep your opinions of my social life to yourself. Please try to act like we are professional vigilantes.”
“Hey, um, sorry to interrupt,” she said awkwardly, waving and trying not to blush. They could be talking about anyone. It didn’t have to be her. “The others will be here in a few minutes.”
“Very well, is there anything we should know?”
As they got down to business properly, Marinette got swept up in the hopefully final steps of taking down the thorn in her side that had been Hawkmoth Junior. She was so relieved when they got word that the person that used the space was immediately inside, pacing and talking to themselves.
Marinette utilised Rooster Bold to endow himself with invisibility and sneak into the room, planning to get him to engage with the villain and then they would have Pegasus create a portal to pull the villain into their circle. Bunnyx was on standby to help with the portal creations if necessary, but the hope was that they wouldn’t need to.
The actual fight was anticlimactic, Rooster Bold managing to catch the person by surprise without even them having the chance to transform. He had her pinned by the time Marinette was even stepping through the portal that allowed her to pluck up the Butterfly Miraculous and free Nooroo from his second evil master.
“And now I guess we should know who…Lila Rossi?” Marinette stumbled to a stop and stared at the girl that was snarling up at her. “You knew who the original Hawkmoth was long before I told anyone, didn’t you. God, this makes too much sense.”
“The same Lila Rossi that was credited with being purposefully akumatised and lying to discredit M- another student?” Robin said sharply, glaring down at the girl as well.
“The very same,” Alya said, as Rena Rouge. She too was glaring down at her former classmate and Marinette realised that maybe Alya was still harbouring some intense hatred for the girl that had so thoroughly bamboozled her and then run away without a chance to get closure. “Wait, how do you even know about that?”
“We have our ways,” was all Robin said, and Marinette found it so funny that she snorted loudly enough to stop all conversations. She tried to stop but the stress from the past couple of years plus finding out her old civilian nemesis was now her currently defeated supervillain nemesis. It was enough to make her fall down in relief. “...we should wrap this up and get her to the Justice League detention centre.”
_ _ _
It took less than an hour for the big three from the Justice League to appear and take Lila into custody. It turned out that the ‘girl’ who had been terrorising Marinette was actually a woman in her mid twenties who had worked out Hawkmoth’s identity almost immediately and - instead of approaching the heroes or police - decided to join the akuma class and tried to make everything worse.
Marinette and Chat Noir traveled up to the WatchTower as well, promising to update the rest of the team when they were finished. Marinette got the feeling she was going to have to come clean with the Bats and Birds that she was savvy to their identities, if only for her own conscience. So when Chat said he was going to head back to Paris and start celebrating the latest victory, she hung back.
“Ladybug, you’re still here,” Nightwing said, clearly surprised by her presence. “Did you need something or-”
“I know your identities,” she said, the tension she felt far too much to keep it in. When he looked at her nonplussed, she had to fight to stop herself from saying anything more.
“I don’t know what you think you know, but-”
“Monsieur Grayson, please, let’s not beat around the bush,” she said tiredly. He started and checked behind him before stepping closer to her.
“How?” he said in a low voice, pulling out a communication device and clearly sending a message to the rest of the bats.
“It wasn’t on purpose, I have just met you on both sides of the mask. Robin is particularly memorable,” she said with a blush. Nightwing gaped at her and she tried to get her reactions back in control. “I just wanted to make you aware that I knew, now that there is no risk that your emotions could get you compromised by a super villain.”
“Nightwing, what’s the SOS,” Batman said, striding into the room and pausing when he saw Marinette. “Ladybug, I assumed you went back to Paris. Isn’t there a celebration taking place?”
“Probably, but it seemed prudent to make Monsieur Grayson and the rest of you aware that I am aware of your identities. And to offer you my own in return,” she said. “I can’t offer you the rest of my team’s, but none of them are aware of what I know and I don’t plan to change that.”
“You’re willing to give us your identity, simply because you know ours?” Batman said slowly, glancing behind him as Robin stalked into the room.
“Hey, lil D. Apparently you’re memorable,” Nightwing said cheerfully, making Robin glance at her suspiciously. “You remember Ladybug, right? We’ve been working with her for a bit. Apparently she worked us out pretty early on.”
“How.”
It was less of a question and more of a demand, and Marinette narrowed her eyes at him.
“I changed my mind, I’ll reveal my identity to everyone except Robin,” she declared, glaring back at him when he scowled. It made it easier to not turn into a blushing mess, though she had the feeling that that would change if she could see his eyes.
“If you think-”
“It’s not necessary to reveal your identity to us if you don’t want to, Ladybug,” Nightwing cut in, gaining a frown from Batman and a downright glower from Robin. “Come on, it’s not her fault that she was able to clock us. And chances are we’ll find out eventually anyway, if she’s who I think she is.”
“You think you worked me out?” Marinette said, head tilting. By the look on his face, he clearly thought he knew who she was. “Hm. You should tell me who you think I am and then I can tell you if you’re right.”
“Will you both cease this-”
“Oh, to hell with it, Tikki, spots off,” she said, letting her eyes shut as the magic washed out of her and left her as herself. She could almost feel Damian’s jaw drop and turned to look at him with a weak smile and a wave. “So, um, hi. We should probably talk, at some point.”
“You-”
Damian cut off, glancing at Dick who looked unsurprised enough that Damian assumed he had worked it out, even if it was only in the last few minutes. Now that he knew, Damian could see it made sense. She had been in Gotham at the same time as Ladybug, if she had worked him out it had to be because they spent time together.
“Me,” she said after a moment’s silence. “So, yeah. If we’re all cool, I should go make an appearance in Paris…”
She transformed again and headed straight for the nearest Zeta tube to get back down to Earth. Damian watched her go, frozen in place until he realised he would have to talk to his family if he stayed, at which point he raced after her and also went through the tube to get back.
He spotted her getting ready to step out of the alleyway as Marinette and caught her arm before she could. She turned and tried to hit him, blindly, but he redirected the fist with ease before pulling her towards him. He stopped only when they were inches apart and her eyes were staring up at him, as wide and blue as ever.
“I thought you were a civilian,” he murmured, gripping her chin loosely to keep her close. He wouldn’t be the one to close the distance, not when he was basically accosting her after a particularly stressful day, but he couldn’t bear to let her go. “That’s why I haven’t pursued you. I have thought of little else, but I thought you would be in greater danger if I were to let you know my feelings for you.”
“Well that was stupid,” she whispered, but before he could take offence she pulled him the rest of the way down and kissed him.
